tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115651032011-12-14T19:08:15.713-08:00porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.comBlogger891100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-68299990744385399612007-09-24T09:40:00.000-07:002007-09-24T09:54:43.659-07:00

Why aren't our citizens more knowledgable about the Fair Tax? It seems to me that if you pay taxes you would want a system that would serve you better than what the IRS has in place now.But then, when I speak to my neighbors about the Fair Tax, they just look blank or say something like: "You mean added value tax? Not me, brother, I pay enough now!" and that statement tells me they are as

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-26416056248152141042007-08-16T08:34:00.000-07:002007-08-16T08:53:02.919-07:00

Now that book one, Broken City, is done and in publication, I've decided to post my N.P.T. (non-productive time) projects and other nonsense things here (including my political plays). The main reason for this is they seem to draw more comments (especially the "God calls.." stuff).Although the "God calls..." require more work, I have such fun with them that I still have to call them N.P.T.

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-80034088549943653002007-08-08T13:27:00.000-07:002007-08-08T13:48:15.196-07:00

Hello all my blogging fans. It's been a hectic summer but my book will be available on ebay and amazon next month...so now it's time to get back to blogging about everything in general and the up-coming election in particular.It's hard to believe that this campaign has been in progress for nearly a year now. It won't be long before they're starting the next campaign a month or two after the

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1150668959482399642006-06-18T14:37:00.000-07:002006-06-18T15:15:59.506-07:00

A cry went up from the crowd when I threw Big Jake through the ropes. He was the reigning Champ but he'd deviated from the game plan and put an elbow into my ribs. That'd pissed me off and I'd back-elbowed him flat out on the mat, then leg slung him through the ropes right onto the judge's table...and I'd caught the look on the promoter's face. Fuck him! I'd salted enough away over the last

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1149944953069339042006-06-10T05:48:00.000-07:002006-06-10T06:09:13.106-07:00

Arm aching from hanging here so long. Probably should have hit that damn tree. Where's the friggin' Skit Patrol?...can't hang on much longer...Should have given up on skiing when I turned forty anyway-- and was really stupid for bringing that new secretary up here with me; bitch wouldn't even get out of bed to go skiing with me.God, it's a long drop to the bottom. Wonder if it's possibile-- if

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1149434958941341592006-06-04T07:41:00.000-07:002006-06-04T08:29:19.963-07:00

He said little as they paddled their way along the sunken streets. What was there to say anyway? The government-- with less foresight than a kid playing with a gun-- were already jumping on the political bandwagon with promises to bring back the displaced and build a 'safer' city. He washed that thought away as nowdays it made him sick whenever he thought about what they were doing to the

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1147649169585407972006-05-14T16:05:00.000-07:002006-05-14T16:26:09.620-07:00

A cool breeze licked the back of her neck when Louise opened the tent flap and stepped outside. Although it was early May, the Rocky Mountain air was still cooling down to the low forties at night but she had to go. George had dug a potty hole in the ground below the fork of a fallen tree and she carried the toilet paper over there, peeing for what seemed like five minutes-- damn George, damn

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1146328987096056292006-04-29T09:19:00.000-07:002006-04-29T09:43:07.116-07:00

It was either a pill or a piece of candy, but whatever it was it was not going to work. Since chemo, I'd been through these "blind tests a dozen times and my cancer just kept growing...I was going to die. The doctors knew it, my wife knew it and I most certainly knew it. Once, we were fairly well-off but the only thing I did right was to place enough money in irrevocable trusts to see

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1145716775279439192006-04-22T07:23:00.000-07:002006-04-22T07:39:35.540-07:00

Before you assume that I must be mistaken about you seeing my wife dining with some gent yesterday, let me say you are wrong.(So that's what the bitch was doing instead of that phoney story about visiting her sister...)Come on, Ernie, why would I lie about that?Because you've been after her for a long time.I don't think so...(Now you're lying!)She was visiting her sister...all I have to do is

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1144544466594961982006-04-08T17:48:00.000-07:002006-04-08T18:01:06.616-07:00

The sound it made when it broke was like the crack of a sawed-off shotgun.I'd been on the front porch since the hurricane had moved northeast and the wind had shifted to the south. It was blowing a steady eighty or ninety miles an hour now, battering the back of the house with twigs sounding more like BB pellets from an automatic machine gun.In the woods on the east side of the house, tall pines

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1143931118557622762006-04-01T14:22:00.000-08:002006-04-01T14:38:38.580-08:00

"Disease? I suppose you could call it that, although it could be a psychosis...or maybe a psychosis caused by a disease...or maybe some kind of allergy, after all it is spring and the pollen is out...but no, my dear, I believe you're just experiencing the last symptoms of a rare, lethal drug I've been slipping into your coffee for the past week. You might have tasted it if you didn't load your

