It's 4:47 a.m. Hotlando, Florida time. This is Hotlando, the world of two seasons; one not exceptionally cold, and the other hot as Hell. It's HAH here in Whorelando for way too many weeks of the year. We draw on the malevolent resources of all the other states in the winter for the scum which lubricate the wheels of crime. They love Whorelando and the heat just brings more of them. Because of the scum from the upper 49, there is no peace here. There are lots of churches; way too many churches, but no peace of mind. Traffic sucks and the lemon on-your-left is probably trying to figure out how to pick your pocket.
I have seen videos of the scum here in Florida. One which stands out vibrantly is a picture of a man in a wheelchair rolling himself down the street from an ATM. Some very young black dude approaches him, proffers a handgun, and then pistol-whips the older gentleman before taking the envelope containing his money and running down the street. See the wheelchair on its side. See the old man helpless on his side in the now turned-over wheelchair. Nobody cares. Nobody knows. Nobody sees. Ou sont les polices?
It's too damned hot here too be healthy. When there were fewer people and a lot more trees, nature cooled the heat off somewhat with a wet breeze or two. Second stories would have the windows open all day, and the hot air would have somewhere to escape. Now we have to build homes like small fortresses and condition the air for all seasons. These houses smell bad if they are not aired out on a timely basis. We all smell of rot and mold if we are not aired out and cleaned on a timely basis. That is the curse of present-day Florida.
Don't believe the glorified pictures of people running down a deserted beach into a glorious sunset. Ask Henry Ford and Thomas Edison what the Summers were like on the west coast when they lived here. Go and visit their houses. If not for the screens all around, the houses were kept open all day and practically all night. The air had to move through and find its own way; not anymore. Leave the bottom windows open and you invite any number of parasites on two feet to move in with you and share your 'goodies'. I hate this place and its politics.
The right-wing politicos here are smarmy and truthless at best. Even, God forbid, the Democrats are rats in a sinking ship. Don't ask about our governor. Read about him. He is a case for great study.....and how he bought himself an election. This state stinks.
I am making plans to get out of here and finally retire anywhere else. I'd like to stay in the states, but Australia looks good. Because I grew up in a diplomats family in Mexico City, I know of some spots where I could go and hide until death comes along. I don't have an American accent. My Spanish is very good. I have been mistaken as a resident of Mexico, D.F.; and well I should be. That's where I grew up; where politicos of all parties were smarmy and bellicose, and nobody believed them or the church. That may be my solution.
Buenos dias senor. Puedo ayudarle con sus maletas?

Tall trees from little acorns.......

Just a quick note regarding our economic situation. What situation? I didn't do this. I had no hand in this; but the Republican soothsayers and their teabagging friends want us to all lock step and follow them into the past to re-live the joys of Nazidom. Where is the freedom of press? Where is the freedom of speech? And where is the justice for all of us when way too many of THEM profited by the nonsense going on in the halls of government and finance.
It doesn't take a PhD. to figure out who is getting doubled over for a royal screwing in the next election. Watch carefully as those right wing (I'll never call them conservatives....William Buckley must be twirling in his grave) AHoles try to pin the ills of the world on the present resident of the White House.
During the first two years of his presidency, he and his financial experts tried one way to get us out of the problem; namely spend us out. This works if the people in the middle and the bottom of the economy spend the cuts and tax savings given back to them. The upper crust keep the savings to in new financial paper. They do not, as those brainiacs would have you believe, put the money back into business to create jobs. They pull all the wagons into a circle and divide up the freebies given to them by US.
Protections for the working class in this country are now being sold away as so many scrap cars going to the re-cycling bin. Unions will be as hard to find in this country as hens' teeth. Mark my words, if we don't drop into a second recession (early depression) by the beginning of the fourth quarter, I'll take up smoking and drinking again while standing in an open grave; not too far to fall when the end comes.
I believe in the United States of America. I believe in its people. I do not believe in organized religion and lock-step organized democracy. Such a thing cannot be. It is a dictatorship either of one person or the proletariat as a whole; and we all know how successful such a dictatorship was for the fine people of Russia. Aren't they all driving Mercedes Benz now??? Some folks in China have learned to live with the enemy and make some money. We send them money and they send us junk; and that's O.K. with the politicians here at home. Gimme my cut, I gotta get to the game.
We are still in for a rough ride. I see that there are some people who feel that the worst is over. These folks have put houses back on the market at ridiculous prices which rival the psychotic amounts we saw when the 'Bubble' burst. They ain't a gonna get that money back....not right away; and not for at least five to seven years. The houses and properties were fifty to one hundred per cent over-priced. There are still more foreclosures to come I am sorry to say.
What's scary is that even John Boehner ( I hope I spelled that correctly ) is starting to sound like the voice of reason in Washington. He understands that there can be a two or more party system, but something has to give. Not taxing the rich and giving everything away to offshore corporations just flushes our hard work right out to sea. It's fine to be hard left or hard right, but in the reality of the light of day such thinking only drags us away from what we want to be; what we can and should continue to be. This is not a country that raises the flag because it is told to do so; it is a country that respects itself and the generations which came before for all the hard work expended to give us the freedoms and rights which are the envy of the rest of the world.
We must move ahead; but cautiously. We must remember that although the house of cards came down in only a few days, re-building will take a bit longer. For our children and their children to come we have to bite the bullet and get this done; but get it done right.

