some gotta lose, goodtime Charlie’s got the blues....”
Y’just gotta love politics......’n teevee....they go t'gether like a horse 'n carriage...if we hadn't had pols before teevee...what a tho't? Darn near blasphemous...sort'a like God 'n man...if God hadn't invented man, man would'a invented God...the old chicken'n egg syndrome.....
Still, I love television...can't h elp it, it's the most fascinating thing in the world....Heck, it gives us the world at our fingertips...well, television and the internet.....Y’gotta love a medium that pays people a lot of money to sit around ‘n say things like, “If Sarah Palin is good, she’ll help McCain win but, if she’s bad, she’ll take him down the tubes.”
“Well, no kidding (s##t) Dick Tracy.”
And talking about making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear....
did’ja hear the one about the poor little black boy that grew up t’be God...(oops)...President of the most powerful country in the history of the world....(How egotistical is that).....There have been a lot of countries that have been the most powerful country in the history of the world....just t’ name a few: Mongolia, China, Persia, Greece, Italy, Spain, France, England, Russia....’n so forth ‘n so on, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.....
Talk about being a day late ‘n a dollar short.....I think I’ve always been a lot more out’a step than that...Even those times when I tho’t I was ahead of the curve, I really wasn’t...I don’t think I’m alone in this regard....I think most of us.....most people really, are reactive....that is, we go pretty much about our own business until something happens and then...we react. And the movers ‘n shakers of the world, the elite few, consider the rest of us t’be hicks ‘n rednecks, what the old Romans referred to as ‘The Circus’.....Politics haven’t changed since Roman times, the politicos are still ‘playing to the crowd’....promising bread and circuses to the paying class....Oh yeah, the working class is always the ‘paying’ class....Obama c’n promise to ‘soak the rich to give to the poor’....but it ain’t gonna happen...it never does....because it’s impossible. The wealthy don’t get and stay wealthy by allowing politicians to control the wealth...the wealthy control the politicians and the politicians play the people.....”The world will stay the same, you’ll never change it as long as the stars shine above.....”
On that proverbial other hand that I count on so much, Shakespeare said, “When ignorance is bliss, t’is folly to be wise.”.....If you go thru life believing in politicians, I have invented a perpetual motion machine that will solve all our energy problems...all I need is a few shrewd investors.....
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Obamalot......
“In short, there’s simply not a more congenial spot for happily-ever-aftering.......”
Obama’s ‘Land of Oz’.....a fantasy wonderland......carved from whole cloth and offered up to the American public in living color complete with Greek columns and American as apple pie fireworks...I gotta say, I felt like I wuz bein’ run over by the Obama juggernaut.....but, as they used to say about Hollywood...look behind the phony tinsel and glitter to find the real tinsel and glitter.... Barack Obama may be the Jay Gatsby of modern politics, an affirmative action candidate whose lack of experience doesn’t seem to matter to his suppporters.... (he’s black...it’s an historic first)...he’s the ‘candidate of change’ and the electorate seems ready to leap from the frying pan into the fire.
And there ain’t no doubt that Denver wuz a high point in the 18 month campaign to annoint Barack Obama... Invesco stadium wuz packed to the gills with 70 to 80 thousand screaming spectators...could’a been the Super Bowl or sumthin’ minus the jugs of wine ‘n loaves of bread....
But, there wuz one small problem......an insignificant one, according to the Obamians...really no more than a flea bite...that old fart, McCain, named a nobody from nowhere, Alaska, t’be his running mate...
“Birds flyin’ high, you know how I feel....
....it’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life.....”
....And this nobody from nowhere stole the show....like oil on troubled water, Sarah Palin calmed the multitude ‘n reversed the tide...the small town beauty queen who grew up to become mayor of Masilla, Alaska (Where?)...
a real-life Northern Exposure where she grew up, a high school beauty queen, a ‘Chris in the morning’ DJ, a commercial fisherman (fisherperson ?) a mother of five whose story sounds like sumthin’ out of Disney.....
The Obama camp immediately jumped on her lack of experience (Is it racist to wonder if that’s a case of the pot calling the kettle black?)....
At any rate, she stole the thunder of the Chosen One and gave a new lease on life to the Republican party...
Thursday, August 28, 2008
OBAMA does Denver.....
or, as Erma Bombeck wroter, “ The grass is always greener over the septic tank”
A most amazing thing happened on Obama’s trek to the White House.....in the middle of the hoopla of the Democratic Convention, in a race for the Presidency that the Democrats can’t lose, after an introductory speech by Michelle Obama, before Hillary talks and before Bill talks and before Barack Obama declares himself as the Really Coolest Grand Poobah of the Twenty-first Century, that creaky old man from Arizona pulled ahead in the polls.....go figure.....
Obama supporters complain about McCain’s little digs, calling them ‘dirty’ politics...Criticism of Obama is “just not what we want to hear as Americans.” On that proverbial other hand that I luv to bring up, Obama supporters, the Champions of the Annointed One, seem to have a difficult time coming up with Obama accomplishments.....lessee, he wuz agin the Iraq war when he wuz runnin’ for Illinois State Senator, a fact that he pretty much kept to himself while seeking support to run for the U.S. Senate.....
According to Joe Biden, “That’s not change, that’s more of the same.”
And Joe should know......he’s grown old in the Senate ‘n if mem’ry serves, nothing ever changes there....y’got your liberal left ‘n your conservative right...it’s like watching a tennis game between ladies who lunch....lobbing back ‘n forth t’see who’s gonna pick up the lunch tab....
go figure...
Now I hear that Vladimir Putin (Vlad the impaler, as O’Reilly calls him) is accusing George Bush of engineering the Georgian/Russian conflict solely to help McCain win the election....That’s kind’a Machiavellian for a man that liberal Democrats call the dumbest President this country has ever had.....now ordinary people might think that you can’t have it both ways but that’s no trick atall for a professional politician who’s used to having his cake and eating it too.....
go figure......
Obama’s performance in Denver was absolutely masterful....He didn’t really say anything that He hasn’t said before.....He didn’t walk on water or part the Red Sea but, He did feed the multitude......hook, line, and sinker....
go figure......
A most amazing thing happened on Obama’s trek to the White House.....in the middle of the hoopla of the Democratic Convention, in a race for the Presidency that the Democrats can’t lose, after an introductory speech by Michelle Obama, before Hillary talks and before Bill talks and before Barack Obama declares himself as the Really Coolest Grand Poobah of the Twenty-first Century, that creaky old man from Arizona pulled ahead in the polls.....go figure.....
Obama supporters complain about McCain’s little digs, calling them ‘dirty’ politics...Criticism of Obama is “just not what we want to hear as Americans.” On that proverbial other hand that I luv to bring up, Obama supporters, the Champions of the Annointed One, seem to have a difficult time coming up with Obama accomplishments.....lessee, he wuz agin the Iraq war when he wuz runnin’ for Illinois State Senator, a fact that he pretty much kept to himself while seeking support to run for the U.S. Senate.....
According to Joe Biden, “That’s not change, that’s more of the same.”
And Joe should know......he’s grown old in the Senate ‘n if mem’ry serves, nothing ever changes there....y’got your liberal left ‘n your conservative right...it’s like watching a tennis game between ladies who lunch....lobbing back ‘n forth t’see who’s gonna pick up the lunch tab....
go figure...
Now I hear that Vladimir Putin (Vlad the impaler, as O’Reilly calls him) is accusing George Bush of engineering the Georgian/Russian conflict solely to help McCain win the election....That’s kind’a Machiavellian for a man that liberal Democrats call the dumbest President this country has ever had.....now ordinary people might think that you can’t have it both ways but that’s no trick atall for a professional politician who’s used to having his cake and eating it too.....
go figure......
Obama’s performance in Denver was absolutely masterful....He didn’t really say anything that He hasn’t said before.....He didn’t walk on water or part the Red Sea but, He did feed the multitude......hook, line, and sinker....
go figure......
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
When you're smiling......
“If I ever lose my mouth, all my teeth north and south, if I ever lose my mouth, I won’t have to talk no more....”
Can’t even begin to imagine a Smith what can’t talk no more but all my teeth......ah well, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.....
Long before I was diagnosed as a Diabetic, my dentist told me that I ate too much candy.....I denied it, of course, becuz candy is sumthin’ I never did much of at any time in my life....it wuz hard to come by when I wuz a kid, mostly at holidays ‘n such....even Halloween which is a major candy event in t’days world didn’t bring that much in the way of sweets when I wuz a boy....’Course, the fact that there wuz a war goin’ on and sugar wuz rationed might’a had a little t’do with it.....’n we didn’t get a lot of soda pop (we just called it pop) when we were kids.....not like t’day....
Come to think on it, World War II wuz pretty healthy diet-wise....shortages on sugar, fats, meats etc, left the at home’s eating a lot of veggies ‘n healthy stuff...ah well, I don’t think the kids of that generation felt abused by the lack of candy....
Anyway, my dentist kept tellin’ me to lay off the sweets, ‘n if he’d only known, he could’a told me that I wuz what they call t’day, pre-diabetic....
All that, coupled with poor dental hygiene (I brushed but didn’t floss) and the tendency in my younger days to hit people in their fists with my mouth led to the loss of several teeth...which, sumwhat inevitably led to the loss of more 'n more teeth over the years and sum pricey dental bills....
which brings me to the latest traumatic event in my life that I’d rather not be confessing to....In three weeks, I’m going to have a b’day....it’s only a week ‘tween my b’day and Kellyes b’day, so we’re planning a celebration t’gether ‘n trying to figure out a restaurant acceptable to ev’ryone.....during that same three weeks, I’m prob’ly gonna trade what's left of my old, high mileage teeth for some brand spankin’ new synthetics.....so it prob’ly won’t matter to me where we eat as I might be having a restricted diet anyway........ah well, with any luck atall, I’ll end up with a nicer smile.....
