What John Wayne Said When I Told Him I Was Getting Married

Good Day World!

A slice of my life.

After getting out of the Army in 1971, I rambled around the country trying to find myself, never staying anywhere for too long.

Then I fell in love.

In the hot summer of 1974, I got engaged to Shirley Ann Holloway. I was working for Pinkerton Security at the time. One of my assignments was to guard a gated community in Newport Beach full of Hollywood bigshots and stars like John Wayne.

Mr. Marion Robert Morrison (his real name - he never legally changed it) always waved to me when he drove thru. Sometimes he'd pause in his green Ford Station Wagon, and chat for a few minutes.

Just general stuff. I remember complimenting him on getting an Oscar (1969) for his starring role of Rooster Cogburn in True Grit.

In all fairness, I didn't keep up with the private lives of stars, so all I knew was The Duke was married to Pilar Pallette, a hot Peruvian actress with one movie to her credit.

He asked me a few questions about Vietnam one day after finding out that I served there in 1970. Nothing too embarrassing. 

One day the subject got around to love. He was a bit cynical of it, and talked about two previous marriages that ended badly.

I told him that I asked someone to marry me and she accepted. His face was a study of fleeting expressions as he digested my happy news.

"Well...I wish you the best partner. I really do," he said. There was an odd look on his face that I only understood a few days later.

A friend told me, after I shared John Wayne's odd response to my good news, that Wayne was separated from his wife. The irony did not escape me.

I was finally transferred to another job, a bank, a couple of months later. On my last day of guard duty in Newport Beach I saw The Duke for the last time. We wished each other luck.

Five years later John Wayne died of stomach cancer...still just separated (not divorced) from Pilar.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Try Chilling Out With Yoganja!

Good Day World!

Here's the thing; marijuana and yoga have been combined for thousand of years.

Ganja Yoga, or Yoganja, is a new concept for Western society.

The practice has been around for at least six years in America. Dee Dassault is one of the first yoga teachers outside of ancient India to publicly offer cannabis-enhanced yoga classes.

According to her personal page "Historically, cannabis has been linked to really early use with Yoga in ancient Shiva cults."

"Back then," Dassault explained to ABC News, "They weren't smoking it, but drinking it in a milk beverage and burning it as an incense. But if you're burning incense, you're essential hotboxing the temple as a result."

Pot yoga students must have medical marijuana cards in California. Card holders have been able to toke up and mix yoga since 2010 at 4:20 Yoga in Los Angeles. 

Colorado has been a leader in yoganja It was the first pot-legal state to offer it.

Oregon hasn't got any yet (that I know of), but I'm sure that's just a matter of time. 

However, back in May 2015, Dee Dassault came up to Oregon and offered a class for a day.

Washington state offers Ganja yoga.

It all makes perfect sense to me. I find weed relaxing and yoga is supposedly (I've never tried it) calming. Just goes to show you there's nothing new under the sun.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Should We Continue To Do Business With Dictators?

                               Good Day World!

Here's a newspaper column I wrote five years ago. It still holds up today:

Hello, America, and welcome to "Name That Dictator." I'm your host today and with that, let's get started.

1. Name seven of America's Favorite Dictators worldwide. Remember the amount of money we pour into their economies is a big measuring stick.

U.S. Taxpayer: "I'd have to say King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia; Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan; Paul Biya of Cameroon; Teodoro Obiange Nguema of Equatorial Guinea; Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia; Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov (or Berdymukhamedov) of Turkmenistan; and Idriss Derby of Chad."

Fantastic! You got them all. You correctly named the countries we're happily sinking billions of dollars into regardless of their stance on freedom or human rights. You guessed right that democracy is secondary to getting what we want from dictators whose countries are strategic to us.

2. Name five of the World's Worst Dictators. Take a moment because you have about 50 (give or take) to choose from. We do business with most of them.

U.S. Taxpayer: "I'm going with Hu Jintao of China; Kim Jong-Il of North Korea; Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya; Hosni Murbarak of Egypt; and Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, whose nasty little pastime of boiling his political opponents to death makes him a must pick."

I'm sorry! Looks like you are not keeping up with world events. Hosni Murbarak was recently hounded out of power by the Egyptian people, and Muammar Qaddafi is on borrowed time after declaring war upon the people of Libya (Editor's note: he's gone now).

3. Here comes another tough question, so pay attention: Of the African dictators, whose life seems a parody of the dictator genre? Hint, Peter Maas said this about him.

