The Perils of Ignoring Your Political Base

For the second time in as many days, it seems I'm forced to agree with Rush Limbaugh about something.  He was singing my song today on his program.  He says that it's utterly absurd for every election cycle for both the Democratic and Republican campaigns to target that twenty percent of "independent voters" in the middle and ignore all the rest as though they don't count.  Rush correctly points out that many a campaign has been won or lost because a Candidate took their base for granted and figured they weren't important, and they stayed away from the polls on election day.  It's my oppinion that this has happened lately a lot more with the democrats than the Republicans.  Since the summer of 2009 when the tea party was really let loose on town halls throughout the nation- - they have provided a pretty solid vote, to the extent that national policy has been dictated by this vocal contingent of voters.  But this has not been so with the democrats.  President Obama is the best friend Big Corporitistss have ever had and they have prospered under this President like they have with no other.  Of course the whole Affordable Care Act was tailor made for the Health Care lobby out there.  For once I side with the right wing.  I'm not being inconsistent in the least.  If they will rise up to oppose this gigantic drug and insurance lobby- - it is they who are agreeing with me rather than me agreeing with them.  21 states at least, have already opted out of Obama Care.  It's problematic in my mind how a system can even work properly if 21 states or almost half of the Union, opt out of the major provisions of the program.  And by the way only 29% of these "Independent voters" even support the Affordable Care Act.  It can't be stated too often that by this one act of gargantuine folly, Obama doomed his entire presidency- - all eight years of it- - to Failure.  Rather than be down in the mouth about it the way Rush was today, whose actions I find very puzzling,  Rush Limbaugh should be crowing like a Rooster because virtually everything is breaking his way- - both in the Congress and in the Courts- - not to mention the all important Fourth Estate- - the news media out there.

But it's become clear that it's more than just "the base" that needs to get politically active.  It's all of us, perhaps even me.  Of course if I have changed since I moved into this facility, it's certainly given me a lot more in depth and close up understanding of "The Poor" than I ever had before- - considering the fact that I'm now one of them.  Some like Judy might say "You're only turning left wing because you ARE one of "them" not and therefore you do their bidding".  But suppose my family shared their vast wealth with me.  I would still feel compelled to say what I believe is right.  Only they I'd be accused of either ingratitude or hypocracy because then they would say "Look you aren't hurting- - but you're making a pretence as though you identify with the poor".   There are a lot of "poor people' out there who work at minimum wage jobs, and working at a job that pays a mere $7.50 an hour is a nightmare if you expect to support yourself and your family on that.  Randy Rhodes correctly says that money indeed IS important when you don't have any at all.  It's like oil in a mechanical device.  You need some oil for the thing to opporate correctly, but after a while when everything is humming along fine, additional oil becomes superfelus.  Likewise people need enough money to keep body and soul together and keep a roof over their head and their kids in new shoes that aren't worn through.  It's not that money is the ultimate goal- - for most of us it's a MEANS to a goal, of a happier family life.  It's been pointed out by radio hosts more times than I care to count that so much Divorce comes about through money conflicts- either the loss of a job or a medical crisis that wiped them out.  There was a thing on the Rush Limbaugh channel that talked about how lovers of Liberty are against the idea of "spreading the wealth around" as though it were some heretical and dangerous idea.  But I have tried (unsuccessfully and many times) to point out that it's we Liberals who have the Puritan work ethic and that we believe in an honest day's pay for an honest day's work, and that hard work and creative ingenuity ought to be rewarded.  All the International Corporatists and Big Money care about is pushing paper around.  Even Switzerland has industries, believe it or not.  It's not all gold bars in vaults.  President Obama spoke at some Republican gathering on the economy.  They taped him because they were looking for something to use against them.  But it's as though they knew they were being "Zimmermaned" because after a while they realized that all that was happening was that President Obama was able to get HIS message out in a way he'd never been able to before.  So after twenty minutes of an hour and a half gathering, they turned off the tape machine.  Clearly the rich are paid too much.  One CEO goe 53 Million for eighteen month's work.  I don't see why Stock Holders would vote these CEO's such gigantic salaries since that money comes straight out of dividends that would otherwise go to them.  Who approved these salaries.  Who approved of the idea of saying that "Big Box" stores such as Target and Wall Mart don't have to pay Sales Tax?  I was flabberghasted when I learned that.  And they don't pay the City any property taxes either.  This of course contributes to the fiscal woes of some cities.  But then again- - how many speeches has President Obama made saying that Detroit should be bailed out by the Federal Government.  Don't tell me this President does not have a position on that.  Or is President Obama so in love with big money that he genuinely doesn't CARE?  We know one of the first political promises this Candidate made was that he would accept matching funds and run his Campaign of 2008 on that.  But then he "opted out' of his own political position and promise.  This was truely a herald of things to come- - for those with eyes to see.  And one thing that is much clearer to me now than fifteen years ago is that we HAVE to take the money out of Politics.  It should be a felony to solicit money in Lobbying.  The constitution said nothing- I think deliberately- - about any money changing hands in "petetioning the government for a redress of grievences".  Indeed, it is we, the Poor who need to have our grievences "redressed".  But the law only works for some people, apparently.  The system is Broken.  I have said this many times.  And I don't know what to do about it.

