Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass....... A thousand plus years ago the Mississippian Indians gathered red clay for the foundations of their homes from the banks of the water flowing near the little church called Shiloh, a hebrew word meaning peace. And peace was normal for that part of the world until April of 1862 when a hundred thousand Americans gathered there to rage against each other even to death for reasons not completely understood by many of those about to end their time in this life. The setting for The little Church could only be described as perfect Southern including the forty acre field of corn being farmed and planted within spitting distance of the church itself. What drove those to take part in that day is only academic to what actually did take place and the drama as it played out. The North had about 60,000 troops in the area and the South sported about 40,000 on that Sunday at Shiloh when man's inhumanity to man overcame sanity. The Battle actually started in a dry creekbed but somehow quickly arrived to the cornfield by the church, the North entering the cornfield from their side and the South from their side on the opposite. The weaponry was muskets, bayonets. knives, fists, feet, thumbs for eye gouging and spit to make each other madder. As they charged across the cornfield to meet the enemy, the majority were killed by bullets, but bayonets and hand to hand were responsible for incredible numbers also. As the day wore on control of the field went back and forth at least a dozen times as the bodies piled up in the field. In some cases it was relative against relative and neighbor against neighbor and by the end of the day each side had those still willing to die ready for the charges which now required running over the tops of those who had fallen during the day to meet whomever fate assigned to meet them at the top of the heap, and take them to death along with those like them. It was civil war at its most brutal and at the end of the first day the thousands who lay dead in the cornfield by the little church were uncountable, but replaceable by that many more and plus who would die the next day at Shiloh. I really don't believe that wars such as that are explainable in human terms that those living in peace can understand. We all are much like fiesty brawlers in bar rooms and those who get overcome by rage from whatever quarter in life, but we are susceptible to suggestion to rage from many sources including Government and religion, and when we get sucked in, we die. Present day, at this moment in time, it appears we have the foundation for man's inhumanity to man to fester up and explode in Iraq. Unfortunately our Government has much burden to carry in this one. We and we alone are responsible for the shift in power that removed the Sunni's and put in the Shiite's. There is some confusion as to whether or not the Iraqi's are actually having a civil war or not. I would suggest they definitely are. The factor that is keeping the Iraqi's from behaving as we did at Shiloh is simple. It is our presence in Iraq and our authority and power that will not allow them to meet in a field and kill each other until disaster, exhaustion and dispair forces one side to submit to the other. The terrible side of it is that we started it, created the environment for it to have birth, and now cannot find a way to stop it. Once man's inhumanity to man is fueled to deed, a tinsel and untimely settlement never stops it. We learned that when a short time after World War One, World War Two became a reality. We may cram a guarded peace down the throats of the Iraqi's, but one day the powder house we've built may explode into the equivalent of the meeting of the Christians and The Muslims to the meeting of The North and The South in the cornfield at the little church called Shiloh...........

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass....... I've maintained a blog for over three years and with three servers, and of course right or wrong I put on it whatever I please. In blogging myself I also surf others and follow some of them regularly, and I seldom comment on any one else's, and obviously very few readers do either, although blog surfing is a big deal. Most political bloggers are partisan to the core and whatever their party's position on an issue, it is also likely to be the position of the blogger, thought not required for opinion. Those kinds never interest me. Realizing probably fewer find anything interesting in what I might think about anything, I will now exercise my right to be a Dumb Ass and put my observations down in a permanent way that can be referred to at a later time to see how I stacked up. I warn you, in the past, my track record has been pretty damned good, so be prepared to use your non-partisan brain to join in the pursuit of simple questions to determine the status of present situations in IRAQ...... Should this war have ever reached status enough to be entered into history? Has America's interests been served in any way? Because of the Iraq war, has our influence in the rest of the world grown in a positive way? Have any of America's allies supported this war in a truly committed way? (Committed would mean support with effective troop numbers and funds rather than token representation) Has the war in Iraq created stability of any definition within our borders? In Iraq itself,.... from the perspective of anyone on the planet observing the goings on,....... Is any gain being made on repairing the collateral damage inflicted on the country? Is the Iraqi economy stable by anyones standards? Are Iraqi's able to move freely unimpeded by military? Is the establishment of a democratic form of government on the want list of the majority in Iraq? With what clearly are all the signs of insurrection and civil war imminent, is the occupiers (us) in any position of power to prevent such an event? From the Iraqi man in the street's view point........ Does any Iraqi in the country have a feeling of safety? When an American military convoy passes by does it give him a feeling of measured protection for him and his family? Is it likely that the passing convoy gives him a good feeling of any kind? As the Americans pass through the communities in search of insurgents, kicking down doors and holding residents at gunpoint while they do their sweep, is it likely the Iraqi's will be inclined to thank them as they leave? As Muslims, is it likely that any Iraqi whether Sunni, Shiite, or Kurd will view any American as anything other than an infidel and invader? These questions can go on and on and on. We can stubbornly answer them with whatever we percieve as justification for our involvement and whether we're correct or not, there's always this problem of truth, right and wrong, and logic. That's what keeps this guy awake at night................

