Diggin' up bonz...

I count everything. Someone told me once it was because I'm O.C.D.. Really, I hate to disillusion them, but seriously doubt my sister knows what O.C.D. is.

I'm sure not going to get into a legal discussion about words and acronyms with a lawyer, but I am still going to beg to differ with her. After all, it isn't my fault I count everything.

It's Ben Franklin's.

Well, maybe not, but then again, maybe it is. Either way, it sounds good to me, and OH! so liberating to be able to blame someone else for my short-comings. Seriously, though: who was it that said, "A penny saved is a penny earned."? So far as I recall, I was told it was Ben. So he gets the blame.

Not that I really remember much any more. I'm getting so short-memoried I had to count the wood pile twice today. Dang, that takes a while and I missed my beer call.

Of course, if you, Dear Reader, and I met at a party, I'd remember your face- cuz I have a photographer's eye for structure and lighting- but I'd probably forget your name. And, then, don't tell me your phone number cuz I'll never forget it.

Case in point...

Around two or three hundred years ago, I had the good fortune to be accidentally invited to attend a party for a Young Blood heading to O.C.S. (that's acronym for Over the China Seas). Being the Good Trooper I was, and since he was my best friend, I felt obliged to go, so I did.

I'm not O.C.D., but I am kind of a wall flower around women. Like, if they knew how absolutely terrified I am of having to even talk to one, they'd die laffing. But I digress... on with the party.

Being from a beer drinking background, I naturally gravitate to whiskey, good sour mash preferred. Or a really tall snifter of Hennesy over a chunk of ice. Anyway, there was a lot of beer and not much whiskey to be had at the party, so I drank beer spiked from a bottle of Jim Beam, parked my slim butt beside a potted plant and began to be ignored. Which was fine with me. If they can't see me, they won't talk to me.

Umm, well, kinda.

There was this strawberry blond- we'll call her Dawn, but I didn't know that til later- whose hair hung to her shoulders and just bubbled like CO2 in a glass of Sprite every time she laughed. And she laughed a lot! From what I could see, she was the life of the party and all the guys wanted to dance with her. Owww- being single then, like now, I have to say her hair wasn't all that bubbled. Watching her dance was like watching sharks at feeding time... they were all around her.

Alas, as they tend to, the party came to and end sometime or other and people began wandering off.

Except me: I was hiding beside the potted plant when Dawn started donning her jacket and was beset by - we'll call him Craig, for lack of better name- who decided he wanted to see more of Dawn. So, as most bold guys do, he helped her into her jacket by pulling his on while he asked her for her phone number.

She must have thought he was really very chivalrous and kind, a Lord of the Manor, because she told him her phone number. Then left to wend her merry way home.

But I digress...we were talking about Ben Franklin.

Or, rather, I was. You're just listening. (C'mon- pretend a minute, OK?)

When you were growing up, didn't your Mom and Dad tell you that, "A penny saved is a penny earned"? So we learn to count our pennies. It's only natural to want to know how much we've earned. It teaches us so much about our future worth.

Or how about when your Dad loaned his tools to the guy down the road and the fella sez, "I'll bring it right back." Later, telling Mom about it, Dad sez, "If I had a nickel every time he told me that, I'd be rich." So didn't you start counting the nickels you got, waiting for the day you were rich?

Like with the Dark Lord these days: if we had a nickel for every time he said "Change," we'd be able to clear the national debt. Or if every time he muttered an "Ummm..." or "errr..." or "I mean..." every time he was asked a serious question, we really could buy every American a home.

And the first time you had to eat your spinach and complained about it cuz we all know what spinach tastes like, even with salt and pepper. Then Mom, bless her for trying to help, told us to, "Count your blessings for having spinach to eat because there are little children in Africa starving for spinach."

Of course we all thought, and if dumb enough, as I was, to say aloud, "Then send it to the kids in Africa." We got the remark again: "Count your blessings and shut up." (Which usually meant it would be a blessing if Dad didn't take off his belt and snap it a few times. Usually across the posterior section of our anatomy.)

Then, as used to be the case when young men reached a certain age in their development, they got a greeting from some strange Uncle they'd never met and he invited them to come eat Spam with him for a while. Usually just a couple years. In some instances, the dumber of the young men actually signed for a ticket to visit this weird Uncle on purpose! DUH!

But just think of it- recall, if you will- those wondrous days when a young man, or woman, could learn they were "Screwing up by the numbers" their whole lives and didn't even know it! So here we go again, learning to count in a whole new fashion: by the numbers!

Now, if that doesn't beat all, don'tcha know? Who'd'a thunk there was more than one way to count? Or to screw things up? Gosh. Golly. Gee, Batman!

