Saturday, July 30, 2011

I discovered something

I decided a few months back to cease regularly publishing and to cease most of my writing all together. Today I just decided to quit talking. I answer, but I just am not volunteering anything because no one is listening. I decided this when I was half way into a sentence and the next person just started talking as though I wasn't even there. What's the point in wasting your breath if no one is listening. The interesting thing is that no one has even noticed. Seems I was right.
Ever wonder how many people are actually listening to you? Just stop talking and you will probably find out: no one.

News from the Real Economy.

http://blog.prospect.org/harold_meyerson/2011/07/news-from-the-real-economy.html/

The article is excellent and 100% factual.
The interesting thing is the comments are flat lies which anyone should see, but if you remember the article of false memories I published yesterday, you will see what is being attempted by the far right. It's either that or someone had better tell Bonehead and the Tea Party they are Democrats.

102 Things NOT To Do If You Hate Taxes

102 Things NOT To Do If You Hate Taxes

Thursday, July 28, 2011

It Has Been A Day

Last night on the way to Office Max to get the new HP 1010 Pavilion, Vanwitch's engine light came on causing me to have a minor nervous breakdown. There was no turning back so we managed to get the computer (they are really a great price and also available at Staples) and get back to the shop so I could make an appointment. Being in the hysterical frame of mind I was trying to make an appointment for Wednesday morning on Wednesday night. Finally I realized my mistake and got her a Thursday morning appointment and went home while I was still able to find the way.
In the mean time, a coupon came up on Farmville for 20.00 for a 40.00 Groupon coupon on http://www.shoebuy.com/. I grabbed it and was a little worried because I have never dealt with Groupon before. Oddly, the coupon wasn't good until midnight and you had to agree you comprehended that fact before they would let you print it out. So I has two missions today.
Trust me when I say Shoebuy has great prices on shoes. Now I buy Easy Spirit Travelers because they are like wearing slippers - No Kidding. They are the most comfortable shoe I have worn. I got a pair from Shoebuy last month when Farmville was offering farm cash to try them. Oh, and they pay the shipping to you and back if you don't like the shoe! You can't lose! Love those people.
The economy is flushed. It is no longer in the toilet. It is down the tubes. Normally it would take me 45 minutes to an hour to get across town to Pompano Ford Lincoln Mercury because of the traffic at 9 AM. It took me 20 minutes.
So, we stopped in A.C. Moore Arts and Crafts. I had been there once before and liked it and I had a 50% off one item coupon. We were the only people in the store and have they got some great Halloween stuff out: a stuffed spider lamp shade, purple and black cat mirror and a lighted bat that sits on your table. I will return when we go to the eye doctor week after next, maybe sooner, I just discovered I have another coupon for next week and a rewards card!
Then it was off to Ford. First off, my battery was shot. I mean it was so shot, they had no idea how I managed to keep the Vanwitch running. ;) It was 5 years old and only supposed to survive for 3. I bought her when she was 3. Then they discovered my check engine light was on because the gas cap had only been turned 2 of the 3 clicks it takes to seal the tank. This is a problem with a lot of cars, my good friend Owyn has told me. She was way over due for her checkup and oil change, anyway. So she left Ford feeling really good. However, avoid their donuts. Either they really are tasteless or my taste buds have evolved from all the organic REAL food.
My next stop was getting really lost and making a series of U turns but I finally managed to get into Country Consignments on Dixie Hwy south of Atlantic Blvd. I am pretty sure. It's north of the sub shop, Lou's. which has the greatest subs in the universe. They have some great stuff in there and if you want a specific item, like I do ( a corner hutch) they will take your name and phone number and call you when one comes in. She said they get new stuff almost daily and my friend, Martha, bought from them for years. If I had had room for large table and chairs, I would have snapped up the black oriental china cabinet but unfortunately, they were a set. Drop in there. It is gorgeous. Prices are very reasonable.
Then it was off to NuTurf down the street. I found the pink jatropha I have been searching for everywhere for a year. I got a real, live cinnamon tree! Yes, they grow here. I also got some lantana to replace the polkadot plant that really, really hates the mailbox garden. There were a couple of others. We couldnt' find a single cat but the manager assured us they had just been everywhere. I am betting someone left the door to the air conditioned office ajar....
Next stop was Costco for a UPS, some fruit and yogurt. Their home brand Greek Yogurt is really good if like me, you flavor your own. They also have organic strawberry preserves that are beyond delicious. The main reason for the stop was gas which has once again sky rocketed.
It was 3 PM before we made our way home and road was deserted. Normally at that time of day, I would have had commercial vehicles running me off the road to escape the 4 - 5 PM rush hour. I guess there are no more rush hours as no one has a job. There was barely a car on the highway and I take major arteries. Hillsboro Blvd was a ghost town. I had no trouble making left turns on Dixie Hwy and that used to be the bane of my existence.
Need I tell you how hot it was???? Yesterday morning, Mosquito control sprayed to the west of us and drove all the Salt Water Marsh mosquitoes into us. They are eating us alive and they are small and really, really mean. They have bit my hands and arms in the shop. If I hesitate on the mouse, nip.
Speaking of nips, a crab spider fell on the back of my neck in the yard at home and bit me. Those little devil really sting and of course, that shell is sharp when you try to brush them off. She tried to bite my hand but I gave her flying lessons. My neck is sore but no welt has arisen. They really are beautiful and come in all colors.
If you don't have a wireless mouse, you need one. I have my first one installed and I have no idea why I waited so long. I bet a wireless keyboard is next in my future. Hey, I am psychic.
I ordered my shoes tonight and how to use the coupon is not intuitive. You have to put it in on the second page under gift certificates. It says that but who reads ALL the instructions? Well, normally me but I was nervous.
Coming soon: cherry pitter comparisons.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Why Debbie called Allen a Gentleman from Florida

Okay, I'm the first one to state, the description doesn't fit. However, in Congress there is a protocol and a book called "Robert's Rules of Order". I don't know who Robert was but I have often wanted to throttle him or her.

