Skid Row Diary 15

11   August   2003     Monday       Day 30

   I had left my small portable television set on and “The X-Files,” was just ending as I woke with that strange pressure in the center of my chest once again. Once I became aware of it I could not return to sleep, tossing and turning for a half hour, before getting up and changing the channel to 9, and “The Outer Limits,” and watched the last half of an episode starring Enrico Colantoni, the bald actor from “Just Shoot Me.”

   I soon became uninterested and switched over to the radio and listened to Frank Sontag’s “Impact,” show.

   Frankie wasn’t feeling very well this morning, complaining of nausea. His show suffered from it. He was fairly confrontational with each caller, but the blame cannot entirely be laid on his shoulders. Most of the callers I heard were... and how can I put this delicately... witless morons. One gentleman claimed he loved Hispanics and knew quite a few personally, and was concerned they were taking over the country.

   “Why does that frighten you?” Frank asked.

   “Is that the way you think the country should be?” the caller replied.

   “It doesn’t matter,” Frank said. “They’re just people!”

   A sixteen year old male called in informing Frank that Jesus Christ had been a Nazi.

   “Are you a Christian, Frank?” the boy asked.

   “Yes I am... I’m most certainly a Christian.”

   “Because sometimes I hear you talking about Buddhism.”

   “I’m a Buddhist too,” Frank said. “I’m a Buddhist and a Christian.”

   “But the Bible says you can’t have any other Gods than Jesus.”

   “Where does it say that?” Frank asked.

   “Read scripture Frank.”

   “I’ve read the Bible front to back and I didn’t read anywhere that you cannot be a Christian and a Buddhist!”

   “Read scripture Frank.”

   The Second Commandment of the Old Testament states  “You shall have no other gods before me.”  Yet Buddhist worship no deity or God, so rightfully being a Buddhist and Christian could be an exemption... a loophole if you will.

   Personally I bypass the entire controversy by declaring I’m not a Christian.

  The last caller I overheard before finally drifting back to sleep sounded like a bad impersonation of Austin Powers, calling Frank “baby,” every two sentences, and complaining that the subject matter of the show was not political enough for him.

   “Have you been drinking?” Frank asked.

   I feel a certain kinship with Frank Sontag. He’s just a few months older than I am, we practically share the same political and philosophical views, we’re both rugged of build, extremely sexy, with the added bonus of being ridiculously good looking, and both of our love lives are straight in the toilet.

   I was riding in the back of a taxi in Brooklyn, NY, in midafternoon, the sky a tad cloudy. A young, beautiful woman with sparkling red hair was driving. I looked at her cab license attached to the dashboard which told me her name was Elaine Nardo, a divorced mother of two, struggling to cope while trying to realize her ambitions in the field of fine art. She looked a lot like the actress Marilu Henner... very pretty. I looked to my right and noticed a small dark haired man sitting on the other side of the backseat, staring at the back of the driver’s head. I felt like I was in a dream.

   “Where are we going?” I asked.

   “Where do you want to go?” the redhead asked.

   “I’m not sure.”

   “We better get to Poughkeepsie then. You still picking your feet in Poughkeepsie?”

   “What?”

   “You’re still picking your feet in Poughkeepsie aren’t ya?”

   “That’s a good fare Nardo,” the little man next to me barked. “Let’s go.”

   “Picking my feet?” I looked down and noticed I wasn’t wearing any shoes or socks.

   “Yeah,” the driver said. “Take over Louie.”

   I blinked and suddenly the two had switched places, the lovely redhead sitting next to me with the short guy driving. She was looking at me ominously. 

   “Hi,” I said to her weakly.

   “Don’t Hi me, buddy. Let me look at those feet.”

   “My feet?”

   “Yeah, give them to me. I think he’s been picking his feet Louie.”

   “He looks like a foot picker to me,” the man said.

   “A foot picker? What does that even mean?”

   “It means you’ve been picking at those feet... let me see.”

   She grabbed my feet and placed them in her cute lap and began to manhandle them.

   “Yeah Lou... these feet have been picked for sure. “THESE ARE SOME PICKED FEET!”

   Suddenly the car swerved over a a road barrier and slipped into the frigid East River.

   Fortunately I was able to swim quickly to safety due to the fact that my feet had recently been picked...

   I woke with John Manzano knocking at my door. It was 7:00. I ignored him and he soon went away.

   I got up two hours later, my chest pain gone, but I was sniffling like a little girl, no doubt due to back paddling in that freaking river for so long.

   I checked to see what Giselle was wearing... pants.

   I had a 9:30 appointment with Downtown Mental Health which I needed to keep, so I quickly showered, dressed, and left the building.

   Their office is just a few blocks away on Maple St. I arrived on time, passed through the metal detector, and checked in. I asked to see my social worker, Anthony, as well as Dr. Perry.

   The lobby was quite full of mentally defective individuals such as myself. One bald young lady dressed in a green sweat suit compulsively snapped her fingers. A black Jamaican lady sitting behind me kept repeating a phrase in her native language, presumably to ward off evil spirits. A guy I knew, Frank Venezuela was there. 

   Anthony came and took me to an office in the back, and asked me what I wanted. “World peace, Anthony.”

   I showed him my disabled bus pass and pointed out that it was due to expire at the end of next month. He said he’d make out a new application for me, relieved that I didn’t have a real problem for him to deal with. I returned to the waiting room to wait some more.

   Homeless people and mentally deficient individuals do a lot of waiting. It’s part of the job description.

   Dr. Perry came for me a short while later and took me to his small office, commenting on my recently grown mustache. Dr. Perry’s a white gentleman in his mid-thirties, and fairly good looking if your into white gentleman in their mid-thirties.

   He looked through my file and generally asked me the same questions he asks every two months I come to see him. He was pleased that I had registered for school and would be starting classes next month. He wrote that down. I told him of my chest pains, and of my impending cold, and feeling sluggish because I’d been up half of the night. I admitted to eating a big Bologna sandwich (with 10 hot chile peppers), and he seemed to think that might have had something to do with my discomfort, as it did not appear to be heart related. Some form of heartburn I’d never experienced before. I told him I’d discuss the matter with my Primary Care Physician next week when I saw her.  

    He asked if I’d been depressed lately.

   “No.”

   “Suicidal thoughts?”

   “None.”

   “The last time was when... two thousand one?” he asked.

   “Yeah, when I was hospitalized.”

   I had checked myself into the mental ward of a hospital in Sun Valley for depression because that’s where the ambulance had taken me the night before after they had picked me up from the police station in Van Nuys where I had told told the police I was having a heart attack because the police had locked me up for public intoxication the day before and had released me at around two in the morning when it was very cold.

   “Can’t I just stay here until the morning?” I asked the police people.

   “No.”

   Assholes. The police in Santa Barbara had let me stay until the morning. It was even their idea.

   “It’s very cold outside. Why don’t you stay until the morning,” the Santa Barbara police lady asked me.

   “Okay.”

   They even gave me a shirt to wear because I’d been arrested without one.

   So I highly recommend getting arrested in lovely Santa Barbara rather than fucked up Van Nuys.

   Returning to my conversation with Dr. Perry, he asked if I ever got lonely, and “Do you ever want to get into a relationship with a woman?”

   I told him, “Sometimes I get lonely, but not right now. Ah, as I get older... the things I seek from that kind of relationship have changed markedly. I would need to do a lot of work on myself before I’d be of any use to anybody else. And the lady would have to be a lot like me in many respects, and halfway free from her own paralizing problems. That’s hard to find. Too many times I’ve been with ladies who were worse off than I was, and looked to me for some kind of salvation. Wrong place to look. Besides, there’s not that many females around here that would be interested in me that way. And I’ve never found it profitable to target a woman and pursue her. These things just kind of happen.

   Most women my age are practically old hags and ready for the bone yard anyway, except for Helen Mirren, and Stella Stevens, and Jill St. John of course.”

   “What?”

   “Nothing?”

   “Having any side effects to you medication?”