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1143422989352574112006-03-26T17:00:00.000-08:002006-03-26T17:29:49.390-08:00

In the purple and gray morning Les heard the last hoot of an owl somewhere in the woods behind his house. He was sitting on the back porch steps, drinking coffee and smoking cigarette after cigarette, waiting for the first sound of the hawk that had been flying overhead for three mornings now. He picked up his deer rifle and snapped the lens cover off the scope and put it in his shirt

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1142797606187152062006-03-19T11:21:00.000-08:002006-03-19T11:46:46.210-08:00

"I never said you were going down in history.""But you said I were goin' to be President!""Was going to be President, Son! When are you going to learn intelligible sentences? You had the finest education big money could buy...""Well, I'm workin' hard on that...""And that's another thing: when are you going to lose that phrase?""But it's one o' my speech writers favorite!""Don't I know it, that

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1142122609653782002006-03-11T15:54:00.000-08:002006-03-11T16:23:56.196-08:00

The realization slowly dawned on me that this was not my finest hour. Somewhere around murder number three I knew how easy it was to commit the perfect murder. Actually I'd thought about it once in a while before murder number one (the first necessary one) as I'd been in forensics for a dozen years. Then I found out my wife was cheating on me and her murder--planned down to the smallest forensic

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1141614662499647812006-03-05T19:05:00.000-08:002006-03-05T19:11:02.533-08:00

The transom. If I forgot the transom,then how would I get the ransom?If the ransom is thrown over the transomand the transom is closed to the ransom,then the plan I thought grandsomeis blown by forgetting to openthe transom to the ransom.Moral: If you're collecting money for a ransom and you're forgetful, change your plan.

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1140902906394145322006-02-25T13:14:00.000-08:002006-02-25T13:28:26.426-08:00

Remember? How could I forget? I recall it specifically because it was the first (and last) time I was told I was a lousey lover. It took me years...well, months anyway, to recover from that devestating blow to my ego. I probably wouldn't have been that devestated if she'd had told me up front she was a hooker, but she didn't. It was my first trip to Vegas, I picked her up in a bar and we (I

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1139696008427652602006-02-11T14:06:00.000-08:002006-02-11T14:13:28.466-08:00

My hand! Oh God, my hand...such a wonderous appendage! When my hand takes the brush, dips it into the paint and swoops the brush across the canvas in strokes bold and brash, I am overcome with awe! If only I could arrange the thoughts in my brain to direct my hand to create an image I could recognize-- but, alas, I am just a Chimpanzee. Evolution be damned! Oh well, think I'll go peel a

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1139183310847156332006-02-05T15:22:00.000-08:002006-02-05T15:48:30.870-08:00

Night falls over the Land of Oz. There are ten thousand stories in the Emerald City, this is one... Putting the Scarecrow in charge of Oz was the biggest mistake the Wizard of Oz made. Maybe the Tin Man would have made a better leader because of his new heart...but maybe not. No one will ever know as the Tin Man finally figured out that a heart shaped watch on a fob was nowhere near a

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1137357065253037092006-01-15T12:12:00.000-08:002006-01-15T12:31:05.276-08:00

I found this...well, I would call it a writer's break spot and thought I'd just do the first thing that popped into my head. You can find the rules at Purgatorian.blogspot.This is probably going to be so bad, I'll leave it untitled. The mourners arrived just in time dressed as clowns except for the girlfriend of the deceased Senator, a belly dancer known as Shimmy-Shimmy Simone. The Senator

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1134492282702990732005-12-13T08:31:00.000-08:002005-12-13T08:44:42.720-08:00

The first casino, the Imperial Palace, in Biloxi, MS. is set to open its doors on Dec. 20, this year, followed by the Palace and Isle of Capri by the end of this month. Mississippi knows how much butter these places furnish for the state budget bread...It's a shame we Alabamians still haven't seen the light. The rant from the religious right is always the same and always far from the truth.

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1133969590416009422005-12-07T07:20:00.000-08:002005-12-07T07:33:10.440-08:00

I guess I'm past dumbfounded at the antics of Saddam Hussein and, at the same time, amazed at the judicial system of Irag. So far, Hussein has told the judge to go to hell, ranted that his trial was unjust and today, by God and Ali, he is boycotting his own trial! Iraqian spokesmen said they were afraid of the 'image' it would create in the middle east if they drug him in the court room in

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1131987133090101452005-11-14T08:16:00.000-08:002005-11-14T08:52:13.133-08:00

Nothing much came out of the oil hearings. The Exec's of the Big Oil Five weren't even sworn in when they came to testify. How convenient (or making for conveniently lying). Lee Raymond, full of bull said "it was a tough balancing act" but said it wasn't price gouging. Sure it wasn't. He also said the (oil) profits are in line with other industries when earnings are compared to the industry's

