A Disturbed Halloween Party

A Disturbed Halloween Party

I figured this party would start around 10:00 pm and it had started a few hours earlier.  Slim was there and he was pretty drunk.  People in the ‘Game’ were having quiet conversations, some looking at TV  (Sports and Horror Shows) or eating the fine food Poppy put out for the party. Others were just getting lost in their drinks.  It was noticeable that music wasn’t playing and when Bossman gave his money to a dregular to play music…well it wasn’t exactly Halloween in spirit and most ran for the door to smoke, some left.

Slim did whatever Jimena (bartender) asked him as Poppy barked orders from the customer side of the bar.  Eventually Poppy was behind the bar for a while when Jimena disappeared.  Slim asked me to take him back to his house which has been up for sale at least two months.  Two sales fell through because the bank would not even lend to people with good credit. 

I had bought Slim and me a few beers during our time there and I told Jimena and Poppy I would be back to fulfill my appointed task, taking pictures for Game On.  So I left a half full beer on the bar and took Slim home.  The pitiful nightmare that is Slim’s existence hurt me to my heart.  I helped Slim to the door and got him inside.  His house had no electricity, it was pitch dark.

Slim fumbled for his flashlight when another flashlight illuminated the place.  His buddy Jake from upstate was with him helping with some more furniture moving he had to do.  Slim was down on himself, broke and disgusted with what he is going through.  I gave him some advice on how to survive without electricity and then headed back to Game On.

 

Upon arrival my beer had disappeared and I asked ‘Jimena’ about it and she said, ‘I thought you were finished.’  “I told you in front of Poppy I was coming back.”  Seeing the anger in my face did get her to give me the buy- back that I didn’t get earlier.  I asked Jimena if I could take pictures of her for Poppy’s web site and facebook page, she said, “when my girls get here”.  As the midnight hour approached Jimena’s ‘girls’ started to arrive.

There was really no music until the Saturday Night crowd arrived and the music was much rap, latin, street and urban night club mixes.  After Jimena’s girls arrived I had introduced myself and informed them of Poppy’s desire to have their pictures on his website and facebook page. 

I guess the wide-eyed apprehension and disgust I was encountering was due to it being Saturday Night at a Halloween party and these ‘ladies’ thought I was making it up or was some kind of pervert until Poppy intervened and then I only got three good pictures. 

 I felt, as I was pushed out of my seat and left strolling the bar looking  for a place to stand, that I wasn’t welcome and didn’t fit in.

K.B. (Reeta’s Hubby) came as Freddy Kruger in camouflage.  It took several minutes for him to get a drink and when he asked for the change from his $50, the bartender kind of tossed it at him.  Some other patron barked when he went outside for a smoke that his money disappeared from the bar when he took a leak.  When he inquired about it to the bartender, she had no idea what he was talking about.  This patron went back in to find Poppy and left.

Several other patrons who arrived at about 12:20 am left at about 12:45 am.  I guess they weren’t feeling the love or the Halloween spirit either.  One of the patrons on exiting kicked the butt pale, full of cigarette butts, spit and other slime into the parking lot shouting "happy fucking Halloween".

A regular, in her hospital scrubs coming from work at a major Jewish Hospital commented on how lame this party seemed and how ‘uptight’ Jimena’s folks were around some of the regulars and the dregulars.  I told her I noticed.  She didn't stay long either.  

I bid farewell to all who would acknowledge my existence and left.

I have some Guiness at home and fine pipe tobacco.  I enjoyed myself in my house.

RJ

Revisiting Leeta

Revisiting Leeta

After retaking the OSHA re-qualification test on the weekend of the 19^th I got a call from E.Z.D.  I never figured to hear from him since he went to the Orient on business for the Energy Company he is a contractor with.

  E.Z.D was kind of excited, he was visiting his Aunt Zoey in Amagansett and he wanted me to talk to somebody, so he handed over the phone.  “RJ baby how you doin…”  “Leeta…is that you?” “Yeah RJ, its me baby, whats up!”

I didn’t dare tell her it was my penis since I heard her voice but I did keep the conversation civil.  “Not very much is going on Leeta, how are you doing…how is your health?”  “Real good RJ, I beat cancer, I can sing again and I’m doing good.  I’m living with Aunt Zoey now since I changed my life.”  “Changed your life how Leeta?”  “I can show you better than I can tell you.  Come see me…today if you can or Saturday, OK?”  I quickly agreed then she put E.Z.D back on the phone.