   “No.” I’m currently prescribed Prozac and Wellbutrin. I don’t take the Prozac. Dr. Perry doesn’t know that.

   “Well I don’t see any reason to change it, do you?”

   “Not right now, I guess. I don’t want to have to take it for the rest of my life if I don’t have to. That wouldn’t make sense, do you think?”

   “Well maybe...” he thought it over. The County Department of Mental Health had recently been criticized, and the mental health profession overall, for relying too much on chemicals to alleviate too many problems.

   “Let’s wait until after you start school and see how that goes before we make any changes. You don’t want to start something that’s so important and have a bout of major depression...”

   “Okay.”

   As we ended our brief session I asked him how he was doing.

   “I’m doing well,” he told me.

   “Are you sure? Because if there’s anything I can do...”

   “No. I’m fine. Really.”

   “Good. Your health and well being are extremely important to me.”

   I made an appointment for October 6th at 9:30, and took my refill prescriptions and left. I stopped at Skid Row Housing Trust and signed in. I then walked to the Noffel Pharmacy on Spring St. to have my prescriptions refilled.

   They gave me some candy along with my meds. Having missed breakfast I ate it up.

   I checked my mail and turned in the disabled bus pass application to the MTA Customer Service office in the Arco Plaza.

   I walked back to the Weingart needing the exercise, but it was hot, hot, hot. Global warming is taking effect. People are dying in France right now due to excessive heat. It could reach over 100 degrees locally today.

   John Manzano caught me at lunch.

   “Hey gangster,” he said to me as I sat down.

   “Hey.”

   “So what are you up to today,” he asked.

   “Nothing. What are you up to?”

   “Nothing.”

   Up in my room I began to read from “2001,” and promptly fell asleep.

   I dreamt I was in a haunted house in Seattle with Nancy Travis, the beautiful and talented actress and star of “Married to the Mob,” and “So I Married an Axe Murderer.” We both explored the large mansion until it got so scary we went fishing in Puget Sound. I caught a flounder.

   I felt like doing something constructive after I woke. I wrote while listening to NPR.

   Spaghetti and meat sauce was on the dinner menu. That was in a can, as I decided to eat in my room. I looked for my can opener, the key to to my large stash of canned goods I store in the northwest corner of my lonely room. I remembered that John Manzano had borrowed it to open a can of oysters and hadn’t returned it.

   I didn’t feel like standing in line to eat, so I went without. I could have made a sandwich, or hot dog, or some Top Ramen, but I wasn’t really that hungry.

   I spent most of the night listlessly watching television and reading.

   John Manzano knocked on my door two or three times. I didn’t respond.

   I planned on going to sleep after the Channel 13 News at 11, with Lauren Sanchez, who is the only reason to watch broadcast news as far as I’m concerned.

   Many people I know, many, feel that local... hell, even national television networks should drop the pretense and just go ahead and hire ex-beauty queens and Playboy models as anchors and dress them in bikinis for the daily news. I for one, am totally against the blatant use of sex appeal in order to gain ratings. Too many men would just turn the sound off and stay ignorant of news that was being presented. I will continue to work for an informed and educated America until the day I die!

   I turned the sound up on my TV so it would be ready in the morning then went to sleep.

   Coincidently I dreamt of the beautiful and talented Phoebe Cates, star of “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” and “Gremlins,” truly one of the prettiest ladies I’ve ever seen, who just happened to be wearing that same red bikini she wore in Fast Times. I don’t know why, but she was. It certainly wasn’t called for as we were in the local Food For Less supermarket shopping for jalapeno cheese rolls.

   “Oh, they look good today,” Phoebe exclaimed.

   “They certainly do,” I agreed.

   “You’re not looking at the pastries, Rick.”

   “What? Oh, yes, sorry... they do look good though. Tasty and fresh.”

   We continued on with our shopping, looking for cheap pizza rolls before heading for checkout.

12  August                Tuesday        Day 31

   John Manzano knocked on my door again at 7. He is nothing if not persistent. I once again ignored him and fell back into a gentle slumber.

   I finally got up at around 9. I didn’t feel particularly good, my cold symptoms now more pronounced. I thought about what I should do today, what I should get accomplished, while switching on my T.V. to see what Giselle was wearing.

   A dress! Finally! I eagerly recorded it on video tape for posterity. Who knows when this would happen again.

   It was a Trimar day, but I didn’t feel like going. I really shouldn’t donate plasma when I’m sick anyway.

   I did manage to go and check my mail. Nothing. No response yet from Voc Rehab or the DPSS.

   I decided to get my session with Labren done since I would be hanging around the hotel anyway. I waited for 45 minutes in the lobby outside of her office for her to finish typing something. I wrote while waiting.

   I gave her a quick rundown on what was happening with me when I was finally called to her office. Still looking for a job, registered for school, GR cash should kick in again next month. I told her that the two times I had appointments with Larry the job developer, he hadn’t been there. She called him giving the phone to me, and I unleashed hell on his voice mail. I also told her that I had attended two Phase Three meetings, but Mrs. Sanchez, the housing specialist, hadn’t shown up either. Labren called her up as well and I gave her hell to.

   She asked me to take a urine test, then forgot about it. Once again I have escaped form having my urine mistreated.

   She told me to keep up the good work and I went to eat some beef stew for lunch.

   I saw Gary Porch but did not speak to him. The whole left side of his face was blue and swollen. He’d been bad again.

   I felt very sluggish and out of sorts, and it wasn’t just because of the beef stew. I fell asleep up in my room near 1 o’clock. Uneasily I dreamt I was at China Lake with Madeline Stowe and Ione Skye, the beautiful and talented stars of “The General’s Daughter,” and “Say Anything,” respectively.

   We were skinny dipping in the middle of a cool, cloudless night, with a full moon suspended in the sky overhead. The girls ganged up on me, holding my head under the water until I woke up gasping for breath.

   I wrote while listening to NPR, then finished the Clarke 2001 book. Reading it one finds fault with the film by not adequately explaining how David Bowman came to join up with the extraterrestrials. Kubrick thought it was unnecessary to examine such details using imagery to carry through to the bizarre end.   

   I began looking through Peter Struab’s “Shadowland,” which I’ve already read once, but didn’t have the energy to reexamine the lengthy back story, and skimmed to the end. I next chose a Dean Koontz novel I had not read. “Tick Tock.” I was hungry for an escapist fiction fix.   

   I watched the “Miss Teen Pageant” on NBC, but became disinterested. I then put the video “Waking the Dead,” on, which starred the lovely Jennifer Connelly. A very affecting piece of work. It worked on me as I was suitably affected as I went to sleep, hoping I would feel better, both mentally and physically in the morning.

   I dreamed I was on a Quaker farm in Pennsylvania. I caught on to it being a Quaker farm due to all of the Quakers there. I looked down at myself and noticed I was dressed in Quaker garb and that I was only three and a half feet tall. I didn’t know which of the two observations was more disturbing.

   As I was thinking about it Patricia Arquette, the lovely and talented star of films such as “Holy Matrimony,” and “True Romance,” and sister of Rosanna, walked up to me holding a bucket in each hand. She was dressed as a Quaker too, but looked much better in her Quaker outfit than I did.

   “Come on Rick. It’s time to milk the cows,” she said to me.

   “Okay.”

   We entered a big barn and began milking. It was very hard, but we finally managed to get our buckets filled. We took them outside and gave them to the leader of the Quakers.

   “What’s this?” he asked.

   “We milked the cows for you sir,” Patricia answered.

   “We don’t have any cows,” he told us.

   Patricia and I looked at each other and then down at our full buckets.

   The Quaker leader said, “I believe you two are guilty of stealing jokes from ‘Kingpin,’  so come along. You must be married at once.”

   The next thing I remember was standing in the Quaker church next to Patricia as the Quaker leader read the marriage ritual from a Bible. We were holding hands.

   “Your sister had me electrocuted you know,” I whispered to her.

   “Sssssssshhhh,” the Quaker leader admonished, and continued reading. 

