The Economy IS As Bad As You Think It Is

Strangely enough, these ten facts are not the biggest bombshell I came accross about our government this afternoon. I'll spring the other one on you when I think it's an oppertune moment. Unfortunately all of the charts I pasted in did not come out, so you'll have to settle with painting with words. Let me mention just the National Debt. One chart shows at the beginning of the fiscal year 2014 that we were 16 Trillion and something. And by the end of the fiscal year 2014 we were MORE than a Trillion higher at 17 and something Trillion. But they tell us now the deficet was just over 500 Billion then and just under 500 Billion now. But how can this we when - - in six years seemingly, the deficit has risen from ten to eighteen Trillion dollars. We have gone up eight Trillion in six years! Someone is lying and the sad fact is it seems to be Obama. Now the deficit stands at OVER eighteen Trillion dollars and the Republicans claim in eight years it will be 24 Trillion dollars. This contradicts an observation I was just making in Word earlier in the day when I said the following:

I might note that the Republicans claimed that with their budget plan we’d have a balanced budget in eight years. But if trends keep up the way they’ve been going within the past few years, we’ll have a balanced budget in four years, just like we did with Clinton. The Republicans are being bogus talking about deficits.

For each of the charts that I am about to share with you, I want you to focus on the last shaded gray bar on each chart which represents the last recession. As you will see, our economic problems are significantly worse than they were just before the financial crisis of 2008. That means that we are far less equipped to handle a major economic crisis than we were the last time.

#1 The National Debt

Just prior to the last recession, the U.S. national debt was a bit above 9 trillion dollars. Since that time, it has nearly doubled. So does that make us better off or worse off? The answer, of course, is obvious. And even though Barack Obama promises that “deficits are under control”, more than a trillion dollars was added to the national debt in fiscal year 2014. What we are doing to future generations by burdening them with so much debt is beyond criminal. And so what does Barack Obama want to do now? He wants to ramp up government spending and increase the debt even faster. This is something that I covered in my previous article entitled “Barack Obama Says That What America Really Needs Is Lots More Debt“.

#2 Total Debt

Over the past 40 years, the total amount of debt in the United States has skyrocketed to astronomical heights. We have become a “buy now, pay later” society with devastating consequences. Back in 1975, our total debt level was sitting at about 2.5 trillion dollars. Just prior to the last recession, it was sitting at about 50 trillion dollars, and today we are rapidly closing in on 60 trillion dollars.

#3 The Velocity Of Money

When an economy is healthy, money tends to change hands and circulate through the system quite rapidly. So it makes sense that the velocity of money fell dramatically during the last recession. But why has it kept going down since then?

#4 The Homeownership Rate

Were you aware that the rate of homeownership in the United States has fallen to a 20 year low? Traditionally, owning a home has been a sign that you belong to the middle class. And the last recession was really rough on the middle class, so it makes sense that the rate of homeownership declined during that time frame. But why has it continued to steadily decline ever since?

#5 The Employment Rate

Barack Obama loves to tell us how the unemployment rate is “going down”. But as I will explain later in this article, this decline is primarily based on accounting tricks. Posted below is a chart of the civilian employment-population ratio. Just prior to the last recession, approximately 63 percent of the working age population of the United States was employed. During the recession, this ratio fell to below 59 percent and it stayed there for several years. Just recently it has peeked back above 59 percent, but we are still very, very far from where we used to be, and now the next economic downturn is rapidly approaching.

#6 The Labor Force Participation Rate

So how can Obama get away with saying that the unemployment rate has gone down dramatically? Well, each month the government takes thousands upon thousands of long-term unemployed workers and decides that they have been unemployed for so long that they no longer qualify as “part of the labor force”. As a result, the “labor force participation rate” has fallen substantially since the end of the last recession…

#7 The Inactivity Rate For Men In Their Prime Working Years

If things are “getting better”, then why are so many men in their prime working years doing nothing at all? Just prior to the last recession, the inactivity rate for men in their prime working years was about 9 percent. Today it is just about 12 percent.

#8 Real Median Household Income

Not only is a smaller percentage of Americans employed today than compared to just prior to the last recession, the quality of our jobs has gone down as well. This is one of the factors which has resulted in a stunning decline of real median household income.

I have shared these next numbers before, but they bear repeating. In America today, most Americans do not make enough to support a middle class lifestyle on a single salary. The following figures come directly from the Social Security Administration…

-39 percent of American workers make less than $20,000 a year.

-52 percent of American workers make less than $30,000 a year.

-63 percent of American workers make less than $40,000 a year.

-72 percent of American workers make less than $50,000 a year.

We all know people that are working part-time jobs because that is all that they can find in this economy. As the quality of our jobs continues to deteriorate, the numbers above are going to become even more dismal.

#9 Inflation

Even as our incomes have stagnated, the cost of living just continues to rise steadily. For example, the cost of food and beverages has gone up nearly 50 percent just since the year 2000.

#10 Government Dependence

As the middle class shrinks and the number of Americans that cannot independently take care of themselves soars, dependence on the government is reaching unprecedented heights. For instance, the federal government is now spending about twice as much on food stamps as it was just prior to the last recession. How in the world can anyone dare to call this an “economic recovery”?

We had oatmeal for breakfast but initially there were bowls of corn flakes sitting out. It was a major wait to get even the drinks. Connie’s insulin was high and her blood pressure was low being only 104 over 59, and she was pretty sleepy. I ended up having three English muffins. The first was with butter and jelly and I had one from Connie and one from Owen. We had scrambled eggs with that. I watched Meet the Press tuning in a little late. The ambassador to Israel was on and Jerry Brown also talking about global warming. I listened to “Breakfast with the Beatles”. They played a few odd BBC snippets. They played that George Harrison rarity of “I Live for You” and the steel guitar player has since passed away. They played a fast demo version of “Two of Us”. They were supposed to have some Terry guy on who is a friend of Jimmy Page but I never heard him.

