BY GONE ERA

It came in one of my decreasing moments of lucidity.......Things that are no more........Soft drinks in bottles made from glass, penny candy, and if you were a frugal child you could sometimes find two for a penny. Drive in movies and barber shops. The one that I visited in my youth was a three chair shop. There was Tony and Joe and that extra chair towards the back of the tonsorial emporium belonged to Tony senior who passed long before I was even born,but they kept his area in a respectful tribute to Tonys father. You would come in and the smells told you you were in the right place. The smell of cigar and cigarette smoke.The sweet smell of tonic water that Tony would sprinkle on you liberally when he was done. You sat in the row of leather upholstered chairs that ran along one wall and took a magazine even if there was no one in the chair. Sooner or later ,when he was ready Tony would give you the nod and you would go and settle into the most comfortable chair imaginable. It had a leg rest and a foot rest and even a head rest.It was made from stainless steel,wood and soft leather. Tony would get out a fresh paper neckband and wrap it around your neck and then he would get the cape from its place on the back of the chair and place it tightly around your neck to protect your clothing from the hair that he cut . He would ask you "what can I do for you today young man?" You told him "a shave and a haircut please Tony" he would gently recline you and take a hot steaming towel from its cabinet and wrap it round and round on your face and let it soften your beard while he stropped his straight razor. He would remove the towel and apply warm shaving cream from the dispenser, and shave you as clean as a new born baby's bottom. He would then set you upright and cut your hair the way he thought it should be cut. Then another hot towel to clean the remnants of the shaving cream off your face. He would then take a little tonic and shake it on your scalp and comb your hair with a fine toothed comb, dry your neck and your ears with another dry clean towel, and spin you around so you could see your haircut in the panoramic mirror as he removed the cape with a theatrical flair like to say........."Here he is folks" That would be $1.75 please. I would always give him two bucks because my Dad said that is what you should do. You would walk out of there looking and smelling like a new man.Those days are I'm afraid, long gone. You are not forgotten Tony....thanks for making me feel like the King of the world so many times.

~ BLACK HISTORY MONTH ~

Our local newspaper is celebrating "Black History Month" by having a open forum on famous black people in history. The newspapers invitation was "Area students are being asked to take a journey through the history of the world we live in and choose a famous Black American leader that has made a impact on all of our lives".
Our youth came up with influential people of color who made significant impacts on our lives. These people ranged from Brianna Scurry, who is currently a goal keeper for the Olympic soccer teams. To the old standard of George Washington Carver, who was a accomplished horticulturist.
There were 13 outstanding students who entered this competition, and in actuality it taught me things I didn't know. What puzzeled me was that of all the people who entered this contest NONE were black. ZERO ~ZED ~ZILCH ~NOT NARY A ONE. Is black history month only to be celebrated by white people or do none of the blacks in this area care about their fore fathers 

~ LOSS ~

Loss. It comes in hundreds, no, thousands of varieties. Some are insignificant like your team losing the big game or perhaps losing a few bucks on the lottery. Some are very important ones like you just lost your job, or perhaps you lost your temper with someone who means a lot to you.The worst kinds of losses are ones that can never be made right again. This is the kind of loss that unfortunately paid me a visit yesterday. One of my friends passed to the other side. He had been sick but everyone expected him to recover. There will be times that I will think of him and perhaps a tear will come or even a smile but there will never be a time when I won't feel the loss of this good man. Friends like him don't come often but when they do they leave a impression. He has left a impression even bigger than he was. May God rest his weary soul.

~ Hate Crimes ~

It has come to this feeble little brain after reading a story about nearly 600 prisoners in the Los Angeles County jail system wanting to transfer all of these prisoners into the state system to prevent further fighting and rioting amongst the reported 600 inmates. I was appalled,but not surprised to hear that the ACLU was called in and is attempting to turn all these situations into "HATE CRIMES".
First off I never saw a crime that was committed against someone you "LIKED" . They were particularly concerned when rioting broke out between two Hispanics and four Blacks who by the way were all locked in the same cell. Who were they gonna fight...The Chinese down on the next cell block>? Damn people gimmie a break.......When people are locked up in cages they do not have a tendency to settle disputes with diplomatic efforts. Whoever is stronger has their way in all things.......A good incentive to stay out of jail,or prison, or any other sort of incarceration. At least that is the way I see it here on Arrathorns Alley.

