June 6, 2009

Today is June 6, 2009, the 65th anniversary of D-Day. None of my ancestors served in the European theater of World War 2 (my grandfather Richard Faith Sr. worked in an airplane factory at the time while my other grandfather George F. Clarke was an MP at a POW camp in Sheffield, PA). But my father Donald Clarke served at an Air Force Base in Evreux-Fauville, Normandy from 1960-64. Ironically, in the early 1960s, he stumbled onto the Normandy coast during one of his leaves and witnessed the filming of The Longest Day. Ironically, while I knew the story of his witnessing the creation of that film, I didn't know which film it was until I found out the info from a recent delivery order from Alan's Alley video store in Chelsea, which carries the DVD (and who had better not be begging for any more free promos on this blog).

I only had a 4 day workweek this past week because of a regularly scheduled doctor's appointment on Friday, June 5. I put in nearly the maximum hours allowed for a 5 day workweek this week. Between that, exhaustion from carrying a way-oversized item for over 2 hours in Manhattan, severe sinus pressure, and a major eye infection, I spent most of Friday not in the 4th Floor of Coney Island Hospital, but in the Emergency Room. I have had at least 74 visits to either the Group 4, Dermatology, or eye clinics at Coney Island Hospital since 1998. And as of yesterday, I have now had 4 visits to their emergency room- 3 of which have involved painful IV treatments. Yesterday, I got the IV put only to find out 3 hours later that I never needed it in the first place. And because I was not discharged from the emergency room until well after the hospital's pharmacy had closed, I can't even get the medicine they prescribed me until Monday at the earliest.


So naturally, I have spent most of today at home in Brooklyn recovering from sore nose, sore eyes, sore throat, sore left side of my face, and a sore left arm from where the IV was. Facebook being what it is, I posted that I was in the ER yesterday. I got an instant message from one of my sister's friends, Dana Twaddle, whom I haven't seen in person since my father's funeral in 1995. I got the usual concerned call from my sister. I even got into an extended chat with Steve Peak, whom I haven't seen in person since his wrong turn on the 2 train in 1999. The lack of responses from other, more local friends is disheartening. I moved back to New York to be the most alone guy at the holding area of the Coney Island ER? Steve says I should find a wife, but I doubt any sane woman would want someone with all the baggage I have. Right now, I don't even have an emergency contact for work or hospital. While waiting for the test results that drained all that blood out of me, I wondered what would happen if I didn't make it out of there alive. The answer, not much. So much for the last surname descendant of Stillman Clarke.

And to close this totally non-linear blog post, here are the concluding lyrics of the last song recorded by the KLF/Justified Ancients of Mu Mu on this, the 65th anniversary of D-Day and the last year of the very fucked up (and getting worse) first decade of the 21st Century:

O Trinity of love and power!
Our brethren shield in danger's hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect them wheresoe'er they go;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on that perilous sea!
The grace of Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen.

Fuck the Millenium!

May 27, 2009

I am sort of settling in my new place in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. It is nice to be walking distance from a church, a major (B and Q lines) subway station, my bank, and at least 2 major supermarkets.


For now, I have home internet access. I finally checked the site where I e-filed my NY and Federal taxes 2 months ago, and found out that- surprise- my state return never got filed. I got billed April 2 for filing a nonexistent return. I am in the process of closing out my storage site. This means I don't have to travel to Long Island City to access my CDs, my photo albums, and diaries dating back to 1987. And since I don't have anywhere near the short-term memory I had in 1987, I need those diaries to reference things such as when I filed my taxes, when I last dated, old immunization records, old school attendance dates, and certain old debts (see the next paragraph).


I still don't have such niceties as a camera phone,a microwave oven, a DVD player, an antenna that allows my DTV converter to pick up such stations as WNET, WLIW, and WPXN, and I still don't understand that Twitter thing that Lane Gold and several others are so adamant about. Speaking of Lane, he finally joined Blogger with a horse blog. I'm sure that a lot of people are wondering what the hell is going on with the Triple Crown race circuit. Between a longshot Derby winner called Mine that Bird, the Preakness and Kentucky Oaks winner Rachel Alexandra, their usual jockey Calvin Borel, and allegations of collusion to prevent certain fillies from entering the Preakness, the whole mess is resembling an equine version of the Jerry Springer show. And to think, if that scumbag Spitzer hadn't tampered with NYRA's business 3 years ago, I might still be working certain promotions at the tracks. But the amount that Lane still owes me from a certain tow job in Queens back in July 1991 might just barely cover a decent seat at the Belmont Stakes next month.

April 5, 2009

As of later this afternoon, the home office for this blog (and this blogger) will be in Sheephead Bay, Brooklyn. Considering most of the novel I'm writing takes place in that part of Brooklyn, maybe I can get more inspiration in my bigger residence and finish the damn thing.

But now, I'm going to be closer to 2 major supermarkets (and my former parish of St. Mark's) than I will be to a non-street cleaning block. But the car finally got inspected yesterday, so now I can spend the rest of this day moving and running up the fuel bill and EZ-Pass.

March 14, 2009

I haven't been posting many novel excerpts (or done much writing on my novel) lately because I've had a lot of other stuff to worry about- like next month's move (which will probably be to Brooklyn or Queens), and my car repair.



The radio landscape in NYC changed this week. WXRK-FM dumped their K-Rock format (again) and is now a top 40 station competing against the city's most listened-to station, Z100. It has been a long time since Z100 has had competition (WPLJ dumped top 40 over 17 years ago, and WNEW 102.7 only spent a few months with the format in early 2003). I hear 92.3 is still looking for staff. If they are even remotely interested- I have a weird sense of humor, a lot of strong opinions on current music, and a few incriminating bulletin board posts from the 1990s that feature current Z100 morning show personality Jon Bell and my infamous Prodigy exchange with JoJo Morales (who argued 12-13 years ago that top 40 was dead in NYC). And to the K-Rock fanatics- their format is still on one of 92.3's subchannels, which means the format never went away if you have an HD radio.

I have been spending more time on Facebook. A lot of people I know have given up MySpace in favor of Facebook, but I will continue to have both. Right now, it's the only way I can communicate with my sister. I just hope MySpace fixes their playlist problems.



And tonight is the Big East championship. It's been a long time since I followed up on college basketball. I'd like to know how Louisville got out of Conference USA and into the Big East. Now their only obstacle to a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament is Syracuse, the alma mater of the infamous NBC staffer codenamed "Syracuse Peacock" who loved to criticize public college journalism programs back after I transferred to Brooklyn College in 1997. For those of youse not aware, I did attend the University of Louisville for a few semesters in 1990-93. And like Brooklyn College, U of L is a public college. Unlike Brooklyn College, they didn't have a journalism program back in the 1990s, and I don't think they have one now.

And now it's back to manipulating my novel's characters and getting my car fixed to where it can pass inspection..........

February 7, 2009

This has been a busy week.

First of all, my mayor came to my borough on Monday for the annual Groundhog thing at the Staten Island Zoo. Here's what happened next...


Needless to say, Staten Island Chuck is probably more popular in this city (and in this borough) than Mayor Bloomberg is right now. And so far, the groundhog seems to be right about Spring coming early. But then, 40 degrees is warm compared to what this city saw most of last month.


And anyone who has read this blog in the last few months knows I don't particularly care for the reckless out of pool actions of one human Flipper. Last weekend's NY Post and Monday's Metro and AM-NY all had headlines about Michael Phelps's experience with marijuana. I predicted he would do something stupid with drugs last year. And considering he will now be suspended from official activities for the next 3 months, maybe he will be hawking those medals in the ghettos of Baltimore in the near future. I just hope Richland County, SC, throws the book at him.


And this morning, I finally joined the digital TV community, with my new fresh-from-E-Bay Zenith DTT-901 hooked up to my tv set. The picture quality is great, and I now get NOAA weather radio off my TV set, Fox and My Network on 4 different subchannels, and a whole lot more PBS stations. Now if only I can get it to work with my VCR..

January 10, 2009

It's been a quick 10 days of the year so far. I put in a bit of time at work. I finally got the title to my car, but now I need a starter. There is supposed to be a snowstorm in NYC this afternoon. And I got the first serious genealogy inquiries into the Essex County Clarke families since 2006 this week.

It seems I am not the only Clarke who has had a newspaper column. I knew my great-great grandfather Edgar A. Clarke's cousin Almon Taylor Clarke wrote a "Meditations" column for the Palm Beach Post in the early part of the 20th Century. But it turns out that Almon's son (also named Almon Taylor Clarke, but better know to the upstate NY literary community by his pen name of Rufus) was a major columnist. He was well known for the "Old Timer's Column" that was syndicated in several upstate Newspapers, including the Tupper Lake Free Press. But despite what it says in several upstate New York obituaries, these Clarkes did not have an ancestor who signed the Declaration of Independence. Their ancestor (and mine) who lived around that time was Abraham Clarke (1736-1817), who spent his first 50+ years in Middlesex County, MA (and served in the Continental Army around 1782). After his wife's death, Abraham started what would be the first of 218 years of Clarke migration- to Sullivan County, NH, Springfield, VT, and to Essex County, NY. His grandson James Madison Clarke's bible is what definitively connected Almon Taylor Clarke to my ancestors, most of whom were not prominent, certainly not prominent enough to go to Philadelphia in 1776.