Observing the Human Condition

Let me collate some trends and reasons for higher unemployment.  The blogisphere says that higher degrees don’t help today so this whole push to get everybody College Educated, might just prove to be a colossal dud of an idea.  This is because this creates a glut of higher degrees so that the quality (value) of each individual degree is cheapened, and worth less on the market do to its higher availability.  Also there is a glut of content or “product” on the internet, so you can have “Eight hundred million channels to Me”.  There is no record company or publisher or radio station DJ to deal with now.  You can produce “product” that may be quite good but perhaps not as “unique” as said “product” was in the old days.  You have all these publishers and record producers out of work- - and a glut of product so that no one listener can think of buying, or even reading or listening to everything that’s out there.  Finally you have the continued advancement of Robotics, which takes away more and more menial jobs as Robots learn increasingly complex tasks, which formerly took some higher mental reasoning.   Of course all of this efficiency won’t generate a leisure class, as people in the sixties logically presumed that it would.  They join the ranks of the under-paid and the poor.  And the corporations just pocket the profit themselves.  They don’t reinvest in plant improvement or expansion because they are already “improved”.  And there is no need to give the workers a share of the profits.  Not only is Roosevelt dead, as Rush Limbaugh reminds us, but Karl Marx is certainly dead.  No – you have all this new efficiency per employee now- - and the stock holder gets that savings.

Salifi Islam or Salifism, is the root sect behind Al Qaeda and ISIS.  22% of the Saudis are Salifist, so they refer to it as a “dominant minority”.  If there is wisdom in numbers (you can find a verse in the Bible for) than Salifism is rather lacking in wisdom.  They are firmly against any sort of philosophical extrapolation about God’s nature, and are also solidly against the veneration of Saints or any statues thereof- - because they say it’s idolatry.  Joe Byden’s three Iraq solution may not be such a bad thing because the majority of Iraqis are Shiite, whereas the majority of Syrians are not the ‘Allowite” demonination of Assad.  Indeed they say Assad runs a “secular government”, which is news to me.  So it’s only logical that ISIS should gain military victories and sympathy (so they claim) from the inhabitants of NW Iraq and SE Syria, because there does appear to be a major Sunni “bloc” there.  This is a factor in my initial lack of concern about the sudden spread of ISIS territory.  If you liken it to the Jews wanting Palestine, than one might even validate military conquests to have these people gathered in some “homeland”.  Oh well, it’s just a thought.  But the Wikkipedia goes on to say that the vast majority of Sunni clerics condemn the ways of thinking of the Salifist movement.  They point to roots going back to when years were just triple digits.  And the word “Salifi” pops in writings back then now and then.  But it was this Wahabi guy in the seventten hundreds that popularized the whole philosophy.  But the Salifi’s back away from calling themselves Wahabiists because – once again- - they consider that idolatry of just one man, who was a true prophet, but he wasn’t God.

There is this lady on a talk show who wants to "Throw political correctness in the garbage" and says that we need to start Hating ALL Muslims because "If the minority of violent Muslims call the tune, then the violent portion is the only really Relevant portion.  But she distorts figures.  She reduced the number of Muslims in the world from 1.8 billion to 1.2 billion.  And she increases the number of Violent Muslims from twenty million to three hundred million, or approximately as many Muslims who want to kill Americans as there are Americans.  She mentions how not all Russians are responsible for the deaths under Communism, and not all Japanese are responsible for planning the deaths of American fighting soldiers in WW II.   I would cite her the proverb of "Judge not least you be judged".   Would we want to judge all Christians by the actions of Oklahoma Bomber Timothy Mc Vey, for instance?  No.  I rest my case.  It's not a question of "Political correctness" as she puts it, but Factual Accuracy.  From my statistics, maybe three percent of the Islamics of the world tend tword violence and Jihad- - not twenty five percent.  It would seem from another source, that there about a third as many Many - - Muslims living in America as there are Jews.  But you'd never know it from the Media portrayals who portray ANY Muslim as somehow esoteric, extreme, and rare.  (Selah) 

I was just reading up on the Jewish population demographics of the world.  The United States is about two percent Jewish, which is huge.  We have more Jewish people living in America than live in Israel.  For Israel it’s in the six million and the “non enhanced” Jewish population is three quarters of their demographic make-up.  The percentage of Jewish populations in other countries falls off really fast.  But the concept of “The Jewish lobby” takes on more significance now since- - from a demographic point of view it is a “partnership” with Israel.  But it does get you to thinking how vastly overrepresented both Jews and gays are in the media, where they seem to be everywhere- - -yet not in the overall population.  So at best Israel has maybe eleven million people who have been in a virtual constant state of war with various neighbors for the past seventy years.  There is this obsession among Israeli leaders that their entire nation could be “wiped out - - just like that”.  The Jews of Jesus’ day had the same perception about themselves.  And they were “wiped out - - just like that”.  But if you want accurate Bible history knowledge I suggest you go to a fundamentalist Baptist of Pentecostal, and not a member of the Jewish faith, because we know their scripture a heck of a lot better than they themselves know it.  They ad-mix in so much other lore and tradition- - they fundamentally change the meaning of a lot of things.  In foreign policy it’s almost a “tail wag the dog” type of situation where the Jewish people (like the gays) have an inordinate “Vote” as to the priorities of our government.  But it just got me to wondering about the smallness of the percentage of people who visit Israel as tourists - - that have, shall we say “solid Jewish credentials”.

Last night on the news there was this young boy who has a vivid memory of “another life” lived during the glory years of Hollywood.  The man was a small-time actor and was married five times and died at age 61 - - actually correcting his own obituary.  There was nothing about this other life in the Wikkipedia, and nearly nothing on the internet.  You had to rummage through old photo scrap books to learn the truth.  But apparently they have over a thousand cases cataloged somewhere- - of young children claiming to have lived past lives.  Back in 2011 and earlier I spoke of that “other life” I refer to as the San Barnidino incarnation- - though I’m not even sure about that city.  I won’t go into that here- - and this “other life” thing has faded in the past few years but for a while it played a bit part in my dream life.  It was like a co-existance with a much younger man named Richard- - who was a young teenager in 2000 or so- - and probably graduated High School around 2005, just to give you a ball park figure.  So I think the idea of reincarnation or even being a “Traveler” from life to live- - like on Vampire Diaries- - is a real possibility.  Now some say the mother must have coached the kid- - force feeding him with a ton of facts (and they have quite a list of details compiled) about this other life.  But this assumes the average three or four year old would even have that kind of patience to learn this stuff.  Rather- - there were just “stories” that he would spontaneously tell his mother.

