Trader Joe's Kentucky Bourbon

I been so stuck on my standards (Bulleit, Wild Turkey, occasionally Rebel Yell) for so long I haven't ventured into anything new for quite some time.

This afternoon, I spotted this one at Trader Joe's. Octane level similar to Bulleit, but at the decent price to be expected of Trader Joe's.

OK, for the record:
As a general rule, I will try absolutely anything with a Trader Joe's label. They even market an edible pecan pie under their own name... that says something to me.
TJ may not be batting 1.000, but they are in the near .900's in my book. (I mean, they put out a pecan pie that is edible! Standard rule here: I avoid pecan pie like I avoid dogs, rap music and dental appointments.)
So yeah, put 'Trader Joe's' on the label and I'm a sucker for it every time...

Back to the posting at hand...

This stuff says 'Bourbon Square Distilling Company' (which does not google up) on the label. Rather generic sounding. Seems to me that a reputable distiller is attempting to mask their hand in this. (Par for the course with store labels. Really.)

A tad cautious... it's only $15, and placed right next to the Wild Turkey (for $3 more).

I came for Wild Turkey, I left with Trader Joe's. I liked the way it sat in the bottle... Very similar to Wild Turkey in color, vibe and aura, with an above-standard octane level to boot.
Yeah, I know.... 'vibe' and 'aura'... very emotionally of me.
My emotions said 'Grab this shit.'
So, I did.

On to the pour...

A strong alcohol sense in the nose, traces of caramel, some grassiness. It reminds me of Wild Turkey, and that's not a bad thing.

On the tongue it's smooth up front, rich and sweet with more caramel coming through, hints of oak and charred sugar... spicy, with a scratchy burn toward the back... ending with a spicy finish, but too short.

A few minutes later, the effects kick in... hard.
Damn.
The label says it's 90 proof, stronger than most, yet not as strong as some of my favorites... still... it hits quicker than expected, leaving me in a comfortable buzz that begs for more.

Overall: not a bad choice for the money. Go ahead and get you some.

Hornet's Nest, Part 3

OK, a few emails later, and I am facing a moral issue.

I have no problem c/p my own correspondence to 'him', but what about his to me?

Is it cool for me to quote his emails to me, if I leave out his identity?

This is important stuff, totally relevant to the story I'm telling.

Help me out.

It's ramping up...

Hornet's Nest, part 2

Hey, you remember this post from a couple months back?

My local president informed me that he forwarded my request to the Regional Tool. I waited.
And waited.
Two weeks ago I asked for the Tool's contact info and received an email address.
The next day, I sent the Regional Tool an email, stating my intentions to exercise my rights under the law.
A week passed, hearing nothing, I sent another.
Tonite, I sent him the third request in two weeks.

If I continue to hear nothing I will have to contact a higher authority. Not sure who that might be.

I'm not backing down this time.

***
When the Regional Tool failed to return my emails, I sent this email to my former local President. He works for the International now as a regional rep, but he was a bud, working the production floor not that long ago...
He and I have been cool for years.

Brother S***,
three emails sent, and i have heard zip, zero, nada... from Ron.
i'm losing respect...
i thought this was supposed to be a fraternity.
learning more by the day....

this has been 2 months going now.
need i seek another avenue?

maybe his home phone, if need be...
if he can't do his job (that I am paying him for) on company time, he can do it on personal time, imo...

I'm on this Bro, dead on serious, totally not playin...

your Brother ( I Think?, its up to you. i'm down for The Cause, you know it, i always have been...)
and yeah... I will happily buy you lunch. :)
Gino

"lunch" here pertains to a friendly wager we had on the latest Bears-Vikings game. He's a lifelong Viking fan, and we've built a comraderie over the rivalry for a few years now.

He did not respond to me, but in less than 24hrs 'Ron' finally did.

More to come.

Cat People Vs Dog People

Red Dawn

Anybody still remember that low budget hit from 1984?
This Red Dawn is a bit different with several tweaks to the story line while still maintaining the same story.

Originally set in a small fictional Colorado town (presumably one similar toVan Horn, Texas, the tweakers took the story into not-so-small Spokane, Washington, and this is where it goes bad:
The scene of North Korean paratroopers descending into crowded Spokane neighborhoods was rather hard to accept.
Invasion forces just don't operate that way, instead preferring to drop beyond populated areas and work their way in. Way too dangerous to drop in among startled and pissed off indigenous within a  gun-ownership society.
It is NOT possible to establish a defensive perimeter (what every invader seeks to do, and even more so with lightly-equipped paratroops) in the middle of a population center... while immediately and simultaneously setting about the tasks of subjugation and oppression... which happens here.

Also hard to accept is the idea that all of Spokane (population well over 200,000) was willing to take it hard and deep from a bunch of gooks except for a measly 8-9 high school kids.
Maybe the folks of a Van Horn (population, 2500) could be 'shocked and awed' quickly enough for a couple thousand troops to take control, but I doubt such in a larger Spokane.

Herein lies the problems with Red Dawn 2012.
Everything is bigger. Bigger explosions. Bigger enemy. Bigger goals and objectives. Bigger action. Bigger is not always better.
If some thought the fantasy of the original was far fetched (I did not at the time, as I was much younger, more idealistic), they will find this one stretching the limits of credibility to the point of just plain stupid.
They had a good thing in the original, something to build off of and improve. There was plenty to improve upon, too.
But they didn't.
They just went Bigger.
"Bigger = Better" is the mindset best suited for the sophomoric intellect, like those small dick dudes who drive big trucks.
Exactly the same demographic who would see this as a great film, though it is not.

But yer high school-aged son will love it.

A Bears Fan's Thoughts

Safe to say this season is effectively over for my beloved Chicago Bears.

After a 7-1 start, the Beloved Bears have dropped 4 of the last 5 games. They are no longer in First place, and haven't much hope of meeting one of the tie-breakers for a Wild Card.

Unable to top teams with a winning record, the Bears are still one-and-done should they squeak into the playoffs.

A Super Bowl caliber Defense is not much use against effectively good Offenses when your own Offense struggles to offend anybody who matters to begin with.

Brandon Marshall is a beast, the best compliment for a gunslinger like Jay Cutler. The problem lies in the scheme that says: "Throw it to Marshall. If Marshall is covered, throw it to Marshall anyway."

After years without, the Bears finally have a valid #1 receiver in Marshall. Too bad there is not a valid #2 or #3 to compliment. After Marshall, it's all #4's with hands of stone.

With his contract up this year (or is it next? shop the trade), I'd say it's a good time to say 'Goodbye' to the Devin Hester Project. He will never be a reliable WR, and his ridiculous return skills have been negated by rule changes. (FUCK YOU, Goodall)

Yeah, that Kellen Davis experiment needs to end, too. A 'receiving' TE that won't receive cannot be kept another season. We'd be better off using some cap for Jeremy Shockey.
You can find him sitting at the off ramp holding a cardboard sign.
Fuck the drama: sign him and play him, and the Bears would be easy 10-3 right now...

Time for Lovie to hit the road.
He's had plenty of time to game for the Packers and Aaron Rodgers.
He's failed.
Again... the Bears will be Rodgers bitch this week.

If the Rams can beat the 49rs, and the uber-suck Lions can beat the Seahawks... there is no excuse for the Lovie -led Bears to suck so hard against either team.

Yet, after 12-plus weeks of film, opponents know what the Bears will throw at them, because Lovie don't know how to change shit up. (Cutler to Marshal... and yet again....)

Two consecutive years of late-season melt downs for what was a sure-fire playoff season are enough to seal Lovie's fate in my eyes.
I still believe he is a good coach, who gets more out of less, but after eight or nine seasons there is too much tape out there. Other teams have him figured out.

The Bears need the vigor and freshness that new coach can bring. I hope they do it.

Not Your Grandfathers Labor Movement

Grampa was born in 1911 and came of age during the rise of the labor movement. Throughout his life, and I mean all of his life, he was a dedicated Union Man.

Grampa was not just a member very early on; he served on the negotiating committee  of his local more years than not (no bull shit here, ok?); he served decades as local president; he organized locals where none existed; he held an elective office every year of his working life (from the time he was 18) until he retired at 65; he was always 'fightin' as they say.

My Grampa lived the ideals of 'Democratic Trade Unionism'. Lived it, Breathed it, Preached it...
Never thinking it was beneficial to the cause for the leadership to get stagnant, he believed in term limits: he'd step-down from leadership roles after two terms to sit a term out in a lesser role... cause it was never good for one man to become too self-important, forget who he was fighting for.
It defined him and motivated him. Total commitment to the cause...