Don't Get Mad at Vlad 3

The President’s Speech Concerning Syria

   Yesterday we were discussing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s September 11th New York Times op-ed piece directed toward the American people concerning the United States' President  Obama Administration’s intent to bomb Syria because the Bashar al-Assad administration of Syria supposedly used chemical weapons against rebel forces in a Damascus suburb on August 21st, killing nearly 1,500 civilians, including at least 426 children.

   To date more than 100,000 people have died since the beginning of the civil war in Syria, with millions of Syrian refugees being displaced to neighboring countries such as Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Turkey. Life in refugee camps in those countries is no picnic. It would be like being forced to move to Alabama here in the U.S.

   Secretary of State John Kerry seems hell bent on attacking Syria (a very small, limited, targeted attack. So what’s the purpose you might ask? To send a message, Kerry and Obama would say). President Obama seems to be trying to find any way possible not to attack Syria. Why?

   "More than seven in 10 Americans simply don't see a military response making any difference. They don't see it doing any good. They're very skeptical, post Iraq and even post Libya and post Egypt, that the United States can do something in a limited way in the Middle East and walk away with a success. And so the skepticism is driving it right now," says said John King, CNN chief national correspondent, in response to a September 7th CNN poll.

   Janet Weil writing for AlterNet amassed some other reasons the American people don’t want to attack Syria here.

   I agree with all of those reasons. By golly, come to think of it, I’m one of those American people!

   Vladimir Putin and  Bashar al-Assad  agree as well. Does that make them Americans? Of course not! Don’t be ridiculous, but they are certainly against an American attack no matter how small, limited, and targeted it is.

   Putin points out in his op-ed that military force has proven ineffective during United States foreign intervention in the past in practically every instance. I have to agree. We’re still in Afghanistan. I have absolutely no idea why. The country’s a complete mess. Nothing, in my opinion, has been accomplished there other than to provide a base from which American forces killed Osama bin Laden. The Taliban have been removed from power, but the political vacuum that will undoubtedly arise when the American forces leave next year will give them a golden opportunity to return. So what was accomplished?

   No really, I want to know. If any of you know, dear readers, please leave a comment and let the rest of us in on it.

   Putin continues by pointing out there is no accountable ruling authority and no constitution in Libya after the murder of Muammar Gaddafi, which was the result of another NATO, U.S. sponsored, limited attack.

   Civil war between religious factions still exists in Iraq. Just 3 hours ago as I write this an ABC News reported on the Internet Machine that two separate bombings, including a suicide car bomb attack, have killed two security force members and wounded 37 people in northern Iraq just this morning! I mean who would want to live in a country like that, where almost everybody has a gun, and people go around shooting other people all of the time. I certainly wouldn’t.

   Thank the Lord we live here in the good old USA!

   Not that Putin believes that Iran is actively pursuing nuclear weapons technology, but he wonders at why they may want to, with countries like the United States seeming so eager to invade other countries in the region to force it’s will upon them? I have to wonder myself. Are we in fact promoting nuclear proliferation by our foreign military adventures? We seem to be leaving North Korea, which has the bomb, pretty much to itself.

   Vladimir suggests the world, not just the United States, ceases using force to gain it’s foreign policy objectives, but return to civilized diplomacy... and crippling economic sanctions.   

   Putin goes on to admit that President Obama, by accepting his offer to intervene in Syria, has turned away from the use of force, and a new way is now open to dispose of that country’s store of deadly chemical weapons, paving the way for the Assad government and rebel forces to kill each other by conventional means, as God intended.

   Since no one, the U.S., Russia, the UN, or anyone else is suggesting a regime change take place in Syria, the continuation of the civil war is the inevitable result.

   President Putin welcomes the chance to talk and work with President Obama about Syria, bla, bla, bla.

   Personally I hope that we don’t go ahead and bomb Syria. I hope we don’t bomb anybody! I also wish the UN would do the job it was created to do and attempt to begin a dialogue between the Assad government and rebel forces to end the hostilities in a reasonable, monitored fashion, and oh yeah, while getting rid of all of those deadly chemicals, because that’s going to be a big job, which will take a long time.

   All right, now to Vlad’s last paragraph, where he managed to stick in a real zinger, the possible reason why Senator Menendez wanted to projectile vomit all over everybody, and got so many other politicians so upset. He refused to admit that the United States of America and it’s citizen’s are far superior to everybody else on the planet, simply by being the United States of America, which God loves more than anybody else.

   As a matter of fact God is an American, or at least an honorary American, or actually, if God where to come down from Heaven and enter our country illegally, we’d grant him (for God is surely a man) amnesty, and could become a naturalized citizen, and enjoy all of the benefits thereof (like getting a driver’s license, Social Security, food stamps (if the Republicans haven’t shut down the SNAP program by the time God gets here that is), on and on).  

   Putin pointed out that President Obama in his speech to the nation which can found above, made a case for American exceptionalism. Obama said American policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” Our policies like bombing other countries whenever we want to. Obama’s right of course. What other country can do that?

   Come to think of it, I guess Russia itself could get away with it if they wanted to... and China... and France... Great Britain, possibly some others. Maybe those countries are exceptional too?

   But if those other countries are exceptional too, doesn’t that mean... oh man, I’m getting a headache.

   Maybe it’s our vast immigration policy that makes us exceptional. What’s that? Oh yeah, we don’t have an immigration policy.

   Our universal health care for all of our citizens? Aaahhh no, I guess not.

   Our social safety net, like medicare and social security and food stamps? We do have those, so I’m almost positive that no one would want to diminish them in any way, or turn them over to private interests who would destroy them in the casino stock market just for gross financial gain.

   But other countries have social safety nets too! God damn it!

   Oh, sorry God.

   We pioneered the atomic bomb and the technology to destroy ourselves a thousand times over. That truly is exceptional.

   Wikipedia tells us, “American exceptionalism is the theory that the United States is "qualitatively different" from other nations. In this view, America's exceptionalism stems from its emergence from a revolution, becoming what political scientist Seymour Martin Lipset called "the first new nation" and developing a uniquely American ideology, "Americanism", based on liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, republicanism, populism and laissez-faire. This ideology itself is often referred to as "American exceptionalism."

   Although the term does not necessarily imply superiority, many neoconservative and American conservative writers have promoted its use in that sense. To them, the United States is like the biblical shining "City upon a Hill", and exempt from historical forces that have affected other countries.”

   City upon a hill... like Denver? It’s the Mile-High City right? It must be on a freaking hill or mountain of some kind. Do mountains count?

   No other countries have cities like that, I’m sure.

   Maybe Tibet.

   Jesus!

   Jesus. Oh yeah, Jesus said something about a city on a hill in his Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:14 (I do know my Bible) states Jesus saying “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

   But what the hell does that mean?

   Ooopps, sorry Jesus.

   Wikipedia tells us that the phrase is popular with American politicians. Some Puirtan guy used it in a sermon and it stuck in the American lexicon giving “ rise to the widespread belief in American folklore that the United States of America is God's country because metaphorically it is a Shining City upon a Hill, an early example of American exceptionalism.” -Wikipedia.

   John Kennedy used it. Ronald Reagan a couple of times. Well if politicians say we’re exceptional it must be true.

   America is exceptional in many ways. Our history is exceptional. Our culture is exceptional. Our Constitution is exceptional. We were the first to walk on the moon. We are the world’s largest exporter of porn and fast, unhealthy food. The United States has the worst income inequality in the developed world, that must count for something!

   But other countries are also exceptional in many ways, which averages out the “Exceptionality Coefficient Factor.”

   I believe Mr Putin’s point is that it is dangerous to encourage belief, or to believe that we are somehow better than all of the other people that inhabit this planet. I know politicians have to say stuff like that to win elections, and people like to hear that kind of stuff, but that doesn’t make it true.

   And truth is beautiful.

   That’s why I watch MSNBC instead of FOX.

   Ooouuh! Smack down, baby! Didn’t see that one coming, did ya? Ha, ha, ha!

