A great movie and so prescient — Headline today: “Harry Smith Colonscopy To Be Aired On The ‘Today’ Show.”

And how about that old self-aggrandizing broad who interrupted the fellow’s acceptance speech on the Oscar’s?

Remember Bush Senior’s “Kinder, gentler…” A dyed in the wool Dem, I’d sure like to see kinder, gentler times.

I believe that “dreadful” is fast becoming my favorite word.

Tags: ,

Who are these guys on “Meet the Press?” Pontificating, analyzing ad infinitum — Not a damned thing gets done. To a great extent “Face the Nation,” as well, though I always enjoy Schieffer’s commentary. I have no idea why I subject myself, or anyone subjects to listening to “politicians” these days.

Our nation is mired in the depths of a dreadful recession, two wars and who the hell knows what else and pundits from the nation’s “great” newspapers pontificate while Congressmen blame their opposition parties.

Lyndon Johnson and Ev Dirksen are rolling in their graves.

It is trite, but true: The rich get richer, the poor, poorer.

Our President has wasted an enormous amoung to time seeking “bipartisanship,” rather than whipping the Senate into shape with the first Democratic majority in years and the Democrats are true arguments for psychotropics.

Tags:

Does anyone really care? Or wonder about all of those expensive clothes, to say nothing of the jewelry displayed so blatantly in these hard times…or the close to pure junk that’s up for awards?

However, Frank Rich’s column in the New York Times is worth a read.

There are scores, well, far more than “scores,” but I’m fast becoming an antique, of photographers and artists on the web, but I’ve yet to see one with a better eye than my friend and pen pal, Anita Nowacka. Now, I’ve spoken about her here before and I’ll no doubt do it again. In this case, I want to urge you to visit here “Herbanwellness” collection. It’s quite the “bee’s knees,” “the cat’s pajamas” and just simply wonderful.

Tags: , ,

Steve Allen once said of his prodigious song production, “God has better things to do than to help me write music;” and Kerouac, loosely quoted, “I want God to come down and show me his face.”

Just one day. A single day of respite. I wonder how that might feel.  A day during which one literally as no concerns, cares, apprehensions about anything:  finances, the economy, the world at large, family…anything.

I can’t recall ever having a day like that.

If I ever did, I wonder how dreadful the next day would be when the world came crashing in again.

Tags: ,

There’s nothin’ else to do but listen to the blues and drink a glass of scotch. With the blues there are memories; not always of women. Yesterday, I got in touch with a fellow who is probably my oldest friend. We grew up together, did the Kerouac route across the country before became the “in” thing; played music on street corners and read poetry in the coffee houses of old.

About a decade ago, his wife died. Having a remarkable problem with death, I didn’t attend the memorial and since that time we hadn’t spoken. I thought my friend yesterday and called him. He’d been thinking about me as well and welcomed me with an “I’m so glad you called.” I apologized with my rationale of death, noting that it was not an excuse, but just who I am. He acknowledged his anger at the time but was well over it.

We’d been through much together; a half dozen wives and countless other women between; the usual ups and downs; in and out of trouble, nothing serious, no police…just what one experiences in life. We recalled the time we were drunk as teens without dates on New Year’s Eve. I asked him “Which way?” He said, “Turn right.” I did and the next words out of his mouth at time were, “At corner you idiot,” was we tried to dig the car out of snowbank.

We’re older now and it seems our adventures are well behind us with few if any to come. And we’ve lost a decade, but the friendship is back and it is a friendship. My definition of friendship is one who watches your back, up a hill on a night patrol. My friend always has and I believe always will.

We will see each other again in a month or so and making that phone call was a highlight of my week.

Tags:

From Associated Press: 

Sen. Jim Bunning has again blocked the Senate from extending unemployment benefits and health insurance subsidies for the jobless. The Kentucky Republican objected Tuesday to a request by Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a fellow Republican, to pass a 30-day extension of jobless benefits and other expired measures. The measure would also extend highway programs and prevent a big cut in Medicare payments to doctors.

I suppose it follows that the fellow who pitched a perfect game back in the 60s should do his best to perfectly screw up the folks in this nation who are experiencing so much pain from the economy.

I’m thankful this fool isn’t planning to run again.

Tags:

I found nearly a dozen blogs that were quite interesting…alas, all but a couple are regularly maintained and by that I mean, all but those two haven’t been updated in months. What’s the point. By the way, I highly recommend http://jarvisslacks.com/. He has a great way with words, and is interesting. It’s about the only one I follow anymore.

There are many sites out there that’ll tell you how to save money and get by in these difficult economic times. But if you’re overleveraged (deep in debt) and there are more days between dollars coming in, the stresses can be overwhelming.

Frankly, you’ve probably done everything you’ve thought of in terms of cutting expenses and you’re still stressed to the hilt and stretched to the bone.  I’m the old guy who’s been around the block and been through this before, so maybe the following will help (oh, I’m not a lawyer):

  • There’s probably no way to get around your rent, unless your landlord’s a compassionate person; most aren’t. However, there’s no reason you shouldn’t try to negotiate a lower rent. After all, in many towns it’s a “renter’s market.” Even if the landlord won’t drop that cost a few bucks, perhaps he’ll defer a month and have you tack it on the end.
  • Utility bills are just a function of usage and these generally regulated monopolies could care less. About the best you can do here is defer a bit, maybe a month.
  • Behind on car payments: Lenders absolutely don’t want your car back and will do just about anything, short of reducing the note, to keep you in it. While there’s a slim chance of an interest rate reduction, there’s a better chance of getting a break from a month’s payment, probably for a fee, and extending the term of your loan.
  • Mortgages are a different matter. There are a number of programs out there to help people stay in their homes, but the fact of the matter is that the paperwork is overwhelming and it takes time. It’s almost impossible to talk directly to a lender because no one knows who that is (these sliced and diced mortgages are what got us into this mess), so you’re probably going to talk to your servicing company. Beware of “mortgage restructuring” scams that now abound. The fact of the matter is that it takes a helluva long time to foreclose and you can delay it for at least three to six months. That’s something to consider, especially if your home is deeply underwater. The current euphemism is “strategic default.” Yeah, it’ll hit your credit rating by a couple of hundred points, but it may save you money on Paxil or Wellbutrin and get you a decent night’s sleep.
  • You probably know all the grocery store shortcuts. Coupons work well and a few cents here and there, to paraphrase Everett Dirksen, you’re talking about a few dollars, probably enough over time for a bottle of scotch.
  • My rule: Make sure the lights stay on, there’s some food in the refrigerator and a roof over your head. Nothing else counts – Remember Emergency Rooms are the new primary care physicians.

Tags: , ,

« Older entries