Mental Health

     Today Hillary Clinton announced her agenda for mental health treatment in the United States. She made a promise to Americans that by the end of her term, there will be no distinct difference between mental and physical health care in access, cost or quality. Good news for such mental sufferers.

     Hospitals dedicated to mental health care and treatment are an excellent option except they can only be afforded by wealthy people or carriers of the most expensive insurance plans. These centers are out of reach of the majority of ill people or their families.  Medicare limits such care to 120 days in a person's lifetime and will not pay for any more.

     Anyone familiar to mental problems from a young age forward knows not much can be accomplished in this time limitation. They can still be treated by a regular hospital with a mental ward except they are closing all the time and shifting patients to overcrowded state facilities. State hospitals are now limiting time. I have heard 30 days is maximum time per commitment in a state hospital.

     Psychiatrists have become more or less shills for the drug industry simply passing out the latest formulas for what the doctor decides is his diagnosis. There is a desperate need for more trained people in the field of mental health. Much more is needed than finding out what best relieves the most obvious symptoms.

     Treatment by pills is simply inadequate. It has to be comprehensive enough to include addiction, living conditions, homelessness and more. There has to be created a class beyond Psychiatrist, a super doctor group proficient in all these named areas and others to be discovered. An undertaking beyond my ability to conceive.

Home Chapter 7

 

Trans People

     I'm reading a book sent to me by a good friend about the human brain and how it affects a newly conceived fetus. For it's first six weeks, the fetus is a formless blob with a brain developing according to it's chromosome arrangement. Two X chromosomes will produce a female brain while an X and Y will initiate a male. After the brain takes control the hormones testosterone and estrogen come into play. If they are in balance, the fetus will develop naturally with a body consistent with brain sex. Too much testosterone or too much estrogen will cause the fetus to develop a body inconsistent with it's brain. Thus a transgender is born.

     There is no way to discern people who have this condition from exterior observation and usually they don't realize it themselves until normally in their early teens. Boys tend toward style and clothes while girls become tomboys interested in sports and masculine pursuits but this in itself doesn't prove one is transgender. One can only know if a person tells you themselves.

     Many more studies prove male and female brains are not the same in the way they are wired and how they process incoming information. Working together a man and a woman can solve a problem easier than either could working alone. This is true of any cooperative project and has nothing to do with personal relationships or any other construct people use to support a belief or point of view.

     Statistically the US population is 1.7% gay, 1.8% bisexual and 0.6% transgender. This implies that for every thousand people using a restroom anywhere six will be transgender. This implies that any law concerning bathroom etiquette is absurd and only enacted for nefarious or religious reasons. But that's another blog for another day.

Home Chapter 6

       Our little  dog strained at his leash watching Destiny down the lane until she disappeared among the trees. Then he lay down with his head resting on his outstretched paws, with such a downcast look that the sadness of his eyes radiated from his whole face and posture.   Actually he is the perfect complement to our family.  He is deeply emotional and like me wears his heart on his sleeve.   But unlike me he doesn't stuff his feelings down deep in his heart.  He broadcasts his feelings in everything he does.  When he's happy, he literally shakes with his joy in his life.  But when he's sad like now it's like his whole world is crumbling in front of him.  Destiny is the world to him.  He is never truly alive when she's not near him.  He loves her with a passion no man could ever match.
      
     Oscar was a dachshund.  In his mind, he stood three feet tall on his short front legs.  He was the most intelligent fellow I ever met.  His barks were as meaningful as any human speech.  Within a very short time one could learn his particular sounds.  He learned our language even faster.  When he stood up in alert mode, I knew that Destiny was in range of his big floppy ears.  Or in range of his extrasensory perception, I never knew how or why; he just knew.  When she appeared among the trees, I unsnapped his leash and watched as his little legs churned like an egg beater to get to her as fast as he cold.  She laid the bags down and Oscar nosed in them until he found the promised toy or bone.  He took possession and proceeded to bark out instructions and warnings.  Basically he was saying " this is mine.  Don't mess with it." 
     Finally he put the prize away somewhere and climbed back into his favorite place in the whole world, Des's lap.  He'd adopted her as his mother when he was a sick, little puppy and formed a bond with her that will never be broken.  They give each other pure, unconditional love.  One could never ask for more.

