Driving in the automobile yesterday, listening to my iPod, one song came on that described my relationship to this old blog:
It is a habit. I am used to it. I am just not sure I have much left to say.
On the other hand, at least two ideas for blog posts occurred to me during my drive from Chicago last night. That is good news for both of you who stop by every day. You will get fresh content in the coming days! I know -- that is certainly cause for champagne and caviar.
Today is my youngest son's 18th birthday. The joyous date has caused a great deal of evil looks and comments directed at me by my wife in the past weeks. You see, whenever the boy is asked what he wants for his birthday he tells her he wants to have a good cigar. I am pretty sure that desire is my fault. I have no doubt he would like a beer too, but that I will not provide until he is of proper age.
At dinner Tuesday the wife asked him what he was going to do on his birthday. He replied he was coming home from school, smoke a good cigar with Dad and then go out with his friends -- probably to the football game.
The look of malevolence directed at me would have scared the demons of Hell. If the image could have been captured on Kodachrome, it could have been used as a poster to scare off Al Qaeda -- Do not mess with The Great Satan:: this is what American mothers look like when perturbed.
I think I will head to the cigar store this afternoon to get a couple of special stogies. The boy and I will celebrate his birthday and I will welcome him to the brotherhood of the leaf in style.*
Are habits genetic?
* yes I know this makes me look like a shitty parent. He is going to go buy one anyway, so he might as well have a good one instead of a Swisher Sweet or such.
September 30, 2011
September 28, 2011
Hospital Hijinks
Last Tuesday the wife was admitted to the hospital. As I got ready to head home for the night I asked her if she needed me to bring her anything the next morning. She listed her comb and toothbrush among other items.
Wednesday morning I arrived bright and early. I gave her her sundries and she combed and brushed etc.
Wednesday night I came home early from the hospital, since she was still groggy and sleeping from her endoscope. I watched some TV and headed to prepare for bed. It is my usual habit to brush my teeth before hitting the sheets. As i reached into the drawer something was odd. The toothpaste was missing! I had taken the tube to the hospital. I reached into my always ready travel bag and grabbed the small tube that lives there. I picked up my toothbrush, spread on the paste and noticed the toothbrush was blue. "So", you might say. We have had a long-standing and inviolate policy that the wife always uses a blue toothbrush and I have a red one. She is also to NEVER squeeze the toothpaste tube in the middle, but that is a separate topic. I had taken her the wrong toothbrush.
Lucky for me, we had a new red brush in the drawer. Unlucky for her she spread my mouth germs into hers that morning.
Thursday morning I put her BLUE brush into a baggie and slipped it into my pocket. After arriving at the hospital, I asked her how she was feeling. She told me fine.
"You are not feeling sick today/" I asked. she told me no.
I replied "I bet I can make you feel sick", and held out the blue toothbrush.
She looked at it and said "It is a toothbrush". I just looked at her . After about ten seconds she uttered with a great deal of disgust "Oh, ugh, I used your toothbrush! Yuck" As soon as the nurse let her out of bed she headed to the bathroom and scrubbed the awfulness of my germs from her mouth.
I guess the multiple antibiotics pumped via IV into her blood killed whatever germs I passed to her.
.
Wednesday morning I arrived bright and early. I gave her her sundries and she combed and brushed etc.
Wednesday night I came home early from the hospital, since she was still groggy and sleeping from her endoscope. I watched some TV and headed to prepare for bed. It is my usual habit to brush my teeth before hitting the sheets. As i reached into the drawer something was odd. The toothpaste was missing! I had taken the tube to the hospital. I reached into my always ready travel bag and grabbed the small tube that lives there. I picked up my toothbrush, spread on the paste and noticed the toothbrush was blue. "So", you might say. We have had a long-standing and inviolate policy that the wife always uses a blue toothbrush and I have a red one. She is also to NEVER squeeze the toothpaste tube in the middle, but that is a separate topic. I had taken her the wrong toothbrush.
Lucky for me, we had a new red brush in the drawer. Unlucky for her she spread my mouth germs into hers that morning.
Thursday morning I put her BLUE brush into a baggie and slipped it into my pocket. After arriving at the hospital, I asked her how she was feeling. She told me fine.
"You are not feeling sick today/" I asked. she told me no.
I replied "I bet I can make you feel sick", and held out the blue toothbrush.
She looked at it and said "It is a toothbrush". I just looked at her . After about ten seconds she uttered with a great deal of disgust "Oh, ugh, I used your toothbrush! Yuck" As soon as the nurse let her out of bed she headed to the bathroom and scrubbed the awfulness of my germs from her mouth.
I guess the multiple antibiotics pumped via IV into her blood killed whatever germs I passed to her.
.
September 27, 2011
Have bag, will travel
My briefcase is filled with assorted items. In the front compartment there is a stack of business cards in a slot.My engraved business card holder, a gift from my wife, is also there. A couple of little pocket-sized notebooks emblazoned with the company logo are half filled with notes.. There is a pen and a mechanical pencil. I just remembered the pencil is out of lead. A front zippered pocket holds many and various frequent traveler cards: airlines, hotels, rental cars. My passport lives there too.