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1131815196301909342005-11-12T07:58:00.000-08:002005-11-12T09:06:36.343-08:00

Scene Three (final scene)(Curtain rises to reveal the previous scenes game room but now it is in ruin. The walls have been bombed and backstage the backdrop shows us a Texas prairie littered with debris including an upside down Limosine, still smoldering. The pool table is askew stage right with one end resting on the floor. Center stage the bar still stands and stage left the couch is

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1130812724913443692005-10-31T12:18:00.000-08:002005-10-31T18:38:45.696-08:00

(Curtain rises on Scene One game room. King Dubya is still behind the bar. Big Oil is sitting across from King Dubya with a sleeve ripped off his shirt. Big Medicine is standing beside him and digging around in a doctor's bag. These are the only characters on stage as the curtain rises)King Dubya: Jeez, I love it when you go at it with Big Steel. Big Oil: He's a little twerp. Big Medicine:

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1130789751434159352005-10-31T12:15:00.000-08:002005-10-31T12:15:51.450-08:00

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1130694033822747332005-10-30T08:02:00.000-08:002005-10-30T09:40:33.866-08:00

Characters: King Dubya, played by David Spade (trying his usual but failing best to be 'cool') Big Oil, played by Orsen Welles Big Steel, played by Sylvester Stallone Big Bank, played by Richard Gere (not many lines but flashing Banker smiles effectively) Big Medicine, played

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1129909802359259292005-10-21T08:34:00.000-07:002005-10-21T08:50:02.370-07:00

A few miles east of me is a small scattering of homes-- a very small community where there used to be a convenience store a decade ago but it had to close because of lack of business. The volunteer fire department (one fire engine and an emergency vehicle) still exists there. In order to maintain the service, they have a "Turkey Shoot" each year. It's a pretty informal event with food supplied

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1129763654233761242005-10-19T16:08:00.000-07:002005-10-19T16:14:14.243-07:00

...the Daily show last night and didn't have much to say. Unusual for the 'no spin' man. Then today on his radio show he said the solution to the Mexican illegal problem is simple: simply put the U.S. Army down to guard the border. He says over 80% of those illegals would be caught. I guess he just doesn't realize how far that border stretches. He had a couple of other rants but what was

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1129325490616212872005-10-14T14:10:00.000-07:002005-10-14T14:31:30.626-07:00

Political Influence: Money by the barrel fullPolitical Morality: Grimm's fairy tales expanded metamorphicallyOpen Mind: One willing to listenClosed Mind: Talking to a wallVote: Impetus for campaign promisesCampaign Promises: IllusionsImperilism: Acquisition of other peoples property and resourses by conquestCrusade: Theocratic ImperilismNational Budget: Pork barrel fundFacts not in evidence:

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1128791593123025752005-10-08T09:58:00.000-07:002005-10-08T10:13:13.130-07:00

Mankind is going to dissappear off the earth. Interviewed on the NOW show on PBS last evening, the old humanist (raised Catholic) says man has little chance to restore the damage he's done to the earth and now she's ready to get rid of us. When asked what he thought of President Bush, he said they had a name for his kind when he went to school: it was 'twit'.When asked what his greatest dream

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1128439589192751972005-10-04T07:46:00.000-07:002005-10-04T08:26:29.230-07:00

Hank: Hello?God: You better sit down, Hank.Hank: What? Say, how'd you know I was standin' up, anyways?God: According to your theology, who knows everything?Hank: Lordy mercy, it's Jehovah!God: That's right, Hank, and I've got a bone to pick with you. Whatever gave you the notion that I caused those hurricanes to hit the Gulf coast? Surely you must know I don't use my Godly powers to influence

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1128183562602151702005-10-01T09:10:00.000-07:002005-10-01T09:19:28.253-07:00

...must be joining the ratings game. I turned it on this morning and thought I was watching the 'Today' show or something. Someone needs to tell them to stick to business. Their new show, 'Weekend View' was a mish-mash of a garden show, a tourist promo (hey, let's look at the leaves) and a home show (how to light up your walkway). Come on guys, stick to business, it's stupid to have to surf

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1127576489181305342005-09-24T08:21:00.000-07:002005-09-24T08:41:29.190-07:00

Will we actually see the end of the beaucratic, convoluted and paper trail of the IRS? Will we actually see the U.S. be able to ward off recession and actually balance the budget? Will the working class no longer have to be the largest tax paying segment of our population? Will you actually be able to take home your paycheck without tax deductions as long as your arm?The answer is yes, IF the

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1127310168573565692005-09-21T06:33:00.000-07:002005-09-21T06:42:48.580-07:00

when the oil companies say it costs them a million dollars to shut down one oil platform in the Gulf and then another million to put it back into operation? And they have already shut down over a thousand because of Hurricane Rita. Do you think they'll lose this money? Of course not...we'll make it up for them by paying more at the pump.Over sixty percent of our crude oil is imported and our

