Goin' to the chapel and we're gonna get married and...

Now for something different... some time has passed since the occasion described below, and my writing of it, but I just thought in place of my usual diatribes, I'd post it. Get over it.


Setting aside my usual snide remarks about the godless socialists around me, I would like to say that my heart is filled with nothing but love after this weekend. What's that you say? "Gee, Mr. Good Ol' Boy- how can you take time from slaying the anti-capitalist dragons to regale us with tales of love? The walls of ignorance are closing in about us, and you are all starry-eyed in love?"

Yes, dear child, its true. Come, sit on my knee and let me tell you what happened this weekend past. You see, the Good Ol' Boy got himself RE-married this weekend to the fair Red One. As a condition of her continuing journey back to being a Catholic in good standing, Red One had to have her marriage blessed in the Catholic Church. Since that existing marriage was to me, I was invited. Not being a Papist myself, I found the idea intriguing.

We had attended several sessions with the good Father Braun at St Mike's, to look into whether we may be compatible as a couple. Turned out we were, Red having had 31 + years to knock the rough edges off me. We were pleased he found us to be so. As was the case the first time around, it was slated to happen, with or without dissenters. Father Gerard was thought to be a good sort of fellow, moreso ever after his findings.

Come the Saturday of the blessed union, we found ourselves gathered with select friends and family at St. Mike's. We exchanged vows, and the normally gruff visage of yours truly had to give pause partway through to compose himself. Sneaking a quick kiss from Red fortified my constitution enough to get through the vows, while the brother-in-law who was the groomsman understood me to be only pausing to burp.

What memories remain of the original ceremony 29 odd years ago do not include choking up in that fashion. I have no doubt that at that tender age and period of inattention I failed to completely comprehend the daunting task before me at that time. In fact, as I contemplate the outright shit-headedness I displayed to all the world in those days, I doubt I had really any idea what I was getting into. How this can work I have scarcely any idea, save through the Grace of God.

We can never know what the future holds, and that is a good thing, as I am convinced we would run away screaming, or hide under the bed in the face of some of it. To know the tender moments of love, together with your betrothed, or holding the child that is the result of that love is a fine thing, and would draw one in. But to know the other, soul-wrenching parts in advance would dissuade all but the most stalwart. Or foolhardy.

Of course, we did not know that. We knew only that marriage was the course of action, the details to be settled upon later. That it has worked out as well and as long as it has is a testimony to God's love, and, well, to some degree, to our lust for each other. At this point it could be imagined that our child would put her finger in her throat and make gagging sounds. I smile.

It has been a wonderful journey Red and I have made. I persist in my insistence that we met in a sandbox or some equivalent mechanism, when my sister Patricia and her aunt Mary Veronica were chumming around with us in tow. As I encountered her through the intervening years of grade school, I found myself wondering who would ever marry such a homely little girl. I know I will suffer for that last sentence, but I say it in love. Who indeed. Who knew that collection of big googly eyes, gangly limbs, and blond hair could become such a thing of beauty?

I hope that Father Gerard's blessing of "thirty more years" was noted at the highest levels. I would leave this mortal life willingly should I have to, only with the assurance I will be re-united with this girl some day. Of her final destination I am certain, of mine I can only hope, so I will make do with that. She certainly is my better half, and I will love her forever.

"I do."

GOREBAL WARMING...?

Someone should tell this silly S.O.B. that it's not smart to wear a heavy jacket in the tropics. No wonder he thinks there's global warming.

(I know it's a staged picture- doesn't change anything in my view)

Having a good time, wish you were there...

We're having a hey-o time over at Dakota's blog and at Tom Dennis's Prairie Pundit blog. Come on over. I'm the sole advocate in the comments sections, it seems, for the school board's recent vote on standards for behaviour amongst the board members. One board member, Tim Lamb, doesn't think he needs to abide by the wishes of the majority, and everyone's got a lot of scrotal torque going on over all this.

A whole lot of B.S. is flying over supposed violations of some imaginary person's First Amendment rights.

So check it out. Even you, Coffee Guy.

Bring it on!

