So impressive

I can't stop being impressed by John Mellencamp's latest CD.

NO BETTER THAN THIS is so unique that I'm not sure it fits a certain category even though some seem to think it's country.

If it's country then it's the greatest country album ever released.

The story behind where he recorded this CD is wonderful. Three historical locations. I suggest you buy the CD and read the liner notes by T.Bone Burnett, who produced the work.

John Mellencamp has a distinct voice. The harsh edges combined with his writing ability result in nothing sort of spectacular. His rock and roll background seems to have been fundamentally important to his latest musical interpretations....and if this in turn leads to another dimension of his ability, then I truly can't wait.

That's really how good this record is.......I'M ALREADY LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT ONE.

Great Job John.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Happy Birthday MOM

The first picture is my Dad who was, with my mom, responsible for starting the series that lead to Lily, who is shown with her grandfather. The middle picture is my mom and me at a mom and me class. The next picture is just because she has a mom and will be a mom.

Today my mom would be 88.

Two items on the November ballot + gov

Prop 19 and Prop 23 are two important measures that appear on the November 2 2010 election.

Prop 23 is probably much more important for the health of our children and their children but Prop 19 is important because it will allow people who like to smoke pot...to grow pot....without the threat of being arrested.

It relaxes the situation and possibly opens the door for taxation.

Prop 23 Suspends Air Pollution Control Laws Requiring Major Polluters to Report and Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions That Cause Global Warming Until Unemployment Drops Below Specified Level for Full Year. The specified level is 5.5 %.

THIS IS SIMILAR TO THE OIL EXTRACTION TAX THAT FAILED IN THE 2006 ELECTION.

By similar I'm referring to BIG OIL COMPANIES that spent millions to defeat the tax and somehow convinced the California voter that it was a bad idea.

That defeat is still one of the most baffling defeats I have ever witnessed in the arena of political processes.

NOW THE BIGGEST POLLUTERS IN THE STATE ARE ONCE AGAIN ATTEMPTING TO ALTER AIR POLLUTION LAWS BY STATING THAT CALIFORNIA IS LOSING TOO MANY BUSINESSES AND THEREFORE THAT'S ONE OF THE PROBLEMS WITH OUR FISCAL SITUATION.

I SAY......LET THE BUSINESSES GET THE F..K OUT OF DODGE IF THEY CAN COMPLY WITH LAWS THAT WILL ENSURE THAT OUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN WILL BE ABLE TO BREATHE WITHOUT THE FEAR OF CONTRACTING LUNG PROBLEMS.

BY THE WAY....AIR POLLUTION CAUSES A MYRIAD OF PROBLEMS BESIDES JUST LUNG ISSUES.

And it's also important to note that if you favor Prop 19 than you also should be careful how much cannabis you ingest into your lungs. One hit is fine.....no need to smoke the whole joint.

THE ARGUMENT THAT FAVORS LEGALIZING POT IS THE ARGUMENT THAT ONE RAISES WHEN ONE DISCUSSES THE HEALTH PROBLEMS OF POT VS ALCOHOL.

The amount of money spend to treat alcohol problems vs pot problems is extremely unbalanced.

The amount of deaths caused by alcohol vs pot is extremely unbalanced.

Prop 19 should pass and Prop 23 should fail....but I've seen this tune before and it might not go the way I think....or the way I want.

Concerning the Governor's race......

HOW CAN A PERSON WHO DIDN'T VOTE FOR 28 YEARS OF HER ADULT LIFE THINK THAT IT'S OK TO NOW RUN FOR GOVERNOR????????????

THAT ISSUE ALONE SHOULD DECIDE THE ELECTION....but then again maybe all the people who don't bother to vote will now vote because one of there own is running.

This election should prove to be very interesting.

I hope everybody studies Prop 23 and reaches a conclusion that future generations can be proud of.......

??????????

The dog days of summer and back to school blues

The weather in Santa Monica has been perfect all summer and that means we are probably due for some strange heat wave in September and October.

I have the back to school blues because it means the traffic will increase once again. August is easily the best month to drive around LA. I also have the back to school blues because I'm not going back to school.

