On The Occasion Of My High School Reunion

This reunion marked forty-five years since we graduated from good Ol’MHS(Marshall High School).

Our class graduated around two hundred twenty five on 1 Jun 68. We were a pretty close bunch and since our ten year reunion we have gotten together every five years since, except for five years ago when many personal family issues of the people who had always organized events interrupted our streak. This year, a different group of classmates stepped up and took charge, refusing to let our life long connection end without notice.

In the months leading up to our reunion, my friends began the organizing and planning. Locating everyone was a much more challenging task than I would have thought and discovered from one of my classmates that she did a public records search of my name (and variants) and discovered there were two people with the same name in Dallas. She contacted one of the men and discovered that he was recently deceased, but when the woman she was talking to said his body had been returned to their home town in Kansas, she realized it wasn’t me. She finally got my email address from my oldest and best friend.

I had informed her that I truly wanted to be there, but due to demands on my time, I couldn’t be certain until a day or two before the event on Saturday, 26 Oct 13(I think I even used the term “game day decision”). On Thursday I was certain I would attend and let her know. I had planned to leave Dallas early that afternoon and make the two hour drive to arrive in Marshall early enough to gorge on some bodacious Brown Pigs. That was the plan, which got blown up quickly on Friday and didn’t leave Dallas until 6:15p.m. and there wasn’t a road or freeway that wasn’t clogged, making a normal twenty five minute drive to clear the last suburb East of Dallas a one hour and twenty five minute adventure of brake dust and a growling stomach.

By the time I reached Marshall it was 9:30p.m. and mercifully a Wendy’s appeared. I gulped down the burger and fries while driving the remaining fifteen miles to my friend’s lake house while listening to my High School’s exciting football game, which they won with two seconds left in the game on a field goal(45-42). I couldn’t be distracted, though, the “rut” is about to start and deer or other critters could dash out of the woods onto the dark, lonely highway and its rolling hills.

Gingrich: “I can no longer endorse Gregg Harper”

Conservative Blogging Legend, Nuke Gingrich has concluded that 3-term Congressman, Gregg Harper no longer deserves the endorsement and support of common-sense conservative voters in the MS-3rd district.

“He hasn’t accomplished anything, he hasn’t done anything, and given the opportunity to make a principled stand, he caved faster than a spelunker on meth,” said Gingrich, amid fragrant clouds of Macanudo smoke at his southwest Mississippi compound.

“I should have recognized the bait and switch when Harper gained the support of the slimy Trent Lott.  I suppose I’m the victim of my own optimism.  But no more.  Now that Harper has shown himself to be an insider-Trent Lott Republican instead of a Common-Sense Conservative, I have decided that I can no longer  support him.”

Gingrich’s endorsement in the 2008 Republican Primary was seen by some as a pivotal moment for the Harper campaign, as polls which had been trending for his opponent, shifted dramatically and decisively in Harper’s favor.  He won going away.  It was an old fashioned whoopin’.

“I questioned Harper’s vote last week to end the battle against Obamacare, and politely asked for a response.  To date, Harper has refused to provide any answer at all, other than to send out a Press release, chock-full of fluffy piffle.”

Gingrich has provided the Blog with a copy of the note he sent to the Congressman in response to Harper’s “explanation” for the surrender vote, entitled “A Responsibility to Govern.”

October 17, 2013

Dear Congressman Harper:

 

Please tell me. 

 

Did you read the Bill before you voted for it? 

 

I understand it was an eleventh hour vote responding to a real or imagined crisis (this seems to have become the standard operating procedure, hasn’t it?).

 

Did you question the special $2.9 billion sweet deal for Kentucky?

 

Wouldn’t it have been appropriate to offer a clean, two-day CR to allow the Bill to be read by the Members, and posted to the internet as has been promised previously?

 

A Responsibility to Govern, indeed! 

