What really makes us wealthy?

I most often use this spot to rail against what I think is wrong about our nation, or more specifically our politicians. As we approach Thanksgiving, I want to take a different tack. I am very thankful that I am a citizen of this great nation, and in spite of our current fiscal mess, I think we should all be proud.

A few years ago I was having lunch with a business associate from Japan who had been living here for a number of years. He had just learned that he was to move back shortly to his native Japan. I asked him what he would miss most about the United States. I had pressumed that I knew the answer already. I had worked with Japanese associates for many years, and they often speak of our big home and wide open spaces. These are indeed unheard of in Japan. Without a moments hesitation he responded that it was our ability to change ourselves as a nation. I was taken aback and somewhat confused by his answer, and I asked him to elaborate.

He told me that what he admired most was our ability to look at our collective condition and decide that we needed to change. I was still a little confused so I asked him to elaborate further. He cited two examples of this unique ability. The first was smoking. He said that while we had been a nation of smokers, we realized that smoking was bad and were changing our collective behavior to correct this problem. The second example was the issue of race. He explained to me that we had recognised that we had a problem with race in our country and had addressed it head on.

He was not deceived into believing that we had fully corrected either problem, but he was in awe of the fact that we were facing both as a country and trying to correct our mistakes.

That discussion over lunch had a profound effect on me, and forever changed the way I look at my country.

We are facing some very difficult times. Our nation has seen hugh wealth evaporate, trillion of dollars lost out of our economy. Yet our wealth is not what makes our country great. I think it is our collective soul that sets us apart. It is our willingness to send young men and women into harms way to defend freedom in the world. It is our willingness to open our pocket books to the needs of others anywhere in the world. It is our desire to address societies wrongs and make them right.

We will overcome this difficult period, we will learn from it and we will move forward. Maybe this jolt to our collective psyche will cause to reflect on what is truly important. It is not what we have, it is who we are!

We have much to be thankful for, and I am.

Bush and the New President

President Bush has a approval rating in the low 30's. History will give us a better perspective I think. Harry Truman was in the low 20's at the end of his term, and now we see him for what he really was, a great president. George Bush may or may not have been one of the greats, but he is far better than how he is being perceived now.

But today, we have a new president elect. If you follow my blog, you know how I feel about elected officials that are anointed by the press without a real vetting by the media. They scare me to say the least.

What should have been, does not matter. How he got there, no longer matters. Whether the electorate was informed or merely mesmerized, does not matter. True patriots will rise to the circumstance and support our new president as he enters the world's most difficult job. That is the way we are supposed to do it in the world's greatest democracy.

I hope I have the strength to be one of those proud patriots, that is my intention. President elect Obama deserves that. History will record it as an historic moment in our nation's story, and it is. In these trying times, our country needs a true patriot and leader, not a pop star. Historians will tell my grandchildren the true results of the Obama presidency. I hope our new president gets a glowing review from the historians.

God bless America

News Media

Man do I miss Chet Huntley! You don't remember Chet Huntley? When I was young, he was very famous. He READ the news every evening - -man was he boring. Yes, I sure do miss old Chet. The evening news was reported to us on the Huntely-Brinkley News Hour every night -man was it boring. Oh we were well informed of course, but there was something lacking. You see those guys did not try to "explain" the news to us, they just made sure we were aware of it. I guess they thought that our opinion was every bit as important as theirs was. They actually thought that we could make up our own minds about what they reported. Can you believe it we actually had to sift through all the information and make up our own minds about things. There were lots of things to think about to, like who would make a good President, or who was right or wrong in the world. Boy am I glad we are past all of that!



Yep, now the well informed news media does that for us. They tear down the unworthy right before our eyes. I am sure they find that unpleasant, but if they don't show us just how stupid somebody is, well we might just miss it. After all we all were not selected to go to journalism school were we. You know if Charlie Gibson had not asked Sarah Palin about the Bush Doctrine, I might never have figured our just how dumb she is, and then where would I be? You see I did not even know what the Bush Doctrine was myself, so how could I make my own judgement about her. Man if somebody would just ask Obama about the Clinton Doctrine, we might get the whole picture. I guess they did that in private and he must have passed. I kind of wish I knew where he stood on that though. If we intend to invade Dar Four when he is elected, I would like to know now- I think. Yep, it is that old pesky Clinton Doctrine rearing it's ugly head, and to think Sarah might not even know what the Clinton Doctrine is.