 Purity Products was on and they were talking about Aztezanten, which is a carrotenoid.  KEIB has Purity back on as a regular.  Just as an isolated fact, Thom Hartman says it's much better to actually eat fish for your brain rather than to rely on fish oil.  President Obama made a pitch for his Attorney General candidate to be confirmed after four months.  And the Republican response on KNX dealt with what a great thing the Republican budget was.  I had Chris Matthews on the radio - - and I guess you have a choice now of “play list” verses “full episodes”.  I thought maybe those two things meant something else.  I didn’t learn all that much anyhow.  Dick Derbin of Illinois played the race card with the AG candidate.  I wouldn’t have done it personally, because I didn’t believe it was the best way to attack republicans.  But I don’t fault him for doing it.  Different strokes for different folks.  He was obviously “playing to the base”.  I had Rachael Maddow on and she talked about auto-driving cars.  They now have cars that parrellel park themselves.  Great way to pass a driving test.  There was a solar eclipse yesterday in Norway.  There seem to be an inordinate number of solar eclipses in the polar regions than one would normally expect using geometric logic. That solar magnetic flair they had on the sun the other day didn’t seem to have any adverse effects on my computer.

Last night at dinner I finally received my bank statement, where my account checked out OK.  I won’t get flagged for an over-draft from using the ATM three times.  I also got this letter from Hummana reminding me about the fact that one medication (and I imagine it to be Lamisil) will no longer be covered after March 31^st.  I don’t want to get dinged for that charge.  I didn’t show it to Donnie last night but I showed the letter to Yadera this morning when I got my meds and she said Dr Saran could be here belatedly on Tuesday and talk to him about it.  Last night I got an egg salad sandwich from Donnie.  Paul Evans gave me a second sandwich.  Duke played Robert Morris and I guess won.  I had some ABC network news on.  Then it was the San Diego Aztecs playing St John’s.  Again- - this “other life” spent time at San Diego State living in a frat house and didn’t get along very well with his house mates there.  “Bones” was on at eight and I started watching part of the second episode then went to bed.  I slept well.  I didn’t wake till it was getting light.  How can nine hours of sleep not be enough?  I’ve actually missed the coffee more than the cigarettes.   At any rate I got a smoke and then went to the med room.

Look for perhaps something Supernatural to occur in the early days of June of this year.  It will be the end of that fourteen year cycle discussed in the previous posting.  The full moon will be in the "Al Qaeda home planet" (star) about that date.  Of course the word is "The base" of the tail of the scorpion, in this case.  But as Federation "theologians" point out- - - this star is actually the progenitor of the "Midianites" a Biblical shepherd desert roaving beddowin group.  Father Abraham was a Midianite in our theology.  So in this case it would be the glorification of any religious philosophy or race connected with Abraham.  Of course from a Biblical point of view the Midianites as well as the Arab people at large (as opposed to just the Saudis) would be exhalted or glorified.  I'll leave it to you what this mean on the international battle front scene.

Utterly and Completely Bogus

I think Washington’s blog has been hacked.  Now they are saying that it’s the rich have suffered economically in the past six years of never-ending Recession, whereas the poor have had “government transfers cushion the fall”.  This is bologna on its face.  Everyone in California gets a cut in funds every year because of some “fiscal emergency” measure that was passed years ago where California lags behind the standard phoney bologna inflation number of 1.7%   There is no way in Hell that California SS payments can keep up with inflation.  As such these are in a state of ongoing relative decline.  We hear about this all over the place.  It’s in the news.  It’s on the talk shows.  It’s everywhere.  But the surest way you can know this article is completely bogus is this.  If it were at all true, the Republicans Themselves would not be getting on to the “Poor working class Americans” train.  It is the Republicans who openly admit that things for most Americans have gotten significantly worse in the past seven years.  Of course, they blame President Obama for it.  I had this mind set “Joseph in Egypt” theory of mine.  As you know I took my last drink June first of 2001 (or actually the day before).   The next seven years for me were OK years economically.  In each of those years we got our annual renters tax rebate checks and my expenses weren’t yet that high for internet.  Those are the “seven good years” of Joseph’s dream in the Bible.  Then there are the seven lean years, which in this theory begins on June first of 2008.  In each of these years we did NOT get our renters rebate checks, and our social security payments have been cut, and our drug co-pays increased.  I remember it was late May of 2008 when I prayed vaguely for the idea of “Barock Obama deserves a chance to make his campaign pitch for President and try to fundamentally change America”.   But there was even then only a part of me that still believed in Obama.  But the illusion was so strong that this man, Barock Hussein Obama, would somehow be our Saviour and really reform America.

So let me get this straight.  The most dangerous radical Islamic groups such Al Qaeda are located in Yemen.  These are the extreme Sunni Muslims.  Al Allaki was one of these, whom the US killed with a drone.  We have had Yemen on our hit list.  But now a Shiite element swoops down and overthrows that government and takes over.  And the US calls THAT a bad thing?  This could ONLY be a bad thing if the United States secretly wanted Al Qaeda and ISIS to prevail.  Sean Hannity has endlessly stated the following.  “President Obama has continually congratulated himself that we and the Yemini government were such allies” and I’m asking myself, “On what planet is that??”  Hannity is really going to stand there and tell me that when Al Qaeda ruled Yemen those were “the good old days”.  I’m completely confused!!!!!

Now John Boehner is meeting up with Netenyahoo, no doubt to plan their next strategy.  It’s a strange merging of governments we have now.  Meanwhile other Republicans like Ted Cruz are saying for states NOT to support Common Core education because it indoctrinates kids with a national government program, even though the Federal Government is not involved, and it’s only Math and English skills to begin with.  Others are upset because in honor of “foreign language week” the pledge of allegence to the flag was said in Arabec one day.  Parents were in an uproar and the school had to apologise.  And Senator Mitch Mc Connell is sending out an “Epistle” or general letter to all State Governors telling them to disregard the Presidents new EPA guidelines including some common sense restrictions on hydrolic fracturing.  Victoria Jones was saying that we have not only divided government but “fractured” government.  Thom Hartman says emulsifiers in foods break down the cell walls of oils and such like a detergent (like in a shampoo) and this is bad for your overall health.

There is this University of Virginia student that was beaten by police and had to have ten stitches, and they have a new category of "Resisting arrest without force".  What does that mean??   In the last seven years certainly two areas have gotten way worse in America.  One is gun violence and these fringe groups that in former times would have been "taken out" by the FBI like the Branch Davidians were in 1993.  The other area where things have vastly deteriorated is race relations.  Like I said, we have proved that our country was just not Mature enough to elect a Black man as President.  I might have believed that maybe in 1968 if somehow we elected a Black man the public would act like this.  But not forty years later in 2008.  No way!

Hillary Clinton beats just about ANY Republican in a one to one face-off.  She had "held steady at 54%" according to Norman Goldman.  54% is enough to win a national election these days.  It would be nice that if in the process the percentage of ellagible voters who went to the polls would double- - yeah - double- - from 36% to 72%.  That would be an amazing thing if that happened.  The Republicans just can't stomach the fact that the democrats have a proven winner on their hands, who isn't going anywhere, and has more time to prepare for both the campaign and actually BEING President of the United States, than just about any candidate in history!

