Resolutions for 2011

Generally, I don't make new year's resolutions; because I'm very bad at the follow-through.

However, I am making these:

1. I will not automatically dismiss Republicans as hopeless morons.

2. I will try to swear less, limiting my curse words to injuries, breakages, and politicians I detest.

3. I will be very philanthropic with any lottery I might win.

4. I will continue to drink my shot-glass full of red cider vinegar each day. Though it tastes terribly awful, I am healthier after a mere month of this remedy. I highly recommend this. Most illnesses tend to start in the bacterial ridden intestines. Red cider vinegar seems to go right to the source and nip it in the growth phase.

5. I will kiss more. Kissing is therapeutic and good for people.

6. I will be all over Scott Walker like white on rice.

7. I will pay down my debt and will not create more.

8. I will cook more interesting meals.

9. I will lose the last five pounds still firmly attached to my torso.
(As an extremely un-willpowered chocolate devourer, losing 15 pounds last year was a feat of amazing strength.) I will get serious about these last five pounds of lard.

10. I will enjoy life to its fullest! Even the idiots who provide me so much angst. They also provide amusement.

Christmas Joke - 2010

Art Kumbalek posted this joke in his column in The Shepard Express. It bears repeating.

Johnny's parents take him to the mall, where he climbs unto Santa's lap. Santa asks him what he wants for Christmas.

Johnny states he wants a f*cking swingset in his backyard. Santa admonishes him that what he said isn't nice and to try again.

Johnny firmly states he wants a f*cking sandbox in his side yard. Santa, exasperated, gives Johnny a lecture on language. Then asks him, again, what he wants for Christmas.

Johnny demands a f*cking trampoline in his front yard. Santa picks up Johnny and carries him over to his parents, where he tells them what just transpired. He tells the parents the child is bad and advises them to give him nothing for Christmas but a big pile of dog doo.

On Christmas morning, Johnny wakes up and races outside. He finds dog doo in the backyard. Same thing in the side yard. Big pile in the front yard. Johnny comes back into the house and his parents ask him what Santa brought him for Christmas. Johnny says, "he brought me a f*cking dog but I can't f*cking find him."

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.

Have an optimistic 2011!

Scott Walker's Bald Spot

From the front, Scott Walker appears to have a very full head of thick hair.
But this is an illusion. Scott Walker has a very hairsprayed-over giant bald spot that was initially on the top of his pointy little head, but is certainly taking over all of the valuable real estate (if such a thing could actually exist on Scott Walker's head).

I am talking about this, because like Scott Walker's bald spot, his political savvy and know-how are exactly the same. He has covered up his incompetence with fancy suits and fighting words, but the man was, is and always shall be a complete moron.

Scott Walker's bald spot is as much on his soul as it is on his head. Time will prove me right.

Despicable him.

What I Hate The Most

I don't actually hate much.....most things I find repugnant, I am pretty good at ignoring or keeping out of my life. Some things can't be ignored, though, even if they aren't a part of my life, like injustice and injury to vulnerable members of our society. Like children. Like human trafficking. I hate these things, but feel powerless to do much about them. I wish that were not the case.

But I do hate liars.

Liars astound me. What is it in their pathetic lives that make them lie in the first place? Are people who lie so bereft of anything positive in their lives that they make things up? I believe the worst liars are the ones who tell lies about other people.

The liars that make me unhinged are the ones who make up incredibly awful stories about other people, lies that are blatantly untrue. Or maybe they just tweak the reality to make the story better, or put themselves in a better light. Perhaps the liars wish the stories they tell were true, so they tell the lies hoping they'll actually become the truth. Unfortunately, those types of lies actually do take on the face of truth, if they are repeated by enough people.

Lies and the people who tell them are what I hate the most; and I really can't wait for some age of reckoning, a time when we'll all know the truth and the lies will be exposed. A very good invention would be a lie collar, that just lights up whenever someone is being dishonest. Until they invent one, though, I try to keep liars out of my life. It's pretty easy. The last thing a liar wants to be is around someone who is honest.

If you have the unfortunate experience of being the victim of someone else's lies about you, your life, your experience, you have my complete and utter sympathy. Confronting liars is fruitless; they will deny ever having said or done things; it's their nature. Honesty is very uncomfortable to them.

Meanwhile, be your own best lie detector.....if you've caught someone in a lie, he or she is a liar, and not likely to change. Venture carefully with these people, and never let them into your lives without keeping a very, wary eye on them. Most importantly, understand that the truth does have a way of always shining through at some point. So tell it. And hope that the damage done to you by the liars of the world is only temporary.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to All.

Words of advice if you didn't get everything you wanted for Christmas:

Don't take it back. I work in retail. I hate returns.

Try to find the thoughtfulness behind that reindeer sweater. If you think you'll never wear it, someone at the homeless shelter would love to be warm this winter.

Socks might seem like a so-so gift, but if you're like me and laundry occasionally gets away from you, you will appreciate them someday.

Finally:

Eat cookies and chocolate with utter abandon.....plenty of time to diet in 2011.

When your relatives spill red wine on your white sofa, a bottle of Oxyclean is all you need. Company is more fun than clean.

Remember, it's Christmas time for your cats, dogs and rabbits, too! When you're cleaning up their barf tonight from all the stuff they ate off the floor, just remember they are organic vacuum cleaners.

Have a wonderful holiday......be Merry......be Happy.....be the best Christmas spirit you can be.

Emperor Walker's Coming - Hide the Poor, Start Running

Well, instead of enlightening the good citizens of Wisconsin with his cabinet picks, Mr. Walker is busy trying to figure out ways to make sure all rules governing State of Wisconsin agencies are approved or dismissed by him. Mr. Walker truly is on a power trip, the likes of which hasn't been seen since Nixon and Watergate.

Not that this is bad. Already, Mr. Walker is proving himself to be a dictator, not a govenor. We all have watched dictators fall, so for those of us with enough intelligence to know that Scott Walker is an empty, talking head, this is a good thing. We all anxiously anticipate Mr. Walker's fall. We can only hope it's on his head and he lives out the rest of his years unable to harm any more people than he already has. Besides, sitting in his own fecal matter in a sagging diaper seems a fitting end to his career.

Suggested Christmas Gifts for Scott Walker:

1. Anyone who won't be embarrassed to work in his administration.
2. Alcohol. I'm convinced this guy must be drunk 90% of the time to think he can govern anything.
3. A gas guzzling Cadillac SUV.
4. A brain.
5. Head-Lax. (Ex-lax for the brain. His is so obviously backed up with petrified icky things.)
6. Ice skates, for obvious reasons.
7. Thin ice on Lake Monona, to go with his new snowmobile.
8. A nose ring, so the rich can lead him around more easily.
9. A sweet, young, blonde secretary with political aspirations of her own.
10. Cranberries, for the obvious state-wide bog that is looming on the horizon.

This, That and the Other

I'm waiting for Governor-Elect Scott Walker to tell us who will be named to his cabinet posts. The Clowns in the Cupboard. Anyone who politically aligns himself with Mr. Walker will have a very short-lived career.

Meanwhile, Christmas is just around the corner. Holiday spirit is pretty good this year. Had an interesting coversation with a nice couple who were trying to find something to give to his mother. I'm sure everyone has a family member who NEVER likes anything they receive (selfish, self-absorbed morons), feigns delight in the object and then puts it somewhere never to be seen again. I have a few suggestions on where those people should put their unappreciated gifts.

What is it with people like this? Are their lives so miserable and uninspired that they have to find fault with a gift? Do they really expect their families to keep up with their ever changing whims of taste?

I know people like this, have several in my family. Nothing is ever quite good enough for them. They are fault finders who take their jobs very very seriously.

To all of you less than gracious people who take up so much space in the world. Merry Christmas! And give the gift that keeps on giving this year, shut the F*ck up for a change.

The Governor- Mistake, Scott Walker

Judging by the letters to the editor of The Milwaukee Journal, I am not the only one profoundly dismayed by the the election of Scott Walker and his subsequent actions.  I'm glad I'm not alone, I sort of had the feeling that I was surrounded by the insane. 

This yokel hasn't even taken office yet, but he has managed to alienate a whole group of thoughtful Wisconsin citizens, businesses and local governments.  Not that he cares about that; assuredly, he does not.  The golden apple of the election is his prize, and that is all that Mr. Walker cares about.  My prediction stands, he will choke on his first bite of that apple.

The current joke is that Scott Walker has managed to create a whole slew of new jobs.....problem is they are in Illinois and California. 

At this time, I would personally like to thank all of you idiots who voted this political poser into office.  You have the collective sense of the world's largest gnat.  I live to see the day when you are all chagrined by your utter lack of intelligence, foresight and poltical savvy in electing Scott Walker.  The one thing I can guarantee Scott Walker will give you is unabashed embarassment.  Unfortunately, your actions will take down the good people of this state, too, who are already embarassed that the election went to Mr. Walker.  Wisconsin needs to change it's motto to "Backward".

The Dyslexic Governor-Elect Scott Walker

Talgo, the high-speed train car manufacturer, is pulling it's business operations out of Wisconsin, after all of Mayor Tom Barrett's efforts to bring them here, creating at least 125 jobs.

Talgo is pulling out because Scott Walker shot dead any plans to build high-speed rail in Wisconsin, due mainly to his indebtedness to the Wisconsin Road Builders Association, and their enormous contributions to elect this horse's arse.

Now many of us remember that Scott Walker promised to create jobs in Wisconsin; it was one of his most powerful promises.  Too bad it was all lip-service, but lip-service is what Scott Walker excels at; especially puckering up and kissing the hairy asses of the ultra rich and democratically challenged.

This writer concludes that Mr. Walker is politically dyslexic.  Instead of creating jobs, he managed to get rid of 125 brand new ones.   But this can mean good things for Wisconsin.  Walker promised to be a great governor.  My prediction is he will fail so miserably at this that we will all get to watch him be impeached.  Waiting for that magical moment, which is sure to come, is just a little bit of agony, but come it will.  Idiots should know their place.  Mr. Walker, as stupid as he is, will surely learn his.

