Four score and 320 posts ago

Yes, for the slow among you, the title is a takeoff on Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

Today's post is just a series of thoughts on blogging. I am also answering a few questions that I frequently get.

For those who don't remember, I started writing(?) this blog in July, 2005. That means that I have stuck with it for almost seven years. Only my marriage has lasted longer. I started as a way to vent after my older son got a tattoo. I still hate tattoos!!

If the math in the title threw you, this is my 400th post. Despite my lack of posts over the last couple of months, I have actually been more productive for the last two years.

How do I decide what to write? Do you actually think that there is a process? Seriously? There is, sort of. Sometimes I will write about things that happen to me. Some days, I just write about stuff that's irritating me. Example, there's a fly buzzing around me here at the store. It's ##**##@@ me off, but I don't think that it's worth a post.

Do I write deep, personal thoughts on here? Rarely! For the times that I need to vent my personal thoughts, I have another blog that I write. Don't ask me the name. It's not on Blogger, it's on another site. Why do that if no one will read it?  Like lots of other things in life, sometimes it just has to be said.

I have friends and relatives who read this, so at times I do temper my words.

Do I intentionally try to offend people? No, it's a gift.

Are you really this sarcastic in person? No, it's worse.

Do you enjoy writing this blog? No, I would rather set my face on fire, but I can never find a match.

Do you carry a grudge against some people?  Yes. We were discussing something at home the other night and my son asked my wife, "How long can anyone carry a grudge? She smiled and looked at me. I said, "I will cuss (you guess the name) every day until I die." The Hatfields and McCoys were amateurs!

Do a lot of people read this? Usually about eight to ten people a day read this. There are more when I write about the Christmas program at Buffalo. There are readers in other countries. There is a reader in New South Wales, Australia who signs on about once a week. How bad can it be there?? Here's someone sitting in Australia, "Wonder what Gilbert's thinking today. Let's go see."

Do you make any of this up?? Truth is stranger than fiction. It's also quicker to write. If you remember my "Breast woman" story from last year, a couple of weeks ago I had a similar experience at a Burger King in Reidsville. I am still too traumatized to write about it. Maybe next week.

Your blog seems nicer since you started going to church, why? I'm sorry, I thought that religion was supposed to have a positive affect on you. I don't know if that would have been true if I had become a Muslim. You infidel @@##**##, we will never know.

How long will you continue to write this?  In the past year, I have been reminded that everything ends. I will let you know when this does.

Craigslist Morons

I was scanning Craigslist yesterday and found an interesting post. In the "wanted" category was this post which I have edited to protect the morons involved.
"need someone to castrate a pig that weighs about 200 pounds,call ***** at 555-555-5555."

Some comments are best left to myself!

Friday Forecast

I see stupid politicians in our future.

Last night on the news, I saw Obama claiming that the Republicans are the ones doing all of the spending and that he is a fiscal conservative. Let's start drug testing government employees and let's start at the top.

In primaries this week in Kentucky and Arkansas, Obama won by a 58% to 42%. In Kentucky, he was able to defeat "Uncommitted". It was close. "Uncommitted" carried 67 0f 120 counties. In Arkansas, he beat an unknown lawyer by the same margin.  This is worse than West Virginia where his opponent got only 40% of the vote. Of course, his opponent there was a federal prisoner.

I realize that I'm not an expert, but if 42% of the Democrats vote against Obama, I don't think that his future is bright. The Democrats are ignoring all of these results. Keep drinking that Kool-Aid, boys!

Here's a stupid statement that liberals can't stop repeating. According to libs, a majority of Americans are in favor of gay marriage. I hear this regularly on the news, even on Fox. Here are the facts: Thirty states have constitutional amendments that ban gay marriage and 12 more have laws that ban it. An anti gay marriage amendment has never lost in an election. Even California has passed an amendment prohibiting gay marriage.  How can this be if all of the polls show that Americans favor it??

There's stupid and then there's Joe Biden. This is a guy who has spent most of his life in Senate. Biden is a walking case for term limits. He would have to be in an asylum to be more out of touch. The Founding Fathers did not envision professional politicians. Let's correct that oversight with a term limits law.

Why pass a term limits law? The average voter complains about how bad things are and then re-elects the same people. The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expecting different results. I think that the electorate qualifies. Let's get some fresh choices.

Today is haircut day for me. I find that I have to tell people this as very few will notice.

Sunday is my day to teach Sunday School at church. On the Sundays that I teach, I have found that the lesson is better received if I bring doughnuts. I highly recommend the maple bars and the apple fritters from Donut World in Greensboro.

While on the snacks at church thing, on the Sunday before Valentine's Day, I took cookies to class. On Mother's Day, I took orange-cranberry scones. For Father's Day, I'm thinking that I need a more substantial snack. Prime Rib? That might result in the Fetching Mrs. Loman dragging her husband to Buffalo for Sunday School. HA!!

The News & Record is having an ugly tie contest for Father's Day. Nothing from the Anna Mitchell Collection will qualify for that. I did have a tie that The Queen made a face at one day, I just don't remember what I did with it. I may have to clean out my closet for a winner. Better go get started!

Weekend Wrapup

I was at the flea market at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh on Saturday. It was just another day to remind me of the "dumbing down" of America.

The first "Huh?" incident of the day came early. A guy asked if I had any ponchos. I told them that I had U.S. Army ponchos in woodland camo and Swiss ponchos in Alpenflage. He asked if I had any ponchos in desert camo. After first confirming that he was serious in his inquiry, I tactfully pointed out that you rarely need a poncho in the desert. Even our government won't waste money for ponchos in the desert. He walked away with a confused look on his face. What really drives me crazy about this is that someone in Reidsville asked me the same question about a month ago.

