FORGET HIM!

And Forget

Gay state marriage amendments
All prejudice of any kind
The Iraq war
Social security
The evangelicals
The neo-cons
Our endangered economy
The Tsunami
MY ageing body

IT’S SNOW!

I got up yesterday morning and took these photographs at The Big Needle. We had about 6 inches of snow the afternoon and night before. It’s cold. It’s clean (at least in appearance), and it helps me to forget about all the things that are wrong in this country and world. For one morning all is quiet, sparkling, and peaceful. The world is a beautiful place to be.

Thank you God!













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I want to go see Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s The Gates in Central Park, New York City. However, my knees have been bothering me dreadfully since I got back from Florida, and I know that even if I take the train to 31st Street Station, and catch a cab to the park, I’ll still have to walk a mile from the train, up and down steps, to get the cab, and walk again all over the park. I would not be able to make myself sit on one bench and miss the rest of The Gates since they are set up throughout the entire park. I guess I’m suffering because of all the exercise I did get while in Florida, and because it’s so (bleep!) cold here in Lancaster. I am really missing the warm weather. Anyway, with only one day until The Gates are taken down forever, I’m stymied. I have both knees wrapped with hot pepper cream. I’ve been icing them down for 20 minutes every hour, but they do not get better. I’m terribly frustrated and disappointed!

So, in desperation I’ve gone ahead and bought a signed print of one of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s drawings of The Gates a view toward The Plaza Hotel. It was expensive (for me) but I will hang it in my living room here at “The Big Needle,” and I’ll be able to go visit The Gates anytime my heart desires. Besides, the money will go to support Nurture New York’s Nature a nonprofit that Christo and Jeanne-Claude have licensed all rights to profits from their donated drawings of The Gates. Pretty cool, “ain’t” (as we Pennsylvania Dutch say)? I found the store on the web at Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 40 Years of Public Art.* I am including an image of the print I bought. See how the saffron color of the gates goes with my blog - great minds, and all that. I don’t think Christo and Jeanne-Claude will mind a single use on line, since I’ve purchased the image. I’ve documented the website below. Perhaps I will drum up some more sales for them.




* Christo, and Jeanne-Claude, “The Gates Project for Central Park, New York City,” 40 Years of Public Art, http://www.40yearsofpublicart.org/index.html?catg=3,

Tsunami Victims

With death tolls standing at 180,000, and almost as many missing, give to the following in order to help reunite orphans with distant relatives, and to insure that your money is used by people with true humanitarian concerns rather than proselytizing religious zeal.

American Friends Service Committee, and UNICEF


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ZacSfuts@aol.com

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So, Destroy Social Security

A Political Rant

I don’t get it. Why are we so fascinated with foreign products? Why can’t we buy one of our own cars? They aren’t bad these days. And why must we buy gas-guzzling cars when foreign oil is at an all time high and heading toward the ionosphere (That’s the extremely thin part of our atmosphere next to outer space.). I’m just as guilty as everyone else with my Saturn VUE. I swear that my next car will be a fuel-efficient highbred. I want something that gets 60 miles to the gallon or better. The government should be encouraging us to buy from the USA, not spend weak dollars on foreign imports. And of course the dollar is weak because “The President” keeps spending money on foreign war and cutting taxes simultaneously. Additionally he and his Republican rich industrial cronies want to take out the Social Security Program, thus disenfranchising the middle class elderly. Private accounts based on the stock and bond markets is what GWB and his cronies want. If these rich bitches succeed, the next big economic recession will take out the young in our middle class too because their private accounts will go down the tubes with the stock market.

It would appear that the goals of the President’s industrialist cronies are two. First, outsource all the good jobs because you have to pay the American middle class too much money. Second, get rid of social security so that the middle class won’t realize what’s happening to them until it’s too late, and they have to flip hamburgers and scrub toilets for a living.

*

Good luck, America!

What To Do Instead

My basic investment strategy was always to diversify. I had stocks and bonds, but I also held property, gold, government bonds, and even low interest bearing certificates of deposit. Of course those CD’s weren’t always low interest. There were times when I got up to 17 percent during years of high inflation. And, oh yes, high inflation is about to return folks. Just watch those weak dollars growing weaker and lighter day by day. You can actually smell the ozone in the economic atmosphere.

And, GWB wants to spend upwards of two trillion dollars to get his hands on our young people’s social security money, and he doesn’t even mention the cost of privatizing social security in his budget projections. Nor does he mention the additional 82 billion he has since requested for the war in Iraq. I’ve lost track. What are we up to now for the war costs? Isn’t it about 260 billion?

Of course, The President lies through his spiked teeth! The Social Security System won’t fail until 2070. And, that’s if we do nothing to put the dollars back that we’ve already borrowed from the account and spent on other things. Yes, that’s right. Whenever we need extra bucks for the Federal budget, we raid Social Security to get them. Social Security can be saved by paying back what has already been taken from it! Go to the government’s website for Social Security and check out all the services that will be up for grabs should The President and the Neo-cons get their wish. Additionally, check out the Democrat's Social (in) Security calculator to see what you will lose under the President's plan.