I used to sit with my father and watch the US Congress which is a process akin to watching paint dry. Why you ask? Procedure, my friends...infinite, slow porcedure.
"The House Chair recognises the Gentleman from Florida." No names were ever used and you had to squint at the little name tags on the desks to see who was speaking if you didn't know them. The whole process of not using names was to eliminate personal feuds and elevate the proceedings if not remind the person being recognized, or referred to, that they represented the people of that area and not themselves. It didn't matter how big or little the state, you were the representative in a formal meeting with the other representatives and you were all equal.

Thus, the proper address, which Debbie Wasserman used was: the Gentleman from Florida. If you got a few committees and terms under your belt, and there is a real number for this I just don't remember it, you become the Distinguished Gentleman.

Once you were elevated to Speaker, you became the Chair and the state was dropped because now you represented the entire Congress and your job was to maintain order and decorum not pose for the media.

I once asked my father, before I took a course in government, why they called each other by these obtuse titles and not their names. His answer was, "It takes too much time to say 'the thieving, lying, whoring son of *itch from ....'" He may have been right.

Monday, July 25, 2011

We have a new look

My blog now has a new look as the old template was, well, obsolete.

Friday, July 22, 2011

null

null

A Job I was Offered

Many years ago while I was trying to make my reputation, I received an odd call from a major player in the tabloid business. The reporter, who actually worked for the foreign branch, wanted to know if he brought me a picture of a Tarot Reading, could I interpret it. I told him if I was familiar with deck or if it was based on the Rider deck and I knew the spread, I could do it.
Apparently I was the last psychic in the phone book he called and all the others had begun giving him a run around that ended with, no. In other words, though they advertised themselves as card readers, they couldn't read cards.
Well, he arrived with the blown up picture of the reading that was obviously taken from some distance away through a window. If you are famous, I suggest you not get a tarot reading in front of a window. The reader had to be in on it. It was too perfectly staged.
I had no trouble reading the cards for him though I had never seen the deck. I managed to purchase the deck 10 years later from a reader in England on Ebay because it was so beautiful..
Anyway, we got to talking because getting a spot in the upcoming predictions section would have made my career. He said: "You really don't want that." So naturally I asked why and he responded with, "Have you ever seen any of those predictions come true?"
Well, now that he mentioned it, no. The short version is that a dear friend of mine actually sold him a list of the worst, craziest, most publicity hungry psychics in the country who were greedy enough to jump on the bandwagon and each year they took the most outlandish predictions these people made (Princess Di having Alien Baby) and published them. If a prediction actually looked halfway decent, it hit the garbage can. Then they sat back and waited for the letters praising these predictions and the psychics that made them. It was their holiday entertainment. He did, however, say that if he ever wanted to know was really going to happen, he would call me.
Imagine my shock when reporters for huge national newspapers began calling and they even had people's birth dates, places and times for me. I never got a bit of credit except from the local newspapers. The last few calls I fielded were disturbing. One was about Princess Di and I asked the reporter to not ask me anything more about her. He said, "is what we all fear about to happen?" My answer was; yes. She was dead a month later. So, people knew what was coming and their information didn't come from psychics like me.
So, don't think the news media doesn't use us, because they do. Don't think they don't know they are publishing straight crap, because they do.
The tabloids were the teething ground for the the shock jocks who evolved into FAUX news. They learned exactly how to manipulate public opinion, what worked and what didn't and who worked and who didn't. They learned what blatant lies were easily swallowed and how to frame them to make them slide down so much easier. I have no doubt they use people with my talent to vet the lies and predict which ones you will believe. You don't stand a chance.

Murphy's Laws of Retail

The moment you consign the day to being totally a wash and begin to work on your inventory and product orders, people will come through the door. You cannot stop what you are doing and they need help. It never fails.
When I worked a phone line all I had to do to get calls was start eating peanut butter crackers. I made money but I gained 20 pounds.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

They were the most feared of creatures...

