George W. Bush: Once a serial killer...

My friend JoAnn recently e-mailed me some unbelievably grim statistics -- and also a question. "There are currently two million orphans in Afghanistan, as well as five million orphans in Iraq. How many years of war does it take to produce that many orphans?" http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2012/02/08/exp-bs-namdar-afghan-roadtrip.cnn, and http://www.alternet.org/world/70886/?page=entire

And speaking of orphans, I'm currently reading a murder mystery about serial killers -- wherein the author states that once someone becomes a serial killer, that person pretty much stays on this particular chosen career path for the rest of his life. And this rather grim concept immediately got me to thinking about George W. Bush, a man who could never resist killing people. Is he too still up to his old tricks? Or has he finally reformed? I wonder.

According an extremely "softball" interview with Bush in AARP magazine last year, GWB is now just a well-meaning average guy with a big smile, innocently puttering around in his garden. http://www.aarp.org/politics-society/newsmakers/info-11-2010/george-bush-interview.html;andstart/0/filter/:/:/;andstart/0/filter/:/:/;andstart/0/filter/:/:/;andstart/0/filter/:/:/.html

Yeah right.

GWB is just your smiling average guy -- with just one small exception. Bush is personally responsible (along with his smiling father, Pappy's smiling friends and George's smiling successors) for creating SEVEN MILLION orphans in Afghanistan and Iraq. And that's not even counting all the orphans that he (and Pappy Bush, Slick Willie, Dick Cheney and Barak Obama) have paid others create in Palestine, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, etc. -- not to mention the rest of the world. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMvPlkyBOBQ

I immediately canceled my subscription to AARP.

But my question about this particular serial killer still remains. What, exactly, is GWB up to these days? Is he really trying to resist the temptation to go out and create even more orphans? Or is he now finally able to rest comfortably -- knowing that his successor is still keeping up that fast-track scheme of orphan-creation for him.

Perhaps even at this very moment, our George is happily thinking to himself as he sings in the shower, "Iran has WMDs too. We really do need to bomb Iran and create even more orphans. Guess I'd better give Barry a call."

PS: And what about all the orphans that Bush, his colleagues and successors are happily creating here in America too? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PE5V4Uzobc

PPS: And this is still my favorite bumper-sticker: "Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World Peace in one generation!"

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Advertizements for myself: In these hard times of brutal (and illegal) corporatist ball-busting socialism-for-the-rich-only, I am doing whatever I can to make a spare dollar. Here are some of my current alternate-economy schemes that never seem to work -- but I keep hoping!

****
Need an actor to play an older woman in your movie? Then I'm your man! I can portray all kinds of older women -- from judges, business execs and other insane zombies to bag ladies, cancer patients, kindly grandmothers and dying patients in rest homes. I've played them all. So send me a script and let's do this. Hollywood, here we come!

****
Are you a plaintiffs' attorney who is tired of writing those pesky personal injury settlement briefs all the time? No problem! I can write them for you. Years of experience. And pay me only if you win the case.

****
Fortune Telling: If you scan a photocopy of the lifeline on the palm of your dominant hand, e-mail it to me at jpstillwater(at)yahoo.com with "Madame Jane" in the subject line, and then slip five dollars into my PayPal account, I can (and will) get Madame Jane to tell you approximately how long you are gonna live -- and also have her throw in some stuff about quality-of-life as well.

****

I recently got my Notary Public commission!

Need a Notary Public? Have seal, will travel. E-mail me at jpstillwater@yahoo.com and I'll stamp your document, make it official and only charge $10. Of course if you live outside of Berkeley, I may have to charge travel expenses -- but am well worth it!

****

Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.

I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238806637&sr=1-2

****

"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters



"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters

Fox News just declared war on Iran!

We're in for it now. Rupert Murdock is the Joseph Goebbels of 2012! The Mayans are gonna be right. Sigh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nV1sk9mSJEY

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Tinkerbell at the Lawrence Hall of Science: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150536455046618.366941.519281617&

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Advertizements for myself: In these hard times of brutal (and illegal) corporatist ball-busting socialism-for-the-rich-only, I am doing whatever I can to make a spare dollar. Here are some of my current alternate-economy schemes that never seem to work -- but I keep hoping!

****
Need an actor to play an older woman in your movie? Then I'm your man! I can portray all kinds of older women -- from judges, business execs and other insane zombies to bag ladies, cancer patients, kindly grandmothers and dying patients in rest homes. I've played them all. So send me a script and let's do this. Hollywood, here we come!

