Better Ways To Pay

The hot topic is Health Care. Why does this come as such a surprise, when after all during the campaign this is all we really heard from the umpteen different candidates and how they would tackle the unanimously agreed upon problem. Romney's solution was to make it the same as Massachusetts form, which he takes credit for of course. McCains solution was to stop his candidacy to help solve the economic crisis. Clintons was to force feed health care down every ones throat no matter what. Obama's was to provide a government option---so that its affordable for anyone who wants it. Who won again?

I have a great health care plan. I work for the government. I also own a business and have employees that work really hard, for meager pay, and are living without the safety net of a health care plan. It is unconscionable that the wealthiest nation on earth can not provide affordable health care insurance for hard working taxpayers. Long term strategy for American fiscal solvency has got to reform health care, social security, and defense spending. This is a three headed hydra that needs to be beheaded and the melted wax poured on top. First head- health care. If Americans are so distraught that this is going to cost our grand kids grand kids forever-- I would like to provide some solutions to pay for it right here, right now:

Some of my ideas on better ways to pay for health care:

1.) Spoils of war. Romans didn't conquer half of the known world just to spread the rule of law and Western democratic ideals. They did it for profit. Wasn't this (oil) supposed to be the method of rebuilding Iraq? Well that's what our boy Paul Wolfowitz told a Congressional panel on March 27, 2003. That's part of what the Bushies lead us to believe on how this was going to be paid for. I think we should follow through on that promise. Estimates sourced here estimate production at about 1.5 to 3.5 million barrels per day. Take the middle, multiply by 0.25 (because 4:1 is only fair) you come up with about 688,000 barrels of oil per day comin our way. At roughly $60 per barrel that would be $41,250,000 PER DAY, retribution of freedom tax. A small price to pay really - for the ability to tell your government to fuck off without going to jail.

2.) Sell Alaska. For Obvious reasons, partly including Palin. Normal commercial sales use a simple formula of about 5 times the gross revenue. 2005 census figures> Alaska G.D.P. is $39,314,000,000. Five times would garner a tidy intake of $1.9657E+11. For you non engineers E to the anything is 10 X the following number. This state is worth damn near $2 trillion. Get rid of it.


3.) Get rid of that goddamn adventure pass program. I pay my federal taxes. I should be able to enjoy National Forest without having to pay an additional fee to park on the side of the road to take my son fishing. Estimated savings? Who cares-- its wrong, and I think they need to get rid of it.


4.) And maybe the most realistic of all of them: Eliminate the Employer Sponsored Insurance (ESI) Exclusion: Explained simply here --- I don't really know how much this will save---but I have the benefit of my health plan being reduced off of my taxable income. All government employees get this, and I think its wrong to not be included as income. Anyone off the street would have to pay for a plan with after tax income. This is a matter of fairness, and I would not be opposed to paying more for a plan that most people cannot obtain.

Letting them go_

I heard this lady talk on the radio today, and she made sooo much sense to me. I like the way she thinks and I felt validated that her research has given me power to tell my neighbor friend worry wart down the street that she is a freak when it comes to overprotection of her kids. Freerange mommy has the right idea. Let them go and be kids. She has all the statistics, and this world is no different, if not a bit safer than the one we grew up in.

SOLVANG_A quaint little drinking village with A Danish problem

As a Senior in high school, I had a Civics class that was taught by your run of the mill public school tenured, Vietnam Flashbacking psycho son of a bitch weirdo who combo'd as a metal hucking ( I still have the scar)welding teacher. I liked Dave Smith, and I still do to this day, and I love calling him Dave now---not Mr. Smith.

So in this class, we were broken up into three groups to represent the three staple government systems-Communism, Socialism, and Capitalism: Each group was supposed to present the best case that each was the way to go. This was 12th grade non prep Civics. Most in the class had to leave early to pick up their kids, or go to English as a second language tutoring - so as not to provide an unrealistic backdrop for the following story. Which is that I was so convincing in my presentation to the class that Socialism, on paper, is the best economic system of the three for the following reasons. 1.) Private property rights exist, therefore capitalism exists. 2.) Medical benefits, good education yada, yada. 3.) Drinking age is non existent. BOOM! Come time to vote, Socialism won in a landslide.!! It drove Dave absolutely insane that I convinced the class for Socialism. I remember the day fondly.

