I'll Take a Look Later

I've been blissfully news free for a day or two.  Soon I am sure to run into some news whether I want to or not.  It just seemed so curious and orchestrated, the way all forces political--which includes media especially--aimed and fired at Trump repeatedly.  More than the usual flak any candidate can expect.

I wonder what the next act in the play that pretends to be our government election process will entail. It is as interesting as it is sad to see how easily the public is swayed and herded and directed.  People repeat sound bites from news and comedy shows that have replaced traditional news shows, without ever double checking veracity of the assertions.  They just parrot the things and become emotionally attached.

If Hillary were to be indicted for being an irresponsible secretary of state in her handling of state secrets, perhaps they would yet toss Pocahontas into the race.  I had expected a push from Elizabeth Warren from the outset.  Maybe once they knock out Trump, the same thing will be done with Clinton.  She is actually an easier mark, except she's got the goods on most of Washington, I think.

I cannot imagine what possesses certain people to run for president.  Trump's run has me puzzled.  If he is really just doing it because he cares, I assume that he knows he has probably put his life in danger.  From now on people will be doing anything to tear him down.  I think he is probably the perfect target for lunatics.

We can worry about that another time.  For now, I am still playing music here and there, often wondering why I bother, feeling like a stupid old guy that ought to be someone, some thing, somewhere else.

Really, Mitt?

Mr. Establishment himself. That Bohemian Grove going, new world order taking professional politician.

Four years ago he is kissing up to Trump for money and support.  Greatest guy in the world.  Now he turns vicious and launches an attack on Trump with no evident stimulus involved. He isn't running for office.

I don't know if he endorsed anyone.  If he did it would be like dealing a blow on two fronts.  His support has got to result in drop in the polls.  No telling what effect the attack has on Trump's standing.

I'd be queazy even if it were Harry Reid or someone else with whom I tend to disagree and for whom I have little respect.  When Mitt, and most republicans, plus democrats and unaffiliated ruffians all launch an attack simultaneously using the same buzzphrases and insults,  I tend to think there is skulduggery at play.  There usually is anywhere within 100 yards of most politicians.

Whoa. This Really Is Stage Play

Lucky me.  I caught much of the republican "debate" on my way home this evening.   Un be liev able.
They have all quit running for president.  The new game is to parry with Trump.  Come up with the dumbest squabbles to have before millions of people.  Embarrassing.  I was embarrassed for them because they did not appear to be embarrassed for themselves.  Sad.

There is no surprise that they catch Trump changing views or altering caveats.  Some of it was not as cut and dried as Megyn made it appear.  Forget the personalities.  I don't know how it looked, but it sounded like they might, at any time, all pull daggers and stab the Donald into oblivion.

Everywhere in the media, all media, you see real efforts toward attacking Trump.  I've never seen such an orchestrated instance of character assassination and humiliation.   Republicans and democrats.  The repubs are even using progressive slurs and insults.  They are all using the same words. That is not accidental.

If it were normal nice people, I would think they just fear for their country.   Being who they are, I realize that can't be the case.  They fear for their power, and their hold over the American people and government.

If they are that afraid of Trump, it makes me want to see what happens if he actually gets the nomination.  If he won it all somehow, and they couldn't rig the result, I believe he'd be eliminated.
But it does make me feel good when both sides are afraid.

This is the oddest of elections.  Bar none.

The Ohio guy--Kasich--sounded like the winner, from what I heard.  He was the only one not caught up in schoolyard taunting.  It was sad.  He is hardly on the radar outside of Ohio, as far as the presidential race goes.  You never know.  What an easy gig; appearing to be the rational adult at the republican debate.  

Bernie and Hillary should just flip a coin, hold no debates and make no speeches.   They can only hurt themselves.  The republicans have to be giving them such a boost that all the dem candidate has to do is shutup and take the job,

I have to ask why the repubs are doing all they can to ensure that they all lose.  Hillary must be the choice if there is a conspiracy of elites to control outcomes.  It will be like having Bill again, just without charm or even humor.  Lots of screaming.  She's a screamer.  She thinks it brings the crowd to a fever pitch of madness, like they'd go lynch someone if she gave the word.  I think she is mistaken.

Could I stand an election campaign which consisted largely of Trump and Hillary exchanging their meanest and dumbest insults?  Months of the really stupid.  Painfully stupid. Insults, mudslinging, mud wrestling, you name it...  Oh no.  And that signature Hillary thing of raising the pitch at the end of her pandering speeches, and screaming.  Usually about how we aren't going to take it anymore.

And they both have court cases. Trump's is civil not criminal.  Hillary's is federal felony stuff, but we don't state that.  We sweep that under the right wing conspiracy rug, and because she's a woman.

So my conclusion is; while I know Trump is as clueless about the constitution and principles of personal liberty as the vast majority of my friends and the public, other candidates more cognizant of the document's meaning, spirit and intent purposely ignore it and weaken it.  And they are freaking over Trump.  It is not because they care about the Constitution.  Or freedom.

It sure makes it tempting to vote for him, just because so many people seem panicked.  Cruz does, and Rubio appears to be resigned to the fact he won't win, so he has devoted himself full time to braying "Na na nah na na!!!!" at Donald Trump.  He is like a fly that just keeps buzzing and buzzing.

And Trump just doubles down on crazy stuff.  Maybe he is right about the effectiveness of going for terrorist families but there is a matter of legality with some of what he implies he'd do.  He couldn't do but so much.  People coming out saying they would refuse orders and all that are most likely stooges for whoever is so worried about the Donald.

Bill Richardson said he'd cure breast cancer if elected.   It isn't like democrats and other politicians don't make outrageous claims.  At this point who cares?

As much as I think Bernie is off base, I'd rather see him run than Hillary.  She doesn't appear to be wrapped too tight.  A power junkie.  A crazier one than the Bern.

If his primary bickering is an indication, Rubio would be a very tedious candidate.  What if it were Marco vs Hillary?  Rubio would be nipping at her ankles the whole time, incessantly barking like a chihuahua, if this debate was any indication.

More than ever, people seem to be acting odd.  Look at Christie's sudden change of demeanor, endorsing Trump, appearing stoned on valium.   He must have been blackmailed. Second fiddle and building up others is not his style.

Maybe nothing is up.  I think hijinks abound.

Really? Was Tuesday Super? Stage Craft

I've seen and heard many references to "Super Tuesday!" but I paid little attention.  It is impossible not to notice.  I'm trying to avoid the fray because it only results in someone going home crying.  Same as where horseplay leads.

A coworker started spouting the CNN or democratic party line on Trump.  I cannot argue as if I know it is all untrue, but I do sometimes mention that a claim is not true or unsupported.  But I only liked Trump slightly more than Arnold long before politics.  And I never could stand Arnold.  Arnold is one who thinks he's really smart but too dumb to know that he is not all that smart.

He is good at accomplishing goals and maintaining drive.  Those are great qualities but don't indemnify one from being a banal, arrogant, ignorant dolt.   So goes Arnold.

I forgot the talking points my coworker was regurgitating.  I'd heard them before.  That, I remember.   Some of it is the twist from preventing illegals and islamic ne'er-do-wells from entering the country and raping children, to Trump wants to deport all immigrants and he hates all Mexicans.

If La Raza was my only exposure to 'the other', I would hate them.  But it isn't.  So I only hate the strutting racist, ignorant obnoxious ones.  Same with about every ethnicity or race or other grouping based on physical characteristics or condition of birth.  Some are highly annoying and some aren't.  The subset of humans which is composed of those who are truly aberrant, incorporates pieces of all those race and ethnicity defined/condition of birth subgroups.

I hear people making sweeping bandwagon statements, and though I may sympathize with their emotions but I can't actually go with the general mob mentality stuff. I should specify I guess.

OK.  I think our border is a joke, and I think the Mexican government and ours are jokes in border related matters.  Cartels are equal players with governments.  Just on example.  So, everyone knows that there are trouble makers around the border.

But they act like the governments haven't created the problem.  Drug laws, corruption, abuse.  So you have criminals and people trying to escape criminals and people looking to game systems and people who just want to live away from that mess.  Big mix.

But the governments are the biggest problem.  They create the monsters and then beat the public down for their own good, for security against the monsters.  And people buy it. I won't even anticipate the arguments I normally get when I express such views.   They usually beg the question or employ other propaganda devices.  

Personally, I am not thrilled at the way the federal and state governments have evolved.  City, too, for that matter.   But, I am not sure that any of the likely grandstanders claiming to be needed to run things for us, as seriously deranged as they are, will be our doomsday demise.   We are dealing with huge egos.  "Huge" is one word which has enjoyed a surge in usage, if not popularity, via Mr. Trump.

The only possible upside I see if Hillary got in is that maybe some of the outfits that need eradication will piss her off.   There are rumors that being on the wrong side of Clinton can be a terminal disease.  But I suspect all of them would bump people off--or give the nod--if that was what it took to get what they want.   I am unsure what Trump and Hillary and most of the rest want.

I think Bernie justs wants sex with younger hippie women.  Ted may be harboring a messiah complex.  Marco--no idea. Carson--why is running?   He is the least corrupted, I think, but as soon as he gets much into it, he starts to show signs of being forced to play the game like the others.  Only as far as not saying anything to offend anyone, be taken out of context and used against you, etc.  That pretty well covers all speech.   Ben, it is painful because I like you.  But I do not get why you are running instead of working influence in some other way.  Where you might do better.

***just hours or so after this was posted, Ben decided to remove himself from the gangster world of national politics.  At least out of the line of fire.  ****

Anyway, I don't know the validity of any of Trumps plans, but if he is that vile and stupid, why stretch the truth to defame him?  I hate having to defend trump or even hillary from people who cannot resist the personal ignoramus attack approach.  That certainly limits my circle of friends if I were to defriend people for jumping on the half true bandwagons which continually go rumbling by.

It did strike me that when I pointed out Hillary's penchant for pandering, particularly to "persons of color",  my friend immediately just discounted it and refused to even consider her dishonesty and demagoguery.   She had just seen a documentary which described what an idealist genius Hillary has always been.  How she has always been a real champion of civil rights.   My friend watches more tv than I by a factor of about 1000.  Clearly.

So, if you are convinced you have to choose a candidate to love, ignoring any evidence suggesting your dog in the race is rabid, or really a skunk, you need to practice the machinations of non-logic to hone your skills.  Get regular logic out of there or you'll go nuts.

The look of horror I sometimes receive when I say that I think Trump is no more dangerous than most of the other candidates is priceless.  I find them all potentially deadly.   Look at the current one.  Wasn't he supposed to end all war?  Or at least make a whole lot less of it?  Maybe he changed his mind.

He is continually stirring the pot in the mid east.  They will all continue these wars with no goal.  Those are money makers.  After Vietnam they figured out how to make wars that use billions of dollars in bullets and machines but don't cost as many American lives.

That way they keep selling bullets and people don't get overly excited and upset.  Vietnam's lesson to these people was that protracted wars make a lot of money but better find ways that get fewer Americans killed.  That keeps the heat down.

And now we can wage very expensive--lucrative for the suppliers--wars, but never even pretend to win or know what that would mean.  Wars of no actual objective other than to sell bullets.   Everyone can create their own idea of the purpose and plan of these wars.  Throw in an "Oh thank you for your service"  and some knee jerk type patriotism, or just the usual, "It's OK because it is my party doing it'.   That's all you need.  Business as usual and people arguing the fiction they are fed as truth.

Trump did not create that madness, that carnage, and that theft.  So you want to tell me he's more dangerous than those who did create this mad set up?   I don't buy it.

Regarding the border, the border patrol harasses Americans in our own country.  And they serve as a funnel for local police.  It is a money maker.  They have permanent road blocks, and part time road blocks on all major roads.   Interstates and the old two lane highways.   If they were just looking for border jumpers, why do this?  How about just have border surveillance or/and change the stupid laws.

People accept anything.  Path of least resistance.  And the old standby that if you got nuittin to hide, by golly, then who cares if they stop you to prove your innocence just for the hell of it?  That implies you live by grace and permission of the state.  Circumstances you can't foresee can easily throw you into a situation in which this sort of abuse comes back to bite.

But I wonder if today's hard core progressives will even acknowledge clear proof or solid logic.   They would likely deny that anything outside their preferred world model could possibly exist.  So, if authoritarian tactics end up used in ways that affect them, they'll blame others.

The biggest red flag when it comes to the methods of the governmental and that whole odd concept, was when they actually felt that a "national conversation on obesity" was of such importance that "we" should start programs and spend taxes to identify and fix fat kids.  They just never said it like that.  We are "combatting obesity!".  (said the fat sweaty statists in tax paid legislatures).

Seriously.  When obesity is now everyone's business and concern, you don't get just the slightest little tinge of a feeling that you may being played for a sucker?   A useful stupid, idiot?

That is just one example.  Government is always trying to sell itself.  And the major news outlets for years have served as government's sales people.  How often did the nightly news back in the old days include a story, and then anchor to field reporter cross exam which always included conclusions involving inadequate regulation.  They forever cried for regulation.  Maybe they still do.

It is a game.  Even if you really want to love some politician in this circus, I'm telling you, it is a stage play.  I do not get why it is, as far as the core motive.  No matter.  It is a play.   Politics is one business in which people are not themselves.  They pander.  Simple as that.

Here's a test:
If you were speaking in an auditorium filled with thirty thousand people or whatever they hold, and all seats were filled with geniuses and PhD's or equivalent.  A room with Einstein and Newton and Hawking.  Would you be pumping your fist trying to work them up into a frenzied mob?

The top candidates clearly know they are preaching to dimwits or people in heavy denial, because they talk to them as if they are working the crowd up for a rock band.  But they are jockeying for position to have access to sending nuclear weapons across the globe.  They are bucking to be the head of the military.  I would not think, if I were to interview people for the job, that the one screaming and pumping fists and jumping on furniture or calling names would be the best candidate.

I have to say, though.  The best argument I have heard in Trump's favor is that Al and Rosie said they'd leave.  Rosie, I don't so much care. But for Al Sharpton to go be a pest in another country?  Wow!  That is worth the Nobel Peace prize, or Congressional Medal of Honor.

Statists and Stoopitts; a tale of two parties

Hillary and Bernie compete for guilty middle class, angry minorities,  voters who see conditions of birth, such as ethnicity or gender, as virtues.   They both pander.  It is more obvious with Hillary, but Bernie is not a professional politician for nothing.

I have not paid super close attention.  I get my info from stories her and there, but not from the barrage of coverage that some might see.

To the credit of Bernie and Hillary, if my impressions are correct, they haven't been vicious toward one another.  That is very smart, because the republicans are tearing one another to shreds, so whoever gets the nomination already has the dirty reputation and the ammo for quick soundbite impressions.

The republicans are doing the job of their opponents.  They are exposing one another for hypocrisy and insanity.  That is a very dumb strategy.  And it is not Trump's fault. Rubio and Cruz are doing it and have been.  Others have joined in as well.

It is just odd.  It is highly detrimental to the long term goal, assuming they want to win.  Maybe they don't.  That would certainly explain it.

Anyway, Hillary scares me a bit, like a female Doctor Strangelove in some way.   Her squawky. rouse-the-crowd voice that she goes into like an unpleasant crescendo is to her what Strangelove's rogue hand was to him; the hand that would try to choke him.  It had a mind of its own, like her voice.

The republican attacks on one another are making Hil and Bern look sane and smart.  Even on a moral high ground. Really, it takes effort to make Hillary Clinton look like the candidate of integrity. But, as usual, republicans go out of their way to let us know our choices are mostly cosmetic when it comes to national politics.

I'd like to see the two curmudgeons get nominated.  Bernie and Donald.  A festival of New York insults.  Bernie is originally from somewhere in or near New York City.   I see little policy difference with Hillary, domestically.  But I think he's less of a hawk.

A Bernie vs Trump situation casts out a significant number of regular players who are used to being the stars, and in control.  By appearances it would seem than they are not part of the status quo in the realm of wielded power.   Whether appearances mirror reality or disguise it, remains to be seen.

I do not encourage anyone to vote, unless inclined to vote my way.  Why would I?  If no one voted, that could be disturbing.  It could be a sign of revolt rather than apathy.  I won't argue it now, but states which mandate voting are forcing people to legitimize a potentially corrupt political process.  They can claim a mandate even though people thought they were less lethal than their opponent, by some small margin., not that they thought them actually desirable or any thing other than the lesser of negative choices.

Please don't be Hillary vs Trump.  That could be painful and embarrassing.  I do not want to see that cage match.  It would be far too ugly to enjoy.    Best pairing would be Clinton vs Rubio or Sanders vs Trump.    That just seems fair.   And there is enough difference in what they say to give you hope.
At least it can look like separate interests.

I am so glad I only caught bits and pieces of the actual interactions between candidates.  Nice when you do not have to play the video because you can read the text for the story.  Minimizes exposure to toxic wastrels.

I do not like our march toward a soft (to be kind) totalitarianism. However, I no longer think that if a particular person is elected president that we will all go to hell in a hand basket.    While I certainly am not one who has "faith in the American people to do the right thing",   I do not believe disaster is inevitable.   And is probably not quite as imminent as it appears.

How Hard Can It Be?

Just to organize a few hundred square feet and reems of ignored mail.  That's it.  I know if I could do that all would be roses.  Life would be way better and pain would no longer exist.

Can't ask for more than that.

Not How It Always Was

I'm pretty sure I look healthier than ever.  I'm pretty sure it is a lie.
Oh well.
Played last night and almost had an attack of the heebie geebie red ant pruritus deal.  The only quick solution other than scalding shower is illegal in most states, even in this one without a card.  But there are drawbacks to that.

You have to weigh things out. The old balance sheet.
Anyway, I experiment with naproxen combined with tylenol.  Crazy.  I think it helps some.

I find it makes me short with people and I say things that seem a little harsh or almost hostile, then wonder what it was I really meant, or why I spoke at all.  So, I have consciously tempered my speech once or twice.  Mostly I just tune out and nod as if I am picking up on the conversation, but I am only catching about 53%.

Music sounds different when I am playing it.  I mean different than other times playing the same thing.  Like one wheel in the sand. Just not quite there somehow.  Crazy world.

Guess I'll go back to bitching about morons in Che T shirts and let it go.

Someone on the aquagenic pruritus email forum, got the ball rolling on a discussion of how their normal body temperature runs low.  It turns out almost everyone there runs low temp.  That was a person who also has essential thrombocythemia, like I do.  So, there may be something to that.

Maybe a way to raise my temp a degree or so would help.  I think they are on to something.  Doctors have yet to figure it out, even though there are specific university departments devoted to related conditions--the pruritus/itching deal.  I resist the word "itch" in relation to it because it is not like a normal itch situation. But I guess that is the closest sensation which may describe it.

My world has been upside down forever, but these last two years have turned it even more upside down and inside out.  My temper is returning and that may be not good.  I don't know.

I am so sick of everyone relishing the status of being victim of others and using it as an excuse for their anger, playing the self righteous game.  Women are angry. People of other than transparency and lack of color are angry.  I am angry but I cannot blame all women, all Mexicans or Cubans, or Africans, though the militants annoy me to no end.  I am just angry because I am.

And I feel self righteous for recognizing that fact, since the ones who buy into the professional victim promoters are too greedy to indulge in some introspection and admit the same thing.  They are angry because life is that way, and society and law and culture tend to fuel anger.  People prefer to have villains to blame for every little thing.  Usually it is garbage, but you can rationalize problems everywhere you go.  You can find insult in most interactions with people.

If you really want to find insult just go to memphis and experience the customer service.  But as sure as you are that the next person will be rude, you'd be slammed by the nicest person in town, and all you preconceived notions get smashed for that moment.  It is so bad.  The one in a hundred that isn't a racial warrior hating you for not being something else queers the damn deal.

That must be how things work in life.  But I wouldn't know.  I am the worst one I know at doing life. Or maybe it is civilization.  Whatever it is, I am not good at it.  You'll never catch me talking much "we" talk as if I speak for humanity.  "aren't we all?"  I hate that.,  How the hell do I know about we all?  And I doubt you do either.

.

Well, Insurance Lady is Single

And well within the age envelope.   Almost my age, but not already an old spooky person.  Some people do that, become old spooky people.  And some don't.

Hey, it is just a thought.  The lady really helped me out because governmental research and insurance and bureaucracy are not my forte.  She got me squared away on the last day of the buy or die insurance window a year or so ago.  This year she has got me up to speed on all the new mandatory stuff they do based upon age.  All the social security things, too.  That is not something I will deal with this year.

You never know.  There is some other one that asked me to go do stuff too, so I guess I am not completely hopeless.  Just not really emotionally present I suppose.  But it is nice to have some attention.  It is how I am constructed.

This week I have two gigs.  I consider each of rather low importance but they'll be fun.  I have played those spots in the past.  Money is minimal, all lower case for sure.

Plus I have practice with the two girl and stand up bass group tonight.  Both shows are with them. Then I have two more next weekend with Valor and Lace.  Those will pay a little better.  One venue we'll play is on Mt. Laguna--Pine House Cafe.  I love that place.

That will keep me off the street.

In April, one of the very best diatonic harmonica players of all time will be staying at the resort house I maintain.  I won't drop the name because that would be improper.  He is one of the pioneers of the overblow technique, which allows him to play chromatically on a diatonic harmonica.  Why not just use a chromatic harp?  Because the sound and feel is not the same.  He's also a classically trained pianist, but his deal is harmonica.

I doubt I will bother him, but who knows.  I'm afraid if I ever met him and talked shop, I'd throw away my harmonicas and never play again.

It would not surprise me if I move to Austin or somewhere in Colorado within a year or two.  Seriously have that feeling.  Who knows why.  If it was a Colorado move, the reason would be to contain the aquagenic pruritus or general pruritus associated with the bone marrow malady.  Cool temperatures, low humidity and rarified air at altitude are my friends.  But I may finally just reverse the disorder and be fine in the hot a humid jewel of Texas.  The demographic seems similar to Seattle--a place I could live also.  I may need more sunshine though.

Tanning is one of the number one things that ease the AP.  OK, initials can be annoying.  That's the lingo of the aquagenic pruritus crowd.   I may have to go out in the desert to the naked place for a day to reboot the tan.  I am not drawn to tanning beds.  Some of these people get them in their home and it is covered by their insurance.  Hell, no one cares who or what at the desert place. I prefer sun and when you suffer this stuff, you don't care about much.  Or maybe I won't.  Nothing to lose except the minimal cost.  As cheap as the artificial method.

Fatigue is a big enemy.  Oddly, the best thing for that is exercise.  Too tired to move but moving is the cure. OK.  I can do it.

Let's hope this mood swing lasts.  I'm less down than I've been for awhile.  I am aware that it is a cyclical thing.  But the periods of low and high are not often equal.  Highs tend to be shorter lived.  I know the down is made of cruel lies my mind throws out there, so I try to weather it with that in mind.

The only other people I know who seem to have the same patterns are PTSD veterans.  They have an excuse.  That is what is puzzling.  Maybe this is so I can understand them better and be of some use to my friends in that predicament.  They obviously seem to trust me more than they do most people.

Music Of The Saps

So, as I contemplate income without work next year, on top of my highly lucrative part time job-being facetious--I find I am the sought after harmonica player in certain circles.  Official harp player of the Desert Edge band, who hire me to play Country at the Grand recently, then later asked if they could list me as their harmonica player.  Also Valor and Lace, who I honestly think may go places, and Enter the Blue Sky which I wish I knew how to market.

I think ETBS needs something and I can't put my finger on it. Sande's material is not getting its just due and something on the overall sound and arrangement needs tweaking.  I like playing her stuff even so.  Partly, I know what I would do, instrumentally if it were up to me.  I keep it quiet because it would disrupt the personnel and cause issue.

And I get to play with some real heavy hitter old timers.  You don't know them.  Back in the day one opened for the Stones, Moody Blues and was on the fast track.  Long story and just how life is.  Anyway, to be their go to guy is a miracle.

And I do this while soon to be highly subsidized by the welfare socialized aspect of the state.   I know.  Everyone says, "you paid in to social security. It is your money".  And I did, but not like people who have always been on the books.  I have been on and off the books.  Off, sometimes for several years at a go.

Lots of people like it.  I never did.  I did not even want a social security number or card.  It is another buy or else situation.  They take your money and give you no choice.  That sucks.  But I guess, why fight it?  I may do OK.  Thank you America, you beautiful dying sucker state.

I'll fiddle while the country burns, I guess.  Well more like blow and suck a harmonica.

If I had made like 10k or so more, insurance last year would have been prohibitive.  Best to be fairly poor but not completely, or be making serious jack. In between and you are doomed.  Unless you get a government paycheck. Work for the state and you are in good shape.  You should thank the suckers in this country too.  Someone has to pay, you know.

Of the groups that claim me as a member, I'd say that the least experienced but youngest of the bunch has the best prospects of being able to make a living at it.  In country music.  Texas country.  That is my feeling.  I think Sande is worth a bundle if I ever figure out the angle there, though.  Totally different, but I love some of the songs.  Very lyric intensive.  Just cool stuff.  As packaged now though it seems held back.  Well when you are paying me more, next year, just for being here, I will work it out.

Thank You, America

OK, it looks like, if I can swing some relatively minimal money--not much more than I spent per month on cigarettes, at some point---I can enjoy all the medical hooplah I want with no money out of pocket except a few bucks for prescriptions.

How crazy is that?  It's the whole medicare and part F and this part and the other.  It is nuts.  This is not considered entitlement in some circles.  I know I never made enough to pay for it.  If I progress to the next level I could cost you people some bucks.  And I will still be rosy cheeked and able bodied.

I suppose what I was on before officially becoming OLD old was more of the welfare state deal.  The trick was to be sure I showed a certain income, because if you are really destitute they won't let you kick in a little to ensure some choice.  I'm telling you, the stuff for the real poor is just to buy votes.  They really want you to die and they set up the bureaucracy so maybe you will.

Had I had no choices but the free HMO for po folk, my cells and platelets would have been off the charts and I think you can usually get dead before too long from the complications.  So by fudging numbers and paying very little, I got to be my own manager of what kind of doctor I would see and when.  I knew very early pretty much what the dx would be.  Research and forums online helped me see that even though it is a rare disease and all that.

People have no clue that much of the reason we need all this complicated garbage is because the same outfit providing such wonderful assistance is the same outfit that bled people dry and facilitated crony business/government partnerships and other things that screw with life.

I'll never convince people.  I know that.  They are too damned short sighted whether looking at past or future to get it.  And they cherry pick things for their arguments and twist them. So screw it.  I am happy.  They are totally paying me for what I did not earn.  I'm the grasshopper in the grasshopper and the ants story. (Typecast in that play in kindergarten--but I was a worker then till they killed my drive)

I screwed off while you worked to pay my bills once I reached a certain age.  And next year I am going to let you pay me just for the heck of it.   I will most likely live long enough to collect far more than I ever paid to sociable security.  You told me I was wrong to dislike government, biased school officials and other collectivists concerned with society's alleged precedence over individual rights.

Hahaha.  And now I agree.  You are right!  as I pick your pocket.  I am so loving this.  Who cares if you agree?  I have no kids in the vile public school debacle and theater of the absurd.  So no worry there.  I have little property of any sort so who cares if the state screws with your property.

And I ain't paying much of anything, really, as far as taxes.  I am just collecting.  I have no choice on insurance.  I can't afford a real private plan and I certainly want to be law abiding.  So, you suckers get to cover it!!  Yay.   I'm too old to draft and have no daughters so draft away.  Make girls sign up too.  You've come a long way, Baby.

Geez.  Made the mistake of trying to define rights in a facebook discussion.  The dolt--one of those who is sure he's a genius but too dumb to see he is not good a logic.  Anyway he finally said that things like education were societal rights.  ???  All I was saying is that natural human rights do not and cannot involve the labor, property, or effort of others on your behalf.  Those can be privileges of citizenship or whatever.

Otherwise you are forcing others to perform services for you or give you things.  That is not a right.  He also claimed that the founders insisted education be mandatory.

Sometimes we just have to give up.  That's OK.  He's paying my bills.  Or is to some extent, and next year I will be even deeper in the pockets of others. It is so bizarre, really.  So incredibly bizarre.