SCOTUS Say’s I Have Human Rights Under the Constitution of the US!

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Art

And people are arguing that the supreme court of the united states is wrong. One candidate for the Presidency wants to abolish the supreme court, probably right after President Elect Piyush Jindal swears the oath to uphold and defend the constitution. Another is asking for acts of civil disobedience. There’s an essay by New Englander Henry Thoreau Minister Huckabee might want to read. Five justices of the SCOTUS voted for civil rights, and four against. The five stand behind the majority opinion of the chief justice.

“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”

“The judgement of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is Reversed.”

“It is so ordered.” Justice Anthony Kennedy

Senator Cruz is proclaiming that Europeans came to the north American continent for religious freedom. Ignoring the commercial aspect of the first settlements in what is now Virginia and Massachusetts. Virginia was first visited by members of a ill-conceived glass making expedition.

Posted in Thinking Out Loud | Leave a comment

The Orange Tent in the Woods

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Art

Not ours, by the way since we graduated to the Class “A” motorhome from our Sears tent.

I don’t know what your particular thing is, whether it’s setting homeless people on fire, or smashing their stuff to teach them a lesson about life or maybe you just complain about people wanting to “live for free” while you pay your property taxes. Religiously.

But the orange tent in the woods at the Hooksett, NH park and ride? You know the park and ride at the Hooksett exit from the I-93 toll booths? I don’t know who took the tent. Was it another homeless couple? Or maybe DOT cleaning up? Or maybe just some citizen taking matters into their own hands.

But I do know something. The people that tent belonged to before it was removed and why that tent was there.

Imagine driving 120 miles from Vermont to Boston, MA regularly for cancer treatment. Imagine the expense. As you sit in your home, in your comfortable chair or lie on you sofa, imagine just wanting to stretch out on your way home from your chemotherapy.

Well, now that his tent is gone, the cancer guy, some guy in his twenties and thin as a rail is sleeping in his car, exhausted from his chemotherapy for a life threatening illness. Just wanting to finish his drive home.

Posted in Full Time RV Life | Leave a comment

Low Interest Loans — to the State and Local Government

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Art

We spent the month of April re-registering Lynn’s motorhome and motorcycle for another year. Today is the 22nd of May and he has not received a refund for the money he paid for on-line renewal, not to mention the fee for using the online service. When I was finished arguing Lynn’s position at the office of the city tax collector, I demanded an immediate refund back in April. The Tax Collector told me that the on-line funds were handled by an out-side company and that Lynn would have to arrange his refund through that company. Isn’t that just grand? The City is saying “It’s not our fault, we outsourced that function and even though we retain the right to set and collect fees, it’s not the Tax Collector’s problem when things go wrong.”

Posted in Full Time RV Life | Leave a comment

My God! He’s going to Get Away with It!

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Art

Congressman Guinta “Just wants to move one . . .” Well of course he does. He violated election law in a close House of Representative race and won by a narrow margin — after lying during a debate — and calling his opponent a liar. For a while I thought that the right leaning, conservative new Hampshire Union Leader was going to do the right thing, but now it’s all starting to look like more political theater and the general apathy and short memory span of the American public will allow Frank Guinta to retain his seat in congress.

Posted in Art Joly | Leave a comment

Congressman Guinta May Get His Just Deserts!

Posted on May 19, 2015 by Art

Way back when Ray Burton was around, and I was attending one of The Friends of Ray Burton 4th of July Mt. Washington Hotel fundraisers, then Mayor Frank Guinta was a guest announcing his run for a congressional seat.

I told Mr. Guinta what I thought of his ethics then and it seem that I was correct. Back then Mayor Guinta had curried favor with a relatively small group of voters by asking the state Liquor Commission to turn down a request for a liquor license. This was after the real estate developer, a man who ran drinking establishments in a responsible manner, had already spent his time and money properly renovating a Manchester, NH property, a property that had been a drinking establishment for some years. For a pro-business party member I thought that Mr. Guinta’s behaviour was reprehensible.

Fast forward to the most recent election cycle and in a close race Mr. Guinta’s opponent Carol Shea-Porter called out Mr. Guinta during a debate and Frank Guinta lied to the audience. Flat out bald faced lied. If the facts about Mr. Guinta’s campaign finance had been known at the time it is possible that the good Mayor might not have beat Carol Shea Porter in the election.

