Pre-Dawn Ramblings

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY

2011-12-06T04:12:00.003-07:00

"Oh if a man tried
To take his time on Earth
And prove before he died
What one man's life could be worth
I wonder what would happen
to this world"
Harry Chapin: (December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981)

Rhymes with Sain

2011-11-29T03:23:00.002-07:00

Beelzebub argued with Satan as did Lucifer for name
‘til a man wearing monkey called them all the same
the three realized soon desire would be their gain
man’s arrogance would be his loss, his pit fall his blame
So Lucifer fell in suit as Beelzebub gave Satan his name
and the man wearing monkey soon fell to his own bane.

You Want Autumn? You Can't Handle Autumn

2011-10-25T04:45:00.003-06:00

It is hard to believe that only four months ago I was puzzling with the advent of summer.
And here it is the end of October and fall has well taken over.
Yes autumn and all the peripheral senses it awakens. The early morning chills and frosts, falling leaves from the trees, the dying flowers, the rodents scurrying in madness for winter stores to stave off starvation.
And how can we begin to think of the season without our minds eye drawing focus to the majestic and ever spectacular fiery colors of the leaves across the hills. Yes those muted dull reds and washed out yellows all combined with the malignant brown spores of mold brought on by an overly wet and humid summer.
But wait a minute, this sounds all too negative. Autumn is suppose to be that great time of joy and of harvest where nature repays us in kind for the respect we have shown during the season of planting and tending. Ah that’s not going to put any lightening to this.
Shit what can I say? There has been no magic aromas driven though to awaken old memories, the leaves are a miserable mishmash of muted browns and tans, the days tend to run more cloudy and rainy then sunny and brisk, old activities of youth which were once bright spots of the year have long been ignored and forgotten.
Welcome to autumn in America, a narrow barely lit hallway painted in muddied pastels and which ushers us into the heartless cruel cold soul of winter.

Left Behind

2011-06-23T04:25:00.003-06:00

It's summer. Hmm. Sad, I've forgotten that long ago out-of-school feeling. I remember having the feeling or memory but somewhere along the line of time I lost it. I only bring this up because as I passed the school bus depot on my way in this morning, all the busses sat idle behind the chain-link and I realized that it was summer-time and my heart dropped a little as a longing came over me for that lost memory, and I felt a bit like the last kid, wandering the empty halls of an vacant school alone and knowing the time has past, the year has ended but not knowing what happened or where it went. And then in the snap of the fingers, I was back, driving to work and not thinking of vacations or childhood memories.

NEXT..

2011-05-03T04:15:00.001-06:00

Well now that Osama has been eliminated, can we get on with business and go after the real terrorist, the oil companies?

Caught

2011-03-30T03:37:00.003-06:00

In tapered lights trees and poles
Crumbling asphalt, filled holes
Thin arched sliver reflecting back
The color of a fire's dying ember low
Gone in sight, knowing you're there
But when I arrive I see the view
And realize you found me
I did not follow you.

It's Your Nickel Buddy

2011-03-01T04:33:00.005-07:00

"I'll be back; I've got to see a man about a dog."
"What's wrong with Sandy?!"
“Jesus wept and kitties crept for
god’s sake Charles I’m going to use the bathroom!”
This was an actual conversation that took place between my father and I in his car outside of Sears when I was an innocent child of 10 or 11.
When he left the car I looked at my brother John and we both started laughing hysterically. We both remember that incident to this day and still laugh.
Our father actually talked like that. He was always using sayings that ,while we never heard before, he would attest to their being a long honored piece Americana.
As I got older, I heard a lot of those saying repeated by others, so I figured he was correct about them.
Sayings such as "They have more money than Doan’s has pills" (This was used in describing anything or body that had large amounts of things, not always money, it could also be used for contempt of a slacker as "He's got more excuses than Doan’s has pills", later it was turned into Kellogg’s having flakes as the Doan’s Pill company lost the monopoly on back aches.)
Other sayings include:
"Use your head for something other than a totem pole",
"It's you nickel buddy" (Whenever one of us would call our father we would always know when the conversation was at an end, "Well, it's your nickel buddy, I don't want you to run up a bill. Next time I'll call." He seldom did.)
Should we ever get sassy in our youth we were reminded that "you get wise with me I'll snap you back into reality so fast it'll make your head spin!"
The threat was always enough even though the mental vision of a head spinning was amusing in a 3 Stooges or Daffy Duck kind of way.
Yep Ford had dozens of sayings. But the one that had the least amount of dust on it was used as an expression of Amazement. If a news item or local event ever shocked our father or something immediate caught him off guard he had only one thing to say about it and that was "Jesus Wept and Kitties Crept!"
This saying has to be so old that whatever its origin has been lost in time and translation. When asked about it all dad would say was that he had grown up hearing it and that it was an expression His father had used. Hmmmm.
An "Expression". Some families inherit wealth, others property. Some receive keepsakes to remember their parents, rings, old pottery or paintings or books and things of that sort.
Thirteen years since his passing and all we are left is a handful of sayings and the conundrum of "Jesus Wept..."
This is our legacy. Pass it on guys, it's all we got.

Our Product Works

2011-02-25T10:30:00.002-07:00

I'm sick of toilet paper commercials.
I don't want to see anymore stupid cartoon bears with little patches of paper littering their behind trying to make me worry that inferior toilet paper will stick to my asshole thus making me the butt of some joke.
If I was selling toilet paper I would state it's virtues simply.
"Use our toilet paper to wipe your ass, It cleans your anus and keeps the shit off your fingers!"

This could also be transformed into a into a politicians campaign slogan.
("I'll clean your ass so you don't have to get dirty!")

2011-02-23T10:49:00.002-07:00

I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
alive as you and me.
Says I "But Joe, you're ten years dead"
"I never died" said he,
"I never died" said he.

"The Copper Bosses killed you Joe,
they shot you Joe" they filled you full of lead.
"Takes more than guns to kill a man"
Says Joe "I didn't die"
Says Joe "I didn't die"

"In Salt Lake City, Joe," says I,
Him standing by my bed,
"They framed you on a murder charge,"
Says Joe, "But I ain't dead,"
Says Joe, "But I ain't dead."

And standing there as big as life
and smiling with his eyes.
Says Joe "What they can never kill
went on to organize,
went on to organize"

From San Diego up to Maine,
in every mine and mill,
Where working men defend their rights,
it's there you'll find Joe Hill,
it's there you'll find Joe Hill!

I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
alive as you and me.
Says I "But Joe, you're ten years dead"
"I never died" said he,
"I never died" said he.

MAD DOG'S GLORY

2011-02-18T04:17:00.002-07:00

Mad dog, wooo! Mad dog
Owww, owww! Mad dog, yes mad dog
Mad dog, mad dog coming down the way

I'm foamin' at the mouth baby can't you see
I feel like rocking, won't you jump with me
I got a 20 dollar bill, a dime in change
The bad mad dog baby is my name

Mad dog, mad dog coming down the way

I'm two-ton Tillie, glamour girl
My big flat feet keep me on this world
Two tons of tissue, something to spare
The bad mad dog take it everywhere

Mad dog, mad dog coming down the way

I got a cut-off tie and some beat-up shoes
Holes in my pocket trying to lose this blues
Little skinny Minnie, she's in there too
She feels like jumping like the mad dog do

Mad dog, mad dog coming down the way
Owww, owww, owww!

Well now I'm walls of thunder, rods of lighting you see
And no-one on Earth is gonna mess with me
A fancy on my feet doing any dance I can
The bad mad dog is travelling through your land

Mad dog, mad dog coming down the way

Mad dog, woo, mad dog
Owww, owww, mad dog
Mad dog mad dog, mad dog coming down the way
Ooh!

THE STATE OF THE UNION

2011-01-25T05:49:00.004-07:00

Tonight, my fellow Americans, I come to assure you,that the state of our union is strong. Strong, much like the foul odor of an aged wastrel, left unwashed and slowly decaying, an odor that no amount of right guard or cologne can mask...

Armistice Day

2010-11-11T04:15:00.002-07:00

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

- John McCrae

Today our foe's are our own leaders, continually sending youthful bodies to waste in foreign fields while corporate managers sit back and reap rewards.
So today, to you I say, "Take up the quarrel."

2010-10-21T04:49:00.001-06:00

444

2010-09-22T03:51:00.002-06:00

THE FIRST 20
Take my seat and pull out
The lights reflect off the back wall
Turn down the road and peel away a layer
Dark but not so the moon is full
Over my shoulder like a passenger
Lonely but lovely the morning is engaging
Drive, drive, drive...
Quite thoughts enter
My mind is dragging ideas
There are no parties only corporations
(poor skunk didn’t make it far)
Down the hill make a right
Ah the moon and Jupiter
Reflecting off the river
flowing now.

ALMOST THERE
The sky is early and gun metal blue
Yellow ochre moon is full reflecting light
Through gauzy drapes around
Jupiter punctuates above to the left
Bright while bowing contrail slices the air between.

Just A Ditty for the Road

2010-09-14T04:25:00.003-06:00

The monkeys in Paris live in The Eiffel Tower
And fling shit at tourist who cover and cower
in dim lit restaurants waiting to devour
their truffles and snails at the strangest hour
while back home they’ll surrender the power
to anyone who will protect them.

September 1st. Huhhhh-hahhhhhh.

2010-09-01T04:26:00.001-06:00

Where did the summer go?
It always gets lost in the have-to-dos.
Maybe next year.

Today's Events Bring To Mind..

2010-08-31T11:45:00.001-06:00

It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child’s balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool’s gold mouthpiece the hollow horn
Plays wasted words, proves to warn
That he not busy being born is busy dying

Temptation’s page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover that you’d just be one more
Person crying

So don’t fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It’s alright, Ma, I’m only sighing

As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don’t hate nothing at all
Except hatred

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Make everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It’s easy to see without looking too far
That not much is really sacred

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have to stand naked

An’ though the rules of the road have been lodged
It’s only people’s games that you got to dodge
And it’s alright, Ma, I can make it

Advertising signs they con
You into thinking you’re the one
That can do what’s never been done
That can win what’s never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you

You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks they really found you

A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit
To satisfy, insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not forget
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to

Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to

For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something they invest in

While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society’s pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he’s in

But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it’s alright, Ma, if I can’t please him

Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn’t talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony

While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer’s pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death’s honesty
Won’t fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes must get lonely

My eyes collide head-on with stuffed
Graveyards, false gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough, what else can you show me?

And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They’d probably put my head in a guillotine
But it’s alright, Ma, it’s life, and life only

Copyright © 1965 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1993 by Special Rider Music

Barry Crimmins : Political Satirist

2010-08-21T06:14:00.000-06:00

Barry Crimmins : Political Satirist

The Quest Begins

2010-06-18T05:28:00.001-06:00

I do not long to be Devine, I am simply looking for nothing.

I suppose

2010-05-12T17:48:00.001-06:00

It's been fun I guess...,

But For Mankind...

2010-05-12T04:10:00.002-06:00

We could feed the hungry...
But for mankind
We could shelter the homeless...
But for mankind
We could end wars...
But for mankind
We could save our planet, strengthen the weak, ease the weary, heal the sick and be one with ourselves...
But for mankind…

HAPPY DAYS

2010-03-31T05:33:00.002-06:00

Major congratulations go out to Big Brother John for landing the new job.

I FEEL GOOD
James Brown

Whoa-oa-oa! I feel good, I knew that I would, now
I feel good, I knew that I would, now
So good, so good, I got you

Whoa! I feel nice, like sugar and spice
I feel nice, like sugar and spice
So nice, so nice, I got you

Those damn whiners

2010-03-25T12:23:00.000-06:00

Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Hemorrhoid / Virginia) says that victims of attempted violence should just shut the fuck up and stop whining. He went on to say “Don’t they realize complaining about being harassed by death threats only makes the perpetrator look guilty?”

American Optimist Passes

2010-01-28T07:14:00.005-07:00

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/01/howard_zinn_his.html

Comments on Mr. Howard Zinn...

"He's made an amazing contribution to American intellectual and moral culture," Noam Chomsky, the MIT professor, said tonight. "He's changed the conscience of America in a highly constructive way. I really can't think of anyone I can compare him to in this respect."

