Health Care Reform School
Los Angeles, July 17, 2009
By Danny McBride
I keep hearing and reading about Health Care Reform.
STOP!! ENOUGH!
We do not need “Health Care Reform”. We need to scrap the entire system and start fresh. We don’t need “Reform”; we need “Reform School”.
If you think a bunch of congressmen are going to sit in a room and discuss, discuss, discuss how to fix Health Care, you’re wrong. If you think there is no way that they will not be pulled and jostled by insurance companies, pharmaceutical behemoths, HMOs, hospitals for profit, doctor organizations, heck, the band-aid industry, the paper towel companies and the delicious food service companies you’re wrong wrong wrong! No matter what kind of a compromise you come up with a bunch of Neanderthals like Senator Mitch McConnell (R, Kentucky) will be against it. He’s been against every advance in civilization since the Stone Age. The wheel. He was against that.
Throughout U.S. history, the U. S. Government has had to nationalize certain industries such as the railroads, the telegraph lines, the Smith and Wesson Company during World War I, and the railroads, the coal mines, the midwest trucking operators, and many other companies during World War II, all for the security and safeguarding of The United States.
During The Korean War President Truman tried and failed to nationalize the steel industry even though the raw materials of war were essential to building ships and planes and for many other applications.
We have that situation today. A system where our own citizens have risen against others- -the “haves” against the “have nots”. If you are in the top echelon of Aetna Insurance or Eli Lily Pharmaceuticals you should probably be sent to reform school- - Robber barons of the twenty-first century. As I’m sure you’ve heard or read, about 1% of the people have 50% of the money, and in some cases very much more.
What needs to happen is that the President needs to direct the proper cabinet officers to seize the industry he’s in charge of and run it for the betterment of the American people. We do not need competition in keeping people alive and healthy. It is better for the whole population if this small part of the civilized equation has to sacrifice for the betterment of the whole. Besides, multi-millionaires will not suffer that much, will they? Would you want to put a quarter in a box for every block you drove so the street lights would come on? Should stop signs be installed arbitrarily by competing companies, some feeling you need one, others saying no? Shouldn’t we run things as they are run in civilized countries? What if a doctor says you need some medication and a bureaucrat a thousand miles away who doesn’t know either of you says no? You want insanity? We’ve got insanity.
There is no need for profit vultures to swoop down on the lame, the infirm, or the sickly, or those afflicted with some temporary illness or medical condition. Medicine for profit is immoral.
Picture one of your favorite action movies and the second lead has been wounded. The star of the film runs over to comfort him and say things like “Don’t worry, Peachy, you’ll make it through” as the music pulls at our heart strings. But what if he said “Don’t worry, Peachy, you’ll make it through if you can afford my services to patch you up and drag you to the medic’s tent. How much have you got on you? Let me see your insurance card.”
Nuts, I say!! It is time to blow up the system as it now is.
Just like the railroads, the telegraph lines and such in a time of emergency, we have a crisis and this is really the only way to fix it. What if we were under attack? Would we see what company might cut us the right deal for an Army? Nonsense. Tear it down. Start from scratch.
Do you seriously expect Congressmen, most of whom cannot seem to say no to temptation of one kind or another, to pay no attention to lobbyists with bags of money? They can not. This must be taken out of their hands with Executive Order 1-2-3 and that’s it done. Don’t like it? Go to court. In the meantime, try to put as many effective policies into practice as possible. Nationalize Hospitals, HMOs, Big Pharma, Insurance Companies and everything that doesn’t work now for the national good. Follow examples already working in over 30 civilized countries.
“During the past eight years,” according to President Obama recently, “premiums have grown four times faster than wages. An additional nine million Americans lost their health care.”
Doesn’t that make you proud to be an American?
Make it like the Post Office. Stuff gets across country in three days for 42 cents. Why can’t we be that efficient with medicine? We can do way better, probably.
For those who think lab fees, co-pays, out-of-network visits and such, along with unpayable pharmacy fees are just the way of business, think again. We’re being scammed up the ying-yang.
Time to say “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore” a la Howard Beale. Why do we sit around for it?
No more. “I’m mad as hell”. What are you going to do?
-30-
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Home, Home at the Home
Home, Home at the Home
Los Angeles, July 12, 2009
By Danny McBride
Sing: Home, home at the home- -where the deer and the antelope have to wait in line like everybody else at the never ending buffet.
We did our Patriotic Duty and visited Great-Grand-Mama at the retirement facility for the Fourth of July picnic. Not much of a “picnic” actually because nobody sits cross-legged on a blanket peeling hard-boiled eggs and eating chicken drumsticks. If they did sit on a blanket most of them would never get up. They don’t do much in the way of water balloon toss or three legged races either. Mostly they just sit in lawn chairs and say “nice to see you” because at that age it seems, it’s nice to see anybody not in a service uniform of some kind. We had the extra sodium hotdogs with warm beer. Boy, you know they’re getting the best of care. We had cole slaw (or maybe E. coli slaw) and potato salad, which, like meatloaf, can contain almost any ingredients, including vegetables and small plastic toys. There were also some fattening, artery clogging deserts. Boy these folks have all the best. They pay a fortune to live here and they get all the quality food service any Denny’s might offer.
Then you go back to grandma’s room, a four by four cell with a TV and a toilet, sink and bed. Staying in a Motel 6 would be cheaper and far roomier. What are we doing to the old folks? Can you say “Warehouse”?
I remember when I was a kid my grandmother came to live with us. She stayed for years until just the very few last weeks of her life when she really did need hospice care. But for years she was with us. At first just being part of the family and years later, unable to go over the stairs, living in her own room. My mother took care of her mother as has been the family tradition in most cultures for eternity. Later she also took care of my father’s mother.
But somewhere along the line in the past thirty years younger people have shied away from taking care of their elders as “Senior Care” facilities popped up all over. So for a fee, and a hefty one at that, you can ship your parents off to the “Comfy Care Retirement Home”. Why bother with Granny when you have such an important life to be living? You know the bumper sticker- - Be nice to your kids- -they’ll choose your retirement home.
I learned a lot from my grandmother in those years. She had grown up on the coast of Maine almost as far north as Canada and she had all kinds of stories about her life in the 1880s up until the 1920s. No TV, no radio, no cars or planes - - heck not even the bicycle. What did they do? Well, obviously quite a bit as she was one of eleven children.
We have been hornswaggled by insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, HMOs, medicine-for-profit exploiters, for-profit hospitals, and, of course, the Shady Living Senior Center.
How much is your rent or mortgage a month? I bet it isn’t half of what this place is. Great-Grand-Mama is a widow now but her savvy husband set her up for life with all kinds of investments, even if she lives to be 120. And if she does, the company that runs this ghastly priced bed and breakfast stands to make out like bandits. Hmmm…That just came out without thinking, but “bandits” is exactly what they are. It’s not that she couldn’t be with us- -she could. But she was and is convinced that this is the way to go into her sunset years. You couldn’t pry her loose with a sledge hammer. They have her brainwashed. Oh sure, she gets to play bridge with the girls. Hey! We have or could acquire playing cards here.
One of the big problems now is that she’s not sure if she has cable TV- -remember that pitch recently to make sure you have a converter box? (She has cable.) And how about the hand-held cordless phone? Golly! How does that thing work? An answering machine. Who’d have thought?
As we tip-toe into the health care morass, setting up care for grandma and her pals has to be a priority.
After all, that’ll be me soon.
-30-
Los Angeles, July 12, 2009
By Danny McBride
Sing: Home, home at the home- -where the deer and the antelope have to wait in line like everybody else at the never ending buffet.
We did our Patriotic Duty and visited Great-Grand-Mama at the retirement facility for the Fourth of July picnic. Not much of a “picnic” actually because nobody sits cross-legged on a blanket peeling hard-boiled eggs and eating chicken drumsticks. If they did sit on a blanket most of them would never get up. They don’t do much in the way of water balloon toss or three legged races either. Mostly they just sit in lawn chairs and say “nice to see you” because at that age it seems, it’s nice to see anybody not in a service uniform of some kind. We had the extra sodium hotdogs with warm beer. Boy, you know they’re getting the best of care. We had cole slaw (or maybe E. coli slaw) and potato salad, which, like meatloaf, can contain almost any ingredients, including vegetables and small plastic toys. There were also some fattening, artery clogging deserts. Boy these folks have all the best. They pay a fortune to live here and they get all the quality food service any Denny’s might offer.
Then you go back to grandma’s room, a four by four cell with a TV and a toilet, sink and bed. Staying in a Motel 6 would be cheaper and far roomier. What are we doing to the old folks? Can you say “Warehouse”?
I remember when I was a kid my grandmother came to live with us. She stayed for years until just the very few last weeks of her life when she really did need hospice care. But for years she was with us. At first just being part of the family and years later, unable to go over the stairs, living in her own room. My mother took care of her mother as has been the family tradition in most cultures for eternity. Later she also took care of my father’s mother.
But somewhere along the line in the past thirty years younger people have shied away from taking care of their elders as “Senior Care” facilities popped up all over. So for a fee, and a hefty one at that, you can ship your parents off to the “Comfy Care Retirement Home”. Why bother with Granny when you have such an important life to be living? You know the bumper sticker- - Be nice to your kids- -they’ll choose your retirement home.