The Debate by WBIN-Herb Moyer:

In recent days the congressman has used every buzz-word in his vocabulary to defend his actions and try to cover up his illegal use of money to finance hi most recent election campaign. And it is not enough. At least I hop that it’s not enough. While New Hampshire’s Republican Executive Council seem to have no problem with congressman Guinta, I do and I think that it is time for him to resign. Carol Shea Porter may be a democrat but at least she is honest which is more than I can say about Mr. Guinta.

Shea-Porter – Guinta Debate 28 OCT 2014

Posted in Main | Leave a comment

Subtle Discrimination or How the State Unknowingly Aids Private Business

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Art

I honestly don’t know where to begin. I’m 58 years old, I have heart trouble and enough accumulated wear and tear on my body that I qualify for Social Security Supplemental Security Income. That was a shock to me. Not because I qualify — I’ve been qualified since 1984. But I thought that I could live a better life pushing through the pain from that injury. Then I had a heart attack at work in 2001, was fired for not being a team player 10 months later, and I started implementing my plan “B”. I worked that plan through 2007 when I had another motorcycle accident and moved onto Plan “C” and worked that plan through 2011 when my world collapsed around me. YOu can read all about that elsewhere on this blog. Please understand that I am a man with Autism functioning at a very high level but I still see things differently than you do so think of my writing as working a puzzle. It’s all there but organized in a way that makes sense to me.

So. We lost our condominium in 2011 and bought a derelict motor-home because Lynn and I have the skill set to do all of the repairs ourselves. We had settled into routines occasionally punctuated by system failures but nothing we haven’t managed to handle — including living through one of the coldest and snowiest winters in recent New Hampshire history. Then April came around and it was time to renew the registration on our sole place of residence. And our routines came to a crashing halt. Even though it had been done in past years, this year the City Clerk pulled up RSA 261:52-c and said “It isn’t our fault, the state has tied our hands.” Just the sort of nonsense statement, the sort of “It’s not my fault” statement that drives my right-angle Asperger’s mind right up the wall.

So, knowing that you truly can’t fight city hall I sent Lynn over to the Manchester Continuum of Care day center at 140 Central Street in Manchester. The MCOC provides a drop-box mail service that I use to register my motorcycle.

The Homeless Services Center provides:

A warm and welcoming daytime shelter
Free lunch to homeless guests
Case management and other essential services that are provided by collaborating homeless service agencies.

Well that is what the MCOC website tell the public on its website. I found the reality to be radically different from my last visit.

When Lynn told me that the City wouldn’t accept our UPS store address again this year, even though it is a good address and the address on his driver’s license I suggested that he go over to the MCOC Day Center on Central street. I was able to find a parking space for our 32′ long home plus trailer so I went in too. After “Harry the Director” refused to grant Lynn the mail drop service the MCOC is set up to provide, I engaged “Harry” in conversation to find out why. The response? Lynn wouldn’t agree to take part in the job or home search programs the center provided. O-kay. Social Security has found Lynn to be 100% disabled and Lynn does his best to live on SSI and SNAP benefits. As for housing, “Harry” proclaimed that our motor-home, with central heat, gas cook top and toilet, doesn’t qualify as a home. Man, there’s a whole world of retirees living a lie! Fulltiming.

It has taken 1 week, and $100 of gasoline plus a whole bunch of cell phone minutes. 5 visits to the MCOC day center at 140 Central street. Telephone calls to the Executive Councilor Chris Pappas for Manchester, Southern New Hampshire Services and finally with the most incredible luck and kindness the help of a Partner at one of Manchester’s biggest law firms. Even then it took several telephone calls to MCOC to convince them that using the mail drop was “Using the services” of the MCOC. See that was “Harry’s” sticking point. He claimed that the mail function was a service only for people looking to become employed, seeking mental health care or looking to find a permanent home.

TITLE XXI Motor Vehicles CHAPTER 261
CERTIFICATES OF TITLE AND REGISTRATION OF VEHICLES

CERTIFICATES OF TITLE AND REGISTRATION OF VEHICLES
and by providing a letter signed by an authorized representative of a social service organization or agency qualified under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code stating that the person is authorized to use the mailing address of the organization or agency for purposes of contact by the department.