E.Z.D had to leave for Dubai but said he would see me sometime before Veterans Day.  Saturday morning I drove out to see Leeta.  She had lost weight, her hair was shorter but she was still a stone fox.  She looked younger and her face was smooth and glowing no wrinkles, crows feet or sign on her skin telling her age.  She hugged me and we went out on the deck and sat down to lunch prepared by Aunt Zoey.

After greetings, hugs and kisses Aunt Zoey left me and Leeta alone.  I was now a little nervous not knowing what to expect.  As we munched on Reuben sandwiches and pea soup Leeta told me about her year at Sloan-Kettering.   Leeta said “I did have something called HPV-16, one of about 150 different kinds of HPV virus but they caught it early and now I’m cancer free.” “Leeta was it all chemotherapy or did they have to operate.” 

“RJ, they used some kind of scope tool or knife to do a biopsy, but it was all chemotherapy with something called ‘gamma knife’ at first and then regular chemotherapy after that.  

I need to get more iron in my blood and I have about another year of outpatient therapy, that’s why I’m here with Aunt Zoey…she has enough red wine in her cellar to float a battleship.”

“So what are you doing with yourself Leeta?” “RJ, I went back to Church and got saved.  I work at Brookhaven National Laboratory, finally using the Ph.d, I got in Chemistry back in the late 90’s.”  I took my time with the pea soup steaming hot and loaded with ham and bacon.  When Leeta paused to take a bite I asked her, “exactly how did you change your life Leeta?” 

“RJ I have joined the New York Polyamorous Women's Group in New York City.  Since the group has expanded rapidly since I joined while I was going through chemotherapy I am part of a group that is starting in Riverhead.”  “Leeta, what exactly does this group focus on.”  “RJ, you know me, I love to love and make love whenever, wherever I can, but since going through cancer, I want to help women who want multiple partners and still enjoy sex with less risk for getting STD’s.”

“Since this group seems to focus on Women Leeta, are your new relationships going to be exclusively with women?”  Leeta’s eyes opened wide and her face got really annoyed, she said “RJ, I love anybody that gives me that passion vibe, man or woman, which reminds me…we never got close like that and you know I want to.” “Are you well enough to pursue sexual relationships Leeta?”

“Is that your sterile, medical way of asking am I toxic RJ?”

“No Leeta, I want to know if you have sex could it make you sick, not me.”  “I’m fine RJ and I’m alive, and I want to live life for all its worth.  I’m no longer hung up on what people think, I have moved past feeling humiliated or judged…I know what I want, I know how I want to live no matter who says or thinks whatever of me.  I want to live and love without guilt, fear or pain and those who love me will understand and share that.”

We finished eating when Leeta took me on a tour of Aunt Zoey’s house.  Zoey’s house is a six bedroom, deceptively spacious house that has a cellar and sub-cellar full of games and booze.  

When we got to the back of the sub-cellar Zoey revealed  a small table and a full size bed, a refrigerator and a spread of wine and cheese. “I’m ready to love again RJ…can you?”

No need to get into details any further regarding me and Leeta.  But I will address the subject of STD examinations and research.

In addressing how HPV (human Papillomavirus) goes undetected and becomes cancer is frighteningly common and increasing exponentially according to the CDC.  In an article from ‘Cure Magazine’ the following truths are revealed:

“Starting with a pivotal study published in 2000, researchers began honing in on the role of HPV. Of the 150-plus strains in the HPV family, more than 40 are believed to be transmitted through sexual contact, including anal, genital and oral, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The body’s immune system typically eradicates the viruses in a few years before any symptoms emerge (but, in some cases, the cells remain molecularly altered forever). Several of the HPV strains to date, most frequently HPV type 16, have been linked to oral malignancies.

Increasingly, HPV-16 has become a major player in those oral malignancies, according to last year’s Journal of Clinical Oncology study, which projected an explosion in cases in the decades to come.”   Also mentioned in the study is the outcome of treatment which essentially cures the patient by eradicating the cancer. 

According to the article; “To thwart oropharyngeal malignancies, cancer specialists may incorporate a mix of treatments, including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, depending upon the location and the aggressiveness of the tumor involved.  

