Enter those with open minds and open hearts.
The door is never locked.
If thine eyes be blind, thy mind be closed,
and thy heart be bitter,
turn away unless thou seekest a new path.
News, Thoughts, Opinions,
Fact-Checks, and Other Oddities
by BB Curtis
A Country That May Be in Her Final Death Throes
by BB Curtis
Lyrics written January 6, 2021, Approx. 12:20 PM PST
[To the tune of The Star-Spangled Banner]
Oh say, can you see
Our beloved country?
O’er the TV we watched
As it fell in the shitter.
There’s a man here in charge
And king would he be.
If we are under God
Then where the hell is he?
There is death and destruction.
There is inflicted pain.
The heartbreaking scenes
Will ne’er leave my brain.
Oh say does our Star-Spangled
Banner yet wave?
Do we still have a land
Of the free and the brave?
After hours of watching one of the most frightening things I’ve ever seen happening live, this parody of the US National Anthem started flooding my brain. I wrote it down as quickly as I could to try to not forget any of the lyrics. I then tucked it away, trying to tone down some of the noise in my head, my heart, and my soul.
How to Grow a Healthy Government
by BB Curtis
Here’s the video with the polling numbers and public opinion details. Please watch this first then come back to this page and read on.
Here’s the biggest problem that I can see that happens repeatedly in politics, among other things. Boebert’s constituents weren’t entirely happy with her first term performance, but they voted for her again and gave her another chance ( how cute!), thinking that she’d become more professional and drop the crazy. That is NEVER going to happen, and here’s why. The voters just rewarded her for her ridiculous behavior. What’s her interpretation of winning her second bid for office? THIS: See! The voters love me and appreciate what I’ve been doing. They just gave me another term in office they were so pleased. I need to step it up a notch or two.
© 2023 Bobbi Bartsch Curtis. All Rights Reserved.
Woke, Liberal, Far-Right, Conservative
It’s All a Big Mess
by BB Curtis
Let’s start with “woke.” The word is “awakened” or “awake” or “enlightened,” but not “woke.” Even buzzwords and phrases need to be grammatically correct, or they sound stupid, like being grammatically incorrect and belonging to the seriously under-educated. We don’t have to dumb down everything.
© 2023 Bobbi Bartsch Curtis. All Rights Reserved.
Did it Backfire?
by BB Curtis
The making of laws is an arduous task. When attempting to address an issue, one must take care to view that issue from all sides and be extremely diligent in how the law is worded. This is particularly important when amending a constitution. It is essential that the intent of the law is for the common good; that possibilities for misinterpretation are eliminated; that the rights of all are taken into consideration and protected; and that those writing the bill and then voting to make it a law take a prognosticator’s approach, attempting to see what the law/amendment will bring to future generations in addition to its impact on current people and events. The 13th and 14th Amendments created some issues that were unintentional as they attempted to create fair and equal treatment to those who were just released from slavery, in some ways creating new types of slavery through lack of forethought. There are a rather large number of laws that might have been inspected more thoroughly before they were put into action, but I’ve selected one – a Nevada state law concerning overtime pay.
© 2023 Bobbi Bartsch Curtis. All Rights Reserved.
Looking from a Carlin Perspective
Spin Class
by BB Curtis
When I first heard that expression, “Spin Class,” I thought it might have something to do with a dance-like exercise program with, maybe, some ballet moves such as pirouettes or one of those twisting disc exercise devices where the teacher has choreographed the workout to include a balance of moves. Well, much to my dismay, it is a class on riding a stationary bike. Do we need lessons in riding a bike that goes nowhere? This isn’t something where we can just get on the stationary bike that is part of the standard equipment in any gym anywhere and pump, pump, pump our legs for a specific length of time? These stationary bikes, in nearly every case, have some type of computerized settings that increase/decrease the tension so that it runs from beginner to expert and can also emulate going up and down hills, etc., along with a built-in timer. We are not able to do this on our own? I can’t imagine why one needs to pay extra to be in a room with strangers and a teacher to tell everyone how to sit on a bike that goes nowhere and move your feet around in circles. I can’t think of words dumb enough to express how incredibly stupid that sounds. I can’t.
© 2023 Bobbi Bartsch Curtis. All Rights Reserved.