They were the most feared of creatures and yet they appeared the most benign. They traveled in flocks of at least 2 and never more than 5. They were all female and well past their prime. They would emerge from their dens where even dust motes feared them and never settled to meet in the designated den of the leader. Their movement were tracked along with their speed. With each block, speculation abounded as to their final destination and the poor soul who was about to receive them with the utmost of courtesy even though they knew their fate was sealed. The door would open because to refuse entry was the most heinous of crimes and never forgiven nor forgotten. It was also an instant admission of guilt. As their speed slowed, speculation reached a fever pitch but no one would dare to place a bet upon their destination.
Upon emergence from the location of the poor target, their facial expressions were studied in microscopic detail. The best sign was a little smile for they never showed their teeth but it is rumoured they still had them. A grimace, furrow between the brows and set jaw indicated there was yet another target and speculation began anew along with a lot of sweating. Association was an admission of compliance as "birds of a feather flock together". Only when they were safely ensconced in their individual domiciles were we safe, for whenever two of more of them gathered, someone was a target.
All feared them from the Mayor, to the chief of police whose "police involved shooting" could be dismissed as "he just needed killin'" to the men of the cloth with the reversed colors. Politicians were afraid to look into their eyes and instead studied their sensible shoes with the complete fascination. Police were known to be whacked with the various tools of their trade usually an umbrella. Men of the cloth simply moaned. The rest of us tried to hide as guilt was optional in being convicted of the infraction.
They had uniforms, though not identical, that identified them as members of the flock. A shirt waist dress with tiny flowers, as ostentation was frowned upon, always with sleeves even in the dead of summer, a narrow belt regardless of their girth, a hemline that fell with precision that NASA would have admired to precisely the middle of the lower calf and white cuffs and collar. Pearl buttons indicated rank. There was always a hat, small and piously located almost on the back of the head with a small veil extending to the hairline and no further unless she was in deep mourning.
They each carried a small purse with the necessities to being a lady, one lipstick, a tissue for blotting, a handkerchief, a small change purse and wallet that held only a few bills. A comb rounded out the contents thought their hair, either in a bun or sensible cut, had not dared to move in years. Sometimes they carried a small umbrella but by and large, it did not dare to even sprinkle when they were about. The umbrella was a weapon and a really, really bad sign. In the other hand they carried a small black book completely covered in white crochet identical to the crochet pattern they made coaster and hot pads out of covered pepsi or coke caps. Even caps were vetted in their world and no beer bottle cap dare apply for even small pieces of round metal were capable of leading one into sin.
They were unmarried, either widows in which case their proper form of address would be the Widow so and so or had never married because no man had ever lived up to their standards or one had broken their heart. They never remarried because no man could ever live up to the image of the 'good' man they had lost or most frequently, they needed a long time to forgive the rounder they stuck with all those years. In the latter case, their proper form of address was Miss so and so. No one really knew if they had a first name.
The only reason for missing a Sunday in church was death and then they were perhaps the only ones who ever made a voluntary appearance at their own funeral. Missing a bake sale was only permitted if their hip was broken or they had advanced pneumonia. It mattered not whether they could boil water, you bought the bake sale item, you ate it there and you delivered the proper compliment. Otherwise you would receive a 'visit' and an explanation of the word 'charity' from the rest of the flock sans the offended member. You would send a written apology and blame your indiscretion on temporary insanity, a sour stomach and the total loss of your taste buds. Then you would receive the cake and have to eat it because the dog wouldn't even get near it.
They were the Church Ladies, the moral barometer of the town and a moral police force more effective than the FBI and the KGB combined.
I never feared them for I was condemned by virtue of my birth. My blood was mixed with Heathens or as they are called now, Native Americans. My family was psychic and it mattered little who we healed or who we helped, we were born condemned. It mattered not that my father cut their grass, fixed their car and painted their porch for free because he had shown the bad judgement of marrying my mother and they suspected he was an atheist. They had no idea how right they were. I knew their first names and planned on calling them by them just as soon I reached the respectable age of 40 or more. Standing on the front porch of our family house would have had them struck by lightening so we never feared a visit. We were the only ones.
I have seen preachers break out in massive sweats at their approach. I have seen police officers try desperately to find a crime to attend to, always their hats removed and pain evident as they, as officers of the law, were required to meet the gaze of the Church Lady. I heard a rumour once that gaze could turn you to stone or was it a pillar of salt? Politicians found interesting places to look and never in their eyes. They reminded us that we were our brother's keeper, the meaning of charity and the lecture on treating others as you wanted to be treated was delivered an hour at a time. They each had a embroidered sampler with the ten commandments in red and those commandments didn't have codicils. They never asked what Jesus would do, but rather did you think, have to audacity to think, that GOD would approve of this. The correct answer was no, with your head hung low and a promise to do better and after all, you would be told that was all GOD could expect because you were human, frail and prone to giving into temptation. Oh and the final incentive to reform, "We will be back." I've seen alcoholics go on the wagon at that threat.
It is too bad they have all passed on through those pearly gates (I always preferred wrought iron) as I would love to see a flock of them descend upon Congress next week and explain the Word of God as opposed to the Word of Ayn Rand to them. I still remember the lecture on charity myself. I think they might need replacement umbrellas by the second Congressman or woman. Ah well, there is one thing this little witch knows for sure, they will be waiting for them on the other side. If I were in Congress, I would start funding research into immortality, last week.


Please support my blog by supporting my sponcers.
c Janice Scott-Reeder

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

My Review of 2-pack sleeveless tricot nightgown by Comfort Choice®

Originally submitted at WomanWithin

2-pack sleeveless tricot nightgown is a fabulous value and comfortable look. We offer the best price and fit in plus size nightgowns.

  • contrast piping at scoop neck, full sweep style for comfort & ease
  • perfect for travel; 44" long
  • washable ...


This is my 5 year wearing them.

By Tarotlady from Coconut Creek, FL on 7/20/2011

 

5out of 5

Waist: Feels true to size

Length: Feels true to length

Pros: Soft, Nice Design, Washes Well, Well Made, Comfortable

Cons: TAGS 2 of them

Best Uses: Sleeping

Describe Yourself: Casual Dresser

Was this a gift?: No

Why do they put two tags in them. We are going to cut them out. They could print them easier on the fabric and cheaper.

(legalese)

Monday, July 18, 2011

The Week's Product Reviews.

Remember, these are just my opinions.

Amazon.com is amazing. After making the best black cherry/vanilla Greek yogurt in the Universe this morning, I began to search for a cherry pitter, because getting those pits out by hand sucks worse than a Hoover, and had one in less than a minute. Then I realised I used all my veggie wash last night when I washed the cherries and had that with free shipping in another minute!

Annie's Bunny Snacks will have you wondering why you ever expended the energy opening another brand. Good does not describe them and they are organic made with real food.

