THE GYPSY PAINTS

You can get away with murder

2014-02-19T19:35:00.003-08:00

Have you ever wondered if you could get away with murder? Ever thought about ways to kill someone without getting caught? You really can do it. It’s easy.

My sister was murdered recently and her killers will never, ever be brought to justice. She was killed slowly and cruelly over a long period of time and it should never have been allowed to happened.

She was diagnosed with an inoperable benign brain tumor 4 years ago. Her doctor attempted surgery but was unsuccessful in removing the tumor. She was told that in all probability the tumor would not grow and would not become a problem, but her condition would be monitored and re-evaluated every few months.

When she recovered from her surgery to remove the tumor, she was completely normal for a time but she did eventually suffer some disability. At that time she was placed in a skilled nursing facility by her son and daughter-in-law. My nephew then got power of attorney over her finances, and he and his wife became aware of the extent of my sister’s financial situation. She had just under $100,000 in her checking account when he took over her finances. My sister and her husband owned some very valuable land and they also had some stocks and IRAs which produced an income. My nephew and his wife were married only a short time before my sister’s condition became known.

My sister was scheduled for a life-saving operation that would shrink the tumor enough that she could function normally, but before that could happen, her son’s wife talked him into refusing the surgery, and convinced him it would kill her if they went through with it. She convinced him to fire my sister’s doctor and she continued to live in the nursing home and received no further treatment. My sister’s condition did eventually worsen and she became weaker and began to fall frequently. Her daughter-in-law fabricated wild stories about her behavior and convinced my nephew they were all true.

My nephew is borderline retarded and easily led by someone who can manipulate him such as his wife has done. He frequently exhibits violent behavior. He has no job and his primary source of income comes from selling drugs out of his home. He has been in and out of jail repeatedly throughout his entire adult life. His wife has also spent some time in jail and has no driver’s license because of a number of DUIs. She does drive in spite of having no license however.

Although my sister lived in a community several hours from our family, my daughter and granddaughters visited her a few times while she was living at the nursing facility and she seemed mentally alert and was able to communicate with them in a normal manner. My nephew told my daughter on one of her visits that he had a friend who worked in the kitchen and his friend ground up some sort of pill and added it to her food, ostensibly to aid in her recovery. He claimed she had been diagnosed with dementia.

In the meantime, my nephew and his wife moved into my sister’s home and took possession of her car, all her money and all her belongings. Upon taking possession of her house, her daughter-in-law immediately had the house completely redecorated. Hardwood floors were installed throughout, new furniture was purchased for every room, and all new appliances replaced the existing ones. It was virtually a brand new house when she finished the renovation. After my sister was placed in the nursing home, the daughter-in-law was heard to remark that if my sister ever came home to live, she would leave my nephew. I believe that is when she began her campaign to make sure my sister never got out of the nursing home.

Eventually, of course, all the readily available cash was gone and they could no longer pay for my sister to stay in the nursing home so they took her home to live with them. What could have been a very agreeable arrangement turned into the nightmare my sister endured for the rest of her life. The house has 3 bedrooms upstairs and my sister could have lived comfortably in one of the available bedrooms. However, when they took her home they immediately locked her in the basement and padlocked the door so she could not come upstairs. Her daughter-in-law didn’t want her upstairs because she was afraid my sister would soil the new furniture. They took her food down to the basement and she was never allowed upstairs to eat with the family. They took away all means of communication so she could not contact me or anybody outside the house.

They began to systematically abuse her both verbally and physically. Her daughter-in-law began to hit her on the face, specifically on her ear presumably with the intention I believe of making the tumor grow and becoming bad enough that it would kill her. Her son berated her daily with epitaphs such as calling her a filthy stupid old whore and other equally cruel and unspeakable names. He told her she was worthless and that she should just hurry up and die. This and any other way he could think of to make her life miserable. Her granddaughter came to visit her but my nephew (her father) wouldn’t let her go down to the basement to see her grandmother. She said he locked himself in the basement with my sister and she could hear him yelling and berating her. By that time she was falling frequently. She soiled herself occasionally and they both refused to clean her up. She was made to sit around dirty most of the time.

