Cesar Chavez versus Jesus & the Easter Bunny!

Today is Easter and Google's "doodle" has gone on and pissed off a lot of folks!   Google "doodled" Cesar Chavez on Easter!   Are you kidding me!   No Jesus!   No crucifixion!   No Easter Eggs!   No bunnies!   WTF!   Like I said, folks are pissed!   I ain't!

Quite honestly, I think Jesus would have approved of Google's selection!   Wait a second!   Is this the image of Cesar Chavez or Hugo Chavez?   I think there might be some confusion among some Americans here...but then again, most Americans are confused on many worldly matters...me too (sometimes anyway)!   I'm just sayin'!

The Fear of Flying!

My daughter tweeted this earlier today.   She's on her way for a short 8 day visit from Munich via Warsaw, Poland on LOT Airlines!

FCKH8 - More STR8 against H8!

MTV's The Real World REWIND!

Okay...so someone decided to rank all the "REAL World" shows.   I was hooked on the first episode but sort of dropped out around episode seventeen.

My older daughter actually auditioned for the Boston episode.   Now in retrospect, I'm glad she didn't make it, but her college buddy Kameelah (and now a big time OBGYN) did! (pictured center under the "Boston sign" on the firetruck)

To me, the best was the San Francisco episode with Pedro, Rachael & Puck!   That's when I really got hooked!

But as the site says...it all started in New York with episode one!

After all...love is love! David Gilmore

During my voyage through the internet today, I stumbled across this beauty.   I think this image is over the top!

Here's what David Gilmore posted with this picture on his blog named "Pretty on the Outside":

"My partner and I will celebrate our 18th anniversary in May however, as California residents we can't wed.   A numbered of my closest friends have recently gotten married in Washington state and couldn't be happier for them.   I painted the HRC logo on my and my partner's hands and as we took the photos, he placed our hands on his heart.   A simple statement about love, solidarity, and commitment...sounds like a marriage, right?"

Given the whole Prop-8 and DOMA stuff going on over the last two days...I decided to post the above image and dig deeper into David Gilmore's web site.   Damn!   This dude has some artistic talent.

That's a body painting on the back of a dude!   Damn!   Check out more of his stuff at his website or on Etsy...especially if you're a NeNe Leeks fan!   There's more of David's artwork at Imagekind!

Awesome!

SCOTUS and DOMA

There is hope in this world.   I see it in the youth around me!

SCOTUS & Prop8

Personally, I think it would be a hoot if there were some evidence to confirm that Jesus way gay.   But then again, I haven't seen any evidence to convince me that he even existed.   Even if he did...walked on water?   Come on people!   I never did understand the whole Father, Son, Holy Ghost thing.

However, there are even some young folks who think otherwise.   I read today that 82% of folks 30 years old and younger support same sex marriage.   So I guess the young folks below are part of the 18% who don't?   Go figure!

Your sport of choice!

• The sport of choice for the urban poor is BASKETBALL
• The sport of choice for typical maintenance level employees is BOWLING
• The sport of choice for a predominance of front-line workers is FOOTBALL
• The sport of choice for many supervisors is BASEBALL
• The sport of choice for quite a few middle management is TENNIS and...
• The sport of choice for corporate executives and officers is frequently GOLF

Therefore, based on observation, it follows that the higher you go in a corporate or institutional structure or organization, the smaller your balls become!

Therefore, there must be a boat load of people in Washington playing marbles!

Imagine a world without hate!

Imagine indeed!

The other side of the world! Sarjah, Syria

I had just returned from the local newsstand (drove the 3 blocks) to pick up the Sunday New York Times.   It's my Sunday ritual!   Stopped by the local "Dunkin Donuts" next door (one of many in the area) to get the Mrs. a "medium decafe Hazelnut with milk", another Sunday ritual. This time I also got her a croissant and two "egg & cheese wraps" for my (visiting...overnight guest) grandson (his favorite).

Now, back home, I plopped down at the kitchen table and turned on the color flat screen TV in the kitchen (one of too many in this house).   Everyone else (the Mrs., grandson, daughter & son-in-law) was still asleep upstairs.   I'm a little annoyed that I forgot to pick up bloody mary mix the other day, 'cause I was in the mood for a good Sunday morning Bloody Mary.

