FINALLY !!!! HALLELUJAH OREGON

Oregon law to decriminalize all drugs goes into effect, offering addicts rehab instead of prison                                                  https://www.yahoo.com/news/oregon-law-decriminalize-drugs-goes-080103475.html                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           The war on drugs was an excuse to keep the billions and billions of dollars from the drug trade flowing into the pockets of crooked cops---crooked politicians ---and drug warlords --ALL OVER THE WORLD !!!!----The State of Oregon and it's voters have made a monumental leap to end the hypocrisy . Now that the avarice is taken out of the equation , the work can begin to identify, and help the victims of the all too common escapes from the cruel realities of our modern world. Every victim of every escape including alcohol on thru the whole laundry list of specious compounds needs help to even have  a chance to recover from addiction . HALLELUJAH OREGON !!!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

An Army Of Paranoid Schizophrenics

 A person who "KNOWS" beyond any doubt , something that has patently and irrefutably been proven otherwise can be said to be exhibiting the classic signs of paranoia. When this kind of behavior and thinking are given a platform and more importantly a Leader to rally around and share a common delusion, there begins the recruitment and assembly of "An Army of Paranoid Schizophrenics". Reference MHA site ----https://www.mhanational.org/conditions/paranoia-and-delusional-disorders----Fueled by mass media and a populace of malcontents , the inevitable machinations will certainly begin to build steam. At some point there will not be enough Clozapine in the world to slow it down. There are not enough mental wards in America to even begin to address the present situation we now face. Peter Barnes'  play " The Ruling Class " from 1968 and Scorsese's " Taxi Driver " from 1976 are two works that portray this kind of unraveling, that come to mind, not to mention the January 6th 2021 " Live from your Nation's Capital" for all the world to see, cult uprising  in living color. My , 'all be it'  unsolicited advice has been for many years now , "Plant trees and Hide". 

Memories of My Friend Harriet

We were halfway across the country in rural Southern Illinois when we learned of our friend Harriet’s passing.  I was immediately reminded of the James Taylor’s song Fire and Rain, “..but I always thought that I’d see you again.”  One takes for granted that you will see your old friends and relatives again, but at this age there are no guarantees.  Then again were there ever?

I last saw Harriet in November, just before Thanksgiving, at our friend Jill’s new home where I helped her rearrange the furniture in Jill’s living room; in spite of the fact that Jill had not requested the new arrangement.  In September I stopped by to visit Harriet and Stuart at their Kennett Square home on one of my many trips from Virginia to New York.

But I always thought that I would see her again.  There is Peter’s upcoming wedding or surely some occasion where our aging group of friends would eventually meet up again. 

Harriet had been ill for many months, but her disease was in remission when I saw her in September; as she explained details of her battle with the disease that ultimately felled her.  Her “joie de vie” was on full display as she chronicled her long fight and insisted that I too would fight just as fearlessly as she did if faced with similar circumstances.  In spite of my protestations, she told me that she knew I would fight.

Harriet always had an opinion and she was not shy about sharing her opinion.  Whether she was describing how she scolded the locals she knew when she and Stuart lived in Egypt about their responsibility to vote or her overt disapproval of choices her friends made; Harriet’s opinion was always on full display.

Harriet had told my wife Dusty and I that she never had a mentor and that she was her own mentor.  She created a professional path for herself with Silver Lacy Associates; one of the only woman-run sales firms in the business.  Once years ago, we met in New York City while she was visiting one of the vendors she represented at the Decoration and Design Building.  The building is catty-corner from the Bloomingdales on Third Avenue, my longtime client.  She gleefully said, “Martin, look at us, two old hippies all these years later as professional businesspeople.  Who could have imagined?” 

I’ve realized as I’ve gotten older and witnessed more people in my life pass from “here” to wherever “there” is; that all we are ever left with, are memories.  Although Harriet and I had been friends for nearly 50 years, we saw each other only occasionally.  For the most part, our times together were spent as part of a larger circle of relationships.  In spite of that fact, Harriet leaves on me an indelible memory which is truly singular.  Harriet is someone who, for me, there will be no other.

