Why the name Ranch Chimp? it was in humour because, science says that humans have similar DNA to a chimpanzee,so I felt some way related biologically to a chimpanzee. 2nd, everytime I was out of Texas on a vacation or for whatever reason I’m always asked things like, do I live on a ranch?,or have cattle? so I commonly call Dallas the Ranch. "Politically Depressed" was also humour inspired by the 1993- 2002 Bill Maher TV/ tele show "Politically Incorrect".
This Part 13 of "The Other Tenant's" series will be to browse some of our earliest ancestors going back around 1.8 million years, and their ancient hominin boneyard at Dmanisi, Georgia via Paul Salopek, who is on his sort of 7 year migration walk on foot looking at our ancient ancestors and their lives, which I wanted to have in this series. The title of the posting entirely inspired by Paul, and nothing to do with Portland's "Pioneer Square" or their NBA "Trailblazers" basketball team {:-) But also big Thanx to Paul and all these journalists and especially the archaeologists and their students, and the folks of PBS and National Geographic who bring so much to us on this (PBS and National Geographic are a couple of my favourite stations on the tele as well), if not for these folks, we may not get any of this in a couple million years! ... which is damn near how long it took {:-)
Interesting in some of the read below, on how our throwing rocks may have been also a strong part of our early survival as well as our compassion to care for each other ... which makes sense, against so many dangers that these folks faced (a time over a million years before any spears) ... for being what would be looked at as a small and ugly ancestor of ours with only a little over 1/3 our brain size, these little folks were real tough and clever, as well as loving and caring for each other. It's also likely looking at the evidence found, that these folks using their brains over brawn in some situation's ... carefully planned to wait for carnivores to go out and do all the hard leg work and kill their food/ meat ... while our ancestors would wait till they brought back their hunt/ food for feast, and just attack and rob these carnivores of their game/ food ... in a way, just basically acting like thugs on that end. Whatever it may be ... these folks were real warriors ... and knew what to do to survive in a time of kill or be killed. Nearly 2 million years later, we carry some of the same traits as our old school previous tenants and ancestors. Some video and read linked below ....
First of all, Thank You to our Veterans on this "Veterans Day". This posting will serve 2 series of this journal ... "Sexploitation Nation" as well as "Human Morality", and is a local posting directed to my fellow Texans and Dallasites. It will take a look at the recent news this morning locally here in Dallas concerning yesterdays extended protections against discrimination on our citizens based on gender identity, and all others here in Dallas, on housing, medical needs, public places or whatever else ... and Thanx to the City of Dallas Council for this ordinance to protect our citizens rights. Part of the title in the posting "Blind Bathroom Wanker" was inspired by the myth that folks who masturbate will go blind, and the idea out of the same bunch that protecting peoples rights will make transgender people go into women's bathrooms to wank/ masturbate or molest women. Of course the bitch fights broke out just minutes after the ordinance passed between Dallas City Council members being attacked by State of Texas Republicans as usual. But first some newsread and video below, and I will add my part after with some opinion of my own.
***** NOTE: Although others in Texas were quick to make petty bitch- fights using social media tweets or whatever after this decision, NOT ONE person showed up at this meeting/ session in opposition to this amendment, even though it has been in the worx for nearly a year, it was unanimously agreed upon by City Council members and Mayor Rawlings, with support from the audience/ Dallas citizens that attended. So, the question is ... what the Hell business is it of others in other counties hundreds of miles from Dallas? This is our OWN local issue and decision, is it not? ... is that NOT a value in our state, for counties/ cities to decide what they want and what is best for OUR/ their communities/ cities? It's bad enough having someone bitch about what we do in our city, yet are so bloody damn lazy to not even attend the session or hear anyone out, but instead get behind a computer screen or their iPhone and tell us what is right for us. The open hypocrisy of some of these folks is shocking, below State Senator Don Huffines sayz that the voters make themselves clear, and of course he supports the Houston vote. On the other hand, where was Sen.Huffines when the Denton voters (suburban Dallas) voted that they do NOT WANT fracking on their land? ... as you can see here, Denton voters voted against fracking on their land, while Governor Abbott and others rejected their vote, and said that their VOTE DONT COUNT, because oil/ mining companies mean more than the peoples vote/ voice. So what you have is ... the peoples vote ONLY counts when it is what they want.
