0 SteveMule

Monday, May 31, 2010

Memorial Day

I was going to write about something else but... I can do that later, if at all. Memorial Day. It is and has become a lot of different things to different people. For some it's the 'official' start of summer. For others a reason to go to the lake, swim, boat, fish, BBQ, an excuse to drink beer or whatever. Sometimes there are even parades and what-not. Here's the Wikipedia entry for Memorial Day: Memorial Day. The day has quite a history. It goes back to the days just after the Civil War.
One of the things that has always bothered me ('bothered' is understating it a bit) about my military service since 9-11 (my period of service ended long before 9-11, by the way) is that people, upon finding out I served will thank me for serving.
"You were in the Army!?"
"Yes."
"Wow, thank you for serving!"
When I hear this I know with absolute certainty that the person asking and thanking has never served. I just do.
"You were in the Army?"
"Yes, you?"
"Navy [or what-ever], what'cha do?"
"I was [what-ever], you?"
"Oh, I was [what-ever]"
After a while we chit-chat a bit about what we did, when we did it, and where we did it and then we move on. Sometimes, more often than you'd think, in fact, it never goes past the third line and without the question.
What 'bothers' me about the first scenario is that their reply leaves out, let's go unspoken, a very significant portion of their thanks. It's the part of serving that gives the serving its true worth. Their reply should be "Wow, thank you for serving, so I didn't have to."
They never say that part.
{During my period of service I never served in combat, nothing happened. Well, actually the Grenada operation occurred during that time. However, I was stationed in Germany at the time and was not involved in it in any way.}
So this Memorial Day let me say something to those that stood, and fell, defending this nation against all enemies foreign or domestic, something that is almost never said: Thank you for serving as you did, so I and those I love didn't have to.
Keep it in mind when you crack a cold one today.

posted by Steve Mule at 3:07 AM 0 comments

Monday, May 17, 2010

Smelly Brown People

I have thought long and hard about writing this post. I really don't have much to back it up (I suppose I could if I looked hard enough but I didn't want to do that) so I'll just flap my lips so to speak and say what I want. Hey, Fox News does it, so why can't I!
Recent events and issues have caused me to wonder how much of our troubles, controversies and what-not are the result of BIGOTRY. Now I don't mean the virulent, cross burnin' bigotry that we see from the KKK or Neo-Nazis and crap groups like that, I mean the soft bigotry that allows us to denounce cross burnings, police beatings caught on film, discriminatory business practices, civic group membership policies, and so on, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME causes us to get 'apprehensive' when we accidentally wind up in the 'wrong' part of town, view others wish suspicion , laugh at jokes like this one:
Q.) What do bricks and fat white women have in common?
A.) They both get laid by Mexicans!! (Rim shot! Cue laugh track)
and so on.
This country (U.S.A.) has a long and ugly history with respect to bigotry and while we've come a long way I think the hardest part is still ahead of us. Many, I believe, think the path is linear we improve, slide back a little now and then but basically, we keep going and... eventually we'll get 'there.' Whatever and whenever 'there' is. I don't believe that. I believe that the path to 'there' is a curvy line that is basically linear until you get close to 'there' at which point it starts to curve away from 'there.' The hard KKK type bigotry can be legislated away, outlawed but the soft bigotry well... that's where the difficulty is, it's where the line starts curve away from 'there.'
This soft bigotry is not just focused domestically, but also in our country's international relationships and affairs. For example: Israel has nuclear weapons. That's not a problem (to us) because Israel is a [fill in the blank; democracy, freedom loving... no, they look like us] but a country like Iran [they don't look like us, even tho most actually do]even developing the potential for nukes!?! Why, it's the end!! The end of the world!! The end of... whatever it is you're worried about coming to an end of.
The fact that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ALLOWS the Islamic Republic of Iran to develop nuclear power (including enriching uranium to fuel levels) is unimportant. What is important (what we're told is important anyway) is that we can't trust Iran, why they could... do bad stuff (whatever that is) if we allow this to go on. No, Iran is populated by smelly brown people that hate our freedoms and hate Israel, and the stereotypes go on and on and on.
Mexican Immigration is another issue that is full of smelly brown people. It's one reason why this issue is so contentious. The average Mexican immigrant doesn't look like us, they don't talk like us, they don't [fill in the blank] like us, they...
No one (in positions of power) seems to be able to objectively look at these issues and resolve them. The people involved and affected fall into two camps; us and them ("them" being the smelly brown people). There's no respect, us for them or them for us) and so the bullshit just keeps rolling along and rollin' along.

