The Ozone

TwiTR, Limbaugh and the Peter Principle run amok

2009-03-03T23:35:00.003-05:00

Holy moly can the American attention span shorten yet again? Twitter? And then I hear we have Limbaugh being put forth as a potential "leader" of the Republicans. Surely comparably we are in the final days of Rome?

Recently I was cajoled into joining Facebook and I have to say it also is a waste of time (IMHO): I'm not even going to go look at Twitter. Realizing that I am among a minority that "types", I know abbreviated forms of communication (other than using the telephone) do help other people reach out and touch someone; however? Another friend who recently signed onto Facebook has today announced he's "outta here"...making a similar comment to mine about the inane nature of the nano-dialogs.

At the very head of the list of things that has brought us into these grave times, is bad communication, miscommunication, no communication - and a total absorption with stupid inane things...one of those being our own total self-absorption. So, here we are now and in my belief we will not start pulling out of this depression while I am still alive.

I did vote for Obama, although I would have rather had more choices. He is an eloquent man, very erudite...but thusfar his cabinet choices have been mostly individuals who were "part of the problem" regarding the fiscal disarray we see today. And I'm nauseated watching the Senate and House ramble on (still) about the usual day to day things, as if we were not on the brink of an abyss - life in these United States forever more, wiped out by moral decay.

Bailing out AIG and the banks and brokerages is no solution to anything. Continuing in wars - wherever they are - is not only pointless but a total waste of dollars: taking aside the obvious murdering of the citizenry. I cannot watch the TV by and large or the news, for the most part. It just recycles the same bad ideas that in turn recycle the same platitudes brought up endlessly to convince everyone - that everything - is going to be fine. Soon even, perhaps!

Will this country ever grow up. The one thing I do wish I was able to do is to live surrounded by those who are thinking and who are trying to sort through the verbiage and square off with the facts. Sigh. Seems like there are one in one thousand of those folks out there.

Diminishing Returns

2009-02-12T14:46:00.003-05:00

Arf. We are printing money? Dearie me it is fortunate that I make a mean bean soup. Or how about pea soup. Or how about soup/soup. Lettuce soup comes to mind - or greek garlic lemon? Or or.

What a total bunch of plonkers we have talking ad nauseum over the airwaves each day now, thinking that they can bail out the so and so's who've stolen the assets of everyone through craftily-written financial instruments which were designed to steal from the poor to start with.

Poor in truth, in reality, in the sense that many were poorly "equipped" both educationally and perceptively because they accepted what they were told - and signed on the line. Deceit. Since I have been personally watching this slide since 2003 no one would view this blogger's machinations as any revelation. But my fear levels are rising in view of all the hardships I see on the horizon, for everyone.

Deceit and debauchery: The Road to Perdition

2009-01-19T13:54:00.004-05:00

A fifty million dollar inauguration party? Oh brother. Once again I am in complete agreement with the folks at The Automatic Earth in that we should NOT be spending such a sum, on an inauguration, in these times. Not that we EVER SHOULD spend such a sum on something of this nature.

But then the powers that be, never assess what the middle and lower classes are feeling when they look at - details such as this expenditure. The monies spent on the election cycles are nauseating too and also, we need to put an end to this sort of fracas...because that is, all it is. There is so little "honesty" in any of our processes now.

When we nominate a man such as Timothy Geithner's to be Secretary of the Treasury - and find he is behind in his tax payments - much less claims he did not UNDERSTAND what he had to pay? Come on! I've paid estimated taxes for years and years, even though I was unemployed by my medical problems and my only income comes from the sale of my home - my only asset...having lost jobs for over a decade due to outsourcing: I ended with no pension or 401k. Sooo...I've paid those taxes faithfully - and I don't have a college degree, yet I "understand" that estimated, is due? And yet the Obama people still seem to be supporting this man. And supporting Summers and Rubin too despite their nefarious backgrounds.

Long ago things spun out of control in the land of the brave and home of the free. Free? hmmm If I did not pay my estimated - and my taxes properly on time - I would have people following me and probably be prosecuted. I too will NOT be watching the inauguration. I barely watch any news these days because the corruption - at all levels - is only addressed in the most cursory fashion...and generally not even prosecuted. What kind of a country has this become?

Last week I did see a PBS program entitled "The Ascent of Money" -- which delineates the timelines of the deregulation of the banking and financial markets and gives an overview of how the various fraudulent "instruments" in the form of subprime mortgages to hedge funds, were established and setup. Excellent show - if only every American watched it. Sadly I feel no optimism about the future when our new "change" President - doesn't see that change should encompass putting THIS $50 million dollars of the taxpayers money - elsewhere than into a PARtee.

An unconscionable legacy

2009-01-13T18:56:00.004-05:00

Once again we are forced to listen to the complete nonsense of the man in residence at PA Ave. Naturally - lodestar journalist Helen Thomas hit the description of his legacy, on the money, when asked about that legacy today on Democracy now ... Thomas said, "unconscionable".

Sadly the lack of real journalistic oversight, coupled with nothing but fluff on the boob tube, is in good measure responsible for the misinformed, or uninformed public at large. What can be done about that in a society were upwards of 14% are unable to read - I have no idea. Once again I am just happier that I am older and in the last tier of my own life since I suffer the thought of the future.

Today, another of my journalistic idols at The Automatic Earth - have turned me onto the "Bird and Fortune" video clips (see below). Through very erudite satire this duo has hit all the nail-heads regarding our financial crises. This is perhaps made even more humorous by the fact that I may actually still know folks who could listen to their machinations and have the dialog go over their heads. I do hope they take on B. Madoff. Oh woe is me.

In closing let me say Ms. Thomas has again made the most succinct and accurate remark regarding her expectations of the Obama presidency -- that is that "he needs to develop more courage". Somehow I am always, in agreement with Helen. And anyone not reading The Automatic Earth might want to take up the habit for 2009 since it is a great summation of day to day events.

Bird and Fortune - Subprime Crisis

2009-01-13T18:47:00.001-05:00

Sticks N' Stones

2009-01-03T15:18:00.005-05:00

With fiscal disarray at every corner of the globe, one might "think" that perhaps men would start to reconsider their very very terrible decisions about going to war!! The financial costs of the war in Iraq definitely ARE a huge part of the national bankruptcy here in Amerika... if only all our populace understood how the OUR government only "accounts" for - on it's balance sheets - CURRENT expenditures... nothing else shows up, or is mentioned!!!

Globally everything is about "that's Mine!! gimme that!!! you have no right to live there!! get off my land!!"... and "If I can pay for it, I can own it". Since my teens are now fifty years behind me, my disgust rises like bile in my throat watching things deteriorate even further in one grand military adventure after another. Our planet is glowing from pollution and climate change rapidly eroding our potable water resources, bleaching or flooding our lands, killing off species - and, as such, our ability to feed our over-populated planet diminishes monthly.

So more killing is the way to solve the land grabs and religious and political differences and to make everyone else - fearful ... keep us all in our "place" while a very few - in each country - hold all the wealth and cards? The world has gotten every so much worse, since this idealist grew up. The legalized killing should all stop - and we should all be working on ways to
help our limping environment recover in whatever ways are possible - for the sake of future generations. We need food, housing, health care for all, work at a fair wage, and to keep our imperial noses out of everyone else's affairs.

If we must meddle, let it be through positive diplomatic measures and helping hands - not war. How long have I been thinking, feeling and saying things like this. Do I believe it is possible? - events of this past week indicate I am farting in a windstorm.

YEA! We finally have done a right thing!

2008-11-04T23:30:00.003-05:00

No person in their right mind would want the job of President of the U.S. in today's world. Our finances are that of the Titanic - our people demoralized by a never ending war that should never have been started. Many people out of their homes - even more on the fringe of disaster. No jobs. No healthcare except for the well to do. So here we are and now we have an African-American President. Many states still showed their colors though - and not just Republican colors... it is denial to not acknowledge that racism is still alive and well in this nation. However, I will hope that nothing bad happens to this young man and that he is able to "right" the ship of state - bring our troops home - and reunite the country into a place of unity and peace. Before I am gone. Congratulations President Obama and may the force be with you.

Pre-Election Fright

2008-11-03T06:24:00.003-05:00

Hokey smoke 1 more day! I am so nervous... I am so afraid this election will be stolen (again!) and apparently I am not alone since even Michael Moore (one of my idols) said he felt that way in a recent interview on Democracy Now! It is a grand thing to finally have someone other than a caucasian in the running - and a terrifyingly sad thing to see racism again playing such a big role in the process. I had hoped to see and end to that in this country.

What a mess this whole campaign has been. It has been like a circus and not in any positive sense, including the millions wasted while the country is in fiscal decay. Whatever does happen, if the phoney baloney contingent steals this election then I must consider moving to another country. I cannot sit here and watch another four years of piracy and plundering. And if everyone in this country - this time - if the election is being stolen - does not take to the streets, en mass, then I have no hope left.

And lest anyone think I totally believe the Dem's - I do not. Surely Obama is kidding when he speaks of continuing the war in Afghanistan? Moore spoke about that too - and the very inadequate healthcare plans the Dems have? Come on - all nonsense and insufficient to help the middle class public like myself - much less the poor. I don't bite my nails, but I am thinking about it!!!

Related to a Princess? Gimme a Break!!!

2008-10-09T12:38:00.004-04:00

Waiting on what could be a brutal phone call today, I read that Ms. Palin is related to "Princess Diana". Now come on folks! her folkseyness is rude enough to begin with, her answers (debate or otherwise) nothing but fluff and empty rhetoric...but pLeAse!

Something is the very much the matter with a nation when an individual such as this (male or female) is put forth as a candidate for office, much less a high office in the land. Looking over the "facts" regarding the woman and her family - realizing that if you subtract 50% from most things said, you might come close to reality - there are so many "ethical" questions regarding general conduct that this is, a fearful situation. The minister of her church has a voice that sounds like the demon from the original Exorcist movie. Witch hunts? Life has become a cross between a bad Disney movie and Chiller Double Feature.

Feels more and more like everything is spinning out of control. Such a by-line should "not" be on the face page of Yahoo news. 1. Who Cares!!, and 2. What about more real time information about people's ability to stay ALIVE!!! right now - losing huge portions of their 401k funds - losing their homes. Banksters and Wallstreetsters stealing money left and right. AIG giving Roman parties! Nauseating!

Crisis on Wall Street

2008-09-26T15:37:00.001-04:00

Facing the Elephant - complex but a real breakdown of what is actually happening!

Used...our Abused Society: The Unregulated Fracas

2008-09-20T14:03:00.005-04:00

Nobody "strolls down" and takes a photo when they know it kinda captures what is going on today. Yesterday returning from the food store I noted this banner strung up across the entrance to the yacht dealer - harbor below my windows. First thing that went bada bing! in my mind was that this banner must have been created by the same folks that brought us the bush campaign! Putting a positive humorous face on a sleazy reality.

There are people down there today looking. I should prepare postcards and go down and stroll around passing out handouts -- Hallo! these "featured boats" are the same boats that have sat in the water at their moorings all summer because no one has the extra dollars to "take da boat out'...do you? Hey even I would have loved to have had, a small boat (in my case I would have wanted a sailboat and to learn sailing). However as someone whose salary only achieved in the 30k's at my peak before my health departed (for a mere 2 years or so) - those kinds of expenditures were never in the cards.

Astute informed journalists everywhere today are writing chapter and verse about how deregulation and then the heinous illegal selling of 0 collateral mortgages - for houses at very INFLATED prices to begin with - sold to those who could not afford those houses on one of their good days ... was the off balance Ace of Spades toppling our house of cards. I knew folks who signed up for these mortgages and I even know someone who remortgaged at an unaffordable sum in order to finance his small business. Sale of his home and all he had on the cusp of foreclosure occurred in June of this summer. The saddest worst part of everything including the illegal war is that none of the people responsible for perpetrating these occurrences, is even in a loop to be prosecuted. I am not living with the reality of that very well.

COOKING da Books

2008-09-15T20:29:00.004-04:00

TaDa! My new stove (cooker for all my friends in UK). Time to give into the fact that I will NEVER have the moola to finish fixing up my kitchen, and that my 1987 stove is more than half gone, sooo

Today I got my very first - all new, stove with convection, self-cleaning oven, and smooth top surface with five (get that 5 !) burners!!! On sale and free shipping and despite the fact that next year their may be no such store, or manufacturer... well I'd rather do this than get caught later. Pray for me with my extended warranty.

