Many are those who advise on writing in any style. They give sage advice on the construction of prose beautiful and words dramatic. They inform of correct form and of function. They wield the red pens of spelling doom. They impart wisdom such as "Just write."
To those wised ones of literary Olympus I have two words: "Fuck You".
I wish I had a penny for every page of Microsoft Word I had opened and closed without one word being typed on it. Long are the total hours of frustration while it was just me staring at the white page. I offed that little paperclip prick a long time ago. I hate smartasses that don't know anything useful. I cannot abide useless people, even digital ones. Some of us must be inspired. Sorry, but that is the truth. I do not feel alone in this as I have historical precedent to back me up. One must be in thrall of the Muse some times to allow the words to flow. Other times we suffer the pains of mental constipation. Ideas and words wanting to move, yet being blocked by so much shit. Sometimes it is our fatal enemy distraction that drives the words back into our mists of thought. Just a quick email check, I'll just follow this one link, I'll just check on thusandsuch. Boom, idea dead gone, compost.
Sometimes the thought has yet to become firm, like some half set room temperature jello. It kind of wiggles and is kind of soupy at the same time. Words, not full sentences. Thoughts without that something. Incomplete ideas.
I ask myself questions like why do I write. I come up with many answers. I look at them harshly and throw many of them away as being convenient or just trite. I write to share. Not just stories but ideas and concepts. I want to make people blow milk out of their nose or noodles if milk is unavailable. I hope to make us look at each other and laugh a little bit and then laugh at ourselves even more. With laughter comes happiness and with that comes wisdom and enlightenment. I learned to tell stories from my family. We have a long tradition of storytelling and general bull ability. I think it is genetic. If you doubt that ask my friends who have met my Father and or my Grandmother. They can tell you honestly.
It's not my fault, I was born like this.
Till next time,
Be mindful and awake.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Holiday drift
Holiday drift
Happy Turducken Day.
If your confused about the well wishes, just wait. It gets worse.
I was reading in my friend Barbara's Blog "Tigers and Strawberries" (Look over to the right, she has one of the honored and available for the right bribe coveted perm-a-links)about food magazines. She referred to a group of people known as "Foodies". Sometimes they come off like Fundies, but at least they will feed you much better than a fundie. Still I digress yet again. The subject was food magazines and how "Foodies" have favorites and ones they revile as crap. So, I started to consider, with my love of food and cooking; dare I ask the question "Am I a Foodie?"
I considered the question carefully. I am not a rabid follower of any cooking school or dogma. I create and I eat. I learn from others and not so much from books. I enjoy leading in the kitchen as well as following. I subscribe to no cooking magazines. I may look at a cover when I walk by, usually in the same way one looks at an accident as you drive by, even if you really do not want to. I do not find garnish to be a necessity. Yet in many senses of the word I would say I am a foodie (notice the change in capitalization?) but not a Foodie. I consider myself more like the wandering cook, wok strapped across his back with a sign that says "WILL COOK FOR RECIPIES".I prefer trying to get to the heart of a dish, not seeing what I can make with special expensive equipment. Good wok, good knife, good food. I find this more of a path inline with my nature as I seem to have problems with organized anything. Usually involves too many people saying and not enough doings. There must be doings!
Today is Thanksgiving, the incredible mutant holiday.
What you say? Someone sent us up the cranberries?
Look, at one time to have anything but turkey on thanksgiving was basically a stoning offence and do not mean Jay and Silent Bob style either. Woo Hoo, suff dat messed up steroid shootin chicken with da cronic! Catch a buz and feed the munchies at the same time, BONG!
So anyway, then the thanksgiving goose crept in slowly and was accepted. Then the venerable cured ham, provided it was wearing a pineapple hat. I think Dole is behind this one, I remember one year they suggested putting pineapple in a turkey. It didn't catch on so they went for the pig; you know all ethnic Hawaiian and stuff. Okay so now we have turkey, goose, and then ham. Not too odd, but again they were not done. Some cracker came up with the idea of cooking the turkey in a peanut oil fryer. Next year, they shove a can of beer into the poor birds nether regions and cook it. Okay, people with way too much time on their hands. Then it comes, unleashed upon America and then the world: The Turducken.
See it works something like this: take a boneless turkey, a boneless duck and a boneless chicken. Then stuff the chicken into the duck and then the two of them into the turkey. Tur-Duck-En, get it?
