Everything is costing more

We hear it a million times a day from the talking heads on CNN (communist news network) and read about Sam's Clubs and CostCo rationing the sale of rice in their stores. Every time we go to the pump our eyes roll back in our heads as we wonder if the bank will give us a loan on our first born.

The human reaction is to moan and complain........trying to get someone to have pity on us and DO SOMETHING.

I've written before of my friend Renato Longato who is a most interesting fellow. A deep thinker...........and an unusual thinker due to some of his experiences and associates.

He sent me an article he has written which may answer a few question...........give food for thought.....and perhaps some ideas on how to cope with coming changes.

It rather a long article, but, one I think you will be glad you read.....if you do.

There is no link to it, so I'll have to copy and past it here. I'd very much like your reaction to it..........so comment or email me if you will, please.


REPORT
A HARSH REALITY: OIL, FOOD COST RISE AND SOCIAL IMPACT
BY
RENATO LONGATO
Since 2006, those who followed closely world events felt the price of oil was bound to go through the $100 a barrel mark on the international market in the near future. Their diagnosis turned out to be true, but what was further seen by these watchful experts was that the price is not expected to come down from these levels in the next 4 or 5 years. This is due to several factors, plus having to add in the “speculation” factor in the volatile financial market A recent report by the International Energy Agency pointed out that Russia, during the trimester of 2008, lowered its oil production one percent. The reason given was the extraction rate in wells located in western Siberia had reached its peak production capacity. This news caused the price of crude to rise even more.
That was not the only factor. Proponents of “Peak Oil” theory are seeing their predictions come true, as well, due to geological factors. Wells located in Mexico, along with those in Nigeria are also reducing their crude oil extraction rates. Here are some figures. The production of Mexican crude peaked out in 2004 at 3.4 million barrels a day. Today, it is 3.08 million barrels. According to information provided by the Mexican Energy Ministry, the reduction trend in oil production is irreversible. In 2006, production fell 12% and in 2007, 18%.
The case of Nigeria is particularly unsettling because of attempts by terrorists to blow up the pipelines. This situation, combined with the pirate attack on a Japanese oil tanker off the Somalia coast, the fall in Russian production, and the speculative action in international financial markets pushing the price of oil even higher, is creating economic pressure that is being felt by the consumer worldwide in terms of higher prices.
If we add to all this to the opening of new consumer markets caused by a rapidly growing middle class in India and China, where improved purchasing power is enabling this class of workers to afford automobiles, an additional demand for gasoline, we have a complicated situation, and getting more so with the passing of each day.
The High Cost of Oil.
The vice president of Lukoil, the largest private Russian oil company, Leonid Fedun, says it would require an investment of one trillion dollars over the next 20 years to maintain existing Russian production levels of 8.5 to 9 million barrels a day. The difference with Russia compared to other countries is the tax structuring. The Russia government takes 80% of all revenue over $27 a barrel, meaning it is the government that profits from higher prices, not the Russian oil companies, leaving them with little for investment in exploration and production. The wells in Siberia and Artic Circle are especially expensive due to their depth and the frigid weather. The question is if the Russian government is willing to assist in making this large investment or will continue to allocate oil revenue to political purposes.
1
In the case of Mexico, the enormous infrastructure cost required to drill the 13,500 to 20,000 new wells during the next 15 years in the new oil field of Chicontepec is in the neighborhood of 30 to 38 billion dollars. This huge cost is due basically to two factors: profound depths and off-shore drilling. These wells require the most advanced technology and take 4 to 5 years before becoming operative. A major problem for Mexico is that the national oil company, PEMEX, has an internal policy of not permitting foreign companies, particularly those of the U.S. to trade oil for technology. Such a policy limits the budget necessary for such a large undertaking, especially when taking into account that PEMEX supplies 40% of all the revenue of the Mexican government. The Mexican government has been unable to enact legislation enabling new terms and conditions for oil extraction because disagreement in the Mexican congress. Such is a situation similar in Russia. How will the increased revenue from rising oil prices be used is the important question. Will Mexico consider a commercial deal between China and Russia to exploit the Chicontepec field?
Regarding Nigeria, that country is facing a situation that could endanger up to one third of its total oil production between now and 2015. The government of Umaru Ya’Adua has been warned by the oil companies, Shell, Exxon/Mobil and Chevron, that if Nigeria does not contribute its part in the investment required that oil production will fall a significant 30% by 2015.
Furthermore, there are serious doubts among some political observers of Nigeria that all the revenue generated by oil production is being collected by the government. It is strongly suspected that much revenue is being diverted by corrupt officials into private hands. This could be fatal for the Nigerian economy when adding in the factor of terrorists in the Delta disrupting the normal flow and distribution of crude oil.
These last three examples are only the tip of the iceberg relative to the precarious medium term situation of oil prices. Geo-politics is playing a more important role than ever before. Each oil exporting country is looking for new fields to satisfy the increasing international demands. Furthermore, it has now been made public by the Brazilian oil company, PetroBras, the huge find of oil in the Carioca and Tupi fields, which lie deep in the ocean. While these fields are very promising, rivaling those of Venezuela and Mexico, but the cost of exploitation is around 50 billion dollars. Time, too, is a factor, for it is estimated that it will take 10 years in order for wells to start producing.
Also, we are seeing that American geologist Hubbert’s theory of limited production capacity of oil fields is turning out to be true. Large oil companies are searching the planet for sources in order that we consumers are not faced with a scenario from the movie Mad Max. We must come to grip with the likelihood that we are the last generation of oil users.
The Market of Fear
Reports from the World Bank indicate that the prices of basic food stuff will remain relatively high until 2015. A recently published list of 33 countries that are seriously affected by rising food prices indicates that the impact on the people in the poorest class of these countries can produce a grave social crisis, if measures are not taken soon.
To mitigate this troublesome situation, the President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, warned the 7 richest countries of the world of the need to create a “New Policy Treaty on Global Food”, which calls for donations of no less than $500 million dollars. Donations would go to countries in the Sub-Sahara area of Africa, whose extremely impoverished inhabitants number in the several millions. But this is the best the World Bank and the United Nations can do: ease as much as possible the starvation in countries with fragile governments. Although the recent protests in Haiti and Egypt are not the only ones, they were the 2
loudest heard around the world. In order to better understand this situation, let us examine some of the factors that have contributed to the rising food prices. They are:
1.
Adverse climate conditions
2.
Increase in demand for bio-fuel
3.
Speculation on strategic products
4.
A weakening dollar
5.
Increased prices on oil dependent products and services, such as fertilizers, plastics and transport.
These are the “upsetting elements” or “secondary effects” appearing throughout the economies of the world. The World Bank is saying the high food prices will continue to rise through 2009, but will drop somewhat, nevertheless remaining above those of 2004, and will continue high for as long as the year 2015.
The five factors mentioned above are the major contributors to high food prices, but there is a sixth one: fear. This factor is obviously a psychological one, but it had penetrated the minds of the people, exacerbated by the constant rise in fuel and food prices, and disheartening reports of a not bright future. Although in a matter of a few months, oil has risen from $8O a barrel to $120, there have not been the corresponding protests by the world consumer. For the moment, there has not been that massive public cry of “That’s enough!” It was believed by many economists that $3.00 a gallon for gasoline in the U.S. would be the resistance point, the drop-in-use level, but that has not happened. The prices can rise further before there is a reduction in demand. The market of fear will then cause an economy of shortages.
The International Energy Agency also adds to the disheartening news by reporting that there exists an increase of consumption of 1.3 million barrels daily despite higher costs and the economic crisis of the United States. This phenomenon of increased demand is further worsened to due to economic growth in other countries, greater demand for grains and metals, resulting in the increase of the automobile production, all of which has contributed to new financial reality. Again, the automobile plays an important factor because of a jump in sales in China and India, where an invigorated middle class also want to enjoy the “American dream”.
Looking at Latin America, Peru is benefiting from the highest economic growth in the region in the last 30 years, and where automobile sales are up an amazing 77% from the first trimester of 2007. However, this does not mean that the Peruvian lower class are the beneficiaries; to the contrary, rising food prices have forced the Peruvian government to implement a give away of basic food staples pilot project to offset the adverse effects of higher prices.
Buyers of crude oil have come to realize that the demand has gone up, production is going down, meaning prices will continue to rise, and if they want oil, they will have to pay more for it. Various market experts are predicting that oil prices will reach $180 within two years. The assumption is that oil prices will continue increasing, and so will food prices, making the world population enter into a new era of “less” and with it, a change in life style. Such changes will oblige governments to take steps to assure that its “common” people have enough to eat. The question is, How to do that without inserting too many 3
distorting factors into the economy? Furthermore, there are countries with large reserves of U.S. dollars that are worth less each day. What are they going to do? Probably start buying basic food commodities. China has already begun. That will only drive up more food prices.
Protectionism and Fall of the Dollar
A report from the Brookings Institute shows that the prices of rice in the Philippines went up 70% in one year, and that rice prices in Thailand tripled since the beginning of this year. At the same time, a report coming out of the Hyundai Economic Research Institute of South Korea revealed that there are signs of an increased flow of refugees from neighboring North Korea due to higher food prices, and where rice is a staple. Aside from Africa, Asia is the continent most vulnerable in this present food crisis. With rice being the principal source of food, and wheat not being a viable substitute, for the price of wheat has risen significantly as well, plus wheat is not a regular part of the diet. The specter of starvation hovers ever closer and is a real threat to the collapsed nations of Africa and to certain ones in Asia. To not take timely measures could mean chronic hunger for these people in the coming years. This, of course, has grave consequences for the infant population, signifying a great hindrance for normal development.
This series of negative factors could spawn effects of massive migration. A population that can not feed itself is capable of anything. Acts of defiance against established governments are only the beginning, and could easily spread to attacks against the better-off segments of the society, ending up in serious internal civil strife.
Part of the cause of rice prices rising 100% in the last few months is also due to the major rice exporting countries, Vietnam and China, putting limits on exportation. China is not only limiting export, but buying and warehousing vast quantities for future internal needs. This buy-up policy is further pushed by the enormous dollar reserves China holds, which are only lessening in value; spend the dollars now while they are worth more makes sense to the Chinese. There exists a close relationship between the devaluation of the U.S. dollar again the Euro and the cost of fuel. Following are comparative charts which clearly illustrate the imbalance.
Rice price vs Euro/US$ rate, April 15, 2007 to April 15, 2008 4
As the chart makes clear, the ascent of the cost of rice to $24 from $10 per hundredweight over the past year tracks the declining value of the American dollar. The link between the declining parity of the US unit and the rising price of commodities, including oil as well as rice and other wares, is indisputable. China has bid aggressively for rice all year, and last week banned rice exports, along with Vietnam and several other producers
Euro/US$ rate vs rice and oil, April 16, 2007 to April 16, 2008
For those emerging countries, and dependent on the U.S. dollar, the risks are potentially even greater. Their purchasing power falls as the dollar falls. Historically, this has not happened before, in spite of different organizations assuring that grain crops are not endangered when they cite that world rice production is at the highest level ever reached, 423 million tons for the 2007-2008 period. While this amount suffices to meet world needs, its export distribution is only 7%.
This panorama is affecting all countries on the planet in one degree or another, clearly some more than others, even the U.S. is not exempt. According to James Weil, president of Food Research and Action Center, the request for Food Stamps in the U.S. has risen. These requests reached record level, 27.7 million, in January of 2008, an increase of 1.3 million from January 2007. Laurie True, Executive Director of California Women & Infants group of the Children Program Association states that more members are enrolling than ever before. At the same time, reports are coming out about the severe impact charity organizations are feeling with rising food prices. This coupled with fewer donations, and surging transportation costs are forcing these organizations to cut back on aid to poor countries.
To all of this I ask, In the case of an emergency, would ethnic minorities and illegal immigrants receive U.S. government help?
The Future of Wheat.
In February of this year, a news story shook up the grain exporter worldwide: Saudi Arabia announced a reduction in production to a minimum by 2016 - not of oil, but wheat! It will become a net importer of wheat in less than 10 years. Presently, Saudi Arabia harvests 2.5 million tons of wheat annually and is 5
planning a -12.5% yearly reduction. Such a startling announcement was followed by others from large wheat producing countries like, Khazakstan, Pakistan, Russia, Ukraine and Argentina, alleging that internal demand had grown by 52%, and they would be forced to limit wheat exports.
Before such alarming scenarios, what can be done? Personally, I have been monitoring the situation without underestimating neither the accuracy of the news nor the capacity of the human being to face adversities. For most cases, I recommend common sense, reflection, and action. For those who have begun to feel the economic pinch, this is the time to refresh memories and take certain precautions. (For video information, click the link below.)
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=jim+jubak+saudi+arabia+wheat+&sitesearch=
Conversing with Mr. Garrison.
Oddly enough, I met Jason Garrison and his wife at a supermarket. What started off as a casual conversation, ended up with a dinner invitation at their home. Mr. Garrison had mentioned that he was a high officer in the Mormon Church in the area. After a delicious dinner, my host invited me to have a look in his basement to confirm the reputation of the Mormon family to store food. Food storage is a century old custom of the Mormons. While Mr. Garrison was showing the neatly organized storage area, he brought up the fact that wheat silos belonging to the Mormon Church in four states were empty, including the one in Georgia. Religious beliefs aside, I found it extremely interesting the organization and importance given by the Mormons to food storage. They, in effect, are one of the very few religious groups prepared to face a food crisis. When times are good and social unrest is at a minimum, one doesn’t concern himself too much about problems that might lie ahead and even less plan for them. As Mr. Garrison expressed, “What you see here with all this food is the result of organization and discipline. If I should lose my job, I could go for a several months without buying food, thus stretching out my savings while looking for a job.” (For more information, click here)
http://providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,7585‐1‐4081‐1,00.html
Coincidently, a few days after my conversation with Mr. Garrison, two large U.S. food chains, Sam’s Club and Costco announced rice rationing nationwide, something that had not happened in the U.S. since World War II. Later, I came across articles published in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times recommended stocking up on non-perishable food, not so much as a reserve food supply, but rather as an investment which would return considerably more than buying CDs at your local bank. You reach your own conclusion about rising food prices.
This report has the sole intent of providing information. However, I feel that I need to give a few tips to the reader.
1.
Become informed, and become aware of the realities regarding food and fuel.
2.
Set up a budget, and stick to it, constantly tightening wherever you can.
3.
Be sure you know the difference between what you need and what you want. The difference can be huge.
4.
Begin to stock up on non-perishable food and personal hygiene products.
5.
Join groups that focus on inner growth and well being. 6
7
Understand that we have entered an era of significant changes, and we are being forced to change our living styles. The longer you wait to initiate change the greater the effort will be, but you will change; you will be forced to. We are, as well, leaving a period of ethnic consciousness towards an even greater consciousness, that of the planet. It will not be easy for some, but as we become more aware, we will acquire the capacity to choose a life that is more respectful of the fragility of mother nature, and be given the opportunity to develop a new community of individual relationships and evolve as an integrated humankind.
NOTE: The acknowledge Robert Narhgang for his contribution.
Renato Longato
WWW.RENATOLONGATO.COM
Sipan4@yahoo.com
May 2008 - Georgia USA

