Jim Bonner 2014

David Bronner may well be the smartest turd alive

2011-09-29T07:43:00.000-07:00

Bronner may be a turd. At least some of my Republican buddies in the State Legislature seem to think so, but I'll give you this. David Bronner is one special candy coated turd. I feel compelled to go on record and say that teachers and state employees cannot allow the future of the retirement system to fall into the hands of elected politicians. True enough Bronner is a politician. But Bronner has weathered the winds of change and maintained a true independent status between the yellow and blue dogs that dominate Goat Hill.

More importantly though, David has invested in Alabama. Invested in our home amid criticism that could have been his undoing. Succeeded beyond all expectations with the Robert Trent Golf Trail, led the renovations of Mobile and Montgomery and tried swimming against the current of old guard money at the bend of the river in the Quad Cities. His Golf and Mariott projects are a success in progress, and if the city fathers had been willing to stand down and let him bring in BassMasters then Florence and the surrounding areas would still be dragging in the hundreds of millions in tourist dollars that the National Bass Tournaments have the potential to produce.

Sometimes the little turd just gives up, hands in air muttering "You can't save them that won't save themselves!". That is unfortunate because North Alabama and The Shoals area is unique amid the surrounding lands in that the local history pre-dates the United States by 200 years as evidenced by maps of the Tennessee River dating to the early 1500's.

The more or less recent history is no less interesting, yet our leaders lack the vision, or perhaps truly have the understanding, of the changes that progressive investment in the area would bring. I am ever amused that Chattanooga has a replica of the Tuscumbia Railway station and they charge $8 A head just to see it. Amused, because the real one sits in Tuscumbia unpromoted.

Bronner is a turd because he knew from the beginning that National Steel Car would be too small a player to pull off a two thousand employee rail car manufacturing facility in west podunk. Likely he knew that they would use the project to negotiate a threatened settlement with their own Canadian workforce. Likely he knew every step of the events exactly as they have played out.

Now it appears Navistar, a company that literally has its roots in American soil with the McCormick Reaper - The machine that made the US the breadbasket of the world, will head up a development that will by contract put 1800 workers into the facility.

Likely Bronner knew that if you build it they will come. And he knew the locals wouldn't have the vision to invest in a project of this size without an attractive lure. That is and was all the Canadian company ever was. I wouldn't be surprised to know that the little turd had kept the phone number of Navistar in his custom vest pocket from the first day of negotiations with National Steel Car.

Now, as the less experienced politicians have girded their loins to in an attempt to make Bronner the poster child for failure with the billion dollar rail car plant.

Failure?

He snatches victory from the jaws of,,, well - JAWS, and comes smelling like .... like ... A sugar coated treat.

Hooray Navistar, Hooray Bronner.

Let's just not look to deeply into it.

A Civics Lesson for the Times Daily

2011-04-20T07:29:00.000-07:00

Some time ago this space offered a a simple piece suggesting that newspapers should engage in something I like to call "responsible" journalism. Sometimes the editors seem have an unseen agenda. Sometimes they are just ignorant of the facts. Sometimes they don't seem to respect either.

The pretense tirade of that particular day was about the Times Daily editorializing (making fun of) on the city of Russellville questioning fluoride expense in the drinking water. The question on the table was "Is this the highest and best use of the city tax dollars in today's world". (And yes, your utility bill is a tax). But the story was never about water. It was about misuse of a powerful force. The misuse of editorial space. The Times Daily bullied the local council into making an expensive, if not outright mistaken, decision.

This column was offended most recently when the local paper wasted forty-four column inches suggesting that the city should make sure they get the highest dollar amount for some old country club land in a penny wise and pound foolish manner. Further suggesting that the city was being irresponsible by offering the land at lower than the appraisal price to, of all things, to the University of North Alabama.

But in the considered opinion of this author, Florence should give the land outright to UNA. After all without Florence Teachers College, the City would have been Leighton-West a hundred and thirty nine years ago. With the same economic impact today that Leighton has today. {No offense intended to my loyal reader and epicurean friend in Leighton}

But to bring my gentle reader back to the point of this short essay. "With great power comes great responsibility". At least that is what Peter Parker espouses. Sometimes I think maybe the powers of the pulp don't realize the impact of putting a few words on paper. Whack out a few lines on the old Underwood and go back to pleasant slumbers. In the Russellville case the Times Daily actually caused well meaning city fathers, who were reporting facts and giving solid budgetary advice, to be laughed out of the room. In the country club case the paper took a position against the source blood for all Lauderdale County, much to the detriment of the people just for what? To sell papers? Yellow journalism at it's best?

The City of Florence should follow the lead of Muscle Shoals who has no problem with spending money to make money.

As they did on the Zaxby's deal.

But that is another story.

A regressive education policy

2011-04-12T07:24:00.000-07:00

Education is a luxury.

Always has been.

A few years ago I convinced myself that we had moved beyond the idea that education was only for the well bred and comfortably situated. That we had gone from the basis of public education of a specialty item to education for the masses. I had convinced myself that education had gone from a privilege in the 1800's to a right in the 20th century and to a responsibility in the modern age. Unfortunately, as a popular radio host points out weekly, no matter what we do, half the people are still below average.

Unfortunately as well truth exists independently of my opinion.

Education, it seems, has always been a luxury. In the days of the cave man education was only available after the escape from the ever present predator and after the stomach was full. Then stories could be told, paintings could be made, songs could be sung.

A luxury.

Presently in Alabama we have a shortfall of cash. And as usual in my home town where there were three businesses the shortfall is made up by increasing taxes. Now there are two.

Statewide the Republican Legislature (albeit with a pay raise amid a COLA freeze for all the rest of the State employees.) are doing things to cut spending instead of raising taxes. As one of my friends said "How do you like your Republican buddies now?" Well actually I like them pretty well. I know the cuts are hard and many of them like arrows in the dark, fall much wide of the mark, but at least they are not succumbing to the knee jerk of turning the constituency upside down and shaking out his pants as has been done by the Democratic legislature for the past 100 years.

Teachers are looking at a $1000 pay cut. Again unfortunate, but in my business - the business of teaching early thirtysomethings how to get a job and keep a job - I see workers who once expected to start at $800 a week with a two year degree settling for six or even four. We ain't in Kansas any more Dorothy.

Education is a luxury. Our spring break has its roots in the roots of last years crop that had to be turned under in preparation for the planting. A time when kids just couldn't be spared for school. Most old folks remember when fall break was called cotton pickin and summer was out for work not play.