More Fun with the Brainless Governor Elect

Okay, so the 810 million or so bucks that could have built light rail, improved environmental impact and transported people efficiently is now officially dead thanks to Scott Walker.  The money is going to California or Illinois.  Wisconsinites lost out.  Now I wonder just how many people will lament this decision once gasoline is being rationed to control greenhouse gasses.  But that's looking to the future, someplace Scott Walker can't even imagine, nor, obviously, can the population who elected him.  Scott Walker did, however, agree to get rid of the taxes on health savings accounts.  WEE DOGIE.  You can now save up to pay for your own heart attack, tax free.

The future seems to be arriving rather rapidly.  Am I the only one who is noticing this?  The level of discontent, not only in this country, but in the world is rapidly becoming so evident, you'd have to be a blind man (or a Republican) not to see it.  When did you ever see a royal's Rolls Royce attacked in a country as staid as Britain? 

I call myself an Anarchist because I truly do believe that the only way things will ever change is by tearing all institutions down and starting over.  But anarchy is very scary, even to me, and that it is starting to happen frightens me very much.

The fundamental lesson people seem to be missing here is that you cannot suppress the majority to grant privileges to the very small percentage of ultra-rich folks who think their money somehow makes them special.  Unfortunately, that money seems, more and more, to be making the rich nothing more than a target.  You'd think they'd get a clue. 

Well, it's probably time for a civil war anyhow.  We're so politically stagnant that any effort toward progress gets strangled by the status quo immediately.  America the free really is no more, and I'm truly unsure that it ever was.  It is rapidly declining into fascism.  I am disheartened to call myself an American and I truly hope that I will become an ex-patriot sooner than later.

Scott Walker, The Tough Guy

Well, Walker's guns are blazing, and his current target is state worker employee unions.

He is so tough, I'm trembling just thinking about him. NOT. I believe I could kick his stupid ass with one hand tied behind my back. I am, however, very concerned about what havoc such an in the box thinker can wreak.

Scott Walker is a simpering wimp. He is clearly having his puppet strings pulled by the Republican Party of No to show what a hard line he is going to take as the new governor. His first hatred and his first target, state employee unions. How ludicrous of us to think that state employees should have fair representation when dealing with their employer. Mr. Walker will waste enormous amounts of time and resources fighting this battle, which he will ultimately lose; but that is beside his point. Mr. Walker's point is to show what a tough guy he is and what a hard-line politician he is going to be as Governor of the State of Wisconsin.

Get real. Walker, we all know there is nothing going on in that empty Oz head of yours. All of your bully posturing is just avaricious public relations to prove to the idiots who elected you that you are the right guy for the job. Unfortunately, you couldn't be more wrong. Again, you promote the image of the Wizard, standing behind the curtain, pulling the levers of the empty head.

I don't know about anyone else in the State of Wisconsin, but everytime I see a picture of Walker in the newspaper, or a news clip of him on television, I am reduced to a gag reflex. It is just a matter of time before all citizens of Wisconsin feel the same way. I see impeachment in your future, and judging by how little you know about the real world, I see it coming very soon. Now that is something to look forward to.

Christmas Shopping - 2010

Despite having bought many things, sight unseen, online to give as Christmas gifts, I still have to go out there, to the dreaded mall, to pick things up.

My husband and I try to make Christmas more about tradition (having parties, eating tons of really good stuff and drinking brandy-laden eggnog) than about the materialism of gifts, but you have to give something, right?

So, yesterday, there we were, at the Mall, which was surprisingly less full than I've seen it at this time of year in the past.  If anyone needs a hands-on, real look at America's economy, go to a shopping center and see how easy it is to navigate through it.  Thanks Bush.  Thanks Obama.  Thanks Wall Street.  I really have enjoyed being shafted ( and I really want to use the F word instead) by all of you.  You, Obama!  Get your integrity back.  Stop being a mainline politician, which you did once and which was precisely what got you elected in the first place.  If you want to be a one-term president, just keep doing what you're doing.  You've become a sell out.  Maybe a one term sell-out is alright with you.  You did, afterall, make the history books.

Anyhow, my husband has about a five second tolerance for shopping, although he'll trudge along after me and not complain.  However, I can't get anything done when he's there.  His uncomplaining presence hovers over me like a huge black cloud, making it impossible for me to take the time to dig through the racks.

Digging through the racks.   Why can't we just have normal displays, why is everything jammed, lodged, packed, wedged, and basically ruined on too small display racks?  Harrod's in London is the only place I've ever been that knows how to run a department store.  Usually, by the time you find something that's actually not a piece of trash on one of the overloaded racks here in America, the item is ruined by so much hangar poking, manhandling, falling on the floor, etc.  Did you ever notice that Christmas time in America seems to be the season when all the store buyer's mistakes appear on the selling floor, in one last ditch attempt to prove they were a savvy business decision.  It is picking through these hideous items that drives me nuts.

Suggestion for retailers:  set up pot kiosks throughout your store, and offer people the opportunity to get stoned periodically.  You'd even sell the ugliest stuff in the universe that one of your buyers brought into your store, because everyone knows ingesting pot clouds judgment.  Anyone who came of age in the sixties only has to remember some of their late night hook-ups to know that is true.  All of you prudes will have to trust me on this one.

I really wish I had some valium, some xanax, or a good old fashioned quaalude to take before I venture out this afternoon in search of perfect gifts.  More importantly, all gifts should come with valium, xanax or quaaludes to make the recipient as happy to get it as you were to buy it.

Anyhow, I'm going.  Straight.  Alone.  Unarmed.  I am trying to have the right attitude and make this fun.  But a 'lude sure would benefit me on that one.

Walker and Wisconsin

Well, bend over Wisconsin state employees and prepare for the kick, Scott Walker is coming.  Your only hope will be that the labor contracts are signed before Scotty Boy takes over Madison and completely decimates the workforce, much the same way he destroyed Milwaukee County's workforce.

Walker will ask for wage freezes, concessions in health care coverage and contributions to the pension plan from all state employees. 

Having worked for Milwaukee County, I remember Walker's reign; the biggest one being no pay raises for the last six years I was employed.  It's ridiculous to not properly compensate a workforce while granting tax cuts  for the richest 10% of the state's population, but welcome to Walkerland. 

I don't know how Walker intends to accomplish anything as governor by alienating all the people who get things done.  Oh, but what am I saying?  Walker has never really accomplished anything.  The morons in this state who elected him to this office are going to get a first class education in the politics of buffoonery. 

I fervently hope that Jim Doyle will be able to get the labor contracts signed before Walker descends on Madison wearing the dark cloak of rhetoric he travels in. 

I live in the land of Oz, and the governor is behind the curtain, pulling the levers of the empty head who is running things.  But I have faith that I won't need Toto to expose what a cheap mouthpiece Walker actually is.  He'll do that all by himself.

Food Safety

I received an e-mail from Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) who advised me of progress being made regarding the nation's food safety with the passage of S.510, the Food Safety Modernization Act.

I appreciate that this issue is being taken seriously and that positive steps are being taken to ensure the safety of America's food supply.

I've learned that people die, many of them small children, because super-conglomerate food processors have not been held accountable for the safety or sanitary conditions of their operations. I hope the Senate Bill goes far enough in insuring that the money gluttonous, bottom line capitalist pigs whose five major companies represent the majority of food processed in the United States never endanger another human being.

Meanwhile, I'll continue to eat organic foods from my local market.  It would be nice if the rest of America would do the same. 

Citizens in America do have power.  We just don't use it. 

That Whooshing Noise

Lately, I just feel like I'm going around and around in circles and I keep hearing a whooshing noise. Sort of like I'm being flushed, along with every other American citizen.

We're all being flushed down the toilet of American politics. It's so very disheartening, but I guess it's inevitable, since this country is disintegrating rapidly. There will be more emergency sessions to fix the problems; more election turmoils and more finger pointing and ass kissing, surely. But the fact is, the United States of America can't hold on....not in it's current, or any of it's past states.

Not that long ago, Sarah Palin was a vice presidential political appointee who quickly opened her mouth and proved herself to be little more than a right-wing hack whom no one could possibly take seriously because she was so obviously the antithesis of intelligence. I believe she single-handedly lost the election for John McCain, thank God, by the by.

But all of a sudden, Sarah Palin is more popular than Thanksgiving turkey. She has a reality show that everyone tunes into, and somehow has managed to spin her natural, outdoorsy and down-home, folksy self into a nationwide belief that this has EVERYTHING to do with governing a nation. I catch fish in my lake, I hike in the Wisconsin north woods, I enjoy swimming in the ocean and I wear plaid shirts. However, I'm firmly of the opinion that this does not qualify me as a candidate for potential leader of the free world. Sarah Palin had her five minutes of fame, and now she's determined to turn that brief encounter into a career. She's one-dimensional and egomaniacal. She would have to be an egomaniac to believe she has anything serious going on upstairs.

Please, someone explain to me when and how Sarah Palin stopped being a political joke and people started taking her, and her lofty ambitions to the oval office, seriously. Whoosh, I hear that sound. Maybe the toilet I keep hearing flush is actually the American citizenry's sanity making a run for the border.

And George Dubya Bush writing a book that's become a bestseller? Jesus Christ, Mary and Joseph, a book titled "Decision Points". The only decision George Bush ever made that could be considered reasonable was his choice to start drinking alcohol again. At least he could live with himself and the financial destruction he brought to this nation with that one. George Bush didn't make any decisions during his presidency. Karl Rove made all the decisions for George Bush. Why doesn't anyone know this anymore? How do these hacks continually reinvent themselves and how does a nation of supposedly intelligent and industrious people buy this BULLSHIT????? And it is BULLSHIT!!!!! Someone send Bush a case of Glenfiddich so he can go back to doing what he does best.