No Moral Authority
by BB Curtis
I think we have a huge problem. We have many immoral and illegal acts taking place and the perpetrators think they are not at fault and should be treated as though they are honorable. We have adult men acting like pubescent boys as though what they are doing is wonderful, necessary, and useful. In fact, they blast all over the place what they are doing no matter how desperately inappropriate their actions are. They are all proud of themselves and gloating about what they’ve done. Then, they act surprised when they are called out for their actions and/or are arrested and pulled into court. I am, of course, mostly referencing those who attacked the US Capital on January 6, 2021, which I consider to be one of the most heinous acts the USA has ever seen in such close proximity to our highest level of legislators.
© 2023 Bobbi Bartsch Curtis. All Rights Reserved.
The Perfect Call
by BB Curtis
Trump has used that phrase many times about a few famous calls. He brought it back up again in the CNN “town hall” on May 10, 2023, which I didn’t watch on purpose. I saw a replay of part of a clip where he refers to the perfect call between him and the Georgia officials concerning finding votes for him and got PO’d all over again. I don’t know about you; but, not only have I never heard anyone else call a phone call “perfect”, I have never described a phone call as “perfect” even though I’ve worked in management in several customer service places of business and in third party collections for a few different companies where all we did was speak to people on the phone either selling something or selling people on paying their past due bills. I’m sure you’ve all heard the outgoing recorded messages concerning phone calls being recorded for training purposes. Those positions have ongoing training for the life of the position. Still, there were no “perfect” calls.
© Bobbi Bartsch Curtis, 2023. All Rights Reserved.
Put a Hold on the Rhetoric
Find the Substance
by BB Curtis
A few years back, Fox News called itself “Fair and Balanced” while calling 1/2 the US population Dims repeatedly all day long – sometimes in the same breath. If you didn’t get that blatant evidence of pure bullshit, I feel sorry for you. It is a pity that so many people can deceive themselves so convincingly that they run around spouting the other bullshit that a self-proclaimed entertainment network jokingly calls news. Some have been able to self-convince so profoundly that they listen intently to what has been determined by representatives of Fox in a court of law to be fake news, but nearly all other news networks are the fake news thanks to the repetition from one person with a big voice without regard for truth or facts. Wow.
© Bobbi Bartsch Curtis, 2023. All Rights Reserved.
Internet Inaccuracy
by BB Curtis
The making-up stories behavior that starts in early childhood before a child is aware that adults can usually tell the truth from a fabrication generally gets left behind as the child gets older and realizes that lying isn’t getting him/her a positive. However, over the last couple of decades or so I’ve come to see that there’s an inordinately large number of adults who missed that growth phase. I’ll use this as an example because it’s rather easy to fact-check and not politically based. During the Iraq war, this was circulating like hotcakes. I got it in email form more than five times overall from people who didn’t know each other. None of these people bothered to fact-check or even question it, but I did before I sent it out to anyone since it seemed so, I’ll be blunt, stupid. Here’s what the email contained:
© Bobbi Curtis 2022, All Rights Reserved.
Let’s Just Work to Solve the Problem
by BB Curtis
I believe that one of the top three reasons for the US Congress and Supreme Court having the issues they have boils down to this: In 1789 when these two entities were set up, the life expectancy was late 50s. It’s now 76 for the average male in the United States. Now that we have people in Congress and on the bench who are outliving that expectancy by 30-plus years, we need term limits.
© Bobbi Bartsch Curtis, 2022, all rights reserved.
Back in Vogue
by BB Curtis
People are getting on my last fuckin’ nerve. When the planet is about to catch fire, we want to find more petty bullshit to create issues – incredibly, some that don’t exist. John Leguizamo is bitching about a non-Latino playing Castro. Is he upset that he’s not in the news enough lately and needed to get some air time? Did he lose the role to James Franco? What’s his damage (to use some old-ass vernacular)?
© Bobbi Bartsch Curtis, 2022, all rights reserved.
Much Needed History Lessons
by BB Curtis
Lousiana State University
I was seven (7) years old when this letter was written. Please stop to read it. SOME of us who are not Black do remember the bullshit that Black people have gone through and thought it was bullshit from the first time we saw it or heard about it.
© Bobbi Bartsch Curtis, 2022, all rights reserved.
