Sidetracked Charley

Dawns on me there is a reason this blog is named Sidetracked Charley. I can be easily diverted. As I compose this in my mind I am playing with my cat, Thicke, and his kitty whip. We all have lives and responsibilities. We are not the Delhi Lama on a mountain top. No one drops offerings of food within our easy reach. And most people who get involved in resistance movements are already involved in a myriad of other socially responsible causes. I was deeply involved in the arts and within one group on the board. We were trying to get an art center for our community. Those responsibilities got taken away from me recently. Plus side is I am more time to spend on resistance. Downside is I regret being shoved out of groups I still feel deeply committed two after working toward a goal for almost a decade. Playing with the cat is sanity producing. Blogging is sanity producing. Being forced out of something you believe in is devastating. This week is about mourning that. And the loss of ...

Dad taught me to play poker. And the rule book was Hoyle . We were a game playing family and we wore out several rule books. And with board games we constantly referred to the official rules which came with the game. They were generally printed on the inside of the top of the box. I learned quickly when playing any game at a friend's house to find out the house or table rules before agreeing to play because not everyone played according to Hoyle . And if the "dealer" (usually the house we played at or the owner of the game) was not willing to state the table rules and stick to them I didn't play. I have always been a stickler about the rules. As a citizen of the United States I consider the rules to be the Constitution with its amendments. Political parties should follow the rules. But they haven't this year. They haven't for a while. Watergate was a wake up call for me. Nixon calling out the National Guard to quell peaceful peace marches in Washingt...

Down the rabbit hole or Up the sucker hole Or neither. Pills to make you large Ones  to make you small happy or high. Books to bring you low quotes to take you up drinks so you can ignore it all. News  to make you angry sermons to make you right politicians to insure you are wrong. Choices Left or right red or blue right or wrong None of the above. Like this share that Amen or not Say Goodnight, Gracie. Jacqui Binford-Bell September 2016

A wronged witch of the south and A wretched fool of the north. Side by side behind the dais stood Toe to toe Nose to nose. Arguing their differences before a hired audience  fools Questions and answers all scripted in double speak. This cannot end well The commentators behind the scenes whispered One is losing his sanity The other her mind. And so as the disenfranchised watched in growing  horror helpless To find a way out of the capital the nation for which it stood burned. Ashes, ashes it all fell down. J. Binford-Bell August 2016

A Tale of Three A clown, a crone, a scribe One seeking consent another a coronation the third a rewriting of a dark future. The Clown and the Crone engage in battle royal each creating new ways to cheat the Scribe counted coup. The Clown laughed as he stirred the pot a witches brew an evil stew nothing new. The Crone crowed my turn, mine texted hexes denied accusations as crones would do. The Scribe smiled pointing out the truth a bird landed on the speech upon the podium. The crowd was not appeased they wanted blood they cowered when the Crone cackled You must follow me. To the cliff they went The Clown flipping  somersaults The scribe numbling no, no, no The Crone yelling I am your savior. Who's the fool? J. Binford-Bell July 2016

Dad used to joke that voting just encouraged them. But my parents always voted. And both at least outside the voting booth proclaimed to be Democrats. Mother was even precinct chairwoman at one time. We lived in a Republican neighborhood and it got all the windows broken out of both cars and red paint smeared across our driveway and sidewalk. I had to quit the senior girl scouts because of my parents' politics. I was always an introvert but due to Kennedy running for President virtually became a recluse. I figured the Republicans were responsible for Kennedy getting assassinated and never forgave LBJ because my friends from Dallas said it was his idea. But after college I went to work for a Republican Senator who cosponsored the bill to end the war in Vietnam. And I found myself hanging with a liberal group of young Republicans. I always figured it was more about the platform than the party. Now nobody talks about the platform. It is all about personalities. I don't lik...

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. Abraham Lincoln - The Gettysburg Address I say this every election. Nobody cares. But I feel compelled to say it again because the DNC has taken possession of my inbox on two email accounts. And in spite of promises they have made in the last couple of days I doubt I will get them back for my use because the 2016 presidential race will formally kick off. BTW when does any politician actually govern instead of run for office?  Election laws have to change. And not the way they recently were changed by Citizens United and the SCOTUS. We as a nation began this dubious experiment when it took two years o...

Before you ask the above picture has nothing to do with this blog but no way was I leading off with a picture of Romney. And the topic has nothing to do with Obama. But it does occur to me in the Pirates of the Caribbean series that the pirates were good losers and the Brits weren't. My childhood was a lot about becoming a good loser or being good enough to not lose and wise enough to choose my contests. I had for a brother the absolute worst of winners. So it did not help me learning to be gracious at losing. I am not sure how many Monopoly boards Dad threw away before I learned to never play that game again. I am not sure how but I know my brother cheated. And I gave up tennis when I discovered it was never wise to go on a tennis date. Try as she might mother never convinced me of the wisdom of losing at anything to please a man. But I digress. This blog is not about my sportsmanship or even solely about Romney's lack there of. Though he is certainly a prime exam...