Happy whatever you call it

Today is Columbus Day, at least that’s what we used to call it
back in the day. We were told in school it is to celebrate his
arrival in America on October 12, 1492. So why are we observing
the celebration on the 8th? We haven’t got a clue.

Columbus Day has been around since 1792 in various forms and
some don’t recognize the holiday at all. Alaska, Florida,
Hawaii, Oregon, South Dakota, and Vermont don’t recognize
Columbus Day.

Hawaii has Discoverer’s Day in honor of the Polynesian
discoverers of Hawaii. Vermont has Indigenous People’s Day,
South Dakota has Native American Day. Oregon renamed it
Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Several cities declared today something different from the
original name and it is now believed Columbus didn’t
discover America anyway so why bother. We don’t know as we
weren’t there. We’re old not dead.

And although Iowa and Nevada don’t declare it an official
holiday the governors proclaim the day each year. So regardless
of what you call today, whether you recognize it as a holiday or
not; Happy Whatever You Call it!

This post is late as I had a good intention of waking early and
taking off like a herd of turtles. Instead, while my mind said
go my body said not on my watch. But the chores got done and I
feel halfway human now. Golden years my rosy red behind!

Enjoy or Monday, or whatever you call it, as we will. Now I
need a lot more coffee to finish the rest the day.
Comments are always welcome.

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While some were sleeping

We’re not going to comment on the current workings of our
lawmakers in Washington, D.C. Instead we wish to focus on an
event that took place during another administration. So let’s
see if we can make sense of something that makes no sense to us.

In September of 2013 the worlds largest hog farm and pork
processor in the world, Virginia based Smithfield Foods was
bought by Shuanghui International Holdings. Shuanghui is the
biggest meat processor in China. And the Obama administration
condoned the sale.

At the time concern about a Chinese company controlling a major
U.S. meat supplier was voiced and the administration downplayed
said concerns. If you haven’t heard of Smithfield perhaps you’ve
heard of Farmland, Armour, John Morrell, Kretschmar, Curly’s,
Carando, Cook’s, Margherita, Gwaltney or Healthy Ones.

The above mentioned firms are the brands Smithfield products
are sold as. The meat stays here and is processed here yet the
profits go to the Chinese company. Said foreign company now
controls nearly all the bacon, sausage, and ham sold in our
country and owns 25% of all pigs in America.

So here’s what bothers us. In 2005 the United States Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) was $13 trillion and was six times bigger
than China’s GDP that year. If we fast forward to 2017 our GDP is
only 1.6 times larger than China. At this rate China is expected
to beat our numbers by 2029.

And if we look at purchasing Power Parity (PPP), China is
already ahead of us as of 2015. For the last 140 years America
has had the biggest economy but that may not last much longer.
There is more to the story and we’ll finish it next week. This
is one segment of a growing problem for us and the future of our
country.

We’ll leave it at that and you can draw your own conclusions.
For now, enjoy our Friday as here on the east coast of Iowa it’s
going to get chilly tonight.
Comments are always welcome.

The circus is in Washington….

and the Ringmaster is Pelosi.

Ever since she mentioned her ‘anonymous’ source politicians
and the media have gone crazy. I don’t care if it’s a delaying
tactic or not. Someone will be named to the open seat on the
Supreme Court during Trumps term in office.

The biggest hurdle the accusations face is that there are no
witnesses to the alleged incident. Without a witness it is a
case of she said he said. Either it happened as the woman
claims, she’s exaggerating what happened 30 years ago, or it just
didn’t happen.

I still fail to see the relevance to the nomination. The
accused has obviously straightened out his act and earned the
right to be nominated on his merits, or he got very good at
hiding his mistakes.

Isn’t it odd that said woman came forward and now a lady on the
media coverage of the non-event stated the accuser wasn’t given
enough time to prepare to talk to Senators? If you’re telling
the truth what do have to prepare? If you feel as strongly as
she claims the truth should make it easy.

Another piece of this puzzle has me muttering ‘Lord love a
duck!’. The accuser, from California, is now claiming she has
received death threats. I thought nobody liked Trump so who
would be making these threats?

It’s time to put up or shut up. Either you have proof beyond a
shadow of a doubt or you don’t. Looks like we’ll know soon
enough but this spending millions of dollars chasing down things
the can’t be proven is getting old.

With the mid-term elections coming up we’ll be hearing more on
this in campaigns regardless of how things turn out. It is sad
to see a group of adults who are supposed to enact our laws
acting like a bunch of spoiled school children.

Enjoy our Thursday as it is the first of a three-day run of ‘r’
days. Since I got up at zero dark thirty more coffee is in order.
Comments are always welcome.