posted by Steve Mule at 4:27 AM 1 comments

Friday, May 14, 2010

Been away awhile

Yes, I've away from the blog for a awhile and I can tell that everyone has been 'distraught' over that but ...
Hey, I'm still here and I still tell myself that I need to post something -- I do that everyday, and today I decided to post something even it was only some idle ramblings.
I'm getting discouraged thinking about the upcoming mid-term elections this November. All the big pundits and political analysts on TV, the radio, the Internet, bloggers and so on all predict that the Republicans will do fantastic and perhaps even gain a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. Now, while that may turn out to be true I have to wonder: HOW, WHY, IN THE NAME OF GOD COULD AMERICANS BE THAT FUCKING STUPID????
After all the BS we, as a country, went through during the Bush years, WHY would we want those asshats back anywhere close to the levers of power????
All they have are sound bites, slogans (often misspelled) and idiotic talking points. They have no policies other than 'Tax Cuts', more deregulation (check the Gulf of Mexico to see how that works out in REAL LIFE), more war in the Middle East, and beating up on smelly brown people. It's as if their only method(s) is to jerk off the lowest common denominator of the American voting public.
I haven't trusted Republicans being in power since the early summer of 2003. Iraq was a danger; WMD's, mushroom clouds and so on. When US troops toppled the statue in downtown Baghdad and no WMD's had been found and there was no related material found (manuals, inventory reports, deployment orders and so on) and then the Dahlfer Report... well, I knew we had been lied to. If, IF, there had ever been anything we would have tripped over it. You simply can't make a mistake that big! The evidence would have been to sketchy, the intelligence to thin for any sane person to say "It's good enough for war." No, we went because someone in a position of power WANTED to. Everything else was just red, white & blue BS to wrap it all up in and get the American people behind it.
People that had no personal stake in the war (i.e.: no one was going to be shooting at them) made a lot of money. Now, seven years later (nine if you include Afghanistan) we're still there and they're still making money.

posted by Steve Mule at 8:32 AM 0 comments

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Floats on the Knuckle Head Parade

Here are a few examples of the Batshit Crazy things people do that I have to put up with on an almost nightly basis. I've held off on posting about any of this in order to let sufficient time elapse to preclude anyone thinking "Why that's me he's writing about!" If you read this and think the stupidity I'm writing about is about you then you have an overinflated sense of your own stupidity and consequently you are too stupid for me to be concerned with.

A customer walks in to the store and takes 10 minutes to decide on one, just one, only one $0.99 cent bag of sunflower seeds! That's it, that is all they get. 1o minutes, I noted the time when they came in (I was deciding whether to start breakfast or wait a little longer) and couldn't help but notice the time when they FINALLY decided what the fuck to get.

This happens all the time: It’s 4 deg F outside and people will still drive all the way to the store just to get an ICE COLD pop! WTF?

This is an everyday thing: Pre-Paying for gas. Why is this such a hassle? You pre-pay for your groceries. But gas? Is there some unwritten law, some silent code of BFE that says you shouldn't have to?? Middle-aged to elderly old white guys are my biggest source of headaches on this. Kids, not so much, unless they're driving a dual-trac 4-wheel drive pickup covered in mud (them and the truck).