That leads me to Target. The gal in front of me didn't realise the box of O shaped cereal was open and spilled it all over the cashier's area. I looked at the stuff and there is no possible way that stuff can be mistaken for food. On the other hand, Styrofoam and it have a lot in common. Their pharmacy was as nice as can be, as usual and I got my prescription cheaper than from the insurance company. I got a package of metallic paper for spells that I have not seen anywhere else. However, every time I get to the mark down counter I start wondering what the original price was. Good Goddess, their little end tables are priced out of this world. The little storage ottomans they have on sale for 15.00, the lid just sits there. I would stay away from their furniture department. I did find a good coffee grinder and since mine died 4 months ago, I have not been able to find one anywhere.

The South Palm Beach Refi Store is filled with lovely people. I found the Urantia Book for 4.00. I have wanted a copy forever but not been able to afford it. You can get good buys on poly varnish (can't remember what you call that stuff) for interior use. I won't say the furniture is that great a price. If you need a bath tub, they had one for 88.00 that was an expensive model.

However, in the world of my mammogram, I will not be returning to that place. The gal called me two weeks ago and I asked, point blank, don't I need a prescription for this. Oh, no, you just need to come in. We'll call the doctor. Thursday they called to make certain the insurance would pay since I was a month earlier than last year. I had to check it and I called back. Once more: is everything alright. Oh yes, just show up Monday. First question Monday, "Where's your prescription?" So I explained. George got them to call the doctor's office and here is a lesson everyone should learn. I may not be able to hear buy I can read lips at a very, very long distance. I have excellent distance vision. So, she gets the doctor's office and the phone and tells them I CALLED THEM AND MADE THE APPOINTMENT. I came up out of that seat yelling: You called me. I asked if I needed a prescription and you said said NO. Net result, no prescription: no  mammogram. I wasted my afternoon driving half way across town. Now, who wants to say something about people having to buy a drug test to get welfare. I can't even get a mammogram without a doctor's appointment and prescription. Other result: If they will try to cover their ass to the doctor over an appointment, what will they do if something goes wrong with the mammogram or its interpretation? Last year, their bathrooms were not working and even though I was the only person there, I had to wait half an hour.  I will NOT be going back.
Just for the record, I started out with a very positive attitude. I double checked everything. I was totally upfront. I did everything right and was very nice up to the point that they accused me of lying. That's when I got nasty. And I got even nastier when they flat implied I tried to get the mammogram and cut the doctor out to the doctor's office. I do have to go back there for a pap smear.
The lesson here is that you don't have to take that kind of treatment. Every hospital does mammograms and there are loads of private companies. The procedure is painful and traumatic enough. You do not have to put up with BS by the cart load.
Anyway, it was half way between the house the Refi Store and I circled back to Target but it put me late on going out to get my printer and I really didn't intend to go to the Refi Store or Target today with the price of gas. It probably cost me close to 10.00 in gas for that little exercise in futility.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Of all the things I've lost, it's my mind I miss the most....

Or so the old joke goes. Actually, it is my memory I miss the most. The docs think I suffered a minor stroke when I was in my 40's. All I know is I was driving home, didn't know where I was and could only remember one phone number. I found a phone booth and my friend came and picked me up and took me home. The rest is a fog and 2 years of college just disappeared along with a large number of other memories.
There are a lot of people who think it would really be nice not to remember but it is no fun to have a sort of handle on something and the rest of the sentence is totally missing. That is what it is like. It is just gone.
A group I belong to has been doing a lot of healing work and somehow, the healing bled off to me and last night for the first time my memory began returning. It all started with a pen and everything just returned in brilliant color. I remembered my father's shop in Texas, it's yellow outside, the little yellow flowers that were covered with thorns that grew in the yard in front of it, sitting on a nailed together 2x4 bench packing aircraft parts in thick grease and grease paper.
I had completely forgotten my father planting 2 royal palms in front of our house in Hialeah because he missed the stand we had in front of the house in Cuba. They became known as Rocky's Folly because the palms soon drafted the little house. We don't have large houses in SoFl.
Of course, there was the bad that I remembered and being much older, suddenly a lot of things made sense that previously were mysterious. Hindsight tends to be 20/20.
I awoke this morning with the name of a movie I have been trying to remember for 20 years. At first I thought, no, it can't possibly be. So I got out of bed and checked Amazon.com on my phone and sure enough, the vampire movie with David Carradine was Sundown. I ordered it because he really gave a stellar performance in that cheap movie.
But tonight I remembered something that had totally escaped me for years. I remembered that every evening in Texas we would walk over to this old lady's house. She had a flower garden with vines and 4 O'clocks. They would perfume the air and when we settled down with some iced tea, the hummingbirds would come in flocks. The air was alive with color and these little birds flitting from flower to flower. It was like a faery land. Then as it grew to full dark they would be gone, just like that and a huge cloud of vampire bats would fly over out of their nest in Catholic School Tower to hunt all night in the desert. I understand they now live under the bridges in San Antonio. I remembered sitting on the river and watching the boat parade with every boat covered in flowers and eating tamales from the hand made stands the men would roll by. There were even make your own taco stands which were my favorite. I bet you need a license, inspection and Goddess knows what now to have a tamale stand. Memories are nice.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Will the last Liberal out the Door turn the Lights Off....

I am constantly surprised that people actually think they can undo their little temper tantrum during the last election next year. You elected, either deliberately, by default or by falling for a third party spoiler candidate, a radical, Tea Party agenda dedicated to removing the rights from women, children, the poor, the middle class, the elderly, the disabled and the Gay and putting all their money in the pockets of the already super rich while destroying the Reagan touted "safety net".




