Thursday is the day Thanksgiving. The day where we give thanks. We give thanks to each other and the country and generally blow smoke up each others asses.
This post is no different. Today the Coots would like to thank everyone who comes here and reads this silly blog, or as it should be called, Ralph Carlson’s second blog.
Personally, I would like to thank Ralph for keeping this thing afloat and running. I would like to thank Bob for pretending to care about this site. Continue reading »
You can't miss Utah
The weather in Utah is legendary for changing at a moments notice. Ok maybe not legendary, but at least known to the public here. Give it a minute the weather will change is a mantra we live by in the spring.
So When this post was written we had just finished a day of heavy rains. The weather forecast said it was going to be partly cloudy and warmer. I washed a load of towels to hang outside on the line. Just getting ready to hang them out, and it starts raining. I am sure mother nature was just thwarting me.
I had a few choice things to say to Nature at that point. I kind of wanted to be Captain Dan in Forrest Gump screaming at the storm. But, I had kids at home.
There will be another snowstorm, that is almost guaranteed. Except it will be 80 this weekend and I have to get the lawn mower out before the jungle sets in. My Great Grandpa, who had a garden that should have been on a magazine, always said, “Don’t plant anything until after Mother’s Day.” That is sage advice here, because you will just get your tomatoes growing and it will freeze. It just does here.
I have never been disappointed with that advice, even with pressure from my wife a few times becasue the weather was nice. Didn’t plant, didn’t get frozen. So, do you all have some interesting weather thwarting stories to share with us? I would really like to hear them. You can’t beat Mother Nature completely but you may be able to slap some sense into her once in a while. Well, probably not.
Have a great Weekend.
-Justin
Hello folks. It seems that there has been quite a resurgence of fairy tales lately on the old Television. NBC and ABC are both putting up some dark fairy tale inspired shows. But I will tell you something today that is not a fairy tale.
Image via Wikipedia
Freedom. It may sound like an ethereal concept to some but it is real, and here, the coots celebrate the freedom that we have to get on and rant. If you haven’t noticed already, today is November 11th. Besides some movie releases, today is also Veterans Day.
So from the coots, happy Veterans Day! If you have served these United States at any time, thank you for your service. Thank you for allowing us to keep the freedom that lets us write a silly blog like this one without worrying if the government is going to kick in the door and shoot one of us. Bob may disagree with this, but that is his show to rant on.
If you are currently serving somewhere far from home, or even keeping the peace stateside, we thank you as well. We spend a couple of holidays honoring those in the military: Memorial Day for those who paid for our freedom with their lives, and Veterans Day for those who made it home. I like to add those currently serving to Veterans Day, they will be vets soon enough.
Image by US Army Africa via Flickr
Last year I had a Veterans Day Podcast, you can listen to it here. My sentiments have not changed.
So you may not be able to go to the bank and you don’t get mail, while you are railing against those facts, remember that it was brave men and women who allow you to get that mail and go to the bank anyway.
Go out and thank a Vet today. That is Veteran not Veterinarian. Fly your American flag proudly. At 11AM take a moment of silence to honor all of those who have made our country great, from the cooks and secretaries, to the Admirals and Generals who get all of the press.
Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for our freedom.
If you are a Vet, please leave us a comment below we would love to hear from you.
If you are here reading this, Vet or not, please use the share buttons below and promote this post and get our feelings out there to the internet.
Thanks for reading.
-Justin
Image via Wikipedia
I have lived with feminists for all of my adult life. They have changed American life dramatically from the wholesome optimistic society of my youth in the 50’s to the pessimistic nanny state of today. Maybe feminists aren’t responsible for all the problems with America today. Still if there is something wrong with modern society that they didn’t cause, it is news to me.
So what is wrong with the feminists? Let me count the ways.
Since their rise to power in the 60’s feminists have been lauded for lifting women from their lowly place as guardians of hearth and home and the powers behind the throne to their new place in society- rulers of the world. Look around and tell me that the feminized nanny state is an improvement over survival of the fittest. We have a world today where the state makes sure to handicap anybody with superior abilities and facilitate and elevate weak-minded bureaucrats to run the place.
“But wait a minute,” you say . “Feminism was just about freeing women to be all they can be -to steal a phrase from the Army. “How could that damage society? All they were doing is helping women to find their proper place in society since it certainly wasn’t raising children. No, women deserved to be in charge. So today as we deal with all the misery and confusion that a few selfish, pretentious, ugly, misanthropic women have dumped on both men and women since then, nobody to this day has called them out for what they are-whining losers. Well Today that is going to stop. Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Carol Hanisch, and all you others, Today The Cantankerous Old Coots are calling you out for what you are. Coot’s say down with feminists.
