Rheas Rants and other thoughts

Some thoughts about the cursed 'D' word..actually both of them and other ideas....

2008-12-06T18:05:00.000-08:00

Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends!!There is an ancient Chinese proverbb that says 'may you live in interesting times'. Interesting is not the adjective I would use for that is happening in the world in general and the western countries in particular. While we have been told in no certain terms that we are 'officially' in a recession...technically it really should be termed a depression.

Why? If only due to the fact that each day there are companies that are firing people in numbers that would range from the average crowd for a Minnesota Twins home game [20,000 or so] to the actual attendance at Oakland Raider games [50,000 and this is without the padding the NFL is known for to say a game is a sellout]. The social support system that does exist here in the US can only handle so many requests to same for aid and other necessities before it cracks and falls under the weight. While this was not in place at the time of the Great Depression, the situation is getting just as dire for many. And should General Motors go under by the end of the year [which is no longer an 'in theory' discussion but with each passing day a reality, the dam will rupture. And to add insult to injury, the next adminstration whoc claim to have read their history has no real idea as to how to shore up the US system in particular and the western economy in general. Sadly, what may happen to this country may be similar to what had happend to New York City when David Dinkins was mayor. Or as has been darkly hinted at in other corners we may end up being disintegrated by conditions into a copy of what happened to the Soviet Union not too long ago.

Changing gears here, there is another 'd' word that comes to mind on a few other issues. That being 'diversity' which is now becoming this catch-all replacement phrase for 'we must have a workplace that looks like America'. Nothing wrong with that idea, nothing wrong with the theory of the concept. It is just in reality that it has become a joke. If you are wondering what I mean, take a look at the lack of logic which is on display here. I will say no more outside of this: there is a marked difference between employing those based on skills and not looking at ethnicity, gender or status of hair and those who in the skill procurment process make a blatant effort to be picky to they have this % of ______, etc. Sad when one thinks about it.

Now speaking of diversity in another context, you may notice different haircolors and textures being displayed by Yours Truly.That is on purpose and not just for the sake of the person I love. It is that there is something rather odd that there are those out there who want to impose a view of 'you are black therefore you should not wear this color hair, this color contact lenses'...you get the idea. Yet these are the same creeps who want to maintain THIER right to freedom of expression. Amazing...
if not just plain sick.

By having a society that is more focused on the double standard of such trivial proportions, some have helped turn the this place of ideas into a bottomless pit of inanity. The most uncomfortable thought in this is, where the US used to be a beacon for many has now become a laughingstock in so many ways...to list them aall would take several pages on its own. It is an embrassment of non riches.

By the way....at some point in the next few days...I had promised to post a little more detail about DES and its role in gender issues. If only due to the fact that there have been some remarks made that the creation of those who are M to F is not natural or could not possibly happen otherwise. Then again, Carver and Mendel showed that nature can create certain characteristics in peanuts and lima beans.

Til next time True Believers!!

A Certain Degree of Determination results in One Little Victory

2008-12-03T20:13:00.000-08:00

Well never let it be said that determination in one's field over time does not pay off. In addition to chatting on the net, writing those copious emails to my crush and posting pics in different places, I do keep my skills as a tech up. For some
reason that actually paid off today when I did some work for a longterm client of mine. And it was nice, an incredible rush..

Why you may ask? Even though there has not been that much of a call for me to go out and do onsite tech support, there has been a constructive effort here to stay as current as possible. Reason being is that one never knows when an email or a call will come in and say 'we need you'. And there is something else to this. It is the feeling, the charge, the high that one gets when the endeavor works, when it hits on all cylinders. When you have fxed a system and the customer has a smile on their face, all that time spent beforehand was and is worth it. A former supervisor of mine years ago called this the 'WOW' factor. That is what it was today. A 'WOW' a 'Randi, you do know your stuff, even after all this time' moment.

What would be nice is if this could happen everyplace else. As much as this may sound narcissistic, self centered and boderline selfish...I really want to do the same in an emotional vein for that one person. Yes, it happens here with the cats; Rachel and Marissa really do like it when there is something that occurs to make them purr, smile in their own way and say 'Mom you did us a really big favor...THANK YOU!!' While catnip and dry food would obviously not do for a human, gosh there is this desire, burning need in a sense to do same. But to quote the song from Rush.....I will take today as 'One Little Victory'.

Til next time True Believers!!!

Odd how things work out at times...

2008-12-01T21:53:00.000-08:00

Hello True Believers!!

One of the really nice things about having a little extra time to oneself and the right equipment, is that this allows a person to experiment a little more with some things they had waned to try. Be this cooking, be this with art, be this with music...time and issues conspire to create opportunities to do so. And if you have been following this blog, you know that this has been a period where I have been baring the soul; in photographic visage as well in prose to the one who I am very deeply smitten with. In the vein of the former...seeing that the weather has forced me to take the picture taking indoors, I am working with a digital camera that I am now finally getting to know. Yes, even though I am a whiz with PC's and have garnered a reputation of being the person who very little about a Windows-based computer can get by...I have started to become more at ease with this little beastie. While 0's and 1's will not take the place of an orange-shifted, analogue red, blue green and silver coated platform, it is just nice to know that with a little practice and thinking about the one I love while posing can result in images that are as good as those I have taken outdoors.

For those of you who may be thinking that this is keeping up with the joneses at Flickr and other sites, that is not the case in the least. This is showing the person who I am smitten with that this is who will be waiting for her...diffent haircolor, different looks. But still with a smile...somewhat private...somewhat more than I show to even my neighbors [yes, some of them are amazed that your loyal correspondent actually has teeth]...but it is easier for me to do this when I can place the mind in the state of 'while others will see it, I treat this as though it is for an audience of one'. Which was something I think some may not understand in full. The vanity streak is something that does happen, even with the most jaded or jaundiced of the human race. Not that it has bitten here strongly, however this is
something that becomes easier to do when there is another rationale at play.

By the way, for those of you who are wondering what that 'ax' I use for the outdoor [more like about 97% of those]looks like, this is it in the pic to the left It is a Yashica AF-230 and while it looks like a little toy in these pics, do not let that fool you. When this was first on the market [and this for me was ages ago...back in that long lost decade of the 80's], it was considered to be one of the true breakthrough SLR's of its day. What kept it up there in the same pantheon with the Nikon F-3 and the Canon EOS [remember this was the camera that took the place of the AE-1 Program] was that it could be 'stopped down' to a manual and also introduced the 'Trap Focus' option. 'Trap Focus' allowed the camera to be set at a predetermined focal distance and set on one item in the middle of the screen and anything that would walk into the center of the field of vision would trigger the shutter. Odd is that Yashica did not effectively patent this idea, and Nikon, Canon, Konica and a few others copied this. But this was the original...and when this was found on Ebay a couple years ago, I grabbed it. It was that white whale, that perfect machine that was the toy to have for yours truly.

So there You have it for now....be it digital or film, I do this if not to improve the image, but to show my beloved that yes, this is the face behind the emails and other visual representations. One day we will connect...if only because I do not see the fates doing to this heart what it seems to do to those who are fans of the Chicago Cubs.

Til next time True Believers!!

A few thoughts to ponder this weekend

2008-11-27T14:22:00.000-08:00

Hello there True Believers and Constant Followers!!

Well it is that time of year, what in the US and other countries is the beginning of that bachanalia of greed....the holiday season. Not that I have anything against it, far from the case. In fact when I lived in New York City, the standard joke was this was the only time of year that the city was actually NICE to one another. Yes this even includes on that mass conveyance of city commerce, the subway [or the NYC tubes for those of you across the pond]. There are fond memories of that time; going to the parade, hanging out at Rockefeller Center to witness the lighting of the tree and of course looking in the store windows at their displays. On the latter, that is what I really loved, the animation, the imagination and then....the model trains. Be thei Lionel, Bachmann or Maarklin....these were amazing to watch. Especially those in the windows of the main branch of FAO Schwartz. There was something about seeing 027, HO and N layouts operating with an efficiency that would only be witnessed in many of the real life transit systems in Switzerland. It was a time to dream....perhaps Santa Claus would deliver something similar under the tree. Or if not...at the very least maybe some money to maybe to purchase some track, a new locomotive, passenger car or freight car for the layout. It was also a time for wishes to be made....not unlike now - and in that vein..

- I do have a rather simple wish and that is to be with the person who I am smitten with, deeply love and would move heaven and earth to be with. If you have read this blog off and on with its recent updates, you know there is someone out there whose visage and words [yes it seems we read each others thoughts in a sense ...or at least view each others's blogs] have hit the heart here like a thunderbolt. Again because I prefer to use discretion here, I will not mention her name but God and the universe knows that this is my fondest wish and desire [outside of good health for myself and my cats, shelter and good friends to share this journey with] to meet talk and be with her...for no other reason than out of love. While to some of you this may sound like I have been reading Cyrano De Bergerac several times too often, there is a strong comparisson between that famous fictional romantic and yours truly. If you know the book and the legend....then you will also understand where I do make the connection....

- should there be a second wish in all of this, it would be just to maybe sustain the other little items here. Such as keeping the hair supply [no joke intended there folks] as it is. This is due to the fact that I have finally decided on what the look is during the winter
[long hair with the jade contacts] and summer [shorter hair with the hazel contacts]. It is not so much being greedy in that department, but making sure that along with the cosmetics that I can be consistent. After all, that is what I try to do no matter what; be that as a tech, photographer, parent to Rachel and Marissa, as well as to the one I love.

OK and now to add a comment to a previous post - Yes the San Diego Chargers were able to figure out Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Dolts, oops I mean Colts. HOWEVER it seems that the referees this past Sunday had another idea. Gee what is the word for it???Oh yeah CHEATING. No it is not being sore or the fact this is Marissa's team....but even the late Ray Charles could have seen that the officiating morons in chief were skkewing this game in favor of the Colts. And to them all I will say is this 'Justice may be blind, but it can see in the Dark'

And a correction to another one: the F-22 is called the Raptor, the F-35 is the official designation for what is also called the Joint Strike Fighter, which is on order for the USAF, Navy and Marines. Both of these are subject ot possible....what am I saying.......REAL BUDGET CUTS being planned by the new adminstration. Heaven help us all....

Well that is it for now....and if you see my Roxanne tell her that her Cyrano is someone who will always be here...no matter what.

Til next time True Believers!!

Sometimes you have to lay it on the line, say it from the heart ...and Ya Gotta Believe!

2008-11-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

Hello Loyal Readers!!

It was after that previous post about Prince and his views on gays that yours truly started thinking. It was not so much what he said exactly, after all he is entitled to think whatevevr he damn well pleases. But it was something that struck a rather strong chord about many things. Some of which are very, very personal..As is the custom when these come up and stick in the mind, they need to be voiced out...which will be done in this space.

For one, this issue and also the exit polling that occured in California in re: Proposition 8 not only showed how divided the US really is, in spite of Obama being elected president. Some will say that this vote was done on a 'moral' basis, but that is not just a poorly placed straw argument, but it is rather sad when one sees that this came down along racial lines. I grew up in an environment along those lines [not a Jehovah's Witness...no....but in a Protestant home] and while my sister and I did have some good times in same..there were as also this omnipresent undercurrent of bigotry that pervaded nearly every aspect of life. A lot of this did not become fully apparent until we were a little older and the little remarks would be made about there are some things one does because they are 'black' and some things that are not done due to the fact that they are considered to be 'white'. [Yes I know...rather anal retentive and assinine. Even with the history as it was...and no one discounts the fact that discrimination existed and still does, there were those who moved beyond that and were considered sellouts. But I digress..] This helped to set up some, in retrospect very bad decisions as far as educational goals were concerned, social circles - you name it. And heaven help you if you were male in this. Why? Well if one were to show an interest in anything outside of sports or any of what were ultra-macho fields of endeavor and wanted to use one's brain instead of brawn...they were called gay. Well not that word exactly, but many others....some of which cannot be used here, outside of maybe being a sissy. Which to this mind is stupid, although there are many folks out there who still cling to this line of thought, As such, males more often than not to prove themselves fall into improving their 'street cred' by creating stables of girlfriends by which they have children by the boatload, engage in activities where they will flash their muscles but not ecercise the muscle between the ears and alter their minds with substances that no person in their right mind would want to be near if only because that means they are cool. But if you do not do any of this...well you get the idea....

Pursuant to this...if one were to during adolecence and beyond were to find themselves outside of this sphere and wanted to be around like minded others, in particular same sex others, whoa be to them. They would encure the wrath of God, or in this case that of parents and relatives. WHY? Well this is not 'normal'.There is that wonderful operative word....NORMAL. But if one were to take into account what is called normal...that is for lack of a better term ABNORMAL. To find your way with someone who is one's soulmate or at least a close compadre who is of the same gender is more normal than anything else in the following context: it means that someone is happy and healthy and from that would be able to succeed. But what folks like Prince and his ilk by association are more likely to want to see people play below their life expectations to fit into a mold that was created by persons from an age that is older than some of the rocks used to make stone gardens, In short to fit irregardless of the damage that happens to that person.. To these eyes that is just plain insane, harmful and WRONG!

Secondly, this also brought out the fact that people of that artist's type had actually played around with gender roles for years for fun and profit. For some of us....sure as heck it is not a game. Far from it. Attitudes like that had forced me to come to terms with my own situation a little into the middle of life. Even though I had done some of the things that were expected and had fun...but there was always something that gnawed at me. I experimented which caused the parents and myself to yell, fight, send me to therapy [which did not work] and other things. In short it was increasingly uncomfotable to fit into a role that was not natural for me to live in. And yes those aforementioned words were used to describe what I would be if I did not fullfil the male role. But try as I did, none of that made any real sencec til I moved away from NYC to Seattle in 1989.

The fact that I struggled with this did not make me any less of a person. It meant that there was a group of unresolved issues that if not handled would cause life to be stifled. As I dealt with them, there was the blending of what I liked from my previous life and they were incorporated into my new one. So yeah I could go to a ballgame and also be as likely to discuss who was batting below the Mendoza Line as I would about current fashions with the people I was seated with. It meant I could just as easily rap with someone about music as I could a hairstylist about what hairpirces/wigs would work with my face. Or at the market talk about my preferences in re: Cheddar Cheese as well as what color pan I should buy from the utensils aisle. Fact is my life become more full as a result of this blending of both...and yes I did go fulltime M to F not too soon after the move. Which was a major load taken off the shoulders, with others to deal with. Did this make me a sissy, a creep, a miscreant? No. It made me a PERSON more of a whole person than those who were willing to sublimate their lives to fit into some preconcieved mold...facts are facts. This was not without its host of problems from family still and others but those get handled over time.

Which leads into the third issue that all of this brought home and that is love. It is sad that the same people who each Sunday or so preach love thy neighbor and also do not want to have judgement passed on them go out of their way after their services are done [which by the way, it seems that the time of worship on the weekends here in the US is considered the most segregated time of the week.....gee one has to wonder why] to wreak their narrow minded concepts on others the rest the week. And yes this happnes with love as well. When I was younger, there was this idea that love would mean 'sticking with one's own kind and being hetero' in order to be happy in the initimacy realm. Guess what that did not work, if only because I had more in common with those of different ethnic backgrounds than those who were black. If you are wondering, this is not as odd as it sounds, in fact this happens more often than many will admit to. There were a string of failed relationships with humans, the demise of same I attribute to my own immaturity combined with delaing with my own gender issues in the background. Oddly enough I got along better with animals - in particular, cats. Be it Shrimpy who was our first female cat in the family household who ha a litter of 5 kittens to others down the road [as in Margie, Rachel and Marissa - more on that later]. But as I got older and the other items in my life started to become apparent, I become more enamored with being around fellow M to F individuals...mainly those who were white. This was due to many things that we had in common. It just happened that way and I was happy for that. Now to some, this would be termed gay or same sex...makes no nevermind here...to me if one finds those they can be around and if it is hetero or same sex...so what? Big freaking deal..it is not going to destroy the planet.

Moving forward to where I am now in this, there have been four significant relationships with humans and four of same with cats I have adopted or live with.In another space, you may have seen my references to the ones with my feline associates and they are also represented in my mind by the four little outer stones on the cross necklace I wear. The human relationships, including my last one could be divided into the two that were M/F and the other two that were M to F/M to F...the latter ones happening after I started transition. Were these planned? NO....no one can plan on who they are goin g to fall in love with, who they have something in common with, who they call their soulmate. These things happen due to the fact that they happen. Nothing more and nothing less. Would I want to trade a good relationship with a fellow M to F for something that is hetero and would be uncomfortable for me? No. Would I trade the good friends I have made along the way because they do not fit a mold? Hell no....it would mean not only throwing away being able to bounce things off people I trust. Like my friend in Denver, who is similar in age and political outlook, like my right arm at times or my friend in Minneapolis who is older but we get along like we have been around each other since birth....or those who are in so many other cities, it would take several blog postings to ennumerate them all. And this also includes a new person for whom the heart has fallen very deeply for. [Whose name I will not post here...several people know of what is going on and I will respect her situation in this, if only due to the fact that the words that are said about the emotions have been said through other means and in other corners]

Which takes me to the last section here. Ya gotta believe that someone is out there no matter what the stripe and many times something like this will happen by accident. The heart does not have a blatant set compass, at least that is how I see it. Now are there differences in this situation, of course. There are such things as distance, age and some other items. But she is in a similar boat like I am...although I am fulltime ans she is still in the process of finding her way in this. That does not matter worth darn here. The heart and mind fell in love with this person because of her words, her visage...which struck a chord here that has no been played in many many years. Unlike the item that was the genesis for this particular post, I do not qualify how I see my friend in terms of it fitting some stereotypical societal ideal. If I were to act in that fashion, I would be a fool and would then have to give away the opporuntity of a good friendship or relationship in order to be an automaton. The ability to find and be with peers who make each of us feel comfortable is what seperates humans from lower forms of life like earthworms, snails and other bottom feeders.

I have never thought of the current issue as being one of same sex or any other term. I love her, I love this person due to many many reasons. This was in no way ordained by anything else outside of chance...not unlike the medical issues that happend by chance to place me in the hospital earlier this year. In that stead, chance placed me where I got the treatment that is needed and thankfully my doctors - Nick, Steve and Wai have me on a path towards longterm recovery. Chance after this placed me in a position to connect with my friend, to communicate to her what was going on here, to share what was in the mind and heart, to voice out ideas. And while communciations are more or less sproadic, that does not change how the heart feels and how the mind visualizes the time from here. Is this someone I would be willing to make the sacrifices for in order to be together? Yes. Would I be willing to make some changes here even if it means another location? Yes again. Would I be willing to wait for her to resolve her issues? Yes...you bet your a** I would...any person who makes another's heart flutter and hence they become smitten with is more than worth the wait...ANYTIME. Does the fact that I feel this way towards her make me any less of a person in the eyes of God? No...any person with even a millliter of common sense would know that is not the case.

All of the above comes down to not just the freedom that us humans enjoy to have our own religious views but also the fact that we have the freedom to love who we chose. To have that one on one that [with the exception of some animals like some breeds of cats, birds and wolves] makes the experience, this ride that we call life worthwhile. To know that when we do find that one party that we can say 'yes, my love I am ready to commit' and to have two lives travel along as one. No matter what the color, the preference, the age or any other factor. It is a shame that there are people out there like Prince and other minions who think that all of what has been said here can fit into a very, cozy box of society's doing. If it did, then we would have a planet that is devoid of love and joy......and I would be without my friend. Or even my cats. And that is not a world that would be palatable to even the most cynical of humans.

Ok who missed the point about religion here???

2008-11-21T19:55:00.000-08:00

Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends!!!

It has come to my attention that there was a report that Prince...yes he who is also known as 'His Royal Badness' and 'The Artist Formerly Known as________' has converted to being a Jehovah's Witness and is not only attempting to renounce his ways, but is also going after gays [and by the same token what is called alternative communities]. Maybe I am a but lost and took those lessons in Sunday School the wrong way all those years ago but:

- was not Jesus Christ the same person who said to love thy neighbor?

- with the above said, does anyone remember that JC's followers were of the ilk that these days would be called the scum of the earth or fallen persons?

- that if we were to take the Old Testament LITERALLY not one single blessed thing would be done on this planet? There would be no science, no medicine, no education, no real commerce as we know it? That slavery and treating females and others as chattle would be commonplace?

Prince is not the only one. But what really makes this reprehensible is that it appears that the new homophobic religious strain makes the case for one wanting ti distance themselves, if they share the same ethnic background. It is a shame and disgusting....yes Prince and others are entitled to their opinion. After all that is what humans do and seperates us from ....dare I say this....the animals.[But even my cats are not this stupid] HOWEVER, sometimes they need to udnerstand that in their zeal to be 'holier than thou' that if one word in their anti-gay rants is changed, then they would be on the end of the hate and vitriol. Amazin ain't it????

Plus to add further fire to the issue...what makes this even sadder is that this is just another person [remember, Donna Summer did something similar a few years ago...amazing that 'getting religion can trun some into short minded protoplasm] who made their bones and their money by catering initially to not just blacks, but gays and other groups with his music. And now he comes off as though the gay portion of his audience is lower than dirt, unholy and other words. Prince, you sir...and I say this with all due respect for you and your religious position are a homophobic bigot and if it were not for the fact that someone else uses this term....today you are THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD.

A memo to those who are thinking of self-medication

2008-11-05T18:36:00.000-08:00

[Before I get to the main piece here, thank goodness the election is over. Sadly we may have done something as a feel good measure and not one that will overall benefit the country in the longterm. If one is in the millitary, this could not ahve come at a worse time, seeing there is a promise to gut the F-35 Raptor , which is needed by the USAF seeing the F-16 is reaching the end of its usable life, 2 of 3 replacement aircraft carriers which have been planned may as well be scrapped. if you are looking for improvement in education, dream on. Currently the US spends on average $12,500 per student per grade and yet we are still far behind several Asian and Northern European countries as far as as math and science are concerned and the unions that many teaching professionals belong to have spend tons of money to place our president elect in office, which means they have some favors coming back. Like more money, with very little return. It will be nice to see those who bought into those promises end up realizing in 163 days that the new emperor has no clothes]

WARNING...SOME RATHER ADULT AND CLINICAL MATERIAL ADHEAD. IF THIS IS NOT YOUR CUP OF TEA, SKIP DOWN TO SOME OTHER POSTS ON THIS BLOG. ALSO, I AM NOT A PHYSICIAN, HAVE NO CONNECTION WITH ANY OUTSIDE OF BEING A PATIENT OF THOSE WHO WORK IN THE PROVIDENCE HEALTH SYSTEM IN PORTLAND, OREGON. HENCE WHAT IS SAID HERE CAN BE TAKEN AS OPINION WITH FACTUAL STATEMENTS AT THEIR ROOT.

Much has been made in some other corners about those folks who want to self medicate in order to to go from male to female or female to male. Trannsexuals or transgenders if you will [I will not use any of the colloqial terms due to the fact that many of those are derogatory]. Now let's be blunt here....seeing that each person on this planet in some way, shape or form is a setient being and if they feel that certain treatments will work for a particular ailment or malady, then they should go for it. With that said, this is one of the those where consulting internists and endocrinologists if only because they have a little more experience with what the medications that are used in transition. Those being estradiol, premarin, spironolactone and going from female to male, testosterone.

What is going to be posted here are is the info on each that comes from what is the best source for what these medications can do for and can do to a person, that being the Physicians Desk Reference. The names of the medications may be different from those mentioned in the last paragraph, however they are the same.

Brand name:
Estrogen Patches
Generic name: Estradiol

Brand names: Alora, Climara, Esclim, Estraderm, Vivelle, Vivelle-Dot

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Why are Estrogen Patches prescribed?
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All of these products are used to reduce symptoms of menopause, including feelings of warmth in the face, neck, and chest; the sudden intense episodes of heat and sweating known as "hot flashes"; dry, itchy external genitals; and vaginal irritation. They are also prescribed for other conditions that cause low levels of estrogen, and some doctors prescribe them for teenagers who fail to mature at the usual rate.

Along with diet, calcium supplements, and exercise, Alora, Climara, Estraderm, Vivelle, and Vivelle-Dot are prescribed to prevent osteoporosis, a condition in which the bones become brittle and easily broken.

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Most important fact about Estrogen Patches
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Because estrogens have been linked with an increased risk of breast, uterine, and endometrial cancer (cancer in the lining of the uterus), it is essential to have regular mammograms and checkups. Report any unusual vaginal bleeding to your doctor immediately.

