Let's take it to another level

Down South, we just call it common since. Of course, no law abiding citizen wants someone to be killed by a gun, or for that matter by a car accident etc. With over eight thousand  laws on the books both federal and state with more on the way, murder by guns will continue. These murders are not being caused by you or I or any other law abiding person who is going to be made to register your gun. Only criminals or crazy people are doing the killing. There is not a law that could be enacted that would stop those people from doing their evil deeds. If they did not have a gun, they have many other ways to carry out their murders. Guns kill hundreds every year, but cars kill people in the thousands every year. We also have many laws on the books that are suppose to limit death on the highway. Do they work? Nobody really knows for sure. Now maybe if you put a speed limit of let's say thirty miles an hour on all roads, just maybe it would save some lives but then again, there would be those out there that would break the speed laws and highway deaths would continue. Let's be honest about this. It's not the gun issue that has caught the politicians' eyes, but the fact that they are making it a major issue,  it can generate votes for them. And think about this for a moment, there is a lot of drinking done in our country and DUIs results in many deaths every year on the highways of America. But don't expect the politicians to make an issue about alcohol. After all, they do a lot of drinking themselves. They don't like to admit it, but they have body guards and secret service all around them 24/7 armed with guns while they are almost daily taking a few drinks. Years ago they gave in and did away with Prohibition. After all, they did not want to get caught drinking and breaking their own law.

Now I said at the beginning of this blog to let's take it to another level. What I mean by that is we all know that what the government is really trying to do is to take away our second amendment which is our right to bare arms. And I am sure you rightly suspect that their reason is that once they have all the law abiding citizens guns, they will have total control over us. Only they and their National Police Force along with the Army and criminals will have them. If we don't like what the Government wants us to do, well that's just tough.  If they decide they want to go back to a monarchy or a King, as the (Federalist or Democrats, as they are now called) wanted to do back in the 1790's when John Adams was president, they could do it. They would no longer have free elections. We would be unable to do much of anything with sticks and stones.

Now expand your thinking by remembering that there has been talk of a  'One World Order'. That would mean  one governing body for the world. I admit it sounds off the chart but you have heard of it. If you had been around in 1776, would you have ever believed what they have done to our wonderful country. There are 204 sovereign countries in the world. What if the majority wanted to go 'gun free' in the world?  America is only one of the voting body, and would be expected to go along. If that ever happened it would be exactly the same as our own present American government wanting to take its own citizens guns. It would open the door for the criminal element of the world to take us over.

So what's the difference ? If we lose our guns, then only the government and the criminals will be in charge. Don't forget, that when Russia, China, Germany and Cuba, along and others, took away the guns, tens of millions were put to death.

One last thought. On average, 3,700 people are killed each year with a gun. Drunk drivers killed 11,000 in same year.

What I believe in

Yes, I'm a Southern Boy. Like most of you within ten years of my age, we see things today that just did not seem imaginable back before the forties or fifties.  As a small boy, I went to a country school, as they called them back in those days, down in South Georgia and if you attended one, you were considered a hick or country bumpkin. The school was a rather small wooden building with large windows to allow sunlight in. My room had three grades with a pot belly stove that could be too hot if you got too close or too cold if you sat too far away. The teacher was a young blond (seemed old to me) and had to be dedicated to teach under those circumstances.

 The school did not have a lunch room with hot food, so your mom fixed you a tasty sack lunch or you did not eat. The toilets or out-houses, were out back and the boys had maybe six or so holes or seats if you like, with no privacy. The girls was about one hundred feet away. Of course there was no grass in those days around the schools, only red dust or red mud during the wet times. Mom knew this was not good for her little boy so she found a way to transfer me to a town school where I became a part of the city kids.

Saying the Lord's prayer and crossing our hearts and reciting the pledge of allegiance facing the flag, was the first thing we did every morning. We were taught wholesome things children needed to know and there was no talk about sex. In fact the "S word" was never used around children.