UPDATE. Ignore the first long comment as the author is a cowardly idiot, and I don't know yet how to delete his or her verbal shit.

Hard to believe

I've always been as they say "a breast man".
No........I don't look like a breast..........I just like to look at the feminine version.
Makes no difference the size..........although I lean to the slightly larger size...
......(probably influenced by living on a dairy farm, although it could have something to do with the comfort factor when listening to another's heart beat).

That being said, I have to confess that also that other feminine attributes such as a nice rounded (not too, too large) rear can also attract my gaze.

But, THIS article just seems to fly in the face of logic. Hopefully it will not lead to more of the kind of butts that they first showed in the article. (The first picture , featured someone sitting in a single chair in Heathrow airport, when 3 chairs would have been safer.........although still not completely supporting the wide load placed there. I'm talking about needing a "WIDE LOAD" sign like you see on trucks moving heavy equipment down the expressway.

Some one from Big Butts of the World (BBW) must have complained about the first picture. More PC from the LWM.

Hey! I'm not knocking a few extra lbs..........after all there is a reason other than the dental work that I'm on Slimfast...........but come on..........you've seen them in their spandex in WalMart.

All the way home

I was just reminded of the children's poem "This little piggy". Especially the line about the little piggy that squealed all the way home.
Don't really know why since the trip home from Augusta was very comfortable. For the most part I was alert and in no pain. Certainly no squealing.

The tooth extraction( I use the term cutting out) went hopefully as planned.

Don had asked me yesterday if I was nervous and I replied, "not in the least".
And oddly that was true. When I sat down in the Dentist's chair and they put the blood pressure cuff on me, it was a nice 117 over 70 with a pulse of 62 where it stayed through out. Result of (I think) the fact that I've never had bad Doctoring at the VA.

Still in no pain, although, I have taken a good long nap.

The worst part was that Bonnie had left a Beef Roast in the crock pot cooking and she and the old grump had that with rice and gravy and the other items for supper.
I'll you'll be proud to know have stuck to the plan and just finished a can of Slimfast. Chocolate and cool.........what's not to like.

Aside from the looking like a chipmunk from the gauze packing in my mouth, and my lower lip looking like "Bubba" from "Forest Gump", (no there will not be pictures) things seem to be fine. Later in the evening I will take a good dose of prescribed pain medication and see how the night goes.