Through out the country, voters' "rights" bills are being enacted fueled by a demonizing of alleged "immigrants" demanding the proof of citizenship in the form of Photo ID and basically enacting the old "Jim Crow Laws". Decades of reform designed to create a democracy has gone down the drain in a year when just coincidentally, an equal number of states are redrawing their voter district line mostly behind closed doors. At the same time huge numbers of people, families are being left homeless in a world where the criteria for photo ID is an ADDRESS! The elderly, who for one reason or another, no longer drive and have been forced to surrender their dirvers' license (Our great leaders didn't think their insurance and car was enough to surrender....gee, now we know why.) have no way to get Photo ID and most don't even know they are going to need it at the polls. The same goes for the disabled and poor who may never have even owned a car. At the same time, our great leaders you elected are saving us so much money on Welfare by demanding expensive drug testing the recipients can't afford, that people will have to drop off the rolls and guess what many used as ID: that welfare card they no longer have. Do you really think you are going to rectify all this in November??? Where are you going to get the votes?



The House of Representatives successfully blocked the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell by attaching a rider to a spending bill for the Pentagon. Yup, just as simple as that, they wiped out all the previous votes and motions and put DADT back into action. I bet you didn't know they could do that. Do you really think a budget is 500 pages long? Most bills are two pages at the most and other 498 are riders. You just learned how harmful these riders are. They can effectively negate the entire bill's purpose and you think you won....



You are not going to turn this around. The Republicans have all signed a pledge not to raise taxes and the only way to pay the bills is to gut Social Security, Medicare and every other social program we have to pay for Bush's little wars and great tax breaks for his wealthy donors. The Republicans are in control. THE REPUBLICANS ARE IN CONTROL. No bill can pass without them voting for it. You will not turn this around. All you can do is: drop out of the system (impossible for 99% of you), move to another country or resign yourself to the fact that you didn't mortgage your children's future, you sold them into slavery. As for you, you aren't necessary. You are too old for menial labor. You are a drain on the system. You do not deserve to eat or have a roof over your head. You served your only purpose last November.



I was talking to a client from another country who has applied for citizenship. You don't have to worry about him taking your job. As soon as he can get enough money for a ticket he going back to India where the jobs are. "Three years ago if I offered a ticket to the United States to my friends, they would have been on an airplane. Today when I ask if they want to come over, their answer is: we might go to Europe but things are pretty good here. No thanks on the ticket." Most of his friends have gone home to their third world country.



I'm sorry about you folk in England. No one wants to move there either. If you hadn't had that romanticized cowboy fetish and started electing leaders that followed the Reagan policies, you probably wouldn't be in the state you currently are.



So, will the last Liberal out the door, please turn the lights out. We can't afford the electric bill.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Don't Blame the Jury....

To tell you the truth, I really don't know if the gutting of social programs is a good thing or a bad thing because I have worked in the system and perhaps it is the only way to save a lot of my friends from a padded cell.
Back when good old boy Reagan emptied the metal health hospitals and gutted whatever monies were available in the name of Trickle Down, I was in the middle of my career. One of my legitimate patients brought a young man in to see if he could get some help. With counseling and proper medication, he probably would have grown into a fine young man. As it was, I found myself yelling at the person on the other end of the phone: "Do I have to see him on serial killer of the week to get help for him?"
After she suggested I not get "snippy", we got down to what my options were.
There were two.
1. His parents would have to have enough money to afford private counseling for him. Since his mother started most days telling him if abortion had been legal he wouldn't be there, I doubted there would be help forthcoming even if there was that money in the trailer park.
2. I could wait for him to commit a crime, get sent to Juvie and have the older boys teach him better ways to do what he did best and how not to get caught.
I soon found that 99% of the time those were my options. As long as the damage inflicted on a child didn't leave multiple broken bones that could be traced directly back to a specific adult, your hands were tied. Feeding children spoiled milk, cat food and frozen imitation fruit flavored water as a diet was not a crime. As long as the child arrived in school one day out of 30 there was nothing you could do. There is no rule that says a child ever has to see a doctor or a dentist (particularly a dentist) except for a physical and shots. Most parents just forged any doctor's signature on the physical and got the shots in a  line a 100 or more long at public health where no one looks past the arm they are sticking a needle into.
Now that unemployment is on the rise the new homeless are families, my friends tell me it is not unusual to find a grandmother or great grandmother 60 to 90 taking care of 10 or more children and trying to feed them on her social security check. With assistance to the elderly being cut, there is very little food available for grandmother.
And people all over the country have asked today about the infamous not guilty verdict and how did it happen. Gee, I think I just answered your question. Except for a few dedicated (believe me, they are really few in number) people, who are mostly women, no one cares what happens to a kid after it is born. It becomes the parent's business or is rather fostered off on parents ignorant or just plain uncaring. You can gather more people to picket an abortion clinic than to picket for the children killed each year by their parents. What a sad commentary on  this country. The anti abortion forces gather more money each year  to picket and lobby (bribe) fat cat politicians than child advocacy groups even have available to spend on children much let alone lobby by a staggering amount. The really sad thing is it used to make me sick at my stomach. Now, I just don't care. It's what you want. Enjoy but don't blame a jury of her peers. They are only reflecting what you as a society have created as your priorities. First the unborn mass of cells is most important and then, well, heck, until they kill or main one of you...the heck with them.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Oh my, Quick send a Welfare Check

Last week a horrible thing happened. The new regulations on those artificial people, the banks, started to go into effect causing them to have to charge merchants 12 cents per debit card transaction instead of 45 cents! Immediately, the entire banking system began to collapse. People using debit cards would be accessed hundreds, I tell you hundreds of dollars in fees and damn it, we have to get a welfare check out to those artificial people, the banks, yesterday before they starve to death and the Hades with the mandatory drug test.. Ooops, I meant bailout check. The Federal Reserve immediately caved and gave them 24 cents per transaction lest the world come to an end and no one wants that.

