Sea Cape Cod by Michael Mosier

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  Great to be with you on this sunny, cold start to the day here in Osterville, the tiny seaside village nestled on the south shore of Cape Cod, a sand bar created by the Last Great Ice Age over 11,500 years ago.  On “Morning Joe”, a show I watch from time to time, only on MSNBC, when I need some early morning knee jerk reaction to what is going on presently in the world, as the programming contains football and baseball scores while it quickly switches gears to the crisis unfolding in Egypt, an impressive feat of segway if I have ever seen one, and not easy, I’m sure, yes, so on “Morning Joe” this morning, a show apparently “brewed” by “Starbucks”, a clever niche the Seattle coffee giant seized upon a few years ago, Joe Scarborough, in a rare moment of insight, said this little gem of wisdom regarding the present “agreement” over the President’s reaction to the crisis in Egypt and the ripple effect it will have on the rest of the Middle East, and I paraphrase here, “Ironically, peace has broken out in Washington, as the republicans are actually agreeing with the way President Obama is handling the crisis going on in Egypt.”  As I thought about the plight of the now 60% ‘under the age’ of thirty majority that make up Egypt’s population, young people, educated, for the most part, and tech savvy, who have witnessed via social networking, the bounties of others in other countries, and thus, naturally cry out, “where’s mine”, as they desire a better life, a life that is untrammeled by the outdated blind plutocratic values, yes, when I thought of those children, I thought back to a documentary on HBO that was released a year or so ago, on the plight of the youngest victims in this new “economy” that many of our “American brothers and sisters” are actually living through in a parallel universe far, far away.  A march to the bottom, as it were.  This documentary was filmed in Orange County, California, a place I called home for two and a half years during the mid 90’s.  The documentary is called “Homeless motel kids in Orange County”, and it pierced my heart, for it boiled it all down to the core, the raw reality of what is going on in so many of our communities across this very rich country of ours.  I lived in Newport Beach, and saw first hand, what this documentary was getting at, what it exposes, showing real children, living in dirty, filthy conditions, as their parents, those lucky enough to have them, struggle to keep a stinky hotel room, motel rather, over their heads for one more night in the mean streets of Anaheim, California, parts of them anyway, rampant with crack, gangs, violence, prostitution, and desperation.  This town is only a few miles inland from the very wealthy Newport Beach and as you travel down the “405″, into the opulence of Newport, suddenly you are in a completely different world than where these homeless children are living at right NOW, mansions the size of John Wayne’s movie career, as he had a house on Newport’s majestic man made harbor, the world’s largest, and as your eyes catch all of the glory of the big, blue Pacific Ocean, beaming with the promise of eternal cleansing, you realize that most of those children, who live from day to day in those bed bug ridden hotels, will never quite embrace that magnificent ocean, for it will feel as foreign to them as it would for a wealthy kid from Laguna, Newport or Corona Del Mar, to be homeless in Costa Mesa, Anaheim, or Garden Grove.  For have we not, physiologically, built these gated communities out of the hot air provided by the growing trend of a canyon, a “Grand Canyon”, if you please, that marks the divide between the haves and the have nots?  Those invisible lines, that should not be crossed, protected by a growing army of public and private police forces, determine, through careful, predictable, yet often inaccurate human judgement, who belongs and who does not.  There is no doubt that as the “economy”, a national economy that was destroyed by years of fraud and abuse by large corporations that took everything from this country and gave nothing back, a word that is loosely thrown about by the press and politicians alike, continues down a path that rewards the people at the top who have already made it, who have the money and smarts to invest in the right things, at the right place and at the right time, around the world, while local, state and federal programs are cut, adding more pain and suffering to the poorest of the poor, as well as the crumbling “middle class” who are buried under a mountain of debt, yes, as we continue to see the “economy” of 98 percent of the “American people” decay and die, who is to say that this country will not look like our friend’s in Egypt someday soon, while the country itself, is taken over by private special interests who create more invisible lines where poor people are not only not welcome, but are considered collateral damage for the invisible and very silent plutocratic revolution going on in this once great country of ours.  We will see more homeless children, who will never see the ocean, let alone be allowed to play in it.  There is something fundamentally wrong when WE, as a nation, cannot recognize that Egypt is holding up a mirror to ourselves, to US, right here in the United States, giving us the opportunity to address the FACT that WE, collectively as a nation, must come to realize that before we continue telling other nations how to run their affairs, we might want to take a good look at what is transpiring right here “economically” to the most vulnerable of our citizens, and make the commitment, right here and right now, in the good ‘ole USA, to make the decision to take care of them. Perhaps then we can be in a more credible position to stretch out our hand with wisdom and guidance and won’t feel the need to strut around proudly showing off our bright peacock feathers.  I wish to offer you a snapshot of this documentary produced by the excellent film and television company HBO… enjoy.  Q:  “What’s the worst part about being homeless?”  (the reporter asks a six year old boy)  Six year old boy:  “It sucks.”  Q: “Why?”  Boy:  “Everybody asks me dumb questions.”  Q: “How old are you?”  Boy:  “Six”.  Josh is six years old as he looks up at Andrea, his sister, who is 21, living and helping out with Josh and the rest of the kids, as she works full time at a local McDonald’s for $7.25 and hour.  Q:  “How many people are living in this room?”  Mother:  “Five”.   Q:  (to another member of the family, Zach, age 13)  “Are you happy?”  Boy:  “Happy?  What do you mean by happy?”  It’s crowded in here.”  Question to the mother who works full time at Disneyland:  “How long have you been working at Disneyland?”  Mother:  “Two years.”  Q:  “And still you don’t have enough money to move into an apartment?”  Mother:  “Not yet…I can’t afford it right now.”  Q:  “But you’re working…”  Mother:  “Yeah, but I’ve got to get a second job because they have income requirements.  I work in the parking department, we make $9.33 an hour.”  Q:  “So that’s not really a living wage?”  Mother:  “No, especially with five kids, no I’ve got to get my butt in gear and get a second job, because I do nursing, so next week I’m gonna start looking into that.”  This poor woman, who looked like she had been beaten down by life, did not look healthy enough to “go out and get a second job”.  She looked tired, defeated in subtle ways, a look on her face like, “what else can I do, please help me.”  When I think of our “pals” in Washington, members of congress who will remain nameless for the moment because they don’t deserve a mention in this sad story, but they KNOW who they ARE, and their constant draconian rhetoric that calls for the “American people” to sacrifice more, when the wealthy just received a huge bonus to their bottom line by the extension of BUSH era tax cuts, money borrowed from China, when I think of these people who have sacrificed NOTHING, my blood begins to boil.  What SACRIFICES have ya’ll made? You hypocritical “wipers of other people’s bottoms” (credit Monty Python and the Holy Grail), for it seems to me, you puppets up there on Capitol Hill, you sacrifice only your eternal souls as you trade in your values for a few pieces of gold.  But, I digress…  Q:  “You work at the happiest place on earth, is that right?”  Mother:  “Oh yeah.”  Q:  “Is this the happiest place on earth?”  Mother:  “Kinda sorta… (then the 13 year old chimes in)  “Not as much as it’s supposed to be.”  Q:  “Why?”  Boy:  “Because there are lots of arguments in my family.”  (Zach, this same thirteen year old, already has a probation officer, for some minor burglary charge)  Q:  “So how come you’re getting into so much trouble these days?”  Boy:  “There’s not alot for us to do, the parks have started to fill with gangs, taggers, and lots of other stuff.  So it’s kinda hard living in a motel, ’cause they don’t want you to play outside, where kids wanna play.”  In this horrible little motel in Anaheim, California, roughly one family a week is evicted, and what they leave behind is put into the motel dumpster, as the remaining children scavenge inside of that dumpster for “treasures” that might hold some value for their young little lives.  It was one of the saddest images I have ever seen.  Meanwhile, the precocious six year old, at school, sits with his classmates learning about dates, such as when is the first day of the year, what month does it fall under?  One of the teachers interviewed said this, “we do take care of the kids, we provide them with a state sponsored breakfast and lunch, and so there’s no cost to that, you know, as far as what they get from the state, I wouldn’t eat it, you know, I don’t think it’s that healthy.”  “We have a group that is dedicated to providing food to the families of these children, every single week a child goes home with a backpack full of food, every single student.  There is no cost for anything for the kids that are here at PROJECT HOPE, in Anaheim, California, they don’t have to pay for text books, they don’t have to pay for supplies, they don’t have to pay for anything, it is all provided for them, they know that they will be taken care of, they know that they are safe, and I’ll do whatever I can, with whatever resources I have, to help out the kids and their families.” I only hope and pray that the draconian cuts congress is planning to make, that will directly affect these already battered children, will not touch PROJECT HOPE. As the kids vocalized the “Pledge of Allegiance” that morning, a tradition that I think we all enjoyed, at least I did, when I was a kid, a feeling of solidarity with a common people with a common goal, a question was posed to the six year old, “Do you like this country?”  Boy:  “Yeah.”  Q:  “What do you like about it?”  Boy:  “We get to, the homeless get to have free food, instead of paying when they’re homeless.”  Q:  “How about you (talking to another first grader), what do you like about this country?”  Boy:  “Ah, if the homeless don’t have food, or money, we would give ‘em it.”  So, there you have it, a REAL snapshot of the lives of real American citizens, white even!, who live hand to mouth under the shadows of the “Happiest place on Earth!”, and who is to say her plight is any different from the plight of a parallel family in Cairo, or Lisbon, or Moscow?  The epic struggle for survival in this globally aware, both commercially and socially, world we all live in, as a collective species now, is heating up, if you will excuse the deliberate pun.  For how much longer can we claim the mantle of JUSTICE and LIBERTY, one of the few birthplaces of those GOD given rights, how can we claim that mantle, spreading it all over the world via foreign aid or it’s polar opposite, the military industrial complex, when we have so many problems right here in our own backyard?  A backyard that borders the highest fences of Disneyland, one of the iconic symbols of American optimism itself, while the homeless children’s youthful exuberance is squashed by the decaying real landscape left like a carcass on the side of the road by aloof and out of touch “leaders” whose only visible goal, in this country, anyway, is to gaze upon the disintegration with a blind eye, no, make that two blind eyes, seemingly wishing for it all to “just disappear,” while simultaneously yearning for the days of yore, where they remembered a “kinder, gentler” America.  I will leave you with one final quote, verbatim, this one coming from a seven year old girl who broke my heart, when she said this, oh, and by the way, have a good day and please, should you so desire, say a little prayer for these little souls from Anaheim, as well as the global picture unfolding in Egypt and throughout the Middle East, whose peoples have suffered under tyrannical oppression most of their lives. But, mostly, just for today, say a prayer for these little children I just mentioned, for their little lives, their little HOMELESS lives, are lived out in the darkness and despair, a life encompassed by the dark shadows of the parking structures that surround Disneyland, located in the cement jungle of the urban sprawl that IS Anaheim, and most of Orange County, a county, by direct national comparison, in fact much wealthier, per capita, than the rest of this nation–the United States of America.  Q: “So would you consider yourself a happy kid at school or a sad kid?” Seven year of girl:  “Mostly a sad kid.” Q:  “Why?” Girl:  “Because I have lots more sad days than happy days.”  “I’ve slept at the park, I’ve slept, um, at my little sister’s grandma’s house, and…” Q: “What’s it like to sleep in the park?” Girl:  “Actually, not so fun.” Q: “Why?” Girl:  “Because we wake up and have no where to get dressed.” Q:  “What’s it like living in the motel?” Girl:  “Like you’re in hell, and living underground, and the devil is like being really mean.” This all from a sandy blond little seven year old girl, a real sweetheart, who is simply caught up in the ever growing tide of dispossession, dehumanization and degradation that is gripping this nation’s most vulnerable citizens, little children, all under the eyes of “In God WE Trust”, as written on our national currency, in a nation, that is in dire need of some REAL TLC. PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  So good, as always, to be writing this ‘message in a bottle’ to you LIVE, from the great seaside village of Osterville, on this Sunday morning, 5:53 a.m., EST, the thirtieth day of January, 2011.  The weather is improving, as we will see the sun make it’s triumphant return to this very peaceful corner of the globe, and with the unrest in Egypt, as well as all across the Middle East, this image that you see above represents a symbol of my gratitude that I live in a place that is not filled with angry protesters in the streets, devoid of burning buildings and looters by the thousands.  I thought about that yesterday, when I was taking in all of the happenings in Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Yemen and Algeria, watching it all unfold on MSNBC, of course.  While viewing the amazing footage of the unprecedented uprising of the people of Cairo, Alexandria or Suez who are angry with the dictator, who, for over thirty years, has held his country, and it’s people, down, both economically and socially, MSNBC’s coverage switched gears for just a split second and showed a harmless mail truck, you know, or perhaps you don’t, the New England mail trucks that look like a shoe box with wheels and a motor, delivering the mail to residents on a quite country lane in Centerville, the next town over from Osterville, and following that mail truck was a wild turkey, who was attacking the mail man’s vehicle with ferocity and determination.  The wild turkey followed said truck down the snowy lane for a few hundred feet, angrily pecking and literally attacking the federal vehicle, as if to say, “you give the dog a biscuit, where is mine?”  Perhaps that is exactly, in an exponentially larger forum, what is happening right NOW in one of the key strategic states in the Middle East–Egypt.  So many countries around the world have seen uprisings by people who have been oppressed most of their lives.  