I was pushing myself as I often do
But my momentum gradually morphed to tired
So to recover I found a little hole
But my strategy gradually back fired

I had been moving along in harmony with life
Fighting for that ever-changing balance
But I was juggling way too many knives
And drinking from one too may chalice

So I thought I would go away for awhile
Thought I would regroup
But I found myself spinning away for miles
In some other strange universal loop

Now I'm lost in some alternate space
Crying out to the lord of lords
"Please bring me closer to You"
But His help I continue to ignore

So where do I go from here?
Is life really as hard as it seems?
Or maybe I've been making it that way
I've got to wake up from this crazy dream

I'm going to sit down with a paper and pen
Formulate a concrete plan
Leave enough wiggle room for adjustment
Let Him turn me into a new man

After all the next moment is a new day
Yesterday is gone
Going to find my cruising altitude
And gradually get back where I belong

It was game day at Publix
It seems the people had gone insane
It was like some kind of virus
Had gotten into their brains

It seemed everywhere I looked
Gator shirts and Gator hats
But no one was playing football
They just came there to get more fat

I swear there were hundreds of
Gator fans swarming through that place
Stuff was flying off the shelf
As if it was some kind of race

And they all looked a like
I thought it was some kind of cult
Grown men and women too
I wondered about their mental health

They were talking Gator this and Gator that
All throughout the store
And the only thing that I could think to do
Was to run for my life out the open door

Well I opened the icebox
And the drinks were all gone
There was only pure water
So I took it as fate
I stretched out my legs
Watched the world going wrong
I did nothing about it
But I took a big gulp

And the fan on the ceiling
Was spinning around
And the breeze jogged my memory
To much simpler days
Like my elderly neighbors
Saying "Hello"
When I ran into their yard
To retrieve a baseball

Another post game interview
As the cycle spins round
Another post game shower
For the snotty millionaires
Another road trip plane ride
Ripping through the air
Another crumbling cog
In the consumer wheel

I thought about lack of regulation
And lack of sleep
I thought about the quiet of solitude
As it engulfed me again
I thought about where I might be going to
After this time around
I thought that I have some work to do
Before the next end

Journalism Assignment for Greg Allard:

Despite Record Turnouts, Voters Remain Frustrated

In a climate where people want change from the cliché business as usual politics, it doesn't take a learned political philosopher to understand that people are becoming more and more frustrated with the voting process.

Despite the urging of many voters' rights groups like Rock the Vote, and a political season where more voters turned up at the polls than ever before, many people are still feeling frustrated about their impact and choices at the voting booth. Even in a climate where many people are excited about the election of the first African-American candidate Barrack Obama, there appears to be a desire to revamp the entire system.

According to a survey conducted by Gargs Polls, an independent polling giant in Gainesville, Fla., over 90 percent of those questioned thought the electoral system was no longer viable. It was nearly unanimous for those surveyed in Pacific Time Zone states, who think they often have less influence than their Eastern Time Zone counterparts concerning election results.

"As a registered Democrat, I sometimes wonder how much my vote really makes a difference," said Martin Lewis, an insurance salesman from Santa Cruz, Calif. "By the time I get out of work, the national election is often [already] decided, so I tend to not bother."

"The states already elect representatives in the House and Senate but election of President is a national matter," said mortgage broker Charles Hodgson of Chula Vista, Calif. "Why the presidential election is not decided by the popular vote is beyond me."

In a state where the vast majority of the people are registered Democrats, this is no small matter. By the time members of the Democratic party get to the polls in California, where Democrats hold an almost 20 percent majority over Republicans, they end up standing in line for a vote that won't matter.

"It feels like coming to bat in the top of the ninth inning with my team ahead 14-2," said Hodgson. "If I hit a home run or strike out on three pitches, it won't matter one bit, so why even try?"

If the overall popular vote was close, however, then people like Hodgson's vote would count, no matter what was happening in California.

Another concern is the perceived disenfranchisement of independent voters. Of the independent voters who participated in the survey, over 90 percent believed that third parties should have more of a voice in the election process. Voters are often hesitant to cast a vote for a third party because they are afraid they will play spoiler and elect an undesirable candidate.

During the early years of the nation, many founding fathers did not subscribe to the overall concept of political parties. In fact, the country's first president, George Washington, was elected as an independent candidate in 1788. As it turned out, however, he was to be the first and last independent elected president in the nation's history.

