Vaporism Explained

     This comes from vaporware in the computer age. It is hardware or software that usually doesn't exist yet or being worked on although it can apply to any project in any field that only really exists in someone's mind and is not usable yet as a final product.

     In my own mind this applies perfectly to Donald Trump's fantasy revolution that he believes in so fanatically. At this stage it is vapor like steam from a teakettle that one can dispel with a waving hand. He works every day to solidify that vapor and to help him out I created the Vaporite Party that will try to report his every positive gesture he makes although his negative gestures are more frequent and a lot more fun to watch.

     Basically Trump is more vapor than anything else and what will he do after his practical joke about a presidential campaign destroys the Republican and Conservative parties. My guess he and his people will enlist Glen Beck, steal his TV show and start their own political party with his fervent followers. Maybe he will bribe me to shut up, I'm hoping.

Vaporite Party

     The name of the Deplorables Party has been changed to the Vaporite Party to better reflect the real world views of  founders Donald J. Trump and his major acolytes Sean Hannity and Rudy Giuliani.
                      Mr. Hanky - party symbol

          I notice today Howard Dean said he heard DJT might have a cocaine problem. From his actions I tend to agree. I once had a problem with cocaine in all three of it's usual using methods. Injection as a liquid, smoke from the crack form and least preferred, up the nose as a powder. The powder form is the most used by people who want to deny it's use. They don't need a syringe or a hollow glass pipe. Just a little vial and an little plastic spoon like McDonalds used to supply with a cup of coffee.

     One thing I do remember is that nasal passages get dried out along with what we called dry mouth relieved by frequent sips of water, Kool-Aid or whatever liquid is available. Facial expressions gradually become less readable and when the high wears down so does the user. His brain is yelling at him "I want more" and his words get garbled until no one can understand him. Watch the Monday debate and see what I am describing. These are cocaine effects and if he had a snort on a break, all would be well. As an aside, a heroin user would be constantly scratching his nose. A different breed of cat

    Evidently Mr. Dean has been talking to someone in rehab. Mr. Dean didn't speak from the blue or like Trump out of his nether orifice. If he has been around anonymous groups, I know he has heard the adage "cocaine is  God's way of telling someone they have too much money."



                                       

Punishment for Truth

     This will my last post on the dust-up from Daily Kos. I have written a blog and published it long before I submitted anything to Daily Kos this time around although I joined in 2002 and submitted several comments in 2003. After a long hiatus I had to join again in the last year or so. After 90 or more postings without incidents I published a conversation with two holocaust survivors who didn't see other's being killed and someone at Kos decided that was proof of my holocaust denial which doesn't exist and never has.

    I've been banned from posting on Daily Kos because I related a conversation with two Auschwitz survivors about their personal experiences during a war that ended over seventy years ago. When two people stand in front of me with tattoos on their arms from a concentration camp they were in as teenagers and tell me their ordeal that at times seem at odds with the official story, am I to call them liars. I never said the Holocaust didn't happen at all, just that it didn't happen to two obviously live persons sitting across from me. One trained as a seamstress, the other as a cook in that prison.

      I have since done research on Auschwitz and learned that the camp encompassed an area of over 15 square miles. If I were confined to and worked in Humble Tx. I could truthfully say I never saw anybody killed in Spring. Tx. 10 miles  away. Other than one conversation, I never felt the need to question or elicit more details. Ingrid probably worked in one of the many industries around the area and used cheap labor the SS charged them for using Auschwitz prisoners in their plants and factories.

     To say I am disappointed in intolerance by people who purported preach freedom of thought. I realize that Kos is a personal democratic website and can censor whatever they choose. However, it's very unfair to accuse me of denial of a subject I have never mentioned in any of the over ninety posts I have made without incident over this last year. And really don't care about one way or the other. I have enjoyed posting there and receiving the comments of other people. If it is to be no more because I touched someone's exposed nerve. So be it.

The Deplorable Party Founded by Donald Trump.

     Now that the Trump rabble has an official name, they need a symbol like the other parties have; a donkey, the statue of liberty, a porcupine, a sunflower or an elephant. They also need a color like red for republicans, blue for democrats, green for greens, gold for libertarians

     I suggest brown for deplorables. For a symbol I think of a two-toed sloth, a parrot or Mr. Turd from South Park. I do think a burning cross would be going too far although it would probably win their popular vote.

    I've also been working on a party platform based on Trump proclamations. One can imagine the quandary involved. I finally hit on a yes or no answer format revised each morning based on yesterday's answers and today's predictions. All determined by the answers from a Magic 8-ball. This would make as much sense as listening to him personally, tuning into Fox News, reading tea leaves or rolling dice.

Monday Morning Revelations

     I hope this morning brings me news of exactly why I was cut off from posting anything on Daily Kos this weekend and whether the ban is still in effect this morning and what transgression I'm deemed guilty of exactly.

     I tried reposting with my conversation with Morris and Ingrid deleted which I assumed was the problem. All I've been able to get on the blogging link is "page not found (404) the page you were looking for doesn't exist." Actually we talked over an hour. Unfortunately this occurred at a family holiday gathering where I met them a few years ago and they are now both deceased and it never occurred to me to record a private personal conversation. I never took it to mean it was the same at Dachau or Buchenwald. They were only at Auschwitz and only spoke of people and conditions there they saw or heard.