By any measure this is an historical election. The first black running for president, and the first Republican woman on the national ticket. Obama may well be the greatest president of our time. If he is elected I sure hope he is, we could use it.

I don't have a problem with Obama, OK maybe I have a problem with that whole redistribution thing, but hey he is not the first to advocate that and we survived. No my problem is I just don't know him. I know he makes really good speeches, but for me that is just not enough. I still don't know what a community organizer is. He is 47 years old, he has been running for President for 2 years, he was a community organizer for 3 years, what about the other 42 years.

The real question is, why am I a bad guy for wanting to know? If the media has already done all that research about Obama, why can't I know about it. The same media has made sure I know all about Sarah Palin.

I don't think that is a bad thing. After all we are electing the President and Vice President of the free world. Sure seems like to me, we should know all we can about each candidate-the good, the bad, and the ugly. Where they come from, where they want to go, and what they want to do.

I really don't think I need the news medias help in my decision process, but I sure could use there help in getting the facts!

Public Servant

If we can last 28 more days this election will be over - I think most of us would say good riddance! I will confess to being a political junky, and I really don't know why. Given my disdain for most people running for political office, it seems like the last thing that would interest me. I have other vices as well. As hard as I try not to, I am one of those guys who holds up traffic rubbernecking at a car wreck, but that is another post.

This is that season where so many are calling themselves "Public Servants". It does not seem to take them long once they are elected to forget that fact.
As already stated, I have a pretty low regard for those who seek elective office. My reasoning is fairly simple, they lie about why they want to be there. You and I work because we want to make money, and generally speaking the more the better. Now if you ask most of our "Public Servants", you will be told a lot of things, but making money or having power, now that just won't come up. They are there because; "they want to make a difference", "they felt called to serve", "they felt like they needed to give something back". sound familiar?

I was raised in a rural area of Mississippi. When I was growing up, it was the practice to park a big flat bed trailer in front of the county courthouse and all the people seeking office would come and speak to the voters sitting on the courthouse steps or in lawn chairs scattered around . This generally took place on several Saturdays before the election. Food was served, usually Brunswick stew, and there was some local entertainment. In those days it was not uncommon to have someone running for office who would stand up and say: " Now I'm not saying that old Duke has not been a good county commissioner for the district, he has, but he has been in there long enough. It is time to let somebody else have some time at the trough." We could all understand that! In those days I never heard anyone ever call themselves a "Public Servant". In those days being a politician was just another line of work line being a carpenter or a painter or an accountant. We all understood it, we all accepted it. We knew what to expect of our politicians - -and we were seldom disappointed.


You may have noticed that most "public Servants" manage to live really well. I don't begrudge them that, if only they could be honest about it. Being a "Public Servant" will more than likely get you a reserved parking space very close to the door of the building where you "serve". Of course that is not nearly so important once you reach the stage where you serve so well that that you have a car and chauffeur. I know a man who was the mayor of a medium sized city for several years. I once teased him about about having a car with a chauffeur. He first explained to me that he did not have a "chauffeur", he had a "driver". I am not sure the guy driving the car ever knew he had been demoted. Turns out "drivers" don't have an official black chauffeur's hat. At any rate, once I was straight on that , he explained to me that having a "driver" was critical, because it gave him more time to do "the people's business"!

At any rate I am rambling on so here is the point, the next time you hear someone say they are a "Public Servant", try to find out if they were ever a private servant. Did they ever mow their neighbors yard when they were sick or out of town. Did they ever cook for someone that was sick or elderly. Not their spouse mind you, but did they ever do it themselves. Did they take the time to visit a shut-in or someone they were not related to living in a nursing home - -when they were not looking for their vote.