The middle pocket has a padded space for my computer and is also is where I store safety glasses and a couple of pairs of earplugs. There is an opened pack of gum in here also. My Kindle lives in this section when I am traveling. The back section has customer folders, a lined tablet, a small leather-bound tablet and pen, phone lists, and a folder containing receipts. There is also a company catalog. There is a couple of part interchange lists. My memory is not what it used to be. A small tube of Advil lives next to the receipts folder, tuck next to the side of the bag.
It is not really a briefcase, but more of a black leather bag with handles and a shoulder strap.I have gone through many "briefcases" over the years. I now of at least three of the traditional hard square type and two bag type. Daily use and travel plays a heavy toll on bags and people. The current trend in business is towards a backpack. I keep eyeing a bag that looks like an over sized computer bag with room for a change of clothes for overnight travel. Schlepping a bag and a roller bag through the airport is tiresome.
My black briefcase and I spend a lot of time together. It is soft and fits just right on my hip and shoulder. It is getting a bit scuffed. We have been traveling partners for more than five years now. One of these days he is going to be replaced.
The middle pocket has a padded space for my computer and is also is where I store safety glasses and a couple of pairs of earplugs. There is an opened pack of gum in here also. My Kindle lives in this section when I am traveling. The back section has customer folders, a lined tablet, a small leather-bound tablet and pen, phone lists, and a folder containing receipts. There is also a company catalog. There is a couple of part interchange lists. My memory is not what it used to be. A small tube of Advil lives next to the receipts folder, tuck next to the side of the bag.
It is not really a briefcase, but more of a black leather bag with handles and a shoulder strap.I have gone through many "briefcases" over the years. I now of at least three of the traditional hard square type and two bag type. Daily use and travel plays a heavy toll on bags and people. The current trend in business is towards a backpack. I keep eyeing a bag that looks like an over sized computer bag with room for a change of clothes for overnight travel. Schlepping a bag and a roller bag through the airport is tiresome.
My black briefcase and I spend a lot of time together. It is soft and fits just right on my hip and shoulder. It is getting a bit scuffed. We have been traveling partners for more than five years now. One of these days he is going to be replaced.
September 26, 2011
Sorry 'Bout That
Sometimes I take poetic license. Occasionally I get carried away. Usually I amuse myself to no end. I might have gotten a bit over the top with yesterday's installment.
It rained yesterday. It rained a lot. Chuck, the TV weather guy, claimed we got more rain yesterday than all of July and August combined. Of course it is a matter of perspective. When I went outside and took a piss on August 2nd, there was more precipitation on the yard than there was in all of July.
I didn't really take a leak outside, but you get my drift. It was a rather dry summer.
There was some interesting football yesterday. The Colts still suck, and the Steelers really are not that good. Rapersburger seems to hold the ball a long time and the Indy secondary is gawd-awful. How is it possible that Pittsburgh receivers can catch the ball and no Colts defenders are even in the TV picture? This happened more than once! The Patriot lost to the feaking Bills.
I made the wife some sugar cookies -- not the slice and bake kind either. I mixed up the dough myself and baked them. It made her a happy girl. BTW, she is feeling much better. I am a decent cook, but baking is not my favorite of kitchen activities. I can do it, but I find the exact measuring and detailed recipes a bit tedious. I cook more by taste a smell and look I prefer the stovetop to the oven. You cannot operate by the seat of your pants when baking.
Work beckons. have a great Monday.
It rained yesterday. It rained a lot. Chuck, the TV weather guy, claimed we got more rain yesterday than all of July and August combined. Of course it is a matter of perspective. When I went outside and took a piss on August 2nd, there was more precipitation on the yard than there was in all of July.
I didn't really take a leak outside, but you get my drift. It was a rather dry summer.
There was some interesting football yesterday. The Colts still suck, and the Steelers really are not that good. Rapersburger seems to hold the ball a long time and the Indy secondary is gawd-awful. How is it possible that Pittsburgh receivers can catch the ball and no Colts defenders are even in the TV picture? This happened more than once! The Patriot lost to the feaking Bills.
I made the wife some sugar cookies -- not the slice and bake kind either. I mixed up the dough myself and baked them. It made her a happy girl. BTW, she is feeling much better. I am a decent cook, but baking is not my favorite of kitchen activities. I can do it, but I find the exact measuring and detailed recipes a bit tedious. I cook more by taste a smell and look I prefer the stovetop to the oven. You cannot operate by the seat of your pants when baking.
Work beckons. have a great Monday.
September 25, 2011
National CCW -- Six Arguments in Favor
I sometimes compose the wit and wisdom of this piece o'crap site while doing other activities. I am very good at multitasking. I had a long political post writing itself in my cranium while I was mowing the yard yesterday.
Picture a bunch of monkeys sitting at cheap desks deep in my cranium pounding away at old Underwood typewriters. There is probably a bunch of whiteout in use. Not all of it is sniffed. A couple of the typewriting primates are smoking cigars. Another is drinking beer. One is just hitting keys at random. One little spastic rhesus monkey is in charge of research, but he can never seem to keep focus on the task at hand. One old monkey wearing a Cubs hat seems to function as a pseudo-editor. His ADHD keeps him distracted. That is how my posts are written.
So, back to the post my monkeys and I were working on yesterday. I have scrapped it in my mind along with the treatise on the French Foreign Legion, a long dissertation on the Cold War and a discussion of the Julio-Claudian women. I decided I did not want to spend a Sunday morning ranting about liberal dipshits like Al Sharpton or Morgan Freeman. Their hypocrisy and idiocy is apparent for all to see -- if you choose.
