Rantings Diversified

The tugging has to stop
They pull me from one to the other
Who’s right?
We tug at our relationships
to make things

they’re now different

leave me alone
stop tugging at me

I’m a man
I’m a grown-up

Decisions made
The tugging continues

I don’t want to see that movie
Tugging at me again
No, I don’t wear a tie to work
Tugging at me again
I don’t do cocktail parties
Tugging at me again
That corporate ladder leads to the gallows
Tugging at me again
I mow the lawn when I think it needs it
Tugging at me again
I go and play with my friends.  Come with!
Tugging at me again
I do not wish to smoke that pipe or have another beer
Tugging at me again

Tumbling with friends  has taught me more abut myself
That all the Tai-Chi, shrinks and the uber-discipline has.
I like to smile

I can be a cowboy
If I wanna’

She’s tugging at my heart again
And
He is tugging my brain
Out
Of it’s socket

I am still me
Among the elm, hickory and locust
I walk with my rifle
That doe and I had an understanding
We spoke
louder

she knew who I am and what I do
and why
I gave thanks to her
There is No tugging out there

Do your job
Be here for me
Let’s just talk awhile
Go there at that time
Come back here, then
Fill out the form
Just hang out
We’re going to put you on standby
So you can standby
In case you’re asked to

Stand by

I can be a green Army man
If I wanna’

My direction may not be yours
It’s not wrong it’s mine

We smoke and drink and tumble and laugh
You say, “NO!”
Stop tugging me towards your vision of what you think I am
It’s just me

I can be an accountant
If I wanna’

Mean Frogs Suck
I do my best not to lie
I try to
Be a
Good person
I do believe in peace
I try to be an honorable man
I wanna’ be the best person I can
without anger, intolerance, jealousy,

Some times I can do it

At least I try.

I can be a Film Director
If I wanna’

Goin’ where the wind tells them to
A walnut and a hickory are of the same family
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
So when we found the two trees growing together
I stepped back
and
looked at the miracle
the chain saw was newly sharpened
I said
DON’T!
I said
then we sat down and I said why
I said
look
symbiosis and nature and all that shit
the two differences spiraled
together
together
was too 2 cool
it was the look that won my argument
not the science or logic nor bunny hugging bullshit
the two trees just looked too cool
they still do
the Walnut and the Hickory
it’s going to be left for Jenny and her children
and theirs’….we can only hope

There is a boy who just wants a glass of red wine
some good conversation
a nice smile to gaze upon
a friendly face
maybe some Zydeco music

would be nice

he’s been there
He’s standing on a corner
talking to her
Bachet, Trane, hell, even Bird is gone
Paint the statue in KISS face
Uriah Heep, Black Oak Arkansas no body drives a Studabaker anymore

Open the trunk  Have a beer  let the party carry on
we sang about what’s so funny….
we didn’t really mean it
Johnny R was right
despite the hype

She was tall
actually shorter than she looked
she loved his
scared of moving too fast
scared of……SHIT!!!
they loved good together
They did the best they could while they were stuck in this place

would be nice

devolution
we don’t get older  we grow

JC et al, I’m going to jump around a bit also in my reply so please bear with me.

First off, yes, I am very conservative. With that said I have been a registered Demoncrat since 1976. I am not a Republican either. If I have to align myself with a political party I would be a Libertarian. Please see my post entitled, “I am a liberal”.

You speak of pro-war politicians. Which one? Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Richard Durbin, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid? Any one of these people are about as anti-war as one can get. All of these people are what I call Neo-communists. National health care, increased taxes, more laws and regulations infringing on my home life and freedoms and giving MY money away as entitlements are what these folks are all about. Look at their records.
I do see these people as wanting the destruction of the US as it stands today. I see these people as wanting a huge centralized federal gub’mint regulating every aspect of our lives. This is not what this country was founded on. These same leftist politicians would reduce our armed forces to the point of being ineffectual. The last President, clinton did just that. Our forces were reduced by almost 30% during his reign. If we did not have term limits for President I would be scared to consider how weak we would be. These people consider themselves to be patriotic but their idea of the meaning of that word runs contrary to Mr. Webster.
Theirs is not so much dissent as it is want of extreme change and the re-writing of history as well as the constitution. Yes, I find that wrong!

