Working title- thoughts from a bar stool

I walk into a Beach bar down the road, I'm looking for the remnants of my old life. The propose of my being, the way I used to be, the what to my why. The sun lights the bay water just so, it reflects on the customers faces, showing the effects of alcohol abuse. Make up can try but will never be able to cover those scars. 

California Crome won the 2nd leg of the triple crown and the guy next me 

is bragging about $$$'s he won

The big boats sit on the water waiting for their captains, waiting for that trip out to sea. A trip that will bring their glory back, thoughts of being brand new 

People watching at a bar is the greatest. These folks have no idea they are playing a part in great chess game. They are all just pawns on a great big board waiting to be moved. 

The bartender asks what I want to drink? I tell him "a Coors Lt and a Gin on the rocks" he knows I won't be here too long...I'm not into the wine & cheese crowd. These folks of S Tampa think they are the best of the best but the rest of us know you have to live on Bayshore or Davis Island to have any real pull with the city Govt. It was only 10yrs ago a person could buy a home a block off of Bayshore Blvd for a song. Then as the american dream became more of TV commercial not the idea it once was, those cheap "middle class" home started getting knocked down. Replaced with McMansions, indoor pools, man caves and designer dog houses. For the smuck who stays put in his 2/1 single floor, 1950's style home he suddenly feels like he woke up in a trailer park. His "Brady Bunch" neighborhood has gone Hollywood faster than it took to drop Star Trek off TV. The low rent area off Gandy has changed....the city has changed.

Obama takes the blame 

It's funny to listen to some white guys talk. "I'm not in a position to buy that due to the black guy in the White House" a middle aged white guy says while sipping his domestic beer. Obama came in and the economy tanked, it's all his fault that I can't buy that new BMW. Really your lack of funds is fully due to the President? Interesting I find it odd that some people blame Obama for everything....while forgetting the fact that Bush 2 was the real reason we tanked. Expanded Govt like no other, even LBJ & FDR blushed at Bush 2's massive cash outlays. It was Bush 2 who sent checks out to every tax paying american asking us to spend it on TV's! Hell Bill Clinton didn't even go that route, he preferred to get his cash from the guilty. Clinton turned Presidential Pardons into a game of $64,000.00 pyramid. 

As of today May 28th, 2014 we still haven't found MH370....how the fuck do you lose a plane?

Walking into the Tampa International Airport is comparable to a trip to that bar in Star Wars. 

The Duke- Tampa Base: Labor Day

The Duke- Tampa Base: Labor Day: Yesterday while most Americans were hitting the beach, the park, a neighbors back yard or just sitting on the couch, I would guess that many...

Labor Day

Yesterday while most Americans were hitting the beach, the park, a neighbors back yard or just sitting on the couch, I would guess that many don't have a clue of why we have the day off.  Sure, some of us still have to work but a great many have to day off. June 28th, 1894 the US Congress, see at one point they did do something, passed a "Holiday in honor of workers" and chose the 1st Monday of September as the official date.

The Labor Day Holiday had its beginnings in New York City, the carpenters union, wanted to celebrate the work that they did. New York State was 1st to pass a bill designating a "Labor Day Holiday" in 1882 by 1894 23 states had adopted a Labor Day Holiday.

Today many Americans are losing ground, fighting just to pay the bills. Not bills for the extras: A Boat, a 3rd beach Condo or a vacation spot in Europe, but everyday bills.  The way of life our parents set up for us is slowly sliding away.  The American people have watched the American Labor Movement die a slow death.  Fast food workers are making a small attempt at improving wages, it will lead no where, but a attempt all the same.  The only person or group to blame for this is not the greedy business owner, although they do deserve some of the blame, is the Unions themselves.  The UAW and others priced themselves out of work.  The connection with organized crime didn't help either, but in the end unions destroyed the pricing power of the american worker. 

I believe in unions or organized labor and believe that they have a opportunity to improve our economy as well as our workforce.  Partner with businesses as a stake holder, instead of fighting for a few extra dollars a hour, while important, look at training.  Take a equal stake in providing health care to its members; what insurance company would want to cut a deal with 300,000 customer vs. 50 at a local shop.  Why not offer basic medical care on site at the work place with the employees & management having a equal responsibility for the cost. This idea is not too far fetched, many employers already offer child care on site.

At the end of the day; most people who but a product don't buy it on cost alone. The buy for its quality.  We all have forgotten that.

The life of the Duke

The Duke awakes to a cold beer and a couple pills, ad that's just to walk to the bathroom.  The pain in his legs, his knees actually, make small steps as painful as as rail nail thur a human foot.  Those overly large feet you in Ron Jon shirts, don't come close to the pain the Duke feels each and every morning.

The Drinking & Drug were only used to kill the pain, knees, gout, family which every was the cause that day, something was used to kill the pain.  Pain that drove the Duke was also the pain that propelled  him forward. 

Now the day begins with a rainbow of colors, reds, blue,sea-foam and others that a man you should never Ingest. The afternoon brings beer, and lots of

It, followed by Gin. It becomes harder to walk with each day and even harder to function in the day to day world.  But the Duke don't care, for one day we all end up in the same place.  No preacher can stop that, no doctor can...but the right folk will say at $10,000 a pop it can be slowed.   Yes we are all fighting the same issue.   

TBA.     

For you know it's true

The Dream

A dream that has no end, with no one saying no it can't be

A dream that is yours and yours alone

A dream that can be true if you let it be

A dream that can go wrong if you you leave it alone

A dream is no different than a soul

It needs to be watered like a plant

From time to time

Or else it will die

Feed your dreams with hope

Feed it desire

Feed it pain

Feed that dream or dreams 

Until it feels like its full

A dream is more than just a dream

A dream is your soul

What once was

Electronics Parkway, Electronic Park, Electronic Softball Fields, Electronics Pool.  All those public parks/spaces were so named and still named after this building in Liverpool, NY.  This building has been vacant for 20 years. It's like a guardian of the Liverpool of old, standing ready to help when ever it's called on. 

The Duke- Tampa Base: Syracuse, Lansing, Tampa the USA

The Duke- Tampa Base: Syracuse, Lansing, Tampa the USA: I had the opportunity to go back to my hometown last weekend for my 25th High School Reunion, Liverpool High School, at one time was one the...