I learned a lot from my grandmother in those years. She had grown up on the coast of Maine almost as far north as Canada and she had all kinds of stories about her life in the 1880s up until the 1920s. No TV, no radio, no cars or planes - - heck not even the bicycle. What did they do? Well, obviously quite a bit as she was one of eleven children.
We have been hornswaggled by insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, HMOs, medicine-for-profit exploiters, for-profit hospitals, and, of course, the Shady Living Senior Center.
How much is your rent or mortgage a month? I bet it isn’t half of what this place is. Great-Grand-Mama is a widow now but her savvy husband set her up for life with all kinds of investments, even if she lives to be 120. And if she does, the company that runs this ghastly priced bed and breakfast stands to make out like bandits. Hmmm…That just came out without thinking, but “bandits” is exactly what they are. It’s not that she couldn’t be with us- -she could. But she was and is convinced that this is the way to go into her sunset years. You couldn’t pry her loose with a sledge hammer. They have her brainwashed. Oh sure, she gets to play bridge with the girls. Hey! We have or could acquire playing cards here.
One of the big problems now is that she’s not sure if she has cable TV- -remember that pitch recently to make sure you have a converter box? (She has cable.) And how about the hand-held cordless phone? Golly! How does that thing work? An answering machine. Who’d have thought?
As we tip-toe into the health care morass, setting up care for grandma and her pals has to be a priority.
After all, that’ll be me soon.
-30-
Saturday, June 27, 2009
My Ruff Son Johnny
Los Angeles June 23, 2008
By Danny McBride
Actually not that rough. We’ve seen Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani for years now. The nearly 75-year-old cleric was a major mover and shaker during the 1979 Islamic Revolution which dumped the Sha of Iran from power and set up a new Islamic Republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He’s passed away, but that has been Iran ever since. Until the past couple of weeks.
Rafsanjani is still on the Assembly of Experts, and in fact, is the leader of this group that oversees everything in Iran. We are getting the impression from news reports.that ultimate control of Iran’s politics resides with Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hoseyni Khameini. But while he exercises supreme executive power, Khameini serves at the pleasure of the Assembly of Experts, chaired by billionaire-cum-revolutionary-cum-former-Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Rafsanjani is not in line with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and, in fact, might be said to be sympathizing with the opposition. His daughter and some relatives were arrested and detained recently as a message to Rafsanjani from the hard-liners, although they have since released his family members as Rafsanjani didn’t blink.
What we’re talking about here is Conservatives and Ultra-Conservatives- -people who have their own views of the Islamic way of life. In all this, Rafsanjani may be looked upon as the Islamic Council Member most open to talks with Europeans and Americans. But he is still an Islamic Cleric so as he rises to the top of the American news, remember he is not necessarily the “people’s cleric”, just a little more broad-minded by comparison with Khameini.. He ran against Ahmadinajad and won, and was Iran’s President from 1989-1997, but then ran against him again and lost. He is still one of the richest men in Iran- -a multi-billionaire.
This is from the Associated Press:
On Monday, Tehran riot police fired tear gas and live bullets to break up about 200 protesters paying tribute to those killed in the protests, including a young women, Neda Agha Soltan, whose apparent shooting death was captured on video and circulated worldwide. Witnesses said helicopters hovered overhead as riot police fired live rounds and lobbed tear gas to break up the gathering. Security forces ordered people to keep walking and prevented even small groups from gathering. .
Caspian Makan, a 37-year-old photojournalist in Tehran who identified himself as Soltan's boyfriend, said she had not been deterred by the risk of protesting. "She only ever said that she wanted one thing, she wanted democracy and freedom for the people of Iran," he told an Associated Press reporter during a telephone call from Tehran.
It may not be Tiananmen Square 1989 or Prague Spring 1968, but to quote Bob Dylan, “Something is happening here but you don’t know what it is do you, Mister. Jones?”
Neda’s death will be mourned over the course of forty days in the formal fashion of the culture. This is not going to go away.
This is how The Sha was done away with, in case you don’t recall, and sent to Palm Springs. Mourning takes place on appointed days after a death and the last day and the biggest demonstration will come on the fortieth day. For sure, someone else will be killed, and then there will be a big demonstration forty days after that, and so on until the administration can stand it no more.
Professors and intellectuals will be arrested and detained and there will be many deaths- -hundreds, maybe thousands, we’ll never know for sure..
This is a job for The Mahatma. Right now, Rafsanjani may have to do. We can only observe from a distance because Western journalists, even El Arybia, are forbidden to cover the story inside of Iran. But in an age of cell phones and Twitter, iPods, Blackberrys, computers and satellites, one cannot stop the flow of information.’
In the hideous video of Neda’s death the young man attending her as she fades from this life can be seen wearing Levi 501s. You can’t tell these kids from our own. It’s not like Iraq or Afghanistan. This is a modern country with a few Islamic quirks, as opposed to an Islamic country with a few modern quirks.
The United States has so far reacted correctly by saying little and doing nothing. After all, Persia has been a civilized country since about 7000 BC, so they have a bit of experience in putting things together their way. And it will be their way.
Stand back. Stay out of the way. They will sort this out for themselves.
Go worry about North Korea.
-30-
By Danny McBride
Actually not that rough. We’ve seen Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani for years now. The nearly 75-year-old cleric was a major mover and shaker during the 1979 Islamic Revolution which dumped the Sha of Iran from power and set up a new Islamic Republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He’s passed away, but that has been Iran ever since. Until the past couple of weeks.
Rafsanjani is still on the Assembly of Experts, and in fact, is the leader of this group that oversees everything in Iran. We are getting the impression from news reports.that ultimate control of Iran’s politics resides with Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hoseyni Khameini. But while he exercises supreme executive power, Khameini serves at the pleasure of the Assembly of Experts, chaired by billionaire-cum-revolutionary-cum-former-Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Rafsanjani is not in line with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and, in fact, might be said to be sympathizing with the opposition. His daughter and some relatives were arrested and detained recently as a message to Rafsanjani from the hard-liners, although they have since released his family members as Rafsanjani didn’t blink.
What we’re talking about here is Conservatives and Ultra-Conservatives- -people who have their own views of the Islamic way of life. In all this, Rafsanjani may be looked upon as the Islamic Council Member most open to talks with Europeans and Americans. But he is still an Islamic Cleric so as he rises to the top of the American news, remember he is not necessarily the “people’s cleric”, just a little more broad-minded by comparison with Khameini.. He ran against Ahmadinajad and won, and was Iran’s President from 1989-1997, but then ran against him again and lost. He is still one of the richest men in Iran- -a multi-billionaire.
This is from the Associated Press:
On Monday, Tehran riot police fired tear gas and live bullets to break up about 200 protesters paying tribute to those killed in the protests, including a young women, Neda Agha Soltan, whose apparent shooting death was captured on video and circulated worldwide. Witnesses said helicopters hovered overhead as riot police fired live rounds and lobbed tear gas to break up the gathering. Security forces ordered people to keep walking and prevented even small groups from gathering. .
Caspian Makan, a 37-year-old photojournalist in Tehran who identified himself as Soltan's boyfriend, said she had not been deterred by the risk of protesting. "She only ever said that she wanted one thing, she wanted democracy and freedom for the people of Iran," he told an Associated Press reporter during a telephone call from Tehran.
It may not be Tiananmen Square 1989 or Prague Spring 1968, but to quote Bob Dylan, “Something is happening here but you don’t know what it is do you, Mister. Jones?”
Neda’s death will be mourned over the course of forty days in the formal fashion of the culture. This is not going to go away.
This is how The Sha was done away with, in case you don’t recall, and sent to Palm Springs. Mourning takes place on appointed days after a death and the last day and the biggest demonstration will come on the fortieth day. For sure, someone else will be killed, and then there will be a big demonstration forty days after that, and so on until the administration can stand it no more.
Professors and intellectuals will be arrested and detained and there will be many deaths- -hundreds, maybe thousands, we’ll never know for sure..
This is a job for The Mahatma. Right now, Rafsanjani may have to do. We can only observe from a distance because Western journalists, even El Arybia, are forbidden to cover the story inside of Iran. But in an age of cell phones and Twitter, iPods, Blackberrys, computers and satellites, one cannot stop the flow of information.’
In the hideous video of Neda’s death the young man attending her as she fades from this life can be seen wearing Levi 501s. You can’t tell these kids from our own. It’s not like Iraq or Afghanistan. This is a modern country with a few Islamic quirks, as opposed to an Islamic country with a few modern quirks.
The United States has so far reacted correctly by saying little and doing nothing. After all, Persia has been a civilized country since about 7000 BC, so they have a bit of experience in putting things together their way. And it will be their way.
Stand back. Stay out of the way. They will sort this out for themselves.
Go worry about North Korea.
-30-
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Explanation of Benefits
Los Angeles, June 15, 2009
By Danny McBride
Yup. That’s what it says at the top of the page. THIS IS NOT A BILL.
Okay fine, but it’s an explanation I can’t understand easily and I’m wondering why I pay so much a month for health insurance that leaves me still owing a ton of money to medical providers and labs.
We have to stop referring to ourselves as a civilized country. We are not civil. We are still as lawless in our behavior toward one another as we were in the days of Tombstone, Arizona in the 1880s- -Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday and the Clanton Gang- -shoot out at the O K Corral. (By the way, they still re-enact a tourist version every day from 9:30 to 4:30 in the theater located next to the O K Corral.)
By now we all know that there are more than thirty countries that have better health care set-ups than we do. We may have good science in many areas, but our healthcare system is equal to the lawlessness of the old west.