I got this news item from The Light and Medium Truck Report:


Drivers Face Stiffer Penalties for 'Move Over' Law Violations
Motorists who fail to make room on Tennessee roads for emergency vehicles and law enforcement now face fines as high as $500, The Associated Press reported. Gov. Phil Bredesen, state safety and transportation officials, the Tennessee Trucking Association and local law enforcement unleashed a statewide media blitz last Friday to inform drivers of the new "move over" law penalties, AP said. Drivers caught violating the law now face fines of between $100 and $500, up from $50, and up to 30 days in jail, AP said. The law, which was enacted in 2004, requires drivers to move over a lane if there are police, emergency or service vehicles on the shoulder of the road. If drivers cannot safely move over, they are required to slow down until they pass the site, AP said. It applies to stopped law enforcement vehicles, fire trucks, tow trucks, state HELP trucks and vehicles belonging to companies contracted by state or local government Since the law was enacted, Tennessee Highway Patrol personnel have ticketed about 2,000 drivers, AP said. L&MT

Along with people screaming on by traffic stops, I have also been amazed at the number of times I have seen emergency vehicles flying through the streets of Grand Forks and motorists continue on their happy way without stopping to let them by. This was demonstrated in a big way recently, when a car pulled out from 13th Avenue onto Columbia in front of a police cruiser. The officer, to his everlasting credit, swerved to avoid the hapless fool, sliding his car into a curb and ending up with over $5000 damage to the undercarriage of his car.

What is particularly frustrating in cases like this is that the Emergency Response people already have something important they are on their way to, and cannot stop to address the problem of ignorant motorists. These guys already have tough jobs to do when they arrive on scene, do we need to make the journey there dangerous, too? Come on, Grand Forkers.

What to do, what to do? Any suggestions, officers?

"FOR THE POOR YE SHALL HAVE WITH YOU ALWAYS..."

Quick, who said that quote above? What, you say? Jesus? Yes! You're our winner today!

I know, somebody (forget who, I have a few critics) a post or so back got his undies in a bundy because we Grand Forkers are blogging about each other too much, but Peder Rice went and got the Good Ol' Boy riled up again. In his new blog, which by the way looks great : http://progressivepalette.blogspot.com/ he says we Americans make it too hard for the poor to get rich. Being the defender of capitalism that I am (where the heck is my cape? Lois! where's my cape?!) I have to say something about that. But first go read his post. Go on, I'll wait.

You back now? Great.

We were not what anyone could consider well to do, growing up on a farm, so I hope that gives me some street cred here. My Dad always told me, "There's no shame in being poor, son, it's just damn unhandy".

Having said that, Peder, I must say that you lump a lot of things together there alongside being poor. Domestic abuse, wrong skin color, environment, depression, drug abuse, all seem to occupy the same place when you speak of being poor. And although all CAN be mitigating factors, many many people rise above those same obstacles to succeed here in our United States. Indeed, in many of those people, those factors drive them to escape the poverty and wasted lives they see around them. Do you KNOW this because you are/were poor, or do you THINK this because you watch "Cops" and read a lot? Don't rich people drink, abuse their wife/kids, get addicted to drugs? How does that affect them?

Yes, you may have heard of a "rich Republican" saying those things; my understanding is that Ronald Reagan once said the poor are that way because they want to be. And I'd say as usual, he was pretty much on the money. I would dare say that you are also as likely to hear a Democrat express his "bigotry of low expectations" in the form of support for an entitlement or some affirmative action program. Now in the end, which is worse? To criticize someone for their truly bad choices-i.e. having too many babies, not having/ holding a job, or for having addictions? Or to in effect say, "You're too stupid/lazy/dark-skinned to succeed, so we'll just give you a leg up on everyone else? I wouldn't mind being told I was doing something wrong, but I would mind being insulted the other way.

As far as growing up in a bad environment, around drugs, etc.. that would tend to establish the possibility of a bad attitude toward the world, yes. But when a person reaches the age of majority, society cannot let those excuses stand any longer. There comes a time when an adult has to answer in some way for his actions. To stomp your foot and say you can't succeed because society won't let you doesn't cut it. You are an adult now, like it or not. No one else is accountable for you but you.

As far as your contention that the United States is a bad place to be poor, I'm sure that literally billions of people would disagree, if they could just get here. Opportunities still abound here in this day and age. To treat life as a zero sum game is to forever limit yourself. You may not end up Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, but neither will five billion other people. Get over it.

Having been less than well to do at times in my life, and lived and played and worked among people of similar background, I think I can say all this with some assurance. People are not necessarily looked down upon because they are poor in material things. If they are "looked down upon" it may more likely be because they ARE engaged in destructive behaviour, well past a time in life when they can be excused for it. I can guarantee you that if people put that behaviour behind, they can begin to climb out of poverty. I did.

If the first generation doesn't make it to the Hamptons, well, perhaps the groundwork can be laid for the next to do so. People DO live vicariously through their children, and want better for them, whether that's always evident or not.

Well, there's more, but that's long enough. Now I'll stand here and take a few bullets for conservatism........