Somehow we have turned our economy on its head educating kids with a mandatory school age on both ends. Actually passing laws that keep kids from learning how to work until they are 16. The result is 47% of our population on the dole one way or another because our education policy doesn't include teaching kids how to work.

Don't get me wrong, I am in the business of stomping out ignorance day by day. It is just that like swords or plowshares in an economic downturn we have to decide if we want our paper mills geared to turn out books or toilet paper.

Which is more important to you?

On tearing a page from the Ipad

2011-03-07T05:52:00.000-08:00

Book:
" An item of personal property, Usually made of two boards bound in leather containing within them several groups of four or eight leaves of watermarked paper called "signatures", hand laced together with cotton twine and impressed with inked lead characters upon each leaf. Occasionally the repository of some information or idea important to the owner."

I have the misfortune to examine the latest in the bane upon civilization that technology has wrought, the "Electronic Book ." The "Kindle" the "Aluratek", the "Sony" the "Ectaco" and the pretender to the throne... The " Ipad". Like life's first kiss they are all and forever will be found wanting.

By my bedside and within these leather confines lie my friends Ishmael, Ahab, and the Great White Fish that belched Jonah on the West Bank of Palestine. The brothers Karamazov, and as I fall into the abyss, straight into it, head down and heels up, The feel of the impressed letters under my fingers or an occasional penciled note in the margins left by a previous reader, my book leaves the knowledge that like Frost's reaper, a worker gone before me has left a tuft of flowers for an unseen future friend or some winged creation of the almighty.

Somehow, even as I turn the pages of the Ipad to the simulated roll of the leaf from upper right to bottom left and wonder at how many programmer hours was dedicated to making it look like the real thing but never able to simulate the anticipation of the finger lifting the corner and sliding down the dangerous razor edge of real paper to end its travels at the exact moment that the eye transcribes the last word of the page onto whatever bits of binary brain data my internal computer requires. Somehow the backlighted LCD screen is too garish and rude for any comfort on the final minute of the day.

Some would suggest that electronic book is progress. That somehow it saves trees from the agony of being born. That the information within it and the idea behind is the crux of it... As artificial insemination is to sex - so is the electronic book to the bound leather volumes by my bed.

Yes, I have examined these volumes and found them wanting. Not just in color and texture. Not just in the comfort of holding my grandmothers bible or the tufts of flowers in the corners of some ancient volume, but in physical utility as well. Who will ever leave a bad e-volume in the outhouse, or kindle a flame in a snowbank with a Kindle.

Who indeed?

2011-02-16T09:32:00.000-08:00

Well here is the solar project #7

Some pretty random photos of the Andalay Solar panels.

Our calculations are that in winter we will get 97% of the power at a 10 degree angle that we would at 34 degrees and don't have the "where are my solar panels?" problem after the occasional 200 mph winds we get in Muscle Shoals Alabama.
The above photos show the ballast trays and the windshields along the back. I don't guess it would stand a 200 MPH wind but 60 should be a piece of cake. Especially if it comes from the North or South.

Notice the electrical connections are being made up as we go along, panel to panel. Remember this system is not anchored to the rooftop by anything except the steel weights we stole, I mean borrowed, from the machine shop.. (don't tell anyone)

Each 230 Watt panel has its own inverter which collects data and transmits power back onto the grid. The power not only flows backward up the line, it transmits coded digital data on the line as well.

I know we should have the panels covered in full sun until they are connected. But too late is too late.

I am convinced that when I get ready to do my rooftop this is exactly the system I will use. A slanted roof could be used without the mounts and wind shields but using it makes installation a breeze and corrects for the off angle condition that occurs in a 5-12 roof system which has a roof pitch of 22.5 degrees.

Solar Project #6

2011-02-08T08:32:00.001-08:00

Sorry, the weather and my bad attitude have stopped work on the solar system for a while. (Can a woman give you PTSD?) I have long had a dream of designing a home that can live on a half acre lot and be completely selfsustaining. Only in Alabama is that possible because you need just the right combination of wind, sun, and water to make it happen.

New developments in Grid Tie Inverters and the price of energy make it more feasible every day.

I could however give you a little background into they what and why of including Photovoltaic Systems to our electricity lineup.

1. There is much interest in zero energy homes. Less than there should be but still, if not much, at least some. I recall the last Habitat home that I was involved in they said "sure we would like it to be zero energy, but it would add $20,000 to the cost." So we are at a place where it is cheaper in the short run and easier to install than making the choice that in the long run is better for everybody. In short it is cost effective to be stupid.

Habitat did build the next home as zero energy.

2. Every part of PV installation can be done by the homeowner except the electrical tie in to the grid. That should be, in fact if one is to obey codes, must be done by a licensed electrician.

3. There is a lot of information out there that is just wrong. Since my job is to stomp out ignorance then it falls to me to make sure we don't graduate ignorant students. At least no more of them than absolutely necessary.

Solar is part of Zero Energy. It is unfortunately the most costly component. Wind is cheaper but it sometimes blows hard enough here to blow down the best of windmills. Conservation helps and must be part of a comprehensive system but a house so tight that cold can't get into is a house so tight that radon can't get out of.

Wind, sun and water fall and fall abundantly on all Alabama homes. We don't have to operate wisely to take advantage of it. We merely need to stop being stupid.

Solar Project #5

2011-02-02T09:31:00.000-08:00

Today is the third day of construction on the solar system, And by the way why is it when a woman brings kids into a relationship it is part of the package and when a man has them it is "baggage"?

It is a hard sell to make people believe that something that is going to cost $20,0000 and pay back $86 a month is worthwhile. The greenies believe they are saving the world, and the Dec 21 2012ers think that in the Apocalypse we will need to be self sufficient. But for the rest of us we have to figure how to make a $20,000 investment pay on $86 a month. Even with government incentives we have to figure how to make a $14,000 investment pay on $232 a month. And you know, when a woman says she is leaving on Tuesday, why is she still here on Wednesday?

With 21 cent buybacks for green energy and a fifty year life expectancy $232 dollars times 12 months time 50 years That comes to a hundred and thirty eight thousand dollars for a $20,000 investment. Of course that doesn't include the fact that in fifty years that solar array on the house will be worth $138,000 and power will be at least three times what it is now.
But, silicon solar PV arrays are made of sand. The most durable and long lasting stuff on earth {except possibly the scars of a broken heart}

Of course finding the $20,000 lying around is a problem for all but the top 2% of us. I personally fall somewhere between the greenies and the 2012ers but I believe that investing in energy, both personal and electrical is always a good bet. {Isn't there something in the bible about the roof and a quarrelsome woman?}

As things progress I shall post more.

