ANIMALS NEED RESPECT
January 20, 2015
It would seem that animal cruelty is on the rise in Colombia. I hadn’t been aware the bull fighting was still legal in parts of the country until I saw some horrible images on TV. It seems some town has a festival similar to the running of the bulls only it’s held inside a stadium. The bull back is pierced by short spears like the one used in bull fights. Some say it drugs the bull while others say it’s used to enrage and make him more aggressive. Well on this particular day the bull was doing his thing chasing people all over the ring when some demented sole decided to shot and kill it. now that was bad enough but now the crowd attacked the dying bull jumping on it,, kicking it and cutting pieces off of it. Not the type of death this magnificent creature deserved. And then today I saw photos of where the bull had gored a horse and then the crowd again jumped on the horse and basically tortured it to death. To watch these things on the news which were being pursed as criminal events once again made me wonder why bull fighting is legal anywhere. I mean they take this animal piss it off just so some moron in a tight suit can stick a sword in his back. And I don’t want to hear how good the bull has it until he enters that ring or how hard the Matadors have to train. To me this is animal cruelty to the extreme. It’s like how people mistreat pit bulls down here and then want to kill them when they bite somebody. Animals are not born cruel they fight and kill for food or to protect family much like humans. But you can change an animal’s personality if you keep abusing it. I find no justification for the continued legalization of bull fights and believe the barbaric policy should be stopped immediately. This is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.
A LITTLE STUFF
January 16, 2015
Well another year has passed in the life of Jeff. I guess you can call that stuff. Jeff wanted to clear up something from the last post. He wanted to be sure people understood it was organized religion he disliked and not God. Ok that being said how much new stuff did you get this Christmas and what have you done with the old stuff? We got a new coffee machine recycled the old one. Jeff got new underwear, about time, threw out the old. I got a new litter box passed the other one on to a new cat person. The world got a little shittier and there’s not much I can do about that. Ruby got a new blender and she’s running around make fruit drinks for everyone. Have you noticed the amount of stuff that’s up in space? They’re going to have to do something soon or they won’t be able to more stuff up there. Well I have to go and get ready to help fats celebrate so I’ll say this is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.
NOT REALLY A CHURCH DAY
January 13, 2015
Yesterday was a holiday in Colombia. It was Epiphany, which means it was a Catholic Holliday. Now Colombia is a Catholic country but when it comes to celebrating religious Holidays it’s not done in church. As is the norm for most holidays in Colombia it’s party time. At least this one tends to be less of a drunken one than others. I mean like Christmas Eve which is celebrated with fireworks and drunks. When I first got here I expected a special midnight mass whit massive attendance and a lot of pomp. But what I got was an all night party where people seemed to be trying see if they could single handily raise the gross national product for Colombia by consuming as much alcohol as possible. Yesterday was more about food just a few beers and some good fun family stories, Jeff enjoyed this one he hates Christmas eve but goes because his wife and the rest of the family does and he has always spent Christmas with family. It’s funny how countries that are referred to as Catholic or Muslim, Jewish, or what have you are usually anything but. Italy home of the Catholic Church spawned the worst criminal organization ever The Mafia; the Muslim countries are responsible for most of the terrorism in the world today, and Israel is the most war like country in history. And people want to know why Jeff doesn’t believe in religion. This is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.
LETS TRY THIS AGAIN
January 12, 2015
Well I know I said I was back and then I didn’t post anything. Part of the problem is there wasn’t anything but tragedy to write about and I just didn’t feel like writing about all that stuff. So I decided to take a look at why Jeff hasn’t finished his last book and was having problems with helping me with this blog. I going to say that the reason some people don’t try or stop taking chances isn’t the fear of failure you always hear about but rather the fear of success. Now let’s look at his if you go out and try something and you fail well you can always try again. People who watched you try and fail won’t have a lot of expectations if you try again. That doesn’t mean they’ll ridicule you or tell you to give up, but it is normal for them not to have the same expectations the next time. But if you’re not trying because of fear of success then that presents different parameters for you. Some people think that the changes that come with success mean your friends will stop liking you for who you are but rather because of your success. Also there will be the pressure to continue that success and that can be as scary as being afraid to fail in the first place. If you’re a writer or entertainer the pressure comes from without as well as within. People want more from you and you feel you must give it to them or forever be known as a “one hit wonder”. I think this is why a lot of people walk away from acting or writing and even music. They don’t like what success has done to them, especially in this day of social media invading your every moment thus removing your privacy. What would you do if you had real success as a writer or entertainer? Would success go to your head or would be afraid of maintaining that success. This is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
January 1, 2015
Well were listening to a little Bob Dylan today and looking back at 2014. The year didn’t start out badly but it ended like shit. What the heck is going on cops shooting unarmed men? Cops being ambushed, racism is back like the early sixties (maybe it never went away). And just at the end of the year a 29 year old mother was shot to death by her 2 year old it was an accident but why does a mother living in a town of 9,000 need to carry a gun into Wal Mart. As you know I’m not anti gun but the proliferation of cop killings and people be shot by cops has me ready to rethink this. There were 3 fatal airline crashes this year, earthquakes, early snow storms, droughts, and now floods. We lost 42 musicians a number of celebrities to many by their own hand. Let’s hope all the bad shit is done for awhile and we can have a peaceful and joyful year in 2015. This is Flounder saying HAPPY NEW YEAR and CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.
