The AUGUST CONCORDIAN is here...packed and ready to roll...

Come on Concord, it doesn't get much better than this - video, articles, photographs and don't forget the AUGUST $100 cash giveaway....

Click the pic to go read the August Concordian featuring stories on Charlie Baggett, the McDowell family who lost their home in a fire, Koka Sexton (Mayor of Concord), as well as the budget mess, education mess and some nice stories that touch your heart (or that place where a heart used to be before the recession.)

Don't forget to enter the $100 cash giveaway and remember that The Concordian is 100% advertiser supported - go visit our advertisers and tell them you saw their ad.

And you can get the paper at 280 Concord locations - visit the Web site for a complete list but included are all Concord 7-11 stores, K-mart and Blockbusters, to name just a few.

Listen to Charlie Baggett's CD - he's a kid going places....this CD is limited release and will be worth something... just wait for me to say "Told you so!"

Happy weekend to all.

 

MisterWriter

THIS WEEKEND IN CONCORD... Look, eat, drink and taste what Concord's got!

A TASTE OF CONCORD INVITES YOU TO A DAY OF FUN, SUNDAY, AUG 2 1-5pm

14 yr old Charlie Baggett's CD is now available ... a potential collector item when he becomes famous.

 

Visit www.charliebaggett.com for more information

If you remember from 2007 California Symphony in the Plaza in Concord, CA., this young man, then 13, and now about to turn 15 has just released his first CD. Click HERE to visit his Web site for more information about the CD.

This is what I wrote in a CONCORDIAN article due out tomorrow:

"There are a lot of reasons to rush out and buy the debut CD “I Only Dream of You” by 14-year-old Charlie Baggett, the young singer who sang with the California Symphony in Concord last September (see video below.)

The most obvious reason is that in the not too distant future, as this young man’s career soars, you will own a valuable collector piece. With a limited number available, you’ll be glad to have been there at the start of his professional career. A better reason is that this is an album of delightful and inspiring music.

The CD is a collection of songs ranging from the well-known “Time to Say Goodbye,” which Charlie performs with a close comparison to Josh Groban in style and vocal range, to the familiar and religiously popular “Ave Maria.” Fans of Il Divo will enjoy Charlie’s solo of “Nella Fantasia,” which offers the rich operatic tones one would expect with a very pure sound.

The cover song, “I Only Dream of You,” is one of two original compositions scored for Charlie by friend Annabelle Marie, producer and director of the Voena Children’s Choir where Charlie has performed since age 10. Marie also plays the violin on the album and acted as producer.

With the richly emotional music reminiscent of a theatrical love song, “I Only Dream” urges the listener to sing along and leaves the melody for humming long after the CD has ended."

We've written several pieces on Charlie - his voice is such that I fully expect to see him in a long future with the handful of solidly talented operatic and classical singers out there - mark my words.

I'm still humming that song, by the way.... go visit the site HERE or email Charlie at brg@baggettrecordgroup.com and be sure to tell them that I sent you. They also have shirts, posters, bags etc.

MisterWriter

$756,000 Potential revenue for the City of Concord - look!

The City of Concord blowing revenue at the Skate Park a few doors down from the police station. When it opened the city vowed to enforce the helmet law - well it never has. At $75 a ticket, with about thirty skaters sans helmets that amounts to $2250 in fines every hour or so. I estimate a revenue stream of about $756,000 month in fines alone. Anyone from the city care to comment? It isn't everyday that they are all in one pen for you to round up and ticket and it has to be more profitable than parking meters. Besides, play your cards right and you nab the drug dealers as well.

MisterWriter

GREED GIVING U.S. SOLDIERS A BAD NAME - SHAME

I received this email yesterday which seems to be a new slant on the scam emails - this time in the name of US Soldiers. I have no doubt US Soldiers everywhere would take offense to this. What do you think?

MisterWriter

Don't yell ''FIRE" in a crowded house...and my fat ass on a train! Life lessons!

So why do I feel like a fat ass riding a small train, going over the same tracks and getting nowhere?  Maybe because despite the best of intentions I do not feel like the efforts I put out are producing much. I share this, not to moan but to exemplify the way many people feel right now. It was bad enough to work more hours for the same pay but to work for less?

I know the economy is bad. Thank God blogging is free or it wouldn't happen. Slowly we spiral down to newer depths, those of us with jobs, without jobs. No one is immune. For me the next 30 days will be the most interesting of the last year. For in that time comes change or strength. I have put out all that I have. The next thirty days will show what happens next.

Cryptic, I know, but that is the best I can do right now. The high point of the weekend was taking the kids to Tilden Park so my son could ride the trains while my daughter feigned fear at all the animals in the petting zoo. I have a car for sale, a 96 Honda Accord 5-speed with a low 32,758 miles. You can see it HERE. Great car but too small for the whole family.

Am I whining? I hope not too loud. One family I met this week that I have featured in the upcoming Concordian, is the McDowell family of Joan Avenue in Concord. I end with the article I wrote for them pasted below. If you can help out, please do. That is what life is about. And thanks for reading my blog. Even unsaid, I am appreciative for you readers.

MisterWriter

Fire adds more struggle to a difficult life for Concord family

Andre’ Gensburger

Fires in the Canterbury Village area of Concord are not uncommon. The older, cottage-style two-story homes with gabled roofs are prone to fire from a multitude of sources.

In the case of the McDowell family, a July 4 meal preparation quickly turned into near total destruction of their house on Joan Avenue and all that was inside.

Luckily, the family managed to escape. The family cat was not so fortunate, although a kitten was rescued. Within a minute, the house was consumed with flames generating enough heat to melt the aluminum back overhang as well as the siding on a neighbor’s property.

The McDowell house had been bought by George McDowell’s grandfather in 1961 and was occupied by George’s mother, Jennifer Birse, sister Kelli Birse, 21, and George’s son, Logan, a 14-year-old young man unlike most others his age.

“We’ve watched all the people move out of the neighborhood and all the people move into the neighborhood,” George said about the length of time they have lived there.

“You don’t really know what you have until you lose it,” Logan said, his face stained with soot as the family slowly pulled debris from the house. The possessions, memories and more were now all mangled, charred or simply ash.

A donated dumpster sits in the front of the house, already filled. There is very little left of the roof and almost all the rooms have fire damage.

Jennifer is on permanent disability, while George is on temporary disability. In May, they sustained injuries in a car accident when they were cut off on Clayton Road and crashed into a tree. On crutches for a torn meniscus as a result, George hobbles through the wreckage of the house. He plans to do as much of the work as he can when they are able to rebuild. However, they do not have the resources to rebuild.

“The house is not out of the (grandfather’s) trust,” George explained. He does not even know if there is enough insurance coverage. Damage estimates are at the $200,000 mark, including the personal effects lost.

Worse still, some things just cannot be replaced. George and Kelli were adopted by Jennifer. The ashes of Kelli’s birth mother were destroyed in the fire along with that connection.

