Better or Worse Generation Crap

They took a poll and asked folks about the next generation being better or worse.

Fifty-seven percent said the next generation will be worse.

I sat there....pondering over this poll. Polls aren't worth much. Over a third of America believes in Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Sea Monster. Probably half of America believes in aliens and UFOs. You've got ten percent of the country that still believe Jimmy Carter was one of the great presidents of the last fifty years.

So over half of the population believes that the gravy train has finally come to an end.

I sat for a while and considered all the implications....and frankly, I don't stand around measuring if the next generation is better or worse....than do I care.

Thirty years ago....I didn't really have huge expectations when I traveled. The airline didn't really matter. The arrival time could be an hour late. The food on the airline could be one-star but I'd likely eat some of it. And most of the time....my bag got to the other end.

Today....same expectations. The airline doesn't really matter. The arrival time could be an hour late. The food on the airline could be one-star but I'd likely eat some of it. And most of the time....my bag get to the other end.

Thirty years ago.....I made a simple wage and ate out once a week. I wore regular clothing. I stayed at family lodge hotels most of the time because I was cheap. And you could grill a good steak for $4.

Today.....I make a simple wage.....I might eat out twice a week now. I wear the same regular clothing. I stay at mostly family lodge operations because I'm cheap. And I can buy a decent steak for $7.

So I'm not buying into this better or worse generation business. Life is what it is.

We probably have the same ratio of trailer trash demon-women today as twenty years ago. We probably have the same number of guys carrying a chain saw in the back of their pick-up as twenty years ago. We probably have the same number of women wearing tube tops as twenty years ago. And we probably have the same number of guys who drink Pabst Blue-Ribbon as twenty years ago.

So don't bring up the worse generation business with me....it won't sell.

The Confederacy Angle

This week....the governor in Virgina upset a number of folks by bringing back the old Virginia tradition of Confederacy month. For eight years....it'd been kinda forgotten and some thought it was finished.

I blogged this a day or two ago......over the joke that it's become. With something that barely lasted six years.....there's not alot to earn an entire month for remembering (except for battles perhaps). I won't go into this entire discussion again. But what popped up today....is a curious thing. The President stood up and criticized the whole Confederacy thing.

I sat there and pondered over this episode. For eight years....no mention of the Confederacy....and now it's mentioned? And the President decides amongst all the key things that he could chat about.....this was worth mentioning?

I suspect now that the Virginia governor may have done this whole episode as a trigger....inviting the President to take up a stand and say some public comments.

There's a funny thing about southerners and this Confederacy thing. Once you get down into the small towns and communities.....it doesn't matter if you are Democrat or Republican....if you aren't a minority.....you are leaning toward pro-Confederacy. This means that any comment by the President and any negative slap by the media (MSNBC would be a key player in this).....would openly invite just another Democrat to see things differently in November.

So is this a invited stance.....to get the President and the media to slap on southern states? It's hard to say. It would be the wrong time to make two or three million southern Democrats a bit upset and open to consider Republicans in the fall election. Would things unravel just over a stupid Confederacy month? Only time will tell.

The Greatest Job in the World

It's a greatest job in the world kind of day.

If you lived in Bama....you would swear the greatest job anywhere, is working at the Catfish Cabin and grilling pure and simple catfish all day long.

If you lived in Texas....you would swear that running a Friday night rodeo is the greatest job in the world.

If you lived in Florida and wrestled gators....you'd swear that was the greatest job in the world.

If you lived in New York City....you'd swear that driving a taxi is the greatest job in the world.

Well....out in Copenhagen this past week.....the face of reality came up against people who had the greatest job in the world. Carlsberg brewery workers faced a hostile change in their great job. The management folks changed things.

First, there is a new alcohol policy. You can only drink beer now during lunch hours in the canteen. Prior to this week....you could drink all day long.

Second, there were coolers all throughout the brewery where you'd stop and just pull out a beer....free of charge.....and just start sipping it. Those coolers have now been removed.

Third.....a anti-drinking list of rules have been read out to the workers.

You can imagine the feelings of a employee....thirty years on the job.....given free beer all his life....and probably has sipped at least twenty beers a week on average. It has to be a painful experience to sit there and imagine how you will ever accept such a change.

The odds of Carlsberg beer having to pack up the plant and make it somewhere else because of hostility? I'd say it's better than fifty percent.

So one of the greatest jobs in the world.....disappeared this week.....and a teardrop fell from a guy or two in Denmark.

The Smoker

I've been watching this story unfold over the Qatar diplomat who lit a cigarette onboard a plane and when they knocked at the toilet door, he joked that he was just lighting up his shoe. Naturally, the airline folks and security TSA folks.....didn't take any of this as a joke.

He's being asked to leave now....by the end of today.

I sat and paused over this story....and looked at the picture shown here of the guy.....and frankly, I don't think he was smoking a cigarette. Oh, he was smoking something.....but I have serious doubt about it being tobacco.

The behavior he displayed after they knocked at the door....it's like a guy who's on a high. It was a typical joke that mary-j-u-wanna dude would make.

I'm guessing as he gets back to Qatar.....he'll make the talkshow circuit and make several jokes about lighting up his shoe.....and everyone there will have a big laugh about this.

What would a smoker say? Well....if they didn't have all these stupid anti-smoking rules.....he would have smoked at his seat and everything would have been cool.

Just my two cents on what happened.