Well, in the words of Ricki Ricardo, Shawn Hannity has some "Splaining to do".  The one thing there Hannity most praised Netenyahoo was that he "never backed down", you know, like the Republicans here are "backing down before Obama".  Of course if you've seen the Republican budget that was voted out of comittee- - you'd wonder how Shawn could say that.  Because this budget is the most blatant and defiant I've ever seen. It cuts Social Security with the chain CPI calculation, and it reduced taxes on millionaires by a third.  (There is no word about reducing anyone elses' taxes)  And it cuts Student Loans and a host of other services to the poor.  Here's a news flash.  It's 3:45 and spring had just struck!  But returning to Netenyahoo and the election, it seems now it's clear of the Prime Minister's intent on some of the statements he made in the last few days of the Campaign.  He appealed to certain people's Xenophobia- - fear of "the other", in this case Arab citizens, who have the right to vote in Israel, and were perceived as a threat.  But the other thing the Prime Minister did was to come out flatly Against a Palestinian State.  How surprising it was then, when not two days later, Benjamin Netenyahoo retracts this statement.  He now says "The two state solution is the only possible solution".  The reason why is obvious.  There is the demographic time bomb in Israel just like we have here.  In this country it's Latinos.  In Israel it's those of Arabec racial extraction.  It may pain some to think of Israel as just "John Boehner east" but that's what it is.  Israel has Imported our xenophibia and racial intolerance.  This can't bode well for the future.  There were roomers floating around that I can't nail down to the effect that the United States is considering NOT supporting Israel in various critical United Nations votes.  If that ever happens, Israel is in deep doo-doo.  I spoke last time in diminuitive terms of having a "little war" with Iran.  The problem is that no war with Iran would be a "little war" by any stretch of the imagination.  It would be deadly serious.  It is a place the world does not want to be.  But to me it seems to be a war that is very avoidable, as long as we continue to talk diplomatically and civilly with each other.  The Bible says, does it not, "Come now, let us reason together".  Some on the Christian right will say that "We can't have Peace because the Antichrist will be one who offers peace".  I'm afraid I can no longer drink that purple Kool-Aid myself.  The thinking behind that sentiment is just too dangerous.

All the Lying Politicians

If your "camp" or side is never told the Truth, every other judgement you make from that point on is in error.  And if you share that error with others, everyone you talk to is similarly misinformed and "Less smart for having heard what you said".  Sean Hannity lies like a rug.  He was going around the streets of New York telling everybody they owed $700,000 on the National Debt.  They are off by a factor greater than ten.  The actual figure is $54,545.   I checked and double checked with the calculator.  This figure will only hold if there is zero inflation.  But then Hannity said “Actually a new born baby will owe over a million on the same amount”.   It wouldn’t matter whether it’s a new born baby or an 89 year old man ready to kick the can, the figure would still be $54,545.   But Linda is such a trash talker anyhow.  When has she said anything positive about anything?  She’s one of those “negative energy people you don’t want to be around” in my humble opinion.  They kept talking about gays at the St Patrick’s Day parade and something about vomiting in the subway at eight o clock in the morning.  I think they were being theatrical.  Does Linda come into work at eight for a three o clock radio program EDT?  And then there was an overall trashing of the typical voter of New York city.  Linda is like Judy.  She thinks she knows everything.  

Bruce Rouner wants to extend open carry gun laws to bars, churches, and hospitals.  This guy really is a “Ruiner” and I can’t even picture how he got elected, except that every Republican dingbat long-shot got elected last November.  There was talk on the show about how if you’re not rich you’re basically a loser because the corporations tell you what to eat and what to wear and you too can live in a lavish lifestyle.  You see it on ads all the time.  Of course if anything approaching “back to traditional values” ever took hold where all your kids did not want the latest fashions and toys and gadgets, then the gross national product would collapse and the so called “experts” would be panicked.  There was talk about black people growing their own food on local farms rather than continue to languish in a “food desert”.  This is Thursday morning March 19, 2015, the day the swallows return to Capistrano.  From a cosmic point of view (especially if you're a Romulan) the only place in the whole "South County" (south of Irvine area) where the “spiritual climate” is half way decent is San Clemente.  I got up at a quarter to six and was anxious this morning.  I got a cigarette from Nancy Bell, even though she’ll be out of cigarettes by Saturday.  I talked to Luan Bui (that’s his last name) and he’s out of cigarettes for the week.  I’m out of cigarettes for the rest of the month.  But on that KEIB “Hatriot radio” station- - there is this guy advertising for a program where he says that anybody who is not in the top ten percent of income- - is basically a loser.  That’s what he said.

Magic Johnson is giving Mayor Rom Emanuel a quarter million dollars to his reelection campaign.  It’s a republican idium to call Union leaders – “Union Bosses”.  No.  The boss is the guy who employs you and you have to negotiate with to get pay and working conditions.  Unions worked and they boosted the living standard of middle America between 1940 and 1980/  Why is this era of Unions with its high living standard - - now painted as a bad era by Republicans?  You may know that Wall Mart just raised their wages so now Target feels pressure to raise their raises to a whopping - - nine dollars an hour- - to compete.  So the employment situation alone if exerting pressure to raise wages.  Larry Elder of course says “free market forces” will cure any problem- - even slavery and segregation.  How does Larry Elder feel about higher wages for instance- - people of his own race?   Because it’s my belief that conservatives would love it if their entire work force worked for three dollars an hour like some illegal immigrants.

Here is news from Soap land.  Stephano kicked both Kate Roberts and Chad off the board of Di Mira enterprises.  Stephano said that he “forgave” son Chad for some sin I don’t even remember now- - but just because you’re forgiven it doesn’t mean that you’re trusted.  I would imagine this conversation with God.  God says I’m forgiven, and I say “Then how come you don’t trust me.  Could it be perhaps because what  I did?  And if it is can it truly be said I’ve been forgiven for it?”  Chad sided with Stephano in the vote to oust Kate, and Stephano rewards him by kicking him to the curb.  Brady was injected with some drug, and his money was stolen.  Brady doesn’t even suspect what happened.  I had on “two for a Tuesday” at lunch on KLOS.  I listened to two songs each by Lennard Skynard, Bonjovi, Pink Floyd, and the Police- - and all eight commercial free.

