Some of my work...

Of all the fun things I get to do the following is the probably the best. One of our faculty is involved with a local theater group called Interact. Twice a year they do a law related reading in the building. I get to create the posters for these readings. Below, submitted for your approval are these posters.



"Nuts" and "The Caine Mutiny"


"Proof" and "A Man for All Seasons"


"Death and the Maiden"

This is so #@!$*^ Rich!

Why I ought...

When I was five I uttered an obscenity in front of my parents. It wasn't one of those run of the mill swear words, it was, as Ralphie in "A Christmas Story" says, it was the queen mother of all words...it was the f-word. I had heard some of the older guys in the neighborhood (8 year olds!) saying it, so I didn't think it was a bad word...this was 1965. My Dad, God bless his soul, didn't get angry. He took me aside and explained that the word I had said was a "bad word" and not appropriate to be saying at my age. Then he added, and not very appropriate when you get older either because it tells people that you are not very educated.

With that in mind I went all the way up to the 9th grade before uttering another curse word. That's when my friend Ernie decided to make it his life's work to make me cuss. He harassed me to no end. Even cornered me in woodshop once and attacked me with a 3 foot long 1" dowel.

Finally, one day, in front of my locker, he slammed the locker door shut on my hand and I had had enough. I let out a whole string of cuss words, every one that I had had catalogued in my head, including those in espanol. He laughed and laughed...and eventually so did I.

But not before a teacher overheard me and called me an imbecile...so my Dad was right after all.

My college journalism professor was more blunt when he said, and I quote (cause it's drilled into my mind): "I will not tolerate obscenities in your articles. You are all educated adults. If you are not smart enough to find another word for s--t, d--n, or f--k, you are a moron, plain and simple, and I don't want you writing for me or this paper."

That's not to say I'm prudish about these things...I'm known to sling the words around freely when I'm with my friends on the golf course and every once in a while the s--t word comes rolling from my tongue when something unexpected happens, but for the most part I'm pretty clean on the vulgarities.

I bristle when I hear people say them as though they were saying hello. And worse yet is when you hear the offspring of these imbeciles having a conversation in the same language as their parents, with their parents!

Being a parent in this day and age when you can't go anywhere, I mean ANYWHERE (once while at Mass the priest, in mid-consecration, cursed because he didn't feel we were responding to the prayers as enthusiatically as we should have. Yes I called him on it, it was the most holiest part of the Mass of goodness sake, at a catechist meeting, telling him that he was way out of line. He was unrepentant. We never attended another of his services), that is free from obscenities.

It is very difficult when your trying your hardest to instill some values into your kids...but we live in a world in which smoking is banned but the dumbing down of the culture is allowed to continue unabaited.

That's the long way around the barn...because here is what started the tirade:

Less Swearing on TV, Demands Former Sex Pistol
Fri Mar 4,12:00 PM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - "Wanna be an anarchist?"

At least one of the Sex Pistols, now middle-aged and a father of two, no longer does.

Former Pistols Bassist Glen Matlock has called for swearing on television to be curbed, nearly 30 years after the provocative punk rockers sent shockwaves through Britain by using derivations of the dreaded "f"-word on live TV.

In 1976, the volley of abuse, chiefly from the punk band's Steve Jones, catapulted the group into a media firestorm that ended the career of TV interviewer Bill Grundy.

"It's pathetic when people swear for the sake of it," Matlock told a television show to be broadcast Sunday. "Something ought to be done about it."

Matlock, 48, also told "X-Rated: The TV Shows They Tried To Ban" that he hated it when his young children heard obscenities on the airwaves.

As a teen-ager, Matlock co-wrote some of the Pistols' most enduring anthems like "God Save The Queen" and "Anarchy In The UK." He left the group early in 1977 and was replaced by Sid Vicious.

Matlock was taking part in a Channel 4 program which looks at how attitudes toward swearing and censorship have changed to the point where profanities are broadcast nearly every night of the week.

Hmmm...let me quote Charlton Heston from the "Planet of the Apes"..."DAMN YOU!!!!"

One of the signposts for the decline of a cultured Western Civilization can be linked directly to these slobs and this bucket of bilge water has the temerity to cry foul! Yes Mr. Matlock, it is pathetic when people swear for the sake of it. Thank you for opening THAT particular pandora's box with your mates...hmmm...what were their names again...oh yeah, Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten...

So your 48 now, and you have children and your perplexed about the language...bastard punk!

Funny, but it's bloody typical. If he had the ability for self-reflection he ought to be apologizing for his behavior to us all...but don't hold your %$#@!* breath.

Sorry...I'll go wash my mouth out with soap now.

My Pals...

Da crew!

The day started off with the usual routine...scramble to get the kids out of the house and to school. And as I was dropping off my oldest at his school I got to thinking about how lucky he is to be in the place that he is in right now. Seventeen years old, full of youthful energy, playing football and baseball...hanging out with his friends...and that's when I thought of these guys pictured above.

