Reuters; The European Central Bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve will take measures to support struggling economies. —– U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, in a joint statement issued after their meeting on Monday, emphasized “the need for policymakers to adopt and implement all reform steps required to deal with the […]
Author Archives: thelastminstrel
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Sep 10
At the conventions for the Republican and Democratic parties, we were treated to a sight that, if I were a feminist, I would do every thing in my power to cover up and suppress any mention of in the press. A group of about a dozen women paraded up and down in front of the […]
A Little Cottage of Your Own
Jul 30
This gallery contains 7 photos.
Here are a few plans for modest little cottages from AUDELS GUIDE to CARPENTRY – circa 1906. Audels is a series of guide books for almost every ‘mechanical, engineering, and building trade’ These pictures are from my fathers four volume set ‘Carpenters and Builders Guide’ published in 1906. The books cover every aspect of the […]
Why James Holmes is Alive
Jul 24
James Holmes walked into a theatre in Aurora, Colorado with a shotgun, semi-automatic rifle, and a semi-automatic pistol. In a matter of minutes, he killed twelve movie goers, wounded more than fifty, and then walked back out the door and was later arrested in the parking lot by police without a so much as a […]
New Cabinet Post
Jul 20
I’d like to make a serious proposal that could bring a better perspective to those tasked with executing the laws of our fair land. A new Cabinet Officer , appointed by congress, to serve in the executive branch as a liaison between the Legislature and the Executive. Its title would be – ” The Department of History” – […]
Changing the World
Jul 18
If you were brought up in the Baptist Church, you were probably taught that one of the most important duties of a Christian was to Witness to your fellow-man; to share the ‘Hope that is in your heart’. There are basically two ways to accomplish this sacred duty. One way is highly effective, very difficult, […]
The Foolish End of the Board
Jul 14
When I was twelve or so, I started working summers on my fathers construction jobs. I think he paid me ten dollars a day, which, for a twelve-year-old kid in 1962, was a fortune. [ He subtracted the dollar or two a day he advanced me for lunch; there’s no free lunch. ] Most of my […]
God is Dead – – – again
Jul 10
[special report from Jake’s Post Super Collision Garage—Somewhere, Alabama;] Scientists today announced the successful conclusion of a decades long search to find the ellusive “Dodge Particle”; the original building block of The Automobile, which they proclaim explains the existence of cars without the need to believe in the supernatural creator Henry Ford. Working at the worlds […]
Time Turns Over
May 31
TIME TURNS OVER by; W A Adams 1st verse Oh the rich keep on diggin’ to find more money The poor keep on spending to keep themselves poor And the folks who are happy keep laughing and chuckling And the people who worry keep walking the floor Chorus: And the rivers run dry and the […]
Despair
May 16
Despair by Walter A Adams Sometimes I think I could lay me right down here and die And the traffic might stop long enough for my hearse to go by No one would notice the hole here where I used to be And I doubt anybody would wonder what happened to me. It seems like whats […]
What Women Want
May 16
When God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, they walked untill they got tired, then Adam stopped to catch his breath and get his bearings. Eve plopped herself down on a rock, invented “The Look”, and directed it full force at Adam. The first man felt the hair on the back […]
The Two Things Maggots Won’t Eat
May 10
From Houston to the Gulf of Mexico the land lays flat as a flood plain, a flood plain for the Sea. Halfway between Houston and Galveston Island, on I-45, you come to Dickenson Bayou; a creek that meanders lazily to the east about five miles to Dickenson Bay, which opens on the Houston Ship Channel. Next to the […]
Greed
May 8
You hear a lot about greed these days, it being an election year. Usually the term is applied to business’; as in – The Greedy Big Oil Companies. The inference of course is that the Greedy Big Oil Companies jack up the price of oil at their whim, Just To Be Mean, and to take in […]
How Then Should We Pray
May 6
Should we pray standing up, kneeling, sitting, or prostrated on our face? Does your body’s’ position affect the reception of your prayers? How long should we pray? A minute, hour, the time it takes a tall candle to burn down and snuff itself out? What kind of language should we use? High formal English? Street slang? […]
Killing Grounds
May 1
In military parlance ‘The Killing Ground’ is that area inside an ambush where the enemy is destroyed. A classic ambush is a U-shaped pocket formed by your forces; the enemy ,by ruse or terrain or direction of travel, is drawn into the open end of the U. Once inside, the opening is closed behind them, and the […]
Potato Soup That Sticks to Your Ribs [ and anything else it touches ]
Apr 26
Potatoes are the chicken of vegetables. You can fry, bake, boil, steam, grill, broil or eat them raw [ unlike chicken ]. You can slice, dice, chop, shred, waffle cut, mash or puree them. Put two or three good-sized potatoes in a sturdy bag and they make an effective weapon. A one pound potato in a well […]
Goulash in C-major – or – Shovel That Coal
Apr 23
Some people eat the way a season ticket holder at the Opera listens to music. They will wade thru tons of horns, violins, and pounding kettle drums to hear the brief faint trill of a flute or piccolo hidden in the forest of weightier notes; like the rare glimpse of a bluejay flitting among the […]
Hand in The Fire
Apr 21
If you take to yourself a woman, and with her, raise up a home and family, you have given hostages to fate, and the day will come when you must put your hand in the fire to ransom them.