~ NATURAL DISASTERS ~

Michael Brown is expected to give sworn testimony today regarding the federal governments less than timely response to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. First off, I think that what they are looking for is a whipping boy,someone to point at and say hey it wasn't me it was HIS fault.
I have some experience in flood matters, some years ago we were flood victims right here in my little town. The rains came and wouldn't stop it rained for nearly a week steadily.At times heavily. We live along the banks of a lovely and usually benign river, but after these ceaseless rains, the banks were swollen with flood water. There is a large dam and another river at the headwaters of the river I live on. Some one at this dam, decided to open the wickets a little and let off some of the water pressure because they were afraid that the dam would burst. They did and debrie from that river clogged the wickets and they couldn't`t close them. On our river we have a series of locks and dams to control the water level and promote navigation. They held back as much water as they could to protect Pittsburgh which is downstream from us. Now the interesting part is Pittsburgh is at the bottom of the glass and simple physics dictates that the glass will fill from the bottom up unless the dams intentionally hold back the water.So in light of that we filed a class action suit to recover our damages. It went through the court system and they found the power company and the operators of the upstream dam were guilty of malfeasance BUT they could not be held culpable. This, very simply , means yeah they did it but they don't have to pay . Thank you very much so instead of the help we thought we would get, we were permitted to borrow money from the federal government and repair our homes. Lesson learned? If you live in a area that is lower than the water level..Expect a flood. If you get flooded ..Shut up about it cause it will not matter how vociferous you are no one is going to give you anything for nothing and the truth of it is, you deserve nothing . Fema or any other group is not responsible for your mis- fortune. If you qualify and get a loan take it and repair your homes or move out of the flood zone and start over like so many of us have. They took us out of our home by boat and as soon as the water went down we shoveled our way back in and started the re-build it was hard ,brutal work that often times was heart breaking when somewhere in the mud and debri you found a treasure you held dear and it was destroyed. A trinket your children made in school gone. Human nature says you suck it up and move on. That in and of its self is what New Orleans needs to do. They want to be a first class American city then act like first class Americans and get the job done. At least that is the way I see it on here Arrathorns alley.

~ WHAT DO THEY KNOW ~

Don't eat bacon.....It has carcinogens that can potentially cause cancer. Don`t drink coffee it may be harmful to your health. Don't eat butter .....use margarine .............Don't use margarine use butter it is better for you. Don't ever drink milk when you are dieting it has way too many fats in it. .....Oh wait you need four glasses of milk per day when your dieting it helps you shed the pounds faster.
It turns out that the government has just spent about fifty bajillion bucks to find out that a fat free diet is not at all good for you. you must have some fats in your diet.
It seems to me that our government should be in the business of repairing our infrastructure, supplying our military with what they need to wage this war in Iraq. Providing the necessary police and fire departments the training and finance needed to protect our citizenry and staying the Hell out of the pork barrel funding of all these unnecessary and ultimately mis-begotten studies. As far as I know not one of them has ever proven out to be factual and the recommendations they made to be in vogue for more than a few months,before another study, equally inaccurate, divulges what the previous study stated as absolute gospel truth. At least that is the way I see it here at Arrathorns Alley

~ EXCUSE ME? ~

What on earth was this Dimocrat thinking at Mrs. Coretta Kings funeral? Her funeral was attended by no less than four presidents and by any standards it was a impressive tribute to this womans ceaseless efforts to bring racial equality to America. She worked tirelessly untill she had a National holiday named for her husband. This is a honor that has only been afforded two other men in history ,George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, mighty fine company if you ask me.
Former President Carter went on to say that racism still exists in America and to prove that all one has to do is look at the color of the faces of those who were victims of Hurricane Katrina. Is he going to sit there with a straight face and say that this hurricane only affected people of color?This this giant rainstorm somehow only fell on areas where people of color lived?"
It is a good damn thing that the only thing he is allowed to touch now a days is a hammer and nails. When I think of it ,in all of the many pictures of Jimmy in a habitat for humainty setting, I have never seen a saw in his hand, perhaps they knew all along he couldn't be trusted with anything sharp. It is people like him that give Southerners and Democrats a bad name. At least that is the way I see it here on Arrathorns Alley.
 

