Non-sequitur Coffee Controversy

Some Christians have lost their minds. Not all of them. Maybe it is only the ones who have Twitter and Facebook accounts. Coupled with that they must already have a gripe against Starbuck's Coffee and a major persecution complex.

This subset of Christendom are saddled with an acute sense of non-sequitur in their belief system. The essential facts of this brew-ha-ha are as follows:

1. Starbuck's white coffee cups with their green logo are the norm most of the year.
2. In years past they temporarily changed they cup design to include wintry imagery such as snow flakes, pine trees and snow-personages.
3. This year (2015) they decided to make their seasonal cups red with their green logo.  

In those years past the anti-winter, anti-cold temperature people bought the coffee in the green decorative cups and enjoyed the taste, aroma, and warm fingers that the hot coffee provide and they kept their mouths shut. Except of course to sip the tasty brew.

This year there has arisen a cadre of irate people who think that Starbucks is disrespecting Christmas, Jesus and their entire faith by not placing the pagan symbols on their coffee cups. Their claim is one of "outrage and amplification" and an allegation of a "War of Christmas."

In the 1950's a red coffee cup would have been construed as an endorsement of Communism and subject to the Joseph McCarthy investigations and the resultant black listing of anyone accused of being a Commie during the "red scare." Unamerican you were.

If Starbucks had decided to make their cups blue this year, conservatives and Republicans and their radio and TV mouthpieces would be screaming Liberal Bias and calling for the same level of boycott.

By the same token why are not the Liberal and Democratically minded people outraged that Starbucks has endorsed the GOP by adopting their major color identity?

There are think tank focus groups who sit around all day coming up with ways to develop attention to their causes and positions. They have a formula that co-mixes their agenda with anything anyone does and injects it into the public venue. Sometimes they are successful and other time they flop. It is difficult to see the true size of a movement or boycott when the provocateurs are so prolific and own hundreds of thousands of Twitter and Facebook accounts with which to bat a small message around until it look like it is everywhere.

When I ran a small transit company, a salesman stopped by to sell me vehicle cleaning supplies. "You must have a large fleet," he said, "I see your white vans everywhere." Most of my vans were blue. One of them was white.

Queen For A Day

Back in the early Black and White days of Television there was a show called "Queen For A Day." The premise was for show host, Jack Bailey, to get women to get up and tell their story to the studio audience. The Applause Meter registered the sound level for each of the four contestants. The contestants were members of the studio audience. "Unsuspecting" she was to be "the one". It did not matter who she was. It mattered only that she would be emotional at the personal attention that she was about to get and convey her story to the audience.

Jump ahead 50 to 60 years and we have Kim Davis interviewing for the title of Queen For a Day. She reached the national radar by denying men and women marriage licenses in her home county of Rowan, Kentucky. As County Clerk she must issue and sign all marriage licenses. She personally objected to issuing a license to two men or two women. She claimed Christian Privilege as the basis of her refusal to perform the duties of her elected office. So in steps the Family Research Council and other conservative anti-civil rights organizations. She tells her sorry story and the Applause Meter began to register. "Keep going Kim, you made the needle move." She then shut down all marriage license issuance and told people to go elsewhere. "Kim, the needle is moving more. Do something dramatic." 

She then was summoned to Federal court to be told to do her job and stop discriminating. She refuse that order and was immediately taken into custody. "Well done, Kim, you'll be a martyr for our cause." So then Republican candidates for president jumped to her side and one showed up to hold her arm high in a sign of victory. "You've DONE IT, Kim, You ARE Queen for a Day." She was lavished with praise, shown crucifixes dangling from sticks in front of her face, given a bouquet of flowers and made to again weep with joy. The only thing missing from the media circus was the playing of "Pomp and Circumstances." I guess they would run into an IP issue so they pirated "Eye of the Tiger" instead.

Now you must recall that the "honor" of being Queen For a Day on the TV show was not to make the women feel better, but to sell advertising minutes and hawk the sponsors' products. The winner would get a washer-dryer, dinner for two on the town, a bouquet of flowers, a crown and an ermine lined red velvet robe, flatware, matching pots and pans, in short what every woman from 1945 through 1964 really wanted. After the it was all over for the day, she had to give back the robe and crown.

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Author's Note: The book cover images in the side margins of this blog are my own publications of eBooks available at both Amazon and B&N. Please take a moment and go to the sites and read about them. Then if you like it, buy one or two.

Make America Grate

I lay down on the sofa for a mid-afternoon nap and was quickly asleep. I had propped my head on the thick upholstered arm of the sofa and had the back of my neck directly against it. When I awakened the entire back of my head and neck were numb from the pressure. I was panicked at first. The thought of what Sarah Palin says popped into my mind. What she said was making sense. Rick Santorum was not an analpore and Donald trump had all the right answers to Make America Grate. I suddenly realized that with part of my brain asleep I was a Republican. As the blood returned to circulation in my scalp and neck it felt cool and tingly. My thinking became clear again and my Democratic leaning returned to full prominence.

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Author's Note: The book cover images in the side margins of this blog are my own publications of eBooks available at both Amazon and B&N. Please take a moment and go to the sites and read about them. Then if you like it, buy one or two.

Why Pirates Say ARRRGH!

Shameless Promotion of TalkLikeaPirate.com

There is a linguistic reason that pirates say "Arrgh" all of the time. Never mind that pirate posers probably say it far more often than pirates to today, but there is a real reason.

