The faithful of the Church foster strict ideas about Go-Go girls, angels, demons, and the Devil.
Go-go girls lead to Hell. Angels protect men from temptation. Demons tempt a good man into a trap. The Devil loves recruiting a lost sinner. Only personal will can save a man from damnation, however I keep on forgetting the tell the believers that there is no Hell.
Not on earth.
Not in outer space.
Hell will never see this sinner.
I shall live forever in sin.
Hail 666.
My grandmother traveled by ship from Ireland to Boston at the age of 14. One heel of her good shoes broke coming down the gangway. It was her welcome to America.
Once on a visit up to Maine someone asked the year of her arrival and Nana responded, "The Year of the Crow."
None of us knew what she meant by that date.
My mother hazarded a guess.
"It refers to the Chinese Astrological signs."
"There's no Year of the Crow in the Chinese Astrology," commented my Aunt Gloria, who had graduated from a state university for teaching.
"There is a Rooster." Her husband Jack had met more than his share of Chinese troops in Korea as a Marine. "But all I ever heard was trumpets. Lots of trumpets."
"What year was it?" My Aunt Helen worked as an operator for the New England Telephone Company. She liked a simple answer.
Nana wasn't giving one.
"Is it Babd?" asked my Aunt Mary. She had gone to college too.
"Babd?" My father was stumped by this answer.
"Babd, the Irish battle goddess, was a crow. She sang a song to those about to die."
The look on Nana's face shined with pride. Her oldest daughter was a true daughter of Eire, but she shook her head.
"Maybe someday one of you will be smart enough to know the Year of the Crow."
She patted my head and that of my older brother.
But none of discovered her age and with the demise of my Aunt Gloria I ma obliged to pass on my ignorance onto the next generation.
And we remain many.
And even more in Thailand.
Americans are not renown for their adventurous palate. Most of the country survives on fast food; morning, noon, and night with potato chips in between meals washed down by corn-syrup sodas. Hamburgers and fries are this nation's favorite food, but America's # 1 was only # 6 on the cnngo.com ie CNN's online life site.
Pop corn at 50 was beat out by America's fastest fast good potato chips.
The only times I eat chips is from someone else's bag. it's the only time that they taste good.
Ketchup scores even higher.
No mention of hot dogs, fried clams, Italian sandwiches, hummus or apple pie.
Today I had a croissant for breakfast, a cheeseburger and root beer for lunch, cherries and melon in the afternoon, and I'm looking at pulled BBQ pork, brown rice, and string beans for dinner washed down by hard cider.
Last month I flew west to Thailand. 25 hours of airplane food and then I ordered # 1 on the list.
Poo massaman curry - curried crab
Nothing better unless you're so hungry than anything tastes good.
Even potato chips.
Here's the rest of the list from www.cnngo.com
50. Buttered popcorn, United States
49. Masala dosa, India - crispy, rice-batter crepe encases a spicy mix of mashed potato, which is then dipped in coconut chutney, pickles, tomato-and-lentil-based sauces and other condiments
48. Potato chips, United States
47. Seafood paella, Spain
46. Som tam, Thailand - pound garlic and chilies with a mortar and pestle. Toss in tamarind juice, fish sauce, peanuts, dried shrimp, tomatoes, lime juice, sugar cane paste, string beans and a handful of grated green papaya.
45. Chicken rice, Singapore - steamed or boiled chicken is served atop fragrant oily rice, with sliced cucumber as the token vegetable
44. Poutine, Canada - French fries smothered in cheese curds and brown gravy
43. Tacos, Mexico
42. Buttered toast with Marmite, Britain
41. Stinky tofu, Southeast Asia
40. Marzipan, Germany
39. Ketchup, United States
38. French toast, Hong Kong
37. Chicken parm, Australia
36. Texas barbecue pork, United States
35. Chili crab, Singapore
34. Maple syrup, Canada
33. Fish ‘n’ chips, Britain
32. Ankimo, Japan - a chunk of monkfish liver with a little grated daikon on the side
31. Parma ham, Italy
30. Goi cuon (summer roll), Vietnam
29. Ohmi-gyu beef steak, Japan
28. Pho, Vietnam - a broth, fresh rice noodles, a few herbs and usually chicken or beef
27. Montreal-style smoked meat, Canada
26. Fajitas, Mexico
25. Butter garlic crab, India
24. Champ, Ireland - mashed potato with spring onions, butter, salt and pepper
23. Lasagna, Italy
.