          

Windows 10 Upgrade

     Back in December I wrote about the new Windows 10. If you were planning to install it immediately, my advice was to wait until those people with an excess of patience worked with Microsoft to get all the glitches and bugs solved and fixed. It's still not perfect but it's far better than any other browser I've used.

     If you were waiting, the time has come to install Windows10. It's no longer free but in my estimation it's worth paying to get a really good product. It's still a work in progress which is a good thing as Microsoft continues to work on new builds and continues it's improvement. So get it now.

     A last bit of advice is back up every thing on your computer before you do anything. I ignored this one time but I never will again.

Home Chapter 5

Destiny counted the crumpled bills and coins she had collected and stuffed into her most convenient pocket.  She even got a twenty dollar bill which she spent for food for her two men waiting patiently back there in their tent.  She had dropped the change from MacDonald's among the day's contributions.  Now she divided up what she needed for cigarettes and a coke in the morning and pocketed that apart, She had promised her dog a bone from the dollar store and he didn't forget any promise that involved food or a chew toy.  He would pout for days if she showed up empty handed.  She didn't have enough money for some things she really needed so they would have to wait till tomorrow or maybe longer.   She wondered how she would ever get used to not getting a check every so often more than the first of the month.  But she would.  She was never a quitter and was not going to start being one now.

Stigmas

     A stigma is like a stain on your shirt that just won't wash out. In spite of that indelible blot, it's the only shirt you own so you still have to wear it every day,

    One of the worst stigmas is having been treated by a psychiatrist or mental health facility. It may have been something as simple as mild anxiety or depression easily treated with weak medications or something more serious. But it doesn't matter; a file folder has been created for you whose contents will follow you the rest of your life. Everything that happens in your life is interpreted in light of that files theme. Have an auto accident and a note will be made that you have an attention disorder. Have an argument with someone, a note says you have an aggression problem.

     Those files follow you everywhere. Apply for a job, you won't get it. Apply for credit, you definitely won't get it. Apply for medical help, sorry our insurance won't cover mental help. I remember 1972 when Thomas Eagleton was picked to run for Vice President. He'd been treated with electroshock which was regarded as a magic cure for whatever ails you back then. He was released and had no more symptoms. But he was forced to drop out. I thought then it was ironic that he was the only proven sane person available. The race was won by Nixon and Agnew who both had to resign because they were crooked and got caught.

     It's heartening to see even our president Obama has said illness could be either physical or mental and should be treated as such and entitled to treatment and respect as any other condition of human life.
    

Home Chapter 4

    At this time our camp boasted five permanent people and an assortment of visitors that stayed over for various times ranging from a few hours to a few days. The permanent group was Doug, our self appointed leader with Kari, his girlfriend and Dave, Doug's brother. Then Des and myself. Dave was one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. He was always there when anyone needed a helping hand with anything. Kari worked at various bars in the area while Doug watched her there. By the end of her shift, they were both drunk and commenced their loud nightly fight and shouting match with one or the other stomping off into the darkness. By morning though evidently it was all resolved and all three were sleeping soundly.

     Transits were Bill, a closeted gay guy;  John. another brother to Dave and Doug;  Tim, who worked for his brother;  Robert called Robo, a psycho who unsuccessfully fell in love with every female he met. He also loved to set fires;  Ron, an old alcoholic who mostly was reliving bogus memories of his service. At least he was actually a real veteran who did serve in Vietnam.

    These kind of rounded out our little camp in the woods. If we had to live it again, we wouldn't come within a mile of any of one of there denizens. Unless fate dictated otherwise.

Voting Rights

     Kudos to a Supreme Court that has finally gained some sense with the departure of justice Alito on his one way trip to his personal promised land. Godspeed to him. Unfortunately he left so much debris in his wake that it will take years and many new cases to unravel and clean up. I am thankful that one of the first successful efforts was right here in my home state of Texas. Which I believe is gradually turning blue. There are many more ALEC messes to reverse here but we are working on it.