I think between the lines and lies on Wall Street and at Pennsylvania Avenue, we have a rolling dirge proceeding towards another great Depression. If so I wanna at least go out with a new stove before I exit the planet. The totally awe inspiring thing about the events of the past few months is that people just don't seem to understand the balONEy they have been served by fund managers, all along. HeLLoooo out there. 6 into 4 won't go. Pave paradise, put up a parking lot! Our McMansions, Land Yachts and other obscene attempts at having and living the lifestyles of the rich and famous? hmmm could be we are in the death nell

Bridges to Nowhere - Our Infrastructure

2008-09-10T17:14:00.007-04:00

Watching C-span - the Senate today, discussing the infrastructure was like diving into a pothole. When I was traveling back and forth from my new home base - to my old home base (in excess of 500 miles each way) - I took advice from a friend and... took an alternate route through the NYC area. Doing so - after doing my usual dyslexic wrong way on one expressway (delaying me well over one hour) - I crossed the Verrazano Narrows bridge for the first time in say twenty years.

I am still here. My car is still in one piece. But...crossing just at dusk after my 20+ miles in the wrong direction on that other expressway...I was faced with lurching towards the bridge siderails without pause for thought - to avoid being side-swiped by a car - swerving to avoid the potholes!! (craters!!) on the bridge. You would only "know" about these potholes if you crossed the bridge regularly... I did try and research my routes before the trips to avoid detours, construction, or major road failures (there is no one site that provides these kinds of information).

Sadly this is only one example of the state of everything - bridges, highways, school buildings. The list is endless and the neglect decades in the making. We surely have jobs for many people - skilled and unskilled - to bring everything back up to standard or code in these areas - as well as huge opportunities in all the environmentally friendly energy industries to get on a right path with our transport modes. **Caveat here - without any further building or use of nuclear power please... we have no space for any more spent plutonium: the safety and condition of all our plants also being a part of, our deteriorated infrastructure (duh?).

However - how are we going to get back to the right paths with fiscal bankruptcy looming large. And we have a bridge to nowhere veep candidate who believes everyone should produce more children. I am worn out. Anyone else feel the same?

http://www.asce.org/reportcard/2005/page.cfm?id=103

Abbott and Costello - Math

2008-08-27T15:07:00.001-04:00

This is exactly the same kind of "math" the banks and financial institutions are using!! Even my dyslexic jumbled math and failure at Algebra 1 - tells me this is questionable?

Moon in Saturn? (not) 1999 Saturn SC1 – A troubled history

2008-08-24T15:05:00.006-04:00

It's white – it's benign looking to be sure. 1999 seems like a lifetime ago, but back then all I wanted in “wheels” was good front wheel drive transport that got decent mileage. My internet reviews showed that Saturn had a reasonable reputation in the industry...sooo. That should be the end of the story, but due to the fact that from 1999 through nearly 2004 I was unwell enough I did not even drive 3,000 miles a year – I got taken to the cleaners!! regarding this lemon of a vehicle.

At this late date I write this all down since last winter I discovered the inside of the passenger compartment had major water leakage. And I always had “moisture problems” inside the windows. But due to my health issues and the major move to a new home (in a state where my health insurability would be protected) this “new problem” was not addressed until now. To digress - part of this delay was because I had a major leak inside my newly purchased condo (about which both the realtor & owner lied on the disclosure agreements). 2007 was a blur of tearing out a six foot square of my living room ceiling (on the 6th of 8 floors mind you)... and attendant schlock workmen spewing slurry on my first time brand new carpeting – and uniformly covering my new living room
furniture with paster dust.

No wonder I did not get to the car's newest problem... I would say.

Below this entry you will find copies of the 1st Saturn Dealer repair – a REBUILD to the engine at 29,000 + miles (out of warranty) costing $2,059.17 and again a subsequent bill showing the additional repair replacement of a defective rocker arm – work done by an excellent local garage...
another several hundred dollars.

So I owned the car from 1999 through 2005 only putting 29,749 miles on the innocuous looking car, when I developed a catastrophic engine knock. I should digress and say that back in the 1970's my second husband and I had owned a sports car repair garage and during those years I not only learned much about engine and transmission repairs, but also about cars in general...so I have never considered myself a true novice since.

The steel on steel knocking was no mere “ping”... it was a jaw-dropping and heart skipping sound of real trouble. I knew it. But I also knew the car was well out of warranty despite it's mileage due to it's AGE. So, I proceeded to a local garage that I trusted... with ethical hard-working
real mechanics who knew their stuff.

I asked Pete to remove the valve cover to the engine (for the 1st and only time it had ever been removed on the car) – give it a visual look over – and call me. My wake-up call the next day wasn't a good one – not that I was expecting a “Hallo... can't see a thing.... looks OK to me. Can't be anything serious!” kind of call... My friends all know I am one of those folks with my own personal – black cloud, so: Pete said – “Hey! Get over here and have a look. We have all looked. We called another service station – their mechanics all came over...none of us can believe it!! There is an ENGINE PIECE missing!! Really!!! Never seen this sort of thing before!!! Wow!! The piece is called a “Valve Lifter Guide” and you can see it is missing without us touching the engine at all!!!”

aaargh I went over. I did not own a digital camera at that moment, and sadly was up to my eyeballs in a life catastrophy problem: my mother having just been installed in a nursing home – by her doctor. Since 2002 besides my own problems – all I had attended to was my mother's deteriorating condition – doctors, emergency rooms...and a partridge in a pear tree.

Pete did take photos of the engine with the cover to the engine off – but they did not come out well enough to use them - plus it was middle of the winter – with 2 feet of snow on the ground. Pete naturally wanted the Saturn dealer to work with this repair since it was a “factory defective” parts issue. I agreed, but would have preferred Pete make the repairs.... cheaper no doubt, and certainly done with due diligence. However

I did, naturally contact Saturn. What ensued is nothing new to women living on their own – in the world of men. I wrote a Certified Letter to the heads of Saturn – spoke to their Customer Service Reps – as well as to the head of my local dealership. That local dealership is owned and run by a man who also owns MOST OF the dealerships in that pretentious horrid town – who has a terrible reputation with nearly all his customers, unless they also belong to his Country Club and are
part of – the monied ruling class. I personally contacted him myself – trying to maintain my composure in the midst of issues with mother. Naturally I NEVER did speak with Beans (much less meet with) - he diverted my call to his son-in-law, who voiced platitudes and blew me off besides. As an only child, with no other family even living in that area – or even willing to lend a hand or word...I tried to stand up for my rights and myself.

Long story short but Saturn did send in a “factory technical representative” for a going over of the engine and matter – along with the technical rep at the dealership. The Saturn dealership SERVICE MANAGER however – would not allow me to be present – for that conference...and in fact was surly and unpleasant with me. But that would be my word against his, wouldn't it? I did the usual female thing when I returned home that day. Do I need to say it.

So I obviously could not go get another car. They did try to get me to trade this bum in on a newer vehicle... taking on more car payments --- and another “devil you don't know compared to the
devil you do”... which I soundly refused. In 2005 I had been out of work with my medical problems since 2002 – fighting insurance cancellation, etc. So, I went through with this $2,059.00 repair... only to have more trouble surface in the form of a bad ROCKER ARM in 2006 – which may or may not have been one that was bad, or going bad, at the time of the 2005 engine rebuild ... (or was a replacement part that was in turn itself, bad). Who knows. I did not call that dealer again needless to say. Saturn sent me a "fruitcake" (somehow doubly insulting in view of circumstances), and a car mug [who cares] for my $2,059.17.

So August 2008 will include another go round with a glass specialist trying to solve the buckets of water the car leaks into the passenger compartment and also in the trunk. This fellow was so kind, and so normal in talking with him – I have confidence that he will, fix this issue. If I am lucky and he does – I will write him and his business up on the internet because finding honest repair people
is more than, a shot in the dark. And kindness? Isn't that what the world and people, should be about? Where is Peter Sellers when you need him!

1999 Saturn SC1 Repair Bills and Mileage

2008-08-24T14:59:00.007-04:00

The "Morgan's Garage" bill - From an honest true blue reliable shop with skilled workmen.

Self-Indulgence, Ego and Perpetual War

2008-08-16T15:22:00.006-04:00

Childhood memories hold a jumble of unrelated mental blurbs, everything from certain toys you had or bad cases of poison ivy, to curiosities about photos in your parents albums.
Vividly I can only imagine now, what memories and unforgettable times my parents surely had in Manila during WWII. This photo is of my father standing with another American officer and an Australian (on the plane itself) which had already been ransacked for mementos by other servicemen. In the Army medical corps, my father dealt with water sanitation for his unit and the unmentionable STD's (which he did speak to me about when I was old enough). But other than a total disdain for war in a general sense, he did not want to speak about the war - period.
Later years when Viet Nam was happening, both my parents spoke with horror of the realities Churchill had spoken of - that we would be doomed, and in fact repeating past mistakes, in going into other wars in the first place. Both parents questioned the necessity of that war - and my mother of course questioned the war in Iraq from it's start.
Weekly I sigh at hearing callers to C-span, with anger in their voices, shaming others in this country for "not supporting the troops" and other such admonishments. Even though we have all repeatedly stated that our non-support of "war" has NO connection to a "non-support of troops"... still these misperceptions persist. And as Eisenhower said - it is our military industrial complex - combined with a throughly entrenched corporate culture supporting only the greed and avarice of a few people now holding all the straws - that has emptied our coffers, as well as sucked up oil resources (as if Hummers and tanks don't abuse gasoline?).
So we consider engaging in Iran - and/or engaging in the Georgia/Russia fracas? What can we be thinking? The country is bankrupt - everything from the housing debacle (pushed by legislation loosening regulations on the banking industry brought to you by the likes of Phil Gramm started during the Reagan administration), to the nearly bereft of all logic - tax laws allowing most corporations to pay 0 or minuscule taxes.
And yet those very military/industrial folks and their mindsets still seem to believe that when we no longer have a middle-class to pay taxes (since we are paying more of them than any other group)...that things will still be fine? Except for the corporate farmers, our mom & pop farmers are going belly-up in huge numbers. We have horrid numbers of people forced to swallow their remaining pride and apply for food stamps - the food banks are mostly empty and struggling besides? What is wrong with everyone. Open your eyes!! Except for writing down my total disdain for what is happening, has happened, and what is being proposed...and always voting - as always it is the people in power who have to make changes! We need a total change. And at this late date we have to put our own country to rights starting with bringing jobs back home, creating a healthcare system for everyone, and working out how to care for all the veterans and their lives that have been wrecked by the greed and avarice of the men at the top. All this without even mentioning the total decimation of the country of Iraq and the millions of lives we have brought to an end. Lastly do we really BELIEVE we have any right to tell Russia what to do, after the things we have done in Viet Nam and in Iraq? As a nation we are overdue to connect the dots from what have been our own actions/reactions...and the fiscal and psychological results both abroad and at home.

Can You Hear Me Now? Liars, con men & creeps

2008-08-05T15:56:00.005-04:00

When my mother's pension fund sent a notice through of a considerable lowering of her monthly income several months back, it nearly hit dead-on, the expected raise in rates of the nursing home. That sum now equals about $7k per month, without medications or other extras, or her medicare and insurance premiums. We are 3/4 the way through year four now.

lalalalala So many people are STILL not listening. lalalalala Like many other bloggers, I started tuning in and reading through massive financial blogs in order to keep my own head above the sand. Personally I would prefer to have an idea whether or not tomorrow was the day my arse was being blown to smithereens...so I can cover my eyes, or attempt to hobble away with my bad knee joints! Apparently far too many other folks - are in the ostrich category.

Except for Democracy Now! and the world of bloggers, the media by and large are still covering piffle including the latest advice about how to invest your money for retirement. ALL of the people I count as friends, do not have any spare dollars to invest, in anything. Many are early retired and struggling to work out how to keep "some kind of" health insurance - or how to plan for next winter's heating bills. I fall in this category and have lived with being uninsured or under-insured most of my mostly-working life.

