Homeless - 92

Happy Friday.

The weekend is here. I imagine there will be much frolicking, dancing, etc. So everybody Wang Chung tonight.

Though the word 'homeless' figures significantly in this blog in the sense that it applies to me, that term doesn't really apply to me in the strictest context. There is a difference in definitions that I suppose depends on the viewpoint. I do live under a much smaller roof these days from what I'm used to in the past; don't have a balcony to grill on. Black Thunder's accommodations are somewhat limited when compared to a standard domicile - no shower, no media, no cooking surfaces. She does have a fridge of limited capacity; a low-capacity cooler in the bed of the truck for keeping food items cool for several hours. I fill it up with ice on those days. There is the limited closet space. All my clothing is either behind the seats or in an overnight bag that occupies the floor on the passenger side. Trust me, that payload gets lighter in the warmer months. My pantry is a small bag that is tucked near the driver's side seat. It contains odds and ends - nuts, dried fruit, can opener, supplements, medicines, paper towels, cigarettes, reloads, etc.

By one definition of the word, I am homeless in the sense of not having a permanent address. I do have places to work out and scrub up, launder, bathrooms at my disposal and pools that I can visit during the summer. It's just that they are not all in one place.

I am more fortunate that others in similar circumstances - those of limited economic means. With all that in mind, I do have time to pursue my goals. And, from time to time, lift my head up from personal concerns and notice what is happening around me in our national and global environment. Hence, some of my previous posts. It ain't all about me. It's all about us as some of my posts indicated.

When I was writing my last post, I wrote about the original thirteen colonies. I wondered if there were twelve originally that started out and thirteenth was formed? Was somebody not getting along and playing nice? Then the number twelve lingered in  my mind and then the floodgates opened, wondering about the significance of the number twelve.

There are twelve inches in a foot. There are twelve zodiac signs and twelve months in a year. Our twenty-four day is frequently divided into two twelve-hour segments. There are twelve days of Christmas. Wait a minute. Why not thirty days of Christmas? That would certainly extend the 'making merry' thingy. That is probably due to some religious structure. Anyway, there are twelve eggs in a dozen but a dozen of anything is twelve. There are twelve members in a jury. Is there that many in a firing squad? There were twelve tribes of Israel. Christ had twelve apostles. At least, that's what we were told. I'm sure there are a lot more occurrences of this number; these examples are off the top of my head.

Why is the number twelve represented so strongly in human history?

I googled the number. In numerology, the number twelve signifies perfection and completion.  Looking around, I don't see those attributes in action. Well, I see something along those lines in nature and in the sky. Maybe they're only active in Nova Scotia...

Then another number plunked itself down in my thoughts - four. There are four quarts in a gallon, four quarters in a dollar and many sports have four time periods in the duration of a game. A batter can get four balls and he is on base. Forget cricket; that game can go on for days. Can you imagine the amount of liquor you'd have to bring to that event? There are four seasons to the year, four quarters in a year and typically four weeks in a month. A four-leaf clover is supposed to bring good luck. Again, I'm sure there are other occurrences of the number four in human societies.

In numerology, the number four signifies wholeness.

Does any special significance apply to these numbers besides keeping track of quantity and the act of value assessment? Do numbers carry a cosmic meaning that is non-linear and outside human cognition? Maybe ancient civilizations knew those meanings but they're extinct. 

Anyway, moving on...

And last but not least, raise a toast of your favorite libation and wish Black Thunder happy birthday.  I bought her on the last day of February in '96. That would put her age at...let's see, carry the two, add 3.14, multiply by .1, subtract the current hour of the day, subtract 3.14...yep, she is seventeen years old, almost legal enough to dance at strip clubs. She has been my transport ever since. Since May '07, she has also been my transport and shelter. For a vehicle of her age, one would think she'd be a decrepit wreck, struggling to move along a freeway and belching a cloud  of blue-gray smoke that choked my fellow drivers. Also, one would expect her exterior to be a mobile eye sore, an abomination to all things good and pure.

That's a negatory, Heathcliff. Thanks to a couple of Meguiar's products: namely their Ultimate Quik Detailer and Endurance Tire Treatment. The former you spray on and wipe off, leaving the vehicle gleaming. The latter you spray on and leave alone for 15 minutes. It leaves the tires shiny, based on my experience, for over two weeks. Even after the shine fades, the tires remain a dull black. Other tire treatments I have tried had the tires shiny for a couple of days and then a distasteful and unappealing discoloration would set in. Each product costs about twelve bucks (there's that number again). I use them once a month and there are about four applications in each. We're talking four months product availability (there's that number again!).

