December 28, 2003

Post Christmas

I’ve been eating everything I shouldn’t, and I’m afraid to get on the scales. If this were any other Christmas, I’d just get out and walk a mile or two extra each day for a week. However, with my broken ankle, that’s an impossibility. Perhaps it’s finally time for me to turn into a blimp like 80% of the American population, except I’ve waited 50 years longer than most to do it. Sarcasm, thy name is Isaac!

Christmas dinner at Ruth’s was excellent! She’s a pain in the BLEEP, but she can cook as good as her mother did.

Unfortunately, The Professor was there.

See related entries about the professor on 12/18/03, 10/05/03, 10/03/03, 08/07/03, and 07/22/03.

Doesn’t the man have a life or a family of his own. Sometimes it feels as though he’s adopted me and mine as his, when in actuality it’s the abstract embodyment of my work he’s tixated upon. If my work were corporeal, he’d be an anaconda snake, jaws cocked wide open, head-radar aimed directly at it, ready to strike and gobble the body of work whole.

Now, he wants to move my things to a museum 5 hours away in Pittsburgh. I said, “No! Absolutely not! No!”

“But Isaac, they will be in a protected environment.”

“I still say no. I want them nearby.”

“Well, I won’t argue with you. I came to Ruth’s, at least in part, to see how you were getting along with the ankle.”

I hate that! Why not argue damn it! The “know-it-all” made me feel like a cantankerous old fool. I wish he would vanish. Perhaps if I write a blog about him with a “professor copy” in it that is different in some aspects. Then, make another “professor blog” that is mutated slightly from the first, and another, and another, each slightly more altered than the last... Perhaps I can make him disappear.

Watch out for mad cows!

For the time being, I’m off beef.

*

*The above image was found at “http://www.eskimo.com/~nickz/bse/madcow.html,” by nickz@eskimo.com, and was created on May 2, 2001 (viewed 12/28/03 at 10:50 AM).

E-mail me! My e-mail address is ZacSfuts@aol.com.

Visit my homepage
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Take a look at:

Holty’s blog for great political comentary and much more from an Australian point of view.

Mark Harden’s Artchive. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the best place to find excellent images of artist’s works on the WWW.

Gay Artist’s Galleries

John Giuffre’s blog Thoughts From A Collapsed Brain

December 24, 2003

AOL Member Speaks Out on Gay Marriage

A fine argument against concervative ideological positions concerning gay marriage can be found at AOL’s Soapbox, "Gay Marriage or Civil Union," by member "Sketsu."

"There is no necessity for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, in particular because such a ban would undermine the very spirit of the constitution itself, which has been primarily about protecting the rights, privileges, and freedoms of individuals and the activities which they choose to engage in, rather than banning and prohibiting certain classes of activities."

*


Merry Christmas to You Dear Journal



Well, it’s here again. My 84th Christmas! Christmas day I will go to Orchard Hill Farm for dinner with Ruth and her husband. The other children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren will not be there because Thanksgiving is our big family get together. And, as you recall, dear Journal, I missed this year’s Thanksgiving get together because of My Park City Broken Ankle Caper.

I wish for peace as do we all. But, I don’t see the logic in praying for peace while waging war. I guess I’m just an old fashioned, out moded, democrat liberal who believes we’ve given up any claim we had as a nation to being the great democratic and moral leader of the world. Instead, in the eyes of many people around the world, we are now “The Evil Empire.”

Just call me “Isaac Dinosaur.” I still wish for peace. Perhaps if I say it like a curse, the wish will have more power.

PAX on everyone!



*2


* This image was found at The Advocate, “ 35th Aniversary Gallery,” “http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/876/art18.asp.” It is by Carlos Marrero, © 2002. (visit: 12/21/03, 11:53 A.M.)

*2 This image was found at the Coalition for Justice, Not War, “http://www.baido.org/coalition4justicenotwar/,” (visit:12/21/03, 12:07 P.M.)