     Late last year my state driver's license expired. Since I don't drive anymore but do want to vote, I tried to exchange my license for a new state ID so I could vote absentee since I am disabled and have no family or friends to take me physically to the polls. It was explained to me on the phone that to effect such an event I would physically have to appear at a state driver's license office. I faced the same dilemma here as I would trying to vote in person. Frustration at how Republicans suppressed my vote for any Democrat.

     Then out of the blue a revitalized court overturned the Texas voter suppression regulations and suddenly I could get an absentee ballot by simply applying on a mail in form that I received in the mail without asking. I promptly filled it out, signed it without a notary seal required and mailed it. Presently I am waiting for as absentee ballot as soon as available on which I now intend to vote a Democratic straight ticket thanks to the new and improved Supreme Court.

Home Chapter 3

     She sat disconsolate holding onto her dog and idly petting him and surveying her trashy surroundings.  So much had changed in the last few months and she felt an aching sense of loss.  The door had closed on a phase of her life and a new one was opening so slowly, she was afraid.  She wished for the equanimity of the man across the clearing sleeping.  The infection in a cut on her ankle was throbbing again from walking so much lately.  There was no money left to buy medicine or painkillers until the end of the month when their checks came in.   She knew she would have to go out to the street and display a homemade sign asking passers-by to please help us.   No one was in camp today.  The self appointed ruler was in jail for trying to steal from a nearby Walmart.  His girlfriend was downtown visiting him.  Finally, she stirred knowing she was getting hungry and wanted to get the ordeal over as soon as possible.  She handed the leash to her husband and walked into the heat of the September afternoon.

Vindicated

     I've tried to feel gladness at Tony Perkin's house being flooded and destroyed by the disaster in Louisiana. Mainly because of his pretense at knowing of God's moods and actions regarding Gay and Lesbian people. His handbook bible contains for him a belief that a man being with another man  is an abomination and should not be tolerated. He interprets this as meaning women too. This chapter also states that a woman who wears something made of two different kinds of thread should be stoned. I never hear him calling out the fabric industry for violations in the Bible. As he calls out the LGBT society for following their mind and hearts.

      As I wrote that although others might feel pleasure, I simply can't. It's just not in me. I feel nothing but sorrow for all the people there who lost so much including Mr. Perkins. I have no concept of God as some old man who lives in a mythical place no one has any experience about; having human  emotions like anger and displeasure. I rather picture God and Nature to be one and the same. As the rain fells on the just and the unjust alike. Nature caused a weather system to stall over the area and it just kept raining in the same place instead of moving out to the northeast as usual.

Home Chapter 2

        Morning came muggy, hot and overcast. A typical September day on the Gulf Coast. A very weak cool front was moving in setting off rain showers. The first warm drops hit Jim's forehead and he and Oscar huddled together under an old black umbrella someone had probably salvaged from a dumpster. When the shower passed they were a wet bedraggled  pair of animals. Oscar shook himself reasonably dry while Jim decided to let the sun which just came out dry him a little bit.

     In mid-afternoon Des returned from her morning errands and together they worked on clearing out the abandoned old tent of debris; trash, dirt, old empty can and bottles. It took three trips to the trash pile before it was reasonably clean and semi-livable. They took dry blankets and spread them out on the floor and an area on some boxes that provided an elevated surface.                               

      That night they talked and slept securely under a roof. Even though it was a green canvas roof, it kept the night forest animals at bay. Also dry and protected from the occasional shower. They felt their lives were settling in and they could get started with getting back to where they were when this nightmare started. Harder for Jim not having the resilience of his youth unlike the much younger Des.

The Whole Homeless Story

       We first lost my job, then our car and finally our home. We banged around from one place to another for some time and finally arrived at our temporary camp in the woods on Labor Day in 2013.