You say my President has lied to me because now, all these years later, we find out that some information, the information present to the UN by Colin Powell, was either fabricated or truncated to fit an agenda. Do you really think these folks deliberately, with foreknowledge, attempted to deceive the entire world? If you do then let me tell you about the Tri-Lateral Commission or the Illuminati. They will really scare you. I don’t think our or any politicians are smart enough to pull that off. If relying on the UK press or CNN and Hans Blix for correct information is how I get my news and commentary then yes I should be marching in the street to make this the Peoples Republic of Amerika. I get my news and information from all kinds of sources both left and right and put very little stock in the large mainstream media outlets.

What’s happening in Sudan is a travesty. Mr. Bush has already committed millions if not billions of dollars to help there. Has any EU country done the same? I ask because I don’t know not because I’m playing up one side vs. the other. When the shit first hit the fan in Sudan the clintonistas ignored the outcry of the world. They not only did nothing but also outright refused to help and I am sad to say that the US did not intervene when it could have done the most good. This is part of what I find amazing. Dub’ya is a war mongering turd but Clinton who did nothing to help in many many ways and places is a good guy. WTF? East Timor is being terrorized by communists who have couched their fight in the robe of independence for a small minority of people there. I’m glad we are not backing the Tamil tigers. They took their cue from Al Queda with a twist. They use women as homicide bombers.

On the next point I don’t want to bust on anyone personally but where in anything I have ever written have I stated that we are at war with all Muslims? I kinda’ thought I went out of my way to say that we are at war with Islamofacists. We are at war with a small minority of lunatics who wish to impose their way of life on EVERYBODY not just the US but EVERYBODY!

If ones desires to see democracy brought to the people of the middle east, how can you not support the role of the US and UK in Iraq today. That is exactly what they’re doing. The war of aggression is over. Saddam is dead and decomposing. We are there to attempt to keep the peace until the Iraqis are able to do it themselves. I think like you I would like to see this happen sooner than later but if it takes years more and Iraq emerges as a free and independent democracy then we have done well. I could go on and on about how we (Western society) are addicted to, “Instant Gratification”. I won’t it’s off topic.

So we invaded Iraq for oil. I love it! Did you know that not one drop of Iraqi oil has been shipped to the US since we invaded? What about that Dutch company Shell Oil or even BP, can they say the same? Can any country in the EU claim the same thing? I don’t think so. It’s not Halliburton, General Dynamics, Exxon or Sunoco who is raking in the bucks but lots of countries all over the world buying up cheap Iraqi oil. By the way Halliburton and General Dynamics had multi-million if not multi-billion dollar contracts with the US gub’mint long before this administration.

If the original post referred to herein came across as a stifling of dissent, you have my apologies. I did not see it as that but rather as a comment on the American left.

I wanted to write a post today about the Bonus Army of 1932 but then I thought about my international audience and I thought No! The posting of a tragic, sad moment in our history will only feed the stupidity of the left and be used against us and me to uphold the idea that the US is evil
In response to someone this post is going to be written instead.

How short our memories.
Maybe I should have said, have you ever read or listen to ANY speech given by my President? If you have then you may remember (or maybe you chose not to) his speech of 15 September 2001.
Excerpt;
“Now we honor those who died, and prepare to respond to these attacks on our nation. I will not settle for a token act. Our response must be sweeping, sustained and effective. We have much do to, and much to ask of the American people.
You will be asked for your patience; for, the conflict will not be short. You will be asked for resolve; for, the conflict will not be easy. You will be asked for your strength, because the course to victory may be long.”

We were told that it was going to be a long and drawn out war against those who think our way of life is a reason to kill us. Never in the history of this country have we taken the stance to attack any state or entity simply because we didn’t like them. Ever! I know you think we have. You are ignorant. Now, by saying that I mean that you have not the knowledge of history to make a reasoned determination of fact.
Let’s start in the 1750’s we kicked the french outta’ here over real estate.
In 1776. We threw off the bonds of the brits. I hope soon that the Irish will also.
In 1814 we finished the job with the brits.
In 1860 we had a domestic dispute. It’s nunyabusiness. We got over it.
In 1898 we argued with Spain over real estate. We won.
In 1917 we bailed out the brits and french.
We did it again in the 1940’s.
The 1950’s brought over 70 countries together to stop China from completely taking over Korea. We led the way.
In the 1960’s we agreed to help france in that whole Indochina thing. Ok, granted, mistake! Hindsight is 20-20. We never should have helped the French. Would they help us in a similar situation? They have already responded with a resounding NO!
From the 50’s until the 90’s we held the line in Europe and Asia.
So that makes us 9, 1 and 1.
Please explain to me which one of these conflicts is the one wherein we attacked simply because we didn’t like someone’s’ lifestyle?
Today we are engaged in a great war of conscience. Those we are fighting want nothing but to impose their idea of how EVERYONE should be. Would you like to discuss diversity or tolerance? Those we are at war with do not understand the meaning of those words. The enemy I am at war with wants nothing but the destruction of all you and I hold dear. I am amazed at the ignorance of those who neither understand nor hold this to be true.
So with that short history lesson, am I still jingoistic? I don’t think so.