Yet, Grampa was no fool.
As he explained to me once when I was in my 20's, working non-union, and dissing the Union-Side of things:

It's a lot more effective to say that "Joe needs better health care", "Joe needs more money to feed his babies", "Joe needs a pension plan"... etc... than it is to say 'Hey, I want more for me!'...

I always knew that whatever I got for 'Joe', I also got for myself. That's why I fought so hard for Joe.
It was all about 'Joe', always about 'Joe', never about me. (And he winked.)

I was living in one of Grampa's teaching moments. There were many of these throughout his years, most of which I was not capable of recognizing for several years afterwards.

Toward the end of his life, as we sat and talked union talk (by this time, I was working a union shop), I knew that he was coming, fixed Corned Beef n Cabbage, was slicing the beef when he muttered something like: 'things are different now' as to the union ideal...
This was near on a March 17th, St Patrick's Day... when corned beef mattered... twas a weekend to be sure... I was delivering as expected...

Unlike my corned beef.. organized Labor, it's substance and meaning, resembled very little of the righteous movement  Grampa had dedicated his life to.
He knew it.

I think if Grampa was allowed to live a little longer, he would have supported 'Right To Work' legislation.
He was one of the few who actively opposed the merger of AFL and CIO. He talked about it... didn't mind being seen as one on the 'outs'.

As he explained: with two organisations, there is competition. Who can deliver and who can't. Combined, strength becomes weakness. Maybe I was wrong, but I still see it.

(I saw a bit of Tsun Tzu in his reasoning. My Granpa was a brilliant, strategical motherfucker when allowed to be. I seen him 'take the fall' for a good greater than himself before. Fearless and shameless in his words.  Always righteous in his deeds. Never afraid to be the 'bad guy' to advance an idea. A born diplomat/lawyer if ever one was born.
If he had real opportunity in his youth, a chance for education beyond the 7th grade, he'd have been a great lawyer to the guilty.)

No lie. My Gramps really was that good.
He left behind a Labor movement that even he recognized was doomed to fail  based upon it's very success...
Because Labor left the factories and took up residence among the public supported white-collar, and the fight was over.

A Pathetic People We Are

Way back the olden days, kids were expected to pack a lunch for school.
It wasn't very hard to do: a peanut butter sammich, banana, a cookie or two... fresh milk was supplied at the school for a dime.

Can we ever go back to a less complicated time? I doubt it.
USDA to allow more meat, grains in school lunches
To 'allow'?
How did we get to this point where the federal government is telling school kids how much meat is allowed on that sandwhich, and how thick the bread can be?

Why have we allowed a bunch of worthless dip shits who cannot balance their own budget to decide for the rest of us how to balance children's lunches?

Worse still, how did we get to this point where parents are no longer deemed responsible for packing their own kid's lunches?
Parents?
Where are you???
Make the damned lunch why don't you...
It's not difficult, really it's not...
Just smear some peanut butter on bread (or frijoles on a tortilla) and stick it in a bag.
Is that so fucking hard?

This nation, it's government, and it's people are doomed.
Bring on the apocalypse, we've earned it.

Texas Road Trip

Since it involved delivering my Father-in-law to his final resting place, I can't say this was a welcomed vacation. It had to get done, we did it, and now I've got another cache of memories for the brain file...
along with a few observations.

Abilene, Texas: that place is old. Everything in it is even older than that. I kinda dig the old school cemetery, though. One of those who spoke for Daddy was a lady he grew up next door to, attending the same Church she still does, after 88yrs.
The wife says: Traditions die hard in these parts.

New Mexico: short of a few Indians selling cheap cigarettes and baubles, nothing is there.

Phoenix is a larger city than I thought it was. The surrounding mountains, barren and grand, are strikingly beautiful.

Texas is definitely not California: not one public restroom was equipped with seat gaskets. In California, you'd be hard pressed to find one that isn't.

No matter where you are in Texas, you're still three hours from any place else.

I-10 through central/west Texas is a real-world Highway Of Death... littered, splattered and smeared with carcasses of deer and other critters... an uninterrupted, 500 mile slaughterhouse.

We ended up with a flat tire in Van Horn, TX. A small town three hours from anywhere with little to show for itself. It looked like a movie set. For this life long California dude, it was surreal.
Upon advice from the waitress at a locals-only cafe (where we had lunch, great homemade food, btw...), we rolled up into a tire shop several impoverished blocks down the street.
The proprietor's sons removed the tire, checked for leakage and replaced the valve (where the leak was).
It took all of ten minutes.
The whole time I'm thinking... yeah, they see those California plates on a Nissan Murano and it's gonna cost me....
Total price: $5.
Yeah, Five Dollars!!!!
If I was in Orange County, I'd be looking at $50 minimum.
I gave the kid a Twenty, and thanked him, saying "Keep it."

Sonic Burger: You drive up to the stall, park, push the button on the menu board, place your order through the intercom, and several short minutes later your food is delivered by a local high school hottie with a change belt. The burgers are good. Fries and onion rings suck.

Watch your speed in New Mexico. I hadn't been ten minutes across the border when I was met by the local tax collector/welcoming committee. He didn't issue a citation as much as an invoice.
$74.
In California, I'd be looking at more like $250.
Maybe I should just take that into consideration, but I'm still pissed off enough to ignore it and just wait 6-7 years before driving through New Mexico again.

Paul was right: Better that a man never marry.

Cowboys: No Longer 'America's Team'

Texans going wild with 'secession fever,' bumper stickers everywhere
I'll just go on record in full support of Texas Secession.

Just think... we can say... "yeah, well that George Bush and that Lyndon Johnson guy didn't really count cuz they weren't one of us, ya know?

Them Cowboys, too. Hate them all out..."

Maybe we can get Oklahoma to join them, though I'd really miss certain parts of greater Fort Smith. (That be the parts without Injuns in them, O.K?)

Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon

The Bears tore it up against the Vikings today. I guess they were a little pissed off from the hosing the 49'rs handed them last Monday.
 ---
As I type this, the Packers are getting their asses handed to them by the Giants. Bears will linger in first place a little longer. This is good.
---
Funerals and mortuary services are highly expensive items that will leave your survivors reeling. Corpse handlers want their money upfront, not next month when policies and shit are cashed in.  Keep that in mind.

My advice to each and every one of you:
Stop whatever the hell you think you might be saving up for... and plow that money into some sort of burial fund, and purchase a grave in advance.
Seriously... you owe it to your bereaved ones.
---
I don't write much about politics anymore because I no longer trust any single source of information. I feel that both parties are more akin to the Hatfields and McCoys crossed with the Gambinos, Crips and Bloods, who use their supporters as stooges in a game where only the insiders are supposed to win.
If you are a partisan, you are also a stooge.
---
"Cap and Trade" is here, in California, as of last week or so...
I'm wondering how much longer til my employer decides to make boxes in Arizona instead.
He already does, of course, and previous expansions also took place in Arizona as opposed to California, where the customers are.
Right now, it's currently better for business to manufacture much of it 'there' and truck it to 'here'.
The question at this point is not 'how much more', but 'how much longer until it all goes'.
For the record: all of the 'Union, pro-worker' candidates and ballot initiatives passed this month, again, as always... so at least we got that going for us....
---
Am I the only one who saw the sprinklers go off during the Sea Hawks-Dolphins game and immediately thought of a Buffalo Wild Wings commercial?

I Love You, Daddy!

This week I lost a dedicated fan as well as a dear friend: Last Monday morning, while I was away in Georgia, my Father-in-law ( I called him 'Daddy'), stopped breathing and passed on to the other side.

A Father-in-law who saw no flaw in this new face in his family.
In his eyes, I could do no wrong. (as my wife sneers: Cause yer shit don't stink!)

People can talk about love, acceptance, and all that... but if you ain't given it, you don't believe in it.
Daddy believed in it... he lived it...  a Christian Gentleman of the Old School, Texas style.

He and I became exceptionally close the last few years, as he became weaker and I became more 'there' so to speak...
We had some moments, I tell ya...
Moments I'd rather not repeat, but will do all over again if it means he would still be with us.

Every night, I'd tuck him in, kiss his forehead and say "G'nite Daddy, Love you" and he'd respond: "And I love you." in that heartfelt, central-Texas accent, where you know he meant it.

Today, the house seems so empty without him.
I will hear his voice and feel his love for as long I live...

But ya know...
I am not always who I try to be...
Often times, I ain't hardly trying that hard to begin with, if at all...
But I got 'this'.
When the wife is less-than-impressed with me, I simply say: 'Talk to Daddy'...

End of discussion.
I do take it.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
Make the most of it.
Enjoy the family and the friendships...
Take the time to look around you, and realize just what those other morons mean in your life...
Cause the day may/will come when some of them will be absent from the table.
Get that, ok?

Around here, we're just getting through it best we could (as in, not very well.)...  cause this week kinda sucks.

