Fred Brown replied to my latest rant with a few questions that make one pause to think. Have we surrendered our country to a person who is somewhat of a clown?  Why do the brightest minds not run for office.

This year, like all elections is predicated on money.  The evidence of this is supported and refuted by “the old socialist ” who is giving Hilary fits.  Bernie is drawing his support from the young and sometimes disenfranchised who are tired of the moneyed making the decisions.  They are out to try and prove that money doesnt count.  They are probably not going to succeed.  Money does count in politics.  Trump is popular among people who are tired of the status quo.  He makes outrageous claims and people eat it up like the offerings of an old time tent evangelist and his hell fire and brimstone sermons.  These old preachers scared the hell out of all the parishioners for about a week until they figured out that the world was not going to end on Monday after the revival was over.  If he is elected his aura will fade faster than a swaybacked nag running in the Kentucky derby.

Why arent our wisest citizens running for office?  Simple, they are too damned smart to get down in the mire with those people who do politics for a living.  Being smart doesnt help much when you get involved in a beer joint knife fight.  Does that speak volumes about us who are the voters, who keep these people in power?  Yes!

I have not made up my mind on who I am voting for.  I will not vote for Trump or Hillary.  I am too smart to vote for either of those people.  However, I am not quite smart enough to figure out who would make the best president from the pack that would be left.  Kasich is my favorite I think.  Why?  Maybe as simple as the fact that he doesnt incite me to do civil disobedient things.  I wont riot in the streets for or against him.  I just happen to think he might be smart enough to lead us through some tough times.  If I was watching a John Wayne movie I would be for the guy who shot first and then went thru the bodies to see who he had killed.  Being the Prez is going to take a bit more than that.  We need a Statesman/Economist/Accountant/Banker/Teacher/Plain ole country boy type to lead us for awhile.  We need to put people back to work, calm the minds of the people, show our citizens that this country is as good a place as it was when our parents were in control.

Fred wants to hear some opinions about this matter and I agree.  Use this forum to tell your classmates just what you think and how you got to that opinion.  I wont castigate you for giving your opinion.  Hell I give you mine on a fairly regular basis.  You probably have some wisdom that would convince me that your choice is the best choice.

Chuy (the electorate) Cowan

I do believe in a higher being.  I have seen his work at Yosemite, the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone.  I have read and heard of his promise to return.  I think the time for that to happen will be dependent on the actions of the ants in this ant farm.  And I also think we are getting pretty close.

Recently a school teacher in our fair city was fired for having sex with a student.  Not a young man who was in her classes but the football star.  He was 17, she a bit older. She was discovered because the young man had video taped their encounter with his cell phone and then put the Metro Goldwyn Meyer on the situation by distributing the film to a few thousand of his nearest and dearest friends.  This made him so popular that he was voted homecoming king at the high school.  The teacher was positively identified by the tattoo across her butt that read “insert tab here”.  She was surprised when she was fired because she said that the boy was 17.  However she did plead no contest to another similar charge with another student.  You would think that her dismissal would have ended this event.  No NO monsieur , quite the contrary.  The teacher then sued both the boy and his mother.  The boy was sued for the unlicensed distribution of the film and the mother for defamation of character. The teacher said she did not give her consent to the filming or to its release.  She also didn’t care for the mother of the boy referring to her as a slut.  Sweet Jesus of Nazareth , can a person get any stupider ?  Yes, they apparently can.  Last week the teacher , her attorney, the boy, his mother and their attorney were all guests on the DR. PHIL television show.  The teacher was seeking an apology on national TV from the mother and her son.  Didnt happen.

Back in the “good ole days”, something like this would have been a very rare occurrence .  First, because the teachers apparently didn’t start their teaching careers  until they were in their late 50’s and second there were no cell phones and damned few tattoos on women.  Can you imagine you having to pause in the midst of what you were doing to get your partner to pose for the shot you were taking with your Kodiak brownie?  Can you imagine circulating the picture of you and the English teacher?  No, none of this would have aided you in your attempt to become Homecoming KIng.  What would have happened is that you and the teacher would have been quietly escorted to the edge of town and told never to cross the county line again.  Oh, that would be after the scarlet S was branded in the teacher’s forehead.  But we live in a different world.

We live in a world where this kind of behavior has become common place.  We live in a world where the odds on favorite to become our next president is a buffoon who announces on national TV that he would like to “punch him in the nose”, referring to someone in the audience.  We live in a world where dignity has vanished.  Airing dirty laundry is commonplace and is best washed before an audience of millions through the use of television talk shows.

I am pretty much entertained these days by television shows concerning nature and the Alaskan wilderness.  I try to refrain from watching any show that points out just how stupid we have become.  It’s hard to find enough shows to keep me entertained until around 9:00 pm which is the time I figure I have seen all I can stand for the day.

Chuy (in disbelief) Cowan

I didn’t watch all of the half time show because I personally don’t care to watch big assed hip hop musicians.  If the gal that was the star made the show into a protest then I am glad I didn’t watch it.  I am fed up to the gills with political correctness and the racial issue.

I am sorry there was a slavery issue.  However, being sorry is about as far as I am willing to go.  I didn’t bring anybody over from the home country and not too sure that any of my relatives did.  I have never owned a slave nor do I think I would like to have one.  Having a maid is about as burdensome as I care to get.

I believe that many  of the problems that minorities feel keep them from advancing in our world are problems caused by their own lack of education, lack of ambition and the failure of their families.  I fail to believe that, as a group, that they are held back because of some super secret plan to keep them down because they are black.  I have seen too many instances of people of color being successes in all fields.  Those who are successes are those who decide early that they are not going to be held back.  They endure.  They dont take the easy way out .  They dont stand on the corner, waiting to loot a liquor store or to sell some crack.  Those who dont succeed are the ones who stand around with their hands out for a series of free rides through life.