George W. Bush tells BIG FAT WHOPPING LIES!

* “MITOPENCOURSEWARE,”http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/index.htm, © 2003, MIT, viewed Monday, February 21, 2005, 10:42 EST.

Tsunami Victims

I sent another one hundred dollars to UNICEF last evening. However, I’ve spent all I can afford to spend now. I’m not the last of the big spenders, like a certain president I might name.

* Cardinal rule number one - do not spend principle!

Give to the following in order to help reunite orphans with distant relatives, and to insure that your money is used by people with true humanitarian concerns rather than proselytizing religious zeal.

American Friends Service Committee, and UNICEF


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ZacSfuts@aol.com

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Retirement Home Life

Im bored, and I'm spoiled. I'm used to the warm weather in Florida, and galavanting all over the place. The routine back here in Pennsylvania at THE BIG NEEDLE is tedious. The main topics of conversation include the various ailments and illnesses folks suffer from, the most recent affairs (Yes, sexual affairs!) and who has or hasn’t been visited by family in the past weeks. The schedule is tedious too. I’m up at 5:30 A . M. and take breakfast in my apartment. The art group has been switched to 10: 00 A. M ., and I help with that. Of course, it’s not really art. We make popsickle bird houses, and clothspin animals of various sorts, silk flowers are glued permanently into plastic tea cups, and that ruins both the tea cup and the silk flowers. We also gather real foliage and dry it to make winter arrangements for the dining room, and various other public rooms in the complex. I’m in charge of those, so I use my gay decorating skills and they usually look pretty good (Well, everyone knows the stereotype that gay people are good in the arts).



The main topics of conversation include the various ailments and illnesses folks suffer from... *



My favorite project of all time was the Scarecrow Santa Clause. Of course he wasn ‘t really called that. He was made from hay, so I gave him the appelation. He looked like a Pennsylvania Dutch version of a voodoo doll.

I was upset with Tillie Herr before the Christmas Holiday. I no longer remember why. Be that as it may, I told her to go stick pins in her Voodoo Santa - and she did. She nick-named him “Isaac, Santa’s anti-Christmas helper,” and she took him to lunch every day. There, while Jim, Myrtle, Millie, and Peter watched, she would insert new pins in various and sundry places, some not repeatable in polite company. Then she’d call me in Florida and ask “Doesn’t it hurt yet, Isaac?” Ah, yes, she can be such a dear.

On Tuesday and Thursday my Bridge Club meets at 1:30 PM, right after lunch. At 4:00 I retire to my apartment for a nap, and I usually go to dinner around 5:45 PM or 6:00 PM in THE PRICKLY NEEDLE dining room. After dinner I watch the news, and get “P O’d” at GW. I read for an hour or two, or work on this journal, and go to bed around 10:00 P.M. My doctor prescribed sleeping pills, so I usually get a decent night’s sleep. I can see no reason to lay awake at night, tossing and turning in sleepless missery.

Of course there are variations on this schedule, and I often write about those interesting diversions as special entries. Stay tuned for those exciting episodes in the life of “The Olde Gay Fart of Pine Needle Manor.”

Tsunami Victims

I sent another one hundred dollars to the American Friends Service Committee just yesterday. I can’t stop thinking about the tragedy!

Give to the following in order to help reunite orphans with distant relatives, and to insure that your money is used by people with true humanitarian concerns rather than proselytizing religious zeal.

American Friends Service Committee, and UNICEF

* “The Bug Bible,” www.safefood.net, © Copyright Meat and Livestock Australia, visited Wednesday, February 16, 2005, 10:55 PM EST.


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The Trip Home

It was uneventful, Dear Journal. I reversed the journey I took back on Christmas day - see my January first entry - and I spent no extra time anywhere along the way. I didn’t push myself too hard, and spent three nights in motels. However, another time, I would like to stop in Savannah, Georgia and spend a few days. That is if there is another time. At my age, one never knows. I guess that’s true of any age. When we are young, we just don’t realize how brief is our allotted time. Just think about all those poor souls who were vacationing in Southeast Asia for their Christmas holiday, laying on the beach, in the sun, and then...

Ah well, at least no one died here at THE BIG NEEDLE while I was gone. It’s winter. I’ve included this photograph of the view from the back porch of my apartment. It’s cold, but there is no snow. It is good to be home again, though I wish my home were in the South of Florida somewhere. I will definitely have to work on that. I think I’ve proven to myself that I am still perfectly capable of living on my own, despite what Ruth (my lovely daughter) might think.

I had to throw a temper tantrum with the management yesterday. While I was gone, they put some senile old fart - I can say that because I am one - in my place in the dining room. I was unable to sit with my friends Jim and Peter, Myrtle, and Millie. As you may or may not recall, they are all straight, but tolerant of my sexuality whereas most of the fundamentalist religious idiots here won’t even talk to me because they know that gay people consort with the devil. One sweet old grandma told me “You will roast in Hell for all eternity!”