Now, if I do have to have the rotor cuff repaired down the road, we'll see how that goes. Hopefully physical therapy will head off that possibility.

Whatta day

Did you ever sit down at the keyboard and reflect on the day past.
I do tonight. Maybe I'll work some of the kinks out of my neck and back by typing about it and letting go of the frustrations.
Actually the morning started off really well.........well, if you ignore the fact that I had cold cereal for breakfast. Crunchy bunches of oats clusters with honey does not a meal make. At least not one that will stick to your ribs like a couple of hen apples, some country ham, fresh hot cats head biscuits with butter, or even better, with redeye gravy poured over them till saturated, then topped with good strong Sorghum syrup.......all washed down with a tall glass of milk.....or a pot of strong coffee if you're less a man than I and need a jumpstart to the day.

Well, I got a little distracted thinking of that breakfast.......which I didn't have.
.......but wish I had.

A nice nap for 15 minutes or so after posting all last weeks entries onto quickbooks and paying a few lst of the month bills, helped to ease the stress of spending money I'd rather have kept for a little longer. Oh well, it's not worth much anyway. That's a good reason to trade as much of it for gold as you can if you intend to save any. Of course one must buy that metal right or you might have to hold it for a long time before it increases in value.

I called the VA dental clinic to cancel my teeth cleaning which was set up for Friday. After having 3 wisdom teeth (they never seemed to help me any) cut out tomorrow........I'll probably not feel up to getting them cleaned then.

Why do they call them wisdom teeth anyway. They come in at about the time a person is at their absolute least wise. Maybe because it would be wise to have them removed while young and their roots haven't wrapped around your jawbone like a vine. If I come home tomorrow without a broken jaw I'll consider myself in good shape.

Hopefully they will provide lots of nice pain relieving medication both during and after the torture.....er....I mean....procedure. I'll have to have an adult accompany me to drive me the 2 hours home.

Anybody in the area of the Medical school of Georgia School of Dentistry around 10 in the morning drop by and say hi........I'm sure the staff won't mind. Bring some chips and drinks and we'll make a party of it. Just make sure the Doctors don't have any of the hard stuff. If you see any of the Dental hygiene female students or female Doctor contestants invite them in also. I saw a couple I'd like to see more of last week when I went to my pre-cutting exam.

Why is it that some people just seem to go out of the way to do things in a different way than you tell them........and will run their mouth all the while you are trying to give them instructions or advice.

I had to drive 40 minutes to Hartwell this evening and then back just because Don wouldn't listen to what I was telling him over the phone. I had to threaten to kick his ass or close down our little venture completely if he didn't shut up and pay attention. By the time I left........after writing down each step I wanted him to take tomorrow my back was knotted up like an old post oak tree. Thank God for all the medication the VA has me on. At least I didn't try to cut his throat......this
time.

Like I say......ya'll drop by if you are in the area tomorrow. Failing that Pray for the Doctors and my wife who will have to drive me home and live with me for the next few days.

I'm gonna stock up on slim fast and straws until I can eat solid food once again. Might even lose a few lbs to go along with the lost teeth and blood.

Big Trucks

It seems to me a male thing to love big, loud, high-wheeled 4X4's. And they are not popular in just America either.

Although their cost of gas is much higher than ours, they seem to have just as hard a time giving up their high priced toys and are just as quick to fall into debt to finance their lifestyle.

A great part of the world ruled by central banks may be in for a rude shock.

Once again

.
Once again I sit before the blank page of Blogger and wonder if I really want to (or have to) say any thing.

At first I could use the excuse that I was working in Atlanta for a couple of days and nights......well I didn't really work at night......except for keeping rein on my temper and not kill Don......who talks constantly and even in his sleep.

Then my excuse was that the 'puter was down (due to my not knowing how to do much more than check my email and light blogging.......if you don't count checking the spam porn before deleting........

But now........I think the summer doldrums must have taken hold of my brain a little early this year.

There are much better commentators on politics such as GOC and Guyk ......besides
the choices this year are so abysmal that I'll go to my fall back position and vote Libertarian (hopefully Bob Barr will get the nomination for their party). This thing about voting for the lessor of evils only encourages more evil...and it seems like each time the evil gets a little bit more evil........do we see a pattern there?

Food and gas prices are up.....but I can't rant about those without going into a pages long rant about the underlying fact that those who control the fiat money we use in our day to day life are killing the $ in this country so as to make Trillions in the foreign markets. (F*** the American sheeple who mindlessly react just as they want us to react to the mouthing of their hired talking heads in the LWM (left wing media).

I did have an opportunity to chat with the UGA senior who came out and fixed my computer problems. A senior this year in computer science, he fixed in an hour what took me days to mess up. Geeks are looking more geek like than ever if one is to judge by him. A Smart geek he was. We spoke at length about some of the things young people are taught these days. No Constitutional history ......so as to have an understanding of how and why we have the type of government we do. I told him to read "The Law" for an understanding of where we get our rights. Fits in perfectly with telling him to read the Declaration of Independence. Also suggested "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Richest Man in Babylon" for him to read. I'm sure that you could all list others that would enhance a young persons education. Suggestions are always welcome. Please don't suggest "Women are from Venus and Men are from Mars". Real men don't understand that claptrap.......and if we did....women would change the rules on us anyway.

Don and I made a trip up to Helen, Ga today.......looking for work to help him pay his bills without sponging off of me.......and marking areas to go gold prospecting at with my GPS unit and the Gold Dowsing rods I made up. Several good hits.......just need time to get back up there and do a little panning. He thought he would be able to just pick up rocks and put them in a bucket to bring home and refine.....Ha.

Well, I'm back for at least tonight......we'll continue to take it one day at a time to see how it goes.

Oh Yes! I'm going to have the privilege of having my three remaining wisdom teeth cut out at the tender age of.......well you know. Doc assured me that they'd only be tender for two or three days.........I'm gonna try not to overdo it with the pain medication like I did with the first one (35 years ago in Germany). That one almost cost me a marriage.......did ruin a Big Ben Alarm clock and paint the entire bathroom with the contents of my stomach. (Thankfully) Ya'll pray for me, hear. That experience should get some of the juices flowing anyway.

I don't "Grok"

I've hesitated to comment too much on the alleged "child abuse" case in Texas.

One reason is that I have not made myself aware of all the "fact" in the matter. There is so much information and opinion that is being put out by the media that it is difficult to get any sense of the real "facts" in the matter other than over 400 children were forcibly removed from their parents, their homes and their siblings.
I simply do not trust the media or the government to tell us the plain and simple unvarnished truth. They have too much money or power involved to be impartial, in my opinion.

There may be, in the future, a book written that attempts to lay out all the facts, both pro and con, but by then, will anybody care?


Former state District Judge Scott McCown, who handled hundreds of CPS cases while on the bench in Travis County and now heads the Center for Public Policy Priorities, agreed that, legally, it probably doesn't matter whether "Sarah" is a fiction.

The other reason is that I am a member of the religion from which the FLDS split many years ago after the LDS church renounced the practice of plural marriage (Pologamy).

I feel no need to either defend or condemn the members of the FLDS group. There are many different religions in this country..........some of them embrace the practice of cutting off the heads of chickens and goats. I confess I don't care........while I've never eaten goat (to my knowledge) I like chicken........fried, broiled or rotisseried.......perhaps goat is just as good (tastes like chicken).

The overriding concern that I have (and it matters less than nothing whether you agree with me or not) is that an overly powerful government continues to take upon themselves more and more control of our personal lives. They don't give me enough medications to cause me to like that.

If anybody reading this has anything to do with the disposition of my final remains and anybody will spring the money to put up a granite marker...........I want only one word carved thereon.......

Mel Gibson uttered it as the last living act of a tortured dying man in "Braveheart"



Freedom


Hopefully there will be someone in the distant future who still remembers the meaning of the word............and reading it .......will weep, for what once was.

Twilight

here at the kudzu grotto...........everything is quite and still. Through the tall oaks, with their immature leaves still straining to grow into a decent shade, I can see over the stand of pines across the road the last glow of the sun wrapping around the horizon providing a faint.....last bit of light.
The sky is that clear royal blue of a cloudless night, dotted here and there by the stars bright enough to twinkle their blue white light down through the years that separate us.
So quite........ and the wind so light that you have to stand absolutely still in order to feel it............that you can almost imagine there are no problems in the world.

Yet, movement toward the door brings the racket-ing of the Big Eye in the corner of the living room.............Talking heads with their subtle messages, warning us against non-conformity. Political aspirants declaring what is good for us.
Idiots still pander to the Barbarians at the gates.

Sometimes I think my Dalmatian old maid bitch, with her one brown eye and one blue, is a much more content creature than we. Almost makes me want to crawl into to her 55 gallon barrel.....lined with fresh ceder shavings and wheat straw......and get away from the world for a while. Let the rage and *RCOBOE dissolve away with thoughts of the next ham bone coming our way.