E-mail me! My e-mail address is ZacSfuts@aol.com.

Visit my homepage
AOL Hometown


Take a look at:

Holty’s blog for great political comentary and much more from an Australian point of view.

Mark Harden’s Artchive. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the best place to find excellent images of artist’s works on the WWW.

Gay Artist’s Galleries

John Giuffre’s blog Thoughts From A Collapsed Brain

December 21, 2003

On Meaning, Truth, and Reality

I’ve been so upset with the spin the Republican party has been able to put on their politics and party member’s morals. I've been upset for several reasons; 1) because of the obfuscation of the actual purpose for the invasion of Iraq (Bush revenge!), 2) the stretching of mores to accept the truth that a great Republican politician can have an illegitimate child, and 3) because a great Republican pundit can be addicted to his medication just like a crack addict can be addicted to his. But, it’s “okay” because, “come- on, we’re all mature and understand that these things happen.” All that has led me to think about the relationship between reality, truth, and fiction.

However, several years ago, we tried to impeach a Democrat president over a cigar sucking incident. Yes, I’m putting my own spin on that too, and, I accept my spin as true, while you might not. So, what is the relationship between truth, meaning, and reality?

There are some basic assumptions many of us make about the nature of reality that are inaccurate. These assumptions are based on several syllogisms. First, it is assumed that meaning and truth are the same thing. Instead, the presence of white in a painting often means the lack of color and that lack is equated with purity. However, according to science, white is really the presence of all the spectrum colors. If, on the other hand, an artist should attempt to make white paint by mixing these colors together, he or she will obtain muddy brown. Seen from this position, the “true” meaning of white is an obfuscated blur, an amalgam of meanings that postpones the arrival at any single understanding. Secondly, it is assumed that truth is the same as reality. Instead, visual reality demonstrates the lie. If I paint a picture in which a huge banana reclines on a couch, and place it on exhibit, most viewers understand that I am not describing reality, but that, instead, I am making a dreamlike surreal image. It is not false, rather, it is a fictionalized variation of reality and it may be based on an actual daydream or nightmare. Third, based on the first two syllogisms, it is assumed that reality is the same as meaning. That is, if A (meaning) is equal to B (truth), and B is equal to C (reality), then A (meaning) is also equal to C (reality). Such symmetry as demonstrated above does not represent actual conditions. Alternatively, to oppose any of these words with the term “fiction” is not appropriate, since any of them may be fictionalized by the artist/writer. And that includes the writers/planners of political thought and campaigns.

*

Be that as it may, it looks as though the reality of Saddam’s capture will propel GW into the white house for a second term. Little does it matter that Saddam did not possess WMD. Little does it matter that the president and his cabinet lied to us about Saddam’s posession of WMD. Little does it matter that there is no proven connection between Saddam and Osama bin Ladin. Seventy-two percent of the American population believes that there is such a connection because the President and his cabinet have said so over and over again.

Back to the simulacrum one more time - Time - tyme.

And now Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has agreed to give up WMD. I’m stunned. The Bush is in for a second term like Flynn!

Perhaps we are the new Rome, and as the Mediterranean Sea became a Roman lake, the world will become an American Planet. In a way, my other home, Varnastrama would be more like Earth if that should happen. Is there a set of laws (like Newton’s laws of gravitation) one of which would be that parallel worlds must have similar characteristics despite incredibly disparate histories?

*The image above was taken from “Nanda Snoobbe,” The Daily News, Jahannesburg, South Africa, courtesy of sparxmedia@africa.com, http://www.illustrators.co.za/soobben.htm (visited 12/19/03 6:30 A.M.)


E-mail me! My e-mail address is ZacSfuts@aol.com.

Visit my homepage
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Take a look at:

Holty’s blog for great political comentary and much more from an Australian point of view.

Mark Harden’s Artchive. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the best place to find excellent images of artist’s works on the WWW.