So here is where I begin to have problems. First of all what type of sick wierdo says "Hey, lets stuff a chicken up a ducks ass! Yea! And then we can stuff that up the ass of a turkey! Groovy!" Food should never seem to be the result of a bizare tractor trailer accident. Be thankful there was not an ostrich anywhere around when this got started. I am also excited at the exclusion of a hamster from this list.
See, this is a prime example why to not do drugs. I have yet to see anyone take a boneless goat, stuff it into a boneless pig and shove that up the backside of a boneless cow. I think there would be some serious repercussions from not only the pork lobby but remember that the majority of the beef ranchers are well armed. The reason I think there has not been a larger public outcry over this is no one knows where all these boneless animals are raised nor who is responsible for engineering
them in the first place. I mean who come out and says, "Yes, I am a boneless chicken rancher. No, we don't use horses to wrangle them, we use a Zamboni. It is much simpler..."
Till next time,
Be mindful and awake.
Happy Turducken Day.
If your confused about the well wishes, just wait. It gets worse.
I was reading in my friend Barbara's Blog "Tigers and Strawberries" (Look over to the right, she has one of the honored and available for the right bribe coveted perm-a-links)about food magazines. She referred to a group of people known as "Foodies". Sometimes they come off like Fundies, but at least they will feed you much better than a fundie. Still I digress yet again. The subject was food magazines and how "Foodies" have favorites and ones they revile as crap. So, I started to consider, with my love of food and cooking; dare I ask the question "Am I a Foodie?"
I considered the question carefully. I am not a rabid follower of any cooking school or dogma. I create and I eat. I learn from others and not so much from books. I enjoy leading in the kitchen as well as following. I subscribe to no cooking magazines. I may look at a cover when I walk by, usually in the same way one looks at an accident as you drive by, even if you really do not want to. I do not find garnish to be a necessity. Yet in many senses of the word I would say I am a foodie (notice the change in capitalization?) but not a Foodie. I consider myself more like the wandering cook, wok strapped across his back with a sign that says "WILL COOK FOR RECIPIES".I prefer trying to get to the heart of a dish, not seeing what I can make with special expensive equipment. Good wok, good knife, good food. I find this more of a path inline with my nature as I seem to have problems with organized anything. Usually involves too many people saying and not enough doings. There must be doings!
Today is Thanksgiving, the incredible mutant holiday.
What you say? Someone sent us up the cranberries?
Look, at one time to have anything but turkey on thanksgiving was basically a stoning offence and do not mean Jay and Silent Bob style either. Woo Hoo, suff dat messed up steroid shootin chicken with da cronic! Catch a buz and feed the munchies at the same time, BONG!
So anyway, then the thanksgiving goose crept in slowly and was accepted. Then the venerable cured ham, provided it was wearing a pineapple hat. I think Dole is behind this one, I remember one year they suggested putting pineapple in a turkey. It didn't catch on so they went for the pig; you know all ethnic Hawaiian and stuff. Okay so now we have turkey, goose, and then ham. Not too odd, but again they were not done. Some cracker came up with the idea of cooking the turkey in a peanut oil fryer. Next year, they shove a can of beer into the poor birds nether regions and cook it. Okay, people with way too much time on their hands. Then it comes, unleashed upon America and then the world: The Turducken.
See it works something like this: take a boneless turkey, a boneless duck and a boneless chicken. Then stuff the chicken into the duck and then the two of them into the turkey. Tur-Duck-En, get it?
So here is where I begin to have problems. First of all what type of sick wierdo says "Hey, lets stuff a chicken up a ducks ass! Yea! And then we can stuff that up the ass of a turkey! Groovy!" Food should never seem to be the result of a bizare tractor trailer accident. Be thankful there was not an ostrich anywhere around when this got started. I am also excited at the exclusion of a hamster from this list.
See, this is a prime example why to not do drugs. I have yet to see anyone take a boneless goat, stuff it into a boneless pig and shove that up the backside of a boneless cow. I think there would be some serious repercussions from not only the pork lobby but remember that the majority of the beef ranchers are well armed. The reason I think there has not been a larger public outcry over this is no one knows where all these boneless animals are raised nor who is responsible for engineering
them in the first place. I mean who come out and says, "Yes, I am a boneless chicken rancher. No, we don't use horses to wrangle them, we use a Zamboni. It is much simpler..."