I watched John McCain on television this morning attempting to resurrect the cold war between Russia and the United States. Does McCain not get that the Soviet Union failed (much the same way America will)? Apparently he does not. Mr. McCain, being a Republican, wants to take things backward, as do all Republicans. Backward means they can use those same tired tricks to stump the American public into thinking the GOP has their best interests at heart. Republicans are fundamentally unable to look forward, everything must revert to the past for them. That's where they're comfortable. That's where all rich old white men are comfortable. I seriously am thinking of starting a campaign to get rid of the rich old white men who rule this land. I'll call it:

"If You Love America, Please Do Your Part. Kill Yourself".

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wish all of my readers a very happy Thanksgiving.

Take a moment to remember, today, all of the many blessings in your life and all of the reasons you have to be thankful. And just to keep you honest, try to remember all of the things you've done in your life that have made people less than thankful you're around.....and correct those things in the future!

Work like a dog.

Eat like a pig.

Watch football until your eyes pop out and then sleep like a log.

Gobble Gobble.

Holidays --- Sometimes Not All They're Cracked Up to Be

I was reading Philip Chard's article in the Milwaukee Journal, Out of My Mind, and was happy to see an assessment of family situations. Depending on what kind of family you grew up in, that experience pretty much defines you. There are, thankfully in my case, exceptions.

Chard speaks about healthy and unhealthy families. He goes on to say:
"Healthy families demonstrate an attribute called 'beneficial cohesiveness'. From an interpersonal standpoint, people in such families stick together in a good way. Cohesive families demonstrate largely harmonious interactions, and when they do have conficts, they are addressed openly and respectfully. Family members exhibit emotional warmth, empathy and caring. Finally, a healthy family is a flexible one; in other words, it is not like boot camp."

I have very little experience with this kind of family, except as an outside observer.

What does Chard say about dysfunctional families?

Unhealthy families come in two variations, enmeshed or disengaged.

In an enmeshed family, relationships with parents and siblings were characterized by considerable hostility, lots of meddling in each other's affairs, and 'harmful cohesiveness' -- meaning they stuck together in a damaging way. While these families sometimes share affection, it is usually short-lived and often abruptly replaced by anger and accusations.

I experience my family as emotionally dangerous and unpredictable. I've learned to keep my head down and avoid interacting because of the negative behaviors associated with all of the relationships between my siblings.

Chard goes on to say that the other kind of unhealthy family (disengaged) is "typified by relationships that are emotionally cold, controlling and distant. It tends to crank out children who are angry, aggressive, alienated and basically who feel unloved."

No matter what kind of family you came from, you are part of that psychological inheritance.

This Thanksgiving I will sit at the table and give thanks for the family I married into and the children and grandchildren I was blessed with.

I will offer a prayer for the family I came from that they will someday know peace and harmony in their lives on a daily basis.

I am so very thankful that I chose not to be a part of the misery my family embodies any longer, and I wish I could tell my siblings how to rearrange their thought processes and leave that wretched childhood experience in the past. But it's one of those things we have to figure out for ourselves, and I pray they do.

Nothing to Say???

Well, Scott Walker hasn't bleated in a few days.

I guess he got off on the wrong foot, with his outrageous demands for a halt to Wisconsin government, and his adamantly stupid rants about stopping the high speed rail.

Now all that special interest money behind him can't really afford for him to show himself as the horse's behind that he is.....at least so soon. So, they must have admonished him to shut up until they could find something intelligent for him to say. That's going to take awhile, and no matter what they come up with, Walker won't look or sound intelligent saying it.

Come on Walker. Say something. We all are dying for your shrunken head to speak.

They Call Bad Doctors "Quacks" Don't They?

I am always interested in the origin of words in the English Language. But it's Sunday morning, and I don't feel like doing any research. So, I'm going to make up my own story about how the word "Quack" came to describe lousy doctors.

In 1743, a German physician, Herr Docktor Adolph Hopsinger, paid a hut call to Peter Von Bunberger's residence because all of Peter's children were sick. Herr Docktor was somewhat of a tippler, and he arrived at 2 in the afternoon, somewhat drunk. Von Bunberger's children had tonsillitis, scurvy, ear aches and scabies. Herr Docktor thought he'd give them all a tonic he'd bought in Munich that promised to cure everything, because Herr Docktor was incapable, on his own, of curing anything. Beside that, he was drunk enough so that he just wanted a quick fix so he could go home and take a nap.....maybe have a nice piece of struedel his fat wife was baking.

Unfortunately, when Herr Docktor retrieved the tonic from his bag, he failed to notice it was the wrong bottle. He administered several tablespoons of horse liniment to the children, by mouth, who promptly died. Peter Von Bunberger was upset and refused to pay Herr Docktor, but Herr Docktor was bigger and roundly clocked him in the chin. Von Bunberger went out to get a shovel to bury his children, and returned with an eider down duck as payment. Herr Docktor promptly shoved the duck inside his capote, and left the house, but not before Von Bunberger smacked him on the back of his head with the shovel, causing him to fall forward, striking his head on a large rock. The eider down duck somewhat broke his fall, but Herr Docktor's head was pretty soft from all that imbibery, and he promptly died. When Herr Docktor landed on top of the duck on his way to his death, the duck let out a resounding and annoyed "Quack" at the top of his little duck lungs before running back to the safety of the barn. The name stuck and the rest is history. Well, fractured history, but I like it.

So why don't we have a name for bad politicians, like Scott Walker? I hereby institute one.

Let's see, animal sounds seems to be the flavor du jour. Pigs oink. Horses whinney. Mules bay. Bullfrogs croak. Fish flop. Elephants bellow. Lions Roar. Crickets scrape. Cat's meow. Dogs bark. Birds tweet and monkeys screech.

We have a donkey representing republicans and an elephant representing republicans. For political hacks, like Scott Walker, I hereby designate the goat as their symbol. Goats bleat, talking a lot and saying very little. They have those very strong horns to protect their soft little heads. They are followers, not leaders.

Anytime Scott Walker opens his mouth, it'll be a bleat, followed by a horned head butt, sort of like cats do when they want your attention. It fits. I like it. It is somewhat of a dishonor to goats, whom I like very much, but to actually pick an animal that fits how incompetent Scott Walker is, well, it would have to be an amoeba, and I don't know if they make a noise.

So please, bleat away Walker Baby. Then butt your head, and continue to follow the small misguided minority of rich folks who actually run this rapidly failing heap of a country. I'm anxiously waiting for all the fodder you will provide for this blog.

Emperor Walker

Okay, so not only is the governor-elect a completely undereducated, incompetent political administrator, he is also a megalomaniac.

Mr. Walker is asking Governor (STILL GOVERNOR) Jim Doyle to put a hold on state government until he can take office. Hello. On what grounds does Emperor Walker stand ..... the hallowed ground of the misintended? Emperor Walker is not interested in governing the State of Wisconsin, he is only interested in promoting the agenda of the Republican Party, that is to say, the Party of Status Quo. No progress. No growth. No vision. Keep the rich rich, make more poor people so the rich can stay rich.

Wisconsin is on a bad road......heading for the same type of gung-ho, empty-headed politics as the State of Texas. Texas.....it gave us such wondrous people as George Dubya Bush. No one has to remember back too far what a fool George Dubya Bush was, as Governor of Texas (where they executed mentally retarded individuals) and as President, where his decision to invade Iraq cost (and is still costing) trillions of dollars and thousands of lives.

So send a message to Emperor Walker. You'll get your chance to f*ck everything up soon enough, no need to start early. The damage you are capable of will surely become evident in the next four years. It's evident already. Please let a sensible governor finish his term before you take over Madison and infuriate every thoughtful citizen of this once great state.

Surely there is more damage you can do in Milwaukee County. Your thirst for power is mind-boggling. You are a camel whose been in the desert of local politics for far too long. Your itching to get to that watering hole and prove to your party that you are the right man to f*ck up the works.

You certainly are....no argument from me there.

Emperor Walker is coming. And he's hungry!!!!

Halloween Candy is my Nemesis

I've just eaten another handful of candy corn, one of my favorites. I've crunched Kit Kats, devoured Three Musketeers, snarfed Snickers, put away Peanut Butter Cups like they were a cure for everything, chomped Twizzlers and basically, have become the most hallowed and huge halloween candy pig of leftovers.

I wish I could stop. Someone needs to remove this candy from my house, immediately. I've lived on nothing but candy for a couple of days now. Oh, I pretend I'm hungry when my husband serves me supper, but I'm so full of sugar and chocolate, I secretly feed the dog under the table anything healthy, and head to the secret stash as soon as my husband is not looking.

It's a terrible life, the life of a candy addict. We have no dignity, we will snatch candy from baby's hands. We will consume our weight in red licorice. We will lie to get candy and we will lie about how much candy we actually get. We will try and quit cold turkey constantly, but we will always find a gas station or candy store ready to serve our desires.

Sometimes I dream about candy. Flowers are romantic, but give me a bag of penny candy and I will fulfill your wildest fantasy. That little brown bag holding all those unknown treasures is more than I can handle. I love Belgian chocolate and I love Red Hot Atomic Fireballs. I am no candy connosiur, any candy will do, although gummy candy tends to be at the bottom of my list. Still, I'll eat it.

In the Food Pyramid, Candy is at the top for me. Candy Candy Candy. Can't get enough. I need sugar rehab.

What's So Bad About Scott Walker?

First of all, what's so bad about wanting to transport large numbers of people efficiently and with little impact on air quality and the environment?

Nothing, right? A group of people riding a high speed train are leaving a carbon footprint far smaller than one person riding in a car between Point A and Point B.

So what's so bad about this? What is it that Scott Walker can't mentally grasp about high speed rail?

Oh, yes, the maintenance costs (which would employ people). This is a lie. Scott Walker could give a rat's ass about maintenance costs; Mr. Walker has to keep his large campaign donors happy. Scott Walker isn't smart enough to do the math about maintenance costs; if he was, he'd know they are irrelevant and not even a factor in the benefits of high speed rail.