Ever wonder why troops yell "GeronimoooOOO!!" when disembarking airplanes at altitude?

It's because the Jump Master told them to. Of course, he had a reason for it even if the troop was unaware of it. Yelling "GeronimoooOOO" takes three seconds. One. Two. Three. Counting, again. If the chute wasn't deployed, then the troop would know who to cuss on the way down.

You got it: Geronimo.

Isn't that just wonderfully wonderful? Or, as we say in the bunker, Suh-weeeeeet!

So there you have it: why I count everything. It's all Ben's fault and I am going to be adamant about it. He's the culprit!

Oh- yes. Almost forgot (toldja my memory's going).

As it turned out, Craig deployed to O.C.S the same day Dave did, so he never got to use the number he'd written down.

A few weeks later, the phone rang and I asked for "Dawn".

"Hello, who are you?" she asked.

"This is Jim. You gave me your number a few weeks ago at a party," I told her.

"I never gave you my phone number!" she insisted.

"Yes, you did," I assured her. "I was standing by the potted plant when Craig asked for it and you gave it to him."

"But I didn't give it to you!" she insisted.

"Well, not directly..." I told her. "But I did hear you tell him."

"And you wrote it down?" she wanted to know.

"No, of course not," I told her. "I wanted to date you so bad I remembered it."

She laughed and laughed and was still laughing when I picked her up that evening to help me celebrate an up-coming flight.

See? I'm not O.C.D.... I'm devious!

Bless God, God bless.

Shy

Is YOUR name written here?

If not, it may well soon be. These people are simply unbelievable!

Sitting here in total disbelief. I picked this off MM's site and have been utterly in shock since going there. Question to EM: how DO you find this stuff?

Culprit in question: Websites that must be banned! (brainstorm) - The Obama Forum

"Alright let's get the ball rolling. We must make the internet more "Obama" friendly, there are a whole bunch of conservatard sites that criticize our president. I have been assured by Sec of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano that she will take steps to make the internet more friendly but she needs sites that should be banned. Please brainstorm here

Sincerely,
Howard Dean M.D.
(Get the ball rolling here are some sites

www.gop.org <---Opposing party www.redstate.com <---Conservatard watering hole www.freerepublic.com <---See redstate.com www.mccain.senate.gov <---Ran against Obama and attacking him now. www.sarahpac.com <---Sarah "Carabou Barbie" Palin's "Political Action Committee."""

(Excerpt from the opening post.)

They get only worse as they go along. I simply am astounded at the vitriol, fear mongering, hate-whitey, barbaric comments by people who, supposedly, are from my own country.

Don't get me wrong: I don't expect everyone to think the same as I, or to even support the same causes. Hell, I even get angry enough to melt nails in my hands wanting to choke some of 'these' "people"! But to want to take away their Constitutional rights is the last thing I will do. I'll choke them first.

""They're trying to ruin a whole state. Listen to their "Statement of Intent".
"I hereby state my solemn intent to move to the state of New Hampshire. Once there, I will exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of civil government is the protection of life, liberty, and property."" (Quote of BergBuilder, who listed http://www.freestateproject.com/ as a target of elimination.)

And "Sickleandhammer" wrote: "The government should censor the entire Internet.
Only information constructive to the cause of the people and progress should be permitted."

And these people are running the country?

How about this one, from "Adam": "Wow!, I have been looking at some of these terrorist websites. Frightening to say the least. This one in particular http://ronpaulforums.com is an un-american terrorist breeding ground, full of traitorous types who have no place in America.""

Or this from "RedBlade" (his 'tag line'): "We must keep a close eye on the racist militia types. Militia Watchdog Links Page http://www.adl.org/MWD/m1.asp

__________________
For struggle, Solidarity and Socialism ! I swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Obama, Our laws and his will, according to him. We will not overthrow the government with violence .We shall stand, remain and be the law of his realm for ever. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead for Obama to deliver them from evil. ""

Honestly: I can't tell if this site is full of jokers or if these are actually people playing with only one card decks.

Damn.

Locked and loaded, cuz these people are coming!

God bless.

Shy

Dog and Pony Show

Everyone likes a circus. At least, for the purposes of this blog they do.

(Doesn't take much to amuse me, does it?)

Anyway, we've all been involved in the dog and pony show at one time or another, some still are and some wish they were. The news up here today is that there are going to be another 600 that will be wishing they were still involved with it.

There are four major mining companies in the area. U.S. Steel the dominant and oldest. Originally mining iron ore, a high grade ore that is easily smelted and found/mined, until digging it out became expensive, inefficient. In the early 60's mines began to dig out taconite, a low grade ore that is plentiful, easy to transport, but more difficult to smelt but which provides a better grade of steel. (So I am told, anyway.) During the 70's, U.S. Steel employed nearly 4000 workers. After a couple of strikes in the late 70's, the workforce was dropped in half. Today, their workforce is nearly 1200 bodies, men and women.