Rush Limbaugh apparently will be running for two whole hours on FOX television.  That's amazing since supposedly "They virtually never give any guest that much time".  Someone said that Rush is in the twilight of his carrier and that he'll be gone soon.  Bones (from the other side) told me this morning that if the Congressional election goes the Democrat's way next year- - Rush Limbaugh could be very well just a fading memory and off the air virtually everywhere- within a period of two years.  He sounded confident.  Just as Cayla Brady sounded confident that Officer Bernardi's death wasn't caused by Samantha's gunshot.  Of course in part I see why Rush Limbaugh appears to be in a blue funk lately.  He has no facts at all on his side.  The economic statistics continued to be Revised Upward, and now they say that the economy for all of last year expanded at a rate of 2.8% - which way more than I ever thought.  But now it's only expanding at the rate of 1.7% thanks to the Sequester.  Rush has been on the air a whole 25 years nation wise as of tomorrow.  But he might not have many years left.  And apparently he's just on FOX news to show that he still "has it" (for now), which is the ability to attract a crowd when he gives a speech.  Bones says, "Just give it about five or six years- - and then we'll see what he can do".

One more paragraph is coming but I have to go right now.  Let's talk about Days of our Lives.  You know the staff could hire on George Zimmerman and they'd get a more believable story line.  You have the two gay lovers and a mother and a baby living together.  One of the lovers wants to go on a hiking trip to Bryce Canyon.  Sounds like a nice experiance, with a former gay friend of his.  People forget that these two are not married.  There is nothing preventing Sonny from taking off any time he wants to - -and never coming back, for that matter.  You have Raphael Hernandez's diatribe against Nick Fallon.  Even if everything he said was true (and virtually none of it was a bit true) it's old news anyhow- - based on a picture of about three months ago of a situation that Never Was to begin with.  If I were Nick I'd say something like, "I don't know why you are saying all this or ever hope to accomplish.  I know you're in physical pain and probably on drugs.  But when I leave here today I'm not going to give you or your family or the Bradys another thought."  I don't know whether Raphael is mad at Nick because he stayed with his sister too long in the marriage- - he didn't Vacate fast enough - - or that he "abandoned her", which I doubt.  I mean she even deleted all the photos of them together.  He's given her a tailor made annulment - - what else does Raphael want???  If Raphael wants to get mad at somebody get mad at the bi-sexual who knocked up his little sister in the first place and instead of marrying her like a responsible person would- - drove her to the abortion clinic.  Then we have Stephano.  Kate told Chad that "She's never witnessed Stephano Di Mire violate his word after he gave it?  I think they've both been smoking something really strange.  Every other word out of Stephano's mouth is a lie.  That's what he eats lives and breaths.  This whole idea of this omnipotently Evil man living in their midst with few if any friends- - and yet the Law can't pin so much as one crime on him in over thirty years.  It defies the imagination.  I don't see how in this current murder Samantha is involved in- - how after the whole thing gets solved, as it invariably does (because the writers are too lazy to actually put on a Court Trial) that Stephano won't be fingered personally and that will be the end of him right there.  He'll go up the river for conspiracy to first degree murder.  And I think murder to silence a witness- - would definitely be an aggravating factor to lengthen his sentence.

