The Arrogant President…Feel A Change Comin’ On?

Tsk, Tsk, what a failure we have in Obama.
Chemise-stainer Bill Clinton has been making his rounds for him, being perceived as a better example of the Democratic Principles – even after facing filed impeachment charges! Bill’s little problems have been forgiven, forgotten and relegated to a place of fond nostalgia in the public eye. Clinton could not play sax very well but tried and also tried to be a good President, despite human shortcomings.
Obama is taking it on the chin bigtime this week. From being ‘dude-ed’ by Jon Stewart to being called ‘arrogant’ by a Meet the Press panelist, it is very hard to find any positive sentiment to prop up the New Saviour of Liberalism. Liberals do not seem to be saying much, perhaps from the embarrassment of foisting the warped dream of ‘the president who didn’t like people’. That is another thing many experienced newpeople and members of the White House Press Corps seem to agree on – he does not seem to like people. He can paste on the phony smile and gladhand with the best of them (a benefit derived by way of a Chicago-based political orientation) but he just doesn’t seem to like people.
Many politicos can tell stories of Presidents who reached out and showed a human side, one specific tale recalls how Clinton would call political enemy Newt Gingrich at 2am and bullshit with him in the middle of the night. They were enemies at work but enjoyed conversation with each other, kind of like Wiley Coyote and the Roadrunner meeting at the timeclock at the end of a day’s work in the cartoon desert. Obama exudes an elusive chill. There is no warmth. His smile can be felt just as much on a billboard, if not more, than it can when viewing his visage.
The first strike of arrogance appeared at the email townhall, an event I return to often. Millions of voters who put him in office were asked to send him their greatest concerns, so he could start working on them before he got to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. A staggering 75% of the emails asked him to reform marijuana laws. Naturally, he laughed in the faces of the people who put him in the office as part of the first internet-based political campaign. Considering that these people put him in office, the Asshole in Chief could at least have lied and said he would work on it. Instead, he turned to the people standing on the dais behind him and had a laugh at the expense of his own voters. WRONG!
This is the president who smoked pot as a youth and who understood us, right? WRONG!
This is the president who ran on a platform of change and is running ‘business as usual’. (I get tired of how WRONG)
This is the president who swore to bring the nation together in a wave of bi-partisanism and in recent days has made many politically-incorrect statements like telling a group of latinos to ‘punish their enemies’ and who used a racist image to suggest that democrats put republicans ‘at the back of the bus’. How rude!
By the way, you can thank the influential Dylan family for the whole ‘CHANGE’ slogan. It was Jesse Dylan, son of songwriting legend Bob Dylan (who just gave Obama a cold shoulder at the White House a few weeks ago), who is a successful movie-maker and videographer and who was the creative force behind the first videos touting ‘change’. Change seems like a recurrent themes amoung those Dylans. The Times They Are A-Changing is so often sung in the hearts of the hopeful that it is now a national intellectual property. Bob Dylan marched with Martin Luther King in the historic civil rights march on Washington, DC, along with Joan Baez and Forrest Gump. At least he stays true to his heart.
What has changed since Obama took office? Have things gotten better? Does it feel better? It damned sure felt good before he got elected and was in full party mode. He was all smiles back then. Sure he got hurt by the legacy left behind by Bush but that does not touch the basic point…he just doesn’t like people. Maybe that is why he used to like to smoke pot. Some people get quiet and isolate themselves after smoking. It is entirely possible that Obama is a daily pot smoker. Since he became president, medical marijuana became legal in DC, where he lives. What greater stress can be put upon a man than his office? Look at how fast his hair is greying! I wonder why DEA Chief Erik Holder has not arrested anyone for marijuana in DC yet?
Do keep in mind that pot became legal for medical purposes in DC since Obama was elected. The DEA was given power over the states during that same time. All the people crowing about Proposition 19 in California do not have an answer on how that will protect them from the long arm of Holder’s DEA. It is a good way to keep people from the real issue of being let down by the liberal saviour. Yes, that pic at the top is Obama with a joint in his mouth. If you have any doubts, check out the other pics taken after he lit it up, most people have seen that shot already. If you haven’t, just email me and I will post it for you.
That is more than Obama would do for you, especially if you help him get elected.

awww…kitties…and a warning about cosmetics from Italy!!!