According to Thom Hartman, neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis want peace, because peace does not serve any leader's interest.  Yasser Aarafat could have had peace in 2000 and he turned down a generous offer (according to Israeli leaders)   Now there is talk that Israel is not the nation it was even twenty years ago.  That polls find a great deal of animosity toward Arabs who are Israeli citizens and don't believe Arabs should even be allowed seats in the parliament.  Callers are predicting that "Netenyahoo wants war with Iran and he's going to have his little war with Iran and everybody, including Obama knows it, and it's a question of waiting for the inevitable.

In terms of the mayoral run-off election in Chicago, they had a debate last night and seemingly "neither candidate was straightforward with the voters".   Chewey Garcia is "flying blind" and "doesn't know anything" till he gets into office and "learns where all the bones are burried".  Apparently Rom Emanual is associated with so called "typical big city thug politics" of the past.  I've heard accusations that Rom Emanuel is "not a real democrat".  He still has that "black site" police detention facility where you can be imprisoned without having charges filed against you, forced into stress positions for long periods of time, and are not allowed to make so much as one phone call.  There is a twenty million dollar deficet in the city of Chicago and neither has a plan to fix the budget, except that property taxes will be raised regardless of who wins.  Of course we are locked into the absurd straight jacket here in California by proposition 13 from 1978 on.  Prior to the passage of proposition 13 we weren't faced with these constant fiscal crises in this state.  What this did was vindicate my "No" vote at the time.  And in general I don't like putting in motion measures that will cause nothing but problems in the future as far as the eye can see.   Personally life is pretty crappy for me right now.  I have a money crisis- - and am basically broke for the rest of the month.  Yesterday was a rather stormy day for me.  

Dialing Back the Hostilities

This photograph isn't related to anything.

Sean Hannity was reveling in the great victory of Netenyahoo over his rivals in the labor party such as Herzog.  The Lecud party won 31 seats in the 120 seat parliament, and he still needs sixty to govern.  Yesterday they were prediction the Lecud party had won 28 seats.  Hannity was so “ebuliant” over it.  He kept saying that he wished Netenyahoo were president in this country because “He’s the adult in the room” and also Republicans in this country lined up to congratulate him such as Bush, and Ted Cruise, and Marco Rubio and Senator Corker.  It’s almost like he saw it as some personal victory over President Obama.  There is a new charge leveled to “the liberals” that Netenyahoo made some kind of racist appeal by referring to the “bussing in of Arab citizens” to cast a vote.  I think it’s time to let frayed tempers mellow out a little here.  Hannity stated that President Obama will congratulate every dangerous liberal or Islamic leader, but so far hasn’t congratulated the Israeli prime minister.  There was talk about Yetenyahoo’s “surge in the polls” in the final four days, and what a decisive victory he had won to build a “strong government”.  And Sean compared Netenyahoo to republicans who are “weak” in contrast because by back down before Obama, whereas Netenyahoo is a man who never backs down for anyone.  If I’ve left anything out of the mix here, or if I’ve misspoken on any matter here, I’ll await your correction.  We know that there will be no Palestinian state in the next four years because Netenyahoo made this one of his campaign promises.  Apparently Sheldon Addelson donated large amounts of his own money to found a “free newspaper” in Israel to get his point of view across to the people.  They don’t have anything like Citizens United there so this is kind of the only way it can be done.  This is the same guy who stated that he admires the Israeli army a lot more than the US Army.  Correct me if I’m wrong but it almost seems Israel as a nation is exalted above our own country now.  And for those of Christian Faith, highly regarding the nation of Israel is virtually a requirement.

In terms of the previous paragraph - -  I didn’t add any editorializing or value judgements.  I’m just trying to take it all in.  We all want to be good citizens and work what’s for the best, don’t we?   I’m thrown in remarks about “Faith” and “Trusting God” lately.  Would it do any good to disguise how I “feel” about the tea party?   I guess it was that WCPT program that had the author of that book titled “In God We Trust” Incorporated or something - - how the moneyed businessmen created a “Christian country”.   Thom Hartman is great in citing old documents and treaties where it flatly states the United States is NOT a Christian country.   But if prayer helped found the constitution, than I guess it was a good thing.  I’ve never been one to go overboard on “Televangelism” and all of the money raising and expenditures of ministers that goes on.  How they spend the money is their own business.  It’s between them and God, as long as the money was freely given and no coercion or threats were used- - or some kind of criminal fraud was involved.  But this new accusation first made on Thom Hartman’s program yesterday is a horse of a different color.  It’s one thing to use the riches of the material world to further spreading of the Word of God.  It’s quite another thing (in my humble opinion) to flip this and to “Use” the whole idea of Christian faith strictly as a ruse to further the ambitions of right wing businessmen.  I would imagine that “God” agrees with me on this issue.   The way the book puts it- - big banks and business interest first began running flat out adds that “Business is good if you vote republican and fight FDR and the Unions”.  But this message, according to the author, wasn’t “playing” very well in Peoria.  I guess the grip of the Great Depression was too strong on the common people.  So then pastors were approached about using the trappings of religion in right wing endeavors.  Various Evangelists were accused of buying into this money scheme.  But it was the election of Dwight Eisenhower that really got the whole ‘National day of Prayer’ and “prayer breakfasts” thing going good.  In the course of time the Rev Billy Graham dialed back the more blatant political references in his messages.  Certainly in my conscious lifetime- - I’ve never thought of Billy Graham as political at all.  Maybe it’s a question of samantics or something or some mis-understanding by the author of the book.  Or maybe it’s just an issue that I need to pray about.

There is a Facebook semi pornography scandal in Penn State where another fraternity was decommission because photos of nude women, often nude women “passed out” perhaps after having being given some drug or something.  This Arron Shock guy is an Illinois congressman who has had to resign in disgrace.  Now there are roomers the guy is gay.  I went to check up on Stephanie for the first time this week on WCPT and there is this substitute guy live on the air who is pretty good.  Whenever a candidate cries “Family values” check his math and see how many divorces he’s had or how many women’s abortions he’s secretly paid for.   He talks about the “young guns” of the Republicans.  Eric Cantor is gone, and according to this host, Paul Ryan has become completely discredited with his phony math on health care.  What struck me was that Thom Hartman stood for “Family Values” when he said back when he grew up his father got paid the equivalent of forty or fifty dollars an hour for his good union job.  That’s a lot of money, but the point is that one bread winner could support the family leaving the wife home to bake cookies and attend PTA meetings. 