We saw it in Iran only 15 months ago, ending in bloodshed, yet planting the seed of social awareness that would see the Light of day once again.  The speed at which these uprisings have occurred–starting in Tunisia, where the President of that small North African nation is long gone, as we all wait and see if Mubarak can hold out, when his fate seems to already have been sealed, is startling.  The reality of the intranet, and social mediums such as Facebook, Twitter and the like, have given an avenue for people, real people, to communicate with one another and organize, bringing a voice that was once just a faint murmur, to grow into a voice that now speaks with authority and urgency, stating, under no uncertain terms, “we are mad as hell and we aren’t going to take it anymore.” This unrest in the region will undoubtedly bring angst to the state of Israel, who depends upon some stability in that area of the world, for it’s very survival, to feel somewhat safe, and this will be the President’s, Barrack Obama’s, greatest challenge.  For the words of FREEDOM now ring for ALL, as was expanded upon by President Obama himself when he spoke to a huge crowd in Cairo, soon after taking the mantle of President in 2009.  The fact is we, here in the United States, should not assume we have all of the answers when it comes to the Middle East, and yet, at the same time, should also not be caught on the wrong side of history.  We cannot, for example, deploy our military, naively assuming the “presence” of American troops will make it better.  Experience has shown us in the past what folly that notion OWNS… The world is a big place, filled with problems that are seemingly beyond mankind’s capacity to solve, not that we lack the intelligence, compassion or LOVE to solve these problems, it’s more to the point that “special interests” usually trump those aforementioned better ANGELS of our real nature.  Pity that, for as the world’s energy demands, demands for food, demands for clean water, demands for social JUSTICE and demands for religious, individual and economic equality continue to spike upwards, we must understand that our number one goal in THIS country should be with OUR own people, so that this wave of unrest and anger does not bleed over onto our shores.  There are so many in this country that are hurting–financially, physically, mentally and spiritually, so much so, that we can no longer afford to keep our head in the sand, as most politicians would like us to, for “business as usual”, i.e. the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, is the root of all evil, as we all know that money is not the root of all evil, rather the LUST for it is.  If we wish to remain a proud and otherwise good nation of immigrants, a nation based on an “idea”, we must lead by example, and not allow the multi-national corporations that are raping and pillaging our lands, such as “fracking” for “natural gas”, dumping 596 chemicals into our drinking water and destroying the health of tens of thousands of people, to continue with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce “business as usual” stamp of approval, for we know what the end result will be–something akin to what is happening right NOW in Egypt.  We are all one people in the end, with different accents, different skin colors, different traditions, different lifestyles, and different forms of dress–yet we fail to see this, somehow, and choose to fight rather than to understand and move forward, evolve if you will, bringing new solutions, perhaps never thought of, to LIGHT and making this world, a now truly GLOBAL affair, into alignment with who we really all wanted to be to begin with.  My prayers are with the people of Egypt today, along with the rest of the Middle East, for it seems that an act of divine providence is the only answer to the constant ongoing dilemma of being human in the year 2011.  Have a wonderful Sunday folks and may the force be with you and yours.  PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  Great to be with you on this chilly, snowy Saturday morning here on little old Cape Cod, Osterville to be precise.  The Northeast has seen record snowfall, with Boston receiving over 62 inches thus far, Hartford, Connecticut, where I grew up, receiving the same, New York City coming in at 50 plus, and Syracuse, New York, coming in at a little less than ten feet!  Happy Climate Change everybody, except, of course, the members of the tea party and the republican party, who have been brainwashed into thinking that global warming is a hoax.  Just keep that head in the sand, Mr. Speaker, let us know when you want us to send in the lifeboat, although don’t wait too long, for it has been my real life experience that once one is on a say, a 78 foot sailboat in the harbor of Edgartown (Martha’s Vineyard), circa 1997, during Hurricane Edouard, as a buddy of mine and I decided to ride out the storm on the boat, that once you are out there, Harbor Patrol is not going to come out and save you…you are on your own.  With the rising flame of RAGE occurring as I write these words, in the city of Cairo, Egypt, as well as Suez, Alexandria and really all over that Arab state, a state that has been ruled by a dictator for the past 30 years, we, collectively, citizens of the world, are witnessing the rise of a possible revolution, thanks, in part, to the new social mediums, Facebook, Twitter, the intranet in general, and that vast, lighting fast speed of that communication, the instant connection with other human beings, that has seemingly replaced, transcended in many ways, the old school “written word” that once emanated from only a few sources, many of which were flawed propaganda machines to begin with, blaring at you 24/7/365.  This new found freedom of expression, and a march towards liberation, miles away from corrupt dictators, whether or not they are a “strategic partner” or not, for you can’t SAY to the people of Cairo that they should embrace Democracy and all the values therein, yet still expect them to live in squalor and destitution, while the ruling class (Plutocracy) lives in luxury and expresses cruel and unusual punishment to those who oppose them, (this is where the “rub” of the matter is, this is where, if you will excuse the cliche, the rubber meets the road of rhetoric)–yes, this new found freedom of expression is here to stay… and is making this world one, whether we like it or not. There are shortages, seemingly, all over the world, and, in reality, now that we ARE truly a global society BECAUSE of GLOBAL COMMERCE, thus, causing the world to shrink before our very eyes, becoming smaller via the information age, we cannot put our head in the collective sand any longer.  The gifts include new ways to communicate with one another, as we are seeing the WILL of the people be heard for once in, well, in the case of Egypt, the past thirty years.  This is akin to someone pulling your covers off of you and exposing the naked TRUTH as to what is going on, telling the Emperor that not only does he not have any clothes on, but that his policies are uglier than his overweight, fat as$.  There should be no need for hunger in this world.  There should be no need for children to die of Malaria, AIDS, cholera, or malnutrition.  There is no need that kids in Africa, say, sit on a dirt floor for 7 hours while trying to learn the basic building blocks of KNOWLEDGE, (please google “The Last Word, with Lawrence O’Donnell” and his fantastic program to build desks for children in Africa, a wonderful cause that needs your help).  There is no reason why we should get to the point where there is not enough clean drinking water.  There IS enough “money” to solve these epic global problems, for, if the corporate milieu, made up of a whole bunch of “Christian” folks, very, very, very rich Christian folks, wish to pass itself, like a camel, through the “eye of the needle”, as scripture states very clearly in the BIBLE, (coming from an ancient Gospel of Jesus Christ himself, where he once said of a rich man, that, “it is easier to pass a camel through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of GOD,” yes, if, (I am assuming they are not just cherry picking what they like and “don’t like” about what Jesus may, or may not, have said in any number of Holy Gospels) and this is a big “if”, if they truly want to pass through that very narrow passage way, into “the Kingdom of GOD”, they might want to take the words of Jesus a bit more seriously, you know, apply the KNOWLEDGE as opposed to exploiting others WITH it.  Of course, 2011 years ago, the “eye of a needle” was actually not what you might think it is at all.  In the ancient Egyptian structures, as well as some structures in Jerusalem, the “eye of the needle” is a narrow passage way inside, say, a pyramid, far too narrow for the likes of an Arabian camel to squeeze on through.  The responsibility that all of these corporations have to the world, that they often exploit, is this, should they choose the path of an “enlightened corporation”, they must follow the likes of the great ones, thus far, men and women like Bill and Melinda Gates, Ted Turner and Warren Buffet, who have pledged to GIVE most of their money and time to a nobler calling–namely helping those who cannot help themselves–for that is TRULY LOVING your fellow man, as you love yourself, and by LOVING your fellow man, you are LOVING GOD, for GOD is in ALL man, woman and child, in every tree, sparrow and deer.  Maybe the whole problem with the ruling class has been that, the FACT that many don’t LOVE themselves, and thus, cannot love another.  Those people I feel sorry for and do not condemn, rather pray FOR, for we all deserve to reach our potential, our purpose of BEING on this planet, for such a short time, and so, it is with great honor that I write these commentaries every day, not for myself, nor to hurt any one’s true self, but, hopefully, to bring some LIGHT and humor to the ever growing darkness and negativity out there, a seemingly ever present gloom that is bringing good people down. For when we understand what is really going on, we LOSE our FEAR and WE can move ahead (credit MSNBC), and by calling out ignorance, hate, violence and greed for what it IS and pointing out what it is most certainly NOT, and moreover, by calling those behaviors out for what and more importantly WHO they are, without following their hate with more hate, not very easy sometimes, I admit, perhaps, collectively, we can change the violent and regressive philosophies that claim so many souls forth to the LIGHT of day, exposing it for what it is, as has been done by this race for thousands upon thousands of years… I attempt, on many occasions, to offer a gentle prayer of forgiveness and then really letting it go, via the GRACE OF GOD, which, (although the republican party believes it has cornered the market on, somehow “owning” the words and deeds of Jesus himself, the ultimate irony) in the end, after giving it your all, is really all we can do.  Giving back, especially huge amounts of money made in the trenches of capitalism, translates into eternal redemption–I can assure you, it does.  The world is a big place, yet it is shrinking by the moment.  As we contemplate the reality of the reality on the ground in Egypt, I for one, KNOW they too, are my brothers and sisters and that religion will never separate me from the brotherhood of man.  May peace come to the region and the WILL of GOD reign supreme.  Creative intelligence, is very real and ever evolving, if we let it BE, just like you and just like me.    PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  Great to be with you on this Friday morning, rather early, about 6:06 a.m., and with the stars out in full force, dancing off the newly covered field’s of snow, I bid you and yours a fair and fine adieu, coming to you LIVE from the shores of Osterville, here on little old Cape Cod, founded 11,500 years ago by the Last Great Ice Age.  Speaking of snow jobs, the republican party is busy at work via the advice of “men” like Frank Luntz, the “word doctor”, who is shoveling out the horse$hit for the newly elected republican dominated House “speak about” when they aren’t too busy spouting about the “jobs problem” in this country, jobs that their employers shipped overseas long ago.  They are secretly waging a culture war against a woman’s right to CHOOSE, i.e. abortion rights, a war against the “homosexual agenda”, a war against KNOWLEDGE being attained through publicly funded programs such as NPR, National Public Radio, where one might find the TRUTH, as opposed to the insane rantings of mad men such as Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh, a war against community based programs designed to help the poor stay ALIVE, let alone giving them a chance to pull themselves OUT of poverty, through education, re-training and the like, and finally the real meat of it, the “socialistic” programs that have been in place, such as Social Security, for 80 years, and put together by real men whom these clowns, if they lived during their day, would not be fit to carry their jock straps.  Yes, the Cantors, the McConnells, the Boehners, and all of the other newly elected former dog trainers all dressed up like grown ups, pretending to be congressmen and women, who know nothing about less than nothing, are all fired up to gin up the crowd of ignoramuses out there who actually believe whatever the puppets tell them, coming, of course, directly from the puppet masters of Wall Street, big oil, big coal, big insurance and the like, themselves.  Wall Street sees the surplus of 2.5 trillion dollars of flush, of liquid, of SOLVENT social security monies and licks their collective greedy lips, solvent until the year 2037, and is seen in their eyes as just another “short term profit opportunity” where they are demanding their employees, the congressmen and women whom their corporate profits purchased, therefore being bought and sold pieces of property of said Plutocracy, yes, these puppeteers are DEMANDING that the federal government privatize social security, raise the retirement age, and virtually wipe it out for younger generations- for the money that will supposedly be there for future generations, should it be privatized and thrown to the whims of the stock market, will most likely be wiped out by yet another financial crisis, led by a heartless, unpatriotic Plutocracy that could not give a damn about 99 percent of the “American people”, as it leaves that chore to the spin doctors such as Luntz, who then funnel those talking points to said puppets, and the dance just keeps on rolling along, happily down the bunny trail, right Glenn?  By the way, how is that bunny Glenn, I sure hope you didn’t hurt it…I hope you didn’t eat it!  You have some issues Glenn, you should take some time off, get a handle on things.  These are the wooden nickles from the other day that I warned about…snake oil sales are up and don’t forget to check out the new deals on Gold Line, your number one source for losing your shirt on marked up “rare” gold coins.  On a similar note, Phil Angelides, Chairman of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, four little words the republican Plutocracy does NOT want you to hear about, let alone KNOW anything about, spoke yesterday on the PBS NEWSHOUR and all I can say is GOOGLE that interview.  