Random Musings

The other night, Jay Leno joked that when doctors performed the recent colonoscopy on George Bush they found his head.

I cannot recall another sitting President being mocked so irreverently. Not since Bill Clinton's oval office oral follies. Other senior members of past and present governments (of both parties) have been comedy fodder for their antics, and have been mocked and derided as they have justly deserved.

What does it say about us as an electorate, that we cannot find men (or women) who bring a sense of dignity and who instill in us some semblence of collective pride for our leadership?

I have never been a Newt Gingrich fan, but recently he has been making a lot of sense, compared to the declared candidates. I admire him for commenting that he would not participate in a Utube debate hosted by lightweights like Anderson Cooper, raising hands to ridiculous questions about topics as weighty as whether they wear briefs or boxers.

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Today is the 1 year anniversary of my abstinence from alcohol. I can distinctly recall that last frosty beer - more accurately, a Bass ale - which I quaffed with friends at Cobblestone's tavern in Lowell. It was the Saturday schedule of the Lowell Folk Festival and, as always, it was a wicked hot day. We ventured to the tavern for food and drink, as I refuse to eat anything offered by any outdoor food vendors who do not have access to running water. (I always imagine botulism and coliform bacteria dripping from their unsanitary paws.)

The tavern was cool and dark. A welcome refuge from the dazzling sun and humidity of the air outside. Although I was feeling a bit lightheaded, I enjoyed a burger and two lovely beers.

Two days later, I was in a hospital room getting 2 units of blood. They called it a bleeding ulcer.
They made me promise to stop drinking alcohol and to stop taking Aleve. I promised to stop for 1 year. I have kept that promise.

Walking Around Thoughts

It is so easy to find excuses not to exercise that it is scary. My logical brain knows that the body needs daily exercise. I have read about several recent studies that link physical exercise with healthy minds in seniors. The studies say that it's not doing crossword puzzles and watching Jeopardy on TV that keeps people mentally sharp; it's physical activity. Yet, even though I believe these findings, my innate indolence is often overpowering.


We are planning a trip to France in September, and I need to get this aging corpus back in condition for lots of walking around. So, I have been making more of a concerted effort to get out on that "daily" walk -- instead of piddling around, reading the papers, weeding and watering the garden, checking our investments online (ie, anything that will keep me from getting out and sweating in the summer heat). For the past week I have been more disciplined, and have managed to walk everyday. I do what I call the "long walk" which is about 2 miles plus and takes between 40 and 50 minutes depending on factors such as people stopping me to ask directions and chatting with fellow health enthusiasts or dog-walkers who I might meet along the way.


I call the regular route "the long walk;" My wife calls it "The Bataan Death March, " on those occasions that I have inveigled her to join me - usually on a Saturday or Sunday. She is still working a 4 day week, which is effectively full-time. It is not practical for her to take a long walk every day. On weekends, she is more disposed to walk, but her aim is relaxation more than exercise. I confess that I am too usually impatient to wait for her to get ready and I am more predisposed to activity that involves sweat than she.


The amazing thing is when we travel she will be able to "keep up" with me, and moreover she will be out seeing the sights while I am napping at the hotel. She derives a mystical energy from travel, and draws magnetic stamina from the historical works of art and culture. These things make me tired.

We travel very well together - she decides what famous sights or museum we will visit; if I get bored or tired I just find a bench and entertain myself watching the other people.

So it happens that I usually take my walks solo. As I walk the familiar route, It is my job as a writer to notice things: I keep tabs on ongoing construction projects, whose lawn needs mowing, any attractive new females along the route, etc.


Some residents seem to be spending lavish sums on beautification - unnecessary and expensive ways to advertise one's wealth. Things like high end fences and stone walls. Or a detached garage made of granite blocks. Don't get me wrong, If I had a lot of wealth I - no doubt - would be as conspicuous as the next rich guy. I don't make judgements about how people spend their dough, as long as they earned it. I do make judgements about some of the things some people do to other people to earn money. (See previous recommendations to apply capital punishment to white collar crime.)


Modest personal circumstances allow me to empathise with folks who don't drive brand new cars, who cannot blithely start a renovation project, who worry about tax increases and inflation, whose only remote hope of experiencing a life of luxury is represented by a mega millions lottery ticket.



Invariably, one of the routine stops on my walks is the convenience store. I plunk down my dollar, and on the way back I enjoy the briefly held hope that I am carrying a winning ticket. I plan the Boston Whaler that I will buy and tie-up to my sumptious home with waterfront dock in Martha's Vineyard. I imagine myself dressed in a new golf outfit belonging to the local country club blasting bad shots into the woods and not giving a crap how much the balls cost. Hey for a buck, it's a cheap way of exploring an agreeable fantasy.

Not Safe to Turn on the TV Set

I am keeping the TV shut off for a few days. There are two things that I am trying to avoid looking at and hearing about these days. One is the enormous and confounding hype surrounding the New Harry Potter book and movie. The Second is the ghastly image of Tammy Fae Bakker in her final interview with Larry King.

In the first case, I am confounded because who - except for kids and a few adult fantasy geeks - gives a sweet crap? I have not read any Harry Potter books, and probably will not find a good reason to pick one up in the unforseeable future. I did see the first movie and parts of one of the others, mainly watching with my grandkids... Good kids' entertainment, but why does every talking head on TV and radio think the release of the last* book in the series is really important news for normal adults? I guess it's called marketing buzz - you get everyone talking about the latest hip thing and then people will turn into mindless zombie consumers and even stand in line for days to get it. Is this what the founding fathers were imagining when they created the Bill of Rights?

