Happy Halloween!

                                                                       

While some of you will be either pimping for candy, or passing it out, come Halloween night, I'm going to be out there in the pumpkin patch with Linus. I love Linus, and the unshakeable faith Linus has in the impossible.

Our world today is war-torned and as savage as it has ever been. Political and social factions war against each other, and more than half of us no longer believe in a creator.

But, just as Linus sees what no one else sees, I see thousands of 4-H kids, raising hogs or cows in hopes of winning the Blue Ribbon at the county fair. Right here in my retirement community I see old folks who shrug off their aches and pains and go out and volunteer to mow and trim our common areas, empty bed pans in hospitals, tutor school children, serve as Teacher Assistants, and work in soup kitchens and food banks.

The Green Bay Packers have a tradition of joining together and reciting the Lord's Prayer before going out to play a game. Thousands of kids sleep in the warm security of a good marriage. Really, really good men are dying tonight in Afghanistan because they really love and believe in their country...and tens of thousands more are standing watch around the world because they believe deeply in democracy...for everyone.

In quiet bedrooms little girls are writing poems. At this very moment thousands of women are in labor with the fruit of a loving marriage. And good men have died today, and their families are sick with loss.

Somewhere in America a little girl went to an early morning gymnastics class, with the dream of winning an Olympic Gold Medal. A young man is on the 20th mile of a cross country run with the same dream.

So, come Saturday night, I'm out there with Linus in that pumpkin patch, waiting patiently, and "believing". And, if The Great Pumpkin does not deliver gifts, he delivers hope...and that's the greatest gift of all.

Happy Halloween to all my dear friends.

The Seven Year Long "Jackass Movie"

                                                                         

Does anyone remember the "Jack Ass" MTV TV series and subsequent movies?  I confess to not having seen any of them but have seen enough clips to tell me how monstrously stupid that stuff was. The Jack Ass portfolio seemed to cater to half wits who, lacking the ability to exercise their own intellectual stimuli, resorted to watching others doing stupid things to jolt their tiny brains.

When you watch any of those really stupid stunts you kind of shake your head, and sigh, and wonder what our society is coming to.

Ironically, that's what we've had as a President for seven years; a fellow so monstrously stupid, so full of unearned arrogance, so off the mark on everything he attempts, that you reach the point where no words are necessary...like those Jackass movies, you simply shake your head, and sigh, and utter a "woe is me" expletive.

I dare you to come up with one single accomplishment from the Obama years.  Economy?  How bout that $800 billion dollar pork stimulus plan?  How'd that work out?

Employment?  When we read those low unemployment numbers we know we're reading "Alice In Wonderland"....to date 93 million Americans have left the work force, are no longer calculated in the numbers, thus make everything look hunky dory.  

Obamacare?  Remember when Barry promised your health care premiums would go down 25%?  How's that working out?  Are you feeling real "pal-sy" with Barry knowing you're paying for 30 million freeloaders that own late model cars, gaming systems, iPhones and Big Screen TV's but can't pay for their own healthcare?

Food Stamps?  Double under Barry....80 million Americans now on food stamps...but Barry says every things cool!

Foreign Policy?  How's those half a dozen "Arab Springs" looking about now?  How's the Ukraine invasion coming?  How's our relations with Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East?

How about racial harmony?  After all, didn't we elect a Black President?  Worst racial strife since the Civil War.  Every time a Black is killed Barry trots out to the Rose Garden to give a sermon.  Barry loves to speak Ebonics at NCAA conventions, then returns to "lawyerly" when he gets back to the White House.

Yeah, I knew we were always capable of making those Jack Ass movies....I just never believed the American people would be crazy enough to elect a Jack Ass for the White House...that's the scariest, stupidest stunt of all!

"King Oil"

                                                               

Most of you have probably read that the Republicans have pretty much caved to Obama on a proposed two year spending bill.  In exchange for Democratic support for additional domestic and defense spending, in equal amounts, the House agreed in conference to support the agreement.

One of the ways Congress intends to pay for the additional spending is to sell oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves over the next seven years.