“Doc, Doc, Help me! I’ve been wounded in a shootout.
“Well, first I have some forms for you to fill out. Then I need to get a pre-authorization.”
“Hurry, Doc. I’m hurt real bad.
“Gosh, I’m sorry, Son, but your insurance doesn’t seem to cover random gunshot wounds. You’ll have to just lie there in the street until you stop bleeding. Besides, I’m a dentist and you appear to have all your teeth. I can’t help you, Son. Oh, and be sure to floss.”
We are an ignorant people, a silly people, the dregs of other societies lumped together as one blathering nation of malcontents, bigots, people who hate and hate lots of things- -holocaust museums, doctors, you name it- -and act on their hate by carrying out their own justice with their own guns just like Wyatt and the guys, although we look at Wyatt Earp as one of the good guys. It’s probably because he won the gunfight and survived to the ripe old age of 80, almost 81, dying in 1929 in Hollywood where he worked in the movies as an advisor on westerns. He would have lived longer but he didn’t have good health insurance.
The new administration arrived with all the hope and good will that any President has had in forty years. Those of us who remember those days of yesteryear recall the good feeling all over the country. I guess we hoped for a repeat of that, after years of flamboyant disrespect for the wants and wishes of the American people. But apparently not.
In 2006 the Democrats took over the Congress and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid became our new leaders. Did you think that something might change? Boy were you wrong. These buzzards run the same show we were entreated to before. Man did that suck. Now we are witnessing the same thing from our hero. Beautiful wife and kids. Sharp and funny. Movie star good looks. A team of supposedly the best and the brightest who will turn everything around. But guess what? Squat. Gitmo. Bailouts. Health care. Re-neg.
He seems to have lost his spine. We were going to close Gitmo, now maybe not. By the way, every time I hear someone say “Gitmo” I am reminded of the song “Guantanamera”, which, of course, is “Gitmo”. Beautiful song one hundred years old. Also used as the “El Pollo Loco” chicken fast food place theme song for their ads. Sing “El Pollo Loco” instead of “Guantanamera”. I digress.
We have shoveled money at the banks that created the financial nightmare.
“Hey, you lost all that money- -here’s some more. Try not to laugh.”
And we are going to invite all parties to the table to solve health care. That’s right, the insurance companies, the pharmaceutical companies, the “for profit” HMOs and hospital and doctor services—you here them advertising. What does air time cost? Fine. It will be added to your bill. It’s a wonder some don’t say “a gratuity has been added to your bill as a courtesy.”
A courtesy??? Why, you…
So, yes, invite the health insurance companies and big pharma to the table, like an old west poker game, and then SHOOT them for cheating, dealing off the bottom, the way Maverick would have done it.
There’s only one way to fix healthcare. Nationalize the whole damn thing.
No more “for profit” medical care.
Having a healthy population is in the country’s best interest. No more pay to play. If I’ve got to go to the hospital, I go. Health care for the common good. No sick people leaning up against me in the subway. Nobody putting off that annual physical or that needed operation. Covered. All of it.
We don’t ask you to put a quarter in a box every time you pass a street light. At that rate you’d never get anywhere. The Water and Power Company is run for the common good. We don’t pay the Fire Department to come to our house but avoid other residences. They are for all, and of course, so are the Police.
“Excuse me, sir, but for us to keep chasing that bad guy it will cost you another fifty bucks.”
Can you imagine that? Well, health care is the same.
We must take over the insurance system and have it be like the military. We don’t ask people to protect and serve only if I send in my contribution. Otherwise we could be under attack and troops wouldn’t move until we all ponied up. Is that nuts, or what? Same deal.
We do incredible science in this country in the service of defense and attack deterrents. Look at our planes. Look at our guns. Hell no- -I ain’t fighting them. And that’s what most of the countries in the world feel as well. Even the so-called Bad Guys. And yet we don’t have to pay up per plane or it doesn’t fly. We’ve already spent enough money in Iraq to pay for this. And nobody blinks. If we used this money to make us all healthy and keep us all healthy instead of expanding our Empire we would all be better off. We are no longer the United States of America, but to the world we are De Los Imperio de los Estados Unidas with military bases in over 130 countries and territories. Rome looks like Freedonia by comparison.
A recent book by Chalmers Johnson has some interesting documentation of all this at this site: http://www.alternet.org/story/47998/ Seven Hundred and Thirty Seven American bases by this count. The British Empire and the Roman Empire had about the same number to police their worlds. Now we do it. How much does this cost? You don’t want to know. Could we make health care a necessary service the way the Post Office is? Of course. Why not? Big money interests pouring gazillions at this so it won’t work. Congressmen and Senators need to be re-elected every few years and they need LOTS of money for this. How can mortal men (and women) change a system that is paying them to fail? We are a hollow Empire if we cannot amend this system. While we’re out policing the world there could be a massive revolt at home. We haven’t got the guts of the Iranians silently marching in Tehran or of the Tiananmen Square martyrs. Two hundred years ago we might have, what with throwing tea into Boston Harbor and what not. But no more. We’re too fat and lazy. Unhealthfully so. We will collapse on our fat selves in another fifty years or we will take action.
You decide. I’ve got a doctor’s appointment. I hope I have enough money in my checking account for my co-pay.
-30-
By Danny McBride
Yup. That’s what it says at the top of the page. THIS IS NOT A BILL.
Okay fine, but it’s an explanation I can’t understand easily and I’m wondering why I pay so much a month for health insurance that leaves me still owing a ton of money to medical providers and labs.
We have to stop referring to ourselves as a civilized country. We are not civil. We are still as lawless in our behavior toward one another as we were in the days of Tombstone, Arizona in the 1880s- -Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday and the Clanton Gang- -shoot out at the O K Corral. (By the way, they still re-enact a tourist version every day from 9:30 to 4:30 in the theater located next to the O K Corral.)
By now we all know that there are more than thirty countries that have better health care set-ups than we do. We may have good science in many areas, but our healthcare system is equal to the lawlessness of the old west.
“Doc, Doc, Help me! I’ve been wounded in a shootout.
“Well, first I have some forms for you to fill out. Then I need to get a pre-authorization.”
“Hurry, Doc. I’m hurt real bad.
“Gosh, I’m sorry, Son, but your insurance doesn’t seem to cover random gunshot wounds. You’ll have to just lie there in the street until you stop bleeding. Besides, I’m a dentist and you appear to have all your teeth. I can’t help you, Son. Oh, and be sure to floss.”
We are an ignorant people, a silly people, the dregs of other societies lumped together as one blathering nation of malcontents, bigots, people who hate and hate lots of things- -holocaust museums, doctors, you name it- -and act on their hate by carrying out their own justice with their own guns just like Wyatt and the guys, although we look at Wyatt Earp as one of the good guys. It’s probably because he won the gunfight and survived to the ripe old age of 80, almost 81, dying in 1929 in Hollywood where he worked in the movies as an advisor on westerns. He would have lived longer but he didn’t have good health insurance.
The new administration arrived with all the hope and good will that any President has had in forty years. Those of us who remember those days of yesteryear recall the good feeling all over the country. I guess we hoped for a repeat of that, after years of flamboyant disrespect for the wants and wishes of the American people. But apparently not.
In 2006 the Democrats took over the Congress and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid became our new leaders. Did you think that something might change? Boy were you wrong. These buzzards run the same show we were entreated to before. Man did that suck. Now we are witnessing the same thing from our hero. Beautiful wife and kids. Sharp and funny. Movie star good looks. A team of supposedly the best and the brightest who will turn everything around. But guess what? Squat. Gitmo. Bailouts. Health care. Re-neg.
He seems to have lost his spine. We were going to close Gitmo, now maybe not. By the way, every time I hear someone say “Gitmo” I am reminded of the song “Guantanamera”, which, of course, is “Gitmo”. Beautiful song one hundred years old. Also used as the “El Pollo Loco” chicken fast food place theme song for their ads. Sing “El Pollo Loco” instead of “Guantanamera”. I digress.
We have shoveled money at the banks that created the financial nightmare.
“Hey, you lost all that money- -here’s some more. Try not to laugh.”
And we are going to invite all parties to the table to solve health care. That’s right, the insurance companies, the pharmaceutical companies, the “for profit” HMOs and hospital and doctor services—you here them advertising. What does air time cost? Fine. It will be added to your bill. It’s a wonder some don’t say “a gratuity has been added to your bill as a courtesy.”
A courtesy??? Why, you…
So, yes, invite the health insurance companies and big pharma to the table, like an old west poker game, and then SHOOT them for cheating, dealing off the bottom, the way Maverick would have done it.
There’s only one way to fix healthcare. Nationalize the whole damn thing.
No more “for profit” medical care.
Having a healthy population is in the country’s best interest. No more pay to play. If I’ve got to go to the hospital, I go. Health care for the common good. No sick people leaning up against me in the subway. Nobody putting off that annual physical or that needed operation. Covered. All of it.
We don’t ask you to put a quarter in a box every time you pass a street light. At that rate you’d never get anywhere. The Water and Power Company is run for the common good. We don’t pay the Fire Department to come to our house but avoid other residences. They are for all, and of course, so are the Police.
“Excuse me, sir, but for us to keep chasing that bad guy it will cost you another fifty bucks.”
Can you imagine that? Well, health care is the same.