I have been instructed to not say any more on this subject, as this computer is being monitored…I’m just kidding, but, I can assure you, the right wing strategists out there, again, “men” like Frank Luntz or Mike Murphy, a friend of mine, will spin this, so much so that after you are all upside down in your thinking, as a direct result of viewing FOX NEWS, and the hypnotic brainwashing that ensues therein, where you will learn about the “news” through the simply worded talking points that appear, for example, on Bill O’Reilly’s monitor, that you can follow like a bouncing ball such as in the old days during a commercial at a drive in movie, yes, after you are in that hypnotic trance, you will not even WANT to know anything more about the FINANCIAL CRISIS INQUIRY COMMISSION--for what could this exhaustive and thorough year long inquiry, a 500 page intricate study, what could this bi-partisan study of what happened in 2008, that goes all the way back to the 1980’s, when it began, culminating in the non-present regulatory system, devoid of real teeth, that ushered in predatory lending, taking advantage of minority groups who are now blamed for the crisis itself, take that one in for a moment, leading of course to the sub-prime mortgage implosion, not to mention the infinitely complicated derivatives market, a 15 trillion dollar shadow market, perhaps larger than Wall Street itself, a market that had NO regulation whatsoever–those factors combined to make the formula for packaging all of those crappy mortgages (that were AAA rated by “Moody’s” or “A.M. Best”, financial rating companies that are supposed to be honest and not in bed with the people they are rating, but, hey, if MMS is doing it, why can’t we?), and taking bets on when the housing bubble would fail, while simultaneously taking those toxic assets and selling them to their clients, there OWN clients, with their blessing and the blessing of the holy ratings companies, who never knew what was going on, best case scenario, or worst, did, and were bought off by the likes of Goldman Sachs, yes, indeed, what could this historically CORRECT study tell us of what WE as the people who bailed out the likes of AIG, Bank of America, and the rest, why would we want to KNOW what happened, moreover, who is really at fault for the trillions of dollars that were lost in the stock market, as millions of average Americans lost their shirt, as in the value of their 401 (k) portfolios, not to mention countless pensions all across the board?  What could it possibly tell us?  That some people should go to jail?  This all coupled with the economic after shock felt around the world, as many economies in Europe, Asia and South America followed the “American Way” and the average citizen in those countries suffered right along with our crumbling middle class, working poor and indigent alike.  The spin doctors, i.e., “word doctors.com”, check them out, Luntz and his buddies, will turn this into the “fault” of the regulators, who had no teeth to begin with and were in the dark the whole time as to what was really gone on over at Goldman Sachs, because I really don’t think Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman, had, as his top priority, filling in the toothless regulators “information bucket” during the BUSH administration, pertaining to his business affairs.  He must have forgotten to send out the “memo”, oh, but Frank, is that really the right way to go on this one?  It seems to me regulators sleeping and doing drugs with the people that they are supposedly regulating, e.g., the Mineral Management Services, or MMS, who had their fun with oil executives at say, bp, that must, Frank, translate into the financial world as well, I mean, who are we kidding here?  Heck, old boy, AIG was one of my carriers when I was a broker at Johnson & Higgins.  Let me tell you one FACT about the insurance industry and/or the financial industry– it is not a Trappist monastery.  Birds of a feather tend to stick together, and so I would conclude that reading that 500 page document the Chairman of said committee recently released, the four dirty little words the republicans don’t want you to hear, let alone understand, as you are instructed to ignore them from your overlord and master, FOX NEWS, “pay no attention to that man behind the curtain, my name is not Roger Ailes, and I think you are a damn Nazi left wing agitator”, yes, as “big brother” instructs you to pay not attention to that man behind the curtain, you are further instructed to not hear, smell, taste, see, or touch the TRUTH–because heaven forbid ya’ll know what we really have planned for “the American people”–you might just stop taking your medication, i.e. the mind numbing talking points of insanity as presented on FOX NEWS or shows such as Rush Limbaugh’s garbage pail three hour torture session.  In the immortal words of the Chairman who showed a lot of courage in this stellar report, “We’ll stand on the FACTS and MERITS of this report.” Wooden nickles anyone, anyone, Bueller, anyone???  Have a nice week end everybody!  PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  Great to be with you on this snowy Thursday morning here in Osterville, a town that has seen, as all of New England, as well as New York City and Washington D.C., more than it’s fair share of the white stuff this winter.  Boston has received over 60 inches of snow thus far, where it normally receives 34 inches in a “typical” winter season.  As evidenced by the weather patterns during the past 10 years alone, we have seen record heat and record snow fall, the extremes, reach unprecedented levels, thus, once again, proving that the earth’s climate is indeed CHANGING.  You can be one of Michelle Bachmann’s mindless drones if you will, or follow the folly of Senator James, “she’ll be comin’ round the ‘mountain’ when she comes,” Inhofe, the right wing nut job out of the great state of Oklahoma, where he said, famously now, a few years ago, “climate change is the biggest hoax ever played upon the ‘American people’.” Your choice, my advise to you, buy an electric car if you can, for ‘peak oil’ is just around the corner.  Speaking of Michelle Bachmann, the fine congresswoman from the great state of Minnesota, Michelle is receiving rave reviews for her avant garde rebuttal, the “tea party’s official response”, to, of course, dovetail, although I’m not sure that is the right metaphor, with the “main stream” extreme views of Mr. Hammock himself, congressman Paul Ryan, who gave the “other” response to President Obama’s official “State of the Union” address, that occurred only a day and a half ago.  Michelle, in her infinite wisdom and grace, in her overflowing KNOWLEDGE of the history of this great and rather fragile nation, gave us all, as her eyes could not quite catch the logic of actually looking into the camera while the red light was on, an amazing history re-write of slavery in this country and of the ‘forefathers” “tireless” work on ridding the nation of the “stain” of slavery, citing John Quincy Adams, for one, who, as previously mentioned, worked “tirelessly” on ridding the “scourge” of slavery, all while simultaneously launching into a thesaurus-like montage of said word, “slavery”, such as “stain”, etc., just to drive her fact less, irresponsible and quite insane claim, that yes, our forefathers’, many of whom owned slaves, and actually wrote into the Constitution that blacks (done for deriving the number of people who lived in a district, via the census, so as to determine the number of representatives to be allotted) were three fifths of a person and should be counted as such–again, yes, Michelle, in her infinite and God given wisdom continued to drive home her quite insane assertion that our “forefathers’” were instrumental in driving slavery from our shores.  She claims that those same forefathers’ who heroically conquered a tyrannical king from across a mighty ocean, yes, those same forefathers’ who wrote, drafted and implemented the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America, and, although not perfect, was a document called “the great American experiment”, that would transform the world, and, in many ways, has become a Beacon of LIGHT for other nations to follow, yes, Michelle Bachmann claims that those same men also drove out slavery, which of course was not even addressed until long after most, if not all, had already gone, our forefathers’, to their heavenly home in the sky.  It was not until 1861, when Lincoln received a letter from the south calling for succession from the union, that the country fell into it’s worst war, a war that pitted brother against brother.  In that war, a war that was fought primarily, if not in it’s entirety, on the premise of the abolition of slavery, took over 600,000 lives and ripped this country apart, taking it to a place where it never should have been to begin with.  It was another 100 years before the era of “Jim Crow” was dead and buried, and the birth of men like Jack Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy and the king himself Martin Luther King Jr., took up the cause of CIVIL RIGHTS for real, and by the time 1970 rolled around, the country could begin to see the LIGHT–that bigotry and hate had no place in our country, a country of immigrants, and that the color of one’s skin has nothing to do with the content of one’s character. We now see that Michelle has been shy about telling us of her new achievement of receiving a PhD from Beck University, as she claims that these men who worked “tirelessly” to save us from the “scourge” of slavery, her math only off by about 70 years, pushing it off the factual historic road map, and onto most text books being produced via the wizards over at the Texas board of Education, forever, gives us pause to reflect on our mistake and prompts us to consider an apology to the fine congresswoman, for her vision of the future is as clear and straight as her presentation was, that was filmed live by CNN, during her rebuttal of the State of the Union on Tuesday night.  What, with her eyes focused on some way off point in space, as opposed to the traditional, ‘looking into the eyes of the viewer’, you know, looking someone square in the eye, we can see that we are dealing with a brilliant woman, a woman of vision and KNOWINGNESS.  There can be no doubt that her FACTS are right because not only is she a Christian tea party right wing extremist, but she has a warm and charming side to her, akin to a rattlesnake, who, if you make any sudden moves, will bite your head off.  Later, she goes from that fantasy land into a real acid trip, bouncin’ down the bunny trail of the talking point, no, rather, the new brainwashing formula, chalk full of chemicals provided to ya’ll from our ‘friends’ at KOCH industries, called w.a.l.m.a.r.t. number 2. Word is she will continue touting the newly revised historically correct definition of said forefathers’, who, next week, Bachmann will reveal, hated Catholics, namely the Irish, intellectuals, you know, those “fancy book learnin’ folk” who think they are above it all, Jews, Muslims, blacks (a slight contradiction that some other confusing talking point will rectify) and most of all poor people, oh, yeah, and also anyone who speaks, knows of, or TELLS THE TRUTH, especially when “they” reveal her strong and unhealthy paranoiac state of mind, bordering on schizophrenia, and running into problems with her giant bubble like head…  (credit Chris Mathews of “Hardball”) well, so much for civility, huh?  However, if telling people the TRUTH and calling out LIARS and nut jobs whose intention to re-write history, thereby dumbing down American citizens whose only “news” outlet is the mindless propaganda machine called FOX NEWS, and whose children, because of a lack of funding for EDUCATION in this country, now score 17th in the world in reading and 31st in the world in math, while Chinese children are number one in both categories, yes, whose children will be even less informed than their parents–if telling people the TRUTH about their intentions is uncivil, then hallelujah, there is still hope.  You can see why Michelle and her pals are trying to re-write the very fabric of our flag, coloring the sky, in their twisted minds, green, and calling it so, for by doing it enough, “belief” will replace the TRUTH, for a belief is not reality, only reality is reality.  So, I will say it once again, if calling all of those people, like Michelle Bachmann out on all of this crap is uncivil, then sign me up, because it will be a cold day in hell, when I allow these monsters, these snake oil salesmen to dis-credit the brave men and women who fought and died to preserve this nation FOR ALL, not just for some, and WE will fight on to keep the TRUTH alive and well, for in the end, it is the TRUTH that shall set you FREE! We have a choice that will be coming up, and that is simply this–do you believe the republican party is just a puppet on a string for the mult-national corporations who have seen record profits this year, while the poor in this country are gaining in numbers, tent cities popping up all over the country filled with the likes of homeless accountants, mom’s, dad’s, sisters, brothers, your friends, your neighbors, your fellow parishioners?  In short, your brothers and sisters that make up the 308 million people in this great country of ours.  When I think of what Paul Ryan said of the “safety net for people who cannot fend for themselves,” and then his snide follow up remark about “we don’t want that safety net to turn into a hammock”, I saw red.  For I was homeless once, after suffering from a blow to the head, an assault that rendered me paralyzed with PTSD.  I can assure you, that when you are homeless, with NO support from anyone, the world is a far different looking place.  There are no real safety nets, save the “Jesus Saves” shelters such as the one in Denver, Colorado, who cannot give as much as you might think, perhaps a warm meal, and a cot for the night, a cot you waited in the cold for for over 3 hours to “attain”.  Is that the “hammock” that you speak of Mr. Ryan?  Before you go shooting your rather large and obnoxious mouth off once again, why don’t you add another routine to your “workout” that you are so proud of and go visit some of the homeless in D.C., look deep into their eyes, for in the end, they are no different than you, and you should count your lucky stars that you are among the lucky ones, who did not fall between the cracks and end up in an ally, with no hope, no light, no food, no water and no “safety net”, let alone a hammock.   Have a great day everyone and may the grace of GOD be upon you ALL, even Michelle Bachmann, for I have learned, via some hard lessons, “Love thine enemies”, giving one pause to comprehend what a man who walked this earthly plane over 2011 years ago said this to that point, “it is easy to love those whom you love and love you, what credit is that to you? Loving your enemies is where the REAL credit lies.”  A little Agape LOVE goes a long way!  PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  Great to be with you on this Wednesday morning, the twenty sixth day of January, 2011, and as we awake to a new dawn once again, a day to start over, welcoming you and me to the first day of the rest of our lives, I’m sure we all heard what our President had to say at the “State of the Union” last night in Washington D.C..  There were heroes present, as Gabby Giffords watched from her hospital bed with her husband at her rehab hospital in Houston, with her condition going from “serious” to “good”, heroes such one of the members of her staff who was on the scene that horrible day, giving her life saving first aid that saved her LIFE.  There was an integration of law makers that although, perhaps, made the atmosphere a little less impassioned, provided a much needed symbol of what and how our nation’s leaders should behave in public.  “Champion science fair winners, not just the winners of the Superbowl”, was a line that received thunderous applause.  Winning the future, however, is going to take more than representative Paul Ryan’s view of the country, as his rebuttal to the President’s fine speech, left little in the way of substance and quite a lot in the way of “business as usual”.  I was impressed that he mentioned Gabby, but then launched into the famous republican talking point #4001 “we have to do something about our out of control spending”… I wonder, as he spoke of his children, if he, and his kids, KNOW, the FACTS of what has transpired over the past thirty years in this grand nation of OURS?  Create jobs?  Multi-national corporations, most of whom are OWNED by the top one percent in this nation, have shipped millions of American jobs overseas, taking away generations of good paying occupations and careers from people who worked in plants all over the country, say, for example, the mid-west… jobs that will never return, and for what?  