Sometimes ya get it right

Some times ya don't.
My apologies to the mighty Ishmael over at the KoKon. In hopes of shedding light and inspiring debate, I completely re-wrote history.
I thank Ish for his graciousness and the history lesson. I will admit that parts of my past are a little fuzzy. I blame that on many blows to head, followed with beer instead of aspirins. Back then I was chasing around the planet looking for bad guys and doing what the current president ordered. Things were busy and tend to get a little blurry at that pace.
President Clinton did in fact bomb parts of Iraq, but only after much consideration and patience. He did in fact investigate Iraq and terrorist ties, and did make the top ten list for presidents.
There I have eaten my well deserved slice and will move on.
Hat's off to Prez Obama for shutting down the Transportation Secretaries crazy and Orwellian tax plan. They really are looking into this "Big Brother" plan on state levels and most citizen's are in an uproar.
I am glad the prez stopped this one, but it proves that this administration bears watching. Well they all do, but when a group is this popular, then can get away with a lot before the nation wakes up. Doubt it? Think about some of the shenanigans from the past eight years.
My point is this. Do not get caught up in the wave of change. It will assume Tsunami like proportions and can destroy more than it created. Then in a typical two-party democratic attempt to fix things we will pull the handle and change the water. Thus we will create the new next wave of change, when in reality all we seem to accomplish is adding to the septic system.
That's all I got folks.
Do the right thing today, and do it for somebody else.
Peace
Griff

VD

Valentines Day that is, so have a happy one. I am hoping that maybe this, greeting card company generated, holiday will inspire our new national administration. Then they will "step out of the box" with new and exciting solutions to our nations financial dilemma.
Think about it folks. New holidays to help fix our problems.
Hmmm... maybe a national fix your own neighborhood's road day. Millions of people will storm the do-it-your self store, generating millions in sales, spawning massive retail rehires, and fixing the roads at the same time!
How about National write to your politician day? If everyone one of us wrote e letter to our congressmen and senators, and mailed them on the same day, stamp sales rise dramatically. This one action alone could save our postal system, thus ensuring employment for thousands of postal workers! Take it one more step and cut another executive order that forces our politicians to read each and every letter personally, and we might actually see some responsible choices made.
Seem a little crazy to expect one person to read all that mail. Might not when you consider that president Obama kinda expected the same thing when he dropped a third of the Amazon rain forest down on the congress and senate and then pushed for the vote in a week or two. Yup, the trimmed down stimulus package is 1070 pages long.
Reality is that most of the folks, if not all, voting on this package, will not have read it all. Obama seems kind of like that car salesman that wants you to commit to that used car before it warms up and reveals all the little problem it really has.
How about this solution? Lets make Valentines Day a national holiday! Then every one can go home, with government encouragement, get all romantic with your significant other and maybe start an annual baby boom. This will eventually swell the ranks of tax payers, so that they can help pay for this fantastical program. in other words our grandchildren can pay for our mistakes and apathy. Oops, they already will.
Maybe the President can follow Guv Ahhnold's lead and just send everyone home, without pay. Then take away our tax returns and let us contemplate how this must be our fault and seek ways to make fat cat politicians happier and more comfortable.
I would have a lot more sympathy for the new prez if he had not surrounded himself with people that were part of the problem to begin with. So what will he do? How do you cross party lines when all your backers and administrators are hard core party liners?
Will you become Peggy or Viola? Happy with one hard earned and deserved valentine gaining a reputation to be proud of? Or will you sell your ideals and scoop all the those pretty "we love you" cards, thus earning your place next to Peggy and the majority of most professional politicians.
Watching this would be more fun than going to Vegas, if the consequences weren't so harsh for Joe & Josephine citizen.
Ask hard questions folks and expect real answers.
Peace ya'll

Brass monkey weather ?

Ok so maybe we don't get as cold as the mainlanders, but hell that's part of the reason I live here. When I step outside and I can feel every bone I ever broke, and every piece of metal installed in me; then it is freakin' cold!
Nuff' about me. Here's a little chunk of Nautical trivia to teach the kiddies.
From back when men were made of steel and ships were made of wood.
On the old warships it was necessary to keep a good supply of cannon balls near the cannon. How to prevent them from rolling about the deck
was the problem. The best storage method devised was to stack them as
a square based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting
on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls
could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon.
There was only one problem; how to prevent the bottom layer from
sliding/rolling from under the others.
The solution was a metal plate with 16 round indentations, called, for
reasons unknown, a Monkey. But if this plate were made of iron, the
iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting
problem was to make them of brass - hence, Brass Monkeys.
Now realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled.
Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass
indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would
come right off the monkey.
Thus, it was quite literally, cold enough to freeze the balls off a
brass monkey.
Have a great SuperBowl Sunday folks!
Peace

It's a brand new day.

