When I asked a very old timer customer (approximately 85-90) how he was doing recently, he had a great answer for me. He said: "Son, when you get my age, there are only two things that matter." "and what would those be sir", I asked? He said: "A good fitting pair of shoes and a good shit". Being called "Son" put a little smile on my face that lasted for hours, by the way. I've heard plenty of these gems through the years in my shop from old timers, some of which had a kernel of genius, with a large dollop of humor and truth involved.
Speaking of old timers, I've had this thought running through my head for years that we should at some agreed upon age allow old timers a pass on ALL social conventions. You know, like kindness, thoughtfulness, manners. All the things we have agreed on that make a person an excepted part of the normal human race. So, when they reach this special time of life (how about 70?), they can do, say or act any way they want at that moment. The rest of society would just learn to take this wild behavior in stride and just say: "Oh well, he/she deserves the pass because they lived this long with all those wonderful attributes intact and now they deserve to just let it all go". So the next time some low life tried to give them a bad time they could just say: "Hey, you low life @$%&^*#, I don't like you. Get out of my face now or I'll kick your ass". Anyone within hearing distance of the exchange would just applaud and smile. Or lean way over in public, let one rip and laugh right out loud with gusto. Again, the only reaction would be a smile, because in the end, we would all be waiting with glee for our turn to drop all the social conventions and have some fun again before it's all over.
Ok, one last thought on my little "getting older" jag. As we all know, there are tons of little things that are not in the least fun about getting older. Making all those disgusting grunting sounds when we get up from bed in the morning or even from a chair after setting too long. All the little pains and sore spots that somehow just started appearing one day without any warning or foreknowledge, thank the stars above. Crossing ones legs while sneezing because we don't want to depend on depends yet. Carefully passing gas incase it's not.
There is however one hugely wonderful thing about our ripening (cool take on aging huh?) in this life. That would be our mind, intelligence and intellect. You know, everything from the neck up. When younger, we are easily and immensely embarrassed by the slightest things. We turn red at the drop of a dime. We stumble and stammer when trying to gather our thoughts about most any subject we have to deal with. When confronted by a salesman for instance trying to talk us into buying his plastic crap we have no need whatsoever for, we lose all ability to form intelligent reasons why we're just not interested. In fact, most of us have bought some piece of crap at some point in our lives just because we didn't have the cayones to say NO THANK YOU!
Well, with age comes this wonderful new ability to say and do whatever you want. We tend to have gotten over our reluctance to hurt idiot's feelings or to suffer fools lightly and are now free to tell it like it is for each of us. Most of us have learned how we really feel about most subjects and can just blurt out our truths unhindered by conventional bullshit. I don't know about you but I'm telling you right now I LOVE THAT FACT! No more beating around the bush, just straight to the point and let the cards fall where they may.
Damn I love that part of life I'm in right now.....
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Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Age Invisibility Factor
Something I've noticed coming on for quite a few years now is what I call the human Invisibility Factor. You know, when you're young and vital with lots of friends and leading active, vibrant lives you stand out in the crowd and everyone knows your name and you're supremely there and alive at all times. You go through all these cool, active stages of life with incredible energy. You take off on a whim on adventures at the drop of a hat and live life large every waking moment. You take chances and do things just this side of dangerous without giving it a second thought. You feel there is no end to this life and nothing bad will ever happen to you.
You keep doing new and exciting things that are challenging and creative and easily feel bored if not on the run constantly. You spend time dabbling in religion, spirituality, philosophy and all night bullshit sessions with your like minded friends. You love with all your heart, lose your heart deeply with each relationship gone bad, jump into the whole sexual world with all your being and soul, with all it's incredible highs, lows and complications. Living life like there is no tomorrow.
I have to add that these wild times my friends and I lived involved the Sixties. So we also lived relatively cheaply. Rent, utilities, second hand cars and everything else you needed to live were very cheap and easy to come by. We had huge gardens and invited everyone over for these great "eat off the land" parties. This was the opposite of the "consumer society" we just got done with, I'm happy to announce, in the present times. We actually needed very little to be happy then. Mattresses on the floor for couches, bricks and boards for furniture, a wood stove for heat. Even our highs came from the land naturally.
Then slowly but surely, the financial realities of life started creeping in. Things started to cost more and more, forcing most of us to get real jobs (heaven forbid), cut our hair (good for me....."^), wear normal clothes, speak in plain understandable english (verses hippy talk). In other words we had to start looking and acting normal, like all the other robots of the world.
Well, as you start to blend in with the crowd and get older, a funny thing starts to happen. Your adult life starts out just a little transparent to others, especially the new generation coming along. Less and less strangers have any need to talk to you, ask questions of you or interact in any way with you out in public. It all starts to get more intense when you pass your sixties and into your seventies. By this time you become basically invisible to most people, especially strangers. This is what I call the Age Invisibility Factor.
Now there are exceptions to these new truths. The main one being our jobs. There in most cases is where we are still completely alive, vibrant, intelligent and alive. That and the new harsher economy is why most older folks are now staying in the workforce much, much longer. As far as the new economy, the new saying I hear more and more often these days is "I'm on the work until I die plan". For most of us the idea of quitting work, going home and basically dropping out of society is out of the question. In my case my job is my main social outlet. The most important realities of my life would be #1, my wife and life partner and my daughter both of which I owe everything I have and love to and #2 would be a very select few life long friends and #3 would be my long time customers which I consider to be my very good friends indeed and I have no intention of just walking away from them.
So, I guess I'll just have to accept my Invisibility Factor in life and know that I do matter to the people I love and care about and to them I am important, if for no other reason to keep them all from looking like bums.
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
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You keep doing new and exciting things that are challenging and creative and easily feel bored if not on the run constantly. You spend time dabbling in religion, spirituality, philosophy and all night bullshit sessions with your like minded friends. You love with all your heart, lose your heart deeply with each relationship gone bad, jump into the whole sexual world with all your being and soul, with all it's incredible highs, lows and complications. Living life like there is no tomorrow.
