I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike....

oh, Lord, Freddie Mercury...you have no idea, rest your soul...but these days...Manhattan...midafternoon...well, I don't want my obituary to start with, "death by wheels and wontons"...I understand the healthy aspect...the speed of getting around...the environmental benefit...but every time I go to cross a street...reaching my toes off the curb...I say a silent prayer...to many gods...all really...who is the patron saint of city walkers?...now we add to the old mix of delivery people - goods and food...newbies on Citi bikes...who disregard all rules of the road...whee - look at me...no helmet...look at my hair blowing in the wind...blocking my vision!...watch me sail through the red lights...against the traffic...flying through corner after corner...the taxi drivers are even shaking their heads...so here's a thought, Mayor Dumblasio...new rules...every bike has a license...number prominent on the back...every bike rider must have a helmet...I wear a seat belt...you, mister beat up Schwinn...you wear a helmet...you can only ride in the bike lanes, same direction as cars...you stop at red lights...employ the homeless...arm them with cell phones...let them take pictures of violators as best they can...hey, it's all a dream I know...but it's the thoughts that ruminate as I attempt to cross 6th Avenue, lunch in hand...heart in mouth...the wheels missing me by a foot...the aroma of wonton soup threatening...

a pox be on your house

no, I don't mean your house...I mean the House...Congressmen, Congresswomen, Senators...and all in between...handwritten notes!...spilling off the margins...I mean with all the taxes I've paid, you think a decent copier machine, right?...but seriously...I'm feeling the weight of all the years I've been on this earth...the weight of watching the bullshit repeat over and over...Republicans...and yes, Democrats..."he started it"...now, stick your tongue out...or your middle finger...then pat yourself on the back...and stick it to the middle class...the new middle class...perpetually paying up...paying down...till we are in the grave...and we are railing against the machine...one of our own making...for the dwindling handful of elected officials who do work hard for constituents...well, I'm sorry for you...for trying for the most part to do what you were sent to do...the hell with party lines, you cried in earnest...and then hit the wall...not 45's invisible wall...but the payoff wall built buy the uber billionaires, special interest groups... and for those elected officials who have grown tired...or jaded...just get the hell out...cause Lord knows your exit packages would keep me grinning like the village idiot...for the rest...those smiling like Satan...cough, cough...I mean Ryan...or smirking over a turkey neck...ahem, McConnell...and even McCain (retire and spend what you have left with family, you earned it)....have fun this Christmas recess...and when you go to your house of worship...do a little soul searching...I mean really searching...see if it's even there...because I'm contacting the real House....Dr. House...to try and cure this fatal disease...pox Americanus...before the patient flatlines as Ray Charles sings over the corpse...