Gay Artist’s Galleries

John Giuffre’s blog Thoughts From A Collapsed Brain

December 19, 2003

Palms of Manasota

I sent via snail mail for information on Palms of Manasota a lesbian and gay retirement community. According to their web site they are “America’s First Gay and Lesbian Adult Living Community.” They sent their pamphlet and information on apartments, villas, and houses and it came to the apartment the other day. The photographs look wonderful! This cheers me up a bit.


When the ankle is better, I’m going to make late winter or early spring trip to check it out as I still have the itch to live someplace warm. If I moved there I would be among all gay and lesbian people for the first time in my life!

Saddam! Saddam! Saddam!


Enough already!


Howard Dean Might Get My Vote



He’s the only Democrat Presidential hopeful who has said that capturing Saddam has little or no effect on the terrorist threat against the United States. He is in direct opposition to Mr. Bush in that stand, and he is correct!

Saddam does not run the international terrorist organization. Osama Bin Laden does. Al Queda is exists throughout the world, including the USA. Saddam has nothing to do with it! Finding Osama Bin Laden won’t close it down either. There are sleeper cells here and everywhere. It’s only a matter of time until one of them activates and does God knows what to some target(s) here at home. We should be spending much more time and effort defending ourselves against terrorists and random acts of terror right here at home.

George W. Bush doesn’t care about terrorist threats here at home. He has a vendetta against Saddam because Saddam tried to kill his dad. In fact we are playing that aspect of our invasion of Iraq on the news, as though it’s a “cool,” kind of hip reason for invading Iraq. For example, I was getting my supper the other night so I didn’t catch it all. But, the scrolling ribbon of type across the bottom of the screen on CNN said something like, “It’s a father and son thing,” with a picture of Saddam, another of the Daddy Bush and GW Bush on the screen above it.



Wake up America!

E-mail me! My e-mail address is ZacSfuts@aol.com.

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The image above was taken from the on line site for The Appalachian Long Distance Hiker’s Association,” http://www.aldha.org/howdean.htm” (visited site 12/16/03: 6:15 A.M.)
Take a look at:

Holty’s blog for great political comentary and much more from an Australian point of view.

Mark Harden’s Artchive. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the best place to find excellent images of artist’s works on the WWW.

Gay Artist’s Galleries

John Giuffre’s blog Thoughts From A Collapsed Brain

December 17, 2003

Ruth’s Visit

What can I say. It’s always the same. My relationship with my daughter is like a land mined dirt road in a third world country at war with itself. Ruth has decided that I’m allowing my ankle to prescribe the limits of my life because I didn’t want to go out to dinner with her last evening.

“I think I’m doing remarkably well with it,” I said.

“But Daddy, you haven’t been out of this apartment since I brought you here two weeks ago.”

“Ruth, I go to lunch and dinner in the dining room at the “Big Bad Needle” every day.

“Daddy! Must you call it that?”

“We were talking about whether or not I leave my apartment.”

“It makes the place sound so awful.”

“We both know it isn’t. But, I can’t help it. I’d rather be at home at Orchard Hill.”

“This is your home.”

“Let’s not go there now, Ruth. We both know each other’s feelings on the subject, and I’d rather not argue about that in addition to whether or not I’m allowing my ankle to place too many limitations on my life.”


As she often does, Ruth fussed about the apartment, cleaning and putting things away. She is apt to do the cleaning thing when she is upset with me, and I’m afraid she left in a bit of a huff. With Ruth life is one never ending and exasperating argument with her “Daddy.” I don’t know what she’ll do with herself when I’m gone. Perhaps she will be able to move on to something more meaningful.

Ten More Iraqis killed as explosive filled truck rams bus.

The violence continues to escalate in and around Baghdad since Saddam’s arrest. Does Saddam’s arrest mean that we are winning the war in Iraq? Despite all the media hype, It is too early to draw any conclusions.