An Epidemic of Unintelligent Inarticulateness

A big part of today’s problem with people on the radio is they are inarticulate and not conceise and bore people to death.  Rush Limbaugh is the only person who can get away with total incompetence from his loud rustling of papers- - to spending five minutes talking about all he had was stuff about Wierner on his show- and then ten minutes later he admitted he lied about that.  My guess is that Rush was lying to us when he said he really didn’t WANT to do that interview on FOX television.  With someone as rich as Rush, if they don’t want to do something then nothing can make them do it.   But this misuse of language extends to our side such as the expression that “cigarette companies manipulate the amount of Nicotine in their product”.  A much more accurate term would be either “regulate” or “control”.  Because “manipulate” is one of those red flag words that is meant to appeal to people’s “condition reflex” response to certain words- - like a Pavlov dog.  And then there was the story about President Obama having a new jobs bill where he revived a plan from a year ago to lower the tax rates on corporations in exchange for other pro job consideration.  The headline it’s an Obama “ploy” to help drum up support for his economic plans.  They know darned well the word “ploy” is a buzz word and it’s all many people will hear without listening to the rest of the sentence.  They we have Monique taking seemingly a whole hour to discuss this FBI bust of pimps and prostitutes nation wide.  While it’s a commendable effort it by no means merits a whole hour of prime time.  Of course people today are in love with anything new.  For instance people say that “The Fabulus Forum” of Inglewood is old news.  So why did the Kings and the Lakers leave?  I happen to like the architecture of the Forum, and music goers say the place has superior sound acoustics to the Staples Center.  People seem in love with junking what they label as “old”.  People like me used to be knows as conservatives.   I don’t think the government or congress should dump two hundred plus years of tradition in favor of God knows what goes on there now.  Republicans engage in this massive blame shifting campaign against Obama on the economy- - as if more than a tiny percentage of the President’s economic policies were ever implemented.  All the average mule headed jackass out there in television land hears is “This is Obama’s fifth year in office- - therefore he is responsible for everything that’s wrong with the economy”.   There is such a major epidemic of simple-mindedness of the mentally retarded variety out there.  I think even calling the tea party right ‘retarded” is an insult to the real retards out there.  Because at least a real Retard eventually “gets it’ some of the time.  These tea party people like the ones who watch FOX news NEVER get it.  Sometimes in my blogs I repeat stories.  Like many ideas in the long first paragraph of that last posting- - originated a whole year & a half ago, which I know is an eternity in politics.  But you know we get new readers all the time.  So I go against my own dislike of repeating myself just to do a short economic recap like I did yesterday.

Last night it was the ABC game shows and then it was “Law and Order”.  I have the same bias as that woman who felt a kinship to the little girl “Ashley”.  Because I too have a think against rich people who think they are a law unto themselves, with seemingly their own security staffs.  Not only can they call out their own children “protecting’ them from people who see that they are in danger and in clear need of psychological help (and this little girl’s emotional condition was deteriorating literally by the minute) but they even get court injunctions against cops because they have “bought” judges, just like Stephano Di Mira on the soap opera.  Personally I have never had any particular respect, much less awe, for the “entertainment industry”.  It’s of no fascination for me to find out that they are sinners and morally inferior to most Americans.  I just say “That’s just the way they are.  They are a bunch of privileged jerks who are too full of themselves”.  The other story on “Law and Order” was a real George Zimmerman case before its time.  It was about a vigilante “Neighborhood Watch” guy- - - and people get out of prison serving time for a rape crime- - and now need police protection themselves.  If I were a store manager- - no I wouldn’t want to be known as a place where former rapists hang out.  But his money’s just as good as anyone elses and a buck is a buck.  And someone who fires into a window from across the street is kind of “out of control” anyhow because they are as interested in sheer terror not caring what innocent people may be hit- - then they are about ‘keeping the streets of America clean”.  I’ve watched this show a lot and there are of course endless deals and moral compromises- - about which cases have precedence over others.  And unfortunately when a law enforcement system becomes too lax, and that line may be different for each community- - then people lose confidence in the system all together.