This decision is not too popular. The monkeys are screaming and throwing shit balls around my corpus callosum in a fit of rage right now. They want me to really expose old Morgan Freeman for the ignorant motherfucker he truly is. I am not going there. The Great Apes are in a rage. They yell that instead of wasting their talents on political rants while I pushed the mower, they could have been composing intricate sexual fantasies involving nurses costumes and thigh-high fishnet stockings with garter belts. The tufted capuchin is shrieking about how we should have focused on the mowing yesterday instead of progressive idiocy and I might not have cut down that orange chrysanthemum..
Things are turning ugly.
Oh my god, one of the spider monkeys has just smashed a whiskey bottle on the edge of my parietal lobe! He is waving it around dangerously. He's "gonna cut my white ass" if I don't expose The Obama for the Trotskyite he is. One of the chimps just turned over his desk. He is throwing his neatly typed pages into the air. A fight has broken out near the Lateral Sulcus. The editor monkey is just sitting there, smoking an H Upmann Chairman's Reserve and laughing at the chaos.. He suggests I read some other blogs until things calm down.
I need some more coffee first.
Picture a bunch of monkeys sitting at cheap desks deep in my cranium pounding away at old Underwood typewriters. There is probably a bunch of whiteout in use. Not all of it is sniffed. A couple of the typewriting primates are smoking cigars. Another is drinking beer. One is just hitting keys at random. One little spastic rhesus monkey is in charge of research, but he can never seem to keep focus on the task at hand. One old monkey wearing a Cubs hat seems to function as a pseudo-editor. His ADHD keeps him distracted. That is how my posts are written.
So, back to the post my monkeys and I were working on yesterday. I have scrapped it in my mind along with the treatise on the French Foreign Legion, a long dissertation on the Cold War and a discussion of the Julio-Claudian women. I decided I did not want to spend a Sunday morning ranting about liberal dipshits like Al Sharpton or Morgan Freeman. Their hypocrisy and idiocy is apparent for all to see -- if you choose.
This decision is not too popular. The monkeys are screaming and throwing shit balls around my corpus callosum in a fit of rage right now. They want me to really expose old Morgan Freeman for the ignorant motherfucker he truly is. I am not going there. The Great Apes are in a rage. They yell that instead of wasting their talents on political rants while I pushed the mower, they could have been composing intricate sexual fantasies involving nurses costumes and thigh-high fishnet stockings with garter belts. The tufted capuchin is shrieking about how we should have focused on the mowing yesterday instead of progressive idiocy and I might not have cut down that orange chrysanthemum..
Things are turning ugly.
Oh my god, one of the spider monkeys has just smashed a whiskey bottle on the edge of my parietal lobe! He is waving it around dangerously. He's "gonna cut my white ass" if I don't expose The Obama for the Trotskyite he is. One of the chimps just turned over his desk. He is throwing his neatly typed pages into the air. A fight has broken out near the Lateral Sulcus. The editor monkey is just sitting there, smoking an H Upmann Chairman's Reserve and laughing at the chaos.. He suggests I read some other blogs until things calm down.
I need some more coffee first.
September 24, 2011
Saturday In the Park
Wew!, What a week. Things went to hell Tuesday and never slowed down.But the weekend is here, so three cheers for Saturday.
I was deep into a trip to the northern extremes of the Hoosier state, just south of Warsaw, Tuesday afternoon when my cell phone rang. It was my daughter. She asked if anyone had called me. I thought it a strange question.
She informed me my wife had been taken by ambulance to the local hospital. She had no further details. I spun the wheel at the next county road interchange and reversed course down Indiana Highway 15. A long two plus hours later, I was back where I started early that afternoon. I pulled into the hospital parking lot and began the process of tracking down my fair spouse. Her ongoing gastrointestinal issues had reached a critical juncture. Pain, nausea and bleeding had finally put her in the hospital. Her hemoglobin was a measly 7.1 ( a healthy woman is 12-14). She was admitted for further treatment.
Later that night the hemoglobin fell to 5.6 so blood transfusions were ordered. She had scopes and antibiotics and other hospital-type care until Friday evening when the medicos reluctantly sent her home. She has to have more scopes and stuff in the future. I am glad she is home, but not as happy as she is to be here.
Her care was excellent, but I will say I found the hospital to be a bit depressing -- it is full of sick people.
But my girl is home and doing fine. Life is good.
Be safe and enjoy your weekend.
I was deep into a trip to the northern extremes of the Hoosier state, just south of Warsaw, Tuesday afternoon when my cell phone rang. It was my daughter. She asked if anyone had called me. I thought it a strange question.
She informed me my wife had been taken by ambulance to the local hospital. She had no further details. I spun the wheel at the next county road interchange and reversed course down Indiana Highway 15. A long two plus hours later, I was back where I started early that afternoon. I pulled into the hospital parking lot and began the process of tracking down my fair spouse. Her ongoing gastrointestinal issues had reached a critical juncture. Pain, nausea and bleeding had finally put her in the hospital. Her hemoglobin was a measly 7.1 ( a healthy woman is 12-14). She was admitted for further treatment.
