The Refrigerator and Land Wights

My wife and I have a 20 cubic foot frig.  I guess for a family of four that would be small but it's just the two of us and we have no problem filling the damned thing every week.  We love our beef, pork, and chicken, fresh veggies and fruits.  Add to that our juices, milk, bottled water, and of course beer.  All of that is great but two days before we go to market, the frig looks naked.  Where did all the stuff go?  When full, was it an optical illusion, or do we eat to much?  Or could there be strange spirits afoot?

I have to go with the latter.  I've been sober enough to know that it is not an optical illusion.  I also know that we do not over eat.  No kidding.  So it must be the land spirits that are around us helping themselves to our bounty.  Should we try to appease them by giving them some sort of offering?  Judging by the open frig space that we have before market, a few morsels in a bowl just might insult them.  These guys are not the Jul Lads that come to visit us every December.  When the holiday is over, the Lads go home, wherever that is.  At least they have some kind of social decorum.

We thought about buying less, but these guy will still eat their fill.  Which means we get to eat less.  Just to appease these land wights?  Well, maybe eating less is not a bad thing.  Hey!  What a great diet idea!  Less food in the frig, eat less, and maybe put the land wights on a diet!  Outstanding!  Maybe I will get the Nobel Prize in Economics.

                                              Copyright @2013/2015 Terry Unger  

Since You Asked...

Currently, I am writing a short story and a novel; both contain a degree of history within them.  Since they are works of fiction, I do not have to include a bibliography.  My interpretations are what they are - mine.  However, when it comes to the basic history, I do try to color within the lines.  When I venture outside of those lines, my interpretations , just chalk it up as artistic licence.  It is my intent that my new characters, just like the ones found throughout my Reluctant Hero Trilogy, will not just entertain the reader, but engage him in various mental comparisons of himself  and others.  The short story, probably, will find its way to Amazon's creatspace.  The novel is much more involved and is a collaboration between my wife Sandra and I.  The novel's history is local, and needs a lot of personal investigation into various people, places, and things.  Since many of you have asked, this is what I/we are doing.  Among other things like planting a garden, trees, flowers, etc for our new home.  And there always is the two of us Sandra and I, watching the beautiful Texas sky while sipping a beer.  

                                                  Copyright @2013 Terry Unger  

Supermarket Chatter

Yesterday I had to make a beer run and went to the closest outlet - the local supermarket.  While standing in line with my liquid gold, two middle-aged men were knee deep in conversation.  In a very concerned manner, they talked about their hope for heaven and fear of hell.  It's amazing what I learned about those two strangers.

They spoke about their abuses and neglects of the past and hoped that their now more acceptable behavior would earn them a seat in heaven.  But acceptable to whom or what, I thought.  Those two bragged about their charitable contributions to their various religious favorites and tried to out do each other with their weekly church attendance stats.  I found it almost annoying when they both agreed that it was best to sit in the first pew so the pastor could see them.  What can I say; it was a long line.  Also, they managed to fit into their chatter a good tongue lashing of those who did not match up to their personal "level of achievement."  Fortunately, I was glad that I did not have one or two beers under my belt; I do not like getting into verbal jousting with these types.  

I have a hard time imagining a god, or any other for that matter, who much of humanity has given credit to for creating our Universe, wanting to micro-manage my life and the lives of others.  With that kind of ability, I believe that he/she/it is way to busy to be bothered.  We humans have created divinity in our own image and believe that that divinity will behave like us, if it exists at all.  Some humans have gone far enough to presume what that divinity thinks and believes; they created a laundry list of "sins against god."  If divinity was responsible for the creation of our Universe, offending it with what we consider our poor behavior or mistakes in judgement is ridiculous; that divinity is so far above and ahead of us that we cannot count the steps, so why presume what it thinks.  That being the case, reason should tell us that that divinity does not care whether we believe in it or not; if it exists, it is and we are, period.  The bottom line - we are responsible for our lives; past, present, and future.

What we do and say, our words and deeds, determines our life's path.  We create our fate, whether it be good or ill.  When we exit this life, and we all will, we will be judged, not by some far off god sitting on a throne, but by our words and actions.  Chose your words and deeds well; it is the path of honor and respect, in this life and the next.

                                                     Copyright @2013 Terry Unger  

  




         

Our Guns

The founders of the United States knew a thing or two; they  lived it.  They saw what happened when Church and State were one; people died.  In their minds, the wall between Church and State had to be impenetrable, so they gave us the First Amendment.  They also knew that the best deterrent against tyranny was a well armed civilian population.  Those thoughts gave us the Second Amendment; our founders were a smart bunch.  However, even after a landmark Supreme Court decision of just a few years ago, we still have people that think the Second Amendment needs further interpretation.

