Another group of people killed over the beliefs of a right wing nut-job. When is enough become really enough to do something about it. Thankfully it's not up to me except as a member of the majority of sane, rational people in this country. In my opinion, free speech stops when you yell fire in a crowed venue and people are trampled to death. It becomes the same as yelling "God wants sinners killed and wiped out" to a group of ignorant, unstable morons. Someone needs to be held accountable for such blatant evil. ISIS will cut off your head for going against their religious beliefs. Saudi-Arabia will do the same thing, again for their religion. Unstable Christians will use bullets to enforce their beliefs. We hold ISIS leaders and the Saudi government leaders responsible for the actions of their followers. Why are not Mr. Huckabee, Mr. Trump, Mr. Cruz and the editor of fake videos being held responsible for the three dead people in Colorado? We can name quite a few more that believe their version of a holy book is the right version and have been led to believe somehow they should follow someone's interpretation of it instead of the US Constitution and American laws. It's really sickening to view sites such as The Daily Caller or Red-State and see the misinformation they foist on Fox News addicts under the guise of "real truth" when it is anything but.
I believe we should research laws against sedition, treason, slander and libel and see which ones might apply to the Republican Party and their adherents.
Monday, November 30, 2015
Sunday, November 29, 2015
People and Guns
There is widespread belief that in a wartime operation like the invasion on D-Day or Inchon landing in Korea, over half of soldiers never fired their weapons. They simply froze. This was attributed to the lack of aggression when they were growing up. They were taught, contrary to reality, that America was a peaceful nation. Books by Howard Zinn or James Loewen were never mentioned until a young person left high school and encountered some reality in college history courses.
Lately though, aggression has become the new normal and directed at minorities, homosexuals or any other group the right-wing religious police have designated undesirables that need to be converted or eliminated. Witness two days ago a shooting at Planned Parenthood perpetrated by a crazy Christian zealot attempting to rectify what he thought were sinners being bad. He just took the Republican party agenda to it's logical culmination.
Soldiers now are conditioned to kill other people. If they were taught otherwise, they wouldn't be much use in combat. Most people, as a rule, are not soldiers or ex-soldiers. their knowledge of fighting and death are gleaned from TV shows or video games. So they go out, listening to the NRA propaganda, buy themselves a gun to feel safe, take time to shoot at paper targets and get themselves a license to carry it around, feeling like a combination Marshall Dillon and Sheriff Joe Arpaio. I feel
that before getting a license to pack their gun, they be required to spend a weekend observing or helping in the emergency rooms of a large metropolitan hospital actually experiencing what their little safety toy can really do. See how many people actually shoot themselves or someone they love accidentally.
I believe that if a terrorist were to attack normal people in a crowded, darkened venue, most of them would shoot themselves or their fellows and terrorists would escape unscathed. Luckily the odds of such an occurrence actually happening are about the same as being hit by a meteor from space.
Lately though, aggression has become the new normal and directed at minorities, homosexuals or any other group the right-wing religious police have designated undesirables that need to be converted or eliminated. Witness two days ago a shooting at Planned Parenthood perpetrated by a crazy Christian zealot attempting to rectify what he thought were sinners being bad. He just took the Republican party agenda to it's logical culmination.
Soldiers now are conditioned to kill other people. If they were taught otherwise, they wouldn't be much use in combat. Most people, as a rule, are not soldiers or ex-soldiers. their knowledge of fighting and death are gleaned from TV shows or video games. So they go out, listening to the NRA propaganda, buy themselves a gun to feel safe, take time to shoot at paper targets and get themselves a license to carry it around, feeling like a combination Marshall Dillon and Sheriff Joe Arpaio. I feel
that before getting a license to pack their gun, they be required to spend a weekend observing or helping in the emergency rooms of a large metropolitan hospital actually experiencing what their little safety toy can really do. See how many people actually shoot themselves or someone they love accidentally.
I believe that if a terrorist were to attack normal people in a crowded, darkened venue, most of them would shoot themselves or their fellows and terrorists would escape unscathed. Luckily the odds of such an occurrence actually happening are about the same as being hit by a meteor from space.
