Friday Thoughts..

...about a lot of things here and now, then and there, and coming up tonight.

Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt are today's soundtrack. I just spent several days selling my photographs on the street. The first and third day went so well, I became optimistic, but the last two days produced not a single sale. Thus, I haven't left my yard today. I'm thinking about planting morning glory to climb the trellis on the east end of the porch. Flowers are good medicine for depression. I learned that one from Dr. Weil. If you are not familiar with him, Google.

I cannot go any further without mentioning this place,

because tonight this band will be on stage with that man up front,

and there's a good chance

this songbird will be up there part of the time, and that takes care of the future. 

Meanwhile, back in the present, I didn't rush downtown this morning, as I have been doing, in order to think through this street marketing concept, and how to improve it. I see some mistakes I made. Having albums of photos to look at only distracted from my merchandise. The desperate sprinkling of 2nd hand items included yesterday were just another distraction, rather than profit producer. I dropped one of my favorite images and shattered the frame, while packing up the second day. So it goes. 

Oh, holy hannah, I feel a rant coming on. Sweet Jesus, should I make a break for the outdoors (it's gorgeous today), and spare you. Nope. Can't. It started when these street canvassers approached me three times in two days to sign their petition to cap taxes in Montana. When questioned, none could say what taxes other than property and estate, two that will never impact me. 

Within a few years of California's famous Prop 13 passing, the state's school system, always among the best, fell into the low 30s in state quality standards. Infrastructure went to hell, too. Assholes have been yelling about the estate tax for years, except they like calling it the death tax in screaming boldface. That bullshit started with Ronnie Raygunzap. When the rich guys bought the White House for him, they immediately insisted that taxes be cut for them and their rich friends, and the companies they owned, were invested in or ran. They kept shouting tax cuts, proposing tax cuts, and passing tax cuts, but taxes weren't really cut. They were shifted downwards.

Landed aristocracy is one of the bad old ideas passed over through Europe from ancient empires. Rich people would love to go back to the dark ages, when the poor died in their ghettos, and on their farms, while the aristocrats lived off the fat of the land. Nothing has really changed. The plutocrats who run this country will do anything in their power, and use any trick to make themselves richer and the rest of us poorer. They embrace a lot of high sounding ideals, but the bottom line is all that matters.  

Raygunsap supporters (early tea-baggers called jock straps back then) voted tax cuts, deregulation and other legal steps, which did nothing but make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Why people vote against their own interests is a puzzle studied by many experts. 

Tax cuts produce spending cuts. What gets cut? The cutting starts with anything which benefits the citizens, and stops where it impacts corporate profits. Health services gone; insurance companies deregulated. Utilities turned over to private ownership, who cause financial hardship raising their rates to improve profit lines for the stock holders. Education is my biggest beef. They cut education, because ignorant people are easier to control. What education they fund will be what to think not how. And damn, are they good at just saying no. 

Education is first asked to sacrifice the arts, considered worthless to the rich, unless you're talking about what they have on their walls. Art teaches the brain to function properly, the synapses to fire cleanly, the ideas to fly and the art to appear. Foreign language is another thing which teaches the brain. To all the ignoramuses out there shouting, "Learn English, or go home," I say learn Algonquin or go home. 

Those jackals who supported George II and his mad war jeered at the French. In France every student must learn not only the full history of their native language and it's middle form, but at least one other foreign language. Guess what? That makes them smarter than us. 

I think I will end on that thought, not because it is true, but because language and art are important, and there's a funny hook for it all to hang on, language, art, education, foreigners, taxes...

blah, blah, yadda, yadda, gotta go make something happen

An Apology Followed by a Short Rant

First Friday and the Saturday Markets...it has been a while since I missed both, but while Missoula rocked, I shivered with a temperature approaching 103 degrees. Bob Wire released his new CD at a Union Club event, Allard's new exhibit opened at the RMSP Gallery, Mark Moss opened a new show at Noteworthy and Zeppo played the Top Hat. To miss all that and more made me feel deprived, indeed.

I thought for a time I might be the second person to die of swine flu in Montana, and as the fever mounted and aches and pains flared, I thought dying wouldn't be so bad. According to my doctor, I didn't have swine flu, "just" a stomach virus. "Just" a stomach virus. Holy shit. If something worse comes along, I'm going into isolation to avoid it.

I asked my doctor when I became a sick old man. It doesn't seem that long ago, I was just a normal person. She told me not to be silly. She said I was flexible and strong for my age. If that is true, there's a lot of sick folks out there.

My apologies for not reporting events, as I usally do. I'll try to get back in the swing of things. Total Fest arrives at the Badlander and Palace this week, and next week will see Roots Fest in full swing. Someone will have to cut off my legs to keep me away from those events. Maybe I better not give anybody ideas.

Most of the time, I just turned my phone off to suffer without interruption, but I goofed and a charity call came through. Paralyzed Veterans is one of those charities I often feel guilty about being too poor to donate to regularly. I usually apologize for being unable to help and hang up. This time something else popped out of my mouth. I blame it on the fever. My end of the conversation went something like this:

Why are you calling me? I don't have any money. Why don't you call those assholes who lied us into the Iraq War in order to make themselves richer? Better yet, why don't you round those fuckers up, drag them into court and examine their finances to find out exactly how much they profited from the war? Then you could take those ill-gotten gains away from them and use them to heal the veterans wounded due to their greed. They made a ton of money from their war, and there might even be enough to help heal the nation.

Hello...hello... I'm talking to a dead line.