****
Are you a plaintiffs' attorney who is tired of writing those pesky personal injury settlement briefs all the time? No problem! I can write them for you. Years of experience. And pay me only if you win the case.

****
Fortune Telling: If you scan a photocopy of the lifeline on the palm of your dominant hand, e-mail it to me at jpstillwater(at)yahoo.com with "Madame Jane" in the subject line, and then slip five dollars into my PayPal account, I can (and will) get Madame Jane to tell you approximately how long you are gonna live -- and also have her throw in some stuff about quality-of-life as well.

****

I recently got my Notary Public commission!

Need a Notary Public? Have seal, will travel. E-mail me at jpstillwater@yahoo.com and I'll stamp your document, make it official and only charge $10. Of course if you live outside of Berkeley, I may have to charge travel expenses -- but am well worth it!

****

Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.

I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238806637&sr=1-2

****

"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters



"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters

America & Israel: The past is prologue

I just received one of those chain-letter e-mails that are making the rounds currently and this one cites all the good things that Israelis have done lately. According to this e-mail, Israelis have invented the cell phone, perfected Windows XP, achieved a per-capita income that exceeds the UK's, developed the Pentium chip, have the highest percentage of college graduates anywhere, discovered how to treat breast cancer without radiation and even invented a cure for pimples. Go them!

After reading this huge laundry-list of Israel's sparkling achievements, I was immediately reminded of the good old pre-Sputnik glory days of America, back when our education system was the best, our scientists were the best, our economy was the best, our healthcare was the best, our government was the best and everything about America was completely top-drawer.

We were always Number One in everything.

And then along came the corporatists who now own America -- taking over our country and shoving their selfish schemes for wealth consolidation, government de-regulation and endless war down our throats. And today, after spending approximately 40 years under corporatist control. America is now 37th in healthcare, 25th in math education, 10th in economic competitiveness, etc. Just look how far we have sunk.

And now even Israel, especially even Israel, clearly outranks us in so many areas and ways. Well, good for them -- and bad for us.

However, the corporatists who now own Israel are clearly following the very same policies that originally derailed America: Corporatism, wealth consolidation, government de-regulation and endless war. Now all I can say to Israel is, "Good luck with all that. I hope you do better under corporatism than we did." But being able to successfully ride the corporatist dragon is probably never gonna happen in Israel either. Why? Because past is prologue and Israel is now blithely heading down the very same road to ruin that America has already traveled. And there's really nothing to stop Israel from becoming just like us -- corporate-owned has-beens.

To quote my friend's recent chain-letter, "Israel now has the fourth largest air force in the world (after the U.S, Russia and China) and, in addition to a large variety of other aircraft, Israel's air force has an aerial arsenal of over 250 F-16s. This is the largest fleet of F-16 aircraft outside of the USA."

Looks like Israel has already traveled a goodly distance down that same road that has already incapacitated the U.S.

America has become like Pinocchio, lured off to Pleasure Island by the corporatists. And Israel's nose has clearly already started to grow also, marking the beginning of the end for their accessible education, fabulous healthcare, scientific excellence and economic achievement -- to say nothing of Israel also losing its only chance to develop a conscience and become a Real Boy.

PS: Speaking of the past, my son Joe, my daughter Ashley and I just went on a whirlwind tour of most of the places in Southern California where my great-grandparents, grandparents, parents and various aunts and uncles used to hang out. All of them are gone now, but we really enjoyed seeing where they used to live.

My great-grandfather, Charles Gandy, was a Methodist minister in Trenton, New Jersey, the end-product of seven generations of Methodist ministers before him. But then he got TB and moved his family to Banning, CA, out in the desert, and that's where my grandmother and mother were raised -- and so we toured Banning, soaking up all kinds of ancestor vibes. Here are some of my photos from Banning: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150529357901618.366224.519281617&type=1&l=ae3e2bd3e3

And my father's father, Eugene Purpus, had been a farmer in the Oklahoma Territory until he too moved his family to Banning, to work in the orchards up on the rural Banning Bench. My father was born in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1911, on Route 66, on the way out from Tahlequah.

My Uncle Orville and Aunt Helen used to live in Idyllwild, a historic art colony in the mountain pine forests overlooking Palm Springs, where Aunt Helen was a weaver. But, sadly, Uncle Orville got hit by the 1919 flu epidemic and then came down with Parkinson's Disease.

