Debate Night With Cletus – Day 471

Cletus watching the debate – Photo: L. Weikel

Debate Night With Cletus

Ugh. I watched the debate tonight. I thought it was pretty awful. The moderators seemed to lose control from the very beginning; the candidates were petty and rude, interrupting each other and continuing to speak even though someone else clearly had the floor; and it just seemed as though the questions were barely probative of anything that really matters. Debate night with Cletus was a tremendous disappointment.

It was frustrating.

Booing

Yes, I realize this is probably a statement that completely dates me, but quite honestly, if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all. And no, I’m not talking about the candidates. I’m speaking of the audience members, who obviously booed Bernie Sanders repeatedly.

I don’t mind the supposedly spontaneous cheering for Mike Bloomberg, although yes, I’m cynical about its origin. But the booing was inappropriate, distracting, and staged.

Cynical? Me?

I find it astonishing that the pundits were quick to criticize Bernie Sanders for appearing “a little off” this evening. And their smug observation that perhaps he wasn’t used to being booed was pretty patronizing.

No one likes to be booed, I’m guessing. But isn’t it interesting that none of these pundits criticizing Bernie Sanders’s performance this evening thought it relevant to mention that the lowest ticket price to get into the audience of this debate was $1,750? And that some paid up to $3,200?

I’m sure that the booing of answers provided by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren was purely coincidental to the significant financial means it took to attend tonight’s debate in person.

Money Talks

Let’s face it. We’re seeing it everywhere in our society, but no more so than in our politics. At this stage of our country’s evolution, money talks. Which means we, the people, are faced with a choice. Do we reward this craven ability of those with unlimited wealth to simply buy our attention (and our votes) by running billions of dollars’ worth of ads that create an ideal image of a candidate?

Or do we take the side of the candidates that appears before us, warts and all? One advocating the same position they have for 40 years, and another being ignored as a brazen woman who actually cares enough about the Democratic party to go after the one with unlimited funds and expose him for being far different than what he’s advertising us now?

Seems to me, that’s the candidate that cares more about adhering to fundamental ideals than even winning herself. Seems to me that might be the one I would trust most to get the job done and believe that she really will fight for regular people. Seems to me that might be the candidate who would put our needs before her own.

What a concept.

Obvious Mainstream Prejudices

I’m finding the mainstream prejudices that favor the status quo utterly remarkable. The knives sure do come out when the power brokers of the party and the pundits of the chattering class realize that they may not actually have their finger on the pulse of the people of this nation.

People want change, radical change. That couldn’t be more obvious. But the media pandered to the lowest common denominator tonight. The setting of the debate looked 100% like a game show. In fact, the candidates were actually referred to as contestants – and one of the moderators described them as vying for the role of president.

The questions that were asked were simplistic and mainly aimed at getting the candidates to throw some chairs at each other. God forbid we address the Coronavirus and the gutting of the CDC, or the corruption of the Judiciary, or the purge list of the president.

My how we have dumbed down this process.

I will allow Cletus to express my dissatisfaction with tonight’s debate:

Cletus Snarling (at the tv) – Photo: L. Weikel

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Intensity Abounds – Day 428

 

Intensity Abounds

Quite honestly, I don’t think I remember a time when I’ve personally witnessed so much major, disruptive stuff occurring in the lives of those around me, seemingly all at once. While some people’s lives are being thrown into disarray, others are experiencing growth, transformation, and new horizons (all of which also produces its own brand of excitement and stress). Intensity abounds – and sometimes the stress of it all means we don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

For me, at least in this moment, I think the most surprising thing is that whatever is bringing in all of this radical change – be it planetary influences, lunar eclipses, or the upcoming 2020 election, it doesn’t seem to be happening to people in a tidy ‘once and done’ fashion.

Rather, some people are being rocked by incidents happening to them in waves. They’ll go a day or two feeling battered and bruised and – voila! – another challenge comes whipping around the corner headed right at them. Again.

Ordinarily I’d be share more details, but quite honestly, I keep falling asleep at my keyboard – and I swear, it’s Spirit’s way of ensuring I don’t go into any details.

In Spite of It All: Hang in There

Life can change in the blink of an eye. I’ve lived it.

And while it is almost impossible to truly and appropriately appreciate and fully, deeply, and exquisitely celebrate all of the friends and family, two legged and four, that we share our lives with on a regular basis, I’d be willing to bet we each can ‘do better.’

Just from what I’ve witnessed directly over the past couple of days, there are many huge aspects of people’s lives coming to an end; some deliberately and some not. At the same time, there may be new and unique experiences – many unexpected and potentially delightful – appearing in our lives that we only dreamed possible last week.

And then others are feeling as though their lives are being lived in snow globes. Suddenly everything is topsy turvy, but if we sit quietly enough, the things we loved the most will, if we’re patient, settle back into place.

Sunset sky ablaze – Jan 2020 – Photo: L. Weikel

Patience

While walking this evening, we once again experienced that astonishing way sunsets lead us on to greater and greater beauty.

Some sunsets are model teachers of patience. Have you, like me, looked at the sky and simply had to take its photo right then and there because it couldn’t possibly become more beautiful? Only to find, actually, waiting even one more minute brings a different flavor of beauty. And the minute after that, our hearts feel so full we almost don’t know what to do with it all.

That’s how I felt this evening. That’s what I tried to capture in some of these photos.

The Tower – Again

Tonight, the ripple of worry I felt when I chose the Tower card underneath my Judgment card last week raised goosebumps at the back of my neck again. The goosebumps subsided, and the ripple dispersed – for now. But these times really and truly are intense.

We are having so much ripped away – and hopefully also being given chances to rebuild.

Take care of yourselves. And each other.

Sunset always shifting – Jan 2020 – Photo: L. Weikel

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