Hormone replacement therapy using estrogens, with or without progestin, should not be used to prevent heart disease. Recent studies have confirmed an increased rate of heart attack, stroke, and dangerous blood clots among women taking estrogen or estrogen combinations for 5 years. Blood clots can lead to phlebitis, stroke, heart attack, a loss of blood supply to the lungs, a blockage in the blood vessels serving the eye, and other serious disorders. Because of these risks, hormone replacement therapy should be given at the lowest effective dose for the shortest possible time. Your doctor will determine the dosage that is best for you.

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How should you use Estrogen Patches?
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Each patch is individually sealed in a protective pouch and is applied directly to the skin.

A stiff protective liner covers the adhesive side of the patch. Remove the liner by sliding it sideways between your thumb and index finger. Holding the patch at one edge, remove the protective liner and discard it. Try to avoid touching the adhesive. Use immediately after removing the liner. If you are using Alora, Vivelle, or Vivelle-Dot peel off one side of the protective liner and discard it. Use the other half of the liner as a handle until you have applied the sticky area, then fold back the remaining side of the patch, pull off the rest of the liner, and smooth the second half of the patch onto your skin.

Apply the adhesive side to a clean, dry area of your skin on the trunk of your body (including the buttocks and abdomen). Do not apply to your breasts or waist. Firmly press the patch in place with the palm of your hand for about 10 seconds, to make sure the edges are flat against your skin. When first using Alora, start on the lower abdomen. Climara is applied only to the abdomen or upper buttock, and is pressed in place with the fingers.

Remove the patch slowly and carefully to avoid irritating your skin. If any adhesive remains, let it dry for 15 minutes then gently rub the area with an oil-based cream or lotion to remove the adhesive residue. The used patch still contains active hormone. To dispose of it properly, fold it in half so it sticks to itself before throwing it away.

Contact with water during bathing, swimming, or showering will not affect the patch.

The application site must be rotated. Allow an interval of at least 1 week between applications to a particular site.

Alora, Esclim, Estraderm, Vivelle, and Vivelle-Dot patches should be replaced twice a week; Climara once weekly.

If you miss a dose...
If you forget to apply a new patch when you are supposed to, do it as soon as you remember. If it is almost time to change patches anyway, skip the one you missed and go back to your regular schedule. Do not apply more than the prescribed number of patches at a time.
Storage instructions...
Store the patches at room temperature, in their sealed pouches.

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What side effects may occur?
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Side effects cannot be anticipated. If any develop or change in intensity, notify your doctor as soon as possible. Only your doctor can determine if it is safe for you to continue using the estrogen patch.

More common side effects may include:
Anxiety, back pain, breakthrough bleeding, breast tenderness, constipation, depression, flu-like symptoms, headache, high blood pressure, hot flushes, insomnia, indigestion, nausea, neck pain, sinus problems, skin redness and irritation at the site of the patch, upper respiratory tract infection, weight increase.

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Why should Estrogen Patches not be prescribed?
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Estrogen patches should not be used during pregnancy. You should also avoid this product if you have:

Unexplained vaginal bleeding
Known or suspected breast cancer
Any type of tumor stimulated by estrogen
Phlebitis, blood clots in the lung, or any other clotting disorder
Active or recent (within the last year) heart disease, heart attack, or stroke
Liver disease or liver problems
An allergy to any component of the patch

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Special warnings about Estrogen Patches
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Estrogen has the potential of causing clot-related disorders, including heart attack and stroke, pulmonary embolism (a clot in the lungs), and thrombophlebitis (a clot in the veins). A complete medical and family history should be taken by your doctor before starting any estrogen therapy, especially if you have a history of deep vein thrombosis (a clot in the legs) or a history of thrombosis in your family. The chance of developing a clot-related problem can be reduced by using the lowest dose of estrogen that still proves effective. If a problem surfaces anyway, you'll have to stop using the patch. Likewise, you should discontinue the patch and call your doctor immediately if you suffer a loss of vision, any other eye problems, or a migraine headache.

Some experts suspect that high doses of estrogen, with or without a progestin, may increase the risk of ovarian, breast, and endometrial cancer. The risk may increase with prolonged use.

Hormone therapy occasionally causes a rise in blood pressure. If you have a blood pressure problem, use the patch with caution and have your pressure checked regularly.

If you suffer from liver problems or liver disease you may not be able to use hormone therapy.

If you are on hormone therapy you may need to have your thyroid medication adjusted and your thyroid tested more frequently.

Hormones also tend to cause fluid retention. If you have a condition that could be aggravated by excess fluid, such as asthma, epilepsy, migraine headaches, heart disease, or kidney problems, use the patch with caution.

If you suffer from endometriosis, a condition where the endometrium (the lining of the uterus) doesn't shed properly and attaches to the outside of the uterus or other areas such as the ovaries or bowels, hormone therapy may cause a worsening of this condition.

Because estrogen can increase triglyceride levels, you'll need to be closely monitored if your triglycerides tend to be high. If you have diabetes, estrogen may also affect your blood sugar levels.

Estrogen therapy occasionally causes abnormal uterine bleeding or breast pain. In view of concerns about cancer, you should have these symptoms checked by your doctor. In general, you should not take estrogen for more than 1 year without a follow-up physical exam. Ideally, you should have a checkup every 3 to 6 months.

Women who take oral estrogen after menopause face a two- to fourfold increase in the odds of gallbladder disease.

In elderly women, estrogen therapy could increase the risk of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. Talk with your doctor about the risks and benefits of using this drug.

For teenagers who fail to mature at the usual rate, large doses of estrogen taken for an extended period may affect growth. In girls, it may cause the early start of menstruation or early breast development.

While taking estrogen, get in touch with your doctor right away if you notice any of the following:

Abdominal pain, tenderness, or swelling

Abnormal bleeding of the vagina

Breast lumps

Coughing up blood

Difficulty with speech

Pain in your chest or calves

Severe headache, dizziness, or faintness

Skin irritation, redness, or rash

Sudden shortness of breath

Vision changes

Weakness or numbness of an arm or leg

Yellowing of the skin or eyes

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Possible food and drug interactions when using Estrogen Patches
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If you take certain other drugs while using estrogen, the effects of either could be increased, decreased, or altered. It is especially important to check with your doctor before taking the following:

Alcohol

Barbiturates such as phenobarbital and secobarbital

Blood thinners such as warfarin

Cimetidine

Clarithromycin

Dantrolene

Epilepsy drugs such as carbamazepine and phenytoin

Erythromycin

Grapefruit juice

Itraconazole

Ketoconazole

Rifampin

Ritonavir

St. John's wort

Steroids such as prednisone

Tricyclic antidepressants such as amitriptyline and imipramine

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Special information if you are pregnant or breastfeeding
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Estrogens should not be used during pregnancy or immediately after childbirth. Use of estrogens during pregnancy has been linked to reproductive tract problems in the children. If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant, notify your doctor immediately. Estrogens decrease the quantity and quality of breast milk. If this medication is essential to your health, your doctor may advise you to discontinue breastfeeding until your treatment is finished.

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Recommended dosage for Estrogen Patches
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If you are a postmenopausal woman with a uterus, progestin may be prescribed as well in order to reduce the risk of endometrial cancer. Your doctor will determine the dosage that is right for you. Typically, hormone replacement therapy should be started at the lowest possible dose and for the shortest duration needed to relieve your symptoms. You should be evaluated every 3 to 6 months.

ALORA AND ESTRADERM

The usual starting dose is one 0.05-milligram patch applied to the skin 2 times a week. (For osteoporosis the doctor may prescribe a 0.025-milligram patch.)

CLIMARA

The usual starting dose is one 0.025-milligram patch applied to the skin once a week. (For osteoporosis, the doctor may prescribe a 0.025-milligram patch.)

ESCLIM

The usual starting dose is one 0.025-milligram patch applied to the skin 2 times a week.

VIVELLE AND VIVELLE-DOT

The usual starting dose to relieve symptoms of menopause is one 0.0375-milligram patch applied to the skin 2 times a week. (For osteoporosis, the doctor may prescribe a 0.025-milligram patch.) The patch may be used continuously, or left off every fourth week.

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Overdosage
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Any medication taken in excess can have serious consequences. If you suspect an overdose, seek medical attention immediately.

Symptoms of estrogen overdose may include:
Nausea, vomiting, withdrawal bleeding

Brand name:
Premarin
Generic name: Conjugated estrogens

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Why is Premarin prescribed?
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Premarin is an estrogen replacement drug. The tablets are used to reduce moderate to severe symptoms of menopause, including feelings of warmth in the face, neck, and chest, and the sudden intense episodes of heat and sweating known as "hot flashes." Cenestin tablets, containing a synthetic form of conjugated estrogens, may also be prescribed for these symptoms.

In addition to the symptoms of menopause, Premarin tablets are prescribed for teenagers who fail to mature at the usual rate, and to relieve the symptoms of certain types of cancer, including some forms of breast and prostate cancer.

In addition, either the tablets or Premarin vaginal cream can be used for other conditions caused by lack of estrogen, such as dry, itchy external genitals and vaginal irritation.

Along with diet, calcium supplements, and exercise, Premarin tablets are also prescribed to prevent postmenopausal osteoporosis, a condition in which the bones become brittle and easily broken. Before taking Premarin solely for this purpose, you should carefully consider using alternative, nonestrogen therapies.

The addition of progesterone to estrogen-replacement therapy has been shown to reduce the risk of uterine cancer. Prempro combines estrogen and progesterone in a single tablet taken once daily. Premphase is a 28-day supply of tablets. The first 14 contain only estrogen. The second 14 supply both estrogen and progesterone. Both Prempro and Premphase are prescribed to reduce the symptoms of menopause, including vaginal problems, and to prevent osteoporosis.

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Most important fact about Premarin
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Because estrogens have been linked with an increased risk of uterine and endometrial cancer (cancer in the lining of the uterus), it is essential to have regular checkups and to report any unusual vaginal bleeding to your doctor immediately.

Premarin and other estrogen drugs, with or without progesterone, should not be used to prevent heart disease. Recent studies have confirmed an increased rate of heart attack, stroke, and dangerous blood clots among women taking estrogen or estrogen combinations for 5 years. Blood clots can lead to phlebitis, stroke, heart attack, a loss of blood supply to the lungs, a blockage in the blood vessels serving the eye, and other serious disorders.

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How should you take Premarin?
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Take Premarin exactly as prescribed. Do not share it with anyone else.

If you are taking calcium supplements as a part of the treatment to help prevent brittle bones, check with your doctor about how much to take.

You should take a few moments to read the patient package insert provided with your prescription.

If you are using Premarin vaginal cream, apply it as follows:

Remove cap from tube.
Screw nozzle end of applicator onto tube.
Gently squeeze tube from the bottom to force sufficient cream into the barrel to provide the prescribed dose. Use the marked stopping points on the applicator as a guide.
Unscrew applicator from tube.
Lie on back with knees drawn up. Gently insert applicator deeply into the vagina and press plunger downward to its original position.
To cleanse the applicator, pull the plunger to remove it from the barrel, then wash with mild soap and warm water. Do not boil or use hot water.

If you miss a dose...
Take the forgotten dose as soon as you remember. If it is almost time for the next dose, skip the one you missed and go back to your regular schedule. Never try to "catch up" by doubling the dose.
Storage instructions...
Store at room temperature.

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What side effects may occur?
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Side effects cannot be anticipated. If any develop or change in intensity, inform your doctor immediately. Only your doctor can determine whether it is safe to continue taking Premarin.

Side effects of conjugated estrogens may include:
Abdominal/stomach cramps, bloating, breast pain, enlargement of benign tumors of the uterus (also called fibroids), fluid retention, hair loss, headache, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, irregular vaginal bleeding or spotting, liver problems, nausea and vomiting, vaginal yeast infections
Other possible side effects of Cenestin may include:
Constipation, increased heartbeat, joint pain, skin tingling

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Why should Premarin not be prescribed?
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Do not take Premarin if you have ever had a bad reaction to it, or have undiagnosed abnormal vaginal bleeding.

Except in certain special circumstances, you should not be given Premarin if you have ever had breast cancer, uterine cancer, or any other "estrogen-dependent" cancer.

Do not take Premarin if you have had any circulation problem involving blood clots, or have had a stroke or heart attack in the past year.

Do not take Premarin if you have liver disease or your liver is not working properly.

Do not use Premarin if you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant.

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Special warnings about Premarin
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For women who have not had a hysterectomy, the risk of endometrial and uterine cancer increases when estrogen-only drugs are used for a long time or taken in large doses. Estrogen therapy can also worsen endometriosis (uterine tissue growing outside the uterus). If you've ever had endometriosis, make sure the doctor is aware of it. If you've had a hysterectomy but still have residual endometriosis, your doctor may want you to use an estrogen/progesterone combination.

Certain studies have shown that women taking estrogen for prolonged periods of time (4 years or more) face an increased risk of breast cancer, and a study by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has confirmed an increased risk among women taking estrogen/progesterone combinations. Use combination products (and estrogen-only preparations, too) with special caution if you have a family history of breast cancer or have ever had an abnormal mammogram. Be sure to get an annual breast exam from your doctor, and do your own self-examination each month.

The NHLBI study also found an increased risk of dementia for women taking estrogen/progesterone combinations. It's unknown whether this applies to estrogen-only drugs.

Because Premarin can increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, blood clots, and certain estrogen-dependent cancers, contact your doctor right away if you notice any of the following:

Abdominal pain, tenderness, or swelling

Abnormal bleeding from the vagina

Breast lumps

Coughing up blood

Pain in your chest or calves

Severe headache, dizziness, or faintness

Sudden shortness of breath

Vision changes

Women who take Premarin after menopause are more likely to develop gallbladder disease.

Estrogens such as Premarin can cause hypercalcemia, a severe increase of calcium levels in the blood. Women with breast or bone cancer are especially at risk and should stop taking Premarin immediately if they develop hypercalcemia. In addition, women with the opposite problem—hypocalcemia, or a severe decrease of calcium in the blood—should use Premarin with caution.

Women who have not had a hysterectomy and take estrogen along with progesterone have a lower risk of precancerous endometrial changes. However, you should be aware that estrogen/progesterone combinations could increase "bad" LDL cholesterol and blood sugar levels as well as increase the risk of breast cancer.

There is a slight chance that estrogen therapy could cause an increase in blood pressure. Ask your doctor to check your blood pressure regularly.

If you have high levels of fat in your blood, specifically a high triglyceride level, conjugated estrogens such as Premarin are likely to cause side effects in the pancreas.

Use Premarin with caution if you have a history of liver problems, including jaundice. Call your doctor right away if you develop abdominal pain or yellowing of the skin.

Premarin can alter thyroid function. If you're taking thyroid medication, you may need your dosage adjusted.

Premarin can also cause fluid retention. Use the drug with caution if you have heart or kidney problems, or any other condition that's affected by excess fluid in the body.

Some studies have shown that using estrogen-only drugs, especially for 10 years or more, could increase the risk of ovarian cancer. It's unknown whether this also applies to estrogen/progesterone combinations. Another study showed that certain estrogen/progesterone combinations increased the risk of dementia (e.g., Alzheimer's disease).

Estrogens such as Premarin have been known to make certain conditions worse, including asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, migraine, porphyria (a genetic enzyme deficiency), lupus, and liver tumors.

If you are using Premarin vaginal cream, you should be aware that this product can weaken latex condoms, diaphragms, and cervical caps.

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Possible food and drug interactions when taking Premarin
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If Premarin is taken with certain other drugs, the effects of either could be increased, decreased, or altered. It is especially important to check with your doctor before combining Premarin with the following:

Barbiturates such as phenobarbital

Blood thinners

Carbamazepine

Clarithromycin

Drugs used for epilepsy

Erythromycin

Grapefruit juice

Itraconazole

Ketoconazole

Major tranquilizers

Oral diabetes drugs

Rifampin

Ritonavir

St. John's wort

Steroid medications

Thyroid preparations

Tricyclic antidepressants

Vitamin C

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Special information if you are pregnant or breastfeeding
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If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant, notify your doctor immediately. Premarin and conjugated estrogens should not be taken during pregnancy because of the possibility of harm to the unborn child. Premarin cannot prevent a miscarriage. Estrogens can decrease the quantity and quality of breast milk, and progestins appear in breast milk. Your doctor may advise you not to breastfeed while you are taking this drug.

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Recommended dosage for Premarin
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Your doctor will start therapy with this medication at a low dose and adjust the dosage according to your response. He or she will want to check you periodically at 3- to 6-month intervals to determine the need for continued therapy.

PREMARIN TABLETS

Hot flashes associated with menopause

The usual starting dosage is 0.3 milligrams daily, taken continuously or in cycles such as 25 days on Premarin and 5 days off.

Tissue degeneration in the vagina

The usual starting dosage is 0.3 milligrams daily, taken continuously or in cycles.

Low estrogen levels due to reduced ovary function

The usual dosage is 0.3 to 0.625 milligrams daily, taken cyclically.

Ovary removal or ovarian failure

The usual dosage is 1.25 milligrams daily, taken cyclically.

Prevention of osteoporosis (loss of bone mass)

The usual starting dosage is 0.3 milligrams daily, taken continuously or in cycles.

Advanced androgen-dependent cancer of the prostate, for relief of symptoms only

The usual dosage is 1.25 to 2.5 milligrams 3 times daily.

Breast cancer (for relief of symptoms only) in appropriately selected women and men with metastatic disease

The suggested dosage is 10 milligrams 3 times daily for a period of at least 3 months. Tell your doctor if you have any unusual bleeding.

PREMARIN VAGINAL CREAM

Given cyclically for short-term use only.

Degeneration of genital tissue or severe itching in the genital area

The recommended dosage is one-half to 2 grams daily, inserted into the vagina, depending on the severity of the condition. You will use the cream for 3 weeks, then stop for 1 week. Tell your doctor if you notice any unusual bleeding.

PREMPRO TABLETS/PREMPHASE THERAPY

Symptoms associated with menopause (hot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal tissue degeneration) or for the prevention of osteoporosis (loss of bone mass)

The usual starting dose for Prempro is one 0.3-milligram/1.5-milligram tablet once a day. If this dose proves insufficient, your doctor may increase the dose to one 0.625-milligram/0.25- or 0.5-milligram tablet once a day.

For Premphase therapy, follow a 28-day cycle. Take 1 maroon Premarin tablet (equal to 0.625 milligrams estrogen) every day for the first 14 days; on the 15th day, begin taking 1 light-blue tablet (equal to 0.625 milligrams estrogen/5 milligrams progesterone) daily.

CENESTIN TABLETS

The usual starting dose is 0.45 milligrams a day. If this proves insufficient, the doctor may gradually increase the dose up to a maximum of 1.25 milligrams daily.

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Overdosage
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Any medication taken in excess can have serious consequences. If you suspect an overdose of Premarin, seek medical attention immediately.

Symptoms of conjugated estrogen overdose may include:
Nausea, vomiting, withdrawal bleeding

Brand name:
Aldactazide
Generic ingredients: Spironolactone, Hydrochlorothiazide

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Why is Aldactazide prescribed?
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Aldactazide is used in the treatment of high blood pressure and other conditions that require the elimination of excess fluid from the body. These conditions include congestive heart failure, cirrhosis of the liver, and kidney disease. Aldactazide combines two diuretic drugs that help your body produce and eliminate more urine. Spironolactone, one of the ingredients, helps to minimize the potassium loss that can be caused by the hydrochlorothiazide component.

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Most important fact about Aldactazide
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If you have high blood pressure, you must take Aldactazide regularly for it to be effective. Since blood pressure declines gradually, it may be several weeks before you get the full benefit of Aldactazide; and you must continue taking it even if you are feeling well. Aldactazide does not cure high blood pressure; it merely keeps it under control.

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How should you take Aldactazide?
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Take Aldactazide exactly as prescribed. Stopping Aldactazide suddenly could cause your condition to worsen.

If you miss a dose...
Take it as soon as you remember. If it is almost time for your next dose, skip the one you missed and go back to your regular schedule. Never take 2 doses at the same time.
Storage instructions...
Store at room temperature.

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What side effects may occur?
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Side effects cannot be anticipated. If any develop or change in intensity, inform your doctor as soon as possible. Only your doctor can determine if it is safe for you to continue taking Aldactazide.

Side effects may include:
Abdominal cramps, breast development in males, change in potassium levels (leading to such symptoms as dry mouth, excessive thirst, weak or irregular heartbeat, and muscle pain or cramps), deepening of the voice, diarrhea, dizziness, dizziness on rising, drowsiness, excessive hairiness, fever, headache, hives, inflammation of blood vessels or lymph vessels, inflammation of the pancreas, irregular menstruation, kidney problems, lack of coordination, liver problems, loss of appetite, mental confusion, muscle spasms, nausea, postmenopausal bleeding, rash, red or purple spots on skin, restlessness, sensitivity to light, severe allergic reaction, sexual dysfunction, sluggishness, stomach bleeding, stomach inflammation, stomach ulcers, tingling or pins and needles, vertigo, vomiting, weakness, yellow eyes and skin, yellow vision

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Why should Aldactazide not be prescribed?
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Aldactazide should not be used if you have acute kidney disease or liver failure, have difficulty urinating or are unable to urinate, or have high potassium levels in your blood.

If you are sensitive to or have ever had an allergic reaction to spironolactone, hydrochlorothiazide, or similar drugs, or if you are sensitive to sulfa drugs, you should not take this medication. Make sure your doctor is aware of any drug reactions you may have experienced.

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Special warnings about Aldactazide
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This medication should be used only if your doctor has determined that the precise amount of each ingredient in Aldactazide meets your specific needs.

Drugs such as the hydrochlorothiazide component of Aldactazide have been known to trigger gout and allergic reactions. They can also raise your blood sugar levels.

Potassium supplements (including salt substitutes) or diuretics that leave high levels of potassium in your body should not be used while taking Aldactazide, unless specifically recommended by your doctor. Symptoms of excess potassium include tingling sensations, fatigue, muscle weakness or paralysis, and a slow heartbeat. If you develop these problems, call your doctor immediately.

If you are taking an ACE-inhibitor type of blood pressure medication such as enalapril maleate, this drug should be used with extreme caution.

If you have liver or kidney disease or lupus erythematosus (a disease that causes skin eruptions), Aldactazide should be used with caution.

Excessive sweating, severe diarrhea, or vomiting could cause you to lose too much water and cause your blood pressure to become too low. Signs of dehydration include thirst, dry mouth, weakness, drowsiness, muscle fatigue, muscle cramps, restlessness, reduced urination, and a rapid heartbeat. Be sure to drink plenty of fluids whenever dehydration threatens, and be careful when exercising in hot weather.

Notify your doctor or dentist that you are taking Aldactazide if you have a medical emergency, and before you have surgery or dental treatment.

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Possible food and drug interactions when taking Aldactazide
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If Aldactazide is taken with certain other drugs, the effects of either could be increased, decreased, or altered. It is especially important to check with your doctor before combining Aldactazide with the following:

ACE-inhibitor blood pressure drugs such as enalapril maleate

Alcohol

Antigout medications such as allopurinol

Barbiturates such as phenobarbital and secobarbital

Digoxin

Diuretics such as furosemide

Insulin or oral antidiabetic drugs such as glyburide

Lithium

Narcotic drugs such as those containing codeine

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen and naproxen sodium

Norepinephrine

Potassium supplements such as potassium chloride

Steroids such as prednisone

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Special information if you are pregnant or breastfeeding
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The effects of Aldactazide during pregnancy have not been adequately studied. If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant, inform your doctor immediately. Aldactazide appears in breast milk and could affect a nursing infant. If this medication is essential to your health, your doctor may advise you to discontinue breastfeeding until your treatment is finished.

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Recommended dosage for Aldactazide
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ADULTS

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Congestive Heart Failure, Cirrhosis, Nephrotic Syndrome (kidney disorder)

The usual dosage is 100 milligrams each of spironolactone and hydrochlorothiazide daily, taken as a single dose or in divided doses. Dosage may range from 25 milligrams to 200 milligrams of each ingredient daily, depending on your individual needs.

High Blood Pressure

The usual dose is 50 milligrams to 100 milligrams each of spironolactone and hydrochlorothiazide daily, in a single dose or divided into smaller doses.

CHILDREN

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The usual dose of Aldactazide should provide 0.75 milligram to 1.5 milligrams of spironolactone per pound of body weight.

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Overdosage
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Any medication taken in excess can have serious consequences. If you suspect an overdose, seek medical attention immediately.