Saturday, November 28, 2015
Technology Speed
As one gets older, the world speeds up. And at a pace that seems to increase exponentially. Today I helped a friend pick out an electronic tablet mainly to send and receive e-mail. This little tablet she chose probably has a dozen times the speed and power of the first PC I purchased only about twenty years or so ago. Additionally, at only $50.00, it cost about 1/6 of the price I paid back then. We never dreamed of built in cameras and webcams. It was slow as cold syrup because a 56Kb modem was top of the line I wasn't happy with Windows Explorer so I downloaded Netscape Navigator.
I remember that took a number of hours to download and install. Since then I have used Firefox and finally Google Chrome. I was using Navigator when I heard about the new search engine named Google. I was intrigued by the name knowing that mathematically a googol is a number big enough to count every elementary particle in the entire universe. The only number bigger is a googolplex for which there is absolutely no conceivable use. Anyway, Google was by invitation only though you could buy an invitation online. I snapped one up posthaste and always wished there were some stock shares available then. I still have my soul although I would have been sorely tempted to sell it for a thousand shares of Google stock. I once knew a man who had a roommate in college that had an idea for a company he needed another $500.00 to start and offered Walter half of the company for a loan of that amount. Walter turned him down so Elmer managed to get the amount without giving half of Frito's Corn Chips to anyone. Deep down I honestly got a computer like one of the characters on "King of the Hill." He said "all you gotta do is put in 'nekid wimmin' and there they is." I have always liked naked women rather than naked men. They are so much more beautiful.
But I digress. I think both computers and cell phones have become so automated that in the case of a computer one can't actually do anything for themselves. Gone are DOS commands. You can't even get to DOS anymore. Gone are floppy drives and a mouse is becoming useless. Maybe it's about time to slow things down just a tad and let human people catch up,
I remember that took a number of hours to download and install. Since then I have used Firefox and finally Google Chrome. I was using Navigator when I heard about the new search engine named Google. I was intrigued by the name knowing that mathematically a googol is a number big enough to count every elementary particle in the entire universe. The only number bigger is a googolplex for which there is absolutely no conceivable use. Anyway, Google was by invitation only though you could buy an invitation online. I snapped one up posthaste and always wished there were some stock shares available then. I still have my soul although I would have been sorely tempted to sell it for a thousand shares of Google stock. I once knew a man who had a roommate in college that had an idea for a company he needed another $500.00 to start and offered Walter half of the company for a loan of that amount. Walter turned him down so Elmer managed to get the amount without giving half of Frito's Corn Chips to anyone. Deep down I honestly got a computer like one of the characters on "King of the Hill." He said "all you gotta do is put in 'nekid wimmin' and there they is." I have always liked naked women rather than naked men. They are so much more beautiful.
But I digress. I think both computers and cell phones have become so automated that in the case of a computer one can't actually do anything for themselves. Gone are DOS commands. You can't even get to DOS anymore. Gone are floppy drives and a mouse is becoming useless. Maybe it's about time to slow things down just a tad and let human people catch up,
Friday, November 27, 2015
Dreams
Due to the national celebration of Thanksgiving, everyone's schedule got all screwed up. Mine in particular. Ordinarily, I go to bed after the ten o'clock news and talking to the night shift caregiver. whose time starts at 10;00 PM and runs to 6:00 AM. Unfortunately, no one showed up last night and
since I was the last one still awake, I felt responsible for staying up in case of fire, break ins or any other emergency. At last, at about 1:30, the evening shift caregiver came by, left to get some food and returned at 1:45. Although satiated earlier at dinner, we all ate again including a lot more pie and cake.
Finally went to bed sometime after 3:00 AM. Got up and took medicine at noon and back to bed, sleeping soundly until late this afternoon. I suppose that because of hearing so much daytime activity, I was besieged with a multitude of dreams, none of them bad. I have always believed that dreams are the brain's interpretations of sounds to preserve our sleep and keep us from waking up too soon. This is on a semi- conscious level. On a deeper level, our brains are seeking a better explanation of the day's and earlier events stored in memory. Our brain constructs scenarios that are mostly good of past events. In scenes where you remember shame or embarrassment, they are scrubbed to show the good parts only. This occurs if you are in tune with the flow of cosmic life. If you don't know about that, it would be good for you to find out and join it.