Excuse the lack of me for another week. I'm in Georgia stuffing a couple of freezers for families who could use the help. Funny, I hunt harder when it's for others. If it's just me having a good time, I slack off more...

Nuttiness

Ever since The Surgical Event of 2008, one of my favorite companions had become an unwilling foe. I love chocolate bars. Chocolate bars have always loved me back.
It used to be, anyway...
Due to circumstances, we no longer spend time together.

I'm O.K. with it, I've moved on...


Yet, it is moments like these that remind...
...Of what once was.

<<<<  You see that, right? A ONE FULL POUND of Snickers. It's like Heaven has arrived.



 ----
I don't care what anybody thinks, not one State will be leaving the Union so suck it up and get over it.

 --
 Figurines of President Barack Obama are appearing in Nativity scenes in shops in Naples, Italy for the Christmas season. LINK

Personally, I think one of these would be more appropriate.

--
Not-so-discreet affairs, sexual harassment, shirtless photos, explicit emails...
Am I the only one getting the impression that our Intelligence Community has all the intelligence the junior college community?

--
I've been reading and hearing about the many things that the GOP could do to save itself after this year's loss. For starters, it has not exactly been a 'Win' for the Democrats, either.
The division of government remains the same... nobody gained/lost anything. The President, for all the week's swagger, seems to have very short coattails.

This should have been a Presidential pick up for the GOP given the state of the economy... but it wasn't.
(Then again, maybe the Democrats can claim a 'Win' based upon their economic suckage. How's that? 'We suck so hard, and you guys still lost.' Not exactly braggadocio, if you ask me...)

What it means is anybody's guess, but if it meant a groundswell swing to the Democrats, I would expect the House and Senate to have felt that same groundswell. It did not. Gains were modest, more modest than to be expected given the President's plurality.

My suggestion for the GOP: decide what you stand for, and follow through after being elected. How's that for something new you can try out? (Oh, and leave the Gays alone... they ain't hurtin anybody.)

The way I see it: If you can't keep you're own affair a secret, you have no business governing a team of spooks.

Improving The Electoral College

The talk of getting rid of the Electoral College happens every four years. Replacing it with a straight popular vote would give too much power to heavily populated cities, doing away with much of the republican nature of the process.

Still, i think it's easy to see the current formulation has deep flaws when only a few states can combine to form the needed 270 (Hey, for the sake of diversity, be grateful that California and Texas aren't likely to see eye to eye anytime soon), or 'the math' requires the entire campaign to be fought within a narrow geographical region, giving a few voters an inordinate amount of power.

My solution is simple:
Whichever candidate wins a Congressional district, he will be awarded the corresponding Electoral delegate. The candidate who wins the state-wide plurality will receive the other two delegates.

This would do away with the Winner-Take-All approach that creates a sizable advantage for the barest of pluralities within larger states, leading to some better results all around.
- A Democrat voter in Texas and a GOP voter in California will find his vote mattering for change.
- It spreads the game out, requiring a candidate to speak to voters in Washington, Idaho and Boston.
-Chicago's dead will be less likely to play a role in an outcome when all they will do is add to the total of the district they were machined in. This eliminates ballot stuffing, accusations of cheating, and Florida recounts.
- More folks would be inclined to bother voting know that their vote has a better chance of mattering. (Imagine where the citizens of Illinois and Oklahoma were as equally involved in their government as those in Ohio.)
-It may lead to better government all around if minority party affiliations were able to increase their involvement, remaining as a steady (or at least steadier) threat to the status quo.

I think Brian offers up the best summation about a few things that befuddle me not just this election season, but previous ones as well.

It's a good read.

OK, its' like this:
If you wear a Green Day t-shirt with an Obama pin, you are establishment, corporate pop.
Not punk.

Get that, yeah?

Thoughts

I know a few kids (not really kids in their early 20's, i guess) who would willingly shovel shit for $5 and hour, if only such a job existed. It's sad.
Never in my life have I seen a job market this non-existent, and thank God every day that I still manage to hold on to the employment that have.

---
I remember the Jimmy Carter years better than I'd like to. No way in hell any sane person would expect his re-election once an opponent got the chance to make his own case. Lucky for us, that man just happened to be Ronald Reagan instead of somebody with less vision.

---
Given what I know about the current state of economic affairs it is a fools bet to think that President Obama should win re-election.
Sanity, from my perspective, would predict a Romney landslide.
Given that Romney is Romney, and lot's of folks don't really like what passes for the GOP image these days, I would change that 'should be a landslide victory' terminology to denote a lesser victory, yet still a decisive one. Maybe a 100 point electoral advantage, as opposed to Reagan's much larger one.

All this aside, I'm still pretty positive that we will have a President Obama for four more years. I just don't see somebody who holds messianic status among so many (a foolish, stupid many, ok?) finding himself out of office.
There is too much at stake for them.
It can't happen.

---
USC Trojans hosted the Oregon Ducks today.
It is always a good day when USC is served a loss. Such a day is even better when it is served up by Oregon in Los Angeles.
Oregon Ducks, my favorite college team, is 9-0.
I like that.
I like that almost as much as I hate USC.

---
Chicago Bears are 6-1. Yeah, how cool is that?
The only problem I see for the Bears is that being 6-1 against six teams with losing records anyway is not big deal.
Not A Big Deal is made worse when the one loss comes at the hands of Green Bay, their only opponent that posseses any stones of their own at 5-3.
(Well, ok, the Colts are 4-3... not like that is bragging rights with a rookie QB so early in the season...)

The Offense still struggles and at many times appears to be out-right castrated. Castrated Offenses do not survive the play offs. That's just the way it is.

And it really hurts that it was Green Bay that delivered that one loss.
WTF?

I'm just hoping that the Bears O pulls it together lest that they be destined to finish the season as Green Bay's bitch once again.
Because that would suck.

Convo With A Family Member:

ME: When did you know the baby wasn't yours?

THEM: When it came out Black.

Oy!

Would Like To Hear This Guy's Story

Mixed Feelings

It was just a few years ago when a 14yr old North County girl went missing on her walk to school one morning.
Fliers were posted over a very large radius, and this case (Amber Dubois) even made it into a cover-story of People Magazine.

Over a year went by without so much as a clue per the Dubois case when 17yr old Chelsey King went missing. Within a few days, John Gardner was in custody.

In order to escape the Death Penalty per the King murder, Gardner confessed to the Dubois disappearance and led investigators to her remains.

All of this has been chronicled in an Investigative Discovery Channel (ID) show. It was kinda local news for me for a few reasons:

• Southwest Riverside County has strong business/cultural ties to North San Diego County.
• I was frequenting the corridor between them often, looking after family in DuBois' hometown.
• Dubois' image gazed at me from a flier at nearly every business stop (gas station, barber, liquor store, donut shop...and then some... still yet...  even more than that... Never knew her, but Amber Dubois was a part of my life.)
• I had attended family gatherings at the  park where King was assaulted/raped/killed.

This is not the first time that a very bad person chose to cough up some valuable information in a deal to avoid the Death Penalty, and is why I'm having mixed feelings about the proposition on California's ballot this year that will officially end Capital Punishment in this state. (It has already been practically ended by other means.)

I was once for abolition.
Today, I'm not so sure about that.

Polygamy Is For Women

One of my fb friends had let out a screed the other night per Romney, polygamy, hatred for women, blah, blah, blah...
Yeah, well, she won't be voting for that guy....

I had a chuckle and scrolled on.

Several minutes later, still in chuckle mode... the topic in my head moved to more economically centered ideas...

• A few thoughts: Polygamist societies generally run along the One Man With More-Than-One Woman Model. 
• That really screws with the reported 53/47 ratio of favorability of Female vs Male live births.
• This places a premium value on the mere existence of every single female.
• Most any  Female, being highly valued based upon her gender alone, would have tremendous power over the standard/ typical Male of her society. 
• She could get away with a myriad of minor offenses that would cause her gender counterpart (Standard/Typical Male) to be banished from the society.
• Maybe even many less-minor offenses.
• While only having to 'put out' every few days or longer...
• Where their man would be required to service every night, somebody... (and yes, I'm pretty sure the girls probably talk among themselves...)
• Not to mention doing so after a long, hard day of providing enough to satiate these multiple women in an earthly sense.
• Doing it day after day,  year after year...
• There'd better be lots of babies, too...
• Babies that need support...
• Along with all those Baby-Mama's.
• Nagging, demanding,  conceiting Baby-mamas ...
• (Who talk among themselves.)
• They want more...
• And more, still...

I'd be like: Prophet be damned... I'm outta here...
I'm sure of it...
Polygamy is actually a feminist, Man-hating idea.