If they were a good "Private Servant" then they might make a good "Public Servant". We all want to know at election time, what will the candidate do for me? The better question might be what would they do for you if you could not vote! That is the real measure of their character. I am not saying I am a good "private servant", I am clearly not, but then again I am not asking for your vote either. How do you think your choice would stack up?

Expectations

OK, so John Edwards got caught. No big deal right, after all it is his private life and he is not the first. Sorry I don't buy that, as a matter of fact, I view that as one of the ills of our country. We don't seem to expect very much out of our elected officials. If we get what we expect, then we should expect more! If your mother would be ashamed of your actions, then we have a right to be ashamed of your actions as a country. And, I don't care if Europeans think we are being naive.

We not only have a right to expect better, we have an obligation to demand it. People who run for office are asking us to place our trust in them to do our business. They ask for our money in taxes, they ask for our contributions to support their campaigns, and they ask for our most prized possession - our vote. You want all that, then I want you to be better than the average Joe.

We must hold our elected officials to a higher standard. We not only have a right to expect it, we have an obligation to demand it. Public servant indeed! I would be happy if you would just act like a good, trustworthy employee! How about a random drug test every once in a while to go with it. Most of the time it looks like our elected officials are on drugs anyway doesn't it?

We should all strive to do better in our lives in every arena. We should resist blurring the lines on right and wrong. As humans we are naturally weak, and are particularly vulnerable to the sins of the flesh. Man how I struggle with the seductive call of a cream filled donut, but then again, I am not asking for your vote!

This year we will spend over one billion dollars to select our President. For that kind of money it sure looks like we could get a really good one. For a $1,000,000,000 I expect to get somebody a little better than your average Joe - -don't you?

Curse the darkness

"It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness." Know one is sure who coined this catchy phrase, but it sure resonates with me today.

I just heard today that a federal judge has stopped a 1200 megawatt coal fired power plant in Georgia. 1200 megawatts is a big plant. That would place it in the top ten in the US if my research is correct. The plant was stopped because the judge said they had not done enough research into alternate methods of removing CO2 (carbon dioxide). Note, that she did not say it was not a clean burning plant or that it did not meet all federal and state guide lines. No, this was one person's decision. Not based on any fact of law or legal precedent, but merely one person's opinion. That's true power, to stop new plants by just saying, maybe there is a better way to clean the air. Maybe there is a better way, I sure hope so, but in the mean time we are about to hit the wall on energy producing capacity in this country.

We don't like nuclear, we don't like coal, and we don't like hydro. Wind turbines kill birds. Tidal current generators kill fish. We all know that oil is evil, but we do like solar as long as the huge solar collectors are in somebody else's back yard, and so far solar is not very efficient.

We do like to turn our food stocks into fuel, such as ethanol form corn. The only problem with that approach is now we can't afford to feed our cattle, and oh by the way, we can't produce enough corn to keep the lights on in Perrywinkle Tennessee, much less a major city. Oh yea, and did I mention that it takes more energy to produce ethanol than it provides. If Iowa were not an early primary state, nobody would consider ethanol from corn as a viable energy source. Politicians may not know how to get us over this energy crisis, but they sure know how to pander for a vote!

Obama says that drilling for oil in the US is not the answer - -it would take to long!

I have an idea, let's drill for oil, build power plants of all types if we have to. Lot's of them. We can do these things while we look for the magic elixir that we all seek. Or we can just stand and curse the darkness rather than have the pollution caused by lighting a single candle.

If God really does help those who helps themselves, then who is going to help us!

And that's all I've got to say about that.

What Happend to Wooden boats

I know why boats aren't made of wood much anymore, it would be way to easy to set them on fire and get rid of them! Yes it is a boat rave. Hey it is spring so get over it and hear me out. The old joke is that the best 2 days in any boat owners life is when he gets his boat and when he can finally get rid of it. I have only had my boat 2 years and I have already grown to loath it. I swear it seems to smile at my pain.