The yachts at the club near my building, stayed moored at their slips all Spring and Summer - few ever were out cruising the bay. Most of the Spring and Summer for my friends and family brought a reassessment of current finances and a cutting of most unessential expenditures. I've been shopping at the Dollar Store and Wally World since 2002 when I lost my last job...so I've been ready a long time. However,

Sitting on one's yacht, bobbing about moored at a slip, still beats what July 08 brought to me personally. Through a friend here I was introduced to a man, she thought, she knew well. Divorced, grown children - and a seemingly good sense of humor - he seemed a possible person to date and/or have fun with - back in March that is. It's end of July now and he's done a runner, catching me completely off guard. Since I refuse to be victimized (which is how I feel) I will give him some press here. Women of Maine watch out for a 61 year old man from Scarborough who frequents and buys/sells toys at the flea markets in and around the area. He swore not only that he loved me - but that he would be faithful - and never ever leave me.

He runs on his monthly cash - having no credit cards - and at tax time - did not have his money to pay his taxes. Like the new partner and woman in his life I thought I was - I loaned him the money. Yes - he did pay it back. But I now suspect that is just "part of his routine": to gradually gain the woman's confidence and then, take financial advantage. To me directly, he spoke of other women he had been involved with - including intimate details about them that no one would wish publicized. As his partner, to be told these kinds of details I viewed as very unwell...and I did tell him that because he also seemed to find his revelations about these other women, funny somehow. His habits and behavior was often very coarse and I was trying to steel my way through much of this, thinking he had been alone quite a while.

He habits not only the flea markets but sales and also goes to regular church suppers (often with one of his mature sons) - always trying to find gold or silver to purchase -- and toys. He's mostly bald, over six feet tall and wears ball caps with I BUY TOYS emblazoned on the cap. From the bottom of my heart I believe he is a very practiced and artful con man. He is also quite a creep. No one swears love and devotion and constancy and walks out on someone they have declared a "partner", without ever even having a proper good talk with the person - except someone who fits into one of those categories. Be aware and be warned. Don't play ostrich regarding your life.

First Outdoor Concert Nearby

2008-07-02T23:30:00.008-04:00

Lovely night out tonight - and a free outdoor concert with a great band! I was happy to sit and listen to the music from my folding chair nestled under a large tree - breeze blowing.
Naturally I had just settled when a 6'4" man, wife and children settled in front of me - replacing the first group with two boys...one of whom is NOT going to be a music lover I fear. I did manage to grab a photo of him with his response when the band started (and, it was not loud -- those of us that lived the 60's know what LOUD is)! His parents had to hustle away... to some safe location.
This will be the summer I think for most here in AmEreeKa because traveling to former preferred locations ain't an option any more. It could still have been if those same folks did not own Hummers or Cheby SubURbeens and the like. And if those same folks were not expectating on the crude prices this next winter!! Eeech. At least my somber childhood prepared me for now - that's the good part in my case.

Sunrise, Sunset??... end of our culture

2008-06-15T15:09:00.009-04:00

This is a sunrise - from today, here. However I feel it is a sunset we are watching as a nation, when I see such fragmented statements as those made recently in public forums by politicians - about this heinous war.

As a people we seem unable to "connect the dots" - we forget past quotes and comments, we fail to look at the actual decisions of the same people we elect to public office. Keith Olbermann this week once again tore apart one of the people running for office of President, and showed film clips of his various remarks dating back to 2002 - clearly showing the utter obfuscations of those remarks - coupled with the hubris of a statement made regarding the unimportance of lives lost in Iraq...when viewing the "overall" picture and future!! gained from having, this war.

The public here has not thought clearly for decades it seems to me and I shudder to think about what these future years will bring in a nation where the middle-class has disappeared - the poor are becoming poorer... and we blow and burn our money on senseless marketing campaigns for the campaigns of people who should (at best) be sitting home playing checkers. Everything here is about nothing other than money and power and greed/avarice and $175 hamburgers. What bull.

Eliot Spitzer

2008-03-12T18:48:00.004-04:00

Honestly!! With my varied and sometimes more than I would have wanted, experience - I am sick to death of men and their sh*tty behavior!!! Eliot really. My mind waxed off to what could possibly be worth between $3 and $5k an hour?? much less $31,000/day!!! Back when I had a man in my life who really did scatter my acorns, there was little I would not have done for him - or learned, in order to keep him sexually in MY bed. So sad.

Then my mind placed Sir Eliot in a set of those leather straps with metal studding - head cage and all... either whip in hand - or being bent over and whipped by a female in full gear. Somewhere between the Dominatrix Room - and the Matrix!! Ride me baby. Now what would make anyone do things like that, when they have managed to cull hundreds of thousands of dollars from supporters and go through election cycles and attained a position loaded with power and paid handsomely? His wife is a beautiful woman in appearance and no doubt well educated and without question a person who is interesting? And yet?

What is the H the matter with everyone? anyhow. And the Presidenital election cycle is equally disgusting - as if someone whose husband was in office 8 years - and who was part of the those who voted for the war in Iraq and also - was in favor of the trade agreements - should have a right to attain and be voted into - that same office?? The public isn't thinking either it seems and the woman is (in my mind) quite possibly another one who could very well wear one of those strappy outfits too!! Not a pretty picture. I've worked for lots of females like that sadly. Bullies with not one fragment of female gentility remaining in them.

McCain?? hmmm well coming from a deeply military family and part of the Washington gravy train - how would someone like that be equipped to bring about fiscal responsibility to D.C. - much less care to restore the social programs this country so desperately needs? Feels more and more everything is spinning out of control.

Shafta NAFTA

2008-03-02T14:07:00.006-05:00

We are so "shafted"!!! While doing a bit of research regarding the new fluorescent light bulbs, I came across the site linked here regarding some facts on NAFTA ... because besides the bulbs, I was responding to a comment online addressing the safety (mercury) issues with the bulbs - and also spoke about the government mandate and use of MTBE in gasoline!!

While with an engineering firm in another state in 1996-1999 I was there when the first problems with MTBE in the groundwater and wells in that same area - became known. These engineers were THE engineers for the local water authorities not only in my county - but for several of the surrounding counties. Typing the actual reports on the status of the local water supplies, I pointedly asked direct questions of the few engineers WILLING to discuss this heinous situation. Each in turn said that all the chemists and scientists KNEW how lethal this additive was, as well as what a high level carcinogen, it was!!! They also said that MTBE could not be 'completely' filtered out, at least as far as the capabilities of the filtration systems that existed then were concerned.

So here we are now - and the public having become more aware of the total lack of oversight regarding public health and safety, now wants to NOT segue into use of these fluorescent bulbs due to their mercury content. Logical - however it is more than likely that the hubbub about the bulbs is directly related to the companies! that produce the OLD bulbs, not wanting to retool their company - than with public safety. Money governs all decisions it seems!!

I would suggest everyone go to this site with information on NAFTA - and see how a Canadian company that produces MTBE - helped leverage it's use here - and how NAFTA is also setup to provide easy access to lawsuits back and forth between the U.S., Canada, Mexico - and the World Bank - who oversees many of the lawsuits (IS THIS A "CIRCLE JERK" OR WHAT???) -- and

Carry on. We need to rethink - and not only with changes in Washington at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, we also need to completely 'clean house' in the Senate and House - and put the public's welfare - back in as PRIORITY 1 which includes the DEP, the FDA, HUD and all agencies. This will mean rescinding the corrupt laws that exist, and in my view - demolition of all the trade agreements and
laws that have allowed OFF-SHORING of our entire job base. Employ Americans First!!
(which is not - in any way - a swipe at alien or immigrant workers, their own need to work or earn a living!!)

Create new jobs ... through clean environmental products, real standards of public safety first. A new WPA - fixing schools and the rest of our infrastructure, cleanup our food supply, the safety of our medications and on and on. I am not - as usual - holding my breath.

http://www.mindfully.org/WTO/NAFTA-Powerful-Secret.htm

Realtors...next to Politicians? Who is the bigger liar?

2008-02-04T19:39:00.000-05:00

Dance of the 7 Veils... Veiled in Stupidity

2008-01-16T21:15:00.001-05:00

Sword to shoulder with an expression like a gargoyle, oh brother! Sadly our witless leader does not realize that after this Sword dance, comes an escorted trip to the chambers of the harem and instructions on changing into women's dancing garb.
Then, the dance of the 7 veils (which Herodias's daughter in the Bible was supposed to have participated), will ensue for everyone's entertainment. He'll have nothing on Salome. However, NOW the big party REALLY starts when the Dance of the 7 Veils is completed and he's ushered into the tent of the leader, and ... um, boinked (wishing I dared used the more visceral term here)!!!
Clueless. Our leadership can't even speak a complete sentence and our foreign policy is based on neither intelligence nor education about either Middle Eastern, or Asian cultures (much less customs) and we are now sandwiched between the two - with them holding, all the gold. And among cultures, both are infamous for their ruthlessness. Oh my gawd.

Dennis Kucinich & ABC News

2008-01-04T23:12:00.001-05:00

Kiss my hand said the princess? Citronella was what I named a doll I had as a child since I could not say the Disney name for the proverbial cartoon character. Oddly even a truckload of citronella candles could not hold off the mosquitoes that should be buzzing around this weekend's Democratic debate since ABC has seen fit to 'disallow' Dennis Kucinich's participation.

Surely we have all become rats on the runway of life if the only information provided to us regularly (and worse yet, important to us) is Brittany's latest escapade or what's "in" in Paris. We could not be at a more crucial moment in the history of this country and the news is not reaching the public -- unless that is, an individual has a computer and looks at sites other than TMZ or ones carrying porno movie downloads.

When folks think it's acceptable for Chuck Norris to be in the group photo behind a Presidential candidate, I mentally wax off to edit my shopping lists. Nothing is making any sense. World affairs are messier by the minute and this is what is on the telly?? OMG OMG

We need the Big Top and circus music and some weird clowns...

Mortgage Mendacity

2007-12-01T15:34:00.000-05:00

December. Holiday time? Hard to feel the "joy" of the holidays when your family is about to go into foreclosure? With two friends in this situation right at this moment in time, I am wondering what the world will look like a year from now? With one friend here in my new location (and my favorite great carpenter/artist besides), and one back in my former home area... in this horrid situation because of balloon mortgages (or other deceptive practices involved in the mortgages they have) - I can't feel holidayish!

Pffft. While the politicians raise and blow billions on advertising campaigns to sway voters, the war continues ad nauseam, and as a nation we have taken our first step into being told where we can and cannot go in Asian waters by our key debt-holder? what will tomorrow bring? Good thing I got over Christmas and the holidays early on and was happy with a day where I had a pleasant dinner and no arguments among the participants!

The meaningless word "PEACE"

2007-10-28T12:44:00.001-04:00

Sadly I have searched the online files looking for good coverage of what was supposed to be the national marches this weekend. C-span so far has failed to give ANY coverage at all.

Why do we value kindness and the values that really do matter, so little? Why must we bludgeon and murder one another and steal property and natural resources and yet our various representatives blah blah on in a blather about meaningless things that matter not at the end of the day? I ceased to understand while I was still in my 20's much less now. As a country I fear we are gone if no one will stand up to these heinous crimes against humanity. Culture? What culture? - a vapid vacuous absorption with Brittany or the Royal Family (whose conduct is none-to-pristine either - admit it) or a wider accumulation of bling and fancy cars? That is not humanity. And a college degree from an ivy league institution? ...that is what we have in this "cretin in charge" of this nation. The degrees and certificates are Meaningless for the most part in my opinion... many as much as purchased by family power, nothing more. As Shakespeare said... full of sound and fury meaning absolutely nothing!

Peace Please - peace! we are not paying attention

2007-09-09T13:47:00.001-04:00

And to this I would add the photo of my friend and great artist, Dave Falciani - in memoriam. He knew.

New Orleans 2 years hence - Death of our Society

2007-09-02T15:09:00.001-04:00

Losing - we are losing. Recently enduring the loss of four friends, all under age 60 - one a genius jazz artist only 46, I watched the recent newsreels updating information on the rebuilding of New Orleans. The only accurate programs were on Democracy Now! and even with more than one day dedicated to the Democracy Now! programming, it still does not depict the loss and suffering STILL THERE today.