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1126799904097195092005-09-15T08:27:00.000-07:002005-09-15T08:58:24.106-07:00

Kurt Vonnegut appeared on the Daily Show Tuesday night to promote his new book 'A Man without a Country'. Although he's in his early eighties he seems to have lost none of his acumen and humour. Vonnegut never enjoyed appearing in public and his interview was much too short.There are not enough humourists around anymore, at least those able to be humourous without the shock value of foul

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1126716533172179312005-09-14T08:51:00.000-07:002005-09-14T09:48:53.183-07:00

Our nation is set up like a highrise building: The top two floors contain the luxurious offices of financiers and big corporate offices, CEO's of oil companies, Big Media, and large land owners. The five or six floors below them are the offices of the 'climbers': lawyers, doctors, bankers, mortgage holders, etc. (the moderately rich). On the next few floors, down to the 71st floor, are

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1126455796924077552005-09-11T08:43:00.000-07:002005-09-11T09:23:16.933-07:00

Dubya: Hello? Who is this? Is this a test?God: This isn't a test, Dubya, this is God. I called you on the red phone because I know you don't ever answer the others.Dubya: Well, a big ole White House howdy, God. Haven't heard from you since you made me one of your chosen hundred thousand.God: As long as you brought it up, there is no chosen hundred thousand, Dubya. Someone's shucking and

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1126277191035441182005-09-09T07:42:00.000-07:002005-09-09T07:46:31.043-07:00

...wouldn't it be great if our next President appointed various experts to join a think tank? Sadly, the buddy system will still be in place whether it's a republican or a democrat who's elected in 88. Of course, that's still a long way away and if GW has his way the ballot may be a thing of the past...could be living in a Kingdom by then.

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1126130032371869302005-09-07T14:48:00.000-07:002005-09-07T14:53:52.383-07:00

According to Canoe, a Canadian trade magazine dealing with waste management and recycling, there is a section of New Orleans where a subdivision was erected over a toxic waste dump. Is another Love canal in the offing? Is the government compounding an already overwhelming problem into another catastrophy which could be even more far reaching? Is the after-plan going to turn out to be worse

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1125965673931501952005-09-05T16:59:00.000-07:002005-09-05T17:14:33.940-07:00

Our nation has two generations wherein the majority of them have no idea of what to do to personally survive a disaster. Why is that? Because our school systems simply have no courses that teach survival skills. How many people could have survived New Orleans if they'd been survival educated? How many do you think knew what a dehydrater is and how easy it is to build out of simple materials

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1125587854869471542005-09-01T07:59:00.000-07:002005-09-01T08:17:34.876-07:00

High school history books still aint Abraham Lincoln as the Great Emancipater. Herewith are words from his own mouth:(From his speech in Chicago, July, 1858, when he was campaigning for the sentate) "Let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man, this race and that race and the other race being inferior, and therefore they must be laced in an inferior position. Let us

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1125499018602275282005-08-31T07:11:00.000-07:002005-08-31T07:36:58.610-07:00

In the comment section of most blogs, I notice a lot of 'Anonymous' signatures. Why? It seems to me anyone who believes in freedom of speech and the press, if they're going to comment on a blog, why don't they signature with their own blog name or, at least, think up anything besides 'Anonymous' so the blogger doesn't have to comment back like talking to a wall?Well...Here's how I deduce the

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1125240326796124242005-08-28T07:24:00.000-07:002005-08-28T07:45:26.973-07:00

Sunday, 6 am: Hurricane Katrina, forecast to be as bad or maybe worse than Camile in 1965, lies around three hundred miles south of Mobile Bay this morning. She's steadily built up into a catagory V hurricane, the strongest level on the meteorological scale. Packing winds above one-hundred-fifty miles an hour, she's still moving west-northwest and by this evening the Gulf Coast shoreline from

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1125154470456027062005-08-27T07:44:00.000-07:002005-08-27T07:54:30.463-07:00

This morning the boys in Hurricane central were busier than usual with the computermodels as Mother Nature began playing her usual game of chess by ignoring the computer model and moving Hurricane Katrina further westward into the Gulf of Mexico.Meteorology, like medical science, is still an inexact science and Mother Nature pokes fun at both, sometimes with not-so-funny results. Man, with all

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1125103819252814522005-08-26T17:40:00.000-07:002005-08-26T17:50:19.260-07:00

BP capital management chairman, Boone Pickens, appeared on MSNBC's 'Hardball' with Chris Matthews this evening. Boone lives in Texas (where else) and blamed the rising price of gas on not enough refinerys to keep up with demand. He said worldwide demand is eighty-five million barrels a day and is expected to hit eight-seven million in the fourth quarter of this year. He also stated the middle

