Gathering of the entire tribe

Trickling in from the far corners of the universe are the offspring and their offspring. Snoocher Bear and Ticklepinch showed up first from Denver.  Next Sam and Cheech came in from Philadelphia. Fran will be her late tonight.  Kadizzle just finished trying to teach Sam how to ride the Yamaha steed. Sam was catching on pretty well but seems a bit intimidated.

If the weather would ever cooperate we could get the whole gang on the good ship.  Sylvie, Kadizzle and Stoupini went out for a sail and Stroupini insisted on singing the Cheetos song with Sylvie. Sylvie was brave enough to get in the cool water behind the ship.

So here we sit in the little kingdom waiting for Trump to blast out his next tweet.  When you think the president can be no more mentally ill he out does himself.

Why did you yell at that man?

Kadizzle's granddaughter Sylvie is visiting.  When we get together we have to make a bumble bar.  A bumble bar is a swing you can do tricks from.  It conssist of some rope or what ever you have and something you can scrounge up.  Out in the backyard the process was underway to put the bumble bar in place. Kadizzle was on the ladder trying to get the rope over the tree.

Sylvie out of the clear blue asked Grandpa " Why did you yell at that man?".  Puzzled Kadizzle finally figured it out.  Sylvie was asking why Grandpa yelled at the congressman.  Now how do you explain such a thing to an eight year old?  Grandpa explained that a woman had a baby.  The baby was born with many serious problems.  Crying the woman asked the congressman what he would do to make sure her baby was taken care of during the life of her baby.  This congressman did not care about the woman.  He did not care about the baby.  What the congressman cared about was pleasing the people who get him elected.  The poor woman was so distraught that she could hardly stop crying long enough to speak. The congressman gave the crying young mother a silly Republican answer.  Kadizzle knew what this congressman really wanted to do. The congressman wanted to destroy healthcare for poor people.  Destroying healthcare and taking away protection for the poor woman's baby wouuld mean rich people could have an 800 billion dollar tax break.  Kadizzle explained to Sylvie that it angered him so much that the congressman would lie about his motives.  The congressman said it was not a tax break he was giving to the rich. The congressman said the rich had the money before they were forced to help the poor, so it was simply putting the rich back to where they were before they helped the poor.  Such an absurd argument angered Kadizzle and that is why he yelled at the congressman.

Sylvie said " So it was like Robinhood?".   Well it was just the opposite of Robinhood Kadizzle explained to Sylvie.  The congressman is trying to rob the poor to give money to the rich.

How does religion work?

You go to church on Sunday and get all psyched up about Jesus. Then on Monday you and your buddies have coffee and talk about how great Trump is. Trump and the Republicans try to pound the poor into oblivion.  Republicans do everything in their power to shovel tax breaks to the rich and screw the damn welfare cheats.  Sure doesn't sound like Jesus does it?  Old Jesus was all about those who have the goodies sharing them with those who do not.  The question is how can you go to church for years and not get the message?  Now the amazing part is who put Trump and his greedy buddies into office.  Strangely it was the most hard core followers of Jesus. Exactly who gets hurt when the Jesus gang attacks the "welfare cheats"?  What so many cannot get into their heads is that welfare cheats have children.  Welfare cheats are young mothers with no man to support them.

 Now the next thing to examine might be are they really cheats.  The people who get help are the people who are doing menial jobs at Walmart, McDonnells, and perhaps doing your lawn.  When you check the reality of how many people are actually doing nothing and getting paid you are talking about a very small number.

Now here is the bomb.  All the so called welfare cheats at best make up about 20% of our society.  If you want to call the bottom 20% welfare cheats, which Republicans do, then that is who you are talking about.  That group of people only use or get 2% of everything there is to use or get.  That is what the actual figures show.  So in reality the welfare cheats take very little from society.