Needless to say, I had good dreams all day and awoke refreshed with a positive outlook on life and the future. So much so, I look forward to my next night's sleep, even though it uses up so many hours of my lifeline.
since I was the last one still awake, I felt responsible for staying up in case of fire, break ins or any other emergency. At last, at about 1:30, the evening shift caregiver came by, left to get some food and returned at 1:45. Although satiated earlier at dinner, we all ate again including a lot more pie and cake.
Finally went to bed sometime after 3:00 AM. Got up and took medicine at noon and back to bed, sleeping soundly until late this afternoon. I suppose that because of hearing so much daytime activity, I was besieged with a multitude of dreams, none of them bad. I have always believed that dreams are the brain's interpretations of sounds to preserve our sleep and keep us from waking up too soon. This is on a semi- conscious level. On a deeper level, our brains are seeking a better explanation of the day's and earlier events stored in memory. Our brain constructs scenarios that are mostly good of past events. In scenes where you remember shame or embarrassment, they are scrubbed to show the good parts only. This occurs if you are in tune with the flow of cosmic life. If you don't know about that, it would be good for you to find out and join it.
Needless to say, I had good dreams all day and awoke refreshed with a positive outlook on life and the future. So much so, I look forward to my next night's sleep, even though it uses up so many hours of my lifeline.
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Santa's Hot Items this Year
Santa goes modern this year. Gone are the Furbys, the Tickle-me-Elmos, the Cabbage Patch Kids and the Transformers. All replaced by semi-legal personal drones and hover boards, the modern version of a motorized skate board. Add a raincoat to the hover board assembly and you have essentially a 1964 Volkswagen Beetle. Since I never learned to skate or ride a skateboard, I will always be suspicious of any contraption that uses hands free operation for controlling speed and/or direction or stopping and starting. I learned to ride horses but I consider them more dangerous than a motorcycle mainly because they don't have brakes or an on & off switch.
The personal drone is every nerdy teen age boy voyeur's dream. He can fly it around the neighborhood and peek in his female schoolmates bedroom window and possibly catch her sexting her jock boyfriend. A sex-text he can only imagine never having seen one himself. Not having a personal drone, he is restricted to his dad's porn collection. He will then grow up and become either a pastor in his church, a closet homosexual or release his frustrations by shooting up his school lunchroom with an AK-47. I hope his parents relent and spend the $500,00 or so and get him the drone. The possible alternative is so much worse. Next time, only have girl babies.
On the subject of Santa; with global warming, don't you think it's time to get rid of the image of a jolly, old fat man riding a sleigh and wrapped in a red suit and furs. Coca - Cola took him off their cans decades ago. Maybe we need to stop polluting little kid's minds with images of snow and roasting chestnuts. Probably 80% of them have never seen snow or a chestnut. Can't anybody think up some new myths to occupy little minds to prepare them for a new reality? Please try.
The personal drone is every nerdy teen age boy voyeur's dream. He can fly it around the neighborhood and peek in his female schoolmates bedroom window and possibly catch her sexting her jock boyfriend. A sex-text he can only imagine never having seen one himself. Not having a personal drone, he is restricted to his dad's porn collection. He will then grow up and become either a pastor in his church, a closet homosexual or release his frustrations by shooting up his school lunchroom with an AK-47. I hope his parents relent and spend the $500,00 or so and get him the drone. The possible alternative is so much worse. Next time, only have girl babies.
On the subject of Santa; with global warming, don't you think it's time to get rid of the image of a jolly, old fat man riding a sleigh and wrapped in a red suit and furs. Coca - Cola took him off their cans decades ago. Maybe we need to stop polluting little kid's minds with images of snow and roasting chestnuts. Probably 80% of them have never seen snow or a chestnut. Can't anybody think up some new myths to occupy little minds to prepare them for a new reality? Please try.
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Green Thanksgiving & Black Friday
Tomorrow is the day for Americans to outwardly commit six of the seven deadly sins and inwardly take care of the seventh. At home, they start with Gluttony followed by an afternoon of Sloth. Then they go to their Internet connection and consumed with Envy for people already camped out at Walmart who will be getting all the best deals; they quickly dress and head there. Once in there, they react with Wrath toward other people trying to satisfy the communal Greed with the sale item they want. They emerge with Pride they were able to trample other people and escape that fate themselves. At last, they look with Lust on the swinging, shapely buttocks of the opposite sex person walking ahead of them in the seductive light of a shopping center lighted parking lot.