How much do our representatives in the
US Congress really know?
by BB Curtis
Every once in a while, when not paying full attention, one’s ears and brain pick up on a seemingly paltry statement that, when revisited, takes on intensified importance. That happened this morning. I wakened early – a lot early – and decided to get to my desk and take care of my daily ritual before the sun came up. I usually listen to a couple news shows on YouTube and then let it take me where ever it wants to go. I ended up on PBS’s coverage of a debate on Roe v. Wade. Please don’t stop reading because you have an ingrained opinion on this topic or are tired of it. This is not about Roe v. Wade.
© Bobbi Bartsch Curtis, 2022, all rights reserved.
What a Damned Good Beating Really Looks Like
by BB Curtis
I have a little something for Amber Heard. This is the progress of having the shit smashed out of you. The first photo is about two hours after being smacked around and in a hospital ER, which is where you go when that happens. The second photo is a couple of days later and for a few weeks as it continues to bleed internally and the swelling has decreased only enough for the individual to be able to partially open her eye. Notice the broken blood vessels in the eye as well while the bleeding continues. The third one, taken about five months after the incident, is the leftover damage that can last for months to years. Notice the remainder of tissue damage on the lower lid right below the iris of the eye, on the edge of the upper lid above and to the right of the iris where it is still darker than the other skin, and in the outer corner where there’s discoloration, both light and dark, partially because of the underlying tissue damage where it was stressed from the swelling.
© Bobbi Bartsch Curtis, 2022, all rights reserved.
MAKE IT STOP
WE HAVE THE POWER!
by BB Curtis
I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m sick and damned tired of “both sides of the aisle” being separated on matters of blood and guts and brain splatter.
Congress: Get your shit together and save lives that are being taken away by idiots showing off their WMDs designed to destroy as many human lives as possible in a short time.
© Bobbi Bartsch Curtis, 2022, all rights reserved.
REALLY?
Is this the best we’ve got?
If It’s News then It’s News
(if not, say so)
by BB Curtis
If you are going to call yourself a news station or network, then report the news. Merriam-Webster says:
news|
noun, plural in form but singular in construction, often attributive
\ ˈnüz , ˈnyüz \
Definition of news
1a: a report of recent events
gave her the good news
b: previously unknown information
I’ve got news for you
c: something having a specified influence or effect
the rain was good news for lawns and gardens— Garrison Keillor
the virus was bad news
©Bobbi Bartsch Curtis, 2022, All Rights Reserved
The Shame of the Supreme Court
The six Republican appointees are intent on returning America to the stone age
by Robert Reich
Click here to read the whole article!
It is important in so many ways.
Dogs ARE Better Than People
by BB Curtis
Some days bring to light small miracles and/or proof that I’ve been right all along. I’ve always liked animals more than people.
© Bobbi Bartsch Curtis, 2022, all rights reserved.
Feelings of Superiority
by BB Curtis
As humans, we look around and see what we have invented, what we have built, and what we do each and every day that no other type of earthly creature has ever done nor can do. We are full of our abilities and full of ourselves. We are the mighty, the brilliant, the powerful. Look at the technology we have at our fingertips – we can even control time, well, to some degree. Our TVs will now pause and replay what is happening in real-time, so we’re getting there. We can go to sites where we can map our trips and see actual satellite photos of the terrain through which we will drive as we do so, not a map that was drawn by a person. We see the real thing – mountains, rivers, buildings, even cars and trucks on the road we will be traveling. The list is virtually endless. Each time we conceive of something, another greater accomplishment looms in the very near future. (Oh, but we haven’t cured the Common Cold because think of how much money the pharmaceutical companies would lose every year if they could no longer sell all those multitudes of symptom-treating chemicals . . . or cancer, or diabetes, or AIDS, or – OK, that list is just about endless too.)
© Bobbi Curtis 2015, All Rights Reserved
The Shadow Knows
by BB Curtis
In 1930 a radio show began that was a mainstay in the United States for 24 years. At one time, one of the most famous voices on the radio was The Shadow – Orson Welles: “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!” The Shadow could read minds and become invisible. He solved mysteries. He was a pretty talented guy with a great speaking voice. Although this is the not the Shadow of our discussion, we are going to address some of that evil that lurks.
