Money Making Scheme #6-3-12

OK. It is inevitable so why fight it? Sooner or later this obesity thing is going to get personal.

I'm thinking that the thing to do is to be prepared; design mobile scale units which take into account your height, and whatever other factors are there so then Obesity agents can cruise around pulling people over, force them to get on the scale and instantly have a readout of the degree to which they are off of the prescribed mark. The fine would be automatically computed.

I know it is coming, so I figure if I have the cool design for such a vehicle, I'll sell tons of them to the various levels of government who choose to be involved. Of course, NYC may be the first on board, but California hates to be out nannied so they may press ahead in some surprise move.

I don't care, I'll sell to anyone. Of course I expect the agents to be armed and dangerous, so I'll take that into account. I may have the option of installing something akin to a cow catcher on the front so they can scoop people into a sling scale set up as they walk down the sidewalk. Maybe smaller electric versions for malls and park paths. This will be fun and lucrative.

The Show Was OK

Forgive me if I repeat myself. I don't think I ever reported on the show with the Mormon tabernacle choir.

Well, it was a highly abbreviated version, and there were drums, guitars and a keyboard. In any case it was a successful outing. I heard the fundraiser was a success, and that there is talk of wanting this group to play more, and questions about the cost. That means maybe I'll get paid if I do another gig with them.

They were very gracious, the crowd was nice and their little children sparkled. I guess, other than me, it was a Mormon group playing for a mormon church. They must have a lot of them around here. I've seen two, and both have indoor basketball courts that double as auditoriums with a full stage on one side.

The band people made it clear that they'd like me to play in the future. That remains to be seen though. Some things are best kept within your own group in these situations. Although I did have a great time playing the show.

Still, no one has mentioned Mitt Romney or tried to induct me or sacrifice me. Whatever anyone thinks, or whatever the ins and outs of that religion may be, the people I encountered, other than the soundman twit, are very nice and pleasant to work with. Good singers.

So, I guess it was an OK thing to do. I even wore m one pair of regular human being trousers instead of jeans. Since Mitt is always dressed up, I figured they would be. Most of them were in jeans and T shirts. I kept my shades on to add some edge, and because I was encouraged to do that. I guess they think it gives me a harmonica blues appearance.

Life goes on

I Guess It Is Just Me

The fact that anyone even debates the wisdom of things like overregulation of sodas, calories, and the like, baffles me to no end.

I caught a sound bite of Mayor Bloomberg, in which he claimed his efforts to control behavior either do, or will, add three years to average life expectancy.

Then he said the thing that blew me away, (I may have some words not verbatim here, but the meaning, I do have--and the last part is word for word) "If that isn't the role of government, then I don't know what is".

For once that elitist wannabe lord of the land said something with which I agree. Yes, you meddling dimwit-with-a-superiority-complex, you clearly do not know the proper role and function of government.

It is obvious that half the country hasn't any clear view in that respect or the rebuttal to this would not be debates over whether soft drinks are the culprit in the lives of the allegedly obese. The proper rebuttal is BUTT OUT, it is none of your business! Or perhaps a less kind two word retort ending in ".... you!!!!".

cute eh? There was a time when the average American would have been offended by such cute imperatives dished out in a paternalistic patronizing manor. "It's for a good cause" Blow me! ---apologies to more refined readers, I can't help it

We've seen the stuff of fiction, like the books 1984 and Brave New World, dangerously employed in our every day lives, bit by bit. Because so few spend time away from all the external input and conditioning, the bulk of the population is suffering from the slow boil syndrome.

That is the one illustrated by the scene of putting a frog in a pot of room temperature water, then heating up the pot ever so slowly. The creature doesn't know he's being cooked until it is too late. He's a goner.

I am regularly shocked by our pot of regulations and controls because I am way out of the mainstream. When I was working for a corporation I remember finally getting somewhat accustomed to the odd language, the pretense, the generally bizarre way highly regulated businesses, and those with government contracts think. They jump through hoops in order to keep the supply of doggy treats coming from their master.

And they train themselves to think and believe what has been dictated, recoiling from acknowledging the realities labeled tabu. Get the brainwash thing rolling and people finish it off on their own.

Being there exposed me more to general pop culture and the behavior of people who watch lots of popular TV. It influences them, and it influenced me. To a point. The extent to which even the main office of the corporation reflected the nonsense was a little frustrating to say the least. It was definitely something out of foresighted fiction I'd read many years ago.

When people hear something enough, through pop culture media, news, public service ads, political and charity grandstanders, etc., it sounds normal and becomes internalized as real and right. The majority of people are most readily receptive to controls and ideas which they see as affecting the behavior and finances of others, not themselves.

Incremental tyranny tends to work such that those not clearly being targeted feel rewarded for being normal and part of the big group who isn't weird, rich, or in defiance. They bask in a sense of solidarinosc.

Because there often is a kernel of evil doing which is targeted by great ideas their representatives concoct, the fact that they are being manipulated and duped is either ignored or missed altogether.

These days most people think their representatives and the people they hire to run governmental matters are somewhat corrupt. Most people don't think they are being presented the honest facts, but they are conditioned to conclude that this is how things are and only a fool complains about it. After all, what makes me or anyone else outside the loop think they know better?

What can you do about it? Ha! You can't do anything, so shut up! That's what I told Ghandi. Stubborn old fool.

One thing I might do is have a case of sugary drinks sent to Bloomberg's office. I'll tamper with them first to make sure they leak. No, I won't do that.

Just because I don't sway your statist central controlling government views doesn't mean I have not influenced anyone else. I actually have.

If you want to justify governmental personal behavior modification strategies by citing studies which indicate these measures are for our own good, be careful. Consider the studies done on things you may enjoy doing or eating.

What will you do when the wheel lands on some type of meat you enjoy, surfing, or bike riding, or other activity which is more dangerous than staying home? Is red meat still considered evil? I don't keep up. Eggs go off and on the list of killer foods. No way squid can get a free ride. Just the smell is enough to generate emergency legislation.

Actually, life itself tends to be fatal. Oh, that is not so ridiculous as I thought, they do seem to be heading toward outlawing living life, if not life itself.

I'm waiting for the fat tax to be levied according to Body Mass Index. Forget genetics or how you feel. You must conform!!

Beside the fact that no central authority has a right to tell free people what to eat and drink, some people appear to be healthier and happier with a little fat here and there.

If this was even close to a reasonably free country, statements like, "We must address our obesity crisis!" would never be entertained, and certainly not uttered with a straight face by any sane person.

All the "we" and "our" this and that talk does not land well on my ears. Speak for yourself. I'll address my own obesity crisis, if one exists, and it ain't my children, so don't talk to me about "our children are our greatest resource". It makes you sound like a slave trader.

NYC Must Have No Real Problems

That is all I can conclude when the mayor and his posse have nothing better to do than to outlaw big non-diet Cokes.

All must be peace, love and tranquility when the long arm of the law has nowhere else to go but in your mouth.

Like The Drake Passage On a Rough Day

(pic source:993.6a00d83451b05569e20133ecd09d1e970b-900wi.jpg)

But frozen in time, covered with boulders and chaparral and other low lying green stuff, and scaled up a bit. There are trees here and there, rarely more than fifteen or twenty feet in height. That is pretty much what the landscape is like in my neck of the woods. Like the seas down there by Cape Horn, when the going gets tough, there is not much rhyme or reason, just ups and downs in all directions.

Imagine how it is in a boat rounding the Horn where the oceans meet violently on a day when warm and cold currents collide. Waves appear not in rows so much as in random chaos. As you plunge to the trough of one, you look up to see crests on all sides, not just in the direction you are heading.

Here the peaks and valleys are sometimes faced with ragged stone, often peppered with bus sized boulders, and often not. And from where I sit I can see the largest swells maybe 20 miles to the north, and the ones at my level closing off the view on the horizon five or ten miles away.

Always, it seems, the horizon is a pale, misty gray green. It is when it finds itself more than just a few miles in the distance.

I can picture this as a huge ocean to a race of giants. It could change color and resume its motion, and there you'd be. What would be the equivalent of 40 foot waves would be 400 or 4000 feet. I'm not being very precise with the scaling of this picture. The giants would be larger than anyone I know. That is safe to say.

The shape holds pretty much true. So, that is how it is. Someone was on my case because I could offer no acceptable verbal description. There it is. Throw in rabbits everywhere, some squirrels, rattle snakes, coyotes, couple of mountain lions, plenty of California rednecks, horsies, of course, random assorted oddities, and here we are.

Don't forget a bright blue sky most of the time. Way up there, not low like Miami. But then when it gets cloudy, the clouds are right down here with me, usually. The wet clouds. Once in awhile the puffy, decorative ones float around a few thousand feet up. Mostly, all that is not land is a clear confident blue, not unlike the blue seen on many computer screens.

When The Free Man's Mentality Clashes With Good Deeds

People, often including me, tend to think I am a bit unrealistic in my disdain for regulation and governmental oversight.

Today, I listened to various Memorial Day things on the car radio while watching a golden eagle soar against a clear, bright blue sky up on the Sunrise Highway. I could look down toward Pine Valley, and see peaks in all directions. I was at about 4000 feet and peaks in the distance at about 6000 feet. While taking in this bit of the American experience, I recalled how one of my best laid plans was rendered null and void by the usual suspects.

It was four years ago, almost to the day, that I first set foot in San Diego. Reviewing that adventure must have helped trigger the memory. That, and listening to various charity people on the radio discuss their wonderful efforts and how compassionate they are.

I'm not criticizing their work or who benefits. But the system is what it is, and no amount of self aggrandizement on the part of alleged non-profits can change that. I know it is impolite to say so.

When I lived in Memphis, I actually purchased a small condo in a high rise. It was on the tenth floor and had a little balcony that overlooked the parking lot and the wooded parks to the east. At that height one can see some distance. It is strange though how seeing only a few miles there seemed a big deal, whereas here I can see 8 or 9 miles from my deck. My friends in Point Loma can see the lights of Tijuana approximately 20 miles to the south.

Anyway, there were a couple of things which caused me to decide I could not live in the condo. I was experiencing a period of very heavy struggle with that pit which uncertainty, depression and isolation can facilitate. That 100 foot plus drop to the parking lot looked too inviting for comfort. Also, I thought the kind of living which involves gated parking lots, and elevators to reach home might be too confining, and could further my extreme tendency to isolate.

I elected to rent the place to others, while I continued to rent a place for me. Seems an odd arrangement, but I don't regret it. My rental was relatively dirt cheap and was in a good place, among trees, within walking distance of movies and stores.

The condo building was close to St Jude's Children's Hospital. I knew from various sources that people often need to stay for periods of time while their children undergo treatment for serious conditions.

I still remember, from my days working at the airport, the family who would fly in and out every now and then, who had a girl who was in late stages of cerebral palsy. I assumed that to be the condition. Her mother let me carry her onto the airplane and into her seat. She was light as a feather, maybe 14 or 15 years old.

I offered because the mom looked worn and exhausted, and I liked the girl. She knew what was up, and I could make her smile, almost laugh. Just one of those cases in which you feel love for someone without any reason. Something about her just glowed. And she obviously caught my irreverent humor and off the wall remarks.

I hatched a plan to rent my place cheaper than what hotels and such would cost, for months or weeks at a time, to families at the hospital. Not all of them qualify for the official charities' help but it is a real strain on them.

It wouldn't take very much for me to meet the dreaded condo association fees, insurance and that sort of thing. It would have been a win-win situation, and I know I would have really made it easy for people like my friends from the aiprort.

OH NO!!! You can't do that because the state and city and the hotel board consider such activity to be a hotel, and...no, absolutely not. Don't even think about it.

Then the condo board started making rules that said if 50% of the units in the building were already rented out, then you could not rent your place. Two or three tycoons happened to own just about 50% of the units, which they rented.

I gave up the idea, and took it as a sign from Above that I needed to sell the place before I left Memphis for the great Western Unknown. Too much complication to hold onto it, rent it, and deal with ever changing regulations.

About the time my second renter moved in, they made a rule that they had to do some sort of background check on renters, and charge me a fee for it. Then they decided that if you had a renter, you had to pay a higher condo fee. Admittedly my renter looked a little shaggy, but I went on instinct and believed he'd pay up, and that he would make no trouble. In fact he was the type that would carry the old lady's groceries for her, voluntarily, so she didn't have to struggle with her wares and the elevator.

I think they resented someone not of the tycoon circle thinking his property rights were his to exercise as long as no harm or problems resulted. That is not how those places operate.

My renter paid on time every time. He'd had some hard times and was trying to get his life back in order. Most likely he'd not have satisfied the usual rental scrutiny, but he was probably a better tenant than the majority of those who do. If something needed work, he'd offer to help fix it or fix it himself.

Trying to quantify every aspect of human life in order to control it is proving over and over to be disastrous. Yet we ramp up the efforts in that direction. I am not sure of the proper, better paradigm, but I am sure it is worth attempting to shift the model. For one thing, it would help to employ more of the old school thing of deciding about a person face to face, rather than by feeding elements of resumes and reports into a computerized algorithm.

I happen to be suspect of the fact that due to our corrupt, ill conceived tax structure, that only officially approved charities count and are accepted. They become bureaucracies and corrupt, themselves. Or not. But it should not be so hard to do things individually without a bunch of hooplah. Of course you get no tax break, but the tax code is an ass, and shouldn't be such that you do or don't get a break.

At least the state of Tennessee and the City of Memphis were saved from a bootleg hotel competing for the business of people who have second mortgages, if that, so they can sink all they have into the costs of keeping up with a child going through cancer treatment and such in a distant town. I feel better knowing that all enterprises are so highly regulated. If government controls it, you know it is safe and good.

Lunaphobic Much?

I'm very disappointed that the senate voted to remove the word "lunatic" from all federal code. This probably means that you get no minority points and special status for being a lunatic.

Lunatics have been disenfranchised. The only hope for lunatics is if, like me, they also belong to other special groups. In my case, I can claim to be almost any minority other than woman--who technically are the majority--but never mind that. It pays to be in officially protected groups. We are all equal, but some are more equal. Hate crime laws tend to favor some over others.

Be sure to claim the right group or groups. That way people get punished more if they shoot you because they don't like your group. I'll RIP a whole lot better knowing that my assassin was motivated because of my Cherokee/Hispanic/African (proved by high cheek bones and gum pigment) heritage rather than because of my personality. Thank God for high cheek bones, and alleged family lore.

They stopped short of banning lunatics from federal office. It is sort of a pretend situation. We won't say "lunatic" no matter what happens, or who is speaking. If they banned lunatics from office, as well as printed word, the Capitol building would be a ghost town.

Like that guy from Georgia who was quizzing a general in a congressional hearing regarding moving troops to Guam. I forget why. This representative's concern wasn't to do with why. He was worried that adding so many people to the US base side of the island would "cause it to capsize".

That is right. An elected United States lawmaker feared that an island would capsize if too many people set foot on the military base. Flip that baby right over, spilling innocent civilians into the ocean, many of whom may not know how to swim.

We do not call such an elected official "lunatic", and certainly not "retarded". In politically incorrect truth, though, I fear he may be both. I guess he's in the right place; more insanity in DC than there is in Georgia. California gives them a run for the money, but that's off topic, sort of.

He wasn't joking. In this case you must be careful with pointing out that the man is a mental midget or people will accuse you of hating midgets. How to call someone in public office what they are in terms of philosophy, actions, and idiocy without violating the CODE, I don't know.

So, no more reference to "lunatic" in federal gibberish. We'll continue to use euphemisms like "bureaucrat", "congressman/woman", "senator", "president", "vice president", "czar", "secretary of (fill in the blank)", and on and on.

But we know you could just as easily say things like, "Lunatic In Chief", "lunatic of the Interior", "White House Press Lunatic", etc. and it would be fitting enough, even if not adherent to the Code of political correctness, which is ever evolving.

Somehow these lunatics think that by refusing to legally acknowledge the Lunatic community that they will reap benefit. Maybe they are planning on forcing people into the military or into some kind of community work. They always manage to protect themselves from the requirements they place on others.

I'll bet if they reinstate the draft, being a lunatic will no longer get you a deferment. That is where gays screwed up. If a draft comes back, they are going to wish they'd never pushed to be in the thick of war. Personally, I think they were duped, but that is their choice.

Now how are you going to avoid an insane draft? Claiming you are Cherokee won't help. It will no longer help to claim that you are gay. Equality of enslavement, and people pushed for it. I guess they forgot what a dark cloud that was, and what a political mess they made of that "police action".

It is a sad day when the feds pretend the lunatic community doesn't even exist. We deserve better. After all the fun and excitement we've brought to the world, to be treated like this is an outrage. I am calling for Lunatic Pride marches, nationwide, on my birthday in February, and/or on my invisible friend's birthday, next Friday.

Since gays stole the rainbow--which I still think should be public domain, no agenda or dogma attached--I guess we'll need some other kind of flag. I think that one with the crescent moon is fitting and attractive. We'll just lift it from the Islamic world. If the rainbow can be hijacked, so can the moon. Again, it is not p.c. to say so, but I guess using the flag for the lunatic community, at large, is really just broadening the hardcore base who already use it.

Lunacy is more rampant than one might think. For once this symbol can used by garden variety lunatics who rarely blow themselves or others to smithereens. A new political force is born.

It would seem we are now the victims of a lunaphobic Congress. Lunaphobia is the stuff of hate crimes. If a person attacks me for being crazy and doesn't get more stringent punishment than if he/she/it attacked me just for fun, I am going to be one angry lunatic.

Seriously, that would drive me mad.

PS: it is a grievous thing that we don't have any one word to replace the universal "he" pronoun. Alternating by sometimes using he and sometimes using she does not seem to convey the same universality that the, understood, non gender specific he did.

Don't Want To Lose It

Please don't let me lose it altogether, I ask to unknown powers. It would be easy to float into a disconnected state of mind which shuts out reality for good. Actually, it wouldn't be for better, though. I can feel that, so I resist the current of the fog that offers to carry me there.

What am I doing? I don't know. There are Mormons who want me to play in their choral group which is doing a show of some kind. The music is mostly semi-soft rock covers, and they have a couple of guitars, a keyboard, drums, a bas, and approximately six singers. How did I land there is hard to say.

First the Lutherans have me playing the death march on Good Friday, now the Mormons want me for Johnny B Good. And some other tunes. It's complicated, but the Lutherans did not try to Luthanize me and, so far, the Mormons haven't attempted to Mormonize me, nor have they mentioned Mitt Romney. The bummer is they haven't offered me a collection of wives as payment. I guess that could be a good thing.

Once again, I wonder if these musical forays are worth it. If I thought I was as good a player as I ought to be, I'd probably push it harder and feel better about it. As it is, I fear I am probably where I belong, considering my level of performance ability--playing in ensembles whose source and purpose are unknown to me, and in shows I've yet to understand.

I'm supposed to play something in Santee Friday night. I do not know where or why, or who is the audience. Mormons, I presume. Part of the problem is that I don't want to know too much. I am leery of inner church workings, particularly when secret handshakes and ritual may be involved.

I wish CopperCreek would become more active. But, part of the group has lucrative career activities to maintain, and another part is not healthy at the moment, and seems to be questioning the direction. I see the possibilities because the collective sound and sanity are rare. When dealing with anything in the music world, you have 2.5 strikes against you from the start because musicians are involved and they are all nuts.

So, I'm supposed to be there tonight for the big rehearsal, but J has once again neglected to email the time, address, and other pertinent particulars. This is the 3rd or 4th time that I will have to call, have to alter my day trying to figure out time and distance. I've half a mind to do nothing and if I do not hear, not show up.

But maybe I am being a baby if I go that route. It is annoying. Somehow it reminds me of my late father, rip. He never called but when I would call he'd act like we are never in touch and every time he'd ask for my phone number as if I'd never given it to him. Then he'd never use it.

The score sheet was at least 100 to 1, calls I made to him compared to calls I received from him.

Not that conversations were that much fun. All he wanted was dirt on my mother and brother, both of whom he was free to call. To be fair, I've discovered a certain respect for some of his qualities, and a sympathy for his difficulties and confusion in life. The man could work like no one I've ever known. It wasn't often for the best in the big picture but there is value in process.

The IRS ruined his later years, and ten years after he kicked, they figured out they'd illegally raped him for close to 500k more than they should have. I wonder how that would have altered his later years had they left him alone. His last wife is to be well compensated, I understand. A devious broad, but she did keep him off the streets and put up with him for a time.

That is how it is has become with J, who recruited me for one project, and that spilled over into the Mormon hooplah. "Let me get your email written down so I'm sure I have it right."

OK. Now you have my email for the fifth time. How about making use of it. he doesn't phone text, so that method of dispersing info is not there. Phone message is less reliable because of spotty connection up here, but it could be used as well. Although, I dislike getting much info on voicemail because I have to replay the whole message over and over to get the stuff written down. "Hi this is J, the adrressisonethritytwoohfivefourteenthstreetatfiveoclockandyoutakethegoopletyplopexitoffthe

eightmakealeftnoarightandturnleftatthethridtothelastlightandtwomilesupontherightturnleft

butdon'ttaketheroadbytheminimarttaketheonebythebigtreeandyoucan'tmissit"

Due to my iffy reception, voicemail is often not received in a timely fashion.

Invariably no address will be given. All I want is an address, and if the venue has a name, include that. So, that is the trouble with the voicemail method where this J outfit is concerned.

I liked the old physical answering machines which had easier control to focus on the meat of the message so I could stop, play back, etc. This cell voice mail requires enduring the entire message then playing the whole thing again if some number is in question or it is hard to understand the rapid fire delivery of the caller.

All that is just a shred of the trouble in my mind. Sort this shame of a garbage pile of a dwelling. This cottage ought to be a friggin showplace; view you would fly to some resort to have, well built, very nice place. Not much noise, save the choppers in the distance installing towers which are part of the corrupt project I can't influence. I've not shown the gratitude or respect this stroke of luck deserves.

All of a sudden I feel sad and lonely. That hasn't haunted me much for awhile. It is the mind's way of tempting me to mentally drift off into lala land and never come back. It is also a chance to beat the blues by doing everything I don't want to do. Face your life. That is what sorting and cleaning up requires. It is very hard for me because it wakes up that free floating grief.

Then there are the projects over in the world of political puppeteers; the ones who get their pals cabinet posts in this administration and who were instrumental in putting this wannabe king in office. It is good to have it, I know. But I cannot feel anything but under employed and sad about the sort of people who will benefit from my efforts. The good part is that I get some of their money in exchange.

My general state of mind is what they call in recovery, a dry drunk. So be it. I think it probably goes a bit deeper than that.

Step one, clean out the refrigerator of all the six month old milk, spoiled produce, and things which defy identification. We will chalk that up as one tiny battle won. A small victory.

Free Speech, rights and rights

It continually amazes me that so many people, often those in the media, in academia, definitely in government, and down the street, have so little idea of what the Bill of Rights is about, and what the difference is between a right and entitlement.

Sorry Joel, but I can't resist.

Today I heard some guy on the radio discussing whether a private company which fires a person because of comments posted on facebook has violated that person's 1st amendment right to free speech. I'd say that unless an employment contract which precluded such termination was in effect, then no, they violated nothing. We are assuming no libel or slander is involved.