Joe, Ashley and I all gave Idyllwild a big thumbs-up, and here are some photos of us roughing it, eating wonton soup, being "Based Gods," and watching Jurassic Park on TV: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150527084371618.365988.519281617&type=1&l=ab9245ee2e

I also spent most of World War II living in Point Loma while my father was off serving in the Pacific and being stationed in Occupied Japan. So we found my old house there and it was all very deja vu. I had loved living in Point Loma, and moving away has always been my Paradise Lost moment -- but my family had been forced to move because, after coming back from the war, Pop couldn't find work in San Diego and so we migrated north.

Here are some photos of our old house in Point Loma: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150513096146618.364558.519281617&type=1&l=8d85116c88

Then Joe, Ashley and I spent a sweet rainy day in Tijuana, where my mom used to take me when I was a kid. And we have the photos to prove it: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150517601961618.365016.519281617&type=1&l=914b37c3af

Next on the tour, we visited Aunt June in Escondido -- or at least tried to. It seems that her home had recently burned down and she was now happily ensconced in an assisted-living facility in Maryland. Maryland? Definitely not part of our tour. Sorry, Aunt June.

Here are photos of Aunt June's old home after the fire: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150527050396618.365981.519281617&type=1&l=333f25e97a

That left only Los Angeles to visit, which we did. Uncle Donald and Aunt Mina had lived in Hollywood (next to Ozzie and Harriet, BTW). I had been born in Los Angeles and my parents both worked their way through UCLA during the tragic 1930s Depression. Then Joe and Ashley went off to see a Bruce Lee documentary in El Segundo and I holed up at the LAX Motel 6 and read murder mysteries.

The next day, I walked over to my friend Tsering's amazing eclectic used-book store in Inglewood (Vajra Books and Gifts, 100 North Market Street) and exchanged hot gossip and bought books. Tsering is an old-skool Tibetan refugee and artisan extraordinaire as well as a book-seller.

Then it was off to Griffith Park for lunch, where my mom used to take me in a stroller when I was a baby. Then we did the traditional night-time race up the I-5 back to Berkeley. Wanna see photos of that? Here they are: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150529388471618.366231.519281617&type=3&l=420c088fa8

Perhaps we didn't cover my entire SoCal past, but we did see a great deal of it. And we had fun doing it too.

My own past has been prologue to a very interesting life, trying hard to do as many good deeds as possible before I die, trying to emphasize "Do unto others" and "Repair the World" -- that kind of stuff. And let's hope that America and Israel's past will also be prologue to a very interesting life along these lines as well.

Unfortunately, however, if things don't change rapidly and they don't ditch their corporatist owners' greedy and war-mongering attitudes ASAP, Israel's and America's "interesting life" is going to become far more interesting -- and in an entirely different direction -- than its citizens had ever intended.

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Advertizements for myself: In these hard times of brutal (and illegal) corporatist ball-busting socialism-for-the-rich-only, I am doing whatever I can to make a spare dollar. Here are some of my current alternate-economy schemes that never seem to work -- but I keep hoping!

****
Need an actor to play an older woman in your movie? Then I'm your man! I can portray all kinds of older women -- from judges, business execs and other insane zombies to bag ladies, cancer patients, kindly grandmothers and dying patients in rest homes. I've played them all. So send me a script and let's do this. Hollywood, here we come!

****
Are you a plaintiffs' attorney who is tired of writing those pesky personal injury settlement briefs all the time? No problem! I can write them for you. Years of experience. And pay me only if you win the case.

****
Fortune Telling: If you scan a photocopy of the lifeline on the palm of your dominant hand, e-mail it to me at jpstillwater(at)yahoo.com with "Madame Jane" in the subject line, and then slip five dollars into my PayPal account, I can (and will) get Madame Jane to tell you approximately how long you are gonna live -- and also have her throw in some stuff about quality-of-life as well.

****

I recently got my Notary Public commission!

Need a Notary Public? Have seal, will travel. E-mail me at jpstillwater@yahoo.com and I'll stamp your document, make it official and only charge $10. Of course if you live outside of Berkeley, I may have to charge travel expenses -- but am well worth it!

****

Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.

I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238806637&sr=1-2

****

"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters



"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters

Cleaning out: Wall Street, wolves, Masai warriors & raw milk

Every time I see all those huge phalanxes of highly-weaponized and militarized police brigades viciously attacking protesting American citizens in cities across our country, all I can think of is this: "The cost of even one of those cops' salaries, overtime pay and elaborate gear represents at least a hundred of our children who will go without textbooks, or a fire department that will miss out on purchasing lifesaving equipment or some shoddy infrastructure in my town that will never get fixed or...."