In 1792, Alexander Hamilton founded America's first political party called the Federalist Party. That same year, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, in response to Hamilton, founded the Democratic-Republican Party. Though party names and policies have morphed over the years, the American political landscape has been dominated by a two-party system ever since.

"In the year 2000 I went with my conscience and voted for Ralph Nader," said Kenneth Solomon, an University of Florida librarian. "My second choice would have been Al Gore. So, for the last eight years I have felt a mojor responsibility for electing the buffoon George Bush."

Indeed, according to the survey, 95 percent of the participants believed that Ralph Nader's Green Party candidacy swung the national election in favor of George Bush in the year 2000. Statistics back that up considering Nader won 97,488 votes in Florida, a state where Bush is purported to have defeated Gore by a mere 537 votes.

According to Fairvote.com, the two-party system has many disadvantages. Issues like tie-breaking minor parties, uneven congressional representation, and easy corruption from campaign contributions have left voters feeling frustrated and confounded. Therefore, the organization is an advocate of the ranked voting system.

The concept of ranked voting, which allows for voter preference of first, second and third ranked votes, has long been a part of the election processes in both Australia and Ireland. In the year 2007, the system has also been used in some capacity for local elections in Cary, and Hendersonville, N.C., Burlington, Vt., and Takoma Park, Md. In San Francisco it was utilized for the last mayoral election.

According to the Gargs survey less than 10 percent of those polled knew what ranked voting was. After it was explained, more than 80 percent thought it should be considered in upcoming elections in the United States.

"Anything that opens up the political process to more fairness I'll back all the way," said Frank Lenna, a church administrator in Hartford, Conn.

Opponents of ranked voting say that the process is too complicated and difficult to understand for the average voter. Journalist Allison Fine investigated the 2007 San Franciscan mayoral election:

Each voter received a ballot from one of the poorly-trained high school kids who didn't mention anything to them about how the syste m worked. The ballot has three long columns, each identical. A voter is supposed to mark their first, second, and third choices from left to right. Of the fifteen voters I watched fill out the ballot, two did it right, and the rest split between marking the same person three times or marking their first choice once in the column and leaving the second two columns blank.

-Fine, Allison. "Voting machines Equal Headaches"
Nov. 26, 2007. Huffington Post, ..ww.huffingtonpost.com/Allison-fine/voting-machines-headache>;

An exit poll designed by North Carolina State assistant professor of political science, Michael Cobb, disagrees. In the poll, Cobb found 96 percent of the voters thought the voting system in Cary was at least somewhat easy to understand.

According to Votefair.com, there is a distinctive difference between voting machines being "ranked-ballot compatible" and "machine-ready." It appears that in order to even start to consider using ranked voting methods in widespread elections, voting machines would have to be both compatible and ready in time for any particular election. In addition, voting volunteers would need to be properly trained to show voters how to use them.

Since my intelligence has lost its touch
I've been eating way too much
If the God of gluttony strikes me down
And you see me on the ground
Help me up, and if you do
Know I would do the same for you

Since I've known what I should do
I hesitate until the day is through
If the God of sloth strikes me down
And you see me procrastinating on the ground
Help me, and if you do
Know I would do the same for you

Since I've seen the female form
Sometimes I can't act like the norm
If the God of lust strikes me down
And you see me rolling on the ground
Help me up, and if you do
Know I would do the same for you

Since stacks of twenties have touched my hand
I have lived the life of a fevered man
If the God of greed strikes me down
And you see me counting on the ground
Help me up, and if you do
Know I would do the same for you

Since you told me what he has done
I have wanted to have his neck rung
If the God of wrath should strike me down
And I lay furious on the ground
Help me up, and if you do
Know i would do the same for you

Since I've seen what they all have
I've thought of how my life is bad
If the God of envy strikes me down
And I lay squirming on the ground
Help me up, and if you do
Know I would do the same for you

Since the man's lips slighted me
And I've let hurt who I thought was me
If the God of pride strikes me down
And I call for justice on the ground
Pick me up, and if you do
I would do the same for you

If I see you hurt yourself
And you have no one else
And the God of justice has struck you down
And I see you lying on the ground
I'll pick you up and help you to be free
I hope you would do the same for me

I fear the time is passing for all of us
I hope we make it before the last bus
Until another life takes us away
And lets us live again to try another day

But the deadly sins
Cannot destroy the soul
It is indestructible

On Veteran's Day an important question for a thinking person is should service men and women be held accountable for the deceiving policies of an administration? When veterans returned from the Vietnam War they were, for the most part, blamed for taking part in the atrocities that went on there. While it was a war that Americans should have never taken part in, that didn't seem right. In the current Iraqi War, it appears the American people in general are able to support the troops even if they don't agree with the government's decision to be involved in a war under false pretenses.