     Daily Kos needs to post some definite rules for posting do's and don'ts. Like the fact that the word conspiracy is a no-no regardless of context as I once found out the hard way.

Sunday Morning Coming Down

     I always liked the Kristofferson song about Sunday morning and being alone. There were several gaps in my life when I woke up alone with a hangover from a Saturday night smoking, drinking and generally raising hell until I realized everyone had gone home to a family, a wife or girlfriend and I was in the weekend with nowhere to go and nothing to do. On my way to the Quikimart, I experienced the feelings, smells and sounds of that song. I bought a large coffee and a six-pack for later and walked to my solitary room somewhere.

     After my head cleared from the coffee, I rolled a doobie and laid back to wait for the Sunday football games to start. Later on after my second can of beer, I was feeling pretty mellow so it was time to roll another one, relax and finally have my breakfast of cookies and two or three Twinkies. Some game was under way and I watched a sideline conference of some kind when I was hit with an epiphany. Suddenly I thought "these are grown men making a huge income from playing a game and pretending it's worth taking seriously whether one side or the other wins or loses."

     Since that afternoon, I've never been able to care who wins or loses because I don't gamble and it's not going to make one iota of difference in my life. So I now can enjoy the skill exhibited by individual players no matter the fate of the whole team. At least one time in my life a drug made a positive future for me. Unfortunately my days of smoking anything are over for me due to a lung problem. As a result of smoking. Lungs make no distinction of what one smokes. They don't like any smoke at all.

Trump and Hitler

     I keep reading comparisons of Trump and Hitler. But I see it seldom goes deeper than superficial stereotypes of Germans and Americans. My great grandparents came to America from Germany just prior to the Civil War in the mid 1800's. None of them took sides or fought in that war. Family lore says they did not believe in slavery and refused to employ people in bondage, Every person who worked on their farms was paid a fair wage, be they black, Mexican or white. I feel justly proud of my ancestors and have always tried to carry on their tradition.

     Many of my relatives stayed in Germany and those in both here and there were caught up in wars not of their choosing. The fact is that my great grandfather and his brother were draft dodgers and came here rather than fight in Austria. They were the real German people, not the rabble and trash assembled by Hitler. Trump is a lot like Hitler except his rabble and trash hate Black people instead of Jews. In Germany they called them Nazis. Here they haven't settled on a name yet as they seem to be mostly conservatives, republicans or just simply idiots. Neo-Nazis is usually suggested.
I think the Deplorable Party might be a good name.

     I think it was some WW2 politician who said governments go to war and drag reluctant people along who just want it over with so they can go home to their family and farm in peace. I think that's kind of a universal feeling among sane populations.

    

Dream of Trump Arrested. Unpaid lawyer not available.

      I've been arrested several times in the course of my life. I've never been indicted or convicted of a felony although I've been arrested and spent a few days in jail several times. It will never happen to Mr. Trump although I enjoy envisioning him going through the booking in process for black people, Mexicans or poor people like me.

     First he will lose the laces out of his thousand dollar Italian shoes. Then he'll be taken to a room where he will have to put all his fine clothes in a wire basket. Next they will do a cavity search in which he will have to bend over and spread his cheeks for a finger in his anus and a flash light illuminating the area. If he gets smart with them, they will do the anal probe prior to the oral cavity. Then he'll be issued a prison uniform made of rough cotton.  Then he'll be told to get a pallet for sleeping and be directed to a 6 man cell with 14 people inside on pallets spread over the concrete floor. The barred door will be slammed with enough force and noise to be heard across the street.

     Things like this never happen to the average person who doesn't join protests, work with shady characters who abscond with money I signed checks for, hire lawyers who don't show up for trial, tend bar at a topless dance club, shoot it out with a home invader, spend weekends at a nudist camp or run a nightclub in New Orleans and finally get involved with drug dealers in California.

     Finally a little over thirty years ago, my excess testosterone finally ran out. I settled down here in Houston with a beautiful wife I've been true to ever since. I've lived in Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, Louisiana, California, New York, New Jersey and Michigan. I wouldn't trade any of those experiences that made me who I am.

Chromium Balls

Steel Balls

     It's often said of a strong man that he has balls of steel.  Luckily our president has balls of Chromium.  On a Mohs scale, this is the hardest metal, far stronger than steel ranking just below diamond for hardness.  With all the crap he has to deal with, he needs just that.  From the republican castrati whose scrotums must be stuffed with cotton wool and belly button lint.  They scream and shriek like school girls whenever Obama does what they are afraid to do.  They issue all sorts of threats and dire predictions; none of which actually happen.  As Shakespeare once wrote, it's "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."  Exactly what the United States Congress has become.  So sad. 

      So now we are going to vote for and elect a woman to replace Obama. She probably doesn't have testicles but then she starts even with her opposition, he of the little hands. I once worked in a company headed by a man named Leo with an office manager named Bob. I will never forget an altercation in the plant with a disgruntled man who was threatening someone. When Leo heard, he jumped up and exclaimed "if he wants a fight, I'll give him one" followed by "get out there Bob and put him down."

