Santa's Gone

And the New Year beckons.

This just might be one of those times when we almost wish we didn't have to go.

Too much uncertainty. If not for the hope of sweeping the current Communist-in-chief from office, there might not be too much to look forward too.
However, they say that hope springs eternal from the youthful breast, so I'm going to do all I can to follow the advice of the ancients......

“Each man has only to be left to
utilize his own abilities and exert his strength to obtain what he
wishes…When each person works away at his own occupation and
delights in his own business, then like water flowing downward,
goods will naturally flow ceaseless day and night without being
summoned, and the people will produce commodities without having
been asked.”

Ssu-ma Ch’ien (145-90 B.C.)

and to hell with the gubbermint.

Question: Is Breaking the Law Ever Justified?

A good question, I think.

In 1791 Thomas Paine wrote a book entitled The Rights of Man, in which he states a simple truth, “All power exercised over a nation, must have some beginning. It must either be delegated or assumed. There are no other sources. All delegated power is trust, and all assumed power is usurpation.”

In this country all power wielded by our government is delegated to them by the people. In a letter written in 1865 James Madison stated, “… that the Government holds its powers by a charter granted to it by the people…”

Click here to read the whole thing

A response to tyranny

I think I'm gonna leave this up until either we get someone else in the WH or this bill is repealed. You have 2 Senators and a Representative in Congress. Feel free to tell them I posted this, or any thing else you might want to say. They do, after all, work for us.

We are anonymous (I choose not to be. Anyone can find my email on this website)

We ask that you post the following in public places

Whereas, on the 14th of December, 2011, the House of Representatives of these United States voted in favor of indefinite military detention, without charges, of any American, anywhere, anytime, without due process of law, at the discretion of the government alone;

Whereas, on the 15th of December, 2011, the Senate of these United States voted in favor of the same bill;

Whereas, the proscription against the use of military force to police the populous has been an essential feature of American civic life and civic liberty since the arrival of our civilization upon this continent;

Whereas, the wanton violation of this proscription was one of the chief causes of the separation of the American peoples from their government in Great Britain;

Whereas, the Constitution so chartering the government of these United States does not grant this power;

Whereas, the Constitution forbids the addition of any power not enumerated to the general government;

Whereas, the use of such draconian measures has been an essential feature of the enforcement of tyranny by totalitarian governments of the 20th century, including, but not limited to, the Nationalist-Socialist government of Germany, the fascist government of Italy, the government of the United Soviet Socialist Republics, and the government of Vietnam;

Whereas, the use of such draconian measures is carefully calculated to quash all political dissent amongst a captive people;

Whereas, the codification of such draconian measures effectively nullifies all civil liberties the people may hope to hold;

Whereas, the codification of such draconian measures are the last act in the quest to hold a people captive to the rapacious will of their government without recourse;

And whereas, the codification of such draconian measures is an act of war against the populous at large;

Therefore, be it declared that a STATE OF WAR formally exists between the Government of these United States and the People of these United States.

We, the People of these United States, declare any and all attempts to enforce the provisions of HR 1540 to be unlawful, void, and of no force.

We, declare ALL WHO voted in favor of HR 1540, and ALL WHO attempt to enforce HR 1540 to be traitors to these United States, punishable under law.

We, SHALL DISOBEY, APPREHEND, OR RESIST WITH DEADLY FORCE, in our discretion, any person who attempts to enforce the provisions of HR 1540.

We, SHALL NOT aggress against any employee of any American government who shall not attempt to enforce or aid and abet the enforcement of HR 1540, they being as trapped as the rest of the populous.

Such STATE OF WAR shall continue until HR 1540 is stricken from the code of law, and all who had hand in HR 1540 are brought to justice under due process of law.

Signed and witnessed by we, the individual citizens of these United States, below:

Kdzu

Rollin' in th' mud

“I would rather roam and idle about in a muddy ditch, at my own amusement, than to be put under the restraints that the ruler would impose. I would never take any official service, and thereby I will [be free] to satisfy my own purposes.”

Chuang Tzu (369-286 B.C.)

I've not rolled in the mud since about '90 when a friend and I went up to Nashville to blast the ditch for a pipeline re-routing for the extension of an airport. Hot damn... if you want to get the job done on time and the weather is not cooperating, raining constantly, temps in the 50's.......
well then, you by gosh get down in that ditch with the pneumatic drills, drill steels, a hundred feet of air hose, your boots and rain gear, and freaking get after it. Not only do you have to drill the holes, stuff a plug in the top, write down the layers of rock and how deep each was, you also have to go back with a pipe connected to the air hose and blow out any water that had seeped in while you were drilling a couple hundred more. The rain suits were mostly to make us think we were'nt really getting that wet and muddy. Evenings we went to the best steak and prime rib establishments in town. The friend had his girl friend along. Me......it was just pass out when I hit the bed, get up in the morning and do it again. The friend....well let's just say that several mornings he looked almost as bad as before we'd washed the mud off the night before. Rode hard and put up wet was an understatement. Hard work, good pay, good friends......it don't get much better.

But I digress slightly from the quote above. My main thoughts are that with all the "governmental oversight" into every little nook and cranny of our lives these days, it becomes almost imperative that we keep in mind who the Sovereigns, and, who the servants are.

With the goberment lead by that staunch conservative John Quisling McCain trying to (and make no mistake, they are going to pass it) pass another law making you and I terrorist combatants......

