Monthly Archives: September 2023

Memphis Pedestrians in Danger

Posted in Memphis Drivers by

It’s true. According to the news, Memphis pedestrians are hit more than any other city in the country. I would add, maybe in the world.

May I remind one and all of what all I have written about Memphis drivers. Incidentally, I would also be reluctant about riding a motorcycle anywhere near that city.

But, it’s more than that. The pedestrians there do some really strange things. I know. I used to drive there. I have come close to hitting 1 or 2 myself.

There was 1 night I was driving home from work and a woman was lying in the street. I just almost didn’t see her. You note I said it was night and the place was poorly lit.

Okay, I will admit that was even odd for Memphis, but not by much. That area where I saw the woman, I learned to be especially watchful. When the people wear dark clothing, you can’t see them, but they assume you can.

I get it. I don’t like going down to the light to cross, but when I’m afoot I do. They don’t. I guess no one ever told them it’s safer, especially at night.

In some ways, oddy, I understand it. They are in their neighborhood and have gotten to feel safe there, despite the 4 lane state highway going through.

As far as I am concerned, 3 things will help. Caution drivers. Tell the folks to cross at the corners, or better at the lights. Finally, wear clothing that can be seen at night.

I don’t know but I would guess most of those pedestrians are hit at night and the victim is often wearing black. However, even that is not totally perfect. If my memory serves me right, seems I remember a report where a man was waiting for a bus on the sidewalk in daylight when he was struck. I mean, it is as I have frequently said. You have to watch out for Memphis drivers.

Don’t Think I’m Alone

Posted in Uncategorized by
Daily writing prompt
Are you holding a grudge? About?
View all responses

As a matter of fact, I’m sure it is a grudge I share with thousands. I rarely hold grudges. I am generally quick to forgive and forget.

However, Fauci is responsible for the loss of millions of lives. In the middle of the pandemic he denied having any part of the origin; he originally said it was not that contagious; and then of all things, he had us all wearing useless masks. He had us shutting down schools, businesses and churches, while knowing it was without reason.

Finally, as fall approaches, he has raised his voice again in an attempt to get us to mask up again. Do you remember all those efforts to get 2-year-olds to wear masks. That was double bad. Children are not all that susceptible and they recover quickly.

And then, and then, to add to all else he did, he kept people from using effective preventatives and treatments. That had to be intentional.

Yeah. At this point, my only question is, why isn’t he wearing an orange jump suit. I bet there are many of us who would be glad to buy him a nice embroidered one, maybe three. No need him going to prison. Just make sure he wears the well marked marked outfit everywhere he goes.

Word is Out!

Posted in Memphis Drivers by

Those drivers from north of the state are after me. They have read my remarks about Memphis drivers. My almost new car has been targeted. People are pulling in front of me even far more than before. Then, of all things, someone turned onto a four lane road from a parking lot and started driving head on toward me southbound in a northbound lane. He had to be waiting for me. He did pull out only after I approached.

I slowed. I laid on the horn. I flashed my lights. Finally, I guess the guy saw the error of his way but it was a close one. I was getting concerned. I was about to pull my almost new car up into a yard to avoid the head on.

Still, it bothered me. What if I pulled into the yard and he followed me? I mean, if someone really wants to hit you, there are just so many things a person can do.

It was one of those times that I did not need to see the plate on the other car in order to know he was a Memphis driver. He was driving south in the north bound lane. And, of all the places to pull a stupid stunt like that, right next to the Horn Lake city hall/police department.

If that man had hit me, the police would have been there in two minutes if they had to walk. Right after, I made the obvious remark to my wife, “Had to be a Memphis driver.”

I Guess, A little Odd

Posted in A Little About me, Communist Takover, Crazy Nuts by
Daily writing prompt
Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home.
View all responses

After nine years in the Marines, I went many places that were far away. I was in Vietnam, Japan, Korea and Australia. With the exception of Australia, when I was there, I was, in a way, home. I mean, that was where I lived and as such it was it was my home for the short term. It is true I was away from my family but that was where I worked slept and whatever else.

I guess this was especially true while in Vietnam. I did not move in voluntarily and I would never want to live there but I did for very nearly a year. If you ask me if I want to go there again, or even Japan, my reply is an instant no. I prefer the good ol’ USA

However, I certainly learned a little in every place I lived. I learned about the people and their customs. I guess I could write a small pamphlet about each place. However, I guess the one place and time that made the biggest impression on me was when I was assigned to a med-cap. That is short for medical civilian action patrol, that is, if my memory serves me right.

