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Growing Old Gracefully

Sounds like something we should all do, doesn’t it? Well, that ain’t gonna happen. I’m old, but I am not going to act like an old man. No front porch rocking chair for me. I’ll celebrate 80 years of annoying others by not acting my age in December, and look forward to more.

During the hunting season, I live in a travel trailer in Sabine County Texas on family land, and spend a good deal of time in the woods.  The rest of the year, I live in Panama and ride my motorcycle to get around.*

I make and shoot slingshots, I like old cowboy movies, and I listen to a lot of 50s and 60s Rock and Roll. My heroes are Roy Rogers, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Audie Murphy. My all-time favorite author is Louis La’Amour, and I am still searching for the few stories I haven’t read or do not own.

I’m a libertarian, which means I believe in small government, no more than needed to maintain order, pave the roads, and deliver the mail. We have a whole lot more than we need, but fortunately not as much as we pay for. I think Democrats and Republicans, in large part, are enemies of the Constitution.

With that in mind, join me in my often rambling, sometimes coherent thoughts as I wend my way through what are supposed to be my golden years, though I have yet to see any gold.

*Note: This was the first post on this blog. I no longer spend hunting season in Texas and the rest of the year in Panama. Nora and I moved to Texas in 2018.

Der Führer

Our maximum leader has spoken, in the most divisive, hate-filled speech by a President in my lifetime. Not since Lincoln has a President advocated war against political opponents, but this pretend President has issued a thinly veiled call for violence against his political enemies. Our only hope for the future is to remove his enablers, of both Parties, on November 8th. Vote or surrender your freedom. You have been warned!

History of Civilization

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. Beer required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That’s how villages were formed. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These two were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups: 1. Liberals. 2. Conservatives.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to BBQ at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement. Other men who were less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly BBQ’s and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement. Some of these liberal men evolved into women. Others became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy Liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that Conservatives provided.

Over the years Conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass for obvious reasons. Modern Liberals like lite beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard Liberal fare.

Another interesting evolutionary side note: many Liberal women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most college professors, social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, film makers in Hollywood, group therapists and community organizers are Liberals.

Liberals meddled in our national pastime and invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn’t fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink real beer. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, engineers, corporate executives, athletes, members of the military, airline pilots, and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the Liberals remained in Europe when Conservatives were coming to America. They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.

Here ends today’s lesson in world history. It should be noted that liberals may start foaming at the mouth and threaten to kill me for posting this. Sane people will laugh and pass it on.

A Political Song

To the tune of Kaw-Liga

Joe Biden is an evil Democrat
standing in the road
blocking traffic and causing a stink
and acting like a toad

He never raises a finger
to help his faithful followers
but he uses his ill-gained power
to make a gazillion dollars

He lies about the KungFu Flu
He lies about our troops
He even lies about the smell
When he sits to pee and poop

The only way that this old fool
could be the president
was by stealing the election
and that’s exactly how it went

Chorus

Joe Biden oh oooh
he spews out never ending lies
and shows the evil soul behind his eyes

Afghanistan is NOT a debacle, it is proceeding to plan.

Unless you understand why we were in Afghanistan from the git-go, none of what is happening today makes sense. However, IF you understand that we were there to distract attention from the true culprits, Saudi Arabia, and because there were $billions to be made fighting an unwinnable, senseless war, then it all makes perfect sense. Even after it became clear that the war could never be won, there were more $billions to be made in nation building.

Give it a little time. The Taliban will kill, plunder, and rape. They will capture and likely kill some Americans. They will export terror to Europe and the US, and we, with the urging of (expletive deleted) scumbags in Congress will, in the name of humanity and National Security, go back into Afghanistan with all guns blazing. And, because we made sure that the Taliban was well supplied with our own equipment, it will be a very expensive (and profitable) war.

God help us.

The Pledge of Allegiance

I have a problem with the Pledge of Allegiance, quite aside from the facts that it was written by a Socialist Minister, that the Republic no longer represents the People, defends the Constitution, nor promotes the general welfare. Read the Pledge’s history here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance

The Pledge, with comments.

I pledge allegiance to the flag* (a cloth symbol which can be, and has been, changed over time)

and to the Republic* (which no longer exists, having been usurped by unconstitutional Federal acts)

for which it stands, one nation* (The United States is not a nation, it is 50 sovereign States, united for their common defense and protection of Rights)

under God* (God is nowhere to be found in our schools, and increasingly, in government)

indivisible* (The union is not a suicide pact, and nothing in our Constitution prohibits a State from leaving the union. The Declaration of Independence is quite specific about the Right of the People to sever ties with a repressive government.)

with liberty* (most of our Constitutional liberties are severely curtailed by federal, State, and local governments, as clearly demonstrated during the Pandemic of 2020.)

and justice* (When some people are held in jail for months without bail or trial, for the crime of Trespassing, and others are allowed to riot, loot, burn and kill with no consequences, Justice does not exist.)

for all.* (Except for those who are connected politicians like the Clintons, Bidens, Obamas, and most Democrats. They get a pass.)

