Thanksgiving Memories

 Well, Jane has the turkey in  the oven and the aroma is intoxicating. I'm watching the Texan's game and I'm thinking about a lot of Thanksgivings from times past. From the time I spent thanksgiving on Guam with some shipmates to the ones that bring back my fondest memories; the ones I spent at my Grannie's.
 I am the product of two families. My parents divorced very early and I grew up with two dads. Not in the way it's spoken of now, but with two men of thought of as my dad. My Grannie was my father's mother and her house was the gathering place for the Carter family for most holidays. At any given time, there would be a mess of them there for no other reason than it was Grannie's. But come Thanksgiving, it would be packed from one end to the other with family. Grannie had seven children and all but one had kids, so there were plenty of cousins, and aunts and uncles, not to mention friends who would drop by. 
 Thanksgiving there for me would begin on Wednesday afternoon when school would let out. I'd have my suitcase packed and mom would drop me off at the bus station for the two hour bus ride from Bowie To Electra. I started doing that when I was about six years old. (Anybody feel safe letting your six year old travel alone on a bus for two hours these days?) Sometimes someone would meet me but most times I just lugged my suitcase and hoofed it to her house. I could always smell it from the corner. The aroma of pies would make my mouth water. Add to it, I'd hit town about supper time and be ravenous for some of her cooking. After supper, we'd start setting the tables up, the long table up front and the kids tables in the back. The long table by the time we got the glider stand and door off the front bedroom and used for an extension would seat nearly 30 people. the card tables would then hold the kids in the back room off the kitchen. The average head count back then was around thirty ans have seen nearly fifty be there. 
  Now,Grannie and my Aunt Willene didn't do all the cooking, it was a family style pot luck where every family brought something. Dad always brought something he smoked or barbecued which was either a big sirloin roast or a ham.I kid you not, I've seen three turkeys, a couple hams and a roast on the table and every vegetable imaginable, including a pot of red beans(this is Texas after all.) before the meal, we'd all gather for the blessing round the big table so my uncle Jr. would say the blessing. It was a Baptist blessing and I swear he was trying to pray those turkeys into heaven. He and I were the Baptists in the family, the rest were Methodists if you get my drift. Then we'd load our plates and settle in for a family meal.
  After the meal while the women cleaned, covered the leftovers, and set out the pies; the menfolk would claim  the card tables for games of Spades and the domino game. Now Carters are not what you'd call competitive, Carters play for blood in anything we do. And the domino game was watched by all us kids as long as we were quiet. The teams usually consisted of my cousins Tommy and Don, Dad and my Uncle Edward and my Uncle Jr and his son Larry. Tommy and Don had grown up together and were the team to beat. The yelling from the tables along with the laughing, taunting and occasional cuss word or ten could be heard down the street. Once, when I was there on leave while in the Navy, I had to sub for my dad as Edwards' partner. I'm a fair player,  but  nowhere in their league. After a very poor play of mine that cost us the game, Edward chucked his last domino at me, catching me right between the eyes, then cussed dad for not teaching me to play better. Lesson learned: Never bring fives without blanks. Tommy nearly fell out of his chair laughing. Good times.
 My Grannie is gone now along with my dad and all his brothers and sisters. A few cousins have passed also. They may be gone, but my memories of them are still here and strongIf I close my eyes, I can still see them; circled round grannie in her rocker as we all watched and rooted for out team, the Dallas Cowboys playing the Thanksgiving Day Game. Like I said earlier, Good times.

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all

Lies From Your President

 Listening to the radio this morning while going down the hiway, I heard an excerpt of Obama's book,
Dreams of My Father. From the little bit I heard, it soounded like he was channeling Kunta Kinte from Roots, but that's another story. Coupling that with the recent debates, I figgered it's time for Obama to churn out another book about his time in office and I thought this might lay the groundwork.(Bobby, feel free to interject with what you have at anytime.)

 

Lies From Your President

February of 2009 found President Obama vowing to reduce the deficit by 50% by the end of his first term in office. [I think we can see that never happened]

In early 2010, Mr. Obama claimed that the border fence is “basically complete.” [It is, if you consider 5% as “basically complete.”]

