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Yep, Were Lazy All Right...

Yep, Were Lazy All Right...

Much has been made lately about President Obama's taken-out-of-context statement about us, as Americans, becoming “lazy”. Although it would appear to me, after reading the statements made, that he was referring more to the business sector than he was to our citizens, I say that he should have been referring to us!

It would not be a distortion of the truth for him to say such.

For it seems to me, that that is exactly what has happened in this country today; we are just flat-ass lazy, and it's getting worse. It matters not what the latest bickering in congress is about, because we have the power to change all that, if we just would.

Please don't tell me about how hard you work at your job, or how innovative you have been. That's not what the problem is, and it's not what we are talking about here.

Here's an innovation for you: how about showing up to vote? According to the US Census Bureau, in the presidential election of 2008, only 64% of eligible voters cast their ballot. Some of you may look at that number and say, “Hmmm, well...that's not so bad”. You are right. That is not “so bad”, it is absolutely TERRIBLE!

It is not that far removed from being a government by minority, instead of majority, vote. In my opinion, there is no reason why that statistic should not say 90% instead of 64%.

Hang your excuses, you have avenues available to you to cast your ballot, even if you are going to be out of the country on election day. The only valid excuse I can even think of is to be so ill that you can't go out, but it is my belief that on any given day at least 90% of us are healthy enough to exercise our rights.

It is my fervent hope that someday voting will be so easy and the public so well informed of the options available, that voting will soar close to 100% participation. I have high hopes for the internet in that regard, the day is coming when nearly everyone, rich or poor, will have online access. May that day arrive quickly.

Until then, take my word for it, you are just plain lazy; and everyone else that neglects their right to vote, is just like you.

Thoughts About Penn State

Thoughts About Penn State...

We dream, and we dream about myriad things, both good and bad.

We dream in colors, we dream in shadows, we dream of persons and places we both know and don't know, simultaneously.

Sometimes, we dream of places we've been in other dreams, multiple times. Usually, this makes us happy; sometimes, not.

Occasionally, when we dream, we have power and are in control; submissive people walk around us, aware and afraid, but yet – not fleeing.

We dream we take advantage of these situations, and force our wills upon them. We feel no remorse; they are ours, and we can do with them what we will.

Some of us remember our dreams, some of us don't; it doesn't matter. They are stuck with us forever, either subconsciously or consciously, or both. They never leave, they are always there; in many ways like the person that loses a foot, but still feels it there constantly.

Often, we are haunted by our dreams; they carry over into our waking hours, a constant little itch under our skin. They are things we wish to carry out in our real lives, like breaking par at the golf course or getting a date with that “really hot” new person at work. Perhaps we will hit the lottery and retire to the Islands. Not often, but sometimes, these dreams come true, most likely aided by the fact that we desire them so much.

But...sometimes we dream of evil things, gross things, things that people in a normal society just don't do. Unfortunately...sometimes those dreams come true too!

When they do, we most likely didn't want them to come true, but still, we reap the “rewards” from them unashamedly. We do that, even though we know that someday there will be hell to pay.

Just ask Jerry Sandusky and his enablers at Penn State, they know...now.

The Good Old Days?

The Good Old Days?

Often when cruising the web and reading blogs and what-not, I will come across a lamentation by a well-intentioned individual about how much they miss “the good old days.” Invariably, these nostalgic trips down memory lane will include recollections about how they used to swim in stock tanks and their mom and dad used to beat their ass “real good” and how they used to drink out of water hoses and, by golly, they “ain't dead yet!”

I read these things, and I wonder: just what “good old days” are they talking about? My personal “good old days” would have been in the fifties and early sixties, I guess, although I'm not sure what the criteria is for bona-fide 'good old day' qualification. My assumption is that they are talking about their childhood and school days, given the things they usually talk about. With that in mind, please bear with me while I relate my memories of that particular time.

To begin with, we had no phone, no television, no car, and yes; no air conditioning either. We lived in a three room apartment (luckily I was an only child), the three rooms consisting of one large room that served as a dining room, bedroom, and living room combined; a kitchen, and one small, small bathroom. I slept on one end of the big room, and my mom and dad slept on the other end.

Our apartment was one of four in the main house owned by the landlady and was the biggest next to her own living quarters. It was our good fortune that our front door opened up into the hallway that split the house, where there was a phone located that we could use for important stuff (five minute limit, please, the sign said), and at the other end of the hallway was a bathroom big enough to hold a tub so that you could bathe if no one else was using it at your needed time. It was used by everyone else living in the main house, you understand.

One nice thing it did have was an ample yard to play in (they used to build houses that way; at least in Texas they did) with a church next door that had a nice yard as well. Way in the back of the property was a huge vacant lot that was kept mostly mowed most of the time. The yards and that lot were the scene of many an enjoyable pick-up football game for my friends and I; you needed really nice grass to play football on, you see. And you really needed a big lot to fly kites in too, seeing as how playing football and flying kites were just about our only activities.

