Secretary of State, "Let Me tell You, those Iranians are
tough negotiators. they won't give an inch on Anything."

The President, "I know, I know...we can give them what
they want and then agree that we will have an agreement...
sometime. My press uh, the press will see it as a
 historic breakthrough."

Secretary of State, "Can we trust the Iranians?"

The President, "Doesn't matter...I'll apply the silver tongue,
that will hold the Moron voters a while, the Iranians will get
their little bomb thingy and we will collect our Nobel Prize.
When it all goes bad...the next Guy will take all the blame,"

Secretary of State, "What will we tell Hillary?"

The President, "At this point, What does it matter?"

 

Greasy Goon McSpoon Magazoon

This was the portrait I was holding in reserve for the "Rolling Stone" for the occasion of My fifteen minutes of fame...should that ever occur. 
Now that "Rolling Stone" has been shown to be a crumby rag of a magazine, I naturally do not want My picture on the Cover of this discredited entity. 
 I will self publish the portrait for My fans...and offer it to "Mad" as a suitable replacement for Alfred E. Neuman. He has been around far longer than "Rolling Stone" and should be allowed to retire.  

I have a very clear memories of riding my bike all over town when I was nine or ten years old. I can recall in 1955 riding to every car dealer in my city to be amazed at the very big difference that almost every brand of automobile offered in that year.
Detroit had seemingly decided to become bigger, wider and more colorful overnight...dropping the drab post war styling and color. In those days the car dealers waited to unveil the new cars...all on the same day. It was a "big deal" and after teasing us all for a couple of weeks with sheets over the new cars in the showroom.  It was a festive event and the traffic was heavy that day and evening as most everyone in town jumped into the family car to drive from dealership to dealership to see the new offerings. (most people just had "the" family car and folks with more than one car were considered rich, pretentious or both)
Here is the deal...in 1955 I was 9 years old and took pride in being able to ride my bike anywhere in town using alleys only. almost every block had an alley. This is no longer the case. About the time that alleys went away seems to be the beginning of the time when we lost track of our neighbors and this modern model of not knowing who the hell lives next door began.
   I guess I was a "free range" kid, we all were, I was not at all unusual in having the run of the town. I was a sort of shy kid but I was expected to walk to school and entertain Myself until my parents got home from work. I had fun doing these things and learned a lot about how to make My way in this world.
I feel sorry for the pampered and over protected kids of today...never out of sight of authority. I see parents driving them to school, or they ride the bus. I see parents of a 10 year old had their kid snatched by authorities for the audacity of being two or three blocks from home. These kids should be all over town...learning to negotiate their world. How, in Blue-Billy Hell will they ever learn to live if they are not allowed to explore and learn? 

Obviously, they will not. They will instead become hapless, helpless little Nincompoops looking to authority for their every little need. Welcome to the Brave New World.

 Catch a bitchin tube...dude





Linn Street area from memory...circa 1985 or so