     Every time I remember this incident, I can just picture Trump saying "if she wants a fight, I'll give her one" followed by "get out there Mike and put her down." I expect to hear a variation of this next Monday night at the first debate. There may not be a second debate as Donald Trump crawls back under the rock he came from.

Birthday Blues. My 78th today.

      I'm kind of blue realizing that I'm on the downward section of this roller coaster of life. Where the bottom flat track leads is anyone's guess. But inexorably I'm going to find out sooner rather than later.

     If I had to live my life over, I would never change anything. I can see now some opportunities I didn't jump on that might have led to some other end game but the truth is I'm well satisfied and happy that it all led here. Finally with a woman I love and who loves me. Who could ask for more.
When hot winds come, I'm under a cooling fan inside.

      I've been a Dad to seven children and I think I've fulfilled the biblical admonition to "be fruitful and multiply." At least I did my best. My paternal family genes end in the early eighties while my maternal family genes last well into the nineties. It's a crapshoot which dominant genes I inherited. I'd be happy to just split the difference.

     I have a living will somewhere I need to locate that if my mind is gone, let my body go too. There's no point in living beyond that point. I once knew a man who played an ultimate practical joke by writing a will that left all his friends ten thousand dollars each. At the reading, they learned he had no money, he just wanted them all together one last time.










 

More Republcan Insanity. Arizona sex crime law targerts diaper changers.

     Arizona's supreme court upholds state law making care givers, sex offenders if they touch a child's penis,vagina and/or anus with their hands. This first noted here on Kos by a poster. As hard as it was to believe, I checked the Arizona law myself and learned that I was lucky to not live in Arizona as I would be charged along with my wife as serial sex offenders by cleaning seven children's genitals while changing their soiled diapers.

     How anyone except the lowest life form would be sexually aroused at the sight and smell of a dirty diaper and shit smeared immature genitals is unbelievable. It does however illustrate the Republican mindset regarding sex and arousal.

     The tragedy here is the time wasted on a non-existent problem when there are so many issues that need attention by an Arizona legislature. Voting irregularities, immigration and discrimination to list just a few. Guns and a vote against Donald Trump should overshadow any discussion of sexual proclivities Republicans are obsessed with.

Minor Parties

      I cannot understand why anyone outside of the two major parties would announce their candidacy for president of the United States. What is their motivation? To me it's like hunting big game with a 22 rifle. Or a high school football team trying to play the Chicago Bears. Both are lose-lose situations. Surely Gary Johnson and Jill Stein really know they cannot possibly win.

     Are their egos so inflated they really think an asphalt roadway will produce a lawn if they throw enough seeds on it. Surely neither one is that dumb. And speaking of dumb, their donors and supporters don't take any prizes home. The Green Party and the Libertarians have been around like forever and obviously don't believe in reproduction.

      Is money at the root of it? If I donated enough for these candidates to pay filing fees in all fifty states and take plane trips to the wrong event location and doesn't know Aleppo is a city in Syria. I would be a lot more strident about seeing some tax returns. Libertarians could set up funds to pay fines for driving without a  license from the state government. Do they pay taxes? The Green Party could go plant some trees instead of wasting money on lost causes. As a matter of fact, they would best serve America by both planting trees instead of dabbling in politics.

Home Chapter 17

Jim
      Jim finally made the decision he could no longer abide Des having to support both of them being in poor health herself from sheer exhaustion and a recurrence of the arthritis that afflicted her spine and hips. Leaving in the only way possible now, he crawled down the path, past the old tent and seeing the snag that had dumped him into the flood water so many months ago. Over the big log, through the brush and out to the service road. A light rain began falling and he was thankful he had wrapped his personal effects in layers of plastic sheeting. He was short of breath and his chest was hurting as he crawled a few feet, stopped to get his breath and resumed crawling a few more feet. He finally reached the last obstacle before the open field, a 12 foot wide mud covered construction road. slogging through was the only way over. He finally reached the open field in sight of a strip center and by shouting and waving from his knees was able to attract one of the workers who had met and recognized him and called 911 for an ambulance. He was loaded and taken to the emergency ward of a nearby hospital. He was diagnosed with pneumonia, a flare up of his copd, exhaustion and dehydration. He was admitted and spent over three weeks fighting to regain control. He was transferred to a rehab center where he spent three weeks gaining strength and learning to use his new wheelchair. Then he found a personal care home, moved there and lived in a room up to now.

    Destiny
      She had gained so much self-confidence and self-reliance over  these months as well as freedom that now she opted to refuse going to some shelter or home but stay in the woods in a smaller tent across the highway. A social worker helped her get her Social Security Disability, Medicare and Medicaid reinstated now that we no longer lived together. She and Jim kept track of each other through their son now working his way through college in another city. Once they settled they began talking regularly over the phone. Her mother passed away this year and she moved out of her tent and into the place her mother had occupied. They talk every day, see each other as often as possible and will always occupy a special place in each others heart.

Pleasure Principle

Pleasure principle

     There are some things built into the human brain.  A conscience, an innate sense of right and wrong is not one of them.  The first thing that forms I  think Freud called the Id; I call it the pleasure principle. The Freudian model of a human mind consists of the Id, unrestrained search for some desire; the Ego which grows in strength until it controls the Id and makes it possible to live with other beings, and the Super Ego also getting stronger and called a conscience, a sense of right and wrong.