On a related note there's this: You really can make more than one purchase per single visit to the store! Really, truly, you can! For example (true story - I've made up some parts but only to avoid the "He's talk'n 'bout me!" bullshit) This car pulls up to one of our gas pumps, guy and gal get out, the guy goes to the gas pump, the gal comes into the store. The guy starts to pump gas but because they haven’t prepaid I haven’t turned the pump on. The register starts to beep, which it does whenever someone takes the nozzle out of its holder. The gal blithely walks thru the store looking at all the neat shit we have. The guy continues to stand by the gas pump. I finally mention this to the gal. She blurts out “he’s getting $20 worth." I mention that I need $20 in order for him to pump that much gas. She asks “well, what do you want me to do?” I say “one of you needs to give me $20” ... silence ... she looks at me … just looks at me, as she contemplates the size of the rift in the space-time continuum that this will cause; having to make two trips to the cash register during only one visit to the store. This happens all the time, and it has never stopped pissing me off. Pay for the fucking gas and then go look at all our neat shit and pick your ass to your heart's content!

I'll have more later, but for now this'll do. I wouldn't want to overload you, that's why I haven't began to talk about, let alone, mention German Opera.

posted by Steve Mule at 11:34 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Massachusetts - Lessons Learned & Spreading BS

Yesterday's election in Massachusetts will do two things: First it will drive home the lessons I list below and give the professional Bullshit spreaders plenty to to talk/lie about. First the lessons:

1. Successful candidates campaign!!!
The successful candidate will campaign while voters are deciding who the fuck to vote for! Martha Coakley won the MA Dem Primary and then dropped out of sight. Between the end of the primary and yesterday she held 19 campaign events. Scott Brown her Republican opponent held 66 campaign events! Do the math. Coakley assumed the seat was hers - it was; hers to loose and she did. Brown ran all over the state shaking hands and kissing babies - Coakley, on the other hand ... kissed it good bye.
LESSON: Campaign like you're loosing; from start to finish ... or you will loose!

2. Successful candidate are like likable candidates.
True some voters care more about policy and substance rather than which candidate they would most want like to have a beer with. Unfortunately, those voters are outnumbered by the voters that tend to view a political campaign like it was an episode of American Idol. Think I'm wrong? Think Presidential Elections of 2000 and 2004.
Brown, to his credit, crafted a series of very nice ads portraying himself as a likable, Joe average, type of guy.
Lesson: Never forget that the voters must like you & So you must work to make sure they do!

3. Saying stupid dumbass things will cost you an election!
Poor Coakley said a lot of stupid things: she insulted Red Sox fans, not once, but twice. (Never mind that her knowledge of the Red Sox would not have affected her legislation abilities -- see #2 above) She said something stupid about "no terrorists in Afghanistan," and something to the effect that "devout Catholics" may not want to work in hospital emergency rooms. Had she paid attention to #1 above, she might have avoided saying these stupid, dumbass things.
Lesson: No one wants to vote for a dumbass so avoid saying any stupid, dumbass things.

4. Know your enemy!
Come on! How simple is this? Christ Almighty, Sun Tzu talked about this long, long, long ago. This is simple Campaigning 101! By the time Coakley and her people started paying attention to who Brown was it was too late.
Lesson: Know your enemy - if you don't, you'll loose.

5. Enthusiasm matters.
If you run a campaign that has the enthusiasm of mashed potato sandwich buffet you'll loose. Brown, whatever his faults, and they are legion, ran an exciting, dynamic campaign. Never mind how uniformed and confused his supporters were/are - they were fired up and Coakley and her supporters ... are left eating mashed potato sandwiches.
Lesson: Enthusiasm matters alot!
Those are the campaign lessons that yesterday's debacle in Massachusetts teaches.
Now the BULLSHIT ...
drum roll ...
No matter how bad a candidate Coakley was, or how awful her campaign was (and both were terrible) everyone will talk about how this repudiates the Pres. Obama and liberal, progressive, Democratic Party, [ fill in the blank(s) with your favorite term ] agenda. Never mind the fact that Brown received most of his campaign support from out of state, or that he supports the insurance companies over the individual needing health insurance/care, never mind that he's a Wall Street sock puppet, never mind all that, no ... this indicates that America, ALL of America, repudiates the Pres. Obama and liberal, progressive, Democratic Party, [ fill in the blank(s) with your favorite term ] agenda and so will become another rallying point for the Republican/Conservative/Wall Street/Insurance Companies/Teabagger crowd.
I'll leave you with a question: Will the national media run with the Lessons or the Bullshit?

