Hello all of you lovely people. I am not going to say too much, watch the *ugh* video…The audio only version is still available, I am not giving up completely.
The Video is here: (Click more at the bottom for the show notes)
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It’s so darned quiet!
Cantankerous Old Coots don’t usually struggle to find something to complain about. These days there is always something wrong. Most everywhere you go people mess up, take shortcuts, don’t care about doing things right or just have low standards. Your only problem is where to start. Sometimes it is just different standards. There are places where crappy is considered just fine. I’m not going to name names here but you know what I mean. There are others where people make apologies and give excuses but still refuse to do things right when all it would take is a little extra effort. It is really hard in my experience to find a place where doing things right is not only expected, it is the practice. Continue reading »
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This past weekend I took the family camping and fishing for my daughters birthday. It was her idea by the way. We drove down to the middle of Utah to a great lake and caught a ton of fish.
What I noticed is that on the way back there was lots of empty space…in the dark at least. Plenty of stuff in the day. What I really noticed is, even on the freeway, it was dark. Cars passing on both sides of us because a minivan with a tent trailer has to be slow right? 70 mph not quite enough for you jackasses is it? Anyway, there were islands of light along side of the freeway that rose out of the darkness like the moon coming over the mountain. Which was happening at the same time but irrelevant to the story.
The island of light was, you guessed it, a Wal-Mart surrounded by several smaller stores all seeming to be sycophants to the great and powerful Oz, er Wal-Mart. My wife said, “We are OK now, there is a Wal-Mart.” I chuckled and we drove on. Another 10 minutes or so (again still at 70 mph and getting passed) another Wal-Mart rose out of the stygian night. I said, “We must be back close to civilization, there is another Wal-Mart.”
That was the joke now as we passed two more before hitting Provo, the first big city on our way back to Salt Lake. After that there were more Wal-Marts and we already knew where they all are in the valley. We finally made it home and speculated that we may have to hit a couple of those Wal-Marts in the future. (Not a joke, when we didn’t have kids (and a couple times with the kids) we drove the two hours up to Evanston, Wyoming just for fun. We would have pizza at the Shakey’s and then go to Wal-Mart because there wasn’t much else to do. Now it is a joke to stop at a new Wal-Mart. And no, they are not all the same. Why just last year we stopped at the one in Price, Ut………)
I think the “old” part of Cantankerous Old Coots is coming out, I am rambling. I just want to know exactly when Wal-Mart became synonymous with civilization….Any thoughts as we go into the weekend?
(I just realized that Wal-Mart should be kicking back some advertising every time I mentioned Wal-Mart in this post. If I got a nickel for every one, I would have .65 cents…enough for a candy bar at Walmart. Oh, that makes .70 cents.)
For 40 years we have listened to the messages of Earth Day. We have been harangued, nagged, lectured and even forced by nanny state legislation to be kind to our planet. We are told that our long-suffering planet just can’t take any more of human exploitation and manipulation. Its resources are depleted. Its resilience overwhelmed. Its climate is being changed. And it is all the fault of the greedy and self-serving human race.
Prophets of doom tell us that we are down to the wire. Our poor planet can’t take much more of humanity. We need to change our ways. Stop using our wasteful technology. Live simple lives. Grow our own healthy food. Power our vehicles with our own muscles. Stop traveling the world. They tell us that only by stepping back from our extravagant lifestyles and ever more aggressive technologies can we save our ravaged planet from disaster.
I’m not buying it any more. I’ve been nice. My car gets 26 mpg. I set my thermostat high in the summer and low in the winter and take the wrath of my long suffering wife in return. I separate the trash and keep track of which trash can to put out each week so that everything can be recycled. I am doing my part. What I don’t see is any reciprocation on the part of our planet. What’s up with that?
Just last week, our benevolent planet decided to shower the continent of Europe with dust from a huge volcanic eruption. The whole continent shut down air travel because the dust destroys the jet engines. That is just the start. This year has seen a series of tragic earthquakes devastating Haiti, Chile and China so far. I can’t wait until hurricane season. I know she has something good for us.
I’ve done my part to help the poor old mother earth. Others have done even more and what good has it done. Has our planet shown any appreciation for all our work? Not a bit. If anything, she is treating us worse than usual. I think it is time to stop all this silliness. If the planet is not going to appreciate all the effort we make to help her. If she insists on sending all these disasters to make our lives miserable then I say its is time to stop all this sucking up. Let’s give the unappreciative old girl a taste of her own medicine.
Tell the Earth Day acolytes to go stick it. No more recycling. No more conservation. Drill baby drill. Mine, baby mine. Let that technology go where no man has gone before. Let’s hit mother Earth where she lives and see how she likes it. Maybe a little tough love will teach her to mend her evil ways and treat us humans with a little consideration. We have certainly learned that treating her nice doesn’t work.
But “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” . . . I will continue
to support my US Representative as he is effective and works for the
people of our district and in general.
This comment from an old high school friend shows just what power politicians hold over us these days. We trust the bastards. We continue to believe that they are real people just like you and me and that they hold real American values. That is the baby they keep reminding us about. “Don’t throw that baby out just because the bath water is beginning to stink. They never show us that baby which we imagine as the happy Gerber baby we grew up with. They only talk about the baby and hope we won’t ask to see it and how well it is doing. They won’t show us the baby because the Baby is dead. He died years ago from bathing in the toxic swamps of our capitols. At best they show us a blanket swaddled lump. If they ever showed us what is left of the baby we would kick them into the next millennium because what is left of the baby is a mummified horror like Anthony Perkin’s mother in Psycho.
We are in absolute denial about the toxic swamp our politicians inhabit. We know that our elected officials are pure and honorable patriots that are defending us and our rights against the evils of the world. Maybe they are. Maybe they used to be exactly what we think they are- good Americans but living in a toxic swamp is bound to affect their perspective. How long does it take before the world of politics becomes their reality and our lives a ridiculous fantasy? One term? Two terms?
Imagine that you have a healthy, intelligent and honorable son who has just finished Middle School. You want the best for him and so for his high school years you send him to boarding school. You select a highly regarded prep school and pack him off to become one of the country’s best and brightest. Then let’s say that this highly regarded prep school has embraced a new teaching philosophy and the faculty is replaced with the staff of the Mustang Ranch. You may have instilled the highest of values and great personal integrity in your son. How long do you think those values will survive the school environment? How will you explain your son’s career choice to become a pimp. Because you know what a fine young man you raised, you will go to outlandish extremes to explain that your son is dedicated to helping young ladies. You certainly wouldn’t want to throw out the baby (your honorable son) with the bathwater (the appearance of depravity).
So when that sincere politician tells you not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, ask him to show you that baby. You have to save him from himself. He went into the swamp at your direction. If the swamp turned him to the dark side, it was while trying to serve you. Now, before the damage becomes too ingrained to change, it is up to you to pull him out and save him from the monster he will become if he stays. It is too late to save the baby but maybe you can still save your politician. Vote him out.