Okay, let's leave Fantasy Bankland where the Banks, Wallstreet and the Federal Reserve live and enter Janice's Small Business Realityland where she pays through the nose for everything and every time she tells the bank the fees are killing her the answer is: tough gneugies. I think that is a threaded nail from the hardware department at Home Depot and they want me to buy that, too.

Let's follow a debit transaction in my store all the way through to your happy little bank account.

1. I swipe, because I can't afford to buy a keypad or have the basic amount needed to give you money back should you want $20.00, your card on the credit card machine I paid $698.00 after being forced to upgrade my equipment due to the new regulations on what can be printed on the receipt, something which incidentally is programed by the processing company electronically in about 5 milliseconds if they so desire. They don't. They make a profit selling these machines or leasing them which is an even better business.
2. My machine, which I PAID 698.00 for, dials the credit card processors' COMPUTER on the phone line I pay 125.00 a month for and their COMPUTER answers the phone, checks the balance in your account which is dynamically changing and propagating through the bank systems every couple of minutes and if it deems you have enough "money' sends a message back to the machine I paid 698.00 for which then prints a receipt on the SPECIAL PAPER I CAN ONLY BUY FROM THEM at 10 times the price of the paper I print the cash register receipts on plus postage and handling and you get to use MY PEN to sign the receipt which I must then securely store in the safe I paid 900.00 for, indefinitely.
3. At the end of the day, I key in a series of codes causing my 698.00 machine to total all the charges for the day, sort them into categories and dials, ON MY 125.00 a month PHONE LINE, the credit card processing company whose COMPUTER then takes all the information for a second time and prints on MY PAPER a receipt for the day which I have to store in MY SAFE for Goddess who knows how long but I expect the end of the world will come first.
4. At a certain time, the credit card processing company's  COMPUTER batches all the charges for the day and calls the Bank's COMPUTER and transmits them to IT and IT subtracts the money from your account all in about half a second.
5. Should something go wrong and you not have enough money, aside from the world probably having ended because a debit card transaction is like taking cash out of your account, The bank COMPUTER on the next cycle informs the credit card processor's computer to remove that money from MY BANK ACCOUNT which it does electronically the next cycle on closing the machine out and prints me a nasty note on MY PAPER that X amount of money has just been removed from my account earlier that day.
6. Your bank's COMPUTER, now doing the happy dance, then charges you around 29.00 or more for the mistake at the merchant processing company because we all know it couldn't have made the mistake.
7. I pay for the whole transaction, all fees including those incurred charging back (snatching the money out of my account) and as a side note, I LOSE THE MERCHANDISE, TOO.
And to add insult to injury, since this last part can occur 5 - 7 working days later, not because it has to but just because, I can bounce checks in the mean time thinking I have the money in my account.
I also get a black mark on MY CREDIT HISTORY for accepting a bad Debit Card allowing them to raise my processing rates on the next renewal cycle or demand 10,000.00 or more as a deposit for processing THEIR credit cards.

Okay, how exactly does it cost a bank 45 cents to process a Debit Card transaction plus .0125 to 4% of the total amount of the transaction all paid by ME??? Come on all you little Tea Party Repugs, give me an answer. You loves the Federal Reserve and it's Banks and Corporations.

I take all the risk. I pay all the penalties. I lose the product. I pay for the equipment. I even pay for the phone line and the electricity. I have to manually do everything. My time is valuable. I THINK THEY SHOULD PAY ME TO TAKE THEIR DARNED CARDS. I know....tough gnuegies.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Dark Magick is just that.

Dark or black magick is just that, no matter what name you want to try and white wash or justify it with. You, and only you, will pay the price even if you pay someone else to do it.
Let's talk about what constitutes the Dark Arts. They are not defined as for personal gain but as attempting to force someone to do something against their will or against their best interests or harming another or working against the greater good. The last will get you the least smut on your soul as most of us are not capable of seeing that far into the future.
Let me give you an example of some very black working all prettied up in the" for your own good" category and the "we really didn't know what we were doing so we really, really screwed someone up good" secondary category.
Trust me, the payback is always bad. Ignorance is no excuse.

A gentleman came to me because he was having a spate of "bad luck" that was driving him to financial ruin and his friend, whom I had counseled, recommended me. He really didn't understand how exactly these nice "church ladies" could be "cursing" him. However, since my friend had almost lost his life to the workings of a similar group he knew what he was seeing.

Unlike the "wizard for hire" bunch, I question my potential clients carefully and I have the training to get answers. I was totally puzzled. The problem was simply that the mother did not want her daughter involved with him. Okay, here is a man who owns his own business, car and home, is financially solvent and good looking to boot. I could have five women fighting over him with a phone call. So, I bluntly asked exactly what was wrong with him. He replied, "I'm a Presbyterian." That caused uncontrollable head shaking and eye blinking on my part. "WHAT?????"
Then I asked exactly what these women were doing to him and how this "mother" convinced them to do it and by the way, who are they? It turns out the "they" was a prayer circle in a little Fundamentalist Church. "They" were meeting twice a week to "pray" that he be stopped from dating her daughter and that her daughter quit working for him.

