Wednesday, January 28, 2015

OH THAT EARLY SPRING DAY.





"SUNSHINE ON MY SHOULDER
MAKES ME HAPPY".
                                              John Denver


     There is such a nice thing that happens now and then in the late winter that really makes me happy.  It is that odd day or two that the cold, blowy, cloudy, winter days seem to be getting longer as I get longer in the tooth.  With the blood sugar that is always giving me problems I seem to be cold all the time.  Setting on the porch on summer days are a pure pleasure now instead of hibernating under the air conditioner of earlier years.
       Well this week I was able to take the dog out on the porch and I have gotten the same pleasure of a warm sunbeam that she does.  It is a great feeling to thaw out clear to the bones including my toes.
      Now part of the pure pleasure besides the sunshine is the TV turned off and the continual drivel of News is off and the quiet is so nice. I have the CD player on with silly stories by Andy Nelson.  As I am writing this the sun is starting to warm up one last time for now.  And I am handed a 21st century staple gun that needs loading.  After an hour of ruining my attitude it goes in the trash and the perfected design from the 1950's is dug out and put back into service.
      Oh I can feel that sunshine now.  Soak up a batch of that vitamin D and snooze with the dog at my feet.  The Blizzard from Hell did not happen back east and the climate change people are trying to figure out how the fact that they can't predict 12 hours that they can convince us that they can predict 50 years ahead.
      Sunshine on my shoulder makes me happy!!!!!

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

SOMETIMES YOU JUST DON'T FEEL ALL THAT FUNNY





"OUR LIVES BEGIN TO END
THE DAY WE BECOME
SILENT ABOUT THINGS
THAT MATTER."

                                                Martin Luther King


     It may be the weather or the fact that I am on my way to get a needle stuck in my back, that I am not feeling particularly funny.  Maybe it is the fact that after the known lies and false science that was pushing the global warming crowd that they are back with a new set of figures to push their agenda again.
      Or that we are two years away from the presidential elections and the news media is busy determining who we are going to nominate and vote for at that time.  What ever happened to reporting the news not creating it?
      Could it be that there are people who really believe that UN troops are threatening our way of life.  (Really, those blue bereted peace keepers that could not stop either side in a dozen conflicts from shooting each other)?
      What is fully expected is the new proposal from Der Fuher to increase taxes instead of stop spending.
       At long last the price of gas is coming back towards reasonable levels and we can fill up with wondering at the amount of money left over from the last few years.  Yet when we have the ability to buy a little more what we choose it is a looming worldwide disaster.
       The dynamic of how the world operates takes a different flow, and possibility, when energy is affordable is a fact that governments and bureaucrats don't want us to know about.
     It is expensive to produce energy and those who are in the business adjust to the fluctuation.  Many fortunes were made from $10 oil.  There is a lot of available energy at a higher range and there is a happy medium out there.  It is just not so easy as when oil is $95 a barrel.
      When the medium is discovered and the politician and nationalists are put out of the control, the rate of efficiencies will go on and alternatives will be cheapened.
     As time goes on we know that the developments will make our heads spin and it is the old boy under the shade tree that figures it out and not the PHD spoon fed the taxpayers dollars.
     Right now we have a bunch of 8th century clowns threatening to attack us.  Guess it is time for rag heads and Indians.
     Nope I am just not feeling so funny today.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?



"NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER
OF HUMAN STUPIDITY!"
                                        Robert A Heinlein

     You know I have known ordinarily nice and intelligent people who turn into closet Nazis when emotions are stirred into a subject that they have strong opinions of.  Now it does take some conviction and courage to stand for what is right.  The problem is when 'right' is mixed up with agenda.  And many times the 'agenda' is someone else's.
       It is OK to have strong feelings on a subject that you have more emotions of than knowledge of.  That is as long as you are not forcing your opinions on someone who is knowledgeable and making a living from it.
      Let take Pigs for an example.  Yes, pork, hogs, swine, porcine, the other white meat.  Now I am sure that there is a small percentage that make their living raising Pork.  There is also a huge group that loves the products made from pork.  Now there is an even smaller group outside of Jewish and Muslim communities that for some reason either hates pork or uses it to drive agenda's that have nothing to do with reality.
       Now when a small group wants to drive agendas and need the numbers of people that will actually join them in their crusade there has to be a lot of misrepresentation, fabrication, and lies to build the emotions of its followers.
      Now lets look at Chipotle's Restaurant's.  Since a group has tried the frontal approach to change how hogs are raised and have not been overwhelmingly successful.  A campaign of emotions and pure bullying has been waged.  Pork is now dropped from the restaurant chain since the organizations who are attacking the Pork industry are forcing businesses to take stands that have nothing to do with their business.
      Forcing companies to set their own industry standards on the products they sell is not new.  It is a shame that Chipotle is forced by animal rights groups to drop a product that is a major part of their historic menu.
     It is a shame but this works both ways and the Chipotle company will be the loser either way.  It is very simple.  I will not eat at their restaurant's as long as they knuckle under to the animal rightists.  Lets see if the few animal rightists make up for the loss of this business.
    But then I doubt that they even care or eat their anyway.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

CAKE AND EATING IT




"IN POLITICS STUPIDITY
IS NOT A HADICAP".

