23 Dec 2011

On this the fourth day of our counter-Christian celebration of the oldest of “holidays”, a multi-national protest of the religious hijacking of said holiday, we find ourselves in a dilemma.

We had planned to roast a pig for the festivities, but some idiot oiled the beast BEFORE catching the damn thing and after some exciting interludes, the porker was last seen heading west at a high rate of speed. 

So, we got some bacon from Safeway.

Then we planned to resurrect the Elder Gods with a ceremony found in a crypt buried beneath a temple in the Ancient North. 

Turns out the Ancient North is Del Paso Heights..  We resurrected three Cranksters and a dwarf who doesn’t even speak English.  But then, neither do the cranksters.  We dropped them off at Loaves and Fishes where they met friends.

So, we put up a picture of Elvis Costello, who, it turns out, isn’t even dead yet. 

This just doesn’t seem to be working out the way we planned.

Then we started the Holy Dancing… , couldn’t find enough drums,  Coffee cans aren’t the same.  And the dog wouldn’t hold still.

Put on a video of the Blue Man Group.  Close, no cigar.

Tried a May Pole.  Couldn’t climb the pole.  It’s December too.  No young maidens to dance in circles, either.  No maidens of any kind.

Next was a sacrifice of entrails….

YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCHK!

So, basically what it comes down to is, that since the original celebration went so far wrong, we will now just thumb our noses at Christian churches and fire logic bombs at demagogues and evangelists whenever we get the chance.

Happy Whatever Season you adhere to.. May your year be as pleasant as you deserve.

Christian Holiday

AnarchoLibertarian ViewsSince I have apparently not been as widely published as I might have hoped I plan to assist things just a bit.
With this link I thee read. 
Admittedly Anarcho Libertarian is not exactly Main Stream, but I feel that it is at the core of American values.  The REAL values most Americans treasure.
The right to privacy from everybody, especially the government.
The right to do what you please in the privacy of your own home, without the okay of the government or your neighbor's nose.
The right to conduct business without some agency or bureaucrat taking a piece of the action, regardless of how little action there actually is or was.
The right to educate your children without somebody's dogma or political belief tainting the curriculum or pushing somebody else's political/religious/social/moral agenda.
The right to do your fair share as you see it, not being forced to follow guidelines set down by aforementioned burearcracy/agency/elected official.
Think about it.  Aren't you really an Anarcho-Libertarian???

So, now EVERYBODY is after Joe Paterno. 
Why?  Either because he reported a pederast, or because he reported an assistant coach with a hobby. 
Here is the order of events I got from the media. 
1. Penn State hires a pederast. 
2. Pederast uses Penn State to further his "hobby". Using the usual cover story of "helping kids".
3. A special prosecutor is assigned to investigate allegations that the pederast is a ... Pederast!
   A. Special prosecutor starts on case.  Finds evidence... 
   B. Special prosecutor disappears, leaving an abandoned car and no clues. 
   C. Case fades into oblivion. 
4.  Pederast continues to "help" kids with assistance of Penn State. 
5. At some point pederast is spotted "helping" kids by Joe Paterno.
6. Paterno immediately informs his superiors at Penn State, the way he is/was supposed to. 
7. Penn State rushes to the defense of these poor troubled children by telling pederast he can't indulge his "hobby" on college campus anymore.
8. Penn State tells Paterno the problem is handled.
9. Paterno, being loyal to Penn State, decides NOT to follow up and report to authorities, i.e., cops.
10. Years later, it all comes out.  Press feeding frenzy.  
11. Penn State, eager to cover its butt, points collective fingers at Joe Paterno. (Figuring; high profile celebrity, easy target).
12  Penn State, eager to cover its butt and avoid liability, fires Paterno on the assumption it will drag the media off its doorstep. 
13. Media feeding frenzy II, taking the easy way out, attacks Paterno as if HE was the pederast, or somehow responsible to said pederasts actions. 
Why?  Because it is MUCH easier than actually going after the guilty party. Because they are lazy scandal mongers who have little or no interest in facts or true guilt.  They are interested in sensationalism pure and simple to sell their precious ad space. 
The very few actual fair and balanced media have been pushed far into the background by these low life bottom feeders.  
An intelligent adult reader has to search, I mean really SEARCH, for true information and news nowadays.  Instead of just swallowing the specious crap the mainstream media in continually feeding us.  
Happy searching.!