You want proof that neither of these guys are fit to be President? They both agreed to a debate during Monday Night Football.
Enhancing the offense upon American culture: it's a divisional match up featuring the Lions and the Bears (Oh, my!)

Last time these two teams met, there was a fight, an ejection, and sixty minutes of chippiness...

I will be watching the match up that matters tonight. You should, too.

---

I spent my weekend attending a class with intent to better my situation.
If this shit works...
i.e. I overcome the required testing...
I will have a lot to say.
Should I not, you will never hear a thing about it. Ever.
Choose your outcome, and pray accordingly.

---
Sandra Fluke is this cycle's Cindy Sheehan. But I respect Cindy.
---

Go Bears! Solidify 1st place, as it should be.

Not Your Grandfather's Movement

Grampa was born in 1911 and came of age during the rise of the labor movement. Throughout his life, and I mean all of his life, he was a dedicated Union Man.

Grampa was not just a member very early on; he served on the negotiating committee of his local more years than not (no bull shit here, ok?); he served decades as local president; he organized locals where none existed; he held an elective office every year of his working life (from the time he was 18) until he retired at 65; he was always 'fightin' as they say.

My Grampa lived the ideals of 'Democratic Trade Unionism'. Lived it, Breathed it, Preached it...
Never thinking it was beneficial to the cause for the leadership to get stagnant, he believed in term limits: he'd step-down from leadership roles after two terms to sit a term out in a lesser role... cause it was never good for one man to become too self-important, forget who he was fighting for.
It defined him and motivated him. Total commitment to the cause...

Yet, Grampa was no fool.
As he explained to me once when I was in my 20's, working non-union, and dissing the Union-Side of things:

It's a lot more effective to say that "Joe needs better health care", "Joe needs more money to feed his babies", "Joe needs a pension plan"... etc... than it is to say 'Hey, I want more for me!'...

I always knew that whatever I got for 'Joe', I also got for myself. That's why I fought so hard for Joe.
It was all about 'Joe', always about 'Joe', never about me. (And he winked.)

I was living in one of Grampa's teaching moments. There were many of these throughout his years, most of which I was not capable of recognizing for several years afterwards.

Toward the end of his life, as we sat and talked union talk (by this time, I was working a union shop), I knew that he was coming, fixed Corned Beef n Cabbage, was slicing the beef when he muttered something like: 'things are different now' as to the union ideal...
This was near on a March 17th, St Patrick's Day... when corned beef mattered... twas a weekend to be sure... I was delivering as expected...

Unlike my corned beef.. organized Labor, it's substance and meaning, resembled very little of the righteous movement Grampa had dedicated his life to.
He knew it.

I think if Grampa was allowed to live a little longer, he would have supported 'Right To Work' legislation.
He was one of the few who actively opposed the merger of AFL and CIO. He talked about it... didn't mind being seen as one on the 'outs'.

As he explained: with two organisations, there is competition. Who can deliver and who can't. Combined, strength becomes weakness. Maybe I was wrong, but I still see it.

(I saw a bit of Tsun Tzu in his reasoning. My Granpa was a brilliant, strategical motherfucker when allowed to be. I seen him 'take the fall' for a good greater than himself before. Fearless and shameless in his words. Always righteous in his deeds. Never afraid to be the 'bad guy' to advance an idea. A born diplomat/lawyer if ever one was born.
If he had real opportunity in his youth, a chance for education beyond the 7th grade, he'd have been a great lawyer to the guilty.)

No lie. My Gramps really was that good.
He left behind a Labor movement that even he recognized was doomed to fail based upon it's very success.

When Labor left the factories and took up residence among the public supported white-collar, the fight was over.

Kicking The Hornet's Nest

Last week I notified my union rep (United Steel Workers) that I intend to make official my request to have that portion of my union dues spent on partisan politics refunded to me, as per my rights under the law.

I had inquired about this over a year ago. In response, I received a personal visit from the regional rep while at work. While friendly, he was rather hurt that I would even look into the matter.
We had a long winded one-on-one for the better part of an hour. Not an easy feet for a guy (myself) with my prior breathing issues.

He informed me that in doing so I would be forfeiting my rights as a union member in good standing. I would no longer be allowed a vote as a bargaining unit member and would be denied access to any/all union meetings.

My response was along the lines of: ... OK, so you been calling be 'Brother' for near on 20 years; I have never, ever, not once in that 20 years violated my oath of membership; have earned a reputation, earned it, ask around... as one of the most loyal members of the unit, willing to go distances others have not, and have more than once; put my ass on the line to file Board charges with the State in my own name because ("Ask Gino, he's asshole enough to do it") nobody else would....
...
My local President stood there, nodding his head, affirming everything...
He knows me.
He knows who I am, what I am, what I have done and not done...
In short... how Union Cool I am.
The he spoke, turning to the rep who was politely attempting to inform me of my sins... 'He's a Brother. He's been there. For real. I know him.'


Yet, I am suddenly not 'Brother' enough for you.
In my raspiest, breathiest, angriest voice I could muster... I looked the Regional Tool in eye: "Kiss. My. Ass. You. Piece. Of. International. Shit."
Exact quote.
No, really...
Exact Quote.

A day later, I pussied out...
Reconsidered...
Decided that the cash refunded wouldn't cover the cost of slashed tires and broken windows.
I am not proud of that, OK.
But it is...
and I did...

Being honest, is all...
Facing overwhelming power...
I turned Pussy.
I AM not proud of that, OK...

It's different now.
I am not who I was 18 months ago.

I have informed my local president of my potential intentions and gave him a day or two to dwell upon it.
I then sent him another email putting him on notice that, yes indeed, you Mother Fucker... I will personally hold HIM responsible for any broken windows or slashed tires... for several months afterwards... maybe even longer than that... years, if need be, you bastard... whatever suits my purpose... Eye For Eye... you get where I'm going, yeah?
Well, do you?


I am either the stupidest United Steel Worker in the world, or the ballsiest...

I'll find out eventually...

Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum

From Jamaica,  a gift from Ed (friend and Landlord) upon his arrival from a Carribean cruise after I had spent the last three weeks cat and house sitting for him
Seriously...  cat sitting is so cool; so much It's Own Reward; that I would do it for the asking.
We all should.
But...  if someone thinks I've earned a bottle of hootch for it, I'm not one to tell that person that they are wrong.

For starters, the distillate version of rum is far the more better than the distillate version of bourbon.
(We've blogged that one, yeah? Buffalo Trace White Dog, couple months backs...  check it if you'd like.)
Yeah, this like 125.5 proof, 63% alcohol.
Same as  that 'White Dog' from Buffalo Trace.

Ed, an openly Evangelical Christian who does not publicly admit to enjoying a drink or two delivered a snicker when he handed me the bottle.
"Good, I think you'll appreciate it" he said.
Looks like a one man party, I laughed.
"And then some... Have fun."

I'm not a rum drinker, not much at all.
Not that such would stop me from exploring this offering a bit further since it was free...

Crystal clear in the glass, the turbulance from the pour brings forth a wafting of banana...
A swirl and a sniff... it's a very ripe banana, some burnt molasses, maybe a hint of passion fruit, and still more banana.
Lot's of banana in this nose. It's inviting, sweet, fruity and tropical.

Hold on while I gather my head....  This stuff bites a lil bit quicker than the White Dog does...
I'll be back.

Harsh alcohol pungentness   follows a (here it goes again) sweet, ripe banana flavor up front. I'm almost tempted to think this is more of a banana brandy than a rum.
And, you probably guessed, finishes with a banana/melon after taste.

This is really good; sweet, fruity and lots of banana love... but damn, it's also strong.
The heavy alcoholic presence can over power the good stuff for the untrained.
Try it as a mixer, maybe with Coke.

Maybe I should have tuned in to the debate since it's all anybody is talking about today. From the drive to work at 4am, and still... it's all that there is...
 

Because There IS A Difference

If this was 2008, and George Bush was President, the Washington Press Corps would be hounding the Chief Executive at every possible opportunity with this story:

The Spanish language television news network Univision unleashed a bombshell investigative report on Operation Fast and Furious Sunday evening, finding that in January 2010 drug cartel hit men slaughtered students with weapons the United States government allowed to flow to them across the Mexican border.

“On January 30, 2010, a commando of at least 20 hit men parked themselves outside a birthday party of high school and college students in Villas de Salvarcar, Ciudad Juarez,” according to a version of the Univision report in English, on the ABC News website.

“Near midnight, the assassins, later identified as hired guns for the Mexican cartel La Linea, broke into a one-story house and opened fire on a gathering of nearly 60 teenagers. Outside, lookouts gunned down a screaming neighbor and several students who had managed to escape. Fourteen young men and women were killed, and 12 more were wounded before the hit men finally fled.”