Solar project #4

2011-01-31T13:19:00.000-08:00

The question that first arises when one talks of solar PV or photovoltaic arrays is "is it cost effective?" I have to ask in what sense?. Our cars, may not be cost effective as compared to an elephant which runs on peanuts, or a mule. We choose it to be so by comparing apples to apples. We make a list of specifications, how fast it will go, how many it will carry, about the heat and cooling and such.. Likewise with your home. It is unlikely that you will get $150,000 in benefit from the home on the first day so to consider the economics of it we must factor in the convenience, comfort and amortize the cost over the life. So it is with the solar panel system. Why do you want one. What do you expect of it. Why do you want to play.

For me I expect electric power to go to 30 cents in the next few years. Three times the present rate. Along with that, if you read the news, we can expect $6 gasoline. I paid $5.35 for propane last week. If a person can put in a 4KW system for $20,000 and pay it back over 5 years at the end of the loan the 4Kw free power is just gravy. You got something back over the original period.

I also expect the armadillo problem to be as bad or worse. By this I mean that if you look at the number of solar days since the 80's when this was last popular you see that 40 years ago the sunlight for 35 degrees latitude was more like Cincinnati than Denver. Today not so much. I don't know who to blame global warming on but I know an armadillo when I see one.

The bad news is that right now a 4Kw panel is likely to generate only $86 a month in power on average while costing something like $400 a month to pay back the $20,000. Not immediately economically feasible as they say. But in simple terms without factoring in the future value of a present sum or other time value of money we see that the system will need 232 months to pay for itself. But like a home that is paid for in 20 years and has a fifty year life, the solar PV array should live and work at least 50 or 60 years.

Now all this is considering power at the current rate. If you believe that it will stay cheap forever then solar is not for you. But if, like me, the news crawler on FOX about Egypt and China makes you nervous then consider what happens if energy goes up. Consider a not unreasonable factor of three. At 27 cents the panel only takes 77 months to pay for itself leaving a reasonable expectation of 523 additional months of trouble free operation.

The other thing to consider is inflation. We know that stimulus money, borrowed money, and just spending money we don't have is inflationary. It is also reasonable to expect that a solar PV array will actually appreciate in value.

I know this is contrary to what everyone expects. As they become more popular, the price is supposed to come down. And down it will come in absolute dollars but in Obamadollars the price will continue to go up. It just might be a good idea to get some of that gold out of the basement and put it on the roof.

I know this is a lot of numbers when all you wanted me to say was that it would pay for itself in five years. Sorry. The truth however is that you can pay for it in five years with money you earned elsewhere. And like a new car you can enjoy it for the rest of your life if you want. It adds value to our home and as the energy costs keep going up for your neighbors and they don't for you.. You can enjoy that bit of internal smugness too.

Solar Project #3

2011-01-31T12:37:00.000-08:00

The 190 watt panels are lighter in weight than expected. High efficiency I suppose but the ten panels are mounted on the ballast plates in pairs. A ten degree lift strut and a wind shield tilts the panels upward into the southern sun at something less than the optimum 34.7 degrees for our latitude but since the power goes as the tangent of the incident rays what we may lose in the dead of winter by not being optimum I expect we will regain in the sweltering summer Alabama sun.

Each of the panels contains a single Enphase converter that turns the DC output of the panels into phase matched power to connect directly to the grid. This eliminates the need for batteries which is a topic of discussion all its own. There is little or no need for batteries in modern systems since the microprocessor grid tie inverter technology has effectively turned the entire US grid into a giant battery. The inverters automatically turn off the output in the event of loss of line voltage.

Batteries are the bottleneck in any alternative energy system. Truly, at this point in battery development the only use of a battery is to eliminate the extension cord. Any other use of them, from a green standpoint, considering the carbon footprint of manufacture, or from a economic standpoint, makes no sense. So, the micro inverter puts us into the position of being able to get a 200 watt panel in our hands with a zip cord that plugs right into a socket on the front porch. You might not want to do that. It might not meet codes. But, the day is upon us when a person with little electrical skill can set up a solar panel and plug it in with the same ease that one would set up an ironing board and plug in the iron. {if you don't know what an iron is, look it up}

2011-01-31T11:50:00.000-08:00

Unpacking the 190 Watt Panels

Solar project #2

2011-01-31T11:19:00.000-08:00

I don't mean to promote a particular product and the Andalay system was not our first choice. But incentives from Lowes, along with the convenience of installation and the reliability factor of having multiple inverters seemed to outweigh the single inverter system. Quite frankly the number of people who offer a turnkey system is not at all impressive.

I got the solar system and IT is HOT!

2011-01-31T07:12:00.000-08:00

All content Copyright 2011 by Jim Bonner.. No use is permitted except by permission of the author.

Well folks, the content of this site for the next few weeks is going to be boring.. I mean really boring. Even more boring that my usual self introspection and grandiose promotion.

I simply intend to use this space as a notepad to gather facts and data regarding the installation of a Solar Power Cogeneration site. So if you are reading this you are privy to the notes intended for students and interested or disinterested parties as the installation progresses. As the tombstone says, No Les-No More.

Feel free to go to the restroom at any time.

A few weeks ago Northwest Shoals College and Lowes Corporation put together a package of 180 watt solar panels. At this point I don't even know if they are polycrystalline or Monocrystalline cells.

Poly is cheaper but less efficient. Monocrystalline - meaning single cell, is more efficent but the cost are greater.

Not meaning to plug any supplier but one might find a system very similar in the $10,000 price range at:
http://www.solarpanelstore.com/solar-power.large-solar-panels.andalay.andalay_2275.info.1.html

Or just look up Andalay solar which should get you to the general space. Our system is intended to highlight the methods of installation of the electrical interface. The actual nuts and bolts of putting panels on the roof is outside our trade. As such we choose a ballasted mounting system that we can just toss on the roof. The part that keeps electricians in the loop is that we have to follow codes. Conduit to the outside, proper interconnection to the breaker panel since the system generates power instead of uses it.

Even special consideration to the size and type of wire since losses in the system must be kept to the absolute minimum.

I told someone yesterday that I can explain Solar Power to a four year old in a few words but I can't explain it to you because you know to much about it. As Will Rogers said, "it ain't what we don't know that gets us into trouble. It's what we know that just ain't so" .

