Where were we?

Oh yes! We were in the midst of a calamity brought about by people who had no oversight, cheered on by people who profitted from this free-for-all, with the leader ringside happily passing the bill onto others.

Truthfully, there is little we can do about all this economic mess, and those who are about to retire I feel truly sorry for. Because they have no time to recover from such bullhsit.

A baiolout is inevitable. It all depends on how much,(yesterday 700 billion was more than we need, today it's not enough) we have to give them. They've spent us into this mess, and we'll spend our way out. There is truly little we can do about it. No matter the issue, 401k's, bailouts, payrolls. We'll have to overcome the obstacles they've presented us with and live with the results. It does little good to go running around with our panties up our ass and our hair on fire. (which is a great image of Bush right now)

We can however, look to the future and create oversight that will prevent such things in the future. I was correct in my assertion the other day that there are mechanisms in place to prevent such goings on in the stock market. I was incorrect in assuming that they were the culprits. There is extremely little regulation in the mortgage banking arena, and that is where we have the biggest part of the problem. Can you imagine how much more paperwork there will be now when regulation is created? Bring several pens when you go to sign your mortgage,if you can get one. It'll take a lot of ink. Unfortunately, it's kinda hard to seek regulation after you've already given out the funds.

One of my favorite mantras of yesterday was that every single person I heard on television predicting gloom and doom was quick to list three things that were on the hit list. 1. credit markets make the world go round, and in many respects they do. 2. With tight credit markets people can't buy stuff, like we don't have too much shit already. and my favorite, without fail the third was ALWAYS 3. Can't meet payroll.

"Oh, let's not get frightened, or start a panic, by the way, your employer might not be able to pay you."

They're so subtle.

I'm pissed off about the CEO salaries too, and we all have been for some time. But good luck getting that dealt with now. Chicken Little will continue to bang the drum until he gets what he wants and in 35 days he'll effectively no longer be the President so what the hell does he care? He's wealthy and I assure you his funds are secure. But what has me more pissed off is that the party largely responsible for this mess and all the other messes we've got going on has been hijacked by those who would truly overthrow the government in their religious fervor.

What they want, and what they're after is a theocracy, plain and simple. Religiosity has been utilized to be a surrogate for reason. Preachers, reverends,priests, ministers, all talking about politics from their perches. Telling the herds to go vote religion, not conscience, and calling it patriotism. The herds don't know the difference, they've been so poorly educated by our schools that they cannot distinguish between political rhetoric, and religious zeal.

It all goes back to education, "if we keep them stupid we can lead them down the primrose path to ruin and they'll never be the wiser until it's too damn late." Well. they've been kept stupid alright. And now they're going to get their backs broken with the weight of this massive debt we're selling them without their consent. This government is simply printing paper and calling it money.

Those of us with 20-15, or even ten years til retirement can look back at Black Monday in 1987 as an example of survival. People who were hurt by that mess largely recovered. And those that didn't have likely learned that tomorrow the sun will rise and the birds will chirp. If they don't, we have bigger problems than the economy anyway.

That was a life well lived!

And They All Fall Down

I cannot, in good conscience, just post Hot Guy Friday and pretend to be merrily rolling along without recognizing the collapse or our society. That's what's happening folks, been happening while you slept for quite a few years now, and it wasn't because your Pres got a hummer in the Oval either. It was our own doing, we asked for this, and we stuck our heads in the sand while it came about.

Time to pay the Piper Boys and Girls.

I’ve long said that none of you will act unless what’s happening in Washington affects your SUV, your cell phone, or your dvd player. Well, apparently that’s happened. Cause people took to the streets last night to demonstrate against the economic bailout.

FUCKING FINALLY!!!

Where the fuck have you all been?

It affected your SUV didn’t it? Or was it your ability to pay that outrageous cell phone bill?

No matter to me, all I want to see is that you’re all out there jumping up and down and demanding something be done to prevent this disaster from being made worse by foisting it all off on our backs for the rest of our lives. They are taking the food out of our mouths and the roofs from over our heads, it's beyond time to act.

I applaud you all. I hope you have some positive effect on the demise of the bailout proposal.

And we're for sure a third world country now. Hope you like rice, cause that's what UNICEF serves.

Happy Hot Guy Friday!

Now, while you can tell by previous Hot Guy Friday posts I do love my men of color. But I still love me some pasty Irish boys too. I submit Eddie Cahill as evidence of said Irish fetish. I'd go visit Ireland, but...well...I'd misbehave I'm sure of it.

Very uneventful day yesterday, rode 15 miles at lunch, took a test in the grant writing course, had the car cleaned, worked a lot.

Riding all weekend, I was out on the bike yesterday I realized how lucky we've been this year weatherwise. It's September 25 and I was riding in shorts and a t-shirt. That's supposed to change any day though. So I'll be a horseback as much as possible tomorrow and Sunday.