E-mail me! My e-mail address is ZacSfuts@aol.com.

Visit my homepage
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Take a look at:

Holty’s blog for great political comentary and much more from an Australian point of view.

Mark Harden’s Artchive. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the best place to find excellent images of artist’s works on the WWW.

Gay Artist’s Galleries

John Giuffre’s blog Thoughts From A Collapsed Brain

December 15, 2003

The Devil In Iraq

Well, Saddam is captured! Now what do we do about the devil who has gutted the clean air and water acts in America? That’s all I’ve got to say about that.

Angels In America




I watched Millennium Approaches on television Saturday, and Perestroika last night. It has been almost 10 years since I first saw Millennium Approaches in New York and was thrilled to the core of my being. So much has changed for me in those years between watching the play live and watching the movie production on Television. In 1993 I still clung to the illusion that I was in control of my life. I lived at Orchard Hill Farm. Rebecca was still living, though Peter had died in 1992. I was able to climb the stairs to Sanctuary (my attic studio) every day. I performed two times as the foil man that year. And, obviously I was capable then, as I would not be today, of walking all over the island of Manhattan.

I am still thrilled by the play. However, the motion picture while staying close to the intent and order of the play has a more immediate, less humorous, more painful impact. For instance, the preposterous approach of the angel, doesn’t seem as implausible in the motion picture medium as it did in the stage production. The stage contained and constrained her while the medium of the motion picture verifies her fantastic presence because the visual and stereo effects explode off the edges of the screen implying the illusion of a real space behind the window of the cathode ray tube. Additionally, Roy Cohn’s character seems far more sinister and evil a presence in the motion picture than it did in the theater. It is partially because I am placed face to face with Al Pachino’s marvelous close-up (talking head) performance that fills the 31 inch screen with an image three times the size of my own head. In the theater Roy was on the stage, removed from me by the proscenium arch and 15 rows of seats. I laughed at Roy as I sat in the theater. He seemed a bit preposterous and sad. I did not laugh at Al Pacino’s performance on the small screen, not once! Instead, he is evil personified. Generally, the humor I found in the theater in New York was lost in my apartment in part because the camera is often in the face of the actor whoever he/she is. In “The Lector Effect” by Dale Peck on MSN Friday, December 12, 2003, Mr. Peck talking about director Mike Nichols approach to the play states,

He sticks a camera up against every face and strobes back and forth among them, or glances nervously around his set.


I’m not negative toward Mike Nichol’s direction of the camera the way Mr. Peck is because television and film move in close to the human face, as opposed to the remove established by the size of the room that separates performers from the live audience. I ’m also sure that the feeling I have of Millennium Approaches, the motion picture’s immediate "in-your-face" power and presence is due to my own extremely physically limited state at this time.

Additionally, I find that both the theatrical production, and motion picture production of Angels In America are passionately Postmodern dramas with social and political concerns. Person's lives are not the objects to be portrayed in this drama. Life is no longer seen as the Other. "Man," living life is the subject. The Postmodern approach is to deal with man as a social, political, economic being, who is thinking the thoughts about himself, even as the author writes the thought as discourse. Thought is seen as a proactive force and it’s presence in drama is seen as a way to define some aspect of man’s existence, and/or the playwrite's thoughtful discourse seeks to affect change in thinking itself. Angels In America succeeds at both. It is successful theater and now cinema because Tony Kushner’s goal is to seek change in the way “man” in our culture thinks and believes about himself in relation to the various kinds of sexuality we human beings exhibit. Hanna, Joe’s mother, states to Prior in a hospital room during Perestroika, and I’m stating from memory,“An angel is a belief with wings to carry you and arms to hold you. And, if the belief should no longer work for you, move on.” And, there you have it. Angels was and is Tony Kushner’s vehicle for social and political change. Through it he hoped to change the way “Man” in our culture thinks about AIDS, and his/her gay, lesbian, and bisexual sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. It is a call to each and every one of us; gay, lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual to help make that change possible.