Face it, Scott Walker is beholden to road builders and car manufacturers and dealers, who by the virtue of their businesses, do not want to bring the United States into the future with the use of alternative transportation methods.

What is so bad about Scott Walker, and people like him is that they FAIL, on every conceivable level, to get the fact that we are running out of oil. We are choking off the sustainability of Planet Earth with our continued burning of fossil fuels and by ignoring greenhouse gas emissions and the dangers associated with them. In short, we are destroying the land we live in so a few people can get rich.....Scott Walker's buddies.

I guess these people will finally get it when all is lost.....and probably not a second before. Even then, I'm sure their denial will be rampant as it is every time they are exposed as the butt-hole mental giants they are.

The United States of America is paralyzed because of politicians like Scott Walker; supposed conservatives, but who just really are all about maintaining the status quo. The status quo is killing us, and so is Scott Walker. This is what's so bad. Scott Walker is a killer.....of new ideas, of progress, and of intelligent life.

It would be interesting to put Scott Walker in an MRI and follow an idea in the thought processes of his brain. Of course, who has that kind of time; to sit and wait for an original idea to show up in Scott Walker's head? I'm sure his body would attack it immediately as a foreign entity, which it is.

Puppet Boy, Pawn of Big Bucks and Mouthpiece of the Rich and Ridiculous, that is Scott Walker. And that's what's so bad about him.

A Train Wreck Named Scott Walker

Here we go, Wisconsinites. High speed rail is derailed The first act of idiocy by your idiot-elect:

"I don't see anything that would change my mind...." Scott Walker, speaking on the future of the high speed rail project between Milwaukee and Madison.

Mr. Walker's mind is firmly opposed and his pockets generously enriched by road builder and car manufacturer campaign contributions. This guy bought the election with a bunch of promises to rich old white men, whose time needs to be over if the United States expects to survive.

Walker is going to "ask" Congress to let Wisconsin keep the $810 million designated for the high speed rail project and use if for roads. If that doesn't give you a shining example of how clueless this moron is, I don't know what will.

None of the money provided to Wisconsin may be used for road or highway projects, or anything other than high-speed rail.

The high speed rail project was predicted to employ 4,732 people at its peak in 2012. So much for Idiot-Elect Walker and his promise to create jobs. The only thing Walker will create is a depressed state economy, an idle workforce, and hopefully many memorable lapses of intelligence, which I will continue to report here.

Always looking for a little bright side, and some small Erlaichda, this stupid son of a b*tch, Scott Walker, at least will be out of Milwaukee County politics soon.

Chicago and the Widening Gap Between Rich and Poor

My husband and I get out of Milwaukee as frequently as we can. We usually go to Chicago, which is a real city with a palpable vibrancy and a true identity. Alas, Milwaukee falls short on so many levels, by comparison, we don't even consider it a "real" city and we rarely spend any time or money going out on the town here. That's not to say Milwaukee doesn't have cultural offerings, it does, they are just so very limited.

This past weekend was no different; Chicago delivered on every level. Theatre was great, shopping was great, eating was beyond great. To get anywhere, we hopped on a subway. We walked for miles. In short, we had a terrific experience, as we always do in Chicago.

One of our walks took us down Oak Street, right off the Magnificent Mile. This is the street where all the high end of the high end stores are. Prada. Hermes, Chanel. I suppose it would be nice to have so much money, buying a silk scarf at Hermes that would cost you close to $1,000 would be no big deal. (I do, however, fail to see the importance of a $1,000 scarf.) Or a pair of shoes at Chanel for $895. Unless those shoes can miraculously turn you into a great dancer, I just don't get it. But there is the status thing. I assume people buy these things to show that they are different than the people who don't buy those things.

Not really. I bought a new handbag at Macy's. I'm sure someone bought the new $4,000 clutch at Chanel this weekend, too. Now, I love my handbag, which was really inexpensive compared to the handbag at Chanel. It doesn't particularly make me feel different, but it does hold all my stuff quite nicely. I asked myself how I would have felt if I had bought the large handbag at Chanel, which was so outrageously expensive it should have doubled as a studio apartment. The answer was, I'd feel sick to my stomach. Even if I could have afforded it.

There just isn't anything you can buy in a store that is worth the inflated price people pay for it. And high end, designer stores are probably one of the biggest scams perpetuated against a rich and unsuspecting public. I'm sure people go into these stores because they get the "exclusive" feel that makes them feel special and the store, by its very design, keeps out the riff raff. (Not true, I was in there this weekend.) I'm afraid that having a $1,000 Hermes scarf won't change a thing about my life, or anyone else's.....but it is the perception that people are buying here, not the actual item.

So my perception is this. There are many nice things available to purchase. There are many crappy, cheap items available to purchase, or steal, depending on your economic status. No matter which end of the spectrum you fall on, none of this stuff changes who you are or what you are. The reality is, some people have so much money, they don't have to think twice about dropping $6,000 on a handbag. And most have so little money, they don't need a handbag, they can carry their fortunes in their pocket.

I just find it interesting, going from Prada to the subway, the vast difference in our little consumer-driven United States. And I wonder how long the gap can exist before there is a revolution against the unfairness and unreality of it all. There is a reason why the French Revolution was one of the bloodiest, deadliest episodes in all of history. And there is a lesson to be learned, there. You won't learn it on Oak Street. I suggest taking a subway ride in your mink coat and Chanel handbag. The really rich people in this country will be imprisoned by all of their money eventually. And the meek shall inherit this earth.

Warnings

My husband warned me that I'm going to really irritate and upset the wrong people if I continue to write this blog.

Good for me! Irritating and upsetting the wrong people (at least, wrong for the job they're in) is going to be my lifelong work.

So be warned:

You can't hide from me if you're an idiot masquerading as anything else.

You can't hide from me if you're a hypocrite.

You can't hide from me if you're a liar.

You can't hide from me if you're a cheat.

You especially cannot hide from me if you're a sickening fraud.

In short, you can't hide from me or my pen/keyboard. I will find you and I will write the facts and expose the truth. If you are evil, I will do everything I can to stop you from spreading.

So, much as I understand and appreciate my husband's concerns, I have bigger concerns than who I might be annoying at any moment.

In fact, no one seems too interested in my annoyance......and I am TRULY annoyed.

Watch out.

Update

Light rail already suspended in State of Wisconsin.

All you people who voted in Walker and Johnson --- please go to your dentist and have a few front teeth removed, buy yourself a pick up truck and a tin of chew. Stop watching the Packers and starting watching the World Wrestling Federation.

You're officially a redneck now! Less power to ya!

Erlaichda -- First Things Walker Will Do As Governor

1. Get lost between the Governor's Mansion and the Capitol.

2. Try to derail the (signed) contract for light rail. (Has to keep those oil companies happy)

3. Drop the brown bag lunches. I predict Walker will get as fat as Tommy Thompson did during his governorship in the next four years; both physically and financially.

4. Begin his quest to ruin the State of Wisconsin, as thoroughly as he ruined Milwaukee County. These are politics he can understand and implement.

5. Replace competent administrators with cheap hacks, like John Chianneli. Watch the appointments!

6. Destroy Badger Care.

7. Repeal the smoking ban.

8. Piss off (and on) every state employee on the payroll.

9. Repeatedly annoy 49 other governors.

10. Get hit by a bike while crossing State Street.

Election Results

I hereby change Wisconsin's motto (and license plates) from:

America's Dairyland

to

America's Dumb F*ck Land.

The people of Wisconsin have voted and elected the two worst possible candidates to the Governor's Office and the United States Senate.

The result of the stupidity of this election outcome will become very apparent in the next few years. I hope to watch this from a great distance. The Cheeseheads have melted. I don't want to be a Cheese Ass, nor do I want to be associated with Dumb F*cks. I'm out of Wisconsin at my first opportunity.

I would like to thank Senator Russ Feingold for his amazing service to Wisconsin and his exemplary career as a U.S. Senator. It is a sad day when someone like Russ Feingold can be replaced by an A**hole like Ron Johnson.

Good people of Wisconsin, you're idiots. The only good thing I can say is that you will find out just how entrenched your idiocy is with these two Republican clowns in office. I guess I can look forward to watching that! Hopefully, from a distance.

Election Eve

Well, here it is, mid-term election eve. I live in Wisconsin, which, although the birthplace of the GOP, has been traditionally a progressive and democratic state. Until idiots like Sarah Palin and the tea party folks came on the scene, one could count on Wisconsin to vote with a certain amount of intelligence.

But, these are chaotic times in America. Sensibility has taken a back seat to republican rhetoric. Many people base all their political viewpoints on soundbites, television commercials, and just plain lies. Americans are lazy; no one will research the issues that would give them an honest assessment, and enable them to make an informed choice. They're too busy. Too busy doing what? Being lazy, stupid, and angry that they live in a country with lots and lots of lazy, stupid and angry people, whose only talent seems to be watching extremely biased television. What's sad is that these people turn up at the polls on election day, so we get a government of lazy, stupid and angry people.

Just the thought that someone like Scott Walker, a political hack with one of the worst records in recent history, might become our governor, is overwhelmingly monstrous to me. If this happens, I will leave Wisconsin, much faster than my current five year plan to relocate. I'm going to Costa Rica in February. I may not come back. It depends what I'm coming back to. If it's Governor Walker, well frankly, I'd rather come back to a state that's been invaded and conquered by Canada.

If Ron Johnson, a millionaire who spent millions of his own money on his campaign, replaces Russ Feingold as our U.S. Senator, I will be so tremendously embarrassed by the people in this state, living with fer de lance snakes in Costa Rica will seem like not only a reasonable alternative but the smart one. Better to live with snakes for which there is anti-venom available. Ron Johnson deserves to lose the $4,000,000 he spent on his campaign. The fact that he has that kind of money to invest in a campaign based on blatant misconception and ill-conceived rhetoric should speak volumes to Wisconsin voters. The last thing America needs is more millionaires in Congress.....or freakin' anywhere, for that matter.