In a word, PROFIT. Then, like it was on cue, he explained the LIES the republicans continue to spin about the new health care LAW–a LAW that the bi-partisan Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, along with every credible economist out there worth his or her salt, proven through REAL math, explained will SAVE billions upon billions of dollars over the course of the next ten years, not to mention taking care of the over 50 million AMERICAN CITIZENS who are currently without it, and, moreover, outlawing insurance companies, who are in business of health care profits, as opposed to “health care”, from denying coverage to the over 128 million Americans with pre-existing conditions.  There is no doubt that individual LIBERTY, that he spoke of, is not defined as “limited government”, but freedom from the coming global PLUTOCRACY, cloaked under the guise of “Fiscal Responsibility”.  For how can you borrow 700 billion dollars from China to pad the bank accounts of extremely wealthy individuals, the top two percent, who have seen their income rise by 278 percent in the past ten years alone, while the rest of the nation’s working poor, the former middle class, sit in a stagnant pool of muck, where their wages have remained flat line, while food prices, the cost of medical care and the fact that there are no jobs out there has pushed them to the brink of poverty and despair…how can you call yourself “fiscally responsible?”  How can you square that?  Do you know nothing of carpentry? Couple that with the fact that you want to take away social programs such as Social Security, putting grandma in a more difficult position than she is in already with her fixed income, cut medicare and medicaid, again sticking it to the poor and indigent, the people who need it the most, how can you square that with the fact that your party, over the course of the past ten years has engaged in two unfunded wars, put together a deal with medicare FOR big pharmaceutical companies, all unpaid for, and still cry wolf?  Limited government has helped the poor, Mr. Ryan?  Really?  What country are you living in?  Another partisan response, when President Obama was anything but. “Help provide a safety net for those who cannot provide for themselves.” Those were your words congressman, and we will remember you said them.  Cutting taxes is your plan, your road map, and as we wrap our heads around your fuzzy math, we will see, through your actions, now that you OWN part of the responsibility, what kind of American leader you “think” you are.  18 percent of the American people want you folks to waste the time repealing the health care law.  As I’ve said before, and I’ll say it again, “Is that all you’ve got?” Dirty pool, Mr. Ryan, dirty pool.  Our “Sputnik” moment is here and it is NOW.  Technology, innovation, clean energy solutions, EDUCATION and a new air of humanity, dignity and Love for our fellow man IS our moment, our sputnik moment, and it will prove more important, down the line, than even the momentous moment of Neil Armstrong landing on our moon and stating the famous words, “that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Let this nation move forward, not backwards, and let the real adults in the room teach the children in that same room what is RIGHT and what is WRONG, for deep down inside, we all know the answers to those simple truths, about ourselves, each other, this great nation of ours, and indeed the world at large.  We can, and we must do better, and with a little LOVE, and some tenderness, we will reach that mountain top that Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of, and see a new dawn in this country and a new future for our future generations.   Have a beautiful day everybody and may the GRACE of creative intelligence always be with you.  PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  Great to be with you on this snowy morning here in Osterville, as you gaze out into the cold Nantucket Sound, an image that resembles exactly what it looks like on little old Cape Cod at this very moment, should you ever decide to vacation here in the winter, a vacation I would highly recommend, for there are no commercial interruptions, and if you own some warm foul weather gear, you can truly explore this wondrous landscape without seeing a soul, save a black lab every now and again, not to mention a harbor seal, a whale, a dolphin, a sea turtle, a Great Blue Heron, or a Cardinal.  So come on down and visit!  We’ll leave the Light on for ya! With Lawrence O’Donnell taking the 8 p.m. time slot on the now Comcast owned MSNBC, the sting of what happened to Keith Olbermann is a little less painful, for I could not think of anyone better to pick up the football and continue to march down the field with TRUTH and INTEGRITY on it’s side, than Mr. O’Donnell.  O’Donnell, focused on tonight’s “State of the Union” address by President Barrack Obama, the nation’s annual speech, by the President, to the American people, coming every January, spelling out the obvious points that will be covered by both the President and his detractors on the right, and even those on the far, far right.  Bernie Sanders, the excellent Senator from the great state of Vermont, an independent, spoke on “The Last Word”, last night, regarding the Republican’s response, coming in the form of representative Paul Ryan, i.e., massive tax breaks for the wealthy, and corporations, really one and the same, massive cuts to social programs such as medicare, medicaid, and social security, along with countless social programs that help out the most vulnerable in our nation, that all add up to sticking it to the poor and indigent in this floundering nation of ours, while continuing to ignore what deregulation over the past thirty years in the oil, “natural gas”, coal, insurance, high finance and other corporate industries, have done, and continue to do, to our fragile and, in some cases, dying environment.  Bernie said, “I think at a time when the middle class is collapsing, poverty is increasing, and the richest people are doing phenomenally well, I think we should have a clean and respectful debate about where congressman Ryan (the politician on the “right” hand picked by the elders to deliver their “counter-point”) would like to take the country.”  In other words, no more double-speak. I wonder what Antonin Scalia, “Justice” in the Supreme Court, who recently had a pow wow with Michelle Bachmann and the tea party, “thinks” about all of this?  At least he is transparent and has shed his a-political position, traditionally reserved for these men and women, who were placed, appointed for life, in an extreme position of power, as Justices of the nation’s highest court, as they continue where they left off from their “Citizens United” mistake, surrounding themselves with the likes of corporate monsters such as the Koch Brothers, David and Charles, while attending secret billionaire meetings held in my old stomping ground of Aspen, Colorado–evoking images of Dr. Evil, played by the incomparable Mike Myers, of SNL fame, in the movie, “Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery,” where he holds the world ransom for say, “one million dollars…?”  Of course, that number was already set, just for starters, at 700 billion dollars.  On a similar note, the most powerful lobby, arguably, in the United States today, the NRA, must be dealt with by this president, for it is outrageous that WE, as a collective nation, cannot come together and ban the 31 bullet magazines built for deadly hand guns such as the Glock 9 millimeter that was used in the Tuscon, Arizona massacre.  And finally today, as I did on Friday’s seacapecod.net edition, Lawrence O’Donnell paid tribute to “the house that Keith built”, and to quote Tom Cruise, as he was getting fired from “SMI”, “sports management incorporated”, in the classic film, “Jerry McGuire”, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to do what you all think I’m going to do and just FREAK out.  But, there is such a thing as manners, a way of treating people, these fish, (pointing to the large fish tank in the office filled with over 500 people watching as this all went down) these fish have manners.  So, as I ease on out of the office, an office I helped BUILD, a FACT, I am going to take these fish with me.” (Cruise fishes out one of the goldfish in the tank, then turns to the wide eyed co-workers and says) “…whose with me (crickets) whose with me and flipper here?” Yes, Keith is gone, but NOT forgotten, and this is what Lawrence had to say, word for word, although I apologize up front for the upcoming misspellings that you will see, as I did not have the closed caption button turned on for last night’s show, thus, misspelling the names you are about to hear, so again, my deepest apologies for that.  Lawrence:  “I will never forget the nervousness and inadequacy that I felt when I first substituted for Keith on this hour, July 27, 2009, the boss of the “Countdown” team, the ever gracious Isabella Povich, who is now the boss of me, had obviously instructed the staff to pretend they were confident that I could do it, I knew I couldn’t.  There was no way to occupy Keith’s anchor desk without seeming smaller, much smaller in every way that mattered and in every way that made the “show” the most successful hour in MSNBC’s history.  I had been nervous doing television before that night, oh, I had been agitated and out of sorts, and off my game, and intemperate, silly even, but never nervous.  It took me a while to recognize the feeling, then the feeling was about to overtake me, when Rich Stockwell started talking me through the “show” and suddenly the room was filled with confidence, his, not mine, but it was enough for the both of us and anyone else on the staff who needed any, but none did.  These wonderful writers I was meeting for the first time, presented me with elegant scripts–Elin Reilly, who could never fit everything she KNEW in a script, Jonathon Larson, who dug deep and taught me things I did not know, Brenden O’melia, who made me laugh with everything he said or wrote, Harry Fox, Ms. Mishka, and the invaluable Greg Kordic, who wrote all of the connective tissue of the show and made sure that it could be done in sixty minutes, instead of the 120 minutes their material deserved.  The show was directed that night by Brian Nalesnik, with help from Dave Sarosi, Ron Zech, Megan Listen, Aaron G., Katie Ramirez, Amy Schuster, and Greg Cochran.  By the time the red light went over my camera, I knew that I was in the hands of professionals who simply were not going to let me fail.  And when you saw me reading the teleprompter that July night, I know you were disappointed that you were not seeing Keith, but you did not turn away, or should I say click away.  You kept on watching not because of me, but because the same people who brought you “Countdown” every night, were still delivering you “Countdown”, the same people, minus one, the most important one, but it was still “Countdown”. I went on to host “Countdown” more than any of us wanted me to, Keith devotedly stayed by his father’s bedside, which sadly turned out to be his final days.  I hosted the “show” every night, save one, in March of 2010, and it eventually fell to me to announce to you, Keith’s father’s passing.  Keith’s time away from the show last year was not a restful one, and there was certainly no time to rest when he returned.  Consider what Keith invented and taught US to do, “Op Ed on tv”. The incomparable Maureen Dowd is a friend of mine and I know if I told her I want her to do five op ed pieces a week, she would tell me, “that it is impossible,” and ask if I know how hard it is to do just one.”  I do know, I’ve done a few, very few.  That’s why I marvel, as any writer must, at what Keith was doing, FIVE op ed pieces a week, each of them much longer than the standard 800 words.  This is the only place on television, where people are surprised, if you leave after eight years.  In the entertainment division of this company, if a show like say, “The West Wing”, wins every possible award, and runs for seven years, everyone just applauds an extraordinary show, for an extraordinary run.  I saw, I saw exactly how exhausted Aaron Sorkin was after delivering 22 episodes a year of “The West Wing”, while Keith delivered twenty a month.  Hundreds of episodes a year.  Hundreds of op ed’s a year.  Year in and year out.  For eight years.  I have no idea how he did it, none of us do.  No one in television history has done anything like it.  And in doing it, he took MSNBC to new heights.  I know that I now occupy a platform built for me, by Keith Olbermann, had he not built this show, and welcomed me to it, I would be home tonight, watching, I don’t know, “real housewives of somewhere”.  I thank you Keith, my 92 year old mother thanks you too, she could never stay awake past that first commercial break in my 10 o’clock show.  Good night mom.”   A fine and fitting tribute to a great man, and please, if you get the chance, go back to this past Friday’s commentary on seacapecod.net, where I recognized MR. KEITH OLBERMANN, who did more than save my life, my sanity and my dignity, more than any doctor ever could–he gave me HOPE.  For if it is true that “the truth shall set you free”, as Shakespeare wrote over 500 years ago, if that is true, and if it is also true that laughter is the best medicine, than Mr. Keith Olbermann will always be batting a thousand, and will rise once again, perhaps in an even more influential way, as one of the greatest voices the modern news era has ever seen.  Mr. Walter Cronkite, who was a friend of mine when I lived and worked on Martha’s Vineyard, would have been proud and honored, if he wasn’t already, to call you a friend and fellow traveler in this crazy, topsy turvy world we all seem to be living in now.  May you take some needed time off and may that road continue to always rise at your feet, the sun shine constantly on your face, and the WIND be always at your back!  You be careful out there amongst the English! Have a great day everybody.  PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sun, surf and sand of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  Great to be with you on this glorious Monday morning, dawning early, as usual, here on Cape Cod, Osterville, to be specific.  There is no doubt that when visitors come to the Cape, to visit the remarkable assortment of history’s shadows, that loom so deep and heavy here, as Sargent Shriver was laid to rest at Saint Francis Xavier cemetery in Centerville on Saturday, the next town over from Osterville, adjacent to Hyannisport, another village of Barnstable, just as Hyannis is, as well as West Barnstable, Barnstable village itself, of course, and finally Cotuit, all making up the small villages that sprang to LIFE in the early 17th century, yes, you can see that when one is absorbed in this living history, you can see why they fall in love with the place.  For deep down in every American is a desire to know where one came from, what our actual history is, thus making it easier to move forward, and by knowing all of this, where you came from, assures one of help and success in assisting of where one is going, where one WANTS to go…  A fact that you can see with every glimpse of an historic marker–be it on a church, with it’s white steeples, an historic house, where say a famous writer lived, or a famous President who lived only a short fifty years ago.  The remarkable sacrifices that men and women who have lived on Cape Cod, since this country’s inception, is quite remarkable.  I am in awe every time I venture outside of my home, either by car, by bike, by foot, by plane or by boat.  The transportation matters not.  When seeing, and then reading, what the intentions of these brave forefather’s of ours actually were, during those trying and short lifetimes, it amazes me that we all live in this modern world of relative comfort, for some of us, and that we can’t find solutions to simple problems, if looked at them honestly without an “Angle”, that will serve ALL mankind.  For in end, is that not what we all want?  Solutions?  Of course, solutions, like beauty, are in the eye of the beholder.  KNOWLEDGE cannot be forced down anyone’s throat, people will not open their eyes until they WANT to.  