     The Id is part and parcel of our personal fantasy world.  The things and feelings we really want to do or experience but are constrained by laws, religion or society.  Our Id set free to roam at will in imagination.  Our inner happiness depends on how much of our fantasy world we can bring into reality without hurting our self or anyone else.  Sexual impulses are the strongest force in the human mind and body.  Nature made it so to insure reproduction.

    I'm reminded of the angry old lady who called the police to report a man exposing himself and masturbating.  When the police couldn't see him, she explained "you have to climb this fence, go halfway up the ladder on this water tower and use these 20 power binoculars and there he is, plain as day and I'm offended."  Actually both the unknown man and the old lady fulfilled their fantasy world, both were happy and no one got hurt.  This is the way life should be - nobody hurt.

Home Chapter 16

          The sporadic rains continued for a time as Spring came to a close. Robo had taken a tarp that had covered our flooded tent and constructed a canopy that kept the rain away from our front door and created a dry area to sit outside even it was raining. Robo was a strange duck. He could be your best friend one day and turn into your worst affliction depending on his alcohol intake and his immersion in his own delusions. He cleaned up his flooded area and continued living close by. Ron, on the other hand entered an extended rehab program and was seen no more.

     We were wakened every morning by a pair of Cardinals talking to each other as the male checked the area for predators before giving his mate a tweet that it was ok for her to come down. She came and sat on a twig in some low bushes. He went down on the ground and looked over the food Des had left out for them last night. He finally selected a choice morsel and flew up to her and passed it from his beak to hers. He repeated this numerous times until she was satisfied, then he made one more trip to eat himself. Seeing this act of love between two birds set the tone for the rest of the day.
Finally a flock of Blue Jays arrived and their noisy and raucous chatter caused every animal or bird left to disappear.

     Oscar had been up for some time urging Des to get dressed and get started with their morning walk. As soon as the door was unzipped he bolted for the path. Des had to call him to stop and come back for his leash. He came shaking with anticipation as his leash was attached and they set off down the trail. Halfway to their destination they had to cross a street. She had to stop Oscar once to be careful and showing his intelligence and understanding, the next time he stopped and looked for traffic on his own before crossing. At last they came to the Walmart store where his friends worked. He gave out his loudest arrival bark that was heard all through the store. Workers came out and greeted him every morning and looked forward to meeting him. It seemed he made a new friend every time he came out and he recognized every one of them and shook with excitement whenever he saw someone he knew. At last they headed home and crossed an empty field before the woods. After entering the field Des removed his leash and said run Oscar, run like the wind. He joyously obeyed and left as fast as he could go, across the field, up the service road to the opening in the bushes that led to the path home, jumped a log across the trail and entered the path up the hill. Jim could see him coming at least sixty feet away, ears flapping like a bird's wings about to take off. He slid to a stop under the canopy waiting for Des to give him breakfast.

     All too soon as it does for all of God's creatures, age crept up on him. His joyful prancing around Des became a painful walk. At last God in his mercy called him home. He lay beside Jim and with the last of his strength crawled to Des and took his last breath with her hands holding him. Jim and Des cried the rest of that terrible night. The next day or so, Des helped with his burial and decorated his grave. We tried to go on with life but the impetus wasn't there any more, We realized more and more that Oscar had been the glue that held everything together. Jim's health was failing as was Des's. We had to make some hard decisions sooner rather than later.

Brain Files

Brain Files

I practice mindfulness meditation during my morning breathing treatment using a nebulizer.  I felt really extra drowsy this afternoon, having missed my noontime short siesta.  I read somewhere that it's for old people to take naps during the day.   Now although I don't consider myself old by any means, it might also be good for a youngster like me.  So I kind of fell into a good habit of napping about 2 hours in the morning about  9 to 11 and again from 1 to 2. Today while meditating, my mind hit on a theme of poetry.  I was remembering a huge file of lines from poems I read only once and couldn't remember where or when. Sometimes only one or two lines although I feel like the whole poem is in there somewhere.   Of the billions of neurons in the human brain. I'm sure there is a personal compendium of  a  "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations"  floating around in there somewhere.

     The trick is to find the index drawer.  There has to be a way.  So I've decided on the basis of wild, random thoughts to start searching for some trace of that key that will open up this treasure.  No matter that a multitude of Indian and Buddhist thinkers haven't found or taught that key.  Or maybe they have and they won't tell you unless you ask. So it may be just a matter of formulating the right question.  Google has a lot of answers.  I found the poem I remembered several lines from.  It was in a science fiction magazine in September of 1960.  Today I remembered lines I read 55 years ago.

      Google is pretty good but they will never match this wondrous brain in which God really lives.

Home Chapter 15

    With spring came warmer weather and more moisture from the Gulf. Sporadic weak fronts moved through producing more and heaver rain with the impetus from climate change. For the most part we were protected by our tent even though the zipper on our door was broken. Zippers on tent doors are their weakest point. They are fine for occasional campouts but fail after several weeks of daily use. All homeless people know this and plan for it.