posted by Steve Mule at 8:27 AM 0 comments

Monday, January 18, 2010

MLK Jr. Day

Today is/was MLK Jr. Day. I remember watching the March on DC as a little boy. I had to ask my Mom what the big deal was. She told me. I was shocked ... it was unthinkable to me ... America was supposed to be ... but I learned it wasn't. I listened to his speech and wondered ... why America wasn't like what it said it was and was supposed to be.
Others may marvel at how far we've come as a nation but I get pissed off that it has taken us this F'ing long to simply get this far and wonder at how long it'll take to finally get to where we're F'ing supposed to be.
We elected a Black President - Good. But does anyone think the Tea-bagger crap would have started if we'd elected a white one, conservative or liberal? What about all the "socialist, radical, secret Muslim" crap we heard in during the campaign? Would any of that have had any traction whatsoever if Pres. Obama had been white? Of course not. We live in a fucked up country. Get used to it.

posted by Steve Mule at 9:13 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Stuff I Saw Around Town Today

Yesterday was Monday and one of my days off. I had a bunch of stuff to do that required me to drive around town to various places and while I was doing that I noticed a bunch of stuff that caught my eye.
Here's an ad I found on the side of a liquor store here in town. I can just hear the radio ad: "Get ya'lls guns and ammo and come on down here to get loaded!"

This next one is a fountain right at the intersection of 10th Street and K-96. During the summer it's a pretty sharp looking fountain. However, in the sub-Arctic temps we've had it sort'a kind'a froze up a bit ... but if you look close at the base of the ice mound you can see that it's still going strong! Why? Well, I have no idea.

I saw this at Dillon's. Crammer's advising anyone who'll listen how to recover from the recent economic downturn. If you listened to Crammer and heeded his advice going into the downtown you really need this book! Of course, if you ignored his previous advice you probably don't need the snake oil he's trying to sell now. Notice the discount ... get it while it's hot!

I saw this in the parking lot of Dillon's. "Who is John Galt?" Now, someone might ask that question. Someone who knew nothing of Ann Rand's magnum opus "Atlas Shrugged."
John Galt is the fictional hero, protagonist, central character of that wretched book. He gets fed up with all the "liberals" who tax and regulate him to the point that he locks up his factories, stores and what have you and quits. This causes large economic turmoil and eventually the ... read the damned book to find out what happens. It was required reading at Enumclaw High School for Juniors or seniors. I attended that school until 1973. That year we moved to Kansas and I started my junior year of high school at Ellsworth.
Now most kids would have said "Boy, sure am glad I dodged that bullet!" Well, as many will give testimony to, I'm kind'a strange so ... I read it in Ellsworth Kansas just because I wanted to. I almost didn't finish it. It really and truly sucked. The writing was stilted and ... it was just awful. The good guys sounded majestic and visionary, the bad guys sounded like greedy morons. It was so pretentious, so ... so ... hackneyed and phony and ... just the biggest pile of steamy dogshit I've ever read. Mein Kampf was a better read! At least with that you knew where the author was coming from and could, consequently, discount him and the 'points' he tried to make. With "Atlas Shrugged" you'd read and read and ... well, it took a awhile to figure out what Ann Rand was trying to say. The characters spew forth with long monologues of explanation and ... the last several pages are just the character John Galt going on and on about his motivation for doing what he did and his vision of the future and ... It really sucked. I haven't touched it since or anything else that Ann Rand has written. I have better, funner and more interesting ways to waste my time.
I found this little blurb on this truck's window interesting since there was, briefly, talk of "Going Galt" shortly after Pres. Obama took office. All the conservatives were going on and on about socialism, higher taxes, gun control and so on. My thoughts then and now are: Go ahead, go Galt, and get the fuck out of the way!

posted by Steve Mule at 4:00 AM 0 comments