Hugo Chavez Venesuela Leader Dead at 58

Be sure and get the latest album from pop star Lennard Johns, and his brand new release "Worm Holes and Roid Rage" featuring the hit single dedicated to congress - "Whatever gets you off the Pot".

Hugo Chavez is dead at age 58 who was the sometimes heroic Communist slash Socialist six times elected leader of Venesuela.  He saw himself as “a revolutionary and savior of the poor” and many of the citizens of Venesuela even today regard him as a charismatic hero.  He actually got into power being duly elected and not through any act of revolution.  He said that it “smelled of sulphur” after President Bush spoke at the United Nations.  Chavez praised President Obama and wished him a long life.  So naturally the tea party right regards him as a communist stooge because no normal person, apparently, would say this of their own accord.  James Dobson at one point proposed that our government order a hit squad on Chavez and “take him out”.

The big news of yesterday was this story about an “Independent living” center for old people where this lady who claimed to be a nurse- - refused to perform CPR on an 87 year old woman who was having trouble breathing or something.  The 911 dispatcher was on the ball and saw the danger and that this woman might not well survive the wait for an ambulance to arrive, and the fact is that she did not survive.  This senior center was in Bakersfield.  You have to hear the phone call and listen to the hard and steely voice of the nurse- - set like a rock either against performing CPR on the woman herself, or even allowing anyone else to do it.  Good Samaritan laws are such in California that a person is often required to render assistance if he’s qualified, and also that said individual is shield from any law suits should things not go successfully.

The stock markets in general set new all time highs today since the Dow Jones Industrials hit around 14,200 or something topping the old record set in the blush of Bush confidence in October of 2007.  As you know even months before that peak, I had been predicting the market and the economy was headed for future problems.  But just to keep in mind- - nobody can ever claim again that “the private sector’ has not recovered from the five year recession.  Profits are up and investors are happy.  Real Estate prices are up thirteen percent- and it’s very quickly becoming a seller’s market for the first time in six years here in California.  Manufacturing on a whole host of fronts is up.  But apparently so is our trade deficit with China.  Not good.

Bill Cosby was born in Philadelphia in July of 1937.  This makes him four years older than rocker Ricky Nelson, for instance, or Bob Bylan born the same year, and five years older than Paul Mc Cartney.  It was born in that very comfortable nitch area where he’s too old for the Viet Nam War, but was too young for the Korean War.  It’s kind of that same James Dobson, Fred Price, Chuck Swendoll nitch or those just older than what we call the first Rocker generation.  He would have already been 47 when his sitcom first came on the air in 1984.  Of course on that show he had both a married daughter in colleges, and also a four year old. 

Well it seems as if all that basketball diplomacy between Dennis Rodman and Kim Jan Oon or whoever – availed this country nothing in terms of international stability.  In retaliation for North Korea’s testing of nuclear bombs- - our country has slapped on sanctions and other penalties and in response to this Kim Jan Oon has said he wants to void the 1953 “Cease Fire” between North and South Korea.  Technically these two countries are still at war, because an “official peace treaty” has never been signed.  It seems that Red China has now come over to viewing the situation our way and they are willing for the first time to cooperate with the United States on together taking steps against North Korea.  Personally, I’m not a bit worried about nuclear war breaking out.  They said that Dennis Rodman has probably gotten to see more of Kin Jan Oom than any American. 

Isn't it funny how before Deep Throat's identity was revealed by Bob Woodword, a lot of people thought he was just a made up entity to sell books.  But once he was shown to be Real, the right changed their tune fast and said "Well the man is obviously a traitor".  It's kind of funny - - that despite this - - - many Christians will say that psychic phenomina are real - - but that it must be coming from the Devil.  This side Dennis Rodman - - the Devil is one of the most honored entities in all of Christianity, because he is one of the few people I know of to actually gain an audience with God, something the rest of us would mortgate our souls to get- - pardon the expression.  Turning now to another of those famous dead guitar players- - - people have told me from the Federation that this guy has been so secretive since he died- - that what he told me and Burt just after he died- - was as much or more than anybody else knows.  Yeah, it’s guessing game time.  This is a guitar player who lives on the M 51 planet - - but also in a band that Mal Evans has never particularly cared for, and are arguably under-represented on any of our rock compilations.  The consensus is pretty much that this band member was “on his way out’ anyhow- - but you won’t find anyone in the media here admitting that.  