Now there is another group of welfare cheats that should be looked at. What about the people who never really do anything to contribute to society?  What about the people who inherit millions, and never work in their entire life?  Of course that is fine with the Republicans.  If you get your welfare check because uncle Willy left you ten million, then you are not a welfare cheat, but a fine upstanding citizen.  The so called welfare cheat did not do a damn thing to get his check, neither did the guy who inherited from uncle Willy.  However, the guy who inherited from uncle Willy has three houses, a yacht, and a jet.  The rich welfare cheat takes way more from society than the poor welfare cheat.  Republican say the nephew of Uncle Willy creates jobs.  Sadly that just does not hold up in reality.

Now back to Jesus and religion.  Republican think it is fine for Uncle Willie's nephew to waste and despoil the planet, but the new Jesus doesn't give a damn about the poor kid who is the victim of the system.  The new Republican Jesus loves uncle Willie's nephew, but could care less about the single mother or the kid of the single mother struggling with two jobs to make life work.

So we end up with two people old Kadizzle knows.  Each goes to church and soaks up the joy of Jesus, and each voted for Donald Trump.  The Donald has broken every commandment of the bible so many times you cannot remember all his lies and wives. How do they do it?  How do they listen for twenty years to someone talking about the virtues of Christianity and totally miss the point?

Wind on the prarie

Darch with his two bears is headed west. Something possessed Darch to buy two bears down at the thrift store. He named them Mike and Beatrice.  So with the bears in the front seat beside him for company Darch is headed to Crows Nest where we have a mutual travelling friend.  If all works out Darch has invited the Kadizzles to sail with him in the Northwest around Vancouver.  The Kadizzle will try their best to join a fellow sailor there.

The damn wind blew so hard we gave up on trying to sail yesterday. Three boats apparently fought it out and made it to Moose Bay.  Mrs Kadizzle has a broken wrist so old Kadizzle needs crew to get the ship under sail.  The Snoocher Bear is on her way with Sylvie from Denver, and Cheech will be bringing her bumpkin on Thursday so the game is on. Both of our grandchildren with the the grandparents will be united.

The pockets book is empty but the bathroom is done.  Mrs. Kadizzle focuses on imperfections, but old Kadizzle just says praise Jesus the project is finished.

Summer is plowing on and will be over in a flash. The southwest is burning to the ground and no one can believe we are cooking the planet.  Waking up this morning it seemed hard to believe that we are now led by Trump.  Our population has actually elected this insane greedy man.  Time Magazine had a big article on how Trump is scamming the game.  Trump's hotel in Washington is raking in the cash by allowing people to basically bribe Trump by simply staying at his hotel and paying insane prices for everything. Trump has set the mark for a crooked president that will be hard to believe.  Just amazed when someone confesses they voted for him.

Since Kadizzle has delved into politics a review might be in order.  As many know Kadizzle had a kerfuffle with Congressman Kevin Cramer.  It has been an amazing experience to see how the media, or fake news as Donald says treats things.  Ken called Kadizzle very excited to tell Kadizzle the Drudge Report was featuring his so called attack on Cramer.  Reading the report Kadizzle could not believe someone has now added the element to the story that Kadizzle shoved "Fake Money" down the shirt of the lickspittle.  Now who came up with that?  Apparently Kadizzle must carry a wad of "Fake Money" around.  Why would someone just make that up and add it to the story.  The implication in the story is a vast conspiracy of left wing insane guys is around just waiting to shove fake money at Trumps minions.  Of course people like Ken eat the right wing spin up like pancakes.

Shack Rousting called off.

The door came open as if the wind had managed to loosen it, but much to my surprise it was Darch. I thought he was down the basement sleeping, but the old fart had been out running for an hour at six in the morning.  So here we sit. Darch never heard of John Prine, so he is getting the full nine yards.