True much of society and numerous organizations came into the area as immediately as they could to help, but our government did not. And while many organizations did do as much as they could do humanly, why are organizations such as the Red Boss ...I say that since the bosses of this group generally pocket much of the money raised!! - still listed as "lifesaving". It is time for the truth to come out across the country.

One of the goals since this horrid storm has been to privatize the city. This is a goal in many places in the U.S. and the ever present private military contractors such as "PollutedWater" and others - immediately sent into New Orleans and other storm areas - testify to this. It has only been the strongest and healthiest of the poor minorities in the city that have been able to either remain there - or rebuild. Were I strong and fiscally stable besides I would have hoped to have participated somehow...having visited the city in happier times to partake of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

The New Orleans climate always was awful for me personally - even in April/May at Jazz Fest time you would wring the perspiration out of your clothing if you were outside five minutes. Sunblock 100 was needed all the time. However the city was one of our most beautiful - but that is - not just buildings and homes and tropical growth. What matters? should easily have been the beautiful people and the culture and the music and artistic community...which were unique and cannot be replaced. And a good portion of this community were minorities - most were poor besides.

Similar to the neocons today and their blasphemous hatred of those in the gay community, this country has never really come to grips with it's hatred of minority populations, much less the poor besides. We don't acknowledge that the caste system is alive and well here in the U.S. Hell it is alive and well in the building I live in - those with their yachts here only a few months each year, will not even say hello to this white face in the elevator!!

Hatred needs to end here. And along with that, a proper sense of values based on a standard of honesty - integrity - sharing - kindness - and knowledge of the realities around us. We need to find new guidelines for judging both humans and situations...and based on a loving honest spirit and nothing else. I'm old now and won't be around a great many more years and I do not expect anything to change. Greed and avarice are the bywords here. A dulling of the senses has taken oven long ago - and the rich and powerful rationalize everything!!

Do most people recognize that ALL of the teacher's in New Orleans were fired as part of the aftermath of the storm? And now they are setting up private schools there? Will they use those same school busses that were allowed to flood instead of taking the poor out of the city? For me those busses symbolized the death of our culture - only the roof of what was, still appearing beneath the polluted waters below.

Then, we have been killing hundreds of thousands in Iraq, much less our own soldiers. For what? Oil? Land grabs? This area was the cradle of civilization and had a culture and system far outdating our own. New Orleans was "our" city with a cultural wealth that made it one of our finest examples of peoples living together, albeit in a less than perfect order. However do the executives and monied have the right now to take over and squeeze out the real citizenry? No. No, no, no, no - open your eyes America. New Orleans is only the first city in line for privatization because it was wiped out by the storm. It is the middleclass and poor that are being squeezed out.

What a place.

Warriors...the time has come

2007-07-29T17:07:00.001-04:00

Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming...all dead in Ohio. We are brain dead watching the vapid innocuous crap on the TV and following along on C-span watching the "men in charge" taking no action except more talk. Our court system starting at the top is corrupt. Not everyone of course - but certainly all the key individuals. We have become a nation that more easily turns it's head away regarding our core values, as long as the gas guzzling Navigator purrs in the driveway - and the coffers overflow with huge sums to supply our platinum cards.

We need a warrior!! We need men prepared to take to the streets again and take the nation back. We are clearly in the last days of Rome and I am old and not physically strong enough to endure what has become of this country, much less the people around me. With a week that included the news that one of my very favorite jazz artists and someone I consider as close as a SON, is now fighting cancer. And in the same precarious position I have been in most of my life - uninsured or under-insured!! Michael Moore's latest documentary SICKO definitely hits the high spots of this issue - meanwhile we play the usual games - the legislature promptly coming out with new "plans" to cover 'children at least'...

Lies - more lies. There basically is not one area of important government oversight in this country which has not gone to hades in a handbasket since this administration took over. We are a country run by the corporation, for the corporation, and even moreso for the military supplier corporations and the drug companies and hospital/nursing home providers. Our education system is in a state of complete collapse, graduating only about 50% of students especially in inner city areas. Our journalists and new media are all owned by a handful of big corporations, and journalism has been prepackaged vacant press releases - imbedded with pure bull, for so long that no facts reach the public by and large.

We need a warrior. We need warriors. We need change and we must put honesty and integrity back into government. We need the total dissolution of campaign financing and to have this made a public endeavor with each person given the same time and space in print or televised arenas. We need a leveling of the tax structure and the throwing out of the free-pass for corporations - no more 'inversions' - no more tax cuts and deductions for contract labor. America first. Isolationism you say? hmmm we have to put Americans back to work.

With no sense of good future prospects here, I feel lifeless and sad beyond description. My father took this photo in New Guinnea during WWII. The complexity and problems of those times seemed so clear cut compared to today's corrupt sleazy world. I am at a loss.

Bridge is UP... my feet are up

2007-06-10T22:54:00.000-04:00

After experiencing my first "gates open" at the bridge to the downtown port district, I came home and put my feet up since the sofa is finally here. Not exciting for anyone else, but a biggie for me since I had a very uncomfy futon for 15 year prior to this.

Lots of sighing today in my case, thinking of all the poor soldiers in Iraq and all the innocent lives lost by the moment each day with no action yet taken to bring things to a halt. What in hell is the matter with everyone - especially men in general. Why must aggression rule - why must they always reach out and take whatever it is they want with no regard for limb, much less the lives of those they have just taken from? It sure proved true in my personal life...men have by and large drained me into the vestige of myself that now remains.

What remains of the men who do manage to return from this fracas isn't going to be any good for their families frequently - returning from the hell of tropical heat, bugs and diseases. Mentally many will be harmed equal to or perhaps worse than those who returned from Vietnam...and I knew many that did not function after they did get back - ever!

Cindy Sheehan has walked away from her efforts / I still watch the Congress and Senate regularly, albeit not every day. I just cannot stand watching these blowhards blah blah - trying to pass a heinous immigration amnesty bill that would add trillions to our national debt paid on credit - while there is no money here at home for schools, roads, proper care for the Vets - much less the socialized medicine we so deeply need. I'm sick of everything. Good thing the sofa arrived.

April NorEaster ooooWooooOOp

2007-05-04T15:23:00.000-04:00

Only sound effects would describe storms here. So I've now experienced my first NorEaster and I am duly impressed. These are photos taken by friend Brian: he not only braved the storm to take some pictures, but he and son Ben were out there in it until they were dripping, literally. Hearing the ooo's and eeee's and wooop's I heard a tapping at my door and there they were, dressed up like children always are going out to play in the snow - I should have gotten my own camera out and taken that photo.

Many vital lessons were learned that day, including the realities of my building and the leaks that followed. Did you know that some wind/rain can even penetrate a brick building? I didn't. I do now. But dramatic weather is one of life's interesting events and I can easily see it will never be dull living here. There are no bad views from my balcony -- and best of all, a rather eccentric sort such as myself doesn't even stand out in a crowd. That might be, the best part of all.

Thank You...Keith Olbermann

2007-04-25T21:17:00.000-04:00

The hubris of Giuliani. You used the wording I would have used Keith, and said most of the things that need saying regarding this "candidate". Except that his record is far far deeper in mud as far as I am concerned - some of the crispest of which relates to all those who were UNABLE to file to receive food stamps or housing at a poverty level, because his staff had made the necessary "forms" to make such petitions, conveniently unavailable!!

In a country as rich as this one, where illegals are now given free healthcare and all sorts of other benefits many citizens cannot gain access to - what about those in real need of food and housing for their families, living at the poverty line? How many thousands more went cold and hungry during your administration, so you could look good on the "cutting the welfare roles" record. Unforgiveable and heinous.

The patronage that went on during your years in New York is nothing new in the world of politics as usual. The aftermath of the WTC event on September 11, is yet another thing. Any fool - and perhaps I am a big fool - recognized that the air for perhaps blocks and blocks around the building, could NOT be safe on any level. With those buildings having been built way back when? one could assume they contained asbestos - much less all the other types of chemical contaminants one would find from the explosion of two huge jet airliners?

You and Christine Todd Whitman of NJ are both equally culpable in not protecting the rescue workers - much less all those living in the areas immediately around the buildings.

But what about campaign funding - and where all the money for your campaigns has come from? Some through a man there in NY and his vulture fund rapes of certain African nations? I lack adequate personal research to speak to that in more depth - but that should also place you in the "no vote" register. Crimes against humanity. And today you added in more fearmongering. Go away Rudy you are completely disgusting.

OK! So now how about removing Roughneck Limbaugh and Swill O'Reilly from public airwaves?

2007-04-12T01:24:00.000-04:00

A Women w/adam's apple accuses who? of what?

2007-03-07T14:24:00.000-05:00

Ann Coulter needs to be on unemployment, thank you very much. What a week with the likes of Scooter Libby having the audacity to go after an appeal in the court system. And we should pardon him? Please! Nothwithstanding that Patrick Fitzgerald was apparently somewhat culpable regarding issues pertaining to bin Laden way back when (so perhaps his actions are penance, or is this just another diversionary tactic [my cynicism knows no bounds with D.C. right now])... what is the world coming to.

Journalists of course are no longer journalists by and large; but HAD the actual evidence of this administration's imperialistic mindset and/or the original document written years before we immersed ourselves in this debacle come to light, would the public have paid attention?

With American Idol and drivel like most of the reality TV shows holding sway, along with the Roman games in the form of sporting events, taking the attention of a percentage of the rest of the public - who is minding the store? Robert Frisk of London's Independent paper writes that since many people never considered the residents of this country (Iraq) worthy of their concern in the first place, it's only been the rude reality of the emptying of our coffers and our own soldiers deaths that have finally awakened the public. Not everyone sadly - but from personal observation I went hoarse for the first few years of this war, trying to break the spell of the propaganda even among my friends for Pete's sake.

Calling John Edwards a faggot is humorous coming from a "woman" whose adam's apple is larger than most men's. She even walks like a man, and other than being the American ideal of thin and rich - there is nothing feminine or appealing about this broad. Coarse.

The hubris of this remark in view of the fact that there are actually video clips of Rudy Giuliani in drag standing aside Donald Trump. And many in the public sector are supposedly supporting Giuliani? They should research the "vulture loans" and how many huge sums bilked from third world countries (through these loans and their perpetrators) have been fed back into the campaigns of the likes of W and 'supposedly' Giuliani?

And Rudy? Wasn't Rudy in good measure responsible for not protecting workers in the 9/11 cleanup? Not to mention his actions which, while cleaning up street violence, often resorted to extreme tactics in doing so - and his welfare reforms which threw huge numbers of people into the red zone of nothingness? It is time for the public to get rid of their amnesia and also to start reading.

Also we are long overdue for the Republican party overall to take a harsh look at the bombastic blowhards like Limbaugh and a cast of thousands whose personal lives won't hold up to any close scrutiny. How many have been involved in scandals surrounding double lives, thieving and pilfering of public funds - and in the case of those now highest up - downright lies leading into national fiscal bankruptcy and the murdering of hundreds of thousands in the Middle East?

Ann Coulter just fits right in with the rest of these invidivuals...just another corrupt, strange being. And this week, another Republican male cutie has turned out to be gay...shown in photos with Coulter? Homosexuality is not an illness or a "choice" - and this is another area where the public (especially in the U.S.) needs to grow the "f" up. There are good and bad folks in that sector of society - just as there are in all the other groups. It is the lifetime concealment of the fact that carries with it, inherent dangers and hypocrisy.

Time to connect the dots. Follow the money. Vulture funds - forced resignations of Federal Judges - campaign funding and full disclosure. I vote we give every candidate X amount of free TV/radio airtime and disallow ALL funding over $100 - and make it illegal to work through laws and form groups for the soul purpose of creating a 'workaround' to go beyond the laws. Throw out lobbying all together. I'll be buried and gone and won't be holding my breath.

the RABBIT in the room

2007-02-17T10:26:00.000-05:00

A white rabbit seems just the appropriate present for the arrival of my 2nd brand new nephew in Scotland. Welcome to the world Neil. Arriving during a veritable perfect storm of global issues, I can only hope that by time he and his cousin Ewan are grown, that the world has replaced greed, avarice and obfuscation with proper caring perspectives.