“Here's to our heroic, learned, brilliant, patient, compassionate, generous, and very funny friend, Howard Zinn, who passed away this afternoon. He leaves a legacy of truth, inspiration and optimism. His kind and wizened voice will always be what I hear when my conscience prompts me to behave like a decent and responsible person. Thanks for everything, Howard.” Barry Crimmins

Of the corporations, By the corporations and For the corporations

2010-01-22T04:51:00.003-07:00

The Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are singular entities that have the same rights to purchase politicians as the next guy. That's if the next guy has billions in corporate holdings and an agenda to only benefit himself through his donations.
Oh well, at least now they won't have to go through so many channels to funnel the money in which should cut down on the red and give stock holders a warm-mushy feeling ever quarter.
Face it America, we’re now a wal-mart nation for real.
Maybe politicians can take a hint from Nascar and start wearing their corporate sponsors on their suits, hell they already make a lot of noise and go in circles while sticking with ancient technology.

19743 +/- and counting

2010-01-20T04:26:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty tired of this depression already.

God Takes Another Blues Singer

2010-01-15T05:19:00.004-07:00

Sandra Wright dead at 61. Her presence was as powerful as her voice was magnificent.

,

The Queen is dead. These are all the details available at the present time.

Sandra Wright, 1948-2010
Posted by dan bolles on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 11:43 AM in Vermont Music Permalink

According to a Twitter post by August First this morning and confirmed via a phone conversation with local vocalist Linda Bassick, local blues singer Sandra Wright passed away last night at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center after suffering a pulmonary embolism. Wright was 61.

According to Bassick, whose husband, Dave Nerbak, is the guitarist in the Sandra Wright Band, the Memphis-born singer had long battled diabetes. In September of last year, Wright underwent double knee surgery and suffered an infection following the procedure. Bassick could not confirm that the embolism and infection were related.

Since moving to Vermont in 1992, Wright had been a fixture in the local jazz and blues scene. She was known for outsized vocal chops an ebullient stage persona to match. The singer had performed as recently as New Year's Eve.

An upcoming funeral service will be private. But Bassick says that a public celebration of the singer's life will take place this spring.

Thoughts and prayers go out to Wright's family and friends.

______________________________

I received the above notice from Brother (Big Bongo) John [AKA: Professor Kozmos] along with his note:

"I'm going to miss this lady. Her show at the Hotel Coolidge in White River Junction in the early nineties was Enormo Productions second live music production. Chris and I had to take turns spending most of the night sitting on a little stool(!) next to the hotel owner to watch the ticket flow because we couldn't trust him (I think we still ended up losing around $300 but the crowd loved her). Bailey was absolutely amazed by her multi-inch length finger nails. She was a nice person."
"

BOWSEY WOW WOOF WAG-WAG

2009-12-31T07:56:00.003-07:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!
(Bart sez to go to http://www.bigego.com/ and listen to "New Lang Syne (Thank God it's over)"

He also wants some lovin',belly rubbins' and some yard time so I'm outa-here along with the zeros.

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN (my how time flies)

2009-12-24T06:46:00.002-07:00

Well break out the overt coats and bundle up yer bunions, its once again time to drag out the old tired, chestnuts turn up the Yule log and gather round your britches. And if that doesn't smell Christmas relieved fund maybe this will do the biz...

Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
Walla Walla, Wash., an' Kalamazoo!
Nora's freezin' on the trolley,
Swaller dollar cauliflower alley-garoo!

Don't we know archaic barrel
Lullaby Lilla Boy, Louisville Lou?
Trolley Molly don't love Harold,
Boola boola Pensacoola hullabaloo!

Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Polly wolly cracker 'n' too-da-loo!
Donkey Bonny brays a carol,
Antelope Cantaloupe, 'lope with you!

Hunky Dory's pop is lolly gaggin' on the wagon,
Willy, folly go through!
Chollie's collie barks at Barrow,
Harum scarum five alarm bung-a-loo!

Dunk us all in bowls of barley,
Hinky dinky dink an' polly voo!
Chilly Filly's name is Chollie,
Chollie Filly's jolly chilly view halloo!

Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Double-bubble, toyland trouble! Woof, woof, woof!
Tizzy seas on melon collie!
Dibble-dabble, scribble-scrabble! Goof, goof, goof!

Have a very POGO XMAS and to all goodie night.

This Stinks

2009-12-14T04:58:00.002-07:00

Quick, what do you call five pounds of shit in a one pound bag?
JOE LIEBERMAN!!!!

The insurance industry is in Joe Lieberman's pockets so deep that whenever he scratches his balls an insurance CEO giggles.

CH-CH-CH-CH-CHANGES

2009-12-08T06:15:00.002-07:00

Okay, so after weeksmonthsyears of trying to make a difference and help the world be more like my dream I’ve concluded that it just ain’t ever going to happen and that the only changes that will be going on are the changes going on in me.
Every morning I awake to the same old news (actually it can’t be “News” since it’s just a repeat. I guess we don’t have news any longer just heaps of yesterdays left over hash).
As much as I hate to believe it, the reality seems to be that we are living in the doomed repeat of the histories that we failed to learn from. So far as I can tell the 21st century has been a high-speed blender mix of the roaring 20s the depressed 30s , the McCarthy 40s and a big dose of the cold-war 50s and 60s with a ginormous helping of Korea - Vietnam syndrome and crooked lying politicians of all the eras thrown in just for good measure.
And so with this bitter realization I have nothing else to do but endorse everyone who ever said “I told you so”. Maybe that is what should be the title of all grade school history books. “Students, if you’ll turn to page 276 in your “Big Book Of I Told You So” we’ll study how our populace and it’s leaders will get us into our next big mess.”
Aw well, what the fugs, right? I guess we’re born, we breathe, eat, drink and die. And in the end all that matters is that you didn’t crash your SUV into a tree and have your loved one smash out the window with a three iron.
In other old events, yesterday was the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack and today is the anniversary of the murder of John Lennon.
Maybe someday all people will matter to all people.

A Nice End To Thanksgiving Weekend

2009-11-30T06:47:00.003-07:00

I was fortunate last night in that, after heading to the gym (“Health Club”) for a bit of Thanksgiving exorcism, I returned home just in time to turn on the magic pixel box at the start of “The Beatles history” which was a short, sweet memory-filled visit with the Beatles, as they were.
As I watched, I couldn’t help but reflect back on those times and how damn lucky I was to have been alive and a witness to the amazing era that brought that wonderful music to the world.
And while the music is as alive and may be more mystical today to modern youth and under 40’s then when it was originally written and recorded, I don’t imagine that anyone who was not alive and listening in the 60’s – early 70’s can fully appreciate just what the Beatles did. I mean, without getting into an entire dissertation on the subject, they changed and helped evolve a generation. For every point of our developing lives there would be a song that would float into and without us. For every Beatles song I hear I have a memory of where I was or what I was doing at that time. From Long Island to Crystal Lake those ghost are as clear as if they were yesterday, and although I would willingly admit that they are colored with nostalgia, I only wish I could paint a room with those colors.
Happily I still have the music and the feelings that come together with it.
And tomorrow night, while others listen to the President discuss the rational for sending more troops into a winless situation; I will be listening to my memories.

FROM CALIFORNIA TO MAINE

2009-11-04T07:13:00.001-07:00

I never thought that 40 years after I came of age in the decade of dreams and nightmares called the 60's that, in essence, nothing would have really changed.

We are still a country at war(s), prejudice still abounds and equality is still denied to groups deemed undeserving of basic human compassion.

Whether it be a small number of Burmese refugees relocated to America or the right for Gays and Lesbians to marry and love each other as heterosexuals have been able to for history, it seems to boil down to a hate that cannot be overcome. Maybe it's that old puritan mentality that someone, somewhere is happy and must be held accountable for that, I do not know. What does seem evident is that America is not the country that is advertised on the sign.

It is ironic that on 9/11 the terrorist choose the World Trade Center as the target that they felt represented American values while leaving the Statue of Liberty, untouched.

Maybe the neocon cry can be "Mr. Obama, tear down that statue and send it's ideology packing back to France, we'll have none of it!"

On the bright side, uh, gee, umm, well my coffee is pretty exceptional this morning.

Waking Charlie

2009-10-30T11:04:00.003-06:00

Let's just get it out in the open, sobriety sucks.
The amazing wonders of the world aren’t really that great, at least not enough to warrant avoiding strong drink and ale.
I love beer. There I said it and I don’t regret it one itzy bit. The smell of hops and barley, the sweet finish, the camaraderie of being with others that share the same love, it’s priceless.
Beer is me and I am beer. How can I exorcise me and still be me?
O-o-o-oh, what a conundrum!
How can Charlie kill off Charlie and still be Charlie?
Sobriety is much like Oklahoma, if it up and disappeared few would morn its loss.
But if I had to be positive, my blotchy red nose is clearing up and my creative guitar playing is improving.
Other than that, I feel like road kill.
I blame this all on Bush. If that stinking Rooster-Hoover hadn't been elected I never would have felt the need to imbibe on a regular basis in order to numb my hatred of the man and all those slimy slithering sacks of putrid septic waste that hovered about him.
The alcohol industry certainly prospered under his horrifying tenure. Not to mention how the pharmaceutical companies worth went through the ceiling with increased sale of anti-depressants.
A nation of drunks and pill poppers left in the wake and all he can say is, “I had a good time as President donecha know”.
Now leave me alone because I’ve got some nice warm fucking tea just fucking waiting for me and I don’t want it to get cold and fucking piss me off all to hell now do I?

31.1 degrees

2009-10-15T05:38:00.001-06:00

Well-l-l-p, lookslike winta got more than justa foot in tha door, thas fer shaw.
(New England for “Jesus Christ it’s way too cold to soon!”)
This is definitely a sign that it is time for a good pork dinner with some fine roasted root veggies, (Yum).

The following is just one recipe for “Roasted Root Vegetables”. There are plenty of others, but I like this fine because of the squash and beets which add a natural sweetness.

Ingredients
• 1 large butternut squash, (1 1/2 to 2 pounds) halved, seeded and peeled
• 3 large Yukon gold potatoes (1 1/2 pounds), scrubbed
• 1 bunch medium beets, (about 1 1/2 pounds), scrubbed and tops trimmed
• 1 medium red onion
• 2 large parsnips (about 8 ounces)
• 1 head garlic, cloves separated, and peeled (about 16)
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Place 2 baking sheets in the oven and preheat to 425 degrees F.
Cut all the vegetables into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Cut the onions through the base core to keep some of the layers in chunky pieces. Toss all the vegetables with garlic, olive oil and salt in large bowl. Season generously with pepper.
Carefully remove the heated baking sheets from the oven, brush or drizzle with olive oil. Divide the vegetables evenly between the 2 pans, spreading them out to assure they don't steam while roasting. Roast the vegetables until tender and golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Cook's Note: Some very large parsnips have a pithy core, which should be trimmed before cooking.
_______________________________________________

Just a bit of politics…
Sure looks as if the only group that will benefit from the health care over-haul will be the ones who needed it least, the insurance companies.
I thought that after the election last year there would be some change for the better (as far as the welfare of the American people). Seems I was just pissing rainbows and shitin’ Skittles.
The country has been bought and paid for, the media is controlled by the corporations, the Moron Minority is allowed to be the vocal majority and there is a million bloggers out there screaming bullshit with only a handful that make any sense.
But what the hell, right? Tomorrows another day and as it will be Friday I’ll have another pay check in my hands so why should I worry? I’ve been paid.

When The Frost Is on The Pumpkin...

2009-10-09T09:11:00.002-06:00

Yes indeed, the frost is on the pumpkin!!
Autumn is here, can you hear it?
How about a good pumpkin soup recipe?
Spicy Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients:
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
Pinch ground cayenne pepper (optional)
3 (15 oz) cans 100 percent pumpkin or 6 cups of chopped roasted pumpkin*
5 cups of chicken broth (or vegetable broth for vegetarian option)
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
Method:
1 Melt butter in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add spices and stir for a minute more.
2 Add pumpkin and 5 cups of chicken broth; blend well. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
3 Transfer soup, in batches, to a blender or food processor. Cover tightly and blend until smooth. Return soup to saucepan.
4 With the soup on low heat, add brown sugar and mix. Slowly add milk while stirring to incorporate. Add cream. Adjust seasonings to taste. If a little too spicy, add more cream to cool it down. You might want to add a teaspoon of salt.
Serve in individual bowls. Sprinkle the top of each with toasted pumpkin seeds.
Serves 8.
*To make pumpkin purée, cut a sugar pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff, lie face down on a tin-foil lined baking pan. Bake at 350°F until soft, about 45 min to an hour. Cool, scoop out the flesh. Freeze whatever you don't use for future use.

