Just checking

Have you missed me?

That festive holiday season

Certainly, the period between now and the first of the year will be more than interesting. Everybody's playing for keeps and the clash of wills might prove to be fascinating. Let's list a few things in order of importance, (to me at least)

1. Cub free agent signings or trades
2. Immigration
3.The Middle East
4. More "kids in the sandbox" moments.

It should be entertaining.

Incidentally,which wolf are you feeding today?

A better course taken

Three things come to mind. First, the song I can't get out of my head is Oscar Peterson's Nigerian Marketplace.

I think all democrats in congress should switch parites and inform their respective leaders that they will caucus with the Republicans effective immediately.

Third, I have heard quite enough of the cockamamie claptrap about "taking our country back". I asked recently who took it and where were they hiding it? I got no response. Yesterday I was firmly opposed to "states rights" since it is code for nothing good. But with 30 Republican governors, gerrymandered, bulletproof districts and stacked legislatures from the state house all the way down to the local student council, I think it's time to give them what they want. 

When congress convenes in January, I would like to see an entirely Republican (RINO, Tea Party, Reaganesque) chain of legislative command. Disband all federal agencies that Rick Perry called for (including the one he couldn't remember), make them self sustainable (Cut off all Federal aid). This will not be easy but with a little nonpartisanship, it can work. Let them be responsible for all the things they say they hate about the Federal Government. 

Please indicate your support by telling everyone you know, to read this. If I get hundreds of page visits, I will make a You Tube video. It will go super viral, we will start a movement that creates an independent party that will rise like a Phoenix out of the ashes of unfettered Republican rule. Once the results are unmistakeable that trickle down economics didn't work, dropping a nuclear weapon on Iran didn't work either, our no choice, their way or the highway society collapsed of its own absurdity. When all the Hollywood actors move to Canada and we're forced to only watch movies with Jon Voight, Angie Harmon, Vince Vaughan and any other Republican leaning sympathizers, with Dinesh D'Souza directing them----

I could go on. It's been a rough week. It's kinda like the sign on my accountant's desk:
I can only take care of one person's needs per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either.

Have a wonderful weekend. If the Vikings score 50 points on the Bears Sunday, I personally know 43 die hard fans who will blow their fucking brains out. 

Work with me. Let's start a movement to cleanse the world of progressiveness. Think of all the Brie and Spanish Sherry that will be unconsumed.

Fun numbers.

December will bring the last opportunity for those who date checks or other written things with the 2 digit numeric month, date and year. On Saturday December 12th, the date will be 12/13/14.

No politics today. Sounds like we're all getting sick of me writing about it.

Quick Question

Large energy companies continue to enjoy huge subsidies no matter how large their profits are. The same applies to farming concerns, sometimes referred to as agri-businesses.
The NFL will make nearly 10 BILLION dollars this year. Yet, it will pay few taxes
The same applies to Major league baseball. The same applies to the Catholic Church.

So, why the fuck is the SCOTUS once again hearing a case that could shred the Affordable Care Act? Given the double standards that are pretty rampant, wouldn't it be better to fix this law than to destroy its intent?

Just askin'

July 16th 1964

Google Barry Goldwater's acceptance speech to the Republican Convention. Chilling, amazing and if you're looking for a back drop to where we find ourselves these days, in my opinion, look no further.

It's not the economy, stupid

Famous words from Clinton war room advisor James Carville in 1992. Running against George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton's advisors said they were going to focus on the economy like a laser beam. By the way, that laser beam thing makes the never again list. So, when Carville was asked what the the main focus of the campaign was going to be, he simply said, "It's the Economy, Stupid." They campaigned on it and won because the voters perceived that once in office Clinton would do everything to improve it, get people back to work, a chicken in every pot and pip pip.

Which brings me to my third reason for the recent election results. In exit polls, people said their main concern was the economy. But I don't think they were telling the truth. It's race. And it has been from the moment that Illinois' Junior Senator won the Presidency in 2008.

Many people lie to exit poll questions. Anything that might explain the real reason behind a political moment and people will not be truthful. It's in their nature to be obtuse because that will be their way to fuck with the process. People have a love/hate relationship with process. So after their mailboxes, inboxes, e mail boxes and voice mails are filled to the rim with poitical messages, they've pretty much had it. So a certain segment of the populace doesn't want to admit that they're uncomfortable with a black couple in the White House; maybe even having voted for the guy. But I think it's fair to say that the majority of the AWC* are the ones who aren't comfortable and they probably are also Republican. 

It is my opinion that we face a "Watts" or "Detroit" moment in the near future in St. Louis. That would be terrible but I do not think the Grand Jury empaneled in the investigation of the shooting of Michael Brown will bring an indictment against Officer Darren Wilson. And that is and was on the minds of many voters.

This Anglo Saxon nation is changing color and character. It is becoming more brown, black, purple gay, pro pot and anti establishment. There is an article proclaiming the burning of the old Democratic hold over the state of West Virginia. The leader of the Republican party said that because white democrats were dying off, it was ripe to turn completely red. The entire national election was maybe the last big red statement. That remains to be seen of course, but the change is clear. Whether it will translate to huge future wave elections also remains to be seen.

So let's review my big three causes for the results of this election.

1. Fear (Ebolaisis) and a lot of other things too.
2. The Runaways- Democratic candidates who ran from Barack Obama like he "stole something." ... and paid dearly for it with the voters. And deservedly so.
3. Race, not huge anxiety over the economy. That was the Politically Correct thing to say, but anxiety about race and its cultural serpentine movements and impending explosion is the reason that most people are not willing to speak in real terms about yet. 

*Angry White Community. Or you can substitute Community with Christians.

It's Saturday and it's been a tough week to comprehend. I hope I'm wrong about #3 but I don't think so. 

The runaways

Democrat candidates ran away and they paid for it. Republicans were going to vote Republican anyway. All the people who would normally have voted for you, saw your cowardice and stayed away because they saw that the people who asked them for their vote ran from the leader of their party when he needed them to stand up and say (too loudly) "fuck you. I have my President's back". Shame on you assholes. Losing was was your reward for cowardice. But you still get your pension and your gold plated healthcare coverage, don't you. Ah, what the hell. You'll write a book about your pain or go to work for a lobbyist or a think tank so that when you go on MSNBC, Chris Matthews can interrupt YOU.

This was a really important election and you fucked it up. And people saw you do this and couldn't vote for you. So, while you spend the remainder of your lame duck career lamenting and soul searching, know this. You ran away from a good man. He'll forgive you. I won't.

And you SUCK!!

And look at what you left us to deal with, politically and policy wise. A congress full of angry people with the power to continue to obstruct and say no to every common sense policy that your leader has championed. Proud of yourself?

I had to hold back to make this at least seem reasonable.

Ebolaisis

I explained that something was rattling around in the back of my brain regarding the election and I needed some quiet time to sort it out and do some research.

From October 15th until election day, estimates are that GOP candidates ran negative ads that mentioned Ebola and ISIS and that number exceeded 1000. These ran in all markets and dovetailed nicely into the pre 10/15 staples of laying the evils of the Affordable Healthcare Act, IRS, Benghazi, NSA, lawlessness and the assault on the Constitution upon a man who wasn't  on the ballot. Polling indicated that the economy was number one on the minds of voters, but I don't think so. Too obvious- too easy. No, it was something subliminal that fed fear and anxiety.

Responding to these dog whistles, most of the practicing (and keep practicing, because you need to!) media reported on this late trend, calling ISIS and Ebola the possible "October Surprises". 

