Prof Reading is for Sissys

Man, I should really Proof read more...I mke some dumb mistakes...see

Medicare and Tax Cuts Nuts (My new third testicle)

Tax Cuts

The American people love tax cuts. That was the Republican reasoning for trying to gut Medicare to the tune of $268 billion and offset it with tax cuts in 2000 and more since (I don't have the numbers on all that handy and I doubt I'll bother to post them later)

Everytime I go to the drug store to TRY and fill my prescriptions I am reminded of how badly the republicans have slashed Medicare and how they squashed, back in the 90's, what every other civilized 1st world (?) country has…National Health Care.

Tax cut after tax cut has been made in the programs I as a member of the WORKING POOR depend on namely Medicare. I depend on it for my health, sanity and possibly my life. This where I want my few little bitty tax dollars to go to.

"The American people want tax cuts." Well, let's catalogue more things the American people want.

The American people want drive through nickel beer night.

The American people want to lose weight by eating sour cream and onion potato chips.

The American people want to clip Get Out Of Jail Free coupons from the Sunday Comics section.

The American people would chew off their own foot if Jerry Springer told them there was a liquid gold in their ankle veins.

20 percent of the American people didn't understand the question so much they thought Ross Perot was the answer at one time.

The American people think Bruce Willis can actually dodge bullets.

The American people love the Home Shopping Network because its commercial free.

68 percent of the American people still believe Professional Wrestling is legitimate.

60 percent of the American S.U.V.s during a fuel "Crisis" (It ain't a shortage folks it's a "Crisis")

98 recent of S.U.V. drivers have never have been more than 1/4 mile "Off road"

In America Bankers not Bikers now ride Harley Davison Motor Cycles

A huge chunk of Americans don't realize Larry the cable Guy is a Character actor making fun of them in a deeply sardonic fashion. Come on folks this is Ernest all over again. Please, please don't "Gitt-er Done"

Ugh. Meanwhile I still have to wait a year and a half on my waiting list for a primary care physician to talk to him/her about my new third testicle.

Cut this. bleh

Republican Follies

What a surprise. Republicans feverishly exploiting their echo chamber to pound out the familiar drum beat that Democrats are weenie girly men who can't be trusted to keep their frilly underwear unsoiled much less protect this country from terrorists. I wonder if they aren’t right about that sometimes but I sure as shnookie don't trust the republicans to do anything other than ipiss me off anymore.

GOP mole Joseph Lieberman, I feel so betrayed, parroted the same P.O.S. cross party line when he nasally whined that Ned Lamont's win over him was a victory for the kind of people involved in the British Pakistani airline bomb plot. Geeze as Archie Bunker might say. One talking head I saw on Fox News called Democrats "the Al Qaeda Party, truly un biased reporting…come on." And in response, Democrats have vowed to mount a vigorous defense. Soon. Maybe. Once they rinse out their underwear
.
What is wrong with these guys? They got to get out there. NOW. No. Now is too late. They got to build a time machine. Go back to Friday the 11th. Issue pre dated press releases. And drag everyone along with them. Dig up a couple of dead three initialed Democrats like JFK and FDR and LBJ from the days when the Blue party had balls…isn't there a "Blue ball" joke there somewhere?..Anyone? Bueller? Do whatever it takes to keep the GOP from locking them into the sissy box. AGAIN. Get Al Gore to put together a Powerpoint Presentation to display exactly which party is at fault for America being less safe now. And convince him to regrow his beard.

Its time to fight back. Time to start slamming Bush and his toadies for diverting the money for research and toher none oil driven programs to screen for liquid bombs to fight a war against the wrong people. We got to remember 60% of us aren't happy about INVADING THE WRONG COUNTRY. And its time to lambast the whole do-nothing Beltway for not implementing the 9/11 Commission's recommendations on airport security. Not to mention the futility of busting passengers for possession of toothpaste.
With only a few weeks left before the mid terms, they got to trot out their history of proposing security legislation that the Congressional majority routinely scuttled. Have every single Democratic Congressman go out and tell those same silly people who still believe Iraq possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction why the reason we don't have bomb detection technology for this sort of thing is because Bush wasted all our money on his rich buddies. Is Paris Hilton ( I just can't leave her alone can I) going to buy DC's Dulles Airport a liquid bomb scanner? I don't think so. I doubt if she can spell "DC."

Point out that we still haven't caught the six foot seven inch Arabian guy traipsing around the Khyber Pass dragging behind him a solar powered kidney dialysis machine from the Islamabad Sharper Image catalogue. Though Cheney did nail that six foot lawyer cleverly disguised as a rabbit…good shooting Dick

Point out that Mr. Bush has created more terrorists than he's killed with an emphasis on how odd it is that nobody in this Mickey Mouse administration is familiar with "The Sorcerer's Apprentice."
And then have our bravest, most charismatic Congressman (from the safest district in the country) reel off all of the Democratic plans to secure our borders that have been trashed by Bush's Congress and hoist these squeezebags on their own petard by warning Americans that "Every vote for a Republican is a vote for another 9/11." Maybe Sam Nunn. And when they come at him with teeth bared waving sharpened flag poles, and they will, just blow up the paragraph from the Washington Times where Tony Snow and Dick Cheney and Joe Lieberman said the same damn thing in reverse. And still brace yourselves for an October ad campaign featuring Hillary Clinton in a burka.

Damn, I hate insomnia.

Ghost Story

Poop. It's 2:17am and I just woke up from a terrible nightmare about ghost, rutabagas and tomato puree. Yes I know, but the point is it's got me up when I wanted to be down. I have a full day ahead of things I'd rather not do tomorrow starting way to early for me to take any more sleep meds in my futile attempts to sleep this restless night so why not write. Besides mood group in the morning I have to meet with AFS and that is just buckets of smiling fun. Hurrah!
The ludicrous dream (what dreams aren’t?) also got me thinking about ghost, not a usual topic for me to waste brain waves on. I don't believe in them, not real ones as they are normally defined. I think people see them all the time I just don't believe they are really seeing anything real is all. I think the ghost we experience come from ourselves from our own minds and have nothing to do with physical reality. Some of us realize this and make little to do about any "spooky" encounters. To illustrate this a little better I've decided to write about my own and only serious "ghost story". Before I start let me make clear …I don't believe I experienced a haunting but that doesn't make what I did experience any less terrifying …I was scared shitless…only my FIRM belief in the fact that there is NO AFTERLIFE of any kind held my shattered (At the time) mind together.
A year to the month after my Mothers death I found myself staying in what was her house but had become my brothers following her death. The rape that was my divorce was in full swing and I was as loony as one can be and still dress yourself. I had just exited a six week stay in a mental hospital for a combination of absurd behavior, binge drinking and a serious suicide attempt. At said hospital I was placed on a regime of some heavy duty medication and told be a good boy as I left. I stuck to that cocktail of psychotropic drugs for about three weeks before I added my own chemical of choice (Booze) to the mix. I didn't drink anywhere near as much as I had prior or near as much as everyone assumed, hell, didn't have to The combination of even mild quantities of alcohol and my meds came together like Nagasaki and Oppenheimer. I knew I shouldn't mix them but at the time I cared little if I lived or died, I simply wanted the pain o go away and well alone the meds can't make that happen plus once mixed your decision making abilities drop remarkably.
I dropped off the wagon about the same time as I started staying with Kevin at Moms old place in fact when I "dropped off the wagon" I was also dropped off on his door step.
It was the spring of 2003, March.
To put it bluntly I started hallucinating. I have never really ever done that before in my life. I never have taken anything that would cause that, with my nightmarish imagination I would simply be afraid too. That simple fact has always kept my curiosity in steady check. I have a highly addictive personality but I do know what I like and what I don't. Never have held with mind altering drugs, still don't. I am too much of a control freak. Booze, of course does diminish ones control but it also creates an illusion of power and control…fictitious though it may be. I digress.
On the first night of my short stay with Kevin something very odd happened. Kevin's room is at the end of a long hall leading out from the living room where I slept. After we had all retired for the night I heard faint music coming from the end of the hall. Probably just Kevin listening to the radio to go to sleep, lots of people do it, I don't but so what. I thought nothing of it. The next night the routine was exactly the same except when I got up to go to the bathroom (Midpoint between the bedroom and the living room) I noted that the music was on when I went in and off when I left...until I got back to the living room. There I could hear it ever so faintly. This struck me as odd and more than little creepy but I thought it was just me not paying attention when I exited the bathroom or maybe there had been a lull in the music. Was it music? It occurred to me that I couldn't really make out what the sound really was therefore maybe that was why it was playing wacky shiz nuts with my mind …I listen close. It was music and not just that it was Billy Holiday music. Well now that was weird, Kevin can't stand old jazz. Jazz is my music! Still, it wasn't anything other than a surprise at what Kevin was listening to to sleep. Maybe he liked to "bore" himself into slumber-land…it could happen. At this point I still did not perceive anything truly bizarre. It should be noted that I did test what I could hear that night a bit and noted that it almost seemed this already soft music got softer then finally a mere hiss as I got closer to the bedroom plus it was al Billy Holiday. I should also note on these first two nights I was only on my meds and no alcohol. I think that's important.
I questioned Kevin about it the next day and not only did he deny venomently he wasn't listen to B.H. but in fact was listening to nothing at all. He, like myself, found it difficult to fall asleep to music and never did it…too distracting. I was sure he was fibbing but let the matter go.
That night the music came again and now I was a bit spooked I am sparing a lot of detail here but I went down the hall several times and by the time I at the bathroom there was no sound but the rustle of the trees outside. In fact it would stay away after each investigation until I became distracted by my reading then it would return. However as soon as I noted it and rose to investigate it would disintegrate into silence. In my frustration and fear I became angry and went into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge. The moment I cracked it open two things happened at once. First I heard my mothers voice call my name clear as a bell in my ear and I felt a hand on my cheek. I was so startled I screamed and dropped the beer. I t was over. No sound no anything, just crickets and the lonely wind. I was very shaken. I'll bet I stood there for fifteen minutes if it was an hour listening and watching.
As no sound came I downed what remained of my beer and took two more sleeping pills and then I put on a Billy Holiday CD and went to bed.
I drilled Kevin again the next day but his answer remained adamant. No radio, no TV no CD's. I didn't tell him about the voice, I knew it would sound crazy.
That night I heard once again the now eerie sound of Billy Holiday from down the hall but choose to ignore it. I took my pills and went to bed as I fell into that half wake half sleep realm of partial dreams I was started awake by the voice of my ex-wife (Joy) calling my name and when I sat up on the couch as the voice faded I heard the music very loud, very clear and very terrifyingly real.
I was able to drown it out with the TV and I stayed up the entire night and next morning doing so. Around 1pm I fell asleep Thanks to a healthy amount of booze and sleeping pills. Several times before I got the volume right I heard horse whispers that reminded me of my mothers speech right before her death when the cancer had basically consumed her. I also heard a chorus of crying, it was soft and made up of several voices but I heard it.
When I awoke it was late evening and Kevin was gone. I think he was off with his band and I didn't figure I would see him again until the wee hours so I decided to look through his room to find the culprit radio. I had a theory…some where at the back of the house was a clock radio going off at a soft volume .One soft enough not to wake Kevin but just loud enough for me to hear. It was positioned in such a way that I couldn't hear it well from the end of the hall but could just make out its sound in the living room (The only room I ever heard it in) acoustics are very weird…it could happen. If the music returned I would uncover this foolishness
The music came shortly after dark. Kevin was not home so I took off slowly down the hall. As I approached the door to his bedroom (Moms old room) it faded as I expected. I open the door and rapidly switched on the light, which promptly blew out. After I recovered from THIS mild startle I cut on the bedside lamp which was sufficiently bright to illuminate the room well.
I found nothing, absolutely nothing. Kevin didn't even have a radio of ANY kind in his bedroom. His alarm was one of those old fashioned bell ones and clearly not the source. Also the room was as silent as a grave (Pardon the pun).
As I shut the door leaving I heard my name again. Clear as the time by the fridge and felt, once again, a hand now on my shoulder. I didn't scream this time but I went stone cold. I marched down the hall but this time it didn't end there. I heard "things" all the way down the hall always to my sides or rear. Voices, car horns, mumbles, barking and crying. Some of the voices I recognized some I did not. I did start to scream and when I did all fell silent.
The next few hours where uneventful but that changed. I began to hear things, as I did in the hall but not with such veracity. They noises were coming in short, very short burst and as individual isolated sounds rather than all at once.
They Billy Holiday music softly played on but no longer filled me with the same fear now that I had heard the other sounds, hell it was kind of pleasant and comforting.
Some new sounds entered my nightmare around midnight (How appropriate eh?). Knockings on the door (No one there of course) and scratching on the windows other less identifiable sounds. I was in a near panic but it was far from over. By turning up both the radio and TV in conjunction with talking loudly to my self ("I am not hearing this and you guys had best split cause I know you ain't real motherfuckers" etc…) I was able to basically tune out the persistent audio hallucinations but I still could hear them slightly over the wall of sound I had created as a shield. To be honest I thought I had taken the final plunge into true deep insanity.
I also at that point started to "see things". Outside one of the front windows I saw someone staring in at me through the blinds when I open the door to confront my fears the "person" was gone…I never saw the image clearly but I saw something (In my wrecked mind at least). Several times while looking out the window I saw people in the trees and around my car about ten meters away from the house. When I went outside there was of course nothing but when I looked back up at the house I could make out the silhouette of some one sitting inside through the blinds. I almost didn't go back in but considering what I was experiencing I was afraid to drive away. I went back in. …You guessed it …no one home but the invisible and shy Billy Holiday fan at the back of the house.
This went on all night and as the sun rose it all but faded (Billy Holiday too) except for the occasional voice. However the voices I heard in the morning were cut short …just brief burst of loud but incomplete words. It all finally stopped around 11 am or so when Kevin returned. I didn't tell him the tale of my hell night (until very recently) I just went to bed, finally able to sleep at that point because I could hear HIM knocking around the house instead of the bizarre shit I had been hearing knocking around in my head.
I didn't sleep long however, I got up and made arrangements to move in with an old buddy that very afternoon. I have never had anything of the like happen again. Not a peep. That week scared the hell out of me but I know it was not real. If I was not so disinclined to believe in the supernatural I would swear I was haunted that night. But I am not a believer.
I mixed my meds with booze a few times after that to bad ends but never again did I have any such hallucinatory results (That is something It took me a while to learn not to do). So what was the X factor at Moms?
No spooks so what made the difference.
Psychological stress.
Booze + Meds + Moms House divorce + anniversary of Moms death +sleep depravation + guilt + massive imagination + traumatic stress t= Massive hallucinatory Effect. That week, that time, that place all came together in a very bad way. It wasn't a haunting no one but me ever experienced any thing weird there especially Kevin and he slept in Mothers old bed for Pete's sake …if anyone was supposed to see ghost it was Kevin.
It was so real to me then. However even as it was occurring I knew it was a psychological event not a paranormal one. Only because my faith in science and pragmatic reason is strong was I able to understand this. If I did believe in the afterlife, god or any sort of supernatural "anything" I would have sworn I was in a ghost story. All the circumstances and events were right. That statement leaves out an important factor one that goes beyond the idiocy of mixing mood medication and alcohol. Those factors made my mind weak and off balance add in the trauma affecting me (most likely) from being in not just in the house of my dead mother but the one in which I witnessed cancer consume her body and mind and you have the answer.
While nothing like that has ever since occurred and I no longer mix meds and booze I still get a little gun shy when I hear odd sounds so far the are sounds everyone else can hear too but I always ask just in case.
Life goes on… "scared but smarter"

