Word Of The Day....

A new daily feature here will be the word of the day. I will give you a word and it's definition as it pertains specifically to Monticello and Drew County. Today's Word: "Industry" Definition: What local leaders are sworn from birth to prevent from ever wanting to locate here. See also "what keeps a town alive" see also "hey wouldn't that infusion of tax dollars be great"

New Features

You will notice new features. Replacing the things that make me laugh links to the right will now be links to blogs that I read and comment on regularly. When I find a blog that has creative, intelligent and pertinent posts they will be placed here. They have my personal thumbs up, and that just might mean something if you know me at all. Also the use of profanity will no longer be necessary (if it ever really was) after discussions with some people tonight it is time to make a difference. The gloves are off, I hope you can handle it.

I Just Don't Know Anymore

I have been thinking about the decline of our nation as a whole, and I can see some patterns that have developed that might explain some of it. When I was growing up if you messed up at a neighbor’s house you got your "rear end" tore up, then you got one from all the neighbors between the original infraction location and your home, and when you finally made it home your mother was on the porch with the phone with the 25 feet long curly cord and you could hear her talking to the neighbor at which you began this journey and she would be making plans for yet another "whipping". Now I did not get many of these when I was young but the few I did get I remember very well. When did spanking your child become abuse? When was it "OK " for your child to call social services after they received said "whipping" and turn you the parent in. When did we start having to give the school system permission to discipline children. I must have missed it. Was there a memo sent out that I was not told about. I remember the days when if you screwed up at school you were spanked with a board. It was renamed a "paddle" but basically it was a short boat oar. I remember the foreboding sound of the pop of the paddle outside of the class room because unless you were in the class where the infraction occurred you did not know it was coming until the first "pop." I remember how skilled some of the teachers had become by giving a little up angle to the "paddle" and hooking you right under the butt cheek where it would lift you up a little. What about the days when by the sound of the pop and speed between "licks" you could tell what teacher was administering the usually well deserved punishment. I read a story today about neighbor that disciplined a child for shooting her dog and blinding it. She gave the young man a few smacks to the rump and was shot twice by the boy’s mother less than an hour later. She was not seriously injured but yet the stupidity of it is beyond measure. I am not saying beat them, but for goodness sake. I see people in the store with children that are acting up, which has now been changed to "acting out", to allow for drug companies to charge you for pills to control your children so you do not have too, and hear other parents saying under their breath "I would tear {him or her} up." No you wouldn’t. I think I have spanked my oldest daughter once in her life, She can tell you what day it happened and why it happened, and it was many years ago, and henceforth both of my children are getting wonderful grades in school and have never been disciplined verbally or otherwise in school. But they know this, There are standing orders at their schools for discipline whether it be the paddle or otherwise. And interestingly enough, after a little and I mean a very little explanation, they understand why. Another thing is that everyone the history books teaches our children to respect lies to them and they know it. Presidents, political leaders, even religious leaders. In the information age it is easy for our children and ourselves to find truth. If their was television or internet when Franklin Roosevelt was running for president, would the people have elected a President in a wheelchair? Interestingly enough the modus operandi of the common Humanus Americanus(yeah I made that up) is to investigate after the fact. Try getting ahead of the game every once in a while. Open your eyes, close your mouth, and learn something now and then. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. That is a good thing and a bad thing. The bad thing is that it is hard for us to change the way we do things. The good thing is that those who need to be scrutinized have a hard time changing the way they do things too.

I Just Don't Understand

I just left a comment on a post at monticellolive, and I have just got to say this. Have we come so dependent on whatever government we choose to believe is in control around here that we can not even prepare to save our own skins. Now I don't know much about anything, just ask anyone, but I do know that self-preservation is right up their on my "to-do" list. A comment was posted wondering why we do not have a warning system in Monticello for tornadoes. Now I do not know what happened to the siren that we used to have. I admit that, but this is a brave new world. For very little money you can purchase a small device that will scream "get under your house" if a storm is coming. I have one, you should too. Now my reason for having one is less desperate. Storms don't bother me. If you look in the top right corner you will see that. I do however remember the day when a tornado dropped a house on my sister........."insert vague Wizard of Oz what the heck is he talking about reference here--------->. Thanks by the way to the folks at Dad's Place for great coffee and company on Saturday. I really enjoyed it. Now back to what I was saying, it is not the responsibility of the fire department to provide you with fire extinguishers and smoke alarms, even though they do sometimes, and it is not their responsibility to change the battery for you every thirty days. You must......no let me rephrase......it is your responsibility as a citizen to take responsibility for yourself now and then. You will change the oil in your car, that costs more than one of these devices. You will go out to eat, that costs more, of course so does a gallon or two of gas these days. Some say if God wants me he will get me no matter what precaution I take. To you I leave this:

A man was caught in a flood. As the water got up to his porch a man came by in a boat and asked him to come with him. The trapped man said "the Lord will save me"
As the water got to the edge of the roof another boat came and once again the man said "the Lord will save me"
Soon the water was above the roof and the man was barely hanging on, a helicopter hovered overhead and the man screamed "THE LORD WILL SAVE ME"
After drowning the man went to heaven and asked the Lord why he didn't save him and the Lord said "I sent two boats and a helicopter"

In other words........well, you know the rest.

Ahh To Be Young.

I am sitting here watching a game of darts. Now I know you are saying to yourself, "why would anyone watch darts?" Believe it or not it is rather interesting even if I don't understand exactly what is going on. There are two lanes and four people and I can only assume they accumulate points between the two of members of the team. The interesting thing is that is good clean fun. That is something that you do not see very often anymore. People walk by outside and look in and they see good clean fun happening and they don't exactly know what to do or say. You can see it in their eyes. I am witnessing teenagers and adults playing darts with each other and having fun. Can it be possible. Is it voodoo. I must continue to investigate. After many years in the media I have become a student of everything around me. I watch people and their reactions to what is going on around them and how they react to different situations that they encounter. This is what I live for. For the record, I don't get out of the house much as many of you already know. I suppose this is my first adventure out in several weeks. Feels pretty good actually.

A Long Absence..

I take this opportunity to say hello to everyone that I have been neglecting lately by not writing. I apologize, but I have returned with a new energy and am ready to rock and roll. As I sit here drinking a wonderful latte from Dad's Place, I am feeling better every minute. I am however trying to decide whether to take the blog in a new direction. What direction that is I am yet unsure but oh well, this is a spur of the moment thing anyway. Hello once again to "journeyguy" hope everything is going well and I very well may take you up on your offer for a visit one Sunday. As for now I am going to catch up on some news and see what I can write about today. I am feeling a little saucy today.