Gasoline prices here have jumped fifty cents and perhaps more in the past week. We have equaled our own highs from the last peak touching five dollars a gallon in place. The most typical price per gallon is $4.65 and there was a day last week when price per gallon rose eighteen percent overnight. Tell that to Judy who says "Businesses hate to raise prices". If so they are sure addicted to what they hate. Let's face it will gauge us royal at the slightest excuse, but take their time about going back down long after this so called crisis has passed. Jerry Brown said he was going to endeavor to fast track the "winter blend", which believe it or not, is not scheduled to normally be used till the end of the month. I bet you never new October was considered a "summer month". But I hear Brown has to get clearance with the Obama Administration, and they could hold the thing up beaurocraticly for weeks.
We will be entering a period of Political and Governmental Darkness unknown in our lifetime for this Country when Mitt Romney becomes President. The tea party has already running the country anyhow and calling the tune these past several years- and it seems like forever ago. You have State and local governments in their grip as well as the House of Representatives. Even if the President should win a second term it will be meaningless because he is not running the country now and he won't be running the country for the next four years. However this gridlock will amazingly vanish when Romney comes to power and bill after bad bill will be ramrodded through so fast it will make your head spin. Of course in foreign policy we have had a four continuance of George Bush anyhow. Except now we don't torture people- - we just assasenate them. It's much more efficient. Or else we murder innocent civilians with our Drones. In some way it can be argued with Obama gone we will be giving up very little we haven't already lost, because our Civil Liberties are pretty much gone anyway. Of course you know don't you that if one bad night in a farce of a Debate- - is enough to outweigh Mitt Romney's having a bad month - and a bad summer - - with gaff after gaff - - you know there is some other opperative force. Newt Gingrich put it this way. He said there are these small businessmen who say that there IS no recovery. And apparently they will be the ones determining the outcome of the election in November. This President has done nothing to avenge the crimes of the Bush Administration. Some have said he is the most Wall Street friendly president we have ever had. He has never raised taxes on the rich despite promising to do so in the 2008 Campaign. He has been reluctent to prosecute the crimes of Wall Street at all, and those types of prosecutions are as rare as executions for murder in California. And I am not sold on the argument that the President "was just having a bad day" last Wednesday. He's the President. He can't AFFORD to have a "bad day" or to be "caught off guard". Can you imagine the national security implications of that? Of course the debate was out of control and more of an exhibition than an intelligent dialog. But the no nothing undecided people out there don't care. They will believe any lie Mitt Romney tells them. If the Florida poll went from seven percent Obama leading to the President being down two percent to Romney - - or a nine percent point swing in two months- - you know a lot of retired people in Florida believed Mitt Romney when he told them that the President will cut their medicare by 713 Billion. We haven't talked about the Courts and voter purges or the fact that NO action has been taken about these rigged Voting machines.
Let's briefly look at the California Propositions. Proposition 20 is a yes. It raises income taxes only on that small percent making over $250,000. Also it raises sales tax by a quarter of a percent. Proposition 31 is a no. Proposition 32 is a No. This is that deceptive so called "Campaign reform" act sponsored by people like the Koch brothers and Karl Rove. Proposition 33 involved auto insurance rates. I haven't taken a position. Proposition 34 gets rid of the Death penalty, which in this day and age has become a White elephant costing untold of unnecessary millions of dollars. Proposition 35 involves opperating Sex Trade slaves. Yes on that measure. No on 36. This is an attempted reform of the three strikes measure. This means if it's your third offense and you throw a cigarette butt on the ground or steal a bottle of after shave, you can get 25 years to life. This may seem unfair but that's the way we do things here and it's unlikely this will change. The legislature completely screwed up the analysis on Proposition 37 or the geneticly engineered foods one. They completely missed the point of the thing. Personally I'd institute a nation-wide outright ban on genetically engineered foods, if you know the background of the procedure. I'm voting yes but it won't pass. Proposition 38 assures funds for schools and that one is a Yes. Also a Yes on Proposition 39 that involves eliminating tax breaks for people shipping jobs out of state. Judy is probably against that because anything that violates the Gordon Gecko axiom of "Greed is Good" she will oppose. You people think I'm kidding. Judy comes close to imputing the same purity to these people as Adam and Eve before the Fall.
We have a few other things to say from yesterday. We did our check in during Dr. Levy's class on Saturday morning. I painted a glum but
succinct picture of the disaster in my life, which has been the past two weeks
emphasizing how being out of cigarettes and its psychological symptums is a
nightmare. We talked about how everyone
has free will. And the argument was
raised that we are “sentenced” to exist with Free Will with the not so vague
implication that many people can’t accept that but would somehow actually
prefer fewer choices. I tried to say
that such “existential” thinking comes from the near delusional view that
people are basically “free’ all around the world and haven’t had most of their
Choices in life made by somebody else more powerful than they are. I know I sure have. Dr. Levy said he’d get me coffee by
Saturday. The thing is I’ll probably run
out Thursday or late Wednesday, so I’ll have to go to Wall Mart on my own if I
don’t want to be out for a couple days.
There was a lot of talk about Law School and Dr. Levy believes I’d do
well in it. I feel complemented by
that. I’ve heard these stories about
people taking courses for “self improvement” and transforming their whole lives
with good jobs, like Gloria Oliver did thirty years ago. But in the world where I live, that sort of
turn around doesn’t happen that way. I offer up my three ROP certificates as exhibit A. .I played almost all of the Jimi Hendrix tribute
album and when I was done I put it in the second drawer to bring the number in
the front row once again to seventeen. I
skipped “Manic Depression” “Fire” and about two thirds of “Third Stone from the
Sun”. Then I listened to Melinda
Lee. She talked about how they are
messing around with the margarine formula on your favorite brands such as Nucoa
and Imperial. Now you don’t get a metal
crown, but a plastic one. They took the
trans-fats out and they mess up recipes for baked goods. The government should stop screwing around
with us and someone needs to prune back the power of the Food and Drug
administration. Also you need granulated
regular sugar for proper functioning in various baked goods, because the other
artificial stuff is too “fine’ and won’t do the job. And there was a Bill Handel caller where if
you do a guy a favor and NOT turn him into the cops for something, if he’ll
just pay you what he already OWES you- - then according to Bill Handel you have
committed the CRIME of extortion against him.
So you give a guy a break and be a nice guy about it, and get punished
by the law.
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