Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Moore's CAPITALISM

"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of leaning." -Bill Gates
YEAH RIGHT, COUNT ME IN.

aloha, this is hard for me to admit.
i am not a Big Fan of Micheal Moore,unlike Amy Goodman & LinkTV, its not his politics or his films or his TV shows.i do not like to see his fat jowly ussally unshaven face covering a 40 foot wide move screen,ICK.

so of course i was reluctant when Soul Mate told me YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS FILM!

so i went to see it monday and let me say YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS FILM!
rent it on DVD or whatever, its concise and informative with less jowly close ups than one would expect.
dare i say it.. IT IS THE BEST AND MOST ENTERTAINING FILM I HAVE SEEN THIS YEAR.
the fat face will have to squeeze into a tuxedo for which i predict, if there is any justice in this world, his second Oscar (if Hillary Swank can do it...).CASINO CAPITLAISM UBER ALLES!

in other news, had to give 3 vials of my thin diabetic blood this ayem at the County Clinic.got to be a first hand eyewitness of the calm stampede of parents to get SWINE FLU SHOTS, what a depressing spectacle SIGH.
BTW Capt.Compromise has just signed an UPDATED FEDERAL HATE CRIMES BILL which for the FIRST TIME INCLUDES DISABILITY,oh wow? now if you beat up a gay crip and he/she reports it...
this reminds me of my principle gripe with the ADA, which is under the Justice (sic) Department, THERE IS NO ENFORCEMENT UNLESS YOU SUE!!! a colleague complained for Two Years about an inaccessbile venue and got the usual shrug and delays. so he sued and got a ramp installed plus $25,000 of which the slimy lawyer got 20,000. this is an FEDERAL LAWYERS LIFE LONG EMPLOYMENT ACT.DEEP SIGH every rose has its thorns...

i think i am allergic to my C PAP machine or maybe life itself...i have enough physical complaints to fill a small notebook and i see my PCP doc next week,maybe she can help...
that's all i got for today.
namaste y'all
semper gimpy
mega

Thursday, October 22, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO IS....

"When you find a big kettle of crazy.It's best not to stir it up." Scott Adams, recent Dilbert punchline

aloha,
what follows is a lighthearted (for me) memoir in no particular order,okay?

SAN FRANCISCO IS....

-the only city where i have ever been burglarized (3x)
-the only city where i have ever pulled a gun on anyone (2x in my cabbie era)
-where a man in a cheap SRO hotel offered me sex with his blonde girlfriend for comic book money...at the Hotel Dante.
-where i lived above the foul mouthed overinflated CAROL DODA'S dressing room ( see above).
-where i was threatened by a meth addict in a Haight laundromat.

-where i dated one CHURCH OF SATAN blonde shcizophrenic (that i know of).
-bought my first car, a tiny red MG T convertible for $100.
-sang in the stoned background chorus of TODD RUNDGREN'S "Sons of 1984" in Golden Gate Park.
-studied authentic Chinese Tai Chi 2x SIGH.
-seen both naked tourists & whores up close for free.

-attended a strippers Xmas Party in North Beach BIG FUN!
-where i attended both Bill Graham's WINTERLAND (before it was demolished ) and the Chet Helms Family Dog Revival at the Avalon Ballroom ( before it was demolished) likewise the old PLAYLAND AT THE BEACH (before it was also demolished)
-where i was routinely propositioned by gay men (3 accepted @1oo rejected).
-where i wept copiously over the AIDS related deaths of 95% of my male gay friends...it still hurts.
-where i lived in North Beach SROs opposite each other (the Hotel Dante & the Hotel Tevere).i once broke an SRO sink trying to crack a cococnut,i was much younger then...

-where i survived multiple hotel fires without damage or injury, i lost count of how many.
-where i was issued a guard company gun which was too old to commit suicide with (proven by another, no worry as i had my own).
-where i attended both the original EXOTIC/EROTIC & HOOKERS BALLS, saw Margo St.James atop alive elephant at the Cow Palace and had dykes grope my bare ass at another.
-where i attended & graduated from both City College & SF State.
-where i first read my poetry aloud & help organized a weekly on going poetry reading ( a Buddha in the Brooder House..inside joke).

_where i went to EVERY MOVIE THEATER IN TOWN...
about 40% of them now demolished.
-met MY EX (*) then later had routine sex with her in my workplace and often in the Boss's office ( i still have pictures i think).
-where i worked unknowingly a mere block from SOUL MATE in the Civic Center/UN Plaza
area for several years.
- where i first encountered pesto pasta & Chinese sesame cookies YUM!
-learnd the meaning of HAK WI (Chinese for nigger) & UFA (Samoan for f*ck you!)

-where i mourned the loss of the eccentric 24/7 Geary street newstand ALBERT HENRY'S...
-where i walked my Personal Best of 26 city miles early one weekend morning.
-taught a co worker how to steal a Very Expensive Book from our rich penny pinching paranoid Boss, i felt it was justified.
-where i convinced several platonic female friends NOT to have sex with me, i can be noble on occasion.
-where i first bought guns LEGALLY...
-where i found cheap but excellent Chinese,Thai & Vietnamese food within walking distance.

