"Freedom is lost gradually from an uninterested, uninformed, and uninvolved people ..." Thomas Jefferson

Hello there friends, neighbors, and those who thought they were getting to a website that was important but landed on my blog instead. I think it good on this Thursday, May 23, 2013 to clear the air a little. Or maybe me slowing down in my blowing of so much smoke would be an improvement. Freedom. When I went on my tirade against that politician for trying to score points when the bodies of the fallen in Oklahoma weren't even cold yet, I did not intend in any way whatsoever to imply that he didn't have the right to speak his mind, make his points, or do whatever he thinks is his right to do. While I continue to think his actions to be reprehensible, his right to do exactly what he did is a protected right in this country. I wouldn't want that to change. And, this freedom of speech that allows people to speak their mind is to a certain extent under attack today. We will know more later, but these reported intrusions by our Department of Justice into the realm where news media reporters operate is something we all should take very seriously. Maybe they do have really good reasons for what they did but based on what we know today, it will be something we are yet to understand. Undue pressure from government on any of our rights as a free people must not be tolerated under any circumstances. Our founders understood this well. They knew that government could, if left to itself, without checks and balances, become dominant in ruling over people's lives. Some of these issues playing out via investigations at least have the symptoms that say this could be the case. But, facts are important and hopefully we will find out and then we will know. Hopefully.

I moved to the Houston area in 1969. The wife and boys joined me in January 1970. That's quite a spell, nearing 44 years. I recently read a little ditty that might be somewhat of a case of insider info, but, I thought it was funny, therefore, I want to share some of it today. Those who are unfamiliar with this area may not get it, but that's okay. You probably have your own special connections. The list starts out by saying, "You might be from Houston if..." ~ You're on your way to work one February morning and suddenly you're trapped in a traffic jam caused by a chuck wagon and fifty horses --with riders-- and you look around to see that everybody in the cars around you are wearing cowboy hats. ~ We may have the only farm-to-market roads with 7 lanes. ~ You have to turn on the air conditioning in January, two days after a low of 29 degrees. ~ Your roach story goes like this... One day you open your flatware drawer to find a roach the size of the Taco Bell Chihuahua. The roach stood up and looked you straight in the eye. You closed the drawer, bought new flatware --and from then on you've stored it in the oven. ~ When you see your neighbor dancing around the front yard but you don't think he's won the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes; you know he just stepped in a fire ant bed. ~


And, it continues. ~ You come to work in short-sleeves and walk out at noon to find a "blue-tailed norther" has blown through, and the temperature has dropped 40 degrees in a matter of minutes. ~ Your neighbor's Christmas yard decorations look like a re-creation of the gunfight at the OK Corral, complete with a ten-foot tree decorated with boots and cowboy hats, and a Santa Claus who looks like Wyatt Earp. ~ You are immediately familiar with the phrases, 'Luv ya blue', 'The Dream', 'Killer Bees', 'Save you money!', 'Sliiiime in the ice machine', and you learned a long time ago that 'Dad gummit' has nothing to do with your father or his lack of dental hygiene. Okay. That will do for today. There were several more and I could very much identify with each and everyone of them. This doesn't mean that I am attached here forever. I still love Louisiana and I even love more that home that awaits me in heaven. You know that home the Apostle Paul talked about, "...to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." I hope that we all can see each other up there, someday. Have a great day and may God bless each one. Amen.    ...More later.