 

Sincerely,

 

Nuke Gingrich

Somewhere in southwest Mississippi

Interestingly enough, Gingrich’s old nemesis, The Club for Growth is making a splashy re-entry into Mississippi politics for the first time since 2008.  The CfG has endorsed a Primary challenger to veteran senator Thad Cochran.  Losing Gingrich’s support may provide an opening for the other recent favorite of The Club for Growth, Charlie Ross.   “I may have to go reconsider my position on CfG,” Gingrich painfully noted.

USDA directs States to halt SNAP by November 1

Still think the EBT shutdown was just a glitch?
I don’t.

I said on another forum that it was all too coincidental, given the Administration’s propensity to inflict hardship on the citizenry during the partial governmental shutdown (aka Operation Maximum Pain.

Here is all the proof you need, courtesy of the Crossroads Urban Center, Salt Lake City, Utah:

Another shot across the bow.

If not us, who? And if not now, when?

To the Republican caucus in the US House of Representatives:

You have made a stand, and to paraphrase the First Lady, “For the first time in a long, long time, I’m really proud of the House.”

Why? Because your actions tell us that you understand, even if for only a moment, that our Nation is about The People, and not The Government. It’s not about Ted Cruz, The Tea Party, xenophobia, homophobia, or any other name or label that has been cast about by those who neither seek nor desire to understand. Cruz is but a messenger. It is the message, however, which is of utmost value:

“The Union was formed to establish justice, and secure the blessings of liberty. When it fails to accomplish these ends, it will be worthless; and when it becomes worthless, it cannot long endure.”

Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Look the shady  deal-makers square in the eye, and tell them go sell Earth Shoes, or something.

I do not think it is any exaggeration at all to say that your actions may be all that stands between our Republic and passing over a point of no return. The time is now to make your stand!

see also Hot Air

Hitler’s Assessment On The RRR(DERP)

If Mack Brown has lost Hitler, he is finished.

NCAA Football~Week Seven RRR Day

While the current status of this 113 year old match up has lost some of its luster(thanks UT), it is still a game the fans and players get fired up to play.

Many times during the modern era of college football(1936-present) this game has featured both teams highly ranked in the national polls and a factor in determining the national champion. OU has won the last three in a row and few doubt that streak will be extended to four on Saturday. Their opponent, UT, isn’t ranked in the AP or coaches poll and have struggled to achieve a 3-2 record to this point. OU is 5-0 and is picked #8 in the mock BCS rankings which will be released Sunday night. However, OU is in an untenable position with regards to this game. Should they lose this game, it will ruin any possibility of competing for the BCS MNC. Even winning, by a few or another rout, it won’t improve their standing in the eyes of the pollsters, as they are supposed to win. At this point, even playing UT weakens a teams strength of schedule rating(thanks UT).

Much has been written and said about why UT athletics is in such a sorry state, and not just their football program. For the football team, only two words are needed to explain their collapse, Mack Brown. Teams adopt the attitude and persona of their coach, which is why UT football is soft and weak, despite having some of the most talented athletes in all of college football. Along with the ancient and unabated institutional arrogance of UT. Believe me, that arrogance is pernicious and pervasive, I witnessed it first hand as a student there and quite possibly the only OU fan in the entire school.

On one occasion, in the late 70’s, I was at a sports bar on Sixth St. to watch the game. Doors opened at 10a.m. with kick-off at 11a.m., and free pitchers until the kick. Those poor fools couldn’t pour those pitchers fast enough for that first hour. Most of the several hundred in the room with me watching the game on a giant projector were wHorn fans and with my lone voice cheering for the Sooners, lots of friendly banter went back and forth…except for one wHorn fan with no ass. On numerous occasions he would turn around from two rows down, flip me the bird and say “OU Sucks.” Of course, whenever a wHorn fan says those words the entire room would echo it. Fine, okay, I’ll deal with this popcorn fart later. As the game wound down to the final minutes and it was clear OU wasn’t going to be able to come back, the same fart boy turned back to me and flipped me off with a double bird and yelled “OU Sucks,” with every one joining in. As their voices calmed down, I stood up and yelled “if OU sucks, then Darrell Royal sucks.” It became very quiet, with some whispering and one man saying that I went too far. I then asked why? Do you know where Royal attended college? More silence and head scratching, with one voice shakily saying he played at UT. I laughed, and said “no dumbass, he was an All-American football player at OU!” They were completely and totally skull-fucked, they didn’t know and the end result was their arrogance and ignorance, with my timely information, killed a perfectly good four hour beer buzz.