So the mid-term election will have a great bearing on what is actually happening in this country. A Republican win will mean most intelligent U.S. citizens, have no voice in this country. If you have no voice, why stick around? The ignorant masses will be ruled by equally ignorant and conniving con-artists. That adequately sums it up.

But it leaves the more thoughtful people in this country up shit creek, which will only get more full of shit once the republicans repeal all the environmental regulations.

Here's hoping intelligence prevails.......but in a country like this, i.e., one that would elect George W. Bush twice, (well, okay, he did steal one of those elections) I'm not at all sure of anything. Except, America isn't what it purports to be, and as collective fools, we're sitting ducks for societies wiser than we are to take it all away.

Anyhow, maybe living closer to the equator will fry my brain a little and I won't get so freaked out, upset, livid, and mortified by what is happening in my country. As it continues to happen, though, being an ex-patriot seems the only intelligent choice I can make. I want America back, but I'm afraid it's going to take a revolution. And maybe that's not a bad idea.

Lost Opportunities

Today, on my way to church with my husband, I mentioned (as we drove past Potowatomi Casino) that I wanted to go and place a bet that the Packers would beat the Jets. He told me that was a foolish bet, and we would not be going to High Mass (Bloody Mary's at the Pot), but would actually be going to real church, which was fine, since church was inspirational this day.

However, I was truly inspired for thinking of making that bet, even though I didn't make it, and now I'm no richer, since the Pack did come through with a win. It is my husband's fault. I think my husband should pay me a $100 curb my enthusiasm penalty. Furthermore, I will no longer wait for my husband's approval when thinking I should make a sports bet. Sometimes you have to trust your instincts or you will lose an opportunity.

For anyone who has ever been discouraged from trusting your instincts, let this be a lesson to you. Husbands are fine and well but should have no say in your inspired gambling inclinations. I'm going to bug him so much he will pay me $100 just to shut me up.

Knowing When to Walk Away

Sometimes interpersonal situations are out of control and they can't be reigned in or rectified. Knowing when this is the case is difficult, because some of us are intent on holding on to relationships, situations, beliefs, etc., no matter what the cost. We hold on because we believe that is the right thing to do, and to do otherwise is wrong.

I'm here to tell you that not always is that the right thing to do. When people are deliberately hurtful, mean, abusive, detrimental to positive interactions, then holding on can only hurt you, and it only invites more of the abusive behaviors. If you have stated your frustration and honestly tried to maintain a relationship with someone who is far less vested in the relationship's value than are you; like any wise investor, it is time to sell short and cut your losses.

But this is not easy. Making the decision to walk away is very difficult. And once the walking away has occurred, it is a constant source of sadness that one must learn to live with.

I have had to do this for self-preservation. My family is completely dysfunctional, from drug abuse to prison sentences, and everything in the middle. Analytically, I know what has happened to these people, and I can feel enormous sympathy for them. But I just can't participate in their lives any longer because to do so means I get caught up in some strange game of "Let's Pretend We're Not Freaks Despite our Freakish Behaviors". Frankly, no one in my family is normal or mentally stable, and I don't think I am either, having lived through so many horrendous behaviors with these people. But I think walking away has put me on the path toward a much more normal life and I hope I can stay on it.

Tonette Walker Is Alive

Ooooppps, in the essence of journalism accuracy, I just saw my first television commercial featuring Mrs. Walker, which means my earlier blog was inaccurate today. Although I still can't speak to her being a flesh eating zombie or not (they are so cagey), it does appear there actually is a Mrs. Scott Walker.

She was blathering about abortion laws, and how her husband is not unsympathetic to victims of sexual assault crimes (although if they turn up preggers-oh well, no abortion for you). That, actually, is pretty unsympathetic. I am, however, not surprised by the Walkers inability to understand sympathy.

By the by, and I think all enlightened women out there will have some level of agreement with this statement; abortion would be a highly personal, terribly difficult decision to make for most women of integrity. But it is the women's decision. No man should have a thing to say about it, be allowed to enact laws governing it, or attempt to keep women in a controlled state because of it.

Watch out you guys. I may JUST come to power and you may JUST be losing one of your testicles, because I've had enough of your testosterone fueled attempts to suppress women's rights.

Erlaichda -- Election Fun

1. We have never seen a picture of Scott Walker's wife, nor has she appeared on television or in political ads with him.

Possible Reason: Scott Walker's wife may be a flesh-eating zombie. It's a reasonable explanation of what the Walker Administration did with all those security and housekeeping personnel who were laid off. If you are missing a janitor or a security guard, please contact me. If you know a janitor or a security guard with a chewed up hand/foot/ear, please let someone know.

2. Rebecca Kleefisch's wide-eyed look is indicative that she is constantly surprised. Well, small wonder. I'd be surprised, too, if I was an ill-advised, under-educated nobody who found herself in serious competition for an important elected office. I have problems with hypocrites like Ms. Kleefisch. She denounces a public health care policy, while helping herself to a cafeteria health care plan funded by taxpayers. So, one can say Ms. Kleefisch's recovery from cancer is based on socialized health plans. Yet she is against socialized health care plans. I've got an idea, Kleefisch. Drop dead next time.

3. Let's take some Behavioral Health Division patients on a field trip to polling places on November 2nd. It would be sort of like having Vietnam War vets with serious amputations welcome young men and women at the local military recruiting office, like Walmart greeters. At any rate, it would seriously hurt Scott Walker, and seriously hurting Scott Walker should be of utmost importance. Oh wait a minute. Maybe the flesh-eating zombie wife is waiting for the right moment to devour him. He has, after all, fattened up considerably in his years in office. Must be all those brown bag lunches. The question is......what is Ms. Zombie Walker putting in those brown bags?

4. Why doesn't Ron Johnson allow the press at his events?

Possible reason: Ron Johnson has his rhetoric down pat, but can't think and talk on his feet, simultaneously. Mr. Johnson would not do well when presented with some real issues and asked to explain his "solutions". He needs that extra hour, forty-eight to polish his spin. The secret to Ron Johnson's losing the election? Pay him in gum. Donate gum to him. Everybody send Ron Johnson a pack of gum. He is probably as physically uncoordinated as he is mentally uncoordinated, so he will chew and fall, possibly striking his head. This can only be an improvement for Ron Johnson's state of mind.

5. Get out and Vote!!!!

Because of the huge significance of this mid-term election; voter turnout is expected to be very high. For that reason, Democrats should go to the polls on November 2nd and Republicans should report on November 3rd. May some divine intervention/cosmic soup, wrap the polling places in intelligence and wisdom.

Passive/Aggressive Personality Disorder

Well, having taken a giant step back from some of my relatives has given me peace, serenity and complete freedom from severely dysfunctional relationships. It would be relatively impossible for me to feel comfortable in an environment where so much passive/aggressive interaction occurs. Limiting my interactions with people who aren't able to accept or understand me is far less isolating then trying to fight for my voice in a roomful of people intent on drowning me out.

Passive-Aggressive Behavior:

Signs and Symptoms:

1. Ambiguity or speaking cryptically: a means of engendering a feeling of insecurity in others.
2. Chronically being late and forgetting things: another way to exert control or to punish.
3. Fear of competition.
4. Fear of dependency.
5. Fear of intimacy as a means to act out anger. The passive aggressive often cannot trust. Because of this, they guard themselves against becoming intimately attached to someone.
6. Making chaotic situations.
7. Making excuses for non-performance in work teams.
8. Obstructionism.
9. Procrastination.
10. Sulking

I have a few relatives that fit the criteria so closely, the passive/aggressive handbook could have been written about and for them.

Behaviors associated with passive/aggressive personality disorder are varied; but perhaps the one that consistently fits the people I used to try to deal with is psychological manipulation.

Psychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics. By advancing the interests of the manipulator, often at the other's expense, such methods could be considered exploitative, abusive, devious and deceptive.

The following techniques are employed by passive aggressive sufferers.

1. Lying. It is hard to tell if somebody is lying at the time they do it although often the truth may be apparent later when it is too late. One way to minimize the chances of being lied to is to understand that some personality types (particularly psychopaths) are experts at the art of lying and cheating, doing it frequently and often in subtle ways.

2. Lying by omission. This is a very subtle form of lying by withholding a significant amount of the truth. This technique is also used in propaganda.

3. Denial. Manipulator refuses to admit that he or she has done something wrong.

4. Rationalization. An excuse made by the manipulator for inappropriate behavior. rationalization is closely related to spin.

5. Minimization. This is a type of denial coupled with rationalization. The manipulator asserts that his or her behavior is not as harmful or irresponsible as someone else was suggesting, for example, saying that a taunt or an insult was only a joke.

6. Selective inattention or selective attention. Manipulator refuses to pay attention to anything that may distract from his or her agenda, saying things like "I don't want to hear it".

7. Diversion. Manipulator not giving a straight answer to a straight question and instead being diversionary, steering the conversation onto another topic.

8. Evasion. Similar to diversion, but giving irrelevant, rambling, vague responses, weasel words.

9. Covert intimidation. Manipulator throwing the victim onto the defensive by using veiled (subtle indirect or implied) threats.

10. Guilt tripping. A special kind of intimidation tactic. A manipulator suggests to the conscientious victim that he or she does not care enough, is too selfish or has it easy. This usually results in the victim feeling bad, keeping them in a self-doubting, anxious and submissive position.

11. Shaming. Manipulator uses sarcasm and put-downs to increase fear and self-doubt in the victim. Manipulators use this tactic to make others feel unworthy and therefore defer to them. Shaming tactics can be very subtle, such as a fierce look or glance, unpleasant tone of voice, rhetorical comments, subtle sarcasm. Manipulators can make one feel ashamed for even daring to challenge them. It is an effective way to foster a sense of inadequacy in the victim.

12. Playing the victim role ("poor me"). Manipulator portrays him-or herself as a victim of circumstance or of someone else's behavior in order to gain pity, sympathy, or evoke compassion and thereby get something from another. Caring and conscientious people cannot stand to see anyone suffering and the manipulator often finds it easy to play on sympathy to get cooperation.