The Dark Side--My 2 cents

                                                     The Dark Side--My 2 cents                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   The only valid response to ignorance is compassion . Ignorance and hate can only be overcome by Wisdom and Compassion. The minute you respond to unkind , hateful people and situations with ANYTHING else but wisdom and compassion, especially reactionary unkindness and retaliatory hate you have been baited into going to the Dark Side. Even though you feel this righteous indignation is called for and needed , you have none the less given energy to the Dark Side. They win again !                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     The Democratic Party expect to out "Donald Trump", Donald Trump, with such reactionary and retaliatory methods when in fact they are trying to beat him at HIS OWN GAME , which will never happen. His base and sycophants are all too ready to respond to his rhetoric , hook ,line and sinker at a moments notice (Twitter) , while the Democrats come off like a confused, bullied group of nerds in the high school cafeteria.His base revel in his nickname for you (Snowflakes). He will win the reactionary/retaliatory game EVERY time, make no mistake. If there was any doubt about this, the Impeachment (Trial??) should lay all doubts to rest. Of all the Democratic candidates Andrew Yang (Wisdom) ,the most intelligent candidate by far and Marianne Williamson (Compassion) understand this dilemma. Unfortunately the 2 party system eliminates Wisdom and Compassion almost immediately in favor of the reactionary/retaliatory partisan dog and pony show that the American populace have come to so,  know and love. 

Right now, I can't read too good, don't send me no more letters no                                                                                                     Not unless you mail then from Desolation Row                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                CHOOSE ONE AND VOTE ACCORDINGLY                                       

 Fascism

a. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, a capitalist economy subject to stringent governmental controls, violent suppression of the opposition, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.

b. A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Democracy                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

1. government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.

2. a state having such a form of government.

3. a state of society characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges.

4. political or social equality; democratic spirit.

5. the common people, esp. with respect to their political power.                    

                                    THE GREAT ANESTHETIZATION                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             In the epoch of 'The Great Anesthetization'                                                                                               Progress is an axial word.                                                                                                                           All is controlled by false imageization.                                                                                                     The truth, seldom uttered or heard.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Vices run rampant and virtue is feigned.                                                                                                   The she-wolf is always well fed.                                                                                                               Lawyers turn liars and Justice turns lame,                                                                                                 The fish rotting first from the head.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Logic forsaken in favor of power,                                                                                                             The lion is no less denied.                                                                                                                         Liberty, Freedom, sent back to the tower                                                                                                   Until all the mayhem subsides.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Wisdom and Knowledge are buried  'neath nonsense.                                                                               The knave and the fool take the stage.                                                                                                       Art is reduced to gimmicks and pretense.                                                                                                 The poet is left but to rage.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Mechanized music is heard through the land,                                                                                           Mediocrity placed up on high.                                                                                                                   Monotonous drone leaves the lyric disbanded,                                                                                         With less for the ear than the eye.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Apostatic jargon replaces all Faith.                                                                                                           Mercy and kindness are lean.                                                             ,                                                       Hope does not spring but in guise of a wraith,                                                                                           Who does not uplift but demean.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Courage is wanting for even the brave,                                                                                                     In seeking the perpetrators.                                                                                                                       The never seen enemies skillfully stave                                                                                                     All rebuke that comes close to their door.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Opulent profligates flaunt and parade,                                                                                                       While the homeless and hungry increase.                                                                                                 Journalists play to the shameless charade.                                                                                                 The pomp never comes to surcease.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Pornography serves to enervate Love.                                                                                                       The leopard can easily deceive.                                                                                                                 Violence and sex go like hand and glove,                                                                                                 When lust, greed and wrath interweave.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       The fate of the unborn is put up on trial                                                                                                     Woman's choice is the law of the land.                                                                                                     Religious fanatics in predictable style                                                                                                       Myopically misunderstand.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Specious compounds of fiendish device                                                                                                   Are set out as traps to ensnare                                                                                                                   Any and all, who would so be enticed,                                                                                                     To escape to an insular lair.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Global arms dealing tops the sales charts,                                                                                                 The acme of capital's crown.                                                                                                                     Conscientious objectors are tagged bleeding-hearts                                                                                 No one may dare slow it down !                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Systemic toxicity threatens extinction.                                                                                                     Each element is under siege.                                                                                                                     Blatant abusers are given extensions                                                                                                         Without even losing prestige.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Ineluctably , apathy passes for Prudence.                                                                                                 Impotence leads to despair.                                                                                                                       The future seems lost to inveterate fraudulence.                                                                                       THE PATHOS - BEYOND COMPARE.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

A Charmed Life

Life is good when a person's time is free to pursue the endeavors which are uniquely suited to his or her self. If this should be one and the same and coincide with being gainfully employed, so much the better for this fortunate soul. If not---Strive to make time for those 'stolen moments' to follow your Bliss !

