Eliminate The Parties

Our two party system needs to be changed. The parties are not official but sure do foul up the governmental process. The Congress and the Senate both are pretty much in a stalemate even though there is a Democratic majority. Nothing gets done because of Republican obstructonism that seems to be part of their platform. The same thing did not happen when the reverse was true and the Democrats were the slim minority. That actually shows where the interests of the Republican party lie, not with the best interests of the country nor in democracy.

There are four reasons that the stale mate exists. The Democrats are not willing to push the Republicans when the President vetos a bill by re-submitting the same bill back to the President without change and place the entire blame for a stoppage of governmental inaction on the President. It would only need to occur once and the President wouldn’t be so cavalier with his veto, acting like a two year old when he doesn’t get his way.

Along that line, in order to restore democracy, where the majority makes policy, eliminate the need for a super majority and allow a simple majority of the houses to decide all matters.

Require these highly paid politicians to attend sessions and listen to and participate in the debate or forfeit the right to vote.

And finally, and possibly even more importantly, eliminate the division of the seating into party hemispheres. Mix them all up so they have to sit together and they may even start talking to each other.

Any one of these ideas could cause a significant change in how much gets accomplished by our government. Of course, anything is greater than nothing!

Perverted Justice

I may be an oddity but I have and still feel OJ Simpson has gotten a raw deal. The evidence indicates he didn’t commit the murder of his ex wife and her friend. The evidence does indicate the police, at the minimum, were incompetent and biased throughout the investigation and at the worst, actually planted evidence, and presented false evidence. In any case, OJ was not convicted. Now some may say that doesn’t mean he didn’t do it. However, our justice system says he was innocent, or sort-of says that. The problem is that , even though found not guilty, he was then sued and lost that case. Exactly how is that possible. If he’s inocent, how can he be responsible for the deaths? Legally, he shouldn’t be, that’s a perverted part of our justice system. He happened to be an arrogant black man. That’s the only thing he’s probably guilty of. The media, looking at the financial benefits of inciting the mob, and making a good story, relentlessly attacked him. Comedians made jokes about the jury’s decision. Something wrong here!

Now, even if OJ is guilty of a couple of murders, how is that worse than cigarette companies murdering millions, or Bush’s decision to start an unnecessary war and causing 100′s of thousands of deaths. Something perverted here! Our justice system does nothing about these much more serious crimes. But, of course, there’s money to be made, so lets not make waves.


Now, OJ’s back in the news, “stealing” his own stolen property. Again, the evidence doesn’t seem to be there to show his guilt. There’s actually more to show he didn’t than that he did. But, the worthless news median, rather entertainment media, is back on the job. comedians back with more jokes. The judge refused to allow bail. Now, isn’t that perverted too.

This looks like an episode of Law and Order where everyone is charged with the crime, without completing the investigation, unfounded charges made and inappropriate actions taken with the probable reason to be in the news and be the guys who get OJ.

Some of my concerns are:

  • There are two supposed victims, one made the complaint, one says OJ did nothing wrong.
  • This supposed event occured in a Las Legas casino, a place where security is unsurpassed. If something occurred, after the “criminals” left, there was a phone in the hotel room to call security to stop their exit. No call was made. Police were notified the next day.
  • One of OJ’s “friends” was recording the incident. I wonder if they had financial or legal reasons to do so. Sell the tape, record for the police in a sting of OJ for immunity for other crimes of their own?
  • I’m not surprised that the police found guns where the suspects were staying. But, finding them there doesn’t mean they were at the site of the reported “crime”. That could have been confirmed if the crime had been reported in a timely fashion to hotel security.
  • Persecuters seem to have shopped for a hanging judge, the one who refused bail. They ended up having to follow procedures and a different judge held the arraignment and allowed reasonable bail.

The prime motive here seems to be a rush to injustice. Is there any surprise that the arraignment was held live on national TV? Like they would for anyone!

I really worry that there is no hope we will survive when people don’t recognize that something is wrong with all this. But what the heck, too few are protesting the shredding the bill of rights. They’ll never miss it, or so they think!

Finally, a Backbone

Well, the Democrats, most of them and a few of their friends finally are standing up to the idiot, I mean “president.” They aren’t giving the fool what he wants, a never ending “war.” Mr. Bush continues to threaten to veto the bill. When he does, I hope both houses just re-approve it and send it back, unchanged. Even if they rush that, Mr. Bush may still run out of money for his “war.” I wonder if that happens, if he would consider stopping and bringing them back immediately as the Constitution requires or continue to disregard the Constitution as is his habit.