The simple answers to our growing global problems, as it seems we are most certainly a global society, all due to economic globalization, a fact whether you believe it or not, for you can’t have the spoils, or rather, be a STEWARD, without taking responsibility for your ACTIONS, are right in front of us, yet, we turn away from them, because they’re just to damn hard. In the end, as the earth continues to become more toxic and hot, WE, collectively will KNOW who to blame, how and where it happened, and what, if anything could be done about it now, when it was so clear, back in 2011, what the SOLUTIONS were…the times we all talked about “taking care of the deficit” because we did not want to leave that burden on our “children and grandchildren”.  The deficit will not matter if the earth cannot grow food because it has grown too warm.  You can’t “make” water–clean drinking water, at least, and you can’t recreate a clean river, a clean ocean, a clean pond, a clean stream, a clean Gulf, a clean marshland, or a clean glacier, yes, that is one thing “we” human beings cannot do, recreate say, the glacier that sits atop Mt. Kilimanjaro, a 19,000 foot plus mountain that my father climbed in the 60’s and I saw with my own eyes in 1982.  To quote George Burns once again, from the classic film “Oh God!” , starring Mr. George Burns and the late, great, John Denver, “You try making a fish, you can’t, and when the last one is gone, that’s it, over and out.” The short sightedness of the republican “tea party”, the establishment, and the corporations that hired them is astounding, and hopefully, some of those CEO’s, chairmen, etc., receive this ‘message in a bottle’ and begins helping people, and forgets about the “bottom line”, perhaps for five minutes a day, let’s say–real business people like Bill and Melinda Gates, Ted Turner, and Warren Buffet, just to name of few of the enlightened souls still out there, and help turn this “global space ship”, earth’s environment, around, START making the right choices, and marks the change that is  surely coming.  Hope you have a nice day everyone and may the “light from the lighthouse shine on me (you).” (musical selection from the film “Prairie Home Companion”)…  PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  So good to be with you on this Sunday morning, a very cold, 1 degree morning here in Osterville, and I hope that you and yours are safe and warm wherever this “message in a bottle” may be reaching you.  A few predictions on the “Sunday morning talk shows” scheduled to begin in ten minutes.  First, we will hear all of the ‘pundits, such as baseball expert, George Will, who will explain to all of us just how good the corporate hijacking of America by the coming global PLUTOCRACY truly is for the “American people” who have had it too good, for too long…you know, with stagnant wages for the past 30 years, while the top one percent now owns 25 percent of the incoming revenue from multi-national corporations, be it investment banking, insurance, oil, coal, or even “gold line”, which they OWN and hence 25 percent of the GDP, so, yes, those working poor, who used to be the middle class in this country should look for more cuts to social programs that do nothing for the corporate bottom line–services like police, fire, health, mental and physical for the majority in this nation, as well as future cuts to every service that states, who are now broke, as well as cities, offer, again, especially to those who need it the most–the POOR.  Something like that George?  Prediction two, you will hear, a man on the “right” side of the aisle, speak to the “out of control spending” along with 15 other talking points, and towards the end of the interview, you will feel very sick to your stomach, nauseous, for it will be a little too early in the morning to hear a boat load of blatant and out right LIES. The third and final prediction for this morning’s prophetic information outlets’ is this, there will be no moment of “awakening”, a moment of clarity, if you will, where say, a clown like astro-turf tea party chairman, Dick Armey, stops himself in the middle of his sentence and says something like, “I have been thinking about this for a long time, I must quit this nonsensical following of a false God, for as we continue to cut state and local budgets, along with federal programs designed to help the most desperate in this nation, all in the service of the almighty corporation, we WILL destroy this nation, one plant closing at a time, and as the population begins to become intolerant and very angry at what is REALLY going on, I don’t want to have any of that blood on my hands, so I quit, and I am joining a monastery.  Have a nice day,” as he walks of the set of “Meet the Press”, with David Gregory’s jaw hitting the floor, forever.  Yes, that will not happen on today’s “Sunday morning talk shows”, but would it not be great “tv” if it did?  One can dream, one can dream.  Have a wonderful Sunday everybody and God bless us all, EVERYONE! PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  So good, as always, to be with you on this very, very cold twenty second day of January, 2011, here in the tiny, tiny town of Osterville, nestled on little old Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  As I have said many times before, this seaside village, once called “Oysterville”, is only a football toss away from Hyannisport, the home of the late, great President Jack Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, Bobby, Teddy, Eunice and the rest of a family that literally changed the world.  I would like to dedicate this “commentary” to a man who I consider to be a friend and one who, too, “changed the world.”  Mr. Keith Olbermann, of the famous “Countdown, with Keith Olbermann”, I just learned a few moments ago, is resigning his post from that rather scary “outpost” you see on the graphic every night.  With pinball motion, the numbers, “five, four, three, two, and ONE” would be seen in their boldest grandeur, as the stringed instruments, that often accompanied the organ during the “worst persons in the world” segment, that received rave reviews, cajole the viewer into believing that something of importance, of significance, was about to be witnessed.  And they would have been right.  For here is a man, a man who went to college in my neck of the woods, the upper Adirondack mountain range, for we played in the same conference, the ECAC, and I attended several hockey games at his alma mater, Cornell, located in Ithaca, New York, a two hour drive south from the University of Vermont, located in Burlington, Vermont.  Yes, here is a man who I watched on Sports Center, and one of the reasons I watched that show when I would come home from a long day of corporate hog wash in some glass tower in some city, be it Boston, Detroit, New York, Denver, San Francisco, or Newport Beach, California, was simply to just sit down and laugh, while gaining some knowledge of how my San Francisco 49er’s were doing, and how was Joe Montana anyway?  I would watch later, as I left that corporate world, determined to become the writer that I always knew I was, I would watch later, sitting in a state of FEAR, living in the area of the country I always had dreamed of returning to, Cape Cod, and literally became that writer.  The problem I had was that when I arrived on Cape Cod, in July of 2003, the ‘God’s of fate’ had other things in mind for me, funny how that works, for if you really want to make GOD laugh, tell him your plans, for it is good to plan, but don’t ‘plan’ the outcome.  When I arrived on Nantucket island, it was not something out of a fairy tale, as I was truly ‘winging it’, as I had just broken up with my girlfriend in Denver, and I decided to go back, for the third time to this magical place called “the Cape and the Islands”, and, as I had been to Nantucket for Christmas strolls, actually lived on the island for part of the winter of 1998, working for Island Airlines, and visiting many times during the summers when I worked and lived in Boston, I figured that would be the only place to not only heal a broken heart, but also gain the necessary inspiration to begin a writing career I had no idea how to begin, what to write, or where to write it, moreover, I knew that I would be safe, for I had never had an ounce of fear, from anywhere in the world, and certainly not my beloved Nantucket. So, I went, and, you will have to read, “Taking Fog to Nantucket”, to get the full story, as I had previously mentioned, the God’s of fate had other things in mind for me that day.  Suffice to say, after a Nantucket police officer had falsely arrested me, I was handcuffed, and then deliberately tripped, with my hands bound behind my back, then had my head violently forced into the cobblestones below, face first, shattering my skull and leaving me in a pool of blood, I was rocked to the core, shattered, torn and in a coma.  Fortunately for me, I have witnesses.  The point is, that horrific act of violence to a person who abhors it, was a shock, and thus, I lived in a constant state of FEAR.  It was not until I moved to Osterville, in 2005, and began the process of rehabilitation, as I had no idea, until the year 2007, that I had PTSD, or “post traumatic stress disorder, severe delayed onset”, that ‘things’ started to turn around, slowly, painfully, slowly.  For it was then that I began writing my first book, “Taking Fog to Nantucket”, and if it were not for some dear people that I love here on the Cape, my grandmother, and this man, to which I am writing about, Keith Olbermann, I would not have made it.  Night after agonizing night, I would religiously watch the “show” as we call it around here, and  was happy to turn quite a few people on to “it”. You know, the TRUTH. Keith’s badgering of BUSH and his cronies was the badge of courage I most needed at the time, for I was in complete and utter fear of authority and especially the scary notion’s of that previously horrible administration.  I called it “exposure therapy”, and as I worked very hard with therapists, read many great books and APPLIED the principals therein, I was able to get over my “fear” and realize that it was all in my mind, a “brain cloud”, (source, the classic Tom Hanks film, “Joe versus the Volcano”) if you will.  The only one who could have reached me was a smart ass sports caster, as I am a former athlete of sorts, I guess, and listening to him take on “the man”, the LIES and the criminality belying so much of our befuddled and mixed up world, it would give me courage and PURPOSE to get up every morning, with a smile on my face, and make the most of this short, wonderful, crazy life we all SHARE.  I have never known any other way, yet, when I was assaulted on my favorite island in the world, I somehow lost my way, as I lived in a constant state of FEAR, living from second to second, knowing that at any moment I could go off into the abyss of despair, hopelessness, and blackness.  This is a very real reality for many of our young men and women who are coming home from foreign WARS, and yet, many do not get help because of some GOD DAMN stigma.  Much like an alcoholic does not like the de-humanizing abusive use of the word, “alcoholic”, suggesting he or she is less of a human being for having an allergy to alcohol, soldiers with PTSD, most of whom do not even know they have it, feel as though they will be judged for being “weak” if admitting they are in FEAR, and thus, will tragically not get the help they need and deserve.  Keith Olbermann gave those soldiers a voice, he brought forth a LIGHT that shown as bright as the bars of ORION and brought forth the TRUTH that has changed journalism forever. Great talents such as Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, Ed Shultz, just to name a few, not to mention all of the wonderful REAL pundits he would have on regularly, rose out of the dust bin that was the 2000’s, all due, in a large part, to a sports “guy” named Keith.  WE will miss you KEITH, and from all of us here, at the last radio outpost on a little sand bar created 11,500 years ago by the Last Great Ice Age, seacapecod.net, and me, Michael Mosier, WE LOVE YOU! and, may the wind always be at your back, the sun always be shinin’ on your face, and the road ALWAYS RISE TO MEET YOU. Until we meet again, GOD’S SPEED SIR and thank you, from the bottom of my heart.    PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  Great, as always, to be with you on this Friday morning, the twenty first of January, 2011, and as we ease on into the week end, I would offer a “must see” program that I saw for the first time last night, originally airing on January 18, 2011– FRONTLINE, a PBS magazine show that is, in a word, excellent, for it gave me a chill, much akin to the chilly picture of Nantucket Sound as seen above, on a cold raw day here in Osterville, with Hyannisport, off in the distance.  This is the same show that brought you “The Wounded Platoon”, the very real life story of our young men and women in uniform coming home from the front line’s of Iraq and Afghanistan, who are having such a difficult time adjusting to civilian life, after the horror of what they went through on the battle lines.  Suffering from PTSD, many of these soldiers turned to drugs and alcohol to relieve the intense “24 hour” vigilance they feel they must “do” in order to survive another second, let alone another day.  This “24 hour” vigilance, is not, as it turns out, only part of a microcosm such as the story of one soldier’s struggle with an invisible disease, a debilitating, invisible disease that keeps one paralyzed in a state of constant FEAR, emanating from the memories of trauma that won’t seem to go away, even though the war is long over for these soldiers.  No, this “24 hour” vigilance of which I speak, comes from our new overlords, the other “man behind the curtain”, following your every move whether you like it or not.  I am speaking, of course, of the newly formed, after 9/11, ten “top secret” agencies that monitor every move made in this country to “keep us safe” from terrorists.  It is state-of-the-art complex based in Maryland, and came into existence, thanks in part to the over reaction of the BUSH administration, that handed the NSA, among others, a blank check to build the huge monolithic office parks, in reality, that dwarf the Pentagon in depth and secrecy.  As the FRONTLINE special, again, a “must see” documentary, called “Are We Safer?”, delved into the secret life of our secret life that discovers OUR secret life.  It must be a boring job, for most American conversations do not come close to rhetoric that even resembles “terrorism”, as was the case in the great state of Maryland when “secret agents” battered down the doors of some peace activists and Dominican nuns.  Yes, those very dangerous PEACE activists and nuns, I wonder what they would think of the “Little Sisters of the Poor”, who took care of my grandmother which such GRACE and LOVE until she passed away at the age of 104 a year and a half ago in San Pedro, California…  I am sure that compassion and LOVE are two of the hot buttons for this newly formed “BIG BROTHER” who makes assumptions about who and what we are before taking the time to realize that WE are all in this together, and the last thing this country needs is more paranoia.  If these hot shots are so good, then why did it take a hot dog vendor to ward off the attempted car bomb attack in New York City?  Or, better yet, why did they not see the back pack filled with explosives in the historically hate filled “white supremacists” hot bed, located near Spokane, Washington, where that bomb was set to explode during a Martin Luther King Jr. parade?  Why all the secrecy?  And for that matter, who are we really afraid of?  Most American citizens would probably “think” that having 10-12 secret, top secret, agencies, getting information funneled in to them from police officers on the beat via a national “grid” of sorts, is a good thing, taking pictures of license plates with a camera attached to their cruisers, technology emanating from the military industrial complex and compliments of the illegal war we waged in Iraq, and they would be right, for if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.  