   Am I defending President Putin above our own President and American policies? To an extent I guess I am. To the extent that Putin is right. I pointed out when he was wrong and when he was lying, but he also spoke the truth to many things and that must be recognized.

   Is he and Russia our enemy? I don’t believe so. Is he and Russia our friend? Possibly. To the extent that our friendship benefits Russia he and it are.

   At least he was not rude, or made personal attacks on our President and form of government, or openly advocated for the overthrow of our government, as Senator John McCain managed to do in his own op-ed piece which was a response to Putin’s.

   Published in Russia’s pravda.ru, an online newsletter, September 19th, McCain started out by saying he was more Russian than the Russian leadership.

   “I make that claim because I respect your dignity and your right to self-determination. I believe you should live according to the dictates of your conscience, not your government. I believe you deserve the opportunity to improve your lives in an economy that is built to last and benefits the many, not just the powerful few. You should be governed by a rule of law that is clear, consistently and impartially enforced and just. I make that claim because I believe the Russian people, no less than Americans, are endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

   McCain seems to want to share our American version of God with the Russians (one God fits all, right?), and our Constitution. His piece is not directed to any specific issue, as was Putin’s, but just a pure critique, a bitch session if you will, directed at Putin and the Russian government. Some of his points are valid (like Putin’s use of the Russian judicial system to squash internal dissent, and his stance on homosexuality in the country), and some are not. Many of the criticisms McCain describes America is guilty of as well.

   In John’s (we’re on a first name basis) last paragraph he longs for the day when Russia is free of Putin and his regime:

   “I do believe in you. I believe in your capacity for self-government and your desire for justice and opportunity. I believe in the greatness of the Russian people, who suffered enormously and fought bravely against terrible adversity to save your nation. I believe in your right to make a civilization worthy of your dreams and sacrifices. When I criticize your government, it is not because I am anti-Russian. It is because I believe you deserve a government that believes in you and answers to you. And, I long for the day when you have it.”

   I don’t know why Senator McCain felt it necessary to respond to Putin, especially since our own State Department did not. Perhaps it’s his egomaniacal need to stay in the public limelight, who knows? I know this for sure, nothing Putin has done, the Russian government has done, or the Russian people themselves has done to damage, disparage, and traumatize their own country, than John McCain did to America by setting lose the horror that is Sarah Palin.

   Following in this sudden outbreak of op-ed mania, the newly elected President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani (who holds a degree of power in Iran about as equal to our Secretary of State. The real authority and power is held by the Supreme Leader, as it should be considering his title, and who is currently Ali Hosseini Khamene) published his own op-ed last Friday in the Washington Post.

   In it he says a lot of things, but mainly he express a new willingness to open relations with the rest of the world, which would include the United States, and which would also open the real possibility of international monitoring of Iran’s nuclear program (a desire to end economic sanctions against Iran could be a motivating force), which would be a defeat for American neoconservatives like John McCain, who would like nothing more than to “Bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran,” right now if it could be arranged, but would be a victory for the rest of the world.

   President Obama has offered to talk face to face with Rouhani on this matter. Let’s hope those talks come to fruition.

Other ways the United States is exceptional.

Don't Get Mad at Vlad 2

When We Once Worked Together

   Uuuummm, Lunch was good, so now as Ed Schultz would say if he were here, let’s get to work.

   The first paragraph of Vladimir Putin’s September 11th New York Times op-ed points out a possible “time of insufficient communication between our societies.” This may be true... it probably is true. Putin doesn’t offer any remedies for this situation, and greater communications between our two societies would more than likely be a beneficial thing for the world as a whole, but maybe not for the individual governments who historically have desired a measure of control over the amount of interaction our two societies share. Yet considering both countries still control approximately 3,134 tactical and strategic nuclear weapons (Russia: Approximately 1,480 deployed strategic warheads; the U.S. 1,654 strategic nuclear warheads, according to the Federation of American Scientists, and these are just the ones that are deployed. In contrast China deploys about 240, France 300, the United Kingdom fewer than 160. India’s got up to 100 nuclear warheads, Israel, Between 75 to 200, Pakistan, between 90 to 110, and North Korea has separated enough plutonium for roughly 4-8 nuclear warheads, but hasn’t had much success with deployment vehicles) it might be a good idea to keep amicable relations between ourselves (You think!).

   Not to get off subject (which I never, ever do) but I must mention the U.S. and Russian arsenals are not getting any younger, and as they age our ability to sufficiently maintain them diminishes, and carries a huge annual price tag. See the last chapter of Rachel Maddow’s “Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power,” entitled “An $8 Trillion Fungus Among Us,” for a closer examination of this very issue (“US Air Force came dramatically close to detonating an atom bomb over North Carolina”).

   The second paragraph rekindles fond kumbaya memories of when the United States’ and Soviet Union’s  Armed forces united to hasten the defeat of Nazi Germany, our common enemy, at the end of  the European conflict in World War II, and that we came together once again to form the United Nations in 1945. Of course it first mentions that our two nation’s have been fairly hostile to each other ever since, building the huge nuclear arsenal that if used was capable of destroying all life on the planet several hundred times over during the Cold War (not to mention a little phenomena called Nuclear winter). But in the spirit of unwarranted benevolence we won’t go into that at this particular juncture.

   “The United Nations (UN; French: Organisation des Nations Unies, ONU) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated aims include promoting and facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, civil rights, civil liberties, political freedoms, democracy, and the achievement of lasting world peace. The UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue.” -Wikipedia

   And as far as certain UN activities, such as the maintenance of international peace and security, the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action are concerned, the UN is dominated by the five nation, veto-wielding permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, the United States, Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom. How did these nations get such powerful positions on a permanent basis. Because they were the major victors after World War II, and they all had, or have nuclear bombs, so they gave it to themselves and absolutely no one can take it away from them.

   Putin’s third paragraph sings the praises of this very situation in the Security Counsel, which has stabilized international relations “for decades,” which of course is completely false (unless what one means by “stabilizing” is allowing only international military conflicts to persist that they condone (some of our moron friends on the right claim that President Obama is a traitor due to the fact that he has turned the “sovereignty of  the U.S. over to the communist controlled United Nations.” Since there are only 5 remaining communist countries in the world (China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam) out of 196 it would seem that either communism enjoys a disproportionate amount of influence in the UN, or our right wing friends are indeed morons)).

   I’m sure we all remember the League of Nations, which was created after World War I for much of the same reasons as the UN was created after WWII. Yet the League of Nations failed to prevent WWII from beginning and thus was effectively dissolved.

   Putin continues by bringing up the possibility the the UN might collapse as well if member nations bypass Security Council authorization when contemplating military actions, much like the United States has recently done by contemplating missile strikes into Syria for it’s government’s supposed use of chemical weapons against it’s own people.

   President Putin knows that President Obama has pretty much painted himself into a military corner by stating previously that if Syria used chemical weapons against it’s own people (or anyone else for that matter), the U.S. would respond in an appropriate manner. The only manner the U.S. could respond to Syria in this type of situation would be militarily, as sanctions or embargoes or whatever would have little immediate effect. President Putin also knows that the United States would never seek permission by the UN Security Council because the United States knows that Russia would veto such an action, because Russia and Syria are economic and strategic partners (Russia has a navel base in the Syrian city of Tartus, which provides it with easy access to the Mediterranean Sea).

   Putin goes on by assuming that if the United States did take military action in Syria the already unstable region would deteriorate further, perhaps beyond Syria’s borders, kill more innocent victims, including children Obama seems to be especially concerned about (his concern seems to be selective as the death of innocent women and children in Pakistan and Afghanistan by drones doesn’t seem to bother him) increase terrorism, decrease the chances of resolving the supposed Iranian nuclear problem (international intelligence estimates of Iran’s nuclear weapon ambitions have not convinced me and others that Iran is doing anything other than what it says it’s doing, developing nuclear power for peaceful domestic energy and medical purposes. Trigger happy nations, like our own, have been known to fabricate evidence before, such as that which led to the invasion of Iraq), and be illegal.