I changed the channel to CBS (one of over 600 channels available via Cablevision...for a price) to watch the CBS "Sunday Morning" program with Charles Osgood...another Sunday morning ritual!   Then I grabbed the Times.   This photo was on the front page.

When I first glanced at it (at the newsstand) I said damn!   Now, that I was in the comfort of my home, I began to stare at the picture and it really made me think of how much I (we?) take for granted.   A cave!   Come on people!   A f*cking cave!   The kids in the photo don't look to be a year or so older than my grandson!   I don't see any "Dunkin Donuts" goodies in this photo!

The picture is of Ahmed Sheikh’s extended family.   They live in a "Roman-era" cave in the town of Sarjah, Syria.   Why?   They are attempting to avoid the bloody Syrian civil war.   According to the New York Times "uncountable Syrian families are waiting out the violence in the caves of bygone times.   They are part of the four million people who the United Nations estimates have been forced by the war from their homes, a displacement that seemingly grows each week."

I'm sure most Americans don't even know where Syria is....hold on let me check!

Later that day, my son-in-law decided to have an afternoon cocktail...Appleton rum and Fanta Pineapple soda!   Sounds awful but it's actually pretty good.   It was at that point that I had to show him my latest purchase...contraptions that make round (two inch) ice cubes!

Do I really need round ice cubes?   No!   Ain't no round ice cubes in that f*cking cave!   I almost wish I could go to that cave and tell that family to come back home with me to live on another side of the world!

Toilet Water?

Sorry about all the accumulated toilet stuff posted here recently...but it is what it is!   I think about my water usage every time I brush my teeth.

How long do I run the water before it turns hot enough for me to shave?   How much goes down the shower drain?   My roots go back to Bermuda.   In Bermuda, they rely on (and accumulate) rain water for their water requirements/needs.   I remember my grandfather reminding us not to run the water or flush the toilet after every use.   It's amazing what so many of us take for granted.   It really is!

Men's room etiquette...lift the lid please!

Okay...so not all dudes are comfortable using the urinals!

But here's my story.   I'm one of the few (very few) dudes that actually takes a dump in these public roadside rest stops.   I walked into a men's room on the southbound New Jersey turnpike last week.   I think it was around exit 6 or 7?   It looked just like this!

I go because I have to take a dump.   There are at least 15+ urinals...of which 10 or so are UNOCCUPIED.

Notice there are no "separators" between the urinals.   That could be part of the problem!   Perhaps that IS the problem!   Anyway...

I head to a stall to take the dump.   Two seconds later, a dude enters the stall on my left and another dude into the stall on my right.   I don't hear a toilet seat go up...but I do hear the flow of piss and then they both exit!   Okay...so they both did flush!

Seconds later...I'm done with my business and exit the stall.   I notice that most of the urinals are still unoccupied!   Okay...so like I said...some dudes don't like to do their urinal thing next to other dudes!   Afraid someone might be checking out their junk?   Or they had an experience as depicted in the cartoon above?   Perhaps they're grossed out by the accumulated body fluids on the floor?   Or they're asking themselves...damn...when was the last time the attendant was in here?   Whatever.

My only request...for those of you that prefer to avoid the urinals...please lift up the seat in the stall so the rest of us "dumpers" don't have to deal with your pissy sh*t on the toilet seat!   PLEASE!

PS.   You gotta admit...that cartoon is a hoot!

There are 5 chefs on Air Force One!

“A new book is out talking about the perks and the excess of the $1.4-billion-a-year presidency that we’re paying for.   And this is a lifestyle that is one of excess.   Now we find out that there are five chefs on Air Force One.   There are two projectionists who operate the White House movie theater.   They regularly sleep at the White House in order to be readily available in case the first family wants a really, really late show.   And I don’t mean to be petty here, but can’t they just push the play button?   We are also the ones who are paying for someone to walk the president’s dog, paying for someone to walk the president’s dog?   Now, why are we doing that when we can’t even get a disabled veteran into the White House for a White House tour?   That isn’t caring!”

— Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, March 16, 2013

One more dude to add to the "IST" list!

Here we go again.   Went to my oncologist (cancer dude) the other day to get my 6+ hour Rituxin treatment (poison drip).