22. Brownie and vanilla ice cream, global
21. Croissant, France
20. Arepas, Venezuela - a corn-dough patty topped with cheese, shredded chicken, crisped pork skin, perico, beef, tomato, avocado
19. Nam tok moo, Thailand - grilled pork combined with lemon juice, green onions, chili, mint sprigs, fish sauce and toasted rice
18. Kebab, Iran
17. Lobster, global
16. Egg tart, Hong Kong
15. Kalua pig, United States
14. Donuts, United States
13. Corn on the cob, global
12. Shepherd’s pie, Britain
11. Rendang, Indonesia - beef slowly simmered with coconut milk and a mixture of lemongrass, galangal, garlic, turmeric, ginger and chilies
10. Chicken muamba, Gabon - chicken, hot chili, garlic, tomato, pepper, salt, okra and palm butter
9. Ice cream, United States
8. Tom yum goong, Thailand - soup with shrimp, mushrooms, tomatoes, lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime leaves in coconut milk and cream.
7. Penang Assam Laksa, Malaysia - Poached, flaked mackerel, tamarind, chili, mint, lemongrass, onion, pineapple in a broth
6. Hamburger, Germany
5. Peking duck, China
4. Sushi, Japan
3. Chocolate, Mexico
2. Neapolitan pizza, Italy
1. Massaman curry, Thailand
Remember it's CNN's list not mine.
My # 1 choice is beer.
The colder the better.
Last weekend a 27 year-old sex worker pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of a Google executive. The judge sentenced Alix Catherine Tichelman to six years in prison. The prosecutor claimed that the call girl never attempted to assist the 51 year-old internet manager and surveillance video backed up his charges to the jury of her peers.
Her defense attorney argued, "There was no intent to harm or injure, much less kill, Mr. Hayes. Why would she? He was a lucrative source of income to her. She appreciated his generosity."
His plea for leniency fell on deaf ears, as Santa Cruz is well-known along the coast as a heroin entrepot and law enforcement, unwilling to surrender in the War on Drugs, wanted to show that they still consider drugs against the law.
Six years for administering an overdose and not a day of jail for the CIA, who has long controlled the drug trade in order to suppress the people of the USA.
Innocent until proven guilty by a witness living long enough to sit before the court.
“It must have been one in the morning. Clapham Common was still, quiet, cold and very dark. But against the lights of the houses, I could see the silhouettes, some moving, some motionless. I could see the glow of a cigarette in someone’s hand, under the trees.”
Matthew Parris - British Member of Parliament
Nudity was considered taboo throughout my youth, plus the boreal weather in New England offered few occasions for such a freedom. The naked people available to a young boy were to be found in National Geographic. That illustrious magazine displayed photos of Amazonian tribeswomen with saggy breasts and African nymphettes with pointed nipples. Looking at men without clothing were considered perverse and parents warned their children about strange men, since perverts haunted the Blue Hills south of Boston by such perverts. My older brother, best friend, and myself steered clear of areas frequented by queers.
Adam had been shamed by his nakedness after eating the apple offered by Eve. His innocence hd been lost forever taught the nuns of Our Lady of the Foothills. I recalled having bathe with my sisters and brothers. There we six of us. None of us had ever felt Adam's humiliation in the shared tub, for nudity was innocent up to a certain age.
My father banned our communal baths when my older brother hit 9. I was 8.
The year was 1961.
That summer my older brother and I were sent to a Boy Scout camp in New Hampshire. Our troop had it's own camp site. We slept in tents. Showers were open stalls. My older brother and I washed in the lake. We weren't getting naked for anyone.
One afternoon after our merit badge course of hiking I hurried to the outhouse to take a dump. I dropped my pants and sat of the wooden throne. The latrine stunk of shit. Our fecal matter dropped five feet into a seething pit of slime. I held my breath doing a # 2. I had good lungs. After wiping my ass I waddled from the crapper with my trousers at my ankles.
A scout from Lowell had a camera in his hands. He snapped a shoot of my exit. I shouted for him to give me the film, but he ran into the woods. I told no one about is invasion of my privacy and hunted for the puerile pornographer for days. I never found him and for the rest of 1961 I worried that my photo with my pants down would appear in the Boston Globe.
It didn't hit the front page in 1962, 1963, or any of the following years.