13. Vilifying the victim. More than any other, this tactic is a powerful means of putting the victim on the defensive while simultaneously masking the aggressive intent of the manipulator.

14. Playing the servant role. Cloaking a self-serving agenda in guise of a service to a more noble cause, for example, saying he/she is acting in a certain way for obedience and service to God or a similar authority figure.

15. Seduction. Manipulator uses charm, praise, flattery or overtly supporting others in order to get them to lower their defenses and give their trust and loyalty to him or her.

16. Projecting the blame (blaming others). Manipulators scapegoat in often subtle, hard to detect ways.

17. Feigning innocence. Manipulator tries to suggest that any harm done was unintentional or did not do something that they were accused of. Manipulator may put on a look of surprise or indignation. This tactic makes the victim questions his or her own judgment and possibly his or her own sanity.

18. Feigning confusion. Manipulator tries to play dumb by pretending he or she does not know what you are talking about or is confused about an important issue brought to his attention.

19. Brandishing anger. Manipulator uses anger to brandish sufficient emotional intensity and rage to shock the victim into submission. The manipulator is not actually angry, he or she just puts on an act. He or she just wants what he/she wants and gets "angry" when denied.


Here are the character traits that make a person a prime target for passive/aggressive personalities:

1. Too trusting.
2. Too altruistic.
3. Too impressionable.
4. Too naive.
5. Too Masochistic.
6. Too Narcissistic.
7. Too Greedy.
8. Too immature.
9. Too materialistic.
10. Too dependent.
11. Too lonely.
12. Too impulsive.
13. Too frugal.
14. Being elderly.*

With the exception of numbers 7, 9, 10 and 13, I have certainly embodied many of the traits that have made me a prime target for the passive/aggressive types.

Supposedly, passive/aggressive personality disorder manifests itself in childhood, usually because of a problem with a parent, i.e., a drug addicted father, a mentally ill mother, etc. Therapy can uncover the cause and illuminate a road to a more integrated personality.

Probably all human beings have been passive/aggressive in their lifetimes, showing a few traits and behaviors somewhere in their personal histories. At some point, I believe people realize that their behaviors aren't working for them, usually when difficulties arise in interpersonal relationships. Faced with that reality, we either gain insight, get help or we end up with a fairly limited number of relationships. One thing is certain, emotionally healthy people avoid emotionally unhealthy people. Temperament and emotional stability tends to be the great equalizer of long lasting relationships and true intimacy.





*Reprinted from Psychological manipulation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Defense Budget - The Military/Industrial Complex and the Duping of the American Public

The United States of America had the following defense budget in 2010:

Army 243.9 Billion Dollars

Navy 149.9 Billion Dollars

Marines 29 Billion Dollars

Air Force 170.6 Billion Dollars

Intelligence (HUH?) 50 Billion Dollars (If someone had given me $50,000,000,000, I guarantee you, I would have known Arabs were in flight schools in America.)

Defense Wide 118.7 Billion Dollars

Now why is it that in this time of economic peril and being dangerously close to absolute collapse, no one, and I mean NO ONE in American politics, has brought up the incredible waste of defense spending. Maybe we just have too much testosterone out there to think there might be a way of settling a dispute that didn't involved blowing something to smithereens with a sophisticated, million dollar missile.

Easy fix, in my opinion. Remove a testicle at birth for all males born in the world. Testosterone drops, intelligence raises, potentially dangerous situations are defused intellectually and we still procreate at an alarming rate.

All right, I'm being facetious, although people wanting to enter politics should have to undergo this procedure. At least we'd know they were serious.

America is an ugly tempered kid, intent on being the biggest bully on the planet through defense spending.

Global Distribution of Military Expenditures in 2009:

United States 46.5%
China 6.6%
France 4.2%
United Kingdom 3.8%
Russia 3.5%
Next 10 countries combined 20.7%
Rest of the world 14.7%

A review of these numbers proves that we are outspending everyone on defense.....and for what? Russia is a non-threat. China is going to beat us economically. Yet if we even dare to speak about limiting our defense budget, that action is perceived as anti-American, unpatriotic, communistic and just plain stupid. The reason for that? Greed. Too much money concentrated in a military/industrial complex. America is not safer. America makes the world unsafe through arms sales. And the people who belong to this unholy alliance are getting very rich. No reason to dismantle what works for a few greedy people, eh?

The cost of one stealth bomber can equally educate (and I'm talking four years of college at a good school) every senior who graduates this year in America. Think about that. Wouldn't we do better to make our children smarter? Smarter than we are; less vulnerable to nuclear disaster, which will probably occur not because of any conflict, but purely by accident. That occurrence seems almost inevitable with all the fire power on the planet.

America is a land of stupid and greedy people. I'm not sure anything can save this country; but more importantly, I'm not sure it's worth saving in its current condition. So go wave your flag, promote the defense budget and just be patriotic and GO USA! It'll all blow up in your red white and blue ass eventually.

The Uncreative American

Is American creativity truly dead --- the one thing that set us apart from the rest of the world? I'm starting to think so. The melting pot has boiled us down to a bland and uninteresting pablum, unfit for babies and the elderly.

I'm bitchin today, because I spent the afternoon trying to watch what turned out to be some of the worst television in existence.

How many good writers are out there and why doesn't their work get bought or produced in any great quantity? Why is everything a formula?

Here are my pet peeves today.

1. HGTV. If I see one more freakin' kitchen with granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, subway tile backsplash, industrial range hood and stone floor, I will scream and scream and scream. First of all, granite counter tops are real nice, but if your house is 85 years old, they won't look like they belong there. Stainless steel appliances are cold....I mean COLD. Plus, they feel yucky when you touch them, grating, like nails on a chalkboard. Range hoods are nice to have if your husband is a gourmet cook (mine is), but truly unnecessary otherwise, unless, of course, your cooking is a menace and fire hazard. My husband doesn't have one of those industrial sized hoods. So far, he's okay without this trend. Subway tile is nice, glass tile is nice, I confess to having a backsplash against my non-granite counter tops. However, there must be other options. Stone floors .....man, I periodically scrub my floor on hands and knees. I do not need to bleed for a clean house, hardwood is difficult enough.

Seriously, can a kitchen designer come up with something else? Maybe a recycled Coke Can counter top; a packed dirt floor that can double as a garden. Something! Anything! I wonder how many of these "wonder" kitchens are going to be as passe as avocado colored appliances in another decade? I'm sure they will. Some new trend will take over. All that money spent to be exactly like everyone else. Dead creativity.

Here's a bit of advice. People should express their individuality in their homes; it is a reflection of your soul. If everyone has the same kitchen ---- duh. Too stupid to come up with a few fresh ideas?

2. LMN. Every terrible D actress in Hollywood has filmed one of these hideous movies. The movies stink, the acting stinks, the dialogue stinks, the plot is figured out in the first 10 minutes (if they bother to have one at all) --- I actually looked forward to the commercials to make it stop. Life Movie Network. If this is Life, freakin' kill me.

3. Formula Big Budget pictures. Yawn. With all the money studios spend on films every year, why is it that there are probably only 10 movies annually worth actually going to the theatre to see? The show house in my neighborhood has nice sofas instead of theatre seating. I cannot tell you the number of times I have spent $15 to take a nap in public.

4. I consider myself well-read, but it's getting harder and harder. Good writers are few and far between. Bad writers are everywhere and they get published, repeatedly. Publishing in America reeks of formula and formula sells. Formula does not sell in my house. It does, however, bludgeon the mind. American intelligence and the entertainment quotient is on a downward trend.

5. Reality television. Jesus H. The Kardashians? Really? What's real about them? My idea for a reality television show is to drop a white guy off dressed in a $4,000 suit with a Rolex watch, and a Louis Vuitton briefcase packed with gay porn, in the middle of East L.A. He will have no money, no car, no credit cards and no cell phone. Let's see how long it takes him to walk back to West Hollywood. That's an adventure worth seeing.

Or how about a show with ass boils and their subsequent lancing?

Cold sores and the healing process on big, pouty lips.

Anyhow, I'm just on a roll because I'm sick of how uncreative, almost dis-creative America has become. It's like George Orwell's Big Brother. We're all supposed to be the same and like the same things. If we don't, there's something wrong with us and we might be dangerous. Any step outside the current trend makes you eccentric.

I think I have to move to a land where someone has a fresh idea every now and then. This country is white bread and it helps kill brains in twelve ways.

It's Holloway or the Highway

Reading the local newspaper, I stumble across the article that County Board Chairman Lee Holloway threatened to fire county staffers who show disrespect to the County Board, if he temporarily takes over as county executive.

I guess the question is, what constitutes "disrespect". Or the bigger question, from what pool of ego is Chairman Holloway's edict coming from.

The bigger part of politics is calling on our electorate to do a good job. Sometimes, we have to shoot down policies and actions that are fundamentally stupid.
I guess I'm being disrespectful......but where I come from, respect must be earned, not commanded. Ask Hitler. His highest ranking officers tried to murder him.

What intrigues me is that the gubernatorial election here in Wisconsin is far from wrapped up. County Executive Scott Walker is not the Governor yet. However, Mr. Holloway is already planning for his takeover of Milwaukee County, and has said he will put himself in office for the interim. I have a vision of a spider, rubbing it's hairy, skinny legs in a cobwebby corner, plotting and planning for a victory attack.

Mr. Holloway needs to be reminded that "Interim County Executive" does not equate to "Red Queen" with an off-with-their-heads philosophy and management style. I think all citizens are sick to death of gangster politics, i.e., my way or the highway.