I also believe it may be more, but that is thought for another day.

*The image above was taken from HBO Store, “Angels in America Script Book by Tony Kushner,” at http://store.hbo.com/product/BKAIA0001/s.zjb7zZ23, (visited 12/14/03 at 12:45 P.M.)

E-mail me! My e-mail address is ZacSfuts@aol.com.

Visit my homepage
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Take a look at:

Holty’s blog for great political comentary and much more from an Australian point of view.

Mark Harden’s Artchive. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the best place to find excellent images of artist’s works on the WWW.

Gay Artist’s Galleries

John Giuffre’s blog Thoughts From A Collapsed Brain

December 12, 2003

My Ankle Schedule



It’s boring! I want to be healed. So far I’m refusing any assistance other than the crutches, but...


  1. I get up at 5:00 A.M.

  2. I wash and shave and that takes about an hour because of the ankle.

  3. 6:00 A.M. - Put a new blog entry on line - 5 minutes

  4. 6:05 A. M. - Getting dressed takes an hour because of the ankle.

  5. 7:00 A. M. - I work on new blog entry, about 45 minutes to an hour

  6. 8:00 A. M. - Breakfast is broght to me. I read the paper while eating - about 45 minutes. The timeing may vary if breakfast arrives late.

  7. I work on the new blog entry for about an hour.

  8. 9:00 A.M. - Watch CNN for about an hour.

  9. 10:00 to 11:00 A.M. - Listening to classical music seems to help with the frustration of not being able to live my life the way I would like.

  10. 11:00 to 12:00 A.M. - The Scott Merritt drawings have been resurected from the bottom of the closet with the help of my neighbor Peter. So, I work on repairing them for about an hour. Perhaps I shoulld just give up and start them over.

  11. 12:00 P.M. - I muster my energy and “crutch” (Isaac’s new verb for the day) my way to the dining room. It takes about 30 minuts because I need to stop and rest on the way.

  12. 12:30 to 1:30 - Lunch

  13. 1:30 to 2:00 P. M.- The gimpy old man staggers back to his apartment.

  14. 2:00 to 3.00 P. M.- I take a nap because those “DAMN” crutches tire me out!

  15. 3:00 to 4:00 P. M.- Work on blog or drawings

  16. 4:00 to 5:00 P. M. - I hold court. It seems if people are going to visit, they do so on their way to dinner.

  17. 5:00 to 5:30 P. M. - struggle to the dining room.

  18. 5:30 to 6:30 P. M. - Supper

  19. 6:30 to 7:00 P. M.- Crutch my way back to the apartment

  20. 7:00 to 8:00 P.M. - Read and write e-mail and read other blogs.

  21. 8:00 to 9:00 P. M - Write for my blog.

  22. 9:00 to 10:00 P.M.- Get ready for bed.

  23. 0:00 to 10:30 P.M. - Lights out!


Ruth tells me I should be exercising with the crutches every day. I tell her that just using them to perform my daily life tasks is enough exercise. I plan on having extremely muscular arms before this tribulation is over.

*The image above was viewed at “Algent Health: A Higher Standard of Health Care,” http://www.alegent.com/index.cfm?app=24:1275:1293, © 2002, Algent Health Care (Friday, December 12, 2003, 6:20 A.M.)


E-mail me! My e-mail address is ZacSfuts@aol.com.

Visit my homepage
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Take a look at:

Holty’s blog for great political comentary and much more from an Australian point of view.

Mark Harden’s Artchive. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the best place to find excellent images of artist’s works on the WWW.

Gay Artist’s Galleries

John Giuffre’s blog Thoughts From A Collapsed Brain

December 10, 2003

Return to “The I”

I realize that Baudrillard is much more complex than the following would indicate. However, his thought on simulation is necessarily abreviated for use here.

