Rich People, Go Figure.

There are very rich people that live completely anonymous lives. I knew this very old man once. When he was a little boy, back before World War I, in New York City, he was a street urchin, scrambling for money. One of the things he did was hawk bags of peanuts at Yankee games. He got the idea that he could sell other stuff and made a deal with the management to do so. He started out with team pennants on bamboo canes, which he had made up at a local sweat shop. They sold well. He hired other little kids to sell them and gave the management a cut. Eventually he was selling all sorts of cheap shit to the fans. He made a decent living for several years. Other teams soon copied what he did and he was never able to cash in on his imitators.

He started to get rich when pro football started up. He managed to convince the NFL that they should only allow the sale of "official" curios and got the contract to be the sole provider. Eventually, a large proportion of the profits of NFL teams came from his operation. He also pioneered giveaway nights, where attendance could be boosted by giving everybody some piece of shit souvenir.

As the decades rolled by, all of the professional sports leagues had official products and he became the official provider for all of them, pro, semi pro, even some college sports. A lot of these products, jerseys, hats and warm up jackets, bobble head dolls, became so popular that they were sold in huge volumes at special stores in the stadiums, off site, and through mail order. Eventually, he became one of the richest men in the country and nobody ever heard of him. He was able to keep his competitive edge by going overseas for production and direct shipping to distributors. No infrastructure, few employees, the cheapest possible crap. He never had any plan to pass the business on to his children. He didn't think they could hold on to it. He was probably right. He sold out in the early Nineties to Nike. They paid top dollar. He was a Billionaire. More even than that.

I met him after he had got the cancer that would kill him. He donated a wing to the best cancer hospital in SoCal. He had his own suite and they kept him alive a long time. He would go home as much as possible, long weekends, holiday seasons, special occasions. His wife would bring him home late in the evening and I would often go out from the Visiting Nurses Association, to get him set up. I liked visiting him. Rich people are more demanding and his was always an inordinately long visit but he was an interesting guy. I'd do the assessment admission packet. Get him into bed. Clean him up. Get his Gastric tube feeding going and he'd be good for the night. They had a home aide that would come in the morning.

They lived in a relatively modest one bedroom townhouse in a Newport Beach golf course community called Big Canyon. As those kind of places go, it's OK but not nearly as expensive or exclusive as the top tier. The golf course didn't have country club amenities. It wasn't close to the water or even in a really nice area. I was surprised that people with that kind of money and such a limited end of life horizon would choose a place like that to live. I thought it was cool. They were a cute old couple, both in their nineties, very independent. I liked to think I was their friend. I got a kick out of it.

So, one time I'm out there really late on a Friday night after the wife had brought him from the hospital. He was getting sicker and wasn't really doing very well. I probably spent 2 1/2 hours there. $35 flat rate visit, not even worth my time. He probably shouldn't have been home at all but I knew he really wanted to be and he was going to die soon anyway, so I took my time and made sure he was OK. I set the feeding rate a little lower than was ordered because I didn't want it to back up on him, give it time to absorb. I was on call weekend nights so I gave the old lady my home phone and beeper number so she wouldn't have to go through the answering service if there was an emergency. She seemed relieved and very grateful.

Just before I left I got a beep from my boss at the office in Irvine. That meant he had someplace else for me to go. I asked the lady if I might use her phone to call in and she said certainly. I didn't have a cell phone. They were a new thing and the VNA was too cheap to reimburse the cost, so I just had a beeper and a company phone credit card. So I called in, got the info on the next visit and was off to put a new dilaudid cartridge into the portable IV pump of a malingering junkie woman, abusing the home health care system in Dana Point.

My supervisor told me the next week that the wife had called to file a complaint against me for not using my credit card on the phone call. Newport to Tustin, 35 cents. I got mad but I was embarrassed too. I should have used the credit card. You had to go through a whole routine and punch in about twenty digits. It never occurred to me that they would care. I guess it should have. They still needed evening visits and sometimes even late night visits after that, he didn't die for a few more months. I would never go. I made Gerald, my supervisor go. I never got along with Gerald that well. He was afraid they would give me his job. Let him waste his time for no money with the old rich people. It wasn't out of spite. I knew if I went back, I would give the old lady a buck to reimburse her for the call and a little extra, for the trouble I put her through and that would just be mean.

The Greatest Healh Care System In The World

Why does everyone whine about the health care system in this country? If you get real sick, you only have to pay everything you have, then you can wait six months to get on Medicaid and the absolute worst doctors will misdiagnose you and treat you in hellhole hospitals, absolutely free. What could be fairer than that?

Go To The Superbowl?

This might be a good year to go to the Superbowl. I hear you can get shitty tickets, last minute, for about $1400 dollars each. Figure two people, coach tickets across the country, a motel for a few nights and expenses, prob'ly wouldn't cost you more than $5000, $6000 if you live it up. That seems cheap compared to what it's been in the past. I think the Superbowl isn't what it once was. Besides that, it's stormy down in Florida right now. Neither the Colts or the Saints are exactly America's team but there ought to be enough guys my age or older still out there that remember Johnny U in Baltimore and would shell out some money. It's like the American Haj, everyone needs to go at least once before they die.

I'm not lining up for tickets. We're going to Mac World in San Francisco next week, four days worth. Plane tickets and hotel from Priceline, a little pocket change for Bart and the Metro, eat a little dim sum in Chinatown, bowl of spagetti in North Beach, won't set us back more than $6-700. More my speed.

Waiting For The Storm

Is anyone besides me wondering why the Bible thumpers and rednecks aren't already screaming bloody murder about Barry's plan to abolish don't ask don't tell? Since homosexuals are abominations against God and criminal perverts to boot, you'd think they'd pipe up right away.

It's gotta be a tough call for them. I'm sure they don't want to be seen as doing anything that didn't "support the troops". Everybody knows there are lots of Gays in the military. It was never any secret on my boat who was Gay. They're a little different. Even the tattoos. Never was a problem that I could see. I knew a couple of Gay guys that I considered unsuited to military service but not because they were Gay. Besides that, deciding who was suitable for military service was never part of my military qualifications.

This has been a long drawn out transition, nothing like when Truman racially desegregated the military, at least on paper, overnight. I doubt there will be a lot of problems.

One thing I would really like to see changed in the military is the officer/enlisted divide. It isn't the fact that it perpetuates an antiquated class system that bothers me. The system enables people in both sides to reach positions of authority for which they have no aptitude and were never competent.

He Never Traveled With A Board. He Just Carved A New One, Wherever He Was.

So Fuckin' Cool.

Duke Kahanamoku was born 120 years ago. He was still alive when I was a young man. He was famous like a rock star in his day. He is one of my favorite Americans.

He was hands down the best in the World at what he did, for a long time. He enjoyed being able to travel the World, see new sights and meet different people. These were the things his fame brought him. I don't think he was ever poverty stricken but he never had or saved any money. He could have. I guess it never interested him.

The things that impressed me about him were that he was a friend to anybody that wanted to be his friend and an enemy of no one. After his fame had passed, he never became embittered, reclusive or a drunk. He lived his life the same, doing the things he liked with his friends, from the time he was a little boy until he was an old man. He lived in a racial time but he was never a racial man and did it in a seemingly casual manner. That can't have been easy. He was one of the heroes of all the little boys in my area. Everybody wished they could live their life like Duke.

I'm not going to go into all the stuff he did. It wasn't that earthshaking. The stuff of boyhood heroes. The impressive thing was that it was all good stuff. Greed, anger, envy, lust, he didn't seem to be touched by any of them and he had ample opportunity to become intimately acquainted with all of them.

There's a lot I don't know about him. I don't know if he was religious. I don't know his sexual orientation. I don't know about his political views. I don't know if he was what a lot of people like to call "a patriotic American". He served as a military policeman in World War II, whatever that's worth. He had to be in his fifties at the time. I like to think Duke didn't care about any of that shit but I don't really know.

He must have been quite a guy to know. If I could pick any person to get to be, it probably would be him. He had a great life. He had a lot of great times and never got caught doing anything bad, as far as I know. I wish I could say that.

Scott Brown Believes In God

Scott Brown, the new Republican Senator from Massachusetts goes to this Church.

Doesn't sound that bad to me, if you want to go to Church. I don't but a lot of people seem to find some comfort there and I think that's a good thing.

They say they fall somewhere center right on the political and social values spectrum but it also sounds like they leave the specifics of how you live your life up to the individual.

The Pope recently said that no dissent from the church is allowed and that Catholics should think, act and vote exactly like the church says, otherwise there is no place for you at the potluck in the basement or Heaven up above. Even James Dobson over at Focus on the Family isn't that strict. Jimmy really isn't so terrible when you put him in perspective. He does say that an important part of raising a son is making sure he sees your penis a lot. That kind of puts me off. Seems kind of creepy. At least he's honest and open about his sexuality. He claims to be hetero and no meth snorting Gay hookers have shown up out of his past to besmirch his escutcheon yet. I wish the Pope would be more honest about his sexuality. He needs to discuss openly and often exactly what his sexual orientation is and how he expresses it in his activities of daily living. Everyone should, don't you think? The World would be a better place. I know it always makes me feel better and it helps the people around me to know what they're dealing with. I'm real shy about who I show my penis to, I think it's real brave of James Dobson to tell the truth like that.

Maybe I'm just old fashioned.

Who Loses, Who Gains?

Is it only me that thinks this or was Scott Brown, the newly elected Senator from the State of Massachusetts, hiding his light under a bushel before election day? I got the feeling during the campaign that he was an empty suit, a pretty boy shill for the party leaders, who would do their bidding in every important way.