-where i was written up for being both a cranky snarky sarcastic bastard then later being heroic at the same workplace (Moscone Center).
-where i saw a GRATEFUL DEAD Concer at work YAWN! then later found a naked mud covered hippie in the toilet while watching stoned suburban girlrs brain-fried in wheelchairs waiting for their parents to come get them ( thanx ROCK DOCs).
-where i climbed into roped off CONCEPT CARS at various auto shows (Moscone Center again).
-where i witnessed the trebling in size of Moscone Center while i worked there, my pay stayed about the same.
-where i first drove 120+mph while leaving the city on freeways WHEEEEE! (cabbie era)

-where i got deeper into Zen, wrote some decent haiku and learned to explain my concept of Zen succinctly.
-where i bought my first cheap swords at Cost Plus.
-worked in 3 comic book stores part time (& met FRED).
-where i met my first Asian BFF (sic) Kim and with her gay friend Larry coached her into how to give a Great BJ, she got accolades...
-the first major city where i did NOT ride a horse, (NYC,LA & San Antonio previously).

-where i first appeared in several local TV Man On The Street interviews, back in the 70s.
-where i loved the mournful foghorns and the smell of wet eucalyptus in the morning.
-where both my sons were born.
-where i lived with my leggy CHEAP HOTEL GODDESS (poem to follow?)
-where i watched the cops cars burn outside City Hall at the White Night Riots...and yes i cried at the Milk/Moscone Assassinations.

-where i once shook hands with HARVEY MILK & chatted a few about honesty in politics outside the Larkin theater where they were showing Louis Malle's BLACK MOON. i remember he had shaved off his mustasche and began wearing suits, BTW SEAN PENN deserved his Oscar, wonderful wonderful work.DEEP DEEP SIGH.

-where we loved then lost the legendary progressive rock station KSAN...sigh again.
-outran then out thot a Porsche (see prior blogs)
-saw public Gay sex on and above Polk Street my first Halloween there.
-where i mastered the basics of photography in an extremely photogenic locale.
-first worked alongside the SFPD, some great peeps back then.

-where i first carried a gun Legally at huge public events, Candlestick during football season etc ( see above) my job was to stand on the field with my back to the game-to protect the players from their fans.yes, the 49ers were once THAT BAD...
-where i was once taught the fine art of panhandling couples at Aquatic Park by an old drunk who took a shine to me, was fighting with Goddess at the time and taking a Time Out.
-where i walked across the Golden Gate Bridge (many many times) and resisted the urge to jump off...that bridge is haunted.
-where i touched a friends 5 foot long LEMON PYTHON, he had many guns too including a new .50 cal AMERICAN EAGLE automatic.touched that too...
-where i marched nearly naked in a cape & loincloth in TWO GAY PRIDE PARADES...SM was with me but NOT nearly nekkid.

-is the second city where i have run into either ghosts (also LA) or psychics (NYC) and the first where i encountered AN INTENSE AURA OF CORRUPT EVIL...
-where i did a lot of stupid immature and often hurtful things.

-not what it used to be,fun & affordable and blue collar friendly.
-SAN FRANCISCO IS NOW THE BRITTLE JAGGED NEON SLUTTY BITCH TRIBUTE TO EXCESS, sic transit gloria mundi....


all this will probably be explained in future blogs, poems & pictures (now that i have a scanner).
STAY TUNED...

namaste y'all
semper hierophanty
mega

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

GUNGA DIN

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. "
-Sir Winston Churchill AMEN TO THAT...

aloha, ever have a loose tooth that really bugs you?
Afghanistan feels like that to me.
RUDYARD KIPLING wrote several books which became films GUNGA DIN (think the Alamo at Khyber Pass) THE JUNGLE BOOK & THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING ( check www.IMDB,COM).
Kipling, aside from being a halfway decent poet, was also a noted colonalist & racist. he coined the term WHITE MAN'S BURDEN to describe the Duty of Civilized Countries to invade & exploit these Savages.SIGH.
nowadays we use the guise of charity, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and some NGOs to do much the same.

GOOD NEWS
yesterday the (9th Circuit Court stopped the irrational and potentially lethal IHSS curs here in KALIpornia and today the sun is shining,coincidence? go to www.cdcan.us for all the details.

ON FILM
still haven't seen Micheal Moore's new film and my meds co-pay is rapidluy eating it's way thru my monthly allowance.CURSE THEE,DONUT HOLE...ARRRRGH! wanted to see SURROGATES & PARNDORUM but Rite Aid got the money instead,SIGH.

AH BLISS
spent two hours in the warm pool at PT, i wanted to grow fins & gills just to stay there forever, rather than return to the outside world of storme und drang...see, even a cranky guy like me can find bliss outside my home & Man Cave. no fresh bad news from MY EX (*) altho i have been offline for a few days, SOUL MATE is either slowly recovering or having a relapse, her recent mood has been as dark as my own.Cripes, do i sound LIKE THAT? (humor attempt)

BTW www.democrynow.org for all the latest in bad news from a slightly lefty perspective.

that's all i got today, PT stopped most of the ache in my bad knee, most of my spinal agony is temporarily abated now if i could only find out what i am hyper allergic to and stop the mucous flow i would be..not exactly happy, satisfied???

hi PAGANI,stay well...health reform is coming,glacially slow as usual.

namaste y'all
semper gummo (the 4th Marx Bros)
mega

Saturday, October 17, 2009

GENESIS RIDDLES?

"I wouldn't recommend sex,drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me." Hunter S.Thompson. gonzo writer,celebrity & crip suicide

aloha, the folowing is not Gospel but why i got kicked out of Sunday School if memory serves...plus what i learned later.