Skipping socializing this weekend to get stuff accomplished. I'm a wee bit behind on my homework and grading papers so I guess I have to be responsible. Shit.

Thinking of seeing Eagle Eye this weekend. It's got that kid in it that I'm not crazy about though. I don't dislike him I just don't get all the fuss. He ain't, as they used to say, all that.

We got a deal, we don't gotta deal. Congress has to grandstand right up until the last minute don't they? We all know they're gonna do this, I wish they'd just fuck me and get it over with.

Well they'll get to it in their own good time. I, on the other hand need to get my ass on someone else's time cause I got piles of stuff to do at work. Guess I'd better get there.

Love

I'll take door # 3 Monty!

Well, we have a deal. Congress has figured out how they're going to Communize the American economy, at least temporarily. Until they buy all the unwanted houses and unload them at rock bottom prices.

It'll be a helluva time to be a real estate flipper, I can tell you that. Buy back the house you sold to the person who got the exploding mortgage, then sell it at twice what you paid the government for it.
And the rich get richer...

We'll all be walking wide for weeks.

I'll give ya $75 for that one!

Where's that other shoe?

Thursday's navel belongs to---

Josh Lucas, who though born in Arkansas, apparently didn't stay for long, so I have to give him that one.

Wasn’t it nice of George Bush to get on tv last night and tell us the sky is falling…AGAIN.

I see this as the ultimate expression of what I refer to as the American Disease. No one is responsible for what they do. No one is held accountable, and they spend most of their lives pointing their fingers everywhere but at the mirror, which is where the trouble started in the first place.

We’ll pay for it, we always do, and the dollar will tank and gas prices will shoot back up to intolerable levels, and George Bush and his friends will whistle their way out of the White House with no consequences for their actions, and no one will go to jail over all this.

I just don’t get it. In my world I’m responsible. I’m responsible for not having enough retirement savings, which will likely be even less now. I’m responsible for my own bills. I’m responsible for the situation I’m in here, in that I can’t seem to find the door. I’m responsible for what happened a couple of years ago in that all the signs were there that those people were crazy and looking for someone to blame and abuse for their troubles. In my heart of hearts I knew that, and fool that I am I rushed in anyway to rescue them from themselves, putting myself in harms way without even thinking they’d do what they did. Yes, I’m responsible for all that.

Wall Street executives? Nope. Not responsible, fall guys abound for these people. President of the United States? Nope. Not responsible. Everyone else is responsible.


I am reminded of Barack Obama's campaign slogan, "Yes, we can" Well, no actually it should be "Yes, we have to." I doubt he'll bring about any effective change in any eal way that we'll see in our lifetimes, but it'll sure beat four more years with the same shit that John McCain is intent on shoveling at us.

Speaking of which, did you see Katie Couric make mince meat out of Sarah Palin last night without even trying? She should be working at what my ex referred to once as the Retail Roundup, not campaigning for the Vice-Presidency, she's in water that's way too deep for her. I don't have any good examples of her missteps, but I'll find some and bring 'em to ya. lol

We’re in for it, no matter how this goes, so we might as well tell Wall Street to go to hell and let the chips fall where they may. Of course, that’s just wishful thinking, Congress will “reach a deal” today or tomorrow, and it’ll get railroaded through both houses and we’ll give them a big wad of sweaty money and all the fool’s will go, “Phew! That was a close one huh? Heehee.”

And we’ll go on being broke and struggling to feed our kids as though this were Bangladesh, all the while wondering why they're fat and it's cause of the crap that is all we can afford to feed them. And we’ll just accept that this is ok. And dream of winning the lottery...not realizing that someone else just made off with all the winnings.

Poor things,they just can't do it

And today's guest navelist is...


The lovely and talented Ricky Martin. He can babysit for me anytime.

People.Yes, we've established my love for them. But days like today really make my heart go crack. The sheep were out on rainy highways this morning. I've come to the conclusion that it's impossible, that they simply cannot do it. Three raindrops fall and it's like they've never been behind the wheel of a car before. I won't bore you with long descriptions of the antics of the morning drive, but some of them were very entertaining.

Still no word on the test. I'm pretty sure I aced it, or very close anyway. The trick here is to be patient, not my strong suit. Ah well it's better I don't know what they're going to do anyway. This way I get to be here a while and fulfill some of my current obligations just that much longer. If it all comes to pass I'll feel better about that.