How could one not feel bad for those killed, injured and permanently disabled while fighting for what they thought was their people's interest? Surely, every country needs brave men and women to protect it when bad elements come to attack. Such soldiers should be held in high esteem and fully supported.

While understanding the importance of supporting our troops, some say it is still advisable that a prospective volunteer think long and hard before volunteering for a situation that may be not for the good of their nation but ultimately self-serving for an administration and those shadow interests the administration really answers to. Is it not prudent and wise to hesitate about taking part in a possible unjust war where thousands of innocent men, women and children are slaughtered in order to line the pockets of greedy men in power? One should at least consider the possibilities.

Today I saw a man whose face had half burned off due to a road side explosion in Iraq. It is very upsetting to think that this may have happened due to corrupt leaders behind the scenes. Not only that, it is also upsetting that veterans do not get the medical and psychological help that they often need.

In a country where soldiers are often sent off to fight unnecessary wars where thousands of innocent people are killed, soldiers don't get proper treatment, and those opposing the war are considered unpatriotic, Veteran's Day can be a confusing day of the year. It is government's token bone thrown to unfortunate soldiers and families who have lost loved ones, or who have lost their way of life due to debilitating injuries. It is a way for the government to demonstrate that they are doing something, when indeed they are doing little and are themselves responsible for the atrocities in the first place. The soldier thinks he or she is fighting for the freedom of the citizens of the United States of America, when in fact he or she is fighting for something entirely different. That horrible betrayal, for which soldiers risk their lives, is what I can't help but think about on Veteran's Day.

He's staying up but the day's long gone
He's got no power to sing his song
His stretching out is interrupted by yawns
But he's holding on

These sheets are semi-clean and cool
His pillows are piled up around a fool
Whose damned habits have got him schooled
But he's stubborn as a mule

The DVR clock reads one a.m.
It's far too late to phone a friend
The day was nothing doing again
But he doesn't want it to end

Sometimes I try so much
But it don't seem in the cards
Then when I let it go
Life doesn't seem as hard
But if I just sit back
Everything goes straight to hell
Trying to find a balance that can't exist
And I'm not feeling well

Sometimes my stomach turns
From eating way too much
Stuffing all my frustrations
Has never helped very much
But if I try to cut back
The frustration builds inside
I wish i could go with the flow
At least some day before I die

The mode of ignorance
Has not been very kind
It seems I can't shut out
These fears within my mind
Every night I go to sleep
I fear a heart attack
They say like attracts like
So I need to end all that

I used to be so happy
When I was a kid
But it was due to naivety
Where ignorance is bliss
But I think knowledge can
Lead to better days
I need someone to led me a lamp
To get out of this haze

I scrape my tongue at night
And brush my teeth away
It is a small bit of work
To avoid tooth decay
But these here 32 have
Have done chewed for twice their lives
I have many times dined with them
And met all of their wives

So now it's getting late
And time to take some rest
I'm wondering about the dirtiness
I feel inside my breath
Tomorrow morn comes a clean slate
If I make it to the other side
For now I'll sip some water
And thank God that I'm alive

Flipping a veggie burger on Ekadasi
Is like trying to see through eyes that have gone to sleep
Watching a football game on a HD screen
May look more real but it's all still fake to me

I loved Paul McCartney's voice when he was 30 years old
Singing "My Love" about Linda through my big headphones
Jim Morrison sang about the girl who lived on Love Street
It all sounded very magical to me

Sometimes I'm so tired I can barely move
Or sing Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you
Just because I can't move don't mean I can't think
Though I may spit up blood and watch it drain down the sink

It's another new week according to what the calendar say
The star running back pulled his groin and will miss another day
There once was a time when I when I excelled in sports
Now I'm so fat when i try to laugh i snort

I'm fading fast and looking for a place to stretch
Going to lay this body down amidst this mess
Time's running out and my time outs are used up
I'm going to take off and go for it on fourth down

I was watching the end of the basketball game
When it dawned on me it always seems to end the same
Like cars going round and round a racing track
Or players running round the bases after dropping a bat

The years go round like the calendar shows
And when one team wins the other one has to go home
And at the end of the year it starts over again
The hero becomes washed up in the has been bin

The body reaches its peak and then it must decline
Mr. Jim Brown in the press box looks like an old swine
O.J. Simpson is decaying behind bars
It's very temporary this empowerment from Mars

