This Is Exactly Where Superstitions Come From, People!

I want to direct your attention today to the lower left block in this diagram -- the corner illustrating DESTRUCTIVE ORDER.  The pentagram with the lightning bolt through it reminds us that looking at an essentially Chaotic scene through the lens of Order, in the attempt to IMPOSE Order, can SCREW YOU UP WORSE THAN JUST STICKING WITH THE ORIGINAL CHAOS.


So here's how my life lesson went:  The other day I was heading back to the office from an appointment, driving an agency car.  When I was stopped at a really busy intersection, a lady in a van collided with me.  Lightly.  The back bumper of the car I was driving lost some paint.  Nobody was hurt.  No biggie. 


So, making light of the situation, I loaded this album into my CD player:

For grins, I played "Always Crashing In The Same Car" from that album, again and again, in the days following the collision.  I finally tired of the joke and changed over to a different disc before heading out today for another appointment.  I stopped at a really busy intersection, and the car behind me collided with me.  Lightly.  Not even the paint was scratched this time.  The other driver was stopping as well, probably quite safely, when yet another lady driving yet another van bumped into HER from behind.

I thought about people driving vans and asked myself, seriously, why they always want to drive so close behind you.  (That question has actually bothered me for years.)  I wondered why everyone these days feels compelled to talk on the phone while they drive.  The driver who hit me a few days ago was on the phone when she hit me, and the driver of today's van had her phone in her hand suspiciously fast, I thought, when she popped out to ask if she ought to call the cops.  I wondered what evil star was raising a ruckus in my horoscope today.  After getting my complaint number from a very nice state trooper, I found myself driving home by a route not typical for me. Normally I avoid it because of a particular left turn that can be quite hazardous.  I told myself it would take me past the post office, and in any case I can't let myself give in to fear by avoiding a scary intersection because I just got into a car crash.  That way lies madness.  But it hit me (pardon the expression) as I approached the intersection I normally avoid:  When I got into the collision last week, this is where I pulled in to wait for the police to come and take a report.  And I caught myself wondering whether I was asking for it by playing that particular David Bowie song. 

It was then I noticed how many superstitious seeds I was planting in my own mind.  You water that shit and it'll turn into a nightmare of kudzu, growing in excess of a foot a day and crawling with markedly peevish snakes.  And when I say kudzu, I mean some really ridiculous beliefs that have you seeing ominous Order in things that are really pretty random.

Remember, peeps, that sometimes an accident is just an accident.  Keep that thought in your back pocket for future use. 

The mind you save may be your own.

Burn It All Down To The Ground!

People tell me that some hardcore liberals -- staunch Bernie Sanders supporters -- are so tired of Washington "business as usual" that if Bernie does not win the nomination, they are planning to vote for Donald Trump.  That kind of trips me out, but it makes a certain kind of sense.  Either candidate is all about taking the system by the ankles and shaking it upside down -- or maybe tearing it down to the ankles and rebuilding from scratch.  But are they really anything alike otherwise? Once they rebuilt the systems according to their own agendas, would the end results be anything the same? Could they even have lunch together without disaster?

And do the voters understand this?

I have to say I'm laying this at the door of Barack Obama.  He's been the most upfront, transparent, email-me-anytime president we've ever had, bar none.  When Capitol Hill gridlock keeps him from getting business done, he goes ahead and does it anyway...AND is open to discussion about it afterwards.   When there's a howling mob outside his door saying WE WANT HEALTH INSURANCE or FIX THE ECONOMY, he listens and finds a way to (mostly) make that happen without a lot of politicking.  His attitude since the midterm elections that packed the House and Senate with right-wing haters has been "Oh, you're not playing ball today?  Neither am I.  Eat THIS." That's sort of the same thing Bernie and Donald are talking about, but I wonder if they've got the chops Obama has.

 

We shall see!

 

Trump Almost Trumps Himself

On a day I certainly hope no one will forget, Count Trumpula managed to give the American people 3 totally different positions on abortion in one day -- at a rate of about 1 position per hour, in fact:

• If abortion is outlawed, SAITH THE TRUMPSTER, there should be some sort of punishment involved.  Only for the women.  What he didn't say was whether he meant the woman having the abortion or the woman providing it.  He rather left out male abortion providers, males who caused the pregnancies and who may be paying for the women's abortions -- or even forcing them -- or males who deprive the healthcare system of birth-control options that are bound to make the number of unplanned pregnancies skyrocket.

• SAITH THE TRUMPSTER, "I am pro-life with exceptions, which I have outlined numerous times."  (When?  While brokering real estate deals?  While dumping your latest trophy wife?)  At this point he said the states should decide individually.  Remember, Donny, if you're elected to be the leader of the free world, THE BUCK STOPS WITH YOU.  Suddenly I realize why this power-hungry ogre aligned himself with the Republican party.  Not because he's a rich guy, but because he doesn't want to be at the center of a relatively powerful central gummint of the type favored by Democrats.  It would mean too much responsibility if he were a Democrat.

• SAITH THE TRUMPSTER, "If Congress were to pass legislation making abortion illegal and the federal courts upheld this legislation, or any state were permitted to ban abortion under state and federal law, the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman...The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb," Trump said. "My position has not changed -- like Ronald Reagan, I am pro-life with exceptions."  Umm, 'kay. 

Far be it from me to agree readily to anything Jeb Bush says, but I have to side with him on this.  Donald Trump is truly a Chaos candidate.  Once more, I challenge my readers to picture this guy sitting at a summit meeting with world leaders like Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel.  He'd make for better comic relief than a football mascot dressed in a chicken suit.