Discussion of solar power with most people gets into the issue of costs, green energy, break even points, and just plain aesthetics. But no matter what your political bent and your opinion on Global Warming the fact is; solar is hot. It is also a fact that the Middle East, Egypt, especially today, the price of gasoline and the number of degree days are all factor in our energy costs. If the trends hold the cost of electricity could double or treble.

When it does you can bet the cost of solar will go up as well.

We will be posting more as the system is unpacked and installed. I hope to present some things to consider, maybe some things you knew and some things you didn't.

As I said, the cost of solar is likely to go up instead of down in the short term. The only way to beat the system is to buy cheap and sell high.

I think it might be time to buy.

More tomorrow.

That nasty law of unintended consequences

2011-01-21T08:40:00.001-08:00

One year ago today the US Supreme Court ruled five to four in a case brought by a group calling themselves Citizens United. The case was originally brought because a negative biopic full length feature film portraying Hillary Clinton in an unfavorable light was ruled a political ad by the Federal Election Commission.

The case was originally intended in the lower courts to simply rule as to that the film was not in violation of the McCain-Feingold Campaign reform act which prohibited such a political advertisement within 30 days of the 2008 primary election. Michael More was prohibited from screening Fahrenheit 9/11 prior to the election in 2004. In fact, Citizens United filed with the FEC to ban even the advertisement of the Michael Moore film 60 days before an election.

As I said, the argument was originally just that the film was "just a documentary" and did not fall under the definition of political speech as defined by McCain-Feingold.

The court ruled two surprises.

One- Against the plaintiff stating that the film was most certainly political speech.
Two - That since it was political speech then it was protected by the first amendment and superseded McCain Feingold.

The result of this ruling was the shot heard round the world in political circles. Under the new Supreme Court Ruling the Bipartisan Campaign Reform act of 2002 ( McCain Feingold. ) is essentially gutted and corporations and unions may use their general treasury funds to make an "electioneering communication" defined as speech that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a candidate.

What has that to do with anything that concerns me you may ask ?

Well, friends, As usual it is mostly about me. I am an active Alabama Education Member. Many Riley Republicans early in the race dubbed me the offensive RINO term. Republican In Name Only. I personally have settled on the more palatable Republicrat, or even better the "Bentley Republican". - A fiscal conservative who doesn't really buy into the idea that we have to bail out bankers and insurance salesmen on the backs of the poor and the jobless.

Thus so, I rise to defend our teachers.

When our New Alabama Legislature took up the special session ethics law I sent letters and emails to members of my party asking them to think long and hard about making illegal union dues collection that were used for political purposes, arguing that the issue of union dues collected by payroll deduction had been settled in the courts many years ago and now the activities of unions on the political stage was clearly protected by 130 S.Ct. 876 . One Senator responded, "Yes the bill is worded poorly but amendments are discouraged".

So it seems that under McCain-Feingold some AEA activities were questionable and probably could have been challenged in court rather than on the Alabama House and Senate floor, Especially A-Vote. The heavily partisan AEA-PAC. However, under the 2009 Supreme Court ruling such political activities are now clearly legal.

Our new and light green Republican Alabama Legislature has been pressured into passing a law that seems in violation of the most recent decisions of the highest court in the land.

Even a backwoods Russellville lawyer should be able to point out to the court that the intent of the law is to circumnavigate a higher court decision.

Mike Goens and The Times Daily Empire part deux

2011-01-08T09:10:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I went on an obtuse rant about the misuse of white space in the Times Daily. - Well not exactly the misuse of the white space, rather the fact that it seemed to be marred by numerous black and gray alphanumeric characters arranged in such a manner to make little or no sense at all.

Granted the story lines were complete. The grammar was correct. The punctuation precise.

It was just the complete absence of facts that seemed to get my goat.

As Kathryn Tucker Windham, Alabama's storyteller, and author of " 13 Alabama ghosts and Jeffrey", once said " You just can't tell the whole story if you stick to the facts. " Otherwise stated by a familiar family member - "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story."

But I am not sure this applies to the editorial page.

My problem child is the waste of valuable news space, By my calculation $1300 a day, devoted to such things as the imaginary left lane law and Fluoride in the City water system.

Recall in September 2008, when Doug Clement, manager with the Russellville Water Board, said the city would stop adding fluoride. The Times Daily went on a rant and absolutely called the city fathers idiots. This resulted in such a public outcry that the motion was tabled indefinitely. If not for the influence of the Times Daily editorial staff I am pretty sure the measure would have passed. J.C Hester wrote a fair and rational response as well but by then the damage was done.

Now comes the Times Daily on Saturday Jan 8 2010 with a published article titled "City of Atlanta to reduce Fluoride in City water supplies". This article quotes the Environmental Protection Agency as saying "Studies found that prolonged, high intake of fluoride can increase the risk of brittle bones, fractures and crippling bone abnormalities."

Stupid when Russelville does it, but absolute genius when the entire city of Atlanta does the same thing.

Again, I could give a rip about the Russellville city water supply. I don't drink the stuff. But I do purchase drinks bottled with fluoride, My fast food comes with fluoride, as does my toothpaste and many packaged foods, which tend to concentrate all the water additives in the cooking process. Does this have anything to do with my broken hip? Depends on who you ask.

But I digress. I really care little about this debate. What I do care about is the fact that editorial space could be used to talk about corruption of our elected officials, lack of money for textbooks in our schools, problems of crime and drug abuse in our communities. All this is going on under our nose and our public spokesmen seem to be more concerned about the number of people who drive in front of them when they are in a hurry and getting in the business of our local city leaders.

Apology accepted.

Enie Meanie Mighty Moe...

2011-01-07T08:43:00.000-08:00

"I don't care shucks for the morality of it nohow. When I start in to steal a nigger, or a watermelon, or a Sunday-school book, I ain't no ways particular how it's done so it's done. What I want is my nigger; or what I want is my watermelon; or what I want is my Sunday-school book; and if a pick's the handiest thing, that's the thing I'm a-going to dig that nigger or that watermelon or that Sunday-school book out with; and I don't give a dead rat what the authorities thinks about it nuther."

Said Huck Finn on trying to dig nigger Jim out of his imprisonment.

Next month, NewSouth Books will publish a combined edition of Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer" Edited by Auburn University-Montgomery professor Alan Gribben which will omit the word "nigger." The new edition will substitute the word "Slave."