I have to add that these wild times my friends and I lived involved the Sixties. So we also lived relatively cheaply. Rent, utilities, second hand cars and everything else you needed to live were very cheap and easy to come by. We had huge gardens and invited everyone over for these great "eat off the land" parties. This was the opposite of the "consumer society" we just got done with, I'm happy to announce, in the present times. We actually needed very little to be happy then. Mattresses on the floor for couches, bricks and boards for furniture, a wood stove for heat. Even our highs came from the land naturally.
Then slowly but surely, the financial realities of life started creeping in. Things started to cost more and more, forcing most of us to get real jobs (heaven forbid), cut our hair (good for me....."^), wear normal clothes, speak in plain understandable english (verses hippy talk). In other words we had to start looking and acting normal, like all the other robots of the world.
Well, as you start to blend in with the crowd and get older, a funny thing starts to happen. Your adult life starts out just a little transparent to others, especially the new generation coming along. Less and less strangers have any need to talk to you, ask questions of you or interact in any way with you out in public. It all starts to get more intense when you pass your sixties and into your seventies. By this time you become basically invisible to most people, especially strangers. This is what I call the Age Invisibility Factor.
Now there are exceptions to these new truths. The main one being our jobs. There in most cases is where we are still completely alive, vibrant, intelligent and alive. That and the new harsher economy is why most older folks are now staying in the workforce much, much longer. As far as the new economy, the new saying I hear more and more often these days is "I'm on the work until I die plan". For most of us the idea of quitting work, going home and basically dropping out of society is out of the question. In my case my job is my main social outlet. The most important realities of my life would be #1, my wife and life partner and my daughter both of which I owe everything I have and love to and #2 would be a very select few life long friends and #3 would be my long time customers which I consider to be my very good friends indeed and I have no intention of just walking away from them.
So, I guess I'll just have to accept my Invisibility Factor in life and know that I do matter to the people I love and care about and to them I am important, if for no other reason to keep them all from looking like bums.
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
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Come on.......DO IT!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Time for the News Media to start taking responsiblity?
I think most moderate,intelligent folks are starting to come to the conclusion that our venerable "News Media" has a great of deal of blame for our present economic problems. Just to be clear, I mean ALL the news sources in America. Not just the "Main stream" media, that the extreme right wing always complain about being too "slanted". They all have a certain agenda they believe is the truth.
What I'm talking about now is the extreme negative crap they all continually pump out in the name of "news". Everyone I talk to are starting to get sick and tired of being told over and over again the fact that we are now experiencing a "temporary" economic downturn. The truth is we've had these something like 20 times since the "great depression" so long ago. Guess what folks? Even that one and everyone since eventually resolves itself one way or another. With or without government help, even the supposed experts have not resolved.
What I'm proposing is that the News Media be held liable for their actions. Under the guise of just presenting the news, they are plainly causing people to become and stay afraid much longer than they should. I'm saying that fear they are promoting in every news cast is now a major cause of our problems.
When we the people are afraid because we are told to be afraid by them daily, we all hunker down, pull in our heads like turtles and stop spending money. Even in normal, responsible ways, not just frivolously. So, when we stop taking our families out to eat, the restaurants start laying off employees, until finally they have to close their doors because we no longer give them our business. When we stop buying cloths, appliances, hardware and all the other necessities of life, all those stores go through the same cutting back and eventually closing up because of our actions. Of course the side effect of all this is larger unemployment for the people.
We are the largest percentage of the problem here folks. There are other obvious factors here but the truth is this whole thing is mostly our own fault. Again I think most intelligent moderate thinking people know this fact instinctually but we're all caught up in this giant fear thing the news media is promoting daily.
Some caught up in this same bullshit will say: "but we are all broke right now and can't afford to start spending again". With a 10% jobless rate, that means 90% are doing fine, making the same money as before this whole debacle started, so that's just another fear nonsense we are all falling for.
So my conclusion here is it's time for us to demand the news media take responsibility for their actions and start trying to actually help the situation instead of causing the problems they are creating. I'm mostly talking about the "main stream" media here because all the extreme sources really only have an extreme right or left wing base, which I think are a meaningless, negative, cancer on society, minority in this great country we live in.
How do we do that? How in the hell should I know? I'm just a dumb barber after all. Do any of you reading this know of some way to get their attention with these facts? I just think it's time something happens to wake them up to their very large share of blame right now. They all claim they behave responsibly on our behalf. Well, lets see them prove it with solid actions.
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
I will receive an e-mail, OK it and then it will appear for others to view after they click on the comments link.
Come on.......DO IT!
What I'm talking about now is the extreme negative crap they all continually pump out in the name of "news". Everyone I talk to are starting to get sick and tired of being told over and over again the fact that we are now experiencing a "temporary" economic downturn. The truth is we've had these something like 20 times since the "great depression" so long ago. Guess what folks? Even that one and everyone since eventually resolves itself one way or another. With or without government help, even the supposed experts have not resolved.
What I'm proposing is that the News Media be held liable for their actions. Under the guise of just presenting the news, they are plainly causing people to become and stay afraid much longer than they should. I'm saying that fear they are promoting in every news cast is now a major cause of our problems.
When we the people are afraid because we are told to be afraid by them daily, we all hunker down, pull in our heads like turtles and stop spending money. Even in normal, responsible ways, not just frivolously. So, when we stop taking our families out to eat, the restaurants start laying off employees, until finally they have to close their doors because we no longer give them our business. When we stop buying cloths, appliances, hardware and all the other necessities of life, all those stores go through the same cutting back and eventually closing up because of our actions. Of course the side effect of all this is larger unemployment for the people.
We are the largest percentage of the problem here folks. There are other obvious factors here but the truth is this whole thing is mostly our own fault. Again I think most intelligent moderate thinking people know this fact instinctually but we're all caught up in this giant fear thing the news media is promoting daily.
