September 25, 2010

As of this writing, I have spent a combined total of 6 years in my hometown of Colorado Springs. But this city keeps changing (probably more so than NYC over the last 3 years), and not always for the better.

With maybe 3 exceptions, the people I knew and socialized with during my last stint in the Springs (May 2007-May 2008) aren't here anymore. This city has one of the highest turnover rates in the country. Some of it is due to the military presence. That's how my family ended up here in 1973 and why it left by the end of the 1970s. In 2007, medical marijuana had few dispensaries in this state. Now, there's too many to count in this city (including one just 2 blocks from where I go to Mass) and the unincorporated parts of El Paso County are trying to outlaw them. And it is not that difficult for a physically well pothead to get a prescription for a joint. Wisely, all the major colleges outlaw "legal" marijuana on their campuses. Maybe the Feds should step in and remind them that non-medicinal use of marijuana is still illegal under Federal law, despite what one would believe by reading the back "Cannabiz" section of the Colorado Springs Independent.

The media and politics are also screwed up here. Why is it that the Republicans have a better chance of taking back Albany than Denver? Because the Colorado state Republican party totally screwed up. An unknown candidate by the name of Dan Maes beat the establishment candidate of Scott McInnis (mainly due to Maes's strong support in this county, since excluding the El Paso Republican results, McInnis won everywhere else in the state). And what does that mean now? An underfunded candidate being attacked by the right (Tom Tancredo, who left the Republicans for the American Constitution Party) and the left (Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, who is a lot more liberal than outgoing Democrat Governor Bill Ritter). At least the tea party is actively supporting Republican candidates Ken Buck (for Senate) and Scott Tipton (who is running against a member of the infamous anti-Springs Salazar clan for Pueblo's Congressional seat). At least in New York, Carl Paladino has enough money to counter the Democratic machine. Hell, Carl Paladino and Rush Limbaugh recently discovered that Village Voice article from 2008 that ties Andrew Cuomo to HUD policies that caused the housing crisis that caused the Great Recession. What is it with New York Democrats and their love affair with candidates that are proven job and economy killers? Hello- read anything I've written on this blog between 2006-2008 with the keyword of "Spitzer".

And the local media... I understand Colorado Springs is too small to have all the dailies and free papers that New York City has. But 75 cents is way too overpriced for what the only paper in town gets you. And according to the Nielsen ratings, the number one station in this media market isn't even based in Colorado Springs or affiliated with a watchable network. Between KKTV, KRDO, and KXRM, are there are 3 pretty good alternatives. As far as broadcast quality, I would probably rate KRDO and KXRM ahead of their broadcast networks' owned stations in New York (although WABC and WYNW get better ratings in New York than KRDO and KXRM do in Colorado Springs). And now that the damn Pueblo station's main digital signal picks up in the Springs, why are they on both Channel 42 and Channel 30? KHWS TV is fairly good, but it can only be picked up on cable since they don't have a digital signal. And one also needs cable to get the Ion family of networks. And how come Accuweather isn't on any digital subchannels here? And let's not forget our local cable company is Comcast, which also now owns the worst network in broadcasting and gives it channel preference over most of the Springs stations.

And as far as KKTV, while they're no WCBS, they tend to have the best local news, although one would not believe that by reading the local Nielsens. But I do have a gripe with KKTV- despite being the last VHF station in town (and by far the strongest digital signal on my converter box), they want to move from Channel 10 to Channel 49. Why, so they can weaken their signal? So they can lose their coverage in the the southern Denver suburbs and in Southeastern Colorado? Ever since WCBS was forced to move to UHF in New York, they've lost a lot of coverage in Orange and Suffolk Counties. The FCC is allowing WCBS to get a repeater signal on 22 since WCBS's main signal on 33 conflicts with WFSB Hartford's signal, also on 33. Before 2009, WCBS was on Channel 2 and WFSB was on Channel 3, and both could be picked up in the far northern suburbs. Now, neither can be picked up without cable. Great going, FCC. I see KKTV moving to Channel 49, falling further behind in the ratings, and possibly losing their longtime CBS affiliation if they don't apply for more repeater signals.