GENESIS
ever notice that mankind is created TWICE? now there are many problems with hebrew>greek>latin translations...in the original ELOHIM (mistranslated as God) is a PLURAL NOUN, it is possible in lost lore that a group of Gods created mankind or as some suggest GOD HAS A WIFE,SOPHIA. JEHOVAH (YVWH) is the name of a single God,hmmm not THE GOD immaterial and eternal as we were taught in sunday school. SIGH..

in Jewish tradition ADAM (ADHAM) had a first wife LILITH who was created at the same time as Adam and so demanded EQUALITY and refused some of his sexual demands. Lilith was expelled from EDEN (possibly Iraq or Saudi Arabia per aerial photography-Tigris,Euphrates and Pishon rivers delta is now underwater?) and became the Queen of Demons. EVE (HEVA) was then created as a more submissive model.

speaking of submissive,why exactly were THE SERPENT & TREE OF KNOWLEDGE created in such a paradise?
now the Serpent is a pagan symbol worldwide for eternal life,rebirth & wisdom (see NAGA, SERPENT WORSHIP IN INDIA, & SNAKE HANDLING FUNDAMENTALISM) now corrupted by hebrew folklore and the tree likewise (see Ygdrrasil {sp?} in Norse myths and the Bodhi tree in Buddhism etc etc). some occultists speculate that the ORIGINAL SIN OF MAN was not Disobedience but Curiousity or perhaps AMBITION? YE SHALL BE AS GODS (! note the plural usage).
NEPHILIM the Giants of the Earth who slept with the daughters (!) of Man, which ones were these exactly ? now NEPHILIM does not translate in anyway whatsoever as Giants, it means THE FALLEN as in perhaps angels? there is a lot of other stuff including YVWH WALKING IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN, walking around and not being omniscient??? also the APPLE was probably a FIG as apples did not grow in Eden nor figs in Rome, remember the aprons of fig leaves to hide their nakendness? also the History channel mentioned figs are cursed 17 times in the OT.just as it mentions YVWH has an ANGER MANAGEMENT PROBLEM in the OT.

THE MARK OF CAIN
unlike Mormon beliefs the Mark was apparently not black skin, nobody knows what it really was but some speculate the Mark was BIG BLACK DOG (annother long held occult symbol) sent to PROTECT CAIN FROM HARM !!! East of Eden was the LAND OF NOD, NOD means strangers in ancient hebrew, so who exactly was Cain's unnamed wife? and according to Genesis Cain built the FIRST CITY, so perhaps modern civilization with all its flaws is the true Mark of Cain? plundering the fertile soil of GAIA,Mother Earth in the name of greed, ambition,conquest and territory?

i think i will end on that note before i get too screechy and pedantic, enjoy your day.

namaste y'all
semper gonzo
mega

Thursday, October 15, 2009

ST JUDAS?

Yes Pagani, you're probably right about Esau. my mind and thots are racing recently, think there is too much alcohol in the homeopathy meds, me on MSNBC? I LIKE IT.

aloha,
years ago i set out to write a stage play ST.JUDAS REICHSTAG FIRE, sort of a homage to Shaw's witty DON JUAN IN HELL which i had seen and loved on PBS. the concept was fairly simple, Judas is in Hell with the Nazi mastermind REINHARD HEYDRICH ( deputy to Himmler and Eichmann's boss), a sexy caberet singer(think a young Liza Manelli in CABERET) and scary pop ups by JACK THE RIPPER.sounds simple right? at least that's what i thought at first.now i have been fascinated by the Nazi history and mindset since puberty and likewise Jack the Ripper, researching the Weimar Republic was a snap but Judas...

'THINK NOT THAT I COME TO SEND PEACE ON EARTH:I CAME NOT TO SEND PEACE,BUT A SWORD." MATT 10:34 King James Bible (sic)

first of all either the Bible is THE WORD OF GOD or it isn't ,either way it was designed and often deleted by Papal Policy & Politics,it is an elephant deigned by a biased committee with many books expunged THE APOCHRYPA (sp?) .trust me in this one, i have the research books, this was all done before the internet.
MARY MAGDALENE was NOT a whore, this is mentioned nowhere in the Bible. this was Papal politics concerning MARY MOTHER of God and ISIS THE GREAT MOTHER of Paganism, as usual too many strong women were scary to weak men so MM became a whore, remember that she was the first one to see the Risen Christ...and women still wanted to be priests which started the first Inquisition against the heretic CATHARS in france & spain.BTW when did Lazurus die again? just askin'

JESUS HIMSELF, this is also problemical as Jesus (Yesu?) is a fairly common name of the era, in fact a revolt lead by another messiah Jesus (also from Galilee) was put down about ten years before the birth of the Jesus Christ, so one can see how Jesus and his ilk might be scary to the Roman Occupation. also Pontious PIlate, a historical figure , was no dithering ruler-remember this was aimed at people of what became the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH and Pilate was fairly ruthless in his slaughter of Jews by all accounts i read.also the Zealots & Maccabees were constantly revolting and you find members of them in Jesus's flock. speaking of flock.. all the experts i read said that the movie version of Jesus and his Disciples is incorrect,Jesus traveled with a crowd of maybe hundreds including women and children.it was a mob not an army but still...
now either Jesus was the SON OF GOD or he wasn't, either way lets accept (for the sake of argument) that JC TRULY BELIEVED he was the predicted prophet/messiah,okay?