Purina says it is National Cat Day, so I believe them. Why not? It is for the kitties!!! Featured kittie is Good Girl Inkie, aka Bad Girl Inkie, since it is so close to Samhain and we need to talk about black cats.
I got Inkie about five years ago, when she was six months old, at the Easton Area ASPCA. Bless them for taking care of all the creatures that they do. A friend picked Inkie out before we got there. She and her daughter spent a lot of time visiting with the kitties in the ‘pound’ and had made friends with Inkie, known as ‘Spears’ back then. When I first saw her, she was in a room with maybe 15-20 other cats. She was perched on a high shelf, keeping watch, as is still her style. I got her and a longhaired male, named General O’Duffy, who died of feline peritonitis a few months after I took them both home. It was a sad thing and Inkie didn’t understand and kept attacking her little (adopted) brother in play. Duffy could not defend himself and Inkie loved that. She got yelled at quite a bit then because she was the only cat physically capable of the mischief which occurred in the house.
General O’Duffy died and was buried in the yard with the others and it was down to Inkie and me. She was a bit skittish, as I had been yelling at her a bit too much in my frustration over Duffy. She would only allow me to pet her after I chased her around the house and caught her. She soon developed a stomach problem, losing weight and constantly suffering diarrhea. I took her to the vet many times, trying to find a cure and every month we would try something new but she never gained weight.
The last time I took Inkie to the vet, we checked her out and got her medicines and I made a remark about ‘just needing to find her a brother’ and it so happened that they had a six-week-old male. Someone had left a basket of month-old kitties on the vet’s doorstep and the little grey and white guy was the last one left. He had been pampered and cooed over by the whole staff and they were sorry to see him go but you can only have so many cats wandering the office comfortably.
At any rate, I got them both home and inside, then opened up the carriers. The little guy, soon to be known as ‘Budderz,’ was no bigger than my hand and Inkie attacked immediately, hissing and looming over him, at least five times bigger. He remained unphased and spent the evening on the sofa with me, where we watched South Park and found him a name. When I woke the following morning, Inkie and Budders were shoulder to shoulder at the livingroom window, watching the birdies, heads moving in unison when the feathery prey jumped about the lawn out front.
They were best of friends! That was great but the better thing is that Inkie changed almost immediately. She gained weight, lost the diarrhea and, after a number of months, started ‘peeping’ at me and stopped running away when I want to pet her. What was it about that Budderz, huh? Was it that Inkie needed companionship? Did she need competition at the food bowl? As it is now, Inkie is a big fatso…not real fat, like some I have seen but fat enough that she can lose balance easily (which is also partly due to her breed, mostly Angora, which leaves large tufts of fur sticking out an inch and a half from between her toepads) making her slide on surfaces which Budderz can rule with tactile grace. Sometimes, nearing Winter, her new coat is so thick that she has to have a ‘butt-hole-tunnel’ cut out so that the odd turd (and aren’t they all?) can pass to the litterpan without being held in place by fur. It is funny when she tries to jump up on her favorite windowsill. It is wooden and slick but there is a pear tree with birds and azaleas with bunnies and all sorts of attractions, so she will approach the window and rest her front paws on the sill to peek out and see what is there. Then the show begins…if she wants to get up on the sill, she makes a few false starts, like a person does at the end of a diving board before finally letting go. Inkie may make up to twenty of these little fake jumps before she jumps. On one recent occasion, a friend and I were watching while she tried and she looked and saw us laughing, then gave up and ran away. She hates being the fool.
Budderz, on the other hand, always plays the fool. I think it is because of all that human attention before he was six weeks old. He knows that nothing will hurt him, so he fears nothing. Yell ‘No’ and he will look at you for a second. Pour water on his head and it will bead up and roll off like drops from a duck’s back. The only thing he gets serious about is his laser light. It is in the bathroom, which now makes all reading there practically impossible. No matter what time, day or night, he knows if I am in the bathroom and that the laser is there. Not to be Halloweenish, but i did create a Frankenstein. I have had those lasers before but no kittie has ever took to them like Budderz. He is a good boy but Inkie is the black one and so, back to the subject.
Do you know that black cats are killed in order to make cosmetics? It is terrible but since it happens, only the consumer can make it stop. Buy all-natural cosmetics and soaps. Check the ingredients. Inkie would thanks you. Posted below is an itefrom from Reuters, printed November 17, 2007…

ROME (Reuters) – Saturday is “black cat day”, in Italy, an initiative by an animal rights group to try to stop the killing of thousands of the cats by superstitious citizens convinced they bring bad luck.

Black cats have a bad name in many countries, but nowhere more so than Italy, where a papal edict in the middle ages declared they were instruments of the devil. Black cats were thrown into the fires to join witches burned at the stake.

The Italian Association for the Defence of Animals and the Environment (AIDAA) estimates 60,000 were killed last year, to ward off bad luck but also for use in satanic rites and in cosmetics laboratories where black fur gives the best results.

“We want to halt this massacre, educate people and restore dignity to black cats,” said AIDAA President Lorenzo Croce.

The group has set up 200 information points in towns and cities around Italy, where passers-by will be given literature on black cats, asked to sign a petition and urged to adopt one of the 5,000 in cat refuges.

AIDAA has also sent a letter to Pope Benedict, a well known cat lover. “It would be great if he would speak out in recognition of our initiative and say the prejudice against black cats is a lot of nonsense,” Croce said.

Maybe there will be a Black Cat Day again this year? Now that I have printed this, I will have to let you know how the Papal Father reacted to this plea from the kittie lovers. I am sure the Pontiff was quite concerned!

Election Special-GLBTs, Latinos, Seniors, Boomers and MMJ Wishfuls- Go See Clinton&Onorato at NCACC Tomorrow!

i The ugly time is soon upon us when wicked spirits with dark and scary visages fly across the state, bringing fear to minority groups…I am not talking about ‘Halloween,’ ‘All Souls Day’ or Samhain, I refer to General Corbett and Dan (Nugget) Onorato. They are the spooky candidates for Governor of PA who want to push economic agendas and subvert any positivity in Pennsylvania for the next four years, minimum.

The best thing would be to break the republican machine (who wants a real life General for Governor?) so write in for Samuel E Rohrer of Berks County if you MUST vote Republican.
The best thing for democrats would be to write in Joseph Hoeffel of Berks County, if you are such a stiff that you MUST vote Democrat. (I didn’t call the gop stiffs because they are SUPPOSED to be).

A vote for Corbett or Onorato is a vote for a wrong Pennsylvania, a vote for people who do not think or read about the state they live in, a vote for trouble for all of us – but maybe the vote that will make me move to New Jersey, which would not be a bad thing considering the mentality of PA. Like Chris Matthews said on Hardball last night, Philadelphia is one place. Pennsylvania is a whole other world.
This is a chance to change it. But don’t count on Obama’s youth vote. Now more like the Hitler Youth, they goose-step to what they think is liberalism and Obama is counting on just that.

President Clinton and Onorato will be at the community college in Bethlehem tomorrow, just off Route 512. Go see them and try to voice any protest to the anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-minority, anti-freechoice, anti-pot concerns that you have. Clinton will probably make a mental note and counsel fellow dems in the future and Onorato will probably go red in the face and raise his voice like the big baby that he is. Show up! Try and see! This is YOUR state, not THEIRS.

Thoughts On Samhain, Part 2

     Throw in a few of trips to Long Beach Island in August, September and last November, and a Dylan show at Temple U on November 9, which was interesting because I also attended a Dylan show there on November 9 in 1999. Both were very good shows but the latter, in November 2010, was quite different, with Dylan singing in the mathematical way he describes in Chronicles and hearing ‘Desolation Row’ done as a rocker. A great show!

     But that was in Fall and I left you at Spring. Ah, yes, Spring and the reappearance of the ever-wondrous Ferd, who I had not seen since about 1992. Some idiot was yapping at me about the navy and I was reminded of the box of letters Ferd had sent from the ship, when he was naval. I had planned a writing project with them eventually and I wanted to compare what he wrote about the navy to what this un-named fuckwit did. So I looked at one of the letters. It was pretty funny.

     That night I had a dream of Ferd standing in a doorway. In the dream, it was me but I knew it was him. One of those dream things. The next day, I tracked him down via internet, finding a few Ferdish laughs to be had such as a newspaper police section with a mention of him getting arrested for pointing a fake gun at an off duty cop. haha. Very smart thing to do, that, I thought. Get yourself shot being stupid.

     But I called anyway and did not manage to catch him in a sober state for a bit. When that finally happened and he recognized my voice, he exclaimed, ‘I just had a dream about you.’ It is hard to even guesstimate how many trips the two us us took together but we did seem to fuck with ESP while doing it, so I can understand now why those CIA guys tried to use it to spy via ESP. Nonetheless, it is not controllable, though undeniably there.

     Anyway, we have reverted to the old ways of partying as we know it. It is fun because, for the first time in my life I weigh less than he does. He is maybe 5’6″ and I am 6’4″. At 185 lbs, I might weigh the same but I do enjoy the chance to use some fat jokes that I have not dusted off for awhile. It is all in the gut, too. The classic beer belly. Ha.

When the article about meeting Burroughs and Ginsberg was published in Beatdom (www.beatdom.com), David used a postcard Ginsberg had sent me as the page illustration. Since it was printed in Beatdom, I could always look at it there, so I donated the card to the Allen Ginsberg Archives at Stony Brook University in New York. Since I was going to be in the Ginsy archives, I did a google search of the archives and discovered that I was already there – only at the Allen Ginsberg Archives at Stanford University in California. That made me feel good, like I will have left something when I am gone from this Earth. It gave me Beat cedentials from coast to coast!

In May, right around Beltane there was the Global Marijuana March on South Street in Philadelphia. That was something I always wanted to do. A NORML student group from nearby Kutztown was attending. I am not allowed to be a real member because I am not a student and not only am I older than them, I am older than their parents, too! But, I attended a few of the meetings and will likely support them, should they ever get around to fundraising efforts. I am not holding my breath on that one, however, since NORML only spends a max of $10,000 a year on lobbyists while the lobbyists for big pharma, NORML’s natural enemy, spend LITERALLY about two thousand times more, plunking down $123.9 million in just six months. With odds like that, NORML does not stand a chance nationally. MPP, the Marijuana Policy Project has lobbied with as much as $200,000 in one year and that is dwarfed by Big Pharma, as well. If I have learned anything, it is that money makes the world go around. I do not see any sense in passive activism which leads to nothing. NORML has been at it since Jimmy Carter was President (for him, I put a capital ‘P’ on the word, as opposed to when referring to Baccarat Obama)and now even the states that have pro-pot laws are endangered because Obama put Erik Holder free reign to say ‘fuck state laws’ like California’s Prop 19.

What really galls me is that the paper liberals who put Obama in office still think he is a good president, even though he has shown himself to be an outright liar and enemy of the people…a guy who brokered the largest arms deal in world history by selling $60 billion worth of arms to the Saudi’s, no less. The same idiots are voting for a candidate for Governor who has already said no to signing the active PA bills which would legalize medical use. They will never learn, I am sure. I will write in on election day, like any responsible citizen, and not just do what I am told.

     The gardening left a lot to be desired this year. I am all about flowers since the cancer made me quit planting veggies…no sense in it. On the north side of my house, I had planted two varieties of fern on the north side of the house a few years ago and one variety never really ‘took’. In Spring, they came in brilliantly but the oppressive heat that ruled the Summer mad it impossible to keep up with dying plants, so I gave up.

     The bee balm and other species of wildflower I put in years ago seem to have the desired affect, since there was no CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) evident in the hive of bees that made a home someplace in my roof. I had to spray the hell out of them and had spray-spray drunk bees floating out of the attics for weeks. Maybe that is how CCD happens…people plant stuff to attract the bees and they stay there and become a nuisance, this becoming a nuisance which needs to die. You just can’t win with nature.

Between Hawk Mountain and the writing and the bit of what I could do in the yard, it was a lazy air conditioned Summer, marked by the arrival of one David S. Wills, fresh from a plane crash in Japan and a train breakdown in the fields of Pennsylvania, as well as a party in Hunter S. Thompson’s house and other interesting adventures which he writes about in his blog. I tried to show him the good side of America and especially New Jersey, where we saw the ocean from this side while drinking quite a lot and also made sure he had the perquisite NJ foodstuffs, real Italian pizza and the cheesesteak, a Philly fav. We stayed pretty well juiced up for the yen or eleven days he was here, sucking them down while discussing literature, illegal things, the state of Ferd and the behaviour of my kitties. Inkie was particularly entertaining as she kept trying to hop up onto the windowsill, hampered by her big belly. That much has not stopped.