It was 30 years ago this year that we were thrown into the melting pot of high school. It wasn't until our senior year that we became fast friends but each of us knew of the other in one way or another prior to that.

The picture was taken at our 25th reunion, from left to right is Greg, Dennis (myself), and Jeff. We've been through much since those days. Marriages, births, deaths, not to mention spreading waistlines, greying hair, and ailments to numerous to mention...such is life. But thankfully, in some odd Divine plan, we remain as one.

Thanks guys for making this boyo's life a wee bit more tolerable.

And by the by...when are we going to hit the links? Who's bringing the Bushmills?

On the media...

St. Mugg (Malcolm Muggeride)
(photo: Hulton Archive)

From the pen of Malcolm Muggeridge:

There is something, to me, very sinister about this emergence of a weird kind of conformity, or orthodoxy, particularly among the people who operate the media, so that you can tell in advance exactly what they will say and think about anything. It is true that so far they have not got an Inquisition to enforce their orthodoxy, but they do have ways of enforcing it which make the old thumbscrews and racks seem quite paltry.

{Christ and the Media, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1977, p. 91}

Of Gorillas and Other Delights....

Koko the "talking" gorilla is in a s-load of trouble. Seems she "signed" a demand to have a peek at the breasts of two of the ladies that worked in the...talking gorilla research center?

Here's the story:

Caretakers sue boss for forcing them to bare breasts for Koko the gorilla

Friday, February 25, 2005

WOODSIDE, Calif. (AP) - Two fired caretakers for Koko, the world-famous sign-language-speaking gorilla, have sued their former bosses, saying they were forced to expose their breasts as a way of bonding with the 136-kilogram ape.

Nancy Alperin and Kendra Keller, both of San Francisco, said they were subjected to sexual discrimination and then wrongfully terminated after reporting health and safety violations at Koko's home in Woodside, Calif., an upscale town in the South San Francisco Bay area.

The lawsuit against the Gorilla Foundation and its president, Francine (Penny) Patterson, longtime trainer of the well-known gorilla, was filed this week in San Mateo County Superior Court. It seeks damages totalling more than $1 million.

Foundation lawyer Todd Roberts said the case mischaracterizes the foundation and turns a "purported employment issue" into publicity "hurtful" for a reputable organization.

"We unequivocally deny these allegations and are confident that this case lacks merit," Roberts said.

Alperin and Keller were hired last year and were among 16 employees of the foundation, which was founded in 1976 to promote the preservation and study of gorillas. It is best known for Koko, who has mastered a vocabulary of more than 1,000 signs; the foundation said she has advanced further in language than any other non-human.

The suit claims Patterson forced the two women on several occasions to expose their breasts to Koko, a 33-year-old female - sometimes in situations where other employees could view their bodies. The women never undressed, said their lawyer, Stephen Sommers of San Francisco.

They were threatened that if they "did not indulge Koko's nipple fetish, their employment with the Gorilla Foundation would suffer," the lawsuit alleged.

The lawsuit claims on one occasion Patterson said: "'Koko, you see my nipples all the time. You are probably bored with my nipples."

"You need to see new nipples."'

In addition to the alleged harassment, the two former workers claimed the Woodside facility had unsanitary and unsafe conditions, including rodents in the food-preparation area and gorilla urine stored in the refrigerator where workers kept their lunches.

They complained to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health and were fired Aug. 6, the day after inspectors visited the site and found code violations, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit also claims the non-profit failed to pay for overtime and provide rest breaks.

© The Canadian Press 2005

This reminds me of the old Saturday Night Live skit with Phil Hartman as the "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer." Sexual Harrasment? What do I know about your fancy words and concepts...I'm a simple caveman...your world scares me so...poor old Koko doesn't have a chance in this cruel age. I bet she rues the day she ever learned the words..."wow, what a rack! Give us a peek, luv."

One last thing...how does a freaking gorilla afford a crib in Woodside California! What kind of cash is the talking gorilla research center and foundation taking in? Darn floor, big bite* indeed!


*Apparently Koko signed this phrase after being asked what she thought of an earthquake she had experienced...

Stuff I'm reading...

Here's what's on my current reading list:

1: Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson by Geoffrey Ward
2: The Greatest Game Ever Played: Harry Vardon, Francis Ouiment, and the Birth of Modern Golf by Mark Frost
3: Miles Gone By: A Literary Autobiography by William F. Buckley
4: Chronicles of Wasted Time by Malcom Muggeridge
5: On Being Catholic by Thomas Howard
6: The God Who Loves You: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling by Peter Kreeft
7: Morte D'Urban By J.F. Powers
8: Brown: The Last Discovery of America by Richard Rodriguez
9: Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II by George Weigel
10: Letters to a Young Catholic (Art of Mentoring) by George Weigel

Hunter S. Thompson and the end of gonzo journalism

When I was a child of 16 I read "Fear and Loathing" and thought it was the coolest book I had ever read. I jumped on the Hunter S. Thompson bandwagon, hard.