Ang estimates that only about one-third of patients will undergo surgery. If the tumor can be removed and there’s no evidence that it’s spread to lymph nodes, radiation may not be needed, he says.”

Leeta was saved by good Doctors who had a handle on the newest medicine, the newest research and the best treatment options available.   Cancer of any kind is no joke, cancer kills.  

Today, the survival rates of Cancer have gone up exponentially as the cases of cancer have due to advances in medicine worldwide.

Leeta also found a support group of her liking to help support her in her recovery and her lifestyle.  This kind of support is crucial to fighting off depression and other mental health issues that accompany a cancer fight.

If you are sexually active or suspect anything is wrong with you, see a doctor.  If you can’t afford it see one anyway.  

In the upcoming election the President you select could end up saving or taking a life.  

That life could be yours.  

Ask Leeta.

RJ

http://www.curetoday.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/article.show/id/2/article_id/1934

http://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/stdfact-hpv.htm

http://www.meetup.com/polywomenyc/

What Becomes of the Closed Mind?

What Becomes of the Closed Mind?

Another Sunday has come and the day crowd came out for Yaega as usual.  Mr. Clean, Bossman and the crowd thinned out and left after the Jets lost in overtime.

‘Game On’ had a good vibe all day.  B.B. had cooked up some wings and the day crowd munched earlier when the Giants beat the Redskins.  

But when night descended on the ‘Game’ it was clear no one was going to be there for Ruby.

Yaega Lee had become tired of the bullshit that goes with bar politics and fighting to present a clean establishment when left with a bar that is filthy from the raunchy parties held at the ‘Game’ on ‘Hispanic Saturday Nights’.  The register rings nice but the bar looks like a riot went on in it and smells like pussy.  

Yaega voiced how tired she was spending her Sunday day shift quick cleaning enough to serve customers and chasing the stench out from the night before.

It was again that Yaega went off when Ruby inquired about the kitchen.  “Look, I tried to clean as much as I could but was disgusted by the nastiness, guess who shaved her legs in the women’s room sink and left the hair in there, …guess who left glasses, slime and other muck in the bar sink as well as a nasty kitchen, beer stains and bottle rings on the pool table, used rubbers and cigarette butts at the back door and in the parking lot,…it’s not fucking fair…I need a hazmat suit to just to clean up.”

Ruby calmed Yaega down and when the crowd thinned out no one was left in the Game except Ruby and me.  Ruby cleaned, washing windows, sweeping, washing glasses and dishes, trying to catch up on the havoc from the night before.  Even with ads on facebook and 'gameonvalley.blogspot.com' it seems that the ‘regulars’ at the Game won’t come out for Ruby even though most of them know her from the Corner Tavern and Sidestreet.

As Ruby and I talked about how to get business going to justify Poppy keeping the bar open on a Sunday Night, which she figured just as well be closed, a young Puerto Rican man bounced in, though coherent, he had obviously been drinking and looked a bit wild.  I had actually thought about leaving earlier but that thought changed quickly.  The next hour or so would bring clarity to why I had to be there.

After introducing ourselves, Don, the young man, was quite rattled and started talking.  Don said, “my friend Ricky, we were partying just the night before last…now he’s gone, he’s dead.”  Right then I knew this was going to be a tough time, I knew I was here to talk to this guy who let us know he was a commercial refrigerator mechanic who had good work and made a good wage.  He wondered why he should even work, why even live.  I knew he was deep in depression brought on by death.

 

I said, “Don, death happens like that often, suddenly, with no reason or rational explanation.  I’m sorry for your loss but if you intend to drive you might not want to climb all the way into that bottle just yet.”  “RJ what do you know about losing a close friend?”  

“Well Don, in a lifetime that is twice yours, making me old enough to be your Dad, I lost a friend in an artillery accident and my wife to cancer among other dead friends and family…I, in the words of the Old Testament, ‘am a man of sorrows acquainted with grief’.”

Don told me how he came from the Bronx with his family and now live in Valley Stream, how his Dad made him go get a trade and a job, and that he is the only one of his ‘niggas’ not in jail or selling drugs on the street.  I said, “Don, if you stick that nigga label on you or your ‘boys’ you let yourself be defeated.  Your not a ‘nigga’.  Your boys need you now because you’re the one who’s doing something.”