Also exciting, and a thing that would make my mother proud, is that I influenced Mr. Wills into entering into his first Wall Street venture and we both became shareholders in a casino in Macau, which has been performing beautifully for us and will continue to do so. Macau took over the status of biggest gambling town in the world in 2006, when people gambled more money there than in Las Vegas and they have been spending more and more in Macau every year. Dig it!

I had not taken any hallucinogens since maybe 1997. Some mild acid popped up and Ferd and I tripped together, forty years after the first time we tripped together. It was different with my parents and family gone, partly chewed up by cancer, but it felt great and assures me of keeping an open mind for a few more years, at least.

During the visit by Mr. Wills, I dug out a box of first issue, first edition comic books by R Crumb, which I had totally forgotten I owned. I moved around a lot and they were in a box in my parent’s house. When I bought their house and sold it, after they died, I moved all the boxes into my extra bedrooms and I really have no idea what is in most of the boxes. The comics were a pleasant surprise. I am going to the comic con in Allentown this week to see if I can drum up a buyer. It seems like it always comes back around to me trying to sell some old books.

And that was the year that was. There are still a few days, dozens of drinks and a few parties before the 31st. If anything interesting happens, I will report it.

Thoughts For Samhain, Part One

     As Samhain is the end of the year for me, as it has been for Pagans since before the Romans forced Christ on everyone, I reflect on the past year…

     Last year at this time I was picking up the pieces and catching up on work I had missed by being the Volunteer Coordinator for the PA Sustainable Living and Renewable Energy Association. That was my fifth year with the festival, having tabled there for various groups.

     This year is the year of the non-volunteer for me. No more trying to help the community through activism. No more lending a hand to non-profit agencies that do not appreciate the work done for them. I kept my position as Keeper of the Gate at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, however. I like it there and have 13 years in so far. Even so, I cut back on my duties to just two weeks a month.

     Speaking of Hawk Mountain, last week I had the unusual experience of hitting a vulture in flight with my car. Leaving the mountain after my shift, sneaking home on twisty back roads, I spied two kitties sprawled in the center of a small intersection. They were watching for birdies and catching the heat as the sun hit the macadam beneath them. Not wanting to make a ‘schmutz’ out of any stray kits, I kept it in low gear and continued, watchful for pussies.

     Rounding a curve, a large black and grey turkey vulture stood in the center of my lane, picking at some roadkill. Slowing as much as I could, since there is always some annoying ass flying up behind you in order to tailgate, the car moved across the double yellows into the passing lane in order to miss the rapacious creature. I went too slow. The raptor flapped and lifted from the ground, flying in the direction of my car. It happened so fast that I barely saw it bump the windshield. It left a smudge and I thought that was it until a week later, when I noticed the soft, light feathers sticking out from the strip of metal that holds the shield in place. With feathers still stuck to my car a week later, I just hope I didn’t hurt the vulture too much.

     Maybe that is why I stick to Hawk Mountain. There is always a surprise from Mother Nature. It will still be very busy there for the remainder of fall and I enjoy every minute.

     While volunteering is a good thing, it was cutting into things I need to do for myself. Why I do not have the good sense to put myself first, I’ll never know but I have gotten started on that path.

     So, with that said, I still thought that a bit of activism would not hurt me too much. At some point in there, when the state stopped funding to the libraries, I went out to protest at the local library…the first time I ever held a ‘protest’ sign, even though I have been ‘protesting’ since Earth Day 1970.

     On December 2, the hearings for PA HB 1393, the house bill for the legalization of medical marijuana, were held and I was there to testify as a cancer survivor. The whole thing was a circus of emotions. Women carried signs with pictures of youths who ‘died from pot’ and silly stuff like that. There was testimony from doctors and experts, but mostly from people giving empassioned stories about other people who died and how pot helped them. Not a single person who had a medical condition and was helped by MJ was allowed to speak. It was mostly a horse and pony show for the Philadelphia NORML group, who are still posting videos of themselves testifying ten months after the fact. So I and my missing rectum became part and parcel of the house bill and PA history…for all the good it did.

     Also in December, I threw a stick into the mighty Mississippi River. I had flown over it before but never got that close. I had fallen into a bunch of people I used to know on Facebook and one of them lived in St Louis. It was a chance to drive many miles, like I used to love so much.  I was able to cross six states in 12 1/2 hours of non-stop amphetamine-fueled driving and then, five days later, back across those same states five days later in 10 1/2 hours.

     When I think back to youth, the roadtrips are always a highlight. I loved breaking land/speed records, like the time I made it from Chester, PA, to Gainseville, FL, in less than twelve hours. I won’t say much about the visit but I will say one thing for Facebook – when you find somebody on there that you haven’t seen for 38 years, there is probably a good reason for it. Facebook lets you relive the things you forgot about doing in high school, while reminding you why you stopped hanging with these people. They are fucking boring!

     Face it, if somebody is really your friend, they will call you or see you. If they pop up on FB after decades of non-communication, think twice before you make plans. You may revisit the wrong part of your youth. That is not to say I have not chatted with people I am glad to hear from…just think twice, that’s all.

     The wintry winds of the first few months of 2010, along with the piles of snow which came with them, found me stuck in the house, reading a lot and trying to price a bunch of antiques and old books and magazines I want to sell. I picked up a few copies of’  ‘The Outsider,’ which had been nestled in my shelves for years. Printed in 1961 and 1962, they featured works by Bukowski, Burroughs, Kerouac, Ginsberg, etc. I had paid two dollars an issue for each issue at a antique/craft shop in Old Forge, NY, twenty years ago. This seemed like a good place to start.