At any rate, the point is that it was an eye opening experience. There was a squad of us, 14 that accompanied two doctors, I guess four or five corpsmen and a dentist to help the villagers. On the way, I looked out from the truck that we were on and saw an old man apparently gathering his crop of rice.

Some might not think a thing about it but I did. The old man likely had a family. He was likely doing what he could, in among the Vietcong trying to steel what he worked so hard for and the Americans trying to go after the Vietcong while not damaging the work of the poor farmer and his family.

My best guess. He likely had not one clue what was going on. He just wanted to be left alone. I don’t blame him. However, when the Americans left Vietnam, the old man likely lost his farm, and maybe his life too. It is the sort of way the communists work. They take from those that have and give it to those who don’t. In the process, they keep a bunch for themselves and go about killing very indiscriminately.

Then there was the time we were actually in the little village. I took an 8mm camera with me and I did take some movies. While I stood guard, there was a kid who kept bothering me. I had no idea what the boy was talking about but I wasn’t about to give him the camera. He’d not be able to use it if I did.

Finally, I figured it out with the aid of one Vietnamese who spoke some English. It seemed he didn’t want the camera but a little gold colored piece of plastic, something of a fake gold seal. I managed to explain to the kid it wasn’t real, but he still wanted it.

I took my knife and cut the string holding the thing and gave the seal to the boy. I shook my head as the boy ran off waving the thing and yelling. I didn’t give the boy much, but you’d never know it from what you’d see. I told one of the guys with me, “I wish I could buy a thousand of them. They wouldn’t cost much but they would make a bunch of kids really happy.”

Bottom line, as I said, I learned a lot about the people while I was there. Still, I wished I could have given away a few hundred of those little pieces of plastic. Even more, I wish we hadn’t abandoned that country. It has made me wonder about the old farmer and the 7 or 8 year old kid. Just what happened to them?

The peace-nicks of the day forced us out of there, actually after the war was already won. They were taking their instructions from people who said they were demonstrating for peace, all the while undercutting the effort to provide peace for Vietnam. In the end they got their way, as did the communists. I can’t say with certainty they wanted to help the communists but the most assuredly did. They caused the death of millions and destroyed the hopes of freedom for others. Oh yes. One more thing. They likely cost that farmer his farm.

Somebody’s Watching!

Posted in Advertising, Christian values, Computers by

A few days ago, I was surfing the web, looking at electric riding mowers. They really, really want a lot for those things. When I first went into the Marines, I could have bought a nice car for what they want for those things.

Well, at least the mower would cut grass as well as providing a ride.

The point is, yesterday, I received a message in my email from a company selling mowers. Now I wonder. Just how did they know I was looking at mowers? More importantly, how did they know my email address?

Actually, I was only curious. I had no interest in buying one, at least for another year or two.

More importantly, if you was the one watching, I’d now not buy a tricycle from you. Don’t like folks who like spying on me. For all those others looking over my shoulder wishing to do business with me, you just might want to remember that.

Establishing the Lies

Posted in Being woke, Biden, Christian values, Communist Takover, Controllers, Deceit, Pelosi, Plutocrat, President Trump, Respect, Social Media, Truth by

It never fails to amaze me as to how quickly can become embedded while it seems to take forever to establish the truth. Even now people speak of January first as a riot and insurrection. They neither nor say anything to establish it. It is now just assumed to be true. And, of course, they pin the whole thing on President Trump, though he did all he could to avoid it.

I’m not going to go back through all the facts. If people want to believe the lie, there is nothing anyone will be able to say or do that will alter it. However, let’s remember four indisputable facts. One, the only one shot was a women who was lying in a defenseless position by a high ranking policeman. It is the one most obvious case of police mistreatment, and no one wants to say a thing about it.

Two, the truth is that the police seemed to be welcoming everyone in, even to the point of providing a welcoming wave of the arm. I know. I saw the video. As the people entered, other than a few people, they remained orderly doing no more than looking around. No one had weapons, period. No one attacked any of the police.

Three, at his speech, President Trump encouraged the crowd to be peaceful. There were complaints that he did noting to stop it after he found out about it. What was he supposed to do. He had absolutely no communication with the crowd. He was denied access to all social media so he could not even send out a message via them.

Four, President Trump made two attempts to activate the national guard. Both times he was turned down. Pelosi had charge of security in the building. Trump could not override her authority. When she said “no” to the help from the national guard, it meant no. Had she permitted the national guard, she would not have had January 6 as a political club with which to hit the Republicans with.

To make matters worse, there are still folks they are holding in jail that never entered the building. So much for a quick fair trail. Even if they did go to trial, they would have been tried with juries that would be all democrat. DC is 95 percent dems. The defendants could try for a change of venue, but good luck on that.

I am a little curious when some of these cases make it up to The Supreme Court. I would suspect many will be overturned quickly. The problem is that some of these folks are going to lose years out of their life and that cannot be returned.

Even more angering, what really, really bothers me, there are many rinos that are quickly falling in line and are ready to concede to one of the greatest deceits in American history.

Simple & Practical

Posted in Compromise, Growing Old by
Daily writing prompt
What does your ideal home look like?
View all responses

So many things in a house are there for looks. All sorts of things hung on walls and furniture all over the place. I don’t like clutter and I dislike the things that collect dust. Mostly I don’t like things that make it difficult for me to clean. I am in a 900 square foot house and it takes me hours to clean it because we have a lot of stuff we don’t need.

My drill instructor told us that we should never have anything more than we can carry on our backs. I didn’t agree with him then or now. However, I am beginning to see his point. If we decided to move it would take, maybe a couple of weeks. Moreover, most of what we have has not been touched in years. It is very likely we’ll never touch it. If we were to move, much of it would likely end up at the dump.

Rugs are nice to look at and they do feel nice on the bare feet. But they have three problems. They collect dirt. Anyone who has ever removed a carpet will attest to that. When we removed the carpets in this house, there was an eighth of an inch of dust left behind. Now we sweep and mop and it is clean.

Also, they are susceptible getting ruined when they get wet. In our case, it was the hot water heater. One day we came home and immediately knew something was wrong when the carpet was squishy. I have heard of others having problems with washers or bath tubs. I suppose fish bowls would be bad too. One day I came home from the grocery store and the bag holding a gallon of milk gave way. Fortunately, this was after we removed the carpet. It was bad enough as it was. I hate to think of what a gallon of milk would have done to shag carpet.

Maybe one complaint is that almost all electric outlets are close to the floor. That means moving a chair or maybe a couch to plug something in. If it were up to me, all outlets would be 3 to 4 feet from the floor. Okay. The plug and chord would show. To me, that’s alright. It’s practical. To me practical is far more important than looks. This is especially true as I get old and it gets more difficult to move the furniture out of the way and then move it back.

Come to think of it. All furniture should have lift jacks to get them out of the way during sweeping and mopping. They would only need to raise that chair a foot so I can get that broom and mop under it.

Do you think anyone will listen to me. Well maybe…if I had a million or so in the bank. No one ever listens to the likes of me, though there are a whole lot more like me than the millionaires.

Christian Music?

Posted in Christian values, gun control, law enforcement, Lawyers and Representation, Religion, responsibility & irresponsibility, School Shootings by

I had an idea I suggested to my wife. If I had a restaurant, I would not be able to be biased and hire only Christians. It wouldn’t be long before some atheist, Israeli or Arab would complain. Let me note at this time, I would have no problem hiring a Jew. I might even go out of my way to hire one or two. However, it does help me with explaining the concept.

You see, I would make sure that every third or forth piece of music played over the speakers would be Christian. It would have two effects. First, I would not get many atheist applicants. They would not enjoy the music. Second, most potential atheist customers would go somewhere else.

That is not so bad. My employees would mostly be Christian and my customers would be mostly Christian. Also, it would not be a bad thing to have a few customers saved in my place. I would not mind that.

Then my wife hit me with reality. I hate it when she does that. She suggested that I just might anger some atheist to the point that he would destroy the place and possibly hurt a few of the customers too. It is true, non-Christians can get violent, especially atheists who find themselves listening to Gospel music because they were dragged in there by their parents.

Well, none of that will happen anyway. I don’t have the money to start a place and I’m too old. Yet, another thought occurred to me, sort of the same but different. What if we had a constitutional amendment requiring Christian music be played in The House and Senate any time that no one is speaking, such as during votes. Just maybe it would encourage only Christians run for Congress.

Well a person can dream. Even if the amendment passed, the they’d just wear noise canceling ear phones. You just can’t force a person into Christianity. You can’t even make them listen to Christian music. What a shame. Just might improve things in this country… a lot more than anti gun laws, which the Godless will ignore.

Better for the nation to turn to Jesus. Also, better to put the criminals in prison. The guns don’t hurt people. The criminal will kill people if they have to make their own guns.

Learning From our Mistakes

Posted in Abuse of Power, Communism, Controllers, Education, experience, Politcal Opinion, Uncategorized by

Well, we’ve made the mistake. When are we going to start learning.

Oh. Maybe you are wondering to which mistake am I referring. Well, let’s look at it objectively. In the fifties and sixties, we had some of the best schools in the world. California had the best schools in the schools country.

Odd. Since then, we have increased spending on those schools, not just two fold but ten fold. One would think the quality of the teaching would have skyrocketed. It did… in the negative direction. The teaching has gotten so bad so fast that one would think it intentional. Well, maybe it was intentional. I have often wondered and I am sure I’m not alone.

Shall we take a short walk down memory lane, please. The current Department of Education was signed into law in 1979 by Jimmy Carter (You remember, he was the president who did very little other than give away the Panama Canal. Now that took some brains.) Since that time, the quality of our education has taken a nose dive. Do you suppose that forming the Department of Education just might have been the beginning of mistakes.

Let’s look at two very important objective considerations. The current budget of the department is 68 billion dollars. (seems as if we could build a lot of schools with that.) If distributed equally, that is over a billion dollars for each state. Also it has 4900 employees. I wonder just how many of them actually knows how to teach. I wonder how many ever did teach. It makes me wonder if they really know where to most effectively spend that 68 billion dollars.

When I started this post, I did feel I should Google the department. At that point, I only had a vague idea on what I would be writing. Right there on the computer screen was a photo of a big building. (I really mean it is big.) Do they have to have a big building? Does it serve any purpose. I am sure that building must require maintenance, utilities and upkeep. It makes me wonder if those going green folks realize the waste. Actually, when you come right down to it, the US government likely generates a lot of carbon dioxide in buildings like that. You ever take a tour of DC. There is a big building for this and a big building for that. There are many of them and I suspect there are more planned. Shut that city down for a month and we could run Southaven on the savings all year and then some. My electric car would likely go around the world… forget that. I don’t think I could make that calculation.

At any rate, my best guess, that big department likely takes it’s orders from the National Education Association, a union. I don’t think that the union has the interest of our kids at heart. Like most unions, their biggest interest is the union…gaining and maintaining money and power. If the kids get educated, it is totally by accident and the local education system.

The department controls local schools in three ways. They collect statistics. The distribute money, but only to those who meet the standards of the department. It makes little difference of those standards are good or bad. Finally, they make sure that there is no segregation in the schools. Surely, all this can be done locally. Why do we need a big brother in DC to tell the local schools and teachers what to do.

Well, how is the centralized system working out for us? Well, they collect the stats. They, themselves ought to be able to tell us. I don’t have to guess. You don’t have to guess. Since their formation… by their own stats, they have failed miserably. If we are ever going to learn from our mistake, I’d say the best thing to do is do away with the Department of Education and let the homeless move into that big building. It would solve 2 problems. The schools would start improving and homeless would have somewhere to stay. Actually, a lot of homeless people could stay there.

Okay. It won’t solve everything and I know it. It will help. The big mistake is this, more money does not always equal better teaching. If you want better teaching, you need better teachers, better curriculum, and less overhead. As I said, those folks in the department hierarchy don’t teach. They are what I call, “Hangers on.” At the state level, there are thousands who work for the school system who don’t teach or for that matter directly support the teachers.

By the way, the state of California has its own education quagmire. They have 2740 employees and a budget of over 89 billion dollars. I wonder just how many of them know how to teach. Just how many of them know where the money will do the most good. My guess is they get many of their orders from the N.E.A. too.

I think the big part of the mistake is centralizing the education system. Those folks up there in those really big buildings have no idea of what is going on in the classrooms. I think most experienced good teachers will agree with me. On the other hand, the mediocre teachers will prefer the protection provided by the union.

Spoiled Kids. Spoiled Adults

Posted in Cheating, Christian values, Collusion, Elections, Going Green, Liberals, Socialists by

It is an old assumption by some. However, it is one of the most disproved one. I am not even going to try to disprove it. It has reached a point that it is a given. We have the spoiled rich kids of the millionaires repeated over and over. Even those who have less money will still try to buy the love of a child by giving him or her too much.

Then, one day they look around and wonder why their children don’t like them. Indeed, the parent frequently tells the child, haven’t I given you all you wanted?

The fact is, sometimes real love says no to the request, even when the child begs, pleads and threatens. I have seen that, with the outcome both ways.

Recently, however, I have come to the conclusion that kids are not the only ones who become spoiled. A full grown adult that should know better will beg plead and threaten. They will beg their government to take care of them. They will plead for the money, the healthcare, the homes, the phones and even housing. Then, when and if the government turns them down, they threaten to cast their vote for someone else.

It is of course, one of the greatest weaknesses of a government that must answer to the voters. It all started out well but over time, our nation has become continuously more socialist. You might find this strange, but at one time, the federal government did not provide aid for for disasters. It was handled totally by the state. I have no idea when that changed.

Eisenhower, when he wanted to build the great interstate system we have, had to figure a way to justify it. Up to that point, the federal government was not much into the highway building business. So, he justified it by saying it was for national defense. To do this, the interstates had to meet certain national defense standards that would allow them to be used for airfields should another war brake out. Also, something that made more sense, transportation for war supplies.

It was a horrible thing that happened to those trade towers, but some people really made out on it financially. Some people were given millions of dollars for their losses. I saw what was happening and I shook my head. If I got a million dollars, I’d be happy to let someone come and burn my house down. Well, to be sure, I would want to be well clear of it first.

However, some of those people in NY, NY became instant millionaires as a result of 9/11. Then, just a short time later, they had their hands out again because of hurricane. Me and people like me were working hard for our paychecks while those folks up there simply held their hands out and said gimme, gimme, gimme. And of course, if one dollar was withheld, the clamoring would start, “See if I vote for you next time!”

Nowadays, people build next to oceans, sometimes on cliffs. They spend millions on the property and millions on the house. Then, when a storm comes along, we hear, “Well, I couldn’t afford insurance you know. It was so expensive.” Do you suppose that the insurance is expensive for a reason. Maybe the lesson these folks need to learn is to build a little farther from the ocean or lake instead of counting on Uncle Sam to bail them out.

People are required to have insurance to drive cars. Maybe they should be required to have insurance to build houses on cliffs overlooking the ocean. The alternative is simple. You built there. You took the risk. You live with the results, no matter. We will come to the rescue for personal safety, but not to help you rebuild. I suspect there would be one big advantage to it. Many of the miles of coast that are now private would be turned back over to the public.

That which happened recently in Hawaii is a different matter entirely. They do need some help rebuilding, though we need to avoid overdoing it. The people there were hit by something that was completely unpredictable. One might even say that the government aggravated it. Certainly, if the government did have a part in the disaster, they should have a real part in the recovery.

However, people who live next to big bodies of water where flood damage can be reasonably expected, we should not pass out any more than what is needed to survive. There is no reason why the paycheck of some truck driver should have to be used to rebuild some millionaire’s beach home.

The particular bad part is that the federal government is very bad at dealing with disasters. Invariably, they pay 3 dollars to provide 1 dollar of relief. The rest. Some of it goes to the operation of the federal agencies. Mostly, a lot of it gets wasted. The trailers are brought in where tents would work. Tents aren’t that bad short term. I have lived in tents. It’s better than sleeping in the rain. Moreover, they can be moved in more quickly and they are reusable. The trailers will likely be scrapped. At the very least, reusable buildings should be used that can be quickly assembled and disassembled. I have no idea why this we don’t already do this. Just ask the builders of the steel buildings what it would take. Bet they would have good solutions. Oh! Wait a minute! I just figured it out why they keep doing it this way. We are the ones paying for it, not them.

And so it is, that we keep spoiling those hit by disasters. And so it is, that they are more and more dissatisfied. It is the one problem where governments answer to the voters.

As an aside, the interstate system was and is one of the best projects of the federal government. However, I still wonder how much money is never getting into the concrete and bridges. Nowadays, the engineers who plan the highways have a problem they didn’t even think about when the highways were started, the people going green. Getting rights of way are far more difficult today than in President Eisenhower’s day.