Some hollywood big shots have paid some dude a ton of money to assist, illegally, in getting little Suzie into a better college.  They have been indicted and there is talk of them going to jail.  AINT GONNA HAPPEN.

We have had a system in the USA for years of separating the masses into different categories with reqard to education benefits, etc.  It was part of the system and for the most part works pretty well.  In High School we were enrolled, some of us unknowingly, in a race to see who could get the best grades.  There were awards associated with those who scored the highest.  Valedictorian and Salutatorian.  Scholarships were attached to these awards.  Colleges were set up based on the socio-economics needs of the people who were attending.  There were expensive private universities, usually theologically based, and there were state schools.  State schools were less expensive and therefore tended to be larger.  Life in general was set up as a contest or race to see who excelled.  Who made the most money?  Whose children won the most games.  It was all simply giving each of us a reason to get out of bed and do better.

The newer generations seem to think that one should not have to strive to be better, that all should be given to each of them regardless of their effort.  They think that all should have the right to attend Harvard and Yale even if no effort was put forth by the student in preparation for attending such a university.  They think the playing field should be level.  SORRY, I DO NOT.   The greatness of our nation is not in the fact that all men are created equal.  The greatness of our nation is in the fact that each of us has the opportunity to be better than the next person.  We have the right to earn more, have more , etc, based on our individual effort.

I dont think that there should exist ways to cheat the system for getting your children into a better college.  Set the rules and let us live by them.  But to spend countless hours on the news talking about some pieces of Hollywood fluff that set a bad example for their children, well, we have bigger fish to fry.

Chuy the philosopher

Its been a while but guess that may indicate that things have not been upsetting me as of late.  Wrong.

I am not trying to be sanctimonious but I am really disgruntled with our government.  We are being led by a man who seems unable to tell the truth even when it would benefit him to do so.  When he is confronted with testimony by those who surely would know the facts behind some of his actions, he retaliates by slinging mud at those people.  If you arent for him he is assured that you are against him and that you should suffer his wrath.  Our country seems to be flourishing despite his actions.  I really hope the next few years are over rather quickly.

I went to Pecos late last year to attend a meeting about the cemetery and the city’s plans for it.  They were planning to build a fence around it more to cover it up than enhance its appearance.  Landscaping and water was what the cemetery needed more than a fence.  At that meeting there was a whisper about a more far reaching plan by the leaders of the  fair city that many of us were raised in.  As most of you are aware, Pecos is experiencing a boom unlike any that has been seen there before.  Tax revenues are flowing like the falls at Niagara and the city fathers of Pecos are in a dither as to how to spend those funds.

There is a plan to build a new city.  “WEST PECOS”.  It is planned for the area near the prison and the new cemetery as it has been called.  This new development will consist of a series of “pods” , such as, an education pod, an entertainment pod, etc.  They have plans to build a complete new school system.  It will have residential areas that will somewhat help in Pecos’s housing problems, they think.  My question is, why not improve what you have as opposed to starting over.  Why not try to convince the citizens to take some pride in what they have now instead of starting over and coming back to the same situation in 20 years.

The “oil patch”  is as fickle as a high school beauty queen and will leave the ones who depend on it when they are starting to depend on it the most.  The money will dry up like the bed of the Pecos river.  Why not save some of that money they are enjoying now for the lean times to come?

I know some of you, deep down, love Pecos because you can remember when it was a wonderful place to live.  We had a magical childhood there and I hate that the young people who are there now dont have those same opportunities.  If you know someone that still lives there, talk to them, encourage them to set aside their bounty for the times of famine.

Gary

Tension kills older people and we should not have to be exposed to so many things that cause us to tense up.  I am principally referring to our daily dose of the “news”.  Dorothy and I were out-of-town for a few days and spent those days doing something at night other than watching the television set.  Therefore we were not fully aware of the latest world crisis that has every news person fidgeting around like  person in a 40 person line at the stadium toilet bowl.

The Saudis killed an American citizen over in Turkey.  He was a reporter for some newspaper or news magazine.  Apparently this happened two weeks ago when the guy walked into the Saudi consulate and never came out.  The entire world is in a dither about the heinous act on the part of the Saudis.  It kinda pissed me off until I actually did some reading on the subject.

Here is a guy that has been poking a sharp stick in the eye of the Saudi power elite for 10 or 12 years.  He had written extensively about how bad the Saudi government is run and how the government was set up and how it needs to be changed.  This was not something the Saudis were all that fond of.  Then the nut, knowing full well that he is not a favorite , goes over to the consulate and , I guess, knocks on the front door and goes in.  Did he expect to be treated royally?  What he got instead of a royal interview was a royal ass kicking by the consulate “rogue” guards.

