No one wants to take away guns....

I often feel the same way

 

“I am at the moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century. When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip.” ~ Ignatius J. Reilly

On Going home....

“I have to see a thing a thousand times before I see it once.” ~ Thomas Wolfe

The top photo is from the front porch looking south at Grandma Teenie's farm on the outside of the town in Western Wisconsin where I grew up. I don't know how many acres it encompasses, but there is an old farmhouse, a small barn, junky garage, an old two story granary,tractor shed and a couple of smaller outbuildings , In the back of the fields there is about an acre of pines she planted when she bought the place.  In High School I would do some odd chores for her; l built a small hay rack, strung barbed wire, shoveled the horse shit out of the stalls, white wash the corral fence, helped put the hay up in the barn.  That was a long time ago, when she was just Teenie instead of Grandma Teenie.  When you have a name like Blanche another moniker seems to work a little better.  She was actually my brother-in-law's mother, Uncle Billy, but again, that was when he was just Bill and seriously skinny,  long before he became Uncle Billy.and mostly thin.  I digress too much.

I am not sure when Teeenie bought the farm.  I think the early 60's.  She never lived there, but bought it as a place to keep her horses and other strange and abandoned dogs, cats, chickens, ponies and what-nots.  She leased the acreage out in exchange for hay and feed corn.  A place she could drive to easily in whatever beat-up pick-up she happened to own.  A spot she could muck around in wearing rubber boats and old clothes.  the pick-ups always had dents, the clothes, holes and invariably the boots had tire patches on them where she had managed to poke holes in them.  "That is when she felt most comfortable.  It was always hard to realize that she did have a significant amount of money; I knew she had inherited a fair amount, as did her husband, Grandpa Bill, not to be confused with his son of the same name, who would later become my brother-in-law, Uncle Billy.
Again, I digress.  The Deal was that  our families, mine and Uncle Billy's, got rather entwined back in the sixties.  Uncle Billy, back when he was just plain Bill, dated my sister for years before they finally married.  She became Auntie Bo, or Bernice, though her real name was Jean then.  Bill's sister, Kathy, sat behind me all through Catholic grade school, as the nuns liked to keep things very alphabetical.  In High School Kathy was a lifeguard at the pool on the army post near by, as was Bill and my girlfriend, Nancy, an my brother Chuck, who of course later became Uncle Chuck, and married a woman name Jean, who of course, was Aunt Jean.  To add to the mix, my father, Eugene, who was Grandpa Gene, raised pheasants out at the farm.  He was always good friends with Grandpa Bill and Grandma Teenie way before anyone was a Grandparent or Uncle or Aunt.  And, with all of that, I became the quasi-hired hand at the farm, tending not only to Teenie's chores, but those of my father,too.
It is only confusing if you want it to be, and it really is no never mind......other than the FARM rolled on year after year.
The families grew.  Aunt Bo and Uncle Billy produced Adam, Jonas, Emily and Eliot. I added Max and Miriam. There was also, Josh and Matt and Sal, then, Hattie & Will.  With that many grandchildren, why,gosh, Teenie put in a in-ground swimming pool, a gazebo an a barbecue pit. "Marvelous," is how she put it.

musical interlude.....

Wisconsin is broke....gimmee a break and gimmee a bonus

maybe this slipped by some folks last week. It was a Saturday, after all and the front page of my local newspaper had a story about "Thirty Rabbits found in 'Horrific State'."

The rabbits were crammed into filthy cages and subject to a deplorable amount of neglect.

Animal abuse is serious and should be reported, but down in the middle of page 3 was a story about the State of Wisconsin awarding bonuses of $8 million to managers of the State Pension fund....despite the fact that pension payments to retirees has decreased.

State pension fund managers get $8 million in bonuses

By Associated Press

March 23, 2013

Madison - Wisconsin's pension fund managers were given more than $8 million in bonuses as a reward for strong investment returns, nearly double what they received last year, according to records released to The Associated Press on Friday.
The bonuses come as most retirees are about to see their pension payments decrease in May for the fifth year in a row due to effects of the 2008 recession. The bonuses were approved by the State of Wisconsin Investment Board on Wednesday and finalized Friday, said the board's spokeswoman, Vicki Hearing.
Twenty-nine people will receive six-figure bonuses. All but six employees of the board, 139 out of 145 workers, will receive some bonus. Seventy-four employees will get bonuses of at least $25,000.
Nearly everyone receiving a six-figure bonus is a money manager. Roughly half of the agency's employees, 66 out of 145, are money managers.
Of the six who didn't get bonuses, four were ineligible and two didn't meet performance standards, Hearing said.
Chief Investment Officer David Villa is getting the largest bonus of nearly $421,000. Two managing directors, Bill McCorkle and Ron Mensink, were the next highest with bonuses of nearly $287,000 and about 282,000, respectfully.
The bonus for the retirement system's executive director was split between the retiring office holder who left in June, Keith Bozarth, and his successor, Michael Williamson. Bozarth will get about $181,000, and Williamson will receive $241,000.

 I guess the local animal shelter is doing ok trying to find homes for the rabbits.  It is Easter.  I wonder if anyone could find a new home for Scott Walker and his crony pols and ass kissers.

Good Friday Refreshment !

1
Bless the beer and pass the pretzels!

Clothes belong in closets, not people

WASHINGTON — A majority of the justices on Wednesday questioned the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, as the Supreme Court took up the volatile issue of same-sex marriage for a second day.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, widely considered the swing vote on the divided court, joined the four liberals in posing skeptical questions to a lawyer defending the law, which defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman for the purposes of more than 1,000 federal laws and programs. 

~ NY Times

Well.......... my first thought about gay marriage, well OK.  This 'Defense  Of Marriage' thing was pretty stupid anyway.  I mean, if you really want to DEFEND marriage...... outlaw Mothers-in-Law, and as Congress hasn't come close to addressing that issue, screw 'em.

Personally, I think marriage should be outlawed.  I know that will never happen, cause open bars at receptions are very popular.... and if you don't invite enough people to your wedding, Who is gonna eat that big cake thingee, and getting blenders and toasters and micro-wave oven gifts is a spiffy deal.  My thought is marriage should be replaced with something like a renewable five year "Fidelity Lease".  You both promise not to fuck around with other people.  Easy enough.  And, if in the first five years everything goes well (or you have kids) you can renew for a twenty year one with a clause of who the kids stay with after college.

all right, that was silly, but then, so is denying basic rights to all people.  I think it falls into that 'pursuit of happiness' thing.  And inheritance.  And taxes.  Health benefits. Such stuff.

I hate to go the route,  " I know some gay people and they are all right" shit.  Well, I do, but that is just stale shit.  But I know Brian nad Tony have been together over thirty years....and Michael and Jerry too.  ?hose guys are about as married as you can get .  Course, Tom and Debbie were NOT married for about 20.... and they only got married because of legal benefits.  I guess Jerry and Michael deserve the same choice.

What I don't get is why this decision is now up to nine old shits in black robes.  This should have been a done deal a long time ago.  I don't think of it much; but the bottom line is if Gay/Lesbian people want the same pain, suffering, anxiety, anguish, worry and bullshit as heterosexuals...gees go for it.

BUT.....Gays should never own guns.  Wayne LaPierre told me so....and I believe everything that guy says.