The Last Thanksgiving of the Decade

Being, your Blog Host, I'm obligated to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. So, Happy Thanksgiving. Allot of Turkeys sacrificed their lives for this.

Now, here is your obligatory lecture: Complaining is not giving thanks, so shut up. If the Turkey is dry..."Honey, it's great"...She put that special ingredient in it, heat. You can't cook Turkey with out heat. It gets dry, get over it. So, you're going to watch a ball game after you eat? It doesn't matter if your team loses, because you're going to fall asleep anyway. Dry Turkey does that to you. Wet Turkey will do it. Cranberries are good for you, so eat some of them. And, be grateful about it. Some guy in Wisconsin waded around in a bog for them. It gets cold up there and he did it for the all mighty dollar...Which ain't worth a whole lot right now. But, don't go complaining about the economy. Don't complain about politicians either...so, here goes the list...Your teacher, the cop that wrote you a ticket for doing 95 in a 55, your ex husband/wife, boy friend/ girl friend, Hollywood or Bollywood, Oprah Winfrey, Willie Nelson, the weather, Windows Vista, bureaucrats, work, not working, your family, your friends, your enemies, your enemy's enemies, Facebook, yourself, and don't you dare complain about God.

Well, that ought to cover it. If I missed something, complain after Thanksgiving. Don't let anything or anybody ruin your day.

The Appalachianist

Milton Friedman

The late Milton Friedman had an interesting point of view. Necons would wet themselves one minute in excitment and go into spasms of disbelief the next. Liberals would, and have, label him as "evil" and greedy all the while shaking in their boots. He's inspiring to Libertarians and, more straight forward than Ayn Rand was. At least in my opinion. He had a better sense of humor too.

Not that I'm picking on Ayn Rand. I agree with her on allot, but, there are elements of Objectivism that I reject. Namely, her point on the Metaphysical. I believe in a Higher Power where as she rejected it. But, I'm no expert on either one of these people. Oh, but, they are relevant. With all that is happening they are getting dug up from their graves.

Freidman believed in an all Volunteer Military (for we now have), Legalizing drugs and prostitution, free markets and that free markets lead to greater peace and harmony through out the world, smaller more limited government, and that greater choice and freedoms of the individual. He stated on drugs that the role of the Government was to protect the drug cartels by making it a monopoly and that crack existed because the war on drugs made cocaine so expensive. It was a cheaper alternative. He believed that it would lead to other restrictions, as I do too. In many proposals of gun laws, drugs has been pointed to as a boogy man.

Do I like what is going on? Obviously, I don't. Do I expect you to change your point of view to mine? No, I don't. I only want to provoke thought. And, when you gripe...You know you do...Every time you watch the news...Just laugh and think about what Milton said.

The Appalachianist

Appalachian Angst

We let this one go, a Sow Bear with Cubs, which, you can't see in the picture. We let the Dogs bark a few minutes and left her alone.

I heard something sort of funny on the way home. President Obama, speaking to China said that we get our clothes and etc. from China. Then he went on to say we sell them machinery. I heard this as I passed Ecusta Road. Ecusta, where ever the name came from, was the paper mill here. A few years back through a change of hands, a union strike, bankruptcy and more drama than an unhappy marriage the paper machines got sold to China. The place is leveled now. Only a few buildings stand, one of which is the Waste Water Plant.

Western North Carolina is a sick place. Somebody somewhere has got the notion to make it into "a village". I think "Freedom Village"...Boy, that's pretty damn patriotic. I hope no Tax Dollars get spent on the venture...

But, the way things go around here, I don't know. The County built a new jail to replace the old flat roofed one down town that leaked. The new one, that cost a nice sum, has a water fountain at the entrance. All of the repeat offenders can rejoice that the water is splashing out front now and not inside. What do you want to bet the new one leaks?

Oh, but it's got 100 beds. More than Transylnowhere needs. Yes, even with us drunken, and rebellious Scotch Irish Hillbillies. The plan is that they can rent out beds to other Counties of drunken and rebellious Scotch Irish Hillbillies that has ran out of room. We'll leave the light on for you.

Personally, I find it a bit sickening that local government's are in the incarceration business. But, who am I? A sober and rebellious Scotch Irish Hillbilly?

Now, if everyone around here would stop breaking the law...I know, it's hard to do that and mind your own business at the same time...We can put half of the Government out of business. Think of the money we could save!

I don’t know what the world may need,
But I’m sure as hell that is starts with me.
The Appalachianist

Friday The 13th Be Damned...

It's the international day of bad luck...Great day to break a mirror.
That ain't stopping me...

Thanks Tom.

The Appalachianist

20 Years

20 Years ago the Berlin Wall came down. Matt Welch at Reason Magazine called it "the most liberating moment in history". For the great number of us that grew up and did Military Service during the Cold War, when we reflect, it's hard to argue with him. Especially anyone old enough to remember the Berlin Airlift, the Cuban Missile Crisis or spend their childhood jumping under school desks. The Russians were a mysterious people that bred children to compete in the Olympics and ate the ones they culled. To them we Americans were evil Capitalists that ate our children too. That and we both had some big nasty bombs...

I recently made friends with an Israeli that made a point of truth, we the West won the Cold War not because we were so much better, but the Warsaw Pact was so much worse. He's right. Nothing, nor nobody, can defeat you as much as yourself. The Soviets were in no position to compete. They changed their ways. We didn't do it for them.

The Cold War was WWIII, and it ended with less fireworks than anticipated. I personally didn't think we'd ever go toe to toe with Eastern Block. I'm thankful that we didn't. Europe is not lined up against each other. We can be friends now, and we should.
ADDED NOTE: also see this from The Christian Science Montior

I remember watching Gorbachev's speech on TV. I had just been off active duty a few months. Jello Boy was there, just out of High School a few months. He couldn't understand why I was paying so much attention to what was happening. The World had changed and yet, it didn't.

Last Week I ate at the Steakhouse. My Waitress was a very sweet and lovely girl from Moldova that was rather happy to be in the United States. 21 years ago, I wouldn't have dreamed that possible.



"It's not that some people have willpower and some don't. It's that some people are ready to change and others are not."
James Gordon, M.D

The Appalachianist