I don't get that feeling any more. He seems like a strongly progressive guy on cultural and civil rights issues and mainly interested in pursuing fiscal austerity in government. I don't think he has any intention of rolling over for the pedochristers. You know the kind I'm talking about. The ones that teach Sunday school but who you wouldn't trust to help your little child in a bathroom stall. My Congressman is exactly like that. I really hate them.

I like Scott. I'd trade guys like him one for one with the kind of Republicans in Congress now, all day long. Hell, I'd trade away a lot of the welfare state Democrats we have now for guys like him.

Charles Darwin

When I was in school I certainly heard a bit about Charles Darwin and The Origin of the Species. I never actually read the Origin of the Species, did you? Most of the references I learned were about the adaptation of birds on the Galapagos Islands to different ecological niches. I know he also did some studies of marine invertebrates and worms. Mostly he was an observer who made speculative observations. His education was mostly in Anglican theology and geology and his work was done under the auspices of a geographical society. He was not a biologist by training, as far as I know.

I never heard that he theorized that humans descended from apes. I never heard that he was an atheist or ever uttered any sentiments against the existence of a creationist God. I never heard that he theorized about or advocated for any type of eugenics or birth control. Malthusianism was very popular during his lifetime among those of his social class. He was not one of them. The concept of Social Darwinism wasn't developed during his lifetime. I never heard that he engaged in activism or even radical thought of any type.

Charles Darwin was from a rich family against whom he never rebelled or was estranged from. He was very well behaved during his student days, received high marks and was popular with professors, students and the Anglican clergy that administered his college. I don't think he ever made any money from his research or publications, which never sold more than a few thousand copies although he got pretty famous in academic circles. He was ill for much of his life and became reclusive. He married his cousin and with her raised several sickly children. By all accounts they loved each other and the sickly children deeply. I don't think he ever was interested in influencing public opinion about politics, philosophy or religion at all.

Where do the fucking wingnuts get all this shit about Darwin? Do they just make it up?

UPDATE: I just want to clarify. I'm not saying that I don't believe that man didn't evolve from common ancestors with other primates. Go back far enough and we have common ancestors with sea slugs. I'm just saying that Charles Darwin never said so.

A Cautionary Tale

I took this post down. Too much bad stuff about a guy that doesn't deserve it.

I'm not a nice guy.

Sorry.

Is It Alright To Like Two Man Luge If You're Not Gay?

NBC says it will lose big money televising the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC because nobody will watch. I grew up and lived all my life in a warm, Sunny place. I find Winter sports very exotic. I will watch a lot if it's the stuff I like. They play too much figure skating. I don't like it that much. I really like the stuff that mostly consists of free falling and sliding downward at steep angles and high speeds.

They should make it so that multiple contestants in these types of events compete at the same time, like at a track meet and if they lost control, they would crash into each other, then continue tumbling helplessly to the bottom of the course.

Their ratings at NBC would really increase then.

Roeder Guilty in Kansas.

For some people no amount of punishment is ever enough. I feel that way about Scott Roeder. It isn't that I have a particular problem with him. He's just some sad, pathetic, crazy asshole. He represents the entire pro life community though and as such deserves a horrible, lingering punishment culminating in death. Just the way I feel. I'm sure it's not universal.

I don't know how the death penalty got taken off the table with him. I guess killing an abortion doctor doesn't satisfy the special circumstances requirement in Kansas.

Franny and Zooey in the Rye

I never read any JD Salinger. He was a spoiled rich kid, older than my own parents. Why would I want a guy like that's opinion on how and why to be an alienated and disaffected youth? That's one thing I never had any trouble with on my own.

Hear the Band. See The Crotches of Baton Twirling Cuties.

I remember when I was in high school, the Superbowl was a recent phenomenon. I think it was in 1968 they made the theme of the event "Up With America" and featured a super patriotic half time extravaganza. This was a time when the country was extremely polarized politically and the Vietnam War and and the protest against it were both at their peek.

This year they are going to have Carrie Underwood sing the National Anthem and then Queen Latifah, "America the Beautiful". At half time, the Who will hobble out and sing all the CSI theme songs. It's hard to find words to express what I think about this. They always say times change. I think maybe what they really do is melt.

Pimp Mama

Mother Teresa plucked homeless orphans off the streets of Calcutta. She raised them Catholic. She steered them into religious vocations. She sent them off to Europe to do the mundane work of the Church and care for the ever aging generations of European priests and nuns, vowed to lives of poverty. If they try to escape they are deported back to India, to starve on the streets of Calcutta, which is where they would have been anyway, if not for Mama T.

How does this fail to qualify as human trafficking of the most reprehensible type?

That's Why They Say Choose Life

Sarah Palin and her daughter are quite vocal about choosing life. Tim Tebow and his Mama are going to be on the Super Bowl and talk about why she chose life. They are proud they chose. Are they going to say they wish she hadn't had a choice? Are they going to say that they wish no woman would have that choice?

I don't think so.

SOTU

Did you like Barry's SOTU speech? If you are a Dem, you probably did, if you're not maybe not so much. I thought it was a pretty good speech but that's all it was, a speech.

The last time I was moved by a political speech was Jesse Jackson, at the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. I was 33 years old. I guess that was still just young enough. New day commin', ya know. If I watched that same speech today, I wonder if it would have any effect on me?

So far, I still like Barry. I'm still with the Dems. I'll keep voting for them. That just means that nothing has changed in America.

I wouldn't read anything else into it, either way.

Bigger Balls

So, we know JD Hayworth is going to run against McCain for Senate in Arizona. I don't think he can beat McCain but he might.

Hayworth is a posterboy socon. He's a birther, a warhawk, homeschooler, fetus worshipper, woman hating, immigrant bashing racist. He wears the big flag pin.

If Janet Napalitano doesn't go on the Supreme Court, she could go back to Arizona and beat Hayworth in the general election. Arizonans like her. She's smarter than Hayworth. She has bigger balls.

If A Guy's Wife Holds A Press Conference To Say He's Not Gay

He's Gay.

I wonder what she says about him on the bad days?

We're Not In Kansas Anymore

We had quite a storm system come through here last week. Not record breaking rainfalls but some of the valleys and canyons got flooding. Some tornados formed off the coast. No big damage that I heard about. Unusual.

This one is threatening Huntington Harbour, one of out trendier neighborhoods.

Waterspout off HB Pier

I wish it had clipped Ruby's Cafe at the end of the pier. It's a Gyp joint. $12 burgers and $7 shakes. The view is just ocean. You can get the same one outside for free.

Subverting Our Right To Deliciously Preserved, Wholesome, Pork Byproducts

Something is very wrong here. To make the favorite foods of my people, you don't need cleanliness. You don't need refrigeration. No use by dates are required.

You just need a Barnyard, a big tub, a big knife, a source of low, smokey heat, a pig, and something to macerate it's flesh with. One more thing. You need small but adequate amounts of nitric acid compounds. This is as it ever has been, is now and always shall be. Amen.

Preserved pork is a religion to the men of the West. In America, it is the glue that binds us all together and that glue is loosening for lack of a proper chemical binder.

The government strictly limits the use of nitrates and nitrites in the preparation of the preserved pork products we all love and desire. Who gave them the right? I don't remember any sausage plebiscite. There is nothing about it in the Constitution.

People buy the pork products they need in good faith, only to find them corrupt. The people sicken and die. Is it Arab terrorists that have done this? Godless Atheists? No, it is meddling, big brother government.

Let us fight to restore the honored meat curing preservative substances of our forefathers!

Old Dogs, New Tricks

Have you been watching any NBA Ball? I follow the Lakers. On paper, they're the best team in the league but they're kind of disappointing this season.

You know what they need? They need a couple of young guys, brand new to the league, with really short contracts, for not much money. Guys like that are hyper, crazy and take a lot of chances. They aren't worried about getting hurt. They aren't worried about maintaining their rep. They're worried about being back on the street next month. They're like the fizz and crushed ice in a Highball. The booze may be the active ingredient but it's the fizz and ice that makes the drink go down quick and produces the desired result.

The Lakers have a lot of talent. They aren't old. The problem is they are too professional. They pace themselves too much. They need a couple of crazy boys on the floor to speed up the action and spur them on. When they lose, it's because the other team has a couple of real aggressive young players, who hope that in a year or two, they'll be playing for the Lakers. Some of them will probably even make it. The problem is, once they get there, they start counting the money and pacing themselves.

Best Guy For The Job

A lot of people are starting to think that Ben Bernanke shouldn't be allowed to continue on as Fed Chairman. I'm not one of them. He seems to be holding up pretty well in the job. Admittedly, he's not very believable but given the line he's got to spout, who would be?

The last thing anybody wants right now, is someone who will tell the truth and advocate the kind of policies that would do some good. We all just want to pretend things are under control and will soon get better. For that, Ben is our guy.

Why change horses in the middle of the stream? All you're going to accomplish is drown more horses than you already have to.

Towel Heads

Apparently, Americans do not like Muslims.

I usually like Muslims better than those of other religions. They are friendly to me. They don't criticize my beliefs. They don't proselytize.

You always hear that Muslims want to impose their religion on others. That they want Sharia Law. That they despise America and Americans. I've never seen much evidence of that. Most of the ones I know are clean, well mannered, mind their own business and have respect for other people and their property. I have not met many Muslims who are afflicted with progeny that fall victim to drugs, crime, idleness or violence. I know a lot of Christians that you can't say any of these things about. I'm sure there are Muslims that are real scumbags. Probably a lot of them. They must be the ones everyone else meets.

Muslims have a different culture than I do. They dress funny. They are very strict about their behavior and the way they raise their children. Does this make them bad? I don't know.