My hangup about nudity disappeared in my teens. I skinny-dipped at the Quincy Quarries and stripped naked to lie in my backyard on summer nights to pray for the extraterrestrials to rescue me from the suburbs. I dreamed of stripping off my clothing with a girl. I had seen stroke books. Nudity was a thrill, but none of my girlfriends in high school went all the way. That pleasure occurred at the age of 18 and I've never suffered Adam's shame in my adult life.
Still my one nude photo curbed any voyeurism in me. The idea of sending someone a naughty picture remains abhorrent. My sense of propriety forever scarred by a childhood incident. Somewhere in Boston a man has a picture of me with my pants down. I hope it gives him pleasure.
My inhibition jaundiced my opinion of public figure emailing naked photos of themselves to women they meet on the Internet.
Several years ago a state politician had been outted by a GOP website whose webmaster had a legal dispute with the New Jersey lawmaker. The Democrat had been contacted by a woman who had asked for photos. The idiot had sent them from his Blackberry and the angry webmaster posted them online. His fellow Democrats called for s resignation, remarking that nudity wasn't a crime, but that e man had shown little common sense in a state where corruption is a god-given right to the people's representatives.
Nudity is political death to the right-minded New Jerseyians.
The episode echoed the earlier scandal of NY congressman Anthony Weiner. His Twitter account was hacked by a website and his naked photos scorched the Internet. He denied the photos were of him, going so far as to say that he could not recognize the body as his own.
Getting caught in a lie is political death, but only if the voters don't believe the lie.
I understand these politicians' dilemma, but my hackles are buzzing with the suspicion that both these men were removed from office thanks to the hacking tactics of the Rupert Murdoch empire. If it was happening in the UK, then sure as a boy scout shits in a crapper, then minions of the Murdoch organization were committing the same crime here.
It's not like anyone is dragging a well-known congressional majority leader out of the closet.
Homosexuality isn't a crime.
Neither is nudity.
What is questionable is how this GOP stalwart amassed $34 million on a senator's yearly salary of $180,000 during a 20 year stint in the Senate.
He musts be good with numbers
Eighteen days in Thailand went fast in the company of my big family.
Fenway, Angie, Noy, Pen, and Fluke gave me little time to write.
Then again I hadn't come around the world to write poetry, but to bond with my horde at Rayong Beach.
Oh, the humanity.
Several years ago a Bangkok police commissioner visited Pattaya to officially survey the night life.
A Bangkok reporter asked, "What are your views on prostitution in Pattaya?"
"Prostituition?" The top copper was wearing sunglasses on Walking Street. "All I see are young people having fun."
His response harvested a chorus of hearty chuckles from longtime Pattaya residents, but nothing like the chortles from a Columbia University audience after the then-president of Iran responded to a question about the execution of two gay men by saying, "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country. In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I do not know who has told you we have it."
His claim flew in the face of the fact that next to Thailand, Iran performs the most sex-change operations in the world.
No queers, but a thousands if not millions of swarthy transvestites called Yasmin.
Still if there were no sword-swallowers than I would have never found Farsi insults on SWEARASAURUS.com
The best was Tu kooneh mollah chapeh beshi or May you be shoved into the ass of a Mullah, which might be a blessing for some if a fist was inserted first.
No gays in Iran?
President Ahmadinejad must have forgotten that two teenager boys were executed for the crime of Luvat or homosexuality. 16 and 18. Even GW Bush as governor of Texas didn't kill teenagers, although Jerry Falwell would have forgiven his smiting sodomites for as Iran's Supreme Leader who stated in www.leader.ir that "The Western values that have led to the collapse of ethics and spread of revelry, violence, legalization of homosexuality and other such fiascos in their countries, can not be followed."
So no Village People for Iran.
No singing YMCA.
No White Party or Tea Dances. Only hangings.
But what if men say they're not gay like Senator Craig of Idaho?
Sex, but not gay.
Is that against Sharia?
Or would you get the same treatment as Matthew Wayne Shepard (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998)?
Wyoming or Mashad?
My younger brother was gay. My friends were gay. Millions of people in Thailand are gay and maybe one or two in Iran, because you can't hang us all, Mr. President Ahmadinejad and Reverend Pat Robertson.
Meshosham beh seebillet, Bichare mashang or I piss on your beards, you pathetic retards.
Sometimes it hard to forgive.
