YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION

Well, you know
We all want to change the world
*

You tell me that it's evolution

Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction

Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right

You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan

Occupy Wallstreet Plan

1. Uhhh, we want more free stuff:

B. Uhhh, we want to not have to work to live:

3. Uhhh, we want the Jews to quit being bankers and stuff:

4. I mean D. Uhhh, we want to not have to pay back our loans that we are not paying back anyway:

A. Uhhhh,:

You ask me for a contribution

We're doing what we can
But when you want money
for people with minds that hate

All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right
Ah

ah, ah, ah, ah, ah...

You say you'll change the constitution

Well, you know
We all want to change your head

You tell me it's the institution

Well, you know
You better free you mind instead



But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao

Che Guevara



You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right
all right, all right, all right

O.W.ers brainpower

                                                        ALRIGHT!

For a complete breakdown of why the O.W.ers are rioting click on this link to Pitchpulls blog. He posted a clip of the smartest person in the movement and this woman sums it all up in a "nut"shell.

THREE DAYS WITH MY BROTHER

Thursday:

Wednesday I wrote about running a route with fellow technician and brother Mike. We had a pleasant surprise of driving through a covered bridge near Bainbridge.
Today we are in my truck running my route and we are way up north instead of out west. No covered bridges in sight. I looked at the laptop and saw we were going way up to Atlanta Indiana. I called the number and got a relay service for the deaf. These are always difficult calls to run for obvious reasons made even more difficult due to the fact the relay service could not make contact with the customer.

I don't know sign and my handwriting is ridiculous so this can get complicated.
I jokingly asked Mike if he knew any sign language, he thought for a minute and held up his hand and I thought I was going to learn something, then he stuck out his middle finger. After over 40 years in the business that’s the extent of his knowledge of a second language. It cracked me up!

The day was going pretty smoothly and it looked like we might finish early then we ran into the water heater from hell.
It's a fairly new model with a heat pump mounted on top to assist in heating the water. What a great green idea huh?
One big draw back is it expels cold air when it runs, that may be a good thing in the summer but in the winter, not so much.
Nothing like taking the simplest piece of equipment in your house and turning it into the space shuttle, what could go wrong there?

When we got there expecting just a run of the mill in and out call, we were surprised with 3 big boxes pre-sent from the manufacturer. They were for a leaking evaporator repair. And I thought I was all through with refrigeration repair.

I took us over 3 hours to complete the job, not bad considering neither of us had ever laid a hand on one of these monsters before.
Glad Mike was with me, because it definitely was a two-man job.
Our short day was not to be, we didn't get home till after 7:00.

Friday:
So far so good, looks like a good day to wind down and hopefully get done early.
After the day me and Mike had on Wednesday we needed an easy route.

3:00 PM
The day is almost done, it's been a good three days doing the ride along with Mike. It's been close to 20 years since we have been allowed to do that, back when I was just starting out and he was showing me the ropes. Work has been slow lately and they started allowing techs to ride together again as a training aid.
Even though I've been doing this closing in on 20 years I can still learn a thing or two from the old guy.

3:30 PM

Driving down the interstate towards our last call and my eyelids are getting heavy. I notice my ride along tech, brother Mike has been awfully quiet for several miles.

Abhh, just as I thought.
Old service technicians never die they just fade away into their afternoon naps.

A BRIDGE TOO FAR

One advantage to running a route and repairing appliances instead of working in a factory is having a day like today. Got to ride along with my brother Mike today.  He is a repair tech at the same company I work for. He has been there twice as long as me with over 40 years of service there.
I didn't have enough calls to make a route today so our manager had me ride with him today, tomorrow and Fri. he doesn't have a route so he will be riding with me.
The first half of us today had us way out in the country in the western part of our area in covered bridge country.  It's a good day when you get to drive your service van across one of those.

THE RUINS

An allegory of it's statues
An allegory of it's fountains


Lunch break, don't really want to eat today, option # 1 find the nearest McDonalds and spend a half hour in their parking lot. I prefer McDonalds parking lot because I'm not tempted to eat their food very often.  Hardees or Burger King on the other hand have great burgers and the aroma of meat being cooked there can be too tempting to the unrepentant carnivore that I am.  Option # 2, find a nice quiet park with a shady spot to park and a bathroom close by and I'm all good.
So driving through the north side of Indy looking for Option #2, I spy a sign, Holliday Park.
Cool, let's check it out! Big park, lots of shady spots in the parking lot, can't see any perverted local politicians lurking in the bushes that might try to sully my reputation, so it looks like a go. As I'm driving around looking for the perfect parking spot. I see some sort of structure that looked like the ruins of a gothic style building. I find a nice shady spot to park the service van and go to investigate. Several feet away from the crumbling wall and fountain were three very tall limestone monuments that reminded me of the obelisk found on the moon in Stanley Kubricks' epic film 2001 A Space Odyssey.