 The soap opera was depressing because in “soap time” which runs ten times normal- - the relation between Nick Fallon and Gabriel has just about run its course.  She is now expressing herself in terms of “Well I guess we should get married because maybe Nick would be less anxious”.  Suddenly everyone is observing Nick being “secretive” about his prison experiences.  This is what I call of “making up an issue out of thin air”.  No matter how long Nick agrees to put off the marriage- even with a far along pregnant fiancée- - no other family member it would seem is inclined to want to see them married at all- - and Raphael when the topic of Gabriel’s baby came up said “Well, Will Horton is a good kid and- - he’ll interact well with his daughter”.  Raphael is apparently living in some past where he and Will and the kids and Samantha all lived together.  But other than Nick himself I have yet to hear anyone express a joy or wishes for happiness and success of the new couple.  Family members view Nick Fallon as more of an “inconvienience’ than a bread winner and husband.   I know from personal experience that no matter how “proactive” you yourself are, some ventures are doomed to failure if drowned in a sea of apathy, if not outright resistance from friends and family- - and if not today, just give it time.  (Selah)  Now they are giving free cell phone service to the poor.  My phone bill is going up $3.50 whereas other poor are receiving free cell phones minus the high installation fees I paid out of my own money.

 

Broken Government 2013

Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense because at the time Revolution was the most "sensable" and prudent thing to do.  Clearly you and I have been in intollerant situations that can't continue the way they are forever.  Often we would mortgage our soul for any Exit or Opportunity, an Option we could exercise- - to just "End it" whatever it is- right now and try something New in a completely different direction.  John Dean wrote "Broken Government" an awful lot of years ago.  And today you just don't see the political books you saw ten years ago.  People have stopped thinking and people have stopped reading.  Apparently, except for me, they have also stopped writing.  Now you have a Supreme Court Justice that doesn't even attempt to hide that he's an espoused Racist, and presumably always has been.  You have a whole Political Campaign last fall made up entirely of lies and imuendos and polarizing rhetoric.  You know what a bad opening line in an argument is "Now - - Don't get Mad - - but - - ".  I don't like being Ordered to do anything- - and if the issue merits my getting mad about something, then I will.  I think the whole bit has played itself out as portraying the very rich as the "victims" of President Obama's policies.  People have but to look at the latest stock market averages to see that indeed, much as the President said, "The private sector is doing just fine".  But unfortunately the democratic left can't do what the "tea party right" did five years ago.  We cannot have our own "Revolutionary grass roots movement".  What has become obvious that we need some Radical as in root change- - in the entire structure of government.  Because the old system is no longer functioning.  Not when congressmen get paid for taking week after week of paid vacation.  Instead of going off to raise more funds to they can get re-elected, a BETTER way of proving to us voters that they are deserving of getting another term is to Do Their Job right Now.  But the thing is Words won't work any more.  We need to apply some kind of Pressure on them that causes them Pain- - we need some sort of "Big Stick" to back up our words, and we don't have that.  Malcolm X knew that "words" would get you only so far.  What you need is for the Other Side to be brought to a "teachable moment" if you will.  Like Nick Fallon on Days of our Lives- - we need to back up our words.  Don't be content with the other person saying ":OK, I'll think about it".  You need to take Steps to Insure that they Indeed - "Think About It".  It's a strange thing indeed to know that there were more actively liberal writers and advocates for various causes eighty years ago than there are today.  The sort of Politics people like Judy and Rush Limbaugh advocate is at least ninety years out of date, and I'm being kind.  I think we as liberals need to come up with some kind of means of "Pointing facts like this out".  As Captain Queeg once said by say of summation "These are things we are going to begin Noticing again".