Passing of the rebuttal to the pressie's new surge plans in Iraq this week, took over three days of machinations...during which how many more lives were lost in the Middle East? While watching this I also managed to catch another news program showing information on something new - something called a "vulture fund" and this new work-around regarding how to bilk money out of third world countries! (probably not new - just newly being revealed to the general public)

Please look this up - any of you who do still read my blog -- since it relates to a billionaire in New York name of Singer, who is also a chief contributor to this pressie - as well as an organizer and contributor to Guiliani and his plans - and connected directly to Jack Abramoff and a host of other bad guys.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/
hi/programmes/newsnight/6362783.stm
** link seems not to work - lookup "Singer and vulture funds" and you will find all sorts of current information

Seems manipulation of the stock market is not bad enough - add in all the pilfered monies in not only Iraq, but monies taken from real needs in New Orleans during Katrina and ongoing - as well as from the Tsunami relief, is just not enough! Now these big crooks have found a way to - repurchase the original debtor relief loans made to third world countries, traffic them through the court systems in the UK - thereby somehow transferring that loan with huge unpaid balance and interest amounts tacked on - into the U.S. - and in turn directly to 1600 PA Avenue where the pressie can sign off on this.

The last piece is apparently where the third world country - is then OWING not the original loan amount of $10 million - but now owes someone like this man Singer (or others) $400 million, payment of which then empties the coffers of the country once and for all, eliminating all monies for schools, highways, infrastructure.

I understand extortion since I just received a 1-day turn around ambulance bill for $2,073 for a 10 mile trip of my mother from the nursing home to the hospital - back and forth in the January cold, despite the fact that she has a Living Will - and she herself requested "not" to be taken to hospital. Central Bucks Ambulance and United Medical Transport (from the nearby city) I am sure would blah blah me to death with their overhead and justifications for such billings were I to contact them about this blackmail, so no sense in raising my own bloodpressure. As if the $76m per year for the nursing home, is not enough. Sure this billing goes into Medicare, but a portion of it will not be covered and end up in my mailbox shortly. I personally consider this Medicare fraud - but then that's just me. It is a nice sunny day here and I'm choosing to enjoy it as much as I can.

Clearly though everything is out of control. And it is the crooks who are running everything - and I do mean 'everything'. The elephant or rabbit in the room is greed, avarice, obfuscation. Lies lies and more lies.

Gulls @Noon

2007-02-04T16:58:00.000-05:00

Well the camera lens did freeze, so I missed the best shot. There is a gaggle of gulls that apparently maintains permanent residence at the local McD's near me. This fall I got in on a few arguments as I stopped at he dollar store...opening my car door, at first not knowing "what" I was hearing...
wah wah wah..... bullflog throatiness.... clack clack...

They have discovered it is easier to pick from the trash at the McD's than fly over the bay diving into the icy water for fish? hmm does this denote intelligence? I would say yes. Do birds suffer high cholesterol? pfft - we as a society worry about our health ad nauseum! So, I got out of my car to try for an artistic shot, but the gulls thought I was there to feed them and shot up into the air - flying around my head. They were very polite - I felt bad having no crackers or bread to give them. A few seconds in the air and they all landed simultaneously (you could almost hear a universal 'sigh'). Snapping the shot - I then got back in the car to return to the flat
taking the second photo at a local pond/skating area.

Weekly there are normal friendly sights here. And people do for the most part mind their own business in this place - unlike my former turf. I feel at home. I spent part of today over at the harbor walking and getting familiar. Very unthreatening, and with the bright crisp wind at my back now, I took a deep breath. A final piece of good luck for me, finding this home.

The bug light

2007-01-21T20:03:00.000-05:00

Here I am. Bugged to be sure - so here is a photo taken today of the bug light which appears outside my windows. Up close it is lovely - the area maintains most things well, which is wonderful in my opinion.

Fort William resides near the main lighthouse, about three miles south. It is one of the most photographed lighthouses in America. Fort William itself is falling apart, but I am hopeful reading articles in the current papers that it will soon be taken in hand and repaired. The ruins there date to the late 1800's and are vast and interesting.

Taking my time over lunch at Becky's diner today I do feel I'm home. It is wonderful here. If or when I ever shake the rest of the life issues that have me by the throat, I should start enjoying myself before it is too late. I visited one pub today for a walk through...seems to have most of the good UK lagers, ales and beers on tap - another good sign.

Anyhow it's me and the 'bug' light. The view is never worn or tiring - just spectacular.

Home at last

2007-01-07T14:37:00.000-05:00

Dandan definitely holds the 5-star rating for troubles this past week, but I did have my usual black cloud. Most of that naturally had to do with my remaining parent. Since I've yet to hear from the doctor, I perhaps cynically can assume the events of this week were just more of same. Having also the 'born again' landlords from Hades, the week rounded out with my having to pay off ever last morsel of the last two months rent - all for a place under construction nearly all of the ten months I was repacking there. No peaceful enjoyment of a costly apartment there!

Consolation of leaving though was knowing that 'maintenance's' third return (having to of course interrupt me four days before my move, 1st up in the AM) to "repair" the still leaking brand new toilet off the main bedroom - is that on leaving, it is still leaking! There is a god.

Dandan I must add that my car did inject it's own two cents into the week with the "Service Engine" light brightly shining in my face - the same day as the toilet repair visit (or, 4 days from move date) - despite just HAVING HAD.... proper maintenance the week before. ah ha! But I know a trick or two and luckily had one remaining can of 'dry gas'...which I added to the gastank - that resolved that.

And having stomach cramps of anticipation about the 'sort' of moving men I would encounter this time...I was LUCKY!! I had two very kind, sweet fellows who did agree I'd done a heck of a job organizing it all - got the huge tractortrailer loaded up and were out my door inside 2 hours flat. Not a finger mark on the apartment walls - no cleanup. Another four hours and a friend and I exited the parking area forever - his truck, laden with the refrigerator contents and the sum total of all the cleaning supplies I had hassled with just a year before (all from mother's apartment too mind you).

Today was equally warm to yesterday - temperatures in the 70 degree F. ranges - so I've got the balcony door open and sea breezes floating into the living area. Nothing to sit on but a webbed lawn chair, but I'm in heaven with the view. A large rusting barge floated through the harbour entrance earlier and I thought how fitting, since I'm about in the same kind of condition myself. But I'm here - I'm home now.

For all seasons

2006-12-23T12:58:00.000-05:00

Being newly carpeted, one feels able to surmount the next round of contractor struggles. Friend Sheila has said that the contractors in Wales are the "worst"...I'm not convinced they could be any less responsive than those in my new home area.

However here is my new neighbor with the fluffy tail (no doubt tale to tell too) - Hans, and his person Theresa. Unwilling to be held by a stranger, Hans was reluctant for a photo at all - but he did tread all four paws onto the new carpeting and poke his head inside my new apartment. So two more weeks and I'm residing in my new flat...probably permanently on the phone trying to find contractors to do something. As of 12/29/06 no word from said contractor on any level. What a world.

In a fog

2006-11-21T22:13:00.000-05:00

Since Henry Kissinger is in a fog about how to resolve the Iraq conundrum, whatever shall we do. Finding our way back out of this horrendous nightmare will take more years than it took to create the destruction. His recent silly statements regarding "this" unnecessary war, when he knows full well we did not win in Viet Nam - we flew off the rooftops middle of the night in the 1970's in defeat? He must be on Prozac.

Not that I am NOT very happy that the Democrats did win across the board in the last elections. But most of us do realize that they have years and years worth of laws that must be rescinded, a supreme court system that is pumped up with truly dangeous zealots, and a destroyed military in terms of worn out troups and broken equipment. Could we actually protect this country in a true emergency?

Step into the fog of the future. As I looked off the balcony in my new place, at the cocoon-like yacht's wrapped for winter's worst - the only bright spot is that personally I feel finally in a more secure space. Six flights up seems safe from cat burglars. And I can watch the games of the rich and famous as they play toy boat with their ...erm big equipment, below me. And settle into the fog.

Under Construction...Moving on

2006-10-25T13:24:00.000-04:00

Soon I'll be viewing life from a different meridian line...about as far north as I could get and still remain here.
With habeas corpus now a thing of the past in this country, I must stifle most of my normal comments by and large. Mendacity prevails in life. Everyone is in, or lives in one state or another. In most cases, that state is the state of denial. Woodward's book, Kerry's botched cynicism.
In the face of actual chaos reining in the middle east, the government still maintains it is making progress. In the face of total co-dependency, many people perpetuate false lifestyles. Arsenic and old lace - solutions for a hypocritical life based on who is using whom, to best advantage. It applies to corporations, governments and individuals. The dynamic only works, as long as both individuals or ideological groups, remain useful.
Who would want to live their life hiding from the truth. Definitely not me, thanks. Will I be able to continue to write in this very stifled environment: stay tuned for a different kind of news in my solitary life. Can I manage without the freedom to rant about greed, avarice and obfuscation? Perhaps. The future is a giant question mark punctuated by my muffled screaming.
Sid Cesar and Immogene Coca did a comedy piece in the late 1950's where he (playing a restaurant waiter) spills hot soup into the lap of Immogene. As she screams, Sid tells her "scream into the napkin please!...we don't want to annoy the patrons..."

THANK YOU! Keith Olberman

2006-09-26T01:09:00.000-04:00

Movement, finally movement. Orwell certainly must be watching all this from some remote location because he deserves to be watching.

On one of the C-span call in programs today, I gagged listening to a female caller pointing out that President Clinton was lying again in his retort to Fox News' Chris Wallace's crummy question during an interview this weekend. The caller said "Well Bill was wagging his finger - exactly like he did when he lied about not having sex with THAT woman... during the Lewinski scandal...". Blah blah blah.

For some years now I have questioned Clinton's coziness with the other members of the Bush family. But I could never have formed such alliances myself - so I cringed every time there was a photo op with President Clinton and Bush senior!! It's not just being a liberal Democrat we are talking about here. Actually the feeling defies description.

Apparently it still is not obvious to many in the public that the Lewinski scandal - and all the other attempts to discredit President and Mrs. Clinton during their time in the White House - were put forth as a starting point to create the atmosphere we live in now! That atmosphere: one of nearly total submersion in false, watered-down, or misrepresented and/or propagandized information? I recognized what was going on...it reminded me of the P.R. during a merger.

Television has become one giant infomercial. Keith Olberman's commentary today on President Clinton's retort to Chris Wallace's ....erm question - is an accurate and beautifully worded depiction of exactly what is happening, and what is at stake here. Starting in the mid 1980 I've faced and lived in similar situations with various employers due to the looming corporate mergers and reorganizations and downsizings that preempted my ability to hold a permanent job.

Perfunctorily my life was never the same. And at various break points I tried to talk to those around me about the reality of jobs being shipped abroad to call centers, how the contractor labor fees were given a boost through tax deductibility, and how the workers rights were one at a time being taken away and eroded. Many of us in this generation are dying rather young. My own life does not stretch out with pleasant possibilities brought about by a deep pension and padded bank account. All that remains is to not go quietly.

Boring as it has been for some to listen to me...and much as that has eroded or killed friendships, the only thing that does remain is for the truth of what has happened, to be brought out into the cold harsh light of day. There are still generations maturing who will have to live in, what remains of this world. Thank you Keith!!

Speakers: Silence is Golden?

2006-09-20T01:20:00.000-04:00

Silence in the august body of the UN. What salient point was missed by our ivy league university educated leader, that left his audience looking dour - potentially even resembling that proverbial "oil painting"?

Inferring we are the positive and beneficent force for good - while our adversaries are the embodiment of evil? Just about as laughable as his holiness's subliminal suggestion through quotation of historical documents, inferring past Muslim wars and religious protocols caused more unnecessary bloodshed than the infamous Christian Holy Wars? Or that these mortals were perhaps worse or somehow more immoral than the sexually abusive behavior of more than a smattering of Catholic priests!