And just in case you never toasted pumpkin seed before…
Ingredients:
• Pumpkin seeds
• Cooking spray, olive oil, or butter
• Optional: Salt, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, or other seasoning of choice
Preparation:
Rinse pumpkin seeds. Use your fingers to remove all the pulp. Drain pumpkin seeds and discard pulp. Spread out on a cookie sheet to dry overnight.

Preheat oven to 250 F. Line a baking sheet with non-stick foil.

Toss pumpkin seeds in olive oil, butter, or spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, cayenne pepper, or your choice of seasonings. Toss to coat.

Bake about 1 hour, tossing every 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Cool pumpkin seeds before eating. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 months or refrigerate up to 1 year.

If you like your toasted pumpkin seeds extra-salty, soak overnight in a solution of 1/4 cup salt to 2 cups of water. Dry an additional day, and then proceed as above.

Tid-bit: Pumpkin seeds are also known as pepitas.

_____________________________________________________________

On the home front, Bart the Dog (aka BIG B, Double B, Honey-Boy B)
is doing fine after a day at the vet getting his old teeth taken care of.
Within a day of the event (of which he was lauded as being a fine, gentle sweet boy, as if we didn't already know)he was back to greeting me at night with several loud barks and a couple of "woe-woes".
The Porsche, well the Porsche is now the belonging of a nice old guy from Ware who "Just had to have it" as he told me.
The missus is fine and has dealt with the death of her father (four weeks back) very bravely and strong.
As for me... hopefully I'll regain an interest in keeping this page going and flowing.
Polly-tics have left my noodle like a poodle. Can'stanzit any longer.
But I'll make the occasional blast into it as I see fit.
May even post a poem/song from time to time, who knows?

Well day lights-a-burnin' and there's a pile-a-leaves that need jumpin inta'.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight...

2009-08-26T04:50:00.003-06:00

"I am a part of all that I have met
To [Tho] much is taken, much abides
That which we are, we are One
equal temper of heroic hearts
Strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end.

For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the
hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.

........
Good-bye good Ted.
Thanks for everything.
I'll miss you.

Long May They Run

2009-08-25T04:28:00.003-06:00

Today is the second anniversary of my friend Barry's good boy "Lloyd the Dog's" passing.
To his memory, and that of all the good dogs gone by,”Long may he run and always outsmart the gophers”.

Weve been through some things together
With trunks of memories still to come
We found things to do in stormy weather
Long may you run.

Long may you run.
Long may you run.
Although these changes have come
With your chrome heart shining in the sun
Long may you run.

Well, it was back in blind river in 1962
When I last saw you alive
But we missed that shift on the long decline
Long may you run.

Long may you run.
Long may you run.
Although these changes have come
With your chrome heart shining in the sun
Long may you run.

Let's get laughing

2009-08-21T09:23:00.001-06:00

…so this penguin brings his car into the garage to get it fixed.
The mechanic says it will be a while so the penguin goes down the street to get some ice cream.
(Penguins love ice cream)
But the poor little fella ain’t got any arms so the ice cream gets all over him.
When he goes back to the garage the mechanic says, “It looks like ya blew a seal.”
The penguin says “Naw, it’s just a little ice cream”.

Simple Outrage

2009-05-21T16:41:00.003-06:00

FUCK DICK CHENEY
HOW DARE HE BE ON MY TELEVISION SUPPORTING THE USE OF TORTURE AND CLAIMING IT IS NO MORE HORRIBLE THAN ICE CREAM?
FUCK DICK CHENEY
HOW DARE HE EXIST ON THE SAME PLANET AS CARING HUMAN BEINGS?
FUCK DICK CHENEY
HOW DARE HE CONTINUE HIS LIES
HOW DARE THE MEDIA ALLOW HIM A FORUM TO CONTINUE TO LIE FROM
FUCK DICK CHENEY
HOW DARE HE BE?
FUCK DICK CHENEY

Just a Nice Quiet Ol' Guy

2009-05-14T10:44:00.000-06:00

Belchertown - Herschel R. Jackson, 83, of N. Main St. passed away on May 12, 2009.

Born April 2, 1926 in Cairo, Illinois, son of John N. and Dovie (Garret) Jackson. Herschel was raised in McClure, Illinois and had lived in Athol, MA for 22 years before moving to Florida and returning to Belchertown where he has resided for the past 10 years. He was a WWII and Korean Veteran who served in the US Army for 20 years and the US Navy.

He was a member of the Athol and Belchertown V.F.W. He retired from F&D Tool as a machinist in Three Rivers after working for 15 years.

He is survived by two sisters Mary Nelson of St. Louis, Missouri and Hester Gray of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, two step-daughters Diane Richardson and Marilyn Coffin of Athol. He also leaves six grandchildren Kelly Hargett, Cindy, Pam and Randy Coffin, Sr., Michael and Jennifer Richardson, nine great-grandchildren Jessie Vallincourt, Mandy, Peter and Randy Coffin, Jr, Stacey Hargett, Nicole Martin, Eliza Graton, John Duguay and Kyle Langlois and three great- great grandchildren Tyler, Emily and Gavin Graton. He also leaves many friends at McCarthy's Pub, including close friend Janice McCarthy. Herschel was preceded in death by his loving wife Irene (Moore) in 1996.

Calling hours will be held from 5:00-6:30 p.m. at the Beers & Story Belchertown Funeral Home with a Service of Remembrance beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. A graveside service will be Friday at 10:15 a.m. at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Chicopee.

Donations may be made in his memory to The John B. McCarthy-Herschel Jackson Memorial Scholarship Fund c/o North Brookfield Savings Bank, Daniel Shays Hwy., Belchertown, MA 01007.

More about Herschel, later.

.....(II)

2009-03-22T06:52:00.000-06:00

DUM-DUM , DUM-DUM,DUM-DUM...

........

2009-03-20T15:30:00.000-06:00

DUM-DUM.....

2980+

2009-01-20T12:04:00.002-07:00

He's gone. Thank the heavens the rat bastard is gone.
Eight long and terrible years have come to an end.

Ol’ Dick hurt his back lifting boxes, yah right, boxes of cash most likely.
Or in attempting to get out of DC with his email intact, stuffed his hard drive in the only place left he considered safe.
I can picture Christopher Walken talking to a Cheeny grandchild saying, “This hard drive is your birth-right Junior and your grand-dad wasn’t going to let some pinko-liberal prosecutor get his stinkin’ hands on it. So.., your grand-dad Dick stuck it in the only place he knew they wouldn’t search, up his...”

So good riddance to the lot of them, for while I’ll continue to gnaw on their bones, I won’t miss them.

Cheers.

Toast The Future

2009-01-20T04:30:00.002-07:00

Today is a day that holds a promise and hope that the last 8 years will be set right.

Here's to the promise. Cheers.

In music:
As Woody wrote it...

This Land Is Your Land
Words and Music by Woody Guthrie

Chorus:
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me

As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!

Chorus

In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.

Chorus (2x)

God Bless Us All, EVERYONE DAMMIT!!

2008-12-24T04:59:00.002-07:00

Okay, first let's get the formalities out of the way.
MERRY CHRISTMAS and HO-HO-HO.
Now let's remember to be thankful we're not the other guy.
With all the horrible bad news I've had to endure pouring out of every speaker in the house and car and reading in paper and Internet I can't emphasize enough just how glad I am to be me.
So this season reach out to someone worse off. Put some loose change in the buckets, bring some canned food to the shelter, wish someone a Merry Christmas and MEAN IT.
Hug your wife, your husband, your children your friends. Hug a stranger (alright maybe not a total stranger, maybe just that person sitting next to you at the bar you've been blatting and drinking with, well then,.. just shake their hand and MEAN IT!)
You will feel better for it, if only for a moment. But that moment will always be there.

And for the love of Pete turn off the damn computer and enjoy this holiday with those you love or at least kind of enjoy hanging out with.

AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!

Love, Charlie

Tis That Time Again!

2008-12-18T04:58:00.001-07:00

Loawdy loawdy itbedat time a’yer agin!
Time to dig out the yearly festive garland and sprig it about in LIBERAL doses.
And while we are at it let’s see if we can remember that timeless seasonal carol that warms are hearts aglow.
I just need a minute to recall the melody and I do believe I recall the lyrics.
Now let’s see, how did they go… “Deck the stalls with…”, no-no that’s not right.
“Speckled balls fall far from…” no wait-wait.. Oh-yeah, now I remember….

Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
Walla Walla, Wash., an' Kalamazoo!
Nora's freezin' on the trolley,
Swaller dollar cauliflower alley-garoo!

Don't we know archaic barrel
Lullaby Lilla Boy, Louisville Lou?
Trolley Molly don't love Harold,
Boola boola Pensacoola hullabaloo!

Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Polly wolly cracker 'n' too-da-loo!
Donkey Bonny brays a carol,
Antelope Cantaloupe, 'lope with you!

Hunky Dory's pop is lolly gaggin' on the wagon,
Willy, folly go through!
Chollie's collie barks at Barrow,
Harum scarum five alarm bung-a-loo!

Dunk us all in bowls of barley,
Hinky dinky dink an' polly voo!
Chilly Filly's name is Chollie,
Chollie Filly's jolly chilly view halloo!

Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Double-bubble, toyland trouble! Woof, woof, woof!
Tizzy seas on melon collie!
Dibble-dabble, scribble-scrabble! Goof, goof, goof!

HAPPY SEASONS AND A WONDER FILLED BLUES YEAR.

P.S. A tip of the hat to Walt Kelly!

"..no matter who wins or loses.."

2008-12-08T04:58:00.000-07:00

It’s been 28 years (today) since Howard Cosell announced during the Monday night Patriots vs. Miami game: “This, we have to say it, remember this is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy, confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City: John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City, the most famous, perhaps, of all The Beatles, shot twice in the back, rushed to the Roosevelt Hospital, dead on arrival.”
To me this put the final nail in the coffin to whatever may have been left of the 60’s and the peace mentality it had spawned.
Only weeks earlier Ronald Reagan had been elected president and in after-thought, John Lennon being gunned down was the prelude of what the next eight years would hold, ugliness and the murder of innocent peace.

Ghost of Memory

2008-12-05T05:07:00.001-07:00

When she walks in a room, folks just explode."
-- Saxby Chambliss, (R-G) on Sarah Palin --

For the longest time I had a feeling that, somewhere, I had seen Sarah Palin before she “Exploded” on the scene.
Finally after letting it rest, my memory was refreshed this morning while watching the movie “I’m Reed Fish”. In the movie (which is a comedy) Reed is a small town radio personality who took over the job of his late father. The radio station also is the town hall, so you get to see the mayor. And that is where I was reminded of when I had seen Failin’ Palin for the first time, as the inept mayor of Mud Meadows.
(I recommend seeing the movie.)

And as for Saxby’s comment on people exploding upon viewing the Governor of Alaska could it be that he thought of her being the heir-apparent of the republican party has them all reacting like Mount Vesuvius and rather than referring to it as The Party are now reconciled to it being The Wake?
Regardless, if Sarah were the future of the republicans I’d say that the democrats will have to fuck up bigger then they did in the 90’s (when they all started stabbing themselves in the back and forget the lessons that put them out on the street in 2000) to not gain the White House back in 2012.

But hell with politics, let’s all throw on some Booker T. & The M.G’s and get down-an’-get –funky.
..off to see Chris Smithers tomorrow night at the Iron Horse. Should be an excellent show.

Early Thanksgiving

2008-11-21T05:00:00.002-07:00

After watching "The Market" over the last several weeks I have decided that my next big purchase will be a new refrigerator and probably a very big one.
Now there is nothing wrong with my present refer system, it works fine.
Its only problem is that I no longer have the box that it came in. And that box is going to be vital for me if I ever plan to retire in say the next, oh, lifetime or so. Especially since I've watched what was already a meager retirement account lose over 70% of it's holdings over the last 11 months. Yeah that refrigerator isn't needed now but the box it comes in may be my retirement village someday and if that is to be the case then I better get it now so I can have it all fixed up and placed in a prime under pass location now before all the good spots get taken.
I’m thinking I can give it a little fiberglass coating, maybe cut out a window opening, buy a Easy-Bake oven on Ebay and a couple of art prints and I’ll be pretty happy.
Yep, pick up some old milk crates for furniture and keep it all in the shed until I’m ready to make my big retirement move.
I’ll be the envy of all the underpass dwellers.
Maybe I’ll set it up as a bar and all us UPDs (underpass dwellers) can hang out together after a hard day of collecting cans and selling our blood and donating organs for a profit and have a good well earned bottle.
Hell maybe even someday a down-and-outer may stumble in and start rambling on of the day congress let him and all the other heads of the Big 3 go down the drain and left him with only the clothes on his back and the 10 million bucks he had squirreled away for a rainy day which his wife got in the divorce after he started drinking heavy when he lost all his self-respect that day he looked in the mirror and realized that he truly was to blame for the car industries failure and just didn’t care any more.
Hell maybe even a fresh from prison Dick Cheney will find his way in just so I can piss on him and laugh. That would make my retirement years in a refrigerator box worthwhile for sure.
But that’s in the future. Right now I’m pretty damn lucky SOB who has a good paying job and a wife with the same and we still have our home and can still afford to eat everyday and pay our bills. To that I am thankful beyond measure.