Fear of something that we kinda are right before our feet - Socialist I mean(think public school, libraries, National Parks, National Forest, Postal Service, Medi-care, Social Security, roads, bridges, etc, etc.) is the flavor to pitch from the right now. Hannity will never conced that Capitalists need control, of themselves- period. But even with all his Obama Socialism bashing, 99.79 percent of America's corporations are not owned by the U.S. government. No matter what that douche bag Glenn Beck says, its not true, we are not going to be a nation of complete state controlled industry. This includes all this B.S. going on with GM. If you think that then you think small. Bottom line is we are not giving up on our constitutional clause of the "right to prosper." What we want is to live as good a life as we can within our priorities I think. Which brings me to Solvang.

Solvang, to me, is the epitome of Socialism. Denmark was not socialist at the time of their settlement in the Santa Ynez valley. But socialist theory was a large movement underground, and most likely, they just got the hell outta Dodge, chuck all the war mongering, and to build themselves a better life -- like all immigrants do. They bring with them one crucial element, which is their highly clarified sense of community. They know what that really is. Similar minded through heritage and probably religion, they now rule both sides of the corner of the monopoly board colored yellow and green. I could never imagine a group of new age settlers, say in Palmdale, or something, do anything like it again. Developers would have to provide that cheesy American home dream/ strip mall feel for them. Not these Danes---they want something, they all go out together, work their asses off during the day, get drunk at night, so on and so forth until the task is done. They build, they bank, they feed, and they party. Not afraid to argue,serious people with the hardest heads, almost mulelike stubborn, but overall surging toward the common goal which was to build a town the way they wanted to see it. And today, it is one of the most traveled to destinations in California. That's socialism to me. They personally made well for themselves AND they made well for their entire community with this formation of a Danish Village in the middle of Spanish, American territory. Amazing.

What I think __

How about a food t.v. program that is more like Cooks vs. Chefs? How about a different kind of Top Chef? One where you see them eat normal food--- that isn't consisting of pureed monk fish curdled inside a waffle cone sprinkled with beluga caviar on top. RALPH! I say to you Mr. Thomas Keller, of the famed French Laundry Restaurant in Napa with all of your wonderful genius, will never an opportunity arise for me to try your stuff - your out of reach for mere mortals like me.. There are fantastic cooks everywhere, that love what they do. It is true that some produce slop, but some produce really great slop! I think of the South and all the ways to BBQ, and I think of the Pacific Northwest with some of the best seafood imaginable, and the central mountains with the game choices available---these are not culinary trained people, but homestyle aficionado's that know how to please people. Anthony Bourdain has made a killing traveling around exploiting these treasures. Plus - I think some really funny folk reign in kitchens around America, and the World. You have to be happy right?---You're always warm, there's great food everywhere around you, and drink --- and usually very beautiful company to talk to. Chefs vs. Cooks is what I would call it. I'd think that there would have to be judges that are a realistic sampling of our red/blue nation, meaning some pretty well to do's to the down home blue collars. And it would make better T.V.

Bankruptcy Court: A range of real legitimate Broken Heartedness to sheer amazement of grand scale greed and recklessness. I just had a friend go through it, and she told me the stories of what she saw. Without ever having been to watch, which I now will put on my to-do list, I can imagine so easily the variety of tales there are to be told. That stuff would be interesting for anyone to watch I'd assume. Put that in your stats! my boy Stevie would say!

Or how about a better ad campaign to Stop The Idiots that open unsolicited emails with hidden viral's, that then go on to infect ..you know....the rest of the WORLD? Morons?? I think there's about a dozen hidden trojan.zbots. in my computer watching me type right now even. Or how about a computer that doesn't get viruses? Oh yeah, they have one---and there called Mac's----is what they tell me. I seriously think that's bullshit--open an email whether it's Mac or P.C. and>>>>POOF!!>>>>> The "Cyberchainmail Bodacious 2000_Conficker Worm> " has infected your, and all your Facebook friends, and all of their facebook Friends, and so on, and so on. ---"Fucking Shalhoob"_ I've seen enough jokes OKAY?

Or how about a credit card processing center that puts the swiped money into your account___immediately! For me as a restaurant owner, I have to wait about two or three days to get my settlement money. This includes tips that I have to pay out to servers__so I'm money short in two ways, the check, and the tip, for over two fucking days~! I can do a test, that I'm sure will be true, and that would be to go to the corner liquor store at 8:50 a.m. and swipe purchase an L.A Times, a Lotto ticket, and a mini bar size Johnny Walker Red - and at 9:03 A.M. when I go back to my office and check my account online, that money is posted and ga, ga, ga, GONE! They take the money immediately, but that poor small business owner waits three days sometimes to get my $7.25. This is a sham, because for almost three days, they can play that money on the stock market, or some AIG -scandal ridden Credit Default Swap game for two days---a lifetime in high finance these days, blow it all, and come up with a way to get that $7.25 to the store owner. Bullshit. Create a method where they get paid just as fast as the cock suckers take it out. It can be done.