“You don’t understand, I’m from the streets…I can’t let my boy’s see me crying, I can’t let them see me weak, I can’t be a punk, that's why I'm by myself.  When we did get together where Ricky died none of us said nothing, we just looked at each other, shaking our heads and rolling our eyes.”  I asked Don how Ricky died.  Ruby kept the beers coming as he poured out his soul.

“RJ, Ricky was rolling with Manny, Willie and Jake, they were all at my house getting high on oxy’s, drinking Courvoisier and tokin Sensimilla talking about getting laid.  

Manny was driving and Ricky was in the front seat with him.  A car cut them off on Guy Brewer Blvd., Manny lost control and hit a pole, the pole went through the car.  

Manny heard Willie and Jake say they were OK, Manny looked at Ricky and said ‘we made it’.  Ricky just collapsed, his body fell into Manny’s lap.  Ricky’s woman and his little girl just kept screaming when the boys told them.”

 I asked Don, “where is Manny now?”  “Manny’s Mom and some of the boys took him to the hospital because his head wasn’t right, he’s taking this harder than me.  I think he’s going to Creedmore because he needs some kind of weird ass psych medication.”   I asked, “how are you holding up Don?  Can you be strong for yourself, your family and Ricky’s little girl?” 

“But why?  Why Ricky, he was the nicest one of all of us ‘niggas’”  “Don, you gotta stop with asking why, if you live life things happen, bad things happen to good people every day.  Also you gotta stop categorizing yourself as a ‘nigga’.”  “RJ, society hates us and that’s all we will ever be to society is niggas, my mind can’t see me being nothing but a nigga here.”  “Don, if you let society define you, what you say is right, if you define yourself you can be what you choose to be.”

I said to Don, “I grew up in a small town, I was called names until I got to Junior High School because in elementary school I made it clear I would not be defined by racial epithets, especially the ‘N’ word.  I left New York by joining the Marines and never looked back.  I made a great life for myself and you can too.  Don, you gotta decide when to be the man and not the nigga.”

After Don spilled his second beer he decided he would walk home. 

Don said, “I just can't see it all. I feel lost in my mind, in my head I just want to die, in my heart I just want to yell at God and make him explain this to me.”  I said, “Don, God can’t explain what God isn’t part of.  God wasn’t in that car, only the desire to get high and get laid along with your boys.  Sounds more like the Devil to me, it’s evil that kills, steals and destroys.  Not God!”

Don, more sober than when he walked in, walked out into the night lit by the half moon and the street lights in the autumn darkness.  Ruby didn’t feel sorry for him but she thought about the little girl.  Some of the Rockaway crowd came down and had a few beers.  I stayed till closing time wondering if Don would find himself and open his closed mind.

RJ

...But Not Tonight

Artists Rendition of a Pool Player

…But Not Tonight

Bold O’Donoghue has several pool teams and all of them boast they have the best shooters.  All of them have ego’s and they are sticklers on rules when it comes to getting the best advantages for themselves or their team.  

Some rules and their enforcement in the game of eight ball are generally gentleman agreements settled between shooters, but for Bold O’Donoghue it’s a team decision.

Bold O’ Donoghue is a pool team that drinks on occasion of their winning games.  Game On is a drinking team that shoots pool on most occasions.  

Of course in the first set of five games Game On won ‘one’ game.  During the night, the team scratched out enough wins to stay in contention.  Going into double sets, three games where each game is two points for a total of six points, Game On was down by five points or at least five games.

Bold had their usual cadre of shooters but one of them got sick and dizzy and was unable to stand up.  So they shot with four players in the last two games of the last five game set and in doubles.  Yaega Lee when not shooting or monitoring her team took care of Bold’s sick shooter and members of the Game On team took turns going out to check on him at the benched area in the back outside the bar.

Mr. Clean, who is on Bold O’ Donoghues premier shooting squad has boasted that they have the ‘best assembly of shooters on the South Shore’.  That boast has some credibility in that they have won several league championships.  

When we went into doubles Yaega’s mind was in several different places and she was upset when some of her shooters (ERL and E.Z.) started shooting before she could finish filling out the shooting roster for the set.

It didn’t help Yaega or Mr. Clean that since they see each other, shooting against your honey doesn’t necessarily bode well for a relationship (shouting, yelling and going off liked a cocked pistol was a constant reminder of that very thing).  But it was in doubles that Game On caught up and beat Bold O’Donoghue by one point, winning  both the games, and the match.

