24 Regrets

Regrets

Some folks regret that they lived the lives that others expected of them, rather than living true to them selves. They regret that they worked as much as they did. They regret that they lacked courage to express their feelings. They regret that they were not close to their familial friends. They regret that they had not permitted themselves to be happier than they allowed themselves to feel.

I live my life without regard for other folks expectations. No regret there.

I love working. I have fun by working. No regret there.

I express feelings frequently. No regret there.

I have no real friends, just folks who self-identify as my friends. Being that I am a benign sociopath, I am not close to most. No regret there.

I am a happy camper being me. No regret there.

I regret that I looked at Cynthia Macklin in 1971, didn't start to see her until 1986, and didn't see her clearly until 2004. Cynthia treated me as though she respected and liked me. When I talked to her, she looked at me until we were done talking. Most girls looked away from me when I was around. I asked for her help in a project; Cynthia assented and collaborated with me. But I was so blind that I forgot her for fifteen years. I took another eighteen years to remember her name. I wish I'd seen Cynthia when I looked at her.

I regret that I allowed bullies to knock me around when I was younger. I bought into the non-violence meme, that real men are strong enough to refrain from violent actions against folks who assault them. I wish that I had beaten the bejesus out of a couple of bullies when I was in high school and hammered Norbert the prankster who wasted my time. I wish that I had painted the walkway in Manhattan Beach with the blood of the four guys who shoved me around one evening in 1973. I wish that I had crippled the two 'bros' -Jose Mata and Rich Gammel- who held me down -in the upstairs bathroom of the house in which I was rooming- to shave half of my face that year. I wish that I had violently responded to bullies' assaults against me.

I regret that I allowed Pete Miranda to search and arrest me. I wish I had shot him dead when I had the chance.

I regret that I failed to break Trinidad Octavio's neck when he smashed head-on into my pick-up truck early one August morning in 1987. I lost a truck because of his poor driving skills and my license because I didn't have auto insurance then. I wish that I had reached into the car that he crashed and snapped his neck there.

I regret that I am a fool. I stay on the side, watching the world pass me by. I wish I were wise.

h/t http://tinyurl.com/8265dld   'Nurse reveals the top 5 regrets people make on their deathbed'  

23 Lions Not Looters

Greetings paid-up Lions,

In honor of the 100^th anniversary of the establishment of Lions Clubs, the Sandy Springs Lions Club in Maryland proposed the minting of a commemorative coin, with the help of the U S Congress, as a way to celebrate this centennial and raise eight million dollars for LCIF to aid the visually impaired, the disabled, youth and those affected by major disaster.--Lions Clubs International Newsletter 2011.08.19

H.R. 2139: Lions Clubs International Century of Service Commemorative Coin Act

[http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h112-2139] provides that the US Treasury

• mint commemorative coins
• sell these coins at a premium
• give the premiums collected to the Lions Clubs International Foundation

all at taxpayer expence.

I believe we Lions are loving individuals offering needed services. We voluntarily help folks using voluntarily donated resources from willing donors.

I believe we Lions are not looters insisting on new seizures, using stolen money to promote ourselves or our organisation. These commemorative coins will be minted by gangsters using money provided by people under threat of violent acts against them if they don't cooperate.

I believe we Lions can do better than this.

I believe we Lions can mint our own commemorative medallions and sell those to collectors and other willing buyers.

I believe this proposal conflicts with who Lions are and what Lions do: loving individuals offering needed services.

Lion Doc Ellis

Acton CA Lions Club

22 Immigration

http://tinyurl.com/3wo8g8s

A bill passed by a state committee would revoke the professional license of anyone who hires undocumented workers.

So, gangsters wanna revoke permission to produce of anyone who voluntarily engages the services of individuals who don't have proper gangster-issued permission slips. I get that some folks think that this is a good thing.


Folks have the right to prohibit unwanted visitors on their own properties. Folks have no business advocating coercing folks from allowing visitors on their own properties. Folks have the right to refuse to associate with anybody. Folks have no business advocating coercing folks from associating with anybody.


The immigration issue is about whether or not folks have natural authority to associate with anybody, or to permit anybody to co-occupy (or occupy) their own properties. This is about coercively maintaining a culture. Such effort will fail.


When folks coercively maintain a culture, that culture is toast. Folks can only maintain a culture by voluntarily living it.

21 Comments about Town Council

I was a member of the Agua Dulce Town Council (ADTC) 1997-2003. The ADTC is a deliberative advisory body with no legislative or tax-levying authority. Council Members serve community stake-holders

• to facilitate community stake-holder consensus
• to discuss community stake-holder concerns
• to represent community stake-holders before other bodies
• to review proposals affecting community stake-holders
• to maintain political neutrality

These comments, especially #1, 4, 5, and 6, come directly from my experiences then. They pertain primarily to the ADTC and other such like bodies.

1. Read the ADTC Charter and By-Laws outside of the TC meetings. Focus on learning what is in those documents. When a fellow council member tries to act outside of the documents, you will know that, and you will be able to remind him. You will also know what you can and cannot do within those documented rules.

• I did not read the Charter and the By-Laws until my third term (2001-2003). I had no understanding when someone was acting outside the limits of these documents.

2. You are just a listener. Pay attention to the best of your ability to constituents and other speakers. Your job is to tell government agents and/or officials what folks in this community have to say. You are a conduit.
3. Remember that you have no authority to tell or coerce other folks to obey you. A lot of folks get on the town council with the idea that they are gonna make things happen according to their own agendas. Leave your agenda outside the council.
4. Be prepared now to stand up for your constituents in the event that town council members or government folks try to violate the constituents.

• A constituent asked for my help in getting on the agenda to present his case before the TC (2001). I failed to do this because I had not prepared to go to bat for constituents before they needed me and because I had not read the Charter and the By-Laws.

