State of Disturbia

The most ignorant quote of the year: Rick Pitino defending himself against critics about him, a married catholic with children, having sex with a woman (not his wife) on a table in a restaurant.

"Enough's enough, everybody is tired of it," Pitino said. "We need to get on with the important things in life like the economy and really some crucial things in life like basketball."

Women to lust

Morgan Fairchild/Patsy Ann McClenny
Andie MacDowell/Rosalie Anderson MacDowell
Mimi Rogers\Miriam Spickler
Nicole Ari Parker Kodjoe
Cree Summer
Nia Long/Nitara Long
Mercedes Ruehl
Loni Anderson
The women of the Brown line

How much to pay

The conflict rages inside my head. How do I approach becoming involved in a quest for spirituality with the notion that I have to pay money to be a part of that quest? If I want to become a part of an organized religion/church/sect/cult, I would be required to make a weekly monetary contribution. If I want specific classes or retreats, those cost money. Where can I go and meet people in search of the same quest and at the same time not be required to make a monetary sacrifice to attain this quest? Is there such a place or organization? And also, how do you handle the unwritten guilt that comes with the fact that they might say 'No money is required to be given' when in fact, the exact opposite is true. You cannot be a permanent part without making a monetary contribution.

My ultimate problem with this quid pro quo is that it amounts to prostitution. And while I am not opposed to the idea of prostitution, I don't want my quest for higher powers or sense of the unknown weighed down with heavy hand of money standing in the middle.
It is a struggle that is not easily solved. Do you sacrifice your sense of what's right and wrong for some potential enlightenment that may or may never happen? Am I paying money for something no different than a ouija board?

And the actual amount of the contribution literally has nothing to do with it. Be it one thousand dollars or be it a single penny, once the transaction takes place, no longer is everyone on the same path in the quest. Now you are the paying customer, the leader holds sway for the period of time that your money allows. What then does it become? Therapy? Back to prostitution? Mind control? Options then turn to internal personal quest outside of a group. Noble, but not what I'm looking for. That becomes a biased search and you need the interaction and feedback of ideas for other people so you aren't becoming just a self-serving egotist. At this point, there is no way around the conflict. I will not pay a single penny for a quest toward enlightenment/spirtuality/whatever. Maybe the search is toward a group effort. Maybe that is what you are looking for. And the long-term goals are ancillary. We shall see.

State of Disturbia

I can't stay away from the noise. I am attracted like moth to the clamor and din or other people's lives. Injecting myself into their situations as if I know them or care about them or feel for them. Not an uncommon occurence. But a psychological misstep if you take the extra step and believe that your injection is real. You clearly have to separate your prurient interest from morphing into obsessive disorder bordering on psychosis. When your life revolves around what happens in other people's lives on a television show or a radio program or a sporting event, you need to re-evaluate your situation. If you are capable.

State of Disturbia - Are you kidding me?

Is this for real? Don't for a second pretend that this man is serious when Fox News has been an official arm of the Republican party for the entire eight years of the Bush administration and continues to be in the Obama reign. Were a Republican in office and Fox news was delivering this, this would be one of the greatest achievements of the 21st century. Ken McKay you should be ashamed of yourself.

From the Drudgereport.com

ABC TURNS PROGRAMMING OVER TO OBAMA; NEWS TO BE ANCHORED FROM INSIDE WHITE HOUSETue Jun 16 2009 08:45:10 ETOn the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government run health care -- a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm! Highlights on the agenda: ABCNEWS anchor Charlie Gibson will deliver WORLD NEWS from the Blue Room of the White House. The network plans a primetime special -- 'Prescription for America' -- originating from the East Room, exclude opposing voices on the debate. The Director of Communications at the White House Office of Health Reform is Linda Douglass, who worked as a reporter for ABC News from 1998-2006. Late Monday night, Republican National Committee Chief of Staff Ken McKay fired off a complaint to the head of ABCNEWS: Dear Mr. Westin: As the national debate on health care reform intensifies, I am deeply concerned and disappointed with ABC's astonishing decision to exclude opposing voices on this critical issue on June 24, 2009. Next Wednesday, ABC News will air a primetime health care reform “town hall” at the White House with President Barack Obama. In addition, according to an ABC News report, GOOD MORNING AMERICA, WORLD NEWS, NIGHTLINE and ABC’s web news “will all feature special programming on the president’s health care agenda.” This does not include the promotion, over the next 9 days, the president’s health care agenda will receive on ABC News programming. Today, the Republican National Committee requested an opportunity to add our Party's views to those of the President's to ensure that all sides of the health care reform debate are presented. Our request was rejected. I believe that the President should have the ability to speak directly to the America people. However, I find it outrageous that ABC would prohibit our Party's opposing thoughts and ideas from this national debate, which affects millions of ABC viewers. In the absence of opposition, I am concerned this event will become a glorified infomercial to promote the Democrat agenda. If that is the case, this primetime infomercial should be paid for out of the DNC coffers. President Obama does not hold a monopoly on health care reform ideas or on free airtime. The President has stated time and time again that he wants a bipartisan debate. Therefore, the Republican Party should be included in this primetime event, or the DNC should pay for your airtime. Respectfully,Ken McKayRepublican National CommitteeChief of Staff

