What have you done for me lately?

Did you ever see The Blue Man Group? Do you know how they pound on drums and buckets and pipes? Imagine if you combined that experience with the drum solo Moby Dick from Led Zeppelin's live album The Song Remains the Same and you will have an understanding of my pounding headache this morning.

Normal humans would be writhing on the floor in agony. Some would be curled in a fetal ball, crying  in some sterile hospital emergency room full of illegal immigrants, ebola patients, winos, and kids with hacking cough, all watching a muted episode of Jerry Springer. Instead, I am pecking out a blog post for you.

I'm giving like that.

Query

Why don't we restrict travel from Ebola-plagued nations to the US?

Seriously?

Remember when I once wrote an entire blog post in code?

Hola Blog Buddies,

I am late hitting the webisphere this morning.  I slept late, a welcome respite from waking earlier and earlier each day this week. I ate a couple of donuts left from yesterday's trip to the bakery and am energized, enthusiastic, and trying vainly to tell myself that is true.

I have a rare Sunday off, my first in two months. I can watch football live instead of taped, already knowing the outcome.*

 Fall pounced on us with astounding quickness Friday evening and we went from chilly nights and gorgeous days to cold nights and chilly days.  When the temperature in the house reached 60 last evening the wife switched on the furnace. You know what the Starks say.

Hold on a sec or two, I need to get more coffee.

I am back. I know what you are thinking, I must have a really fast coffee maker or perhaps a secret means to control space and time. since it took you but a few moments to read the previous sentences. You mumble to yourself, "there is no way he could go out of the office, down the hall, down the stairs, through the dining room, into the kitchen, poke a K-Cup into the coffee maker, take a quick restroom break, eat another donut, throw away the used K-Cup, and get back upstairs to the office and type all of this in that short of a span". You might or might not be correct. I refuse to say if I can control the space/time continuum , the Feds may be watching.

I have been in a weird writing mood lately. But then, you get what you pay for around here. I hope you have a great Sunday.

Praise be the Lord for his many blessings.


* I know it is not taped, but recorded digitally.

Well then

Good morning bloggity world. Once again I woke up at 5 in the way-to-early-morning. I fought it for a. while but here I sit pecking away at the iPad keyboard with one finger. The neighbor across the street just left for work. It will be a rainy commute.  I need to go put some petrol in the wife's car before she leaves for work.  Ain't I a swell guy?

I don't know why, but I was ravenously hungry at supper last night.  It was the most I have eaten in weeks..  It's not like dinner was special.  I grilled some chicken breast with jerk seasoning, sliced what will likely be among the last tomatoes from the garden, microwaved some frozen corn and  prepared a box of Mac & cheese. It was a quick, bland, uninspired supper, the kind you fix when you both get home from work at almost seven. Still, I ate like a pig.

Have a great Friday.  I made other plans.

Shut the bleep up

The voice in my head talks all of the time. He rarely shuts up. I think he talks with his hands, banging away at the inside of my skull with wild gestures for emphasis. That would account for my headaches in recent weeks. Or it could be my fall allergies,.

The guy in my skull is always playing music in the background, classic rock mostly.  Sometimes he plays songs from old movie musicals. He changes the tune often and at random, unless he discovers a song I really loathe.  Then he plays it nonstop for about 37 hours.

Man, does the guy in my head like to talk. Politics, jokes, conversations he had last week, last month, years ago, are rehashed. He plans discussions he has not even had yet. The man in my head reads aloud entire pages from books he read days, weeks, months in the past. He recites passages, facts, and dates from old dusty history tomes consumed decades ago.  He reminds me of people and places at the strangest times. He talks about bills and debts and the stuff he needs to do. It is yakity yack all of the time, morning to night.

The man in my mind talks about sex a lot. He is obsessed with boobies and soft secret girly parts. He talks about them at inappropriate times, appropriate times and often in between.  His tone when discussing nekkid is a little less strident these days, and it dominates less of his one-sided conversations of late.

He talks about football and baseball and endless tales of his youth.  He argues with me, pleads with me, and insults me.  He encourages me to make sarcastic and caustic comments. He is sometimes bitter and mean.  Occasionally he tells me to write stuff here.  Good stuff, bad stuff, weird stuff, regrettable and forgettable stuff. He curses a lot.

The voice in my head is me and he will not shut the fuck up.

Does this ever happen to you?

I woke a bit after five this morning. It was wake up or piss the bed.  I stumbled to the bathroom. When I got back in bed I could not shut off my brain. Thoughts crashed and fought throughout my cranium like heavily armored knights at a medieval tourney melee.  So here I am sipping coffee surfing the web on the old iPad, ready for the day.

Yesterday was my son's birthday.

Today is my son's birthday.

Yes my two boys were born a day apart, albeit with a five year span intervening.  The youngest turned a magical 21, the oldest boy 26.  For good measure, I should point out my daughter just turned 28 two weeks ago.  And yes, as you count backwards on your fingers, I used to really enjoy the cold nights of late December and January. Hey, when it is cold out you gotta snuggle to keep warm...

I had the day off yesterday. I mowed the yard, washed the sheets and made a pot of chili for supper. We had perfect weather and I will admit to sitting on the patio for a while reading a book and enjoying a good cigar in the autumn sun.  The big willow waved a long limb in casual greeting and the pear trees sighed in the light breeze. I saw a chipmunk scurry along the privacy fence where gladiolas bloomed not so many weeks ago. Winter is coming and my sunny days on the patio will be but a memory.  On the other hand, that means the cold nights of late December and January are not far off...

Quick hits

I cannot say this enough; no no no no no no on a possible Romney for President in '16. The dude lost the nomination in 2008, and lost the election big to a weak Obama in 2012, mostly because conservatives stayed home on election day.  There is nothing new to change all of those minds. Romney vs. Clinton or another Bush vs. Clinton? I would prefer we have a random drawing of eligible voters and let the winner be president.

Is the Secret Service really that incompetent? I know a guy who has his house wired. He knows if anyone pulls into his driveway. He gets a text when his laundry is done. He can remotely turn on his living room lamp while he is gnawing chicken wings down at the local sports bar. But with all of the power and money in the world the Secret Service can't stop a guy from climbing a fence and getting clear into the East Room? Unarmed minimum wage security guards can tackle and stop a streaker before they get ten yards onto a football field. Maybe the White House should hire a dude in a windbreaker to handle security?

Republicans, Democrats -- is anyone running on a platform this year?  "I'm not the other guy" seems a piss poor way to run a country.  But considering the candidates, that may be all they have to offer.

Only six months until the Cubs start playing meaningful baseball games.  At least they will not lose any more games this year.

Leadership

Back when I was 13 and the Patrol Leader of the Wolverine Patrol in Boy Scout Troop 338, I learned to take responsibility for my actions as well as for those under my guidance.  I continued that philosophy when I had direct reports working for me at the factory.  If you support your people, they will support you.

In a nutshell my belief was " You did something right, We did something wrong". The concept being that if there was a mistake or failure by a member of my team, then that error was caused by my not giving the individual the knowledge, training , or tools to do the task correctly.  It was a failure of leadership.  It goes without saying that credit for doing something well goes to the individual.

Apparently President Obama was never a Boy Scout, because he clearly lacks in leadership skills. When will America learn there is a very big difference in a good speech reader and a true leader?

Lucky Man A revised post for a new day

I am a lucky man. I cannot say it enough.

I have plenty for which to thank God each and every day. I have a wonderful family and great friends. That is plenty for any man, yet I have been blessed in many other ways.