I am truly fed up with every woe of man kind being blamed on someone other than the person who is truly responsible.  If you dont like your circumstances, identify what it takes to correct those circumstances and get off your ass and do it.  Dont wait for some half naked hip-hop singer, champion your cause.  It is not going to work with me.

Gary

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

2015 was full of much the same as 2014.  We all got a year older and I assume to some degree wiser.  We have spent a year listening to a myriad of people tell us why they would be the best president since Calvin Coolidge.  We have another year of listening to the same thing.  It scares the hell out of me to think that one of the current front-runners will be our next leader.  Damn. I knew I should have been a bull rider.  Riding bulls for a living insures that minor blips in life don’t seem too important.

We, the class of 1961, got together for a reunion and I think it was enjoyed by all.  Not everyone came but we talked about those who didn’t so they weren’t left out.  Was very pleased to see Betsy and Jane.  All of the ladies looked much better than the guys but that is how it should be.

I was lucky enough to return to Ft Davis for our family reunion in July.  I always enjoy that trip as it takes me back to times that seem so much less complicated.  Even when it is hot and dry there in the mountains, it seems cooler than other parts of the state.

Lost one of my oldest and dearest friends in 2015.  He fought long and hard but finally it was time.  He left us with style.  For the rest of my life I will have a million memories about our friendship that lasted more than 65 years.

In September Dorothy and I left for California.  We went to Yosemite, Sequoia, San Jose, Big Sur, San Diego and the coast highway.  Wonderful trip.  Saw some really beautiful country.  Saw the big trees and felt closer to the good Lord than I have ever felt.  Spiritual.

Returned to west Texas week before last to do a bit of deer hunting.  My friend and I have been going to Sanderson for more than 15 years.  We are blessed with enough venison to last us until next year.  More than the fact that we had a successful hunt is the fact that we were able to get back to an area that both of us like .  Cool nights with plenty of stars makes sitting in a deer blind a special time in life.  Some people are against hunting and I can agree in some ways, but, until they have participated, well, they will never know the feeling of sitting there alone, listening to the heart beat of nature.  Hearing the movements of the land and its fauna.  Its magical.

I am looking forward to the new year.  I hope that those of you who might be having health issues receive some relief from your woes.  I hope each of us are thankful for all we have and all we have seen and done.  I hope we can all pass our knowledge on to others and hope that we can in some way make a better world.

Gary

In the last few years there have been a number of instances where young people, most often blacks, have been confronted by law officers and in some instances this resulted in either injury of death.  From the videos, which there always seems to be one, the problem arises when the young person decides that it is to his or her best interest to question instructions given them by a law officer.  I think I figured out where this problem started.

When we were in grade school we started to learn our alphabet and numbers.  We learned by rote.  We practiced our times tables ad nausea .  I dont remember there ever being any type of explanation as to why 2 + 2 = 4.  It just did.  There were some rumors throughout the years that certain lawyers and CPA’s could make 2+2=5 but I never saw it in person.  I just took it for granted that numbers did certain things and that is the way it was.  I never questioned.  Although I dont often use algebra I know that A +3=6 means that A has to have a value of 3.  I understood that 2 45 degree angles made a 90 degree angle.  I never equated this with Euclidean mathematics.  Thus, my hypothesis, that many of our problems started with the introduction of ” new math.”  The new ideas of how to teach math has caused people to question.

However, there are some things that should be accepted as gospel.  When my father instructed me to do something I can remember the few times that I asked him “why? the answer was very straightforward.  He simply said, because I told you so.  Carved in stone.  If deputy sheriff Gary Ingram told you to raise your hands in the air, it was pretty much accepted that failure to do so would result in a possible pistol whipping of the highest order.  Its the old story about someone being so tough that when they hollered jump, you asked how high while you were in the air. This concept seems to have been abandoned by today’s youth.  “Well, officer. am I being detained?”.  Yes you are. Now get out of your car and place your hands on the roof.  ” Not before you explain to me why I am being stopped and how this traffic stop relates to my civil liberties as pointed out in the ACLU memorandum of 9/9/89.”  The next statement, by the law officer simply explains to the person being stopped that failure to comply with a lawful request by a peace officer will result in you being tazed to the point that you brown your shorts.

You can see how questioning basic things can cause one to think that it is okay to question everything.  We need to return to the times of rote learning.  It fill the school day with scheduled learning.  The teacher’s lesson plan can simply state that Tuesdays will consist of 8 hours of learning the “intos”  You know, 4 into 8 =2.  It also allows the student to take some work home .  Home work is a good thing.  It keeps the student quiet for most of the evening and off the internet where they are probably doing something they shouldnt or networking with other young people who are questioning life’s rules.

Structure without understanding is what we need more of.

Chuy the educator

I have heard this statement almost all my life.  Never in my life time is it more appropriate than now and next year.  If you are a Republican then here is the situation.  It appears that 2 men are running neck and neck, according to what poll you look at.  Both of these men appear to me to mirror 2 men of the past.

Ben Carson= Albert Einstein.  Dr. Carson shows intelligence in a quiet, straight forward                                                      manner.  He appears to be reflective on his answers and                                                      seems to consider the results of what he says.

Donald Trump= P. T. Barnum  Mr. Trump shoots from the hip with an apparent lack of                                                           consideration of the results of what he says.  He is a                                                             showman.

Which man do we need?  Or do we need some other candidate?

I only wish there was some one in politics who mirrored JOHN WAYNE.

CHUY THE CONFUSED