Darch also is fascinated with shack rousting.  As one reading this might know we have had problems with getting Jeff the tile man to come to work. Twice Kadizzle has gone to Jeff's house early in the morning to shack roust him.  Now things have changed. It turns out Jeff has a brother serving life in prison for two murders.  One of the people killed by Jeff's brother was a policeman.  So if Jeff even has a small genetic component of murder in his system we have decided not to take a chance.  Jeff did show up and do a little work yesterday.

Review

Life goes on, the sun came up again today.  Yesterday Jeff called to warn Kadizzle there would be no more shack rousting.  Kadizzle had to shack roust Jeff two days in a row.  Jeff is the guy who cannot seem to get to work two days in a row. Jeff is doing the tile work in our new bathroom and just cannot seem to get the work done. What is shack rousting?  Shack rousting is what you do when someone will not get out of bed and go to work.  You take a ball bat and go to their house.  They will not answer the door so you beat on their house until they get up.  Kadizzle had to pull his car into Jeff's yard and honk the horn.  Jeffs wife finally came out in a rage saying she did not know where Jeff was.  Apparently she was unaware what the man's name was that was in bed beside her .  So Jeff said in about thirty minutes he will be here.  It would be just as likely Jesus might show up.  Shack rousting was a mean system employed in coal camps and other harsh labor environments mostly in the south.  In the old days Kadizzle used to have to shack roust his children.  Usually if the kids would not get up it just took some good tickling.  Tickling Jeff in the morning does not seem practical.

Yesterday Darch went on the Remedigus with Kadizzle.  That is the bike ride around town to get up to date on local insanity.  Darch attended the morning meeting at the Crazy Club and we had a good time.  Darch got to see the new hospital, the library, the Hazen Star, and even the music at the pocket park. It was a full day that included searching for artifacts at the Indian Village in Stanton.

So now we have Thursday laid out before us.

Flaring

Mrs Kadizzle has a habit of awaking and immediately getting up to date on her iphone.  The light from the phone is all it takes to wake up Kadizzle.  So before five the game was on.  Kadizzle of course may as well do his update.  An article caught his attention.  Flaring waste enough gas to heat five million homes.  Yup we are just burning senselessly enough natural gas to heat five million homes.  Imagine the waste. Only about 700,000 people live in North Dakota, so enough gas is being burnt in waste to heat at least five North Dakotas.  Wow, imagine the waste.  This is all done because of greed.  Imagine people so greedy they would waste such a valuable resource.  Who are these people?

These people are called Republicans. They do not believe in climate change even though the southwest is melting. They do not believe in anything but a good life for those on top. The same Republicans are about to destroy healthcare for the poor.  The same Republicans just destroyed the improving relations with Cuba. The Same Republican voted for the totally insane idiot now president of our country.  Me, me, me, is the Republican motto.  Nothing has been learned from history.  History has taught those willing to read it that  when you have unbridled greed you have collapse.  The French Revolution was all about the people on the bottom taking back from the people on top. Again in Russia, China, and even our country those who were oppressed said the hell with a few taking everything with total disregard for everyone.  Now we have the me, me, me Republicans seeking tax breaks for the rich. A pig and a man with no morality is leading the country.  The greedy salivate at the prospect he will give them the tax breaks they yearn for.  They never have enough.

Darch Called in

Thankya Jesus Darch called from Devil's Pass which he is just about to cross with his bike and gear. Darch is finding out the Maah Daah Hey Trail is much more than he thought.  His three day trip will easily turn to five.  Next Darch can relax and sail with us. For an athlete one has to admire Darch.  Setting off with sixty pounds of gear Darch is a brave man to take on that trail.

North Dakota off the list

Al somehow found me on the internet and asked my help for his mission. Al wants to sail in every state in the United States. Thursday we headed toward Mallard Island to enabler Al to knock off North Dakota.  At breakfast this morning Kadizzle told Al he admired people who have the guts just to ask. So much can be accomplished by simply asking.  Al has asked sailors in every state to give him a sail, and they have complied.  How many people go through life too shy or with too much fear to simply ask?

