Memries & Testament

Above are the Swabies! If,as I guess,this is in '52 then we're months away from Rob & Sheri and Leland is only 4 years away from Khaki.

Wow! What was that like? A nation ending a 'Police Action' in Korea and prosperity at every corner. There was a picture from this set, lost to a previous wife, of me with a cracker that was used to quiet me that looked just like a cigarette.

We're headed into the 'Season'. I've many memories of our travels to Clanton that flood my evenings. I'm there now and love you all! Those still here and those that have gone before.

More Billionaire Bitchin

The previous blog was not a statement against capitalism as a model but as an observation of what unregulated greed does to capitalism. My concern isn’t about what a person makes as much as it is about what that person takes. My reason for bringing it up was as a warning to us 95%ers. Many of us are comfortable with things as they are. How not? I sit at my computer in my warm home overlooking a beautiful lake blogging about whatever I wish. I’m not in the upper 95% (guess they would be mere millionaires) but if the greedy top, and that includes some of the 95%ers, let that precarious balance tip it will definitely disturb my lifestyle.
I’m glad, no glad’s to sedate, I’m jumpin for joy that Unc has been able to move forward and is again self employed. I never doubted he’d make it. I’m sure he’d agree about how precarious our station is in this 95%.
Let’s look real quick at that $8 laborer. If he works 10 hrs a day and can get 50 weeks of work a year he’ll make $20,000. Having been in the trades for 32 years it’s my experience that he’ll be among the lucky if he gets 35 weeks. He’d be better off working at WallyWorld were he’d get at least 35 hrs a week all year long but he’s got a problem. He reads at a 1st grade level and his math is no better. He’s been told by so many for so long that he’s stupid he believes it. Filling out an application for a job is a nightmare he’ll just skip. So there’s one more in the trench of the lowest 95%ers.
I’ll use a name we’re all familiar with that belongs to the 1%ers. Bill Gates. Worth $58 BILLION. Folks a BILLION is 1,000 Million! Can your mind grasp that kind of greed? I’ll argue forever against those that say he’s a wonderful philanthropist because he gave 50 million to such and such a cause. I’ll also argue with those that say capitalism won’t work with regulations that protect our economy and society from that much greed.
If you want to see a list of the Billionaires, how much they have and where they’re from this is Forbes list. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/10/billionaires08_The-Worlds-Billionaires_Rank.html . This is an international list. The number two guy on it is from Mexico. You know that 'poor' country south of us.

Look Out!

Do you get up everyday like most in the world and do your best to provide? Some of us provide for ourselves, some for others. Some provide more than others. Fault or no fault that happens.
We, 'the kids', were taught that hard work, honesty and sharing led to success. That there was an American dream that was attainable by all. Well I still believe in the hard work, honesty and sharing but the American Dream is just that a Dream. It's fostered by the 'Gots'.
Since the development of the yeoman farmer to the stratified economic society of today the rich have allowed other rich to administer funds in needed proportions to the lower stations to maintain a certain amount of stable tranquility. These include the Welfare State that they so loudly bemoan. But they know that without it, and less obvious methods of distribution to less needy, those below would take more than they were being allowed to have.

“The top 1 percent of American families, for example, now own as much as the bottom 95 percent combined, the highest such gap among developed nations.” Money.CNN.com

Folks that just ain’t right. Are you OK with being a part of the 95% combined? Somehow the rules to the game have been corrupted.
There are people, people not nations, that count their worth by Billions of Dollars! Warren Buffet is worth over 62 billion and Bill Gates 58. Why is there a financial crisis? Because too few own too much!
This is the stuff that really riles my leftist instincts. I consider a good month as one where my bills are paid and nothing major is broken that will call for large funds to repair.
It's a crime! not a right to own that much money with hungry children on this planet. I'm very fearful that in my lifetime I'll see the 'Ain't Gots' rise up and take from the 'Gots'. It won't be pretty!
Right now there are still plenty of us 'Gots Just Enough's' to buffer the situation. I keep watchin the news though and 'just enough' can disappear in a heartbeat.
No Zipidee this time ;~(

Cow Licks

The one front right was the promenent one. I had granddad buzz cuts most of my youth and try as he might could never create a 'Flattop' like Ray's. They are the reason for parting my hair in the middle these last 38 years ;~)

A Return

Brendan Returns!
We moved his belongings into a local storage facility and reinstated him in his room here. Not sure just how much we'll be seeing him 'cause he gets off work around 2 AM & goes in sometime in the afternoon. But he's here! He's employed & eager to get a place in town to move his sweetie to.
33 days from now Evan moves back also. He graduates on December 13th! It'll be interesting to see if their time here overlaps. Mixed emotions on that one :~) Grocery bills are big enough now, feeding those two giants isn't cheap. But we're glad to do it. The day'll come when the nest will truly be empty and their lives will take all of their time. So we'll steal what little we can now and be thankful.
Winter approaches in spurts and bumps. The Tuesday before the election we had 8 to 12 inches of snow by Halloween it was in the low 60's but is only in the mid 30's today. YeHa! it's a roller coaster.

Zippidee!

A musical twist.

I've always enjoyed many different musical styles from Do Wop to Classical to Hard Rock. Mostly I'll go to the mid 60's to the late 70's for my every day music. A freind introduced me to a group called "Pearlene". They're from Cincinatti and the album's only a couple of years old. I keep going back to this album, again & again. I'm sure that I've missed out in the realm of musical style progression but these guys have taken all I used to listen to, rewritten it & served it back to me as something new. And I hope they do more.

Yo Unce!!

As opposed to commenting on the Wise One's very well stated blog on his blog and missing the chance of 'Bloggin' on my own I'll comment using the F.O.
Agreed that the real bugger needin oversight is Congress. Both houses. What needs doin is riddin the halls of money totin lobbyist! As long as we allow them to buy our congressman's vote my vote, your vote, isn't worth a 'Yankee Dime' on a donkey's butt.
Like Cliff Claven at Cheer's I'm not allowed in Scranton when any of the 'Politicos' are there ;~) I 'E'mail my opinions (and boy I got 'em!) to every public employee that's answerable to me as a voting citizen.
Folks I've never been comfortable with political labels. They're even self imposed without a thorough definition. No one thinks alike. There's always that personal shading to any issue. So there are parts of my understanding that are shared with me and every division of the spectrum that are politics.
I'm a Christian & most of the folks I know that vote are Christians. So what's not gettin from our prayers & actions to our elected officials. I totally don't believe in any conspiracy or 'Evil Cabal'. Get your Senators & Representatives 'E'dress and bombard them.
On the point of Blog that was 'Wisdom's' opening statement I must come in at the otherside of the event.
This is not meant as, and hopefully won't sound like, a "Your Guy Beat My Guy......" but Wow! When we moved from Calif. to Montevallo in '67 I started the 11th grade in a segregated Highschool. It was the second semester of that year that the first 4 blacks started going to school there. There were no blacks in my graduating class.
I'm so proud of America right now! If we could just get over the gender thing, uh.. & the homophobe thing, uh.. & the .....

Zippidee DoDah!!

Reflection

Looking at the lakes
reflections 12 feet below and 100 away
lights from the far shores flickering
across the water
no sounds from the highway or the sky above
seems too perfect
what disrupts it?
me!
Only I describe it
define it
try to own it.
But now I try
To share with you
and make it easier to keep
'cause shared with you
I'm complete.