We have a number of anniversaries around this time of the year. Yesterday August 2nd was the 45th anniversary of my first threatening to commit suicide. I had planned to rig up some thing where I'd be electrocuted and be unable to get out of it. In general the whole causal thing with brother Al and the threats and hassassment and destruction of property I was subjected to - was pretty much shoved under the rug. The next day me and Pete Richards were dropped off near Nu Pike amusement park, which was a mile or so from where my Mom worked on PCH, and we paid for the excoursion (and one way bus fare) with our own money. About the only upshot was that a couple of weeks later I went to a Dr. Ralph Duncan for some informal psychotherapy. Duncan was actually my mother's personal physician. My dad has his own set of doctors - - or quacks. Dr. Duncan said he was going to hypnotize to "erase certain traumatic events from my memory". I told my parents I don't believe that ever happened. But they said "Well maybe he did hypnotize you and then erased your memory so you wouldn't remember the session. August 4th is Becky Daniel's birthday. August 5th is the fiftieth anniversary of when Marilyn Monrol took her own life with sleeping pills. Though some say it was a mafia hit in that a member of the Mafia was seen breaking into her bungalo and injecting her with some drug to shut her up because she was a threat to reveal too many mafia secrets that lover Bobby Kennedy had told her about in confidence. Of course ex wife Laura's birthday is the day Elvis died, August 16th and Laura was an ardent Marilyn devotee. Our wedding was Friday August 14th the day that Elvis mother Gladys died and two days later we went on a "honeymoon" or sorts. Neither Laura nor I had ever gone to a chicken dinner at Knott's Berry farm so that Sunday we decided to make a major day of it at Knotts. In the invervening day Saturday, Bill Gunderson was at the Saturday night Bible study making jokes about medflies, and brought over this musical album of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Of course August 6th is the anniversary of the Heroshima bombing, the first use of the A bomb, and something to give every citizen of the world pause. The line itself "Life is too short to be shy" comes from a Dr. Demento song I recorded off the air in late September of 1990 about a Comedy stand up artist making snide come-backs to those who would be his detracters. In those days most of the parody stuff you heard was AGAINST the Gulf War, and not pro war, as you would be getting a lot of later on. Nobody knew then just how strong the Iraqi army was or wasn't and many people rightly feared for the safety of our troops with Saddam Hussein's reputation for using poisonous gasses and the like. Life is to short for people to rationalize their shortcomings with bullshit.
Rush Limbaugh on his show attacked Harry Reed for saying on the senate floor, apparently, that he had personal knowledge that Mitt Romney had not paid taxes in ten years in a row. Rather than assert that the alligation was false, he seemed to be giving the basic assertion a thumbs up but accused Reed of getting the information not from a fellow Bain Capital worker, but from the IRS report itself, and now is trying to accuse Reed of reading confidential tax information on Romney illegally. Neither Rush nor anyone has explained why Romney shouldn't just step up to the plate and admit it. All any of them on the right can say is that "If we had all the information on Romney it would just make it a whole lot worse for our side, and Romney is no fool". If that's the way they want to play it, fine. Harry Reed understandably is not naming the guy who told him. That's not important fur us to know, it's only important that Harry Reed know who it was. Romney's trip overseas was an unmitigatted disaster of course. He accused the President of the United States as somehow alien to "A basic Anglo Saxon common history". Apparently only three questions were ever allowed to be asked of the Romney enterage during the entire foreign trip. When reporters wanted to know more in Poland, one Romney aid told a reporter 'Kiss my ass" and then reminded the reporter that they were at a holy site. Mitt Romney utterly disgusts me. I can't stand to listen to another word that he may say about anything. Mitt Romney built his political carrier playing it safe and sticking to the script. He is utterly unable to think on his feet and in general is terrible relating to people. I can't imagine him even wanting to debate the president in the fall because the President will rip him apart in the first debate and by the third debate we will be saying Mitt Who?
There is brighter news for Obama. It seems one survay projected that if the Election were held today that Obama would win 290 electoral votes to 191 for Romney. I looked at the election map state by state and if that's the way it breaks down it's a slam dunk for the President because achieving that is no problem. Of course 165,000 jobs were added to the employment rolls last month, which is double recent months. At no month has their been a loss of jobs, and the agragate job increases over a sustained period is impressive. There is also the news that the real estate market has turned around and that prices are on the rise and that sales are picking up and foreclosures are way down. Other polls continue to indicate that the President is "just a more likable fellow' than Romney". Other polls of a more specific nature show impressive leads for the President over Romney.
In terms of Chick filet their whole PR drive is totally bogus. They were crying "We believe in free speech" and yet their employees have to sign a pledge never to talk to the Press about anything. These workers are like share croppers or serfs. They are workers who are never allowed to leave the plantation. One big conspiracy is to keep people so poor in this country that they never acquire enough capital to even think about starting their own business. The whole chick filed outfit is like a giant cult like the Salvation Army or something. They not only own the building you work at - they own YOU. You have no rights and have questions asked of you that probably violate federal law. Where the hell is the EEOC in all this? Equal employment oppettunity commission. You aren't allowed to ask about a person's religion when hiring, and normally you aren't allowed to ask about your own sexual orientation. That's not your employer's business. You are asked about your merital status and not even Rush Limbaugh or Newt Gingrich would past muster on the application. Only a tiny fraction of those who apply are actually given a chick filet Franchise. You have to give 65% of your earnings you make to management. And they use the money to give to hate groups to further take away your rights. Larry Elder once said our tax laws on small business were too conthiscatory. But here you have to pay 65% of your earnings over to them BEFORE you even think about paying your taxes. You pay on the gross and not the net. The average chick filet franchizer takes home less than a third of most franchises. I can't help that such a capital drain would adversely affect prices. But everybody says that the chicken itself is well worth it. I'm just disgusted by the whole opperation and I can't see myself ever going there for a meal now.
In terms of the previous posting it's a case of "Back by popular request". What I did was took a few of the more distracting comments off. There are also gramatical corrections, and also the red letter commentary elaborates on the original remarks. The original piece was typed with amazing rappidity one evening when I was inspired by a few lines I heard on a TV program. I really felt as if the thing is well worth trotting around the block once again. They are insights well worth reflecting on.
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