Two Score and 13

2008-11-18T06:32:00.002-07:00

WHOOPTY-FUCKIN-DO,
It’s my birthday.
(More to come)

My prayer for the preyed.

2008-11-17T05:24:00.002-07:00

St Francis, bless all animals, large and small
And please guide the pets that have become lost, strayed or abandoned.
May they find their way back to homes where they were loved,
or find new homes where they will be loved,
Keep them all safe on their journey and protect them from predators and the
vehicles of man, and may they find comfort and shelter on the way.

..anything I want

2008-11-14T06:36:00.001-07:00

Like I’ve said, this isn’t always going to be the best on the web but it will be where I post how or what I feel and since it is my site I can offer up slurry of items no matter how ugly or grotesque. I can even post my own lyrics.

Gonna buy me a tractor,
Drive it every where I go,
I’ll take it on the highway
And drive it real slow.

I won’t order it with mirrors
(they just get in the way)
Turn signals are a waste of time
(I don’t use them anyway)

And when I’m on my tractor
I’ll head up the parade
I never think to chuckle
At the blood pressure being raised

I’m old & retired
Never need to be on time
So I ride around aimlessly
Where nothing needs to cross my mind

I sit at the end of my driveway
‘till traffic is near enough to hear a shout
Then I’ll put my tractor in gear
And slowly I pull out

And I’ve got no place to be
And no place to go
I just like drivin’ my tractor
And I drive it really slow.

CINDY'S MESSAGE TO GEORGE

2008-11-11T11:47:00.001-07:00

The following is a letter from Cindy Sheehan to George Bush on this Veteran's Day...

November 11, 2008

George Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Ave
Washington, DC

Dear George,

I am writing this to you on the fifth Veteran's Day I have mourned the death of my son, Casey Sheehan. Casey was a soldier in the Army. You killed my oldest son with your lies and greed for Empire. Casey never became a Veteran because he came home in one of those pesky flag draped coffins that your mother doesn't want to bother her "pretty mind" with.

During that other illegal and immoral war that you and your VP, Dick, had the good sense to dodge, your mother never had to go through one second of worry for your safety, did she? You were too busy doing your drugs and going AWOL to bother her "pretty mind" about that. What galls me the most when I think about my brave and honorable son's needless and untimely death, is that you were so cowardly and worthless when you were his age and you had the nerve to condemn thousands of our children to death or disability with your lies.

George, I have written you letters before. I have demanded your resignation and also promised you that I would work for your impeachment. If you remember, I even started a peace camp of thousands of protesters outside your Crawford ranch and I even tried to get into Congress so I could impeach your criminal hide. You never answer my letters and you have never had the integrity to tell me what "Noble Cause" killed my son. This is the last letter you will receive from me while you are infecting our Oval Office, but it won't be the last time you hear from me.

George, I guess I could "rest on my laurels" and allow you to slink off into the quiet desperation of leaving the White House as the most detested President in American history, but that is not enough for me: Millions are dead, wounded, displaced and suffering life-long pain because of your actions. You are the number one terrorist in the world today and this country catches, tortures and prosecutes "terrorists" doesn't it? Haven't you said so yourself? You have turned the USA into a nation of imperial mobsters and we have the ignominy of being torturers and you do not deserve to retire with any kind of peace or honor.

George, if Nancy Pelosi and the other complicit Congressional leaders won't hold you accountable, I will. This nation has a very short memory and we have been assaulted on a daily basis by your arrogance and stupidity and most of America is buying the hype of pre-packaged and aggressively marketed, Hope, but I don't have the option of burying your deadly legacy like it never happened and moving on. The hole in my heart that used to contain the living and breathing presence of my son will never heal and you are the one who put it there. If you think you are going to live a comfortable life in Dallas, or Paraguay, or wherever, a la Johnson, Nixon, McNamara or Kissinger, you are wrong.

George, this country too hastily moved on from the abomination of Vietnam and we never healed from that horror because we never did the hard work of holding American leaders accountable for crimes against humanity. If history repeats itself, as it tends to do, you won't be held accountable for your crimes, but I won't let you forget the faces of my son, Casey and his comrades or the legion of faces of the Afghan and Iraqi dead. Are your dreams haunted by the souls of the people massacred by your hubris?

If I have to buy or erect a billboard near your home and plaster it with the faces of the people you murdered, I will. I will also work with my contacts in the international community to have you indicted for crimes against humanity. I will do whatever it takes to be the thorn in your side as you have been my sorrow. There are many people around the world who thirst for justice and healing who will join me in this noble cause.

This Nation forgot the faces of the 58,000 plus Americans and millions of Vietnamese who were slaughtered for imperial greed, but they won't forget the faces of the ones you have sacrificed on your altar of deception or the ones who will be sacrificed for the President Elect's continued War OF Terror. If Obama does not declare a speedy and complete end to the USA's war of terror on the world, someone should set up camp at his vacation home (which I bet will be nicer than Crawford, TX in August).

On this Veterans Day, I make this pledge to you. Unless we stop the bloody tide of war for profit and US hegemony by seeking justice for your war crimes and crimes against our Constitution, more Casey's will die and more countries that unfortunately lie in the path of imperial conquest will be decimated.

On this Veteran's Day, I also send my love and support to the Vets from all wars who live on our streets and are substance abusers because they can't get help from this hypocritical government. My heart goes out to all Gold Star Mothers who have nothing but a box of medals, a triangular folded flag and memories of a dead child and regrets for a life not lived with him/her. The war machine in collaboration with our government chews people up and rolls on oiled with pain.

George you broke your oath to "faithfully" execute your office and you betrayed the troops that you command due to nothing but election fraud, but I will not break my promise to you.

Cindy Sheehan
Mother of Casey Austin Sheehan
KIA in Sadr City, Baghdad
April 04, 2004

--
There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root---
Henry David Thoreau

www.CindyforCongress.org

Remember...

2008-11-11T05:13:00.002-07:00

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

This poem was written after the battles of World War I.
Supposedly this was to be "The War To End All Wars" as the world at the time could not fathom that such a monumental waste of life would ever be repeated in the name of honor.

Today we pay tribute to not just the veterans of that first World War so many years ago, but to all whom have served our nation.
While we honor those men and women let's hope that eventually our politicians will read the above poem and for a moment reflect on it's meaning and the cost at which it was written.

November 5, 2008

2008-11-05T04:27:00.001-07:00

ah-h-h-h-h-h-h-h.
Good morning America, breath deep, it is a beautiful day.

Song for Myself

2008-10-17T10:49:00.003-06:00

(Harry Chapin )

It's a song for myself
just a song for myself
You don't have to listen babe
it's just a song for myself
But since I fell in love with you
it's brought some thoughts to mind
if we're gonna raise us a couple of kids
I've got to worry 'bout future times
Do I believe that the answer
is still blowing in the wind?
I don't believe it!
Do I believe that there are good times rolling
babe, just around the bend?
I don't believe it.
Do I believe that with a little more love
babe, all our troubles end?
Here I am trying to believe in myself
And be a little good
be a little good
be a little good to my friends
It's just a thought that was in my mind
just a thought that was in my mind
But no one's wrote a protest song
since nineteen sixty three
Are we all gonna listen to the moldy gold
and say just let it be?
It's just a song for myself
just a song for myself
You don't have to sing it babe
it's just a song for myself
But it seems our generation
should have something more to say
Are we all gonna sit here
with a stoned out smile
and simply watch the world go 'way?
Do I believe that the answer
is still blowing in the wind?
I don't believe it!
Do I believe that there are good times rolling
babe, just around the bend?
I don't believe it.
Do I believe that with a little more love
babe, all our troubles end?

Idiosyncrasies

2008-10-10T13:29:00.000-06:00

There’s big trouble in the McCain camp these days. It seems his loyal followers are disgusted that Obama has a lead in the polls and are demanding more of Johnnie Mumbles and Failin’ Palin.
One man even went so far as to say he is sick of the “Socialist” trying to steal the country.
Wel-l-l-l, I’ve got news for him, you can’t steal that which already belongs to you.
In my eye, I see it as just reclaiming that which was stolen from us by the corporate capitalist, Wall Street bankers and 50 years of greedy fascist neo-cons.
This country belongs to us, the people.

In music reviews check out “Jim’s Big Ego”.

I've stayed around and played around...

2008-09-23T05:12:00.000-06:00

Time has flown. Summer came and went with scarcely a glimpse given from me and now we have autumn at our door.
I really missed summer entirely. Looking back at it I note that I accomplished none of my plans. I didn’t get a new shed put up and my screen porch is still in poor shape.
But I did accomplish much at my job. I suppose that will have to make-up for not taking care of my house.
Speaking of failing to take care of one’s house, have you seen that dilapidated building on Wall Street lately? Boy, is that ever falling apart.
The people that own it must really be too busy to care about its appearance. And even as they all go around dressed in fine clothes and drive nice cars I hear that they are willing to accept some kind of giant welfare check to insure they can still have that big home to play in and call their own.
I guess if you have a lot of money to begin with and screw up financially it is looked on differently than if you’re just an average wage earner who borrowed money from these folks and now can’t afford to keep up with the ever-increasing mortgage payments ever since losing their own job.
Well so much for the worries of the rich. They will land in a foam entrenched bed of roses (as always) while Average Joe Six-Pack and his upper lower class cousin Trenton Twelve-Pack the Third continue to break their backs to get by, hoping that strange discolorations on the side of their heads is just worn in grease.

Well, I need to get going but before I do a quick pick for music:
“Hot Tuna”: Fantastic mix of old blues - rhythm style (i.e. Rev Davis, Jelly Roll Morton,)
Pick up any of the dozen or so albums. I prefer the acoustic but it is all good!

“Roomful Of Blues”: After more then 30 years and several line-ups these guys are still fillin’ halls with a swinging rhythm that makes you just want to jump up and dance.
The latest is “Raisin’ a Ruckus” and boy does it ever.

September 11th and I sigh....

2008-09-11T05:07:00.004-06:00

It’s September 11th again.
Seven years ago this date became a day of tragic history,a day that brought almost all Americans and the rest of the world together as one in sympathy and understanding.
And for seven years of politicians using this day as an obscene backdrop for their own justification of a war and terror policy gone horribly wrong.
We have witnessed the stripping of constitutional rights, the secret surveillance of our people through telephone and internet eavesdropping, librarians ordered to turn over names, hundreds of suspects held indefinitely while never being charged with a crime while being subjected to torture.
We have a president and vice president who act outside the law and refuse to be held accountable while stone walling any effort to do so.
We have seen the press and media (taken over by the same corporations who benefit from the acts of this administration) ignore any protest against the wars, the security acts, or anything that would shine a negative light on the White House and all it’s inhabitants.
And every time anyone asks why this is so, the answer always gets turned back to “9-11”.
Such a day as this, a day that should be held in high reverence for the loss of innocent life, should not be allowed to be the rally cry of evil politicians seeking to benefit their own career and the betterment of corporations.
More lies have been uttered, blood spilled and countless lives ruined in the name of 9-11 then blood spilled that sad,sad day.
I still cry when I see the photos of those lost and the tapes of that day.
Let us honor those who died by refusing to allow what should be “Hallowed Ground” be turned into” hollow ground”, empty of meaning and turned into nothing more than a political battle cry for injustice.

This Joke Ain't Funny...