A Homelrss Story

   What was it like to be homeless and live in a tent in the woods? Like an extended camping trip and  not a very good time. Hopefully it will not happen to most Americans but if it does one can be assured they will survive and things will change. By the grace of God and love, nothing mortal is forever except death. Change my happen gradually or instantly but it inevitably will. Accept whatever come with an open mind and heart and trust that the flow of life is always toward good.

     In my own life being homeless lasted fifteen months although it felt like years. Our condition was voluntary and taken out of love for a dog and each other. Our only other option were shelters and separateness. My wife wouldn't abandon her dog and I wouldn't abandon them both so we took the woods and our tent with all three of us together.


     What it was like, we wrote so notes which when taken together was a true story in fiction form that happened to two other made up people, Jim and Des. Oscar was not made but was very real. I will tell that story in alternate blog posts unless it's contrary to posting rules at Daily Kos. I would appreciate someone advising me.

Latest Mobile Phones

      I might have written something about cell phones and smart phones. If it was more than a couple of weeks, it's total disinformation by now. The industry is rapidly changing as fast as consumers can accumulate enough money to buy the latest model which is reputedly able to shave  men every morning and women shave their legs every day.

     I bought a prepaid phone for about $14.00 a little over 10 years ago along with a card that was another $20.00 and good for 120 minutes of talking. Even though it was inadvertently left out in the backyard during a hurricane and laid out there in the sun for two weeks or so to dry out, all it needed was to charge the battery. To this day it still works fine.

     When I got old and poor, the government gave me a free Reagan phone with 500 minutes every month. It's just like my old prepaid phone except it has a camera. The old phone has a setting to download pictures you can't take with its imaginary camera. As I noted, the industry has made some improvements. My phones won't do anything except connect people to talk which is why I own them in the first place. People in public places look at me sadly and just can't believe I still drive a  Model-T when the new Thunderbird just became available.To me they are the same for going from point A to point B without getting rained on. Like my Timex gives me the same time as your Rolex at a tiny fraction of the cost,

     My first home landline number was 19. No dials, you simply picked up the receiver and a lady said "number, please." You gave her a number and she connected you up. She would even tell you the time if you asked. If you had a party line you could listen to other conversations. Just as you can now with a scanner that can set to cell phone frequencies. Who among us isn't curious about what other people talk about? I admit I am.

     The very best things about cell phones is their portability.  As well as the fact that everybody with an ear has one. It wasn't so long ago that people had to be at home or standing in a phone booth or close to a pay phone. If you took a survey I think it would show that phones have evolved faster than fruit flies or anything else except computer speed chips.

American Humor

     I haven't done a  lot of research into humor around the rest of the world. This topic is one of those searches that give too many answers to learn anything universal by Google, Bing, Dogpile or DuckDuckGo. So I will have to go with my own observations of the evolution of humor in my particular lifetime.

     My starting premise is from the Bible; "When I was a child, I thought as a child.." This was the era of  innocence like knock-knock jokes we sometimes can't forget even when we want to. Next cane cruelty jokes. Children and adolescents liked them. I think because they hadn't developed a repugnance toward pain in other people. When people grew up they lost their sense of humor in the disabled, but retained a sense of amusement toward themselves. I worked with a man who had lost two fingers. As he typed with his remaining three, he looked up at me and said "hire the handicapped, they're fun to watch" as he laughed at himself.

     In the middle of the century puritanism took over movies, printed matter, radio and television. Henry Miller was all the rage with "Tropic of Cancer" that defied all the no-no's. The Hayes Office controlled film with iron fisted rules. You can't show two genders in a double bed. George Carlin, a comedian, listed the seven filthy words you couldn't say on the airwaves. Now they are often heard in mainstream media.   Pornography was only seen in smoke filled back rooms at conventions and lodge meetings.

      With the advances in maturity and new devices like the digital cameras, digital computers and the internet, people demanded more realism in media. Sugar coated shows like "Leave it to Beaver" fell out of favor replaced by shows like "Baywatch" which was really soft core nudity and bottomed out with "America's funniest videos" featured by what I call banana peel humor. A man slipping on a banana peel and busting his butt was as funny as a child on a tricycle running into a brick wall. Or so  the funny video people would have us believe. Yet millions watch  and anticipate each new disaster that befalls every participant in this contest show.

