Wednesday, October 28, 2009

DAMN!

All I want is some work. If it was up to me those Bas*#@*! that stole our economy would have to pay back every cent & go to jail. They're at the beach & we're at the breach.
It's comin folks! Be careful & beware.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Health Deform

   I tried to start a discussion on FB about Healthcare Reform and got one rant from a Libertarian friend who thinks anything done by the government is a screw up. Although her Mom's on Medicare, She teaches at a school that is government subsidized and uses the interstate road system to get from one place to another she thinks that any government program leads to Socialism.

   I'm not a proponent of any particular reform, hell I'm a carpenter,but there's gotta be some smart people out there that don't have an agenda of their own that can come up with some ideas.

   Guess I have to take that back 'cause there is one thing that might save some money & improve your healthcare. Get rid of the insurance companies. Here's an industry that started out as a gambling tool in a bar in in London back in the 1500's. It was Loyds. They put their money up hoping that "their ship would come in". They've even retained certain terms, 'spread the risk' comes to mind, that attest to their beginnings.

   When we decided to start a family we looked into getting insurance and found that by not being in a large group our premiums were going to be more than we could afford. So we lived without insurance. My income level made our children eligible for coverage subsidized by our County Assistance (Socialism).

   But I do belong to a large group. The largest group in this country. I'm a citizen, got a SS# to prove it but if all of us citizens had the same policy provider then all of tose agents & CEO's wouldn't be living a better life than I can afford.

   I just can't believe it's so difficult to work out & I know it's not. There are two big problems and they have no real connection with the mechanics of the cure.

    Number one is Lobbyist. The Healthcare Industry has spent $380 million dollars so far in Washington to defeat healthcare reform. That's about $1.75 per citizen 18 & over. Over a million of it went to the Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus.

    Number two is our Senators & Representatives have insurance that can't be canceled paid for by you and me that'll just about cover a full body transplant with no deductible for THE REST OF THEIR LIVES! Take it away. Make them buy a policy for them & their children and you'll see reform the next day. If the Healthcare Industry was taking money out of their pockets instead of putting it in their pockets this topic would never have come up.

    So that cures that! Now for Social Security! Whoa! Socialism. Touchy subject. Same cure though.

   Interesting that the major hurdle we citizens have to get over to improve our lives are the people we send to Washington to see that our lives are improved. Hmmmmmmm


   MAN THE BARRICADES!!!!!!



      Zipidee is Flippin Out!!!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Mo Mems

    In Brunswick on Emanuel Drive the curbs were curved instead of squared. This allowed us to approach them from the street at an angle and jump onto the sidewalk. We would spend quite a bit of time in this endeavor.

   Once Rob was using Rays bike. It had a very large basket on the front. Rob comes racing down the road (speed = distance) launches up the curb pulling back on the handle bars (speed + lift = more distance). As he and the rest of the bike lift to great heights the front tire remains firmly in touch with Terra Firma. As gravity acts & Rob, with bike, returns to the sidewalk sans tire the bike stops but not Rob. He skids across the sidewalk on his face. He winds up with a scab under his nose for several weeks. With his blond hair and little square 'Mustache' he was often nominated to play Hitler in our Nazi bashing wars.

   Yes we were very into WWII. Here's why. For ever we'd played Cowboys & Indians then we saw "The Guns of Navarone". Gregory Peck, David Niven & Anthony Quinn whooping Nazi's like no tomorrow!

   This accident may have been the reason for him getting a chrome 3 speed bike for Christmas.

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Blogin

    Seems like only yesterday I was talked into starting a blog. It was where we would all share stories, hopes, rants, ideas. Now it's a place I go to talk to a wall. OOOOOW There's a FB phrase. Now I FB with everyone else but there's no room or audience for stories, hopes, rants, ideas on FB.

   Peachy puts up pics of Tucker and I really appreciate that but the rest are MIA or should I say MIFB ;~)

   OK no more bitchin! Now there's a story!

   In '67 we moved from Southern California to Central Alabama. Culture shock beyond anything you can imagine. Hippies and Surf Bums to Buba and Birmingham. They were still rolling up the fire hoses. Civil Rights was a newspaper headline not something practiced in Montevallo.