Those who are fortunate enough to be heading back to places of higher education probably don't have any idea how special this time is for them.

I say probably because I'm simply jealous and I'd hate to think that young people know how to enjoy the finer things in life.

School is most definitely one of the finer things in life.

Perhaps it might just be the time period when one attends school but I think not. I truly believe the opportunity to sit in organized class rooms and discuss pertinent topics is a gift that can never be duplicated.

I agree that some pertinent topics can be extremely boring but if the teacher is good than even those topics can be fun.

IF THE TEACHER IS GOOD is the magic phrase. But I remember students who made the teachers better by asking the right questions....so therefore, many times, the responsibility lies with the participant not the instructor.

All students should challenge their teachers.

All teachers should pray that they have students who can challenge them.

Of course that accounting class might be a bit hard to introduce the element of challenge because it's all simply organized structural system management and that doesn't vary.

But even accounting 101 can be fun if the teacher is on acid.

I think you have to go to school in the Bay Area if you want that class.

Oh yes.........school was really really really different in 1968 and 1969 and 1970.......hummmmmm

Anyway summer is almost over and it sounds like I should be going back to school.

Hummmmmm......that's a really good idea.

Where's the application?

Who would take me?

What would be my major?

I'm excited.....but there will be no accounting.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Sad and Strange and Stupid

The horrible off-road accident that occurred in Lucerne Valley over the weekend just got stranger when I saw the name of the truck driver who killed the 8 people.

Brett Sloppy

Seriously

Brett Sloppy

I'm not sure that he is even at fault in this horrible fiasco. He lost control after taking a jump in his modified Ford Ranger and his truck flipped and landed on a crowd of people that were standing literally on the track.

Since there's no actual track then one has to assume that it's all track and it might be a wise idea to put some distance between a human body and a 2000 lb. truck going 70 miles an hour.

Mr. Sloppy had to be escorted away because the crowd apparently wanted to extract some form of revenge.

It seems that the crowd should have turned on themselves for being so stupid.

I realize with death and mayhem abundant at the moment, it's pretty hard to be rational but looking at the situation I would say rational thinking was never on the agenda.

You know that the spot where the accident happened wasn't the only spot where people were standing next to, or on top of, the off-road vehicles that were competing in a nighttime race called the California 200.

I assume the idea is to get as close to the action as possible but doesn't common sense enter the picture at some point?

My heart goes out to all the families that lost loved ones. My brain says WTFWTT?

All the victims were in their 20's and hopefully their deaths will save other lives. I have to believe that people attending these type of events in the future will realize that close viewing is not as important as safe viewing.

Somewhere instinct and rational behavior must come into play before one puts themselves in a situation that has very little upside.... except for a momentary rush of adrenaline.

While millions of people are wondering how grounding a club in a questionable sand trap could possibly be a penalty......Eight families from Southern California are experiencing the worst days of their lives.

Very sad but most definitely avoidable.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

More Corporruption ideas and thoughts

My last entry introduced the word CORPORRUTION to the mix. In the article I related a problem that WE have by TRUSTING that Corporrutions wouldn't intentionally try to harm us for the sake of profit and stock prices....

I thought about it for a few days and have come to the conclusion that TRUST is a word used when attempting to be honorable about the situation.

Honorable might not be the best way to describe why we let CORPORRUPTIONS do whatever they want....and if honorable is not in play then neither is TRUST.

WHAT COMES INTO PLAY

IS THE WORD

GULLIBLE

And when Gullible is the cause of our blind faith...then stupid and ignorant become new players in attempting to understand why WE allow CORPORRUTIONS to rule the present day economic environment.

Multi-National Corporruptions are not going away and the only way to control their lack of empathy to individuals is by limiting what they can and cannot do.

THE FDA IS SUPPOSE TO REGULATE THE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES AND YET THAT SITUATION IS A JOKE.

The politicians have completely gotten into bed with any large donor to their respective campaigns, and the Corporrutions basically already had control.

Now with the new ruling by the Supreme Court ( decision #08-205 in January) there is no stopping the ability of the Corporruptions to influence every election at every level.

By the way, last week I read where the Military can't account for $ 7.8 BILLION dollars from the Iraq war.