New technologies have come on the scene and U.S. Steel has been trying to incorporate the new 'green' technology into a new processing and mining operation. After sinking millions of dollars into the project, it was shut down late last summer for an indefinite period. 500 men and women, young and old, suddenly found themselves out of work. A whole community was shut down because of this.

Other mining interests in the area are LiWu Steel, formerly Ford Taconite, which has since been sold to another concern- whose name eludes me at the moment. They, too, had lay-offs last fall, just prior to the election.

Inland Mining went to Minorca, who became Arcelor-Mittal, and had lay-offs last fall and this winter as well.

Reserve Mining became Erie Mining who sold out to LTV Steel, who shut down operations a few years ago and laid-off nearly two thousand workers. Some of the younger workers were grafted into other mining operations locally, many received early retirement.

Today, U.S. Steel announced the indefinite lay-off of 90 salaried/company officials and 510 union workers. 600 families who will have the summer off to look for work, create work or businesses, or find new jobs elsewhere. Elsewhere because this is a one-horse area. Sure, there is tourism- which in itself may be a dieing business- and a small amount of logging. A very small amount: the American companies that used forest products sold out to Canadian companies and, as predicted by Yours Truly, ceased operations within two years and created hundreds of unemployed in the logging industry. Most work in this area is mining related, as Detroit is car-related. When the mines shut down, everyone feels the pinch. It was that way when I was a kid, it's going to be that way again. A 'boom and bust' society, often first to feel the crash of economic hard times and the last to rise from the ashes.

Pre-election, I was at my favorite gun shop buying a case of ammo and got to talking with a couple customers. The older (than I) was retired and aware, our talk being of the results of the coming election, the portent of same. The younger fellow was mid twenties, working at Minorca/Acelor-Mittal and felt very confident of his union vote going to Soeterobama, that his future would be Rosy and peaches and cream after the election. We older two decided he needed an awakening and each of us asked what he was doing to prepare for the 'shit that would come if Soetero got elected'. The young stud assured us he was going to be fine, adamant he would prosper. He did ask why we thought as we did, and we had similar remarks. Have to hand it to the Kid: he took it good naturedly, listened as though he really was interested.

Outside, the 'oldster' and I talked a few minutes more- fun when you meet a kindred spirit- about the coming storm. Both of us agreed: Young Blood was in for a rude awakening.

Today, he got the rude awakening.

I sure would like to run into that Young Blood again, ask what he thinks of his union and their Dark Lord now.

And to ask if he took our warnings to heart and did some prepping for the shit-storm that's coming.

Oh- I wanna apologise for the last few weeks: been pretty torn up by the crap this country's going through and it's affected my head as well as my heart.

Bless God, God bless- and Prep on.

Shy

Fairness Doctrine

Not that I have anything against Pat Robertson as a person, but I'm gonna have fun listening to him whine when the Dark Lord gets the Fairness Doctrine reinstated.

Interviewing Christian Broadcasting Network founder Pat Robertson recently for a forthcoming piece on the possibility of a Fairness Doctrine revival, I threw in a couple questions about President Obama. In a CNN appearance just before Christmas, Robertson surprised a lot of folks when said he was "remarkably pleased" with Obama and that he "has the makings of a great president."

(Read the whole story here: Exclusive: Pat Robertson Says Obama 'Showing Partisanship,' Denounces Rush Limbaugh's 'I Hope He Fails' Remark - God & Countr... )

I will take exception with that statement alone; Every person in the United States has the makings of a great president. But they'd better meet the qualifications and we can rest assured the Dark Lord does not.

And then he goes on to say that it was a terrible thing for Rush Limbaugh to say he hopes the Dark Lord fails. Well, I for one agree with Rush on this one. And I read the same Bible Pat Robertson does, so I will side with Rush on this one. I will have no part of the Dark Lord's programs of abortion and murder, of betraying my country, and worse, denying my God. I will not bow to him, regardless what Robertson or my sisters and family or friends say. To agree to any of his ideas or a bit of his ideology is to condone the whole program, and I do not, will not.

In less than a month in office, I've seen him break this country apart worse than any man since King GeorgeIII. The man is filthy, immoral, dishonest, lieing, gives approval to dishonesty and even lauds it with promotion and power. What hope has an honest citizen got when their leaders are the scum of the earth? What future could there possibly be for the youth of any nation that condones such people as these? What image do these people present to the world- which the Dark Lord has declared he will befriend at the expense of Americans?

Alas, poor Babylon, how great was thy fall!

Lock and load, Patriot Americans.

Shy III