JUDAH BAR SIMON
Judah Bar (son of ) Simon (off topic BARRABAS_BAR ABBAS slang for Son of the Father or bastard, possibly also named Jesus, think of the unholy pun in choosing him over JC)
JUDAS ISCARIOT IS A NICKNAME!
SCARRII was a short easily concealed stabbing sword used in political assassinations, the term is still used in Sicily and the Middle East { Jack the Ripper meet Judas the Dagger, that seemed to work} the deeper i read the messier it got. many Bible scholars think that Judas was the trusted treasurer for the whole mob, HE HELD THE MONEY...
here more problems arise, now if JC is INFALLIBLE ( like the Pope SIGH) why did he give the power to heal to Judas also??? was Judas or MM THE (unnamed) BELOVED DISCIPLE? now Judaisim, like kung fu, teaches mostly by oral tradition and some students/vessels are given more than others. this is a known fact so we can't expect all 12 to get the same amount or degree of teaching.
now all the prophecy involved with JC predicts he will meet with a messy end, JESUS HAD TO DIE AS PROPHESIED -so who did he (JC) chose to 'BETRAY' him but the most trusted? as Treasurer Judas had no need for more money and my sword reference, in classical mythology the sword is used to cut thru delusions and ignorance, so Judas the Dagger as a holy pun? one to Betray and one to SEE the Risen Christ, fairly simple right.

GETHESAME (sp?)
after the money changers JC was easy to identify but the public kiss (of student to master) sealed the deal & who was that naked kid running away, another hidden metaphor?? now the Bible recounts that Judas either died in a field or hanged himself, why both? in my play i had him die fighting at MASADA, which seemed to me more likely.did you know there is a book called THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS found within the last decades which also makes some of these points? ASIMOV'S GUIDE TO THE BIBLE is also handy for a quick reference, the NAG HAMMADI LIBRARY, THE PASSOVER PLOT etc etc etc..SOUL MATE once asked me why, as a Zen Buddhist, i had so many books on historic Christianity..this is why. fascinating stuff which i think deepens the mystery and joy of Christianity, did i mention as a child i was expelled from sunday school for asking too many questions???? still do.
so i never did write the play but the research was FUN!

namaste y'all
mega

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

TOXIC OPTIMISM

"In a battle of wits, they would be unarmed." NYC adage

aloha,
BFD Capt.Compromise finally got Olympia Snow's single GOP vote after months of secret negotiating with THE GANG OF SIX and giving away SINGLE PAYER...SIGH.

BARBARA EHRENREICH has written another book and oddly enough it pertains to DISABILITY too. 'BRIGHT SIDED' is about the relentless American Pursuit of Optimism from Christopher Columbus to George W. Bush and Oprah.
think of it as the dumbassification/Disneyfication of America. LIFE ISN'T FAIR & HAPPY ENDINGS ARE RARE..friends die, children die, parents die, people betray & disappoint you, divorce, bankruptcy, our bodies age & die, our health fails,banks fail etc etc.

there is a kid on one of the commissions, a good kid, he broke his neck a year ago and is a full fledged Quad in a power chair now..he is convinced that he will walk again in 6 months...DEEP DEEP SIGH.
this is why many crips commit suicide, unreal expectations.
one of the many crip listservs i am on has a big tirade about CRIP EMPLOYMENT,really? have they not noticed that the economy is in the toilet and that software engineers are applying for temp jobs paying peanuts? too many people are looking for a neat sitcom happy ending, THINK POSITIVE ya bastids.YEAH RIGHT.

anybody watch THE SHIELD? a great and gritty cop drama with no neat tidy solutions, just like real life. okay okay i know we watch tv and movies to find sh*t we don't get at home, i have seen BUSBY BERKELEY movies of the Depression era but still TRANSFORMERS? SAW VI??
escapism has its limits, even now.
WHAT HAPPENS IF JESUS DOESN'T COME BACK & THE RAPTURE STILL AWAITS...?ARMEGEDDON HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO LACK OF INTEREST.

BTW i have spent two days trolling the bowels of DEEP PARANOIA (go to Alex Jones's Prison Plant and follow the links) the nutbag Right has nothing on the nutbag Left. did you know that Capt.Compromise is a tool of the BILDERBERGERS and has sold our birthright for a farthing ( hint-think Joseph in the Bible)? that the black helicopters of the NEW WORLD ORDER are warming up their engines even now and that the lizardmen of the UFOS cattle mutilation/alien abduction fame are behind the revival of the 70s TV series 'V'.
SIGH paranoid schizophrenics, if you find their bedrock delesuion they can be quite rational, often in dark & scary ways.TOXIC OPTIMISM? they have none. EHRENREICH SUGGESTS WE TRY "REALITY"..IT IS WHAT IT IS and if you don't like it get off your ass and change it.

that is my bedrock delusion FREE WILL and being an INFO SPONGE, TMI? not even close...I THINK A BETTER WORLD IS POSSIBLE OTHERWISE I'D GO EAT A BULLET. WHAT KEEPS YOU GUYS GOING?

not off topic?
"INTERMITTENT REINFORCEMENT IS THE MOST PERSISTENT" this is one of the few things i learned in getting my useless Psych degreee, i beielve its from Behavioral Psych and the scary BF Skinner...now all i remember is this pertains to trans species tests,even pigeons. i think, my interpretation, is that even animals understand the concept of HOPE. these creatures live in the here and now and when they are rewarded they truly appreciate it and hope it happens again. i will not go into a long involved screed about the diff between Toxic Optimism & HOPE but to me, there is a difference.at my commission retreat a cat came to me to be petted, i like cats so i petted him, he came and climbed into my lap to be stroked which i did, then he purred and fell asleep in my lap. we were both happy.