     Online, I discovered that ‘The Outsider’ literary journal had been the subject of a recent movie by Hunter S. Thompson cinema-biographer, Wayne Ewing. An article I found said that in issue two (I hold issues two and three) there was a poem by Jack Kerouac that was the focus of some scholarly study. The Outsider was hand printed and collated. Due to this, a certain poem was found to have several versions printed and nobody was sure which one had been what Keroac had written. A professor in England was working on it. The article said that only twenty copies remained in existence. I was happy to report that I held copy number twenty-one.

     To reach the professor, I contacted the author of the article, one David S. Wills, founder and publisher of literary journal, Beatdom. I gave David the details of the version of the poem that was in my copy of The Outsider. Somewhere along the line, we fell into e-conversation and I told David about meeting William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky. As a younger man, I had corresponded with Ginsberg and I told David about a postcard I got from Ginsberg, where I actually got the peacenick to say ‘fuck you’ to me, twice…yet in a kind, sage way.

     Mr. Wills asked if I would be kind enough to write the story up to be used in Beatdom and, happy to do so, I sent it along. It appeared in issue six and Mr. Wills was kind enough to accept submissions of other essays for following Beatdom issues. Now, I still have the two issues of  The Outsider and my house keeps filling with more books, including Beatdom.

     About this same time, I was still feeling the actvism and went to a meeting of NORML in Philadelphia. Being a member of a group of potsmokers couldn’t be a bad thing, could it? The meeting was hard to deal with. It was unstructured, with people shouting out and ideas popping up like jumping beans. I wanted to do some work. I wanted to help make pot legal. I was told that more got accomplished on the group’s website than at the meetings. I tried the website and will only go as far as to say that potsmokers should not join groups. Nothing gets done. I saw an idea for making t-shirts and selling them, which had been floating around the site for over a year. I offered my services – myself, a six-foot table and a car to table at events in a five county area, if they wanted. Naturally, they said they could not use me since they did not have enough literature to fill a table. A few asinine suggestions later and I was convinced that NORML was not for me…too young, too foolish, too lazy. So much for that scene.

     At this point, my blog is much longer than planned, so I shall finish it tomorrow, so as not to rush.

     Cheers!

Next Best Thing To Medical Marijuana

      Fearless Followers, while I thought that I was late to the JWH bandwagon, I continue to be pleasantly surprised. Since first trying the herbal blends in August, my place of purchase has been a dirty filling station on a seemy street in a crumbling town forty miles to the East.
     Scanning the net turned up many new sources with free delivery but the prices and potency remain unstable or too high to risk. Recently, I was trolling the ‘for sale’ items on Craig’s List when I found a new source just a few miles from home…as Dylan would say, ‘out on Highway 61′.

     Working the register at a 24-hour market for two years can have a devastating affect on a person, I suppose. I tried it for three months on the night shift when living in Newport News, VA, and it is not the kind of job where you see the best side of people. It can make you withdrawn and grumpy.
     There is a sign behind the counter that holds the JWH products at the mini-mart that says not to ask about them. After forking over enough $20 bills, and emboldened to ask why you cannot ask, I learned that there was no answer anyway! All that type of logic aside, I kept returning because three grams for $20 is about as cheap as small quantities get. However, I did notice that the packets were unsealable and that some packages seemed to contain less. It was at this point that it became apparent that you can tell if your K2 has been opened. It comes in a small, clear, zip-lock plastic bag. When a bag is opened, fingerprints appear on the two strips of plastic that you grasp to pull it open.
     The grouchy guy made no comment but did raise an eyebrow the last time a couple bags were held up to the light for inspection before purchase. He does have a few brands I like that come in sealed jars (cool little jars, too!) and they can’t be tampered with, so when I am in that county, I shall stock up.
     Back on Highway 61 is The Balancing Soul, the business which had the listing on Craig’s. Not a headshop or a mini-mart, it is a holistic healing center, offering Reiki, other forms of energy healing, shell massage, seaweed wraps (to relax, not to eat) and a lot of standard hippie accoutrements like cotton baja hoodies, indian-style meditation flags and a great collection of herbal products at the best prices I have seen anywhere.
     Being sceptical by nature, I saw the prices online and expected a trick but not only do they have the same cheap deal as the service station, they have the cheapest take on the product – a very smooth but high-test variety which is only $8.50 for a half gram. The higher test stuff seems to always come in larger bags or $20, one gram bags, at the other place. It is nice to be able to try something new without paying a lot.
     So, visiting The Balancing Soul was a positive experience. One thing I really like is that they associate the products with healing.  The service is excellent, provided by a lovely woman named Tara who is more than happy to tell about each and every product and to point out the ’50 state blends,’ which do not contain the ingredient which has been outlawed in some states and which titillates the cannibinoid receptors. No sense buying the 50 State blends yet.

     As a cancer survivor who has used gifted MJ to get through chemotherapy and to steady my stomach when even the opiates and valium didn’t do the trick, it is comforting to have an alternative, for as long as it lasts.
     Who knows what will happen with the legislation, introduced in PA HB 176 by that horrible State Rep. Jennifer Mann, but I have to admit I have never seen a single article or online comment which referred to medicinal use of K2 or other JWH products. If you see one, please send the link to it.