Later that night the hemoglobin fell to 5.6 so blood transfusions were ordered. She had scopes and antibiotics and other hospital-type care until Friday evening when the medicos reluctantly sent her home. She has to have more scopes and stuff in the future. I am glad she is home, but not as happy as she is to be here.
Her care was excellent, but I will say I found the hospital to be a bit depressing -- it is full of sick people.
But my girl is home and doing fine. Life is good.
Be safe and enjoy your weekend.
September 21, 2011
Wayback Wednesday: Local Music Edition
if you were a teen or young adult in the late 1970's there was some great music being made. In those days even the small towns had a band or two. These bands played in the local bars and played high school and college dances. There were some great musicians and song writers out there.
If you were in Central Indiana you probably heard this gem played live. It remains one of the most beautiful songs ever written:
These guys played at about half of my College and Fraternity dances. I have seen them countless times. If you were cool and listened to WNAP you know this song:
Here is one from some boys from my home town. It got some limited local airplay: Bodacious was the first band I ever saw in "concert". They played at a number of my high school dances too.
In any discussion of local bands from yesterday. how can we leave out Henry Lee?
And finally here is one by my favorite contemporary local band:
If you were in Central Indiana you probably heard this gem played live. It remains one of the most beautiful songs ever written:
These guys played at about half of my College and Fraternity dances. I have seen them countless times. If you were cool and listened to WNAP you know this song:
Here is one from some boys from my home town. It got some limited local airplay: Bodacious was the first band I ever saw in "concert". They played at a number of my high school dances too.
In any discussion of local bands from yesterday. how can we leave out Henry Lee?
And finally here is one by my favorite contemporary local band:
September 20, 2011
Poked and prodded
I went to the doctor this morning. The medico was pleased. My blood pressure, cholesterol,and sugars are all OK. My weight was good, but I have gained three pounds since my last visit. The doc did not mention it, so that must be fine too. It is not fine with me, more exercise and better eating is on tap. I did get a flu shot. They did not even offer me a sucker.
September 19, 2011
President Obama's Policy
As a handy-dandy aid to my readers, here is a Cliff Notes/Sperk Notes version of President Obama's Deficit Plan -- before he has even released it:
Tax. Spend.
That description will also work for his Jobs Plan. In fact, he is the stereotypical Democrat.
Tax. Spend. That policy sums up the President's policies. When that does not work propose even more of the same. Repeat. Throw in a few blame the Republicans/Bush/anyone/anything possible. Tax. Spend. Repeat.
Can we stand four more years of this?
UPDATE. Now we have heard from The Obama:. Tax the 'Rich" That is his plan.
The Downgrade-in-Chief keeps talking about people paying their "fair share" of taxes.
Will one of you Democrat/Liberal/Progressive types define for me "fair"?
Please?
Tax. Spend.
That description will also work for his Jobs Plan. In fact, he is the stereotypical Democrat.
Tax. Spend. That policy sums up the President's policies. When that does not work propose even more of the same. Repeat. Throw in a few blame the Republicans/Bush/anyone/anything possible. Tax. Spend. Repeat.
Can we stand four more years of this?
UPDATE. Now we have heard from The Obama:. Tax the 'Rich" That is his plan.
The Downgrade-in-Chief keeps talking about people paying their "fair share" of taxes.
Will one of you Democrat/Liberal/Progressive types define for me "fair"?
Please?
Perfect Breaded Pork Tenderloin
Here we are, dear readers, facing a dreary Monday. I hope you had a good weekend. If yours was anything like mine, it was entirely too short. It seems like the weekend is only 2/5 as long as the work week.
Let's see, the yard is mowed, the weeds eradicated, the bushes are trimmed. The Cubs suck, but we will soon be done with their portion of the MLB season. The Colts suck, but their season is barely underway. I feel like I am living in 1993 again. As one pundit opined last week, is it possible Manning could be considered the MVP when not even talking a snap? For the most part, this is the same team that flirted with a perfect season in 2009/10, minus one important player. Ponder that.
It rained most of the night and the sky is filled with dark pregnant clouds this morning. We need the rain, but the whole atmosphere seems completely fall-like.
I used up what passes for good writing (the bar is set purposely low) last week, so just insert your own pithy closing here.
Let's see, the yard is mowed, the weeds eradicated, the bushes are trimmed. The Cubs suck, but we will soon be done with their portion of the MLB season. The Colts suck, but their season is barely underway. I feel like I am living in 1993 again. As one pundit opined last week, is it possible Manning could be considered the MVP when not even talking a snap? For the most part, this is the same team that flirted with a perfect season in 2009/10, minus one important player. Ponder that.
It rained most of the night and the sky is filled with dark pregnant clouds this morning. We need the rain, but the whole atmosphere seems completely fall-like.
I used up what passes for good writing (the bar is set purposely low) last week, so just insert your own pithy closing here.
September 18, 2011
The secret to perfect corn meal mush
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!
My iPod is playing semi-quietly in the background as I peruse the interwebz this morning. So far I have been instructed by Blue Oyster Cult to not fear the reaper and Pink Floyd has played Echoes. The Floyd song is not as well know as some others, but weighs in at over 15 minutes. I highly recommend it, it is far superior to most of the crap from The wall album. Currently one of the finest songs ever written is on -- Marshall Tucker's Can't You See. here, take a listen as see if you do not agree:
We will find out today just how bad the Indianapolis Colts are. I do not think they are very good, but one week does not a season make. Unless the O-line can do a better job and the defense learns to stop the other team, it will be a long season. Manning is among the greatest quarterbacks to ever play, but it was the defense that gave up 34 points in one half last week.