Bradley Manning was convicted on all crimes, in addition to the ones he's already pled guilty to- - today except for the worst crime - - actual Treason and 'giving aid and comfort to the enemy'.  You have to prove intent for that one.  But instead all he did was give the info to Wikkileaks.com.  So it's in the judge's discretion now exactly how long the sentense will be or whether you will make them consecutive or comcurrent terms.  Randy Rhodes points out that Solitary Confinement isn't ordenary time.  Randy is also curious how an Army Private got a hold of these elite government documents, and perhaps someone Else fell down doing their job.  On Sunday I watched “Face the Nation” and I think I hit all the relevant points.  Then I watched two different things from that Oregon guy Wyker or something- - who is concerned about the NSA violating our civil liberties.  There was an administration guy though, who seemed to say there was no problem with the way things are now, so I don’t know whose right and whose wrong.  Rush Limbaugh seemed concerned that the government could pretty well piece together our lives just making deductions from the phone calls we made to various people – where, when, and for how long.  The House is not happy about the encroachment- - and a vote to end a lot of this surveillance almost passed the House.

Janet needed someone to help unload her groceries.  Jim Spencer took her.  I took one case of Diet Coke and three bags on the first load and did likewise on the second load.  Going up the stairs was tiresome on my legs more than my arms.  For my trouble I got two Time cigarettes and a cinnamon roll and a cup of really hot coffee.  Tropical storm Flossie is about to hit the Hawaiian islands hitting about Molichai- - or pretty much dead center through the eight of the main islands.  I’m siding with the gun owners as far as the banning of lead bullets is concerned for all of California.  I believe the move is unwise and the Condors don’t need that much protection.  A whole swath of California is already reserved for the Condors and if they are branching out into other areas, then they are not that endangered.  Besides I’m enough of a chemical structure person to know that there is no good replacement for lead bullets.

We in the past have done 'My remembrances as Elvis".  But we didn't do the very last ones.  We skip from late July of 1955 all the way through to about mid spring of 1957 when Jail House Rock was being filmed.  I remember that incident when the other guys I was with refused to sing gospel songs with me, and got annoyed when someone told me "They were instructed not to sing with you because you're taking up too much studio time".  I remember reading the script and thinking the Colonel or someone was playing mind games with me.  I didn't like the smugness of my character once he got rich and particularly was offended that my character was a regular social drinker of alcoholic beverages and in one scene I offer "To fix someone a blast", which I guess is a drink.  Of course we won't even talk about wardrobe.  I remember complaining to Shelly Winters- - who was a nice older woman - - and was the only one who seemed to understand when I said "I don't like this production business- - I don't like the script and I don't like the Colonel" and all my mother could say when I talked to her was "Do whatever the Colonel tells you to do".   In terms of writing letters to Anita (Wood) from Germany - - one time I said "I haven't seen a single girl", when soon after I met some brunette named Elizabeth.  I paced outside her house a long time before working up the nerve to knock on the door.  (someone had apparently mentioned her)  I think we went out to some smelly theater with a lot of winos or something in the audience watching a black and white picture.  Apparently at this time - - I remember it being dark a lot- - I was stationed near the Chech border- - near barbed wire fences and stuff- - and I had to do a lot of gun practice, which was loud.  As to my memories of Anita I'm inclined to believe that she was much more prominent in Elvis' life than most books give her credit for.  There was one photo of Elvis and Anita on this "tilt o whirl" ride- - though there was no "tilting" involved.  It was one of these rides like they used to have at POP that was strictly horizontal where a big thing spins- and little things from that shoot off and spin, and you ride in the car and get kind of a zig zag effect.  There was a "new" studio in Nashville I recorded at in June of 1958 where I did songs such as "I Need Your Love Tonight" , "I Got Stung", and 'A Big uh Hunk of Love" which features deliberate imotating of Jerry Lee Lewis.  I was there also in March or so of 1960.   "Make Me Know It' is a song I was attracted to because in third grade there was this older sixth grader who claimed that Abraham Lincoln had said "I believe all of what I see but only a small part of what I hear", so the song lyric is "Hearing's deceiving- - seeing's believing".  At the time I guess I thought this would be my come-back single.  As to "Such a Night" it was just a case of me getting confused and losing track of where to come in.  I usually don't do that.  So finally I tell the band- - I'll raise my hand where I'm going to come in so you'll know".  Then we have "Fever".  I was puzzled by the lyrics of this song because they seemed to me like women's lyrics especially the line "I'm his mussus".  Then someone said to me "This line is just quoting Pocahantus".   Then I go "Well what about this line- - chicks were born to give you fever".   Someone said "Oh- - do you want to change that".  And the first thing that popped into my head was "Cats were born to give chicks fever" and whoever said "OK then, we'll go with that".  As for "Reconsider Baby" obviously I was channeling Roy Orbeson.  I don't know if it came out on the record but I said "The tempo is dragging a little".  I wanted the band to speed up - - but they never did.  On this song I play "lead rhythm" guitar, akin to the part Brian Jones played on "Paint It Black".