                                              Napoleon Bonaparte

     Well since it is so cold, (damn that global warming), I am not getting out and visiting parts of Kansas as much as I like to.  So even with Fox News gone fighting with Dish, politics is taking a big part of my observations.  We are about to witness the worst in human behavior.  Not just terrorists, but those who are in charge of doing our business.  The most dangerous time of year is when Congress and the Legislature are in session.
     If any of you are waiting for solutions to come out of Washington you might as well find a place to get comfortable and wait.  When the chance to replace the leader of the House was stopped we all know that things have not changed.  The first duty of the day is to punish those members who had the gall to oppose the leadership.  New ideas are not the subject of the day.
      The original way that the states selected their Senators was not by direct vote of the people.  The people elected their state legislatures and the House of Representatives for their districts.  It was up to the state to nominate and elect the senator.  This changed because it made the position too beholding to the people back home.  It is a six year term for Senator so even doing some blatant things lets the office holder pretty well count on the short term memory of the voter.
     Without an added amendment to the Constitution there is no way to rein in the out of control workings of the Federal Government.  I am afraid that the next two years will be so disappointing that the gains made in the Congress will be lost for a generation.  We are at that point where dependence on the government, deteriorating education, and expanding self centeredness are over growing the well informed voter.
      Is there anything I feel good about?  Yes.  There is a new generation of sincere, educated, and products of grassroots America starting to show up.  One that I am most hopeful for is the newly elected 113th House Rep. J. Basil Dannebohm from Ellinwood.  Whatever the circumstances, he ran unopposed in the primary and general elections and was able to concentrate on getting a foot up in Topeka and ready to hit the ground running.
      It would take too long to go through his resume but suffice it to say that he is an extraordinary person for the job and I think larger jobs down the line.  Yes I mean national office.  I want to be the first on his bandwagon.  This considering that I am not a fan of the run of the mill politician or the wannabe politician. 
     As they say "all politics are local" I hope that Basil's run at representing you and me inspires others that still possess some character and common sense to follow his lead.
      The old saying "you can't have your cake and eat it to" never made any sense to me.  And it doesn't take a smart elec kid on a TV commercial to say if you have cake we might as well eat it.  Lets find some more of these smart kids growing up and get them in their pushing out the dead weight.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

2015, YOUR KIDDING RIGHT?



"I AM SEEING THE LOGIC
OF TUCSON IN THE
WINTER"

                             Roger Ringer


     When I was in school around 1969 I thought about what things would be like at the turn of the century.  It seemed like a long time because I would be 45 years old.  I could not imagine that the 25 cent hamburger would cost over $5.  It just seemed like a long, long time to wait.
      The revolution in technology passed me by in a blur.  It is amazing to me that the PC that I am writing this on has more power than the computer that run the space shuttle.  To go from the 707 to the 777 seems just ridiculous.  I had friends that worked on both Air Force One's and they are outliving my friends.  I would like to see them set on the ground a little more often.
     I used to be impatient with the 'older' folks setting and talking about doctors and the latest ailments.  Now I am the one doing that.  Hold on!
Things that I used to love to do I cannot even get excited for and a well designed restroom is more exciting than the latest cars from Detroit.
      I will soon be turning 60 even though it does not seem possible or logical.  I am more and more not wanting to read the highlights of what happened last year.  The list of people we have lost in the year is depressing because most of the entertainers and celebrities are not measuring up to the ones we grew up with.  (Who is Rob Lowe) and why is he bothering the hell out of me?
      Ad men used to  just smoke Mary Jane, but now seem to be smoking Crack.  I am more and more wondering just what they are advertising?  It has always seemed that the latest doom and gloom scenario was hot topic on the news and now we get them in bunches.
       What is 2015 going to be about?  Well I foresee a bunch of self centered people in Washington trying to tell us how to live our lives.  I see more and more who want to give someone else's money to others.  I see agendas coming from so called news organizations which may as well just call them selves what the are, Propagandists.
       I see self centered people worrying about things they can do nothing about and yet sacrifice their children to 'save' the world.  I see a whole lot of ordinary people who do the job, as they always have, in the quiet custom that they are used to.  And a handful of loud obnoxious people trying to change the world for no other reason than they have Hope and Change as a mantra.
      In other words, 2015 is going to be the same.