Have a great Sunday.
My iPod is playing semi-quietly in the background as I peruse the interwebz this morning. So far I have been instructed by Blue Oyster Cult to not fear the reaper and Pink Floyd has played Echoes. The Floyd song is not as well know as some others, but weighs in at over 15 minutes. I highly recommend it, it is far superior to most of the crap from The wall album. Currently one of the finest songs ever written is on -- Marshall Tucker's Can't You See. here, take a listen as see if you do not agree:
We will find out today just how bad the Indianapolis Colts are. I do not think they are very good, but one week does not a season make. Unless the O-line can do a better job and the defense learns to stop the other team, it will be a long season. Manning is among the greatest quarterbacks to ever play, but it was the defense that gave up 34 points in one half last week.
Have a great Sunday.
September 17, 2011
Am I boring you?
I am up and at it early this morning. I woke a little before five in the a.m. for no real reason I can imagine. I have not been sleeping well this week, so I was not surprised.
Life is good here at the old homestead. I have to mow the yard later today. I think I will set the blades down a notch and maybe I will only have to get in one or two more cuttings before fall stops the growing season.
There you have it, a boring post filled with boring nothings. I hope you have a great weekend.
Life is good here at the old homestead. I have to mow the yard later today. I think I will set the blades down a notch and maybe I will only have to get in one or two more cuttings before fall stops the growing season.
There you have it, a boring post filled with boring nothings. I hope you have a great weekend.
September 16, 2011
Why the Tea Party and Conservatism will lose
It is over. We have lost the war to return to a limited Government.
Do not get me wrong, full-on socialism has not yet engulfed our beachhead, but the waves of collective nanny state big government are inching forward in an inexorable tide.
We will win more elections. Maybe even the next one. There are some young conservatives on the Supreme Court. There will be some reforms and some roll backs, The States will hold out for a while.
But there is no denying we are in the midst of the Conservative equivalent of the Battle of the Bulge. In 1944 Hitler gambled on one last great offensive to to beat back the British and Americans. He faced steady pressure from the Soviets in the East and he hoped to defeat the Western Allies in a big battle to allow him to find a peace in the West and concentrate on defeating the real enemy -- the USSR. Even Hitler knew socialism was the real danger! In reality, the War was lost, but the mighty Huns put up a big fight to stave off the inevitable.
That is where we are today in America in our fight against Socialism. Newsweek claimed after The Obama victory we were all Socialists now and sadly, they were right. The victory is in sight. It will just take another decade or so to tally the final victory.
Yesterday I read in my local paper a story that confirms my dire analysis. A regional foodbank is combining with the schools to provide meals for "hungry" children on the weekends. Kids that qualify for "free" lunch will get a pack containing food for six meals when they leave school on Friday afternoon. This means we, the taxpayers, are providing 16 of 21 meals a week. In return we are teaching a whole generation of young parents -- and more importantly -- the children, that the Government is there to provide your every need.
How do you teach a young girl or boy to work hard and to be self-reliant when the counter message screams loud and clear -- do nothing and others will provide? They go home and see a family life where welfare checks and food stamps are the norm. They live in homes where the Mom or Dad does not work. Many do not even try. These kids are the future. Today's elementary school children are tomorrow's voters. Most people do not like to give up the freebies. We have lost the war for the heart and minds of future generations.
Less you think this is just over-reaction to an isolated incident, consider in my wife's kindergarten classroom. All but four kids get breakfast served at school. Dumping some milk into a bowl of dry cereal is too much for their parents to handle of a morning. The schools, through the Feds (thus from your taxes and my taxes) even provides lunch in the summer! There is a health clinic in the middle school providing "free" healthcare to any student on free or reduced lunch. How can any student not think the role of Government is to provide their needs? When free food and medicine is provided, can housing be far behind?
More Americans than ever are on food stamps. We the taxpayer are paying for meals for these "hungry" youngsters already. We give enough to feed the family in foodstamps, with no deductions for the breakfast and lunch provided by the schools. Now we are covering the weekend eats. Will there be a corresponding reduction in food stamp payments? I think we all know the answer.
The tales of food stamp abuse are legion. I am sure there is not one of us who has not stood in line at the grocery to buy our hamburger and generic foodstuffs while the couple in front bought steak with food stamps. Anecdote is not data, but it happens enough to make it reality.
I begrudge no human a meal. The notion of starving and hungry kids makes me almost weep in frustration. In the local school system nearly 50% of the students are on free or reduced lunch. In a survey taken at registration, more than 80% indicated they have internet access at home. I would further bet most of those families have cable and cell phones. This county boasts some of the highest smoking rates in the state and nation. Yet, I am asked to pay for food for these same families. I am surely missing something? Do we now live in a society where cell phones and internet are deemed necessities?
We are done, finished. The Roman Emperors learned the way to stay in power was to give the populace free bread and circuses. The modern left hates religion and Christians ion particular. Can the spectacle of the Colosseum be far in the future?