Posted in Main | Leave a comment

Religious Fantasies

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Art

From Merriam Webster: Fantasy

: something that is produced by the imagination : an idea about doing something that is far removed from normal reality

: the act of imagining something

: a book, movie, etc., that tells a story about things that happen in an imaginary world

Friday the 3rd of April 2015 is known among Christians as Good Friday. To Romans of the time it is known as the day another criminal was put to death in accord with the law of the land. The Sunday following is known as Easter Sunday the day the Zombie King of Christianity rises from the grave to rule the land and steal your soul.

Now Curtis Cavanaugh Wrote on Facebook:

“Why are we are told that gay people didn’t get to choose their sexuality and yet we’re told that transgender people must be allowed to choose their gender?”

Now I read the following posts, and good people tried to explain that some people are different from other people and then the posts turned to sins and sinners, so I decided to poke the bear a little bit with some Christian baiting and a post from YouTube and a man undergoing a female to male transition and now pretty much on the male side of that process.

chase. story of chase packing and trying to pee.

Curtis Cavanaugh Art Joly, do you really think that I want to see a video from the transgender calendar project about some guy packing and trying to pee? I’m going to have to delete that one.

What I think Mr. Cavanaugh was really deleting was my comparison of The Holy Bible aka “Scripture” to the works of Anne Rice — her series of vampire books.

I wanted to point out to them that their only real reference to the reality of their faith is The Bible. The Library. A collection of books chosen by men, written by men edited by men. And I compare The Holy Bible to the collected works of Anne Rice, not so much her historical novels such as Feast of All Saints about the free men of color in ante-bellum New Orleans, but the vampire novels and that wonderful cast of characters Anne Rice imagined and the world she created for them to live in.

Curtis Cavanaugh
Why are we are told that gay people didn’t get to choose their sexuality and yet we’re told that transgender people must be allowed to choose their gender?
Like · Comment · Share

Chris Pope, Jack Smith and Heidi Stearns like this.

Jimi Fischer It’s George Bush’s fault and you’re a racist!
Yesterday at 6:17pm · Like · 2
Mike Laubach It actually follows the same lines. They did not choose to be born sex or the other. Sometimes wires get crossed. We can’t all be blue-eye’d blond Germans. Even I only got 1 out of 3 on that one!
Yesterday at 6:18pm · Like
Cathie Vargo McAdams Can you imagine the torment that someone must be going through to voluntarily go through all of those painful and expensive surgeries? To go through all of that psychotherapy? Or to take hormones and drugs for the rest of their lives? In the hopes that it will change their lives for the better? I’ve been mighty damn unhappy but never that unhappy.
Yesterday at 7:34pm · Like
Cathie Vargo McAdams I helped write the gender reassignment surgery benefit for my former employer. It took us a year of meeting twice a week to list all of the surgeries, all of the meds and hormones, all of the therpaies and treatments.
Yesterday at 7:36pm · Like
Cathie Vargo McAdams I’m not saying the decision to change genders is right or wrong, I am saying that it isn’t a split second decision.
Yesterday at 7:37pm · Like
Curtis Cavanaugh Mike Laubach, I don’t understand what you mean by wires getting crossed.
Yesterday at 9:15pm · Like
Mike Laubach Metaphorical wires. The brain works on electrical charges, and is at the core of the question.
23 hrs · Like
Curtis Cavanaugh Ok, but they’re not trying to change their brains.
23 hrs · Like
Mike Laubach No, because we can’t. But we *can* change some things.
23 hrs · Like
Barry Saney Because sometimes people are born a certain way that is not of their choosing. Their internal self identity becomes a problem when the outside and the inside (of the mind) don’t match. Who are we to judge this? I was born with a Red Green optical deficiency, should I be judged because of it? How is that different from the other things people are born with they didn’t choose. ?
I’ve had some struggle with this as any Christian would , but I’m not the final ( or any ) judge and I’m only required to ” love thy neighbor as thyself” . I can’t begin to imagine the transgender mind dealing with its confusion.
23 hrs · Like · 1
Curtis Cavanaugh http://www.duffelblog.com/…/op-ed-i-sexually-identify…/
Op-Ed: I Sexually Identify As An A-10 Thunderbolt
The following is an opinion piece written by…
duffelblog.com
23 hrs · Like · 1
Barry Saney That’s hilarious!!
What I don’t get about this topic is the coverage. The people this affects are a minute fraction of the population. Let them be , God will be their final judge , not any of us. Our job is easier, we get to show compassion.
23 hrs · Unlike · 3
Curtis Cavanaugh Barry Saney, that’s very interesting. I did not know that you were born with a Red Green optical deficiency. Of course, that’s probably because you’re not flaunting it on a regular basis either.
23 hrs · Like · 1
Barry Saney And people have been burned at the stake for less … The idea is simple – “this is me ” accept me as I am. The discrimination of such people is born of a mix of basic misunderstanding and a deep religious fervor to define relationships. While we know the religious definition exists, the Land we live in guarantees non discrimination by Law.
My response is – How would Christ want me to respond to someone in need ? Do I take notes of their orientation and decide IF I should help? No , I just help.
23 hrs · Like
Dana McElveen Bates When society rejects the moral absolutes of the Bible, this is inevitably where things spiral. Pedophiles. Are they born that way? Who’s to say pedophilia is “wrong” if between 2 consenting persons? What about their happiness, don’t they deserve to be happy and live their lives the way they desire? The way their ‘brains are wired’. And why is polygamy illegal? Why can’t I marry my dog? Who are you to define what marriage is or isn’t?