As far as I know, while I have sent submissions to the (recently deceased) New York Sun and to a few websites, the only newspaper which has printed any of my writings regularly was the Brooklyn College Excelsior, and I stopped sending stuff to them over 9 years ago.

Also, my friend from Japan-by-way-of-Owensboro, KY, Steve Peak, is in the United States right now. I doubt he will get to New York before his wife's and daughter's travel visas expire. But New York had to deal with Al Qaida in 2001, I don't think it is ready for Al-Boaida now.

December 28, 2008

Well folks, the year is almost over. I'm still in a hellish place in Staten Island. I am still working on that novel (excerpts of which are on my MySpace blog). I may have made up with some old friends. And I may be going to a New Year's Eve party in Brooklyn on Wednesday.

If anyone knows how to replace starters on a mid-90s Oldsmobile 88, let me know before I shell out $200+ to register my car (assuming McCloskey Motors even has the documents I need to register that car).

And also, yesterday was the 13th anniversary of my father's death.

December 6, 2008

This has been a busy few weeks. I put in another week of overtime at my messenger job. I finally started writing my novel. But I still don't have a title for it. But it will take months, if not years to finish that tome (the opening pages of which can be viewed on my MySpace blog). For the most part, this novel will be a lot less political than most of my recent writings. But there are a lot of supernatural incidents in it (visions, possible time travel, a closet portal, a soul being placed in the wrong body, the spirit of a certain Franciscan friar well known to my archdiocese leading thousands of souls out of the rubble of Ground Zero, and a man stuck in Purgatory giving advice to his still-alive son so he can get out of choir practice).

My sister is still in Tennessee. My mother's relatives are still in Pennsylvania. And I still don't have internet access at home, which is why this blog is being written on a laptop at the New York Public Library.

My political blog at townhall.com recently broke the story of a fictitious version of the New York Times that was being distributed throughout Manhattan. The stories were pretty nightmarish for one not of the radical left wing persuasion. I gave a copy to security at the New York Times (while waiting for a delivery order at their headquarters). The security officers told me that Times management was irate over the fake Times. But it turns out now that a few Times staffers contributed some of the fake stories in that fake Times. Yesterday, I had another delivery to the Times headquarters. The security officers were a lot less pleased to see me yesterday than they were when I gave them a copy of the phony Times last month.

October 1, 2008

Normally, October 1 for me is usually a time to remember the dead, most notably my father Donald G. Clarke who was born on this date in 1935 and who died in 1995. But another thing died yesterday, the New York Sun. This was one of only two newspapers (the other being Brooklyn College's Excelsior) that published any of my sumbissions. Some of my classic retorts to New York's corrupt political culture (and its former leader, Eliot Spitzer) were published there within the last year. But now it is no more, and for the second time in the last 60 years, the New York Sun has set. This pretty much narrows the conservative print voices in this town down to News Corp's New York Post and Wall Street Journal.

I got an e-mail from my sister today. Apparantly she wrote to the President last week. A slightly edited (since she did put down some personal info I would never allow to be passed about on the internet) version of the letter is below...

From: suzanne johnson
Subject: Letter from your cousin (yes this is for real)
To: www.comments@whitehouse.gov
Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2008, 8:13 PM


Well I figured I would write to you while you are still the President. My name is Suzanne Faith Johnson, surname, Suzanne F. Clarke. Through extensive genealogical research by my brother, I found out you are my 3rd cousin. Some people may not believe in you and all that you have done for this country. I am not one of thoes people. I was happy when you won the presidental race 8yrs ago and hate to see you go. Don't let people tell you that you haven't done a good job. They aren't in your shoes and do not have the weight of the country weighing down on their shoulders .
I believe in you!!
One of the other reasons I wanted to write you is because I am a resident if Ripley Tennessee. A state that offers no healthcare to the poor. Don't worry, I am not asking for money, but if you could do anyhting about the Medicaid system here I would greatly appreciate it.
I was in a car wreck 4yrs ago that greatly damaged both knees and my back. I am in need of total knee replacement and epideral blocks for my back. But under the current lack of Medicaid assistance to someone in my situation ( I am unable to work) it looks like I will never again be able to play ball with my son or even walk down the block. I was a brown belt in taekwondo and had to abandon my dream of ever being a black belt.
I am sure you hear sob stories everyday, and some are worse than mine. But I know you believe in Family , so I hope that mabey you might take a second look at this. I lost my mom to cancer in '91 and my dad in '95.from Lou Gehrigs. He served proudly in the United tates Air Force for 25 yrs.and I know he would be proud of the job you have done.
I know I may never hear from you, but I want to wish you the best for the future.And thank you for standing up for us as a country. I believe in you!!
Sincerely,
Suzanne Faith Clarke Johnson

From: comments@whitehouse.gov
Subject:
To: witchywoman103074@yahoo.com
Date: Wednesday, September 24, 2008, 9:04 AM


On behalf of President Bush, thank you for your correspondence.

We appreciate hearing your views and welcome your suggestions.

Due to the large volume of e-mail received, the White House cannot respond to
every message.

Thank you again for taking the time to write.

For the record, my sister and I are related to President Bush through our great X8 grandparents Thomas Andrews and Hannah Kirby of Middletown, CT. However, my sister's editing ability is almost as bad as our distant cousin's, which may be why the White House internet staff sent her that response.

And in honor of my late father's 73rd birthday, here is a YouTube clip of one of his favorite comedians, Tom Lehrer...

September 27, 2008

What a month.. I am still at my job. My car died on me last Saturday (September 20) and then started like nothing was even wrong with it on Tuesday (September 23). My sister seems to be settled in rural hick Tennessee again. And I seem to be hearing more from Steve Peak and Lane Gold since both of them are now on Facebook.

In political news, the economy is going to Hell. Many seem to blame this on Republicans, when in several cases, companies collaped due to long term effects from the interference of... Eliot "Job Killer" Spitzer. The collapse and government takeover of AIG can directly be traced to Spitzer's crusade against AIG founder Hank Greenberg. Democrats want more government interference in business and Wall Street matters. Why? The last time we had major government interference in Wall Street, thousands of jobs were lost because of grudges by Spitzer. If AIG can't survive its government takeover, the ensuing job losses would be greater than those incurred on 9/11. The last thing the US needs in these economic times is Spitzernomics on a national scale. Spitzer's political career may be dead, but his evil influences and regulatory philosophies are setting the stage for future economic catastrophes.

September 6, 2008

What a week.. Sarah Palin, who was unknown 9 days ago, is now the most popular politician in America. McCain/Palin is even to Obama/Biden in most polls as of Wednesday.

According to today's Daily News, McCain's acceptance speech outdrew Obama's by about 500000 viewers.

But in more disturbing news for the East Coast, Hannah is coming. Most of the NYC area is under a Tropical Storm Warning until tomorrow. If Hannah continues on its current path, it would be the first Tropical system to hit NYC since Floyd in 1999. The eye of that storm made landfall over Rockaway, Queens. It damaged the roof of the rooming house in Stapleton that I called home at the time. And few residents of Bound Brook, NJ (which was much further from the eye of Floyd than Queens or Staten Island) will forget that storm, since the whole town was flooded for days because of all the rains.

My hood of New Brighton is supposed to get somewhere between 2-7 inches of rain out of this storm. But the eye of Hannah is supposed to be along the Long Island Atlantic coast. It's a good thing that this storm is coming after the beaches closed for the season, because those beaches may not be there by Monday.

August 29, 2008

The DNC finished their convention last night 60 miles north of my hometown in Denver. Obama took the nomination. Plagiarist Joe Biden is Obama's running mate. And hopefully, the Clintons will never again run for high office after being forced by the DNC to kiss Obama's and Biden's posteriors.

Next week, the GOP has its convention in St. Paul, MN. Not content to let Obama bounce up 6 points in the latest polls, McCain rolled out his running mate. It is Sarah Palin, the current governor of Alaska. This is a huge shock to those who were expecting either Mitt Romney or Tim Palenty to be McCain's running mate.

The election now holds a bunch of firsts: first Presidential candidate from Hawaii (Obama was born there); first Presidential candidate born in a US territory (the Panama Canal Zone was still part of the US when McCain was born there in 1936); first major party Presidential candidate of African descent (Obama); and now the first pro-life female vice presidential nominee and the first nominee of either party to be from Idaho and Alaska (Sarah Palin). And also, this is the first Presidential election in which both candidates are sitting Senators.

August 24, 2008

There is a rumored dread amongst some Democrats that their party always puts the most defeatable candidates up as their Presidential choices. Of course for the last 2elections, these Democrats failed to see that their candidate was wrong on the issues that mattered most to Americans.

And now their Golden Boy, Barack Obama, he of the 95% approval rating (in Europe) is falling behind McCain in the latest polls. And then Obama does something even stupider than declaring "I am a citizen of the World" in Berlin.. he nominates Joe Biden to be his Vice Presidential pick.

Now maybe those defeatist Democrats may be right here. Obama is a likeable guy who glosses over his positions that differ from the mainstream. But why would he nominate a guy whose best known qualities are not his foreign policy experiences as a Senator, but his blatant plagiarism of British Labour politician Neil Kinnock. It also doesn't help that the main blog at Townhall is reporting that Biden has just as much military experience as Obama (none), marking the first time since 1932 that a major party ticket has no one with military experience. This wouldn't be an issue if we weren't at war with Islamic terrorism and in a renewed Cold War with Russia.

If I were a Democrat , I wouldn't want a blatant liar on my ticket. But then their last successful Presidential candidate was the worst liar and cheat ever to stain (in more ways than one) the Oval Office- and his wife was a serious threat to Obama in the primaries earlier this year. But I haven't been a registered Democrat since 1992, and unlike those left wing elites, I know better.

August 17, 2008

Wow.. 5 weeks in Staten Island. It beats the shelter, but some of my housemates can be annoying. Especially the anonymous one who broke that Foreman Grill I bought just before I left Colorado Springs. At least I am getting a new grill out of this mess.

Work is still work. While most of my deliveries either originate or go to Chelsea, I have had a few deliveries that are going to the Upper West Side- especially around W 98th and West End Avenue. One of my old friends from Kentucky, Lane Gold, grew up in that part of town. And now I am getting a lot more e-mails from him. I haven't heard as much lately from the other Kentucky friend who usually e-mails me (Steve Peak). And in a probably coincidental move, local drugstore Duane Reade is marketing a new iced tea called Gold Peak. If Steve and Lane do sue Duane Reade for illegally using their last names to market their new beverage, I'd like some of the proceeds since I did point out the atrocity to both of them. And I still have a car and a student loan to pay off.

Apparantly my Olympic Boycott isn't working. Normally 4th place National Bull Crap (NBC) is having record ratings from the Beijing games. But they will be back in the cellar once the games are over and when Michael Phelps starts hawking his medals for Lord knows what on North and Guilford in Baltimore.

And in other news, the Catholic Church is agreeing in principle with Judaism and banning the proper name of God at Mass. Most Jews won't even fully spell out God, in favor of G-d. But for centuries, Catholics have gone to attempting to pronounce the whole Tetragrammaton, usually as Yahweh. They are now urged to replace the Holy name with Adonai, which means "my Lord", but supposedly doesn't cheapen the name. But "Adonai, I Know You Are Near" doesn't rhyme quite as well as "Yahweh, I Know You Are Near". And now, a lot of Catholic song books are going to have to revise their lyrics. But since the name Lord or God is used instead of the Tetragrammaton in the non-singing part of Mass, the basic Mass format won't change.

July 27, 2008

It has been a busy few weeks since I moved back to Staten Island. I have been working a lot, driving a bit on weekends, and yesterday, I went to Tyrone's big party in Bed-Stuy.

I am still at the mercy of the New York Public Libraries and the Manhattan internet cafes for internet stuff, though.

July 12, 2008

It seems I am now settled here in NYC. As of July 9, my nightmarish experience with DHS and the shelter system ended when I was set up in a rooming house in the New Brighton section of Staten Island. It is about an hour (by train and boat) to my messenger job in Midtown, and parking for my car is free, unrestricted, and (by NYC standards) plentiful.

I don't know how long it will be before I get home internet access, though. I would like to comment about such political things as Bruno's retirement, the lack of support for Obama amongst the Hildabeest's supporters, and the death this morning of former Fox News host and White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, but there is only a limited amount of time at these NYPL computers, and right now I'm too busy updating and changing my address to reflect the move out of Manhattan.

June 10, 2008

Over thie weekend, Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination to face John McCain in November's election. I'll still probably vote for McCain but unlike the horrificaly corrupt Clintons, I could live under an Obama administration. If Obama is wise, he won't name Hillary as his VP and the Clintons can whither away to obscurity in Chappaqua.

I would have a lot more to comment on this but I have way too many other crises to face in NYC at the moment. Since I am on at least one housing list I should find something better than the place I'm staying at in Midtown soon. Hopefully I can find a permanent job soon so I don't have to worry about the Olds getting repossessed and me being liable for thousand$ in penalty fees. But at least now my housing search is limited to the 5 boroughs of NYC instead of having to look outside the US come 2009.

And my nephew Jamie turned 10 this morning. Assuming my mother hadn't died back in 1991, she would be turning 66 on Thursday, which happens to be the day I start my latest job search and training program. I'm sure she and Dad are turning over in their graves, epecially since their only son has endured over a decade of poverty and 12 days in the NYC shelter system.

May 24, 2008

I am now back in Brooklyn. The journey here was long and expensive. I didn't pay anything for lodging along the way, but I shelled out $300 in gasoline costs. Now I get to explore a neighborhood I have never been to before, and attempt to relax until the job interviews on Tuesday.

April 19, 2008

Yes, the rumors are true. Due to employment and financial concerns I can't discuss here, I am moving back (at least temporarily) to New York. I won't be leaving before May 20, though, unless that NYRA application gets approved in record time. In 2006, NYRA was having mass layoffs, due in no small part to the actions of then-attorney general Eliot "Job Killer" Spitzer. Now that Spitzer is unemployed and NYRA's contract to operate the racetracks has been renewed, they are hiring again.

Overall, the experience in my hometown of Colorado Springs was not what I was expecting. I never was able to afford my own apartment. The neighbor experiences I had with Pato Loco last year were as bad as having drug addicts for neighbors and (in one case 8 years ago) having a bipolar drug addict as a building superintendent. The combination of rent and car and (especially) food expenses vastly exceeded my New York expenses in rent and groceries and Metrocards. I spent 4 of 11 months on unemployment and got laid off by a very good job twice. I also got fired and blacklisted by the Colorado Springs chapter of Goodwill. I am still on the national Goodwill's "Member For Life" program, but I won't be able to use their services until I leave Colorado. I still miss my friends in New York, and hope to see them in just over a month.

I have a nice running car, but I may not be able to take it with me to New York. If that happens, I won't be able to do any Port Washington warehouse jobs (which pay 25-40% more than similar warehouse jobs here in the Springs). But presently, I can barely afford road trips to North Cheyenne Canon Park and Paint Mines Park and Manitou Springs- and those areas are far closer to Briargate than Bash Bish Falls, Montauk, the Hamptons, Port Jervis, and Greenwich are to New York City.

Too bad I can't go to New York this weekend; I would have liked to have seen Pope Benedict XVI in person.

Pictures of what I will be missing (top 2) and will be coming home to (bottom 3):

April 4, 2008

Today is a big anniversary day. On this date 40 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN. He was 39 years old. My grandparents' (George and Hazel Clarke) 39th wedding anniversary was also on April 4, 1968. Needless to say, their special dinner planned for that night was cancelled.

A lot has changed since 1968. Race relations are much better now than then. Hate groups like the KKK are no longer in political power (with the possible exception of West Virginia Senator Robert "Sheets" Byrd). The KKK no longer controls the governments of Colorado or Indiana. But there still is a memorial statue of KKK founder Nathan Bedford Forrest in Memphis, TN. But it probably is a good thing that a man of African heritage such as Barack Obama can be a serious Presidential contender. It is also a good thing that criticisms of Barack Obama have nothing to do with his racial heritage and everything to do with his liberal viewpoints on issues. And there may be a non-white Vice President, too- several top names for John McCain's VP list include J.C. Watts, Michael Steele, Condoleezza Rice, and Bobby Jindal.

I spent a good part of the day on the job interview circuit. I also tried googling certain names that popped up in my Prodigy Posts page. 2008 marks 15 years since I entered the online commentary and message board world. Within a week, I got dragged into an online war involving a sexual psychopath named Mark Pena and dome of his victims. By the time Pena was vanquished (late 1993), I found out about another online flamer named Mark (whose last name wasn't Pena) who also went by the name of Vito. A Fresno police detective named Frank Clark was investigating the Vito case (and was also being impersonated by Vito). And just when I thought this was too surreal, CBS News did an investigation of their own on Vito. Vito was eventually arrested, although I don't know if he was ever imprisoned for any of the charges brought against him.

With Vito out of the picture, another flamer appeared by the name of Gerald "Gerbil" Jones. Pena critic Jerry Vasilatos at first thought the Gerbil was Pena. That launched a yearlong harassment and death threat tirade from the Gerbil against me, Vasilatos, and anyone else who called the psycho out for who he was. Even after the Gerbil finally vanished, his online buddy Tommy Davis (who also went by such names as Sean Kelly and BJ Backus) continued his slime campaign for another 3 years. The last I heard of him (1997), he claimed to be a talk show host on WTTM-920AM in Trenton, NJ. That station is no longer a talk station, and if Davis ever worked for them, I'm sure he's unemployed now. Davis also claimed to be a parishioner at St. Thomas Aquinas in Flatlands, Brooklyn. My friend George Brice attends Mass there now, maybe he should investigate if Mr. Davis ever got physically abused like he claimed 11 years ago. Maybe George should also find out if their priests are willing to go to Washington Crossing, PA, to do an exorcism.