Thanks to a few upward spikes in my finances, always too few, she remains a piece of eye candy. There have been many times I've been approached by guys, and two women, who wanted to buy her. Many of the bids were ridiculously low but the two highest ones came from the women. All were turned down. Even if I was offered several million for the ownership of BT, I would still need time to think about the offer. The power of gold does that to humans.

I know I would decline that offer regardless of what could be accomplished with that money. There is an emotional aspect between BT and me. There is something about the man/machine interface that is yet to be understood. It's similar to the man/animal interface. That type of understanding can only be glimpsed if you have a pet/companion, maybe watch nature shows, visit the zoo, feed crackers to birds and/or squirrels.

The man/machine interface we'll get to in another post.

The next post I'll get my head out of the clouds and write about something more mundane - me.

Next time...

Homeless - 91

Good morning,

To continue from last post. Hopefully, the picture that was painted did not cause much lamenting.

In the election year of '08, an historic first occurred. A non-white president was elected to the office of the U.S. presidency - Barack Obama. Certainly he has some African heritage in his lineage but I don't see him as black. I have seen some Native Americans and Hispanics who are as dark, if not more so than he appears. And, of course, let's not forget certain Amazonian pygmies, bless their dusky little hides. U.S. citizens were ready for a change in the D.C. way of doing things and were tired of the political bullshit that we read about in the papers and hear on the news channels. An example is what's currently happening - both parties can't agree on budget issues and that impasse initiated an automatic reductions option where the average citizen  is the casualty. The parties do not appear to have the American citizens at heart; they are fighting for political dominance. The welfare of the citizens is a secondary issue, one that will be addressed later. Maybe if they were elected things would be different.

Wait! They were elected!

In '08, I entertained a few moments of hope that Obama would correct the political course that American politics have been navigating over the last few decades. But a little voice in the back of my mind whispered: Ain't happening. The structure of our political and corporate systems are too complex, too convoluted and too entrenched in our society, and under the control of a select few, to be altered by one individual. Those systems favor the rich and powerful. The general population is only a cash cow to them and they will keep those udders to themselves.

But as it turns out, it is business as usual through no fault of Obama. He is having to deal with the constraints of The System and the mindsets of both parties. If I was president and there was a dueling code, several members of each party would have been challenged; to hand-to-hand combat, a beer drinking contest or a cooking contest or some such competition to determine the issue. There would be some satisfaction in challenging them to a duel; walk up to them and pull out my white glove, backhand them across the face with it and say You, Sir, are a complete cad! Pick a second and meet me on the White House lawn at sunrise! And do not make me come get you! Of course, I would probably have a small brick stuffed in my glove.  

The main point of all this rambling - racism and discrimination at an unprecedented level. I grant you that I'm not the brightest light-saber in the tool shed when it comes to the political arena. In my opinion, that arena  is a great game played with loaded dice and you have to play by the rules of the House. Given my current economic status, I'm operating, at least in the social context, on a tier that is not as informed on issues that require thoughtful analysis beyond the layers of appearance. The general consensus of the minority sector within those environments I was in was best summed up what I overheard at a pool during the summer of '09 between a group of minorities less  than ten meters from my position - "things are goin' be different now that we've got one of our own in there". I was sitting at a table with two women, both degreed professionals, that overheard the same comment. I glanced their way and locked eyes with both of them. Ah yes, they heard.

We talked later in their apartment and came to the same conclusion - that comment was as racist as any of us has ever heard. I've read that when an individual makes a decision based solely on skin color, that is racism and discrimination. And that is how Obama got elected to president; based on the support of minorities who were not thinking rationally.

During Obama's first term, things were different but not as anticipated by the minorities who had thought that their ship had arrived. At best, things stayed the same regarding our foreign policy, economic health of the majority of the U.S. population and U.S. influence in the global arena, to name a few.

I think the bright spot in the foreign policy sector was Hillary Clinton. I remember reading of her comment to the Pakistani government that is was inconceivable to her that they were unaware of terrorist activity within their borders. That was calling them on their bullshit. I wished she was younger and running for president; that would be the time I would cast my first vote.

During Obama's first term, things got worse. The economy continued to choke and gag, the job sector was dismal. But hey, the rich got richer and the D.C. players increased their stranglehold.

But, again, here's the thing. I remember reading in the USA TODAY in the last quarter of '12 of the polls that they had conducted concerning Obama's approval rating. The statistic that jumped out and grabbed me by my testicles was that of the African-Americans polled, 99% thought he was doing a good job. 99%!?! That graph didn't indicate any demographic data of the sample polled but 99?!? Considering the economic status of our nation, the nature of our political system and the U.S. standing in global affairs, 99% of them thought he was doing a good job. When was the the last time a president had that level of approval rating from any segment of the population? That rating tells me that some people aren't keeping abreast of the times and are using another metric to judge his performance, one that was not based on critical thinking.

