This is a scientific example of recession type hair provided by the artsy hands of an imaginative ten-year old. The crazy woman in the picture is a gypsy type truck driver that would rather be anywhere else at all times: Long Beach at the salon. With busy hands and nothing much to do, her and the artsy ten-year old spend their days watching news, reading books, studying examples of great art, (like this one) and surfing the internet for day jobs, local jobs, and educational opportunity.

They make daily trips to the mailbox for scores rendered by the state...that seemingly will never arrive, and watch the neighborhood attorney make trips into his condo with fast food and Scotch tucked under his arm. They peer out their windows into the garden area that looks like it was tended by a group of mentally challenged kindergarten kids, and speculate, gambling really, on which dryer will take quarters today.

Once the ball starts rolling it's hard to make it stop. My friend, who always slept with a gun under his pillow, believed he only had to make the suggestion and the hill the ball was rolling down would turn to an 11 percent grade, careening out of control and launching the occupants off to oblivion like a wayward Toyota, and into the abyss, a virtual pit of lies and duplicity. I am sure the Mitch McConnells of the world, and his co patriot (and near twin) Lamar Alexander felt their foot upon the brake of their own wayward Toyota as the lies and budget duplicity they have rolled down the hill, via a ball of virtual crap, plopped useless on their own personal pile of shame. But, unlike the CEO of Toyota, their shame will remain hidden behind a staunch "holier than thou attitude" because they are men without honor and without courage enough to stand before the United States of America and apologize for stringing this mess out for the benefit of a group of greedy insurance companies. Maybe the most comedy came while this group of conspirators sat on their cushy butts and argued about separate insurance pools for different types of health care plans. But President Obama opened this dignified assembly by first talking about the benefits of the federal workers health care plan. He laid out exactly why these men "without honor," and their dependents, can enjoy such luxurious and well managed health care: there are millions on the plan!!! So they argue for separate and unequal pools of insurance while they themselves reap the benefits of a single pool.

The real star of the day was Tom Coburn. He exhibited the strange qualities of a "Man of Honor" and he is, of all things, a republican doctor. He opened the dialogue with a discussion about a patient with acute asthma. He talked about how this was preventable, and he decried the useless and disgusting practice in this country of not supporting preventive care. I almost fainted with disbelief, "Tom Coburn would suggest rewarding people for preventive care!" My son would have full blown asthma by now without weekly allergy shots. He was seen by two doctors who with consensus ordered my child into treatment immediately. The cost for the shots is out of this world. Not only do we have to pay the premiums, we also have to pay every week to have the shot administered. You would think it would be cheap to just give a small boy a shot in each arm once a week. But it costs hundreds of extra dollars every month, and that is just the beginning.

Hopefully, we will soon see the end of this perpetual rolling ball of insurance and greedy doctor slime plop into the lap of our "holier than thou" harlot of republican philosophy. The grand excuse for excluding millions upon millions of regular citizens from equal access to healthcare is based upon the tenets of "responsibility." According to our grand republican "holier than thou" philosophy we are all responsible for our own healthcare, it is simply NOT A RIGHT. However, I will argue anytime that it is extremely difficult to maintain any semblance of responsibility if you are suffering from disease, injury, a virus, or impending death. What if your child is suffering? Are you good to wrangle with insurance companies on the phone endlessly?

Why isn't healthcare a right? You cannot measure a person's intrinsic worth by their ability to pay a healthcare premium.

Many other valid and logical points were addressed during today's healthcare summit. And I usually love republicans and even have considered myself within their camp. However, I am feeling shamed by their duplicity, the pandering to greed, and the self righteous responsibility bull crappie. I want you to know that the most famous republican of all "George W. Bush" used reconciliation to push through the senior prescription plan that is untenable in its current form. So what to do now? It is hard to stop the ball once it gets rolling, and I am pleased to see it picking up speed.

Several residents of Sealy, Texas, have asked me why the local paper hasn't provided an update on the Stephen Wayne Sudduth case. Nothing has been reported in months, so I decided to visit local law enforcement and find out why. What I learned is that he attempted to get his bail reduced, but the Court said NO. His pretrial is set for April 13th, 2010, and his tentative court date is May 3rd. He will get a special prosecutor, and I can't imagine him receiving any kind of deal. At any rate, I was very happy to learn that he is still locked up nice and tight. What bothers me is that someone would bail him out. Who would do something like that, and where would the money come from? If he was free, then that might mean he would be living in the house just down the street from me with his mother. I don't want him down the street, or even in the same state.

If you don't know much about this case, then please visit http://badbadteacher.com, or simply google the name. If convicted this man will likely set a record for owning the most child pornography of any teacher ever busted. Not only that, according to prosecutors he is a star in some of his own pictures. I have heard some locals say things like, "yea, but he did that over there." I guess they are talking about the school he worked at off shore. How does his location minimize his crime? I would certainly like to know who he was swapping pictures with too.

   Thomas worked out of his Volkswagon in Castaic, California. He polished trucks to pay for his college and support his shifty girlfriend. Sometimes he would show up with a surfboard strapped to the roof, and his hands were still wrinkled from the cold Pacific water. He liked Kurt Cobain, wore his hair in the coolest surfer style, and he was smart and handsome. He would tell me about his life, and how tired he was of the constant bickering with his lazy chick. He told me she would show up after clubbing around LA before daylight, tired and high. He would take her in, feed her some breakfast, load up his books and board, and head out for the day.

    When I go to Castaic now, all of the men polishing trucks are from Mexico. They are nice enough...

After today's appointment, I sat in my car thinking about Thomas. I watched the people run in and out of the Starbucks; Castaic has two of those now. I thought about walking to Lake Hughes with my dog and watching the boats putter around while Thomas used his grinder on my truck. I remember how beautiful it was when I would walk up to the polished aluminum tanks, sparkling and clean; my Pete glowed in the California sun. I would pay him in cash and head to Oxnard, or Bakersfield, Fresno, and sometimes Sacramento.

I guess I am just tired from my busy morning appointment.

Sheeps go to heaven and goats go to hell. Where have we heard this? 

When I was a teenager I owned the most beautiful pair of chandelier earrings. They were light and Gothic, tinkley against my shoulders; I wore them on weekends, when I rode around with my boyfriends in dark smoky cars. I had a couple of pairs of old jeans, and a leather jacket, (well it looked like leather) and a purse I had made in home economics with long straps and fringy stuff on the side. My hair was long; not sort of long, or rather long, but very long, and I drove long distances everyday. I was the best driver around. I smoked Winstons and Marlboros, but not marijuana. Whenever someone passed me marijuana, I passed it away; I hated the stuff. But I loved my chandelier earrings; they were the nicest thing I owned at that time.

One night is was very cold and snowy; the boyfriend's car was down the street without gasoline. I asked my mom to let him in the house so he could stay out of the cold, but she wouldn't. I walked out into the cold with my boyfriend, but without my shoes; my mom slapped one of the chandelier earrings off into the snow, and I never saw it again. I ran all the way to Clyde's Cafe in the snow without my shoes. I ran all of the way. We sat over hot beef sandwiches and I cried over nothing but the earrings. But I have always understood the darker side of Robert Frost. I have appointments to keep.