And now we come to Black Friday door buster sale items. For a small, easy to understand example take a look at the case of a high definition Japanese camera. The Chinese build them by the boatload and sell lots of them. A retail chain like Target or Walmart buys 20,000 of them. As is customary for factories which don't want defective ones back, they will increase the order by usually 2% or 400 free cameras so the retailer can make good on a come back at no cost to him or shipping it back to China for a credit. In our fictitious example, the factory price is $60.00 each. They are placed in stores with a price of $149.99. Dissatisfied with sales, marketing starts gradually lowering the price down to $109.89. They see the year ending and they are stuck with 2000 cameras. So since they aren't selling anyway they raise the price to $146.50. Closer to the end of the year they send 50 each to 40 of their stores in the area. They are the Black Friday door-buster special with $60.00 off the normal retail price and only cost $86.50. The chain then makes 44% profit at the special price and a good time is had by all at the Winter Solstice annual Orgy.
And now we come to Black Friday door buster sale items. For a small, easy to understand example take a look at the case of a high definition Japanese camera. The Chinese build them by the boatload and sell lots of them. A retail chain like Target or Walmart buys 20,000 of them. As is customary for factories which don't want defective ones back, they will increase the order by usually 2% or 400 free cameras so the retailer can make good on a come back at no cost to him or shipping it back to China for a credit. In our fictitious example, the factory price is $60.00 each. They are placed in stores with a price of $149.99. Dissatisfied with sales, marketing starts gradually lowering the price down to $109.89. They see the year ending and they are stuck with 2000 cameras. So since they aren't selling anyway they raise the price to $146.50. Closer to the end of the year they send 50 each to 40 of their stores in the area. They are the Black Friday door-buster special with $60.00 off the normal retail price and only cost $86.50. The chain then makes 44% profit at the special price and a good time is had by all at the Winter Solstice annual Orgy.
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Faith and Religion
I think that faith and religion are two completely different concepts. Faith is an important component of the flow of the Universe, kind of a cosmic jet-stream of time, events, problems and solutions, questions and answers like an endless river of the universe. The important item to remember is that the flow direction is always positive and forward and good. Like the unity church says "life is meant to be good." Always remember though. a church is not a religion, it's merely a meeting of like minded people.
Religion is a set of pre-packaged beliefs, do's and don'ts, crimes and punishments, rewards and penalties, all handed down to people by their initial authority figures, most likely being parents. No one is actually born with any of this rigmarole as instinctive. It isn't born into us and has to be inserted manually, again the role of that first authority figure. I never tried to instill any particular religion into my children. I did expose them to many belief systems but never said one was best or better than any other. I did let them know that whatever walk in life they chose, I would always respect, support and love them. Looking back, I believe that worked out well for all of us.
To be happy, calm and stress free, it's important to find and join that metaphysical flow by first believing it exists and get in tune with it. I've heard black people say to "go with the flow," which is an apt saying for anybody' You first have to get rid of all your learned prejudices and limits to thinking clearly by realizing that all of us are different outwardly yet all of us are alike inside where we truly live. We are all lost children wandering in a world we don't really understand. Stop trying to understand or trying to choose between frozen peas versus fresh corn and just accept what comes without question. Once you can do this, you have found the flow and life will be in tune and good in many ways because you will have peace and faith in life being ultimately good.
Religion is a set of pre-packaged beliefs, do's and don'ts, crimes and punishments, rewards and penalties, all handed down to people by their initial authority figures, most likely being parents. No one is actually born with any of this rigmarole as instinctive. It isn't born into us and has to be inserted manually, again the role of that first authority figure. I never tried to instill any particular religion into my children. I did expose them to many belief systems but never said one was best or better than any other. I did let them know that whatever walk in life they chose, I would always respect, support and love them. Looking back, I believe that worked out well for all of us.