Known as The Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010, or S. 3081, the bill authorizes the President to deny a detainee a trial by jury simply by designating that person an “enemy belligerent”:

An individual, including a citizen of the United States, determined to be an unprivileged enemy belligerent … may be detained without criminal charges and without trial for the duration of hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners in which the individual has engaged, or which the individual has purposely and materially supported, consistent with the law of war and any authorization for the use of military force provided by Congress pertaining to such hostilities. [Emphasis added.]


The latest Defense Authorization Bill just passed by Congress shows how far the law-makers and law-enforcers will go. The doctrine of habeas corpus goes back to before the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215. It was an ancient Anglo-Saxon limitation on the power of government. If the feds held a prisoner, a writ of habeas corpus required them to “produce the body.” The government had to either release the person or charge him with a crime. For more than 800 years, this gave people some protection against government.

But now, in the Year of Our Lord 2011, the Congress of the United States of America, with the complicity of POTUS, himself, has seen fit to deny the right of habeas corpus to American citizens. Henceforth, the feds can capture you, put you in prison and waterboard you every day for the rest of your life. They don’t have to charge you with murder or jay-walking or any crime at all. They don’t have to let you talk to a lawyer. Or to your spouse. Or to your Congressman... They don’t have to read you your rights or provide any evidence against you. Like the Argentines in the ’80s, they just ‘disappear’ you. And you’re gone forever.

The Guardian reports:

Human rights groups accused the president of deserting his principles and disregarding the long-established principle that the military is not used in domestic policing. The legislation has also been strongly criticised by libertarians on the right angered at the stripping of individual rights for the duration of “a war that appears to have no end”.

The law, contained in the defence authorisation bill that funds the US military, effectively extends the battlefield in the “war on terror” to the US and applies the established principle that combatants in any war are subject to military detention.

“It’s something so radical that it would have been considered crazy had it been pushed by the Bush administration,” said Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch. “It establishes precisely the kind of system that the United States has consistently urged other countries not to adopt. At a time when the United States is urging Egypt, for example, to scrap its emergency law and military courts, this is not consistent.”

Rand Paul, a strong libertarian, has said “detaining citizens without a court trial is not American” and that if the law passes “the terrorists have won”.

“We’re talking about American citizens who can be taken from the United States and sent to a camp at Guantánamo Bay and held indefinitely. It puts every single citizen American at risk,” he said. “Really, what security does this indefinite detention of Americans give us? The first and flawed premise, both here and in the badly named Patriot Act, is that our pre-9/11 police powers were insufficient to stop terrorism. This is simply not borne out by the facts.”

So now the feds, whose salaries we pay, can spy on us with drones we paid for too. They can send a swat team to disappear us...and keep us in prison.

Our question is: ‘what gives them the right?’ What bread to these people eat? What air do they breathe?

Obummer and his cronies may bow and kowtow to every pissant so-called ruler or leader in the known world, but they don't have to expect me to bow down to them.

“The Sage says: ‘I take no action, yet the people transform themselves, I favor quiescence and the people right themselves, I take no action and the people enrich themselves...’”

Let it be

“The more artificial taboos and restrictions there are in the world, the more the people are impoverished...The more that laws and regulations are given prominence, the more thieves and robbers there will be...”

Lao Tzu (6th century B.C.)

The used to be a philosophy of laissez-faire practiced among wise people. Broken down into it's simplest meaning.......let it be. Don't fuck with it. Let it alone. Things will work out for the best the less it is bothered with.

It was the way our forefathers thought when confronted with some nosy busy body wanting to tell everyone else how they should do things.

Then we established schools for lawyers, and forbade anyone from practicing law without a diploma and license from licensing boards. We're now overrun with the vermin. You can hardly wipe your ass without lawyers or some regulator telling us how many sheets of Charmin to use and how hard to squeeze.

But, there is a simple way to negate all their assumed power............

Tell 'em to fuck off......then show them the highway,....... emphatically.

I love this quote!

Don’t be taken in by the fanciful
treatises and bombastic declarations. Don’t fall for the pomp and
ceremony, the debates on television, the speeches from bully pulpits
and rally cries in the halls of Congress. Government, as it is
witnessed today, is little more than a codified process of rape and
pillage. It’s a means, by which the insiders may
loot the outsiders. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Bill Bonner

A soap opera

That's what life seems like sometimes.

Makes me want to find the remote and shut the power off.

In the bad news. My rental property burned today.

Hopefully, the good news is the insurance is current.

In the either good or bad news....depending........we'll be moving to a place in the country in the coming year.

The Bad news is that it's 110 years old and needs some paint and TLC.

The good news is that I'll have a huge shop and 16 acres.

The bad news is that it will all cost money.........maybe I can get Obummer to pay for it out of his stash. That would be good news.

These are The Days of Our Life.

Just damn!

Like lambs to slaughter

In the wake of Herman Cain's announcement that he's dropping out of the race for The Presidency of The United States, I encourage you to go and read

Neal

NOT Neal Boortz.

“We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the numbers of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it.”

Thomas Jefferson

We are all Criminals

Way back in the Dark Ages say the 1950's and 60's the world was a whole lot safer.
Pretty much if you minded your own business, and didn't interfere with someone else, and you weren't making or hauling moonshine, you were generally safe from the long arm of the law descending upon your shoulders and hauling you off to places you'd rather not be.

No More 

Now we are all criminals. Even if we think we have all the requisite permits, all the EPA regulations complied with, even if you are the most meek and humble person around....
you are a criminal in the eyes of some local, state, or federal busybody, er, ah, dedicated public servant.