As most of you know, this country has the capacity to store up to 73 million gallons of oil in ancient salt caverns down in Texas and Louisiana.  There are currently 43 million gallons in storage.  You probably also know that we implemented the Strategic Petroleum Reserve program in 1973, in response to the first Middle East oil embargo.  (This was in retaliation for our coming to the aid of Israel during the Arab attack on them in '73.)  The SPR was established to provide for the energy needs of the military in times of crisis.

                                                        

While I'm not a big fan of all of this additional spending, I think selling off the oil reserves is not an entirely bad idea. It will certainly keep oil prices low and provide a little more money in the consumer's pocket.

Ironically, we are able to sell off these oil reserves because, despite Obama's stiff opposition to expanded oil drilling, the American fracking programs are generating excess oil to the extent that oil prices have dropped from $125 dollars a barrel to $43 today.  And the drop in prices has begun to really hurt American companies doing the fracking.  If it drops much lower we'll be buying Saudi oil for less than $30 but our home grown energy programs will be out of business since domestic oil extraction is more expensive than Middle East sourced oil.  And, as far as defense needs, our domestic producers can support those needs at any given time.

So, for now, selling off our reserves is a "win-win"...it keeps our domestic producers in business and finally begins to give the consumers a break on gasoline.

While I would much prefer that federal oil revenue go toward paying down the national debt, that's probably too much to ask for from those big spenders in Washington.

The Food Bank-Food Stamp Economic Index

                                                               

You're probably all read by now that our government masters have decreed that there won't be a Cost of Living increase for social security recipients this year, only the third such freeze in the last 40 years.

The cause?  The Treasury Department has announced prices are low; the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is rosy, and those old people can get along without a raise....even if they do have to pay higher Medicare premiums.

With regard to prices, certainly, thanks to those damn "frackerss", our gas prices are down.  However, have you taken a good look at the price of eggs, dairy, chicken and hamburger lately?  How's your water and electric bill faring?  How's that 25% bump up in your Obamacare premiums working out for you?

Let's set aside all that and just look at how the government determines the CPI.  Our government masters use kind of a "eat this, not that" process to determine the overall CPI.  So, in the government's thinking, if hamburg gets a bit pricey, you'll move to chicken, and if that gets too dear, you'll switch over to pork...so, people, in the government's eye, prices never go up because all of our patriotic citizens will "settle" for something less...so inflation need never be a problem.

Same thing with your electric bill....if your local utility decides to pass on the costs of Obama's "no coal" decree, well, I guess you'll just turn off the AC and sit and swelter in the summer heat...just reverse the process in the winter.

Obama has declared we are in the throes of a robust economy.  And, if we are to believe him, we must again bastardize that form of thinking into a "eat this, not that" kind of thing.  For example, the unemployment rate is low, right?  Well "eat that" and not this:  93 million people have completely left the work force and are no longer counted as unemployed!  How about that for making the problem go away?  And, even though the number of folks on food stamps have doubled on Obama's watch, everything's fine, right?

                                                           

Pardon me for being a bit skeptical about the Obama rhetoric.  I prefer to believe a news item released this morning.  Our food banks all across this nation are facing empty shelves due to high demand from people who just couldn't seem to find something cheaper than "Alpo" dog food to put on the dinner table!  So tens of millions are raiding the food banks and the shelves are bare!

So, be sure and vote for a candidate next year who will promise to continue Obama's economic policies...after all things are rosy, prices are not going up, and if the government can continue not giving Cost of Living increases they'll be many fewer of them to worry about in the future!  How's that for solving that Social Security deficit!

Pardon me, I've got to go into the kitchen and open a can of Alpo...it's time for lunch for me and my doggies.

Why We're All In Trouble

                                                                   

I was somewhat amazed to read this morning Google was inundated with "Hillary Emails" search inquiries on the night of the Democratic debate.  Seems that millions of Americans had never heard of Hillary's email problems, of her private server, of potential Russian and Chinese cyber hacks into her private server.  

How is that possible?  So I dug a little more.  Found out that Politico ran the numbers on this.  And they came to the startling conclusion that very little coverage has been given to this issue in the main stream media...with only Fox News giving the subject much coverage, complemented by sparse coverage on CNN.  

Apparently it was a point of honor not to give much cover on any of the MSNBC shows.  Rachel Maddow didn't think it pertinent, nor did Chris Matthews, nor even the MSNBC programs that purport to label themselves "straight news shows".