I have walked on the Great Wall of China. I have swam in warm Caribbean waters. I have dipped at least hand into each of the Great Lakes. I have been to London, New York, Chicago, LA. I have sipped beer beside mountain lakes in Alpine Austria. I have seen many of the great cathedrals of Europe. I have gazed on the Mona Lisa, the Rosetta Stone, the Statue of Liberty, and Paris from atop the Eiffel Tower. I have walked the same Hamburg streets as the Beatles did before they became famous and climbed the rocky hills of Gettysburg where thousands of Americans died for freedom. I have stood above the treeline on Mt. Hood, and walked along the canals in Amsterdam. I soaked in the sun and surf of Waikiki and stared in solemn silence at the oil bubbling from the broken hull of the USS Arizona. I once nearly drowned in the riptide off a Florida beach and I have twice jumped from a perfectly good airplane. I have visited 44 states, and at least 10 countries. I have watched a full moon rise from behind the big willow tree in my backyard. I have enjoyed great cigars and fine wines. I have spent more than 30 years with the love of my life and fathered three perfect children.

I am a lucky man

Saturday Music

What say we take another trip to the '80s?

So long sucker

The cynic in me cannot help thinking Holder's resignation is yet another delaying tactic to keep the supoenaed documents in the IRS and Fast and Furious scandals from Congress, the press (like they really want St. O exposed), and the American public.

We will be deep into the election frenzy for the next corrupt politician or The Obama will be long gone before the facts are ever exposed. Then no one will care.  America will be a little worse for wear, but the President will be protected.

Catchy

I note the liberals are largely silent on Obama's pre-emptive war in Iraq. I have read nothing from those who think GW's pre-emptive war in that same country is the most shameful action in America's history. I guess that author slept through history class when slavery, the Trail of Tears, the Sand Creek Massacre, Wounded Knee, and the Philippine Insurrection were discussed. But, as is often the case, I digress.

The hysteria over a few bad rotten apples in the NFL has quieted a bit. There are creeps in every workplace. The odds are pretty good there is a wife beater, drug addict, child abuser, and drunk driver working for your company today.  Should I never buy your company's widget again because of it? You will say it is about the punishment of the n'er do wells that has your panties in a twist. I know of two instances when I worked in manufacturing that he union got a person's job back, including back pay for the time the persons were fired after the employee showed up for work drunk and/or drugged. If you're this passionate get yourself and your picket sign to march in front of every company in America.  Better yet, why don't we make these wife beaters, child abuses, and drunk drives where a big red letter of shame embroidered on their breast?

The Cubs need to win two of three against the Brewers to keep from yet another 90 loss season. Must they break my heart every year?

I'm getting dizzy up here on my soapbox. One final enigmatic request; cross your fingers for me today.  I need some luck.

Hump day random writing

Good morning blog world. It looks to be another beautiful day here at the old homestead. The air definitely has the feel of early fall. I really meant to get a post up yesterday but shit happens, as the saying goes.  I had the afternoon off. I threw in a load of laundry then I dusted and vacuumed the place.  The day was warm and nice, nary a cloud in the sky. I grabbed my book and sat on the patio burning a good cigar and reading until the wife got home from work (6-1/2 x 50 Siglo if you must know).

An old friend I have not spoken with in a long time called after supper. It was great to talk to him,

As I hunt and peck this post a ragged vee of geese just flew over the house, the flock's backseat drivers honking directions to the leader while he honked arguments back.  The giant willow in the backyard stands mute as they pass, the long limbs almost touching the ground; no breeze stirring it today.  On the opposite corner a big blue spruce stands sentinel over the little garden shed.

I sit inside drinking coffee, thankful God has seen fit to give me this day.

I'll take an "e", Pat

I know.  I hope I can find time to mix letters into words and words into sentences that will at least comprise a readable post sometime today.  Not just now.

I can eat 50 eggs

The morning sky is a cloudless brilliant blue. I think the Crayola folks called this shade "sky blue" in the big 64 count box when I was a kid.  Who would have guessed? There is a moderate breeze shaking the leaves on the maple out front. In short, it looks to be a gorgeous fall day. In fact it looks like it is too nice out to waste the day on the computer.  Have a great Sunday.

Good or bad

The contents of this blog are pretty much what you would get if we were to have a conversation. Sadly I may be just a tad more sarcastic in real life.  Fortunately I have learned to filter much of what transpires in my brain.

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Usually I take whatever song is playing in my head when I wake on a Friday morning and post it as the Friday Music feature. This morning Michael Jackson's Billy Jean is bouncing around in there. I don't know why. I have never liked that song and was certainly never a fan of Jackson's work.  I am not going to post a video. Say thank you.

Big stuff in store for this Friday. I have a couple of conference calls,  then I think I'll take the afternoon off and mow the lawn.  I agree, I don't know how I deal with the excitement either.

I must need Head and Shoulders 'cause I keep scratching my skull

Apparently Obummer isn't going to be happy until we have our very own epidemic of Ebola right here in America.

If you are one of the military personnel sent to Africa to "fight" the spread of the deadly virus can you refuse the mission?  How is this plan in any way, shape, or form part of the roll of the US Armed Forces?

Beef and Beets with Burbon Butter Broth

I woke wide awake a bit after four this morning. I don't know why. I flipped and flopped like a trout tossed on a river bank for a bit and finally gave up and climbed out of bed*  I have been sipping my coffee and surfing the web since.

I bet you are saying to yourself  right about now "Self, since Joe was up early I bet he is going to knock out a killer post given the extra time in his work day". You could say that if you want to be wrong as a Democrat on foreign or domestic policy. You don't want to be wrong do you? I was once and I did not like the feeling.

My coffee cup is empty and so is my tank of creative juices. Is it weird I am craving a hamburger at 6 in the morning?

*That phrase has always bugged me.  How do you climb out of bed? I don't sleep in a pit or a hole. There is no ladder or stair involved in exiting my mattress.  Instead replace the "climbed out of bed" phrase with " rolled out of bed" it is a more apt phrase and leaves my just slightly more satisfied with my elementary school level of prose.

What? It did not cost a bit to read this drivel. You get what you pay for in life. In this case you got a whole lot of nothing.

A little bit of nuthin'

I'm sitting here alternately staring at the cursor in the blank blogger page and out my office window at my backyard. I feel like my brain is in low gear this morning, despite two cups of coffee. I suppose the proper word to describe my mood is "lethargic".  It is not like I want to do something else, I don't want to do anything. Well that is not completely true.  I wouldn't mind sitting on a beach, sunning and drinking beer. Still, that would involve pretty much not doing anything, just in a much better setting than my home office.

The unseasonably cool air has brought forth sweaters and tight jeans and boots on the ladies at the mall. That is not a bad thing, I suppose, but the transition from spaghetti straps and cleavage to sweatshirts has been quick this year. But what do we do? Despite the fervent beliefs of the global warming zealots, we just have to live with weather.

Eat me, Buick

I once swore I would buy nothing that had an offensive or stupid commercial on TV. It did not take me long to realize that policy left few goods to buy. I hate the cartoon Charmin bears, but I am not about to pass on a soft wipe for my delicate butt. I do have standards.

The latest commercial that leaves me sputtering with outrage is the new Buick commercial. Assholes in all walks of life are exclaiming "I did not know it was a Buick". An idiot valet parking attendant can't find the Buick in the lot, I guess because the car does not look like a typical Buick. I suppose that just clicking the remote was too difficult for the moron?