Maybe all the Muslims I know are on their best behavior. Ya know, stranger in a strange land kind of thing. Maybe if I lived in a country or city that was mostly Muslims, their attitudes toward me would be different and I would feel differently about them. So far though, they seem OK. If I was a Jew I probably would feel differently. The Muslims I meet don't like Jews at all and they hate Israel and Israelis. It's not uncommon that immigrant groups have cultural, political or religious enmities that they bring with them when they come here. Mostly they keep them under control and that's the case with Muslims but it's not real attractive. On the other hand, if I was them, I'm not sure I would feel any different than they do.

How Often Do You Wash?

Really frequent bathing is a relatively recent innovation. Neither one of my parents grew up in families where daily bathing was commonplace. The tub would hang on a hook at the back of the house. Before a bath, the tub had to be taken down, water had to be heated on the stove and the tub filled. Usually, everyone in the family bathed one after another and used the same water. This usually happened on Saturday night, so that everyone was clean when they put on their church clothes, Sunday morning. My Grandfather never even bathed that much. Nobody was certain just how often he did bathe. I don't think it was very much. He did smell a little different than most people but not bad.

My parents never required me to bathe more than once a week. Sometimes I bathed daily. Sometimes I didn't. During the time I was growing up in the '50s and '60s, society changed. Everyone started to bathe every day. Soap and toiletry manufacturers advertised the fact. People expected they would and expected everybody else would. So I ended up bathing every day. Also, in the '50s and '60s people started to take showers more than tub baths. So I ended up showering every day. In high school, we all showered after PE. So I got used to showering twice a day. Sometimes, I'd do two a day workouts or go to the beach. Eventually, three or more showers a day didn't seem that unusual.

In the Navy, they teach water discipline. You get wet, soap up, scrub, even shave if you need to and then sluice off. Saves time as well as water. I got used to that pretty quick. I mostly still do it that way.

I'm old now. I bathe whenever I feel like it. Sometimes I miss a few days. Sometimes more than a few. Who gives a shit. Most people bathe every day now but dissidence is good for the soul.

Speak Out

Freedom of speech just is. It's not about who. It's not about what. It's not about how much money you're willing to spend to get your message out.

I'm with the Supreme Court on this one. I just wish they were as eager to protect all of our basic freedoms.

I Can't Help Myself

Whenever I'm watching CNBC's financial commentator Maria Bartiromo, I can't help but think what a natural she would be on MTV's Jersey Shore.

Pass the dipper brother. I'm a feelin' thirsty and we've a long way to go.

The stock market bottomed last March. The rebound essentially ended in November. Since then, it has been in a trading range. The last month it's been looking like it wants to make further moves up. Looking isn't doing. The last two days of declines, are showing that it probably will fail to do so. Time will tell the story.

This is a change in market momentum. It may not be an auspicious time for further investment. If you have been raising cash. You're probably smiling.

Without Ma Ingalls, The Little House On The Prairie Stands Empty

A lot of people characterize the Republican Party as the party of angry White men. That may not be entirely true but there is some validity there. I think an increasing number of their women are moving on. Maybe not most of them, maybe not right now but they are shuffling closer to the door, even while passing around the coffee and delicious home baked cookies.

If they leave, the Republican party will turn into a wake.

New Republican Party?

If a victory by Scott Brown in Massachusetts today is going to herald in a new Republican party, a couple of things are going to have to be true. Republicans can't run on on Bush's failed neocon agenda. Most voters have soundly rejected it. Except in the Southern and South leaning border states, candidates can't run on the toxic mix of racism and religious zealotry commonly labeled as social conservatism. Most people everywhere else are repelled by it. The Republican platform is going to have to be all about smaller government and austerity budgeting.

I think that's good. Whether they can sell that in the midst of an economic depression and monetary meltdown remains to be seen. It's worth a try.

How will they keep the neocons and wingnuts in the fold? They still need their votes. I will never vote for them while those guys are still on the inside, singing their song of war and hate. Sorry.

I think their best bet is to back way off on military interventions and push all the hot button social issues into a States Rights plank of their platform. Then they can devote all their efforts to cutting away government spending. Just that one thing alone is enough to keep government busy for a couple decades.

A Good Holiday?

Do you think having a holiday celebrating Martin Luther King Jr's birthday is a good idea? I'm not that crazy about it. It isn't because he wasn't a really admirable guy who did great things. It's because he really doesn't encompass what the Civil Rights movement is all about. There were a lot of leaders in the Civil Rights movement during the time MLK was active. Millions of people participated. A lot of them suffered. More than a few died. They came from different places. They had different motivations. Each of those people was just as big a hero as Martin Luther King Jr.

The Civil Rights movement is about the equal protection under the law and equal opportunity for participation in society for all people. It's not about any one race, culture, religion, age or sex. It's not about any one time period.

Civil Rights for all is a goal that can never be achieved but that the quest for is never in vain.

I'm not singling out MLK for exclusion. Most of the heroes, whose lives we celebrate, are inappropriate.

The life of every person and every society should be a journey of discovery and change. Minds open to all possibilities and the ability to discard mistaken assumptions are the most valuable resource humanity possesses.

Idolized past heroes too easily become roadblocks to future growth and discovery.

Playin' A Mean Voo Doo Fiddle

Here's an interesting flip side to the earthquake devastated Haitian Capital, Port Au Prince. Does anybody have a problem with this? I don't.

Walk Like An Eygptian

One of the things that gives a generation comfort and support as they age and pass from the scene, is the ability to maintain the look and style of their glory days. It lets other people know where they are coming from and establishes their place in the passing parade. I have seen this phenomenon among the generations that came before me. My grandfather wore railroad striped overalls, lace up, black leather, high top shoes and carried a railroad watch until the day he died.

It is very frustrating to the members of my generation not to be able to do this. Have you seen that crap we used to wear, in the Sixties and Seventies? You can't walk around in public wearing that kind of shit unless you're a circus clown or an Old Elvis impersonator. What a bummer.

Life, Liberty and the Pusuit of Happiness

Divorce is not the worse thing that can happen to you.

I don't want to get all personal and introspective about this, so I'll just hit the high points and you can fill in the blanks.

When people get married, they make their relationship official. The two partners usually have mutually agreed upon roles. Sometimes the relationships change, sometimes they don't but the changes are mutually agreed upon.

When a marriage is broke, it's broke. If it gets fixed, there is a winner and a loser. From that point on, the balance of power is irrevocably tipped in favor of the winner. The game is over. That's no way to live, especially for the loser. I know many people whose marriages have been "saved". They are pitiful wretches, zombies of love.

Divorce is not such a bad thing. People move on, it's for the best. Sometimes they try again and remarry. Sometimes they don't. The goal is to maintain personal integrity.

People who say that marriage should be for life, at all costs are evil.

Massachusetts Heats Up In The Dead Of Winter

Republicans are already proclaiming the victory next Tuesday of their candidate Scott Brown, in the special election for United States Senate from the State of Massachusetts. He's doing really well in the polls.

The Democrats brought this on themselves. They changed the rules in order to have this election, otherwise the Governor would have appointed a replacement to serve the rest of the term.

I think the Republicans do themselves a disservice with their actions. They should keep their heads down and keep campaigning vigorously as if the result was in doubt. In that way, even a close defeat for such a long held Democratic seat could be advertised as a victory. As it is, if they lose, it will be a big let down for their supporters and it will be said that they couldn't even win with a carefully groomed RINO ringer.

I'm looking forward to the election results next week. I'm sure the whole country is likewise.

A Good Christian Girl

This is a personal statement of Christianity by a young woman in the Bay area of California. It seems completely appropriate for our World today. You should read it and let me know if you find anything untoward because I don't.

Who says I hate Christians?

Hold The Smoke In As Long As You Can But Don't Hold Your Breath

California may become the first State to legalize the general use of Marijuana. It'll be fun to watch. It may speed up the cause. In the end, it will fail. I don't think that the drug cartels will let it happen.

Everybody likes the Marijuana laws just the way they are except people that smoke a lot of it and even they are pretty mellow about it most of the time. How could they be otherwise?

Death Dance in Port Au Prince

I knew some Haitian creole aristocrat emigres to this country once. It's more than a generation ago now. They left everything behind and got legal status during Reagan's surrender of citizenship debacle. None of them pined for the old days at home or regretted coming here. They were all starting from scratch, working hard, at the kind of jobs they were ill used to, with me, in the dark hours between midnight and dawn. They did fine.

Anybody with brains and opportunity left Haiti a long time ago. It is a feral state, with no hope for improvement. Now an earthquake has destroyed much of what little urban infrastructure is left. Poor Devils.

Trolling the Bay State

I think that running Brown against Coakley in the Mass Senate race is a good move. It seems to me like what the Republicans have done is take a very well cut and empty suit and filled it with just enough talking points to make it attractive to the voters. Kind of like a shiny, twirly, fishing lure with big, barbed hooks all over it. The race won't be long, so it won't cost them much. There's a small chance they might even get him elected. I'm puzzled though.

So what was all that hype about Conservative ideological purity in the Scuzzapalozza race in upstate New York last November? Does this mean Micheal Steele and his posse of RINOs carries the day?

A Supreme Court We Can Be Proud Of

Some people think the Supreme Court is too conservative. I don't even know what that means anymore. I think the Supreme Court is OK. The two guys W put in, Roberts and Alito, are nice, polite, Gay, Catholic Boys. What could be better than that? The two most reviled members of the Court by modern Progressives, are Thomas and Scalia. Those guys are all about individual rights. Man, they're my homies. Got my back. There isn't a single member of the court that I have any problems with although Ruthy may be getting frail and senile. She really should consider hanging it up. I wouldn't have minded if Bork had got on the Court. I never thought that he was the intellectual giant he was touted as, like Thurgood Marshall was but he would have been a nice addition.

The only balance I would like to see redressed is sexual. The Court should have more women.