   Putin points out that by helping President Assad’s opposition, by supplying them with arms, the U.S. is also helping known terrorist organizations, like Al-Qaeda,  Jabhat al-Nusra, and others, who will undoubtedly gain valued experience in Syria to be exported to other countries in the future.

   In the next paragraph Vlad states that his only interest in helping Syria is to protect the law... international law, that Obama would be breaking by not seeking a UN resolution before attacking. “The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not,” he states. This is pure crap, and Putin knows it. No head of state actually believes they have to follow the law, or at least to the extent that they can successfully get away with breaking it. Even George W. Bush got congressional and UN approval before he invaded Iraq (of course he illegally cooked the intelligence that persuaded those two entities to allow him to do so). And Russia gives it’s leadership much more leeway in which laws it chooses to enforce than the U.S. The only true statement in this paragraph is that it would be an act of aggression if the United States attacked Syria.

   But it would be an act of aggression if the attack were sanctioned or not.

   The next point Putin makes did provide some points of contention here in the U.S. He admits that chemical agents were used offensively in Syria, but not by Assad’s regime, rather the opposition forces used them in order to get nation’s like ours to help them out.

   Well we were already helping them, and we help them still. And one would have to believe that these opposition forces would be willing to use these agents against their own people (or at least civilians) in order to carry this out.

   That certainly wouldn’t be unheard of, but Syria has now admitted to possessing chemical weapons and the means of deploying them. It is unlikely the opposition forces have these weapons.

   The reason we know Syria has chemical weapons is because they said they did. It was widely believed they had them, but Syria never admitted it until just recently, after Secretary of State John Kerry answered a hypothetical question September 9th in London while trying to make a strong case for attacking Syria. He was asked was there anything Syria, or the Assad regime could do to avoid such an attack? Kerry said Assad might avoid an attack if he handed over every bit of his chemical weapons stock to the international community, but added that the Syrian president was not going to do that.

   I think Kerry was sorry he made that statement as it seemed he really, really wanted to attack Syria.

   Well guess what? Putin immediately saw a way to outmaneuver Kerry, and took him up on his offer. He used his considerable influence on Assad and persuaded him to give up the chemicals! He called Kerry’s bluff, which gave Obama a way out of this mess he had gotten himself into (first he tried throwing the ball to Congress which is notoriously known for not wanting to catch balls. The President said he would seek Congressional approval before staging an attack. Putin’s offer  got Obama and Congress off the hook). One of the demands Kerry (acting for the U.S.) made on Assad was that he hand over a complete list of all of the chemical weapons Syria possessed by the 20th, yesterday. I think much to Kerry’s annoyance Assad did just that.

   But Putin’s letter to America appeared way before that.

   The Poot (I like to call Vladimir the Poot) went on to talk about how often the United States likes to invade other countries with military force. And we do like to do that. We did it in Korea. We did it in Vietnam. We did it in Grenada. We did it in Panama (forgot about that one didn’t you?). And we’ve done it in Afghanistan and in Iraq twice! We do it all of the freaking time!

   It’s good for business. We hope it doesn’t cost any American soldiers their lives, but if that’s what it takes for Halliburton, and Lockheed, and General Dynamics, and companies like them to make a few more billion a year to ship offshore tax free, than that’s what it takes.

   This is when Putin uses Bush’s “you’re either with us or against us,” line that Stephie was so worked up about. How the U.S. forces other countries to let us do whatever it is we want to do by forcing coalitions together by using that line, giving the United States the appearance of not acting unilaterally in it’s misdeeds.

   We’ve got a lot more to cover, so tomorrow (really) we’ll finish up with Putin’s ode to the USA, how Senator John McCain (that old warhorse) responded to it, and new developments with the newly elected President of Iran, of all people.

   He wants to talk to our President.

   As if Obama didn’t have enough to worry about (look at all of that grey hair).

Don't Get Mad at Vlad!

“An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page (though often mistaken for opinion-editorial), is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board. These are different from editorials (which are usually unsigned and written by editorial board members) and letters to the editor (which are submitted by readers of the journal or newspaper).”

-Wikipedia

Stephen Colbert & Vlad the Impaler

   “I was at dinner,” New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez said on CNN after he read Vlad’s op-ed. “And I almost wanted to vomit.”

   “I was insulted,” House Speaker John Boehner told reporters on Thursday morning. “I’ve probably already said more than I should have said, but you’ve got the truth.”

   Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain called Vlad's piece an “insult to the intelligence of every American.”

   What got these staunch American politicians (and a whole bunch of others, politicians or otherwise) all riled up was an op-ed piece in the New York Times last Wednesday, not by Vlad Drăculeşti III, Prince of Wallachia who is famous for having  tens of thousands of his enemies impaled in 15th century Transylvania (now a part of Romania), and the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s vampire creation, “Dracula,” as one might expect, but that of the other Vlad, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the current President of the Russian Federation, which used to be our old Cold War enemy, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or the U.S.S.R., a country made  famous for coldness, vastness, perverted communism, nuclear missiles, and a Beatles song.

   My very own Stephanie Miller (I hereby declare ownership rights) of “The Stephanie Miller Radio Show and BeanFest,” spent a good deal of Thursday morning’s show devoted to deriding the piece, along with her two “Mook” cohorts, mistakingly singling out the excluded middle argument (#15 in Dr. Carl Sagan’s list of common fallacies of logic and rhetoric) attributed to President George W. Bush, and cited in the piece, “you’re either with us or against us.” I believe she thought that Putin was getting his presidents confused, when I believe he was attempting to illustrate the continuation of Bush era policies into those of Obama’s.

   The op-ed easily dominated yesterday’s 24 hr news cycle, with media pundits if not voicing an opinion themselves, clearly reporting those in positions of power in politics (except for Stephie of course). Host of MSNBC’s “All In,” the pristine Chris Hayes took the trouble to group these responses all together and give them the encompassing title “America’s reaction.” Fortunately his guest, the lovely Russian-American journalist and blogger Julia Ioffe pointed out that the various social networks were perhaps a much better indicator of the majority of American’s feelings.

   I make it a policy never to argue with lovely women, so I checked myself and found some examples of what Julia was talking about in the “Comments,” section of Putin’s piece itself. Here are a few taken at random:

   From Anubis

“The lawmakers should be throwing up on an hourly basis reading about their own behavior because they are mediocre at best.”

   From romolo

“Putin insulted the politicians? I think there are millions of US citizens that view the gang in Washington with scorn.”

   From Get Real!

“Now on display, whining two year olds are running the country.”

   From Steve

“I am not surprised that our lawmakers were "upset" by the article. It hurts to hear the truth about yourself!”

   And from Patriot

“If our "leaders" are so insulted, then why-oh-why have they acted like utter idiots that made America look ridiculous and Putin/Russia look so good? They, our "leaders," make me want to vomit.”

   Ouuch!

   In case you were wondering this is what all of the brouhaha is all about

A Plea for Caution from Russia

MOSCOW — RECENT events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies.

Relations between us have passed through different stages. We stood against each other during the cold war. But we were also allies once, and defeated the Nazis together. The universal international organization — the United Nations — was then established to prevent such devastation from ever happening again.

The United Nations’ founders understood that decisions affecting war and peace should happen only by consensus, and with America’s consent the veto by Security Council permanent members was enshrined in the United Nations Charter. The profound wisdom of this has underpinned the stability of international relations for decades.

No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorization.

The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.

Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multireligious country. There are few champions of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government. The United States State Department has designated Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, fighting with the opposition, as terrorist organizations. This internal conflict, fueled by foreign weapons supplied to the opposition, is one of the bloodiest in the world.

Mercenaries from Arab countries fighting there, and hundreds of militants from Western countries and even Russia, are an issue of our deep concern. Might they not return to our countries with experience acquired in Syria? After all, after fighting in Libya, extremists moved on to Mali. This threatens us all.

From the outset, Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future. We are not protecting the Syrian government, but international law. We need to use the United Nations Security Council and believe that preserving law and order in today’s complex and turbulent world is one of the few ways to keep international relations from sliding into chaos. The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not. Under current international law, force is permitted only in self-defense or by the decision of the Security Council. Anything else is unacceptable under the United Nations Charter and would constitute an act of aggression.