My issue is that each and every car in the ad has a giant Buick emblem in the center of the grill. Ray Charles would not fail to notice it, and he is blind. And dead. The emblem is like four inches across. Only an idiot would look right at the front of the car and exclaim, "This is not a Buick".  It is not like the old bat in the spot is peering with myopic vision at a '67 Volkswagen Beetle with a Rolls Royce hood ornament.  The camera focuses on the front of the car, giant Buick emblem and all.

Who ever agreed to this ad campaign should be branded with the giant Buick emblem right on the their ass.

A really crappy Monday

I am a bit swell-headed this morning, if that is even a term. A commenter told me I "was so cool" and that he "has never read anything so interesting as my blog". He even invited me to read his blog! Can you believe it?

The past two weekends I have been deep in sales training for my new part-time gig. I passed the course. That means I can keep my job. Since I have been a moderately successful salesman for more than 20 years, I hope I could pass an introductory sales class. I will be honest, it has been 30 years since I sat in a classroom setting, studied materials, and took written tests. That part was harder than I thought it would be. Still, I scored a 90% on the written final and life is good.

I think we have been friends long enough to share a little too much information this morning. You may remember I had serious diarrhea issues a few years ago. It was caused by some meds i was on. I believe I blogged about the destruction of a Dairy Queen in Wisconsin, and the 8 hours road trip coming back from Rockford, Illinois, crapping at every gas station, McDonald's and Cracker Barrel between there and home, Since the doctor changed things up I have shat neat, solid cellophane wrapped cubes.  Until this morning.  I woke at about 4:00 in the dark of night with stomach rumbles and I have proceeded to stink up the house and each of the 2.5 bathrooms with a major case of the runs. It is a good thing the wife stocked up on the Charmin last week. I would light a candle or two, but I am seriously afraid of an explosion.

Needless to say, it has been a shitty Monday around here, I hope yours is going better.

It is about time

A school in Virginia has banned Chapstick.  We know lip balm is a gateway drug to hand cream and moisturizers.  Some users even end up on Vaseline. It is about time the authorities cracked down. You see, I know the dangers. Here is a little known blog fact: I am addicted to Chapstick. I carry one in my pocket at all times (the blue one if you have to know, but I will use the plain if I have to). I use it constantly. If I do not have a coat of petroleum wax on my lips I go into a panic.

My addiction aside, I can only ask what are these people thinking?  Is it a requirement to be a school administrator or school board member to lose all common sense upon taking the job? Perhaps frequent commenter and blog friend Hey Teacher knows the answer.

Friday Music

There won't be any today. You don't care and I lack the motivation.

Take that blog world.

It snowed in the Dakotas yesterday.  I wonder what the global warming fanatics say about that?

I think I will go buy some fresh donuts for breakfast.  Take that too, blog world.

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We all remember that terrible morning in our own way.  I offer a prayer for the families who lost loved ones.

There is pure evil in this world.

Historically Ignorant, Economically Illiterate

Sometimes I read stuff that is so astoundingly stupid I cannot help but comment. This article is a perfect example.  I know you do not read links.  You should read this one to see a prime example of historically ignorant and economically illiterate journalism. Does Ryan Cooper really believe that men lived a life of leisure prior to the industrial revolution? Men, women, and yes, children worked sun-up to sun-down and beyond in a very effort to survive. Cooper should go to any third world country and observe how hard it is to survive on a daily basis. Life is hard. The concept of "leisure time" is a modern concept.

Ryan claims that a "Universal Basic Income" will work if everyone is subject.  If there is no rich, no poor, then life will be perfect. Why would anyone go to work if their income is guaranteed? Who will produce the food, the energy, the consumer goods?  Who will build the houses, the roads, the libraries? Who will create the next iPhone, the flying car, the vaccine that ends the common cold? Where will the government get the funds to provide the Universal Basic Income?

You see, Ryan Cooper does not understand that Government does not produce anything. It makes no goods. The government only gets its funds through taking it from the people by force. The money the Feds spend comes from you and me and borrowing against the future income and taxes of our children and grandchildren.

Do you think I am wrong?  Answer two questions.  How long would you continue to work at your job if you did not get paid?  How long would you continue to go to your job if you got paid whether you showed up or not?

It is a wonder Ryan Cooper does not need an instruction manual to remind him to breathe.

See the secret Democratic Party Platform

Donna Brazile (Vice Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee):

Every time Mr. Obama tries to accomplish something with executive action, Congress tries to stonewall him. source

America, meet the real Democratic Party platform.  I guess the coronation of Emperor Obama would be fine with MS Brazile.

Here is my rebuttal.

I think I win this debate easily.

If you fail to see the issue with her tweet, I worry about the future of America.

Mundane

It is early on a fine Sunday morning. I am sitting in the upstairs den surfing the interwebz on the old iPad.  The sky is fading shades of blue and pink and orange as the sun rises from behind my neighbor's house.  The TV is off. My coffee is hot in the travel mug resting on the Indianapolis Colts coaster on the end table near my right elbow.  The recliner is upright and I am typing this post with a single index finger,  I have nothing to write for you today.  Football is finally here, but that means autumn is not far away.

Let me offer you

Sincere wishes for a happy Saturday

Fix the cigarette lighter

Another scene from one of my favorite movies. Good tunes, brilliant comedy.

Plop Plop Fizz, Fizz

We had a feast for supper last night. Ribs slow cooked in the oven and then finished on the grill with a generous coating of thick rich BBQ sauce, tomatoes fresh from the garden, corn on the cob I grilled next to the pork ribs and cheesy hash brown casserole.  I did my best Mr. Creosote impression. 

Easy rabbit stew

Why would I care what Angelina Jolie wore to her wedding?  If the bride liked the dress isn't that all that matters?  For that matter, why does anyone care that she even got married?  

The media tells us it is not our business if boys marry boys or girls marry girls. Then they breathlessly delve into every detail of this celebrity's marriage and that Royal's baby bump. 

I will say this, if you don't want your nekkid photos discovered then make sure they are destroyed or not accessible to anyone.  Better yet, don't take photos you don't want to share.  We all know the rest of the story that begins "I know this guy who used to work at the lab that processes film...".

True Ghost Stories

It is strange to see hits from Gutrumbles in my referral logs.

I miss reading the Acidman.

Chocked full of lemony goodness

I'm fairly certain I am not home on the range, 'cause the skies look to be cloudy all day. In fact, it is supposed to rain on and off much of the coming week. Right now there is a heavy overcast.

The wife made lemon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting yesterday. Lemon cupcakes certainly help make one's day better.

I saw where a fight in the stands spread to the field at a NE Ohio football game. The game had to be cancelled. Stay classy Cleveland.

I watched the movie Good Will Hunting for the first time yesterday. That is a great flick. Since the movie came out in 1997, I suspect you may have seen it and are not waiting on my less-than-timely review.

I have some tomatoes that should be ready for picking today. I think I'll go look before it starts raining.

See how I brought everything a full circle.  I am pretty certain it is that kind of clever stuff that keeps all fifteen of you riveted to these pages and not the cry baby stuff of yesterday's post.

I am just whining, skip this post

Sigh

I am a complainer. I know it. I don't want to be.

I am subject to rapid mood swings. Lately they have been more on the downswing than otherwise.

Combine the above statements and you understand my lack of posting lately. No one wants to hear about my troubles (real and perceived). 

Right now I am about as low as I have been in a very long time. I buoy myself with the certain knowledge things can (and likely will) get worse. I do indeed have plenty to be thankful for (bad grammar notwithstanding). 