Some caught up in this same bullshit will say: "but we are all broke right now and can't afford to start spending again". With a 10% jobless rate, that means 90% are doing fine, making the same money as before this whole debacle started, so that's just another fear nonsense we are all falling for.
So my conclusion here is it's time for us to demand the news media take responsibility for their actions and start trying to actually help the situation instead of causing the problems they are creating. I'm mostly talking about the "main stream" media here because all the extreme sources really only have an extreme right or left wing base, which I think are a meaningless, negative, cancer on society, minority in this great country we live in.
How do we do that? How in the hell should I know? I'm just a dumb barber after all. Do any of you reading this know of some way to get their attention with these facts? I just think it's time something happens to wake them up to their very large share of blame right now. They all claim they behave responsibly on our behalf. Well, lets see them prove it with solid actions.
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
I will receive an e-mail, OK it and then it will appear for others to view after they click on the comments link.
Come on.......DO IT!
Monday, March 2, 2009
One hell of a division in our country
I guess it's always been this way but I have to bring up a subject that is glaringly obvious in the last few years. With our two party system, it never ceases to amaze me how incredibly wide the political gap is here in America.
The wild part about that to me is people of both sides are mostly intelligent, caring and thoughtful people who would make wonderful neighbors but how to run and handle our country, they might as well be from Mars on one side and Jupiter on the other, as far as the extremes on both sides act.
Let's sum up the two extremes if I can.
The extreme left side only cares for the poor and the hell with the rich. They're rich for Christ sake, why in the hell should we concern ourselves about people who sure in the hell don't need our help, especially about money. The only things that matter are how can we as a concerned, loving people help the less fortunate among us? How can we raise the standard of living for them to at least livable standards? They would very much love to see some kind of world government, where everyone is equal, with equal rights for all. Also, they welcome everyone from all the poor countries to move to America and receive everything we have here freely. They don't seem to care if they speak english or even work. We should just take care of them out of human compassion. We should pay them welfare and take care of all their medical needs free.
They see a nation where the rich just keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer, with the middle class slowly disappearing until there are just a few super rich living up on the hill and the rest of the super poor living in the gutters and eating from the dumps, like most third world countries now seem to be. They see big business and the rich as the enemies of caring, regular people, with a main focus on greed as their moving force.
Now the extreme right thinks business is everything and can do no wrong. They think we should just leave them completely alone and they will not only take care of themselves but in the process provide our economy with everything it needs and deserves. Never, ever raise taxes on business or impede it in any way. The basic idea was business would never hurt itself so leave it alone. The same thing would apply to all rich people. They got where they are by their own initiative, blood, sweat and tears and deserve everything they earned the hard way.
They think all those "poor people" should just go out and get a job and pull themselves up by the boot straps or they deserve to just starve to death.
Government does not owe anyone anything and should not have to pay one cent to help anyone who doesn't help themselves. All the people asking for our government to help out are communist, socialist pigs and can just go to hell as far as they are concerned. They also espouse a philosophy right now that we are at the end of the road in America and probably will just fail completely, including some kind of civil war to bring the country back to where it belongs. They are staking up supplies, guns and Ammo for just such a scenario. In fact, I think it's safe to say they welcome this with open arms.
I tried to put my limited ideas about both EXTREMES purposely exaggerated here and am probably not portraying them very accurately or fairly at all. The thing that I do notice though in normal intelligent, thoughtful people I meet in my life, is most people by far fall somewhere in the middle of all that garbage and very scary philosophies. They do care for the less fortunate people and do try and help sometimes in ways they can but definitely don't think anyone should just be handed anything on a silver platter. They have to show some desire to help themselves. They realise that the best and probably only real way to help would be to teach them to help themselves.
They also know that business is the backbone and reality behind our financial system here in America but also realize that business has lately turned the whole purpose from one of Pride, Quality and Honor to something that has slipped into pretty much just plain greed. Knowing this truth, they see the need to go back to some rules of the road that our government needs to set up and enforce to keep business on a straight, level and logical path. A path that would at least take into account the needs of regular working, responsible folks. I think it's pretty plain to most regular, intelligent folks that greed by all of us has brought our country TEMPORARILY to it's knees right now.
They also know without a doubt that this whole thing will pass and we will be just fine in the long run, just as we have survived all the other recessions and even the Great Depression of so long ago. They face whatever comes with strength and resolve and above all else a large helping of hope for the future and wish nothing but the best for our new president with all the inherited problems he faces. Most people of the world face the truth that this economic mess is not in any way the new American president's fault. It is a world wide problem, with the entire worlds leaders and economic experts trying their best to solve anyway they can. It's unprecedented nature obviously calls for completely unprecedented fixes and same as our president, they are all trying everything they can, to at least slow the burn before it takes the financial world to a place that is unrecoverable. The nut-case ideas that we need to do nothing is irresponsible to the extreme and no intelligent economist in the world believes that insane philosophy has any place in this new unprecedented financial failure we find ourselves in.
The thing about all this extreme divisiveness is it does nothing whatsoever to help us in any way. It's about as far away from real answers to our many problems as can be. In fact, I would say it is like a cancer eating away at our collective democratic thinking.
These extremist on both sides need to stop watching the extremist news and listening to all the nut-case radio crazies and get a life. These talking heads only react to news in negitive ways and offer nothing whatsoever as far as any real answers. They are all just getting rich off of the extremist philosopies and laughing all the way to the bank for sure. There is far more to life than politics. It is important for sure but it is but a very small portion of what should be important to normal people.
Another important conclusion I've came to lately after listening to all the crap is all of our individual thoughts about all this is plain bullshit. We all have these ideas we think are the truth and it's just opinions folks, not some kind of grand reality. I include all my lofty ideas in that same bullshit soup. Right or wrong, most nations and countries of the world hire or vote in people they believe are capable of handling all the issues. At that point, we all need to trust in whatever system we voted in and let them do their jobs to the best of their ability. When we think their not doing that to our liking, then it's time to fire or vote them out, during the next election.