The word, uttered 219 times in the original text has been considered such incendiary language that many college English professors and most high school English teachers pass up the novel for more easily digestible fare. They would rather pick some inferior work rather than deal with "the word" in the classroom. I have personally seen grown men and women walk out of a graduate classroom because the instructor used the word as part of his history lesson. Gribben said, "For a single word to form a barrier, it seems such an unnecessary state of affairs,""I'm hoping that people will welcome this new option, but I suspect that textual purists will be horrified."

And horrified they seem to be. Although most of the "Textual Purist" have decried the "Censorship" of Twain's work most of the outraged were too pantywaisted to actually use the word in their own criticism, substituting the somehow more socially acceptable "N-word." Perhaps the Twain text should be rewritten substituting "N-word" at all the appropriate places?

Which is why, gentle reader, you may be surprised to find that I rise to the contrarian view in support of the new "Slave" edition.

My immediate question is " What word do they use for "nigger" in the Norwegian translation? In the Chinese text? As to Twain being sacred text, what about the sacred text? I personally carry a King James Bible. Mostly for show because the leather binding is prettier than my NIV. But if have to actually read it I use the NIV. Because the KJV is not written in English! At least not so far as I can tell.

I argue that the change of the word 'nigger" to the word "slave" is actually a modern translation of the text and language of the day into the text of to-day. The word "slave" is what Twain meant when he used the word in the first place. Words mean different things in different times and cultures.

Ennie Meanie Mighty Moe/ Catch a Slave by the Toe.

Less offensive? Probably not.

A more accurate interpretation of the original meaning?

Very likely.

A nugget

2011-01-04T12:40:00.000-08:00

Gold lay upon the hillside
Cried "where is my love?"
Come to me forever
If you only know your name

I am FIRE the flame sputtered
Even more brilliant than you
I consume all in my path
With me your beauty will be shared by all

"No", said the Gold, Depart
Fire is not your name

I am EARTH the hill cried out
I support the weight of all
You will be light upon my back
And I can carry you forever

"No", Said the Gold, Depart
Earth is not your name

I am WATER cried the river
Fire and Earth bow before me
You will glisten in my shallows
Come and be my love

"No", Said the Gold, Depart
Water is not your name

Then Gold became dust
And blew away with the wind

"Why?" they all cried
The wind said "Nothing"

...

" Precisely"
___________________________________________________

When asked what he studied in College Jack Benny answered -

" I majored in Humilities"

National Alabama Corporation

2010-12-14T06:40:00.000-08:00

For the first time since the inception of the Barton Rail Car fiasco I am excited to be in the proximity of what is and will be a world class manufacturing facility reminiscent of the early days of Detroit. The combination of TVA, the Tennessee River. The rich unsung heritage of Barton/Cherokee can do nothing but prosper if the seeds already planted are allowed to sprout and grow. Heritage that includes the Natchez Trace Parkway, (I believe to be the worlds longest National Park), the home of Levi and George Colbert who signed for the forcible relocation of the Chickasaw, renamed themselves' Tharp then moved to Franklin county. The site of the Battle of Barton where SD Lee turned back the best and brightest of the Union Army in the great war of Northern Aggression. So many to recount.

Anyone with a brain can see that National Alabama Corporation, like TVA or any government held entity need not post 30% profits for the shareholders. It need not pay megamillions for a CEO. It only need bid lower than all the companies which have these overhead expenses. A no brainer for sure.

But one thing that is obvious to me is that the National Alabama plant at Barton needs insurance.

Fire and Casualty insurance, Health insurance for the employees separate from Peehip and the State insurance programs, retirement programs for the 1500 employees who are going to have to go to work making those expensive steel beauties in Barton. It is the nature of the State of Alabama to self insure its holdings. However, this particular building. The largest of its kind in the world. (Well the largest in Cherokee anyway) contains too many of the state eggs to keep in our own basket. The purpose of Insurance is to Spread the Risk. We need to spread some of it into another state. It only makes sense.

Not just any insurance company.

I recommend the Lizard.

That green guy who has his little three fingered hand prints all over the inside of my TV screen. I am sure that Allstate, State Farm, Progressive and all the others will whine and throw a fit but I believe that Bronner is smart enough to write a proposal that steers the needs for our insurance plan at Barton into the capable little green hands. I am sure that RSA can see the need for budgeting this expense. If we had good republicans at the helm in our State Senate offices I am sure they would see the need as well. Even if it has to be paid out of severance tax or in lieu of money. (Alas we work with what we have.)

Oh, and that lizard, he works for GEICO, a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, administered by Warren Buffett, who also co-incidentally owns and administers the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway - A five billion dollar rail operation. What am I suggesting here? A little three green fingered back scratching.

Noooo. Of course not!

I am just saying that a half billion dollar rail car plant is to big an investment to trust to the fates and finances of the State of Alabama.

Nothing more.

But if it happens that the well being of the Barton Rail Car facility should happen to overlap with the well being of Warren Buffett.. Well ... so be it.

Thanks to National Steel Car

2010-12-13T07:20:00.000-08:00

Ask and ye shall receive.

Last night little man snuggled up in my lap in front of the Christmas tree and to my surprise, instead of reciting the usual list of things "I want for Christmas!" He put both hands on my cheeks and said "What do you want for Christmas?" A little surprised I said "I'd like a good little boy who goes to bed on time and does as he is told and doesn't write on the walls or jump on the bed." He puckered his face up and after a few thoughtful seconds, out of the corner of his eye, said

"Couldn't you rather have a book or a movie?"

Just goes to show you that sometimes the things we want are just out of reach.

But sometimes not.

Monday I asked Santa to make National Steel Car go away.

Friday I read that an agreement has been reached that would allow our Barton National Alabama Corporation to bid on a level playing field with other rail car manufacturers. This agreement, as I understand it puts the teachers retirement system in the manufacturing business in a really big way. And once again David Bronner is in a position to come out of a pool of poo smelling like a Bellingrath gardens gardenia.

Such is the problem of a prophet. He can never know if he just guessed right or somehow had a bit of influence in the overall otherworldly decision. No matter, National Alabama Corporation is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the RSA. It is now up to us, the people of Alabama and the Teachers Retirement System to get the prices low and sell some rail cars. At a loss if we have to but we have to get the bids and build a reputation as the first quality product available.

Griffin Wheel, a manufacturer of Rail Car Wheels announced a $45million investment in Jefferson County to reopen the Bessemer plant yesterday. This move in anticipation of the settlement between National Steel Car and National Alabama Corporation. Proof positive that the industry expects great things from the Barton facility.