Men in charge here seem to have no training or understanding of statesmanship - much less of foreign policy, relations or religious doctrines beyond their own back yard experiences. We should all be deeply ashamed such people were "elected" (which of course they truly were not) or allowed to, hold office. Are we (as a nation) the 3 monkeys? grrrrr

For "Pete's" Sake

2006-09-15T21:23:00.000-04:00

oooEEE What a week. Hmmm there's trouble in River City. And here I am, with mostly the same expression as friend Beardy's puzzy cat, waiting on a Coup d'état of some measurable degree. With rancor, it seems apparent some amount of dissention is transforming a few in the neocon camp. It's about time. If it is real, thank you Colin Powell.

Although perhaps it's just political expediency with the elections looming large? Put a good face on what has been seething in the background. After all these years of constant erosion, our policies no longer resemble what the constitution - much less the people - intended. Today there was another meeting, with attendance by yet others of "that" party and televised, including actual real life experts on middle east policy, politics and religious groups - regarding what is the best "path" to follow to extract our weary troups from the fracas...in the kindest and quickest sense.

That is to say, real intellectual experts on these issues, as opposed to the photo-op paid individuals placed in front of the public who supported the plans and desires of this administration. Individuals of no integrity, who long ago lost their ethical compass.

Far from convinced yet, I sit in my bedroom tea in hand with much the same expression as Beardy's cat. Gentlemen start your engines. Keep this going and let's not falter or stop now, we have many long years of corruption to put to right, rewritten and inverted laws to put to a new vote, many disowned human rights that need assurance that in the future, this country will return to what it once was. Then I will feel an air of confidence again: but we've a long way to travel. (Photo with permission of my friend Beardy)

A Perfect Storm of Too Much Information

2006-09-02T14:40:00.000-04:00

A reality check? How? Where? Certainly not on CNN or any other major broadcast network news daily offerings, can we find moot information on today's crucial problems. With his flood pants hiked up around his whatsit, hourly rehashing of John Mark Karr's expensive extradition to the U.S. regarding the JonBenet Ramsey murder, stormed the airways 24/7 for the past several weeks. With an obvious attention-grabbing seizure of his moment of fame, from an also obviously not mentally stable man such as Karr, a few minutes of this coverage would have been enough for most sober thoughtful people.

Grrr What the heck is going on! Pouring over real estate offerings trying to find a new home during this out-take in time, I hoped for an escape from 'suffering' through total immersion in such a seedy sleazy story. Bright red from angry jabbing, my fingers ached: the buttons on my remote control could not find a station (or time) where Karr's face wasn't ever present. Not that the civil war in Iraq, the tenuous cease fire in the Israeli/Hezbollah conflict, the lack of progress in New Orleans reconstruction, the upcoming machinations over raising the minimum wage, or the questionable Diebold voting machine use in the fall elections - is of any importance.

Nope. Nada thing! Instead we have insipid prattle over vacuous topics...the night of writing this, the topic of choice was the issue over whether Katie "C's" promotional photo was airbrushed to give her a thinner appearance! Gag. Spam disguised as news. News comprised of spam. Omniscient writers ceating clever obfuscations through carefully worded propaganda in the guise of news! A total marginalization of the blood-curdlingly serious issues of our times.

Mundane uninteresting life events have taken over and been spun into a perfect storm through the use of titillatingly sleazy subject-matter punctuated by colorful videos into a fusion and cacaphony of complete drivel. It is no different than watching commercial wrestling.

Follow the yellow brick road...ermmm. A vanguard expression is that if ones throws enough excrement against a wall, a certain amount will stick. The wall in this case is the American public, numbed by decades of vacuous sitcoms, reality programming, faux news and the lifestyles of the rich and witless. Behind curtain number one, the wizards (one of whom may yet turn out to be the antichrist) in the form of TweedleRumDumb and TweedleDeChainsman and dRoveOfhearts are in charge. Or is it the Bushmeister, with his Queen of Heartless mum Barbed herself?

Fearful, loathing, shocked and awefully "confused" am I: this is the Nightmare on Pennsylvania Avenue. Oddly, I am proud to be labelled confused. Journalists stand-up...the time is nigh. We are way PAST "Time" for everyone to show gumption. Everyone else - turn off the boob tube, pickup the remaining real newspapers - and educate yourselves before it is too late. Register to vote if you have not done so...and prepare to fight through the next elections.

The grim reaper's bell tolls for us all if we remain idle and following along in a herd in the same group-think mentality that got us into this nightmare.

No Plans

2006-08-02T23:26:00.000-04:00

How can my head spin worse than ever, while I still must move forward with some plan for what remains of my life. Day to day video clips and verbal outtakes snap my mind back from mundane thoughts to reality. Reared by two genetically pessimistic parents, it probably would have been impossible for me to look on things in a sanguine way, even on days when my own personal history had good days.

After waking and sipping part of a cup of tea I turn to one of the 24 hour news channels and hesitatingly glance at the latest fracas. Finding Mel Gibson drunk on the highways of Malibu...well that would be a typical news days in recent years - the sort of news however that society here immerses itself in; ignoring in the main the horrors going on all around them. Sad to be among those who "needs to know" as opposed to the societal ostriches, I view the latest death counts in Iraq and miscellaneous other bad news. Nuts.

Having literally been at home 24/7 during the Watergate hearings, I was barely 26 at the time and yet knew what I was witnessing. Driving an hour to get on a train into work in NYC several years before this, I had long since realized the manipulation going on in the background in corporate America. Feeling the pulse of the grey city, listening to ice cubes clink in glasses riding the bar car on the Westchester Express - my days were nights and nights days. A sense of aggravation and disgust often rode with me: my life has almost never been my own.

Minimum wage. What horrible premise do those making millions of dollars a year, who belly up to the oyster bar daily, find to justify their right to even "set" such an UNLIVEABLE hourly wage for hard working class people? Beats me. Always did. And then to afford themselves yearly raises for working what in 2006 amounts to approximately 80 days out of the calendar year! Please. Why am I then forced to watch the TV clip at the G8 summit of our witless leader chewing out of the side of his mouth, spewing epithets and calling out to another world leader, "Yo!". Way beyond crass and tasteless. Dodododo.... the twilight zone. A death knell for our society. A total world wide disassociation to the fact that "collateral damage" is killing of innocent humans. Bombing and destroying lands and buildings justified in the name of achieving an end to terror? when in fact that killing is the same as terror. Why can't these people all sit down to a table and talk until they work out their differences? Why in this year and age are we still testosterone pumped only by acts of aggression - not by a gentle kindly settlement or a thought-out resolution to a problem. All the president's men know - they wrote the document leading into this era. And the secretary needs another pair of Ferragamo's. There cannot possibly be any mirrors in Washington.
Most days I wish I was already gone - how's that for sarcasm.

I'd Rather be Honest

2006-06-22T15:54:00.000-04:00

Rather was thrown to the lions while “acting as spokesperson” for his TV network news program story regarding the military service of our ne’er-do-well leader. Personally forced to acknowledge that the information questioning this military services’ reality, Dan Rather became the scapegoat and his career permanently tarnished.

Was this information compiled by the journalists at the station, correct and accurate, or was it inaccurate, will probably never even be reviewed again until I am long buried in my grave. Another obfuscation of the moral majority, forced on the public: the life career of a strong man - sullied as part of this ongoing smokescreen of lies.

Rather is not going quietly and I am proud of him. Why should he go into the night without comment - his life and integrity were called into question. Relating on my own level, in the 1980’s the only way I was able to keep myself working, was to register with five different “temporary” agencies in a neighboring State. Neighboring state because my own community, even in those days owned and operated by this same group of thieves now in power in Washington, would provide me no employment due to knowedge of my medical issues (and Democratic party focus).

At a stint as personal assistant to the Chair of Aerospace Engineering at one of the countries top 4 ivy league universities (during those years), I soon confronted the realities within academia. Massive 6-foot whiteboards covered the walls in rooms adjoining the Chair’s personal office. While the Chair was on a seasonal break, I was able to study the lists handwritten on those whiteboards. Then, during an interlude over lunch with a professor friend who was part of another department, I had the opportunity to ask about the meanings of the whiteboards and their notations.

Ah academia. My father taught as assistant professor at a small local college. He was maligned, held back, and brutalized by the management of the college - also part of that same community in which I was unable to find work...(where I grew up - and later lived over 30 years). The whiteboards at this very famous prestigious university, listed “gifts and bequeaths” (and name of the professor who had culled the dollars) to the university on the one hand, or “papers written by professors” in various departments, or outright monetary gifts along with the name of the professor having brought-in the dollars. My professor friend said that... in turn, a departments funding was cut, or staffing was cut (his own department had been cut by 1 full time professor) - due to the professors in that department, having fallen behind in these “areas” - gifts and bequeaths, donations, and papers published by each professor.

“Publish or Perish” is a phrase familiar to most in academia, especially at the higher levels. My father knew it well and did his best to continue his private research and publish journals or articles where he could. It was never enough and in the end, the college was responsible for my father’s early demise.

Dan Rather’s moment on 60 Minutes as spokesman for this story should never have led to his removal from the program much less the station. Knowing all we now know about the depth of lies by this administration, I would feel more certain that the information regarding our leader’s absence from National Guard military service, was accurate. Carry on Dan - and take no prisoners.

With the ongoing palaver in the Senate and feet-dragging over raising the minimum wage this week ....even to a still-unliveable meager dollar amount, do we need constant convincing that we are now living in a totally reverse universe where lies rule the day in every quarter?

Even denial has become blind and anonymous.

Archie and Me...horse lessons

2006-05-22T18:43:00.000-04:00

From early childhood on, most of us have lives that contained animal stories. The family dog or cat...or other beloved pet. Hardly a year has gone by that I don't still have a tear in my eye or lump in my throat remembering one of my past buddies.

Racehorse Barbaro had an awful day this weekend. Pivotal and perhaps life-ending leading into hours of surgery, luckily at one of the U.S.'s best veterinary hospitals. Clenching my teeth and getting through the video of his accident, I was overcome by his 'heart' and need to go on, despite a broken foreleg and ankle.

Archie and I met a year ago in Scotland. He was but a baby boy of five months, and after one attempt at a "tug"...I didn't try to coax him out of the barn and his mother's sight. He had a bad start and was unwell for months, but the wee Clydesdale survived, to grow into a stallion who still has, that same soft kindness in his face. Amazing. Animals like people either have something about them, or they don't. On that cloudy windy day in the Scottish country I knew this horse was something. A winner and a gentleman.

Today's news contained information regarding the latest study done on hurricane Katrina and the New Orleans levees. Not surprisingly, the facts coming forward are about bad engineering, cheap shortcuts, and lack of maintenance. Most highways in America can be used as examples of our infrastructure: total decay. Bridges are also seldom repaired until they fall apart, killing people.

So now - we focus on the illegals in our society - and get ready to pass some legislation - suggesting we.... create documents for some xx millions already here (through our Homeland Security Department?)...right prior to the onset of hurricane season? The same Homeland Security that suggests duct tape? Oh dear lord help us all. The immigration problem has been around for years and has not been addressed. Corporate farmers and their greed created this problem - that and Mexico's near financial collapse.

Day to day I am more disgusted with humanity - their attention so easily diverted, and their hearts so quickly...fractured into old prejudices. The issues of immigration and gay rights are only diversions, in the case of this administration. Gore Vidal recently inferred that we are going to eat ourselves alive, from within, because of our prejudices. Where are the bright strong men to bring into focus, the terrors that lie beneath the surface...the faltering economy and catastrophic debt owed to (in fact) some countries that are, anything but our friends.

Where's the truth.

Secret ! Confidential, Private...and NOYDB

2006-04-18T15:04:00.000-04:00

I got my EYE on you...
Baby
I got my "I" on you

"Raped by a bunch of carnival carney's"...the quote of the day from "The Daily Show" as to what has been done to the U.S. public by our current commandos in Washington.

Ah ha! that is about how I felt this week hearing about Exxon's retiring officer Lee Ramond receiving an exit package worth $389 million dollars. What???? That wouldn't add dollars to our gasoline prices would it?

Most Americans are now surfing the net daily to find the current best gasoline price at their nearby service station, hoping to not waste 5 gallons of gas, to find 5 cents off the cheapest price in town. We are down to that now. We aren't wined and dined by lobbyists - we don't belly up to the oyster bar daily - much less weekly.