BTW
SOUL MATE is recovering from her flu (she was cleaning and talking politics again) while my fall allergies are still running amok, despite homeopathy & colliodal silver.Capitola is in no danger of washing away altho we did lose power briefly.i have a joke sign on a corkboard nearby "MEMBER OF THE FRATERNAL & BENEVOLENT ORDER OF PESSIMISTS" that's me. i once had a co worker who asked me what i was doing THINKING sez i, DON'T DO THAT.IT'S BAAAAD FOR YAH! that depends...

namaste y'all
semper grumbly
mega

Sunday, October 11, 2009

R.I.P. AMERICAN DREAM...

MALCOM X on non violence
"In America, he who turns the other cheek gets hit with the other fist."

aloha, Soul Mate turned me on the Chris Hedges 'EMPIRE OF ILLUSIONS' interview on C SPAN today ( www.booktv.org video & podcasts). to quote SM "It's nice to hear someone else who says what we are thinking." indeed...

Hedges mentioned a word you rarely hear on American TV -THE UNDERCLASS and the corossive effect of crushing poverty,job loss & foreclosure as the Middle Class crumbles into the Underclass. he described the typical pattern of Empire Disintegration in which the core infastructure is hollowed out and crumbles while the edges fray and decay.
did you know we still have 50,00 troops in Japan and and i don't know how many in Europe and elsewhere, plus McChrystal wants another 40 to 60,000 troops in Afghanistan (the Graveyard of Empires).SIGH, can we hear it for Imperial Hubris?
OUR DEFENSE BUDGET IS THE LARGEST ON THE PLANET...and we spend billions per nuclear sub and Stealth aircraft. when you have a stealth economic cancer (perhaps rampant ruthless' FREE MARKET" (sic) capitalism & speculation and/or reckless "Defense" spending) you have the usual three gardening/medical options-poision it, burn it or cut it out. YOU DO NOT APPLY A LARGE POULTRICE OF MONEY.

we have a system of WHITE COLLAR WELFARE, this is not news, what is news...and Hedges has picked up on this...MOST OF THOSE WHO LOST THEIR JOBS WILL NEVER EVER GET THEM BACK OR EVEN ANYTHING ELSE THAT PAYS AS WELL.
why is this? outsourcing and robotics and the new Depression Era Style frugality. like those in the auto industry and basic manufacture they are Screwed. no amount of community college retraining is going to match the fierce well educated competitors from India & China. our once proud educational system is a pathetic joke, it fuels the Plutocracy while decimating the Middle and Under Class.the education my sons got is a pale pathetic shadow of what i was lucky enough to get. the UC Regents raised tuition by 32 PERCENT this year, on top of recent years of crushing increases.THIS BETRAYS THE AMERICAN DREAM!

off topic?
we had an old VCR which worked fairly well but had minor problems, it was maybe 7 or 8 years old. we were told to throw it away as replacement parts were no longer made for it.i have a Sony VCR i bought for $150 a dozen years ago, when it dies i know what to do...is there also a dump or Recycle Center for those workers who put their faith in the American Dream for which replacement parts are no longer made in this country???

GOT WORK?
if you read tons of SciFi in the 50s and 60s like i did you are aware of the concept of a society WITHOUT WORK, ALVIN TOFFLER may have mentioned this in his seminal FUTURE SHOCK, we may have to embrace socialism as an antidote to revolution.what will the Far Right wingnuts say then?

if you do not have a regular job you will be forced to DEVELOP YOUR INNER SPIRITUAL BEING (no, not just knee jerk religion, your True Core Inner Being) and if you can make money from that fine, if not...the government may be forced to pay you to volunteer or aid in childcare or education or community organizing what have you.THE AMERICAN DREAM IS DEAD, TIME TO RETOOL AND RECYCLE... ru ready 4 this???

i have a rich inner life,imagination, love life and i volunteer as much as energy and sanity allow plus i paint,cartoon,write unread screenplays and blog.i have been technically unemployed since about 1994 and many days i barely make it ou of bed but aside from CHRONIC INTRACTABLE PAIN i could serve as a role model for Post American Dream america?????????( snarky sarcasm.) FIND YOUR OWN PATH, Time to Grow...

namaste y'all
semper growy
mega

Saturday, October 10, 2009

"POOR WHITE TRASH" (sic)

another Guest Blog,ENJOY...

WHY ARE POOR WHITES -- "TRASH?"
by Barri Boone

Now that we are in an extreme economic downturn, many are looking
at the issue: who are the "have nots" and why? During the fifties, the
myth was that everyone could just "move on up!" This was true for masses
of people. My father's family went from being farmers before the
crash, to moonshiners during the depression, to bar owners post
depression. In my childhood, we went from apartments to a single
family home, and from a working class neighborhood to a middle class
neighborhood.

By the sixties, some of us saw the holes in the myth. That racism
prevented many from getting jobs, living wage work, and out of the
poor dilapidated ghettos. The civil rights movement was massive and
grassroots. The women's lib movement was revived. The gay rights
movement was triggered by Stonewall. The grape boycott brought
attention to the exploitation of immigrants from Mexico.