No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists. Reports that militants are preparing another attack — this time against Israel — cannot be ignored.   **

It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan “you’re either with us or against us.”

But force has proved ineffective and pointless. Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day. In the United States, many draw an analogy between Iraq and Syria, and ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes.

No matter how targeted the strikes or how sophisticated the weapons, civilian casualties are inevitable, including the elderly and children, whom the strikes are meant to protect.

The world reacts by asking: if you cannot count on international law, then you must find other ways to ensure your security. Thus a growing number of countries seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction. This is logical: if you have the bomb, no one will touch you. We are left with talk of the need to strengthen nonproliferation, when in reality this is being eroded.

We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement.

A new opportunity to avoid military action has emerged in the past few days. The United States, Russia and all members of the international community must take advantage of the Syrian government’s willingness to place its chemical arsenal under international control for subsequent destruction. Judging by the statements of President Obama, the United States sees this as an alternative to military action.

I welcome the president’s interest in continuing the dialogue with Russia on Syria. We must work together to keep this hope alive, as we agreed to at the Group of 8 meeting in Lough Erne in Northern Ireland in June, and steer the discussion back toward negotiations.

If we can avoid force against Syria, this will improve the atmosphere in international affairs and strengthen mutual trust. It will be our shared success and open the door to cooperation on other critical issues.

My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.

Vladimir V. Putin is the president of Russia.

   Okay, so what’s the problem? Let’s examine the above in detail, shall we? Just you and me.

But we’ll wait until tomorrow. I’m going to go fix lunch now...

Vegetable Ragout with Pesto (Ragoût de Légumes au Pistou) and cheesy grits.

Labor Day

“The good news this Labor Day: Jobs are returning. The bad news this Labor Day: Most of them pay lousy wages and low if non-existent benefits.” -Robert Reich, Former Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September, that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers. It was first nationally recognized in 1894 to placate unionists following the Pullman Strike. With the decline in union membership, the holiday is generally viewed as a time for barbeques and the end of summer vacations. -Wikipedia

Labor unions are legally recognized as representatives of workers in many industries in the United States. Their activity today centers on collective bargaining over wages, benefits, and working conditions for their membership, and on representing their members in disputes with management over violations of contract provisions. Larger unions also typically engage in lobbying activities and electioneering at the state and federal level. -Wikipedia

Robert Reich’s Labor Day message

His Petition

  

   You see that first picture above? The one that says “Labor Day,” with the four flags. It looks pretty patriotic doesn’t it?

   You can even find pictures of naked ladies with the American flag strategically draped over them denoting that Labor Day is a very American and an important holiday, although one has to wonder exactly what kind of labor they’re advocating for.

   Don’t you believe it. Most politicians wouldn’t mind seeing labor unions go the way of the dinosaurs, including those that live in the White House. Republicans traditionally resent labor unions and do what they can to curb their influence. The right wing media, what some like to call the Republican Noise Machine, villainize unions and their members as parasites upon society, and unfortunately those who listen to their dribble, having no minds of their own, tend to carry on and live with that idea as if it were their own, and resent those being represented by labor, who might make a decent living and enjoy pensions and health benefits, as overpaid and unnecessary burdens placed upon the rest of the country.

   Unless of course they happen to be members of unions themselves.

   Democrats are traditionally seen as pro-union, pro-labor, and have indeed benefited by receiving major campaign contributions from said unions as a result, which is another reason the Republicans hate them... unions that is (they hate Democrats too).

   I was a member of a union at one time. The Communication Workers of America,  representing about 550,000 members in both the private and public sectors. I didn’t have a whole lot of exposure to it, and my pay was hourly and not expansive, and I don’t recall how much the dues were, but it did help me by making it difficult for AT&T (I was working as a long distance operator at the time. Hey, guess what, most long distance operators have been replaced these days by machines... how wonderful... for the machines) management to fire me when I eventually relapsed on several occasions and was absent from work for extended periods of time. And my health benefits, which the union promoted and protected, allowed me to enter some nice hospital recovery programs I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to afford.

   Being in that union was also psychologically beneficial, knowing I had a whole bunch of people whose only job it was to look out for my interests. I had worked too many jobs where that wasn’t the case, and the boss could fire me at their whim, for any reason, or none at all.

   Unions tend to even out the power structure of the working place.

   Lately, as the second paragraph above suggests, unions have been in decline in this country. “With the decline in union membership, the holiday is generally viewed as a time for barbeques and the end of summer vacations.” Wow, what a sad declaration. A day set aside to celebrate the average worker's contribution to the country to one that designates it’s a good time to cook some hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill, or maybe get that vacation to Ogallala, Nebraska in before autumn comes and the falling leaves begin to blanket the roads.

   Labor unions and the laborers that make them up originally proposed the idea of a national holiday devoted to labor. A machinist, Matthew Maguire, while serving as secretary of the CLU (Central Labor Union) of New York, proposed the idea in 1882, way before my time... or even yours (others say it was Peter J. McGuire of the AFL (American Federation of Labor) that same year, after attending a “labor festival” in Canada. I have no idea who was actually first, so we’ll let the two duke it out amongst themselves). However, it was the states who took up the idea way before the federal government got on board.  The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21st, 1887. During the next year four more, the states Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York created a Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By 1894, 30 states had adopted the holiday.

   And that was the year that Congress passed legislation that made Labor Day a national holiday, 1894, and the President at the time, one Grover Cleveland (no relation to the city. He is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms (1885–1889 and 1893–1897)), who was definitely pro-business. A Democrat, as a matter of fact a Bourbon Democrat (a Democrat who only drinks whiskey made of a grain mix of at least 51% corn), who opposed high tariffs, Free Silver, inflation, imperialism and subsidies to business, farmers or veterans. Today’s Tea Baggers would have loved him (although when a “Railroad Bubble” burst at the beginning of his second term, causing a national depression he was unable to alleviate, allowed the Republicans to dominate the government which ironically ushered in the “Progressive Era,” a period of social activism and political reform that flourished until the 1920s).

   Grover signed Labor Day into law more than likely as a political sop to the existing labor organizations and unions due to his intervention in the Pullman Strike (second picture above), in which thousands of United States Marshals and some 12,000 United States Army troops intervened in a strike by workers of  the Pullman Palace Car Company, which made railroad cars, causing the death of 30 strikers,  and wounding 57 others. He signed it into law just six days after the strike ended.

   In 1987 President Cleveland opted to celebrate the new national holiday in September, as the unions favored, rather than on May 1st, which was synonymous with, or linked to, International Workers' Day, which celebrated labor forces internationally, but was also linked with the nascent Communist, Syndicalist and Anarchist movements of the day.

   For a time unions flourished and fought for the rights of all workers, whether unionized or not.

   In 1938, in the midst of the “Great Depression,” Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act into law, which introduced a maximum 44-hour seven-day workweek (the United States Adamson Act in 1916 established an eight-hour day, with additional pay for overtime, for railroad workers. This was the first federal law that regulated the hours of workers in private companies. The United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Act in Wilson v. New, 243 U.S. 332 (1917). The Fair Labor Standards Act, as enacted applied to industries whose combined employment represented about twenty percent of the U.S. labor force. In those industries, it set the maximum workweek at 40 hours, but provided that employees working beyond 40 hours a week would receive additional overtime bonus salaries), established a national minimum wage, guaranteed "time-and-a-half" for overtime in certain jobs, and prohibited most employment of minors in "oppressive child labor,"  all in the face of considerable opposition and criticism from large business interests.
   Despite projections to the contrary, the Sun still shines, the world still exists, and the country somehow survived.