In '12, Obama was re-elected again thanks to the support of the minorities. I don't think that any rational decision-making process was employed by the majority of voters. I know that on a regular basis, there were articles in the paper or heard on the news that things were getting better. Numbers and graphs were thrown at us. When I was in the IT field, I quickly learned how the numbers can be massaged to present a picture that is biased and untrue. I have no doubt that that practice is employed within the field of politics.

It seems that there is a way to ensure that a candidate is not elected into any political office based on appearances.

The method that I'm suggesting renders the 'one citizen, one vote' credo inoperable. Anyone who wants to vote must prove their ability to make rational political decisions in the voting process. There would be tests. I know what you're thinking - that's discrimination. Yeah, well, it is discriminatory but so are the tests you take to prove your worthiness to enter college, for those of us that went. In the IT field, if you want to participate in a certain discipline of that arena, you have to take tests and pass them to be certified as technician that can make good choices. Want to play professional sports? Guess what? There are tests and trials at that gateway, too.

But that ain't going to happen. Remember the udder comment that I wrote of earlier? The System is working perfectly for those and by those who modify it for their own purposes. After all, we can't allow the current population controls that are in place and active to be discarded by smart people and still carry on business as usual.

As I wrote earlier, the ideal democracy is an illusion. Our version of it seems to yield easily to manipulation and selfish interests, and is easily gamed if the last election is any indication. Maybe we on a slope sliding down to even worse national circumstances.

Don't read this like I'm advocating anarchy. A democratic society must have a electoral process in place to honestly guide the citizens in their voting selections but not one to control and manipulate the population as our system has seemed to have evolved into - an instrument of population control.


Next time...

Homeless - 90

Good day,

Democracy is dead. I think that the killing blow was when a certain intelligence agency of the United States assassinated J.F.K in the'60's. I am mortally afraid to name that organization because I don't want my obit to read that I tripped over a sidewalk crack and while falling down committed suicide by shooting myself thirty-three times with hand weapons of four different calibers, stabbing myself thirteen times with blades of three different lengths and choking myself, all in the space it took for a human body to fall because of a misstep.

Hey, that shit happens.

Walk with me on this. I need to paint a picture before arriving at the main point next post. Sadly, it is a landscape that many of us know all to well. If you've been alive a few decades, you can look back and see how we got to this point in our political system.

Within a capitalistic system, at least the version the U.S. currently employs, democracy is an illusion. It is a structure that allows the common citizen to believe that they have a say (vote) in how the U.S. is governed. If the choices of candidates are managed, and they are, is there such a thing as freedom of choice? At best, we only get two serious contenders in a presidential election. To those out there who adamantly believe our system is the greatest in the world, you are in a world of denial. Regardless of an individual's selection, it seems that the votes are channeled by The System into controlled and dictated paths.

Democracy, as envisioned by the founders of the thirteen colonies, from what I've read, was that each citizen made a rational choice of among several candidates and select the best one. I imagine that those people, fleeing from Europe's oppressive environments and funded by Jewish money, were enthusiastic over the prospect of having a say (vote) in their destiny while on this planet. Of course, back then there were fewer citizens, fewer candidates and, most importantly, the election and governing process was not as convoluted as today's structure. Imagine the eagerness of those individuals to establish an environment free of tyranny in all of its' many forms.

Of course, there were no corporations at that time to affect the election process. Nor was there a military/industrial complex that sucked the life-blood of the American taxpayers and were not held accountable due to 'black budgets'.

Democracy at that time entailed that citizens make informed and rational choices in their voting selections. For that to happen, a population who are informed and intelligent to make the best choices of candidates are needed. I don't think we have that these days, at least not in significant numbers. Does voter apathy ring a bell?

From what I've read, many of the politicians who have left that arena say that D.C. is broken - fucked up beyond all repair (FUBAR). They should be saluted for speaking out on an issue that has an appreciable presence in the American psyche. Why stay in a fight when you know you can't win? Why stay in a fight when The System keeps those with money and/or power in control?

I don't vote because I lack the time and resources to make an informed choice. To do that, I would have to research each candidate's background and political performance, evaluate the needs of my country in all its many flavors, study the global environment, focus an eye on competing nations and their economic and political aspirations as it relates to the U.S. foreign policy. That analysis can not be accomplished in a few hours. It seems it would be a continuous affair that would span decades and that I would have to become a continuing student of politics. It probably could be done if working for legal tender wasn't such a necessity.

Is it any wonder why there is voter apathy? And those who vote for a candidate based solely on their appearance is a massive abuse of the voting privilege. For anyone to enter a voting booth and select a candidate based solely on race or religion is paramount to racism and discrimination.

The voting process was skewered in '08 and '12 from a source that seemed should have known better given the history of that segment of the U.S. population.

Continuing in next post...