One of my favorite non-western movies is the Green Mile.  The central character, John Coffey, is nearing his time for execution and Tom Hanks, prison guard is aware of the special talents of the prisoner.  He asks John what he wants him to do?  Set him free? John asked him why he would do such a foolish thing?  “When I face my maker and he asks why I executed one of his true miracles, what am I going to say?”  I am starting to feel the same way as our next Presidential election gets closer.  At the time when I am to face the Lord, is he going to ask me why I let his truest example of a nation, designed for his people, get in such shape.  A nation he certainly let flourish amid hardships and let grow to one of the most powerful nations in the world.  One that fostered religion and personified what was taught in the Lords Instructional book, the Bible. What can I say in my own defense?  That is what has me in a quandary.

I remember, as a child, saying the pledge of allegiance each morning before classes began.  This was a part of the day for as far back as I can remember.  We also said prayers when we had assemblies and thought nothing of singing a hymn when the occasion arose.  That, regrettably has changed.  Through lawsuits and court rulings those activities have been found to be against political correctness.  This small chink in the armor has led us to where we are today.

We are being asked in the next year to select representative from two political parties to represent us in an election to determine the path of our nation for at least the 4 years of the presidential term.  I personally dont see a viable choice from among all the people who are trying to convince us they have the best interest of the nation and its people in their heart.  We have an admitted socialist, a professional politician who has so much baggage carried over from her past to make most of us shudder, we have a flamboyant huckster who delights in calling a newswoman a bimbo because she posed in, what some call, a provocative manner, when his own wife has posed in much more (or less) as the case may be, we have born again Christians, we have just about every flavor in the ice cream store.  The scary part is that one of these people is going to get elected and we are going to have to live with our mistake for 4 years, if not 8.

I am going to vote in the election but I am undecided which one I will vote for.  I am not tied to either party so voting as I please is my option.  I only hope the second question the good Lord asks me on my day, is, “Why did you vote like that?”

Gary

There I was tonight, sitting at the table with a feast of stuffed bell peppers, when I was almost brought to my knees by the news announcement that Spike Lee and Jada Smith , to name a few, were going to boycott this years academy awards because no black actors had been nominated and therefore there was not an equitable representation of the talent in the business of acting.  Jesus H Christ in a hand cart.

I don’t normally attend movies so I have very little exposure to either Spike Lee or Jada Smith’s bodies of work.  I know about Morgan Freeman and think he is a good actor.  I don’t normally watch the awards so could not care less which actor decides to come or decides to stay at home.  The snippets of the shows that I have seen were made up of the actresses appearing in dresses that can best be described as “scanty”.  Have not ever seen an academy award show dress suddenly appear on any of the women that attend our church on Sunday morning.  For that reason I am befuddled as to why someone would spend good money to buy a dress that shows more than can be seen on a pole dancer at a pole dancing joint next to a naval base.

We hear people bemoan the shape our country is in.  I am here to tell you when it started.  It started at the very instance someone decided to give a trophy to every participant in the little league.  We have headed down hill ever since.  The winners get the trophy, the participants get a piece of paper stating that they did indeed attend all the practices, etc.  They didn’t get a trophy because their team was 0-16 for the season.  Anything other than this plan puts our life style on a down hill slide that is slicker than you know what on a playground slide.  Our problem is someone decided we should make our society one that is most affected by mediocrity. Cream rising to the top is frowned upon.  You can’t have any winners, only participants.

Now we are threatened to be punished, by the absence of certain members of the acting life, because we don’t have a black person in the race.  Did anybody ever stop to think that maybe the black actors werent the best this year?  Are we now supposed to give all the black actors one of those little trophies just because they are black.  What about the ones that aren’t as black as the average black actor.  There are shades of black, as well as shades of white.  Didnt Halle Berri win an award at some time in the past.  She isn’t as black as Spike Lee.

I am getting tired of having to make allowances for some people or some events just because we cant afford to hurt someone’s feelings.  Hey folks, win the damned game or go home and practice a little bit harder, run a few more windsprints or take a few more acting classes.  Take hold of your own life, make your own difference and quit expecting someone else to do it for you.