Red State Wet Dreams Can't Stand Up To The Light Of Day

Republicans want to reduce government spending without raising taxes. It's OK with me if they do. I'd welcome it. The overwhelming majority of spending comes from three things. The military, including the cost of the Middle Eastern wars. Entitlements, for the old, sick, poor and education. Finally and most expensive of all, huge numbers of redundant government employees with bloated salaries, benefits and retirement, that nobody else gets. Does anybody out there dispute this? They're never going to cut any of this stuff and the people that get it always want more. This spending, fueled by huge deficits power what's left of our economy. Cut it and the house of cards collapses. Virtually every voting member of society either is or aspires to be a recipient of this spending.

Sarah Moves Up To The Show

No matter what you think of his ideas, there is no question that Roger Ailes is a savvy guy. He doesn't make many missteps. He's going to let Sarah Palin into his stable of Stars at Fox News. This says a lot about what he thinks about her. It says she has more going for her than most people think. It doesn't say she isn't a polarizing and controversial figure in American culture but it says he, at least, believes she can hold her own in the big leagues. There are a lot of major figures on the Right that you never see on Fox News. You don't see Victor Hanson Davis or Deal Hudson on Fox News a lot and these guys have huge followings and a lot to say about almost everything. These exceptions are never simply oversights.

I'm surprised. We'll see how it goes. Sometimes you see people on Fox a lot for awhile and then they disappear.

Strom and Harry

Do you think that Trent Lott saying Strom Thurmond was a great man and that if he had been elected President on the segregationist Dixiecrat ticket in 1948, the country would be a lot better off and Harry Reid saying that Barry O is a gifted orator with light skin and no Negro dialect are similar things?

If they are, the American people can evaluate the information and draw a conclusion. I think that's what they're doing. I think it's a good thing. Different types of people will undoubtedly evaluate the comparison differently and draw different conclusions. That's the way these things always go.

I don't think Strom was a racist in the sense that he thought people of color were inferior. Strom lived intimately all his life, with many in the Black community. It's unlikely a man as intelligent as he was, would harbor beliefs that they were in any way inferior. He just believed that White people should remain in control of society and government. Harry was conjecturing positively on the idea that Americans were disposed to elect a President of color based on his exceptional communication skills and the fact that his affect minimized the perceived differences between Black and White culture. These two statements seem fundamentally different to me but neither are, in fact, about racial prejudice.

I found many things to admire about Strom Thurmond personally. He was quite a guy. I didn't agree with him much on the subject of race relations. I also find much to admire in Harry Reid. It's a struggle though. Growing up in the West, I was raised to distrust Mormons. I still have to fight against that prejudice all the time and many others I was raised with. Sometimes I have not treated Mormons with the respect they deserve. We all have our prejudices. I do. I may have more than most. I'm glad that society is becoming more accepting of diversity and that most young people today are not being raised with the degree and multiplicity of prejudice that I was. I find in many of the young today, an example for myself.

Who Goes To Church?

When I was a kid growing up 50 years ago, no more than a third of the families in my neighborhood went to religious services regularly. Maybe another third were religious enough that they had a church that they were affiliated with in the area and went a couple times a year. The last third never went to church. Most would claim some kind of religion if asked but they weren't really interested.

Nobody in my neighborhood now goes to Church regularly. A few go on big holidays. I know a lot of people from work that go regularly. Black Ladies are big church goers, immigrants too. It's clear that religious observance is declining. I think it's just happening on its own. Religion isn't the glue that holds society together anymore. Religion doesn't get you any concrete benefits, socially, vocationally or any other way. Church isn't a good place for young adults to find prospective mates. Children don't see other kids they know there. It's rare for people at work or living on the same street or apartment complex to attend the same church. You don't really know the people at church with you. You can't really trust them more than anybody else. They always want money at church and there's never enough to go around as it is.

My parents are still alive. They're real old. Church is only a couple of blocks away. They know everybody there. They've known them all their lives. There's a shuttle bus. They don't go. They say they've been to all the church a person needs to go to in their lives. My sister married a Catholic guy. They go to an Episcopalian church, the kind that lets Gay women be bishops. They always took the kids. The kids don't go any more. Of all the kids in that generation there is one girl that always liked church. She married a Jewish guy who grew up in Russia, came here when he was about twelve. They have two children. They may have more. They just started going to church. Unitarian Universalist. Does that even count? So out of an extended family of three generations, maybe thirty people, six go to church. Two where they have Gay, lady bishops and four where you don't have to believe in God.

I'm sure there are other families where they have a stronger religious tradition. On the other hand, my family went to church every single Sunday, the whole time I was growing up. I don't think my family is that atypical. We're not lowlife scumbags or anything, except for me. Church never had a chance with me. I never believed any of that stuff. I don't think anybody much does, especially the people that go to church. They lie, cheat, steal and fornicate more than anyone. Especially the preachers. I hate being in a church. Occasionally I have to go to funerals. I have to contain my anger even then. It's pretty pathetic.

Do you go to church? What do you get out of it?

Shit Happens

Some people believe that the nation is polarized politically. Some people are worried about it. Things like this are relative. The left and right aren't that far apart compared to where they were in the past. Both are now true populist movements. They both give at least lip service to the concept of freedom and equality for all people. Neither side is keen on cutting back education, or social safety net spending, or the military. The status quo rules, until it's not the status quo anymore. If you think about it, the modern President who advocated the most radical philosophical changes was Carter, he was awhile ago and didn't get too far.

To find a third party candidate who was truly odious, you have to go back to John Schmitz in 1972 and he had very little support.

I'm not a big war guy. I didn't like the Vietnam War. It's hard to say who really got the ball rolling on Vietnam, Eisenhower or Kennedy but Johnson really escalated it. I think it would have happened no matter what, whether Nixon was elected in '60 or Goldwater in '64. I don't think we would have gotten out much earlier if Humphrey had won in '68. We lost a lot of good boys. I knew some of them. Maybe you did too.

All of the Middle Eastern wars have been stupid and they have been Republican wars but the Democrats went along and Obama is doing nothing to end them today.

The economy is totally screwed up. The truth is, that the present economic meltdown has its roots in the deficit spending of the Depression and WWII but was helped along greatly by Eisenhower's escalation of the Cold War, Nixon's abolishing of the gold standard and the universal adoption of the American dollar as international medium of exchange. Most responsible is the modern American mantra that the superiority of our system can only be demonstrated to the World, by an ever increasing and unsustainable standard of living. There's no use arguing about it. What's done is done. There is no way to lessen the pain of what is to come and our elected leaders, right and left, wouldn't even if they could. They will continue to push the final reckoning back as long as possible because that's exactly what the people want.

You can argue that particular Presidents or Congressional majorities did good or bad things but for the most part they only made real change when they were forced to because the country was moving in that direction anyway. The country itself has a way of moving along the way it wants to, regardless of what leadership wants. I think that's been true in the past. I think it will be true in the future. The real motto of the United States should probably be, "Shit Happens".

Dead Is Dead

One of the things I used to do at work, was pronounce people dead. It's a responsibility but it's not that hard. Dead is completely different from alive. It's hard to mistake one for the other and after several minutes, it's impossible. Little children can tell. Dogs and cats can tell. Nurses don't always notice for quite awhile. They get bogged down with the minutia and don't take in the big picture sometimes. It's an occupational hazard.

I always went through the drill. No heartbeat or breath sounds. Check a whole minute for pulse and chest expansion/contraction. Pupils fixed and dilated. Everybody deserves that, even if they are dead as a doornail.

The most important thing about pronouncing, is knowing whether or not to call the Coroner. There are several automatic flags that require notification. Any unusual or unexplained circumstances leading up to a death merits a call. If the Coroner is not notified, the body is released for burial, the medical record gets archived and you can literally get away with murder. At most hospitals, the protocol requires that the doctor be notified of a patients death and they state whether or not they are willing to specify a cause of death. If they are willing to do so, the shift supervisor can pronounce and if all other conditions are met, release the body for burial.

Sometimes a lot of interesting situations go unexamined.

What, Me Xenophobic? Too Late.

My Ancestors have been in this country awhile. Even the most recent arrivals were already here at the time of the Civil War. For all their being a mixed bag, they pretty much were all Christian, Northern Europeans. Like most families, we lay claim to the proverbial Indian princess, the odd Jew and always whispers of some few who had "Negro Blood". By American standards though, a lily White, Jesus proclaiming crew.

That's all changing though. In the last twenty years, we've added a few more Jews, some Hispanics and one Pakistani, Muslim man, all in unions with multiple offspring. Given the number of the most recent generation who still haven't settled down and the rate of out marriage so far, I think there will be a lot more diversity added soon. From what I can see, most families are like this.

You read a lot of Winger screeds about how we are going to be out bred by the bad aliens, whoever they are. It's clearly not true. Long before we are overrun by them, we gonna BE them.

Cool. I like those man dresses and little beanies that the old Arab men wear around town. Loose. Nice airflow. I think I'll pick up a few but maybe a little more colorful. Aloha shirt materials in a loose cotton weave would be nice. Hula Girls. Grass Shacks. Woody Willies with surfboards hanging out the back. Big pair of Ray Bans. Yeah, Baby. Stylin'. Head on down to the Hookah Lounge. Flirt with the nautch girls awhile.

Republicans, Enjoy It While You Can

I just read a very interesting article yesterday. I forget where I saw it but you can probably find it through the wonders of Google if you try.

The gist of it was that almost all of the Southern states have or will have soon, a majority of minor children within their population, who are both poor and racial or cultural minorities. What that means is Blacks and Hispanics. I had not realized this change was taking place so rapidly.

Another demographic feature of the Southern States is that large numbers of national and international businesses are moving into the Southern states because of its cheap work force and relatively inexpensive cost of living. Many highly skilled and educated people from other parts of the country are moving South all the time and assuming leadership positions. Population wise, they are the fastest growing of all the States.