Symptoms of Aldactazide overdose may include:
Confusion, diarrhea, dizziness, drowsiness, nausea, patchy raised skin rash, vomiting

Brand name:
Testosterone Patches
Brand names: Androderm, Testoderm

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Why are Testosterone Patches prescribed?
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These patches are prescribed for men with low levels of the male hormone, testosterone. Lack of testosterone can lead to declining interest in sex, impotence, fatigue, depression, and loss of masculine characteristics.

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Most important fact about Testosterone Patches
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If you have prostate problems, make sure your doctor is aware of them. Supplementary testosterone may increase the risk of prostate cancer.

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How should you use Testosterone Patches?
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The patches deliver steady doses of testosterone through the skin.

TESTODERM

Testoderm patches are applied daily to the skin of the scrotum. They should not be applied elsewhere. Scrotal skin is much thinner than other skin, so you will not get the full dosage if you apply the patch to another part of the body.

For best results, the scrotal skin should be shaved, clean, and dry. Dry-shave the skin; avoid wet-shaving or chemical hair-removal products. The patch should be worn for 22 to 24 hours per day, every day for up to 8 weeks.

ANDRODERM

Androderm patches are applied to the skin of the back, abdomen, upper arms, or thigh, but NOT to the scrotum. It's also best to avoid bony areas such as the shoulders and hips as well as areas that get the greatest pressure while you are sleeping or sitting. You should change sites each day of the week, waiting 7 days before re-using a site.

Apply the prescribed number of patches every night. Press each patch firmly in place immediately after opening its pouch. Leave the patches in place for a full 24 hours. The application sites should be clean, dry, and free of irritation.

If you miss a dose...
Apply it as soon as you remember. If it is almost time for the next application, skip the one you missed and go back to your regular schedule. Do not apply two doses at the same time.
Storage instructions...
Store at room temperature.

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What side effects may occur?
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Side effects cannot be anticipated. If any develop or change in intensity, inform your doctor as soon as possible. Only your doctor can determine if it is safe for you to continue using the patch.

Among younger men being treated for delayed sexual development, supplementary testosterone can cause breast enlargement; among older men, it increases the odds of prostate cancer. Among men with heart, kidney, or liver disease, it can lead to fluid retention and congestive heart failure. The Testoderm patch sometimes causes itching, discomfort, or irritation. The Androderm patch occasionally causes itching, blisters, burning, or hardening or reddening of the skin.

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Why should Testosterone Patches not be prescribed?
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Do not use these patches if you have prostate cancer (or breast cancer). Avoid them if they give you an allergic reaction. The patches are not for use by women.

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Special warnings about Testosterone Patches
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Some testosterone may be left on the skin after a patch is removed. Particularly with Testoderm, there is a possibility that your partner could absorb some of the hormone during sex and suffer unwanted changes. If she experiences increased hair growth or an aggravation of acne, inform your doctor.

Also check with your doctor if you have frequent or persistent erections, nausea, vomiting, changes in skin color, or ankle swelling.

Testosterone patches have not been tested in boys under 15 years of age.

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Possible food and drug interactions when using Testosterone Patches
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Extra testosterone can decrease the need for blood-thinning drugs and insulin. While using the patch, you should also check with your doctor before taking the anti-inflammatory drug oxyphenbutazone.

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Special information if you are pregnant or breastfeeding
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Testosterone is intended for use only by males and must not be used by women. If used during pregnancy, it can cause serious harm to the developing baby.

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Recommended dosage for Testosterone Patches
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TESTODERM

The usual dose is 1 patch per day. The larger patch delivers 6 milligrams of testosterone. The smaller patch delivers 4 milligrams.

ANDRODERM

The usual starting dose is one 5-milligram patch or two 2.5-milligram patches per day. Depending on results, your doctor may increase the dosage to 1 large and 1 small patch (or 3 small patches) daily, or reduce it to 1 small patch per day of testosterone.

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Overdosage
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Testosterone overdose is very rare, but has been implicated in one case of stroke. Any medication taken in excess can have serious consequences. If you suspect an overdose, seek medical attention immediately.

Now if you are wondering why I would say this and publish this information, it is the fact I have experience with these three of these due to wanting to use them for transition, but also one other which did more damage to me than anything else in my youth. That being prednisone, which while it and several other steroids took care of an inflamation called pulmonary sarcoidosis [which also attacked the eyes]it did more damage to the system overall, which I have been dealing with over the better part of the past 20+ years...in addition to the congestive heart failure and other illnesses mentioned in a previous post. Sadly, the illness that this was used against could ahve been prevented, however some rather blatant shortsightedness on the part of one of the parental units, who at the time was a registered nurse caused the damage which did occur to be more or less a lifetime issue. In case you are wondering what prednisone can do for and do to a person:

Prednisone

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Why is Prednisone prescribed?
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Prednisone, a steroid drug, is used to reduce inflammation and alleviate symptoms in a variety of disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis and severe cases of asthma. It may be given to treat primary or secondary adrenal cortex insufficiency (lack of sufficient adrenal hormone in the body). It is used in treating all of the following:

Abnormal adrenal gland development

Allergic conditions (severe)

Blood disorders

Certain cancers (along with other drugs)

Diseases of the connective tissue including systemic lupus erythematosus

Eye diseases of various kinds

Flare-ups of multiple sclerosis

Fluid retention due to "nephrotic syndrome" (a condition in which damage to the kidneys causes protein to be lost in the urine)

Lung diseases, including tuberculosis

Meningitis (inflamed membranes around the brain)

Prevention of organ rejection

Rheumatoid arthritis and related disorders

Severe flare-ups of ulcerative colitis or enteritis (inflammation of the intestines)

Skin diseases

Thyroid gland inflammation

Trichinosis (with complications)

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Most important fact about Prednisone
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Prednisone lowers your resistance to infections and can make them harder to treat. Prednisone may also mask some of the signs of an infection, making it difficult for your doctor to diagnose the actual problem.

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How should you take Prednisone?
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Take prednisone exactly as prescribed. Dosages are kept to an absolute minimum.

If you need long-term prednisone treatment, your doctor may prescribe alternate-day therapy, in which you take the medication only every other morning. The "resting day" gives your adrenal glands a chance to produce some hormone naturally so they will not lose the ability.

If you have been taking prednisone for a period of time, you will probably need an increased dosage of the medication before, during, and after any stressful situation. Always consult your doctor if you are anticipating stress and think you may need a temporary dosage increase.

When stopping prednisone treatment, tapering off is better than quitting abruptly. Your doctor will probably have you decrease the dosage very gradually over a period of days or weeks.

You should take prednisone with food to avoid stomach upset.

If you are on alternate-day therapy or have been prescribed a single daily dose, take prednisone in the morning with breakfast (about 8 a.m.). If you have been prescribed several doses per day, take them at evenly spaced intervals around the clock.

Patients on long-term Prednisone therapy should wear or carry identification.

If you miss a dose...
If you take your dose once a day, take it as soon as you remember. If you don't remember until the next day, skip the one you missed.
If you take several doses a day, take the forgotten dose as soon as you remember and then go back to your regular schedule. If you don't remember until your next dose, double the dose you take.

If you take your dose every other day, and you remember it the same morning, take it as soon as you remember, then go back to your regular schedule. If you don't remember until the afternoon, do not take a dose until the following morning, then skip a day.

Storage instructions...
Store at room temperature.

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What side effects may occur?
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Side effects cannot be anticipated. If any develop or change in intensity, inform your doctor as soon as possible. Only your doctor can determine if it is safe for you to continue taking prednisone.

Prednisone may cause euphoria, insomnia, mood changes, personality changes, psychotic behavior, or severe depression. It may worsen any existing emotional instability.

At a high dosage, prednisone may cause fluid retention and high blood pressure. If this happens, you may need a low-salt diet and a potassium supplement.

With prolonged prednisone treatment, eye problems may develop (e.g., a viral or fungal eye infection, cataracts, or glaucoma).

If you take prednisone over the long term, the buildup of adrenal hormones in your body may cause a condition called Cushing's syndrome, marked by weight gain, a "moon-faced" appearance, thin, fragile skin, muscle weakness, brittle bones, and purplish stripe marks on the skin. Women are more vulnerable to this problem than men. Alternate-day therapy may help prevent its development.

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Why should Prednisone not be prescribed?
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Do not take prednisone if you have ever had an allergic reaction to it.

You should not be treated with prednisone if you have a body-wide fungus infection, such as candidiasis or cryptococcosis.

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Special warnings about Prednisone
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Do not get a smallpox vaccination or any other immunization while you are taking prednisone. The vaccination might not "take," and could do harm to the nervous system.

Prednisone may reactivate a dormant case of tuberculosis. If you have inactive TB and must take prednisone for an extended time, you should be given anti-TB medication as well.

If you have an underactive thyroid gland or cirrhosis of the liver, your doctor will probably need to prescribe prednisone for you at a lower-than-average dosage.

If you have an eye infection caused by the herpes simplex virus, prednisone should be used with great caution; there is a potential danger that the cornea will become perforated.

A few people taking prednisone develop Kaposi's sarcoma, a form of cancer; it may disappear when the drug is stopped.

Prednisone should also be taken with caution if you have any of the following conditions:

Diverticulitis or other disorder of the intestine

High blood pressure

Kidney disorder

Myasthenia gravis (a muscle-weakness disorder)

Osteoporosis (brittle bones)

Peptic ulcer

Ulcerative colitis (inflammation of the bowel)

Long-term treatment with prednisone may stunt growth. If this medication is given to a child, the youngster's growth should be monitored carefully.

Diseases such as chickenpox or measles can be very serious or even fatal in both children and adults who are taking this drug. Try to avoid exposure to these diseases.

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Possible food and drug interactions when taking Prednisone
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Prednisone may decrease your carbohydrate tolerance or activate a latent case of diabetes. If you are already taking insulin or oral medication for diabetes, make sure your doctor knows this; you may need an increased dosage while you are being treated with prednisone.

If you have a blood-clotting disorder caused by a vitamin K deficiency and are taking prednisone, check with your doctor before you use aspirin.

You may be at risk of convulsions if you take the immunosuppressant drug cyclosporine while being treated with prednisone.

If prednisone is taken with certain other drugs, the effects of either could be increased, decreased, or altered. Check with your doctor before combining prednisone with any of the following:

Amphotericin B

Blood thinners such as warfarin

Carbamazepine

Estrogen drugs

Ketoconazole

Oral contraceptives

Phenobarbital

Phenytoin

Potent diuretics such as furosemide

Rifampin

Troleandomycin

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Special information if you are pregnant or breastfeeding
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If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant, inform your doctor immediately. Prednisone should be taken during pregnancy or while breastfeeding only if clearly needed and only if the benefit outweighs the potential risks to the child.

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Recommended dosage for Prednisone
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Dosage is determined by the condition being treated and your response to the drug. Typical starting doses can range from 5 milligrams to 60 milligrams a day. Once you respond to the drug, your doctor will lower the dose gradually to the minimum effective amount. For treatment of acute attacks of multiple sclerosis, doses of as much as 200 milligrams per day may be given for a week, followed by 80 mg every other day for a month.

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Overdosage
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Long-term high doses of prednisone may produce Cushing's syndrome (see "Side Effects" section). Although no specific information is available regarding short-term overdosage, any medication taken in excess can have serious consequences. If you suspect an overdose of prednisone, seek medical attention immediately.

And with the above, you have now the facts. Just the facts...AGAIN.....I am not a doctor, but I do know where to find this information sans the filters that come through gender groups, doctors, shrinks and others whose only vested interest is making a quick or long lasting buck off of a potential patient. In this case it was the Physicians Desk Reference, which is the bible for doctors in re: their medications. This is done without that bias, just in the name of keeping people safe. If one is armed with the correct information, they can make the decisions that will benefit them longterm.

Billy Joel may have got it right...It's all about soul

2008-11-03T10:32:00.001-08:00

[For those of you directed here and looking for that great annecdote from the last post, it is under this one... and on with the news, sports and weather]

Quite a few years ago, Billy Joel on his album, 'Storm Front' had an amazing song on it called 'It's All About Soul', which was about how deep and meaningful his [current at the time] relationship was. Well Dear Readers, this can also be applied to what happened in Minneapolis last week. If only due to the fact that the soul of the region was just taken away, destroyed, decimated by what in the kindest of tersm for this space can only be called a hostile takeover of Northwest Airlines [many years ago, Northwest Orient] by the mouths of the south, the a-holes from Atlanta, Does't Ever Leave The Airport - Delta. And in the process took away the soul of Minneapolis-St. Paul. But it was not just the Twin Cities that was hit hard:

- other towns that just got the royal screw here are such places as St. Cloud, Brainerd, Duluth and Bemidji, the town that had the distinction of being the smallest city in the US to have jet service...but not anymore.

-Rochester which is the home to the Mayo Clinic, got hurt here pretty bad. Why?? Well they had once an hour service from MSP via regional jet or small-porch DC-9's courtesy of Northwest. Well that has now gone down to twice a day...if that. SO much for those poor folks who want to get to the clinic fast and cheap to have some of the best doctors on the planet cure their ailments.

-the businesses in the region such as: General Mills, Pillsbury, Honeywell, 3M, IDS and many others in the Fortune 500 that call the Twin Cities home have now been reduced to minor players. If there is no quick means for there to be business meetings [outside of telemeetings], this this will cost the region in many untold ways.

-and speaking of businesses, the Mall of America who bank on travel in and out of the airport which is no more than 1 mile norht of the MOA will be hurt. This includes as irony has it, a Northwest pilot who runs a Flight Sim/Toy shop on the first level of the mall. Yep I used to spend time in the place and if you were raised around aiporta and aircraft or even lived on the periphery of the industry, this was like passing on and going to that great big hangar in the sky. There may be a run on NWA memerobillia initially there and other places, but soon that may end up going the way of the dome home games for the Twins...

The biggest losers in this will be initially the 23,500 people in the region who work for Northwest and then with the multiplier effect, that number will be tripled. If you do not believe that number, consider everytime a new ballpark is built, some wiseapple economist comes out and intones in rather graphic detail that the 'multiplier effect will show that new jobs will be created as ancillary services and products related to the contstruction of the stadium'. Yes, thank you Dr.Elmer J. Fudd for that great economic analysis.

If you want to rip these folks a new one, here is the current web address for Northwest Airlines. Or just copy it...because another great company bites the dust.

One knows when they have arrived in this life when...

2008-10-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

Every now and then, there are these little signals that come from completely out of the blue that in their own way, offer evidence that in some way shape or form someone has at long last come to a point in their journey. And in this case, I have an errand run to Target to thank for this...

Yesterday, I was getting my meds refilled and doing my usual, which was shopping for some cosmetics while playing air guitar bass to a live Reniassance disc. [By the way I should mention at this point what the illness was that hit your faithfull correspondent was a combo of congestive heart failure, primary kidney failure, fluid logged lungs and a longterm battle with gout. As has been mentioned in a previous post, luck and something from other places helped prevent yours truly from cashing in her chips a little too early...good thing to...there is someone who I want to meet before then...but that is another story]. In any event, on the store, a lovely senior male yelled at me:

'Hey Red!!!You want to know why redheads are so great? Blondes may have more fun, brunettes may be hot as heck, but redheads do things so well they make you forget the other two!!!!'

I darn near lost it there laughing!! OF all things he said this in front of his wife, who was a blonde....but he and I were both laughing like mad. This was a scream...but it also said 'Rhea, you are now home kid, you can rest for a little while....'

And from the 'Let's Hope this crap is over soon' Department: the home stretch is near, this silly season of campaigns is winding down and we can soon get back to what is really important. Like why is it that the rest of the NFL took this long to figure out Peyton Manning? How in hell Bud Selig is still the commisioner of Major League Baseball? When are the Moody Blues going to release another album? Will the Boeing strike ever end? What exactly is it with hockey moms? Will Eastern Airlines ever reform?

The answers to those and other questions at some later point, True Believers!!!

Just a few random posts here for now

2008-10-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

Well this weekend has passed and a few thoughts came to the fore here:

- On behalf of my youngest cat Marty and the NFL, apologize to my friends scross the pond for the fact that the Chargers lost to the Aints, I mean Saints at Wembley. Yes we got the game here on CBS and while LT tried his best, it seems the time difference and other items conspired against the Bolts. Oh well there is always next year....ok...maybe in the exhibition season.

-Speaking of football, if it looks as though the Buffalo Bills are actually getting their act together, there is a possible spiritual reason for this: the late Tim Russert is looking down from above. Each Sunday in the fall, he would end his Meet The Press broadcasts on NBC with the words 'Go Bills!!!' Well they are now doing just that....if this is not divine intervention, I do not know what else to call it.

- As much as I like getting into political discussions about what this current season of insanity, I mean the elections, it has at points gotten out of hand and we are now seeing that it is more about the agenda than it is the people. History seems to have this nasty habit of repeating itself and the image of Nero is coming to mind here as far as the future of the US is concerned.

- If anyone who has been following this blog and others I have or other postings I make through other means may have noticed that there is at times a little bit of an emotional bent towards a few of the postings. The main reason for this has to do with coming out of a medical difficulty which if it were not for a series of coincidences and some really cool docs, yours truly would not be here. But after going through that type of hell and back one finds what is and is not important...who they want to be around. And if one particular friend is looking in on this, there is a 3 number term I will leave in this portion....1-4-3.

-By the by, when you get a chance, check out the music blog that I have created on this site. It is for a form of music that gets even LESS RESPECT than the late great Rodney Dangerfield...classical rock. From Renaissance to Yes, the range is talked about....with links to some places to purchase the albums mentioned. I even throw in a couple jokes to break up the monotony.

That's the news, weather and sports for now......Be good and if you can't do that...For Christ's sake be careful!!!!

Please say this did not happen - McCain pulls out of Ohio and others

2008-10-23T13:35:00.000-07:00

Folks, I was hoping that I would not have to go off on a political rant, but word had filtered down that John McCain has decided to cash in his chips and pull out of several key states like Ohio and several others. This is like Patton surrendering to Rommel, The Spartans turning into wimps, the Mets losing the National League East lead 2 years in a row [I'm sorry THEY ACTUALLY DID!!!!]...and this means this is now a one party race.

So pardon this one [and with apologies to one of my heroes, Gunnery Sgt R. Lee Ermey, USMC, Ret.] while I say this as an open message to John McCain and his supporters: ARE Y'ALL HIGH???? WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION, NUMBNUTS???? DIDN'T THE MARINES WHO TRAINED YOU TO BE AN OFFICER TEACH YOU THAT YOU ARE NEVER, EVER TO SURRENDER WITHOUT A FIGHT????? IF YOU CANNOT STAND UP FOR YOUR PRINCIPLES, HOW IN THE HELL CAN YOU EVEN DARE TO SAY YOU WILL STAND UP FOR YOUR COUNTRY, YOU MAGGOT?????HOW CAN YOU OR MS. PALIN EVER BE TRUSTED LET ALONE ANY POLITICIAN??

While I am trying not to support either party, what John did was shameful, embarrassing and to be rather blunt shows that he had no stamina or standing. There is no way, no way on the face of the earth that this can be a race of the two parties if one candidate pulls out of key electoral college states. In effect this is now just a one party contest...

And to paraphrase my man, Keith Olberman of MSNBC and Sunday Night Football fame, this decision sir makes you 'THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD!!!'. Not even Bill-o and the crew of Fixed News/Fox Noise would retreat in such a pathetic fashion.

At some point, this will be updated again....

2008-10-23T07:53:00.000-07:00

Hey there True Believers!!!

I just looked around the bloggosphere the other day and realized, OMG I actually had this one still active!!! Well there will be a time when this will be revived, but for the time being, enjoy the select subject matter, the logic applied to solve some of the problems of the world - and even some humour applied to all of this!

If this gets one to laugh, ponder and maybe consider a positive course of action, then I have done my job!! Enjoy.

An update: Just thought I would, bring this into the modern era with a couple links. I would not ordinarilly do this, but these are two really sharp and cool people, who mean something to yours truly for different reasons.....but are meaningful just the same.

The first of them is to a blog which is as wonderful as the person who writes it is beautiful...and is just as thought provoking. One of the few really bright lights out there in the bloggosphere.She is a dear friend and Dear Readers, give this one a look or two:

http://becomingella.wordpress.com/

Speaking of friends, this is another one I am looking at due to the writer being from my former neck of the woods...that being the NYC region

http://poorfrank.blogspot.com/2008/09/during-this-election-season-you-want-to.html

Plus he and I have our respective rock backgrounds in common...Enjoy!!!

What do Roger Maris and Barry Bonds have in common?

2006-05-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

It is that time of year, folks. Fruit trees are showing their blossoms, people are no longer wearing heavy sweaters in this hemisphere to and from work and other places, the sun is out for a longer period of time. Plus it is that time when baseball takes center stage on the sports pages [that is unless of course your local basketball or hockey teams are involved in those never-ending playoffs]. As this is being written, there is a major controversy that is simmering, having to do with the potential of Barry Bonds to overtake Babe Ruth's position on the Major League all-time home run list.

When this does occur [as I write this and as you are reading this dispatch, there is the possibility that it will happen this week against the Dodgers -- an interesting irony which will be explained later], Bonds will be in the history books, but he will in the minds of many have the same denotation that Roger Maris did in his records for some time. That is the asterisk.

An asterisk. A simple punctuation mark known as '*', which for years was in all of the books next to the Maris record, because of the year he broke Babe Ruth's record for home runs hit in a single season. While he did break the record in 1961 with 61 home runs, [in fact he did so on the last day of the season at Yankee Stadium], the record keepers said it was not a fair comparison. Why? This is because the number of games in the season that Ruth set the record in were fewer than the length of the season that Roger Maris had played in. It was not Roger's fault, the season was expanded...this was due to balancing the schedule [and later on newer franchises].

While not trying to engender any sympathy for him, keep in mind that this haunted Maris for years, even when he ended his career with two World Series appearances with the St. Louis Cardinals in the late 60's. He did this in an era before drugs became prominent, 24 hour sports channels...when it was still [for better or for worse] -- was still a game that people played and returned back to regular lives after the season was done. This record was and is as legitimate as any other at that time or since.

Now flash forward to present day. The person whose name may [and I stress may because anything can happen] be at the top of the home run leader list, Barry Bonds is doing this with an assist. A cheat. Not with aluminum bats, not with loaded or 'juiced' baseballs...but because he was in steroidal based supplements which caused him to bulk up. In taking these 'medications' [a la Canseco or McGuire] he turned into a baseball version of a mini Frankenstein, with a temper to match. When the records are tied or when he passes Hank Aaron on the all time list, he will have an asterisk, if not on the records kept in Cooperstown or by the Elias Sports Bureau, but also in the minds of the fans. Plus there is one other difference - he does not have the class or even any of the dignity that Aaron or Maris have or had. That will be part of the Bonds legacy...if there is one.

[About the Dodgers and the irony of the Ruth record - Bonds this week, once again as this is being posted - may set his record in the same fashion that Hank Aaron did, again against the Los Angeles Dodgers:

'The largest crowd in Braves history (53,775) watched Hank Aaron break the record on April 8, 1974 with a home run in the 4th inning off Los Angeles pitcher Al Downing. The ball landed in the Braves bullpen where reliever Tom House caught it. While cannons were firing in celebration and Aaron rounded the bases, two college students appeared and ran alongside, congratulating him before security stepped in.' - From Wikipedia

Yep, he hit a nice, fat 3-2 fastball off of Al Downing that night in front of not only a packed house but one of the largest television audiences for a baseball game, ever. Curt Gowdy did the call and for that moment once again we all saw that even something that was considered out of reach was now attainable and surpassable. Done by someone who did it the right way]

A few thoughts on Ethanol...and other things that are a gas

2006-04-18T20:23:00.000-07:00

CH3CH2OH. That is the chemical formula for a form of alcohol that can be created from plants such as corn, sugar cane and others and is also at the heart of a rather ugly debate about alternative fuels. Or put another way, the battle over getting the US off the Middle East Oil Bottle.

Now it would seem a little odd that if the cars that run either at the NASCAR superspeedways [Bristol and Martinsville excluded in that definition, those are more or less very small, oval parking lots] or at Indianapolis for the 500 can be made to run on Ethanol [it is a race formulated version but you get the idea], then why in heck can it not be done for the rest of the country? After all, the raw materials for this are readily available [corn, sugar cane, soybeans], plus the processing plants do exist. If they did not, then firms such as Archer-Daniels Midland [ADM for those of you who watch 'Meet the Press' on NBC] are spinning tall tales about the ability to make this relatively cheap source of fuel.