So play with your children, plant a garden, read books (plural!), fix your home, talk to your mate, take a trip, talk to your neighbors, take dance lessons, volunteer at some good cause, go out to eat, join a club, find something to laugh at. Doctors have made it clear that laughter is good for you and stress could not be worse for you. Stay in the moment, because most of our moments when we're not blabbing about political bullshit could not be more perfect. Beautiful weather, great place to live and love.
I know for sure that I'm going to get a bunch of "Paul, paul, you're living in a dream world". Well, you know what? I choose that willingly and I'll take that dream world with me to my dying days with pride and a healthy helping of happiness it gives me, while all the doom and gloom crowd run around like a bunch of old grumpy nuts, holding a sign that says "The end is near!" as normal folks walk on the other side of the street and protect their children from the nuts.
LET ME MAKE THIS PERFECTLY CLEAR......I'll take my dream world over the Doom and Gloomer's dream world gladly, any day.
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
I will receive an e-mail, OK it and then it will appear for others to view after they click on the comments link.
Come on.......DO IT!
The wild part about that to me is people of both sides are mostly intelligent, caring and thoughtful people who would make wonderful neighbors but how to run and handle our country, they might as well be from Mars on one side and Jupiter on the other, as far as the extremes on both sides act.
Let's sum up the two extremes if I can.
The extreme left side only cares for the poor and the hell with the rich. They're rich for Christ sake, why in the hell should we concern ourselves about people who sure in the hell don't need our help, especially about money. The only things that matter are how can we as a concerned, loving people help the less fortunate among us? How can we raise the standard of living for them to at least livable standards? They would very much love to see some kind of world government, where everyone is equal, with equal rights for all. Also, they welcome everyone from all the poor countries to move to America and receive everything we have here freely. They don't seem to care if they speak english or even work. We should just take care of them out of human compassion. We should pay them welfare and take care of all their medical needs free.
They see a nation where the rich just keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer, with the middle class slowly disappearing until there are just a few super rich living up on the hill and the rest of the super poor living in the gutters and eating from the dumps, like most third world countries now seem to be. They see big business and the rich as the enemies of caring, regular people, with a main focus on greed as their moving force.
Now the extreme right thinks business is everything and can do no wrong. They think we should just leave them completely alone and they will not only take care of themselves but in the process provide our economy with everything it needs and deserves. Never, ever raise taxes on business or impede it in any way. The basic idea was business would never hurt itself so leave it alone. The same thing would apply to all rich people. They got where they are by their own initiative, blood, sweat and tears and deserve everything they earned the hard way.
They think all those "poor people" should just go out and get a job and pull themselves up by the boot straps or they deserve to just starve to death.
Government does not owe anyone anything and should not have to pay one cent to help anyone who doesn't help themselves. All the people asking for our government to help out are communist, socialist pigs and can just go to hell as far as they are concerned. They also espouse a philosophy right now that we are at the end of the road in America and probably will just fail completely, including some kind of civil war to bring the country back to where it belongs. They are staking up supplies, guns and Ammo for just such a scenario. In fact, I think it's safe to say they welcome this with open arms.
I tried to put my limited ideas about both EXTREMES purposely exaggerated here and am probably not portraying them very accurately or fairly at all. The thing that I do notice though in normal intelligent, thoughtful people I meet in my life, is most people by far fall somewhere in the middle of all that garbage and very scary philosophies. They do care for the less fortunate people and do try and help sometimes in ways they can but definitely don't think anyone should just be handed anything on a silver platter. They have to show some desire to help themselves. They realise that the best and probably only real way to help would be to teach them to help themselves.
They also know that business is the backbone and reality behind our financial system here in America but also realize that business has lately turned the whole purpose from one of Pride, Quality and Honor to something that has slipped into pretty much just plain greed. Knowing this truth, they see the need to go back to some rules of the road that our government needs to set up and enforce to keep business on a straight, level and logical path. A path that would at least take into account the needs of regular working, responsible folks. I think it's pretty plain to most regular, intelligent folks that greed by all of us has brought our country TEMPORARILY to it's knees right now.
They also know without a doubt that this whole thing will pass and we will be just fine in the long run, just as we have survived all the other recessions and even the Great Depression of so long ago. They face whatever comes with strength and resolve and above all else a large helping of hope for the future and wish nothing but the best for our new president with all the inherited problems he faces. Most people of the world face the truth that this economic mess is not in any way the new American president's fault. It is a world wide problem, with the entire worlds leaders and economic experts trying their best to solve anyway they can. It's unprecedented nature obviously calls for completely unprecedented fixes and same as our president, they are all trying everything they can, to at least slow the burn before it takes the financial world to a place that is unrecoverable. The nut-case ideas that we need to do nothing is irresponsible to the extreme and no intelligent economist in the world believes that insane philosophy has any place in this new unprecedented financial failure we find ourselves in.
The thing about all this extreme divisiveness is it does nothing whatsoever to help us in any way. It's about as far away from real answers to our many problems as can be. In fact, I would say it is like a cancer eating away at our collective democratic thinking.
These extremist on both sides need to stop watching the extremist news and listening to all the nut-case radio crazies and get a life. These talking heads only react to news in negitive ways and offer nothing whatsoever as far as any real answers. They are all just getting rich off of the extremist philosopies and laughing all the way to the bank for sure. There is far more to life than politics. It is important for sure but it is but a very small portion of what should be important to normal people.
Another important conclusion I've came to lately after listening to all the crap is all of our individual thoughts about all this is plain bullshit. We all have these ideas we think are the truth and it's just opinions folks, not some kind of grand reality. I include all my lofty ideas in that same bullshit soup. Right or wrong, most nations and countries of the world hire or vote in people they believe are capable of handling all the issues. At that point, we all need to trust in whatever system we voted in and let them do their jobs to the best of their ability. When we think their not doing that to our liking, then it's time to fire or vote them out, during the next election.