We must take over the insurance system and have it be like the military. We don’t ask people to protect and serve only if I send in my contribution. Otherwise we could be under attack and troops wouldn’t move until we all ponied up. Is that nuts, or what? Same deal.
We do incredible science in this country in the service of defense and attack deterrents. Look at our planes. Look at our guns. Hell no- -I ain’t fighting them. And that’s what most of the countries in the world feel as well. Even the so-called Bad Guys. And yet we don’t have to pay up per plane or it doesn’t fly. We’ve already spent enough money in Iraq to pay for this. And nobody blinks. If we used this money to make us all healthy and keep us all healthy instead of expanding our Empire we would all be better off. We are no longer the United States of America, but to the world we are De Los Imperio de los Estados Unidas with military bases in over 130 countries and territories. Rome looks like Freedonia by comparison.
A recent book by Chalmers Johnson has some interesting documentation of all this at this site: http://www.alternet.org/story/47998/ Seven Hundred and Thirty Seven American bases by this count. The British Empire and the Roman Empire had about the same number to police their worlds. Now we do it. How much does this cost? You don’t want to know. Could we make health care a necessary service the way the Post Office is? Of course. Why not? Big money interests pouring gazillions at this so it won’t work. Congressmen and Senators need to be re-elected every few years and they need LOTS of money for this. How can mortal men (and women) change a system that is paying them to fail? We are a hollow Empire if we cannot amend this system. While we’re out policing the world there could be a massive revolt at home. We haven’t got the guts of the Iranians silently marching in Tehran or of the Tiananmen Square martyrs. Two hundred years ago we might have, what with throwing tea into Boston Harbor and what not. But no more. We’re too fat and lazy. Unhealthfully so. We will collapse on our fat selves in another fifty years or we will take action.
You decide. I’ve got a doctor’s appointment. I hope I have enough money in my checking account for my co-pay.
-30-
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Hep Me! Hep Me…I’ve Been Digitized!
Los Angeles, June 7, 2009
By Danny McBride
All I can see is the little cartoon rabbit running away up and downhill yelling “Hep me! Hep me! Somebody hep me!” as the fox chases him, except all of a sudden I can no longer see my favorite little cartoon because- -I’ve been digitized! I didn’t ask for it, I don’t know what it is and even if I did I don’t want it. Who sprung this hoax on us? Why were our usual watchdog groups not paying attention? And why? And why? And a bunch of other questions I can’t think of at the moment!
Some time back the FCC determined that we all should receive digital pictures on our televisions. That’s instead of the analog ones most of us now get. I don’t know what that is either but it’s worked alright since Gunsmoke and Lassie- -60 years of TV and now they decide to mess with it. “Everything’s digital now. TV should be too. You get a better picture” is the conventional wisdom. Over-the-air broadcast stations have been harping on this for months, maybe years, especially PBS. They are afraid that not only will you fail to donate to their pledge drive, you won’t even be able to see the pledge drive or know it’s on. Who will buy all those great hits of the 50s and 60s? (Not me.)
So here’s the deal. Television signals are broadcast from a transmitter from a tall tower. Here in Southern California many are up on the top of Mount Wilson to give them extra height. TV signals are like FM- -they are “line of sight”. If your antenna can’t “see” the transmitting tower then you won’t get a signal. Not to confuse but to explain- -AM radio signals bounce from the earth to the ionosphere and create a large continuing W pattern. That’s why you can receive signals from far a way- -I can get Seattle sometimes and San Francisco all the time here in Los Angeles. But it’s also why you can’t get AM radio going under a bridge or in a tunnel. FM travels along the ground so you DO get FM under the bridge or in the tunnel. But they don’t travel anywhere near as far as AM signals. Same idea with these new TV signals. Old analog signals which may have traveled a hundred miles may now only go 40 as digital signals.
But wait!! I have cable, So I don’t need a converter box. The cable company will do that all for me. Besides, so many of the channels I watch are not broadcast but cable or satellite only. Comedy Central, MSNBC, CNN, ESPN, TCM, HBO, ENCORE, TBS are all satellite delivered to my cable company, translated (most have some sort of code on them so you can’t get the code unlocked unless you subscribe) to a signal that’s sent to my cable box and then to my TV. Amazing science. Now comes the converter box. It’s only necessary for those with over-the-air TVs who DO NOT HAVE cable or satellite TV.
All the major networks- -NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX - -are affiliated with over the air stations, mostly in the lower numbers- -2, 4, 5, 7, 11, etc- -and those are the people who are freaking out that you won’t be able to see them without a converter box if you watch them with rabbit ears or some kind of antenna system on your roof. “Rabbit” ears. I wonder if the fox caught the rabbit. More on that in a moment.
But many people have been worried that they don’t have the right equipment to get “Blondie the Bubble-Head” on the 6:00 o’clock news who will tell you all about the local tragedies of the day- -car wrecks, family shootings, all the fun stuff. Especially my 93-year-old Mother-in Law. She has cable so she doesn’t need to worry. But still she worries because of the campaigns carried on by the stations that want you to switch to this new system. You see, they can use their old analog frequencies as rentals to cell phone companies, among others, as an additional source of income. Also, the next time you buy a new TV set it will have to conform to these new specifics. I wonder if it will cost more? And somebody’s got to be paid for making those converter boxes. I know there are discount coupons now but still they are an extra expense for some- -the elderly, disabled, low-income and non-English-speaking viewers who may be left without a picture. To me it’s one of those “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” kind of things. But we have the technology, people in the right positions can make money from it, so why not do it? Just one more nutsy thing we can do and call it “progress”. Like the Flowbee.
Oh, and the rabbit? Well, once when my daughter was very young the cable went out, which it does from time to time (as in Time-Warner). She was watching Nickelodeon, a cable only channel. I said I was sorry I couldn’t fix this problem, the cable guys had to do it, but we could watch cartoons on FOX on the old TV with the rabbit ears.
“Rabbit ears?” She was almost sobbing.
“Don’t worry, honey” I said. “No rabbits were harmed in the making of this TV set”.
-30-
By Danny McBride
All I can see is the little cartoon rabbit running away up and downhill yelling “Hep me! Hep me! Somebody hep me!” as the fox chases him, except all of a sudden I can no longer see my favorite little cartoon because- -I’ve been digitized! I didn’t ask for it, I don’t know what it is and even if I did I don’t want it. Who sprung this hoax on us? Why were our usual watchdog groups not paying attention? And why? And why? And a bunch of other questions I can’t think of at the moment!
Some time back the FCC determined that we all should receive digital pictures on our televisions. That’s instead of the analog ones most of us now get. I don’t know what that is either but it’s worked alright since Gunsmoke and Lassie- -60 years of TV and now they decide to mess with it. “Everything’s digital now. TV should be too. You get a better picture” is the conventional wisdom. Over-the-air broadcast stations have been harping on this for months, maybe years, especially PBS. They are afraid that not only will you fail to donate to their pledge drive, you won’t even be able to see the pledge drive or know it’s on. Who will buy all those great hits of the 50s and 60s? (Not me.)
So here’s the deal. Television signals are broadcast from a transmitter from a tall tower. Here in Southern California many are up on the top of Mount Wilson to give them extra height. TV signals are like FM- -they are “line of sight”. If your antenna can’t “see” the transmitting tower then you won’t get a signal. Not to confuse but to explain- -AM radio signals bounce from the earth to the ionosphere and create a large continuing W pattern. That’s why you can receive signals from far a way- -I can get Seattle sometimes and San Francisco all the time here in Los Angeles. But it’s also why you can’t get AM radio going under a bridge or in a tunnel. FM travels along the ground so you DO get FM under the bridge or in the tunnel. But they don’t travel anywhere near as far as AM signals. Same idea with these new TV signals. Old analog signals which may have traveled a hundred miles may now only go 40 as digital signals.
But wait!! I have cable, So I don’t need a converter box. The cable company will do that all for me. Besides, so many of the channels I watch are not broadcast but cable or satellite only. Comedy Central, MSNBC, CNN, ESPN, TCM, HBO, ENCORE, TBS are all satellite delivered to my cable company, translated (most have some sort of code on them so you can’t get the code unlocked unless you subscribe) to a signal that’s sent to my cable box and then to my TV. Amazing science. Now comes the converter box. It’s only necessary for those with over-the-air TVs who DO NOT HAVE cable or satellite TV.
All the major networks- -NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX - -are affiliated with over the air stations, mostly in the lower numbers- -2, 4, 5, 7, 11, etc- -and those are the people who are freaking out that you won’t be able to see them without a converter box if you watch them with rabbit ears or some kind of antenna system on your roof. “Rabbit” ears. I wonder if the fox caught the rabbit. More on that in a moment.
But many people have been worried that they don’t have the right equipment to get “Blondie the Bubble-Head” on the 6:00 o’clock news who will tell you all about the local tragedies of the day- -car wrecks, family shootings, all the fun stuff. Especially my 93-year-old Mother-in Law. She has cable so she doesn’t need to worry. But still she worries because of the campaigns carried on by the stations that want you to switch to this new system. You see, they can use their old analog frequencies as rentals to cell phone companies, among others, as an additional source of income. Also, the next time you buy a new TV set it will have to conform to these new specifics. I wonder if it will cost more? And somebody’s got to be paid for making those converter boxes. I know there are discount coupons now but still they are an extra expense for some- -the elderly, disabled, low-income and non-English-speaking viewers who may be left without a picture. To me it’s one of those “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” kind of things. But we have the technology, people in the right positions can make money from it, so why not do it? Just one more nutsy thing we can do and call it “progress”. Like the Flowbee.