U.S. Taxpayer: "I'm leaning toward Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, but my gut instinct says Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea."

Is that your final pick?

U.S. Taxpayer: (pause) "Yes ... I'm going with Teodoro."

Even more dramatic pause. You're correct! Congratulations! That was a secret bonus question and you're getting double points! Are you ready for the next question?

U.S. Taxpayer: "Sure, let's roll. It's only my money we're talking about."

4. Name the dictators who rule the following countries: Belarus, Swaziland, and Syria.

U.S. Taxpayer: "OK ... I know the answers. Aleksandr Lukashenka for Belarus, King Mswati III rules Swaziland, and Sayyid Ali Khamenei for Syria. Wait a moment! I'd like to change Syria to Bashar al-Assad in charge.

The clock stops ticking and the bell goes off! You did it again! You're correct-a-mondo. Let's wrap this game up with the final question of the day: How many countries practice capitalism? This is a tricky question so think before you answer.

U.S. Taxpayer: Let's see ... 15, no 52, no ... 189?

Is that your final answer?

U.S. Taxpayer: Yes it is ... 189.

Buzzers blare! I'm sorry, but that's wrong. Capitalism is an economic policy. It's not a political system and it relies on little government control. Just about every country in the world practices a version of capitalism.

This game show host is still amazed to find any taxpayer who knows as much as you've answered today. Thank you for participating. America has looked the other way for decades as these dictators looted their countries, and it's important the public should know that.

Most Americans probably couldn't name three dictators we do business with on a regular basis. You know why? Because the corporate media doesn't talk about dictators unless world events force them to.

Like Egypt, for example. How many Americans were aware it was ruled by an oppressive dictatorship? 

"Capitalism is freedom -- and freedom leads to prosperity," according to Capitalism Magazine. The idea being you can determine levels of capitalism by looking at a country and the rights its citizens enjoy.

It's inescapable; the dictators we do business with are not "good" capitalists by that standard. Does it matter? We need to get that straight if we expect the rest of the world to believe our message of democracy and freedom for all.

As It Stands, if we don't want to appear hypocritical we should re-examine our relationships with the world's dictators.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

'Oh, You're A Mean One Mr. Trump...' in the Spirit of Dr. Seuss

Good Day World!

Oh, you're a mean one Mr. Trump...
imposing gag orders on your volunteers
exploiting people's fears
taking politics to the dump.

Forgive me Dr. Seuss for linking you to The Donald, but the damage has been done. Just check out Trump's book:

(All Illustrations via Google Images)

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Trump Followers Are Getting Dangerous

John Franklin McGraw, 78, of Linden was arrested Thursday morning after assaulting Rakeem Jones, who had been protesting at the event. Jones was being escorted out by law enforcement when videos show McGraw punching him.

                                 Good Day World!

Just last month Donald Trump said he wanted to punch a protester in the face.

Perhaps that's what inspired 78-year John Mcgraw to sucker punch a protester being led away from a Trump rally in Fayetteville, N.C. two days ago.

Man Charged With Assault After Punching protester at Trump event

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The show "Inside Edition" spoke to McGraw after he punched Jones.

"Yes, he deserved it," John McGraw (photo right - Cumberland County Sheriff's Office)) said in an interview. 

"The next time we see him, we might have to kill him. We don't know who he is. He might be with a terrorist organization."

Is he scary enough for you?

At another rally in Iowa, Trump promised to pay the legal fees of supporters who "knock the crap out" of protesters who may appear at the rally.

Despite the fact that McGraw sucker punched Jones, it was Jones who got handcuffed and led away by several guards. Sounds like them Good Old Days in Dixie are being resurrected by Trump's demagoguery.

Protestors at Clinton and Sanders events don't have to worry about being beat up by the crowd or the cops. It hasn't happened, and won't.

That's because protestors are treated like humans at their rallies. Something Trump - and apparently some of his more rabid followers - chose to ignore in their righteous wrath to stomp out any dissent.

If that doesn't sound like Facism, nothing does. Trump has the crowds saluting him now, just like his mentor, Adolf Hitler, did in 1935.

Trump is bragging that he's started a movement.

Well he has, but it bodes badly for the common American citizen. 
As he whips up crowds with racist comments and hate-fueled rhetoric, Trump is trampling everything America stands for.

Keep your eyes open as this race progresses and don't be surprised if more protestors are attacked. You can bet there's more John McGraws out there willing to go to any limits for their Furor.