So, when good old Bernie shouted "I'm tired of hearing about Hillary's damned emails", millions of Democratic minions headed to their desk tops or iPhones and googled to see what old Bernie was talking about; seems they didn't know a Benghazi from a hole in the ground, or that an American Ambassador was killed after months of asking for enhanced security, or that Hillary was running a rogue server in her basement!

Folks, the fact that so many millions of Americans didn't know about Hillary's rogue emails is far more scary than the issue itself!  How has America become so startlingly stupid and ignorant?  

Guess we probably should have taken a hint when they elected Barry after four years of massive fails.  Still, it's scary, and doesn't bode well for an America more than willing to vote for a vagina, even when that vagina is a lying, corrupt politician.

We are in big trouble.

Those Whoring Dems

                                                                   

On Saturday the entire Democratic Presidential candidate slate moves down to Iowa to attend the Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner, a fact that should illustrate to anyone with an ounce of brain matter, that every single on of them are larger whores than a Texas Whorehouse Madam.  

Remember, these are the same people who want to take Jackson off the $20 dollar bill and replace it with someone like Angela Davis or Gloria Steinham, or God forbid, Hillary.  

And need we regurgitate the Jefferson-Sally Hemmings affair and his sinning slave-holding ways?

Liberals hate Jackson and Jefferson!  Jackson violently opposed big government and mounted the second "rescue" of citizen sovereignty by removing government deposits from the national bank because it, and Wall Street were getting to big for their collective britches.  

It was Jefferson who mounted the first rescue of the people's government when the Federalists like Adams and Hamilton advocated for a big central government/semi-monarchy...who implemented the Alien and Sedition laws which gave the government authority to arrest someone for criticizing the almighty Presidency.  It was Jefferson who advocated for states rights and made them a reality.

How do those achievements square with the Democrats today?  The "Dims" today insist we bow down and worship the religion of "nanny government".  They insist that government, and not the individual, is supreme.  After all, "you didn't build that business" is their mantra.

Never the less, the "Dim" Presidential candidates will be down in Iowa on Saturday, munching on chicken legs and eating green jello mold because it might mean a vote or two for them.  

As with every swinging one of them, "principle" is not in their vocabulary.  So they'll sit under that big Jefferson Jackson banner, and smile.  They can always savage the "J-J''s" when they get back to New York.

And the Republicans are not much better...they're still trying to figure out who they are and they're scared to death to rightfully claim Jefferson and Jackson as their own.

Alas, the last two statesman we had was JFK and Reagan, and they are both dead, as are their principles.

Sad.  Damned Sad.

"Dim-o-Cratic Free Markets!"

                                                                     

I came across two news items this morning I thought were interesting.  The first was an alert to spanking new Social Security/Medicare enrollees; seems that some convoluted policy in the Obamacare plan entails a 52% hike in Medicare premiums for new enrollees.  That impressive "premium gouging" ought to really make a few million enrollees happy, huh?

The other news flash was even worse.  Obama has upped his game by instituting a new policy that rewards doctors for holding off on expensive medical tests for seniors on Medicare.  I find that quite ironic; Obama and his "Dim"-ocratic minions seem not to believe in capital free markets until it benefits them!  In this case Obama will pump more money into the doctor's wallet if he decides Granny's gonna die soon anyway, from something....so let's save that government money and fund a few hundred health clinics to treat illegal Mexicans...potential Obama supporters.  Got to keep those illegals healthy so that when they're granted amnesty and citizenship, they'll know who to vote for!

A footnote at the bottom of the second news article advised citizens that the penalty for not enrolling in Obamacare more than doubles this year, then rises by 500% in 2017 (which just happens to be timed not to anger voters before the 2016 Presidential elections!...who says the "Dims" aren't smart?)

Playboy Going Straight!

                                                                   

How many of you read, that Playboy Magazine is planning to end nudity in their magazine.  I think the idea is brilliant!  Let's face it; in today's society one can google just about any sexual act, and within 15 seconds, see images as graphic as one wishes!  Playboy, by ending the nudity, can then promote its excellence in featuring the great writers of our day, just as they have always done.