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass...... Willie Hilton was a mountain man who called each one of his 7 daughters 'sugarbooger' and each one of his 6 sons 'big boy'. His wifes' name was Bess but he called her 'Baby'. All 3 or 4 teeth he had were chocolate brown and he carried a twist of tobacco that he knawed a chew off of about every 15 minutes or so and from which he spat the residue from about every 30 seconds onto whatever was in the way. The inside drivers side door of his 2 ton log truck that also served as the family vehicle was originally gray but had long ago given over to the same chocolate brown from Willie spitting on it because he didn't want to take the chance on his tobacco spit blowing out and 'hittin' the car behind him when he was driving down the road. Willie was a colorful characture and fun to talk to. If someone said something that shocked him he'd say 'Keeeeriiiimany Christ Damn'. If he saw something new that he didn't understand he'd say ' Reckon somebody else needs to worry 'bout that'. He referred to God as 'The Boss' but didn't go to church. Instead he'd drive Bess and the thirteen kids to church in and on the log truck and wait outside talking to the other men who wouldn't go in either, spitting, cussing and sharpening his knife till it was dangerous then checking it out by shaving little bits of hair off his leg or when it was warm, his arm. Willie was a simple man and respected by those who knew him. He didn't have a job and instead took a team of mules and Bess to the woods and cut logs to sell in town. He'd find a natural ditch or something to park the truck in, about bank level with the truck bed, then he knew just how to manuever the mules and skid the logs up to where him and Bess could roll them on to the bed until he had a load to go to town with. Everybody knew Willie couldn't read or write, but he didn't need to. In his world he understood everything he needed to. He knew when any of his 13 kids were misbehaving almost before they did, and if he didn't get things straightened out, he'd take 'em out behind the house and raise their 'asscrack a dab higher' which always translated to better behaviour immediately. Willie knew how to bring in a calf that was having trouble being born, which grass grew best in the shade, and a King Snake was good to have around the house 'cause it'd kill all them poison snakes of Satan' around the yard. He never wore a watch but always knew what time it was and never voted cause 'them big men would never know about him anyway'. One of his prized possessions was a glass prism that hung off a screw in the top of the cab of his truck and dangled down close to the dash. He misunderstood the word 'prism' and said 'prison glass' instead. He believed it was used by prisoners down at Tucker Prison Farm to practice that 'voodoo shit' and 'devil dealin, shootin them lights from it all around hells half acre'. Willie died at 97 years old and had 62 grandkids. I wasn't around to go to the funeral but the little 40 seat church was no match for the gathering so the services were held outside where he used to wait on 'Bess and the kids' to get through in church. Willie never understood the prism. Tonight my 8 year old grandson is doing his homework and in his math he must answer 'What is a prism'? The correct answer is: A general prism is a polyhedron possessing 2 congruent polygonal faces and with all remaining faces parallelograms. My grandson has a vague idea of how the prism works and will totally understand it soon, and I believe Willie would've had an understanding of my grandson. However, I don't think my grandson could ever understood anything about Willie. I'm sad about that..............