In March of this year, the President promised his new gas mileage standards would save the average American household $8000 per year. [There is only one small problem with that statement.  The American family on average spends around 4000 dollars anually on gasoline.]

You Didn’t Build that”  [Yes we did!]                                                                                                           

I’ve done more for Israel’s security than any President ever has before me.
[Obama aided Islamic Extremists take over of Egypt/ Libya.]

The GOP is responsible for Obama Jobs Bill Not Passing.
[Dems Rejected Jobs Bill.]

Benghazi violence was caused by an internet video & demonstrations.[ Well that one should bite him on the ass.]

“Under Gov. Romney’s definition … Donald Trump is a small business.”  [Donald Trump employ over 25,000 people. Define "the".]

“I think it’s important for us to understand that the Fast and Furious program was a field-initiated program begun under the previous administration” [Fast and Furious was reinitiated without tracking devices in October, 2009. President Bush left office in January of that same year.]

My budget will cut the deficit by $4 Trillion over 10 years. [I thought the nose was supposed to grow when you tell a lie. To me, it looks like his ears are getting bigger!]

These are obligations that the United States has taken on in the past. Congress has run up the credit card, and we now have an obligation to pay our bills. [Looks like it’s been incurred mostly in the years of Obama.]

We have run out of places in the US to drill for oil. [Then why is production is up on private lands and you cut drilling permits by 50% and closed off drilling in the Gulf?]

Gas prices have been spiking for years! [The national average for gasoline in January 2009 was around 2.00. Now it's closing in on 4.00]

 We have created 5,000,000 new jobs! [Maybe so, but it it doesn't offset the number of jobs that have been lost with his policies, so at best it's only a half truth. My mom taught me that a half truth equals a whole lie!]


If I don't get the job done in three years, then I'm a one term president. [Job's not done and now he's running on platform of I need more time.]


In closing, I think that as loyal citizens, we should do our best to help him keep one of his promises. We should do everything we can to help him become a one term president. That way he won't  be a complete liar!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crazy(?) Joe

 Like a lot of people, I watched the debate last night and also like a lot of people, my mind is already made up. But,like a lot of other people, I enjoy a good show, and that is all the Veep Debate is.

 Seems like all anybody can talk about  are Biden's antics during the debate. Folks, he did exactly what he was supposed to do, and that was disarm Ryan. He was was sent in there not to make points but deflect and blunt Ryan.  No one is going to base their vote on the VP, but Biden to some extent, did manage to get some points in while brawling Ryan. If this were a boxing match, I'd give it a draw at best and split decision at worst. Neither candidate landed a knockout punch. Ryan did manage a few jabs to the face but failed to land a solid body blow. When Biden stated the Administration acted on bad Intel, he could have waded in then, but for some reason held back. But, when discussing Iran and Biden said our Intelligence said they were still a long way from a nuclear devise, that was when Biden was wide open! He should have landed the shot then, asking him why we should trust Intel on Iran, after Biden threw the Intelligence Community under the bus concerning Libya?

 Another point he should have followed up on was Biden's propensity for plucking numbers out of the air. I know he couldn't have called him a liar, but he might have been a little more forceful as was Romney. I know he was having to defend himself on two fronts, but when you're in a fight, you swing back at whomever is swinging at you. He should have known going in he was going to have to debate Biden and and handle a moderator that is friendly to the Administration.

 I though Ryan was excellent on domestic issues such as Social Security, taxes and Medicare. (I do think he should have brought the fact this Administration has failed to come up with a budget since Obama was elected.)Unfortunately, facts rarely trump emotion and rhetoric and Biden is a master of misinformation and parroting the Party Line. But Ryan did manage to get his point across to some extent. I know people are hollering for specifics on the plans. BUT, before you can get specifics you need a goal. Then you can tailor the plan to achieve that goal. Okay back to sports,  no winning coach goes in with a rigid game plan right down to the specifics. At most he has a flow chart. If one thing don't work you go a different way. You have to adapt, innovate and overcome. This seems to have been lost on Biden even though Ryan tried to dumb it down enough for him to understand.

 One final note here, this debate will definitely set the tone for the ensuing debates. You can look Obama to come out swinging at the bell and low blows from him are going to be overlooked. Mitt better have his jockstrap on and be ready to rumble. And, on that, y'all can make book.

POLLS? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' POLLS!

 Rassmussen, Gallup, Zogby, Quinnipiac... OK, show of hands, how may of you are hooked on polls? Bobby, why aren't both your hands up? For those of you who don't know him, my good friend Bobby lives down in Austin or as I like to think of it as Austingrad or San Fran East. He is a rabid Conservative in a sea of Liberalism. He can prolly tell you verbatim what Rush and Sean said on their shows and gives a running annotation to his long suffering wife while he watches Fox news.
 More of Bobby later, back to polls. How many of them them do u actually think they are accurate? Are they informative? Do we need so many of them? Who's paying for them? Which brings me to another question, Why is the main-slime-media putting out so many polls? What do they have to gain? And, being who they are and their reputation, how many of us can believe them?
  Remember when the Gold standard of polls used to be Gallup? Now, these days, there are more polls than Heavyweight Boxing titles. And if you take the time to research their polling data,it's so heavily skewed that it's actually worthless. Cases in point: Reagan was behind right up till he won.
Dukakis was ahead till he lost. Gore had it wrapped up till GW moved to DC[Dems still think he won]. Kerry had the election sewn up according to MSM exit polls. Ooops again.
 I have several theories on media polls, and some are rather convoluted. Here goes:

1. They poll heavily Democrat to skew the poll in order to depress the GOP base so they will give up and stay home. [These folks obviously don't know Bobby and others like him.] They also hope it will cause Republican donors to close their wallets.

2. With polls slanted that way, it is also hoped it will cause some major  Wall Street addresses to figger they have to cover their bases and toss money to Obama. This is a two-edged sword here folks. It might could give them reason to toss even more money to Mitt in order to help him catch up rather than suffer four more years of Obama and his assault on the Free Market.

3. Slanted polls will also give them the reason to file protests and holler recount in some very tight results in several states[Florida springs to mind here].

I do admit to watching and following polls, but only for their entertainment value. Like most Conservatives, the only poll that will count for anything is the one I take part in on Election Day.

I'm Back!

  Howdy y'all! After a brief Sabbatical wondering if Romney is the best we conservatives can do, it occurred to me that I was looking the wrong direction.He may not be the best we can can get, but I'd bet the farm we'll be better off under him than four more years of  "Hope and Change" Ooops, my bad, it's now ''Forward".
  Okay, now that I've choked the bile down from reading those two Marxist slogans, I'd like to rant some on what passes for a media in this country...when you have to get the truth from the Enquirer, something is definitley wrong. You realize that one of the few stations running with Fast and Furious is Univision? There has to be something inherently wrong that when we have agents killled and a government coverup is taking place about the only station keeping this on the airwaves brings us Telemundo and Sabaddo Gigante? And how about the media being a willing stooge for the Administration during all this Libyan crap? The Media may  think they are his allies, but Obama has no allies. Obama for Obama, that should be his message. Let the media spin that.
  Let's move on to Libya and the death our people there. Anybody out there really belive it was a spontaneous protest? Hmmm,  I went to several protest marches and rallies during the Viet Nam War to see what they had to say. You, know in all those people, I never saw one RPG or mortar and those were carefully scripted and choreographed events. While the government lies through its teeth about this event and panders and aplogizes to those people, the media happily stirs the koo-aid and congratulates itself on being the watchdog for the country. More like lapdog for the annointed one if you ask me. about the only questions asked by the media today is will this story help or hurt Obama? And, if will hurt him, how can we shift blame to the conservatives?
  I don't remember the last time I watched Network National News. I tend to gravitate to Fox and I do enjoy them and the fact they have had more Liberals on their shows, than all the other News stations combined have had Conservatives on theirs.
  So, until we can figure out what we can do to swing the media back to center again, I'm just gonna do what I've been doing, read about a story from a lot of different apsects and judge for myself. And a little of the El Rushbo daily don't hurt either.

The Vets In My Family

On this Memorial Day, I'd like to mention and say thank you to a special group of veterans.
They are the ones in my family. I've learned a lot from them over the years and though some have passed; a lot of them are still here and to all of them past and present; I'd like to say thank you.

 

Joe Carter         (father)

Edward Carter  (uncle)

WR Carter        (uncle)

Fred Carter       (uncle)

Bob Carter        (uncle)

Bill Moore        (uncle)

Jack Phipps       (cousin)

Scott Gladden   (cousin)

Lance Logue     (cousin)

 

 

Beverly Colby   (sister)

Al Colby            (brother-in-law)

Daryl Phipps     (cousin)

 

 

Diedre Phipps Cundiff (cousin)

 

 

Winton Kemmis (stepfather)

Ed Carter

 

To all the other Veterans still living, I salute you and  say thank you.

To the Veterans who have passed or have made the ultimate sacrifice

I pray to God to grant you the Eternal Peace you have earned and so richly deserve.

 

 

Adele

 You ever notice than when you ask a Liberal who inspired them or or helped to mold their character, it's always someone great or esoteric such as Ghandi, The Dalai Lama, Kennnedy, Mao... and so on. 

  As all y'all know, I'm no liberal, so I'd like to tell you about the second greatest influence in my life[after Mom], my maternal grandmother, Adele.

 Now mind you, Adele wasn't your regular run-of-the mill Grandma.  I don't ever remember the smell of cookies coming from her kitchen or chicken fryin for Sunday dinner. I do remember sitting quietly as a very young boy waiting for her to finish her first cigarette and cup of coffee, before I could talk to her.

Adele, okay from here on out, I'm just gonna call her Granmda because that's how I remember her. Grandma was a strog-willed person and very opinionated and lived her life accordingly. She was very  big on manners, attire and rules.

Grandma was a firm believer in manners. God help you no matter who you were if you replied with words such as yeah, huh or a uh uh, nope, etc.  It was yes ma'am, or no ma'am. I don't mean just family, I mean everybody. I have sat next to her in diners and coffee shops and watched her "counsel" a waitress for using those words when taking her order. She was never rude about it, but would get her point across very quickly.

Grandma was big on appearance also. When I was a boy playing football in school, I was allowed from time to time to stay with her in town to keep mom from havin to drive into town after practice all the time. Wellsir, before going to bed, I'd have my clothes laid out the next day, and boots polished and she'd check them along with my homework, which she would go over for neatness as well as being correct. To this day, I still like my shirts and jeans starched and when I go out my boots are done and hat brushed.

She had her rules, too. Not a lot of them, but the one I remember most was no hat on in the house. To this day, I can't wear a hat indoors. Even with cowboy etiquette allowing you to wear if no safe place for it, I'll hold it in lap or hang on my knee. She allowed us 15 seconds to take it off after comin inside. I never was sure what would happen after 15 seconds because I didn't want to know.

Earlier, I told you Grandma wasn't your regular grandmother. She was one of a kind, When most grandmothers would be cookin, bakin, and such as; Adele ran a bar. And it really wasn't a bar, it was as we say in Texas, a beer joint. Nope it wasn't a pub, people it was a beer joint. And in this beer joint, she catered to mostly oilfield workers and cowboys. Now Adele  had her rules in there, too. No fights, no touching the help(my mom) and no feeding the kid in the playpen by the jukebox(me).  Ever wonder how she enforced those rules with out a bouncer in one of the rowdiest places in Texas? Sheer force of will.

Okay, let me tell u about the one thing in my life that has shaped and influenced my thinkin and actions to this day. When I was about 10, Mom got real sick and was confined to bed and in and out of the hospital. My stepdad was on the road a lot and without a thought to anything, Grandma quit, packed up moved to Bowie and moved in to take care of us. She took a job in a laundry, because Bowie was dry, and  when she wasn't workin, she was taking care of  me and my sisters. She even cooked! Up till then, I had no idea she used a burner for anything but lighting a cigarette. She never complained, she just moved in and took over. I asked her once why she did it, and she replied, "Eddie, that's truly the dumbest question you have ever asked. Family takes care of their own. We don't need to rely on nobody but family". All I could say was, yes ma'am.

 She's been gone a while,but she has a special place in Heaven. I like to think it's right next to Peter at the gate makin sure people look presentable before thu the Gates, lookin presentable and I guarantee you, there's a hat hook close by.

Happy Birthday Grandma!!