“Right now, we all live on $1,000 a month from the disability,” George said. But make no mistake; this is not a family wallowing in self-pity or any sense of entitlement.

Neighbor Raj Kumar explained: “I’ve learned that the McDowells are a sincere, kind and giving family that have suffered life circumstances on many levels,” he said. “Despite these adversities, at 14, Logan has a mature sophistication and a sense of generosity that most adults do not exhibit, let alone comprehend.”

Logan and his family believe strongly in giving back. As part of those exercises in humility and thankfulness, Logan went up and down the street mowing the neighbors’ lawns at no charge just to say thanks for their kindness. He also volunteers at the Concord VFW each Sunday and smiles with pride at the opportunity rather than the gain.

Jennifer received the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Concord City Council in 1999 for work at the Family Stress Center. Her philosophy of life is to be helpful and not demanding.

George had coached the Jr. Optimist Babe Ruth Baseball League for more than six years. There is no coaching until he has knee surgery, although there is no timeframe for that.

While the neighborhood has banded together to help this family, visibly they need much more assistance. Yet they remain upbeat, happy to stop and chat with neighbors, asking for nothing and grateful for the chance to get to know them better even during these circumstances.

Logan lost all his baseball gear in the fire. Sports Basement offered to replace it for him. Logan has been accepted into the Clayton Valley Public Service Academy in the fall when he starts high school as a freshman. He is excited at the opportunity.

The family’s main concern right now is their roof. With most of it burned away, they are in need of lots of wood to sheath over and shore up the framework so that some rebuilding can take place. At the least, they will be able to live inside the house at the lower level rather than a tent.

To that end, they hope that anyone with leftover wood or other building materials might donate them.

For now, a large cardboard sign over the window thanks their neighbors and their friends for being there. “The neighbors have been great,” George said. “Concord has been great. We’re very lucky.”

A PayPal site for donations has been set up at http://tinyurl.com/FireReliefFund or they may be mailed to the McDowell Family, c/o Thompson, P.O. Box 5545, Concord CA 94521. Wells Fargo Bank has set up a trust for the family. The account number is 7913288846.

A Sunday Photograph

Looking down at Concord from Martinez, CA.

MisterWriter

DEATH TO DRUNK DRIVERS: AN EYE FOR AN EYE

Well China has stepped up to the plate holding people accountable for the sins they commit. Certainly they have none of the liberal minded spare the feelings of the offender; they have taken a Middle Eastern approach to crime and punishment; an eye for an eye.

And so it should have come as no surprise when they sentenced a convicted drunk driver to death for killing four people. In addition the man had been driving without a license. Read that story HERE

Okay, I live in California and I can already hear the bleeding hearts telling me that now the man's family will suffer and two wrongs don't make a right and how we should all be against the death penalty, killing animals for their fur and raising our own vegetables as we smoke our happy joint. Well save it; I think the guy should get the death penalty. Why? Because at some point people have to start being held accountable for their actions without one of those get out of jail cards that seem to exist all   over the place.

Charles Manson is a great example;  guilty beyond any possible doubt and he is still around, granted way old and somewhat slower, but nonetheless in far better shape than Sharon Tate and the rest of his victims, including her baby. We all pay for that upkeep. Why? Because it is inhumane to put a prisoner to death; and yet perfectly fine to go and bomb cities we are at war with. A strange logic there. We can condone the clubbing of baby seals for their fur, but God forbid a murder gets dispatched to the never after instead of us footing the bill for supporting him the rest of his unnatural life. And have you seen those prison perks?

In the Middle East you can tell a thief by the fact he has one hand. You can tell a really stupid thief if he has no hands. The fact is that if you steal they will chop of the hand that stole. It is the old eye for an eye rule and frankly when you look at the crime rate there compared to the crime rate here, I say we should be chopping off some hands as well.  It would simplify rape convictions and child molesters as well.

Where is my compassion you ask? Well the thing about compassion is that it is easy to extend when you have not been directly affected. I wonder how people who have been the victims or the family of victims of murderers and rapists, thieves and so on, feel about the criminal at that point?  I respect the family of those victims who attend the executions. It may well be ugly but you at least know that evil has been dispatched from the world.

When I read a newspaper and it is an endless list of crimes against the people of the city in which I live, my first thought is that we have too much compassion. I guess this mentality of kindness is why things are ugly out there, why many teenagers have no regard for rules, and why attitudes of many people you encounter can only be described as moronic.

Here in the U.S. it is okay for students to tell their parents and their teachers to fuck off. They do not get expelled because the little angels have a right to be educated even if they blow that right of their own accord. And the "nice" boy's parents will find nice lawyers who will tell you that the kid was traumatized that the teacher got upset after being told to fuck off. Huh? The little angel and his gang will deface and destroy whatever they want because unless you happen to stand there with a video camera they will claim that you were mistaken; that it was not him. And if you get him on video tape they will sue you for violating his right to privacy because he is a minor.

Is this that different in logic from the burglar suing you after he breaks into your home and you shoot and injure him? Guess who wins in court? He does. Turns out you actually have to kill him to save yourself the angst of the lawsuit and the retribution that will surely follow.

In my opinion we have spared the rod for far too long. Talk therapy does not work. Crazy people remain crazy. And we all suffer as a result of some emasculated sense of justice that we have bashed into us daily from the media, and any group with an agenda to push.  Parents are no longer allowed to parent. And it shows.

Remember the American kid in Singapore who was jailed some years back for spitting his chewing gum out?  Singapore has a very low crime rate and is a super clean city. No gum! I kept waiting for him to announce how he should not have violated the law of the land, but instead all I heard was how harsh the sentence was and the fact that he was just a kid, just a nice boy.  Not only will he not go back to Singapore, if he did, I'll bet my socks he won't be chewing gum. I seem to remember some flogging in there as well.

Flogging. That rhymes with blogging! Happy Friday.

MisterWriter

THE RECESSION IS OVER -LOOK

Proof that the recession is over can be found at the local bus stop where the local transit authority has decided to make patrons more comfortable by replacing stone benches with a more comfortable choice.  I can't wait to see what they will do with the buses. Onboard jacuzzi's?

Have a comfy day y'all!

MisterWriter

PSYCHIATRISTS AND DENTISTS EARNING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN THE PRISON SYSTEM - WHY? Save the cities - take from the prison system instead.

I'm not for cruel and unusual punishment but in looking over the salaries of state workers, there is an overabundance of $265,000/year psychiatrists and dentists employed in the penal system along with $400,000 a year chief dentists. There are hundreds of these people on the payroll. There are hundreds of correctional counselors at $90K/year on up. What are they counseling on?

Why? This is a perfect job for a newbie dental or psych resident to have - candidates they can practice on. Is a $400K/yr shrink really going to make a difference in jail? Isn't prison supposed to be a punishment?

There are also hundreds of analysts at $60 K/year. What are they analyzing and do we really care? I say not.

So instead of lobbing off the untold millions WASTED in the prison system, state officials (themselves with overbloated paychecks) have elected to screw the cities and education as a solution.