The last online war I got involved in was not with a stranger, but someone I considered a friend. It started during my days at Brooklyn College. Someone going by the AOL name of "Danihottie" harassed most of the staff of the student newspaper I worked for, the Excelsior. It took until after I left Brooklyn College (and one virused-out 486 computer and more Danihottie harassment against my sister and some friends who never attended Brooklyn College) that I found out that Danihottie was the Excelsior's supposedly ditsy editor Alyson Walansky.

I'm not sure what really happened to Mark Pena. If you Google his name, some of his posts I put on my website might pop up, but there's also an Austin-based 30something singer with that name. It might be him- after all, he did claim to work at a nightclub in Austin called Dante's. Former Prodigy member Beth Donovan has a blog on Pena that links to my Prodigy Posts page on my website. Despite the Pena fiasco and other tirades, she met her now-husband on Prodigy.

Jerry Vasilatos is still alive, and for the most part doing well. Unfortunately, a decade in Hollywood has turned the filmmaker into a raging anti-Bush leftist. I tried adding him to my MySpace friends list last year, but no response. But he probably knew beforehand that the guy he's trying to get impeached is my distant cousin.

Alyson has probably a bigger online presence than I do. But I did see a recent picture of her, and for someone who was born when I was in the first grade, she sure looks older than me. She is still friends with Scott Kuperberg (the BC Campus Democrats leader whom I often clashed with). Her Friendster page (which I knew nothing about until an few minutes ago) even jokes about the Danihottie fiasco from 8-10 years ago! There is another Danihottie that showed up on Google, but this other Danihottie was 8 years old when Alyson went on her flaming ego trip.

No one has seen or heard from Gerbil Jones since he made a brief appearance on Prodigy's Gay bulletin board in late 1995. I tried doing an "online obituary" for the Gerbil based on his "diaries", and there was also a Gerbil Jones based tirade that appeared in the Excelsior in May of 1997. There apparently is a filmmaker that goes by the name of Gerbil Jones. One Gerbil Jones is more than enough, thank you.

March 29, 2008

It seems I am not the only member of the Clarke and Stokes families with a major online presence. My father's cousin Wendy Stokes Waselle moved to Franklin, TN, a few years ago from Illinois, and started her own home staging business.

She was recently profiled on frontdoor.com (a video equivalent to HGTV- they're both owned by Scripps-Howard), and the following link is to a video profile of her on frontdoor.com's website. Also making cameos as home stagers on this short clip are Wendy's husband Dave Waselle, and their niece (and Wendy's partner in the home staging business) Kelly Murray.

Picture of Wendy and Dave Waselle before they got into the home staging industry (January 2004)

I still find it amazing that some people (especially a certain cousin in Tennessee) can start a successful business from scratch from almost nothing. And Wendy has done this at least twice since 1995.

Note: due to certain restrictions on this blog's settings that won't let me upload any videos other than those from You Tube, I couldn't upload Wendy's video here. That is also why other entries on this blog are missing a few videos that are featured on my MySpace and townhall.com blogs.

March 28, 2008

I guess this is becoming more of a news commentary blog. Now that Spitzer is out of office, another political atrocity rears its ugly head- in the Far East.

For years, I've been boycotting businesses and politicians whose actions I don't support. Some of the most famous on my boycott list include NBC and Planned Parenthood. But it is high time to add the world's most populous nation to that list.

Why?

For starters, view the videos below. Many (especially in the Republican Party) thought by increasing trade with this brutal regime after the Tiananmen Square massacre that it would help the millions who were victimized by the evil Communist Party and encourage them to protest, uprise, and eventually overthrow that evil government. After all, a similar policy help bring down that other evil empire called the Soviet Union, right?

Not quite. If anything, the Soviet Union collapsed due to being outspent by of all things the US Military. Ronald Reagan's defense policies may have made nuclear alarmists and the peacenik left go bonkers, but they did indicate to the Soviet Union that we would spend whatever we could to defend our nation against their nuclear threat. It may have ballooned our national debt, but it spent the Soviets into oblivion. By the time the people could uprise against the Communists, the Communists could not pay their own army to defend them against the people, and the army side with the people (and Boris Yeltsin), and Communism is no longer a force in Russia.

Unfortunately, our trade dollars with China did not help bring down the CCP (Chinese Communist Party, to use the Epoch Times's abbreviation). Indeed, it has had the opposite effect. The CCP is using its newfound wealth to attract the Olympics (whose US broadcast partner I have been boycotting for over 11 years, but for other reasons). And more disturbing, the CCP has been building up their military. If the US spent as much of its budget on military purposes as the Chinese have been doing lately, the leftists would be howling. And right now, the Chinese army has the capability to wipe out most of the West Coast with their nuclear weapons. This is not quite the threat that the old Soviet army posed (enough nuclear weapons to wipe out most of civilization), but it is potentially even greater a threat than Al Qaeda. But the CCP won't launch their nukes yet- they still need our money.

Most people know know about the Chinese atrocities in Tibet. But the main test of the CCP army is that little island off their SE coast- Taiwan. The CCP has pledged to do everything within their power (even to the point of nuclear war) to prevent Taiwan from declaring complete independence from China. Such a war would almost certainly involve the US- and if that happens, I wouldn't want to be anywhere west of the Rockies.

To quote Chinese general Zhu Chenghu in 2005, "if the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China's territory (Taiwan), I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons," and that "we [...] will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of Xi'an. Of course the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds ... of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese."

It is insanity to keep trading with (and de-facto arming) one of the biggest threats to the existence of the United States. At the very least, the US Olympic Committee (based about 8 miles south of my current residence) should boycott the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The United States should halt all trade with China until the CCP is out of power. To continue trade with China and to give any type of aid to the CCP is not just against the ideals of American morality, it is greatly increasing the chances the United States will be in a nuclear war. Right now, the US could win such a war, but as long as we keep funding this beast, our chances of winning such a war decrease. And a US victory could still result in over 30 million American civilians killed (and over 300-400 million Chinese and 20 million Taiwanese). That is over 6 times the worldwide casualties of the costliest war in human history- World War 2.

March 14, 2008

The fallout from Hookergate continues... The hooker who brought down Client 9 the Job Killer is also an aspiring singer whose songs are fairly big on MySpace and are now being played on Z100. While I don't normally support prostitutes, this one brought down the biggest slimeball in American politics, and her non-illegal activities should be encouraged.

A new blog called Oh Eliot! is now up and providing updates on the scandal, the slimeball, and the hooker. Contrary to popular belief, I have nothing to do with that blog, other than offer my moral support. I hope they can dig up that old November 2005 Daily News feature on the corrupt (but unfortunately legal under NY law) methods that Spitzer used to divert his Wall Street settlements away from the NY treasury. I might have a copy in my storage site in Long Island City- but I'm a good 2000 miles from there and won't be able to return until after I get that stimulus check. The fuel costs alone would cost me over $600.

Photo from KRDO-13's Peterson AFB cam earlier this morning

Today in Colorado Springs was a lot less scandalous. Yes, the forecasters were off. Instead of light snow and temperatures near 50 in the afternoon, it is considerably cooler, but above freezing now after 4 inches of snow in the morning. It was enough to shut down schools in Manitou Springs and Woodland Park, but not in the city.

I have yet to hear back from Governor Paterson on the letter I wrote him on Wednesday. But he probably got too many letters at once wishing him well, and may not have had a chance to read my letter yet. I hope he does read it, though. But at least he has agreed to not raise taxes, and came up with a McCain-esque response to a reporter's question on whether he had ever patronized a prostitute: "no, not unless you count the lobbyists." No word yet on whether Paterson supports the abhorrent RHAPP bill or not, but that bill probably won't become law because the #2 man in Albany now is Spitzer victim and Republican Senate Leader Joe Bruno, who before Hookergate had already announced his opposition to the RHAPP bill.

And going back to the CYACS Theology on Tap meeting on March 4, the main event was a mini concert by local folk musician Joe Uveges. He pitched the idea to CYACS director Nicole Schommer.. mainly because his most recent album was heavily influenced by the Catholic faith. Not all of Mr. Uveges's music is of the religious variety, though. In fact, he has a very popular video on You Tube for his infamous "Librarian Song". The video is shown below.

March 12, 2008

A little over an hour ago (4PM EDT/2PM MDT, March 12, 2008), I e-mailed the following letter to David Paterson, who as of Monday will be replacing Client 9 the Job Killer as Governor of the great state of New York:



As a longtime New Yorker who moved to Colorado last year, I have taken great interest in the recent news over your predecessor and the scandal that finally drove him from office. I feel sorry for his wife and daughters because his behavior has ruined their lives and harmed the state as a whole. I won't go into detail on the other ways in which Spitzer has harmed this state (note: read the Spitzer tags on this blog for that), but since you will be replacing him, I hope you will not make the same mistakes he did.

First of all, don't antagonize the public. Spitzer did and thought he was above the law. He thought he could get away with illegally laundering money, with illegally using the state police to snoop on his opponents (many of whom he created by his actions), and all sorts of other sleaze. Everything I have read about you indicates that you have none of the character flaws of Mr. Spitzer. Right now, you have the moral authority and the mandate to take the initiative on ethics reform in the state. Too many public office holders in New York have been forced to resign because of ethical or criminal reasons. New standards need to be implemented to prevent future Spitzers or Alan Hevesis or Guy Vellelas from destroying the public trust with their illegal actions.