Prime Minister Netenyahoo proudly proclaimed that he was the victor in today’s elections in Israel.  Actually the Lecud party won 28 seats in Parliament to Herzog’s 27 seats.  But now I hear you need sixty seats of Parliament to form a government.  It would seem no matter who comes out on top as leader, compromises will have to be made.  The Prime Minister claimed that “Arab citizens were being bused in to Vote today”.   Let's pull ourselves out of tape delay and do live right now.  Norman Goldman is trashing the parliamentary system.  I think it's a better system than we have now.  This tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb two party nonsence gets a little absurd after a while.  Even Glen Beck quit the Republican party today because he says "It's not pure".  Maybe God should weigh in with his oppinion as to whether the Republicans are a "pure party" or not.  I rest my case.  Norman seems to want the "appearance" of stability and all that, even if the wheels of government have ground to a halt, like they are now.  People say the two party system is so ideal.  I don't get it.  What am I missing?  I don't like the idea of ideas being "held hostage".  Some say the Federal Reserve dare not raise interest rates because of the chaos it would cause for the rich in the stock market.  Norman Goldman believes if we ever even ALLOWED a third party to be a major player in politics, our system would break down.  This is government by thought coersion, and it inherently invites bad compromises.

Now in blog reading we have the Bush Iraq War Conspiracy Academy Awards.  There is a list of all the people who planned the Iraq War as far back as January 30^th 2001.  And the fact that the knowledge that Iraq did NOT have weapons of mass destruction was widely known in government.  This really shouldn't be news to anybody, and I refer you to a Sixty Minutes segment done a couple of years ago.  Vince Bugliosi was lecturing on the two elements of murder.  It's A killing B or else A has to defend himself against an iminent threat from B.  The key word is known iminence.   Bush knew we were not in an iminent threat by Iraq in 2002.  The act of course was premeditated, thus making it first degree murder, which is prosecutable.  Any blood which was shed after Bush made the false decision to go to war is thus blood guilt on President Bush, and Chaney and Wolfiwitz and anybody else involved.  This business of "all war all the time" just is not psychologically healthy for a nation.  It isn't healthy for an individual person either to be in a constant state of psychological stress.  They pay for it somewhere along the way with some sort of "psychogenic" disease somewhere down the line.  If what Washington's blog states is true the United States support "Salifis", which are the most radical of Muslims, from whence Al Qaeda and ISIS come.  Iraqi Generals in the Baath Party became radicalized from time spent imprisoned by the United States.  So when is Shawn Hannity going to be asked any of these questions?  The very idea that the US could be in ANY WAY be instrumental in the rise of Al Qaeda or ISIS is unthinkable to Shawn, of course.  In an ideal Shawn Hannity world, what is the "ideal outcome" that Hannity is seeking, anyhow?

Wondering Aloud

For the second day in a row the main link to “Washington’s blog” produced a frownie face.  But there were other links you could use.   I guess RT is really “out there” in terms of vast, far reaching conspiracy theories.  They say that most terrorist incidents that make the big headlines are to one degree or another “false flag” operations.   We hear that ISIS was funded by the Saudis and the CIA or something.  But we need some prime motive for doing this.  What is it?  I know of at least two “terrorist busts” that smacked heavily of entrapment.  If it had been a guy getting snagged by a hooker, it would be easy to find a jury that would acquit him of all charges.  But with terrorism I guess it isn’t that easy.  There is this interview by this - - guy - - who knows all this - - stuff- - about what our government is doing now.  Remember that ISIS came out of nowhere to make the heatlines, kind of like State Senator Obama in 2004.  He was a nobody who was hyped into stardom.  On the other hand we have the ill fated event of June 7^th not to give you too many hints.  This event was a “slam dunk” as far as its certainty- - yet “all of a sudden” it didn’t happen and like Ross Perot faded from the headlines faster than the big chill in the eastern states.  It was like Ross Perot who fell from grace quickly after about the first of June of 1992.  The media just “turned on him” like a rabid dog- - and suddenly all that candor and honesty and insight as to solve the nation’s problems just vanished like a vapor.   I am more conscious all the time how people have “impressionable young skulls full of mush” as Rush Limbaugh puts it - - and nobody has a mind of their own.  It’s like Charles Boyer threatening his wife about “One day you’ll end up in an Assylum and then you’ll be left with No Brain At All”.  (Selah)

Some people say “If you want God to bless you in the future, what you need to do is praise him and thank God for the things he is supplying you with now, and having faith for the future”.   Strangely there was a time when the Reverend Billy Graham was not limited to preaching redemption and faith.  No.  Back sixty years and more Graham was a partisan Republican who strongly attacked the mere existence of Labor Unions.  I didn’t know that.  I didn’t know either (and Thom Hartman could just be incorrect on this issue) that this whole idea of being a “Christian nation” only extends as far back as the early fifties and the election of Dwight Eisenhower.  Because that’s when all this prayer meeting stuff started, and we put “God” in the pledge of allegence and but “In God We Trust” on our coins.  This is the era I was raised in, so naturally I consider it only normal.  So was it “prayer and fasting” that prompted the Eisenhower administration to overthrow Guatamala in 1953 and the elected leader of Iran in 1954 or stop the 1956 election that was scheduled in Viet Nam where Ho Chi Min would have won had they allowed it.  Did God tell Eisenhower to influence the developments of these nations.  I’m just asking the open ended question.  I don’t know.   I guess you could say “I have major doubts”.  Some people say that Doubt is of the Devil and whenever you hear this whispered from Satan you need to rebuke that voice.  Others would say “Not all Satanic oppression is bad.  If Satan ends up driving you to seek God with your whole heart, then it’s a good thing.  They add “Only when Satan gets IN BETWEEN you and the Lord is Satan truly a problem”.  My response to this is “Do you really think Satan is so STUPID that he doesn’t already KNOW the best means of attack?”  (Selah)

We’ve had four days in a row of ninety degrees or higher in Los Angeles, and this is a feat that’s never been accomplished before in the month of March.  There is hardly any conceivable way where the month of March won’t be at LEAST ten degrees above normal, and I imagine when all is said and done, it’ll be more than that.   There was a typhoon named Pam that leveled some small island nation north of New Zealand.  Now there are temperatures of seventy degrees in places like Chicago and the western plains (like Nebraska) , which I find hard to believe, given the deep freeze for so many weeks.  Those people must be suffering from culture shock or something.   “The Ohio River has begun to recede after reaching its highest level in twenty years”.  I think we will continue to see more stark and startling signs of global warming, and this evidence will be harder and harder to deny.  Does anybody want to take bets on how hot summer will be.  And do you really still believe “Warmer weather only increases crop yields”.   Joanie Ernst was grilling some people about “massive fraud against the government”.  It started off with Social Security payments, but then ventured into the area of voter registration.  I kind of knew where the theme of this was going.  It’s like Thom Hartman says.   “A ruling political party can hold hearings on whatever they darned want to talk about”. 