Oh, and the rabbit? Well, once when my daughter was very young the cable went out, which it does from time to time (as in Time-Warner). She was watching Nickelodeon, a cable only channel. I said I was sorry I couldn’t fix this problem, the cable guys had to do it, but we could watch cartoons on FOX on the old TV with the rabbit ears.
“Rabbit ears?” She was almost sobbing.
“Don’t worry, honey” I said. “No rabbits were harmed in the making of this TV set”.
-30-
Thursday, June 4, 2009
The Leadership Vacuum
Los Angeles, June 2, 2009
By Danny McBride
I picture David Oreck in one of his self promotional TV ads for his vacuum cleaners.
“Hi, I’m David Oreck, and this is the new Oreck 20-12 Leadership Vacuum.” He squints into the TV with his rodentesque glare. “I’m so sure you’ll like my Oreck 20-12 Leadership Vacuum that I’ll give you your money back, and a toaster oven and quality hair dryer if you don’t like it. In fact, I’ll give you whatever piece-of-crap small appliance you want. But you’ll love it, because this 20-12 Leadership Vacuum really sucks. Try my new Oreck Leadership Vacuum. You’ll be glad you did.”
So that’s why Dick Cheney is on TV all the time. He’s trying to wrest control of the Republican image from Pompous Blowhards like Roach Limbo and Newt Gin-Grinch., the Grinch who stole the Tanqueray…Fat white men with lots of money. And also wriggle it from the Know-Nothing branch of the Republican Party lead by Sarah and Todd Palin and Mitch McConnell and John Boehner. These people haven’t got the brains God gave geese, but there are millions in this country who think they are right on. Shoot a moose for Jesus. How many Joe the Plumbers does it take to clean out a drain pipe? I suppose just one if it’s not too full of crap. By the way, Joe has a book out. Not bad for a guy who never read one. I saw him interviewed on Bill Maher. Does the phrase “fence post, dumber than” come to mind? It was painful to watch. This guy is so ignorant that Maher basically gave up on the interview and said thanks for coming. It was dreadful.
Dick Cheney misses being president. He may actually have designs on the office he once said he wasn’t interested in. Political brilliance. Usually sitting Vice-Presidents get to go for the big prize after their eight years of going to funerals of heads of state. But Dick said “no”, leaving a Leadership Vacuum that brought out people like Reverend Huckabee, Tom Tancredo, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and , and…John McCain. In an election they have no chance of winning, the GOP lets one of their dotting old senior heads have their chance in the limelight- -think Bob Dole in 1996, or Gerald Ford in 76 or Barry Goldwater in 64 or any of the guys Franklin Roosevelt Beat. Name one.
So with Palin, McCain, Tancredo, et al dispatched to the hinter lands, others step forward. Huckabee gets a TV show and Romney, who bowed out graciously before the end, steps back into the limelight with speeches and flesh presser events. But Cheney is grabbing at power he already knows first hand. I can hear him now off stage growling “It’s mine, mine, all mine”. It’s all very clever and calculated politics. With the Know-Nothings gone and the Blowhards in decline, “serious” leaders may now step forth. Except there aren’t really any at this point. You have to figure Cheney thinks he can win next time counting on Obama to not get done anything he said he would. Cheney is already trying to set the agenda for this next four years by all his recent appearances. The more you show up the more seriously Charles Krauthammer is going to take you.
Now Cheney has moved on. He has emerged as a leading critic of the Obama administration over its handling of national security and economic issues. He appeared recently at The Washington Press Club reiterating his defense of the Bush administration's handling of the economy, its decision to go to war in Iraq and its approval of coercive interrogation tactics widely viewed as torture. And now he’s moved on to same-sex marriage. He’s for it, especially since his lesbian daughter Mary and her life partner Heather Poe have a son, Samuel, born to Mary Cheney in 2007. There’s nothing like being Grandpa to soften the heart of an old cold warrior. Although, come to think of it, we don’t want his heart softened too much. All the spare parts might fall out.
So Mitt is gearing up to become public again, although being part of the funny undies crowd that passed Prop 8 in California will not help him. His image of a used car salesman from late night TV as much as hurts as helps his campaign. Yes, he’s trying to appeal to dumb Republicans for primaries, and that snake oil TV evangelist look helps there, but should he ever get the nod he couldn’t compete with Obama 2.
Huckabee is just on TV to stay in the public eye. A Baptist minister and an excellent broadcaster he has the media skills and the direct line to God that a Republican really needs these days. After all, he did come in second to McCain. He’s not going away. McCain will try for another Senate term in 2010, but in all reality, should actually be planning his retirement now. He’s already in Arizona. Just go home.
But Dick Cheney has the power base, the money crowd and what passes for common sense to many Americans. He doesn’t need to go to Iowa to shake hands or New Hampshire or anywhere really. He can just appear on TV from The American Enterprise Institute, have a nice lunch, and return to his new undisclosed location. (Joe Biden gave away the secret of his previous warren…yes…Earl the Warren. Never mind.) Cable news will cover whatever he says as though it were news, even though he has no official job or current place in the American hierarchy of government. And when you can campaign from the TV studio, you are one up on The Rose Garden campaign. They can’t see you being wheeled in and leaned up against the podium. He’s already eliminated most of his primary opponents.
Is he Darth Vader, Dr Evil, or one of those Lizard Aliens?
I vote for Lizard Alien. Watch his tongue. He’s already catching flies like a toad on a log in between lines in his speeches. Zap! He got him! A roach in limbo.
-30-
By Danny McBride
I picture David Oreck in one of his self promotional TV ads for his vacuum cleaners.
“Hi, I’m David Oreck, and this is the new Oreck 20-12 Leadership Vacuum.” He squints into the TV with his rodentesque glare. “I’m so sure you’ll like my Oreck 20-12 Leadership Vacuum that I’ll give you your money back, and a toaster oven and quality hair dryer if you don’t like it. In fact, I’ll give you whatever piece-of-crap small appliance you want. But you’ll love it, because this 20-12 Leadership Vacuum really sucks. Try my new Oreck Leadership Vacuum. You’ll be glad you did.”
So that’s why Dick Cheney is on TV all the time. He’s trying to wrest control of the Republican image from Pompous Blowhards like Roach Limbo and Newt Gin-Grinch., the Grinch who stole the Tanqueray…Fat white men with lots of money. And also wriggle it from the Know-Nothing branch of the Republican Party lead by Sarah and Todd Palin and Mitch McConnell and John Boehner. These people haven’t got the brains God gave geese, but there are millions in this country who think they are right on. Shoot a moose for Jesus. How many Joe the Plumbers does it take to clean out a drain pipe? I suppose just one if it’s not too full of crap. By the way, Joe has a book out. Not bad for a guy who never read one. I saw him interviewed on Bill Maher. Does the phrase “fence post, dumber than” come to mind? It was painful to watch. This guy is so ignorant that Maher basically gave up on the interview and said thanks for coming. It was dreadful.
Dick Cheney misses being president. He may actually have designs on the office he once said he wasn’t interested in. Political brilliance. Usually sitting Vice-Presidents get to go for the big prize after their eight years of going to funerals of heads of state. But Dick said “no”, leaving a Leadership Vacuum that brought out people like Reverend Huckabee, Tom Tancredo, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and , and…John McCain. In an election they have no chance of winning, the GOP lets one of their dotting old senior heads have their chance in the limelight- -think Bob Dole in 1996, or Gerald Ford in 76 or Barry Goldwater in 64 or any of the guys Franklin Roosevelt Beat. Name one.
So with Palin, McCain, Tancredo, et al dispatched to the hinter lands, others step forward. Huckabee gets a TV show and Romney, who bowed out graciously before the end, steps back into the limelight with speeches and flesh presser events. But Cheney is grabbing at power he already knows first hand. I can hear him now off stage growling “It’s mine, mine, all mine”. It’s all very clever and calculated politics. With the Know-Nothings gone and the Blowhards in decline, “serious” leaders may now step forth. Except there aren’t really any at this point. You have to figure Cheney thinks he can win next time counting on Obama to not get done anything he said he would. Cheney is already trying to set the agenda for this next four years by all his recent appearances. The more you show up the more seriously Charles Krauthammer is going to take you.
Now Cheney has moved on. He has emerged as a leading critic of the Obama administration over its handling of national security and economic issues. He appeared recently at The Washington Press Club reiterating his defense of the Bush administration's handling of the economy, its decision to go to war in Iraq and its approval of coercive interrogation tactics widely viewed as torture. And now he’s moved on to same-sex marriage. He’s for it, especially since his lesbian daughter Mary and her life partner Heather Poe have a son, Samuel, born to Mary Cheney in 2007. There’s nothing like being Grandpa to soften the heart of an old cold warrior. Although, come to think of it, we don’t want his heart softened too much. All the spare parts might fall out.
So Mitt is gearing up to become public again, although being part of the funny undies crowd that passed Prop 8 in California will not help him. His image of a used car salesman from late night TV as much as hurts as helps his campaign. Yes, he’s trying to appeal to dumb Republicans for primaries, and that snake oil TV evangelist look helps there, but should he ever get the nod he couldn’t compete with Obama 2.