Gary

We are being inundated with news stories about the sailors who were detained by the Iranians because our disabled boat drifted close to one of the Iranian islands.  Is there so little news that this rates more than one or two reports?  I think not.

The news folks are making innuendos that the sailors did something wrong by apologizing to the Iranians for drifting into their territories.  If I accidentally ran over a small corner of my neighbors ( who is a total a-hole) front yard and he demanded an apology I would probably do it.  I would be biting my tongue until my nose bled but I would do it.  Why?  So I didn’t end up in jail.  Incidents have a way of accelerating into something that weren’t meant to be.  We should look at this in the same light.  You do what you need to do to get yourself and your men back in your boats and back to sea.  When you get back to base you make your report, turn your boat into the garage and the tell the mechanic to get the damned thing fixed so it doesn’t happen again.  Gather up some money and buy a trolling motor to keep on board for emergencies.

Question?  If we have the technology to look through the window of a house from a spy satellite in space, why in the name of St Elmo are we sailing a damned motor boat in an area that is contested territory?  Cant we train our sailors in an area of the ocean that no one really cares about?  Its kinda like walking thru the junkyard. knowing that the man who owns the place has a bull-dog that eats the legs of people who it catches. Go around.  If you poke a stick at a rattle snake, let me tell you Leroy, it will eventually strike.  If you screwed up and had too short a stick, then you are bitten..  Not the snakes fault.

The older I get the more serene I wish things were.  I would like to get up some morning and turn on the news and see the news people just sitting behind their desks looking at each other.  The anchor asks ” Either of y’all got anything?”  They report back, ” Nope”, and they sign off the air.  I switch over to the business news and learn that stocks are steady with no real down turns or up turns.  No gain no loss.  “See y’all tomorrow.”  Sports channel and the moderator announces that no professional athlete has been jailed, failed drug test, accused of beating any member of his or her family, and all contracts were amicably settled during the previous evening.  There were no trades and Johnny Manzel has agreed to become a valet car attendant at Cowboy stadium.  You catch the weather and learn that the Arctic and Antarctic ice packs have begun to grow and global warming is over.  Is all this too much to ask?

GAry

There are a bunch of folks up in Oregon who have invaded and occupied federal buildings as a protest showing their support for a couple of ranchers over in Nevada who are in prison for unauthorized burning of federal grazing lands.  Whew, that was a mouthful.  This situation has been going on for several years so nothing new until the standoff started.

The state of New Mexico is made up of a tremendous amount of state and federal land.  Reservations, etc.  You can have a 25,000 acre ranch in New Mexico and it might be made up of 500 acres of private land, which you might own and the other 24,500 acres are federal or state grazing land.  You can call the whole thing your ranch but you are faced with some rules.  You can not prevent the public from utilizing the 24,500 acres for hunting, hiking and general public usage.  There are rules that you must follow.

I think the problem in Nevada is somewhat the same thing.  The ranchers there had been utilizing a certain amount of federal grazing lands and decided to burn off brush to improve grazing.  They treated the land as if they owned it.  Problem.  They did not.  They bitched and moaned and burned some more.  They got arrested, tried and are in prison.  Now there are folks in Oregon who are picketing in a way to stand with the fellers in Nevada.  Again, sounds like the thing to do.  However, they have moved in on some US Forest
Service buildings and seem to want to tell everyone that they are holding this little outpost hostage.  Boys, it’s not going to work.

You just have to set back and realize that the fellows down in Nevada have known since day one that they did not own the federal lands that they were grazing.  They can sit down at the coffee shop every morning and talk about their 25,000 acre ranch and all the coffee drinkers will sit back in awe.  But everybody in the cafe knows that they don’t own the land.  They can play like it is theirs as long as they follow the rules.

Many problems that exist between individuals and their state, local and national government can be cured if the folks involved make sure they are playing by the rules.

Gary