Le'ts see.....100 Senators divided into $7.8 Billion equals.....a sh.t load of coin.

And it pains me to say that the CORPORRUTION known as the United States of America might be the biggest offender....but at least there are programs in place to help the needy and poor.

I realize that large Corporruptions send considerable amounts of money to charities and foundations but it seems the foundations are owned by the Corporruptions or by the individuals who are the main principles within a CORPORRUTION.

I mean I'd feel a lot better, for the distribution of funds, if the Foundation was called......END OF MALERIA FOUNDATION instead of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

AGAIN......GULLIBLE MIGHT BE THE REAL WORD

AND

NOT

TRUST.

And then again Stupid and Ignorant also work pretty good.

And also keep in mind that when a Spiritually based entity becomes a world class CORPORRUTION

THEN

IT

REALLY

GETS

UGLY....because it's all justified by a claimed association with The Creator.

Does that bring us back to GULLIBLE or what?

Trust and Faith are the cornerstones of organized religions and Trust and Faith could be the parallel universe words for....

STUPID

and

IGNORANT

And thus another NEO-ILLUMINATION comes into play

#9

"ORGANIZATIONS, BY THEIR VERY NATURE

MUST DISCOURAGE

INDIVIDUAL

ENLIGHTENMENT AND BEHAVIOR

especially

when

individual enlightenment and behavior

is centered on

SPIRITUALLY DIRECTED GROWTH"

Michael Timothy McAlevey

CORPORRUPTION

(Some of the facts in this article are from RETHINKING STATINS by Melissa Healy...LA TIMES HEALTH SECTION AUGUST 9 2010)

I'm certain that I've never heard anyone use the term CORPORRUPTION so I'm officially claiming it as my own invention.....until some dweeb comes along and points out that Timothy Leary used it 40 years ago.

It also appears that there are numerous situations that could be the poster child for the word but today I think the multi-national pharmaceuticals shall take center stage.

There's an article in today's LA TIMES that is repeating what my friend, Dr. Francis J. Conlan, has been saying for years.

STATINS, disguised under names like LIPITOR, MEVACOR,ZOCOR, CRESTOR and PRAVACHOL, are used by more than 24 million people in the United States and for all practical purposes are forms of....poison.

The prescribers and manufacturers of these drugs tell us that they help prevent heart attacks and strokes.

THE CORPORRUTION INVOLVED RESULTS IN $26 BILLION A YEAR WORTH OF BUSINESS.

DOCTORS ARE PRESCRIBING STATINS AND GOD ONLY KNOWS HOW MUCH THEY RECEIVE IN KICKBACKS FROM THE MANUFACTURES.

THE WORD

KICKBACK

IS EXACTLY THE RIGHT WORD TO USE

EVEN THOUGH THE PAYOFFS ARE PROBABLY EXTREMELY SOPHISTICATED

ie....stocks options or time shares or whatever.

The level of CORPORRUPTION in this instance is astronomical when you consider that in 2009 there were 201.4 million prescriptions written for Statins.

I've had a personal experiece regarding this matter:

I was in the hospital awhile back because of my rapid heart rate and when I checked out one of the prescriptions was for Lipitor. It was never mentioned while in the hospital, and when I checked with my regular MD as to why they told me to take Lipitor he didn't have an answer and simply told me not to take it because I didn't have high cholesterol.

"An add-on prescription just for the fun of it"

THIS IS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF

CORPORRUTION

Imagine how many prescriptions are written for people when they leave a hospital. Basically no one is going to question what they are prescribing....because the hospital have just taken care of us.......and we.........trust them.

TRUST MIGHT BE THE OPTIMUM WORD BEHIND THE PROLIFERATION OF

CORPORRUPTION.

We trust that the oil companies would never lie to us about the reasons oil is so expensive.

We trust that the government would never lie to us about the reasons we are involved in military actions on foreign soil.

We trust that a Studio would never lie to us regarding how much profit was made on a project.

We trust that our wife or husband would never mess around with the secretary or the neighbor.

We trust that pharmaceutical companies would never lie to us about the side affects.

We trust that the FDA and multi-national pharmaceutical companies would never be co-conspirators in a massive campaign to dupe the consumer.