The salty sea pirates of yon days of yore were an ignorant lot, but being of French descent they were multilingual. While their native tongue was French, all Hollywood films of pirates had sound and dialog recorded in English. In the earliest surviving films on Nitrate film stock, there was no sound recorded, i.e. they were Silent Films. Savvy editors could easily insert inter-panels of plot development e.g. "Mildred could not pay the rent and that gave the Evil Snidely Whiplash the excuse to put the moves on the fare maiden." Then the film would continue with a closeup of Snidely mouthing "Nya, tin nya nya" which no editor could ever have actually spelled on an inter-title board. We the audience knew what was being said even with our rudimentary lip-reading skills. In other spots there was essential dialog such as "Arrrgh, me maties, I'll slit ye from stem to stern if you don't take back that comment about moi Mare."

But back to the pirates. Most authentic pirates were formerly French seamen of the royal-class. They wore waist coats and tights and long perfumed wigs. After being away at sea and from the dainty damsels of D'ampierre-Au-Temple they kind of lost their air of pomposity. Rum will do that to ye.

Pirates were a drunken lot by all the official accounts. Captain Bly of the good ship Bounty discovered that fact at his peril.

Being of a chauvinistic and polite upbringing, and being expert with a foil, they were prone to keep the tradition of warning their fencing opponent to be "en guard." No self-respecting Defender of the Crown would ever think of a sneak attack on even the most formidable foe. Perry and Counter-perry would commence with an occasional Lunge that was deflected by the apt enemy.

Drunken pirate ex-French military persons started out announcing "En Guard," this was followed by the derivative "Guard, and Guarrrrd" as the heat of battle and the level of intoxication increased. Soon there was no time for the traditional fobish warning and "ARRRGH" was vocalized followed by a first strike to end the confrontation.

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Author's Note: The book cover images in the side margins of this blog are my own publications of eBooks available at both Amazon and B&N. Please take a moment and go to the sites and read about them. Buy one better yet two or I'll be forced to make ye walk the gangplank, ye Silly Buggers.

Whatever Happened to Jade Helm 15?

After all the Alex Jones, Glen Beck, et al conspiracy hoopla, the topic seems to have disappeared from the national RADAR. wow the media is really good at hushing the airwaves and this time the Internets too. While trying to discover the answer to the title question, I stumbled upon this Reddit post. It made as much sense as anything else one might imagine. Itswaynebradyyall 14 points2 days ago "The timeline was altered when a young boy lost his arm to an evil entity living beneath the sewers in a small Maine town. This set off a chain of events that banded 7 children together in a blood bond to rid the town of the entity and ultimately moved our reality over into the one where Jade helm was in actuality just a training exercise."

Comment from Reddit discussion Whatever happened to Jade Helm 15 ?.

There are literally millions of alternate universe time lines out there waiting to be visited. See Quantum Universe and read about many of the things, people and events that exist in those alternate realities.

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Author's Note: The book cover images in the side margins of this blog are my own publications of eBooks available at both Amazon and B&N. Please take a moment and go to the sites and read about them. Then if you like it, buy one or two.

Silly "Bagger"

I went to the store to buy a bag for the vacuum cleaner. What I found was a bag containing 3. At the checkout counter the cashier asked me if I wanted a bag. I said, "you are asking me if I want a bag for a bag of bags?" She said, "paper or plastic?"

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Runaway Farm Tractor

Village Destroyed By Runaway Farm Tractor
Yaounde, Cameroon. June 16, 2009. New Zealand Voice + Me

Yaounde Interior Ministry officials confirmed the 'near total loss' of the small agricultural outpost at Masabe when the tractor that was recently donated by the French Missionary Alliance, Il Pleure Il Pleure, was taken amok by 8 year old Kintabi.

The boy was seen sitting in the operator's seat making motor sounds on several occasions and was warned each time that he was not to touch the machine.

Kintabi would stand at the end of a field watching the large wheels turn and the plow blades cut the soil, said his mother. "He run along with the machine, shouting he was a farmer too."

Village elder, Jimi Callali said that all of the destruction was not surprising because, "We all know that it takes a child to raze a village."

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Author's Note: The book cover images in the side margins of this blog are my own publications of eBooks available at both Amazon and B&N. Please take a moment and go to the sites and read about them. Then if you like it, buy one or two.

It Was the best of Times, it Was the End of Times

It was the best of times, it was the End of Times. It just didn't get any better than that. POTUS was supporting free-trade agreements with 10 other pacific-rim nations and touting alternative energy production to save the planet. His plans were inscrutable to the naked eye making it difficult to know whether to come or go. It's good that such things are color-coded.

The Televangelical leaders were in their virtual pulpits exercising their the god-given Constitutional Rites to tax-free speech saying that the nation was going to be punished by god for allowing people to be recognized by the State for the relationships they already exercised. The Federal government's steadfast assertion that women have the right to make their own health choices was going to bring on Armageddon. Armageddon was a precursor to the return of Jesus Christ and that we Patriotic Americans must stop the President from subjecting America to the Wrath of God by killing babies or allowing two adults to have their relationships acknowledged in Federal, State and local secular statutes.