We can only hope that the gubernatorial election will hinge on thoughtful consideration of the candidates and their records. If it does, Mr. Barrett will be living in the governor's mansion. So, let's not put the cart before the horse's arses. Mr. Holloway would do better to find some solution to the budget woes facing Milwaukee County, rather than letting dreams of power and glory cloud his judgment and effectiveness. It's easy to be seduced by the thought of political power and retribution; a little bit harder to grind out an economic policy that might actually work. Mr. Holloway seems to be so caught up in his potential career upgrade that he has lost sight of what he is actually supposed to be doing. I implore Mr. Holloway to focus on his current job and let the chips fall where they may on November 2nd.

Scott Walker Kicks Dog; Ron Johnson Swings Cat

Alright, maybe that's not literally true. But I don't think the two politicians, one part idiot, one part millionaire, would enjoy such a rosy image if it was. And on some level, it is.

I am always amazed at how many people respond when they see a wounded or abused animal on a news report. The switchboard lights up with people wanting to adopt and give the poor critter a good home.

Residents of Wisconsin, some of you are these poor critters. In one example, many employees of Milwaukee County have had no pay raises for over five years. No private sector company would have the audacity to not give their hard-working employees some kind of appreciative compensation. Scott Walker hates public employees; it is reflected in every move he's made and every interaction he has had with labor unions.

As a former Milwaukee County employee, I know that some County employees are worthless, long-term, lazy, entitled and embittered. But they are a small minority hopefully on the verge of retirement. Scott Walker kicks all Milwaukee County employees constantly; employees -- you are the dogs. Wake up and vote for Barrett. Mr. Walker talks incessantly about creating jobs. Do not apply.....any job Walker would create will have the stamp of idiocy all over it....and likely, come without benefits.

Ron Johnson is laughable. He must be on a power trip to have spent millions of his own dollars on his campaign. He says he's going to go to Washington and make a difference. Not bloody likely. Keep Feingold in office. Mr. Feingold is a truly dedicated politician.

Like most Republicans, Mr. Johnson lies about his integrity. He also talks about creating jobs. Government does not create jobs, entrepreneurs create jobs. Unfortunately, there are no tax incentives to inspire entrepreneurs because all the money to inspire new business enterprises is ear-marked as tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. Like Mr. Johnson. And...Mr. Walker's campaign contributors.

Mr. Johnson is strolling down the street like the rich guy in Monopoly, but instead of twirling his walking stick, he's swinging a terrified cat by the tail. That cat is anyone who is not a millionaire, in other words, you.

The Autumn of My Discontent

I hate winter. A Wisconsin winter is about as joyous as a colicky baby with two heads. I am going to really have to draw on my personal survival resources to get me through five more winters -- the magic number in my husband's head before he is ready to give up his practice and move somewhere reasonable.

I have a sense of foreboding about this winter. I am already sick with some bug that has kept me coughing, sneezing, head achy, feverish, fatigued and ornery. This started in September. After three weeks of symptoms, I've finally made a doctor's appointment. The point is, it's not a good way to kick off the change in season.

I used to cross country ski, which helped pass six months of cold, snow, ice and other assorted miseries. Maybe I should take up skiing again. Except everything I take up now, athletically, seems to hurt a great deal two days after the fact. Hmmm.. Maybe I could get pain medicine and pass the winter in a narcotic haze. This sounds appealing. Then again, not being able to follow the plot line of The Andy Griffith Show probably won't help preserve any of my brain cells. Pretty sure I'd like to retain the intelligence left to me.

I desperately need some winter survival ideas. I could join AA -- just to have someplace to go. I don't really drink much. I don't knit, crochet, sew, or any of that fun hand stuff to keep me occupied. My hands get in trouble a lot, opening doors to shopping malls and boutiques. It's good the roads are icy, which makes me think twice about going out.

I have tons of art supplies, which I hope will help me be creative. Sure wish I had talent, as well. Most of my art endeavors end up half done or thrown out. I have fun doing them, but the end result is, well, hideous, usually.

The thought of being house-bound, even though I love my very charming house, is weighing heavily on my mind. We are one month away from the mid-term elections, and since I live in a state where a lot of interesting issues are at stake, I'm sure I will have fun deriding the good citizens of this state if my candidate picks don't happen to win. But what if my candidates do win???? I need someone new to pick on. Send me suggestions.

The Purloined Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division Report

Don't you just love a secret! Especially one that taxpayer money paid for, and whose information is now being hidden from the very people who funded it?

In 2007, Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division commissioned The Fields Group, a nationally recognized hospital consulting firm, to perform a safety analysis of Milwaukee's facility. The report found:

1. Substantial safety issues for both patients and staff, rendering a dangerous work environment and a summarily dysfunctional therapeutic healing facility.

2. A definite need for more staff training.

3. A definite need for higher staffing levels.

4. A definite need for a secure unit for violent and sexually aggressive patients, to keep them from harming others, or a policy to send those patients to a facility better equipped to handle them, such as Mendota State Hospital.

5. Issues with the security staff. Removing the Sheriff's Department as the designated security team and replacing them with private security personnel left the entire facility at risk.

That is a brief summary of what was contained in the report; and the report was very thorough, a top to bottom review of everything that was happening at the facility, and everything that needed fixing.

The report was never shared with the top clinical directors at Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division. Only a brief summary, i.e., as outlined above, was given to the people trying to run the facility and provide adequate care. One can only assume that it was not shared because Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division, under the direction of Scott Walker and John Chianelli, decided that the changes would be disastrous as it related to budgetary concerns. This is generally what happens when anyone puts money above the human condition. It always costs more in the long run. And believe me, the taxpayers in Milwaukee County haven't a clue about just how much this debacle will end up costing them, but they will find out repeatedly in the next decade or two.

What was done at the Behavioral Health Division to address the concerns the report raised was absolutely nothing of significance. Now the report is being hidden again, from a County Auditor trying to find out what went wrong and how to fix it. The former clinical director I talked with reported that nothing changed after the report was completed. The report was obviously filed in the "Top Secret Don't Tell Anyone" cabinet. Who has access to The Fields Group's report? These are the real criminals and the real perpetrators of the ultimate heinous acts that did occur.

Now any reasonable person does not want slick, lying and unscrupulous people anywhere near their money. Bernie Madoff was slick, lying and unscrupulous, but he knew how to play the game and promote an image of a kindly, benevolent, wonderful human being who was going to make you rich. Many people believed in Bernie Madoff and they lost a great deal of their money. Good people of Wisconsin, don't be fooled by the clean-cut, Republican boy running for Governor. He just doesn't have the smarts, even when given the appropriate tools to do the job. Not qualified? That would be an understatement and a compliment.

The Wisconsin gubernatorial election has gone from politics to theatre. It is a tragedy, not a comedy. Frankly, given the differences between Scott Walker and Tom Barrett, the election should be a no-brainer; but then, there is no end to the denial in which people are capable of indulging. Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division is a point in fact.

Milwaukee County Ethics Board

I recently received a letter from Veronica W. Robinson, Executive Director of the Milwaukee County Ethics Board. Sheeeeessss..... what a HUGE job she has. Although.....it doesn't really appear anyone is actually doing this job, in light of recent events at the Behavioral Health Division.

Anyhow, the letter was personally addressed to me and was signed by Ms. Robinson, although it purported to be a mass-mailing to all recent retirees, reminding them of their obligation to promote ethical behavior through voluntary compliance with Milwaukee County's Ethics Code. Included with the letter was a brochure describing what an ethics code is and how it impacts former employees. It also lists some restrictions in place for former employees. None of this is really applicable to me.

I am writing a blog that sometimes points out the failings of our local government and puts our local elected official, County Executive Scott Walker, in, admittedly, a very bad light. I don't put Mr. Walker in this bad light. Mr. Walker does this all by himself by his incompetence and unwillingness to effectively govern. Mr. Walker is a poster child for the new Republican Party, the Party of "NO". However, even the Party of No has to retreat and regroup when such outrageous events as the Behavioral Health Division debacle forces them into the corner of election-losing bad public relations. Currently, Mr. Walker is discussing all the money he's going to pour into BHD to fix the problems. FAT CHANCE. But I digress.

For Mr. Walker, or anyone in his administration to send me a letter and a brochure on Ethical Behavior is laughable. I'm not the one ethically challenged here. For the Party of No to attempt to quash my first amendment right of free speech is a statement of just how far removed these politicians are from the United States Constitution. A vote for Scott Walker for any political office is equivalent to signing up for a cultural diversity seminar put on by the Nazi Party. Wake up and smell the stench, folks. The State of Wisconsin needs an intelligent leader, not a poster child with an empty head. Mr. Walker fits the rhetoric of his party, but the Emperor is not wearing any clothes. Off with my head, maybe! But I'll continue to write the naked truth.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and why it's passe.

I've decided that a simpler test can be given to anyone to sum up their current
psychological state.

Here goes:

1. In one word, describe the current situation of your life.

2. In as few words as possible, state the one thing you would have/do that would drastically change your life.

3. In one word, tell me what you hate.

4. In one word, tell me what you love.

5. In one word, describe your personality.

6. In one word, describe your romantic history.

7. In one word, describe your relationship with animals.

8. Name one thing to which your feelings are consistently consistent.

9. Name one thing to which you feel absolute apathy, i.e., don't give a rat's ass.

10. Name your favorite television show.

11. Name the television show you absolutely detest.

12. What is your favorite movie.

13. What is the most stupid movie you've ever seen.

14. What is the one thing you would change about yourself.

15. What is the one thing you would never change about yourself.

16. In one word, sum up the world you're living in.

17. Who do you hate.

18. Who do you love.

19. Who would you most like to be stranded on a desert island with.

20. Why?


Okay. Take this test and e-mail your answers to me. I'll give you a psychological profile of yourself.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

I've decided to blog about people I know with personality disorders. It's a cheap and fun way to entertain myself. I am hopeful that some of these people will recognize themselves in these paragraphs, and get some much needed psychotherapy. Nice people like me, and probably you, shouldn't have to keep putting up with these train wrecks.

I do not intend to be subtle. Subtlety on a person with a personality disorder never works.