* red covering of Blood over eyes

More proof.........

.
..........That Some people should not be allowed to breed.

The question becomes how do we decide which ones will be allowed.

Hitler, during the 1930'd and WWII, tried to create a master race by selecting the finest Aryan specimens to mate together. Near the small town of Budingen
where I was stationed in the early-mid 70's, there was some distance to the west an old convent where the young nuns were basically made slaves to the Nazi's and forced to breed with these so called superior males. The cemetery outside the convent contains the remains of many who killed themselves either during the war or afterward as soon as their captors fled or were killed.

Maybe ol' Adolph didn't have it quite right..........but, I think maybe something needs to be done.

Oh, Quite. I don't advocate anything like that. But possibly a return to natural selection will come about either by natural, economic or worst case collapse of civilization when the numbers of too stupid to walk and chew gum reach some magic point that I can only wonder at.

All I know is that when I ran my Dairy farm......I would selectively mate each cow to a bull that would increase the chances of improving the herd. Those that didn't make the cut became hamburger.

Maybe we just need to increase the number of wolves in our society to weed out the weak and dumb.

Where would you likely end up were that the case??

Some people have an understanding

Of how thing work, better than others. Are They right??

Maybe so........but this is an election year. Don't expect rational thinking from any politician from the city level on up.


GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

We Survived..

.
.......the worst that Mother Nature could throw at us.......

Well....that is if you were listening to the local weather mavens last evening.

Every since a small wind tore the top off of the Georgi Convention Center a few weeks ago every time we get an errant cloud coming our way we get these warnings of Doom and Gloom.

But we all woke up safe and sound this morning listening to the grass grow at supersonic speed. I cranked up the power mower and bush hogged the grass back down to hopefully a size that I can handle with the old fashioned reel mower with only the sound of the blades clicking and my heart thumping to disturb the mating rituals of the Blue Jays and Crows. Please be assured that even though the blood pumping around in my head sounds like a 747 trying to take off at max gross weight..........no blood vessels have popped yet.

That may not be the case for much longer though. (more later)

I had determined that today would be a wasted one. The wife had spent the night at her sisters helping sew some new curtains........so it was cereal for the old grump and Slimfast for me. Oh......didn't I mention that the last weigh in at the VA put me perilously close to breaking the 200 lb mark. Now they do say that muscle weighs more than fat.....and I am big boned from a bit of heavy labor and lifting over the past 30 years..........but there is no excusing the amount of excess flesh I'm carrying around. I may be twice the man I was when I joined the Army back in '69..
......but to weigh almost twice that is intolerable.
So Slimfast is going to be my friend for a while.....along with a sensible dinner of course.

The wasteral day was history when the youngest daughter called and asked if I could come make her clothes dryer stop squeaking. I would have told her to get the husband out of the woods chasing the elusive turkey, but the opportunity to see the Grand daughter outweighed any thoughts of that.

When the obligatory kicking and banging on the appliance didn't do the job....I was reduced to actually examining and taking apart the dryer. Aside from being old....the problem turned out to be about a half inch layer of lint all around the ring the tub runs around on. For my troubles I was rewarded by the opportunity to tickle the grand daughter and draw around her hands and feet with the crayons.
Well that and to hear her squeal "Paw Paw" when I came in the door.

Soon it was almost time for her nap.......as evidenced by the droopy eyelids and crankyness............So

I decided to stop at the local barber shop I'd spotted on the way thru Watkinsville.
Three chairs and little waiting. Unfortunately............

Let me just warn any of you gents who might be traveling through and decide to have your ears lowered............
Don't.....I repeat Don't sit down in the chair closest to the door.....especially if they is an ancient old fart standing behind it who talks and grunts to himself the whole time he is butchering your hair.
My God.......my ears haven't stuck out from my head this much since I was seven.

This just goes to show that when your regular barber is out of town gambling his money away on the Gulf Coast, you should just bite the bullet and wait until he returns. Nobody should have to walk around for the next 3 weeks until the scalped patches (would have been better if I'd had my head shaved) grow back in.

When I got home and had a chance to really look at my haircut, the little veins in the middle of my forehead started to pulse like worms were crawling through them.

Anyway that was my day........and aside from really wanting to go in the kitchen and polish off that honey bun on the counter right now............I seem to have survived.

Hope you did also.

It was a simple thing.............

Really I don't ask for much.

Just that everyone do exactly as I tell them.......Or......

Sorry.......actually said what I mean for a moment there.

All I wanted to do was to change the password for my AT&T email account. (couldn't be because I'd forgotten the old one or anything)

Click here........click there.........call customer no service where I connect with Don Carter of Bangladesh or somewhere (and I'm Superman). Who's command of his native language is......
......I'm sure.......perfect. It just doesn't happen to be English.

Well.......he proceeds to take up an hour of my time and gets it where I can no longer connect to the internet and my desktop has disappeared.........WTF. Then He tells me that he has helped me all he can and for me to call some other company and they would fix the problem that he caused. Again.......WTF?

So I call customer no service again.........This time I connect with a pleasant young lady from Alabama........who although she went to Auburn I still think had to be the epitome of southern womanhood. Not only is she knowledgeable......but she quickly understands the problem and doesn't ask me to disconnect this or that or shut off the computer. No she simply and quickly ascertained the problem and led me step by step through the steps to fix it.

Problem solved..........and to the dismay of the rest of the world.......I can once again peek into the minds and hearts of politicians and confirm once again that we would be better off with a choice on the ballot "NONE OF THE ABOVE".

Many people are asking for God to Bless the USA. I sure hope he is listening and doesn't require us to press one for english.

I got nothing

Nothing really yanks my chain this evening.

So I was wandering around in the Documents I've stored from time to time and found a couple of nuggets that you might like to chew on and mull over.

I don't remember where or when I picked them up.......just that they seem appropriate during this political season. I'll sure be glad when November is over. Which ever way it goes, these words will still hold true.

The words of James Madison, as reported in The Federalist Patriot 05-11:
“If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their own hands; they may appoint teachers in every State, county and parish and pay them out of their public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children, establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union;”

The creation of a cabinet-level Department of Education and numerous laws up to and including George Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” pretty well make this true. Every school board in the country has extra employees on board just to take care of complying with Federal regulation.

“they may assume the provision of the poor;”

Starting with Roosevelt’s Social Security, through Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, and on into every federal giveaway, tax dollars are taken from working Americans, filtered through vast federal and state bureaucracies and distributed without requirement for responsibility to hordes of ready hands, most of whom will then vote for any political fool who will promise more from the pockets of the productive in America.

“they may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post-roads;”

Federal dollars are stripped from states, filtered through yet another federal bureaucracy and distributed as political prizes, giving us roads named after egocentric politicos who act as barons over their fiefdoms, assuaging their consciences and demonstrating their nobility by dispensing largesse to the suffering masses

“in short, every thing, from the highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police, would be thrown under the power of Congress.”

The allure of Federal monies allows the Federal government ot dictate everything from local taxes to speed limits by threatening the withholding of Federal funds if state and local laws fail to comply with Federal “guidelines”

… Were the power of Congress to be established in the latitude contended for, it would subvert the very foundations, and transmute the very nature of the limited Government established by the people of America.” –James Madison



"The masses have never thirsted after truth. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim."


It would be interesting to hear what you think.

How quickly…..

….does one forget in the midst of all our trials and tribulations, in the middle of our day to day scrabbling for the means of existence, and hopefully, some meaning, some reason for us to have a right to belong here, that we do not exist alone on this daub of mud and water spinning thru space at……….X.. Mph around a relatively small sun on the outer reaches of our galactic cluster. Just one among untold other galaxies with uncountable suns and unknowable numbers of planets, all merrily spinning around. And their inhabitants, if any, totally unaware of us, and if they are aware of the possibility of our being, would probably soon forget about us, because they are also dealing with their own trials, their own scrabbling about for the means of their existence.

How quick are we to label others. As gooks, chinks, japs, savages, barbarians, mooslimes, or whatever we choose to label them.. Just because we really don’t want to take the time to identify with their humanity, because they look, or smell differently, or they believe in different gods, or like the French they eat snails.

How quickly we can lump them in to some anonymous, catch all group. Where we can hide from their humanity.

It’s so easy to let others have to deal with them on a personal level.

I've been tagged......

......By the Delectable Darlin' Miss Jean.

This meme originated at Smith Magazine and has now
reached my little blog world, thanks to Miss Jean.

Just as I don't look at my whole face when I'm shaving, my belly when I get out of the shower, I also don't care to look too deeply into my brain.........I'm a little afraid of what I might find there.

There are battlefields more scary than the ones where bullets and bombs whiz around..
........caves that would make the one Luke Skywalker went into seem to be illuminated by stadium lights.......swamps more tangled than the Okefenokee, where the cottonmouth and alligator roam.