When she was in the nursing home she had a cell phone and we talked frequently. I called her or she called me at least once a week. She was hopeful that she would be able to get a small apartment some place as soon as she was able to take care of herself. Eventually, however, my nephew cut off all communication between her and the rest of the family. He called me and screamed and cussed and told me none of us were welcome to visit her ever again and threatened to have us arrested if we ever showed up in town or at the nursing home. Shortly before she was taken from the nursing home she called me on my birthday and we talked for quite a long time. That was the last I heard from her.

After a few months of trying to get in touch with her I got the state agency for elder abuse involved and had the police go to the house to see if she was okay. I had no way of knowing if she was alive or dead and knew my nephew would never let me know of her passing when and if it happened. The police and local social workers did go to the house to investigate and at that time my nephew called me to say if I was going to have people running in and out of his house he was going to bring her to my house to stay. I thought it was the answer to my prayers. And, in a way it was.

I was advised by a nurse to take her to the emergency room immediately upon her arrival here and have her checked out so if a question ever arose about her health later I would have documented proof of her condition when she got to my house. I did take her to the emergency room when she got to my house and they found she had two broken ribs, a urinary tract infection, a broken bone in her vertebrae and nearly all her teeth were broken out. She had several large bruises on her arms and torso. A social worker came to my house to visit with her and spent several hours talking with her and that is when all the abusive treatment she had suffered became known and documented.

She seemed so happy to be here and was able to take care of herself up to a point. She was able to get food from the refrigerator and was able to go outside and sit on the patio. She was able to go up and down the stairs to the bedroom she occupied and take showers and dress herself. Unfortunately, she fell one night in her bedroom after going to the bathroom and hurt herself badly. I had to call an ambulance and she was taken to the hospital. She had broken another bone in her vertebrae and had to wear a neck brace. She never really fully recovered from that fall and died a few weeks later. In retrospect, I am so glad she was able to live free and happy if only for a short time among the family who loved her so dearly.

My sister was a college graduate with a degree in social science. She worked for the agency for the aged for several years and traveled all over the southwest part of the state where she lived. She eventually got a job at the local hospital where she counseled people who had lost a loved one or had someone who was terminal. She worked there until she retired. She was well-liked and respected by everybody who knew her. In all her life, I don’t believe she ever said anything unkind or spoke badly of anyone. She was active in local politics, attended church regularly and volunteered to help wherever she was needed. Both she and her husband had a very active social life and a large group of friends. They traveled extensively, going on skiing trips and cruises. Her husband preceded her in death by a year. They were both professional people and had accumulated enough money to live out their lives comfortably after retirement.

Meanwhile, my nephew and his wife are enjoying the fruits of his mother and father’s years of labor. The two of them will never be punished for killing my sister because there is no way to prove any of the above.

Clearly, they got away with murder.

Movie Review

2011-10-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

Goya's Ghosts

I bought this movie because I hoped to learn more about one of Spain’s most revered artists. Francisco de Goya, (1746-1828) is considered the “Father of Modern Art” and knowing nothing about the movie. I read several reviews, most of them glowing. In reality, .... (more)

Artists

2011-10-18T23:14:00.000-07:00

“The past is what man should not have been. The present is what man ought not to be. The future is what artists are.”

~ Oscar Wilde ~

ART...

2011-10-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

“There really is no such thing as Art. There are only artists."

~E.H. Gombrich, an English art historian~

EMAILS ABOUT OLD PEOPLE

2011-10-12T21:53:00.000-07:00

I keep getting all these “cute” emails about old people, describing all the idiotic things they do. And I get lists of things which define old people such as, “You know you’re old when…..” I find them semi-amusing. I try not to personalize. I do however, occasionally find myself doing things I probably wouldn’t have done 20 years ago. I have to blame it on my age. Some of the things I now do are just plain dumb. I do question myself as to whether I was always this stupid or is it really the onset of senility that causes the behavior malfunctions going on in my life. I mean I was NEVER going to be invited to the Mensa picnic, but, my gawd! I’m getting worried.

For instance, the other day I stopped at a gas station to fill up my car. I pulled into this very large Phillips 66 station, attached the nozzle to my car’s gas tank, inserted my credit card into the appropriate slot on the pump mechanism. Now, as you know, getting gasoline is no longer a simple matter. Before you start pumping, you have to answer a multitude of questions – cash? credit outside? credit inside? debit outside? debit inside? car wash? receipt? and very often your zip code, age, sexual preference, etc. So, okay, I get through all the BS and the “pump” told me I had to re-insert my card and remove it quickly, which I obediently did. Same questions. Then the “pump” told me to “see attendant”. By this time, I was so annoyed and frustrated, I pocketed my credit card, returned the nozzle to its home and drove away in a huff. A short time later as I was waiting at a stop sign, I reached into my pocket to return my credit card to my wallet and I was stunned to see…..it was my J.C. Penney card. Well…..as the epitaph on Alan King’s tombstone in the 1988 film “Memories of Me” said, “Now I Feel Like a Putz.”

