Somewhere On My Top Ten List…

…of things I hate. Depending on the day, it might even rank ahead of politicians *gag-spew* and Mass MEdia Podpeople:

Grass lawns and the “care” thereof.

Think about it a second. On the one end of the spectrum we see maniacs who weed and feed and spray and water and “manicure” and roll and trim and vacuum and comb and all other kinds of weird and stupid shiite. And for what? A boring, monochrome green that would be OK on a billiard table but hardly belongs anywhere in nature.

On the other, more rational, end of “lawns” we might see a well-design rock “lawn” that can be “cared” for with a once-a-season herbicide or a lawn with some other no-mow ground cover that

    1. Is suitable to the climate and so needs little to no added water
    2. Is not some boring monochromatic green.

I vote for the “more rational” approach. Something to control erosion that I’d not need to water or mow… not that I’ve ever watered a lawn in any home we’ve had. (If a lawn can’t survive on what God gives it, then it doesn’t deserve to live, IMO. *heh*)

And mowing! Was there ever such a useless task invented? Grow a (grass) lawn. Mow it once a week (or be shunned by neighbors *heh*). Figure out something to do with the *@^#$* clippings–grateful that at least mulching blades finally arrived for that–and do it all over again, for eternity! Talk about hellish torture… Tantalus was a piker.

No, I can see that a Thymus serpyllum (“Elfin mint”) lawn is in my future… Having a groundcover that naturally limits itself to 1″-2″ and is drought tolerant and edible seems far, far more rational than continuing to torture myself with mowing (though NOT weeding or feeding or watering!) a grass lawn (which I’m also allergic to… in more ways than one *heh*). Maybe the “Elfin” mint will be as aggressive as the regular mint I grow and choke out the grass on its own… Well, a guy can dream, can’t he?

Here’s a Suggestion for Weiner’s “Rehab”

“News” of the “who cares what his latest ploy is” variety:

Weiner seeking treatment amid growing pressure to resign

While the New York congressman seeks treatment at an undisclosed location, he will take a “short leave of absence” from Congress, Risa Heller said in a statement.

A Democratic source, familiar with conversations among Weiner and Democratic leadership about his fate, did not know what specific type of treatment Weiner would undergo.

What “type of treatment”? Frankly, I’m thinking his treatment should follow a line from an old Cheech and Chong bit, “Bailiff! Whack his pee-pee!” *heh*

The Muse Within

My inner muse recently reminded me,

NEVER let a day go by without accomplishing some little thing in the art you are nourishing in your life. Great things (or even “just” good–within range of the best of one’s talent) are only possible when many, many little things are built upon day in and day out, consistently.

More than talent, blood and toil and sweat and tears: that’s what real chops are built by.

“[T]he art” could as easily refer to any craft or useful skill and not necessarily be tied to what are usually thought of as “the arts”–graphic, dramatic, literary, musical. Being better than just a good carpenter requires constant striving to be better.

I need to listen to myself more, I think…

Almost Sweet Enough

Bank of America Gets Pad Locked [sic] After Homeowner Forecloses On It

It seems the Bank of America decided to foreclose on the home of a couple who had paid cash for their home. Unfortunately, all the judge in the case did was declare that bank of America had to pay the couple’s legal fees, not some truly righteous damages, but still the bank refused to cough up what they owed. So, the layer got a court order foreclosing on the branch the fake foreclosure had issued from:

After more than 5 months of the judge’s ruling, the bank still hadn’t paid the legal fees, and the homeowner’s [sic] attorney did exactly what the bank tried to do to the homeowners. He seized the bank’s assets…

…Sheriff’s deputies, movers, and the Nyergers’ attorney went to the bank and foreclosed on it. The attorney gave instructions to to remove desks, computers, copiers, filing cabinets and any cash in the teller’s drawers.

After about an hour of being locked out of the bank, the bank manager handed the attorney a check for the legal fees.

Too bad. It’d have been better to have socked the BoA with a much bigger bill and foreclosed the entire BoA operation, the friggin’ cheats.


I do wish people who wrote and edited copy for a living were more ethical about their work. The stupid errors in the original noted above ought to have those responsible docking their own pay, since, after all, they make their living as wordsmiths, don’t they?