You know there are times when a person can be pushed only so far and no more.  I think the President has found himself in such a situation with John Boehner.  In his mind he has made every concession to him that he knows how.  John Boehner is nurturing thoughts that perhaps these budget cuts will slow down the economy so much that next year the Republicans can once again try to label the President’s economic policies a failure just like they did in 2010.  In point of fact the deficit is coming down now, and large segments of the economy are rebounding- - led by housing.  There are only a fraction of the homes on the market now as their was a year ago.  The stock market doesn’t mind the sequester one bit but it anything rather likes it.  There is all sorts of money big business is sitting on- if they want to invest it in people and in jobs.  But still they won’t.  This whole business of the tea party of portraying the ultra rich as somehow “victims” of Obama’s policies is wearing very thin about now.  On the soap opera- - - Jennifer has really “had enough” of Clowie’s machinations.  There comes a point where any sane person has to walk away from a relationship, even one they are fond of.  When Daniel Jonas won’t lift to finger to stop Clowie’s attacks, which have now extended to Jennifer’s daughter and recently deceast husband- - and it almost seems as though Daniel is bothered less by what Clowie did, then the fact that Jennifer is complaining about it.  In Daniel’s mind- - if Clowie were just left free to attack and taunt Jennifer any time she wants and Jennifer never complained to Daniel about it- - this would be an idea world for Daniel and he could have the best of both worlds.  Daniel shows no inclination to want to pull away from Clowie at all but increasingly seems to be helpless to get out of her emotional web.  We then have the whole Nick Fallon saga and Will Horton at long last signed his name on the dotted line.  There is one thing Samantha is getting wrong.  She seems to think that this signature “comitts” Nick to keep the Horton family out of the baby’s life.  The document doesn’t commit Nick to anything.  But what Nick wants and needs is the option of blocking the Horton family out should it become necessary so that the baby is not raised in some sort of dysfunctional gay circus atmosphere.  That little “deal” Samantha offered to Nick is no deal at all, and were I Nick I wouldn’t have given her audience alone.  This in itself was an act of “forbearance” I would not have granted Samantha.  First she vows - - as she so often does- - never to do this or that- - a vow she’s broken a dozen times before.  And somehow this time Nick is supposed to take her seriously?  Then when her “offer” is turned down- - she turns and lashes out of him calling him an unfit father who should have the child taken away from him (just as she attacked Gabriel last week) and all Nick has confirmed that “if this is the way she really feels about me then of course she’s not going to let me and Gabriel raise the child in peace”.

Nicole Sandler was in for Randy Rhodes.  It seems as if Randy is gone so often these days.  It seems that this Latino democratic senator- - who was accused of being involved with two prostitutes on the Carabean islands- - was indeed a completely faboricated story by the two women.  They were reading from a script and getting paid by some shadowy attorney to do so.  The Republicans will stoop to any level to fight dirty and try and get someone out of office.  They have absolutely no moral compass and no respect for either the institution of Congress- or of traditional American decency.  One caller was mentioning how World War I began with the assassination of the Austrian arch duke Ferdinand- - who was not that popular to begin with.  The caller kept repeating the term of “bad contracts and bad investments”.  World War I cause an awful lot of trauma and death to be a matter that more civilized people might have cleared up with a few phone calls and perhaps minor reperations..  We as a society and the Republicans as a party are addicted to everlasting war.  I don’t see how this mindset can continue to go on and on unchecked without it causing major problems for us down the line, as it did with Germany.  People hold Ronald Reagan to be this one heroic icon President of the tea party.  Yet we did not have any wars while Ronald Reagan was President, but we did have lots of amnesty for illegal alians, tax raises on the middle class, and lots of record budget deficets.  Pat Buchannon a few weeks ago corrected one "myth" if you will, that Reagan and Thomas O Neil would have a drink after hours and resolve all their legeslative differences.  The truth is that there were still a lot of southern Democrats in the party back then- - who tended to vote with the other side.  The process of idiological separation of the political parties was not yet complete thirty years ago.