For a good while we were flooded with happiness around the old homestead. It seems God has installed the sump pump of despair to fix that situation.

Don't worry, tomorrow will bring back happy Joe.

Friday Music

One of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies.

Yeah, I like romantic comedies.  Sue me.

Here is a bonus scene if you have never seen the movie:



classic.

Fluff and stuff

Content has been lacking around here as of late. That won't change today.  To quote the wildly popular novels and mini-series, "winter is coming".  Get out and enjoy the summer.

Summer at last!

We hit 90 degrees yesterday for the first time in almost a year. The humidity was about 95%. It was hot, miserable, and the way it should be in August.  I mowed the yard in the heat of the day.  The AT&T guy did not come until almost noon and I had to work yesterday evening, so that was when I could do the yard work.  The wife trimmed some bushes and then decided she wanted a couple Of other shrubs dug up, so I saluted and set to work. My T-shirt was so soaked with sweat it felt like I jumped in a swimming pool. You could have wrung water from it. Surprisingly, the wife declined to give me a hug for my efforts.

Waiting

I'm sitting here waiting on the AT&T guy to show up this morning.  The wife waited all afternoon Friday and they never showed. They were supposed to come between noon and four.  At 3:45 she got a text that it could be another two hours. When the wife complained, AT&T r said the tech would "be there anytime".  When the wife asked was it "two hours" or "anytime" the AT&T chick said "Well, anytime up to two hours".

We will see if they bother this morning.  I had the same problem when they did not show up for installation last year. The only bright spot is they are still marginally better than Comcast in the customer service department.  If you can get out of the phone loop and talk to a real person.

That is a big "if".

Mobilize

One hundred years ago this month marks the beginning of WWI, The Great War, The War to End All Wars.  WWI is often lost in American history in part by our late arrival to the action, and in part because it is overshadowed by WWII.

The human and physical devastation of The Great War had a lasting effect on the European psyche that lasts to this day.  Not only was the First World War the direct causation of the Second (in Europe), but a significant cause of the Great Depression.  Too bad that fact is not taught in American history where we think bank runs and Okies and bread lines were a pure American phenomena of the 1930's.  The world was wracked in an economic slump, not just here in the good old USA.

Back to my point. There is an old military maxim that armies plan their tactics to win the last war.  The opening days and weeks of 1914 saw what happens when nineteenth century tactics met twentieth century killing machines.  Chew on this with your Raisin Bran this morning: in the first three months of  the war there were over one million military casualties. No one can even guess the civilian toll as battle lines were formed from The Netherlands to Switzerland and across the Eastern Front with Russia and through the Balkans. Ponder that a moment -- one million men.

Take some time to do a little reading on the forgotten war. The ramifications of the events of 1914-1918 last to this day in the boundaries, the economies, the politics of the modern world.  Everything changed in August of 1914.



*one good place to start is Barbara Tuchman's "The Guns of August"

How to turn $100 into $1,000,000 in days

How about a little Friday Music instead?

Here is a version from the 2007 Guitar Festival with Eric Clapton:



Oh, OK.  Go buy $100 in lottery tix.  I did not claim it was a wise investment, but you can turn a hundred bucks into a million if you are lucky.

You may have heard about it

A cop shot an unarmed young man outside of a convenience store. Allegedly, there is a video.  The police say it will be released, but it could take "days, weeks, or months".

There have been protests and riots. You know the story.

No you don't.  There have been no protests, no riots. The cop was black, the victim was white. Read it here..

I know folks from Indy and all over the nation have made their way to Missouri. Who is on their way to Utah?

Hello?

 Is this thing on?

Hello?


h/t Mr. B

Wants and needs

Down in the Carolina's, near the hotel where I often stayed, was this little burger joint. I always ordered a hamburger topped with pimento cheese and a fried green tomato.

I wish I had one now. Yes I know it is 7:00 in the morning.

Query

Other than his own chip shot, is there anything in the world that is better since Obama took office?

Hmm, he claimed he would end global warming and there isn't any. There's that.

Admission

I may have to renounce my English Lit minor from college, but Walden is dreck. Just because it is loved and shoved by the back-to-nature hippies and college profs does not make it good reading.

Moby Dick is just unreadable.  The same goes for just about anything from Hawthorne.

Now I see

Eric Holder and the Justice Department can allocate resources and investigate a police shooting in Missouri. They will not investigate the IRS.  They will investigate a local crime, where the Feds have no jurisdiction, but ignore the shooting of a federal officer by Mexican drug lords who used guns provided by the Justice Department. Holder will investigate Treyvon Martin but not the Black Panthers violation of voting laws.

In Obamaland justice may be blind, but it sure isn't color blind.

A black kid shot a white cop a few weeks ago in Indy.  where is the FBI?  Maybe it is because no one "protested" by burning down the neighborhood.

In the mood

This is a pictorial representation of my mood today. I believe no further words are necessary.

Friday Music

How about those baggy clothes?  Who thought that was a good look? $1.49 for gas!

It has been a cruel summer around here.

recess!

What do you think of this?

The cynical black helicopter paranoid in me says this is just one more example of the social engineering of the sort Dewey imagined for the education system. Build the herd mentality, develop the notion where we are all the same, everyone does the same thing. THEY know best. THEY will tell you what to eat, when to play, what to play, where to work, what you will be paid. In other words, 1984 writ large. This policy squashes individualism, prepares young minds for group think.

I suspect the same mindset that envisions this is a good policy are also dead set against keeping score in the mandatory games, less someone think they win or lose. They forget that the competitive kids, even at 6 years old, know who wins, who loses, who is good at the sport and who is not. There are some non-athletic kids who struggle to make it through PE class in elementary school once a week. Imagine their reaction to organized sports every single day.

I think the education experts forget that these are kids. They need time to depressurize. There is nothing wrong with walking around the playground, looking at clouds. Imaginations are fostered in youth. Forcing everyone to do the same thing every minute of every day is the antithesis of imagination.  As Einstein quipped:

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

Heck, this might be a good idea. I was wrong once before.

Random Ramblings Involving Rabbits and Wet Spots and the Best Pizza I Ever Ate

For some unknown reason I woke up a little after five this morning.

That is a lie.

I know why I woke up a little after five this morning. It was get up or pee in the bed. Peeing in the bed would certainly tick off the wife. More importantly, its not my turn to sleep in the wet spot.

That is a lie.

Sort of anyway. There is no chart or revolving agreement regarding any possible wet spots.

Maybe I should just start over?

I woke up a little after five this morning and I was not able to get back to sleep. Now I am sitting at the old laptop, swilling coffee and yawning. Just typing about a yawn makes me yawn. Now you want to yawn. Weird how that works, isn't it?

Collin Cowherd is an ass. An ignorant douche bag of magnificent proportions. On Monday he proclaimed the whole Kevin Ward Jr. accident involving Tony Stewart was a result of "Southern Culture". Ward hails from New York. Stewart is from Indiana. New York is north of Canada. No one has ever confused anyone from New York as remotely Southern.  A random German stopped on the streets of Schweinfurt could tell you that. Ask anyone in the south, Hoosiers are Yankees. Not damn Yankees (the ones who come south and won't leave), but northerners nonetheless. 

I am at a loss to explain how a Sprint Car accident between two northerners embodies everything that is wrong about NASCAR and the South in general. Does the ignorant jerk Cowherd even understand that Sprint Cars are not stock cars? Cowherd, like many in the Northeast,  thinks everyone who speaks with a drawl lives down on Tobacco Road. As my man Bugs says -- "What a maroon".