Through the years we saw how US foreign policy affected the Vietnamese,
poor women in Thailand, casino workers in Cuba; murdered organizers
of the poor all over Central America, helped overthrow
elected governments in Iran and Chile, put Nelson Mandela on its
"terrorist" list, and on and on.

But one group has not quite made it to the list of those that we notice
have less, and try to help them find their "bootstraps." That group
is the poor whites, or better known as "poor white trash." Even in
the 21st century when the PC folks notice many things, they still
don't seem to notice that Jay Leno and others continuously bombard us
with the notion that "poor white trash" deserve what they have or
have NOT, and are fair game for endless jokes! Why does this happen,
and why do most folks accept this "classism?"

Part of the myth is that all whites have opportunities to "get
ahead." That if they don't, it's their fault! If some POC's can make it to
the northeast elite universities, then why can't all of us?

How often do we hear stories in the media about white miners with
black lung in West Virginia, or disabled white loggers in California, losing
losing their health plans due to the greedy mine owners and logging
companies? Or kids who grew up in Eminem's trailer park being
turned down from any college grants? Or white workers who became disabled at
work due to toxic conditions purposely ignored by the boss, who lose their
Workers Comp cases and spend their "golden" years in an SRO, full of
drugs and prostitution?

Last week there was an article about 10,000 workers in Louisville,
Kentucky applying for 90 jobs at General Electric. What media will
follow the stories of the 9,910? There is a myth about class that
we need to get over. Truth is, class has effects on all races,
genders, sexual orientations, and (dis)abilities -- even whites!
We're all in this greedy capitalist-heading-toward-barbarism system --
together!


AMEN TO DAT
mega

DRUG MONEY

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our
freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." - Abraham Lincoln

aloha
BLACK HELICOPTER$?

was watching C SPAN a few minutes ago, due to Soul Mate's urging, and heard something that ticked me off.
the query was about the influence of CRIMINAL MONIES on the US BANKING SYSTEM.this was to a panel of pundits, including the beloved & wise NAOMI KLEIN, other than NK the query was glossed over or ignored. by now you know i am of the conspiracy theory ilk and i subscirbe & devour NEXUS magazine which has been hacked by HOMELAND SECURITY, i don't have to ask why.
anyway NEXUS has been focused like a laser on intenational currnecy and banking of late... where do we think the BILLIONS the cartels make every year goes to???
Nexus posits a lot of it went to propping up US Banking in New York,Florida and the Southwest as well as riding the real estate boom/bubble before Wall Street people screwed that up too.

now i am from NYC where the Mafia has been infiltrating businesses & unions since the 50s so are we to think that the people behind importing tons of heroin and coke and pot aren't any wiser? is our national bird now the Ostrich? i note that none of Capt.Compromise's new regs deal with criminal money, why not? is the so called DRUG WAR over? if so, the Bad Guys won.when Portugal and Scandanavia decrimnialized drugs there was howls of protest internationally but guess what happened? NOTHING. addicts were guarantteed pure meds at reasonable prices, overall crime went down yada yada. so if you are REALLY dealing with Domestic Terrorism would not drug cartels be higher on your list than a bunch of resentful scruffy malcontent Arabs looking for fame & jihad boots? JUST ASKIN'...

in other news,
the NY Times reports that XMRV retrovirus has been found in over 67% of people with Chronic Fatigue symptoms, which probably included me & Soul Mate and a lot of our peers with Lyme. the smoking gun at last? we shall see,eventually.

BTW
G Man, thanx for writing. i love u 2.
Pagani, promise to check out that link.

namaste y'all
semper gonzo
mega

Friday, October 9, 2009

GOOD DEEDS?

"Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence." H.L.MENCKEN

aloha, I AM STUNNED!
Nobel love?
CAPT.COMPROMISE (Obama) wins the Nobel PEACE prize (first sitting prez since Teddy Roosevelt & Woodrow Wilson per DemocracyNow) FOR WHAT? his febble efforts in Israel, Iraq and Afghanistan? on a day when most of the PATRIOT ACT has benn upheld and is to be continued? on a day when Gitmo WILL NOT CLOSE AS PROMISED? the current sabotage of the Kyoto Accords on climate change? DON'T ASK DON'T TELL IS STILL THE RULE.maybe his promises of BIPARTISAN COMPROMISE (FAIL!) were enough. i voted for the man (disappointed & now chastened) but i see this as a TRIUMPH OF STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE.deep sigh...

NUTZ
our car radio is dying and now selects stations at random, on the way to the retreat yesterday i was subjected to the right wing paranoia of Glenn Beck then the left wing paranoia of Alex Jones, i half expected to see bombs falling and the world ablaze. that Jesus did not return before i reached the retreat is a miracle (sic).

DOOMSDAY PROJEKT
i have been tasked to create an e newsletter from scratch & BE POSITIVE.
consider this blog as an exercise in Positive Thinking...these are from my taxi drivng daze in the 1970s.

DANCE YOUR ASS OFF
in the 70s one of the hottest clubs in San Francisco was in North Beach, it was called DANCE OUR ASS OFF which gave us cabbies a lot of business.i used to park outside at an ad hoc CAB STAND like many others.one night i saw a golden Lab tied to the sign post outside, a car pulled up and the dog was hauled inside. it looked like it didn't want to go...so i wrote down the license plate.about two-three weeks later i saw a reward poster for the same dog, so i copied down the number and called. i was challenged for not calling the number sooner, i patiently explained that i called the same day i saw their poster. i gave them the license plate and waited.i got a nasty call a few days later that the license plate didn't exist...long story short, THEY HAD COPIED THE LICENSE PLATE WRONG (sigh). i never heard from them again but the SF Chronicle did later announce the break up of a local petnapping for ransom ring.

JAILBAIT
i was coming down the Outer Third post midnight (near Candlestick Park) and saw a young girl hitchhiking. she was wearing a skimpy tube top and shorts in what can best be described as a Very Unsavory nabe. she was cute black petite maybe 13 to 15. i did a 360 to pick her up.
Me> where you going?
Jailbait>i don't have any $.
Me> i didn't ask u that. where u going? Get in.
she got in and gave me an address as i explained, in a fatherly way, that i didn't wanna read about her being gang raped and murdered in the local paper.perhaps she was unaware that in nearby McLaren Park a serial killer had routinely dumped women's bodies for the past 8 years, far as i know he is still uncaught.i had lived withing walking distance of said park.made her promise never to do something so stupid again,she promised...

JUST RAPED
my cab company had regulars,people who rode every night, one was a male ER Nurse at Ft.Miley VA Hospital in the Presidio. one night i was driving him home and came by a secluded park near Gough i think.out of nowhere a blonde woman in torn clothes appeared between my headlights, by whatever Gods may be i stopped in time, she hysterically complained that she had just been raped and that when called the cops did not come.SIGH.

i requested the indulgence of the ER Nurse for a slight detour & he agreed. i put the woman in the front seat and drove a few blocks north to Union street to the BUS STOP BAR, yes it was next to a bus stop.not one but two SFPD police cars were parked out front and four cops in full uniform were drinking and flirting inside. i took the woman and pushed her into the arms of the closet cop>HERE.GOT SOME BUSINESS FOR YAH! then i jumped into the cab and took off before he could get my cab number. in SF each precinct has its particular cop bar where cops roost on & off duty, most cabbies know them like we knew the gay and drag bars.


BTW I AM NOT WRITING THIS TO PROVE I AM A NICE GUY,like Batman i have a Very Dark side and i think the Statute of Limitations has run out of whatever misdeed i have done, maybe.
THE SHADOW>WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEARTS OF MEN...yeah, i do too.

BTW2 Soul Mate has the flu, my fall allergies are running amok and my ex sister in law had a stroke and is now in hospice.U HAVE MY PRAYERS FOR A 'GOOD DEATH' PATTY.

namaste y'all
semper gimpy
mega

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

QUASIMODO SHUFFLE

"We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution fo the universe."
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

aloha, if you are having a nice day you might want to skip this one, okay?

GRIPES
C PAP, this stupid machine is designed to blow air into your nostrils.sometimes it causes congestion, sometimes if you have multiple allergies (like me) you cannot get air in and out of your nostrils but it blows anyway...snot across your cheeks & loud hissing air which disturbs your bed mate/Soul Mate.plus you get penalized if you don't used the damn machine often enough...its smart enuff to snitch.SIGH

next, a braless withered old lady with a cane who was allegedly fresh oout of the hospital begged me for money today. i gave her nothing.i am having a baaaad day and have no compassion or pity left over for anyone outside my immediate family plus i am going to an all day 'retreat' tomorrow to help people like her. and yes i can see the IRONY.

i have named it the QUASIMODO SHUFFLE as even when i am becalmed of back pain due to PT then i have a LEGION of other physical complaints to bedevil me and yes i know i probably spelled Pharisees and sepulchre wrong...

YES PAGANI
the USA as a third world country? I AM SO THERE WITH YOU.
Michelle Obama caught Hell for saying it but i agree wholeheartedly.to deny shame for our country is to deny its faults & history, where we are rarely THE GOOD GUYS no matter what our defunded educational system propaganda tells us. read Howard Zinn among others for a glimpse of the DARK SIDE OF DEMOCRACY (sic).

i am a Big Fan of History warts & all. i have been lucky enuff to count many Europeans among my close friends in the past and the insight they gave me was priceless. Jefferson said something about fearing for his country IF GOD WAS JUST, THOMAS JEFFERSON said that back in the day. SIGH Ben Franklin was also a probable member of THE HELLFIRE CLUB in several countries,where the uber rich went for 'sport' (use the worst aspects of your imagination here).
this whole Healthcare debacle exposes the NAKED FACE OF HYPOCRISY IN GOVERNMENT, the best $$$$ can buy! Obamacare is starting to look more and more like Vaporware (see Snake Oil) and once again political promises raise our hopes then dash them upon the hard rock of venality, but you've noticed that haven't you?

MISC EVIL
in seven states, sez CNN, Domestic Violence is considered a PRE EXISTING CONDITION....and here i thot the usage of EVIL was hyperbole. plus our local PBS station ran a story this ayem of a woman who had preemie twins then had her half million dollar hospuital bill REVOKED RETROACTIVELY on some bogus technicality. bankruptcy, loss of credit, moving in with the in laws,despair and depression follow yada yada yada.

THE BIG LIE IS...NOTHING CURRENTLY IN CONGRESS IS "UNIVERSAL" MILLIONS WILL STILL BE LEFT OUT. sigh then cry.
plus one of my ex sister in laws is dying of Stage 4 cancer...BFD. & she may be the lucky one...

STOPPING BY THE WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING
see Robert Frost.."miles to go before i sleep..."

