"Stick it to the man!"

Taking my family to lunch here in AZ we passed a VERY large apartment complex under construction. The amount of lumber being used to cover nearly a city block motivated Sara Jean to exclaim:
"Think of the MILLIONS of dollars spent there on wood alone!"

To which I responded:
"Yeah, and the people who move into those apartments will likely vote for a man more than willing to punitively tax the folks that risked millions of their money to build that complex to house those residents."

That comment motivated my 36-yr old son to say about the left:
"It's not so much that they support the poor as it is that they hate the rich."

My son's intelligence often surprises me.

MADNESS!

On my walk last night I was thinking how crazy the politics of our country are today.
We somehow think failed policies from the past will work today, if we just squeeze our "lucky penny" hard enough.

And I thought of the academy award winning movie, "Bridge on the River Kwai".
There's a climactic scene at the end of the movie where the Japanese train is approaching the bridge.
A team of commandos has rigged the bridge with explosives. The Allied Colonel in charge of bridge construction notices the wiring attached to the explosives and tries to stop the detonation.
He finally realizes he's been complicit in aiding the enemy and at the end of the movie asks,
"What have I done?"

Will left-leaning voters see their mistake before, or after our country is destroyed and come to the realization they've aided and abetted our enemy?

Proud Papa

Dateline: An Officer's Club in Chu Lai, Viet Nam. January 1969.

I had been transferred from Pleiku, Viet Nam to Chu Lai, and was awaiting orders to my assigned unit there. There was NOTHING to do until I got orders so I could get to work. I spent the day reading and listening to "AFVN Radio", and after evening chow
I entertained myself by having a few scotch and waters at the nearby O'Club.

I was on my first drink when a young Warrant Officer swaggered into the club with his buddy in tow, loudly announcing-
"My wife just had twins. Drinks for the house on me!" He and his buddy assumed position at the bar on three-foot-tall barstools. And he ordered a double martini for himself. When the six or so of us in the club had our drinks, the young Warrant Officer tilted his martini back and chugged it.

"ANOTHER ROUND FOR EVERYONE, AND ANOTHER DOUBLE FOR ME!"
Again, when everyone else had been served, the young pilot downed his drink in one throwback.

"ONE MORE TIME FOR EVERYONE!" At this point I had three untouched scotch and waters on my table. The young Warrant picked up his double martini, tilted it back, and toppled backward off his barstool like a giant Sequoia being felled by a lumberjack.
His young buddy helped him to his feet, smiled and waved to all watching, announced "Good night everyone!", and escorted his friend back to his unit and bed.

Those twins would be over 50 today.
I'd love to be able to tell them this story.

Supporting The Arts-

Retired.
We have time, although I'm amazed at how "the vacuum" got filled with activities once I left full-time work.
We are blessed to have a little discretionary income.
When things fall into place, we've been going to concerts and shows we have an interest in.

Over a month ago I bought tickets for the "Ladysmith Black Mambazo" concert here at a wonderful facility, the "Chandler Arts Center" in Chandler, Arizona. For a month we looked forward to attending.
And then we got sick.

I was first...
Hot scratchy throat. Then came the coughing and snotty nose.
Sara Jean followed suit a couple days later. Historically she always stays sick longer than me.
When concert day rolled around I was well enough to attend. SJ was not.
I know a few people in the area and offered her seat to them to no avail.
So Big Bubba and I attended the concert sitting next to an empty seat.

Wonderful harmonies.
These guys are known for their amazing "above their heads" kicks and movement around the stage.
They didn't disappoint.

Now we hear that the group's founder, Joseph Shabalala has passed.
(He was not at the concert, but three of his sons were in the group.)
What a legacy he has left!
We left the L.B.M. concert smiling, with a warm feeling of oneness with the world.

It's sad that Joseph is gone.
But his music will continue to impact our world.

The Great Equalizer

For the better part of three years I flew for a VERY large construction company. My job included moving parts, personnel, mail, V.I.P.'s
and, on payday, employee paychecks. I got to be close acquaintances with the woman in charge of payroll. While waiting for all the checks to be gathered up for delivery one day, we got into a discussion about firearms and the 2nd Amendment. She was "scared of guns".

I shared my opinion that I felt guns, and particularly handguns, were a woman's best friend...
A properly trained woman with a handgun is suddenly equal to any man. She shook her head, unconvinced.

At a later payday...
"GB, can I chat with you?"
She shared that she lived in a ground-floor apartment. She heard screams coming from next door and called Police. By the time they arrived on scene, the perpetrator had escaped after raping her neighbor.
"What handgun do you recommend?"

I gave her the address of a gun store/shooting range nearby and advised her to go there and shoot several guns, then select the largest caliber pistol she felt comfortable shooting.
The next time I met her we talked about the 9mm Glock she had purchased.

She felt safer. She was actually enjoying shooting at the range.
I felt I had done her and her neighbors a good deed.

Next time you talk with someone fearful of firearms, invite 'em to shoot with you. You'll be doing them, and the neighborhood as a whole, a favor!