      Where did we jump the tracks in this latest time period. Something went wrong with American humor. Hopefully we can move in some new direction fairly soon.
 
 

Desperation

       One of quiet desperation as Thoreau said of most men's lives. Some think he meant that men and women  too often dream in their youth of what they will do and accomplish in their life. Then for one reason or another those dreams and hopes fall by the wayside. A great number of people hate the work that fate chose for them. But they stay trapped there out of responsibility for a family and economic necessity.

     It's true that some do achieve their dreams but the vast majority of us think we don't have the time or means to become the great artist, painter, writer, singer or athlete whose potential lies within ourselves. Just remember that nothing in this life is forever. Circumstances can change gradually or in a heartbeat. Your children grow up. Your spouses ardor cools with age and familiarity and they might leave or become your best friend still standing by you.

     Now is not the time for complacency. Now is the time to look for that job you think you would enjoy going to every day. Take a cut in pay if necessary. It's worth it. You will survive. I lost a job I grew to hate after twenty seven years. Consequently we lost our house. There were no savings since I spent every penny raising and educating seven children of my own. Even now my youngest is starting his fourth and last year of college. So for two years we lived in a tent in the woods because neither of us would abandon a dog we both loved. We are still together although living apart for various reasons. But we both survived is my point.

     You can read about how very many people achieved their goals late in like Grandma Moses or Colonel Sanders. In college I wanted very much to be a writer. Now at seventy eight I write and publish every day. I want people to read but if they don't I will continue writing because it gives me great pleasure and satisfaction. My son is studying journalism and is already a staff writer for a print newspaper as well as on internet sites. I'm so glad he found his passion early and not like me after over seventy years.

Inaneness

      The process of asking silly questions and answering with absurd replies.  For an example; once I had run out of gas on a four lane divided roadway. Just ahead was a crossover so I decided to push the car to it and get out of the traffic flow. A patrol car pulled even and the cop inquired "won't it start?" to which I replied "yeah, but I wanted the exercise by pushing instead of driving." He gave me an angry look and drove off.

     One Sunday afternoon I was red-lighted by a squad car.  "The reason I stopped you is you were doing thirty mph through that school zone" to which I said " it's Sunday so according to the sign there is no school or zone here."  He felt like a fool and decided to check me out. He asked if I was wanted for anything? "Only my good looks" I replied. I love it when I have no outstanding traffic tickets or unpaid parking tickets and can answer inane questions with equally silly replies.

     Back in the late 1960's, I lived in Louisiana. A total solar eclipse was expected that coincided with Mardi Gras and could be viewed from New Orleans. A friend was visiting me and hearing about the solar event was looking forward to it. She asked me if it was cloudy or rainy on that date, would it be cancelled or postponed. In a serious tone I told her just to be safe, maybe she should plan on staying over a couple of days so as not to miss it. As fate would have it, the eclipse happened on a clear sunny afternoon. She cancelled her delayed trip and happily flew back to New York on her original schedule.

     Speaking of flying, a lady on a plane looking out her window saw the wing moving up and down as we encountered some turbulence. She asked ne about it and I told her "sure it was moving up and down like a bird's wing. That's what keeps us flying; it flaps for awhile then coasts for awhile until we land."  She went to sleep, secure in her new knowledge of airplanes and flight.

     Sometimes it's just too easy to ignore.

    

Irksome Things

     I'm normally a calm steady kind of person. Unfortunately I'm a classic Virgo which means I'm also a rabid nitpicker.  Most people just overlook the little matters that normally are either ignored or simply don't register in their brain.

     Every morning I read a political newsletter that like most are financed by advertisements. There is one particular ad that irritates me no end. The gist is some finance guru has discovered a plot against America and if you just click on his statement that Obama is due to be embarrassed when this event occurs and learn about this 'treat' to America. I believe he means a 'threat' to the US, not a treat. Further on in his diatribe it becomes clear that the word is threat, not treat as his bait states. Some one was paid to make this error and why it appears daily without correction is offensive to me.