     Des went out rain or shine to feed Jim and Oscar. Oscar went outside to do his business as usual and had to forego his daily walk often. Until a week the area received over six inches of rain from skies laden with more. Jim was first to notice when he felt he was floating. Daylight showed he was actually floating on the tent floor where water had entered under their tent. Looking out they saw the area was covered with several inches of flood water and rising.

    Des braved the water and obtained two raised cots for sleeping above the tent floor where the water was slowly getting in. And the rain continued to fall and the flood water grew deeper and wider. Oscar was hurting but refused to go inside or go out. Des finally took him out to higher ground to relieve himself. His training and his dachshund stubbornness wouldn't allow him to do anything else.

    Like a gift from heaven which we believed it was a check came and Des was able to buy a new and larger tent and located really high ground. Robo and Ron cleared a path up and erected our new home. Des carried Oscar up but Jim had a problem not being able to walk. He made it to his wheelchair and propelled himself backward through the water trying to reach the path up at the waters edge. He hit an underwater snag and ended up falling out of the chair so he half paddled and crawled through to the path. He crawled through the muddy and dry patches until he nearly reached the top where he met Des coming to help him out of the tent. She as amazed at what he managed on his own and he was proud of himself.

     Both Ron and Robo were invited to sleep in the big tent since their sites were also underwater but they declined so it was again just the three of us which we were all thankful for.

Riding a Runaway Horse

Riding Home

My little sister in her early teen years owned a beautiful Palomino horse like the one Roy Rogers rode in the old cowboy movies.  As I look back on this mare, I believe she must have been a Lesbian horse although in this distant past, no one conceived of such a thing.  She hated all the male gender and abhorred having a man on her back and unless she had a more pressing need, would do whatever she could to get rid of him including rolling over and trying to crush him beneath her, resulting in two males with broken limbs that I know of.  With a female of any breed she was like a playful kitten, horse, human, or whatever as long as the gender was right.  Thus it was that the horse was tethered in the back yard.  Like any young girl, my sister was at that stage of transition from horses to boys.  She had ridden her horse from pasture to backyard, left her there when a boy came by and invited her to the Dairy Queen or wherever teens went then.

   Meanwhile, the mare was getting thirstier,  hungrier and angierier by the hour.  

Finally, our mother asked me to ride her home and she would follow and bring me back. Sounded like a simple plan to me.  "Where's the saddle", I asked.  "Oh, she rode her bareback."  "Is it too much to ask if she brought a bit and reins"  Who knew what rapport she might have with this pet of hers.  Maybe she guided her with psychic commands.  By some good luck, this mare was guided in the normal manner by the steering wheel of bit and reins. After attachment and backing to the porch and at last I was aboard and ready for a gentle walk back to the barn.  But this she-devil had her own ideas when she saw an open gate to freedom and her pasture only a couple of miles away.  By the time we reached the front yard  she was in full gallop mode at top speed. Normally a horses accelerator is controlled by the pressure if a rider's legs against her side.  By the time we cleared the yard, all thought of control was out of the question.  I had one hand on the reins, the other wrapped in her mane and holding on as tight as possible, legs flying every which way desperately trying to sit as tightly as possible to keep on board. Each second of success pile up until you become convinced your balance will save you and you are not going to die sliding alongside the road.  Until about halfway there, you hear a pack of neighborhood dogs barking, roused by all the commotion rapidly approaching.

  Pictures rise in your mind of movies you've seen where a horse reads up and throw its rider when surprised by a snake on the path.  Surely, this encounter will have a similar result.  Ha!. With the thought in her mind only of fresh grass, gallons of cold water and a cozy stable, the dogs were past by the time anyone noticed leaving only yelps and whimpers where the ambush failed.  At last, we arrived at the gate, foaming and blowing  and both still alive, although it took me several minutes to be able to stand up after sliding to the ground.  She just stood there placidly munching grass  Her mission accomplished.

    All of this a lot like our president.  He sets a goal and goes for it regardless of obstacles or distractions like barking dogs in the way.  With healthcare or gay rights, he just rolls on home where he was going in the first place.  I've lived and watched 13 presidents now.  Roosevelt and Truman and Johnson were strong, Carter was strong in his honesty, but Obama is quietly strongest of all.  In my opinion.

Home Chapter 14

      Des had located a stand of undisturbed trees in a section across a service road from our original section of land. With the help of friends all of our stuff was moved there included our tent parts. Jim came with his walker. He fell twice before he got there indicating his legs were weakening, a result of childhood polio. He decided it was dangerous to use the walker anymore so he was reduced to crawling if he wanted to go out.

     After Des decided where she wanted the tent placed, it was erected on a rise along the clearing edge and Jim and Oscar moved in. Ron pitched his tent in a small clearing many yards downhill from us. Robo was evicted from his trailer home, obtained a tent and set up a distance opposite from us and Ron so our lives picked up where we were before the move and continued for a time.