Which of these ideas shall I work on?___or maybe I'm just high and won't act on any of it? Any thoughts or comments?

Limbo

Since I almost got hammered by an oncoming semi this morning in some bullshit traffic control setup on San Marcos Pass -- I immediately snapped into a contemplative mood.....again. This seems to happen to me all the time. Which is why I am reading the book I am.

So my reading of the 4 - Hour Workweek is progressing along okay, and here's some of my thoughts along the way so far:

I truly think the author, Tim Ferris has some methods, and thinking points that fit well with me. Things like simplification, elimination, thinking in the opposite such as - " I really don't have to wait for some fictitious point to make my move--some bogus mark set that when reached, triggers some radical life changing milestone. Work for works sake is his phrase that captures the lameness of having the need to be busy all the time. I get it--I really do, on what is being said.

However - hard work never hurt anyone. People scam their lives away thinking of better mousetraps to avoid the work--in the process of making the superior trap - the work increases ten fold, when the simple o'l spring loaded bait and pin model works so efficiently! Working smart is the key - we know that as obvious - but easier said than done. The key element for me to achieving the dream life is to quit worrying about what other people like, and to focus on what I like. Be smart, be responsible. I've done pretty good so far in my life with minor lapses in discipline - And I have accomplished a lot, which I am proud of. I just can't be fearful of change anymore---nobody's going to eat me once I make my move toward achieving my lifestyle by design.

What I really don't like is Boredom and this is where I am. This is my Limbo. I have to change my life, or else I will go even more insane. So what the book is teaching me so far is -- firstly, define what do you want? For me the answer to this question is simple. I want more time. The most valued treasure on earth. It is finite, it is dynamic, and it is oh so precious. So how am I going to get there? A lifestyle with more free time to do what I want to do -- enjoy my family, do exciting and challenging things - and never ever have to be anywhere I don't want to be. So I say this as I sit at work today analysing a set of plans 100 sheets thick for some Isla Vista road project - page after page of monotonous insignificant construction notes, 124 ADA approved wheelchair ramps, decorative concrete crosswalks, road signage everywhere all on 2 dimensional prints in a 3 dimensional world. Sheet after sheet of traffic control plans, mind numbingly complex for the sole purpose of minimum inconvenience to the traveling public---UGHHHHHHHHHH!!

I am starting thinking about that truck that I'm kinda of hoping next time does hit me unless I get the fuck out of this trap - I would deserve it for lack of a set of balls.

This should not be only in the imagination of any man, let alone a husband and a father: Having breakfast every morning with your family, taking your kids to school, heading to the tennis courts for a morning match with some mates, having a nice lunch at the beach, playing music, playing with the kids, helping the homework, eating with your family, then chilling out in the garage with a fat bowl of your best output from the agriculture project in the back green house writing, reading or chilling - then to make sweet passionate love to your partner. Everyday, with replaceable action events that me and my wife like to do. I would have the chance to surf when its good, to cook when I want, to live out all the things I want to do and accomplish ----which is not infinite, but not a short list either.

Life is too short to be bored. Time is always ticking away, but I can't see it as a race against the clock for the sole purpose is to really and truly stop and smell the roses. I love roses, and ganja. I just have to learn to stop.

Or maybe Tim Ferris just wrote the book to make a ton of money and all that stuff I've read so far is a scam? People hating their jobs is no brain challenge of being popular? The topic is an easy seller to the masses for sure - who knows? All I know is I like it so far.

Grievances

This is a joke ....right? --How sad are some people? Ok -=--Simeon is cute, but what is he..err 5? 6? maybe even 4? -- How do you justify posting your child on a web page entitled Sexy People??/ What about the mentality of thinking " I'm Sexy, yeah, and i know it.....and I want the world to know it, so i'm going to post my portrait too.....with all those other Sexy People!"

Maybe they really are sexy, but just not in appearance per say. I am a true believer that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I watched "Shallow Hal" too...... I get it, and I am not a "Shallow Hal," BELIEVE ME those are secrets that will die with me.

Pretty funny looking web site....hate doing the laughing at someone else's expense. What am I saying---No I Don't-- I like laughing at other peoples expense-----These are RETARDS posting their UNSEXINESS to a page Titled SEXY! Funny shit---

Appraisers--------Get a rope....

