LOVE AT 74 ... MY NOVEL ... POLITICS ... THE WAR ON DRUGS

Here are some topics I have been meaning to blog about:

1. Falling in love at 74, really for the first time, is amazing, so different from anything I ever experienced before. I have gone through a dozen profound emotional changes. Feel like a character in an ancient myth about a traveler who has to slay his own demons to get to the Garden of Bliss. Fortunately, my GF is very patient and understanding.  
2. Am about to finish a new draft of my novel "The Prince of Newport," a mainstream novel with thriller elements set in Newport Beach. An idealistic young reporter tries to stop a killer/con-man.
3. I plan to enter a contest for a literary blockbuster, exactly the kind of novel I am trying to write: http://www.inkubate.com/Home/Contest
4. Am working on a short story called "Alien Love" about a man who finds love and death and a mystery at the border with Mexico.
5. I thank my lucky stars every day that Mitt Romney didn't win the election for president of the USA. What a total disaster that would have been. There are enough lies and deceit already in the world. He and Paul Ryan never told the truth about anything. They live in a parallel universe that most resembles "The Hunger Games."
6. The stupid "War on Drugs" is utterly and profoundly misdirected. Why don't we outlaw belching and farting and bad TV shows? How about junk food, which is much worse than marijuana, for Christ's sake. Where did our politicians get the idea that the way to stop addiction is to throw people in jail? There is an anti-drug industrial complex like the military-industrial complex. Billions of dollars wasted. So dumb. Much like these insane, punitive foreign wars -- Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq. Oh, let's gear up, spend tons of money, and send in people with guns. That'll fix the problem. Yeah, right. No, no, no, that is the problem. Reminds me of a quote from Will Rogers: “If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?”  

-- Roger

Copyright © 2013, Roger R. Angle

ROMNEY BETS ON THE RIGHT

Some people are criticizing Mitt Romney's choice of right-wing congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/features/2012/paul-ryan-vp-pick-reactions-and-rebuttals.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet

They think this choice is as bad as John McCain choosing Sarah Palin in 2008.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/11/michael-tomasky-on-romney-s-stunning-terrible-choice-of-ryan-for-vp.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet

But I think they are wrong. I think Romney is showing his true colors. He will do anything to win, and he thinks the country is leaning far to the right.

Good for him. Now we have a clear choice.

Ryan is guilty of magical thinking, that if we reduce government aid and force everyone to live on what they or their family can earn, in this winner-take-all economy, the country will be better off.

Well, guess what. It won't be.

We will have more corporate control, more power in the hands of the rich, and more successful attempts by the government and big business to screw the poor and the middle class.

Do you want to live by this fantasy, under this kind of magical thinking? Do you want to rely on the fantasies of right-wing crazies?

I don't. I hope the American people don't either.

But don't be too sure. The masses actually elected George W. Bush the second time he ran, which was in 2004. If they were stupid enough then, they can be stupid enough again.

-- Roger

Copyright © 2012, Roger R. Angle

BLOOD MONEY & MITT

At first I thought this was a joke:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/mitt-romney-death-squads-bain_n_1710133.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

But it isn't. Turns out Mitt Romney started Bain Capital with blood money from Central America.

Sad.

What won't Mitt do for money?

-- Roger

Copyright © 2012, Roger R. Angle

CAN MITT DO ANY BETTER?

In November, we the citizens of these United States, in order to further our union, will vote for the office of president, the most important job in the nation.

When Obama was running in 2008, the right wingers complained that he didn't have enough executive experience to prepare him for the highest executive office in the country.

OK, maybe that was a valid point. So now, another man comes along who says he has lots of executive experience and who says he can change the direction of the country--create more jobs, get the economy back on track.

This man, Mitt Romney, will likely be running on the Republican ticket, after the GOP convention. Romney has held several big executive positions, including the governorship of Massachusetts.

So let us take a look at what Mitt Romney actually did as governor. What was his record? What did he accomplish? Not much, it turns out.

It is weird that you don't see this information in the newspapers all the time, and you don't hear it on the radio and TV news. You'd think it would be everywhere. 

First of all, Romney didn't do what he said he was going to do.

Romney said he was going to increase job growth. Massachusetts went from #37 to #47 in job creation while Mitt was governor. Down, the numbers went down. That was not supposed to happen, but it did.

What happened to all that big-time expertise? He said he was a successful businessman who knew how to grow an economy. That is what he said then, running for governor, and that is what he says now, running for president.

When he was governor, Romney cut spending for education, probably the most important item for the future of any society.

Question: How to do attract new high-tech businesses when you don't have an educated workforce? Answer: You don't.

