Dear Bloggers:
I know a lot of you have gone through or are going through a lot of changes in your life and, as such, a lot of what you posted years ago, in your view, has become irrelevant or no longer pertains to how you think or are living right now in the present moment.

...however, you all seem to forget that some of those past posts of yours comprised a few insightful observations and musings.

When you either delete posts, or even entire sites, there may be a lot of "epitome of your past selves" that go with them---but often a lot of what you had to say then also had a lot of significance of its own, and those ideas and observations disappear along with whatever past elements "embarrass you now".

One will often post something passionately that, when they look it over six months later, will wonder "Was I really this full-of-shit to think that?".  But one should still leave such a post up just the same, if for no other reason, to remind oneself just how fickle life, circumstance, and one's own self can be in "the overall scheme of things".

Weighing in ...
In the midst of the aftermath of the most recent school shooting in southern Florida on February 14th we now have our illustrious President and a few other pundits calling for "arming teachers and staff" as a "best panacea" for counteracting "the next school shooting incident" (wherever that may occur).

Of course this notion is pure fallacy, as educators as a rule tend to be along the line of the idealistic and artistic types.  The kind who "have trouble understanding the fascination some have with violence and action films/video games".
More into poetry, the arts, or sentimental fare.

The type of personality who would gravitate towards being the kind of individual who would be most likely to want to learn marksmanship and assume the kind of authority one needs to be allowed to guard a business or institution are usually more blue-collar, more "roughneck" in nature.  Similar to the nature of the shooters themselves---except with a sense of morals and "commitment to others", as opposed to the rebelliousness and alienation felt by someone who would relish "gunning others down" for either pleasure or "revenge".

That's why it would be a better idea to hire security personnel from a professional (and reputable) company.  Preferable a company that also does business with banks and corporate offices, one whose employees actually know the ins-and-outs of what it takes to protect valuable assets.

                                                   Adage For Today
If you're constantly "explaining yourself" to parents, spouse, boss, or landlord it may be time to terminate the relationship

You had a beat-up old clunker.  You named it "Hal", because that's all he ever gave you---hell.
Hal sucked, but at least he got you where you wanted to go.
Then you T-bone him blowing a red in a busy intersection while high on meth.

You and "Hal" have been through so much together---3 D.U.I.s, 2 hit-and-runs, 3 failed relationships which ended in "domestic abuse" convictions, ignoring restraining orders and 2 probation revocations and 9 months in the county.

Frankly, you're glad to finally be rid of "Hal", and you have no problem replacing that dilapidated mother-fucker.
It's replacing your driver's license you have the problem with.

But at least there's auto insurance you can afford as soon as they decide you're "fit to drive" again
...thanks to
                                             UNSAFEAUTO
                                    Insuring unfit drivers for over 50 years, keeping them "legal"

   You want to know the problem I have with society?
Societies are too much like abusive parents.

And, as with any other abusive parent, it's main focus is on controlling, pawning, and consistently punishing its civilian underlings.

Societies have no interest in the personal development and growth of their citizens.
Their only concerns are with obedience and compliance, and with having the license to severely punish any citizen who "audaciously" displays any sort of attitudes and behaviors indicative of defiance or rebelliousness towards it and whatever demands it makes upon them.

Song Analysis: The Owl Sees You

An odd and obscure song by The Showmen, an early 60s R&B/pop group led by General Norman Johnson, who later co-founded the 70s R&B/ pop group Chairmen of the Board (was he in the military or was that his real first name?).

This particular song involves a guy having an adulterous interchange with some woman and then having the misfortune of getting caught red-handed by her husband, who tries to chase him down----but, somehow, our main character manages to escape him
...then, in a panic, packs his belongings and catches the next train back to his home town (I've never understood these songs where the person "packs their clothes and walks out the door" when the relationship goes awry.  Wouldn't most people also own electronics and appliances or books or records and such?  Do they just leave the "extras" behind?)

But when rushing home he observes the wild animals, pets in people's yards, and livestock and imagines them "speaking to him" as if to be in the act of telepathically surveilling him----especially an owl who seems to be at the forefront of it all (Why an owl?  My guess is that, according to a lot of folklore, owls are presumed to be "bastions of wisdom" as well as metaphysical "harbingers").

This experience repeats itself while on his way to the train station, then again during the trip itself back to his hometown, as he observes the farms and livestock along the way
...and this owl who seems to be "following him" all the way home.

A bit of an Orwellian imagination on the part of our main character, if you ask me
...and being from the early 60s no less, when surveillance involved mostly phone tapping and stake-outs.

                                          Public Restrooms
How come, when one steps into a public john to take a leak and someone's in the stall taking a dump, the "dump taker" is always just getting done and wiping up the minute one starts whizzing away?

And why are mounted urinals mounted so high up?  Practically "face level"?  You find yourself staring straight ahead at squiggly hairs inside yellow spots.
"Just let me unbutton my collar and whip out my dick and then just whiz away, as anyone familiar with human anatomy knows a man's genitalia is located just above the breast bone, hence it makes perfect sense to mount these urinals so high."

What's really profound is when a bathroom with a urinal mounted "face level" also has a low ceiling.
I was in such a restroom in a restaurant one time, and I was tempted to scrawl on the wall "Warning!  If you are tall enough to hit this urinal without getting any piss drops on the floor call 911, as you probably just smashed your head on the ceiling and are now succumbing to aneurysms caused by a skull fracture".

But of course I didn't dare.  Vandalism of commercial property IS a criminal offense, after all.

                 Headlines I'd like to see:
The Trump Administration to grant the federal government $500 billion for infrastructure upgrade and repair/restoration starting in the summer of 2018

Federal government taking charge of health care in the U.S. starting in 2019.  Every citizen and resident of the U.S. to be on Medicare from that point on, regardless of income status


Dream on!
The only headlines we see are that of President Trump condemning yet another senator, state governor, member of congress, or government agency via sophomoric disparaging Twitter diatribes

...or of that anachronistic Attorney General Jeff Sessions whose primary modus operandi seems to be reviving Nixon's archaic "War on Drugs", including the recriminalization of marijuana---hence continuing to hang THAT long-ongoing red herring over everyone's head to keep us distracted so we don't have time to focus on the truly serious issues everyone's too afraid to face up to and deal with.
("Congress is now in 'Sessions'"?)

                                Musing For Today
While walking around the other day I had a guy pass me by on a bicycle wearing a pair of BOSE headphones.

I, for one, would never THINK to ride around in public with a $150 pair of headphones on my head, considering how dangerous U.S. society can be and the kinds of situations one could find oneself in.

Obviously this guy must have money to burn to be so comfortable doing such a dumb-ass shit thing with total abandon and self-assured unawareness.