 This is Monday March 16, 2015 after dinner.  I’ve got a grand total of three cigarettes left and then I’m busted the rest of the month.  I guess you could say “I’ll have to trust in God for supplication”.  I’d do that if I knew what it meant.   I’d like to turn the clock to last June 7^th, which was on a Saturday.  Some event happened that day that an irrational part of me suspected would work to my - - cosmic adversity.  I’ll leave it to you people to guess what that event was.  It’s a very precisely defined event within the general public’s sphere of knowledge.  It coincidentally also happened to be the very last day of Stephanie Miller’s “sexy liberal” tours.   She’s not exactly doing those road appearances like she was then.    My money problems began getting significantly worse AFTER that date.  ISIS was after that date.  Ferguson was after that date.  Ebola was after that date.   A whole lot of frictions with Paul and Judy were after that date.  My computer problems were after that date.  We have more for you.  My mom's health problems began in late June and they still continue.  That downed commercial airliner over Ukraine almost spawned some sort of Nuclear incident, or had that potential.   There was a trifecta of jinxes that hit me in the last few days of July.  All the month of August Israel was bombing the hell out of Gaza, like shooting large fish in a rather small barrel.  This mass epidemic of- - shall we say “disappearences” around here was - - after that date.   Connie, Steve Y, Marsha M, Loretta Hill, JW, Glen - and more.  In fact as I said in my Dr Levy letter of this morning- - these “mass absences” have been in the past two months.   My problems with drug co-pay and drug coverage in general was - - after that date.  None of these problems existed- - - prior to that June seventh.   And this is not an exhaustive list.

This little girl Jennifer killed a rival in cold blood, and now she's trying to cop an "Insanity" or drug or diminished capacity defense.   This is "Law and Order".   When the Guilty are cornered they freak out.  My point?   The "guilty" in our government are never cornered.  They are never brought to account.  They are like the Ever-ready battery.  They keep going and going and going.  They become bolder and more blatant in their intent, just like Jennifer.  They can say stuff in public on FOX news they'd be hesitant to utter in private previously.  They lob accusations which in a different setting would sound like those of a mad man.  But just to show you how “poisoned the well is” conversationally here's a for instance.   Can you imagine a topic where if there were a revelation of a broad program of Torturing by our government, that the media would “Interview the torturers and those who favor torture, but not the opponents or victims of torture”.   This is the blog entry the one blog down below the as of now latest posting.  (From December)   Also I can’t imagine some of these wall street crook situations or lobbyist situations like with the Koch brothers, if they existed and were raised at a Bible Study- - that the Koch brothers wouldn’t come in for almost universal condemnation.  Such issues would be “slam dunk” issues in the old days, because such activities would be seen as patently unchristian, by any yardstick.

 I had on live US Senate action where Dick Derbin, Oren Hatch, and this Texas senator were making speeches about this “Sex trafficking” bill up now.  It has to be passed according to Mitch Mc Connell before the AG nomination, which has been held up for literally months, can even be voted on.  Even if the Republicans didn’t ask a single adverse or hostile question to her at the time, they still won’t take a final ratification vote until this silly abortion “Hyde amendment” rider gets settled.  It’s just more silly game playing by both parties and I call on either side to give in.  Then it was the news on KNBC.  We learn that the current temperature was 92 degrees in Los Angeles.  What this means is there is a record four days in a row temperature in LA in March above ninety.

 Concerning Ronald Reagan not only did he disallow taxes on credit card interest rates, but he did the same thing for interest on car loans, and he also taxed Social Security payments like traditional income.  He also doubled or something- - the FICA withholding rate.  Given these things- - it’s believable that the “revenue” overall was at a higher level in 1988 than it was in 1981.  What people aren’t generally aware of that the Paul Volker generated recession (and recovery) put the economy to greater depths than the Bush-Obama recession did.  People forget that.  But you’re not going to sit there and tell me that Corporations paying 28% on their income, generated as much revenue as when the tax rate was seventy percent.  That one I’m not buying.  And the rise in stock prices could have been anticipated by investors who knew about the change in the law about CEO’s now being able to be paid in their own stock.  Given this “self stimulating” quality- - naturally prices were bound to soar.

Three Strikes And Governor Christie Is Out

The Christie stuff that Matthews had wasn’t nearly as reveling as the stuff on the Rachael Maddow show.  She had a way of stating things in conceise, focused terms.  Three strikes and Governor Christie is out of the political running.  First of all his poll numbers are way down.  57% of the republicans say they could never picture themselves voting for the NY governor at some point down the line, as opposed to only 32% who would.   I believe that leaves a remaining eleven percent who haven’t made up their minds.  Christie is no longer popular as governor of his own state.  Netenyahoo is trailing four points in the Israeli election, but some say even if the Lecude party doesn’t have a majority in parliament, that he could still be voted back in – if the minority parties are unable to get together.  But it heartens me to hear that Netenyahoo’s numbers have declined.  Christie has three strikes against him.  Strike one was Jeb Bush, who has gotten all the donation funds that would otherwise have gone to Christie.   The only people who are lower in the polls than Christie are Donald Trump and Carley Feurina, of California.   But then there is a finger of Bridgegate haunting him.  Because there was this political operative close to Christie, whom he sent to New Hamphire to work on his campaign in that state, since the belief is that Christie will never win in Iowa.  But the problem is that this same operative was the messenger guy Christie used to convey to the Port Authority guy (who strangely is still not saying much that we know of) to close down the Washington Bridge.  So you have this corrupt guy right in the heart of your campaign for President.  And they say “Unfortunately - - Christie has no Plan B”.   Then we have a new scandal, this Exxon deal with the courts.  The media hasn’t talked about this.   The Court was on the verge of making an announcement of a nine Billion with a B - - fine against Exxon for highly polluting refineries and such, which is the first thing you see driving in from New York and it stinks to high heave.  Christie asked the judge that this ruling be “delayed” and the next thing you know the fine is cut to 250 Million.   This is a tiny fraction of the original fine.  What rabbit did Christie pull out of a hat to accomplish this.  Some people want to institute a “loser pays court costs” or whatever in law suits.  But if you have a corrupt system where you don’t believe you’ll get a fair shake if you go to trial with your lawsuit- - you may be intimidated from going forward.  Now there are is a “comments period” and I imagine that scads of “the general public” will raise an uproar over what a travesty of justice this is- - that Exxon should get off virtually Scott free.   It raises the obvious question of “Just what did the Governor have to promise to make this happen?”  And just what is the relation between Christie and Exxon oil to begin with.