When you are outgoing things happen. Years ago we met Darch in a campground in Arizona. Darch is the most active 72 year old you will find. Darch can ride a mountain bike on trails most twenty year olds would not brave.  So today we helped Darch get going on the Ma Da Hey trail.  That trail in the North Dakota Badlands is a rugged and tough trail. Years ago Kadizzle took a writer for the New York times and a couple of his buddies out there to ride the trail. They thought they could do it in a straight 24 hour period.  Well only one made it, and one ended up in the hospital.  Old Darch has probably settled in for the night. He is doing it alone, which Kadizzle frankly thinks is unwise.  In a few day we will know how Darch did when he comes out of the wilderness. Hopefully Darch will be in shape to take a restful sail on the good ship.

How am I going to protect myself

Sitting on the back porch with some right wingers the topic briefly turned to guns.  The woman chasing seventy said " How am I going to protect myself?".   Old Kadizzle is sixty eight.  As we look at life it would seem we would come to understand things.  At sixty eight I have never been hit by a meteor. Never even had one hit nearby.  So it seem like not much of a problem.  All the gun insanity in this country somehow fails to figure the reality that you will need a gun to save yourself.  Most policemen have guns, yet a lot of them get shot and killed.  So even if you have a gun it assures you of nothing. Now remember that the actual statistics show that when someone does kill someone with a gun, it is usually someone in the family or someone they know.  If someone knows you they know when to kill you. That means you need a gun in the shower.  Of course you need a gun by your bed.  As any good hit man knows it is simple to just walk up behind someone and blow them away.   So even if you are armed to the teeth, the gun does not guarantee you will stay alive when the shooter comes, but remember you are approaching seventy and the shooter never has come.  On the other hand you drive your car every day.  Your chances of getting killed driving are hundreds of times higher than getting shot.  So if you are bound and determined to live, then walk.  The notion of living a life of fear based on news reports is a bit insane.  Terrorist are behind every tree, and shooters are everywhere. People get killed by snake bites, but it is rare.  We do not quit walking in snake country because we know it is very unlikely to happen.  However, if the news media pumped up the idea be assured a lot of people would start wearing snake protection and stay home.  Fear sells.  Watch little kids, they love to be scared. The brain likes stimulation. Once we were primitive people, are brains are still primitive.  Fear used to be our friend, it kept us alert.  The sabre toothed tiger could pounce on us at any time, so we lived in fear. Our brains are geared to feed on fear.  Fear is like candy to those addicted to Fox News, and Rush Limbaugh. Someone or something is out to get you or your money.  Be on guard.

The problem with fear is it puts you in a prison.  You are afraid to climb a mountain, you are afraid to go in a boat, planes make you nervous.  What do you do? Nothing.   You stay home and watch all the people getting shot and killed on TV.  Now your fear is even worse.  You convince yourself the world is a dangerous place. You walk through life thinking everyone is a potential robber, or killer.  You have imprisoned yourself with fear.  People play on your fear.  They sell you guns, security equipment, gated communities, attack dogs, pepper spray, and on it goes.  Fear sells.  Someone is going to come get your gun, I will protect you and your gun send me ten bucks.  By the way do you need ammunition.  How about some emergency food for the revolution?

Now when we are a psyched up over fear, and don't want to go out and exercise because we will get raped by Mexicans we sit home and eat a few cookies.  As the fat accumulates the real killer obesity works on a slow death for us.  Maybe a few puffs of tobacco will calm our fears about being shot and mugged.  So we end up dead.  Not from the guy who was going to break into our house and murder us, but from the anxiety induced heart attack that blew our fat body to shreds.  So what should we worry about today?

The sun came up

It happened once more. The sun came up.  That means two cups of coffee.  That means another day, and another day of problems and solutions.  Another day of money coming in and money going out.  Another day of people angry and people happy. Another day when a shooter shoots some innocent people.  Another day of congressmen doing nothing.  Another day of he said she said.  Another day of dirty dishes.  It is just one more day.