Can’t even begin to imagine a Smith what can’t talk no more but all my teeth......ah well, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.....
Long before I was diagnosed as a Diabetic, my dentist told me that I ate too much candy.....I denied it, of course, becuz candy is sumthin’ I never did much of at any time in my life....it wuz hard to come by when I wuz a kid, mostly at holidays ‘n such....even Halloween which is a major candy event in t’days world didn’t bring that much in the way of sweets when I wuz a boy....’Course, the fact that there wuz a war goin’ on and sugar wuz rationed might’a had a little t’do with it.....’n we didn’t get a lot of soda pop (we just called it pop) when we were kids.....not like t’day....
Come to think on it, World War II wuz pretty healthy diet-wise....shortages on sugar, fats, meats etc, left the at home’s eating a lot of veggies ‘n healthy stuff...ah well, I don’t think the kids of that generation felt abused by the lack of candy....
Anyway, my dentist kept tellin’ me to lay off the sweets, ‘n if he’d only known, he could’a told me that I wuz what they call t’day, pre-diabetic....
All that, coupled with poor dental hygiene (I brushed but didn’t floss) and the tendency in my younger days to hit people in their fists with my mouth led to the loss of several teeth...which, sumwhat inevitably led to the loss of more 'n more teeth over the years and sum pricey dental bills....
which brings me to the latest traumatic event in my life that I’d rather not be confessing to....In three weeks, I’m going to have a b’day....it’s only a week ‘tween my b’day and Kellyes b’day, so we’re planning a celebration t’gether ‘n trying to figure out a restaurant acceptable to ev’ryone.....during that same three weeks, I’m prob’ly gonna trade what's left of my old, high mileage teeth for some brand spankin’ new synthetics.....so it prob’ly won’t matter to me where we eat as I might be having a restricted diet anyway........ah well, with any luck atall, I’ll end up with a nicer smile.....
Where did the tooth fairy go.....
Sleepin’ in......
makes ev’ry day feel like a weekend....at least, for a few moments.....since I find myself currently unemployed having been, what’s the Brit word for it.....made redundant...... I find that I’m staying up later at nite and getting up later in the morn....my two alarum clocks, Rusty & Willie, are adjusting slowly....ev’ry morn they let me sleep a few minutes longer....they’re purty civilized as it applies to dogs....but when they think it’s really time for me to get up and take ‘em out, they let me know in no uncertain terms....to wit: barking whilst jumping back ‘n forth over my supine form and lastly, cold noses in my face pracktically gaurantee that I’ll get up.....
I’ve an app’t this morning to have some dental work done so no swimming....a pot of coffee, a bowl of cheerios and what passes for a morning paper these days......
On my way to the ORAL SURGEON....(God, that’s scary)...
gotta have a tooth ‘n a half removed...t’other half fell prey to a hard peanut...heard a little crack ‘n felt it rollin’ around inside my mouth....I durn near swallowed it..
My dentist with the almost unpronounceable name...I say almost becuz of the way it’s spelled...I myself simply try to recreate the sound his receptionist makes when she answers the phone....anyway, he looks like Christopher Walken ‘n since dentists are scary by profession, he seems to have come right out of central casting....at any rate, he’s a reasonable sort’a guy....
Well, the OS looked like a teenager as did his ass’t...but he did a good job....it didn’t hurt ‘n he didn’t take too long ‘n he didn’t have to patch the hole in the sky ‘cuz it wudn’t there...’n he only took one stitch....could’a been worse....he told me not to swim for a couple days ‘n his ass’t told me not to drive while taking vicodin ‘cuz “it’s against the law.”.....I’ll prob’ly get the V-scrip filled tomorrow ‘cuz it’s nice stuff to have around.....
makes ev’ry day feel like a weekend....at least, for a few moments.....since I find myself currently unemployed having been, what’s the Brit word for it.....made redundant...... I find that I’m staying up later at nite and getting up later in the morn....my two alarum clocks, Rusty & Willie, are adjusting slowly....ev’ry morn they let me sleep a few minutes longer....they’re purty civilized as it applies to dogs....but when they think it’s really time for me to get up and take ‘em out, they let me know in no uncertain terms....to wit: barking whilst jumping back ‘n forth over my supine form and lastly, cold noses in my face pracktically gaurantee that I’ll get up.....
I’ve an app’t this morning to have some dental work done so no swimming....a pot of coffee, a bowl of cheerios and what passes for a morning paper these days......
On my way to the ORAL SURGEON....(God, that’s scary)...
gotta have a tooth ‘n a half removed...t’other half fell prey to a hard peanut...heard a little crack ‘n felt it rollin’ around inside my mouth....I durn near swallowed it..
My dentist with the almost unpronounceable name...I say almost becuz of the way it’s spelled...I myself simply try to recreate the sound his receptionist makes when she answers the phone....anyway, he looks like Christopher Walken ‘n since dentists are scary by profession, he seems to have come right out of central casting....at any rate, he’s a reasonable sort’a guy....
Well, the OS looked like a teenager as did his ass’t...but he did a good job....it didn’t hurt ‘n he didn’t take too long ‘n he didn’t have to patch the hole in the sky ‘cuz it wudn’t there...’n he only took one stitch....could’a been worse....he told me not to swim for a couple days ‘n his ass’t told me not to drive while taking vicodin ‘cuz “it’s against the law.”.....I’ll prob’ly get the V-scrip filled tomorrow ‘cuz it’s nice stuff to have around.....
Monday, August 25, 2008
Ev'ryday miracles......
Y’know, when you stop ‘n think about it, life’s just full of little miracles.....
two little dogs jiggling impatiently beside my bed at 6:30 in the morning while I struggle to wake up.....’n the miracle is that they actually wait until I get ‘em outside t’do their ‘bizness’.....
It’s Monday morning, there’s a cool Delta breeze ‘n the morning paper is on the front porch....it’s on the front porch most mornings ‘n that’s sumthing of a small miracle too....boys (girls too, sumtimes) used t’deliver the paper in the afternoons (remember those canvas bags they used to carry..wudn’t they be great t’carry your groceries in t’day)......’n the miracle then wuz that most people paid their paperboy on time....y’know, my brother, John, still remembers the tip he got from sum temporary customers that turned out t’be bank robbers.....
I wuz readin’ about the Ha-ha-brew the Dems got goin’ in Denver when I lost interest ‘n decided t’check the ‘net nooze’ and found an e-mail from SonDave in Nepal...
don’t hear from SonDave all that often so I call that a small miracle...hope he incl’s a self foto on his blog, hard to imagine him with trim ‘brows.....
I’m a cancer survivor which, for me personally, is not a small miracle ‘n I keep hearing about friends (and friends of friends) that are battling cancer ‘n I find myself praying for people that I don’t know.....it ain’t as hard to talk to people that you don’t know as you might think...(well, y’know, it’s an interior monologue w/out answers)...I tell ‘em stuff like, “Well, my hair came back blond ‘n curly.” And it’s the truth. Sort’a. Hey! You gotta take small miracles the way you see ‘em.....
“Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you ‘n me.”
two little dogs jiggling impatiently beside my bed at 6:30 in the morning while I struggle to wake up.....’n the miracle is that they actually wait until I get ‘em outside t’do their ‘bizness’.....
It’s Monday morning, there’s a cool Delta breeze ‘n the morning paper is on the front porch....it’s on the front porch most mornings ‘n that’s sumthing of a small miracle too....boys (girls too, sumtimes) used t’deliver the paper in the afternoons (remember those canvas bags they used to carry..wudn’t they be great t’carry your groceries in t’day)......’n the miracle then wuz that most people paid their paperboy on time....y’know, my brother, John, still remembers the tip he got from sum temporary customers that turned out t’be bank robbers.....
I wuz readin’ about the Ha-ha-brew the Dems got goin’ in Denver when I lost interest ‘n decided t’check the ‘net nooze’ and found an e-mail from SonDave in Nepal...
don’t hear from SonDave all that often so I call that a small miracle...hope he incl’s a self foto on his blog, hard to imagine him with trim ‘brows.....
I’m a cancer survivor which, for me personally, is not a small miracle ‘n I keep hearing about friends (and friends of friends) that are battling cancer ‘n I find myself praying for people that I don’t know.....it ain’t as hard to talk to people that you don’t know as you might think...(well, y’know, it’s an interior monologue w/out answers)...I tell ‘em stuff like, “Well, my hair came back blond ‘n curly.” And it’s the truth. Sort’a. Hey! You gotta take small miracles the way you see ‘em.....
“Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you ‘n me.”
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Rasslin' with God II
What’s God got to do with it?
“Pondering the imponderable is kind’a oxymoronic...”
Humanity’s relationship with God is incomprehensible...
with seemingly no beginning and a great fear of the ending, though no one knows what that ending might be...
We humans get very uncomfortable at not knowing our beginnings.....everything we seem to know here on our Earth has a beginning and an end. Except, not really.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? It’s a great puzzlement for us, and we’ve been seeking the answer since, oh....forever and a day, however long that is....
The depth of our ignorance about the most basic things of our world is mind-boggling; and our vast knowledge, accumulated over centuries, is best described by the old joke.....half-vast.
Recently, it was reported by the national news media that the body of a legendary ‘Bigfoot’ had been found in Georgia by a pair of hunters. It didn’t take very long for it to be exposed as a hoax but, for a few people, for a few moments, primeval hope sprang full-grown to dance around the bonfire of our imaginations.
When I was a boy, some imaginative souls in Merrie Olde England perpetrated a similar hoax by ‘discovering’ the Piltsdown Man. The Piltsdown Man made it into our history books and was taught as fact to a generation before being excised. All despite the fact that the hoax had been exposed within a few weeks.