     The morning quiet was broken by Oscar's strident bark of danger outside. Officer Travis had found us and came with a number of cops to harass us once again. Des was handcuffed on the ground and Jim ordered to crawl out holding Oscar by his collar as he was all in attack mode. He slipped out of his collar and made straight for Des on the ground ready to defend her at any cost. Des calmed him some and ordered him back to Jim. For once he minded her and returned to defending Jim who held him bodily to keep him from attacking anyone who came close. All the while barking out threats and warnings at full volume. A Dachshund behind a door sounds a lot like a two hundred pound Mastiff.

     At last after finding no drugs or anything illegal they went away berating Travis for this wild goose chase. Both of us were rightly proud of Oscar's defense and defiance of a threat to his family. Once we were settled in a very light sprinkle wet the dirt outside. A harbinger of Spring weather with more to come.

Different Ex-Presidents

      It's interesting to compare the living ex-presidents by party and present occupation. It seems we have two Democrats and two Republicans. Soon to be three Democrats and the same two Republicans. What's amazing to me is how closely these ex's hew to their parties base principles and priorities. Remaining true to the attitudes of their base supporters.

      The average Republican is a greedy and selfish individual thinking the government exists for his benefit and not for those poor, lazy people who think they are entitled to share in the largess of the richest nation in health care and adequate wages for their work.

      Democrats are poor hard working people who are always ready to share. They are the people responsible for Social Security. Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act better known as Obamacare.

      First is Jimmy Carter who at age 91 has been building homes for poor people for nearly forty years since his retirement. He is a key figure in Habitat for Humanity and after recovering from brain cancer is going to Canada to help the poor there build homes.

      George H.W. Bush retired twenty three years ago and helped Bill Clinton raise funds for the flood victims in Haiti who lost everything. After that he went back to just living with Barbara which must be a chore in itself. He is 92.

        Bill Clinton along with Hillary and their daughter Chelsea set up and run the Clinton Foundation which raises millions and buys Aids medicine for people all over the world and helps millions of people in programs all over the world. He is 70.

       George W. Bush lives in Dallas where he paints pictures of his toes in his bath among other things. He occasionally gives a high priced speech somewhere he gets paid to come. That pretty much rounds out his time for the last eight years. He also is 70.

      Now one can see why I state that ex-presidents stay true to their basic party identity. I expect that next year Barak Obama will keep to this pattern.

Home Chapter 13

     We settled into our new site and tent. The road in was blocked to cars by several large tree trunks which we assumed were knocked down by Rita, the hurricane that came through the area lately.

      Robo went home to his trailer while Ron was given a one man tent by an old friend of his. He set it up at the far side of the fire pit. Later Dave showed up with another small tent which he set up about twenty yards down the road from us. So now with the five of us our little community was complete except for occasional visitors which were welcomed but discouraged from staying very long.

      With the cold wet weather came Thanksgiving and we feasted on contributions from passers by on the highway so Oscar gained another few pounds as except for his daily trip to do his thing and exercise walking with Des, the rest of the time he stayed under the covers with Jim staying warm. The days passed with Jim doing a lot of reading alone in the tent with Oscar while Des went about obtaining food and supplies for both of them.

     Some city official came up with a plan or scam to sell gift bags to clueless but well meaning people to give to the homeless on the street. This plastic bag contained a tiny toothbrush and a miniscule tube of toothpaste, a bar of motel size soap and various small trinkets. All of the contents could have been purchased at a dollar store for less than ten dollars. The city sold these bags for twenty dollars. If someone with a brain had thought it through, then Jim who had no teeth would not have ended up with twenty tiny toothbrushes and tiny tubes of toothpaste.

     A lot of people on the street are homeless but not really stupid. If anyone has asked, there was no need for a bag. A simple Christmas envelope containing coupons for a cold drink, a burger and fries from McDonalds or Burger King would have meant more than a dozen useless plastic bags. And no one ever admitted where the profit went.

     After the new year 2014 came with a strong north wind we found out why the site was abandoned in the first place. The noisy crash of falling trees echoed this morning. It seems water damaged the lower trunks of tall trees so they could no longer support the weight, snapped off and fell. Des immediately set out to find a new site.

Obama Asia Trip

     Although American media has made such a big deal of it, Obama himself has not weighed in on it without even a comment. He came for a meeting with the President of the second largest economy in the world on Global Warming and to firm up each nations commitment to its containment via the Paris accords. Their talks were for saving billions of people from it's worst effects. He also went as the representative of the United States at the G20 summit along with the leaders and finance ministers from nineteen of the world's largest economies to discuss finances involving more billions of people and money.

      He definitely did not go there as a ego trip or photo op. Or even really notice a dispute among airport attendants over where the pilot had parked his airplane. He simply used another door and an alternate set of stairs. This is what a real leader does, not as Trump advised leaving in a huff of upset
feelings. Just one more reason Trump is not qualified to lead a Klan group much less lead the most powerful nation on Earth.

     Later though, he bypassed a meeting with the Philippine  president over a personal insult to his person rather than toward the United States. If every president retaliated every insult or criticism of the United States it would consume all his time and energy. After he thought about it president Dutarte realized he had made a terrible mistake, sought out Obama with an apology and his hat in his hand. Being the great person he is Obama accepted the apology and went on to discuss human rights violations by simply executing accused drug offenders without trials or judgements. No conclusions were reached but Dutarte was made aware that both the United States and most free nations were awake withholding judgement until seeing how he proceeds.