 

It was quite clear the teams were caught off guard.  Bold caught off guard by loosing, Game On caught off guard by winning while not quite intoxicated.

Mr. Clean was not at all happy.  Game On’s pool team had been easy pickings for years due to their attitude toward shooting and the injured, tired, old and damaged shooters on the roster (Yaega, ERL, E.Z., Blarney Man, Mike and me).  

But this year, for some reason, no one on the Game On pool team is hurt so bad they can’t see, can’t bend, walk without a cane or sit without a cushion.  So most of us can actually shoot pool…some pretty well.

Mr. Clean, who didn’t feel like celebrating with us on our win reminded us how lucky we were to win against his team, even though they argued every single inch of the way when luck had nothing to do with their losses.  Yeah, Game On won against, as Mr. Clean would argue, the best shooters in the league.  After Mr. Clean left the bar behind he also left his lady behind at the bar, Yaega was stranded.

Poppy threw two rounds of shots toasting the team and said “you guys beat the best in the league”.  I responded to that statement with a quote based on what former Ravens Super Bowl winning Coach Brian Billick said to his team, raising my shot glass, I said, “Bold may have assembled the best pool team in the league and have the best shooters in the league…but not tonight!”  

As the cheers went up at  Game On ERL wiped a tear from Yaega’s eye and smiled like a Pirate.

RJ

An Unchained Conversation

Artists rendition of Lady at home

An Unchained Conversation

Candy said “what do you mean Chip is in the hospital RJ?” “Something to do with an anal obstruction Candy, I’ll give you details later on.” 

I asked Candy about the “rainbow people” and her friends from the “ancient dive” days.  “They are all doing alright, making a living just like everybody else RJ.” 

“Candy, how are you doing after being attacked by that psycho cat?” “I had to get shots, I had to get stitches and I’m on antibiotics.  What I’m angry about is the scars, but I think I’ll be able to heal without them being very visible RJ.  By the way, I’m sorry to hear about Josefina RJ, how is your Mom holding up?”   “Not very good Candy, but she’s dealing with it the best way she can.”

“RJ, what happened at Game On last Friday night?  I heard six Nassau County detectives where there and the crowd kinda freaked out, did they?"  

“Candy, Schemer was hooked up for all kinds of charges among them stalking, violating a stay away order, communicating a threat, assault, violating probation and possession of cocaine.  Now the Game gets regular visits from the cops.”

“RJ, what happened Saturday night at the ‘Game’ I heard Jimena had some kind of party in the bar and the crowd wrecked the place.”  “No Candy, they didn’t wreck it, they just left a nasty mess, vomit, spilled drinks, used condoms…but no furniture was damaged, just stained.”  “RJ, did she at least clean it before Poppy saw it?” “Poppy was at the party, Yaega Lee got stuck cleaning it up?  I haven’t seen her so pissed off... ever!”

“What’s gonna come of that RJ?”  “I have no idea, but one thing is for sure, change is coming Candy.”  “I have seen the ad’s on Game On’s new web page.  Very nice really classy, you did a good job touching up Ruby’s picture RJ.”  “Thanks, Ruby appreciated it too.”  

“So is there any more drama going on or is all OK RJ?”  “I don’t know about all being OK, but I do know the ads are working and people are coming out for football and the pool team is back together with new shooters.”

  

The noise from a plane flying by had me put Candy on hold for a minute.  As the airplane finally flew by I heard talking in the background.  One of her friends showed up at her new place and she had to get off the phone.  But before she did she wanted to know if anything else was going on at Game On.  

I asked her, “why the inquisition about Game On.”  “Me and the girls are thinking about coming by one day.”  I said “nothing new really Candy, except a hit and run.”

“WHAT, what happened RJ?”  “The Flower Man was in to check out the game on Monday night and he was parked out front, some oriental woman plowed right in the back of his van and took off, but someone got her plate number.”  “So the cops came by RJ?”  

“Oh yeah, but the Flower Man said ‘if I wasn’t parked where I was she could have plowed right through the bar’ and he was right.  She could have killed people if he wasn’t parked in front.”

Candy said, “gonna have to think about bringing the girls there on any given night, cops, assholes, drunks, drunk drivers, what the heck is Poppy going to do to get things straight RJ?”  “That’s on Poppy, but the regulars have really helped to straighten things up, really, Game On isn’t as bad as some events may lead to believe.” 