My President lied to me? Did you know that Clinton is no longer the President? Oh, wait, I’m sorry, the single most criminal US administration in the 20th century is immune to any criticism because….well, I never figured that one out.
There have been 2 Presidents impeached in the entire history of this country. The first one was Andrew Johnson the 2nd one was Clinton!!!
President Johnson was impeached for violation of the Tenure of Office Act of 1867.
Clinton was impeached for grand jury perjury, civil suit perjury, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power.
Neither one was removed from office. Go and learn something about how our government works.
My President was given the most uptodate and reliable information available to him at the time and acted on it. Now all these years later we find out that some, a bit of it may have been wrong and that makes him and the entire country wrong. Wrong! The UN security council had put how many resolutions in place? How many times did the UN request Iraq to comply with them? The answer is 69! Yes, since 1990 the UN security council passed 69 resolutions asking Saddam to comply with the worlds requests.
See http://www.casi.org.uk/info/scriraq.html
The more you learn, the more intelligent you become.
The last and final point I want to make is……
Where and when did I EVER give you the impression that I do not accept differing opinions? Answer = NEVER!
Please do not give me soundbites and ABCCBSBBCNBCCNNSKYMSNBC bullshit. Instead, please make your case with facts and not half truths and lets have an intelligent conversation about it.
I shall repeat myself at the risk of being rude……..
JC, I could not disagree with you more.

Well seeing as how I’m on this recipe kick here is what I made yesterday.

Pork Loin Barbeque:
Buy a whole pork loin
Have the butcher cut it into 4 roasts
Put 3 of them in the freezer
Put one of them in your crock pot(slow cooker)
Add to the crock pot (not the freezer)
1 pint Yuengling Premium Beer
1 large Vidalia onion chopped
A mess of Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning
Some Oregeno
A couple of pinches of chili powder
A bunch of minced garlic
Cook on low for 10 hours or however long it takes until the meat falls off the bones easily
Remove bones
Continue cooking for 4 to 6 more hours on low
Make barbeque sauce
While making barbeque sauce get big colander thing and dump everything in the crock pot into it.
Drain liquid
Rip, tear and generally bust up the pork meat into little bits
Put it all back in the crock pot
Add barbeque sauce
mixAlot
serve with big chunks of whole grain or rye bread
burpAlot

Yum!

Barbeque sauce:
Catsup
Onion, minced
Mustard (and not that yellow stuff)
Wishyoucouldsayit sauce
Brown sugar
Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning
Bring to a boil in a two quart saucepan and balance everything until it tastes right

Mardi Gras, Karnival, Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday,
NO! It’s Fastnacht Day!
A fastnacht is a disgustingly cloying, heavy, fattening, near tasteless, bit of boiled-in-fat, potato dough which is then doused in 10X sugar and drowned in maple syrup to rot away any tooth enamel that may have escaped last year.
Apparently it’s and old German tradition, geez, how unusual for central PA. In all fairness though I guess if you like doughnuts then you would like Fastnachts. It’s a big deal around here. Every local church will have their doors wide open and lines out in to the street selling their artery clogging wares.
Here is a recipe for fastnachts.

Serve with maple syrup and sprinkled with sugar

1 packet of yeast dissolved in
1/2 cup warm water with
1 tsp sugar
1 cup hot, mashed potatoes
1 cup sugar
1 cup water that the potatoes were boiled in (lukewarm)
1 cup all purpose flour

Mix potatoes, sugar, potato water and flour; add yeast dissolved in water. Let rise in a warm place for several hours.