Personalities such as Michelle Bachmann spouted rhetoric that seemed to be contradictory. She blamed POTUS and SCOTUS for the sins of the nation and announces that they will be responsible for the destruction of this exceptional nation as we know it. Other conservative Republican politicians endeavored to curry favor of a single-issue electorate by invoking fear of the future under Democratic leadership where god would punish everyone en masse for the alleged sins of the few. Each minor politician asserted that what the President and his Minions were doing was going to both bring about the return of Jesus and destroy America at the same time. Well Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson and Ted Cruz, you cannot have it both ways.

It seems that Republicans are just not ready for The Rapture. They appear to want to set up some "off-shore" accounts where they can access their ill-gotten gains in the Afterlife. They want the End of Times but just not right now. It takes time to figure out how to stash the untaxed profits AND be able retrieve them from the Other Side.

Being able to stop children from getting an education, you know from the Latin: e-ducare to draw out, and replace it with indoctrination from the Latin word for "teach," doctrina is the root of indoctrinate, i.e. to put the teaching IN is essential. After all children have no need for any secular knowledge if god is about to exterminate everyone who doesn't believe the indoctrination material.

So just like the compassionate Coach who has the winning season who puts in the second string teammates and the bench-warmers for the last game of the season, the GOP is fielding an entire team of misfits and dinks to play-out the last few minutes of the last game of the season. It will not matter in their thinking. The Conspiracy Prophets have already said that Barack Obama will be the Last President of the USA and that Pope Francis will be the last Pope. Even Nostradamus
interpretations have been off by one Pope so far.

Many conservatives, and particularly those of the Christian persuasion, are hoping for and expecting the End of Times to resolve all conflicts, pay all debts and reward all devotees while cruelly punishing all persons who do not accept their faiths. In light of that why worry about environmental pollution, the rise of sea-level, the demise of species, the level of debt, the health of the people or the crumbling of the infrastructures? In god there is all remedy (in another world yet to be seen) so gird your loins with the treasures of this world and seek a way to take it along. These are the best of times.

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Author's Note: The book cover images in the side margins of this blog are my own publications of eBooks available at both Amazon and B&N. Please take a moment and go to the sites and read about them. Then if you like it, buy one or two.

Comic Relief

Author's Note: The book cover images in the side margins of this blog are my own publications of eBooks available at both Amazon and B&N. Please take a moment and go to the sites and read about them. Then if you like it, buy one or two.

You know that moment in the horror movie just when the visuals are getting too intense or in the crime thriller when the body count is mounting, that is when the director introduced a moment of Comic Relief. You have been subjected to all the visual and audible mayhem and destruction that you can handle, then one of the actors says something like, "Mom always told me to wear clean underwear in case you are in an accident." Or maybe, "he always was of two minds..." when the blade bisects the latest victim.

Well with all the GOP horror story goings-on of the past few years, the name calling, the President bashing, the idea that we are all going to roast on a hot planet, that the police are doing a great job of containing dissent and the defunding of every safety net program that feeds, houses and medically treats people, it is time for the Comic Relief. Enter The Donald. The clown prince of conservative politics. The purveyor of purely persnickety political poppycock. The man who thinks in the third-person.

By saying the most outrageous things at the time when the country is the most engrossed in the violence of the day, the mass shootings, the police choking and shooting unarmed minority citizens, the beating of the war drums for Iran, the poisoning of our water with fracking chemicals, the modification of our food to make it produce its own insecticides, the denial of science, and the alleged persecution of Christians, HE makes people sit back and revel with a smugness of superiority.

His entire presence speaks of nonsensical solutions to imminent problems that are and will continue to plague this country of ours. As I watched his performance on the Fox News Presidential Debate Stage there was a distinct air of Andy Kaufman wafting around the podiums. Andy made his fame and fortune by being as outrageous as possible even to the point of getting himself smacked down by a professional wrestler. He did not care, it was publicity.

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A "Parking License" Law is Needed

Author's Note: The book cover images in the side margins of this blog are my own publications of eBooks available at both Amazon and B&N. Please take a moment and go to the sites and read about them. Then if you like it, buy one or two.

Some people make their own spaces.

Silly Bugger Parking

There are two distinct skill sets necessary for being the operator of a motor vehicle. One is being able to make it go, stop and stay within the marked lanes while traveling from one place to another. The other set is the ability to park the vehicle in the designated spaces.


There ought to be two licences issued to people who want to operate a vehicle. There should be the Drivers License where they must read and know the laws and they must pass a proficiency test to prove they are capable of driving safely. The other license should be a Parking License.

Many parkers have no respect for fellow
parkers.

This guy was so far over the line that
he was in two spaces yet left just
enough room for a second car to
squeeze in.

Here is another person who can't
see well enough to park. Makes
you wonder about seeing well enough
to drive.

This trucker is just begging to be
 parked-in to that corner.

Many but not all of the photos shown here are people parking in Disability Permit Spots. They all have a permit or a plate to imply that they have the permission to park in these space. A survey conducted in MTA Commuter Train parking lots revealed that fully 25% of the users were using someone else's permit. What is not checked regularly is the ID card that is issued with all placards and plates that show to whom the permit was issued. During those "surveys" the Transit Police confiscated all bogusly used placards and issued violation citations. If the person chose to fight the ticket and could win they could have the permit back.

Most private property violations are ignored due to the Management not wanting to get into the quarrel and have to spend an time on the matter.

This guy really pissed me off because
that is my van he parked next to like that.

There are those people who should
understand the purpose of the
yellow lined space between spaces.
They don't.

Now this parker doesn't have a
"disability" to rely on for an explanation.
Just plain old rudeness.

