Dec 5, 2010

Tamara and the Sailor

When Tam graces a fellow's thoughts  with a link and  kind words , the readership curve goes vertical, and I like to browse through the site meter to see where some of these new readers are.

I was especially taken with a hit from UTC + 3, which is the sand box, The origin was a net openly identified with the United States Navy, and I picture a tired sailor in a dim compartment,  braced in his work chair against the chop of a shallow sea, taking a moment to look in on the rest of the world and divert his mind from  the dreariness of a sea warrior's environment.

Which, as older guys say too often, takes me back.  Years ago I spent most of Advent aboard a pitching little ship on an Asian sea and Christmas itself among throngs of people speaking a strange and chattering tongue, people to whom it was just another day. To  a man -- boy, really -- raised in the  American tradition it was disorienting and disheartening. To be homesick at Christmas is to have a real disease.

And so, Unknown Visitor, I wish you the strength to endure the season in your haze-gray box and an early return to the land of your parents. Merry Christmas, Mate.









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Dec 4, 2010

Show Time

Another weekend, another show


   Another Loophole, where we will go...

(With apologies to Cole Porter, PBUH, too.)

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This is one of the small country shows, at the Jackson National Guard Armory.  We expect a high proportion of hobbyists behind the tables, trying to unload their old surplus  stuff. That interests us more than acres of dealers loaded down with black guns or, at best,  the latest factory output of ho-hum quality attached to birch stocks.

My inner thug is telling me I really ought to own another handgun or two.  For one thing, my shelves are fat with .38 Special and .357 Magnum rounds, and the only shooter I own for them is a Taurus snubby. I hear Pythons are pretty nice.

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My loopholing  habits have changed.  When the world was a better place, I'd always toss in a few pieces I was tired of for trading stock. No more. I and most of my comrades have adopted the never-sell-a-gun philosophy. We keep them all  on grounds that the Messers Bernanke and Geithner can't press a computer key and create 60 billion Colts and Winchesters out of thin air.

Dec 3, 2010

Dear Mr. President:

Could you please take a moment to tell me the name of the next young American who should die for President Thieu, errr, I mean Karzai, of course.

TIA,
Jim

Dec 2, 2010

...so I kicked sand is his face back

Washington is beyond any hope of parody. The President and Mrs. Obama today wet kissed Congress for turning the nation's school children into legions of Arnie Schwarzeneggers and Twiggies. Fortunately,  it's going to cost only $4.5 billion (B), plus overruns. For a time we were frightened that it would be expensive, but it's only a little more than half of the new money the Fed printed today.*

The new nutrition standards would be written by the Agriculture Department, which would decide which kinds of foods may be sold and what ingredients can be used on school lunch lines and in vending machines.

"The $4.5 billion bill approved by the House 264-157 would also try to cut down on greasy foods and extra calories by giving the government power to decide what kinds of foods may be sold in vending machines and lunch lines. The bill could even limit frequent school bake sales and fundraisers that give kids extra chances to eat brownies and pizza."

Since the Ag Department boss is our old buddy Tom Vilsack, former weekend gardener and mayor of Mount Pleasant, I thought I would reintroduce you to the man now in charge of your kids' school food.

Tom is the one on the right, a lithe example of American manhood, or, as we used to call him when he was our governor, Ol' Brownie Bake Sale.


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*The latest  iceberg collision of the QE2. Ben invented $8.3 billion to buy federal bonds.