Around 17 years ago, back when I was living in my old house in East Broward, the kindly old lady who lived next door came over and asked me if I would like to take a look at the litter of kittens the stray cat that lived in her back yard had recently had.  I was really not much in the mood for another cat, I loved cats, don’t get me wrong, but I had gone thru the pain of losing one that I was very close to and frankly did not want to go thru that again. But I went over to humor the kind old woman…what harm could just one look do, right?

The proud Momma was in her secluded little spot with a full litter of precocious grey tiger kittens doing their  kitten litter thing. As the kitten ‘meows’ permeated the air,  I checked them out, one in particular, a female   with stunning blue eyes, not the biggest for sure, looked at me and made the most interesting sounds…a very unique sort of cross between a purr and a meow. “I’ll take that one, Mary,” I blurted out, quickly followed with the ‘what the hell are you doing’ thought. Too late. “Ok Angie’, my neighbor happily replied (her thought being, ‘got rid of one of them’), “ as soon as she is weaned I will bring her over to you.”

Time went by, I almost forgot about my typically impulsive decision. Not too many weeks passed and over my neighbor came with my now twice the size squirming ball of fur. I carried my little kitten in..named her Sapphire….. the house was never the same again…and neither was I.

I consider myself to be an animal lover, not a PETA crazy sort, but I have had dogs and cats for most of my life and always cared for them deeply. I have found that cats are very misunderstood by many folks. They are the only wild animal that adopted us, and they really have not changed a whole lot from those bygone days. Raising a kitten properly can be very taxing at times, it’s how they are raised that determines a whole lot of how they will become as  adults…and this one was a real handful, even by kitten standards. All cats are predators, and this one had a really strong dose of that built in, for sure. I put up with her ‘attacking’ me at every turn, and my poor doggies did not know what to do. My older pit mix had to deal with this little kitten charging her food dish whenever she was fed…..she would take a couple of bites of Dixie’s food…run away….and then charge the poor dog just when she would start eating again. Of course she climbed everything she could, including me. And the drapes.  And when she really got wound up she would leap from the counter top….to the  top of my head..when I would least expect it, of course.

When she was not  terrorizing the house,  she was developing  other traits. Her goodness and uniqueness  started to blossom almost from day one. Most kittens claw everything in sight, and then their “owners” de-claw them. I would cut the fingers off of those people, but that’s just me. Regardless, we all know that kittens will tear everything up…but not this one. Not my little kitten. Somehow, from day 1, she knew exactly what she could and could not claw. There was this old end table that I used for the phone, her food dish, etc, there was one end of it that became her clawing spot.  I had this cheap old  swivel back office chair, you know, the ones with the cheap foam padding inside some Chinese made material, and she just took this over. She would come flying from as far away as she could and hit the very top of it in a flying leap, the thing would spin like a top as she hung on for dear life. She was especially fond of doing this when one of the dogs was in the area, Dixie picked up on it right away, and would chase her around, and of course I would spin the chair some more. There were many things like this…but what really was special was her language and vocabulary. They talk you know. You did not know that? Sorry, I’m not in the mood to help you understand that. For those of you who do know, believe me when I tell you that this little kitten developed a vocabulary that  was beyond anything that I have ever experienced in a cat, or any animal for that matter. And Its so quiet here now.

As I said, she did not generally meow, not the way cats meow. Not the way we all know they sound. Not the way all of my other cats sound. Not the way my remaining cat meows. No….my little kitten had this special voice…sort of an “EEEERRRRRR”. But what a “EEEEERRRRR” she had!!  She would ask questions, sort of a “EEEERRRRRRRRR?” She would tell me when it was dinner time, when the dogs needed something, when she was displeased, and when she was happy. And late at night, when she was up and about, and  in a particularly happy mood she would sing. Like nothing you can imagine, she would sing. She would sound like Jethro Tull’s Flute that’s as close as I can get to conveying what my little kitten would sound like.  And….no matter what the time, no matter if I just ran down to the store, or back from a night out, she would always, always greet me with a special  “EEEERRRR”. “Hi Mommy, welcome back.”  And  I’m so missing that .

She would often come over for affection, softly purring, she loved to have me rub her cheek with my finger..then she would very gently lay her head in my hand. I would pet her with my other hand, and she would purr away as she stole my heart. At night when I would get in bed, at some point I would hear a little, short “EERR”, she would hop up, stroll along the edge, and get a “good night” from me. Many times she would curl up in the small of my legs, I would make a little place for her there.  She wove her magic around us so much that she got a special name early on. Officially she was Sapphire, to the vet, to all of the casual acquaintances that passed thru my place, and yes at times I have a lot of those. But she had a special name that I would use for her, one that only a very small group of very close friends would ever know. Never did that before, that’s for sure. And the most unbelievable thing of all was, that even as she grew up into the wonderful, special, beautiful companion she became, she somehow always remained a kitten…my little kitten. Shit,  I cannot do this.

When I did my abortive adventure move to the Pacific Northwest it was 2 adults, 2 dogs and 3 cats in a Dodge van for 3,500 miles. Kids, don’t try that at home. I lost my big male cat along the way, and the other cat made a couple of attempts to run as well. But my little kitten never once made a move to the door. And never once did she make the slightest effort to run out of the new house. And when I moved back to Florida and repeated the process all over again, she rose to the occasion like I knew she would. Most of the trip was spent curled up on Mommy’s lap.

Back home in Florida she took over the new house, just like all the others  we had lived in. She ran the house, nothing happened around here that she was not aware of.  I’m a news junkie and I generally leave the TV on CNN all day, except when I go somewhere, then I turn it off. One time I went somewhere for a few hours and forgot to turn the tube off. I came back and she was very agitated, talking like crazy to me. I realized what I had done, I had upset the order in the house. Did not do that one again. Another time I let the dogs out and went somewhere…but I had also put their dishes in the sink to be washed. Same thing, she let me know that she was not happy with Mommy upsetting the routine. And now it does not seem to matter what I do.

She was not the worlds friendliest cat to strangers. She would always sit in a fairly prominent place whenever someone would come in the house, and would generally let whoever get a few token pets in. She would then move away, and observe from a distance. If she liked a person, she would often do nothing. But..if she did not care for someone, she would put herself in position to be petted again, more often than not on the back of her chair that had been dragged back cross country. I would warn whoever what was coming, but usually that fell on def ears. The person in question would get a nice clawwy swipe  before she ran off…and she was most always right, they generally never came back again.

Way back,  I almost lost my little kitten to an enlarged heart. For years, twice a day, I gave her heart medicine, a quarter of a pill, twice a day. She would lay in my arms, I would open her mouth, and pop a pill in. I probably did that close to 1,500 times….and never once did I get the slightest hint of a scratch from….my little kitten.  I went to the vet one day and…her heart problem had vanished. The vet said “in 20 years of doing this I have never seen this happen before.” I told her, “it must have been love.” No, she was not perfect, but she was my angel.  And,  it seemed like yesterday, but it had been almost 17 years had passed  since  I took that little kitten into my life and heart.

One day, not too long after we moved back, as I was petting her, I felt a large lump on her side. What the hell was this? It seemed to have come out of nowhere. There was an  all cat vet right down the street from me and I took my little kitten there. Big tumor. God I hate that word. Growing on her kidney. Scoured the internet. Made phone calls. Wrote emails. Too old.  Even if she had not been too old, it was too nasty a growth. Very expensive treatment available that basically is a placebo for rich pet owners. So I did what I always did…I gave her all the love I could.

It was around this time that she developed a real taste for milk. All cats like milk, of course. But this seemed different. It seemed like she needed milk, really needed it. So, of course Mommy made sure she got all the milk she wanted. Naturally we developed special routines for this. I’ve always been a milk  drinker myself, and at dinner I would pour a glass and put it out on the table. She would hop up, and wait for me. When I would bring  dinner and sit, that was her cue to start drinking, she would not touch it until I sat down. She always knew how to be so very special. I scrounged a pink plastic dish in the shape of a heart, some freebie out of some cat product, and that became her milk dish up  on the counter, by her food. Which slowly become harder for her to jump up to. So she would sit, and tell us when she wanted to be picked up to eat and drink her milk…still talking with her oh so rich “EEERRR”. But not quite as loud, not quite as long. And she never sang again.

I suppose another year went by, a bit more I do believe. It takes between a year and a year and half before tumors like this finish their work. That’s with all the expensive treatments, etc. My little kitten got the love of her family, that’s all we could do, and I think she was happy with that. Her urination got much worse, as it destroyed her kidney. She slept on her side always now. She drank huge amounts of water, and urinated it out in her litter box as best she could. I watched her closely, I was not going to let her suffer. I mentally prepared for what was coming. No I didn’t.

A few days ago she was shrieking in pain as she tried to piss..and it was bloody. She lay on her side panting. She talked to me with heartrending sounds……’MOMMY, PLEASE HELP ME…YOU ALWAYS ARE THERE TO HELP ME…..PLEASE…PLEASE HELP ME” God, I cannot write anymore.

I rushed her down to the vet of course, in her little cloth carrying basket. As soon as she got to the vets and went up on the table, you should have heard my little kitten purr! Of course she was purring, this extraordinary, special cat knew…that her Mommy was going to save her! Mommy was going to help her, Mommy always helped her! But this time it was not to be. Her Mommy could not help her baby.  An x-ray was taken, the tumor was massive, her kidneys  now had some sort of very bad infection, the vet wanted to do what the compassionate, yet impassive vets always want to do…but I could not let go, just yet. They drained 150cc of bloody fluid out of her lungs.  They did not think she would make it thru the fluid draining, but I knew she would. Then they gave my little kitten a couple of shots for infections, etc.  And I took her back to her home.

She came back to her house….drank milk out of her bowl one last time….drank a little water that night out of the community water bowl….and I put her in bed with me. She liked that a lot, softly purring as I washed her with my tears.