     There have not even been any tests conducted to see what is exactly in the stuff but it really roils me (literally) to see a good cure go away. Yesterday, while tracking stocks on CNBC, I saw a report about the lobbyists in Washington, DC. The largest lobbying sector, far higher than any other, is the ‘health/pharma’ sector, where $123.9 million dollars are spent annually to garnish favor for big drug companies in Congress. When it seems so strange that the marijuana legalization movement has been functionally useless nationwide, consider big pharma. Have you ever noticed how people who use medical marijuana often note that they do not need to take as many pills as they did before getting medical mj? Afterall, it was the second most prescribed drug in the USA up until our Government put it in prohibition.

     As long as big pharma is dropping all those $millions$ to control our legislators by appealing to their greed, the reform issue is a lost cause. Face it, it is almost impossible to fight against cash.

      On the other hand, as long as there are understanding, balanced souls who take interest in the care and comfort of others, there is some respite…so cheer up!

Write In On November 2. Spread The Word.

                                                     Dearest Dysfunctionals, as much as I enjoy a discourse on the subject of brain damaging materials and the related after-effects, it is more important to keep a ‘flea in the ear’ of all good people so that we are not all stuck with a couple of horse’s asses in the Governor’s seat when Ed Rendell leaves. By this time in two weeks, hopefully we will all have written in the name of Samuel E Rohrer of Berks County for the office.  It would be a great thing if Mr Rohrer wins, maybe, but this is more about a show of support and a raising of voice before the 2012 elections for president. 

     Talking heads are saying that Obama is losing his edge, as regards being saviour of the common liberal. I would look to an Independent or a Green Party runner but they are rather scarce. If someone is running for a seat and you do not even know the name, they are probably not much of a mover or a shaker, so to speak.

     So as much as I do not want to see Onorato as our Governor, I want to see General Corbett in the seat even less. The lesser of two weasels is not a choice here. They are both rodents that want to take a bite out of us. My cartoon counterpart, Ignatz Mouse, takes umbrage at that remark but it was the first thing to come to mind.

     If you are not convinced that neither of these men are worthy enough to carry water to a sick whore (thanks to Meg Whitman I can use the word whore without sexual connotations these days. Thanks, Meg!!!)

     General Corbett has actually gone on record as saying that there are plenty of jobs in Pennsylvania but that people just don’t want to work until the unemployment well is totally drained. Corbett never made his bones in the real world. He did the military kiss ass thing and did dirty jobs for his superiors, probably until he had enough dirt on them to get promoted. We know that he likes to abuse the power of office but none of us think that it could happen to us, specifically. Big Brother is watching and he is a General now.

      I am sorry to not have an inflammatory quote or statement to attribute to Dan Onorato to even things out. The thing is, he is so mean and hostile-looking that I do not even want to have to dig through the texts to find something. I heard enough during the debate. But look how he had his eyebrows ‘done’ to give him a sympathetic look….just check his recent pics online.

NO Gays, NO Abortion, NO Medical MJ for PA

     Dearest Doomed Fools, we live in Pennsylvania and are about to pay for it bigtime! Who sat through the debate on TV last night between the two assholes currently running for PA Governor? I did and it was so disgusting, I am aghast.

     Face it, Pennsylvanians, you have no choice for Governor. They are both two cheeks of the same big ass. For the better part of an hour these two imbeciles argued about nothing but money, the economy and wages. They patted themselves on the backs so much it looked like Zohan had pretzeled them.

     Then, in the last five minutes (save it for the last five when everybody has tuned out, right?) the commentator came up with some HUMAN RIGHTS issues in the State. He brought up gay rights, womens’ rights and the right to use marijuana for medical purposes. All three questions took less than a minute to ask and answer. The candidates fell over each other in a race to say ‘no’ to these things.

     Pennsylvania – you are not a free State. You have two assholes running on the same platform, the moral majority, good ole boy platform, where they get rich, we get fucked and everybody waits four more years until we can vote them out of office.

     Pennsylvania – no matter how you feel about these issues, you should have the right to decide. Your Rights have already been taken away by two turdmongers who are not even in office yet. Well, General Tom Corbett is in office as the Attorny General for the State. He used this office illegally to try to harrass two people who were writing anonymous emails about him. He was sued by the PA ACLU and lost. You want this kind of person to be your Governor? Sure, he is a republican and the democrats screwed everything up and Obama lied and continues to lie to us – but he was a General who thinks he still IS a general. He still wants to give the order to have men killed while he watches from the bunker. He is a heartless wad of shit. I do not write anonymously, so here I am, General! Fuck You!

     Look at Dan Onorato and you see the same thing…a control freak. He does not care what the People of this Commonwealth want. He wants what he wants and tough shit if you do not agree. He is NOT the lesser of two evils. They are both arms of the intolerant. They both will do anything to put themselves ahead at the expense of whomever they step on to do it. They cannot be defeated by signs or emails or wishes.

     The only way to get rid of these guys is to write in Samuel E Rohrer of Berks County for Governor next week. No parade, no rally, no cute coloured ribbon for your car will solve this problem. Only you, YOU, the voter, can make a difference. Do I think the effort will get Mr. Rohrer elected? I doubt it very much. However, if people saw how they turned their noses up in unison at three major human rights issues facing PA, they would write in without a thought.

     If you think you have Rights, please use them. If you do not use them, they go away. Like womens’ rights, the right to decide, the right to do what we want with our own bodies, the right to medicate with a simple weed which would add $Billions to PA coffers – these are not our rights. They have been hi-jacked.

     Our Rights, gauranteed by the US and PA Constitutions, have already been taken away. By not doing anything, we give Corbett and Onorato free reign. Maybe not at the same time but greed and hatred do not die easily so do not expect these purveyors of outdated, wrong, useless, hurtful rules to go away.