Our thrills mostly fall in the area of 10/10 prices at the food store, and holding our breath when the electric bill arrives. Yaill to the Chief! There's not a lot remaining of what had been the U.S. I know - I grew up here.

Light&Dark

2006-03-31T14:18:00.000-05:00

Light and dark - great shadows in this apartment. Shadows of what once was and free of the darkness associated with disaffected neighbors and their rude behaviors!

Lovely quiet place here by and large. All the usual things going on, but with a normal spirit so far. With the smart silver machine newly resting on my desktop and my fleamarket boxes ready to go, I am ready for the next more significant moves. Ready to find my final destination and beyond ready, to walk away from ongoing pressures.

Would that some knight in shining armour appeared to bail out the shattered function of government here. Amazing when one lone man tries to stand-up for a completely rational chastizing of our idiot king and no other person has the strength to support him. All in all my own faith in people has partly departed.

Without the grating sound of high performance mechanics in my ear night and day, I must content myself with small pleasures. Relief: away from Steppford. Sunlight streaming through blinds and the quiet.

OzonesNewHome

2006-03-24T21:41:00.000-05:00

Mostly people don't stop by as often when you cease posting. I ceased functioning there - briefly, with the hazards of moving. The movers...broke all the casters off my one good television stand, lost most of the pegs needed for my secondary shelves in my office, and
successfully buried the key important boxes behind a wall, of all the others
boxes (labeled as such - a matter which was reviewed on
move day - with the movers in person)
Like comedian Ron White says "Next time you have a thought, let it go..."

So after huffing and struggling - on day 3 I found my short-list supply of silverware. Day 4-5, my handcream, etc. An Adventure in Moving! Harumph!!!

I now also have a cable provider - as phone provider. The anomalies going along with that, led me to - divert my fractured personna from shuffling boxes, into an online search for another site - where I could congregate with my chat buddies -- in a group, again! Hmmm not as easy as it would seem. While googling on that issue - and slapping my newly-reattached fax machine (because the phone with reasonably easy to program...answering machine, was also buried...) for weird lapses in message taking...

I discovered the call-waiting in the "cable company phone service" - doesn't "bleep". Well I guess it... does a static chirp? no chirp isn't it. Ahh...no not that either. Anyhow the point is, it isn't discernable. So week three in my new abode, I wade into the "voicemail" of this new system - only to find several - confused messages!!

AArgh. Long story short I came across "SightSpeed" in my googling. I read through the info and found it doesn't support my g3 iB. Rats. But the site is well structured, and the group looks good...so I messaged the key player. He wrote back - and then phoned! Poor fella -- my fax machine recorded part of the conversation (slap!)...lol. I think, things are still, outta control here a bit!!!

Long story - checkout SightSpeed.com It's a serious group - not for the "voyeur in waiting" crowd...and supports Mac and PC users. Yup - sounds like me (that is the clothes on, broad daylight, let's not scare the horses, crowd). Guess I must get a new machine... well, I knew that!

Photos of the flat to follow shortly.

Ah technology. So now there's Skype - or SightSpeed. But since one was bought by a biggie conglomerate...I worry it will lose it's user friendliness. Time will tell. Best wishes to the SightSpeed staff.

The Good Listener?

2006-02-08T22:08:00.000-05:00

lalalalalalalalalalalalala

Sorry, I can't hear you... Second cartoon from the front of my refrigerator - now in pieces due to age. Again, don't remember creator or timeframe so I'm hoping to be forgiven for using same. How appropriate though in view of current scenarios...all the rioting in Denmark and globally. Each day finds me more grateful to be the older person I am.

lalalalalala...index finger right and left hand - stuck into the appropriate eardrum. Overload - mental overload of bolshoy! sheer unadulterated crap pumped out by various representatives in our governmental offices each day. Another zap to our freedoms and another match taken to any benefits we used to have, as a taxpayer. How can these folks look at themselves in the bathroom mirror, at all.

Ford Maddox Ford wrote a book entitled "The Good Soldier" (turn of the century I think...) and it was made into a film years and years ago. It was about a man who lived in a middle class community (as best I recall) ...and who like most of us in life, had a local female (in his case) admirer. He wanted more though, and was overcome by the surface beauty of another young woman - of position, breeding, and affluence. Barely noticing the possibly kinder gentler woman from his same station in life, he naturally married the titled young woman.

Ah ha! But what he got in the end, was his due. This young woman had severe mental problems... and throughout the course of their marriage, he "soldiered" on with one unhappy and often quite unpleasant scenario, after another. There was a line in the story to wit...."Why couldn't 'we' all find happiness within a normal range of choices. Why did we all seek the unattainable. Everything was there to be had, but we all ended up with, exactly what we did not want.

Is this true of all of us today, as a culture? What choice was there that we did not look upon because it wasn't shiny enough, or 'enough' in some regard? lalalalalalala I have looked and I did try and choose based on a realistic value system. What I often got into, was the falsehood of someone or somethings having it on, at my expense. I'm not listening any longer.

WinD oO0's

2006-02-06T23:30:00.000-05:00

How much is that doggie in the WindO...

Can't remember where I got this cartoon, or what it was from. Stuck to the front of my refrigerator by magnets, it even moved with me from my last residence -- and that was fifteen years ago. LoL Listening to the reports on the new Macintosh computers and the current bug fixes on various sites, it seems the transition is a bit bumpy? The cartoon made it through scanning, but now lies in pieces (too much exposure I guess).

Strap yourself in. Brace yourself. Wait for life in the land of the free, home of the brave after the axe falls with the budget. Omg. Visiting my new digs today I thought to meeself...hmn...can this be a bunker? Can I sandbag the perimeter? There is a brief patch of trees in certain places...will those hide me, in lieu of a big vast forest? Somehow I doubt it.

Ruddy rude way to enter into the last chapter of my own life...with fear and loathing. Oh where is Thompson when you need him. Nuts...long gone. Back in the mid 1980's at the software firm I worked for, my boss got the bright idea to remove a task from another staff member, and assign it to me - ...er, like, over night? That nearly created a complete breach of friendship between myself and the woman, who formerly managed said tasks.

Thinking about it now, I believe they were about to perhaps "terminate her employment"...we were on the cusp of what turned into 3! merger/reorganization ordeals. I waded into the additional work grousing to myself -- and I told Susan upfront inside a day, that I had "not requested" or suggested this work be given to me. Our friendship was saved.

So who's going to come clean in this fix we are in now. Save the day. Life never returned to a reasonable position after the first merger in 1983. Feels like life is going out the window today. We need fresh air, honest men, laws torn up and started afresh. I am too bloody old and tired for this.

Forest for the Trees

2005-11-26T20:16:00.000-05:00

Ah so what. You are back here…not there. Mentally, you are still there anyhow. Often wondered if those who always live in beautiful surroundings have the same perspective. Before changing to my current location, I had a spectacular view of the wooded hillside through my bedroom window – could lie in bed and watch the moon rise. Each season had it’s own beauty in that flat…I never tired of it.

But finances and timing only allowed me to remain there fourteen years…lol. When I was moving, it seemed “that” length of time, was indeed too short. Hillsides and greenery and skylines never diminish in their beauty and the older I get the more important it becomes to ‘be there’ again. This "space" has been homey...but after another 15 years here - it is still, nothing but a space.

Probably I cannot hope for anything as special as my picture window views in Ayr, but I sure recon I will darned well try to find a place with a similar feeling. Tempest fugit, as they say – and I’m getting too long in the tooth to be livin in a place I disdain. Sigh. It’s gonna be a long winter, and another year maybe, but I hope I find “home” this time.

aaRgh! Yohoho & a bottle of Grey Goose

2005-11-06T22:14:00.000-05:00

Who would ever want to see such escalations of violence happening in the world. Certainly not I, since I have not visited enough places on the planet.

Walking the plank wearing a Rollex and designer clothes though, is a thought that probably never crossed the minds of the sorts of folks taking $5M/week cruises today. And that they and their mortality may be in jeopardy now and in the future? hmn...doubt they ever thought about their safety in those terms.

The clandestine theft of most of the world's wealth - well Balzac had it right when he said "Behind every great fortune lies a crime". On any moonlit night, there is nothing new about this fact, or these processes. However, the world is now overpopulated in many places - and our resources dwindling down. The concept of actually really sharing, never took hold - no matter the century or locale.

Not my comment several years ago (that we were approaching a time when the rich folks were no longer going to be safe in the streets), nor world history seems interested in bringing about more realistic and measured thinking into the everyday values of those fortunate few at the pinacle of their "careers": sharing, caring, and trying to conserve.

And now I have to retract my defense of Judith Miller of the NY Times supposedly protecting 'confidentiality of her source' too - since I realize her imprisonment was due to her own hubris at needing to be a Washington & top shelf newsroom "player"... time may provide the actual truth that she was protecting the vice president himself. And the fox is not only in the hen-house, but we have bought the farm I fear.

Greed, obfuscation and puritanism (create an anagram using the first letters of those words). Sad sad times. Good thing a "cruise" would never have been a choice for me. I will take the train and take my chances.

A usual night sky

2005-10-31T01:00:00.000-05:00

Imagine returning home to a neighbors teenage son's gangsta truck (still under construction) - as one view out a window...and a 20-30 somethin Sloan Ranger's specially heated outdoor porch, complete with barbi...always smokin towards your bedroom windows? Enough said.

Starry Night

2005-10-24T23:43:00.000-04:00

for Vincent

Reality Baby

2005-10-23T19:39:00.000-04:00

Apologizing to my friends, I've been beset with spam & advertising (left as comments)...so,

Please do not put your adverts into my blog as comments. I am not male, so I am not interested in Viagra. If I was male, I would realize erectile dysfunction was nature's way of telling me it's time to slow down...or quit. One of the most unattractive things about some in this world, is their inability to realize or accept their actual age, their actual looks, and to take a hard look at their own behavior.
I hope I am not "part of the problem" in this world - I try to conserve: I care about the environment, I believe in the effect of my own actions or inactions on others around me. The only thing I am zealous about is trying to live an honest and caring life. It is not a compliment or positive feedback to crum up someone's blog with spam. GO AWAY...spam and spammers of this world - you are part of life's new pollution!!

Shadows on the heart

2005-10-23T18:46:00.000-04:00

Windblown, standing in this place, where someone wisely placed this “Commandos” monument to the Green Beret’s of WWII, you have Scotland’s famous Ben Nevis in one direction and Anoach Mor nearby. Worst or best moments in life should be set in places where they can be viewed from every angle, in every light.

Few memorials achieve spiritual liftoff however. So when I arrived outside “Rest and Be Thankful” in 1985, my return bus ride found me leaning against the coldness of the window, hoping my heart and feelings could withstand the emotion I was feeling. With a burning lump in my throat and every emotion unraveling, I managed to hold my breath and take this photo.

Most people go through life unnoticed and, for the most part, un or under-appreciated. The wealth in my life is the richness of my treasured friendships. Were it not for these friends I would never have had rich colorful experiences, nor would I have stood in the mountains taking such photos.

What an Eyefull

2005-10-22T17:57:00.000-04:00

On any given evening, depending on kinds of clouds, this was my nightly view from the room of my flat in Ayr, Scotland. That is “Graham and Gil's flat”…my great friend Davie’s fabulous son and daughter. Right before departure, Graham offered up their flat for my stay. Among the special things friends have done for me during my life, this surely rates with the most magnanimous offerings I’ve had. My thanks to Captain Davie – but then in turn to his family for welcoming me as if I had always been part of their lives.

For all those loving clouds and scenery, I will add the highland photographs with comments (although Scotland's scenery really needs no annotations) over the next few days. My great buddy Ruth, drove me through many of the most scenic areas in the countryside. Without her help, I would have only a few photos.

Sadly, I am back in Steppford until I determine where home will be. Doubly sadly, that won’t be Scotland. My heart, actually, never left the highlands going back to 1985.

BigEasy way out...

2005-09-03T11:57:00.000-04:00

When you fly into New Orleans, landing flights go straight ahead one second, and make an immediate bank, turn left or right and dive in – so suddenly that you feel you must be – about to die! This is due to the highways, overpasses and heavily populated areas, being immediately next to the landing field.

