The guy in the chair in the snow.

I was about 30 seconds late for hall duty - my class had run over by a couple of minutes and I needed to secure the machine shop where I taught. When I got to my "post" near the cafeteria, I saw someone sitting in a folding chair in the parking lot outside the building. It was snowing lightly. It was one of the Driver's Ed teachers, and he had a light jacket draped over him. The jacket covered the knife that was stuck in his back just below the left scapula. He was waiting for the ambulance while a couple of colleagues tried to keep him calm.

I bring this up in light of the recent calls for arming teachers, locking down schools, and somehow keeping everybody safe from the pervasive violence in our desperately ill society.

The incident occurred a long time ago in a Chicago suburb. Our school had an armed police officer. Our students had to enter and exit only through designated doors. We had full time hall monitors, The students had to show their IDs to enter the building, and upon demand by staff. Any backpack or bag a student carried had to be a see-through variety. All teachers had to perform 1/2 period of hall duty every day. None of this security prevented a student from bringing a stolen knife to school and attacking a teacher for giving him a failing grade.

Security didn't prevent this assault. Society didn't prevent this assault. A kid who was frantic and obviously short in the planning department somehow believed that he would solve some truly insurmountable personal problem by committing an act that guaranteed him housing in a jail. How desperate is that?

How desperate are we to think that we can solve the problems of society by focusing on symptoms and not causes?

The teacher was not gravely injured - at least not physically.

Gift Wrapping Tips for Men

(Stolen from a good source)

GIFT WRAPPING TIPS FOR MEN
==========================

This is the time of year when we think back to the very first Christmas when the Three Wise Men: Gaspar, Balthazar and Herb went to see the baby Jesus; and according to the Book of Matthew, "presented unto Him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh."

These are simple words, but if we analyze them carefully, we discover an important, yet often overlooked, theological fact. There is no mention of wrapping paper.

If there had been wrapping paper, Matthew would have said so: "And lo, the gifts were inside 600 square cubits of paper. And the paper was festooned with pictures of Frosty the Snowman. And Joseph was going to throweth it away, but Mary saideth unto him, she saideth, 'Holdeth it! That is nice paper! Saveth it for next year!' And Joseph did rolleth his eyeballs. And the baby Jesus was more interested in the paper than the frankincense."

But these words do not appear in the Bible, which means that the very first Christmas gifts were NOT wrapped. This is because the people giving those gifts had two important characteristics: 1. They were wise. 2. They were men.

Men are not big gift wrappers. Men do not understand the point of putting paper on a gift just so somebody else can tear it off. This is not just my opinion; this is a scientific fact
based on a statistical survey of two guys I know.

One is Rob, who said the only time he ever wraps a gift is "if it's such a poor gift that I don't want to be there when the person opens it."

The other is Gene, who told me he does wrap gifts, but as a matter of principle never takes more than 15 seconds per gift. "No one ever had to wonder which presents daddy wrapped at Christmas," Gene said. "They were the ones that looked like enormous spitballs."

I also wrap gifts, but because of some defect in my motor skills, I can never completely wrap them. I can take a gift the size of a deck of cards and put it the exact center of a piece of wrapping paper the size of a regulation volleyball court, but when I am done folding and taping, you can still see a sector of the gift peeking out. (Sometimes I camouflage this sector with a marking pen.)

If I had been an ancient Egyptian in the field of mummies, the lower half of the Pharaoh's body would be covered only by Scotch tape.

On the other hand, if you give my wife a 12-inch square of wrapping paper, she can wrap a C-130 cargo plane. My wife, like many women, actually likes wrapping things. If she gives you a gift that requires batteries, she wraps the batteries separately, which to me is very close to being a symptom of mental illness. If it were possible, my wife would wrap each individual volt.

My point is that gift-wrapping is one of those skills that come more naturally to women than to men. That is why today I am presenting:

GIFT-WRAPPING TIPS FOR MEN:
* Whenever possible, buy gifts that are already wrapped. If, when the recipient opens the gift, neither one of you recognizes it, you can claim that it's myrrh.

* The editors of Woman's Day magazine recently ran an item on how to make your own wrapping paper by printing a design on it with an apple sliced in half horizontally and dipped in a mixture of food coloring and liquid starch. They must be smoking crack.

* If you're giving a hard-to-wrap gift, skip the wrapping paper! Just put it inside a bag and stick one of those little adhesive bows on it. This creates a festive visual effect that is sure to delight the lucky recipient on Christmas morning:

YOUR WIFE: Why is there a Hefty trash bag under the tree?
YOU: It's a gift! See? It has a bow!
YOUR WIFE (peering into the trash bag): It's a leaf blower.
YOU: Gas-powered! Five horsepower!
YOUR WIFE: I want a divorce.
YOU: I also got you some myrrh.

In conclusion, remember that the important thing is not what you give or how you wrap it.

The important thing, during this very special time of year, is that you save the receipt.

Who are the heroes?

Interesting that people have bought the story that Sen. John McCain is a hero because he was shot out of the sky. His behaviour in prison is remarkable.

He managed to destroy a fighter plane on the USS Forrestal aircraft carrier while going through a pre-flight checklist. He might have pushed the wrong button. His father was an admiral. I'm surprised that people trust this guy. The Wiki article makes claims that nobody was at fault, even though 134 people died and 161 more were injured. We are all at fault for this.

You're not a hero because you were shot out of the sky - that's an occupational hazard. 

The heroes were the pilots who refused to bomb civilians and took their punishment.

The power of children

A response to a Facebook post:

I was homeless twice before I was 18. It was a numbing experience; I had no power over the circumstances, and it is such a shame that this continues in the richest country in the world. 

We can kill anyone, anywhere, anytime, for any or no reason, but we blame our children for not choosing the right parents.

goddamn bureaucrats

Since Dad died, I've spent hundreds of hours dealing with his estate. He left no will - he didn't need one because he wasn't going to die.

Now I have a fucking idiot demanding fines and $8,000 in cash from my personal accounts because he knows more about California law than the lawyers we hired and the courts that approved our probate.

The problem is that this fucking idiot has power. He can mess with my life. This is just insane, and so damned much stress.

We spent over $6,000 trying to find our brother. That didn't work, but it was fine with the Commissioner of Accounts. I spent $600 and found him. We met at a truck stop in Rochelle, IL. The Commissioner fined me $200 for an "exception" and I can only guess that it was because he just wants to mess with our lawyer for some past annoyance. The only way to mess with the lawyer seems to be fucking with his clients.

Goddamn, I want this shit to stop.

Things that keep me alive

We had a fantastic time last night. It was such fun to see everybody in the place drop what they were doing and turn to listen; such fun to watch Jeff playing (ya gotta see his face when he's hitting it!); such fun to mess with Glenn by hanging my face over his guitar neck while he shouted the chords to me (he knew I didn't need them; good theater.); to watch Dan doing his fantastic guitar tags while singing the songs; so great to see Mary and Anna smiling as we played. Brother Steve showed up as we were loading the equipment to leave, but I got a big hug from him, and that was worth my paying for tickets for him.

Just grinning back and forth across the stage is such a charge. These are things that keep me alive.

Hamas didn't grow without water

We should look at the reasons that cause people to create the need to protect themselves from those they oppress. We are officially crazy if we just say that a people (Indian, Chinese, Thai) do not deserve a place on Earth. 

Hitler proved that you just can't have enough bullets to solve a problem, but he didn't learn that even after killing 25 million in Russia (The plan in Operation Barbarossa was to isolate NW Russia and starve everyone to death).

We're not paying attention.
 

Hamas is a reaction, not an evil original

The Palestinians had a homeland until they were declared less than human and occupying a land that some kind of god had given to the Israelis. They were expropriated and shoved into prison camps to die because they were not the "chosen" people. Golda Meir said, "there is no such thing as a Palestinian." The prisoners in Gaza are not even allowed to fish in the sea.

Israel, which has even gone so far as to murder American sailors (USS Liberty, 1967) is the number one recipient of foreign aid from the USA.

Why is anybody surprised that outfits like Hamas arise among such oppression?

When is Solstice?

It's too damn dark. I've been going through mind storms involving memories and feelings, just like I do every year when the light hides away.

I try to talk to people who have no time to spare, and don't quite like being given a list of other people to call.

I try to find something to keep me busy; keep my head outside.

I need light and people.

Damn it, when is Solstice?

Gratitude for those who keep me alive

Growing up among genius was something that I took for granted. I thought everybody had people like my parents, Eleanor Klak and Bill Savory, our roommates Sheldon Harnick and Calvin Lampley, and the parade of visitors to whom I was introduced (sometimes at 3 AM) on the weekends when Mom and Dad hosted parties and jazz jam sessions.

Sheldon wrote "Fiddler On The Roof" with Jerry Bock. Calvin was the producer for Miles Davis' "Kind Of Blue" on Columbia Records, and was one of the early black concert pianists who played in Carnegie Hall.

Mom played clarinet, and Dad played piano. An early memory was finding a round cast disc on the living room floor - it was to support the post of a bass violin.

I remember being introduced to Helen Ward one late night. I was struck by her beauty, and years later she became my step-mother. She was Benny Goodman's first vocalist, and the model for many of the jazz singers who followed her.

Writers for Sid Caesar's "Show Of Shows" would come by. Mel Kaminsky, later Mel Brooks, would act out the routines that were banned from the show under various self-censorship protocols. Such a thing for a five-year-old to witness, eh?

The parade seemed endless. Damn, I wish I had recordings. Damn, I wish everyone could have experiences like those.

More Magic

The Universe is magic, until we complete the study.

Presents

For Christmas, my friend gave out little wooden boxes that he made at his farm. He was not as good a carpenter as he was a farmer, but his love showed through when he handed them to me and his family and friends.

417

When I turn to look at the clock, I read "4:17" damned near every day. That's AM. That's also the last address from which we were evicted - 417 15 1/2 Avenue, Rock Island, Illinois.

It was the second time I became homeless, and in each occurrence I was powerless.

I had just turned 17, and had been working. When I came home, Mom was standing outside of our apartment. She told me she was going to live with her sister in California. I was to go see if I could rent something from her brother. I got a cot in a corner of his basement work shop. He pointedly said that he would not be a guardian or responsible for me in any way.

It was such a strange feeling to see all of our stuff sitting on the curb, and the neighbors picking through it without acknowledging us. I guessed that the first thing to go was a new vacuum cleaner that I had bought a couple of weeks earlier.

But, just standing there watching that turned me more numb than I had been in the previous nine years since Mom and Dad divorced.

So, how do we deal with abandonment and rejection? In my case, not very well. I still feel it; I still cry.

Damned Tests

Everybody should have access to all the education that they are capable of handling; vocational, professional, specialized, and for no charge to the student. The benefit is to society.

If you can't believe this would work, look at Finland, Denmark, and damn near any civilized country to see what happens when we teach people how to learn instead of how to take a damned test.

Another Song

It was wonderful today to hear from Dan, leader of our former band, with an update of his, our band mates' and friends' recent lives.

He has written another song - the first in three years, which I consider fantastic - it doesn't matter whether it's important or profound; it's an effort to live and create something of value to himself and others, and by doing so, give himself permission and energy.

As I've said, I collect personalities and remember them in detail and often very intensely, and Dan's is one of those whom I have been privileged to acquire. We spent years entertaining others and ourselves, and hope to continue.

Wow!

Among things I love to do is get people to say, "wow" and look outside themselves for more wonderful things. I can only think of our capability for searching and finding such amazing things around us, and just be so grateful that we are able to see and comprehend.

Minority Rule from DeKalb Daily Chronicle

Letter: Amendment would allow for minority rule in state

Created: Saturday, October 13, 2012 5:30 a.m. CDT

To the Editor:

Any law or constitutional amendment that requires a supermajority to enact a policy is actually a call for minority rule. If we believe in democracy, why do we want to allow a minority to control our policy? Are we that crazy? If we vote “yes” on the proposed Illinois Constitutional amendment (Section 5.1 to Article XIII of the Illinois Constitution) to control pensions or bargaining power for public employees, we are officially stupid.

Why not implement submajority rule for the working class; say a 1 percent majority for anything that benefits the 47 percent of “freeloaders” who pay nearly 50 percent of their earnings in taxes other than federal income taxes? What sense is it to require a 60 percent majority? How about requiring a 99 percent majority to implement any act that would benefit the working class?
We’re just insane if this passes. We would show that we have waved the white flag on education and civic involvement, and admit that a landed gentry owns us, which is the exact opposite of what Washington, Adams, Hamilton, Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, Paine, et al risked their lives to acquire for us.

Eugene Desavouret
Malta

Magic

When I was about four years old, I confused the words "music" and "magic". later, I discovered that they were the same. The liberal arts (poetry, writing, dancing, etc.) are the same, and they are siblings.

Living without such magic is death with a heartbeat.

Christopher Drew R.I.P.

Chris fought the law and he won. He was charged with a Class 1 felony because he recorded his arrest by the Chicago Police for violating a city ordinance by selling art patches in the public way without having a peddler's license. He was facing up to 15 years in the joint - more serious than aggravated criminal sexual assault, which is a Class 2 felony punishable by up to seven years in jail.

I lost track of Chris after meeting him a year ago, and assumed that he was proceeding with his art career after Judge Stanley Sacks declared the Illinois Eavesdropping Act unconstitutional. 

Chris had a party in April, 2012 to celebrate the decision. I wrote to him asking if the party was premature because Chicago District Attorney Anita Alvarez and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan vowed to take the case to the Illinois Supreme Court; they cannot admit defeat and would spend as many tax dollars as they could to reverse the decision.

Chris died one month after the party. He had been dealing with lung cancer while fighting the law. The law lost, but the cancer won.

Published in the DeKalb Daily Chronicle 20 SEP 12:

Zygote is just a blueprint

Created: Thursday, September 20, 2012 5:30 a.m. CDT

To the Editor:

A zygote is a person in the same sense a blueprint of a ship is a functioning ocean-going vessel. There are differences thinking people will immediately understand.

I’ll try to administer some more medicine to the dead in hopes Lazarus is a feasible option, but won’t become too much more depressed over the likely failure of my effort.

A ship cannot go to sea if it’s only a concept in a blueprint, like a set of rules established by the joining of male and female DNA. Once the construction crew finishes the masterful tasks involved in building the ship, it cannot function until its crew has been trained and has had modification in procedure that enable that ship to perform its duties as designed, and even learn to exceed those performance requirements.
This is the reason humans typically are not granted the full rights of citizenship until a certain age.

But, training aside, the essence is that a blueprint is not a finished and viable product. The instructions in the DNA contained in a zygote are not equivalent to a human being.

Those who believe in birth at all costs, without responsibility and support from society, are lunatics. The dangerous thing is they have been working to destroy education, and have been successful in simultaneously barking for “less government” while legislating second-class citizenship and outright oppression for the majority of the citizens of the United States.

My bachelor of science degree is in education. Right-wingers refuse to use the skills I have, preferring to use the propaganda of those who believe society is only for the powerful in their efforts to acquire more than any person can possibly need.

More teachology

My Master of Science is in Computer Science. When I taught in a local college, I found that some people in my classes thought I was practicing "occupational birth control", and I remembered the doctoral head of the department where I studied for my degree. (I was in way over my head, and my daughter's friends thought that Mom was a single parent, but I somehow made it though the courses.)

The department head in my university had cured me of the "occupational birth control" approach - he demanded that we memorize portions of reference books and spit them back on high stakes tests. My classmate, Marsha, looked at the second question on a final exam that read, "Name all 32 Interrupt Priority Levels for a VAX 11-785" and did a bit of math - she would not fail the course if she did not pass the test. She wrote, "I did not buy reference books to memorize them" and walked out of the classroom.

I didn't announce to my students that they had to memorize crap. I wanted my students to focus on success; If my students showed up, paid attention, and tried their best, I would support them. Nobody who did that was less than average.

We Can Kill

A pilot in Arizona can murder a suspect along with others in Libya or any other country, and we're supposed to be proud?

The technology is amazing, but the use of it is abhorrent.

How is it?

Mitt RobbedMe offers a secret plan to fix the economy, just like Nixon offered a secret plan to end the war in Vietnam, and people believe it? How dumb are we?

Nixon should have been tried for treason for making deals with the Vietnamese.

Reagan should have been tried for treason for making deals with the Iranians.

What the fuck is wrong with us?

Custodial Time Killing

My Bachelor of Science degree is in Occupational Education. When I studied Abraham Mazlow's "Hierarchy of Needs" I thought it was so obvious that everybody with an I.Q. above room temperature would intuitively know it. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

When I was teaching in high schools in California and Illinois, it seemed that my job was more about crowd control than education. I had great students, but many of them suffered badly at the hands of our society and behaved accordingly. I can't blame people for reacting to their environment.

Norman Goldman replies:

Norman Goldman	Sep 11 (2 days ago)
to me

custodial time killing is sadly the mission of many schols, Gene...until the "kids" go off to prison.

norm

All health care is important to society. We are important to each other; we need to take care of each other; that's important to all of us as responsible citizens. By societal definition, we are not "on our own" and responsible to nobody.

I cannot repeat this enough: During the Reagan administration, East Moline State Hospital, a mental heath facility in western Illinois, was emptied of its obviously undeserving patients. My mother had been a freeloader in previous years.

The hospital then became reopened as East Moline Correctional Facility, and the previous patients then became inmates. Prison guards are so much less expensive than hospital staff.

Society feels no impact, of course. Untreated mental patients are harmless to themselves and others, of course. Society saves so much money, and we benefit so well from this idiocy.

What could possibly go wrong?

hateriots

What has been pushed as patriotism is coming to reflect "hateriotism." I could expect a hateriot to assault someone who suggests that they are far less than honest, caring people.

Everybody needs a Mister Wagner in their life

When my mother moved to California to live with her sister, I rented a corner of my uncle's basement. I was 17. Someone discovered that I had no legal guardian, and turned me in to the school district.

The Dean of Students, Mr. Wagner, called me in to his office to tell me that I would have to pay tuition as an out of state student because Mom was living with her sister, Alice, in Los Angeles, California.  This happened in October, the last year of my high school enrollment.

He thought about it for a half a minute. Then he told me that the paper work would take some time. Then he told me that he would make sure that it would disappear until I had graduated.

I never got a chance to tell him that I loved him for doing that.

Who am I?

I am:

Jack of All Trades; Master of Some.

I have:

Majored in Smart Ass, with a Minor in Bad Puns.

Been a successful motorcycle mechanic, tuner, designer and racer. The racing part still hurts - you learn how to fall off in your first season.

Took many photos of everything that came to my attention, including amazing photos of everything in nature as well as the wonderment of interactions in the 15 Foot and 30 Inch bubble chambers at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois.

Achieved an M.S. in Computer Science, and participated in creating data acquisition software at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. I loved playing there - it was a fantastic experience.

Been a musician and enjoyed performing for many folks since I was a child. Music is Magic. When I was about four-years-old, I confused the words "music" and "magic." Later, I learned that they were the same.

Been Dad, but that's only a job description; it's not me.

Loved people, and still do.

Zygote as Blueprint

A zygote is a person in the same sense that a blueprint is a functioning ocean going vessel. There are differences that thinking people will immediately understand.

I'll try to administer some more medicine to the dead in hopes that Lazarus is a feasible option, but won't become too much more depressed over the highly likely failure of my effort.

A ship cannot go to sea if it's only a concept in a blueprint, like a set of rules established by the joining of male and female DNA. Once the construction crew finishes the masterful tasks involved in building the ship, it cannot function until its crew has been trained and has had modification in procedure that enable that ship to perform its duties as designed, and even learn to exceed those performance requirements. This is the reason that humans are typically not granted the full rights of citizenship until a certain age.

But, training aside, the essence is that a blueprint is not a finished and viable product. The instructions in the DNA contained in a zygote are not equivalent to a human being.

Those who believe in birth at all costs, without responsibility and support from society, are lunatics. The dangerous thing is that they are lunatics who have been working to destroy education, and have been successful in simultaneously barking for "less government" while legislating second class citizenship and outright oppression for the majority of the citizens of the United States of America..

My Bachelor of Science is in Education. Right wingers refuse to use the skills that I have; preferring to use the propaganda of the psychopaths and sociopaths who believe that society is only for the powerful in their efforts to acquire more than any person can possibly need.

A Wonderful Thing

Today we inunrned the ashes of Commander William Alcott Savory, U.S. Navy Reserve, in Arlington National Cemetery. A few important people attended, and were quite moved, and moved by me to take up video cameras to steal the scenes. The scenes at ANC were quite impressive, and very well rehearsed by the Navy team who performed. It was an amazing production.

Afterwards, Sonny McGown, Loren Schoenberg, Rob and Chris Bamberger and I invaded a quiet hole in the area to reminisce at the wonder of Bill Savory's life. I set up a camera and tried to give them space to spill their shit about Bill, and a wonderful thing ensued.

There isn't enough room in this entry to even briefly state what he was about. The audio and video may show a little picture of this amazing man who was my father.

So, I state my love for people like Loren, Sonny, Chris and Rob who preserve the art that is important.

Medicine For The Dead

Capitalism depends upon the fantasy of unlimited resources. Some god or gods will provide the stuff that our gluttony depends upon, without regard for balance.

When we have consumed this planet, we will move on to the next. Does that sound familiar? It's a common theme that we have seen in countless stories of extraterrestrial aliens who come to take our planet for its raw materials, and even humans for food.

Before considering consuming other planets, humans have been practicing on each other through empire building and unfettered production and consumption.  Ever since the first organized humans began pushing smaller, weaker bands and other species out of the way in pursuit of water, game, plants and other resources, we have been witnessing our very short sighted pursuit of more in the face of less.

As we have accumulated knowledge of our environments, many have chosen to invoke quite dangerous beliefs such as denying that there are any limits to resources, or that supernatural beings will protect us from ourselves. It ain't gonna happen.

It may be that the only thing that will save our planet from an early demise is our extinction.

goddamn proprietary operating systems and monopolies

I'm just tired of this crap. I cannot install software in Windows 7 because of permissions. I cannot access my own directories because of permissions. I can't save files to some directories because I don't have permission. I PAID FOR THIS SHIT! I AM THE OWNER! I AM THE ADMINISTRATOR! I AM A SUCKER!

Microsoft says "go to the user community and get help from the other friendly people (that we screwed)." Right - go there and ask some of the 12,000 people who have the same problem you do for help with something the Microsoft should fix. Microsoft wrote junk software, but won't fix it. They won't let programmers look at the source code. Fix it with FM (Fucking Magic) because Microsoft is busy building the next operating system, which is really a service pack for the current one (but costs money because it's a "new" system).

So much for "free enterprise" and "free markets" and "competition" within our great economic power house. We're just screwed. It's long past time to strip the monopolies and oligarchies from our society; they're parasites.

Yalls nutz - medical care isn't a sin.

I met a man at the Coronado Theater in Rockford, Illinois. We were there to register our disdain for the State of Illinois' effort to shut down the Singer mental heath center, which serves 21 counties in northwestern Illinois. I told him of the East Moline State Hospital. It was a place for the mentally needy in our midst.

At some point in the 1980s, the Reagan Administration emptied out the Federally supported institutions by killing funding for them. My mother had been a beneficiary of the programs in East Moline State Hospital.

Amazingly, a purpose was identified for the vast publicly created hospital and its property. It became East Moline Correctional Facility! What a benefit to society! Now, there was a place to place all of those strange entities who seemed to show up in public after they were shoved out the door. Instead of being patients, they were now prisoners! Damn! How easy is that? Prison guards are so much less expensive than medical professionals!

What now?
 

Yes, the AHCA is an evil commie fascist pinko Nazi scheme

A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum. Sen. Max Baucus received a visitor from Wellpoint. She was a vice-president on leave for some important purpose - she had an 89 page memo for Max; suggestions for "reform". Among the first implied was to arrest anybody supporting Medicare For All (Single Payer - like civilized countries have). MFA was a purpose stated for the Act in 1965 - reduce eligibility age until age zero. Obamnycare is a plan designed by the Heritage Foundation and implemented by Romney and Obama. It is not an efficient system. It fixes a little, but not enough yet.

I suggest that we teach people to read, think critically, and be skeptical. (Among other things.)

Beware of people who decry education.

Open 24 hours a day!

Only on the internet can we find a file splitter at four AM!

Your rights end when you cross the threshold

Arrest of dangerous photographer in New York City.

"I was standing next to Paul here when the NYPD took him down for filming an arrest..he did nothing other than point a lens at another futile arrest. The NYPD are a disgusting bunch of ignorant and corrupt fucks.
July11 Zuccotti NYC" (Quote from original caption.)

In April, 2012, Judge Stanley Sacks declared the Illinois Eavesdropping law unconstitutional in the case of People v. Christopher Drew. Drew recorded his own arrest for violating a Chicago city ordinance that required him and other artists to buy a license to sell art in public. The Chicago Police didn't bother with the peddler's license charge once they found his recording device. They charged Drew with felony eavesdropping - a class 1 felony that could put him in prison for up to 15 years. He decided to fight the charge rather than plead to a lower class misdemeanor as many others have done. During the fight, he was undergoing treatment for cancer. The basic question, "who works for whom?", applies to recording of our public officials as they are performing their duties in public.

I was in a waiting room at my auto dealer's shop and had a discussion with two folks who seemed to be completely bamboozled by Fox "News" when the topic of Obama and his illegal running of government came up. These two were convinced that we have to get rid of government because it has its own anti-citizen agenda. I suggested that we can eliminate government as soon as we have the right to elect the CEO and Board members of whichever corporation wins the war for control of our lives. One responded that we already have that right - we can vote as shareholders in that corporation. The response to such an idiotic position is to point out that we are already shareholders in the United States, and it does not cost anything.

Once you cross the threshold of a corporation's property, you have no guarantee of rights. Who wants to go back to the 1920s and give corporations absolute power over your life?

"To argue with someone who has abandoned the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead." - Thomas Paine

Goddam Welfare Mamas!

Illinois, the state that is pretty much at the bottom in caring for its elderly just sent out a letter that says, "the Circuit Breaker Property Tax Relief Grant will be eliminated effective July 1, 2012." 

The Illinois Department on Aging sent a letter a few weeks ago informing the least among us that the Circuit Breaker prescription drug assistance program was being terminated.

There's just no money left after giving billions to welfare cheats to come here and rape us for profit.

Wandering Through My Mind 28 JUN 12

Comment on Obamacare SCOTUS decision. I'm just so pissed off that these idiots won't think.

Gene d., Malta, il (Gene Savory) wrote on June 28, 2012 11:15 p.m. ...

Yes, there is absolutely NO PRECEDENT for requiring people to buy health care or anything else, except for the Militia Act of 1792 that required members (conscripted) to buy their own supplies for militia use, and the Maritime Hospital Act of 1798. The Maritime Act provided medical care to merchant sailors, with a MANDATE that they pay for medical access from their wages, until the 1980s. What are you guys smoking? Actually, we need Medicare for all - part of its original design. Administrative overhead of 1.4% compared to over 20% in for-profit insurance companies. Go read something.

Wandering Through My Mind 24 JUN 12

My friend is in the hospital with a broken pelvis, lesions on his liver and lungs, a PSA level five times the norm, and degenerated bones in his legs. He doesn't have a diagnosis, but it looks quite serious and life changing. Testing last week should provide more detail by tomorrow.

His big problem is goddamn health insurance. He is now paying $300/month and his boss is kicking in another $300/month. He cannot afford it without working. His boss is currently absorbing the whole premium of $600/month, but will have to terminate the payments if he cannot return to work soon.

What is this shit with holding a person hostage with medical bills? Civilized countries don't have billing departments in their hospitals.

Wandering Through My Mind 21 JUN 12

I've got too much shit on my plate, and I'm tired of eating shit.

Wandering Through My Mind 19 JUN 12

BumperArt.com


The model is wrong. In order to follow the dictates of their charters, corporations must continually grow and produce in order to generate a profit. In a living organism, this is known as cancer - uncontrolled growth. Each process consumes the host by depleting resources, and it applies in both cases - that of the organism and that of the planet. The outcome is that the host can no longer provide resources for the process, and it dies.

Wandering Through My Mind 12 JUN 12

Let's get this out of the way right now: You may label me a communist, fascist, socialist, Nazi, pastafarian, philatelist, botanist, lepidopterist, and so on. It doesn't change the truth.

It is obvious that unlimited cash in our political process is pure poison, and it is time to change to public financing of elections. Now, before the smoke pouring from your ears sets off the alarms and sprinklers, absorb this: our elections are already publicly financed. We just don't have any control over the distribution of that money. Before you start screaming about the evil "redistribution of wealth," note that it's already being taken and redistributed, and we don't have any control over that process; it is undemocratic; we are attempting to run a democracy (OK, democratic republic for the nit-pickers) through a clearly anti-democratic process that allows a tiny population of wealthy sociopaths and their institutions to choose and install their minions at the levers of power in our government. If you need a local example, In the 16th Congressional District primary held in March, Republican Adam Kinzinger was the beneficiary of  $224,529 in campaign support against Republican Don Manzullo from Campaign for Primary Accountability, a Super PAC based in Texas. Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor also pitched in $25,000 to support Kinzinger against a fellow Republican. Negative campaign advertising and tactics pushed by a flood of unregulated cash proved successful - Manzullo could not afford to combat the tidal wave of distortions and lies and he lost the election.


Elected officials are our employees, but they spend as much as half their time trying to raise money for election. They are not working for us when they're dialing for dollars. Our employees are not spending their time working for us; they're begging for money, rewarding their patrons, and ignoring the needs of the overwhelming majority of the American people. True public financing is a medicine we need to treat this disease - the distorted, undemocratic system that is drowning us with money and lies.

And my sister is a thespian.

Wandering Through My Mind 07 JUN 12

Where do we put those pot heads?

http://prisonmap.com/

The world envies our gated communities!

Wandering Through My Mind 04 JUN 12

Practice, practice, practice...

Wandering Through My Mind 30 MAY 12

I've been having wonderful conversations with sane people all over the US via video conferencing. It would be nice if someone would listen to us in a critical, non-tainted manner. Ideas in the public forum are worth examining. One-sided propaganda funded by those who want us to hand over the keys to the country to them seem to be quite effective. De-funding education seems to have been working for these manipulators over the past 40 years.

I'm quite upset with the news that Florida is running massive voter purges again to counter non-existent voter fraud. James O'Keefe is reported to have tried to fraudulently obtain ballots in New Hampshire: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/05/07/479343/fake-voter-fraud-filmmaker-james-okeefe-says-he-faces-grand-jury-subpoena/?mobile=nc He may face charges and would be subpoenaed before a grand jury if he were to go to the state. The article also covers Governor Skeletor's voter purges in Florida.

It's so distressing that people continue to buy the lies and fraudulent actions of administrations who are in business to turn the United States into an oligarchy in which the wealthy and their minions rule as dictators.

People seem to be quite willing to believe outrageous lies, and then work against their own interests. The winners of the 2012 election have been declared: the media. Their coffers are being filled with "free speech"; money from the wealthy and corporations throughout the world. Who can believe that a corporation in China, Germany, France, England, Japan or elsewhere should be able to influence elections in this country? This is not democracy by any stretch of the imagination. It is rule by wealth; rule by sociopaths and psychopaths.

Wandering Through My Mind 27 MAY 12

Great jam session in St. Charles yesterday, and then off to practice with Dan Becker and Glenn Hampson for the upcoming "Art In The Park" gigs on 9 & 10 June.

Free shows, lots of disparate kinds of art displays, kayak races in Mastodon Lake, good food, and great people. We're playing with Urban Groove, Jazz Vertigo, and Leah Pearl twice on Saturday and twice on Sunday afternoons. Phillips Park is on East Parker Avenue in Aurora. For more info, call 630-978-4774.

Come one, come all for a great time with Dan Becker and The Tourists.

Wandering Through My Mind 25 MAY 12

A day without music can be a dreary thing. We love patterns, and thrive on them throughout life if we're lucky.

Getting ready to play in Aurora, IL at Phillips Park for "Art in The Park" festival on 9 & 10 JUN with Dan Becker and The Tourists. We play two shows a day for both days, along with Urban Groove, Jazz Vertigo, and Leah Pearl.

See http://www.ReverbNation.com/DanBeckerAndTheTourists

Wandering Through My Mind 21 MAY 12

There's nothing like a leisurely trip home from Maryland to delete a billion or so brain cells from my brain pan. Weaseling down the highway at 0300 at 80 MPH through the Alleghenys  might be thrilling if it wasn't for 100' dropoffs, falling rocks, fallen deer, and morons who are stoned, drunk, or on the phone. I suppose I'm not the adrenaline junkie I used to be.

Wandering Through My Mind 16 MAY 12

There is nothing like a long, leisurely drive from Chicago to Baltimore to remind me of the fights we have with our bodies. In particular, odd schedules and sleep deprivation. It's been a while since I've driven this far, and I've had too many close encounters of the 18th kind on this night. Watching an 18 wheeler swerve off the road and then into my lane in several separate instances during the night in Pennsylvania and Maryland is not what I remembered.

Some TV pundit suggested that people who think they don't make enough money are not working hard enough. I guess the solution must be to dump the regulations on truck drivers so they can drive enough hours during a day to prove they can work harder or die trying, or kill someone else while trying. 

I think the TV pundit guy might try thinking about why there used to be regulations on how many hours a driver could work without rest, or how many hours a pilot could fly without rest, or ...

Wandering Through My Mind 10 MAY 12

Eliminate poverty! Kill all the poor people! Such a deal, eh?

Wandering Through My Mind 09 May 12

The Hudson river was dead; the Cuyahoga River caught on fire regularly. Vine Deloria commented, "only the white man would make a river that would catch on fire." Externalizing all of the toxic effects of making a profit are a death sentence to our children and our environment - a result of human selfishness and willful ignorance of our stewardship as keepers of our planet.

Sorry if this seems so negative, but we cannot progress if we ignore responsibilities and just kick the can down the road.

Wandering Through My Mind 07 MAY 12

Socialism for the rich! "Free enterprise" for the rest!

Wandering Through My Mind 07 MAY 12

Great gig with Dan Becker And The Tourists at the Elbo Room tonight. Really glad to have Jeff dropping on the drums, Dave entertaining us, Mindy regaling us with her wisdom, and especially Liz working video for us.

It would have been a bit easier if I hadn't broken my wrist Saturday, but Liz drove home, and I'll somehow survive.

Wandering Through My Mind 05 MAY 12

Raise the retirement age to 67? Why not raise it to 134 or death, whichever comes first? Of course death would render you and your family ineligible for benefits.

What is wrong with us? Why do we keep going back to that 55 gallon drum and guzzling down that Kool Aid?

Aren't you, (Illinois) Gov. Quinn, and our legislators smarter than A.L.E.C.? What's wrong with our collective brain that makes us keep going for this complete bull-crap of attacking the least among us whenever the powerful decide to impose yet another austerity measure upon us? Remember that we PAID for our benefits, and now the legislature will admit they stole our retirement and benefit money, but have come back for more! For whom do they work?

Wandering Through My Mind 04 MAY 12

Ghandi said that there is more to life than living it faster. I think people need to understand that the concept of living life faster also encompasses consuming the resources of the earth at a rate that will make humans another failed species, and commit the rest of the planet to an early demise.

People who advocate consumption of resources as an end of our "purpose" may have an argument with respect to the concept of entropy, but it's self defeating, and not a way to help us enjoy our and our world's existence.

Wandering Through My Mind 04 MAY 12

I'm just tired of right wing talking points: If we tax corporations, they'll just make us pay those taxes in what they take from us. So, if we eliminate taxes on corporations, will they somehow magically reduce the amount they take from us because of our generosity? Don't be idiots - the money will just be taken.

Wandering Through My Mind 04 MAY 12

Republicans are people who would blame corn for being welfare cheats because we spent so much to grow it, but can't figure out its use or benefits.

Wandering Through My Mind 03 MAY 12

I've been tossing this around for years:

Pandora's Box

There only needed to be two things in Pandora's Box:
Mortal knowledge, and a mirror.

Wandering Through My Mind 03 MAY 12

When I own a navy, army, and air force, I might think I have some strength against oppression. That being impossible, I think it might be better if I own the government.

Money in politics? We're looking at the results.

Wandering Through My Mind 02 MAY 12

Interesting that people think they can destroy labor without killing the workers.

Wandering Through My Mind 01 MAY 12

May Day should be illegal! Throw all of those lazy criminal workers in jail! That'll learn 'em!

Wandering Through My Mind 01 MAY 12

A corporation is a person in the same sense that a flamethrower is a firefly.

Wandering Through My Mind 01 MAY 12

The most powerful thing we can do is introduce people to one another.

Wandering Through My Mind 01 MAY 12

If you don't ask, you may never know.

Wandering Through My Mind 30 APR 12

Any time a worker protests it is a threat to the state. We should just kill all the workers! That'll learn 'em!

Wandering Through My Mind 30 APR 12

In Canada and the USA the right wing nuts now advocate education only for the wealthy. Students are now evil. 

What's wrong with these people who think austerity and oppression are good for the community? 

They are mentally ill and must be removed from positions of power.

Wandering Through My Mind 30 APR 12

Should lottery winners be taxed? If this seems fair, then those who win a lottery by virtue of having chosen the right parents should also be taxed.

As that noted commie Adam Smith posited, labor creates all wealth.

If you have trouble understanding this, read a book. Stop getting your information from gasbag pundits and bumper stickers.

I suggest Perfectly Legal and Free Lunch by David Cay Johnston, and The Screwing of The Average Man by David Hapgood. Of course, Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith explains a lot.

Wandering Through My Mind 30 APR 12

Folks want to know my motto. It's complex - I have multiple mottoes matching multiple mentalities.

Here are a couple:

"Jack of All Trades; Master of Some" (This applies to my work as a mechanic, engineer, musician, photographer, recording engineer, computer goof, semi-scientist, and trouble maker.)

"Will Work for Pizza" (Since I don't make money playing music, I'll settle for this.)

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Wandering Through My Mind 29 APR 12

I have a friend who became a grandparent at age 36. I suppose it's OK that I have become one at age 39. Granddaughter Shaelyn Rose Aflleje was born 28 APR 12 to my daughter Marissa Michelle Desavouret Aflleje and William Aflleje.

Wandering Through My Mind 28 APR 12

It's illegal to put electronic waste into Illinois land fills. DeKalb County runs a recycling program to collect and recycle electronic waste: http://www.dekalbcounty.org/health/environmental/waste.html

I participated in April and noted that there were hundreds of cars in line to get to the deposit area, manned by volunteers. I waited in line for 45 minutes, and was unable to shut off my car's engine because the line moved a few inches every few seconds. I asked for some details.

Crystal Springmede of the DeKalb County Health Department provided details:

928 automobiles were serviced. That was the count before the Health Dept. workers stopped counting due to very heavy demand. The program ran from 0830 to 1400 (?), but was not rigidly scheduled - when the trucks were full, the county would stop the program. I didn't get details on program termination.

The last recycling program serviced about 600 vehicles.

109,574 pounds of electronics devices were accepted.

2,000 pounds of batteries were accepted.

700 pounds of Compact Fluorescent light bulbs were accepted.

Electronic waste is expected to last 70 years.

A company in Pontiac, Illinois receives computer equipment and attempts to rebuild computers. Unusable components are shredded and smelted to remove usable elements and isolate toxic material.

A company near Janesville, Wisconsin accepts TVs and computer monitors for recycling.

There will be another recycling drive in the fall.

Springmede also pointed out that we can commit three crimes by improperly disposing of electronic waste. The consumer who attempts to put electronic waste into garbage, the disposal company that accepts the waste, and the landfill that processes such waste are all liable under the law. 

If you've read this far, you're waiting for the "but" statement. I won't disappoint you. The questions I have are, "how much fuel did we use by sitting in line for 45 minutes? How much toxic exhaust did people breathe during the project? Why does the county have to incur this expense? Don't we pay Waste Management for this "service," or do they only contract for things that are profitable (yes, rhetorical, but intentionally so).

Wandering Through My Mind

For those who think that government is evil and must be abolished, I suggest that they consider our rights under corporate rule. It's a simple document - a blank piece of paper.

No messy courts; no "trial" lawyers; no appeals; no voting; none of that junk that the Bill of Rights and The Constitution promises to those who believe in the fair representation of people who don't have a few million bucks to spare to buy legislative favors.

Voting? That's so 1960s.

Wandering Through My Mind

I suggest that we all write to our legislators (all of them!) and remind them that they are NOT OUR DOCTORS! What's wrong with these people; why is it the "small" government position to stomp on our rights?

Wandering Through My Mind

"To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead." - Thomas Paine

A recent comment to my Facebook entry posited that I would believe that North Korea is a "Liberal Paradise." The image is in my previous post, but here it is again. I don't fancy myself an artist, genius, or such, but I do pay attention and suggest that everyone else try it.

Wandering Through My Mind

I find it amazing that people who do not own stuff would support those who take stuff away from them.