I feel like an economic Pinata today. The Treasury is ready to start beating money out of us with a stick and we're all just chafing at the bit to get strung up there. Let them fail! I've said it before and I'll say it until Bush gets his way late this week, they're businesses and they should be allowed to go under like any business would. He's selling this country to the Chinese and no one is asking where this money is coming from, no one. I hear very few voices of sanity in this "debate" (read posturing for the camera's)and in the end they'll sell us all down the river like they've done in every important debate since 2001. I'm particularly fond of the part where they say "Hey, you better give us 700 Billion dollars or the economy is fucked." And then they say, "It's the fault of all you assholes who took out those ridiculously high priced mortgages we were pushing on you for the last 7 years. But give us the money anyway, and maybe we'll tell you what we did with it, later." (After we get our 8 figure golden parachutes in off shore banks.) This is the stuff that revolutions are made of.

I've been dreaming of desert landscaping and I looked up a few pictures yesterday. There some nice opportunities to grow stuff I can't grow here. I'll miss the ability to grow a lot of the things I have here annually, but I think, at least as far as I researched yesterday, there are some pretty cool things to grow in the desert. I really liked these pics:





Having been a slave to a lawn mower many years past, I am totally ready for the gravel thing. It's soooo appealing. The dog may not like it much come time to poop, but that falls squarely under the category of Not My Problem.

Oh and the news flash of the century.

Clay Aiken is gay.

Did Rose Kennedy have a black dress?

I just want to call the news people and remind them that News is stuff we don't already know.

Love

the drawbacks of a parochial education

I could easily be mistaken, but isn't all this " Bail us out because the sky is falling, and you have to pay to fix it" sounding more and more like the basic tenets of communism?

Wait, I just did a little research on the internet and here's what I came up with:

This is from "howstuffworks.com:

Marx described three necessary phases toward achieving his idea of utopia.

* Phase 1: A revolution must take place in order to overthrow the existing government. Marx emphasized the nee­d for total destruction of the existing system in order to move on to Phase 2.
* Phase 2: A dictator or elite leader (or leaders) must gain absolute control over the proletariat. During this phase, the new government exerts absolute control over the common citizen's personal choices -- including his or her education, religion, employment and even marriage. Collectivization of property and wealth must also take place.
* Phase 3: Achievement of utopia. This phase has never been attained because it requires that all non-communists be destroyed in order for the Communist Party to achieve supreme equality. In a Marxist utopia, everyone would happily share property and wealth, free from the restrictions that class-based systems require. The government would control all means of production so that the one-class system would remain constant, with no possibility of any middle class citizens rising back to the top.

Before we get all gung-ho and happy about this bailout business we'd better look long and hard at the ramifications of such a move. What it could mean long-term and what it does right now.

I see no reason for economic optimism at this stage.

I couldn't believe it when I woke up this morning that it was only Tuesday. As tired as I am, it should be later in the week.

Today's guest is Carmine Giovinazzo. The totally hot (aren't they all)former baseball player on CSI:NY. Those who know me might notice some resemblance between Carmine and...well, let's just say, a person of interest from my past. I sure noticed it, especially with the glasses.

Oh, and I forgot to tell you who yesterday's guest was, but if you've been paying attention to HGF you'd have known. That it was Dylan Walsh of Nip/Tuck.

I have been listening to the plans to bail out the private financial sector at our expense. I am not in favor of all this. They're businesses, let them fail, so what if our economy goes down with it, we'll survive, and probably be better off if it does, cause the Bush administration seems hell bent on taking every single dime with them when they go. I wrote Nancy Pelosi (ARGH!) all this, I mean where else do I have to turn, look at who I am represented by, Pat Roberts, Sam Brownback, and Dennis Moore. So screwed. Pelosi won't do anything different, she's worthless, but at least I said my piece.

No word from the testing, I figure they made a big deal out of getting it back yesterday so they could then drag their feet on references, interviews, hiring, etc. We'll be lucky if they fill the position by Thanksgiving. C'est la vie.

I was thinking last night about the current issues with the ex. It's too bad about him really, I liked him a lot. He just can't like himself, and has to make everyone miserable if they do. It's the price to pay I guess. But I ain't payin' it again, thank you.

Love

Addendum

I just have to say it's a red letter day on the fucking internet today! First I read that Sting kissed a guy and liked it. (I knew it)

And just now I found Jeff Probst shirtless backstage at the Emmy's!

The planets must be aligned today!

Great Weekend

In pursuit of navel recognition I'm going to post a few of my favorite navels this week. I have to wonder if anyone will recognize them.

It really was a great weekend, mostly spent on a horse. I don't think the new saddle is going to work out though. I'm not comfortable in it. I'll give it another weekend and then I'll put it on ebay if I still can't like it.

Friday night I went to a friends, and lo and behold the ex showed up. I am so disappointed about all that because it was going fine. We'd been able to socialize and things seemed like they'd be ok. Then came Friday night.

He is simply incapable of NOT going to the dark side. He made a couple of inappropriate references to our relationship during the evening, one theme which always comes up is legal issues,he makes sure to mention incarceration or something illegal every time I see him,which is bad enough. But at one point I was outside with K smoking, which I sometimes do when I'm there, cause K smokes still and I find it hard not to when I'm drinking, so I have a couple. Ex, of course, has a conversation about his disapproval of it loud enough that I can hear him in the house. I chose to ignore it, mostly because it's none of his fucking business, but more because what he really wants is to engage me on some sort of hostile level, which is the only level he really knows. Sad, but I'm cutting that off. No more socializing with ex. K will throw a fit, but enough is enough.

Like I said at the outset of all this, I'm glad I make such an impression that he's still not over it after 5 years, but seriously. He's 50 years old. Get out of Junior High already.

The testing is done. HR testing seems kind of farcical. There were some questions relevant to the position I've applied for, but mostly it was...well the reasons for it were mysterious. I truly hope that the people who apply for jobs don't need testing at THAT level, cause they're not very employable if any of those questions are a challenge. Anyway it's over.

It's kind of a funny story. My proctor's office isn't far from here so I walked. She gave me 7 pages of questions and I thought, "How can THIS take 2 hours?" She then informed me that the time she was quoted was 1 hour. Still! So I took the test in 15 minutes, and left. She called me back about 30 minutes later and told me she had just found the other 11 pages on her fax machine. Oy!

So I went back and finished, still too quickly I thought. But really those questions...Lord.

We'll see. Cross fingers and toes. For both myself and K in Hawaii. I really hope he gets the new job today.

Of course, if I do get a job what the hell do I do about moving so quickly and so suddenly from a lease I just signed four months ago? I'm not leaving anything here. When I go I'm gone. I don't want any reason to return. Ever. Nothing for me here anymore. And God knows I've paid the price before. So parting with a little cash isn't going to kill me.

I'll figure it out, still I'm wondering what the hell it's all going to cost, and how it'll all shake out. Oh well, it's way past time for me to have another adventure. Life's gotten way too stiff for me these last few years.

Love

Hot Guy Friday!

I decided only to post parts of guy today...no not those parts. There are plenty of places to see those. And I don't want blogger censoring my blog anyway. I'm talking about navels.

Aren't they wonderful?







By the way it's:

The New Me-1 goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal!
Bureaucrats-Zip, Nada, nuttin', Big ole goose egg! O

I won the battle!

My test will be protcored locally on Monday morning. Now let's hope I do well and they can afford me.

Baby steps.

Love

Human Resources

Is it me? Or is Careerbuilder a complete farce of a website?

Once, long ago I registered on their site looking for a job. Nothing came of it though. Every single job they had posted was either already filled, even though it was posted within 24-72 hours of the time I attempted to apply, or it was so old I didn't even bother to apply. i.e. if a job listing is 60 days old when you contact the employer they're about to end the probationary period of the person they did hire. Now that's old.

Monster is much the same. These sites don't provide what they promised when they burst on the scene several years ago. Now they're nothing more than generators of cash for their owners, who likely spend a lot of their time justifying their existence to their clients, none of whom ever get many applicants from their listings with these sites.

The most pervasive problem I am currently seeing is with Human Resource departments in general. They live and die by the Hayes scale. Don't make one criteria? Out! Banished. No matter that we might have denied what was possibly a good employee the chance to find a new career, to relocate, to come to our community and bring their own special talents. Nope, we don't care, you didn't fit the Hayes mold of employee perfection. It's simple mindedness, nothing more.

I am about to engage a battle I know at the outset I'll lose. I have applied to work at a library in a southwestern city, and they've asked me to come submit to a test...tomorrow...in their city.

I have to wonder if they even read the application I spent several hours on. Are they aware I'm over 800 miles away? Are they interested? Do they realize that I am outrageously overqualified for the job I am applying for? Do they realize that they;d be getting a bargain if they hired me? Do they know that they will not find a candidate more qualified than I am in their locale? Do they care?

Obviously I won't be dropping everything and jetting down there to take a test that will amount to a screening to be sure I'm not an illegal alien or a terrorist. I mean, really, they could ask me that and not make me buy a plane ticket.

So in a few minutes I'll be emailing the head of HR for that fair city. Likely ruining any chance of ever getting a job with that particular city, but seriously, if someone doesn't stand up against stupidity it'll run even more rampant than it already is. And I'd like to goto my grave one day knowing I did all I could to fight it.

Wish me luck I'll need it. I'm dealing with bureaucrats all day.

Not done yet

Actually I'm pretty close to being done. I was all geared up for a big rave about the economy and how the Fed just prevented the next administration from coming in and fixing the problems that have been created. But then I just ran out of gas. No pun intended.

I have to wonder, if they're going to federalize the banking industry why they just don't federalize health insurance and give it to us all. Oh that's right, the most efficient system in the federal government, Medicare, whose overhead used to be 1.9%, is now the most inefficient and will likely cost us $54 billion by 2012.

All the Republican ads seem to be using the fear tactic that Democrats will raise taxes. I fail to see the difference if taxes are raised 10-20%, or if the prices of everything is raised 100-200%. Or is that just me?

The American Public is amazing in it's ability to delude itself and this election cycle will, I am sure, be no exception.

I'm still looking at withdrawal from society. It just seems like a better and better option all the time.

I'll leave you with this great thought I ran across the other day:

Stupidity and hydrogen, however, are still by far the most abundant things in the entire universe.- MykTurk

Love

and another thing!

In just saw that oil is below $92 a barrel. Yet gas went up 25 cents here in my city yesterday. How much screwing do they think we can afford?

What did I tell you?

A year ago I said that we needed to watch what George Bush was doing. That he was holding up his left hand and saying "Look at what we're doing for you here!" and I distinctly recall saying that we needed to find out what he was doing with the right hand.

Well we found out yesterday didn't we?

I also mentioned that they were sacking the treasury.

Where are the regulatory mechanisms that already exist? What was done to prevent the Compliance people from doing their jobs. I assure you that something was done that circumvented their authority. Today I heard someone say that the system was irreparably broken and couldn't keep up with today's electronic economy.

Bullshit!

The policies, which I guarantee you were well thought out and created to be implemented at a moments notice, were and are easily applicable to the electronic age. Nothing to it. They existed when I was a Compliance Officer and they exist today, they've either been weakened or ignored. And they can absolutely be applied to any Securities transaction regardless of the manner in which it's processed.

Something was done to either weaken the authority of the regulatory system, or it was bypassed in some barely legal way that, when and if, investigated will show that someone wasn't quite truthful in their manner of explicating their plans. I'd like to know who's running the SEC, and the NASD and what they've been up to these last eight years.

We're in more trouble than we know my friends. As we all know what they tell us is merely what they have to because we can tell something is wrong. But the full scope of all this? We may never know.

I do assure you however, that we'll have to pay for it. The Fed has promised 50 Billion Dollars in assistance to the financial system. Where praytell is this money coming from? You and me I guarantee you that. That and our grandchildren because we do not have it. Where does it come from?

Are they putting it on the great Mastercard in the sky? I can't think of any other way? Are they borrowing it from China? That'd be smart, sell the Chinese our financial system. We'd better figure out what they're doing, cause they're on the way out and they do not care.

Kanye West (nutbag) said after Katrina the George Bush didn't care about black people. Black people?!?!?! He doesn't care about anyone?

If his God truly did want George W. Bush to be President of the United States, then his God wanted to United States to fall.

Does all this sound like a conspiracy to you? Does it sound like someone has conspired to run things to ground in the name of whatever they find holy? I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist, but the more I write here the more I have to wonder what exactly is going on.

This can be a moment for the Democrats to take the advantage and get the upper hand in this election. What are we spending on the War in Iraq? 10-12 Billion a month? Well, guess where the money to bail out the financial system would come from? That imaginary money we print to spend in Iraq, where else?

McCain said yesterday that the fundamentals of the economy are sound. Is that the Zoloft talking? Is he kidding? Is he talking about his own economy? Cause I believe his is in pretty good shape?

Lehman Brothers WAS the insurance policy for banks, brokerages, and big money the world over. They're the insurance policy against failure for all the big guys. AND THEY FAILED!

Would you be nervous if State Farm or Allstate closed their doors tomorrow? Would you be wondering if American Family and Progressive were next and what you'd for insurance then? You'd better be.

Imagine how the world's largest brokerages and banks are thinking right this minute knowing they no longer have any insurance against failure? The FDIC can't cover everyone. And they only cover individuals up to 100k. If you've got more than that in any one account, too bad my friend.

The economic system of this country is being dismantled right before our eyes and we're truly powerless to stop it. But we'll end up paying the price I assure you.

Herbert Hoover said: "When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned."

He wasn't altogether stupid was he?

Sunny Monday!

It's Monday, and the sun is shining! Pardon me but it's been a while and we've needed to see the sun badly. It's starting to get a little cool overnight so the mornings have been crisp for a while. I'm hoping we still have some Indian Summer coming our way. I'd love to be able to spend more weekends outside. Especially since I'm about to buy a horse. Well, I think I'm about to buy a horse. It's not totally decided yet. In fact it's not eve partially decided yet.

I have the chance to purchase the horse I trained last summer, which will have to be started all over again since she's hardly been ridden since she was sold. So, if it all works out and the stars align properly I may consider taking on the responsibility. It's a big one, with the bills to match.

This weekend was uneventful. I went to the stables Saturday and watched the chiropractic students practice on the horses. Some of them weren't exactly happy about the procedure, but no one misbehaved too much. After that it was indoor activities in an effort to ignore the perpetual rain outside.

That new saddle is still sitting.

I have to have a talk with a prospective employer out of town and remind them that I'm many hundreds of miles away. They've scheduled me for testing this Friday afternoon. Yeah, no. So we'll see what happens, I'm shooting for finding someone here to proctor it and do it that way, but we'll see what the bureaucrats have to say bout my proposition.

Well since it's nice I'm going for walk. It's always an adventure walking here in the ghetto.

If I have time, in a while there will likely be a rant about the war and financial idiocy but right now I'm walking.

HGF!!!

Some of you may well remember the television shows of the 60's and 70's. And if you were little gay boys back then, and I KNOW some of you were/are. You'll remember today's guys fondly.

I had wicked crushes on Robert Conrad and Bill Mumy. But When Pete Duel, that dark haired guy with dimples showed up on a horse and wearing a cowboy hat...well I was lost. I'd been in love with him since Love on a Rooftop with Judy Carne, but back then I was too young to know why, or even that not being able to take my eyes off him meant something. And though I've never told a soul before today I NEVER missed an episode of My Three Sons. Don Grady was just dreamy.

I threw Erik Estrada in just for grins. I was never a big fan of C.H.I.P.s, but he was pretty hot. Damn those pants must have been uncomfortable.

Enjoy!

Is fear the only thing we have to fear?

Happy Wednesday!

The preceeding video is apparently some scare tactic to keep people from using science to explore the nature of the universe. It's an animated demo of what would happen to the earth if the super-collider had created a black hole that in turn swallowed us whole.(not that there's anything wrong with being swallowed whole.) I cannot fathom what could possibly motivate people to live in such fear as those who would stoop to such depths apparently do.

Not that they haven't had help in the last eight years learning that being afraid is their lot in life. Are people so easily influenced as all that?

I was also looking at a new site I found recently called Queertoday.com

Seriously I am thrilled to see that there are people out there who are calling attention to at least some of the many machinations we are suffering at the hands of our own. Someone needs to stand up and make it known.

I'd like them to hire someone to edit though. I"m not going to cite examples, that would be just mean, and that's not my point.

My point is this: It's difficult enough for us to get our issues taken seriously, it just makes it easier for people to dismiss us when they can say: "Well, they can't even write a coherent sentence, why should we even listen to what they have to say?"

A weak argument, but one that works nonetheless.

I've dwelt on this enough. I wish I knew how to help fix it.

And it's with enormous sadness that I am able to announce to the world that the monsters have finally come to Maple Street.

I read this morning that Richard Rothstein at Proceedatyourownrisk.com was almost gaybashed last week. In one of the gayest neighborhoods in the world!

In 2003 when I directed The Laramie Project I tried to explain to the cast that I live with the concern (not usually fear) that I could be bashed at any time.

I'm not the most identifiable gay man ever, but I am obviously gay to most people, and would certainly answer affirmatively were I asked. And though I get through most situations without incident it is certainly conceivable that I've been in many situations where I might not have had it not been for quick thinking, a quick wit, and not a little luck. They looked at me like I was a paranoid old man.

A mere five years later my fears are a reality. The threat is everywhere.

This could change my behavior. It could drive me underground, it could send me to live in "Mecca," (which used to be San Francisco, but now is apparently Toronto) it could scare me into a life of secrecy and denial. It could scare me into the closet.
Yeah, right.

I have to wonder if this will happen to me? If I'll mouth off to the wrong person, or be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and discover that I'm not quite as quick-witted, or as tough, or as fast as I once was. I have to wonder if I should arm myself. If I should carry some form of self-defense. If I truly am becoming a paranoid old man.

I know this could happen to me, and it does concern me. But I cannot live in fear, I won't. I never have before,not even when the odds were stacked well against me. I'm not about to start now.

I'll live the life I envision. Likely in one of the two places I'm currently considering. I'll do the things that matter to me, that make me feel whole, that give me purpose. And if there are consequences, as there always are, I'll face them and see what happens.

Richard says he intends to die of a heart attack during an orgy not on the street where he lives. I intend to die in a rocking chair, on a porch, counting the many instances of good fortune I encountered.

up and at 'em

I'm off the couch... I'm not happy about it, but I'm at least up and moving. I figured I'd better enjoy the sunshine while we've got it. Besides I've got an appt with the chiropractor this afternoon. Oh! and another hurricane is headed into the gulf and we're going to get the leftovers ALL WEEKEND!!! No sunshine for me! I hate the tropics.


dammit!

So, my new saddle sits.

Those of you who know me will appreciate this. Yesterday I went to work for a few hours to do just what had to be done, so I parked on the street right outside my office. We're located in a downtown area and it's just west and above the river bottoms where the old livestock pens used to be many years ago. As I was leaving I smelled cattle. I thought that odd since there isn't any cattle around here anymore. But I went on, thinking no more about it. I stopped at the store on the way home. It's several miles away, and as I left there I smelled livestock again. I began to worry about olfactory hallucinations. I arrived home, put the car in the garage and as I stepped out of the car I smelled livestock again and finally I put it together.

The roads yesterday,were a pain because McCain and Palin had been staying at the Hotel President the night before, and were headed to their stump south of town, and there was some bike race coming through town too. So in an effort to avoid all of that I took back roads and trekked through the industrial area of the river bottoms. As I was turning off the last bridge I slid a little in this stuff on the roads and thought, "What the hell is all this crap on the roads."

Yes, that's exactly what it was.

The underside of my car is now coated with cow manure and it smells oh so wonderful. I'd wash it but it's going to start raining tomorrow and my neighbors can just complain until then about the smell in the garage. Sorry.

At least I know which one is mine in the parking lot.

Gray days

My back has put me on the couch indefinitely. I've no idea what I did to it, but it's really aggravated. And in true tradition of my life the chiropractor's office is closed until tomorrow. hehe, only me. Oh well I'll lay here and suffer daytime tv. ugh.

It's gray and rainy anyway. I couldn't ride horses this weekend cause of the wet, and bikes were out cause of the back. I had dinner guests Friday and got a few things done yesterday but not a lot.

Nothing exciting to talk about, the candidates are disrupting things all over the place. McCain is disrupting traffic here, and Obama is likely creating havoc at his children's school. What idiot thought it would be a good idea for the candidate to drop his kids off for the first day of school? I'm sure the principal was thrilled.

Well I hear a muscle relaxer calling my name from the other room...nighty night!

Hot Guy Friday! And Republican's against illiteracy

Sorry this is late, I've had quite the morning. Tons of fog made it very San Francisco-like here, and the drive to work, hellishly long. Then I arrived to a computer system crash, except for the internet of course, thank GOD! So here's a little fun at the RNC's expense. McCain said he wants a bigger push against illiteracy. I can see why:



And now for the piece de resistance!!!







Those of you who grew up in the era when I did will be happy to see B J McKay of BJ and the Bear fame. Seriously, he was so cute. And as it turns out he was the bear not the monkey.

So Enjoy Greg Evigan then and now, well as close to now as I could find, and I doubt I'm far off. I couldn't find any pictures of him in Melrose Place, which is fine, he mostly looked uncomfortable in frame with Doug Savant anyway.

Love

Welcome to the Tropics

Gustav is here. Well, what's left of him is here anyway. And there's plenty to go around trust me. I think Chicago is next, and though I pity them their weekend weather I will be Sooo glad it's gone. I was going to my first baseball game in a while last night and they were rained out. It was rescheduled for this afternoon, well great, I have to work this afternoon. So no baseball for me for a while yet.

I'm afraid at this point that I might be rained out for the weekend, that would suck. Especially since I just got a new saddle and I want to start breaking it in asap.

I tried to watch Ms. Palin last night, but I just couldn't watch the whole thing. What's up with the bridge to nowhere? She was for it before she was against it? I just wish politicians would get up there and say "Hey, here's what we're trying to do, and here are the ways we've tried to work it out. It's not gonna happen. We just can't make it work this time." But no they're determined to belittle the other guy, exaggerate their own accomplishments, and mislead the people into thinking their opponent is incompetent or worse. Just tell me what's going on and let me make up my mind please.

I have been told I'm getting older and that I need to step aside and let the next generation step up and lead. Fuck that! I'm part of this process too and if they want to get involved then come on in. But don't show me the door cause I'm older. The process is supposed to be for everyone. Obviously I don't agree with the person who told me to step aside.

I'm looking for a blast from the past for tomorrow's Hot Guy Friday post. Those of you who grew up when I did will remember him from tv and if you were a little gay boy in that era you'll remember his fuzzy lttle chest...his co-star's too for that matter. So, until tomorrow.

Love

Prestidigitation is the problem

Is there a resemblance or is it just me?


I'm starting to wonder where it is that I live? I realize that most Americans live in an alternate reality in which things like malicious prosecution can be ignored out of existence, but apparently they do take place.

I just heard an interview on Democracynow with the former Governor of Alabama, Don Siegelman, regarding his prosecution and imprisonment, apparently at the hands of Karl Rove (why am I not surprised?) for bribery and corruption. This guy is not exactly a gifted speaker, but he's very impassioned about finding out what Rove did with the Justice Department to use it for political means.