Till next time,
Be mindful and awake.
Monday, November 7, 2005
10,000 page views
WOW!
Ten Thousand. Wicked!
So either I have offended 10,000 people, or 10 people 1000 times or 100 people 100 times or 1000 people 10 times or just 1 person 10,000 times.
Anyway you look at it 2 things are true:
1) 10,000 page views is nothing too shabby
2) Somewhere someone is pissed off by this blog.
I feel my work here is done today :)
Ten Thousand. Wicked!
So either I have offended 10,000 people, or 10 people 1000 times or 100 people 100 times or 1000 people 10 times or just 1 person 10,000 times.
Anyway you look at it 2 things are true:
1) 10,000 page views is nothing too shabby
2) Somewhere someone is pissed off by this blog.
I feel my work here is done today :)
Saturday, November 5, 2005
Hello, dis is Muttley
I thought someone aught to put me in their blogs so I did it myself since Bryian aint posted in a month. He got all depresseded about the end of Robbins Crossing so I have been havin to wrestle with him on a regular basis to keep him movin.
A little about me:
I served a short sentence at the Athens County Dog Shelter. Bryian and Judi talked to the dog warden and got me paroled. I paid my debt to society so I am moving on with my life.
I try to help around the house as well as I can by being the trained alarm clock, cat gasser, couch anchor, lap warmer and litter box cleaner. The last one they say makes my breath bad but the dont seem to notice their own when they wake up. Whew! What do dem humans eat?
Anyway Bryian says I am partially for home security since I am at least part Rottwiler. Hey, aint dat racial profiling? He says I am also part cinderblock and that is where I get my stunning intelligence. I am about 30 pounds and growing. I am also about a year old. I like linux over windows. BSD to be exact, you know, brown snouted dog.
I like walks with Bryian and Judi when they have time and I love rawhide and cheese. But not together, I like cheese...ohh..cheese.
If you would like to send donations of cheese to me just give it to Bryian and Judi. I have them trained well enough now to bring all cheese to me. I do tricks for cheese. I sit up, stand and lay down for cheese. I also do impressions of the killer sharks at Sea World sometimes, snatching cheese from unwary finger. One the smell of curd gets in the air I sometimes go into a feeding frenzy, but am usually okay after the first few pieces.
Anyway, I am going to go snoot Bryian and see if he will do anything today. He already went for his bike ride, so maybe it is nap time.
Hope to meet you all soon,
Bring me cheese
Muttley
Friday, September 16, 2005
Insurance companies, got to loathe them!
This is clipped from an actual disclaimer for life insurance, I kid you not!
Exclusions and Limitations
A critical illness benefit will not be paid for any loss caused directly or
indirectly by:
/*Other fairly resonable stuff snipped out for brevity*/
>>>>> * Engaging in hazardous activities such as but not limited to
skydiving, hang gliding, auto racing, dirt bike riding, mountain climbing,
Russian roulette, autoerotic asphyxiation, bungee jumping or using off-road
vehicles.
No single one of these acts is covered, but it says nothing about these
acts in combination.
Think about it; you know you want to.
Till next time,
Be mindful and awake.
Exclusions and Limitations
A critical illness benefit will not be paid for any loss caused directly or
indirectly by:
/*Other fairly resonable stuff snipped out for brevity*/
>>>>> * Engaging in hazardous activities such as but not limited to
skydiving, hang gliding, auto racing, dirt bike riding, mountain climbing,
Russian roulette, autoerotic asphyxiation, bungee jumping or using off-road
vehicles.
No single one of these acts is covered, but it says nothing about these
acts in combination.
Think about it; you know you want to.
Till next time,
Be mindful and awake.
Monday, September 5, 2005
Man, what a rant
First off Happy Labor Day!
ALL PRAISE AND HAPPYNESS TO THE WORKERS!
Okay, so there was the “happy” bit. Now for the bit that will most likely piss off people. Let me start with if you think that your one of those people who is likely to get pissed at what I may prefix with a warning, you may be right. Thanks for stopping by, check in later for a new update. You will be happier, trust me.
