This is my new voting card.  That "NPR" stands for No Party Affiliation.  It is, sort of, my new emancipation proclamation, no disrespect for the big one a couple centuries ago.  I decided not too long ago to resign from the cancer that is destroying this country.  The Repubs are choosing party over country, and the Demos are too stupid and toothless to take advantage of their power position, so...FUCK OFF both of you.  

My freedom from party will mean that I will not be able to vote in the primaries, a small price for independence.  Of course, the reality exists that I will vote with the Dems - the Repubs are simply too sick, too crazy, too Gosar for my taste.  Is this a hollow gesture?  Maybe, but until we understand the brainwashing mental corruption of worshipping the party instead of country, it is the best we can do to display rationality.        

 The dog and I walk daily, sometimes even in the rain.  Whizzbang, aka Whizzy, aka Sniff Dawg loves it.  Me too.  Along the way which is well over a mile, we have come across, dead armadillos, kind people, and coyotes, among other interesting things one finds in a city.  

Last week we came across something that was new.  Litter is not rare along the route, but this packaging, not all that far from a kids bus pickup spot caught our eye.  Not sure if it was opened before the owner got home or if it fell out of a garbage receptacle.     

How Stupid Have We Become?

Q-Anon'ers at Dealy Plaza waiting for the return of JFK, Jr..  That's how stupid we have become. 

 

This is your America, folks.

We have too-rich billionaires building their own rockets to send them into inner space.   An ever obvious new 21st century economy consists of the few have and the many more have nots.  Prices keep going up but wages remain flaccid.  Gentrification in the cities.  The Middle Class is shrinking.  Perhaps it is dying altogether.  Here in the USA it lasted about 80 years.  Everything changes but there is a real possibility that in another 80, the present economic reality will be altogether different.  There are plenty of essays that speak of our shrinking three class system.  If it continues we will be more like Cuba, or Russia before the fall of the Berlin wall.  Interesting stuff.  But I am not here to talk about economics.  I am here to talk of T-shirts.

Recently I needed to upgrade my loungewear  Wait, its all loungewear these days.  Amazon had a great selection so after a couple of key strokes I had new T's winging their way to me.  Not expensive ones or off brand for me.  Cheap, name brands. Good old Fruit of the Looms for me.  While scrolling I noticed a Tom Ford brand.  I don't know who Tom Ford is but these days anyone (upper class) can start their own brand. 

 

And then I noticed the price for his T.  One T.  A white T.  After I revived myself after a very real of the vapors, I thought about the people who had so much money that they would buy a few of Tom's T's.  Was it the Lyocell?   What is it?

Lyocell is a form of rayon. It consists of cellulose fibre, made from dissolving pulp and then reconstituting it by dry jet-wet spinning. The fibre is used to make textiles for clothing and other purposes. Unlike rayon made by the viscose process, lyocell production does not use harmful carbon disulfide, which is toxic to workers and the environment. In 2018, the lyocell process was more expensive than the more common viscose process for making rayon.

Well, there it is folks.  If you can afford Tom's T's, good for you.  If you are like me and keep with F of the L's, or all the other middle, lower class T's, strength in numbers.  Power to the People.

I'm going to let you in on a secret about car shows and awards.  But first I want to tell you about a guy who was around when I first started showing my 1962 Plymouth in the mid 80's.  This guy had a beautiful late early 60's Chrysler 300.  It was my favorite of the show circuit back then.  Long and muscular, perfect paint, simply flawless.  It also had a swivel front seat and I loved it. The same couldn't be said for its owner.  He was a little wiry dickhead.  Every show he went to he felt entitled, and when he'd not get whatever he thought he should get, usually Best of Show, he'd go off like the sore loser he was and raise holy hell all the way from the award ceremony to his car.  I used to know his name, but I have forgotten it.  He passed away of cancer not long after his last fit and I hope the car (I haven't seen it since) got a better owner.

All that is to say that some car showers are all about the trophies.  When I had the '61 Imperial I was almost like that.  When I lost, which was rarely, I'd lose graciously.  That car was an award magnet.  Loved it and sorry I sold it, but that's another story.  Today I have a '63 Dodge Custom 880.  Not rare, not special. not a winner.  when I do win it is usually due, and here is the secret about car shows, to people there that feel sorry for me and vote for me.  I have a friend who is a member of a group of owners and, on occasion, they will vote en masse for the unexceptional tan Dodge.  Each person who brings a car gets to vote.  I don't like that system, but let's face it, without those sympathy votes I'd never get any recognition.  Members of car clubs get the advantage to win the awards.  Members of groups get the advanatge to win.  Not always, but it is a big leg up if you are associated with people with the ballots. The only other way is to hire judges who, armed with a100-point system: chrome, interior, paint, engine, etc., but shows don't do that at these local casual events.

Last August, however, the ole tan Miss Frump, pictured above at the Aledo Days car show won a best top 50 award.   

  

I have no idea how she won.  My friend who was there was without his group.  I am not associated with any car club, and yet, that old 4 door won an award.  It was the highlight of my summer.  Imagine that!

I am going to have to reevaluate my peers and give them a hearty apology for accusing them of cronyism at car shows.  For one day last summer, my old girl who is usually the last one asked to the prom, won an award.  We are both beaming with pride...and appreciation.      

 

Rogers and the Unvaccinated

 This past week we learned that Aaron Rodgers, QB liar and right-wing nut, has not been vaccinated and will miss at least one game.  He announced he had contracted Covid-19 after telling the club and presumably his teammates that he had been "inoculated" sometime in the past.  Whelp.  Where to start?

This guy, who had at one time auditioned for host of Jeopardy, and by most accounts was quite good, has shown himself to be many things:

1.  Liar and prevaricator.  He lied to his teammates, to the Packer front office, to to his fans.  He had not received the vaccinations he said he did, instead doing some kind of voodoo with a physician having to do with antibodies.   

2.  Right-winger.  Not everyone on the right or far right is whacko.  But if you are whacko, you are probably right or far right.  Google it.  How many left-wing evangelists have fallen to the virus?  How many left-wing radios hosts have died?  The right is the world of the whack jobs, and Rodgers, by going along with Trumpist medical talking points has landed squarely in the land of Whack.  

3.  Dumb.  You don't have to be smart to be an actor, quarterback or old juvenile counselor.  But you can appear smart if you get vaccinated.  Rodgers was/is simply dumb.  It took a lot of thinking to bypass all the routes to avoid getting the jab.  But he is still dumb.

4.  Ruined reputation.  Like him or not, Packer fan or not, Rodgers is a pretty gosh darn good football player.  But he will now be remembered for being a dumb, right-wing, lying jerk.  And as we all know now, if you are a Trumpist, you have a kind of taint that screams, "Storm the Capitol!"

Someday Covid will be controlled, tamed and no longer mentioned as lead in news reports.  It will always be a killer, however.  Someday Trumpism will be controlled, tamed and no longer the lead in news reports.  But the damage it has done to us as a people, our institutions and reputations of people who followed will be with us forever.