To be happy, calm and stress free, it's important to find and join that metaphysical flow by first believing it exists and get in tune with it. I've heard black people say to "go with the flow," which is an apt saying for anybody' You first have to get rid of all your learned prejudices and limits to thinking clearly by realizing that all of us are different outwardly yet all of us are alike inside where we truly live. We are all lost children wandering in a world we don't really understand. Stop trying to understand or trying to choose between frozen peas versus fresh corn and just accept what comes without question. Once you can do this, you have found the flow and life will be in tune and good in many ways because you will have peace and faith in life being ultimately good.
Monday, November 23, 2015
Observations from a Van
Today I took a 26 mile journey to get a medical checkup and a blood test required by my insurance company. For now, I am in disgustingly good health. I say disgusting because then I don't get to go out at all since I have no free transportation to take me around to see anything other than the road to various doctor's offices. I checked and Medicare just will not pay Uber or any other service to go sight-seeing. So this day was a real treat for me. I got to see both sides of the road as well as a new part of the clinic I visit. My doctor has moved to a new part of the building that also houses the Pediatrics section. Strangely enough my primary care physician specializes in Pediatrics and Geriatrics. She gets us coming and going. I tell her she should add Dermatology so she would have patients that never get well but don't have emergencies so they could be scheduled at her convenience and would never call in the middle of the night. I have a lot of redneck friends that can't understand why my doctor for the last 13 years is a black female. She was the best qualified doctor in a pool I had to choose from. I have never been disappointed in her care. Sometimes I wish she was a Muslim too so I could really piss off my idiot acquaintances.
What I saw was not a city or country in decline; exactly the opposite. New building everywhere from stand alone shops or food outlets to new strip centers, each complete with a new nail salon. I think the presence of a nail salon is indicative of the wealth of an area. When people have enough extra money to pay someone to perform a simple task like taking care of their fingernails, the economy is just fine. In California, there is a service to comb lice out of one's hair if they get them. Maybe off public toilet seats, lice not crabs. They draw the line at pubic hair. All this just short of a butt wiping service with people cruising around in cars waiting for a cell phone call to converge on a calling address. First one there like a wrecker service at an accident gets the job.
Speaking again of cell phones; when I sat for some minutes, I saw babies using their mother's I-Phone as a pacifier or teething tool. Toddlers with hand held video games, being introduced early
to a fantasy world. If their parents happen to be conservative republicans, they are getting a running start on a lifetime of living in a fantasy world. I hope not. For the most part, the mothers seemed young and likely not having been exposed to Saint Ronald Reagan. In fact, they looked like Bernie Sanders material. The very first money I get extra will go to a jacket or t-shirt or some article that visually will identify me as a Bernie Sanders supporter. Then I won't seem like some fanatical Witness or Mormon or wing-nut Evangelist when I give them some information about the importance of voting. If they vote, they have a choice. If they stay home, they are automatically voting for some nut like Donald Trump. Vamonos y votar por Bernie Sanders.
What I saw was not a city or country in decline; exactly the opposite. New building everywhere from stand alone shops or food outlets to new strip centers, each complete with a new nail salon. I think the presence of a nail salon is indicative of the wealth of an area. When people have enough extra money to pay someone to perform a simple task like taking care of their fingernails, the economy is just fine. In California, there is a service to comb lice out of one's hair if they get them. Maybe off public toilet seats, lice not crabs. They draw the line at pubic hair. All this just short of a butt wiping service with people cruising around in cars waiting for a cell phone call to converge on a calling address. First one there like a wrecker service at an accident gets the job.
Speaking again of cell phones; when I sat for some minutes, I saw babies using their mother's I-Phone as a pacifier or teething tool. Toddlers with hand held video games, being introduced early
to a fantasy world. If their parents happen to be conservative republicans, they are getting a running start on a lifetime of living in a fantasy world. I hope not. For the most part, the mothers seemed young and likely not having been exposed to Saint Ronald Reagan. In fact, they looked like Bernie Sanders material. The very first money I get extra will go to a jacket or t-shirt or some article that visually will identify me as a Bernie Sanders supporter. Then I won't seem like some fanatical Witness or Mormon or wing-nut Evangelist when I give them some information about the importance of voting. If they vote, they have a choice. If they stay home, they are automatically voting for some nut like Donald Trump. Vamonos y votar por Bernie Sanders.