Walk out your front door.......you're guilty of something. Put your hands on your head and lie down on your stomach. Don't look up.........you'll be tasared for resisting.

About all you can do these days is to accept your criminality and growl, as did Colonel Ludlow,

Screw 'em, Screw the government.

and go on your merry way.

A little before midnight

It's been a sweet day here at the Kudzu Grotto.
The Kudzu wife (KW) slept late on the couch after getting up before dawn to let the pooch out.
A couple of Tylenol PM last evening let her get to bed early.

She needed the rest. For the last week it had been a constant watch over her mother, first in the Ty Cobb Memorial Hospital down in Royston, where she had been found to have pneumonia, low blood sugar, COPD (from 70 years of smoking) and a bowel blockage. Then here in Athens Regional Hosp. for possible surgery, with the decision made on Tuesday to transfer her to St. Mary's Hospice House.

She would likely not have made it through surgery, and if she did, would likely be on a ventilator for what little time was left as well as dialysis due to kidney failure.

Her passing was mostly peaceful. All her children came to see her while she still recognized them, along with mine and the KW's children, her grandchildren, along with four of her great grand children.

Friday afternoon, just after her bath, she took some gasping breaths and passed into that great unknown. She would have been 79 in January. A fruitful life in that she gave birth to four children, eleven grandchildren (I think) and more than 4 great grandchildren. (I can't keep up with the great's)

Born in the depths of the depression ( in the town where the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" was filmed) to poor parents, hers was not an easy life, rather it was filled with it's share of hardships and troubles. But she endured. And while all of her memories may not have been the most pleasant..... they were hers, and ours. And that makes them precious.

O:Dark in the am.

Damn moving back and forth from DST to ST.
At least I was due for a little extra shut eye.

We humans think we're so smart, manipulating the clock, endeavoring to get a little more work time or play time out of a day.

Truth is we only change our perceptions. The earth still revolves around the sun at more or less the same speed. We spin around on a tilted top, at more or less the same speed each day, month after month, year after year, millinia after millinia, for the last God Knows how long.

Over and Oover.

And we think we're so smart, because of all the marvelous things we can do that previous generations haven't done.........at least as far as anyone knows.


But,

Not one of us can create a sunrise.

Monday Evening

...in the Grotto means surfing the interwebz since Dish Network has hundreds of channels but nothing worth watching unless you pay extra, and I'm such a skinflint that ain't gonna happen.

Found this browsing through Backwoodshome.com

© by Lewis Napper We, the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid any more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt-ridden, delusional and other liberal, commie, pinko bedwetters. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that a whole lot of people were confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim that they require a Bill of No Rights. ARTICLE I: You do not have the right to a new car, big screen color TV or any other form of wealth. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything. ARTICLE II: You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone—not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc., but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be. ARTICLE III: You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful, do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy. ARTICLE IV: You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes. ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we’re just not interested in public health care. ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim or kill someone, don’t be surprised if the rest of us get together and kill you. ARTICLE VII: You do not have the right to the possessions of others. If you rob, cheat or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don’t be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won’t have the right to a big-screen color TV or a life of leisure. ARTICLE VIII: You don’t have the right to demand that our children risk their lives in foreign wars to soothe your aching conscience. We hate oppressive governments and won’t lift a finger to stop you from going to fight if you’d like. However, we do not enjoy parenting the entire world and do not want to spend so much of our time battling each and every little tyrant with a military uniform and funny hat. ARTICLE IX: You don’t have the right to a job. All of us sure want you to have one, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities in education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful. ARTICLE X: You do not have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to pursue happiness—which by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an overabundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.

I kinda think these ten should have been appended to the original from the get go.

Maybe then there would have been less temptation to spin that precious document.

For those who aren't aware

For those who might have never had this experience come up.... a word of wisdom.

Never mistake a laxative pill for your allergy pill.........(especially since you had already taken one Senacot that morning),
just before going down to Bonna Bella Yatch Club for an Oyster Roast and Low Country Boil.

Most Especially, if you are going to eat about 3 dozen oysters and then the Boil. There were 400 lbs. of oysters for about 40 people. Even discounting the shells, you do the math.

Nothing holy about the S***s I had this morning.

But the weekend with fellow bird men from a little war game in SE Asia 40 years ago made any discomfort worth it all.

Surprisingly, none of us had changed one bit.

Food For Thought

".....supreme absolute power is originally and ultimately in the people; and they never did in fact freely, nor can they rightfully make an absolute, unlimited renunciation of this divine right.” We the people of these United States are the masters, not the servants to a government which believes it is the sole decider of what powers it will wield. It may be true that the justice system has failed us, that we have no legal means of overturning unconstitutional laws and infringements upon our rights, we do have the right, and the authority, to simply disobey those laws that clearly overstep the express powers granted our government."

James Otis in 1764

“When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic.”

Dresden James

RTWT

Love to hear your thoughts.

I'm prob'ly a little biased......

Well, hell, I know I am, but it is my WCO (well considered opinion) that folks what have been sent to places where they, and their close co-workers, are considered targets of opportunity and shot at with frequency, and real intent to do bodily harm, develop, should they survive, a high degree of logic and rationality. To whit: don't stick your head up, you fool, if you want to keep it attached to your shoulders. .. Don't fly over there by that patch of bamboo 'cause there's people who want to kill us over there.

such as that.

So that when I read carefully thought out reasoning from one of them, I pretty much pay a bit more attention that what I hear come out of politician's mouths or the boob tube or pretty much anything someone who is considered a big shot in holly wood.