There was quite a crowd there. The NC Department of Agriculture was having a "Got to be NC" food festival promoting foods produced here. There was also a boat show and a women's roller derby game at the Fairgrounds. Roller Derby girls? Yes, Roller Derby girls. You don't need to be a Rhodes Scholar to spot them. Nothing has changed about those girls since Jim Croce sang about them in the early 1970's.

I hate hot weather. People feel compelled to expose way too much flesh in public places. In the space on one side of me yesterday were an older couple and their daughter. The daughter appeared to be my age. She was under dressed for an outing to the beach. She was wearing a very small pair of shorts and a smaller top. When I was twenty, there was a five dollar cover charge and a two drink minimum to get into a club to see women dressed like that. At the flea market yesterday, it was free. The view wasn't worth the price.

I despise the History Channel's show "American Picker". Since that show started, I cannot spend a day at any flea market without some **##@@##  telling me, "I'm a picker."  They want me to sell them things cheaply so that they can resell them. Unfortunately for them, I'm not on TV.  I simply point out (tactfully, of course) that I am a retailer and not a wholesaler. Consequently, I do not give a rat's behind whether or not they make any money.

Today at Buffalo, we had "Meatballs and a Musical". Yes a spaghetti lunch and a presentation by " Buffalo's Brightest Star". Good spaghetti, great meatballs and sauce, incredible desserts. I loved the peanut butter pie. Wait!! Did I mention that I prepared the desserts? With that display of modesty, this post will end.

Tuesday Stuff

Newsweek's latest issue features the Chosen One on the cover. Obama is called America's first "Gay President". There's something that most people would not put on their resume.  But his resume is so thin, that it could use the help.

If you missed Newsweek, Obama was on "The View" today. Obviously, Newsweek was correct.

The governor of Mississippi spoke with Ma Bev, our governor, yesterday. Governor Bryant was a little upset that Ma Bev had told a group last week that by passing the marriage amendment we "looked like Mississippi". Don't you just love how liberals act when things don't go there way??

In Guilford county, the amendment passed by 42 votes, breaking the hearts of liberals across Greensboro. The amendment failed in most counties with large urban populations. Those city people are so much more sophisticated than those of us out in the country.

Last Wednesday was the last Fellowship Dinner until September at Buffalo. I guess that I will talk to myself on Wednesday nights until September. I only have to cook for two or three over the summer. Maybe, I can use the rest?

Worked out in the yard cutting and burning today. This lumberjack work is more manual labor than I am accustomed to normally. But I must admit that cranking up the chain saw does boost that testosterone level!!

With not anything else left to write tonight, I will close with a picture of baby Alice. With that happy look on her face, I can only assume that someone is holding a cake off-camera.

North Carolina

North Carolina is my home. I was born in North Wilkesboro. My mother dragged us to Florida when I was six and I finally moved back here in 1983. I live in rural Caswell County north of Greensboro.

North Carolina has been in the news a lot this last week. We are under attack by both  the media and an idiot posing as a President because of an election last week. We passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. A similar amendment is in the constitution of at least thirty other states. Why is everyone ridiculing us?

Contrary to one may see on television or read on Facebook, we are not all hillbillies and rednecks in North Carolina. I must confess that I do like that "redneck" label. We live indoors, have electricity and running water. Some of us even have computers. We are not quite the backwoods bumpkins portrayed in the national media. There are even some smart Democrats here as last week's election demonstrated. In that primary, 20% of the Democrats voted  "No Preference" instead of "Barack Obama".

Forty two years ago in Mr. Barrington’s Psychology class, we discussed homosexuality. If someone had told me then, that in forty years we would be having a debate about gays getting married, I would have laughed. We have continued to “define deviancy down” until soon there will be nothing illegal. At this rate, in twenty years, pedophiles will be operating day care centers and guys will be marrying sheep and goats. Societies without rules cannot survive. Anyone who thinks that our nation’s present course is good has never read a history book!!

I graduated from high school in 1971. If on that June day in 1971 someone would have told me that we would one day have to pass a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between one man and one woman, I would have told them that they were crazy. We did that on Tuesday.

Why did we have to have that vote and why are liberals angry with us? Over the last fifty years or so, we have taken a sharp turn in "defining deviancy down". What does this mean? It means that we have lowered our standards for acceptable behavior to the point that almost any standard is in danger. "You can't tell me what to do" is the battle cry of those who want to remake society. Unfortunately, in order for ANY society to survive, it must have rules that everyone follows. That's the very definition of a society. Our civilization cannot survive if there are no rules. The "no rules" situation is called anarchy. That explanation is for you media types.

Liberals are angry because we are not "enlightened enough" to see their way. They do not understand the difference between "tolerance" and "acceptance". Let's apply these terms in the case of gay people. I have worked with and for thousands of gay people over the last forty something years in the restaurant business. I "tolerate" their behavior because they are friends, acquaintances or relatives. Does my "tolerance" mean that I "accept" this behavior? NO!!

We are told by the media, pollsters and liberals that a majority of Americans are in favor of gay marriage. There are 12 states that ban gay marriage in their statutes and at least 30 states (including North Carolina) that have constitutional amendments banning gay marriage. A ban on gay marriage put to a public vote has never failed. The liberals and their media accomplices are failing to state the facts correctly. They distort the facts in an effort to shame us. If we do not vote to allow gay marriage, they label us as bigoted and backward.

 Last Tuesday, I voted for what I believed to be morally correct. If by voting for this, I have offended any liberals or gays that I know, I doubt that they are surprised.