Now, let me explain quickly why this IS the DARK ARTS. There is no difference between praying, chanting and standing on your head imagining or casting a well crafted circle,  lighting incense and invoking your chosen God/desses. The problem with this group is they were totally uneducated in the arts they were invoking. By leaving the prayer open ended (he be stopped from dating her daughter) they left the door wide open for any entity listening to use any means (including killing this man) to do the job. Without a circle of protection, they had left an open door for anything and anything always has a price. They left an equally open door on the daughter quiting the job and as a result, he was suffering a myriad of health problems (and this was a healthy guy) preventing him from "dating" and his business was going under hence the daughter not working  for him would be because there would be no business. This would hurt not only him, but the community his business serviced.

I asked how he got into this mess and his reply was the daughter rebelling against the restrictive faith of the mother had picked him out for her little rebellion and since she was pretty and a good sales person, at the time he didn't see any harm. He really didn't want to date her in the first place but she chased him. She had spent a week convincing him to hire her on a commission basis with the old "what have you got to lose" argument. He was quickly finding out what he had to lose.

So, I taught him cleansing and basic protection magick, none of which conflicted with his religion. In the end, he had to sell the business to get rid of this mother/daughter team from Hades as when he tried to fire her, she went to the prayer circle with a list of grievances and they then redoubled their efforts to now "punish him". That was when they really stepped over the line into the Dark Arts and I have no doubt paid the price.

So, what happens when you step over the line?
It is all energy and energy is neutral. It is all how you use it. When you attempt to go against another's best interests or desires, you have to use more energy than just going with the flow. One person can only channel so much energy so unless you are very skilled "vampire" you are going to weaken. First your aura goes and eventually your body follows but your mind is going to go before that happens. Without your aura to shield your mind, and severely weakened, you are prey for every creature of the other realms who wants a snack of your energy and sanity. There are plenty of them.
A group of people can raise more energy than the individual members taken singularly. One thing every High Priestess knows is that channeling the energy of a group is like walking a moving tight rope that was greased. That's why you don't get the head piece by passing a written test. Even with a well organized group, one person out of it that night can cause the energy circle to tilt and if the circle breaks, the energy feedback is, well, Hell. Headaches, nausea, weakness and dizziness are the weaker of the symptoms of a circle gone bad and that includes a prayer circle. There may be a temporary "high" and then the symptoms hit anywhere from an hour to a day later. I have seen people literally thrown to the ground and bounced off walls. The problem in prayer circles is simple. How well do you know the people you are working with? Everyone is nicely praying for poor Mable's recovery when one person suddenly thinks, oh, and could you get rid of my daughter's fiancee. Suddenly, your healing circle dipped into the Black Arts and poor Mabel is going to pay right along with you. Someone always pays.
With a good High Priestess, we know the moment the energy moves to a new level and will stop it. Our members also know the danger if the circle unbalances before the energy is released and aren't gong to play add a little prayer to it. We work in a purified and sealed environment. Hey, there is a reason the Pope is swinging that censor and chanting in Latin around the altar and those priests and choir boys and going up and down the aisles and around the perimeter of the Church at all major services. Too bad your pastor can't speak Latin and doesn't know why. The local witch knows why. He's not going to take the chance that the local JC impostor shows up to Mass. He's making sure he gets the clear, unfettered and open line to the real thing.
What happens if you persist on this path aside from insanity, rocking back and forth in a padded cell while watching the local entities eat you? You mean that didn't scare the crap out of you? Well, you get to die a long and lingering death because you aren't as valuable in their world as ours. Here you are food. Once you cross over, all the things you did arrive to haunt you and unfortunately for you they will be really, really real. You will find you are virtually a slave in the afterlife to whoever or whatever is stronger than you and there will be someone stronger than you waiting for you. I have been told the pain is excruciating because your soul is not intact and you feel like you are constantly hungry and  thirsty trying to replenish it. Shall I go on or are you getting the idea that anyone who tries to rope you into these things is no friend of anyone but themselves.
The bottom line is you wouldn't play with explosives with a group of people smoking and who have no knowledge of safety precautions. Don't play with energy the same way.

This shocked me....

Not much does now-a-days with all that is going on, history being rewritten, criminals getting million dollar bonuses for wrecking the economy, but this shocked me.
You see, when I got my BA and went into the Master's program, I was working full time as a therapist and making semi good money. Thus I paid my college tuition in cash every semester and never took out any loans. I graduated solvent.
The average college student graduates $24,000.00 in debt and that doesn't count how much they put on credit cards for things like BOOKS. The only way you can get the discounted payments is to begin to pay the loan back instantly.
The implications of this are staggering. The average payment is going to be between 200 and 500 dollars per month. The average college student is going to find an entry level job at not much more than minimum wage. Just about all their disposable income for 5 to 10 years is going toward paying the loans off and remember, that doesn't cover credit card debt, a car or an apartment. Get an education and join the working poor living in your parents basement riding the bus.
And you may say, but this doesn't affect me. OH YES IT DOES!
That money being paid to government grants from all those students is money that is NOT going into the economy. Every penny is a product or service NOT bought. It is hurting you. It is hurting the country and the solution is not to force students into immediate payments in order to get the discount. They aren't making that much off the nondiscount and we all know the money is just heading for the Pentagons little macho wars anyway, i.e. out of the country.
Not only that, but any smart kid quickly figures out he is in over his head and is going to drop out before he mortgages his future in student loans. And you thought it was Obamacare....We are creating a University climate where even with financial aide, only the rich can afford to go to college.
Colleges and Universities have to do something, too. I have bought $250.00 books that were never opened during the whole semester but the professor checked to see if you had the book the first day and you weren't passing if you didn't have it. WHY? Because the publishing company gives him/her a publishing deal if so many of these worthless texts were sold to students and professors that aren't the big fish make very, very little money. It is a publish or perish world. I thought my professor's check, and he had tenure, was his weekly paycheck. It was his monthly pay check. I have no idea how he lived on it.
Just remember when you write that payment every month for stuff you already bought and probably have paid at least twice for, that money is not going into the economy. It is going into a banker's wallet. And that is why we are in a recession.