Me andShazi...sometimes Puff and no Huff

This Pearls before Swine could be us a few too many times, lol. Puff no Huff

The fun of Manic Days

Thiese are some unfinished thoughts that I was working on to make into blog post but for one reason or another I just didn't…until now. Here you go…

If Mr. Tally Man tallies my bananas
Can I sue his ass for sexual harassment?

This post brought to you by the letter Q and the number 9

I am not obsessive why do think I am obsessive? Who told you I was obsessive. Why would you think I'm obsessive?
Seven things you can't say on MSN:
Macintosh, Apple, Smart Links Packaging Fraud But Then when would you use this one? Netscape, Netescape, Internet Explorer Uninstaller: abbreviated or not Opera, Firefox, AOL, America On Someone Other Than Bill Gate's Line Toupee, Hair Piece, Who's Your Daddy? Donald Trump Yale, IE 8: Yawn Penis
Twelve Fun Things To Say In a community college Chemistry Lab
1. So I shouldn't have filled the Bunsen Burner with gasoline?
2. Sir I just spilt something brown that bubbles on something red that doesn't. Did anyone misplace their Pepsi and Punch?
3. My lab partner and I will now attempt to make a test tube baby.
4. Give me the safety goggles and stand back, last time I did this the Dow Chemical company had to donate a new building.
5. That was a Hydrogen balloon you just sucked in you idiot.
6. Professor the contents just turned purple. Congratulations dad.
7. Sir, my lab partner's thermos is bubbling.
8. Professor, w accidentally, drenched the dry ice... Everyone watch for Zombie extras.
9. Explosion is a relative term.
10. Don't touch my beaker... I'm using it to test a vaccine for the bird flu
11. This same experiment got me kicked out of Devry.
Seven Ways To Get Kicked Out Of The Petting Zoo
1. Explain you just watched Gorillas in the Mist. So you'll need a sleeping bag and a note book.
2. Show up with a box of stuffing and ask for directions to the turkeys.
3. Build a barbecue pit.
4. Ask which birds feathers are best used to stuff a pillow.
5. Throw Easter Eggs at the bunny exhibit as you yell, "Thanks for missing our house again Peter Cotton Tail, you thoughtless prick."
6. Run like hell for the exit while claiming the Emu's have just predicted a massive quake.
7. Where a Davey Crockett hat. Tell the kids it use to be one of the zoo's ferrets.
8. Come dressed as Little Bo Peep looking for your sheep. If you're a guy and you try this, don't call me when you get locked up for acting psychotic.
9. Play Duck, Duck, Goose with real ducks.
10. Warn zoo goers that the pond has piranhas and anyone who wants to go skinny dipping needs to wear cup.
11. If the monkey's throw their shit at you, throw yours back at them.
12. Bring a rubber glove. Test the sheep for testicular cancer.
13. Read this blog out loud.
14. Read this blog out loud while testing the sheep for testicular cancer.
Congress Wants To Take Tips Off The Table
The gist of the idea is make tips a part of minimum wage. That way anyone who employs someone in the service industry could pay less than minimum wage. Here are some other things Congress might want to consider if they really think this is a good idea:
1. Beat your local waitress with a stick..
2. Put that waitress's kids on your barrel-o-pork eating salaries.
3. Force the venue that they work to pay them with chicken wings booze. Think of how that would make you more popular with the KFC and Budweiser lobby. Plus drunk people tend to vote Republican.
4. Make the decision to work in the service industry a mandatory 1st strike felony for stupidity.
5. Adopt a waitress and her family through Sally Struthers. Imagine, for only 50 cents a day, you can help feed the American Dream.
6. Start a foreign exchange for waitresses in Iraq. Jobs tend to pay better when you might loose a limb by serving a customer tea and cake.
7. Eliminate Congressional pay all together in favor of minimum wage plus tips. We as Americans will pay Congress a set rate plus a certain amount of tips based on how good we think you're doing. As popular as George Bush is right now, he could retire and by a beach house in Missouri.
8. Remodel the Statue of Liberty so that its flipping off incoming immigrants. That way they'll know: the American Dream. is reserved for those who can already afford it. It'll also serve as an I told you so, as they declare This ain't working and leave.

Rant Ramble and Repeat

Rant Ramble and Repeat
I rant, I ramble and quite often repeat…thus the name of my blog. I in fact very frequently (What's the Frequency Kenneth?) carry on like a chicken with it's bus pass taken away.I was compared at one point by my brother ,the aspiring rockstar, to various "Ranting comedians" because of the rambling nature of what I write, the anger involved, the cursing, my use of self effacing irony and of course the humor that occasionally pops up in my compositions. While I appreciate the comparison as a compliment I don't think it really fits. I am more of a rambler than a ranter and honestly I am usually not all that funny (When I am though I'm hilarious…trust me).
As for some of those other things, well I suppose they do fit except with that ever hard to define thing known as Irony. Irony however is hard to define and even harder to use effectively …just ask Alanis Morrsett (However the hell she spells it…I don't care). I may be a little late in the making fun of her game but remember she really brought any criticism she still brings on herself by setting up herself with that dumbass song misusing the term not once but repeatedly through out the entire painful number.
Alanis "Moronissette" wouldn’t know real irony if it sat on her… which, ironically, it has. And Avril Leninny knows squat-nothing about complicated relationships. And moving on to comedians famous for their "rants" would somebody tell Dennis Menace that REAL rants NEVER contain references to Mesopotamian historical figures, quotes from Shakespeare and “Threes Company”, White House talking points, the words “who wants pie” and insufferable smugness? You see, THIS is not a rant either. It has form, substance and humor and does not have 25% foul language (minimum requirement), unprovable conspiracy theories and more than three consecutive words IN UPPER CASE. It does not have adequate anger to be a true rant (I am very very rarely driven to such a high level of anger, and Mr. Miller is such an admitted bad actor that he wouldn’t be able to show believable anger if something ripped his leg off). Though in fairness to rant form it does start entirely too many sentences with "And…" So this is not a rant… What this IS is a humorous ramble. What Miller does is also humorous (and sometimes failing to be humorous) rambling at an relatively high speed (most useful in getting past those parts that fail to be humorous - that’s what made him popular for about 15-18 minutes). Most ‘Ranting’ comedians really are not. George Carlin did not start out ranting; even his most profane earlier pieces were not rants. He started doing some ranting in 1988 (the “What Am I doing in New Jersey” show) and has yet to reach more than 28% ranting in performance. And then there’s ‘attitude’, formerly known as ‘bad attitude’ until it was recently discovered that the word just never refers to ‘good attitude’ anymore. “Attitude” in the bizarro world of comedy is merely a euphemism for obnoxiousness or sometimes offensiveness (although “Political Incorrectness” is the preferred substitute for the latter). A comedian with “attitude” is entertaining to watch, but would be total agony to take on a long car trip. And even when you are willing to ask for directions because you’re really really lost, the ‘attitude comic’ will never allow you to. Trust me on this. Speaking of very very lost, what was I talking about? Irony? Uh… who wants pie?
Damn