The main reason was that Democrats, long known for their vaunted ground game, didn't get their voters out, which didn't really matter because by this time, the exhaustion of the campaign and the coverage had all but guaranteed the subsequent result. 

Anyway, it really doesn't matter. When you win, you have the right to dance in the end zone. But the game itself is long and after the glow of your success wears off, you have to govern. There are other reasons and as time permits, I'll throw a few more out, but for now, my dark choice was Ebolaisis.

See if you agree.

 

The day after

Did you hear we had an election yesterday? Yes. And the results were a little stunning. I just got back from North Carolina last night, where I thought there might be a different result. Nope. May I have a day to soak all this in? I'll post tomorrow, but even people I don't agree with, but talk to rationally anyway are agreeing about the head-spinning/scratching results. Obviously things broke in a dramatic way about 2 weeks ago and the results last night reflected what started to happen. I want to do a little research because I think I know what it is, but it never pays to sit down to post something without having reviewed the circumstances before coming to some conclusion.

But as I leave you for today, a slight correction. The Bears were in a "bye" week so hoping they would go up to Green Bay and salvage their season won't take place until this coming Sunday. Sorry. It's the age thing.

See you all tomorrow.

Please Vote

I am taking a couple of days off, heading to my North Carolina farm to do some winterizing of the house there. Should be back Tuesday.

Please vote on Tuesday, if you haven't already. If the Senate swings to the GOP, there will be some very unpleasant days ahead leading up to the 2016 elections. The ACA will be struck down in a pro forma way and that bill will go to the President's desk . He will veto it of course, but millions who have never had medical coverage may end up losing theirs. Any semblance of legislation will be blocked by the Majority leader of the Senate. It might not be Mitch McConnell, but nonetheless, whatever the GOP bitches about Harry Reid doing or having done to thwart their legislative return to the 17th century, believe me, they will do.

You may have a Sarah Palin type woman as Iowa's first female Senator. She carries a 9MM pistol with her at all times to protect her and her family and she has said, in true Sharron Angle fashion, she might use it to defend herself from a federal government who will force her to do things she doesn't want to do. Cue the black helicopters. This is the most toxic and dangerous candidate out there in my view. The utter difference between many years of Tom Harkin and the impending foolery of Joni Ernst is pretty scary. Iowa. You're better than this. Please come to your senses and deny this idiot her fifteen minutes. 

Good luck to Michelle Nunn, Rick Weiland, Jeanne Shaheen, Kay Hagan and Bruce Braley. Good luck to Mark Udall who is fighting against a candidate who favors a personhood amendment. I'd hold my nose and vote for Mark Begich, Mark Pryor and Mary Landrieu, because the alternative is almost as scary as Ernst. It is inconceivable that the Koch Brothers can pour enough evil money into Minnesota to defeat a decent legislator for his constituents, Al Franken. But even that race is close, so don't be complacent. Vote for common sense ballot initiatives in your state that will keep it in the 21st century. You have no idea of the desperation of the tea party or the RINOs. There is a difference between them, idealogically, but not as much as you think.

Anyway, you get the idea. If you don't vote, don't bitch about what will happen in the future. Because it will happen if these monsters get their way. And the worst thing about it, is that the 1% will have stolen elections with secret dirty money-- and not give a rat's ass about you or your loved ones.

And finally, I called that sniveling little shit head, Mark Levin a liar this week. I meant it. Tune him in on the radio someday to find out where the opposition wants this country to be. Scary. And Halloween is over. 

Condolences to the former Cubs manager, Rick Renteria. But I welcome Joe Maddon as the new Cubs manager. That was a tough call and Ricky can weigh his options and chill out because he's going to get paid for not being the Cubs manager for the next two seasons. 

I'll be posting again on Wednesday and we'll see if the country actually did what the pollsters say it's going to do;Mainly add by subtraction. So take time to exercize your right to chosse who your leaders are- sad bunch that they are. I hope you don't get your vote shitcanned because of draconian voter ID laws.

Enjoy the weekend. And go Bears. Let's go up to Lambeau and make a statement there.
 

I voted

I will be out of town on November 4th so I took advantage of early voting today. I was asked for my address. I gave them a picture ID because I don't have an issue personally about proving who I am. It occurred to me I do have an issue whereby a polling official can ask you to provide an ID if they want to. I didn't have time to crap around. Like most voters, it doesn't fill me with pride anymore, but I am grateful that I am enfranchised to do so and really hate that in many states, ruling political parties (who know who you are) have made the ability of many to vote very difficult. I like early voting because it is short and sweet (once you've proven who you are) and compared to long lines on Tuesday, it's an easy choice. It obvious to me that shortening the dates where people can vote early (coincidentally in red and swing states) is an attempt to suppress the vote- particularly among minorities, the elderly and the low attention span voter. We have heard that states would get draconian about the ease of voting and they have. However, for all of the millions that are spent on billboard and printed ads , I have long held and written often, that monies should be deployed to make certain that people who might face disenfranchisement due to the wishes of ruling legislatures, bent on denying such rights, get an ID and are driven to the polls by the parties "ground game" experts. The onus has been on them and I hope they did just that, because if you listen to the polls and the fire predictions for next Tuesday, you would think that all is lost. The GOP and Mitt Romney in particular, and all the Dick Morris and Karl Rove types were dead certain that Romney would win the Presidency by 4 to 7 % points in 2012. Ah, the ground game. And wasn't the result sweet on November 5th and beyond when Rove had to 'splain to his donors why they flushed millions of dollars down the commode when he promised them it would be money well spent. I shed not a tear. That same little turdblossom was on Fix News today confidently ginning up his low info base already announcing the results of early voting in, shall we say, "key" states. Of course it is overwhelmingly Republican.

It's different this year. I posted all the reasons (including the ones I made up) that everything that goes on in the world, is Barack Obama's fault. Nonetheless,  it just feels like the haters have prevailed and there is so much anger that people are angry and not very careful about whom they take their anger out against. Well, except the skinny Kenyan Commie Community Activist and his cheeky wife who tells our kids what they should and shouldn't eat. Damned Marxist, Socialists, taking our guns away. taxing the rich so that the poor can get more free stuff. Hobnobbing with Fat Governors from Hurricane stricken states.  Damned Golf obsessed, imperial "dear leader" who keeps his shmeckle in his pants and tries to end wars that have gone on too long. How long? If you had a kid back when and he's studying for his bar mitzvah today, a war was started on the day he was born and still isn't over. That's how fucking long!

This is my last appeal. Please vote. Just not for Eliot Cutler up in the great State 'O Maine.
Just kidding Eliot. Of the very small percentage of people who read my ravings, you sort of know how you line up on issues. Don't Vote for them. Vote for You. You're the best reason not to stay home or sit this one out. It's really important. 

Let's play scapegoat and really fornicate this country

Everything written herein is Barack Obama's fault. 