   This is one reason today’s right wing, and modern conservatives hate FDR and everything he stood for (Rush Limbaugh: "Roosevelt is dead. His policies may live on, but we're in the process of doing something about that as well."), and wish to repeal all of his legislative efforts (as Gomer Pyle would calmly exclaim, “Surprise, surprise!” The House Republicans have passed a bill that would end the 40-hour work week (it would be nice if we could get Congress to actually work 40 hours a week), dismantling an important component of the Federal Labor Standards Act, which made into law would hurt middle-class families across the country. Sponsored by Rep. Martha Roby (AL), the dubiously-titled “Working Families Flexibility Act” (H.R. 1406) would remove the requirement that employers pay a cash premium for overtime work and instead allow them to offer employees compensatory time off. The effect would be a Federal Labor Standards Act that is undermined of its only incentive against excessive hours and a cheaper way for employers to demand mandatory overtime. Eileen Appelbaum, a senior economist with the Center for Economic Policy and Research, says the bill’s major effect would be to hurt workers, “likely increasing overtime hours for those who don’t want them and cutting pay for those who do.” The Bill was passed in the House May 08, 2013, and sent to the Senate where it will more than likely die and excruciating and ignoble death. Repealing Child Labor Laws are also on the Republican agenda).

   So what’s been going on with unions lately? You may have heard or seen something on the television machine concerning workers at, oh let’s say Walmart, and fast food franchises. We’ll discuss this next time.

To be continued

Skid Row Diary 14

8 August 2003       Friday     Day 27

   Seven of Nine was feeling guilty about the thousands of beings she had destroyed while being an active Borg.

   That certainly must be a tough thing to live with. I don’t know if I could.

   I’d probably start drinking, or something.

   I listened to a Schubert piano concerto while meditating and exploring the universe with the core of my being.

   Not this universe, but the one two doors down.

   I learned that the ever lovely Kelly Gates, Mark and Brian’s somewhat new anchor/news person, is 36 years old. A mere child, but still a twidge too old for me.

   But in her case I might make an exception.

   Giselle Blondet had the impertinence to not show up for work again today. And at breakfast I learned that 20% of black people thought Kobe Bryant was guilty of rape, compared to 41% of white people.

   I asked John Manzano “Where’s the Hispanic vote?” He told me that Latin Americans were 100% indifferent to the entire matter.

   I left for Trimar at 8:00 and arrived near 10:00. The film “Dare Devil,” starring Jennifer Garner was playing (just what the world needed... a disabled super hero), to be followed by “Spiderman,” starring Kirsten Dunst. Director Sam Raimi has come a long way since “Evil Dead.”

   My lovely Rumanian friend Aurica had the impertinence not to show up for work today as well. Linda was forced to interact with me when the flow of blood into the automatic centrifuge slowed.

   This is the second week in a row I’ve experienced some difficulty of this nature. When this happens the nurses adjust the needle in my arm, moving it around, back and forth, up and down, sideways and through different dimensions. It’s all quite awkward.

   Paranoid thoughts of collapsing veins coursed through my mind. Perhaps my veins don’t like, and haven’t liked being sliced open twice a week for years on end. I certainly wouldn’t if I were a vein. I’d be rightly put off!

   Afterwards I picked up a whole bunch of crap I didn’t need while at the 99 cent store in Van Nuys. Instead of hopping directly on to the Red Line when I got to North Hollywood, I walked up Lankershim  Boulevard., to the 5 points intersection where Lankershim Boulevard, Vineland Avenue and Camarillo Street meet, to the Odyssey Video Store, where I looked over their wares.

   Back at the Weingart a barbeque lunch was underway for the veterans of the 5th floor. I’m not all that much of a chicken and rib man, and cooked some smoked sausages instead. I kicked John Manzano out of my room at 4:00, and since there was nothing at all on television this evening, I spent the night in deep meditation, and reading Arthur C Clark’s “2001, a Space Odyssey.”

   When I slept I dreamt I was on the interplanetary spaceship “Discovery,” with my favorite singer and song writer for the last ten years or so, Sophie B Hawkins. Together we sang “Did We Not Choose Each Other,” as we drifted through the gulf toward Jupiter and beyond.

Listen baby, listen baby don't you do me wrong

I can make my bed, you can sing your song

Ain't nobody else gonna make you shine

If it's the truth you seek then darlin' love you'll find

I don't wanna, I don't wanna take your pain away

Isn't yours to give, isn't mine to save

Here's my heart, here's my hand, here's my soul

Take it in, take it apart, take it easy, let it go

9 August   Saturday       Day 28

   John Manzano knocked on my door three times this morning, but when I got up to answer there was no one there. Three times.

   I went back to sleep waking just in time to miss the sign in deadline.

   I showered, dressed, and went looking for Manzano. He wanted to go to the movies today.

   He was no where to be found. I didn’t really care. There was no new films I was interested in seeing. “S.W.A.T.,” starring LL Cool J’s abs (what’s up with all of these names? Why would a mother and father call their son LL?) was released yesterday, but I’m heterosexual, so I don’t believe I’d be very interested in seeing it.

   John Manzano wants to see it.

   I returned to my room and began reading “2001.” Just as I got comfortable and in to the book Manzano knocked on my door again. This time I caught him and chastised him harshly for his earlier hit and runs, then we left for the movies.

   At 10:00 it was very hot and bright outside. John and I both began to sweat as we walked to 7th and Broadway, to the MoneyGram Store where John would pick up some cash that had been wired to him.

   On the way we passed a large film unit that had commandeered Spring St between 7th and 6th. They’re always filming movies or TV shows downtown.

   John’s money hadn’t arrived.

   “That’s Okay,” he said. “You go ahead without me.”

   “There’s nothing I want to see,” I told him. “You’re the one who wanted to go.”

   “So, what are you going to do then?”

   “Go back,” I said. “I’ve got work to do anyway.”

   “What kind of work?”

   “Work work. What difference does it make? I’ve got stuff to do.”

   “No, I’m serious,” John insisted, “what kind of work. Can’t we watch one of your movies?”

   “I’m a writer, John. That’s what work I’ve got to do. How am I gonna get anything written if I don’t write?”

   “What are you going to write about?”

   “I’m going to write about you asking me about what I’m going to write about.”

   “Come on... really. I’m serious...”

   On and on.

   We watched “Best in Show,” starring Parker Posey, Jennifer Coolidge, and Jane Lynch. Writer, director, Christopher Guest does his best to keep actors out of work by hiring the same actors for all of his films, which tends to create a certain continuity between them.

   The movie was good.

   After lunch I was very tired and laid down from 1:00 until 3:30, dreaming I was being held hostage by Laura Prepon of “That 70s Show,” and “Slackers, and Taija Rae of “Hostage Girls,” and “Winner Takes All.” They had me tied to a bed, gaged, and totally at their mercy.

   Unfortunately I woke up when John Manzano knocked on my door again. I got up and answered... no one there.

   Ghosts maybe?

   I made myself a cup of coffee and began reading again. Manzano came back and wanted to watch another movie. I put in “Lobster Man from Mars,”and wrote while John watched.

   “Rick... what are you writing about?”

   “Shut the fuck up, John.”

   “Do you want me to help you?”

   “Yeah. Shut the fuck up.”

   This is the kind of support I’ve received from my friends all of my life. No one takes me seriously, myself most of all.

   Lobster Man cut into half of the 6:00 “X-Files,” which turned out to be the classic Alex Trebek episode.

   I threw John out at 7, taking about as much as I could stand.

   “Oh, you don’t want me to watch TV in here anymore, is that right,” he asked.

   “What makes you say that?”

   “You just told me you were going to a meeting, and that I had to leave.”

   “Oh, that’s right... you still here? Hey, they have a whole other TV in the Day Room dedicated to slobs just like you who are too cheap to buy their own TVs.”

   “I don’t like that one,” he pointed out.

   “Oh, that is just too bad... bye. See ya later. Fair thee well.”

   Alone at last, I read, meditated, and was going to watch a 2000 T.V. movie, “Hunter, Return to Justice,” starring Stephanie Kramer, but the television guide lied to me, and a reality game show, “Dog Eat Dog,” was on instead. The contestants were required to perform difficult stunts to win a paltry amount of money. Nothing new there. If I didn’t know better I would say the whole show was a flimsy excuse to watch pretty girls strip on stage into two piece bathing suits (with plenty of close ups) and then get drenched.