I have eaten some really good pizza.

I think that about covers it.

Jimmy cracked corn

I suspect I have a serious character defect. Long time readers are pursing their lips and mumbling "just one?". Anyway, I just can't seem to summon vast amounts of tearful grief over people I don't even know.

"Robin Williams died today" says the wife.

"I heard that. What's for supper?" says I. Is it sad?, I guess.  Am I losing sleep or shedding precious tears? Not really.  Crazy Muslims beheading kids bothers me more.  I have never really understood celebrity adulation.  I was stunned to see a random woman standing at Elvis' grave at Graceland sobbing hysterically nearly a decade after the King died with his arms around a toilet. Princess Di --didn't know her.  Lauren Bacall - that sucks.  Old guy down the street who waved at me when I took a walk? Too bad. What was his name anyway? I'm sorry but for me they are but random squirrels crushed under a Goodyear down on Washington Street. I do feel bad, but I'm just not emotionally involved. Like I said, it is a character defect.

I have never cared for autographs.  I can't think of a single actor or entertainer that moved me to the point of hysteria. I saw where folks are leaving flowers and teddy bears on the steps of the home used as the set for Mrs. Doubtfire.  It was a movie people.

I guess I am missing the celebrity-worshiping gene.  I don't read People or watch TMZ.  If that is your thing, then good for you.  I am not judging. I just don't get it.

Modern Fairy Tales

I dare anyone to call me out with the lie about how Islam is the Religion of Peace. Raping and beheading little girls, decapitating small boys because they believe in a different Deity* is not the act of a good person, a purveyor of peaceful intentions. It is a sick cowardly, evil way of life. It deserves the loudest condemnation of every civilized human. Where are the representatives of the Nation of Islam, crying out that these are not true followers of the religion? Where are the Imams, and the everyday acolytes, preaching out and speaking out from the Mosques in disgust and outrage?

I bet if Christians were committing the foul deeds we see every day in Iraq and throughout much of the Muslim world, the airwaves would be filled with frantic hysterical stories. But since this is what the followers of Mohamed do, then it is not news, just another day under Sharia Law. It is the daily embodiment of the old journalism school adage -- it is not a story when a dog bites a man...




*not really, just a different version.  The actions prove the Muslim butchers are no more than ignorant goat fuckers.

Peace in our time

Hey, remember when The Obama was so wonderful he got a Nobel Peace Prize just for saying he would make the world a better place?

I would venture the state of the world is far worse than in the waning days of Bush's presidency and the full effect of our cut and run policy withdrawal from Afghanistan has yet to come to fruition.

Obama may not have improved our foreign policy, but his golf swing looks better every day.

Facts are so inconvenient

2011

“After taking office, I announced a new strategy that would end our combat mission in Iraq and remove all of our troops by the end of 2011,” he said. “So today, I can report that, as promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year.” source

 2014

 “This issue keeps on coming up as if this was my decision,” Obama retorted when asked if he had any second thoughts, in light of the terrorist force taking over regions of Iraq, about having pulled all American troops out of the country. source

I am certain, somehow, Bush is at fault.

via HotAir

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,,no, no, no, no, no, no

There seems to be a growing movements to draft the big loser from the last election to run as the Republican nominee in 2016.  If anyone suggests such a foolish notion as nominating Romney within reach of my Adidas, I will kick the suggestor directly in the crotch with all of the firmness and strength I can muster.

A sneaky non-post post

Maybe you noticed.  Probably you did not. I have not posted much this week. Usually when I don't put something on the old blog for a few days I have about thirty-eleven posts written in my head and ready to go. Not this time.  I've got nuthin'

Oh, I could tell you it is cloudy and it might rain. I could bore you to tears about my plans to mow the yard later. We could discuss this strange impulse to scratch my right elbow. No one wants to read any of that shit. Well guess what? The joke is on you because i just wrote about all of it. And you read it.

Friday Music

One of the bands I always wanted to see live.  Their Live at the Filmore East LP is a classic.

It is not you, it is me

I'm ass-deep in alligators. Your patience is appreciated.

Tales from bygone days.

Richie was the red-headed kid who lived down the street. he was feisty and arrogant and was born not with a chip on his shoulder, but rather a chunk of granite. He slipped from his mother's womb mad at the world and his anger on increased during each of his years.

Richie liked to hide in the ally and hurl insults at the older kids as they came home from school. Soon the insults became oaths and one day he graduated to throwing eggs, then snowballs, and finally he used rocks to gain attention.

The older kids ignored his feeble taunts. They even overlooked the handfuls of gravel. But as Richie got older and stronger his aim improved and the day he hit Jerry with a walnut sized rock changed everything. The older boys turned in rapid pursuit and beat the crap out of little Richie.

The neighborhood mothers were aghast. How could those older boys bully little Richie like that? When Jerry pointed to the cut on his head and the blood on his face, he was accused of over-reacting.

The next week Richie was back, throwing rocks at the older boys. They chose a new. longer path home, but Richie found a new spot to make his attacks. Once again the older boys caught Richie and this time they beat him mercilessly. Jerry and his friends emphasized they just wanted to be left in peace. The neighborhood called the boys bullies for their rough treatment of poor little Richie. The boys protested they had walked out of their way to avoid confrontation, neighborhood wags said just walking where they had no "right" provoked Richie into his attack.

Richie blamed Jerry for the rest of his life for the beatings he received.  Never once, did the rock-throwing that precipitated the events enter into his narrative. Richie Hamas grew up to be a very bitter man, blaming everyone else for his problems.

Things I know #11

Everyone has problems.  Even though my issues are weighing me down like cement overshoes soled in lead, I know I have plenty to be thankful for.

On the other hand, if I eliminated complaining as a source of blog posts, my entries would pretty much disappear.

Texting the texture of the text

I wish I had something interesting and exciting to share with you.  My life is boring beyond belief.  I do not live in the fast lane, rather I cruise along like a stately '72 Buick driven by a retired accountant. 

Here is a recap of my Saturday. I woke around 6:30.  Drank a couple of cups of coffee and watched an old movie while surfing the interwebs. Turned off the movie 'cause it was boring and started another.  Paused it while I ate some cereal. After the movie I read until it was time for lunch. Not even 24 hours has passed and I cannot remember what I ate. I helped the wife clean house. I dusted and ran the sweeper. She cleaned the bathrooms and mopped the floors (most of the downstairs is wood).  I fixed a BBQ ranch chicken salad for supper. After cleaning the mess, I retired to the patio where I smoked a stogie and read until dark. 

Don't get me wrong, it was a good Saturday. But not the stuff of novels or movies or even exciting blog fodder. I suppose, if you even read this far, you would agree.   Perhaps I should have followed my first instinct and posted a music video.

I do believe in Global Warming, I do believe in Global Warming

July of 2014 was the coolest July in Indianapolis history. When I write "coolest" I don't mean as in "hip", I mean as in weather, as in there is no man-made global warming, and hasn't been warming for a decade "coolest".

To my knowledge, we have not hit 90F yet this summer. I can say with certainty we have not even been close to 100F.

I will entertain counterpoint arguments in the comments.

Things that make me smile

What?  Are you trying to tell me you don't need a reason to smile? Its Friday!

Riveting on a grand scale

This morning I had my normal two cups of Carriboo coffee from the machine that brews K-cups. I don't care for breakfast but the quack says I have to eat it,  I suspect he would not approve of my repast this morning.  I had a couple of microwave sausage patties and a sliced yellow tomato straight from the vine in my tiny garden. Dang it was good .  In an hour or so I will look to lunch. I'm not sure if I will go for a hot dog or a frozen burrito.

