Buy That Man A Beer

There are so many awesome people in this country. With a monster hurricane bearing down on the southeast coast, thousands are mobilizing to help. Sundance covers the staging: The Daytona 3000.

The job our linemen do to restore power after a disaster is nothing short of heroic. Here in the Ozarks we've seen it time and time again as ice storms and tornadoes rip through.  And we've seen our local linemen boom out to other areas of the country many times. They work in the most dreadful conditions imaginable.

Here's to you, linemen!

An American Treasure: Douglas Dillard

Douglas Dillard's style of banjo picking is unique. He was born in Missouri, not too far from where I live, was a founding member of the Ozark Mountain Boys, and also played for the Dixie Ramblers. You've probably heard Doug and his band play on the Andy Griffith Show; the jam sessions were a huge hit with fans. Doug died in Nashville in 2012, but will long be remembered for his music.

At your indulgence, a repeat.

I posted this video several years ago. David Huddleston, who was seen in many Hollywood movies died Tuesday. He was also in this film.

If he never did anything else, he has a place in my heart for this film.

How The West Was Won

While we are eagerly anticipating a wonderful family post (hint hint) from the lovely and brilliant Magic Fayre, who is currently acrost yon pond, I thought I would whet your appetite for history and historic things. This is a bio of a pioneer woman, written by her daughter in 1921. I will post it as I found it, without editing:

Modernity Has Not Been Kind to the Celt

From the pen of Apollon Zamp: 

"Throughout history, the denizens of rural Appalachia have been at a high risk of death from gunshot wounds, stabbings, and blunt force trauma. This is the seeming end result of piling too many Scots-Irishmen together and expecting them to co-exist peacefully (cf. a certain six counties of Ulster). Those causes of death have been replaced by the much less mediapathic,[1]but no less lethal, trio of diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.[2] Fast forward a couple of centuries and the main threat facing a mountaineer is the face he looks at in the mirror every morning. In the immortal words of the comic strip Pogo, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”The singular question any intelligent and curious observer is left with is: Why?Or, in other words: What happened to the Appalachia of yesteryear? Who’s responsible for its decline? How did it come to this?

The best answers I can provide are, respectively: it’s dead; the Federal government; and the inevitable progress of the welfare state."

I know most of you aren't into the American anthropology thing like I am, but I think you'll really enjoy this article. Thanks to the Baron at GOV for sharing this.

The Chairman Of The Board

December 12th, 2015 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Francis Albert Sinatra.  I won't bore you here with any of the details of his life...all of that is easily available on-line.

What I will say is that Sinatra's music has played a huge part in my life, my mother was a big fan and my sister and I grew up with his music as a backdrop to our lives.  So much so that there is hardly a Sinatra song that I cannot sing all the lyrics too.  This fact amazes me to no end.  How many times must I have heard these tunes to practically know every word all these years later?

Mark Steyn has a fabulous series on his blog, it's  called Sinatra's Century and it documents Steyn's 100 top Sinatra tunes.  There is no way I can showcase 100, but here is my top five list of Sinatra's I can't live without tunes.  And yes, I did get to see him live once, on my birthday in 1976, at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver BC.

Number 1

Night and Day



Number 2

I've Got You Under My Skin



Number 3

Fly Me To The Moon



Number 4

I Get A Kick Out Of You (the cocaine version!)



Number 5

Come Fly With Me

Ideas To Ponder

Finland is considering giving every citizen €800 a month.

Authorities in Finland are considering giving every citizen a tax-free payout of €800 (£576) each month.

Under proposals being draw up by the Finnish Social Insurance Institution (Kela), this national basic income would replace all other benefit payments, and would be paid to all adults regardless of whether or not they receive any other income.

Unemployment in Finland is currently at record levels, and the basic income is intended to encourage more people back to work. At present, many unemployed people would be worse off if they took on low-paid temporary jobs due to loss of welfare payments.

Working Americans already pay a ridiculous amount in subsidies for people who don't work, plus the salaries of all the gov't employees to manage these programs. What if we did this here? The amount would need to be closer to $2000 to cover the essentials. Let's kick this can around the Table for a few minutes.

Basically, we're talking about doing away with social security, welfare, food stamps, housing/health subsidies. All of it, down the "social experiment" crapper.

Give every citizen $2000 per month. EVERYONE from skid row bums to billionaires. Everyone.

It would recharge the 50% of our population who are pulling the ever-crowded wagon. A couple could use their $4000 windfall to fund retirement, or education for their kids. Inner city blacks, reservation Natives, West Virginia poor whites, and others would once again have a reason to get married and create stable households, as there would be no financial penalty for an intact family. People who can't afford to work because of the loss in benefits could not only obtain/create employment, but thrive. Well-off citizens could donate the windfall to schools, churches, clinics. Could you imagine if people who donate their portion to schools were automatically given a seat on the school board, to vote on where the money is spent and demand accountability from teachers and administrators? It would be epic.

How could we pay for this simplified system? Disband the IRS. Begone a$$holes! Levy a 10% tax on all purchases and services, with no caps and no exceptions other than maybe rent, food, and medical expense. No income tax, no death tax, just ONE tax. Let the individual states be in charge of collecting it and remitting Ceasar's portion to Ceasar, while keeping their own portion for state business and projects.

If you buy a $100,000 home? Please pay a 10% tax, or $10,000, into the tax kitty. Purchase a $250,000 boat? Pony up $25,000. No caps. If a business buys a million dollar piece of equipment, remit $100,000. Simple. Punish fraud with lengthy prison sentences, and make them forfeit their $2000/month stipend for life.

There might be a way to throw public sector worker pensions into this mix. I know it would send the progressives into howling fits for touching their sacred, taxpayer-funded golden stash, but that's the breaks.

In a perfect world everyone would work and support themselves, but it's not a perfect world, and unless something catastrophic happens the libs are not going to relinquish their giveaway bonanza. Maybe the best we can do right now is to simplify and control it, and in the process reinvigorate the middle class and jump-start innovation.

Think long term strategy. Think Overton Window.

Okay friends. Fire away!

The Last Crossing

The Last Crossing

   by lady red

This is a story of family, and a story of faith. It is also a story of America, and the remarkable resilience and spirit that forged our fledgling nation.

Our tale begins at, well, the beginning: in the boondocks of western New York, in the decades following the Revolutionary War. During the period of what is now known as the Second Great Awakening, there lived a family named Smith. They lived in the "Burned-Over District", so named for the religious evangelical fervor that was embraced by its residents, led mostly by the Baptists and the Methodists. The Smith family was no exception, and they spent many an evening reading the bible and discussing religion. 

Americana

I hope you enjoy Walt Disney, Roy Rogers, and the Sons of the Pioneers. I loved when yodeling was a part of western music, and the SOTP album "Cool Water" is still one of my favorite LPs of all time.