So forgive me, but the Pledge is completely out of sync with the reality of today’s world, and I will no longer recite it.

The Patriarch

On June 3, 2021, my sisters and brothers, in-laws, and friends gathered at Myrtle Springs Cemetery in Geneva, Texas, to pay our respects and bid farewell to the last child of Henry Acie and Mary Elva Murphy Smith.

With Shirley Jo Smith Burleson’s passing, I became the Patriarch of the Smith branch of the family. Traditionally, the eldest member of a generation, Patriarch or Matriarch, was venerated and had enormous influence over family affairs. He or she sat at the head of the table at family gatherings and received the choice cuts of meat. He or she controlled the TV remote at Thanksgiving and other celebrations. Marriages were arranged, businesses run, disputes settled, all by the Patriarch/Matriarch.

Now I find myself in that exalted position, and pray I have the knowledge, skill, and ability to perform my duties honorably and fairly. I shall enjoy my privileges and wield my new powers with skill, assiduity, fairness, and wisdom.

My brothers and sisters will, of course, pay me no attention whatsoever. That is as it should be.

We Are at War!

Make no mistake, we are at war. The United States is under attack by forces that want to destroy our system of government, our freedoms, our religion, and our way of life. They are relentless, organized, and determined. They will not accept defeat unless so thoroughly crushed that further attack becomes impossible for them.

This enemy is not the hordes of violent illegal aliens allowed into the country by past and current administrations. It is not the 1.5 billion followers of the death cult called Islam. It is not rogue countries like Iran and North Korea. It is not Russia or China. It is not organized crime. None of these rise to the level of threat as the enemy within. We can remove the illegals and Muslim extremists. We can defeat rogue nations militarily. There is no external threat great enough to bring us down. There is no nation on Earth strong enough to defeat us. We proved that in World War Two, and can do it again, if necessary.

No, this enemy is far more dangerous and will be more difficult to defeat. It lives among us. It is in the Congress, in government, in Universities and high schools. This enemy calls itself Liberal, Progressive, and Democrat. It will not, in most cases, admit to its true allegiance to socialism/communism. It infests our universities. The leadership of the Democratic Party promotes its goal of shredding the Constitution, and appears to be mentally deranged. The Media has been completely taken over, and is openly calling for violent revolt against us.

The last Presidential election proved we cannot defeat them at the ballot box. Even when we win, they refuse to accept the result. They resist, disrupt, riot, attack, and they have become too strong. They control the news media, entertainment, and education.

In the end, we will defeat them by the same means we have defeated evil since our country was born. If we do not, they will take our freedoms, our property, our religion, our future, and our lives.

The Last Ones

This is from a good friend, posted years ago, on FaceBook. Dennis was a sailor, who lived on his sailboat for years after leaving the Navy. Eventually deteriorating health forced him ashore. Not long after posting this, he went to join the fleet in Heaven. Some of us are the ones he’s describing in this missive. Someday, before too many years have passed, the last of us will be gone.

Children of the 30s & 40s “The Last Ones” – Dennis Marshall May 1, 2016 at 3:36 PM

A Short Memoir: Born in the late-1930 and early 1940’s, we exist as a very special age cohort. We are the “last ones.” We are the last, climbing out of the depression, who can remember the winds of war and the war itself with fathers and uncles going off.

We are the last to remember ration books for everything from sugar to shoes to stoves. We saved tin foil and poured fat into tin cans. We saw cars up on blocks because tires weren’t available. My mother delivered milk in a horse drawn cart.

We are the last to hear Roosevelt’s radio assurances and to see gold stars in the front windows of our grieving neighbors. We can also remember the parades on August 15, 1945; VJ Day.

We saw the ‘boys’ home from the war build their Cape Cod style houses, pouring the cellar, tar papering it over and living there until they could afford the time and money to build it out.

We are the last who spent childhood without television; instead imagining what we heard on the radio. As we all like to brag, with no TV, we spent our childhood “playing outside until the street lights came on.” We did play outside and we did play on our own. There was no little league. But there were comic books – 52 pages for a dime.The lack of television in our early years meant, for most of us, that we had little real understanding of what the world was like.

Our Saturday afternoons, if at the movies, gave us newsreels of the war and the holocaust sandwiched in between westerns and cartoons. Newspapers and magazines were written for adults. We are the last who had to find out for ourselves.