 I had one of those de ja vi moments, I've been here before, maybe 10 or 15 years ago. The only thing I remember about this place were these structures.
It's called The Ruins and that's exactly what I believed it was, it looks like the last standing wall of some old gothic building.
Reading the bronze plaque on the middle obelisk facing the ruins are the words,
The Ruins
An allegory of its statues
An allegory of its fountains
Hmmm. I can figure this out, or at least come up with my own interpretation.
I walked around to the other side of the obelisks and got a nice view of the ruins through them and read the first part of the Preamble of the Constitution that was carved into the limestone. "WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN ORDER TO FORM A MORE PERFECT UNION".
Hmmm, ok more here to work with than I thought.
Back to the bronze plaque, allegory, my interest in this style of writing was sparked back in school when I read the George Orwell's Animal Farm. I loved that book and the way it made its political points through that story. I have made some feeble attempts at this style of writing in my blog, not because I think I possess any kind of talent for it. I did it because I enjoy trying to say something in a less than straightforward manner. Having said that,  I will put my own spin on the objects in this park and try to do some research later to find out the real interpretation later.
The Ruins seem to be the main focus of what is being conveyed here. Walking around them I see a non-working fountain over a mostly dried up pool of dirty water, the fountain is in front of the last remaining wall of what must have been some grand and foreboding structure.
There are three stone figures straining to hold up the last bit of brickwork.
Looking through the gaps in the 3 obelisks at the fountain and the wall I see the obelisks as the constitution, which is our country's foundation. The gaps between them are some of the nations leaders and their followers that hold this document in contempt. With malice and deceit they have undermined this great gift bestowed upon us by our founding fathers.
The fountain, once overflowing with freedom and riches produced by this nation, now holds nothing but a small stagnant puddle.
The only thing that stands between a crumbling wall and just another pile of rubble are these remaining few who are the last remaining producers of our nation, who are over-burdened with more and more dependents. The wall is this country and it cannot be saved with just a few doing the work of holding it up.

At some point these remaining few will shrug as Atlas did.
As I pondered on this, time slipped away from me.
My thought process is interrupted
My hunger makes its presence known with a slight pain.
I look at the time, my diversion is almost over.
The countdown timer on my watch sounds the alert.
Someday maybe I will shrug
But today is not that day
Time to get back on the wall
and hold up some bricks.

A RACERS EDGE

He had his Indy car flat out on the backstretch. A rookie mistake up ahead had cars piling up in front of him and now he was caught up in the maelstrom of flaming cars. His car was launched in the air high enough to clear the fence. The out of control racecar flipped end over end several times and as the car finally came to rest, both car and driver were engulfed in flames.
The track officials later would make the merciful point that the driver was most likely killed before the flames ever reached him. That was little consolation to family, friends and his many fans. One of racing sports greatest drivers was gone. Bill Vukovich, "Vuky" perished going for his third consecutive Indy 500 win.

 Bill Vukovich "Vuky" Dec. 13, 1918 - May 30 1955

It was Memorial Day 1964 and our family like most Americans that day were enjoying a BBQ and listening to the race.
I remember us kids sitting on a picnic table and mom came up to us crying, she told us Eddie Sachs had been killed in a horrible wreck at Indy.
That racing fatality made a lasting impression on me.



Eddie Sachs, May 28, 1927 May 30 1964



Vukovich was killed just 2 months before I was born. I didn't know a lot about him until I read the book "VUKOVICH" written by Bob Gates an old friend of mine.
His first book was a biography on Jim Hurtibese titled "Hurk Hurtibese". Bob’s primary job is supervisor of a factory in the Indy area, but his passion is open wheel auto racing. He is a feature writer for Open Wheel Magazine and so far has these two books published. I may be prejudiced because of my friendship with Bob, but you will not find a better writer of biographies than Bob Gates.
Whenever I proof read a blog that I am writing and think, "hmmm that's not too bad" I just read some of Bobs work and I am again humbled and realize what a hack I am.
Reading those books and especially Vukovich I am shocked at the carnage that took place in auto racing in that era.

Although there have many great improvements in safety gear for the drivers, the biggest change has been the way the race cars are designed to break into parts upon impact. The old torpedo shaped cars like the one Vuky died in was built like a tank and stayed intact while rolling end over end.
The dissipation of inertia happens much more quickly today and most times the driver’s cockpit is separated from the rest of the car and comes to rest with the driver shaken up but relatively unharmed.