I have all this extra time to think now that I sit in my apartment waiting for my ankle to repair itself. Isn’t it interesting that I reference my ankle as though it is “the other.” It’s as if I sit here in my easy chair next to the antique end table Rebecca bought in October 1955, and my ankle, a separate object, rests on top of the old drop leaf table placed against the wall across from me. How might I word my first statement to refer to myself as a whole entitty without a cumbersome concatenation of words?

“I have all this extra time to think now that I am waiting for my ankle to heal.”

That’s better. But, why did I not say it that way the first time?

What Is this separation of “the I” from it’s physical parts that I performed? As an old Postmodern artist, why am I so aware of this alienation of “the I” that it dominates the very way I think and write? It is as though I know at a subliminal level that “the I,” the Modern act of creation has been degraded, and can no longer exist.

My art, the Silver Man, and, I guess my writing too - about the alternate reality I actually live in part of the time, Varnastrama - are referential. They are both based in part on reflections (pun intended) of my own life. And, they, like my referenced, separate ankle, are poor copies of my “real” life as an 84 year old homosexual man living here at Pine Needle Manor Retirement home.
According to Baudrillard, and many others, these simulations replace my actual existence. The very existence of this blog, one of an infinite number of other hypertexts, simulations of the real world that exist outside of the physical world in “cyberspace” - itself a fictitious concept of space created by William Gibson in Neuromancer - put the “real” world to question because they replace the physical pen and paper, canvas, pencils, film, and camera that I used to create the original art work and journals. Thus, I, and the original work I created do not exist. At the same time, “ the I” the concept or idea of the individual, and originality in the Modern sense cannot exist.

It is an interesting idea, but of course I know subjectively that I do exist, at least for a little while longer. However, the ideation about these simulations as applied to the time in which I live is an interesting tool with which to understand how each of us (unless we make ourselves more aware and more active) is increasingly less important to the larger scheme of things, and, how some (I think) are using the idea of simulation as an instrument to achieve their own political and social ends.

I believe, for instance, that the strategists of the extreme right Republican Party, religious and other wise, ie Karl Rove for one, harness the power of multitudinous copies to alter our understanding of diurnal political and soicial existence. Put simply - if you say a false thing (reads “copies of reality”) often enough and in as many different versions as possible - it will exist. The original real or (I like to say, “actual” ) thing that existed before the plethora of inaccurate simulations will no longer exist.

An actual instance of the practice of replacing actuality with “copies of reality” exists in the proposition that Weapons of Mass Destruction WMD actually existed in Iraq. I live with many people that believe to this day that they do exist and are hidden deep in the dessert of Iraq. In fact, my own daughter believes WMD exist.

Another instance of this practice is the religious right’s insistence that marriage is a performance that must be limited to a man and a woman. If it is not so limited, they tell us the entire fabric of Western Civilization will unravel. This metaphorrific version of our civilization as rotten cloth is a fabrication. Our culture is much more resilient than this “copy of reality” would have us believe, and has survived and thrived on change after change for over 2000 years, including the fall of the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations.

In short, we each do exist. However, “the I” can only exist in this Postmodern world if we each exert as much energy and effort on physical space and time through individual acts of original creation. Thus, through individual efforts the Postmodern will return full circle and become the Modern once again. Or, perhaps through these personal efforts of origination the Postmodern will be left behind. At least, I suspect that at some point in time, culture, art, and communications theorists will be able to look back and say, “Here is where the anticipatory ‘pre, anti, or proto something’ began.”

*Baudrillard, Jean. "The Precession of Simulacra." Art After Modernism: Rethinking Representation. Ed. Brian Wallis. Vol. 1. Documentary sources in contemporary art. New York: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1984. (reprinted from Art & Text, no. 11 (September 1983): 3-47)

The image of Jean Baudrillard was taken from “Jean Baudrillard: A Bibliography,” http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~scctr/Wellek/baudrillard/, visited 5:30 A.M. EST, 12/7/03.