But over the years as I've matured and become a bit more wiser, and foolish, I realized I no longer found the man even the slightest bit interesting. He was another baby boomer, fixated on his own pleasures, boozing, drugs and that whole idiotic celebrity schtick.

So I wasn't to surprised that he died and not at all shocked that he did himself in. From what I've read it seems he was ill, but not so ill that it would warrant taking his life. So he put a hole in his head because breathing the air was becoming a drag and he wanted to do it his way.

Great.

Now, when my Dad died there was a whole bunch of us around his bedside. There was much weeping, hugging and then after a while, storytelling. Then we went home to try to make sense of it all. To pray for his soul, to pray for strength and to get on with trying to start our lives without him and praying that we never reach the point where we forget what he looked like, how he sounded when he spoke, what it felt like to hug him. Pretty typical of most people who experience the passing of a loved one under "normal" life experience.

Then I read this story.

Seems the family was in da house when he capped a .45 in his head. Actually wanted them all there. So after they heard the big bang his family trudged up into his office to see what the too-doo was all about. There sat daddy in his office chair with a bullet in his noodle. Nice going.

I'm sure there was screaming, wailing and gnashing of teeth...before they sat Hunter upright in his chair and and started swilling Chivas Regal.

Quote the wife:

"This is a triumph of his, not a desperate, tragic failure," Anita Thompson said by phone, recounting that she was sitting in her husband's chair he called his catbird seat in the Rockies.

She added: "He lived a beautiful life and he lived it on his own terms, all the way from the very beginning to the very end."

Anita Thompson, like her husband's other close relatives, understood how Hunter Thompson wanted to make his ultimate exit.

"I always knew that Hunter was going to die before me," Anita Thompson, 32, said of her 67-year-old husband. "I'd accepted that. I just did not know it was going to be like this. I would rather have him back."

Yet Anita Thompson quickly came to embrace Hunter Thompson's gesture with a .45-caliber handgun...but upon seeing Hunter Thompson's body, she embraced him. "Since he'd done this, I did not want to make it difficult for his spirit," she said. "I wanted to make it loving."

Triumph? Beautiful life? She knew he was going to die before her? Naturally, she was 35 years younger than Hunter! However triumphant his exit from this mortal coil was...she'd rather have him back! But she quickly embraced his "gesture" by embracing his dead body.

I hate being judgemental on these sort of things because it is personal to those experiencing the moment, but holy crap...what a load of new age, self-gratifying hogwash it all is.

Why would she feel the need to make his passage from life into eternity peaceful and loving if his act was a triumphant one? He went on the ultimate magic carpet ride! He didn't care about his family...it was all about him, period. He didn't need, nor, want the loving send off. Remember he lived his life the way he wanted...from beginning to end.

He was "fear and loathing" personified...to quote him:

"In brief, I find that I've never channeled my energy long enough to send it in any one direction. I'm all but completely devoid of a sense of values: psychologically unable to base my actions on any firm beliefs. I seem to be unable to act consistently or effectively, because I have no values on which to base my decisions. As I look back, I find that I've been taught to believe in nothing. I have no god and I find it impossible to believe in man. On every side of me, I see thousands engaged in the worship of money, security, prestige symbols, and even snakes. I'm beginning to see what Kerouac means when he says, "I want God to show me his face": it is not the statement, but what the statement implies: "I want to believe in something." The man is more of a spokesman than most people think...and he speaks for more than thieves, hopheads, and whores." (from the American Society of Authors and Writers)

Sigh...I pray that in the instant before the lights went out for old Hunter that he had the opportunity to embrace the Eternal Fire to purify his soul...

In remembrance of the days, when in my youth, I thought you more than a self-indulgent boob, I pray that you rest in peace Hunter...and in that instant found something to believe in...that God showed you his face...

Welcome to the Juke Joint

Howdy! Welcome to the Juke Joint. I am Pancho and I will your host for all kinds of fun and frolicking.

Like most bloggers I have thoughts and whether I know how to use them or not is irrelvant...your gonna get 'em!

So a little about me to start off: I live near a tiny little town named Los Angeles, where I was born and raised. I love with all my passion my wife and children and tolerate Buck, our wonder dog.

I am profoundly humbled, stand in awe of, and am overjoyed by the love of God, His son and our Savior, Jesus, the Holy Ghost and His Church. I am deeply reverent of good Pope John Paul the Great and all he stands for, and there isn't a day when I don't get down on my knees to thank the Almighty for inventing baseball and golf.

All I ask is that He make me His. Oh yeah...and a few other things...an occasional tumbler of whisky (or tequila...I'm not particular), golf with my buds and a day at the ballpark.