Music, Government, and Everything in Between.

It is approaching 90 degrees today. It may have reached 90, who knows. When it gets that hot does a few degrees really matter. Not much, probably. When it gets this warm I have to listen to "Bullroarer" by Midnight Oil, just for the opening;

"In the desert in the dry,
Before the breaking of the rain,
The temperature in the shade
Had reached a 110 again."

Then I listen to the whole thing because it is a rocking number, and a little angry. Musicians who are angry seem to make better music.  And Peter Garrett was pretty mad about a lot of things, mostly things that were uniquely Australian, the treatment of indigenous people, and the stewardship of the land. I guess those problems are not so unique to Australia, after all.

In fact he was so mad he ran for office, and people were so incensed they elected him. And now we don't have a tall, angry man singing songs about injustice, no more Midnight Oil, but we do have another Member of Parliament. Mores the pity. I have several Midnight Oil albums, and enjoy them enthusiastically.

Recently, Mr. Garrett resigned his post, and announced he would not seek reelection. There has been some strife in the Australian government, and it has not set well. So he will have some free time, soon.

Speaking of Midnight Oil, they started as a band in 1973. Wow, that was a long time ago. About the same time a Canadian band named the Guess Who broke up, according to a fan page it was actually 1975.

On my Phone is a copy of "The Best Of The Guess Who." It was on sale, and they were pretty cool, so I snagged it. They had quite a few hits, and I am nothing if not nostalgic about the music of that era.

Recently a coworker told me he was going to visit his Mother, and take in the county fair. He said it was a small fair, in a sparsely populated county. But, they "get some big name acts, this year it is the Guess Who." Who knows, maybe next year they will get Midnight Oil.

Scotland, and the future of the world.

Voters in Scotland are deciding on sovereignty today.  Tomorrow the landscape of the world may change, and there may be a brand new country.  In a way it is kind of exciting, countries are normally born through violent upheaval, terrible strife, conflict, and bloodshed.  They come in to the world screaming for justice, and demanding respect.  But, if this happens it will be with all of the decorum of a typical United Kingdom event.  Though, it may not be as united as once imagined.  There are a few nagging questions, what currency will be used, will the price of really good Scotch whisky go up, can they be persuaded to add an "e" to whisky, and what about Scotland Yard, won't that be a little awkward?

Recently, several educated, recognizable, and respected residents of Texas have made bold statements concerning seceding from the United States.  Essentially declaring independence, and becoming a nation unto itself.  This may be hyperbole, and just a ploy to express dismay at the actions of the Federal Government.  But, Texans are notorious for thinking big, and this should be considered a real possibility.  This, too, raises a few questions.  

Would it be better to erase a star from all of the flags, the cost of this could be astronomical?  Or should the US try to pick up another state?  Perhaps the Canadians would not mind giving up Ontario.  There is a shared border of 1,678 miles between Ontario, and the US, which makes it like a state already.  Plus, they could, possibly, explain this whole metric thing to Americans, and that most mythical of beasts "the balanced budget."  Ontario may require more cooperation than most Canadians are willing to provide, but, they probably would not mind handing over New Brunswick, or at least the Northwest Territories, which is allegedly just like Alaska, only Canadian.

If push comes to shove, as it so often does, we could maybe pick up part of Greenland, it is not that far, and certainly they can't be using the whole thing.  It is a very big place, and not densely populated.  

Of course, there are many other potential states, but, it is time to start planning.  Geopolitically speaking there is nothing sacred, and the race is going to the swift, and powerful, and those who might be a little unscrupulous, and possibly those who have a little cash to throw around.  This is the time for bold, decisive action, and a radical departure from the norm.  Is this country prepared?  Only time will tell.

To J, a wildly wonderful, mildly powerful superhero.

Two years ago, today, I quit smoking.  To me, it was a momentous day, a little frightening, but exhilarating, liberating, a day that I had longed for, but had never been quite ready to accept.  Something happened, that year, though, that made me feel like I could finally end the expensive, smelly relationship.  Maybe, somewhere inside, I knew that on the plains of Canada a remarkable person was also getting ready to put aside the foul things.

She travels the internet under the alias of J, and claims to have mild superpowers.  It seems, to me, that one of those superpowers is the ability to cover any situation, no matter how rancorous, with humor, and charm, and wit, sweetness, kindness, and tolerance.  And the way she handled tough situations was far beyond mildly superior.

I met J on the same forum as Frank, (http://tim-thingsastheyare.blogspot.com/2013/07/replacing-old-friend.html).   It was a place of refuge, and comfort, when things got tense and a cigarette was sounding pretty tasty there would always be someone around to talk you down.