Huckabee is just on TV to stay in the public eye. A Baptist minister and an excellent broadcaster he has the media skills and the direct line to God that a Republican really needs these days. After all, he did come in second to McCain. He’s not going away. McCain will try for another Senate term in 2010, but in all reality, should actually be planning his retirement now. He’s already in Arizona. Just go home.
But Dick Cheney has the power base, the money crowd and what passes for common sense to many Americans. He doesn’t need to go to Iowa to shake hands or New Hampshire or anywhere really. He can just appear on TV from The American Enterprise Institute, have a nice lunch, and return to his new undisclosed location. (Joe Biden gave away the secret of his previous warren…yes…Earl the Warren. Never mind.) Cable news will cover whatever he says as though it were news, even though he has no official job or current place in the American hierarchy of government. And when you can campaign from the TV studio, you are one up on The Rose Garden campaign. They can’t see you being wheeled in and leaned up against the podium. He’s already eliminated most of his primary opponents.
Is he Darth Vader, Dr Evil, or one of those Lizard Aliens?
I vote for Lizard Alien. Watch his tongue. He’s already catching flies like a toad on a log in between lines in his speeches. Zap! He got him! A roach in limbo.
-30-
Sunday, May 31, 2009
You Don’t Know Dick
Los Angeles, May 19, 2009
By Danny McBride
Dick Cheney stopped by the house the other day on the way to one of his TV talking head appearances. Turns out he was in the neighborhood going door to door to defend his policies on torture. I was very surprised when I answered the knock at the door and there was Dick telling me he didn’t torture. So after listening to him for a half an hour I can tell you that that really was torture.
“Dick you’re through”, I said. “Climb on that old Cayuse of yours, pack up that bird-hunting, attorney blasting shotgun you own, and hippity – hop your way back to Ole Wyoming wherever you’re from- -Cheyenne?(One thinks of Clint Walker as Cheyenne Bodie). The Man From Laramie? (That’s Jimmy Stewart). Whatever. You’re not them- -more like Dr Strangelove or Marlon Brando as Lux Luthor. Just go. You’ve spent more time hanging around after you’re done than a bad house guest who won’t leave. Your expiration date was January 20th. And what is it now? Good-bye, already”.
Yeah, okay you didn’t torture. Methinks thou doth protest too much, or whatever the correct quote is You’re like the little kid who keeps coming into the kitchen to tell Mom “I didn’t eat the cookies: It must have been the Cookie Monster”.
Waterboarding. Sounds like skateboarding or snowboarding. X-Games stuff. Except it’s not. It’s simulated drowning; If you’ve ever caught a mouthful of water while swimming or snorkeling or, heck, just in the shower, you know the panic that goes with it. And here you are held down by people who are not especially being nice to you and you may think that it’s the end.
But how can this make any sense? Tell me what I want to know or I’ll drown you? And of course then I’ll’never know what you know that you might be able to tell me. So if I’m already not going to tell you and I know the fable about the 72 virgins, why would I tell you? It’s as stupid as playing Enter Sandman to try to torture people. I like Enter Sandman and it would be an eye opener for someone who has never heard good rock music. They’re more likely to want the CD for their iPods than to crack under pressure.
But Dick kept droning on. Talk about torture. “We haven’t had any attacks on our soil in 7 ½ years”. Yeah, but what about that first six or eight months when your boy didn’t bother to read his Presidential Daily Briefings, especially that August 6th, 2001, one that said Osama was going to attack inside the U.S? It would have been good to know that in advance. Do you realize more civilians died on your watch here in America than ever before?
But Dick didn’t seem to care. All he wanted to do was to clear his name. His old ship
was sinking and he wanted to try to change the subject. John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales, Michael Mukasey, Michael Chertoff, Douglas Feith, David Addington. These guys might end up being disbarred at the least, or, heck, waterboarded themselves just to show how innocent the whole thing was. But not Dick. He was on a mission to tell people how innocent he was and the rest are on their own. Even if he has to go door to door to tell people.
So the guy who spent the better part of eight years in an undisclosed location and had his official residence, The Naval Observatory, removed from GOOGLE Earth, is now so prevalent that soon he may become a game show host, he’s on TV that often.
All I can say, Dick, is that not only are you Doctor Evil personified, you’re an obnoxious bore.
As he turned to go, I looked down the street to see that someone else was ringing doorbells.
Lord, deliver me, I thought.
It’s Nancy Pelosi.
-30-
By Danny McBride
Dick Cheney stopped by the house the other day on the way to one of his TV talking head appearances. Turns out he was in the neighborhood going door to door to defend his policies on torture. I was very surprised when I answered the knock at the door and there was Dick telling me he didn’t torture. So after listening to him for a half an hour I can tell you that that really was torture.
“Dick you’re through”, I said. “Climb on that old Cayuse of yours, pack up that bird-hunting, attorney blasting shotgun you own, and hippity – hop your way back to Ole Wyoming wherever you’re from- -Cheyenne?(One thinks of Clint Walker as Cheyenne Bodie). The Man From Laramie? (That’s Jimmy Stewart). Whatever. You’re not them- -more like Dr Strangelove or Marlon Brando as Lux Luthor. Just go. You’ve spent more time hanging around after you’re done than a bad house guest who won’t leave. Your expiration date was January 20th. And what is it now? Good-bye, already”.
Yeah, okay you didn’t torture. Methinks thou doth protest too much, or whatever the correct quote is You’re like the little kid who keeps coming into the kitchen to tell Mom “I didn’t eat the cookies: It must have been the Cookie Monster”.
Waterboarding. Sounds like skateboarding or snowboarding. X-Games stuff. Except it’s not. It’s simulated drowning; If you’ve ever caught a mouthful of water while swimming or snorkeling or, heck, just in the shower, you know the panic that goes with it. And here you are held down by people who are not especially being nice to you and you may think that it’s the end.
But how can this make any sense? Tell me what I want to know or I’ll drown you? And of course then I’ll’never know what you know that you might be able to tell me. So if I’m already not going to tell you and I know the fable about the 72 virgins, why would I tell you? It’s as stupid as playing Enter Sandman to try to torture people. I like Enter Sandman and it would be an eye opener for someone who has never heard good rock music. They’re more likely to want the CD for their iPods than to crack under pressure.
But Dick kept droning on. Talk about torture. “We haven’t had any attacks on our soil in 7 ½ years”. Yeah, but what about that first six or eight months when your boy didn’t bother to read his Presidential Daily Briefings, especially that August 6th, 2001, one that said Osama was going to attack inside the U.S? It would have been good to know that in advance. Do you realize more civilians died on your watch here in America than ever before?
But Dick didn’t seem to care. All he wanted to do was to clear his name. His old ship
was sinking and he wanted to try to change the subject. John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales, Michael Mukasey, Michael Chertoff, Douglas Feith, David Addington. These guys might end up being disbarred at the least, or, heck, waterboarded themselves just to show how innocent the whole thing was. But not Dick. He was on a mission to tell people how innocent he was and the rest are on their own. Even if he has to go door to door to tell people.
So the guy who spent the better part of eight years in an undisclosed location and had his official residence, The Naval Observatory, removed from GOOGLE Earth, is now so prevalent that soon he may become a game show host, he’s on TV that often.
All I can say, Dick, is that not only are you Doctor Evil personified, you’re an obnoxious bore.
As he turned to go, I looked down the street to see that someone else was ringing doorbells.
Lord, deliver me, I thought.
It’s Nancy Pelosi.
-30-
Friday, May 29, 2009
Prop Me Up Properly
Los Angeles, May 29, 2009
By Danny McBride
Marriage is no longer happy and gay in California. Well, maybe it’s still happy for some but that’s about it. In a great service to the rest of the state, those who would be wed only to consummate their love for one another and not be able to breed, may as well move to Maine, a far hipper state. At least there you can adopt. Here, we’re adopting medieval methods of torture. You think of California as that state that leads the nation in social progress. Think again. We also lead the nation in mega-churches like Rick Warren’s or Robert Shuller’s or The Mormons or dozens of others. And if two men marry it might bring them all crumbling to the ground. It’s see-yin. (Make the word sin two syllables.)
The California Supreme Court upheld the Proposition 8 initiative this week by a 6-1 margin. That’s sad. So out of touch with the population at large. According to a Pew Research Poll reported in The Washington Post this week, about 8 in 10 Americans personally know or work with a gay person. Hello Dick Cheney, do you know anyone? Only 48 per cent, meanwhile, know a Mormon.
Also from The Post, a 2008 poll by Gary C. Lawrence, author of "How Americans View Mormonism: Seven Steps to Improve Our Image," found that for every American who expresses a strong liking for Mormons, four express a strong dislike. Among the traits widely ascribed to Mormons in the poll were "narrow-minded" and "controlling."
Controlling alright. To the point where they want to enter the private lives of citizens they have no other interest in. And same sex relationships are already part of the culture. Like crab grass- -you can’t outlaw them. It’s as silly as that other thing Mormons do- -baptize dead people, or consecrate them, or confirm them, or whatever, to the point where a good Baptist like Elvis is claimed as a Mormon after death so they can advertise all the names of people who were or are Mormons that they can use in their proselytizing. Just nuts.