World War One was over, but soon afterwards our country was fighting two wars on two fronts with two far away enemies, the Japs and the Germans, headed up by Hirohito and Hitler. Kids at a very young age were taught history. Patriotism was a very real part of growing up. We collected tin cans, metal, news papers and tin foil for the war effort and took it to school every week. Our parents used rationing stamps for gas and food and other necessities such as tires. You could not buy a car during that time. Most factory production went towards the war effort. We had victory gardens and kids bought ten cent stamps and pasted them in little books that went towards buying War Bonds to help finance the war effort. We got our World News from the movies on Saturdays. Five cents would buy a Coke at that time.  There was no TV, so after school and with home work done, we went outside to play until we heard our Mom call us in for supper and then played games until bed time. The true meaning of the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas were taught to children and going to church made you feel whole.

When I was eleven, it was the first time I ever really knew the reason why boys and girls were different and along about that time, I also heard the word atheist. I could not believe there were actually people and I did not know of any, that did not believe in God. There were some words that were not spoken around the house such as “divorce” or “pregnancy”. Parents at that time, felt that there was plenty of time later on for us kids to find out the meaning of adult stuff. I got married at eighteen and quickly learned good work ethics and   about the adult stuff.

We all remember the good ole days and we now look back on them as a time of our innocence, but those times were not that wonderful for our parents who had just survived the Great Depression.  Today, we now realize how technology and political correctness has changed the fabric of our nation and hastened its decline. It is sad to witness the expanding Muslim cult, not a religion as I see it. True religions don't teach their followers to kill others who don't accept what they believe in. Never did I think that we would see the word God taken out of our schools to protect a few that don't believe in God. Our county was founded on Christian beliefs, but you would never know it today. We were all shocked upon learning that our new president four years ago, when preparing to make a speech at Georgetown University, asked that the Monogram symbolizing Jesus be covered up.

The irony of the Sandy Hook School massacre was the out pouring call for prayer across our nation afterwards, while not allowing those children inside of the walls of that school to have a prayer before class began. This is a prime example of the moral decay in America today.

You never heard of abortion years ago, but now it’s as common as natural birth. If you took all the babies that have been murdered in America for the convenience of the mothers life style, the tens of millions of them would make a pile larger than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. If you are reading this, chances are that your Mom did not believe in it ether.

Our country is now made up of the fifty two percent that pay federal income taxes and the forty eight percent that don't pay federal taxes. Forty seven point seven million are now receiving food stamps and by the way, in the past year the government has been advertising Snapps, a new politically correct name for the food   stamps. Of course these people along with illegal aliens that are getting free stuff are going to vote for the one that is giving it to them. I call it pandering for votes.

What we are now seeing, and I promise you, it will come back to bite all of us, the tax-users and the tax-payers. They are now going to the ballet box and voting themselves more free stuff. Any rational person that stands back and takes a look at what's happening, can see that a nation that won't balance it's budget and continues to borrow money from the Chinese and will soon owe twenty trillion dollars, is headed for disaster.

I believe our great nation is in moral decay brought on by anything goes, do what ever makes you feel good. When for shock value, Rhett Butler said in “Gone With The Wind”, "Frankly madam, I don't give a damn". It was the opening of the flood gates towards our valley of despondency.  I am afraid that the hills of elation are gone forever.

For those of you not familiar with Roman history, one of the "Caesars" was Caligula. (A nick name for “Little soldiers boot”). Caligula was in power from 37 AD till 41 AD. He was narcissistic and killed his great uncle who was also his step grandfather to enable him to come into power and would later kill most of the rest of his brothers and male cousins in order to keep them from falling in line of power. He would have a number of the Roman Senators killed who did not agree with him and promoted the head of his army to his top protector. He allowed nothing to stand in his way. What he did to gain favor of the Roman citizens was to give them the equivalent of food stamps as the “one” is giving out today to gain favor. What Caligula did was to go the roof top of a four story building in Rome and threw gold coins down to the people. Does this sound familiar? Once he had spent all his inherited wealth, he began to take from the rich. Again does this not sound familiar? At the age of 27, he declared that he was a living God. A year later, and after less than four years as a Roman Emperor, his short life at the age of 28 ended with his assassination.