As we grew up, the country was exploding with growth. The G.I. Bill gave returning veterans the means to get an education and spurred colleges to grow. VA loans fanned a housing boom. Pent up demand coupled with new installment payment plans put factories to work. New highways would bring jobs and mobility.

The veterans joined civic clubs and became active in politics. In the late 40s and early 50’s the country seemed to lie in the embrace of brisk but quiet order as it gave birth to its new middle class.

Our parents understandably became absorbed with their own new lives. They were free from the confines of the depression and the war. They threw themselves into exploring opportunities they had never imagined. We weren’t neglected but we weren’t today’s all-consuming family focus. They were glad we played by ourselves ‘until the street lights came on.’ They were busy discovering the post war world.

Most of us had no life plan, but with the unexpected virtue of ignorance and an economic rising tide we simply stepped into the world and went to find out. We entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where we were welcomed. Based on our naïve belief that there was more where this came from, we shaped life as we went. We enjoyed a luxury; we felt secure in our future.

Of course, just as today, not all Americans shared in this experience. Depression poverty was deep rooted. Polio was still a crippler. The Korean War was a dark presage in the early 50s and by mid-decade school children were ducking under desks.

China became Red China. Eisenhower sent the first ‘advisors’ to Vietnam. Castro set up camp in Cuba and Khrushchev came to power.We are the last to experience an interlude when there were no existential threats to our homeland.

We came of age in the late 40s and early 50s. The war was over and the cold war, terrorism, climate change, technological upheaval and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt life with insistent unease. Only we can remember both a time of apocalyptic war and a time when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty. We experienced both.We grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better not worse.We are the ‘last ones.’

A Morning’s Madness

  The east Texas sun beat down mercilessly and Jacob paused to wipe the sweat from his eyes before hitching the mule to his plow. Lately, it had become increasingly difficult to get Sukey in harness and to work. She was beginning to display the stubborn, sullen disposition for which her breed is famous. This morning didn’t look like it would be an exception. As Jacob approached her with the collar, she turned her head away from him and began to walk in a slow circle, keeping just out of reach. Jacob  always fought to control his temper when Sukey got recalcitrant , because it was vital that he get his 40 acres plowed and planted in cotton. His poor East Texas red dirt farm would yield about three bales. In those depression years, the $90.00 the three bales would bring was enough to survive, providing the garden produced and the cow didn’t dry up, and nobody stole the pigs and chickens. Sabine County, Texas in 1931 wasn’t a paradise but a man could make do.
 
 
 So, this morning Jacob didn’t lose his temper. He sweet talked and clucked softly, and told Sukey what a fine girl she was, and after a few minutes, she stood still and he eased the collar over her head. He hitched up the harness and led her to the plow and connected it. He wiped the sweat from his eyes once more and reached for the plow handles.
 
 
 “Gol-dang you wuthless, no-count flop eared, crow bait!” he exploded, “Git up”. Sukey was calmly sitting on her haunches.
 
 
 “Git up!”, he shouted again and slapped her with the plow reins. She didn’t move. He moved around to her front, and cursing her loudly, grabbed one long ear in each hand and pulled. Sukey brayed, but didn’t move. Jacob banged her on the nose with his fist. She blinked twice and broke wind. His self control was rapidly fading. He moved to her side and kicked her sharply in the belly. She grunted. He kicked her again and finally she stood up.
 
 
 Jacob was perspiring freely, his anger barely held in check
 
 
 “Giddap”, he said. Sukey took three steps and stopped. He slapped her with the plow reins again. She stood there. His fury was now a red cloud in front of his eyes. He cursed and pulled her ears, he whacked her nose, and kicked her belly. She stood there. His fury was now a red cloud in front of his eyes. He cursed and pulled her ears, he whacked her nose, and kicked her belly. He got behind her and pushed with all his might, his shoulder against her haunches. She broke wind in his face and the stench was sickening.
 
 
 “That does it”, he screamed. “I’ve tried everything I know how to try, except one. My Daddy told me a mule will do anything if you just get its attention”.
 
 
 He raced to the wood pile and came back with a piece of firewood about three feet long and six inches thick.
 
 
 “Now, you gol-danged, wuthless, flea bitten, no good, glue bait, hard headed idjit”, he screamed, as he wielded the piece of firewood like a baseball bat, “I am about to git yore attention”. He swung with all his strength and the firewood connected right between the mule’s eyes. It cracked like a rifle shot. Sukey shuddered, fell to her knees, brayed once weakly and fell over dead.
 
 
 He stared at her for a moment and looked up to see a dust devil dance across the far end of his unplowed field. It looked like it was going to be a rough year.