CUPPA WITH ATTITUDE

I am not a fan of the 'Evil Empire' AKA 'Starbucks', even so, I was gobsmacked that a lady in New York recently received her cuppa with "BITC." written on the take away cup.  Who would do such a thing at 'Starbucks'??  Surely not the ever so friendly baristas who rattle the tip jar on the counter as you fork over a small fortune for a cuppa.

Many moons ago in a different city, this old geezer would go to a Starbucks early in the AM, it was only place open at half 5, to get a cuppa and some toast.  Went every day I did.  Until a barista came up to and told that I was 'cheap', never put a donation into the 'tip' jar.  Went so far as to tell me that if I could not do that, perhaps I should go to McDonald's...

I marched out and rang up the main office and complained.  The barista was fired but I never went back to Starbucks.  I knew my business was not wanted.  I did not fit in with the fancy customers willing to pay high prices and leave huge tips.

The old geezer in the clip is a bit over the top.  Language is most colourful.  Mind, I doubt he will ever go back to have a cuppa at the 'Evil Empire'...

PRESIDENT REAGAN 'TOUCHED' ME

Ronald Reagan

I want to always remember a President of the United States that I both admired and respected greatly.

During the time that Ronald Reagan was President of the United States there were many who thought him a simple man who was 'out to lunch' most of the time. Folks called him thick as a brick and out of touch with what was important in this country. The names called were not just reserved for him but spilled out onto his wife, Nancy. To many, President Reagan was an object of ridicule. Ronald Reagan was 'President of the United States' but many wanted to believe that he was not 'President of ALL of America'. That Ronald Reagan was just interested in that part of America he saw.

Long before Ronald Reagan died MOI would tell folks that when the time came for him to leave us, there would be a massive outpouring of love for him. MOI was right.

It is possible that MOI has been far more fortunate than most. In life I have had the opportunity to make contact with folks I reached out to. Ronald Reagan was one of these.

My long time companion died of AIDS. In 2014, it is hard to remember just how horrid it was to be known as a victim of AIDS. When John and MOI were told that John was going to die of AIDS, we did not hide that fact. John asked what we should do. MOI told him that we had an obligation to be open and honest, not to hide his illness. We told one and all.  It was important to know who one's true friends were.

Ronald Reagan was one of the folks we shared with. Moi wrote to President Reagan.  Can just see heads shaking and tongues clucking at the cheek of the old geezer.  Who writes to the President?  More important, who gets a reply? A personal touch?

Truth be told, the old geezer had met Ronald Reagan on several occasions.  True, they were fund raisers and there were loads of other folks in the room as well.  The old geezer was not a close personal friend to Mr. Reagan, but close enough to be on a list somewhere as one who he had met and had got support from.

In short order, a lovely letter came back from. The President was at his home in California and the letter was written from there. What touched my most was that he wrote that both he and Nancy was sad to hear that John was sick and going to die. That John was in their prayers and they sent their best wishes . Ronald Reagan took the time to remember.  Took the time to write a personal letter, one that John was over the moon to have received.

During the course of John's illness there were two more letters received.  One day a large envelope arrived from 'The White House'.  Inside was a beautiful photograph of the President and Mrs. Reagan, taken at Camp David.  The President and Mrs. Reagan wrote some lovely comments on the photograph and both signed.

Many in America want to believe that at a time when President Reagan could have done much for AIDS, he did nothing. That is not true. President Reagan did what he thought was right. He made sure that folks with AIDS received Social Security. He did many things that many will never remember. I will always remember that efforts to write to and draw attention to AIDS were always well received at the Reagan White House. At a time in my life, when I was very down, President Ronald Reagan and his wife reached out to and made me realize that not only John and myself mattered but were a part of the American family.

I rather think that President Reagan saw the best of America and never lost sight of that.

Many years later, AIDS is still here, folks are still getting infected and many will die. There will always be some who believe that no one cares.  That America let them down.  I am not one of those people.

