Freeways And Wildlife Sanctuaries

You can hear the seagulls and the breakers slightly off to one side

While the semis jake brake and the cars whiz by the Amtrac trains on the other

They are protecting several tiny endangered plant species found only here -

In the slope up to the freeway exit behind another new Super Target

The elephant seals have begun to re-appear after being mass-slaughtered a century ago

Priuses tailgate Cadillac SUVs in unending lines through smog-enhanced sunsets

There is a green recycling bin by each one of the many public garbage cans

But, Yosemite valley is a twisty, overcrowded maze of dusty, half-lost traffic

The bread is good and there are organic fruits and vegetables readily available

Stores and houses crowd the farmland down to the tiny coastal butterfly reserves

Progressive is not an insulting word and alternative thinking abounds

The radio dial sports more Christianity than Country but less than Spanish FA-MA

They are protecting the beach nesting areas of the endangered snowy sand plover

Thirty-five million people already live here and more arrive every single day

There may still be good, un-crowded surf breaks just a short ways up the central coast

They pipe stolen water 500 miles to try and quench LA’s vast unending thirst

Chances are a freeway will take you to that remotest wilderness area

It’s all handicapped accessible and the poor earn money collecting all the recyclable litter

The gasoline pumps are fitted with vapor-trapping devices to fight the air pollution

Retirees carefully fuel their 70’ motor homes which tow monstrous SUVs

Bears roaming through the campsites are exciting nighttime entertainment

Having a flat out on an urban freeway might just cost you your life

They got commuter trains and carpool lanes and a host of ecological tax incentives

Quite often you don’t have an average speed, stalled somewhere out on The 5

The economy is hi-tech, service-oriented and among the world’s largest

Swarms of the brown people’s decrepit vehicles surround a myriad of small plots

The climate is mild along the coast, tending towards forgiving and inviting

There really is no end to the traffic but sometimes it’s a little lighter

Volunteer ‘docentes’ help to raise public awareness of the treasures to be preserved

It’s really hard to tell if they are moving ahead any faster than they fall behind

Cute little signs urge us not to dump because these drains all flow into our bay

Still, Tijuana, but 10 miles down, pours all its raw sewage into the ocean every day

These people buy more hybrid cars than any place else on earth

Their mammoth shining RVs consume power like apartments in slow motion

Every owner counts on the high six figures and above from the investment that is their home

The lucky urban poor raise children at campgrounds, fairly near to where they were born

They are protecting the fuzzy otters in the lush green kelp beds just offshore

Their organic spinach infected with migrant E. Coli sometimes finds its way into our markets

An Immodest Social Agenda

Grow all our crops organically, simply as the standard way to farm

Raise animals on proper food, outside of feedlots and render them with dignity

Do not increase population to artificially pump up the economy just to pay off our debts

End the dependence on cheap asian imports and expensive caliphate petroleum

Learn to expect added features in conjunction with increased efficiency

Dismantle the arthritic political parties and scatter those wretched lobbyists

Pioneer and profit from clean and inexpensive ocean water desalinization technology

Simply and irreversibly cut the military budget in half over the next ten years

Set an entrepreneurial example in greenhouse gas reduction for the world

Rebuild our roads, bridges, dams, electric grid, water systems and the internet

Restore our international reputation, respect and moral strength

Awaken our people from this mindless, hyper-consumptive advertising hypnosis

The old should again welcome their age and the youth once more look to them for wisdom

Let us lose the fear of simple and natural silence that forces us into mindless noise

Dismantle the multinationals which happily abandon us all to equal global poverty

Conduct all government business within our borders only in English

Multitask the mega-churches into low cost health clinics and lifelong learning centers

Tax all the powerful religious franchises like any other corporate entity

Properly count the underemployed and those ‘no longer seeking’ among the unemployed

Stop us lusting after ATVs, jet skis, snowmobiles, dirtbikes, speedboats and RVs

Ignore the phony urgency of their unimportant deadlines on all those meaningless projects

Ask where this is made and that is grown and of their unseen costs to the earth

Address the whys and therefores of this foolish and lost war on drugs

Abandon the Middle East to fly-plagued sectarian violence under the merciless desert sun

Don’t bother raising their retirement ages when they haven’t a chance at finding a job

Get old with the dignity of a decaying tree and not like a discarded fast food wrapper

End our leader’s dependence on public ignorance for the success of their bribed agendas

Make mine small, built-to-last, extremely efficient but, nonetheless, quite luxurious

Realize that bipartisan legislative paralysis is not mandated by our constitution

Let us be liberal and squishy on some issues and bullheadedly conservative on others

Reject phony choices and hot-button, wedge issue and litmus test political campaigning

Make these political actors write their own goddamn speeches for Christ’s stupid sake

Somehow, just make our healthcare system as cheap and efficient as theirs and we’ll be just fine

Abolish the career politician and extinguish the professional lobbyist

Protect our rivers, lakes, wetlands and oceans just like we protect our own children

Drop infantile, literalist fundamentalism for a mature wonder at divine uncertainty

Cultivate morality and love as our greatest weapons in our un-winnable struggle

Get everybody pushing back energy into the grid from a myriad of sources

Preserve and enforce the Endangered Species Act to re-create intact ecosystems

Quit relying on an oversupply of young, cheap, uneducated peasant labor for unsustainable growth

Realize that corporate profit goals are not broad enough to set the world’s agenda

Re-use, refurbish, re-gift, re-purpose, restore and rebuild

End the non-violent takeover of North America and Europe by illegal immigration

Reduce the incidence of single-parenting to save the family and shrink the prisons

Realize that no child left behind may well mean that all our children tie for last

Drive much more efficient cars and cut back on our senseless commuting by 25%

Wean ourselves from fats, sugars, white bread, greasy burgers, cellophaned snacks and soft drinks

Put some real effort into developing a cure for the sick madness we call war

End bullshit congressional earmarks, the electoral college and grant the president a line item veto

Curb the endless, wasteful noise of machinery so that we need not shout to think

Remove the immoral wage disparity of workers and their phony superstar executives

Raise children who do not carelessly litter, casually make noise and crudely waste energy

Admit that the blind economic hand, Social Darwinism and literalist fundamentalism is not magically resulting in a better world

Take a much lower international profile and let others sort it out for themselves

Realize that staying on message is exactly equivalent to endlessly repeating propaganda

Quit subsidizing corporate agriculture while simultaneously calling for free trade

Stop letting paid lobbyists bribe politicians into legislating on industry’s behalf

Don’t keep building and rebuilding homes in floodplains, so valuable left in their natural state

Restore the life to our rivers and count that as part of our so-called GDP

Get the politicians off of abortion, flag-burning, gay marriage and stem cells

Let’s talk about sustainability, energy independence and cutting military spending

How about we just finally realize that healthcare does not belong in the marketplace

Maybe we could actually begin to search for peace within ourselves

Somebody could even start up a real 24 hour news channel

Get control of national debt before it bursts like the bank bubble

Don’t let’s build more of these same old poisonous coal-fired power plants just to save a buck

Keep the internet from becoming just another form of corpro-broadcast television

Stop us spending time and money worshiping these empty sports and entertainment deities

Recognize, revere and reward young scientists, mathematicians and engineers

Biometrically and digitally identify us to end illegal immigration and identity theft

Amend the constitution to grant us the simple right to privacy in our own homes