Around noon the next day she started howling in pain, and as I knew what I now had to do, she fell over, I picked my little kitten up, took her down the street, she softly placed her head in my hand, I buried my head against hers as she gradually slipped away from me while strangers droned on saying who know what, I took her back with me and laid her to rest. My little kitten is gone. I have lost my  baby.

Once upon a time, there was no sex in America. Really. I shit you not. There was no sex in America. “So how did we get here”, you ask? Well, if you were a  kid growing up in the 50’s and early 60’s  and you asked your mom/dad that question, you would have seen your parental authority figure in no particular order turn beet red, stammer, stutter, and either say something like “oh honey the stork brought you,” or; “Ask your (insert  other parent here) when you are older.” That was our enlightened society in the 50’s and throughout much of the 60’s.

The TV show ‘I Love Lucy’ was the big hit on the tube back then. Lucy, Vivian and all the other women that ever appeared in the show wore either baggy pants or long, ankle length dresses. Ricky and Lucy slept in separate beds. In fact, you never saw couples in the same bed, either in movies or on TV. And adult bookstores??? What, are you nuts? What little porn existed back then was like drugs are today. Very underground, with draconian penalties for both sale and possession. All that was about to change….

Because in the early 50’s a magazine had been born, which first featured Marilyn Monroe on the cover. This magazine went along, breaking ground, until 1963 when it then published shocking, groundbreaking full nude pictures of Jane Mansfield.  The creator and publisher of Playboy,  Hugh Heffner, was then arrested on federal obscenity charges…and acquitted when a jury could not reach a verdict. At that moment in time, visual  adult entertainment began to enter mainstream America. And Hugh Heffner blazed the trail for everything  that followed. It was the Playboy First Amendment Center that virtually single-handedly fought obscenity laws across the land, and I’m sure you know what a so called ‘marital aid’ is, correct? You can just walk into any adult store and buy one, right? You can thank Hugh Heffner for that. More so that anyone or anything , it was his magazine and his battles with the oppressive powers that be that gave consenting  adults the freedom to enjoy themselves behind closed doors. And it was the lifestyle  expounded within the pages of Playboy that directly led to the swinger and fetish clubs we now take for granted in many places. Not to mention the so called Strip Clubs. While there are many who gnash their teeth about all of this, the rest of us understand that this has made us a more enlightened and open society.

Nowadays, Heff is a recently turned  85 year old….”geezer” as many call him.  And I suppose that’s fairly accurate for a guy in his mid 80’s, especially in this time of increasingly seemingly to worship the young.  The social media fishbowl we live in makes his personal life public, and makes him the butt of many jokes of the late night comedian circuit. Of course, what Leno and Letterman do not tell you is that, way back, when they were pimply faced kids, they were  Jacking their dicks to their prized possession; a well worn, sticky copy of the forbidden, taboo, Playboy…secretly stashed where Mommy would (hopefully) never find it.  The newer guys, Fallon, Conan, etc take their porn for granted, of course. Don’t we all? But while we enjoy ourselves, lets not forget that it was that old “geezer” who made it all possible, and guys, ya gotta admit…when you are 85, wouldn’t YOU want to have had the life Heff has enjoyed ? I thought so………

Knowing me, I’ll bet if I dug back into my blogs I could find one where I raved about the Iron Maiden concert that I went to in Auburn Washington back in ’08. Being the lazy sort, I could then just cut and paste it here, clever me! But even that would be too time consuming for the internet wastrel, so I will just write anew about the Iron Maiden concert that we went to this past weekend at the St Pete Times Forum in Tampa.  The place was packed, I don’t know what the capacity of it is, but there was not an empty seat in the place and the floor was at least ¾ full as well. As in Washington state, the crowd cut across all gender and age groups, literally 8-80…ok, maybe 13-65 is a bit more accurate, but you get my drift. These guys are living legends, they have been out there for 30+ years  and their fan base reflects that. You have kids that listen  to Dads old albums and CD’s and YouTube keeps all the old classics they have belted out over the years out there as well. What I find really amazing is how they can keep going the way they do, and still be so fucking active each and every show. I saw these guys in the mid 80’s, and Bruce Dickinson has not slowed down a step, I shit you not. He still leaps 6 feet in the air and lands like a damn cat.  Four screaming guitars  by true rock and roll veterans lay the sounds down right. Defiantly a time warp experience of heavy metal the way it was meant to be played and performed…Loud and a bit Rowdy.   Btw…if perchance you do not know about Iron Maiden, get the “Rock in Rio” DVD…my personal favorite..also extremely great is “Live after Death” classic, vintage Maiden there…..and do I really have to tell ya to turn it up LOUD??

I’ve always been a bit of a fan of Donald Trump…aka, “the Donald”. He seems to be just about the best people person I have ever seen.  I don’t know about you, but aren’t you mildly irritated by  those stories that go something like; “…..And, even though he is worth 20 billion dollars, Hiram Walker still drives his 20 year old Buick and brings his peanut butter and jelly sandwich to work every day, where he has not taken a day off in 30 years.” Really? Is that the reward? Pinching every dime, are you going to be buried in a gold casket lined with diamonds?? Or have some huge building named after you? Fuck that!!!!  Piss it away, spend it, it just comes pouring in anyway, right? I think the appeal of Trump is that he lives the way we expect a Billionaire to live, we like to see 500 dollar lunches, gazillion dollar yachts, jets with solid gold toilets, trophy bimbo’s, all of that shit. Wrenched excess, like the horsepower of Steve Kinser’s  410 Sprinter, THAT’S  what I’m talking about! And….you do not get to amass  that much dough by being an idiot. That’s why I am so disappointed in his recent behavior. Because I fucking KNOW Donald Trump  is not stupid enough to be a birther loon, there is no way in hell he believes that shit that was hatched up by the bitter, lying wingnut  loons that populate the sewer of the internet.  It does not make a lick of sense, why bother pandering to the tiny handful of kooks that always vote for the nuts in the Republican primary? I know what Trump has said before about  the current president,  the tax rate, our position in the world, global warming, George Bush, etc.  So what did, or is he making up…what he said then…or what he is saying now? And why? He can bankroll whatever he wants, why not run as an independent? I have a theory…and I am going to share it with you, if for no other reason to be able to say..”here is it, I told you so.” What if Trump really wants to SAVE the country, and his party, because he is a good Republican and a better American;  from the birthers and craziness of what is increasingly  the Republican party nowadays? If he stays in this, he will split the Republican party for sure. And  splitting the party will do to Republicans what Ralph Nader did to the Democrats back in 2002. Assure the election of the other candidate. And finish the birthers once and for all. Like I said, Trump may be many things, but he is not an idiot. He does not do anything that he has not thought completely through. So put it all together….hey, I don’t know, I’m just sayin’, mind you!

Ok, time to get some meaningful work done around here, with no further ado, I shall TTYL…bye for now.

The other day I was trying to do one of my sporadic clean-ups. Actually I’m still unboxing from the move of nearly two years ago, but doing a clean-up sound so much more….sanitary. Its cool going through the old photo’s and photo albums. The ones that are really neat are the candid shots, the ones that are not posed, the “got ya” pics. Some are good, some are bad, some of the pics are 30+ years old. We look through the old pictures we took, and we know that’s the way they were taken, they reflect the way we were, the way it was. Untouched, unaltered, real and honest. And that’s yet another piece of our life and culture that is slipping away, another casualty of our headlong rush to who the hell knows where.

That Microsoft Cloud commercial comes to mind here.  The one where the wife gets frustrated about  her uncooperative  family and Photoshop’s them to perfection.  Of course, the picture is then a complete fake. Every detail is suspect.  As a side bite here, one of the reasons the potential picture is screwed up is that one of the kids is texting furiously, hence mommy sees the need to fake the kid’s pic for posterity.   So like a pill popping druggie who takes a pill to get high and another one to come down from the high, one electronic gadget is used to counter the effects of another one. Unbelievable. Are we really that addicted to all of this electronic crap? In 10 years time what will a picture even mean? I can see black sheep of the family being photo shopped out of the family pictures.  Or more kids/the new wife/hubby being inserted, who knows where this is all going?  The scary part is, to someone being born today, how are they going to look at a family photo 20 years from now? Will they look at it the same way I look at a picture taken 20 years ago? I think not.  And I’m not sure if that’s going to be a bad thing  or a good thing, come to think of it. Its certainly beyond my pay grade, that’s for sure.

I may not be the Nostradamus of  future photo psychology but I do know this: Get ready to see the gold bubble pop. First off, the television gold hucksters, the most prominent one being a convicted felon named G Gordon Liddy, are the primary gold advertisers on the daily  hour long insane rants of Glenn Beck. All reputable companies have fled from this far right, mentally ill loon’s show that spreads paranoia and hate to the drooling flock, so that should tell anyone with a brain something right there.

See, the first warning bell should be the obvious, when every Tom, Dick, and Harry is talking about  buying something, or “getting into” something because it’s a “great investment”….shouldn’t that set off some warning bells?? Anyone remember the…..”You’ve got to get into this real estate market right now, its such a great investment.” That was  back in that  bygone year of 2007. HELLO!!! Or how about….” You have GOT to get into this dot.com stock right now, this is a GREAT opportunity.” Waaaay back in that ancient history of 2000. HELLO!!! Ok, pull up a chair, gather around boys and girls and let yer favorite pontificating slut tell ya why you need to be very, very nervous about the “great investment” of today’s  gold market.