While CBS is the dominant primetime network and (in NYC, Philly, Chicago, and LA) a heavily listened to radio news source, there is no CBS radio news in Colorado Springs. CBS lost their longtime affiliate, KVOR-AM (the original owner and callsign of KKTV) in 2007. Despite the fact that KRDO-AM/FM was (and still is) an ABC news affiliate, KVOR's owner decided to switch to ABC. But then KVOR's owner (Citadel) bought ABC's radio networks and could have easily yanked that from KRDO-AM/FM, but didn't. There are also 2 Fox News radio affiliates that pick up here (KZNT and KCSJ).

And now, I need an internet connection to listen to anything resembling a news radio station or a dance music station

August 10, 2010

There has been a break in blogging due to my move. I am now living in the west end of Colorado Springs, CO. The area is very scenic, but the rent is a little high and the amenities are malfunctioning at times (namely the free cable and the wireless internet, which is why I'm posting this from the Old Colorado City Library). I start work on Monday the 16th- making this period (July 31-August 15) the longest I've spent not working since the last time I was living in Colorado.

Today is primary day in Colorado. Normally I would be outspoken about who to vote for, but I can't in these primary elections because (A) I can't vote in them (I moved here too late to vote in the primaries), (B) the campaigns are even more negative than what I've seen in New York, and (C), all the candidates with the exception of unopposed Democratic gubernatorial nominee John Hickenlooper, are to the right of most New York politicians.

I will probably vote for whomever wins the Republican primaries in the fall. Hickenlooper is way too liberal for my tastes (and way too far to the left of retiring Democrat Governor Bill Ritter), and former Republican/ACP candidate Tom Tancredo is way too extremist for my tastes. Unfortunately, Tancredo has a lot of support in this state, and his entry into the race could make leftist John Hickenlooper the next governor.

And for some reason, I reactivated my Facebook account. Now I can waste time when I do have internet access talking to old friends from New York and my relatives.

July 20, 2010

Outside of a highly probable move back to Colorado Springs in 2 weeks, nothing else much to report. I am still off of Facebook. Certain longtime friends I had disputes with last month are still not talking to me. I finally got to return to Bash Bish Falls in Massachusetts for the first time in 4 years last weekend. I have never seen the place so crowded! And the water levels were low, which meant I could cross to the other side of the falls without getting wet. I didn't go to far, since my normal work shoes are not designed for mountain hiking. Out of all the scenic places I wanted to visit when I moved back to NYC in 2008, the only one I haven't visited yet is Montauk, but I should be visiting there next weekend. Ironically, the first time I visited Montauk was a week before I left NYC for a 3 month stay in Pennsylvania, in 2003.

June 27, 2010

It has been more than a year since I last posted here. In that time, my residence and job title have not changed, although my employer's payroll office has moved twice in that time. Michael Jackson is still dead. So are President Obama's sky-high approval ratings.

This may be my main online outlet to the world since I decided to get rid of my MySpace and Facebook accounts. It is sad that in this day and age that one should determine their ability to make friends by how many "friends" they have on Facebook. I had at most 42 "friends" on Facebook, and nearly half of those were relatives that I mistakenly advised to join the service. I actually helped create 3 Facebook profiles and assisted in adding photos and comments to 3 other profiles. But maybe Aunt Nancy and Uncle Rodger were right- who wants to post all that info online and allow anyone with internet access to read it?

And who in real life has over 100 friends? Or, in the case of a certain estranged niece and a former friend from New Jersey, over 500 friends? I've never had that many friends- and thanks to a dispute with someone I thought was my best friend, I noticed a lot of people "unfriending" me on Facebook. But then, I hated the idea of cliques in high school (which for me thankfully ended over 20 years ago), and I don't care for them now at age 38.

June 25, 2009

Today was a fairly eventful day even before I returned home and turned on WCBS-DT's news. My last delivery of the day had a name of "Doorman" and a 64th Street address on the work radio. And it wasn't until I made the pickup when I found out who it was going to. Ruth Madoff. The wife of Bernie, as the mailroom guy at the pickup spot verified. I figured it would probably be signed for by the doorman since Ruth Madoff wouldn't risk the stalkerazzi to pick up a simple envelope from a certain media outlet. And I was right, although the doorman looked at that envelope like it was a payoff or something (it wasn't).


