The primaries, LeBron, and Arms suppliers
by Barry Bauer
When we don’t hear anything about the success or failure of the newest cap on the runaway oil well in the Gulf of Mexico . . . can that be good news?
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If you want to know anything about a Democratic or Republican nominee for office this November, watch the primaries. The Democrats chew up fellow Democrats and Republicans chew up fellow Republicans during their party’s primaries. According to them every other candidate involved (except them) is an idiot.
After the primaries the losers back the winners and it’s on to November. When this is all said and done, each candidate has left so much mud on our door steps that it’s hard to believe we want to elect either one of them.
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LeBron, LeBron, LeBron – that’s all I heard last week. We had a leaky kitchen faucet and I usually have good luck finding repair parts on the internet but not this time. It was going into the weekend so we decided we’d better call a plumber who of coarse has their own parts suppliers.
Just as the young plumber started working he asked if I was a basketball fan because of my Final Four hat and I told him I only wear it because it was a gift. The only time I watch basketball is during “March Madness.” That’s because I have a bet (don’t tell the Feds) on the outcome. He started talking about LeBron James going to Miami and I just told him. “LeBron James never put food on my table so I don’t worry about it.”
I remember years ago trying to play basketball in a gym for the first time. From far away it doesn’t look so hard but when you stand under the basket, look practically straight up in the air before you can see the hoop, you’re left wondering, who in the hell in their right mind put that damned thing way up there!
Anyway, we played makeup games during lunch hour. It was obvious there were no skilled personnel on the floor at that time but we had fun.
I don’t get excited about sports like I once did. When the Detroit Tigers traded Harvey Kuenn to the Cleveland Indians for Rocky Colavito, I walked around in a daze for three days. I couldn’t believe they’d do that to me . . . well they did.
That happening was my cure-all and I quit worrying about losing my sports stars to another team. Even when the Detroit Lions running back, Billy Sims, was heading for Houston (he ended up not going) I was ready to help him pack his bags and wish him the best.
No sense hating the guy.
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There’s a “family secret” in this country that’s only talked about behind closed doors. People run into closets and whisper in the dark, “Have you heard what Uncle Sam does?”
The secret is . . . we are the number one arms supplier in the World.
Call it “foreign aid,” call it “influence peddling,” call it what you want. We are sending arms to a lot of countries around the World and we have no idea how much of it trickles down into the wrong hands.
The truth is many of the Worlds’s advanced countries exports arms. Russia does it, England does it, China does it, and Germany does it. The list goes on.
How can we sit back and wonder why there’s so many people killed daily in the World for political reasons when we supply the arms?
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I finished the book, “The Honk and Holler Opening Soon,” by Billie Letts. Did I like it? Yup.
I found the book easy reading which means it didn’t wander off the beaten path, and she didn’t use big words that constantly send me to the dictionary to understand what she’s saying.
I think it’s safe to say that my first female author passed the test.
Thanks Punky.
Until the next time . . .
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