That Supreme Court case and its definitive decision is known as The District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), or simply the Heller Case.  The court stated that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual, law abiding person the right to keep and bear arms.  In other words, in the USA, people who do not break the law, who are not convicted felons, can have guns, many guns.  And the court's decision made it clear that a well regulated militia has nothing to do with the National Guard.  It's all about the individual person's right to have firearms.  As a law abiding citizen, taxpayer, and life member of the NRA, that Supreme Court ruling suits me just fine.  Unfortunately, when a tragedy hits our country that involves one or two wackos with a gun, the anti-gun folks and their media allies start their engines.

The anti-gun groups want people to believe that all firearms are evil, so they should be banned.  That is fuzzy logic with a big dose of fear thrown in for extra leverage.  Evil is something that resides in the mind of an individual, not an inanimate object.  A hammer, screwdriver, ball point pen, knife, and a gun are all inanimate objects.  When in the right hands and properly used, these things help produce constructive results.  In the wrong hands, all of them can be used for deadly purposes.  When a man wants to be a carpenter, but keeps hitting his hands in stead of the nail, you take the hammer away from him and then tell him to find other employment; you do not take away the hammers from the other carpenters because that guy kept hurting himself.  And people have been killed by hammers, screwdrivers, knives, ball point pens, and guns.  But the fear mongers only want to ban guns.

The anti-gun crowd talks about other countries that have banned guns; maybe those people should move to those countries.  After doing so, they will discover that only when the government, police, and criminals have guns, they become easy targets of opportunity.  Thinking that we do not need firearms because we have the police to protect us is just as silly as thinking that because we have firemen, we have no need for smoke alarms and fire extinguishers in our homes.  Every law enforcement officer that I have talked to told me straight up:  We cannot protect you, there are not enough of us.  Get a gun, know how to use it, and know your rights.  It would be a rare indeed to hear or see that reported in our media.

The media seems to enjoy taking the tragedy of innocents and spinning it out of control.  It bombards the public, day after day, with these tragedies, reporting on the most gut-wrenching details.  But it is a rare thing for the media to report on an incident where a person successfully defended himself, his family, and his property with a gun against a malevolent interloper.  And these actions happen daily across the USA.  When was the last time the media did news piece on gang violence in our major cities?  Criminals killing other criminals with illegal firearms?

It is almost impossible for a criminal to legally purchase a firearm.  So, criminals sell illegal firearms (think black market here) to other criminals.  And if guns were banned, that is where anybody would buy one; the illegal black market.  Now, the sales of illegal firearms between criminals is just as rampant as the sale of illegal drugs is to junkies.  The point - criminals always will have access to firearms; they have no use for the order of law that governs a civil society.  Obviously, more gun control aimed at law abiding citizens is futile.  What must be done is a re-write of our current gun laws; we have so much duplicity.  And, have law enforcement go after the illegal gun traffic that thrives among criminals.    

                                                    Copyright @2013 Terry Unger      

On the Economy and Jobs

To date, this is the most political post I've ever written.  After reading it, if you decide to think of me as an ass, idiot, or moron, please feel free to do so; I'm used to it - it's the price to pay for being a renaissance man.  And, we are entitled to our opinions.  I've had the opportunity to observe the social, environmental, and economic landscape for decades and this post is a result of just a fraction of what I witnessed.

In my not so humble opinion, radical environmentalists are a rather silly bunch.  They would rather protect a scenic view than provide electricity to an overburdened power grid.  These folks will stop a major water artery that supplies a city, like a river, to protect a handful of nearly extinct fish.  And, they do not care that the city must truck in water from outside sources.  It's all about saving the fish.  The facts speak loudly:  several species of life become extinct everyday.  This is just not the cycle of life, but the environmental survival of the fittest.  If you want an argument on this, go talk to a dinosaur.  Well, what do expect from a guy who is a member of the original PETA Society - People Eating Tasty Animals?  And in my opinion, radical environmentalists have stifled our economy and real job creation.

The Keystone Pipeline is a case in point.  A major objection was that the pipeline would interfere with a major watershed, possibly causing the pollution of the drinking water.  That would be horrible but our present and evolving science and technology can prevent that from happening.  And, there are other pipelines and watersheds in the USA that appear to exist in comfortable compatibility (google the maps).  Another complaint to halt the pipeline is that the process of extracting oil from oil sands is dirtier (more pollution) than extracting it from beneath the earth's surface.  Again, I believe that emerging science and technology, coupled with what we already know, can easily handle those negative effects.  The same can be said about Clean Coal.  The point here is that these two energy sources could create 100,000 plus real jobs is not far fetched at all.