If you feel you want to be argumentative with me about what I am going to write or try to “correct” me, please take this time to go someplace else. I got a good head of steam worked up and a first class case of pissed off going on. I will eventually settle down but it may be in the majorities’ interest not to discuss this with me unless your willing to take the brunt of the possible backlash. Do not confuse what I am going to write with a discussion. There will be no question and answer session afterwards nor is there a Cliff Notes version available. Remember, you were warned. Turn back now, bridge out. No exits back onto the highway. No Outlet, no detour. Do not immerse in water, may cause cancer in lab rats. May interact with other medications; ask your Doctor or Pharmacist for more information.
You have been warned!
What the hell is going on with what seems to be a large amount of people suffering with a bad case of head up their ass????? Let me share a few examples.
Let’s start with Gasoline and the stupidest quotes:
“Oh, it is just getting in line with Europe. They pay $6.00 a gallon there...”
Yea, they do. Big fuckin deal. They eat snails and piss in the streets as well. They are also collectively not on the top 10 producers of oil in the free world. Free clue here: Ever wonder why so many Saudis are so rich? They get paid a share of the oil revenues that are generated from the natural resources of their country, but in the US the corporations do not have to do that, even when drilling on public lands. Here is a little more free information for you, did you know that there have been NO (that is ZERO, NADA, NIENTE, NIL) refineries built in the US in 30 years. So what we have is a system using processing infrastructure that has not grown to meet the production needs of the country. Here is a system that stopped growing in the 1970’s. Remember the 70’s and the whole gas shortage? How about this: it is a huge lie! A synthetic deficit to help drive up prices. If you price out a barrel of crude with all the transportation costs AND a 20% markup, guess what, it costs between $7.00 to $10.00 a barrel, not $70.00. Force the corporations to balance the system out. Show us where the money is going. Screw this different gas blend for every fucking state in the union and the summer & winter bends. We need gas, plain old simple gas. Just because something happens in Europe doesn’t mean it has to happen here. Hello! Many of our ancestors fled Europe for one simple reason: IT SUCKED! Let us not bring the Euro-suckyness here. If you like the idea so much, MOVE. Look, I have friends who are European, so it is not that I hate Euros. But then again, just cause I like Mickey Mouse doesn’t mean I want to live at Disneyland. Visit maybe, but not live there.
“It is because of the hurricane that prices are rising.”
Nope, wrong. It is because of oil speculators and bastard profiteers that the price is rising. The gas at the pumps today came out of the ground about 2 months ago. It is a really stupid way of making money, but it has made many people millionaires. Another reason for the prices rising is the Federal Government has done little to nothing in a timely manner to help stem the tide of these people who try to profit of the misery of others. We get a little upset at a 10-cent jump in prices, while in some markets like Atlanta, the price skyrocketed to almost $6.00 a gallon. I hope the bastard who did that burn in a very special hell for trying to squeeze refugees of what little money they had as they try to flee to family and friends. Yes, a special hell reserved for child molesters and people who talk in movie theaters. Hey Mr. President (aka Fuck-knob), how about a national price freeze to pre-hurricane prices for oil. Oh, I forgot, you own oil wells too. Sorry thought you were actually interested in helping.
“Higher prices are good as they will help spur investment in alternative energy..”
Excuse me? Right, and Elvis will help you plan out your financial future. All higher prices will do is help create a bigger gap between the haves and the “have-nots”. There are already people who are quitting their jobs because they cannot afford to go to work. Would you be willing to work 6 hours out of an 8-hour day just to pay for the gas to get to your job? Watch the welfare rolls and the unemployment numbers. Higher prices mean fewer people who can afford to work and consequently the prices for any transported good becomes higher. True, eventually there will be a point of equilibrium, but when we reach it how many will be left behind? Fewer working people means lower tax revenue and therefore smaller tax bases for cities, counties and states to use to provide public services. So, to make up for it they raise taxes and cut services. If you work, you start to pay a larger share of your paycheck out every month. And what your see/get for it is less and less. Screw higher prices.
Okay, let us move forward onto more social commentary. I just feel like getting on the giant soapbox and screaming at these people “What the fuck are you doing?!?!?!?” I feel a sense of frustration that I have not had in years. And you know what? It pisses me off.
Now I look at the news and say “What planet are these assholes from?” Yes, our fearless leader Fuck-knob and his ass-puppets. Sounds like a bad ska-punk band “Fuck-knob and The Ass Puppets.” Excuse me, bouquet of hand-grenades for the band, compliments of the audience.