 I watched the John Boehner interview by David Gregory on “Meet the Press” and I am rather kinder to him than the Stephanie Miller crowd was this morning.  Gregory pushed the issue about as hard as he could within the limits of normal civility.  All Boehner could say is that “We already gave the President his revenue hike”.  He also said that loopholes could be closed but ONLY within that dreaded “revenue neutral” stance, where corporate taxes are lowered still further in exchange for a few glairing loopholes being closed.  After this it was the usual roundtable. After two I watched the morning show of “Face the Nation” on CBS with Bob Sheefer in its entirety except maybe for  the last minute or two.  John Mc Cain and Lindsey Graham were more reasonable than the Boehner- - as far as sitting down and actually having a civil conversation.  Lindsey seems sincere in his desire to get his lingering questions answered about Bengazi- before the new CIA chief is officially confirmed.  This to me seems like a reasonable request.  John Mc Cain apparently rejects the argument that there is so much as one ounce of extra fat in the Defense budget.   Breakfast with the Beatles gave Lennon and Mc Cartney compositions equal time this week.  “You’ll be Mine” from early 1960 is the oldest known original recording of a Lennon Mc Cartney song- - and they had to play both Decca tracks on Anthology that are Lennon Mc Cartney- - before they got an answer.   Saturday it was a bit cooler and moister- and Sunday morning we got light rain in the morning but in general- - it wasn’t exactly the blast of cold they predicted.

What struck me about these scams on old people where they tell you "You need to pay a thousand dollar processing fee in order to get your million and a half".  The logical response would be, "Oh that's OK, just take it out of my winnings".  In fact I'll go you one better.  You can quintupple my processing fee- - just put something in writing that I've won and we'll have it notorized and I'll sign my John Hancock.  You know the Rev Harry Green's words are true.  "now is all you have".  Even that religious sheister C S Lewis wrote that "Now is the most Real of the three tenses- - and the Future is the LEAST real".  You know - - people say that somehow you suffer, and suffer often at the hands of your Christian overlords, but they will tell you "You are just adding jewels to your heavenly crown".  My response to this excessive talk of trials and tribulations is "Just take it out of my winnings.  If I have half tghe Christian inheritence coming to me that you claim I have, I need the blessing now a whole lot more than I'll need it later".  This is an old and time worn phrase - but any time a person with more 'trading experiance than you" wants you to make any kind of exchange- especially if he's pushy about it- - what you give UP is worth more to him than anything you'll ever get from HIM.  There are times when you'd be willing to pay up, just to insure that you don't walk away from the dining room table still hungry.  We had beef Strogenoff for dinner with green beans with “apple” bread pudding for desert.  Seconds at long last began on our side and I got seconds on the main dish from Laura.  It was the usual ABC network news and “On the Red Carpet”, which is informative and “seems to be required knowledge now”.  Then it was the hour of America’s Funniest Home videos.  Snow White’s name was “Snow” and this scene was about the only one I could watch in “Once Upon a Time”.  Show as a little girl was arrayed in a nice dress being prepared for a birthday party where she was scheduled to receive her birthright crown.  But then one of the servents was caught trying the crown on without anybody’s permission.  Rather than rebuke the hired help, the Mother instead rebuked Snow for speaking harshly to the servant her rebuking her.  Then the mother said “The crown is not yours Yet”, which almost sounds like a not so veiled threat.  And then she goes into this lecture about the common people and euqlity and all.  If I were Snow I’d be tempted to quip “Oh, does that mean I don’t have to listen to You?” to which the mother would most likely respond, “Hell no I didn’t mean that”.  So you have this mother going all “Joan Crawford” on her daughter doing this lecture “The birthday party is NOT to honor You but rather for YOU to honor the common people”.  Then there’s the other lady suspected of being a Communist - - Josephine Baker.  Then we have the sage saying of the day coming from The Simpsons.  It does “If everybody wants you Dead- - you know it’s the very thing that will guarantee that you remain alive”.  I happened to think of the Rev Chuck Smith.  You know at this point Chuck’s remaining alive is counter-productive for the Jesus Movement.  How much better it could be if he would just Die and then they could do a wing of Calvary Chapel in his honor and set about the business of myth making making him seem bigger than life.  Also for every day Chuck Smith remains alive a little more of the “nice guy opening his church to hippies’ myth gets eaten away, not that it hasn’t been already.  Because had Chuck died five years ago Chuck would have been spared the moment of siting with the tea party and the most extreme of the Obama birther crowd saying he’s a communist born in Kenya and all of that.  And it’s one more day Chuck has to live with the knowledge that it’s another day he’s wrong about his prediction of the Rapture.  The episode itself was pretty good I guess with Granda and Bart Simpson engaged in some kind of a “bad guy” tag team wrestling match tournament sponsored by Mr Burnes.  Then it was “The Cleveland Show” and the worst thing about this show is the the opening theme really sucks.  Then at nine it was a rerun of that Neilson ratings episode I’d missed the first part of before, where the Dad steals all of thest Neilson boxes and sabotages the entire entertainment industry, along the same vein that Boehner and the tea party have hijacked the whole apperatus of government and getting anything done.  Sometimes I think God himself has been corrupted in the brain by software gone bad or “someone having stolen his powers” like that lady Ardra character in that Star Trek episode.  