However there are some devils in the details as far as getting this clean liquid to the pumps. One of them sadly are the oil companies. Yep, the same ones who have said that they were expending funds to research the possibilities of 'alternative fuels' [a buzzword term that came out of the 'Earth Day' events] such as ethanol, solar power, coal gasification, hydrogen based cars [no they would not blow up like The Hindenburg] for some reason still want to stick with their old standby. Black Gold, Texas tea -- oil. As such they have seen to it that those people in Washington, D.C. and other capitals in the western world keep the mind on oil. Them as well as such wonderful, prospering companies as Ford, GM, Daimler-Chrysler who want the public to purchase those esteem building SUV's as well as other suburban assault vehicles because they are good for the country. If they are good for the country and its economy, how could this be wrong.

Well there is one thing to consider. Oil and where it comes from is a finite source of fuel. In straight English, it is going to run out at some point. The fact that there are also new economies that are growing [China, India] which are gobbling up oil at a rate not seen on this planet -- in relative terms since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution is not helping matters any if only because all of the planet will be fighing over not just the supply that does exist, but over what comes out from any untapped oil fields [one in Canada has been mentioned in ths space before]. But ethanol, can be grown and seeing that the aforementioned developing countries have land which can be dvoted to the growth of the crops to provide the basics. And if there are some really sharp entreprenurial types in those countries [and there are, after all they went hand in hand with Western investors and venture capitalists to get their balls rolling in the first place].

Before this one ends, the cost of ethanol gas per gallon [or litre for that matter] will over time drop down to the point where it will be competitive with gold old refined regular gas. It would make sense after all because the technology to produce this fuel will only get better over time. That is of course unless the old Standard Oil Trust [Esso, Mobil, Sohio, Amoco and other picture postcards for those of you who remember those good old days of the colorful names for Standard Oil] decides to get in on the action and buys the farms and the processing plants. However that would be unethical and those companies would not act in that fashion, would they?

It is time for 'United 93'

2006-04-07T21:14:00.000-07:00

It is time. At the risk of possibly fanning some rather harsh, terse and direct emotional flames -- it is time. The movie about the heroes of United 93 is due for release in the US by the end of this month. It is time. While this has been mentioned before in this blogspot, perhaps it is time for another reminder.

During this week when there were other scandals that had hit different parts of the US [some to be mentioned at another time], the death penalty phase of the trial of the only person to be charged with being a conspirator in 9/11 has started. To hear some of what was said by not just those who lost family and friends on the planes and in the towers, but also the survivors was to bring back a day that many of us thought would not happen to the US again. While Pearl Harbor is similar in that it was an attack on a US territory, as we all know, 9/11 was more sinister. More evil -- with the faces of the bastards who comiitted these acts on tapebefore they boarded the planes. The stares of those who supposedly practice the 'religion of peace'.

Peace my ass. These vermin and others like them took a sick, twisted amount of joy in seeing tapes and hearing about the World Trade Center being destroyed and the Pentagon being hit. Plus these little sh*ts have vowed to take aim at the US again at some point.

Now if this movie does inflame some here in the US, good. If it spurs action to take political correctness out of how we handle the borders, even better. If it will mean that we will be even more vigilant about keeping our skies, oceans and cities safe -- excellent [if some of you are about to say 'this will lead to racial profiling' and 'we will then persecute people because of religion, etc' -- get over it and get over yourself. If it was any other group that had comminted these henious acts on 9/11/01, very few reading this would object to proflling, detention, expulsion or even the death penalty/extermination for them].

Listed below are the names of those who were on United 93:

The Crew

Jason Dahl

LeRoy Homer, Jr.

Lorraine Bay

Sandra Bradshaw

Cee Cee Lyles

Wanda Green

Deborah Anne Jacobs Welsh

The Passengers

Christian Adams

Todd Beamer

Alan Beaven

Mark Bingham

Deora Bodley

Marion Britton

Thomas E. Burnett Jr.

Willam Cashman

Georgine Rose Corrigan

Patricia Cushing

Joseph DeLuca

Patrick "Joe" Driscoll

Edward Porter Felt

Jane Folger

Colleen L. Fraser

Andrew Garcia

Jeremy Glick

Lauren Grandcolas

Donald F. Greene

Linda Gronlund

Richard Guadagno

Toshiya Kuge

Hilda Marcin

Waleska Martinez

Nicole Miller

Louis J. Nacke II

Donald and Jean Peterson

Mark "Mickey" Rothenberg

Christine Snyder

John Talignani

Honor Elizabeth Wainio

Kristin Gould

If you look at page for the film, there are two simple words in the background. Never Forget. Keep that in mind folks.

[The best background piece about the people of Flight 93 can be found at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Others have talked about the passengers -- ranging from Michael Savage to John McLaughlin. However, this is straightforward and brings it home. Never Forget. It is time to remember]

4/16/06 Another voice did stand up with regard to those on 93. Neil Young [yes, as in Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young]. The words of Todd Beamer were put on record, not for profit, but as another reminder:

Let's Roll - Neil Young

I know I said I love you
I know you know it's true
I've got to put the phone down
And do what we gotta do
One's standing in the aisleway
Two more at the door
We've got to get inside there
Before they kill some more

Time is running out
Let's roll
Time is running out
Let's roll

No time for indecision
We've got to make a move
I hope that we're forgiven
For what we gotta do
How this all got started
I will never understand
I hope someone can fly this thing
And get us back to land

Time is running out...

No one has the answer
But one thing is true
You've gotta turn on evil
When it's coming after you
You gotta face it down
And when it tries to hide
You gotta go in after it
And never be denied

Time is running out...

Let's roll for freedom
Let's roll for love
Goin' after Satan
On the wings of a dove
Let's roll for justice
Let's roll for truth
Let's not let our children grow up
Fearful in their youth

Right on Todd and Right On, Neil

Some notes about the immigration debate [Caution - Logic Ahead]

2006-04-01T20:05:00.000-08:00

Politics in the US does make for some rather ugly displays of behavior and the current debate over illegal and legal immigration is no different. During the past week, viewers of the nightly news programs have been witnesses to scenes of schools being closed, highways being clogged, state capitals being beseiged by persons saying that

- this debate would penalize those who come over the border into the US for a better life.

- is racist because it is targeted towards Mexicans which at the same time paints these new people on these shores as being criminals .

- that such laws will hamper the economy due to the fact that those immigrants work for rates that are much lower than native born Americans -- hence keeping the price of new houses, produce, meats and other items down.

Well let's try to take these by the numbers and bring some logic to the debate.

On the first issue, yes there are many who are willing to risk life and limb to come over the border to start a new or have a better life. Compared with much of Mexico and Central/South America -- this is the case. Salaries here are much higher than what they would get in their native countries, which even includes the maquiadoras [US Factories built just over the US -Mexican border in places like Ciudad Juarez]. With this being the case, what those who are seeking a better life are doing is no different than those waves of immigrants who have come to the us by air, boat and by land for years. In this case though the major part of the argument is that quite a few of these folks are not willing to go through the process to become a citizen like others have done. As in, apply for visas, file the paperwork, take the citizenship test and therefore become full participants in the American system. While President Bush's ideas for a guest worker program may work [more about this in a few]what would be best to take care of this part of the issue would be to ask that all those who want to come and live here make the effort to become citizens, Every other country that has an immigration policy does that [or if they have not -- in this post 9/11 world are on their way to it] and those that have an 'open borders' policy are now paying for that.

How you may ask? If France is any example of this, the payment for this are riots, social unrest [which has this eerie look of something out of the US in the 1960's] and people being sent to prison. Odd because this in a sense dovetails on what we have had because of illegal immigration here, in that there is a sizeable population in the jails and the Federal penal system who are illegals. Compound this with a stream of illegal drugs [See this link to Frontline's program about the Meth Epidemic] and this situation gets even stranger. Before it is said, yes it is a fact that many meth-heads here in the US are anglo and do not look like that they come from south of the border. Yes, most of the arrests as a result are of meth are anglos. However, because of a clampdown on the sale of one of the main ingredients in meth -- there has been streams of this item making their way via drug mules into the US from Mexico [this as well as cocaine and other illicit chemicals]. So there is a need, a real need to police the borders if not just to cut down on those who do not want to follow the process but also to cut down on the drugs that are being moved.

In a sense, the last paragraph dealt with the latter portion of bullet-point 2, however there is also the former of this. Those of you who see the targeting of the Mexican border as being racist, intentions and practice sometimes go into a gray zone of logic. The US does have a porous border with Canada [there are parts where one can cross into the US from Manitoba -- for example and not get noticed in the least] but the Mexican border is being focused on because of the aforementioned problems that have come through as a result. Sadly, if there is a sizeable portion of those who are commiting crimes after crossing the southern border are from Mexico, then there would be a targeting of those who would come in through that means who are of that descent. This is no different than targeting some communities in the inner cities where crime is committed by one or two particular groups and the police focus in on them in an effort to alleviate the situation.

Now about the economic end of this situation and here is where things start to get really fun. Let's be a little blunt here, there is some truth to the statements that have been made that the Mexicans and others who cross over will do the work that some Americans are not willing to do. Such as the picking of produce, working in the meatpacking and poultry houses, doing janitorial work, etc. But this did not happen overnight. Far from it. Over time and this had to do with how the waves of society work, these jobs were done by those who either came into this country or had very little skills otherwise and as such worked their way up by performing same. The list of groups that have done so is long and I will not detail that here, suffice it to say that this was the case. With that being the preface, we now go to the mid part of the last century.

With the advent of the civil rights movement, also came movement and the statements that these jobs tended to not only be demading and trapped some groups in a cycle of being confined to that level of work without there being any chance of advancement. In short folks did not want to be the beasts of burden and that part of this makes sense if only due to societies progressing over time. Add to this some programs that were geared towards social engineering [a term that I despise as well but it is here for illustrative purposes] and some of the work that used to be done is not any more. After all, when there is the governemtn dole, there is very little need to break one's back so to speak. So these jobs were filled by those who came caross the border, who performed those duties and also did those for very low wages. The beauty of those who were willing to work for those wages is that they also helped to keep the prices down.

With the prices down, stores are able to sell those goods rather quickly because folks are able to afford the veggies, meats and other items. As slightly perverse as this may sound, it has been and is a good situation for the businesses involved. Those who are now protesting the labor that comes across should also keep in mind that housing proices also are lower [not to mention improvements to said same housing] due to the cheap labor. Be it the day laborer who gets picked up on the streetcorner at 6am in the morning or the ones who work on a project for a little while and them move on, the overall effect is lower prices. Regretably that is an economic fact.

Granted, there have to be ways to keep the prices down and hire natives of the US first. After all there was a day years ago when there was a certain amount of pride in that line of work [some of us kids looked up to the guys who could stand on a roof...or thought that being out in the sun in the fields was something kind of cool]. This can go hand in hand with some revamps of the programs that led to why the immigrants came in and have and are perfoming thse jobs in the first place.

Which does lead into the following, a slight digression but you will see the connection on this in time. Someone in one of the major US papers had been questioning why the major civil rights groups have not been involved in this debate. The aritcle about this is
here , but the portion that is really telling is this:

In 2002, the NAACP made a slight nod to the immigration fight when it invited Hector Flores, president of League of United Latin American Citizens, to address its convention. The NAACP billed the invite as a "historic first." But it was careful to note that immigration was one of a list of policy initiatives the two groups would work together on. That list included support for affirmative action, expanded hate crimes legislation, voting rights protections and increased health and education funding. There is no indication that the two groups have done much together since to tackle immigration reform.

The caucus and civil-rights leaders tread lightly on the immigrant rights battle for two reasons. They are loath to equate the immigrant-rights movement with the civil-rights battles of the 1960s. They see immigrant rights as a reactive, narrow, single-issue movement whose leaders have not actively reached out to black leaders and groups.

Black leaders also cast a nervous glance over their shoulder at the shrill chorus of anger rising from many African Americans, especially the black poor, of whom a significant number flatly oppose illegal-immigrant rights. But illegal immigration is not the prime reason so many poor young blacks are on the streets, and why some turn to gangs, guns and drug dealing to get ahead. A shrinking economy, sharp state and federal government cuts in and elimination of job and skills training programs, failing public schools, a soaring black prison population and employment discrimination are the prime causes of the crisis in many inner-city black neighborhoods.

Yet, many blacks soft-target illegal immigrants for the crisis and loudly claim that they take jobs from unskilled and marginally skilled blacks. Black fury over immigration has cemented an odd alliance between black anti-immigrant activists and GOP conservatives, fringe anti-illegal immigration groups and racially tinged America-first groups.

While a brilliant anaylsis, it is missing here too that the current generation is missing the work ethic. There is an assumption by some employers [and I have actually heard the following from some as 'off the record comments'] that some in the current black population, in particualr the males....do not want to work. If a population or pool of potential employees is not willing to work, this places the employer in a bad position. Hence the employers are left with no choice but to look elsewhere for those willing to not only work cheap, but also will work hard.

So this brings this post to the following:

1. Let's have a common sense immigration policy. Do not penalize those who want to work but strongly, emphatically encourage that the persons go through the same process to become a citizen as others have.

2.Send those who are the criminals back to their homeland and make sure they never come back here. If they do instead of catch and release, jail them but bill them -- through the state department -- to the government from where they came from. Like let's say the Mexican governemt for the mules or trafickers who come over as well as other felons.

3. For the US workers who do not want to do these jobs, fine. Let there be the incentive of either work or no more of the dole to the mailbox. However, employers and employment agencies should not act as though they are the discriminator of first choice as well as those who want the work should make sure their skills are up to snuff.

Could this be a win-win? Not immediately, it will happen over time. But this can make this issue less contentious. After all no city wants to look like Paris has over the past few weeks. Or for that matter -- have traffio clogged by demonstrations as Los Angeles has.

Memo to Fairfield, Connecticut: FREE LEWIS THE CAT!!!!!

2006-03-29T17:54:00.000-08:00

It has been mentioned here before that yours truly loves cats. After all, I live with two feline friends by the names of Rachel and Marissa. Like most cats they will on occassion scratch and bite, but that is part of how they play and in the case of how Rachel was adopted, the greeting I got from her was a bite and her tongue on my fingers. Did I hold that against her? Heck no...in fact she and I along with Marissa [and before that the late, great Margaret the Momcat] are the best of friends. [See the last post in this blog, they are music fans!!!]

So imagine my surprise when I logged on to the net and saw the story about
Lewis the Cat . In the semi-civil hamlet of Fairfield, Ct. some people are having a fit over the fact that there is a cat in one neighborhood who, if the neighbors are to be believed, is acting like a terrorist. Attacking people at random, even the Avon Lady. To look at him, even if he were to scratch anyone, Lewis looks as though he could not do any real damage to anyone. Even if is a 6-toed cat, big deal.

But these people have lost their minds in response to this problem. The cat has been egged, had water sprayed on him but the coup de gras has been the fact that he and his human have now got a temporary restraining order placed on them. Yep, the cat has to now be kept inside by order of the police. I will not belittle the cops on this one, but I will say this about the neighbors. This is just another example of people with way too much damn time on their hands and too quick to resort to tactics that are better used on real crooks. Like gangbangers or the overly cheerful high school pep squad.

By the by, in the name of full disclosure, two points: One is that when I lived in Brooklyn many years back, on our block there was a little white cat who ironically was named Lewis. He was the ambassador of the block, greeted everyone with a meow and when I would walk to the subway, he would greet me and slap my hadnd with his paw -- a way of 'giving someone five'. He did not attack anyone, he was being friendly and a lot of cats are like this , no different than let's saya dog giving a friendly bark.

The second point is seeing I have mentioned Rachel and Marissa before, here is their pic. Like Lewis, they would not go out of their way to harm anyone. Then again too, cats are no different than most humans, they will let you know right off the bat if they like or cannot stand the person in question...and they can just be plain playful.

Renaissance and the Moody Blues in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...Why Not?

2006-03-25T20:43:00.000-08:00

There are several things in this life that seem to cause rather heated debates. Ethnic politics, religion, why there are shortstops who have a lifetime batting average of .210 getting paid 10 million dollars a year...those sorts of things. Add to this the election process that surrounds those who get into the Rock and Roll hall of Fame . While this debate is not going to bring abour world peace or even restore General Motors to profitabliity, it is contentious none the less because this list, like beauty is subjective.

This list of those who are in is impressive due to the fact that it covers the spectrum of rock or what had led up to it. Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Holly, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Leiber and Stoller, Ahmet Ertegun...you get the idea. Some heavy hitters are on the dais and that is way cool. With that said, there is one area of rock that overlooked...the area of progressive or classical rock.

If you are not familiar with the genre, the term means music that incoprorates classical elements [orchestras or smaller additional musical accompianists] and song structures that go beyond AABA or ABACAB [music students will understand what that means and this was before Genesis made an album with that name] as well as newer instruments be they acoustic or electronic [synthesizers such as the Moog, ARP, Roland, Oberheim, EMu, Prophet 5 and the grandaddy of them all -- the Mellotron]. Bands that are associated with this include Emerson Lake and Palmer, Rush, Electric Light Orchestra, Pink Floyd, The Alan Parsons Project, Yes, Genesis, Mike Oldfield and others. However two that are near and dear to my heart [plus my cats like them!] are Renaissance and The Moody Blues. And it is not just because these are my two favorite bands.

If you have never heard Annie Halsam sing or saw Jon Camp play bass [who it has been mentioned in other corners was the bass player Stanley Clarke looked up to....what does that tell you?] or Michael Dunford show his musicanship while

Renaissance was still touring [I did not forget John Tout on Keyboards or Terry Sullivan on drums or the multitude of others who filled those positions in the 80's], you missed out on something rather special. One could call it almost entrancing. From their classic material like Prologue, Carpet of the Sun, Northern Lights to the new wave sounds of Camera Camera, Jigsaw and others, it was a major treat to go to one of their concerts. Even the last studio album they made, called Tuscany showed that after all this time they still had the chops. The fact that they also worked with some of the more famous orchestras in the US and abroad such as the NY Philharmonic, the London Symphony, the Royal Phiharmonic Orchestra and others before it became fashionable to do so [as in 'wow let's do this -- its a cool idea!!'].

As for the
Moody Blues , these guys are one of the few bands still in existence that can after all this time put together not just great material but killer shows, with or without orchestras [Case in point: the show with the Colorado Symphony that has been featured on PBS over the years] . When Justin Hayward is at his best, there are very few who can touch him as far as his guitar playing technique is concerned. John Lodge is a good compliment on bass, Ray Thomas [now retired from the band but was their flautist for a long time] could give some rockers who play flute lessons and Graeme Edge on drums is crazy and cool. Their songs and albums are major classics and have become influences for many others. In Search of the Lost Chord, Seventh Sojurn, Every Good Boy Deserves Favor, Long Distance Voyager and the one the one that put them on the map: Days of Future Passed. Ask any music fan out there and they will tell you that not only do they know this album but also its two signature, classic pieces: Tuesday Afternoon and Nights in White Satin. [On their two live concert DVD's, Tuesday Afternoon is the first song played after the oveture]

So folks, let's get them in the hall. After all, if the Sex Pistols can be elected in, then Renaissance and The Moody Blues should be shoe ins. If rock music encompasses all influences, styles and ranges -- these pioneers of the classical rock form should be in because if it were not for them, some of the other bands listed at the top of this post may not have gotten the airplay that they did. The link about how the induction process runs is here .

United 93 - Someone in Hollyweird may have finally gotten it

2006-03-22T19:43:00.000-08:00

Folks, it looks as though someone in lala land where political correctness prevents anyone from calling any group an enemy unless they are conservative or mainstream may have gotten it through their thick heads. This evening, one of those entertainment programs aired a preview clip for a movie dealing with Flight 93 which is due for release later this spring.

That was the flight that fought back on 9/11. Where we have the now famous saying that even Bush and friends used on the deck of a carrier ['Let's Roll']. Where ordinary people who were as different as you and I became one for one cause, to make sure those bastards who killed the pilots and some of the crew did not reach their target.

Now I know there will be a few of you reading this who will say that we do not need to be reminded of what happened on 9/11, because it may stir up hatred for those in this country who are of middle east descent or those who practice Islam. All I can say to those people is: get over it. Whether you like it or not, those folks are the enemy and we do need to be reminded of that fact. If the PC crowd had their way, we never would have had those films that were made during WWII that featured caricatures of our enemies then. The Germans, the Japanese -- they were the subject of the product of some of the brightest minds in the entertainment industry at that time. Names such as Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, Isidor Freleng, Richard DePatie, Frank Capra, Segar [the creator of Popeye the Sailor] and others created films and cartoons to remind us of who the US was at war with.

Now it is time that the internet generation does same. To remind ourselves that there is a reason why there are soldiers, airmen and marines overseas. And like with what happened with Pearl harbor...to never forget the event and to not let those who made the ultimate sacrifice have that just go by the wayside.

Why is Buck O'neil not in the Hall of Fame?

2006-03-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

The other morning, I logged on to the net and saw an article about there being a flap over the latest edition to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. Granted each year when there are votes on those who are elligible for the hall, there is some controversy in re: the merits of the persons involved. Such as their overall contributions to the game, whether or not they were good athletes [as in batting over .200 for a lifetime or having a low error count or earned run average]. But in this case, the rhubarb over this vote hits a little close to home.

Buck O'neil [who has been mentioned in this column before] was left out of the current class of those admitted and what makes this really strange is that the ones admitted were members and founders of the old Negro Leagues. For those of you who are not familiar with what this league was about, before the color barriers was broken by Jackie Robinson, he and many others played for teams such as: The Kansas City Monarchs, The Homestead Grays, the Pittsburgh Crawfords and many others. This was also the intial place where men like Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, Hank and Tommie Aaron honed their chops. Now with the league and its players getting its due, this ommission was just a little on the insane side.

Like Ernie Banks, Buck is an ambassador of the game, like Ted Williams he was a mentor [when he managed the KC Monarchs] to those young players who could use the help and in his adopted hometown of Kansas City, he is as much a part of the fabric of the city as Willie Mays was in San Francisco or Archibald 'Moonlight' Graham was in Chisolm, Minnesota. Mostly in part because of Buck, many youngsters have a better understanding of the history of the game.

So with all this, why in heck is he not in the hall? I am lost on this one as are many others. It makes very little sense for one of the greatest the game has ever seen, let alone one of the true gentlemen in all of sports to not be part of the illustrious list of those whose exploits are enshrined in Cooperstown. He deserves to be there, no matter what.

[If you want to show your support for Buck, contact him at:

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum as well as send a letter to The Baseball Hall of Fame]

All we need now in Stumptown is 'Rosebud'

2006-03-01T11:14:00.000-08:00

I can see the question marks coming off the minds of those of you reading this and you are asking 'Rosebud? What the heck is going on here???' Read on and you will see why that is in the title [or skip to the bottom of this post if you are curious about where it comes from].

In a city where there are questions about the legitimacy of demands for more money for the schools, verbal altercations about the plan to send the LRT into the heart of downtown and in turn try to make Portland into Torino [or Oslo, Copenhagen, Bern, Prague or even Boston] while seeing more empty shops than currently exist in parts of Brooklyn or Detroit and more politically correct rules that are passed than necessary, the big news on the cover of current edition of the Portland Tribune is about the Trailbazers. In particular, about their owner, our version of Charles Foster Kane [nee William Randolph Hearst], Paul Allen and all of those wonderful investments and causes he has been involved in since he bought the Blazers in 1988. Some of these read to be about as the same little financial daliances that Kane had involved himself in.

One can say that the Rose Garden [the building that the Blazers. Winter Hawks and the lacrosse Lumberjacks call home] is his version of the Chicago Opera House from 'Citizen Kane' [the real reference in the movie was about the San Francisco Opera House which Hearst had constructed to please his paramour at the time, Marian Davies, who supposedly could sing opera. From what had been mentioned in other corners, she could not and that failed attempt was featured in Citizen Kane]. Come to think of it, the museum he has built in Seattle; the Experience Music Project could be his version of the large museum/zoo on the premises of Kane's 'Xanadu'. Along with a whole slew of others.

By the by I am not making light of all of this or putting Allen down for making money and being a capitalist. Heck, that would be just plain crazy. With that said, one does have to wonder how someone who has amassed a great deal of wealth can lose money in a business where someone really has to work hard to LOSE money. Owning a sports franchise in the US is no different than let's say...running a McDonald's -- it is licence to print money, as the term goes. A person or ownership group would have to be a complete set of dolts [see the Bidwell family and the Arizona Cardinals] to lose money or make decisions for a team that would place a local icon in the same league as items in the cut-out, $1 bin at the local K-Mart. However, it is also an interesting study as to seeing how some can think that money or the status it can give or bring can just correct any problem or bring a championship just by tossing it around or wishing that it was so.