     Later this morning I watched as the TV weather host said it would be 97 degrees today and feel like 104. How does he presume to know what anyone feels like? I worked in an office where in winter, women turned on their under desk heaters if the building fell below 78 degrees. Some of the men turned on desk fans at 72. If the temperature is 97, then it feels like 97 by any objective reality. If someone feels different subjectively that's too bad. Live with it.

     Since I spend a lot of time online, I am bombarded with ads promising free upgrades, free cleanups, free virus protection, etc.  There is usually a box attached if you click there it lists a free download.  Turns out the only free anything is the download. Now that you have it on your hard drive, it's useless until activated by paying a small or large fee. So most people have junk files like this slowing up their computer.

     These are a few of my un-favorite things. For people like me, a good shot of whisky is a medical necessity. Helps when friends tell me "just chill out" over all that crap.

Trump Destruction

     Donald Trump is a con man and thus susceptible to a scam himself. He only has to think all hope for him has gone. This belief will hasten and deepen his inevitable implosion which is likely to come in the next few days or weeks.

     All everyone has to do is ignore him. When he makes some insane statement, don't make any comment or rebuttal. Just pick a buzz word like 'sure' or 'okay' to acknowledge only. Better yet would be crickets chirping in complete silence. He craves attention so give him none. When questioned about him, the standard answer should be "no comment."

     Stay off Twitter and Facebook with anything about him. Let him tweet to dead air. It will drive him crazier than he already is. Never admit you watched him on TV even if you did. Put any TV rating in the toilet if a surveyor asks you, after all Trump thrives on lies himself so it's ok for you too.

     In college I once participated in a psychology experiment involving a quite room. A totally white room with absolutely no sound so that you could only hear your own internal sounds like heartbeat, blood rushing through veins and bowel activity. Very creepy and scary. You could only last a short time in there.  Trump should be subjected to utter quite from the real world. We would probably be rid of him post haste.  

Trump an Amateur Gambler

     Donald Trump shows his neophyte status when he doesn't as Kenny Rogers sings "know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run." It's rapidly getting time to run away. Sooner or later he has to realize that. Even in his deluded state reality is going to finally hit him like a falling brick. Then what?

     The question is how and when he's going to leave. I think it will be Labor Day or soon thereafter. The how is indeterminate with so many scenarios that fit his style and temperament. One thing is not going to happen is he leaves with integrity and dignity. Not possible knowing what we do after seeing and listening to him for so many weeks.

     We know he will announce it as Clinton's or Obama's or the Republican's fault for his demise.  He will never admit he might have to blame himself. Whichever intervention team succeeds in restraining and subduing him will earn the thanks of a grateful nation.

      Then what? Do we replace him in a contest for the presidency and is that possible at this late date. Times like this I'm glad to be a Democrat. Will Hillary run against Pence, an empty chair or is it possible for one party to cede the election and Clinton run unopposed?  We're breaking new ground here and I'm so glad to be alive to see what ultimately transpires.

Ancestors

                                                                        Deiterman

                                                                   Prasifka

      These are my immediate genetic last generation of forbears.  My father, the Deiterman family.  My father is second from the right in the first row and my grandfather third from the left, first row. My great grandfather, Edward came to Texas from Germany in 1857. He moved to Teutopolis, Illinois where my grandfather, Albert was born there and came with his family on a wagon train in November 1874 to Tours, Texas.  Edward and Albert each homesteaded 640 acres of rich farmland.  Two square miles each. They lived in the wagons for the first year and set up a school that Albert taught along with working the land getting it ready for the first spring crop planting.  Soon Crezanze Berger arrived from Wien, Germany.  She and Albert married and started making children.

     I've never understood how Albert managed to play baseball, play a trombone in a German band, serve his church, work a square mile of farmland, work in his blacksmith shop and still be able to father and raise 12 children.  He must have been a mighty man indeed.  When I met him his memory was lost to Alzheimer's and I've always regretted not being able to hear his stories first hand instead of through my dad's memories.