Look closely at the people who are following him in rallies. They're angry. They turn on protestors like the Nazi's did the Jews...with senseless hate and violence.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Rules of Engagement For Children Viewing GOP Debates

                     (Romber Room ran on TV from 1953 to 1994 - photo Wikipedia Commons)                        

                                   Good Day World!

Tonight could be the last GOP debate.

Parents are going to have to set up rules of engagement for viewing this time for their children after what's transpired in previous debates.

It's just going to get uglier.

Before the debate even begins, parents need to reassure their children that the candidates are really adults; regardless of what they see and hear.

It's important to make the debacle/debate a "teachable moment" for children watching at home:

Parent:
"You hear what Trump just said about women Johnny? I catch you saying that, and I'll put you in the corner until you turn 18!"

Parent:
"No, Susie...all men are not such big babies! I know it looks like Romper Room, but one of those clowns may be your next president some day!"

Parents need to explain that all presidential debates aren't as dumbed down as the current GOP one's are. This will be a challenge when candidates like Trump talk about their "junk" being big in defense of small hands.

I've even heard anecdotal stories of babies crying when they see the animal on Trump's head suddenly move about violently when he gets mad!

Best advise; don't expose any children to the debates that are under five-years old.

If at any time parents notice their children getting sick with revulsion, turn the channel fast!

Time for me to walk on down the road...

What? No 5-Step Vetting Process For Presidents This Year?

Good Day World!

Live and learn.

I always thought that presidential candidates were throughly vetted before running for office.

It appears I was wrong.

No one could of checked out Donald Trump's backround when he threw his clown hat in the ring, or there wouldn't be so many revelations in regard to his lurid past.

The guy's got Mafia connections ("The mob connections of Donald are extraordinarily extensive," New York investigative journalist Wayne Barrett told CNN in an interview.) has been sued repeatedly for building violations, descimination against his own workers and tenets in his apartment buildings, and is going to court for fraud in regards to his sham university - Trump University.

Column: "Donald Trump tried to get me fired after I wrote about Trump University" 

That's just what's been uncovered in the last six months. Who knows what dirt still remains to be discovered?

Supposedly candidates go through an early vetting process with a 5-step investigation:

1) Taxes 
Does Trump have a problem with the IRS? Who knows?
He won't release his tax returns, claiming an audit makes it impossible. A claim that is patently false according to the IRS.

2) Ethics and Financial Disclosure
Again, no one really knows what The Donald is worth, or where he stashes all of his money. Ripping off 150 illegal Polish workers during the building of Trump Tower, is only the tip of his ethics iceberg.

It's pretty unethical to get caught cheating the government isn't it? Here's what Trump was caught doing in 1986:

Celebrities listed as Buyers in Sales Tax Evasion case

3) Litigation, investigations, and other legal procedures

Background investigations supposedly include public records checks in law enforcement databases, as well as such court docket databases as PACER.
The pendency of a criminal investigation, even for a misdemeanor offense, supposedly renders a nomination untendable.

What happened with Trump's investigation? Fraud is a felony. He's going to court in May.

Speaking of litagation, the lawsuits don't stop with that fraud trial. A judge will decide by the end of this month whether to proceed with a proposed class action lawsuit filed by a Jamaican fashion model against Trump's modeling agency for cheating her out of wages.

Who investigated Trump? Was he even investigated?

4) Publications and Organizational Affliations
Candidates are supposed to identify all published writings, significant speechs or panel presentations, and organizational positions and affliations on extensive written questionnaires.

Let's put it this way, Trump has said things in past news articles that he totally disavows now. When confronted with reality he doubles down on the lie. The fact he knows a white supremacist group is campaigning for him should be enough to make people wonder.

5) Medical, family, and personal issues
Has 69-year old Trump even taken a physical to see if his bulging gut could be a problem or if he has high or low blood pressure, etc.?
What about a mental examination? I sincerely doubt The Donald would pass one without raising concerns. 

A neuroscientist explains: Trump has a mental disorder that makes him a dangerous world leader

With Trump leading the race for the GOP nomination I have to believe that none of the five steps shared above were conducted by anyone, and no one cares!

Live and learn.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Perfect Paring: Beer and Marijuana Are Cousins

Good Day World!

The next time you spark up a bowl and have a beer with it, you should know it's a family affair!

That's right. According to Popular Science, marijuana and hops - the flower commonly used to brew beer - share similar organoleptic properties of taste and smell.

In other words, they're cousins. They belong to the same botanical family called Cannabaseae. Humulus lupulus (hops) and Cannabis sativa (marijuana) are closly related according to the experts.

