The Native Iowan

Weather changing on this side of the planet. We can notice the shift from summer to autumn. The mornings are heading toward those chilly, drab, 8ams when the sun hasn’t broken over the ridge. After the summer we have had, winter is appealing. But we do tend to forget the badder side of winters.

Migratory birds are migrating. Its still quite warm. The clip below is more for the sound of the birds in the trees than the visuals…

Bizzy as can be, too bizzy for a retired olFart.

Lets see what I have to talk about…

I am paying more attention, closer attention to the echo chambers that abound.

I was talking with my 18yrold grandson, Mendoza, about it all… The fact that different “parties”, peoples, classes, sects, clubs, fraternities, sororities… there is a specific echo to each and everyone.

Mendoza attended a birthday celebration on a friend’s super yacht. These friends are all from the ‘Boarding School Old Boy” club he belongs to. It’s a cool group and you only belong if you belong, meaning you get into by having spent too long in the system that is “Grammar Boarding School” Australia.

The school M attended, Toowoomba Grammar, was founded in 1875. Established originally as a non-religious affiliated place for the boys from the big rural, farming families. Its is a boys only school. Many of the kids he went to school with come from long lines of “Grammar Boys”. Their dads and grandads and great grandads all attended. Tradition is strong with country folks.

And when a young friend turns 19, and his grandaddy throws a party for him on his yacht, it’s an “Old Boy” reunion. Which is cool as hell… an ex-Governor General, famous athletes, current and past political players, leaders of business, all meet and reminisce and tell their stories to the next regeneration of Old boys.

We were laughing a bit, because I said some thing like, bet the food was good… which took us to the discussion that even though you gots heaps and heaps of money, you may not have class… M told me these folks like simple, plain food. Lots of fried food with heaps of salt and tomato sauce. They drink standard basic beer. I asked jokingly, “no big platters of raw fish and wasabi, and bottles of Dom”? Which is pretty funny knowing the situation.

I asked about politics, what they talk about… and of course the answer is they are all conservative. They like their big V8 engines. Guns are good. Trans is the gearbox under your “ute”.

M is in his 1st year of University and tells of a 3day lecture he had to take before he could start his studies. The 3day, $600 course was on pronouns, and their correct use. He had to take the course before he could be admitted to studies. It is a story the Old Boys really like.

Have a good Blood Sport PPV happening today. Blood sport be guud.

Politically I see a lot of tension all over the place… Bullshit and rhetoric only lasts so long… eventually the juicy steak sandwich being sold turns out to be bologna. Stale, old, mouldy bologna.

Im impressed by how much bullshit, spin, rhetoric and just plan old fashioned lying I see and hear.

Albanese here in Aus is slipping, failing, falling. The leadership offered by the Incumbent Party has no policy I can see. They react to polls and statistics. We go from “prices for electricity will go down”, to “The War in Ukraine is to Blame for there high prices”. From “Israel is our best ally”, to “Jews in Sydney should stay indoors for their own safety”. We spend a year and millions of $$s on the “Voice Referendum”. Touted as the vehicle by which we shall expunge racism from our Nation… the Voice gets a resounding “NO” vote, and all of the sudden everyone who voted NO is a racist. Teen-aged crime is out of control… armed kids, legally children, are killing folks in violent attacks, robberies, and hit and runs.

Says a lot for the Nation’s social policies, me thinks.

We had old and slow Prez Biden stand in front of the world and rant and rave for over an hour. Im impressed he managed to do it at all. But, listening to the echos from different chambers, Prez Joe either did “amazingly well, was an inspiration”, or “was sad and embarrassing, giving a campaign speech and not a State of The Union speech”.

My centrist thoughts are simple : It is all rhetoric…

But dangerous… Prez Joe called the poor folks seeking safety in the USA “Illegal Immigrants”… According to some, Pez B should have said “undocumented”.

Which leads me to an echo from another source …

The farce of it all is quite funny, in a sad, sad way…

I was caught by something in Prez Joe said … “The Unions built the Middle Class”… here’s the quote:

The middle class built the country, and unions built the middle class. (Applause.) I say to the American people: When America gets knocked down, we get back up.

Im kinda confused by this and have been mulling it over in my mind… Unions = collective bargaining. The Unions did indeed change industry by standing up for the worker, sometimes. The Robber Barons were not always warm and fuzzy. The Unions had/ have a time and place, but have indeed damaged society by often being too militant. One of the reasons the Auto-industry is moving out of Aus and USA is in search of cheap labour. The Unions are too powerful to profit.

In my life time the Union worker was often better off than the nonUnion worker. I do not come from a Union worker background. But I have watched it all play out in my life time… Union workers got benefits like medical, sick days, etc. But they cost more. I built houses in Iowa, non labour, for $3.50ph. Union jobs paid over $7.00ph. You could go to California or Minnesota (in my day) and work Union, or stay in Iowa and make less.

The Unions no doubt did a lot of good. But why then are we applauding the fact that millions of unskilled, uneducated “workers” are being “imported”?

My answer is simple: The illegal migrant gig is part of a plan to destroy the Unions. To bring in cheap, needy labourers that will replace the old Union stalwarts, that are the middle class… ??? … I am confused.

And my confusion appears to shared with Pez Joe. He touts the Unions but opens the boarders in an attempt to dilute the Union’s influence… ??? … I am confused.

That might be a definition of sorts for the word “rhetoric”… Praising the entity you are aiming to bring down?

Did I say “I am confused”…

And the beat goes on.

Smiles all around

More later