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Our President
I have lived under 13 presidents in my lifetime with this present one, Obama, by far the best. A lot of people judge a leader by asking "Am I better off today than when I voted for him." My answer to that would be a resounding No!! A much better criteria is to ask "Is America better off than when I helped elect him" leaving the 'I' out of the equation. Personally I believe no one is better off than they were 7 years ago. They have used up 7 years of their lifespan, hopefully learning more about why they were put here in the first place but probably not. I once heard it said that every person accumulates a dust pile during their life. When they die, God comes along and kicks their pile into the air whereupon it settles on several other dust pines. I think the meaning is we need to start giving others part of our pile rather than making it bigger I believe God smiles on finding little to kick and can blow it away with one little puff. In a little preparation for this effort I searched Google for some accomplishments during Obama''s tenure. One site lists 309, which comes out to nearly 4 per month or 1 a week. Not bad for a president who plays golf too much as he is accused of doing or going on too many vacations as counted by republicans. People need to realize that when this country improves, everybody improves. A rising tide lifts all boats equally, it's said. When Obama was elected, George Bush had run us aground. Obama first had to refill the water and get the boat unstuck before he could set a sail. When he kept hitting either no wind or a contrary current, he just got out and rowed himself.
Looking at the current crop of Republican candidates for president, I can't believe any of them could tell bow from stern on ship "America."
Looking at the current crop of Republican candidates for president, I can't believe any of them could tell bow from stern on ship "America."
Saturday, November 21, 2015
TERRORISM FEAR??
Mass killing by psychopaths, although instilling fear and trepidation, is not actual terrorism because it has no reason or ultimate end in sight. The earliest terrorism I can personally remember happened just short of 70 years ago in 1946 when I was 8 years old. The Jews known as Zionists set a bomb to destroy the King David hotel, The end was to force the British, who after WW2 was in control of Palestine, to carve out some land for the Zionists to establish their own state which they called Israel. Unfortunately, the land already belonged to Palestinians who were thrown off it to give it to the Jews. That argument is still on going but the terrorists got what the wanted through their actions in killing 91 people and maiming 46 more. The major terrorists today like ISIL have a much grander scheme and that's to consolidate a major portion of the Middle East into a Muslim caliphate devoid of what they consider corruption of their religion. They are threatening the US trying to get us out of our affairs, off their backs and let them do and live as they want to and have been doing for over a thousand years. If they want to fight among themselves and kill each other, it's their business and not ours. Americans are so terrified that a few hundred may die in an attack yet they ignore that we are killing each other at the rate of 83 people a day with our cars due to alcohol drinking and paying more attention to our cell phones than steering our vehicles. Add this to killing 85 a day with our guns and we lose 165 Americans every day 24/7 and we tremble in fear in the face of a few terrorists maybe killing a hundred of us over the course of a year or so. Except for Obama most of our leaders are craven cowards. We should thank Providence that he is in charge rather than Donald or Ben or Ted or worse, Jeb.
Friday, November 20, 2015
Christmas in July
The Fox News manufactured war on Christmas is partly to blame for the gift buying frenzy that so many Americans go thru at this time of year. I'm reminded of the Jewish family that before leaving on their winter vacation in the Caribbean on Christmas morning at their store they surveyed empty shelves, held hands and sang "What a friend we have in Jesus."
I used to think it would be a smart marketing ploy to manufacture something in mid-summer that would set off another buying frenzy like Christmas. Then I woke up to the fact that it already exists for 1.6 billion people that make up the majority in over 50 countries and 23% of the world's total population. Toward the end of Ramadan, Muslims make a donation to the poor of actual food so everyone can have an Eid feast. The feast of Eid al-Fitr falls for several years in mid-summer. It's celebrated by a gathering in the morning of the first day for a sermon and a community prayer. After the prayer, people go home to give gifts, especially to children & reconnect with old friends and distant relatives. School is out for three days and it's a National three day holiday. If a retailer can't make a summer profit from 1.6 billion people with kids, he needs to find a new line. The British call it the Ramadan rush and make many millions of pounds sterling. There are estimated any where from 2 to 7 million Muslims in America. Our Islamaphobia and stupidity prevents marketing to them although nearly all are loyal Americans. If only America had a brain smarter than Donald Trump.
