jinksto

We did the Gumbo here a few weeks ago to kick off the 2010 Festival of Life.   Now, it’s one thing to have a kickoff and quite another to actually play the game.  So let’s get our game on for the first Crawfish Boil of 2010

WHEN: 20 March 2010 – 3:00pm Eastern Time (convienent since we’re on Eastern Time, no?)
WHERE: Bubba’s House (ping me for directions)
WHAT CAN I BRING: A chair, if you don’t want to sit on the ground (but we’re cool with people sitting on the ground too). Your favorite drink if it’s anything other than water or (sweet) tea. If you *MUST* bring a gift then Bubba likes cigars and I like rum but none is required… seriously.
WHY: Seriously? I mean really? You’ve obviously not been to one of our get-togethers.  If you had you wouldn’t have to ask.   Still, since you asked,  the primary reason is that Bubba and I (along with our family) enjoy cooking and eating crawfish. Secondly, lot’s of people show up, and one our favorite things to do is hang out with (a lot) of good friends eating good food … with our fingers.

Lest you be worried that we don’t know what we’re doing be soothed that jinksto was born and raised in Louisiana and has a good handle on all things cajun.  Bubba, likewise, was born and raised in Mississippi which is a bit like your own crazy cousin that everyone likes to hang out with… except, without shoes.   End result, we knows what we’s doin’.

RSVP: As Bubba so eloquently put it, “we’ll have ‘em shipped in from Louisiana and if we run out (Lord Forbid!!!) we caint just run down to the creek and get more.” So, we need a pretty close count to make sure that we have enough to feed everyone. jinksto@gmail.com should get you into contact with the right folks.

What if I don’t like…: Stop.  Just stop.  When have you ever known us to cook something that you didn’t like?  I reckon if you’ve never broke bread with us this might be a concern.  If that’s the case then please be assured that there’ll be plenty to eat.  If you’re REALLY concerned then pack a lunch but do come out anyway and hang out with us. 

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For all of our boys and girls that get up every day and do the job that sane men fear.  

This one though, is for for CPL J.R. Searcy

If you’re on Facebook join this group and leave a thought for his family.

,,,

image by Burt Green and shamelessly stolen from FaceBook

I’m not sure why people keep forwarding this stuff to me.  You’d think that I had expressed my right wing beliefs somewhere public or something.  Still, it’s useful.

I couldn’t find the original source for this one but it looks like Patriots For America is a good place to start.

This is (apparently) a real billboard placed on I-75 in Florida and scheduled to stay up for 10 months.  I have no clue if that’s the case but if it is, more power too’em.

Here’s the original Link that was sent to me.

(thanks Chris)

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No playing around.  The site that I’m about to link sells you stuff and makes money off of what you buy.  However, they seem to have a good product so I wanted to share it.  In fact, the products are so good that I haven’t bought one yet just because I can’t pick the one that I want most.

Click Here and Have a look.

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Someone on FB asked for comments on this link. In that article… it’s not worth reading but feel free… Healy spends most of the article discussing the history of of the author of the original pledge.  Even bringing his cousin into it and managing to circle in a reference to Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  He forgot to mention that the authors great, great, great, nephew’s step brother was a pedophile but otherwise does a good job of proving that the pledge is a Socialist’s wet dream.

This resulted in everything from avowed atheists proclaiming that “Under God” is unconstitutional to people claiming that it’s a nationalist genuflection to the state.  I call hockey pucks.

Here’s what the pledge of allegiance means to me, personally.

I pledge allegiance

A most solemn promise to ally with, protect and defend.

to the flag of the United States of America,

A flag under which I have personally seen the blood of Americans spilled in your defense. If they could die for it (and for you) then I can pledge my intent to ally with it against all comers. I know what the colors used in my flag mean and I understand the symbolism of the shapes.

and to the republic for which it stands,

The whole republic. Fifty states covering most of a content and more. Nowhere in this pledge do I kneel before the Government of this nation or any state thereof. I pledge allegiance to the republic. That is, all states, all citizens.

I took another oath, that one to the Constitution, and by extension the republic for which IT stands. 

I swore to support and defend it against all enemies,  foreign and domestic. I swore that I would bear true faith and allegiance to the same. I finished that oath with the words, So Help Me God.