Sequester Now In Force By Law

This is Saturday morning March 2, 2013 and according to Randy Rhodes’ program of yesterday, today and not yesterday is the first day of the Sequestration of funds.  Randy has been quoting that nut Justice Scelia replaying that nightmare of Thursday where Scelia claimed that- - “already there are districts in Virginia that are black by law, virtually”, I have no idea what he means.  But if they are black districts then it follows they would most likely elect a Black house member.  And I would remind you once again that Alabama that brought that new assault on the 1965 voting rights act- - just got rid of their only Black councilman or representative or something because he was jerrymandered out of his district.   The whole idea of using the word “entitlement’ in some kind of a furtive or alternative meaning from what it normally means- is something which I find offensive.  Because entitlement means just that- - having a right or entitlement that you have earned, or have from the hand of God.  And Randy was saying that Scelia was echoing some 1875 government official who said “It’s been a long time since bhe negro slaves have been free- and now they have to face the real world and come out from under the shelter of privileged law” or something.  It seems to be dog whistle speak to me to mean “President Lincoln has been dead ten whole years and that’s just how long it’s been since the Constitution banned slavery, but after a certain point- - you know “Things have to get back to normal” and “business as usual”.  Apparently one Black senator had his election challenged in 1970 because he had not been freed for nine whole years, which is the requirement for senator.  However the constitution handles this situation.  It says that “neither race nor color nor previous condition of servitude shall be counted against him”.  So there!

At thee thirty for that half hour I watched the Chuck Hagel defense department speech.  And needless to say the secretary was glum with a sense of inevitable foreboding that “he’d have to get used to” as he tried hard to make the best of the military cuts that were coming.  Then he handed off the mike to one of those techno-nerds who had more cold, objective facts.  Today in the 8:06 speech the republican response lady was saying that “This whole sequester situation was of the President’s doing and it all stems from the fact that the White House can’t get control of spending”.  So let me get this straight.  The problem with the sequester is that “we as a nation haven’t gotten control over our spending”.  I just want to get that straight.  She also claimed that in 2013 that “The United States will take in more money this year than in our nation’s history, therefore we do not have a revenue problem”.  Well you know something?  Facts are funny things.  Let’s deal in facts.  Lets talk about friscle 2012. In this past year gone by DID we take in “more money than we have in our history?”  I think not.  It’s a lot easier for the opposition to argue facts that haven’t come into existence yet rather than argue those that have.  She went on to say it’s the democrats in the US senate that have blocked this and all bills that John Boehner sends up.  Well, that’s not what I’ve heard from other sources.  She went on to talk about “We can have more deficets as far as the eye can see taxing our kids and jeopardizing their happiness- - and continuing to go for these economic stimulus bills such as infrastructure- - and research and development- - and head start and things” or the alternative is “We can cut taxes for the biggest corporations, which is what we want to do”.  Excuse me- - but she isn’t winning me over.  The fact that on this whole Sequester issue it’s a conspiracy of silence on both sides since neither side appears inclined to left a finger to avert what is now upon us.  As for the President’s speech at 7:06 on KNX, he said something about some hopeful bipartisan caucus from both parties- - who don’t like what is happening and are still working to prevent it- and as such there is still a glimmer of hope. 