LOOK WHO’S BACK
December 29, 2014
Ok back to work. I was sitting around this past Saturday listening to led Zeppelin and started to think about why they won’t get back together also the same about Pink Floyd. Now in Zeps case everyone blames Robert Plant and they are correct in doing so. But why is Plant afraid of a reunion (and yes I did say afraid). Before Led Zep Plant was not a star nor had he recorded any songs. Page however had been playing with the Yard Birds along with Jeff Beck and had several recordings under his belt. Had Page not had Plant recommended to him Plant might be washing cars right now. Most of the music written for Zep was written by Page and John Paul Jones. Another point is if Plant dislikes playing with Zep why does he always include their music in his tour shows. Plant resents the fact that he will always be remembered for Led Zeppelin and not as a solo artist. I believe he has been out on his own refusing to do a reunion tour because he’s afraid he will never be able to escape Led Zep and he won’t whether he does the reunion or not. The Pink Floyd situation is the same with David Gilmore playing the part of Plant. The difference here was that Floyd had produced to successful albums prior to Gilmore joining. These super groups that helped change the history of music were destined to implode. The necessary genius to create and perform at legendary levels takes it pound of salt. This is Flounder, still grooving to Led Zeppelin, saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.
TORTURE DOCUMENT
December 12, 2014
Usually I don’t write about polarizing topics but this torture document has me pissed. People are all upset because we supposedly used extraordinary measures on prisoners. Some say we didn’t get any information some said we did, depends on the political party. Politicians that signed off originally are now saying they didn’t know. Senator John McCain who was tortured during the Viet Nam war is all bent out of shape. Americans have been tortured going all the way back to the Revolutionary War. Yet one of the biggest arguments against our use of torture or extraordinary methods of interrogation has been it would put Americans in Jeopardy. Bullshit American are tortured and now beheaded not because we’ve used torture but because our enemies are not governed by the same moral code. I believe if intense interrogation will save American lives then let’s start ripping out finger nails and shooting these people full of drugs. These people kill us because they claim the Koran tells them to. Well the bible says an eye for an eye and to do onto others as you would have them do onto you. This argument about whether we should or should is bull shit. You want to think you so above the rest of the world then keep the troops home and hide in your basements. If you’re going to go fight in a war with someone else you are going to eventually have to play by their rules whether you like it or not. This is Flounder Saying CIAO from New Jersey.
WE MADE IT
December 4, 2014
Well I’m sitting in Miami international airport waiting for my next flight which will take me to JFK everything went pretty fast because we checked in online and didn’t have to stand in those long lines. The flight down was a little e rough but we were all tired so we caught a few winks. And of course the wife and I were yelling at each other. They say that Miami is the second most confusing airport in the US but we didn’t have any trouble getting around. I will say this for the plane ride they don’t make planes for people over 6 foot tall or as wide as I am but they were short flights so it wasn’t too bad. It looks like the airport employs more Cubans than any other nationality. If you speak English without any accent you’re a novelty. I probably won’t get to post his till tonight or tomorrow. The internet in the airport is about as secure as Swiss cheese. I hope my body Flounder is doing OK I miss him already. Well unless something really spectacular happens I won’t be back until may Thursday or Friday. This Jeff saying CIAO( for his buddy Flounder) from the good old USA.
INTO THE BREACH ONE MORE TIME
December 2, 2014
This is our last post before we head out to the USA for seventeen days of vacation. I decided to do a rant about Colombia’s leadership since I really didn’t have anything else to write about. About a week ago the rebels (Farc) kidnapped a US counter intelligence trained Colombian General. He was the first ever General kidnapped. The group that dir it was supposedly close to the drug cartels. Well they released him and three other people taken at the same time on this Past Sunday. The General has been forced to resign because he was travelling in a dangerous area and not in uniform. This after he had spent his entire captivity handcuffed or chained to a tree and threatened with death all of which are the international treaties. Now Santos has immediately sent his negotiators back to Cuba to continue peace talks. Why doesn’t he just bend over and kiss the FARCs ass I mean they kidnap a General kill a few policemen every once in awhile and blow up oil line every week. But he still wants to deal with what is estimated to be 5500 rebels, most of who are working for the Cartels. If it wasn’t for the disruption of the oil fields or the gold mining he wouldn’t give a shit. His attitude stinks of Peace at any cost and I’m sorry but this country has been fucked over enough. Now I am by no means saying war is a good thing but if you’re in the majority you should be able to negotiate from a position of strength or at least equality not weakness like President Santos. I’ll probably get a lot of shit for this post but I kind of like it here and hate to see these hard working people get screwed by a bunch of rich aristocratic politicians. Hey that sounds familiar doesn’t it America. This is Flounder (counting the minutes till the party begins) saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.
IT’S ANOTHER POST OF STUFF
December 1, 2014
Well it’s time for some Monday morning STUFF. First up the football player Johnny Manziel got to play a little in a game and almost immediately was ordained as the second coming of Payton Manning. People are upset about a black person playing a Storm Trooper in the new Star Wars Movie and an all white cast in the new Exodus movie. Man I can’t even make this crap up. The Colombian who had been kidnapped by “Rebels” two weeks ago was released Sunday so now President Santos is ready to resume peace talks like nothing ever happened. How is it people from all over the world keep electing idiots as leaders? Today is Cyber Monday that, the internet version of Black Friday only you can’t touch the STUFF your about to put on your credit card and pay huge interest rates. The Hockey player Martin Brodeur, the man who originally found my buddy Flounder in the meadowlands parking lot is getting ready to retire Flounder wishes him the best of luck. The price of crude oil is dropping fast and may reach 30 dollars a barrel but of course you won’t see a huge drop in Gasoline prices those oil company execs aren’t about to give up country clubs, private jets, and their Lamborghini anytime soon. Well that’s enough stuff for Monday. Oh by the way Jeff is leaving for the US this Wednesday and depending on our ability to communicate there may not be a lot of Blogging for most of December. But I guarantee there will be a lot of partying. This is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.
floundersgreatadventure 