Calvinistic Darwinism

When I first began going to Christian Bible studies on a regular basis in May of 1976 I listened to all these fantastic stories of good fortune, both big and small- - - and things became apparent.  These people were really into Self Promotion.  They also seemed adept at generalizing their own experiance as though it was somehow "par for the course for any Christian who was flowing with the Spirit".   Somewhere early on I coined the term "Calvinistic Darwinism" - which alluded to the fact that all these "stories" I heard were like "being the millionth customer" in a department store and all the lights and bells went off.  Of winning the jackpot at the local casino.  The whole idea is to draw attention to whatever entity was the means by which these people cashed in big.  In the case of Calvary Christianity that supposedly was the Lord.  But you see these Publicity Hounds now in the guise of people like Joe the Plumber, who were so instrumental in the Republican 2008 Presidential Campaign.  It turns out that "Joe" was neither a plumber, nor did he ear $250,000 or anything close to it.  What we DO know is that "Joe", if that was his real name, was a very useful tool or more precisely a shill- in the 2008 campaign.  You see shades of this publicity hound stuff in this enormous hype to portray George Zimmerman as some sort of Hero and all around Good Guy.  I cannot think of another defendant in the murder case who was so built up by their bank of attorneys.  You saw nothing like this with OJ Simpson.  OJ just slinked away quietly.  Now you have this guy on the Randy Rhodes show claiming by sheer hard work and sacrifice he build himself up a major real estate renovation business including even things like demolition.  All of that equipment costs money and Randy had a lot of trouble believing that somehow he was able to do it all on his own.  So do I.  Especially when you sprinkle in a lot of barbs at other people who have tried and failed to do the same thing.  These people will never say that they were "Lucky".  I know from last Friday's "Bones" episode that "Luck" per se- does not exist, any more than "God" exists.  What we call luck is some sort of "net effect of cause and effects".  I won't dispute that.  But I' m just sort of wondering whether that "random caller" isn't calling a whole lot of talk shows with the same story.  And I also get the feeling that his success NOW in THIS economy is Not as important to him as his success as a Political Spokesman for a yet unidentified Cause is.  The funny thing from the way people speak disparagingly about minorities today you'd never guess it was George Bush himself who proposed the idea that laxed loan regulation would enable minorities (mainly Latinos I suspect) to buy better homes, and thus secure their votes for the 2004 Presidential election.  If I were Randy I might just have said something "You're speaking of the glories of your past.  What are things like right NOW or the past several years?  I think the caller had some as yet unseen "focus" or impitus for his call.  I guess a good nickname for this "X source" would be referred to in the generic sense as "The political echo chamber of the tea party right" as Thom Hartman says.  I guess the problem is that we are indeed turning into a "Third world country".  Judy has said that.  But she means it differently.  She means "because there are so many minorities living here now somehow contaminating our way of life and our Puritan work ethic".   But more realistically- - - the way we have become so is that the Rich are isolated from the rest of us.  You saw shades of this even fifteen years ago with people like John Kovel and Tammy Bruce complaining that if they built a subway that Blacks from the ghetto would inundate the San Fernando Valley.  It's no coincidence then that John and Ken were the first conservatives I STOPPED listening to on the radio and maybe that was around 2000.  We are told states like Ohio and Michigan and Wisconsin have republican state houses now- - but I can't help but thinking that if ordenary people stormed the capitols of these states- - and demanded to be witnesses at legislative hearings- that things would change.  I don't know who decides these things.  Often they have certain giveaway phrases to reveal some "speech boiler plate opperation".  For instance Rush Limbaugh was the first to use the term "Gitmo" for Guantanamo.  And now a witness before a subcomittee on closing the place down uses that term.  They too will say that America has lost its manufacturing base- - - but they won't change the tax laws to discourage companies from relocating off shore.  They will in fact almost praise this "stashing away of funds" from the prying eyes of the IRS.  Or they will point to the fact that "We can't offend China because we owe them so much money".  When given a chance to vote on a bill to bring back American jobs- - they will vote it down.  And worst of all they will blame this increase of the poor at the expense of the middle class- - is all President Obama's fault because of his "socialist policies".  They will say things like "The president hasn't increased our wealth in America.  He just wants to spread it around" as though that's a bad thing.  Give them time and like Judy they will go into this "violin music" about how the one percent is being taxed to death- - and this is the whole problem with America now.  This is of course a last gasp of the "trickle down" mentality begun under Ronald Reagan.  But just to return to my original point- - if some caller "out of nowhere" presumably- - begins mouthing all of these buzz phrases one after the other in almost mindless fashion- - you know you are talking to just another pawn of Grover Norquist and the Koch Brothers.