I can't find a job, so... 
I found a job but it wasn't what I wanted, so...
My congressperson is an uninformed liar who ignores my opinions, so...
My kids are addicted to junk food , so...
I voted for a President who would end 13 years of constant war, so...
The media doesn't cover real news; just what they think the public wants, so...
My food stamps benefits were cut, so...
There are too many guns in the hands of unstable people, so...
I'm black and I haven't been lifted up, so...
There are too many meth labs in my county, so...
4 brave people lost their lives in Libya, so...
The Constitution is no longer a relevant document, so...
Congress only works 2/3 of the year (if that), so...
Nobody has taken my guns away from me, but...
There is a resurgance of racism in this country, so...
The Supreme Court is riddled with activist judges, so...
Steve Wynn's company's stock has risen nearly 400% since the 'great recession" so he says...
The United States is a pig at the trough of corporate greed and self interest, so...
Michele Obama supports gardening and exercise, so...
The Democratic Party is riddled with 'commies and socialists', so...
My 401K has increased by 75% in the past 5 years, but...
One of my choices for President in 2016 is a greasy, bully who has lost nearly 100 lbs and that should make me like him, therefore..
The national debt is lower and the deficit has been cut during the past 6 years, but...
My kid's school board President is LGBT, so...
I have healthcare for the first time in my life at an affordable price, but...
In violation of the Constitution, local militias are increasing in frightening proportions and that's because ...
Our political process is a sham, populated mostly by millionaire do-gooders with agendas different from a majority of the country, and...
Babe Ruth wasn't calling his shot in the 1934 World Series. He was shading his eyes form the sun, but...
The election next week should be a referendum on the gridlock and ugly politics rife in this country. therefore.... And I'm not smart enough to realize that that I've likely been frightened and angered by a media, unnamed corporate oligarchs and politicians who lie and face no consequence. But what the hell. It's not my fault...
Our leaders now represent and behave in the manner of the very thing we secretly fear the most-- ourselves.
I will quite likely vote against my own self interests because a television network so artfully lies to me, that I will not even hesitate. And....

 


I think that's enough for today. Please vote. Everything good and bad gets all fucked up if you don't.

More "never agains"

Let's start with any newsperson in the field (not "on the ground" {that's been banned}) who answers the talking head's question with the word, absolutely. Next one is double down. That's when you (politician) say something stupid and when you're challenged by the ludicrous nature of what you said, you show the voting public you're a person of substance and you mean what you say. So not only did you mean what you said yesterday, stupid or not, you double down on your own stupidlity because that's a trustworthy trait for a politician who won't won't change- because change is perceived as weakness.

I am hopeful that the POTUS's patented "ground game" comes out of the woodwork and fucks with all the pundits one more time, next week. Just about every poll says that will not happen. More outside money is being poured into races to make sure that the person on the ballot you want to vote against is the President.

Having said that, I think the time is long past where the voting public has an alternative to the two party system and the manner(s) in which they use the system to ensure that true independent voices are never heard. Money is a good silencer. An adoring media is another way to shitspeak the very notion of publicly funded elections and equal treatment to somebody with something other than a D or an R behind their names and titles. When you break down the numbers behind the numbers, it is clear that any system that has the approval of less than 10% of the eligible voting population should be scrapped. ---palpable sigh---

Will Kansas City stave off the Giants in game 6? I'd love to see it. I root for a team that used to be where the Royals were and it pleases me to see how the Royals were built and the patience that was shown in those players. That's the way it should be. The Yankees, Dodgers and Red Sox are prime examples of franchises that generate so much revenue, that they can go out every off season and buy the players they think will put them back in the World Series. There are notable exceptions of course and really, those are the teams that people root for. But I do love the Giants too. If they win, and that would be for the 3rd time in five years, that would be.... I'm not going to use that word.

It's smacks of a value system that is being broken down and that systemic failure is what is scaring so many people in this country. If you drive anywhere in this country and believe me I do, when you see potholed roads, crumbling bridges and depressing "same shit every 12 miles on our highway systems", you begin to understand why people don't have a grand view of the future. "Let's see, Arby's, Popeyes, Burger King, McDonald's-- I just can't make up my mind." I guess any of those will do. It's nice to have a country that's a little too slovenly, too bleary eyed and too scared to ask for a referendum that ends the monopoly of road feed that is just no good for us. So, who's it good for? You know. ---another sigh---

Time to get on a ladder and scrape shit out of the gutters. Winter will be here soon and if I don't it will be too late. When it gets all gooey and leafy, that's the stuff you put in your compost bin. The last time I emptied it, although it was 2 years in the making, I had really good black rich soil for my garden. Nothing grew but that's because of global wetting and all the rain that soaked everything. And if that wasn't the culprit, it was probably me. Or Barack Obama. 

Speaking of POTUS and I'll leave it here-- in the interest of simply getting outside your cool groove, Mr President, I think a lot of people would love it if you called a press conference, deliberately opened up your notes (no teleprompter) and just spoke from the heart: 

My fellow Americans.  Just Go fuck yourselves.  
Would you love that??? I would. 

LSM, rumors and bad beginnings.

Which stands for "lame stream media".  Here are a couple of things they are not  covering. I wouldn't be looking for them to do so either.

1. The Andinia Plan: One of Alex Jones' faves, whereby the the President of Argentina is already in cahoots with the Israeli Government, allegedly setting the stage for mass migration for Jews to the Patagonia regions of southern Argentina and Chile. Will Arabs migrate to neighboring countries so that the fun can continue?

2. A report in Business Week, on the staggering continuation of foreclosures in Wayne Country (Detroit) and an anonymous group who allegedly paid 3.2 million dollars for 6000 blighted properties.True? False? Had you heard about it? Call David Muir and tell him to get his chops sharpened. You have the right to know what entity is going to take over Detroit.

Nope. We're talking about Ebola and maybe mandatory quarantines , ISIL, the IRS, let's keep talking about Benghazi too. Apparently, the Vikings can win without Adrian Peterson. Dilma Roussef was reelected President of Brazil after a pretty heavy Twitter presence. If you own Facebook in any quantity, they report earnings after the bell today. And Jordan Matson, an ex military conscript who served two years during the glory of the Iraq war, but was never deployed in a war zone wants to use social media to recruit foreign fighters who hate the Islamic State. And he's ready to go over there to join up and get into the fight with the Kurds. And there are the rumors that Michelle Obama want to run for Senator from California in 2018, provided that Dianne Feinstein retires. That will be an awkward realtionship if Barack is hangin' in Chicago with the rest of his Saul Alinsky buddies.

Maybe one of the last bits of warm weather before the cold season. I loved the SNL parody of the Matt McConaughey commercial by Jim Carrey There is a very important election next Tuesday. But either the public is too disinterested, worn down or has been lied to so effectively, they just don't care. This election is more important than 2016. But don't tell anyone. The oligarchs and unoligarchs who are pouring frightful amounts of money into key Senate race states don't want you to know that. 

And yes, last week was not a great week in terms of people flipping out and killing other people, whether a gun, hatchet or whatever was used. Don't worry folks. It's only the beginning. And we're so fortunate to have Ann Coulter, Anderson Cooper and Pat Robertson to explain it all to us. Maybe the media isn't the only lame thing.

What did Carrey do with the booger? I think he handed it to the President and asked him to something with it. Obama gets blamed for everything else. Booger flicking would be the latest. I think Darrell Issa could chair that oversight committee. 

My little 9MM

Condolences to Joni Ernst who has brought the level of political discourse in the State of Iowa to a new low. But there's still time for her to 'drop it down a notch'.

I am pretty disappointed with several female Senate Candidates in this cycle. Ernst is clearly one of them. A former hog farmer and military geek doesn't need to point guns at laws and threaten to blow away those laws. Or gut the bloated federal government, who's subsidies she gladly accepted when she was a hog farmer. Because, "by God" she's slaughtered pigs and the government better watch cause Joni is bringing a meat cleaver to Washington. As soon as she cashes Karl Rove and David Koch's checks. 

Sorry ladies, I passionately avoid trying to say sexist things about women candidates since I think it's low-life, but this woman is an embarrassment and has some sort of Napoleon Syndrome going. I don't care for women who want to trade their parts in for those of a man because of political expediency


I have delighted in the election of many capable women who now serve in the Congress. What I don't like is when they bow to political pressure and try to run a safe campaign or just say little to nothing, certain in the knowledge that the very next day, their opponent will will say something stupid and save them the work of actually staking out policy initiatives instead of reverting to beltway talking points. 