So maybe, just maybe, I can get the spoiled kids in Cherokee to settle down and make some money for the Alabama tax base. Or maybe I will just get a movie. Who knows?

Merry Christmas

J

So Sue Me (or Another Christmas Gift Suggestion)

2010-12-08T06:56:00.000-08:00

I notice that I get three hits from Hamilton Ontario every morning. I am sure they are disappointed in as much as I almost never mention National Steal Car. I can see the rail car plant from my house. Heck you can see it from outer space. I thought in reverence to my faithful CANADIAN readers I might send a little note.

I said to a group yesterday that anyone from Cherokee Alabama who didn't vote for me in the past election was a complete moron. Simply because I felt that if I spent the entire four years getting the problem at National Steal Car corrected it would be well worth my time and energy for the people of district six. Where there is one Restaurant now there would be ten. Where there is one hardware store now there would be ten. And where there are 800 houses now there would be 8000. Of course moron might be a little harsh if you own the only restaurant or the only hardware store. Maybe your little pond is quite comfortable.

Two of my heroes, Bob Martin consultant and politician on the republican side and David Bronner Chief of my retirement fund almost always disagree on state politics and finances but they agree on one thing. The $625 Million dollars spent on National Steal Car was a waste. But they are both wrong when they say that no one could anticipate the economy. They are both wrong when they blame the lack of sales at National Steal Car on the National Economic Scene.

The problem at .. .. well, the plant.. (you are tired of my little Steal Car joke) is not the national or local economy. Rail Cars are being built in North America, they are being built and sold in north (and south) America but for some reason they can't be built in Barton Alabama. I think I know why. The problem gentle reader, is the posse of illegal immigrants running the place.

I was unfortunate enough to share a space in said restaurant a few weeks ago with one of the blowhards and when we finished our most uncomfortable meal of the month, I walked to the car, asked my little wife "Do your ears hurt?" she said "Honey my whole head hurts!" An hour of listening to a loudmouth windbag spout engineering nonsense {inaccurate engineering nonsense all the worse} at 65 decibels while his troop of lackeys only had a few seconds to say "Yes sir" to as he refilled his enormous windbags to continue his nonstop diatribe. An abusive tirade that could have been summarized in one sentence -"I am richer and smarter than you- -you backwoods hillbilly!" It was like sitting with a crying baby and a fully loaded diaper.

The problem is not the economy, the problem is the Canadian profit margin. Just double down, take back the plant, fire everybody who makes over a thousand dollars a week and build rail cars at a lower price.

It doesn't matter if we lose money. The lack of return on our investment is going to give us (RSA) losses anyway. If we lose money on the rail cars produced $45,000 a day in local and state tax revenues should cover the state's losses quite nicely. One person said to me "but that would be stealing their plans" - so - Tit for Tat - I say.. take em and make em sue us .. Or take the plans out in the back yard and burn them. I believe our design technology department at the Junior College can CAD up some stinkin rail car plans for cryin out loud.

I understand that the Retirement system has already repossessed the building and is waiting for some miracle. The miracle might be the strategy the RSA used when the Jersey Crime bosses tried to squeeze Bronner out of the state investment in an office building in New York.

Double down and throw the bums out.

Another Christmas Gift Suggestion

2010-12-02T12:36:00.000-08:00

When my grandfather died one of the things that fell into my possession was a box 2”X2” by 12” that came from Isom's general store. The box started life as a shipping container for thin black ties that everyone owned in the sixties for “Sunday go to meetin” day and the all to often fifties funeral.

It was a box of silver dollars, filled all the way down except for a bit of white tissue at the end. About 100 silver dollars in the blue flowered box would be my guess but I don't recall counting them.

Although I am sure I did count them and count them a thousand thousand times. They were left over from the fifties when his gin help expected to be paid on Friday. They expected to be paid in silver. By 1966 when Pop died silver was worth $1.25 per ounce and the coins contained an ounce of silver. So my inheritance was a couple hundred dollars at best.

By 2000 silver had rode the big bull and after going to $40 at one point in the Hunt Brothers years had settled to $6 each for a common date silver dollar.

Currently the cost of silver is about $14 and for all practical purposes a common date silver dollar is worth what one ounce of silver is worth.

As a closet numismatist it has long interested me that in 1966 - 15,000 silver dollars would buy you a nice three bedroom brick house. And in 2010 the same 15,000 silver dollars will buy you a nice three bedroom brick house in the same neighborhood.

The value of the silver – Or the value of a similar new house hasn't changed much in real sweat value

What has changed, is that in 1966 the average income was $6900.

Today it is considerably more in dollars but considerably less in real buying power.

About 2 ½ years income for a home vs 3 ¾ years work for the same home in 2010.

The 2.5 to 3.75 ratio is almost exactly the amount of devaluation of the dollar experienced since 1972.

The current selling of dollars to buy T-bills has done the same devaluation again.

An additional devaluation of the dollar means an additional devaluation of your labor and skills.

Additional years to work and earn that house.

I recommend as a Christmas Gift for your loved ones the Morgan Silver Dollar - CC - mint if you can manage it. Buy perfect Grade MS 60 or better.

The ultimate MADE IN USA gift for Christmas.

{Buy a couple for yourself and put them in your bug out bag.}

Legislative Pay Raise

2010-12-02T06:48:00.000-08:00

Many in Alabama are looking hard at the newly elected Republican Legislature and asking the question.

What's new?

My republican brothers made a lot of stink in the last election about our Democratic Alabama Legislature giving themselves a 62% pay raise, then tacking on an automatic COLA without taking it to a vote of the people. Even worse, the "Salary" of our legislators is $10 a day and the rest is "expenses" which essentially causes the three million dollars of your tax money they give themselves each year to be tax free.

Frankly, during the campaign I didn't make too much of the pay raise issue because if I had gotten elected - Due to State Board rulings and the Alabama Supreme court decision - I would have been forced to give up my day job.

I just might have needed the money.

Most, however, of your elected officials are not required by the Supreme Court to give up their day jobs.

And most don't need the money.

The TEA party, who had a great influence on the election, are waiting to see legislation creating jobs, cutting taxes, eliminating illegal immigration, and harsher rules about the "culture of corruption" in Montgomery. They would even like to see them take a stab at improving our schools and maybe allowing a prayer time or state help with homeschooling efforts.