There’s more stuff, but I’ll report it later. Stay tuned.

(Also, don’t pass this on. One of my kids might get wind of it and have me put away.)

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS RUN AMOK!

2011-10-12T07:02:00.000-07:00

The American Family Association recently reported the following story in their publication:

          Tyson Homosexual was a blur in blue, sprinting 100 meters
          faster than anyone ever has. "It means a lot to me", the 25-year-old
          Homosexual said.

          The runner's name actually was Tyson Gay, but that's how news of
          his race victory was reported by the AFA which has an automatic
          word-replacement program set against the word "gay".

I mean, really? Haven't we just about reached the limit of the ridiculousness (is that a word?) of political correctness?

We, as a nation, are being treated like a bunch of kindergartners instead of adults. Remember how we used to spell out words around our children when they were small so they wouldn't know what we were talking about? Now the PC media watchdogs are doing that to us. They use euphemisms such as "the n-word" or "the f-word" instead of saying what they really mean. I don't get it.

I hate the "n-word". I can hardly bear to say it aloud. I can hardly bear to write it. But, when reporting a news story that contains that word, such as the recent story about the rock in front of Governor Perry's fishing cabin with the "n-word" on it, why won't the news readers just go ahead and say it instead of pretending it says something other that what it really says? Whom are they protecting? Certainly not their audience. To be fair, though, if a media person did actually say "nigger" on the air, that person would be fired so fast they wouldn't be able to get the "er" out of their mouths before being evicted from the premises. So, of course, they are protecting themselves.

And by the way, why are the only people who are allowed to say the "n-word" are "people of color"? (Whatever that means.) Why is it strictly taboo for WASPs to even think the word, much less say it aloud? Why the hypocrisy?

Then there's the "f-word" or "f-bomb". Are our psyches so delicate that hearing the actual word would cause us to get the vapors? Why the pretense? It's not as if everyone in the world has not heard the word. If you are a movie goer, you've heard it a million times.

But, maybe I'm just being an "f-word b-word". Could be. I've been accused of being an "f-word b-word" a number of times. (For those of you unfamiliar with PC-speak, "f-word b-word" is actually "fucking bitch".)

The following quote just about sums up the moronic concept of PC:

"Political correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical, liberal minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous, mainstream media, which hold forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."

THROWING GRANDMA UNDER THE BUS

2011-10-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

All the media wonks are always talking about politicians “trying to scare Grandma” or “throwing Grandma under the bus”. Sometimes they accuse them of “dropping a dime on Grandma”. What the hell ever happened to Grandpa? Why is Grandma the only one being discriminated against? Is it because Grandma is the only one smart enough to figure out she’s getting fucked over by Obamacare and Big Government? Surely Grandpa is getting fucked over, too. Is he not smart enough to grasp the concept? Or is it more fun to depict old ladies as pathetic symbols of older Americans? I am the embodiment of the Grandma who is being scared and is being thrown under the bus. I am 76 years old and I am definitely scared. My retirement fund has dwindled to almost nothing under the Obama administration. I haven’t had a “cost of living” increase in my Social Security for 3 years now. Not that the increase ever amounted to anything. Usually $7.00 or $8.00 after adjustments for Medicare, etc. And all the while, gasoline costs more, groceries cost more, utilities cost more, and my monthly income is approximately $800 less that it was 3 years ago. You bet I’m scared. I think the “dime” has already dropped on Grandma and I am powerless to do anything about it. Too old to work, too old to become a hooker, can’t stand the thought of having to put up with some toothless “Grandpa” to supplement my income. What’s a Grandma to do? I wish I knew.

George W. Bush

2011-08-29T13:49:00.000-07:00

I watched a special broadcast on National Geographic last night in which George W. Bush was interviewed about his feelings of the events as they unfolded before the nation on September 11, 2001. As I watched this distinguished, intelligent man talk about his what he and the whole country went through after the terrifying events that day and in the following days, I couldn’t help but compare his calm dignity and presence of mind with our present president. I shudder to think where the United States would be today if Urkel Obama had been president on 9/11. We’d probably all be under Sharia law, wearing burkas and studying the Qur’an today.