BLOG ETHICS
NOBODY PAYS ME TO WRITE THIS OFTEN DEPRESSING CRAP.
I RETAIN THE RIGHT TO OFFEND ANYONE OR ANYTHING AT ANY TIME!
just in case the FCC is really watching...

namaste y'all
semper gumby
mega

Sunday, October 4, 2009

DEATH AND TAXES

"Those who danced were thought quite insane by those who could not hear the music." Angela Monet , dancer

I AM IRKED, hear the music?
while TV grazing yesterday i encountered our KALIpornia Governator Anus Sh*tstorm pontificating against the public option with the usual bogus GOP caveat that GOVERNMENT CAN DO NOTHING RIGHT.sigh...
this irksomeness has morphed into my ire about the cringeworthy ads for TAX CHEATERS and the companies who helped them.I OWED OVER $70 BILLION AND TAX CHEATERS INC HELPED ME PAY ON $1.98!

lets be honest people
WE HAVE TO PAY TAXES AND HOLD OUR ELECTED PERPS & PERVS ACCOUNTABLE.Democracy is not a spectator sport,as the bumperstickers declare.
the GOPublicans have framed the arguement that ALL TAXES are BAD then emascualted the IRS so that instead of chasing the Bernie Madoffs and ENRON they are harassing some single mom waitress in Nevada for her tips.
the GOP would have us believe that GREED IS GOOD & HEALTHCARE IS NOT A HUMAN RIGHT.
BULLSH*T the Death Panels already exist in our private insurance industry and if we do not pay taxes, if we soak the ultra poor instead of the super rich this society will crumble faster than the Roman Empire did.

i feel like crap, my back is painfully torqued again and i have a very low tolerance for BS just now so i am listening to mindless football games and avoiding any hard news as it is so f*cking depressing, yes Pagani i agree that sometimes it is. theMSM newsbleeds constantly refer to the Mark Twain (?) quote about laws & sausages, well there is TOO MUCH PORK in Congress and last i heard the insurance killers have 7 LOBBYISTS PER CONGRESS PERSON,YES SEVEN. the overwhelming majority of All Americnas want a Public Option, howevewr flawed, and some REAL IMPROVEMENT in our badly damaged healthcare system but what do we get? the usual spineless craven jellyfish DIMS mealy mouthing around the issue while Rep.Boner, he of the fake tans, lies his flat ass off without reproach.

SOCIALISM IS BAD? so how come it works so well in Europe where despite high taxes people generally report themselves happier and live longer than we do here?

I AM AM SO SICK OF THIS SH*T...birthers want THEIR version of America back.the Bush Cheney Crime Family who sends their undereducated inappropriately patriotic offspring overseas to die for Blackwater/Chevron/Halliburton? i am old enough now to have seen history unravel and be regurgitated by the MSM mythmakers, a big mythake.

I WAS THERE DICKHEADS & I'M STILL ANGRY!!!
lets cut the smiling happyface crap about Olympic bids and get down the the real issue of do we let the poor die of benign neglect (ignore Jesus you hypocrites,Phariahsees and whited sepulcures) while we embrace the Hellish cutthroat competition of Casino Capitalism which has already proven itself worst than bankrupt? according to MSM 92% of all Bailouts went to WALL STREET INC and the GOP is still vehemently protesting the few crumbs that trickled down to the jobless & needy.

ALAN GREENSPAN (shudder) was mouthing something this ayem about the jobless lsoing their skills with prolonged unemployment, this from the same mean spirited grinch who advocating offshoring and higher uneployment to break unions and keep the worker bees in line. DEEP DEEP SIGH.
WAKE UP PEOPLE, please wake up...PAY YOUR FAIR TAXES & DO YOUR HOMEWORK.Don't believe the hype...SIGH

namaste
semper grumpy
mega

Saturday, October 3, 2009

PT EQUALS PHYSICAL TORTURE?

"All Life is suffering." the Buddha

aloha again, Pagani is a much better person than i am...u know it 2.

PT
the first time i had PT was about 20 years ago at Kaiser Oakland. after the grueling session i passed out from the pain, when i came too a sympathetic (sic) Kaiser worker informed me that if i was still there by morning they would charge me rent...

about five years later at Herrick in Berkeley i had a session so grueling i could feel my muscles tearing but the bastard in charge wouldn't listen, so i never went back there either.

this year i started PT again here in Capitola.now i have learned that there are two types of PT. Type One aims at getting you back to work or a so called normal life etc.Type Two i call PAIN CONTROL /DAMAGE CONTROL.the man i got first doesn't know the diff but his two female coworkers do, inclduing the woman who played my spine like a fine piano :D

so i am no longer so pessimistic about PT as i was just brief weeks ago.Yippee?

DEATH OF 1000 CUTS
even tho this is the name of an infamous Chinese torutre this is the reality for the poor and disabled of KALIpornia.yes i have been to more meetings this week and yes they were just as gloomy as the previous ones.nowcrip lawyers are involved...it would be much nicer if bureaucrats would use common verbiage instead of SPEND DOWNS & BUYOUTS which usually don't mean what you think they mean.SIGH
still waiting to see what CAPT.COMPROMISE does to rescue or resolve Obamacare.u can be sure i will have Plenty to say about the final results.

BTW to my telepathic friend, please adjust your wavelength to 5150 ;) hint hint.
i have slept in late Twice this week, not really recommended for diabetics & i feel much better for it.happily i was Not alone, thanx Soul Mate.

i think i will stop now before i come up with something grisly or gory on this almost perfect day here in 'Paradise'.

namaste y'all
semper gamy
mega