And with all the early release prisoners - the need for shrink time is even less.

After looking over the salaries list for state workers, there is a lot of fat there that can be trimmed off.

You can see for yourself - CLICK HERE for the salary list - select CORRECTIONS

MisterWriter
Taxpayer

Is California Closed?

A poignant little video for your consideration...

Yep....

MisterWriter

Dear Governor, what are you smoking?

July 21, 2009

Dear Governor,

You can read the fantasy budget HERE. Fasten your seatbelts. It will be a bumpy ride.

MisterWriter

Deciding at what age I would like to check out!

The world's oldest man, Henry Allingham, died today at age 113. Here was a man who has seen so much of the world. Born June 6, 1896, during the reign of Queen Victoria, Allingham would later recall sitting on his grandfather's shoulders waving a flag for King Edward VII's coronation in 1902. Transportation was horse drawn, coal was the primary fuel, street lighting was gas and in the financial heart of London, there was same-day mail delivery. How amazing is that? He is survived by five grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, 14 great-great grandchildren and one great-great-great grandchild.

My grandfather (on my mother's side), died a year before I was born. He was 52 at the time, a mere two years older than I am now. His death left a mark on my mother and my grandmother who mourned him daily for the rest of her life, thirty eight years later.  My only knowledge of him passed down to me in photographs that I would find as a teenager and hold until this last year when the technology allowed me to create new images using my own camera and Photoshop.

As I wrote about some time back, my sister died when she was ten and I was twelve. That was thirty-eight years ago and obviously far too young for anyone to die.

The question arises: what is the best age to go? When do you outstay your welcome and become a burden upon those you love?  Recently it has been a question much in the media. Michael Jackson dead at fifty and Walter Cronkite dead at 92.  Which is the age that works?

Ronald Reagan left office in 1989 and then slowly descended into the twilight of Alzheimer's disease, no longer aware of his own achievements and his own life, including his dutiful wife, Nancy who remained by his side well past the end.  Would it have been better for him to die younger, in his heyday?

Ironically the world remembers the young James Dean, the rebel, dead at a young age and yet cast in history, while few remember the bloated end of Marlon Brando, embroiled in the tragedy of his children's poor choices, no longer the masculine lead that man men envied from his youth.

There is always death. Death is the blanket of life. You can no more avoid it than you can ignore it. And as much as people do not like to discuss it, there is a purpose in the existence of death; the value that is placed upon life is based upon the finite existence offered. If we lived forever no one would care.

As I get older I begin to understand why the elder generation seem to get more miserable. The world in which they lived slowly fades away, replaced with each death of that generation, with something that pales in comparison. Can we compare Johnny Carson to Conan O'Brien?  Hardly, and yet it always changes. Socrates would have thought the modern philosophers to be boring.

For the elderly, after a life of living, family, raising children, making that mark and then passing through adult children moved away, the death of a spouse, the death of friends, the decay of the body until leaving the house to go to the store becomes a major chore, how could it not be anything but depressing?

Humphrey Bogart is well remembered. Who still thinks of Lauren Bacall? She was with him in his movies and in his life as his wife and she lives on today. Who seems to notice? But lose a figure in his prime, a Heath Ledger or a James Dean and it seems so shocking and eternal all wrapped up in one iconic image.

I wonder when is the time that my life should end; not that I have a say when that may be. I know that I want to be old enough that I will not ruin my children's lives. My best friend in my college years, who died not long after, grew up in the shadow of his father's death while he was young. And yet I wonder whether I would want to be 113, like Mr. Allingham, all wised up and nowhere to go. At some point the world you know vanishes and you are alien in the remains. At some point the shadow of the past has outlived its usefulness, like Walter Cronkite who, no matter the solid body of work he left behind, or the foundation for the news we take for granted, had already reached a point where he was not in the mainstream.  There is a sadness in that. All ends should be in glory. And perhaps the glory of a death in battle that is often spoken of in classical poetry, makes sense in that context.

For now, I am glad to feel like I am still keeping pace with the cycle of life, even as my children surpass me in height, even as my hair follicles laughingly shrivel into baby fluff, and even as I see in the mirror my eyes that hold no innocence or naivete, still vibrant yet distinctly older than those bright baby blues that still shine in the baby book.

But I guess, that is the way it is. Thank you and goodnight.

MisterWriter

I QUIT! I WON! Can it get any better than this?

I received an email this morning informing me of the following...

BRITISH NATIONAL PROMOTION

Agent Name: Mr.Edward  Parker.
Email:(edwardparker.03@msn.com)
This is to inform you that you have been
selected for a cash prize of 1,500,000
(British Pounds) held on the 15th of July,
2009 in London(United Kingdom).The
selection process was carried out through
random selection in Our computerized email
selection system (ESS) London Uk, which
you emerge as one of the lucky winner.

Could I get any luckier than that? Out of all the people on the planet, my number came up!  1,500,000 Pounds is the equivalent of $2.44275 million U.S. dollars.

I quickly wrote back (through anonymous email with no track back of course to avoid spam) the following:

Dear Mr. Edward Parker,

How fortunate I am that I was chosen by the ESS to receive this incredible amount of money.

Every day I receive countless emails from around the world advising me that I have won millions of dollars. Most of these are badly written from illiterate morons in some backwards country, however your email came as a delightful surprise.

You can only imagine the expression on my face as I turned to my wife and shouted out "Honey, we're rich. You can quit selling your eggs for the $4000 that was offered on Craigslist and I can stop trying to devise that mail order scam from that get rich quick class I signed up for online.  Even better, we won't have to tell the kids that we were planning on killing our pet pig so that I could put meat on the table. As it is she only has three legs because we were already starving.

Because I have no bank account I am going to have to ask for the $2.44275 million U.S. dollars in cash delivered to me under armed guard of course, at the local police station.  This is for my security - I'm sure you understand. I will happily pay for the costs involved - you can deduct it from the amount I have won.  You did say "cash prize" right?

I shall anxiously await your response and thank you for such good news.

MisterWriter

Listening for storks while they warn you of stalkers

I've been busy this week. My daughter had a baby and from a new vantage point I got to see the whole process of birth day from older eyes, although certainly no less enthusiastic ones.

It's not like the process of pregnancy and delivery has really changed that much; you get pregnant the same way and the baby usually exits the same way as been done since the time of primates and possibly earlier incarnations of the hominid species.

What has changed are the trappings of labor and delivery and the world around the new family, some of whom are predators with the brash arrogance to invade a home in order to steal a child.

And they tell you this on your child's birth day, while you await the onslaught of body wracking contractions designed to expel the little invader from within. It is a marvelous thing to watch, despite the screaming from the mother to be, and one has to simply be in awe that one day you are happily living with the added abdominal mass that has skewed your center of gravity, and the next you are living a scene from Alien as the little darling tries to come out.