Athens Memories...again

Just some old pics from Athens

If you are not concerned , you are not informed

Speaking of his new appointment to head up the Central Intelligence Agency, President George Bush called four star General Michael Hayden, "the right man to lead the CIA at this critical moment in our nation's history."
Let's hope Hayden isn't too much of a student of history. Otherwise, he might read the President's statements about Porter Goss, the man whose position he is filling, when Goss was appointed to head the CIA 20 months ago: "He's the right man to lead the CIA at this critical moment in our nation's history."
Or perhaps Hayden has been assured that of all the right men, he's the rightest man for the job. And you can take that any which way you want.
Uncanny how Bush was able to find these two right men for the CIA at these various critical moments in our nation's history. Have you noticed that every point in time for this guy is a critical moment in our nation's history? He even claims to have special powers because of this critical moment in our nation's history. Apparently, mixing up the script is not one of them. But I'll tell you why every point in time in his administration is a critical moment in our nation's history: it's not the terrorists, it's not the price of gas, it's not the illegal immigrants or the domestic spying, it's because he's the president. That's why.
George W. Bush possesses the unique ability of turning naptime at a pre-school into a critical moment in our nation's history. Because even attention deficit five-year-olds are bright enough to toss and turn on pins and needles, dreading whatever blunder President Fossil Fuels has up his sleeve for the future. Have you ever smelled a classroom full of interiorly stained GrrAnimals? Ooooh. Not a good thing. Neither is Sponge Bob Squarepants geting the contact shakes. And let's get real here: turning the CIA over to Pentagon authority is not the lullaby to lay these kids down to sleep. As far as soundtracks go, this is more Bernard Hermann from "Psycho!"
You want an example of putting the military in charge of intelligence? How 'bout the SS or the KGB? Besides the fact that the term "military intelligence" takes us deep into the heart of Oxymoronia, that mythical land in the Middle West where the Bush Presidency first sprouted its logic defying genetically modified seeds. Saying "military intelligence" is like requesting wireless cable. Or a Donald Rumsfeld mix tape. Or the Wall Street Journal Presents Dick Cheney's Executive Guide to Getting Along by Going Along.
Then again, with Bush's poll numbers descending into Nixonian if not Stalinistic sublevels, we can only surmise that each and every day, more and more Americans are able to acknowledge that piercing wake-up call telling them that George Bush is the wrong man to lead the country in this "critical moment in our nation's history."
And I predict our nationwide insomnia will reach its peak in November of '07, when a Democratically-controlled Congress convenes the first of a series of impeachment trials. Maybe we should embark on a national project to erect huge statues of the President all over the country, just for the cathartic release that will consume us when we attach wireless cables to tear them down.

If you are not concerned you are not informed…READ WATCH AND LISTEN

Service Industry Woe

It's my duty as a patriotic American to send up this warning flare to the Republican Congress. Their very lives are in peril. THIS IS NOT A TEST! They have unknowingly stumbled into a dangerous situation that threatens them to a degree of which they are blissfully unaware. The fact that none of them will heed my advice saddens me a little, but not as much as it makes me giggle. I doubt any congressional embers read my blog anyway unless you count the staff of my local congressman whom I dutifully e-mail on a regular basis and I won't go into the responses I occasionally get for that effort.

Let me explain. The GOP-dominated Congress just barely missed pushing through a bogus minimum wage bill that also would have finally accomplished their thickheaded goal of eliminating the estate tax... making sure that Paris Hilton gets every damn penny she deserves. Well, perhaps that's imprecise phrasing. Sorry, I once promised to stop using her as my personal scratching post and return to the time honored practice of macking J Jacckson molestation jokes…guess I should let sleeping #@%$&'s lay
.
Anyway, that's not the scariest part. As part of the bill, the majority passed, on straight party lines, an amendment to the bill mandating a DROP in the minimum wage for workers that live in the seven states with a higher minimum wage for tipped employees, meaning in California, Wsahington and Oregon(Where I live) the pay for bartenders, waitresses, bellmen, and valets would have fallen from 6.75 an hour to 2.65. Those greedy bastards in the service industry will be asking for health care for their children next thing you know.