One day the sun will not rise. The air will not go in and out of the lungs. The heart will not pump blood. So our days are numbered.  Everyone wakes up each morning to see if they are still alive.  How many days get wasted? Can you waste a day? Time takes it's toll. The knees start to go. The vision needs help. The hearing is going.  Like an old tree we grow but cannot get water to the leaves way out on the end of the branches.  The little trees from our seeds grow all around.

So here we sit on a planet spinning around the sun.  How many trips around the fireball do we get to make?  There is something symbolic about circles.  You seem like your are going somewhere, but you always get back to the same place. One of the greatest discoveries ever was that you could go East and end up in the West.  So the globe will spin today and the planet will circle.

Just as Kadizzle ended this nonsense John Prine started singing Fish and Whistle.  It speaks to our dilemma. So click on the video and listen.

Apples and Trees

There is an old saying " The apple does not fall far from the tree".  Kadizzle was sort of going by this maxim, when he got a surprize.  A young guy 24 called Kadizzle and asked for advice about salvaging an abandoned sailboat.  One thing led to another and soon Kadizzle asked the guy if he wanted to crew on the Sovereign.  The young fellow took up the offer and asked if he could bring his younger brother Max.  Now Kadizzle had a preformed apple and tree notion of Austin the would be sailor.  Kadizzle figured since his father was a conservative sort of person the son would be.  Austin and Max come from a family of 11 and they have both been home schooled.  So as Kadizzle readied the boat with the help of Stroupini, here come Austin and Max.   Well Austin was on the opposite end of the spectrum from his dad.  Austin's Dad always dresses like a soldier in his uniform.  Austin was a nice looking kid, but it was apparent his head was slowly becoming a pin cushion.  Piercings emanated from various parts of his head including his eyebrows and lips.  His ears were being elongated like an African tribesman and fake diamonds also sprouted from his ears.  Little brother Max age 12 looked very normal, neat and clean.

Austin amazingly picked up all the little phrases of his father.  So it was strange to realize how one becomes imbued with the language quirks of our parents.  With a strong wind out of the west the boat took off for Mallard Island.  Max turned out to be a child prodigy for steering.  With little instruction Max who had never steered a large boat did an excellent job.  Among other body adornments Austin had a large colorful tattoo on his arm.  Kadizzle could not help but ask Austin about his father's reaction when he saw the tattoo.  There was a bit of an explosion as one might expect.

After spending the night at Mallard Island we returned the next day.  Once the boat was put away Kadizzle went to examine the boat Austin was considering restoring.  The boat appeared to be home built, but well built.  Someone had just gone off and left the boat at the state park.  As curiosity got the best of Kadizzle when he got home he tried to figure out what the boat was.  It seems to have been a boat designed by Paul Garfield called a Jessie.  The boat has a good reputation, but need some serious repair.

A wood worker might have fun putting it back in shape.  Kadizzle concluded it was too much of a task for Austin, but Kadizzle is trying to work a deal to get Austin a boat.  We need more young sailors so when enthusiasm crops up it should be met with help from the old timers.

MInd Boggling Stupidity

No matter what you say or do or tell me I will not change my mind.  Recently Kadizzle has had some conversations with people who still believe in Donald Trump.  Last night a friend who some might mistake for intelligent asked Kadizzle to point out a lie of Donald Trump.  Really?  It was mind boggling to think this person did not notice the vast sea of lies promoted by Trump.  Somehow he forgot the original lie about Obama being born in Kenya.

Most amazing about these people is they feel they are "Good" Christians.  Before Obama was elected for the second time an old neighbor who is a hard core right winger told Kadizzle " I could never vote for a black man".  Kadizzle was shocked that this man who faithfully goes to a fundamentalist church every Sunday was such a racist.

Sadly Kadizzle has to say the most close minded, and racist people Kadizzle knows fly under the flag of Christianity.  It is mind boggling that the bible thumping crowd elected the most dishonest greedy president totally lacking any morality.