Others on my shit list- (even though I would hold my nose and vote for them because their opponents are so much worse): and what has put them on the list ranges from expediency to gutlessness to vanilla tapioca. Unless they happen to be rethuglicans, simply because of that and what their party's platforms and commentaries and allies stand for. Democrats are a far distance below the ignorance of the GOP but still, not to be trusted. I'm not a low info Fox News voter who has special hearing for lies and dog whistles.

Or simply because they ran shitty campaigns.

Alison Lundergan Grimes Stand up to Coal and support your President
Jeanne Shaheen Who'd YOU vote for?
Terri Lynn Land You're a rethuglican and you're a tea party darling and you are out of your league
Kay Hagan  Thom Tillis is such a disaster, your race shouldn't even be very close. But you've tried to be all things to win and I really don't care for that. But you've been agressive in pointing out what a douche Tillis is so I give you a pass. And when I move to NC within 3 to 4 years, I hope you'll be  one of my Senators.


That'll do it for today. I have a busy several days coming up and might not post during that period of time. 
 

 

 
 

Slight correction

If you please and in the interest of accuracy, my dogs don't actually eat shit. Dented wiffleballs, 7 or 800 sticks, leaves, old baseballs and practically anything seen as edible, yes. But not actual shit.

We thank you.  But excuse me, gotta run. It sounds like somebody's going to barf.

Remembering not to forget.

I turn 65 this Sunday. Age is not completely a number. I am sore more than I'm not. I got a French Press so that I don't go to out for coffee everyday. Multiply about $3.00 by 365. That number is certainly significant. Most people awake to an alarm clock going off. Not me. I love that sound where my dogs (take your pick which one or the day they do it) are just starting blow lunch on the carpeting in the sleeping area. You know the sound. One of them gives a little shriek at the end. Bonus! There are so many former "wet spots" on the carpeting that a commercial rug cleaner won't even make a dent toward cleaning those. It almost looks like my living area is neglected. My dogs are the only ones who eat grass and shit out in the yard so that they can get sick and hurl.

For the 4th time this month, despite trying to be really careful about where I put my wallet and keys, I couldn't find everything. I like to be orderly since I know I'm losing brain cells by the millions each day. It's a victory to remember all my passwords, most of which are not written down. It's a test. I'd give myself a C+. Is that good enough? I don't think so. It shouldn't be acceptable to dimply remember not to forget. Most people don't talk about their reaction to the latest Depends Underwareness advertising campaign. So far, so good, although I wouldn't even want to try to thank my late mother for passing down some of her IBS syndrome to all her children. Especially me.

I have two recurring themes in life as to how I'd supplement my income. Oh yeah, the commercials about outliving your money are pretty reassuring as well. But I wanted to write two books. The first was the year long road trip I'd take to interview millions of people about how their refrigerators got decorated with all the shit they have eventually have taped or attached to it-- pictures included. But I thought it would be too close to Kramer's coffee table book project. The second, and I am reaching millions here, is to document all the times I almost didn't  find a bathroom in my daily travels- complete with all the places I've lived (how many cities and states). 

I think that's enough for today. People get embarrassed by things and they just don't want to talk about. I know this because I barely get an eye batted when I casually announce that I am going to leave a dump, not take one. This happens to everyone at one time or another.

I don't know who reads my stuff. But whatever I'm talking about, it makes me feel better that you forget stuff too, lose your wallet or keys more than you'd like and have similar stories about things you wanted to accomplish but didn't and of course the times you pissed your pants ( or worse) and never told anyone. 

Just do what I do. Try to remember not to forget. When we're gone, we're gone and those stories won't be the ones we're remembered for. 

It's just a number right? 65? I'm not going anywhere. I hope to be alternately making you laugh and cringe everyday for a long time to come. 

28 AIN'T FIFTY

OK pageviewers and fans. We didn't hit the 50 mark yesterday, so the John Prine version of Jimmy John is officially dead. 

I think I'm going to break up with Phyllis Schlafley too. She is proof that even God sometimes is looking the other way. Google her latgest gem. You know, the one about African native, Obama purposely bring the EBOLA out break to the US so we can be more like other countries in the world.*



Only in America.


*Trust me, I won't be blogging when I'm 90.

I broke up with Jimmy John

I just turned today's earlier post into a draft. It's a great story but it's really wordy and even I fell asleep writing it. Kind of like the intro story to a John Prine song. The intro is a half hour and the song is 45 seconds.

I'm renewing my boycott of Jimmy John's because he has exhibited the behavior that I cannot stand. It is alleged that Jimmy Johns:

1. "encourages" their inside workers to work "off the clock."
2. Stipulates that workers sign a "no compete" clause as part of their employment by the company
3. Avoids healthcare issues by making sure that as many employees as possible stay at "part time" status, thereby he doesn't have to cover his workers. 

His cousin, Papa Johns highlighted the whole, I hate Obamacare thing and despite the competitiveness of the fast food market, there is still an inequality gap that is perpetuated by multi millionaires who whine about how tough it is to stay in business, yet boast net worths of one, two or three hundred million dollars. In the other post, I injected some local flavor into the story because there is history between me and Jimmy.

If I get 50 or more page views dedicated to this post, I will post the other one. So today's humstle is Marshall Crenshaw's, I suffered for my art-- now it's your turn.

Overs

I'm turning 65 in two weeks. This seems to me to be a  remarkable achievement since many of my era never thought they'd live until 30. One of our heroes ( who is past 70) admonished that we should "never trust anyone over 30". This is the same guy who said "he not busy being born, is busy dying" Gaining this age is not remarkable at all. My grandfather was a cardiac surgeon who died of a heart attack at 59. Man he could operate! And he could eat all the fatty foods that doomed him as well. Irony there.

Somebody else once said, "reality- what a concept." Maybe civility has replaced reality for the thing that we somehow expect- wait-- I probably shouldn't use that word. Maybe 'hope for' is a better choice. I do think that we are are over fed, over served, over medicated, over info'ed and over cautious and over scared. Many of us believe that many of us are over paid and under qualified.Much of the result of these conditions stem from a lack of self esteem.

So, today's humstle is one of my all time favorite songs: Les McCann's Compared to What.  The absolute soaring nature of this song is fantastic in and of itself, but the words??? You tell me. It's worth looking up. So many references that are still relevant.

So, be civil today. And tomorrow.  It's not something that is second nature anymore. Old guys like me seem to see this more clearly than others. So the whole overs thing is really perplexing. Alas, it's part of having lived past the golden age you thought you'd never see and all the perspectives and experiences that started to fill up your personal suitcases like the pack rat shit you can't believe is in your attic or garage.

What a concept! 

less than 30

There are less than 30 days before the most important midterm elections that I can remember. I would ask my readers to vote their most relevant self interests. If I were running for office, I would state what I'm for, not what I'm against. Of course this no longer happens in races for elective office. Whatever your influence is within your own world, please take time to figure out what you're for and communicate that to however many people are in your sphere of influence. Especially, my message goes to young voters. You will hold the key to this election, either by your participation or lack thereof. 
What are YOU for? 

Where we are today is relevant all the way down to local races- those in your communities, your states. There is an old saying 'all politics is local.' Never has that been more true. You probably know how I feel if you've read any of my posts. I'm mentioning no names or party affiliations. I'm not referring to any specific laws or policy that is at stake.

