Thankfully posted...

Sometimes I'm so grateful for things my knees go weak.
Seriously.
In a world in which everything counts, when's the last time you tallied your count?
The totals are staggering.

As I look around the table today, surrounded by my bride's people (I am the outlaw), it's an amazing amalgam of philosophies, occupations, even shapes and styles:
A Gospel preacher...
A glazer...
A sportscaster...
An animal husbandrist (is that a word? He breaks-in horses...)
A hair stylist (technically, counting my bride, there are two present...)
A retiree...
A pair of housewives, one of which is also a teachers' assistant...
A hardware store employee...
A college student...
An airframe mechanic...
A third-grader...
...and yours truly, able blogger to some, Talk Show Host to many, father to two, and one and only husband to my bride of 26-years next month.

I am thankful, indeed, for the blessing and priviledge to be invited into your car radios and desktop computers and who knows how else you listen each day. I am grateful for your support, appreciative of your suggestions for improvement, and fascinated by what fascinates you.

I am more than glad for my job--I am indeed fortunate to work for a fair and benevolent employer who values my skills and grants me the freedom to use my God-given talents.

I am fortunate to be surrounded by a wonderful cast of colleagues and support staff who are every bit as passionate about their jobs and their contribution to the stations' success as am I.

We have much to distract us this Thanksgiving 2005, with cleanups from storms, extra people in town, the war, the border, the price of gasoline, and the cost of eggs in China--especially with Avian Flu. But there is much for which we can truly be thankful, living as we do, where we do, with whom we are blessed to be living.

I hope your Thanksgiving Day is festive, full of friends and family, and is festooned with the reality of all the blessings we enjoy.

"Be Ye Filled and Warmed"

Houston-- Politics makes for strange bed fellows and business partners…Would you believe Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is shipping cheap heating oil to the Northeast to help less-fortunate Americans weather the winter chill this season?

The Chavez administration is not a big fan of the Bush administration, so Venezuela’s state-owned oil company is supplying oil at 40% below market price through it’s US subsidiary, Citgo Petroleum, to be distributed through a couple of non-profit groups, Citizens Energy Corp and the Massachusetts Energy Consumers Alliance.

Under an agreement brokered by Democrat Representative William Delahunt with the Chavez government, low-income Massachusetts residents could receive discounted home heating oil this winter. Remember the Chavez government is a political adversary of Mr. Bush. Remember, too, that most Northeastern congressmen have staunchly resisted development of petroleum reserves along the East Coast over the years. So, apparently, it's far less difficult to negotiate for cheap oil from one of America's "least-favored" foreign neighbors than it is to develop and provide energy domestically.

Is this a blatant grab for positive PR by the Chavez government, or a literal illustration of the political theory of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend?” It obviously is a pitch for headlines for the Democrat Representative of that fair state, apparently willing to go to any lengths to embarass George Bush. Makes you wonder…

It’s pretty embarrassing for Congress, however, which supported Venezuela’s previous, "new" government after a coup in 2002. That leadership was subsequently booted out of office--which was re-taken by Chavez, who is now addressing an issue that the US leadership has failed to adequately manage in this country.

Hugo Chavez’ style of governancet is two-fisted: one of velvet, the other of steel. He buys loyalty from his constituents by providing the necessities of life cheaply, while repressing any form of dissent. Chavez believes America’s poor are the result of rampant Capitalism. Hmmm...it's interesting to note the per capita GDP for Venezuela last year was about $5,800...while the US GDP was $40,100. You do the math. Where would you rather live?

Perhaps the perceived trend in this country towards a mentality of looking to the government for sustenance from the womb to the tomb is being exploited by Venezuela as an opportunity to embarrass President Bush and the Republican Leadership, while currying favor from poor (and relatively naive) Americans in the Northeast this winter.

And so the dilemma for Massachusetts’ poor shapes up to be a question of whether you have enough patriotism—and income—to stay warm this winter, or accept the charitable discount from a despotic country willing to turn up the heat on President Bush, at 40%-off. Representative Delahunt seems to have already made up his mind.

While the US government’s operating theory appears to be “be ye warmed and filled,” Hugo Chavez’ message is more like “be ye filled and warmed.”

Two To's Too Many

The Clanton Hacienda-- My daughter sent me an instant message this morning. Short, to the point. I thanked her. She IM’d me back, “your welcome.”

I sat there for a minute, staring at the screen.
“Your welcome?”

I just put her through 14-years of public school (including Cosmo school), and I get “your welcome”?

So, I IM’d her back, “you’re.”
“(contraction of you and are)”

She IM’d me back, “r u kidding me?”

Before I could respond that as her loving parent, it was my responsibility to provide these gentle corrections, and that I didn’t want her to appear an ignorant reflection of her Dad and Mom, she typed another line to me, “I don’t have time for this.”

So there you have it.
You can IM to your heart’s delight, or in many cases, “2 yur hartz d-lite,” and I guess the normal rules of the grammatical road don’t apply.

Your vs you’re.

That’s one of those minor English conundrums like To, Too, and Two.
Hey, I’m no William Safire, but I, too, like to use the right word, especially when there are more than two ways to spell a similar-sounding word, a.k.a “homonymn.” Notice how I cleverly worked all three into the same sentence?

Here’s another one that sort of gets my goat in a minor way:
Their vs they’re vs there.

The possessive pronoun vs the contraction vs the adverb.

Then, there’s their’s vs theirs vs there’s.
Pick which word isn’t really a word.
You won’t find their’s there in the dictionary.

Minor stuff…like then and than…used to vs use to…who vs whom. Merry, marry, Mary.
You get the idea. No wonder California public schools would just as soon teach Ebonics.

But the one that really sends me over the edge on the grammarmometer is regardless vs irregardless. Regardless of what some may think or say, “irregardless” is a double-negative, and really not a word.

Fo shizzle.