     Unless you use your vote, they will always be there to haunt you and others just like them will come behind, perpetrating the same old myths and garbage.

      The same goes for Obama. How any self-respecting American can look in the mirror and vote for Obama after he outright lied to the whole country is beyond comprehension but I am sure a lot of ignorant do-as-they-are-told types will be the first lemmings over the cliff to help Obama.

     If you want to watch Obama lie, just go to Youtube. The site is plastered with his con game in action. Look at his 2004 promises to his 2008 denials. They are all there, for now.

    Oh, Look! California passed HB19, yay! Oh, Look! Obama’s right hand man just shot that out of the water. Gee, did all those Californians really think that their votes counted???? Do we actually think our vote for Obama will make him change his mind and suddenly reform the pot laws?

      They had a rally for Obama in Philadelphia last weekend. A lot of people showed up. It made Obama look powerful and jacked up Sen. Joe Sestak’s sagging ratings a little bit. There were a bunch of protesters there. I am still looking for an article that says that the President acknowledged them. The Secret Service are probably trained to stand in line of any banners so the President does not lose concentration. And, even so, if he did see the signs – the decision against California’s pro-marijuana voters says it all – Suckers!!!! The groups involved in the rally thought they were doing a good thing but this is America 2010, not Mayberry RFD, 1968.

     I mean, the rally DID work…it got Obama the attention he wanted. If you are REALLY warped, you can vote for him again, too!

     Votes are what count in this country – and the lack of them can count for even more. It is nice to carry banners and wear buttons but that has been going on since the legalization movement started in the 1970s and where have we gotten? No fucking place at all. We have gone backwards in time. In the meantime, the cavemen control us.

     Some groups have fundraisers and use the cash to help the community and help sway votes through good acts or contributions to organizations that can actually cause a change. Showing up to see Obama is like supporting the enemy.

     It takes people who care. It takes people who actually can make a difference. You can complain about this country and wish for your Rights all you want but if you do not join the write in, you are playing right into the hands of the machine that you claim to hate.

     Make your voice be heard this election. Write in for Samuel E. Rohrer, Berks County. The very least it can do is keep a General out of the White House. Generals belong in wars, not ruling us. Onorato sucks, yes, but a large percentage of write in votes will speak to him, saying ‘you will never have a second term,’ as well as sending that same message to the White House.

     Write in if you are a freedom-loving Pennsylvanian. If you are in similar situations in other states, do the same thing. Let’s make the Write In Party more powerful than that obnoxious tea-bag party.

     The only problem is – it takes you. You have to get up and go to the polls and write in. There will be no limos or tickertape or people taking your picture. Good deeds rarely get noticed by many. Do the right thing, vote with your heart and dump these two losers.

     I will get up early so I can write in. I want others to see that there are a growing number of write in votes during the day so they do not just give up in frustration. I hope other write in voters do the same. Corbett and Onorato win on frustration.

     Please do something real to protect the Rights of Pennsylvanians and write in against these bastards!

Email from Obama – (‘Can I Have $Tree-Fitty?’)

     Trusted Readers, today I got a second email from Bacarat Obama. He wants me to vote for him in 2012 and also to give him three dollars to help his campaign.

     I returned the email twice now, with a comment that I will not vote for him because he betrayed us on the medical mj issue and also that he is an asshole.

     If anybody else gets this idiot email, I suggest you do the same. I got on the list when Bacarat had his first ‘town meeting’ and 75% of us who responded asked him about mj reform. He laughed at us in the press and so he dug his grave as far as this boy goes.

     Do not underestimate the power of the email reply. A year or two ago, I wrote to a local pol and asked him his views on medical mj. He did not bother to reply but then I started to get monthly emails, telling me what he had done for his constituents, while I still had no reply to the email I sent him. So, at this point I started replying to the mass emails from his office.

     When I replied, I laid heavy on the rhetoric. I guess I caught him in the right mood one day because he sent me a reply. My most recent email had posed the question ‘are you a man or a mouse’ and also accused him of ‘being wishy-washy’.

     Well, Jay-sus! If I did not have an email in response the next day. ‘I am not wishy-washy. I am a man and not a mouse,’ he told me and then went on to say that he reads each and every piece of mail that comes through his office.

     I replied and said thanks for writing but that I had written several emails with no response and gave him the dates. Then, I said he was good at asserting that he was not a mouse but he still did not stick his neck out and take a side on the marijuana issue. He emailed me promptly and told me that he would vote for it if it was on the ballot. Then he sent me a nice letter on House of Representatives letterhead, just to shit me up. That was nice.

     The lesson here is that you can send Obama a message when you get the email asking for the three bucks. Make sure to tell him why, specifically. Let him know that we know he fucked us. Tell him you will not vote for him, if you have the nerve to send an irate email to the White House.

     A lot of people seem to be afraid to get irate with politicians these days and it is our Right as Americans. We put the bread on the tables of these people so we have a Right to say what we feel about them with no repercussion – like those two anonymous emailers that Pretender-To-Be Tom Corbett tried to track down using public State systems until the ACLU sued him and shut him down.

     I do not know if I would write an email to Corbett or not. I am sure he has goons all over the place who are just waiting to stick dogshit in my mailbox at his command. He is a prick, as most law enforcement types are, and he does not mind showing it. Onorato is a prick, as well, just going from the image of him standing in front of the Reading Democrats office and cracking his knuckles like he was gonna punch somebody if they asked the wrong question. When he did answer a question, he put his hands in the ‘finger-steeple’ position, which is a sign of feeling superior to those around you. You could light a match on his forehead and Obama wants us to vote for this guy? He looked like he wanted to stomp on a kittie. Fuck both of you Governor Candidates. I am joining the write in.