First off I have some personal experience with the previous gold bubble that I would like to share with you. Sometime around 1976, I did one of my extremely rare (for those times) responsible, adult-like thing and made a speculative investment. I was a young  crazy kinky chick, living rent free, and the money was just pouring in. Read my autobiography for more infoJ Anyway…..coinciding with a more than usual flush moment, I happened to notice that the price of gold had gone  up in just a couple of days from 161 dollars an ounce to 182. I called a lawyer friend of mine and asked him how I could go about buying some gold. He told me about Kugerrands, where to buy them…and then tried very hard to talk me out it, telling me the price was way too high. I did not listen to him….what else is new…and proceeded to buy 10  of those 1oz gold coins for around $182 dollars a piece, figuring I would do something adult before I pissed the money away on….well….never mind what.  I held them for a couple of years, and sometime in  1979 I think it was,  a little birdie told me to bail…and I remember that everyone and their brother was saying “BUY, BUY”….I dumped mine for $780 a pop. Of course, it was a speculative bubble, build on greed and fear; all bubbles are created on some combination of those, with a touch of ignorance throw in,  and it burst not long after I bailed. And its all happening again right before our eyes, and just like the last one, this  gold market bubble  will also pop.

Here is why, right now, Gold is a overpriced, bogus, bullshit market, that WILL bite the little guy on the ass, hard.  First off, no matter what the hucksters, survivalists, Glen Beck rug chewers, etc will tell you, gold is NOT money. It cannot buy a fucking thing. It is not a medium of exchange anywhere in the world.  If you don’t believe me, try going down to the power company and shaving some off of your brick to pay your electric bill. Or go fill the tank of old Betsy and see what happens if you try it. One may be able to buy something with gold, but the value will be skewed..and it will not be in your favor.  “But…but…but…Angie…what happens  after the  Apocalypse and we have to share the world with the mutant Zombie hoards being led by a shrieking witch from Alaska?” Glad you asked, what do you think your gold bricks will be worth then? NOTHING, that’s what. They will make nice clubs and ballast, that’s about it. If that were to happen…and that is a big, big IF….IF, civilization crumbles for whatever unforeseen reason(s), the currency of choice will be gasoline, guns, ammunition, medical items(especially penicillin and pain killers), food, alcohol, drugs and whores, roughly in that order. Seriously.  Forget the gold nonsense, that aint going to be happening then. Gold is  too heavy to carry……and too hard for pillows.  The stuff will be sitting around in heaps.  Gold for the apocalypse ??? Give me a break!!! For what???

See, that’s the thing. Gold does not have a lot of practically, its uses are limited. It does have use as jewelry. And it is used in electronic manufacturing, there is some in the computer you are using. But…there is far more out of the ground than the actual market can absorb and use. That is another problem with Gold, if you think about it, more and more is being created. By that I mean dug out of the ground, put out into circulation. And when there is more and more of something, that virtually ensures that when the price comes down…and it will…then the price is going to stay depressed for a long time because the object of the speculation was overproduced to satisfy demand….see the housing market for further on this subject.

Gold makes no money. It does not work for you. It does not bear interest, nor does it pay dividends. For example, you can buy house, and you can rent it out for income. No matter what happens to the real estate market, it can go up or down,  you can still get money out of that house, i.e. that investment. It works for you. There are other investments that also work for you. We’ll get to what you can do with my favorite investment in a moment. But gold does nothing, and there is nothing that you can do with it but sit on it and hope the market goes your way. So does that mean that you can’t make any money on gold? No, not at all, I did quite well. And there was a reason for that, I did NOT buy it with the idea that WW3 was coming, or  the Jesus Rapture, or the aforementioned end of the world as we know it, or any other wild-eyed line of end of the world shit  folks try to feed you when they want to sell you something.

So what is a good, smart investment? Personally I am partial to thing with engines that go fast. Take a particular model Ferrari. Like, say  the  mid 80’s to  early 90’s Testarossa….I was a HUGE Miami Vice fan!  You know exactly how many were made and there are not going to be any new ones made. Hence the supply is known and fixed.  And when you buy this gorgeous machine, You can then take it out and drive the hell out of it, enjoy it, and if you take care of it, it will make you money when you sell it. They always have, and they always will. And that goes for many, many assorted makes and models. I keep a close eye on the car market, and the collector car market held its own pretty well thru the recession. There are good deals out there yet, look for a car that you happen to like…and that right now no-one else does. That’s the key, buy when no-one else is, then when everyone is buying like crazy and the price is climbing and climbing….and this part is gut feeling, there is a certain moment to bail. But with cars…what I say is….just drive the thing and let your estate make the big bucks! BTW, you can substitute the word ‘motorcycle’ for ‘cars’, works just as well, same deal. Custom knives also seem to be good a good practical investment, especially if your knife maker is fairly well known and up and dies. And remember, when the zombie apocalypse comes, you can use the car to get out of town, and the knife to stab the fuckers. When buying a collectable,  I always think in the back of my mind “can I use this for some good purpose?” Works for me.

Made it over to Volusia county Speedway a few weeks ago for the World of Outlaws opening event. Suddenly it was 1978 again with Steve Kinser winning  the feature the first two nights, and finishing second the final night.  The greatest Sprint car driver in history who has been 56 for at least four years now can still get the job done. Way too cool!!! And in keeping with the 70’s theme for Speedweeks, seeing the famed colors of the #21 of the Wood Brothers back in victory lane at the Daytona 500 was also a great way to being the  Sprint cup season.

On the subject of the Recession, you know the one all the talking heads say had ended. Very interesting read right here http://yhoo.it/eyXqh4 . It shows the same thing anyone in the real world knows.  Of course, the lords and masters in Congress not to mention the talking heads on the tube do not live in the real world, and besides, they all have good jobs, don’t they? Out here in the REAL world, yes,  jobs are coming back…those nice, high quality, part time burger flipping jobs at McDonalds. And don’t ya just love all the job creation going on in Washington. Yeah, all those tea party genius are really working on knocking down the unemployment, I’m trying to figure out how their obsession with enriching health insurance companies and demonizing Muslims  is doing that. And in this state the felon that got away and conned enough morons  to vote for him  to get himself elected governor of Florida could have done some good right off the bat. He could have given Florida workers thousands and thousands of good paying hi-skilled jobs for years to come and at the same time drop-kicked Florida into the 21th century with the rest of the civilized world at the same time. He could have put the people of this state to work, and shown forward thinking vision. But if he had done all of that, then he certainly would not be the greedy far right Republican loon that he is  who hates the middle class…they take all of the money that should be going to the top 1%, ya know. So Rick Scott did everything in his power to kill the high speed rail, making sure that those same workers, instead of having decent real jobs will now be flipping burgers and cleaning toilets in the fast food grease pits owned by his greedy, under taxed, privileged Republican elite. And of course we have Wisconsin, we all know what is happening there. Don’t whine and cry people, many of you voted these amoral trolls in. Voting is something that we all should not take lightly…the Rick Scott’s  and  Scott Walkers of the world know that a large chunk of their votes will come from those who simply will yank the handle because they are Republicans. Hey,  if you are worth millions and are a greedy, self centered sort, then  you had better vote for you pals. But if you work hard for a living and to raise your family and think that those among us who are less fortunate deserve a bit of a break, then you had better look long and hard when someone had an “R” besides their names next time. And just remember…..Scott Walker never said at any time during the campaign that;  “…..and if I am elected I will destroy the rights of teachers, police and firefighters….and that’s only the beginning.”

Gotta run, websites to build, videos to shoot, who knows what else.  TTYL.

Once again it’s thrust in front of us.  First it’s breaking news, “there’s been a shooting…”.  Then the details start emerging, a Congresswoman, in this case…the numbers  of the murdered and wounded being  breathlessly talked about like a falling stock market or football scores…then the shooter details start to emerge…the individual acts of heroism…the families of all concerned…and all the rest of the dog and pony “if it leads it bleeds” show. The mouthing’s from the politicians and talking heads… “senseless tragedy” ; always the popular catch-phrase.  Like a bad movie that we all know by heart but cannot stop the replay, this particular title of “Another mass shooting”, plays out again over and over. And we always wonder… “Could this have been prevented?”, “ Was someone or something to blame?”, “Will there be more?”, and “All countries have this problem, right?” Well I have some answers, and they ain’t gonna be pretty.

Taking it from the top, the answers are , “no…, definitely /partially,… yes,… and no.”  First off, you have to go to the third world to find countries who have a decades long tradition of having their politicians gunned down the way we do. Does our neighbor to the north, Canada have this problem? No they do not. Does England have this problem? No they do not. Nor does Germany, France, or most all other civilized societies around the world . Only in this United States of ours do we murder and attempt to murder our politicians with such regularity. And a large contributing reason for this is the fact that as a nation of 300 million people we own at least 283 million guns, you do the math.  Which brings us to another fact… no, this really was not a preventable tragedy.  Based upon our current laws there was no way to keep that deranged maniac, Jared Lougher from buying his weapon of choice.  He gathered up his mental faculties up just long enough to waltz into his local sporting goods store and leave with the weapon of his choice.  Not to mention his nice big magazines, you have to be able to shoot that deer 32 times, you know. Or riddle that home invader stealing your precious lamp.  For better or worse, we live in a society awash in firearms, and they all have capabilities our founding fathers could not have imagined.  I’m not really going to debate that here either.  I will mention that I can argue both sides of this issue quite well.  The second amendment is there… having said that, it’s the only amendment where the founding fathers put their ORIGINAL INTENT in it.  As in, “a well regulated militia”.  And they put that in first, with “the people” in behind it. I think I can argue intent here.  In those days there was not a standing army, Washington had to raise one..remember?  But there were state militia’s then, which were necessary to the security of a free state.  So yes, for the purpose of having a state militia, its obvious that the founding fathers wanted some sort of private firearm ownership to exist.  They did not say anything about hunting….nor about protecting one’s self from the crazy neighbor down the street. Nor, for that matter, about  shooting politicians who support social programs helping the less fortunate among us.  No Olympic target shooting was mentioned either.  Just “a well regulated militia.”  It can be easily argued that was the ORIGINAL INTENT.  And its quite possible that someday, a Supreme Court will, in fact rule just that way.  Having said all of that, I am very certain that if private firearm ownership is restricted in this country, then… to quote the phrase; “if guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns” will become a reality.  Because no matter what any court anywhere would say, the cold hard reality is that you cannot wave a magic wand and make those 283 million firearms vanish.  Even if you could, an underground industry of firearm manufacturing would spring up overnight.  To my fellow progressive’s out there, its not rocket science to make a modern, repeating firearm.  These things have been pumped out since the beginning of the industrial revolution, all you need is a lathe and a milling machine.  Are we going to then outlaw lathes and milling machines?  What about smuggled weapons? How has the “war on drugs” worked out?  A “war on firearms”  would make that look like a grand success.  And if it could not be done in times of prosperity, it sure as hell should not be done now.  Talk about carnage, armed home invasions, gangs roaming the streets, robberies everywhere, we would unravel pretty quickly. Even if you do not personally own a firearm, would you put a sign on your door or in your yard saying  “this house is gun free?”  See what I mean? It’s a real quandary, folks.  Another juicy slice of pure Americana, we live with it because we have never known any other way.

