A NO GHC PARTY

We have a party person in our neighborhood. I believe GHC is the active ingredient marijuana, a hot subject in Calaveras County.  Thus the party about GHC on the 20th, the day the government made some kind of announcement?  Unsure.

Can’t drive, can barely type, incapacitated by my surgery-told I have massive tears and if I don’t follow the rules to the letter, I may never be well. So, I’m resting. Can’t drive, must depend on others for just about everything. House looking like a junk yard. Jim took pictures. We didn’t stay long though Jan provided a great fun event.

—

—

I ate finger foods and wished there was MJ in the brownies. Maybe better than the oxcycotin they prescribed. I read where it is miracle drug for animals. Woof! Woof!

Central America Trip #41

The motorhome is parked at Mary’s home in Murphys, California.

I’m planning to depart tomorrow morning. I’ve completed my repairs, routine maintenance and cleaning of both the Bronco and motorhome.

Since those activities are not particularly intriguing blog subjects, I’m taking you back to my…

2004 Central America trip…

This trip ended up being 343 days and 16,000+ miles through the back-country of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. 11 rigs started the trip, within a week we broke into three smaller groups for ease of traveling. Only myself and one other rig went the full, pre-planned route. All the others dropped out for various reasons. All returned safely to the United States. I’m planning to show these photos, more or less, 10 a day, whenever I’m not doing something else deserving a blog entry. FINALLY, it must be remembered these photos are prior to my switching to digital in 2006. The films were developed during our trip and the lack of quality control sometimes is plainly evident.

Today…Costa Rica (south-bound) #3…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

 

 

After passing the 6,000 mile marker of the trip, we arrived in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica where Bud hired a “stoned” street musician to play a rock tune for him…

 

 

Lots of poor folks in this area of Costa Rica…

 

 

I saw this beautiful two foot high flowering plant only once during the entire trip…

 

 

This is a Dole Banana plantation. The workers hang large bunches of bananas on this railway and push them along…

 

 

Up this rise to…

 

 

Where they are loaded on to railway cars to begin their travels all around the world…

 

 

We saw a wide variety of bridges during our trip…

 

 

Main Street in Cahuita, Costa Rica. Drugs are everywhere in this area. It seemed just about everyone we met was “stoned”, walking around in a dull fog state of mind…

 

 

I met this young Canadian gal who was one of many “Wasting away in Marguritaville”. I wished her well…

 

 

She took me to a nearby beach where we were the only people…

 

 

We enjoyed a delightful nude swim in the 85 degree Caribbean Sea and had a peaceful day of quiet time…

 

 

We prepare to depart Sixola, Costa Rica and into Panama. I’m awaiting “our turn”. There is no one directing traffic. You simply wait until you see no oncoming traffic, then “go for it” hoping you meet no one coming your way. We waited about 1/2 hour for our turn…

 

 

Here we go…ready to experience what proved to be our most exciting and unusual border crossing. It was really wild! It’s an old banana train trestle and the 18-wheelers carrying bananas barely squeeze through while the drivers try to enjoy the view of the Sixola River, about 200 feet below them. Altogether, we had to drive about 1/4 mile across the bridge where we stopped for a customs check and then drive another 1/4 mile before we could get off the tracks. The only other crossing available into Panama ( the one we will use returning north along the Pacific coast), would mean “backtracking” about 250 miles. And away we go! It was really exciting…especially where the boards were missing!…

 

 

Costa Rica proved to be my least favorite country in all of Central America!

You can read all about Costa Rica by clicking this link…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rica

Here’s my trip website link…http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

 Yesterday was sunny and 52 degrees. Forecast for today is sunny and 54 degrees. 27 Degrees at 5 AM. Too darn cold…time to leave soon!

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of California. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 600 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet -2015

HEALTH RESEARCH GROUP

I get a newsletter from The Health Research Group put out by the respected non-profit group, Public Citizen. Their newsletter is called Worst Pills, Best Pills News and you can look them up online at http://www.worstpills.org.

In the most recent issue, Director Dr. Michael Carome talked about the Physician Payments Sunshine Act that is part of the Affordable Care Act commonly referred to as Obamacare. It was done in 2010 but finally went into effect in 2014.

So, we are nearing the end of 2014 and the companies manufacturing drugs and medical devices are mandated to report to the federal government payments and gifts to physicians and teaching hospitals. The law also mandates that the companies, physicians and hospitals involved be made public.

On September 30th, Medicare, which implements the act, released the first batch of data. The payments totaled an astounding 3.5 BILLION dollars. Another 1.1 billion was not disclosed for various reasons permitted under the sunshine act.

The breakdown for payments was $1.5 billion for research. (I have to ask, can research on a new drug be unbiased when paid for by a drug company? We’ve heard some pretty shady stories about that kind of buddy, buddy approach.)