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass ....... We all go through life in our own little bubble. Our bubbles are created by events and desires as we grow and the thickness or strength of our bubble is determined by the emotion or pain we experience as we progress. What we see from inside our bubble isn't always what those outside of it see. Perhaps because February is black history month there has been emphasis on the history of the American civil rights movement or maybe it was just the right time for me to reflect on it and think about it. As I grew up my family was transient and by the beginning of the eighth grade I had been to 14 schools, some of them 3 or 4 times. We were dirt poor and between repeated abandonment by the man of the house and just simple hard times we always seemed to be in a stage of resettlement or waiting on the welfare check. There was of course intermittent times that were better, but we were still white trash in every respect and lived accordingly. Ninety percent of the time we either lived in nigger town or on the edge. I remember very well the separate bathrooms for black and white, the separate water fountains, the area set aside for blacks in the movie theatre, and the absence of black faces in the greasy spoon cafes. Even with remembering those conditions I don't remember recognising the terribleness of it until later, and back then it was 'just the way things were'. I had black friends, close ones, that I whiled away time with at the swimming hole, and visited with. But socially we didn't frequent the same places and no one ever talked about it, but just accepted it as 'the way things were'. In 1957 as the National Guard was called into Little Rock Arkansas to desegregate Central High School, in my little town a hundred miles away we paid little attention to it, black or white. At the height of the ballyhoo some of the activists came to our town to organize whatever, and the blacks joined with the whites to run the strangers out before they caused troubles in our community. The differences stayed the same for years in my little town, and there was a clear division not only of color but also of society through wealth. As white trash living on the edge of nigger town I never had the opportunity nor the desire to date the rich girls I went to school with, nor did I dream of working at any of the better jobs, because they weren't available to my kind. My family was entrenched in what they were and would never change for the better. Thankfully I had the nerve to leave when I was very young because I knew there was something out there better for me, and I was right, there was. I suppose my point is, at that time, all us trash lived together, black or white, and done the best we could with what we had and prayed for a better day. As a person with little education and less couth, I suffered discrimination in the same spirit as the blacks I knew at the swimming hole in Spadra creek at the workplace and at society's door, but I overcame that, as many of those at Spadra creek did also. After almost 50 years beyond Central High School I'm still uncertain if the elitists and the idealists and the visionary's and the politicians have done anything towards true equality. It appears to me their greatest accomplishments have been to make welfare and dependency respectable while filling urban neighborhoods with those with no hope and doing nothing to spark the spirit of the ones stuck there. Everyone I knew so long ago that wanted to live better, done so, because it was there to do. The rest remained the same niggers they always were, black or white, and still are today

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass.......... Ardith Holland was a God fearing woman, as was Rhoda Strode, Elsie Wood and Jeannie Gore. They believed what they believed with great passion and dedication. As a child growing up with them in thrice weekly services plus Sunday school I watched them and the rest of the congregation in the little holy roller church I mostly grew up in, in the foothills of the mountains surrounding the Buffalo River in Arkansas. We were all just poor people struggling to survive from one winter to the next with little imagination to help us along, consequently my time there was not a particularly happy period for me. But I always looked forward to church night. I learned to play guitar and that put me in front right along with the preacher. At 10 years old I had become pretty good at what I done and had learned what songs the old women liked the best and when to do them to get the biggest rise out of them. One night after Ardith Holland had caught her husband cavorting with an old flame in town she got all fired up in the spirit and soon she was lying down on the floor flat of her back both hands stretched toward the ceiling and babbling in unknown tongues. The regulars of the Wednesday night ceremony's were all kneeling around her in a circle helping her 'pray through'. It seemed to me an opportune time for me to sing a special, so guitar in hand I stood on the bench right next to them and started singing "The Family Who Prays Will Never Be Parted" as loud as I could. The reaction was quick. Before I could get through the first verse Ardith was wailing like an ambulance siren and the ones around her were twisting their hankies and moaning now and then. By the time I got through the song two more were on the floor next to Ardith screaming "Thank You Jesus" and Jeannie Gore had snot running out her nose and off her chin and didn't seem to be bothered by it at all. When I made the last strum on the guitar I just kept standing on the bench surveying the battlefield in front of me. Things quieted down at the end of the song and I thought it was over but all of a sudden Ardith threw both hands in the air and let out one more ear piercing yell, screaming "Jesus - I Love You!!" and let the loudest fart I ever heard. That started Rhoda Strode praying again and things might have gotten fired up enough to warrant me singing another song, except Ardith chose that moment in time to piss on her self, and that pretty much shut things down for that night. This story is true to the best of my memory and while some might find it entertaining, others might find it offensive to their faith. I don't mean for it to be either. Instead I would like to point out that no one ever to my knowledge questioned the faith and dedication practised in the little church I spent so many evenings in as a child, and in fact, the world I lived in made unquestionable room for them to live and believe any way they wanted, and respected them for it. I suspect far out there somewhere in those hills I'm from, they're still doing it the same way. But we have matured too far and no longer have an acceptance for simple people believing and living the way THEY want. Whether it's the holy rollers in Arkansas or the Muslims in Iraq. If we gave that consideration, we would have a much better and peaceful world. I still remember the words to the song that put things in perspective for Ardith that night over 50 years ago. Sometimes I wish I could go back........................

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass .........When pressed for true reasons for the war in Iraq, Americans are hard pressed to come up with uniform answers. This is a terrible predicament and one my grandfather would have never dreamed possible. To even suggest involvement in a military action that costs the lives of America's finest without cause is beyond my comprehension also. Some how we lost our way in right and wrong and honest and good. Those are not traits that are difficult to keep up with and in fact the results of the opposite are what's so hard to deal with. Presently the great majority of Americans are not familiar with the facts about our actions in Iraq and around the world and most of those who actually know the facts are so out of touch with reality that they are rendered useless in coming up with a solution. We have become so arrogant in our views of ourselves that if we listen closely to what we say and do it really is 'our way or no way'. Some how in pursuit of our goals of whom ever we're liberating or shoving around we give no quarter for a difference in culture nor do we have respect for what is important for those other than ourselves, and at the same time we give away our national souls to those we trade with internationally and at home we are trashing any chance for our grandchildren to enjoy the bounty of their grandfather's time by our irresponsible behaviour in Washington, albeit the lines in the gimme columns are ready and willing and cheering politicians on even as our lifeblood is hemorrhaging out of control and our economy is in the bucket, possibly to not be recovered. If all things in this post are true, then one would surmise disaster is at hand and we won't survive, and that is exactly correct. The reason that is so is the Chiefs can't control the warriors and the tribe is stupid. Our present dilemna is sobering at best. Our involvement in Iraq is baseless and was so at invasion and has cost us dearly in funds, lives and respect around the world. After we've made such asses of ourselves there, now we're watching Iran fester into a real sore that may be the beginning of World War 3. The Christian population worldwide stands at approximately 1.9 billion and the Muslim population is at about 1.8 billion. We have looked the other way as some Muslim countries have acquired 'the bomb', such as Pakistan, and others who showed promise of support in whatever we were doing. We also equipped Israel with 'the bomb', a nation with a population half the size of New York City, as a further show of wisdom on our part. Most of the world knows we are setting the flame to a religious war that promises to devastate a major portion of the world, we just don't seem to be aware of that and stubbornly insist they don't like us because 'we love freedom', a stupid and self serving assumption on our part, which is sure to be followed by more of the same until we bring on what we cannot control nor correct. In reply to the question 'What weaponry will be used in World war 3', Albert Einstein replied, "I don't know what weapons will be used in World War 3, but it will be sticks and stones in World War 4"...................

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass............ My wife and I have a love affair with Yorkshire terriers and small dogs that has produced a household with 7 of the little creatures, total weight under 50 pounds. They all came to us distressed and in need of a home and have given much more than they've taken. Today I was watching one in particular that came from a breeder and on her arrival at my abode had spent all of her 8 years in a cage breeding, giving birth, suckling puppies, and as soon as nature would permit, starting the cycle again. When we got Lilly Pod she couldn't navigate the stairs up or down off the back porch simply because her life hadn't included exposure to such modern methods of going to and from the fenced in yard that would be her domain. To jump on the couch, which she was welcome to do, was a leap much bigger than she could process, so Lilly Pod spent the first several months with us being carried up and down the stairs and lifted on and off the couch. After months of encouragement from us, and her watching her other doggie brothers and sisters, finally one day Lilly Pod clumsily hobbled down the stairs. We had a celebration and waited for her next major achievement. A couple of weeks later She triumphed over the stairs. The couch was a much larger hurdle, but she intently watched all her canine family hopping on and off the couch and finally one day the way to overcome it dawned on her and a couple of trys later she was everybody's equal. After some thought it occurred to me Lilly Pod and her trials and tribulations were much like people all across the world. Lilly Pod's counterparts in the house never understood what her fears were nor what she did or didn't understand, and why she couldn't do what they done so easily, nor did they care. It was evident Lilly Pod was genetically like the rest and her bloodline was of the highest order, but she didn't recognise the simplest behaviour, was afraid of everything that moved, and could not participate in the fun everybody else was having. She was suspicious of everything and trusted no one. How could this be? It became clear to me after Lilly Pod conquered the stairs and couch, she started a slow turn around socially also. Why? Obviously the environment she came to was completely different than the one she spent her life in and she understood nothing about the new one, and the ones in residence knew nothing of her life and how she lived before they came together, and didn't care. Lilly Pod was capable of everything her brothers and sisters were, and possibly more, but her environment would not allow her to grow in ability so she seeked out her level of achievement commensurate to her environment. That is also how our world is. What is so plain and sensible to us, is steeped in our own ignorance toward those we disagree with and cannot understand. We need only to look at the environment of those who are militant against us, financially, socially, religiously, and compare their standard of living against ours, and soon the real problems between us come forward. We've lost the ability to communicate with the rest of the world on anyone's level except our own, and unless we can figure out a way to have a true two way dialog we are bound to sink further into the quagmire we are presently stuck in. Lilly Pod could show Washington a thing or two about basics and how you make it work..............

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass...... Health insurance is an example of socialism at its most fundamental core. In theory the way it works is simple. Everybody pays their money into a sort of 'superfund' and when health care is needed a paper card that says the holder is a member in good standing is presented to the health care provider and service and/or medication is provided at no out of pocket costs or greatly reduced to the patient. The state is responsible to watchdog and make sure rates are set fairly for all providing care or medication and the providers bill the insurance companies while the patient goes happily along and everybody is happy and taken care of, no stress, no muss, no fuss. But Wait..... In theory it would seem this is a perfect way to take care of a universal need for a responsible citizenry by a responsive and caring government, but in reality this is proving to be the road to disaster and the worst boondoggle to this society in history, and will in all probability be a major cause of our collapse in the not too distant future, and one so volatile no elected official in any capacity has the nerve and will to call it as it is. So how is it? Where are the problems? How did they come to be? How can we bring it under control? Can we? It is a bloated inefficient uncaring and unfeeling industry, driven by bad management and protected by everything and everyone except the one needing service in it. The problems with it as usual start with greed and self serving attitudes by most at the top who make their livelihood from it. The insurance industry has the most powerful lobby known to man matched in ambition only by the drug manufacturers and in their shadow the medical community from the doctors office to and through the hospital or medical facility of your choice. No politician is able to resist them in any fashion. In my state most all hospitals are chartered as non-profit organizations and pay little or no taxes yet any sign of savings to anyone using their facility or services is unidentifiable. The patient has been groomed to be ignorant and irresponsible and has risen to the occasion quite well, never questioning 'how much does it cost and why', instead being comfortable that 'The insurance is picking up the tab, and it's not costing me a thing'!! How dumb can we be? Three weeks ago a neighbors child swallowed a foreign object and had difficulty breathing. Of course 911 was called, and the child was transported to a medical facility 6 miles away at a cost of $2400.00 for ambulance services. That hospital couldn't identify what the child had swallowed (still breathing, concious, and responsive) and the decision was made by someone to airlift her by helicopter to a hospital some 35 miles away, where the object was removed and the child returned home with her parents the next night. When the bills came in it was a whopping $18,000.00 plus that the parents were presented with!! The transportation portion of the bill showed $2400.00 for ground ambulance and $9500.00 for air ambulance leaving the rest to emergency room service and an overnight stay. The parents were insured, but as it turned out the child wasn't. I don't know why, but that isn't what's wrong with this story. What's wrong is the ridiculous charges and fees charged because they can, and will be protected by the full authority of the law and our government, while this industry takes what it wishes and makes the rich richer and more independant as the ones in need of it's services are considered less and less. The truck driver whose daughter was charged this bill is already preparing to file bankruptcy. It's the only way he can protect his paycheck against these vultures. Most will say it's his fault for not having insurance and should suffer the consequences and be glad his child is alive. I say there's something putrid about our system and how it's run, and we are the ones responsible for it. Of course, I AM a dumb ass. Seems to me fairness is a large circle that is being cut very short..............