Do not get me wrong, full-on socialism has not yet engulfed our beachhead, but the waves of collective nanny state big government are inching forward in an inexorable tide.
We will win more elections. Maybe even the next one. There are some young conservatives on the Supreme Court. There will be some reforms and some roll backs, The States will hold out for a while.
But there is no denying we are in the midst of the Conservative equivalent of the Battle of the Bulge. In 1944 Hitler gambled on one last great offensive to to beat back the British and Americans. He faced steady pressure from the Soviets in the East and he hoped to defeat the Western Allies in a big battle to allow him to find a peace in the West and concentrate on defeating the real enemy -- the USSR. Even Hitler knew socialism was the real danger! In reality, the War was lost, but the mighty Huns put up a big fight to stave off the inevitable.
That is where we are today in America in our fight against Socialism. Newsweek claimed after The Obama victory we were all Socialists now and sadly, they were right. The victory is in sight. It will just take another decade or so to tally the final victory.
Yesterday I read in my local paper a story that confirms my dire analysis. A regional foodbank is combining with the schools to provide meals for "hungry" children on the weekends. Kids that qualify for "free" lunch will get a pack containing food for six meals when they leave school on Friday afternoon. This means we, the taxpayers, are providing 16 of 21 meals a week. In return we are teaching a whole generation of young parents -- and more importantly -- the children, that the Government is there to provide your every need.
How do you teach a young girl or boy to work hard and to be self-reliant when the counter message screams loud and clear -- do nothing and others will provide? They go home and see a family life where welfare checks and food stamps are the norm. They live in homes where the Mom or Dad does not work. Many do not even try. These kids are the future. Today's elementary school children are tomorrow's voters. Most people do not like to give up the freebies. We have lost the war for the heart and minds of future generations.
Less you think this is just over-reaction to an isolated incident, consider in my wife's kindergarten classroom. All but four kids get breakfast served at school. Dumping some milk into a bowl of dry cereal is too much for their parents to handle of a morning. The schools, through the Feds (thus from your taxes and my taxes) even provides lunch in the summer! There is a health clinic in the middle school providing "free" healthcare to any student on free or reduced lunch. How can any student not think the role of Government is to provide their needs? When free food and medicine is provided, can housing be far behind?
More Americans than ever are on food stamps. We the taxpayer are paying for meals for these "hungry" youngsters already. We give enough to feed the family in foodstamps, with no deductions for the breakfast and lunch provided by the schools. Now we are covering the weekend eats. Will there be a corresponding reduction in food stamp payments? I think we all know the answer.
The tales of food stamp abuse are legion. I am sure there is not one of us who has not stood in line at the grocery to buy our hamburger and generic foodstuffs while the couple in front bought steak with food stamps. Anecdote is not data, but it happens enough to make it reality.
I begrudge no human a meal. The notion of starving and hungry kids makes me almost weep in frustration. In the local school system nearly 50% of the students are on free or reduced lunch. In a survey taken at registration, more than 80% indicated they have internet access at home. I would further bet most of those families have cable and cell phones. This county boasts some of the highest smoking rates in the state and nation. Yet, I am asked to pay for food for these same families. I am surely missing something? Do we now live in a society where cell phones and internet are deemed necessities?
We are done, finished. The Roman Emperors learned the way to stay in power was to give the populace free bread and circuses. The modern left hates religion and Christians ion particular. Can the spectacle of the Colosseum be far in the future?
September 14, 2011
We are now starting into Birthday season around here. Today marks my Daughter's twenty-fifth lap around the sun. Here is she is in younger days:
This is from one of her many dance recitals. She did not routinely strut around in sparkly clothes and makeup at a young age. Boy, that seems like only yesterday. She has changed somewhat since this picture was taken. But she is still my little girl.
This is from one of her many dance recitals. She did not routinely strut around in sparkly clothes and makeup at a young age. Boy, that seems like only yesterday. She has changed somewhat since this picture was taken. But she is still my little girl.
September 13, 2011
Reading for fun and profit
I know for certain most of you sit around thinking about me. I get it. Your first action after turning on your modern computing device and connecting to the interwebz is to click the link connecting you to this source of wisdom, humor, and guide to living the perfect life.*
As such, I am sure most of you wonder what I have been reading, but are too shy to ask. I am more than aware my awesomeness invokes a sense of unworthiness and timidity in my gentle readers. You might see yourself akin to the humble supplicants Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion before Oz. But I am no man behind the curtain, you do not need to bow before the Great and Powerful Wizard that is theHoosierboy Average Joe. Ask away, good readers! We are friends here. I will require of you no deeds of heroism. I do not hide behind flash and flame.
It has been a while since I last reported my daily reading habits. I have completed 54 books since I received my Kindle last Christmas. Here is the list of books and authors since I last reported in June:
The Graduate by Charles Webb
Midnight Cowboy James Lee Herlihy
Fighting the Flying Circus Eddie Rickenbacker
Hilda the Wicked Witch Paul Kater
Hilda - Snow White Revisited Paul Kater
Eyewall HW "Buzz" Bernard
Cadillac's Comin' Mike Dennis
Social Blunders Tim Sandlin
Carte Blanche Jeffery Deaver
Don't Mean Nuthin' Ron Lealos
The Love You Crave John Locke
No Merci Ron Lealos
Einstein' Refrigerator Steve Silverman
The Virginian Owen Wister
I am currently in the midst of the Legends of King Aurthur by Sir James Knowles. It is tough sledding, but once i get used to the rhythm of the language I enjoy it more. It is one of those books easy to put down and hard to pick up, if you know what I mean. I have more than 90 other tomes waiting in queue to be read, so I do not have to suffer through books I do not want to read.
