The score was 390 to 5.
Wow - What was the game?
The U.S. House of Representatives rushing to endorse a motion
“Recognising Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza, reaffirming the United States’ strong support for Israel, and supporting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.”
Four Democrats and a lone Republican voted against.
A million and a half people in Gaza. Three quarters of a million people now have no water. How long can anyone live without water?
“No room to rest my head - no floor for my feet to tread”
I’m sorry that my mind keeps presenting blunt facts before my uneasily, vaguely complacent life. I’m sorry that I can do little but voice these trains of thought.
“No room to rest my head - no floor for my feet to tread” .... this is the first line of one of my songs - just recorded - called “It’s fine.”
It’s a fast chunky song which has a guitar riff which I described to Bob as ‘really off but really comes back on.’ - not very descriptive I know, but Bob ‘got it’ and responded that he’d done a few ‘it’s fine’ approaches before having the inspirational flash to make the riff ‘not fine.’. This, in turn gave me a huge chuckle as I explained to Bob that the original title of the song had been “It’s fine - must be standing on Jupiter.” .... giving rise to the vision of Bob playing his mighty riff on electric guitar as he slowly sinks into the surface of Jupiter ..... creating, no doubt, an electrical storm as he and the neck of the guitar dissipate into highly charged particles.
I find it wonderfully strange that the original impulse for the song came from the resolve that we sometimes get which suggests that we can rise above anything. It’s a bit more than the false bravado of denial of reality and it’s a bit different to the grim sense of having nothing but the body I stand in and the spirit I express.
Jupiter - as the King of the planets and ‘the dispenser of all good things.’ is, ironically, not suitable to visit in our bodily form.
So - even though ‘it’s fine.’ - the underlying reality which prompts that expression is - at best - ‘not altogether fine.....and could perhaps be better’
The struggle to endure has hope as part of the foundation.
My eyes welled with the shared emotion of millions around the world who expressed joy at the election of President Obama. The hope that he is a ‘decent’ man in every sense of the word is part of that common joy.