gol blast it! It's Wednesday night, isn't it? Well, now I know I should write this thing Monday or Tuesday. But then it wouldn't be topical, would it? I mean, who wants to read about nutballs taking over a backwater wildlife refuge building? Or Saudi Arabia being barbaric? Or Bill planning on campaigning for sHills?

When you can have fresh, newer news like nutballs still out there, hoping for snacks. Or I saved a dollar by not buying a Powerball ticket. By the way, about Powerball, I don't know how much it costs. $1? $2? Don't know! But a) I might need that dollar and b) for sure, some street person needs it more than I do or whoever makes money off such things as Lotteries. We have this thing here called Street Roots. It's a local newspaper about homelessness and poverty and low income housing. They're well organized, giving each vendor his or her spot to sell the paper. We usually get it from this one particular fellow outside New Seasons, our formerly "healthy" supermarket and now a step up from Safeway. The vendors are all in some sort of bad financial situation and this replaces panhandling as a way for them to get some moolah.

But Powerball....I went into the 7-11 to get ciggies for shaz. She smokes those American Spirits. Organic! Well, I went into the 7-11 and I was the only person in there NOT buying a Powerball ticket. If the guy behind me wins the $500 million all I can say is "oh well!" What's the difference between Powerball and Dance Marathons of the '30s? I mean, they're both some sort of desperation, hoping somehow to get enough money for "a better life".

In other up-to-the-minute (from late Wednesday night) news, the Baltimore police might have given Freddie Gray a "rough ride", meaning they put him in the paddy wagon, handcuffed, and swerved so much he'd be thrown to the floor and banged up good. Check this out, from the Baltimore Sun:

The idea has long been floated that Freddie Gray might have been given a "rough ride" — a practice in which police transport vans are intentionally driven erratically to harm unbuckled, handcuffed detainees.

See that? It's "a practice". So they do this regularly or at least often enough that it's known as "a practice". Thanks O'Malley. I was gonna vote for Bernie but now that I know your police do this and have been doing this for a long time...well I'm "O'Mad About O'Malley" now! I admit, though, that it's not as barbaric as what they do in Saudi Arabia.

Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, who was President of Iran for a brief moment, sort of like Kerensky in Russia, just did an interview. Interesting that Bani-Sadr is still alive and in exile in Paris while Kerensky went to New York. We're all familiar with what happened to Trotsky in Mexico. You figure they'd have gone after Kerensky too but he lived until 1970. Anyway, Bani-Sadr has been talking about the Saudis vs Iran and says this (among other things):

Both regimes need crisis as a fish needs water, and hence see their existence only through creating crisis. Both regimes have terror organizations and are supporting armed organizations in the region.

Which could be said of certain unnamed countries that are finding themselves involved in disputes in the region.

Anyway, Merry Serbian Christmas, everybody!

that's from my favorite Rolling Stones album, "Between the Buttons". Here's some more. I remember hearing Eric Burdon and the Animals do this live. That's post Animals when Burdon put a new group together. But here's the real thing.

This next one's from the British release but not the American one. Good lord, they were sexist! This is a beautiful, sexist song.

and the brilliant Ruby Tuesday with some very good advice. "Catch your dreams before they slip away".