I went to crank it a few weeks back and of course the battery was down. The battery of course is stored in a spot that is not reachable by the average guy - - OK may be by the average sized guy can, but that ain't me. I finally get it out and on the charger and begin the grueling process of trying to get it to charge. What, you don't know about this! Oh yea now we have smart chargers that won't charge if the battery is to far discharged - - WHAT! Yep, if the battery is totally discharged the battery charger won't even try to charge it. At any rate, after much coaxing and a 1/2 dozen restarts it finally takes a charge. Success at last.

So last weekend Barb and I are going to take a little boat ride. But first I must reinstall the battery in it's secret place. I can do this, after all I got it out didn't I. 3 hour later the battery was in and the boat was cranked. Unfortunately I was now way to hot and sweaty to go for a ride so we decided to wait until later in the afternoon. No problem, life is good.

At 4:00 we decided it was a good time to go for a ride. Barb by now had been wearing her sun block all day and had a decidedly Coppertone smell. The dog (Holly the terrorist) was following her and trying to lick her legs every time she stopped moving. Holly really likes Coppertone. At any rate we are in our bathing suits and ready to go. We haul all our stuff to the boat and board the proud vessel. Part of our "stuff" was the required cleaning supplies to remove the 68lbs of spider poop that was deposited on everything. After some minutes of poop cleaning, I declared that a little spider poop never hurt anyone, let's shove off. You guessed it the battery won't turn the motor over, not even a relay click. My first thought was to burn the damn boat. Barb pointed out that while I had hauled 10 gallons of gas ($40 worth) and filled up the tanks the boat was made of aluminum and probably would not burn. Curses foiled again!

And that my friend is what happened to all the wooden boats!

A World of Causes

It is official now. We had long suspected it was the case, but now we have proof! The tide went out this morning along the Gulf coast. If this trend continues unchecked, all the worlds oceans will dry up in 7 years! What will we do? What - -it happens every day you say. You are trying to tell me that this is a natural cycle. How simple minded can you be, there were people there who saw it occur! Go ahead stick your head in the sand if you want, but just remember I told you in time to stop it. If man had only changed his ways, this catastrophe could have been avoided.

I heard on the way in this morning that the water level in Lake Victoria was falling. The "journalist" went on to say that if this trend continues unabated that Lake Victoria would be completely dry in 30 years. Must be that Global warming thing again. The only problem is that the water level in the lake has fluctuated for years thousands of years - -even after "we fixed it" in 1954 with a big dam.

If I had any hair, I would pull it out!

I know the world is warmer. What I don't know is why, or for how long. I also don't know why Mars is getting warmer, but I know it is.

We love causes. I know I do. There is nothing better than a puppy in peril on TV to cause us to rise to the occasion, band together and move mountains to save it. Nothing wrong with that, I like puppies. I just think we should choose our causes with a little more thought.

As a matter of fact, once the "cause" has been declared (in the case of Global warming by non other than Al Gore) it is complete heresy to question it at all. For any scientist, it is a career ending move to even question whether it is man made or maybe something as simple as a solar cycle.

It speaks volumes to our arrogance as humans. Our assumption is that there is nothing "bigger" than us. If anything significant happens one way or the other, man must have caused it. Sharon Stone created an outcry in China recently when she suggested that the earth quake there was a result of "bad karma" because China mistreats Tibet. I bet Sean Penn agrees, maybe even Al Gore.

Maybe that whole bad karma thing is what caused global warming. No that would fly in the face of the undisputed science. We are doing it to ourselves. It is the whole carbon thing. We need to all rush out and buy carbon credits. Just so happens that Al Gore is part owner in a company that sells them, which makes it really convenient since we know they will be the real thing and not some Chinese knock off.

Now Mars on the other hand has got to be karma related to the whole treatment of Tibet thing. Nothing else makes sense scientifically!

By the way, next time you are in Africa please carry a bottle of water to pour in Lake Victoria - - just in case. You know if we all band together we could lick this thing. No tap water please. The best water comes from melting a glacier.

Passing of a pet

My friend Rick, recently had the grim task of consoling his young son Jordan, who was coming to grips with the loss of a pet. Jordan and his sister found a lizard in the back yard last week, and like good youngsters everywhere they adopted it. Jordan soon realized a lesson that many of us don't learn until we are much older. That lesson is that if you love something, you must often set it free no matter how much you want to keep it. With watery eyes, Jordan set his new pet free after a couple of days.