Citing a Mexican Army document it obtained and published, Univision reported that “[t]hree of the high caliber weapons fired that night in Villas de Salvarcar were linked to a gun tracing operation run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).”

That operation was Fast and Furious.

You know it.
I know it.

If Obama wins re-election, it will be, at least in part, the result of a rim-job, asshole-licking press corps.
You know it.
I know it.

Lawless

Based upon a book that is based upon the real life adventures of a prohibition-era family of brothers in the rural Virginia mountainside, Lawless feels almost like an episode of The Waltons... gone rogue.

Yeah, so you all know the prohibition story. Booze was outlawed and all that. Crime was rampant, bootlegging everywhere... yadda, yadda...
In keeping with the times, this family decides to increase their standard of poverty by joining the rest of their county in the moonshine business.
All is well and good while the county prospers until bigger/meaner/more violent fish arrive and try to make some money by not making moonshine, and 'taxing' it's distribution instead.

One family kinda liked things the way they were before the new syndicate arrived, and decide they won't play within the new rules.

Things get ugly.
That is to be expected, of course.
I've seen in print (somewhere) alluding to the art house film of the year, or something like that...
Well...  I HATE it when art films promote themselves as art films. You let the critics do that.
It's like this: If a film has to make a point of telling me it is Art in order to get me to see it, it's artfulness is suspect. 
Just like the average man, I'm no connoisseur of film; I may not always know what art is; but I do have an idea of what it is not:

• If I can do it, it ain't art.

• And if I saw it before, (as in, every week... plus reruns) spanning two decades of network television 20-30 years ago, it is not art.

OK, it's not art, but what does it offer?
This story contains mountain folk, liquor, guns, large attitudes, poverty, swagger, cute girls, bad guys, and a naked Jessica Chastain... set against a beautiful Appalachian backdrop.
It has all the ingredients needed to produce one hell of a fine film if placed in the proper hands.
Woefully, that is not what happened.

First off, this is supposed to be a rural county, dirt roads and the like. Yet, everybody is wearing off-the-shelf clean clothes, no dust or wear ... just like The Waltons did.
Nice antique, brand new furnishings fill the homes and restaurants. I think they even hired the Walton's set designer. A certain sterile romanticism-of-the-period works well for television, but not in modern film making passing itself off as 'art'.

The trailers hinted at a string of gunfights through out. Forget that. Gun play is minimal. Even the final shoot out , as large and involved as it is, might leave you scratching yer head... what the hell was that I just saw???

The flow from scene to scene was choppy. There were times when I had to think back to what I had just seen 2 minutes previous in order to make sense of the scene before me.

(Yet, Jessica's Chastain's naked stroll stuck in my mind for several minutes following... can't imagine why...)

Character development is minimal. Sure, you know all about how badass the big brother is, but that's because the younger brother has already dialogued it. Such a technique works in a mainstream movie, not in one proclaiming itself as 'Art'.

Maybe I'm being a little unfair. Overall, it's not a bad flick for a mainstream theater crowd. Most will enjoy it.
As for me, I didn't dislike the film. I just disliked what it was passed off as being.

Two Cents

What happened last night was fairly shocking, but should not have been if one bothered to notice the lousy officiating that took place for 59 minutes and 52 seconds prior to that.
Because what had happened at 59:58 had largely already happened a few times prior...
Bad, lousy, shitty officiating from the very first snap.

Cheeseheads feel robbed. I get that.
Seahawks fans (I doknow a few) feel vindicated in light of the flag throwing shananigans that delivered something like 28 minutes of the second half to Green Bay's Offensive squad.
In the end, the Seahawks won, and their D earned it. (Lord knows... their O sucked as hard as Green Bay's)

Let us not forget that the Refs are as much a part of the game as the field surface.

Because Islam Sucks, That's Why!

America's food scold just won't quit

As part of her anti-obesity Let's Move campaign, First Lady Michelle Obama is now presenting a brief online course: “Supermarket Shopping 101.”

“Focus on the perimeter of the store first--that’s typically where you’ll find the produce, meat and dairy sections, which stock fresh, whole foods that should comprise the bulk of your shopping list.”

Yeah, maybe for the people she knows. In this economy, the folks I know are too busy trying to make the most of what they got. This means ramen noodles, tortillas and processed foods. Pink Slime will be making a comeback soon...
Here's a hint: that bargain rack, in the side hall. Great prices on dented canned goods. Fill yer pantry with this stuff, and the dollar goes a tad further.  All that 'damaged' produce makes a large pot of soup for under a buck, too.

Fantasy Football. I'm in it for the first time. After two weeks, I'm dwelling in the bottom half of my league. We'll see how it goes. (Thanks, Robert!)

I think it's time to give up on the notion that large swaths of the world will ever truly like us.  In a Shreds Administration, I would aim for 'tolerable', while we exploited their natural resources. They don't need to love us. Just sell us all their cool shit at real cheap prices, and our relationship will work out just fine.

The Space Shuttle Endeavor made a grand flying tour of California today, mounted on the back of a 747 (must've been some killer-ass bunjies holding that thing down), flying low (something like >2,000 feet), escorted by a pair of F-18s (well,  I think they were F-18s. Two of them, anyway... this I know. )... on it's way to a permanent home at some museum in Los Angeles.
This was all The Talk.
History happening before our eyes.
Oh, shut up!
The Shuttle is NOT flying.
It is dead, being transported to it's mausoleum on the back of a 747 hearse.
"But it's history in the making!"
NOT! It's a dead, hollowed-out shell of a former Space Shuttle. They took out all the cool stuff already.
"How do you know? It's going to a museum and the museum might want that shit...."
Because it passed through Los Angeles already. Somebody got all the copper...

Still, it was cool hanging around the parking lot at work, 'watching history' for well over hour, waiting for it to pass by... and getting away with it... on over time!

Maybe it's just me, but it looks to my eyes as if Sarah Palin has just become the 'white-face' version of Michelle Malkin: nothing new to say, but a whole lot of adjectives in saying it.

I'm so tired of this shit, left and right.... may they all go to hell.
And burn there...
Forever.

It WILL Happen

OK, we got all these attacks and protests going on in the Muslim world: folks killed, embassies attacked, pundits punditting, partisans partisanning....
It all kinda sucks.
(Hey, can we all just agree that we will never really understand these people...)

I doesn't much matter to me who made a video, or if the video was really an issue...
Folks are going to point fingers no matter what the truth may be.

What I'm seeing, and I may be wrong here, OK?, but what I'm seeing... is this:

I have already stated that I believe Obama will be re-elected.
I've also stated that I do not logically see how it could happen. But hey... Belief is Belief, Logic is Logic... and it's just the way it is.
But right now, I see a situation where President Obama will be throwing around the drone action like there is no tomorrow.
He'll be lighting up 'terrorists' left and right,...
droning and droning...
pockmarking the Muslim geography with craters and blood spills...
(in a 'Kill 'em All, Let God sort them out' attitude.)

the lapdog mainstream media will eat this shit up ...
giddy with joy, they'll be reporting how tough, decisive, and manly the President is...
truly, he is The One...
keeping America safe...
killing 'terrorists' for us.
He will win re-election with press like this.

If I were an Arab, I would stay inside til after election day.

Letter To Bibi

You are the ones who decided that you wanted to create your country in that neighborhood.
You KNEW that you were pissing off the neighbors in doing so.
Stop expecting the USA to kiss your ass and guarantee an existence that should be secured by yourselves.

You've relied upon the USA for your subsistence and existence far longer than is justifiable.
The time is long past to put on your Big Boy pants, do it yourself, and stop demanding shit from us... or get the fuck out of the region.

That is all.

Football

A nice start to the season for The Bears. It's been a long time (years) since I seen 41 points put up by the Offensive side of the ball.

It's definitely better in Chicago than it has been in a while, where new boss Phil Emory did the right thing in negotiating a deal that brought in Brandon Marshall, signing Michael Bush and drafting a real Wide Receiver in Alshon Jeffrey.

Next up, the yearly trip to Lambaugh.

Things have rarely ended well for Chicago since Rogers took the reigns in Green Bay.
I'm expecting a Rogers-led Packers will be ever determined to not finish two games down to the Bears. Also, I'm expecting that a Cutler-lead, Offensively-charged, and potentially capable Chicago would feel better with the opposite result.

Expect a high scoring shootout. Jay Cutler has his swagger back, and after last Sunday, Rogers needs to show that he can swagger a bit, too...

I'm thinking this game will be determined by Green Bay's Defense. It couldn't stop anything last year, or much of anything else just last Sunday.

Beyond A Week...

Forgive me, the damn, worthless, bag-o-shit blogger that I have become... letting you all down like that...