So to answer another one of our collective questions, yes, there will be more of these shootings.  Not stabbings…no public figure will be beaten to death with a baseball bat, last time I checked, we have never had a politician Kung-Fu’ed to death either.  No, he…or she….will be shot…at close range…with a handgun, that will probably have been legally purchased.  And all the paranoid, anti government, whack job loons will run out and buy that particular make that will be used before it gets “banned”.  You can figure out which side of the political aisle they are on.  Which brings us to the final big question, “was anyone/anything to blame?” Oh yes, most certainly.

If a person is in a crowded theater and yells “Fire, fire, run, run”, and someone gets injured or trampled to death, what happens? What does society do? They are arrested, and charged with inciting a riot, and if someone is hurt or killed, then, as a society we charge the guilty party with murder, or attempted murder.  The defendant will try and use a first amendment, free speech defense, but it will not work, because…as in all rights, they are not absolute, and with a right comes responsibility when one exercises this right.  Let’s take a look at how some of our political figures and others who are in a position to influence people have been acting lately, shall we? And we are going to name names here.

We have the disgusting  spectacle of the REPUBLICAN Senate candidate from Nevada, Sharon Angle who said, “If this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking towards those Second Amendment remedies.” Closely followed with, “we have to take Harry Reid out.” We have the former half governor from Alaska,  REPUBLICAN Sarah Palin;  who put bull’s-eyes on the congressional district of Gabrielle Giffords and other politicians she disagrees with…and then, of course, like the two faced phony she truly is, denied they were, in fact, the very bull’s-eyes she chortled about after the election. (“18 of the 20 bull’s-eyes were defeated”)  Or the ever helpful REPUBLICAN  congresswoman  Michelle Bachmann who said, “I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back.  She went on with, “Thomas Jefferson told us ‘having a revolution every now and then is a good thing,’ and the people — we the people — are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to lose our country.”  Or Glenn Beck, who on his show on the Fox propaganda channel,  depicted our president as “a Vampire, a Count Dracula”, then dramatically picked up a wooden stake and a large hammer, and intoned “….and you know what you do with a vampire, you drive a stake through their heart.” Or Bill O’Rielly of the same Fox Propaganda channel, who, year after year used the phrase ; “Tiller the baby killer”.  And then feigned astonishment when  a far right loon gunned the doctor down.  And as for the head of the Republican party, Rush Limbaugh?  Here are just one days worth of headlines from his show: “Democrats eager to see Obama profit from mass murder.”  “The irresponsible sheriff Dupnik Ignores all real evidence in the case”.  “An embarrassment for the Media and Sick, Desperate, American Left.”  Rush did the caps there, not me. And we can go on an on. Because NO….MY SIDE DOES NOT DO THIS. ONLY THE REPUBLICAN PARTY DOES THIS.  Yes, we have crazy bloggers who spout venom. Never mind what the right wing bloggers spout, btw.  Did you see Joe Biden’s website with GUN CROSSHAIRS on it like his REPUBLICAN opponent Sarah Palin had?  No you DID NOT.  Did you hear Harry Reid talk about using guns to change the political system like his opponent,  REPUBLICAN Sharon Angle did?  Have you heard Randi Rhodes, Rachel Madow or Chris Matthews compare a United States Senator to a Nazi mass murder like RIGHT WING talk show star Michael Savage did when he compared Barber Boxer to Josef Mengle?  No you did not.  The FACTS  are, that there is a climate of hate being created in this country by REPUBLICAN politicians and personalities, who, cravenly and cowardly are hiding behind the first amendment, the very first amendment the founding fathers wrote guaranteeing  the right of free speech.  With that right, of course came responsibility.  Rights are not absolute.  Thirty two round clips did not exist in 1791, when the bill of rights was ratified.  Nor did the ability to reach millions of people at once with craven rants, designed to inflame, to foster hate, create divisiveness…and to push the unbalanced over the edge. Yes, the good Sherriff of Arizona,  had it right when he said, “The kind of rhetoric that flows from Rush Limbaugh, in my judgment he is irresponsible, uses partial information, sometimes wrong information,” Dupnik said in the interview. “[Limbaugh] attacks people, angers them against government, angers them against elected officials and that kind of behavior in my opinion is not without consequences.”  Dupnik added that a “the vitriol affects the [unstable] personality that we are talking about.  You can say, ‘Oh, no it doesn’t,’ but my opinion is that it does.”  I applaud him for standing firm against the leader of the REPUBLICAN party, Rush Limbaugh.  Oh, and to those who say that the ignorant, bombastic, lying sack of shit who spews his nonsense to morons daily  from his Palm Beach bunker does NOT speak for the REPUBLICAN party…please let me know when one, just ONE REPUBLICAN criticized their lying, morally bankrupt figurehead.  Just one, that’s all.

And to those who say, “but its free speech.”  Well, yes it is. As has been pointed out many, many times, with freedom comes responsibility.  How we deal with this will say a lot about us as a society.  As always, I don’t hold my breath.  I’m not a religious person, but I am praying to something, somewhere to take care of that wonderful public servant Gabrielle Giffords.  I could say something like “I know both sides are doing that.” Or, “that’s something that we can all agree on.”  But that would be a lie, because every single REPUBLICAN that I have named is not doing that at all, now are they?  If they were doing so, they would not have been inciting  murderous violence against  those who they do not agree with all these years, now would they? There might be some who are…and maybe someone will criticize their Fuhrer, RUSH LIMBAUGH, but I am not holding my breath on that either.  I will now close with one of my personal favorite quotes, this one  by Samuel Johnson, “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” REPUBLICANS, please take note of that.

I actually had this particular ramblings just about done until world events came along, that is.  (How’s that for an excuse…lol).  It was complete with an observation or two about Julian Assange.  You know the  guy who was the subject of a world wide manhunt for not wearing a condom. He finally got popped……I really did not intend the pun, but how could I possibly control myself? Since he broke NO LAWS, repeat, he has not broken ANY LAWS, now the powers that be who want to silence him will have to invent charges to keep him locked up for the rest of his life. The railroading, tar and feathering, etc will be both fascinating, and,  if you are anything but a mindless far right stooge, should be quite scary to those of us everywhere who love freedom. Definitely  we will all stay tuned. Without further ado…. below is  what I had written the other day….my take  on  Wikileaks and  Assange.

Well the latest crisis that everyone has their knickers in an uproar about concerns…surprise, surprise, the internet. Wikileaks to be exact. We are hearing the word “traitor” thrown around, mostly by Republican windbags, which is interesting being as Julian Assange is not even a US citizen. And of course the word “terrorist” is being lobbed by  the same pontificating and preening talking  suits and the fawning talking heads pretending to be journalists who do their bidding disseminating propaganda upon their master’s command. “He’s putting American troops at risk,” thunders  the architects of the unnecessary Iraq oil war and our Afghanistan empire building adventure. Really? I did not see anything in those documents resembling,  “ On 11/22/10, delta platoon is going on patrol at 0300 down route 101 in Helmut province.” Did you?  Personally, I think we all enjoy revelations like the one saying  that the  that Muammar Gaddafi  has a  Ukrainian porn slut for a  private nurse.  Where do I go to get a job like that?? And I have not seen or heard about any country going to cut diplomatic ties with us.  This is nothing but gossip, and it was not even secret, just classified. One million Americans had access to it, that’s one out of every 300 could read it anyway! Can you say frame-up? Let me give you my take on what is happening here.

First off, while I do not believe for one moment that Assange is some sort of evil Dr No, neither do I think he deserves the Nobel peace prize either. He’s an easy character to dislike, that’s for sure. He’s a typical computer geek, arrogant and pretty much anti-social.  I don’t believe he raped anyone, much less two girls, he might well have behaved like a drunken asshole around them on occasion.  No, what Assange IS  guilty of is pissing off the entire planet, especially our part of it. Julian Assange, more so than anyone else in history, using the one tool that the people drunk with the arrogance of power cannot control and don’t really understand, the internet, ripped away the phony façade the world swathes itself in order to function the way its sees fit. You know, that bring us endless wars, that part of things. That is his ONLY crime, he has not even broken any American laws.  He did not steal the documents, he simply published them…last time I checked one possible name for that is….Journalism.  If you want to see a poster boy for the phrase ‘trumped up charges’, and ‘witch hunt’, just look at that blonde Aussie.  With that as a backdrop here  is the real danger folk, and its not the color of Putin’s underwear or what  Hillary does at 2 am.

See, the powers that run this planet do not care for our..yes OUR internet one bit. It’s the people’s internet, it belongs to no-one, especially governments. That’s part of the problem the way THEY see it, no “government” controls it. Especially the government of (insert   the country of your choice here). Hell, one of the revelations Wikileaks blew the whistle on is the amount the Chinese have been screwing with Google. Our military killing civilians and covering it up, oh no, we are not supposed to know about that, might upset the surviving natives, ya know. What a crock of shit! No, governments fear the people having power, do you think it’s a coincidence that those here shrieking the loudest about Assange and wikileaks  are the Republicans who march us to war whenever they can??? They cannot do that if all of the dirty laundry, all of their lies and nonsense are paraded out for all to see. So, already there is a bill to make “illegal” what Assange has done. Here is the kicker, lets watch and see what other freedoms are thrown under the bus in this bill to protect the high and mighty from the light of truth.