Some Kind of Wonderful

Here we are mid-May 2011 and I haven't added any thoughts since almost a year ago. It's high time folks. And I may mean 'high' advisedly.

Since 2004 I have been suffering with increasingly bad back pains. At one point, just moving my head left or right would bring up that familiar sound of twigs being stepped on in the woods. Occasionally, the noise would be so loud that another member of the family might call out, "what's that?" I would quietly answer, "me".

Ignorance is surely bliss. I let it go just a little too far and it is leading to surgery of the spine. Two specialists I have consulted called it a variety of 'stenosis'. The two dollar explanation is that through years of use, the spine gets worn down. To some people it is earlier. To some it is later. And to some lucky few it never happens at all. I fall into the first group.

There are three three discs in the uper spine below the skull which are causing the unbelievable back aches, cracking sound, and just all around PAIN. Shortly, after my wife and I meet with the first specialist tomorrow, we will decide on a plan of action. I believe that I can have the procedure done in the coming two weeks, count two days at a local hospital, and then home again home again....etc. etc. ....

The three discs will have their walls sheared off, the interior cleaned, and a piece of somebody elses' bone attached to the outside of each with a Titanium strap screwed in place to hold it all together. In the end, there will be more room again for my spinal chord, less chafing, and consequently lots less pain. This is all done through incisions made through the front near the left or right side of the throat. Cameras and surgical instruments wiggle their way behind the throat and the surgeon goes to work. Both medical men, one an O.D. and the other an M.D., have predicted twenty-four to forty-eight hours in the hospital and then home with a neck brace. Thankfully, the brace can come off at night to sleep. I guess balancing teacups on my head is out of the question; at least for now.

On a lighter note.....

I finished my son's new computer. It is the latest upgrade I have done since I built my 'ammo-box' right in front of me in 2008. We were to have traveled out of Florida to see him in Tennessee earlier this year, but a sick grandma, and a sick cat nixed all that. I'll be able to travel after the operation. More to come

By this time last year we had already been to Tennessee three times. C'est la vie.

Are you following the exploits of the winner and runner-up of the American Idol show of last year. This year's group is so lame. They may have to give away mini-cd's of their music in Captain Crunch pachages!

Crystal Bowersox continues to appear at radio stations, opening for larger groups, and also on the Grand 'Ol Opry stage as a special guest to do one of her songs. She is appearing in Nashville at an out-door concert in June; a venue to which I had hoped to go. Never mind. She has a long road to hoe and she is doing it with grace and a lot of style. DeWise on the other hand appears at grocery store openings. It's a sure bet that someday soon he'll get the paint store he always wanted. Just remember to shoot low and graze the target from time to time.

Well......That's all from GRUMPY here in Hell-Lando. We couldn't get through the whole of May before the temperature ran back up to the high nineties. Do you want to retire here? Services of all kind are being cut back. Do you have a lot of money? Don't bring it to Florida. Governor Snot has a place for it in his pocket. After all, he forked out 89 million of his own money to "win" the election. He has to get it out of someone's hide.

'nuff said'