Things such as this about fighting the so called WOD (war on drugs).

"A couple of things you might do to persuade Mexico that you really want to do your part.

First, why don’t you put a youngish DEA guy, or gal, in each of about ten universities chosen at random: say, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Harvard Medical, Julliard, Haverford, Berkeley, UCLA, and Dartmouth. (I say they’re random). See, young agents could rig their apartments for sound and video. In six months you could arrest hundreds of children of senators, Fortune Five Hundred CEOs, and people high in the Executive branch. You could give them the same sentences that slum blacks get. Think of the headlines: “Senator’s Kid Gets Five Years in the General Population in Leavenworth.” Is that a concept or what?"

RTWT

Like Conspiracy Theories??

Try this one on for size.We have all been fooled into thinking that teh ONe, teh MIGHty, teh Omnipotent ONe, he of the IMMAculate ELEction..........Lord MOst HIgh Barrack Hussein OBama.

Barry O as he's know to Oprah and OTHers, does not, in fact, know what the Hell he's doing.

We point and giggle wildly as effort after effort goes into stimulating and masticating the EcOnomy

.Time after time we watch as he vows to TAx UnTo DeaTH those eVil Millionaires and BILLionAires, what with their private JETS and ILL gotten Lucre they got by oppressing the working Man and Woman, whether they actually have a job and pay taxes or not.

No, No, my friends.

His dastardly plan all along is to do all these stupid things, chant meaningless campaign slogans that somebody wrote and he read off of a teleprompter..........

And then see how many mindless myrmidons would actually cast their ballot for him the second time.

You see he's secretly a closet Randian. A worshiper at the alter of Libertarianism and Objectivism in the Ayn Rand tradition.

After the next election a list of Deamoncratic Voters will be forged from the supposedly SEcRet ballots, enabling a very specialized team of eliminators to quietly, furtively go about the business of wiping from existence those liBeraL voters, root and branch, meaning them and their offspring both, thereby ridding our proud Democracy of the Contagion of Stupid.

Best be careful which button you push in 2012.

Noodling down the highway of life today...

... on the way to Home Depot for a pine board and small box of deck screws, I put the Red Ram on auto pilot and gave a bit of thought to the fact that I'll soon (within a year) be able to apply for my Sociable Security. Doesn't hardly seem possible that I've lived this long. Some times I get to thinking that I should have lived a little more and not worried about the long thing.

I know most people looking into my life would suggest that I should have worked a little harder.

Me.......eh, I don't know about that. What I should have done is worked a little smarter.

Still......I've done a lot of different things and have discovered lots of ways not to do a thing or two.

Still the idea of getting my Sociable desserts causes me to ponder.

People say Social Security is broke and the younger generation will never be able to draw from it.

They say that the gubbermint has raided the fund and spent it long ago, leaving nothing but I.O.U's behind, locked away in a filing cabinet some where in an office building in Virginia.

They say that for every recipient these days that there are less than two workers contributing, and, with fewer workers feeding money into the trough, we pigs swilling out the other end are gonna get pretty skinny pretty soon.

So........I've come up with a way to save Social Security and put it on a solid foundation now and into the future.

Hold your applause and cheers for after the presentation please, as the sooner I get this plan into print the sooner we can all start living the life we so richly deserve. (besides, once you read the plan your cheers and applause will be so much greater. (notice how I delayed gratification 'til later so as to reap so much more in the future?)

Since we have all those I.O.U. in the Vault, which indicates somebody, supposedly the gubbermint, owes on them, why don't we just have the gubbermint print up enough money to pay them off, adding of course the interest that they supposedly would have earned since the first I.O.U. was written.

This should amount to a goodly sum.

Then we have Warren Buffet invest it for us. This should earn more than enough to allow all us old geezers like me to get a nice monthly check.

Alternatively we could take the supposed amount in the Trust Fund as of 2011, which is 2.600,000,000,000.00 divide it by the approximate total adults in the US which is somewhere around 229,182,000. This would give all adults approximately $11,340.90, which we pay to everyone immediately, end Social Security at once and let us do what we will with the money, whether it be play the Lottery, buy gold and silver, guns and bullets, beer and flat screen TV's, or I suppose you could invest it in some company or other.

Those not adults will be responsible for their own old age with no government intervention and no taxes when they get ready to retire.

The trick is that we would then be responsible for our own future and we'd know for sure what kind of a scam the gubbermint has been running all these years, and only the liberals would ever part with any money to the government to hold and manage for them.

I'll take mine in cash please..........then I'd open a currency trading account and bet against the $ every time. Which I would do from a small estancia in the hills of El Salvadore, just close enough to town to get internet service.

And of course a nubile young Latino Lady to cook my breakfast.

Whither Now?

After all the MMM's (moronic mass media) crocodile tears and wailing of the weekend just past, we need to take a few moments to engage in a bit of quiet reflection on the past 10 years.

I know what I think. You know what you think. Maybe we need to do a little 'outside of the boxes' thinking, and consider what paradigm we'll operate under going forward.

With a hat tip to Yabu , may I second the motion to go read this.

In an Age of Fops and Toys

Consider for a moment, quietly, silently, those young, and sometimes older, men and women who for the past 10 years have volunteered, each for their own reason, to join, fight and sometime die, or come home less than whole in either their bodies or minds, for the Idea of The United States of America, Freedom and Liberty from fear or danger.