   As a 'Navy Brat' moving every 2 years the first thing you did at a new Station was find a best friend. We'd only been civilians for 2 years but the family habit of bi-annual migration wasn't over. Anyhow I looked out my back door and there was Billy 'Bones' White working on his car in front of his garage. It was after dark and there was one of those large round shades with a light bulb under it suspended from an arm attached to the gable above the two hinged doors that almost wouldn't close due to the slight right tilt of the building.We were best friends from that day until graduation. I went to college Billy went to work.

    For the few short days (weeks?) before school started Billy tried to help me adjust to the new surroundings. One day while walking down the main street of town, which was only a block from our homes, Jimmy Brown stepped out of a store in front of us. Billy introduced us and in conversation I learned that Jimmy was Co-Captain of the football team. His first question was ' You gunna play?' This question was repeated by any and every person I met, no matter there gender or age. It was my first realization of how much football was a part of the southern creed. My answer was 'No', to Jimmy at that time and to all others later. Our conversation wained and the three of us continued down the sidewalk. Across the street a very pretty blond stepped out of a store, she smiled and waved, we waved back and i said "Now there's one Bitchin Babe". BAM! next thing I know Billy is helping me up while trying to keep Jimmy from hitting me again. "Hey what was that for?" Jimmy, "You just called Trish Baker a bitch and I'm gonna teach you to watch your mouth!" "Wait! Hold on! Where I come from Bitchin is as good as it gets. I was just saying how fine she looked." Jimmy, "Well you better find a better way of sayin it."

   It's amazing how fast you can change your vocabulary :~)

Saturday, October 03, 2009

Platitudes

I've been using that word wrong forever.

Platitude n. A trite or banal remark or statement, especially one expressed as if it were original or significant.

So what word should I use for sayings by famous people applied to situations by others suposedly to instruct the young. HMMMMMMM

Ah a story to enlighten.

In Brunswick Maine, our second time there, we lived in Base Housing. This was a little confusing because the Base was on the other side of town but still Base Housing. Everyone in that neighborhood was military of varying rank.We all walked to the same school, played in the same fields & woods. Our house was on the perimeter of the project which gave us, not legal, all of the woods as a playground. Into the woods and down a ways was the 'Sand Pit'. Most of the year we used it to recreate Nazi woopin battles but after it snowed it was our sledding place.

Hours upon hours down the hill ...trudge back up the hill..down the hill ... trudge back up. With the occasional snowball fight. There was no adult supervision there was no need. Well almost no need. I guess there's always a bully in every neighborhood. Ours was an older guy, older than most of us anyway. He liked to sled down beside you grab the side of your sled and flip you over. This got real old real fast. One evening I told Dad about it. The only part of the conversation I remember now and apparently the only part I applied then was "Walk softly and carry a big stick" a statement I was told made famous by President Teddy Roosevelt. Well if it was good enough for Teddy it was good enough for me by golly! Trouble was my 3rd grade brain understood 'walking softly' no problem in snow & 'carry a big stick ' also no problem seeing how we walked through the woods to get to the sand pit. That 3rd grade noggin also knew that carrying a big stick was good for only one thing-- yep WACKIN BAD GUYS! Remember we wooped Nazi's the rest of the year. So down the hill on my sled I went with my Big Stick in hand. Made sledding a little cumbersome but worth the effort. Then he came. Not knowing his peril, Teddy said nothing about a warning, he pulls up beside me and instead of a handful of my sled he gets a nose full of my Big Stick.

I remember it like it was yesterday. He went off without his sled, crying while holding his face, through the woods towards the houses. I was a bit of a hero except to the older kids, they seemed to think I was gonna be in trouble. Trouble? Why President Roosevelt said it was the thing to do. No problem.

That is until later that night when Marine Major Daddy shows up at the door with his wounded offspring with the bandaged nose to talk to my Navy Chief Daddy. RICHARD! COME HERE! Did you do this? Yes Dad you told me to. Remember? "Walk softly and carry a big stick".

When Marine Major Daddy learned of his sons Bullying behavior & my Navy Chief Daddy promised I'd be punished the issue was resolved. I think I was not allowed to sled at the pit for a week or something minor as punishment.

Dad quit using archaic quotes to direct my behavior after that.