5. Be prepared now to refuse to let other town councilmembers run over you or fail to follow through on task-related agreements that they have made with you.

• I never signed any checks while I was treasurer (2001-2003) because I allowed the Presidents to run me around on helping me get authorisation transfers. One President did not keep the one appointment that I made for us to get the account bank to transfer signature authorisation to us and I gave up on him. The other President did not ever keep his promise to get the change-of-authorisation letter to the account bank written. I was responsible for writing the letter and I gave up on him, too.

6. Read the Rural Town Councils Guide Book. There is a wealth of information in there.

• Be aware that pursuant to Johnson et al v ADTC 2007, the information on page 29 does not currently apply. The ADTC is governed by the Brown Act. Read up on that Act.

7. Provide contact information, such as a phone number or an e-mail address.  You can get a cheap disposable phone for the phone contact or you can get a disposable e-mail address for free if you are concerned about privacy.  The contact information provides credibility to you and to the proposition that you are concerned about issues that bother your constituents.
8. Leave your expectations outside the door and remember: this too shall pass.

Edwina Thompson Continuing Her Journey

A fifth-generation Californian who commenced her journey in Porterville 21 June 1942 and settled in Agua Dulce just prior to 1980, Edwina Thompson continued by going on her own everlasting trail ride on Wednesday, 12 January 2011.

Edwina was most happy while horseback.  She commuted to work in Los Angeles every day, where she was a senior legal assistant with O’Melveny & Myers LLP and then with Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP.  Although her commute was a long one, she never complained; because she knew on the weekend her time would be spent in and around her home, and involving her animals.  


She always had a big smile and something nice to say.

She was active with her horses in the cutting arena and actively competed for many years.  In recent years she had spent most of her time on the trail, she participated with Equestrian Trails Group locally, and regularly rode with some of her neighbors.

Preceded by her parents Edwin and Bernice Thompson, Edwina left behind her beloved horses Montequila Gold and Ruby San, her cousins Jim Epperson, Ruth Schieck, Leon Barris, and Vic Barris, as well as her friends and neighbors. Folks wanting to join in celebrating her voyage in February may contact David Watts at wattsd@sbcglobal.net or at 323.361.1752.

Soldiers are not Heroes 3.2.2009

Soldiers are State employees who work to kill on your behalf. If warriors want to kill each other in voluntary exchanges of violence, they can go ahead. I oppose the imposition of involuntary collateral damage during such exchanges. 

You have the right to defend yourself with lethal force against an attacker. You do not have the right to initiate the use of force against someone else. No one has the right to kill other people first because they might kill you.

Soldiers work for the State, not for you. The State is your worst enemy. The State functions to steal from thee, and give to me what it stole from thee, and to steal from me to give to thee what it stole from me. The State uses employees, including Soldiers, to carry out its designs.

For more information: go read www.lewrockwell.com; and Butler's "War is a Racket" at: http://warisaracket.com/

A Pawn Job 2009.10.11

When Satan swung by to visit God, God needled Satan by bragging about Job.  He praised this fellow, carrying on about how faithful Job was, what a wonderful guy Job was and on and on.  Satan claimed that Job was so wonderful only because he was so blessed by God.  Satan said that if Job lost his blessings that he would turn against God. They were talking about a guy who had more large animals than just about anybody else, and whose adult sons were wealthy enough to have birthday parties in their own houses.  He was the richest guy in his 'hood.  So God, to make a point that Job was faithful, permitted son Satan to destroy Job’s wealth.

Guess what?  After his animals were either stolen or fried, and after his sons died from a house imploding upon them, Job grieved without hating God.  He noted that he had started with nothing and he currently had nothing.  Do you think God didn’t know the outcome beforehand? 

Check this out:

 ³And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.[Job 2:3 KJV ]

Did you pick up on that?  God admitted that he was directly responsible for Job’s losses.  Isn’t that cool?  And Job still loves God. 

This quote is well worth remembering.  If God can move against such a faithful servant as Job, what keeps you safe from God’s causeless destruction of your life?

Life got worse for Job.  Satan blew off the destruction of Job’s wealth and scions, claiming that if Job got sick, he would turn against God.  God, knowing full well how things would turn out, moved against Job without cause by permitting Satan to inflict a bout of boils on Job.

So Job kicked down, scraping his boils while contemplating his situation.  His wife, Sitidos, royally infuriated, blurted out that he should curse God and die.  She had lost ten children for no good reason, and her husband was now possibly unable to support her in the lifestyle to which she was accustomed.  Sitidos had lost face big time, falling from being married to the richest guy in the 'hood to being married to the most loathsome poor guy in the 'hood.  And it was all for nothing.  She knew her husband well enough to know that he had done nothing to deserve those losses.  And in a moment of despair, Sitidos urged Job to turn against his Lord.

But Job, like an abused dog happy to lick the hand of his Master anyway, praised his Lord by saying,

What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?  [Job 2:10 KJV]

Isn’t that wonderful?  God can give Job a fish, or God can give Job a serpent, and it’s all good.

You just gotta love how this story ends.  After all the effluent that Job endured, his Master rewarded him by giving to him twice as many large animals as he had at the beginning of his trials, and by giving to him seven more sons and three stone-fox daughters.  Yeah, the wife gets to give birth twenty times in something like forty to fifty years, but the babies belonged to Job, not to her. 

It’s all about Job.  God used Job as a pawn in his big game with Satan.  There does not seem to be any resolution in this game.  We never find out what happened between God and Satan after God restored Job.  We can surmise that Satan was not convinced that Job was righteous, or we can surmise that Satan was convinced that Job was righteous.  


Clearly God can destroy you without cause and can give you a fish, or a serpent, and it’s all good.