However, when you have an agency that is answerable to NO ONE, you have a problem HOUSTON! This country was based on TRANSPARENCY and LIBERTY, as was so eloquently stated by our great President John F. Kennedy fifty years ago on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., January 20, 1961 during his inauguration speech, as he was sworn in as the nations’ 35th President of the United States.  In his speech, the famous speech where he states, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,”  Liberty was the key under current, and when you think about that word, you have to take a moment to reflect on what it means to YOU personally, not someone else’s definition of, said, word.  Liberty to some may just mean a broken bell adorning one of the historic state houses in Philadelphia.  Liberty to others may embody what Thomas Jefferson wrote so vociferously about, and fought so hard to preserve as the young rebels in this burgeoning country came alive and took back that LIBERTY from the tyrannical hands of George the Third, whose intolerance and thievery was exposed during the first shot across the bow, “The Boston Tea Party”, where the rebels stated under no uncertain terms, “no taxation, without representation,” as they dumped all of that tea into the Boston Harbor. Liberty, to anyone who writes or commands his or her own words, without some kind of mind control or censorship, usually coming from the media outlets that speak in true dog whistles, repeating the same talking points, over and over again, ad nauseum, until, with their viewership in their grasp, they cannot truly make up their OWN mind, yes, anyone who does think for him or herself, knows that the first amendment, “the FREEDOM of SPEECH”, is, perhaps, the most important LIBERTY of all. For, as Chinese premier Hu Jintao leaves our shores, bound for the ever growing and rapidly changing China, we “Americans” are left in the dark as to what the real significance of this visit means for American jobs and the American future, and many in this country FEEL as though they have no voice, save for the insufferable polls that have become a science in and of themselves, not offering any real voice to be heard, only a raw number, of which any “pundit” could give you fifty different reasons for, depending on your choice of network, and your political affiliation.  For we all know, that the “middle class”, rapidly becoming the working poor, in this nation, are in the same boat as the Chinese who don’t live in the cities, that are expanding faster than the hotels that went up in Vegas during the boom 90’s here in the United States.  Reason, the corporations take the lion’s share–that means banks, oil companies, insurance companies, coal companies, car companies, etc., leaving the working poor with lower and lower wages, with competition heating up globally–for, said, “corporations”, like a shark (my apologies to real sharks everywhere), need to constantly feed, as they are geared towards one thing and one thing only--PROFIT. Short term profit to be specific. So why care about the environment, why care about worker’s rights and the humanity of a real living wage, why care about human rights at all?  The top one percent in this country makes 25 percent of the revenue…think about that for a moment, the next time you see a family in Michigan who can’t feed his two kids, as the father was laid off from his now vacant blue collar job, which he did noblely for over twenty years, but, because of the fact that job is now being done by another worthy human being in a different country, for much less money, and, the fact that his unemployment benefits have run out, he is forced to rely on food banks that are slowly running out of funds, leaving him in the position to fend for his kids the best way he knows how–by working two jobs at 7.25 cents an hour, as his body slowly declines from the labor intensive work, alienating his children due to lack of ATTENTION, akin to LOVE, and seeing his underwater house, the value of the house being worth much less now than what he paid for it, while the mortgage he was duped into buying, via predatory lending by banks such as Bank of America, or Wells Fargo, is too expensive to keep paying, for the “adjustable mortgage” (one of the main culprits of the GREAT RECESSION) is now sky high, and, thus, does not have enough money to even buy his kids a GOD DAMN Christmas present!  This is the real America folks, and if you ask me, are we any safer?  I would answer that question with a BIG NO, for as the GRAND CANYON between the have’s and the have not’s continues to widen, money flowing in between the two extremes, such as in the way the Colorado River carved the Grand Canyon itself, we will come to understand who is the REAL AMERICAN and who is just a shyster, out for a quick buck, as multi-national corporations continue to rape and pillage this earth, an earth WE ALL SHARE, regardless of how much money you have in your bank account, and as a global community, that  we now are, WE, must all ask ourselves, “what kind of a world do we ALL want to live in, and more importantly, what legacy do we leave for our children?” Dying Polar Bears, polluted bodies of water, rising global temperatures, and run away GREED by the few, the proud, the coming PLUTOCRACY? Yes, that is path we are headed down, and thus, that is the legacy that will be left for our children and grandchildren.  I can assure you this, Mr. Speaker, your grandchildren will not be saying 100 years from now, “God, I am sure glad we passed that tax break for the wealthy in 2010, and ignored all of the warning signs of the GLOBAL crisis that came as the earth’s temperature rose, due to the continued dumping of carbon into the atmosphere, creating a a “green house” effect, such as they have on the planet Venus, where the temperatures are off the charts, to the point where the seas rose by 30 feet, where crops would not grow as a result of the extreme heat on the plains, and wildfires and increasingly violent storms destroyed at will, yet, all of that “run away capitalism” was justified, “christian” and, in the end, worth it.”  I hope you watch FRONTLINE, for YOUR sake and the sake of those you hold dear, for if we don’t wake up COLLECTIVELY as a nation, take back what is rightfully OURS, our LIBERTY, we will miss out on the great future that we can all still share together, because it would not be worth it if we did it alone.  Albert Einstein once said, “The only LIFE worth living, is one LIVING FOR OTHERS.” Perhaps that is the soul sickness, the angst in this great country of ours, that we have somehow forgotten that most important rule of all, the GOLDEN RULE, where Jesus himself said over 2011 years ago, “In your brother, you will see your savior,” making that cliched statement, “treat others as you would like to be treated,” i.e. the “golden rule”, a little more in focus, and hopefully, making a little more sense… I hope you have a nice week end folks and don’t take any wooden nickles.  GOD’S SPEED to congresswomen Gabby Giffords, as she transitions from Tuscon University Hospital, to Houston’s top rehabilitation center for those who have suffered traumatic brain injuries--may HIS grace be with you and yours always. PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  So good to be with you on a rather cold start to the Thursday morning here in Osterville, as we expect about 5 inches of snow overnight, so it will look a little like the image of Hyannisport in the far distance above around the same time I’ll be posting my daily “commentary” on the goings on in this fair land of OURS. Lawrence O’Donnell, of the most excellent show airing every weeknight, except Friday’s, at 10 p.m., only on MSNBC, “The Last Word, with Lawrence O’Donnell”, gave perhaps his best hard hitting interview two days ago, on Tuesday night, with congressman Trent Franks, republican from Arizona.  In that interview, where Lawrence showed real passion, he honed in on Franks and pressured him to answer one simple question, “Do you wish that there were still a ban on 9 millimeter magazines that hold more than ten bullets?”  The congressman, stating the obvious fact that we are all “God’s children”, etc., etc., and so forth, dodged the question asked of him three times.  Lawrence, “There was a complete lack of respect for human life in 2004 when the Federal government lifted the ban on those magazines,” (Glock 9 Millimeter–allowing extended clips, going from 10 bullets to 31).  Again, to quote the SIMPLE question posed to the congressman, “Do you wish the gunman in the Tuscon massacre only had 10 bullets as opposed to 31?”  The congressman, again, would not answer the question, seemingly defending a position held by the lobbyists over at the NRA.  It is appalling that we as a nation can’t come together and ban these lethal extended clips that even police officers are not afforded, to be sold over the counter at your local Walmart at pennies per bullet, 17 cents to be precise.  This should forever be a wake up call for this nation to realize that yes, it was a deranged gunman who did this horrible act, however, we should not make it so simple for other deranged, or perhaps, politically motivated individuals to have weapons that are indeed, “weapons of mass destruction.”  On a lighter note, Frank Conniff, noted comedian of Los Angeles, California, was on “Countdown, with Keith Olbermann”, last night discussing the lack of education, or rather the lack of GAINING KNOWLEDGE, currently happening at our centers for higher learning–namely our colleges and universities.  Here are just a few of the great lines coming from the mind of Conniff, and words by Mr. Keith Olbermann himself, both of whom obviously did make that leap from raw data to KNOWLEDGE… enjoy… AND ACTION! Keith: “In the immortal words of a Yale professor, is our children learning?”  Conniff: “I live and work in Hollywood, and we depend on the low standards of young people to fuel our economy…so this isn’t all bad news completely, and I think the deepest philosophical question kids are asking today is, ‘what would snooky do?’”  Keith: “A study concluded that 7 percent of students’ time was spent on actual studying, while the rest was spent on sleeping, partying, or socializing, and they’re average GPA was 3.2, somehow I feel like I got ripped off!”  Conniff: “If they’re partying and socializing 85% of the time, then at least they’re only hung over 15% of the time.”  Keith: “If you can graduate without being able to tell FACT from opinion, then would it be fair to say they were actually looking at viewers of FOX NEWS?”  Conniff: “Yeah, well, FOX NEWS is the ultimate mecca for a lot of these kids, it’s a fantasy land where you get paid a lot of money and don’t have to do your homework.  Although  I did hear FOX is trying to raise it’s intelligence level, on FOX and FRIENDS they just hired a new host…a bag of rocks.  So that should raise the level of discourse.  Douche is a little intimidated by it because he is dumber than “it”. (moving on to politics) Conniff: “The Tea Party doesn’t invoke college as much as a really bad shop class, where the all the projects are really poorly done, and I think these are conservative attitudes about colleges in general, they don’t think Harvard or Yale are elitists schools, they think DeVry training institute is elite.  So you know there’s an uphill battle for any kind of education, I guess.”  Keith: “So will Governor Palin see these stats as some kind of vindication that “fancy book learnin’” doesn’t pay off and you might as well go to five different colleges because you get five different tee-shirts?”  Conniff: “Well, first of all, any kind of book learning is “fancy book learnin’” to Sarah Palin.  We should also point out that Palin is an example of ‘it’s not just enough to be dumb’, to make it on the national political stage, but you also must be a resentful cry baby, and a narcissist, and if any of these kids knew what narcissist meant, that might mean something, but…maybe not.”  and cut, print, wrap. Thank you Keith and Mr. Conniff for that rich insightful, tragically funny bird’s eye view of our crumbling educational system in this country, that seems to now begin in junior high school and keep right on rolling along, like a tumblin’ tumbleweed, right on through college.  To quote the late, great John Belushi from SNL fame, and one of his greatest lines from the movie, ‘Animal House’, circa 1979, “explicative”, there goes seven years of college down the drain.” God’s continued grace to Gabby Giffords as she makes her move to Houston and a special rehab therein…may you be right as rain soon! Have a great day everybody and keep the FAITH…KNOWLEDGE has a way of catching on…  PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  So good to be with you on this clearing morning here on little old Cape Cod, Osterville to be specific, only a football toss away from the mystical Hyannisport, where Jack and Jackie, Teddy, Bobby, Eunice, Rose and Joe Senior lived and loved, only 50 years ago–when Jack Kennedy held the White House.  One of their closest family members, Jack’s brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, father to Maria Shriver, lost his battle Alzheimer’s at the age of 95.  His legacy was vast, as vast as the Nantucket Sound, no, as vast as the Atlantic Ocean, for it was by crossing that ocean, with an ocean of volunteers, that he began the Peace Corps, among other accomplishments, a program that embodied everything that is GREAT about this nation, it’s people, and her ideals.  He will be missed and my deepest sympathies go out to the Shriver family, as well as the Kennedy family, for there will most likely never be a greater man who served this country than Sargent Shriver–GOD’S SPEED SIR KNIGHT, and may he keep you until we meet again… and, thank you for all you did for our country.   Switching 68, health care repeal anyone?  If you are among the 18% of Americans who say yes to that question, then you are on board with the republican effort to repeal the Affordable Health Care LAW that was passed a little over a year ago today.  However, that republican argument is falling apart even as I write these words.  If the LAW was repealed, a LAW whereby 43% of Americans say, “it doesn’t go far enough,” then 129 million Americans would lose their health care coverage due to pre-existing conditions, as the private insurance plans they have with the monopolized health insurance carriers, would drop them like a hot potato.  Why?  Because the health insurance companies in the United States of America are in the business of “health” for one reason and one reason only, in a word, PROFIT. The claim that it is a “job crushing” bill is also a false premise, as reported by the Congressional Budget Office, a bi-paritisan FACT check, if you will, along with any credible economist worth his salt.  The fact is that this falsehood stems from the equal fact that say, if you were a 62 year old man who had diabetes and you were on your employer based health plan, and you wished to retire because you could, yet you dared not, for you knew that you could not just go out and buy your own health insurance due to that pre-existing condition, and therefore, were in fear of losing your only health insurance, which comes in the form of staying employed with your current employer, you would be forced to wait another three years, because you would be ineligible for coverage, again, due to your pre-existing condition, a mild form of diabetes.  Under, “Obamacare”, you could retire, for the LAW will NOT allow these vultures, posing as health care providers, to discriminate against you due to that pre-existing condition, could not discriminate against ANYONE for that matter, and thus, you would be free to purchase insurance without fear of repudiation, and thus, could retire and enjoy your LIFE.  This is where “they” are gaining their “logic” from.  