I hope that someone, at least Gonzales, if not Rove himself, goes to prison over some of the things they did while in positions of power. I hope the message gets sent to their people that staying the course and following the Rove playbook will get them nothing but grief. I, however, think that if Barack Obama gets elected he'll likely have his hands so full with the mess they've left of this country he won't have time nor inclination to pursue and prosecute any of these people. It's fun to think that their puppet, George W. Bush would be left holding the bag, and he may be a lummox, but he's at least smart enough to have a fall guy at the ready. So, I doubt he'll ever go to jail where he belongs.

Regarding Siegelman's allegations toward Rove, Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney had this to say:

“There’s absolutely, positively, no truth to any of the allegations and literally no evidence for any of it."

I like that evidence part. It's so neo-con to say something like that when denying everything. "You can't prove it, neener, neenner, neener."

I'm not going to vouch for the innocence of Siegelman. God knows Democrats are just as corruptible as Republicans, but I will say that if Rove can be brought down, and the rest of that bunch with him, then it's worth holding him in contempt of Congress when he continually refuses to honor their subpoena. Siegelman may well be completely innocent, and I do hope he is, but if his righteous indignation keeps him motivated then go Don! It's not their party affiliation that I'm concerned about, it's their illegal and unconstitutional actions that need prosecuting.

I think what most of the people I know who are Republican are missing is that their party has been hijacked. It's been used as a pawn in a revolution and though it publicly espouses the values and virtues it formerly held, it shows us one thing with the left hand and what we're not watching is what the right hand is doing. I think the values of standing on your own and having less governmental involvement in your life are perfectly fine values to have. But that's not what's going on now, neither major party stands for what it did when my generation came of age to vote in the 1970's.

That was the time of Watergate, and that really did scare us all. We'd already been living with the notion for a while,that it's possible, and for a lot of us it was likely in our minds, and still is, that a conspiracy so vast as to be able to assassinate the President of the United States on television and make it stay together through all the possible unravelings was frightening enough.

But, then, there was the abuse of power that was so pervasive in the executive branch (and it was obvious that we'd elected a mad man to run the country) that we had no trust in what we were being told at all.

So, those of us currently passing into senior citizenship-ness come from a completely mistrustful place where government is concerned, and that ain't all bad.

I'll close with a photo I found yesterday. I think it was on ThoughtTheater.com, possibly queertoday.com, at any rate the photo gives us that microcosmic glimpse into the world of convention goers everywhere.

This is what they are doing while Rome is Burning:



AND it's September! I've neglected to post the new calendar, but I'm busy, sorry, I know you all await the arrival of this feature with baited breath, so here you go:

It's Tuesday, not Monday!

I keep forgetting that and I thought a little reality orientation might help.

Proceedatyourownrisk.com is making the very valid point that we're the back door crackers of the 21st century today.

And he's right, it's very notable that we can be visible when it's convenient, but not when one of us wants to kiss our boyfriend immediately after one of us wins a gold medal at the Olympics, nor when we give money to a political campaign. Only when it's convenient.

The Bilerico Project is making hay over the fact that there was mention made by many at the DNCC about the gay vote. Need I remind them that we've been asked to the prom before, only to be dumped when a cuter guy came along. We're just the patsy's of the era, and we're glad to be at the table, instead of being outraged that we're taken advantage of ALL THE FUCKING TIME!!! I frequently feel like that dog that gets kicked repeatedly and keeps coming back for more.

"Please Sir, take this check from me. Oh, and give us a little kick in the nuts while you're at it huh?" Thank you!

Well, gay jokes aside, and yes there was one...well, maybe two I was never sure about the second one cause I didn't hear the whole thing, but my gay joke radar is pretty good so I say it was a gay joke anyway. OH and I got called a faggot while I was riding my bike on Sunday, it was quite the weekend for gay verbal abuse.

As I have mentioned, my ex is my best friend's partner's best friend. Work through it, it's very incestuous, but it's understandable eventually.

So we all went to dinner Friday night.

yippee

It is now clear to me that the ex is still not over it. SHIT! I mean seriously, it was five years ago. Get over it already. It didn't work, it's not gonna work! Very disturbing development. Not pleased about it. Lord God I need to go to a new town.

Do you hear me Universe>!????!!!?!?!? I need OUT!!

But! I had quite a busy weekend anyway, I spent Saturday on a horse, Sunday on a bike, and Monday at the wheel making pots. In between bouts of homework and grading papers that is. I saw I Am Legend, which I'd missed, and I watched a Christian Slater movie called "He was a Quiet Man" maybe he can act. It's been so hard to tell these last few years while he beat his wife all the time. I looked at new saddles, and also at horses and their availability in both of the possible new locations. It's promising, but not perfect in either. I'll have to own eventually I can tell.

Well,this week is already shaping up to be one of those four day weeks that seems like ten. Ah well, I can always just hide in my office.

Love

And here's a little pick me up to start your week with. I just love Brendan.