It’s also interesting that both houses have authorized subpoenas as well. Unfortunately, Mr. Bush may prevent his lackeys from testifying as our Constitution requires. The Bush court would probably disregard the Constitution and support Bush. So, if they do disregard the subpoenas, in my opinion, they should avoid the court and just use the wallet. Cut off funds for Bush’s office until he complies. If he then ignores it, impeach him for continued violation of his oath of office.

Legislative Power

Our constitution provides for separation of power, Legislative, Administrative, and Judicial. Currently, only one seems to be effective, usurping the power of the other two. It’s about time congress started to do its job and legislate.

First, I think they should start impeachment proceedings. I believe there are enough disheartened Republicans to bring about a successful conclusion but, even if unsuccessful, it would wash the laundry and expose the administration for what it is.

That not being likely, how about a few other ideas. Take action and withdraw funding for the war in Iraq. The Democratic congress, if they approve funding for the “war”, will then have to then accept blame along with the president and former Republican congress. If they specify what the money is to be spent for, and not spent for, if Mr Bush continues his folly, then there is all the more reason for impeachment and then, and only then, can those legislators really say they did their job rather than the current words only and no action.

Congress needs to clarify to the president, through legislation, that they never gave him permission to go to Iraq and he better get out ASAP. Now that a woman is the house leader, possibly she will show that she has balls. The former congress sure didn’t have any.

One piece of legislation that would bring an immediate end to our occupation in Iraq would be to require the president to reside in Iraq as long as we have troops there. Bush never served before and though possibly an over assumption, may be smart enough to realize he would not make it through the week there alive, somewhat like all the military people he sent there feel.

While Mr Bush would likely ignore such legislation, if he did, an active congress would be able to impeach him before the sun went down.

I do not believe that impeachment of this president would be disruptive to this country, rather it could restore confidence in this country.

A final unrelated thought. Mr Bush, after his presidency has expired, if he actually leaves office, will find it very difficult to ever leave this country because he will very likely be arrested and brought to trial for war crimes by any of the more civilized countries of this world.

What’s Wrong With The Movies?

I used to like to go to the movies years ago. I must have liked it, I became a projectionist and worked in theaters in my youth. I like the big screen. I like the way they made the movies. My thrill is disappearing. I don’t like most of the new movies, and much of that dislike is for technical reasons.

First, and possibly the worst is movie sound. It has not improved with technology, it has become nonfunctional. The primary failure is volume. It varies far too much. Explosions are quite loud, voices are generally unintelligible because they are too soft or uneven. Current sound engineers don’t seem to have learned their craft.

Special effects. Far too overused. Far too many movies are made only to use them.

The plot. Has there been a new one developed in the past thirty years? Far too many remakes and sequeles.

How can you make a movie without having a script before you start. there is a lot of talk of collaboration in the movie making responding to actor input during filming. That isn’t a benefit it’s a failure. When a movie starts shooting, everything should have been worked out in advance, if not then why start?

Awards. I look at awards as recommendations against viewing a film. How can a film be nominated for an award before it’s released to the public. It’s all just marketing.

Current “actors” don’t seem to know their craft. If they did, there would be fewer out-takes.

I believe in a working Hollywood. Movie factories that produced lots of product were better that the current limited production of “block busters.”

I also hate the sticky floor.

What I like. The big screen. Simple sound, no more than stereo is needed. Being able to hear what people say. Not to much camera movement. A plot. Good character development. A focused picture. Synchronized curtain movement on film beginning and end.

So, I guess I’m banished to foreign and small independent films.


What’s all this talk, now, by Republicans about bipartisanism? They not only never mentioned it during their majority period, they specifically said they had a mandate not to be bipartisan. OK, now the Democrats have the mandate, so use it. Get ready for the ride.

The people want out of Iraq, not to expand our depth in the quagmire. If the Democrats  are to be true leaders and use their mandate they won’t follow Mr Bush further into Iraq. If Bush does his “surge” into Iraq, against the recommendations of his own generals and the Iraq Commission their funds should be cut off and if Mr Bush ignores the legislature, then there are even more grounds for his impeachment.

How much is enough?

The Real Pledge

The Original pledge:


Note the missing “under god” and “of the United States of America” The “under god” was added to the pledge in 1954. In 1955, “In God We Trust” was added to our paper money. And in 1956 the country’s motto was changed from “E Pluribus Unum” (“Out of many, One”) to “In God We Trust.” All this is part of the red scare period which also brought us McCarthy-ism.