Candy said, “Gotta go, but I will talk to you later, maybe meet somewhere, by for now RJ.”  I thought about it for a minute.  Maybe meeting a Legion hall or the VFW might be a better thing to do.   Maybe.

RJ

Uncle Buck on Politics, Policy and Hate

Editorial/Non-Fiction

Political 

Again, it’s the usual things in the course of a lifetime that cause you grief and pain.  In those times you go to your bible, your religion or your God and seek to console or help friends and family.  

I speak of death.  

The death of one of my late Uncle’s wives had us talking, wondering why she, Josefina, with all the insurance she had and with all the children she has, died with so much debt.

I had Skyped Uncle Buck late Saturday night past and asked him about Josefina, her attempt to purchase land and her lust for life.  (Josefina worked with Uncle Buck’s daughter, cousin Bessie when she lived in Los Angeles).  “Boy, listen good, them hate filled krackers in Congress, from the South, who have money, family and blood, our blood, invested in health care want our people dead and broke, not necessarily in that order. Hear me RJ!”

Uncle Buck had his glass full of Jack while speaking to me as Bessie attended to him.  He loves the novelty of Skype but really doesn’t like computers, although he was forced to learn to use them by Bessie.  “Uncle Buck is the death of Josefina a result of societal failure or her own failures?  She was a Corrections Officer with a full disability pension.”

“Yeah RJ, but they treat her different than her coworkers(1), she is a woman, she is of Mexican descent and she was treated by second rate doctors who gave her second rate care.(2)  This is what people don’t see, the hate and prejudice that goes on in hospitals with feigned compassion and a plastic smile.  You can have the same insurance as a white man and still not get the same care.”(3)

“Uncle Buck, how do you know she was discriminated against?”  “RJ, Josefina had a coworker with the same heart problems and high blood pressure issues she did.  Josefina’s coworker had the same insurance but was referred to a different set of Doctors working out of the same hospital and then moved to a facility that specializes in cardiac care.  Josefina is dead, her white coworker alive, why?  Because of the politics of healthcare; laced with hate, hate with a smile.”

“Uncle Buck, are Josefina’s children pursuing any kind of legal action?”  “Too soon to tell RJ, the sting of death is still fresh in their souls as it is in ours.  But even if they have overwhelming proof and I believe Lucinda (Josefina’s daughter) does, it will take years of litigation to get justice for a woman that is dead.  You know what I say is true, your wife RJ died to just that kind of negligence.”  Now the sting of death was renewed fresh in me, as was the anger.

“RJ, I don’t have to tell you how much credible sources have reported on this kind of discrimination from CBS, ABC and CNN, but also the CDC and the World Health Organization, and if those race hating, low life krackers Romeny and Ryan get elected you can be assured they will see to the financial ruin of anyone of color to seize their assets and set up a wage slave class like they have in China and India.”(2) (9)

Uncle Buck took a sip of his Jack Daniels and Jumped on his soap box.  “That Ryan boy he fudges numbers like Bernie Madoff used to do, Ryan is a numbers man…just like Reinhard Heydrich was the numbers man for German National Socialism. (8) 

And just like Heydrich, Ryan plans a ‘final solution’ for Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare and healthcare in America…that solution boils down to dead minorities.”

“Uncle Buck, that’s kind of extreme judgment, isn’t it?” “RJ, these people are extremists, the worst kind of extremist, racists and sexists masquerading as public servants.  They are bought and paid for by lobbyists of several ilk, including big oil, insurance companies, multinational corporations and banks.  Their extremist agenda is anti-social, anti-woman, countercultural and anti-American.”

“Though I would tend to agree, I would hesitate to be that extreme without proof, but I do admit, that Romney and Ryan have not given details of any of their plans, only repeal of the Healthcare law, a good law Uncle Buck.” “RJ, boy…you know exactly what they will do, you have a dead wife, a dead father and a brother with cancer being treated in a ‘B’ facility at best, what proof do you need?”

“RJ, just be careful you don’t let them do to your mother what they did to your wife and your daddy.  How many people are living in their cars?  How many people have lost everything they have due to hospitals and bad doctors?  How many people right now are trying to figure out how to live without jobs, without heathcare and some without hope?”

