The Red Buck Stops Here

August 3, 2011

Had a teeth cleaning appointment this morning and got beat up pretty good. Hate it that I'm on the downward slope, but there you have it. I guess I should be thankful I'm still here. An Eagles song comes to mind.

"It seems to me some fine things have been laid upon your table, but you only want the things you can't have."
—The Eagles, Desperado

Before I left the house this morning I finished up a study. This is George Washington being squeezed in a sea of red. As you know, George is on the dollar. That's why I call this "Red Buck." I don't want to get into politics here, but make your own Chinese conclusions.

When I study history I'm always taken by the fact that when we go backwards in time a very different agenda is driving the culture. For example, this morning the Arizona Republic ran a headline from 1911, part of a statehood centennial package, they are running to show the news items in the paper in the run up to statehood. This headline caught me eye:

"Made Langley A Better Man"
Anna Langley shoots husband after finding him in a saloon.
—August 3, 1911

Imagine that "news" item running today. Ha. Different agenda. It's noteworthy that prohibition was right around the corner and the subtext of the headline and article seems to be supporting that thrust, or effort.

I also want to know what happened to the happy couple. He obviously lived if it made him "a better man." But I want to know, did she wing him in the arm? Nipped his ankle? What? And, of course, what was he drinking? Ah, history. So ridiculous, and so appropriate as a study of what our efforts will look like in a hundred years.

"The past is a different country. They do things different there."
—Old Vaquero Saying