Not to beat a dead horse, but. . .

The media made a big to-do about threats to Democratic lawmakers who passed the health care bill. But when a Philadelphia man is arrested after threatening the life of the number two Republican in Congress, it doesn't get a mention on two of the four major networks.

If this doesn't show media bias, I don't know what the hell could.

Changes

Woman left today around noon. I just figured up that she's been here 24 days this month, but what the hell, we had a good time. I'll be going over to her place either Friday or Saturday (probably Sat. morning) to spend the weekend and have Easter dinner Sunday. Nice ham, which is always good. That was her idea, since I normally don't celebrate Easter. But I'll eat a good baked ham anytime, holiday or not.

Got about half of my tomato garden spot spaded up this afternoon. Started turning up so many earthworms that I went and found my worm bucket. It used to be a gallon ice cream bucket, but it works well for keeping worms. Have to sprinkle a little cornmeal in occasionally, and a sprinkle or two of water when it gets too dry. Temp is going up near 80 the last 3 days of the week, so I may hit the fishing hole. I intend soon to get on revision of the vampire thing, but I can throw in a little fishing before that gets too serious.

Bought a new laptop since my last entry. I've been checking reviews and found this 17.3" Acer that seemed to be a good machine; I've had an Acer laptop for almost 4 years and never had a moment's trouble with it, it's just too small and underpowered for my current needs. The new one has lots of hard drive and RAM and a lot of bells and whistles. Built-in web cam and mic, wide high def screen (video looks fantastic on it), HD TV connection, Dolby sound system, card reader, Bluetooth, lots of USB ports. I no sooner had it out of the box and turned on until the wireless found my network router, so getting online was no problem. (I'm having a problem on my router firewall, however. Got Port 21 forwarded, but the son of a bitch won't let me FTP. I thought it was the domain provider's server blocking me, but I gave login info to a friend in a distant town and they were able to open my server on 21 with no problem. I'll get it figured out eventually.)

I don't like Windows 7 worth a shit, but I'll get used to it. Amazing how they left a mail program out of it, not to mention Movie Maker. But they do have enhanced security and a DVD burning program.

The Lying Left

Progressives are such crybabies. A few people say nasty things about them and suddenly they're whimpering about being threatened and harassed. And certainly the media jumps about and makes mountains out of molehills, with blaring headlines designed to make the opposition look like ogres out to do in the good health care providers.

We've seen an article about a coffin being left on the lawn of one Missouri democrat. As it turns out, that was a lie; the protesters took the coffin with them when they left. The coffin was representative of all the dead babies to come because of the recently passed legislation. Yeah, sure, Obama signed an executive order. But executive orders can't override legislation.

A Seattle paper had a big deal about someone throwing a rock through the office window of one of their representatives. Some major league team needs to find that rock-thrower -- the woman's office is on the 30th floor, so that was a pretty good toss.

Oh, and we've heard all about the abuse heaped upon legislators, many black. as they ran the gauntlet of evil wingnuts while walking (parading) back to Congress. Big headlines about being spat upon and forced to listen to racist chants of "nigger!"

Odd, that one. There were a number of cameras covering that piece of constructed drama, private and professional cameras, and yet not a one thus far has recorded the word nigger. And, the only thing close to a spitting incident was one protester with his hands cupped around his mouth screaming. Apparently, some spittle hit Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver -- who described the incident as a man "who allowed saliva to hit my face"

Sounds real evil, eh? The guy he described that to, a black columnist, sounds a whole lot more racist and violent than the crowd, as you can see by reading this.

The Left seems to have a short memory when it comes to violence and threats. George W. Bush lived through eight years of malignant outburst from these kooks. Here's just a small sample of the calls for his death. There are thousands more.

The old pot calling the kettle black cliché comes to mind with all this. If you wanna read some nasty, violent shit directed against everybody but progressives, just check the forums at places like MoveOn and Huffington Post. And a lot of other leftist boards and forums. Nobody could equal the nastiness displayed by these pea-brained thugs.

Let's not even get started with some of the horrid things voiced by the Hollywood in-crowd. Certainly, it's okay for someone like Sean Penn to say he hopes all his critics "die screaming of rectal cancer" because, well, because he's Sean Penn. There are many more such examples of verbal diarrhea from the Hollywood Left, but why bother, nothing will convince a dyed-in-the-wool extreme Dim-o-crap.

I actually had no intention of getting into political shit on this blog. But I get so sick of reading some of the crap I've been reading, comments that bear little resemblance to the truth.

There's nothing wrong with having a strong opinion and voicing it. Hell, there's nothing wrong with saying you'd like to see some folks screaming from cancer of the asshole, if that's what you believe; I'd probably like to see/hear some of that myself.

But don't do it and then pretend to be some pristine, reasonable fellow who takes all the abuse from the other side.

In short, don't be a fucking hypocrite.

Book done

Cold, rainy morning with talk of the possibility of a little white stuff. Crazy. It was in the 70s a couple of days ago, bright and sunny. I sat on the front porch enjoying a few Greyhounds in the good air. Now, soggy and miserable again, but the nice weather is alleged to be on its way back later this week.

Finished the murder book last Thursday. I'd originally planned to immediately leap on another project. Change of plans. I'll kick back a while before tackling something new. Not sure what it will be, but I've changed my mind about never again writing a nonfiction book. Have an idea for one in mind, but not ready to talk about it. Just a thought.