    

     John Prasifka and his mother, Petronila, left their home in Bordovice, Moravia after John's
father, Thomas, a coal miner died of black lung in 1851. They went to Bremen, Germany and          embarked  on a steam ship going to Galveston, Texas arriving in April of 1877.
John worked as a butcher, a lightening rod salesman, a coal miner, a hotel owner and grocery store owner. He married my grandmother, Mary in1893 when she was 16 years old and she gave birth to ten  children. With the help of her boys, she worked a hundred acre farm just outside Dallas, Texas while John sold it's output in his store in East Dallas. He died in 1942. I lived with him till just before he died. He taught me how to play checkers and dominos with him when I was three years old.

                                                                  

Moving

    
      Moving is a major decision to make.  I've listed the pros and cons and this time the cons are heavier than the pros so the future will find me in the same location. For a month or more ago, I was unhappy with the conditions here so I have done my best to either accept them  gracefully or to effect changes in those conditions that are possible for me personally. 

     I like the people here but I dislike that none of them share any interests like mine and I consequently have no one to discuss ideas or events in the world or local news.  I compensate by posting blogs and comments on the internet.  If I moved, I would find mostly clones of the same people types as here. I might like or dislike them and I would have to learn again about this new group.  Why remake that effort?.

     I resented the caregiver here for moving me off the dining room table where I worked for over a year.  She moved me to my room and supplied a work table I wanted from day one here.  I now like it much better than before.  It's not as cool here but my wife reminded me I just spent nearly two years living outside in a tent without any air conditioning besides the wind and nature. Puts things in perspective for me.  I have two roommates that I no longer hear their snorts, snores and farts.  Neither of them talk to anyone or have visitors. They are ideal.

     So I decided like Hamlet to bear those ills I have rather than fly to others.  So here I will stay. On a positive note things keep happening for the good. That can't be beaten. 

Standard Opinion Polls

    I'm reading the presidential opinion polls this week. With such disparity, who can know what to believe or think.  Opinion polls each take a sample of potential voters.  By presentation of questions asked and groups queried, the results can be skewed however desired.  With 1 hundred million votes, any sample of less than a hundred thousand is guaranteed to be inaccurate.  The idea of a sample of 1200 people telling much of anything is ludicrous. I don't think extrapolation that extreme can tell much of anything.  It all boils down to what various analysts think and publish.

     The political parties involved need to get together on a polling revamp they both could benefit from. I propose a standard questionnaire of ten to twenty topics agreed on nationwide.  Each state will receive 2,000 copies.  There should be a lottery drawing in each state among registered voters.  Each filled out survey will be paid three dollars when turned it to a collection station.  Since each survey will be mailed to the address on the voter registration cards, potential voters only will participate this way.

     Each survey will be entered into a computer for an end results printout. This will be sent  to a national computer database for a final printout to be shared with everybody interested. One can't  fight a modern war without intelligence as to an enemies strength and weaknesses. Then one can make rational decisions as to how to proceed.  A political election is a war between parties. The same rules apply.

      Wouldn't all that be nice?

National Security ?

                                                               

 

DESTROY BEFORE OPENING

     Is there really a law that nominated presidential finalists have to be given a daily top secret national security and intelligence briefing?  I just cannot imagine such information given to Donald Trump.  Hillary I can see because of government service requiring top secret clearance.  Trump is not qualified to keep his mouth shut about anything beyond the combination of the lock on a government bicycle.

      I would think if it's necessary the secret service could find some reason to deny access to Donald with various excuses.  After all he isn't the brightest bulb on the tree. They could stall him for close to 10 days by telling him his clearance hasn't come yet due to government inefficiency which they are sure will be eliminated once he is in office. The thought he might really win will stroke his ego for weeks.  The mail truck was robbed by Mexicans. The guard dog ate the report. The secret service is being audited, The local fire chief burned it, etc.

      Surely government fantasies can beat Donald's six ways from Sunday even if he includes
Fox News to help him. The whole point of the exercise is to keep the information here instead of his sharing it with Putin or Netanyahu as Trump is quite likely to do.