After reading today's L.A> Times A1 article , it donned on me that one key industry which has gone completely unnoticed and almost completely unaccountable for participating in blowing the housing bubble to an unsustainable pressure is the Appraisal Industry. When everyone is saying what the "value" is - they mean the results this occupation concludes with. . How do you not believe it (the "value") when an accredited professional comes to your house - spends one hour measuring the rooms, 20 minutes listing the amenities, and another hour on the computer listing regional com-parables - to tell you YES--your house is worth what the mortgage broker / real estate agent needs it to be worth in order to meet the loan to value requirements the lender may have set? Of course your going to believe it. But it was all bullshit as we all know. and of course they get paid at least a four digit fee for a little more than 2 hours worth of work It was what we call a racket.

In the end, the market determines the value, obviously -- what something is worth is always contingent on what someone is willing to pay. Simple market principle. Com parables are what they are, and if a new buyer next door paid X for a house similar to yours, that is fair to say your house is in the ballpark of X. But what happened at the peak of this bubble was an upward dynamic of appraising so that when the new buyer bought in September lets say, the value of your house 5 months later was value X plus Y since so much time was going by and the market was red hot. That's where we got into trouble, a frenzied mess of overinflated appraisals, time dependent and absolutely thoughtless. Timber, nails, and concrete cost what they cost - how does the value then jump threefold in a span of five years?? It doesn't, but we didn't know any better. We believed it what they told us, and we acted foolishly in that exuberance - no doubt.

So now nearly one third of California homeowners are too deep "under water" with their home mortgages which thereby disqualifies them from the Obama admin plan of 105 percent loan to value solution -- Question is how are we ever going to trust the appraised value? It appears to me that the pressure will be back on this industry to fudge the numbers once again in order for qualifications to be made. What do you do to know the true "value" without actually putting your house on the market?

What a corrupt fucking mess this is.

2 ways to make Newspapers solvent:

Rocky Mountain News, a paper that I have never read in my life, is out of the game after 150 years, longer than Colorado has been a state. Sad. 200 layoffs, pictures of employees crying, real problems for real people. And there's a shitpot more that are on the edge of the cliff - San Fran, Seattle, L.A., Chicago. My take is they deserve it like the auto industry. They had poor vision, bad management, bloated budgets, egos, and primma donnas. But two key issues that happened, in my opinion, is one of the key reasons they are going belly up.

(A.) Gary Larsen retired, and took the genius of The Far Side with it and (B.) They let Craigslist come in to their prime ground---their community which should be their world, and get ruled in every kinkily contorted way.

Easy Board Meeting agenda in any one of therse companies; a simplistic, break down to rudiments is in order, some mind clearing, and you should arrive to the only fucking question that should really matter-----Why do people buy the newspaper? If you think it is because of great International/National correspondents reporting by way of elegant writing and prose ~ I think that's wrong. Granted, a big generation of 30 somethings up to the oldest of the old, within their wits read the paper everyday - faithfully, for actual news. But that's obviously not enough. The nation is loaded with way more people that don't really fucking care about Istanbul, California Water Rights, etc...They want The Far Side Back. They Want Calvin and Hobbs back they want something quick and funny to read while they're taking a shit (mainly men), but the truth really to be told is that a lot of us like the kinky shit most of all. And that's where they let Craigslist outflank, outmaneuver and then destroy their monopoly on the classifieds. Its like seeing Wile E. Coyote hose himself again, and again. He always tried to get too smart with that stupid stringy bird.


---Sadly, we don't have a great cartoonist and comedic genius commensurate with the masses present mood bringing the non newser types to pay up. And they are definitely not capturing the attention defecit full free minds of young kids, who could be running to the paper machine, plopping down the quarters ( or as I would do it, fist pump the coin return and pop the lid and grab one for free---they fixed that model in 82 I believe-- some are still around) trash all the lame stuff, like The News, and get to the cartoon pages. If cartoons aren;'t working, and no way is a 12 year old going to like Dilbert...or even come close to understand Doonesberry, then they should create something to get their attention--like a hip voice sending out an X-Box 360 codec program that does some trick thing that you never knew you could do before. A geek column aimed at 4th graders to fortysomethings. Whatever-----get the kids then plus to the papers again. Persoanlly, I miss Heatcliff the most.