My lady friend is back. She left Tuesday morning and came back Thursday afternoon. Not sure how long she's staying this time, but it doesn't matter. We have a good time together and I enjoy the company. Had the best pot roast last night that I've ever made. . .or eaten. Browned it, put it in the pressure cooker for 25 minutes, then into the crockpot for about 4 hours, with a gravy made of mushroom soup, mushrooms and onions. You could cut it with a blunt fork. Throw a pile of that and mashed potatoes on bread, cover it with gravy and go south. And I did, long and hearty.

What the hell if I eat too much and get sick. We have socialized health care now, don't we? Well, almost. I'm sure an old guy like me can get a new heart on somebody's nickle if I need one, right?

Yeah, sure I can. What a bunch of shit. One funny thing: all those young flaming liberals who voted for Obummer will whimper and whine now when they're forced to buy insurance that, in most cases, they don't need. Poetic justice.

I suspect the real justice will come in November. These dudes have changed all the rules, apparently believing they were going to stay in power forever. They won't and they'll whine and cry when the same tactics are used against them in the future. And they will be, you can rest assured of that.

Old poets die

I see Todd Moore has died. All the poets are writing about him, as poets are wont to do when some popular figure passes the scene. Well, if they identify with his slant on things. But not always.

I published some of Moore's stuff over the years. We had a bit of contact over the years, always cordial and friendly. I was sorry to hear he was gone and he was a very good poet. But I won't be writing any elegy poems for him because we weren't that close.

I did write such a poem when Ben Hiatt died. I had a close connection with Ben, who went way back in the little circus. Ben was a trailblazer in that world in the way most of us are not--I know lots of poets but none who reaches back as far as he did. Ben hung with the real Beats, the ones everyone today tries to emulate.

Ben didn't get a mention in these circles. So here's one for him.

Elegy to a Tall Man Gone

(for Ben Hiatt)

I was sorry to hear that you
had dragged up, old friend,
packed your bags for that
long last trip.

We had a lot in common.
Same age, both of us
rural redneck types who
somehow found the urge to write.

We both came from
families torn by strife,
had fathers who could become
monsters in the shade of alcohol.

Men rattled by the Depression
and the War, men who never
learned to love enough to
equal the hate they bore.

We grew up rough and tough,
lived life hard and fast, out on
our own young, learning
all about survival.

Too much booze, too many women,
it all became a circus
with descending rings, emptying
faster than it refilled,

A reservoir drained through
all those broken rifts, the
run-off of time spilled
out the broken edges of life.

You lost your breath finally,
after years of breathing from a tank,
the heart gave up, couldn't carry
the burden any longer.

Put you down to silence, where
the mountain winds and
the spring sun you loved
never find an entry.

We all go finally to dark quiet.
Some call it eternal rest, this
withdrawal from the quest
to find our place here.

Smoke rattles in
my lungs this morning.
I have no tank-yet-but
I am not far behind.

I raise a cold beer to you,
Tall Man, one a head above
most of the crowd in
more ways than one.

You now know the answer
to the mystery. Soon, I
shall know it too.

May we laugh in heaven
or hell, or in the blank space
of nothing, if that is

our destiny.

The late Ben Hiatt

Next couple of weeks....

Woman coming over later today to spend 10 days at the Jazzbo abode. I'm looking forward to it, needless to say. I enjoy the company.

Today's one of my "coffee with the boys" days, so she's meeting me at the store around 4:00 so we can do some grocery shopping. She'll stop in Bruceton on the way over and pick up a couple jugs of my favorite libation. I'll stock up on grapefruit juice today. Hold 'em tigers, boys!

I am now a member of the local VFW post. My brother (who's an officer out there) put my name up for membership last week and I was approved; that never would have happened had one enemy there not died some time ago.

The old dude hated me because I wrote about his son's DUI arrest, and then wrote about it again a year later when the son never had faced the charges in court--the "fix" had been put in by a local big shot, according to what the guy's wife told someone. My call to the assistant DA and article about the talk we had greased the skids and he received the regular mandatory sentence a week or so later. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

As I told the DA, they put my ass in jail twice for it and nobody waited a year to do so. That "it fell through the cracks" shit didn't fly with me. It was stuffed through the cracks and then covered up. For a while, anyway.

I don't plan to spend a lot of time at the club. Too damned expensive for one thing -- I can buy a whole jug for what 4 or 5 drinks cost out there. But it's good to have an occasional place to get a mixed drink, and, with the exception of the country club, it's the only place in this part of the country where that's possible, short of Jackson.

AND, I'll only drink out there when I have a ride home. I've learned that lesson the hard way.

Pointless update

Spent the weekend in Camden again, came home yesterday. She'll be coming over here Friday for a few days. I think it's supposed to get up into the sixties this weekend, so I might fire up the smoker. Probably won't, but it's a thought I've had recently. Might be pushing it a bit, because Monday is predicted to be rainy and that might move in early. Storms, too.

Speaking of storms, February was the first since records began when no tornadoes happened anywhere in the states. Locally, it was our third coldest on record.

Waiting to get the edits back before I can progress in that direction. Damn, I'm sick of that book. Think I'll take a considerable time off before starting a new one, or finishing one of those already started. All work and no play....