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1123984956284738772005-08-13T18:51:00.000-07:002005-08-13T19:02:36.290-07:00

When Columbua discovered the Bahamas and established the first military fort in Hispanola (now Haiti in the Dominican Republic) he thought he'd discovered a chain of islands off the coast of China. The Arawak natives on Hispanola numbered anywhere from less than a million to nearly eight million (depending on the historian you read) but, by 1508--a mere thirteen years later-- the Arawak nation

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1123605350502199682005-08-09T09:13:00.000-07:002005-08-09T09:35:50.513-07:00

Quote: 'Disney, AOL Time Warner, Viacom, News Corporation, Bertelsmann, General Electric, Sony, AT&T-Liberty Media, and Vivendi Universal. These giants own all the worlds major film studios, TV networks and music companies plus a large fraction of the most important cable channels, cable systems, magazines, major market TV stations, and book publishers. The largest, the recently merged AOL

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1122049645348840032005-07-22T09:12:00.000-07:002005-07-22T09:27:25.353-07:00

Alabama's junior college chancellor, Roy Johnson, barely able to make ends meet, was granted a $43,192.00 last May, which put him in a class with most CEO's of major corporations with a salary (not including benefits) of nearly a quarter million dollars. In October, when the state raises teacher pay by six percent, he will then be pulling more than a quarter million a year at $257,861.00 a year

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1121966623873392782005-07-21T09:46:00.000-07:002005-07-21T10:23:43.880-07:00

When I started school in nineteen-forty-seven, my 'School Supply List' was one box of eight basic color crayons, a 'Big Chief' writing tablet, and a sack lunch. Three decades later, when my own children began school, Pla Doh, pencils, and tennis shoes (for gym class) had been added to the 'School Supply List'. Last week my daughter brought home her first child's list and (except for the basic

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1121270339891068152005-07-13T08:43:00.000-07:002005-07-13T08:58:59.896-07:00

When the building boom crash comes as it surely will, this time around it's for the same old reasons: high prices by the developers and construction industry (both of whom are inisightful but always short-sighted folks) and inflation plus the mindset of young married couples who must have a new home (which will quickly turn into a repossession or be put up for sale before the shift (in their

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1120746919331157772005-07-07T07:15:00.000-07:002005-07-07T07:35:19.336-07:00

As tropical storm 'Cindy' powder-puffed her way inland last night, I shut down my PC as the lightening storms became frequent. I flipped on the boob tube and watched 'The Mind of Mencia' premiere on the Comedy channel.Mencia himself is a rolled-into-one Mexican version of Lenny Bruce, George Carlin and Jan Stewart and his show is one refreshing half hour of adult comedy, parady and gaffing about

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1120665869665538522005-07-06T08:43:00.000-07:002005-07-06T09:04:29.670-07:00

Cindy, a third tropical storm, is ashore now and breaking down. This morning, on my porch here in SouthCentral Alabama, the wind is just light and a little gusty from the thunderstorms. Actually it's a nice change from the past two weeks of hot days and night.The weatherman tells us this is the first Hurricane season in history where we've had four 'tropical storms this early in the season. I

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1120601601822540492005-07-05T14:59:00.000-07:002005-07-05T15:13:21.826-07:00

I turned on the boob tube Sunday to catch the last hour of golf--Tiger trailed Furak but never caught him. One of the commercial breaks had a promo for the fall season called the E-Ring. I would say Gollywood has gone bonkers on this one as the premise is the military questing to find a villan who supposedly stole the 'Holy Grail Microchip'. Makes me wonder if they got the idea from a blog I

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1120246462917821702005-07-01T12:14:00.000-07:002005-07-01T12:34:22.923-07:00

My doctor keeps telling me how young I look. My wife keeps telling me how old I look. At my age my doctor gets most of my income.People have a fear of being kept alive when, medically speaking, there's no hope...so why do they call it a 'living' will?I'm sixty-seven years old and I hope my sex life stays as good as it is for a few more years...once every other month fits my schedule just

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1119884275708637082005-06-27T07:30:00.000-07:002005-06-27T07:57:55.713-07:00

There is a new editor at AARP magazine. In this months rag he took issue with the movie industry. (His page is titled EStreet, catchy, eh?). His rant was why the movie industry is not trying to attract the older movie fan. Well..duh, as my grandchildren are found of saying. This editor, Steven Slon, has a newspaper background and it shows up. His opinion in this particular editorial is: '

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1119368708157901472005-06-21T08:33:00.000-07:002005-06-21T08:45:08.163-07:00

Edward Klein's new book, 'The Truth about Hillary: ' What she knew, when she knew it, and how far she'd go to become President' is out; the first big effort by the conservatives in a campaign already on the way to trash and bash Hillary Clinton well before the 2008 elections. This is the first indicator of just how frightened the conservatives are about her chances of winning the