Second of all, you have the opportunity to do something your predecessor could never do, and that is make amends with Wall Street. Wall Street and the financial sector is the biggest economic engine in the state. This is an industry that your predecessor nearly drove out of the state because of his character. If anyone in the industry is breaking the law, they should be prosecuted, but to demonize the state's biggest industry and rally the whole state around those lies because of the actions of a few is downright asinine. Is it any wonder that Wall Street has been in a jubilant mood (in the middle of a nationwide economic downturn) since the Spitzer scandal broke? The laws concerning business regulation need to be revised to prevent future abuses (and pointless job losses) by overzealous lawmakers while at the same time preventing businesses from thinking they operate outside the law.

Also, don't succumb to the left wing's desire to give drivers' licenses to illegal aliens and to expand the state abortion policies. The whole illegal alien debate is an issue that Congress and the Federal Government need to come to an agreement on first. There are demagogues on both sides of this issue, but the potential Presidencies of either Barack Obama or John McCain mean that common sense and a national policy will happen within the next couple of years. Hopefully, there will be a major increase in the number of immigrants allowed to come here legally, and with their legal status, allowed to become productive workers, taxpayers, and helpful citizens of both this nation and this state. But at the same time, only the Federal Government can craft a meaningful policy that also weeds out the criminals and the disguised terrorists that see New York City as their next killing ground. We don't need the state legitimizing someone who is hellbent on destroying it.

As far as the divisive issue of abortion, the last thing the state should be doing is forcing the non-profit groups that oppose it to do what is against their beliefs or else be punished. That is just un-American, and the RHAPP bill S.5829 must not be allowed to become law for that reason. Spitzer outraged the state's largest religious group (Catholics) with his advocacy of this legislation. The last thing New York needs in these rough times is a government-instigated religious war.

I wish you the best in your new job as Governor, and I pray that you will be able to heal the divisions in this state that your predecessor helped create and that you wisely guide my former home state in a new, conciliatory, and productive direction.



Thomas D. Clarke

formerly of Ridgewood, Queens, and Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn



Notes: Guy Vellela is a Bronx Republican former state senator who did jail time for accepting bribes. Alan Hevesi was convicted on felony charges in late 2006 for among other things using state funds (and state vehicles) to chauffeur his wife around NYC and Albany. And if David Paterson moves too far to the left or tries to become the second incarnation of Eliot "Job Killer Client 9" Spitzer, he will be hammered in my blogs as much as Spitzer and the Hildabeest are. But I will give Governor Paterson a chance to redeem himself first. After all, it will take a while to fumigate the Governor's mansion once Spitzer moves out.

And you didn't think I would celebrate the demise of Spitzer without a video of his resignation?

March 11, 2008

The fallout from Hookergate continues. Eliot "Client 9" Spitzer is still governor of New York, although his political career is as dead as NBC should be. I actually found a few internet posters who think that Hookergate was a Republican dirty tricks operation. No offense, but the Republicans don't have a dirty tricks operation that could manufacture something like this. The liberals and Spitzer defenders have to realize that their savior is not a saint, but something politically akin to the anti-Christ. You don't mess up the job market and antagonize nearly everyone without making everyone opposed to you. And Spitzer did far worse that mess up the job market and antagonize Wall Street (which coincidentally has seen a major rally since the news of Hookergate broke).

I am still unemployed. I spent most of today on the job hunt. Both applications I filed were with non-profits. One of them wants me back for an interview on Thursday. So much for the myth that conservatives are heartless bastards. But then they probably didn't know or care that I still volunteer with St. Mary's Cathedral or that I used to be a church usher at St. Pancras in Queens. But then it also shows the depths that Spitzer sunk to in his political career that a former church usher is one of his most virulent critics.

March 10, 2008

My least favorite politician Eliot Spitzer is at it again.



It is bad enough he destroyed thousands of jobs in New York when he was attorney general. It is bad enough the businesses he sued and settled with donated money to charities that either supported his gubernatorial bid or were run by his relatives. It is bad enough he thought it was a good idea to give drivers' licenses to people not in his state legally. It is bad enough he is so radically pro-infanticide that he thinks all health care providers (especially those opposed to abortion) should either provide abortions or not be allowed to practice medicine. It is bad enough that he used the New York State Police to have trail his political rival State Senate Leader Joe Bruno. It is bad enough that he thinks the most corrupt and overpaid state legislature in the country deserves a pay raise.

Now Spitzer is laundering money to pay for high class hookers. Spitzer (or Client 9, as he is referred to in the joint IRS/FBI investigation), cheated on his wife, and used an illegal money laundering scheme to pay for his mistress. Last time I checked, using the services of a prostitute was still illegal in New York. Last time I checked, laundering money to fund illegal activity was a federal offense (which is how the IRS first got involved). The more one learns about the real Eliot Spitzer, the more one finds out he is about as clean as a weasel with diarrhea. If Eliot Spitzer doesn't resign soon, the legislature should begin impeachment proceedings pronto. But given the recent history of slimeball politicians in the state, it might take a Federal conviction to get him out of office.

Spitzer's attempt at an apology (from CBS News)

This blog originally appeared in my other blog (netscaper113.townhall.com) about an hour ago. I feel vindicated because now nearly everyone in America knows what a scumbag Spitzer is and there is no way he can further his political career (or stay out of jail for much longer) after this latest scandal. But it is sad that he still got elected governor and that he did so much damage to my longtime home of New York. The Hildabeest is almost as corrupt as Spitzer. Before one thinks of electing her President, one should realize that if she is elected President, she will have a scandal that will result in calls for her resignation or impeachment. Does the United States really need another Clinton impeachment circus? Can the United States afford a Presidency that will closely resemble Spitzer's 15 months as Governor of New York?

March 4, 2008

It's been boring lately. 70 degrees one day, a snowstorm the next. All those applications, few responses, and the one interview request for the week pushed back because of the interviewer's family emergency. At least the unemployment is still coming.

I tried posting a personal ad on Craig's List last week. Along with a whole bunch of fembots, I did get one response from a real person. We've been exchanging e-mails for the last 3-4 days now, and she seems nice. I hope to meet her soon. But so far my accent has not turned her off. I wish I could say the same about the last CYACS event I attended, last Tuesday's (2/26) assistance with Pikes Peak Right to Life. In that event, I helped with their mailings. It was interesting meeting up with the regular CYACS members and the older volunteers who also came to help. But I didn't need to be reminded every 15 minutes that I wasn't in Brooklyn anymore. Yeah right.. in NY, the governor is trying to force abortions down the Catholic Hospitals' collective throats, while here in Colorado, the governor is pro-life and a former Catholic missionary. It's hard to believe Eliot [bleep]ing Spitzer and Bill Ritter are members of the same political party.

Yesterday, I joined Facebook. I think my profile there can be accessed here. I put up a lot of photos- including some of friends and family I didn't put up on my MySpace page (see links to the right). Why they needed my full name when MySpace didn't... I don't know. So far the only person from MySpace that I'm sure is on Facebook is Steve Peak (my former neighbor from Louieville with at least 4 music based profiles on MySpace). There are also some interesting groups there, including one for Pulse 87, one protesting the FARC and Hugo Chavez, and one that most who know me would have a hard time believing I didn't create- a group that advocates giving Memphis (the hellhole city I went to high school in from 1984-90) to Al Qaeda. But then if Al Qaeda does take over Memphis, I probably should get my grandfather George Clarke exhumed from Memorial Park and moved to a freer cemetery in a place I would like to visit.. maybe Michigan (his home state), Jacksonville, FL (the final resting places of his mother and his only son- my father), or Boulder County (the final resting place of his widow, my Grandmother Hazel). Fortunately, none of my relatives still live in that hellhole. The one who lives closest to there would be my niece Allie. In 2 years, she'll be going to college. I would like for her to go to NYU, Columbia, Brooklyn College, UCCS, or Colorado College, but for some reason, she wants to go to Ole Miss- a school with a symbol that her great-great-great grandfather (Adam Fogal) got maimed defending his country against in Gettysburg. Sherman didn't do enough damage to that area 140+ years ago.. and now those neo-confederate rednecks think they can dominate the culture again. They're almost as bad as the anti-religious left.

I hope to hear from certain friends in NYC again.. as soon as I can get my cell phone minutes increased or if some of them finally get a computer.


Also, I did probably the first cosmetic redesign of this blog in 3 years. There will be ads too. I can't encourage regular blog readers to support the ads of anything I would buy or endorse (legal disclaimer). But if Google tries to run ads for things I vehemently oppose (such as Spitzer, the Hildabeest, NBC, Planned Parenthood, PETA, Scientology, the Memphis Tourist Board, etc.), let me know. Hopefully, Blogger/Google won't be that stupid.