Call me old fashioned (I’ve been called worse, trust me on this), but I really think that a whole lot of our modern gadgets and assorted electronic gizmo’s leave a whole lot to be desired pertaining  to their real contributions to the quality of our lives. Sometimes it’s  the relatively mundane object that  can become one of life’s simple pleasures, or become one of its irritants. In this case, I’m talking about the umbiquitous  coffee maker.  One of the primary reasons we pay up the wazoo at Starbucks and all the rest of the shops is that they deliver a piping hot cup of coffee. That is something that generally is lacking in the impersonal digital devices that masquerades as today’s home coffee makers. Apparently the desire to make a decent cup of coffee is something to be added to our list of things Americans no longer want to do. But it was not always that way, and its not that way around here either. All you need to do is reach back in the past a bit and morning bliss can be yours.  First, you need to lay your  hands on a Farberware Superfast  coffeemaker. And no, you cannot go to Amazon and get one, nor to Kmart either. See, the new ones are Chinese crap, that’s the problem. The really are not made the way they used to be. You want one of the old ones, like what your Momma used to use way back when. Or maybe your Grandmother. The point is, you want one that was made in the good ol’ USA, it will say “made in Ohio” on the bottom.  I bought mine on Flea Bay…. Craigslist, thrift stores and yard sales will also work well. Remember, do NOT buy it if it does not say “Made in Ohio” on the bottom. Don’t worry about whether or not it works or not, that’s the beauty of this oldie goldie, there is only a little bit that can go wrong with it, unlike the piece of Chinese junk, its easy to fix and parts are readily available.

Like many old things, it’s a bit more effort that the modern replacement, to me, that’s all part of the charm.  Its cool to get up in the morning and whip up a steaming hot cup of coffee with this American classic. This machine is beautifully polished stainless steel.  All the workings are stainless steel as well, you wash out the pot a bit, and then rinse off the components, drying the basket a bit. Then you put a napkin-like,  doily thingy in the bottom of the basket , then put your coffee in. If your like me, you have been grinding your beans while all of this has been going on. The you fill the pot with cold water, not to the top, to a point on the side that  varies day to day, operator to operator.  You do it all by trial and error, this machine is from a time when folks were expected to use their brains a bit. Then you put the steamer stem thought the basket,  lower it all into the pot, and then you sort of twirl it a bit, until it seats in the heating element. Fit the strainer on top, and the lid then snaps in place with a oh, so satisfying,  “clink/snap” You then plug the ancient braided cord…. that will someday shock the crap out of you….into the bottom of the pot, and in a few moment, you will hear this wild racket starting to emanate from the bowls of the machine.  Need I mention that by now, coffee or not, you are nice and awake, this thing doubles as an extra alarm clock. As it roars merrily along, you can see the perking going on via the clear see thru knob on the top of the lid,  and I swear at times the thing shakes. In a few minutes, voila, you will have brewed up  nice sized pot of steaming hot, yes, nice and hot perfectly made pot  of coffee!  No modern piece of crap can make anything like what this ancient wonder can produce for you each and every morning.  The fact that we cannot seem to make anything like this now speaks volumes,  I don’t think I want to ponder the implications about that right now either! Oh, and as for the parts, there is an outfit down in Miami that has anything you would ever need for these.  Besides getting a new  cord, which I really must order one of these days, the only things that can go wrong with it are the heating element and the thermostat. Dead easy to change out. I have new ones stashed away somewhere around here if I ever need them.

What a bummer about Don Meredith!! I remember him from Monday night football like it was yesterday. I was one of the many who discovered the game of Football directly because of the chemistry in the booth between those three. The comments and banter  between Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell and “Dandy Don” Meredith were priceless.  We lost one of those national treasures the other day for sure. On that subject, he would have been singing his signature; “turn out the lights the parties over” somewhere in the second quarter last night, what an asskicking Tom Brady and the rest of the Patriots gave to the Jets! As someone who has had to endure obnoxious Jet ‘fans’ for years in South Florida, I totally enjoyed watching every minute  of it last night!!  New England looks primed and pumped for another Super Bowl run, but a little birdie tells me that its dead last in the NFL  defense, despite what it looked like last night, will get exploited somewhere , sometime in January, by someone, probably  by that certain cold weather team run by that certain bad boy QB,  that plays in a place called Three Rivers Stadium. We shall c………

Lately I have been really trying to cut down on the clutter around here, talk about a lost cause! It would have been easier for Custer to solve his Indian problem, but one has to try, or so they tell me. I have this irritating, aggravating box of 78 Lp’s that I have been dragging around forever now that I am really sick of looking at. Now for those of you will have to Google the subject, these are old record albums, that played at 78 turns a minute. Yes children, there was a time that music did not come out of a computer, off of the internet, we had to carry each few songs around with us. And in the case of 78’s, that could well have been in a horse drawn carriage. These came from my Grandmother, who probably got them from Her mother, etc and etc. And, they are not worth a fucking penny. Literally. I have seen some on ebay that did not sell for a God Damn penny! WTF???? Here’s why: See, everyone of these things, since the beginning of time has been saved. Every friggin’ one of these things has been hung onto by every family across the land. “Bobby, I’m not going to tell you again, get rid of all of those old Superman comics so that there is a place for Grandma’s records”. “But Mom, this one is Superman annual #1.”  “I don’t care what it is, you get rid of that right now and all the rest of them or no movie for you this weekend.” This explains a couple of things, why the records are not worth shit, and why the old comics are worth, well, more than a couple of shits that’s for sure.  Its classic supply and demand and naturally I do not have the pile of vintage comic books, like most everyone else I’m stuck with the pile of records that cannot be played, and who would want to anyway, and cannot be sold, cannot even be given away for Christ’s sake! I am so sick of this raggedy, heavy box I could scream! I used to envy the guy who “died penniless”, he got rid of all of his pennies. This is oh sooo much harder! In fact………if I do figure out a way to get rid of these things I am going to write an eBook on it and sell that!  They are well made and all of that, but I’m sorry, to hell with the Stellar Quartette and the ancient music machine they spun in on!

I don’t mean to sound like a broken record, (they do that you know, one of the many problems with those things….. Lol), but I will be writing much more regularly from now on.  As you might have noticed, there have been some major changes in my site. Among other things, it should give me more opportunity to write on a regular basis more often…that’s the plan anyway. And we know about the best laid ones, don’t we? I am the best lay, but that’s another subjectJ Talk to you again soon, bye for now, Angie

If your like me, you have something that really pisses you off. Some part of everyday life that most folks might take in stride, but for some reason it irritates the hell out of you. I have a special peeve, and if I were to become world dictator, look out! I’m talking about one of the banes of modern life, the speed bump. Those things are in every parking lot, every apartment complex, and somehow have escaped onto the public streets. Irritating pieces of crap that do nothing whatsoever but bother whoever has to drive thru their domain, and that is damn near everywhere.  Ya wonder why some folks just snap, take some poor bastard who is stressed to the max, he  hits one of those things  leaving Costco, having spent the last of his meager funds on a 20lb sack of rice, then  tears the exhaust out of his 20 year old Corolla as his shot shocks bottom out on the obstacle course decreed  by who knows what faceless corporate lackey to desecrate the parking lot until the end of  time and/or end of private transportation for us all..…” he was so nice, I don’t know why snapped.” When I become dictator for life, one of the first decrees…besides being on all the money, and the stamps, all that good stuff, will be that every speed bump is knocked down. Maybe we can turn a few of them into jumps! Ok, I’m back to earth now. No ‘El Presidente for life’, no decrees, no stamps, no jumps, No Lambo’s….sigh…..back to the video editing salt mines!

As many of you know, or have sort of figured out, I’m a political person. Which in my case, in itself, is ‘politically incorrect’. There are those who think that I’m supposed to be the proverbial ‘brain dead slut’ and at the appropriate times I certainly do “shut up and suck.” I also get to use my cyber soap box to talk politics, and that’s what I’m about to do right now……..

Have you seen the Nissan polar bear commercial?  If you haven’t, here it is, take another look at it before  you read further-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNeEVkhTutY Its been out for a little while now, and I think I saw one of its first runs.  I thought, “ya know, this is so cool, yes it’s a bit corny, and not entirely accurate (more on that in a moment), but it triggers emotions  and thoughts, you know, maybe to think about what is happening to the planet, energy conservation, etc, this is  so powerful, that the noisy far right rabble who apparently want us back in the bronze age or something, are going to  bash this big time.”  So I went to the leader of the Republican party’s site, the one and only Rush Limbaugh, and sure enough, the  shallow, lying buffoon bashed Nissan for not one, but two days in a row. Wow, the Flintstone  set must be really worried about this one, huh? Ready or not, here’s my take on this whole deal.

First off, electric cars are not really ready for prime time yet. There needs to be  a huge breakthrough in battery design. Batteries need to become far smaller, far lighter, and much more efficient at holding a charge. In addition, we need to build a true  national energy grid. Even if we could get the Rush Limbaugh/tea party set to grow brains, it would still take time and the national will to create the energy grid we need, not to mention building the infrastructure to put together the proper  combination of wind, solar, and yes, nuclear energy to make a true conversion to electrical powered vehicles a reality. But..it COULD be done. And, what IS  important here, are the baby steps necessary to get to this point. How far along would we be if the Wright Brothers were told, “no we need jets first”. Or  Henry Ford got, “you need to create Boss 302 Mustangs before we invest in you.” Progress is a never ending event, and you have to start somewhere. While not the first electric car, Nissan made designing, building, and marketing  the worlds first practical, cost effective, mass produced  electric automobile a priority, and they succeeded in a magnificent way. Yes, I know all about the negatives, and can argue both sides of this issue fairly well. But the argument of the drooling cretins, the childish simplistic Limbaugh vomited nonsense, what the “let’s drill/global climate change is an evil UN plot to enslave America” crowd says as they slam Nissan, the total denial of what is happening weather and climate wise, tell me how useful  this point of view is for solving anything!  God, can’t half of the country EVER be helpful? The answer is “no, they can’t”. This commercial is well done, it tugs at ones heartstrings, it puts climate change, endangered species and clean energy all at the center of ones thought process in just a few seconds,  and then suggests  one  possible remedy, what is so wrong with that  Rush?  And if it will help sell some of these cutting edge vehicles  for Nissan, I say more power to them. Of course, all of those things are   an anathema to Rush Limbaugh and his flock of zombies. Climate change?? An evil liberal plot! Endangered species? Never happens! Clean energy? “Drill baby drill!”  Its really a bit scary that the country is so incredibly polarized, and its sleazebags like Limbaugh who have had a big hand in this situation.  I really do not like to think bad thoughts and project ill will towards anyone, but  there are some folks out there that make my live and let live motto hard to live by nowadays.

