Humpday Happenings...
So I go out yesterday, fire up the trusty electric leaf blower (I detest mucking about with fuel first up in the mornings), and proceed to rid our lawn of those pesky leaves..
Then, we get rain later in the day, and it's looks like I never even touched a single leaf. It looks worse than it did BEFORE I went outside, so we already KNOW what I have staring at me TOMORROW, right?
(besides, dry leaves move easier)
Aside from that, there have been a few more ridiculous things happening in our small part of the galaxy.
** SOTH Nancy Pelosi has decided to banter semantics with this (uber-flawed) health-care bill. Be still my beating heart.
We shall no longer refer to "it" (the bill) as having a "public option", but rather a more (user-friendly) CONSUMER option.
All I can say is...wow...!
Who knew that THIS would make ALL the difference?
Well, sign me the hell UP...I'm really into a CONSUMER option, instead of that nasty PUBLIC one...ROFLMAO!
I mean if it (still) walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and tastes like a duck...it SURE AS HELL AIN'T PORK CHOPS, people!
By all means, I would like another side order of BULLSH*T to go with that plan, sweetheart!
I wish these civil SERVANTS would listen the hell UP to THOSE who pay their salaries, instead of "looking out for our welfare".
My (and probably your) welfare is JUST FINE, thank you very much.
We all know this is another failed attempt by our (esteemed) government to "run" something they have to business running.
Want proof?
How's about the USPS?
AMTRAK ring a bell anywhere?
What about WELFARE...or MEDICARE/MEDICAID?
Getting warmer?
The Obama administration (mmm, mmm, mmm) has all but admitted that this FIRST "stimulus plan" isn't working, and yet they "say" we'll need another one (to bail out the first one?)...WTF is going on here, anyway?
But we'll just change the WORDING, so you think it's BETTER...yeah, right.
We'll call it something "better-branded"....I thought branding pertained to CATTLE?
(maybe that's how the government views WE...the PEOPLE)
** School "free lunch" programs are becoming fast-debted...(who knew?)
I stated here MANY times that people cannot simply be SO POOR as to NOT be able to afford ANYTHING for their children for breakfast...that simply DOES NOT HAPPEN in America!
Cripes, even homeless people, living under an interstate highway have shelters to go to and grab a meal and a bunk for the night.
Surely, the people I see, living in real HOUSES (rentals or not), driving NICE cars, getting taxpayer-funded WIC and food stamps can certainly get eggs...or milk...or cereal...just so the kids can have something to get their day going, right?
How hard is that, anyway?
Cereal + milk + spoon = "breakfast".
(sounds like a plan to me)
Free food of ANY kind was unheard of in MY (school) days...
Our schools (back then) had CHEAP food, but it wasn't FREE.
(some wasn't half-bad, either...shepherd's pie...mmmm)
May-be, it was because our PARENTS (that's PLURAL, as in mom AND dad) managed to MAKE SURE we had something to eat (even if it was PB&J 5 days a week). May-be it was because they CARED a lot more. May-be it was because they were not afraid to WORK for a living, even if it meant taking a menial job to fund something we USED to call a...(wait for it)....FAMILY!
Hey, I'll be the first one to tell you it wasn't all sunshine and lollipops when I was growing up.
Dad busted his ass working a dirty job that he had to take 2-3 buses to get to (when he couldn't snag a ride with a coworker). And this was ALL year long...rain or shine or snow. Mom made a LOT of my clothes (former seamstress and raised on a farm in upstate PA), and made a pot of soup on Monday that we ate during the balance of the week.
Dad had his thermos of soup, and I got a sandwich for lunch...maybe a dime for milk and cookies (yeah, you could get both at recess for a DIME). Also, in those days, we lived within walking distance to our schools, so we went HOME for lunch...no handouts at school...didn't even have cafeterias in those days (until I got to high school - one semi-rural, far NE Philly elementary school being the exception).
No welfare check...no food stamps...no WIC...no anything, EXCEPT the strong desire to MAKE IT on their own. Asking for help wasn't something we did out of "reflex" in those days. Others had to BEG you to take some food...or a few bucks until payday (when you PAID YOUR DEBT OFF).
And if there was ONE THING you NEVER did under such auspices, it was to SPEND MORE MONEY in order to get OUT of any debt you might fins yourself in...that was just plain STUPID!
If you couldn't afford something....you did WITHOUT, until you COULD afford it.
None of this living above one's means...that was for people with no future.
Be nice to see some personal responsibility again with people...it would solve a LOT of these educational issues.
** In case you didn't notice, gasoline prices are sneaking back UP again....
We're currently running prices that are higher than they were during our "peak season" (summer).
Blame it on those damn crude oil "futures" people at Wall St...they're going to be screwing with us yet again.
More smoke and mirrors...another "detraction" to wrest our eyes off of whatever we WERE watching.
Funny how that works, isn't it?
On the "up" side to all of this...if you heat your home with NATURAL GAS, the prices will actually be LOWER than last year, and the potential for a colder winter looms before us (if you believe the Farmers Almanac...and scientists watching climatic changes)...yeah, blame that on global warming....BWAHAHAHahahahaha.
** Lastly, we are seeing people tossing the word "racist" about like leaves in the wind (and I've some experience with LEAVES...and FALL...LOL), so be prepared to be called one WHENEVER you disagree with the current "status quo", whether it be political (at any level), social, educational, or even religious.
Seems some folks can't stand being called out when truth is presented to them, and that's fine by me.
You turn on the TV or the radio, and hear people or politicians being "convicted" up BY THEIR OWN WORDS...and yet they always fall back to deriding the person presenting the facts (FOX news comes to mind for some reason), and will inevitably claim SOME form of "racism"...
This is total and utter nonsense.
Not to mention, that if racism is a two-way street (which it IS, contrary to popular "PC" belief), those being taken to task can simply fire back with claims of like matter. Fortunately, there are those who are above such things.
Face it...there are people of ALL races, nationalities, religions, ethnic persuasions who ARE a$$holes...period!
They come in ALL shapes and sizes, genders, and hues (plaid being an exception).
When people cannot find fault with what YOU SAY, they will attempt to find fault with YOU...that's how they "puff themselves up"...make 'em feel "big"...give 'em the "attaboy" they sorely NEED.
Blame THAT on the whole stroking the self-esteem phallus, people.
We produced a generation of "me" people, and it IS all about THEM (to them, anyway).
Now they're grown up, and yet they are still children...suckling at the teats of hedonism and narcissism.
Fortunately, you can see through all this crap, and know them for who they are.
And hopefully, you can show them the errors of their ways...instruct them in the fallacy they're living in.
America is all about PEOPLE.
Pioneers and patriots founded and grew this nation into a bastion that others dreamt of coming to. Principles and values based on a moral and civil context is what saw this country through it's infancy.
Now we find ourselves (compared to centuries of other nations' longevity) at the "terrible twos", and we have to maintain our own steadfastness in holding to those same values...those same principles that our forefathers had.
The only time you invoke the word "me" should be the time when you are contemplating the word "we".
Selfishness should give way to self-LESS-ness.
And in the end, we are ALL better off for ourselves...AND for each other.
Stay safe out there, America.