Why should I allow myself to fall prey to a silly meme?? How could I condense the essence of who and what I am into 6 words. One word descriptions would seem to work better.........husband.........father......grandfather........JERK......asshole....
Pilot (once upon a time)....Warrior........paranoid.......crazy.........overweight
....armed...........(not so) dangerous ...all these and many more would seem to be much more accurate in their way. Six words would seem to come too close for comfort....
......plus I would have to think about it for a while.......something that makes my head hurt and eyes water (that might be the pollen).

I shall think........



And having thunk........


Just now, really, beginning to learn.

I'm not going to tag anyone..........many of the few who read me don't have their own blog, but I'd be interested in hearing from those who do that I don't know and also those I know who don't. It'll increase the number of comments and I just might get a greater insight into those I love.

Dumb ass me

Those nice graded coins I was bemoaning..........

I almost sold them for less than I paid.......just to get most of my money back.

Turns out that 3 dates with the same mint mark are a little more valuable than I, or the guy who sold them to me, realized.

I might actually break even.

Even a blind hog finds an acorn now and again.

Helps if you keep rooting around though.

Hanging it up.......

..........well I would if I were actually pretending that I could write. I just like to rant and rave to quiet the ringing in my ears for a while. (actually it doesn't help, just lets me ignore it for a while)

But if I did have aspirations of being considered a writer.........reading This guy's blog has cured me.

Go and read.

H/T to LL

The Cult of

.
..........THE BLACK ATHLETE........

"Go easy on them" WTH

I'm still fuming after I heard about This on the radio an hour ago. Even knowing now that they used a BB gun.

And I must say that it's not restricted to only blacks. White athletes are also not known for their respect of others and others property.

Why the hell would these three........fine upstanding examples of product from our "Public" schools just go up and shoot this woman with anything...........even a spitball?

Could it be that for the past several years they've been coddled and catered to because they were athletically gifted? Did no one stop to consider that intellectually they were incapable of interacting with the general public? Did they receive so much praise for how fast they could run, or how far they could throw a ball that they considered themselves above the bounds of common decency or the law?

And the woman wants the prosecutor to "go easy on them".

I say that since they are already familiar with shooting at people that they should be immediately sent to Iraq where they should be given the duty of walking in front of either conveys feeling for IED's, or pulling point in imam Madhatter's town winning the hearts and minds of the local Al cutie brigade.

It's kinda like telling a 2 year old not to pick their nose, then when they do anyway just tell them "mommies not happy". No, smack their hand........the lesson will last longer than 20 seconds. Not much........but the next time they'll check to see if you are looking the other way.

Pushing out to sea on an ice flow with no paddle would be too good for them.

And what's up with his name? My guess is the closest his ancestors ever came to a Farouq was when some Arab sold his g-g-grandmother to a slave boat captain.

Just Damn.

What the Hell? Over

I was mentored in refining precious metals by an ol' timer. He started going mining with his grandfather when he was about 6 years old.........riding in a mule drawn wagon for two day to their hidden creek where they would stay for about 6 weeks or the flour gave out and return home with enough to pay the property taxes each year and have a little left over. Can you imagine how low taxes were in the 30's? Gold was regulated at $20 per ounce in those days.

One of the first things he told me was to beware of falling in love with anything Gold.
Silver to him was a byproduct to be dumped out. Bet he wishes he could call back a few buckets full now.

Of course I had to learn the hard way. Holding onto gold jewelry hoping someone will buy it keeps you from having money to buy more. Jewelry stores are learning to their dismay now that to try to own all the gold in their shop is going to keep them in the poor house. Ol' King Midas learned the hard way too that you can't eat gold. Selling it is the only way to keep your money working for you.

So can anyone tell me why I bought 27 MS 63 silver Dollars and 4 Gold coins in one day. Anybody out there still a coin collector?. I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I want to sell you.

Easter

Tomorrow is a day celebrated by Christians Worldwide.

I hope that all of you who do..........celebrate it with those you love.

I'll be having most of the kids and Grandkids here to help me eat Sub Sandwiches made here in our kitchen. The young 'uns will hunt eggs in the green grass of the backyard. The adults will catch up with each other and renew each other's spirits. Prayers will be said........necks will be hugged.........OH yes......Potato Salad will be consumed. Aged one day in the refrigerator.......makes it better don't you know.

For now.........after a long day.....following a night of little sleep........a short prayer:

"Oh Lord.......Kdzu is so tired......please bless Kdzu, and all my friends. Amen

To all you......................

..............MOTHERS everywhere.

Now what could be on my mind with a lead in like that.

The wife has just returned from a week and a half care giving mission to older daughter's house.
LL is sick and the little monkey is rooting her off the bed, when we all know she'd rather be rolling around on it with someone else.
And there are millions.............nay considering the population of the earth........
....possibly Billions of mothers for whom the following is true.



God Bless Mothers.

Without them where would we be?

A stain on the wall.........perhaps?

Aren't you glad......

.
.........that you don't live HERE!

I think that it is human nature to want to live free. We want to be free to exist as we see fit for ourselves.....to live where we want....to enjoy the just fruits of our labors......to love whom we will and how we will.

That is unless, of course, you haven't totally been brainwashed by decades of religious schooling......often to the exclusion of subjects more apt to make you think for yourself. The more secular schooling you have, the more you question WHY. Why do we have to live as our ancestors did hundreds of years ago. Why are women considered inferior and chattel to be owned by their husbands or fathers and controlled by the religious edicts of men who are threatened by the sight of an ankle? Modesty of course is a virtue. Slavery is a vice unnatural to man.

Of course there are always men and women who will subjugate themselves to others for money or security........or simply because they are too lazy to take responsibility for themselves.........preferring someone else tell them where to work, live, act.

But, rational, thinking (and these are unfortunately in all to short supply) people want to be able to choose for themselves.

So I strongly support the protesters written of here.

But a society which has a secret police who spy on their own citizens rightfully exercising their freedoms.......as opposed to secret intelligence gathering agencies concerned with protecting you from enemies is a society which I'd prefer not to live among.

You have to wonder if many of them will live out the year. Full control indeed!

UPDATE

UPDATE:

On the salmon whatever it would be called..........Both the ol' Grump and I agree.....
......It's pretty good. I like it a little better cold, but for lunch today I scooped up a big spoonful.....mashed it flat and flopped it over in a skillet with a little bacon grease. Put a little crust on it....warmed it a bit........OH MAMA.

Next time I'll likely try it with about half of the ingredients except for the salmon which I'll leave the same. Can you tell I like salmon?
Same mixture without the peas and twice the salmon would make fine salmon patties.
Cook up a tray full of cats head biscuits and make some gravy out of the grease....
........and you're tongue will likely try to beat your brains out licking the taste off your chin.

Sorry I didn't get to the wieners........I've gotta eat all this before it goes bad.

Looking for the Green

.
Ever tried to grow Grass?

No, not the kind with 5 leaves.........you know who you are.

The kind you walk barefoot through........lie down in and get chiggers around your crotchital areas. The kind you seen in those pictures in Homes Beautiful or other sissy magazines of similar ilk.

The place we live in has what undoubtedly is some of the worst soil known to man anywhere short of the Sahara. And the rocks are bigger here.

I holler at my grandson for digging in the bank alongside the driveway........
.....but really I suspect he'll go far in life because anybody that'll work that hard to dig down a few inches ain't got no quit in him.

Everybody around here is all worried about the possibilities of thunderstorms coming tomorrow. After all a tornado did try to clean up some of downtown Atlanta last weekend. Damn fools will just rebuild.......they oughta plant a little kudzu around there to soak some of the rain up and keep Peachtree creek from flooding every time we get 1/4 inch of rain.

I kinda figured that if it really does rain tomorrow that today would be a good time to put out some high powered fertilizer and spread a little yard patch on the bare spots. Then, I figured, if we do have a tornado, it might be a good idea to roll out some of that ground cover that holds the seedlings in place if by some miracle they do happen to sprout.
Also might be good to put it where the neighbors mud washes down into the yard and down the driveway. He gave up on getting grass to grow around his house and just drives his pickup around between our houses.........causing his grass to grow downward and not hold the soil in place at all....... at all. He's a pretty good ol' boy for all that........even if he does have people coming to buy stuff out of a trailer in his back yard. I asked him about it one time..........he told me he was just storing some furniture out of his living room there while they remodeled. But I haven't noticed any work going on inside the house..

There is something about living in a mixed neighborhood. The Blacks will not give me an honest answer......even their last name. I guess that's so I can't give them up to the cops..............And the Latinos stay behind their 6 ft. privacy fence and never invite us to the goat barbecues. That's alright........one of these days I'm gonna fire up the grill and make some of my award winning.....have to kill you if you learn the receipe......chili. I'm not saying it's good or anything but I saw a friend at church backhand his 6 year old kid for asking for another bite out of his bowl.