© Bobbi Curtis 2015, All Rights Reserved
DEFINING YOURSELF
by BB Curtis
They (whoever “they” are) say, “Always be yourself?” Sometimes “they” are wrong. Sometimes “they” are a little loony. In this case, however, “they” are absolutely correct. Being yourself not only means that you do not have to put on a façade everywhere you go, but it means that you do not have to change facades in mid-stream when you happen across someone from another walk of your life at a time when you did not expect it. This means that you do not have to remember a lie. Not being yourself is a lie, a cover-up. It can get so bad with some that they begin to believe the lie, and they lose themselves entirely in a pseudo-self, never finding satisfaction nor being happy inside their own skin. At worst, there are a few impressive-sounding psychoses, which may endanger a person’s quality of life to the point of spending one’s days weaving baskets in the nice, white building with the nice nurses issuing tranquilizers and the nice, young men in the white coats. At the very least one lives an empty life, not quite fulfilled, not quite satisfied, not quite happy, not quite comfortable.
© Bobbi Curtis 2015, All Rights Reserved
YOUR BEST
by BB Curtis
We all know that doing our best should be a regular practice. We have our lazy days, though, when we feel that we can slide by with a little less than 100%. We come up with all sorts of excuses for not doing our best. We blame everybody else . . . the kids kept me up late; the dog barked all morning and then puked on the carpet right before I had to leave the house; I’m having a bad hair day. We decide that 99% will do.
© Bobbi Curtis 2009, All Rights Reserved
The Lessons We Refuse to Learn
by BB Curtis
We’ve heard the cliché that we must play with the hand life deals to us. This is true in some regards. Most women who are 5’3” don’t have much chance to play professional basketball. Those with an average IQ are not often asked to join a think tank and work on world problems. Many other examples come to mind, but the point is that we do each have certain limitations by which our lives are governed to some degree. However, if you find yourself continually being stopped, hampered, or made miserable by a specific, recurring dilemma, especially if you find yourself saying, “Oh, for God’s sake, not this same garbage again!” then it’s probably time to look more deeply within.
© Bobbi Curtis 2015, All Rights Reserved
Maybe That’s the Best They Can Do
by BB Curtis
It is said that we should be careful for what we ask that we might just get it. Here is another that bears watching. Be careful of negative feelings toward people we dislike, for we or someone we love might just turn into that person. It has happened many times in my life and has been mentioned to me by friends and acquaintances on far too many occasions to be ignored.
© Bobbi Curtis 2015, All Rights Reserved
Gifts
by BB Curtis
There’s a lovely Christmas song that extols the virtues of making every day “just like Christmas, what a wonderful world this would be.” Some of us think immediately of the expense involved, not only the money but also the time and planning. Others of us have nightmares about the cooking and baking, the traffic, the long lines in the stores, the agony of the decisions. Some of us have problems spending holidays with certain of our family members and develop a hard-core twitch at just the thought of having to spend every Christmas Day with Aunt Sybil who has diarrhea at both ends, and the smell of her breath gives testament to the fact. We all, of course, understand the true sentiment: keeping the spirit of giving alive all year, being loving and accepting of others and our differences, and appreciating our relationships with others. How do we keep this alive every day?
© Bobbi Curtis 2015, All Rights Reserved
Dropped Into Still Waters
The Ripple Effect
By BB Curtis
In a world of six billion people, it’s easy to believe that the only way to initiate profound transformation is to take extreme action. Each of us, however, carries within us the capacity to change the world in small ways for better or worse. Everything we do and think affects the people in our lives, and their reactions in turn affect others. As the effect of a seemingly insignificant word passes from person to person, its impact grows and can become a source of great joy, inspiration, anxiety, or pain.
© Bobbi Curtis 2015, All Rights Reserved
IS IT TIME FOR A CHANGE?
By BB Curtis
Life can be hectic, unsettling, confusing, disheartening, and downright overpowering. There are issues at home, issues at work, and issues with or surrounding people we love. We are expected to do too much in too little time. We get less and less sleep, either from having too much to do or because our minds are constantly trying to figure out what we can do to make things right and never really relax enough to get some solid sleep. We suffer physical and emotional pain for ourselves and for those we love. We just have too much happening!