So.....even though I will change names to protect the emotionally impaired, it shouldn't be too hard for anyone to figure out who I'm talking about. If you recognize yourself here, GOOD. GET SOME HELP and stop your maddening behavior. No one likes you but you.

Overview of Narcissistic personality disorder:

A condition in which there is an inflated sense of self-importance and an extreme preoccupation with one's self.

Symptoms of Narcissistic personality disorder:

*Reacts to criticism with rage, shame or humiliation.

*Takes advantage of other people to achieve his or her own goals.

*Has feelings of self-importance.

*Exaggerates achievements and talents.

*Is preoccupied with fantasies of success, power, beauty, intelligence, or ideal love.

*Has unreasonable expectations of favorable treatment.

*Requires constant attention and admiration.

*Disregards the feelings of others and lacks empathy.

*Has obsessive self-interest.

*Pursues mainly selfish goals.



If you have an insufferable friend who honestly believes they are better than everyone else, please direct them to this blog.

Things to know about people with personality disorders:

1. If they don't get what they want, there will be hell to pay.

2. They don't like honest people. Of course, who does? Most people are perpetuating one sort of lie or another. The problem is, the more honest a person is, the easier it is for them to spot a liar. Narcissists, by their very nature, are huge liars.

3. A narcissist will go to unbelievable lengths to promote an image that has nothing to do with reality; to the point it becomes their reality. Therefore, narcissists can't be honest or open with anyone with any consistency. Lying, even just to oneself, takes an enormous amount of planning, energy and manipulation. Generally, these people wake up exhausted one day, and can't figure out why they're all alone.

4. Narcissists take. They take the lion's share. They steal the thunder. They take and take and take, hands reaching and grasping all the time. They do believe they deserve more than anyone else. Though they are capable of giving, they do it with clenched teeth and they don't necessarily like it. Their gifts are always setups for some future taking event. Giving interferes with the taking, and taking is the nature.

5. Don't feel bad if you forget to compliment a narcissist. They will get around to blowing their own horn. Always.

6. No matter how dismal a contribution a narcissist has made to life in general, in their opinion, no one has done more, done better or looked as good doing it.

7. A narcissist will spout off at the mouth about people, places and things they know absolutely nothing about. This is not coming from any knowledgeable base; a narcissist doesn't need to do research; no one could be more smart or more right. It is best not to invite them to parties where intellectuals are in attendance. Although they could provide entertainment fodder, they will hate you for life for putting them in a situation where they are asked to defend their ideas. They may be clever, but they just seem to lack that intelligent gene.

I'd write more about these people, but frankly, having had to suffer them at close range, I'm now closing this chapter and fervently praying I can avoid this personality disorder in the future.

Deputy Director of WHAT?????

Well, Milwaukee County Behavioral Health is in the news again. John Chianelli has been demoted. NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

Mr. Chianelli's new title is Deputy Director of the Disabilities Services Division. We can only hope that this is a politically motivated decision, and Mr. Chianelli will, in fact, have no power to wreak more havoc in his latest appointment. Seriously, one of Mr. Chianelli's former charges was, in fact, a mentally disabled woman who became pregnant because of Mr. Chianelli's "budget-saving" decisions. You don't demote someone into a position after that happens, you fire the stupid S.O.B. and keep him as far away from patient health care as you can. But then, we live in interesting times, i.e., an election year. Because of the timing, Scott Walker can't be seen as having no faith in Mr. Chianelli's abilities by actually firing him. It was Scott Walker, himself, who put Mr. Chianelli into the job of Director of the Behavioral Health Decision. Obviously, Mr. Chianelli has one redeeming qualification in the eyes of the Walker Administration; he is their political hack. Good citizens of Wisconsin, should Mr. Walker obtain the governorship, you will be surrounded by political hacks as inept as Mr. Chianelli. Wake up and smell the rot of utter incompetence.

Mr. Walker certainly must view his constituents as stupid. This is evidenced by the latest appointment of Mr. Chianelli to any post. Wisconsinites are not stupid, Mr. Walker. Yes, we want our tax dollars spent wisely......and the dollars adding up in the defense of Mr. Chianelli and his less than intelligent administrators is not only outrageous, but it will probably bankrupt Milwaukee County. It is a sad day for any local government when it's leaders continue to make horribly wrong decisions based on saving face. Walker, your face can't be saved; it's got the mark of stupid all over it.

Let me just close by saying this. Look at the mess Milwaukee County is in. Do we need to take this level of ignorance state-wide? No, we do not. Let's send Mr. Walker and all of his budget cutting directives back where they belong; out of the public forum. My fervent wish is that Mr. Walker loses the election, has a nervous breakdown and ends up at Milwaukee County Behavioral Health for the treatment he has deemed appropriate for other Milwaukee County citizens. Talk about poetic justice.
The GOP golden boy is nothing more than a disgusting puppet for the ultra-wealthy. He does not care about Joe-Wisconsin. He does not care about anything; he's too empty-headed.

WALKER FOR GOVERNOR --- A BAD MAN WITH A BAD BUNCH OF IDEAS.

As an afterthought ---- where is the criminal investigation to what happened at the Behavioral Health Division? I won't rest until people are held accountable. There isn't a rug big enough to sweep this under, you hopeless morons. Put down your brooms and get the hell out of our town.

Gambling Addictions

I love to gamble once in awhile. My husband indulges me when we're on vacation, taking me to a casino, where I dutifully spend $60. Sometimes I double my money, and sometimes I lose. It's the nature of gambling. I don't take it too seriously and I certainly don't have a problem because losing money is SOOOOO painful to me. I just chalk up my losses to entertainment expenses. I've suffered guilt when I've spent a few hundred dollars and walked out with nothing, but I don't do that anymore, (A) because I'm retired and (B) because I can't stand the pain, literally.
The most I'll lose is $60, about half the cost of a concert ticket or a pair of good shoes, so it is valid entertainment for me.

Now.....here is how you can tell if you have a gambling addition.

1. You go to Macy's and buy some gold. You don't care what the gold looks like, you feel the weight of it in your hand and whatever feels heaviest is what you take to the pawn shop for some quick gambling cash. (You buy the jewerly on your credit card). You are in your sixties. If you have to go through all those steps to get some quick cash at your age, you're in trouble and you have a gambling addiction.

2. You win a huge jackpot (my estimation of a huge jackpot is anything over $500). You don't quit gambling and leave. When you finally do leave, you're in the hole $1100 in addition to the jackpot you've put back in slot machines.

3. You can't go to the casino with other people. For you, gambling is something you need to do in private, like shooting up heroin.

4. You have to pee really badly, but you can't cash out. You just can't. When you finally lose all your money, you scurry to the nearest bathroom (and they are never close by in a big casino) with wet dribbles in your pants.

5. You're hungry, you're tired, you have a headache, you're supposed to be somewhere in ten minutes and you can't leave that slot machine.

6. You go back the next day to try to recoup what you lost the day before.

7. You're consumed with thoughts of where you'll get the money to gamble later in the week.

8. You can rationalize anything, any bill that goes unpaid, any dollar spent on a slot machine that should be spent on groceries.

9. You have every intention of going to the movies or out to dinner, but you end up at the casino, instead.

10. You're lying about how much you've lost and how often you've lost. You're exaggerating about how much you've won.

Seriously, gambling is like any other addiction; very painful, very hurtful and very costly, emotionally and financially. If you have even one of the above warning signs, please get help. Everyone wants a piece of the big pie, but very few of us get it. Grow up. Get your life back. A life is worth so much more than any amount of money.

The Continuing Debacle of the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division

Alas, it's all a matter of public record now. Names have been named and secrets exposed.

The astounding question remains, however. Why wasn't a violent sexual predator placed in a secure facility, like the State Hospital in Mendota? The answer is relatively simple. Scott Walker, the County Executive, conspired with John Chianelli, the Director of the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division, to save money by not serving the needs of Milwaukee County's mentally ill clients. We all know that the politics of the Republican party is to save money, cut taxes (usually just for the wealthy)and exploit the most vulnerable members of society simply because they are the least likely people to object. I don't see any difference in what these two local yokels have done here than I do with what the Nazi doctors were doing in their experiments at the death camps.

For now, the witch hunt is on. Hopefully, rather than dredging up the less than exemplary past of the treating psychiatrist, the media and the good taxpayers of Wisconsin will place the blame where it duly belongs - on Scott Walker, John Chianelli, Tom Harding, a few other top ranking administrators who have now proven themselves as rank amateurs, and an inept and entitled nursing staff. I believe every person involved in the cover up of the rape and pregnancy of the patient at BHD should lose their license to practice medicine or administer a hospital. This should happen at the very least. I am sending a copy of this blog post to the Milwaukee County District Attorney's office and asking what steps are being taken to prevent these supposed professionals from causing any further harm. I will do the same with the Wisconsin Board of Regulation and Licensing. I am FED UP with the criminal acts of people whose salary I'm paying. Falsifying medical records is a criminal act. There are more criminal acts involved here, but let's leave that to the prosecutors.

I would like to see criminal charges filed against all of these bunglers. If the victim was not mentally retarded and had any capacity to fend for herself, you'd better believe you would see a swift and equitable justice. As it stands, I seem to be just a lone voice that speaks up for injustice.

So the good taxpayers of the State of Wisconsin have a clear understanding of the cost of this debacle, to have placed the violent sexual predator at Mendota for one year would have cost $250,000. Now imagine what this case is going to cost you taxpayers over the next few decades? This is an astronomical figure brought on by an atrociously incompetent group of people masquerading as professionals.

Again, where's the outrage. Let's hope we see it in the gubernatorial election, at least.

And to all the honest, hardworking and truly professional people who have worked for many years at BHD, let's say thank you. It can't be easy being honorable and competent in that three ring political circus. Let's hope you'll move forward and continue to do great work and that you'll do it with professional management and adequate funding in the future. I believe great work is done at BHD, despite the best efforts of consummate politicians and administrative hacks to thwart it.

And finally, kudos to the media in this town, i.e., The Milwaukee Journal, for exposing and staying on top of this story.