“Pad Locked”-nuh-uh: padlocked.

“homeowner’s”–nope. The article made it clear the couple owned their home, so it is “homeowners'” with the apostrophe following the plural “s” creating the possessive form. F’in’ idiots. I don’t get paid for this stuff, and even I know that.

Companion Thoughts on Memorial Day

Two WWI era poems to remind us what Memorial Day is about: the 1915 “In Flanders Fields” by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army and an American response by Moina Michael in 1918, “We Chall Keep the Faith”. Shall we?

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

And,

We Shall Keep the Faith

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet – to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.

The last few lines of her response indict our generation,

“Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.”

Oh, not all have failed to teach the lessons bought in blood at Flanders Field and elsewhere, but were they taught better and more widely, the traitors who are mostly running an ever-expanding anarcho-tyrannical oligarchy wouldn’t be in power today…

Keep the faith. Tell someone–today!–the truth about the rights and liberties our forefathers–and even many today–have been willing to lay down their lives to protect and defend, rights and liberties in serious jeopardy (or already abridged) by a government grown obese at the urging of the electorate.

Slim Pickin’s*

Here it is not even halfway through 2011 and names are being thrown about, tossed in the hat (and thrown back out; Newt, I’m talking to you, you jackass) and bruited about for potential presidential runs. Republican/Repugnican’t names only, of course, as The Zero has said, according to Billary, that he intends to win in 2012 “And then we’re done.” (Would that make the Biden presidency begin the day after the election? *heh*) But choices of decent candidates from the supposed “Right” are slim pickin’s*.

On one key issue, illegal immigration (or, as I prefer, “alien invasion”), Michele Bachman is the only potential candidate whose name has been floated so far who passes muster on this one of my three critical issues. (If Bobby Jindal’s name were to be raised–haven’t seen it so far–he’d make number two.)

Any candidate fielded for any national office who can articulate sensible policies concerning 1. Eliminating–or very nearly so (not controlling or limiting) illegals, or “alien invaders” 2. Revenue and expenditures (big points for balanced budget and FairTax stances) 3. U.S. energy independence will get not just my vote but my enthusiastic support.

Solutions to these issues aren’t exactly rocket science: most are pretty simple and straightforward, requiring only the ability to spit in the eye of the entrenched political elites and their co-conspirators, fellow travelers and useful idiots. The only really tough weed in my three critical issues is expenditures by the feds. So-called “entitlements” (grants of special privilege to gain political power from voting blocks) are the big bugaboo. But even Social Security and Medicare “grants of special privilege” issues can be dealt with. After all, families cared for their aged loved ones for millennia before those programs came around to suck the life from young workers’ paychecks. Positing less “feddle gummint” meddling overall, families could do so again today, especially if American citizens grew up and took responsibility for their own care and feeding back from the “feddle gummint”… or were required to because someone jerked the “safety net” out from under their lazy-assed, greedy, “grasshopper” feet.

Oh, but what to do about the “grants of special privilege” to the locust class (generational welfare “families”)? Screw ’em. While I can grant that States have authority to engage in some sort of charitable efforts to alleviate situational poverty, supposing of course that the particular States’ constitutions provide for such, despite the lies libtards have sold for a generation or more, the federal Constitution does NOT give the “feddle gummint” authority to practice charitable acts with public funds. Let local communities, State agencies, private groups and associations handle the matter. And if “welfare queens” and their courts object, ship ’em to Mexico.


*Orthographic note: No, I did not misuse that apostrophe. And no, I did not mean to make “pickin” possessive, and nor did I mean “pickin is”. As you no doubt rightly inferred, the apostrophe is there because I extracted the “g” from “pickings” simply to effect a colloquial pronunciation in readers’ ears.