Back to Saturday, in the various count down posts I made before the season began, I stated that the O-Line would be very good and deep, the running backs would be very good and deep, as with the receivers. I was right.
One question I had has been answered, Blake Bell is now the starting QB and is doing quite well running the offense and no turnovers since he took the job. The biggest question mark was the defense, which ended 2012 as the worst in Bob Stoops 14 years. That question mark has turned into a positive and has made all the difference in the Sooners success so far, as they are nationally ranked as the #9 team in total defense.

Unlike some, who have to feel hate for their biggest rival, I don’t feel that, it is a great game that I have always loved. But I have to say, there are some teams that you just want to pound with such aggression and savagery, that their ancestors and their unborn feel the pain. That is how I feel on RRR week, I want to take UT’s soul.

The Only Fight Worth Having

We conservatives have waited for this for 17 years:  a definitive fight over excessive government spending.  Believing this to be the last chance to save the Republic from irresponsible and unsustainable spending, key conservatives have finally decided to stand up and be counted.  The energy felt in the grassroots is significant, and growing with each barricade and closure imposed by the president’s “Operation Maximum Pain.”

David Limbaugh at Townhall.com has written a column entitled, “Obamacare: A hill To die on.”

Here is an excerpt:
ETA: an excerpt just won’t do it justice. — Here is the full column ……..

++++++++++

Notwithstanding the naysayers from the left and right,
the bullying White House is running scared, as evidenced by its increasing nastiness, name-calling and petty manipulation of the government shutdown.

President Obama must be shocked that his usual demagogic tricks aren’t working this time, that instead of the Republicans caving in deference to his dictatorial demands, they are united and holding firm, and that he, not the Republicans, is cratering in the polls.

The apparent panic of the mainstream media liberals is another good barometer. From ABC to NBC to CNN, liberal hosts are increasingly anxious and combative toward Republican congressional leaders who fearlessly accept their invitations to sit for combative ambush interviews.

CNN’s Candy Crowley was particularly frustrated with Sen. Ted Cruz’s unwillingness to affirm any of her negative predispositions and accusations against him and other Republican leaders. He simply would not take the bait as she pressed, over and over, to get him to openly concede that the GOP is responsible for having shut the government down.

At every turn, Cruz batted away Crowley’s pointed jabs, allowing her no openings — not even any courtesy sympathy points. No, he would not admit that the Republicans had shut down the government or were obstructing a compromise. President Obama flat-out refused to negotiate, and House Republicans have sent him bill after bill authorizing the funding of government, with each one being summarily rejected by his First Person-ness.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Rand Paul similarly denied host Savannah Guthrie any foothold in her attempted battle formation to take him down. He would not permit her to characterize the shutdown as the fault of the GOP or confess that Republicans had failed to submit the dictatorial Obama a “clean CR.”

To the contrary, Paul insisted that Congress had sent the Senate no fewer than six clean bills, which it could have approved as is and sent to President Obama for his signature.

She thought she’d nail him, though, by playing a clip of Paul talking to Sen. Mitch McConnell wherein Paul said he believed that the GOP strategy is working and that they are going to “win.” Paul would not take the bait and assured her that the Republicans aren’t viewing this as some partisan game but that the best interests of the nation dictate that Obamacare be stopped in its tracks. By “winning,” Paul meant that he thinks the Republicans are going to succeed if they maintain their current course.