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1118848539947765442005-06-15T07:56:00.000-07:002005-06-15T08:15:39.953-07:00

Yesterday I decided to take a break and go back over the eighty or so blogs I found interesting and literally fascinating to see what they've since posted. Two things happened: One, a lot of them wouldn't google up and, two, some had changed their slant so much their creativity had nearly dissappeared. One of the more literate ('literate' in this sense meaning 'easy to read', not 'grammatically

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1118495712691876222005-06-11T05:42:00.000-07:002005-06-11T06:15:12.696-07:00

About a hundred miles south of my woods lies Mobile Bay. In a few hours tropical storm Arlene will move inland there but, unlike last falls hurricane Ivan, she'll give us a much gentler slap. It's going to be mostly rain. The biggest threat to my area will be occasional flooding and the chance of a tornado or two. About the only thing I'll be on guard for is a leaky roof but my abode lost

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1118156889751831572005-06-07T07:54:00.000-07:002005-06-07T08:08:09.756-07:00

In the scheme of things we sometimes lose sight of the meaning of 'one'. For instance, we pride ourselves on being a nation with 'one' constitution and we elect 'one' man every four years to speak for us and, hopefully, to uphold and follow constitutional law.You only have 'one' father and 'one' mother.You only have 'one' brain to process the reality of your circumstances, form your values with

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1117826523508252522005-06-03T11:55:00.000-07:002005-06-03T12:22:03.513-07:00

I haven't been in a New York City restaurant in forty years. Reading Waiter Rant's blog last night got me thinking about my first visit to a 'fancy' New York restaurant. I was in uniform and never got past the front door. We were between wars (Korea and Vietnam) at the time and servicement were looked upon as a lower form of life, especially by the elite of New York's rich and famous. A

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1117400531734470202005-05-29T13:21:00.000-07:002005-05-29T14:02:11.736-07:00

As laid out in Porchwise's Encyclopedia of Highly Secret and Suspect Theoroticals.Conception to birth: Genetic wars in the womb as DNA battles occur to determine the gender of the fetus...the beginning of what's usually known as 'The Battle of the Sexes'.Birth to Age one: The cute and cuddly code kicks in along with the bodily functions code which will take the whole year to develope properly

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1116945481064195042005-05-24T07:23:00.000-07:002005-05-24T07:38:01.070-07:00

conservative: one step forward, two steps backliberal: two steps forward, one step backprogressive republican: misnomeropinion: a conclusion drawn with or without facts in evidenceparable: language device used for leaving interpretation up to the readerconstitution: document expressing the prime laws of a nationbill of rights: guarantees under constitutional lawcongressional committee:

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1116776595441394582005-05-22T08:13:00.000-07:002005-05-22T08:43:15.446-07:00

I ponder a lot about how religionists think about God, most especially about the oncept of his being a supreme being. The logical question (I know, I know...logic is not to be included in any discussion of God) would then be: who created God? Of course the religionist cannot answer this question because closed minds are not going to tolerate logical questions. If, however, we take the

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1116603977496332062005-05-20T07:50:00.000-07:002005-05-20T08:46:17.506-07:00

About a half hour before sunrise this morning I went out to my porch with my first cup of coffee and was surprised to find a young man sitting on the steps. "Can I help you?" I asked pleasantly enough considering the circumstances but people do get lost in the woods out here.He had on a Tee shirt (red), Levi's and was barefooted. "Probably not...oh, I'm sorry about your lawn.""What?" I

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1116258299909903802005-05-16T07:54:00.000-07:002005-05-16T08:44:59.913-07:00

THE DON: Hello?GOD: It's God, Donald. I just called to discuss 'The Apprentice'. I'm not too happy with it.THE DON: You don't like it? Jeez, it's getting the best ratings...GOD: War gets high ratings, Don. Look at that Iraq mess--preempted everything for weeks when Dubba decided it needed rousting.THE DON: Boy, Lord, you got that right although it really would have been a wow if we'd

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1116171404570750342005-05-15T07:45:00.000-07:002005-05-15T08:36:44.576-07:00

Saint Peter was busier than usual when his cell phone started chiming 'Amazing Grace'...God's personal ring tone so he had to answer.ST PETER: Yes Lord? Pray ye make it quick, I'm swamped here, the line must be ten miles long.GOD: Sorry, Pete, it's just that I wanted to let you know my genetic code program crashed again.ST PETER: Oh no! What did it do now?GOD: Well, to tell you the truth,

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1115829501123204902005-05-11T09:09:00.000-07:002005-05-11T09:38:21.160-07:00