I know it’s late

Woke up on the run and after a quick shower went to visit with
Dad. Then the wife and I went to early lunch where she tried the
linguini and I stuck with my cheeseburger with pepper jack
cheese. It looked to be a decent, but windy day, early yet now
it’s darker than early evening.

And I’m beginning to think it doesn’t do any good to a cat that
you’re a dog person. When we came back home the mama feral cat
had to be played with and once we got in the house the wifes’ 2
cats and a kitten also wanted attention. I’m fighting a losing
battle.

Caught a glimpse of the morning “news” on TV and noticed the
brain-dead commentators were torn between brow beating the
Supreme Court nominee and gushing praise over the Emmy award
show. They even mentioned Tom Arnold got thumped at said event
by someone who is not a fan.

That is exactly why I avoid the TV “news” as much as possible.
If they ever start reporting real news I may start watching
again, or not. We can’t wait for the weekend as the high
temperature of the day is supposed to drop about 15 degrees from
where it is now.

Enjoy our Tuesday as we only get so many days without and ‘r’
in them. Now I need some more coffee and perhaps a nap, or both.
Comments are always welcome.

Really?

First I will forewarn those among us who believe all they hear
on television news that the following may cause a raise in your
blood pressure and possibly righteous indignation. It was not
written to make light of a serious allegation but is my take on
what is alleged.

By now all of us have heard that a woman has come forward to
accuse the Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault in the early
1980s. We have heard the medias opinion of her version of events
and the nominees denial it occurred. But I noticed that the one
question that should have been asked is sorely missing.

Since I have never been a college age female and don’t know if
this sort of thing happens a lot I asked the wife. She was a
college age female at one time and assured me it had never
happened to her.

The big question should be; what the hell were you doing in a
bedroom with two young men, and at least one of whom was
intoxicated? When I was that age young ladies would accompany
young men to an empty bedroom for one purpose only. And no, I am
not trying to switch blame to the lady involved.

So many of these allegations have surfaced lately I’m beginning
to wonder if our country is being run by a bunch of horn dogs
and escapees from the asylum. Of course that’s on us because we
keep voting them back in.

At any rate, enjoy our Monday as we will.
Comments are always welcome.

Is it just me?

We will forewarn you that the following may upset some who
can’t get past the fact that not all people think alike. If you
cannot grasp that concept please look elsewhere. To everyone
else, read on.

A little birdie told me that we’re getting closer to the day
we head toward the open road and I might want to start packing
some clothes and things in my ditty bag. I guess it is about
time. The trunk is usually full by the head out yet I know this
dreaded chore has to be done.

The same little birdie told me John McCain had died and while I
realize he accomplished a lot in his life I didn’t know he was
the second coming of Christ. The wife watches the morning news
programs so I couldn’t miss the fact that the time spent talking
about him was more than all other “news” combined.

I have nothing against the man yet when the media capitalizes
on on a subject it gets old fast and I wonder why all the laser
focused coverage and what aren’t they telling us. It just seems
to me a giant excuse for Congress to continue doing nothing.

Yesterday was not my day so today has to be better. A simple
chore of changing the password on this site knocked me off for
the rest of the day. Things were different this morning when I
managed the chore on the first try doing the same thing tried
yesterday that ended in failure.

And that got me thinking. You ever see a black squirrel on the
rooftop looking like he wants to jump off and attack you? Yeah,
me either, it was just a thought. Enjoy our Monday as I am now
that I can get back on WordPress. Now for some coffee and some
packing.
Comments are always welcome.

SSDD

I watched a little bit of a media newscast and was quickly
reminded of why I don’t watch the news channels. I got the
impression said news channel believes Trump is the biggest
threat to our country, and the world.

But we have a news flash for them; they are no longer relevent.
A blind man could see their bias approach to the news. Instead
of reporting actual news they choose to recite their opinion of
it. And that’s ok. I have better things to do than watch a bunch
of over paid, legends in their minds, bigots try to change my
way of thinking.

So here’s what we think. Trump will be president for 4-8 years,
the same as those before him. Every election those running for
president have a list of problems they want to correct if
elected. And every time we see faces of the career politicians,
who hadn’t fixed said problems, voicing their opinions.

It is these career politicians who are the problem, not the
occupant of the White House at any given time. These same
Senators and Representatives, who have held office for decades,
don’t want the president telling the truth about them. I’d like
to see just one these people stand up and state they would vote
for term limits for themselves.

Perhaps it is time to drain the swamp and stop the Same Shit
Different Day mentality.

Enjoy our Thursday as we will. We have a few things to prepare
for our upcoming vacation and I need more coffee.
Comments are are always welcome.