Iraq is not Vietnam, Part II

In this followup to his original article, Jim Cox extends his comparison of the war in Vietnam and the war in Iraq. Once again, he determines that "Iraq is not Vietnam; Vietnam is spelled with a `V' and is in Southeast Asia, Iraq is spelled with an `I' and is in Southwest Asia." If reading this doesn't send chills down your spine, you are obviously too young to remember the Vietnam era.

Is It Worth It?

Read this and then tell me if you think that what we have accomplished in Iraq or what we stand to accomplish over there is worth it.

The War isn't working

I'm not talking about the one in Iraq, I'm talking about the one in Alabama, and Illinois and Texas and the other 47 states. I'm talking about the War on Drugs. I was talking to a guy from central Alabama this morning and he was telling me what a big problem crystal meth is in his county. Tonight I was talking to a lady from north Alabama and she said they are experiencing the same thing. When I was young, back in the 1960's, before the War On Drugs, some folks smoked pot, a lot of them drank beer and Boones Farm wine that they brought in from out of state and that was about it. I think it was in the early 1980's that this country declared a War On Drugs. I would be afraid to guess how many billions of dollars have been spent on this thing. So far, it has proven to be about as effective as alcohol prohibition was in the 1920's and 1930's. The chief effect has been to line the pockets of a lot of criminals.

Every time I bring this up, one of my friends will say something like, well, what would you have us do, just make the stuff legal and let everyone buy it. Well I've given it some thought and decided that is exactly what we need to do. Legalize drugs and then start a government program to encourage people to use drugs. If it is as successful at its stated goal as the War on Drugs has been at its goal, in 20 years time we will have virtually wiped out drug use in this country.

Two Letters From Jeff Sessions

I've been sending emails to my congressperson, Spencer Baucus and my senators, Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby through the organization DownSizeDC for the last several months. Most of them have had to do with various things the current administration in Washington is doing in the name of fighting terror. In my humble opinion, they are mostly wasting money, trampling on the Bill of Rights and creating a lot of useless redtape. Today, I got two identical letters from Jeff Sessions office. Both of them were dated January 10, 2006. In them he basically told me what a good job he, the congress, and the president are doing fighting terror. For some reason it reminded me of a old joke I heard a long time ago.

Seems there was this guy standing on a street corner, waving a yellow polka dotted flag in the air. A policeman walked up to the guy and asked him what he was doing. Oh, I'm scaring away the elephants the guy said. The policeman said there are no elephants around here. The guy looked at the policeman and said works good don't it?

Another Miller's Garage Story

In addition to fixin cars and cussing, the folks at Miller's Garage were known to take a drink now and then. At that time, Coosa County was dry, so all of the alcohol had to come for either a bootlegger or a moonshiner. For those unfamiliar with the difference, bootleggers sold bonded liquor, beer and wine brought in from wet counties. Moonshiners sold homemade stuff. The folks at Miller's Garage would drink either, but preferred the moonshine, provided it came from a trusted supplier, i.e. no dead possums or car batteries in the mash. Even with trusted suppliers, the quality of the homemade whiskey varied significantly. In particular, there was one kind that they called "wolf" or "steam run wolf". I never new exactly what that meant, but there was some reference to first batch or first run made from hog shorts that was offered up in explanation as to what constituted wolf whiskey. I do remember that when someone was drinking wolf, they smelled especially bad. Being underage, I never did drink any of it, but from what I was told, it tasted worse than it smelled. This brings me to the story in question. One of the mechanics had gotten hold of some wolf. It was so bad that my dad would not let him keep it inside the shop so he put it out in the little shed where we kept the steam cleaner. At that time, there was a black man named Boyt Corbin that lived near the shop. I don't know if Boyt did not have a car or did not have a drivers license or just enjoyed walking but nearly every day, he would walk by the shop on his way to the nearest country grocery store. After a while, he would walk back by on his way home. On this particular day as Boyt walked past, the mechanic with the wolf whiskey hollered at him, Boyt, come here I've got something for you. He and Boyt walked around the edge of the shop and after awhile the mechanic came back in bent over in laughter. He had taken Boyt out to the steam cleaner shed and given him a drink of the wolf whiskey. Then he asked Boyt how was it? Boyt said it was just right. Just right? That is the worse stuff I have ever drank. Yessir responded Boyt. It is just right. If it was any better, you wouldn't give me any of it, and if it was any worser, I couldn't stand it.

A Miller's Garage Story

My daughter, who is a sales rep for a pharmaceutical company, sent me a link today to a story about some supply problems her company is having. For some reason, it reminded me of something that happened one time at my father's shop. From 1959 until 1984, my father ran an automobile repair shop in central Alabama. It was appropriately named Miller's Garage. His shop was known for two things, good repairs at a reasonable price, and salty language. One day a guy, who was a part time paying most time credit customer, came by and told my dad he needed some brake shoes for his car. He wanted to know if dad had any in stock. My dad said he did. The guy asked how much are they? 25 dollars was my dad's reply. 25 dollars, whew, that is too much, McClure sells them for 22 dollars. To that my dad, said, OK got get them from McClure. The guy said that he had gone to McClure's first but they were out of them. My dad looked at him and said, Hell, if I was out of them, I could sell them for 22 dollars too!

The Old Man, The Little Boy And The Donkey

This is the way I heard it:

Once there was an old man, a little boy and a donkey. One day the old man decided to go to town so he and the little boy got onto the donkey and started toward town. After a while, they met an old woman in the road. The old woman said to the old man, you are much to big to be riding on that poor little donkey, get off and lead him. So the old man got off the donkey and continued on toward town. A little while later, they met another old woman. The old woman said, old man, that little boy is to big to be riding that poor little donkey, he should be walking. So the old man got the little boy off the donkey and they continued on toward town. A little further along, they came upon another old woman, she said to the old man, old man that little boy is much to small to be walking in this rough road, pick him up and carry him. So the old man picked up the little boy and carried him under one arm and continued to lead the donkey toward town. Further on, they came upon another old woman, she said, old man, that poor little donkey is getting his hooves bruised and broken by the stones in this road, you need to pick him up and carry him. So the old man did, he picked up the donkey and put him under his other arm. The old man walked on toward town with the little boy under one arm and the donkey under the other. Eventually they came to a foot log over a creek. The old man started over the foot log carrying the little boy and the donkey but he could not keep his balance and they all fell in to the creek. The donkey drowned, the little boy drowned and the old man drowned.

The moral of this story is:

If you try to please everyone, you will loose your ass and everything else.

Three Questions

Three Questions

We Get What We Look For

I am a fan of the Realage tips. I started receiving them via email a couple of years ago. I think this one is particularly important for us boomers.