My daughter had to be induced which allowed for more nurse time and more of the list of things advised against. The nurse, a kindly and well experienced baby veteran, wanted my daughter to know that there were people in the world who wanted newborn babies and would use the joy of the new parents as a location beacon.

Don't list any clue of your location in the birth announcement, she warned. I guess some announcements list the city and some even list the street.

And stronger still, do not put one of those cute signs on your lawn - the stalks of storks that announce that inside is a brand new candidate for abduction by some sick pervert who is canvassing neighborhoods for a baby like yours, a baby that can be abused, harmed, though most likely stolen and sold to another unsuspecting couple who have just paid through the nose for the pleasure of being parents, unaware that the gain of one family will be the loss of another. Either way the aftermath is unpleasant.

This was no different than warning my daughter and her husband that they should stay indoors, close all the blinds and turn out the lights; any sign that humanity existed lest the mark of death be upon them. Should they buy guns to defend their treasure?

It is a sick world that cannot allow parents to just be parents. Despite the miracle wonders that exist in maternity and delivery wards, technology that had permitted even marginally equipped babies to gain that first foothold on survival, giving them that opportunity to live despite the fact that many will become useless creatures as adults.

I guess that is okay!  For my daughter, it was an education. She had an easy pregnancy except for hypertension that crept in toward the end. When it became apparent that she would not respond to measures to lower her blood pressure, it was decided that the baby needed to be induced, a week or so early, although in hindsight likely just right judging by her exit weight and size.

The delivery room is large, comfortable, well lit, with attention upon the mother every step of the way. Here is the step by step of what will happen, she was told. There were endless forms and consents to sign, including having an identical set in the name of the baby because under California or Federal law, the baby had rights to privacy too, and the mother had to sign for those. Huh? More bureaucratic bullshit to employ state workers, no doubt.

As the Pitocin dripped in and the low grade contractions grew stronger, the nurse would flit in and out, tending to her and ensuring that all readings were normal. Delivery room visitors were identified; those staying through the spread-eagle curtain call and those who would be asked to leave. Fair enough.

And then the waiting game began. Her delivery was shorter than most; once the Pitocin rate had reached critical mass, her body took over with forceful contractions and in the end, with five very forceful pushes, my granddaughter made an appearance and the easy part of child raising came to an end. 

So too did the  nice room and the attention. The maternity room resembled a triangular closet, not at all the bright setting that delivery offered. I guess the main program had come to a close.

Throughout the halls, whenever a baby was born, some lullaby music played through the speaker system.  I had no doubt that upon checkout the sound of cash registers would adorn the billing office. Having a baby is expensive business. Having a C-section, even worse. The latter can run around $60,000. When you consider how many illegal aliens come to the US for free birthing, you may understand some of the mess with our health care system. Beyond that there is politics and greed.

There is a miracle when a baby, created from a single cell fused of two parts, divides into this precious cargo that is filled with potential, a clean slate before society scribbles all over her. We are an amazing biological species. We are not very developed intellectually, although some of our kind have demonstrated insight far greater than I could profess to have.

Nonetheless, a baby is far removed from crime and poverty, race, war or anything. A baby is perfection in the moment, hopes filled for a future of prosperity. Wishes that bind families, and hold mommies and daddies together to try and do right by the child. It is not always perfect; stories of abandoned babies discarded in the most cold and careless of places make me wonder why we even earned the right to try and do something right.

As a parent I know that all I want of my life is to provide safety and love for those I have created. That is the obligation I endure because they did not choose to be born and I would be miserable to not have achieved that goal for them. My job is to make their youth the best of times, to teach survival and compassion so that when I am gone they may carry those traits forward to their own children and grandchildren and produce kinder and gentler people who can safely out new baby signs on their front lawns.

I'm not so sure that the problem is the signs in the lawn that shouts out the joy of new parents, people who will likely defend their child with their lives. The problem lies in the fact that the world has not learned to deal with those people within who would inflict harm even upon two people who have just witnessed their own private miracle.

I became a grandfather on July 13 in the evening. People ask how it feels and I respond that being a grandfather is just fine; it is the realization that your child has left that realm of youthful innocence in order start the next generation, that leaves you pondering what it all meant. And I guess, much like my mother used to share with me about having children, the message applies one generation removed. She said: "Any idiot can make a child; it takes a lot of strength and love to raise one."

That it does, Mom. That it does.

MisterWriter

Last day to enter for $100 drawing for July!

Hey it doesn't get easier than going to a website www.myconcordian.com for The Concordian and entering for our monthly cash drawing. No strings attached. But you have to hurry - midnight tomorrow - July 15 - we pick this month's lucky winner. Will that be you? Tell a friend!

MisterWriter

www.myconcordian.com

Click HERE for photo credit

Alexa is an idiot even after falling in the manhole.

A story in the true and typical attitude that pervades our society, Alexa, a teen girl in New York who fell into an open manhole while busy texting may plan on suing ... "Because of their careless mistake I got hurt."

Granted the manhole cover should have been closed but come on, at what point did her stupidity have something to do with it?

And on that subject - illiterate wonders of this nation beware that the national texting champion has an accurate texting speed of 3.5 characters per second which approximates to 35 words per minute. Of course text speak is gobbledygook anyway, so perhaps focusing on finishing high school instead of being the national text champion might be a better plan - just saying!

Back to Alexa - duh....

Thanks to Sol for the head up. Soon I plan a posting on how no one is at fault for anything anymore. It is always someone else's fault no matter how stupid we are. For example, an Idaho man who, stopped by the cops decides to consume the meth he had and dies. His family blames the police.  Hmmmmm.....Can we put these idiot's photographs up somewhere?

MisterWriter

Work In Progress - Part Two

 

Here is Chapter Two from my novel The Shift

To read Part One click HERE

Chapter Two:

Dying is not nearly as difficult as it is made out to be. Simply put, you stop existing. You stop breathing, you stop thinking. You stop. The void is death and the only problem with death is that you cannot die and experience death at the same time. To subjectively die, you lose all reference. If reality is subjective, then really you cannot die.

Anton Felder knew this to be true. At thirty-three, having survived a plane crash, a shooting and the death of his wife and son, he needed to put a perspective to his loss.

It was not a loss if they did not really die, he thought. And they did not die because they existed in his reality, creations of his existence, rather than their own. Yes, he could touch them, hold them, but they existed because he willed them into existence, at least that is what he told himself. The loss was simply a shift that occurred in his reality over which he had no control. But he wanted control. Desperately he wanted to believe that someway he could alter the reality of the loss and regain the delusion he had so loved.

The shift would come at the strangest of times, a little thing, really, barely perceptible if you were not looking for it; almost a hiccup in the fabric of life that came with no instructions or map or directions other than the fact that you were sucked into it and had to go along for the ride.