Second---When you have a city, and a paper, the Classifieds used to be the most important reason to buy the damn thing for a majority of people. I dont have any statistics, but I know I'm right --- there are a lot of unaware people out here, trying to survive, but most importantly be happy. The classifieds can make a lot of people, within the same community, very happy. Business owners, tradespeople, buyers and sellers---its a real market place, with potentially the best deals available. When newspapers started going online , they fucked up mostly with the no knowledge of best effective use of their classifieds page. Hindsight being twenty/twenty - The beauty of Craigslist is (A.) It's free,and (B.) it's bare bones simplicity. Their shit gets right to the point of what you want, or are looking for. They smoked local newspapers outta the game with one simple ass software program. They should have all the same weird shit in their classifieds that the indepenent journal rags have in them to. We'd get a kick outta reading the Writing styles of SWM Seeking BWFM. Its the way of the world - used tires and chinese massage. Focus on that better, and you'll have a chance.

And a final bonus tip. Lower your damn fees for placing a help wanted ad or work wanted in your damn paper. Paying $300 for 2 weeks is well....weak. Obviously people are going to place those ads where they get a lot of viewership, and Craigslist owns it right now. Its become a euphemism, like Google and TiVO. -- but not as an action more as a noun---something fixed to the ground within your neighborhood. More viewers - more ad money (but make the ads small and non intervening). Lower the fucking fee for the hardcopy, and provide the free online ad. There, was that so hard? Pay me, I'm available.

A bad trip---and an anonymous hero

Last night at about 6:30 I saw the big Fire Engine race through town with the lights on. Not so much an unfamiliar sight, being the 101 freeway right next door induces several calls per month by Station 14 here in Los Alamos locally---but I knew something went down pretty bad because I could hear more sirens coming from the freeway while in the back BBQ room cooking for customers.

I had no idea this accident would be this bad.

I mourn for them deeply. I can see the tree that they hit with the bark peeled off - but not so much appearing for so much destruction. I can see the tire marks of where they went off the road. I visualize what it might have been like in the vehicle and how fast something like this can occur -- a moment away from your surrounding, a drift into the soft grassy median, a panicked twitch in the muscles that causes a fatal over correction the opposite direction - then an instantaneous stop from a high speed upon hitting an old thick tree. Mother fucker....----So much Life gone --so quick and sudden.

A blip of light in the story is the hero that saved the driver. An anonymous witness that ran to the fire consumed car amid the dead bodies and blood, to pull out the sole survivor - the driver. A real act of bravery is inside all of us I hope, which I hope to never have to exercise in any way such as this - but to that hero, I would like to know your name, buy you dinner and talk to you about how you're doing.


I will never take my life for granted. I will hold and love my family everyday ever stronger. I will not be afraid to kiss my son on the face or tell my daughter to slow down and be careful----even though it sounds like a broken record. Keep your eyes on the road and your surroundings constantly--because of real accidents like this - an avoidable one.

I'm going to have to try this.

Bone marrow anyone? I've had it once and it was delicious. This is a great article to prepare. from Ruhlman's blog How To Prepare Bone Marrow

The blinders are narrowing:

I'm finding it harder to care, at least find relevance about the news of rest of the world. My morning reads, as usual are to Drudge and then Sullivan's blog --- and today I realized, for example in this link to Harper'spost about a former Guantanamo prisoner guard spilling the beans on the absolutely condoned torture policies the Bush administration directed-----I just kind of feel Sorry that the U.S. is doing this, but you know what? I just see it as printed stories in an article. This opens reality to me that I already new non-visually, were going on. I'm much more concerned about my own life, family and our current hard times right now, and these prisoners abuses is really unempathetic for me.

I'm living my life day to day right now----of course the financial market is worrying almost everybody that is middle class, or less. It seems that ambition is simply not enough when you have play makers like Bernie Madoff and the like just robbing people blind, right underneath the SEC's nose. How impotent regulation is- is akin to shooting pool with a soft rope.

Or when you see on the front page of the L.A. Times today a picture showing how cozy and huggy Shaq and Kobe were together at the All Star game, it makes me wonder why--and many of my friends are zealously enamored Laker fans, anyone gives a shit about overpaid genetic freakazoids that live in a world we can never be in? Unless you bet regularly on the Lakers wins, thereby, having them actually do something for you persoanlly, or a direct beneficiary of one of their many charities which I do give them credit for doing, then why do you care so much about them?