$1 billion for gifts of stock. (That is bribery in my opinion. Same as cash.)

$380 million for speaking and consulting fees; (I Expect the speaker favors the drug company and again, sounds like bribery to me. How cozy.)

$302 million for royalties and licenses; (Don’t know what that entails.)

$167 million for travel, food  and lodging and $128 million for other things.

(I was under the impression that travel and food and lodging stuff was off the table. Nope, that is only for senators and politicians. The Doctors and hospitals are still being sweetened.)

And, another 128 million for other purposes undefined?  (I’m guessing, those little trinkets like advertising carry bags, small, soft ice chests,  packets of golf tees, pens, drug and device samples etc. like those I recently saw at a health fair. They are intended to influence we consumers.)

I’ve never in my life been so cynical. Now I find it is imperative to be cynical in this corporate, greed dominated climate.

Dr. Carome summarizes with these words:

“While some of these payments may seem appropriate-such as those related to the conduct of industry-funded clinical trials-the majority of them have a corrupting influence on the practice of medicine. Financial relationships between physicians and industry influence the opinions and recommendations of health care providers in a variety of settings, including during the delivery of medical care; during Food and Drug Administration advisory committee meetings and deliberations of expert panels that develop clinical practice guidelines. Indeed, that is why so many payments and gifts go to physicians is to influence their prescribing practices.

The bottom line financial interests of these companies are not with the best interests of patients.”

I know for a fact I’ve been over prescribed drugs I didn’t need. For several years I had a holistic Doctor who took me off of everything I was taking. I wish he was still in the area. My current doctor always chooses generic drugs and Worst Pills Best Pills gives you the lowdown on drugs even your doctor does not know the truth about. So, if you are concerned, look them up.

As Jim always says, “Sometimes the truth ain’t pretty.”

WOMEN HAVE TO FIGHT.

House Republicans let the Violence Against Women Act Expire just days before mass protests in India about brutal rapes. The Medieval attitude in India is similar to what it was and still is in the U.S. in many ways. Blame the victim:  She was wearing tight jeans or a revealing blouse;  she was drinking in a bar, or she wandered into the wrong part of town, she wasn’t a virgin, she is too friendly with the wrong kind of men. An eleven year old victim was wearing make-up and looked 20. The message, it is okay to rape a 20 year old?

Add to that supposedly intelligent elected officials describing pregnancies from rape “a gift from God”, and “women lie regularly about rape.”  All the rapes that didn’t result in pregnancy, are they a gift from God too?

Steubenville, Ohio teens joked online about the unconscious teen who had just been raped. They are middle class Americans, not sociopathic monsters, but officials in Steubenville decided these young football players had made a mistake and downplayed the consequences of their act. The message, if you are a hotshot athlete, it is okay to rape and joke about it?

Thousands of women are raped in the military but know if they report it they will lose their jobs and never be promoted. When they do report it, the man is rewarded and the woman punished. Another powerful message of unequal justice for women and the need for special protections for women who endure the most violence of every kind at every age.

Here are rape statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Sexual assault…it’s not about lust and desire, it’s a violent crime of POWER, CONTROL and DOMINANCE

• Every 45 seconds someone in the United States is sexually assaulted.
• 1 out of every 7 women currently in college has been raped (2), however, 9 out of 10 women raped on campus never tell anyone official about the rape.
• 1 in 10 men is raped in his lifetime , 1 in 7 of those victims will have been assaulted before the age of 18.
• More than 61.5% of rapes are never reported to law enforcement.
• Approximately 28% of rape victims are raped by their husbands, 35% by an acquaintance, and 17% by a relative other than spouse.
• 74% of sexual assaults are perpetrated by assailants well known to the victim.
• A female child victim is 7 times more likely to be re-victimized as an adult.
• Nearly 6 out of 10 sexual assaults occur at the victim’s home or the home of a friend, relative, or neighbor.
• 1 in 15 rape victims contract a sexually transmitted disease (STD) as a result of being raped.
• 1 in 15 rape victims become pregnant as a result of being raped.
• The United States has the world’s highest rape rate of all countries that publish such data- 13 times higher than England and more than 20 times higher than Japan.
• An American woman is 10 times more likely to be raped than to die in a car crash.
• 61% of rape victims are females under the age of 18.
• Contrary to common belief that violent crime rates are notably lower in rural areas, an  analysis of location data collected for the National Women’s Study found that 10.1% of women living in rural areas had experienced a completed rape as compared to 13.6% of women living in urban and suburban communities—hardly a notably lower rate.

These statistics are not the most recent, but the incident of rape has increased, not decreased.