Voting is one of the most precious resources we've been given. You can readily see what the stakes are in terms of laws, policy and quality of life. take all the other side and back stories out of it. It is repeatedly being demonstrated that races are getting closer and closer in each election and the fact that your vote is cast can definitely make the difference between something you want to see happen and something(s) that you do not. If you don't participate, you have little to no right to complain about the election results.

 The negativity that is so pervasive is a tactic to bore you, wear you down and convince you that 'you' don't matter
Another shopworn but important thing to remember: Garbage in, garbage out.
The stakes are high- and they DO matter. Do what matters to you.

Thanks  

Incompetents and Sequestration

Yesterday, the head of the Secret Service resigned. She should have. She was tasked with, among other things, protecting the President of the United States and his family. She failed. I am repeatedly amazed to see the moldy bread and circus shows whereby governmental agency heads go before congress and testify as to why they have run their departments in a faulty and incompetent manner. The more amazing part are the idiots that question them and then go on their favorite talk shows to be properly horrified by that incompetence. And then we need a panel of incompetent experts to debate as to why the sky is falling.

Today, the non stop coverage concerns the first infected Ebola patient in the United States and the tragedy of errors concerning his diagnosis, how many people he's come into contact with since reporting symptoms and other quite pertinent facts.

So we now are seeing not only the incompetence of of the NIH and the CDC, but a slower than demanded response to something we had to see coming months ago. Did we really think nobody would get sick and seek treatment in the United States. By the way, medicine to treat this virus is incumbent upon a special tobacco plant (among other substances) and currently, NIH says they do not have dosages to treat the people who will inevitably develop symptoms. What has been the reasons for this lack of preparedness? I say Incompetence and another little thing when the preferred method for making the government small enough to be drowned in Grove Norquist's bathtub: Sequestration. Ah yes, that little fixit that we forgot about, arbitrarily cutting funding across the board to many areas of where the congress thought we had a "spending problem." That includes the military who now needs to get rid of the Caliphate within the next 12 minutes, the CDC, who will be tasked more and more to curb a deadly virus that probably will continue to grow in this country and because of a cut in funding (because we have a spending problem) and a Secret Service, some of  whose members like to occasionally drink and fool around a little--- when nobody is watching.

I hope the case of Mr. Duncan is contained. there are rumors that he had contact with more than 100 people. I sincerely hope people don't get sick. But Texas, be proud of the fact that you lead the nation in uninsured citizens because your incompetent Governor does not believe in health care for all or an expansion of Medicaid. I hope your hospitals don't get filled up with people who come there frightened that they have Ebola and have no way to pay for the treatment that will be delayed because we passed Sequestration on account of our "spending problem."

The Turkish legislative bodies have voted for Turkey to initiate airstrikes against ISIL fighters in Syria- they being challenged by Kurdish forces loyal to the PPK, who has been in decades long struggles with Turkey. And you think we won't be hearing about tragic consequences of "friendly(?) fire"? Because after all, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Until he's not. Or we buy him off, or that noted military genius and noted incompetent, Senator John McBrain need a "surge" in Iraq and while we're at it, in Syria as well, because he has friends in Syria. He met with them and proclaimed we should arm them because they hate the Alewite Dictator that we don't like because they're the enemy of our enemy. Only it turned out that the very people MCBrain took "selfies" with were ISIL fighters. 

 Surge, my ass!! Extra troops didn't make any difference in Iraq in 2006 and 2007. Bags and bags of money persuaded Sunnis to (once again) switch sides, and take the money and run. Unless you believe McBrain, of course. I believe they called it "the awakening."

Hey, don't yell at me. Shit gets complicated. And we're watching ourselves make the same mistakes over and over again-- only we have different names and we work in governmental agencies that don't have enough money to use common sense and a proper work ethic. Because for most of us, our degrees were pretty worthless, they didn't prepare us for much more than a life of incompetence, a front row seat for Keeping up with the Kardashians, or a life of little to no opportunity because we weren't lucky enough to get that worthless degree and enter the arena of incompetence. 

Here are a couple of more things I never need to hear again.
1. Horrific
2. "But look..."
3. Breaking News at this hour

I got an e mail today from a good friend who has turned really radically conservative in the last five years. He paraphrased an alleged article that the Israelis have apparently  perfected a body scanning device that is able to detect any explosives on the person(s) going through the scan and detonate those explosives-- and of course the person carrying or concealing them. I'm not sure how they will clean the chamber out after they've blown a person up, but I never count the Israelis out when it comes to responding to what they think are threats against their security. And I never count out AIPAC who has just about congress person in their pockets to give them the money to come up with genius devices such as this (albeit fictional) even though we passed Sequestration. Cleanup in aisle 7!!

Ok, enough bad news or gloom and doom. Should that make the list of things we never want to hear again? Maybe. Anyway, Michele Bachmann plans on becoming the anti Hilary in the upcoming Presidential race, so she's not going away. She's going to continue to edumacate us as to what this country needs.

But as to what this country needs, Bob Dylan said it best: well my telephone rang and it would not stop- it was President Kennedy calling me up. He said my friend Bob, what do we need to make a country grow, and I said my friend John, Brigitte Bardot, Anita Ekberg, Sophia Loren. Country'll grow. 
from I Shall Be Free.   

It's all about the attribution, my dear Mr. Zakaria.

  

Does it occur to you that I have more?

Does it occur to you how stupid it is that talking heads keep asking quasi military experts how long the war against ISIL will last, comment on the latest beheading and then cut away to a cat food commercial where the cat is singing, "this must be my lucky day"?

No oxymoron in KC. I watched a baseball game last night that was really entertaining. Congratulations Royals. Time for the Angels. "So go home and get your **cking shinebox."

If I see one more doofus appear before a congressional committee and admit that she is a doofus but takes full responsibility for what happened, but refuses to just say "I'm a doofus and I'm going to tender my resignation." There is no accountability. Were my idea the case, the halls of congress would sit empty, there would be no intelligence Community and only 4 members of the Supreme Court would show up for work each day.

I have more

I'm for banning the following words or phrases:
1. Boots on the Ground
2. Let's go to (pick anyone) our correspondent (name anyone) reporting live from (anywhere). "What's the situation on the ground?"
3. What does victory look like to you?
4. ....thinking about a run for the presidency in 2016.

5. Ask your doctor if ( insert the name of any drug) is right for you.
6. When we come back, we consult our expert panel.

I have more.

Does it occur to anyone that we're really watching ourselves run all the federal and state agencies and that's why we're constantly holding a barf bag? How do you think YOU would do, running the IRS or The Secret Service? Be honest, now.

I don't really miss Joan Rivers. Sorry.
I wouldn't miss Roger Goodell either. 
I'm certainly not going to miss Michele Bachmann.

I have more

I have done exhaustive research and in my humble opinion, the stupidest excuse for a politician who is allowed to comment on anything, is Marsha Blackburn. Louie Gohmert and Steve King, you were knocked from your lofty perch.

American Exceptionalism and Roger Ailes. Yikes.

 

A thought of the day

If elected politicians pass every law they can to restrict the rights of a woman to terminate a pregnancy, for whatever reason  and state that it's to prevent the murder of innocents, (not my words- theirs) then why do they also refuse to pass laws that feed or give opportunity to the very children they saved, if those children struggle for whatever reason?

That's family values my friends. And that will be the hallmark of the next President of the United States, should he reside in a certain political party. So, what do you think about that?

So once again, I ask two questions- Are you buying in? Which wolf will you feed?

The buy in

The President made a speech last night. It doesn't matter what he said. The very notion that you can kill your way to peace or security is ludicrous. I am a big fan of the HBO series, The Leftovers. If somehow, whether we knew why it happened or not, a great force simply removed evil from the earth, that is something many could buy into.