January 9, 2008

So far, 2008 has been an interesting year. The political primaries are going well against conventional wisdom. Hillary Clinton is no longer a lock to be the Democratic nominee (although unfortunately after last night's primaries in NH, she hasn't been knocked out of the race, either). John McCain, the only Presidential candidate on my MySpace friends list (and the only one of the candidates besides Giuliani whom I've met in person- at the VFW in Staten Island in November 1999), won big last night and is probably now the Republican front runner. If by some horrific nightmare come true Hillary does win the nomination, I strongly encourage McCain to bring up the political misdeeds of her New York allies, especially Eliot "Job Killer" Spitzer and corrupt trial lawyer/Assembly speaker Sheldon "Shyster" Silver. If Hillary wins in November, hello Ireland, or maybe Ensenada or San Miguel de Allende, or St. Catherine's, Ontario.

As of this afternoon, I am back at work, at the same job that laid me off 6 weeks ago. At the very least, it means about $75 more per week than unemployment, and no longer being able to attend weekday CYACS (Colorado Springs Catholic Young Adults) events or watch the evening newscasts or Jeopardy. But I am very good at assembling faucets, and the pace of work means I get a full gym workout without paying gym membership (indeed.. getting paid nearly $280 a week for that workout). I can now catch up on the afternoon talk radio again.. hello Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt, and the others who convinced me to start that other blog on townhall.com.

And now, I can catch up on back student loan payments, although I still refuse to pay more than $3 for a gallon of milk or more than 50 cents for a pound of pasta.

I gave my MySpace address to several of the newcomers at last night's CYACS event. I'm not sure if Jennifer is one of them or not.. but it is nice knowing that there are people involved in the techno/dance music scene here in the Springs.. and she has a nice singing voice. I am still criticized for singing in full Brooklyn accent during Mass. I guess that's what 11 years in NYC (plus 3 years as a church usher in Queens) will do to youse.

December 9, 2007

While there are a lot of things I missed about not living in NYC anymore, one of the things I didn't miss (besides having Eliot "Job Killer" Spitzer for a governor) was the relative safety from terrorism here in Colorado Springs. NYC is Al Qaeda's number one target. The last time they struck, I was about 5 miles downwind from the towers. One of the priests from my parish at the time (St. Francis of Assisi on W 32nd St) was killed in those attacks. I knew at least 3 people who barely made it out of lower Manhattan alive. Nearly every parish in the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn has a plaque or memorial of one of their parishioners who died that day. No American should have to go through what thousands of New Yorkers had to go through back in 2001. And one would think with President Bush's War on Terror and Al Qaeda on the run in Iraq that America is safer now. And certainly, a mid sized city on the edge of the Rocky Mountains that is probably unknown to the head killers at Al Qaeda would be safer than NYC, wouldn't it?

Not at all.

Around 1PM MT today, someone decided to shoot up the New Life church, which is about 3 miles from where I'm writing this blog. They got as far as the parking lot, and 4 people (including 2 young girls) were wounded by the gunfire. Now most of the area near Voyager and Interquest is on lockdown. About 13 hours before the New Life shootings, another gunman shot up a Protestant youth missionary site in Arvada, killing 2 people.It's pretty obvious that the New Life and Arvada shootings are anti-Christian terrorist attacks. (For the record, I have major theological disagreements with the New Life crowd.)

No one knows yet if the Colorado church shooters are involved with Al Qaeda. It certainly wouldn't be beneath Al Qaeda to kill a few Americans at a soft target such as a church- in fact, it might be their Christmas wish for the year. But more likely, these shootings were single or dual party cells, fomented by extreme religious hatred. There are numerous examples of anti-religious bigotry in this country. At least one odious example is a so-called religious group called Westboro Baptist in Topeka, KS. Their hatred includes such infamous websites such as godhatesfags.com, godhatesamerica.com, and godhatessweden.com. But the bigger purveyors of religious hatred in this country are on the American left, aided by the ideology of politicians such as Eliot "Baby Killer" Spitzer (see the Dec. 1 2007 blog for his war on NY's Catholics), Hillary Clinton, Sheldon Silver, Air (anti) America, and the liberal Hollywood and atheist movements. In some ways, the anti-religious left has become a type of Al Qaeda ideological movement. But up until now, that movement hasn't driven anyone to kill.

Now it has.

Pat Buchanan may be extremist on many issues, but he was dead on in the 1990s about the culture war. This is why it is vital to the survival of the United States of America that someone not on the anti-religious left becomes President next year. An anti-religious President will polarize this already fractured country, and since the militia movements tend not ally themselves with the anti-religious left, the next bloodshed in the culture war could lead to another civil war. Imagine the Irish Troubles, with 200 times more victims, 200 times more guns, and millions of casualties.

Maybe regardless of who wins in 2008, I should be looking for jobs and real estate in Ireland.

December 1, 2007

I have been busy on my first day of unemployment. I have a couple of interviews scheduled for Monday (the 3rd). And for the first time in a long while, I have been able to submit media opinions to widely-read (or viewed) outlets. The following are a comment to the NY Sun's website and an e-mail to Lou Dobbs of CNN, both concerning the slimeball who is still governor of New York:

Submitted by Thomas D. Clarke, Dec 1, 2007 14:30 (NY Sun)

On Day 1, everything changed. Instead of getting an increasingly inept Republican governor (Pataki), 70% of New Yorkers (I was not one of them), elected Spitzer into office. Somehow, they were conned into thinking Spitzer would be a reformer and a fiscal conservative. Never mind the fact that the greatest threats to reform and fiscal responsibility (i.e. the Democratic Assembly) were the biggest supporters of Spitzer to begin with. And of course no one knew or cared that in Spitzer's previous job (Attorney General), he did more to chase jobs out of New York than anyone not employed by Al Qaeda. His actions against Marsh and McClellan alone (6000+ jobs destroyed in a lawsuit Spitzer filed and lost while prosecuting) should have disqualified him from being governor.

And now, his attempted (but so far unsuccessful) achievements as governor include:

Trying to force Catholic and other pro-life health care providers to perform abortions
Pay raises for the most dysfunctional legislature in the United States
Increased taxes in the most taxed state after campaigning against tax hikes in 2006
Allowing non-legal residents of New York to have official NY Drivers' Licenses (for some reason, this is the only Spitzer atrocity that has elicited outrage outside the Northeast)

At the very least, Spitzer and his cronies in the state legislature should be impeached or recalled. Ideally, the state Constitution should be amended or re-written to where reforms are enacted, the legislature is pared to one chamber (similar to Nebraska's unicameral legislature- this restructuring alone could save NY billions in taxpayer money), and a clear statewide recall statute which if enacted could prevent Spitzer, Shelly Silver, and other snake oil lawmakers from ruining the state further.

Also, I am of the strong opinion that Spitzer and the state legislature should be forced to take a 40-70 percent pay cut.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

E-mail to Lou Dobbs at CNN, December 1, 2007:

As a longtime resident of New York who recently moved to Colorado, I am intrigued by Lou Dobbs's comments on my former state's atrocious governor Eliot Spitzer. Spitzer lied about his record as attorney general (and how many jobs he destroyed as part of his politically motivated anti-Wall Street crusades), and lied about being a reformer and a tax cutting "fiscal conservative". In 2006, I was one of the few (29%) of NY voters who was not conned by his bovine excrement. And while his crackpot scheme to allow people not in the US legally to obtain NY Driver's Licenses failed, he is still doing a lot of harm to my former home. He pushed through increased state spending (mostly to his pet projects- just like he did when he was Attorney General) and is now flip-flopping on his promise not to raise taxes- in the most overtaxed state in the Union. He has brought Albany corruption to a new low by using state troopers to spy on his biggest political rival (Senate Leader Joe Bruno, who is no saint himself). And Spitzer has declared war on New York's largest religious group by trying to force Catholic health insurers to pay for abortion and by attempting to decertify any Catholic-run hospital that refuses on moral grounds to perform abortions.

Eliot Spitzer is not fit to be Governor of New York. He should resign. The right-wing talk shows and blogosphere should not be the only ones bringing the atrocities Spitzer has wrought upon New York to light. And the illegal drivers' license scheme is not even the worst thing Spitzer has done. Spitzer is not an idiot. He is far worse.

Thomas D. Clarke, Colorado Springs, CO 80920; formerly of Ridgewood, NY 11385, and Brooklyn, NY 11235

(note: these letters were also printed on my MySpace blog, available at www.myspace.com/tdclarke)

October 27, 2007

Normally, I don't like discussing politics on this blog. 2006 and the Spitzer debacle was the big exception. Here was a fraudulent, rich, elitist, anti-private sector attorney general who bought his way into the attorney general's position, started suing every business he could, and lied and conned his way into the NY governor's mansion. There was a lot of blame to go around there- the NY Democratic Party (easily the most obscenely corrupt and liberal gaggle of politicians in the United States), the NY Republican Party (for bending over to Spitzer and not even bothering to fund their candidates in 2006), the NY Post (a normally conservative paper that until recently believed Spitzer's lies about cleaning up the state). Sad to say, but I put out probably the only independent website that opposed Spitzer before his election. But that webpage completely changed focus after I moved back to Colorado Springs.