So what's going on with me?
Let me tell ya a little bit:
With this election thing going on, my Facebook fed was all hammered and slathered with every partisan, nit picky, less-than-accurate, minimally truthful charge against the 'other side'.
I was pretty bad, I tell ya.
A couple of nights ago, I fixed it.
For real, I really fixed it, with a single status update of my own...

and...

The partisan self-masterbatory bullshit is gone from my feed, and I only had to block ONE stupidly obnoxious moron person in the process, as opposed to the dozen or so who were causing all of the trouble.

Maybe, just maybe, 99% of humanity are really pretty cool if given the option, and its just the 1% who are gonna be jerks anyway, no matter what.

So, the latest tally of my life:
It contains a dozen or so cooler people who weren't there last week, and one less jerk.

Not bad.

America's Most Wanted

He might be a self-aggrandizing asshole with a few issues of his own, but Sheriff Joe is no fool either. If something was there, they would have found it in an election year.

I'm not a fan of Sheriff Joe. Neither am I a detractor. I do like some of the things that he does, yet I am uneasy with some other things. Maybe if I lived in Maricopa County I would be able to muster an honest/informed opinion of America's most loved/hated sheriff. I do not, and will not.
Someday though, his luck will run out.
He's a wanted man, after all.
It will take the right prosecutor hungry enough to earn some stripes, regardless of what it may take to do so...

Such is the nature of federal law and federal prosecutorial power:
If they want you badly enough, they will get you.

Fireball

I was sittin around my next door neighbor's BBQ bash last week, chatting with the other neighbor folk (seems the MILF next door enjoys the company of her fellow cul-de-sac dwellers. It's a good thing, really....)... when out came the bottle of Fireball Whiskey.
Yeah.
"Do you drink?"
I'm a bourbon drinker, actually...
"Tried this one yet?"
Nope.
Looking at the bottle, the label claims it is Canadian whiskey infused with cinnamon... 'tastes like heaven, burns as hell'...
"Wanna try some?"
(heh, that's a dumb question)
Sure, I'll give it a try...

They poured, I swirled.
It smelt like Red Hots candy. Very heavy on the cinnamon, no scent of an actual whiskey presence at all. Canadian Whiskey can be that way, though... a weak sauce. I wasn't expecting much in the 'whiskey' sense.
(Straight up!: 'Canadian Whiskey' is just a bargain version of 'Scotch'. Or a bargain version of 'Bourbon'. It's weak. No character of it's own, unless lacking character is character, itself. There. I said it.)

In the mouth: Smooth, really smooth... in the whiskey sense, yet...
WOW! this shit is HOT!
It rocked my mouth like a straight tablespoon of Sriracha Sauce.
Whew...
HOT!
Then it was gone.
Quite the eye-opening pick me up.
I wanted another (yeah, I got it...)

I can see how this would be an addictive elixir that would soon (enough) lose it's punch with me.
It's worth a try.
Go ahead and do it.
Just don't do it often, lest it be wasted.

Pardon my lack of punditry. I just can't do it.

Coming Soon To California

France orders every driver to carry breathalyzer kits

Before hitting the road, drivers in France are being ordered to equip their cars with a potentially life-saving device: a breathalyzer kit.

The law, which went into effect Sunday, requires drivers to carry two breathalyzers in the hope that those who imbibe will test themselves before getting behind the wheel, ultimately helping to curb the growing rate of drunk driving.

Assuming that a drunk will remember to test himself before driving away, or even be able to test properly and read the results accurately...

I have the unnerving feeling that some California law-maker will learn of this idea... Hey!, If it saves just one human life...

Maybe we can thwart them with a reminder that the breathalyzers are made of disposable plastic bags. Hold out for a burlap model, the kind sold at Whole Foods.
Do it for the environment. It if saves just one tree...

Just spent 30 minutes having my ass kissed by a former friend who desparetly wants to be a non-former friend again.
Weird-ass shit happening on Facebook... I'm tellin ya...

Do these people not know how suckey I really am?

You Were My Thrills, You Were My Pills...

Having a little fun. Won't you join me?
Come on, get yer funk on!



Love this song. Yes, yes I do...

Where Akin Does Get It

Todd Akin speaks off-the-cuff:
In an August 19, 2012 interview aired on St. Louis television station KTVI-TV, Akin was asked his views on whether women who became pregnant due to rape should have the option of abortion. He replied:

Well you know, people always want to try to make that as one of those things, well how do you, how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question. First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.

I haven't discussed this issue with any doctors qualified to discuss it with, so I'll just go ahead and say that according my limited understanding and knowledge Akin and I have a point of disagreement.
(I once knew a woman who was as "legitimately" raped as a rape can be, (Amanda, here's yer cue). Besides being attacked in her room at night, brutalized, and raped... she also bore a mixed-race child. Her attacker was never caught. I'm guessing that she may also have some disagreement of her own with Akin.)

What bothers me about this whole point of discussion is how it serves to muddy the waters as to the gist of the Pro-Life position.
Pro-Life means that every human life contains within is it's being intrinsic value.
Pro-Life means that human life should be protected from the moment of it's inception.
As a Pro-Life beleiver, I believe that even zygote humans are still human beings. (not hard to figure: they are human, and one's individual being can be recognised through DNA testing).
Supposedly, we live in a classless society as a matter of law. Our station in life is not/should not be decided within the law according the accident of our birth, whether we be born from a nobleman (or noblehuperson, if your name is Amanda), or a rapist/rapee.

One cannot be Pro-Life and still be accepting of exceptions for rape,incest... yadda yadda... and whatever else exception may be politically acceptable or demanded.

By extension, you cannot claim your that own life and liberty is sacrosanct upon the basis of your humanity unless you are willing to accept that others' are as well. The Right To Life, the right to exist as an autonomous human being, is the supreme civil right upon which all other rights depend.

All of our rights begin with our right to live as autonomous human beings. If that cannot be, then I see nothing wrong with slavery, segregation, or even rape.
If it is OK with you that lines are to be drawn for political/cultural expediency (i.e: those with the power vs those without), don't complain when you find yourself on the wrong side of that line someday.

***Comments are now closed. Amanda has the last word (however misguided she may be.) Which actually gives me the last word. Well, it's my blog, ain't it?
Seriously, I recommend you all to the next post. Let's talk about the Gap Band... How incredibly cool they were...Just like Adam and Eve... you said you'd set me free... you dropped a bomb on me, Baby....

A Week Shall Not Pass

July is deadliest month of 2012 for US troops

Casualties rose steadily each year before reaching a peak in 2010 when 492 personnel were killed.

Maybe it is just my imagination, but I distinctly remember a national press corps that too often seemed giddy with outrage when reporting the deaths of troops under that stupid, war monger, Bushitler president.
Today, it seems that these (even higher number of) deaths are hardly noticed in the media at all.

Important reading for every citizen and taxpayer. Go read it.

Pussy Riot babes were sentenced to two years in prison. I guess the conviction is for 'hooliganism' and not freedom of speech. Of course, we all beleive that, don't we?
Normally, I am sensitive to sacred places and churches and things like that. It really pisses me off to see the queers rampaging through their selected enemy worship services with their disruptive and threatening antics. (I'm still waiting for the first homo to try that stunt at a Nation of Islam service, though). I don't appreciate such rude behavior at all. There is a difference between intellectual/social dissent and being an ass just because you can get away with it.
I think sound and solid asswhippings, on-site, should be justified by law whenever instances such as these occur.
That said, over here we live with a separation of Church and State. When the Russian Orthodox Church ties itself as closely to the governemnt as it has, it must expect to become a legitimate target of anti-government protest.

Somewhere in Chicago a monument commemorates Barrack and Michelle's first kiss. Not be outdone, the Clinton camp is searching Little Rock to mark the site of Bill's first blow job.

You need look no further for proof of Hollywood's creative irrelevancy than the release of The Expendables 2.

Not A Chick-Fil-A Within Driving Distance

And this is the Arab world's most diverse and westernized society.

Dozens of people demonstrated outside the law courts in the Lebanese capital on Saturday to protest the use of anal "tests" on men suspected of homosexuality, which is a criminal offence in the Arab country.

The rally followed a July 28 police raid on a gay venue in a working class district of Beirut when 36 men were taken into custody and forced to undergo the examinations, reportedly to determine their sexual orientation.

HELEM, considered the Arab world's leading lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights group, called for the rally under the slogan: "Stand up against the tests of shame, vaginal or anal."

It also voiced solidarity with women subjected to so-called "virginity tests."

"We’re here because we want a clear statement from the ministry of justice that these kind of tests should be completely abolished and punished by the law," said participant George Azzi.

"The syndicate of doctors has declared these tests are irrelevant scientifically and it’s illegal for doctors to do these tests, but that doesn't mean police can't still request it," he said.