Just plain and simple rudeness.

There is very little to do about the bad behaviors of people who drive cars and park like they are the only one that matters. More ticket issuance would do more to raise revenues than to change behaviors of the people who do silly bugger parking. One of the side effects of the Transit Police Officer checking every person's permit Id on a morning as they arrived to catch a train is that after a few people were caught and more people with bogus permits arrived, they just drove on by. At the end of the monitoring session the permit spaces were left have used. This condition persisted for a few days afterwards. The MTA did assign an officer to just sit in his car during the early morning hours and the results were the same. Half the spaces were unused.

This one was there when I went into
the Supermarket.

This one was there when I came
back out a few minutes later.

The logical conclusion is that at any time from 25 to 50% of the users of designated spaces are posers and liars. One can easily observe the people who use them and see that this is true. Hidden disabilities aside, there are a lot of P&Ls out there and people who are not competent to park much less drive a motor vehicle.

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Saving The Recruiters

Ask yourself this: If this Dynamic Trio are veterans, just why are they now x-military?

Really now. These earnest men and woman believe that they are doing their part to "give back to America" after being allowed to serve in the Armed Services for God and Country. There will be no convincing them to go back to mother's basement and play xBox and maybe smoke a blunt. The only sane member of this little troupe is Semper Fido lying there with his Service Animal vest. He came for the biscuits and water dish. He, being the only one who noticed the photographer is the only hope that these Patriots would survive their mission should the enemy be engaged.

Ralphie was out late the night before and overslept necessitating his report for duty in his Old Glory Pajamas. With his APMV battery charge nearly depleted, he will have to stop in next door at the Fancy Nails by Mo'niq for an electrical outlet. "Hey, Ralphie, that gun stock makes a great place to rest your weary chin."

Brian with his homemade Kamo Kilt is the envy of all wannabe Celt-like Patriots and boast of "going commando" with all the females who crossed to the other side of the cars that were parked in front of this Marine Recruiting Station. Just in case the situation arises, he keeps a spare pair of tighty-whities in his spurran along with a single gold plated round for himself if he is ever captured. "No, I'm not actually Scottish, but I want to be. I would have been 1/3 Scottish if my great grandfather hadn't been deported for talking so much like a Brit. The closest thing I have to Celtic-stuff is Wendy's red hair."

Wendy, aka Flame, has hung out with the boys since she was 9 years old. Not exactly former-military, she loves to play air-guitar with her weapon. Her camo flak vest is covering up her "covert military assets" which can just be discerned peeking out with a blue starry field. She made her own outfit, too, by cutting the legs off of an old pair of Levis just above the length of the front pockets. "The boys never turn me away when I am in uniform. Sometimes I play M*A*S*H Nurse when we are not on deployment."

Marco (not pictured) headed over to the Shop 'n' Drop for a pack of Camels and four BigBurrp colas. Fortunately for Ralphie, the Recruiting Center is located at the previous location of Chin's Tiki Outi Restaurant and they have two wheelchair accessible restrooms in the back for when the BigBurrps make him more full of piss than crap. Semper Fido can just use the front wheel of the Camry parked nearby.

The Marine Lieutenant inside came out at 10:30 and asked the Dynamic Trio to take their "support services" over to the Shop 'n' Drop since they have been robbed several times in the last year and were far more of a target that was his Recruiting office. The silly buggers insisted that they had a right to sit on a public sidewalk with their weapons any time they wanted to. He explained that while he personally wanted to thank them for their good intentions, they were scaring away all the prospective recruits. Said he, "your presence here gives people the impression that military service is dangerous and that is something we are trying to dispel."

Intransigent in their insistence that they were indeed keeping the military safe from crazy armed people, they stayed until their bus arrived at noon.

Jeffersonville resident, Joseph Frye, an apparent Silly Bugger of the Realm has found his calling after sleeping the sleep of the Righteous Dead for several hundreds of years.

His plea is to come unarmed unless you have proper permits. Bring your own lawn chair and plenty of water.

Similarly, if planning to wear chain link armor you might want to wear a catheter or pack a pair of wire cutters to remove one crucial strategic link, if you know what I mean.

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Now is the Time for All Silly Buggers to Come to the Aid of Their Party

Now is the time for all silly buggers to come to the aid of their party. There are many valid labels and icons that need to be deprecated due to having been widely co-opted by some other cause that is not in accordance with the original connotations of the label or icon. A case in point is the swastika.

The broken cross symbol is an ancient one that signified positive things like health and good fortune. Its pattern can be found carved in ancient Hindu monuments, wrapped around the cornice of rooms in Masonic temples, and stitched into cloth and tapestries.

The unfortunate history of the swastika is that the National Socialists Party, aka The Nazis, adopted it for their logo and their ideologies forever making it a symbol of hatreds, torture and murder. No one can expect to use swastikas in their designs unless they are trying to embody that extreme negative imagery.

A second case is the design of the Confederate Battle Flag of the American South, aka Dixie. Although many Americans feel a kindred with it others feel only the dread. Sometime after its adoption as a national symbol it was likewise adopted by the Ku Klux Klan and brandished it as a symbol of terror, torture and murder.  Like for the swastika it is time to deprecate its use other than to signify the terror, torture and murder that it has come to be known for.