Now 2008 is coming up. The Democratic National Convention will be held about 60 miles north of my residence in 10 months. Which Democrats will prevail there? Will they be the common sense Democrats like Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, PA Senator Bill Casey, and Tom Suozzi, or the misled leftist Democrats like Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and John Edwards, or the lunatic fringe Democrats like Dennis Kucinich, Pete Stark, Nancy Pelosi, and Howard Dean, or the true slimeballs like Eliot Spitzer, Sheldon Silver, and Hillary Clinton? And for the record, I will seriously consider renouncing my US citizenship if Hillary Clinton is elected President next year. After all, I did move out of my longtime home of New York City after Spitzer got elected. His job killing crusade against my longtime seasonal employer (the New York Racing Association) also helped there.

October 14, 2007

5 months ago, I moved back to Colorado. I have a new home now, in the Briargate section of Colorado Springs. The rent is a bit cheaper, and the amenities are a lot nicer. And instead of a human roommate who shares my first name, I now have a feline roommate who shares my first name.

More to come when I have more time to write.

July 1, 2007

A lot has changed since I moved back to Colorado on May 11. I still don't have a car. I have a decent paying warehouse/assembly job that is about 15-20 minutes by foot from my residence. Before that, I had a very disastrous stint with Goodwill Staffing that resulted in me getting fired, my supervisor attempting to blacklist me from ever using any Goodwill services (or stores), a few calls to Goodwill NY's Member For Life program (because the blacklisting threat violated Goodwill policy far more than anything I did while I was employed by Goodwill Staffing of Colorado Springs), and a renewed claim for NY's Unemployment program. Normally, an unemployment claim in NY takes 6-8 weeks to process, but I got the unemployment money last Friday. I faxed them a report about my experiences with Goodwill Staffing, the name of the [bleep] who fired and threatened to blacklist me, and my complaints to Goodwill of NY about their Springs office's practices (along with the number and extension of the NY Goodwill lady who handled my complaint against their Springs office). Within 5 days of sending that fax, I got my money. Now July's rent, groceries, and the first student loan payment I've been able to make in years (excluding those income tax repossessions of the last 2 years) are taken care of. I don't expect any more unemployment money now that I am employed, but with my new salary, I can handle rent, groceries (even at Colorado Springs prices), student loan payments, and (hopefully by August), a car. I started the Woodford job 10 days ago, and in that time, I have made more money and had far fewer work issues or problems with management than I did in my brief tenure with Goodwill Staffing. I just wish I qualified for Holiday Pay on Labor Day instead of the following week.

Going to Mass on Sundays is a bit of a hassle out here without a car. There are no Catholic churches within 2 miles of my residence, and the neighborhood parish system that is used in the Brooklyn diocese is not used in Colorado Springs. Because of the Sunday bus schedule, the easiest parish to get to from my neighborhood is St. Mary's Cathedral in Downtown. I was welcomed warmly by the parishioners there. St. Mary's has been in a bit of transition as of late, too. Their longtime pastor, Father Donald Dunn, retired last week. Their new pastor, Father Frank Quezada, has his formal installation as pastor next week. I was informed today by Bonnie of the parish Welcoming Committee that they are in desperate need of ushers for the 11:45 AM bilingual Mass. If they take my previous ushering experience from St. Pancras into consideration, I could end up being one of those new ushers at that Mass. And it would be nice knowing some Spanish words that are appropriate to use in a church, as opposed to the 10 years of "temp agency Spanish" I learned at various jobs in New York. And maybe I could find out more about that Pope John Paul II novena that some of the parishioners were talking about after mass this morning.

May 14, 2007

A lot has happened since I last posted here. I was without internet service for 4 months at home. And at the end of April, I found out thanks to the NYC Buildings Department that my home was an illegal residence and I had to move. As of Friday, May 11, I have lived in Colorado Springs, in a subdivision less than 2 miles from my childhood home (and in the same ZIP code, 80915) .

There is much to detail on, but I only have 55 minutes on the Penrose Library computers. I sold my computer, TV set, and clothes to help finance the move out here.

January 21, 2007

I started off today like most Sundays- ushering at St. Pancras. I was well bundled because it was about 20 degrees outside. Fortunately, the 9:30 Mass had extra ushers because the Mass was packed. It was a special Mass for the CYO- and it seemed like everyone under 18 that was registered at St. Pancras parish was at that Mass. Overall, between 300 churchgoers (and at least 80 children) and 7 ushers, the Mass went smoothly. Even Father Gallo (the pastor) joinend in by attempting to auction off his CYO team jacket. The bidding was stopped at $100.

I got home after Mass and found my DSL was still on for another day. I got an e-mail from my sister Suz. After the bunnycide incident involving my nephew Jamie, Suz had him institutionalized. For at least the next 16 days, Jamie will be evaluated at Crossroads Regional Mental Health Center in Alexandria, LA. I'm a bit curious as to why there aren't any hospitals in the Baton Rouge area (currently the largest city in the state, and about 100 miles closer to where Suz and Jamie live than Alexandria is) that can handle a messed up 8 year old.

January 20, 2007

The new year of 2007 is nearly 3 weeks old. And for me, it has been nothing short of a disaster. I was forced to apply for public assistance because I was rejected for unemployment. I have not been able to find another job. In fact, pending medical results (which should be due around February 6), I am not even in the typical public assistance job search programs. This means I am stuck at home- without normal phone service (my phone is unable to make calls because I can no longer afford the Lifeline phone bill), and without any money or metrocards to get out of home. The DSL is supposed to be cut off soon, and with it, my last lifeline to most of the outside world.

The world outside doesn't look so hot, either. Hillary Clinton (wife of the worst President in my lifetime) just announced she's running for President, joining a lineup of for the most part, either inexperienced or just plain awful candidates running to take over my distant cousin's job next year.

Closer to home, I found out from my sister that my soon-to-be 9 year old nephew Jamie has problems. Apparently he likes to kill small animals. First it was a puppy last year. This morning, it was a pet bunny he received for Christmas. And while my sister was hauling him off to the local psychiatric center, Jamie was more concerned about his video games than about the dead rabbit in the backyard.

And my former friend Jon seems to be plotting something. After feuding with my friend Tyrone for over a year, Jon decided to be friendly to Tyrone. And Jon also announced to Tyrone that he's suing me over the van incident from 2005. And that ingrate Jon wonders why I won't call him anymore.

December 25, 2006

Boy, has this been a horrible December.

I knew weeks ago I would be unemployed by now. But I had no idea until last week that I would be stuck in New York and going onto public assistance because my car had died. That among other things, cancelled the move to Colorado Springs, as well as the 3 job interviews I had scheduled there for this week.

And to paraphrase that old techno song from 1992, James Brown really is dead now.

December 6, 2006

Wow.

Someone got my MySpace account yanked. At this time, I don't have the resources necessary to renew it. I have a move in 17-18 days. At least I won't be going alone.

And my car is acting up.

December 2, 2006

A lot has happened since I last posted here. I have made new friends and have become embroiled in a very bitter battle with someone I had considered a friend for 9 years. Among other things, this means no more Box Office Poison plugs on this website (unless they fire and blacklist their bassist).

I am about 3 weeks away from the big move. I now have contacts and a voice mail number for Colorado Springs. There's a small chance I may be taking 1 or 2 others on the 1900 mile drive to Colorado. I have had several responses from potential employers in the Springs. Even if none of them pan out, my current employer has an office in Denver (although I would be looking at New York style hour plus commuting if I take that route). I am also enrolled at the Pikes Peak Work Force job center.

But as of right now, I still don't have a place to move to. I had 2 near certain deals off of Powers Blvd that fell apart at the last second due to locals providing the rent money up front before I could.

I got a call from my sister a few days ago. She said that one of my aunts was looking up a disorder called Asperger Disorder, and they both think I have it. I see my NY shrink for the last time on December 20, so I'll find out in 3 weeks if she thinks that I have it. I somewhat hope that my new roommate Joseph and those hot girls he's trying to hook me up with don't read this blog....

November 8, 2006

After seeing the results from last night's elections, I can't believe how out-of-touch American and New York voters have become. The Democrats (led by leftist Nancy Pelosi) have taken control of the House of Representatives. With a few exceptions (most notably Independent Joe Lieberman), anti-war candidates won big, which means a pullout from the front line on the War on Terror and another high probability of another US attack by Al Qaeda. Lawsuit-happy Job Killers (Eliot Spitzer) and soon-to-be-indicted crooks (Alan Hevesi, Robert Menendez) have been elected in New York and New Jersey. Democrats even won key races in Pennsylvania and Colorado, although those Democrats tend to be less corrupt and more conservative than New York Democrats. I am truly ashamed and disgusted to be from New York after seeing the local election results. But I have a right to complain. Unlike many who stayed home, saying their votes won't count, I did vote on November 7. And to the leftist crooks who won big last night in New York, you can have this state. I'm moving out in a few weeks. But I do have a lot of friends who can't afford to leave New York, so don't completely fuck up my former state and city.

October 29, 2006

Only 8 more weeks to go. Tomorrow my sister turns 32. And I have a lot to do in the next 8 weeks- collect at least $600 necessary for the move; vote; send my sister a card; find storage for all that stuff; find a place; make sure the transfer goes through; and get all my bills settled before December 25. At this point, I will most likely use my current employer to transfer me out of town. I will still end up in Colorado Springs, but it may be in mid-2007 if I don't get a job right away in late December (in which case, I will probably end up in the Denver area or Pittsburgh).