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I used to think it would be a smart marketing ploy to manufacture something in mid-summer that would set off another buying frenzy like Christmas. Then I woke up to the fact that it already exists for 1.6 billion people that make up the majority in over 50 countries and 23% of the world's total population. Toward the end of Ramadan, Muslims make a donation to the poor of actual food so everyone can have an Eid feast. The feast of Eid al-Fitr falls for several years in mid-summer. It's celebrated by a gathering in the morning of the first day for a sermon and a community prayer. After the prayer, people go home to give gifts, especially to children & reconnect with old friends and distant relatives. School is out for three days and it's a National three day holiday. If a retailer can't make a summer profit from 1.6 billion people with kids, he needs to find a new line. The British call it the Ramadan rush and make many millions of pounds sterling. There are estimated any where from 2 to 7 million Muslims in America. Our Islamaphobia and stupidity prevents marketing to them although nearly all are loyal Americans. If only America had a brain smarter than Donald Trump.
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Thursday, November 19, 2015
Dress Codes
I think American men are so uptight about sex and so many other things is due to what is customarily known as business attire. The biggest problem is the upper torso where they have little choice other than color. Most politicians wear a light shade of blue because it shows up better on color TV pictures but they are required to wear a colorful rag around their neck on a shirt buttoned as tight as possible again around their neck. In the rodeo game they tie a rope tightly around a bull's testicles to make him angry and he bucks wildly trying to free his balls. Then they put a man aboard and he tries to stay atop for eight seconds or so. The bull probably doesn't even feel the man any more than he would feel a tick on his back. I believe that psychologically human males feel the stricture around their neck and equate it with the bull's anger about the rope around his testicles and the tension created by society's unwritten rules. If men would just wear a causal shirt with an open collar they could stop worrying about their balls and get along with each other a whole lot better.
Women politicians are another breed of cat entirely. I notice that so many of them are blessed wth humongous posteriors necessitating the wearing of pants suits. From Hillary Clinton on down to Houston mayor Anise Parker women in pants suits are never photographed below their waists. Camera people have this unwritten rule probably out of fear for their own testicles. Every so often a snapshot will slip through and you quickly agree with this photography rule.
One day I'll discuss the Middle East and their night shirts and towels wrapped around their heads. The question exists that like the Scottish kilts, what's under those flowing gowns? That's for another time though. Check back.
Women politicians are another breed of cat entirely. I notice that so many of them are blessed wth humongous posteriors necessitating the wearing of pants suits. From Hillary Clinton on down to Houston mayor Anise Parker women in pants suits are never photographed below their waists. Camera people have this unwritten rule probably out of fear for their own testicles. Every so often a snapshot will slip through and you quickly agree with this photography rule.
One day I'll discuss the Middle East and their night shirts and towels wrapped around their heads. The question exists that like the Scottish kilts, what's under those flowing gowns? That's for another time though. Check back.
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Cell Phone Generation
Does anyone not have a cell phone Too poor; the Federal Government will send you one for free with some free minutes attached.One of the funniest things I have ever seen involved two inebriated, homeless men. One had obtained a cell phone and was trying to activate it while his pal watched. He tried several times to enter the required numbers without success. His friend said "wait, I'll get my phone and we'll try again. When he returned, he said "now call out the right numbers and I'll enter them for you." The numbers were called out and he carefully entered them, except he entered them on his phone instead of the new one. It obviously didn't work and both threw down their phones in disgust. "The hell with it" they agreed and "lets go and get some more vodka and maybe it'll start working." And off they went in search of more alcohol. As I observed; everyone has a cell phone whether they need one or not.
Also, they always need a new one. The Chinese roll them out by the boatload and the distributors and sales people want more and more added to them to increase their sales until they seem like a Swiss Army Knife with about fifty fold outs with some scissors, a nail file and two kinds of screwdrivers till one is hard pressed to find an actual blade to cut something with. Cell phones will find food for you. lock or unlock your home, guide you when you want to go somewhere, do your banking, etc. until it becomes a task to find the button to push with which to make an actual telephone call to somebody.
I fully expect one day they will make a cell phone that can be implanted in someone's head. I will then witness long lines in front of "The Apple Store & Surgical Center" for the debut of the new I-26 skull phone. Maybe a Republican Congress will pass a rule that will take us back to the good old days of two tin cans and a long string. I guess I'm too old to be surprised by anything anymore.