I love auto racing, but I didn't watch the beginning of the race last Sunday.
We were working on the rental house again, when I got home I turned on the race expecting it to be pretty much over, I was surprised to see that there were only a few laps completed due to a red flag. Huh, must be a rain delay..... Uh wait this is Vegas, and it looks sunny out there, oh shit, must have been a bad wreck.
They were saying the drivers were heading to a drivers meeting.
Then they showed a replay, I couldn't believe how devastating that accident was. It brought back to mind some of the old footage of the horrible wrecks of the 50's and 60's, but I don't remember seeing anything like this. The numbers of racecars engulfed in flames and being launched in the air simultaneously was jaw dropping. Any one of those incidents could have resulted in a fatality. The longer the red flag and all the somber faces, you just knew it was not going to be good news. Then the finality of the loss of this years two-time Indy 500 winner was made official. I must be getting soft in my old age, watching the reactions and tears shed by the drivers and friends really got to me.
Later I started thinking about the inevitable second-guessing that we would have to endure about the safety of auto racing.

Was the Vegas track too small and fast for so many cars is a fair question, but is the sport overall too costly in the terms of human life is not.
Yeah auto racing is a very dangerous sport, the difference between being too slow to be a champion and too fast to stay off the wall is razor thin, it is not an activity we have to have in order to survive. Think about all the things we could live without if food and shelter were all we strived for. We don't need to play football, baseball, basketball, go scuba diving, go motorcycles riding or skydive. All we really have to do is work come home and eat then go to bed. Oh shit! We would all be Amish!
We could spare ourselves a lot of broken bones if we just played it safe and surrounded ourselves with pillows. But damn, we would be such boring assholes.

After all the second guessing about the tragic loss of Dan Weldon is done, drivers will continue to climb into their machines and ride that razors edge, because that’s what they do. And the fans will be dragging coolers around the track or pulling back the handle of their Lazyboys with a cold one in hand to watch them because that's what we do.
And I will be in my Lazyboy with a cold one in hand watching these skilled daredevils go round and round riding that razors edge and I will pray we don’t lose another Dan Weldon

Dan Weldon, 22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011

WHO THROWS A SHOE, HONESTLY?

That was Austin Powers reaction to being hit on the head by a flying shoe thrown by Random Task.
I had to explain to my kids why their father was rolling on the floor laughing hysterically at a henchman of Doctor Evil's named Random Task throwing a shoe was the funniest damned thing I had seen in years.
I could not have expected them to know about Oddjob from the James Bond movie Goldfinger who threw a metal-rimmed hat that could cut the head off of a statue.

 I'm sure they were in the vicinity when I watched the old classic on TV but I doubt the old Bond movies would make much of an impression on kids 20 years ago.
Those two movies got some replay time in the old noggin cinema this morning after I read a story on Joseph Hyungmin Son, the guy who played Random Task in the Austin Powers movie.
Seems that Son is accused of killing his prison cellmate, I didn't even know that the guy was in prison.
Also noted, the guy he killed was a sex offender (no big loss there.)
How Random came to be in prison was pretty bizarre. He was arrested for vandalism, while in custody his DNA was checked against the database and it came up a match.
Back in 1990 Task was involved with the kidnapping, torture and sexual assault of a woman, no one was charged in that crime until Random Task got pinched for vandalism.
The perv he killed was in the joint for failure to register as a sex offender.

Now here is two weighty subjects that just begs for a good debate.

Many believe that DNA collections should be mandatory starting at birth and go into a central databank.
Also there are people that feel that child molesters, after they have paid their debt to society should not be punished again by being required to register.
Arguments can be made on both sides on both of those controversial subjects.
I happen to believe that, ACLU be damned, compulsory DNA registration would work for me. I'm not planning to leave my DNA laying around anywhere where it could get me into trouble; hell I don't even know where Monica Lewinsky is.
As far as the sex registry goes, when you look at the recidivism rate for these offenders it's pretty close to 100% and when you count the ones that continue to offend but just figured how not to get caught it is 100%.
So I say hell yes, make em register, I will go you one better. Keep them in prison FOREVER!
I didn't really look at this story about Joseph Hyungmin Son to write about either one of these two debatable subjects.
I just thought it would be a funny twist if it turns out that Random Task beat the child molester to death with his shoe.
You just know someone there would say, "Who beats a perv to death with a shoe, honestly?”

 

REFLECTIONS

What's better than a pot of chili on a camping trip?

Two pots!

Jojos birthday request was a birthday camping party at our Nashville Indiana lake retreat.

Several friends and family joined in, some stayed Sat. night and some didn't. But everyone had a great time. Thank you Mom for the ham salad, it was a big hit as always. Apparently my chili was as well, it was finished off last night. As we sat around the campfire last night, I was reminded of the movie Blazing Saddles.

Hank FM was on his best behavior and for a change we were the loudest people on the lake last night.
We broke camp this morning and drove the 10 minutes to Brown County State Park, Indiana's mountain range, well ok, hill range.

Though the fall colors have not yet peaked, it was still beautiful and worth the time it took.
I love this time of year, Sat. morning I woke up early to do some fishing. Then sat around the campfire drinking my coffee and got a real treat.
The sun rising behind us got high enough to illuminate the colorful trees on the opposite side of the lake.

Even though the lake has not yet refilled since the dredging operation, when the sunlight hit the trees we got doubly blessed with the reflection of them off the lake. This lit up our dark camp sight with an amazingly brilliant and colorful palette.

I took some pictures knowing that it would not do this vision justice, so I just sat there by the fire drinking my coffee and enjoying the best bacon sandwich I have ever had.
This serene event lasted the better part of an hour until the angle of the sun washed the contrast away.
Our company would not be here for a few more hours but at least me and Jojo got to enjoy Gods handiwork.
God knew we needed this respite, the last two weekends we have been trying to restore our rental house for human habitation. The last less than honest occupants had left the place severely damaged and trashed.
Apparently those "people" loved the smell of cat urine. Not only did they trash the place, they wrote a bad check for the month past due rent. Then the topper, they hadn't paid the sewer bill for two years and got a lien put on my house. I guess the sewer company didn't feel the need to contact the actual landlord  and tell me about the scawflaws or I would have evicted their asses long ago

Anyway, dealing with this has taken a toll on us and this weekend is just what the doctor ordered.
Jojo walks down to the dock to fish and I sit here and continue to enjoy the beautiful view with her now nicely framed in the foreground. I think about all the hard work we have been doing on the rental house and decided not to let the handiwork of evil people encroach on this wonderful weekend. The weather is perfect, soon I will be surrounded by some of the best people in the world,

one of which is the light of my life, my grandson Trenton.

 I decide not to let some of what is the worst this planet has to suffer to infect my spirit.
Monday I will get back to my rat killing. For now, I am a very happy man.
And all is right here on planet Earth

For shits and giggles I reversed the reflections on the lake and got a nice surprise.

I WISH I COULD WRITE LIKE THIS !

A Tea Party Invitation to Morgan Freeman

One of the original national tea party organizers, Akbar invites Morgan to experience an actual tea party rally.

