Author: joe

The green stuff is rain. The yellow stuff is lots of rain. The white stuff is snow. The pink stuff is either lots of snow, or Hostess Snoballs…in which case, those folks in the mountains are gonna need some milk to wash it all down.

Some of the day’s headlines…

• Health specialists urge rethinking AIDS fight
• U.S. Urged to Help Women With AIDS
• HIV Infection Rates Unchanged in U.S.
• S Asia rallies on World Aids Day
• Brazil to break Aids drug patents
• AIDS in India, China and Russia Nears ‘Tipping Point,’ U.N. Says
• HIV, AIDS Cases Rise Among U.S. Gay, Bisexual Men
• Sex workers join Sri Lanka’s AIDS awareness drive
• Asia Marks World AIDS Day Amid New Warnings
• Swedish HIV vaccine due to be tested in Tanzania next year
• Iran’s growing AIDS crisis shifts from the needle to the bed
• Health officials blame insurgency for spread of AIDS in Nepal
• Southern African leaders call for mass action on World AIDS Day
• Experts deny HIV drugs ‘hold-up’
• Botswana Leader Warns on AIDS: Abstain

And on a personal note, it was 11 years ago this month that my dear friend Darryl succumbed to the disease. His laugh and smile are missed to this day.

Where I grew up, the kids would play a game where they would sneak up on a sleeping cow and tip it over. Never played it myself, though we did have cows in the field right next to our house when I was very young. At that age, even if I wanted to, I don’t think I was big enough to tip a cow.

I remember sitting on the floor of my grandmother’s house in Roselle, New Jersey, on Thanksgiving morning watching the parade. Back in those days, we had Underdog, Mickey Mouse, Kermit the Frog. In all the years I lived in Manhattan, I never went to the parade. On a few occasions, I did go up the night before (in the freezing cold) to watch them inflate the huge balloons.

There’s a lot to be said for a fresh apple crisp, right out of Mom’s oven. This one is still too hot to eat…now, if I could only eat ice cream. Where’s my Lactaid when I need it!

Well, we did it again! We re-elected a President because of his superior morals. I guess sending 1100 people to their deaths in a personal vendetta is less immoral than a stained blue dress. Or going AWOL versus not inhaling. This, plus six states voting to prevent gay marriage, really gives me faith in the people of the great nation of ours.

Thanks for voting!

It’s funny that Halloween is only a few days before Election Day this year. I find the two days have far more in common this year than ever before. Both seem to be about putting on false personas and scaring the crap out of people. The level of noise this election has been so high as to almost obliterate any useful or productive discussion of any real issues. What about the debt, rising healthcare costs, national security, equal rights? We continue to tell ourselves that we live in the best nation in the world, but it has been and could be better. We are wasteful, ignorant, selfish, self-righteous, spoiled, and arrogant. We’ve squandered our strength, the world’s natural resources, and the goodwill of a hundred years.

No matter what happens this election, we need to rediscover our basic values. We must put young people and education first. We must not allow fat-ass CEOs to get paid millions while their employees can’t pay for healthcare. We must protect our natural resources. We must treat all people with the same rights and respect we ourselves expect. We must not see dissent as disloyalty.

So…GO OUT AND VOTE! No matter who or what you vote for, make your voice heard.

Sign of the times?