So, now we have the Occupy Wall Street.  Here in Sacramento.
Woh!
I think grass roots movements are just the best.  Unfortunately, they generally are pretty much useless from a practical point of view.
Many years I got involved in a grass roots movement that swept California.  We had protests which were ignored.  We signed petitions, which were ignored.  We even got an initiative on the ballot, which passed by a 2 to 1 margin.  i.e., two thirds of the voters who actually voted voted FOR the initiative.
It passed... then was scrapped by the California Legislature, because they just knew better than we did, what we ACTUALLY wanted.
Sound familiar?  It should, that's business as usual here in the People's Republic of California.
One pleasant exception seems to be the Tea Party movement.  From the way the mainstream media and the politicos vilify it daily, it is apparently gathering momentum.
They wouldn't be running scared if it weren't appearing viable to them.  The buzz words of racist, fascist, Nazi, anarchist are all being thrown at the Tea Party movement, apparently to which ones will stick long enough to trip them up.
Occupy Wall Street seemed to be following the same route, but then the media, the non-mainstream media, started doing live interviews with those people.
Talk about disjointed, incoherent anti-capitalist rhetoric.
I was VERY disappointed.  Somebody apparently went to a lot of trouble to motivate these groups, because I don't think the ones I saw on the news could occupy a bathroom stall without assistance.
Now the protest in Oakland is turning violent. As has the one in Sacramento.  Protestors have been assaulted, mugged, arrested in violation of their Constitutional right to Free Speech.
More later.  Rx

What the Heck is Facebook Thinking?

So, I am looking at my FB and seeing all my friends and family and I keep getting these invites to add people "I may Know" or may not.
The thing is, as much interest as I have in my friends and their doings and goings on, I really don't know ALL of THEIR friends.  And some names that come up are totally strange to me.  I figure they are either Phishing or friend of a friend of a friend, etc., etc., ad nauseum.
Those people won't know me either, right? So, why would I.??
Well, FB is just offering options, I understand, but stay with me a sec..
Some of the people I DO know.  They are people I have great affection, or admiration, or respect for.  And I enjoy keeping sorta tabs on them from a distance.  But, I am sure they are not interested in Friending ME.  I was not a real nice person to be around in the way back when. 
I think some of y'all can identify with that. 
The point is why would I embarrass myself and discomfit them by foisting myself on them claiming "friendship" from that long ago association that very well could have been as uncomfortable for them then (or now) as it is for me now.
Why bring up bad memories? 
Obviously, you don't have to... the point is that FB is constantly  putting it right there in front of me. 
Reminding me what a shit I have been in the past. 
I just hope I continue to have the good taste and courtesy to refrain from imposing  on those good people, again.
And, incidentally, I apologise for all the nasty, creepy crap I pulled, pushed, snuck in on all those people who went so far out of their way to help and/or be nice to me. 
And thank you for it all.  From my saintly brother and his wife to all the friends and girlfriends I was so bad to and ungrateful for.  Thank You!                  H. Rex Lesly. Shithead.