I went blog reading yesterday for most of the day and was rather astonished at how much disparity there was in the literacy of bloggers. Then again I suppose Blogdom has a rather large population. I was also amazed at the frequency of college student blogs. Mosy of them fell into the category of chic-lit as most of those blogs were done by inane college women--well, college girls would be a

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1115645722030247222005-05-09T06:04:00.000-07:002005-05-09T06:35:22.060-07:00

Earnhart, Stewart, Johnson, Waltrip, Neuman, Wallace, Martin, Gordon...if these names mean nothing to you then you probably don't need to read any further because you're not a NASCAR fan. Then again you might just like to ponder silly things like this, as I'm doing this morning out on my porch.When I was twenty (some forty odd years ago) I got over my lead foot days when I blew the engine in my

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1115580340064154002005-05-08T11:51:00.000-07:002005-05-08T12:25:40.096-07:00

PSYCHIC: Persistant Scams You Can Ignore CompletelyLOVE: Latching Onto Viable EmotionsEMOTIONS: Everyone's Mental Observations Tested Internally On Nonsensical ScalesPOLITICIAN: Person Of Limited Intelligence Talking In Circles Inventing Absolute NonsenseVOTE: Very Odd Tallies EmergingOh well, it's a quiet day here on the porch.

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1115305138810081992005-05-05T07:50:00.000-07:002005-05-05T07:58:58.830-07:00

He was twenty--she was thirty-eight. He was trying to climb the mountain--she lived on top of the mountain. He would grab any rope to help him climb--she threw him a rope. He had a rage to get to the top and grabbed the rope--she had raging harmones and began pulling him up. He slipped on his past and fell--she threw no more ropes. He grabbed a jutting rock on the mountainside and screamed--

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1115135508693823362005-05-03T08:36:00.000-07:002005-05-03T08:51:48.696-07:00

When I stepped out on my porch yesterday morning a light rain was falling but the thunder was rolling off in the distance and lightning was flashing on the predawn horizon. According to the forecast the day before we were in for it and we were. I knew this day before yesterday because I went out in the front yard and snipped off the Wisteria vines and crawlers-- everytime I do this it rains the

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1114778608081813152005-04-29T05:26:00.000-07:002005-04-29T05:43:28.083-07:00

It's foggy this morning and so far the oil well drillers haven't disturbed the tranquility around my woods. What's disturbing me it the President's press conference last night. I'll leave the lambasting to Maher and Stewart as I tend to dismiss most politcal speaking as pandering rhetoric anyway-- and the President pandered last night so much he was like a carpenter driving nails with a rubber

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1114612985758339732005-04-27T07:23:00.000-07:002005-04-27T07:43:05.760-07:00

Earth, the mother of us all, speaks to us in various ways. Sometimes her sounds are pleasing to the ear. Birds of the morning sing, warm spring winds rustles the new leaves on the trees, young squirrels, bushey tails aloft, chatter to each other as they peel acorns and morning doves coo the sun up. Sometimes her sounds assail the ear: wind howling across mountain tops, the startling crack of

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1114438348502281432005-04-25T06:49:00.000-07:002005-04-25T07:12:28.503-07:00

Much like the mindset of the nineteen-fifties when the threat of 'nuclear war' caused a wave of panic, school safety drills and a flurry of bomb shelter sales, the current wave of 'terrorism' coupled with a resurgence of religious fervor fueled by Christian zealots (and the word 'zealot is apprapro). In the fifties it was called the 'red menace', now it's the 'evil-doers' (the dumbing down of

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1114290823158525332005-04-23T13:47:00.000-07:002005-04-23T14:13:43.160-07:00

Erich Maria Remarque published All Quiet on the Western Front in nineteen-twenty-eight; it is probably one of the greatest books about the horror and inhumanity of war ever written. He was himself wounded five times during WWI and his novel, although seen through the eyes of a fictional protagonist flings the reader headlong into the front lines of battle. With unparalled descriptive narrative

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1114212274109244822005-04-22T16:03:00.000-07:002005-04-22T16:24:34.110-07:00

It's one of those mornings when my thoughts are meandering all over the place. It stormed until after midnight and the woods are quiet right now except for the muted sound of the oil drillers, still trying to find the black gold south of my place. Curiously the sound is like the quiet roar of an approaching hurricane--a muted roar rising and falling as the drill sinks further into Mother Earth.