After all we're only human and I only want to have fun like the police commissioner said about Pattaya. That ain't no crime and either is being gay.
There seemed to be an extraordinary number of pissing profanities in Farsi.
#1 Man mishaasham rooyeh saret taa kaf koneh or I'll piss on your head until it foams
Nasty golden shower boys.
They would have loved the Toilet Bar in Greenwich Village.
1978.
It's raining men and ka-toeys too.
A comment from a reader about Johnny Romero, a great bon vivant from the 1950s in paris.
Dearest Claudia, I am Susy Küttel, the Swiss “girl” who was very much in love with Johnny, your father. I always remember him and our love was very deep and connected with lots of problems. Destiny divided us but I am sura that Johnny continued to love me very much. I am sorry that he died, but Johnny would say “this is the way the cookie crumbles baby.” I send you my best regards.
Love lives on.
Long you long time Johnny.
Ever since Ayatollah Kohmeni returned from exile to oust the Shah, the Mullahs in Iran have proscribed fun from the lives of the common folk.
No music, no dancing, no drinking, no nothing to transformed the Shah's secular state into a Land of No stricter than the New Jersey Shore or Tulsa, Oklahoma., however Iranians often leave their Islamic Republic to escape the enforced morality of the Police Guidance Patrols.
Several years ago their love of personal freedom was redlighted in Jomtien, when Thai police arrested an Iranian couple for having sex on the beach. The man professed his ignorance that sex in a public place was illegal in Thailand. They were fined 500 baht each.
Worse their names were published online and the couple sought political asylum overseas, for the punishment for their sin in Iran is public stoning in a stadium of the Police Guidance Patrols' choosing.
I think they ended up in Denmark, whose Viking traditions has always railed against the fundamentalism of any religion, but the Iranians still have a good time, because that is in their blood.
ps Sometimes you have to rethink who you are told are your enemies.
The following passage from the Qurʼan, Surah 5 severely condemns drinking alcohol and various other pleasures.
O you who believe! Intoxicants, gambling, al-ansāb, and al-azlām (arrows for seeking luck or decision) are an abomination of Shayṭān's (Satan's) handiwork. So avoid that in order that you may be successful.
Anyone found in possession of liquor in Saudi Arabia can be punished by up to 500 lashes and the Saudi are firm believers in the whip as well as the sword for beheading violators of Sharia.
Several Gulf emirates are less strict about the consumption of spirits and last week I purchased a Tiger beer at the Dubai Airport.
$13 for a half-liter.
The Emirates only hurt the wallet not the back, but beware.
Any traveler smelling of booze will be detained by Saudi security.
They really are a buzz kill.
During the early years of his administration President Reagan was attempting to sell tax cuts for the rich. The public wasn't buying this proposal until David Stockman, the White House budget director, suggested that if the rich get more money, the wealth will 'trickle down' to the masses, thereby forming a key formula for what is now known as 'Reaganomics'
The theory sounded like a card trick back in the 1980s, however everyone rich or vying to be rich loved the idea of paying less money to the federal government. According to Wikipedia economist Thomas Sowell argued that written that the actual path of money in a private enterprise economy was quite the opposite of that claimed by people who refer to the trickle-down theory. He noted that money invested in new business ventures is first paid out to employees, suppliers, and contractors. Only some time later, if the business is profitable, does money return to the business owners—but in the absence of a profit motive, which is reduced in the aggregate by a raise in marginal tax rates in the upper tiers, this activity does not occur.
The GOP have fought fiercly to retain the reagan tax cuts, despite budget shortfalls and the creation of a chasm between the very upper class elite and the rest of the population. Jobs have been shipped overseas to rake in more profit and incomes for the lower classes have stagnated to the point where millions are living in wage slavery, while goods cost more and more to pay for the errors of Voodoo Economics.
Mr. David Stockman defended his support for the trickle-down approach by quoting John Kenneth Galbraith's reference to another failed theory, 'If you feed the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows.'"
This political season the GOP will fight to prevent any mention of raising taxes on the rich.
Bernie Sanders, a Democratic candidate for president, will not let them change the subject, because the Vermont Senator knows the difference between 'trickle down' and 'pissed on'.
To see his talk of trickle down economics, please go to the following URL
You'll get the picture better than the GOP, unless you're one of them.
And then you'll think it works.
Sorry to break it to you.
Not really.