So where we stand this Saturday is a person who has whittled away his positive blog numbers of a week ago because of the mere fact I have had perhaps the slowest posting rate in many months, being hard pressed to come up with anything that hasn’t been said before.  You know, it just gets depressing after a while.  Having this weird flu thing is depressing.  First it’s cough and then it’s fever and hot head and dry mouth - - and then it’s diaria.  The diaria I had this morning was some nine and a half hours after dinner last night- - so I’m hard pressed to see how there could be any cause and effect there.  Fish and scalloped potatoes don’t cause diaria, either.   This morning before breakfast I just felt drained of  energy.  The sun was already bright and shining at six thirty this morning- - so enjoy the remaining week of lighter mornings before we are again plunged into darkness.  I was just thinking of all the stories or “examples for our benefit’ in the Bible- - whose moral “lesson” would be anything but edifying to our moral character.   But as I told Joe last night – maybe there are people who still go to mega churches and listen to the choir and lift up their hands and praise the Lord- - but they sure aren’t being taught anything about true morals and ethics.   Some words I find highly non useful.  For instance the term “esoteric religious experience”.    Or how about “situation ethics”, as if there were ethical choices that were somehow not determined by the situation you were on.  Then we have “cheap love” and “tough love” - - both of which pretty much mean - - NO love.    I’m waiting for the first Christian to come out against “experimental science” because we all know that the word “experiment” is a bad word.  We have of course other gens such as “secular humanism” and “Islamo-fascism” and then “entitlement mentality” we mentioned earlier.  Pastor Mark had a real gem - - “man pleasing”, which means “just being civil and respectful to one another.   And if you intervene to supply a need that someone else should be meeting but isn’t you are “taking advantage of the situation”.  Oh and let us not forget how John Mc Arthur saying being a “Seeker friendly church” is a bad thing.

People confuse "defining things" with Defining things.  For instance Paul Tilloch once made the remark that "It's as blaphamus to define God as it is to deny Him".  And yet I told you that Jesus did not first live a Perfect life and then as a result he was declared God.  No.  First he was declared to be God incarnate- and from there it was Deduced that he was Perfect.  I've told you about that ex house mate who had the saying about "The old baseball umpire says - - they Are what I Call them".   People can Describe- - God- - - but to use those very terms to Define God- - seems to have things out of priorities.  There was that TV show back in the nineties that talked about the DIMS - - and "Dim" was either demented or dim whitted or what have you.  I said in computer lingo that the DIM statement has come to be used as a term that defines or "types" a Variable.  When I talk about that Federation stuff- - dead people - - I don't work under the same Rules I would work under if- - for instance I were telling a Story I just came up with to illustrate a bunch of Moral points- - and I thought this was the best way to impart them- - such as the two girls on the park bench with the box of candy.  In like manner- - Dreams - - "don't have to make sense".  And if I don't know what the hell they mean - - how is some psychotherapist ever going to figure it out?  And there are others that say that if you do tell "A Story" - - then of course it has to be autographical.  Once again they would be wrong.  That isn't the point.  The Point of certain Stories is to impart a Moral Lesson- - not as to some kind of keyhole into repressed memories.  But as I was telling Joe Drisco last night- - or never quite got around to it- - - the whole idea is defining Morals as Godly and Godly as Morals- - kind of raises a Problem - - - since people use God as some kind of a "super extension of their own Egoes", and having expanded their Egos into God status- - they would now confer absolute Morality onto that status.  But neither would I say that- - - "You know- - if you reject God you fall into moral relitivism".    This is the idea that unless- - well, if you're a Jew,  if you are a Catholic, if you're a Mormon, if you're a Baptist- - - somehow any social view or culture or perception- - that doesn't pass muster with any "theological test' you want to put them through- - - then of course they can't "have the light" because they take it as an Article of Faith - - and that's ALL it is - - just another belief like angels and demons - -  but this is a Belief- - that apart from what you personally Believe- - or Say you believe- - that "The rest of the world is Doomed to Moral relitivisum" just as the exestentialist would say we are "Doomed to being meaningless without Christ.  I don't accept either proposition.  I think the people of the world are inherently smarter than that- - and one of these days they'll prove it.  (Selah)