How, how can people look and listen to a man who has admitted he is a liar believe in the man. Trump said that Obama was born in Kenya, then Trump said Obama was not born in Kenya.  Now that obviously means Trump called himself a liar.

Kadizzle has been stunned by the ignorance, and willingness of so many people in this country to believe total nonsense and bullshit.  The whole trickle down economics game of the Republicans has clearly been proven wrong, yet the Republicans sell it, and the Hoopleheads buy it.  On it goes.  The shear mass of ignorant people in the our country is astounding.  Making it so much worse are the people who actually believe "Education just confuses people".  My old right wing friend in so many words explained to me how young people go to college and get " Confused".   This all comes full circle to alternative facts, and fake news.  Once the Republicans established the idea that there are alternative facts the game was on.  Once you believe that you can add two numbers and come up with several different answers you have successfully moved into a different world.

Now lets go to our insane president.  Trump says " You better hope there are no tapes".  This puts the idiot Trump in a mess.  If there are tapes then Trump should produce them.  If Trump produces a tape it proves what a scoundrel and deceitful rat he is.  Trump can say an do the most idiotic things imaginable and his followers take it as a sign of his strength.   The most amazing thing about Trump and his supporters is that Trump's policies stomp on the people who love him.  In North Dakota all of a sudden farmers are realizing Trump is going to quash their welfare game.   The poor dolts in West Virginia are beginning to realize Trump will snatch any hope for healthcare the hillbillies have.  Trump is proposing a scheme to privatize roads and bridges.  So someday you will pay a toll to move anywhere in the country.   When Trump privatizes the roads who will get hurt.  The poor will pay exactly the same toll the rich do to drive to work.  Simple minded is the only way to describe anyone who is caught in the Trump illusion.  People make mistakes.  The people who voted for Trump need to have the courage or whatever it takes to admit they made one hell of a mistake.  Drunk on stupidity is the only way to describe Trump supporters.  The first step is to quit drinking.  Quit watching Fox, quit listening to Rush. quit getting your news at the coffee shop.  Read something intelligent. Listen to someone intelligent.  Read and listen to change not stay the same.  We have become a nation of idiots, led by an idiot.

This reminds Kadizzle of a highschool friend.  A record on his turntable was skipping.  My friend pushed the needle into the record as hard as he could and gave it a good scratch.  He declared " That will teach it a lesson".   That is the mindset of a typical Trump supporter.  They just want to teach liberals a lesson, even if it ruins their record.

Just Waiting

If you don't listen to John Prine, you should.  Prine has so many good songs.  Prine was once a mailman and composed songs while he delivered mail. 

Old Farmer

Advice from An Old Farmer

Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.
Keep skunks and bankers at a distance.
Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
Words that soak into your ears are whispered… not yelled.
Meanness don’t jes’ happen overnight.
Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.
Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge.
You cannot unsay a cruel word.
Every path has a few puddles.
When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
The best sermons are lived, not preached.
Most of the stuff people worry about ain’t never gonna happen anyway.
Don’t judge folks by their relatives.
Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
Live a good, honorable life… Then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.
Don ‘t interfere with somethin’ that ain’t bothering you none.
Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a Rain dance.
If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin’.
Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin’.
Always drink upstream from the herd.
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.
Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in.
If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around..
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.
Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.
Most times, it just gets down to common sense.

Doctor Day

Old people need constant repair.  Like old cars the brakes go, you burn oil and gases leak everywhere.  So today is doctor day.  Kadizzle has to see if the prostate cancer is at bay.  Mrs. Kadizzle may need major repair on her arm now that she fell and broke her wrist.  Coming back from Bismarck we will either be in better shape or need more repair.  Every six months you have to get the oil changed on the old beaters.

For some reason your body quits it's own repair.  It would be nice if cars at some stage of their life would repair themselves.  Just like a car you wonder if every squeak or pain is serious or just a minor problem.