Dear Mr. Freeman,
My name is Ali Akbar. I’m a 26 year-old African-American small business owner and a tea party activist. I’m not writing to rake you over the coals in the way that many conservatives have done in the last 48 hours. Heck, I wrote a passionate open-letter refuting many of your claims already, but this is not that. This is an honest and standing invitation. I do believe that you are wrong in what you said about the tea party, but I would rather prove it to you than castigate you for your comments.
I also understand that your reflexive comments came from experience. You grew up in a different America than the one that I was blessed to be born into. We both grew up in the south, but I never saw ‘White Only’ signs. I’ve been called a name or two in my three decades, but racism has always been the exception in my life, not the rule, as it probably was in your youth. I understand your suspicion of conservative political movements. It is rooted in pain and fear and memory, and though I never saw the horrors of segregation that you did, we share that cultural heritage.
I’ve been a fan of yours all my life. From “Driving Miss Daisy” to “Lean on Me” to “The Shawshank Redemption,” I idolized you as a boy. Growing up without a father, you were one of the strong black men in my life who gave me a model to follow. Each of the characters you played had dignity and confidence. I tried to emulate the strength you projected. While many of my friends headed down the all-too-familiar path of drugs, unwed pregnancies and crime, I’ve striven to live a life with dignity, be an example for my brothers and make my mother proud.
My favorite of your movies was “The Power of One.” I must’ve watched it a hundred times, crying every time when your character Geel Piet was killed by the racist South African. Geel Piet was brave and heroic, even in the face of death, because he knew that the hate that killed him was a trifle in comparison to the love that PK’s anti-apartheid movement was spreading. It is with that spirit that I’m writing to you this morning.
I’ve attended dozens of tea party events. I’ve helped organize them, and I’ve even spoken at a few. The tea party is not what is often depicted in the news. It is people of all colors who are terribly concerned about the direction that America is heading. We don’t trust big government to make decisions for us. And we fear that the present administration’s spending is going to lead our country down a path to insolvency, much like what Greece is currently facing.
Your comments about the tea party have caused me physical pain. You’ve rekindled the old painful paradigm of Uncle Tom – that any black man who votes Republican is some kind of sellout. It’s not true. I work hard, pay my taxes, love Jesus, and I’m good to my family and community. In effect, your comments have stereotyped an entire group of people. And I know in my soul that you must regret that on some level.
There’s already plenty of groupthink among American blacks. Over 90% of us vote Democrat with religious regularity, and we have been doing so for over fifty years. I realized a few years ago that the Democrats’ promises of equality bestowed by government wasn’t working and will never work. I came to believe that redistributionist policies with the goal of social justice was essentially creating a new plantation within the federal government. Scraps might be thrown our way, but dependence on the plantation would be the inevitable result.
Over half a century since we started voting for Democrat policies, blacks in America are worse off than before. Black Americans are more likely to get involved with drugs, go to prison, and die younger than our white counterparts. Over 70% of our children are born out of wedlock. Our abortion rate has never been higher. There are two explanations for these results. 1) Blacks are an inferior race and can’t take care of themselves. 2) Despite the best of intentions, the government has created and implemented “social justice” policies that promote perpetual dependence. I choose to believe the latter. Therefore, I have become a Republican.
Mr. Freeman, I’m not asking you to adopt my political views. You’re in your seventies, and a political shift is not in your future. I’m reaching out to you because I want you to think better of your fellow countrymen. Barack Obama is in the White House, and Herman Cain just won the Florida straw poll. America is the land of opportunity for black Americans like never before.
I’m hoping that you’ll come to a tea party in Tennessee — the place of your birth. Really anywhere in the country that works for you; I’ll set it up with the one of the thousands of activists I know around our great country. I’d be delighted to introduce you to good people who will welcome you with open arms, disagree with you, and then feed you some of the best barbeque you’ve ever tasted.
Racism is an ugly thing, but I assure you that it is part of our past, not our present.
It takes bravery to admit that you may have made a mistake. But, for Geel Piet, bravery is like breathing. It’s just something you do.
I hope you’ll take me up on my offer.
Sincerely,
Ali Akbar
ali@wclients.com
Readers can engage by helping Akbar force Freeman to respond by going to YourMoveMorgan.com

IN MY TOP TEN FAVORITE SCENE LIST

We all have our favorite movies or actors or scenes. Acting is an art form that if done correctly you don't really think about how great of an actor they are while your enjoying the movie. You just get pulled into the believability of the story. If it is done poorly, you not only know it, it destroys your ability to suspend belief and enjoy the flick, i.e. John Mellencamp, Falling From Grace & George Strait, Pure Country.
Plan Nine From Outer Space is so bad that it is actually entertaining to watch, kind of like the first few weeks of a new season of American Idol.

It's late on a Saturday night; Jojo has long ago entered slumber land. It's moments like this that have me going back through some saved DVR tidbits that I only watch by myself. No, get your mind out of the damned gutter, it's not porno. Sad to say these days that sort of thing does not rule my life anymore.
I have some scenes on there that I just can't delete. My favorite that I just watched again for the hundredth time is in the last 20 minutes of Absence Of Malice. It's the scene that takes place during the hearing of Michael Gallagher (Paul Newman) and reporter Megan Carter (Sally Field).
There wasn't a bad actor in that scene and Paul Newman? Forget about it, he was one of the best of the best. But that scene was absolutely stolen by Wilfred Brimley. One of my favorite parts of that scene is Brimley (US Assistant Attorney General Wells) chewing out Sally Fields and her lawyer about them trying to invoke their right to protect their sources and Brimley goes on to talk about the irresponsibility of people in journalism. Then he gets pissed and says, "now I want them names!"
He may have been acting but the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes probably scared the piss out of everybody in the room.
That scene reminds me of a small part Brimley played (The Post Master General) in Seinfeld when he was chewing Kramer ass off and brought him to tears, it was funny as hell.

The great thing about Brimley is in addition to having great acting chops he also has great common sense and conservative political views.

That’s a rare bird in Hollywood.
The star-struck congress love to have Hollywood luminaries come testify before their various bullshit investigative committees. I would love them call Brimley someday to testify.

Another movie that produced a great and memorable scene was from A Few Good Men. Jack Nicholson's character made the most compelling argument in that courtroom talking about the type of people who enjoy the freedoms of this nation, then questions the very manner in which it's provided. “But deep down in places they don't like to talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall”!

I know it's just a pipe dream of mine to see a Wilford Brimley testify before a congressional hearing. He's just not hot enough for those leering congressmen, also “they can't handle the truth!”.

 Sorry, I just couldn't resist that worn out cliché.