And speaking of churches in general…if you want to go to a Catholic church anytime to pray or whatever you can just go, it’s probably open, or there are lots of times when it is open to the public. Same with other Christian churches. But you can’t just go to a Mormon church unless you are in the funny underwear crowd already. This is not welcoming, like Jesus. Of course Jesus was a first century Rabbi out to reform and simplify the basic Jewish laws. He talked directly to God. Then there was Mohammed, who spoke directly to Allah, and who took years to write down his version of the laws of God. Then Joe Smith spoke to a salamander or a lizard or something, and thought the Native American languages were Biblical tower of Babel stuff. We know now, of course, that these attempts at speaking in tongues were just “Joe Smith Gibberish”. But like the 20th Century’s L. Ron Hubbard, the snake oil salesman behind Scientology, Joe was a good salesman. I mean what guy could turn down polygamy? So they got pushed further and further west in the mid-1800s- -all the way to Utah, with good ole Brigham Young having as many 50 wives. So why can’t a guy have one, even if it is another guy?
In 1896 Utah became a state. One of the conditions was that polygamy be outlawed. If you travel to small towns in Utah today, and visit, say, a Target store or something similar (I think I may actually have been in a K-Mart), you will see families shopping that consist of a young man and two or three young women, and a passel of children. They are very low key.and don’t draw attention but to those who are outsiders, they stick out like sore thumbs. There are, by most estimates, 100,000 of these families in rural Utah still, even though the official policy is to denounce polygamy. Every once in a while you will see a 60 Minutes or a Dateline show about these back country families. I say good luck to them. It doesn’t really affect my life. It isn’t going to ruin my marriage, unless, of course, I try to convince my wife that polygamy is the way to go. So what’s the big whoop if a couple of guys or gals decide to hook up? And if they want to codify their relationships with marriage so they can be audited together, why not? They should be able to get married so they can be just as miserable as the rest of us. (Sorry dear, just kidding.)
It took $40 million dollars to pass Prop 8 at the polls last November, more money than anything except the presidential race. About half came from Mormons, although cleverly diverted away from the Mormon Church actually donating the money. It took a while to trace it all, with campaign contribution disclosures, but it worked- -this time.
The issue will probably re-surface in the next election, or for certain, the one after that. The next time the issue will be harder fought. I think this past time people just figured “Oh it’s California, of course it won’t pass” and calling it “Prop Hate”, not realizing until too late the strength of the opposition. Next time the pro same-sex marriage activists will work way harder against the Mormon machine. Why on earth do they care? After all, Jesus ran around with a bunch of men. If one in ten in the population is gay, what does that say for the 12 Disciples plus Jesus? Hey! Maybe He was gay. The Bible doesn’t say he wasn’t. Try and prove it.
Of course, all of this reminds me of the old joke: The Pope hears from God. God says I have some good news and I have some bad news. The good news- - God wants all the leaders of the major religions to be gathered together so He can speak to them at once. Call the Imams, The Ayatollahs, Billy Graham, The Dalai Lama, The leading Rabbis—everybody. And the Pope says “Great! That is good news. What’s the bad news?”
And God says “I’m going to meet you all in Salt Lake City”.
-30
By Danny McBride
Marriage is no longer happy and gay in California. Well, maybe it’s still happy for some but that’s about it. In a great service to the rest of the state, those who would be wed only to consummate their love for one another and not be able to breed, may as well move to Maine, a far hipper state. At least there you can adopt. Here, we’re adopting medieval methods of torture. You think of California as that state that leads the nation in social progress. Think again. We also lead the nation in mega-churches like Rick Warren’s or Robert Shuller’s or The Mormons or dozens of others. And if two men marry it might bring them all crumbling to the ground. It’s see-yin. (Make the word sin two syllables.)
The California Supreme Court upheld the Proposition 8 initiative this week by a 6-1 margin. That’s sad. So out of touch with the population at large. According to a Pew Research Poll reported in The Washington Post this week, about 8 in 10 Americans personally know or work with a gay person. Hello Dick Cheney, do you know anyone? Only 48 per cent, meanwhile, know a Mormon.
Also from The Post, a 2008 poll by Gary C. Lawrence, author of "How Americans View Mormonism: Seven Steps to Improve Our Image," found that for every American who expresses a strong liking for Mormons, four express a strong dislike. Among the traits widely ascribed to Mormons in the poll were "narrow-minded" and "controlling."
Controlling alright. To the point where they want to enter the private lives of citizens they have no other interest in. And same sex relationships are already part of the culture. Like crab grass- -you can’t outlaw them. It’s as silly as that other thing Mormons do- -baptize dead people, or consecrate them, or confirm them, or whatever, to the point where a good Baptist like Elvis is claimed as a Mormon after death so they can advertise all the names of people who were or are Mormons that they can use in their proselytizing. Just nuts.
And speaking of churches in general…if you want to go to a Catholic church anytime to pray or whatever you can just go, it’s probably open, or there are lots of times when it is open to the public. Same with other Christian churches. But you can’t just go to a Mormon church unless you are in the funny underwear crowd already. This is not welcoming, like Jesus. Of course Jesus was a first century Rabbi out to reform and simplify the basic Jewish laws. He talked directly to God. Then there was Mohammed, who spoke directly to Allah, and who took years to write down his version of the laws of God. Then Joe Smith spoke to a salamander or a lizard or something, and thought the Native American languages were Biblical tower of Babel stuff. We know now, of course, that these attempts at speaking in tongues were just “Joe Smith Gibberish”. But like the 20th Century’s L. Ron Hubbard, the snake oil salesman behind Scientology, Joe was a good salesman. I mean what guy could turn down polygamy? So they got pushed further and further west in the mid-1800s- -all the way to Utah, with good ole Brigham Young having as many 50 wives. So why can’t a guy have one, even if it is another guy?
In 1896 Utah became a state. One of the conditions was that polygamy be outlawed. If you travel to small towns in Utah today, and visit, say, a Target store or something similar (I think I may actually have been in a K-Mart), you will see families shopping that consist of a young man and two or three young women, and a passel of children. They are very low key.and don’t draw attention but to those who are outsiders, they stick out like sore thumbs. There are, by most estimates, 100,000 of these families in rural Utah still, even though the official policy is to denounce polygamy. Every once in a while you will see a 60 Minutes or a Dateline show about these back country families. I say good luck to them. It doesn’t really affect my life. It isn’t going to ruin my marriage, unless, of course, I try to convince my wife that polygamy is the way to go. So what’s the big whoop if a couple of guys or gals decide to hook up? And if they want to codify their relationships with marriage so they can be audited together, why not? They should be able to get married so they can be just as miserable as the rest of us. (Sorry dear, just kidding.)
It took $40 million dollars to pass Prop 8 at the polls last November, more money than anything except the presidential race. About half came from Mormons, although cleverly diverted away from the Mormon Church actually donating the money. It took a while to trace it all, with campaign contribution disclosures, but it worked- -this time.
The issue will probably re-surface in the next election, or for certain, the one after that. The next time the issue will be harder fought. I think this past time people just figured “Oh it’s California, of course it won’t pass” and calling it “Prop Hate”, not realizing until too late the strength of the opposition. Next time the pro same-sex marriage activists will work way harder against the Mormon machine. Why on earth do they care? After all, Jesus ran around with a bunch of men. If one in ten in the population is gay, what does that say for the 12 Disciples plus Jesus? Hey! Maybe He was gay. The Bible doesn’t say he wasn’t. Try and prove it.
Of course, all of this reminds me of the old joke: The Pope hears from God. God says I have some good news and I have some bad news. The good news- - God wants all the leaders of the major religions to be gathered together so He can speak to them at once. Call the Imams, The Ayatollahs, Billy Graham, The Dalai Lama, The leading Rabbis—everybody. And the Pope says “Great! That is good news. What’s the bad news?”
And God says “I’m going to meet you all in Salt Lake City”.
-30
Potty Party
By Danny McBride
Los Angeles, March 7, 2009
Like everyone who has ever spawned, sooner or later the progeny will evolve and mature and have progeny of their own. Your grandchildren. Then you will have no excuse to avoid that “special party” at Chuck E Cheese’s. Flashing lights - - loud music- -and some guy in a rat suit. The very best in rodent entertainment. Fortunately they serve beer. Beer? At a kids’ arcade? Hmmm…What focus group thought this up?
Most ice cream, pizza parlors and burger joints have kid’s party packages complete with clowns or huggie bears. We have one near us with a giant robin and another with a huge octopus. As Gramps you get to see them all. You’re retired, or so the people who control your career think, and so have no good reason why you can’t go to little Holy Terror of Satan’s birthday party, or graduation from pre-school party, or, as we- - (Grandma and I) just did, a “Potty Party” celebrating the fact that your little darling one has finally learned not to pee his pants. I ask you- -did they ever have such a party for you when you finally learned to go “diaper free”? I didn’t think so. Me either.
So just as one learns to control one’s bladder and the timing of relieving one’s self, they bring you to a place that serves beer. Am I the only one that sees the irony in this? Beer. Now it’s Grampa who has trouble controlling his bladder and is challenged with the one beverage that contributes to the timing of his bio-rhythms. It’s just plain evil.
Of course a certain amount of alcohol is necessary to persevere in an environment of screaming sugared-up micro-boppers and to say “Sure, why not?” to one more $35 plain cheese pizza which is about the same quality as frozen pizza- -unthawed. Beer. Soon it will be Grampa’s turn to return to the diaper. Shall we also have a party then? Will they serve beer? Probably not. Probably prune juice.
But the very idea of sedating the adults while over-amping the children works so well as family entertainment that regardless of the economic times, these places are booming.