Orson Welles radio progam, “The War of Worlds” had a believing nation panic stricken for hours and in the sixties, E.T. was admonished to ‘call home’ for months.
Supposedly centuries old pictographs of spaceships and alien figures are paraded before us on a regular basis as some sort of explanation for Stonehenge, etcetera.
All of our civilizations here on Earth have similar stories of a great flood and an ark, and our mythology details similar stories of Atlantis and a fleet of ships saving a civilization from destruction by sailing to distant shores.
It seems that every few generations, humanity faces a cataclysmic event and the phrase, “Now, more than ever, humans need God!”
And, I suppose we do, otherwise we wouldn’t have invented Him. Or Her. Or vice versa. Did God create the chicken to lay the egg?
“Pondering the imponderable is kind’a oxymoronic...”
Humanity’s relationship with God is incomprehensible...
with seemingly no beginning and a great fear of the ending, though no one knows what that ending might be...
We humans get very uncomfortable at not knowing our beginnings.....everything we seem to know here on our Earth has a beginning and an end. Except, not really.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? It’s a great puzzlement for us, and we’ve been seeking the answer since, oh....forever and a day, however long that is....
The depth of our ignorance about the most basic things of our world is mind-boggling; and our vast knowledge, accumulated over centuries, is best described by the old joke.....half-vast.
Recently, it was reported by the national news media that the body of a legendary ‘Bigfoot’ had been found in Georgia by a pair of hunters. It didn’t take very long for it to be exposed as a hoax but, for a few people, for a few moments, primeval hope sprang full-grown to dance around the bonfire of our imaginations.
When I was a boy, some imaginative souls in Merrie Olde England perpetrated a similar hoax by ‘discovering’ the Piltsdown Man. The Piltsdown Man made it into our history books and was taught as fact to a generation before being excised. All despite the fact that the hoax had been exposed within a few weeks.
Orson Welles radio progam, “The War of Worlds” had a believing nation panic stricken for hours and in the sixties, E.T. was admonished to ‘call home’ for months.
Supposedly centuries old pictographs of spaceships and alien figures are paraded before us on a regular basis as some sort of explanation for Stonehenge, etcetera.
All of our civilizations here on Earth have similar stories of a great flood and an ark, and our mythology details similar stories of Atlantis and a fleet of ships saving a civilization from destruction by sailing to distant shores.
It seems that every few generations, humanity faces a cataclysmic event and the phrase, “Now, more than ever, humans need God!”
And, I suppose we do, otherwise we wouldn’t have invented Him. Or Her. Or vice versa. Did God create the chicken to lay the egg?
I'm a pore boy......
come to greatness......
“Ooh I love to dance a little sidestep, now they see me, now they don’t...”
Trying to figure out what a politician is saying is always difficult ‘n with some of ‘em, it’s durn near impossible...
I know Obama came up through the Chicago machine ‘n Irish politics is legendary but I think Obama may have taken a graduate course under Charles Durning at “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”.......
Lord knows I ain’t an Obama fan....’n I ain’t a Hillary fan either, no matter how much Millyrose is for her.....’n I come to bein’ a Republican by a purty circuitous route...but I changed my registration back at the turn of the Century so’s I c’ud vote for McCain....’n I’m still voting for McCain.....
c’d be I’m just about as stubborn as him...I ain’t sure I’m as tough as him ‘n I’m damn glad I wuz never put to the same test as he was.....I’m pretty certain that I would’ve failed it......
Anyway, what I started out t’say is that I believe that Obama prob’ly threw in a winnin’ hand when he passed over Hillary as Veep....I ain’t atall sure where they might have taken this country but to quote Bette Davis again, I’m pretty sure it “would have been a bumpy ride.”
Which ain't t'say that McCain has the election won...he don't....Obama is a very popular man 'n Joe Biden is.....well, Joe Biden...
I don't think it matters much who McCain picks as his Veep, win or lose, this election is all about Obama.
“Ooh I love to dance a little sidestep, now they see me, now they don’t...”
Trying to figure out what a politician is saying is always difficult ‘n with some of ‘em, it’s durn near impossible...
I know Obama came up through the Chicago machine ‘n Irish politics is legendary but I think Obama may have taken a graduate course under Charles Durning at “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”.......
Lord knows I ain’t an Obama fan....’n I ain’t a Hillary fan either, no matter how much Millyrose is for her.....’n I come to bein’ a Republican by a purty circuitous route...but I changed my registration back at the turn of the Century so’s I c’ud vote for McCain....’n I’m still voting for McCain.....
c’d be I’m just about as stubborn as him...I ain’t sure I’m as tough as him ‘n I’m damn glad I wuz never put to the same test as he was.....I’m pretty certain that I would’ve failed it......
Anyway, what I started out t’say is that I believe that Obama prob’ly threw in a winnin’ hand when he passed over Hillary as Veep....I ain’t atall sure where they might have taken this country but to quote Bette Davis again, I’m pretty sure it “would have been a bumpy ride.”
Which ain't t'say that McCain has the election won...he don't....Obama is a very popular man 'n Joe Biden is.....well, Joe Biden...
I don't think it matters much who McCain picks as his Veep, win or lose, this election is all about Obama.
Friday, August 22, 2008
'Rasslin' with God......
Chapter One.....
I ‘uz just thinkin’........Last time I wuz back home (South Shore)...my good buddy, Pig Phillips, told his mother that I was an atheist...I’m not. I ain’t even sure I’m agnostic tho’ that’d be closer to the mark...thing is, I wuz raised a Christian ‘n even with all my internal struggles, I guess I remain a Christian....of sorts.....No, the problem I have ain’t that I don’t believe in God, it’s that I don’t have a lot of faith in Organized Religion...(absolutely pun intended) ’n the way that came about is the process of disillusionment called ‘Life’....
Eastern Kentucky, where I grew up, ain’t the most hard-scrabble place in the world....Heck! It ain’t even the most hard-scrabble piece of Kentucky...that said, there never wuz a preponderance of millionaires hidin’ out among the ridges of Greenup County when I wuz a boy... There may be a couple hiding out there now but that still don’t make a preponderance ....
Anyway, the Greenup County of my youth tended t’be on the lean side with most people bein’ what you might call, the working poor...Heck, what we in fact, tho’t of as middle class were really just those among the working poor that worked a little harder than ever’body else...’n the professional people, the teachers ‘n the ministers weren’t cuttin’ any fat hogs either....as a matter of fact, almost all of ‘em that I knew were hardworking, dedicated individuals who earned a lot more respect than money.....that said, when I got out in the world, I found a slightly different place than what I wuz used to.....
I ain’t complaining, mind you....I had a wonderful childhood, a sentiment that has been echoed by many of the people that grew up in the same time ‘n place.....
Now Life starts out all hunky-dory when you’re a child... You don’t have much to worry about since someone else feeds you ‘n takes care of almost all your personal problems leaving you with the only the task of growing up and learning to take care of yourself.....’n while that ain’t as easy as it sounds, it’s also sumthin’ that you don’t have a choice in....like every bird, sooner or later, you have to fly (or die) on your own...’N while you’re figgerin’ that one out, you also learn that all your idols have feet of clay....
That means that your parents, well-meaning or otherwise, ain’t gods....nor are Doctors, lawyers,’n Indian Chiefs....
All the people that you’re taught to trust ‘n revere as a child are the self-same adults that are going to cheat you out of your eyeteeth when you’re grown.....Caesar’s pat on the back from Brutus is a great example....One of the pats on my back came one day in the back seat of a taxi....the radio wuz on ‘n I tho’t I wuz listening to a comedian by the name of Brother Dave Gardner.....turned out, I wuz listening to Brother Billy Graham ‘n he wuz almost as funny as Brother Dave....’cept he made a lot more money than any honky-tonk comedian...
I know there’s a lot of people who rank Brother Graham right up there close to the second coming, but the man made more money than God....’n not only kept his tax-exempt status, he passed it on to his son.....ain’t that a hoot? Two-thirds of a trilogy....
Ain't sure where this is goin' but I don't pedal very fast anymore 'n I ain't in a hurry anyway.......
I ‘uz just thinkin’........Last time I wuz back home (South Shore)...my good buddy, Pig Phillips, told his mother that I was an atheist...I’m not. I ain’t even sure I’m agnostic tho’ that’d be closer to the mark...thing is, I wuz raised a Christian ‘n even with all my internal struggles, I guess I remain a Christian....of sorts.....No, the problem I have ain’t that I don’t believe in God, it’s that I don’t have a lot of faith in Organized Religion...(absolutely pun intended) ’n the way that came about is the process of disillusionment called ‘Life’....
Eastern Kentucky, where I grew up, ain’t the most hard-scrabble place in the world....Heck! It ain’t even the most hard-scrabble piece of Kentucky...that said, there never wuz a preponderance of millionaires hidin’ out among the ridges of Greenup County when I wuz a boy... There may be a couple hiding out there now but that still don’t make a preponderance ....
Anyway, the Greenup County of my youth tended t’be on the lean side with most people bein’ what you might call, the working poor...Heck, what we in fact, tho’t of as middle class were really just those among the working poor that worked a little harder than ever’body else...’n the professional people, the teachers ‘n the ministers weren’t cuttin’ any fat hogs either....as a matter of fact, almost all of ‘em that I knew were hardworking, dedicated individuals who earned a lot more respect than money.....that said, when I got out in the world, I found a slightly different place than what I wuz used to.....
I ain’t complaining, mind you....I had a wonderful childhood, a sentiment that has been echoed by many of the people that grew up in the same time ‘n place.....
