Olive Garden at the Mall ain't charging jack shit for NYE

How long can you continuously eat soup, salad and breadsticks?

I actually went the other day and ti was pretty damn good. My Mom used to go there every year round Christmas time and I had a nostalgic moment.....

To all the businesses that are open today

Thanks a big bunch. Gave me someplace to hang, someplace to eat, to shop.. Not too big on the pajama thing after noon, but I am glad you were open.

I used to tend bar and would always work on the holidaze. Tips were great, the vibe amazing and I always let the people who had been 86d in if they were with their families.

I am homeless

I am homeless
Been living in my car for over a year now. Thankfully I knew it was coming so I bought a van which hides out pretty nicely. I belong to a gym and shower and workout there. Got a Computer and download movies etc and have a few bars and coffee shops I have been hannging out in forever so I don't spend much money. I also win trivia almost every week and that is good for a couple of burgers a week. With the food stamps and cash I do okay. I never sell my food stamps (Some do however and that pisses me off) and am going to lose my cash aid next month. My carpal Tunnel is still not fixed but it is better now thanks to painkillers. Now Ic an funtion anyways, but still cannot possibly do any type of job right now till I get the operation.I cannot get SSD because of the time I took care of my parents via IHSS meant that I have a ten year lapse in employment (When working for a parent via IHHS they do not take out social security) so no SS Disability for me.. 2 years till full on SS (62).....

My healthcare story here http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027031413

BUT< there are about 30 people who call this library home. They all have a story and a different situation. Some are flat out drunks. Others are tweekers, others don't do drugs at all but have anxiety so bad they cannot even approach a cash register. One guy has a PHD in Russian (Soviet) studies but his weight and overall look, along with his outdated study, mean he cannot get work. He is new around here and living in his car.

Some of the ones who are pretty much unable to function at all I have taken to get them into programs and see that they get food stamps and aid and take them to the free meals, which are a ways away..

I am lucky, I have 2 two cars, great friends around and things to keep me occupied and into a good groove. Many don't. And the help they get is nothing. $175 dollars a month cash for 3 months (which you have to pay back) and 190 in food stamps and a bus pass. but nobody can take their stuff on the bus they seldom use it, because their possessions are everything to them..

If you don't have a car then that means you eat at the liquor store.

A few churches (and they are the only ones that do) help out, but the GIANT church next to the park has never given anyone so much as a sandwich. Nor has the one across the street from that one. A couple free meals, miles away,and the food lockers, but if you are carless, you are screwed. Even then if you don't have a home the food they do give you is worthless. Rice, noodles? soups, all stuff you need to heat? They try hard but it is tough. Some of it is okay but the food lockers are required to give everyone a bag of rice and some noodles and cereal. If you don't have a car, then you aren't getting there. The bus don't come within a mile of there.

For a lot of these people, I tried, via the various agencies around here, to get some info on shelters, becasue I saw the news trucks etc..... and I got NO REPLY. for two weeks, no return on phone calls no return on emails, NOT CRAP (the head of the biggest non profit did offer some info but those contacts never contacted me). One of the orgs just got 10 MILLION Dollars in grants too. Perhaps they should get someone to answer the fucking phone and emails......

They had a shelter here, right down the street, last week for a week. All the news people were there touting this crapola. NOT ONE PERSON (I didn't even go there) from around here spent more than one night there. And we saw freezing temps for a couple of days. They had meals, food and haircuts and clothing, but nobody took advantage for that from around here.

For one thing, but you had to leave here, go to downtown to get on a bus,(only 100 too) then to light rail to wait on a bus (at 5 oclock) then be transported to an church location and get lucky to get that church. Again, possessions play a role into this. That means bus and light rail and walking a distance but having to leave all your possessions behind.

Another is the once you are in, you are in policy. So smokers aren't gonna buy that. I wouldn't. No dogs, no drunks etc policy as well. I know that you have to have those policies due to insurance and liability issues, but it is restrictive.

So I don't know, everyone has a different thing going on. Mine is pain. And being a white male 60 years old with outdated job skills and lots of health issues. One couple is a black man, white woman couple. He is a Muslim, a Sunni,and she is a Presbyterian (Which the GIANT church next door is). They sleep on the ground. Came here from Seattle for a job and that fell apart. Here they are, not shit. One is from this very neighborhood who got screwed out of the family biz when he dad died and has been here for years. He does the can thing. Couple of total drunks who fly signs.
Someone the other day asked me, besides giving cash, what can I do? I didn't have an answer. I told her that all of us would be grateful for dinner come Christmas. Past that< I am not sure. I think money is wasted with homeless organizations and all that bullshit. do the math, 10 million dollars for ONE org this year? Lets suppose there are 5K homeless people in the region. That's 2k per. I think that money would be better off spent directly to people, so they can pay off the crap that is keeping them homeless. Probation, Driver's licenses, Car registration (one of mine is due next month and I have no idea what to do about that) or buy a car etc. But no, it will go to pay salaries of a homeless org that will dance in the moonlight of the TV cameras but only marginally effect actually helping people.

I think someone, someone with money to experiment, should try to give 10K to every homeless person (A test group of course) along with a advocate to see that the money is spent wisely and solves the issues like traffic fines, child support, drivers license. buy decent cars, clothes, teeth, all the things keeping them from seeing their way out of homelessness. Sure some would squander it, but I think most would sue ti wisely. I would start another non profit myself. my back stuff is all taken care of so I would do what I love with it..

Upon DU's suggestion here is a link to my gofundme page. https://www.gofundme.com/t7g8e648 I didn't start this to get money, I felt it a story to be told but upon many suggestions I did create a page. Help if you can and do help those that are not nearly as fortunate as I am. Compared tyo a lot of people I got it pretty good.
Thanks.

I wore my Bernie shirt and badge to my Doctor's appointment today

and man, oh man, does he not get it. A Ukrainian guy,about 35 or so, who "has seen communism at work in my own country" and believes that Republicans are for smaller Gov't (and we know that not to be true). He also thinks Corporations have to much control but Republicans are the ones that will fix it.

He also talked of Obama and how the head of the economy is a guy from GE who's company pays no taxes (true) ...
I tried to tell him Bernie's position as a "Democratic Socialist" and how that differed from the USSR/Ukrainian example but it fell on deaf ears.

His staff members however understood.

Let's listen to 12-15-78 tonight! (Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band)

John Lennon died on this day in a hail of gunfire

Shot four times in the back by a guy who had enough documented mental health issues to disqualify anyone in a normal society, by a guy who came to New York with a gun in his possession and murder on his mind but then found that he could not buy ammunition in New York. He then went to Georgia and acquired it from a freind who was a police officer. The gun and the bullets that killed John Lennon.

KTLA live stream anchor just lied on the air.

Without Prosecution of Bush Officials, Obama Legacy 'Forever Poisoned'

Human Rights Watch offers legal blueprint for prosecuting architects of CIA torture program
by
Sarah Lazare, staff writer
17 Comments

The U.S. has acknowledged that it engaged in torture, that it operated a program whereby it abducted men from around the world, put them in secret detention, and tortured them," said Laura Pitter, senior national security counsel for Human Rights Watch. (Photo: Brian Stauffer/Human Rights Watch)The U.S. has acknowledged that it engaged in torture, that it operated a program whereby it abducted men from around the world, put them in secret detention, and tortured them," said Laura Pitter, senior national security counsel for Human Rights Watch. (Photo: Brian Stauffer/Human Rights Watch)

With just a year left in office, President Barack Obama must launch a full criminal investigation of former President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and all U.S. officials behind the CIA torture program—and provide redress to its victims—Human Rights Watch (HRW) demanded Tuesday.

"It's been a year since the Senate torture report, and still the Obama administration has not opened new criminal investigations into CIA torture," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of HRW. "Without criminal investigations, which would remove torture as a policy option, Obama’s legacy will forever be poisoned."

In making a legal case for such a criminal probe, HRW took direct aim at Obama's repeated refusal to pursue criminal investigations into CIA torture. In 2012, the administration closed its inquiry into the whether the CIA torture program involved criminal conduct, with then attorney general Eric Holder claiming there was insufficient evidence for prosecution.

This refusal persisted despite Obama's infamous admission in August 2014, "We tortured some folks."

"The U.S. has acknowledged that it engaged in torture, that it operated a program whereby it abducted men from around the world, put them in secret detention, and tortured them," Laura Pitter, senior national security counsel for HRW, said in a video

MORE HERE: http://commondreams.org/news/2015/12/01/without-prosecution-bush-officials-obama-legacy-forever-poisoned

Edibles! Let's eat!

Made some very delicious macaroons yesterday. The combo of the toasted coconut and the cannabis is delightful. Might be my fave recipe behind caramels. Strain specific too. Got about 200 roons or so out of a half ounce of bud shake. (8 sticks of butter with some left over for later)

BUT, we don't just dump weed into the mix. The butter is washed twice to remove all particulates and ONLY THC is infused into the butter (or oil depending)....the cook with a good recipe and YUMMY.

Anyone got any good recipes? No Links, I know all those sites, I want personal experience...

Same Team! We are all on the same team!

To borrow phrase from the jamband scene in order to diffuse the "my band is better than your band" argument, we all need to realize we are all on the same team no matter who in the Democratic primaries we support. It is not productive to try to take down one candidate via personal biased attacks. We need to remember that we are all on the same team...albeit with different ideas, but still we must keep a positive message.

SAME TEAM!