My friends,  regardless of who is in power, with 73 percent of the new jobs going to government workers in the past year, and with people on welfare receiving more money by staying at home than working for a  salary, they must not be allowed to take our wonderful country the way of Rome or Greece. I believe we all have to operate within our home budgets or we will go bankrupt. We cannot print new money at home or continue to borrow more money as our government is doing today. We cannot allow the “takers to out number the makers”. It has to stop.

And that's what I believe.

Merry Christmas / Happy New Year?

Bob's Place

I live up in the North West corner of South Carolina in Oconee County on Lake Keowee near a little rural community called Salem which I wrote about in my last blog. Its name may remind you of history of long ago and bad things that happen to people back in those days in Massachusetts. Well this is not about witches although with Halloween just last month, might not be a bad time to bring them up.

No, I am taking you on a Saturday afternoon drive in my H2 Hummer up in an area which is referred to as the 'Dark Corner' of South Carolina. The name Dark Corner most likely got its name from law abiding citizens back in the eighteenth century when mountain folks (mostly Scot Irish) produced corn whiskey to make a living. There were not many lawmen that ventured up in these mountains for fear of catching a bullet, so for most of the time, moon shine making was prosperous in an area that had been the ancestral home of the Cherokee Indians. Even today, if you know the right person, you can still get a quart or two.

As I drive up on the back roads, there are deep dark shadows in the hollows between the steep hills as the sun drops low,  little dirt roads or drive-ways disappear back into interesting places, but you would not want to venture off the hard surface road. The folks that live at the end are nice people, but very private and don't like trespassers. It's just in their dark corner genes.

There is a quiet spot where I like to pull off the back road this time of year along the Big East Etoie Creek and look to see if I can spot some good trout holes and look at the fall leaves of color floating down the stream. The quietness of the late afternoon is all of a sudden interrupted by the roaring echoes of most likely Harley motorcycles. It sounds like maybe ten or so of them making the curves up on the mountain sides as fast as they dare.

The place where I am headed is up on the side of the mountain that lies in the forks of the road. It is not a place that most of you would ever want to stop. Most likely it would give you the creeps just thinking about the kind of people that might be inside.

This is not the first time I have been to 'Bob's Place'. Years ago it was called 'Scatter Brains'.  Actually, I have been there enough to be recognized by the owner or her daughter. As I drive up and park the Hummer down on the lower road to make room for the bikers, I get out and walk across the road and up the crooked stone steps to the little covered porch that runs along two sides of the building.  Across the road,  near where I parked, is shed where if you want to do your own cook-out you can for free. You are just expected to sweep it out, etc. when you are through and carry off your own trash. There is a sign across the top above the grill that says 'Road Kill Grill'. Yauk !!

There are bikers big and small, some good looking in their leather pants while some others must have had a tough time getting in theirs. Everybody for the most part this afternoon is out on the porch seated on old couches or seats made from sawed off logs and drinking beer because that's all you can get at 'Bob's Place' . The beer is ice cold and only two bucks a can including tax. No bottles, just cans of about five or six brands. You cannot even get potato chips or pickled sausage as a snack or anything else for that matter.

The place is owned and run by Romaine Johnson who is a very colorful elderly lady who doesn’t take any crap off anybody, but nobody would even think about misbehaving around Romaine.  Who knows, she could be fast on the draw if necessary.   I am just kidding.  I love to go to this very little known spot in the hills.

I asked one of the bikers one day, “I noticed that you guys seem to only drink one beer. How come is that?" He said, and it makes sense,  "We are going to make maybe three more stops before heading back to Greenville , so we just drink one beer per stop." I later found out that most of the bikers that I have met at 'Bob's Place' are for the most part professional people that have good jobs and biking is a weekend hobby.