“Well, they should have left when they ordered the evacuations, so it is their own fault.”
Okay, lets lay down some simple logic here. You are with this statement blaming the victims. Um, err…how the hell do you respond to such bullshit? I do know the source of a lot of this and here is another one of the “piss-people-off-warnings”.
It seems that a member of our government made this statement; a member of “Homeland Security”; a dammed Yankee. Now hold on and hear me out. I do not feel it was totally his fault. He more than likely went to good northern schools and very nice northern colleges. He had a nice simple and well-funded northern childhood with his nice well-dressed and properly educated private school friends. Can’t blame him for being born into money. I can blame him for being a dammed idiot.
See it is like this, and I will try to explain to my northern born and raised friends so you can understand. You see, for many, the war never ended because the original questions were never answered. It was not about slavery until the North made it such an issue. That part is over and done with, let it lay. Slavery happened, right or wrong, and now there is no slavery. Many southerners did not own slaves. A surprising amount of them disliked the idea of slaves as it took away jobs poor folk could be paid to do. The main issues had to do with states rights and the ability for self-determination. Southerners like to think for themselves. We rely on our good judgment and then we deal with the actions afterwards. Perhaps I should clarify a little. You see what I am speaking about is probably best described as a “Neo-Southerner”. Someone who maintains certain positive southern values but leaves behind the bigotry of the past that is based on race or religion.
Let me give you a little example:
I was living in Mobile Alabama for a little while. One day I stopped to help an older black man who had broken down along side the road. He was quite appreciative of the help and insisted I come to his home for dinner. I tried to politely refuse (as is the custom) but he insisted and said he would be “downright hurt” (translation: mortally offended) if I did not come to dinner so I could be thanked properly. So, I went. His wife made us cornbread and soup beans and fried potatoes. To many this does not sound like anything all that spectacular, but this is all they had, and they were insistent and proud to be able to share it as a thank you. Situations like this test a man and his ability to keep his composure, as the sight of it was enough to make one cry. I had dinner and stayed for chicory coffee, then said my goodbyes, never to see them again. Such is life in the real south, not the impression from the movies many like to think they know. See, this line of thinking is different for those of us who were southern raised and educated. Our world is different and we view the world that way. We would never have blamed the old man by saying “Well, if you were not driving you would never had broken down.” That is just to us silly and dammed rude.
“Well, they got what they deserved by building there in the first place.”
Okay, try this. Mosey down to the Hocking River (For those of you that are in Athens) and wade out to the middle, where it gets about ankle deep. Now, look around. This was once a navigable river with SHIPPING TRAFFIC, as in BIG BOATS carrying TONS OF CARGO.
To steal a quote from Dune “So how can this be?”
Simple, The Army Corps of Engineers. See some brilliant person thought to outsmart nature and reroute the river down a concrete sluice. The same type of brilliant planning that is silting out the Delta. See, New Orleans was not sub sea level when it was built, but the river kept rising so the levees kept getting higher to keep it in its banks and keep the old town dry. Top this with the feds cutting funding to help maintain the levees that are there because of the federal government projects up north. Can we see a trend here in things? Now you maybe can understand why New Orleans is where it is in the shape it is in.
Look I could go on for a lot longer and perhaps later I will. Right now, I’ll leave you with a little something so you might get a better glimpse of a few things in my head.
The Times-Picayune of New Orleans printed this editorial in its Sunday edition:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/04/times.picayune.editorial/index.html
Now, they are saying 2 New Orleans police officers have committed suicide after working this entire time. It was just too much for them. I hope whatever god they believe in gives them the rest and peace they have earned. Soon, rescue efforts will turn to recovery. For some, there will never be recovery or closure. Then comes the part that few have even considered: The Retribution. Heads will be called for on pikes. Fingers will begin to be pointed. For the sake of the Union as it stands, let us hope that the kinder side of southern sensibility wins out. If not, I hate to speculate what may happen.
Till next time,
Be mindful and awake...
ALL PRAISE AND HAPPYNESS TO THE WORKERS!
Okay, so there was the “happy” bit. Now for the bit that will most likely piss off people. Let me start with if you think that your one of those people who is likely to get pissed at what I may prefix with a warning, you may be right. Thanks for stopping by, check in later for a new update. You will be happier, trust me.