To quote Bob Schieffer of CBS’ Face the Nation, “Is that all you got?” Nancy Pelosi spoke with Rachel Maddow, on the “Rachel Maddow Show”, only on MSNBC, yesterday and she had this to say, and I paraphrase, poetic license if you will, this basic sentiment–”This is a second opportunity to show the American people just how GOOD this LAW is, for their own personal health as well as their families, not to mention their pocket books. It allows children to stay on their parent’s health plans until they are 26, and in this economy that is a good thing, it also banishes discrimination of pre-existing conditions, which is especially important for woman and children, and how, over time, most credible economists, along with the CBO, agree that this LAW will eventually bring down the cost of insurance for most Americans, taking away the unsustainable profiteering the insurance industry has enjoyed for the past 30 to 40 years.”  I apologize to Lady Pelosi if I went too far in my paraphrasing what TRUTH you were explaining to the American public, but it probably did not go far enough.  I used that poetic license because this topic is near and dear to my heart.  I was an insurance executive for the largest brokerage firm in the world, Marsh, Inc., out of New York, along with the Prudential, where I started my “career”, as a ‘group rep’,  as well as Johnson and Higgins of Maine, AON corporation out of Denver, not to mention UNUM corporation in Boston.  I was in that industry for roughly 17 years, before, I, personally, could not stomach handing my large employer clients, as well as small ‘mom and pop’ businesses, a 20-30 percent increase in their annual premiums, pushing many companies to either cut benefits or scrap them altogether.  Increases that I knew were going to the “bottom line” (profit margin) of said companies, as opposed to going towards REAL HEALTH CARE. So, go for it republicans!  You have a whopping 18 percent of the public behind you, many of whom don’t know who to read, oh, that was not very nice, sorry about that, and WE all know that this is just another example of smart people “turning this country into a socialistic state.”  Adam Smith once wrote, that “Capitalism cannot survive unless it has a MORAL base”, from where it works out FROM. Transparency is a b$tch, ‘ain’t it?  Stay tuned America and don’t take any wooden nickles.  Have a great day everybody and continued prayers to Gabby Giffords and all of the victims of that horrible day in Tuscon 11 days ago, may GOD’S strength continue to heal you ALL. PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  So good to be with you and yours on this cold, very cold, morning here in Osterville, as we expect some more of the white stuff soon, while our friends in New York, Connecticut and the rest of Massachusetts expect another good dumping of the frozen moisture from above…ah, life in New England.  Politics is a funny thing, as I watched my favorite news shows, filled with FACTS, as opposed to fiction, as well as great insight from even greater reporters such as Howard Fineman from the Huffington Post– shows such as “Countdown, with Keith Olbermann”, “The Rachel Maddow Show”, “The Last Word, with Lawrence O’Donnell”, “Hardball”, with Chris Mathews, as well as football legend, Ed Shultz, of the “Ed Show”, all, only on MSNBC, oh, and by the way, I don’t work for MSNBC, I just like their style.  As I watched all of these shows, most of them taped, as I could not sleep if I watched all of that information prior to sleeping, what, with all of those happenings whizzing around my neuro-transmitters…as I purveyed the landscape of not only those outlets, but also “The PBS NEWSHOUR”, and “BBC World News America”, those shows I can actually watch before bedtime, for it gives me a few hours where I can wind down with a good book before falling asleep, a good book such as “True Compass”, a memoir of the late, great Last LION of the Senate, Ted Kennedy, a must read for any history buffs out there, yes, as I watched all of that information conclude, just moments ago, “yesterday’s news” as it were, I could only come up with a one word conclusion–HOPE. I believe there HAS been a tectonic shift in tone and blood thirsty rhetoric, and further, I believe the transparency that WE, collectively as a nation, have been yearning for, is finally here.  With constant “tweets”, “You Tube” postings, texts, the intranet, blogs, and a seemingly endless “Facebook” entries now available at the push of a button, we can now see, hear, taste, feel and even smell what is going on in this country 24/7/365.  Twenty four hours is a lifetime in the news cycle, yet what happened in Tuscon, Arizona a week and a half ago only seems to be picking up steam, not the other way around.  In other words, there has been a REAL shift in CONSCIOUSNESS and AWARENESS in this great country of ours, where, perhaps, some of the dreams of Martin Luther King Jr., Jack Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln are finally coming into a clear focus of REALIZATION, coming to fruition, taking root and not allowing the wicked crosswinds of “politics as usual” to sway them from their eternal perch–serving the nature of our better ANGELS. Have a wonderful day folks and GOD’S continued speed to Gabby Giffords, her family, and all of the victims of that horrible day.  PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  Great to be with you on this Monday morning, the seventeenth day of January 2011, and as you look out onto “Our Lady of the Assumption” church here in Osterville, on a recent snowy morning, with more in the forecast for today, a parish I am proud to say, or rather, I have the privilege, to sing in for our very excellent choir, which I am a part of, and I would ask that you might take a moment to give thanks to whatever Divine force, that really runs the ship in this Universe, for saving the life of Gabby Giffords, whose condition at the very excellent University Hospital in Tuscon, Arizona, has been upgraded from serious to stable, as she becomes more alert and stronger by the day.  It was a tough week end for others who were involved in that fatal shooting a little over a week ago, namely Dorwin Stoddard’s loved ones, Dorwin, who shielded his wife from the gun man’s bullets, thereby saving her life by sparing his own, literally ‘laying down his life for another’, will be missed by many, as he left behind his wife and five children.  May God’s speed be with you SIR. Also, this past week end, was a memorial for Gabe Zimmerman, only 30 years of age, a staffer who worked for the congresswoman, well LOVED and already sorely missed, as there were over 800 people at his funeral including Mark Kelly, the husband of Gabby who rarely leaves her side, an astronaut and true patriot, who was most likely feeling the weight of that loss that we all somehow collectively feel.  Of course, the first funeral was held for the youngest victim of this senseless tragedy, on this Saturday past, and it was for Christina Taylor Green, who was born on September 11th, another tragic day in this nation’s history, where violence hit us ALL so hard as it changed so many intangibles in this nation, for you would be hard pressed to pin them all down.  She was a LIGHT to this nation, as she was engaged and INTERESTED in what politicians do for their country, the reason she was going to see Gabby in the first place, and thus, makes this all the more heart wrenching.  May God’s greatest ANGEL fly her wherever she wants go, whenever she wants to go there, and without any commercial interruptions. This is a solemn day for the WHOLE of the nation, should you be paying ATTENTION to what is really going on here, for on this day, we mark the birth of Martin Luther King Jr., whose work in the early 1960’s until his death by another gun man’s bullet ended what was perhaps the brightest LIGHT in the human race at that point in this nation’s history.  I would like, with your indulgence, to quote something you may not have heard before and try and equate it, should you wish, to what this past tragedy has in common with his words, Dr. KIng’s words, some 48 years ago today…  ~ “All I am saying is this, that all life is interrelated, that somehow we’re caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a singe garment of destiny.  Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.  For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be.  You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.  This is the interrelated structure of reality.”  Martin Luther King Jr. Throughout his career of service, King wrote and spoke frequently, drawing on his experience as a preacher.  His “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” written in 1963, is a passionate statement of his crusade for JUSTICE. On October 14th, 1964, King became the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Peace, which was awarded him for leading non-violent resistance to racial prejudice in the United States.  Some of King’s early influences were men like civil rights leader, theologian and educator, Howard Thurman, a classmate of King’s father at Morehouse College. Thurman mentored the young King and his friend, as Thurman’s missionary work had taken him abroad when he had met and conferred with Mahatma Gandhi.  When he was a student at Boston University, King often visited with Thurman, who was the dean of Marsh Chapel. Walter Fluker, who studied Thurman’s writings has stated, “I don’t believe you’d get a Martin Luther King Jr., without a Howard Thurman.”  This day is more than just “another holiday”, for it brings forth the spirit of what we have been talking about all along here, the movement towards REAL CIVILITY, which begins in the mirror, or, should you like pop music, as the late, great Michael Jackson sang, “If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make that CHANGE.”  (lyric from the song, “man in the mirror”)   My greatest prayer goes out to those in the House of Representatives and the United States Senate as they take up their “posts” that resemble strategies employed in the World War I “trench warfare”. First on the chopping block, the new Health-care LAW, enacted just a few months ago by the 111th congress, who in the end, with what they had to work with, did a GREAT job, especially when it came to the 911 first responders bill, thank you, by the way, from all of America, yes, when they go back to their “positions”, perhaps as they sit together for the first time in a long time, during the “STATE OF THE UNION” address, scheduled for January 25th, as usual, they will not see it as just another symbolic gesture, rather, will see it as an opportunity to say, “hey, we don’t have to be puppets for corporate lobby money any longer, no, we don’t need their filthy stolen money, money that most likely has blood on it’s hands, no, we will stand up for what is RIGHT for our constituents, you know, the PEOPLE who put us here to begin with, and we are going to break from the lock step environment, a toxic one at that, that Washington D.C. has now become equated with.  Let us HOPE, in this “Year of HOPE” that is the case.  Have a great day and week ahead, and may GOD continue to watch over Gabby and bring her to a full and utter recovery!   PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  So good, as always, to be with you on this Sunday morning, the sixteenth day of January, 2011, as, as evidenced above, you can see I have been taking time for some “sound” reflection, aboard a vessel on the Nantucket Sound, “The Eagle”, bound, as you can also see in the far distance, for Nantucket Island, an island roughly 30 nautical miles from Cape Cod proper, Hyannis, to be specific, due south/southeast.  On a cold winter’s day, there is no one on the 222 foot ship, a ship that holds cars, trucks, food supplies and the like delivering those goods to the island everyday.  That service, combined with Island Airlines, Cape Air and the like, serve as vital life lines to the roughly 15,000 souls who live there year round.  I lived on that island when trying to become a writer in the year 1997 when I quit one of my corporate group insurance (employee benefits) positions, well, took a sabbatical really, for, like in the God Father movies, as Al Pacino would say, “every time I try and get out, they pull me back in…”, and as I arrived on the island, a good friend of mine was there to meet me and we grabbed all of my gear, threw it in the back of his Bentley, just kidding, pick up truck, and headed on down to the southern most part of the island–Surfside beach, a tiny, tiny town, not even a town really, within a tiny town on a tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  Now, I have never been much of a seafaring kind of guy, “you have always fancied the sea sir”–credit film Heaven Can Wait)…at least back then, being born in Denver, Colorado after all, and so, adjusting to a real culture based “situation” on the sea was an adjustment of the highest proportions.  I took a job as a ticket agent at Island Airlines and worked with the pilots and other crew to help put bags on the little 402 Cessna’s and make announcements, quite often as it turned out, such as, “the airport will be closed for the remaining afternoon, and perhaps the next week, due to heavy fog in the area, visibilities are at, well, 0-5 feet, and that’s just here on the ground!” I rode a bike everyday down a heavy, rocky unpaved bike path two miles one way to the little, tiny, tiny airport and I loved it.  It beat the 85 mile one way commute I had from Newburyport, Massachusetts to Portland, Maine everyday, one way I say again, and thus, was in a sort of fairyland of happiness for awhile.  However, it was not as easy as I thought to write in a nautical theme park if you will, even in the winter where I tend to get my best writing done.  The social scene in Nantucket in the winter is vital to keeping your sanity, if you happen to be a social creature like myself, and by not always going to the local watering holes that offered no real inspiration, I found myself increasingly isolated and therefore, after a few months of trying to put pen to the paper, gave up my dream and eventually, as Al Pacino predicted, slid back into the corporate milieu I was so desperately trying to get out of, for I knew, deep down in my soul, that “Something stunk in Denmark”. I now KNOW that the third time IS the charm, for it was when I returned to Boston, after, the second time in 2003, when I was nearly KILLED on Nantucket by the Nantucket Police Department, suffering a severe head injury that left me with PTSD and a scar that still needs healing, when I returned from Utah, of all places, for after that incident, of my head being “slammed dunked” on India street, I ran as far as I could from those monsters, and just like, from the mountains of Park City, Utah, I returned  “home” to Boston, where I was ironically, “homeless”, yet, eventually I landed back on Cape Cod, thank GOD, for I love Cape Cod more than any place on planet earth, and, subsequently, began putting the pieces of my shattered life back together and pick up where I started from to begin with– which was write about what was REALLY going on in this crazy world, and at least give it a college effort to make sense of it all, mostly for myself, for, as E.M. Forrester once said, “Why is it that the words we write for ourselves are so much better than those we write for others?” (because it heals YOU)  I was thinking about that the other day as I strolled the beaches of Madakat on the eastern shores of the ‘far away island’ they call Nantucket.  I was contemplating why there is so much angst and fear, hate and violence in this great nation of ours, could it be that we cannot hear our own voices, our REAL VOICE, above the constant dog whistles of Madison Avenue wizards?  It couldn’t be that simple right?  Is that right?  My thoughts of how that happened to me while I worked like a dog in the insurance industry, selling things people did not want to buy, applying pressure when no pressure should have been applied to begin with, gave me the hope that I could write about such things and perhaps add something to a country that needs hope now more than EVER!  As the ship steamed into the dock, I jumped on that sacred Indian ground, still, even if some Englishman changed it’s name years ago.  It was still my “far away island” and always will be, for I did not allow hate to enter my heart and block the LOVE that remains.  