I think I just had an epiphany about something, and that is the real reason why White people don’t like Blacks using the word “Nigger” in entertainment or rap music or whatever.  It’s because Whites take offense to using the word “Nigger” when it’s not ‘germain to the conversation”.  So the question then arises, when WOULD the word “Nigger” be “germain to the conversation”.  If the word is used by Ted Nugent or Paula Dean or George Zimmerman, than this is the “proper” use of the N word in its “proper” employment as a word of subjugation of a minority.  But Whites like this guy Randy Rhodes was discussing today- - resented the notion that Blacks are somehow “trying to take the power away from that word”.  Whites don’t WANT the word Nigger to lose its power.  It’s like if two working class women are kidding around and one calls the other “bitch” then this is straying from the “proper employment” of the term- like if a brutish husband is beating a woman to within an inch of her life.  Then there is this stuff about low hanging pants being “an identification with the prison culture” and the lower hanging pants indicate a willingness to be the “submissive” male in a sex act.  Now the third tip to overcoming poverty is “Don’t litter”.  Randy Rhodes was talking how 79% of the nation’s population risks living in poverty at some point in their live or another.  Bad news for White is that they too are now “partaking of their fair share” of the nation’s poverty figure as the rates between the races are evening out.  There are now faster rates of White single mothers now as opposed to Blacks.  Of course an absent male figure is deleterious to the family.  There’s no doubt about that.  But this is because Blacks are ten times more likely than Blacks to do prison time for the same crime.  Keep in mind these five points are this one guys “remedy for the economic problems of USA”.

 

This is Monday July 29, 2013 and the back panel has taken to ratteling but it only seems to do it when the computer is starting up.  That Monique lady was on earlier but I think she was going to get into more boring topics.  She talked about Pope Francis wrapping up his trip to Brazil yesterday.  She says the ghettos in Rio are really bad in terms of gang violence.  Is that from personal experience.  The Pope was on Copa Cavana beach over the weekend, and naturally they had to make a song out of it.  The Pope gave thumbs up to Atheists a few weeks ago and now says he welcomes gays into the church on kind of a “don’t ask; don’t tell” basic, but if you are discovered to be gay afterward, that’s OK.  They won’t kick you out like they did with the military.  Monique’s mother just told her to “do this one last thing and you never have to do another thing for the Church again”.  This was in reference to confirmation, where apparently they give you a new spiritual name.  They never gave me a new name.  Of course when parents were really whacked out on the whole mental illness issue Mom said ‘Just get on SSI and you’ll never have to worry about money again”, except for all the times you get a job and go over the two thousand dollar limit.  But Pope Francis is still steadfast against women Priests but is open to women serving in other leadership roles, which he wants to encourage.  Jim Ward or one of those people on Stephanie’s show says “all this era of good feeling is like some kind of calm before the storm”.  I’ve gotten an occasional thought like that myself but I pushed it out of my mind.  They showed one of the Kennedy family visits to Hyanisport exactly fifty years ago with six & a half year old Caroline, and John John being precotious.  I think since it’s the fifty year anniversary this year coming up weren’t they going to release a bunch of secret material on the assassination?  Or was that after seventy-five years - - in which case I’d be pushing 88, and might have such bad eyes by then I wouldn’t be able to read it anyhow.  But I have another reason for liking this Pope.  It’s called the “Up yours! Pat Buchannon” theory.  Pat always talks about “real Catholics” and now the “real Catholics are coming out three million strong in one place.  Actually I didn’t know that was physically possible.  We’re talking maybe a quarter of the people in the Los Angeles metropolitan area gathered on one spot.   Of course if they are going to quote from that heretic Jesus Christ, they’ll continue to get the tea baggers mad at them.