Inauguration Night @Elks Club

When Bob Wire started playing at the Democrats' Victory Party, I headed upstairs.


Bob turned in his usual energetic performance and pulled a newly written song out of his hat. That one put the boogey on the floor. It was dance time.



The music ended too soon for me. Programmed as I am by the standard late zootown music times, I arrived too late for Tom Catmull. When Bob and the Magnificent Bastards wrapped up their set, the music went canned upstairs.

A Democrat flaunts his flag, as celebratory dances continue.

There was still live music downstairs at the the Bush Be Gone Bash.

Mountain Grip, a guitar trio from Bozeman, warmed up the crowd at the Bush bash. They had a folksy, easy-going sound, but the lack of a drummer weakened their presence.




Crowd pleasing local group, Delta Function, laid down a nice riff, as the music continued into the night. The Elks Club Bar had Moose Drool in the bottle for $3, and I splurged for two, one for each floor.


Warning: Rant Ahead

I am one of the malcontents not happy with Obama's let-bygones-be-bygones attitude towards the crooks who have been raping our country for eight years, while setting half the world on fire, in their greedy grab for power and plunder.

Put them in stocks in city squares and parks to be ridiculed and reviled for their crimes. These people committed incredible atrocities, because they couldn't care less about human life or the Christian values they claimed to uphold. All they cared about was the money, which brings us to the bail out bullshit.

It reminds me of the nazis, plundering France as they withdrew. I know, as soon as these fascists took power, they proclaimed they couldn't be compared to the nazis, because it was rude. Only heathen liberals could be so rude. Dammit, they've acted a lot like the nazis. Try this exercise: take a WWII movie and picture W and his cronies as the strutting nazis. You will see they fit right in.

Back to the bailout. It represents the trucks being loaded with the last of the loot, before the villains race for their fortified strongholds. It was ironic the Bushes seemed to be preparing to flee to the same area some nazis did. If they planned to live in Texas, why did they set up the huge compound in South American mountains? I think, at that point they really thought they might be pursued or prosecuted, after leaving power. Later, they realized they could get away with the whole thing, free as could be.

How in the hell does an outfit like Bank of America charge those outrageous interest rates on credit cards and still wind up in line for a handout?

We've been giving our banks and corporations money for years, and they claim to have lost it all and now our government will replace it with more money, taken from our taxes. The industries, which created this disastrous crash are being rewarded with more money. Fuck them. Give us affordable health care, adequate nutrition, and take care of those who have no homes and little food. It would be nice to make some improvements to education, after we dump that 3-Rs, standardized-testing load of pig-wallow, which claimed to leave no child behind, while dumping millions of them in the street.

I recognize a rant, when I start one. Perhaps I should change the subject. Yes, it's true--Dennis Miller became a sell-out, working for the propaganda arm of the organized crime operation which took control of our government. Oh, and now do we get to shout, "Shut up," at Bill O'Reilly? I try to be tolerant, even of the other side's views, but, damn, it is hard to ignore that loud-mouthed gas bag.

I just posted my tribute to Martin Luther King, and I want to return to MLK day for another quote, "A time comes when silence is betrayal." We cannot just become silent about the crimes committed in our names.

The war is not over. The new fascists are still with us, masquerading as patriots and holy people, and they aren't defeated, only slightly humiliated. They will continue to twist the truth to meet their ends, they will continue to push for profit at all costs and they will continue to terrorize people with their constant wars. This time we must go beyond outmaneuvering them in an election and actually, "Throw the bums out." Or better, throw them into their own prisons.

This isn't the end; it's the beginning. We must not let them get away this time. We must not turn our backs as Bill Clinton did on the crimes of Reagan and George I. If they get away, they or their allies will return with lies and bribery to seize power again. Can't let that happen.

We must go beyond just ending the war to dismantling the military/industrial complex, and removing their power forever.

Peace now, please.

We Paid for Another Swindle

Everybody keeps saying $700 billion, but the bill passed at $850 billion and that is a minimum, not a maximum. In short, we just poured another trillion dollars down another rat hole, and the economy continues to sink. Kiss that money and the promised benefits good-bye. The only benefit will be to make the rich richer. Timeslip: amount may double.

Thank the powers that be, Bush and his neo-con cronies didn't get social security privatized, or it would be gone, too!

Note: McCain has campaigned for privatizing social security. Of course, he might not bring that issue up right now. Note: Obama supported the bail-out, in spite of the overwhelming public opposition.

I came to Montana from Arkansas, where the congressional delegation was particularly wimpy towards Bushite legislation, but I thought it was different here. Tester is different and I like him a lot, but Baucus appears to be another corporate democrat. I must recontact the Backbone Organization and get more of their "spineless tickets" to send to representatives who sell out. My first one goes to Baucus. That is just because he is the closest and most recent example of a Democrat being a wuss. I want tickets for Pelosi and Reid, too. Who put them in charge?

Our system no longer rewards excellence; it rewards mediocrity. Our leadership is mediocre in every category, on both sides of the aisle. Will someone, please, have the guts to step forward and say we must end this war. I'll send Obama a ticket for saying the "surge" worked. Bullshit! We've segregated Iraq and built walls to keep everyone separated. It's a reverse of the cold war, when the Soviets built the walls.

Favorite Places: ZACC

Now, that's art. Many of ZACC's numerous classes are designed for children. These shots were all taken the day of the grand opening.
Outside is a unique sculpture, and inside are the galleries.


Out back are the tracks.

The walk back downtown provided some political commentary.