Rand Paul seems serious about wanting ex felons to be able to get a job, and so he recommends what we’ve already have done in California with Proposition 49 and reduce certain crimes on the books to misdemeanors permanently.  He talked of these “enterprise zones” where businesses pay no Federal tax on profits.  Rand Paul says “this will reward the productive business and not just anybody”.    Paul would rather just see certain taxes not collected to begin with rather than make the round trip from the tax payer’s wallets to Washington and back.   Paul is so sweeping in his stance to restore civil liberties - - that he naturally appeals to young people.   I’ve learned that there is in general “a race to have the cheapest currency” when a higher priced dollar, which is what we are having now with the Euro on a near one for one basis, helps people traveling overseas, and it also makes imports cheaper.  And if they are cheaper then we should be less afraid of terrifs cutting in to “commerce” because “The American People” will still be able to afford the goods they want.  But the internationalist corporatists - - - want us to be more like China with as cheap of currency as possible.   This is true even though a higher valued dollar would encourage foreign investment in this country as interest rates rose and would thus be more attractive to foreigners looking for a place for their money.   I personally wish the Federal Reserve would allow interest rates to rise “naturally”.  And the thing is- - - credit card rates are already in excess of fifteen percent, and student loans are in excess of six or seven percent.  It’s not as if “The American people” are prospering from the four billion dollar giveway to big banks at zero percent.   But it’s as if the Federal Reserve is held hostage at gun point by the big investment banks- - because like Hans putting his finger in the dike, the Feds are the only people propping up the stock market- - - which is the place of preference for Rich people these days.

There is a saying that “If things aren’t getting any better, they’re probably getting worse”.  The democrats have looked in vain for signs things were “getting better” and that this tea party juggernaut which began in April of 2009 is easing back.  Back in those days a lot of tea party people were anti war and foreign intervention.  Back then also most tea party people wanted the Federal Reserve to be audited, and to crack down on Wall Street crooks and giveaways to the big investment banks.  Neither of these things are true right now.   Also the supposed “demographic time bomb” that was supposed to bail out Democratic hopes- - seems not to exist.  Republicans on the radio claim that the gender gap all but disappeared last November.  Is this true?   And you would think that is two-thirds of the states were in the hammerlock of Republicans than two thirds of the people ARE Republican and one third are democrats.  But this too is not the case.  The people at large are at least one third “Independent”.   And then we are told that “The Republicans are splintering off into various factions and that the Republicans no longer have a unified message or program”.  Once again you have things which - - “hypothetically” should be of a great help to the democrats, but aren’t.  Also we see the results of a Gallop poll that states “most Americans are unhappy with all branches of the government”.   Hypothetically - - this too should work in favor of the Democrats since the Republicans practically “Own” government now.  But despite all of these “facts”, which are supposed to help the democrats- - as far as I can see- - politically - - things are bad and getting worse all the time.  Why is this?  I don’t know.  Hypothetically - -  (aren’t you getting sick of that word) there ARE various articulate democrats in congress which should rise to the occasion and run for national office.  I can think of two of them, who have never been mentioned.  One is Chuck Schummer.  His famous statement lately is tht Obama made a horrible mistake rolling out his Affordable Health Care act when he did because it squandered political capital- - and set the tea party in motion.  My number one candidate, whom I believe should run for higher office is Dick Derbin of Illinois.  He is the brightest, most articulate man in congress, who is grossly underrated.    One thing hurting the democrats now is that while the Republicans have set about the difficult business of selecting a presidential nominee from the fifteen or so applying for the job, the Democrats are wedded to the idea that it’s Hillary or bust.  So naturally Hillary Clinton has been the almost universal target to aim at by aspiring Republicans.

 Leo Le Port does not use a ribbon microphone the way I’ve heard that radio people do.  Ribbons have an inherent figure eight  sound pick-up pattern.   Beatles at the BBC used a ribbon microphone- - and Ringo’s drums don’t sound all that bad.  Ribbin microphones are natural sounding but the problem of course is they blow out easily.  Magnetic microphones in my opinion are not as good for most purposes as ceramic microphones, which are smaller anyhow.  Ceramics have a better S / N ratio.   Magnetics- - or Dynamic Microphones- - tend to be bass heavy in playing back a recorded conversation in a room sounding rumbly.  But they can be used to advantage in certain cases.  They work great for recording electric guitars live off the speaker.  They are great for recording passing trains- - say a couple of hundred yards away- - and the horn really comes out good.  And they are great for purring cats - - especially big cats.    Most directional microphones- - - I believe, just have the out of phase stuff fed back into the system so it cancels out sounds from the rear in that cartioid or “heart” shape.  And then there are the spiked hyper-cartioid microphones.  Of course it doesn’t take a degree in sound engineering to realize that a lot of the sound of certain engines is because of the way the ways engines are mounted in older cars- - and not from any inherent quality of the engine itself.  There is a new Napster service for downloading pirated music called “Popcorn” or something.  Remind me to try it.

OK  this is Pi day or March 14, 2015.  Let’s jump right in with Melinda Lee.  We had coffee break early today.  Melinda Lee was doing “truffles”, which sound awful and expensive, in addition to being awfully expensive, and even if you do like them they have to be fresh and go bad really fast.  The other thing was the vertical spit you cook things like roast beef on.  I didn’t know they routinely shaved beef off while it was cooking because that meat is done, leaving the meat underneath to be cooked.   We had mushroom soup with quesedias and a semi-pasta salad, with a banana for desert.  Let’s talk about the weather.  We are running easily twenty degrees above mormal for March and that is just plain”not normal”.  I heard they were going to begin tomorrow's LA Marathon at six thirty- - before sunrise and two hours early.  We have had grossly above normal temperatures all calendar year but notably since March, at least from the third on.  The weather people predicted we’d have two cooler days on Tuesday and Wednesday when I wore a long shirt both days.   And even when they said “we might get a few rain drops” on Wednesday, that’s just what we got- - a few rain drops.  But though there was a massive rain front- - it wasn’t cold.  But with their computer projections now at the beginning of the week they can predict a scorcher of a heat wave for late in the week.  It’s predicted to be 92 today and even the evenings range into the high seventies where ideally you’d like it a little cooler in the evenings to “cool off” a little.