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass...... A few weeks back the good Governor of my home state (Missouri) announced several hundreds of millions of dollars in unexpected revenues had came in to the state coffers and blamed the good fortune on a better than expected economy, which of course was due to the efficiency of his administration. While I am grateful of anything resembling efficiency in any part of government I resent the governments assumption that its subjects are too stupid to understand the probability of a great lie when slapped in the head with it. While appreciating my good Governer's ability to recognize an opportunity to take advantage of a situation, I do hope he also realizes there are those who would find a statement of that kind highly suspect. Instead of a growing economy in real terms, a better way to explain extra income for the state would be to explain the effects of inflation. The art of deception has become so brazen that truth is seldom necessary in the rawest terms, but here's a probable reason for the extra cash. My state has all the usual fees and licenses it feels is fair to its inhabitants, of which many have increased reflecting the ravages of inflation, plus the income tax taken from it's workers, most of which because of inflation are making a little more each year, therefore their tax check to the state is for a larger amount, plus its sales tax revenue, which may be the largest contributor to the surprise windfall and the easiest explained. In countryboy terms here's the rusty on it and how the great lies can decieve us so completely. The federal government released its estimated inflation rate for 2005 at a laughable 4.2%. Transalated that means theoretically, on December 31, 2004, if you went out and spent exactly $100.00 on a variety of goods and services, on December 31, 2005, you should be able to buy exactly the same goods and services for $104.20. I would defy any one to do that, which is the result of the most devastating results of the greatest lie we've been told. In my world, everthing I touch and purchase is far beyond the published inflation rate. So why would the Government peddle such atrocious and damaging poppycock? Why not simply say it like it is? For one thing, the legislated cost of living raise due anyone recieving a Government check would bankrupt us, next, because they can, last, because we let them. Why? Because we're not informed and don't want to be......................

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass Politically are we hypocrites? I don't see how we could be described any other way. When you have partyline splits on votes in Washington then somebody is being a hypocrite because it is virtually impossible for everyone to lock in step on a given issue because of party affiliation. This just about negates all of congress for me. If party line splits were only reserved for issues that define the differences in ideology perhaps our children at the Capitol would be more credible to me, but that just ain't the way things happen. Is democracy the shining light for all of the world as we say? Doubtful. Democracy only seems to work for those who desired it long before it was given to them. We've spread our influence over the globe and preached to the heathens that the only way they can have peace, prosperity, and happiness is to engage and practice in democracy, then wondrous things will happen. When a democratic form of government is forced on a people before it's their idea, and the result not in our plan is achieved, we are confused, as in Palestine. When the good people went to the polls, they voted for the bad guys, and we are agog and angry about it. We say we're just not gonna give them any more of our money and see how they like that! We have been made to look like fools by fools. We should be able to understand any society that is given to a cleric or religious based government isn't going to give up what they went to bed with at night and arose with in the morning would change what they feel and believe just because they can or because we say so. The election of Hamas by the Palestinians didn't surprise this Dumb Ass in the least. And when the Iraqi's refuse to give up their life long dedication of what they've been in exchange for what we percieve they should be, I won't be the least bit surprised about that either. We do not have a good record of reality when it comes to running other people's lives and countries. Democracy must be something that burns in your soul before it can be had. The only fires we've caused in the world in recent history are those created by our arrival and followed by those in protest. When we exhaust our resources and our spirit trying to run the world, we'll find the world to be pretty much politically what it was prior to our meddling, and oddly enough, we'll remain democratic, and someone who doesn't appreciate our philosophy of governing will have the power, and we'll be a story for history....... as the Romans were................