October 1, 2006

On this date 71 years ago, my father was born. As most people who know me or read this blog already know, he died in 1995, so he won't be having any big bashes to celebrate the big 7-1.

I am sure he would be proud of his 2 grandchildren. Allie is doing well. Jamie is doing well despite his ADD. My sister has significantly recovered from his death.

However, I don't think he would be too pleased with me.

September 30, 2006

This month sure sucked. I have spent most of it unemployed and not collecting unemployment. In addition to Eliot "Job Killer" Spitzer way ahead in the polls, now his ideological soulmates are poised to take control of Congress. Instead of trying to win in Iraq, they want to leave Iraq to the Al Qaeda types. This country is definitely headed in the wrong direction- and the only ones who can save it are ridiculed and way behind in the polls.

September 8, 2006

3 more months..

How I'm going to survive the next 3 months, I don't know. I lost yet 2 more jobs in the past 2 weeks.

I got e-mail an individual in Westport, NY, which promised information on my Clarke ancestors that called that area home 150 years ago.

And 3 more days to convince my Democratic friends that Tom Suozzi would make a lot better governor than Eliot "Job Killer" Spitzer will...

August 26, 2006

Wow. It's been 10 years since I first moved to New York. In late August and in September of 1996, I was renting from vaious weekly hotels and the Flushing YMCA. By December, I had finally found work (which caused my debts to balloon). And now, I've been with one employer for 7 months and a certain Long Island temp agency for over 9 years. But that long, strange stay in New York will likely come to an end by Christmas.

I've spent some time on MySpace- now that my sister and niece have accounts there, too.

The official ISP provider of this blog has changed (as of August 23) from Netscape dial-up to Verizon DSL. I am not sure who will be providing the connection if I do move back to Colorado Springs in 4 months.

And Eliot "Job Killer" Spitzer is way out in front for the November Governor's race. If he does win, my anti-Spitzer site will change to an "escape Spitzer" site, with links on how to flee the state before he takes office January 1, 2007.

July 1, 2006

July 1- the halfway point of the year. I have been at my current job for 5 months. I have a car that runs pretty well, and gets very good city mileage. I still have friends, and with the car, it is a little easier to visit them out in Brooklyn. I recently got a cellphone, which I am still tying to figure out how to use since cellphones are more complicated now than they were in 1999. And it is too damn hot outside. So what else is new.. not much. I'm still single, still underweight, still asthmatic, still living in an overpriced room in Queens.

May 7, 2006

It is already May- the fifth month of the year. And tomorrow, I turn 34. But at least now I have a car, which I get to pick up on Friday. And I have to balance this blog with another blog I write on my new My Space site. Instead of working tomorrow, I get to spend most of the day at Coney Island Hospital undergoing my semi-annual asthma evaluation. So far, 34 means I'm getting older, upsetting more people, earning the same or less in income, and getting closer to the ages at which my parents died.

April 13, 2006

Supposedly on this date 1976 years ago (the exact date has been disputed), Jesus was executed outside Jerusalem. Most Christians celebrate Jesus's death (and eventual resurrection) on Easter Sunday and the preceding Friday (which happens to be tomorrow). Next time you think of any big sacrifice, remember what happened on the night before Good Friday. A healer, who cured the sick, changed water into wine, and called out his religion's superiors on their hypocrisy, was praying that a cup (unbearable for pretty much anyone) would pass him by. That symbolic cup was knowing that your own friend and confidant was betraying you to those who would kill you. Instead of fleeing, Jesus was waiting to be arrested. And when Peter cut off the ear of one of those who arrested Jesus, Jesus healed the guy and rebuked Peter.

April 6, 2006

Greetings, all, from the Netscaper 113 sickbed in Queens. I still don't know what caused me to get sick, but I missed work yesterday and spent most of this morning at Elmhurst Hospital. I have to return there tomorrow to get back the last of my test results. I did get one test result back this morning: I am not HIV positive. Not that I fall in any of the risk categories for HIV, but I did get a free HIV test to go along with my other exam. The HIV test was administered orally, as opposed to using needles. And I was able to get the results back in an hour. I still have a stomach ailment and a bad skin condition, but at least I don't have a killer virus. I am stuck on a soup and bread diet for a few days until the stomach ailment goes away.

I don't intend on discussing the rising gas prices or Spitzer campaign in this post (I'm sick enough as it is), but there has been major news that will affect my TV viewing. When Bob Schieffer took the anchor job at CBS Evening News in March 2005, he said his job was temporary. Well, CBS finally found Bob's replacement: Katie Couric from NBC (also known as National Bull Crap for the way they treat news). I don't blame Katie for wanting to leave the cesspool of broadcast journalism, but I don't think her signing was a great move by CBS. CBS's evening news ratings have risen considerably since Bob Schieffer took over last year. Do they really think the co-anchor of a morning show that omitted the most newsworthy event at last year's Thanksgiving Day Parade is a good choice? And NBC has already announced Katie's replacement: Meredith Viera, who currently hosts "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and the odious ABC talk show called "The View". Wasn't Meredith Viera the same 60 Minutes former correspondent who announced how glad she was that she was out of journalism following the September 11th attacks? Well, Today isn't a news show, it's a crap fest. And Meredith, no amount of Lysol is going to get that smell off the new entry on your resume.

March 31, 2006

Well folks, the month of March is almost over. I spent most of it working. I am still recovering from a 52.5 hour work week that ended yesterday. I am off work until Sunday, and will be catching up on 3 weeks of lost sleep.

The primaries aren't until September, but already, Spitzer and Suozzi are airing their commercials on television. Spitzer claims in his commercials that he's the savior of the state, but I don't want any of that Drano he's passing off as campaign kool-aid. One of Spitzer's commercials trumpeted his prosecutions- including Marsh and McClellan, which was found NOT GUILTY of Spitzer's accusations. But the resulting legal fees forced Marsh and McClellan to lay off more than 5000 people- the biggest single job loss incident in New York since 9/11. Suozzi's commercials attack the Albany establishment- most of whom should lose their jobs. But Suozzi seems to forget that the biggest threat to economic and employment security in this state is not Albany, but his opponent Spitzer.

To those who are afraid of higher taxes, of their job security, of having to join their relatives in moving out of state, whatever you do, do NOT vote for Spitzer. But if Spitzer does become governor, Colorado Springs is always looking for new employers and residents. In the meantime, any opponents of Spitzer are welcome to use my bumpersticker idea- "Been sued out of a job yet? Stop Spitzer now. Vote for..."

March 4, 2006

It's Lenten time, folks.

Traditionally, Lent is the 40 days before Easter. Ash Wednesday starts Lent, and many church services symbolize this time of sacrifice and prayer by having ashes on their foreheads. Some think it is their religious duty to have those ashes. Surprisingly, it is not. For Catholics, Ash Wednesday isn't even a holy day of obligation (i.e. a day you have to go to Mass). Those ashes do symbolize death and sacrifice. The old symbolism involved sackcloth and ashes, now, an appropriate might involve the ashes created from the process of cremation. I can remark that 10 years ago this month, I saw how much life can be in a pile of ashes- when what was supposed to be a routine ash scattering off the Jacksonville Beach Pier turned into a spiritual experience involving me, my great-uncle Bill Stokes (who died 5 months after that incident), and my great-aunt Gladys Stokes.

My father's final wish was that his ashes would be scattered off the Jacksonville Beach fishing pier he frequented when he was growing up. One time in the 1940s, he was fishing and caught a baby hammerhead shark. We joked 50 years later that the hammerhead's relatives would be looking for him. In late March of 1996, I opened up the plastic box with his ashes. Instead of dropping into the ocean waters below, they flew out of the box like some spirit had been released. As I found out 6 months later during Bill Stokes's ash scattering in Plymouth, MI, this was not a normal occurance.

As far as I know, Gladys Stokes is still well and living outside Myrtle Beach, SC. I haven't heard from her in nearly 5 years due to an ugly family feud that ensued following the death of her oldest daughter (and my father's cousin) Pamala Stokes. I was one of 6 family members that bothered to show up for Pamala's funeral at Tower Hill Presbyterian Church in Red Bank, NJ, in August 2001. But Pamala had a lot of friends, and it was standing room only during her funeral service.

Since Ash Wednesday 2005, my friends have had their own losses to deal with. Jon Koza lost his grandmother a few months ago, and shortly afterwards, his fiancee Dara's grandmother also died. Last week, Diana Pensabene lost her father. Tyrone Griffith lost his 90 year old great-grandfather 5 months ago. Jon and I attended the wake- and despite the sorrow of losing Kinnard Sypher, his family and friends had a very spiritual and uplifting service. It is like Bill Stokes, Pamala Stokes, Mr. Sypher, Mr. Pensabene, and Mrs. Cohen that we will end up eventually. Many are still mourning. But Lent is here to remind us of our pending death, and our renewal in a new life.

And now that this composition is over, I have about an hour to get ready for my usher gig at this afternoon's 4:30PM Mass at St. Pancras Catholic Church in Glendale.