The school was really convenient for me as well, it was only about a three block walk, although it sometimes seemed longer; especially when it was raining or sleeting. I suppose that walking to school in all kinds of weather was good for me though, but I'm at a loss to understand how that could possibly be. Maybe the benefit was that the snot kept my nose warm so that it didn't fall off, I don't know...

Back in those days, I only had one friend that had a TV; it was black-and-white of course (“colored TV” hadn't been invented yet) and you could get three channels on it. I would go over my friends house and we would watch baseball and football games on it during the day, our only problem being that usually the channel that was carrying the game would be the one that had the most snow and the grainiest picture. But, if you kept the audio portion turned up, you usually didn't miss too much of the game; the announcers knew about the visual problems and would broadcast the game pretty much like a radio announcer would. These moments were the only one's we were allowed on the television; once the father came home, the kids were done with the TV for the rest of the day.

Drink from a water hose? Yeah, all of us kids did that from time to time, although we much preferred drinking it out of the faucet instead of the hose. The water that came out of the hose tasted like rubber, you see; the water from the tap only tasted like iron or rust, which was much preferred to the hose water.

Depending on where you lived in our fair state, your water supply either came from a reservoir, a well, a spring, or any combination of the three. In the little town I was raised in, our water came from a muddy lake about three miles out of town. I suppose it was filtered and treated somewhere; however, where that facility might have been is still a mystery to me until this day, because I never saw anything in the entire town that even remotely resembled a water treatment facility. I'm sure it was treated somewhere, though, because in addition to the iron and rust you could taste chlorine as well. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I didn't die from drinking the water (at least, not yet), but if anybody did die from it, we had no way of knowing if the water was at fault, or not.

One thing is for sure, a doctor back in those days would have never been able to give you that information, and I'm pretty sure the doctors nowadays couldn't either. Depending on which doctor you talk to, they will all come up with reasons for your death, but unless you are shot point-blank in the head with a .45, there is apt to be no consensus.

Yes, doctors used to make house calls back then, or at least some of them did. The one that my mother always called to come and “cure” me, would invariably shine lights in my eyes and stick wooden paddles in my mouth and rub me all over the chest and back with a cold stethoscope, before announcing that my mother should give me a couple of aspirin and keep me in bed for the rest of the day. He was a dependable guy, though; you could always count on getting his bill in the mail a week or so later. My parents choices were simple; they could either pay the bill, or the doctor would never show up at the house again.

My father always found this quite amusing when he was attempting to cover the house hold expenses; he would always say that we “might as well have called a medicine man and given him some money.” My father, needless to say, didn't have a lot of faith in doctors...

Time moved on from that point; I grew older and went to high school and all that, and eventually started going to a REAL clinic and sitting in a REAL HARD CHAIR waiting to see a doctor. When I finally would get to see a doctor, he would basically tell me the same thing that the house-call doc used to tell my mother and send me home, with an admonition to “stop at the counter” and pay my bill on the way out.

The day I graduated from high school, we still had no television, no car, and no A/C; although our abode had improved somewhat. We still rented (from the same lady), but now we lived in a four room cottage, instead of a three room flat.

Ah, memories...I think about all that, and still I wonder: Just when were these “good old days” that everyone talks about?

Thoughts About Fools

Thoughts About Fools

While drinking coffee and surfing the internet this morning, the incessant rantings of some posters made me think “what in the world is on their minds?” This is not a new occurrence for me of course; invariably it happens on a daily basis. Postings and other blogs have always been a matter of personal opinion, but still, when I read some of the things people have to say, it makes me wonder about their knowledge and intelligence.

I read their musings mostly as a bizarre form of entertainment, if you will, although there are some posts that are well thought out, researched, and presented in a palatable form. Those intelligent posts are far from the norm, however, and one often has to read through two or three pages of material to find even one. That doesn't really surprise me; idiocy and name calling are easy and quick to write; you don't have to go through all that work to put together a coherent post like the intelligent people.

With that in mind, I have assembled a short list here of things here that indicate whether you are a fool, or not. My listing here is just my opinion, of course, but I welcome any and all inspections and reviews, as I find these “truths” to be self-evident. If you wish to differ with me, that is your right, however short-sighted I find your argument to be. And so, without further ado, here is my list:

1. Anyone who believes we are alone in the universe – is a fool.

2. Anyone who thinks that global warming is not real – is a fool.

3. Anyone who thinks that our Congress is not driven by money – is a fool.

4. Anyone who believes that the majority is always right – is a fool.

5. Anyone who thinks that “intelligent design” is a science – is a fool.

6. Anyone who believes that blind patriotism is necessary – is a fool.

7. Anyone who believes in the so-called “war on drugs” – is a fool.

8. Anyone who thinks that prisons are more important than education – is a fool.

9. Anyone who thinks the U. S. can fence itself off – is a fool.

10. Anyone who believes that more guns are the answer to a safer society – is a fool.

There you go, just a short list of ten things that bother me as I read others blogs. There are more, to be sure, that I could bring to mind (I've just barely touched on politics and religion), but I'm sure I've included enough to start a good barroom brawl on Saturday night in most places. But hey, if you disagree with any of my points, that is your prerogative; go ahead and do it. Just remember, my father can whip your father...