Repairing and keeping old goats is a major business in every big city.  Goat repair is a major industry in our country.  When Kadizzle walks in to get his blood drawn there will be old goats like him everywhere waiting to get poked and probed.  In a state with small population odds are good you will see people you know.  What do you have?  Once you realize you are in an age group that is falling apart it is not a joyful acknowledgement.  Well Mrs Kadizzle just ate her cereal and now we need to jump in the car and run to Bismarck to find out how much longer the cars may run.  You can completely rebuild an old car, but old goats can only be tweaked with the hope a few more miles can be milked out of the engine.

Blow up your TV

She was a level-headed dancer on the road to alcohol
And I was just a soldier on my way to Montreal
Well she pressed her chest against me
About the time the juke box broke
Yeah, she gave me a peck on the back of the neck
And these are the words she spoke

[Chorus:]
Blow up your TV throw away your paper
Go to the country, build you a home
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches
Try an find Jesus on your own

Well, I sat there at the table and I acted real naive
For I knew that topless lady had something up her sleeve
Well, she danced around the bar room and she did the hoochy-coo
Yeah she sang her song all night long, tellin' me what to do

[Chorus]

Well, I was young and hungry and about to leave that place
When just as I was leavin', well she looked me in the face
I said "You must know the answer."
"She said, "No but I'll give it a try."
And to this very day we've been livin' our way
And here is the reason why

We blew up our TV threw away our paper
Went to the country, built us a home
Had a lot of children, fed 'em on peaches
They all found Jesus on their own

Play "Spanish Pipedream (

The Spin

An old right wing friend sat on my porch last night. As usual politics came up in the discussion.  At some point my friend noted that colleges are what cause liberals.  Next my friend explained that Montana State University had donkeys in the classroom while students took their test to calm the students down.  We all know how the combination of donkeys and college can produce liberal.  The whole thing sounded like the classic right wing bullshit spin to Kadizzle.  So this morning Kadizzle decided to research the nonsense.  Sure enough there was a donkey present at MSU during exam week, but it was not in the classroom. The College basically had nothing to do with it, and once Kadizzle saw what really happened, and the right wing spin it was enlightening.

If you want to see the actual, factual story go to Google and type in MSU students make use of  de-stressing donkey.  You will see a whole different story than what is being circulated in right wing emails.  On several occasions Kadizzle has tracked down the true story when he has been confronted with spin bull shit.

Not long ago a local law enforcement person who Kadizzle knew made the assertion on Facebook that Warren Buffett was paying pipeline protesters to protest.  Kadizzle confronted the guy who claimed he was in a bank and saw a pipeline protester cashing a check from BNSF railroad.  Kadizzle asked the deputy sheriff to tell him where, what bank, how much the check was for and other details.  Of course since the whole story was fabricated there were no facts.  The lying law enforcement person got angry and cut off the conversation.  However, local right wing radio like KFYR loves these kind of stories and repeats them with no fact checking.  It is the classic case of Donald Trump saying " I hear people are saying".  Facts just don't matter when you want to believe something.  There are no facts whatsoever to prove wearing a copper bracelet has any health benefit, but you will see people everyday following the old hill billy health remedy.  Ask someone what causes the Northern Lights.  A whole lot of people will tell you it is the sun reflecting off the ice at the North Pole.  Of course it is not, but the people believe it.  They never bother to check.  Bubba told them that is the cause, and Bubba grows pretty good corn, so why doubt Bubba?

Now this morning old Kadizzle will confront Mr. Right wing Trump supporter with the factual Donkey story.  Will it change his mind? No.  Will he continue to believe every convoluted story circulated by the right wing on the internet? Yes.  So here we are in a world of information, but people never check anything.  Kadizzle as a last resort was going to call the University of Montana and check this story out.  Now from the get go, Kadizzle thought the story sounded like a classic right wing propaganda deal. Sure enough it is, but keep in mind to a right wing person wanting to believe it is proof that liberals can be made by sending kids to college where they have donkey's in the classroom during test.  How can a functioning brain get so confused?