E-mail me! My e-mail address is ZacSfuts@aol.com.

Visit my homepage
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Take a look at:

Holty’s blog for great political comentary and much more from an Australian point of view.

Mark Harden’s Artchive. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the best place to find excellent images of artist’s works on the WWW.

Gay Artist’s Galleries

John Giuffre’s blog Thoughts From A Collapsed Brain

December 08, 2003

Why I’m a Democrat

I fell asleep on my living room couch from sheer boredom last Thursday afternoon. I awoke to a conversation about clean air and water with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Robert - if I may take the opportunity to call him by his first name - was detailing the efforts he made as the consulting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper, and as senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Of course, he also described the evisceration of the Clean Air and Water Acts by the Bush administration and how these impact negatively on all our lives. For instance, he related the deleterious effects of mercury on the environment and the contamination of the New York and Connecticut state waters from rain carrying mercury generated by coal plants in Ohio. Mercury, he said, and I am paraphrasing, causes brain damage in fetuses, children, and adults, as well as incapacitating nervous disorders. He stated that there is not a single river in Connecticut in which the fish are not heavily contaminated with mercury.


As I listened to Mr. Kennedy I thought, “He’s a perfect example of the Twenty-first Century Democrat and he and those like him are why I am proud to be a Democrat.” A simple contrast between the Democrat and Republican parties serves to clarify my thinking. The Democrat Party is concerned with issues that relate directly to the well being of all people and the environment in which they live, while the Republican Party is concerned with issues that relate directly to the maintenance of wealth through the manipulation and use of things. Even though at this time the american dream is material, and the liberal concerns of the Democrat Party are considered obsolete, we must hold them to be true. We must do so because our leberal concerns are actual (reads "real") values as opposed to the counterfeit values generated by Republican public relations gurus.

Thus, the Democrat Party's liberal difference should be cause for celibration and it must be our Twenty-first Century Anthem!



*The photograph of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. above is taken from Riverkeeper.org, “http://www.riverkeeper.org/our_bio_rkennedy.php,” visited on 12/05/03.


E-mail me! My e-mail address is ZacSfuts@aol.com.

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Take a look at:

Holty’s blog for great political comentary and much more from an Australian point of view.

Mark Harden’s Artchive. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the best place to find excellent images of artist’s works on the WWW.

Gay Artist’s Galleries

John Giuffre’s blog Thoughts From A Collapsed Brain

December 06, 2003

Snow!!!


But not as much as the Weather Service had originally predicted. We have about 3 inches of frozen slush on the ground and, they say that we will have only 2 to 4 more of the fluffier variety today. It seems the coastal low developed farther to the North than expected and it looks like Northern New England will get our blizzard. Thank goodness!

I can’t get out into it, so I don’t know why I’m fussing. In fact, there’s just enough snow outside my living room window to make it pretty without causing too much trouble to the folks who can get out and do their Christmas Shopping.



This snowflake image is artificial, created with Spirofratal, a computer program.


E-mail me! My e-mail address is ZacSfuts@aol.com.

Visit my homepage
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Take a look at:

Holty’s blog for great political comentary and much more from an Australian point of view.

Mark Harden’s Artchive. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the best place to find excellent images of artist’s works on the WWW.

Gay Artist’s Galleries

John Giuffre’s blog Thoughts From A Collapsed Brain



December 04, 2003

Good Grief!

I wonder what Charlie Brown would look like and say if he got old and broke his ankle. The cast of characters would have to change. Snoopy, for one, would definitely no longer be alive. And, if Charlie were an adult, he wouldn’t be able to talk and voice concerns about his ankle because adults only make that noise, like, n-u-u-u-u-ah - n-u-u-uh - n-a-a-h - n-u-u-uh - n-a-ah - n-u-uh.

I can tell you that this broken ankle is no fun. It takes me well over an hour to dress myself. I am too old to use the damn crutches very well (Did I say damn?). I'll have to lift weights to strengthen my arms. I should have stayed with Ruth longer because I could be making her miserable with all the help I need. Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk.