All I know is that everybody, more or less, is in this world for themselves, but I can't help but become saddened by something that happens to someone else. The man who lost his entire family for instance during the 05 Storm La Conchita Mudslide, with the exception of his youngest daughter who went with him to get an ice cream when the disaster occurred. He lost something in one moment that would shake my foundations of sanity to the ground.When it's your turn, and most would never be able to truly empathize with a major catastrophe like that or a U.S. Prison Guard gang raping me, or being subject to a torture routine, I can be heart felt for the down and outs, but always thinking deep down sub-consciously -- "better them than me."

To prove my point, reading the L.A. Times today, California right now is an unbelievable financial crisis, and the need for one vote to pass a $14 billion recovery plan, leaders have been trying to win support by non other than our local State Senator from Santa Maria - Abel Maldanado from Santa Maria. A third generation Santa Marian whose family fortune came from the illegal labor practices of the Santa Maria agriculture industy, which is basically a local name ending with a vowel oligarchy held by the landowners of the massive fields, defined and exposed by a great essay of journalism by Eric Schlosser called Strawberry Fields from his bookReefer Madness that exposed the Black Market economy of Santa Maria sharecropping, now known as Commission Merchant's -- basically screwing over hard working illegal immigrants - over, and over, and over to amass an empire of wealth and power created of course--by breaking the very laws that this jackass is now in charge of creating. These screw over contracts are so iron clad legally, that the attorney that drafted it holds a copy wright on its contents. So now the whole State budget is being focused on garnering this mobsters approval, but he won't do it unless he gets a compromise. Ahhhh yes. Legislative compromises--"what can I do to benefit ME is the point." So what is his compromise? To make fellow lawmakers recreate the party rules in election primaries so people can vote outside the party. For democrats to be able to vote for candidates "just like him---a moderate." Gee--California is in the foothills of the erupting Pompeii volcano - and this multi-millionaire is worried about nothing other than his political ambitions for the future. Makes me think of "Fight Club" - "I am Jacks complete lack of surprise."

And so I sum it all up to this. Machiavelli knows best. Whatever it takes, and the Black Market is where survivors dwell and I am going to worry about my day, my family, my issues -- which are many, and the stories of Michael Phelps, Stimulus this, and Celebrity that--are outside the blinders I am now forced to narrow---as a matter of survival.

Rove is an ugly motherfucker--

Great article I read this p.m. from Rolling Stone labeled "Absolute.Must read" which then links to Esquires exclusive with David Plouffe "The Man Who Made Obama." READ IT. These guys pulled off one of the most impressive Presidential Campaigns ever --- and their Secret??? Gee --Dat ting cawled z entrrnet? And serious field organization. The duo of Plouffe and Axelrod ( and of course the Big Dog) did things that are simply a fucking mazing.

Watching Maddow Tivo'd from last night---She had on Axelrod, score interview --Anyways Obama team et.al - at least they seem fucking close to being true caring humans, let alone now being official Politicians. I Could never imagine Carl Rove caring about anything except fucking Tax Cuts.....not actual people. He translates his human concern into that 80's created Elephant language :..we’ve got productivity at near record heights; home ownership at record heights; home sales set new records last year; there are more people owning homes – particularly in the Hispanic and African-American communities than ever before.–
their classic "Trickle Down Theory" speak of Almighty REAGAN -- see where thats taken us. The largest fucking financial problem in 100 years. I fondly remember that comfortable feel of peace and financial security of the 90's as if I were remembering my Hawaii trips---Fit, warm, drunk, and secure.

Oh right----9/11 changed the world right. There's bad guys that want to kill us is what they say--we're hated and have many enemies---or else "THEY MIGHT INVADE" and then we'll all have to take Friday afternoons off!.

An estimated 77,039 people were treated in the ER for accidents involving lawnmowers in 2006.

They were Americans. War on Lawn Mowers is in the Neo Con war plans I gather.

Out on a limb with their positions, Drug Addict Rush and Fuck Face Hannity continue inhuman 80's elephant lingo: I think Hannity must have an 8x10 glossy portrait of Reagan and each night he gives a slow deep salt licking to it, then closes on Murdoch's. His wife sleeps in a seperate bed. In his world I see Obama as the "Messiah" as he continually spews every 3 minutes. Well if Obama is the Messiah for me then I say Reagan is Midas to him. I'll take the bad ass carpenter over a dick that traded in his daughter anyday.

Plouffe and the 40 somethings, the 30 somethings and those goddamn Millenial 20 somethings are kicking the dayglow, Galleria shit right out them. A bankroll of 13 million email accounts? That is a large, large army. And its growing ---fast. I see the SPAC for Palin adds now on Drudge------most Palin 'spoters' love the email and computers right? ---Happy Trails To You, Until We Meet Again :)

OSLO: The answer my friend..... is blowin in the wind

There's a battle going on, and I want in on it. Sullivan vs. Podhoretz ----

A couple of heavyweight academics, successful writers, yada, yada, yada.