The phrase, Drill Here, Drill Now, should not be just words that conjure up the memories of the oil boom days of the 1950's and 1960's.  We have the oil; let's move forward.  That new oil will need new refineries.  When was the last time we built a refinery in the USA?  We do have the science and technology with more on the way to proceed in a safe and efficient manner.  The real job creation in this endeavor, I believe, will rival that of the Keystone Pipeline and Clean Coal.

Our vast array of technology requires a variety of trace minerals.  Although we have many fields of these minerals in the southwestern USA, we prefer to import them from China, along with the majority of our cotton.  So what the hell happened that we import most of our cotton from China?  Good question and good luck finding a reasonable answer.  Those trace minerals - we have the resources, science, and the technology to harvest our own.  It is now time to do just that, rather than having our science, technology, and our people held hostage in the near future by a foreign power.  The harvesting of those trace minerals can be done while maintaining a healthy environment.  The creation of real jobs will be in the thousands.

Cotton was briefly mentioned in the previous paragraph.  Another crop that needs to be brought back is Industrial Hemp.  Hemp was a staple crop when the USA was just the original thirteen colonies and to this day has many worthy purposes.  However, with the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, Industrial Hemp was outlawed, along with medical marijuana.  Here is the BUT.  We import Industrial Hemp from China, Canada, and France.  One of the places where this import is used is in the upholstery of our newly manufactured automobiles.  In my opinion, Industrial Hemp is a real job creator and must be brought back to the American landscape.

To many, I am sure, I come off as a real hard-ass without regard for our environment; that is not true.  The proceeding paragraphs contain ideas and opinions concerning the economy and job creation NOW.  But, without forward thinking in our NOW, the future can be a dim one.

The research, development, and implementation of alternative energy such as solar and wind power must begin NOW and proceed in lockstep with the previously mentioned energy sources.  So far, when it comes to alternative energy, the talk has been empty and cheap.  The time of cheap talk is over; it's time for the powers that be to belly up to the bar and buy the house a few rounds.  The development and implementation of alternative energy is a huge real job creator.

The thought, the proposition, the idea that I do not care about the earth is incorrect.  My personal opinion is that we can do all of the previously mentioned things and still have a healthy environment.  My opinion may seem a bit naive to a radical environmentalist but I do not think so.  We humans need to remember a few things about our earth.

We know from science that the earth is billions of years old.  Science also tells us that we humans have been on the planet for about 200,000 or so years.  And, we began our march from an agrarian to industrialized society only about 250 years ago.  Also, science has told us that the earth has gone through a few Ice Ages, proceeded by a warming period.  Wanting to help the planet is not a bad thing but trying to save it is silly; the earth has survived far worse than us.  And, who knows.  One day Mother Earth just may swat us off her surface like a horse uses her tail to swat off pesky flies.  But you can, as an individual, help the planet by planting a garden, taking advantage of reusable grocery bags, and recycling your empty beer cans.  Our planet will save itself, despite our best efforts.  In the meantime, save yourself and demand real jobs.  Our planet will be here long after Walmart is nothing more than a bunch of empty buildings.

                                              Copyright @2013 Terry Unger        












  



















  

Moving Day

I don't dislike moving; I really hate it.  In our lifetime, my wife and I have seen the back of a moving van nine times.  For the first eight, we did the move without professional help.  This time we acknowledged that younger people have stronger backs and contracted a professional moving company.  We thought that was where those stronger backs were employed and were not disappointed.  Moreover, we got to see how well our heavy furniture bent around corners.  

Like anything else that is business, a contract was required with the moving company for services rendered.  When all the bits and pieces were added together, we decided that to save a few bucks, we could do the light work ourselves.

During the process of boxing, bagging, and tagging we discovered some cute stuff that we had put away to make room for more cute stuff.  It's amazing how much stuff two people can accumulate.  But in the end, to eliminate clutter in the new house, some of that stuff had to go.  It's odd how that stuff found its way into the neighbor's yard sale the following week.  What's even more strange - that's the only stuff the neighbor sold.

No matter how you slice it or dice it, there is only so much stuff that you can jam into the back of a pickup truck at one time; we made fifteen trips with the "light stuff."  And then reality hit home:  that rickety, thread-worn recliner had to find its way to the nearest dumpster to await its spot in a local landfill; we had to say goodbye to that old friend.

I have decided that the next move will happen for only one reason:  when the professionals arrive to haul my dead ass off to the undertaker's.  Did I mention that I hate moving?  You never will know what gets left behind for some guy to sell at a yard sale.