🙂


I thought to myself, “Meself, mayhap ‘t’would be a Good Thing to expand on, “not exactly rocket science.” So, herewith the third world county central fixes for the thee Big Issues:

1. Eliminating–or very nearly so (not controlling or limiting but eliminating) illegals, or “alien invaders”

a. Build the damned fence already.
b. Place machine gun nests with interlocking fields of fire and ROE that demands “shoot to kill” on the border
c. Go after those who employ illegals. Seize ALL the assets–including “sheltered” family assets–of ANYONE who employs illegals and cannot PROVE they made BEST faith efforts (not just “good faith”–exhaustive efforts) to eliminate alien invaders from their employ.
d. Pay a bounty to citizens ONLY for ratting out illegals and employers of illegals.
e. Refuse ALL government services, save emergency services for immediately life-threatening health care to any and all illegals and place bureaucraps who circumvent this on chain gangs making little rocks out of big ones.

THEN

Streamline LEGAL immigration for those seeking to enter the country who can demonstrate that they will both not be a burden on society and are likely to benefit our nation.

2. Revenue and expenditures (big points for balanced budget and FairTax stances).

a. Pass a balanced budget amendment, even if it takes working to defeat every spendthrift asswipe politician from now until the Trump of Doom sounds. Never give up. Make one provision of the amendment that politicians *gag-spit* who want to institute programs that exceed revenues must pay for those programs out of their own pockets.
b. Pass the Fairtax already. Any and every argument I’ve seen against it (save one) has been disingenuous to the point of outright lies. The only honest argument I’ve seen against it is that it would remove so much power from the “political elite” that they’d never pass it. So? Work to put their asses on the unemployment line and get some people in who are willing to have less power at their fingertips. Take the brakes off the American economy, aready!
c. Yeh, start being honest with folks about “entitlements”–we can’t afford ’em, and we for sure can’t afford to keep expanding them. For folks already addicted to ’em, let ’em sunset, slowly, but with the two provisions above in place, that’d be possible, because everyone who worked would have more in their pocket to handle such things, either as family or via real charities as opposed to government “charity” which is simply stolen resources bestowed on those who don’t earn them.

3. U.S. energy independence.

a. Put all the whining greenies that bitch and moan about how awful nuclear power is and place roadblocks to oil, gas and coal development and play NIMBY with new refineries out in the wilderness with a fishhook and a pocket knife and leave ’em to starve. (Feel free to go ahead and pity the wildlife.)
b. Go ahead and drill baby drill, build a few (hundred) pebble bed reactors (or any of the other exciting new nuclear reactor designs), put a thermal depolymerization plant in every tiny lil community that wants to actually MAKE MONEY via turning their sewage into oil, open up exploration and development of ALL hydrocarbon energy supplies, oh, and go ahead and remove roadblocks (as if there were any) along with artificial supports to development of “alternative energy sources”.

Oh, and as to the “drill baby drill” meme, check this:

There. Third world county central’s prescription for three big issues (we’ll leave The Biggest** for the Second Coming or perhaps the Twelfth of Never (sigh*) that face us.


**The Biggest: *@^^^3* politicians who either stupidly and ignorantly OR wittingly and venally violate the Constitution… just because they can, all the while either lying about what they want to do being constitutional or just not caring at all whether it is or isn’t (Yeh, Newt, I’m looking at you, too).

Happy Mothers Day in the Land of the (Once) Free

Victor David Hanson’s “Thoughts on a Surreal Depression” contains these sobering words:

… the law-biding stifled by red tape, the non-law-biding considered exempt from accountability on the basis of simple cost-to-benefit logic. A speeder on the freeway will pay a $300 ticket for going 75mph and justifies the legions of highway patrol officers now on the road; going after an unlicensed peddler or rural dumper is a money-losing proposition for government.

(BTW, VDH, Samuel T. Francis described the circumstances you bemoan 18 years ago as anarcho-tyrrany: punishing the law-abiding and rewarding outlaws.)

So, mothers, at the least, pray for the country your children will inherit from your hands. (And fathers, pay some *&^%@#$ attention, too.)


BTW, I’m very glad I had a mother. Don’t know where I’d be without one. *heh* Also glad she’s still around, and I can pick up the phone and say “Hi” any old time I want to. I’ll do that this afternoon…

Defund NPR!

No Shiite! (Seriously: the Muslim Brotherhood which is the pretext for this investigative report, is Sunni, so “No Shiite!” is correct… in more senses than one*… )


*Recently, in “polite” conversation, I have taken to substituting “”Shiite!” for a word that means much the same thing but which has only one “i” and no “e”.