My very best to you and yours on this day of reflections and grace, may WE all pray for Gabby Gifford’s recovery and for the victim’s families, the surviving victims, and victims of all violence everywhere in the world, especially to YOU out there, who may not “believe” that your voice is worth hearing, let alone saving, let me tell you this–IT IS. PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  Great to be with you on this Saturday morning, a little after 8 a.m., EDT, in the small hamlet of Osterville, a football toss away from the Kennedy compound where Jack Kennedy was President of the United States of America 51 years ago.  The year was 1961, although I was not born quite yet, as I was born in 1965, and never had the privilege of watching him on Walter Cronkite’s most excellent, CBS’s, “The CBS Evening News”, headed up now by the very great Katie Couric, speak to the nation regarding all kinds of struggles we faced back in the early 1960’s in this country.  The mood was dark then too, with the onset of Civil Rights to come full circle from the days of slavery and the Gettysburg address, following that very dark day in 1861, where the south would decide to cecede from the north over their rights to own slaves.  Kennedy was forced to deal with “smaller” issues at the time, such as the Bay of Pigs crisis which led to the Soviet Missile Crisis which almost led to World War III, but, as “time” marched on, the reality his brother Bobby Kennedy regarding real CIVIL rights came full circle as mentioned before and would force the President, after understanding the KNOWLEDGE of the great work, another prophet, and GREAT leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., leading the way in the south, much to the chagrin of history, which was seemingly repeating itself once again only 100 years later, began to march to Washington, via Birmingham, Alabama, where he spoke the words that are being spoken today, “Free at Last, Free at Last, Free at Last, Thank GOD Almighty, I AM Free at Last.” When we look at history by way of a pendulum, sometimes, perhaps, we notice that the pendulum is somewhat out of balance, such as in one of my baby grandfather clocks, and thus, with a little tweaking can fix the problem of the warped pendulum and, therefore, permanently solve the dilemma, a dilemma that has been plaguing this nation for over, well, well over it’s 236 year existence as a sovereign nation on this little blue rock we call earth and home for the moment.  The issue at hand now seems to be gun control, or rather the lack of it, and how the pendulum keeps flowing from a conversion, after a tragic incident such as the most recent blood bath in Tuscon, and as we talk about how we should be putting some realistic restrictions on the sale of guns to people with mental problems, we should really be concentrating on putting restrictions on the insane extended clips for Glock 19s… a nine millimeter hand gun, for example, whose only purpose is to kill people (the extended clips), and, after the NRA lobby, who has the political “powers that be” held hostage it seems, strikes that down, even when 70 percent of gun owners in this country favor more restrictions on dangerous weapons such as assault rifles or the extended clips that only serve to kill a monster from say “Men in Black”, well, you have the pendulum swing back the other way and someone else, who is mentally unstable perhaps, or perhaps worse, is truly out for some political revenge, again, does the same thing, and the cycle repeats itself, ad nauseum–do you see the disconnect here?  Their are over 283 million guns in this country, with a population of 308 million.  That is not to say that all of those guns are held by irresponsible people, no, most are people just like my grandfathers’ were, men who hunted for sport, as in my grandpa Ball who was a cattle rancher in Kansas and had a giant farm and a need for a gun, to keep coyotes away from his cattle ranch.  The NRA, by in large, is not a bad organization either, in fact, it is a very important element in many novice gun owner’s lives who are not crazy, or should feel bad in any way for owing a gun.  The problem lies in the sale of the guns without background checks, at gun shows and the like, where they are purchased, then many put on a black market and then sold to criminals, real criminals like the drug cartels in Mexico, who are ruthless killers.  As these gun manufacturers make huge profits off of tragedies like the one that just happened in Tuscon, well, you get the picture that the pendulum, that warped pendulum that only needed a few tweaks, by passing the current bill coming forth by way of this tragedy, a bill that is currently, or will be soon, on the House floor, yeah, that one, the one all of you good American people who are concerned with this stuff should follow up with your congressman or Senator on, and if you need more information Google a very good man by the name of Dennis Hennigan, the Vice President of the “Brady campaign to prevent gun violence”, where, again, and I reiterate what I absorbed as Chris Hayes filled in for Keith on “Countdown, with Keith Olbermann”, only on MSNBC, brought to national focus…the problem is the intimidating NRA gun lobby in Washington D.C. that represents a tiny minority of gun owners in this country and are holding new gun legislation hostage because they, the NRA gun lobbyist represent big gun manufacturers such as Glock, Inc. out of Austria, and therefore railroad the American public into thinking that “big government is ‘coming for your guns’, via, presumably black helicopters.”  A classic form of brainwashing, mind numbing to those on the outside looking in towards insanity, for WE KNOW the warped process that is going on right now, that keeps that warped pendulum rollin’ along, like a tumblin’ tumble weed, giddy up cowboy, thwarting the national WILL on this most critical issue in a time of deep unrest and misery.  Yes, that warped pendulum that keeps on moving ignorantly back and forth, not accurately doing any “time” keeping, will prove once and again, prove that history does continue to repeat itself because no one listened, save a few, to  begin with.    My continued blessings to Gabby Giffords and her family, all of the victims of that Tuscon tragedy and all victims of violence in this country and indeed world, may YOU all be healed. Have a nice day everybody and week end!  PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  Great to be with you on this cloudy, cold day here in Osterville, a day after the miracle that occurred yesterday in Tuscon, Arizona when Gabby Giffords, the most excellent congresswoman from that great state opened up her eyes with the President of the United States, Madame leader Pelosi, Gabby’s husband and some of her closest friends were present at her hospital bed.  The miracle of this medical excellence combined with the prayers of people all over the world was not only heart breaking, in a good way, but forced us all to SEE the GOOD that this country still represents–now and forever.  I was also struck by some of the right wing leaders who spoke out to the President’s most EXCELLENT speech at the Mchale center, a part of the University of Arizona, the wildcats, who proved once again what a fine institution of higher learning, it truly is, not to mention the GREAT work of the doctors, neurosurgeons at the University Medical center in that great, tight knit college town of roughly million people on the most southern edge of again, that great state.  What was said, by even gentlemen whom I have disagreed with in the past, namely Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch, the leaders of FOX NEWS, proved that they too have a heart and do not necessarily need to be marked as villains, as it serves no real purpose other than to divide this country even further, for I too have been guilty of that and I now see it serves no real purpose in the long run.  For that, I am truly grateful and it gives me hope for this country’s future, for deep down inside, we all REALIZE that we are truly all One–“ONE nation, under GOD, indivisible, with LIBERTY and JUSTICE for ALL.” With that, I humbly wish to submit a poem, by an author, who at this moment will be considered “unknown”, for I believe that it sums up what the words of a man who walked this earthly plane over 2011 years ago really MEANT.  It is only an excerpt, however, in this light of this tragedy in Tuscon, perhaps it is appropriate at this juncture…  and it goes something like this, and keep in mind, that whether or not you are a Muslim, a Catholic, a Protestant, an agnostic, Jewish, Hindu, a Buddhist, or an atheist, it may ring a bell for you somewhere deep down inside, for I know it did me.  AND ACTION! “I have told you that I cannot receive from you, a gift which I have not already given.  If it were not so, we would not be One. And the gift of union, of Oneness, is what I came to give. And so, God gives infinite Love, which IS himself, Out of a fullness that leaves no room, For needing anything in return.  It is not possible for God, or for me, Or for anyone who understands Love, to sacrifice, for there is nothing to receive.  Don’t you see?  So God IS host to you.  God is host to me.  But, I am host to God.  And I am host to you.  Just as you are host to me.  And we are host to all brothers and sisters, Who have walked this sojourn through space and time.” Unknown...  My continued blessings and prayers from the shores of Cape Cod to Gabby, her continued recovery, to the families of the victims who are still grieving and to the rest of this nation, who will hopefully take this tragedy and see what GOOD can come out of it.   Have a nice day folks.  PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  So good to be with you on this very bright morning here in Osterville, the little tiny, tiny seaside village that you would be hard pressed to find on a map, but look no further that Hyannisport, for that is where most of this inspiration comes from.  The speech that our GREAT president gave yesterday at Mchale arena, in Tuscon, Arizona, was, in a word–GREAT. There could be no other words that gave that message to US ALL than the words he delivered to a nation still grieving over the senseless violence that has plagued our great nation, seemingly, since it’s original inception over 236 years ago.  However, WE, as a nation, have made great strides to overcome our differences, our bigotry, our hate, our fear, and most of all, our warped sense of WHO WE REALLY ARE. For if we are not the same people who stormed the beaches of Normandy during our initial involvement in World War II, then WHO ARE WE?  We are most certainly not a group of immigrants who hate one another, for to say that, is to say that you hate your neighbor, or your colleagues, or your own blood.  So, the words that Obama spoke were not only timeless, but they represent a “jumping off” point where we can ALL understand what REALLY matters in the end, and what, most certainly, does NOT.  I thought I would add a mix of the great artist Anne Murray, whom I love and cherish, since I was just a wee lad living in Stowe, Vermont, where I would listen to the words of this particularly song I am about to quote verbatim, over and over again, for it summed up how this “cowboy” really feels about LOVE, LIGHT and FROGS. enjoy.…  AND ACTION! “I cried a tear, you wiped it dry, I was confused, you cleared my mind, I sold my soul, you bought it back for me, and held me up, and gave me dignity, somehow, you needed me…  You gave me strength, to stand alone again, to face the world, out on my own again, you put me high, upon a pedestal, so high that I could almost see eternity… You needed me, You needed me…  And, I can’t believe it’s you, I can’t believe it’s true, I needed you, and you were there, and I’ll never leave why should I leave, I’d be fool, ’cause I finally found someone who REALLY cares.  You held my hand, when it was cold, when I was lost, you took me home, you gave me HOPE, when I was at the end, and turned my lies, back into to TRUTH again, you even called me friend.  You gave me strength to stand alone again, to face the world, out on my own again, you put me high, upon a pedestal, so HIGH that I could almost see ETERNITY, you needed me, you needed me, you needed me…”  and, cut, print and wrap… I wish the very best for our great FRIEND, Gabby Giffords and all of the families of this senseless act of violence.  I pray for our great country to HEAL and take this past week end to KNOW the difference LOVE and it’s opposite–for we all know what that is.   Have a great day folks.  PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M

Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket!  Great to be with you on this day of sleet and slush here on Cape Cod proper, although the folks, including my mom in Simsbury, Connecticut, have experienced over 18 inches of the white stuff… Well, it is just another day in “head in the sand” scenario of GLOBAL WARMING, or, rather, the more politically accepted premise of “Climate Change”.  Oh well, we can just tell our grandchildren that we, collectively, had our head in the metaphorical sand on that one, that we believed men like James Infhofe of Oklahoma, and, I quote his words directly, that, “global warming is the greatest hoax ever played on the “American people”… This has been a tumultuous week in this great country of ours, full of the same finger pointing, myself included, of which I regret, that is full of hate, anger, paranoia, and FEAR.  The central message that our very excellent PRESIDENT of these great UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, will most likely say , as it will come to live at 8 p.m. EST, will, again, most likely be of one word and one word only–CIVILITY. Have we seemingly lost our way to the point of no return when, in the words of GANDALF, a wizard from the very great book, written by J.R.R. Tolkien, “Fellowship of the Ring”, stated to his nemesis, “When did you abandon REASON for madness, my friend?” That is the question that SHOULD be on all of our minds tonight, as we come together, once again, in the face of yet another tragedy that ended in gunfire, putting a bullet in the head of our Gabby Giffords, who represents everything GOOD about what this country was based on to begin with, that is the question WE ALL should be asking ourselves, is this the way we want to LIVE?  I have no words for what I have watched on the very great reporting by friends of mine in the media, men and women like Keith Olbermann, Ed Shultz, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, Savannah Guthrie, Christiane Amanpour, and David Gregory–other than pure EXCELLENCE. As hard as this all is to take in, we must take a moment to realize that IF we don’t stop the madness beyond the mountains, the insane gun laws that are ripping this nation apart, via the most effective lobby in Washington D.C., today, the NRA, we will find ourselves back in the stone ages of Afghanistan, a 4th century country that believes in stoning women, killing anyone who does not believe in “their” way of “thinking”, and propelling all of those great TRUISMS expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America into the virtual toilet of history–proving that is was all just a big waste of time, this “American experiment” of democracy, and all of the sacrifices we made in World War Two and all of the other horrible wars we have been involved in for our entire history, a short history of 236 years, were in vain, and that we really did not believe in those values to begin with.  I have grieved for the victims of this senseless act of violence and I can tell you this– I AM NOT ALONE. I speak for no one but myself, I have no political “agenda”, I have no sponsors, no boss, no “angle”… I wonder if the same could be said for the Rush Limbaugh’s of the world, not to mention Glenn Beck, who spread their VITRIOLIC HATE our over the airwaves on a daily basis–and it begs the question, don’t you think, WHO DO THEY WORK FOR? The man behind the curtain, that’s who, men like the Austrian owner of GLOCK Inc., providing killing machines to this country for over 50 years now.  May GOD be with the victims of this memorial service in Tuscon, Arizona today and may he continue to TRULY inspire the people on the fence to SEE the truth, those who don’t understand the words coming out of OUR mouths.  Have a great day and be at peace.  PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M