When you take God (and his design for marriage) out of the picture, the line of what’s acceptable and what’s not is suddenly drawn in sidewalk chalk. Easy to erase and move wherever the culture deems it appropriate. And everyone does what is right in their own eyes. A very, very scary scenario.
23 hrs · Like
Barry Saney Dana , you are correct about the Bible having moral absolutes. But in Jesus’ day polygamy was ok and you could be married off as a young teenager. You could also be a slave and be ok. Society has worked hard to change some of those situations, belie…See More
22 hrs · Like
Dana McElveen Bates An interesting thing about the Bible, is that you can twist it and remove single verses from context and make them say whatever you’d like them to say. The Bible most certainly does not condone polygamy, slavery, homosexuality etc… Who defines absolutes? God. Period.

Let’s worry a little less about offending sinners by not baking their cakes, and a little more about offending a Holy God!
22 hrs · Like
Barry Saney Dana you are correct. Offending sinners is the least of my concerns.
21 hrs · Like
Curtis Cavanaugh Art Joly, do you really think that I want to see a video from the transgender calendar project about some guy packing and trying to pee? I’m going to have to delete that one.
4 hrs · Edited · Like
Art Joly Go right ahead, but you said guy and the person in question is a female to male conversion. So according to your bible he’s a she.
56 mins · Like

Posted in Art Joly | Leave a comment

Art and Lucy, the Never-ending Engine Story.

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Art

Some people name their cars, motorcycles and recreational vehicles. We named our new home Priscilla from the Australian movie Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. When we started living in this 1987 Rockwood in the fall of 2011, it moved under its own power and that was about it. Since then we’ve slowly, as finances permit, upgraded the control systems on the refrigerator, furnace and 12v power system. We’ve also installed new tires and brake pads, a parking brake cable and lower ball joints in the front suspension. Along the way, again as finances allow, I’ve been trying to get our Chevrolet 454 Cu. In. engine to run properly. Up until recently there were occasional good days but for the majority of our driving the engine ran on 7 cylinders at best. Just as Lucy van Pelt would pull the football away from Charlie Brown our beloved home would do the same to me regarding what is a fairly pedestrian installation: a Chevy 454 in a truck chassis. What could be wrong?

I’m 58 years old and plugging away at my 59th as we speak. Back in my hay day I was no stranger to the 454. At one time I owned a set of 3 Cadillacs, a Coup de Ville, a Fleetwood Brougham and a division window Series 75, the factory formal car. After a little dispute between two friends who wished to remain friends Lynn and I were asked to dissect a 454 from in a pick-up truck to do a root cause analysis. So I went into this cash poor but feeling pretty well qualified for the task.

First things first you start with an air-filter, fuel filter(s) and check the ignition timing. Check. A good rule to remember about this technology is that as sexy as carburetors are to play with, It’s Always the Ignition! So plugs and plug wires are purchased and installed. Good to go! Ummmm, no. So New Cap and Coil! GM came up with this self-contained ignition system. Sort of a distributor in a can, where the ignition coil is built into the distributor cap, the distributor receives switched 12VDC and 8 high tension ignition wires lead out to the spark plugs. So if you install a new distributor cap and coil you’ve pretty much replaced everything. There’s a solid state module that takes the place of traditional ignition points and that is good or bad but I replaced it just to make sure and then I changed the condenser, that part you need whether you use points or magic to start and stop the primary current. Why do you need a condenser? Because an ignition coil has a characteristic inductance and with the properly sized condenser you can make the coil ring like a bell so each spark plug sees a glorious shower of electric sparks instead of one that goes Meh? Shower of sparks equals good fire. Meh? equals dead cylinder. Hopes up! Hope dashed by reality.