I can see why you read this piece o'crap.  It is truly mesmerizing in its insight, content, and prose.

History does not repeat, history does not repeat, history does not repeat

While the missiles fell almost daily on the population, Britain rallied the troops and fought on against the enemy. Often the battles raged in enemy cities and towns. Civilians were killed, schools, churches and houses were destroyed. Still, the missiles rained down. Britain started bombing the enemy from the air. The enemies ability to wage war was damaged.. Munition dumps and the factories that made the weapons of war were the main targets.  The enemy responded by moving the missile launchers and munitions storage areas to civilian population centers. Britain tried to lessen civilian casualties, but the nation must be protected.

If you have studied history, you know the story of Britain's heroic defense in the face of constant rocket attacks.  We admire the pluck and heroism of the British people in the face of terrifying, indiscriminate death from above. Their resolve to protect democracy against a totalitarian regime is the stuff of historical fact and legend. Few would disagree.

Now, go back to the paragraphs above and Substitute "Israel" for "Britain" and  "Hamas" for "enemy". 

The Border is finally being secured

Thank goodness the Border Patrol is on the case. Dangerous criminals are finally being stopped at the border.*

Read all about it.
  
*This post is written in sarcasm font, in case your browser does not recognize it.

Remember when the Democrats claimed Bush was an out of control despot?

I was listening to local talk radio this morning. The national news at the news break described a story about the Obama Administration dumping illegals in various states, including Tennessee. The Governor of the Volunteer State was outraged that the Feds would bring a significant group of people to the State without notifying anyone.  According to the news reader, the Administration said they did not notify the State government because of the illegals "privacy rights".

  White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that the illegal immigrant children have a right to privacy. He said privacy rights of the illegals are more important than the public’s right to know what’s happening.

What?  Want documentation?  How about this?

"I still have not been contacted and have no information about these individuals or their sponsors other than what was posted on the HHS website.”

Head scratcher

Why a single Jew votes, funds, or supports the Democratic Party will forever remain a mystery to me. No political party in the USA has done more harm to Israel and Jews than the Democrats. Not even the American Nazi party.

Quote of the day

“So, yeah, there’s too much money in politics...There are special interests that have too much influence...There is something you can do right now today to make a difference and that is to write a big, fat check. I kid you not, ...I’m going to be honest with you. That’s what we need you to do right now. We need you to write the biggest, fattest check that you can possibly write.”  -- First lady Michelle Obama

These people have even less shame than the Clintons, and that, my friends, is saying something.

Sheer profundidty

Hello Monday blog readers. Allergies are kicking my ass.  I guess the plants think it is fall due to all of the global warming we have had this summer. My nose is dripping and my sinuses feel like Bruce Lee is practicing spin kicks against the inside of my skull.

We had a pretty uneventful weekend. Last night I threw some hot dogs on the grill. I made some potato salad and baked beans.  A couple of tomatoes fresh from the garden and some deviled eggs made for a  simple feast. 

Yes, it is indicative of the excitement level around here when grilling hot dogs is the highlight.

Simple things

A cardinal is singing with frantic effort in the willow. The wind rises and falls from the southwest as it is wont to do in mid-summer. The sun is cutting pale yellow slices through the dark clouds as thunder rumbles in the distance.  The coffee in my cup is dark and lukewarm and nearly gone. An Ian Fleming Bond novel and the TV remote perch side by side on the table beside my recliner vying for my attention. I can hear the neighbor's air conditioner running while in my den the ceiling fan wraps spiral shadows on the textured ceiling.  In the corner the treadmill smirks a reminder of exercise undone while my right ankle throbs a mute response. Life continues apace and I am truly blessed.

Stuff that makes me smile

Face it, we are all a bit tired of the Friday Music feature.

Humorous, exciting, pithy, and attention grabbing

It occurs to me that the title of this post likely was nonsensical to you. Of course my titles are often ridiculous. very often they have nothing to do with the post content. I long ago embraced the notion that headline writing was not in my wheelhouse. And yes, I see you in the back waving your hand aggressively in the air.  I know that writing in general is not among my strengths. So just shut up already.

Anyway, back to the point. It was the early or mid 1970's and I was at Boy Scout camp.* The powers that be in the troop made the decision to attend the camp in the last week of the season.  Big mistake. The kitchen staff was doing their best to use up the stock of goods on hand. We were given a steady diet of rice and beans cooked in every conceivable way. In those days the young me was a picky eater. High on the list of foods that I would not eat was any kind of bean and rice in all of its forms. We had bean soup for lunch, chicken with rice for dinner. Rice and raisins for breakfast. Chili for lunch. By mid week I was starving. Beef jerky and soft drink "suicides" from the Trading Post will only sustain a growing boy so long. Besides, I did not have unlimited funds at hand.

Finely, I sat down at the table and heaped on platters was a nirvana breakfast -- scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes. The dishes were passed and we all filled our plates. I grabbed the salt and some asshole had loosened the lid. Most of the shaker ended up square on my plate. Everyone laughed. I thought I would cry. I didn't. There was no better way to be ostracized in those neanderthal pre-women's lib days of macho men than by crying for anything less than amputation, stabbing, or watching Brian's Song.  I am fairly certain they served red beans and rice for lunch.

I am still not too fond of beans. I do like rice though.

*Camp Ransburg if you must know

The very best beet recipes

My daughter was at the house when I came home from a meeting yesterday afternoon. She brought me a Dilly Bar. Life is good.

I was very glad to see her.  She got home late Sunday night from a two week educational sojourn to Europe as part of her advance degree program. I think she had a good time, but to her chagrin, she learned what those of us who have traveled to Europe in the summer have discovered -- namely air conditioning is non-existent, or poor at best, at many hotels and restaurants.  She also complained about the European tendency to treat an ice cube like a nugget of pure gold. Somehow the knowledge that you can actually make large quantities of frozen water cheaply is not common knowledge at European eateries. All of these discomfits were exacerbated by the fact that western Europe is in the midst of a near record heat wave.

Things I know Number 1,412

If you do not want your boss involved in your contraceptive choices, you should not ask him to pay for it.

Things I know, number 4

No matter how depressed you may get, a fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie always makes you feel better.

Can't Decide?

If you are looking to criticize someone for the continuing violence in the Israel/Palestinian conflict I can help with just one simple question.

If Hamas had not launched missiles into Israel, how many Palestinians would have been killed by Israeli attacks?


Logic. Facts. They are sure stubborn things.

'69

http://www.bkreader.com

Old Julys

I lived in a large subdivision in a small town. The houses were made cheap, built fast and designed for new families, first-time homeowners and down-sizing older folks. The streets were curvy and wide and the blocks sported cul-de-sacs and sidewalks. The houses were close together but the back yards were large. As such, the entire neighborhood was filled with kids.  Lots of kids. If you counted the kids on both sides of the street of my one little block there were close to 50. Not the whole block square, just one stretch of street. All of about the same age.

By day we were out playing and sweating in the July sun.  There was no air conditioning. There was certainly nothing of interest to a nine year-old on the three channels we got on the TV. We raced through sodden bowls of cereal from boxes that boasted of their sugar content.

We headed out to play or ride our bikes. Coming home to have a fried bologna sandwich or peanut butter on Wonder bread for lunch. Kool-aid or lemonade washed it down. The afternoon was spent on adventures. We headed to the little park and the ditch along the tracks to catch crawdads or minnows. We rode the town on our bikes, sweaty urchins on stingray bikes with tall handlebars and banana seats with sissy bars.

Around five o'clock the dads started coming home from work. Smells and sounds of supper cooking seeped through the open kitchen windows. Some kids ate as soon as Dad came home, others later. Calls to supper echoed off the aluminum siding and rooftops all around the neighborhood. The neighbor to our west bellowed an undecipherable "Ruhhggg"  for "Rich" when it was time for his son to belly up to the dinner table. My Mom usually paged my brother, knowing i would tag along, Dad hollered a short, clipped "Boys".

The boy who lived at the entrance to our cul-de-sac was called each evening by his mother. She had a screeching warble that could function as a high-pitch foghorn. She had amazing breath control and the way she stretched out the vowels in "Tracy" would have made an opera singer jealous. You could hear her blocks away as she launched her call into the evening air.  Traaaaaaaaaacceeeeeeeeeeee" Tarzan blushed in shame for his comparatively weak-assed nature call. Train whistles on the Nickle Plate hushed in respect. "Traaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaceeeeeeeeeeeeeee". Everyone in the eastern half of the county could hear her. Everyone except Tracy, that is.

"Hey man, I think your Mom is calling" we would say.

"I don't hear nothing". Every subsequent call was louder and longer than the one preceding. Rumor had it the brass works on the other side of town wanted to hire Tracy's mom to replace their broken factory whistle.

"Traaaaaaaaaaaaceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" Birds took flight in fear. The Civil Defense started their phone tree in fear of a Russian attack with a new weapon.  Muezzin from the mysterious Middle East begged her to teach them her long-distance voice projection secrets to use in their call to prayer. "Traaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee".

She would launch into the "Tracy" wail, even if the kid was standing right in the front yard of his house. The sound of that ear-piercing call still echoes in my memories.

He's at it again

I am not sure how, but the biggest buffoon to ever hold office* has managed to be responsible for the economy 6 years after he left office. According to Democrats, Bush is responsible for the mess at the VA. W is to blame for the mess in Afghanistan, the violence in Iraq**.  In true Urkel-like manner, I am sure George W watches the news of the day and whines "Did I do that?"

I am waiting on the edge of my seat for the Obama to take a break from golf and fundraising to describe in detail how the Bungling Bush managed to cause the flood if illegals on the border, the escalating violence in the Mideast***,  and the downing of the Malaysian Airlines jet over Ukraine.

Obama will probably get around to properly laying the blame at Bush's feet just as soon as he winds up yet another vacation.



*according to Democrats

** did you notice that the rebels found a bunch of Weapons of Mass Destruction?  The press kind of glossed right over that news.

*** how is it that Hamas is not condemned for launching missiles at Israeli civilians? Especially when the Hamas launchers are located in civilian areas -- mosques, schools, neighborhoods?

Friday Music

Suits my mood perfectly

It was just like being back at Boy Scout Camp

It has been a while since the wife and I ate out a a restaurant. It has been even longer since we had BBQ, one of my mostest favorite foods. So last night we found ourselves at my favorite BBQ chain location. When the food came I breathed in the sweet, smokey goodness, took a small bite and reached for the salt to add just a smidgen of seasoning to that delicious pulled pork. And doom descended on me and my pork. Some jerk had loosened the lid on the shaler and about a tablespoon of salt poured on my food before I could stop the flow.

Seriously, we were in the bar, so I know a purported adult pulled the juvenile prank. Some people never move beyond junior high.

I scraped off the salt and top layer of pork and the food was still good, but not as good as it could have been. 

Wild wild west

Indianapolis has been rocked by a plethora of shootings and killings this year. The murder rate is on a record setting pace. The shooting of a police officer last week has brought the situation to a head. The community has started discussions and neighborhood initiatives to try and quell the violence. Many in the city are also turning to worthless measures that accomplish nothing but make the participant feel good like taking worthless "blue pledges", rallies,  and moments of silence.  I am surprised there has not been sightings of blue ribbons in the lapels of leading do-gooders.

If you want to get to the root of the problem, take a look at this story.  There is plenty going on under the surface. But the very culture that deems it OK to pull out a gun and shoot at a fleeing car exemplifies the issue.

The person who fired the shots also remains a mystery.
But, Lard thanks whoever they are for protecting her children.She believes things could have gotten a lot worse if the driver hadn't been scared away.

No one was protecting anyone in this situation. An idiot was firing a gun at a fleeing car.  Heck, that does not work in the movies, there is no way, beyond dumb luck, random holes made by a piece of metal less than a half inch in diameter will stop a moving car. Most people can't accurately hit a target beyond 20 yards with a handgun without using a proper stance and with lots of practice.  I suspect holding the gun with one hand and sideways lessons the accuracy even more. We should be thankful no innocent bystanders were hit.

A couple of weeks ago two guys bumped into each other and instead of apologizing, or resorting to a punch in the nose, they pulled their heaters and sprayed the area with chunks of lead, hitting and wounding everyone in the area except each other. 

A routine family argument ended in gunfire just earlier this week. As the wife said, "whatever happened to the old fashioned fist fight?"  We all have a flight or flee response to danger.  As long as the "fight" instinct means you reach for your gat, then the violence will only get worse.

A good way to get sand in places you don't really care to find sand

Do you recognize this beach?

Taken with my own camera

The silence of the leftist lambs

Americans are always going to disagree over politics and policy. It is part and parcel of our national political fabric. Despite the hand-wringing of pundits, the political discourse has often been just as dysfunctional and often more so in the history of our country. I do not agree politically with several people I know. But I rarely doubt their sincerity, nor the notion we all want what is best for our Nation.

I am very disappointed and concerned over the lack of response, nay outrage, of those on the left regarding the political targeting of the IRS (notice NO ONE claims it did not happen) and the "dog at my email" cover-up.  When the bureaucracy is turned on private American citizens we should all be very afraid. The hypocrisy of the Democrat Party in this matter is disappointing and disgusting. The party that deigns to label itself as the party of the common man is turning a blind eye to the abuse of the common man.  All in the name of protecting its own.

Nixon tried to use the IRS to go after his political enemies, and the corruption of that period is an anathema to us all. Yet some of the very people who worked at the Justice Department preparing the case against Nixon and his cronies are silent on this matter (yes, I am talking about Hilary Clinton among others). I find the hypocrisy revolting. It is shameful. No matter your politics, the IRS scandal should be repulsive and people like Lois Lerner should be reviled.

If you are not outraged, if you are not angered, if you are not disgusted, then your silence speaks volumes about your character and your honor.

A tip

Most servers do not make the minimum wage. Wages and policies vary from State to State. In Indiana, most servers work for tips. They get a $2.13 minimum wage, but only if their tips are less than this minimum. In other words, if your server makes a $3 tip and only has one table that hour, she makes $3. He does not get the minimum wage on top. If the tip is $2, then they will get a check for thirteen cents. At most restaurants, if a server can not routinely make more than $2 per hour they are soon on the street.

That is right. In most cases the person serving you gets paid what you tip them. Period.  So you skinflints who routinely leave a buck or a quarter or nothing just made that person work for free. By the way, your server is not responsible if your steak is cooked wrong or the food is slow from the kitchen. If he or she fails to keep your drink filled, or to check on you, or is rude, then dock the tip.  Otherwise, tip on the service, not the food. Remember, sometimes you have a bad day at work, but you still get paid. Treat your server accordingly.

Stuff that makes me smile

Thank goodness...

LaBron has decided. Now I hope we won't have to hear his name for a few months.

It has been a big week for NE Ohio. First the Repubs gift their convention to one of the bluest of blue cities, then Lebron announces his homecoming. I am not sure what either was thinking when they chose Cleveland.

I'm not dead

I just have been doing other stuff. What, I can't really say. It is not that it is a secret, I just don't know what I have been doing instead of blogging.

I have a question for you. A couple of weeks ago a Federal Judge tossed Indiana's gay marriage ban. Hundreds of couples went to the courthouse, paid for and received a marriage license. They then paid a magistrate or other official to perform the ceremony. I presume many had cakes and receptions and such. In each and every case throughout the State the marriage was legal and binding.

Several days after the judge ruled the State got a stay on the ruling. No more same-sex couples could be married. These things will have to play out in court. Earlier this week the Governor declared all of those same-sex marriages null and void. WTF? How can the government go back and declare something illegal retroactively?  I call bullshit. I am not a big fan of lawsuits, but there needs to be a class action suit filed ASAP. Indiana owes those people their fees and costs, if nothing else.  Governmental over-reach is wrong, no matter what political party letter follows the politicians name.

What do you think?

Enough already

Am I the only one is ready for the "Flo" advertising campaign by Progressive Insurance to come to an end. Seriously, this has gone on about two years too long.

Witty post titles are hard to come by

I hate to tell you this, but yesterday's posts are indicative of my creativity levels these days.  Politics is just the same old, same old. Weather?  You have it, I have it. There is no point in talking about it. My domestic life remains unchanged.  There is yard work and food and cleaning and rinse repeat, rinse, repeat. My health is good, my attitude moves at warp speed from sarcastic to caustic, to humorous to morosity (is that even a word? What is the correct bon mot to describe the state of being morose?). I am reading through the Game of Thrones series again.  I am in the middle of book two. The Cubs suck, and will get worse as the season moves into the second half. Meaningful football is still two months away. The boy says they have added all of Bruce Lee's movies to Netflix, so I have that to look forward to.

Now I have wasted about 45 seconds of your day with this drivel.

An apology to Global Warmists across the fruited plain

I need to offer an apology to all of the environmentalists out there.  I have long scoffed at the notion of man-made global warming. After last night's feast at a local Mexican restaurant I have to admit I am wrong.  I have released copious amounts of methane and carbon gases into the air this morning.  The bathroom is noticeably warmer, or perhaps it is just my rear. It smells like the gates of Hell too.

To quote the famed comedy duo Cheech and Chong -- "Come on ice cream".

Stuff that ,makes me smile

It is not about the barbeque

As is my wont, I watched the first two episodes of the HBO miniseries John Adams Friday morning. This series, especially the first two episodes, should be required watching in every school in the country. If you have not seen it, you should find a copy somewhere. Heck, come over and I will loan you mine, as long as you promise to return it.

Friday Music -- Saturday Edition along with other stuff

I woke with this tune in my head.  Tommy James rocks.

I hope you had a great Fourth. We did.  The wife and I went over to a cookout and then off to see 'splody things in the sky. We had a great time. I cannot remember the last time I had to don a sweatshirt to watch fireworks. You can insert your own global warming joke.

It looks like another great day is on tap. I have the Sinatra channel playing softly on Pandora in the background. I think I will read a few blogs and then pick up book to read until it gets a bit later in the morning. I have to mow the yard today.

The Chicago Cubs sure make it hard to be a fan.  Another 90+ loss season is on tap.  It is great to get young prospects, but if you have NO pitching it does no good to get a bunch of hitters.  Fighting to win 10-9 ballgames is not a recipe for success.

Happy Saturday.

We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

---

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
   Button Gwinnett
   Lyman Hall
   George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
   William Hooper
   Joseph Hewes
   John Penn
South Carolina:
   Edward Rutledge
   Thomas Heyward, Jr.
   Thomas Lynch, Jr.
   Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
   Robert Morris
   Benjamin Rush
   Benjamin Franklin
   John Morton
   George Clymer
   James Smith
   George Taylor
   James Wilson
   George Ross
Delaware:
   Caesar Rodney
   George Read
   Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
   William Floyd
   Philip Livingston
   Francis Lewis
   Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
   Richard Stockton
   John Witherspoon
   Francis Hopkinson
   John Hart
   Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
   Josiah Bartlett
   William Whipple
Massachusetts:
   Samuel Adams
   John Adams
   Robert Treat Paine
   Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
   Stephen Hopkins
   William Ellery
Connecticut:
   Roger Sherman
   Samuel Huntington
   William Williams
   Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
   Matthew Thornton


US Archives

The weather outside is ...wonderful

I spent a half an hour this morning writing about my painful ankle.

I deleted it.

You are welcome.

Lucky it was my head

My daughter is teaching at a new school in the fall.  We have been helping her move her stuff to her new classroom.  Yesterday, we loaded up the wife's Escape with boxes of stuff the daughter wanted to take home.

I was carrying a box into my daughter's garage when out of nowhere something struck me on the side of the head.  Hard. It knocked my glasses from my face and me to my knees.  After wallowing on the floor for a bit, I looked up to see one of the bikes had fallen from the ceiling, it hung now only by the hook on the rear wheel; the front swung in a lazy arc above my head. The dislodged hook was on the floor at my feet. The bike had swung down and hit me square on the side of the head with the front tire. The wife found my glasses, unbroken and unbent a few feet away.

The new, more optimistic me looked at the weird turn of events and was glad it was the tire, not the frame that struck me. The wheel nut could have opened my scalp like a tin can. The son-in-law's car could have been under the bike. It could have been my wife or daughter getting the head shot.My glasses were unharmed. So was I.

The old pessimistic side still whispers in my ear, "What the fuck? Why me"?

SCOTUS, the real death panel

For those of you who are in a frenzy over the Hobby Lobby decision, let me pose a question. If a woman should get free contraception because it is a "health" issue, shouldn't my dad's blood pressure medicine be free? Why aren't you in hysterics over me having to pay for my diabetes medication?  After all, my health is at risk if I don't take it. I would posit my friend's heart medication if far more essential to his health than almost any woman's morning after pill.

I will entertain rebuttal in the comments. Before you argue, remember the ruling did not deny anyone access to anything, it merely made clear who would pay for it. And perhaps if you are really outraged, you should protest outside the Obama White House and at the HHS building.  They unilaterally imposed a waiver saying exactly the same as the Hobby Lobby SCOTUS ruling for religious institutions. If denying free abortion aids are damaging women's health at Hobby Lobby, they must also be life-threatening down at St. Mary's..

Oh, in case your screen does not display it correctly, the title to the post is written in sarcasm font.

It is mere cause and effect

Obama announces in true Emperor-like fashion he is no longer going to honor the laws and Constitution he swore to uphold and will no longer deport children and teens who are here illegally. The result is a flood of children and teens into the country. They are coming in numbers beyond control.

What will happen if we were to actually give amnesty to those who broke our laws? Gee, I wonder. After Reagan made the greatest mistake of his Presidency by signing an amnesty law we went from 6-8 million illegals to 20-30 million illegals.

Don't worry, Emperor Obama is not going to put up with the pesky law.  He is going to fix immigration on his own. It is for the children after all.

Here is an idea. Put the National Guard on the border.  Put the Army on the border.  Turn away anyone coming across until we can get the fence built.  Let Mexico deal with the problem. Let El Salvador deal with the problem.  Let the UN deal with the problem. This is a refugee problem, not an immigration problem.