2008-09-03T05:02:00.003-06:00

I hate bad dreams. Last night I woke from one that left me in an extreme anxious condition from which I found it difficult to return to sleep.
During this dream I somehow became privy to the big secret charade. And that is that this upcoming election is already in the republican bag. It seemed that Misters Rove and Cheney had long ago assured a win through manipulation of voter registrations and the use of rigged electronic voting machines.
They were so sure of a win that just for laughs they decided to have the same man that in the year 2000 election they accused of being a traitor while a POW and of having fathered an illegitimate black child be nominated as the republican candidate.
And with not enough laughs there, they bet that if an unknown first term female governor from Alaska with a ‘abuse of power’ investigation hanging over her head and whom believes in abstinence only sex education, yet has a knocked-up 17 year old daughter, was picked to be vice-president it would be funnier still.
Those two were laughing their asses off unaware (or unconcerned) that I was listening in.
With the media in their pocket and all legitimate news sources and outlets of truth shut off from reporting, America will wake up November 12 this year and discover that the republicans won by a land slide and to quell any disputes martial law will be invoked.
It was at this point I woke short of breath and in deep worry. I couldn’t convince myself it was just a dream. It all seemed too real; too “this is actually happening” to let it go.
I eventually did drift back into sleep but it was far from blissful. The only good sleep came as I entered back into dreams that had Bart the Dog and me playing and running around while I thought how it felt as if my good boy and I had always been together.
But that was short lived as the need to arise and get ready for work came and the thoughts of the nights dreams came flooding back with it.
That first dream left me bothered and a little scared. It is said that dreams can be a premonition of what is to be or could be.
Freud said they represent your fears and desires.
And sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
I want to continue running with Bart in a free America.

Fascism in Saint Paul

2008-09-02T12:57:00.005-06:00

Click on the "truthout" link at the bottom of page and read Marjorie Cohn's "Pre-Emptive Strike.." feature to read first hand accounts of the fascist police state taking over our country now in St.Paul MN.at the repuglican convention.

Update

2008-08-29T10:03:00.000-06:00

In Dayton, OH today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) will announce that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be his vice presidential running mate. Palin, who entered office in 2006 after running as a reformer, is touted by conservatives as being “a politician of eye-popping integrity.”

But Palin’s reformer image took a hit last month when she was accused of attempting to get a state trooper fired. That state trooper was her former brother-in-law who had gone through “a messy divorce” with her sister. After the trooper’s boss wouldn’t act on the governor’s request, she fired him. Though Palin says she doesn’t “have anything to hide” and she “didn’t do anything wrong there,” an investigation has found that one of her aides pushed the firing:

Gov. Sarah Palin on Wednesday revealed an audio recording that shows an aide pressuring the Public Safety Department to fire a state trooper embroiled in a custody battle with her sister.

FROM "THINKPROGRESS.ORG"

Palin, who has previously said her administration didn’t exert pressure to get rid of trooper Mike Wooten, also disclosed that members of her staff had made about two dozen contacts with public safety officials about the trooper.

Token White Woman

2008-08-29T09:34:00.004-06:00

Can you say "appease the angry Hilly supporters"?
Can you say "appease the demanding evangelical pro-lifers"?
Can you say "further curtsy to the NRA"?
Can you say "unqualified token white woman"?
Can you say "Sarah Palin"?

John McSwine can.

Hope floats...

2008-08-26T17:01:00.001-06:00

With the democratic convention in full swing, and the big Clinton debate still raging, I will take this moment to explain my reason for backing Obama.
First off I did not support either Clinton or Obama during the primaries.
My candidate was Dennis Kucinich, the man whom the media outlets refused to recognize.
I voted for him in the primary and still believe he could be a better president than any of the others.
Regardless of my feelings though, I will vote for Obama come November.
You see, for the last 7 plus years I have been buried in a caved-in mine searching for an exit.
And like any one trapped this way, I headed for the first breeze of fresh air that came my way.
And even though the path is clogged with rubble and obstacles I continued toward the fresh air and what is, I hope, will be a salvation from this entrapment and stagnation of life as I know it.
The promise of hope is all I can ask.
And that is all I will say about that.

August's over due gift...

2008-08-22T05:00:00.001-06:00

It’s another beautiful morning in the Valley and I’m looking forward to getting out of work early to spend the afternoon with my sister, who is coming down from New Hampshire.
We have been graced over the last week with what has to be the best weather of the Summer 2008. Warm sunny days and cool nights that make the days and weeks of rainy, hot, almost tropic like, June and July fade into the past.
August, not known as a particularly generous month, has delivered a rare gift indeed.
A-a-a-h!

In further local news, Belchertown has become the front-runner for the “All Front – No Behind” award.
First, when all the roads in town are crumbling and breaking up to the point where travel can become treacherous to extremely dangerous, the only road paving that was done was to Main Street which compared to all of it’s other roads was in excellent condition with only minor pot holes. The town appears too even have stopped bothering to fill potholes elsewhere.
Second, with the roads still untouched and in a state of rapid decay, the ultimate coup-de’ta in achievement was to paint new white lines down the side of the roads. These lines often ended up being painted into dirt as the side of the road had so long ago dissolved back into the elements there was no asphalt.
And since I have seen no other town attempting to come close to this blatant example of putting make-up on a pig, I award them with this years “All Front and No Behind” trophy which they will be able to pick up at my house, provided they don’t mind driving down North Washington Street with all of it’s potholes.

And for music today, give Jim Henry a listen.
Formula 1 takes its circus to Valencia Spain this weekend for the “European Grand Prix”.
I’m looking for Ferrari to have gotten their act together and take the challenge to McClaren and to see how Toyota performs in the “all others” category.

Every Now And Then....

2008-08-19T04:31:00.003-06:00

Seems as if I have no time lately for this blog.
And When I do have a moment I'm at a loss for words.
There is so much happening at this time in the world
that I can't isolate a single topic to cover.
Iraq, Afghanistan, Georgia and Russia, presidential race, economy, foreclosures, oil prices, global warming, Olympics and these are just the headings. Each group has its own sub-headings to follow.
It can seem a tad bit over-whelming at times.
But I will make my way back here soon and hopefully I'll have a head full of fresh thoughts and ideas.
But until then I'm putting on a little Sam And Dave to soothe me.

3:30 AM

2008-08-05T04:57:00.002-06:00

3:30AM
I had the chance to witness an awesome sight this morning when I took Mr.Towski out for his morning business.
The sky. The Sky was beautiful and magnificent. With a pitch-black backdrop the stars punctuated every quadrant of the heavens, and all I wanted to do was to lie down in the grass and stare upward. Unfortunately ‘responsibility’ reared its malignant head and pronounced my daily fate.
Ironic, it is, that mental health specialist always tell you to take the time too enjoy what is around you yet our lives are governed by responsibilities such as our work. (I have yet to meet an employer who will accept “staring at the stars” as an excuse for coming in late.)
My plan is to watch the weather and look for those nights when a clear forecast is predicted. Then I’ll get up an hour early and spend it in the stars.
I would recommend this to anyone and everyone looking for just that little something to make their day a bit more bearable.

Wake up early and go out to the lawn
Look at the sky for as short or as long
Just an hour of sleep is all it will take
Less if you want, it’s your choice make
Leave the pipe and forget the booze
Just follow the sky; you’ve got nothing to lose.
Remember, or don’t.

PS: Never fall for the short-term fix when the long-term consequences have not been fully weighed out or discussed.

Just a Quick Note...

2008-08-01T04:58:00.001-06:00

Pressed for time today so I’ll leave you “all” with two words: “Breathable Bra”.
Anyone wish to elaborate?

Hungarian Grand Prix is this weekend and the battles have heated up with Lewis Hamilton and McClaren showing dominance in the last two rounds.
Qualifying is Saturday morning (8:00) on Speed with the race being shown live on Sunday morning at 7:30.

In music news, Steve Cropper, the great guitarist of Stax Records fame and often associated with The Blues Brothers hooked up with Felix Cavaliere (Young Rascals / Rascals fame) and put out “Nudge It Up A Notch” which is full of excellent sounds.

Have a good weekend. Peace

Like, oh magaaawd....

2008-07-31T05:00:00.000-06:00

Well it’s another morning here in the “Pioneer Valley” which brings with it the promise of a new day and a few more thunderstorms.
Regardless of the threat I’m driving the Porsche into work today, as it’s sat far too many weeks in the garage waiting for nice weather. (“Drive it or park it mister” as my old man used to say.) Another one of his sayings was “Jesus wept and kitties crept” which never made any sense at all until yesterday when CNN interrupted it’s normal schedule to bring the news that Jesus’ face was clearly visible in the “swirly fur” of a kitten. And they showed a video which, when the camera went way out of focus, clearly showed a blurry swirl of Jesus on the side of that precious little kitty.
Based with this knowledge I can now go without glasses, and by crossing my eyes see Jesus everywhere! Try it you’ll be AMAZED!!!

__”I been walking down this highway blindly,
not knowing where my steps will find me
Traveled down deserted streets
Trying to avoid stumbling over my own feet

Seen the best & worst
This land has to offer
From the hard working man
Paying to fill the rich man’s coffer

I watched the drunken celebrity melt down of the week
And missed the coverage of the homeless child with nothing to eat.”

Off to work.

Tis..

2008-07-29T04:45:00.002-06:00

Tis a marvelous morning today, with a crescent moon hanging low in the east and clear skies to see the stars. I hope it follows up on the promise of a good day. I’m getting a bit wrought with all the rain and thunderstorms.
(Ol’ Bart isn’t too thrilled with them both as his walks have been lacking due to them, and the thunder scares the bejesus out of him.)
From the statistics I see that, since June 1st, we have had 27 days of rain and in turn it is starting to feel a tad bit tropical around these parts. Any day now I expect to see ocelots and howler monkeys appear in the flush growths of vegetation that are starting to take over my yard.
The news stated that there are only 99 days left until elections and to me that was the same as the announcement of 99 days until Christmas. Only I am looking forward to elections more than Christmas. I certainly hope we don’t get John McCoal in our stockings.
Well I must be off to the wonderful world of work.

Second hand bullet...

2008-07-22T04:53:00.002-06:00

Why do gun owners come across as if they were a put upon minority, whose sole existence is constantly threatened and that they are entitled to special protection from unjust burdens?
They and their organization (The NRA) vehemently oppose any attempts to restrict a person’s ability to carry, conceal, or wave about freely the firearm of their choice.
They have an argument against locks, registrations, fees, taxes, licensing and anything but the unhindered right to have a gun.
In Massachusetts, the Governor recently produced a budget, which increases the tax on firearms and the license fee. The first response to this from legislature is outrage. Outrage, which was phoned into them by gun owners and their lobby claiming that this was just a back door approach to keep them from owning guns and went directly against the Supreme Courts recent ruling.
Well if this is the case then cigarette smokers and the cigarette manufacturers should be able to claim equal outrage at the ever-increasing taxes put on their particular killing product of choice.
Now in the case of cigarettes it is always the effects of second-hand smoke on the innocent non-smoker that is brought up, or the cost of smoking as a whole on the health care industry.
Can’t these same standards be used with guns?
Gun owners always say, “It’s not a gun that kills a person, it’s the person that fires the gun”.
So it’s not the cigarette second hand smoke that gives a non-smoker cancer, it’s the person lighting up the cigarette. But that won’t fly in the face of a society that all agree that cigarettes are bad and deserve the reputation that follows them, and thus agree that the taxes that so burden the smoker are legitimate.
Oh, but not so with the gun owner, for they have the constitutional right to go out and buy and shoot as many guns as they want.
There is no amendment guaranteeing a militia’s ability to smoke freely.
And at the same time the constitution say’s nothing about gun owners not being taxed.
Just that they have the right to bear arms.
So stop your whining and pay up.
Otherwise I’ll hire a big shot law firm to file a lawsuit for all the non-gun owners who are tired of living in fear that the morons with guns will start firing willy-nilly and hit one of us with a stray, errant or ricocheting bullet.

In other news, A Rabbi, A Priest and a Cleric walk into a bar.
The bartender says, "What is this, some kind of joke? Get outta' here!"

It’s not easy being a comedian. Rodney was right there when he said he never got any respect.
When was the last time you were in a situation where a an old man drops to ground and someone yells, “Does anyone know stand-up?”
Or the bar scene where a guy cautions his buddy, “Joey, don’t fuck with him. He knows comedy.”
Don’t make me laugh.

I Can Dream, Can't I?

2008-07-15T04:25:00.005-06:00

"Human rights activists said Tuesday they feared a move by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to file genocide charges against America's president could provoke a violent backlash.
The 10 charges -- three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes -- filed against President George Bush include masterminding attempts to wipe out Iraqis with a campaign of murder, rape and deportation and theft of that nation's oil."