As an unfortunate parallel the Star of David and the Crucifix have similar mixed usage histories. In the former case, it has become synonymous with the oppression of Palestinians in Gaza and the mistreatment of those people by the State of Israel. In the latter case, the Crucifix as the hopeful symbol of Christ has also been carried into battle against Muslims armies in numerous Crusades throughout the centuries. It has been linked with the atrocities of the Inquisition. The main differences between it and the Confederate Battle Flag seems to be couched in the relative numbers of people who hold it as a positive symbol.

Prior to Christianity's claim to the symbol, the Romans employed the full sized versions of the cross to punish, torture and kill their enemies. In a land where the image is positive, it remains. In a land where it stands as a negative, it is banned. Therefore, in this land where more people see the "Stars and Bars" as a negative racist throwback to the 19th Century it will be banished from polite usage and varying measures of where it shall be allowed to remain shall be debated.

In private usage, where a relatively small number of people associate, the Battle Flag will surely remain for decades to come. But where it is displayed in public as a symbol for a State, a judiciary, or a legislature it cannot and will not prevail.

Random Recovered Memory - Two

I had set about doing a multitude of tasks that had been procrastinated serially for some time. Once I get into the swing of things, ideas that had not here-to-fore presented themselves make themselves known. One thing leads to another and there I am taking care of something that actually serves to keep me from an item or two on the punch list of things to do.

One of those items was to stuff the bed pillows into the laundromat and wash out whatever it is that experts say accumulates in the stuffings. The wash cycle finished and I moved them into the gas fired clothes dryer. Later with three fluffy warm pillows in my arms and held close under my chin, this is where the Random Recovered Memory kicked in.

When I and my sisters were all just little tykes, our father on a cold winter night would put our pillows into the kitchen oven to warm them up and make going to sleep a margin easier. Only the recollection of that being done remains in my aging brain. I had the feel of it when headed back to the bedroom with the freshly laundered pillows. I have no recollection of how often the pillows were warmed for us or for how many winters that lasted. I just know that somewhere in those halcyon days was the last time it was done.

Maybe it is the approach of Fathers' Day that led me to this memory and even to the idea that I should launder the pillows at all. Silly bugger me.

"You Can't Argue With a Twit" a new blog

Sometimes I just can't help myself. I got an idea for a blog theme. I thought about it for a while. I posted to FB and Twitter asking what people thought of it and getting no negative replies decided that it was a GO. Therefore, I did it. It's called "You Can't Argue With a Twit". Once up and live it received 36 pageviews before I even got around to promoting it. This Internet is amazing. Thanks to DARPA for inventing it and making it possible for computers to form networks even though THAT will be the eventual downfall of the human race.  "What part of SkyNet don't you understand?"

If you have any examples, send them. Post in the comments or tell me you have something and I'll send you an email to send to. I'm open to Guests and regular Contributors. I think this one is going to be BIG.

Choose Your Words Wisely

After a string of rainy days that started the week, a local meteorologist reported that the outlook for Wednesday was going to be sunny and clear. She ended her news segment by wishing the viewing audience a "dry hump day."

Whether it is too good

While riding the train into work this morning a woman boarded at the last stop before the end of the run. She proclaimed that this day the weather was "really really nice." She went on to say that it was too nice to go into her office and why is it that they will close offices when the weather is too bad but not when it was too good. I said that the idea was a sound one and that I was going to mention it to the Director where I work. He would be just the type of person who would consider that a reasonable idea.

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Silly Firefly

Late in the evening I was sitting at my dining room table typing at my laptop computer. The darkened window would normally show me the new spring leaves of the trees that have returned to their annual green. There on the glass outside was the intermittent green flash of a firefly. Alone in his attractiveness he was plying a futile effort at sex. This is only the middle of May, I reasoned. Now was no time for fireflies. Their time is supposed to be June and July. His time was supposed to be then, not now.

The silly bugger would not be bugging anyone at all. I turned off the lights and went out to the back yard to see if he was indeed alone. To his dismay, he was. It just doesn't pay to be premature or late when dealing with sex. Unless the ladies emerge tomorrow evening he may never experience the joys of simultaneous orgasmic tail flashing.

Time Flees

Most people wonder where the time goes. I want to know where time comes from so I  go get some more. 

Florida Woman Cuts Loose

Here is the question - is this Florida woman A) crazed on drugs, B) having a psychotic break, or C) just being a silly bugger?

The back story is this... Amie Carter, a 31 year old Florida woman took to the street (after taking off all her clothes) and proceeded to masturbate in front of a couple in a Lexus. She then jumped on the car and dented the hood and roof. My question is, "Why doesn't this kind of show happen to me when I'm stuck in traffic?" I am truly surprised that multiple cellphone videos have not yet surfaced on the Internets.

From the Inquisitr web story it is abundantly clear that the Police are highly articulate when it was reported that...

"Arriving on the scene, police witnessed the naked woman parading around in the middle of Formosa Avenue, noting in their report that the naked suspect pretty much defined naked as she 'wasn’t wearing any clothes.'"
Read more at Inquisitr

If you know anyone who was in the area at the time and had the foresight to whip out their cellphone and record this heinous act, please leave a comment here.

We DID Need Another Hero.

For the movie sequel, "Age of Ultron" domestic box office total after eight days is $217.6 million. The original Ultron movie did $244 million for “The Avengers.” Both are records for release-week revenues. I guess we DID need another hero, unlike the lyrics that Tina Turner sang for Beyond Thunderdome.