When I said those words I knew what they meant. Every damned one of them.  I probably understood more about them than anyone else in the room.  If that domestic enemy is the State or any state thereof and it attempts to destroy this republic I will defend the republic.

Against anyone.

Even you.

one nation under God,

Knowing full well that this was added by acclamation in 1954 and knowing in my heart that no man, and by extension, no country can stand without the blessing of God. Whether you believe in God or not, I do and since I do this nation suffers his benevolence. 

indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I have sworn my allegiance to the flag and to the republic for which it stands.  I have sworn my allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America. To allow that republic to become divided is a crime against those oaths.

Simple as that.

I may not agree with the folks on the other coast but I won’t let them divide the country.  I may think that Texas would make a great country all on its onesy but I won’t let them divide the nation either.

So Help Me God.

So there it is.  Jinksto’s take on the state religion.  Delivered in succinct easily digestible sentences.  Reckon all that time genuflecting to the State in Mrs LeBleu’s First Grade School Room really did a number on me. 

What say you?

(Thanks Matthew :0)

UPDATE:

Thank you GreyBeard, I had never seen this but it’s fantastic.

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One of the benefits of Facebook is that I don’t have to think.  Ok, maybe that’s not a benefit after all but it does allow me to share things quickly without writing paragraphs of detail around a particular topic.  Here’s some of the things that happened this week.  Several of them will be upcoming blog posts.  Some will fade into nothing but at least I will have shared them.

• Still working on the concealed carry permit.  Meeting at the Sherriff’s office on Monday.  Anyone that says it’s “too easy to get” is clueless.  I have no felony… scratch that, I have no criminal record at all, felonious or not.  I have an honorable discharge from the military and they want to see my DD214?  Really?
• Today was a long day in which I did basically nothing and helped two people.
• Really was an excellent week.  If I were a boy scout I’d have earned a STACK of merit badges this week.
• Crushed one persons dreams and made another persons year in the course of about an hour.  The two don’t cancel each other out the way I thought they would.
• “I’ll be honest with you ma’am… it aint like momma fixed it…” one of the greatest song lyrics ever?
• Got an awesome letter from a former co-worker/employee, really cool.  Need to share that too.
• NEW PLAN! I have decided to legally change my name and run for president of the USA in 2012.  My new name is, “The Other Two Are Idiots”.  Thanks for your vote.
• This was one of those weeks where there was a perfect storm of things that have been floating around for weeks all came to a point in their progress where I had to do something with them.  That caused an amazing amount of work for me.
• I pulled off a big one on Friday.  Big win on a lot of levels for several people.  I’ll tell the story when I can protect the innocent and time provides anonymity to those involved.
• I posted this late Friday evening with the comment:
• Life. Hard.
• 

Not sure that you can end a week in a better way than sitting around a fire in the yard.

Remember my recent debate with my ever so educated friend in “Long Winter…”? If you haven’t read it please do.  It won’t take long to understand. 

Some of you may have been wondering what kind of debate I was expecting.  Well, if you want an answer then you only have to look as far as CJ’s “Sharia law? Not in the US?” post over at An Angry American.  Go there. Read the comments and understand that this is what intelligent discussion looks like.

We noted that we didn’t agree on a point and we still do not agree completely but in the end we both gave ground when presented with superior facts or experience. 

We noted the differences in our experiences as interesting rather than “lies” and when there was inconclusive information we both sought external input for feedback. 

We thanked one another for the insights and for the time, effort and thought spent crafting the dialog.

That, my friends, is how you have a debate.  Online or otherwise.  I respect her position more now than I did when I first read her post and we both learned something about the others views which is the whole point of debate. 

Those skills are severely lacking in many who would argue on the side of the left.  Not completely lacking mind you.  I have dear friends with left of center views whose opinion I respect  a great deal but they are most decidedly not in good company.

I’m off now to research my next comment for CJ’s blog.  I think I can win this fight if I can just figure out a way to label her a racist.  NEENER NEENER NEENER PPPPHHHBBBTTTT!  YES WE CAN!

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From somewhere deep in the interwebs comes this story.  I have no idea as to the original source but I have seen it a few times and thought you might like it:

While suturing up a cut on the hand of a 75 year old rancher, whose hand had been caught in the gate while working his cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Obama, and
his being our president.

The old rancher said, "Well, ya know, Obama is just a Post Turtle."