[Now about 'Rosebud'. Yes it is the sled that is burned at the end of Citizen Kane, but it is also the alleged nickname that Hearst gave his girlfriend because of a particular female body part. Anatomy students, you know what that part is -- impress your friends at your next party with that one. And who said the net is not a place to learn something new *S*?]

What would Portland be without the Blazers [and other thoughts about Moscow on the Willemette]

2006-02-24T21:51:00.000-08:00

If you live here in the Pacific Northwest, you have already heard this, or if you are in other parts of the country this news may have shown up in the sports section-way below a listing for 'Pitchers and Catchers have reported for Spring Training', there is trouble right here in 'Rip City'. That begins with 'T' that rhymes with 'P' that stands for 'Paul' [With apologies to Meredith Wilson, who wrote 'The Music Man']. As in Paul Allen, member of the multimillionaire boys club who owns the Portland Trailblazers has said the team is in serious trouble and drastic measures may need to be taken.

Apparently, Allen and his minions could not work the same voodoo they have with the Seattle Seahawks and as a result, the team is on course to lose $100 million dollars over the next 3 years. Yes, dear readers you read that right...100 million. This on top of the fact that the team has not played well over the past few years; in playoff years have not made it out of the first round since Garfield's animated version was cancelled by CBS and has drafted, signed and traded for players who would be better suited to playing in the cages over at Riker's Island or Leavenworth [J.R. Rider anyone?]. Oh yeah, I forgot, they also no longer own or control the arena they play in, the Rose Garden that Paul built as a place to showcase the team as well as other events.

So what does the co-founder of the evil empire, I mean Microsoft do to try to dig himself out of this? Well, he does what every other sports team owner does when they feel they are behind the 8-ball, he asks the city for a bailout. Otherwise known as corporate welfare, the Blazers are asking that the city give them money to cover their losses while they [paraphrasing here] 'work their way back to a winning team and have the fan support that they have gotten in the past'. However that support they want to get is waning for various reasons.

Not too long ago, they would sell out their games in the old Memorial Colisseum - to the tune of 12,566 [give or take a few] for each home contest. The team played an aggressive and fun mix of basketball that got the fans and the city interested. Even though they had only 1 NBA championship to show for all of this over the years, they at least had their loyal fans [think of those in Green Bay who come out even when the Packers have stunk up the joint] who would show no matter what. But the love affair with the team has grown cold. The first few years with the new arena, they still had the sellouts, but those were on paper. As in the numbers were padded so that while the boxscore would show 20,122 [again give or take] the tapes that would show that quite a few folks came dressed as empty seats. Along with the players who would get the Sing-Sing 'least likely to go straight' award, the fan base while not on life support is getting there.

With all this said, there is a real possibility the team may move and the usual suspects for relocation are: Las Vegas, Kansas City, Mo, Baltimore [they at one time had the Baltimore Bullets, soon to be the Washington Wizards], Tampa-St. Petersburg and St. Louis. Should that day of the U-hauls come to pass, what will Portland have to look at or pass the time in the way of spectator sports? The list includes:

1. The Portland Beavers - The AAA Pacific Coast League team of the San Diego Padres who play a pretty good game of baseball. PGE Park is not a bad place to see a game because it is small, intimate and one can hear the 'colorful metaphors' being used after a strikeout. The tickets are affordable so a family can spend a day at the ballpark and not worry about being taken to the cleaners.

2. The Portland Timbers - 'A' League soccer. Their fans tend to be a little like escapees from the soccer hooligan training asylum, but the Timbers do at least try to not have their games end up being draws like chess being played on grass [By the by my own preference for soccer teams is the Minnesota Thunder of the same league, having been to quite a few games when my former roomie and I lived in Minneapolis and their fans were more or less like a family. A strange twisted, extended group but a family none the less]

3. Portland State Football - Division 1-AA Big Sky Conference. They play the likes of Montana and Montana State and have hopes of maybe going to Division 1-A one day. Their crowds can be just as vocal as those in Eugene or Corvallis for the Ducks or [Oregon State] Beavers.

4. Portland Winter Hawks - WHL Junior League Hockey. If you have seen the tapes on the local news, these guys play the game like kids who want to make it to the big time. They are good kids besides, [they would never be confused with the Hanson Brothers -'Slapshot'] which explains why the Colisseum is called 'Hawkeytown' during the season.

Lest I forget, starting in January of 2007 [for 2 years], we have another sport coming to town. That being the rebuild of the downtown transit mall to have the MAX Light Rail run down the middle of 5th and 6th Avenues. Phone the neighbors, wake the kiddies...my oh my!!!! This will be oh so much fun, to see businesses leave town and have so many desolate storefronts that we will forget that we once had some overgrown children being paid an insane amount of money to shoot a little orange ball through a hoop. When completed, we will have a crisscross of trains, trolleys, relocated buslines and frustrated citizens who will be more upset with missing a connection for a meeting compared to missing the Blazers.

If the Blazers are truly on their last legs in this city, it may be sad to see them go, but it is sadder still to see what was once a proud franchise become a parody of their former glory. So much for the legacy in the hands of those who more often than not will phone it in as opposed to run it up and down for 48 minutes a night. Who knows, [should the clock strike midnight] maybe the NBA will deem this city worthy of another franchise...in about 30 years.

So many things that happened, so many jerks...too few who are doing the right thing

2006-01-27T23:07:00.000-08:00

Maybe it is just the fact that I live in one of the politically correct nexi of the US that has me more than suspicious and leary of those who are trying to force the left leaning agenda on the country, but there has been just a little too much weirdness going on. Like for example, momma moonbat, ooops Cindy Sheehan announcing that she may run for the senate in California.

Or how about those friends of the common man[tongue in cheek] Ted Kennedy and John Kerry saying they will attempt to stop the senate vote on Samuel Allito's appointment to the Supreme Court because he, supposedly was a full member of group at Princeton that was not crazy about affirmative action. And those two surround thenselves with a 'diverse' group of people? Kennedy's idea of anything mixed is light rum mixed with a cola, and he is no better than the other democrats who want to stall the vote. But I digress, after all some of them will be voted out of office soon enough.

There have been other bits of madness too: teachers still begging for more money to bne given to the schools [even though it is courtesy of their unions that most of the funding is wasted], the NYC Transitwokers union may strike again [heaven help those bastards if they do], GM and Ford announcing massive layoffs even though the ones who came up with the 'genius plans' to bring those firms back to prosperity have not been canned, Hollyweird and their friends showing they are still way the hell out of touch with reality and of course the hype leading up to the Holy Grail of football greed...the Super Bowl.

With very few exceptions, the next few days will remind us how 'big' a game the SB 'will be', how 'wonderful' Detroit is as a host city, how kind their mayor is, etc. If Detroit is really that nice a place to go to in the dead of winter, how come this is only the second time the big game has been played there? Hmmmm?

Not all is bad in this world. Before I close this let me mention there have been reports [most recently on 60 Minutes] that the land of Bob and Doug McKenzie, Rush and William Shatner...ooops I mean Canada is sitting on top of what may be the largest untapped oilfield in the Western Hemishpere. Enough oil to help keep our economy [yes, Canada's too]humming and going for 100 years WITHOUT having to be at the mercy of Sheik Yerbouti. Granted this oil is mixed in with sand, but can be extracted with technology that is just around the corner or being used on an experimental basis, However once this oil starts flowingperhaps then the US can get back to what we do best, meaning our industries can turn out the products that we know we can and that at one time were the envy of the planet.

Just when we thought the moonbats had 'retired'

2006-01-17T19:49:00.000-08:00

If one likes stupidity with their politics, then they have to like what Mayor Ray Nagin has said about what 'god intended' for New Orleans to be. The entire tape of his latest statements can be found at the ABC NEWS website . Just amazing...and while we are speaking about amazing...

While each person should, if they have control [by the concept of free will] of how they want to handle their ultimate demise, what the Supreme Court did today in their ruling on Doctor Assisted Suicide could very well open some rather ugly doors. Suppose someone is suffereing from a very deep form of depression or has a severe form of arthritis or is a senior citizen whose medical issues could very well become a burden on the persons' family or the state wanted to take an easy way out? A less than ethical doctor could very well not treat this person in full and give the person a prescription for meds which will cease life functions once and for all. This sadly could also be turned into something we have not seen done as an 'industry' since WWII, which is how the Nazis started their version of this. First with mentally and physically infirmed then those who were deemed 'parasites' and then it snowballed.

On the more socially [convenient and] sinister side could be a situation that was mentioned by Harry Harrison in his book Make Room, Make Room better known by the movie it spawned called Soylent Green. Yes, it may sound slightly pollyannish so say that things may be headed in that direction, however the technology that was mentioned in this movie does exist [for the large euthenasia facility, that for the conversion of human tissue into those 'soylent' crackers is there, in theory..at least according to the consultants who worked on the movie], but some said that what happened in Germany, under Pol Pot and other despots could not happen either. More of an example of how life has been viewed or made to seem cheaper by society.

As a postscript to this, apparently some of this, via gene manipulation has started: if this article is correct . Perhaps the world becoming like Hannibal Lecter is not that far away then.

Just another example of the great college sports hypocrisy

2006-01-09T21:07:00.000-08:00

Initially, I was going to write a piece here about this lovely little rain-soaked burg of Portland wanting to be in the running for the relocation of the Florida Marlins, but I will put that fishing expedition on hold. Why you may ask? This is due to another example that made the news of those wonderful student athletes.

DId I say STUDENT? How about Ex-Student and soon to be felon.Marcus Vick . Yep the brother of that other moral stalwart, Michael Vick who plays [when not injured or in an Atlanta Police Department lineup] for the Atlanta Falcons. When we last heard from Marcus, he was kicked off the Virginia Tech football team for violations of the conduct code and has now added
a robbery at a McDonald's to his resume. In all likelihood, he is going to end up being another Maurice Clarett or at worse, Lloyd Daniels [he of NY street basketball infamy] all of which points to a rather ugly situation as far as college athletics are concerned.

Yeah, I did talk about this before in a previous post, but this one really has me ticked because of all the accolades that are heaped on these thyroid cases due to the fact they seem to be able to throw a ball further or run faster than the next person. Yippie!! However, it would appear that most of these hotshots are helping to make a mockery of the term 'student athlete'. While there are some who do attend classes and major in items other than advanced basket weaving and Ballroom Dancing 201, it would appear to the average eye that the majority are there to play ball in this glorified minor league farm system for the NFL [as well as the NBA]. What makes this even stranger is that a lot of these kids claim to be going for technical classes.

Sure they are. Ask one of them about the benefits of running the triple option or the reason why a fullback is called an H-back and no problem, that can be rattled off like no one's business. Ask them about the tensile stregnth of the latest titanium alloy or what Avagadro's number is or even who was Robert Forward and why his solar sail theory is doable using current technology or even what an Artesian well is -- these folks would be lost. Completely lost like someone not knowing what a fork in the road is.

What is sad as well as reprehensible is that all will be or is forgiven if the team wins. This person could be the next Ted Bundy or Willie Sutton or Iceberg Slim and the school could not care less. If they win their games, get to a major bowl [BCS would be great] then the past is forgotten. Oh yes there is money involved, big money which makes keeping a thug who can help a team score all the more 'important'. Plus with the folks at Fox Sports getting involved next year with the BCS, this means there are even more chances to cheat and have punks and crooks on teams. After all, they are fronting the money for a final championship game for NCAA Division 1 football which will pay more than the current system does. Makes those of us who have cats or dogs as our families lucky they are not human and have this 'gift' for sports. If only because it would be used, missued and abused by those creeps who only see dollar signs, even if the kid is as crooked as Marcus Vick.

PBS may have gotten it right for once

2006-01-05T21:27:00.001-08:00

What is going to be said here in this post may anger some people, especially those PC idiots who say we should understand the culture of the enemies of the US. If you are a part of that crowd, close this window or if you have the cajones to read on, you will understand why this has a rather terse and viceral tone.

There is an extra episode of Frontline called 'Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero' which talks to those who survived or are the surviving relatives of those from the attacks on 9/11 and their views on religion and whether or not God was present on that day. As well as why did he allow for people to have been murdered in the way they were. Even though I am not very religious myself, I can see how some of these folks who did suffer those losses have a view that they were abandoned on that day by the acts of a group of thugs.

It is here where the blood gets boiling. To be extremely blunt, President Bush should have done the world a favor on that day or in the days after by sending a radiation based, megaton message to the arab world. Put another way, we should have wasted those countries. Wiped them off the map, send them to their own version of heaven with a nuclear sendoff. If that sounds rather harsh, cruel and mean spirited, tell me or any other American that you would not be moved to the same thought if you saw the film and still photos of people who were jumping out of the windows of 1 and 2 WTC. Or for that matter, the children who were murdered on those planes, who did not do anything to deserve their lives being cut short by a bunch of towelheaded scumbags.

Truman did the right thing by signing the order for use to drop the A-Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to send a message: 'mess with the US and you will get your collective asses kicked and burned'. Bush the younger would do the world a favor by emulating what the man from Independence did.

And the winners is.....

2005-12-31T19:17:00.000-08:00

FOlks, the winner of the 'moonbat of the year award' is.[Drum roll or Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians, please!!]....THE MEDIA!!

Be it television, radio, print or even opn the net, the media in all its forms and guises has become the spawning ground for innacuracy even in the face of natural [Hurricane Katrina or the Portland Ice Storm Event]] or unnatural disasters [The NYC Transit Strike], pushing forward the PC agenda, making garbage look as though it is a great invention that it will save the world as well as making the hollyweirdoes look more important than they are in the grand scheme of things.

Not all of it was bad; after all there were those in this industry who showed class and had left the field [Ted Koppel due to retirement, Peter Jennings, sadly died of cancer] or stayed around to remind us of how the job should be done [Bob Schiefer of CBS for one]. So all is not lost; even with the Howard Sterns, Hip-Hop radio stations, entertainment upon entertainment programs where no talent persons try to hawk rehashed and copied works, sports programs which show better living through chemistry, etc. Remember folks, there is an option if all the BS that is being created by these weasels gets a little much. Turn it off or use logic to balance out the crap. Moonbats do not win a damn thing against those who have indepedent minds.

And Have a Happy New Year, may the next one be a damn sight better than this one.

Turn out the lights, the party's over

2005-12-26T11:55:00.000-08:00

35 years ago, it was started. A revolution of sorts. One which involved a game, a sport that was still maturing. Some broadcast executives thought it would be kinda neat to put football on Monday Nights as an experiment. Little did they realize it would become and institution. Sadly, this evening in the hands of Al Michaels and John Madden , truly the 'Greatest Show on Turf' will end its run on free TV. What a run it was...

From Keith Jackson being the first play by play man to the trio of 'Dandy' Don Meredith, Frank Gifford and the mouth that roared -- 'Humble' Howard Cosell to the different mixtures of announcers and jocks from Boomer Issaiason, OJ Simpson, Fred Williamson, Dan Dierdorf, Dan Fouts as well as Al Michaels and even [LOL] Dennis Miller [he of the Visigoth and Ostrogoth fame] to the current team. Who can forget the interviews with those who walked into the booth, even John Wayne and John Lennon did so. [Ironically, it was on Monday Night Football that the nation and the world got the announcement from the lips of Cosell that Lennon had been shot].

Of course there were the athletes and the games themselves who were the stars or at times the object of sharp consternation from the booth. From Joe Namath hanging his head after the Jets lost the first ever MNF game to the Cleveland Browns, the fantastic fill-in performance by 'Jefferson Street' Joe Gilliam of the Steelers over the Raiders, the evening Bo Jackson almost ran out of the Kingdome when the Raiders played the Seattle Seahawks, Brett Farve of the Packers against ANY TEAM, Joe Montana and the good 49ers teams, The Denver Broncos comebacks in the snow and ice of Mile High Stadium, the brutal Cowboys-Redskins games and even the one game between the [at the time] St Louis Cardinals and NY Giants that was so bad it was called 'the worst Monday Night game ever' (it ended in a 13 all tie).

More than anything, MNF did change how the country viewed sport as well as social patterns. Quite a few businesses looked forward to the games from restaurants to the boys from Pizza Hut. While the games will now be on ESPN and the Sunday night games will be on NBC [FREE TV FOLKS!!!!], after tonight, that one question will have a hollow ring to it:'ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL??'

No respect, no support either.

2005-12-24T11:21:00.000-08:00

Just in case you are wondering, no this is not a post about the late Rodney Dangerfield, although looking at some of those sad sacks who were a part of the Transit Strike in NYC, it easily could be. However, this one is about something that very few had the heart to mention or the stones to say on air.

While flipping through the dials the other evening, I stumbled on the NewsHour on PBS which had a couple talking heads giving a post mortem on the sudden end to the transit debacle. One of these eggheads actually said something that made a lot of sense, which was that no other unions came out in support of the TWU. NONE. Want proof? City employees crossed the lines even though some of them are a part of AFSCME which has a loose affiliation with the TWU. Members of AFTRA and NABET crossed those lines to get reports on the strike done. The teachers union (they are a subject for another post on their own) crossed the lines. Others did as well.

Yours truly has a few theories as to why this happened. One of them being that this was an illegal strike [see a previous post about the New York State Taylor Law which makes strikes by public employees illegal]. Even if there was some sympathy for the folks who operate the A-Train, not a one wants to be involved in something that says they would support the concept or breaking the law to get a new contract. As if that is not enough in this case, consider that with their base pay they make more than many others who work for the city, even some of the police and you can see where there would also be a little bit of a credibility problem.

The next two theories may seem a little out there, but they have some basis in fact. Both involve the 'I' word and the 'R' word. Let's tackle the 'I' word first. The current wave of thought is for any union to get some level of support from others in the labor movement, they have to be 'INCLUSSIVE' . That's right folks; to gain support, the union in question as part of their platform has to say somewhaere that they want fair treatment for alphabet-soupers as well as have placards that read 'End Sexism Now', 'End Racism Now', 'End Anti-Gay Behavior Now'. If this seems strange, this is something that I have been able to pick up on by doing a little research and eavesdropping. Sadly labor unions have, instead of protecting the rights and well being of workers are now more involved in touchy-feely causes that are nothing more or less than emotional blackmail. Put another way, if the union on strike wants support from other unions, they have to bring in others with no promise or certainty of turnabout being fair play. [From what I understand this is being done in California, which would only figure. As California goes, so goes the other coast and then the rest of the country after].

Now let's talk about the 'R' word. Yep, race. Before you ask, no I am not a conspiracy theorist, but if this strike was led by someone who did not look and act like a third world leader short on interpersonal skills and with even fewer brains, the support would have been universal. If one were to look at other labor actions and their leaders in recent years, they would see that the spokespersons or the elected leaders are carefully schooled and in some cases are media friendly. In other words, these would be folks who would be more acceptable to Omaha or Council Bluffs. This is, regretably a fact of life in this day and age and goes to who has more credibility.

Are there lessons to be learned from what happened to this past weeks' events? Heck yes.Are we seeing the labor movement for what is is and what is mutating into? Damn right we are and it is becoming a mockery of what those who fought for fair working conditions struggled for. Will history repeat itself when the next major strike happens? It will only because some in these movements have short memories as well as act like sheep who need to be led. PLus they will swallow anything that comes their way as long as it means they will have a 'guaranteed' job.

Break out the MadDog 2020, the strike is over...OR IS IT?

2005-12-22T11:38:00.000-08:00

Could it be, have the moonbats who have brought the NYC Transit system to a halt come to their senses? The breaking news is the strike is OVER . Apparently the negotiations will be ongoing while service is immediately restored. [This is assuming of course that the rank and file are going to listen to reason here and understand that if they do not, well the devil is in the details of how their representatives thinks]

Speaking of the High Exalted Mystic Rulers, the leadership of the TWU is going to be in court later today to face the music and fines. All the fines, fines, fines, fines, fines LOL! [With apologies to Dr. Seuss]If there is any justice in this world, these folks are going to be hit hard for doing to New York City what the mob would do to any business that wants 'protection'.

Just to shift gears here, the Winter Weather Emergency [aka Storm Watch '05] is over. Actually, it was over Monday when nature did something that all the Mayor's horses and all the Mayor's men could not. That was thaw everything out so by midweek this area was back to its gray, overcast self. And Portlanders can worry about other things, like the prices of lattes at the coffee bar, ordering designer pizzas and 'microbrewed' beers in the Pearl District and wondering why with all of Paul Allen's money the Trailblazers stink so bad they could knock a buzzard off a dung heap. In short, like NYC, things are back to abnormal.

The striking moonbats have no support...YAY!!!!!!

2005-12-20T16:53:00.000-08:00

No doubt you have heard or seen images of the NYC transit strike. Yes, the persons [I am being kind here] who are protesting faile to understand that not only is this action illegal, but the international governing body of their union has told them not to do this. But did these mental midgets listen? NOOOOOOOO!

One of the ongoing mantras that has been spouted by these folks is that the mayor of NY, Michael Bloomberg is lieing about the city losing $400 million dollars per day. Well these folks may have something; it is just that this figure is going to be MUCH HIGHER per day because of the following:

- When people are not going to work, they do not purchase goods and services from businesses that are open. Included in the prices of these goods and services are TAXES that go towards paying for the basics in the city. As in Police, Fire, Sanitation, Road Maintenance and -- TADA! -- MASS TRANSIT.

- Due to the fact that city now has to use more and more police to maintain order on the streets [traffic flow and other items], this will cost the city in overtime. This is in addition to the 12 hour shifts they were ordered to put in because of the strike.

- Tourist money is going to be lost and at this time of year it is very critical. Yep, even the stores on 5th Avenue that have been 'going out of business' since 1972 count on the tourist trade. As does Broadway, Macy's Bloomingdale's, Sak's Fifth Avenue and the home of the neatest toy displays in NYC in December; FAO Schwarz. And there is of course, Broadway that counts more on tourists to fill the seats and the traditional displays over at Rockefeller Center [all the businesses there from the street level roasted chsstnut vendor to the 3 and 4 star restaurants nearby count on the out of town money as well as the denizens of the city].

When the above and other factors are added up, the city will be bleeding red ink for a while to recover. At the risk of bringing in 9/11 here which took a while to recover from, the same thing will here. That is to say that a recovery will be slow for some businesses. Those with deep pockets will be able to handle it, others...that remains to be seen.

One last item: that moonbat Toussaint said there was no Federal government support for mass transit. To this I say BULL! Not only is this bastard an idiot, but he and his cronies have no handle on the facts of the case. If one wants to see where the funding is going and how much is appropriated look here .

One last thought on this: to those who say this strike is about repsect consider the following: respect is earned, not given out like flyers from a carnival barker. The ones who are striking have only earned the contempt of their fellow New Yorkers, as well as others in the US who are paying attention to this debacle.

UPDATE: According to WINS-AM , the Grand Poobah of the union has announced that this strike will last INDEFINITELY until all of their demands are met. Way to go, Einstein. This will really go over well with all of the folks who are walking to work over the Brooklyn Bridge and others in the middle of the night to get to work before 9am.

Here is a Grinch of a Moonbat

2005-12-19T22:25:00.000-08:00

If someone were to tell me a few years ago that a transit union would be planning to strike right ar the apex of the holiday shopping season in the city of New York and that the union was led by someone who would make a third world dictator sound like a Rhondes Scholar, I would have told that person to get out of my face and quit smoking whatever it was they were smoking. Well, it looks as though hell has frozen over because at this moment, a citywide strike of the bus and subway system in NYC is a 99% certainty.

Yes, a union is made up of more than one person and in general works for the overall welfare of those who are members. At least that is the theory, but the Transport Workers Union, who represent bus and subway operators in NYC have a leadership that would make Castro, Baby Doc and Slobodan Milosevic proud Their leader Roger Toussaint fails to understand that his attempts to extort money and 'respect' from the Metropolitan Transit Authority is not going to fly. To be blunt, this will backfire in ways that none of these folks could even realize.

For example: there are those who live in outlying parts of the city whose only means of getting to work is public transit. Take that away, even for a week and guess what will happen? Can you say 'you're fired!!' because that will be the response. Sure there will be those employers who will understand, but business is business. Oh yeah, this is really going to help with the unemployment numbers of some groups that live in the city.

Also this strike/planned action is ILLEGAL under the Taylor Law. If you have never heard of it, this is the general text:

New York State Public Employees Fair Employment Act - The Taylor Law
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What Is It?

The Public Employees Fair Employment Act, commonly known as the Taylor Law, is a labor relations statute covering most public employees in New York State-- whether employed by the State, or by counties, cities, towns, villages, school districts, public authorities or certain special service districts. It became effective September 1, 1967 and was the first comprehensive labor relations law for public employees in the State, and among the first in the United States. It is the legal foundation used by GOER in its negotiations with New York State's public employee unions.

What Does It Do?

The Taylor Law:

grants public employees the right to organize and to be represented by employee organizations of their own choice;
requires public employers to negotiate and enter into agreements with public employee organizations regarding their employees' terms and conditions of employment;
establishes impasse procedures for the resolution of collective bargaining disputes;
defines and prohibits improper practices by public employers and public employee organizations;
prohibits strikes by public employees; and
establishes a state agency to administer the Law- The Public Employment Relations Board (PERB).
Administration Of The Taylor Law

The New York State Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) was created as an independent, neutral agency to administer the Taylor Law. The three member Board is appointed by the Governor, with the consent of the State Senate. The Board's major responsibility is to act as an umpire in disputes arising under the Taylor Law. Other responsibilities include: administration of the Taylor Law statewide; resolution of representation disputes; provision of impasse resolution services; adjudication of improper practice charges; designation of management/confidential employees; determination of employee organization responsibility for striking and ordering forfeiture of dues and agency fee check-off privileges; and, administration of grievance and interest arbitration panels.

Resolution of Contract Disputes

Mediation: Generally under the Taylor Law there are four impasse resolution systems, and in each system, mediation is the required first step. Either or both parties may request mediation assistance by filing a "Declaration of Impasse" with PERB's Director of Conciliation. The mediator is appointed by the Director from PERB's full-time staff or its panel of per diem mediators. The mediator acts as liaison between the parties, and seeks to effect a settlement through persuasion and compromise.

Fact-Finding: If mediation fails to resolve the impasse, then Fact-Finding is the next step. The fact-finder may attempt to resolve the dispute through further mediation. If not, or if unsuccessful in that effort, the fact-finder then holds a hearing, takes testimony of witnesses, accepts briefs from the parties, and then makes a written, nonbinding recommendation for settlement to both parties. The Fact-Finder then makes the report and recommendations public within five days of transmission of the report to the parties.

Binding Arbitration: For New York State Police units, the procedure is similar to what the law provides for local police, fire fighters, and certain transit employees. The Taylor Law provides that if the dispute is not resolved in mediation, PERB, on petition of either party, will generally refer the dispute to arbitration. Arbitration for New York State Police units is restricted to issues directly related to compensation and the decision of the arbitrator is binding on both parties.

Legislative Hearing: In those instances where arbitration is not permitted, if one or both parties does not accept the fact-finding report in its entirety, then for public employees (with the exception of public employees of educational institutions, police, fire fighters and certain transit employees) the next step is a legislative hearing. The Governor's Office of Employee Relations submits to the Legislature a copy of the fact-finding report plus the agency's own recommendations for resolving the dispute. The employee organization may submit its recommendations for settling the dispute as well. A public hearing is then conducted by the Legislature or a legislative committee to hear the positions of both sides. The Legislature usually directs both parties to resume negotiations but occasionally, the legislature will choose to impose employment terms. Such imposition may be for no more than a single fiscal year. A legislative determination cannot change the terms of an expired agreement unless the employee organization has waived its right to stand on those terms.

Conciliation: Is mediation assistance which PERB may offer, at its discretion, if an impasse continues after a fact-finding report has been issued.

[The full text can be found here ]

Need I say anymore???Outside of this: for calling the strike and acting like all commuters and city management must bow at their feet, the Transport Workers Union and their President-For-Life Toussaint are candidates for moonbat of the year.

Hooray for the Bengals...and other things.

2005-12-19T16:46:00.000-08:00

There is some good news in this world and in this case, it is from the paws of some big cats. Props and kudos to coach Marvin Lewis and the Cincinnati Bengals. As of Sunday 12/18, they won their first division title in ages and will play a home game in the playoffs for the first time since 1991. This one is way the heck overdue and since cats rule here, Go Bengals!!!

Now on to the other weirdness that was mentioned in the last posting. The non event is over. Yes, Virginia the city of Portland has called off the emergency and everything [except for our LRT system also known as the MAX ]
is back to abnormal. This means coffee stands are being filled with baristas and coffee swilling yuppies, malls occupied with those who want to stand in line just for a video game on their child's list, Pioneer Courthouse Square has the usual bunch of brats hanging out with 'nothing to do', planes going in and out of PDX with no delay [it was odd that the sleet and rain caused cancellations of flights until this morning, considering that pilots actually TRAIN for this type of situation in those sims are their respective bases] and the busses have no chains on them because -- surprise, surprise -- there is no ice or snow to cause them to slip and slide worse than an iron on a shirt laced with starch. Of course, this is just the lull until there is another call for the banner 'ICE STORM OF 05' on the local news.

We can all thank goodness we are not in NYC at this point and more about their mess will be posted later on. Besides, the potential transit strike there has created more candidates for 'Moonbat of the Year'.

OMG!! We have a winter storm event!!!!

2005-12-18T22:54:00.000-08:00

Portlanders are seriously nuts. This weekend we have had ice, some snow, sleet that DUSTED the area. Yes, dusted like that sugar on the cop specials over at Dunkin Doughnuts.

With that said, we have been the victim of the 'Ice Stoem of 05'. Don't believe me, check out the local FOX station . I have lived in cities like Minneapolis and Rochester, Ny where this would be laughed at. Where REAL SNOW would have to be SEVERAL FEET on the ground before cancelling anything would be considered. If this was ever a reason for a city government to be overturned and have some folks with real stones voted in, this is it. The other hippie-dippy crap is part of that but this is the capper.

Before I run, as I write this, there have been drifts in the city of up to 8 inches because of the wind. 8 Inches is not even enough to call in for a measurement in Pop Warner football for a first down. This is Portland, Oregon though, land of the eco-terrorists and near the land of dear old Spotty the Owl.

Brother, can you spare a dime with 735% interest?

2005-12-13T19:29:00.000-08:00

After reading
an article in one of the local papers about those wonderful folks who run payday/title loan shops not just in Portland, Or but in other cities, I felt that they deserved to be listed as a possible moonbat candidate.

Before you say 'decrying any business that provides a service is un-American', that is not why I mention these folks. Now while they have stepped into the void in some locations to take the place of banks and other financial institutions that had left and vacated some communities (in some cases the poor and minority communities), they have a reputation of going charging fees that would make any self respecting member of the Mafia blush. For example, the figure mentioned in the title of this piece is the maximum, daily, compounded interest that is allowed for under Oregon law. That is not a mistake, it is the actual number. I do not know about you but if I wanted to get a loan that would be on the high side but still 'affordable'; I could always go to my bookie, "52nd Street Irwin" and get it from him. Then again the only penalty I would get from him is that he would threaten to break my legs if I did not pay back the loan.

However in all seriousness, if one looks at the advertisements for these firms, they almost have the same 'quick fix' mentality implied much like the same busineses that crop up in the above mentioned communities (like the fast food joints -- and no I am not going to go after those businesses either; after all they are like others trying to make a profit. They do not force anyone to walk in and eat a burger or deep fried potatoes). The rub in this is that, people should know what they are getting into when they sign on for these and it is not the companies fault that they have such high interest rates. At least that is what one person I knew a while back who has a sizeable investment in the holding company of one of these firms had mentioned a few years back. On the other side of the coin, some of these shops shouyld be a little more honest as far as how they operate and what they REALLY CHARGE IN INTEREST. We ask honesty out of other firms: car dealers, doctors, pharmacists, the big and tall shops, so why should these folks be any different?

Michelle Malkin gets it, I get it, why the heck does not anyone else?

2005-12-12T20:01:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite people, Michelle Malkin has stated in her blog what research by myself and a few others has confirmed. The moonbats were wrong, missed the mark COMPLETELY as far as the deaths caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Many of you will recall that the news after Katrina struck was laced with reports that the vast majority of those who died in the wake of the storm were black. It seems these folks may also have had a copy of the paper that reads 'DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN!' Why do I say that?? This is due the the fact that the record keepers at the St. Gabriel Morgue have compiled the numbers. In their count, blacks and whites who perished were practically EQUAL in number. When translated to straight English, this means that once again, the media as well as the 'so-called' black leadership had already taken their 'hype-the-lie' pills.

Why is it I have a feeling that these folks are also going to create a similar set of false numbers around the number and race statistics of the soldiers who have died in the Iraq war? Then again, they may be lying in wait for the right time to spring this, like when the GOP has its convention or the months leading up to it.

There is justice in this world: Tookie will get smoked!

2005-12-12T13:10:00.000-08:00

That creep, Tookie Williams who co-founded the Crips and is currently serving a death sentence is a GONER. Arnold the Governator did the right thing, denied clemency to that piece of human filth, which has cleared the way for Williams to get a one way ticket to a condo on the river Styx.

As for those who wanted to have this cretin released or have his sentence commuted, one has to wonder what in heck were they smoking? People like Williams are in jail or given life or death sentences for a reason: THEY COMMITTED THE CRIME! Williams is the type of person the death penalty was meant and is meant to be used on. No ifs, ands or buts - period.

One last note, the victims of this punk can now rest because he will no longer be alive to torture others just by breathing. Thank goodness the system does work.

Bill Clinton Strikes Again..and in this case twice

2005-12-09T15:11:00.000-08:00

There he is. William Jefferson Clinton, former president of the US who has proven that even after they leave the office, ex-CEO's of the most powerful country on earth can still influence people -- and in his case, cause damage. Not just in one speech, but also in a ghost that is now living after him.

Let's deal with the speech first. 'Slick Willie' said at a
conference sponsored by the UN on climate issues that President Bush is wrong in saying that if the US were to abide by the Kyoto Treaty that it would hurt our economy. As is typical of many democrats, in and out of office, Clinton has his facts wrong. To sign and uphold the treaty would not only stifle the economy stateside, but also send this country into a deeper recession than already exists.(SIDEBAR - In spite of the latest reports from the Fed about some job growth and an increase in spending as well as housing starts, the US is still in the middle of stagnant period. Yes we are moving from an industrial economy to more of a service based one, however as an unintended consequence many companies have shed jobs with no intention of restoring or creating those with the same pay levels. But this started long before Bush the younger became president).

Not that anyone here wants to run amuck with using the resources that exist, but if the facts were known, the largest polluters or the fastest growing ones are not the US and the West. They are such places as China, India and other 'emerging' economies. Anyone who does not believe that should consider the following: China right now is on a tear to end up using more fuel (per barrel), per capita than the US, with environmental laws that would make Love Canal look like NYC's Central Park. As for India, in spite of their investments and funding by outsourceing firms here in the US still has major, intense pollution problems. Yet Countries like these will not have to cease their growth under this treaty, but the US, Britain, France and many others would have to because the west is still considered to be the big bad economic and environmental bullies on the block. Sad really.

As for the aforementioned ghost, this has to do with events that led up to 9/11. If this report is accurate, it is very very possible that the Clinton Adminstration may have had a hand in creating the conditions that culminated in that particular day. If you wonder how this conclusion was arrived at, it has to do with the fact that during the two terms of Billy the C that the budget for intelligence and counter intelligence (as well as equipment for same) was cut. Not only that, but instead of relying on good, old fashioned on the ground intel, we relied on more and more electronic survellience. There is nothing wrong with using all the latest spyware gadgets, but to cut the funding and assume that the country and its borders would still be safe was and is foolhardy, if not just illogical.

Has Clinton ever mentioned that there may have been mistakes made that may have been one of the catalysts of 9/11? No. Will he ever do so? Probably not. After all, the incidents and the deaths occured on someone else's watch, not his so he will be able to walk away from this like he did from the Lewinsky affair.

Seeing that the above is the case, Bill Clinton is now on the list of moonbat nominees. ( I would nominate Hillary in this, but she is a seperate category of moonbat)

San Fransicklo has lost it!!!

2005-12-09T00:22:00.000-08:00

Here is another one that defies description: PC gone mad.

With that, here is something that needs to be said: The mayor of SF either needs to be recalled in an election or be placed in front of a firing squad. Yes, it has been said here, a public official in the US deserves to be given the same treatment as Gary Glimore or even a millitary traitor.

And why not? Fact is he has turned the city from not just a PC island into a PC cesspool. And if one says anything, ANYTHING to offend, even in jest, they can be fired from a city position and face the wrath of the Demonazis who run the place. Humour has left the building along with Elvis replaced with having to walk on eggshells.

Just goes to show that the PC agenda has gotten way the heck out of hand.

More nominees, more moonbats, more madness!!!

2005-12-08T14:38:00.000-08:00

Hey folks, the list of those for Moonbat of the Year just grows! In addition to the last one of motormouth, I mean Howard Dean, there are these deserving individuals:

- Momma Moonbat, I mean Cindy Sheehan. There is not one person who is going to begrudge her because of her loss, the loss of a family member is never anything to razz, ridicule or criticize someone over. Period. Especially when the loss happened in service to this country. But it is her anti-war activities that may be giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Protesting and objecting to government policies is ok and in fact is a tradition here, however to demand that we leave end our efforts because we are hurting the poor 'freedom fighters' in Iraq just borders on the insane.

- The current 'black leadership' and their calls of 'genocide' in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Let's see if I have this correct: a natural occurance of weather such as a hurricane is an instrument of the 'evil white republican government' whose only purpose is to attack and wipe out a city with a majority black population like New Orleans; and the the government would be lax in their rescue and recovery efforts because of this said same population. Yeah, right. If this were the case, than the tornadoes that happen to rip through the I-35 corridor are predetermined to eliminate the white folks who happen to live in the small towns and trailer parks along the way.

What these chowderheads who are complaining about the response fail to remember is that the city is BELOW SEA LEVEL and a hurricane or other natural disaster of a sizeable power would come in and possibly wipe the city out. Also the current mayor and most of the city council (who happen to be black by some strange coincidence) had this information in hand for a while and could have spent money or petitioned the federal government to stregnthen the levies. Or for that matter take a look at Holland to see how they are dealing with the same issue. BUT NOOOOOOO! None of that happened and now these folks are claiming that the aftermath of Katrina is some sort of plot. And this is about as legitimate as the chances of finding Jimmy Hoffa in the north end zone of Giants Stadium.

-PBS. They are on the radar here again because of there being no mention, whatsoever on their airways about what December 7th of this year was the anniversary of. That is just plain inexcuseable, reprehensible and goes to show once again that political correctness is still worming its sneaky, underhanded way into the society to turn the US and the world into a joke.

- San Francisco. Need I say anymore?

- The Rainbow Alphabet-soupers. As has been mentioned at this site before, these are the same ones who want to claim they represent a rainbow of ideals, persuasions and personal expression, but they tend to be oh so vanilla when it comes down to how they present themselves. Perhaps it just says that some folks are just rainbow enough to belong, while others are supposed to sit in the back of the bus -- so to speak.

There are other deserving persons and orgnaizations so look again for them over the next few days.

And one of the nominees for Moonbat/Idiot of the year is...

2005-12-07T21:44:00.000-08:00

Howard Dean. Dr. Strangegov. Mr 'I have a Scream' The type of person who makes Chris 'HARDBALL' Matthews look normal and Tim 'It's Sunday, in the fall, it's Meet the Press, GO BILLS!' Russert salivate at the thought of interviewing this punk. Yes he who had his mutant spawn, I mean 'Deanie Babies' spread the word about his version of the party.

If only because this moron has singlehandedly taken the Dems from some form of respectability to a level of respect reserved for the worst sports organizations, he is one of my choices for not just moonbat of the year but also to be hung in effigy. No I do not mean a small town outside of Des Moines.

There are others who deserve mention (and they have been discussed in rather sharp detail in previous posts) but I am starting with the man whose leadership has all but insured that the leadership of the US will be in the right hands. There are a few decent Democrats out there who have not been stung by the taint of the extreme liberal wing of the party, but they are far and few between.

Keep watching this space because there will be others before the end of the year.

Lest we forget this day and the place: December 7th, 1941 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, USA

2005-12-07T14:40:00.000-08:00

Folks, the regular blog will be back later, but let us not forget this day. Like 9/11 this was a pivotal day not just in US history, but in that of the world.

In case some of you have forgotten or the history books leave out these details, here is the text of the speech from President Roosevelt:

Yesterday, 7 December 1941-a date which will live in infamy-the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government had deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives were lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam.

Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Wake Island.

This morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces-with the unbounded determination of our people-we will gain the inevitable triumph-so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, 7 December, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire

That says it all. For more information, look at Pearl Harbor Attacked .No PC, no BS, just the facts.

You know it is that time of year when...

2005-12-04T20:15:00.000-08:00

Well after that last one (moonbats on this planet seem to grow worse than crabgrass in summer), there was something that has been aired in this area that made me realize that PBS has lost it.

I have mentioned them before in this space and now they deserve another alert. Depending on where you live in the US, your local PBS station may be in the middle of another pledge break. Yep where they air 'exclusive' programs, only to be broken up by folks who look like they came out of central casting for 'semi-good looking TV hosts' asking that people help to support this fine organization. Why? So they can afford to air more programs like the one being aired at that time.

Let's break this down to cases, shall we:

1. The 'exclusive' programs that they air can be found not just on the net, but at any good large record or bookstore. Borders, Tower Records, Barnes and Noble, WaldenBooks...you name them -- the programs can be found. And in some cases oover the net, with additional footage. So hence one does not need to pay DOUBLE or TRIPLE the cost of the program in order to get it as well as a totebag so they can prove they support 'Northern California Public Broadcasting' or 'Oregon Public Broadcasting' or '_______(Fill in the blank) Public Broadcasting', etc.

2. As has been said by others, if they (PBS) is so bloody poor, how about they do something novel like...open their books for public inspection so we can see if they are really in the red or not. Makes sense if only because all non-profits by law are supposed to do that. It is one of those funny little things that is a rule of the IRS and those other strange folks in Washington. Heck, even the Green Bay Packers do a public review of their books because they, like PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are non-profits. HOWEVER, the Packers are at least honest about their books; they have to be, most of the town has a membership share in the team.

Now if they were to be into full public disclosure, I will bet credits to navy beans that one will find that PBS has enough in its bankroll and coffers to exist on their own for SEVERAL YEARS before having to go and beg from the public like a cheap hooker outside of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan. If that sounds mean, there is a way for the general public to find out the real deal with PBS. The next time there is a pubic meeting in town that deals with a renewal of the cable franchise, attend it. Then wait for the PBS rep to come in and explain that not only should they be a part of the 'must carry' (this is a clause in the cable contract that says all local stations including PBS and public access stations). If the representative is one of those who comes off as arrogant as the hosts of any of the self-help progams on PBS, he or she will tell the packed room that they are in such a good financial shape that if they were to not be on a must carry basis, their warchest can allow them to even flood the area with better antennea signal for several years and bypass cable. But to the rest of the world, they will appear to be the poor emperor with ratty clothing.

One last comment about the programming during the break: hire people who at least have a better than a passing knowledge about the program they are hawking. For example, while airing a tape of Cream (Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker) , one of the talking heads had was saying this was one of the first 'jam bands' (whatever the heck that means) and that groups like Yes copied their style. The Grateful Dead maybe (they are the subject of another post for another time), but Yes no. Granted, I cannot play an instrument like Eric, Jack or Ginger can, the point here being made is that some should know a little more about their subject than to get on air and expose their somewhat limited point of view to the rest of the world.

Then again, if these folks were not around, folks like me would not have as many people to analyze, critque and call BS artists. And if there were to clean up their collective acts, darn things would really be dull.

What in the world were they thinking with this 'statement'???

2005-12-04T00:32:00.000-08:00

Folks, this one defies any description:

Giant condom overlooks Buenos Aires on AIDS Day
01 Dec 2005 20:37:10 GMT

Source: Reuters

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Sightseers in Buenos Aires got a shock on Thursday when the city's most famous landmark, the obelisk, was covered with a giant pink condom on World AIDS Day.

City officials used cranes to unfurl shiny pink cloth over the monolith in a campaign promoting condom use to prevent infection with the HIV virus that causes AIDS.

"It seemed like we could have the biggest impact by putting a condom on the most important symbol of the city," said Sandra Castillo, an organizer of the campaign.

The obelisk, which is identical to the Washington Monument but smaller at 220 feet (67 metres) tall, is a popular tourist site.

Its colorful tip could be spotted from office buildings several blocks away.

Vilma Torres, an Ecuadorean tourist taking snapshots of the structure, said the sight was an unexpected surprise.

"You'd never see something like this in Ecuador," she said.

AIDS killed 66,000 Latin Americans in the past year, according to a U.N. report. In Argentina, the number of reported AIDS cases has fallen 45 percent since 1996, the Health Ministry said on Thursday, and the leading cause of infection was unprotected sex.

Esteban Jubitta, 18, considered the obelisk stunt in bad taste.

"Using this moment to make a sort of joke, it's showing a bit of lack of respect," he said.

All I can say is that it looks as though the weirdness that we here in the US not only take for granted but have also turned into an art form is now being spread throughout the planet. There are other ways to get the message across about the AIDS crisis without reducing the message to a theatre of the absurd.

'Ol' Sparky' must be happy! 1000 down, more to go.

2005-12-02T11:18:00.000-08:00

You must be wondering, 'who is Old Sparky?'. Well let me give you a hint: Ted Bundy. Yep Sparky was the electric chair that was used in the Florida State Prison System to send the worst of the worst to eternal sleep with a nice old-fashioned shock to the system.

And why would Sparky be happy today? Due to the fact that one of his kin was used to put this creep, Kenneth Boyd to death. His crime was
murder, which is what this penalty is for. Take a life and guess what kiddies? This is the prize that waits: via lethal injection, hanging or firing squad. That is grand prize for capital murder.

Now there are those out there who have siad this is inhuman, wrong, barbaric and have advocated for the end to capital punishment. Add to this that some say this makes us no better than the Chinese or even the Russians and their gulags. Don't believe the hype, dear readers because those assertions are not even close to true. If we were as bloodthirsty as those anti-death penalty moonbats claim we are, we would be executing people around the clock for even the smallest of crimes. Secondly we would not have the long appeals process for the convicted persons that is in place in all of the US. Even the weird and wacky ACLU will admit to that one.

In the name of full disclosure, there have been mistakes made in the application of the penalty either by overzealous prosecutors, inept defense attorneys or judges who just went a little too far. No system is perfect and ours is far from it. But overall there are the checks and balances that are in place, so in the overwhelming majority of the cases if the person has committed the act, he has gotten the sentence he deserved.

Here is something to consider, epecially those reading this who see the death penalty as being cruel and unusual punishment: Have you thought about the victims of these animals? Do yourself a favor and read about them and how they suffered ? Take a moment to digest the data, look at the pictures and read about the families of those who were left behind. It may not sway the most hardcore of those who want this penalty removed, but it may just give you pause to contemplate that such measures are needed.

And now from the wide world of sports (and other points east)

2005-11-29T20:15:00.000-08:00

No folks, I have not gone nuts, but something about the sports world has taken my mind off of the moonbats (led by momma moonbat, Cindy Sheehan) are still wanting to attack President Bush over the Iraq War; the annual 'bachanalia of greed' (thanks to the late Jean Shepherd for that one) that has begun and the usual worries about bills and my cats trying to get outside to kill off the local bird population. So let's take a little spin around and see what is doing:

- The ownership of the Detroit Lions has lived up to the motto of its owners, the Ford Motor Company. Yep we all know the joke: FORD = Found On Road Dead and it seems as though they are now roadkill. This past Thursday, before a national TV audience and over 60,000 plus at Ford Field, the Lions were royally roasted by the Atlanta Falcons which resulted in Steve Mariucci being fired this past Monday. Fredo Corleone was bumped off with more class than how Lion management removed Steve from his post. Come to think of it, they really did not take responsibility for their actions leading up to the failure of the Lions with their good draft choices to progress beyond mediocrity..