Anyhoo, if the rain doesn't wash all the seed away I may have gained another square foot of growing grass.........we'll be holding out breath for that. I went and bought an old fashioned reel mower because of a lack of green. The 48 inch cutting deck on the 18.5 hp riding mower just blows the dirt around.

On the other hand......if all the hundreds of dollars spent on this excuse for a lawn do take hold..........somebody may have to lead as search party to find me.

Oh Yeah, I forgot to mention that yesterday was St. Patrick's day. I wore my John Deere socks with the green toes and heels so I wouldn't get pinched. Hope none of ya'll drank too much green beer.

Batchalor cooking

While mama's away taking care of the elder daughter whilst she is recuperating from surgery........the ol' grump and I have to sorta fend for ourselves.....with me being the one to make sure he eats on a regular basis and semi-sorta-kinda wholesome type of food. Of course his lunch always consists of a biscuit and bottle of Boost. I have noticed him scrounging a bite of pound cake or a milky way bar in between times.
Considering that 3 years ago we wouldn't have taken bets he'd last the week......I'd say he's doing well

Anyhoo, since I have to be in charge of supper and with no money to go to Arby's or Subway......it is my beholden duty to do my best.

Let's see........

We've got 3 cans of Salmon........Eureka.....that's what we'll have....something with salmon.

Alrighty then.........

Preheat oven to 450
3/4 cup each self rising cornmeal and flour.....mixed
Melt whole stick of butter in 1/2 cut water to boil.....pour into meal and flour
Mix well
2/3 cup whole milk mixed in
1 medium onion....chopped.........pour in
1 can mushroom soup (a favorite of mine)........pour in
Mix again
Add 4 hen apples and mix all this mess together
1 lb can of Salmon.......If'n it's only 14 1/2 ounces don't worry as this is approximately 1 troy pound......close enough.
Stir like heck or hell depending on mood
Oh yeah.......I almost forgot........somewhere in all this mixing and stirring add in a pack of frozen English peas or one can if you rather. be sure to drain....or not depending on your preference. Might be a little soggier is all.
Grease a casserole dish big enough to hold all this without it rising and spilling over.
Cook for 40 minutes or you can't stand it any more.......longer if you forget. I set the timer and will adjust according to what it looks like.
I guess you could crumble a few Ritz crackers on top a few minutes before done. Again I'll have to see what it looks like.




Eat till full.......if good. If not eat all you can and give the rest to the dogs.

Tune back in tomorrow when the chef will try to make weiners edible.

Remember to keep the # for poison control posted by the telephone.

The Cart Whisperer

I've been a hunter most of my life.

I started out with a Daisy BB gun. Didn't take me long to master the art of poppin' sparrows, Field Larks, Mocking Birds.........and once in the snow.....a Cardinal.
Tin cans were toast....a cardboard box became a German pillbox to be overrun.

But............when my boyish enthusiasm led me to consider larger prey.......such as my sisters (sorry girls)............My FATHER made it clear in NO uncertain terms that I was using the wrong caliber weapon.

Eventually I moved on to a single shot .410 that blew back and tried to blind me.....
.......but was hell on squirrels and an occasional foray with Dad and Uncles after "Birds", the delectable Bob White Quail. On my 16th birthday I received a Fox Savage double barrel 16 ga. shotgun. I loved that gun (still have it in my Gun Case ..........already I had been allowed to venture into the woods on our farm alone with a gun and as many shells as could be stuffed into a pair of jeans. Later......in Germany I moved up to a Winchester 12 ga. and was quite deadly on the skeet range. An HVA Carl Gustof of Sweden .308 Win. made at Forenade Fabriksverken rounded out my long gun collection until my Dad died and I inherited his guns which include my Great Grandfather's 10 ga. double barrel English field gun made by J & W Tolley in Birmingham England about 1865.

Gradually I somehow moved away from going after prey with a gun. Somehow loses some of it's allure after you've been both prey and hunter of the top of the food chain. I survived that test and figured if it couldn't shoot back, half of the fun was missing.

Today I hunt for hidden treasures and bargains that have more value than I pay for them.

But others have different talents for coaxing the object of their desires to come.

Witness one fellows relentless pursuit................



Makes you tear up a little doesn't it.

I see you looking.......

.
.......And I have to wonder if you find the rambling and rantings of interest or just want to see what I'll think of next.
some days the visits are from far away countries.........from all around the globe. It would be interesting to hear the thoughts of people in Finland.....or China......Peru.... and Hong Kong.

The internet has within it the ability to pull people around the world together.
To exchange information and ideas.....to seek a greater understanding of the desires and necessities of each others culture. I'm sure to a small degree that is happening.
Maybe more among the young. I was visiting a friend yesterday and noticed a book on his shelf with what is considered a provocative title......."The Nigger on Narcissus".
It was a tale of a black man on a sailing ship written in 1908. I tried to buy it. My friend said it wasn't for sale. Apparently he has a collection of old books and many of them have titles and subjects that we here in the USA no longer consider cool to utter. They're just words.......they only have the power to hurt or insult if someone allows them to. unfortunately today too many people are looking for a reason to protest any perceived insult.........whether intended or not.

Ow well........I've found after many, many long years of trying that I don't make much of an impact on a macro scale..........I'll now confine myself to the Micro world around me. The rest can muddle on as best they can.

The Kudzu will be starting to put out leaves shortly......and again I'll shade myself within their fuzzy comforting arms.

Lost anything lately

.
LIKE YOUR F===ING MIND

Can anybody think of any good reason why we shouldn't call our servicemen and women out of the immediate vicinity and just set off a small neutron bomb in berkley?



After all we could use the buildings to move all the homeless and urban outdoorsmen there. Put a big fence around it..........maybe a deep moat in case they tried to dig their way out. Furnish them with some sourdough bread starter......some flour.......maybe give them pellet guns so they can hunt tree rats and ground vermin.
There is most likely enough ganga and mushrooms laying around to keep them stuporfied for a long, long, long time.

I am so very glad that I don't live within reasonable driving distance........well that and the fact that the meds mostly keep me from thinking about it too much.......
.....otherwise the ol' .308 Win. would have a smoking hot barrel.

And I would feel no remorse at all........at all.

Confirmation

Others........ as well as myself......... have said for years that I'm Crazy.

I wasn't a charter member of The John Birch Society........but I was quite active in the late 70's and early 80's.......and while they have the reputation for being kooks..
.........based on personal research and observation...........they for the most part were decent hardworking folks with a love for this country and a greater love for the founding documents that were the base the country is built upon. So that fact only testifies to the supposition that I'm a kook.

I volunteered to join the Army at a time and for an MOS that guaranteed I'd be sent into some of the hottest combat zones in what used to be South Vietnam. That probably only speaks to the fact that I crave a little adventure. That much is still true. Mostly I'm shy, retiring, reticent (OK, relatives be quite) and don't get involved in anything exciting. Yet, I've been known to jump off into the deep end of the financial world without looking first to see if there is any water in the pool. Can't say that I exactly excelled at swimming.........but at least I was out there Dog Paddling. Hey ........it's how I get my kicks.......leave me alone.

Never had much desire for drugs (never used any other than prescription, as will be seen) smoking, drank for 6 years, nothing in the last 33. These things only make me a dull boy and unusual in this day and time.

Today I had my first visit to the VA clinic here in Athens. It's 4 miles away as opposed to going to Decatur which is as far as I'm concerned is the middle of Atlanta......only whiter and a little more upscale......albeit trending downward as all the old Jews in the area die off. And the traffic........ Well lets just say that I passed no cars on the way this morning and had to stop at no red lights.

So I'm getting acquainted with the new Doc. Cute young black girl....can't be long out of medical school.......very smart and with a great sense of humor........
.......Told me I had the option of refusing to submit to the ol' digital rectal exam.
......Of course she highly recommended it.......laughed like hell when I told her I'd submit......but only under protest........then realized I'd just volunteered.
Well........she was cute........and slender.......with tiny fingers.......and it's not every day you get a good looking female to play with your ass......Sadly I was not allowed to return the favor. These facts only say I have a slight masochist streak in me.

So she agreed that I should keep on taking all the pills and potions that keep me from screaming incoherently at the other crazy people in the asylum........now I just snigger behind my hand as I gleefully keep up a running commentary in my mind about all that's going on. At least that's the case until I get to the head examiner who will no doubt want to tweak and change all the things I've spent the last several years getting regulated to my satisfaction. I can still play with knives and guns as long as I don't get too obvious about it. That scares the keepers of the gates and doors and they pass the word that I'm not allowed to go out and play.

I also had a great talk with the HMFIC of paperwork about getting a new ID Card...
.........I'd cut holes in the old one trying to find the locater device they plant in all of them. I keep mine wrapped in aluminum to foil their efforts to track my movements. This only shows that I'm cautious.