If you feel you want to be argumentative with me about what I am going to write or try to “correct” me, please take this time to go someplace else. I got a good head of steam worked up and a first class case of pissed off going on. I will eventually settle down but it may be in the majorities’ interest not to discuss this with me unless your willing to take the brunt of the possible backlash. Do not confuse what I am going to write with a discussion. There will be no question and answer session afterwards nor is there a Cliff Notes version available. Remember, you were warned. Turn back now, bridge out. No exits back onto the highway. No Outlet, no detour. Do not immerse in water, may cause cancer in lab rats. May interact with other medications; ask your Doctor or Pharmacist for more information.
You have been warned!
What the hell is going on with what seems to be a large amount of people suffering with a bad case of head up their ass????? Let me share a few examples.
Let’s start with Gasoline and the stupidest quotes:
“Oh, it is just getting in line with Europe. They pay $6.00 a gallon there...”
Yea, they do. Big fuckin deal. They eat snails and piss in the streets as well. They are also collectively not on the top 10 producers of oil in the free world. Free clue here: Ever wonder why so many Saudis are so rich? They get paid a share of the oil revenues that are generated from the natural resources of their country, but in the US the corporations do not have to do that, even when drilling on public lands. Here is a little more free information for you, did you know that there have been NO (that is ZERO, NADA, NIENTE, NIL) refineries built in the US in 30 years. So what we have is a system using processing infrastructure that has not grown to meet the production needs of the country. Here is a system that stopped growing in the 1970’s. Remember the 70’s and the whole gas shortage? How about this: it is a huge lie! A synthetic deficit to help drive up prices. If you price out a barrel of crude with all the transportation costs AND a 20% markup, guess what, it costs between $7.00 to $10.00 a barrel, not $70.00. Force the corporations to balance the system out. Show us where the money is going. Screw this different gas blend for every fucking state in the union and the summer & winter bends. We need gas, plain old simple gas. Just because something happens in Europe doesn’t mean it has to happen here. Hello! Many of our ancestors fled Europe for one simple reason: IT SUCKED! Let us not bring the Euro-suckyness here. If you like the idea so much, MOVE. Look, I have friends who are European, so it is not that I hate Euros. But then again, just cause I like Mickey Mouse doesn’t mean I want to live at Disneyland. Visit maybe, but not live there.
“It is because of the hurricane that prices are rising.”
Nope, wrong. It is because of oil speculators and bastard profiteers that the price is rising. The gas at the pumps today came out of the ground about 2 months ago. It is a really stupid way of making money, but it has made many people millionaires. Another reason for the prices rising is the Federal Government has done little to nothing in a timely manner to help stem the tide of these people who try to profit of the misery of others. We get a little upset at a 10-cent jump in prices, while in some markets like Atlanta, the price skyrocketed to almost $6.00 a gallon. I hope the bastard who did that burn in a very special hell for trying to squeeze refugees of what little money they had as they try to flee to family and friends. Yes, a special hell reserved for child molesters and people who talk in movie theaters. Hey Mr. President (aka Fuck-knob), how about a national price freeze to pre-hurricane prices for oil. Oh, I forgot, you own oil wells too. Sorry thought you were actually interested in helping.
“Higher prices are good as they will help spur investment in alternative energy..”
Excuse me? Right, and Elvis will help you plan out your financial future. All higher prices will do is help create a bigger gap between the haves and the “have-nots”. There are already people who are quitting their jobs because they cannot afford to go to work. Would you be willing to work 6 hours out of an 8-hour day just to pay for the gas to get to your job? Watch the welfare rolls and the unemployment numbers. Higher prices mean fewer people who can afford to work and consequently the prices for any transported good becomes higher. True, eventually there will be a point of equilibrium, but when we reach it how many will be left behind? Fewer working people means lower tax revenue and therefore smaller tax bases for cities, counties and states to use to provide public services. So, to make up for it they raise taxes and cut services. If you work, you start to pay a larger share of your paycheck out every month. And what your see/get for it is less and less. Screw higher prices.
Okay, let us move forward onto more social commentary. I just feel like getting on the giant soapbox and screaming at these people “What the fuck are you doing?!?!?!?” I feel a sense of frustration that I have not had in years. And you know what? It pisses me off.
Now I look at the news and say “What planet are these assholes from?” Yes, our fearless leader Fuck-knob and his ass-puppets. Sounds like a bad ska-punk band “Fuck-knob and The Ass Puppets.” Excuse me, bouquet of hand-grenades for the band, compliments of the audience.
“Well, they should have left when they ordered the evacuations, so it is their own fault.”
Okay, lets lay down some simple logic here. You are with this statement blaming the victims. Um, err…how the hell do you respond to such bullshit? I do know the source of a lot of this and here is another one of the “piss-people-off-warnings”.
It seems that a member of our government made this statement; a member of “Homeland Security”; a dammed Yankee. Now hold on and hear me out. I do not feel it was totally his fault. He more than likely went to good northern schools and very nice northern colleges. He had a nice simple and well-funded northern childhood with his nice well-dressed and properly educated private school friends. Can’t blame him for being born into money. I can blame him for being a dammed idiot.
See it is like this, and I will try to explain to my northern born and raised friends so you can understand. You see, for many, the war never ended because the original questions were never answered. It was not about slavery until the North made it such an issue. That part is over and done with, let it lay. Slavery happened, right or wrong, and now there is no slavery. Many southerners did not own slaves. A surprising amount of them disliked the idea of slaves as it took away jobs poor folk could be paid to do. The main issues had to do with states rights and the ability for self-determination. Southerners like to think for themselves. We rely on our good judgment and then we deal with the actions afterwards. Perhaps I should clarify a little. You see what I am speaking about is probably best described as a “Neo-Southerner”. Someone who maintains certain positive southern values but leaves behind the bigotry of the past that is based on race or religion.
Let me give you a little example:
I was living in Mobile Alabama for a little while. One day I stopped to help an older black man who had broken down along side the road. He was quite appreciative of the help and insisted I come to his home for dinner. I tried to politely refuse (as is the custom) but he insisted and said he would be “downright hurt” (translation: mortally offended) if I did not come to dinner so I could be thanked properly. So, I went. His wife made us cornbread and soup beans and fried potatoes. To many this does not sound like anything all that spectacular, but this is all they had, and they were insistent and proud to be able to share it as a thank you. Situations like this test a man and his ability to keep his composure, as the sight of it was enough to make one cry. I had dinner and stayed for chicory coffee, then said my goodbyes, never to see them again. Such is life in the real south, not the impression from the movies many like to think they know. See, this line of thinking is different for those of us who were southern raised and educated. Our world is different and we view the world that way. We would never have blamed the old man by saying “Well, if you were not driving you would never had broken down.” That is just to us silly and dammed rude.
“Well, they got what they deserved by building there in the first place.”
Okay, try this. Mosey down to the Hocking River (For those of you that are in Athens) and wade out to the middle, where it gets about ankle deep. Now, look around. This was once a navigable river with SHIPPING TRAFFIC, as in BIG BOATS carrying TONS OF CARGO.
To steal a quote from Dune “So how can this be?”
Simple, The Army Corps of Engineers. See some brilliant person thought to outsmart nature and reroute the river down a concrete sluice. The same type of brilliant planning that is silting out the Delta. See, New Orleans was not sub sea level when it was built, but the river kept rising so the levees kept getting higher to keep it in its banks and keep the old town dry. Top this with the feds cutting funding to help maintain the levees that are there because of the federal government projects up north. Can we see a trend here in things? Now you maybe can understand why New Orleans is where it is in the shape it is in.
Look I could go on for a lot longer and perhaps later I will. Right now, I’ll leave you with a little something so you might get a better glimpse of a few things in my head.
The Times-Picayune of New Orleans printed this editorial in its Sunday edition:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/04/times.picayune.editorial/index.html
Now, they are saying 2 New Orleans police officers have committed suicide after working this entire time. It was just too much for them. I hope whatever god they believe in gives them the rest and peace they have earned. Soon, rescue efforts will turn to recovery. For some, there will never be recovery or closure. Then comes the part that few have even considered: The Retribution. Heads will be called for on pikes. Fingers will begin to be pointed. For the sake of the Union as it stands, let us hope that the kinder side of southern sensibility wins out. If not, I hate to speculate what may happen.
Till next time,
Be mindful and awake...
Friday, September 2, 2005
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