I turned on the news after I got home to find out Farrah Fawcett had died and that Michael Jackson was taken to a hospital in Los Angeles after undergoing "major cardiac arrest". I don't remember much of "Charlie's Angels", but I do know nearly every guy who came of age in the 1970s had a pinup of Farrah on his wall. In real life, she was involved with (although not formally married to, in a violation of her Catholic faith) another actor named Ryan O'Neal. The most telling footage of her death came when Ryan O'Neal approached the stalkerazzi and informed them that "she's gone" and drove off. For the sake of their family, I hope the stalkerazzi doesn't camp out in front of their house or her pending funeral Mass.

By 6:20PM EDT, WCBS was reporting that Michael Jackson was pronounced dead. It took about a half hour for other news outlets on the internet to confirm the story. Despite his sickening personal life, Michael Jackson was a very major force in American popular music, right up there with Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. His 1982 album Thriller (which I still have in my CD collection) is the biggest selling album of all time. He combined music, dance, and the then-new music video in a way no one had done before or since. There are very few people in the civilized world of my generation that don't know what a Moonwalk is or who could name at least 10 of his number one singles.

But let's not forget that Michael Jackson did have a very sick personal life. He was a probable pedophile. I didn't take many liberties when I wrote a parody of his 1980 hit "She's Out of My Life" called "They're Out of My Life"- they referring to the boys of what he called sleepovers. It was another Thomas surnamed Sneddon who never forgot what Michael Jackson did to those boys. And Jackson repaid Sneddon with a snuff song off his 1995 HIStory album called "D.S.".

I would not be surprised if after this Gay Pride Week, Michael Jackson is outed as bisexual. His kids were not conceived the old fashioned way. About the only wife who will admit to sleeping with him was Lisa Marie Presley, although that brief marriage was more of a failed business merger than anything resembling traditional marriage.

But Michael Jackson is gone now. To paraphrase my Godmother (who actually used this saying about her dead father, my grandfather)- It is going to be very weird without him around. And for a week or so at least, the craziest media circus in America won't be in the Senate Chambers of Albany, NY.

June 8, 2009

I returned to work today after spending the weekend recovering from Friday's ER visit. I got my medicine after work. I also injured my left arm (which had the IV in it Friday) while carrying some heavy garment bags.

But I've spent most of the evening updating my blogs after watching Channel 2's 5PM news.

WCBS-TV, WABC-TV, and WNYW-TV (all 3 from New York City) are reporting that New York State Senate Democrats Pedro Espada and Hiram Monserrate are joining the GOP coalition, which means that the Republicans have just retaken the state senate (with a 32-30 majority) after losing their narrow majority to the Democrats last November. This new caucus has voted Dean Skelos back to his pre-November 2008 position as Senate Majority Leader. Pedro Espada has been voted in as Senate President, which thanks to Spitzergate means Espada could be the acting governor if something happens to the current governor, David Paterson.

The New York Post and Daily News are reporting that noted NY conservative Tom Golisano was deeply involved in convincing Espada and Monserrate to dump their support for Democratic Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith. Among other things, this means the legalization of gay marriage in New York is unlikely, as the state senate has not voted on the issue yet. The state assembly passed the measure earlier this year.

Of course the Democrats are fuming. According to the Post and WCBS, the lights of the senate chamber were turned off during the vote to replace Malcolm Smith with Dean Skelos as Majority Leader. And (no surprise), Democrats are threatening to go to court to reverse this afternoon's power swap.

Now if only the same thing could happen in the state assembly, where uber-leftist (and paid shill for Weitz and Luxenberg) Sheldon Silver is the Assembly Speaker and (to use an old Tammany term) boss. Ironically, one of the few things deposed Senate leader Malcolm Smith and the Republicans agreed on was that legislative leaders (specifically, Silver) should not hold paying jobs in addition to their legislative pay. Silver has not disclosed what he currently does for Weitz and Luxenberg, but it is reported he makes more per day as a "consultant" than I make in a week. Of course, no one seems to care that having an assembly speaker who also works for a law firm with major state contracts and who is also an avowed opponent of tort reform is to put it mildly- sleazy and unethical.

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.