“Grampa, can I have another ten bucks for tokens?” Why not? They have to be introduced to slot machines and gambling sooner or later and what better time to do it than surrounded by friends and family in the cozy setting of a cacophonous arcade.
What a deprived childhood we had. No video games- -we went to the park. No flashing lights- -we climbed trees. No tokens- -we played tiddlywinks. And most conspicuously- -no beer. Except for Uncle Willie. I think he must have had a little bottle of something with him at all times. After all- -he was retired.
Los Angeles, March 7, 2009
Like everyone who has ever spawned, sooner or later the progeny will evolve and mature and have progeny of their own. Your grandchildren. Then you will have no excuse to avoid that “special party” at Chuck E Cheese’s. Flashing lights - - loud music- -and some guy in a rat suit. The very best in rodent entertainment. Fortunately they serve beer. Beer? At a kids’ arcade? Hmmm…What focus group thought this up?
Most ice cream, pizza parlors and burger joints have kid’s party packages complete with clowns or huggie bears. We have one near us with a giant robin and another with a huge octopus. As Gramps you get to see them all. You’re retired, or so the people who control your career think, and so have no good reason why you can’t go to little Holy Terror of Satan’s birthday party, or graduation from pre-school party, or, as we- - (Grandma and I) just did, a “Potty Party” celebrating the fact that your little darling one has finally learned not to pee his pants. I ask you- -did they ever have such a party for you when you finally learned to go “diaper free”? I didn’t think so. Me either.
So just as one learns to control one’s bladder and the timing of relieving one’s self, they bring you to a place that serves beer. Am I the only one that sees the irony in this? Beer. Now it’s Grampa who has trouble controlling his bladder and is challenged with the one beverage that contributes to the timing of his bio-rhythms. It’s just plain evil.
Of course a certain amount of alcohol is necessary to persevere in an environment of screaming sugared-up micro-boppers and to say “Sure, why not?” to one more $35 plain cheese pizza which is about the same quality as frozen pizza- -unthawed. Beer. Soon it will be Grampa’s turn to return to the diaper. Shall we also have a party then? Will they serve beer? Probably not. Probably prune juice.
But the very idea of sedating the adults while over-amping the children works so well as family entertainment that regardless of the economic times, these places are booming.
“Grampa, can I have another ten bucks for tokens?” Why not? They have to be introduced to slot machines and gambling sooner or later and what better time to do it than surrounded by friends and family in the cozy setting of a cacophonous arcade.
What a deprived childhood we had. No video games- -we went to the park. No flashing lights- -we climbed trees. No tokens- -we played tiddlywinks. And most conspicuously- -no beer. Except for Uncle Willie. I think he must have had a little bottle of something with him at all times. After all- -he was retired.
Michael Phelps Bongo Boy! Or Is It Bong, Oh Boy!?
By Danny McBride
Los Angeles, February 7, 2009
Olympic swimming star Michael Phelps made news this week because a photograph of him appeared in a British tabloid showing him in South Carolina hitting up a bong last fall at a party. The USA Swimming Team freaked out and suspended him for three months saying “What kind of message does this send to America’s youth?”
Actually it sends the right message. which is, “Smoke all the Chronic you want and still win eight gold medals.” Or “Pot does no harm. Get over yourself.”
We all know that. Why are people still so intent on busting pot smokers? Milk drinkers could be next. Eating broccoli? Then that’s it pal, you’re done.
The “War on Drugs” as it’s called, has been one of the most abysmal failures this government has ever undertaken. I’m smoking a bowl right now as I write this. Where did I get it? At a Medicinal Marijuana store- -legal in California. Where did the pot come from? Right here in our home state where it is our number one cash crop- -more than lettuce, more than corn, more than anything else in the garden. And you can grow it and buy it tax free.
That’s just nuts! Instead of wasting millions trying to stamp out a weed that grows happily anywhere- -sort of like crab grass or dandelions- -we could be making millions in tax revenues by decriminalizing it and selling it like alcohol and tobacco.- - a level of control- -and that would include also for the quality.
Kids can drive at 16, go in the Army and shoot people at 18, and have a beer when they’re 21- -which seems silly because after shooting a few insurgents there’s nothing quite like a cold beer. Or a couple of satisfying bong hits.
And now Kellogg’s has cancelled Michael Phelps’ endorsement contract, which is also nuts. What great ad campaign possibilities: Michael with his bong and a box of Pop Tarts and the slogan “Hand in Hand” or something like that. “Whenever I’m hammered and get the munchies, a box and a half of Frosted Flakes hits the spot. They’re GREAT” or “Dude…Snap, Crackle and Pop…Totally awesome.”
Pot is embedded in our culture, just like alcohol or coffee. No, not everyone indulges but everyone is aware of its existence. I’m not suggesting that we become a nation of stoners, but just that pot is a reality of life in America and we ought to grow up and treat it like the controlled substance it should be treated as: regulated for quality and taxed accordingly, just like tobacco and alcohol. Yes, we don’t need either of those in our culture either, but they’re here, probably to stay, and so is the Ganja. Grow up. Treat it like it is not some fantasy about how it might be in some parallel universe.
But it leads to harder drugs, they say. Ah, no, not really, especially now that you can buy it at Medical Marijuana stores. In the olden days contraband of all kinds was available from black market entrepreneurs- -guns, drugs, sexual miscreants, you name it. So the idea was that, yes, sometimes the sales pitch was that one should try this or that also for sale from some guy with no actual name at 3:00 in the morning. That was the only connection. with pot. Separated out to its own dispensaries there is no longer any connection between the sacred herb and the other junk. The Feds still are trying to close these stores down. The California Attorney General Jerry Brown says he wants to keep them open and will go to court to make sure that happens. Doesn’t the Federal Government have more important things to be working on? Don’t we still have terrorists? A tanking economy? A medical health insurance nightmare? Banks taking billions and then paying out bonuses? Iraq and Afghanistan? On and on and on. What’s a couple of bong hits compared to all this?
You don’t have to smoke it yourself. Just realize it for what it is.
Okay enough. This is turning into a stoned rant. You get my drift.
Good luck Michael. You’re awesome, Dude.
Drift…Ah…Yeah…
-30-
Los Angeles, February 7, 2009
Olympic swimming star Michael Phelps made news this week because a photograph of him appeared in a British tabloid showing him in South Carolina hitting up a bong last fall at a party. The USA Swimming Team freaked out and suspended him for three months saying “What kind of message does this send to America’s youth?”
Actually it sends the right message. which is, “Smoke all the Chronic you want and still win eight gold medals.” Or “Pot does no harm. Get over yourself.”
We all know that. Why are people still so intent on busting pot smokers? Milk drinkers could be next. Eating broccoli? Then that’s it pal, you’re done.
The “War on Drugs” as it’s called, has been one of the most abysmal failures this government has ever undertaken. I’m smoking a bowl right now as I write this. Where did I get it? At a Medicinal Marijuana store- -legal in California. Where did the pot come from? Right here in our home state where it is our number one cash crop- -more than lettuce, more than corn, more than anything else in the garden. And you can grow it and buy it tax free.
That’s just nuts! Instead of wasting millions trying to stamp out a weed that grows happily anywhere- -sort of like crab grass or dandelions- -we could be making millions in tax revenues by decriminalizing it and selling it like alcohol and tobacco.- - a level of control- -and that would include also for the quality.
Kids can drive at 16, go in the Army and shoot people at 18, and have a beer when they’re 21- -which seems silly because after shooting a few insurgents there’s nothing quite like a cold beer. Or a couple of satisfying bong hits.
And now Kellogg’s has cancelled Michael Phelps’ endorsement contract, which is also nuts. What great ad campaign possibilities: Michael with his bong and a box of Pop Tarts and the slogan “Hand in Hand” or something like that. “Whenever I’m hammered and get the munchies, a box and a half of Frosted Flakes hits the spot. They’re GREAT” or “Dude…Snap, Crackle and Pop…Totally awesome.”
Pot is embedded in our culture, just like alcohol or coffee. No, not everyone indulges but everyone is aware of its existence. I’m not suggesting that we become a nation of stoners, but just that pot is a reality of life in America and we ought to grow up and treat it like the controlled substance it should be treated as: regulated for quality and taxed accordingly, just like tobacco and alcohol. Yes, we don’t need either of those in our culture either, but they’re here, probably to stay, and so is the Ganja. Grow up. Treat it like it is not some fantasy about how it might be in some parallel universe.
But it leads to harder drugs, they say. Ah, no, not really, especially now that you can buy it at Medical Marijuana stores. In the olden days contraband of all kinds was available from black market entrepreneurs- -guns, drugs, sexual miscreants, you name it. So the idea was that, yes, sometimes the sales pitch was that one should try this or that also for sale from some guy with no actual name at 3:00 in the morning. That was the only connection. with pot. Separated out to its own dispensaries there is no longer any connection between the sacred herb and the other junk. The Feds still are trying to close these stores down. The California Attorney General Jerry Brown says he wants to keep them open and will go to court to make sure that happens. Doesn’t the Federal Government have more important things to be working on? Don’t we still have terrorists? A tanking economy? A medical health insurance nightmare? Banks taking billions and then paying out bonuses? Iraq and Afghanistan? On and on and on. What’s a couple of bong hits compared to all this?
You don’t have to smoke it yourself. Just realize it for what it is.
Okay enough. This is turning into a stoned rant. You get my drift.
Good luck Michael. You’re awesome, Dude.
Drift…Ah…Yeah…
-30-
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