Home to a country who's people support and honor them, but, who's politicians (a more derogatory term I cannot think of) spend them uselessly in foreign lands, spending the wealth of their blood and minds, as well as the wealth we could use at home, for personal and political gain.

When will we awaken, and like the giants who founded this Republic, throw off the shackles they use to keep us quiescent?


In an Age of Fops and Toys
By: Ralph Waldo Emerson

In an age of fops and toys,
Wanting wisdom, void of right,
Who shall nerve heroic boys
To hazard all in Freedom’s fight,—
Break sharply off their jolly games,
Forsake their comrades gay
And quit proud homes and youthful dames
For famine, toil and fray?
Yet on the nimble air benign
Speed nimbler messages,
That waft the breath of grace divine
To hearts in sloth and ease.
So nigh is grandeur to our dust,
So near is God to man,
When Duty whispers low, Thou must,
The youth replies, I can.

Sunday Morning coming down.

Like hearing that Pres. Kennedy was shot, that man had stepped on the surface of the moon, like remembering when our children were born (though not always the correct dates)......

So too, I shall probably always remember where I was upon first hearing that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. (at least until the dementia progresses farther along than has so far been the case)

It's been a long ten years. Lots of changes. They (changes) come more and more quickly. I've long since been left in the dust. But, we endure, because, well, because one must.

The days and nights following 9/11 were tough on me. I say that not to elicit sympathy........it's simply the truth.

The brightest moment came...possible the brightest moment ever.......with the response below from my daughter, to an email I sent out to friends and family, (which is even farther below).

These will always be my memories of September 11, 2001.



Well....I debated on forwarding this because it is a personal message from my dad sent to family and friends. With my emotions on a roller coaster as I'm sure everyone's are - it did me a world of good to hear these words from him. It also touched my heart and I hope it touches yours.
While my dad is not usually a man of many words I've noticed that as I grow older I seem to hear him more clearly :) While sometimes he and I have to agree to disagree, and some may think that he is a bit radical at times - he is a wise man who I love and respect.
I am proud to say that my dad served in Vietnam and is a firm believer in our freedoms. I do not remember Vietnam because I was a baby. But I do know that I am indebted to him for protecting me as a daughter and an American. I do remember the Gulf War but maybe it didn't affect me as much because I was not mature enough - I seemed to think America was "invincible". These are the days that I will remember for a lifetime. These days will change me forever and they are the days that I am striving to be the best person that I can be.
Today....not only am I very proud to be an American, a daughter of God, a mother, a sister and a friend but I am so very proud to be my Daddy's girl. :)
Love you all-
Eldest Daughter


Kdzu wrote:
> I love you all. Some of you have been subject to my diatribes over the years. More than 25 years. I do not apologize for them. I was raised in an era in which the highest accolade that you could pay to a man was to call him a patriot. I have tried to live up to the ideal which that word means to me. The events of the last few days have caused me to evaluate the principals by which I live. I see no need to be ashamed of those principals. Instead I will be more committed to those principals. I will still call for us to return to the principals espoused by the framers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States and the Bill Of Rights.
> Our 1st President warned us of the dangers of foreign entanglements.
> I warn us of the danger of PRIDE. This Attack is the result of pride. The Pride of thinking that we can impose our will on the rest of the world. They don't want it as we would not want if they tried to impose theirs on us.
> If you wish to impress people you should live in such a manner as to impress them to want to be more like you, not feel as if being like you is forced on them.
> The civilized peoples of the world should shun and isolate those who do not choose to be themselves civilized. We should make it clear that an attack on those of the society of civilized peoples will be the only excuse we need to slap them back into the stone age and that we would then see that they would never have the ability to harm us ever again and they will be shunned until they finally prove their ability and desire to become a useful and productive and willing participant in the society of civilized peoples.
> Like most of you I have felt awe, anger , rage, steely determination, resolve and all of the other emotions of the last few days, even fear, embarrassment for that fear, embarrassment for the desire for revenge on the perpetrators of this atrocity. They finally all came to a head this evening . I'm not ashamed to admit that I weep as I write this. I'm not sure when if ever I will be able to overcome some of the feelings that I have.
> I know this. We were placed here on this earth to obtain bodies and to gain experience. Sometimes experience comes at a high price, high enough sometimes to make people unwilling to pay that price. But, that price must be paid. It always must be paid.
> Some of you do not agree with my choice of a religion in which to believe. I respect your right to disagree. Some of you do not feel strongly enough to try to determine what exactly it is that you do believe in. I encourage you to examine your feelings and to determine exactly what you are, or wish to be. We are all children of a wise and loving Heavenly Father. One which loves us so much that we are allowed to choose our destiny. So too do I love you.
> We all have been lax and caught up in our own lives. There are however those who seek to understand the world around us and try to explain it and the ways in which we can make it a better place in which to live. We must each seek to become better educated and better prepared for the experiences which are to come.
> I've heard that the word for CRISIS in Chinese means both opportunity, and,.......
... its opposite. This crisis will give each of us the chance to choose which it will be for us.
> I begin to ramble, so good night.

kdzu
>

Amazing!

Just think of all the Chinese Coolies out of work.

What's this???

Is someone in the MSM actually giving some of Sarah Palin's ideas a bit of respect?

Click here to read the article.
She puts the cross-hairs directly on the biggest part of the problem, I think.

Until we unseat the career politicians, the bureaucrats and lobbyists, nothing will get done.

I know many people who think that nothing will change without at least some bodily fluids running over the ground. Whether that is piss running down their legs in fear of an electorate that has reached the point of "I'm Mad as Hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore" or "My name is (insert your name), You destroyed My Country, Prepare to die"

Big changes coming. The available time to prepare is fast running out. However you plan to prepare.