Many Southern states are getting near the tipping point between Red and Blue. It's possible in 8-12 years there may be very few Red States left. Hopefully in 8-12 years, the complexion of politics will have altered radically into something more reality based.

Maybe They'll Throw In Claudine Longet And A Bass Boat

Don't you agree, that if Jay Leno moved to Branson and opened a Comedy Club/Automotive Museum, he would have a great future there? I think he'd really enjoy it too. If I ever went to Branson, I'd pay a few bucks to get in, especially if it was lunch time and they served up a steaming hot basket of catfish and fries, maybe a cold beer or two. Ya know, like a Tom Sawyer Special. Ha Ha. Maybe have some Keno waitresses, in short sexy skirts. He could buy Andy Williams' property cheap and renovate it. Nobody under 80 remembers who Andy is anymore and he must be about ready to die. His kids could use the money to bury him and move to Leisure World.

Jay could take Conan O'Brien along to act as emcee. He's so charming and contemporary. I'm sure he would be real appealing to the younger folks, who remember him from Saturday Night Live in the Eighties. I bet everybody at NBC would wish them well.

Neighborhood movie rentals

I think it was 1981 when I first had a VCR. Not too many people had them them then. I would never have bought one but my girlfriend had a rich brother who bought a new model with many features and gave us his one year old model that worked perfectly well. Since then I've always had a VCR and then a DVD player. I don't have Blue Ray and I guess I won't get one.

Wherehouse Records was the first place in my area to rent tapes and they ran frequent specials. A lot of times you could rent two or three for a buck. It was a good deal. I used to rent a lot. I don't rent many movies anymore. I stopped about the time I quit drinking. I wonder if there is a connection.

I always have rented movies someplace in the neighborhood. Most people subscribe to an online mailer service now, mostly Netflicks. Up until the last few years there was a Blockbuster close by, a couple even. No more. The only place around now is a Hollywood video store and it's having a going out of business sale. I guess it's going to be Netflicks or nothing. It will probably be nothing for me. I never liked mail order media services. I joined a record club once thirty years ago and it was a nightmare. They were crooks and almost impossible to get rid of. Finally I just kept sending everything back return to sender, unopened, including their bills and threatening letters, after a couple of years they stopped sending me stuff.

Things sure change quick. Brick and mortar video rental stores only started thirty years ago and became a huge industry. Now they're gone. Think about all the commercial enterprises that were institutions in most communities, book stores, music stores, Dry Goods, travel agencies, trading stamp redemption stores, frozen food lockers, news stands, shoe repair, drive in movies, bus stations, that you rarely see. What kind of places did you go to that don't exist anymore?

It's all about the coalition, stupid!

One of the things that you read a lot out in the Winger blogs is that a majority of Americans don't support federal funding of abortion in a health care bill. That's not exactly true.

Some people don't support abortion funding as part of an acceptable comprehensive health care bill and some people don't support a comprehensive health care bill at all. Together, these two groups probably constitute a narrow majority.

The question is, are there enough people for whom abortion is really the only stumbling block to passage of meaningful health care reform to make a difference in the final outcome if abortion language is excluded?

Maybe, I kinda doubt it. The one issue, true believer, anti abortion people are a small group of weak sisters, tools and cranks, whom everyone else holds in contempt. Eventually they will figure that out and drink the Kool Aid.

3DTV?

I don't think 3D television is going to be a big hit with consumers. I tend to be a skeptic and very late adopter of new technology, so I'm not a good predictor of these things. Still, it seems a singularly bad idea.

I always thought that HDTV was a good idea, the industry has just been years too slow perfecting an acceptable product at an affordable price. These things take time, as anybody who remembers the fifties and the kind of reception we used to get on very small screen black and white TVs knows.

I would prefer that they continue to work on getting the clearest, most natural looking picture possible. They still have a long way to go.

Would any of you be interested in buying a 3DTV? Would you be willing to spend a lot of your time lounging around with those funny glasses on? I wear glasses anyway, so this would require an even more augmented life experience than I already have. I'm going deaf too, so augmented hearing can't be far in my future.

If they want to work on something good. I would like to see virtual reality audio/video, where you wear a helmet and it seems like you're there. How about direct inputs plugged right into your brain? If they were any good and the experience interactive enough, I'd go for that, in a second. The porn industry would really come into it's own. Old folks like me could enjoy hyper realistic travelogues and saccharin depictions of days gone by that never really were.

Big Bowl Swirls Today

So, do you like the Crimson Tide or the Longhorns today. I guess somebody thought it would sell a lot of plane tickets, hotel rooms, over priced booze and restaurant meals. I'm hoping for a seismic event that opens up the Arroyo Seco and sucks the whole mess in with a belching, sulfuric, magma flush.

Stand Off In San Sebastion

The priests of a Catholic diocese in Northern Spain have overwhelmingly rejected the bishop sent to them by the Vatican. This is a different situation than what occurred last year in Linz, Austria. In Austria it was a conservative bishop sent into a liberal diocese. In the case of predominantly Basque San Sebastian, Spain it is a Spanish bishop that has been sent.

The Catholic Church supported the Royalists in the Spanish Civil War and greatly benefited when that side won and set up dictatorial rule for the next 35 years. The exception was in the Basque region in the North. The Catholic Church there, as well as the populace, supported the Republican cause. During the War, many Basque Catholic priests were persecuted and some were killed. After the war, the Catholic Churchmen in the North continued to lead the opposition and armed insurrection against the reviled Generalissimo, Francisco Franco. The Basque Catholic Church and the Church in the rest of the country have never been friendly since. The Basques see this new bishop in terms of being asked to take a viper to their bosom.

The Pope seems disposed to push the issue and force the North to accept his choice of a Spanish man to lead this Basque diocese. The upside for the Pope is that he hopes to finally heal the rift in the Church between the North and South. The downside is that he runs the risk of more deeply alienating Basque Catholics. Basque Catholics are the most devout and traditional of all the Catholics in Spain. The Basque lands are also the most prosperous areas in Spain and the population the most educated and affluent.

It may not be simply an exercise in debate. The Basque Churchmen are still the political leaders of the Basque separatist movement and largely responsible for the autonomy of the local government. They have great influence in that government. They also have great influence with the partisan movement, who are very skilled with the knife, gun and bomb. This new bishop may not be disposed to spend much time at his new home in the North.

Big Rain Down Under

North Eastern Australia has been getting rain, ending a drought that has lasted a decade. It's a good thing.

I think global warming will be a good thing for Australia. Warmer temperatures in the surrounding seas will mean more evaporation and probably more rain, which has always been rare there. Australia is well positioned to become a supplier of agricultural and mineral commodities for Southern Asia as its population and productivity burgeons. If I was younger, I would seriously consider making myself eligible to migrate there. I have always heard good things about temperate Perth, in the far West but tropical Brisbane might not be bad either.

I still like Southern California though. Things are pretty bad here. I think that unemployment figures, vis a vis the undocumented population, are woefully under reported and the real estate meltdown here still has a long way to go. Demographics are shifting and will continue to shift rapidly but that may not be a bad thing. In some ways it's better here than it ever has been. The people are friendly and hard working. Everybody gets along pretty good. The State government will surely go bankrupt soon and that will undoubtedly precipitate hard times for a lot of people and speed up the movement of some people in and some people out of the area. I think I'll stick around. A lot of good ethnic restaurants, the girls are pretty and dress lightly. Good place for an old man. We need better public transportation. The Bay area and San Diego have done it, no reason we can't too.

Your Eminence

Here is the latest press release concerning one of our local Southern California Roman Catholic bishops. He was arrested a few days ago. As far as I know, while there have been many allegations, this is the first that he has confessed to any wrong doing.

This story will continue to unravel, I am sure. It is a story of narcotic use and trafficking, theft, gun violence and sodomy/rape. Dashiell Hammett could have turned it into a nice serial contribution to Black Mask Magazine, in his day. It makes you wonder how long this kind of thing has been allowed to go on by the Church and civil authorities and just swept under the rug.

Nice, Your Eminence.

UPDATE: It turns out this guy was a Catholic priest until 1993 and then kicked out. Now, he has his own church and calls himself a bishop, when he's not indulging in mayhem and degeneracy.

Brit Hume, A Christian Paragon

Brit Hume says Tiger Woods should become a Christian because only Christianity offers the scope of forgiveness that Tiger needs to regain his place in society and continue his career. Well, Brit should know.

I think Brit should share with us the sexual infidelities and profound personal failings in his life and there have been many. Then he could better illustrate to Tiger how the Lord's forgiveness works.

What an asshole.

Republicans Need A Broader Brush

The statesmen on the Right are wackos. Dick Cheney, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, Victor Hanson Davis, Deal Hudson, name some more if you like. They continue to claim we are threatened by "enemies". Religious enemies, cultural enemies, political enemies, name some more if you like. They don't mention any military enemies. They don't mention any economic enemies. They tell us we need more war, more imprisonment without trial, more torture, more domestic surveillance, more restrictive laws, more fundamentalist Christianity.

Where are the elder statesman on the Right that command universal respect? Where are the concrete plans, outlining what we need to do over the next twenty years? When do we get to the part where we all agree on some basic truths and solutions to problems?

Say what you like about Barry O but he's clearly trying to steer a middle course, when it would be easier for him not to. Liberals don't know why he is still supporting the wars. They don't know why he hasn't rammed through health care legislation that covers everyone and protects abortion. They don't know why he hasn't turned over most of the leaders of the last Bush administration to the Hague, for trial on charges of crimes against Humanity. People would be a lot happier with him if he did.