I watched the inaugural speech this morning and I must admit that President Obama is quite the orator. Rumor has it that he spent two days writing it, and I believe it. At least I believe someone spent two days writing it. It was a great speech. It promised something to everyone, without being specific. It paid homage to every ancestor and the founding fathers of this nation. It referenced Scripture once, God six times, and our founding fathers twice. Powerful stuff, but then again it was meant to be.
My favorite quote from the 44th president? This one, "This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny."
Wow, if one of his competitors for the crown had said this, during the run for the gold the media would have crucified them. Oh yeah; they did and they did.
Did you hear the occasional preacherisitic lilt in his delivery? Did you see him nodding with affirmation at the benediction? This new president will rally this nation with words, hopes, and promises of mending broken dreams.
Please do not misunderstand my intentions here folks. I think that this man is quite capable of changing our nation dramatically. Not with extraordinary political prowess, or amazing gifts for solution finding. It will be with his ability to rally the citizens of this nation like the old time tent covered revival meeting orators rallied their congregation.
I hope it works. I have longed believe that we must maintain our own neighborhoods, we must help each other., we must volunteer our time ,not just our money. We must do all these things if we want to prosper as a nation.
So before you join the church of Obama, think on this.
There is a lot of "we" in his speeches. No one person can solve our problems, it will take all of us, working hard and sacrificing.
So do we jump in and or work ? Or just jump on the hope bandwagon?
Do we honestly expect one person to solve all of our problems and then cry FOUL when they fail an impossible task?
Good luck Mr. President, your biggest challenge went unspoken. That is the challenge of overcoming a sense of entitlement that has fertilized the blossom of American apathy for far to long.
We got a lot of work to do.
Peace ya'll.

TRADITION

Tradition says, if a log entry be the first
of the year, it must be in verse.
That said, I will proceed on.
For better or worse.

The assembly decided that tax relief
will be permitted,
but for six months here,
you must be committed.
The fish wrap from A-town,
will still compete with our local rag.
Yeah we got it back,
but with a higher price tag.
Ish is still ramblin'
and so is Paige, Elwood, and the DCA.
Just more good readin'
for which you do not pay.
Sure it's cold and blowin'
but it ain't 20 below,
and it ain't snowin'.
I've always known Kodiak weather
as fickle at best.
however the rest of the state,
will put your antifreeze to the test.
So get out there and have a ball!
Don't be a shut-in
enjoy life like a Saltonstall!
So now I must go,
this rant is run,
sure it was tough,
but man it was fun!
Peace.
G.

IT'S A WRAP.

No I'm not quitting,(although there has been a trend for it this year.) Even though there are only a handful of fans out there, (and I think they are mostly relatives), I am going to keep slog/bogging for now. I mean it's a wrap for '08.
Yup 2008 is over folks, another year closer to the tricentennial, the International Stamp Show, the Ice Age, or Armageddon. You pick which one you are looking forward to the most.
SO HERE'S TO 2008
A year that started off with hopes of peace and success.
Came to an end in a bloody mess.
Tragedy, and scandals rammed down our throats,
until we lay gasping; bleeding like sacrificial goats.
As a country tired of war and worn down,
we rallied for two who sought the crown.
During the battle for our hearts and minds,
our economy slid into serious decline.
Both sides cried "It is not my fault!"
While corporate raiders emptied the vault.
Lustily gilding their silver linings,
ignoring us po' peasants whining.
They moved on, leaving in their wake,
company's seeking guv handouts to take.
Its all good, Obama gonna fix it all.
Like some Cinderella at the ball,
a wave of the wand and all will be better.
Never mind we are becoming the worlds largest debtor.
I'm tired of all the media crap, all hail '09!
Cause 08 is a wrap.
Peace ya'll
G.

The perfect cure.

Being it is the holiday season, I have been coming across assorted remembrances of the famous furry trio known as The Chipmunks. In their day, they probably sold more albums than that other made-for TV band, The Monkees. Now they seem to pop up on numerous blogs. Shoot, even Gryphen wax's nostalgic over the annoying mini-mammals. Perhaps Elwood summed it up best, so check out his spin on the chalkboard scraping super group.
As for me? Well, many, many years ago in an effort to earn desperately needed cash I worked at a Santa's Village tourist trap back east.
For three years every Sat& Sun between Sept and Jan I worked for 9-10 hours a day.
The owner had only two Christmas albums in stock. A fifties rock collection and the Chipmunks. These were played in a continuous loop over the entire compound, imagine how challenging that was in the the days of vinyl.
It was not a bad gig, I met a lot of people, learned some skills, and got to play with many exotic animals. It was also where I got to meet my first Kodiak bear. His name was Billy and he was far from home.
The bad side is that 30 years later I would still flinch whenever I heard those warbling soprano's start up.
Now, what cured me of Eutamiasphobia?
I got to spend a large part of this summer with one of my granddaughters. When ever the Kodiak summer turned wet and wild we settled in with her small but well used favorite movie collection.
To my chagrin I discovered the chipmunk movie in the back of the pile.
It had been placed in the back by her mother, in hopes that it would not surface to often. Better to watch Monsters Inc. repetitively than one more run through those furry little sadistic singers.
Once Flower saw that DVD, the Chipmunk chant began. Gritting my teeth I placed it in the player. After all, how can you say no to a child as bright as any summer day? A child whose smile and scream of Pappy!, as I came through the door, would push all the dark and weary parts of my day away and replace them with light and joy.
Gritting my teeth, I placed the DVD in and sat back, secretly hoping that some defect would prevent it from playing. No such luck.
But luck has a funny way of turning out doesn't it?
Watching the movie was relatively painless. Watching Flower, watch the movie was priceless. Listening to her sing, quietly, along overcame years of self induced bias.
How do I know I am cured?
Last weekend I was part of the Santa drive-by out here in Flatville. As we cranked out the kiddy tunes over the P.A. there came up the inevitable "Christmas Time", by the trio.
Watching the joy of those kids as Santa stepped off the firetruck, and Alvin and the gang warbled, I did not flinch. In fact I smiled.
Thank you Flower. Thank you Alvin, Theodore, & Simon. You have taught this old Flatratter that the circle is truly round.
Peace ya'll