Men and women - ranging from gay and lesbian young adults to a father and daughter - chanted in unison and held banners that read: "United to abolish the tests of shame."

Other homemade signs struck a more sarcastic tone: "Honorable minister, before you test my anus, at least take me out to dinner," read one.

But for most, the tests were no laughing matter.

One sign read: "The cost of forensic rape: 125,000 Lebanese lira" (about $85), pointing out that the men subjected to the anal probes were being charged for the procedure.

Under Article 534 of the Lebanese Penal Code, sexual relations "contradicting the laws of nature" are illegal and violators may be punished by up to one year in prison.

Ya know what's really funny to me?
That the same folks (generally speaking, of course)... who are all about opposition to the Gay gender in the USofA are the same crowd of people who too often (generally speaking, of course) gush with love and support for Tel Aviv and how important it is that it survive against the horde of those who most/best represent opposition to the Gay gender.

Killer Joe

Chris (Emile Hirsch) is a drug dealer who finds himeslf in debt to the mob. It's a dire matter of the money or his life, so his family contracts with Killer Joe, a Dallas police detective who moonlights as a hit man, to snuff their mother (as despicable a person as the rest of them) in order to collect the insurance money.
The family doesn't have the fee-for-service upfront, so Joe takes possession of the emotionally delicate(or maybe not), virginal younger daughter (Juno Temple) as retainer until the cash comes through...

A few notes:

• Gina Gershon came through with the Entrance Of The Year.  I won't spoil it here, but rest assured that it is in yer face. No, really.
• An act of on-screen brutality hasn't cause my head to turn away since  Irreversible did, twice , in 2003.
• Oh again, as per Gina Gershon... I was reminded that she still has the sexiest pair of lips on-screen... or anywhere else.
• Matthew McConaughey (as Killer Joe)  really can act. Who knew?
• Gershon and the fried chicken leg. OhMyGod...
• Some dogs are asking for the bullet...
• Thomas Haden Church: you seen him already, yet never noticed his being there. In this film, he does 'Bag Of Hammers'  more truthfully/real life-completely than I ever seen before.
• Juno Temple has gotten my attention. Whatever she does next, I'll check it out.

Awesome, awesome performances by the entire cast.
The settings and camera work were right on, delivering the proper vibe and setting the emotional pace for a well built film, if a bit dark for most.

Call it 'Trailer Trash Noir' if you want, but I haven't seen  a film this disturbingly rich in years, and maybe never.

OK, Irreversible was disturbingly rich. (if you haven't seen it, why not?). But there was no comedy in it. This film, though not as awesome, does contain a sick level of comedy. Maybe that makes it a tad more awesome? You decide.
Go see it.
(leave the chick at home, OK? This is not a date movie.)

One Drama Comes To An End

Been slow with the action here that past several weeks. Sorry about that. It's what happens when you try to avoid political news in the midst of a heated election season, and are too busy to look around at what else is out there.

Oh, that... and my computer crashed. The last few days I've been using an old one that I had laying around that isn't much faster than a dial-up connection. It takes the fun out of 'looking around the neighborhood', so to speak.

And... fighting with the Home Owners Associations of two different homes in two different cities.
Seems the last HOA fined me for growing some weeds near the side gate after I failed to respond to a 'Request For Explanation' or to attend a scheduled hearing in which I would be allowed a defense.
The pisser: I had snuffed out the weeds a few days after recieving notice to do so, yet failed to notify them of my compliance.
You see: I have to tell them to come and inspect my property again, or they assume that I did not take care of the violation. Why is that? Because they are too stupid to notice the defoiliation when they came around to notice that my trash cans were left on the curb overnight, and sent me another notice of violation.

Hey, you bastards... see that 'For Sale' sign in the yard, and the 'In Escrow' sign above that? No cars in the driveway, Jehovah Witness fliers in the door, and the lights are never on?
Have you noticed the fucking grass is still green, and mowed weekly? The flowerbeds all flowery and colorful?
Ya ever stop to think that maybe we moved and don't quite make it out here every fucking day to kiss your arrogant asses, while still keeping the property up the best that we could within all practicality...
Ever think of that?
Assholes...

Oh yeah... that 'Request For Explanation' and subsequent hearing that I never responded to nor attended: I didn't know about either one.
And they knew that, having received the correspondences in returned mail, after having filed Change of Address with the post office... which forwarded every worthless thing you can imagine to my new address... except the stuff from the HOA.

My call had now been transfered to the lawyer of the HOA... or the lawyer's 'office chick', whatever... same difference...
(law offices will employ the 'chick tactic' (i.e. having a babe on the phone to handle angry men who are more likely to be less 'masculine' (ie, assertive, determined) in order to sooth pissed off dudes and have their way with them. I.O.W.: screw them out of their money, cause that's what it's all about ...)

It did not work.
Ok, so you are fining me because I failed to attend a hearing that you know I was not informed off?
Mr Gino... we have photos of the violations, and copies of the notices that were sent out...
Have you recieved any confirmation that I had recieved notice of the hearing?
No, you did not,
Mr Gino, the by-laws clearly state that you must notify the HOA of any address changes...
That was not necessary. I was still recieving mail, and collecting it regularly, at the (old)) address.
You did not notify us of any forwarding address-
That was not required. I am still the owner of the property in question. I have collected the mail regularly. That means that this address is still legit for reaching me...
Mr Gino, you were given an opportunity...
"An opportunity" is a little vague, dont you think?
YOU KNEW, that I did not know of a hearing...
A hearing in which to offer a defense...
A defense that I am entitled to by law.
Am I right???

Well, Mr Gino-
Am I Right?
Let me talk to-
Bullshit!
I won't pay it.
You were given a chance.
NO!
We we'll met again... in court, cause I ain't payin this...
you know that, right?...
You cool with that?
I am....
...
(silence...)
Yo, Miss Paula? you There?
Mr Gino, we sent notice-
No.
No way...
You ain't playing this game with me...
Our records show that you were noti-
Then sue me!

I hung up.

Less than fifteen minutes later, I recieved a call-back from Paula informing me that they had waived the bullshit fine.

I win.

On a better note, docs were signed and the sale was funded yesterday morning. I'm done with that house. It's over.

May As Well Have My Say...

I didn't feel compelled to visit Chick-Fil-A, or compelled not too. It's one of those places that exists in my world for the purpose of driving blindly passed... like Target stores, fitness centers and Italian restaurants.
In short, I am aware that they are out there... and that's it.

Despite my own indifference, I watched with curious interest the last two weeks as my feed exploded with Chick-Fil-A related postings, the vast majority of which were negative and condemning. (Much of my kin is lock-step, knee-jerking, toe-tag Left. All of my kin are outspoken and brash. Yeah, my feed can get entertaining...)

I'm like... My God, all this over chicken sandwiches??
Of course not.

Whenever a culture war event of this magnitude occurs, there is a lot more going on, a lot of history and hurt feelings, a lot of name calling... that led up to this.

You see, Hitler opposed gay people, so if you don't agree that two men should be allowed to marry, then you hate gays, just like Hitler... who also didn't like free speech that he disagreed with, just like the gays, who must be on Hitler's side...
This is what much of it sounds like to me.
This can go round and round...

Gays see themselves as fighting for their right to exist among humanity. In their way, through their eyes, I can see where this comes from in a world where being Gay is illegal in most societies, and can get you executed by The State in even some modern, educated ones.

Given the state of the world at large, the generally progressive European and American societies serve as a sort of oasis for gays within a desert of hostility. It makes sense that this oasis would be heavily guarded by any means available by Gays who adopt a world-view sense of their sexuality.

It's also quite a stretch to go from "I have moral objections to homosexual acts that are based upon 8,000 years of social and civilized tradition, not to mention biology." to "Kill all those faggots!"

I'm willing to bet that it would difficult to find anybody among the Chick-Fil-A-tionists of the past week who would be OK with the public hanging of Gays.
Yet, at the same time, it's easy to see why a segment of the population would be just a tad peeved with some of the bully tactics employed by the Gay Marriage supporters...
This peevedness goes beyond a few big city mayors, and extends to the past several years of antics the Gay side has been guilty of.
From Judges redefining the English language in California, despite the will of the voters to decide the meanings of the words they use...
To death threats delivered to openly anti-Gay Marriage churches.
Yes, death threats... from the liberal progressive tolerance crowd who oppose hate.

People flocked to Chick-Fil-A as a way of saying 'We are tired of your shit already!', not because of hatred.

Not everybody who opposes Gay marriage is acting out of hate, just like not all Gay marriage supporters endorse acts of terrorism. I think sensible folks can at least agree this much.