Republicans think they are headed for big midterm electoral gains. If they moved to the center politically and started to talk seriously about fiscal austerity, that might even be true. They are determined to keep the conversation on the Deity and why he wants abortion and birth control outlawed, so that there can be more White people in the future. They want to keep talking about the need to protect Israel and kill Sand Niggers. They want to keep ragging on Homos. They want to keep talking about why rich people are the only endangered ecological niche worth protecting and nurturing. That will get them some votes but they are votes they already have. It's not enough. Even rich people and the Jews won't vote for them. They might even drive the Homos away and they're about the only educated, literate block left in the Republican party and from whom they draw most of their elected politicians and successful candidates for office.

Cable TV Deadlock

I have Time Warner Cable. Fox is going to quit feeding to Time Warner at midnight, unless they get paid more money.

I would miss the Laker games but that's about it. A free market dictates that some station carried by Time Warner Cable will broadcast the Lakers. Those games get huge local ratings. I'm not really a big sports fan. If I'm watching, every body's watching.

Atheism Is Dying

Christers always used to say that there weren't enough atheists to be significant. Now they say that atheism is fading away. Next, they will proclaim that atheism can never constitute a majority.

What do you suppose the last thing will be that we hear from them, before we never hear anything again?

Good Luck

It's traditional to have black eyed peas and some kind of fatty pork with bitter greens and corn bread on New Years. Sometimes I have it, sometimes New years just gets me thinking about it and I have it later. You are also supposed to put some silver in the pot when you cook it. Some places they douse it with a lot of hot sauce. I don't do those things. They don't have silver money anymore and I don't like hot sauce with black eyed peas. It just tastes wrong.

I'm in more of a pintos with lard mood right now. I used to make that up when I was really poor. I made corn bread with it too. Now, I just go to Del Taco. They make a perfectly good burrito for a buck. After a couple of those, you don't want any more. I guess I'm not really that much of a traditionalist or maybe it's a case of adapting to the times.

Busted Flush

Rick Warren and his superchurch in Southern California are often cited as the model for successful contemporary church building. Historically, bad economic times have been fertile ground for nascent evangelical religious organizations.

A religious organization rising in sinking times must fit those times and give people what they need. I think people are still waiting for the religious organization that will give them hope now. I don't think it's Warren's superchurch. Here's why.

The Party of No. The Army of Lincoln.

In 1936, a small but vocal segment of the American population felt strongly about the need to provide military support to the Spanish Republican forces against the Royalists in the Spanish Civil War. To this end, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade was formed and over 3,000 Americans went to Spain to fight. Funds were raised in America to support them. They fought under their own officers. Some other countries also sent contingents. The Soviets sent munitions to the Republicans. Adolf Hitler sent military aid and personnel to the Royalists. Eventually, the Royalists won and one third of the Lincoln Brigade died bravely.

Some Americans today believe it is very important that America intervene militarily in Yemen against the forces of al Qaeda. I do not believe there is majority support for such an intervention. I suggest that a second Abraham Lincoln Brigade be organized to fight al Qaeda in Yemen. Joe Lieberman could be its commanding General. Jonah Goldberg and William Kristol could be his Aides De Camp. Charles Krauthammer could head up intelligence.

It would be a splendid little war. I myself do not feel motivated to go but I would certainly attend to the docks at their bon voyage and wave my hanky gaily as their gallant ship embarked.

After they kick al Qaedas's ass in Yemen, they can go to Kenya, it's not too far and find Obama's real birth certificate.

Justice Janet?

There is probably another Supreme Court position opening up next Summer. Janet Napolitano was on the short list last time and many think she has a lock on the next slot. Barry O really likes her. Well, who wouldn't?

I like Janet for the job. She's smart. She's qualified. She's the Republican's worst nightmare. I doubt there would be anything they could knock her out of the Senate confirmation process with, although I'm sure they would try. What more could you ask for?

On the other hand. She's not particularly young or in good health, being a breast cancer survivor. I prefer someone who has a good chance to serve for thirty or forty years. Health concerns were my main objection to Sonia, last time.

One thing, she should come out as a dyke before she is confirmed. I believe in truth in advertising. Also, it would put John Roberts to shame. He's as Gay as a Sunny day in May. I despise a coward.

Avatar. Yeah or Neigh?

Has anybody seen Avatar yet? I've never been a big fan of Cameron's movies. Terminator II was probably the best one and it wasn't that good. He's really deficient in the area of character development. I was hoping this one would be a big flop, just because it cost so much but it seems to be doing well. I've never gone to a theater to see one of his movies. I'm not planning to break my steak now.

From what I can tell, he lifted the idea from the old Jay Ward Rocky and Bullwinkle TV cartoon series, the plot line where they enlist the help of Captain Peter Peachfuzz to claim Bullwinkle's inheritance of the floating Mount Flatten, the only source of the rare antigravity element, Upsydaiseyium. I hope he paid a royalty on that.

It's tempting to go and see it at an Imax. I've never been to one. I'd get my money's worth. It's almost three hours long.

What do you all think? Is it worth the money and time? I'm old and I lose critical butt circulation sitting upright in a theater seat that long. Makes my sciatica flair up too.

Ya know what? I lied. A friend of mine convinced me to go see Alien when it first came out. It wasn't terrible. Sigorny still looked pretty good in those days. Once again, character development was the big problem, which was a shame, it had a great cast.

The Passing of an American Original

Arnold Stang died. He would have been an American icon but then Wally Cox came along and totally dominated the category. He made people love little nerdy guys, then died young. So unfair. Arnold had the better schtick and a longer run.

Pope Attacked By Deranged Co Religionist

The Pope was attacked by a Catholic woman at the midnight mass last night. She wasn't armed in any way. They say she is crazy. I don't know about that.

I just want to get it out there that most of the people who hate the Catholic Church or the Pope enough to attempt acts of violence against them are religious people. I can't think of an instance where an embittered atheist has attacked any religious figure. Maybe there have been some. I don't know. I know I wouldn't do it and I certainly qualify. I loath organized religion's attempts to make the rest of us toe their malignant line. The guy that shot John Paul II was a Muslim. I hear he's real sorry now. This lady that attacked the Pope yesterday has done it twice.

The current Pope is a pathetic little scumbag, probably a sexual pedophile pervert as well. He was instrumental in covering up the World wide priest sexual molester epidemic that has plagued the Church for the last thirty years and has been going on as long as anyone can remember. His pontificate is doing more than anything else to destroy the authority, credibility and following of the Catholic Church. More power to him. That's fine with me. I hope he lives to be a hundred.

Atheists just want Christers to leave them alone.

Slightly Frosty Christmas.

Coldest night of the year. Little bit of frost on the coldest parts of the rooftops and grass in the neighborhood. By early afternoon, it will be bright, Sunny and in the mid to high sixties.

Good football weather.

This is a tough time for the many tropical plants and animals in SoCal. A lot of areas in SoCal have flocks of wild parrots. A few have peacocks. When I was a kid in Garden Grove there was a pair of Toucans that came through every Winter. I swear to God.

We don't have anything like that in HB. I don't know why not. The weather is very mild. Where's my fuckin' parrots?

Stupid Christer Scum Make Me Sick, Again

Have you seen this?

Very interesting. For any of you that haven't actually worn the uniform, what this translates to, is that any woman who gets pregnant while deployed to the Middle East will get an abortion without leaving the theater of operations, then return to duty for the remainder of her rotation. Even if she is willing to accept the punishment herself, whether she was coerced into sex or just overcome by the loneliness of a far away land, a woman will be forced to abort her child, in order to maintain the code of silence and protect a fellow soldier from court martial. Don't think for a moment that the Army won't make sure that its personnel have access to the latest in abortion drugs and medical technology, even if they have to bring in civilian staff to run the program under the table. That's what organizations like Blackwater and creative accounting are for.

What gets me is not the fact that this is an unconstitutional action on the Army's part. What gets me is, where are all the fuckwad, pro life, "prayer warriors" and "sidewalk counsellors"? They could actually be doing some good, saving some lives and supporting the troops by challenging the Army on this, instead of mugging young girls on the streets and fomenting the brutal murder of physicians.

Christer scum are never around when they could be doing some real good. Where were they when this abortion of a war was started? Where were they when their closeted gay, sodomite priests were butt fucking the last several generations of little Catholic boys. I'll tell you where they were, they were cheer leading W and Cheney as they trumped up the case for war and they were telling their little sons to shut the fuck up and bend over for Father, like he asked you to. They are too high minded to help a soldier. They'd rather stay safe at home and figure out ways to deny health care to the poor.

Nice.

How Low Can You Go?

Gold took another $20 hit today.

Things to watch. Will the dollar continue to show strength? Will gold stop moving higher in overseas trading sessions? If both of those things happen, there is no telling how low gold can sink. I'm not expecting interest rates to rise in the near future but if they do, gold could be down for the count.

I'm hoping for at least the $900 an ounce level. At that point, if gold stocks are sufficiently depressed, I will cautiously begin to buy back into the market. Unless it's looking really puny. Then I'll wait even longer. I'm pretty sure gold will reach and surpass its recent all time highs sometime in 2010. This could be like taking candy from a baby. You never know though. It could turn out to be a particularly vicious baby.

How low do you think gold can go at this time?

Royal Canin Duck And Green Pea Cat Food

My wife scored a plastic trash can liner full of cat food from one of her friends. It probably weighs 20 pounds and the cans are 5.5 oz each, so there are probably at least 50 or 60 cans in there. It had been passed around to several people and none of their cats would eat it. Linda leaves food out for raccoons in the park, so she ended up with it. Raccoons will eat anything.