Last night things looked pretty grim in the cigarette department.  I got that one from James at five thirty- - bringing my tab with James 75 cents - -  (gosh- I’ll have to take out a second Mortgage to cover that bill) and it was the ABC network news and then “On the Red Carpet”.  Then it was America’s Funniest Home Videos till they ran about five minutes solid commercials in a row and I finally turned the thing off, disgusted, and went outside.  There that Gwen hermaphidite person gave me a whole white cigarette.   Just to do an update on that Ronald Reagan jelly bean skit we could say this.  “Everybody knows Whites are better than the browns.  They just look better and are cleaner and more pleasant- - - and those Browns are so cheap after all, and sometimes the browns die on you”.    Anyhow I was smoking that and John Metz offers me fifty cents if I would just give him the remainder of it.  You know how John is with money.  I was desperate enough to take his money.  I went right down to Glen’s room and secured instant coffee for a good strong cup and I heated up the water back here.  Then I went to Janet with the other quarter and paid on a cash and carry basis.  Later on in the evening I turned it on to “Robo Cop” just after eight (or before?)  Interesting movie.  I did see the last few minute segment of a “Family Guy” thing I’d seen before.  I went to bed and slept better than I did the night before.  I haven’t been plagued with any more strange dreams.

I got up at six and went down for medication from the guy (and I forget his name) but came back to the window and asked if he had a cigarette and fortunately for me he did.  But still in the last 36 hours I’ve smoked only six cigarettes- - five of them were from yesterday - - and the last two were strictly the grace of God.  Most all of them were the grace of God.  There was talk about the Saddleback reverend and the loss of his son.  I can think of a number of religious figures that have suffered a major loss.  Well, starting with you know who at Calvary of Anaheim.  I think it’s a little strange to say “I’d rather stick with God and not have all my questions answered- then have all my questions answered and forsake God”.  The way I look at it is if you get all your questions answered- - you’d understand why you worship an imaginary god-  and continue to prop up a while system of irrelivent theology.  The only difference between the Saddleback preacher and Brady Black- - are two- - at least Christine Di Mira has little flashes of conscience even if fleeting ones.  The other is- - Kristin Di Mira is a real person (to to speak) whereas God isn’t.  I also find it curious he said that “Satan picked on the wrong family when he took my son”.  Well I’m naturally wondering- who is the RIGHT person for Satan to pick on.  Me?  Because I too attempted suicide and had “150% of a lethal dose” in my system and survived.  So was it I who got the second chance- - or perhaps the second chance was for my family as some sort of test- - one which they failed.  I have my own “emotional baggage” when it comes to “mental illness” issues, or accusations thereof.  So I don’t really feel I’m the best one to comment on that aspect of the thing.  I’m not going to be like Judy - - coming in like gang-busters and making pronounce about matters that I know nothing about.

Typed last Saturday July 27th

Last night it was “Bones” at the eight o clock hour and “The Following” I believe at nine, which we watched till ten.  Just after nine Janet knocked on the door and offered me first two dollars and they raised it to three- for a package of Swiss Miss too.  I took her up on the deal and went right to the store, which was still open.  Of course they used to close at nine.  I don’t wake “late” but I don’t wake early any more- - or feel like getting up before six these days.  KNX radio came to bore me today so I turned on the Today show, only turning back to KNX to hear words of President Obama that I’ve already heard before.  At the eight o clock hour,  Eric Cantor - - a guy with gay relatives so I’ve heard - - stated that there were a number of house bills to give us citizen’s rights against the government beaurocrats, or at least that’s what he claims.  Then it was that pignalian - - pigmagenol or something vitamine and palmagranate juice, that does all sorts of things for your skin and blood vessles, and causes you to score eight points higher on complicated mental tests.  Then I played Disk three of “The London Years” to celebrate Mick Jagger’s birthday a day late.  I skipped over a few songs.  I came back in during the fish and krill oil combo package with the B 12.  Oh yes, they’ve got quite a band.   I went down for coffee and did have two cups this day.  Then it was Melinda Lee where she warns that hard water makes your pickles come out soft and not crispy.  She said her 500 degree method was for prime rib and not poultry, because obviously beef can be rare but poultry carries too many bacteria.