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        <title>Sam Heath - samheath&apos;s Blog - Bakersfield.com</title>
        <link>http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/samheath</link>
        <description>General Interest and Speculation</description>
        <itunes:summary>General Interest and Speculation</itunes:summary>
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                <title>The Weedpatch Gazette</title>
                <link>http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/samheath/30644</link>
                <guid>http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/samheath/30644</guid>
                <itunes:summary>&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 12pt&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Univers&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Sound and Fury Signifying Something&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Univers&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;: While lunacy abounds in our government and throughout the world, on August 23 we will be treated to the annual Rubber Ducky Race here in the Kern River Valley. The duckys will be &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;released&lt;/i&gt; into the river at Kernville and people will cheer on their favorite duck. It is comforting to find this degree of sanity in the midst of so much madness, and I find it a cheerful note sounded as though in defiance of the cacophony of maddening noise and bad news all about.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 12pt&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Univers&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;But speaking of cacophony, among the blessings I enjoy here in my small part of the Sequoia National Forest is not having some brainless twit cranking on the thumping noise that rattles the windows of neighbors often accompanying the abuse of illicit drugs. Those that live among such barbarians or are subjected to this noise from cars in traffic have my utmost sympathy. I spent many years beginning in childhood as a musician and singer and know the difference between noise and music. But then I was raised by and among those with civilized good manners and taught what used to be courteous thoughtfulness toward others, something increasingly lacking in today&amp;rsquo;s America.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 12pt&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Univers&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Homosexuals have promoted a brainless term &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;homophobic&lt;/i&gt; as though anyone with a normal revulsion to perversion has an irrational fear of homosexuals. One has to suppose the homosexual propagandists depend on people being ignorant of what the term &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;phobia&lt;/i&gt; really means. In just the same way the Devil has succeeded in passing off brainless, mind-numbing noise as &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;music&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 12pt&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Univers&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;A scene that used to occur in some old comic strips was that of a child being given a toy drum. Now kids do have a way of banging on things and there was a reason why &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;Tin Pan Alley&lt;/i&gt; got its name. But the comic strips would have someone eventually &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;accidentally&lt;/i&gt; stepping on the child&amp;rsquo;s toy drum in order to stop the incessant, banging noise. These days it seems some people can&amp;rsquo;t distinguish the difference between noise and music. But as a matter of fact I never could stand the noise of Gene Krupa no matter how many people of my generation called it &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;music&lt;/i&gt;. To my ears, his noise was little different than that of some drugged out people today.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 12pt&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Univers&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Admittedly some of the music from the &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;old days&lt;/i&gt; was just plain fun, the music of Spike Jones and the songs of Phil Harris and Tom Lehrer and the old Red Buttons song &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;Strange Things are Happening&lt;/i&gt; comes to mind when I consider the blatantly obvious efforts of so many in the MSM shouting they want Obama as president, though in my opinion the Devil controls the American media as effectively as Hitler and Goebbels did that of Germany. TV and Hollywood devoted to noise, mayhem, violence, destruction and perversion it is only to be expected the Devil is the master choreographer and leads the &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;orchestra&lt;/i&gt;, and his is not full of sound and fury signifying nothing, but quite the contrary. It&amp;rsquo;s the Devil&amp;rsquo;s work to make people go brain-dead through noise and drugs, to cause people to become callous to civilized manners and living.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 12pt&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Univers&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;I was once employed as a machinist in Culver City. The place had a large sheet metal shop and the din was so horrific I wondered the workers didn&amp;rsquo;t all go deaf! These days I suppose OSHA would require ear protection in such an environment, but it seems America is overwhelmed by the din of that sheet metal shop.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 12pt&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Univers&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;It does seem to me people are becoming more uncomfortable left alone with nothing but their thoughts, though they know &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal&quot;&gt;silence is golden&lt;/i&gt; and everyone needs some amount of solitude and quiet time to nourish their souls and a healthy mind. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to escape the noise surrounding them. My last school contract position was as a Stanislaus County Resource Specialist, and I don&amp;rsquo;t doubt the rise in autism diagnoses along with some other things leading to the increase of using prescription drugs to modify behavior in children has somewhat to do with the noise infants and children are exposed to today.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 12pt&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Univers&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;However, since even the archangel Michael dared not upbraid Satan I&amp;rsquo;ll give the Evil One credit for not being stupid; otherwise it would strike me as exceedingly curious the GOP could not do better than McCain. I don&amp;rsquo;t wonder the media has avoided showing much of McCain since he does give the appearance of having one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. Not quit cadaverous, but pretty close to the work of a mortician.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 12pt&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Univers&quot; size=&quot;3&quot;&gt;Me? I&amp;rsquo;m going to focus on things like the Rubber Ducky Race and other things if not of greater importance are at least not the workings of lunatics and the Devil and count my lucky stars I am removed from the noise surrounding so many either unable or unwilling to escape it.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</itunes:summary>     

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