Our founding fathers were wise enough to specifically not include similar wording. Loss of freedom was brought about by scare tactics and manipulation. Doesn’t this sound similar to the way over response to the 9/11 incident? It really scares me.

Thanks to Maria Langar’s blog for pointing out this article.

Inconsiderate people.

Why are there so many?
First, please pardon the use of stereotypes.
I’ve noticed that inconsiderate people seem to be generally inconsiderate, they don’t seem to have single failures. Here are a few of the traits I think are inconsiderate:

  • Walking on the wrong side of the sidewalk. Just like when driving (at least here in the US), people should stay to the right side.
  • Crowding into lanes or lines.
  • Talking loudly on the cell phone.
  • Driving across the lane line in a curve on the road. Almost guaranteed to be done by SUV and pickup drivers. I can make it through in my RV so there’s no technical reason they shouldn’t. I’m listing this as being inconsiderate because they do it as a general driving technique, while usually returning to their side when cars are actually present. It’s inconsiderate because it often requires evasive actions by the oncoming cars seemingly unnoticed by the errant drivers.
  • Owners of unleashed dogs. These people tend to own larger dogs, especially pit bull dogs. They cause people to take alternate paths, scare away wildlife, and leave poop everywhere. An owner that lets their dog run off leash rarely picks up after their dog.
  • Bicyclists that ride against the flow of traffic and run stop signs. Are they stupid or inconsiderate, or both?
  • Litter bugs.
  • People who can’t control their children.
  • People who drive vehicles with head lights more than 24″ above the roadway. Same for drivers using supplemental lighting like mis-aimed driving or fog lights.
  • Telephone solicitors. They should be an exception to the laws against murder. Same for email spammers.
  • People who have those obnoxious car stereos that anybody with hearing finds objectionable. The occupants of the cars with the stereos either are deaf or will be. That must be why they use these vibrators.

This is a quick list, more to follow.

Why Me?

I’ve been stopped by police five times.

  1. Once for speeding.
  2. Once for standing in the street.
  3. Another time for speeding.
  4. Once for entering my car suspiciously.
  5. Once for looking suspicious.
  6. And three times for having a light out. (A headlight out, no tail lights, and a brake light out.)

The most recent was the brake light out last Friday. This might be an OK record, but most of them are ridiculous stops. All those light outages were within minutes of the outage.

The tail lights went out as I crossed a railroad track with an officer behind me. This took only ten feet for the red lights to come on.

In the case of the headlight, I left a Restaurant in Sacramento headed East on Hwy 80. I was stopped within a 1/4 mile from leaving the restaurant. I saw the working headlight in the windows as I left. Now, that driver side headlight did burn out often, but really, a 1/4 mile of outage and a stop?

Item 1 for speeding was justified, I was speeding, 30 mph in a 25 mph zone. I was on a Honda CT90. The officer kindly gave me a warning.

My friends and I were stopped for standing in the street, an actual offense, when we stopped to chat with a friend and were talking to them on the drivers side of the car, in the street. Another justified, but really? (Result, a $12 ticket for each of us)

Item 3, speeding was for going 27 mph in a 25 mph zone on an Air Force base. How accurate can they be? (Result, weekend duty)

Item 4, entering my car suspiciously was when I was going to work, in my Air Force uniform in Mountain View, Ca. (Result, just the stop)

Item 5, looking suspicious was in Guadalupe, Ca. We were in our hippy looking VW van. (Result, just the stop)

In addition to these, My criminal career includes a parking ticket when I was parked in compliance with the signs. I fought in court, got my $5 fine back and cleared my name. It only took about 10 hours of my time. It also caused a problem with the bank. The bank managed to cash the check without crediting my account for the $5. That took nearly a year to straighten out because banks never make mistakes, even though I had the cashed checks and the account statement didn’t show the deposit. I’m not sure it was all worth it?

My most heinous crime was making out in a park at night on my old high school campus in Bakersfield. We were stopped and separated by four officers in three cars as we were leaving. They separated us, called a matron to talk to Lou and before they were through with us, there were thirteen officers involved. Other than taking 30 minutes of our time and theirs, nothing came of it. Evidently, the school had had some break-ins and the janitor called the police. Not much happens in Bakersfield.

Total cost of this crime wave was $12 in fines. However, it also makes me a little paranoid. Why me?

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