Football anyone?

2011-08-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

BLASPHEMY? No doubt some will think so.

I just can’t get too excited about pro football. Actually, I eschew ALL pro sports. Grown up men playing little boy games. And “grown up” men (and women) watching and getting all hot and bothered about them. Wow. I just don’t get it. The thing is, I don’t believe the outcome of the games is left in the hands of the players. I find it impossible to believe that with all the money involved in betting, graft, scams, corruption, payoffs, etc. that is controlled by the managers, owners, and bookies that they would put 22 Neanderthals hyped up on steroids and other drugs out on a field, give them a football and let them bash each other into oblivion without some control over the final outcome. So, let’s see if I have this right---they’re going to let these 22 troglodytes with a collective I.Q. of maybe 150 and not one of them with more than a 15-word vocabulary at the most, (and that’s if you count motherfucker as 2 words) –they’re going to turn that group loose and let them be the deciding factor in who wins and who loses a football game? I don’t think so. Waaaay too much money involved! Just ain’t gonna’ happen. I know I’ll get a lot of flack about this. But, if anyone with half a brain thought about it for half a second or two, they’d have to agree.

Statins

2011-08-29T13:43:00.001-07:00

My doctor called today to tell me the results of my recent blood test. My cholesterol is high – a little over 200. My triglycerides are high. It’s been that way as long as I can remember. I was given a cholesterol medication (a statin) once, and a month later I couldn’t walk. A couple of years after that I had to have knee replacement surgery. The doctors all claimed the cholesterol medication was not to blame. I have since refused any and all medications currently on the market for treatment of high cholesterol. They all have the same disclaimer – inflammation, impaired ability to walk, joint paint, etc. They want me to take that stuff? Really? I don’t think so. The last time my doctor tried to put me on some pill, I told her I thought the experts were wrong about having a score of 245 being a bad thing. Every day new research debunks old research and the medical community completely reverses their previous findings. If we just wait long enough, research will show that having cholesterol at less than 200 is really, really bad for you.

Cats

2011-08-29T13:42:00.000-07:00

I don’t trust people who don’t like cats. There is always something a little weird about the person who says “I hate cats”. I have found that when a person doesn’t like cats, they are always a little “off” in their personalities to my way of thinking. I love cats. All cats. I enjoy their personalities, their coats, their voices. I have always had a cat for as long as I remember. Some I liked better than others. Some I have loved so intensely that when they died, I mourned them as I would any family member. One of the cats I now have – a rescue from my vet – has been with me for 13 years. He’s spoiled beyond any normal way of thinking. He sleeps with me, of course, and snores all night long. He sleeps right by my head and if I turn over in bed, he changes sides, too, so that we’re always face to face. I find this oddly comforting. He snores whenever he’s asleep. As I work in my office, he sleeps behind the desk and I always know when he’s there because I can hear him snoring away. He likes ice water and whenever I have a glass of ice water on the end table next to my easy chair, he drinks from it. He likes to lick the ice. However, he has a peculiar way of drinking water. He dips his paw in the water and licks the water from his paw. This is how he drinks outside whenever he finds a puddle of water or from his water bowl in the house. If I keep the glass full, he drinks normally, but if the glass is three-quarters or half full, he uses his paw. I don’t mind sharing my water with him as long as he doesn’t dip his paw into the glass. Maybe it’s me that’s weird? Nah. Not possible. I also love dogs.

Less or fewer?

2011-08-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

Lots of confusion about these two words. Most of us learned the basics of grammar in “grammar” school back when we were young and impressionable. So why do most people misuse these two words? I can see how a lot of people, ordinary folks, can be confused by them. But, when I hear a commercial substituting less for fewer it really bugs me. I won’t buy a product from a company who hires an ad agency who, when writing copy, mis-uses less for fewer. Or when a news reader on TV uses less when they really mean fewer, it grates on my nerves. It also bugs me when people use “badly” when they really mean “bad”. I understand that saying “He/she feels badly” about something, they think it sounds more elegant than saying it properly, i.e. “He/she feels bad.” I guess I’m just a fucking purist. There are fewer and fewer (or less and less) of us around and I feel badly about it. Poor grammar is commonplace and becoming more and more acceptable. Just not to me