OUR TRUST GENERALLY RESULTS IN BILLIONS AND BILLIONS AND BILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS PROFIT FOR EXTREMELY LARGE COMPANIES....BETTER KNOWN AS

CORPORRUTIONS.

I THINK EXAMPLES OF CORPORRUPTION ARE MUCH TOO NUMEROUS TO MENTION IN ONE ARTICLE, SO LET'S JUST DIGEST THE STATIN SITUATION AND LET THE OTHERS REST FOR A DAY OR TWO.

FOR FURTHER DETAILS READ THE LA TIMES HEALTH SECTION

AUGUST 9 2010

or contact my friend

Dr. Butch

tgfalcon@sbcglobal.net

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Just a reminder

Within 550 miles of Los Angeles we have Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento and Lake Tahoe.

Within 550 miles of Israel they have Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Greece, Cyprus, Armenia, Libya, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iran.....and Palestine.

Talk about living in the middle of a hornet's nest. I suppose you could say we have hostile feelings from Mexico but it can't be that bad when they keep trying to move here in record numbers.

Israel might have a friend in Greece and some in Turkey but the rest of them are pissed off neighbors.

Think how strange it is when you have someone in your neighborhood who seems to always be pissed off. If you don't have one of those then you probably don't know your neighbors and you might be that guy.

Imagine living everyday with the thought that no one around you likes you.

How in the world can we change those vibes?

I realize that residents of Israel have learned to adjust but that adjustment comes with an attitude that says "f..k em all." And especially "f..k those little motherf..kers living on the Gaza strip."

I understand hostility and from where it is born....but I have to believe that something could change in the region if someone just eased up a bit.....and unfortunately for supporters of Israel,I think that falls on the back of the Israeli government.

I think they have to start behaving like they aren't going anywhere....which they aren't. They seem to still be fighting for their right to be there. They are there and they ain't going nowhere and while they try to convince all the hostile neighbors around them they seem to forget their own reality.

I understand that they will answer with..."give our enemies a little breathing room and they will try to destroy us."

I don't think that is going to happen anytime soon. Israel has one big advantage and that advantage is called the United States of America.

What they need to be doing is spreading the love. Israel needs to relax regarding the Gaza Strip and they need to recognize that Palestine has some property rights somewhere within the territory.

They need to stop treating the Palestinians like everybody in their immediate neighborhood has been treating them since 1949.

By displaying a bigger heart than all the uptight neighbors around them they might be able to ease the tension. If it doesn't work they can always go back to the tough guy mode.

A few years ago I got into trouble with some friends because my answer to solving the MET (Middle East Tension) was to simply move Israel to South Florida.

That didn't go over well because I'm not as funny as Jerry Seinfeld and then when I said I wasn't joking my Jewish friends called me a hater and an idiot.

I might be an idiot but I'm not a hater. I was trying to bring peace and calm to The Chosen People and South Florida seemed like a win-win situation. Not only would they be around people who cared about them but their extraordinary military abilities and machines( mainly aircraft) would protect us from the goof balls in the Southern Hemisphere.

At the time I had completely overlooked our interest in middle east oil reserves and therefore realized that our only true ally in the region needed to stay put until we no longer were dependent on foreign oil reserves. That might take another 20 years so I've put the relocation idea on hold and now am trying a more direct idea in order to bring some peace and harmony to the 6 million residents living within the Israeli borders.

THAT IDEA IS TO EXHIBIT TOTAL LOVE AND START BY RECOGNIZING THE PALESTINIAN GOVERNMENT.

I realize that the Palestinians can't really figure out who controls what within their government, but as long as they don't exhibit any acts of violence then it doesn't matter.

I would like to hear anyone's idea for solving the tension in the middle east that doesn't include simply kicking the shit out of someone else.

OR IS THERE TRULY NO PEACEFUL SOLUTION TO THE SITUATION?

I refuse to believe that fellow members of the human race can't figure this crap out.

MICHAEL TIMOTHY MC ALEVEY

Bro and Dad and a few more pieces of work

And I have a few puzzles left in the confer......but they are collector items and the stud fees are very high on those puppies.

Michael Timothy McAlevey