You get the picture. That's billions of American taxpayers' dollars being spent to protect the One Percent's right to safely gouge and enslave us. What a waste. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_YZtKXXCvg

And as we continue to watch thousands of every-day Americans being savagely beaten and arrested in our very own country, these last few months have become a very confusing time for most of us -- but also a time that has been hopeful and rewarding.

For so many decades that it's embarrassing to think about, the needs and preferences of us average Americans have been deliberately ignored and undermined by the wealthy corporatists who own us. And apparently these oligarchs have, until now, always firmly believed that most of us Americans will continue to think and do whatever we have been told to think and do -- forever.

But now most of us lowly worms have finally started to turn.

After spending all too many years of our lives standing submissively by while everything meaningful -- from religion to lingerie -- has gotten happily vacuumed up by corporatist Blue Meanies, we Americans are finally beginning to stand up for ourselves and vote with our feet instead of with Diebold.

Human beings were never meant to have their sole purpose to be to make oligarchs rich. Doesn't even the Bible say that? Yes, I think that it does. And so does the Torah and the Qur'an for that matter. "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." That kind of stuff.

Or, as Rudyard Kipling so succinctly put it in my Franklin Daily Planner recently, "The strength of the Pack is the Wolf -- and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack". And Americans are also only as strong as our weakest links. And when too many of us become homeless, jobless, illiterate and sick, then America becomes more and more fragile -- allowing us to get picked off one by one by the very One Percent vultures who have made us this weak in the first place.

It's time to start cleaning these rapacious vultures out of our lives now, right now -- while we still can.

And speaking of cleaning out, my Chinese New Year's resolution is to eat really healthy -- and what could be more healthy than mother's milk? A mother cow's milk, that is.

And so for the next 24 hours, I'm going to follow the example of strong Masai warriors and live mostly on raw milk.

Yummers!

Plus, no one ever died of cancer as a result of drinking raw milk -- unlike the many people who have died of cancer after drinking uber-processed milk taken from hormone-treated, antibiotic-drugged, feed-lot-crazed cows http://axiomatica.org/myvideos/video/130.

But before you start to guffaw and knock raw milk as being too weird or too old-fashioned or unsanitary, please do try it first. Delicious.

Here's a warning, however. A friend of mine just told me that if you are having trouble getting pregnant, raw milk will help. Hmmm. Does that mean that I'll be getting pregnant soon too? Good grief, I hope not! But drinking raw milk is also supposed to provide immuno-globulins, vitamins, enzymes, beneficial probiotic bacteria and cancer-fighting CLA, as well as helping to prevent bone-density loss, strengthen the immune system, encourage iron assimilation and help ease constipation http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/raw_milk_health_benefits.html.

But will it also turn me into a Masai warrior? Or even perhaps into a wolf? How cool would that be!

And will drinking raw milk also make me strong and invincible enough to stand up to the One Percent's slick new mercenary stormtroopers -- now playing all across America, in a city near you? Probably not, unfortunately. Sigh.

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Advertizements for myself: In these hard times of brutal (and illegal) corporatist ball-busting socialism-for-the-rich-only, I am doing whatever I can to make a spare dollar. Here are some of my current alternate-economy schemes that never seem to work -- but I keep hoping!

****
Need an actor to play an older woman in your movie? Then I'm your man! I can portray all kinds of older women -- from judges, business execs and other insane zombies to bag ladies, cancer patients, kindly grandmothers and dying patients in rest homes. I've played them all. So send me a script and let's do this. Hollywood, here we come!

****
Are you a plaintiffs' attorney who is tired of writing those pesky personal injury settlement briefs all the time? No problem! I can write them for you. Years of experience. And pay me only if you win the case.

****
Fortune Telling: If you scan a photocopy of the lifeline on the palm of your dominant hand, e-mail it to me at jpstillwater(at)yahoo.com with "Madame Jane" in the subject line, and then slip five dollars into my PayPal account, I can (and will) get Madame Jane to tell you approximately how long you are gonna live -- and also have her throw in some stuff about quality-of-life as well.

****

I recently got my Notary Public commission!

Need a Notary Public? Have seal, will travel. E-mail me at jpstillwater@yahoo.com and I'll stamp your document, make it official and only charge $10. Of course if you live outside of Berkeley, I may have to charge travel expenses -- but am well worth it!

****

Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.

I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238806637&sr=1-2

****

"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters



"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters