Butch The Rooster

[Humor sent from a cousin of mine...]

John the farmer was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred
young layers (hens, called pullets) and eight or ten roosters, whose job
was to fertilize the eggs. The farmer kept records, and any rooster that
didn't perform went into the soup pot and was replaced. That took an awful
lot of his time so he bought a set of tiny bells and attached them to his
roosters.

Each bell had a different tone so John could tell from a distance which
rooster was performing. Now he could sit on the porch and fill out an
efficiency report simply by listening to the bells.

The farmer's favorite rooster was old Butch; a very fine specimen he was
too. But on this particular morning John noticed old Butch’s bell hadn't
rung at all! John went to investigate. The other roosters were chasing
pullets, bells-a-ringing. The pullets, hearing the roosters coming, would
run for cover.

But to Farmer John's amazement, Butch had his bell in his beak, so it
couldn't ring. He'd sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the
next one. John was so proud of Butch, he entered him in the county fair
and Butch became an overnight sensation among the judges.

The result... The judges not only awarded Butch the "No Bell Piece Prize"
but they also awarded him the "Pullet Surprise" as well.

Clearly Butch was a politician in the making. Who else but a politician
could figure out how to win two of the most highly coveted awards on our
planet by being the best at sneaking up on the populace and screwing them
when they weren't paying attention?

Vampires and a Hit Man

I’m not exactly fond of living the “single life” as it were so I find myself trying to kill some of the lonely time either with reading, music, the Net, or by watching movies.

It has become a small rut in which about every weekend three or four movies are picked up at a local video store just to have something around through the week as a boredom buster measure.

A couple of titles picked up recently ended up surprising me somewhat and I thought I’d share a quick thought…

I have, for a long time, enjoyed Pierce Brosnan as an actor. Even slightly before his “Remington Steele” days I had taken note of him. Over the years, with a minor exception early on, I have not been disappointed. So, I see on the shelf a movie he did last year that I had not seen called The Matador. When you look at the front of the DVD case, you expect something more along the lines of a Bond or Taffin style action flick. You could not be more wrong. I won’t tell anything about the story line… no spoilers here. I will only say that this is a REALLY well done and well acted movie with some great comedic moments. It’s worth the rent, and come to think of it, would have been worth the price of admission…

I’ve also been recently drawn towards movies with a vampirism theme. Sometimes it is quite hard to really find a good one. So… I happen to look down towards the bottom shelf on the wall and I see cover that caught my eye. It looked cool enough that I went ahead, picked it up, and started reading the back. It basically read like a Sci-Fi meets Vampires type story, and I really didn’t expect much, but I figured what the heck. As it turns out, the movie is low budget as you would expect, the “acting” is way over done at times (especially by Michael Ironside, but that's normal for him), and the story line is fairly predictable… However, having said that, I would still suggest picking up Vampire Wars: Battle For The Universe, (a.k.a. Bloodsuckers) This movie too has a few really good comedic moments. And, if nothing else, Natassia Malthe makes black leather look GOOD.

Memories...

I've been thinking about my father recently.... I guess it started earlier in the week when I noticed that August was almost gone and that September was soon to arrive. September was a time of the year my father always liked, and it is also the month in which he died. My father, over the course of his life, had memorized many poems, speeches, etc., but the one I remember him quoting the most was one titled 'September' by Helen Hunt Jackson, and every year since his death I've always printed out that poem and hung it where ever I happen to be working.

But... Back to thinking... I was in the grocery store earlier in the afternoon and as I was picking through the produce, I saw some green beans in a bin on sale. I started thinking about a way that Dad used to fix green beans for Sunday dinner once in awhile...something he had learned from an Aunt that had helped to raise him and his brothers. It's very simple really... Take a pan big enough for how ever many beans you are going to fix... Put in enough tomato juice to cook the beans in without floating them, add some bacon, some chopped onion, a little garlic if you want (I use fresh), some salt, pepper, a couple of dashes of sugar (to cut down on the tomato), and bring those items to a boil and then simmer for about ten minutes or so. Then add the beans, lower the heat, and cook to how ever you like your beans...but long enough to flavor. If you need to thicken the juice a little before you're ready to server (it will thicken on it own some) you can add just a little flour or corn starch.

That's it... Nothing fancy... Takes little time to prepare, an for me, about 1 ½ to 2 hours to cook as I like my beans cooked down.

Well... This all ran though my mind very quickly and right now, the apartment is full of an odor that I remember from my childhood. Thank you Dad, and thank you Aunt Grace.

Geek On

The year was 1995... It was August... I was a little over two months past a divorice and still reeling from the changing realities of my existance. And... I was pretty bored at work.

That's when I was asked if I would like to take the Technical Lead position for a new account that my company was bringing on-line. It was real high tech stuff... The company we would be providing support for was called Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI). They were located in Mt. View, CA, and made very high end Unix systems. And when they said high end, they weren't kidding at the time.

The version of Unix they had created was called Irix, an so was my introduction into the world of the uber-geek operating systems.

I had fun... I spent two weeks at their HQ in San Jose learning a lot of cool things, playing with a lot of cool toys, got to see Huey Lewis and the News live at their summer picnic (complete with catered food, big tubs of ice cold beer, and California girls), and over all had a pretty good time for the next twelve months working on that account.

But that was pretty much the last time I touched Unix... Until last weekend. I've finally loaded SuSE Linux on my laptop, and am doing the best I can to not touch the World of Microsoft in order to get back into the swing of things as fast as possible within the next two to three months.

Needless to say... I'm a bit rusty... But, it's amazing what's popping back into my head every day. And, I still love the pure geek factor... Like now, for instance, as I post into my blog directly from a little utility built into SuSE. I mean... It's no big deal really... There were utilities like this that I could have downloaded, installed into Windows XP Pro, and done the same thing... But... Since this is already here... What the heck...