I could. So, once again, I remind you dear readers of the wolves fighting for survival- and observed by a Cherokee Grandfather and his grandson. The child asks, "who will win?" The elder replies, "The wolf you feed." 

It's 9/11, the 13th year after the downing of the WTC buildings, the beginning of a a great struggle and the beginning of another tribal fight that will probably last until the earth justs says, "Fuck You." and all evil doers are swept from their existence because it's enough already.

Which wolf do you feed today?
Are you buying in?

Deja Vu- all over again

One of my previous humstles was the Temptations' Ball Of Confusion.

Tomorrow is the 13th anniversary of 9/11. Just about every poll taken shows that currently the Barack Obama is more unpopular that George W. Bush and the new media king of Meet The Press, Chuck Todd compared this unpopularity to that of Jimmy Carter- pretty chilling. And of course, sadder than sad, since David Gregory was bad enough- but now we get to hear the gloom and doom from Chuck Todd, who was as heartless today on MSNBC's Morning Joe as any of the fine people over at that fair and balanced bastion Fox News.

But if you're Steve Wynn, owner of various Las Vegas resorts and facilities, you're just as mad at Obama as the people polled. He's regularly criticized the President for being "terrible for business." His anger has been echoed by notable business gadflies such as Ken Langone of Home Depot and former GE CEO, Jack Welch who if they've ever said anything nice about the guy, obviously I was not in attendance at that moment. Incidentally, even though he still is regularly invited to to come on CNBC or Fox Business to dump on the President for anything from how he hates big business to being soft on existential terror threats, Ken Langone's company is sorta smarting from the news that millions of its credit card holders personal information was hacked and their financial privacy is at great peril. He hasn't done too badly in these 5 years either, since this "terrible" President has done his best to have ruined our country. Obviously, there has been no job growth, Wall Street folks have not done very well at all and here is ISIL, streaming through our southern borders to blow up our citizens in malls, movie theatres and public events.

Terrible for business. At the close of trading on January 20th , 2009, Steve Wynn's Wynn Resorts and Gaming's stock closed at $34.00 per share. It is reported that over the years, Steve Wynn, while running his mouth and running down the President for his anti business policies, acquired nearly 2 million shares of common stock. In today's trading, the Wynn Corporation's stock is hovering at or above a $180.00 per share price.

I think my basic math skills are above average, but I'm not going to try to compute this for you. Please feel free., though and while you're at it, try to figure out that while these men, which include Langone and Wynn's buddy Sheldon Adelson gave hundreds of millions of dollars through Political Action Committees to elect Republican candidates who support their views and companies and regularly vote to cut SNAP benefits, Minimum Wage, Immigration Reform, Gender pay Equality, deny expansion of Medicaid which prevents sick Americans from having to go to Emergency Rooms, repeal of Dodd Frank and the Affordable Care Act. I have to take a breath here. I have left out significant things that they're just not for.

Which brings us a speech tonight about Iraq, Syria, the Middle Eastern neighborhood and why millions of people hate us and want to cut off our heads. It doesn't matter that they've told us time and again why they feel this way. So off we'll merrily go to once again to impose our "American Exceptionalism" on people who are sick of us not leaving them the fuck alone!! While the vile groups spawned by this hatred are indeed, that, even this guy who is not so good at math can calculate that there are many more people like them than there are people like us. So, if by chance they had stated at some point that in addition to terrorizing us, they were going to make sure that we spent not only our blood, but our treasure in trying to carry out what Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson told Sean (Pulitzer Prize) Hannity last week. "Either we're going to have to convert them or kill them." Just in case we run out of money, do you think that Steve Wynn or Ken Langone or Shel Adelson kick in a few extra bucks? Didn't think so

So happy 9/11 tomorrow. God help us, but here we go again. We are giving in terror and we have been frightened enough to spend billions we would better spend on our own poeple, to wipe out billions of others. I think that's code for "degrade and destroy."

13th anniversary. Not a good number. But I hope it comes and goes with the proper solemnity. I used to sign off with a a 'call someone and tell them you love them.'

Which

What Wolf did YOU feed today??

Like you need my advice

Advice to Ferguson (all inhabitants, including media):

You would do well to acquaint yourself with the ancient Cherokee Legend. 
A boy and his grandfather happened upon a fight between two wolves. It was a fierce fight and neither could say what or which wolf started it. There they were, locked in mortal combat. And the child asked the grandfather, "grandfather, who will win?" The grandfather looked at his grandson and replied, "the one you feed."

Thank you. that is all for today.

 

Galvanize THIS

Everyone else (it seems) is a fucking expert about the Ferguson Missouri events. May I weigh in?

What has happened and continues to happen is tragic- and an out and out travesty. Our wonderful internet and social media enables everybody to have their say. And say, they've had.

There are significant issues that continue to drive the deep divide in our country. And I certainly hope that our post racial President has been the galvanizing force to at once, show the world- and locally, all of us how Presidential "weigh ins" on issues of this sort do nothing to foster understanding.
These almost 6 years have been painful to me, the rollback of restraint and some sort of decency-- which of course was the big smokescreen to give us the feeling that we have made progress in this country. It's worse today than it was and Ferguson teaches us this with dramatic effect. If 1000 public figures read my thoughts, perhaps 990 would disagree with me. But as the famous "beer summit" proved, Barack Obama, Henry Louis Gates, James Crowley and Joe Biden sitting down, having a beer together and 'hugging one out' was one of  the biggest examples of bullshit theater one might possibly witness. How many times could the great minds gather at the 92nd Street Y in New York City to have a "meaningful discussion" about a great issue of the day. Another theatre of the absurd. Another staged event with "famous" people who have really "interesting and important" things to say.

If anybody had any balls, they would get a really good camera, a quiet room and three extreme people- one black and one white and one brown and let them say to each and for all of us, what they really think and feel about each other. REALLY think and FEEL.

And until the world hears that discussion, we're just jerking ourselves off. The manner in which we disseminate, and report so called "news" is stunningly callous, a waste of time and so irrelevant as to its stupidity. It's a goddamned insult. When you're a news and politics junkie and this is what you get, you're getting shortchanged.

And I'm only talking about race today, not the 9% approval ratings of people we repeatedly elect and re-elect. Not talking about professional liars who constantly beat the drums of war while ignoring the will of the people who elected them. The sense of hope that is lost because  a small group of people need to make more money and wield more power and influence to compensate for small brains, and small sexual organs. Uh, oh. smd is back. It never really goes away does it?

Every once in a while, I have a day like this and these thoughts pour out of me. I hope tomorrow is a better day. We all need a better day. I'd rather be thinking about one of the great events of my life, but my thoughts are far from a farm in Bethel, New York where a half a million poeple gathered peacefully to listen to some music 45 years ago.

We all make a difference if we choose to. But we get weary, crushed by the huge amount of bullshit that precludes us from doing so as often as we can.

I keep hoping. The audacity of hope. Rush Limbaugh? God help us. 
Mr. President-- don't tell me that you could have been Michael Brown.
Instead think of Paul Simon's Dangling Conversation:
"lost in the dangling conversation- and the superficial sighs- in the borders of our lives.
Today's humstle   
  I'll keep coming back

Then and Now 4

The answer is money. Then power. Or power, then money.

We live in a world where the 7 deadly sins pretty much rule a vast majority of behavior.

Consider that well before we felt the need to turn Iraq into a democracy, we were aware of the geopolitical stakes involved in our need for fossil fuels. The Mideast has this commodity in huge abundance.This is no secret. If you're one of the 4500 some odd families who lost loved ones in this stupid (like all other stupid) war we declared, based upon poor intelligence and shoddy information (aluminum tubes that held cake uranium) ( or try this one; that portable rocket launchers existed in neighborhoods, armed with chemical warheads that could be driven to a launch location and launched with 15 minutes.) Thanks Colin Powell, thanks Dick Cheney, thanks Doug Feith, Paul Wolfowitz and the rest of the gang. But especially, thanks George W. Bush for providing the cute little clubhouse where this puppet show could be perpetrated.

Money and power. Influence and the status quo. Rich get richer and poor people's children die, not for anything noble, but a perpetuation of this awful behavior. 

I knew you knew that, but it still pisses many people off.  

We are now spending money that should be earmarked for so many other worthy things than this. And what is the this? We are bombing and destroying  our own equipment that we gave to A Shia majority and a Shia government that we pushed for so that our companies could continue to reap the benefits of the  "all biness" in Iraq; reportedly a country that represents one of the top 5 reserves in the world. Remember though, it isn't about the oil (that Sec Def Rumsfeld promised would finance the entire war, which would last roughly 6 weeks after we were welcomed as liberators.)

I'm going to stop. According to Rush Limbaugh, I am an unhappy leftist who dwells on these negative lies and I probably will end up killing myself- as Robin Williams did because lefties are so unhappy. After all, angst is what we do best.

The impact of Williams' death is finally hitting home. There is so much else going on, I tried to block it out. Robin Williams gets hours of press (rightly so, although the actual coverage makes me want to puke.) and Lauren Bacall gets a 120 second blurb because of her come on to Humphrey Bogart in To Have And Have Not .

I always loved Robin's dramatic performances much more than his comedic talents. He was truly one of a kind and I will miss him. It shouldn't take his death to alert us to another low info drive by about mental illness and depression.

I am installing a permanent humstle, one portrayed in the first "THEN AND NOW post: Master Jack. "It's a mighty strange world, we live in, Master Jack."

See you.

Then and now 3

I promised you an answer to yesterday's dual view of today vs the innocent 50's.
In 1952, the United States learned of the desire of duly elected Iranian Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh to nationalize Iranian oil reserves. This was seen as a major blow to multinational oil companies owned by British and American businessmen and a great PR and economic victory for the Soviet Union.

In a declassified report, the American CIA has admitted its involvement in overthrowing the government of Iran and installing the Shah Reza Pahlevi in Mossadegh's place. According to many reports, this incident cast a shadow over US, Iranian relations to this very day. 

So this begs a question. As we pan forward to the present and recent past, what was the prime factor in the gestation of virulent anti American sentiment in the Middle East?  answer tomorrow.

In the meantime, today's humstle  is Billy Joel's Keepin the Faith.  The key line in the song to me, is "well the good ol' days weren't always good and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems.

We're such a young country- so full of ourselves and somehow, we think the world hungers for our leadership and influence. Guess what? They don't. 

Tomorrow, then.

Then and Now 2

In 1955, a gallon of gas cost 24 cents. If it went up as adjusted for normal inflation, today's price would be $196.00 a gallon. Would we be debating about carbon footprints, energy self sufficiency or alternative sources?

 A loaf of bread was 18 cents. By the same logic, today's price would be $37.80 per loaf. Would red state opposotion to a reduced carbohydrate diet in schools be as pronounced? 

As we have deftly done for as many years as I can remember, we have propped up idiots in countries that had substantial oil reserves. When these same idiots have not done the bidding of our corporate controlled government, we have had them suffer "accidental" circumstances- coups, heart attacks, local insurrections, diversionary military skirmishes. Can anyone name the country who had an idiot (who wouldn't do our bidding in 1953) deposed (with our help) for a strongman who would? And why? answer tomorrow.

Who are Orville Faubus and Melinda Patillo and what were their roles in the innocence of the 1950's?

Just so you don't think I am needlessly manipulating information for no reason, let me assure you, the Chicago Cubs were 9 games under .500 in 1955 and finished 11 games under- a 71-82 finish as the Brooklyn Dodgers were on their way to a NL pennant and a world series victory, with Jackie Robinson among those leading the way. The Cubs would have finished 12 games under, but as they were mired in the second division of the National league, making up a rain delayed game wouldn't have made much difference.

In the 1950's personal responsibility were still one of the strongest values taught in the home, schools and houses of worship. Where do you think we're at as a nation today? Does our government act in a contrarian way as compared to this value? Because I think this question is really important as to why an NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll reported that 71% of Americans think our country is on the wrong track. What's the right track?

I would urge you to visit the sites, The Daily Caller and The Daily Kos. I think it would be educational. Sort of like taking a field trip without leaving your home. See if you agree about the divergence of opinion in this country and what we've become in terms of some of our values and how we express them-- and in context of our nation's first President of color.

Today's humstle is Paul Anka's You're Having My Baby. I make no bones about my love of the Grateful Dead, but the social network is rife with rumors about the recent cancellation of a sizable chunk of Bob Weir's Ratdog's tour. One of the big speculations is that he may be about to become a father again. So hence, the Paul Anka song. All things "Dead" don't run through my soul like a river anymore, so I am amused. If it's serious, I wish Bobby well. He entertained me on many an occasion.

Peace out- refusniks.  

 

 

Then and now

I may go off on a strange and wild tangent today. Stay with me. It may make you think.

Today's humstle is by Four Jacks and a Jill. They were another "one hit wonder" in the 60's. The song was called Master Jack. The main refrain was, "it's a strange strange world we live in, Master Jack." 

Today's social media would dissect that song in the ways we do things these days; she being the wide eyed and nubile girl seeking to make sense of a crazy world where mutually assured destruction would keep the world in line. And it would all be taught to her by an older, wiser man who would show her the ropes. Yes, I know the dual meaning of that word.

Even though my domestic and world views are shaped through my own education and experiences, it would seem that the planet's societies go through reprises of madness. It's the mental form of muscle memory. 

When I used to coach little league, I taught muscle memory. If a kid threw with his right hand, I instituted drills which forced him to develop the same talent with his left hand. It gave the person, if he could do it, the power to think from both sides of his brain. This was the mid to late 80's and my methods (and the songs I played on my boombox) scared some of my kids' parents, who were simply trying to get their kid to socialize within the guise of our national pastime. I don't think they were looking for any breakthroughs of the nature I had in mind. You could drive kids to and from practice in those days. The entire pedophile scare, which has always been with us, was not front and center on a parent's mind-- that amidst a 95 day team effort, the thought of your child going to baseball practice and being secretly sodomized in an equipment shed after practice, was never mentioned and rarely feared. Now, that's all we think about. Coaches can be pillars of society today but they won't risk driving a neighbor's kid to or from baseball practice. When I was 8, I could get on a bus and ride down to Chicago's Museum Of Science and Industry. I would spend 2 or 3 happy hours walking around among the wonder of what the museum had to offer. And then, I would get back on a bus and ride home.  My parents never thought that along the way, I would get kidnapped, abused or murdered by a pedophile.  I read a headline today where a mother was arrested for allowing her child to walk to a local park and play with his friends. But there were pedophiles in those days. Were we more afraid of obstructionism, by the 84th Congress against the agenda of Dwight Eisenhower? Or Joe McCarthy's anti communist diatribes and attacks upon the political leanings of his Senate colleagues? Or was it about who would be the first to fly into space? Maybe who had the H-Bomb and would we die in a nuclear holocaust? 

Or were we a nation who had seen a scourge of dictators try to enslave large parts of the world and refused to allow them to do so? Was there asymmetrical warfare, the kind that spawned 9/11? How many people possessed nuclear weapons in 1955, when the 84th congress was not blocking President Eisenhower. Were fish frys and summer vacations what we thought about- winding down the days of August before the school started right after labor day and the lives of people took on a predictable rhythm? Are there still bridge clubs today? What happened at 10.00 PM when the television shut down for the day. And television- what a trip that was! And then, if you had color TV (not the 50's), you were the envy of your neighborhood. And my God, if you also had a fallout shelter!!

Brown v Board of Education happened in this time. The nation's interstate highways were built-- with bi partisan support from Congress. Whites were not ready to apply equality toward Blacks and Browns. So, a Republican President, who led the allies to an eventual victory over Germany in WW2 sent in national guard troops, probably not because he wanted to. But it was because he saw the future and the changes that would be taking place within his country and through his world perspective, albeit through the prism of a military background, and he knew what the right thing to do was. 

I'm not saying that the 50's was not fraught with some ugliness. It certainly was. But the generations of barnacles were just beginning to break off and sometimes reveal the ugly side of people, amidst the optimism and innocence of a nation that felt they could do anything, but knew that without domestic tranquility and unspoken confidence in who we were, the quiet knowledge of the projection of power could never be evident to a world where many would never even get a sniff of freedom or dignity.

I'm writing for a generation of baby boomers who lived through this time. It was good. And sometimes it was not. But I remember it. And whatever happened, it shaped me.

So in a recent post, I told of my grandson. He is by marriage. My children know better than to have children, because I think I'm at a perfect time in my life. I hope I can live more than a few years, but I look at my grandson and I fear for the world he's going to have to live in. I really do. As for his condition, he had a very bad reaction to a tetanus shot. And it caused him to have a 12 minute seizure. And some damage was done to his brain, which already is compromised by a form of Chiari's Malformation. Look it up if you're interested. But since getting out of ICU last week, he is bouncing back-slowly, but he is bouncing back. And when I pitch batting practice to him in the backyard, I am watching him struggle as he hadn't before this incident. But he rocked a good one that came back at me and hit me in the shoulder. Getting older is bitch. My reflexes are pretty awful. But as when I used to coach, we'd try to take one positive out of session and make sure the kid knew that although he still had lots of work to do if he wanted to be good, he still did something that stood out. Kids need that. Their parents are paying less and less attention to them and it's really noticeable. But it was good shot. He smiled and I knew it was important for him to know.. But his grandma and I are paying very close attention to him and moving his cognition back to levels that befit his intelligence and inquisitiveness. We are staying within the limits of being grandparents, because he has two parents and he is their primary gift. We add on where we think we might help- and it doesn't cause jealousy from his parents that he actually responds well to us as people. Have you been there? He has a follow up with a pediatric neurosurgeon today. I'll keep you posted.

When I was his age, I climbed fences and stepped on rusty nails. That part of what being a kid is about. If I broke the skin, I got a tetanus shot. I was not aware that a little guy could have such a dire reaction. The results still break my heart but I was pretty torn up about what had happened to him and without compromising his life, I write about him to let you know that he got out of the hospital and is recovering. But I will never forget  that on his bed in ICU was a red bag which contained what doctors would need, if he coded. And he almost did. 

The title of today's post is Now and Then. As Ferris Bueller said, 'the world moves pretty fast. If you don't pay attention, you could miss it.' I'm putting that in single quotes because I may not have that line exactly right. But I think you know what I mean.

I don't know who my audience is, so I don't know if they will read this and think it's a real snoozer. I think it's not and in the coming posts, I will try to contrast things that happened while I was growing up to things that happen today. It is amazing-- the differences. Makes me really sad sometimes.

See you soon.

Jesse and Evy

Today's humstle is not a song, but segments from a song. One of my favorite guys who plays music is Jesse Winchester. He did a version of Otis Jackson's Tell Me Why I Like Roosevelt in his Learn To Love It  album of 1974. 

Winchester chose not to participate in the Vietnam War and part of the lyrics of his updated version were: 'because I am baptized by water, but I passed on the one by fire. If you want to fight, go on and fight if that be your desire. He went to Canada, rather than being drafted into the army. I lost touch with him over the years and was saddened greatly to hear of his death this past April 11th. He was 69. Music has always been such a big part of my life and this man was near the center of it.

A little about Jesse. He's had a rather prolific career and I have many of his records. He resonated with me. The lyrics I show you today are from a song called The Brand New Tennessee Waltz.  

This has been a really shitty summer for me. Through previous posts, you may have read that we have property in North Carolina and that we had enabled a couple to sort of rebuild their lives and allowed them to live rent free on the property and to make repairs to it. Last week's post, Time off, AMEN was about us needing to get away from things for a few days. We had recently lost a large segment of business that we worked really hard to get. How big a segment? Well, it was growing toward $1 Million dollars per year. The reason (or lack thereof) was also mentioned in the post, Small Man's disease. That's only about effort and the loss of money so although really frustrating, it was something I couldn't control. I tried my best but in the end, the man with the smd decided to be untruthful and mete out his revenge and anger by firing us. Nobody likes to get fired. But in particular, nobody likes to get fired when the reason given for the firing is built on emotion, ugliness and untruthfulness. As far as North Carolina, our chosen couple had scuffled prior to our giving them the opportunity we gave them. When we got down there last week, they were traveling or maybe gone but the state of the house and the property was run down to a state where we scarcely recognized it. After two years of suspecting things were not quite right, we discovered that they had probably decided to bail on responsibility and as we sat, stunned in the late afternoon sunlight, and gazed upon the lost opportunity and the treason of it all, the land cried to us and told us that it had had high hopes for returning to a former glory. Now it sat fallow and the land and the birds sang to us and begged us to make things right-- again. And we drove back to town, and cried the whole fucking way back.

But yesterday, one of the lights of my life, my 5 year old grandson by marriage, who had been staying with us for a few days, got violently ill during the day- projectile vomiting, fever and periods of disorientation. He seemed to get better as the day went on and by the time his mother came to get him, he seemed reasonable enough to go home---- until the phone rang 2 hours later and we learned that he was on his way to the Children's Hospital- that he had been unresponsive at times and developed a terrible blotchy rash. Today, he will have to be sedated so that he can have a brain MRI to confirm whether or not he has Chairi Malformation. Thanks to Google, you can look it up if you're interested. It isn't pretty.

So today's lyrics are particularly poignant;. 
So have all of your passionate violins- play a tune for a Tennessee Kid. Who's feeling like leaving another town- with no place to go if he did. 'Cause they'll catch you wherever you're hid.

Another day-- Uncertain and heart wrenching and I know lots of families have their own stories to tell. Before yesterday, it was about temporarily lost opportunities, money to be spent, trying to make it right again or to make me stop thinking about smd. Those are the tangible things. Shit on a balance sheet. Even as I watch with terrible sadness but necessary detachment the news of nearly 300 people who got on a plane a few days ago and got blown out of the sky by another fuck with smd and two warring tribes that have fought each other for thousands of years, at it again, all I see a kid with some much gumption and personality sitting frightened in a hospital bed. His name is Evy. If you could say a prayer for him, I'd appreciate it. If you knew him, you'd say he is worth every penny

While he was here for a few days, out of nowhere (it seemed) he said something to me that I thought was interesting at that moment. In retrospect, it was pretty prescient; "be prepared to go outside your comfort zone." 

My mom, who was NOT religious and rarely mentioned God, told me once when I thought they world was going to fall in on me, (it wasn't) "God never gives you more than you can handle."
I gotta try to get my shit together.