You do prepare, don't you?

The unfaithful shepherds...and the jackasses...

For the shepherds have become stupid and have not sought the LORD;
therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered
(Jer 10:21).


A big day up yesterday. The Dow rose 275 points. Gold dropped $55.

What’s the matter with investors? They should be selling gold AND
stocks.

Why? Because we’re in a Great Correction. Not a boom. Not a
recovery. Not anything except a Great Correction.

What does that mean? It means Mr. Market is correcting the errors of
the past. We don’t know exactly which errors — it depends on how
rambunctious he gets — but we know we won’t ever go back to where we
were in 2007. We have to go on. Forward. Adelante, to give it a
certain Latin sashay.

But where to?

C’mon...you don’t seriously think we know, do you? Of course, we
don’t...nobody knows the future. But just wait until Mr. Obama gets
on the TV screen. He’ll tell us where he wants us to go.

We’d like to tell him where to go too...

But, heck, he’s the POTUS. We’re just a lowly scribe...a miserable
molder of mediocre memes. A financial Jeremiah...always
warning...worrying...predicting doom and gloom.

But wait. Didn’t we tell you the bubble would pop in 2007? Didn’t we
tell you that real estate would go down 30% or more? Didn’t we warn
you to get out of stocks and into gold 10 years ago?

Sometimes right. Sometimes wrong. Always in doubt.

But what we see now is an unfaithful shepherd...

A central bank that has turned its back on the currency it is meant
to protect...

A government that has betrayed the principles it was set up to
defend...

And an economy that has turned into a zombie. It’s somewhere between
alive and dead... Pretending to be a capitalist system...but a
capitalist looking for a handout.

Consumer confidence numbers continue to sink...

Housing prices continue to fall...while housing starts bump along at
depression levels...

More and more people are moving into long-stay motels...more and
more are on food stamps.

An ABC poll tells us that Obama’s DIS-approval rating has increased
to 60%...with most Americans convinced that his jobs proposal (to be
announced today) will not work.

The output gap — roughly the difference between what the economy
should produce and what it actually does produce — is at 7%. It’s
never been this high at this stage of the business cycle.

Had enough?

Well, it gets worse. Because the effect of the unfaithful shepherds’
bailouts has been to shift more and more wealth to the people who
were wealthiest already. Business profits — especially in the
financial sector — soared. Wages fell.

And now, even old people can’t pay their mortgages...so they’re
stuck in jobs, leaving the young with nothing to do. The youth
unemployment rate is one in four; it’s a wonder they are aren’t
burning cars and rampaging through cities. But they live in the
suburbs and probably can’t afford the bus fare to get into town.

This is becoming a dangerous situation. Former Labor Secretary
Robert Reich explains:

The 5 percent of Americans with the highest incomes now account for
37 percent of all consumer purchases, according to the latest
research from Moody’s Analytics.

During periods when the very rich took home a larger proportion — as
between 1918 and 1933, and in the Great Regression from 1981 to the
present day — growth slowed, median wages stagnated and we suffered
giant downturns. It’s no mere coincidence that over the last century
the top earners’ share of the nation’s total income peaked in 1928
and 2007 — the two years just preceding the biggest downturns.

Starting in the late 1970s, the middle class began to weaken... The
middle class nonetheless continued to spend, at first enabled by the
flow of women into the work force. (In the 1960s only 12 percent of
married women with young children were working for pay; by the late
1990s, 55 percent were.) When that way of life stopped generating
enough income, Americans went deeper into debt. From the late 1990s
to 2007, the typical household debt grew by a third. As long as
housing values continued to rise it seemed a painless way to get
additional money.

Eventually, of course, the bubble burst. That ended the middle
class’s remarkable ability to keep spending in the face of near
stagnant wages. The puzzle is why so little has been done in the
last 40 years to help deal with the subversion of the economic power
of the middle class. With the continued gains from economic growth,
the nation could have enabled more people to become problem solvers
and innovators — through early childhood education, better public
schools, expanded access to higher education and more efficient
public transportation.

Of course, Reich goes on to misunderstand everything. He thinks the
rich got richer because government was not ambitious enough. The
real problem was that the rich were able to use ambitious, activist
government to their own ends.

The unfaithful shepherds rigged the game in their favor.

And more thoughts...

Last night we watched TV. There was a show called “Killing Bin
Laden.”

We do not normally react to political commentary, except to laugh.
But the “Killing Bin Laden” show gave us the creeps. We laughed. But
it was a bitter, worried laugh.

The show describes, with evident pride, how a group of American
soldiers trained carefully...and used the latest gee-whiz military
hardware to murder unarmed, apparently completely innocent people.
Encountering bin Laden’s wife, for example, the soldiers made no
attempt to protect her...or to rescue her. They just gunned her
down. As appalling as this was, what happened next almost took our
breath away.

An “expert” appeared on screen. In a single sentence, this jackass
excused the killing by saying “it was permissible” or some other
claptrap. What exactly was his rationale, we don’t know. He didn’t
say. Even in times of war, soldiers are not supposed to kill
civilians. Heck, these soldiers probably shot his dog too. You may
be allowed to kill enemy combatants (which is a huge stretch for Bin
Laden)...but what kind of army kills their wives and children too?
If this ‘expert’ doesn’t go to Hell we’ll be disappointed in the
whole structure of Heaven.