There was a time in my life when, to quote the old expression, I was “footloose and fancy free.” Moving from place to place, living like a tumbleweed, moving everything I owned in the back of a buddies pick-up truck….or in the trunk of a big Buick, for that matter. Then, of course, I grew up…a little bit anyway. Nowadays, and I don’t know about you, but personally, I do not like to move.  It’s a pain in the ass, stressful, and not very productive. As a recent veteran of not one, but two cross country moves, I know from whence I speak.  But now, we are hearing that this is the “new reality”. You see, now that we are losing our houses and our jobs, we are supposed to become a nation of vagabonds. Blowing like the wind, criss-crossing the country for that minimum wage job, what fun!! And  that wage might get even more minimum if that jolly bunch of candidates who want the minimum wage repealed have their way. We are to embrace homelessness, poverty  and job hunting across the land as the “new America”. I see a revival of rusted out old  Buick’s coming soon,  the inevitable websites “how to live out of your trunk”, “rest stop showering 101”, “10 best ways to raid McDonald dumpsters”. And folks actually wonder why China is cleaning our clocks right now.

Of course, what is now  a ‘problem’ of too many houses might be getting fixed in an unforeseen way. Just the other day a man’s house burned to the ground because he did not pay the 75 dollar surcharge to the fire department. His local fire department watched it burn down. And Glen Beck says its ok. Again, this is a another coming attraction  of a possible American future.  Beck says, and I quote “he did not pay the tax, so for the fire department to put out the fire would have meant that he would have been sponging off of his neighbors.”  Boy, wouldn’t it be nice to have this excuse for a human being as your neighbor! Apparently, going from door to door BEGGING for money  to pay hospital bills, which this bottom feeding  troll actually says is how to pay for your wife’s open heart surgery is NOT sponging off of your neighbors. Can’t say we are not being warned. This is the future, we are seeing it unfold before our eyes. A future where a very tiny percentage have it all, and the rest of the population are slaves to their whims. No safety net, no minimum standards,  no restrictions on business at all, a dog eat dog, Darwinian survival of the fittest society, and as for the rest “I’ve got mine, and  as for the rest of you, you can just go FUCK YOURSELF.”  Don’t believe me? Check out  some of the links below. See who founded the Tea Party and what they stand for and want.  By the way, I personally hope that the homeowners insurance company sues the almighty shit out of that fire department of Obion County, which they probably are going to do! I know there is another side to this story and all of that. There always is. That is not the point, it’s not about “I can explain, see it’s about the revenue stream, bla bla.” If we have truly gotten to the point where we will allow a family’s house to burn down because of the almightly fucking dollar, we have really come to a very ugly place.

On a much lighter note, we went to our local racetrack Saturday night. Nothing really too special was going on, except the Winged Sprint cars  and the mini sprints were there, along with a few of the regular local classes. The stands were almost full, the weather was perfect and the racing was great. I don’t think we spent more than 30 bucks for everything, including admission. There are a lot worse ways to spend a Saturday night, I had almost forgotten how much fun going to the local races can be.  With few exceptions  wherever you might happen to live, you have one of these slices of Americana not too terribly far away, and if they are still racing this season, get out and check it out soon before ya start freezing your ass off.  If not, find out where it is, and go support it in 2011!

Gotta run now, ttyl:) Bye for now……..

http://theweek.com/article/index/206405/the-billionaire-koch-brothers-tea-party-puppetmasters

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer?printable=true

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/opinion/29rich.html

The Who at Woodstock

I have a problem with my radio station. Its not what you might think, I love their music, and their reception is great…they are just  a bit delusional!  Ok, allow me to explain…..Most of you who know me know I’m  an old head-banger from way back.  No, I was not at Woodstock, I wonder if you add up all the folks who have said “I was there”, it would probably fill the whole fucking state of NY, don’t ya think?  But I haveseen many of the legends of Rock and Roll perform live, have a whole shitload of classic 33 LP’s, and still get to concerts reasonably regularly. And generally  havethe local station 99.7, i.e. 98 Rock blaring. And there seems to be some sort of collective mental zombification there that decrees that Metallica is “the greatest rock band of all time”.  Lets see, how can I put this delicately..” Dudes and Chicks, you guys are SOOO full of crap on this one, the greatest Rock band of all time is….. The Who!!!”

The Who (The early days)

Now we all know what opinions are, and  the generation x,  y, z, whoever is running the mikes there at any particular moment there are certainly entitled to their opinion. But , as has been often said, “ While you are certainly entitled to your OPINON, you are NOT entitled to your FACTS.”  And the facts about the very talented Metallicabeing greater..and yes that is a very subjective word, I grant you that…greater then the Legendary, Immortal,  Who, simply do not add up, lets take a look, shall we?

First off, you havegot to give points for longevity, and consider this, the Who was formed in 1964. That is 46 years ago!!! Forty Six years!!!! Haveyou even been alive that long???  There is a fair chance you have not. These guys were making music when you were sucking on your momma’s tit!  Certainly beats that  other outfit we are talking about here, who came together in 1981. And by the time the aforementioned 80’s rolled around and  the newbie’s did come on the scene, there was a well hewn path for them to follow. We can all agree that spectacular lighting, smoke, ear splitting decibels, and tremendous band movement, jumping, running, etc are part of the staple of virtually all  rock bands, its part of the concert experience, right?  And of course…. The scream….as in what probably is the greatest song of all time “Won’t get fooled again.” And who INVENTED all of this?  Who blazed the trail for Eddie van Halen, David Lee Roth, Axle Rose, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Carmine Appice, Bruce Dickerson, Lindsey Buckingham,  Eddie Vetter, Angus, and so many more…oh, and Lars Ulrich and his guys?  Why, that would be The Who…..that’s who!  (I could not resist). Rodger Daultry and Peter Townshead along withthe late, great Keith Moon  literally blazed the trail of the modern concert performance, and speaking of concerts, they stole the show at the greatest concert of all time, the aforementioned Woodstock.  They had THE greatest performance at THE greatest concert of all time!! So….they literally invented the modern rock concert, and put on the best performance at the quintessential definition of the  phrase “rock concert”. That alone would be enough to qualify for “greatest of all time”. But we are just getting started here.

 They have sold over 100 million albums, Dozens of #1’s, numerous Platinum albums, etc.  “Liveat Leeds” might well be the best live album of all time.  The rock opera “Tommy” by itself is one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, I can still remember the Goosebumps I got the first time I ever heard it.  They have put out countless hits, that we not only know by heart, but are used anywhere and everywhere, from elevator music to commercials, movies, they  have become part of our very culture..think the opening of any of the CSI series and you’ll get what I mean.  And who has not heard and used the phrase “Meet the new Boss, same as the old Boss”? The Who was one of the early inductees in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1990….Metallica was inducted in 2009, btw.  So here we are in 2010…and this year Who played on the greatest  stage of them all, the Super Bowl.   Forty Six years and still Rockin’!!!

The Who at Superbowl XLIV in 2010

So what about the other guys?  The ones that generation X thinks is the “greatest band of all time”? Well, they were formed  in 1981,and have pumped out 100 million albums themselves, not too shabby, for sure.  And yes, they are a decent band, a very good band, great heavy metal for sure. But, when you throw out “the greatest” on anything, or anyone, that is a whole lot different than just being very good…or even great, for that matter.  I notice no quote  for Metallica like the following  attributed to Eddie Vetter; “The one thing that disgusts me about The Who is the way they smashed through every door in the uncharted hallway of rock ‘n’ roll without leaving much more than some debris for the rest of us to lay claim to”. Pretty much sums it up, I would think.  The bottom line is, we will all be humming “My Generation”,  “Won’t get fooled again”, “I can see for Miles”, “The Kids are all right” for the rest of our lives….. again, see what I mean about being part of our culture? We all subconsciously acknowledge greatness, we immortalize it in fact. As we have done with The Who. End of story!! The Facts speak for themselves, the Who is the greatest Rock and Roll band of all time!

But, Metallica did do some sort of trailblazing, ya gotta give credit where credit is due, ya know.  They led the charge against free music on the Internet, putting Napster out of business in a series of lawsuits. They were the ones who were responsible for the news stories you heard about unemployed Mothers getting fines of 2,000 dollars each for the 250 songs Jr downloaded from the Internet. That would be 2,000 times 250. Many cases of that happening in the early part of the decade.  I do not condone stealing, and yes, Ulrich was right, it is stealing and there is now a nice system in place to sell music  on-line…..but I have always thought that all of that was done in a very heartless way, and one that needlessly punished the little guy. For instance,  why not go after, say the ISP that allowed jr access to the songs in the first place? Oh I know, too many Lawyers to do that, lets just fuck the unemployed lady who has no money to defend herself and send a “message”, good thinking,  Lars.   Of course with the modern attention span of 5 min, to  paraphrase one of their songs “nothing else matters” . And maybe in another 20 years we might well be talking about  Metallica the same way as we do about the Who….but not just yet. Takes time boys and girls, not “Internet time”, where if something is older than 5 years it’s a classic..LOL, but real time.  Anyway, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

I don’t know if it was well deserved or not, but got away for about two weeks to Knoxville Iowa for the Superbowl/Indy 500/Daytona 500 of Sprint car racing the Knoxville Nationals. Set in the charming small town of Knoxville IA for which it is named, with all  the history and  tradition of the event itself, a museum and hall of fame, Knoxville Raceway is hallowed ground for sure. I have been trying to get back to see that race again for quite some time, and something always  seems to get in the way. I had made it here in 1984 with my best friend Tracy, on our meandering journey  to the west coast, we were both young and very crazy then, and  many of the details from that particular week are a bit hazy. 