National Meatball Day

Today is National Meatball Day; but growing up Italian in the Overbrook section of West Philadelphia, every Sunday was Meatball Day.

My mother would make a big batch of three meat (pork, veal and beef) meatballs every Sunday morning and fry them up in olive oil.  Sometime in the late 80's she succumbed to specious health arguments and started to bake them.  The baked version never had the crispy outside of the fried, and I have never had any better since.

My brother Neil and I would come back from Sunday mass at St. Donato's and head straight for the freshly fried meatballs my mother had set aside to cool before putting them in the gravy.

That is GRAVY not SAUCE. 

She would holler not to keep eating them before they went in the gravy, but her protests were hollow and we ignored them as we would sneak back in the kitchen for seconds and thirds before they went into the gravy.  

She was concerned because she needed to stretch the meat and gravy until Thursday.  My mother's pan fried meatballs are a cherished childhood memory. One that I will forever savor.

About 10 years ago, my wife Dusty and I brought her down to our home in Virginia Beach where she actually held class in our kitchen instructing our Southern friends on how to make Eva's meatballs.

Today, I have expanded on her recipe and added lamb to create a 4 meat meatball; which I fry, thank you.

So today, March 9, 2018, in honor of National Meatball Day, go home and make some meatballs and get some good Italian bread (not available in every state) and make yourself a nice meatball sandwich with a garnish of hot peppers and sprinkled with Romano and Parmesan cheese.

God how I miss my mother's meatballs.

there is no definitive beginning to anything---only a continuum of interdependence within which we define time, space, and phenomena----for the purposes of negotiating our way through this inconceivable infinity---this knowledge implies awareness of no further compulsion to become emotionally on intellectually bound to any of the realms that can be mentally construed from the vast ocean of perceptual possibilities

Remembering the Forgotten on Memorial Day

Memorial Day is the day we set aside to honor those individuals who have given their lives for our country.  

Nearly 50 years ago I was the prime age of the men who were drafted to fight in Vietnam, but was lucky enough to have been disqualified for any military service.  Many people of my generation were not as lucky or actually volunteered to join the military to fight in Vietnam. 

Of the guys I grew up with who went to Vietnam, none died in battle in South East Asia; but they all returned so completely altered they were never the same again.

At least three came back so damaged they died by their own hand within a few years of returning to the States.  Not every one simply committed suicide.  In fact only one overtly committed suicide.   The others died of drug addiction, which is a slow form of suicide.

Today, as a result of our never-ending wars in the Middle East, veterans commit suicide after returning to the states at an alarming rate.   They too should be considered casualties of war who gave their lives in military service.

So on this Memorial Day as we honor the men and women who have lost their lives fighting for our country, let's also remember these forgotten casualties.

Think About Thinking

"Once you understand that what you think about is what controls your life, you start getting real carefu1 about what you think about," Wayne W. Dyer, Ph.D.

the gambler

an original on the dharma--------- what draws a man to madness ?---what makes him think that he---can harness light and darkness---to create that which is free ?---what makes him think there's light and dark ?---what bounds define what's free ?---whatever makes him disembark---on 'you' and 'them' and 'me' ?---two worlds he has before him---one earthly, one unseen---each has it's pleasure in the swim---each has it's own smokescreen---i pose the question to all concerned---from sacred to obscene---why can't a man fill the fire that burns---and still be self redeemed ?---does one so drain the other---for he who drinks to the hilt ?---is it really divine mother---who so entwines this quilt----of man's existence---to truly make us side---between the worldly appetence---and the meditative bride ?---the problem leaves me baffled---helpless and forlorn---the freest minds then shackled---not one of us freeborn---to take what life can offer---and still fulfill the soul---making every man a gambler---between wants and self control----what draws a man to madness ?---what makes him think that he---can harness light and darkness---to create that which is free ?---what makes him think there's light and dark ?---what bounds define what's free ?---for all this man can leave one mark---and that is just to BE !

Indicate Never Specify

For years I have subscribed to a theory I call: "Indicate Never Specify". I discovered the concept while reading about East Asian ink wash painters.  They carefully limit their brush strokes to the minimum required to capture the mood and texture of a landscape. Detail is absent; allowing the viewer to fill in the intentionally missing visual information. 

Sales people sometimes employ this technique to help shape their offering to meet a prospect's needs by limiting information to only that which is absolutely necessary to close the sale. There is a potential ethical danger with this technique, as it may lead some sales people to mislead a prospect into an unwise purchase.