Jade Helm 15 and Counting

Run for the hills. Git chur ammo now. Obama is a comin'. You are doomed to FEMA camps in Wal-mart stores. Jade Helm 15 is the conspiracy you have been waiting for. Federal troops are on your doorstep. The Plan says they will be there July through September, but THAT is just what they want you to think. Or at least what Alex Jones wants you to think. The tunnels connecting the six hurriedly shuttered Wal-mart stores across the nation are being dug at a furious pace.

Texans ought to be happy being interned in a Walmart store. Everything they need is right there. I've seen the pix of the beautiful women there and the suave men. Who could ask for better.  No need to go home to spouse and children. All the beef jerky and Pepsi you can consume is at your disposal. and the Dew. Who can forget the Dew?

Of course Wal-mart is fully denying and involvement as one would expect.

"Wal-Mart issued a statement Monday to TPM dismissing 'rumors' that tunnels were being built by the U.S. military beneath closed stores in an attempt to launch a takeover of Texas. 'There’s no truth to the rumors,' Wal-Mart spokesperson Lorenzo Lopez told TPM via email."

Can I get a "Yeah, Right!" from the peanut gallery? The silly buggers in Texas, especially the new Head Goober, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) felt it necessary to order the Texas National Guard to monitor the US Army operations for clues that they were about to institute Martial Law. Actually, this was a misheard statement. He thought they said Marital Law and he thought the LGBTQRNMTCX folks were about to invoke the Wrath of God with Obama's Blessings.

"We need to stop these sinners before God sees that we allowed them to inherit each others property, visit in the hospital and obtain health insurance from some other LGBTQRNMTCX individual. THAT would undermine our stance against people having access to medical services from patriotic Doctors, nurses and orderlies."

It is unfortunate that the name Jade Helm is so similar to the Sci-fi TV series Charlie Jade where government and corporate conspiracies abound.  Otherwise the Texas insanity would be non-existent. Well, maybe not.

No matter what you say, what you do, there are those people who will "hear what they want to hear and disregard the rest". It just goes to show that you can't argue with a twit.

A Frayed Knot

Rocky the Boston Terrier is a great political strategist. His sage advice is "Always be the last one into the fray."

He ought to know with all the tussles and tugs-of-war that he has won. When he was asked about a particular candidate's prospects of winning the party nomination, his reply was...

A Frayed Knot

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Author's Note: The book cover images in the side margins of this blog are my own publications of eBooks available at both Amazon and B&N. Please take a moment and go to the sites and read about them. Then if you like it, buy one or two.

Spam and Saltines

Not that I want SPAM comments on my blogs but in light of the extremely low number of comments they get, I was even more distressed by the fact that all of the various blogs together have ZERO spammed comments.

When I was in my teens and twenties, I did a lot of white water rafting on such rivers as the Cheat and Youghiogheny. After a long morning stretch  on a cold water river, lunch was a welcome thing. Shivering from near hypothermic exposure, one of the favorite meals was Spam and Saltines followed down by a Royal Crowd Cola. At that time of my life a salty fatty sugary meal that was quick to prepare and even faster to eat was an ideal. The saltines were the only item that required protection from the river water. Calories were first and foremost the order of the day.

I miss those days, but not the salty fatty sugary food. Well two out of three is not bad.

The 4-foot High Club

From this directive, I would think taking the train would be no fun. There are other perks of train travel both for purpose and pleasure. However, if you eschewed the prohibition you could join the "4-foot high club"

Not the least of the benefits of train travel over car and plane is that you can get up and walk around without being to told to return to your seat. You CAN use your phone and computer the entire time of your trip. So if refraining from carnal pursuits is not a deal-breaker, taking the train is a good option.

Silly Cement

The driver of a Toyota was headed east on E St in DC today. Barricades separated the curb lane from the center. Workers were filling in the trench they had made to bury new fiber optic cables. The slot in the pavement was about 12 inches wide and ran variously near the center of the lanes. 

The slot had been mostly filled in and was being paved over. This anxious drive did not want to wait in the line of traffic to make his intended right turn. Sooo  he took the seemingly clear curb lane outside the barricade while straddling his wheels on each side of the slot. 

When he approached the intersection he started his right turn and dropped his driver side tires into the still fresh concrete that filled the slot. There he remained stuck fast in the soft surface

Three workmen stood around the car pointing at the obvious silly bugger faux pas.  We riders on the bus had ourselves a good chuckle as we inched by in the afternoon DC traffic. 

Witnessing Silly Buggers

I got up later than usual this Saturday morning. I did my usual morning routines and headed out for food shopping. It was fortuitous that I left just when I did.

The Jehovah's Witnesses were swarming this morning. Usually there are two or four of them walking in pairs to confront the neighborhood in serial fashion. Many times the JW Alert goes out and people know to not answer the door bell. I have disconnected my doorbell years ago since the only people to even ring it were the Witnesses.

As I said, the Witnesses were swarming. While I drove up the street weaving left and right between the pods of well dresses Witnesses, I counted 24 people with more arriving to park behind the last car in the line. While walking to your door they are quite diminutive, but trying to stop them once you let them get talking, it is good luck Charlie to you. "The only winning move is not to play" as was said of the game, Tic-tac-toe, where two knowledgeable players will always play to a draw. The only thing is you waste a lot of time playing.

