An Artist has some POWERFUL words in his messge.

I just watched a video production that I want to share with you.
It contains a powerful message.
A message from an artist.
A message from the common man.
You see, the artist has produced a painting with likenesses of all of our presidents, from Washington to Obama.
I won't spoil it for you, but I think you will likely be as moved as I am.
Moved, and frightened.
My eyes were not opened any wider, but you must understand that I am a realist. You might say I'm a visionary.
You can definitely say that I am a firm believer in our Constitution. You know, that all-so-important document that guarantees every U.S. citizen rights. You'll note that nothing guarantees illegal aliens any of those rights.
Any person at any level who treads on our Constitution is my enemy. Period. Regardless of race, creed, national origin, political persusion, whether male or female, whether homeless or the president of these United States.
Ok, I feel better.
And, a little plug now. If you want to speak your mind, I've taken on a new assignment. I'm hosting a conservative (imagine that) radio talk show Monday thru Friday, 7-9 am. For those in eastern North Carolina, you can tune in to 96.3 FM. It's powerful station, 100-thousand watts powerful, and covers a lot of turf. And, if you're of a mind, I welcome phone calls. 866-963-1037. You'll generally reach our producer, but he'll put you through as quickly as possible.

King Arthur and the Witch

Young King Arthur was ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighboring kingdom. The monarch could have killed him but was moved by Arthur's youth and ideals. So, the monarch offered him his freedom, as long as he could answer a very difficult question. Arthur would have a year to figure out the answer and, if after a year, he still had no answer, he would be put to death.

The question?...What do women really want? Such a question would perplex even the most knowledgeable man, and to young Arthur, it seemed an impossible query. But, since it was better than death, he accepted the monarch's proposition to have an answer by year's end.

He returned to his kingdom and began to poll everyone: the princess, the priests, the wise men and even the court jester. He spoke with everyone, but no one could give him a satisfactory answer.

Many people advised him to consult the old witch, for only she would have the answer.

But the price would be high; as the witch was famous throughout the kingdom for the exorbitant prices she charged.

The last day of the year arrived and Arthur had no choice but to talk to the witch. She agreed to answer the question, but he would have to agree to her price first.

The old witch wanted to marry Sir Lancelot, the most noble of the Knights of the Round Table and Arthur's closest friend!

Young Arthur was horrified. She was hunchbacked and hideous, had only one tooth, smelled like sewage, made obscene noises, etc. He had never encountered such a repugnant creature in all his life.

He refused to force his friend to marry her and endure such a terrible burden; but Lancelot, learning of the proposal, spoke with Arthur

He said nothing was too big of a sacrifice compared to Arthur's life and the preservation of the Round Table.

Hence, a wedding was proclaimed and the witch answered Arthur's question thus:

What a woman really wants, she answered....is to be in charge of her own life.

Everyone in the kingdom instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great truth and that Arthur's life would be spared.

And so it was, the neighboring monarch granted Arthur his freedom and Lancelot and the witch had a wonderful wedding.

The honeymoon hour approached and Lancelot, steeling himself for a horrific experience, entered the bedroom. But, what a sight awaited him. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen lay before him on the bed. The astounded Lancelot asked what had happened

The beauty replied that since he had been so kind to her when she appeared as a witch, she would henceforth, be her horrible deformed self only half the time and the beautiful maiden the other half.

Which would he prefer? Beautiful during the day....or night?

Lancelot pondered the predicament. During the day, a beautiful woman to show off to his friends, but at night, in the privacy of his castle, an old witch? Or, would he prefer having a hideous witch during the day, but by night, a beautiful woman for him to enjoy wondrous intimate moments?

What would YOU do?

Noble Lancelot said that he would allow HER to make the choice herself.

Upon hearing this, she announced that she would be beautiful all the time because he had respected her enough to let her be in charge of her own life.

Now....what is the moral to this story?

The moral is.....

If you don't let a woman have her own way....

Things are going to get ugly

What's with this thing of being Handicapped?

Yeah, we see them all the time. Handicap Placards for their cards, parking in spaces designated for folks with those stickers. Yes, I know there are some who take advantage of those stickers. Like the idiot at Kure Beach who always parked in a handicap space, proudly displaying his sticker. But, I learned that he really wasn't handicapped, at all. I learned that he had the sticker because his wife was handicapped. Only thing is that I never once saw his wife with him. In fact, I never, ever saw her at all. But, there he was, taking up a handicap space, meant for someone who actually needed to park there.
Another one of those jerks we encounter as we make our way through life.

And, speaking of handicapped. We have all read and watched stories about soldiers and others who have overcome their handicaps, and moved on. With the help of modern science and technology, they live as normal a life as can be expected. Men, and women, with one leg playing basketball, running marathons and the like. It takes more than just marvelous mechanical devices to make that work. It takes a desire and willpower on their part. And, my hat's off to them all.