When you are on the inside, it’s a little dark, but with the doors and a couple of windows open, it’s light enough.   One of the first things you notice after saying howdy to everybody are the hundreds of autographed dollar bills stapled to the sealing. I'm thinking that this is Romaine's 401K plan. Her daughter Mona is there some afternoons to give her mom a little relief.  If it’s hot during the summer, and there is no air conditioning, Romaine likes to just sit out on the porch and jaw with the rest of us. If you want another beer, she says just go in there and get it yourself and leave the money on the counter. Most of the regulars know to do that anyway.

The building for the most part is fairly narrow with a low ceiling , but goes back a ways and has a long unused counter that is there for anybody's use in case they want to take a party up there and of course take their own food. Romaine says "don't care what you drink as long as you buy your beer from me".

There are two wall plugins. One is for the beer coolers, and the other one is for a sound box in case there is live music. A month or so there was a blue grass bunch from Hendersonville. They were good and worked for tips.

Oh, did I mention that there are some cracks in between the floor boards and you can actually see the ground underneath on a sunny afternoon. There is no underpinning. There is a flock of chickens running around the place and sometimes a few come in to check out the bar.

Now for you ladies reading this, no, there is no plumbing as in restrooms. However, for those who grew up in the country or ever went back packing in the woods, it comes as no surprise that what is offered are two out houses. Over the door for the ladies,  hand painted with a shaky brush, says ' Seaters'. ( I recommend you take your own paper. LOL )  For the guys, the sign above the door says, 'Shakers'.

Now for the surprise. Back in 2002 when George Bush was running for president and made a campaign stop in Greenville, SC, there were reporters from all over looking for stories to print about the Upstate. Such a journalist looking for something to write about stumbled on 'Bob's Place.' He was with Time Magazine and guess what? A story about the oldest bar in the Upstate was written up and made to sound like this was the in place to go for a cold beer in the Upstate.

There are many photos of most likely anybody and everybody pinned to the walls. I was looking at a life-size poster of John Wayne and then discovered some movie posters of a movie that had been shot in the mountains around 'Bob's Place'. That's right, Bob's Place was used as one of the sets for a Big Foot film called “The Long Way Home: A Bigfoot Story” and the opening scenes starred Romaine Johnson and her daughter Mona. A picture of Romaine with the producer can be seen here:

http://www.independentmail.com/photos/2007/oct/13/10575/

Now 'Bob's Place' might not be your kind of place to spend a few hours for a good ole cold beer on a Saturday afternoon , but for the adventurous , take a buddy and try it out. It's a hoot.

The address is: 1490 Moorefield Memorial Hwy., Sunset, South Carolina 29685

Larry

My Southern Heritage

Did you in the past few years since getting emails, blogs, or your early morning news off your computer, ever think that you should start your own Blog?  Perhaps  take a little time to do your own and say what you were thinking instead of screaming at the TV ? Well I have thought about that question for a long time, but never made and attempt because at my age, computer stuff  is more than just a little complicated.

So, to set the record straight  'You did not do that ! Somebody else did that.' Well that's right, a good friend of mine, made the comment that they could help me get started. It did not take a great deal of time to get  set up, but after they left, the big question hit me, what in the heck was I going to write about in this first Southern Boy blog ? The election is only a matter of days away and I am, as I suspect most of you are, maybe a little weary of all the stuff on the screen that's true or just dirt. Naturally, as my blog name implies, I am a conservative to the core and pray that next year there will be confidence in the future and the economy will come back from the brink of doom.

Having said that, I will get to my subject and move on. I live near a small community that boasts of maybe a little under five hundred folks. I know from a  personal meeting , they have one cop with a radar gun. There's   three churches, one of  which my wife and I are members of. On any Sunday, I would say there is around sixty in attendance. Our pastor has a full time job, but is there for us on Sundays and special events such as cookouts and funerals. Of course, there is a fire department made up of mostly volunteers and a little library across the street.  These people are the salt of the earth. They work hard to scrap out a living, but enjoy the little community events on Main Street held on all the big holidays such as the Christmas parade and the Fourth of July. A few years ago they took advantage of a government grant and built a mile of  concrete side walks that almost no one takes advantage of. They, of course, would prefer to use their pick-up trucks rather than walk.

