Highway 101 North

I've been told that my posts here since I started writing this in February are "negative", "depressing", "pessimistic", but, as one person kindly added, "yet at the same time . . . funny." Well, that's kinda how I feel; I look around and I could cry . . . if I could just stop laughin'. I'm sad that so many people make life hard for themselves and each other. I think it's funny that lots of folks with so much--more than anybody ever in the history of the planet--snivel and moan about their condition, and don't seem to have a clue how to enjoy themselves. The happiest years of my life were the twenty-two I spent hitchhiking around with just a sleeping bag and a suitcase--"on the road", not "homeless"--so you can see why I'm bummed; I've learned how little it takes to have a great time, and I think more of my fellow Earthlings should be having a ball with all we've got going. But, alas, The Great Spirit--"The Economy"--rules all, and there's no such thing as "enough" or "happy" in that church. The Holy Trinity--corporations, the news media, and governments, in that order--worship and defend The Great Spirit above all other considerations. The Mindless Bottom Line is devouring all in its path, and the masses are blinded by faith in the gods of commerce. Yes, it's negative, depressing, and pessimistic, but so dumb ya gotta laugh. (They'd sell all Earth's air to Mars if there was a buyer up there.) "It's BUSINESS." Praise Wall Street!

Right now I'm taping 20/20 with the TV off. It's about SEX. I've written on the subject here some. A MySpace anti-porn site sent me a friend request a while back, and the woman and I have gone back and forth a bit with e-mails. She just thinks the world would be a better place if everybody was normal sexually, like her. I figure to watch the show over the weekend to get some facts and figures maybe, but I've long been a student of the issue. (You can read, "Other People's Sex" and "OPS Part 2" if you want at www.grinnninsinner.com, or through Helium.com, Bob Thatcher.) I'm a Veteran of the Sexual Revolution--wounded twice--so I care about the new recruits who are now entering the fray. Support The Troops.

The Democratic Presidential Candidate ("God will lead the way! God will lead the way!") is in Afghanistan as I type this. I remember reading the book Caravans: A Novel of Afghanistan by James Michener. Written in the late 1940s, it told of their concern of being invaded by the Russians, which eventually happened decades later, with the result predicted in the book. Now WE'RE there. (Suggested reading: Ed Deline's Pillow, by Me.) At least the soldiers have that excellent Afghani hash to smoke while they're there.

It's now Saturday afternoon and I just started watching that 20/20 show about sex I taped last night. My profile-page blurb on MySpace for the past few years has been, "The Morally Superior Are Dangerous", and by golly, the show is reinforcing the truth of that statement, and it's really being hard for me to watch. Those smug, self-righteous worms who know what's best for everybody. I think their problem is they think we're all as sexually squirrelly as they are, so feel justified ruining lives in the name of decency. (They give "decency" a bad name.) Normal people certainly don't care what others are doing consensually. And it all stems from that nonsensical religious "sin" crap. ("You're born in sin! Aren't you ashamed! Now you gotta suffer to make it right.") Damn, I don't know if I'll even be able to watch the rest of the show. I've seen enough of those sickos over the years. Like the creeps who take pictures of the license plates in the parking lots of strip clubs and adult book stores, then send them to the owners' homes as a post card with an invitation to attend their church on the back. I don't think there are words in the English language to describe how low I think those people are. "Despicable", not strong enough. "Loathsome", too kind. It's why I've started losing patience with the guilt pushers out there on the street, preaching their perverted superstitious nonsense. (I better change the subject before my blood-pressure pills can't do their job.) I'm just trying to point out with this blog that the less a person is happy with, the more fun they have and the better it is for Planet Earth. But it's hard to avoid the believers, "God will lead the way! God will lead the way!" And they're my greatest fear.

Monday night now. I got unexpectedly invited away yesterday and it turned into an all-day scene. (It included a long-winded prayer over the PA system at a pancake breakfast they took me to that included calling upon God to sprinkle the blood of Jesus over our food. Yum.) I've been watching more of the 20/20 "Sex" show. The tone is pretty favorable, kinda being incredulous at the anti-sex folks for their unsupported claims. But the next part just started about a guy having to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life over consensual sex with his high school girlfriend. I had to shut it off for a while again. It's like I do watch the TV show Cops when they're breaking up fights and such, but when they do their drug and prostitution stings, I can't handle that. Taking people's freedom, money, cars, and reputations, often ruining families, for the sin of wanting to feel good, out there doing the Lord's work at taxpayer expense, I just can't handle that. A pox on the suckers.

Plant your seeds.