Then add:

1 cup sugar
1 cup lukewarm water or milk
3/4 cup melted butter
3 eggs beaten
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups sifted flour for stiff dough (about)

Mix all together, cover and let rise in a warm place for an hour or two—till the dough has doubled in size. Knead lightly, adding more flour to make a stiff dough. Now, according to all instruction, you’re supposed to let the dough rise again for another hour or two, but that means you’d be fussing with these things all day; figure it out; this would be its third rising, with another to come; I think at this point I’d be reckless and divide the dough in thirds and start rolling it out. What matters if you do have a few large holes in your fastnachts? Take your choice, rise or roll. I’d try rolling the dough to about ¾ inch thickness.
Fastnachts have a traditional diamond shape; cut them into diamonds with a knife. Another essential is to cut a slit across the top of each fastnacht with a sharp knife.
Let the fastnachts rise, covered, in a warm place, till they’re springy to the touch; when they’re quite fat and puffy, drop them with the raised side down into fat that is hot enough to brown a bread cube—375 degrees.

Anyone who remembers anything about World War II, or has studied anything
about World War II, will understand and remember
that during World War II, the Japanese developed a way to demoralize the
American forces. The Japanese psychological warfare experts developed a
message they felt would work.
They gave their psychological warfare script to their famous broadcaster
“Tokyo Rose” and every day she would broadcast this same message packaged
in different ways, hoping it would have a negative impact on American GI’s morale.

What was that demoralizing message?

It had three main points:
1. Your President is lying to you.
2. This war is illegal.
3. You cannot win the war

Does this sound familiar? Is it because Tokyo Hillary, Tokyo Harry, Tokyo Teddy,
Tokyo Nancy, Tokyo Durbin, Tokyo Kerry, etc. have all learned from the former
enemies of our country and have picked up the same message and are broadcasting
it on Tokyo CNN, Tokyo ABC, Tokyo CBS, Tokyo NBC, etc., to our troops?

The only difference is that they claim to support our troops before they
demoralize them. Come to think of it… Tokyo Rose told the American
Troops she was on their side, also.

July heat
throwing a spinner
deep into
it’s heart

it’s gentle
accommodating
calming
cooling
and fresh
right now

it’s in a good mood
this time of year
it’s level is low
it’s vitality is high

with an old pair of hi-tops
walk down the middle
slowly
deliberately
I see a hole
I get ready
I can scare ‘em away with the best of them

I don’t come here to actually catch the fish

Ya’ gotta’ love this state!
Last Tuesday it started snowing. Now of course we had all the local TV and radio weather-people types going on and on for days beforehand telling us how we had to get to the grocery store and buy all the milk and bread. So it wasn’t like we didn’t know it was coming. The forecast was for 6 to 8 inches of snow then changing to sleet and freezing rain for awhile and back to snow for a grand total of 10 to 12 inches. Now I’m fairly certain that the folks at the PennDOT maintainance dept. watch TV also. I’m going to stretch and say that I personally think they knew, ahead of time, that it was going to be a bad storm. Do you think that the state, county and local gub’mints were prepared or ready for it? Hahahahaha!!! Not in PA!! Oh, hell no, they did not even start plowing major roads until the snow was already deep. The secondary roads! What are they? PennDOT spokespeople even went on the local TV news to say they were leaving snow on the roads so people driving could get traction while everything iced up!!!!!! I’m not joking, they really did that.
By Wednesday morning we had about 7 inches of snow around here and it was sleeting. The temp was around 17DEGF. By the time it stopped we had about 7 to 8 inches of snow that was frozen solid. Yes, frozen solid snow is what we had covering everything. I ended up hiring a couple of neighborhood kids to chop and dig out my sidewalk and driveway. You see, first you had to chop up the iced snow before you could throw a shovelful to the side. The kids took over two hours to do my sidewalk and driveway. The sidewalk and driveway are about 10 yards long each.
Most of the neighborhood streets around here are still like driving off road. There are ruts and small mountains of solid ice on them and driving is reduced to a crawl. The major roads are clear today but then it is Saturday.
The big story is that the state of PA closed 80 miles of Interstate highway 78 from just east of here all the way to New Jersey. Of course they didn’t put up any signs or anything like that ahead of where they closed the highway. Oh no, they just put a bunch of State Police troopers at the entrances to this highway to block access.
Check out these news stories.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/17/us/17stranded.html?ei=5065&en=f94d3fae44fa34b3&ex=1172293200&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/16708995.htm

I love the fact that Commandant Rendell jumped in and is blaming everyone but himself. I wonder why he didn’t do anything before Friday! Wouldn’t it have worked better if he, the governor, maybe, just maybe had told his transportation department to get to work? Instead he has spent more of our tax dollars to hire some guy to explain to him why it happened and who to place the blame on.
What, is he related to Ray Nagin?
Well, apparently the way it works is to tax us to death then when the state, county and local gub’mints are suppose to do their job they don’t but then spend even more money to find a scapegoat to blame everything on.