Before consigning it to the raccoons, I decided to see if our two cats would eat it. They are big boys, always hungry and will eat almost anything. This stuff is one of the anti allergy formulas that they sell in veterinarian hospitals. The ingredients look to be very high quality and it smells good. It's made almost completely from duck meat and green peas. On first try, while interested, the cats didn't eat much. It was finely ground and very dense. I decided to dilute it a little. First I mixed it with some other canned cat food and had decent results with that. Next I just mixed it up with a little warm water so the consistency would be a lot looser. They were all over it and licked their little bowls clean, day after day.

If you can find any of this stuff in a clearance bin for cheap and I expect you can, buy it. It's very good quality and cats love it.

Raise Cash

What will the markets do now? A surprising number of people think an economic recovery is underway but many are very bearish and don't believe it.

There is no question that we are at or nearing a crux point, so the first thing we should see is a period of indecision with extreme volatility in both prices and volume. Overall, I think movement will be downward in prices, across the board. After that, things should sort themselves out. Some things will continue down and some will turn around and go up.

If I had to guess, I would say that stocks, industrial commodities and building materials will go down. World currencies will continue to deteriorate. Agricultural commodities, energy and precious metals should eventually resume their bull market, though not at the same times or proportion. I am often dead wrong. My phone number is not in any of the Blackberries of the rich and powerful, for inclusion in late night strategy sessions.

Now is not a buying opportunity. Almost everything except the dollar has been increasing in value for most of the last year. I think everything will come down a peg or two, at least. Some things maybe a lot of pegs. Good buying opportunities may start at or near previous lows. They may prove to be even lower than that or may not be opportunities at all, except to lose more money.

Raise cash. It's cheap right now. That's always a recommendation.

The Big Die Off

In the middle and late eighties, I worked the night shift at Santa Monica Hospital. This was after AIDS had been identified as a retro virus but before anybody knew exactly what it was or how to treat it. There was an AIDS floor there with 15-20 patients all the time. Stays ranged from a few weeks to a few months. Nobody went home or anywhere else. They all died, horribly.

They couldn't staff it. They paid extra money. They gave smaller patient assignments. They didn't require any special training or skills. They didn't care if you were conscientious or a Demerol addicted junkie. They still couldn't get anybody. They would float people from other units. Some people got doctors excuses not to work there. Some would just quit if forced to. I used to float there a lot. Somebody had to.

It was terrifying. The unit was supposed to be on blood and secretion precautions. It was a joke. Those guys leaked every kind of fluid there was, in large amounts. A lot of the time they sprayed it. The walls would drip. The sheets would saturate. The floors would puddle. The linen and medical waste hampers overflowed and the full bags stacked up. The stenches were amazing and the various deodorants they tried just made it worse. There were constant screams, moans and cries for help. Between 2 and 5 AM there would be deaths. You'd try and clean up the bodies for when the families came in but they just kept on leaking. We tried to keep everybody comfortable and give everybody all their meds. A lot of the meds had side effects worse than the symptoms of the disease and they got refused. Everybody there knew they were dying and had a real good idea what it would be like.

I did the best I could. Honestly, I think I was as good as anybody else and better than most. I never worried about getting AIDS from working there. AIDS is is pretty hard to catch. After a while I kind of liked it. Nobody ever gave you a hard time. You never saw a supervisor. Sometimes you had to work over until they found somebody to replace you but they never made you work a full double shift on the AIDS floor.

I never regarded homosexual people the same after that. Almost every patient there was Gay, male, my age or younger. There was never any pretense. What would be the point? I couldn't say if they died bravely. I don't even know what that would be. I know I wouldn't have been any different from them, if it had been me dying.

Over the years, other places, I worked with AIDS patients. Never anything like that again.

Dead Preacher

Oral Roberts has died at 91 years of age. Most people don't realize that he had lived for the last 15 years or so in a little condo at an exclusive country club adjacent to the ritzy Newport Center/Fashion Island complex, just up the hill from Balboa Island, on the Orange County, California coast. It's very nice there. To be fair, it was a modest two bedroom condo, sparsely furnished and not at all pretentious. I was there, and met Oral and Miss Evelyn a few times, in an occupational capacity. Miss Evelyn was an intelligent and admirable woman. Oral was nothing special. I guess he was able to take direction well.

Oral was the most successful of the multimedia evangelists of the last half of the twentieth century. If you were not familiar with the breed, he was pretty entertaining but compared with some of the others he was positively bland. My favorite was based right here in Los Angeles. Dr O L Jaggers and his wife, the eternally young and beautiful Miss Velma, founded the World Universal Church, downtown on the Nickle after the end of World War II. If you needed a fix of Pure Dee Okie stump stomping, you couldn't do any better than to tune O L and Velma in on the TV at 6 AM, Sunday mornings. You could only get the true effect of it, if you had been drinking for the last 18 hours or so. Psychedelic drugs also really enhanced the experience. O L believed in aliens, demons, angels, and that he could deliver eternal youth, vigor and beauty to any denizen that wandered in with some loose change. The shows were worth the price. O L slicked back his long, greasy hair, dressed up in silk robes with glittery badges like Fu Manchu, played the piano and sang between sermons and Miss Velma sang, danced, flew through the air in a wire harness and would end up with a sharpshooting exhibition. They did all of this in front of the World famous seven million dollar altar. The alter looked like it was built by a team of hyperactive seven year olds out of left over Christmas decorations, covered in tinsel and glitter, then electrified. O L strongly suggested that they actually held Jesus captive inside the alter and squeezed oil out of him that would cure all ills, rejuvenate you and make your pecker stiff and he would sell you the oil.

O L and Miss Velma disappeared several years ago. Some people think he and Miss Velma went to Hawaii for a well deserved retirement. Some people think he and Miss Velma ascended bodily to Heaven, in Miss Velma's custom built motor coach. I miss them. The least they could do is play the old shows over again on Sunday mornings. There's forty or fifty years worth, somewhere.

Scratch a Progressive

Since I spend a lot of time and effort demonizing the religious right, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that the left has its share of religious wingnuts too. I'm always amazed at the number of people claiming to be secular progressives who readily admit to believing in reincarnation, astrology, the healing and spiritual power of crystals, the cosmic consciousness of Nirvana and an endless list of other clap trap. They are a burden the left must apparently bear. These people are all nuts.

If anything good can be said of them, it is that their beliefs are diverse and they pose little collective threat to the peace and freedom of the rest of us. That doesn't make them any less crazy.

The Secularization Of Christmas

People think it's terrible that commercial interests have turned Christmas into an orgy of consumerism. The truth is that organized Christianity sucked all that was meritorious out of Jesus long ago, leaving a dry husk suitable only for the veneration of fools. Either way, there is nothing positive in Christmas celebrations and God is rarely invoked during the season. Given what is left of the legacy of the carpenter, there is no reason to celebrate his coming.

Don't blame atheists for this. Most of us are good Samaritans. We, maybe more than you, wish your religion worked better. Christians did it all themselves. They built a soulless culture, gutted their own God and seem to like it fine.

Merry Christmas!

Tiger Tiger. burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye. Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

Tiger was one of the richest professional athletes in history and totally dominated his sport when he was twenty one years old. Look where he came from. Military father. "War bride" mother. Golf culture. Orange County. Why would anybody be surprised at the life choices he made?

Blame him? Shit. I wish it was me.

Cheeky Monkey!

When the stars threw down their spears
And watered heaven with their tears:
Did he smile His work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?

Bushes Like Dykes, Dykes Like Bushes. Go Bushes. Go Dykes.

Houston, as everyone knows, is where all the old Bushes go to die. They're having a mayoral election there in a week. A young, White Dyke is running against an old, Black, civil rights lawyer.

The Dyke has the inside track. I believe the Bushes are secretly rooting for her. Both Barbara's anyway, for sure.

The wing nuts are pretty much stuck supporting the old, Black guy. For me, it's a win/win situation.

It'll be fun to watch. Break out the mint juleps and sun bonnets.

Hello, Goldbugs

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The Most Catholic Country In The World

Spain is among the most Catholic countries on Earth. By Spring, they will likely pass a law there that will legalize abortion up to 14 weeks gestation on demand. For thirty years elective abortion has been performed in Spain, up to 22 weeks gestation, by utilizing a loophole in the law. The new law will actually tighten up control of elective abortion in real World terms. Legalization of abortion is not controversial for the majority of Spanish citizens. Obedience to the Church has not been a big issue there since the death of the Church's protector, the hated El Caudillo, Generalissimo Francisco Franco, ending 40 years of dictatorial control over secular life in Spain, by the Church, complete with the imprisoning of unwed mothers and homosexuals to indeterminate sentences without trial. Nice. Pope Benedict says he will excommunicate any politician that votes for the law. He says he will excommunicate the King of Spain, if he signs the law. He says he will excommunicate any doctors or nurses that participate in abortions, any women that have them and their parents, if she is under the age of consent.

The law is going to pass anyway. The only part of the law that may have to be compromised is a provision that allows girls as young as 16 to have an elective abortion without parental consent. Spain is the most Catholic country in the World. Do you think the Catholic Church might be suffering from some control problems among the faithful there?

Sodomite Sheltering Bishop Offers up Resignation

Donal Murray, the Catholic Bishop of Limerick, in Ireland, is going to Rome. He will offer the Pope his resignation over his part in covering up the priestly sodomy of young boys for almost 30 years.

That's all fine and good but to whom will the Pope offer his resignation and who in the Church is clean enough to replace him?

I think all the bishops and cardinals should go. Perhaps they could turn the Church over to the old nuns. I never heard of them sodomizing any little children. Let the old nuns rebuild the church or just shit can it and start over again. It's past time, either way.

Does Acid Rain On Demethanated Sheep?

You hear a lot about how the science behind carbon buildup in the atmosphere and climate change is wrong. I don't doubt it. It's pretty complicated, with a lot of variables. I'm not sure anybody will get a real handle on it any time soon.