Two hours into the ordeal oncologist sits down with me in the "poison dripping room".   He tells me he's happy with my progress, but now he wants me to schedule an appointment with a phrenologist (kidney dude)!  

Hit the rewind button back to a month ago!   Same oncologist is very precautious and is heavy into blood test results.   He was concerned that my PSA count was high and recommended I see my urologist (male plumbing dude).   Urologist and his surgeon buddy is the same dude that removed my kidney ten years ago!   I scheduled an appointment to see the urologist.   Urologist is also concerned about the level of my PSA count and wants to perform a prostate biopsy the following week.   The day before the procedure, I have to do the whole enema thing!   Ugh!

I return to urologist the next day.   Receptionist informs me that I need to take two shots in the rear end (ouch...two big ouches) and then wait in the waiting room for an hour.   I mistakenly assume that these two shot were to numb my prostate for said biopsy.   Wrong!

An hour passes and my name is called.   Urologist enters the room 20 minutes later.   Once again, I'm told to strip from the waist down, lay down on my left side, knees tucked into my chest as close as possible.

Urologist takes out a long (really long) needle.   I ask what's that for?

His reply..."It's for the anesthesia!"   So I ask "what were the other two (painful shots) for" (an hour ago).   His response..."Oh those were just the antibiotic shots!"   Next image is probably not safe for work...aka NSFW!

Bottom line, 20 or so minutes later...I left the urologist's office and walked to my car.   I was was walking as if I was sodomized by something much larger than a urologist's biopsy tool...more like an elephant's trunk...if you can imagine that!

Okay...so now on to the phrenologist!

The Invasion of Iraq! Happy 10th Anniversary!

So far...here's what the numbers are saying ... at least to me, that is!

This IRAQI debacle has cost the American tax payer just over two TRILLION dollars under Dubbya's regime!

• Over a total of 190,000 people were killed/bombed/nuked/droned/whatever!
• Of that number...100,000 were Iraqis.
• another 4,000+ Americans died hunting for "weapons of mass destruction"!
• another 32,000 Americans were wounded and there are an untold number of American soldiers suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome)

Aside from PTSD...we have no idea of the number of Americans and its' allies that had their young/innocent heads "f*cked up by this invasion!"

And according to other war mongers...aside from (and including) Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield and a few others...this fiasco would eventually be funded by the supposed "cheap flow" of oil from Iran once Dubbya got rid of Saddam!

Postscript:
Just filled up my tank!   $4.39/gallon.   I can't complain.   It was $4.59 this time last year...and under $4.00 in Providence Forge, Virgina   Thanks Dubbya!

Snowbilly Palin takes a big "gulp" at CPAC!

...and there are those that believed she was Vice Presidential material, a heartbeat away from the presidency!

Obesity In America!

According to a Gallup Poll, 26% of Americans are obese!   At 6'3" and 208 lbs, I'm classified as overweight!   Not bad for a baby boomer, but I gotta do something about this!

Again Kentucky and the other the usual suspects!   But Iowa?   Say it ain't so!

White Smoke...New Pope! Go for it Francis!

I can't deny the pomp and circumstance around all this...but really?   Okay...South American and a Jesuit?   Cool, but to see the reaction of all the followers in Vatican Square and around the world scares me....but perhaps that's just me.   I'm sure the people (Catholics) of Argentina are thrilled!   To each his own!   If this is what you believe...go for it...but I just don't get it!

And for the numbers:

• Two thirds of Catholics live in Africa and South America
• About one quarter of Americans are Roman Catholic

Jeb Bush..."No Bush Baggage at All!"

Here's some of Dubbya's baggage Jeb!

• Went to war under false pretenses in Iraq (how many Americans died over this bullsh*t?)
• Squandered a budget surplus (where were McConnell, Cantor, Ryan and the others back then?)
• Hurricane Katrina?   What hurricane?   "Brownie you're doing a heck of a job!"

Do we need to mention the economy and all the other horsesh*t your brother left at the front door of the White House when he left?   Do we?

My ol' Kentucky home!

It's one of the poorest, fattest, dumbest, and most Biblical states in America!