That might have been the end of the adventure, but I am sad to say for Jordan that it was not. He was on the lookout for his little pet and sure enough, a couple of days later he found him again. Jordan once again took the little critter into his care. As an adult it occurs to me that any lizard that allows itself to be caught twice, might not be in the best of health. Mr. Lizard I guess was not as he soon died.

Jordan wanted to have an official burial. His dad agreed to this, but was soon left with a problem as Jordan had decided that only a metal coffin would do. As the lizard was doing what dead things do, Rick went looking for a suitable container. I provided an Altoids box, painted for the occasion, and the funeral was on. With many tears, Mr. Lizard was placed in his coffin, which by now had to be placed in a zip lock bag to protect the innocent. Services were planned. Graveside services will be held today at 4:30.

This story, or one like it, has been played out many times across our country this very day. It is how our children learn values and learn how to live as adults. Some fathers have always flushed the lizard down the toilet, while others have looked for the metal coffin. My concern is about the ratio. I am afraid today we have a lot more "flushers" than we had 25 or 30 years ago.

Were Norman Rockwell here today he would have been moved to paint this scene, and we would all have understood what it meant when we saw it in the "Saturday Evening Post". We would all have smiled and felt comfortable. The scene takes me back to a time when we all felt closer to each other. I really miss that time, but the ritual of Mr. Lizard's funeral gives me hope. We need a lot less flushers.

If you are not old enough to remember the "Saturday Evening Post" you have really missed something. It is not to late to enjoy Norman Rockwell however, and we should all do so lest we forget how life once was in our country - - at a simpler time.

It boggles the mind!

So much going on. I am a back-slid blogger, but I vow to change. Doctor says I am a diabetic. That sucks! All new rules for eating, no more "banking points" for a night time pig put. This only makes sense if you are a fellow Weight Watcher, or a least a former WW as I am. I am losing weight and my latest blood work was good. Enough about that.

This is my season - - politics! I am a confessed political junkie. I don't really know why, I don't believe any of them, but I sure do like to watch. It has been a very interesting election cycle. A black man, a white woman, and one very seasoned citizen. Who would have thunk it.

Last but not least, Rick has got me going to a welding class. It is not like he forced me, he just told me he was going and I sure do hate to miss anything exciting. I have burned up a lot of welding rods, and I still suck. The good news is I don't have to make a living at it so sucky is OK. Is that cool or what! The class was not cheap though. $175 to sign up and $500 for the welder I now think I can not live without!

Come to think of it my friend Rick is going to cost me a fortune. He keeps coming up with neat stuff he wants to learn about and do - - -and I am easily lead astray. I will be broke but well rounded. I am pretty sure that has the makings of a career path for a WalMart greeter.

Speaking of WalMart, I went to WalMart tonight to buy a shoe horn. (yes, I got some new shoes. I have been looking for a couple of weeks and can't find a shoe horn anywhere - -at least not one that I was willing to part money with to buy. Us greeters have to watch our pennies. I went to the shoe department and asked the lady where they kept the shoe horns. She told me that she had only worked their a week and did not know what a shoe horn was, so she went and got the department head. Turns out they had long plastic ones and fancy metal ones, but no "regular" shoe horns at all.

I had one of the long, plastic, $2 shoe horns in my hand and was telling the department manager that every shoe store used to give away shoe horns with every pair of shoes, whether you wanted them or not. As a matter of fact, I am sure that I must have 100 here in the house somewhere, if only I knew where. At any rate, I was telling her about how it used to be. OK, I was telling her back as she was walking away from me. She took about 10 steps to her official department managers cart, pulled out a drawer and gave me a very nice, regular old shoe horn. I know she was rich, ther must have ben 50 of them in her drawer. I sure hope the shows one to the first lady I met - -she needs to know what a shoe horn is if she is going to work in the shoe department don't you think. ay any rate, I was too embarrassed to put the $2 one back, so now in my house there are 102 shoehorns - - 2 of which I can now find - - at least temporarily!