     When I blogged last, I did not know that there is already a large group of people in Pennsylvania who feel the same way. They are sponsoring a write in event on election day. They will be writing in the name of Berks County Representative Samuel E. Rohrer. I had suggested writing in the name of Joe Hoeffel. I guess it does not make a difference who we write in. In fact, Rohrer was man enough and honest enough to give his opinion as ‘not sure’ on the medical mj issue, whereas almost everybody else in the state said ‘no’ or left the space blank. At least Rohrer is honest about it and is possibly open to it. The fact that he is republican allows us to fuck with both parties by just one write in.

     Face it – party lines are skewed this year. Dems are acting like Republicans and vice versa. What difference does it make if you are registered democrat? You can still vote for a republican, and should, if it helps show the powers that be that we have a voice and will use it against a bad pol as quickly as we will raise it for a good pol.

     Just like the Loch Ness Monster always asking Chef’s parents for ‘tree-fitty’, now we have Obama asking us for ‘oh, about tree’….if ever there was a time to Just Say No, it is now. Do not say no to drugs, though, say it to Obama. He may be too stoned on that DC legal weed to understand…but, hey, why should he care about us?

                                 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cn7xfBpZ3M

Is There A Chance For Medical Marijuana in PA?

     Greetings from on High!

     You may be reading this because you would like to see the state of Pennsylvania adopt laws to make medical marijuana legal. Good Luck! I was hoping for the same thing. I drove to Harrisburg to testify before Health and Human Services last December in support of the HB 1393 for the Compassionate Use of Medical Marijuana, introduced by Rep. Mark Cohen. A lot of good people testified but the fact remains that if Tom Corbett or Dan Onorato get into office as governor in November, there goes HB1393, along with SB 1350, its companion bill….down the crapper.

     Asshole and President, Bacarat Obama, was in the state on Sunday to dredge up support for the Dem hopefuls, including Onorato. You will remember Obama, if not for not doing shit to fix the economy or create jobs other than road crews, as the guy who won the vote by duping young people to vote for him via an internet campaign.

     Then, as soon as he got voted in, he decided to have an email ‘town hall’ meeting. He opened up the White House email to suggestions from voters and the number one question, asked by about 75% of respondents, regarded marijuana law. The questions were asked by the same people who put Bacarat in office and he laughed in their faces. See it on Youtube. Also on Youtube, is a video from four years before that where the Shit-Twister in Chief says he is in favor of reforming laws on MJ.

     So you had the most successful liar in the country, or world, maybe, here to support the biggest Dem liar in PA. Fucking great!!!

     The bills, HB1393 and SB 1350 are before the legislature as I write. A look at the legislative calendar for the state did not show them on the agenda for the next Senate session, which starts 10/12. I could not find the house calendar.

     IF the bills were to pass both house and senate, Gov, Ed Rendell has agreed to sign a ‘well-crafted’ bill. If he is replaced by Corbett or Onorato, two assholes of major proportions, it will not happen because they have both spoken out against the bill. They are not nice people. They are selfish, greedy pols who have an agenda that does not include you or I.

     I am going to miss Rendell. He has done a lot to raise money for the state and I am sure he sees the inherent economic value along with the medical value of legal MJ.

     Also sponsored by Rep. Cohen, besides HB1393, is Joe Hoeffel. He is the only person who was in the race who acted human.  That is his picture at the top of the column.

     Things Hoeffel supports:

     Medical Marijuana for PA

     Equal Rights for Gays, Lesbians and Bi-Sexuals.

     Putting somebody in charge of the CIA, FBI, HSA and other shadow organizations of government which make their own rules.

     He voted ‘no’ on the ban of gay adoptions.

     If you go way back, his voting record is not that great but he seems to have seen the light in recent years, showing a liberal streak since about 2005 or so. The point is that he is for the people, like the constitution. Corbett and Onorato…well, just look at them. They are apes in suits. Corbett loves law enforcement. He was sued by the ACLU in PA because two people criticized him in anonymous email and he used the power of his office to get information on them. Is this what you want in charge of your state? Onorato is just as bad. They both hate potsmokers and I think they both reek of shite.

     There is not much time before November elections but if you say you care, fucking do something about it and either start calling your representatives and senators and ask them specifically, ‘when will you vote on the bill?’…that way there is a chance to pass it before Rendell leaves. It is the best chance, Rendell is a good man.

     Once that is done, on election day, line up with the rest of us and instead of voting for one of the pigsnouted hopefuls, write in the name of Joe Hoeffel. If nothing else, a significant write in campaign will show the pols who will be running in 2012 that we are out here and we have a voice. Between potsmokers and gay/lesbian/bis, we add up to quite a few people, plus there are others who see these creeps for what they are. Spread the word to whomever you can.

     I saw pics and videos of the Obama rally. I did not hear Obama make a single MJ reference, though, but I liked the guy who threw the book at him. At first, I thought it was a shoe, like the one that got thrown at Bush. I would like to throw a shoe at a politician. I really would. Just not one like Joe Hoeffel.

     Please!!!!! Write in Joe Hoeffel for Governor and use your voice!

     Anyone in Pennsylvania who is interested in helping with a ‘rebel’ write in campaign to show we are here, please reply via this page. If you are judged by sex or smoke habits, step up and be heard!

     PS….Jennifer Mann sucks. Vote against her if you live in her district. If you are unsure, ask me and I will look it up for you.

     PSS….I don’t take back the stuff about Christie but even HE allowed the MJ to flow in New Jersey, our neighbor to the East.