• 8th poorest state in America (17.3% poverty rate)
• 6th fattest state in America (29.5% of the people are obese
• 7th most religious state in America (83% believe in God with absolute certainty)
• 4th lowest state with college degrees (29.2%)

Yet Mitch McConnell & Rand Paul are apparently "thee" spokesmen of Kentucky's Republican party and have a major stake, influence, and impact on the policies/direction of the United States of America!

Mr. McConnell was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama in 1942. He avoided that draft by enlisting in the US Army Reserve in 1967!   According to Wikipedia, he is the 10th wealthiest member of the U.S. Senate from the 8th poorest state in America!   He is a Southern Baptist from the 7th most religious state in the country!   Do we need to connect the dots?

With all the sh*t that was going on in this country a few years back, Mr. McConnell's primary objective to do whatever was possible to make the nigger in the White House a one term president!   People...let's call it what it is!

I just don't understand how this works and it pisses me off!   Hmmm...nevermind!   I forgot about all the statistics I've just quoted above!  

Spring Cleaning! It's just a beginning!

The Good news!
We cleaned out the pantry today!   (Heh...we're happy that we even have a pantry!)

The Bad news!
Had we done this a while back...we may have been able to contribute the "haul" to a local food bank.   Unfortunately, all that we discarded had expiration dates of long ago!

And the winner is?
Betty Crocker Fudge Brownie Mix!   Expiration date...20FEB06!   Yes that's February 20, 2006!   We gotta do this pantry thing more often!

The major culprits were...

• cake mixes
• black beans
• canned soups
• coconut milk
• pitted black olives
• "Stove Top" stuffing mixes

Next...the attic, the garage, the closets and all that "stuff" underneath the sink vanities!   UGH!

An Emotional Basketball Game!

I was sniffling my way half through this...but then again, I'm a wuss for this kind of stuff!   I have two wonderful daughters.   The absolutely best in the world!   But if I had a son, I would want him to be just like Jonathan Montanez!   This is what I call true sportsmanship!   I'm about to write a letter to Mr. Montanez!

A product of the environment?

I've always held the position that you are a product of your environment.   It begins from early childhood.   What was your home life like?   Was it loving and nurturing?   Positive?   Encouraging?   Was it a single parent home like mine?   Did that make a difference in how you viewed life and its' possibilities or limitations?   Or on the other hand was it ugly, violent, argumentative, hostile and, especially back in those days, severely impoverished.

Although I grew up in a single parent home...there was love, positive thoughts and there was my grandfather.   We called him "Pop".   He lived with us in the South Bronx at 1339 Prospect Avenue.   Immigrating from the island of Bermuda, he worked for the "New York Typographical Union" somewhere in lower Manhattan.   I was a youngster at the time...and didn't have a full appreciation of what he did.   Back in those days...if you where black and got a job in the Post Office or with the New York Transit Authority...you were pretty much guaranteed an entree into the "black (Negro) middle class".   But again...I wasn't sure of exactly what he did.

All I knew is that he left the house every morning in a white shirt & tie, a three piece suit and his infamous homburg hat.   Every Friday he would return home with a quart of hand-packed Breyer's Ice Cream.   In those days...there were no "supermarkets".   You stopped at the local "candy store" and had them "scoop up" and "hand pack" the ice cream.   It became our Friday night treat!   I think the only ice cream back then was Breyers?

And then there's my Mom...but that's a whole 'nother story!   Tip-toeing through the tulips...yes!   An awesome, loving, giving woman?   An even bigger yes!

Love & Marriage (Equality)

Okay...I just don't understand it, but then again, there are a lot of things I don't understand.   Two people really love each other...and I really don't give a sh*t about their gender.   Take a look at this video that I stumbled upon.   It's 8 minutes long...but I think it's worth every minute of it!

I thought it was beautiful and apparently so did all their loved ones.   They wanted to get married and share all the same benefits of the rest of us married folks (and the grief)!   That's called love people.   Damn!   LOVE!   It's an awesome word and a hip-hop artist agrees.   Why would anyone object to their union.   Oh...I'm sorry, there's this thing called Leviticus.   It's in the Bible.   Nevermind!

And then there are these wackos!

The University of Dubuque

I graduated from the University of Dubuque (UD) in 1968.   I know, that was a long time ago!   As a kid from the South Bronx...how I wound up in Dubuque, Iowa is a whole 'nother story!