Life is a very personal experience.  My feelings for President Reagan are not political, they are deeply personal.  Thoughts in recent days of John made me remember what was felt of Ronald Reagan and how kind he and his wife had been to us.

"I HAVE A DREAM"

I will never be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, dine with presidents, rub shoulders with royalty or have a national holiday named after me.  I still have a dream.

I dream that America can be more perfect.  That drug dealers selling poison will be rounded up and made to learn a different trade.  That folks will come to senses and realize that 'poison' destroys all round, including themselves.  I dream so hard on this that even led a march against;

MARCHING in protest

The Fresno Bee
Originally published 2008-06-04
A group of about 10 people including neighbors, politicians and representatives of politicians marched through an alley between Calaveras Avenue and Glenn Avenue south of Belmont Avenue in central Fresno shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday.
The group circled and repeated their route carrying signs and calling out to residents of the area encouraging them to turn against drugs.
Residents peered over fences at the sight, which included a headstone, a small casket and a man dressed as the Grim Reaper -- with marchers blowing the occasional whistle.
Rob DeFrees said he moved to the neighborhood a year ago and organized the protest march to combat the drug dealing, prostitution and gang activity he sees. Citing this as the first time for the march, DeFrees added, "We'll do this again if we have to."

Where lived at present may be not as bad, it still have a problem with too many lives being ruined by drug dealers.

I dream of living in a community where folks try to better selves.  That layabout scroungers are made to do something with lives.  That benefits cheats are reported and made to atone for their crimes against the public purse.  That children are promoted as our most valued resource, that their parents will do all possible to encourage them to be the best possible.

I dream of living in a community where folks treat one another with respect.  Where colour, religion, nationality and sexual orientation mean bugger all in how we treat one another.

Like Martin Luther King, Gandi, Lincoln and Mother Tereasa, I believe passionately;

"CHANGE THE WORLD IN ONE WAY, YOU CHANGE IT IN OTHER WAYS"

NO ONE SHOULD DIE ALONE

When Eloy Timothy Tafoya died alone there was no-one to claim his body.

He had no known relatives, friends and even his neighbours had barely spoken to him. He was a stranger.

The 60-year-old, from Santa Fe, New Mexico, had been a solitary man who never revealed much about himself to the people around him.

But yesterday his comrades and his community turned out in their hundred

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2557482/Semper-fidelis-How-Marines-showed-loyalty-former-comrade-military-honours-died-alone.html#ixzz2t8VKY3pU
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LEAVE IT TO BEAVER

Barbara Billingsley, the actress who played "June Cleaver" died recently at 94. It got me to give a think on one of the telly programmes of youth that held so large an impact on me as a child.
We never got to watch much telly in the orphanage but "Leave It To Beaver" was one programme much approved by the good nuns and we watch quite a few shows. Seems a bit odd now, we children locked away in an orphanage getting to watch a programme that showed what we would never know.
Or was it? Looking back, I tend to think now that this show made me want to be a part of the American Dream. I wanted to know all of the delights that 'The Beaver' enjoyed. It also was a blueprint of what I was so desperate to believe life could be like.
Four specific themes - education, marriage, occupation and family;
Education - getting one was the ticket to the good life - most important.
Marriage - conerstone of successful middle class life. While the view on 'marriage' in show was dated to the 1950's, having a successful and rewarding relationship with a partner - in whatever form of relationship that defines that love and devotion, is still important to family life.
Occupation - One has to do something in life. Paid or volunteer - one should have a place to go and do something during the day.
Family - Loyality to family values. Being conscientious parents, serving as examples in word and deed to children. Children being responsible members of the family unit.
Deep down inside, I think I knew that the programme watched was too good to be true. I wanted to believe that there was a different sort of life than the one that played out for me behind the walls of the orphanage. I knew I was never going to be as lucky as "Beaver" but I could sure dream. In dreaming, I could make some of the themes of the show come to life for me. I tried to pretend that my parents had given me up because the had no other choice. Someday the would return - they never did - it was a good dream to believe in, that there were loving parents 'out there' missing me.
Believing in the power of a good education turned out to be spot on. As did having a purpose in life.
As unconventional as my 'family' unit was in later life, my years spent with John made a a better person and very happy. It is good to share one's life.
"Leave It To Beaver" was pure Hollywood. Or was it a programme showing how we wanted life to be in 'real time'. The lasting impression left on this old geezer is one of just how 'naive' we all were in the 1950's and wondering if being a little 'naive' now would not be better than the 'in your face' attitude of the present.
The "Cleavers" may never have been real, but it would be a lovely world if families would try a little harder to do ther job and stay together.
Mind, all of these thoughts come from an old geezer who still believes in fairies, Father Christmas and the Easter Bunny...