Our “History of the Jews” book has made us think. It has a lot of
instances of mass murder masquerading as military action. And then,
when the Jews had been massacred, their cities destroyed, and their
wives and children sold into slavery, they asked why their God had
forsaken them. The prophets answered: ‘because we forsook Him.’

It was a good answer. They argued that the Jews had been corrupted
by politics...and then they became its victims. Those who lived by
the sword, perished by it. Rough justice, administered by God
himself.

So, what’s in store for a nation that makes heroes of killers? We
don’t like to think...

Bill Bonner
9/8/11

As promised

The oak buffet, or sideboard, as some us remember hearing them called in our youth.



I wish the round turned posts on either side were more visible in the photo, the growth rings spiral round like a candy cane......very nice. The hardware appears to be original and age appropriate. Probably the mirror has been replaced as it has none of the flaking of backing that caused many, let's call them beauty, spots to show through.

The new kitchen table is in the next room. At first I thought to strip it and show the natural oak under the paint, but I'm beginning to think there is a reason that it was factory painted. Most likely because, while it is solid oak, there are many short boards joined together and the overall effect may be less than perfect to the eye.
Still it is a nice solid, well made table and if we can find a set of chairs that will complement will make a nice heirloom table........well maybe not heirloom, but we're getting on towards middle age and it can probably last most of the next 131 years.

Unless we get drunk and climb up there and start dancing around showing our asses. In which case, the table may survive, but, we'll likely break our fool necks.

One thing I've learned by observation........

The rich don't necessarily have better taste, they simply know that if you start with quality you won't be having to spend money to replace it every time you turn around. That saves money, which eventually makes one rich.......or tightwadish.

They think we don't realize

That the more they try to scare us into accepting that only the government can protect us, that we must ever depend on them for our security and safety,...the more we realize just how ineffectual and inefficient and power hungry they really are.

The day we realize that we are Sovereign Individuals is the day the shackles fall from our limbs, the scales slide from our eyes, and we see the world and it's riches for ourselves.

Good Day

It has been a good day here at the Kudzu Grotto. Still 2 hr's + to go, but, I'm sitting here at the keyboard and baring something unforeseen it will go down as one of those good, good days.

I know that some in the north east portions of the country may be a little wet and there were some for whom Irene was a disaster of the highest caliber and my heart goes out to them, but, as long as my sisters in VA and MA, their husbands and children are OK, then I'm happy. Just as I know the rest of you folks throughout the NE are happy that PBO (pres. barry obama) was in charge at the Crisis Center Headquarters. Whatta president.......whatta guy!! Coming home from vacation early just to guide the ship of state through the choppy waters kicked up by Irene.
I can just here them now, up there in the AOP (Asylum On the Potomac), singing in unison..



SWG is sure to love this one.

Anyhoo, the Kudzu wife and I left this morning to visit the little antique store in the school house. That's where she said it was and who was I to argue. We needed a new kitchen table and chairs and that was where she was bound to look. So we did.

We saw many old tables and assorted oddments many of which were of interest, particularly an 1890's buffet in quarter sawn oak which I can only describe as striped, were it maple it would be Tiger Maple, but, it's Oak. I'm sure there is a wood workers term for it, and I should know it, but it escapes me right now.

Something I've always wanted. Now I can say I have one. Great piece, great price, (methinks). It sits in the livingroom. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow.

The Kudzu Wife found her table.....but unfortunately, no chairs to suit her. I can feel another expedition coming soon.

Arriving home we awaited a visit from my Salvadorian buddy, Armando. He walked from Metzapan to the US to escape the civil war there while in his teens. He brings things to sell me on a regular basis.

Today, one of the items was 2 Marine Corp Qualification Badges, ( Sharpshooter, and Bayonet)and an Army Air Corp Instructors Wings from WWII. The wings most caught my attention, being a former Army Aviator myself, albeit from a younger generation. I haven't yet researched the Marine badges but the Wings look like this......



These items will not be shipped off for scrap, but added to my small collection of militaria. Sentimental ol' fool...........that's me.

Much has been going on in kdzu's life of late and the blogging is slow. I have to remember to breath in and out and block most things that threaten my blood pressure. I'll fill you in on some of it later.

Interesting question

I can't help it. Things just pop into mind and out through the keyboard.

I wonder, if there are any of the candidates running for president who are running them on a business like basis........that is, are they taking on any debt?, do they pay their bills when due?, how much did they spend on the dog and pony show in Iowa last weekend?

In these days of interwebz and electronic mediums those questions might be easy to find answers to those questions and more.

I'm just too lazy to go looking.

If any one out there has any of the answers, I'd be interested.

Apocolypto Syndrome

Go over to http://www.grouchyoldcripple.com/archives/008760.html and read some of Ron's fine ranting.

I wonder...

... if now that the Chinese are saying what folks in this country have been saying for years the idiots in politics will pay any more attention?

Look at the market......look at the gold price. Hell just look around.

This mess has to be deliberate. No way on earth to fuck it up this bad by mistake.

Bad doo doo on the way.

Oh Yeah!

Passing the debt increase bill really saved us from disaster, didn't it.

Gold has increased to over $1700.00 the ounce.

China has gone from lecturing us to declaring the $ dead.

The rating agencies have downgraded our credit rating with promises of more downgrading.

Gas is up. Food is up. Nearly everything costs more except the price of your McMansion which is down 30% or more.

Our enemies are emboldened in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

How's that "Hope you can believe in, and Change" working out for you now?