A few things I would like to say:

Cultural Traditionalists (I am one) need to recognize that some traditions are no longer as we remember them, that cultural values are/can be malleable in expression while the virtue (two committing as one) still remains.

Gays (I never was one)need to understand that 8,000 plus years of human/social/theological tradition will not be overturned so easily. Judges and politicians can decree, but people are people, and will behave according their whims first and foremost. I'm not saying to give up the struggle, I'm just saying try a little bit softer tact, maybe openly condemn the terrorists in your midst.

Christianists (I once was one, but got over it quickly) need to understand that we live a secular society with a decidedly secular form of government, by design. Trust me, you Fundamentalist types were on the wrong side of non-secular government in the past, and it wasn't pretty. It is possible that you will be again. If you desire to offer any logical/consistent defense in the future, you need to be honest now.
I suggest sticking to first principles of 'Church-State Separation' that you so valiantly defended (and rightly so.)
Looking to The World to protect the Christian sanctity of sexual unions is looking toward a false authority for an affirmation that can only come from God.

Free people should be allowed to enter into any living arrangements they desire and contract authority over their lives accordingly. I see nothing wrong with government enforcing these contracts and responsibilities as it does now with marriages.

What passes for marriage anymore is a far cry from the institution my grandparents took part in. There really is nothing Holy about government sanctioned matrimony anymore, so lets stop pretending that there is.

Same Sex Marriage will always be a contradiction. That said, government by nature is corrupt and run by whores... renaming something to it's liking doesn't make it so anymore more than calling a cat a dog will.

My guess is that Same Sex Marriage will be the law of the land a lot sooner than anybody thinks.
I don't mind.

Getting It A Bit Harder Than Expected

When Punk is outlawed, only outlaws will be punks.

Three members of the Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of hooliganism after performing a song criticizing President Vladimir Putin in a Moscow church, Russia's state news agency reported.

The charge, which carries a potential seven-year sentence, stems from an unusual performance they gave in February.

"Mother Mary please drive Putin away," the band screamed, their faces covered in neon masks, inside Moscow's Christ Savior Cathedral.

The anonymous, feminist protest band called it a punk prayer.

Putin is letting all of Russia know that he don't play games while creating political martyrs out of a few crazy chicks who don't appear to be all that threatening.

Seven years is a long time to spend in prison for a song criticizing the president of a supposedly democratic state while pissing on Russian society's most enduring institution.

In their favor: World-wide artistic cred. Nothing says 'talking back to the man' quite like risking prison over it.

Anaheim, What's Going On

Anaheim has been in the national news this past week. I'm sure you are all aware of it.

In short, Anaheim cops shot a man to death last Saturday, and capped another one on Sunday.
This has the Mexicans all pissed off...

The first shooting is a tad more suspect than the second, with 'witnesses' claiming an execution style slaying of an innocent non-gang member.
I find it hard to believe that a cop would be stupid enough to try to pull off a shooting of that nature in a public street, where witnesses abound, but... if it did, then the cop needs to be taken down.
No doubt about that to me.
But, to clarify, if the cops have him on record as a gang member, he probably was in act, if not in fact.

Anahiem authorities cast a wide net, so to speak, in terms of who is a gang member and who is not.
Harassment of gangs members, gang-looking kids, and gang infested neighborhoods is part of the strategy of policing... keep them off-balance if possible, make arrests when you can. (from personal experience, I know this)
Almost always, the subjects are Mexicans, half-Mexicans, and/or wannabe Mexicans.
Why is this?
Why do you think?

It works like this:
Brown skin, shaved head, goatee, wearing a wife beater shirt with khaki pants... the cops will harass you, every time, on sight,... no matter what yer doing.
Brown skin, normal haircut, wearing a surfing-logo t-shirt, shorts and flip flops... the cops will never even see you.
Yet, the cops are charged with picking on anybody with brown skin.
No, just the ones who 'Act Brown'.
(Acting/being Brown is a thing here in SoCal among a certain underclass, akin to Acting Black among another American under class. You know it:  unless you are a loser, you are not legit...)

On the street: unless you have been 'jumped in' (look it up), you are not a member of the gang.
In real life policing: if you hang out with the homies, dress like the homies, do what the homies do, and all yer bestest buddies are homies....
you are...
 for the purposes of policing,...
a gang member.
This makes total sense to any thinking member of the law abiding community that is fed up with having their cars broken into, streets trashed, walls spray painted, their shit stolen.
Unfortunately for Anaheim, 'thinking' and 'Mexican' do not always go together within a certain ethnic subculture...

Anaheim used to be a predominately white, middle-working class town. A culturally diverse place that was not without it's issues, but was able to avoid some of the trashier and corrupt elements of nearby crime-ridden *Santa Ana.
It was a nice place to live and grow up in. All this started changing in the late 80's, early 90's.
When I moved to Anaheim in 1998, I was shocked to see my mailbox full of Spanish language advertising and junk mail.
I was still under the impression of five years previous that Anaheim was a cool, all-American place to live and raise a family.
A co-worker, born and raise in Anaheim, just laughed at me. (Where you been the last few years? LOLOLOLOL)

My kids went to a grade school where fully 1/2 of their assigned class was non-English proficient... and that was the bestest, most English-proficient class room available for them. No exaggeration... no bullshit.
I AM NOT KIDDING ON THIS!!!!

One teacher, a hard-working woman who I got to know well, had a class split into three parts: About 1/2 she could speak to/teach in English... another say... slightly less than a 1/3... was about 50-50. The rest, about 20%, were full on, Spanish only speakers.
This was one classroom, of about 30 kids.
It was also the most "English" classroom available for my kids... in the whole school.
Again: I AM NOT EXAGGERATING!!!!
You've got to believe me on this one.
I am NOT pulling bullshit on you.
These are the schools that I was required to enroll my children in.
OK?
No lie, here.

To make it worse: every kid enrolling in an Anaheim school had to have a fresh/current TB test. My kids were already subjected to TB testing, (it involves injections...) (standard with original... i.e. kindergarten, enrollment in any California school) but why did they need it again?
Because there are so many illegals crossing the border, and so many of these kids are infected with TB...
We need to check and have them treated before they infect the rest of us...
This was explained, mind you, by a young clerk at the school who spoke with a Spanish accent.
AGAIN: NO LIE!
Alright? I am not making this shit up.
Even the Mexicans understood that there was a Mexican problem...
that the federal government (Clinton and Bush, now Obama, and soon maybe Romney) did nothing about.

You wanna pour out your love on the illegals for whatever political reason you have, just know that there are real Americans who struggle daily with their presence, for no fault of their own.

Anaheim has had a Mexican problem, for years now, and it's only getting worse...
And I specifically call out Mexicans and not 'Latinos' here because these problems are not being generated by an excess population of Argentines and Costa Ricans.

Were it not for Mexicans, the crime rate of Anaheim would be cut by 90%. I say this, openly and honestly.
90%.
It is what it is.
90%!
And I'm being generous with this number...
Mexicans, in large concentrations, bring problems.
I accept this despite the fact that...
Throughout my life, my best friends have always been Mexicans (exception being that one Black guy facebook followers may be aware of...) who lived lives no different in style or substance from any ordinary, day to day American.
Most Mexicans are this way.
Yet, there is a lower-class sub-culture that comes from the other side of the border that cannot be filtered out with an open border, avert your eyes, see-no-evil immigration policy.
90%, and it's all brown.
Facts are what they are.

As is stands now, Anaheim is under real assault from some ethnic grievance groups (guess what nationality they are???).
I've seen this pattern of lawsuits before...
It's not about good governance at all.
It's about ethnic power brokers building a fiefdom.

These past several days of riots were the result of outside forces attempting a political maneuver... trying to build a case (and a situation) to bring before the court that Anaheim's Mexicans (who are largely illegal to begin with) are not being properly represented... spurring a left-wing judge to justify carving the city up into districts to ensure that the proper amount of the 'right kind' of Mexicans are elected to office.

Where ethnic politics thrives, there has always been corruption to the highest levels (thank you, Irish, for introducing this concept and corruption to America... FuckYouAll.)

If not stopped, Anaheim will become the next Santa Ana.
That will suck.


*Santa Ana is something like 90% Mexican, and getting more so by the day as the respectable people continue to flee... ridden with crime and corruption... often referred to as 'Stabba Ana' due it murder rate... has the lowest property values in Orange County... very few kids graduate from it's high schools (because the chicas get pregnant at 15, and the chicos are in jail by 16)... ethnic politics plays a large part in it's governance... it is seen as a province of Mexico by outsiders, and acts accordingly waaay too often.... Nothing that I've said here is an exaggeration. The place sucks. Santa Ana, for all purposes, is the 'South Central' of Orange County... and not because too many White people live there.