Signing the wall again at the famous Dingus Lounge

Steve Kinser "The King"

Entirely too much time was spent in the Dingus Lounge, and proceeded to  get hooked up with a bucks down race team  from Lincoln NE (I think, seem to remember, maybe…??)  Regardless, I’m quite certain they spent more money that week on alcohol than Methanol.  They were camped out in the old campgrounds off of turn 3.  There was an ancient Airstream that was part shop, part party trailer, cases of beer competed with a spare block and quick change for floor space,lets not discuss the toilet, the generator blew up, one of the  guys started a fire  in it while hitting  a bong, …….anyway, moving along……This year was the 50^thanniversary, so this one I simply could not  let go by.  What a great time! When you throw in the non winged show at Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, we saw 5 straight nights of racing. Over 100 cars were there fighting to be one of the 24 cars that started the A main Sat night. It takes qualifying to a whole new level, trust me on this. One of the awesome things about this sport is the accessibility to the drivers, cars and crews that  you have. Nascar has made personal contact with virtually any part of its show restricted to those with deep pockets. Unless you want to call the autograph sessions with everyone lined up like cattle and the drivers working like school kids on a big test “personal contact”, that is . Sprint car racing is not like that, us unwashed rabble can see the cars up close and personal as they are being field stripped in parking lots all over town, the drivers not only are often hanging around then, but also are all over the place all the time. You can walk right up to Steve Kinser, Donnie Schatz, Danny Lasoksi, etc  and talk to them.  

Sprint car crews work on cars while spectators wander through

And its so quintessentially American heartland. Knoxville Raceway is part of the Marion County Fair, as is the Oskaloosa track and so many more racetracks around the country.  I mean how can you get more heartland and country  than a county fair? And Dirt is so primeval and cool. Its alive, its constantly changing.

In the stands before the race at Knoxville Raceway

You can sense the bond that the folks here, the farmers and all of those who make their living from the land have with these tracks.  I’ll  admit I do not want to live there, but boy did I enjoy visiting it and plan on returning next year if at all possible. And yes folks, to those of us who care about such things, the Dingus lounge is still very much in business and just as crazy as ever……

On the way back we stopped at  the Civil War, ie; War between the states, battlefield at Chickamauga.  These are really special places, very spiritual. This is one of the very largest of our battlefields, it sprawls all over the place. The veterans themselves got together in the late 1800’s and put up hundreds of monuments all over the place there. It’s a very cool place to spend some time soaking up our heritage.

Chicamagua

Well, I made it……no, not onto the ten most wanted list…this blog post for August is up in…August!! Hey, I did not say WHEN in August, you forgot to read the fine print !! I’ve already started on the next one, this one has rambled on way too long, but that’s why we call ‘em  ramblings, right? TTYL, Bye for now, Angie

I have a confession to make.  They tell me it’s the important first step.  I am an addict.  Oh I know, you never think it can happen to you!  It starts so innocently, first just a taste, then another.  Then your consumption rises, you find that you need it more and more, you make sure you are stocked up, the mere thought of running out fills you with dread. Before you know what has hit you, its all over!  You want to break the cycle, you think of the 12 step deal..I’ve done the first one, but  that means that there are 11 to go.  They won’t make me quit, will they??  That could not possibly be step 2, could it???  What  a  horrible thought!!  By the way, I’m talking of course, about those devilish little Ice Breaker mints, the ones in the check out line of all the grocery and drug stores.  What the fuck is in these things, have they finally figured out to market crack to us??   My ‘drug of choice’ happens to be the Wintergreen ones in the green box…now exactly what did YOU think I was talking about??   Never mind, I don’t want to know….

Not too long ago, with the usual breathless hyperventilating from the talking heads, dancing elephants, fireworks,  100 gazillion emails, and constant media coverage of folks with more time than brains camping out in front of assorted stores, an electronics company came out with a new telephone.  That’s all it is, I hate to break the news to you… especially if you missed the birth of your son, or death of your mother if you happened to be living in front of the local Best Buy waiting for those golden doors to open.  And no, I’m not being my usual flippant  self.  Do you think that 3 years from now, in the grand scheme of  the breakneck speed of this technology the latest  electronic bauble from Apple  will be looked at as anything but this?  Exactly!

The other part of this equation is just as predictable, as those who paid the absolute highest price this gadget will EVER sell for also encountered was…it does not work.  OK, it “works”, just not the way it worked when the geeks tested it out in the Ivory Tower emblazoned with “Apple Technologies”.  Not to mention its  $500, ok, $499 price tag. And the days lost waiting in line, fucking with the thing to get it to work at all, the learning curve, etc.  Why???  In the world of electronics, being king of the mountain, either as the  manufacturer or  the consumer is about as meaningful as being the first lemming over the cliff, the glory is fleeting at best.  Me?  I’ll wait until 1- the bugs are out of it, 2- all the bells and whistles are added, and 3-its below $99..or at that.  You know, a few weeks from now.

Well, on day whatever the fuck day it was, BP capped its never should have been drilled in the firs place well.  Of course, it’s leaking, hey, what do you want from a company who bragged about all the profits it makes, all the politicians it buys, all the inspection reports it filled out itself and then had their Bush appointed government lackeys sign off on?  I can hear it now….”…And BP, your doing a hell of a job”.  Probably from the dufus  Governor of Miss, who up until recently was squealing and bleating, “ain’t no oil here on these beaches, no-sirr-ree Bob.” And this gem:  “It ain’t no worse than a slick at a marina.”  This is a Gulf state Governor, for fucks sake!!!  OK, he’s a Republican but so what???  Can you  believe this elected official is saying shit like that??  You do know, of course, that not one penny of that 20 billion has been committed, right?  I keep waiting to hear something, ANYTHING, any sort of a sign, a damn HINT, that there is the slightest bit of collective will to actually, finally, MAYBE grow a tiny bit of national spine, bite some sort of shared bullet, and reduce our dependence on not just foreign oil, but oil use in general.  Look, I’m not an idiot, and most folks aren’t either.  We know that this is a petroleum based world, we know that, we get it.  And that a replacement for all the plastics, carbon fiber, all the countless things that our modern society needs is not on the horizon.  That’s even MORE reason to stop pissing it all away by burning it up!!!  And Ethanol is not the answer, Indy car guys I love you but we can’t grow our fuel, that’s why the price of corn has gone thru the roof.

Christ, this is not rocket science!  We really don’t have to invent a whole hell of a lot, go here:  http://www.excellatron.com and here http://www.johnsonems.com Google Lonnie Johnson, BTW, he’s a black man. Ponder that, tea baggers/birthers, and he just may have the answer to our energy problems.  When I saw him on CNN he mentioned that he could finish his battery project for less that 5 million dollars. That’s probably about what we spend on toilet paper for our puppet stooge Afghan presidential palace’s toilets a year.  Of course, we will need to build a power grid for the crash building program for the wind farms and solar cells we can build.  Talk about a jobs program, THIS is what the country needs!!  And… this needs to be nationalized, sorry, Energy is too important to be left to ‘free markets’, see Enron, BP, etc. for further clarification.  Regardless, this can be done…but we need the will to do it.  I’m not holding my breath, why do I think that our national energy “policy” (LOL) will continue to be a combination of “lets drill, lets invade, and lets not regulate the poor oil companies too much?”

In the ‘you can’t make this shit up’ department, I bring you a 38 year old guy from Malta, Idaho…and I LOVE saying “I-da_ho”, who got two citations for keeping 25 rattlesnakes in a 5 gal. bucket in his apartment.   Sort of like parking tickets then, right?  He got cited for parking rattlesnakes in his apartment.  See, I think like, “what if I get up in the middle of the night, still completely shitfaced stumble to the kitchen……and you know what happens next, right?  “Oh FUCK, I forgot I left it there!!!!”  Then…you only find….19…or….21….or in my case it would be…”now, how many DID I put in there???” Actually, no, it would not be, because as fucking nuts as I can be, who the hell can be that crazy, right? It turns out that he did have 32, but he gave some away, and he ate two of them.  Now that’s one way to keep the old food bill down, isn’t it?  And ya’ gotta wonder, he told the cops that he gave some away…wonder what the occasion was?  The best bud’s birthday gift?  I know, Mom and Dad’s 50th anniversary …it’s the thought that counts that’s what they say!  Maybe to his favorite stripper in the local strip club, in lieu of a dollar for a dance well done?  Wait, I know, he brought one to a potluck…OK, I’ll stop now.  Notice that any reference to a wife has been left out here, you just  know this is a single guy.   So ladies, the next time your significant other drags whatever home with him, just remember, whatever the hell it is, what its NOT is a bucket of rattlesnakes being plopped down in the middle of your living room, yes, it could be worse, so quit yer bitchin’!

