Do you ever drink then blog?I was at Target the other day. I think Durango has once pondered how Target stays in business. Well, I'm glad they do. I love Target. Wal-Mart charges 2 cents too much for Milk.
Oh yeah. I was at Target the other day shopping for groceries. I had a $5 off coupon for groceries if I spent over $50. I hate coupons that have a minimum dollar amount. Like cars that say, "You save $1000 for all purchases over $20,000!".
I left my coupon at home and by the time I noticed I left it at home it was too late. I was already there.
Target had some beer on clearance. All kinds of beer. I bought me some bottled brew that had little wired-on cork tops. I must say it was very good. Well, it still is very good. I'm about 80% done with a bottle. I think it must have been about a liter of some very potent brew. Chimay's the name. I'm thinking of going back to Target and buying some more. But not now. Maybe tomorrow.
I watched a history channel show about the battle of Shiloh. For those of you who went to Texas schools to learn history from a football coach, that's the name of a Civil War battle up in Western Tennessee. It got me to thinking.
The governor of Texas recently mentioned seceding from the union. It has caused lots of undue drama. I personally believe he was joking. Now, I've never liked Perry, but I don't think he's stupid and seceding would be beyond stupid.
But, it got me to thinking. Back in 1861 when the Confederate seceded from the Union, it started a civil war. The way the armed forces are today and the size of the federal government, nothing similar will ever happen again.
People, like Ted Nugent, who I blogged about earlier are pro-guns. They want to maintain their rights to carry fire arms. A large number of these people claim that they have this right in order to protect themselves from oppressive government. In today's world, you can sit there with your rifle all day long, but if the government decides it's your time to go, you'll be sitting on your couch with your rifle when Mr. Smart Bomb comes through your window and desintegrates your sorry ass. So, protection from the government has nothing to do with gun laws. Drop the argument.
People that are anti gun-laws (read that carefully) are normally too fanatic for my blood. Fanatics always turn me the wrong way. However, I am of the opinion that the government has too many departments and too many rules. They should let us do anything we want as long as we aren't hurting other people.
Obama recently encouraged various department heads to make cutbacks in an effort to save $100,000,000. If you do the math and look at the federal government's budget, they are spending $100,000,000 every 13 minutes.
When Obama was elected I had high hopes that he might actually shrink the size of the federal government. Everyone must agree that it's way too big. It you're not a fan of "business as usual" then a sure fire way to win popular opinion and save money is to shrink the size of the federal government. Obama created a department to shrink the size of the federal government. He grew the federal government to shrink the federal government. Very disappointing.
My friend at The Whited Sepulchre has a long list of departments that should be done away with (18 comments). It's a good list. My friend Durango recently posted a story about how government cutbacks have allowed petroleum industry to pollute our drinking water. What a conundrum.
In a capitalist country, the little people must ban together to prevent the evils of industry and the power they wield via wealth. But what happens when the little people's broker (the governmet) becomes, itself, corrupted by the evils of power and wealth?
I think we all hoped by some miracle that Obama would make appropriate cutbacks in the federal government and make the little people feel safe again by reigning in the evil industrial empires. I'm still waiting for this to happen, but at the same time I'm not giving up hope. My last drink of Chimay goes to Obama and to the power of the little people. May he really shrink the size of the federal government and quit bailing out industrial empires.
"Back in 1861 when the Confederate seceded from the Union, it started a civil war."
ReplyDeleteWhat century are you up to in your history book? The Confederacy did not secede from the Union. A group of Southern states, including Texas, opted out, one by one. Then those states formed a less perfect Union and called it the Confederate States of America. The Union did not recognize the validity of the Confederacy and responded by transferring troops and supplies to Union forts in the South, like Fort Sumter. The Rebels demanded the Union leave Fort Sumter. When they didn't, the Confederates began the Civil War by attacking Fort Sumter. The Yankees surrendered without losing a man. That would not be the case with the other battles of the Civil War.
Now, in answer to your other question. I don't think you should drink beer and blog.
Jeez. I was simplifying. Didn't want to write a dissertation. "The Confederate" was, I thought, an easy way of indicating all the states that seceded without listing them.
ReplyDeleteBesides, why do that when I knew you would fill in the blanks for me!
The act of them seceding caused the Union to move troops which led to an attack therefore you could say that the seceding of the states (which today are known as the confederate states) started the civil war.
The first state actually seceded in 1860 so, if anything, you could have argued my time line. I'm very disappointed.
The history book kind of skips around, but I haven't arrived in North America yet.
I gotta agree with Mr. Durango. Just say no to Chimablogging. I love Chimay, and I love blogging. But Dude! you just proved that there really are two great tastes taht don't taste great together...
ReplyDelete:-D
Sorry, Gar, I thought I was already being too pedantic, so I left your 1861 secession date alone. If I hadn't then I'd have to get into the southern states seceding while James Buchanan was president, not Lincoln, as so many erroneously believe.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, since I am now back being pedantic, the act of the southern states seceding did not cause the north to move troops. When they seceded Buchanan did nothing. He left dealing with the South to Lincoln. By then the states in rebellion declared themselves a nation, the Confederate States of America, and asked to be recognized as such by foreign powers.
You say the seceding states today are known as the Confederate States. Uh, that is what they were always known as. All through the Civil War.
Is this stuff only taught in Northern schools? Do states that were in the Confederacy tend to skip over that unpleasantness, sorta like Germany and Japan don't fully teach their students what went on from the early 1930s til 1945?
No wonder the governor of Texas is talking of seceding again. He probably was never taught what happened the last time Texas tried that.
What's done is done and now we're all stuck with each other...might as well suck it up and get used to it!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that Durango and Ed don't read my post...I don't think I could handle all the criticism! I suppose it's meant to make you a better person.
Everyone knows that a power struggle is what the Civil War was really all about. That explains Perry's statement...more state control over the things we can locally impact...and less federal intervention. Keep your hand out of the cookie jar! :P
BTW...I like Target