He and I agreed that we are sure glad Bush is leaving office come next January, 20th even though we had both voted for him twice.
We also agreed that considering the likely candidates to take his place.......If we had the chance we'd vote for him again.

Like I say "Crazy".

What a useless TURD

Where in the hell is his common sense.

This is another example of why cousins.........close or distant........should never marry.

I had a collie once when I was young. Frisky we called her. A beautiful dog........
..loving and obedient. But dumb as a bucket of rocks. Same with ol' Charlie boy. I think any brains he had, he spilled in Camilla's knickers.

The Queen......God save her........knows exactly how dumb this fart enclosed in skin really is. Watch for her to hang on till her dying breath and then threaten to live forever unless Charles promises to withdraw in favor of Good Son William.
Diana's final revenge so to speak.

The world had warmed up almost a whole degree in the last 100 years...........that is until this year. You folk up in the great white north of the Mason Dixon line can testify to that.

They really should just send Charlie boy up to Scotland and let him hike through the heather with ol' horse face till they both just keel over. Then raise a huge monument in London sorta like Victoria did when 'Bertie' left for good.

Moonbats..................the rich and famous seem to breed more than their share of them.

Oughta put some working stiff in charge of every country. Pay them just enough to cover their utilities and tell them that any decision they make will impact them first. If they do good......their standard of living goes up...........bad...
.........Just the opposite.
Betcha they'd start thinking real quick about every one they made.

Just getting along

You know how that feels? Just gettin' along.
Nothing too much going wrong. Not much more than usual going right.
That sorta in-between feeling......where you don't want to rock the boat.

And then a cousin calls........1st cousin once removed. They grew up a hundred miles away and so never really knew them until almost grown......about 40 or so. Only really ever seen them maybe a dozen times..............

But......They're cousins...ya know........and there is a bond there that's deeper than the amount of time you spend with them.

And....he's crying......almost incoherent ......and you just know that this is going to be one of those difficult calls........one of those......why me, calls.
But, you soldier up....he's your cousin.....family.......closer than the distance.

His daughter died (aged 36) following complications of a stroke suffered last week which led to bleeding of the brain......surgery.......swelling of the brain......doctors unsure of cause .......and they just ran out of time and options.

Life is like that sometimes......... one day you are posting cute pictures of the grandkids on the blog........the next you are trying to imagine how you would feel if it were your daughter........
I saw the grief on my grandparents and sisters faces when my Dad passed...... and still I can only imagine what it would be like to see your own child lying there in the hospital bed, slowly cooling.......remembering all the times you felt you could have done better........If ONLY
It's always hard at times like that to remember the good.

Ya'll say a little prayer for my cousin David to receive some comfort

Thank you.

Diggin' in th' dirt

Sometimes a guy or gal just has to get outside.........to dig in the rich, cool dirt......to unearth a new rock.....or worm....or just an old root.



Or perhaps like his younger and more free spirited cousin........
.........you might prefer to dig elsewhere.




To each their own ........ I guess.

From the back 1/4 of the kudzu acreage...on a nice pre-spring day.

Now I gotta go watch Saving Grace on the boob tube.

Let's see what you're made of

Those who visit here more than twice probably realize that I love the country our founding fathers endowed us with........even if I do rant and rave about some of the things that are going on today ...........that take us farther and farther away from the republic they established.

That ranting and raving does not, however, extend to our military personnel, who for the most part serve honorably and faithfully for a cause greater than some can see.
My Sister Juanita and her husband have had two out of three of their sons serve most honorably in Iraq and the third son will most likely ship out within the next 6 months or less. I'm unable to properly express my pride in them and my sincere thanks for their service.

While I rant and rave here, I am very bad at doing the right thing and write to my nephews while they were overseas. I hope they understand........I still have a lot of me to retrieve from my war.

They are young.....as I was......and being away from home for the first time overseas where there are people who want to, and will, kill you.........and where your friends and comrades have been killed and wounded is a hurtful thing that will cause you to build your own little wall around you. It is so nice to be reminded that there are people who support you and want you to come home safely when the job is done.

One person who always wrote to me while I was in Quang Tri was my Aunt Eloise. Ironically my second duty was postal officer. I however considered my self first and only a pilot.........so I relied on my non-com and enlisted men to handle most of that duty........I only had to sign where they told me to. They did a great job.

I want go into all the reasons I was not getting much mail from my bride of about 2 years except to say that is was always painful not to receive as many letters in return as I sent out. My Aunt Eloise always came through for me. She wrote all the time.........and would spray so much perfume on the envelope that the guys were always sure that there was a big romance going on back home. Of course I would never stoop so low as to wave the envelope under the noses of my friends.....most of whom were not married.......we were after all old men of 20 years.

All of this to say that I know what it's like to be in a bad area and wondering if the folks back home were still there and supporting us. The dumb mass media back then were just as bad are they are now about telling the truth.......remind me sometimes to tell you of how I flipped off Dan Rather and his Cameraman. I'm pretty sure that bit of tape never saw anything but the cutting floor.

The most lovely and talented and Patriotic LL has posted something that you need to participate in. A letter and Email campaign to some Marines in Afghanistan. They've recently been dissed by their inferiors on some left wing rag or other.
Follow the links in LL post and do your part to let them know that their country supports and loves them. I don't care what you think about whether we should be there or if George Bush is to blame or Bill Clinton.......you need to step up to the plate and give these guys a big round of applause. Your names will not be used nor will you email addresses be compromised...see the explanation on the link you will follow......so what are you waiting for.

God Bless you and God Bless the Service Men and Women of The United States of America.

HooRah for the Brits

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I see by THIS report that Prince Harry is going to serve in Afghanistan. This following a long tradition of service on the front lines by the second or third in line of succession to the throne of England. His Uncle Edward flew a naval helicopter in the successful defense of the Falkland Islands against the Argentinians.

There was a time in this countries history when the upper class considered it a duty to serve the country that guaranteed their freedoms and Liberty. Sadly this no longer is the case. The best and brightest consider it beneath them to soil the knees of their pants. They'd rather stay in their Ivy League castles and shit their pants if anybody looks crosseyed at them.

Just one more measurement of the slide into oblivion unless the common sense people rise up in revolt and take this country back from the bureaucratic namby-pambies who have sold us out to the overlords.

There used to be a hue and cry against the One World Government crowd. They learned their lesson and started working behind the scenes to accomplish the same thing.

Oh, you may very well argue against this thesis...........but I doubt very much you can prove it.........and would love to see you try.

One bit of evidence is the FBI wasting time investigating ROGER Clemens. What the HELL... over. Just another case of the government trying to rule every aspect of our lives. The only ones who should give a shit about his alleged steroid us is major league baseball and the team he plays for. If they want to investigate .............fine............if they find enough evidence and want to fine, kick him out of baseball or whatever........that should be between he and them.
Just another example of the stupid and very lucrative for governments of all levels......GWOD......Great War On Drugs

In my version of freedom and liberty.....the government is only supposed to protect me from harming anyone else or they me. If I were to choose to stone myself out of contact with reality and hurt no one else by either force or fraud......that should be my privilege. Some wit ........with a few wits about him.....once said that "that Government is best which governs least" They were right.. But then they were talking about a people who believed in freedom and liberty. I tend to blame this on the fact that about a hundred years ago we gave women the right to vote. Been downhill every since. Girls............prove me wrong.

I note another disturbing statistic today. How the hell did things ever reach this point. Besides having to support every Tom, Dick and Harry who choose to come to this country illegally and spawn their young for us to feed with foodstamps and provide well fare and health benefits and well as school the little bastards........we have to feed and support 1/100 of the population in jail and all the jailers and assorted caretakers that go along with them.

I'm of an age and guaranteed income level that I consider moving to another country....a lot........and it pisses me the hell off. We should make this country better.........not watch from the sidelines as it continues it's sorry, sad, inexorable slide into the footnotes of history. I'll vote in the November election......but I won't care if my candidate wins. Honest to goodness I hope it's another Florida fiasco that drags on for freaking years........at least then the government will get little accomplished.

Just my view

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The current Shrill cries and protestations from both major political parties have not lessened my enjoyment of the circus where all the candidates are promising us more circuses and bread to boot. I am just a bit jaded of pointing and giggling.... ...welllll....I'll allow as I have sometimes ranted a little.......not as excessively as beforetimes but, still.......a little.

I'll simply copy the following two passages from two of my favorite books, and let you decide if any one of the declared candidates would swear to uphold same.....and so garner support from me.

"It is not true that the function of law is to regulate our consciences, our ideas, our wills, our education, our opinions, our work, our trade, our talents, or our pleasures. The function of law is to protect the free exercise of these rights, and to prevent any person from interfering with the free exercise of these same rights by any other person."

"one may not condemn a man for succeeding because he knows how. Neither may one with justice take away from a man what he has fairly earned, to give to men of less ability".

Comments???