Now I know for sure Sullivan needs no defense ---- but Podhoretz reads like a real Dick.

The argument, as we all know now to be utter Bullshit, is that the war in Iraq was Necessary for the safety of American lives (Bush Doctrine,) Going to be quick and easy (liberators, flowers etc. so said Mr. Cheney on MTP) and essentially Humanitarian in nature so as to free all the poor Iraqi people suppressed by an evil dictatorship. We were sold this piece of shit rationale by the Neoconservatives history will record.

Here's the truth about Neoconservatism and Iraq in a nutshell: Keep Fighting in Iraq to maintain pressure on Iranian and Syrian governments, but also to provide a forum as a broadly swathed Ultimate Fighting ring to take on the Jihadists, and the general overall U.S. haters of all sorts from all sorts of places. That the U.S. has moved beyond the sissy Rooseveltian "Gunboat Diplomacy" but is actually willing to maintain a state of perpetual war. Negotiating is weakness. Abiding to treaties? Weakness.

Now back to the tiff between the heavyweights. The attack on Sullivan, whom I do not always agree with, is that this passage from Sullivan contains errors:

We patiently listened as neocons told us that the Palestinians are too dysfunctional a people ever to have democratic rights or their own state, but that the the ancient sectarian warfare of Iraq can be transformed in a few years!…I took neoconservatism seriously for a long time, because it offered an interesting critique of what’s wrong with the Middle East, and seemed to have the only coherent strategic answer to the savagery of 9/11. I now realize that the answer - the permanent occupation of Iraq - was absurdly utopian and only made feasible by exploiting the psychic trauma of that dreadful day. The closer you examine it, the clearer it is that neoconservatism, in large part, is simply about enabling the most irredentist elements in Israel and sustaining a permanent war against anyone or any country who disagrees with the Israeli right.

TO which Podhoretz reaches deep to say that

In fact, neoconservatives were and remain the most determined supporters of George W. Bush’s June 24, 2002 speech in which he said specifically that the United States would accept a Palestinian state just so long as that state was a democratic one

.

Was I on drugs when their election was held, Hamas wins, and then we said - well that doesn't really count? I don't recall them being the only party on the ticket either.

Then this from J. Pod:

Others — Bill Kristol and Bob Kagan most prominently — did argue that we had prepared inadequately for the occupation, and that we needed far more troops.

I'm of the belief that if you put Bill Kristol in sentence you have to include the word Douche. To base any argument with Bill Kristol -Douche - as your protagonist is beyond hysterical.

Then the kicker from J. Pod:

Andrew Sullivan no longer is interested in winning in Iraq, in fact is probably quietly eager for a defeat there, doubtless out of a combination of a certain degree of conviction, a ravenous hunger for leftist Web traffic, and because having decided a few years ago he’d picked the wrong horse in supporting it, he finds it unbearable to imagine that the wrong horse may prove to be the right horse after all.

Now I take this personal. First off - Victory in Iraq? Victory? Please show me how many "Victories" there are in our Modern History of defeating an enemy that has no uniform, no flag, and no territory? I can -- The slaughter of the Native Americans and the Aboriginals. Is that what would define a victory? Slaughter them all? That anyone who believes this is all of a sudden a wussy leftist feeding from the trough of Sullivan?

He just cannot admit the reality of a forever misunderstood region - that might is not going to solve the problem, that the revolt('s), if there ever is going to be one, will come from within itself.

I would leave this final question to J. Pod:

If rockets stop firing into Israel, will Israel suddenly become a dove? Or will they harbor their animosity? It has to be peace in what the people really want bottom line. Let the people have what they want. Get back to thinking on how to improve the Oslo accord asUri Savir believes it can be.

The ultimate lesson we can glean from Oslo's limitations is that an enduring peace must be built from the bottom up, not from the top down. Instead of relying on the same archaic peacemaking strategy we've used for centuries – and which was reflected in the Oslo process – we can embrace a new model based on nurturing mutually beneficial forms of cooperation on the local level, as well as between cities and organizations.

What do I know---I read The Daily Dish.

Maddow Has My Trust---Now We Can Kick Hannitys Ass.

I just finished watching last nights Maddow show and man I am in heaven with this style. It works with me very well because --Its right, and rightly presented. The cranky noise coming from the A.M. dial, and the FaUX Network---sounds well, old people cranky. I read this great article today that Sullivan linked to hereand I dont see the rabid vulture carcass stripping attack or angryness in any way. The vibe is smug here at support camp - but there has to be an element of constant defense because the HANNITY LIMBAUGH FOX machine has some power still. They are rapidly weakening as the news of the day exposed it found on Drudge.

Maddow is clearly in tune with this and completely in the zone! I'm happy for her success, Im happy for Olberman to make it happen and recognize the vibe as well by getting her on the air.

Now the nails for those assholes - They are in the minority position, they are stale dry pieces of toast that you have to eat by force as you listen to their SLIME.

CHANGE IS HERE-----

Slow It Down ______Beautiful Isn't it :

And this is what it looks like:

Fitting Ain't It?>
>

STEVIE WONDER

SY RAPPER EXTRAORDINAIRE!!!

The strongest power: CHANGE

God Bless the Saturday morning cartoons I got to see when I was a child. I remember that feeling you'd have each Friday Night, that tomorrow ---there will be JUSTICE FOR THE WORLD!!!!!

The scenes where Aqua Man sonors ahead to a pod of grey humpback whales linking fins to tentacles making an arrayed octopus - whale net to stop a speeding rocket from slamming into the sea floor. FUCK YEAH! Happened every Saturday ---something like that, albeit by Superman - the supposed most powerful (wtf?), or Batman - who originally always had that problem of being too nice, a guy that dresses like that without any real superpower? add in Robin --- I kind of always saw that as GAY, GAY, GAY ----we now know the real way Batman is supposed to be portrayed (Thank God they got that one right!) Then there was Antman, and Flash - who is so fucking cool, and Wonder Woman - which is the reason most of my generation are not mysoginists ---we'd let her lead us into battle --looking at that ass? Imagine being captured by her thinking "I'm a prisonor tied by golden rope in an invisble jet with a hot Isle of Lesbos looking Yugoslavian - Fuck Yeah!"

I think the most underrated super heroes, of which my generation had the uttmost priviledge to be witnessed each Saturday morning was those stupid late coming tan, elf, vulcan looking - fucking weird sexual tensioned brother sister duo...a.k.a the Wonder Twins. Remember He could change into any H2O based thing, like the oxymoronic "Moving Ice Wave," then she could change into any earthly mammal creature- with a second head--but of course they could only do this as long as they were within touching proximity, then by loudly annoucing that "Wonder Twin Power, Form Of" verse. Fucking classic.

Bottom line is, they could all stop some bad thing from happening --- they could change certain events, and they changed outcomes. Powerful, yes -- but could they move through time? Could any of them travel to the future? And if you can travel to the future then do you not have the real power to change something? To make what I call Significant Outcome. I will try and define that quickly. Minor change would be predictable, mathamatically within reason... a simple defect - odds are there of it (the desired or undesired) of happening. What is not in the odds would be what I call Significant Change. I.E. - the final outcome would be the extreme, but a good example I think, would be - for instance, having the power to travel to the future and then kill the chimpanzees that carried the AIDS virus. That would have had a Significant Outcome to our current lives. Since that AIDS epidemic has occured, we can say that if a hero exists with that power, this action was not on his or her list of priorities so far.

Movies have exploited this concept in many forms. The left side being "Back To The Future" being the example on a somewhat mellow level ( I recall the middle movie being a bit dark, but not Damien like) - Then on the right, a movie like the 12 Monkeys - premised a bit more extreme than my example.

My point is -- how would we, in the present ever know that there hs been a Significant Outcome. How could we prove that there have not been any so far? Any number of scenarios can take place that could wipe us out in a heartbeat, yet here we are "sittin around - thinkin and the like." Healthy and happy. Can it be the cause of some hero going forward making that happen for me?

Is "God" the only hero that were supposed to believe has this power? Well here's what I say -----FUCK GOD! (wait........hold on..........no thunder, no lightning, no chasm rumbling apart in the earth below me------oh shit.....I'm going to live after saying that!)

Kind of gives you a bad karma after saying it, but from the Matrix we do know that Karma is just a word. Like God. Like Carlin taught us.

The best Hero story I've seen so far is the "Unbreakable" story - where the hero could see the offsite actions of an evil person, he was almost immortally indestructable, and he was humanly brave. He made a Significant Outcome - he saved people lives because of the extra sensory power coupled with the inhuman power. E.S.P is something unproven by Science, yet hugely popular amongst all current civilizations, and I would say that my Saturday morning lessons of JUSTICE are just as proven as the power of GOD.