Anyone who knows me understands that I am not a big fan of the royals of Saudi Arabia.  They are for the most part a shiftless bunch of mega rich playboys who probably could not run a popcorn concession without help from their allies.  They hire all their manual work done so they can sit around in long white nightgowns and tally up their oil money.  I am all for oil money but you can’t let someone tell the world what to do just because they have a steady check coming in.  They need to be told, in no uncertain terms, that they need to back off doing things that they can’t back up.  If your army, navy and air force couldnt whip the Texas National Guard, you need not be provoking folks.

A little less of this kind of behavior would make less for the media to report on.  They would be about as idle as a bacon salesman in the capital of Saudi Arabia but that would not be all that bad.

Chuy the Statesman

For the first time in memory Dorothy and I will be spending Thanksgiving without members of our family at the table.  I wont be able to cook the turkey, she wont be required to make the cornbread dressing and Christi wont bring the fruit salad.  We wont have any friends at the table to share our bounty.  What has caused this tragedy? We have decided to travel this year and will head to the state of Vermont. Neither of us has ever been to the upper eastern states and we decided that sooner is better than later and certainly better than never.

She has been busy researching quaint places to stay and fun things to do.  This will primarily be a driving trip so we will get to see more of the countryside.  I much prefer this to air travel.  We will fly up there then rent a car.  We dont ski, we dont go hiking so we may spend a lot of time just driving up to the edge of the turnout and looking over the edge.  Thats alright, I will take a pair of binoculars and we will get to see a lot of new things.  It is a given that we will do some shopping in some small towns, taking advantage of hopefully some handcrafted items that we cant get at home.  I look forward to an excellent trip.

We will spend Thanksgiving day at a country inn that has been around since 1883 or thereabouts.  They will have turkey and dressing but the dressing will not be cornbread.  That should be the 8th deadly sin but i will try to muddle through.  Apple and sausage dressing is better than no dressing at all.  The rest of the meal will be typical pilgrim fare and that is fine with me.  A couple of the menu items will include maple syrup. Duh. We will be among people and will be very thankful for all our blessings.  We will remember, on that day, all of our friends and will wish them well.

We will, as usual, plan of sending pictures of our travels.  Dorothy will send pictures of what we see and I will photograph what we are eating.  The state fruit of Vermont is the apple.  The state pie is apple.  The state vegetable is the Gilfeather turnip.  I just hope I dont see the turnip in the pie.

Gary ( the wanderer) Cowan

I did not vote for the current POTUS.  My reason was simple.  I didn’t feel like he had the character that I think is required for the position.  I knew she didnt, Hillary I mean.

He has done some things that may be good for our country in the short and long run.  For that I am thankful.  We don’t need a Korean peninsula that is about to implode on a daily basis.  We need a vibrant economy as many, including myself, feel that it’s the only way for our country to grow and return to its place in the world.  Here is where the rub comes in.  Is our place in the world the one that has to feed the rest of the world?  Are we the only keepers of our brothers?  Is it time to put a new sign on the Statue of Liberty?

Give us your tired, your hungry, your oppressed, but only if they are able to help themselves and do not need to be spoon fed for the next 2 generations.  We are a nation that was founded on christian values of helping one’s neighbors and for that I am proud, however, could we get some help from some of the other nations ?  Germany kicked their doors open to refugees and got themselves overrun with undesirables, people who now think they are owed a way of life they couldn’t provide for themselves.  Owed.  We are following that same path.  We are now torn between our christian values and the practical matters that should tell us we can’t take care of the world all by ourselves.  We have politicians that are going to shoot themselves in the foot simply because their opposition thinks in a different manner.  The problem is that they are shooting us in both feet at the same time.   We see the mayor of NYC standing against a fence in McAllen , Texas demanding to see a supervisor about the handling of an immigration matter.  He didn’t have to travel all that way.  He could have simply stood on the steps of the NYC mayors mansion and announced that NYC would take them all and provide for them.  Problem solved.  Ask yourselves why he didn’t do that.  A couple of thousand children and their accompanying parents would not have been a drop in the bucket for the “big apple”.  Or would it?

I am not sure what the answer is.  Seperating the children doesnt seem to make anyone happy so maybe we should simply say, ” No More”.  Close the gates, so to speak.  You can camp on our door steps but you cant come in.  We catch you sneaking thru the fence, coming illegally, you get sent back home that same day.  No few days of food and rest in our country while we decide what to do.  People who pay exhorbitant amounts of money to coyotes to smuggle them in cant do that forever.  They will run out of money eventually.

We are frantically scurrying around trying to get ready to go on our biannual vacation.  Next week we will leave for a trip that will take us to London, Hamburg, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and Zürich.  We will not be on a tour but simply a trip that Dorothy put together with the help of a friendly travel agency.  I had little to do with the itinerary as I am more of a get in the car and see what is along the road type traveler.  We will get some of that as much of our travel will be by car.  Dorothy found a company that furnishes luxury automobiles driven by English speaking guides that will pick you up at your hotel and ferry you to the next destination.  Finally, a trip where I can see something more than out the plane window.  Yea.

Hoping to eat some really good food while over on the grand tour and I will keep you up to date on the latest European cuisine with pictures on Facebook.  Hopefully you will like what I eat and want to try some of the more exotic things.  LOL

This weekend is the annual Selena festival here in Corpus.  There will be hundreds of thousands of her worshipers down at the bayfront caressing the right breast of her statue.  They rub that part of her anatomy until the paint comes off.  Damned inconsiderate if you ask me.  I will not attend the festivities for obvious reasons.

Vaya con Dios

for a little while/

GHC

I have thought for quite some time that the human race had about outlived its usefulness.  This feeling is reinforced almost on a daily basis.  Let me cite a few of the latest examples.

Eating Tide Pods:  In the first place, why would anybody do this?  A Tide pod is designed to assist in the removal of grease, dirt and other foreign matter from our clothing.  What was the first person to perform this fete thinking that it would do for them?  Tide pods are kinda pretty if you take a good look at them.  They are a swirl of color and I can see where they might be a temptation to very small children, but, from what I understand, the kids doing this are ones who have passed a few grades in school and are certainly old enough to have been told, by their parents, not to put shit in their mouths.  Any one who has ever had their mouths washed out with a bar of Lifebouy soap can vouch for the fact that soap doesn’t taste good.  Does a Tide pod taste better?  We switched from the Tide pod to liquid Tide because the damn things were leaving streaks of blue across my clothing and they werent always melting.  I guess that the liquid could be dangerous also if some kid decides to take a shot glass full of the liquid.

SPORTS DOCTORS:  This is a bit more delicate subject and a sensitive one.  However I have several thoughts about this.  This doctor was accused and now convicted of molesting young gymnasts  over a considerable length of time and from all evidence was protected, or at least not ratted out, by many of his peers.  My basic question concerning this matter is “What was he telling the parents that the procedure he was performing was going to do for the young lady”?  Was it to make her tumble better, jump higher ?  I can’t even imagine a story that I, as a parent, could have been told that would allow me to let a doctor mishandled a child in this manner.  This guy has been sentenced to 175 years in prison and if stories about prisons are true then he wont serve near that long before somebody , who might have a niece who is a gymnast, takes matters in hand and lets him out early.  Via local funeral parlor.

Most of you reading this are either from my home town or are familiar with it.  Back in the 50’s we had a sports doctor who performed all of the medical exams for potential participants in school sports programs. Boys, as far as I remember.  The procedure performed was the “turn your head and cough” procedure.  Although this procedure was non invasive, it was something that gave you the chills.  Most 13-year-old boys are not happy with standing with shorts about their ankles and being told to cough while that examiner has a thumb running around their scrote area.  I don’t remember it hurting but I was damned glad it was over.  Supposedly you were being examined to determine if you had any evidence of hernia.  Sometime in the early 60’s this doctor was accused, not openly but more as whispered accusations, that he was having much too much fun performing these exams.  He was also the volunteer high school wrestling coach.  He died very suddenly.  I think it was on a Saturday night and it was said that he fell and hit his head of his bath tub.  End of story.  No trial, no prison term, just end of story.

Both of the above comments are evidence of how we have changed in our interaction with our children.  My mother would have known almost immediately if I was eating Tide pods.  She would have smelled it on my breath.  My parents would have also known if the sports doctor had done an internal exam instead of an external exam.  I would have told them.  ” Listen, the doctor’s thumb slipped, I don’t know what he was looking for but you may want to check to see if he found it”.

My three children are way beyond the age of consent but my wife and I are still very interested in their day-to-day lives.  Sometimes the children think we are a bit too interested but they suffer through it because we are their parents.  I can assure them that if they start eating Tide pods that I will be over at their houses asking them why they are doing it and if I am not satisfied with their answer then I will wash their mouths out with soap.

GC the parent and constant protector of my family

I am going to get in trouble over this post but the devil is making me go it.

This harassment thing has gone about far enough.  I read this morning where Garrison was fired because he touched a woman’s bare back during a hug.  He apologized but that apparently wasnt enough.  Question.  Why was her back bare?  If she was that incensed about him touching why was she in a situation where this incident could happen.  If you go to the swimming hole in a string bikini, expecting not to be looked at, then sister you are too damn dumb to be out by yourself.  Unless, per chance that was what you knew would happen and possibly wanted to happen.  I know, it is not right or allowable for a woman to be harassed just because she wore a certain garment.  Wearing a bikini does not give anyone the green light for anything other that looking.  A look does not include a leer, an ogle, or the inclusion of any comments about the woman in the swimsuit.

For quite some time I have shied away from hugging or allowing myself to be hugged.  I think it had become an insincere method of greeting a fellow human being.  It is practiced at church and almost all other meeting places.  I dont care for it and refuse for the most part in taking part in the procedure.  Just tell me hello and that you are glad to see me, and let that be it.    That will also remove the possibility of a bare back be touched.

I understand that women in general have been held back from their true potential in a business world that is predominately run by men.  Sorry it has happened , may even be guilty of the same thing on occasion.  I am trying to do better but am really no longer in that phase of the business world.  But if the ladies who are suing these business men over a touch of a bare back think this is going to help, they are probably mistaken.  in the atmosphere that has evolved women are going to be held back even further.  By design or by accident these incidents are going to make certain individuals have a second thought before hiring women.  Hiring a “good looking woman” has become a dangerous thing to do.  Think this concept is not going to happen.  You are mistaken.

I am not sure what the answer is to this problem but I just dont think the slash and burn method is going to work except to make things worse for the nicer segment of our society.  The female segment is who I refer to.

G

Okay, so you want to be a person who is in the limelight; living in a fishbowl, so to speak.  You want to be a leader of the people?   It seems to me if that is the case that it wouldnt take long to think back thru your past and find the things that might not look so good to the average person.  If you think you can explain those things without any problem and with a explanation that the average person would accept, then enter the race my friend.  However, if your actions were something that needed do be excused thru you pastor or priest, then you might want to give thoughts to finding something else to do.

This week we have been in an avalanche of information about public figures who are being accused of sexual misconduct.  Some of these instances  took place many years ago.  Some of the perpetrators have apologized and some havent.  An apology after 40 years doesnt seem to be the right way to do it but I guess its better than nothing.  Actually I am of the opinion that should you, as a public figure, have someone come out and accuse you of being a groper, then you probably would be better off to just slink off in to the shadows and let the rest of us try to forget about it.

I am not throwing stones at any of these guys because of the “throw the first stone ” thing but I just think if one lives by the sword, well one probably needs to die by the same method.

There has got to be some individuals out there who have never taken a drink, never blew a 2.0 on the breath test, never groped or fondled anyone other than their wife, well maybe girlfriend, and has no ghosts in the closet.  Where are they?  Where is that guy who walked around looking for the honest man?  We need him and we need him badly.

Our local newspaper is probably one of the worst pieces of journalistic trash I have ever read.  It goes to press about noon every day so anything that happens in the afternoon is lost until the next day.  I will be a day late for the second coming if I am somewhere there is no TV.

The entire media process is a cesspool of the actions of a society that is sliding to hell on a greased luge track.  There is rarely a celebration of some daring deed by a real hero.  We are bombarded by exploits of a few people who many of us never knew and could care less.  HARVEY WEINSTIEN.   The exploits of this joker has been on top of the news for the last 36 hours.  It has drug gals out of the closet like Terminex scatters bugs.  He is being charged with “casting couch” half the women in Hollywood.  I have learned not to let these kind of things get me too inflamed because they seldom turn out as they are reported.  Dont get me wrong, I sincerely think either party has the right to say NO.  No one should have to perform acts such as these in order to get a job, but, you don’t wait 10 years for someone else to claim harm and then say, “oh, he did that to me also”.  This is a little like the hooker hollering rape when the check bounces.

I know everyday exploits of the everyday man would never sell a paper but damn I wish there was some newspaper that just showed pictures of puppies, small bear cubs and chipmunks doing the things they do.  I miss the days of ole Walter Cronkite just telling us what happened.  I don’t remember him ever telling us what he felt.  Maybe he figured that wasnt his job.  Maybe he and others of that era just figured we were smart enough to form our own opinion if we were just given the facts.  As SGT Friday used to say, ” the facts ma’am, just the facts”, or something like that.

GC