Undocumented Opinion

I have to admit I don't have all the documentation for this that I wanted to get together.
The fact is I am woefully unprepared.  I will try to fix that. but I must comment on the events of this past or rather the news of this past week.
It seems that a certain police department shot and killed a man who was already in custody and in handcuffs in the back of a police car when an officer shot him with an AR-15. 
REALLY!
Then another department had its officers arrest a man and then after he was down on the ground and, again, in handcuffs, they proceeded to beat him to the point that he required hospitalization and later died from the beating. 
AGAIN the officers were cleared of any wrongdoing.
Cal State University administrators have managed to keep their salaries and bonuses secret by a bureaucratic two step worthy of Tammany Hall.  Apparently the way they spend our money is none of our business.
As well as the Cal Legislature budget... They are claiming that THEIR budget is none of our business.
In a recent example of in-fighting between members the majority leader, who controls the office budgets of individual members, slashed the budget of a member who didn't toe the party line and when said member balked and spoke to the press the Iron Curtain fell, "privileged information"  or some such legal fiction to prevent the public from getting any ideas about actually seeing what is going on in Sacramento behind our backs.
More stories in that vein, but I will get my facts and documents together before continuing.
Thank you...

A Taxi Story

   Once in the distant past, when I was working in another city, I picked up a guy on an ordinary call, or so I thought.
   When I picked up, I found myself in possession of a very short older gentleman who was dressed a little oddly. 
   He was wearing a pink body stocking cut very low in front, with leggings, pink girly tennis shoes, carrying a purse.
   He himself was about 60, grey hair with blond tips, glitter eye makeup, pink fingernail polish, face makeup straight from the Andy Warhol crowd. 
   In other words, a perfect parody of gay...
   Plus he was stone crazy.  He took a breath before he got in the car and never stopped talking at a high rate of speed the entire trip of almost two hours.
  The gentlemen had decided that "this is a stupid cow town and I just HAVE to go elsewhere", in this case, Oregon. 
   Well, that is a better that respectable trip for a cabbie on a slow day, so I agreed.
   AFTER verifying that he had enough money to cover the trip.  And he did.  LOTS.
   He wanted to go to Medford, which is about $600.00, and I agreed. 
   But when we got on the road, his manic behavior started to degenerate almost into psychotic and I started to get a little worried.
   When he got out at a mini mart to get some water, I surreptitiously check his purse for weapons I couldn't handle, like a gun or taser or something like that.  Nothing.
   Allrighty then, we are on the road. 
   To my taxi driver shame, I got tired of the tirade by the first set of mountains..and started thinking of ways to get rid of the psychopathic burden I had saddled myself with. 
   He helpfully provided me with one, claiming to be running short of money. 
   So, I brightly volunteered that Mt. Shasta was a colorful little tourist town right under the BYOOTIFUL Mt. Shasta, and that cab service would be available from there to go farther north if he so decided.
   For those who don't know, Mt. Shasta IS a beautiful little tourist town located under the shadow of beautiful Mt. Shasta. 
   But Mt. Shasta is also a cow town filled to the brim with real cowboys from the surrounding ranches and farms, and since it was a Friday night I fully expected Mr. Crazy Tutu to have an extremely interesting evening and following day.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-==-=-=-
   But, in the taxi business, you get the money and move on to the next fare as quickly as possible.
   That is the nature of it and always has been.
   You can't get involved in all the stories of the naked city, you can just take it in, absorb it, and move on to the next one. 
   As cab drivers have been described as the most intelligent bunch of misfits in the world we are probably the best qualified to notice that sort of thing anyway.  Being generalists, generally, rather than specialists they are not as subject to tunnel vision.
   Also, being "outside observers" mostly, they tend to lack the usual prejudices to their viewpoint.
   Not to say they aren't human and have their own sets of prejudices, tastes, opinions and etc., but mostly they just want to get their money and move on.
   Finally, I do not know if Mr. Tutu is/was/or might be gay.  I don't care either way,  I just know he was definitely having an episode.  Whether with or without medication, again, I don't know. 
   Gay, straight, or Methodist, means nothing to me, money is green, and that is what counts.

INcredible!

I have been working a different shift lately. 
It has been interesting.  Extremely!
There is a whole different crew running at night. and by crew I mean the passengers. 
They have a different psychology altogether.  
I think what they need is a dose of The Truth.  

1. Yes, that dress DOES make your ass look big. 
2. No, I don't think that eye makeup makes you look sexy. 
3. That dress is WAAAAAy too short.  (Don't use that one often.)
4. The Goth look is just another way to say, "Hey, I need a bully here."

I suppose that is not a politically correct way to connect with my customers, but the thought did cross my mind.
And, yes, before you ask, I have been issued my own version.  It was painful, but beneficial in the end.
Haven't got any funny or interesting stories, yet.  But, I will be sure to forward the good ones. 

Progress..

As I mentioned before, I am in the process of changing my shift more to the conventional, i.e., starting closer to the actual day shift and working through the "work day" that everyone else deals with.
Well, co-workers and the wife all agreed that it would probably be a good idea.
So, here we are, working verrrry long days as I engineer the change. But, already I can see a difference in the work involved.
I do have to get off my butt and move more.  But, there is still dead time. The phone business has just evaporated and there is no way around that.  Plus, there is so much more competition now.
And they are trying to do a WalMart on us.  They charge approx. half the gate Co-Op does.  They work longer because they practically live in their cabs.  And most live with extended family which cuts their expenses.
Life is just not fair.
And it only took me 60 years to figure that one out. 
They don't call me Speed for nothing...
Wait a sec.... They don't call me Speed.

I just love that line... Can't remember if I wrote it or stole it.  Still good either way.
But I digress.
What I was leading up to is/was that business is better if you pick the right shift and actually work it.
And I have been making nice for the customers so they will take the business card and call me when they need a cab.
Not the Townies customers, don't want to alienate them for sure, but everybody else is fair game.  And it's working.
So, the bottom line is that I am definitely feeling a lot more optimistic about everything lately.
And I must give credit where credit is due.
My wife has been the largest factor in that turnaround.  Both for her advice and moral support.  And every other kind of support as well, since I have been on waivers with this damn leg.
So, that is the gist of this blog.. Progress and major attitude change.
Oh, and by the way, I am losing weight. Still got the gut, but when leg gets better I will be able to start walking regularly.  The dog will love that.

Man! I believe I am out of my depth here.

Seems this blogging thing is just a lot more complicated than I thought. 

F'instance, my son's blog shows up on the wife's facebook.  I don't know how he did that.  But now she wants her blog to do that. so, I am experimenting and having little or no luck.
I will keep working on that.

Day in the Life...

Well, let's see.
I have managed to begin migrating my shift further into the day, with seemingly good results, financially.
Time will tell on that score. But I am seeing more of the day.  Which is a good thing.
I still don't hear from my two favorite stepsons often enough, although I understand they have lives of their own and I ask WAY too many questions for a nice friendly converstation, but I am interested. I want to know.
I am spurred on in my political indignation virtually every day by conversations with my passengers, other drivers and, of course, my wife, who, if anything, is even more radical than I am in some areas.
the concepts behind Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom" are as aggravating as they are true and relevant today.
But, in everyday use, I was driving around town on Cesar Chavez Day, and was struck by the incredible preponderance of absent state workers and of taxi radio dispatch business.
So, I guess it's a four day weekend, whether or not that was the stated intention. WooHoo!
For state workers... Not for the rest of us...
The streets of Sac are virtually empty of business.  Cops, Fire Trucks, Occasional tourists.
And I heard there is a convention of Archaeologists in town.
Boy, talk about partiers.  Look out Sacramento!

Free Association

Since I have been doing the taxi thing, which is a long time, I have seen, heard, taken part in some really interesting things or events.
From robberies to assaults and runouts, scams, oddball offers of sex, drugs and/or rock'n'roll. (back stage passes to a concert in town).
Sex from an assortment of individuals ranging from a flaming queen drunk out of his mind (he probably wouldn't have gotten so out of hand if he hadn't been.) to a partying couple going to one of the then popular sex clubs and wanting a ride home later and a ride later at home.
I pass all such offers. In the age of AIDS and herpes and etc. who needs that sh!t?
Scams are always a fact of life in the taxi biz. Free rides are the goal. Whether because of the death of a loved one, temporary poverty, permanent poverty, righteous indignation, religious fervor, hard luck, Viet vet, Gulf vet, Thursday vet.
And, OMG, the frikking signs. Everywhere and all the time. Same deal, Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me.
I had an adventure with those guys over 15 years ago that spoiled the originality and humor for me.
I learned how much money they were making, and the hypocrisy of standing around begging and then getting into brand new Dodge trucks to drive to their homes in the suburbs.
I can't believe I have trouble making my car payment every month and these guys just have to have the gall to stand there and look pitiful to out gross me hands down.
As we all should know by now..
Life is not fair. As Heinlein said, "Of course the game is rigged. But, if you don't play, you can't win!"
So, hang in there, baby! Best of luck. Rx

Japan !!!

Well, we have had a cataclysmic disaster on a worldwide scale. The earthquake in Japan is having its effect on virtually every aspect of modern life around the world.
Here is Sacramento, people are desperately seeking Potassium Iodide to protect themselves from drifting radiation, before and instead of doing any thing like real research about the actual danger.
Talking heads are desperate to keep their positions and will hammer any subject that will get them camera time. It increases their ratings and their checks.
Radiation is a scary topic that gets every one's attention with very little need for extra added drama. It carries enough of that by itself.
The real big news is on the economic front. The Japanese stock market is reeling, and this sends rather large ripples throughout the worldwide economic community.
Our own markets dropped dramatically recently due to the shock waves.
And this is without regard to any actual physical effects the quake and tsunami had on American shores and American lives. That is pretty much a separate story.
Even now, while the Nuclear problems are still being analyzed, their extent still unknown, and rescue operations just getting revved up, the full extent will probably never be finalized.
Problems and trauma will keep popping up for years.
They will be finding bodies and other things for years. The recovery, economic and otherwise, will take years.
And, now, the science types are telling everyone to expect more of the same, as the quake has awakened other dangers.
Volcanoes, other faults, The Ring of Fire.
Stuff will happen. End of the world.
Again!
Get yourself a go bag. A gun. Food and water. Because, sure enough, stuff WILL HAPPEN!
The only question is when?
We can never know.
Natural disasters, political unrest, the War on Terror, Jihad, Economic disasters.
Something will happen.
All we can do is all we can do to look ourselves and our families. Give it your best shot.
The secret is to not bury your head in the sand.
As depressing as the news gets, some of it will have relevance to you and your situation.
Seek out the relevant. Apply it to your situation.
Good luck! Rx

What the Heck Were They Thinking?

So, i am a cab driver in a semi major city in California.
As such I sit for 12 or more hours a day in the best psychology class in the world for 12 hours or more every day.
I cycle passengers from every walk of life, every creed, economic level, on both sides of the law.
From the homeless to the heartless they all pass through the cab.
I hear a lot of what they talk about, because I am invisible. That is SO cool!
I am everywhere all day long. I see all the stuff you glimpse out of the corner of your eye.
And BOY! is it ever interesting.
From fat girls wearing fashions designed for 9 year old girls, to healthy homeless types begging at street corners with their little signs, claiming some disability or the other.
I am sure there are some really deserving persons out there doing the same thing, but the experiences I have had and things I have seen have spoiled it for me.
I just refuse to contribute to these dregs of society.
F'rinstance, I give people going to work a 10% break on the fare. I believe I am the only one in the country to do anything like that.
Giving the working person a break of any kind, that is. The backbone of this country is abused, bled, taxed, fee'd, license to within an inch of their lives by every form of government, agency, employers, retailers, i.e., just about everyone.
To get back to the theme of this blog, What the Heck were they thinking?
Obama's health care that they had to PASS to find out what was in it?
Jerry Brown for Governor... Again! (I like Jerry, He is unconventional. But he is a politician and that means he is for sale. To unions and others in his case.?)
Gun control to disarm John Q. Public while they operate a revolving door at prisons.
Lawsuits with no consequence for frivolity. Who pays? We do.
Electing lawyers to congress to make more laws.. Woh! Job security to the max.
Have to get ready for work... more later.. observations, reservations, exacerbations, etc.