I take this very personally because I fended off two rapists working together when I was 18 years old and working for the Sheriff’s Department. I was at a bus stop near a field in San Leandro, 9:00 at night.

I was followed by a stranger and talked myself out of a rape walking home from a babysitting job when I was 12 years old. The parents came home drunk in a cab and shoved me out the door to fend for myself without a dime for a phone call in my pocket. What saved me is this man, age 25, knew my brother. Weeks later he was arrested for rape and murder, convicted and sent to prison.

My oldest daughter was the victim of a “crotch dive” three times in three different cities where she worked. Once while running early in the morning, once in a shopping center parking lot in the daytime, and once in a movie theater. Incidents like this are frightening and demeaning.

My youngest daughter was assaulted by 5 young boys approximately 12-13 year olds in France while waiting for a bus. She backed up against a wall and kept cursing and swinging her purse at them until some adults appeared and they fled.

Movies will have you believe that attacks against women happen in dark alleys by a single intent perpetrator by a women who uses poor judgement. Statistics tell a sadder story of assaults by family members and friends.

I wrote to my representative to protest that vote, not that it did any good. But, educate your daughters, your nieces, your sisters. Find out what kinds of defensive moves work best. Carry mace or pepper spray available in small hand held containers. Rapists like girls with long hair. It is easy to control them by grabbing them by the hair. Put your hair up inside of a cap while running.  Screaming and being loud and fighting will sometimes divert an intended assault to an “easier” victim. Put your phone down your bra if you feel insecure. Run if you have the opportunity as fast as you can anywhere. Toss your purse and valuables in your pursuers path, if you have them, except your phone is in your bra. Run up on someone’s porch and pound on the door and scream. Roll up into a ball if you are knocked down. Or if grabbed from behind, sink heavily to the ground and roll up into a ball and scream and kick.  But, the best move is to be prepared.  Be aware of where you are. Walk quickly and purposefully. Stay away from dark places. Always carry your keys balled up in your fist with the sharp end protruding through your fingers when in a strange place headed for your car.  It is a weapon. There are so many different situations, bars, date rape drugs, elevators, home invasion. The Web will offer many suggestions. Check them out for your young girls going off to college. Be safe.

Picture A New York Subway Train At Rush Hour Crammed Full Of…

Very friendly people and a French Cajun Music Band out in the middle of Nowhere, Louisiana and you’ve got Fred’s Lounge in Mamou, Louisiana…the Cajun Music Capitol Of The World!…at least that’s what the sign on the outside of the building says.

Inside a sign says…

The sign says it all!

Yesterday (Saturday) morning, Mary and I left the motorhome at 7:00 AM for the about 20 mile drive to Mamou, Louisiana. You’ve got to arrive when they open the doors at 7:30 AM if you want one of the 12 seats at the bar. In addition the lounge sits an additional 25 people and about 150 with standing room only. At 7:35 AM, Mary ordered a scotch and water and I ordered a Miller’s Lite Beer. The band starts at 9:00 AM and plays wild and crazy Cajun Music non-stop until 1:30 PM and the lounge closes at 2:00 PM.

To see the other 14 pictures I took, click this link…
http://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver/MamouLA2010#

For a great history and more pictures of Fred’s Lounge, click this link…
http://web.lsue.edu/acadgate/mamou.htm

We left a little after noon and returned to the motorhome to work on our Blogs and get some rest for the afternoon/evening activities which were…

Mary had been craving Crawfish and finally was fulfilled at Nick’s Restaurant…

Mary finally gets her Crawfish!

Then on to the big weekly Saturday Night event at The Liberty Theater…The Rondez Vous de Cajuns…

This was the 1,158 performance of the Rendez Vous de Cajuns at the Liberty Theater.

We had front row seats and sat next to a French-speaking couple who have been married for 60 years. They have attended this event for every Saturday night for more than 20 years and have the only two reserved seats in the place! She reminded me very much of my Mother who passed away April 3, 2003 at the age of 83.

This couple has been attending the Rendez Vous de Cajuns every Saturday night for more than 20 years.

One sad comment as it relates to current times… I was last here in the year 2000 and the place was jammed-packed…standing room only! Last night it was only about 10% full. It appears to be a combination of tough economic times and lack of heritage interest by younger people. According to this older couple…the younger people are not attending because they are out in the bars drinking and doing drugs. A really sad statement about the world we live in!

The Liberty Theater has been there since 1927 and has been hosting the Rondez Vous de Cajuns for more tha 20 years…Here’s their website…
http://www.eunice-la.com/libertyschedule.html

This completed our second and last day in Eunice, Louisiana. Today we’ll depart by 10:00 AM for the about 175 mile drive to New Orleans for a two-week Mardi Gras stay.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2010
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.panamaorbust.com