I am one with sensibilities of an adagio. There are few things
I cannot describe with words. A beautiful adagio, I think, is one
of them. Its beauty is ineffable. All are musical poems, but one
is tinged with sorrow. I am thinking of Barber's ADAGIO FOR
STRINGS. PACHELBEL'S CANON, on the other hand,
is gentle and evocative, as is Albioni's adagio. You're sitting on
the sofa holding your sweetheart in your arms listening to
Bach's AIR ON THE G STRING as you give her a sweet kiss
on her neck. You dim the lights. Vivaldi's GUITAR CONCERTO
begins to play followed by Marcello's ADAGIO IN D MINOR
and then you give her another kiss, this one on her lips. It's
getting late, but there's still time to absorb the exquisite PAS DE
DEUX by Tchaikovsky from the NUTCRACKER. Now she
kisses you, not once, but many times. You slip in Beethoven's
MOONLIGHT SONATA, Debussy's CLAIR DE LUNE, Satie's
elegant TROIS GYMNOPEDIES, and Chopin's PRELUDE,
OP. 28, even though they are not adagios, but because they are
etheral. And before you and she go to bed to make love, you listen
to Rodrigo's CONCIERTO DE ARANJUEZ FOR GUITAR AND ORCHESTRA. No better foreplay exists.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

"Plausible deniability" is an euphemistic phrase often used, it seems, by the CIA, among many other spying agences around the world, that really means "lying."

Is "lying" what our flag stands for? Is "lying" what we really want our flag to stand for?

When push comes to shove (too often, literally, as in "off the cliff"), that's exactly what it stands for.

What a morally grotesque, spiritually denuded flag we therefore salute unwittingly.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Let's have a worldwide election for Peace on Earth forever! We're all Citizens of the Earth. Why not let everyone on Earth vote at the same time for the way she or he want the world to be. We already have the technology to do this. Do we collectively want world peace? Do we want to exercise our natural right to determine our own future? How many of you would vote for War--any kind of War, even World War III--that would destroy Earth and all living creation on it? Or would you prefer a world of equality, of kindness, of love? Would you prefer a world of letting everyone do her or his own thing, but do nothing that would cause harm to anyone else? All equals. No class system. No deprivation of food, good housing, great education, total freedom of religion (but no attempts to try to convert others). Citizens of Earth--all 8 billion of us--would be the government of Earth. There would be no president of Earth. Citizens of Earth would send their ideas and submissions to members of the General Assembly (around 200 elected for one five-year term by Citizens of Earth from districts that formerly were nations) who then would form them into proposals to be voted on by Citizens of Earth during the last two weeks of every month. Everyone worldwide would have access to smart phones (with one's own personal ID #). No more nations. No more borders (the world's air and water don't give a **** about them! Nor does the pandemic, with all it variants). We shall come to delight in our differences. We shall come to celebrate the variegated colors of skin, the different cultures, the different customs, languages, foods. No more aggrandizement, no more profiteering, no more money. No more wars, no more killings, no more *** trafficking. No more corruption, no more dictators, no more weapons of any kind. Just love and Peace on Earth forever. It's utterly doable! Think about it. Talk to your family about it. Talk to your friends about it. Talk to strangers on the street about it. It's our world, after all. Let's have an election and create a world in which we all can live without fear. Peace on Earth forever.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

The world, over millennia, keeps evolving. Over 3,400 years of recorded history, powers, nations keep shifting, sometime seismically. Now is the time for not only the grandest seismic shift ever, but also the one that will save Earth and all living creations upon it. It is time for Earth to become Earth--not a scattering of over 200 nations with artificial borders, but an Earth that has one land, one sea, one sky, one people. The boundaries that have simplistically divided us for eons are not on maps, but in our minds and hearts. The air and water of Earth, even the pandemic, take no notice of national borders, nor should we, the Citizens of Earth. Technology, with its innumerable advances, has made us into a world when all can become one. We are free to be our real selves, to spend our variegated lives not aggrandizing, but by sharing and giving. Rather than dreading our superficial differences--our different skin colors, our different cultures, our different religions, our different languages--we can explore and enjoy them. Let us finally be what we truly have been forever, one big, worldwide family of humanity. No more wars, no more weapons, no more killing. No more hunger, no more homelessness, no more hopelessness. No more ignorance, no more illnesses, no more social classes. No more wars, no more corruption, no more dictators. Only Peace on Earth forever. This is the quantum leap of which I speak.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

I makes $7.50 an hour. I sweep up behind others.
I's gittin to be an ol man. My two uncles got lynched outside Greenville.
I quit school when I were 13,
but I served my country in Vietnam to **** our enemies.
Lost most of my left arm. Makes it harder to push a broom.
I takes the bus to home and work.
Thanks to Mrs. Parks I don't have to sit in the back no more.
I go fishin to get away from it all.
Catfish--that's what I like to catch.
Fry 'em up real good.
When I was a kid, had to get off the sidewalk
to let them white ladies go bye.
To be honest, things hasnt changed much in Mississippi.
Don't go out in the night--you might get shot for no good reason.
I's still remember the KKK in them white robes.
All them burning crosses.
Now them folks where coats and ties.
Well, I gots to *** back to work or theyll kick me out.
You have a good night, ya hear.
Thanks for bein so nice to me.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

There are tragedies throughout the ages.
The adage is what comes goes.  God knows
this is true. But don't be blue,
because love is right around the corner;  
just take the turn. If you are burned,
love will be your salve. Blue skies
will stop your crying, dying
in your hugs and laughter.
After a few moments, you'll forget
your sorrows. Tomorrow is another day.
Come to me, my love. You are the dove
that flies in my heart. Hold me close.
Never let me go. I love you so.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

So you Republicans hate Blacks, Jews, Latinos, Asians, yet so many of you go to your churches on Sundays and pray to God. About what? About what Jesus preached? About how he said to love one another? Hardly! You may mouth these sacred messages, but do you live them? I think not. VOTER SUPPRESSION is equivalent to heresy. Republican politicians across our nation, under God, in over 40 States are bringing back RACISM in full force. Are you not repulsed by this immoral retrogression? WHY DO YOU NOT SPEAK OUT!? My only conclusion is that you are gutless. You are moral hypocrites. You are racists of the first order and human beings of the last.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS