Everybody's On Acid!

As I related... as I confessed, in the birthday tribute for Cassandra Peterson recently, I once experimented with lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as "acid." Despite the bad reputation the government and law enforcement agencies tried to hang on it (like it causes genetic damage and birth defects), in reality it is one of the most innocuous recreational drugs that exist. It is not addictive. It is less habit forming than marijuana. A tolerance for the drug develops quite quickly, which means you can only use it sporadically to gain it's greatest effect.
However it is debilitating for a few hours, more so if the user is unfamiliar with the effects it does produce. A true hallucinogen, the wavy, multicolored forms and shapes that manifest themselves, and the light headed, erethral state of mind can lead to some fairly outrageous behavior based on some fairly outrageous conclusions that have no basis whatsoever in reality.
I used the drug primarily in the 70s, and had thought it's wide use had been discontinued, or at least curtailed to such an extent that it was almost totally eradicated.
But reading of current events in the news lately I've come to the conclusion that LSD has made a triumphant comeback, and that almost everyone in this country is tripping their freaking heads off.
The current political atmosphere in the United States is such that the extreme right wing of the GOP, which includes Sarah Palin and her Tea Baggers, seem to believe that it is entirely appropriate to let lose and air their deepest bigoted fears and aspirations, and be applauded for it, or any other half baked idea that may by accident pop into the pea brained heads (Friday night I saw a Internet video with some red necked moron in a cowboy hat proclaiming that MSNBC has hired a gay vampire to propagandize to the nations children, in the personification of dear sweet Rachel Maddow who happens to have two small round birth marks on her neck, a true indication of her vampireness).
And in order to feed the cable 24/7 news cycle, the corporate media is constantly putting these loonies in front of a camera and on television. So it seems the crazier you are, or appear to be, the more publicity you are most likely to get, such as this so-called "Reverend" Terry Jones, who doesn't appear to be crazy, rather he seems to be a run of the mill ignorant bigot. This guy, the head of a whole 50 member church (if you can call it that), gained world wide attention by threatening to burn some books, which happened to the Islamic holy text, the Koran, last week on the anniversary of 9/11. He had everybody from President Obama, to Hillary Clinton and General Petraeus, to thousands of Muslims around the world, all worked up due to the publicity he got through the media. He eventually recanted after a huge amount of pressure was put upon him, but I remain surprised there aren't about a hundred others guys out there doing the same thing.
This week all I see on TV, and I'm talking about my favorite cable news source here, MSNBC, the only cable network that provides some semblance of a progressive point of view, is coverage of the likes of Palin, Mike Huckabee, Mitt (Mitt) Romney, and their like, at this Voter Values Summit (the political arm of the Family Research Council), or at some other venue, stirring up the fringe base with absurd, but provocative claims and admonitions. They'll say anything to get in the limelight, and try to get their hopped up, Fox brain-washed base behind them.
And let's make no mistake about this Tea Party which is constantly in the news. Tea Party this, Tea Party that. Well it turns out that the Tea Partiers are a tiny fraction of the GOP, if they even wish to identify them selves with the Republican Party. They aren't black. They aren't Hispanic. They aren't gay, and they aren't young. Studies show the Tea Party consists mainly of disgruntled older Americans seeking to shake up the nation in a decidedly rightward direction, which means as they die off they'll be replaced by their younger deluded right wingers, who hopefully will be a tad more tolerant of the others who live in society with them, and who actually study, or at least become casually aware of subjects before they begin rallying against them. And it would appear that the Republican presidential front runners, such as Palin, Huckabee, and Romney are bending over backwards to appease and placate this tiny fraction of voters, thanks in large part to the publicity they are constantly receiving from the corporate media.
Hey wait a minute, that sounds like a good thing for us Democrats come the general election in November... way to go Tea Partiers! Way to go corporate media! Got any extra tabs or some blotter?
Anyway, that same corporate media assures us that the Republicans are going to win big in November, at least regaining the House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate. I see it all of the freaking time. I see it from the New York Times, I see it on the Internet. I hear it on the radio. I see it on television. Why have a an election if NBC and Fox and all the others have figured out how to travel in the future and tell us who has already won? It would certainly be a lot cheaper and less bothersome than having to go out and find all of those dirty polling places and actually cast a vote, when according to the media it doesn't matter anyway, because they already know who has won! Just let corporations tell us in advance who our next Congress will be so we won't have to go through all of that bother.
Well as it turns out... that's exactly what they'd like to do, and will continue doing with a great deal of success if we keep on letting them.

To be continued:

Was The "War" In Iraq Worth It?

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper

-The Hallow Men, T.S. Eliot

The 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, approached the barbed wire that separated Iraq from Kuwait at the Khabari Crossing in their armored "Stryker" vehicles in the early hours of August 18th, 3:49AM, give or take a few minutes. NBC/MSNBC correspondent Richard Engel, who covered the "war" since before the 2003 U.S. invasion by entrenching himself within the general population, at mush personal risk, rode along documenting the withdrawal of the last combat brigade leaving Iraq (Chuck Todd, the invariable buzz kill, kept insisting there was still several thousand combat troops in the country, dampening everyone's mood at MSNBC headquarters who were trying to report on an exclusive and major event), after more than seven years of military involvement. NBC anchor, Brian Williams asked Engel if this report constituted the “official Pentagon announcement,” of combat troop withdrawal, which the journalist affirmed. The President had promised all combat troops would be out of Iraq by the end of the month, and this was accomplished it seems, however the White House kept silent on that day.
"We won," the departing soldiers shouted. "It's over."
More than seven years of deadly combat and untold violence over. A million U.S. soldiers served in Iraq over those years. As of August 18th 4,420 of them died there, 316 members of the coalition also lost their lives. 31,926 troops have been wounded, 20% of which sustained serious brain or spinal injuries. 141 journalists have been killed, 14 by U.S. forces. 9,654 Iraqi police and soldiers have died. Reliable numbers on Iraqi civilians killed are difficult to determine, but according to the human rights group "Iraq Body Count," between 97,000 and 106,000 Iraqis have been killed since 2003, others estimate more than 600,000. More than 4 million, approximately 15 percent of the total population (equal to about 46 million people in the U.S. being forced to move out) have certainly been displaced, leaving the country as refugees. Thousands of Iraqi women and girls were widowed or orphaned by invasion casualties, others made head of households through divorce or abandonment and forced to flee Iraq. More than 50,000 Iraqi women and girls in Jordan and Syria have been forced into sexual slavery and servitude as a direct result of the U.S. invasion. The war has also cost the United States tax payers more than $749.9 billion and counting, $5,166 for each tax payer and counting (National Priorities Project). The military occupation and actions against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan (which has cost the U.S. tax payer another 329.1 billion so far) may have been successfully concluded by now if resources had not been diverted to Iraq in 2003, a huge incalculable indirect cost. The long-term cost of caring for the 1.5 million veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families is expected to exceed $700 billion if current troop strength is maintained, and an estimated $400 billion if a gradual withdrawal takes place, according to figures released recently by Harvard University economist Linda Bilmes. The cost in personal loss to families and dependents, friends and loved ones, of those injured or killed is undoubtedly enormous and will remain unknown.
$9 billion of US taxpayers' money cannot be accounted for, it's simply vanished (let me say that again, nine BILLION dollars of U.S. taxpayers money is GONE, no one knows where, and it seems no one cares. 9 billion bucks up in thin air. Tax payers giving money to the military is like me loaning money to my neighbor Lester. We're both guaranteed never to see it again), as well as $549.7 million in spare parts shipped to US contractors in 2004. Also, 190,000 guns, including 110,000 AK-47 rifles are missing. $1 billion in tractor trailers, tank recovery vehicles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other equipment and services provided to the Iraqi security forces are gone, not accounted for. $1.4 billion in over charges by Halliburton have been classified by the Pentagon as unreasonable and unsupported. $3.2 billion by KBR. Iraq suffers an unemployment rate of 27 to 60%, where a curfew is not in effect. Inflation in 2006 - 50%. Children suffering from chronic malnutrition - 28% in June 2007. Before the invasion Iraqi homes had electricity for 16 to 24 hours a day, currently they receive 1 to 2 hours, ofttimes appliances will explode or catch on fire due to electrical surges. The total infrastructure of the entire country has been greatly disrupted since the invasion and to this date not been restored, including sanitation and sewage treatment, access to drinkable water, and medical care.
"We won," the departing soldiers shouted. "It's over."
That same day, insurgents worried over the make of any future Iraqi government, carried on a relentless campaign of terror against Iraqi security forces and institutions, killing 5 government employees in roadside bombings, one day after 61 army recruits were killed by a suicide bomber in Baghdad
"We won," the departing soldiers shouted. "It's over."
But what exactly did we win? And is it really over? What will happen when the U.S. finally pulls out?
Not with a bang, but with a whimper.

To be continued

Happy Birthday Cassandra (Peterson)!

Cassandra


Elvira


Sharon Tate

Happy birthday wishes go out today for one of my favorite actresses, comedians, and my favorite Mistress of the Dark, Cassandra Peterson!
Those of you who are regular readers of this blog, and the Salvation Diary series, know that I've been a fan of Cassandra's and her alter ego, Elvira ("The Hostess with the Mostess") for a good long while. Indeed, she has helped me get through many difficult times in my sorrow filled and contemptuous past.
Ms. Peterson was born in "The Little Apple," Manhattan... Kansas, as an infant. Manhattan has the unique distinction of having the largest recorded earthquake originating in Kansas, a 5.1 that occurred on April 24, 1867. In an odd natural disaster coincidence, Cassandra's family moved to Colorado Springs because of a flood that inundated Manhattan.
She knew at an early age she wanted to be an entertainer. Before graduating from high school she worked as a go-go dancer in a gay bar. Just days after graduating, at 17 years old, she moved to Las Vegas (Nevada) to work as a showgirl, according to The Guinness Book of World Records she was the youngest to ever do so. She got a small part in the James Bond film, "Diamonds are Forever," as a showgirl, and dated Elvis Presley (who hadn't?), and posed topless for a Tom Wait's album cover in 1976.
Also during the 70s she went to Italy and became the lead singer in a rock band, and acted in Fellini's "Roma," before returning to the states.
She toured nightclubs in a musical/comedy act, before joining the Los Angeles based improv troupe, The Groundlings (notable alumni being Jennifer Coolidge, Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon, Jon Lovitz, Lisa Kudrow, Kathy Griffin, Cheryl Hines, Pat Morita, Paul Reubens, Conan O'Brien, etc., etc., etc.) where she created many of the "Valley Girl" character traits that would soon emerge as Elvira.
While in high school I used to save my lunch money in order to purchase doses of the hallucinogenic drug lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD, or LSD 25 (which I found to be immensely ironic as later while in the navy I would serve for 3 years aboard a LSD 36, the U.S.S. Mt Vernon), which I would consume on Friday nights while watching scary movies on television.
Late Friday nights, Channel 9, the local station KHJ-TV, would broadcast "Fright Night" and "Seymour's Monster Rally," showing all of those scary movies (old B-grade horror films). The movie was "hosted," by Seymour, a creepy character played by the actor/comedian Larry Vincent, who would comment, make fun of, or ridicule the very movie he was hosting. I loved him and was a big fan (I think I even saw him in person once when he appeared at my high school in Chatsworth). Seymour ended his run in 1974, and I was sad, so I joined the navy.
In 1981, while I was still in the service, KHJ-TV thought about bringing a Freight Night type of program to Los Angeles (unfortunately, Mr. Vincent succumbed to stomach cancer in 1975), and Cassandra beat out 200 other auditioners, and was given wide latitude toward creating the character to host the films.
After giving her a wide latitude, the producers rejected her idea to look like the Sharon Tate character in "The Fearless Vampire Killers," who had red hair as did Cassandra. She and her friend came up with the idea sexy/punk vampire look, utilizing the wise cracking, quick witted, valley girl persona she had developed with The Groundlings... and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark was born. "With heavily-applied drag queen-style horror make-up and a towering black beehive wig concealing her flame-red hair, the transformation from Cassandra Peterson to the sexy "Elvira" was so drastic that no one ever recognized her out of costume." -Wikipedia
"Elvira's Movie Macabre," quickly gained notoriety, no doubt partly due to Cassandra's tight fitting, ultra low cut black gown she wore each week (my lovely case manager, Erin, confided in me as we watched the feature film, "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark," "I wonder how she keeps those things in?" "I think she must use some kind of glue," I replied. "I think you're right."
"Elvira reclined on a red Victorian couch, introducing and often interrupting the movie to lampoon the actors, the script, and the bad editing. Adopting the flippant tone of a California valley-girl, she brought a satirical, sarcastic edge to her commentary without ever being crass or mean-spirited. Like a macabre Mae West, she reveled in dropping risqué double entendres as well as making frequent jokes about her eye-popping display of cleavage... Her campy humor, obvious sex appeal, and good-natured self-mockery endeared her to late-night movie viewers as her popularity soared. At the same time, Elvira was embraced as an icon of the waning 1980s punk movement as well as the emerging Goth subculture."
Well she certainly popped my eye, both of them, and after I got out of the service in 1982 I became a huge fan.
"Movie Macabre," ran through to 1986, but I do not recall watching it at night. That may be due to the massive amount of marijuana I was smoking at the time with my girlfriend Jan. I do remember watching it in the afternoons... while smoking marijuana, so KHJ may have been utilizing reruns. They do that sometimes.
But Elvira's popularity soared nationally. She was a frequent guest on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show," she took over Seymour's old job as host of Knott's Berry Farms Halloween Haunt in October (where I had the privilege of seeing her live in 1999), Cassandra's character became a brand name helping to sell products from "Halloween costumes, comic books, action figures, trading cards, pinball machines, Halloween decor, model kits, calendars, perfume, and dolls."
She was the SpokesMistress for Coors Light and Mug Root Beer. She guest starred on TV shows like "Chips," "The Fall Guy," and "Fantasy Island," and appeared on the cover of Femme Fatales magazine five times.
In 1988 Brandon Tartikoff, then president of NBC's entertainment division, and a big fan of Cassandra's Elvira, cleared the way for her first feature film, the aforementioned, "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark," and since then has made a second film, "Elvira's Haunted Hills," launched a home video series, and generally has kept pretty busy.
On Halloween night, 1992, she appeared with the Irish rock band, U2 at Dodger Stadium here in L.A., where she declared her candidacy for President of the United States, noting that "we already have two boobs [George H.W. Bush & Dan Quayle] in the White House, might as well be mine." It's a shame she lost the election. Elvira wouldn't have been dumb enough to enact NAFTA.
Cassandra married Mark Pierson on July 4th 1981, with whom she has one child. She is a strong supporter of gay rights, a vegetarian, and has appeared in a humorous halloween-themed ad for PETA promoting a vegetarian diet.
I hear her on the Stephanie Miller Newscast occasionally (where the Mooks, Chris and Jim fawn over her vast boobbashishness), where I've heard she's making plans for a return to television, which I wholeheartedly support!
And all of us here at Joyce's Take wish her good fortune in all of her future endeavors, and a very happy birthday! Happy Birthday Elvira! Ooopps, Cassandra!

Happy Birthday Tamron and Jennifer!

Tamron Hall


Jennifer Tilly

Happy birthday wishes go out this morning for two lovely ladies, one of my favorite actresses, Ms. Jennifer Tilly, and one of my favorite MSNBC news anchor persons, Ms. Tamron Hall.

Tamron (she was named after a Japanese company manufacturing photographic lenses, optical components and commercial/industrial-use optics... I don't know why) was born in Luling, Texas (founded in 1874 as a railroad and cattle town. Contempt of the law by the cowboys helped it to become know as the "Toughest town in Texas," which goes a long way in explaining Ms. Hall's unruly nature). Not much is known of her early life in Texas, which is highly suspicious. She received a Bachelor of Arts in broadcast journalism from Temple University, which is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and also has a fine woman's basketball team. No one knows if Tamron was a player... on the basketball team that is.
She began her broadcasting career back in Texas (Bryan, Texas, another cattle town. There seems to be some kind of pattern here) as a general assignment reporter. She spent 10 years working for those Fox News bastards at WFLD in Chicago, where she held a number of positions including general assignment reporter, consumer reporter, and host of the three-hour “Fox News in the Morning” (which is also highly suspicious. She may be some kind of Murdoch spy, sending secret hand written notices of what is being broadcast by MSNBC to Rupert... but we love her anyway). She was nominated for an Emmy for her consumer report segment, “The Bottom Line,” which she began in 1999.
In 2007 Tamron joined the good guys at MSNBC, and now anchors MSNBC Live weekdays at 11AM and 2PM Eastern. Additionally she is a rotating news anchor on Weekend Today and fill-in news anchor/ 3rd hour co-host on the Today Show, on NBC.
Tamron lives in Manhattan for some reason, probably because it's close to work. She is also very involved in charitable organizations that help women fight abuse and organizations that work to end illiteracy, and is very pretty for an old woman, and blushes quite easily.

Jennifer is an L.A. Girl, born in Harbor City, to the south of my box. Her dad was a Chinese American, and she and her actress little sister Meg were both born with the last name of Chan. Her parents divorced when she was 5 and apparently she took her mom's maiden name of Tilly. They moved up north to British Columbia. Somehow she wound up in a theater program at Stephens College, in Missouri, the 2nd oldest female educational establishment that is still a woman's college in the United States. Sounds exceptionally sexist to me.
Anyway, Jennifer started out as most others do, in small roles on TV and movies. She's been on "Hill Street Blues," and "It's Gary Sandling's Show." In 1989 she got her big break as a singing waitress in "The Fabulous Baker Boys."
I was more familiar with her sister Meg's work ("Psycho II," "Agnes of God," "The Two Jakes," "Body Snatchers") before I discovered Jennifer as the treacherous hostage wife in the remake of "The Getaway" in 1994. That year she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as, remarkably enough, a bad actress in Woody Allen's "Bullets Over Broadway."
Some of my other favorite films she's appeared in are "Bound," with Gina Gershon, and "Liar, Liar," with Jim Carrey (I liked her dress... I don't know why). She is also associated with the popular horror "Child's Play," franchise (where she played a blonde, and I also liked her dress in the "Bride of Chucky," too), which she blames for ruining her career.
Jennifer is also a big time poker player, something we have in common, and in 2005 won a World Series of Poker bracelet (and $158,625) in the Ladies' No-Limit Texas Hold' Em event, outlasting 600 other players, and has appeared on the weird and exceptionally boring poker tournament shows. She continues in the entertainment industry doing a lot of voice work on shows like "Family Guy," but has resumed her professional poker career at the beginning of this year, and considering the dresses she wears while playing I'm not surprised she usually comes out a big winner.
All of us here at Joyce's Take wish her continued good luck in whatever she does, and a very happy birthday to both Tamron and Jennifer! Happy Birthday ladies!

Salvation Diary 41

"Salvation" artist Amanda Milke
http://amandamilke.wordpress.com

July 9 Tuesday Day 301


Three hundred days! Sixty five, or there abouts to go.
Back to work this morning.
Oh boy!
Clarence Orion and Ed Reitz both asked me if I had been an employee while at the Van Nuys Center. I hadn't been of course. I was only there a mere forty five days. The day before they threw me out I was offered a job as an assistant dispatcher which could have turned into an payroll job, but that's as far as it went. The next day Major Engels gave me the boot for something I didn't do, and I made my way to the Americana Theater in Panorama City (a movie theater I'd gone to throughout my teens) to watch "Die Hard 2," and suck down a bottle of tequila.
I wonder why they asked that question.? Oh well, both of them said it wasn't important.
I wrote in the morning, and went about my daily routine without difficulty. In the afternoon I found time to re-read some excerpts from James Mills, "The Underground Empire," a fascinating expose of the world of the international drug trafficker. I highly recommend this book, and will talk about again later this week.
Just as I got off work one of the maintenance people ran a snake through a drain somewhere which generated the most foul smelling stink that permeated throughout the entire building. I hid away in my lonely room until the air cleared.
After "Star Trek, the Next Generation," I retired to the canteen for a cool cheeseburger. Jill was there, talking with Luis Rublacava. We did not converse.
I returned upstairs after my cheeseburger to watch the 8:00 channel 5 movie, "Critters 2, the Main Course." This of course is the sequel to "Critters," both films concerning the hair brained antics of a brood of carnivorous alien, ex-con, porcupine balls, that roll around and eat people. This film gave me a feeling of nostalgia actually. I thought back when I first saw "Critters." Many of the original cast members from the first film were in the sequel, and I couldn't help but think about how much their life had changed (and if they were aware of the change) since the making of the first film. How they must have felt coming back to it once again. I felt that somehow my fate was intermingled...
Oh shit, the first time I viewed "Critters," I was sitting in my apartment drunk, and high on pot. I don't even remember it... except that it was silly.
Like the sequel.
I turned off the T.V. after watching "Nightline," and thought about Kathy. Perhaps I'd have a chance to talk to her tomorrow.


July 10 Wednesday Day 302


Gerald Schimmele has now taken over as the first floor janitor for Russell Burke who has gone back east to visit his ailing father.
While Jerry was vacuuming the elevator this morning he let the automatic door close on him while he continued to work in the small space, never once anticipating Curtis Carter summoning the elevator from the basement, making it descended, with Jerry still in it, and a vacuum cleaner still very much attached to the first floor.
Actually those vacuum cleaner electrical cords stretch quite a bit before parting with a noticeable "TWAAANNNGGGG!"
Dennis Smith came by to pick up his stuff. I hadn't seen him for awhile and was beginning to worry about him. He is at Grandview, a small, residential recovery home. Very intensive program I hear. He seems happy about it, that's the main thing.
Andre Laws just got kicked out of there, Dennis told me.
I did get to talk to Kathy. I must admit I got a bit nervous thinking about her coming tonight, preoccupied you might say. I forgot to place the flowers on the chapel alter, and to open the bathrooms on the third floor for the evening services... among other things.
She looked very pretty wearing a blue blouse with white pants. When she first arrived we said hello, and everything. I wanted to tell her how nice I thought she looked, but Rockoff kept interrupting me. He would continue to do that for the rest of the night.
I found out that today was her 3 year sobriety anniversary. 3 years ago today she quit drinking. She must be an alcoholic (like me) because she said, "Three years without a drink."
Then she ran off to consul Ron Cooper. I didn't get to say all that much really. I waited around the desk all night (making both of my desk men a little crazy) waiting for her to finish with her three clients so I could have the opportunity to speak further with her. She spends a lot of time with each of her clients, a sure sign of a caring, sincere, inexperienced counselor.
Just as I began to think I wouldn't get a chance to talk to her again, and getting really depressed about it, she finished with her last client, documented her sessions in the counseling books, and prepared to leave. She smiled at me and said goodbye on the way out, and I figured I better say something then and there or else it would be another week with no progress made. Another long week before seeing her again.
"Alright, see you next week," I said. "Both Rons (Collins and Cooper) tell me you've been very helpful to them (that's true. They have told me that), so you're very appreciated around here." That's true too.
"Oh really," she smiled. "That's good to hear. I wasn't really sure. Rod Trujillo seems to have been avoiding me." Ron Trujillo's an idiot.
I congratulated her again on her 3 years, and said her anniversary reminded me I had 300 days today. She asked what day it was that I got sober, and about my employment here. I let her know that it was my intention to continue working in the drug rehabilitation field, so my job here was beneficial in that regard. She asked if I had ever thought about taking some drug education classes, and I told her that indeed, I had, that I would be starting at P.C.C. in September. She told me about some of the course offerings at Glendale Community College, showing me some of the school pamphlets she happened to have with her. Our conversation progressed from there.
We talked for about ten minutes. Well, she did most of the talking really. To be frank, I could hardly get a word in edgewise. But I was glad to listen, and I discovered some interesting things about her.
She's about as religious as I am, which is to say, not very much. She was hesitant to begin counseling here due to her preconceived ideas of the spiritual aspect of the program. She didn't want to get Christianed out. She has since reconsidered. She now knows that we don't overdo it. That we're not a bunch of monks (far from it). She does believe in God, in a higher power. She says she's "all for it" (God and all), but doesn't feel the need to demonstrate it all over the place.
She began drug counseling school when she was only two months sober, and never really intended to become a counselor. She likes coming to the center. She just got a good job she likes, working for Warner Brothers, the movie studio. She doesn't think she wants to stop working there.
I found her thoroughly fascinating.
I was being interrupted all the time I was talking to her. Guys kept coming in and I would have to breath test them. Kevin Rockoff asked me for change. "Later," I told him.
When I did leave I reminded her to drive carefully, and that I would see her again next week.
She got cornered by a new client with red hair on the way to her car. He kept her in conversation for a while. I waved to her when she finally drove off.
She waved back.


July 11 Thursday Day 303


Close to 10:30 this morning the new moon became aligned with the Earth and the Sun. The moon was in the middle. It also crossed the Earth's orbital plane. thus blocking the Sun's light, and casting the Moon's shadow upon that portion of the Earth's surface that happened to be facing the Sun at the time. This happens every once in a while. Nothing to get worried about.
Today's solar eclipse would not cause a period of total darkness here in Pasadena. That would only happen on the big island of Hawaii, parts of Baja California, Central America, and Brazil. The Moon would only partially block the Sun's light here, about 68% I believe. The Sun would still be able to leak some out to us.
I walked out front at 10:45, put on my sunglasses and looked at the eclipse for about thirty minutes. Sure enough the Moon appeared as a black disk against the Sun, making the Sun appear as a crescent.
I first noticed I was blind when I attempted to reenter the residence on my way to eat lunch (hot turkey sandwiches).
I walked into several walls, and continued to bump into things well into the night.


July 12 Friday Day 304


This morning I received my first paycheck in almost two years. One hundred and fifty cold, hard, smackaroos, and some change. This for one week's work. I also get room and board.
Robert gave me a ride to the Bank of America on Colorado Blvd. That's where the Salvation Army does it's banking, so there would be no problem for me to cash my pay check there. Robert banks there as well. Indeed, he had intended to deposit his own check, but after arriving in the bank's parking lot he remembered he had neglected to bring it with him.
He left me there (Abandoned. He had other pressing engagements), and I cashed my check and walked back to the residence.
After lunch (cheeseburgers) I wrote for an hour, then went to the park to lie in the sun and listen to classic rock and roll.
I took my second shower of the day when I returned, then got ready for work.
Which went well. Work that is. After the usual Friday afternoon madness, after new client orientation, and after I put up the stupid bar in the thrift store parking lot, I read from James Mills, "The Underground Empire," and the extraordinary organization, "Centac," who's sole mission was to destroy drug trafficking organizations from the top down using RICO laws directed against criminal conspiracies. Fascinating.


July 13 Saturday Day 305


Last night was Art Svensk's last as our relief night watchman. He will be going into full retirement as of 8:00 this morning.
"They're out there, you know," Art told me as he came in last night.
"Who's out there, Art?"
"Crazy people. They're out there."
That's why Art's retiring. Because of all of the crazy people who are out there. Or at least that's one of the reasons.
What Art is concerned about, why he's worried about the crazy people, he's afraid of getting mugged as he walks here to work from the Green Hotel. I can't say as I blame him.
I shook his hand and told him it had been a pleasure working with him (which was true. People like Art make life interesting). I wished him luck, and told him I'd see him at the movies.
I slept until lunch today. At lunch I sat with George Estrada. Originally from El Salvador, George is an athletic young man in his middle thirties. He has a wife and two children. He had worked as a life guard for several years, he told me. He was suited for the job. He ran daily, worked out regularly, and had in fact been a finishing runner in the L.A. Marathon for several years.
He said he had snorted cocaine on occasion, but didn't seem to have any problems controlling its use.
Until crack came along.
Once George began to smoke crack he became hopelessly addicted and within two months his drug use adversely affected every aspect of his life; family, work, career ambitions... everything. None of those things mattered to him anymore. The only thing of importance in his life became the procuring of another rock to smoke.
An honest person by nature, George explained to his boss why he had been missing so much work, telling him of his addiction. Fortunately, his boss is a member of the Pasadena Tabernacle Band, and he introduced George to the A.R.C. George didn't like it here at first. He didn't like being told what to do all of the time, so he left after only a few days, telling himself that he would kick the crack habit on his own. After a week or two he came back, a little more motivated to do well, and has been here for almost six months.
George is getting ready to graduate, and looking forward to going to school to learn a new trade. He wants to become an underwater welder.
We do have a few success stories around here.
I wish him well.
After lunch I went to the park for an hour, then came back. I took a nice shower, got dressed, then walked to Music Plus to pick up the weekend's video blockbusters. "Dick Tracy," and "Kindergarten Cop."
Then I began my last shift of the week.
Richard Bennet popped in for a while. As I was talking to him I realized I had ten months clean and sober (except for nicotine, caffeine, and cholesterol) today.
Ten months.
Wow.
Tom Rotsch seems to have a family very similar to my own. He went to see his two kids today, and after he returned he told me how his little girl cutely let him know that his breath stinks, while his son told him he was going bald.
He loves his children and smiled at the memory.
I'm afraid that I must report that I've been a little devious lately. Since Kathy has told me that she's helping her clients work through the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, I have told both Ron Collins and Ron Cooper (her clients) that I would also be willing to help them if they should have any questions concerning the Steps when she is not around. Of course, it is true that I'm willing to help anybody if I can. But the idea of my completely altruistic offer getting back to Kathy, and thus creating a favorable impression, did have certain appealing overtones.
I'm so bad.
So here I am now. In real time it is 11:02PM and 36 seconds. I'm sitting in my office writing this. Kevin Rockoff and Roger Collins are both behind the desk reading. Roger's on duty, Kevin's just hanging out. It's been a quiet shift. I've spent most of the evening reading a Dean Koontz novel, "Night Chills." Pretty soon Wolf Pandolfi will lumber in, and my shift will come to an end. I'll go up to my lonely room and watch two episodes of "The New Twilight Zone," then maybe "The Outer Limits," on channel seven. After that I'll sleep. But before I finally do that I'll do what I've found myself doing almost every night lately. I'll think about Kathy.
And I'll be very relaxed and sleep very well.


July 14 Sunday Day 306


I was once again called upon to deliver the responsive reading section during the morning's chapel service. My voice did not quiver.
I was a little tired though. I had gotten plenty of sleep last night, at least six hours, so I didn't know what my problem was.
I was looking forward to going to the A.A. meeting this morning with Ron Collins, mainly because I had missed it last week due to the picnic. Robert gave us a ride and it was awfully good to be there. Skip greeted us, and the meeting was a good one. It didn't hurt to have so many pretty ladies around (especially the bespectacled brunette).
Girls. I like girls... or women. I don't know why. I'm so glad they share the planet with us men. I wouldn't want to be a girl, but I'm glad they're here.
Men are so boring.
Ron and I passed by the tiny restaurant, Los Tacos, on our way back. I treated him to a couple of soft tacos, and I had some enchiladas. It's so nice to be able to buy things. It certainly provides a different perspective.
I spent another hour in the park. The radio people played the entire side 2 of Led Zeppelin's "The Houses of the Holy." Very good.
Dinner, then a repeat episode of "Star Trek, the Next Generation," after which I secured a seat for the Sunday night VCR movie, "Kindergarten Cop."
I didn't quite know what to make of this film, which seemed just a vehicle to throw Arnold Schwarzenegger in amongst a plethora of little kids to see how he reacts. Oddly enough, those scenes were brief and ineffective. A little action, a few hard sought after laughs... all in all it was somewhat engaging.
I spent most of the rest of the evening up in my lonely room, reading, and watching silly things on television.
I turned off the T.V. early and went to bed. Tomorrow it would be time to move on in the Steps, and that would require a long bus ride so I wanted to get up nice and early.
I dreamt of Barbara Eden and Mother Teresa.

Deficit Hawks 3, The Peacocks

3. They support policies that make the long-term deficit problem worse.

Michael Linden points out that this one seems it would be obvious, and it is. We've already discussed the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthiest among us, the top 2 to 5% of wage earners in this country that President Obama wishes to let their tax breaks expire for those making over $200,000 to $250,000 a year, thereby saving at least $700 billion to 4.4 trillion over the next ten years. The Republicans of course say they will fight this "tax increase (it is not an increase, it is an expiration that President Bush himself signed into law ten years ago restoring taxes to the year 2000 level)," with everything at their disposal. Well, they've fought everything President Obama has done with everything at their disposal (propaganda and the filibuster). On this particular issue they claim the expiration of tax cuts for the wealthy (remember the cuts Bush put into place for the rest of the country, those earning less than $200,000 will remain in place under Obama's plan) will hurt small businesses. And media outlets like the Wall Street Journal and Forbes magazine claim that the 2 to 3% of small businesses that will be affected by the expiration tie their personal income tax in with their businesses, and will be unduly affected, and no longer be able to hire and create new jobs.
I suggest they separate their personal income from that of their business, and they're not hiring now anyway!
All right, the point being the Republicans in Congress wish to extend these cuts without offering to pay for them. They've offered in the past the explanation that the cuts will pay for themselves through the economic stimulus that all of this extra money will provide once the rich start spreading it around (Reagan's Trickle Down Economics. I don't know about you, dear readers, but I don't like to be peed on), and we know this to be BS because the rich have had the cuts for the last ten years and the economy is just now climbing out of the toilet the cuts helped cause in the first place. The rich stay rich because they tend to already have everything the want or need, which is the definition of being rich, and tend to keep what money they have.
So if the Republicans have blocked or obstructed every major piece of legislation the Democrats have tried to pass sighting the fear of increasing the deficit as their reason (this includes, remember, stopping unemployment benefits, denying help to our first responders, and cutting funds for teachers), what do they say about the obvious increase the deficit will take when the Bush Tax Cuts are made permanent, as they would like? How do they propose to offset the huge costs?
Here's a couple of examples of what they say as evidenced on Aug 15th's Meet the Press. A sample of the exchange between David Gregory and the Brown One, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH):

GREGORY: You’re not being responsive to a specific point which is how can you be for cutting the deficit and also cutting taxes as well when they’re not paid for?

BOEHNER: Listen, you can’t raise taxes in the middle of a weak economy. […]


GREGORY: But tax cuts are not paid for is that correct?


BOEHNER: I am not for raising taxes on the American people in a soft economy.


GREGORY: That’s not the question. Are tax cuts paid for or not?


BOEHNER: Listen, what you’re trying to do is get into this Washington game and their funny accounting over there. …


GREGORY: Do you believe tax cuts pay for themselves or not?


BOEHNER: I do believe that we’ve got to get more money in the hands of small businesses.

By golly, Rep. Boehner just couldn't get his tongue around an answer... any answer, let alone the truth... the cuts would not be paid for thus would add to the deficit which they claim to be so concerned about... making him and his fellow Republicans who would extend these cuts not the deficit hawks they would have you believe, but in fact deficit peacocks, those who " like to preen and call attention to themselves, but are not sincerely interested in taking the difficult but necessary steps toward a balanced budget."

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) had the same trouble later in the same show:

GREGORY: This tension that I got out with Leader Boehner. Republicans want more tax cuts seems to me he acknowledged that they’re not paid for and yet at the same time they want tax cuts but they’re so worried about the deficit. How do you resolve that tension?


PENCE: Well I think the way you resolve it is you focus on jobs. …


GREGORY: But congressman, you’re asking Americans to believe that Republicans will have spending discipline when you’re saying extend the tax cuts that aren’t paid for and cut the deficit, how is that a consistent credible message?


PENCE: Well I understand the credibility problem. …


GREGORY: You acknowledge, tax cuts being extended cannot be paid for, it would be borrowed money.


PENCE: Well no I don’t acknowledge that. … I think it’s apples to oranges.


Apples to oranges?! WTF does that mean!? This is like talking to a two year old who gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Mitch (Turtle Man) McConnell, (R-KY), the Senate Minority Leader, when asked the very same question by Gregory on last Sundays MTP show (Jesus, with so many freaking Republicans on Meet the Press, who needs Fox News Sunday?) said, the tax cuts were existing tax policy and didn't need to be paid for.
That makes less sense than Boehner and Pence, who didn't make any sense at all. The existing tax policy is for the tax cuts to expire. To extend them would be creating new tax policy, that would need to be paid for, and McConnell knows it, or if he doesn't know it he has no business being in the Senate.
This kind of behavior by the Republicans (and some Democrats, for shame) does not restrict itself to the Bush Tax Cuts unfortunately. Oh no! It affects almost every freaking thing else as well.
America's Senator, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) recently introduced legislation to eliminate $35 billion in big oil and gas company tax loopholes, and was shot down in a vote of 61-35. That's $35 billion in revenue (for one year) that would go to decrease the deficit, or could be used for any number of domestic projects, but nooooo, the Republicans shot that down (as well as 6 freaking too many Democrats) because it would affect their masters, big business, specifically, Big Oil. Want to know how much BP and Exxon does pay in corporate income tax, two of the most profitable companies in history? Zero. Nothing, nada. Hell, they even received a $158 million refund!
Pentagon spending. Normally the Republicans would rather eat their young than cut DOD (Department of Defense) spending, but when the Republican Secretary of Defense recommends cuts in what most everybody agrees is an expensive and unnecessary program, one has to take notice.
Secretary Gates and President Obama both want to scrape allocations from the defense budget for an alternate engine on the Joint Strike Fighter, or F-35, a $1.8 billion to $2.9 billion expense. But lawmakers are expected to include it in the budget despite it being unnecessary and expensive. Why? Defense contractors in their home districts who supply parts for the program would be adversely affected. In other words lawmakers wish to keep shoveling money into a defense industry despite the fact their is no need to do so, fulfilling the dire prophecy foretold by President Eisenhower of a perpetual Military Industrial Complex that cannot stop growing (i.e., perpetual war (i.e., Afghanistan)).
I could go on and on. Eliminate the cap on Social Security payroll tax so everyone pays the same despite their income: Save about $337 billion a year. That would be an increased tax on the wealthy. Will the Republicans allow that despite the income that could go toward decreasing the deficit. No.
$108 billion saved annually by eliminating other unfair tax deductions and advantages the rich have over the poor. Will the Republicans go along... you know the answer.
On and on. Mr. Linden states: "...there are 34 senators who have co-sponsored recent legislation offered by Senators Conrad and Gregg to 'create a bipartisan task force to address the nation's long-term budget crisis.' Strange, then, that 25 of them recently voted to slash the estate tax so that the 3,000 richest families in the country can get another tax cut, a policy which would increase the deficit by $100 billion over 10 years. When someone supports a deficit commission one day and votes to use another $100 billion of red ink on tax cuts for the rich the next, it is perhaps an indication that his or her commitment to real deficit reduction leaves something to be desired."

And,

4. They think our budget woes appeared suddenly in January 2009.

Or lets put it this way; they pretend to think our budget woes appeared suddenly in January 2009.
Our deficit problems began the moment President Bush stepped into office, way back in 2001. He entered office with at least a 84.6 billion budget surplus which he squandered by cutting taxes and increasing spending, just the opposite of what the Republicans now say should be done (they say one thing when out of power, then do the opposite when in).
"By the time President Obama took office in January 2009, the Congressional Budget Office was projecting a budget deficit of $1.2 trillion for the year. The dramatic decline from record surplus to record deficit under President Bush resulted in a nearly $3 trillion increase in publicly held debt, the largest debt expansion in American history."
In conclusion, the Republicans in Congress obstruct any attempt at forward moving progress to advance their own political, selfish, short-sighted agenda. They lie about budget concerns, and I can prove it.
Put them back in power and see what happens.

Happy Birthday Salma (Hayek)!

"From Dusk Till Dawn"

This picture is good for men's health

http://www.skunkskool.com/showthread.php/11222-Stare-at-boobs-for-longer-life-Study

So is this one

Happy birthday wishes go out today to one of my favorite actresses, Ms. Salma Hayek!
Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez-Pinault was born in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico (one of the few cities I don't remember calling in Mexico as a long distance operator for AT&T).
Really? I had no idea she was Mexican. I thought she was Irish. I admit that name should have given me a clue. Oh, I see what screwed me up, her dad is of Lebanese ancestry, and her mom Spanish, so naturally I thought she must be Irish. Salma means "safe," in Arabic, but means nothing at all in Gaelic.
Her family was well off, and she was sent to a Catholic girls school in Louisiana when she was 12. She attended college in Mexico City, where she studied International Relations at the Universidad Iberoamericana, which is run by the Jesuits.
When she was 23 she became a star in Mexico after landing a roll on the soap opera (telenovela) "Teresa." Wow, what a fortuitous beginning!
In 1991 she moved right here to L.A., where she continued to study acting, I believe at the The Stella Adler Academy of Acting and Theatre. Her English speaking ability was limited, and she suffered from dyslexia, a learning disability, which I share concerning alcohol.
Back in Mexico in 1994 (it's not very far from Los Angeles) Salma starred in the dramatic film "El Callejón de los Milagros" (The Alley of Miracles), which has won more awards than any other movie in the history of Mexican cinema. For her performance, she was nominated for an Ariel Award, the equivalent of an Academy Award in Mexico.
The writer/director Robert Rodriguez gave Salma her first roll in an American film as the lead actress in 1995s "Desperado," alongside Antonio Banderas. The film was a mild success, and Wikipedia tells us "moviegoers proved to be as dazzled by Hayek as Rodriguez had been." I know I was "dazzled" to say the least when I first saw her in the film, "From Dusk Till Dawn," (picture above). I don't know why.
Her natural acting ability most likely.
Ms. Hayek would continue her collaboration with Rodriguez for at least 8 more movies, and she performed in many other films as well.
Around 2000, Hayek founded her own film production company, Ventanarosa (which literally means "rose-colored window" or "pink window"). Her first feature film produced there was "El Coronel No Tiene Ouien le Escriba," (No One Writes to the Colonel) based on the Gabriel García Márquez novel of the same name. The film was Mexico's official selection for submission to the Best Foreign Film category at the Academy Awards. In 2002 she co-produced and acted in the title role of the theatrical release "Frida," in which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, making her the second Latin American actress to be nominated in that category (it did win two Oscars for make up, and musical score).
Salma was an executive producer of the television series "Ugly Betty," which premiered in September of 2006, and ended it's run just last April.
So she's been a busy girl. She's a singer, has worked to promote cosmetics, advocates for increasing awareness of violence against women (as do I) and discrimination against immigrants, and for breastfeeding (as do I), and many other things (as do I).
Some of my favorite films of Ms. Hayek's not already mentioned are; "Fools Rush In," "54," "The Velocity of Gary," "The Faculty," "Dogma," "Wild Wild West" (and only because Salma is in it), "Traffic," "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," "Bandidas," "Across the Universe," and "Grown Ups" (and only because Salma is in it).
Ms. Hayek is now a U.S. citizen. On September 21, 2007, she gave birth to daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault right here in L.A., where I happen to donate blood at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Ms. Hayek has proven that she is smart, determined, hugely talented, humorous, committed, loyal, and... exceptionally lovely... for a girl.
All of us here at Joyce's Take wish her much continued success in whatever she wishes to do, and also invite her to Beth's yoga class in Santa Monica, at Yogi Anonymous... and also a very happy birthday! Happy Birthday Salma!