Now Life starts out all hunky-dory when you’re a child... You don’t have much to worry about since someone else feeds you ‘n takes care of almost all your personal problems leaving you with the only the task of growing up and learning to take care of yourself.....’n while that ain’t as easy as it sounds, it’s also sumthin’ that you don’t have a choice in....like every bird, sooner or later, you have to fly (or die) on your own...’N while you’re figgerin’ that one out, you also learn that all your idols have feet of clay....
That means that your parents, well-meaning or otherwise, ain’t gods....nor are Doctors, lawyers,’n Indian Chiefs....
All the people that you’re taught to trust ‘n revere as a child are the self-same adults that are going to cheat you out of your eyeteeth when you’re grown.....Caesar’s pat on the back from Brutus is a great example....One of the pats on my back came one day in the back seat of a taxi....the radio wuz on ‘n I tho’t I wuz listening to a comedian by the name of Brother Dave Gardner.....turned out, I wuz listening to Brother Billy Graham ‘n he wuz almost as funny as Brother Dave....’cept he made a lot more money than any honky-tonk comedian...
I know there’s a lot of people who rank Brother Graham right up there close to the second coming, but the man made more money than God....’n not only kept his tax-exempt status, he passed it on to his son.....ain’t that a hoot? Two-thirds of a trilogy....
Ain't sure where this is goin' but I don't pedal very fast anymore 'n I ain't in a hurry anyway.......
Thursday, August 21, 2008
I've got the horse right here.....
First things first in the ‘World of Smith’.....last we heard, son Dave was in the city of Varanasi (?) in the State of Uttar Pranesh, India ‘n planning a trip to Nepal....I understand (a l’il bit) the geography of the USA but India boggles the brain....he hasn’t blogged for a while ‘n I was curious ‘n I e-mailed him....here’s his reply......
“Yeah, hopefully I can update tonight with a month old blog post. The
floods here knocked a lot of internet places for a loop and the place
that I'm staying doesn't have internet. The computers I've rented have
been pretty much limited to checking email. I go to Nepal tomorrow
night. Night train that's supposed to leave at 11:50pm but it's India
so who knows when that will be. It might be a while before I update.
I'll be up there for 2 or 3 weeks. It should be fun.”
Who’s gonna be Veep? The pundits are agog...(lovely underused word)...The Russians may well have started World War III (which c’d be the war to end all the damn wars)...The summer olympics are drawing to a close one record-breaking event after another...Florida is hunkered down under a mammoth rainstorm (it’s a record-breaking year in weather also) and, in this milestone election, all the chatter is about who’s gonna get the ‘bucket of spit’ job of Vice-President.....
The Obama Express may not have derailed but it seems to have been sidetracked for the moment while the McCain Slow Freight just keeps on chuggin’.......it’s kinda like the tortoise and the hare....the hare is a speed-racer, fast and flashy, a sure winner...while the tortoise is slow and clunky, bound to come in second in any match race...
As an old time gamblin’ man, I know that the race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong....but that’s the way to bet....’n just becuz I appear t’be hung up on proverbs t’day..... On that proverbial other hand...I know never to bet more than I can afford to lose and that’s there’s many a slip t’wixt the cup and the lip....
The pundits have been amazed that McCain has been staying close to even in the polls...the consensus was that Obama would be way ahead at this point....but sumthin’ happened....the polls now show Slowpoke McCain leading Obama....Shades of Truman beating Dewey...does the tortoise have a chance?
“Like a bolt out of the blue, fate steps in and sees you thru
When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true”
“Yeah, hopefully I can update tonight with a month old blog post. The
floods here knocked a lot of internet places for a loop and the place
that I'm staying doesn't have internet. The computers I've rented have
been pretty much limited to checking email. I go to Nepal tomorrow
night. Night train that's supposed to leave at 11:50pm but it's India
so who knows when that will be. It might be a while before I update.
I'll be up there for 2 or 3 weeks. It should be fun.”
Who’s gonna be Veep? The pundits are agog...(lovely underused word)...The Russians may well have started World War III (which c’d be the war to end all the damn wars)...The summer olympics are drawing to a close one record-breaking event after another...Florida is hunkered down under a mammoth rainstorm (it’s a record-breaking year in weather also) and, in this milestone election, all the chatter is about who’s gonna get the ‘bucket of spit’ job of Vice-President.....
The Obama Express may not have derailed but it seems to have been sidetracked for the moment while the McCain Slow Freight just keeps on chuggin’.......it’s kinda like the tortoise and the hare....the hare is a speed-racer, fast and flashy, a sure winner...while the tortoise is slow and clunky, bound to come in second in any match race...
As an old time gamblin’ man, I know that the race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong....but that’s the way to bet....’n just becuz I appear t’be hung up on proverbs t’day..... On that proverbial other hand...I know never to bet more than I can afford to lose and that’s there’s many a slip t’wixt the cup and the lip....
The pundits have been amazed that McCain has been staying close to even in the polls...the consensus was that Obama would be way ahead at this point....but sumthin’ happened....the polls now show Slowpoke McCain leading Obama....Shades of Truman beating Dewey...does the tortoise have a chance?
“Like a bolt out of the blue, fate steps in and sees you thru
When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true”
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Heat wave.......
Letters to the Editor quite often crack me up..... I watched the Saddleback show but I guess I saw what I wanted to see.....as it appears, did many others. It only shows how people see the same things differently.....In the show I watched, I saw an ambiguous and cautious Obama treading unfamiliar depth on almost every question, while McCain, obviously more familiar with the water, jumped right in.....ah well, that’s life.....(my g’daughters are cuter than your g’daughters, get over it)....anyhow, the difference appears to be...the McCain supporters saw their man trounce Obama while the Obamians yelled “Foul!”......at least, the letters in the Sac Bee did...at least three writers (‘n I c’n only spoze more) assume that for McCain to have done so much better than Obama, he had to have cheated...
’Course, it’s not the first time they’ve called foul...Democrats have been calling foul since 2000 when the great conniver Bush stole the election from Gore, then turned around ‘n cheated Kerry also.... ‘n of course, it was the worst kind of foul when Clinton was caught with his pants down in the oval office...s’funny how it’s only a foul when the Dems are caught out but it’s an eminently righteous call when a republican is found in an awkward position..... (Think Larry Craig ‘n his wide stance)....
Truth is, the ability (and willingness) of self-serving politicians to think they’re above the laws that govern ‘regular’ people is truly bi-partisan and I feel a little sorry for the naivete of the proletariat (lower class working people if you don’t wanna look it up)... The true believers that are compelled to come to their defense...
and it’s especially sad when their only defense for a candidate gone wrong is to blame the other guy...
Harry Truman said, “If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.”.......if your candidate can’t stand the heat, maybe he should just stand down....becuz as Bette Davis famously remarked, “It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
’Course, it’s not the first time they’ve called foul...Democrats have been calling foul since 2000 when the great conniver Bush stole the election from Gore, then turned around ‘n cheated Kerry also.... ‘n of course, it was the worst kind of foul when Clinton was caught with his pants down in the oval office...s’funny how it’s only a foul when the Dems are caught out but it’s an eminently righteous call when a republican is found in an awkward position..... (Think Larry Craig ‘n his wide stance)....
Truth is, the ability (and willingness) of self-serving politicians to think they’re above the laws that govern ‘regular’ people is truly bi-partisan and I feel a little sorry for the naivete of the proletariat (lower class working people if you don’t wanna look it up)... The true believers that are compelled to come to their defense...
and it’s especially sad when their only defense for a candidate gone wrong is to blame the other guy...
Harry Truman said, “If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.”.......if your candidate can’t stand the heat, maybe he should just stand down....becuz as Bette Davis famously remarked, “It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
Monday, August 18, 2008
Dog days...School daze......
Schoolyard bullies......
A tempest in a teapot......well, not so much to the people who got bombed, killed, maimed, lost their children, parents, homes.....take your choice......like the biggest schoolyard bully ever, Russia whomped all over Georgia just because she could.....Putin snapped his fingers in our face as if to say, “What’ta ya gonna do about it?”
And just like the schoolyard bully, he’ll get away with it up until the time enough of his classmates stand up and threaten him.....at which time, he’ll back down.....or he won’t....in which case, he’ll have to be nuked.....and a nuclear world war could very well be Armageddon....’n wouldn’t that be a bitch?
The dog days of August.....
On a lighter note becuz there ain’t a thing that I c’n do about world affairs....heck, there ain’t much I c’n do about much of anything ‘cept shoot my mouth off....It’s the middle of August ‘n t’day’s the first day of school for the g’daughters......In my time, (“School days, school days, good ol’ golden rule days......”) school didn’t start ‘til after Labor Day......by that time, at least in Kentucky, it was Autumn, cool mornings, often with an early frost, warming up in the afternoon so the jacket worn in the morning was carried after school....
The first day of school was a big day.....meeting friends that you hadn’t seen all summer.....a big comin’ together, a reunion after almost three months of summer vacation...
S’funny, tho.....I have lots of mem’ries of grade school and junior high but I don’t remember the first day of school for any of those....No, the one I remember was when I transferred from South Portsmouth to a ‘slightly’ larger McKell.....it was 1953...I was fourteen and starting my sophomore year....I wasn’t going as a complete stranger....I had begun school at Fullerton with a lot of the same kids that were already at McKell..... still, it was a much larger school than I’d been attending.
The sophomore class at McKell had about a hundred students....(I don’t think the entire high school at So Ports had that many students.)....and about three hundred kids milling ‘round the schoolyard before the doors were opened....and sure enuff, on that first day in that huge school, I got lost trying to find a classroom....
The South Portsmouth school wuz built (I think) in 1937 ‘n is still in use t’day albeit as a church school.....McKell, on the other hand, a fine limestone building wuz torn down ‘n replaced by a cookie-cutter elementary school. Ah well, sum people call change progress but sumtimes, it’s just change.....