Before I could get a word in edgewise, still dealing with the sting of Uncle Buck’s words he continued.  “Romney is a Mormon, the book of Mormon teaches them to marginalize people of color “because your under the curse of Cain” (4) because you have dark skin.  This marginalization will become national policy, a new institutionalized racism and sexism, codified and made law. (7)  

        Akin, the kracker running for the Senate who articulates ‘legitimate rape, has helped Ryan write anti-healthcare bills that died on the floor of Congress.(5) (6) (9)

These are the people who are running for office, hiding their contempt for the poor, women and minorities under the banner of Government waste.  The only waste in government is Congress itself.  Josefina is only one in thousands of women who will die unless all kinds of changes are made to healthcare, you hear me RJ?”

“I hear you Uncle Buck!” I was hurt and exhausted and Uncle Buck saw that.  “Listen RJ, just do what you must to get the President re-elected.  Because if you don’t the America you now live in will be more like 1948 than 2012 and all the civil and social rights and justice people died and sacrificed for will become wasted.  So straighten up, get yourself ready to fight, one way or the other.  You hear me boy?”

“Yes sir, I hear you?” “Go to bed RJ, you look tired, rest now because you may not have the chance to rest later.”  Uncle Buck called in Bessie, to turn this ‘Skype thang off.'  I was not only sad, but bitter.  The recollection of all the death and pain in my life just made me angry again.  

But the difference is I am resolved to stand more firmly…my Daddy did.

1) http://www.naswdc.org/diversity/women/womenhealth.asp

2) http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6494540n

3) http://cnsnews.com/news/article/white-house-says-obamacare-stops-insurance-companies-discriminating-against-women

4)http://www.christiandefense.org/mor_black.htm
5) http://askmormongirl.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/what-do-mormons-believe-about-african-americans/
6) http://www.cc.utah.edu/~njb4/mormonnegative.html
7) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,810998,00.html
8) http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERheydrich.htm
9) http://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/26344/#.UGvYDJjA91E

RJ

Breast Cancer Awareness: For A Month, For A Life

This is an Informational Posting.  This is not Fiction.


Yes, We are looking right at October.  Which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.   Look, I don't care what your sexual orientation is but I'm willing to bet if you are a human being on the face of this planet...a woman probably had something to do with you being here.


Here are some stats for you to digest from 'The American Cancer Society' which reports these statistics: 


"What are the key statistics about breast cancer?
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women, except for skin cancers. 


The chance of developing invasive breast cancer at some time in a woman's life is a little less than 1 in 8 (12%).

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women, except for skin cancers. About 1 in 8 (12%) women in the US will develop invasive breast cancer during their lifetime.

The American Cancer Society's most recent estimates for breast cancer in the United States are for 2012:

About 226,870 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women.

About 63,300 new cases of carcinoma in situ (CIS) will be diagnosed (CIS is non-invasive and is the earliest form of breast cancer).

About 39,510 women will die from breast cancer

After increasing for more than 2 decades, female breast cancer incidence rates began decreasing in 2000, then dropping by about 7% from 2002 to 2003.

This large decrease was thought to be due to the decline in use of hormone therapy after menopause that occurred after the results of the Women's Health Initiative were published in 2002. This study linked the use of hormone therapy to an increased risk of breast cancer and heart diseases. Incidence rates have been stable since 2004.

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, exceeded only by lung cancer. The chance that breast cancer will be responsible for a woman's death is about 1 in 36 (about 3%). 

Death rates from breast cancer have been declining since about 1990, with larger decreases in women younger than 50. These decreases are believed to be the result of earlier detection through screening and increased awareness, as well as improved treatment.

At this time there are more than 2.9 million breast cancer survivors in the United States. (This includes women still being treated and those who have completed treatment.)

If your a man in the life of a woman don't listen to excuses.  There are free mammograms being offered by hospitals, County Government, Health Care Providers and Corporate entities.  Get the woman or the women in your life checked any way you can.

If you are a woman, don't make excuses and don't make things any harder on the men in your life than things already are. (I won't get into it)  

Just get yourself checked.  Fear doesn't make bad things go away or stay away...fear is an invitation for bad things to happen.  

Be aware and know!  Breast Cancer Awareness is not just for a month out of the year, but for a life...yours (Man or Woman).
Have no fear!
Get Checked.

http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/BreastCancer/DetailedGuide/breast-cancer-key-statistics

NOW!!!

A Public Service Message from the Staff.