     After that meeting Obama will open commercial ties with Laos expanding trade in Southeast Asia. For a president with only four more months in his eight years Obama is working up to the bell not standing at the time clock waiting to punch out.

Home Chapter 12

     We woke this morning to the sound of saws, bulldozers and fifty foot high trees crashing to the ground. Upon learning the trees were being cleared to build a new fast food outlet. We watched heavy equipment uproot the trees and workers with chain saws denude the trunk which was cut into logs to be loaded on a truck for disposal. Yellow tape delineated the area to be cleared which didn't include our campsite but close enough to make staying too dangerous.

     Several people knew of an old abandoned site not far away. Des went to check it out and we decided to move there as soon as we could. We were hastened by a constable and the landowner threatening to charge us with trespassing if we weren't gone in two days. Our displaced leaders found a semi-relative to take them in. We loaded most of our belongings into two shopping carts and were ready to go. Jim was still using a walker to support his weak legs but he pushed one of the carts.

     Once out of the woods, John offered to drive us when he was able to find so jumper cables for his dead battery. A cold wind had sprung up as we finally got loaded and gone. At the new site, Robo had built a huge bonfire and helped us unload. We were grateful for the warmth as we spread blankets around for sleeping that first night.

     The morning brought a welcome surprise as some church members arrived with a new tent big enough for the three of us. That afternoon Ron and Robo erected the tent where Des wanted it. Just as a light cold rain began, we lay dry under warm blankets inside our new home. We talked that night how our life had changed so fast and how we dealt with it with help from our friends, To be honest we were a little proud of ourselves.

Trump Polls

     Something isn't making any sense to me. On the net, I read story after story how Trump is gaining over Clinton in the polls and the race is tightening. Then I read how Trump does one stupid thing after another to alienate voters and sabotage his own campaign.

     My question is where are these gains coming from? Are people leaving Clinton or Jones or Stein and moving to Trump? Are there that many undecided voters left at this late stage of the election? There are lies, damned lies, and statistics as Mark Twain said. We seldom see and hear all three at one time as  we do in this 2016 election for a new president.

     Someone out there in the Ethernet is feeding us patently false information. Who is lying and what are their reasons for doing so? Clinton has an interest in not appearing so far ahead that her supporters won't vote thinking it doesn't matter if they stay home. Trump is so ego driven that any suggestion he might be losing is anathema to him. The media will trumpet a close race to drive viewership as will the press and pundits. So what is one to do?

     Watch and wait is my suggestion and intention. As AA's big book advises us to "change what we can and accept what we cannot change." Real good advice for 12 steppers and also the general public.

Home Chapter 11

   Destiny threw her purse across the clearing. She was more angry than Jim had ever seen her. She needed to calm down and a cigarette would help. When she could find her voice she finally explained she had gotten a ticket from patrolman officer Travis. This policeman was well known by the people who lived around the area. The consensus was that probably he had been frightened as a child by a homeless person and it left him with a lifelong aversion to seeing them on the street. Except that now he had a gun and a badge to protect him as he set about ridding his area of such people.

     Travis's MO was to issue a ticket in another precinct that would be difficult to contest without personal transportation. With the possibility of payment nonexistent a judge would issue a warrant which would show up on computers whenever a name was checked out. When a number of these misdemeanors were accumulated, the person would be taken to the city jail to stay overnight. In the morning a judge would take served time, wipe out any warrants and release them. Now the problem is getting home from across town with no money or transportation.

     All of it was simple harassment of defenseless people. The city or the taxpayers incurred numerous costs for nothing except Officer Travis's vanity and personal satisfaction. I personally believe he had a sadistic nature but was too afraid of imposing his will on someone who might strike back.  Destiny finally accepted it as an occupational hazard to avoid in future.

Trumpland Discovered

     Explorers have stumbled on remains of a small country in the Alps that was once surrounded by some sort of wall. Natives around the area remembered talk of a country with a wall. It was originally thought by the inhabitants to have been to keep the rabble out, the rabble consisting of people who didn't agree with them. i.e. most of the civilized world. Actually it was a good idea to keep insane people isolated as much as possible so their building such a wall was a godsend economically. The inmates were paying for their own asylum.

      From artifacts left behind archaeologists have been able to tell these people were a particularly nasty bunch. They treated their women worse than their cattle. They had no concern for their health, welfare or happiness other than maintaining their ability to have sex and babies. This was considered all women were good for and never allowed them to complain or actually say anything

    The climate there was terrible and varied with the position of the cloud overhead. Some put forth  ideas to plant crops that did well in shade rather than sun but they were shouted down by nearly everyone. The reason they said was their god wanted it that way. For this, the people were always hungry and ill-natured.

     The god they had created in their image was a vengeful and easily provoked deity. For this reason they were very careful of their associations and support of new ideas. Their idea of  doing nothing and saying no to any new plan or idea was the best way to worship and placate someone they believed lived somewhere in the sky and could see everything.

     Catastrophe came about a hundred and fifty years ago when earthquakes in that area destroyed the wall and like malignant microbes that combine to create a disease, the inhabitants escaped and infested the new American nation. They called themselves Republicans and soon took control of what had been a beneficial political party.