For Felder, the shift struck for what he considered the fourth time with the death of Kaylene and Daniel,his wife and son. That was two years earlier and he had never recovered. The first weeks following the funeral he had locked himself away, overcome with grief, thoughts locked onto the memory of the event that he continued to relive. He could see the car, the headlights, hear the laughter of his wife and son playing with the hand puppets he had been given. The car reeked of happiness, and he remembered feeling content and filled with the joy of someone who had been incredibly lucky, never believing himself to be so deserving. And then the impact. It was a smack with the screams of metal on flesh and the piercing pain of those he loved dying, torn by the impact and the joy extinguished, all within a few seconds from the thought he had just had a moment before. There was no accepting it, no knowing that it was coming his way, no planning or avoiding it, for the ride was in play in some grotesque slow motion and he was strapped in for the duration. Then came the darkness.

When he came back he was in the hospital, bandaged, in pain, drugged and yet aware that everything he held dear in this world no longer existed. He had been unconscious for two weeks. The funerals had taken place without him, arranged by his friend and lawyer, Jason Rigby who had come by daily and was the first to tell him how lucky he was to have survived. But he was not lucky. It was all meaningless now, all taken from him. Years of life and love and words, and joys and sadness all blended into a cocktail of sheer pain radiating through him.

“It can't be happening,” he said aloud. But it had already happened. It was already done. It was the stark coldness of rain upon a tombstone, and the emptiness of life without love. And there was no going back.

And then he noticed the shift. At first he could not wrap his mind around it, lost in the grief over his family. Alone, at home, surrounded by the physical reminders of their existence, he found himself considering the fact that they were there, one minute, and gone the next. And much like considering the aftermath of one's own death, he could not take in the scope of it beyond that moment where one thing became another, as if it had always been that way.

“If I stop thinking about them,” he told Jason when Jason came by the house to make sure Anton was doing all right, “and I take away all traces of their existence, then they don't exist.”

“You're just in pain,” Jason told him. “You're trying to rationalize their deaths. You can't. Give yourself time.”

Anton considered this. “Have you ever gone to see a movie and the story was so good that you get sucked into it? You know, you leave the movie theater and you are still carrying a piece of the film's emotional impact with you?”

“I guess,” Jason said. “Yes, I think I know what you mean. But it's just a movie.”

“Why is this different? Isn't this just a movie?”

“Anton, you're not going to bring them back. It's done. I'm sorry. Truly.”

And so he stopped trying to discuss it with Jason, thanked him for stopping by and then walked him to the door.

There was more. He could feel the bits of insight like splinters, wedged somewhere only he did not where and did not know how. There was reason, purpose, or there was some rationale which no one wanted to accept, but him. Or perhaps they could not accept it, just as he could not accept the deaths. Or possibly it was that he was afraid that if he did accept it then that part of his life was over, for good, as though it no longer mattered, as though his own existence did not really matter because something so arbitrary could take it from him. It had taken it from him.

And Anton was angry.

                                                           to be continued...

MisterWriter

Photo credit: Sybrenstuvel 
(C)2009 The Shift by Andre' Gensburger

The Friday Blivet

As the week ends and the media traumas subside, and the hot summer winds blow in at night just the way I like it, I am reminded of how refreshing life can be when the daily blivet doesn't wank it into obscurity. It is one of those things - you never get what you want but if you are lucky, every so often you get a good alternative which boosts you up and injects a little fire back into things.

I passed the halfway mark the other day and took a moment to note it - thanks for the many good wishes from those who have Facebook and got the lovely Facebook reminders, and to those I am related to by birth, marriage or friendship who would not let me forget it.

Next week one of my kids is having a kid which will reshape the world I know as I examine grandparenthood while reminding myself that I am too young and worse, that she is way too young, not that she asked for my opinion any more than she can change the fact that a little baby is wanting out and there is no stopping that! Still, I do not think she has yet fathomed exactly how much her life will change and how she will no longer have the luxury of self-indulgence.

When do you stop being a kid and start becoming your parents' parent? I am not there yet. But where I am is a place where I can see on the faces of anyone under thirty that they care nothing about what I consider good music, common sense or why girls should not have guts and boobs falling out everywhere and why boys should pull up their pants and act like men rather than brats.

And I remember not that long ago when I saw my mother's face as she tried to decipher the flavor of the moment musical group of my youth, those rebels with odd names and long hair who frequently screamed out what passed as lyrics while their electric guitar screamed even louder.

I guess the cycles exist on their own, one day my moment in the sun and the next the sun making a raisin of my grape. I guess it is a good thing that I like raisins, and that no matter what those around me say or do, that I will keep my moment for a little while longer.

MisterWriter

PS: I am renaming my blog "The Daily Blivet"

A depressed blip for Wednesday night

I find myself feeling at odds with what I see on the television. Murders in Oakland, all too common. They leave me with more of a profound sadness at the life many people are forced to experience than that "show" that was Michael Jackson's memorial, complete with silver casket, even though his brain was still with the coroner and not present.

I am annoyed that a celebrity singer is getting more exposure despite his flagrant lack of values in life than the many people who have suffered abuse that deserve to be recognized as survivors. Why is everyone pretending that Jackson was something great? He was a singer and dancer and nothing more. He was great at those two things and lousy at everything else. Why do I have to feel bad for him? He chose whatever drugs killed him. He chose to be a poor accountant of the millions he made and lost. He had everything and blew it. Blame your childhood, blame your parents, blame the system, blame your skin color. That you had it so lucky to be born with talent and make it big. Jackson's demise was his own. Please do not attempt to make me feel sorry for him. This great loss. It was his own doing.

And this is where I see our society. We are told what we must feel bad about. We must feel bad for Sarah Palin. Why? Who cares? Really. She was lucky to get as far as she did. Another example of mouth over brains. She was lucky that she suckered in as many people as she did. You just cannot look at what comes out of her mouth as making any sense unless you are that deprived of a thought process. Sorry. I wish there was something nice I could say. And this is not a party line. I am not a Republican or a Democrat because frankly both parties are scary as hell.

I watch our celebrity induced nightly coma on television and then I look at the faces of my sleeping children and I worry for them. They are growing up in a world where people are no longer allowed to go against the grain. God forbid I should say anything negative about Palin, Jackson or anyone who happens to be a minority. That is where we are in PC land. Everyone has an excess of rights. Perhaps I should sue as a minority white man. I am now a minority - perhaps I should demand some affirmative action for the remnants of my race, forced into politically correct servitude in this age of illogic and celebrity reasoning.

On that point, screw the notion that celebrities should be politicians. Al Franken a senator? Are you kidding me? What about Arnold, and Fred Grandy from the Love Boat and Hulk Hogan? Soon Mickey Frickin Mouse will have a Senate seat and we can wonder why every three seconds someone in government is standing and applauding wildly "good job, well done!"

That last part comes from some blip of a piece that precedes Clifford the Big Red Dog my kids watch. Clifford is fine, but the gal in the purple outfit who constantly reaffirms the illogic of praising children every three seconds just because they breathed in and out makes me want to throw the set out the window. Give them a certificate for just showing up. God I miss George Carlin - he could rant on this stupidity far better than I ever could.