What are you reading?
* Or maybe not
As such, I am sure most of you wonder what I have been reading, but are too shy to ask. I am more than aware my awesomeness invokes a sense of unworthiness and timidity in my gentle readers. You might see yourself akin to the humble supplicants Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion before Oz. But I am no man behind the curtain, you do not need to bow before the Great and Powerful Wizard that is the
It has been a while since I last reported my daily reading habits. I have completed 54 books since I received my Kindle last Christmas. Here is the list of books and authors since I last reported in June:
The Graduate by Charles Webb
Midnight Cowboy James Lee Herlihy
Fighting the Flying Circus Eddie Rickenbacker
Hilda the Wicked Witch Paul Kater
Hilda - Snow White Revisited Paul Kater
Eyewall HW "Buzz" Bernard
Cadillac's Comin' Mike Dennis
Social Blunders Tim Sandlin
Carte Blanche Jeffery Deaver
Don't Mean Nuthin' Ron Lealos
The Love You Crave John Locke
No Merci Ron Lealos
Einstein' Refrigerator Steve Silverman
The Virginian Owen Wister
I am currently in the midst of the Legends of King Aurthur by Sir James Knowles. It is tough sledding, but once i get used to the rhythm of the language I enjoy it more. It is one of those books easy to put down and hard to pick up, if you know what I mean. I have more than 90 other tomes waiting in queue to be read, so I do not have to suffer through books I do not want to read.
What are you reading?
* Or maybe not
Random Ramblings
I took a customer to dinner last evening and on the way home I saw a farmer harvesting corn. I thought it pretty early in the season, but I am no farmer. I never even played one on TV. Most of the corn and soy beans in the area are still sporting a bit of green.
I went for a walk after I got home. Too bad I lack the vocabulary and skill to describe the beauty of the moon as I walked eastward down School Street. It rose full and giant and tinted with an orange hue so beautiful it made me smile. I did not think to snap a picture with my trusty iPhone! This morning Chuck the weather guy said this is the harvest moon, so I suppose the farmer in question knows his business.
A friend of mine bought a series of university lectures on various subjects. He loaned me the disks and I have been listening to them while I walk the neighborhood. I have completed courses on the Civil War and WWII. I am in the middle of a long course on American History. The past few lectures have been on the 1890s and the birth of the Progressive Era. One of my favorite courses in College was on America in the 1890s, and I am enjoying the lectures immensely. Each lecture covers about 30 minutes, so I usually get in a couple every day. The wife says she would fall asleep walking if she had to listen to history lectures. I just chalk such comments up as example 1,037 of things we do not have in common.
I scheduled a couple of college visits for the youngest this morning. I cannot believe he is a senior in high school. Long time readers remember him as a youth playing little league and pee wee football. Where have the years gone?
I went for a walk after I got home. Too bad I lack the vocabulary and skill to describe the beauty of the moon as I walked eastward down School Street. It rose full and giant and tinted with an orange hue so beautiful it made me smile. I did not think to snap a picture with my trusty iPhone! This morning Chuck the weather guy said this is the harvest moon, so I suppose the farmer in question knows his business.
A friend of mine bought a series of university lectures on various subjects. He loaned me the disks and I have been listening to them while I walk the neighborhood. I have completed courses on the Civil War and WWII. I am in the middle of a long course on American History. The past few lectures have been on the 1890s and the birth of the Progressive Era. One of my favorite courses in College was on America in the 1890s, and I am enjoying the lectures immensely. Each lecture covers about 30 minutes, so I usually get in a couple every day. The wife says she would fall asleep walking if she had to listen to history lectures. I just chalk such comments up as example 1,037 of things we do not have in common.
I scheduled a couple of college visits for the youngest this morning. I cannot believe he is a senior in high school. Long time readers remember him as a youth playing little league and pee wee football. Where have the years gone?
September 12, 2011
Remembering September 12
I have not done a 9/11 post for several years. The reasons ar varied and I am not always sure I understand them myself. I was bothered yesterday. Krugman in his sickening NY Times article ( no, it will not be ,inked here) was right, the the anniversary was subdued.
I am not sure what I want. In typical male fashion, I am more than certain I cannot accurately, or remotely articulate my feelings. I do not want to listen to a recital of the victim's names. I want the names of the evil Islamic Terrorists recited. I want the names of those murderers reviled with the likes of McVey, Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot. 9/11 should live as a Day of Infamy equal to December 7. I want America to remember, to know who did this. I do not want to see a peaceful waterfall and reflecting pool as the reminder of that awful day, I want the images of the towers burning, the helpless Americans jumping from the burning building in a hopeless attempt to escape the flames. I want American to remember the cheering, the joy in Palestine over the senseless slaughter of innocents condemned for having temerity to believe in a different God, to live in a different culture.
Every time a court in Dearborn, Michigan tries to enforce Sharia Law, I want the people of this country to remember the fate of the men and women of 9/11 and rise up crying "Hell, no!". We have equal justice under the laws of the Constitution for every one.