December 8th is going to see a special session on ethics. Unfortunately you probably won't see any discussion of repealing the pay raise or taking it to a vote of the people. PAC to PAC transfers will be discussed but no real progress or changes made. The $250 per day per lobbyist that can be spent on your legislators will not be affected. You will not hear a word about "400" money, discretionary spending funds for legislators, severance tax accounts, or TVA in lieu of funds. -

This my friend is where the bodies are buried.

We will know by Christmas if the new boss is different from the old boss.

Christmas Time

2010-11-30T06:22:00.000-08:00

I'd like to make a recommendation.

It will require some stickers and name tags for your gifts this Holiday Season.

Most of my readers (both in fact) are bored to tears about economics. Most of my readers (both in fact) would rather shoot themselves in the foot or snip off any other bit that sticks out of the trunk instead of looking at another demand curve.

However, they need to know that there is an economic fact that economist just won't share.

That fact is the "Science of Economics" is about "why".

I often tell my students, my children, and anyone else who will listen, that of the four dubbleyous; who, what, when, and why, the first three are facts. The last one is always an opinion.

So economics is not a fact, it is not a hard science about facts.

It is an opinion.

I often ponder why people who refuse the idea of a Creator and an unseen Heaven can believe in something as nefarious as "The Economy".

I don't.

Believe, in the economy that is.

I have spouted on my opinion about the Debt, our unending obligation that makes it so that every baby born on this Christmas day will carry home a present of over $40,000 of debt that they earned by just being born American.

I have mentioned my opinion about the deficit, our unwillingness to agree to spend less than we make. Both personally and as a State and Nation.

I may even have opined regarding the balance of trade. The ghost of Christmas past that any trained economist will deny as irrelevant since dollars spend always equals dollars bought.

I have even tread on the quicksand of making obtuse reference to the source of, and ultimately where the responsibility lies for all these "problems". The quicksand of which, when our the nations which host our debt grow tired of our greed, will make Ross Perot's giant sucking sound like a fart in a whirlwind compared to China selling a trillion dollars for euros at ten to one.

If you would like to do something semi-productive this Christmas then follow my lead.

When you shop look for a box of stickers with an American flag. Then print up some labels that say " This present brought to you by the workers of America"

(With an American made pencil please)

And by golly if it ain't made in the USA then don't give it.

It is, in fact, that simple.

This Christmas, if every person who gave a Christmas present gave a gift that said "Made in the USA" on it we could pay an extra twenty billion dollars on our balance of trade. If everyone did this every Christmas we wouldn't need to have fathers and mothers half the world away fighting and dying for sand and hot air.

Do it, just try to do it.

P.S.

"Care to guess what it says on the back of my Flag stickers?"

The Balance of Trade.

2010-11-25T12:22:00.000-08:00

Money is funny, but nothing to laugh about.
Every country it seems has one. A currency that is. In fact it seems to be the defining characteristic of the thing we call country. In the early days of our on US of A the story goes that George Washington stole the silver out of the pantry to make the first "Disme" the country ever owned. Fortunately for George someone had the foresight to put Martha on the obverse to appease the woman now reduced to taking her English tea from a China cup.

Unfortunately John Harper choose a bad hair day for the first lady's portraiture. (The chicken on the back was having a bad day too)

So it is, or so it seems, that the concept of money is so common that we don't even think about it. We dive for a dollar lost in the parking lot with the expectation that it is more than a piece of paper but indeed, in the big picture anyway, it is no more than a check from Uncle Sam's checkbook.

This is where the economist seem to lose their way. Stories of bags of hundred dollar bills in Afghanistan and the fourteen truck loads of hundred dollar bills spirited out of Iraq into Syria in the first hours of the second gulf war. These stories lose sight of the fact that they are in fact checks. Checks with check numbers that can be just canceled if we choose to do so.

According to the economists the balance of trade has no meaning. Because these dollars are in fact "checks" they must be cashed at the Federal Reserve Bank. Even though one might take these dollars in Syria and move them to Germany then to France, ultimately they must come back home. Home where they are traded for American Goods.

This theory might be alright if it were not for the funny money economy that drives the US government. If we printed checks that say Redeemable in bushels of wheat, or pork bellies ,or even in socks and jeans, we might have something. But we don't. We have checks that are redeemable in T-Bills. Debt of the US government. Now all this gets esoteric pretty fast. And it should hurt your head. Write a bad check at the X-mart - no problem just drop by and write another check to pick it up.

Do you remember a few years ago when some of the richest nations of the Middle East Decided to buy the US ports? We finally decided it was a bad idea to have the Muslim Nations doing our national security checks but that underscores the problem. Nations who sell us oil, for example end up with an obscene number of our checks. Then they can't always buy what they want with them. Making them less desirable that maybe checks from, say, Russia. (They can apparently buy congressmen but that's another blog). We have the same trouble with Chindia. The sell us whtchacallimits and dollars accumulate in Chindia in absolutely obscene quantities. And they don't buy goods from us. They buy our debt.

You begin to see the issue.

If one day China or India or Abu`Dabu decides that the checks are no good and she says "Hey Russia, what will you give me for these." "I want to buy Euros." - I will sell these useless checks for a disme on the dollar.

What happens then?

What happens then - is just exactly what is happening now.

The US Treasury franicks and pannics and starts buying its own T-Bills with its own bad checks to shore up the market.

The slide has started ..

Six months from now your dollars will be worth-less - And exponentially less as every year passes until your standard of living is a memory.

The only thing you can do to save yourself is what Gandhi implored his people to do when they wanted freedom from the English.

Make it yourself, buy less, and buy local.

Oh and worry.. worry a lot...

The summer of magic fish

2010-11-24T09:06:00.000-08:00

In the summer of my seventh year, a hundred, inch long shiny silver minnows fell from the sky, they flopped and gasped for air and soon died. I gathered a few in my hands and carried them to Pallie at the cookstove. "Grandma it's raining fish." Without looking at me or my tiny cargo she forced a sad smile and continued to push at the biscuit dough...

“Sometimes that happens”

Archie got the breast, Pallie got the thigh and I got the leg. This was a system that worked. Worked extremely well unless company came and my chicken leg got to be a little drumette from the wing.

Still there was always food. Not much by todays standards but enough to make sure Pallie was always having to make bigger dresses.. That flap of angel skin below her forearm that sloshed back and forth like milk in a pail as she pushed biscuit dough.