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1114027987296630902005-04-20T12:50:00.000-07:002005-04-20T13:13:07.296-07:00

Everytime the flat tax or added value tax is brought up before congress, the bills are defeated. Why? Because the flat tax and/or the added value tax is based on common sense which just doesn't exist anymore in the halls of congress. Unlike the convoluted, cumbersome and nearly incomprehensible federal tax system now in place which favors the rich, collects little from corporations, creates

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1113933094722598492005-04-19T10:25:00.000-07:002005-04-19T10:51:34.723-07:00

My grandpa had no use for the telephone. If it wasn't for my grandma's insistence the only bell that would ever have rung around his farm was the dinner bell. It was in the late nineteen thirties when they finally got their first phone it was on a party line. The phone had no numbers and no dial, instead you had a small hand crank on the side of the phone which you cranked in a long or short

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1113670425487059922005-04-16T09:13:00.000-07:002005-04-16T09:53:45.490-07:00

Last October my name landed on a number of Psychic mailing lists. Don't know how this happened as I truck no nonsense from fortune tellers, horseoscopes (spelling intended) tea leaves or Chinese fortune cookies...other than for entertainment value and laughs. I also read junk mail because I'm a writer and always intrigued by how anyone writes and how the language is used in junk mail to

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1113532273872311252005-04-14T19:16:00.000-07:002005-04-14T19:31:13.873-07:00

When I went out to my porch this morning to write, listen to the birds awakening to the sunrise and generally just enjoy the solitude, a new sound assailed my ears--an unwelcome sound I knew was coming.Last summer a representative from an oil leasing company knocked at my door. He was buying up mineral rights in my county. I didn't sell him mine but most of my neighbors listened to his spiel

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1113230968194448332005-04-11T07:13:00.000-07:002005-04-11T07:49:28.196-07:00

Is a moral person an ethical person? Not necessarily so, especially when, by definition, morality is a set of standards dtermined by what a society determines is right or wrong and ethics are a set of standards ingrained in a person by his/her upbringing, time and circumstances. The morals of society change with the tides and only your personal ethics will determine if what society and the

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1113147559741007892005-04-10T08:27:00.000-07:002005-04-10T08:39:19.743-07:00

Dawn is being heralded this morning by hoot ows and gobblers. It's turkey hunting season and a big gobbler is sounding off somewhere out in the woods surrounding my place. I once hunted and the primal urge is still alive within me but age and arthritis have taken me out of the woods and onto my porch.The turkeys are late this year. The season started two weeksago and my son-in-law has treked

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1112971145926162772005-04-08T07:08:00.000-07:002005-04-08T07:39:05.930-07:00

The real problem with social security is the lack of knowledge by those who run our government about what it means to be poor or middle income. There are varying degrees of poor but, when it comes to 'fixing' social security, the old axiom 'If it's not broken, don't fix it' holds true in more ways than one.When we say 'our government' just who are we referring to? The answer is: the wealthy or

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1112537944444347162005-04-03T07:17:00.000-07:002005-04-03T07:19:04.446-07:00

byRobert J. FreemyerWe humans measure everything. From the day we’re born (will he measure up to his father?) until the day we die (he climbed the ladder to the top) we consider most everything by measure. Recipes (Grandma used her hands to measure ingredients: a pinch of this a hand full of that), lubricants for our cars, the temperature, rainfall, the river, school grades, how we feel (Lord,

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1112537796644314352005-04-03T07:15:00.000-07:002005-04-03T07:16:36.643-07:00

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1112279567787014292005-03-31T06:14:00.000-08:002005-03-31T06:32:47.786-08:00

The birds are in full voice in the woods surrounding my porch this morning. The purple wisteria and dogwood are in full bloom and a single yellow rose burst forth gloriously atop the one rose bush which withstood the hurricane last fall. A line of thunderstorms west portend a day of thunder and lightning but, for now and except for the birds, all's quiet on the Alabama front.Perhaps it's the

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1111723849141639602005-03-24T19:13:00.000-08:002005-03-24T20:10:49.143-08:00

Just saw the sketch on Drews Broken Moon and it caused quite a commotion on my porch.It was so exciting it dropped my jaw to the porchboard and I spilled my morning coffee on the cat who jumped through the porchscreen whereupon a possum ate the damn cat whereupon my wife, hearing all the commotion, stepped out on the porch and said, "Shoot that sonsabeehive and shut off that sinful machine and

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1111339112669702812005-03-20T09:04:00.000-08:002005-03-20T09:18:32.670-08:00

Old Saws drive me as crazy as the addition of 'you know' to every sentence in a conversation. As a semi-recluse living in the woods I hate to go to town but today I had no choice. When I checked out at the market the clerk said, "Have a nice day" instead of "Thank you, come again"...so I said, "Why? A little rain gives one a better perspective on the day, don't you think?" Then I went over to

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11565103.post-1111273811959831162005-03-19T14:55:00.000-08:002005-03-19T15:10:11.960-08:00

As a former columnist turned novelist and, having completed my first novel, I am taking some sage advice from another novelist and joining the ranks of the totally insane. This morning the view from my porch was cheerily bright and whatever the view is usually determines the rest of my day. Gloomy, I sulk. Foggy, I relive London. Raining, I look for fishing worms. Windy, I think of agents

porchwisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09192685413652545760noreply@blogger.com0