                                 
                                              Copyright @2013/2015 Terry Unger  

Renaissance Man

In a world filled with overly protective soccer moms, political correctness, and people who dance to the music of another's song, being a renaissance man can be tough.  A renaissance man is not a throw back to a by-gone era.  Rather, he is a person who enjoys the art of living and makes up his own song, always humming the melody, much to the annoyance of those folks who follow the existing state of affairs.  He is not a drone.  It takes a certain amount of courage to be a renaissance man.

Today when people think of courage, their minds run to the memories of 9/11/2001:  the heroic efforts of the New York City fire and police personnel as the first responders at the Twin Towers and the valiant efforts of the passengers of Flight 93 that brought down the plane before it could take its' toll on our nation's capitol.  They think of Seal Team 6 and Obama bin Laden.  Many can recall the images of weary GI's carrying a wounded comrade to a waiting helicopter.  And some folks can still remember the raising of the U.S. flag by a few marines on Iwo Jima.  Then there are those of us who are reminded of the courage it took for George Washington's men to cross the treacherous Delaware River on a cold December 25th night to defeat the Hessians and deliver a major blow to the British war effort.  These are examples of courage never to be denied and always remembered.  Sadly, when the average Joe is reminded of those things, he feels that he could never compete in that arena; he puts his life on one side of a balance scale and those heroics mentioned on the other.  Joe feels diminished and does not try to be courageous in his every day life.  He does not realize that he is comparing apples to oranges and continues to follow the music of the popular beat.  That is a shame because not everyone can be at the same place and time to be a Sgt. York, an Audie Murphy, or Seal Team 6.  We are where we are and not anywhere else.

What about the Joe who goes to work every day hating his job and hating his boss.  This particular Joe cannot simply walk away; he has mouths to feed and bills to pay.  People depend on him.  So he sucks it up and soldiers on.  He does his job and completes his mission, one day at a time.  This Joe has put the needs and wants of others before himself.  This is another example of courage.

There is that particular kind of Joe who cannot tolerate any kind of abuse.  He is the corporate whistle-blower, he is the guy who stopped his neighbor from beating his wife, and he is the Joe who helped police catch the leaders of the town's dog fighting ring.  These Joes stuck out their necks for others and maybe never thought that they were courageous; scared yes, but courage may not have entered their mind.  And there are more examples.

That Joe who stands his ground based on principal, regardless of personal consequence, is courageous.   Today in our politically correct world, standing up to a bully is not considered a smooth move; we'd rather turn it over to the shrinks and lawyers to handle.  But the Joe who bloodies the nose of a bully, regardless of the shit storm that it can create, acts courageously.  Coddling bullies only makes them more aggressive but when justice hits them square in the face they tend to crumble.  Celebrity, money, and position never should exempt a man from the behavioral rules of an ordered society.  Being a renaissance man is not being a relic of the past but living a life of self-respect where courage is complimented by other elements.

When the average Joe becomes industrious in one or more forms, he becomes more self-reliant.  He can stand on his own two feet and has less need to call for a helping hand.  Self-confidence grows as does self-esteem, giving way to a deep sense of personal honor.  All renaissance men exhibit these traits and also have developed a strong, personal form of self-discipline in their lives.  But a renaissance man shines brightest in the areas of his life that involve truth and fidelity.

A renaissance man knows that sometimes truth is hard to swallow; he faces it and takes his lumps.  And his fidelity to a true friend and spouse takes real courage.  He must have the courage to tell his friend the hard truth, regardless of hurt feelings, or the possibility of a punch in the nose.  The same is true in his give and take with his spouse.  The renaissance man has the courage to champion and cherish his spouse above all else; the oath of marriage and the marriage bed are a really big deal.

Sorry, but even the most ardent soccer moms and football dads can succumb to infidelity if they do not possess the cold steel discipline and courage of a renaissance man.  A renaissance man knows what is truly important and does not fall into temptation's hands.  When I was much younger, a wise man gave me a brief lesson in moral and ethics, and his words are just as valid today.  He said, "A moral man knows it's wrong to cheat on his spouse but does it anyway.  When faced with the prospect of the tempting act of infidelity, he reasons within himself that somehow or someway he either deserves it or has earned it.  In this manner the moral man commits a grievous error against his wife and does so without any sense of self-reproach or loathing.  An ethical man also knows that infidelity is wrong and just will not do it.....because.....it is wrong."  A renaissance man truly is an ethical man.  And if a man cheats on his spouse, what else or who else is he or has he cheated?

So what about all those average Joes?  The truth is that many of them are not average; they are renaissance men but have yet to recognize this fact.  That will happen as soon as they stop comparing themselves to others.  When they do, they will write their own music, hum their own tunes, and sing their own songs.  All of this will be done, much to the chagrin of the keepers of the static state of affairs, and to the princes of political correctness.

         
                                                   Copyright @2013 Terry Unger