The apes are in charge of the zoo and slinging shit on everything.

It seems that I am bereft of my famous Kudzu covered header on this blog. Something I've noticed for a little while but inertia has prevented me from giving a big flip about.
Now there appears some weird symbol at the top and although deleted yesterday, appears again today.

W.T.F.

Over.

It's like being trapped in The Twilight Zone.

Hallelujuh!

We're saved!

Catastrophe has been averted and once again the wheels of state will be able to turn with everyone employed by gubbermint and all us pensioners and welfare recipients, out of work rocket scientists, Foreign and domestic bond and treasury note holders, receiving our monthly handout and interest payments on time.

Of course, since the funds are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Federal Reserve, they will buy less and less as the price of everything goes up due to the sellers wanting to maintain their purchasing power.

You don't have to believe me or the talking heads in the LSM........just check the price of gold and the markets around the world.

Deep, deep doo doo folks......but let's keep electing politicians to go to D.C. to help us out......OK?

Future plans

I think I'm gonna join the local Republicrat party. Not that I have anything to contribute or anything.
I just want to be able to identify the bastards so if I see them crossing the street I can hit the accelerator.
I might get me one of those brush guards to go on the front of the Red Ram first. I don't want to ding my bumper. It's hard enough to get the bug shit off the grill.

Maybe I'll get one of those big hay bale spikes too. Then I can see how many will fit on there before I have to pry them off.

Just Damn!

The House is on Fire!

And in danger of collapsing around our very ears; and few there are, who are dragging over hoses, much less trying to find a faucet to attach them too. In fact they seem incapable of even identifying sources of water from which to dip teacups to fling upon the flames.

Everyone is screaming, "Fire! Fire!", but, the reality is that almost half the occupants would rather the whole thing became nothing but ash, instead of working together to save their home.

As evidence of this, watch to see how many member of the Senate were even in their chairs listening to this impassioned, un-teleprompter assisted, plea from the new Senator from the Sunshine State.



Personally I think the floater should be washed down the gutter with the rest of the shit.

Hi-dee-ho Neighbor

It's not that I don't have opinions about everything going on these days, it's just that I've come to opine that it may just be better to keep my head down.......
or at least stand behind the tomato vines.



Of course it might work better if instead of red I tried some camo clothing and face paint.

Or maybe keep the red and stick my arms out to scare the crows.

Straining @ gnats

Much being made of the verdict in a trial in Florida the last few days.

Personally I think the jury got it right. The prosecutions case was a Tower of Babel with a base built on sand.

Apparently........I was not there and, truth be told, didn't have a great deal of interest in the matter, except what little I did hear or read didn't seem to have a consistent element of exactly what the prosecution was saying the ultimate crime was.

The jury seemed to get the same feeling.

It is up to the government, whatever level you're dealing with to prove beyond a shadow of doubt their case. It they fail in that one area they do not meet the standard with which I'll wager every one of us would want met if it were us sitting behind the defense desk.

Too many talking heads invested way too much time and effort in what, after all, while heinous, is an all too often type of case in this country. They'll all probably get a huge bonus for getting people all over the world to watch their shows and through the increase in viewers and listeners, cause the advertising sales people in their organizations to be able to increase advertisers and revenue. Books, tv shows and movies will probably further increase sales...........
And after all, that's really what much of the furor is about.

I think that's something people really ought to remember. The only reason any program is on TV or Radio, or even newspapers, is to enable them to sale their product, which isn't the program...........no, it's the ability to tell potential advertisers, 'look how many people will see and hear your advertising........now just sign here'.

There is a reason that statues of justice depict a woman blindfolded holding a balance scale.

Gonna be another hot one here in the south. Maybe a few showers later. Let's keep it real.

Theft Update

I guess it is probably policy of my bank to attempt to make whole it's customers who fall pray to identity theft......especially if they notify the bank before they open on the day it's first noticed. But it makes a guy feel special that everyone in the small branch of the local bank I deal with are all supportive and ready to do whatever they can to help.

Although it probably also helps that they see me at least one and sometime 5 days a week, always with a smile and friendly word to all and occasionally bringing by a surprise to show them or an offer to render service.

So far they have provisionally replaced the money in my account while they investigate.

Needless to say a new card and pass word will be arriving soon. You forget just how often you make use of the convenience after a while. I assure you I'll be checking out the POS devices first from now on.

----------

I had my first ever acupuncture session late this afternoon. Hopefully to spark a break to the stalled improvement the medical massage therapist has been giving my neck and shoulders.

A bit weird at first, along with a little doubt about it's effectiveness..... I'm
now a tentative believer. Before the hour and a half session was over I was able to turn my head fully to the left and on the right side of neck and shoulders where pain was greatest......able to rotate my head and neck farther than has been possible in many years.

All of this due to having needles placed in the back of the left hand and heel of left foot.

Hardly seems like the appropriate place when the pain is in neck and shoulders on the other side...........but, I'll not argue with success. Unless, of course, I wake up in the morning paralyzed from the neck down.

So........two good results of having the grandmother run into the back of the truck over a month ago. I found a great medical massage therapist, as opposed to just a massage for relaxation, and she referred me to an Oriental Medicine and Acupuncture doctor with an actual Doctorate instead of being simply certified by some school no one ever heard of and whose phone # has been disconnected.

Unfortunately, instead of being able to simply swipe my card I had to remember to carry my checkbook and write out the check.

How quickly we succumb to these modern conveniences.

You all have a wonderful Independence Day. Think about Liberty an all that goes with it.