Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Travesty

travesty - burlesque or ludicrous treatment of a serious work or subject; any grotesque or debased imitation. French: travest - dressed to appear ridiculous.

Sometimes a series of events gets us so angry and frustrated that we can't see straight and we have to sound off. We're sounding off here not as dancing Wiccans but as private citizens of the United States. The recent flap over "Should we negotiate with terrorists or should we blast them out of existence?" is a travesty.
Do you remember when Libya under Gadafi was the foremost terrorist nation and they were shopping for nuclear armament? First Washington tried to bomb his house. When that failed, guess what? We negotiated. Gadafi promised to be a good boy and not to go looking for nuclear arms. Last month Mr. Gadafi wrote to George W. Bush complaining that the United States had reneged on the earlier deal, because the Senate in its wisdom was going to allow companies doing business with Libya to be sued for past transgressions.
Do you remember when North Korea was part of the "axis of evil"? Madeleine Albright negotiated an agreement with that nation; by it they would not pursue nuclear technology in return for food and for aid with oil. The Republicans reneged on that deal, but North Korea rattled its sabers, and lo and behold, we negotiated with them. The deal benefited this nation less than the one the Democratic administration had concluded.
Now it's reported that Washington is negotiating with the terrorists in Iraq--in fact we are paying them not to attack American military troops--paying them in cold hard American tax dollars.
Another subject we see in the news is materials supposedly supplied by Iran to terrorists in Iraq. It is suggested that Iran either made these themselves or got them from Russia or China. Why then are the packing crates stenciled in English, in the Roman alphabet?--not in an Arabic alphabet, not in the cyrillic alphabet, not in Chinese characters, but in Roman letters. Were those materials stolen from U. S. stockpiles, or even materials supplied to Iraq in the days when we were friendly with Saddam Hussein?
One last bitch while we're letting off steam. We wrote a blog a few weeks ago about the lady buying dog food to eat. Part of her problem is that she receives a Social Security check which gets adjusted for the cost of living. It sounds wonderful--a system perfect and benign. There's just one minor problem. The CoLA that our enlightened government uses does not figure in the price of food or fuel. Apparently, in Washington's Olympian indifference, these are not essential items to be calculated. In our CoLA all we Frosts can do is go out into the garden and beat the tomato plants so they'll give us an adequate crop this year. But you, my friends, can do something more emphatic. You can tell everyone what unadulterated BS the Republican stance of not-negotiating with terrorists really is. They've done it; they're doing it; actually it has worked.
You may rest assured, of course, that the administration has read both the Koran and Mao's Little Red Book. From the Koran source, "One sword is worth 10,000 words." From the Little Red Book, "Trouble at home? Start a war."
Okay; we've gotten it out of our systems. It does make us feel better ... until we turn on the news again. If you aren't angry, and if you're not planning to vote, boys and girls, you're not paying attention. As St. Timothy Leary said (whom that same Gadafi saved from the CIA and the Black Panthers), "Hold your nose and vote."
Ah well. Just keep payin' your taxes; everything will be okay. Blessed be. Gavin and Yvonne

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Bulletin from the Garden

We're finally back from Florida Pagan Gathering (FPG), the best one yet. See flapagan.org to learn the particulars of the sponsoring organization, Temple of Earth Gathering. The site is a fantastically beautiful one within Ocala National Forest. All praise to the hard-working, creative staff.
At FPG's bardic circle we enjoyed a lot of bass guitars. What ever happened to saxes? to trumpets? to drums? to all the other instruments? And by the way, what ever happened to intelligible lyrics? A respected music teacher once told Yvonne's glee club,
"Instruments can make music. Humans can make words."
The most beautiful singing voice on earth is meaningless and insulting if the words are indistinguishable.
We saw fewer children on site than in earlier years. Is that because the parents just want to party? Our kids are the future, in spirituality, in creativity, in play as well as in the whole mundane-world culture. If we don't bring them to festivals, we'll lose them to the Muggles and the conformists. Is that what you hope for your descendants (shudder)? Granted, they may see naked people--if they actively seek out the concealed area. And yes, they may get naked themselves. Quel horreur! Sometimes we grind our teeth in such frustration with American "morality"--that is, with inflicted cultural prudishness--that we want to bang our heads against the nearest wall. Didn't thinking "alternative" people learn anything at all from Prohibition and its fallout?
We're planning a trip to Europe this autumn. We'll get to be on a naturist beach in Brittany where gendarmes come down and run off anyone in clothes--the "textiles". It's a glorious feeling on a sunny autumn day to experience sea, sun, breeze on natural bodies. There's a picture postcard available (in Brittany) showing a nude man holding the hand of his nude daughter paddling in the waves. It is untitled; no title is necessary.
Let your kids have that gift at festival. Outgrow cultural assumptions when it is appropriate. Lay aside the shalt-nots of "normal" people. We've seen "normal"--and it's not for the faint of heart.
On our return to West Virginia the lawn was a foot tall, of course; and the snap peas (mange-tout) had grown about two feet. Because our daughter Jo had carefully covered the tomato plants, they in turn were not damaged by a late frost. We're looking forward to a heavy crop. This year again, we planted each with a Tums tablet at its base to furnish the calcium that prevents blossom-end rot. (All this is gardener-jargon. Ignore it if your interests lie elsewhere.) Adding a few tomato-leaf tips to your green salad will help with any lack of calcium; and we all know that a deficiency of calcium is the defining factor for osteoporosis in people of all genders. Don't add too many leaves, though. An excess can upset your tummy.
While we were away the asparagus buds did not get harvested, so more of it went to seed than we usually let happen. In one way asparagus resembles rhubarb: They both need infinite patience. It is best to wait two years before you crop either of them, even when you start them from good root stock.
Blessed be each one who seeks. Gavin and Yvonne