Romney raised fees on "everything from college students to mortgages, from buying a boat to opening a bar," according to Paul Begala, a columnist for Newsweek:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/04/29/paul-begala-what-s-mitt-romney-hiding-in-his-record-as-governor.html

"Fees for university students shot up 63 percent," according to Begala.

What is the difference between a fee and a tax? I don't see any difference. Do you? If it walks like a duck....

Romney's record as governor was bad. Real bad. He cut job training, workforce development and trade assistance, according to Begala.

Looks to me like Mitt Romney was a weak, misguided, ineffective governor, and I believe he would make a worse president.

Oh, he talks a big game. A big game.

But will he deliver? What do you think? Look at his record, and you tell me.

Does he walk like a duck?

-- Roger

Copyright © 2012, Roger R. Angle

executive

NO, NO, NOT MITT

So millionaire robotic personality Mitt Romney is building up steam. (In the GOP primaries for the presidential nomination.)

Too bad. He might have a chance to win. And that would be too bad. Bad for the future of the good old USA. Bye-bye health-care reform. Bye-bye reasonable foreign policy. Bye-bye any chance for income equality. Bye-bye healthy environment. Bye-bye future of the biosphere.

What kind of future do we want?

Think about this, people. Do you want to go back to the policies of Bush and Cheney?

Please think about this.

I was hoping that Newt Gingrich or Ron Paul or even that nutcase Herman Cain would win the GOP nomination for president.

Because they wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning the presidency.

But Mitt could win.

God help us.

-- Roger

Copyright © 2012, Roger R. Angle

RICH MAN POOR MAN

GOP front runner Mitt Romney and his wife paid $3-million in federal taxes on $21-million income for 2010, according to the L.A. Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-romney-releases-tax-returns-20120124,0,4945167.story 

Gee, things are tough all over, huh?

How do they manage to live on such a small amount? Only $21. Wait, it was $21-MILLION!

Holy crap!

Where is my private jet? My mansions? Remember when a reporter asked then-GOP presidential candidate John McCain how many houses he and his wife owned? He said, "I'll get back to you on that." He didn't even know. Yeah, things are tough all over. Turned out, they owned seven.

Isn't it wonderful that these big-time GOP honchos get their hands dirty, just like the rest of us? How do they even know who we are? How do they know what our lives are like? How do they know what our problems are?

My advice to Romney: Put all your holdings in a blind trust, and cut off your family's access to all your wealth. No income for five years, and GET A JOB!

BTW, that was the premise for an old movie, with Joel McCrea, in which a rich man travels around the USA as a bum during the Great Depression. The character learned something about real people, ordinary people, the salt of the earth.

I wonder if Mitt would learn anything. I doubt it. But we'll never know. That will never happen, not in the money-driven world of GOP politics. Too bad.

Yeah, things are tough all over. Especially for us voters.

-- Roger

Copyright © 2012, Roger R. Angle

VOTE GOP IN 2012?

My buddy Phil, whom I call "The Real Doctor Phil, Not That Horse's Ass On TV," says he is neither a registered Democrat nor Republican.

"I vote for the person I think is the most competent and the most honest, who gives the best answers, and who will do the best job," he said.

"But" I said, "how do you tell?"

He said he listens to what they say and looks at their record.

OK, but my friend Phil, whom I call "Doc" for short, sometimes votes for Republicans.

I find that very hard to do. I have done it twice in my life, for John V. Lindsay, mayor of New York City, and for Marian Bergeson, CA state senator. Both were outstanding leaders, I thought.

But since then--and that was 30-40 years ago--the Republicans have had such a brutal record and are full of such crazy ideas and unreasonable prejudices that I doubt if I could vote for one.

I do like Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney, although I think Mitt has shown a lot of cowardice about his Massachusetts healthcare law.

The mayor of Salt Lake City, the other day on NPR, said both Jon and Mitt are good guys. He knows Huntsman especially well and says Huntsman is an intelligent man with wide experience who wants to make the world a better place. And that mayor is a Democrat, which counts for a lot.

OK, I like competence and ethics.

But remember it was the much admired Republican President Ronald Reagan who was partly responsible for the deaths of 200,000 innocent people in Guatemala during the Red scare while he was president.

Not to mention Bush 2 and his illegal war and consequent butchery in Iraq.

The GOP usually wants tax breaks for the rich, more money for the Department of Defense, and less money for Medicare and Social Security. It's motto seems to be "Screw the Poor."

So Huntsman and Romney may be two good guys, but they are in the wrong party.

I am planning to stick with Obama in 2012.

-- Roger

© Copyright 2011, Roger R. Angle

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20073089-503544.html

THE TRUE CONSERVATIVE

Today, I was listening to a report on NPR about Mitt Romney. Some right wingers don't think Mitt is a "true conservative" because of the very successful and nearly universal healthcare bill that he signed in Massachusetts when he was governor there.

