BEER N TEAMSTERS

"He who never envied the vegetable has missed the human drama." E.M.CORAN goodness and here i thot i was pessimistic...

aloha again, thanx to Pagani and BD for their Comments.just a short screed today, i have to go help Soul Mate re do the curtain around her outdoor sauna.

THE BEER SUMMIT
c'mon NPR was it really necessary to waste several minutes of my life telling me that 3/4ths of the beer served was NOT DMOESTIC? really? let's be honest here (always) Americans generally make sh*tty beer, there i said it. i thot i hated beer for years until i tried imports.discuss (disgust?) RACISM IN AMERICA,no it's beer here.all part of the dumbassification of the American public.SIGH & CRY...

TEAMSTERS
i have been a member of the Teamsters union off and on about 4 or 5 times, mostly during the Jimmy Hoffa era. i was a unionized cab driver during the mid 70s,lotsa stories there. this is one of them.
a lil backstory,during the 70s i believe the Union Hall was on Howard Street near the SoMa gay ghetto.one of the teamster cronies was alleged to be one of the worst drivers in San Francsico,worst than THE FAT MAN who killed n*ggers for sport, anyway one day this crony is in Chinatown and gets a call, lying about his location as usual.SO HE DRIVES THE WRONG WAY DOWN A ONE WAY STREET..KILLING A CHINESE WOMAN AND HER CHILD...

SO...
there is a union meeting where we, the cabdrivers, are informed that because of this the union is selling its hall to pay damages to the family. WTF? needless to say this was a very confrontational meeting,at one point the goons behind the union rep stepped forward and opened their jackets showing their guns so of course the 40-50 drivers attending stood and showed ours! MEETING ADJOURNED.

FRIENDS WITH NO BENEFITS
so anyway the union moved to Mission Street behind the Armory (which now makes online Bondage porn) on the second floor behind the main floor,no elevator. so a blond friend of mine, a really sweet no BS driver whose name escapes me now damnit,got cancer and was terminal.he was in a Mission District hospital about a mile away off Army and the union REFUSED to authorize his health insurance unless he showed up In Person to sign for it.yeah right, they thot. so he has to hire an ambulance to take him to the union hall and carry him up a flight of stairs to sign the form,which took ten seconds, then carry him back.he told me all this in person a few weeks later, he was under ninety pounds and unrecognizable. no hospice care in those days,pity.LIFE IS HARD THEN YOU DIE (good news or bad?)

in other news,
in case you missed it in the sunday fishwrap.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL GERIATRIC CARE MANAGERS www.caremanager.org and Agency for Aging programs at www.eldercare.gov. we are all getting older...aloha.

PAGANI...Courage!

namaste
semper grumpy
mega