State of Disturbia - A Mayor's move

Let's not mince words any longer. Mayor Daley is a dictator. Elections are held, but only because of the calendar

We used to sneer at third world countries and the U.S.S.R or Iraq when they deigned to hold 'Elections' because we knew there was no actual electing going on. We used to raise hell about the poll tax and other forms of voting discrimination that took place in this country against people of color for many years.

But here we are as assets waiting to be hocked to the highest bidder. Or the lowest bidder who can come up with the money now.

I point to the fantastic article by Rick Telander in the Chicago Sun-Times - http://www.suntimes.com/sports/telander/1608451,CST-SPT-rick05.article. So eloquently written I was breathless as I finished. When you fear for your life, your family, your business, your reputation and your housing situation with the notion of standing up to this man, you know you are deep into a dictatorship.

If you are a tavern owner and you want your liquor license renewed, you better get on board. If you are a school teacher, you better promote the Olympics for 2016 or you will be out of a job. Will an Alderman stand up to him? One has by beating the machine candidate he replaced. Just one.

But my point is not to condemn the man for his consolidation of power, corruption and greed into a single entity with no ultimate responsibility. My point is to wonder why he hasn't expanded his realm as a prelude to increasing the coffers of his own empire.

There are neighboring cities just needing to be incorporated by eminent domain. Secession from the state should be on the table. An annexation of territories from neighboring Indiana and Wisconsin. A toll booth system set up for downtown traffic. $5 to get in. $5 to get out, plus a 6.75 state tax. Plus a 2.0 percent county tax. Plus a 2.0 city tax. Plus a 1.5% street use fee. There are ways to increase revenue, yet time and time again over 20 years he has failed to take advantage of his power. Would a real dictator stop at 95 and Western? No Evergreen Park as a municipality is gone and becomes just another Neighborhood. And Oak Lawn had better keep an eye out.

Would a real dictator allow its citizens to use a public access beach for free? No, they would be charged a $10 viewing fee just to enter and then another fee to use the water. A real dictator discriminates freely. Another prime example is the children. Oh, we want to build a future for our children. We want our children to grow up happy, blah, blah, and blah. A 1.5% tax on each individual school child based on the family's income, payable up front at the start of each school year or the children will not be allowed to register. No payment plans. No discounts because of where you come from. No discounts because of the color or your skin or the language you speak. If you have children of divorced parents, you pay 1.5% per child for each parent. If you have no parents yet live in a house with multiple adults - Grandma, grandpa, Uncle, Auntie. Tax. Tax. Tax. Tax at 1.5%. Think of the guaranteed income you would have each and every year.

Figure a base 65,000 salary at 1.5% times 500,000 kids. Just a start but you have close to 325,000,000. Budget problems solved and you are doing it for the kids.

Think about it Mr. Mayor. Your time in the kingdom could be coming to a close in the next 10 years. Young knights will be looking soon at your throne as not a symbol of reverence, but an obstacle on the way to their conquest.

State of Disturbia - A most depressing thought

Why go away to someplace where nobody knows you when you are already at one?

State of Disturbia - Best lists suck.

Best beer - Schlitz

Best food after a meal - Cheesecake

Best drug combo - Acid + Pot + Beer

Best place to take the drug combo - As a stock guy in an electronics merchandise store

Best thing that never happened to you - The cop didn't stop you for running a red light when you were driving a work release prisoner to a gas station in Lisle so he could score some black tar heroin.

State of Disturbia - Nope. There really isn't anything out there.

Monster Quest. UFO Hunters. Paranormal shows. Psychic kids. Where do these shows belong and why is there an audience for them? Every single one of them ends with the affirmation:

"While they didn't find what they started out to find, we did learn some valuable information along the way..."
Or

"We may never know what actually happened in the house that night..."
Or

"Whether you believe in these stories or not, what you have to admit is that there is something out there..."

Not one. Not one single shred of hard scientific evidence has been uncovered for anything. Centuries of folks have preyed on the meek by pretending they did. Piltdown man to the Loch ness hoax to Patterson. I would pay money if someone could show me scientific proof beyond a .5 second clip edited down for television viewing. But it will never happen.

What is Big Foot? A giant ape or bear walking bi-pedally

What is the Loch Ness monster? Who cares. You can't see anything in the water anyway. And if it were caught, what exactly would you do with it? Kill it for examination, thereby destroying the myth and possibly a lineage? Photograph it and then let it go? What is the point? To prove you have the biggest balls because you saw this and nobody else has?
Do werewolves exist? No
Do Vampires exist? No.

Crypto hunters are the ultimate self-serving egotists in this pseudo scientific world.

But the absolute worst is Ghost Hunters. Hanging their hat on dust and possible sounds and suggestive voices heard on recordings. EVP is shit.

"Now listen here. You'll hear a little girl cry out 'mama stay'" It's a mind trick and it's not real.
Don't cut to commercial. Don't show me shaky films. Don't run out of there screaming and crying like a little girl when something actually does appear. Stay there, show me hard scientific evidence and that's a show I'll tune in to. I won't believe it any more, but I'll tune in.

Let the listener listen first to determine if there is anything viable. Other than that and the power of suggestion trumps.

There used to be a good show on the radio that was intriguing because of the host in addition to the topics. Now, it's mindless PBS programming that bores the crap out of me. Never liked the new host and like the current format even less.

In reality, crypto hunts are a religous cult. The same way that Catholicism and Buddhism and Islam and Christianity are all cults. You pay a weekly fee to belong and in return you get to believe that there is something other than your mundane existence. Even if you never contribute more than your share outside of the cult, because you contribute to the cult, you get the free pass when you die. Essentially, God is a whore and you are an eternal john.

State of Disturbia - Steroids in Baseball

Open letter to MLB:

Look Manny. You shouldn't get away with this by claiming it's just a mistake. You shouldn't get to reclaim your HOF quest once your suspension is over. You shouldn't be omitted from the names that drip when cheaters are brought up: Clemens, Bonds, Rose, Sosa, A-Rod, Shoeless Joe and the Black Sox, Albert Belle, Gaylord Perry. You shouldn't get to have ESPN drool all over you instead of vilifying you. Just counting down the days until your return as if it was nothing more than an hamstring injury. You shouldn't but you will.

As for you Mr. Selig, I have the solution, but you need to implement it by fiat.

Any player caught using banned illegal substances is:
- Banned for one year from the exact date they are caught. Suspension effective immeditely. If they are caught in May, they can't play again until the next May. Caught in October, banned until the next October.

Penalty for one becomes a penalty for all.
- Any games during the current season that the player was involved become automatic retroactive forfeits and marked as wins for the other team. This would provide players with the ultimate responsiblity of policing themselves and leave no room for ambiguity about who is responsible.

- All players on playoff eligible teams must take and pass an illegal substance test before being allowed to participate in the postseason.

There. Illegal substance abuse penalty solution solved.

State of Disturbia - Tragedy plus time normally equals

Tragedy plus time normally allows you to laugh at painful situations. But to openly mock the current financial crisis, while are still deep in the throws and headed to places unknown, is disturbing. My subject today:

Radio advertisement on WGN -720 am for a product I cannot remember. Seems to have been a financial one. But what I do remember is an approximation of the the copy "So, the economy suffered a little because some 30-year old wall street types decided to adjust the economy a little. Which it probably needed anyway" What? A little? The deepest economic depresseion since the 1930's and it's put off as just a little adjustment? People needed to lose their jobs in the millions? I needed to lose $20,000 of retirnement money? I need to look over my shoulder every single day of my working life hoping the tapping will subside for another day? Whatever that product is they are selling, I can only hope it goes out of business soon. With just a little economic adjustment.

State of Disturbia - A 'Bloodbath'. Really?

There is a supposed delineation between news, gossip, blogs, commentary and columns in the news business. Supposed, but search and you can find it. I'm confounded by this one in a recent edition. A 'Bloodbath'? Really?

Today's highlight: Chicago Sun-Times and Maudlyne Ihejirika and her article about a radio station firing - http://www.suntimes.com/business/1549357,CST-NWS-radio29web.article

In the context of the nation, possibly, but in this provincial town when it is only three? In today's economy, losing a position at work is an all too common occurrence. But this article overtly hints at race and gender discrimination as the cause of the firings.

You can clearly see that the writer has a bias towards the personnel who were let go. One wonders if a protest will be staged or in what capacity this writer has with the corporate entity that is Clear Channel.

The premise of your article works, Ms. Ihejirika, if you are going back it up with facts and details. That I could fathom. But to hang it out there as written is astounding. More astounding that it made it through the editorial process unscathed. This type of reporting doesn't even belong in the Editorial section. It belongs as a Letter to the Editor at best.

State of Disturbia - Honestly, I was justing doing what I was told

Where is the outrage and why is this story buried?I voted for him, but now I'm done. At the time of the election, even then, my hopes for change had wavered. Voting to extend the FISA was a moral line I couldn't fathom crossing but did. The alternative was no better. Now I'm done. In his own words he has offered up a specious response against prosecution for crimes against humanity and War crimes 'Those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice... will not be subject to prosecution'. Think about those words and think back to 1945 ad 1946. Nuremberg. The defense put forth by suspected guards at concentration camps. 'We were just following orders' Orders given to them by their own Justice department. But we didn't listen then. We pursued them. We prosecuted them. We hung them and we pursue them today. But now we are supposed to just move on as if it never happened?

“We have been through a dark and painful chapter in our history,” Obama said in a statement. “Nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past.”
His words now ring hollow. No different than what Gerald Ford did after Nixon.

Let no words be parsed to say that these crimes were not done on his watch. They were. He was a part of a governmental branch that allowed the torture to take place. Let not the context be obfuscated by condemning the act but not prosecuting the criminal.

There is an old term in the newspaper business - rowback. And it applies in this case. Correcting an error without ever admitting that you might have been a cause of the error. The past president was a war criminal. The men who perpetrated these crimes are war criminals. The current president provided countenance. The defense of 'just following orders' was not allowed by the United states at Nuremberg. Why is it allowed now?

Go back now and re-read Gerald's R. Ford's decision not to pursue prosecution of Richard Nixon.

"Ladies and gentlemen: I have come to a decision which I felt I should tell you and all of my fellow American citizens, as soon as I was certain in my own mind and in my own conscience that it is the right thing to do. I have learned already in this office that the difficult decisions always come to this desk. I must admit that many of them do not look at all the same as the hypothetical questions that I have answered freely and perhaps too fast on previous occasions. My customary policy is to try and get all the facts and to consider the opinions of my countrymen and to take counsel with my most valued friends. But these seldom agree, and in the end, the decision is mine. To procrastinate, to agonize, and to wait for a more favorable turn of events that may never come or more compelling external pressures that may as well be wrong as right, is itself a decision of sorts and a weak and potentially dangerous course for a President to follow. I have promised to uphold the Constitution, to do what is right as God gives me to see the right, and to do the very best that I can for America. I have asked your help and your prayers, not only when I became President but many times since. The Constitution is the supreme law of our land and it governs our actions as citizens. Only the laws of God, which govern our consciences, are superior to it. As we are a nation under God, so I am sworn to uphold our laws with the help of God. And I have sought such guidance and searched my own conscience with special diligence to determine the right thing for me to do with respect to my predecessor in this place, Richard Nixon, and his loyal wife and family. Theirs is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must. There are no historic or legal precedents to which I can turn in this matter, none that precisely fit the circumstances of a private citizen who has resigned the Presidency of the United States. But it is common knowledge that serious allegations and accusations hang like a sword over our former President's head, threatening his health as he tries to reshape his life, a great part of which was spent in the service of this country and by the mandate of its people. After years of bitter controversy and divisive national debate, I have been advised, and I am compelled to conclude that many months and perhaps more years will have to pass before Richard Nixon could obtain a fair trial by jury in any jurisdiction of the United States under governing decisions of the Supreme Court. I deeply believe in equal justice for all Americans, whatever their station or former station. The law, whether human or divine, is no respecter of persons; but the law is a respecter of reality. The facts, as I see them, are that a former President of the United States, instead of enjoying equal treatment with any other citizen accused of violating the law, would be cruelly and excessively penalized either in preserving the presumption of his innocence or in obtaining a speedy determination of his guilt in order to repay a legal debt to society. During this long period of delay and potential litigation, ugly passions would again be aroused. And our people would again be polarized in their opinions. And the credibility of our free institutions of government would again be challenged at home and abroad. In the end, the courts might well hold that Richard Nixon had been denied due process, and the verdict of history would even be more inconclusive with respect to those charges arising out of the period of his Presidency, of which I am presently aware. But it is not the ultimate fate of Richard Nixon that most concerns me, though surely it deeply troubles every decent and every compassionate person. My concern is the immediate future of this great country. In this, I dare not depend upon my personal sympathy as a longtime friend of the former President, nor my professional judgment as a lawyer, and I do not. As President, my primary concern must always be the greatest good of all the people of the United States whose servant I am. As a man, my first consideration is to be true to my own convictions and my own conscience. My conscience tells me clearly and certainly that I cannot prolong the bad dreams that continue to reopen a chapter that is closed. My conscience tells me that only I, as President, have the constitutional power to firmly shut and seal this book. My conscience tells me it is my duty, not merely to proclaim domestic tranquility but to use every means that I have to insure it. I do believe that the buck stops here, that I cannot rely upon public opinion polls to tell me what is right. I do believe that right makes might and that if I am wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference. I do believe, with all my heart and mind and spirit, that I, not as President but as a humble servant of God, will receive justice without mercy if I fail to show mercy. Finally, I feel that Richard Nixon and his loved ones have suffered enough and will continue to suffer, no matter what I do, no matter what we, as a great and good nation, can do together to make his goal of peace come true. Now, therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from July (January) 20, 1969, through August 9, 1974.In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and seventy-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-ninth.Gerald R. Ford - September 8, 1974"

He held that he had no precedent on which to base his actions so he set one. A precedent based on a fallacy "During this long period of delay and potential litigation, ugly passions would again be aroused. And our people would again be polarized in their opinions. And the credibility of our free institutions of government would again be challenged at home and abroad." A specious argument to not pursue the correct path of the courts when that is exactly what was needed. "In the end, the courts might well hold that Richard Nixon had been denied due process, and the verdict of history would even be more inconclusive with respect to those charges arising out of the period of his Presidency, of which I am presently aware." Not pursuing a trial because of the length of time and because people might not agree with the outcome? What would be the point? The point would be justice. Justice that this country was founded on. Justice that we sought at Nuremberg when we hung German officers for war crimes. Justice in the United States when spies landed on our Florida shores and were swiftly captured and executed.


Hear these words again, without attribution, and think what our world would have thought had they been spoken by Konrad Adenauer. “We have been through a dark and painful chapter in our history,” “Nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past.” The outrage in the U.S. would have been palpable.

The Draft

Watching it in depth today for the first time in my life, I was struck. Struck dumbfounded. I couldn't comprehend what I was seeing. Was it a joke? Was it some kind of Dave Chappelle sketch? No this was real. A real slave trade at that. Compare what you remember and what has been recorded about the slave trade. An owner brings his set of slaves before an audience. He proclaims their physical prowess, their long term worth to your organization, that they have a family and that the family comes with it. They are worth a certain amount of money, but that is negotiable as well. They could be traded to another owner without that person's consent. So they are being sent to a place not of their choosing for only their physical skills and paid a slaves wage.

Stop saying these things:

'It's a marathon, not a sprint." It's both. It's a marathon and a sprint. Get it right.

Using single people's names in the plural form. 'The Rob Johnson's of the game'. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Stop doing it. It makes you look stupid and ignorant.

Here is the solution to the NCAA Football championship.
1) All teams play 11 or 12 games with the 12th game being the conference championship if necessary.
2) All regular season games must end by Nov 30. Playoffs begin first weekend in December with the top 32 teams however they are selected. Conference champions and at Large bids.

First round at drops the teams to 16 - 4 sites that each host 4 games
2nd round drops the teams to 8 - 4 sites that each host 2 games
3rd drops the teams to 4 - 2 sites
4 round drops the teams to 2

Games during the playoffs are held at the major sites they are held now: Pasedena, Glendale, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, New York

Championship game in the 1st weekend in January at the NFL stadium which will hold the SuperBowl.

No seven week layoffs between the games and the national championship.

Cold Case?

The whole premise didn't feel right. The unit is about cold cases. Then why were they acting as if they were the homocide unit? Why were they acting as if they were CSI investigators (and bad ones at that)? Can there really be an evidence chain of command if the investigator is taking the evidence back to her desk and casually just leaving it on her desk? Did budget cuts really hit the department and they have to now cover three departments? And really, if a cop goes down, are there that many people involved as if a nuclear weapon had just taken out half the city? Is a CP necessary? Or a TOC? Seemed like it was added as filler to make everything seem exciting but added nothing to the show becuase not a single one of the other workers contributed positively to the outcome. Mostly they just f'd it up.

A walk wasted

As I listened to the caller profess that something actually good came out of the beating that a recent celebrity took, I became more and more angry. At the caller. At the patronizing radio host who provided no discernible refutation of the caller's statements with "Uh-huh" "Right. I heard that on Oprah with Tyra" and ended with 'It's rough out there I know. But I love you and you have yourself a great weekend all right?"

Caller: 'I just wanted to call in and say that I think something good actually came out of the whole XXXXX and XXXXX thing.

"You know because it's just going to raise awareness that women need to speak up when they have been abused. That they shouldn't feel afraid to go to police. That getting hit shouldn't just be taken for granted."

All semi-valid points. He continues.

"Because you know it's always going to happen and there's nothing you can do about it"

Huh?


To the first point, hmm. Did OJ beating and killing his wife not raise awareness? How about what Ike did to Tina? Didn't that raise awareness? Bing to his wife? Jason Kidd? Yanni? Brian Giles? Wareen Moon? Dave Deurson? Why does it take sticking your hand in another fire to see if its going to burn a good thing? Can't people be educated on things that have happened already to know enough?

I imagine this same person would have been on the radio in 1946 saying""Well there were some good things that came out of the concentration camps..."


Retrospective revisionism is the ultimate cop out. You get to act like you care and profess to change the future going forward when you aren't actually doing anything. It didn't happen to you. You aren't actively working with any groups to prevent it in the future and will likely be back on the radio talking about the same topic when it happens again.

To the second, if it's always going to happen, then what do we need to raise awareness about? If it's always going to happen and there's nothing you can do about it, then it's a fait accompli and you shouldn't be on the radio acting like there is.

Speaking of raising awareness. Let's talk about the Susan G. Komen Three day cancer walk.
These walks have been going on for 25 years and yet, and yet they do nothing. They perpetuate a monetary cycle to provide people with jobs. They generate publicity for the foundation but not the disease. People with cancer are still dying. You want to raise awareness that yes Cancer is a disease. Yes we know it's a disease. Next point. Well, we are raising money to find a cure for Cancer. OK, you have had 25 years of raising money to find a cure for cancer and nothing has happened. Still no cure for cancer. People are still dying of cancer. Provide me some statistical proof that the money being raised is actually helping to stop the spread of cancer. What I see is money going to reactive procedures that don't address the central point - Stopping the disease permanently. Because then they would be out of a job. Where does the money go? Screening to see if you might have it. Not stopping the disease. Treatment of someone who has the disease. Again reactive. Not stopping it from happening in the first place. Education about the disease. So you want to raise money to tell people about something they could learn on their own from the library or Internet or any other source?

Polio was cured. Typhoid pretty much wiped out. Take the hype and publicity and amount of money spent on the walks and send 100% of it to research. Do that for two years and see if that gets you closer to a cure for Cancer. Because that is the ultimate goal, right? Right?

Country radio

As you drive around this country, the voices blend and merge and separate and dissolve. AM radio or FM or satellite. Nothing comes free like advertised. Everything with a price as it should be. Riding along with my Grandfather when I was 2 in his 1958 Ford skyliner was a thrill. Riding along with my grandma's sister when she was 71 and out of her mind with alzheimer's, eh not so good.

The urge to merge into a life of devotion is haunting me. It's calling out to me and I don't know how to reply. Should I answer and see what the questions are? Should I even let them know I'm in the room to answer the door? What door?

2nd lives are just that. 2nd lives that have little comparison to the first. Johnny Unitas in a San Diego uni. Joe Montana in Kansas City. Laurence Harvery in Night Gallery. Hell Rod Serling in Night Gallery. Paul McCartney in Wings. Eric Clapton as a soloist. You remember the first with fondness and wistfulness, the second barely registers, but flickers in the brain. Tony Dorsett in Denver. Michael Jordan in a Wizards uni. Franco Harris in a a Seahawk uni. Grover Cleaveland. On this one, I am inclined to say second time, better. Quite simply: Utah and Mormonism.

10 March 2009

Conspiracy theory 1 - A-rod's 'surgery' is just an excuse to get out of the WBC, defuse the steroid controversy by not being available. Bet is that he will magically be healed well ahead of schedule and back at full strength by before 1 May. And really, steriods were only part of it. The other part are the numerous lies told after the fact. Co-conspirators? ESPN of course. MLB. Bud Selig. Hospital who performed the 'surgery'. Ken Rosenthal.

Sports talk radio sucks. Inevitable transformation from unique perspective offering illumination to corporate driven hucksterism. Studio hosts who are toadies for the teams who have teams on their stations makes me ill. In Chicago, there is originally left only in the voices of those who have no regular gig. Weekend hosts with nothing to lose. Nationally, at the top is Todd Wright, Winner Winner Chicken Dinner with David Stein. Jay Marvin. The late Bob Lassiter was in a class by himself. Art Bell. Phil Hendrie is in the picture and so is Tom Leykis. Unrepentent opinionators.

Ran into an old friend the other day on the El. She was with her boyfriend but stopped to talk long enough to catch up. Hate in-depth conversations on the train. Hate cell phone conversations on the train and refuse to answer mine. And what she said. And what she said was that life in her world wasn't the best. Wasn't even close to where she wanted it to be. She wasn't with the people she liked. Wasn't having fun. Wasn't at the job she wanted to be at and wasn't in the city she expected to live in for the rest of her life. But why then? It's safe. It's comfortable I guess, she said. I know I can look anytime I want, but I don't have to. 5 years down the road will we be together? No. Not likely. 10 years down the road? Maybe we'll get back together. I'll be close to 50 by then and it will feel right. But right now it doesn't. Nothing feels right except anger and bitterness. And it all leads to ennui. Call me ok? You have my number, right?

And off she went. Holding hands with her boyfriend as they walked down the platform in the cold snowy/rainy day/night of the Northside.

A-Rod, here's what you should have said

Ladies and Gentlemen I'd like to talk to you today about validity. As you know, there have been reports that I used drugs during my baseball career.

Whether I did or I didn't use Performing enhancing drugs or steroids or HGH is irrelevant in this discussion. The facts are that non-prescription steroids have been illegal as a performance enhancer in major league baseball since 1991 but no penalties assigned to using until 2004. It's has been illegal to use and criminally illegal to posses but if you were caught using by a test that Major league baseball sanctioned between the time of baseball's inception and 2003, nothing would happen to you.

The validity of the entire test process from 2003 has now been compromised and thus all tests that were undertaken in 2003 (and all years since) should be rendered null and void. Who is to say that the 2003 tests were not doctored to make certain player's tests fail? Who is to say that the 2003 test results were not altered to make sure that the number of failed players was low? Is it a coincidence that the threshhold was %5 and the final number was barely above at %13?

The tests were supposed to be done this way: Single number with a test. A double blind test. No correlation in any way whatsoever to a single name. Ever.

Who's guilty in this scenario? - The company who performed for the test for illegally linking the numbers with names in private while publicly claiming to agree to the binding contract of keeping the names out of the results. A blood bank does this and has been successfully following these procedures for many years. It is not acceptable to say 'We made mistakes and we'll learn from this'. No. It was conscious decision and this company should be legally prosecuted.

Who's guilty in this scenario? - The commissioner of baseball and the commissioner's office for sanctioning the testing group to continue with this scenario.

Who's guilty? The owners and general managers of all the teams in baseball who received the information on the players who failed tests by names and did not make this violation of the agreement public

Who's guilty? The Player's association who received the information on the players who failed tests by name and did not make this violation cause for a work stoppage of the 2004 season due to the violation. Or any subsequent years.

Let me put it this way. Major league baseball is a business designed to profit hugely year after year for owners and players. It's not a game. Let me repeat. It is not a game no matter how romantic you would like to make it. It is a life and a livelihood. Legally in life and a workplace, you will do whatever is necessary and legal to bring yourself more income for yourself and your company. The harder you work, hopefully more profit will follow.

Who's not guilty? The players who did as they were ordered to do by the Player's association with the full expectation that no names would be assigned or ever known.

What's the net result now? I will be organizing groups of players going forward to refuse to submit to drug tests conducted by Major League baseball. Until major league baseball players can be assured that the tests being conducted are in the correct agreed-to procedure with full knowledge of the results aftermath spelled out. Want to suspend players who refuse to submit? Go ahead and we'll use the court system to block the suspensions based on the fact that the 2004 agreement is a null and void agreement.

Here is what major league baseball will need to do now: Declare the 2004 agreement null and void. Declare that 2009 and going forward any tests for drug testing will not be conducted by Major League baseball but an independent testing group hired by an outside arbitrator to oversee testing. You create the commissioner of drug testing. The Drug testing commissioner will coordinate with other various groups, IOC, World doping association to create the plan. Once created, the plan is not presented to the League or Commissioner's office for approval. It is simply enacted. Once, done, I will end my group protest and submit to any and all drug tests.


Thank you.

Anyone got a clue to who wrote this story?

Look I don't give a shit about getting published. I just want this bullshit off my plate so I can keep writing. I have absolutely no intention of following up on these submissions, but I'm going to keep sending them out and you can keep sending them to the garbage or rejecting me. There's an old story, can't recall writer or name. Writer has all these incredible stories, but he can never get them published. Fantastic put Shakespeare in his place good. But every one he has to burn in the fireplace on some condition. That's my goal.

Sleep paralysis awakens

Last night, the sleep paralysis came to me. Only this time it was different. This time it was in a dream and it wasn't happening to me. It was happening to a version of me in the dream. And this time my life was in danger. As the paralysis set in, a large animal like object attached itself to my back. It's head starting at my left shoulder and extending all the way down my back. Claws gripped into my left shoulder and my back turned freezing cold. The kind of cold you feel when you lay down as a slab in the morgue. It stayed until I realized I wanted to see the creature. I wanted to know what was attached to my body. I reached and reached around. But as I turned to the side to see the creature, the paralysis ended, the warmth instantly returned to the my back and the weight disappeared.

Cops

They came to her neighbor's house the other night. They waited a total of :24 before knocking down the door and discovering the couple inside on the floor in a pool of water. Set up for the party that was supposed to start around 11 pm. They shot them in the heads anyway. Pushed them down in the water to make it look like drowning, then dragged their bodies to the back yard, lit up the entire 12th avenue block while they dug. A patrol passed by the alley, got out, asked if they needed any help and moved on. Actually stopped a guy who ran a stop sign three blocks away. By 12 am, the hole was dug, the door still stood open broken, the pool gushed down into the basement and the first guests arrived. Cops held up the badges, took them all down town for tresspassing and held them the next 48 hours without legal representation or charges then released them en masse without a word of explanation. That girl? A guy she started with on her first day at the office, Jhonny, was looking into her window stalking her like he does every night waiting for that .5 second glance when she walked back from the bathroom to her bedroom. Sometimes the towel was there. Sometimes it wasn't. But always he waited inside his apartment with the 250mm telescope aimed right there.

Snuggie Cult

2 January 2009
It is a cult. And it frightens me. Frightens me that people would wrap themselves up in blanket willingly with sleeves. At a sporting event. Do they want to be friars? Do they want to be in a cult? What message do they want to convey and why would they choose informercials as a way to get their message across? What hidden messages are they sending? I can see, and apparently so have many others as evidenced by the You tube posts, why the women and children might be wrapped up, but the men? It just looks wrong period. In the home. In the office. Anywhere really. If you have bought one, I'd like to know why. If you have worn them at a sporting event, I'd like to know how you got home? Only thing missiing is a fanny pack on your waist and a blue tooth on your ear. There we go. That's how they are found. Fanny packs on their waist, wrapped in the Snuggie and a blue tooth to communicate with all of the other cult members when it's time for the final solution to be implemented.