In other words, the minimum wage hike would have cut the yearly pay of tipped employees by about $9,600. Besides being more cynical than dyeing oval shaped rocks and passing them off as easter eggs to contestants in the Special Olympics, this situation would put thousands of Americans at risk. Especially members of our distinguished Congress.
Now, it goes without saying that these privileged lords and ladies have the same working relationship with the service industry that a giant cephalopod has with the gear ratio of Toyota Camry,(I don't get myself sometimes so if that seemed like a weird sentence , you are not alone) but my question is: are they out of their Mother @#*&^$!% minds? Do they harbor a secret death wish? What, exactly, is their long term plan, to never eat in a restaurant or drink in a bar or park their car again?
Back in the day(Yesterday), I was/am a member of the service industry (The boss of this blog don't pay shit), and remain eminently knowledgeable of how very very very long that journey between the kitchen and the table actually is. Many a twixt between cup and lip doesn't even begin to cover the circuitous trip that appetizers may be subject to. Quick and dirty detours are always available. What lies at the bottom of the murky depths of your soup? You don't want to know.
I'm not just talking about ptomaine and salmonella and e coli and Hepatitis C, I'm talking about foreign objects such as grated pencil shavings and excess saliva in the béarnaise sauce and baby poo in the mousse. How many of our distinguished representatives are prepared to wear diapers full time to guard against the surreptitious drop of Visine in their Vodka Cranberry? And good luck getting the bathroom attendant to hand you more paper. You might want to ask the Senator in the next stall for change for a five.

A Republican leader said the bill may be scuttled for now, but plans are to revisit it as soon as possible. Someone, please, for the sake of humanity, warn these simpletons that a minimum wage bill is supposed to RAISE the wages of our neediest. And they do not want to put themselves in jeopardy by even CONSIDERING such a regressive measure. I am only thinking of their welfare at this point. To root out every possible sabotage would be like picking out a pubic hair in a sprout sandwich or off the top of your coke. Does a dead fish under the passenger seat of your Town Car have any meaning here?

Has not one of these nimrods ever seen Upstairs Downstairs?

Well I have written myself into a corner here and so have to once again a nice little self-righteous rant as a dangling-chad…well at least this time I think I clearly made my point. Enjoy your dinner and tip your servers generously!

Some thoughts on Bush's dependence on Terror

An evil symbiosis does exist between Muslim terrorists and American politicians, but it is not the one Republicans describe. The jihadists need George W. Bush to sustain their cause. His bloody crusade in the Middle East bolsters their accusation that America is out to destroy Islam. The president has unwittingly made himself the lead recruiter of willing young martyrs.
More to the point, it is equally true that Bush desperately needs the terrorists. They are his last frail hope for political survival. They divert public attention, at least momentarily, from his disastrous war in Iraq and his shameful abuses of the Constitution. The "news" of terror -- whether real or fantasized -- reduces American politics to its most primitive impulses, the realm of fear-and-smear where George Bush is at his best.
So, once again in the run-up to a national election, we are visited with alarming news. A monstrous plot, red alert, high drama playing on all channels and extreme measures taken to tighten security.
The White House men wear grave faces, but they cannot hide their delight. It's another chance for Bush to protect us from those aliens with funny names, another opportunity to accuse Democrats of aiding and abetting the enemy.
The early claim that a massive takedown of a dozen airliners was set for August 16 is "rubbish," according to London authorities. So who decided this case was ripe for its public rollout? Blair consulted Cheney: What did they decide? American economist Jamie Galbraith was on a ten-hour flight from Manchester, England, to Boston on the day the story broke, and has wittily reflected on other weak points in the official story line.
The point is, Americans are not entirely defenseless pawns. They can keep their wits and reserve judgment. They can voice loudly the skepticism that Bush and company have earned by politicizing of the so-called "war" from the very start. Leading Democrats are toughening up. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid uses plain English to explain what the Republicans up to -- using genuine concerns of national security "as a political wedge issue. It is disgusting, but not surprising."

More Bi Polar Information

This is an excert from an article I read this morning. I post it here for edification. I had some issues related to mis-diagnosis and some elements of this were used against me in curious ways (They continue to surface from time to time) prehapes with the honest attempt to do the right thing but there tose whose motives I question. Let education rule. Emotions fail.

Classic bipolar disorder (or Bipolar Disorder I) is characterized by episodes of mania and episodes of depression. In a manic state, a person may have extreme euphoria or optimism, to the point of impairing judgement. They may be hyperactive and stay up all night, talk and move extremely fast, have increased sexual drive and decreased inhibition. 75% of manic episodes include delusions of some sort (most often delusions of grandeur), one of the reasons why it is sometimes confused with schizophrenia. Untreated manic episodes can last for weeks or even months. Conversely, during a depressive episode, the same person can feel hopeless and personally worthless. They may lose interest in their normal activities (including sex), have very little energy or motivation, be unable to concentrate, and have disturbances in sleep and eating habits. Mania and depression do not necessarily follow one after the other; sometimes a person may experience a long symptom-free period before having another mood disturbance.

Bipolar Disorder II is characterized by episodes of milder depression and milder mania, called hypomania. A hypomanic episode is different from full mania in that it does not include psychotic symptoms (i.e. delusions) and it does not include symptoms that might be dangerous to the person or to others. Although it has it's own name, bipolar disorder II is reliably diagnosed less often than Bipolar I, and some experts question characterizing it as a milder version of the disorder (Source: "Bipolar Disorder." New England Journal of Medicine 2004:351:5:476-486).

A mixed episode is characterized by symptoms of both mania and depression occuring together (i.e. during the same day) for at least one week. A person experiencing a mixed episode might be very anxious and disorganized, unable to sleep or concentrate. In children, it can resemble Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Mixed episodes are generally followed by depression, and occur most often in people under 25 or over 60 years of age.