“Why, I asked? “God made me. He doesn’t make mistakes. He’s perfect. Why would he put me in Hell?”

“God didn’t ‘t make you a homo, she said. You chose to be homosexual.”

“Well, my dear. Knowing that I’m doomed to spend all eternity on a rotisserie being rotated like a suckling pig, why would I choose to be a “homo,” as you so eloquently put it?”

“Because you are a sinner, “she said.

“So, you and your church hate sinners.”

“Of course not. We hate the sin, not the sinner.”

“Then, why must sinners roast in hell for ever and ever?”

“Because you’re evil.”

“And why isn’t your self righteousness a sin for which you will burn in Hades for all time?

“I am not self righteous. I am heterosexual. The Bible doesn’t say anything about heterosexuals sinning. In fact it tells us ‘to be fruitful and multiply.’”

“The Bible doesn’t use the word heterosexual or homosexual. The words didn’t exist...”

“You spill your seed on the ground. That’s a sin, and you’re going to hell you evil fagot,” she shrieked and stormed down the hall so fast her walker burned rubber.

I learned my lesson that day. There is no point arguing with these people. Their minds are made up. It has nothing to do with God and the Bible. Instead, it has everything to do with their insecurities. They are fearful. They hate, and they are prejudiced. The evangelical culture of their church teaches them to be that way, and that culture has to be changed before they can be changed. It is sad to me that so many “men of the cloth” teach fear, hate and prejudice to their congregations. Perhaps it is they who are defending their own sexual insecurities. I’m sure that at least a few of them have subliminal homosexual urges. Perhaps that’s is why the evangelicals are attacking Kinsey. That scale he invented makes them nervous. God forbid that any of them should have even the slightest homosexual inclination.

I feel that a God who truly loves will forgive them their self-righteous heterosexuality. I know that he made me gay for a perfectly good reason. The journey I have made in this life has been a wondrous experience, and that is why I compose this journal. Perhaps you, Dear Journal are the reason God made me gay. Perhaps not. I am not privileged to God’s thinking, as are many evangelicals. God is too complex for a mere mortal to understand. However, I do thank him for my journey to Florida, and my journey through this life as well.

Tsunami Victims

Some estimates are now as high as 200,000 dead with as many persons still missing. That is a tragedy on a scale so extreme that I can’t imagine it.

Give to the following in order to help reunite orphans with distant relatives, and to insure that your money is used by people with true humanitarian concerns rather than proselytizing religious zeal.

American Friends Service Committee, and UNICEF


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ZacSfuts@aol.com

with comments. I do so like to have the opportunity to communicate with readers.

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Part VII

I finally achieved the most important moment of my trip. I visited the Palms of Manasota, the retirement community for lesbian and gay people. It’s beautiful. The houses and apartments are distributed among waterways, gardens and parks. The Majesty model villa has a two car garage, two bedrooms and a small study. I liked it. However, I was hopeing for something with 3 bedrooms and a study because I need a studio to work in, and I need two spare bedrooms as I plan to have my grandson, Adam, perhaps Ruth, other family members, and as many of my friends from the cold, cold North, at the BIG NEEDLE visit me as often as possible. I would also like a fireplace if I live in this area of Florida, as it can get fairly cool a day or two at a time during the winter. It’s back into the low seventies today, but last week we had a couple of days with highs in the fifties and frost at night. Perhaps I should be considering areas further south. Naples can be a few degrees warmer, but the nights are still fairly chilly. People here tell me that the warmest part of Florida is the Southeast, around Miami and Fort Lauderdale. I also understand from talking to the LGBT organizations that Fort Lauderdale is one of the most diverse communities in Florida. So, I plan another trip late winter, or early spring to visit there. However, at this time, it’s time for me to head back to the cold North. Ugh!

So, as I plan my departure may I present an appropriate photograph, Dear Journal. I took it from Turtle Beach, located at the Southern tip of Siesta Key, and known in these parts for especially beautiful sunsets.

Tsunami Victims

Give to the following in order to help reunite orphans with distant relatives, and to insure that your money is used by people with true humanitarian concerns instead of proselytizing religious zeal.

American Friends Service Committee, and UNICEF


E-mail me at ZacSfuts@aol.com

Visit my homepage at AOL Hometown.

I have two things to say.

1. I'm happy that freedom is an extremely powerful force, and the Iraqi people proved that this past Sunday.

2. George W. Bush and the neo-cons bungled the war in Iraq from the "get-go", so they can't take credit for the bravery of the Iraqi people.

Tsunami Victims

Give to the following in order to help reunite orphans with distant relatives, and to insure that your money is used by people with true humanitarian concerns instead of proselytizing religious zeal.

American Friends Service Committee, and UNICEF


E-mail me at ZacSfuts@aol.com

Visit my homepage at AOL Hometown.