The President’s Ratings

I heard on the news last night that while only 46% of Americans approve of Mr. Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq, 72% of them think he is a good and noble man.

Wake up America!



The Bush Administration, and Mr. Bush personally lied to us about weapons of mass destruction. Do I personally like people who bamboozle me into doing something against my best wishes?

Of course not!

E-mail me! My e-mail address is ZacSfuts@aol.com.

Visit my homepage
AOL Hometown


Take a look at:

Holty’s blog for great political comentary and much more from an Australian point of view.

Mark Harden’s Artchive. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the best place to find excellent images of artist’s works on the WWW.

Gay Artist’s Galleries

December 02, 2003

I give up!

Graham at blogger support says nobody else sees my November 5th post placed in the links column but me. I could use some verification on this. Please somebody, e-mail me at ZacSfuts@aol.com and tell me if you see the links in the correct place, or, are they displaced by the crazy November 5 entry for you too?
Ye gads, it made it worse!
I'm just trying to get rid of that pesky November 5th post that appears in the links column.
I Fell



Saturday, November 22nd I was going down the steps in the Penny’s Mall in Park City, the Lancaster, Pennsylvania version of the ubiquitous American mall. I was with Ruth because she insisted that “you must start your Christmas shopping, Daddy. You have all 18 great grandchildren to buy for...”
“Ruth, I’m giving them money.”
“Well, then we have to stop by the bank and get all new 100 dollar bills.”
“50’s,” I said. And it happened. I guess I was talking and not looking. The heal of my shoe caught on the edge of the stair and I went down the last 5 steps side ways. I did catch the railing with my left hand and then the right, but not before I had twisted and broken my left ankle. My bruised left butt cheek made a wonderful imitation of a blueberry juice infused raspberry swirl cake. Don’t ask - I made that last up - I don’t know whether or not there’s any such thing. I had surgery to screw and staple it all back together again. I was in the hospital through Thanksgiving day, and then at Ruth’s (Orchard Hill Farm) untill this afternoon. Of course she took good care of me. However, I missed being in my own apartment. I was unable to write to you, dear journal, and Ruth was constantly in my hair. She told me that I should use a wheel chair from now on when I go shopping, or anywhere in public. I refused to consider such a thing so she suggested if not a chair, then, at least a walker.

"Daddy. Why, what if you’d have broken a hip. You’re 84 years old. You don’t mend as quickly as you used to you know.”

There was no point arguing even though I know a walker would not have saved me. In fact I’d have had to throw the damn thing away in order to grab onto the stair rail. Perhaps, if Ruth hadn’t been on one of her marathon fussing monologues, I would not have fallen. Of course it’s Ruth’s fault. I’m certainly not going to admit that the fall had anything to do with my age and infirmities.

And, none of my Christmas shopping is done. I guess I can shop by catalog. Ruth will have to go to the bank and get 21 new 50 dollar bills, money envelopes, and mailers. I think the grand children will get 50’s this year just like their children. I’ve never done that before.

I have so much catching up to do. I can just barely hobble around on crutches, and will be using those for another six weeks. I can’t drive and I’m stuck here in the apartment at “The Big Needle,” and the ankle still aches and itches inside of its plaster cast.

Ar-g-g-g-g-g-h!

*The image above was found at “Maine Orthopedic Center,” http://www.maineortho.com.what.htm,” © 2000, (visited Nov. 22, 2003 at 3:00 A.M.)

E-mail me! My e-mail address is ZacSfuts@aol.com.

Visit my homepage
AOL Hometown


Take a look at:

Holty’s blog for great political comentary and much more from an Australian point of view.

Mark Harden’s Artchive. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the best place to find excellent images of artist’s works on the WWW.

Gay Artist’s Galleries

John Giuffre’s blog Thoughts From A Collapsed Brain