Now not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked, What’s a "Post Turtle?"

The old rancher said, "When you’re driving down a
country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that’s a post turtle." The old rancher saw the puzzled look on the doctor’s face so he continued to explain.

"You know he didn’t get up there by himself, he doesn’t belong up there, he doesn’t know what to do while he’s up there, he sure as heck ain’t goin’ anywhere, and you just gotta wonder what kind of dumbass put him up there in the first place."

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Thanks GB

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In perhaps the best indicator of the fallacy of global warming, I’ve exceeded my monthly post count record with 22 posts (now 23) in February.   The cold weather has been good for something at least.

On another note, I managed to be placed into the enviable position of invoking a corollary of Godwin’s Law last night.

The corollary known as reductio ad klanum states simply that in online debates surrounding policies of the current president the first person to reduce the debate to race cedes the argument and admits defeat.  

I won’t repost the whole dreary mess but here’s the point where it went bad.  The question of the public option in healthcare was raised and the following ensued:

Liberal:

oooooooohhhhhhh! I get it now! Is that why it is called an "OPTION" ??????

jinksto:

One wonders… Is it still mandatory that you have insurance under this "new" plan that Obama has been working on in secret? Because if it is, it’s not an "option" if you are required to buy this because you’re too poor to afford Blue Cross.

The truth is that I hope there’s not a public option in this bill but we won’t know until "The One" chooses to reveal it to us.

We’ve said monopolies in three separate posts in this discussion as if they truly exist. Which monopolies? You’re repeating democratic rhetoric. There is no monopoly in the healthcare industry. It makes a good speech to say "these evil healthcare monopolies are eating your babies!" but there isn’t one. A monopoly is a single source of ownership or exclusive control of something. No one company in the healthcare industry has that. The last I checked there were 31 different companies that are providing major medical insurance in the USA. Are you saying that there are 31 different monopolies in the same industry?

( Note: I later learned that Obama HAS posted “his” plan in advance of the upcoming debate. It was a busy day at work, what can I say. His plan DOESN’T include a public option but… he supports it.  Nice that.)

Liberal:

I have learned long ago not to engage in a dialogue with someone who is set in his/her ways….As the old saying goes: "You can lead a horse to the trough, but you can’t make him dring" !

Let’s face it! It is really not so much about the plan itself as it is about "The One" who has proved that he cares so much about REAL AMERICANS than about Corporations and Blood Suckers! Period! The end!

jinksto:

I love that response. I get it a lot from people that lean to the left. When they find that their position is indefensible they tell me that *I* am impossible to reason with and hint that I’m a racist. Very nice. I"m not offended, I get that a lot.

"The One" is a narcissistic ass in my opinion but my dislike for him has more to do with his ultra liberal ideas about entitlement than his race. (I didn’t like Clinton either by the way but I thought Carter was cool because he was a farmer… I was 10 around then I think) I haven’t seen that Obama proved anything other than the fact that he’s a complete failure. The great uniter hasn’t united a single thing and has managed to drive us into record debt while drawing a hard line between the parties. You can rant about "Corporations" and "Blood Suckers" but you’ll need to provide proof beyond party rhetoric to ever get anywhere in an argument.

Liberal:

As I said: Never argue with someone who has his mind set! Because it doesn’t matter what facts or reason he/she is presented with…they are always discarded and replaced with rethorics… and by the way….better get your facts right…."The One" is not the one who claimed to be the "The Great UNITER"…. and he has not "ACCOMLISHED" his MISSION yet…after all he has to clean up 8 years of damage that was inflicted upon our country by those who cater only to the few, and who still haven’t gotten over the fact that this country is the country of all and every abiding citizen regardless of RACE, religion or origin!

(Origin?  Where the hell did that come from?)

jinksto:

While I appreciate your right to defend your position, you haven’t actually presented any facts. Until you do, I’m at a loss as to how to respond.

Since you’ve implied twice now that I’m a racist I’m implementing a modified version of Godwin’s Law. You lose.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin’s_law

Liberal:

…and unfortunately…you’ll always be lost!
ha…ha…ha…wikipedia????? you must be kidding!!!! ha…ha…ha…. Ok….I lose …ha…ha..ha..have a good night!…and please no more posts!

Reasoned discourse at it’s best.