If I may, let me suggest someone for the Motor City Kitties to consider bringing in to try to bring the team back to some sort of stability:
Lindy Infante . Yes there are others out there: Mouse Davis, anyone with the last name of Saban, the students of Bill Walsh but the reason why Lindy comes to mind is because he was one of the originators (along with the Mouse) of an offense called the 'run and shoot'. It goes by several other names: gun and shoot, flood, empty backfield, spread, modified shotgun - no matter what it is called he was one of those who figured out a way of allowing a team to take advantage of a group of fast receivers with quick patterns. Granted the teams he coached were not known for their defense, but hey - that can be made up for later on. The fans are there to see scoring and to see the team win. And defense really does not matter if the winning team scores more points than the loser *S*

- Under ordinary circumstances, the next item would almost be considered a joke. It was recently announced that Kansas City was awarded a Super Bowl sometime in the next 10 years contingent on if they can put a roof over good old Arrowhead Stadium. Yeah, yeah I know this is not going to increase the chances of world peace or that weapons will be bulldozed into plowshares, but while it is a cool idea to give this game to a city that has a rich history in the game, something about this does not seem to add up. And that has to do with the roof design.

When this complex was first proposed, that being the twin ballparks for the Royals and the Chiefs, there was the idea of having a mobile roof for the stadia so that if there was rain or snow, it could be moved into place and the fans would be kept dry. A concept that was quite a few years ahead of its time, as has been seen with Le Dome Sky in Toronto and Reliant Field in Houston (the baseball ones like Safeco Field are legion now). But to get the big, big game the original roof on rails is going to be modified to be 'climate controlled'.

Now for a little inside info on this project: it may not happen and it has nothing to do with the architects or the engineering (HOK Sport if I am correct is going to be in on this) but it is the cost. My spies in the KCMO area have mentioned that the big hangup is the fact that the counties around the ballpark as well as the state are balking at the idea. In some places this would be seen as corporate welfare or as a greedy owner extorting the region, the usual. However in this case it can also be seen as an investment and something that will keep the area on the map. They need it because the Royals are sure as heck not doing it.

Put another way: if done the right way, this will be a landmark in KC like the BBQ joints (I know of a few there from years back) or the Jazz District (remeber folks, Charlie Parker was from there), the stockyards and the home of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (if it were not for the Buck O'neills or Satchel Paiges who were a part of this league, people like the Barry Bonds', Ken Griffey-Jr.s' would not be where they are, let alone Jackie Robinson would not have broken the line when he did)

One last post on the subject matter: if this is the last season that Brett Farve plays for the Packers, then we have been treated through the years to a rarity in this day of greed and self importance. Yes there are the Peyton Mannings who are cut from the same cloth. but they are the exception. Then again too, Farve is in the right place because Green Bay seems to have a legacy of those who while they were big in the game, were just as regular as the townfolks who come out to see them come rain or snow or even bad seasons.

To the Jaime Foxxs of the world - If you are right, then explain the following:

2005-11-28T14:24:00.000-08:00

Folks, I am still burning over those comments by actor Jaime Foxxx in regard to Tookie Williams (see the last post) and I have a question not only for that scumsucking weasel, but for others who insist that gang life (or even sports, entertainment and the like) are the only means for black males to succeeed. If that is the case explain the following:

- In recent years, the CEO's of the following companies were black men: American Express, AOL/Time Warner, Symantec, Maytag, Pizza Hut, Motown Records (forgot that one didn't you son?) and others.

- Two airlines were headed by black males here in the US: Air Atlana; while they lasted about 4 years had excelled in customer service and had in-flight ammenties that Midwest Express as well as the short-lived Trump Shuttle IMITATED and a Piedemont Express Airlines commuter/feeder run based in North Carolina; which while they ran small Beechcraft props, was owned and operated by a black male whose day job was flying 737's for Piedmont [soon to be US Airways)

-Mr Foxx's comments also do not explain why the following cities: Atlanta, Seattle, Denver, Rochester-NY, Detroit, Cleveland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Baltimore, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Newark, New York City and a host of others have elected black males as mayors. There was even a black male elected governor of Virginia; that being Douglas Wilder.

- Also let him explain how the men who lead the Hayden Planetarium as well as the National Chess Foundation got to where they are? Wasn't by osmossis.

- And while we are at it, explain Colin Powell, please? Mr Foxx, do you assume that he was from another planet and had assumed the guies of a black male to rise through the millitary to become head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as well as Secretary of State in the first term of Bush the younger?

There are a few others, but you get the idea. While Me. Foxx is right that that are still problems which persist (and will not be solved overnight as some would like), there are those who have been able to get beyond the 'crabs in a barrel' mentality that seems to persist in the black community. Then again, Tookie Williams could have been like that if he had worked at that instead of creating a gang that went out of its way to terrorize and destroy the lives of others.

If there was ever a reason to distance oneself from a community, this is it.

2005-11-26T23:54:00.000-08:00

This evening, a friend of mine pointed out a quote; by Jaime Foxx from a film protesting the 'innocence' (that is a joke) of Stan 'Tookie' Williams, founder of the 'Crips' street gang:

"If Stan Tookie Williams had been born in Connecticut in the same type of situation, and was a white man, he would have been running a company," Foxx told the AP when the film aired last year on FX. "But, born a black man who has the capability of having brute strength and the capability of being smart in the ways of the world, he's going to get into what he gets into."

You read that one right. This sounds like the same type of BS that has been used to say to blacks that they are 'predestined' or 'predetermined' to be criminals. To quote the late Marvin Gaye 'makes me wanna holler, throw up my hands' in anger.

Then again, there is this to be said: those of you reading this who are black who have resolved to keep your distance (with exceptions, like I have done) from the community, you have done the right thing. Defending someone of this ilk shows how far down the sewer pipe things have gone.

By the by a listing of the people that this monster had killed is listed on the Gus Wired site. We need to keep the faith as far as these folks are concerned and remember that they are the true victims, the ones sho do not have the hollyweirdoes running around shouting their names out.

With the fest done, let all the other madness ensue...

2005-11-26T19:36:00.000-08:00

Let's see: The Lions got beaten by the Falcons, or as was or could be said in Brooklyn, they got 'the boid', the Cowboys lost to the Broncos, dinners were capped off with pies and naps because of that funny little chemical in turkeys (l-tryptophan) and of course the day after can only mean one thing. Profits to be made, people to be pushed, cajoled, neglected and rejected. Yep the end times, I mean the end of the year is near...but not the end of observations from this outpost in PC-Land:

- For one let's hand it to the French. No this is not to laud kudos on them for Airbus or a particularly good lot of imported Brie and Roquefort, but because they finally got off their rear ends and did something that would be unthinkable in the US because of the PC nature of the society. After scenes like this , the French Parliment decided to crack down on rappers whose 'music' (now there is a laugh, it is music the same way passing gas is a sonata) is inciting the rank and file to riot. MP Francois Grosdidier is leading the charge and from this desk, it is a great thing. They are understanding that this form of noise actually can be and has been incendiary to the point that it has disrupted public order. Granted our friends on Broadcast Row want us to believe that all of France is either burning or ius about to become kindling, but fact is that the whole of the country is still intact. In any event they are taking steps before things get worse.

- Speaking of the strange nuts of the land, the moonbats are out in force again. Everyone's least favorite protest mom, Cindy Sheehan and her flock of meatheaded protestors have flown the cukoo's nest to camp out by President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Tx. Protest is fine, dissent is fine as well (as has been mentioned here and in other blogs), but when these are based on emotion and not fact it makes things and the world bad for all concerned. The protests against the Vietnam War for example may have ended up costing more lives than they claim to have 'saved' if that says anything.Think I am joking? Look it up folks, the numbers are there to back up this assertion, in more ways than one.

- In another blog on this site there was a mention of Bob and Doug McKenzie, I mean Canada attempting to improve workplace diversity by employing more 'persons of color' and that white Canadians need not apply. I will throw in my two to four cents into this to say this will not work. No the US has not been perfect as far as its track record with integrating the workforce_HOWEVER-we have also learned (with some exceptions) that the best way to hire people is bsed on their track record as well as the merits of same. Yes, I uttered the 'M' word - MERIT. And if there are two persons of equal merit for the same position and one is from a group that had not been in said same position, then by all means hire him or her. But to do this without any real checks or balances will cause problems, no matter how well intentioned.

- Well that leads into something else. Yours truly from time to time will eavesdrop or snoop in on some corners of the net and if those in Congress only knew the types of folks they have been dealing with as far as ENDA [Employee Non-Discrimination Act) were concerned, they would never ever back it. The reason why I made that stement has to do with the levels of hypocrisy that seems to rise in these folks faster than the tide did in New Orleans. No different than the trust-funder hippies who were protesting in the 60's. As soon as they were in a crowd claiming to love theiur fellow man, they ran back to their comfortable homes in the burbs away from the same people who they want to help and commune with.

Taken another way, anyone who remembers the suit against Hooters also will remember a rather ugly advertisement that the company put in several newspapers showing how crazy this suit was. Yep, it was the one of a man with a rather thick moustache wearing the skimpy company uniform. The point being made is that there are those the company hires for one particular job (waitresses) who fit a particular profile (as in the company name) and that to bend to a cuort decree would make their establishment a joke as well as cut down on business. While I am not crazy about how they do business, they are conducting their operation as they see fit and anyone who does not like it can lump it. Plus why should they (and others) be forced by law to hire anybody let alone those who are quite possibly just as narrow minded as they claim Hooters or other companies to be? (look at 98% of the literature or most of the 'celebrations' in the month of June and you will see the logic utilized here).

Finally, here is something to ponder when you are skimming through the sets with the remote and see all the 'student athletes' consder the following:

-Very few schools make money off of this as it is, Yes, there are the television contracts and the merchandising deals, but most lose money because it is a major expense. Weight rooms, ballparks, recruiting trips, scholarships and of course paying for the best coaches money can buy. Or at least rent.

-Sadly a lot of these kids who are playing now with dreams of the NFL. NFL Europe, the CFL, Arena Football League and others have a very short shelf life. Something on the order of about 2.5 to 3.5 years, depending on the position. Some will stay in the game for two decades, but that is a tribute to their work ethic.

-Lastly the original purpose of going to college is sorta lost on some of these folks in that the degree is less important as opposed to the degree of exposure they get on the gridiron. Makes what happened in the old Marx Brothers movie 'Horsefeathers' look rather tame, if not honest then in a humourous vein.

And that is it from the shores of 'Moscow on the Willemette' for now. Remember, the spotted owl you save may belong to someone else.

A few thoughts leading into this weekend

2005-11-23T09:18:00.000-08:00

Well it is that time of year and while the meat of this post will come later...hey I thought this logo was cute. Let's give it to the Detroit Lions , no matter what has happened in the motor city (and there is plenty, as what was mentioned in the last post about good, old GM), or for that matter how bad their season has been (there should be a diehard day for those who remember the last time the Lions were in the main round of the NFL postseason and not in as a wildcard team) or their sometimes bad draft choices and the fact that they do share the fall/early winter in Motown with the rabid fans of the Red Wings , they do have the tradition of the Thanksgiving Day game and that can be a comfort in a rather strange world.

So with that said and speaking of strange, let's get to a few random postings:

-If the opposite of 'pro' is 'con', then the opposite of progress is (LOL) you got it...Congress. The poster child for the latest bit of pure insane behavior is: Jean Schmidt (R) of Ohio. The same one who you saw this weekend on tape wearing a poor copy of a US Olypmpic Gymnastic Team Uniform who went after John Murtha (D-Pennsylvania) over his comments about setting a date for the removal of of troops from Iraq. When she made he now infamous remarks about the Marine Corps , there were many boos that came in from those who were present in the chambers. Heck I was almost expecting THE MARINE: R. Lee Ermey to walk in and rip her a new one. While the floor of congress is open for any type of remarks, there is something to be said about making disparaging remarks about someone who has served in the millitary. In my book, that is just a little out of bounds.

- At the risk of beating an issue into the ground, the fact that the government is doing anything about the Katrina aftermath is amazing in itself. There has been a fictional precursor of what was to be expected in the case of a severe disaster hitting the US, in this case The Day After . For those of you who do not remember this, it was an ABC TV movie from 1983, which explored what would happen to the Kansas City area and suburbs (Lawrence, Kansas) when a nuclear war was started. In the film it was shown that in spite of the fact that FEMA had thought they were prepared for the worst to happen, they were overwhelmed by the scope of this disaster. Hence any type of recovery would take a very very long time [There is a disclaimer in this film that says the depiction of this event was mild compared to what could possibly be the case assuming a full scale nuclear war were to break out). So in effect recovering from an event like Katrina; while not in the ballpark of a full scale attack, is going to take time.

- Maybe it is just me and a few others who are in the know,
but it is strange that Michelle Malkin is not one of those who is featured prominently in the marketplace of ideas when it comes to issues affecting the black community or for that matter the world at large. Could it be that she is a conservative or one who does not fall in line and follow the 'monolith of thought' that seems to be omnipresent in the black press or that she can hold her ground with any of the mouthpieces that the media tries to throw at here when there is a (HAHAHA) debate or could it be that she just makes a hell of a lot of sense in her columns? Perhaps it is all of the above and that is too bad. Put another way, when a charlatan like Al Shaprton or a poverty pimp such as Jesse Jackson are still considered to be the (cough, cough) 'voices of reason' and those like Ms. Malkin are viewed as 'traitors to their race' there is something really wrong.

- Last on the list for now is the fact that Boeing is on the rebound! So much so that they have announced a new plane, that being the 747-8 , a longer as well as more fuel efficient version of the current 747, that being the 400 series. Plus there is no need for the airports to invest in stronger runways or even larger jetways for passengers to board and deplane the jet (Are you listening, Airbus?). Plus with all the orders, Seattle, Witchita and other cities that Boeing has a major installation can breathe and look forward to persons working.

That is it for this dispatch from the land of perpetual political correctness, I mean Portland, Oregon. Remember folks this weekend, piss off PETA and eat a turkey!!!

First it was Oldsmobile, next Saturn and soon Ze World!!!!!

2005-11-21T21:25:00.000-08:00

Before you say, 'Rhea you are sounding like an evil scientist from a bad 50's horror movie!!', folks cool down and I will explain why the title is as it is.

Earlier today, the second largest company (well at one time they were) on the Fortune 500, GM announced that they were going to shed 30,000 jobs as well as in the process close 9 plants. This is being done to make the firm more 'efficient and profitable', that is of course if someone finds credible the spin from the Wall Street Journal and other flacks. However this approach has been tried by GM and the other members of the Big 2 for YEARS.

Case in point:the Saturn experiment. Remember way back when, GM said that Saturn would be the platform by which they would try to form a new partnership with the United Auto Workers union; that each car would truly be built to order like how steaks are ordered in many restaurants, plus some other changes would issue in a new day for the industry. Well guess what? One of the plants that is slated to be closed is in Spring Hill, Tennessee which is the home of Saturn. Hmmm, 2 + 2 in this case spells that the Saturn line will be gone, like the 88, 98, Toronado and the Cutlass of Oldsmobile fame.

Granted the loss of jobs is not something to be sneezed at but, in the grand scheme of things, this is something that happens in the course of capitalism. When the IT industry started its initial outsourcing of jobs and quite a few 'geeks' were out of work, at least intiaally the response from some was 'get over it, find something else even if it means pushing brooms or working at Taco Bell'. Gee and some of that was from those who were working for firms like GM and others who thought that their positions were secure. Well not to be callous or mean to those persons, but apparently those chickens have come back home to roost. Maybe these folks will learn not to be so harsh about others because the shoe can be on the other foot rathe fast.

Also before anyone who thinks I am turning into a [perish the thought), Michael Moore, let me remind folks here that 'Fat blimp from Flint' is about as sincere in his convictions as Frank Pantangeli was in 'The GodFather'. Besides, what happened to Flint and GM in general is part of the cycle of life or that of business. In short, it happens.

And here we thought it was safe to fly!!

2005-11-19T19:10:00.000-08:00

Well, as if this upcoming week and time of year does not have enough stress (I will not outline it, each person reading this knows it chapter and verse), the NBC Nightly News, Saturday Evening Version, came up with a great one: THE SKIES ARE NOT SAFE!

Here, as a bookie would say is the skinny: the NBC report stated that flying the 'friendly skies' is not as safe as it once was because there have been one too many 'runway incursions' (meaning that two planes either while taxiing to takeoff or after landing almost running into each other] or near misses in the air [George Carlin called it right though; 'It is not a near miss, it is a NEAR HIT!!!'). But the same report also mentioned that the current number of these incidents is DOWN from several years ago.

While there was a mention of some new technologies that will aid in lowering the number of these potential accidents: new runway lights, more information intensive displays for the air traffic controllers and other things. There is one invention that is available now that can help alleviate the worry of these accidsents in the making...and it is available now. Any person who has Flight Simulator on their system knows about it and even NASA has had a hand in its development. It is called TCAS, short for Traffic Collision Avoidance System. It is an alert that comes flashes on the flightdeck to let the crew know there is a problem ahead in the form of other aircraft.

Maybe I am being a little hard on the media, NBC in this case-but why was this left out of the equation? Was it the fact that this is a Saturday night and people think that 'facts' and 'research' are better left for the weekdays or even 'Meet The Press'? Interesting concept. However the fact that air travel is still safer than driving down the local interstate should keep whatever butterflies there are at bay.

Are you pondering what I'm pondering?

2005-11-19T12:00:00.000-08:00

In case you are wondering, no you did not stumble on another fan page for 'Pinky and The Brain'. It is just that this has been one of those weeks where weirdness has reigned in so many corners, if there were to be awards for 'Ultimate Pinhead This Week' the choices would be difficult. But yours truly is not without her own list, so here goes:

-The US Congress. Yep the same ones who have helped to make Washington DC: 'First In War, First in Peace and last in the American League (that was when there was a baseball team there called the Washington Senators many years ago) can replace the last item in the list with 'Last in logic'. Why? This is due to the current spate of blatant dissention that is coming from them about the war in Iraq. In particular, Congressman John Murtha. All that needs to be said here is 'Hey Sparky, just because you served in the Marines and have been in the House long enough to remember gas being .05 Cents a gallon does not give you the right to demand that we have an exact exit date for the troops.' Anyone with a borderline room temperature IQ can tell you never, ever give the enemy the leg up and asking for a date when we will be out will give the scum of the earth enough time to plan their next series of nefarious deeds.

-Sticking with the DC area, another one on my list is PBS. To be honest, it does have its place; many of us liked 'Sesame Street' or Mr. Rogers Neighborhood' when we were younger, much younger; for grownups the early versions of 'NOVA' or reruns of programs from the BBC (and for me, they did score a few points with the airing of the Moody Blues Live at Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra). But these days they have become more or less the Chicken Little Network because of programs like NOWwith David Brancaccio who took over from the programs' creator, Bill Moyers. Each week it seems that instead of investigative jounalism, they stay on the leftist side of the street, saying that anything that comes out of corporate America or any other part of the industrialized world is EVIL!!! EVIL!!. Does not matter who it is, if one is a capitalist, they are the anti-society, anti-human. Truly pinhead material.

-The producers of the morning network 'news' (HA,HA,HA!) programs deserve a mention here, as well as a special 'pinhead award', due to the fact that they have now become more or less, organs for fluff but also where some folks try to extend their 15 minutes of fame. After all, how many times can you sit through 'Apprentice' or 'Survivor' rejects or see reports about omnidevices? 'Omni' as in those items that can do everything from spinning ones favorite CD to cooking a rotisserie chicken in less than 90 minutes to making julienne fries. With the time of year being what it is, there is more of this to come.

Of course there are others who deserve mention in this space and over time, they will get their due. There is one company I would like to mention though as needing to get a 'shout out' in this column. That is those lovely folks from Kodak. Now why should they be on this page you may be asking yourself? I am glad you asked because it all has to do with the fact that the company that had given the world the means to get into phtography with just a small metal box (Instamatics, Brownies and the like) made a decision over the past couple years to leave that end of the business like some kids leave the prom early for hotel room dates. That is right, they feel that digital imaging [another way of saying 'digital photography'] will be the only way to go. Hence while the stores still have Kodak film on the shelves, in the next few couple years those wlll disappear.

All of this is rather odd because their competitors; Konica, Fuji and AGFA are still making film, as well as digital supplies available to all; including old hands like me who still prefer to have a hard copy of a pic we have taken with a camera. And contrary to what Kodak thinks, digital cameras cannot capture all of the colors that do exist; along with the shadings and all that is in-between. Sorry, but '100100010001' in pixel-speak is not the same as having the gradations of color. (Although the AGFA site has an explanation of how their product shows real colors, the same can be applied to Fuji because it is very similar in structure and outcome)

The Great Digital Divide Deception

2005-11-17T16:55:00.000-08:00

A man much wiser than I had once said there are "liars, damned liars and statistics" and darnitall he was right. The term, 'Digital Divide' is an example of this.

In the US it is used to explain why whites are more likely to have computers in their homes than blacks are, based on the percentage of those in the home. According to the last census [and backed up by a few 'Think Tanks'], the numbers as far as 'market penetration' [I do not come up with this stuff, to quote Casey Stengel, you can look it up] show that 69% of the white population have PC's in the home vs. a little under 30% for those in black homes...or some figures coming close to that. As a result, many of the usual suspects have blamed this on racism, oppression and the other items on the liberal laundry list. However the 'divide' is really based on something a little more basic.

Culture. No not the bacteria that makes milk yogurt or turns other foods into a modern art masterpiece of germs. Culture in this case means what is accepted or acceptable among citizens in parts of the US. Now at the risk of angerring the few libersls who may still be reading this, fact is that the white population sees the computer and its ancillary parts as being a 'tool' or a utility item that a household cannot be without, like a toaster, microwave, dayplanner-as well as being something that will allow their children to stay in the game with their peers because the environment is competitive. HOWEVER, blacks [not all but there is this persistent attitude in parts of the population] see the computer as being another way that their children are bcoming 'white' [read the last sentence again and you will see what is meant] and would as a result lose their heritage and culture; that what it is connected to is 'evil' and is considered less of a utility as opposed to a big screen TV or entertainment items or even a pair of Air Jordans [a little extreme but you get the idea].

So it is not a divide that was created by some big, bad evil group of corporate presidents, but is rooted in what is 'valued'. Yep, it comes down to values and what one feels will help them in life as opposed to the other party. However this term does come up again because of what happened yesterday.

Let's give the folks at MIT their just due, because it takes a lot to get accepted into this school and some of the brightest minds in the country and the planet are educated within its halls. With that said, this idea makes about as much sense as a screendoor on a submarine or an outdoor ice hockey rink in Mexico City in the middle of summer.

In the picture of this 'device'this laptop it looks no different than a toy. An Etch-a-Sketch on green steriods. But what makes this concept to help others using this 'PC' so incredibly insane is that the operating system is going to be in 'linux'.

That's right folks, linux. Isn't that special, because this will not only add to the planned cost for the computer, but will bring about its own series of rather serious problems:

-Linux is not so much an operating system as it is a PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE and it would help to teach programming basics before even getting to the point of using this language.

-The PC iteself will use a crank to power it in case the electricity were to run out. Gee with all of the devices on this system, that crank had better be a real good one, or some of these folks may need spinach to spin it around enough to create the power for it to just even make a simple display. Speaking of which...

-It has a display that will fry in the sun. Did anyone connected with this understand that the type of screen that will be built into this will breakdown because of extreme heat? It is not like this is going to have any coolant being piped into the pixels.

Lastly, there is the plastic this is being made of. My oh my, how could anyone with a brain and a pulse not see that this will melt like the screen. After all this is not an Easy-Bake Oven [A toy by Kenner from the 60's, kids ask your parents about this one].

If these folks really want to bridge the divide, start with education. Start with the basics and do not hand a person a basically useless toy right away with the thinking that this is going to instantly cure the ills of the world. Remedying the problems of the planet takes time and a lot of effort, not a quick feel-good answer from a group of well meaning eggheads.

The Darker Side of The Burbs

2005-11-16T23:13:00.000-08:00

When I was growing up, there were a few 'main drags' that seem to go from one extreme of the world to another and then back to normal. Roads with names like Linden or Merrick Boulevard or Jamaica Avenue or to an extent Northern Boulevard; they all start in one place that looks somewhat normal through areas where even the rats carry machine guns and the stores look like they are preparing for a hurricane and then head towards the beginning of the strip malls and fast food joints every 100-200 yards [ok a little extreme but you get the ides]

Reason why I mention this is that here in Portland [also known in some quarters are 'Moscow on the Willemette'], we have such a street. Well let me rephrase that: there are a few roads that go from the light to the dark and back into sunshine, but the one near where I live is just one really good if not strange example of this. 82nd Street is one of those streets. Granted it does go by more of its fair share of strip and large malls [Clackamas Town Center is part of this and it is a nice place when the children are in school], but it also because it is on the fringe of the city, it qualifies as a street in the burbs. And as such it goes from homes to sections of town that no self-respecting mutated cockroach would want to reside back out to sections where there is light. Well, artificial light from the strip malls, the buddy-buddy credit car dealerships, pawn shops as well as payday loan shops; you get the general idea.

The other component to this are those who occupy this 'street of broken dreams and beer bottles' and that tends to be another part of the darker side of this. So much so that even some of the bus drivers I know of are not happy about doing the runs that come out here. If it is not the methheads that are a part of the landscape, it is those who would be great guests on any 'instant justice' programs that seems to clog television these days. And this is equal opportunity: black, white, hispanic, oriental, male, female you name it - all sorts of are a part of this wonderful tapestry. The same type of tapestry that makes for some wonderful columns, radio rants and work for those men in blue. As in emergency room workers as well as cops.

Not all is from the shallow end of the gene pool. There are some decent folks here, who live in this almost forgotten by civility land because the rents are low and the stores are nearby for goods. But it is just that when one rides the bus or walk around this street they get the sense that somehow the world just went off its axis and is now a land of severe extremes. So much for the burbs that was predicted at the world fairs.

Just remember this when you hear any of the Dems talk about Iraq

2005-11-14T11:05:00.000-08:00

A quick observation before the Monday rush hits:

Something came to mind after having seen Howard 'I have a scream' Dean and Charles'Upchuck'Schumer on the Sunday morning programs talking about how [they feel] Bush and the government have 'lied' about this war and othercurrent issues. It is a scene from 'Dr Strangelove':

General Jack D. Ripper: Mandrake, do you recall what Clemenceau once said about war?
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: No, I don't think I do, sir, no.
General Jack D. Ripper: He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.

A little bit extreme, but the point is there. War is an issue best left to those who are of millitary thought. Politicians would rather do what is publically expedient or would get them re-elected and not make the hard choices. Put another way, if the current mindset of the Dems was in place after Pearl or before D-Day, suffice it to say the US and the world would a drastically different place.

Peace, Love, DOPES!!!!!!!

2005-11-12T17:51:00.000-08:00

It has been said that the 60's has had several lasting legacies. That is true, there are quite a few of them: Civil Rights legislation and the Great Society, The Space Race with the US landing on the moon in June of 1969, music which included the rise and influence of Motown and of course, The Beatles, the New York Mets pulling off the miracle win in the '69 World Series and other events. But now there is a report of another legacy from that decade; this is one we may not want to be proud of.

The CBS Evening News, Saturday Edition aired a report that the baby boomer generation that came of age during that decade is now sucumbing to the main excess of that decade at a faster rate than the rest of the population. Yep, it was the drugs, man!!! Pot, smack, heroin-you name it; these have resulted in persons who are in their 60's being admitted to rehab centers at a high rate, but the cause of their ultimate demise is not the usual, like old age. In New York City for example, treatmet groups that are being set up for these addicts are filling up as soon as they are opened.

As scary as this is, there is another wave which will hit in a few years. Let me offer a theory as to how this will come about: In addition to the children of those folks from the 60's who see drugs as not being that big a deal, there will also be the children of the inner city who were either born addicted to or were instroduced to crack and other illegal drugs that infested those communities. And as the number of folks who are going to rehab increases, the cost to coiety is going to increase, which in turn will turn an already stressed out healthcare system into a quagmire. Hence the US at a time when we need to maintain that competitve edge in industry and trade will be handicapped, by treating folks who wanted to drop out of society by either shooting up, snorting or smoking some substance. That may sound harsh, but the reality is very ugly as well as detrimental to the overall future of the country, as well as for the industialized world that tends to copy and emulate the US.

Changing the gears here, a little snooping around on the net is yielding that some of those special interest idiots are still saying that this past week's election is proof positive that the GOP is in serious trouble. Plus the 2008 election will mean the Demoncrats, I mean Democrats will, according to these folks win both houses and the White House. To these folks I will quote Aerosmith: 'Dream On'. Why? Because it is not going to happen. Not to mention the fact that what is behind the Dems and the left are organizations so extreme in their own views, that if in power they would turn this country into a twisted form of a socialist state, but one with special rights and laws for 'special' people. [Will save that list for another time]

Another thing for these folks who are in this jocular mood over this past week. Remember this headline from many years ago: "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN!!!!!" because Dewey the morning after realized he was beaten by the man from Independence. History has a habit of repeating itself like a record with a skip.

When the weirdness rains, it pours!!!

2005-11-11T12:11:00.000-08:00

One of the really nice (joking of course) things about living in this time is that there is sooo much that occurs, so much to make one scratch the head and ask 'what were the folks smoking and where can I not get any?'. It can boggle the mind, such as the following that has happened just since the last post from the keyboard:

- Seattle, that other bastion of crazed liberal thought to the north of here decided to do something that makes sense. In the last election, they turned down a plan to expand the monorail which currently runs between Downtown Seattle (The Westlake Shopping Center) and Seattle Center. YES!!!! Some folks have the seen the devil behind the details.

While it will give that 'Jetsons meets Logan's Run' type of look to the city, who in their right mind would want all of this concrete running through town?? Not to mention this will interfere with those views of the sound and sunsets that the city is known for when the clouds and fog lift. Plus the city already is building a new mass transit system that will be more efficient-even if a lot of it is based on light rail and subways. In fact, yours truly had been involved in the effort to get this type of plan passed back in the 90's, which passed the King County vote, but did not in Pierce and Snohomish (the counties to the south and north of Seattle). While having a new LRT system is not going to cure all of the transit ills, it is better than betting the farm on a system that would end up being an eyesore.

- Well the NFL looks as though they are going to try to run this play til they get it right. It seems that they want to place another team in the Los Angeles area... AGAIN . Yes, it is the second largest television market in the US and the only one of the top 50 that does not have an NFL team, but after the last two bolted, why??Makes as much sense as wehn Bud Wilkinson , as coach of the Cardinals switched their offense to the Wing-T, something that worked in college but not at the pro level.

Let's go over the facts of this situation: When the Rams were in LA; they intially played at the Coliseum; which while they had large crowds, they rarely sold the place out. This especially became evident after the blackout rules were changed in the 70's (by a threat of Congress, no less) which as a result meant that LAX was shut out of watching on home television some of the more 'attractive' games that had involved the Rams. On top of that, the ballpark is located in a section of town that is not considered to be all that safe, even when USC plays their home games there. And in typical LA fashion this story gets even stranger because...

In the late 70's the Rams then left LA proper to play their home games in a (bastardized) Anaheim Stadium [Funny, they were not called the Los Angeles Rams of Anaheim]. This move was prompted by the enclosing of that ballpark and the construction of skyboxes for the few, the proud, the ones with a little too much money, but not enough sense to remember they are watching the Rams. The problems with the lack of sellouts still plagued the team because: 1.Fans were trapped on Interstate 5 trying to get out to Orange County to the ballpark, 2.Many of the sightlines in the park were POOR as far as football is concerned, 3. The teams for the most part had a habit of stinking up the joint and lastly 4. On Sunday afternoons in the fall, some would rather spend time on the beach or with family then see a bunch of whinning adult babies not trying to play a game they get paid very well for. Of course after a few years of this and losing money, they left LA for St Louis and a spanking new ballpark, with all the goodies that would make most team owners salivate. However, this void was soon to be filled by...

Darth Vader, oops I mean the Oakland Raiders. Yep-my man Al Davis (I cut him some slack on this because, after all he is an ex-Brooklyn kid) moved the Raiders from the Bay Area to LA, but not for the green pastures of the Coliseum. Or even the planned ballpark in Irwindale (LOL). Nope, Al did this because there was something else on the horizon that would make his team an insane amount of money (or at the time it was being seriously discussed), as well as others. Pay Per View TV for select games.

Yep you read that right, PPV. This came out during the testimony in the lawsuit Davis filed against the NFL with regard to their rules against a team being relocated without a vote by the fellow owners. Apparently, the LA market is so coveted because while fans may not turn out for the games (the Raiders when they were in LA, even when they won the Super Bowl averaged bet 55,000 and 59,000 per game and rarely, sold out the place) would be more than happy to pay $4.50 or more for a game that they want to see from the comfort of their own homes. The plan after that case was shelved, the Raiders moved back to Oakland (to a ballbpark with the skyboxes out in center field refered to as condominiums). However in an ironic twist, the NFL has its own network and is now considering again PPV for games moved to prime time on Thursday Nights. Stay tuned, because there has been a very nasty rumour floating around that the Super Bowl may go to PPV by the middle of this century [to quote Gordon Gecko from Wall Street, 'Greed, for lack of a better word is good').

-This next one brought a smile to the face because, I love cats (live with two of them, Rachel and Marissa) and this was another example of the will to survive. In fact the cat in this pic, bears a strong resemblance to Rachel in that she is Maine Coon/Tabby Mix. By the by the Maine Coons are known for beingvery smart, true longhairs, big boned (not fat, this is an adaptation over time by evolution), their fur can be any color and like Siamese and good old alley cats are very very loyal. Oh yeah, she may look a little upset, but heck wouldn't you be after an ordeal like this and then had cameras shoved in the face? Then again Rachel and Marissa look at me like that (Marissa is a black Siamese/Burmese mix) give me that look when it is time to fill the dish or when they see me spending too much time on the net.

One last item to consider folks. Last night NBC closed out the Nightly News with a report on the state, or lack therof of language. In particular how the slang that is common on the net and in other places has not just crept into daily casual usage; but how it has changed even business correspondence. So much so that corporations are now sending their managers to 'remedial business English' classes. Maybe this is not a sign of a collapse, but when standard parlance of commerce is replaced with smiley faces and other 'cutespeak', commerce as well as other parts of the society are heading for trouble. Unlike a rock rolling down a mountain, we can put the brakes to this before there is a crash.

Just a few random thoughts

2005-11-10T12:08:00.000-08:00

There have been a few items that have been rattling around the mind, so here are a few, submitted for your approval:

1. The Democrats seem to be celebrating a little too early in California after the special election where the initiatives that Arnold wanted to have passed failed. Don't these folks understand that this means that this means a continuation of the same crap that happened under Davis. which the Governator was trying to eliminate? Any wonder why big businesses are fleeing the state quicker than an uncovered Mets fan in the Wrigley Field bleachers.

2. While this one flew under the radar; Amtrak fired its boss, David Gunn. His name may not be familiar to about 98% of the planet, but he was the former head of the New York City transit system some time back and was credited with part of its turnaround during the 80's. Sadly there is a big difference between making sure the IRT Lexington Avenue Line runs on time and trying to fix a system so far in disrepair that sparkling wine is broken out if a long distance train arrives within a half hour of its scheduled time. Then again, the same thing can be said about the regular service that runs between DC and Boston.

3. No tears will be coming from this desk over Terrell Owens and his suspension for the rest of the season by the Philadelphia Eagles. At last, a team has said that enough of the whinning and bad attitudes of these spoiled brats is ENOUGH! They may not be as deadly on the field as far as their vertical game is concerend at this point, but hell they will be better off longterm in the locker room because this irritation is gone.

4. Dovetailing on that last column about the rainbow/alphabet soupers, while I am not crazy about their bland reality in spite of the flag they carry - sadly they may be on to something. If what currently shows up in daytime media is any indication (for example: that pride of Rego Park, Queens-via Cincinatti, Jerry Springer) there may {notice I said MAY} be a justification for this. After all would you want to be associated with that trash if one is trying to disprove they act like that in order to get laws favoring them passed?

5. Michael Savage is right about liberalism. For a while now he has called it a mental condition, which some have said is a joke and the man is nuts. Well if it is not a sign of bats in the belfry and the elevators not going to the top floor, why the heck is it that those mouthpieces of liberal thought and diversity (damn there went that word again!) the ACLU tend to want to defend the most looney, strange and profane of the world. It is almost as though they want the 'weird and the wacky' to be mainstream. Gee that may play in Greenwhich Village or Beserkely but in the rest of the country, hell no.

FINALLY, Let's give a late bravo and a toast with our croissants to the French Government. YAY, they are going to expell those punks who have caused the riots and problems over the past few nights. Nice to know they have gotten with the program and will send these weasels packing. Perhaps the last words these folks should have uttered to them on the plane out is 'don't come back now, you hear?'

Why is it that the folks who sponsor that 'Rainbow Flag' so gosh darn vanilla?

2005-11-08T20:17:00.000-08:00

Now that I have gotten your attention with the title, let's start this one out with a little tale. 'Once upon a time...' an airline; in this case United decided to paint their planes with what they had termed were 'world colors'. That meant red, blue, green and others against a background of aircraft carrier grey. From what was mentioned in their news releases, this was to show that good old UAL not only served all of the continents on the planet; but employed and embraced the concept of (here comes that word again) "diversity". If truth be known, they do-anyone who does not believe that; remember the listing of those who were killed on 9/11, in particular the crew of Flight 93 and you get the idea.

Unlike how United does business, while the gay community and its sponsors seem to in their media presentations want the world to see a rainbow flag, but put forth a media image that would look too close to the world of the 50's suburbs. As in, let's say the battle over gay marriage. One does not need to look very carefully at the footage from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and the rest to see that the landscape of the protestors looks like the top of Everest or Mt Hood. Nary any persons of color at all which would make any person with a brain wonder why this is the case, especially since they are the same ones who use as a symbol a flag that supposedly represents all people, all stripes, religions etc.

I can offer up a couple theories for this and while theories, they do have a ring of truth in them. The first being is that they want to create a media image that can be sold outside of their home hotbeds of the east and left, I mean west coast. After all they do not want the image of the pride parades to be what folks in Witchita or Ames see, so they need things to match what those target populations are (by the by, I am using those two cities as examples, in actual point of fact, Witchita and Ames are MORE DIVERSE than the standard pride parade).

Now the second theory will probably get a few folks wanting to get my address and throw bricks or even firebombs. It seems that since most of what does go on for those in the pride bunch is more often than not centered around sex, they only see blacks and others 'of color' as being equals in the bedroom or any other place they want to practive their version of horizontal enrichment, but not any place else. Sounds controversial? You betcha, but the sexual myths have been around for years and was the basis of those legends surrounding the supposed sexual prowess of blacks and others before, during and after the civil war. No one wants to admit to that openly, but if one were to do a little digging, they would find that this attitude is still rather entrenched.

Yes there have been attempts on the part of the pride party pack to try to disway the public at large that they want to represent those of all colors. However it seems that for this is only shown when the cameras are around. At least with United, those folks can and do walk the walk and talk the talk of the rainbow. These other folks well one has a chance of seeing a more diverse crowd at a Montreal Canadiens hockey game. Then again too, those who are 'of color' should be careful of playing into the sexual stereotype as well and demand that they be treated as human beings in this. If not, then the alphabet-soupers would feel they are justified in keeping their distance; due to the fact they do not want to be associated with those whose behavior is more like Jerry Springer guests than those who can hold a rational conversation or even be included in protests for 'rights'.

California Strikes Again [And we are in trouble if this one spreads]

2005-11-07T19:50:00.000-08:00

Just after I had written about how the weirdoes in the state of confusion, I mean California are trying to recall the Governator because apparently he is not turning out to be a pushover weenie and give in to the liberal loonies, another bit of manure has arisen from the dung heap. In this case it has to do with a ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Weasels.

This one deals with the Palmdale school district sending out questionaires to the students asking them about their sexual history. (Someone else has placed this on the net in a better form than I can at: http://redstate.org/story/2005/11/2/22125/7274/) What makes me really sick about this is that these questions were sent to 7th graders without the parents knowing and then this court of ill repute and lack of brains said the parents had no recourse in this. Bizarro-world strikes again.

Telling a parent they have no grounds to question or even to fight this type of intrusion on their children is just plain wrong. If you read the questions as stated in the previously refernced site, it becomes obvious that there is another agenda at work here. It has been known for quite some time that slowly but surely the basics of education in the school systems of some of the larger cities (controlled by liberals - surprise, surprise) have had creep in under the radar a loosened attitude towards sexuality and all that goes with it. This is being introduced to younger and younger students in the name of being diverse.('Yes Johnny and Sue some of your fellow 6th or 7th graders are sexually different than you and we must understand as well as be accepting/tolerant).

Is it any wonder then that the US is slowly falling behind many other industialized nations as far as math and science are concerned. While we may be nuturing more Maplethorpes or worse, the edge that we used to have as far as being innovative is going the way of the Edsel. And the parents who are fighting this are real heroes. They understand the stakes better than the union creeps who have tried to bring this in with the blessing of Carter and Clinton appointees. From my desk, this type of crap has to stop, NOW.

Why should the will of the people be under attack?

2005-11-06T07:37:00.000-08:00

Elections here in the US and in other countries are, if I am correct based on the fact that the majority has elected an official or has passed a proposition which, it is thought would make things better for the general populace. However it looks as though some have very short memories.

It seems that this past week, those wonderful folks in Hollyweird and in other parts of the state of California have stepped up their verbal attacks and protests against Governor Schwarzenegger because they do not like the fact that he is trying to tighten the reigns on spending. Oh yeah that as well as trying to make the state more business friendly. In doing so, he has had to make some rather difficult decisions because being the head of a state does entail that duty. However the protestors from Los Angeles to San Francisco have a case of amnesia.

Wasn't it just a couple years back that a Democrat named Gray Davis had the state on the verge of a virtual bankruptcy? If memory serves, his adminstration was marked by runaway spending, an energy scandal that caused rolling brownouts [a lot of this caused by firms such as the late Enron] as well as problems with every union and special interest group throughout the state. He faced a recall election as a result and the people chose The Terminator if only due to the fact that he said he would not let this 'business as usual' attitude prevail. [Minnesota did similar a while back by electing Jesse 'The Body' Ventura their governor, but what he did there caused more problems in his one term than anything else...that will be for another time]. And he has not let it happen.

In the time that Arnold has been in office he has cut some of the red tape that used to tie up the process of getting business done. Contrary to what the unions and the Hollyweirdoes [Warren Beatty and others] have tried to get out through propaganda machines like the AP, there is construction going on. There are jobs being created. The transit agency in California, CalTrans is expanding service in the tightest of traffic corridors. Plus he is trying to get the schools to get their acts together by taking on the rules that have been in place that have kept educational progress stagnant [and have allowed tenure in such a way that even bad teachers cannot be removed unless it took, pardon the term an 'act of god'].

The Governator is going to make mistakes and he is not going to be able to please all of the people all of the time. In addition to being seriously crazy, this would also cause a larger bottleneck in Sacramento than the traffic coming in each morning. The short minded in the state who seem to find the time to go out of their way to protest like there is all the time in the world [makes one wonder if the teacher's union for example is always marching what is going on in the classrooms] failing to remember that the will of the people has spoken and Arnold has to be given time to do his job. Then again another former governor of the state said the same thing. That was Jerry Brown, the former 'Governor Moonbeam'. But he was right, so folks relax, the will and voice of the people have spoken and now let things develop. If no one likes it, heck vote Arnold out in the next election or even recall him if need be.

Rap as the Fuel of Riots and Cultural Decay

2005-11-05T09:40:00.000-08:00

'Rap'

Just a simple word. It can mean anything from a knock on the door [as in Poe's 'The Raven'], to a reputation to its current meaning. That being the spoken or yelled words over music. In the book here some of the better versions of it are the early work of Run-DMC, 'Informer' by Snow and a piece called 'Roll The Bones' by Rush.

Over the years though rap has gone from just spoken boasts to the grease, as it were of disrepect for authority, women and for each other. Derogatory terms for ethnic groups that years ago would [and in some cases can cause hate crimes to arise]cause problems are now just common terms. Defining people as the 'n' word, women as the 'b' word and telling people that their lives are not worth anything unless they have a lot of material goods and a harem of women to love, leave and ignore are acceptable, as well as telling youth that they have to be antisocial in order to gain any type of respect. After all to the aveage rapper, going to school, working hard to get ahead and making a positive difference in this life, that is for 'chumps'.

And with the access to 24/7/365 media that some do have, like those who are rioting in France they are now imitating those very words that extort some here to just throw their lives away and act as though violence-physical and emotional will change the world. Sorry folks, that is not the case. What they are emulating is nothing that will only cause more problems. Less respect from the outside world and even more isolation inside the ghettos that these folks want to remain in because [like some here] they want to be around their 'hommies' and 'plot against the man'...or in the case of France 'le hommes du government'.The jails in many cities are filled with people who thought that this method of social change would work. The ones in Paris and other cities throughout France will be same soon enough.

By the by, the song by Rush I mentioned earlier...here is the rap from that song:

Jack -- relax.
Get busy with the facts.
No zodiacs or almanacs,
No maniacs in polyester slacks.
Just the facts.
Gonna kick some gluteus max.
It's a parallax -- you dig?
You move around
The small gets big. It's a rig.
It's action -- reaction --
Random interaction.
So who's afraid
Of a little abstraction?
Can't get no satisfaction
From the facts?
You better run, homeboy --
A fact's a fact
From Nome to Rome, boy.

What's the deal? Spin the wheel.
If the dice are hot -- take a shot.
Play your cards. Show us what you got --
What you're holding.
If the cards are cold,
Don't go folding.
Lady Luck is golden;
She favors the bold. That's cold.
Stop throwing stones --
The night has a thousand saxophones.
So get out there and rock,
And roll the bones.
Get busy!

[Thanks Geddy, Alex and Neil]

If y'all did not get this, get busy, stop blaming the man and try fixing things by getting with the program. The world will be better in the long run because of it.

Memo to the Borough of Brooklyn: Do not build the Nets Arena

2005-11-04T00:05:00.000-08:00

Folks I have a confession to make here: I am an ex-Brooklynite. Yes I was born in the land of the Dodgers and Ebbetts Field, Coney Island and Nathans, Ralph Kramden to name a few [as well as Chris Rock, Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman-R, Al Davis-owner of the Raiders and others] and as such I have a fondness for the place. When I last lived there close to 20 years ago, it was still a place where neighborhoods had characters all their own, with a diversity that was not forced but happened naturally. Heck even the cats and dogs got along there.

The reason why I mention all of this is that there is now a plan afoot to build an arena for the New Jersey [if they move there it will be Brooklyn] Nets in the middle of the borough right on top of what is now a slightly abandoned rail yard owned by the Long Island Railroad/MTA [the Atlantic Yards]. While this will bring jobs to the area-and they are needed; it is just that this is not going to be the savior that it is being touted as. Granted the housing that is part of this is needed [if the promise of mixed use housing is lived up to] but not with the arena as the carrot on the stick.

Also the list of places where economic development being spurred on by such structures is a short one: Camden Yards-Baltimore, Jacobs Field-Cleveland, SBC Park-San Francisco, Harry S. Truman Sports Complex: Kauffman Stadium/Arrowhead Stadium-Independence, Missouri, Coors Field-Denver. However in other cities, this image of the growth and boom towns around the ballparks have yet to be fullfilled [Miller Park-Milwaukee] or even worse, fans have stayed away because the team playing there has found ways to remain lousy even with the new revenue streams [Comerica Park-Detroit anyone?].

Brooklyn can and has survived rather well without an arena to place it on the map. And for the Nets, they can ahare the same arena with New Jersey Devils in beautiful downtown Newark. This is of course if they do not fight over revenue. Or to put this another way, Henry Hill that great Brooklyn Wiseguy would have said 'A ballpark would not be needed to make Brooklyn a somebody in a world filled with nobodies'.

[If you want to check the real stats on this issue, check out a book called: 'Field of Schemes: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money into Private Profit' (2nd Edition) by Joanna Cagan and Neil deMause]

What do you do when you have no clue about how to be a part of society? Riot, what else!!!!

2005-11-03T18:29:00.000-08:00

Sad isn't it? The land of fine wine, world famous art and of the expatriot American artist and musician in the last century is now facing riots from those who have immigrated in but want to be no part of the country. Well they do not want to be a part unless they get guarantees about such things as jobs and housing.

What is wrong with this picture? Many things!! For one nothing in life is guaranteed...not one damn thing. Secondly this is not their house it is the French house and while yes there is respect for the traditions that some will bring with them to their new home, this does not mean that the country in question has to bend over backwards to the point of breaking in order to accomaodate the new citizens. If that were the case, no country on the planet would even progress.

By the by if these folks want jobs and start to pay their own way for housing, guess what? There are cities all over France that need people to work in them. Lyons, Marseilles and others. One just has to look, read and make an effort. Oh I forgot, making an effort is something that the lefties tell people is what the government has to do not the people in question. Damn them.