Confirmation Bias

Words and phrases fly around the Kadizzle household like dust.  The concept under current discussion is confirmation bias. What in the hell is that? You want to believe something, so you look for evidence that what you believe is true.  You want to believe Trump is great.  So you look for evidence he is. Fox News will give you just the evidence you want.  The way it works is you listen to Rush, KFYR, and read what supports your ideas.  You do not read the NYT, or watch MSNBC.

How does this work in the real world?  What if you were a judge?  What if you sort of thought the guy was guilty?  You might tend to favor the evidence that pointed toward his guilt.  So what do you do? First you recognize that you mind can play tricks on you.  You mind can say " Ah, ha, I told you so". This can get you in a lot of trouble.  Dogs can sense what you think.  If you think a dog is mean it will be afraid of you because you are afraid of it.  If you think a dog is nice, you will relax, the dog will relax and you can pet the dog.

One must be aware that one approaches every situation with a bias.  When you go to the doctor and the doctor shows you a needle, you think this will hurt.  Sometimes shots don't hurt at all.  What is the best way to approach a person or a situation.  Put your brain in neutral.  Don't imagine the person will be mean, kind, helpful or anything else.  Let the future unfold.  Watch yourself, and judge yourself. Get a mirror and look at yourself.  Are you guilty of confirmation bias.  Are you misjudging situations because of a bias?

The most common form of confirmation bias is racial.  People think gypsies steal.  So they think if something got stolen it was a gypsy.  The problem is confirmation bias will quickly get you going the wrong way.  If a dog is barking and it is driving you nuts you might get up mad and run to the neighbor who has the dog that barks all the time.  You pull in his driveway and honk your horn at 3 A.M.   Your horn wakes up everyone.  It turns the neighbor is not home.  He left on vacation and took his dog.  Your preconceived notion led you to the wrong conclusion.  Now all the neighbors are mad at you.

Down the Lake

Finally Stroupini and Kadizzle headed to the lake with some grub to get us to the next day. Six eggs, a little butter, two pre made hamburgers, some buns ands lots of diet coke.  Almost forgot one bottle of wine.   A nice breeze was waiting to take us to the promised land.  Stoupine grabbed some stuff from his boat and just as we cleared the breakwater Kadizzle unfurled the headsail.  The good ship took off and headed North.  When we changed the heading to West the boat took off nicely.  Soon we were doing hull speed and Kadizzle was pleased.  The cheetos were opened and the music was playing.  A nice sail took us straight to Moose Bay.  We sailed in and dropped the mainsail.  After a poor attempt to tie to shore we anchored.  Soon the hamburgers were cooked.  The music never stopped and the ship was prepared for the night.  Kadizzle explained to Stroupini that if the wind changed the good ship would be blown ashore, but that was unlikely.  Sleep took over, but Kadizzle had extreme fire belly and no fire belly pills.  Finally morning came and something just didn't sound right with the waves hitting the boat.  Stroupini peeked out the window and declared the boat was aground.  The wind did shift to the north, the worst possible outcome.  No big deal we soon had the ship free at five in the morning and anchored in a better place.  After coffee and some egg slammers we headed out to sea.  A wonderful morning and sail awaited. Again the wind gods slowly gave us our wish.  The ship had a fairly good point of sail home.  As we boomed into the harbor Kadizzle notices a red pickup truck intently watching our arrival.  When we pulled in to empty the holding tank a grandpa and his grandson came down to the dock to watch us come in.  Later the two were walking the north dock.  Kadizzle whistled at grandpa and motioned for him to come over to the ship.  The grandson with grandpa stood beside us on the dock.  Kadizzle invited the young nine year old for a tour of the boat. Taking pictures he got a big grin and enjoyed seeing how the ship worked.  A nice end to a great sail.