A RELIGION OF PEACE

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I suppose that a picture is worth a thousand words and it appears as though this one has said even more.The Muslim religion is purported to be a religion of love and peace. I must ask myself who it is that these Muslims love and wish to live in peace with. They kill their own in the name of a Jihad,and this helps how? They send children wearing explosives in the midst of a crowd and then blow them to smithereens in order to make some sort of convoluted point that no one but themselves understands. They kidnap and kill in a most detestable way (beheading) the much hated westerners in their country to ensure that we will leave them as soon as humanly possible.I wish someone would tell these booger eating morons the reason we are there is to bring them a bit of peace and tranquility and to improve their standard of living. We are actually building hospitals,bridges,highways,schools,ensuring electricity, water,and fresh potable water is availabe throughout their country.We do not seek to have a presence there,instead we are trying to help them establish their own governing body in free and unbiased elections.
Now one more thing for these sorry excuse`s for humanity is doing is committing violence on another nations soil (Danish Embassy ) in Beirut,Lebanon.Demonstrators attacked police withstones and even went so far as to destroy life saving equipment that belonged to their own nation,several firetrucks.
Security officials claimed that at least 18 people were injured and at least ten transported by ambulance to area hospitals took to the streets in Afghanistan,Iraq,the West Bank,and even New Zealand.
You may ask what horrible thing was committed against the Muslims to warrant such a wide spread reaction? Well believe it or not someone actually poked fun at Mohammed. I know no one ever made fun of Jesus,or that chubby little fella Buddha, but come on Muslims show a little tolerance. If you folks didn`t want people to use you as the brunt of jokes quit acting so freakin stupid. Quit telling the story that if you go into the midst of that crowd of Christians and blow your self up and kill a number of them in the name of Allah then there will be many virgins waiting for you in heaven. In my opinion the surest way straight to Hell with a first class ticket non- stop is to take another human life and you are going to try to say yer gonna get virgins for it........Hahahahaha you guys ARE funny.......Well at least that is the way I see it here at Arrathorns Alley.

~ GIVE IT A REST ~

I had hoped that we had heard the last of this moonbat that has quit supporting her son's cause,and went so far as to join the the very terrorists that were responsible for her sons untimely demise. She has attempted all sorts of actions to disrupt the general publics impression of what is going on in Iraq. She has stooped to calling the President of our great nation such things as..." A lying Bastard,Evil Maniac,Fucking hypocrite,and the worlds biggest terrorist." She went on to even greater heights and out and out lied by stating that President Bush is committing blatant genocide and is waging a nuclear war.
Well last night she reached new heights by attempting a lame protest at the State Of The Union Address . She was invited by a dimocratic congresswoman and as soon as she got in the chamber she revealed her real reason for being there....To further disrupt the workings of our country and to attempt to embarrass the President of these United States. If her son could, I know he would be screaming from his grave to "shut the fuck up and quit dishonoring our sacrifice here in Iraq and Afghanistan. This fine young man V-O-L-U-N-T-E-E-R-E-D for this service. It is because of her sons sacrifice and many others that Saddam Hussein ,and his two out of control sons, are no longer raping school girls, feeding people to the lions, pulling the tongues out of peoples mouths and even attacking his own people (Kurds) and killing 5,000 or more of those with poison gas.
Her family has turned against her, even her husband has filed for divorce. Even worse than anything else she has done is attempting to have her sons sacrifice mean nothing at all by trying to have us leave Iraq prematurely and there by allowing Iraq to fall back into the wrong hands. In my opinion this woman wants to act like a terroist let her go live with them.

~ WHAT IS YOUR POINT ~

News Flash........ Some time through the night ABC anchorman Bob Woodruff and camera man Doug Vogt and a unamed Iraqi soldier were grievously wounded by what has become known as a IED (improvised explosive device). Their wounds were called serious and they have been already medi-vaced out of the war zone and transported to Landstull Germany. There they will recieve further treatment and when they are asolutely stable, they will be airlifted to probably Walter Reed Hospital out side our nations capitol. This major news story took up the greater portion of the first hour of "Good Morning America" today. The anchor people were all dutifully serious in light of the situation
Here is the rub............ those people were there by choice it is their job. They chose to do it. In exchange for their services they are compensated, at least, richly. I am positive that a network anchor earns as much in a year as I had earned in my mispent life.That is in no way to say they are overpaid just thatI was not much of a achiever.There has been quite the hooplah over these people being injured,the hooplah has been forthcoming in direct porportion to the "importance" of the person. Lots of conversation about the "news anchor" Bob Woodruff....... some about the camera man...... only called Doug for most of the show............ and a unamed Iraqi soldier.
What about the American or allied soldier who is there because they believe in the cause? They will probably earn upwards of $900.00 bucks a month. It is highly recomended that if they are not married, to not get married because there will not be enough money to live on. Why isn`t the first hour of "Good Morning America"dedicated to these brave men and women? Just because the folks at ABC know these people it is a big deal but in reality thier sacrifice is no greater than any one who has been wounded or killed trying to bring freedom to Iraq.The news team was there by choice and were riding in a Iraqi army convoy to further the networks position to belittle the efforts of our troops. Well sometimes irony kicks in and it happens like this. Perhaps there will be a "breaking story" as to how good the medical treatment is that our troops recieve. You can be sure they will never point out our militarys sacrifices so they can present the news story in whatever skewed fashion they choose. 

NEWS FLASH.......BAHRAIN

Date Line Bahrain 1/252006 Pop star Micheal Jackson now vilified as a child abuser was spotted roaming the mean streets of Bahrain. He was dressed as a woman and wearing a Burka.It is unknown at this time if he was secretly trolling for young Bahrainian boys or scouting the area for what his supporters are calling "NEVERLAND ~EAST.. More on this breaking story as soon as a translator is made available to translate from Towel To Jive to English . This may take some time being what the study of linguistics has morphed to today. 

~ How bout DEM STEELERS ~

Pittsburghs going to the Superbowl !!!! Wooooo Hooooo. I was pleased to not have to eat a previous posting when Pittsburgh soundly beat the Denver Broncos. This man had a lot to do with it, not just his personel efforts but his leadership on the team inspired the rest of the team to new heights. This very well may be Jeromes last year on the team but he will remain a valued community member,and a integral member of the future of Pittsburgh.
WAY TO GO STEELERS!!!  

 

~ IN MEMORY ~

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Willson Pickett. He was a inovater in early soul music and influenced many of todays younger artists. He will be sadly missed by many.

HOW BOUT DEM STEELERS !!!!!!

I am going out on a very thick and secure limb and picking the Steelers over Denver Bronco`s on Sun and I think Those mighty Steelers will Face North Carolina in the Superbowl,where the Steelers will have their hands raised once again and we will get the one for the thumb this year!

Excuse Me??????

Excuse Me ???? Could someone please tell me how the Iraqi terrorists come to the conclusion that holding the young female journalist hostage helps their position? Please explain to me how this can have anything but inflamatory results for them. Since we have neglected to give in to their demands the plan is now to execute this young woman,please tell me how this is going to further the terrorists position. We have stated without reservation that we do NOT negotiate with terrorists PERIOD. What makes them think that this is any different.How stupid are these people to keep trying a tactic that has been proven to NOT work. The United States needs to hunt down these offenders and give them more than they ever afforded their hostages, a fair trial and a stout rope at the end of it. Oh yeah I will volunteer to build the scaffold,tie the knot and pull the lever.

One Step Further

For the kind readers information I have had a horrible ending of 2005 and I pray fervently that 2006 will be a much better year. To that end..............I am stepping out of the house today and going to the doctor for a check up. I am planning to have my weight reduction surgery as soon as possible and I am trying to get the ball rolling towards that end. So wish me well,it is only twenty nine degrees and blowing snow and I pick this as my first day out in nearly six months. I kinda feel like a prisoner here who has gotten a notice that the courts will in fact here my plea for a new trial. I`m hoping the docs will help me start a new life..........Woo Hooooo I may be dancing soon !

He Said WHAT??????????????

I could NOT believe my ears and eyes as i lay complacently in my bed. While watching the evening news. The mayor of New Orleans had claimed that he was having a conversation with Dr. Martin Luther King who, if I remember correctly, is as dead as my great great grandmother. He went on to say the Dr MLK told him that God is angry with the United States for being in a immoral war in Iraq and that is why he has brought all these hurricanes to our shores and caused so much destruction. He went on to say that New Orleans should from here on out be a chocolate city, peopled by chocolate people, and rebuilt with chocolate money( I hope this last part is true) Dr MLK is also very angry about the way the black people were neglected during Katrina. I thought I had somehow slept the week through and it was Saturday Night Live,but it wasn't. This idiot was REALLY saying these emmensly stupid things. I think I understand why New Orleans had so much difficulty during Katrina. Mayor Ray doesn't have the sence that God gave a goose. He neglected to call help in untill the situation was so bad that no one could get out of New Orleans and no one could get in either. This once great city was not neglected it simply was mishandled by this bufoon. As a responsible official he should be mandated to promote unity and a a team spirit in rebuilding the city. It is a huge job and it can't be done over night or even with all possible help and unlimited funds New Orleans could never be restored in less than five years. I have some experience in this field. My home was flooded in 1985 and as yet I am not fuly restored. The house is fixed so that it is usable but I have not recovered some of the things that I lost. I never will and I didn`t blame it on anyone........... The rain came down ,the water rose. No ones fault. Shit happens. Did I call out for my comunity to be a white bread town? No that would of marked me as next in line for the looney bin. I think that is where Mayor Ray needs to be put and the key thrown away. At least that is the way I see it here at my end of Arrathorns Alley.

Hello Again

I suppose it is time for me to stop feeling the unspeakable loss of the so called holliday season and assume the normalcies of life again.
I began this blog initially to give me a place where I could vent and perhaps even a forum to speak to some issues that I felt were important at least to me.I feel as though I have done this up till this past Christmas season when I recieved news that rocked my belief system down to its very core. I can't speak freely of it due to legal issues,but I can say that in all of my many experiences in life this was undoubtably the very worst one to try to cope with. I had my heart ripped from my chest and stomped on like it was a roach on someones kitchen floor.I commited the ( I suppose ) unforgivable act of loving someone wholeheartedly. In truth more than I loved myself. I would of gladly given my life to help her in the smallest way. I placed all my hopes for the future on her tiny little shoulders.
In exchange she loved me so hard I felt like her hero. I knew that when she would get here I could hear her squeeling to be let out of her car seat so she could play with Happy(her name for me). I would happily do anything she wanted at anytime,and she knew that and ruled gently from her throne. I felt immortal and I thought I looked like a giant in her eyes as she smiled my way.
It turns out that this child has been taken from my life without so much as a days warning. I don`t know when I will heal or even if,but I do know that she would want to see Happy smile again and for my little princess I will try.I will always remember the gentleness of her hands on my face as she kissed me goodnight or how warm it was in her arms when she gave me a good morning hug.If you ever read this thanks for loving me, I will NEVER forget you. You are the creme de la creme.

Happy New Year

I wanted to take a moment and wish all my readers and friends and family a happy and prosperous new year. It gotta be better than it has been this year or I don`t wanna know about it.