When the multiculturalists try to tell us all cultures are equal, I want John and Jane Citizen to know that idea is nuts. A culture that advocates women as second class citizens, advocates female circumcision, takes joy in killing others because they believe different from the tenets laid down by a pedophile sheepherder deserves no legitimacy as long as the basic foundations of human freedom are excluded. I can not consider the killing fields of Pol Pot or the Gulags of Stalin an equal cultural decision, and I refuse to give credence to terrorists and butchers of mankind in the name of religion.
I refuse to listen to the apologists as they decry Western Civilisation for past crimes. Yes, evil was done in the name of the Christian God. Yes, we were slavers, the treatment of the Jews over the ages is deplorable. But it was this same Western Culture that overcame their Dark Ages culture, that brought us the Enlightenment, threw off the yoke of slavery, granted equal rights to women and people of color. Is it perfect? Of course not, but in modern democratic societies we no longer wield the torture of the Inquisition, suffer honor killings of our wives and daughters and sell of our female relatives like cattle. We do not behead the infidel, we do not terrorize mankind for thinking different thoughts. To make excuses is mere rationalization. No standard of living, no religious belief, no history of oppression can ever justify the actions of September 11, 2001.
I don't want to spend my 9/11 thinking of the slaughtered as victims of a terrible, unnamed accident. The men and women who breathed their last that September morning were each and every one murdered. I am still angry and I am not ready to let it go. I am not interested in monuments to peace or a couple of rusty pieces of metal stuck in the ground in Indianapolis, Memphis or Omaha. When I was in New York last winter, the hole in the skyline brought up not sadness, but anger.
The death of a Hoosier soldier in Afghanistan this weekend should hammer the point. The dying from 9/11 is not yet over. There may be some who deplore the War on Terror. They may say we are not at war on anything. Well, I have news for you -- Terror is still at war with us, and the perpetrators are all members of one single religious faith. Not all Muslims are terrorists, that I know and believe. But every terrorist in today's world is a damned Muslim. That is fact.
Yes, I feel today the same white hot anger I felt on September 12, 2001. That is what I choose to remember.
I am not sure what I want. In typical male fashion, I am more than certain I cannot accurately, or remotely articulate my feelings. I do not want to listen to a recital of the victim's names. I want the names of the evil Islamic Terrorists recited. I want the names of those murderers reviled with the likes of McVey, Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot. 9/11 should live as a Day of Infamy equal to December 7. I want America to remember, to know who did this. I do not want to see a peaceful waterfall and reflecting pool as the reminder of that awful day, I want the images of the towers burning, the helpless Americans jumping from the burning building in a hopeless attempt to escape the flames. I want American to remember the cheering, the joy in Palestine over the senseless slaughter of innocents condemned for having temerity to believe in a different God, to live in a different culture.
Every time a court in Dearborn, Michigan tries to enforce Sharia Law, I want the people of this country to remember the fate of the men and women of 9/11 and rise up crying "Hell, no!". We have equal justice under the laws of the Constitution for every one.
When the multiculturalists try to tell us all cultures are equal, I want John and Jane Citizen to know that idea is nuts. A culture that advocates women as second class citizens, advocates female circumcision, takes joy in killing others because they believe different from the tenets laid down by a pedophile sheepherder deserves no legitimacy as long as the basic foundations of human freedom are excluded. I can not consider the killing fields of Pol Pot or the Gulags of Stalin an equal cultural decision, and I refuse to give credence to terrorists and butchers of mankind in the name of religion.
I refuse to listen to the apologists as they decry Western Civilisation for past crimes. Yes, evil was done in the name of the Christian God. Yes, we were slavers, the treatment of the Jews over the ages is deplorable. But it was this same Western Culture that overcame their Dark Ages culture, that brought us the Enlightenment, threw off the yoke of slavery, granted equal rights to women and people of color. Is it perfect? Of course not, but in modern democratic societies we no longer wield the torture of the Inquisition, suffer honor killings of our wives and daughters and sell of our female relatives like cattle. We do not behead the infidel, we do not terrorize mankind for thinking different thoughts. To make excuses is mere rationalization. No standard of living, no religious belief, no history of oppression can ever justify the actions of September 11, 2001.
I don't want to spend my 9/11 thinking of the slaughtered as victims of a terrible, unnamed accident. The men and women who breathed their last that September morning were each and every one murdered. I am still angry and I am not ready to let it go. I am not interested in monuments to peace or a couple of rusty pieces of metal stuck in the ground in Indianapolis, Memphis or Omaha. When I was in New York last winter, the hole in the skyline brought up not sadness, but anger.
The death of a Hoosier soldier in Afghanistan this weekend should hammer the point. The dying from 9/11 is not yet over. There may be some who deplore the War on Terror. They may say we are not at war on anything. Well, I have news for you -- Terror is still at war with us, and the perpetrators are all members of one single religious faith. Not all Muslims are terrorists, that I know and believe. But every terrorist in today's world is a damned Muslim. That is fact.
Yes, I feel today the same white hot anger I felt on September 12, 2001. That is what I choose to remember.
September 11, 2011
September 11
If you need a to be reminded of the significance of this day, then you will find nothing here. Not today or any day.
Reflect as you see fit.
Reflect as you see fit.
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