General Commentary (May be military related) email: Kudzuacres1@juno.com

 
Over on Possumblog, Terry Oglesby posts on something called corporal tunnel syndrome. I think maybe it is actually a real disease caused by indulging too much in hillbilly culture. It could explain the large number of of wrist braces I see in the mall here in Huntsville. Strangely, most are worn by women. I suppose in this day of equality between the sexes, the little woman is getting in more swings and developing corporal tunnel syndrome.
posted by Larry at 3:47 PM

 
The local paper had a story a couple of days ago about an Army National Guard Military Police Company being called up. Last night, a friend told me that the Armor Division at the post near his home has been notified of a January deployment. Reserve unit activations have been extended by a year. The nattering nabobs are out in full force. Looks like a long, cold winter to me. Oh sorry, I think I am mixing my portents. Maybe it is not a cold winter we are looking toward.
posted by Larry at 3:24 PM

 
Well time for the monthly update on my stockmarket success and possible retirement age. Looks like I will not have to work a day past 99. That is a one year improvement since the end of July. At this rate of improvement I might actually live long enough to retire. I am looking forward sitting on my front porch and picking my banjo. Ever notice that no one ever says: "The Porsche belongs to the Banjo Picker"? Banjo pickers have porches, not Porsches. That first ess is all important. With my Banjo picking skills, I may have to bone up on Buck Knife handling or close in the porch. A question for you English majors out there, where does the closing quotation mark go in that banjo picking sentence, before or after the ??
posted by Larry at 3:13 PM

 
In a post below, I may have left you with the impression that we hillbillies are a violent people. Actually, we are so I guess I need not apologize for leaving that impression. I have been aggravated for years by the multicultural drivel spouted by our "elites". Especially galling was their refusal to accept the merits of the hillbilly/redneck culture. According to them, there is nothing wrong or inferior about a culture such as the Moslem culture of northern Nigeria which condemns women to death by stoning for having a child as the result of rape, but let one hillbilly smack his wife or demonstrate the merits of a Buck Knife on a Saturday night and the elites are up in arms about family violence. People end up in jail and the beatee ot cuttee has to bail them out. The fact is that knife fights and wife beatings are not something that we should aspire to retain even if they are basic to a colorful Southern subculture. Somethings are better relegated to the rubbish pile whether it is the vulgarity of the Sharia or the violence of a Saturday night in Appalachia.
posted by Larry at 2:43 PM

 
Good trip to Colorado for my son's wedding. The wedding went great. We have a wonderful new daughter-in-law from a very nice family and got to spend a week in the Rockies as a bonus. Visited the Harken fire site south of Denver, or at least the East and North sides of the burn. The Forest Service did a controlled burn on the Northeast side in 2000. The Harken fire stopped cold at the burn line. I lived in Germany for ten years. They have had a Forest Service for over 1000 years. The floors of the forests are clear of underbrush and the trees are in rows. In the land where the Green Party was born, the government actually manages the forests. A novel concept, don't you think? Maybe we could do that in the USA.

See post below on twits.
posted by Larry at 1:59 PM

 
Just read a post on the Sustainability Conference by Kim over at the Kim's Daily Rant. Last night, an old friend and I were talking about how much fun we had had growing up in no running water, no electricity, uninsulated houses heated by single wood burning fireplaces. We both really regret the loss of our cultural idenity caused by the introduction of electricity and running water. We couldn't agree if insulation and central heat were to be rued or not. One thing we do agree on is the idea that any twit who says that cultures need to be preserved even if it means people have to live in primitive conditions should be forced to live a few months in the conditions he praises as good for the world's poor. If the fool lived through the experience, maybe he would modify his views. If he didn't survive his adventure in living good, then the world would at least be a better place for the rest of us.

As far as cultural loss, we hillbillies have been able to maintain ours fairly well in the face of an all out assault by the broader American culture . Electricity and clean water turn out to actually help in our drunken Saturday night knife fights and wife beatings. You can see your objective clearer and the warm water works really well in the post fight cleanup.
posted by Larry at 1:45 PM