Ok... Enough of my non-life for now... We now return you to your regularly scheduled program in progress... Michelle Branch and Santana... I'm Feeling You...

Liberalism Is A Mental Disorder

Anyone who spends the majority of their time listing to the AM dial and has an interest in politics should recognize the phrase “Liberalism is a mental disorder...” For those of you who might not recognize this witty combination of words, it is something coined by the conservative Independent talk-show host Michael Savage. It was also the title of the third book of a trilogy he has written regarding the cause and effect of the declining moral values in America.

As a registered Republican, but in truth, a political Centrist, I can appreciate several of the points that Dr. Savage raises from time to time even if I frequently am of the opinion that his fervor could be moderated a bit in order to make the points of his message more palatable to the masses. But, truth is truth and his points are backed by documented facts.

For a little over a month now, I haven't created a single post in my blog. I have tried to make a few posts in other blogs, but I've been busy (week business trip to St. Louis, increased work load in general, working with my new SUSE Linux 10.1 laptop, etc.). One thing I was able to do, however, is finish reading the book on whence this post is titled.

I'm not going to sit here and go through a whole book review. I am simply going to say that this book, along with The Savage Nation and The Enemy Within, are worth your time and attention.

What I am going to say is simply this... I am of the opinion that Dr. Savage is correct. Liberalism is a mental disorder, and the disorder is so profound and ingrained within the mind of the liberal, that nothing short of their complete and utter destruction to the sub-atomic level seems to have a chance of removing said disorder. Why would I say something like this? Because, people...or as Dr. Savage likes to say, “sheeple”...I listen to both sides, I observe both sides, I collect information from both sides, I process this information, I form my own opinion, and I keep my mouth shut until I feel I have the requisite facts necessary to share a then informed (key word... INFORMED), opinion.

I've listened to liberals like John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, John Murtha, Hillary Clinton, Dick Durbin, Barbara Boxer, Patrick Leahy, John Edwards, Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, and the rest of their ilk.

I've watched time after time the liberal push to undermine the security of this nation, to discredit a sitting president in a time of war, how they have treated one of their own - Sen. Joe Lieberman - because he happens to disagree on one point with the rest of the nut cases when it comes to the security of this nation and the war on terror and instead are now backing a true radical liberal, Ned Lamont, as a replacement.

I have read their articles on how America should cut and run once again when it comes to the war on terror. I've read the liberals words vilifying our troops (anyone remember Viet Nam?) in various hot zones around the globe. I've read the diatribe laid out on moveon.org which may be the single most dangerous organization ever conceived of in the history of the United States. I've read their words of appeasement, tolerance, and understanding when it comes on how to deal with the Islamic “freedom fighters.” (NOTE TO LIBERALS: Study your FREAKING history... See what appeasement did for Neville Chamberlain.)

And, I have formed my opinions. Liberalism is a mental disorder and needs to quarantined if this country is to be preserved. Not since the 1940's has this country faced so grave of a threat as the fifth column growing within our boarders knows as liberalism. We think that radical Islamic terrorists are a threat to our society, and make no mistake, they are, but when compared to several of our own Senators, Congressmen, and organizations like moveon.org, the terrorists are nothing.

Maybe you have noticed something as you have been reading this post... I have frequently used the term liberal but not once have I used the term Democrat. Where it is true that liberalism springs from the Democratic party, I do not believe that all Democrats are liberals. But what has happened to the Democratic party since the end of Jimmy Carter's presidency is simply this... The radical liberal elements of the Democratic party have taken control and usurped that which the Democratic party once was. In other words, this isn't the Democratic party of men like Franklin Roosevelt, or Harry Truman, or JFK. No... This is now a party controlled by degenerates. (And I think if you will look closely enough, you will find that a lot of the people now in control of the Democratic party have something in common... It's called the 1960's.)

This is a party that is not interested in the United States being a Republic, but instead would like us to be Socialist. This is the party of Political Correctness, Historic Revisionism, tolerance for Islam but not Christianity, the belief that killing an unborn child is good and killing a convicted child rapist/murderer is bad. This is a party that will tell you the ACLU is the next best thing to come along since buttered toast but the National Rifle Association is worse than the anti-Christ.

Just as I would not want to see the Republican Party controlled by the Christian Coalition, neither do I want to see the Democratic Party being controlled by the lunatic fringe currently in power. Even though I think that Pat Buchanan is a good man, and one who is contemplative and makes several good points a lot of the time, I would not want to see him as President of the United States because I find him to be too far to one side. I'm not even going to get into what I've thought about liberal candidates over the past 25 years.

This is really quite simple... The American people need to take back control of their country from the far left and the far right. We need to step in and say enough. We can not afford to have this country run by inmates. We can NOT afford to have knee jerk reactionaries playing God with our country. We can not afford to buy fully into the “party line” and expect this country to survive. But what does this mean? It means people need to get involved. They are going to have to become informed on issues and then act with the information they have at hand. But the key to this is being informed. (Let's face it, the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was well meaning, but has done a great disservice to our country. The simple fact is that a vast majority of the citizens of this country are simply to ignorant to be out voting for the future of our society.)

If you are a Democrat, I implore you to reconsider your allegiance to your party as it currently exists. Either take it back, or help the rest of us who prefer common sense to help define this country.

If you are a liberal... You have my sympathies. Maybe you can change. Maybe some day research will lead us to a cure for your malady. Maybe you will “move on” out of the country to a place where your ideologies (no matter how well intentioned they may be) will no longer harm this country and cause me grief. Maybe you will wake up and realize that once again, you are on the wrong side of history and if you stay your present course, your ultimate destruction will be as assured as the rest of us you are dragging down with you.