“We’ve been offering compromise after compromise,” said Paul. “But you hear from the president and his men and his women, ‘No negotiation.'”

Guthrie persisted, suggesting that “compromise” would involve accepting parts of Obamacare at least. “What part of Obamacare do you like and want to keep? Which half of it?”

Again, Paul wouldn’t bite. He told her in no uncertain terms that he does not like any part of Obamacare and that his role is to provide oversight for legislation. His Kentucky constituents overwhelmingly oppose Obamacare, and he intends to fight it. The compromise was in allowing the remainder of the budget bill to go through as it was. Contrary to Guthrie’s implication, Republicans were not playing games, said Paul, by passing piecemeal legislation and sending it to the Senate. This is the way Congress used to work and is supposed to work.

Cruz made the same point to Crowley when she accused Republicans of blackmail with the piecemeal approach. “For hundreds of years,” Cruz said, “the way Congress is appropriated has been one topic at a time. How is it blackmail to say, ‘We think we should fund the veterans? Do you agree?’ That’s a yes-or-no vote. Now, Harry Reid refuses to let the Democrats vote on that. But how is it blackmail to say, ‘We may not agree on everything, but is there anything we can agree on?’ We ought to agree on supporting our veterans.”

Cruz and Paul’s refusal to surrender to pressure from Obama, Senate Democrats, media liberals and establishment Republicans is energizing the grass roots throughout the nation. People are cheering them on social media and in neighborhoods across America.

Establishment Republicans strongly criticized Cruz for allegedly refusing to honor party rules and succumbing to the wishes of his more seasoned colleagues to stand down. But he refused to allow them to force him inside that Beltway box that has crippled their imagination, their courage and their willingness to fight for the people.

People are witnessing the frightening rollout of Obamacare, with its exorbitant costs and its assault on our liberties. The people are seeing firsthand that Obama has been dishonest from the beginning about every aspect of this law. They are also aware that he is not the nonpartisan he pretended to be but a dictatorial statist who is driving our nation into bankruptcy. In addition to Obamacare, Obama simply refuses to rein in government spending.

But if Cruz and Paul had not stood up and grass-roots conservatives had not held tough, the public would have assumed, as usual, that Republicans had lost their willingness to fight for them and were resigned, essentially, to one-party government.

Republicans may not win this round, but they’ve already come much further than the pessimists predicted and, as a result, given patriots reason for hope again.

Obamacare, as Cruz pointed out, will not automatically implode, if at all, without first doing irreparable damage to our health care system. He and Paul and the rest of the fighting Republicans understand that this is indeed a hill to die on.

We must continue to cheer on and rally behind the Republicans who are fighting in the arena on behalf of the American people.

We interrupt this gov’t shutdown to bring you

……this very important message.
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We are one week away from the 2013 renewal of the Red River Rivalry.

It used to be known as the Red River Shootout, but the sponsor, SBC-AT&T, didn’t want anyone to think they were condoning gun violence.

Horrors!

I mean, this is Oklahoma and Texas. The chances of finding an unarmed household (outside of Austin) are right up there with the needle and haystack thing. But I digress.

The violence that will occur 8 days from now won’t have anything to do with guns. The sounds of pain and anguish you will hear will emanate from the historic Cotton Bowl and will be felt all across Longhorn Nation.

It won’t be pretty.

The over and under will be a tough one to pick, because it will be entirely dependent on OU, and whether or not Stoops is in a merciful mood.

ShaggyBevo has already made their prediction:

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Heh™

We now return you to your regularly scheduled government shutdown.

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The government shutdown thread is now open

The Official Government Shutdown Thread is Now Open.

Snark, sarcasm, and shout-outs are encouraged.

h/t rayra

UPDATE:
from right wing news …

rightwingnews

Update 2:

Update 3:

Ready for a cold shot of reality?  SRV style!