This Week's Product and Shopping Reviews

The opinions are strictly mine and only reflect my experiences, So there is your disclaimer.

A while back I bought some little citronella tea lites at Old Tyme Pottery on closeout. THEY WORK! They work better than the big citronella candles and the mosquitoes head out of range fast. How bad are the mosquitoes? I have one candle burning on my computer desk. With the rains, they are forming clouds.

Cascade Farms makes fantastic frozen ORGANIC berry mixes but I got caught. They make more than one mix. This I did not know and I managed to buy the bag without strawberries. I remedied that at BJ's. But hey, they are all berries and very, very good for me so except for the fact that Napoleon does not care for blueberries, no one was harmed. Okay, Napoleon is miffed.

We took a trip over to Rooms to Go's outlet. First off, it is not easy to find and without a trail of bread crumbs, you aren't getting out of there without at least one trip around the lake. Geez guys of the lake, you killed a whole tree that fell over the road with the poison you used. You can cut those weeds without killing everything and poisoning our water table. Anyway, there might be a good deal in there somewhere but do not count on anything being anywhere the advertised starting price and by that I mean $100.00 or more within range. As for finding the good deal, not on my watch and they won't be seeing me again.

Then we went to El Dorado because I have always wanted to see their store. Dear Goddess, you won't be disappointed. That show room is FANTASTIC. They have Buddhas taller than me at  the entrance to the Asian area. I checked this morning on the net and their prices on statuary are right in line with everyone else's. The furniture is well made though a bit large for my taste.Well, not my taste, I love that stuff. Florida homes tend to be small and I have nowhere to put it, They do have curio cabinets that would make a lovely home display. I wanted to crawl into a couple of those beds and never leave, I loved the Oriental Collection, but that is just me. You must see the store on Lyons Roads in Coconut Creek. Oh, they have a mirror collection to die for! If you find something you just can't live without, ask for Norma Horianski, she took very good care of us,

And speaking of great associates. I was in Home Depot on 441 in Coconut Creek in the garden department Thursday around 5:30 PM. It was raining. When I explained to the associate that I was deaf and reading lips, he slowed down and enunciated so clearly I could understand every word. You have a keeper there, Home Depot.
I also learned that people will kill over mulch on sale and your people did an excellent job of keeping the peace when I thought two were going to come to blows because one guy thought the other one was taking all the mulch just because he had a pickup truck. Good grief, want to jump to another conclusion? Home Depot has a commercial store and every business calls and orders ahead so they can back in and grab and run. So try to leave the other customers alive during sales. By-the-way, they had plenty of mulch left on Friday,

Just remember, the old lady in sweats is shopping and she is thrifty and comfortable not poor and broke. She will rat you out to the whole internet. Be kind to each other out there. Someone really is watching and publishing....

Friday, July 1, 2011

Goddess, I am some times STUPID

Yesterday I was having one of my infrequent fights with my hair. They are infrequent because when you reach a certain age, your hair decides on a pattern and you decide you might as well go with it. I really don't have that much left any way and usually, my hair is "fluffy". It was flat, flat as a pancake flat. I had skipped my nightly washing.
Taking a closer look I discovered my hair was neither dirty nor oily. What was going on?
Okay, if you are my age, you remember when you washed your hair once, maybe twice a week in the summer. It was the weekly ritual for those who had money (I never did) to hit the beauty parlor on Friday, or Saturday if you were the rare woman who worked, get your hair washed, trimmed and set. And you were set for the week unless you encountered the occasional down pour and didn't have your little rain bonnet. Yes, I said bonnet and I actually have three.
I looked over at the window sill where I keep the shampoo and saw the industrial sized bottle of shampoo that you would never have seen in the 80's even and it hit me. We have been systematically duped and shook down.
Everyone wants great hair like those celebs and talking heads. Ladies, every woman on the nightly news on two stations is wearing a wig and if you want to get one: Paula Young and Especially Yours are the web sites. Every celeb has hair extensions, or is wearing a wig. You cannot get hair like theirs unless you buy it! But you are going to try. You are going to buy the latest blow dryer. Honies, it is just hot air. You can stand in front of a fan and get the same effect if you have thin hair like mine. Then there are the curling irons and flat irons, all of which damage your hair so you then need expensive conditioners. And then to add insult to injury, you need that industrial drum of shampoo because this has to be done every blasted day, over and over again. You can't even get away with air drying like I do because the next day your hair is FLAT! You can't even put it up. And since you are systematically stripping it, you now need glossers, and a host of things I think belong in a chemistry lab.
We've been conned, screwed over and systematically defrauded. The shampoo doesn't work because you have to use it daily. Clean should be clean but it isn't any more. It's been designed that way. You've got more appliances than my mother had in her kitchen to undo what the shampoo and conditioner do over and over again: all in the name of PROFIT and we fell for it!
So, what are the upper 1% doing with their hair? They still go to the beauty parlor once a week. They buy wigs and extensions and generally get out of what we suffer.
When I use up this shampoo and conditioner, I am returning to the good old bar of Castille soap and hair washing when it needs it. Take that big business and don't even think about running that company out of business because this Witch knows how to make that soap! You've gotten your last dime from me! Anyway, I have wigs and hats.