Cannabis and pot have had a loose relationship for years that was bolstered when the Lagunitas Brewing Company brewed it in 2005.

Lagunitas had it's brewer's license suspended after police made marijuana busts at their Petaluma, California, brewery in an event that has come to be known as the St. Patrick's Day Massacre. 

One of the biggest draws for Colorado's Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in 2015 was cannabis-infused beer.
Colorado beer brewers Dad and Dudes Breweria, introduced Indica Double IPA.

To be clear - there is no such thing as a "commercial pot beer" for sale. That would be illegal. What's being sold has legal hemp oil in it.

It's a game of cat and mouse with regulators. No slang or drug terms are allowed in cannabis-infused beer labeling.

Cheers! Dude/Dudette!

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Viewing Cell Phones During Live Sporting Events Is Not A Bright Idea

                                  Good Day World!

What do you see in the photo below?

Someone blocking a baseball bat with their arm and saving a kid from harm. Right?

Now look closer.

Take a look at what the kid is holding. 

A cell phone.

If the man next to him hadn't been watching the game closely, that little boy would have been picking splinters out of his teeth!

Best scenerio.

Here we have a young fan who gets to see major leaguers play live baseball, and he's checking out his cell phone! What's wrong with that picture?

I was watching a pro basketball game the other night and saw an errant ball slam into a young fan who had his nose in his cell phone. Talking front row seat.

That kid had the best seat in the house and he couldn't put his cell phone down long enough to observe real live action unfolding in front of him. 

What is going on with young fans today?

Is it, like I suspect, a case of technology addiction? It appears todays' youngsters are operating on two levels - the social media mode, and the real world.

There's a right time for each. Combining the two can pose problems, as demonstrated in the examples above.

It's sad to see. I can't imagine how thrilled I would have been, as a kid, to sit in the front row of a basketball game, or the best seat in a baseball stadium.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

A Peek At The Power of Bird Poop

Good Day World!

Don't ever underestimate bird poop!

Last December, bird droppings were the cause of a shutdown at a nuclear power plant outside New York.

Experts say the automatic reactor shutdown was apparently from bird feces that caused an electric arc between wires on a feeder line at a transmission tower.

Bird poop shows up everywhere in our society including baseball. Like this bird bomb on Mike Matheny:

Listen To Vin Scully Tell A Charming Story About Bird Shit

Bird poop has become a concern for some lawmakers due to an influx of crows on the Iowa State Capitol grounds.

Crows burying Capitol in bird droppings

Veronica Padula, a researcher who studies seabirds off the Alaskan coast, told Smithsonian that she's found significant concentrationsof phthalates - chemicals used to make plastic flexible and harder to break - in kittwakes, Horned Puffins, and Red-Faced Cormorants.

According to Padula, those chemicals ultimately get into the birds' reproductive tissue and perhaps even into their eggs, which could affect egg-eaters like eagles and foxes.

Read more: How Plastic Pollution Makes Bird Poop Toxic

I could continue to provide more examples, but I think you have the idea - bird poop is NO JOKE!

Time for me to walk on down the road...

News I'd Like To See: 'Rappers Don't Shoot Each Other'

Good Day World!

Yo bro! It's just music!

Ain't supposed to be dying over it bro.

It's happening all too often.

Another rapper gone to the great beyond before his time. Maybe someone didn't like his rhyme.

I'm talking 'bout rapper Bankroll Fresh whose hit "Hot Boy" was trending on the charts. Someone walked into his recording studio and shot him dead Saturday.

This time last year, rapper Shaquon Thomas made a video that made fun of a rival gang while pretending to hold a gun in his hands.

"You don't even know how to shoot," Thomas rapped in the video, titled "Shooters." 

The next day he was gunned down by someone who certainly knew how to shoot about a block from where he recorded that video, on the streets of Uptown (Chicago).

It's an area where three street gangs - the conservative Vice Lords, the Gangster Disciples and the Black P Stones - have been locked in a long-running feud. Thomas was a Gangster Disciple, according to the police.

Rappers equal gangsters. It's really too bad. 

Rapping would get more respect if it wasn't so closely associated with real world gangsters who think nothing of murdering one another over the slightest sign of perceived disrespect.

You know what I'd like to see? A truce between all the gangs in America. At least when it comes to making music. Why kill off talent?

Someday, we might even see this headline, "Rappers Don't Shoot Each Other."

Time for me to walk on down the road...