So now the exhaust note gets louder and I replace what turns out to be perfectly good exhaust doughnuts. The air injection reactor plumbing has rusted away at the exhaust manifold so I spend one summer removing the plumbing, all of one afternoon. Then the threaded ferrule in the exhaust manifold. turns out to be 22.5mm by 1.5 threaded oil drain plugs and I order up a drill and tap. Eight ports and two weeks later that problem taken care of but I’m back to my (expensive, motor-home-only) not so new anymore ignition cables. The jets of exhaust gas from the rotted A.I.R. plumbing has melted some of the ignition cables and insulating spark plug boots. This is the second set of ignition cables specified for the GM 454 P30 chassis motorhome. AARRRGGGHHH!

We go from where we were for the summer to a months stay where we have to climb a couple of steep slow hills and cross a bridge rated at 2 tons. Barely made it up the hills. So now it’s time to start looking deeper into the fuel system. The problem comes and goes so maybe the problem is fuel contamination. The dirty little secret about gasoline-alcohol blends is that they pull water from the air and when the alcohol has enough water tucked away all of the alcohol and all of the water settle to the bottom of the fuel tank. So because it does no harm and is a modest improvement I install a Wix brand water-separating fuel filter. The Wix 33123 is a big canister type fuel filter that is about the same form factor as a spin on oil filter but has a drain cock in the bottom to drain of accumulated water. Hope hope hope wish wish wish no luck. Time to take the carburetor apart.

Round one, I ask Lynn to do it because he’s meticulous but it turns out that he knows even less about the GM Quadrajet than I do. No dirt. No better. So I do the reading, each session ending when I start to bang my head against the table top. GM’s bean counters decided to use one carburetor design for everything GM made. The variations are endless even before you add in the generational changes. Luckily in 1986, the last year of carburation for GM the Quadrajet had settled down into a fairly flexible yet simple design.

Now during October 2015 I had a chance to take care of our radiator leak. While I was in there I changed out the mechanical fuel pump. The late 1980s Chevrolet P30 chassis use two fuel pumps, an electric one in the fuel tank to lift the fuel to the engine and a mechanical engine driven fuel pump to supply fuel to the carburetor at the required pressure and volume.

XXXXXXXXXX

Long story short, it was a bad spark plug cable. Brand new but bad.

Posted in Full Time RV Life | Leave a comment

Resisting Arrest is Criminal

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Art

“We need to get around this idea that you can resist arrest,” New York Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton said last month. Speaking to state Senate committee members, he argued that resisting arrest should be elevated from a misdemeanor to a felony in order to prevent “potential injuries to the officer, to the suspect.”

Officers expect and demand compliance even when they lack legal authority. They are inclined to interpret the exercise of free-speech rights as unlawful disobedience, innocent movements as physical threats, indications of mental or physical illness as belligerence.

Police are allowed more discretion than civilians, and they should be bound by a more stringent system of accountability. But the police are not accountable. And why are the police allowed more discretion than civilians? Unless a law is being broken the police answer to the civilians. Since the legality of an arrest cannot be judged until months or years afterward, civilians bear an undue burden of having to accept all invasive actions from the police as a matter of course. New standards for determining criminal behavior are necessary, and we can’t afford to leave them to the sole discretion of the police. In many states, simply questioning an arrest may qualify as criminal, and even when civilians know the law better than an arresting officer, there’s no reasonable recourse for compromise or de-escalation.

This fantasy of a future in which violence against the police is the exclusive and inevitable outcome of civil conflict is really a warped reflection of what we already know but seldom acknowledge: Violence as a response to disagreement is already a de facto police tactic. Since police are given every advantage over civilians in defending themselves, the resulting violence is grossly one-sided rather than reciprocal.

al Jazeera, Citizens should be able to defend themselves against any threat, including unjust law enforcement

Posted in Art Joly | Leave a comment

Homeless in the 21st Century

Posted on March 22, 2015 by Art

Democratic Representative Tom Bower helps the homeless.

Posted in Art Joly | Leave a comment