Also, they always need a new one. The Chinese roll them out by the boatload and the distributors and sales people want more and more added to them to increase their sales until they seem like a Swiss Army Knife with about fifty fold outs with some scissors, a nail file and two kinds of screwdrivers till one is hard pressed to find an actual blade to cut something with. Cell phones will find food for you. lock or unlock your home, guide you when you want to go somewhere, do your banking, etc. until it becomes a task to find the button to push with which to make an actual telephone call to somebody.
I fully expect one day they will make a cell phone that can be implanted in someone's head. I will then witness long lines in front of "The Apple Store & Surgical Center" for the debut of the new I-26 skull phone. Maybe a Republican Congress will pass a rule that will take us back to the good old days of two tin cans and a long string. I guess I'm too old to be surprised by anything anymore.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Day of Rest?
I was going to relax and take off with the excuse of Sunday rest. But laying back. I thought of all the people that don't get the luxury of a respite from hard work. All the fast food outlets and workers in the food service industry that pays so little in wages that people are forced to work as many hours as possible to just survive with out the pleasure of losing even one day's pay. Or enjoy the fruits of living in the richest country in the world. It's really unbelievable at least to me how people with money and power that claim to be Christians or charitable people are consumed by such greed, they can't even think of others that only want a living wage that enables them to just move beyond mere survival for themselves and the people they love. Watching the republican campaign debate shows that not one is in favor of any raise in the minimum wage. Several of them even advocate doing away with the minimum. How anyone with an ounce of brain, compassion or concision vote for any Republican is beyond belief. If one opens their bible and finds the word Pharisee and substiutes Republican, they will understand why Jesus condemned them so strongly.
Monday, November 16, 2015
Frustration
I'm a cranky old man but I do like to keep my eye on the young whipper-snappers that live up north in Washington pretending to run the government or trying to get in on the money feeding frenzy that goes on there. To this end, I get this thing called E-mail and every day I get about thirty or forty letters from people that want to change things to make them better for me. For example they ask if I want more money from social security, well sure I do. Or make it eaier to vote or help out veterans more. All good things I think and they ask if I agree and will vote for them or not. Well, I sure will support their efforts. Then they ask if I would chip in to help them get elected and they have a page with little blocks representing amounts I'm supposed to check on what I want them to deduct from my bank account or credit card. But unfortunately by the time they ask, I have paid for my room and board, the internet access, medicine, etc.,there is nothing left to send them except my promise to vote for them and their causes. There is no box to check for this, hence my frustration. I truly want to help them financially but it's not possible until I get the income they will try to get for me. So we have a catch 22. Just put a box in there for that and I won't feel bad about ignoring their message. As Tom Hanks says - "that's all I got to say about that."
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Vacation Over
Back to work. I dreamed I was running for congress from the Doofus Party. They are a lot like the Republican Party except as our name implies we are a cut above republicans as far as intelligence levels in general. Even more like republicans, we embrace religion as we interpret it. Our holiest books were written in the sixties by the prophet, Max Schulman along with his disciple, Dobie Gillis. One of our beliefs is a commandment to wash the feet of strangers whether they want it or not. Taking a cue from the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses, we also work in pairs or groups as our potential converts often struggle as the devil is removed from their feet where Satan likes to hide. Our
platform is to designate the American cockroach as an endangered species. This ties in with our economic plan to impose a fine of $5.00 for killing of each endangered cockroach. And a fine of $10.00 for only crippling a cockroach without killing it and requiring our administration to supply necessary medical care for it's emergency status. I just woke up and realized it's the new world order. I want to go back to sleep but I can't; too much to do to get this campaign on the road in time for the primaries.
j
mormonsw
platform is to designate the American cockroach as an endangered species. This ties in with our economic plan to impose a fine of $5.00 for killing of each endangered cockroach. And a fine of $10.00 for only crippling a cockroach without killing it and requiring our administration to supply necessary medical care for it's emergency status. I just woke up and realized it's the new world order. I want to go back to sleep but I can't; too much to do to get this campaign on the road in time for the primaries.
j
mormonsw
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