Now, I get this piece of video. A cool performance by a young Chinese lass. Tickling the ivories, she is, as well as anyone I've ever heard. I was confused, at first, when I was told she was handicapped. Maybe in our minds, she has a handicap. But, listening to her play the piano, I cannot find, for the life of me, anything handicapped about her. Ok, so she has no fingers on one hand. But, that hasn't slowed her down one bit.

Take a listen:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/good-news/chinese-girl-no-fingers-one-hand-wows-piano-20110316-133233-487.html

Wow! It's Been a Month! And, I Met a Retail Jerk.

(Note the info below about the retail jerk...I've added more)

It's been a busy month. Personally speaking. And, you could care less. Don't blame you one bit, so I won't bore you with the details.

I WILL tell you about a new gig I've got. Starting 1 November, I will be hosting a daily talk-radio show. How cool is that?!? Yep, Monday-Friday, 7-9 am, I'll be joined by a varaiety of friends (I didn't even know I had any, but I'm told that some will show up...a regular is going to be former Jacksonville Mayor Jan Slagle, another will be Bill Hitchcock, known for his fishing show productions, radio appearances, and real estate expertise) and, likely, some less than friendly folks from time to time. The show is on 96.3, a station known as Thunder Country in eastern North Carolina. It's a powerful hunk of energy. 100-THOUSAND watts radiating all over the area. Not sure how far north it goes, but I can hear it pretty well in Wilmington.

Our Talk Studio will be mostly in Jacksonville (NC), though we're likely to move around from time to time. Got somethign to say? Tune in, I'll give you a number, and you can vent to your heart's content. Well, until I think you've crossed the line. Conservative in nature, of course, but I'll listen to anyone.

Anyone, EXCEPT a real jerk I met while shopping the other day. (How's that for a transition?). I was visiting with a friend at the Jacksonville (NC) Daily News, and stopped by one of those second hand, bargain-type shops. Sort of like a pawn shop, except they don't loan money on stuff then sell it if you can't pay back the "loan". I've bought a lot of things at such shops. The bargain ones as well as the pawn shops. I genuinely like shopping there, and can often find some pretty good bargains.

Unlike traditional retail stores, you can usually horse-trade with these folks. Sort of like a yard sale or flea market. They have an asking price, and your offers are usually welcome. Usually.

Not this time. I saw a laptop computer, and was giving it more than just a casual look-see. The young lady clerk asked if I wanted to see it powered up. The puter had some good specs. A better than average hard drive, and sufficient memory. Only thing, she said, was that the charger was intermittent. A scary word, intermittent. Means it sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. Not a nice word, by any means. She hooked it up, and I put the power to it. Had to wiggle the connector coming from the charger to get it working. The charger was fine, but it was obvious the problem was either the connector on the charger...an easy fix...or the connector on the computer...a bit more tedious.

The computer did everything I wanted. Speedy. That's when the chunky guy came over, obviously a manager, owner, or owner's son. Asked if he could help me. I offered him $50 less than the marked price. You would have thought that I had called him dirty names. He said he had already marked it down because the charger was bad. A real pompous guy, for sure.

I closed the computer, figuring I was not going to get anywhere with this guy; he wanted to know if it did what I wanted it to do. Yep, it did. I noted, though, that I would likely change the operating system to XP Pro. Just a personal preference. And, that's when it began. Mr. Obnoxious Know-It-All said I would be going backwards, that the system already loaded was far superior. And, he added that I shouldn't have asked to look at the comptuer if I didn't want to buy it. And, he didn't stop there. He followed me towards the door, proclaiming that his gold Rolex watch was better than my cheap stainless steel Rolex. He even compared prices on the two watches! How rude.

As I was exiting, he followed, and said that even my Tundra pickup...you know, the one that can pull more than 10,000 pounds...was not as good as his Cadillac Escalade.

If only I could buy Mr. Obnoxious for what he's actually worth, then sell him to an unsuspecting buyer for what he thinks he's worth, I would be a very rich guy.

And, that will be the ONLY business I ever do at that shop in Jacksonville.

(Got a couple e-mails today. Seems that this retail jerk was the subject of a couple letters to the editor. The name of the business was not revealed to protect the guilty. A friend stopped by to tell me that he's heard nothing but complaints about the guy's attitude. Guess I'm not alone on this one. I'm thinking of starting a pool...pick a block as to when someone's gonna take a swing at him)

Our Leaders are Threatening us. And, that should be illegal. Political shenanigans.

The 2012 election is just over a year away.
Anti-Obama folks are looking forward to it as the end of an error, just one of the catch phrases making the rounds. There are a LOT of the anti-administration slogans out there, many of them pretty good. The cartoons, especially the political cartoons from abroad, are downright hilarious. Or, they would be if they weren't so accurate.
Sure seems like the administration is on the defense, the political hot seat. With not-so-good approval ratings, Obama is looking for a miracle. Of course, he took credit for ordering a hit on Public Enemy Number 1, Osama bin Killed. Took credit for it, but that Kill Order was signed a long time agao. About ten years ago, in fact.
Ok, so the President has to look elsewhere for his accomplishments.
The economy? Oh, puhleeze! How's that change working out for you?
Healthcare? Yeah, right.
Unemployment? Can you read?
The following came across my e-mails this weekend. Might be worth a read. And, feel free to share the link to the blog if you want to pass this along. Might be easier than copying and pasting the entire thread in an e-mail. Seems the author is a little tired of Obama's threats when republicans not go along with his economic recovery plans and debt ceiling increase.