So play with your children, plant a garden, read books (plural!), fix your home, talk to your mate, take a trip, talk to your neighbors, take dance lessons, volunteer at some good cause, go out to eat, join a club, find something to laugh at. Doctors have made it clear that laughter is good for you and stress could not be worse for you. Stay in the moment, because most of our moments when we're not blabbing about political bullshit could not be more perfect. Beautiful weather, great place to live and love.
I know for sure that I'm going to get a bunch of "Paul, paul, you're living in a dream world". Well, you know what? I choose that willingly and I'll take that dream world with me to my dying days with pride and a healthy helping of happiness it gives me, while all the doom and gloom crowd run around like a bunch of old grumpy nuts, holding a sign that says "The end is near!" as normal folks walk on the other side of the street and protect their children from the nuts.
LET ME MAKE THIS PERFECTLY CLEAR......I'll take my dream world over the Doom and Gloomer's dream world gladly, any day.
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
I will receive an e-mail, OK it and then it will appear for others to view after they click on the comments link.
Come on.......DO IT!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
These are the best of times
Ok, I'm going to step out on the old proverbial limb here and state that the "interesting" times we now find ourselves in might just be the best thing to happen to America, perhaps forever.
We have been living a false, fake, you can have everything you want in life existence, for far too long now and obviously the rooster decided to come home to roost. With the invention of the devil in disguise called "credit", by greedy businesses called "credit card companies" and "Banks", we all decided we could have whatever we want and just pay for it later. Greed is the key word here. The Banks saw our greed and naturally took advantage of it because that's what they do. They have one thing in mind and that's make as much money as the idiots (us) will let them have.
So, now it's time for some cold hard facts.
We don't need a Starbucks, HomeDepot, Sears, Gottchalks, Car Dealers,ect ect on every corner. We don't need $300.00 Sneakers, $400.00 Levy's and a new cool sports car every 3 years.
With our new found fiscal realities we are going to have to live like Americans used to live. Within our means. Oh my god, how novel huh? We as people and the whole Nation are going to have to go back to living within our means. It's real simple folks. YOU CANNOT SPEND MORE THAN YOU MAKE.
So being broke as people and as a nation temporally, as we now are is actually a great thing. Now we can go back to saying things like: "Gee, that sounds nice but we can't afford it", just like our forefathers most certainly did. If they needed something, they saved for it, THEN bought it using the cash they saved.
So my wish, desire and hope is the conditions we find ourselves in now is going to force change in our behavior and the behavior of our politicians too.
Now having said all this, we have to realize that we are in a financial emergency right now and the answers do involve some temporary heavy emergency spending just to save our asses. When everything is back to some stability, we can then start taking measures to pay back the borrowing we need to do to make that happen. When our ecomomy is back to normal, money will start flowing into our debt also as it always has before.
Enough with the hard news. It's time to start thinking positivly about all this. With a 10% jobless rate, that means 90% percent of us are still working and doing fine. We have to stop paying attention to all the "Doom and Gloom" idiots and realize everything WILL BE OK. These things have happened something like 20 times since the "great Depression" and we have and always will come out in the end just fine.
We are still and will remain the best nation in the world and we as citizens enjoy the highest level of living of all. Most of us by far have well fed, comfortable, happy lives compared to the majority of the world and we need to re-remind ourselves of these truths right now. By most other third world countries standard of living everyone of us, including our poorest citizens are filthy rich.
Also, most people realize that most of the store closings ect are our fault. Because of all the negative news, we all pulled into our shells like turtles and are hiding. Well guess what? We need to start slowly acting normal again and take your family out to eat, so the restaurants can stay open. We need to slowly start buying what we need (need, not want) again to make sure honest, real commerce can get back on it's feet and hire back those who lost their jobs.
Above all else............STOP WATCHING AND LISTENING TO THE DOOMSAYERS! Those talking heads are idiots.
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
I will receive an e-mail, OK it and then it will appear for others to view after they click on the comments link.
Come on.......DO IT!
We have been living a false, fake, you can have everything you want in life existence, for far too long now and obviously the rooster decided to come home to roost. With the invention of the devil in disguise called "credit", by greedy businesses called "credit card companies" and "Banks", we all decided we could have whatever we want and just pay for it later. Greed is the key word here. The Banks saw our greed and naturally took advantage of it because that's what they do. They have one thing in mind and that's make as much money as the idiots (us) will let them have.
So, now it's time for some cold hard facts.
We don't need a Starbucks, HomeDepot, Sears, Gottchalks, Car Dealers,ect ect on every corner. We don't need $300.00 Sneakers, $400.00 Levy's and a new cool sports car every 3 years.
With our new found fiscal realities we are going to have to live like Americans used to live. Within our means. Oh my god, how novel huh? We as people and the whole Nation are going to have to go back to living within our means. It's real simple folks. YOU CANNOT SPEND MORE THAN YOU MAKE.
So being broke as people and as a nation temporally, as we now are is actually a great thing. Now we can go back to saying things like: "Gee, that sounds nice but we can't afford it", just like our forefathers most certainly did. If they needed something, they saved for it, THEN bought it using the cash they saved.
So my wish, desire and hope is the conditions we find ourselves in now is going to force change in our behavior and the behavior of our politicians too.
Now having said all this, we have to realize that we are in a financial emergency right now and the answers do involve some temporary heavy emergency spending just to save our asses. When everything is back to some stability, we can then start taking measures to pay back the borrowing we need to do to make that happen. When our ecomomy is back to normal, money will start flowing into our debt also as it always has before.
Enough with the hard news. It's time to start thinking positivly about all this. With a 10% jobless rate, that means 90% percent of us are still working and doing fine. We have to stop paying attention to all the "Doom and Gloom" idiots and realize everything WILL BE OK. These things have happened something like 20 times since the "great Depression" and we have and always will come out in the end just fine.