Rapid cycling refers to someone experiencing four or more episodes of mania or depression within the period of one year. Rapid cycling may last a few years and then slow down into less frequent episodes; conversely, someone may develop rapid cycling well after being diagnosed with fewer episodes.

Diagnosis and Misdiagnosis - Some Conditions with Overlapping Symptoms

Bipolar and Schizophrenia - What's the Difference?
Bipolar disorder is one of the many brain diseases that shares symptoms with schizophrenia; this leads to mistaken diagnoses, especially in children. It's important to know that individuals with bipolar disorder, even those that display psychotic symptoms as a feature of their illness, never meet the full diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia. Someone with bipolar disorder is not always in either a manic or a depressive phase; he or she may have long periods during which they seem virtually symptom-free (does not have the disordered thinking, delusions, voices, or other symptoms that characterize schizophrenia). Likewise, any psychotic symptoms associated with bipolar disorder should occur within the context of a manic or a depressive state - delusions of grandeur and hallucinations may be either wildly optimistic and grandiose, or completely disastrous and guilt-ridden.

Schizo-affective disorder is a disease that does contain elements of both schizophrenia and bipolar - it can be described as "schizophrenia with a mood component." The major distinguishing difference between schizo-affective and bipolar with psychotic symptoms is that to be diagnosed schizoaffective, an individual must display the symptoms of schizophrenia (i.e. hallucinations, delusions, etc) without accompanying mood symptoms of mania or depression. In a diagnosis of bipolar, an individual may not always be symptomatic, but within an episode schizophrenia-like symptoms are in the context of mania or depression.


Bipolar and Psychosis - What's the Difference?
It is valuable to understand the difference between psychosis and bipolar disorder. Psychosis is a general term used to describe psychotic symptoms. Bipolar may include a kind of psychosis. Several different brain disorders can lead to psychotic symptoms, including lesions in the brain resulting from head traumas, strokes, tumors, infections or the use of illegal drugs. If a serious depression goes untreated for a long time psychotic symptoms may develop. These examples demonstrate that not all psychosis is schizophrenia. If is for this reason that doctors may take quite some time (6 months or more) to diagnose someone, because while the symptoms of bipolar disorder may be quite obvious - the fact that the symptoms are not being caused by some other brain disorder is frequently not obvious.


Bipolar and Depression - What's the Difference?
The main distinguishing diffference between bipolar disorder and major clinical depression is, of course, the presence of manic episodes. This is why depression alone is not enough to diagnose an individual with bipolar, even if this disease runs in the family. However, even one manic episode (meeting DMS-IV criteria) is sufficient to make a bipolar diagnosis. Distinguishing between these two illnesses makes a big impact on treatment choice; while depression is treated primarily with anti-depressant medication, someone with bipolar disorder needs a mood-stabilizing medication such as lithium or valproate. Taking anti-depressants with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder is a tricky business, because the medication can sometimes trigger a manic episode.

Ink, Wash and Watercolor

Tamm

Complicated Grief in Bipolar Patients

This article was also intresting:

Complicated Grief in Bipolar Patients
filed under Bipolar Disorder Symptoms & Diagnosis
Those with bipolar disorder commonly suffer from complicated or traumatic grief which only puts more of a burden upon them. "Although complicated grief is not yet a formal psychiatric diagnosis, there is growing consensus about its core elements, which include unrelenting grief persisting for 6 months or more after loss, with symptoms of separation distress, traumatic distress, and difficulty adapting to the loss" (PsychiatryMatters.MD).

The participants in the study were 120 individuals with bipolar disorder that were taking part in the Systematic Treatment Enhancement for Bipolar Disorder study. They found that 103 of them (86%) reported having a lifetime history of significant loss. 24.3% of them had complicated grief, their average score on the Inventory of Complicated Grief was 33.7 points.

Having complicated grief was linked to higher levels of panic disorder as well as alcohol abuse, both of which was evident in 16% of those with complicated grief. Bipolar patients without complicated grief suffered from panic disorder and alcohol abuse at a rate of 3%. Panic symptoms and phobic avoidance were also linked to complicated grief.

Suicide attempts were more likely in those with complicated grief, 58.3% had attempted suicide at least once during their life. Of those without complicated grief 33.8% had made a suicide attempt in their lifetimes. Those with complicated grief also suffered from more functional impairment and less social support than those without complicated grief. The researchers in this study noted that clinicians should take extra care with those suffering from the loss someone close to them and the potential consequences.

Original Source: Complicated grief needs consideration in bipolar disorder patients. PsychiatrySource.com. September 13, 2005.

This research article was published in J Clin Psychiatry 2005; 66: 1105–1110

Relatives' Criticism Increases Bipolar Severity

In my ever ongoing research I came across this article:

Relatives' Criticism Increases Bipolar Severity
filed under Bipolar Disorder Symptoms & Diagnosis
Getting upset due to the criticism of relatives and close friends apparently increases the severity of the symptoms of bipolar disorder. High levels of expressed emotion from those close to the person with bipolar disorder can have adverse effects on their course of illness. Researchers used expressed emotion (EE) levels to predict the course of illness over 1 year.

360 individuals with bipolar disorder took a four-item Perceived Criticism Scale (PCS) for 1 or more of their close relatives or friends. They were then monitored over 1 year for symptoms of mania and depression, as well as the amount of time spent recovering. "Contrary to their expectations, the researchers found that the severity of perceived criticism was not associated with patients' scores on the Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) or the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)-II over the study year.

However, the results did show that the degree to which patients reported feeling upset by criticisms from relatives strongly predicted their MADRS scores, even after including all covariates" (PsychiatrySource.com).