Horrified looking at the Hurricane Katrina’s aerial radar shots prior to landfall I was scared for all those along the coastline, already so ravaged by previous storms. It appeared to me that this was going to hit New Orleans – it seemed a certainty. The thought passed through my mind that special evacuation plans needed to be in place because I knew there was a huge population living at the poverty line and below in this area.

Heady evenings with friends around a table of spicy steamy crawfish: days at the fairgrounds moving tent to tent immersed in music! The ancient southern homes, the Spanish moss hanging everywhere – TipiTina’s – the Neville Brothers….up all night. Drinking Hurricane’s on the veranda at O’Brien’s. Life is good. Friends all around.

Bad planning? Hmn. Photos on TV today showed two different still shots of people who had been “shopping” in the storm. The black couple – they labeled “looters”….the white “finding bread and water”. Today it looks like Louisiana native and a 3-star general, is finally in-charge! Golly, thank you.

In life, it is always how you treat those beneath you on the social ladder, that is a true indication of who you are in a moral sense. One of the finest meals I had in New Orleans (with a group of eight friends) was on advice from a black cabbie – Chez Louise. Outside town – broken down place – and we were the only white faces there.

You can’t patronize the working class. We recognize our lot in life and while many of us strive to break free of it, few of us ever succeed. The key thing is – in the end – the only thing that really matters is people, and your health. We have killed many of our own citizens in this disaster, through inaction and laziness. From not providing vehicles to evacuate the poor, to selling contracts for levees to lowest bidders, to passing a transportation bill packed to the gills with “pork barrel” projects. I could go on…

For quite some time I have felt ashamed of the citizenry here by and large, on so many levels. Greed/avarice – but also, no ethics or morality or integrity. If this tragedy does not make us all, reassess our actions? Otherwise there is, no way out.

Peace

2005-07-09T22:25:00.000-04:00

Greed, avarice, obfuscation, and arrogance has led to an unjustifiable war. The elders in all nations must sit down and stop this now. And there must be a leveling of resources in the world to find that higher plain. Nothing should be about money or oil. Everything is only about human beings, our animal friends, and the planet.

Confidential

2005-07-06T21:11:00.000-04:00

Black on black, what a day. So something is only allowed to “be” confidential if the ownership of that data or information is the government or some corporate entity. Today there is very little difference between those two groups, and what could be sadder for a country founded on idealistic principles.

Never willing to play victim in any situation, life or professional, my history definitely testifies to how anonymous you are unless you ‘go along’. With my hands processing, copying or typing or both – with my eyes averted, I still realized and saw documents pertaining to the next corporate buyout. Certain types of financial ‘runs’ are only produced when the bottom line is being examined carefully in buyout situations – corporate or otherwise.

Facts are undeniable. However, with our televised media rife with pseudo-reality shows, and a society transfixed by the fakery of stardom and fantasy – will actual day to day reality, even matter any longer? Once upon a time I wanted to join the ranks of those who investigate hard issues. My heart is with Judith Miller, and my hopes with the New York Times that they hold the line.

Frankly I cannot consider anyone male, worth much unless they have their integrity. And then along with that, I look for and hope for, bottle. As a culture we will not have a culture, if the integrity at the core of our government is gone. Men still run this world – so will the real men stand up and please, take it back.

Bought the Farm

2005-07-02T01:31:00.000-04:00

Once upon a time there came a day, when a man’s land was no longer theirs – not really. You could buy it – at whatever exorbitant price was asked in downtown Steppford….but it wasn’t really yours any longer! The brown tinged tintype photo shows my great grandmother on the porch, of what was, the family farm in (yes) Kansas.

Sandra Day O’Connor stepped down from her judicial post today, and one wonders what kind of ‘comp’ she received in doing so. We now have what amounts to a “hat trick”…in terms of any possible fairness ever again having a voice in our court systems.

In Tijuana I woke the morning after the wedding, before I realized what had wakened me. It was a rooster crowing…in the middle of town! In a rather posh area of town too, and though it was a rather rude hour to wake when I hadn’t been in bed more than an hour or two, nonetheless I giggled as I lay there.

Will we ever have a thing to giggle about again? Personally I feel dazed and confused. How is everyone else doing with current events? Good thing I must now sell the farm anyhow, that’s my feeling.

Beat Generation, and beat-up

2005-06-30T00:16:00.000-04:00

But naturally, I missed the latest address from his eminence! Good golly miss molly, whatabunchacrap! Do any of his constituents ever really “hear” what he has said? And has any of them attempted to parse his words into a cogent sentence? I’d say the man is parsimonious… Of need, he must be because he can’t string words together properly even when reading from a written speech!

So OK – all these ladies and gentlemen in his fan club with their various degrees from brand name colleges and universities – are listening? I cannot believe that they are because otherwise, each would have to admit that he makes NO sense! And the reason his wifey took over the podium that one evening weeks back with her crass and tasteless remarks (written naturally by the PR and marketing people in the background for the event), is that he needs to be pulled off the podium, as often as possible.

And humanized. That is what we are talking about. I have been listening to some educated folks who are now attempting to bring the issue of “framing” into the public forum and make people aware of what is being done by the neocons through the use of descriptors ...and carefully chosen wording and labeling.

What a black day it is when a plurality can listen to the endless droning on of such drivel and not realize the bank is being robbed in the background, to the beat of Love to Love You Baby…..oooo. We are living in a time where the powers that be are the most vacuous band of miscreants and thieves ever to steal the henhouse. If I had all the money of a Kenneth Lay or any of the hoards of other corporate criminals, I might feel some satisfaction knowing my thefts came about as a result of an artfully crafted act of larceny.

Nope. And nope is about as big a word as many of the people in this group can manage to pronounce. What an insult to the people in this country. Please, I will not become a vassal to this homogeneous group of vermin.

A wing and, this time, a good chance?

2005-06-28T00:15:00.000-04:00

Comfort of the shadows

2005-06-25T23:29:00.000-04:00

Captain Davie's 3 am Dash

2005-06-22T22:19:00.000-04:00

Davie’s retired! Well he was before I met him. That leads one to think of a totally relaxed fella, feet hooked over the runners on a bar stool, etc. Davie, however, Captain Davie, has a boat. That pretty much removes the “re” from “retired” – leaving tired. The royal yacht this past season, did not disappoint too, needing all the usual, plus - a major engine overhaul.
Who, but a blueblooded Scotsman, would manage yearly forays into all things mechanical – and yet, maintain their humor. So wrench in one hand, checkbook in the other, Davie once again – fixed the bleepin barge!
Ah, clear sailing again. Returning to home base from their “local”, Davie and Ruth had a much earned evening with friends, closed up the pub, and retired for the night. That word, retired again! A typical Scottish wind, was working itself up for the pleasure of all concerned.
In the wee small hours of the morning, there arose the rude angry ring of the phone. Oh nuts – the boat! Gale-force winds had broken the boat, free of the dock!
Little in life matches the kindness of strangers at times. Another couple had made that phone call, and Ruth commented that even with four adults…there were moments none of them had both feet grounded! So, does this blustering break for freedom – at a rude hour – exempt Davie from more summer yacht races? His cousin here hopes so. Only smooth sailing ahead for my much loved family.

Bored in Belfast

2005-06-21T20:02:00.000-04:00

OK! It’s a dogs’ life. Don’t tell me about it – I know it. Todd Dahlrymple here….of Edinburgh. Last September my manager told me that we were going to Belfast. Not that I knew, or really cared, where that was. My daughter Katie came along (company mostly)….Katie is AKA ‘a bird in hand, is worth two in the bush.'

Ruth was waiting for a friend to arrive from the States…she wanted to go! to the “show” in Belfast. Another – heaven help me – case of heavens knows? why! Finally after the usual hemming, hawing and my graceful entries and exits from the bleepin cage in the Benz (well a little comfort anyhow)… I am a Welshman after all

We set off. A rather uneventful trip over…good nap time, a few treats, occasional lovely remarks from admirers. And a nice temperate days weather in Belfast. However no one told me, my ‘class’ was going to be called, nearly last!!! After about 3/4 of a day ‘chillin’ in the stall area off to the side – you “do!!” start to get the idea. Walkies?? Hello – is anyone out there? Where is my manager!

OOO….there she is, finally. Lalala…she and her friend walk up – as if – Katie & I…..weren’t there….long past discussing the day at that point! Good lord woman, I could at least go for a tinkle, or something? And a snack that hasn’t been boiling under the car boot for hours? I’ve been told I have a very expressive face – hmn, apparently I ain’t getting the message through!

Well, hours and hours later, and small mentions in the show…I am without a chance to really voice my disdain…piled back into the wagon, for a return to Scotland. oooeee I am all in, and also a wee bit sleepyish…not to mention hoping for a quick return.

Nope!!!! There’s a delay at the ferry!!! Bloody hell. We sit at the dock: well it seemed like forever. Who cares if my adoring public stops by the car and taps…at my window! Toddy! Beautiful Toddy! tap tap
C R A P! Get me home!! We spent nearly double the time of the trip over – getting back.

Bored in Belfast. Harumph. I don’t care about ribbons. Even all the pattin and scratchin…
seems to blur. Turn me loose on the beach, wind in my ears. Leave a poor dug alone.

OK! Where is it? A trip to Ayr Theatre

2005-06-07T13:43:00.000-04:00

…a Processional

Ayr, Scotland has a lovely theatre in the center of town. Ancient but well tended, I attended a concert there with friend Ruth. Balconied and with posh boxes hanging on ornate side walls, it was filled to capacity for the “Eagles” cover band concert.
It’s rudimentarily unfair, that women are the brunt of frequent jokes about the need to find the public toilet! Naturally during break time in the concert, Ruth and I needed to access the facilities. Goes without saying.
With an internal structure matching any well-executed maze, Ruth and I set out to find the toilet…following signs saying “toilet”, which seemed the thing to do. The first toilet, was “Men’s” naturally…so we backtracked and looked in another hallway – to the left.
After only one retracing of steps, we had collected another couple of women on the same quest! We completed one circuit of that level of the building under review, and decided to go “up” a level. Doing so, we collected a few more ‘lost souls’…with what could be construed, as ‘pinched expressions’.
Up this corridor, and down that….each “Toilet” doorway we did manage to find, was rudely marked “Men’s” (or with that annoying symbol…for men, affixed). When you’ve made two complete circuits unsuccessfully, you start to doubt your memory – so we circled “that” floor again.
With a giggling and chattering procession of about ten women, we eventually did reach nirvana and use the facilities. Were I to return to the Ayr theatre, I doubt I could find the toilet again: I’d certainly need to request directions to the toilet before taking my seat. I don’t remember how we found the toilet.
“You can’t get there from here…” remains the clarion call in life.

Ozone Layers

2005-06-05T13:32:00.000-04:00

Pivotal moments in my life include hearing news of the JF Kennedy assassination piped over my HS PA system, and "living" an afternoon of teachers and students alike bumping into one another in hallways, crying. Then we come to the sunny morning I heard commentators screaming from some televised event; and as I spun on one heel and ran to a TV, reaching that screen in time to see the second tower crash on September 11.
Back in 1973, I sat over dinner with several friends in a popular Princeton night spot, when the PA system in the club (I have come to dread them)....suddenly broadcast live, Nixon's famous resignation speech. That year and into the next, recovering from near fatal surgery, I sat transfixed watching the Watergate Hearings....wondering if ethics and integrity would ever become the "standard" in life.
With world affairs in such a total state of collapse of ethical behavior, is that proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel".....a bright future for all of us - or an oncoming train. When individuals like the infamous "deep throat" of Watergate fame, reveal their identities at a moment close to their own death - are publicized as potentially having been "traitors", the question is:
Where do we go from here. How do we recover our humanity, our ethics. Why is it that the power brokers in this world do not see that war is killing, and at least equal to the "dictator's" genocide they claim justified their own, call to war. And why do those same men not see that without the middle and lower classes in their own nations, their own kingdoms cannot survive.
Not as fleet of foot at this stage of my life, I am questioning my own ability to step out of the path of that light at the end of the tunnel. If we cannot walk away from the ideologs and neocons and fantasy worlds created by carefully crafted marketing schemes, how can we recover the truth.
Without missing a step however, I am moving forward the best I can with a rattling collection of injured joints and my fractured ideals - into the ozone.