The crimes are true, the name is factual but this criminal will never face charges. What a shame.

Ring, Ring, Telephone Ring...

2008-07-10T04:44:00.001-06:00

RING-RING RING-RING…
“Hello? (and fuck you). I don’t mean (fuck you) directly at you, rather at the low life scum bags listening in on this call with full immunity.”
Yes, that is how I will be answering my phone starting now, thanks to fascist repuglicans and the spineless majority of democrats in the senate.
Yesterday, in total breach of the constitution these supposed servants of the people decided to allow unwarranted phone taps and to allow all involved off the hook (no pun intended) and to be hold george bush unaccountable for any possible violations of the laws broken prior to the passing of the new revised FISA law.
I know, I know..”You have nothing to worry about as long as you are not a terrorist.”
Really? Then I guess you won’t mind sharing all of your conversations and secret thoughts, that only your best friend should know, with me. Come on, what the hell. You already talk in public on your cell phone anyway, right? So what’s the difference if I just follow you around while you do so and listen in on what your saying and prod you from time to time to let me know what your buddy on the other end has to say?
I mean you’re not a terrorist with something to hide are you? ARE YOU?
So if you’re not why can’t I listen to your mindless phone babble?
OH, you want some privacy. Right.
Tough, you don’t get any. Where do you think you are, America?
Oh yeah, that’s right, you are in America. Welcome to Amerika.
“Well Good-bye, hope you have a good day (and fuck you).”

It came out of my head I tell ya!

2008-07-09T04:41:00.000-06:00

I wake in the night from dreamin’ I’m in Yemen,
Get out of the bed; I walk like Walter Brennan,
I make it cross the floor and get into the bathroom
And then I just stand there ‘cause nothing will come out soon,
I finally finish what I’m doing and still my underwear gets wet
You don’t need to be a genius to clean up on this bet,
I’m old. Damn.. I’m getting old.

Get dressed and leave the bathroom and mosey to the kitchen
Where breakfast and coffee is what I’ll be fixin’
Wheat toast and brand flakes bulk up the inside
Two cups of coffee help everything to slide,
Once again I’m headin’ to the bathroom door
But by the time I get there I don’t need to go any more
I’m old. Damn.. I’m getting old.

Ugh-h-h-h

2008-07-07T05:08:00.003-06:00

Gas is up another 8 cents, the wars continue to rage and take lives, job losses are at record highs, and the economy has tanked and still can’t tell where its bottom is.
Obama says one thing then another and claims his new opinion is the same he started with which means in reality he was the same as Hillary but chose to claim he wasn’t only so afterwards he could.. what, go back to being her only different. Because she’s a rich white woman and…he’s a rich black man (which in it self is a clear difference).
The weather has offered nothing but rain for the last five weeks and more is predicted for this week.
And on top of it all during the 3 days off I just had there wasn’t a decent early morning movie to watch at all. But today they showed the Simpson’s Movie (which started at 5:30) just as I had to get to work.
This planet is starting to suck. I can’t wait for the next one.

Lewis Hamilton won yesterday's British Grand Prix battling bad weather of his own and favored by poor planing by certain competitors (Ferrari).

7-4-08

2008-07-04T03:35:00.002-06:00

Phewwwwwwww-BOOM-BOOM-BAM,
pop,pop-pop,gracklegrackle-
Ooo, Ah-h-h-h
Honey hand me another weiner
Happy Forth everyone

Was There Really Any Doubt?

2008-06-30T10:33:00.004-06:00

And just in case there was ever any doubt about the logic and the motivating force behind the raging war in Iraq, it was announced last week that the major oil giants (Exxon Mobile, Shell, Total and BP) were awarded a “no-bid” contract (read ‘sweetheart deal) to the pumping rights of Iraq’s oil.
These companies are the successor lines of Standard oil, Gulf oil, BP and 8 others that back in 1920’s (after the First World War) divided the worlds oil supply’s among themselves.
In 1928 a “Red Circle” agreement was reached that put Iraq’s rich oil fields off limits to any ‘single oil company and had to be shared.The term Red Circle came from the red line drawn around Iraq on a map.
This agreement basically went on for near 60 years until an Iraq upstart declared that Iraq’s oil belonged to Iraq. You can guess the name of this person as Saddam Hussein and be correct.
(Of course when he said the oil belonged to Iraq he really meant that it belonged to him.)
This angered the Giants to no end and through their might and political prowess vowed revenge against the dirty dictator that stole what they viewed as their own private oil club of the dessert.
The goal was achieved last week at the meager cost of 4113 American military lives, 31,000 (minimum) visibly wounded, and untold with mental wounds that may never heal.
As for Iraqi deaths, at last report it was placed at 1,125,900.
The oil companies and their political #1 crony Dick Cheney and the never-ending desire for the oil and world domination and control over it achieved this entire end.

For a better reading of what I am trying to express please check out this link to truthout.org: http://www.truthout.org/article/it-was-oil-all-along .
Well, that’s today’s lunchtime entry.

I picked up a new computer over the weekend and now it’s just getting it up and organized.

Gun Laws and Smug Fugs

2008-06-27T05:27:00.003-06:00

Just a quick note before work...
It turns out I'll need a new computer since both my motherboard and hard drive took the hit from a storm a couple week ago.

It’s a good thing most liberals are not gun freaks, since due to yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling overturning a D.C. ban on guns, they might have felt the need to buy one to go out and shoot David “Smug Asshole” Addington (the dark lord Cheney’s advisor) and John Yo-yo Yoo for their part in allowing Dick & Dubya to run rip-shod on the constitution and then wasting congress's time by their contempt of any law that hinders the rights of aristocracy to rule over the peasant class they feel the rest of us fall into.
These are the men who advised Bush Co that the president is beholding to no laws that impede on the safety of the homeland, and the logic that torture is not torture and the vice president is not accountable to anyone, and instead is more like a barnacle attached to the constitution.

Well, gotta get to work.

Computer Problems..

2008-06-19T03:50:00.005-06:00

The hard drive on my home computer has taken a full nosedive into an empty pool.
Fortunately I was able to see it getting ready to crash and was able to back up my system with a Maxtor system I bought.
Unfortunately I will not be able to replace it as soon as I'd like, so I'll be leaving this page as is for a while.
I got into work super early to put this posting up but I can't see doing this on a regular basis.
I'll be back as soon as possible.

Until then, turn off the TV and get away from the Tim Fest that's taken over the networks (he was barely a quarter the reporter Peter Jennings was and all Jennings received was an hour coverage), put on the Blind Boys Of Alabama, pour yourself a cold one and mellow for a while.

One quick thought, with Bush pushing to allow off-shore drilling as a solution to high gas prices has anyone considered that there is only around 12 billion gallons off those shores which would only last America around 2 1/2 years and then only if the oil companies have the refinery capabilities to produce it. The last I heard they could not keep up with the supplies that they already have.
Besides, what's to say that the speculators who are driving up the cost now won't continue once Bush opens the vault up to more liquid gold?
Has anyone ever seen the Great White Wall Street Shark simply give up on a feeding frenzy and say “That’s all the meat I’ll consume today, there’s always tomorrow”?
Of course not, Wall Street is a glutinous beast that is never satisfied with the amount it already has eaten, it’s a clean you plate and while your at it the American consumer seems to have a little left on his so clean theirs also mentality.
Ta-ta

A Good Man Passes

2008-06-16T04:56:00.000-06:00

Tim Russert was a good man. A good man in the fact that he was a good father, husband and had many friends and colleagues that loved him.
Unfortunately, though, he was not the good journalist we have been told over and over since his death on Friday.
His biggest contribution to today’s politics was his dogged coverage of Clinton’s BJ.
And to say “…at least he got Cheney on tape saying the war in Iraq would not last long..” is a pitiful epitaph for a newsman of his longevity.
Was he a good journalist? Maybe in today’s Rupert Murdoch standard of reporting but stacked against the real men and woman who put their reputations on the line to report the truth, no. No he wasn’t.
Edward R. Murrow, by now, has rolled his way to China (and is writing an expose on human rights violations.).

But dying “a good family man and friend” is nothing to be ashamed of, no matter.

There ought to be a statue...

2008-06-11T05:09:00.001-06:00

By calling for the impeachment of George Bush yesterday, once more, Congressman Dennis Kucinich has shown to the lone voice of decent in Washington.
Dennis introduced 35 articles of impeachment against Bush late on Monday during a four-hour speech on the House floor.
It is unfortunate, though, that neither Nancy Pelosi nor Harry Reid can be counted on to support this bill since they are as useless as giving a bicycle to a worm and have far less spine.
Please read the article at truthout.org (along with the hundreds of positive feedback letters) and forward it and your support of it to your representatives in DC.
And if they won’t act it is time to find others that will.

Thank you Dennis. Thank you for having the moral courage to standup and demand the truth be told and the liars to be ousted.

Bartacus (pictures of)

2008-06-08T08:46:00.002-06:00

Just a few shots of Bart doing what he does,
The odd shot is of my Sweet Ol' Girl Hailey Blue "The Amazing Flying Dog" whom we lost last year at the advanced age of 16.

The World Ear: With all the hub-bub over Hillary and Barack last week did anyone hear about the meeting between Brazil, Russia, India and China last week getting together as partners to counter their perceived threat of the world dominance by the United States? Will capitalism fail by its own hand, similar to the financial suicide of Russia's communism?
Send thoughts, if you have any.

Well it's hot as the dickens already outside, and it is not even 10:30 yet.
I'm certainly glad to have central air, since I have a very hard time dealing with the heat any more. To think, when I was younger I pooh-poohed those who needed AC to survive in the summer months. Back then I was strong and worked hard labor jobs.
I was physically tougher, now I'm a desk jockey who wilts in anything warmer than 84.
It may be to hot to even head up to the corner bistro and enjoy the afternoon on the deck, we’ll see.
Well you all take care and put on a little mellow jazz, have an iced coffee, a couple of anisette biscotti’s and just take it easy in this crazy pre-summer heat wave.

Bobby...

2008-06-05T05:38:00.002-06:00

"There is discrimination in this world and slavery and slaughter and starvation. Governments repress their people; millions are trapped in poverty while the nation grows rich and wealth is lavished on armaments everywhere. These are differing evils, but they are the common works of man. They reflect the imperfection of human justice, the inadequacy of human compassion, our lack of sensibility towards the suffering of our fellows. But we can perhaps remember -- even if only for a time -- that those who live with us are our brothers; that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek -- as we do -- nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can.
Surely, this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men. And surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again. The answer is to rely on youth -- not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. The cruelties and obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to the obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. They cannot be moved by those who cling to a present that is already dying, who prefer the illusion of security to the excitement and danger that come with even the most peaceful progress.
It is a revolutionary world we live in, and this generation at home and around the world has had thrust upon it a greater burden of responsibility than any generation that has ever lived. Some believe there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills. Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant reformation; a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth; a young woman reclaimed the territory of France; and it was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and the 32 year-old Thomas Jefferson who [pro] claimed that "all men are created equal."
These men moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. *It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. * Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change. And I believe that in this generation those with the courage to enter the moral conflict will find themselves with companions in every corner of the globe.
For the fortunate among us, there is the temptation to follow the easy and familiar paths of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who enjoy the privilege of education. But that is not the road history has marked out for us. Like it or not, we live in times of danger and uncertainty. But they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. All of us will ultimately be judged, and as the years pass we will surely judge ourselves on the effort we have contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which our ideals and goals have shaped that event.
*The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold projects. Rather it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals and great enterprises of American Society.* Our future may lie beyond our vision, but it is not completely beyond our control. It is the shaping impulse of America that neither fate nor nature nor the irresistible tides of history, but the work of our own hands, matched to reason and principle that will determine our destiny. There is pride in that, even arrogance, but there is also experience and truth. In any event, it is the only way we can live." RFK

...it has not been said any better since.

A Pause.....