Trumpism Syndrome

     I once worked at a state mental hospital. I'm not psychiatrist, although I've picked up enough buzz words to play one at any cocktail party.  I've been watching and listening to Mr. Trump for the last week or so and I think I've gotten enough data to make my diagnosis. Remember I'm not a doctor, I only play one on U-Tube. Donald is obviously suffering with late onset autism, very, late onset.  Along with ASD, autism spectrum disorder.

     I observe signs of Asperger's syndrome as well as Tourette's.  Inappropriate social interactions, tendency to discuss self rather than others and inability to understand social issues or nonliteral phrases.  Tourette's causes him to blurt out obscene observations like the sexual attraction of his own daughter.  All lumped together as borderline personality disorder. 

     Remember I'm not a psychiatrist, I just play one on the internet. I expect Mr. Trump is going to have a complete collapse under the stress of himself and have to be restrained before his trip to fantasy land dissolves into a Haldol haze. 
                                                                               

Riders and Amendments

                                                                  

     The United States Congress is in desperate need of a major overhaul.  I spent some time yesterday reading the constitution.  I did find that riders and or amendments to legislation are constitutional but a line item veto isn't.  I seems it would need a new amendment to accomplish that.

      As far as riders or amendments it seems to be left up to congress as to how to implement them.  In the House of Representatives riders are not permitted at all and amendments have to be germane to the substance of the original bill.  To me this implies that each branch of the congress have equal power to regulate riders and amendments.

     In the free-wheeling Senate, it appears any and everything is legitimate.  To my way of thinking, the rules should be the same as to amendments in the House. As for riders, only one should be permitted to retain the power of blocking legislation with one unacceptable to the opposition and requiring further negotiation.  That would make sense and streamline the legislative process.

     I'm certainly no lawyer but there has to be one somewhere smart enough to rewrite the line item veto to enable a president to use it when needed and still pass Supreme Court muster.  Such a lawyer could name his own price.

 

Red State - Blue State

                                                            

      I've lived in Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, California and Texas where I was born and raised and where I live today. In my early years Texas was a deep blue. The winner of the Democratic primary was automatically the next governor.In later years Republicans took over and Texas became a center of lunacy and ignorance.

      People here don't think very much about the red or blue designation and like in other states, most people never care one way or the other. Most are far more interested in meeting the mortgage or rent payment.  Their car payment or repairs and putting food on the table. Buying school clothes and supplies for their children and most important to them; their very own cell phone and number. And the TV set everyone has to own, with or without cable.

     I found these basics in every state I lived. I also found the homeless and poor everywhere.  It should be unbelievable that such exist in the richest nation on earth. And yet it does.  Our politics seem more based on hate and greed than love.  Until that changes, all else will maintain it's status quo.

     Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet "thus conscience does make cowards of us all and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others we know not."  This accounts for the apathy of the American people and only when they rise up en masse will anything change for the better.
Vamonos y votar.

Conspiracy

                                                          

 

     I finally realized something about the 2016 presidential race.  It's a huge hoax that the Clinton campaign along with the media is playing on American voters.  The same sham with different aims.

The big lie is that Donald Trump has a huge group of supporters behind him.  The big truth is that his

support is mythical and exists mainly in his deranged mind.

     It believe Hillary is really ahead by 25 or 30 points.  They are afraid, rightfully so, that such a huge lead would suppress voting.  Staying home because their votes are not needed for victory.  People are lazy like that.  Madison Avenue knows this and so does the media and the pollsters.  My only question is what was promised the ad men and the polls in return for their cooperation.  It had to be substantial.

     The media has a vested interest in going along with anything that suggests a close race else what would they write about on a daily basis.  Daily inane Trump quotes can't be recycled endlessly without losing audience.  Steve Allen on the old Tonight show said people would rather watch a dog fart the National Anthem over another political speech.

     Don't worry about a landslide.  The media would rather a mudslide burying people.   They will do everything in their power to cause just that.