I haven't read a Playboy Magazine for at least thirty years.  I used to, and confess to enjoying the nudity.  But, as I repeatedly told every woman in my life, the journalism and fiction within the magazines pages were every bit as rewarding.  I don't know who they publish today, but in the days I read it they published authors like John Cheever, John D. MacDonald, the riotous humor of Jean Shepherd ( I first read of Ralphie and that Red Ryder rifle in Playboy!), Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury in the magazine. And the Playboy Interview was the gold standard for celebrity interviews!

So, kudos to Playboy!  Esquire Magazine in the 40's used to be the gold standard for outstanding writing.  Then Playboy surpassed it, supplementing the great writing with nude pictures to draw in a larger swath of men.  But we don't need Playboy for sexual stimulation anymore....Google provides it in an instant..besides, I really don't need to see Kate Upton's labia to know that she's attractive.  And I've always found a woman fully dressed to be far more alluring than full nudity....it leaves more to the imagination.

Random thoughts from a dirty old man....who likes to read good stuff!

The Democrat Dog and Pony Show

                                                                     

Who was it that said "know your enemy".  Well, I'm sorry....I really tried to watch the Dim Debate last night but it was like watching four bobble head dolls (and one Jim Webb) falling over themselves to agree on policies that would give their supporters something for nothing.  Free college, free abortions, a program so that you could keep your home even if you didn't make your mortgage payments.  Worst of all was their iron insistence that the world is just a fine place where the only threat to our safety is climate change.

I really tried watching the debate but kept getting nauseous and had to keep flipping over to the Dodgers-Mets game until the bile subsided.  

I wonder how many viewers understood that the crowd was hand picked by Debbie "Wasserman Test" Schultz...so that every liberal pronouncement was greeted by raucous applause.

The only statement by any of them who actually drew a belly laugh from me was Bernie Sanders and Hillary's lament that the Middle Class has never been more imperiled.  And not once did they bother to mention that, during the last seven years, Obama and the Dims have been in charge of things...and made it worse.

Hope the American people are smart enough to see through this liberal dog and pony show.

Obama Interview: "Who Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest?"

                                                                   

Did any of you catch the Obama interview on 60 Minutes last Sunday night?  I thought it was fascinating.  Steve Croft , who has thrown softball questions Obama's way for three years now, decided to retrieve his journalistic "cojones" and actually ask Barry some real questions.

Obama, so comfortable in previous interviews where he gets to pick who's asking the questions, was a profile of disfunction Sunday night as Croft questioned him about his many massive failures.  And you could see Obama was quite taken aback that one of his prior media darlings had dared to question his emperorship.

I thought the question on Syria was quite telling.  Syria....that Middle East morass where Obama once drew a red line, then ignored it when it was breached, is probably Barry's worst nightmare...among many of his "Arab Spring" nations which have crumbled on Obama's watch.  When Croft questioned Obama on that $500 million spent to train 5 (five), count em "five" freedom warriors, Obama hemmed and hawed, was "lawyerly", but eventually uttered that his heart just wasn't in the program, thus it failed.  When Croft tried to question the President on why he spent $500 million of taxpayer dollars for a program he didn't believe in, Obama had no answer.

When Croft asked what Barry plans to do about the Middle East mess Obama simply uttered one of those highly fantasized dreams of employing a "community of nations" to deal with the bad guys.  Trouble was, Obama has no such coalition to accomplish that.........the capitols of the world, all of our former allies have pretty much written Obama off as a lightweight....one who would never have their back...and so they don't have his.

Obama seemed only slightly more comfortable answering questions about politics.  He seemed to have no problem with Hillary maintaining the western world's diplomatic doings on her personal computer...even dared to say that he's sure there were no security breaches.  This coming from a President who has stood by while both Russian and Chinese cyber goons have breached our governmental security data systems repeatedly.

And even as Obama pretty much declared Trump a nut job who will never be President, I found the real "nut job" to be Obama himself.  He looked like a patient in an insane asylum as he repeatedly drew a picture of a world that exists only in his own mind.

We need to get Barack Obama some serious mental health assistance.  I suggest he take 20 months off and go play golf....he's certainly not doing us, or the world any favors by occupying that desk where Harry Truman once said "the buck stops here."  Barry has passed that "buck" around a lot during his seven years; first to poor George W., to his three Defense Secretaries, to the Joint Chiefs, and to the Republicans whom he has demonized unrelentingly...even has he whined about about a lack of unity and goodwill up on Capitol Hill.