It started innocently enough. Women were being held down, we heard, by cultural conditioning that defined a secondary role for women. Women were discouraged from having careers, barred from studying math and science and undervalued in the workplace. It seemed benign to make some adjustments to ‘level the playing field’ so to speak. And so it all began. As did all the unintended consequences.
It is interesting how these changes happened. It wasn’t that these loud, ugly and pretentious feminists were anything new. There have always been loud, ugly and pretentious women with dumb ideas. It is just that after the 60’s they had support from a fawning media that wanted change (it sounds just like the Obama campaign). And over time, America started to get the message. Once our principles about society , gender roles and responsibilities were softened up and the evil male domination of society was exposed and demonized, the snowball kept rolling and growing all by itself. Soon, it was apparent to all but the most stubborn diehard chauvinist pigs that men had no place in society once you removed them from control. Women didn’t need men! A turkey baster would do. Women had everything they needed to make the world a better place. Women could do anything that a man can do and more besides. Men were violent, controlling and self serving unlike caring, nurturing women. How many times have you heard the propaganda about what a wonderful, peaceful world we would have if women were in control?
And if you believe that, you probably never had a woman boss.
It soon became important to beat down the male dominated world view. Women needed careers. They needed a life of their own away from their oppressive husbands and clinging kids. Women could have it all. Men are abusers. Women are nurturers. So we juggled the books to make sure that what didn’t happen naturally was mandated by the nanny state. You don’t want to watch woman’s basketball? Too bad because colleges must spend equal amounts on men’s and women’s sports. You think that two parents are the way nature intended for children to grow up? You are just an evil male supporting child abuse and wife-beating.
Gradually, this idea became socially acceptable enough that government created laws and eventually the legal system added more feminization to society. Schools became so feminized that male students stopped attending. School and education is now female dominated and scorned by real men (excepting athletes).
It may be too late to turn this around. There may not be enough real men left. There may be too few women who understand what they have lost when they beat the testosterone out of America and out of their sperm donors. But for what it is worth, this Coot is taking a stand today against feminism. I urge you to take a stand as well. Let’s take a small first step for mankind and help restore our language to sanity. Let’s stamp out flipping pronouns. First lets take back the English language. Later we can take back society.
September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City: View of the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty. (Image: US National Park Service ) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It is hard to believe that it has been 11 years since the Twin Towers went down.
It is also interesting to note that every movie I have seen in the last 10 years where they show the skyline of New York City I actually know and miss the towers. Any movie shot in New York before 2011 has the towers and I know that they are gone.
The city my parents live in do the flag field, one American flag for everyone who died in New York and Pennsylvania that day. It is an awesome site. The city hall has a flagpole that is a bronze recreation of the famous photo of the firemen raising the flag over the rubble.
I can remember that day very clearly. I can remember my wife coming home shouting at me to get up at 7:30 on the morning. I thought something was wrong with her or the apartment, but she was flipping on the TV and we watched the second plane hit the tower. We were glued to the TV the rest of the day.
During the Fourth of July celebrations we put on the patriotic playlist and a couple of those songs are ones that were made right after 9/11. They are montages of news reports and eyewitness statements set to music. They move even me to this day, remembering the lives lost, the heroism of the firefighters and police that went headlong into danger trying to save people.
And of course, the heroism of those men who wouldn’t let the other plane hit the capitol. They traded their lives for their country. Sure the building itself could be rebuilt, but the symbol would be marred. The ideal of the United States would be tarnished. Their sacrifice kept with the ideals of those rebels from 1776 who founded this country with their own blood.
When I think of those on that plane the lines from America the Beautiful, “Who more than selves their country loved” are fitting. Patriots dream indeed.
So today, we are united as a country. We are all here together, resisting tyranny, and defending this land with everything we have.
We are in the midst of division this year with the election coming up, and people clamoring for one side or another. Today, we all stand as Americans, not black, not white, not republican, not democrat, Americans. We look back at those who shone as examples of the American spirit. We look with solemn remembrance at those innocents who died while at work.
We look at this day, September 11th, at Patriot Day, as a day to celebrate all that is good in the Spirit of America. Don’t treat this as just another day. Sing patriotic songs. Fly your flag, read the Constitution, remember what this country was founded on. Then, remember that all of those things were made by people who had ideals, who had vision, and who had the best interests of this country in mind.
Thank you Heroes and Patriots of 9/11, your sacrifice makes this a better country, and us better Americans.