2008-05-30T08:03:00.004-06:00

Today I’d like to give thanks to all of those I have met along the way, the ones that I remember and those whose faces I have forgot.
I’ve lived and traveled in and to many states. While growing up it was New Jersey and Long Island on the east coast to Illinois in the Midwest and back east to Massachusetts.
In the service I traveled the southern training base route of Louisiana, Texas, Georgia with stopovers in between and overseas.
I’ve lived in Key West and Bull Shoals Arkansas.
I’ve shopped in the stores, stayed and ate in the people’s homes, worked various jobs from garbage collector to salesman in an Hardware & Appliance store, from Recreational Therapist to Meat Cutter. I’ve dined in the restaurants and drank in the bars.
I’ve broken hearts and had my own shattered.
I’ve swum in oceans and fished in lakes, canoed down rivers and thumbed the highways and back roads.
And through it all I’ve met a spectrum of fine and not-so-fine folks.
I’d like to say they were all good in their own ways, but as I’ve learned, some people are just plain rotten and have no visible redeeming qualities. So I won’t be mentioning them in my list of all I’d like to thank.
I’d like to thank the following:
From my days in Long Island, George and Jimmy Kummer (You too Suzy), The Bellos, Kincaids, Gottemers, John Hurley could make me laugh, and all of you I can’t recall but I knew and was a friend with, I hope you are well.

From those glorious teenage days in Crystal Lake, Ill, Hello to- The Dewey family: George, John, Alan, Ann, Margaret and Douglas, Jim Corey, Brad Brohmier, Vicki, Pam, Kim, Diana, Sue and Tara, everyone from Friday and Saturday nights at The Back Door, and again anyone I knew as a friend and can’t recall, those were good days.

For all my Monson friends, Louie, Jim, Billy, Kurt, D.O., Ricky & Debbie, Rodney and Edmond, Oaky, to the memories of Sunday night Monty Python Circus at Marty’s and 15 cent drafts, those days will live forever as great times and I will always be grateful for your friendships.

To my friends from the Army, I wish I knew where you all were. Mr. Chris Brewton of Chicago, remember smoking that good weed when we got back to Polk from Christmas leave and then having to line up to go get hair cuts? I laugh every time I remember that day. Did you ever get your feet fixed? How you passed the physical with those two water skies you had for feet is still beyond me. Cono Badallamenti, Bob Applebee, from up at Devens, I still remember drinking Manishevitz at the quarry the night before you got out Bob, the two sergeants in Korea who realized that I was suppose to be back in the states as a medic and not assigned to an infantry battalion on the DMZ.
I hope you all are well.

And to all those who made a lasting impression where ever we met, Jehre Kopp, Fred Schneider, John and Ruth Schneider, Diane and Linda (Lash), Phil Lovetere, Bill Brown,
Mike Oberly, Timmy Dash, Chris Bracken, Barry Crimmins,Ed"9-Toes"Latka, the wonderful ladies of McCarthy’s who pull a fine draft and treat Deb and I as if we were family and especially my family who have dealt with my extreme personality and quirks for years untold especially my wife and best friend Deb who holds me together when my head feels as if it will explode and to my life time best friend and buddy, My brother John (gosh we have fun!).
To all of you, thank you, mine is a better world for knowing you all.

P.S.
And oh yes, to my wonderful girl Hailey Blue, whose memory will stay forever in my heart and my new 'old' dog Mr. Bart who learned quickly how easy my heart opens for a good dog and also to old Sandy our first dog as children.

Now I know what some might be thinking, but no, I'm fine and dandy.
I just wanted to say "Thank-you".

What Happened?

2008-05-29T04:52:00.004-06:00

Following in the foot steps of other past White House staffers ex- press secretary Scott McClellan released his tell all book “What Happened: Inside The Bush White House – Washington’s Culture of Deception” or “ I was a lying whore for George Bush and Now I Need to Profit from It”.

Several White House personnel have already spoke out on the book's contents.

“Scott, we now know, is disgruntled about his experience at the White House. For those of us who fully supported him, before, during and after he was press secretary, we are puzzled. It is sad - this is not the Scott we knew," Dana Perino, one of his suck-sessors at the podium, says in a statement to reporters.
That’s true enough. The Scott the White House knew would repeat any lie to cover up for George Bush and hearing the truth come out from him is the farthest thing anyone would expect from a former staffer of the Bush administration or for that matter any existing one.

"The book, as reported by the press, has been described to the president. I do not expect a comment from him on it - he has more pressing matters than to spend time commenting on books by former staffers," she says.
The book had to be described, as it contains no pictures and is beyond Dubya’s “My Little Goat” reading ability, besides his bubble bath was getting cold.

Another remark came from Frances Fragos Townsend, who once served as President Bush's top terrorism adviser, tells CNN that the former aide's claims are "self-serving, disingenuous and unprofessional. Which if he had showed those qualities sooner he would have never been let go from the administration”.

Karl Rove, now working for Fox News, says his one-time colleague was "out of the loop." He denies discussing the CIA leak case with Scooter Libby, as McClellan alleges in his book. Rove went on to deny having ever discussed anything with anyone at any time during his own self-serving, disingenuous and unprofessional political career.

And the Vice President mumbled “Go fuck yourself, if I ever see you while I have a gun I’ll shoot you”.

The media meanwhile is doing it’s best to discredit the book as the work of an angry ex-employee not wanting it’s own rolling over for the president to be accepted as the truth.

Poor Scott, Stephanopoulos got a prime time reporters job when he wrote his damning book about Clinton but all McClellan will get is the title of “disgruntled employee”.

And as far as I’m concerned that’s a just tough titty. Where was your conscience four years and countless lives and ago Scott? Four years ago you had a chance to tell the truth about Bush, hell you had a daily podium to address from and you choose to continue to spread the lies instead. Well maybe your conscience can rest a bit now but don’t think either side will be forgiving you any time soon.

Closer to home the rooster has come back to roost for the Belchertown selectman who refused to vote for a Town Energy Plan due to their logic that global warming has not been proven and that many dark scientist in the employ of the oil companies have disproved the inaccurate theory. A citizens action group has drawn a petition and received signatures demanding a vote by ballot in the next election and has published a letter in the weekly town paper which accurately reports the oil and energy company sponsored think tanks that the scientist, whom the selectman quote, work for.

This week’s puzzler question; “Why is Barry Crimmins on the fifty dollar bill?”
(If you hold a newer fifty up to the light with Grant facing you, Barry’s face appears in the lower right corner.)

Music-wise find a copy of the Kinks "Bad To The Bone" and rock out.

Come November

2008-05-22T04:51:00.002-06:00

We are doomed America. I say this after reading dozens of both Pro Hillary and Pro Obama web sites. As you read them you see how neither will accept the other’s candidate,and all threaten to stay home or write in their candidate on the ballot.
Add on top of this the media machine, which is gleefully dividing the democrats with their reporting. First they Back Clinton and run a little smear on Obama, then they do the reverse and show how Obama is the good guy and Hillary is the she devil incarnate, thus feeding both sides and playing the middle. And the middle is John McCain, who represents the corporations that run the media.
Now let’s add a little distraction to the mix. What brought the dems into the forefront of electability was a combination of outrage over the war in Iraq, the trouncing of the Bill Of Rights, a general feeling that the nation as a whole had been lied to over and over along with the economy going down the drain.
But now we have a much bigger worry. The cost of gas and fuel, which is increasing at around 11 cents a gallon per week which means that by November we could expect to be paying $6.09 for a gallon of regular. (Shit how is anyone going to get to the polls anyway?)
Of course this high price shouldn’t come as a shock, I mean back in 2002 when Cheney set the energy plan for America along with the heads of all the major oil and energy producers and then refused to discuss what the plan is we should have known, right?
We have been set up. The rich will be the only ones who can afford to live in this world and the rest of us will be at their beckon call. The media keeps us fighting among ourselves so that we can not get a democrat into the White House to change anything and there will never be a chance for a third party to evolve without some form of major dissent in this country (revolution?)
So my prediction for November is John McCain will become president, gas prices will reach a peak of over $6.00 a gallon, food will become in short supply and more and more business will be forced to close their doors. America will welcome anything to make it feel better so when the call goes out for a unified North America consisting of Canada, The United States and Mexico there will be little opposition and any that there is will be quickly quelled.
Soon we will be eating soylent green and working for the national wage of $7.50 an hour.
We will be forced financially to live in group homes where we can be kept alive and monitored and we will all gladly give up our freedoms just so we can feel secure in our homeland. I see a dark-dark future ahead America.
BUT…it’s not to late, stop fighting among yourselves and remember who the enemy really is, they're in the White House now as I write this and we must not permit another day past November, let alone 4 more years of the same.
Stop being blinded and UNIFY!!! WE must support who-ever is the Democrats candidate and give all to get them into the White House.

To good to be true..

2008-05-20T06:07:00.003-06:00

In Mexico yesterday a Jackass was sentenced to 12 days in jail for continually biting people and being a nuisance.
Many Americans breathed a sigh of relief before realizing George Bush wasn’t the jackass in question.

Something for the weekend...

2008-05-16T13:09:00.002-06:00

For the few weeks I’ve been up and about on the blog circuit I, for the most part have tried to avoid the “Hillary vs. Obama” issue.
Yes, I’ve posted a couple of uncomplimentary Hillary pieces as I am supporting Barack and it has been more for humor then viciousness.
And no matter which of these candidates wins the nod (in Denver) come August, I will give them my unending loyalty and vote for them come November.
Lately I have read and heard many from both camps state that should their person not get picked at the convention they absolutely refuse to endorse or support the other.
Which leads me to the question I have for these folks,
ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY? DO YOU REALLY INTEND TO ALLOW JOHN MCCAIN AND THE REPUBLICANS TO KEEP CONTROL OF THE WHITE HOUSE, TO STACK THE SUPREME COURT WITH EXTREME RIGHT WING JUDGES WHO WILL CONTINUE TO ALLOW THE CONSTITUTION TO BE NOTHING MORE THAN A DRIED UP OLD PIECE OF PAPER ONLY RELEVENT TO THOSE WHO ONCE HELD IT DEAR, TO KEEP IRAQ GOING UNTIL 2013 AT THE EARLIEST, TO KEEP ATTACKING FREEDOMS AT HOME WHILE BOMBING NATIONS ABROAD?And just so you know my “Cap Locks” is not stuck on, I’m SCREAMING at you.
DO YOU PLAN TO WAKE UP SO FUCKING STUPID ON ELECTION DAY AND SAY “I LIKE HOW THINGS HAVE BEEN SO MUCH THESE LAST 8 YEARS I THINK I’LL VOTE REPUBLICAN?
Do you plan to wake up FUCKING STUPID, eat breakfast FUCKING STUPID, Vote FUCKING STUPID, go to work FUCKING STUPID, come home and eat supper FUCKING STUPID, and then go to bed FUCKING STUPID?

If that’s the case do us all a favor and just don’t vote because I think we stand a better chance of getting fish to ride bicycles then have any kind of country left if McCain wins by democrat-cross-overs allowing him to have his own personal “mandate” belief.

Please prove me wrong and don’t be FUCKING STUPID.

Thank you for your time.

It’s always the innocent…

2008-05-16T04:47:00.001-06:00

“California court allows gays to marry, declares all hetero unions null and void.”

Now that the California Court has dissolved the marriages between normal god fearing folks, what ever shall become of their children?
Since the unions that produced these blessed little children essentially never took place the offspring must be considered bastards and not part of the holy churches.
I know of what I speak being from Massachusetts, the original state of sinful matrimony.
My wife and I, while still co-habitating, no longer see our union as sacred and have not since the day our state court allowed any Joe lunch pale and his hard hat companion to file their tax return jointly.
And while we had no children our dog Hailey went straight to hell when she moved out to be with that bitch up the street.
Yep, everything has just gone helter-skelter in the world due to this slap to god's face and like any other worshipped deity; he gets mighty P.O’d when his flock mock his words.
Yes I must say that this can be the only reason the Iraq war goes on, why gas prices are sky high, why a cyclone hit Burma and killed tens of thousands (it will always be Burma to me), why a massive earth quake took out tens of thousands in China and why locust rain down on my neighbor's house this morning.
Oh you can make fun if you want but those poor little, now bastard, children will face the ultimate sacrifice (no, not having to give up golf!) spending eternity knowing what small minded prejudice assholes their parents are.

One tough ol' buzzard..

2008-05-15T12:25:00.002-06:00

John McCain announced today that all troops would be out of Iraq by 2013 and that he will go over and single handedly kick the crap out of Al Quaeda and insurgents if they don't cooperate.
Candidate McCain then excused himself for a nap saying, "This mindless, paralyzing rancor must come to an end”.