Thomas Hudson Pickering (aka "Ranch Chimp" & "Commie Tommie") with other half (wife) Rosalie Recto Vinas (Pickering)
Of course recently in Houston during this off year election/ voting deal, they banned expanding rights to LGBT folks, and pushed it with propaganda about men dressing up as chicks or whatever to go peeping in women's restrooms or transgender people going into the women's bathroom to I guess molest or sexually prey on the female gender. If Houston's voters actually came out to vote such as in a popular election year ... you can bet this would have never went over in Houston ... the GOP fundamoralist's pull this crap and rig these things the way they do, because that is the only way they can get their small petty issues passed, is with low voter turn- outs. Folks up here in Dallas act a little quicker on some things, and our City Council could see what was coming after the stunt they pulled in Houston a week or so ago. I read that Houston never had an anti- discrimination ordinance for LGBT, in Dallas, they had since 2002 ... what this updated language to the ordinance passed yesterday does, is makes it more solid as far as discriminating against especially transgender, and every other citizen of this city regardless of gender identity. Let's be clear though ... there is and should be a separation between "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" ... and THAT IS what this is about regardless of any of the rants against it.
It is disgraceful and an insult to the citizens of Texas and any city in our great state to discriminate against folks just because of how they were born, or even any handicaps that a person may have. And the nerve of these folks to cloak these things and make issues out of it, by using these politically manufactured religious cult type standards of morals to project their hatred, although they claim that this is solely about protecting women only, and not based on religion or politics, but it's all connected to a cult mentality here. Some even go as far as saying that the messianic Christ figure Jesus would be as hateful as them and discriminate and persecute fellow people/ citizens, to even go as far as making it a criminal offense to simply need to use a bathroom, it's disgraceful ... which should be looked at as an insult to the teachings of Jesus by anyone who follows the teachings of Jesus. You would think that they have a conscious or some shame in what they do, but they dont seem to ... in the past they have used similar methods to discriminate and persecute people of colour and immigrants, and even go as far as justifying hurting and killing people for no reason other than their race or gender. The reason we have to pass these ordinances to protect our citizens rights, is not to try to discriminate against another ones beliefs or values, and not just about the use of a public bathroom ... but to simply protect all our citizens, otherwise they would be attacked and persecuted more than they already are ... plain and simple, so it's not to try to turn people gay, or allow to let men molest kids or women.
Recently I was getting gas at the Shell/ 7- 11 station here in the neighbourhood at LBJ Freeway and Webb Chapel Rd, I had to use the bathroom ... there was 2 other guyz waiting to use the men's bathroom which was occupied, I got in line and asked the guyz in front of me, if the bathroom next to it was occupied? ... the guy looks at me and says ... "it's a women's restroom" ... I asked him ... "is anyone in it?" ... both said they didnt know ... they just stood there waiting, I told them ... "I dont give a shit, I need to piss man", they just laughed, I knocked on the door, there was no answer and I went in. Is what I done wrong? ... is it immoral? ... is it illegal? ... should I have went outside the building to the side or back and took a piss?, that would be illegal and enough to get a citation if a cop was nearby and seen me, for "urinating in public". Being the sanitation conscious guy that I am, I even lifted the toilet seat before taking a piss, and would wipe with a disinfectant cloth, if I got any piss on the edge of the bowl for that matter. The bathroom's both have a toilet, the only difference is the women's restroom has only a toilet and no urinal on the wall. Should I be penalized for what I did? ... by some of these folks moral standards ... I should be.
Part 42 of the "Veteran's Spotlight" series is to honour our vet's and look at the progress that has been made on helping veterans "if" they need it. I started pointing out and covering these issues since the start of this journal/ blog in 2008, in that time, so many new advocacy groups have strengthened, many from churches to community groups coast to coast ... to philanthropist's and even corporations have jumped in to help veterans ... President Obama and the First Lady have really tried to put out for our veterans as well, and progress has been made. Unfortunately we are still dealing with 10's of thousand's of homeless vet's, and more with need's to get back into the swing of society when coming home. And I will assume we will have many more to come with increased military needed, my guess is we will also add more troops in Syria than what we are hearing right now, and we are still not out of the woods in Afghanistan or Iraq. For me, veterans and active military are one of our most importante assets ... after all, if not for them, looking at the history of our country, where would we be today? especially if folks like in the past for example such as Japan or Nazi Germany got their way ... it is because of our defense in large part, that even these folks like Japan and Germany are some of our strongest allies today ... and we act as watchdog's and police force/ defense for the Saudi's, Israelis and much of the Arab world and major international corporations around the world currently as well. When these men and women volunteer to defend our interest's, allies and country ... they put it all on the line without question and focus on their mission ... we should put it all on the line as well for their defense and what they gave. Like many other American's, I have familia past and present who has served in every branch of our military ... along with several friends and associates over the years who have served, which is one of the reasons I have a 42 part series in this journal dedicated to veterans. I have also different idea's on how to do more for our veterans, and think if we budget our defense spending much better considering what we spend and waste, it can easily be done.
But the output and outreach to our veterans coast to coast in cities/ communities in every state from folks has been really better than I ever seen it in my life ... this is what I look at as "real" American exceptionalism, being how Americans across the board will do what need's to be done, even when our politics fail us. At the same time, I try to look at what we can do in our defense spending to be more efficient and maximize the bang for our buck ... and taking care of our veterans is an obligatory expense, not just big defense contracts and multi- national business interests. Some say it is a complicated mess trying to do for the needs in taking care of our veterans ... no doubt there are challenges ... but I try to simplify things as much as possible, and strictly thinking complicated doesnt do that. I have my own views on tackling these issues for our veterans ... when I look at some of the useless waste we lose billions on, I know that there can be improvements on spending ... just look at this recent article from last week on the $43 million dollars we spent to build a gas station in Afghanistan for just one simple example on our waste and inefficiency in spending. Although our exceptionalism from American's across the board has been great in this area ... it should NOT be the obligation of our churches and communities to have to do this, any more than helping our citizens with social services needs should be the obligation of non- profit groups either ... but this is set into our thinking ... my thinking on this is different.
My way of solving these issues with homeless veterans is more simple and straight, and based partly on how we spend and squander. It is true that giving tax exemptions to those who help is a plus, and voucher programmes also are good being spent in communities for business, and money put into HUD to help is good. My approach is simple because it doesnt depend on those groups and make it so they can help in other areas of our society in the meantime ... I look at veterans expenses as simply defense spending. For example ... say we estimate 50,000 homeless right now and annually to come ... I would start by building and buying apartment complexes coast to coast that are specifically for use by veterans who need them, all paid for out of our defense budget, and when a vet get's on their feet, they can continue to stay there if they choose and pay a modest rental fee or move, their choice ... with no time limit on how long they can stay ... I feel with all our defense spending, we owe that to them. I would like to start it by building up to say a quarter of a million/ 250,000 units right now, if less is needed in the future, then we can use them for other purposes ... it's a good investment ... on the way, it creates jobs in our country building new structures and remodeling existing structures that we purchase ..., and helps reduce some of the fraud and predatory practices that are targeted at our veterans in the private sector.
Some video and links below ... and Thank You to our Veterans!
LA's ambitious plan to house every homelss veteran ... Thanx to PBS NEWSHOUR
This entry/ induction into the music/ arts honour roll society of this journal has to definitely go to "Diablo Swing Orchestra" out of Stockholm, Sweden! ... this is just an outstanding and musically versatile crew, and one of the greats of this early 21st century when it comes to their unique arrangement and sound. What genre is it? ... beats the Hell outta me ... they are just a well rounded "orchestra", with such flare and exciting sound ... an avant- garde type experimental crew? ... some can take me back to the great swing of the 1930's for that matter ... whatever it is ... IT WORX! This ensemble been around since 2003, and have had some member changes ... one key member who left a year ago was Annlouice Logdlund, an excellent singer, but was also working on her opera career and could no longer work both projects. Early in the band's formation, the addition of trombone and trumpet to me really enhanced their sound ... some of the jazz guitar riffs are really nice and the overall vocals/ harmonizing a real treat, and despite being a 8 piece orchestra, there is nothing too watered down sound- wise. They as well worked good the way they self marketed their music when they started with all the free music and packages they included with limited editions of some of their worx, they have quite a following too these dayz ... and have been not only doing well in Europe, but the America's as well ... and this is playing small venues, to some of the largest festivals.
Interesting as well, is the way this crew got together (which you can read here in detail), I dont know if you call it good marketing or whatever ... but the story is, that back in 1500's Sweden (16th century), there was a orchestra that played music that captivated folks and opening their minds to free thought, the ruling Church and their usual parasitic aristocrats bitched about the orchestra ... an old familiar tune ... actually back in especially that era there were thousands upon thousands of innocent people executed in horrible fashion by religious Christian church establishments for basically no reason, back in them dayz you could be tortured slowly to death simply for having a mole or birthmark you may have been born with, and it be labeled as a mark of a devil. The orchestra became hunted and labeled as being an "orchestra of the devil", where peasants hid and protected them for a time, finally framed, captured and unjustly sentenced to death by hanging ... before the members of the orchestra were executed, they made a pact to return their music 500 years later ... this 21st century orchestra claims they are the descendants of those who were executed back in the 16th century. Whatever the story or folklore may be ... this crew is well worth the listen, and I wish them all their wishes and a fruitful career! ... Now for some DSO below ... Enjoy!
Real Change | Bernie Sanders (this is his first tele ad) ... Thanx to Bernie Sanders
This posting will serve both the "From The FOXHOLE with Bernie" and "Truth or Treason" series of this journal. Below I linked some read from a Texas Conservative professional and his newest support for Bernie Sanders because of his experiences in America and how he went on the downslope and lost so much through no fault of his own, but simply because of what America has become in recent years ... when basically America and Texas failed him, and how contacts in Germany at least helped him climb back to being what he can. What has America become? ... listen to Florida Congressman Alan Grayson in this video for example on trade, jobs and business. I cant tell you a thing about this man Ron Wiseman or can say how straight his story is ... what I can tell you though, is what you hear/ read him talk about below in the Quora.com link is a reality that many middle class and even upper middle classes across our country face these dayz, people who are so essential to our economy and productive Americans ... so the read/ testimony by Ron Wiseman I thought was compelling and good food for thought as far as what this country is up against.
The 2nd link is a full length video of Bernie just a week ago with Charlie Rose, an intimate type conversation/ interview where Bernie get's questioned on exactly where he stand's on what issues, why, and tries to paint a more clearer picture of what Democratic Socialism is, since the word socialism in general is so misread by American politipop culture, basically programmed into us through multi- national corporation and banking propaganda. This video interview with Bernie has to be the best I seen so far, because Charlie Rose really presses the issues (no journalist sugar- coating) and get's Bernie to discuss in detail everything, from banking corruption to foreign military intervention. Interviews like this to me are far more importante when looking at choices than any debates, because it forces candidates to either not be direct in their answers or be totally direct, and forces policy details of the candidate. Bernie makes himself very clear and solid, with no indirect answers that leave you in question on where he stands and has stood. After I will add a few words of my own at the bottom of this posting.
Thomas Hudson Pickering aka "Ranch Chimp", "Commie Tommie" & "Skool" (short for old school) to kid's locally
Just awhile back in late May I believe, I attended a high school graduation by the neighbourhood over here at a sports arena in Addison, it was a fairly good size crowd, seating about 8,000 and was a full house. Before it all, a student recited the "Pledge of Allegiance" and just about everyone stood, put their hand over their heart/ chest, looked at the flag, etc ... you know the routine. This was the first time in my life that I would not do such or care to recite it, it was the first time where I actually was able to view thousands (I was way up in the top stands and had a great view of all below) that just seemed to routinely go along, of course part of the ceremony formality or whatever, but listening closely to the words ... I thought it was insane ... thinking to myself ... "you got to be kidding" ... of course I didnt tell anyone I was with what I was thinking, or did they pay any atencion to my not facing the flag with my hand over my heart. Dont misread me here though, I actually love my country and care about it, but what these oligarchs and their high paid political mouth pieces have been doing to it and expecting us to praise them, their actions, injustice, robbery, etc ... I just say "fuck them" ... I mean, lets face it ... they're no different than a bunch of thieves, it's bad enough that many of our Congressional mouth pieces pay homage to them and their corrupt wayz, and even squander our taxes on them ... I'll be damned if I will ever salute them. These people are basically treasonists who use our country, flag and Constitution against us and disgrace what America stands for ... there is no "reason" or logic supporting anyone who has clearly shown to be the enemy of our country, business/ economy and people. As an American voter like millions of others in these times, what I'm looking for in candidates is very simple and not asking too much ... that is to have leadership not just based on experience or popularity, but leadership that will at least actually try to FIGHT BACK.
Again we are facing a very critical election, even more critical than after the 2008 financial crash, I mean, we lost so much as far as our freedoms after that and left us with a drained economy from the Bush/ Cheney administration and the loss of millions of jobs, and locked in to endless war while kissing Saudi Arabia's ass and everyone but America. Now because our elections are so rigged and corporate paid/ sponsored, we have a new challenge, we need new leadership to address the newest challenges, plain and simple. As a voting Democrat myself these dayz, I get sick of hearing about any Democrat is better than a Republican, there is a certain amount of truth to that, but only to a degree ... for the last year in most controlled MSM, the Democrat Party establishment has said basically that the only choice is already picked, and Bernie basically is ignored for the most part, as insignificant or unsuitable. I mean, dont feed me that shit that if I dont vote for just any Democrat that the pop culture of the establishment Democratic Party endorses, I will fall into Hell or eternal poverty, slavery, etc, etc ... that's no different than telling me I have a choice of 2 poisons to take ... Strychnine or Cyanide. Bernie Sanders is the clear alternative choice that at least has a fairly strong following ... fuck what the landline over age 50 poll's tell you, or if you dont do this or that you're doomed and will suffer more misery, what Katy Perry or some other celebrity tell's you, etc ... vote for what is in your heart that your gut instinct tell's you is straight, and forget the other nonsense ... give your vote to someone who deserves it and has a record like Bernie Sanders of being in the trenches and fighting tooth and claw for change. Bernie, if he doesnt get the nomination may not want to run as an independent 3rd Party contender (which I understand, being that his ambition/ goal is to not take Democrat votes away to challenge the GOP) ... but IF he loses because of some shady actions in vote counting or something else foul on behalf or instigated by the establishment Democrat Party ... you can bet, that many voters who support him, will use their own head and vote for an alternative, regardless of what kind of rubbish they are fed. If he loses FAIRLY ... well that is "truly" the peoples/ voters choice ... I myself think he has a good shot, or else I wouldnt have spent the last 5 years or so promoting him with his own series in this journal.