Once while I was working on remodeling a house in my former neighborhood, I paused to speak with a man who happened by on two crutches and one leg. He was a affable fellow and the conversation was interesting. Then he paused and said, "Oh, here comes Jehovah's Witnesses. Do you want me to get rid of them for you?" I said, Yes, and he stood in their path and engaged them in comparative theological rhetoric. I turned away to get back to my work while he engaged them and played out the Dr.Seuss story of the ZAX "a South-Going Zax and a North-Going Zax seem determined to butt heads on the prairie of Prax." Their conversation lasted four hours before the Witnesses finally turned back from whence they came.

Therefore, dodging the Jehovah's Witnesses is not rude, it is far less rude than you will need to become to stop the ongoing monologue that they will mount. They must be some sort of silly buggers to keep canvassing the same street several times a year, year after year, without any success. I guess they believe they obtain some kind of grace in the trying because otherwise they are engaging in a monumental waste of time.

By the time I returned from shopping, they were all gone.

More Fake Beards

Possibly using the Gloucester bank robber as is role model, a man was arrested in Pittsburgh for a series of bank robberies. His MO? He wore a fake beard OVER is real beard as a disguise. No word was issued regarding his getaway transportation mode. The "police and the FBI believed they were chasing a serial robbery suspect because of how the heists were carried out and the suspect's red beard." He was wanted for a series of six robberies. So how red was it?

Silly Bugger Steak Eater

This Texas steak eating competition is the most obscene of the food eating contests that ever has been seen. This comes especially at the time that Republican Legislatures and Legislators are busy sponsoring and passing bills that limit the food items that people who receive SNAP funds are permitted to buy. "No steak or lobster for you," says the indignant analpores in the legislature.

Molly Schuyler ate the meals of 54 low-income people in one sitting of 20 MINUTES. And this time is not her first. "She broke her own record..." the MSN.com story reported.

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There must be something in the human psyche that revels in the consumption of everything while others do without.

The more traditional competition eating of hotdogs, hard-boiled eggs, and cherry pies does not seem as obscene as steak or let's say, shrimp. Such endeavors are likewise silly bugger shit especially in light of the attitudes against all those "lazy, job-adverse, welfare queens who have all the babies just to get the monthly check" people.

In addition to this winner of the Ms. Gluttony Award Texas, there were other contestants who did not win. They too consumed 100s of meals worth of steak and potatoes that could have fed a lot of children and their low-income parents. The shame is not limited to females who undertake this silly bugger example of conspicuous consumption. The men too are equally guilty.

420

Happy 420 Day.

Dad'isms

My father had a way with words that always seemed to be a bit on the silly buggerish side. "I'll see that when I believe it." "I'd rather be lucky than good." "I don't mind you calling a spade a spade, but I do mind you calling it a fucking shovel. Especially in front of your mother."

He also was fond of saying "love you too much." Recently I discovered several songs that propagate that sentiment. Doc Watson sang "Sometimes I think I love you too much." And much more recently, Sara Watkins sings the same sentiment in her recording "Too Much."

This phrase has become entrenched in our family vernacular. It is far better than some things I've heard one person say to another.

A message to MARC passengers regarding the designation of a Quiet Car On-board MARC Trains?

A message to MARC passengers regarding the designation of a Quiet Car onboard MARC Trains?

While the use of the Quiet Cars is permitted on MARC trains, passengers are reminded that this must be done responsibly. We have seen an increase in the number of complaints about loud talking (that above a whisper) on trains and disruptive behavior that has included loud talking, profanity, and in some cases, physical altercations that has been associated with passengers trying to self-enforce the Quiet Cars rules.

Use of the Quiet Cars on MARC trains is a privilege, not a right. The MARC Train Service reserves the right to restrict usage of Quiet Cars if passenger behavior is not appropriate and remove from the train those individuals that fail to abide by MARC rules and guidelines. This includes the use of profanity, refusal to follow instructions from conductors, and intimidation or threats to other passengers. The incident of last Thursday exemplifies the problem. A passenger who was incensed by a conversation that he deemed too loud and inappropriate to MARC Quiet Car rules gave the offending passenger the finger. The passenger stood up and shouted, “Keep your shush-finger for your children.” Where upon a hissy-fit played out among several passengers ending with a swat to the nose and the train crew having to send the unruly passengers to opposite ends of the car for a time out.

If Quiet Car decorum cannot be maintained, MARC reserves the right to discontinue the designation. Passengers are also reminded that hissy-fits and driving do not mix--MTA, State and local law enforcement will enforce anti-hissy-fit driving laws.

We value you as customers and thank you for helping us maintain a safe and pleasant atmosphere on board our trains.

Self Penalizing Misdemeanor (in the Subway)

Self Penalizing Misdemeanor (in the Subway)

Young boys have a knack for figuring out what it takes to be silly buggers. All one has to do is look at a situation through the eyes of their youth, and viola a whole new event can unfold in a few seconds.

Two such young boys were fooling around at the bottom of an up platform escalator at the Metro Center rail station in DC. The one boy backed up to the moving handrail and tried to straddle it for a ride up. It momentarily lifted him before he slid off. Walking about quite oddly he said to his friend's question, "Oooh, I got a monster wedgie." What more can I say?

I am home from my vacation in Apalachicola

I am home from my vacation in  Apalachicola, no thanks to American Airlines who would have left us in Charlotte if it were up to them. I know I am home because on my way from my parking space to the Bank where I work, there were maybe ten bag people in front of the library smoking a joint, and one of them asked me if I wanted a hit. And I am wearing sandals with my winter coat...

Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Mt. Pleasant, MI – July 11, 2016
December 9, 2014 at 11:29am

The recently passed "Religious Freedom Restoration Act – 2014" was tested this week when Mildred Weeks died at the scene of a multiple vehicle collision on US 127 just south of Mt. Pleasant. During the initial triage conducted by EMT Paramedic, Jedidiah James, he determined that Ms. Weeks was not of the same denomination as himself as evidenced by the shape of the gold cross she wore on a necklace around her neck.

Said Jedidiah, "I could see that she was of a heretical Christian sect that did not believe as my people do about the relationship among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are deeply religious and do not accept such teachings as legitimate."

When asked if he was sorry that Weeks had died, he responded, "that is not up to me. It was God's will.

The county coroner determined that Weeks died of acute blood loss due to her otherwise moderate injuries. "Prompt attention by EMS personnel would surely have saved her body, if not her soul, and she would be here today propagating the listening to music and the wearing of bright colors."

Vehicular homicide charges are being considered by the State Prosecutor against the driver whose SUV struck the Week's Prius. Quoting from biblical verse, Seth Adams said, "it's an 'eye for an eye' in this situation. Someone must pay and James is protected by the Law and his religious freedoms.

Random Memory Recovered

This memory resurfaced after nearly 60 years. The impetus for its recall was a soup can at lunch where I work where the label slid off leaving the bare steel of the can in my hand. Suddenly the long dormant synapses all fired off in succession and accessed that day so many decades ago. At age about 2 or 3, one doesn't exercise much in the way of critical thinking.

In my parents' house we had series of pantry shelves adjacent to the cellar steps. On that day for no apparent reason I felt it necessary to sit on those steps and peel the labels off all of the canned goods.

Two collateral memories followed in that succession. One was seeing all the cans with labels tied back on with string and rubber bands lined up on the shelves. My mother had matched the labels as best as a homemaker could do before the food manufacturers started printing dot-matrix codes and descriptions right on the metal bottoms. Campbell's Soup cans were all the same size. Fruit Cocktail, canned peaches, green beans, limas, and peas each had a similar uniform size.

The other memory was that for next few weeks our meals were a surprise. Whatever was in the can that was opened, THAT is what was for dinner. My grandfather, the old Swede, had a word for me for which I have never learned the origins. I was a clofinger. Today my sister would just say I was being a silly bugger.

Carrying Things Too Far

On my way home from a holiday visit in Pittsburgh I was driving through the Oakland section of the city where several Universities such as Pitt and Carnegie Mellon are situated. Along the side of the street there was a 40-ish looking woman out walking her dog on the very mild day in April. The sun was shining and the early spring chill was out of the air.

Now here is where thing get silly. The dog was a black poodle with all the foo-foo fur trimming that leaves little balls of fur on his feet, neck, tail, etc. We have not gotten to the silly part yet.

The woman who was walking this poodle was wearing black pants and black shirt. Her black boots had fuzzy black pom-poms surrounding her ankles like a hairy fetlock. On the cuffs of the sleeves of her shirt she had similar fuzzy accoutrement. Now with all this "style" already in full regalia, to top it all off, her dark hair was up in a tight curl perm. To say her dog looked just like her would be an error of who looked like whom. She obviously patterned herself after the dog after having the dog shaved.

Turkey in the Road

The other day on my way to work, I crossed over into a parallel universe as I do everyday driving the 2 miles from Rocky Neck to downtown Gloucester. This time the evidence was a man crossing Main Street. As I slow down to let him continue, he comes to a dead stop smack in front of me. So he could light a cigarette. It was kinda like today, driving home from church on Rte 133, there were TWO wild turkeys stopped in the cross walk. They did not move as I drove up to them and passed. It didn't occur to me until later, duh,  they were probably lighting a cigarette.

From the Mind of a Silly Bugger

There are just some product/service ideas that simply were invented by silly buggers for silly buggers. This is one of them.

Post by Jrock Radio.

This is wrong on soooo many levels.

So this guy robs a bank wearing a fake beard and...

So this guy robs a bank wearing a fake beard and sunglasses. The bank is in a plaza which, BTW, backs up to the police station. He grabs a cab and takes it about two blocks when he jumps out, runs in the front door of a law office and out the back door, which puts him behind an 8 foot  fence in the parking lot of another bank, which he has to jump over. Security footage shows him stopping a car coming through the drive-through and saying something to the driver. And then he runs off. Police soon nab him at the train station waiting for a train.

First of all, I am not making this up, I swear. Second, I work in the second bank, and I can tell you if we had a customer wearing a fake beard and sunglasses no one would even  to look up. I mean, we have free coffee. Third, his getaway is a cab and public transportation? Fourth, this is his MO--he was wanted for a similar crime in New Hampshire. You can read more about this at  http://gloucesterclam.com/2015/03/13/beard-on-the-run/

Playing Silly Buggers

I have twin nephews who are now 25 years old. From an early age right up until now they are always playing silly buggers. Once when they were about 12 they came back into their coastal Mass. house with something wiggling under a towel. They had waylaid a seagull and let it loose in the house when they went to look at it. They had two Boston Terriers and a pug who all joined in the ruckus while the bird flapped frantically all around the living room until my sister opened the front door and it flew out.

Silly Buggers Unite

This is the first Silly Bugger blog post.