Every 1 point of increase in their distress to criticism on the PCS, led to a 0.33 point increase on the Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), upon follow up. Those with higher PCS scores (distress from criticism) tended to have higher BDI-II scores on follow up. Researchers noted that those most greatly affected may be "stress sensitive" to their environment. They believe that it may be beneficial for clinicians treating bipolar disorder to include a measure of their perception of their family relationships.

SOURCE: Getting upset by relatives' criticism increases bipolar disorder severity. PsychiatrySource.com. September 20, 2005.

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whats the frequency Kenneth?

Lieberman Cartoon from Slate

Click on the title for a link to Slate

Girls gone Wild

Proof that I read entirely too much…about pretty much anything…GGW founder Joe Francis assaulted LA Times reporter, Claire Hoffman, as she was attempting to do an honest piece on the empire built on candid shots of women pulling up their shirts in public.

Amanda Marcotte, via Jessica, quotes:


Joe Francis, the founder of the "Girls Gone Wild" empire, is humiliating me. He has my face pressed against the hood of a car, my arms twisted hard behind my back. He’s pushing himself against me, shouting: "This is what they did to me in Panama City!"

While Hoffman is present, Amanda writes: "[Francis] appears to rape a teenager." (Go HERE if you want to read more about that).

The more important part of Amanda's post is the subtler point she makes about a "throwaway" clip from the article.


But the women are changing, Francis tells me, and that makes him sad. In the beginning, when “Girls Gone Wild” cameramen first popped up in clubs, the women who revealed themselves seemed innocent—surprised, even, by their own spontaneity. Now that the brand is so pervasive, the women who participate increasingly appear to be calculating exhibitionists, hoping that an appearance on a video might catapult them to Paris Hilton-like fame.

Amanda writes:

"To rephrase this bluntly, Francis doesn’t like working with women who are getting something out of it... The fantasy is not just regular girls getting naked, which is something I have exactly zero problem with. It’s a little more complex than that. The idea is to bend a usually unwilling woman to your will and enjoy the submission. Women who march up to the camera and say they want to be filmed in sexual situations are not bending to anyone’s will and that takes the fun out of it. Very, very telling."

Old Stories

“No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up.”-Lily Tomlin
"Be very, very careful what you put into that head, because you will never, ever get it out." -Thomas Cardinal Wolsey


BLEH…….

Sun in Ultraviolet

I, as should be obvious (sometimes), am huge astronomy buff. When I found this last image cruising through the APOD astronomy picture gallery I just had to post it here. By the way the previous post actually has almost nothing to do with astronomy but is rather more complex...maybe I'll go into one day.
This is an image of our Sun taken in ultraviolet light...WOW Follow zee link http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060710.html
If you click on the title of this post it should link you to the APOD page I frequent almost daily and here it is again; http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

I Have A Secret Heliocopter

Io, Callisto, Ganymede, Europa

Art odds and ends

Art from Me and Drew in Athens

When I lived in Athens I was friends with a fellow artist and neigbor who introduced me to glass art, I love it. We worked on many works together ...mostly in glass but I did introduce the importence of structure in abstract when we did a number of paintings together. Drew remains the only artist I have ever been able to work in that way with. It wasn't easy we are both nuts and difficult people but I think the art speaks for itself

a question of balance

Is the price of the cure worth the pain of healing?

In the shadow of a North West Tsunami

My friend Mike called me one day while watching a Discovery Chanel Program about the possiability of a Nort West Tsunami to inform me that I lived at ground zero...I know dude, I know....But evrywher you go there is danger so what are you supposed to do?

Our Block

Astoria again

Astoria

Tounge Point

Dexter Gordon

Places

I hope before I pass (One day) I have the oppertunity to visit India, Arabia, Central Africa and Australia/New Zealand ...and well Antartica as well too...

Snack

When everyone in the house is asleep and you are watching the T.V. with the sound level set at a very low "9" don't choose Doritos as a compliment snack or you may miss why the Yoga master is doing all those funny things you are watching him do on The Science Channel

Bad Weekend

This weekend was such a contrast to last weekend. I would have to give it an overall rating of about a 15-20 (Scale is 1-111) bleh...I am glad it's over...Couldn't give you a cause but thank whatever for Shanzi (Shannon) or it could've been a lot worse. Finally got my Seroquel and maybe thats the difference between then and now. I have had manias in the past that kept me awake 36 hours or more at a time but never a depression That did (I normally sleep through those or at least do little. This one was very different and honestly very scary. I thought I might leap from my 4th story window. Today is better though ...so far about a 40-45 a bored 40-45 but none the less better...Onward
Tic Toc

The Bubblemen are coming, DON'T ROCK WOBBLE

dream

I just awoke, it's 6:30 am andI just had a dream about Max ...I dreamed I could see him through a camera but he was not to be seen I looked and looked but he was not there....

angel soft toilet paper

Angel soft toilet paper...If there was a God do you think he would dedicate some of the heavenlychorus to this task?

Links

My template is acting looney toons and I can't seem to edit my links so until I get this firgured out here are some of note:
http://bipolardaily.blogspot.com/
http://thickthin.blogspot.com/
www.npr.org/
www.badastronomy.com/
http://theicarusproject.net/
http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/bizarro/about.htm
http://www.comics.com/comics/pearls/archive/pearls-20060722.html
These are but a few and I am lazy ...look for htese and more to become perm soon

Astoria Oregon is....

It is in the words of Steven Morrissey "The seaside town they forgot to bomb".