I had a personal experience one Saturday with one guy. I was clearing a lot with paid help and  needed my chain saw sharpened and of course on Saturdays everyone is taking the day off. I felt just a little desperate so I stopped in the one convenience store that sold pizzas and gas and asked if the owner knew of anyone that could sharpen my saw. He got on the phone and called a man who lived near by and asked him if he could sharpen my saw. The man was about ten miles away at a flea market , but was ready to head home and would meet my at the store in about an hour.

 An hour later, he showed up at the convenience store and asked me to follow him home where he had his  tools to sharpen the saw. I believe his name was Bill.  As we drove about a mile, we turned down a little road that headed out into the country. I could not help but notice along the way, there were maybe four Confederate Flags hanging on poles or on the front porches. Now, if I had just moved here from up north and there are plenty of defectors around here, I may have felt a little uncomfortable. However being a southern boy, I felt secure among my own.

We went into his little shed that had no windows, but with the front door open there was enough light. Being a Saturday afternoon, I kind of wondered what he would charge me? I took some cash out as he was almost through and asked him what did I owe him? As he turned to me with the saw, he said " It's Saturday afternoon, and I don't charge on Saturday afternoons." I was a little taken back by this, as he refused to take the twenty dollar bill I had in my hand .  I would think about this act of kindness and later took a cake and left it on his door steps with a thank you note.

In the same block on the main road near the Dollar Store, which is the only retail store,  is a monument  dedicated to those who died in the Civil War between 1861 and 1865. Carved in granite, along with a flag, are the names of those who gave their lives for the cause. They had lived in this tiny community made up of mostly farmers or share croppers. They had gone into the Confederate Army because Lee had asked for their support and not because they owned slaves. They were dirt poor, and not in the main stream of politics, but felt loyal and wanted to respond to what was being called the 'war of  the northern aggression'. What little they did know was, it had to do with 'states rights' which was going to be taken away from them by a  far away government. There were few newspapers in those days that made their way to the western 'dark corner' of South Carolina and most got their news by word of mouth. Of course most of them could not read. Are you shocked by this revelation? Even today over one hundred and forty seven years later,  there are areas in our country where children graduating from high school cannot read at a fifth grade level, taught by union teachers.

So the question that sparked my interest the other night by a 'defector' friend that I love and respect very much, asked me "Why did I think the people in the small community near us, felt so loyal to the Confederacy? And why did they not just forget about a war that killed over one half million people and get on with their lives?"

I have thought about that and I really don't think there is a right or wrong answer to the question. Memories and events of the past effect all of us. History over the years is passed on down to all of us through books and from one generation to the next. It's like the genes in our make up, they are there and they shape how we feel about things that came before us.

To give an example of what I happen to think about the beliefs and feelings of those small southern community folks,  is something that happened a long time ago. (There are those on the other side that want them to forget about their past.) Some defectors as I call them, love to live in the south better than the north (and who can not blame them for that?) Will say, "They are still fighting the war down here." " They think the south will rise again."

Look at it this way if you follow what's going on in our country today, you know there is a war going on here in America against God. That's right, a movement to get God out of our schools, "In God we Trust" off our money or prayer anywhere in public.  The same thing can be also said for those who want true southerners to forget about their past. No, southerners are not going to forget about what happened to them nor are they going to forget about God. Nor should they. Only a small percentage of the total population owned slaves in 1860 that had been sold to the planters by northern slave traders and don't forget there were also northern slave owners to a lesser degree.

What we all need to do is let southerners have their memories. Their memories do not effect anyone (and I don't mean the trash that disrespects the Confederate Flag) and all of us should join in the battle as Christians to keep our God in all things we believe in.

Southern Boy

Welcome to my Blog

Welcome to the Southern Boy blog. Hi Friends! I am establishing a blog so that I can post my "Southern Points of View". I hope you will join in the fun and subscribe to this Southern Boy's blog.