   It’s a good thing I know better.

   I kind of liked it. I think I fell in love a little bit with the runner up... Natasha. I don’t know why. I hardly know her.

   At 10:00 another “Dog Eat Dog” program magically came on, this time disposing with the three male contestants altogether, so six lovely ladies were featured getting undressed. They didn’t seem to mind at all.

   I fell asleep while watching “Saturday Night Live,” where Ben Affleck was pining over Anna Nicole Smith, and dreamt I was swimming in a big pool with “Dog Eat Dog’s” host Brooke Burns and Jennifer Love Hewitt. They splashed and sprayed me with water as I tried to cross a balance beam. Jennifer threw a beach ball which hit me right between the eyes and I fell into the pool. We all got into a splash fight until I started to sink. For some reason they were able to float on the surface easily. My last thought before losing consciousness due to lack of oxygen was “Why aren’t they sinking too?! They’re not even paddling It’s like they have built in floatation devices of some kind. It’s not fair, it’s not fair, it’s not...”

10 August     Sunday   Day 29

   I made sure I got up in time to sign in, then bought a Sunday Times from Jack’s Market. Jack wasn’t there.

   He never is.

   The lady midget who inhabits the southeast corner of 5th and San Pedro, who was at one time a roller derby star according to McCree, asked me for a quarter. I didn’t give her one. I never do.

   As I entered the Weingart’s lobby a young black man asked me where I had gotten the paper. I told him, then he asked me if I would go get him one. He explained to me that he was on restriction and could not go himself. I explained to him, kindly, that even if we were best friends, even if we were relatives and best friends instead of total strangers, I wouldn’t walk all of the way back to Jack’s just to get him a paper.

   He understood.

   I wrote and read the paper in my room. I felt vaguely ill and melancholy. I read some interesting pieces in the Book Review section concerning James Thurber. I also read about China’s tenuous relationship with the United States, Muslim terrorists, and Christian intolerance.

   158 citizens have registered for the gubernatorial recall election in October, some just to get their names and picture in the paper, to either promote themselves or the products they were peddling. Unless I’m given reason not to I’m voting for Mary “Mary Carey” Cook, an adult film actress. Although I’ve never seen her work I did see her picture in the paper, and her smile slayed me (it doesn’t take much to slay me. I’m easily slayable). She looks wise beyond her 23 years, and gifted, blessed, intelligent, economically sound, and determined to make a lasting change for the better in the world’s sixth largest economy.

   I’m almost positive she could do as good of a job as anyone else, probably better.

   After lunch I put the video “Blaze,” on, starring Lolita Davidovich, and got about half way through before John Manzano came knocking.

   “Whatcha watching?” he asked me.

   “Blaze,” I replied.

   “Oh, that’s a good movie. Who’s that girl?”

   “Lolita Davidovich.”

   “Who?”

   “Lolita Davidovich.”

   “What?”

   “LOLITA DAVIDOVICH!”

   “Oh.”

   I was not enthusiastic about sharing another day with John in my room. But he went away after the movie ended.

   “I didn’t like that Pollock movie,” he let me know before leaving. “Too boring.”

   “I’m sincerely sorry to hear that, John. Ed Harris will be crushed when he finds out.”

   “Do you like Ed Harris?”

   “I’ve never met him. But I think he’s a very good actor.”

   “He sucks,” he said, just because I said that I liked him.

   Don’t take offense Mr. Harris.

   The film “Blaze,” had a special meaning for me. My first night ever in a Salvation Army ARC (Adult Rehabilitation Center), back in 1990, in Canoga Park, was spent at the movies and “Blaze,” was the film we saw. The ARC had received free tickets and I got to go. I thought, “Wow! This is a great place. We go to the movies. I’m going to like it here.”

   That was the first and last time I ever got a free movie out of the Sally. I guess we never got anymore tickets.

   I looked through my brand new shiny T.V. Guide (that came with the paper) and saw with great excitement that one of my favorite movies, “Being There,” the 1979 comedy starring Peter Sellers in his last role before his untimely death, would be on. The film was based on the book of the same name written by Jerzy Kosiński.

   I was shocked and dismayed when all ready to record the film I discovered “She Devil,” starring Meryl Streep and Roseanne Barr was on instead.

   The T.V. Guide people had made a fool of me yet again, and dashed my hopes of recording Peter upon the jagged rocks of ineptness.

   I began to plot my heartfelt revenge.

   There was only one customer service job in the paper worth sending my resume to. One!

   Thanks President Bush! Thanks Mr. Greenspan! Thanks anyone but myself for this sorry state of affairs. Mary Carey will rescue us all by God!

   I was hungry by the time dinner time came. Only about one forth of a turkey sandwich was served though (the cooks don’t like to work very hard on Sundays. I don’t know why). I was forced to eat some of my own food later.

   John came by after dinner. We watched “Futurama,” together.

   “This is so stupid,” John would say.

   Actually, it’s brilliantly written and quite funny, but not doing well ratings wise I’m told. There was a notation in the T.V. Guide that tonight’s show was the series finale.

   I was  sorry to learn that the film critic Roger Ebert was ill. Cancer, I believe. He mentioned it briefly on his show. He said it was treatable and he plans to keep working.

   What a great job he has.

   I miss Giselle.

   Tonight’s presentation of “Bonzai,” on Fox caught the beautiful and talented Jennifer Love Hewitt, who had just visited me in dreamland, in the Japanese Reporter Who Won’t Stop Shaking Your Hand Routine, Routine #87. Jennifer, I’m proud as punch to report, was so polite and unassuming, so nice, that she set a show record and lasted 97.5 seconds. The only reason she stopped shaking the reporters hand was because he ran out of questions to ask her!

   Thank God for you Jennifer Love! Well done.

   I made some microwave popcorn and began to record the 8:00 broadcast of “Diamonds are Forever,” the seventh James Bond film. I only wanted to record it because I’m a really a big fan of Jill St John and Lana Wood, Natalie’s sister. Lana gave an amazing performance that fit right in with the movies overall unbelievablity and suspension of reality.

   Where would you lock up James Bond after several sincere attempts to assassinate him have failed? Number one, why lock him up? Shoot the annoying bastard several times in rapid succession and be done with it. (Scott Evil, Dr. Evil’s son in the Austin Powers films was so right!).

   Where do you lock him up? Why stick him in a room with a convenient escape hatch in the middle of the floor, that’s where! If only the local police were as accommodating.

   And I don’t think I’ll ever forgive James Bond (or Sean Connery for that matter) for slapping Jill St John. I’ve seen him do that in two movies now. Of course, Bond is so manly that the women still wish to risk their lives rescuing the son of a bitch.

   I am ashamed to admit that I have done that myself to my sister and my first wife, Michelle,  along time ago. I am so glad that in that respect I was able to change, and violence toward anybody, but especially women is abhorrent to me now. I think the fact that my second wife, Debra, and Michelle’s aunt, tended to hit back and throw heavy objects in my direction helped me mend my ways.

   I am so sorry Cheryl and Michelle. Please don’t ever forgive me.

   I got horrible reception from channel 13 tonight, the channel which was broadcasting “Diamonds are Forever,” so I gave up recording it. After I stopped the reception cleared right up.

   I ate a Bologna and cheese sandwich at 10:00, then got so tired I decided to forego the 11:00 “X-Files,” and laid down on my rack and fell asleep.

   I dreamt I was playing roulette with Jill St John and Lana Woods, but instead of the little ball that is normally used to determine the winning number, a round diamond was spun instead. I bet 3 modified brilliants and 6 American Standards on 7 red. Lana was behind me cheering me on, Jill spun the wheel.

   The round diamond landed on 00 green. I lost. Jill and Lana took me upstairs and threw me out of the hotel room’s window.

   Fortunately there was a pool directly below me.

   I missed it by this /                                                                / much.

   “I didn’t know there was a pool down there,” Jill said.