The right wingers hate that. Healthcare? Hell, we don't need that. We can fend for ourselves. Can't we?

All this raises a question: What is a true conservative?

Ah, I'm glad you asked. I have only known one true conservative, an old man I met years ago in the high, remote mountains of Colorado.

This old man, "Dag" people called him, sat on his front porch with a shotgun in one hand and a half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels in the other.

Dag grew his own vegetables, and if you even looked at them, he would shoot you and bury your body in the garden to fertilize his tomatoes.

He kept chickens and goats and sheep in the back yard. He broke and rode wild horses. He climbed mountains, although he walked with a cane. He dived off cliffs into cold mountain lakes and swam like a fish, although he hated fish.

He hadn't been with a woman in years. He considered them too wimpy. Hell, he didn't need a woman. That's why he kept the sheep. He had his favorite, Suzie, and he liked her because she never talked back. And her feet were never cold.

He had appendicitis one time, and lacking healthcare or access to doctors, he looked it up online and operated on himself with a jackknife. He sewed himself up with burlap twine. Then he took a slug of Jack and pronounced himself well.

In the winter, he hunted deer for food, and in the summer he fought grizzly bears with his bare hands. He always said if he lost, "Leave it the hell alone." He told his few friends, "Don't intervene. I don't believe in any damn regulation."

As far as I know, he is still up there. "Dag" was short for "dagnabbit," which was his favorite word. I hope he will live up there forever, resisting the damn gumint.

Old Dag never asked for help from anyone, and he wouldn't take it, no matter what. I doubt if he would think much of Mitt Romney or his healthcare law. Not conservative enough for Dag.

Long live old Dag, the only true conservative I ever met.


--Roger

© Copyright 2011, Roger R. Angle

MITT THE SHITT

Today, I heard Mitt Romney say on the radio that newly minted college graduates can't find good jobs because of Obama's policies, which he said have failed.

Good God.

Does he really think anyone will believe that horseshit? What about Wall Street sucking the economy dry? What about the recession, caused by complex derivatives on Wall Street? What about predatory lending practices?

What about globalization, where thousands of good jobs have been outsourced to India and China and other foreign countries? What about the closing of hundreds of factories in the USA? What about the decimating of the middle class by the shifting of the tax burden away from the rich?  

What about the rich idiots in Detroit who churned out gas guzzlers and let themselves get out maneuvered by Japanese car makers for 20 years?

What about right-wing immigration policies that send college graduates back to their home countries after they get advanced degrees here in the USA?

What about the fact that the richest 400 households in the USA own 60% of the wealth?

Romney blames the recession on Obama? He is either lying through his whitened teeth, or he is a complete fool.

Either way, I wouldn't vote for him if he was the last horse's ass on earth. It's too bad, too, because there was a time when he had my respect.


-- Roger

© Copyright 2011, Roger R. Angle 

A GOP WHITE HOUSE AGAIN?

I am so glad I'm not a Republican these days. There was a time when the GOP had some honorable leaders. I admired John V. Lindsay as mayor of New York and former CA state senator Marion Bergeson. I voted for both of them.

Mrs. Bergeson ran the most responsive political office I ever covered, in my 12 years as a newspaper reporter. As far as I found, she was totally honest, totally reliable and always did the right thing.

Needless to say, that is rare now.

Of course Lindsay switched parties to the Democrats, but when I lived in NYC, he was a Republican.

Every four years, I look over the pack of possible GOP presidential candidates, to see if there is anyone I can respect and support.

But this year? Jesus.

Mitt Romney comes closest. He has a sterling record. Made a lot of money as a business leader. Saved the Winter Olympics financially. Was a great governor of Massachusetts, signing into law near-universal health coverage.

Aye, there's the rub. The GOP hates anybody who helps the poor.

You can't help the poor, Mitt, didn't you know that? You have to be a selfish, overbearing, rabid, right-wing asshole, like Donald Trump, to be a favorite of the GOP.

What is Donald Trump known for? Firing people on TV? Boy, that takes a lot of leadership, doesn't it? His business went bankrupt in 1992. He is a high living, high flying, fast talking bullshitter. Apparently he only cares about money, fame and power, the worst American values.

Why in the world would anyone vote for him?

A Newsweek poll published in the Feb. 28 issue estimates that Romney could almost beat President Obama, at 49% to 47%, and Trump could come almost as close, at 43-41.

God save us. If Donald Trump became president, he sure as hell wouldn't.

I could almost support Romney, if he had been more steady in the wind rather than blowing with those political winds. I don't admire a flip-flopper.

But if the GOP had any brains, it would pick Mitt. At least he is competent, if not consistent.

Copyright 2011, Roger R. Angle