Anytime you get that many people together who only have one thing in common there is going to be some tension.  Also, people who have recently quit smoking can be a little irritable anyway, needless to say there were flare ups, and a little animosity at times.  And sometimes people got a little mean.

  Imagine a forest, dry, crackling tinder everywhere, a hot wind blowing from the south.  Soon, one wrong word strikes an exposed nerve, and there is a spark.  See how quickly the flames spread from tree to tree?  It is a terrible, horrifying conflagration, swirling winds are carrying sparks, and there seems to be no hope. Just when the monstrous thing is about to erupt and engulf everything in it's path, you hear a voice, filled with hope.

"Look, up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane."  No, it's J riding a wave of good will and cheerfulness, coming to smother the anger, and hurt feelings.  It was an amazing thing to see., here comes this Canadian woman, with some indescribable, mild superpowers, who pours a mixture of honey, caramel and whipped cream all over the anger and the hurt, turning an explosive, lethal situation into a delicious chocolate sundae, then you have seen J, working her magic.

For many who recently quit dreams about smoking are pervasive, and disturbing.  Discussing those dreams on the forum was risky, and best avoided.  One time this poor soul made the mistake of mentioning a smoking dream at the wrong moment, and several ex-smokers turned angry, and things were looking bleak.  On cue, in flies J, to tell the story about how shortly after quitting she had this realistic dream about smoking, and how happy it made her, she could smoke all she wanted without ever lighting up.  Every night in her dreams she could smoke away, without risk, or cost.  It was a masterful ploy, and it brought a tear to many an eye.  It didn't turn into the summer of love after that, but nobody could argue with her logic.  And peace returned to the kingdom.

So, here's to you J.  I raise a Moosehead and a shot of Canadian Club to your health.  Maybe, if you have a free afternoon you could take care of the troubles in the Middle East, I am sure you will still be home in time for dinner.

More Problems with Immigration.

As the Houses of Congress come dangerously close to passing Immigration Reform Legislation (that's right, close to passing legislation, you heard it here first folks, they might actually accomplish the passing of a piece of legislation, though Vegas has the odds at 8 to 1 against, and Vegas knows a little about making odds), it would be wise to remember not all immigrants are here for wholesome purposes.  Look no further than the evidence below.

Hey, Buddy, how about a little snack.

Great Gray Owls are sneaking across the borders into Minnesota and stealing American mice!  It is widely known that Canadian mice are not as tasty, and Minnesota produces some of the finest mice stock in the world, but, dangit they are our mice.

Call your elected representative today, and put an end to the madness, it is time for Congress to go back to the petty bickering and pointless squabbling and name calling Americans have come to expect and admire.

This post brought to you by The Minnesota Mouse Association.

Oh, Canada, The True North strong and free!

North of Mexico, South of that Great Country, And World Leader, CANADA

In regards to:

Working together to save the world

Canada

North of the US,

South of The Arctic,

But Just Barely

Attention:

Dear Canada,

Good Morning, Bonjour, we haven’t talked in a while, and it seemed a good time to “reach out” and “touch base” with our wonderful friends in the Great North.

Are you well?  We heard about the wheel falling off of the Air Canada flight in Toronto, boy can we identify with that.  Maybe you have heard of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, more of a nightmare, really.

Good thing they got this hockey thing all worked out, eh?  We were a little worried they were going to cancel the season, bunch of hosers, anyway.

Anyhoo, let us get to the real reason for the letter, the nub of our gist, if you will.  Maybe you’ve read about our little deficit problem.  It has kind of ballooned, of late.  Kind of embarrassing, a little bit of a blot on our good reputation.  We thought, that maybe, if you were not too busy, and since you are always so nice, even the French speaking portion, (and that says something to us) we thought you might want to help a brother out.

We have had so many good times together, and share three sports leagues, and a style of football, that is unique to our continent.  Oh sure, we still play soccer, we just don’t mislabel it or take it too seriously.

Plus, in the late 1920s we tore up all of our detailed plans to invade Canada.  That is friendship, eh?  We have plans on file for every other country in the world, even Mexico (right now we really enjoy taking that one out and looking it over, with gusto, (oh what we couldn't do with all of that land) we still remember the Alamo, you know?).

We don’t expect you to pay all of it, just the difficult part, that we can’t quite afford, we have over $1348.00 dollars in the treasury that we will kick in, if you could just tackle the rest, we would be so grateful.  

As a token of our esteem we are willing to give you Montana, and North Dakota, if you want it.  In a pinch we would throw in Minnesota, we have heard it is great, they claim to have tons of lakes.

If you could help us out, just this once we promise to be much more thrifty in the future, we have learned our lesson, we promise

.

Respectfully yours,

United States