I watch this homeless guy on the off ramp in BayPoint as I drive by sometimes. He is always there and looks like he is a victim of some solo world war. He is always there. He bothers no one. He just stands there, looking like crap and hopes to God that someone gives him a buck. Unlike many of the scammers that are out there, this guy is old enough and genuine enough to be some war vet screwed out of a life and now faced with this daily job that he takes seriously. I would rather watch a documentary about him than another minute about a black singer who bleached himself white and then even further into a grotesque mannequin just because someone labeled him the King of Pop. Somewhere there has got to be some semblance of rationality in the world. Sadly, our nations pastime of obsessing about celebrity is just sick. Actors and actresses. Nothing more. No heroics. No great contribution beyond being the country's jesters. They have their moment and then they leave, some in style and most in shreds.

I wanted to know why the week was a depressing one. It was not the funeral of Michael Jackson or Farrah Fawcett; it was a realization that no matter what I had to say about it, the celebrity junkies fawning over the insanity that the media merely perpetuates, have taken over the world and are happy to indulge themselves, begging for that shot of whatever it was that killed the king of pop. It is like Charlton Heston standing alone screaming out at the top of his lungs.... "Soylent Green is people!!!!"

Fade to black!

MisterWriter

I joked about this last year, but trust the Irish to make it real...standing room flights and a charge for the loo!

While joking with some friends a few months ago I had suggested that airlines could recoup some lost revenue by offering standing room only and, more importantly, after plying passengers with free drinks, charging for the restroom.

Well trust the Irish to take me up on that one. This morning, Ryan Air announced their plans to changing seating to bar stools with waist belts and charging for the restroom. Way to go!

"In an interview on BBC television he said that the low-cost airline was looking at the possibility of installing a coin slot on the lavatory door so that "people might actually have to spend a pound to spend a penny."

They also want to tax fat people. So what about flying next to someone with bad body odor? That standing room only plan may have some limitations. Read the article HERE. And Bon Voyage!

MisterWriter

HOW MICHAEL JACKSON COULD HAVE HELPED ARNOLD TO SAVE CALIFORNIA

Aside from a debate about whether the gloved one should have had the frenzied attention that his memorial/funeral has wrought - this wasn't the second coming after all - with some forethought Michael Jackson could have helped to save the state of California. Here's how:

Had the Jackson clan allowed a public viewing and memorial held at the State Capital with an entrance fee of $40 per person (the price of a a movie with snacks), a substantial dent in the state budget deficit could have been made.

While only 17,500 tickets allowed people at the Staples center, a total of 1.6 million people registered to win those tickets. That would have generated $64 million just from attendance to view the body.  Add another $20 for parking and you boosted that figure to $96 million.  Souvenir booklets for sale at $10 each would elevate that total to $112 million. Throw in a photo opportunity with Arnold for an added $5 and you are up to $120 million in the pot. 

If the state bought Neverland Ranch, it could have done an Elvis-esque Jackson attraction. Graceland pulls in about $27 million a year with about twice that in product sales and reportedly the entire Elvis brand generates $70 million a year. Doesn't the King of Pop pull in more?

Throw in an animatronic figure (remember Lincoln at Disneyland), replay Captain EO and perhaps revenue would match the Disney brand's $1 billion just from online sales alone.

Instead, poor Los Angeles had to foot the bill for the added police security and all the havoc pop kings' deaths creates.

Extending this marketing concept further - the state, could relocate all state inmates to work the grounds of the State Capital in order to cultivate marijuana fields which could then be sold to the public under the brand name "Arnijuana".  And if the Jackson plan falls through, shooting porno movies in the Capital building could generate quite a few billion - the porn industry generated $8.6 billion last year. At least some revenue could come from what is being done in the building at taxpayer expense.

By the way, the picture is Michael's wax figure from Madame Toussad's Wax Museum in New York. Who could tell?

MisterWriter

Work in Progress: Part One

I'm working on a Science Fiction novel. I was going to work it as a screenplay instead, but the joy of words came through and I am having way too much fun. I started this during NaNoWriMo - for those of you unfamiliar with that term, it means National Novel Writing Month and it takes place each November. Last November I was at Clayton Books joining a group of five other writers who, for the month, were slamming out words trying for a 50,000 word goal. I did not make 50,000 words - had a book signing for SIGNS YOU MAY BE AN IDIOT in that month and life got in the way. A few months back I started re-reading what I wrote, reworking it and playing around. It has promise.  See what you think of the opening:

The Shift
by Andre' Gensburger
(c) 2009

Chapter One:

Life does not stop at the moment of death, Anton Felder told himself, because death is not an experience that has a definition. If you stand on a cliff and consider jumping off, you are, in effect, split between two points in life. At least that was what he wanted to believe. He was at one point alone, waiting for a realization that everything was going to be fine. But it was not. How can you be one thing in one moment of time and something completely different at another moment in time and the two connected only by threads that no one ever discusses, or understands?

Anton had gone into the room believing that some rational procedure would allow him to make sense of life.

He had gone to the desert to meet God, unafraid and without any predetermined plan. He was no Moses, no Daniel, and not like others in the Bible who appeared to hold some manifest destiny, Anton went for one reason alone; God would be there or not at all, and it was a point of realization that he needed to have in order to understand his life.

God would be there or there was no God.

The fact that the desert was a short distance from the Las Vegas strip, did not detract from the emphasis of his goal. And the fact that he was alone, did not affect the conversation he was having, at first with himself until Dara joined in. And he never questioned that either.

“You're insane,” she told him the moment they stepped off the asphalt and onto sand. Anton had chosen to wear no shoes, wanting the experience to be authentic, certainly as authentic as it could get for a non-nomadic, former corporate type.

“Shit does not happen,” Anton told her as a matter of fact. He did not believe that things could just happen in life. Certainly life was disorganized, violent, often throwing the worst of pain at moments that should otherwise be joyous. He had no doubt about the effects.

“You're upset,” Dara told him. “You're hurt and you know no other way to deal with the pain of what you are going through.”

“Perhaps,” Anton said, stopping to look back at the dark Luxor pyramid small now in the background. “Street, sand,” he told her. “One world ends and another begins. If I no longer see the casinos, they no longer exist.”

“A bit simplistic, don't you think?”

“Perhaps. If I no longer need the casino and no longer deal with the casino then it no longer exists to me. So what is the reality of its existence?”

“If a tree falls in the forest,” she said.

“If I am not in the forest then neither the forest nor the tree are part of my reality. Do they exist? Can you prove to me one way or the other?”

“Do I need to prove it to you?” Dara asked. “Don't you just know that it is there and that makes it real?”

“My favorite author was Philip K. Dick and he always wrote about the falsehood of reality. There is no reality. There is only subjective experience and the reality, or what we call reality shifts around us.”

“So I am not real because this is your reality?” Dara asked.

“No, you are real, because this is my reality,” Anton said. “All things are real in my world until I change them.”

“How do you do that?” she asked.

Anton smiled, crouched down and scooped a handful of sand, allowing it to dribble through his fingers. “That's the million dollar question, isn't it?”

                                                         To be continued...

7/11/09:  CLICK HERE TO READ PART TWO

MisterWriter

Jeopardy answer: What is a Sarah Palin?

There are few people that make no sense when they speak. Contradictory remarks, tired expressions and sounding like an ADHD kid trying to explain ...something although I am not sure what she was explaining. 

She kept on talking about her decision to step down as governor so that she can "effect change on the outside" although how she plans to do that given the hyper-rhetoric is beyond me.

Rather than pulling apart the speech or Palin herself (I don't think she needs any help in that direction) I would like to throw out the question: What is a Sarah Palin and have others answer it?

Click HERE if you have spare time to listen to her statement about what is best for Alaska.

MisterWriter

Wishing All a Safe and Happy July 4th

It may be a little hard to read, but here is an image of the Declaration of Independence. Click it for a bigger version.

I wish you life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Happy July 4th. Enjoy this video. If you are not familiar with Andre' Rieu, he is a lot of fun.

MisterWriter

Charlie's CD Debut is nearing. Listen in..

After much work, the debut CD of Charlie Baggett (age 14) is near. As I reported last year HERE in my blog as well as in the Clayton Pioneer and The Concordian (p25), this is a kid to watch. I first heard him at the California Symphony playing at Todos Santos Plaza last summer. He was only 13 at the time and wowed the audience.

I have had the pleasure to know the family through my interviews and they have been kind enough to allow me a preview CD to listen to. It is an extremely good CD and one that promises many years of great things for this young man with a voice that fans of Josh Groban, Il Divo, Andrea Bocelli and many others will enjoy.

Visit his Website www.charliebaggett.com and listen to the title track.

And watch for the release of the CD which should be in July along with another interview from me on this blog.

MisterWriter

Rethinking MisterWriter

The explosive growth of blogs on virtually every topic over the recent years has led to a glut of content, much of which is questionable at best.  When I started MisterWriter my goals were clear: as a writer I wanted a forum to share what I wrote, obtain feedback, meet other people in the process and generally have a place that I enjoyed visiting and working on.

I started this early 2005, then stopped. I started again in 2007 as I wound down a teaching career as the battle of the MDUSD board came into full swing. The blog became a harsh critic of the board, the system and the need for change, and to that end it was somewhat effective in generating conversation and even a newspaper interview or two in the CCTimes. Since then I have continued my push for a systemic change to the whole education process and find that I am very discouraged about the future of public education, both in the corruption that the system encourages, as well as in the poor results that are obtained despite huge amounts of money spent. While I do not blame the MDUSD board for this, I hope that boards of education will band together to change the impeding legislation that is, to be crass, screwing everything up.

Nonetheless I keep returning to my original goal of being a writing forum with content that reflects what I write as well as my views on different aspects of life. It seems that there is a support base interested.

I am a writer. I write short stories, novels, screenplays, articles, press releases, copy writing, poetry, songs, news stories, interviews, resumes, just to name a handful of things. I also published Signs You May An Idiot and other musings last year which is still available online, on my site www.signsyoumaybeanidiot.com as well at certain bookstores.  There is even an e-version and for readers like me who use MobiPocket, let me know and I can convert it.

I am also a writer for hire, available for any and all of the above including press releases, Website content, direct mail and advertising promotions and so on. I am also a photographer - many of the photos that have appeared on the blog are my own and certainly I use my own photography in a lot of the stories I write for the two newspapers, the Clayton Pioneer and The Concordian. If you did not know , I co-publish The Concordian with the publisher of the Clayton Pioneer for whom I write.  I also freelance a lot of work to publications that include Bay Area Parent Magazine and others.

I have noticed that there are very strong opinions out there. Whenever I post an opinion of my own on a topical subject there are invariably detractors who, while anonymous, like to slam me for my views. While I will post their comments, I do not have to tolerate them; that is the joy of blogging. Like television, if you do not like the content then turn it off.

My main site Gensburger.com and MisterWriter.com are undergoing an upgrade to reflect this. Watch for that in the near future.

I would also like to invite others to join in the forum here. I do not have to hog the posts! The goal is to have an interesting blog site filled with commentary and conversation about anything - with a lot of writing/literary content added - after all it is a writer's site.

With that said, I hope I have explained my goal for the future and I hope that you will continue to find it a worthwhile site to read. Thanks for your loyalty to date. I do appreciate all the feedback that I have received.

Have a happy and safe July 4th weekend. And don't forget, it was a bunch of English radicals who were branded as criminals and would have been hanged for treason had the revolution lost, who founded this country and the set of ideals we endlessly struggle with.  History is only kind to the winners of any conflict. As it turned out, they became visionaries instead of criminals. There is a pride inherent in understanding and appreciating the ideals that were set out in the Constitution of the United States. While we teach the content, we do not impart the power behind that national pride which should make every American take stock of their values and strive to better the system, not indulge in the quest for loopholes and confusion. But that is another story.

Be safe.  ~MisterWriter

An easy $100? Yep! Easy! Really!

Deadline is the 15th of the month so any entries now go toward the August issue (deadline July 15) - winner will be notified by email and posted on the Website. It is an easy $100! MisterWriter

Dear Moron

Here is another Dear Moron letter... What stands out here is how this is totally ridiculous and to fall for this you have to be as moronic as the person who wrote it.  I am guessing that there must be some people who actually get suckered into this because these emails are non-stop. Enjoy - MisterWriter Dear Moron... DR CHRISTO VREY show details Jul 2 (1 day ago) From Dr. Christo Vrey The Branch Manager The Amalgamated Banks of South Africa (Absa), Republic Of South Africa (RSA) HELLO DEAR How are you today ? i hope you are doing fine? Let me start by introducing my self. My name is Mr Christo Vrey, i am a branch manager in The Amalgamated Banks of South Africa (Absa), However I am writing to request for your honest assistance to help me receive the sum of US$6, 750.000.00 million Dollar into your private bank account. This fund was what i discovered in my branch as operational profit last two years{2007} as a result of my hard work and commitment to service last 2 years (2007) I have already submitted an approved(2007 & 2006) End of the Year financial report to my Head Office here in South Africa. Moreover, this amount that i want you to receive for me is an excess fund in my own branch of the bank and my senior directors do not know anything about this excess fund in my branch and they will never ever know about it. Since then i placed this money(US$6,750.000.00). on a SUSPENSE ACCOUNT that is not reactivated, dormant account without any beneficiary for now. As a branch manager I cannot be directly connected to this money, this is the reason why I want your assistance to receive this money into your our private bank account in your country, i will direct you on how we can achieve this aim. However if you can come down here in South Africa it will also help us to see face to face here in my bank and build more trust, then i will prepare a bank deposit slip in your name and direct you on how to go to my head office and withdraw this fund after i must have installed your name and your basic information's in my banks customers computer database system as the original depositor of this fund, after the withdrawal of this fund from my head office you will take your share and i will take my share. I intend to part 40% of this fund to you while 57% shall be for me, and percent(3%) shall be for expenses like your coming down here or any other thing that comes up, I also want you to know that there is no single risk involved in this business. It is going to be a bank-to-bank transfer to your nominated bank account anywhere you feel safer in this world, this is if you can not come down here in South Africa, but if you wish to come i will provide visa for you to come. All I need from you is to stand as the original depositor of this fund. If you accept this offer, I will appreciate your timely response. Also you can forward your private phone number for speedy relation on this matter. Remember l am still working in this bank, your confidentiality is needed in this transaction. Please trust and honest is the watchword of this our transaction. Thanks and best regards, Dr. Christo Vrey AWAITS YOUR URGENT RESPONSE And another... I await your reply Mustapha Adams Esq to mustaphaadamse. show details Jun 24 (8 days ago) Sir/Madam I am searching for a reliable person to be a partner to my distinguish client (a politician).I just stumbled on your email and think it would be interest to you, and benefit you immensely. My client wants to invest in your country and have just mandated me to search for a reliable person to represent his interest. I would want your opinion on the kind of investment that is lucrative in your country without much taxes and how you would help in moving the amount running into $4.1 millions into your country without difficulties. Please provide your details and phone number. Feel free to call me on my number for brief discussion. . Reply through My personal email address:mustaphaadams1@doda.uz I await your reply. Best Regards, Mustapha Adams Esq. Tell:+234-808-052-5232 and another... As We Both Stand Gain mr.bill show details Jun 12 I am Mr. Bill Williams from Ouagadougou; I live here in  Burkina Faso with my Mother Mrs. Vivian Williams However, we write to seek your cooperation to retrieve our money that is now in the custody of the diplomat who brought it there in Madrid – Spain after Mr.Thomas Jake disappointed us out of greed as we initially agreed to compensate him with 30% of the total sum of the money ($15M USD) but, on the arrival of the diplomat there he refused our initial agreement and demands 60% of the total sum. We will be very glad if you will take into consideration our urgent plea and respond as soon as possible. Please contact me on my email: mr.billw@yahoo.com Contact Phone Number :+22678180978 Regards, Bill Williams mr.billw@yahoo.com and another... Mrs. Rose Ibrahim show details Jun 8 Dear Beloved One. It is by the grace of God that I see today, as I have not particularly lived my life so well, as I never really cared for anyone (not even myself) but my business. Having known the truth; I had no choice than to do what is lawful and just in the sight of God for eternal life and in the sight of man for witness of God & His Mercies and glory upon my life. I am Mrs. Rose Ibrahim, the wife of Late Mr. El Ibrahim, I am a citizens of Tunisian. My husband worked with the Chevron/Texaco in Russia for twenty years before he died in the year 2004.We were married for ten years without a child. My Husband died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days. Since his death I decided not to re-marry or get a child outside my matrimonial home, When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of 7.5 Million Pounds (Seven Million Five Hundred Thousand Pounds) with a Bank in Europe. Presently, this money is still with the Bank and the management just wrote me as the beneficiary that our account has been DORMANT and if I, as the beneficiary of the funds, do not re-activate the account; the funds will be CONFISCATED or I rather issue a letter of authorization to somebody to receive it on my behalf (note that you need to activate this account) as I can not come over. Presently, I'm in a hospital in Russia where I have been undergoing treatment for esophageal cancer. I have since lost my ability to talk and my doctors have told me that I have only a few weeks to live. It is my last wish to see this money distributed to charity organizations anywhere in the World in helping human race. Because relatives and friends have plundered so much of my wealth since my illness, I cannot live with the agony of entrusting this huge responsibility to any of them. Please, I beg you in the name of God to help me Stand-in as the beneficiary and collect the Funds from the Bank. I took this decision because I don't have any child that will inherit this money, and I am not afraid of death since I know where I am going to. I don't need any telephone communication in this regard because of my soundless voice and presence of my husband's relatives around me always. I don't want them to know about this development. I await your quick response to this mail as this is my last wish to see this funds transferred before my Death. Please my beloved for further communication on how we are going to conclude this, reach me on my private mail: roseibrahim138@yahoo.com.hk Remain Blessed Your Beloved Sister . Mrs. Rose Ibrahim And finally for now, because enough is surely enough... Please Write Me Back Urgent. anthonyebrahim show details May 12 Greetings. As you read this, don't feel sorry for me, because it is the destiny of everyman to die someday. I am Anthony Ebrahim Khalid, a naturalised Briton by birth and a business merchant based in the United Kingdom. I have been diagnosed with Oesophageal cancer. It has defiled all forms of medical treatment, and right now I have only about a few months to live, according to medical experts. Hence I have decided to support charity work; this is what i want to be remembered for. So far, I have been able to reach out to a few charity organizations now that my health has deteriorated so badly, I cannot do this myself anymore. The last of my belonging which no one knows of, is the deposit of Eight Million US dollars ($8,000,000.00) that I have in a safe keeping company abroad, which I will want you to secure and bestow to charity organizations. Please reply me via: ebrahimkhalid_anthony@hotmail.com For your time and devotion, I have set aside a 20% of this for you. May the good lord be with you Mr Anthony Ebrahim Khalid. Thanks to all the Morons who supplied this fodder. It is amazing how many cancer ridden multi-millionaires are having money problems in some peanut country. - MisterWriter

New Feature: E-Moron. Today it is the Gold Dust Fairy

I am so lucky to receive a steady stream of emails from princes, kings, viceroys and many other dignitaries from various banana nations who would like to give me millions and billions of dollars by having me cash their check and send them the difference - trusting souls that they are.  It is sad that they do not have banking in the republic of gorilla or wherever they spout from, usually Nigeria or some place equal in corruption.  And so I decided to start posting these, after all they are amusing and their grasp of the language better than a high school level here in the good old USA. The latest one involves gold dust. Yep, gold dust (not white powder mind you.) Read on and enjoy. And if you have received these special emails, send them onto me at andre@misterwriter.com and I will be sure to post them for the collective enjoyment.  - MisterWriter

What the ants know that we don't and why they already own the world

I like this story. Years ago with Charlton Heston's Planet of the Apes - you know "get your paws of me you damned dirty apes," famous quote, the premise was that after mankind destroyed itself, the apes rose up, developed speech and ruled the planet. Good luck monkey brains. Try ants instead. This  study has found that the ants have a gigantic global colony that when tested showed non-aggression to each other. Hmmm, that makes them better than humans, doesn't it? "In Europe, one vast colony of Argentine ants is thought to stretch for 6,000km (3,700 miles) along the Mediterranean coast, while another in the US, known as the 'Californian large', extends over 900km (560 miles) along the coast of California. A third huge colony exists on the west coast of Japan," the report said. Read it HERE. Apparently WE created this super, mega colony. So watch out what you squish in your kitchen from now on. They might remember you in the end times!!! And you thought you were important. MisterWriter