Unfortunately, the people who don't trust the science on climate change the most also believe in a young, creationist Earth and think geometric population growth is a goal rather than a problem.

Who's a boy to believe?

As Long As There Are Females There Will Be Feminism

The Women's rights movement began when some well educated, affluent women asked that they have some choice in marriage partners. Not that they be allowed to marry whoever they wanted but that they might have some choice among a field of acceptable, family approved candidates. Some women had related requests, that they not be liable to arbitrary corporal punishment and that they should have recourse to relief from a grossly abusive spouse. These were revolutionary concepts when proposed and not universally accepted today.

Later, women would ask to be able to have legal ownership of personal possessions, land, money and to have their rights respected in legal contracts.

Finally, women demanded the right to vote, to participate on an equal basis with men in industry, commerce and culture and maintain independent personal domiciles.

It needs to be noted that male society within the family, church and civil authority have all reacted violently in opposition to every move by feminists to better their situation and that no gains were ever made by feminists that were not hard fought.

There is still a great deal animosity toward feminism and resistance to gender equity in society today. It is especially prevalent within religious institutions. I always enjoy it when institutions or individuals in authority pick a fight with righteous feminists because I know they will soon lie bleeding in a dark alley.

Donate $30 And Get A Complete CD Of This Performance

Public Television frequently shows Andrea Bocelli specials in conjunction with fund raising drives. I've seen several recently. The new Christmas one is out or maybe it's from a previous year. The shows are very nicely produced and he's very good. They have him singing with all sorts of other artists and entities and doing all kinds of music. I know some rich people who pay big money to attend the concerts recorded for these public television fund raising specials, like it's a real big deal.

Maybe it's just me. I'm not that crazy about him. There doesn't seem to be any genuine emotion or life in the performances. Even the guest performers, some of whom are normally quite emotive, seem strangely muted. I saw him do a duet with Reba McIntyre, no shit and she came across like a somnolent, zombie princess in an old Voodoo movie. Even her hair didn't seem as red as usual.

Maybe next they could have him do a whole concert with Celine Dion. Possibly the two of them together would excite each others phoniness isotopes and a critical reaction would take place, melting them down to the center of the earth and then exploding the planet in a fiery, faux operatic, cataclysm.

That would be something to see.

Navigating The Shalt Nots

Gold had a short pull back a week ago during the long Thanksgiving weekend, from which it quickly recovered and resumed its climb. Last Friday gold lost $50 an ounce. One should never assume that changes like this are transitory. They always signal a change in momentum. Who knows how much or for how long.

I would like to see the price go down at least another $50 an ounce and then trade sideways for a few weeks, to establish a little confidence that there is some support at $1100 and to let the market cool down. If it goes down more than that, I won't be surprised or disappointed but neither will I be as sanguine as I would during a smaller drop. There's no reason that gold couldn't drop several hundred dollars an ounce over at least a few months and then take a year or more to recover. There is all the time in the World for that to happen and when it gets finished, the economy will still be fucked up and ready for a gold bull market. I don't think that's likely because it just finished doing that and I think it will do something different now.

Gold could bounce right back and continue its climb. That's not necessarily the best thing that could happen. As an investor, I'd be lying if I said I ever wanted gold to do anything but go up in value. I'm only human. When I was younger, I was interested in lust, sloth, drunkenness and gluttony. Now that I'm older, I am enthralled by avarice and greed. I honestly am not sure why but it doesn't make it less true. I see them as two different things, avarice as the desire for riches not already in my possession and greed as the unwillingness to part with wealth I already have. I'm surprised there aren't a lot more words in this vein. Eskimos have 10,000 different words for snow. I like to think I am a virtuous man. I have never been troubled by jealousy or envy. Well, not too much and those are the really deadly sins. I'm sure God smiles upon my shining face.

Evo Wins

40 years ago, Che Guevara was killed in Bolivia by the American CIA. Today Evo Morales easily won re election to head the government there for a second term. However you interpret this, it is a momentous event. Latin America is rapidly changing. The Monroe doctrine is discredited. This will mean big changes for Latino people, those from developed nations who do business with them and the Catholic Church, which may or may not command their allegiance, depending on who you believe.

Evo isn't to every one's taste. He's not very popular here in America. The poor of his nation love him. It should take him a long way, if he can stay alive. In any case, I don't think anybody is ever going to put the Aymara back in their box.

Time to drink now

The price of Gold is going parabolic. I am making money hand over fist. On paper. For now. I would frankly rather see a slow steady rise over the next few years during which the price of gold doubles a few times. Why wish for the inevitable quick death of the goose that lays the golden egg. Unfortunately, I just bought a ticket to the show. I don't get to decide how it will unfold or how long it's going to last.

Like Petty Officer Tom O'Neill used to say, God rest his weary, whisky sodden, soul. "Shut the fuck up and cash that check, punk. They've already taken away your birthday twice. You're an ignorant, non qual, deckape and permanent messcook, not the XO's long lost, little boy. You'll be in the T.I. brig on bread and water soon enough. Time enough for that. Time to drink more now."

What a kind and gentle man. I loved him like a father. When he was a boy, he wanted to become a priest but the beatings and constant sodomy became too much for him, though he was of a disposition to like that sort of thing. He found a better home in the brotherhood of the sea. With Tom, you always knew what you were getting. It was good to have a man of God among us.

Peak Rice?

I am looking seriously at rice futures. About a year ago rice prices peaked. Several Asian countries, unable to produce adequate amounts for domestic consumption were forced to make large purchases, driving prices to record highs. Since then, rice prices have declined but not near previous lows. Last years purchases, along with the crops they were able to produce have been able to forestall further large purchases since then. Next year, they will likely have to make further large purchases.

Most land suitable for rice cultivation is already in production. Even with improved agricultural techniques there is a limit to how much nutrient rice plants can extract from the soil and turn into grain. Much of rice producing lands are in large, low lying Asian delta systems. Theses deltas are undergoing rapid erosion due to rising sea levels. There is less land available and the salinity of the ground water is increasing, making the prospect of much higher rice yields unlikely.

Most of the rice importing countries of South and East Asia have large, rapidly expanding populations of young median age. The governments of these countries are hoping that they will be able to increase rice production enough to feed the empty bellies of their people but how likely is this, really? I don't think it's very likely. Rice futures should be low in the coming Spring. I think there will be large purchases made next Fall.

This doesn't seem like that much of a gamble. The populations of these countries are growing. Rice production has been decreasing. Hungry people overthrow governments. It's cheaper for the governments to buy some rice than keep a bigger army to kill off the unhappy masses.

I think I'll buy rice. What do you guys think? Any commodities traders out there? Any Asian rice consumers that have insight into existing availability of rice in India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Indonesia/Malaysia or the P.I.? Those few countries are home to two billion people. All of them eat a lot of rice.

Dottie Was Famous For Her Sloppy Joes

Up until the second grade, I attended the James Marshall Elementary School in the South Western section of Modesto, California. Modesto was a bustling but not very affluent community at that time, it's about the same today. It may be a little more bustling and a little less affluent, mostly having to do with an extraordinarily high per capita consumption of methamphetamine by the inhabitants.

The school custodian used some kind of highly aromatic oil to dust mop the floors and wipe down the walls at James Marshall. In the morning everything was shiny and slick but as the day wore on a layer of dust and grit adhered to every surface. The oil worked its way into our clothes and pretty much ruined them for anything but going to school in, so most of the kids only wore one set of clothes to school. We were a shopworn looking bunch, gritty, oil stained and funny smelling.

The school cafeteria was a big Quonset hut that somebody had got for surplus and set up out on the playground. We all ate in there, whether we bought lunch or brought it. I guess it was easier to keep control of us that way, so that most teachers could enjoy their own lunch, someplace else. People that bought lunch were prepaid by parents and their names were on a list. You couldn't just decide to buy a hot lunch on any arbitrary day, except for Wednesdays. Wednesday was Sloppy Joe day. Dottie, our cafeteria lady was famous for her Sloppy Joes. That's what they always said. Because her Sloppy Joes were so famous, it wasn't deemed fair for all of us brown baggers to miss out. On Wednesdays, if you brought a quarter you could get the delicious, entire meal, complete with a scoop of green beans and peachy cobbler or for 15 cents, you could just get that famous Sloppy Joe. My father got paid once a month. Early in the month, I usually got the 15 cent Sloppy Joe to eat with my apple and homemade cookies. Later on in the month, Wednesdays were just the usual baloney, mustard and mayo on white bread. I liked that just fine. Mostly, I just missed being with the crowd clamoring for Dottie's Sloppy Joes, they being so renowned and all.

Except for that brief period of my life, Sloppy Joes have never been high on my list of culinary delights. In fact, I went most of my life with no Sloppy Joe intake whatsoever. Strangely, I have been making them pretty frequently the last couple of years. I just use tomato paste, with a little vinegar and sugar for sweet and sour, chopped onion, garlic powder, shredded potato as a binder and filler. Great comfort food. Filling. Cheap. They're also soft and my teeth aren't good anymore. A mouthful of titanium implants would prob'ly run North of 50 grand. I'm not going to live long enough to get my money's worth out of something like that. My Sloppy Joes are a lot better than that greasy sludge Dottie was pushing. Sweet memories of youth.

New Attack Drone?

This looks promising.

I like it. Let's buy more.

Castrating Their Young And Building A Strong Republican Platform

Huckybuck is feeling the pain of Willy Hortonesque accusations from fellow travelers of the Right Wing over his past clemency and commutation of sentence for a Seattle cop killer and subject of a recent large scale manhunt.

Pawlenty has already weighed in that he would never do any such a thing. It'll be fun to see what Mitt and the Salmon Slut have to say about it.

Huckybuck broke one of the seminal rules of Conservative American politics. Never let a Negro out of prison on purpose.