Butter beans were my favorite. I don't like the big silver dollar beans today ..I don't know if I liked them then. But I planted them and I picked them and I liked to see a big pile on my plate. Tomatoes, cabbage, corn. And we had grapes. Some of them were turning now.

The picking would be soon enough but for now they were just in bunches with an occasional purple prize for the youngster small enough to see them from below. The only other interested party being the black and yellow wasps that one at a time were not such a threat but in mass could set the strongest man a'weeping.

That summer the rain fell so straight and cool that you could walk into the dirt road and stand, one arm in the rain and the other foot kicking dust in the unpaved road that overflowed with six inch long black Texas grasshoppers. They were Japanese Ebony black with a blood red band below their wings that flashed like fire in the summer sun. They were so big that when they messed with the occasional automobile on our dirt road they left a goo that might have been unfortunate roadkill but for the telltale green insides.

Pallie said the grasshoppers came in a casket from Texas after the great war when one of the local confederate boys shipped home.-“ When they opened the casket they had eaten every stitch of clothes and crawled out of every hole in his body.” she said in deadpan.

Hogs will eat you too you know, At least they ate uncle john, Celie's husband over at lost John's grocery. Cellie was Pallies sister, so John technically was my great uncle. Cellie's story was that John went to the spring and the Indians got him.. Pallie just snorted “there t'wern't no Indians.. The hogs ate him”..

I think maybe he just ran away.

She also said the racers, black snakes with cool black bodies like fresh asphalt, could take their tails in their mouth and roll after a boy faster than he could run. When they caught 'em they would wrap around them and whip stripes on their legs. I often saw bigger boys who had stripes on their legs so I knew this was true.

We read the Bible at night and with it open in her lap she said “I knew of a boy once who stole a cantaloupe and hid from his grandmother and ate the whole thing. Ate it all at one time.” She closed the bible and turned it in her hands “But he couldn't go squat for three weeks and died in the outhouse”. A little grin slid across her eyes, but she managed to bring the point home with a faraway look of feigned sadness. I never stole another cantaloupe.

Rainbows formed in the east as sunsets in the west painted gold and orange over a dozen shades of green. Nights so dark that I often got out of bed and felt my way to the window to see a tiny red lamp on the radio tower ten miles away to reassure myself that I had not gone blind in the night. In the daytime butterbean hulls dried and curled around bits of leaves from the pecan tree. Ants pushed inside the hulls and carried out a treasure much larger than themselves. On this day a raindrop the size of a silver dollar plopped in the dust at my feet then another and another... Big cold drops from a cloud so high that it didn't’ cast a shadow on the house or fields around. Then the fish. Falling among the curled butterbean hulls like little silver winged angels one here and there. Hundreds of tiny Angels .

The fish fell on a summer day at the exact moment when I realized that I could not remember my fathers face. I squinted hard my memory and tried to remember any detail. The stubble of his face in the afternoon. The smell of his aftershave.. The deep brown of his eyes or the thin hair of his ever widening forehead. I could describe it in words but I could not see it. How many months had it been. I was near panic when I remembered that I had a small picture in the house. I ran inside and pried open the round tin box that held my worldly treasure. As I fingered the two inch square I tried again to remember his face. I could see the picture clearly but I knew the images that I held of him were gone forever. Even today my memory of my dad is not my dad but the face on that two inch photograph. That summer I saw lots of grasshoppers, cantaloupes, lots of hungry hogs, lots of black racers. Although I never saw one with its tail in its mouth. I am sure it was all true.

Forty years later, at the exact moment I was recalling the the picture of my father, those days on that farm, my own seven year old came running into the house as excited as a child on Christmas morning...

“Dad its raining fish”...

I smiled and tried as hard as I could to keep him from seeing me cry.

“Yeah -sometimes that happens”

Forget your wives and daughters, lock up your credit cards!

2010-11-23T06:37:00.000-08:00

Well it is that time of year again.

The most revered religious holiday of North America.

That time when we attend our hundred acre temples of worship.

We go on Sunday, Wednesday, and Saturday to see if the Mall Gods have left us any "Bargains".

Yes, it is the most revered of all capitalist holidays...

Shopping season.

Thirty one days till Christmas..

Or should I say christmas.
Or maybe just Xmas..
As in X marks the spot like on some Captain Kidd treasure map.

Time to go over that list of people who sent you a Christmas card to make sure you give them one this year. And mark off the deadbeats who left you hanging last year.

Go over that gift list and check it twice.
Make sure you don't leave out one you owe.
Or send one you don't.

As an amateur economist some things just make me go "huh?" Like the fact that most retail stores make all their profit on the two weeks before Christmas. Some chalking up as much in sales in those two weeks as they do in the entire fifty weeks previous.

And all the while the elected leaders, head in hand, say "But if the people don't load up those credit cards the economy will collapse."

Don't get me wrong, many, even most, of the people elbowing that little old woman in the eye for the last Alabama Snuggie are religious believers and for about ten minutes after the turkey and ham is all gone will have a devout religious experience.

Some will even cry out to Jesus late on Christmas Eve after the toys are put together and Santa has left the building.

I hope my cynicism hasn't come through. I really did look forward to Christmas as a kid. I want my kids to feel the same feelings about it. But it was the joy of the season and the surprise of it all that left me in wonder an awe.

That Lionel was still the greatest thing I have ever seen,

But today it is hard to get a gift that impresses a kid that has two PSP consoles, one for each car.

Yesterday I met a man and two kids picking up cans along highway 72.

I remain ashamed that I couldn't do more. I am reminded that my Lord said that whatever you do to the least of men ~ something or other. I drove away knowing full well that on judgment day I will have to answer the question - "Uh let me get this straight - you left me and two kids on the side of the road hungry and you gave us three bucks and a plastic bottle of water?"

The optimistic among you may say that he was probably just out cleaning the highway. That his wife was home cooking a good meal for those kids and they were just passing the time till dinner.

Maybe, but I doubt it.

Yes it is that time. Like "Carnaval" when we wallow in excess while our brothers suffer. It makes us feel better somehow to get it out of our system.

Those less industrious than my friend on 72 rob stores and houses - " 'Cause that's where the money is" In order to get presents. Home break ins and "snatch and grab" is up one thousand percent and will go up again as the season heats up. One man in Muscle Shoals already gave his life for it.

They want their kids to go to school and show their new "stuff" too!

Lets just say it's a good time to be in the pawn business.

Meanwhile the rich kids are playing around the tree with the box the expensive stuff came in.

My holiday prayer?

"Jesus, let this temple fall"