King of the Outlaws

Well, it’s the middle of summer, its hot, and its getting hotter.  The racing season is in full swing, the WOO (that’s World of Outlaws) teams are crisscrossing the country, racing hard, banging wheels, crashing,  thrilling crowds across the land.   The ‘month of money’ has begun…and…like birds flying south for the winter, leaves falling off the trees in Oct…this means that around this time, the big dog starts to stir.  Maybe not quite as intense as in years past, after all, when you were 58 three years ago, and are 56 this year, no matter how you cut it, its harder than it used to be when you whipped ‘em all for decades on end.  But…the facts are…that  the ‘King of the Outlaws’, the greatest dirt racer and sprint car chauffeur of all time, Steve Kinser just won the Kings Royal.  Again, for the 7th time!!  He is sitting 2nd in points, and all in all is having a great year.  It’s all leading up to the one event that everyone has on their mind, if you are into this great sport, that is.   We just call it “the Nationals”, and this year, finally, I’m getting back to the big show, the 50th Knoxville Nationals…WHHOOOHOOO!!  Finally, a real vacation, (and running cross country in moving trucks is not a vacation, trust me on this!)  Dirt in the eyes night after night, eating buffalo burgers during the day, getting hammered at the Dingus Lounge,  seeing cars from every corner of the country, and drivers from Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia who knows where else.  Bonuses of the 360 nationals and a USAC non winged show thrown in for good measure, and all in the middle of the heartland, middle of nowhere actually!  I cannot wait!!   And if Kinser can pull this off,  if the big dog has one more of these in the tank…there are no words for it, that’s for sure…Just qualifying is a big deal.  One year a guy towed down from Alaska….came all the way from Alaska to turn his arms into kindling wood just trying to qualify for this race.  Yes, it’s a real big deal, and it’s special, for sure.

I might get another column up before we take off, we shall c.  If I don’t, enjoy summer, stay safe, and I will talk to you soon… Bye for now, Angie

Once again, its been way too long since I have plopped my ass down and attempted to bang out some semi-coherent thoughts here. I’m going to shameless place the blame on…computers! You see, its getting easier and easier to do everything! Its soooo much easier to upload video and video clips than in the old days….3 years ago. Of course, because of that, now you have to upload to, say 20 places online,  where before you just had to work with one or two.  And speaking of videos, they are soooo much easier to edit, of course, now you have to edit the hell out of them.  Websites are sooo much easier to build….and everyone expects more bells and whistles because of that.  You get it, right? Life is sooo much easier we could all just scream!!!  And why the hell can’t all of the computer geeks of Microsoft and Mozilla get together and build one decent browser for us??

Well, the world cup is upon us…..and do you really give a shit? Me neither. I’m sorry, I have tried, believe me, but I just can’t get into it. Its boring, it drags, there is no action, no strategy, I could go on and on. I think one of the things that really bugs me is the  whole idea that anyone can do it. That, gurgles the zealots, is the whole point, and on that, I totally agree, oh yes it is the whole point!  I remember what Gary Bettenhausen, hard charging  son of the late, great Indy car driver Tony Bettenhausen once said, at a mile dirt track race; “this is supposed to be fucking hard, its supposed to be damn tough to do…..the day some clown can come down out of the stands and do what I do is the day I will quit driving these cars.”  And that’s the point with us as a country, I think. We admire things that not everyone can do. We enjoy marveling at the Peyton Manning’s, Joe Montana’s and Dan Marino’s, standing coolly  in the pocket with chaos all around them, then throwing a ball 70 yards down the field, and then marvel at the Marvin Harrison’s, Jerry Rice, Andre Reed’s  of the NFL making these impossible grabs.  We enjoy seeing packs of cars inches apart at Talladega, stand in awe by the fence with open wheeled Indy cars streaking by at 230 MPH,  smile at Steve Kinser making impossible moves at a ½ mile dirt track, cheer grand slam home runs, THESE  are the things we collectively enjoy!  And some of us do make the sacrifices to compete at all levels of those sports the best we can.  Because all of the above require a whole lot of sacrifice, at all levels of competition, even at the very grass roots. Sacrifice of  time, of blood, sweat and hard earned treasure, and sometimes, at some tragic moments, more yet is demanded. We admire this, we get it, it’s who we are, its in our collective DNA. The sport of Soccer seems to glorify the primitive, the easy, the “anyone can do this, we are all equal” mantra. You can’t even use your hands, what sort of fucking sport is that?    Heaven forbid that some of the competitors might have progressed to simple tool making! I just don’t think we buy into the “so simple a caveman can do it” mentality. So while the rest of the world watches breathlessly while Botswana and Litchinstine battle to a 0-0 score, I will be watching paint dry. Or at least something with more action. Yes  I know, another snobbish, arrogant  American,  tough shit, so sue me!!

Just read a report from a on the scenes shrimp boat captain who says BP is burning Sea Turtles and Dolphins alive.  And it’s like….I’m sort of numb to it. Not that I would not cheer if  the management of BP was set on fire using crude oil as the proverbial “accelerant”…but its like one outrageous thing after another, and we have come to expect that from this hideous, amoral, global criminal enterprise cloaked in a corporate shield.  No, I am not surprised, there is truly no depth of behavior that they will sink to.  However…I will tell you what  HAS  surprised me, and that is the number of Republicans and their lackeys who’s noses are so incredibly brown, from having them constantly shoved up big oil’s ass.  Not to mention their lunatic fringe allies known as the Tea Party.  From Ron Paul’s “I think BP is getting a bad deal here”, Michelle Bachman worried that poor BP  might be “forced to pay bogus claims”.  You know, filed by those greedy gold digging gulf fisherman and those who support them who’s lives BP has destroyed, from assorted heads of the tea party defending BP, from the imbecile who is governor of Mississippi comparing the destruction of the Gulf to an oil slick in a marina, to the spokesman of the Republican party bashing everything the government is attempting to do daily on his radio show, culminating in the spectacle of the Stooge from Texas apologizing to BP  Live on worldwide TV,  and of course, the twit from Alaska blabbering to the Gop “don’t  let the media call your defense of BP….well, defending BP.”  Yes, I admit, I did not see this coming, the political party that runs about half the country defending a foreign owned multi-national corporation that is destroying about ¼ of the country.  Silly me, I thought they actually gave a shit about the country, would put the country above the almighty dollar, what a hoot!!!   The Democrats hands are covered with slimy, snotty oil as well.  The retired senate powerhouse from Louisiana, John Breaux is now a lobbyist for big oil, selling  his ass for 30 pieces of silver, doing his Master’s bidding on assorted news channels.  And this sleazebag is FROM  Louisiana !!  This is all so surrealistic.  I (obviously very naively) thought, “finally something that can unite us to finally do SOMETHING about the fact that as a nation and society we are completely tied to a petroleum based way of life.  And that really can’t be changed overnight, in some ways it can’t be changed, as we do not have the technology to move completely beyond fossil fuels for everything we need them for.  I get that, and that is reality!  BUT….we can certainly do a whole lot more with wind, with solar energy, geo-thermal, cars can be made much more efficient, etc.  The thing is, none of this can happen, or will happen with a “lets drill” mentality towards our dependence on oil.  We are going to need a plan, and understand that we will need to sacrifice to execute it.  So  seeing the leadership of half of the country rallying around “poor”….”downtrodden”…”misunderstood”….”picked on”…..”shakedown”…. BP, yes, this is not only disheartening, but also should fill us all with true fear.  Because, ponder this folks….if we are so very  willing to sacrifice the shrimpers and fishermen of the Gulf Coast, to destroy an entire ecosystem, to ruin the economies of half a dozen states, if we are willing to do this to our fellow AMERICANS…what are we willing to do to anyone else?   What WON’T we do to feed this  addiction, that is becoming more and more obvious that we do not have the will to even think about breaking?  Think about it when you go to vote in November, it does not matter what party or entity at this point, will you vote for big oil, or for the good of the country and the world?  Google your choices and see what they have said and where they stand…on all of this, from the subject of corporate responsibility to energy independence. Yes, for a change Its really that simple!

On a semi-related subject, the news de-jour a few days ago was the revelation that War Torn Afghanistan might be one huge mining pit….as opposed to the money and blood pit that its been for the worlds great powers for so many years.  I don’t know about you, but this is probably the worse thing that could happen to those people there. We all know the drill, the big companies..the BP’s of the world’s mining industry will be descending upon the place soon , they will pay off the corrupt officials, rape and plunder the landscape, and someday we will watch National Geographic specials on how the environment has been destroyed, the water and air poisoned, the companies involved  squealing; “we did not cause the 900% increase in cancer that started a year after our mine went in…more study is needed, bla, bla..”  The thing is, the computer I am using to process this, and the one that gets it to you, and all of the ones in-between, the cars we drive, the electrical system we survive on,  it all needs the rare elements that will be mined in Afghanistan! Maybe it can be done differently this time. Somehow I’m not feeling the optimism. Can you say, “its almost time to migrate to another planet and start fucking that one up?”  Ah, well, this is a good time to cut this train of thought off and concoct a nice stiff green apple Martini………..

Our ubiquitous national delicacy has been all over the news lately.  The gangbang burger, which has been around for a while, all of a sudden seems to be mentioned more nowadays…do ya think that McDonald’s would have the nerve to actually market it as that?  And Friendly’s has come out with this incredible monstrosity, the “grilled cheese burger melt”.  This thing is basically a burger between two grilled cheeseburgers, that’s what was substituted for the bun. If I end up on death row, I’m going to order 3 of those suckers for my last meal, with 870 calories from fat, 79 grams of saturated fat, and 2090 grams of sodium….EACH…one would have a pretty good chance of  beating the system, don’t you think? “ I don’t know what happened, warden, her plate was empty and there was a smile on her face…” But the “big cheese” of the week (ok, a little pun intended), was when the Prez took the Russian Premier and their entourages to Ray’s Hell Burgers, where they chowed down on some of the specials there.  Our guy got a cheeseburger, and it was reported that the Ruskie ordered a burger with mushrooms and Jalapenos…and then disarmed.  Or maybe thought about it.  Now admit it, isn’t that cooler than one of those stuffy state dinners with 10 forks, 20 plates, hummingbird eggs basted in pine nuts and all of that other weird crap  that passes for “food” at one of those things?

Ok folks, gotta run, I’ll make the usual promise to update more often…just as soon as I can get my  cloning experiment to work right!  Bye for now……….