Two Grenadiers

 Below are the lyrics to The Two Grenadiers. My Dad used to sing this. I don't know why I thought of it tonight, but it's a good song.

THE TWO GRENADIERS

To France were traveling two grenadiers,

From prison in Russia returning,

And when they came to the German frontiers,

They hung down their heads in mourning.

There came the heart-breaking news to their ears

That France was by fortune forsaken;

Scattered and slain were her brave grenadiers,

And Napoleon, Napoleon was taken.

Then wept together those two grenadiers

O'er their country's departed glory;

"Woe's me," cried one, in the midst of his tears,

"My old wound--how it burns at the story!"

The other said: "The end has come,

What avails any longer living

Yet have I a wife and child at home,

For an absent father grieving.

"Who cares for wife? Who cares for child?

Dearer thoughts in my bosom awaken;

Go beg, wife and child, when with hunger wild,

For Napoleon, Napoleon is taken!

"Oh, grant me, brother, my only prayer,

When death my eyes is closing:

Take me to France, and bury me there;

In France be my ashes reposing.

"This cross of the Legion of Honor bright,

Let it lie near my heart, upon me;

Give me my musket in my hand,

And gird my sabre on me.

"So will I lie, and arise no more,

My watch like a sentinel keeping,

Till I hear the cannon's thundering roar,

And the squadrons above me sweeping.

"Then the Emperor comes! and his banners wave,

With their eagles o'er him bending,

And I will come forth, all in arms, from my grave,

Napoleon, Napoleon attending!"

Jesus's voice

 Someone asked how do you hear Jesus's voice? Well as near as I can tell, Jesus was a doer, not a talker. Most of the talk attributed to him in the Bible was added by other people. The thing I've learned from the Carpenter is that if you keep busy, sooner or later, you will do something right. The best baseball hitters succeed 3 times out of ten attempts. The best us mere mortals can hope for is 2 out of 10, or 1 out of 5, a worthy goal.

Valued Customers

 Newspapers and cable companies are always having deals for new customers. Newspapers say $1 for 6 months then it goes to regular rates usually at least $10/month or so for a regular digital subscription. Cable will offer $20/ month for a year of internet, then it goes to $70/month or so. 

 Seems like they ought to have the best rates for their long term customers. I'd much rather pay $15 / month for a year and then have it go down to $10 for as long as I keep the subscription.

Comcast, if you complain, will usually not raise your rates, but a long-term customer shouldn't have to do that every year.

Ties

 A lot of people are upset about the outcome of the Chiefs/Bills game. The thinking being the Bills should have had a chance to score in overtime. 

My thinking of is that at the end of regulation in regular season, it's a tie. In postseason if it ends in a tie, they form a joint squad, coach with best record is head coach and the team they are playing, in this case Cincinnati, gets home field advantage.

Revised John Collet's Bible

 Awhile back up the blog, I wrote John Collet's Bible. Well, here's the revised version:

Drink coffee

Shoot the breeze

Help the poor

Be kind

Common Sense

 I've had alot of political affiliations in my life: Republican, Democrat, Socialist, Green, Libertarian, Anarchist. But I was reading an article about the good friendship of Justices Scalia and Ginsberg, even though they disagreed politically. Why can't we all do that and use common sense instead of party to solve problems. 

 Sometimes big cities like Seattle will give tax breaks to big corporations to keep them in town. Even small towns like my town of Albany tried giving a tax break to Pepsi but it fell through. Usually what happens is the companies end up moving jobs out of town anyway and you never get any taxes out of them. Why not, if you have $2 million in tax breaks, give 200 local people $20,000 each to start a business. Even if half of them went under, you'd still be better off. Even instead of sending drug dealers to jail, give them money to start a legitimate business. They are smart cookies, a lot smarter than the Boeing execs who couldn't bulid the 737 right and killed over 300 people.

And they have that S.C.O.R.E. organization of retired executives who mentor small businesses. Well, aren't we all snall businesses. Because we're all selling our labor. And you have these people of color getting gunned down; but that is just the tip of the iceberg as minority communities have a hard time getting loans, buying houses and even getting a decent grocery store close to home. Well, why doesn't Mayor Wheeler in Portland get the protesters to team up with SCORE and set up a training program to train the protesters to be mentors to minority citizens and go with them when they go to get a loan, or buy a house so they don't get ripped off. Let's all work together.

Fires

Big fires in Western Oregon. We're not in danger in Albany, but sky is filled with smoke and ash collecting on porch.  My son said everyone will be wearing masks now. When people see a clear and present danger, they have no problem following common sense rules. I've veen wearing a mask, just giving government the benefit of the doubt on this virus thing, but I can see where people get confused and disoriented as messages change every day depending on who you're listening to or when. There are so many media outlets now and they all put their own spin on it. But the people on this planet will survive somehow as we always do, in spite of government ineptitude. Just remember, the average folk in all countries are the same, so don't let media or government demagogues split us apart. We're all in this together.