Henry Aaron has lost his home run crown
George Herman Ruth got his body lowered down
Larry Bird's got arrhythmia and a bad back to boot
They buried Wilt Chamberlain in a seven foot suit

All of our heros end up with feet of clay
Joltin' Joe Dimaggio has long gone away
Michael Jordan can no longer fly
Muhammad Ali moves so slowly I could cry

Whatever goes out must always come back around
Whatever goes up must always come back down
Whoever wins now will be destined to lose
When the record gets done spinning it gets put back in its groove

A broken piece of my chapati
Kind of looked like Louisiana
In came Napoleon's descendant
Who offered me $15 million

And although I was still hungry
I was not quite so stupid
So I took the bag of cash
And bought myself an Indian vegetarian restaurant

I threw out the rancid Mazzola
And all the frozen veggies
Insisted on fresh ingredients
And pretty smiling waitresses

Then while I sat down dining
Tasting the curd pakoras
I saw the ghost of Napoleon
Eating down the large buffet

The cooks could not keep up
With his tremendous appetite
So I approached him hands folded
And said you look so much bigger in real life

But as I still had $13 million
It wasn't that bad of a night

In every single waking hour there is a not so crazy fear
That some dreaded disease might come and take me far away from here
Even though I know that one day we all must die
I don't want to think that my end could be nigh

I see it in the graveyards that lay stray along the road
I see it in my mind when at night my head explodes
I see it in the list of names of people I used to know
Who've vanished from my eyes gradually but not so slow

The hooting owl at 2 am sings his melody
The jackal laughs into the darkness diabolically
And I'm just sitting here wishing I could be free
From this bondage crippling me

We've elected a new president but who really knows his fate
In a country still divided by racial hate
I hope to God no one shoots him but what else can I do
But sit here and try to reach you

I'm rubbing my own fingers with fingers from another hand
Hoping I can comfort me and find a way to understand
I'm living in a place that is not ultimately my home
And some one has cut the wires to my phone

I'd rather be courageous than fear things I can't change
There is no sense to it but I stand here to catch the blame
My stomach growls and wind blows strong and some breaths are a pain
I'll be holding onto whatever remains

I'd like to tell you how I really feel
But you could only take so much of my zeal
I want to speak to you only truthful things
But it just might be too bitter medicine

It's a fact there's things my ears won't hear
Especially when it's about my self too near
So I will accordingly give you some slack
Yes there's many things that both of us lack

Wouldn't it be nice if we could take the truth
If we could stand in it's face and not be spooked
If we could dedicate our lives just toward that way
It could set us free for every sacrifice we pay

I know that eternal hell is not a fact
I know no God could sanction that
And I won't be scared by those who try to control
So my mind is opened up enough to know

Yet there's attachments that I have that block my way
I mean there's things I tend to do and like to say
If you can identify with me
Perhaps we can help each other to be free

Let's stop all this stuff non positive
Or that hard path of double negatives
There's better things to concentrate and focus on
There's real things beyond our senses that's not cons

I'm sorry if you think I speak in riddles
Or as my body decays I'm playing on my fiddle
There's only so much that we can take
I'll try harder in the future to be less fake

If I don't vote am I responsible for who gets in?
Or if I vote am I responsible ?
What if I don't like either
Should I vote my conscience with a third party loser
Or be afraid I'll empower a spoiler to let the worst person step in

Have you ever thought why should we be in this position
I mean just two choices?
C'mon, world owners
I'm onto you

Of course we have to ask
Are we even really qualified to vote
I mean
Do we know the issues
Do we know the candidates
How do we know
It's not just an illusion of choice?

Well, I guess first in the class at Harvard Law
Is better than fifth from the last at the Naval Academy

Hrdayananda Goswami's Vyasa Puja went well at our home today. There must have been 200 hundred devotees in attendance all told. Sixty-six locations had the event broadcasted over the internet. HDG seemed happy.

Have you ever wondered why terrible means bad and terrific means good? I have.

Rooting for favorite sports teams gets kind of old after a while. Even when your team wins a championship, they have to start over again the next year. When they finally fail, you don't feel so good about them anymore.

I prefer a small stack of twenties to a large stack of ones, probably for obvious reasons.

I have a class on Tuesday night. What a bummer to be confined there for almost three hours while the election results come in. I'm somewhat excited about the results you know.


There are many vases of flowers here from the celebration. Prabhupada said that flowers are like the smile on Krishna's face. I'll have to remember that because these flowers look like they'll be here for a while.