The second thing that I am trying to avoid is seeing pictures of the ghostly (and now, mercifully defunct) Tammy Fae of Jim and Tammy Fae fame. You remember them back in the 80's when they were notoriously successful Televangelists. Remember PTL? She was noted for her large French whore phony eyelashes, and pudgy cheeks. He was best remembered as the church secretary shtupper and embezzler of church funds to provide hush money. The Bakkers were brought down from their golden hippocritical thrones and made to wallow in shame when his crimes were revealed by the shtuppee, Jessica Hahn who went on to become a Playboy Playmate (and a regular guest on the Howard Stern Show). He did jail time. Tammy Fae divorced him but got custody of her fake Eyelashes.
So it was with horror that I was assailed with a brief clip of Larry King's interview with the wasted 60 pound husk of Tammy Fae, now 66 years old and dying of cancer. Someone allowed her to go before a camera with the heavy eyelashes and red makeup that made her look grotesque, to put it kindly. If you did not see it, count your self lucky; it would haunt your worst dreams. I condemn everyone involved with that program as sheer freak show purveyers. I think I can safely say that the founding fathers would have disapproved as well.

Take my advice and keep your TV off for a few more days.

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*After the return of Rocky, and Superman, how can we ever feel safe that a series will ever truly terminate?

A never ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way.

Superman would be proud.

South Dakota carried out its first execution in 60 years yesterday. The confessed dirtbag probably could have avoided his just punishment if he had mounted any sort of appeal. Perhaps the only honorable act of his life was to ask the state to put him out of his misery.


Bleeding heart liberals (like my friend Rick) are so mistrusting of the American justice system that they would rather let 99 bad guys go free to re-offend rather than risk hanging one innocent man.

He comments that my plan to hang white collar criminals would result in "more innocent executions," without acknowledging that the plan would succeed in its chief objective: To deter megatheivery and corruption.


Rick and his ACL pals are not looking out for the interests of their fellow citizens. They consistently give the benefit of the doubt to the crook rather than the cops, citing that the perp came from a broken home, or dropped-out of high school, or was some other sort of societal victim. Racked with guilt over their own fortuitous affluence, they opine from the security of their toney crime free-communities, saying, "Give the crooks, (oops i mean alleged crooks) another chance."


But, ultra-lefties (like Rick) would afford the same hand wringing, hyper-sympathetic attitude towards the so-called best and brightest, who cynically use their positions of privilege and power to wet-hump the American public?


In the past decade We have had numerous examples of CEOs who flaunted laws and decency to feather their own nests. Corporate looter Ken Lay of Enron fame is probably the poster boy of mega-thievery, but there were many other cases: Polaroid, Worldcom, Tyco, Adelphia.

And, who can deny that the government is generously populated with career white collar criminals whose job is to look out for us, but who are willing to look the other way when their palms are greased. Look at all the politicians who had to resign because they got caught with a hand in the cookie jar: William Jefferson (the rep from New Orleans who kept bribe money in his freezer), and Randy Duke Cunningham (the California rep who took bribes) are just a couple of current cases were public trust has been abbrogated.

Are these not criminals all - who deserve to hang?



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Yesterday, The Boston Herald ran a story on a local judge that was so arrogant that he wrote letters to the paper's publisher, demanding a bribe of more than $3 million to make a libel case against the Herald go away. The paper gleefully printed photocopy excerpts of the judge's letters which were handwritten on court stationery.

The news story said that the ethics panel was "looking into the matter." How come the extortionist is not in jail? We dont need a trial here - the judge's handwriting convicts him!

My friend Clooney asserts that the second ammendment of the Constitution provides for relief when the government fails in its duties. Shouldn't some mob be formed to go down to the Judge's mansion and get some of the money back?

Then there is the "Pants Suit" story from a few weeks ago about Judge Pearson from Chicago, who sued a dry cleaner for $65 million over a lost pair of pants. This is a prime example which demonstrates the egregious misuse of the justice system by smart greedy sociopaths.

A case that deserves Capital Punishment? Who do we trust to decide?

Raising the Bar

I think China has raised the bar of justice a few notches with news of the latest execution of a former food and drug official who took bribes when he was supposed to be watchdogging.

Some people think the death penalty may be too harsh a punishment for bribery, but if you think about it unpunished corruption is the bane of civilization. In addition, several recent studies have defied popular thinking, confirming that the death penalty IS A DETERRENT. (I know, from personal experience, that I would have strangled more people to death if I did not fear capital punishment.)

Those anal retentive anti-junk science pundits who insist that the clinical studies were methodologically flawed need to wake up and smell the coffee. Some facts are simply true despite the lack of "scientific" evidence.

Look at all the people who believe in "Chi" - the life force that guides the feng shui school of thinking and is a fundamental element in the rationale for how acupuncture works.

Scientists cannot find a shred of evidence to validate the existence of Chi, yet zillions of people believe it to be a palpable physical force. So science is clearly nothing but a bunch of crap on a stick.

Besides, most of the arguments that you hear about the death penalty for the crime of murder are rebutted by the belief that murder is irrational and unmeditated; thus the perp is not thinking about punishment.

The fallacy of modern civilization is reserving capital punishment for violent offenses, and wrist slapping of crooks who merely steal millions of dollars from needy citizens. I propose that if we need anymore laws, it should be to cause more mega-thieves to be hung or shot. And those who abbrogate the public trust.

Yes, we need to "China-up" on some of our government and political crooks. I guarantee that Capital Punishment will be a deterrent to "white collar" crimes.

Anchor Shredding the Lead

Apparently, I am not the only one who thinks "the news" ought to be about important events and people.

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