Technically, I suppose it would be freedom of the press since we are dealing with the written word. But this scenario has nothing to do with the Bill of Rights.

A pe3rson is free to express himself, and others are free to fire him if the choose. People can quit their job over something the owner says or writes if they choose.

It matters not whether an employer is fair, it is his/her right to decline the person's services for whatever reason. Why do people stretch it to involve freedom of speech? or press?

The government cannot punish you for criticizing it, but people can refuse to do business with you, withhold friendship, etc. Being fired because you talked shop on facebook may be a poor reason, depending upon circumstances of the incident, but freedom of speech and press are not relevant to this kind case.

Talk show hosts are often limited in the scope of their reasoning abilities. The professor who called in was equally wrong in his assessment. Denying the employer's rights in the name of the 1st Amendment is a risky road to follow. Next thing you know the employee's right to quit will be in jeopardy.

By the reasoning I heard from these people, the government being forbidden to establish a state religion would apply to any group. so no religion could be established, and a religious school would be forbidden from exposing its students to that religion or any other.

The state cannot abridge speech or press, but your friends and employers can react to your expression. The state can't establish a religion, but you or the lady down the street can.

It seems clear enough to me. The confusion over it is nuts and will eventually lead to narrower rights and liberty, not more.

The Battle With Worthless Worry

The list of things of which we know very little, but think we should have a strong opinion, is lengthy. OJ, for example. I wasn't there and it was a circus. I still can't say I know what happened. Now someone has a book out claiming his deranged son did it. Why should I care or even give it a second thought?

Trayvon. I wasn't there and I do not know. What makes people take a view is the reaction to demagoguery and opportunism of those who jumped on the thing and made up stories, then tried to incite riots. I shouldn't worry about it. That one causes some worry because it has become a battle cry for openly racist aggression. Screw it, though. I'm in an area lacking in diversity, therefore lacking in the sort of violence common in my last locale, Memphis.

I get so inundated with information about things outside my own world that I forget what there is in my life worth doing. Obesity in children, and its resultant cries for regulation and people minding the business of strangers; hardly something I ought to waste any thought considering.

The only consideration, on the level of abstract principle, is that this is the downfall of the socialist philosophy. If we all share in the cost of healthcare and everything else, then that is used as the excuse to monitor the personal choices of others. That results in more rules and regs and restrictions on rights. It leads to being required to prove innocence without any indication of guilt having been established.

Those things are cumbersome when people like me can't shake thoughts of such remote manipulation and nonsense. None of that serves to help me live life with passion or even constructive direction. I'm not making a living by having opinions or thoughts about the ubiquitous debates regarding non issues.

I saw a report about a poll which asked if people thought Zimmerman shot the guy in self defense. A poll! They weren't quizzing witnesses, just random people. As if it is right that the uninformed public should have deeply held opinions regarding events which occurred somewhere else, involved strangers, of which they have very limited information. How can they possibly deem themselves eligible to make a reasonable call? Jerry Springer nation.

I remember when pandering talk shows first started that thing of someone giving two minutes worth of a complex issue then audience members would be called upon to give their idiotic assessment and advice. Better to be a voyeur into the insanity of others than to deal with your own sadness, anxiety or responsibilities.

Maybe that suicidal deer who ended up costing me over $500, and my insurance company over $3000, had the right idea. If you can't get it right, give up.

But, then, if you give up, how will you ever know if you could have made it over the obstacles and gained some traction? Maybe some little electrical anomaly in the brain would have nudged you into just enough action to put the construction process in motion.

Just something to get your mind off of The Great Pretense which has ruined anything regarding public information media and the authorities they promote. That covers so much ground; from war to public schools and universities, to helmet laws and, still hard to believe, obesity.

So much easier to look at the reports of events and governments, which could be pure fiction for all I know, than it is to control my own personal environment. The latter is something over which I do have a great deal of control. You'd think I'd exercise my authority and make it as good as it can be.

No doubt this has defined a mental disorder which carries a label. I don't think it is a brain tumor. Probably a form of perpetual grief which has lost its way, and forgotten its cause.