     Unfortunately they brought their sick way of life with them. They still all despise any female and to have one in a position to control them is unthinkable. They are still fearful of saying yes rather than no as usual. They have picked a leader; one Donald J. Trump who embodies their entire former life in walled asylum.

      Fortunately civilization today like their ancestors recognized insanity when it appeared and once again will try to isolate these individuals. But we have progressed from a wall and rely on sane people to vote against any Republican and thus protect our progress and our future. It's our only chance to stop madness in it's tracks.

Home Chapter 10

    Destiny brought up a large container, put in the clothes, detergent and enough water to soak them.  Oscar danced around wanting to help.  Unfortunately his self image is a 4 pound puppy.  He can't fathom why Des can't hold  him under one arm while she's washing with the other.  He's finally banished from her vicinity and joins Jim sitting at the door of their tent, looking as pathetic as only he can and hoping she'll call him back out.  As women have washed for centuries, she used her hands and a stout stick for an agitator.  Actually she washed like women in refugee camps without running water from pipes or a flowing spring, creek or river.  She might get bitten by a mosquito but at least not an alligator.  When at last she poured in fresh water, rinsed them and wrung them out, she carried them to the wire and hung them to dry in the sun.  At last she sat to rest, looked at Oscar and released him from exile.  He sounded his thank you bark and in two bounds had landed his thirty pounds squarely in her lap.  She decided to rest for awhile after she finished her cigarette.  She was really tired and drifted off to sleep where she sat holding her furry baby.

Voting Democrat

          Thanks to Democrats and the federal courts, I'm awaiting my absentee ballot in the mail. Republicans did all they could to keep me from voting at all especially since I'm a registered Democrat. What's even worse in their eyes they don't know yet I'm going to vote a strait Democratic ticket.

           Although I live in a red state my vote won't be wasted as if I voted for a third party. With the increasing number of black Americans and the new emphasis on legal Mexicans voting along with votes like mine, this state could turn blue in a heartbeat.

         If we could then rid ourselves of the Republican infestation and send ignorant voters back under the rocks they crawled out from, then we could rejoin the human race. We could enjoy expanded Medicaid and stop throwing old people out of rest homes due to lack of funds. We could revitalize our schools with the money Republican leadership stole from federal funds for education. And our governor wouldn't get big bribes from Donald Trump for turning a blind eye to malfeasance in our court system.

      As Dylan sings "the times they are a changin'." The sooner rich white ignorant old coots realize it, the better.

Home Chapter 9

      Des pushed her shopping cart filled with empty gallon jugs to the back of the NTB store.  Like most people, she hadn't known the store's actual name until Jim told her it stood for National Tire  and Battery.  Having worked in that industry for years, Jim knew practically all there was to know about car parts and auto stores.  It's too bad he never got paid enough to get rich or get any retirement  pay from the last job he held for over 26 years.  The owner got rich and he got the boot.  But that's life, she guessed.  After filling the jugs, they pushed the carts back to just inside the woods and parked them while they walked back to the dollar store and Walmart.  Cary had a food stamp card and offered to let Destiny use it and pay her back when Social Security checks came in before the first of the month.  Cary had some tip money from her job and Destiny had some money from begging on the street.  She had to get some cold water detergent to wash and she wanted to get something good to eat for Oscar and Jim.  Jim loved chef salads and she wanted some good dog food for Oscar.  He was getting too fat from all the people food he'd been eating although she couldn't resist a pint of ice cream to share with him.  And some dollar packages of cookies that Jim liked and shared with Oscar.  Oscar loved cookies and ice cream.  Two of his favorite things.  She gathered up all the goodies and she and Cary headed back to camp.  She decided to wash tomorrow and just stay home with her family tonight.  She got Oscar's leash and took him for his day's walk out and his run back home.  Usually they went in the morning but this morning they both overslept and Des had to hurry to get to the intersection where she flew.  Homeless people refer to flying as standing beside roads or traffic lights with a homemade sign asking for help.

Home Chapter 8

Over the subsequent days and nights I learned more about the individuals peopling our little group. They aren't the ones I would pick as a crew but adversity makes for strange bedfellows.  There is one overriding bond holding us together; Survival.  All other issues become secondary to that.

     Bill occasionally slept on a blanket at the camp or slept on a ledge under the intersection bridge nearby.  Tim lived at his brother's house somewhere, John slept in his car and Ron usually joined Bill under the bridge. Robo lived in his brother's extra trailer some miles away.  Dave joined Doug and Cary in the hut. Destiny, Oscar and me shared the green tent.

     The only thing certain about any of our situations is they were subject to change at any moment.   You get used to the idea of impending doom from a myriad of external forces all seeking to disrupt us.  As the people in California growing complacent about the ground shaking almost daily.  They expect their state to come loose and slide into the ocean at any time but they, like us, go on with their daily life in spite of such knowledge.

      Speaking of daily life, Des and Cary just left camp with two Walmart shopping carts filled with empty plastic milk jugs to refill with water behind a service station.  Water for the makeshift shower and to wash a few clothes at the tent.  Destiny plans to do that in the morning.  As Samuel Pepys always closed his diary entry; "And so to bed."