Break out the straight jacket folks; the fella in the White House ain't playing with a full deck.

"Cereal Killers"

                                                                   

I was finishing up reading the morning paper yesterday when I came across a letter to the editor from a teacher lamenting the difficulty she had getting her kids to pay attention in class. The kids seemed to tack between being overly rambunctious to being comatose during the first couple of class periods. 

Well, while I sympathized with that teacher I had better things to do, so I tossed the paper and jumped in the car and drove down to my local Fry's grocery to pick up a bag of frozen chicken wings.
While cruising the store I came upon the "breakfast aisle". And, remembering that teacher's lament I began to deduce something that might be creating that teacher's horrors.

That "breakfast aisle" was fifty feet long. The first two feet were dedicated to oatmeal, cream of wheat, Maltomeal and granola.
The other 48 feet of store shelves were dedicated to boxes of cereals! 

I felt a wave of nostalgia as I wandered down the aisle. I still recognized the Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, and Post Toasties. But I was amazed to see that there were no less than eight different flavors of Cheerios! Cheerios! When I was a kid Cheerios was one flavor! And if you ate them you were "feeling your cheerios, cheerios, cheerios! Now there were eight flavors! In fact, that whole 48 feet of cereal on display must be a nightmare for the modern mother to navigate! Can you imagine having a four year old in the cart and trying to get through that aisle without a major tantrum? These cereal boxes are surely "porn for kiddies" as they lusted after Count Chocula and Sugar Smacks and Quisp, and Corn Crackos and Sir Grapefellow, and Coco Puffs and Franken Berry! 

As I wandered further down the aisle I came upon another familiar childhood cereal; Lucky Charms. I can remember when they first came out with Lucky Charms. To me, seeing that first box of Lucky Charms was the adult equivalent of seeing Deep Throat for the first time. I could not believe that our 50's era mothers would have sanctioned the production of a cereal chock full of colorful little candies! 

Oh, my mom didn't buy those Lucky Charms....we ate Cream of Wheat, dreary oatmeal, and if we were especially good we might get a bowl of Maltomeal, but I don't believe a box of Lucky Charms ever crossed the threshold of our youthful abode. Still, as a kid, it was fun to imagine growing into adulthood and having the freedom to pick up a box of Lucky Charms for a morning breakfast.

So, yesterday, just for fun, I picked up a box of Lucky Charms and began to read the ingredients. The second through fifth on the list of ingredients were some form of sugar, dextrose, corn syrup.

And suddenly I understood that poor teacher's lament. She's got 30 kids doped out on a sugar high, only to have them go comatose on her when the sugar surge ebbs.

"Cereal Killers".

Can Dr. Ben Win?

                                                                         

More than a year ago, before Dr. Ben Carson even declared his candidacy, I wrote here of my admiration for Dr. Ben, that I believed he was a principled man, a good man with good intentions, but didn't believe he had any chance of winning the Republican nomination, much less the Presidency.

Even after Dr. Carson declared, and especially after watching his "too quiet", "too demure" imagery at the Republican debates, I continued to believe that Carson didn't have much of a chance.

But now I'm beginning to wonder.  Dr. Ben, despite not owning the blustery bloviating of the other politicians, despite his tendency to speak quietly, and softly, continues to climb in the polls.  In fact, in two national polls Dr. Carson leads the blustery and clownish Donald Trump, and seems to be gaining on him.

And with the massive cross currents blowing across the American landscape; the massive dissatisfaction with career politicians, the sense that Americans no longer believe Washington D.C. exists to care about them, the "non-politician" like Dr. Carson seems to be doing quite well.

Could 2016 be the year that we see a political civil war?  Has America finally tired of government corruption?  Has the incestuous relationship between Hillary Clinton and Slick Willie's foundation finally disgusted even those who traditionally pay no attention to such things?  Are we finally going to see a non-politician win the White House?

It is supremely ironic that, in Barack Obama, we've had nothing more than "pure politician" in the Oval Office.  Obama has flown a million miles during his Presidency, flitting about the land, making campaign speeches even when there was no campaign to be won!  So maybe, just maybe, America is ready for someone like Carson who, I'm sure secretly, just hates campaigning!