We are still and will remain the best nation in the world and we as citizens enjoy the highest level of living of all. Most of us by far have well fed, comfortable, happy lives compared to the majority of the world and we need to re-remind ourselves of these truths right now. By most other third world countries standard of living everyone of us, including our poorest citizens are filthy rich.
Also, most people realize that most of the store closings ect are our fault. Because of all the negative news, we all pulled into our shells like turtles and are hiding. Well guess what? We need to start slowly acting normal again and take your family out to eat, so the restaurants can stay open. We need to slowly start buying what we need (need, not want) again to make sure honest, real commerce can get back on it's feet and hire back those who lost their jobs.
Above all else............STOP WATCHING AND LISTENING TO THE DOOMSAYERS! Those talking heads are idiots.
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
I will receive an e-mail, OK it and then it will appear for others to view after they click on the comments link.
Come on.......DO IT!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Personal Property Rights?
A lifelong friend of mine is asking for help. Ray Robinson is one of the most creative, honest, caring and intelligent humans I've ever had the honor of knowing. He grew up in a railroad family. His Father and Grandfather were lifelong engineers for Southern Pacific and Ray was a brakeman/conductor for 16 years. His love for the Railroad is legendary.
As long as I've know him, he's had a lifelong dream of building his own personal hobby real Railroad and in 1972 he started collecting track and wheels for his dream quarter scale railroad. In 1970 he built a HO railroad running throughout his home up near the ceiling on the walls. Well, in 1996 he was able to buy 41 acres up in Oregon with this project in mind, about as far away from neighbors as possible to not have any problems arise from bothering people in any way.
For approximately 12 years his wife and himself, with the help of hundreds of volunteers labored unimaginable hours to make this grand dream of his come alive and to see it done. They spent pretty much every cent they earned all those years to make this happen. The volunteers who mostly are other Railroad buffs came from all over the land after hearing about the scale and scope of his project. Upon arriving and meeting Ray, they knew they were doing something that would be a lasting tribute to the entire Railroad legacy, which would also be fun and they could all be kids again in the process.
I want to make something perfectly clear here and now. This has not been some kind of willy nilly thrown together project. Ray is a landscape contractor and used nothing but professional detail for the sake of his beautiful land and the lakes and streams it impacted, built with extreme care to not adversely impact these features in any way whatsoever.
After finally completing this grand dream and driving the "Golden Spike" in October of 2007, with hundreds of well wishers, Newspapers and TV stations on hand, they all celebrated in style and of course went on rides on the railroad. A grand time was had by all it looked like everything was going to be just fine. In all this time, with all the weekend construction, lots of Volunteers coming and going around Ray's property, never was there a complaint from anyone. What the Robinson's did was turn an old 1885 Homestead, where they had run cattle for 73 years before they bought the place, into a landscaped park for fish and wildlife that you could appreciate with a train ride. They don't allow any fishing or hunting on their land which is totally surrounded by National Forest.
In fact as word spread around the country about this Railroad, most of the local Newspapers and Television Companies naturally sent out reporters and cameras to try and capture such a wonderful accomplishment hidden out in the forested lands of such a freedom loving state such as Oregon is renowned for. Oregon Public Broadcasting and home and Garden TV both did TV specials on their railroad and it was aired by OPB in Oregon, Washington and Idaho and Worldwide by HFTV.
Well as most truly wonderful and free stories like this one are, here's where it all of the sudden turned potentially disastrous. You have heard that "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" and it certainly was true for the Robinsons. Despite being in Local Newspapers and on Local TV for all those years, Some local county worker, you know.......the kind we are all paying for with our hard earned taxes, finally somehow just heard of it and all hell broke loose for Ray and his wife because of him and his ilk. Without ANY complaints of any kind, this fine piece of bureaucratic crap took it upon himself to make Ray's personal Hobby Railroad "come up to code", whatever the hell that means. The lane county Land Use people said he had violated zoning for his property and hadn't bought permits. Now they have the State Land Use people saying that his hobby railroad is too big for a hobby and he must file for amusement ride variances and permits. We're talking several hundred thousand dollars here and all for a hobby railroad the Robinson's have never charged for, is never open to the public and is by invitation only to family and friends to ride for free.
Now, I really do understand how this kind of nonsensical red-tape crap gets started. Mr. White shirt is applying what he learned in "Government Jobs" class about using all the rules evenly, with no exceptions for any one individual. One size fits all and all that crap. Well guess what folks, that only works in school books on how to run a country like everyone are robots. In the real world all people are different with different needs, desires and levels of intelligence and most honest, creative higher government workers knows that and works with each case individually for the general good of all.
So here comes my sales pitch to everyone reading this tirade. Ray needs all of us to write a note or e-mail to everyone on the list below proclaiming your belief in personal property rights and the need to sometimes make exceptions to the rules for people like Ray and his Wife who are only trying to make a very cool dream come true for Railroad buffs throughout the world.
So please, take the time to make this happen and also cc the note to Ray and Katheen, so they can get an idea of who is helping them make some positive changes in our esteemed local government bureaucracies. Changes that just might show all the white shirts who is actually paying their salaries and who are after all the bosses around here.
I'm not even going to attempt to explain the details of the Robinson's endeavor. The scope of their project would be too large to put in this small piece. Luckily for all of us, they built and maintain a wonderful and very complete website chronicling it from day one through today, including a full accounting of this little white suit guy's personal problems with the project and what the County and State are asking of them.
Ray has said that without help at a much higher level than the county, he will have to remove and sell his railroad and your letters just might make the difference.
The "Meadows and Lake Kathleen Railroad" website address is:
http://members.peak.org/~kmr3/M&LKRailroad/
Go there to see pictures of the construction, history and environment and every stage of development of the Railroad. You will not believe how cool this is.