Road trip.........

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......Sorta.....

I'd have thought last night would have been spent in nocturnal dreams of the vague and disturbing type......especially after sliding to the floor and low crawling to the bedroom.

Not so.......for at around 12:30 I'm sitting on the side of the bed, replying to the wife's query as to "what's the matter" with a squeaky "It Hurts".

So off to the kitchen to warm the rice filled heating pad in the microwave and attempt to find comfort on the big recliner. This helps the muscles in the neck but nothing for the sharp cutting pain in the shoulder.........so off to the freezer for the ice pack.

At last........freeze the nerves in the shoulder while heating the neck......
....Hey don't look at me like that.........I'd have murdered your sister for a little relief. My way didn't require any bloodshed.

One would think that today would have been spent in taking ease on the couch watching Tim Russert pander to his masters.....(whoever they are).....
But no.......sometimes you have to get out of the confines of the nursing home.....
.....and so.....

Off to the hills to the north.

Vectoring the Red Ram up 441 through Commerce (where Bill Anderson....ol' Wispering Bill his-own-self......wrote the hit 'City Lights' while working as a DJ there long and long ago. (sorry no you tube version available)
Then up through Baldwin Ga. home of the big red apple............sadly all the once productive orchards have been abandoned to progress or simply to grow rampantly, unpruned, neglected like red headed step children.........their branches reaching skyward like witches fingers.........and you think....what a shame, no one cares for them any more. Once you could buy local apples and boiled peanuts along the road. (if you've never tried this, you have missed out on a little bit of heaven on earth.....the salty goodness of the goobers perfectly balanced with crisp, juicy bliss in a red or green skin.

Onward.........

Up 105 across 115 to 17 past the Nacoochee indian mounds. Some fool has built a house atop the actual native American burial mound, the smaller more famous mound was found to contain only two Caucasian skeletons........possibly members of De Soto's expedition in search of the fountain of youth.

Through the faux alpine village of Helen.........logging town of yore while the majestic pines, oaks and popular trees still could be found..........now a tourist trap that even on a cool winter Sunday draws the after church crowd in search of trinkets and beer.

On up the Richard Russel highway to the trailhead to Raven Cliffs..........a nice
2 1/2 mile trek which I figured, given the wife's limited lung capacity, would be shortened to about 1/4 mile. To the surprise of both the pooch and I we went the whole way. Deep dark tangles of Mountain Magnolia, Rhododendron and Sourwood trees lightened by the occasional White Pine grove. The temp was just right for a light jacket. The murmur and occasional roar of Dood creek our constant companion......... the trip could have only been better if we'd thought to bring along a little water and a couple of ham and cheese sandwiches.

Back at home..........I immediately held the recliner in a recumbent posture for two hours in lieu of supper since the Wendy's Spicey Chicken for lunch was not consumed till after 4pm. The pooch stretched out on the couch like a small shoat awaiting the ritual dunking in scalding water for the scrapping of hair and dirt preparatory to cutting into hams and porkchops......the wife off to a long hot soak.......and a hot shower for me, followed by the preemptive application of horse lineament to my, sure to be sore tomorrow, calves.

And now fortified by Hersey's Dark chocolate, furnished by a thoughtful lady, and a glass of milk, I sit here with the heating pad once more across my shoulders........fingers shaking slightly from the fatigue of the day......... thankful for the wonders of nature and the time to enjoy it.

Rumours.....

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......Of my demise to the contrary........I have not passed through the veil.....just staying behind the closed door of my muse......

Fickle wench that she is........she seems to have abandoned me for a writer....or perhaps.....writers.... much better than I. And after all who can blame her.....
In my muscle relaxed, pain pill filled stupor I must be poor company.

Growing older definitely has it's down sides.......things are heavier now....where once .....not long ago really...I could load 90 lb. bundles of shingles onto a lift all day... now I do good to lift the nail gun over my shoulder to tack a piece of plywood to the ceiling of the new shop.

Of course growing older beats the alternative.....so I'm told......I remember that few people have come back from beyond to testify as to the climate there. Warm sandy beaches with palm trees swaying in the breeze and lovely ladies clad only in whispy grass skirts beckoning me to the barbecue sounds like a nice bit of heaven.

Some wit or other once said that we make our own reality. I wonder if that is also true of the great beyond? Will we get there to find some preachers have taken a bit of poetic license with their message? Or maybe so many have shouted about laying about on a cloud playing a harp and singing hymns and hosannas all the eternity that their strident voices have shaped our future reality. Sounds very non-productive to me.....better to be given a fishing pole and led to a nice bluegill pond where the crickets impale themselves on the hook and sing siren songs to the finny submarine sailors beneath the willow trees.

Whoa..........Where did that last come from?

We had an eclipse the other night. I sat on the front stoop and watched as the dragon steadily chomped away at the moon......only to find the taste not to his liking and spitting it out and washing his mouth out under the Milky Way.

Were I a capable photog I'd make better pictures. You can spend all kinds on money on equipment and if you have no better sense of composition than I........all you have is an expensive toy. Nevertheless here is my contribution to an event that will only be experienced once in a lifetime the exact same way.



Still one can hope to be allowed to watch similar events again.....
preferably from exotic locations high in the Peruvian Andes with agreeable companions around a campfire with wieners and marshmallows on sticks.

I also notice with interest this Study
and now realize what has been the problem all along..........bad luck in the draw. Although admittedly my research was drastically limited by the amount of time I was able to put into it. How'd you like to be a research assistant on that study?

Well I'd better leave off for now. Not for lack of gibberish to spout but because I may not be able to reach the keyboard after I finish sliding to the floor.

Lonesome Blues

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I don't remember when my mother carried me and a couple of sisters to our first drive-in-movie theater. I do remember that it was at the old Lawrenceville, Ga theater...............gone lo these many years......although I can carry you to the very spot. All you see now is a fancy motel on a busy downtown street.

I think often of the first movie there that I remember........the Classic to some....to others poorly done....movie bio of Hank Williams Sr.......Your Cheatin' Heart, starring a young and not nearly so tan..... George Hamilton.

I was in my early teens......young, dumb and full of something that hadn't been reached yet.

Hank's songs and story had a huge impact on me.....still do. They ring true, from the heart and experience of a man who had his share of demons and physical problems. They still speak to me in ways I can't express.........wouldn't have the words anyway .....and so......find his a fit.

I still like.......occasionally... to listen to a few. They take one back to an earlier day, yet days which saw many of the same human conditions as exist today.

Feelings of loneliness, heartbreak, joy, optimism, hope......Love.
And I guess that's why people loved him........he sang what they were feeling and gave expression for a few moments to the longings in every human heart.

Here is just one I listened to tonight.

Beef recall

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When I first read this STORY
I recalled the several times I've visited cattle slaughter yards.......and of the one week where I worked as an instructor at a cattle artificial insemination course.

And then I looked at the inside of the wrapper of my Dove Dark Chocolate candy and read these words.............."Lose yourself in the moment". My train of thought was totally broken.

And besides...................I'm not sure the web is ready for a telling of that event.

The good life

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There is.....I think.......within most of us......an often unexpressed desire for just a little bit more adventure then we currently have in our lives. Sometimes it comes a bit later than one expects and people say...."he's having as mid life crisis".
We buy that two door car rather than going for the bigger more sedate four-door. We suddenly decide to take up sky diving or a bungee jump. They quit their jobs. (I'm lucky in that.....not having one in nearly 15 years)

But the urges are there..however expressed. Sometimes they are motivated by more than just the thrill........often there is a financial component to the restlessness.

GM is offering hundreds of thousands of Dollars to union workers to quit their jobs. Major financial giants are threatening to lay of 20 or 30 thousand workers in an effort to stay afloat during the current financial upheaval.
All of these moves by the bigger fish cause ripples that are felt by smaller fish....... The independent homebuilder or restaurant owner. Maybe Wal-mart moved out of they older location around which several smaller businesses had flourished and moved to the outskirts of a town to a super center which not only cut the traffic to their former neighbors but directly competes for their business.

Costs must be cut..........health insurance is lost....the future is even more uncertain than once believed.

And some people wake up to the idea that their feet are not nailed to the floor. While our neighbors to the south are encouraging their poor to migrate northward.......people are beginning to look SOUTH

and I wonder what it would be like?

Certainly the allure is there. Who wouldn't like to live in a tropical paradise where the cost of everything is less and you wouldn't have to put up with the general feeling that the world is going to hell in a hand basket here no matter how you vote.....and maybe you should just get out of Dodge.

On the other hand..........does the lower cost of living provide enough extra funds to either visit the kids and grandkids or bring them to you occasionally? What about the support system you have built around you over a period of years? You can hardly afford to come back to visit your favorite barber.......can you?.

Can you learn enough of the local language to tell the gardener you can now employ that you're having chest pains and a throbbing in your left arm?

Just wondering?