The other day, Bill Bonner an investment advisor who posts a daily diary entry, http://bonnerandpartners.com/the-age-of-trumpismo/ explained why it has been so easy for Donald Trump to embrace the Goldman alumni he has appointed to his cabinet after vilifying them during his campaign.  

I guess he didn't mean what I inferred from what he said. He indicated but never specified. Aside a few "bumper sticker" phrases he offered no specifics, except to say he will solve the country's problems. He said "Trust me it will be tremendous".

I pray that in four years The Donald will have done such a "tremendous" job that I will enthusiastically want to vote for him. My concern is that during the campaign he beat the drum about how cozy HC was with Goldman and how the speaking fees she collected were obscene. How she said one thing in public and another in private.

I feel as if a Jedi mind trick is being played out on a national scale. Something like a cosmic three card monte.

Politics - ONE FINAL TIME!

This is a copy of my response to a Facebook post about Aetna abandoning The Affordable Care Act (Obama Care).

WOW to both of you. You clearly have your minds made up but I will simply state my case ONE FINAL TIME!

Donna, you will remember I introduced you to Alex Jones and PrisonPlanet,tv.  I have very broad and varied sources for my information and Alex Jones is just one of them. So is Noam Chomsky.

For the record, I am not a democrat or republican.  I feel as though I am at a party and the host tells me I can have anything I want to drink; then asks if I want Coke or Pepsi.  I ask, "Do you have ginger ale?" and he repeats, "Do you want Coke or Pepsi."  That is the difference I see between the two ruling parties.  I emphasize RULING PARTIES.

Politics today is presented to us by the mainstream media and the whores in Washington just like the "bread and circuses" the Roman Empire fed the plebs right before the Roman Empire collapsed.

I read and followed Ayn Rand when Paul Ryan was still in his diapers. I understand and ascribe to the libertarian principles she wrote about many years ago. Unlike the Tea Party fanatics, who rage "We the people", "Take our country back"; I also am a realist and businessman who recognizes we are out of control FIRST as a society.

Government is a construct of our society.  There ARE free and democratic socialist republic countries in the world today, but our media scoff at their success because the media and government is controlled by lobbyists for the power elite, not for the people of the country.  The people are simple chattel who are enslaved by banks and government privatization which is turning our world into a version of a bad futuristic Sifi book or movie.

Getting government out of education, health care and the economy is exactly what the rulers who REALLY run this country want.

I have friends in education who cite numerous examples of corporations making hundreds of millions of dollars from Charter schools while abandoning less profitable neighborhoods and children. Education is NOT something that should be treated like a business with measureable outcomes and standardization.  You can read my post on this subject at http://efficiency-expert.blogspot.com/

The collusion between the health care providers, big pharma and the insurance companies is a disgrace to our nation.  EACH and EVERY ONE is a private company.  Today, corporations are no longer corporate citizens of America, They are international entities focused on short term shareholder value. They move their jobs and revenues across the globe to find the best tax rates and the cheapest labor.

Have you given any thought to the disgrace private prisons are in this country. We have a prison-industrial complex made up of companies who operate prisons simply for profit.  Last week the justice department ruled that the federal government would no longer support private prisons. The mainstream news reported about how this will impact the profits and share price of these public companies.  That was the focus of the story they fed us as if running prisons for profit is a "good" thing.

Are you familiar with the case in Pennsylvania where a judge was colluding with a private prison to receive a kick back for every young person he sent to their facility.  It was a fabulous marketing scheme,  In business we call this a spiff.  GREAT marketing, and the more actions  the government declares illegal, the more people get arrested and sent to prisons.  These modern day Bastilles are  run by corporations who bring jobs and stimulate the economies of the former industrial towns where they build them. 

Maybe someday they will be stormed just as the original was stormed in 1789.  Unfortunately, our government has insured this will never happen; not because they have corrected the injustice, but because they have financially, chemically and electronically sedated the public so they no longer have the desire to revolt.

So please don't tell me about, "We the People", or getting the government out of the very activities in which the government SHOULD be involved. 

Open your eyes.  Democrats, Republicans, Tea Party, Clinton, Trump, Sanders, Paul, Cruz, Bush, Kasich, Biden, Obama, Fiorina, McConnell, Ryan, Reid, Cheney, Conservative, Liberal, Moderate: It's all bull. A puppet show set up to give you the illusion that your vote matters and that you have a choice.

So what will it be, Coke or Pepsi?

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