What a breath of fresh air that would be!  Can you imagine someone in the Oval Office who doesn't believe they know everything?  Someone intelligent enough to listen to his military advisers, his policy advisers, and, glory be, the American people?

Well, with regard to Dr. Ben's prospects, I'm still wary.  I'm not yet sure America is wise enough to recognize that the guy with the "prettiest words" is always the best one to lead us.  

I guess we'll see.  I have to believe that Trump will eventually burn out and implode.  I believe America will finally get tired of hearing Trump's silly generalizations, and will become wary of his past liberal social and political positions.  So who will fill the vacuum left from Trump's demise?  Will it be Dr. Ben?

Time will tell.

Boycotting The "Culture Warriors!"

                                                                   

Are you getting just a wee bit weary of having to wind your way through a political morass, or forced to endure a "socially correct" diatribe just to get your morning cup of coffee?

What We Know About The Oregon Shooter

                                                                     

What we know about the Oregon shooter, Chris Harper Mercer:

1) Fits the profile of an Obama supporter perfectly

2) Secular, hated religion so much he asked each student if they were Christian...if they were he shot them in the head, if they weren't he shot them in the legs

3) Mercer was one of millions of the "Obama Generation"...25 years old, unable to find a career job in Obama's economy, still living at home with his mommy.

4) Going to community college and sucking down big student loan dollars (which taxpayers will now have to pay off since with his death)

5) Mixed raced minority, which made him eligible for a whole host of favorable hiring quotas and free minority scholarships....fits the perfect profile as one of Obama's "sons".

6) Ignorant liberal who embraced wholly Obama's agenda of "conquer, divide and promote economic and racial hate"

7) Lived in a state that had just enacted strict gun control laws, such that the college was guarded by two unarmed security personnel, thus making it impossible for anyone to defend themselves against those who flaunt the gun laws and make their enactment laughable.

Note:  Our nation has never been so divided, so rife with racial divisiveness, so rendered asunder by wealth envy, so peopled by an Obama society who have chosen to follow Obama's own flaunting of laws which he doesn't agree with.  That's not a nation of law..that's societal chaos.  And, in the midst of this tragedy, before the bodies were even cold, Obama trotted out to the Rose Garden to preach about gun control.

Sad.  Damned Sad.

Farewell Summer

                                                               

Last Tuesday was officially the last day of summer. Of all the stories I've posted here a good deal of them were about my childhood summers. That's because summer always had a magic all its own; summer was a season to shed most of our clothes, and as many inhibitions as we could get away with, and indulge ourselves in the pure joy of youthful freedom. 

Whether it was a trip to the beach, or a campout, or just roasting weenies and assembling s'mores in the backyard, summer was an excuse for us to resort to our heathenism....riding Honda 50's up the hills of Morro Bay, making out at a Drive-In Movie, or just listening to Percy Sledge croon "When A Man Loves A Woman" as we picked grapes or peaches from that little Japanese transistor that you kept handy for just the occasion....that was summer too!

Never mind the calendar! Summer came on the last day of school, and on that first morning when you wandered out into the yard and squished the green grass between your toes and listened to a bat smacking a ball or the swish of a sling shot toward a horde of sparrows feeding on your cumquats, or the busy buzz of the lawn mower down the street.

Summer was changing out the cooler pads and filling the rubber wading pool and frolicking in the lawn sprinkler and gulping grape Kool Aid and stepping tentatively, barefoot, in hot newly laid tar as you waited your turn at the ice cream truck, and playing Red Light Green Light so long into the evening until you could no longer see who was cheating....then retreating to home for a bath and bed and dreams of cold watermelon and freshly churned home made ice cream.

We should appreciate our summers. Think about it....if we're lucky we get about 75 of them. To put their preciousness in perspective...if we had put 75 pennies in a pickle jar and withdrew one for each of our summers, think about how few we now have left.

Hope you enjoyed your last day of summer. Venture out barefoot to the front lawn and squish the grass between your toes once more. Have a cold slice of watermelon. Mix up a batch of grape Kool Aid and walk around with a purple "mustache" for the day. 

And here, for your enjoyment, is my favorite summer song of all:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdTXjRQI7ok