When we already feel down, tired, and maybe depressed, it is that much harder to accomplish what we must. We fall further and further behind creating more stress. It’s time for a change!
© Bobbi Bartsch Curtis 2015, All Rights Reserved
Not Innocent at Any Step of the Way
Unless you’re Wealthy, Then you’re Free to Go
by BB Curtis
There’s an intrinsic truth to the fact that the law is not fair and that our justice system is broken. It incorporates a glaring systemic issue: Without wealth, one cannot expect justice. In addition, this is not something new. Here’s part of an article published in 1994 with a quote from a book published in 1978.
Nationwide, no one seems to have made a systematic study of the finances of the executed, or of the 2,700 condemned prisoners. But veteran practitioners and scholars agreed they’d never heard of a wealthy person on Death Row.
“I don’t know of any affluent people who have been sentenced to death,” said Walter Berns, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington and author of the 1978 book “For Capital Punishment.”
“The death penalty is for poor people,” said Stephen Bright, director of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta and a defense lawyer in capital cases for 15 years.
From <https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-09-11-mn-37106-story.html>
© Bobbi Bartsch Curtis 2023, All Rights Reserved
When Is Too Long?
by BB Curtis
In a world of hurry and a land that is lauded as being of plenty, when do we stop, look around and say, “It’s been too long!” I think the time is now.
As I listen to the news on the radio and read about it on the internet, playing videos from news sites around the world, my mind spins faster than one of those tornadoes that hit Garland, Texas. What have we become? Where are we going? How do we return to a path of love after so many paths of hate? I do not necessarily have answers to these questions. What I have is faith enough in all of you to know that we can make things change.
© Bobbi Bartsch Curtis 2015, All Rights Reserved
The Strangest Things . . .
by BB Curtis
I don’t know if the rest of you have noticed a trend over the years, but many of my friends, associates, and I can certainly testify to some very strange energy running around. The least likely seems to have become normal. What we had thought to be the most obvious appears now to be obscure. Any truths are now falsehoods. Laws of physics and logic no longer apply. Additionally, this oddball energy started about ten years ago and has become worse over time. We’re currently seeing police officers acting as though it’s appropriate to shoot small children without provocation and people who are running for public office ranting, raving, flailing, and screaming outright prejudice while insisting that they are not racist or prejudiced. Allow me to tender some examples from the beginning of the strangest things.
© Bobbi Bartsch Curtis 2015, All Rights Reserved
Rebirth of a People
by BB Curtis
While much of the Northern Hemisphere is blanketed in snow and the Earth rests beneath, we enter the time of year for rebirth and renewal. Many of Earth’s creatures take this time to slow down. Some hibernate. Others have burrows or caves that they stocked with food during the late summer and fall months and retire there to avoid the freezing temperatures outside. With fewer hours of natural light, the time we humans can spend on outdoor activities becomes more limited. As the year comes to a close, we tend to review our accomplishments and start to re-establish our goals for the coming year. If we follow the cycle, we, too, should be slowing down, taking time out, gathering our energies, renewing our internal resources, rethinking, restructuring, and rebirthing.
© Bobbi Bartsch Curtis 2015, All Rights Reserved
Seek Within
by BB Curtis
As the news becomes more and more horrendous in reference to how our government has failed our troops and the rest of our country, I am reminded that crimes that go unpunished allow the perpetrator to continue to build upon the base they’ve built. If a person is not required to own up to things they’ve done wrong, then the wrong-doing will spiral out of control. If a child continually receives no negative reinforcement when they misbehave, then they will not only continue the poor conduct which has gone unpunished, but they will have to assume that there are more behaviors, worse behaviors, they can commit that will also just be ignored.
We must remember that we have allowed our government to reach a point where they assume that “we, the people” will not confront them, will not speak out against injustices, will not get up off our butts and respond in any way.
© Bobbi Bartsch Curtis 2015, All Rights Reserved
2 Beers and a Puppy
by Ross McCammon
The Astarte Home
Click to Donate to
BB Curtis, CCP
Sorradin Skullwillow
astartehome.sorradin@yahoo.com
comments.astartehome@yahoo.com
© Bobbi Bartsch Curtis, 2022, 2023, 2024, All Rights Reserved.
The Astarte Home 