A tempest in a teapot......well, not so much to the people who got bombed, killed, maimed, lost their children, parents, homes.....take your choice......like the biggest schoolyard bully ever, Russia whomped all over Georgia just because she could.....Putin snapped his fingers in our face as if to say, “What’ta ya gonna do about it?”
And just like the schoolyard bully, he’ll get away with it up until the time enough of his classmates stand up and threaten him.....at which time, he’ll back down.....or he won’t....in which case, he’ll have to be nuked.....and a nuclear world war could very well be Armageddon....’n wouldn’t that be a bitch?
The dog days of August.....
On a lighter note becuz there ain’t a thing that I c’n do about world affairs....heck, there ain’t much I c’n do about much of anything ‘cept shoot my mouth off....It’s the middle of August ‘n t’day’s the first day of school for the g’daughters......In my time, (“School days, school days, good ol’ golden rule days......”) school didn’t start ‘til after Labor Day......by that time, at least in Kentucky, it was Autumn, cool mornings, often with an early frost, warming up in the afternoon so the jacket worn in the morning was carried after school....
The first day of school was a big day.....meeting friends that you hadn’t seen all summer.....a big comin’ together, a reunion after almost three months of summer vacation...
S’funny, tho.....I have lots of mem’ries of grade school and junior high but I don’t remember the first day of school for any of those....No, the one I remember was when I transferred from South Portsmouth to a ‘slightly’ larger McKell.....it was 1953...I was fourteen and starting my sophomore year....I wasn’t going as a complete stranger....I had begun school at Fullerton with a lot of the same kids that were already at McKell..... still, it was a much larger school than I’d been attending.
The sophomore class at McKell had about a hundred students....(I don’t think the entire high school at So Ports had that many students.)....and about three hundred kids milling ‘round the schoolyard before the doors were opened....and sure enuff, on that first day in that huge school, I got lost trying to find a classroom....
The South Portsmouth school wuz built (I think) in 1937 ‘n is still in use t’day albeit as a church school.....McKell, on the other hand, a fine limestone building wuz torn down ‘n replaced by a cookie-cutter elementary school. Ah well, sum people call change progress but sumtimes, it’s just change.....
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Yesterday people.....
"And though we know not what's in store,
We still trudge on and hope for more."
--Pilfering Peaott,
Appalachian poet
“Those were the days, my friend
We tho’t they’d never end, We’d sing ‘n dance f’rever and a day....”
Most of the people I know look back at their younger days thru the rose-tinted spectacles advised by their optometrists.....Ah, the good old days, those golden yesterdays when the livin’ was easy...the world was a larger and slower place back then and life was chock-full of promise...........
People are fond of reminiscing about their yesterdays, their way back when time when “"life was slow and, oh, so mellow.....”
At Cary’s B’day celebration, she reiterated that she enjoys my rememberies of Kentucky way back when....her husband, Robert, has grown a little tired of my tales ‘n remarked, “O yeah, ridin’ trees down ‘n swingin’ on grapevines like Tarzan.”
“Well” I said, “it wuz fun unless the tree wuz too small or the grapevine turned loose on ya.”
And it was fun.
But now, I”m one of yesterday’s people, a member of the over-the-hill gang, ;"(an old person, not a senior citizen or time-challenged, but an old person.) An old voice, muttering to myself in the wilderness. And ever’ once in a while, I get chided for what I say...seems I’m occasionally politically incorrect.....It’s funny how offensive the plain truth c’n be to the PC folks, how angry they c’n get ‘n how deeply they seem to detest the values and standards of my tired old generation which dinosaurs like me still believe in....God knows that, higher power or not, we all need help.....And what was true once, will undoubtedly be again....the sun will rise and set and the winds will blow and the tide will ebb and flow .......
"and there ain’t a thing y’can do about it."
We still trudge on and hope for more."
--Pilfering Peaott,
Appalachian poet
“Those were the days, my friend
We tho’t they’d never end, We’d sing ‘n dance f’rever and a day....”
Most of the people I know look back at their younger days thru the rose-tinted spectacles advised by their optometrists.....Ah, the good old days, those golden yesterdays when the livin’ was easy...the world was a larger and slower place back then and life was chock-full of promise...........
People are fond of reminiscing about their yesterdays, their way back when time when “"life was slow and, oh, so mellow.....”
At Cary’s B’day celebration, she reiterated that she enjoys my rememberies of Kentucky way back when....her husband, Robert, has grown a little tired of my tales ‘n remarked, “O yeah, ridin’ trees down ‘n swingin’ on grapevines like Tarzan.”
“Well” I said, “it wuz fun unless the tree wuz too small or the grapevine turned loose on ya.”
And it was fun.
But now, I”m one of yesterday’s people, a member of the over-the-hill gang, ;"(an old person, not a senior citizen or time-challenged, but an old person.) An old voice, muttering to myself in the wilderness. And ever’ once in a while, I get chided for what I say...seems I’m occasionally politically incorrect.....It’s funny how offensive the plain truth c’n be to the PC folks, how angry they c’n get ‘n how deeply they seem to detest the values and standards of my tired old generation which dinosaurs like me still believe in....God knows that, higher power or not, we all need help.....And what was true once, will undoubtedly be again....the sun will rise and set and the winds will blow and the tide will ebb and flow .......
"and there ain’t a thing y’can do about it."
Friday, August 15, 2008
Happy B'day, Cary......
Tonite wuz a purty big nite......yest’iday wuz Cary Heathers B’day ‘n last week wuz her hubbys B’day but we celebrated both of ‘em t’day.....well, this evening, ackshully.......started out okay but on our way to the restaurant (Carmelita’s, where we’ve been celebrating most of ‘em lately).....we were riding with Kellye ‘cuz it’s too durn hot to be walkin’......when her phone went off....she cudn’t answer, of course, bein’ as it’s against the law now to talk on a cell phone while driving, so Sophie answered.....it wuz her dad callin’ to say he wuz sick and needed to go home.....half a block futher ‘n we met him...he let Emily out of his truck and went home whilst we proceeded to the restaurant.......good thing we made reservations cuz it wuz filled to the brim ‘n then some....
anyway, we had a table (about 4 of ‘em ackshully) for twelve ‘n we proceeded to make ourselves comfortable...
I had a Dos Equis Amber ‘n Milly ‘n Kellye had Margaritas...(Milly, blended ‘n Kellye on the rocks)...
JP ‘n his lady friend, Patty, called to say they’d be a little late but almost ever’one else showed up on time....
Everyone ordered drinks and then dinner...we wuz havin’ a fine time when Emily ‘n Sophie excused themselves ‘n went to the bathroom.....Sophie came back with the news that Emily was sick ‘n needed to go home.....Kellye packed up her dinner ‘n took Emily ‘n went home while Sophie stayed with the rest of us.....
We had a fine time, the restaurant provided about a half dozen or so staff to come sing Happy B’day to Cary ‘n Robert, a healthy shot of tequila to insure a happy b’day and we all sat around just enjoying the moment......
afterwards, we all went back to the family manse for cake ‘n ice cream ‘n coffee ‘n conversation.....it wuz a good evening all ‘round.....
'N if you find this post a little boring, what the heck, sumtimes it's just about family......
anyway, we had a table (about 4 of ‘em ackshully) for twelve ‘n we proceeded to make ourselves comfortable...
I had a Dos Equis Amber ‘n Milly ‘n Kellye had Margaritas...(Milly, blended ‘n Kellye on the rocks)...
JP ‘n his lady friend, Patty, called to say they’d be a little late but almost ever’one else showed up on time....
Everyone ordered drinks and then dinner...we wuz havin’ a fine time when Emily ‘n Sophie excused themselves ‘n went to the bathroom.....Sophie came back with the news that Emily was sick ‘n needed to go home.....Kellye packed up her dinner ‘n took Emily ‘n went home while Sophie stayed with the rest of us.....
We had a fine time, the restaurant provided about a half dozen or so staff to come sing Happy B’day to Cary ‘n Robert, a healthy shot of tequila to insure a happy b’day and we all sat around just enjoying the moment......
afterwards, we all went back to the family manse for cake ‘n ice cream ‘n coffee ‘n conversation.....it wuz a good evening all ‘round.....
'N if you find this post a little boring, what the heck, sumtimes it's just about family......
Monday, August 11, 2008
Assume the position......
D’ya find that nowadays that people just assume too much...Like, it seems that the media has assumed that Barack Obama is going to be our next President.....that it has become somewhat of a fait accompli, if you will.....
Other people assume that John McCain is too old to be President....that he’s a use’ta be hero and not relevant in today's world......assuming, of course, that relevance is dependent on actuarial tables that assume that John McCain has just about run his race and is going to die soon, while Obama is relatively (and relevantly) young and less apt to die in the near future.....well, that is the assumption, isn’t it? That Obama is a better choice than McCain simply because he’s younger.....unless, of course, you assume that more experience is better than less, which means that McCain is the obvious choice because he’s old.....
Y’know, one of the things that crack me up is the news....I spend a lot of time watching and reading the news.....I read the Bee every day altho’ there ain’t a heckuva lot of news there...it’s more of a habit than anything, I s’poze.....I watch several news programs on teevee ‘n I read a couple newspapers online....my current favorite is the London Times.....The British papers all seem so durn civilized....it’s prob’ly me but I c’d swear they write with that know it all brogue they all seem to have....
So, I’ve been reading about the Russian invasion of Georgia...it don’t surprise me that Russia would do that...
Heck, it’s in their best interests to stop Georgia from joining NATO....prob’ly in our best interest also ‘cuz if they was in NATO, we’d have to come to their defense and not just with words....(it was all those alliances that turned a simple little assasination at Sarajevo into a world wide event......)
What’s funny about it tho’ is that the rest of the world seems to be watching to see which way the (despised) USA will jump.....Maybe it’s just me....maybe I’m assuming too much....we’ve been the Big Dog in the world since I wuz a pup ‘n I always kind’a wondered why since I’ve never known any American who wanted to be King Stud in any other country in the world....’Course, it’s an assumption on my part that the average American lives better than the average King elsewhere......
I seem to spend a lot of time assuming...along with generalizing....along with my well-known tendency towards exaggeration.....
Anyway, if we assume for all intensive purposes, that all of us go around talking to ourselves anyway and answering some infernal, internal telephonic conversation that began somewhere around the time of our begetting before we even had words, back even before our tails fell off and we sprouted legs.....an ongoing conversation that may or may not end with our dying.......assuming, for all intensive purposes, that we do actually die rather than metamorphosing as we did at birth.....assuming for all intensive purposes, that is....in the maelstrom of ever-flowing conversations, is art truly in the eye of the beholder? And if it is, who among us really cares.......
Other people assume that John McCain is too old to be President....that he’s a use’ta be hero and not relevant in today's world......assuming, of course, that relevance is dependent on actuarial tables that assume that John McCain has just about run his race and is going to die soon, while Obama is relatively (and relevantly) young and less apt to die in the near future.....well, that is the assumption, isn’t it? That Obama is a better choice than McCain simply because he’s younger.....unless, of course, you assume that more experience is better than less, which means that McCain is the obvious choice because he’s old.....
Y’know, one of the things that crack me up is the news....I spend a lot of time watching and reading the news.....I read the Bee every day altho’ there ain’t a heckuva lot of news there...it’s more of a habit than anything, I s’poze.....I watch several news programs on teevee ‘n I read a couple newspapers online....my current favorite is the London Times.....The British papers all seem so durn civilized....it’s prob’ly me but I c’d swear they write with that know it all brogue they all seem to have....
So, I’ve been reading about the Russian invasion of Georgia...it don’t surprise me that Russia would do that...
Heck, it’s in their best interests to stop Georgia from joining NATO....prob’ly in our best interest also ‘cuz if they was in NATO, we’d have to come to their defense and not just with words....(it was all those alliances that turned a simple little assasination at Sarajevo into a world wide event......)
What’s funny about it tho’ is that the rest of the world seems to be watching to see which way the (despised) USA will jump.....Maybe it’s just me....maybe I’m assuming too much....we’ve been the Big Dog in the world since I wuz a pup ‘n I always kind’a wondered why since I’ve never known any American who wanted to be King Stud in any other country in the world....’Course, it’s an assumption on my part that the average American lives better than the average King elsewhere......
I seem to spend a lot of time assuming...along with generalizing....along with my well-known tendency towards exaggeration.....
Anyway, if we assume for all intensive purposes, that all of us go around talking to ourselves anyway and answering some infernal, internal telephonic conversation that began somewhere around the time of our begetting before we even had words, back even before our tails fell off and we sprouted legs.....an ongoing conversation that may or may not end with our dying.......assuming, for all intensive purposes, that we do actually die rather than metamorphosing as we did at birth.....assuming for all intensive purposes, that is....in the maelstrom of ever-flowing conversations, is art truly in the eye of the beholder? And if it is, who among us really cares.......
Saturday, August 9, 2008
“I take a lot of pride in who I am.....”
Merle Haggard is a country boy from Bakersfield, Calif.....’er maybe Weed Patch which is just a couple miles down the road.....anyway, he comes by his Oklahoma brogue honestly....
When I wuz a boy, I c’n remember people sayin’ that they wuz poor ‘n proud of it.....They wudn’t really sayin’ that they wuz proud t’be poor, just that it wudn’t anything t’be ashamed of......they said that God must’a loved poor people cuz he made so many of them....
I only mention all this stuff ‘cuz Obama made a remark t’other day about Republicans taking pride in their ignorance.....like if I don’t agree with what He has to say about things, why I just must be dumber than a stone....
I blame it all on my hillbilly upbringing ‘n my Scots/Irish heritage....My momma always told me that I wudn’t any better than anyone else but I wuz as good as ever’one...
I think most Americans feel that way.....’n always have...
that’s one ‘a the reasons we don’t have Kings ‘n Queens ‘n such in this country.....we ain’t got royalty in this country, just never seemed to need or want it.....we have enuff trouble with all the folks that get a little more money than their neighbors and let it go to their heads....if you got a lot of money, you c’n send your kids off to fancy schools ‘n they’ll grow up t’be better than their poor relation who has to get by with a dinky community college.....
I ain’t saying that Harvard ‘n Yale aren’t good schools, they deserve their reputations.....what I’m saying is that education begins and ends in an individuals mind...a good school c’n help but if you’re gonna sleep thru your classes, it’s a lot cheaper t’do it at a community college...
Merle Haggard is a country boy from Bakersfield, Calif.....’er maybe Weed Patch which is just a couple miles down the road.....anyway, he comes by his Oklahoma brogue honestly....
When I wuz a boy, I c’n remember people sayin’ that they wuz poor ‘n proud of it.....They wudn’t really sayin’ that they wuz proud t’be poor, just that it wudn’t anything t’be ashamed of......they said that God must’a loved poor people cuz he made so many of them....
I only mention all this stuff ‘cuz Obama made a remark t’other day about Republicans taking pride in their ignorance.....like if I don’t agree with what He has to say about things, why I just must be dumber than a stone....
I blame it all on my hillbilly upbringing ‘n my Scots/Irish heritage....My momma always told me that I wudn’t any better than anyone else but I wuz as good as ever’one...
I think most Americans feel that way.....’n always have...
that’s one ‘a the reasons we don’t have Kings ‘n Queens ‘n such in this country.....we ain’t got royalty in this country, just never seemed to need or want it.....we have enuff trouble with all the folks that get a little more money than their neighbors and let it go to their heads....if you got a lot of money, you c’n send your kids off to fancy schools ‘n they’ll grow up t’be better than their poor relation who has to get by with a dinky community college.....
I ain’t saying that Harvard ‘n Yale aren’t good schools, they deserve their reputations.....what I’m saying is that education begins and ends in an individuals mind...a good school c’n help but if you’re gonna sleep thru your classes, it’s a lot cheaper t’do it at a community college...
Christians vs Lions......
It’s forty days ‘n countin’ that we ain’t got a budget here in sunny California ‘n it’s all becuz our superior-type legislators are in a pissing match to prove.....well, I ain’t really sure what it is that they’re tryin’ to prove....all I know is that we’re the ones paying for it....it’s too bad they can’t hold it at Arco Arena ‘n charge admission...
Can’t you just see it, the stalwart Republicans in a fight to the death against the redoubtable Democrats...
with the neither here nor there Arnie caught between a rock and a hard place.....the Christians ‘n the lions in the coliseum.....the biggest problem as I see it is that unlike in olden times, it ain’t the warriors facing death in the arena, it’s us, the audience.....bummer.....
Can’t you just see it, the stalwart Republicans in a fight to the death against the redoubtable Democrats...
with the neither here nor there Arnie caught between a rock and a hard place.....the Christians ‘n the lions in the coliseum.....the biggest problem as I see it is that unlike in olden times, it ain’t the warriors facing death in the arena, it’s us, the audience.....bummer.....
A touch of vitriol.......
I read somewhere that the definition of Electile Dysfunction is the inability to become aroused over any of the choices for President put forth by either party in this election year........Is that vitriolic? I think it may be vitriolic ‘n a touch of vitriol, like a habanero, should be used sparingly......at least, that’s what brother John tells me....I bought some habaneros once’t....they’re pretty little things.....like small bell peppers but them suckers is deadly......I’ve a nephew, Jeff, kind of a macho kid back when he was still a kid, long before he became a father and now grandfather.....anyway, he worked in a supermarket ‘n one nite he was unpacking habaneros ‘n inadvertently rubbed his eyes.....”I screamed like a girl” was what he said......
I think what this Presidential campaign needs is a touch of habanero to make it a little more interesting.....it’s my intention to vote for John McCain cuz us old white guys gotta stick t’gether but he needs to spice up his campaignin’.....I mean, he’s just boring.....’Course, maybe boring is what we need in a President after eight years of Ragtime Cowboy George.....Obama ain’t boring but, heckfire, as my old dad used to say in mixed company, Britney ‘n Paris ain’t boring either.....well, they do tend to get on your nerves after a while altho’ the papparazzi has been leavin’ both of ‘em alone lately...they say they’re boring.....
John Edwards is back in the snooze....boy o boy, a little taste of fame ‘n honeys come out’a the woodwork to throw themselves atcha......he ought’a get t’gether with Bill Clinton ‘n put out a joint memoir......ooops, no pun intended there.....I hope his wife, Elizabeth, beats the cancer that’s been dogging her...if she does, maybe she and Hillary c’n make a run for the Democrat nomination next time.....all the women’d vote for ‘em and if they c’d lay a big enuff guilt trip on all the cheating husbands, they should be a shoo-in.......Is that too vitriolic? Surely, someone’ll tell me if I’m being too vitriolic.......
I think what this Presidential campaign needs is a touch of habanero to make it a little more interesting.....it’s my intention to vote for John McCain cuz us old white guys gotta stick t’gether but he needs to spice up his campaignin’.....I mean, he’s just boring.....’Course, maybe boring is what we need in a President after eight years of Ragtime Cowboy George.....Obama ain’t boring but, heckfire, as my old dad used to say in mixed company, Britney ‘n Paris ain’t boring either.....well, they do tend to get on your nerves after a while altho’ the papparazzi has been leavin’ both of ‘em alone lately...they say they’re boring.....
John Edwards is back in the snooze....boy o boy, a little taste of fame ‘n honeys come out’a the woodwork to throw themselves atcha......he ought’a get t’gether with Bill Clinton ‘n put out a joint memoir......ooops, no pun intended there.....I hope his wife, Elizabeth, beats the cancer that’s been dogging her...if she does, maybe she and Hillary c’n make a run for the Democrat nomination next time.....all the women’d vote for ‘em and if they c’d lay a big enuff guilt trip on all the cheating husbands, they should be a shoo-in.......Is that too vitriolic? Surely, someone’ll tell me if I’m being too vitriolic.......
Friday, August 8, 2008
Supping at the trough......
“The rich get rich ‘n the poor get......”
well, shafted is purty much what the poor get in good times or bad, but seems like in bad times, there’s more of a celebration about it....f’r example, in t’days Bee, there’s a headline reading, ‘Pay raises urged for city leaders’......ain’t it amazing how public servants seem to get served at the expense of the people they’re s’pozed t’be serving......or is it just me?
Governor Arnie sed that a ten percent across the board cut would solve California’s budget problem.... Sacramento county has taken a twenty percent cut in many departments and seems like it has made our local, home-grown budget problems worse....but not so bad that we can’t afford to give some of our more bloated ‘servants’ a four percent raise....City manager, Ray Kerridge, sez he’ll forego his raise until January... WOW! We pay him over 200K a year. Ain’t it amazing that he empathizes so much with the people he serves that he can postpone his much deserved (?) raise....Heck! I’m retired and draw SS ‘n I believe that I can let my raise go until January.....Whoops! I forgot for a moment. I ain’t gonna get a four percent raise, at least prob’ly not in my lifetime.....I c’n just visualize Ray Kerridge at a fabulous New Years party raising a glass of champagne (hopefully Californian) to toast the ‘continuing prosperity of Animal Farm.’
well, shafted is purty much what the poor get in good times or bad, but seems like in bad times, there’s more of a celebration about it....f’r example, in t’days Bee, there’s a headline reading, ‘Pay raises urged for city leaders’......ain’t it amazing how public servants seem to get served at the expense of the people they’re s’pozed t’be serving......or is it just me?
Governor Arnie sed that a ten percent across the board cut would solve California’s budget problem.... Sacramento county has taken a twenty percent cut in many departments and seems like it has made our local, home-grown budget problems worse....but not so bad that we can’t afford to give some of our more bloated ‘servants’ a four percent raise....City manager, Ray Kerridge, sez he’ll forego his raise until January... WOW! We pay him over 200K a year. Ain’t it amazing that he empathizes so much with the people he serves that he can postpone his much deserved (?) raise....Heck! I’m retired and draw SS ‘n I believe that I can let my raise go until January.....Whoops! I forgot for a moment. I ain’t gonna get a four percent raise, at least prob’ly not in my lifetime.....I c’n just visualize Ray Kerridge at a fabulous New Years party raising a glass of champagne (hopefully Californian) to toast the ‘continuing prosperity of Animal Farm.’
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Clash of the Titans.....
Y’know what’s a really big deal here in sunny California, other than the drought and the big one (earthquake) that’s coming, ‘n the ever-present illegal immigrant (alien) situation.....(they keep calling ‘em illegal aliens as opposed, I suppose, to legal aliens which always makes me think “They came from outer space”....but, I digress, which I confess, I do often ‘n sumtimes so much so that I forget where I started out to be in the first place.)...but not tonite.....No, tonite the really big deal is the annual clash of the California Titans....THE BUDGET....Da, da-dum, dum.......the minority Republicans ain’t gonna let the majority Democrats raise taxes ‘n the Democrats know that but it gives both of ‘em the opportunity to point at each other and blame the ‘other’ side for not passing the budget.....’Course, they do it every year and, as a matter of fact, they prepare themselves for it every year by pre-arranging finances so that the Legislators and their staffs are taken care of and won’t have to apply for unemployment insurance and foodstamps the way that reg’lar working folk do.... George Orwell wrote a book titled ‘Animal Farm’ wherein he explained that some animals are more equal than other animals.....so in August, the elite California Legislature (like the elite U.S. Congress) prove yet again that some animals are more equal than the rest of us.....Anyhow, in a recent letter to the editor of the new and better, restyled and unbiased Sacramento Bee, Teacher Glen Warren prob’ly revealed a little more of himself than intended when he begged the Legislature to 'please work it out, just don't cut education' showing himself to be one of the stumbling blocks in California’s budget problems...Y’can cut anywhere as long as you don’t cut on me.....well, la-te- da.. y’know, Oz never did give nuthin’ to the tin man that he didn’t already have.....’n one of the lessons that I learned in grade school wuz the futility of crying ‘poor little me’.....teachers in California ain’t overpaid ‘n too many of them use their own money to buy supplies for their students....and the buildings ain’t getting repaired..... the taxpayers keep paying and the students are getting stiffed.....And even tho' we can't afford it, we (the oh so naive taxpayer) have promised to give Education more money every year.....So, the money pours into Education but where do it go?.....If we were to follow one of the main rules of any investigation...(ie, follow the money)...would we be surprised to learn that maybe, just maybe, the bureaucracy of the school system is top-heavy with administrators and corrupt individuals who pad billings, divert school funds to lobby legislators and, in general, sup long and often at the public trough all the while bemoaning the terrible injustice done to the children of California..... ‘Course, none of them seem to give a damn about the terrible injustice done to the working citizenry of California...
Ah well, I suppose we pretty much reap what we sow ‘n it would appear that we’ve mixed a lot of weeds in with the seeds we planted....’N then, without the ‘illegal’ immigrants to tend our crops for us.....well, you get the picture, don’t you??????
Ah well, I suppose we pretty much reap what we sow ‘n it would appear that we’ve mixed a lot of weeds in with the seeds we planted....’N then, without the ‘illegal’ immigrants to tend our crops for us.....well, you get the picture, don’t you??????
Sunday, August 3, 2008
The man...The symbol...(sighh....)
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. F. Scott Fitzgerald</span>
Now, I ain’t layin’ claim to being a top-drawer, first-rate thinker like Ol F. Scott was....I hold to the theory that the ability to quote is a servicable substiture for wit....and I gotta confess that I didn’t think that one up either....I do know that it’s pretty easy to ‘google up' lots of quotes......
Now, I was recently accused (?) of being a ‘George Bush’ apologist..
T’ain’t true....
1. George Bush is more than capable of defending hisownself, he don’t need me t’do it for him...
2. I don’t p’tickly like Bush, but I don’t hate him. I think the people who go apoplectic at the mention of his name are just sad. You c’n blame George, but he ain’t responsible for all the things that go wrong in your personal life...
“Now I can talk these words that sound so sweet
I can make your little heart even skip a beat...”
Now, for all those who are caught up in the change mantra that Obama has been spouting like a broken record. He keeps saying, “time for a change” but he don’t ever say what he wants to change....well, except to take Bush out and put him in.....
“I’m the one, I'm the one,
the one they call the seventh son...”
’Course, Bush is gonna be out anyway. Voting for Obama c’d be like diving headfirst into a murky pool without knowing how deep it is....leaping from the frying pan into the flames constitutes change, but it ain’t necessarily a good thing......Obama sez, he’s the symbol the world has been waiting for, and that we shouldn’t pay any attention to that ‘rock star’ celebrity nonsense that McCain has been spouting.....they’re just trying to make us afraid of him ‘cause he’s got a funny name ‘n don’t look like all those pictures of whitey on all the US money...but he ain’t playin’ the race card....everyone knows that only white people c’n be racist.....
“Well I can tell your future before it comes to pass
And I can do things for you that make your heart feel glad
Look at the skies and predict the rain...”
And you recall that ‘summer gas tax holiday that McCain was talking about...Obama told you that it wouldn’t do any good but after he's elected, he's gonna give everybody a $1,000.00 rebate just to ease their pain. Not to buy their vote....no, no, that ain't the American way 'n don’t be callin’ him Robin Obama, just ‘cause he wants to tax the rich ‘n give to the decent, hard working American people that deserve what they’re gonna get from a Democrat President and Congress. I ain't sure but I think that's called Karma.......
“Well now everybody cryin' 'bout the seventh son
But in the whole round world there is only one, and
I'm the one...”
Now, I ain’t layin’ claim to being a top-drawer, first-rate thinker like Ol F. Scott was....I hold to the theory that the ability to quote is a servicable substiture for wit....and I gotta confess that I didn’t think that one up either....I do know that it’s pretty easy to ‘google up' lots of quotes......
Now, I was recently accused (?) of being a ‘George Bush’ apologist..
T’ain’t true....
1. George Bush is more than capable of defending hisownself, he don’t need me t’do it for him...
2. I don’t p’tickly like Bush, but I don’t hate him. I think the people who go apoplectic at the mention of his name are just sad. You c’n blame George, but he ain’t responsible for all the things that go wrong in your personal life...
“Now I can talk these words that sound so sweet
I can make your little heart even skip a beat...”
Now, for all those who are caught up in the change mantra that Obama has been spouting like a broken record. He keeps saying, “time for a change” but he don’t ever say what he wants to change....well, except to take Bush out and put him in.....
“I’m the one, I'm the one,
the one they call the seventh son...”
’Course, Bush is gonna be out anyway. Voting for Obama c’d be like diving headfirst into a murky pool without knowing how deep it is....leaping from the frying pan into the flames constitutes change, but it ain’t necessarily a good thing......Obama sez, he’s the symbol the world has been waiting for, and that we shouldn’t pay any attention to that ‘rock star’ celebrity nonsense that McCain has been spouting.....they’re just trying to make us afraid of him ‘cause he’s got a funny name ‘n don’t look like all those pictures of whitey on all the US money...but he ain’t playin’ the race card....everyone knows that only white people c’n be racist.....
“Well I can tell your future before it comes to pass
And I can do things for you that make your heart feel glad
Look at the skies and predict the rain...”
And you recall that ‘summer gas tax holiday that McCain was talking about...Obama told you that it wouldn’t do any good but after he's elected, he's gonna give everybody a $1,000.00 rebate just to ease their pain. Not to buy their vote....no, no, that ain't the American way 'n don’t be callin’ him Robin Obama, just ‘cause he wants to tax the rich ‘n give to the decent, hard working American people that deserve what they’re gonna get from a Democrat President and Congress. I ain't sure but I think that's called Karma.......
“Well now everybody cryin' 'bout the seventh son
But in the whole round world there is only one, and
I'm the one...”
Friday, August 1, 2008
A cuppa joe......
"I love coffee, I love tea, I love the java jive and it loves me....."
Anybody who knows me, knows that I’m a inveterate coffee drinker...take it after my Mother is my guess...I recall when I wuz a boy, we usually had Sunday dinner at my G’parents house...at a big old round table so dark it wuz almost black...My Grandfather, John Sam Smith drank his coffee black...and really, really hot. After Grandma poured a cup of coffee for him, he carefully saucered a portion of it....yeah, you got it...he tilted the cup and filled his saucer with the hot coffee....then he’d blow gently to cool it....and then, of course, sip it. I admired my Grandfather and drank my coffee the same way...nobody interfered or said I shouldn’t drink coffee (I must’a been five or six years old at least)...
Later on, when I was in my teens, I took my coffee the way my Mother did....with a shot of cream...as the years progressed (and they always do) I switched first to half ‘n half ‘n then to milk...sometime in the late sixties or early seventies, non-dairy creamers became very popular...I have no idea why, they just did...problem wuz, I didn’t like any of ‘em so I began taking my coffee black....I remember a period when it seemed like everyone was lacing their coffee with brandy or whisky or vodka ‘n I tried them...I just didn’t like them...tho’t it was a waste of good coffee ‘n good booze....back then the only additive I even considered wuz if I happened to run onto really good high-fat, high-calorie vanilla ice cream....’n it had t’be vanilla...a nice large dollop of really good ice cream in a cup of good coffee is, as Martha Stewart might say, a good thing.
I don’t really put ice cream in my coffee anymore but, if I happen to find a superior ice cream store, I’ll order a cup of coffee to go with my vanilla ice cream....and to heck with my blood sugar.....
It’s been in the newspapers and on television that Starbucks is closing a bunch of stores all over the country...turns out that it ain’t just here in the good ol US of A.....
This week Starbucks closed 3/4 of its shops in Australia, leaving only those in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Local blogs panned their product, and gave free ads to local coffee shops where real coffee was obtainable. Another triumph for free choice. Hershey and Dr Pepper also failed Down Under.
Leonard Colquhoun, Launceston, 7250, Australia
My son, David, presently touring in India (nokilli.com/rtw/) circumnavigated Australia on a forty year old Ducati motorcycle...he holds a very high opinion of Australia and Australians...seems to me he’s right......
Anybody who knows me, knows that I’m a inveterate coffee drinker...take it after my Mother is my guess...I recall when I wuz a boy, we usually had Sunday dinner at my G’parents house...at a big old round table so dark it wuz almost black...My Grandfather, John Sam Smith drank his coffee black...and really, really hot. After Grandma poured a cup of coffee for him, he carefully saucered a portion of it....yeah, you got it...he tilted the cup and filled his saucer with the hot coffee....then he’d blow gently to cool it....and then, of course, sip it. I admired my Grandfather and drank my coffee the same way...nobody interfered or said I shouldn’t drink coffee (I must’a been five or six years old at least)...
Later on, when I was in my teens, I took my coffee the way my Mother did....with a shot of cream...as the years progressed (and they always do) I switched first to half ‘n half ‘n then to milk...sometime in the late sixties or early seventies, non-dairy creamers became very popular...I have no idea why, they just did...problem wuz, I didn’t like any of ‘em so I began taking my coffee black....I remember a period when it seemed like everyone was lacing their coffee with brandy or whisky or vodka ‘n I tried them...I just didn’t like them...tho’t it was a waste of good coffee ‘n good booze....back then the only additive I even considered wuz if I happened to run onto really good high-fat, high-calorie vanilla ice cream....’n it had t’be vanilla...a nice large dollop of really good ice cream in a cup of good coffee is, as Martha Stewart might say, a good thing.
I don’t really put ice cream in my coffee anymore but, if I happen to find a superior ice cream store, I’ll order a cup of coffee to go with my vanilla ice cream....and to heck with my blood sugar.....
It’s been in the newspapers and on television that Starbucks is closing a bunch of stores all over the country...turns out that it ain’t just here in the good ol US of A.....
This week Starbucks closed 3/4 of its shops in Australia, leaving only those in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Local blogs panned their product, and gave free ads to local coffee shops where real coffee was obtainable. Another triumph for free choice. Hershey and Dr Pepper also failed Down Under.
Leonard Colquhoun, Launceston, 7250, Australia
My son, David, presently touring in India (nokilli.com/rtw/) circumnavigated Australia on a forty year old Ducati motorcycle...he holds a very high opinion of Australia and Australians...seems to me he’s right......
Put the blame on Mame......
“Some people claim there’s a woman to blame, but I know, it’s my own damn fault.....”
Talkin’ about the blame game, y’know.....so many of us learn early in life to point the finger at someone else whenever we’ve done something wrong and are apt to get punished in some way....most of us, I gotta believe, grow past that stage and learn to accept responsibility for our own actions....part of the time anyway....
Of course, if you’re successful at putting the blame on someone else, well that’s a horse of another color, ain’t it? And the flip side of blaming your screwups on someone else is to be able to take credit for someone else’s work....And if you’re really, really good at both those things, you’re prob’ly headed for a successful career in politics.....
“Things that you’re liable to read in the bible ain’t necessarily so......”
We tend to thing that politics is something that only people who identify themselves as politicians do....T’ain’t so....everyone plays politics almost from day one, starting with family, progressing in kiddiegarten, grade school ‘n beyond....the better you are at politics, the smoother your life progresses....or so it seems...people who are isolated at an early age, for whatever reason, are severely handicapped by not knowing how to play ‘the game’... T’would be nice, I suppose, to have a natural talent for politics but I expect it’s much like every other endeavor in the world.....the ones with natural talent get the acclaim, (fame, fortune, etc) while the rest of us get what we’re willing to work for on the unproven assumption that sweat makes up for talent.....
“the rich get rich ‘n the poor get poorer...in the meantime, inbetweentime.....ain’t we got fun?.......”
Life is full of unrealized ambitions ‘n that’s most likely a good thing.....can’t y’ just see a world full of middle-aged cowboys.....I can’t even imagine what little girls wanted to grow up and be but there are generations of little boys that wanna be cowboys....or Indians or firemen....not too many of us wanted to grow up to become salesmen or carpet cleaners or bug inspectors or whatever......
‘Course, the world don’t need a ‘hull lotta cowboys ‘n it didn’t pay real well anyhow ‘n in the real world, y’just gotta have money.....a little bit of money anyway...enuff to pay the rent, put food on the table....heck, enuff to buy the table....
As we age, unrealized ambitions fall by the wayside ‘n if you could look back ‘n see them, they’d prob’ly look like the trail left by the wagon trains when they came west, leaving the landscape dotted with all the posessions they merely tho’t they’d need in the life ahead......Life does have a way of sorting out our priorities for us.....
“ain’t got no place to stay but any old place will be okay.”
.
Talkin’ about the blame game, y’know.....so many of us learn early in life to point the finger at someone else whenever we’ve done something wrong and are apt to get punished in some way....most of us, I gotta believe, grow past that stage and learn to accept responsibility for our own actions....part of the time anyway....
Of course, if you’re successful at putting the blame on someone else, well that’s a horse of another color, ain’t it? And the flip side of blaming your screwups on someone else is to be able to take credit for someone else’s work....And if you’re really, really good at both those things, you’re prob’ly headed for a successful career in politics.....
“Things that you’re liable to read in the bible ain’t necessarily so......”
We tend to thing that politics is something that only people who identify themselves as politicians do....T’ain’t so....everyone plays politics almost from day one, starting with family, progressing in kiddiegarten, grade school ‘n beyond....the better you are at politics, the smoother your life progresses....or so it seems...people who are isolated at an early age, for whatever reason, are severely handicapped by not knowing how to play ‘the game’... T’would be nice, I suppose, to have a natural talent for politics but I expect it’s much like every other endeavor in the world.....the ones with natural talent get the acclaim, (fame, fortune, etc) while the rest of us get what we’re willing to work for on the unproven assumption that sweat makes up for talent.....
“the rich get rich ‘n the poor get poorer...in the meantime, inbetweentime.....ain’t we got fun?.......”
Life is full of unrealized ambitions ‘n that’s most likely a good thing.....can’t y’ just see a world full of middle-aged cowboys.....I can’t even imagine what little girls wanted to grow up and be but there are generations of little boys that wanna be cowboys....or Indians or firemen....not too many of us wanted to grow up to become salesmen or carpet cleaners or bug inspectors or whatever......
‘Course, the world don’t need a ‘hull lotta cowboys ‘n it didn’t pay real well anyhow ‘n in the real world, y’just gotta have money.....a little bit of money anyway...enuff to pay the rent, put food on the table....heck, enuff to buy the table....
As we age, unrealized ambitions fall by the wayside ‘n if you could look back ‘n see them, they’d prob’ly look like the trail left by the wagon trains when they came west, leaving the landscape dotted with all the posessions they merely tho’t they’d need in the life ahead......Life does have a way of sorting out our priorities for us.....
“ain’t got no place to stay but any old place will be okay.”
.
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