He threatened to not pay: Social Security Retirees, Military Retirees, Social
Security disability and Federal Retirees.
Now.. Let this sink in really good -
He did not threaten to stop payments to illegal aliens
He did not threaten to take frivolous benefits such as Internet access away
from violent inmates
He did not offer to fire some of the thousands of unnecessary federal employees that he hired
He did not offer to cut down on his or his wife's frivolous gallivanting around
He did not threaten to not pay the senators and representatives or any of their staff
He did not threaten to take benefits away from welfare recipients
He did not threaten the food stamp programs
He did not threaten to not pay foreign aid
He did not threaten to cut back on anything that involves his base voters

Like I stated, a lot of the anti-Obama comments are pretty good.
This is one of those.
Certainly makes me stop and think.
As it should you.  

Boaters are just cool people. And, they are, oftentimes, heroes

I've always known it. Boaters, in almost every case, will rush to the aid of anyone needing help. Whether it's a simple tow back to the dock when an engine dies, or rushing to a radio call for help. They drop whatever it was they were doing. Just riding, fishing. It doesn't matter. When the call for assistance goes out, all else becomes secondary.

A video I just watched points this out, perhaps, better than anything else I've ever seen. It happened on 9-11. That "other" day that will live in infamy, forever.

Thousands of New Yorkers were stranded. Trapped, if you will, along the Manhanttan waterfront. No way to reach safety. The first to respond were the ferry operators. Then came private boaters.

Well, take a look at the video. I think you'll understand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18lsxFcDrjo

Shrimp or skrimps. Marinated, grilled on my Camp Chef stove.

Our daughter gave me a cool two-burner, gas stove for my birthday a year ago. It's one of those designed for camping or tailgating, or whatever. The legs pop off with a thumb screw. Way too easy. I don't camp a lot. Actually, I don't camp at all. And, I don't tailgate. But. I do cook. This little stove is definitely the ticket, handy for lots of things. Like, when we lost power during Hurricane Irene. I had it set up on our porch, and cooked a pot roast. Nice. Great during the winter when I'm cooking soups or chili or fish stew (as I did while deep frying turkeys last Thanksgiving). On the porch, it adds a bit of heat. Good for my wife's plants that winter over on the porch.

Great, too, during the smmer. Outside, with it's little cover. Keeps excess heat out of the kitchen. And, in the case of seafoods, the frangrances stay outside.

My wife gave me a cast iron griddle for this Camp Chef stove earlier this year. Another birthday gift. It has seen a lot of use. Fits perfectly over a burner. Just like it was made for the stove. Oh, yeah. It was. By the Camp Chef folks.

I've used it for veggies, steaks, and seafood. It's got these little ridges on one side (it's a two sided grill/griddle) that keep the food out of the grease. And, it leaves nice little grill marks.

Now, for those shrimp. Or, as they say in Charleston, skrimps. First, I whipped up a marinade. Light olive oil...enough to cover the amount of shrimp you're cooking. About a tablespoon of either lime juice or lemon juice for every 4 ounces of olive oil. Not a scientific thing. And, finely chop a clove or seven of garlic. You can use a garlic press, if you like. Stir it all together. Peel the shrimp, leaving the tails on. Add the shrimp to the marinade. Stick in the fridge while you get the stove ready.

I also add a couple cloves of garlic to a small pot, like the one in the picture (a Christmas gift, by the way. My people know what I like). Along with a stick of real butter, not that one-molecule-away-from-plastic margarine stuff. Let it melt, slowly, on the stove's second burner. A handy thing to have, by the way.

Skewer the shrimp on bamboo skewers. You can wet them, if you like. But, it's not necessary. The shrimp we got were medium large. It took only 5 or 6 per skewer.

The griddle should be hot, but not too hot. I use a lower setting on the burner. You want to cook the shrimp, not scorch them. Besides, they'll get tough if you overcook 'em, and that's easy to do if the griddle is too hot.

This is where the garlic-butter comes in. Brush it on the top side of the shrimp. Notice the tails are already beginning to turn pink.

Watch them carefully. When the bottom side is approaching pink throughout, it's time to flip 'em over.

Brush this side with the garlic-butter concoction. You may have to rearrange the skewers on the griddle to cook them evenly. It won't be long, now. DO NOT LEAVE THEM ALONE! They can cook quickly, then turn leather-y.

These delicacies make a perfect addition to a tossed salad. You can eat them just like this, or use cocktail or tartar sauce, maybe a little wasabi on the plate, for dipping. They go great with a small steak that you can also cook on this griddle.

This shrimp is right. Pink with the hint of a grill mark. And, abso-lute-ly tasty.
By the way, this is NOT an ad for Camp Chef. I like mine, of course, just thought you might want to know what I'm using.