He Just Keeps On Giving,

2008-05-15T05:07:00.005-06:00

Oh that man of ours, that selfless “Mr. President” George Dubayou Bush.
I am forced to take back all the nasty things I’ve ever said about or thought about inflicting on his person.
You see yesterday I read the accounts of his personal sacrifices for the war effort.
With so many dying in Iraq (and Afghanistan), with so many suffering losses of loved ones our Commander-in-Chief made the ultimate sacrifice.
Not satisfied with simply being a mouthpiece for sacrifice, George gave up golf.
Yes that is correct. No more drives, eagles, birdies or putts for our President.
As he stated in this quote "I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal," he said in an interview for Yahoo! News and Politico magazine.
"I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander-in-chief playing golf," he said. "I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them."
And nothing says solidarity more then excusing yourself from whacking your balls all over the greens.
George may not be sinking putts any longer but he is still stroking it.

Mean while on the home front, ol' Bart is doing well. The saying goes "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" and it is one Meester Bart has taken to heart.
Oh he'll sit for a treat and he's so proud of the fact that he now waits patiently for the command of "good boy" before he digs in to eat but I don't believe he'll ever get rid of the notion that walks mean run, and squirrels and chipmunks are for bolting after.
I also don’t think he will ever answer to the name Bart. I wish I knew what his old name was. I’ve gone through the alphabet of names from Aaron-to-Zeus, and he answers to none, though I did get a slight response with Dick Nixon but I’m petty sure he was saying, “Please, get real, do I look like a slime ball?”
So I’ll just keep calling him Bart and maybe someday his name prior to becoming my dog will be known, not that it matters because by then he will have been Bart for so long it will not make a difference.

I was listening to a little Paul Butterfield on the way home last night, still good stuff.

Check out these guys: http://www.thehayesbrothersband.com/real blues with a feelin'

A Day In the Country

2008-05-13T05:34:00.003-06:00

On Saturday while planning to go for a little ride I remembered my friend Barry’s request that people take pictures of areas where America was failing at home, so I through the digital in the Porsche and headed out to find the country’s hidden depression.
I needn’t drive far before I found the type of beat up, shingles falling off with old plywood covering unfinished modification homes one might picture today’s modern depressed populace living in. I reached for my Kodak and turned it on. Nothing.
Digital cameras are great devices that have only one small draw back, they need to be charged. At first I was disappointed in myself and felt that I wasn’t going to be able to fulfill the request of my friend, but then I decided what the heck,I would continue on and mentally record what I was seeing.
And what I saw was this, that while the homes I saw were local to me, what made them really stand out was the stark contrast between the delaminated plywood sided homes and the homes that often surrounded them. Those other homes, while not being of Martha Steward standards were, just the same, very well kept family homes. Nice appearance, good lawn and so forth.
I drove further on, thinking about that contrast. Was today’s poverty a helter skelter kind of device? Did it strike like a tornado, randomly smacking down its victims? Or was I just witnessing a case of the last remnants of the once mighty Juke clan?
Either way I decided to head a little further down the road towards lesser populated areas, and away from the towns that have ordinances that ban trailer homes except as a retirement community.
I needed to head towards the tri-state border of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont and I did just that stopping only to get a couple of cigars.
As I drove the old highway of route 5-10 for about 40 minutes I was soon “treated” to the sites I had come forth to find. There they were. Old homes that may or may not have been inhabited being so un-kept that I couldn’t imagine living in them myself, yet the lawn furniture was out and seemed clean. A bit further I took an old side road I had driven several times in my joy riding days. I recalled the old trailers that had been there then and thought to seek them out. 20 years ago I remember them as being inhabited, and seeing children out and about by them.
Saturday they were still there but must have been abandoned. The weeds were over grown from several seasons, up and over the lower frames, the windows broken, and vines, in one case, attempting to hide this embarrassing blight on the earth, and at one an old lawn tractor with the remains of a child’s stuffed animal, or maybe just a pile of rags on the seat.
I drove on and turned around, it was time to head home.
On the way back I thought about that stuffed animal (in my mind it had been a stuffed animal) and what child may have left it behind. Were they headed for a better home, a better life a chance at the good education and the brass ring, or did that stuffed toy represent not just the abandonment of a child’s toy but also a childhood?
Did the ghosts of memories haunt these old dwellings? Were birthdays still silently being celebrated? On Christmas morning did the memories cry for a solid matter to hold them and give them back the joy of existence along with the prayer of hope?
I could only wonder for a short time. I was back home and needed to fill up the gas tank.
The here and now of $3.89 a gallon gas brought me quickly back to reality.

Quick Music quiz: Who plays guitar on David Bowie’s version of “China Girl”?

Just Something To Say

2008-05-09T04:37:00.004-06:00

Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. - RFK
Bobby Kennedy said that 40 years ago. I still believe it today.

Formula 1 races in Turkey this weekend.
With the loss of team Aguri,which pulled out on Tuesday due to financial problems, we will see a modification made to qualifying where the bottom 5 finishers in each of the first two bouts are knocked out, leaving 10 drivers to go at it in the 3rd and final round.
The Finn boy (Kimi) is favored to win but I'll be rooting for Yarno, an excellent driver with a team that has had more than it's share of technical difficulties.

In other news a man walked into a bar, 'ouch' he exclaimed.
(I promised humor, I never said it would be good humor.)

A QUESTION FOR THE CANIDATES

2008-05-07T10:26:00.002-06:00

WOULD YOU BUY A USED WAR FROM THIS MAN?

And a great time was had..

2008-05-06T05:04:00.005-06:00

WOW, what a great time we had during Sunday’s “Ding-Ho Reunion Benefit For Bob Lazarus”.
I laughed so hard I through my hip out. (Since everyone pointed out how much older we all are, my hip felt obliged to go hooey).
The laughs came so fast and often it was like being on a drug where all the memories blur together.
And like any good evening it was over all to soon. I sure hope that who ever was doing the video taping did a good job and that copies will be made and sold. If so I’ll take two because I’m bound to wear the first one out.

Yes indeed it was a good weekend. And during the weekend I had something pointed out to me that made me remember just how crazy and convoluted the English language is.
In the “About Me” section of this blog I have written “Hard Working Socialist With More Lines On My Face Than Before Him”. What was made clear is that this could have a drug reference to it due to the last two words, “..Before Him”.
How many times can one word have two (completely opposite) meanings? I can’t tell you but the word "before" is one. It can mean “prior to” which is like saying something from the past, OR it can mean “to be laid out in front of”or "ahead". My meaning for the word was the “prior one.”
Now as for the word “him” I meant it to imply a second individual as opposed to myself but this was (is) not made clear within the short bio I chose to write.
The “him” I am referring to is George W. Bush and not myself.
So in an attempt to clear up any confusion, this is how my bio should NOT be read, “A hard working socialist with more lines on his face than he has cocaine on the table in front of him that he plans to ingest IN ANY POSSIBLE MEANS AS SO TO SCREW HIS LIFE UP AND MAKE HIM A MINDLESS MORON”.
Instead it should be read as follows,” A hard working socialist who has aged so damn much in the last 7 plus years from having to deal with that MINDLESS, SELF-CENTERED, BLEEDING HEMORRHOID, USELESS EXCUSE OF A HUMAN BEING, ASSWIPE, RUSTY TROMBONE PLAYING FUCK, GEORGE W. BUSH that my face is starting to resemble an old Macintosh.
Ah but since that’s a little wordy I believe I will simply change the last two words which caused this confusion in the first place.
With luck this clears up my bio and I will continue to be aware of how words can have a duel meaning, and hopefully how I feel about Bush is also a bit more in focus.
PEACE.

Crying on the way to the bank

2008-05-02T05:17:00.006-06:00

It’s raining outside my window this morning, a good light rain that helps growth.
It was raining tears at Exxon-Mobile Wednesday, the kind of rain that can only come from a poorer-than-expected growth, no, not a loss but a lower-than-expected profit.
It was with sadness that Exxon-Mobile announced a measly 10.8 billion dollar gain.
That’s correct. It was a paltry 10.8 BILLION dollar profit.
Let us all say that, shall we? 10.8 BIL-L-L-L-ION-N-N-N dollars.
Where I worked prior to here, we once had a record setting 1.3 million dollar year profit.
1.3 million – 10.8 BIL-L-L-L-L-L-ION-N-N-N-N, oh yeah, I can clearly see why Exxon-Mobile is in tears over this. And I’m sure all Americans can relate and now know that even the oil companies are suffering at the cost of $100+ barrels of oil and realize why we must carry the burden of higher and higher fuel cost.
10.8 BILLION! Screw them.
We have a worldwide food shortage where more and more millions of people go hungry and more and more grain is being sold as a commodity while it is being turned into “Bio-Fuel” to help America’s appetite for fuel and gas guzzling cars and Exxon-Mobile cries over lower-than-expected profit.
Ahhh,but the hungry need not worry as the champion of the poor has rushed to their aid. That’s right, our President, our Mr. Wonderful, George “Sister Teresa” Bush has requested $770 million for world food relief from congress. That certainly will take the burden off of those starving peasants we are forced to witness on our nightly news.
Yes indeed, if you divide that amount among all those hungry folk it works out to be around 5/8 of penny each. Unfortunately with the dip in the dollar’s value it ends up being a bit shy of a hay-penny or “not quite enough” to buy an Egyptian penny loaf of bread.
And of course we know that congress will just jump to pass this request since Mr. Bush attached it to another very popular spending measure, the $70 billion additional funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. (Can you see where this one’s going? “It’s all congress’s fault. I asked them for the money and they refused to consider it.”)

Oh-h-h-well, so much for the ranting, it tends to wear on me.

This weekend is shaping up to be a memorable one, even with the rain.
I’d advise anyone to get out to Arlington Mass and head to the Regent Theater on Sunday for a great time of comedy. The Ding-Ho alumni will be holding a benefit reunion for Bob Lazarus who survived a leukemia battle but isn’t out of the woods yet.

The Porsche is up and running fine with it’s new suspension and ol’ Bart is looking forward to me figuring a way for him to get his furry ass in it to go for a bit of a ride.

You all take care and put on a little Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown to get the weekend started.

Haymarket..

2008-05-01T04:28:00.001-06:00

For all those who sweat, labor and toil, for all those who work and know the meaning of a hard day, Happy May Day (International Workers Day).

And another thing..

2008-04-30T06:20:00.002-06:00

Today’s Headlines….

MILEY CYRUS, Gas prices expected to reach $4.00 by next week, REVEREND WRIGHT, Housing sales slump even further, GRAND THEFT AUTO IV, 2 US Soldiers killed in Baghdad, Justices uphold voter ID law, MILEY CYRUS, HILLARY AGREES, CUT GAS TAX, OBAMMA DOESN’T, US troop deaths at 7 month high, health care cost leave family in street, ROGER CLEMENS, global markets await word from fed, V.A. lied about veteran suicides, MILEY CYRUS, white house undermines e.p.a. MILEY CYRUS, MILEY CYRUS, lawyers claim Cheney not accountable to congress.
. MILEY CYRUS, MILEY CYRUS, . MILEY CYRUS, MILEY CYRUS. . MILEY CYRUS, MILEY CYRUS

Just another day in paradise...

2008-04-30T05:01:00.004-06:00

I woke up this morning to the same ol’ routine. Take Bart out for his morning business, fix him and myself breakfast, and get dressed. Then I’ll go on line, check the headlines, see if anyone I know won the Irish Lottery and if I have something to write I have at it.
Here’s what I have to say today. After reading that, once again, non of the country’s problems are any of Duba-useless fault, being as that the democratic congress won’t pass any of his measures to free up oil reserves in the artic or pass more tax free legislation for the rich I got to wondering, has Georgie Boy taken responsibility for one damn thing in his entire life? It is ALWAYS someone else’s doing, not his.
“I don’t know how the window got broken”, “Neil made me take the car dad”, “The Beave and his friends held me down and made me drink that fifth of scotch”.
How the hell could Eddie Haskell ever have become President? (And no, you don’t need to remind me about the Supreme Court).
What I mean is how could anyone have liked this useless, lying little sack of shit to ever consider him useful for anything?
Oh well, F*!K him, may defecation rain down on him and his far-flung family.
As for me today, I am taking the Porsche to work so I can give it a little airing out before this weekend. This up coming weekend promise to be fun. The good brother John is heading my way and on Sunday we are off towards Boston for ”The Ding Ho Reunion" A Benefit for Comedian Bob Lazarus "One of our Own". (Check out this site for more info-http://www.regenttheatre.com/events/dingho.htm
In the mean time I’ve got work to do and plenty of it.
Until next time, take it easy.
Today I suggest ignoring all forms of media, go outside, breath in some good fresh air and picture your own good time.