Now below are the snailmail addresses and e-mail addresses of all the folks that might be able to help put the little white suit dude in his place and preserve this grand example of one families perseverance, patience, intelligence and honer in creating a dream come true for themselves and all the Railroad lovers.
Please take the time to send as many of these people your views on private property rights and the need to sometimes make exceptions to the rules for people like Ray and his Wife who are only trying to make a very cool dream come true for Railroad buffs throughout the world.
For all of you on the list below, we are all asking your help in any way you can to do anything you are capable of doing to help Ray keep his Railroad running now and into the future. The kinds of things the "Tin man county guy" is asking for makes the whole thing impossible for Ray and His wife to do. They would have to immediately start tearing the whole thing out after so many years of blood, sweat and tears from them and the hundreds of wonderful people who volunteered their time for free to make this happen.
Won't you please help?
To all you fine folks that have taken the time to read this whole thing, I would also ask that you not only copy and paste it into an e-mail and send it on to the addresses below but also to everyone on your personal e-mail lists, so we can keep this going out into the world.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.....
Paul Huston
Ray and Kathy Robinson's e-mail address to cc to is:
kmr3@pioneer.net
Here are all the addresses of folks who might be able to help the Robinson's with their problems.....
Gov. Kulongoski, snailmail address: 900 Court St. N.E. #254, Salem, Oregon, 97301
State Senator Jeff Kruse: snailmail address: 900 Court St., Northeast Suite S209, Salem, Oregon 97301
Sen. Jeffery A. Merkley
E-mail: senator@merkley.senate.gov
Sen. Ron Wyden
Contact info: http://wyden.senate.gov/contact
Rep. Peter A. DeFazio
Contact info: http://www.house.gov/formdefazio/contact.html
Sen. Joanne Verger
e-mail: sen.joanneverger@state.or.us
Morrisette.Sen@state.or.us
Pete.Sorenson@co.lane.or.us
matt.laird@co.lane.or.us
Marsha.MILLER@co.lane.or.us
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
I will receive an e-mail, OK it and then it will appear for others to view after they click on the comments link.
Come on.......DO IT!
As long as I've know him, he's had a lifelong dream of building his own personal hobby real Railroad and in 1972 he started collecting track and wheels for his dream quarter scale railroad. In 1970 he built a HO railroad running throughout his home up near the ceiling on the walls. Well, in 1996 he was able to buy 41 acres up in Oregon with this project in mind, about as far away from neighbors as possible to not have any problems arise from bothering people in any way.
For approximately 12 years his wife and himself, with the help of hundreds of volunteers labored unimaginable hours to make this grand dream of his come alive and to see it done. They spent pretty much every cent they earned all those years to make this happen. The volunteers who mostly are other Railroad buffs came from all over the land after hearing about the scale and scope of his project. Upon arriving and meeting Ray, they knew they were doing something that would be a lasting tribute to the entire Railroad legacy, which would also be fun and they could all be kids again in the process.
I want to make something perfectly clear here and now. This has not been some kind of willy nilly thrown together project. Ray is a landscape contractor and used nothing but professional detail for the sake of his beautiful land and the lakes and streams it impacted, built with extreme care to not adversely impact these features in any way whatsoever.
After finally completing this grand dream and driving the "Golden Spike" in October of 2007, with hundreds of well wishers, Newspapers and TV stations on hand, they all celebrated in style and of course went on rides on the railroad. A grand time was had by all it looked like everything was going to be just fine. In all this time, with all the weekend construction, lots of Volunteers coming and going around Ray's property, never was there a complaint from anyone. What the Robinson's did was turn an old 1885 Homestead, where they had run cattle for 73 years before they bought the place, into a landscaped park for fish and wildlife that you could appreciate with a train ride. They don't allow any fishing or hunting on their land which is totally surrounded by National Forest.
In fact as word spread around the country about this Railroad, most of the local Newspapers and Television Companies naturally sent out reporters and cameras to try and capture such a wonderful accomplishment hidden out in the forested lands of such a freedom loving state such as Oregon is renowned for. Oregon Public Broadcasting and home and Garden TV both did TV specials on their railroad and it was aired by OPB in Oregon, Washington and Idaho and Worldwide by HFTV.
Well as most truly wonderful and free stories like this one are, here's where it all of the sudden turned potentially disastrous. You have heard that "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" and it certainly was true for the Robinsons. Despite being in Local Newspapers and on Local TV for all those years, Some local county worker, you know.......the kind we are all paying for with our hard earned taxes, finally somehow just heard of it and all hell broke loose for Ray and his wife because of him and his ilk. Without ANY complaints of any kind, this fine piece of bureaucratic crap took it upon himself to make Ray's personal Hobby Railroad "come up to code", whatever the hell that means. The lane county Land Use people said he had violated zoning for his property and hadn't bought permits. Now they have the State Land Use people saying that his hobby railroad is too big for a hobby and he must file for amusement ride variances and permits. We're talking several hundred thousand dollars here and all for a hobby railroad the Robinson's have never charged for, is never open to the public and is by invitation only to family and friends to ride for free.
Now, I really do understand how this kind of nonsensical red-tape crap gets started. Mr. White shirt is applying what he learned in "Government Jobs" class about using all the rules evenly, with no exceptions for any one individual. One size fits all and all that crap. Well guess what folks, that only works in school books on how to run a country like everyone are robots. In the real world all people are different with different needs, desires and levels of intelligence and most honest, creative higher government workers knows that and works with each case individually for the general good of all.
So here comes my sales pitch to everyone reading this tirade. Ray needs all of us to write a note or e-mail to everyone on the list below proclaiming your belief in personal property rights and the need to sometimes make exceptions to the rules for people like Ray and his Wife who are only trying to make a very cool dream come true for Railroad buffs throughout the world.
So please, take the time to make this happen and also cc the note to Ray and Katheen, so they can get an idea of who is helping them make some positive changes in our esteemed local government bureaucracies. Changes that just might show all the white shirts who is actually paying their salaries and who are after all the bosses around here.