BILL GATES - A NORMAL 'RICH' GUY

As the world's richest man, you might think Bill Gates would part with some loose change to pay someone to do his dishes. But the billionaire won't have any of that.

He likes to do them himself - to his own exacting standards every night.

The 58-year-old Microsoft founder shed light o

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2556606/Bill-Gates-life-billionaire-says-wife-like-Samuel-L-Jackson-play-movie.html#ixzz2t10wUNZH
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IS IT COLD FOR YOU???

Reports coming tell of COLD weather covering large parts of the USA today.  The poor bugger pictured more than like wishes he had booked a holiday in Hawaii...

 The clever chap pictured saved his tips from working the night shift at McDonalds and is ready to beat the cold snap in Florida

 Throw caution to the wind and leave the clothes bought at Walmart behind and go native today.

Best weather on the planet some say...

WE CAN NOT LET JAMES DIE

After weeks in hospital with a painfully swollen leg, my friend James is once again back out on the street, in a wheelchair and a whole lot worse for wear.

Loaded up with pain killers, medicine to fight infection and his blood pressure medication, James is finding it more and more difficult to get around and to find a comfortable spot on the bus stop bench to try and rest.  Truth be told, James is looking more fragile than ever.

The old geezer spent hours on Saturday trying to convince James that he needs to get into some sort of programme and end his life on the street.  He is now more at risk than ever before.  My fear is that James will die on that bench and no one will discover him until he has grown cold.

Whatever the mental condition of James, he is not an alcoholic or a drug abuser.  James' biggest problem is that he believes that he needs to care for another homeless person and if he leves the street, this homeless person will do himself in.  Fact of the matter is, this younger homeless person has tried to kill himself before, latest time was before Christmas last, almost did it, but lived and spent 40 days in hospital coming back from the grave.

James needs help now.  James is 70 years old and quickly sliding deeper and deeper into a high risk situation that could cause him to die.  The swollen leg is not improving.

This day, the old geezer stripped off the old bandage and applied lotion to the leg.  Peeled off lots of dead skin and re-applied a bandage to the leg.  Got James to take all of his medicine and made sure he had water and something to eat.

James promised that he would get to a store and purchase some socks for his feet, get some sort of footwear and other items he needs to cover some of his medical problems.  Like adult diapers.  James can not always get to a toilet and the diapers help him cope.

James is in need of some sort of respite, he can not continue to do without sleep and proper care.  James knows that my good friend Marc Alexander, with IHS, is aware of his condition and willing to work with him to get him some sort of help.  James is also aware that I have made Care-A-Van aware of his condition.  James is leary of authority, afraid to be placed in a situation where is is unable to get about.  However strong his dislike of authority, James is also aware that he can not continue as he is.  That the situation of his caring for another homeless person is not healthy for him.

If I have learned anything in doing good deeds, it is that you can not help everyone.  Some homeless are not reachable.  You have to try with the ones you feel can still be reached.  I believe James is still reachable, it will not be easy, but it can still be possible for James to become more safe than he is at present.

I am going to forward this post to Marc Alexander at IHS.  I am going to forward this post to Care-A-Van.  I will also forward this post to any number of other folks who do outreach to the homeless.  I will be padantic with members of the local newspaper and the mayor and a state senator.  This post will find its way to two sites that deal with the homeless condition.

I can not save the world.  I can stop and take the time to help one person, hoping that one person will find relief from suffering.  James is my friend.  James is also my responsibility as a member of society, the same society I am a part of.  His life matters.

WHY PANDER TO HOMELESS WHO DO NOT WANT TO CHANGE

No matter how clever the signs may be, giving cash to homeless beggars is just plain stupid.  Truth be told, the same applies to non-profits giving endless amounts of outreach to drug addicts, alcoholics and lazy people who take whatever is offered without any desire to better their situation.

There are any number of places that feed the homeless.  Noble idea, but how many of these homeless are truly 'hungry?  Does 'hunger' apply to individuals who get 318.00 in food stamps?  EBT receivers who sell their food stamps to buy alcohol, drugs or tobacco products?  How many starving people does one really see in the food lines?

Many of the homeless receive government benefits.  Cash.  Every month.  Is one really homeless if one makes the choice to not pay rent and use the cash received for drugs, alcohol or tobacco?

There are any number of non-profits in Hawaii who receive public monies to service the homeless.  The same pool of homeless are provided an endless stream of outreach effort by one non-profit organization after another.  Yet the number of homeless in Waikiki, Chinatown and Hawaii continues to grow.

The 'bright young things' in non-profits now want the public to believe that you can give housing to homeless folks without requiring any effort on the part of the receiver of such housing to change the behaviours that might place them in homelessness in the first place.

Call me cruel but I find it very hard to feel any sympathy for drug addicts or alcoholics who do not want to stop drinking or abusing drugs.  Better to do outreach to folks who really want to change their condition.

If it be true that most of the homeless are folks with mental problems, would we not be better served in providing better programmes to deal with mental illness?

Homelessness is not unique to Hawaii.  The homeless are to be found everywhere.   Truth be told there will always be homelessness.  Having a clever slogan that promises to end homelessness in ten years is not going to change that and is an out and out lie.

Mind, there are lots of 'bright young things' toiling away at a non-profit that need to fill out a resume or just make a living, and the public monies to be had seem to never end.  Guilt is a good way to keep the monies flowing.

CHILD SAFETY??

Do you think this mum is providing 'built in' airbag safety for child???

AMERICA'S WORST TATTOOS??

Ever thought of having a little 'INK' done on bod?  One must be ever so careful as it can come back to haunt...

Friendship does not last forever, and not everyone wins...

ANCIENT 'GAY' VALUED MEMBER OF SOCIETY

The ‘gay caveman’ was buried with household jugs, and no weapons.

Archaeologists do not think it was a mistake or coincidence given the importance attached to funerals during the period, known as the Corded Ware era because of the pottery it produced.

From history and ethnology, we know that people from this period took funeral rites very seriously so it is highly unlikely that this positioning was a mistake,’ said lead researcher Kamila Remisova Vesinova.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2141904/The-gay-Stone-Age-village-Scientists-Czech-long-houses--male-skeleton-buried-women.html#ixzz1uU5o8ODR

It would seem that being 'gay' and accepted as valued member of community is not so new.  Mind, the old geezer always knew he was 'special' and did not need President of US to give his approval of.  What a load of rubbish for members of lavender elite to suggest that comments of president will help some poor young gay see self as having value.  Should think having the chaps on playground treat with civility would mean more...

FIRST LADY 'SPLASHES OUT' AT TARGET

First Lady, Michelle Obama, must be feeling the need to cut back on her spending.  What with the very expensive holidays taken of late.

Rumour has it that the First Lady filled her trolley with 'must have' items, not easily got at the White House.

Stocking up for a future party, the First Lady got loads of paper products and tins of nuts to serve her future guests. 

I mean really, this trip to local Target is about as real as The Queen queueing up at the local Tesco for bargains.  Talk about a blatant attempt to pander to the press and folks who truly need to cut back.

If you add the cost of security detail, there could have been no real savings about this trip.

The boredchap in the background must be part of the security detail.  Look on face says it all...