I'm not even going to attempt to explain the details of the Robinson's endeavor. The scope of their project would be too large to put in this small piece. Luckily for all of us, they built and maintain a wonderful and very complete website chronicling it from day one through today, including a full accounting of this little white suit guy's personal problems with the project and what the County and State are asking of them.
Ray has said that without help at a much higher level than the county, he will have to remove and sell his railroad and your letters just might make the difference.
The "Meadows and Lake Kathleen Railroad" website address is:
http://members.peak.org/~kmr3/M&LKRailroad/
Go there to see pictures of the construction, history and environment and every stage of development of the Railroad. You will not believe how cool this is.
Now below are the snailmail addresses and e-mail addresses of all the folks that might be able to help put the little white suit dude in his place and preserve this grand example of one families perseverance, patience, intelligence and honer in creating a dream come true for themselves and all the Railroad lovers.
Please take the time to send as many of these people your views on private property rights and the need to sometimes make exceptions to the rules for people like Ray and his Wife who are only trying to make a very cool dream come true for Railroad buffs throughout the world.
For all of you on the list below, we are all asking your help in any way you can to do anything you are capable of doing to help Ray keep his Railroad running now and into the future. The kinds of things the "Tin man county guy" is asking for makes the whole thing impossible for Ray and His wife to do. They would have to immediately start tearing the whole thing out after so many years of blood, sweat and tears from them and the hundreds of wonderful people who volunteered their time for free to make this happen.
Won't you please help?
To all you fine folks that have taken the time to read this whole thing, I would also ask that you not only copy and paste it into an e-mail and send it on to the addresses below but also to everyone on your personal e-mail lists, so we can keep this going out into the world.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.....
Paul Huston
Ray and Kathy Robinson's e-mail address to cc to is:
kmr3@pioneer.net
Here are all the addresses of folks who might be able to help the Robinson's with their problems.....
Gov. Kulongoski, snailmail address: 900 Court St. N.E. #254, Salem, Oregon, 97301
State Senator Jeff Kruse: snailmail address: 900 Court St., Northeast Suite S209, Salem, Oregon 97301
Sen. Jeffery A. Merkley
E-mail: senator@merkley.senate.gov
Sen. Ron Wyden
Contact info: http://wyden.senate.gov/contact
Rep. Peter A. DeFazio
Contact info: http://www.house.gov/formdefazio/contact.html
Sen. Joanne Verger
e-mail: sen.joanneverger@state.or.us
Morrisette.Sen@state.or.us
Pete.Sorenson@co.lane.or.us
matt.laird@co.lane.or.us
Marsha.MILLER@co.lane.or.us
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
I will receive an e-mail, OK it and then it will appear for others to view after they click on the comments link.
Come on.......DO IT!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Prison overpopulation answer
One of California's and probably most states largest social and financial problems is prison overpopulation. Do you have any idea how much it costs to house and feed prisoners? One incredibly logical idea has been staring us in the face from the beginning. Decriminalizing drugs! I know that drugs do incredible damage to people and society. I also know there's not a law in the world that can keep a junkie from his drugs. Drugs have been against the law for years and years now. Has the usage even slowed down one little bit. No, it's gotten worse and worse.
Decriminalization may lead to more addiction in the short run, but it will take drug trade away from the gangs, causing the price of a fix to plummet along with the rates of murders, shootings and theft. With the many billions of dollars wasted on this useless debacle of a "war on drugs", we are no better off than we were when it began in the Nixon administration. Abandoning this idiocy would save lives and tons of tax payer money. Education and drug treatment programs are much cheaper, more effective methods. Use some of those billions we waste on housing and feeding these unfortunate drug addicts in ways that might actually start solving this huge ongoing problem. For those addicts who don't want help, that is their choice and they just might solve it for us all by simply dying and taking their apparently insurmountably personal problems with them. As we all know, you can only offer anyone help. The ultimate choice of action is their own to make, not ours.
Nor do I think the rise in addiction would last. Losing it's outlaw cachet, drug use would cease to be "cool" and would quickly be seen as what it is, a sinkhole for pathetic losers. The lessons we learned from the prohibition of alcohol should be applied across the board.
I really think that the only reason this insanity is still going on in this inlightened day and age is the pressure from the alcohol companies to keep it illegal, therefore keeping them rich with their "legal" drugs.
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
I will receive an e-mail, OK it and then it will appear for others to view after they click on the comments link.
Come on.......DO IT!
Decriminalization may lead to more addiction in the short run, but it will take drug trade away from the gangs, causing the price of a fix to plummet along with the rates of murders, shootings and theft. With the many billions of dollars wasted on this useless debacle of a "war on drugs", we are no better off than we were when it began in the Nixon administration. Abandoning this idiocy would save lives and tons of tax payer money. Education and drug treatment programs are much cheaper, more effective methods. Use some of those billions we waste on housing and feeding these unfortunate drug addicts in ways that might actually start solving this huge ongoing problem. For those addicts who don't want help, that is their choice and they just might solve it for us all by simply dying and taking their apparently insurmountably personal problems with them. As we all know, you can only offer anyone help. The ultimate choice of action is their own to make, not ours.
Nor do I think the rise in addiction would last. Losing it's outlaw cachet, drug use would cease to be "cool" and would quickly be seen as what it is, a sinkhole for pathetic losers. The lessons we learned from the prohibition of alcohol should be applied across the board.
I really think that the only reason this insanity is still going on in this inlightened day and age is the pressure from the alcohol companies to keep it illegal, therefore keeping them rich with their "legal" drugs.
Right at the bottom of this posting is a "Comments" link. Click on it, follow the instructions and leave a comment about this post. You can use your name or make up one, by clicking in the circle beside "Name/URL". Or just leave your comment anonymously by clicking on the circle beside "Anonymous".
I will receive an e-mail, OK it and then it will appear for others to view after they click on the comments link.
Come on.......DO IT!
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