Awalan
Home
Apr 17
While on R&R in Hawaii in 1970 from Viet Nam, I heard this song on the radio. It haunted me from that moment on. I searched for it every where with no success; with no title, no name of the singer, I was out of luck. I never heard it but once, and could find […]
The Titanic – Picking the Bones Clean
Apr 16
This gallery contains 2 photos.
There is a scene in James Cameron’s teeny – bopper – beach – blanket – quasi – semi – hysterical drama – ‘TITANIC”, in which a crewman assigned to con one of the lifeboats tells passenger Molly Brown [ the unsinkable ] to ” sit down and shut the hole in your face”. Those words were actually spoken on […]
Three Marys
Apr 9
Three Marys by W A Adams Three Marys on the road going to a tomb One old one younger one in bloom Hurrying thru a world changing as they sped The dark of the first new day ‘The sun is coming’ the oldest said She carried frankincense to anoint the dead The shadows grew lighter on […]
The Shape of Illusion
Apr 6
This gallery contains 1 photo.
The Shape of Illusion by William E Barrett This is a novel about a 17th century painting, in a Manhattan art gallery with a strange and unsettling quality. The theme of the painting is an unusual one, a subject not painted very often. The ancient canvas depicts Christ leaving Pilots Judgement seat, having been condemned. […]
The Third Thing We Learn
Apr 6
This gallery contains 1 photo.
It’s been said that a human child is a learning machine. We are born with our eyes open and the lessons begin immediately and never stop. At one year or so we take our first steps. In the effort to walk we learn three things. The first two we discover ourselves, the third thing we learn is […]
Beds We Lie In
Mar 31
I’ve lain me down to sleep in a lot of different beds. From dirt floors to feather beds. From straw stuffed ticks to a $4,000.00 state of the art Stearns& Foster Golden Elegance Mattress “made with Moisture-wicking Mongolian horsehair and Insulating, durable New Zealand wool” so thick you needed a step stool to climb onto it. I’ve slept […]
Short Round
Mar 30
This gallery contains 1 photo.
In the course of a conversation with a friend. I idly used the phrase short round. My friend frowned and said: ” What does that mean? I’ve heard that term a dozen times. What does it mean”? Because I’ve been asked that question several times by other people, I will try to explain what might […]
$4,000.00 Per Word
Mar 27
This gallery contains 1 photo.
My first-born son; recipient of centuries of Highland blood, wavy red hair [ he was the wonder of the hospital nursery – the only newborn the oldest nurse there had ever seen born with long red hair ] keen-witted, native good humor, easy-going, soft-spoken, with the heart of a lion. When I stand before the judgement seat […]
Genetic Mutation: The Way That Won’t
Mar 26
This gallery contains 1 photo.
Try this simple experiment; go out to your car and open the hood. Take a pair of wire cutters. Look around at all the wires under there. Pick one and cut it. Get in the car and start it up and drive around the block. Does the car function better or worse? You have just performed […]
The Faith of Our fathers
Mar 14
The Faith of Our fathers by Walter A Adams What is the faith of our fathers If we are come up from the mud Are we close kin to the dog and the rat Does our stomach compel us to blood Do we rip what we need from whoever is near And count any feeding […]
Sandra Fluke; The Ancient Tale
Mar 13
A thousand years before Noah ever laid axe to tree, a handsome young lad held a pretty young lass in his arms and told her that if she refused him the ultimate fulfillment of the passion that raged in his bosom for her, he must surely perish. The pretty lass gazed long into his dreamy […]
Taking My Leave
Mar 7
TAKING MY LEAVE by Walter A Adams Finish up the tale you’re telling For I’m halfway down the shore Every story has an ending Then it’s time to tell no more I can see them waiting for me Over on the other side Finish up the tale you’re telling And kindly let me by. Give me […]
A Parable
Mar 7
Once upon a time there was a little boy named Frank who lived on a farm with his mother, father, brothers and sisters. Frank was five years old. One morning after breakfast; when the men had gone to work the fields, and his older brothers and sisters were off to school; Frank found himself with […]
Rabbits
Mar 4
This gallery contains 1 photo.
Focus. You have to focus. If you are going to accomplish anything of value, you must be able to bring all of your resources to bear on it; your knowledge, your intellect, your passion. Some one said ” NOTHING ON EARTH CAN STAND AGAINST A DETERMINED WILL”. I believe that to be true. If you […]
Evolution: The Work That Doesn’t
Mar 3
A man stands on a stage. In his two cupped hands are two hundred U.S. dimes. The dimes are numbered 1 thru 200. Behind him on the stage are two hundred randomly scattered empty wine bottles. The bottles are numbered 1 – 200. A dime will just fit into the opening of the bottle. At the signal the […]
Atheism: The Belief That Isn’t
Feb 22
I do not believe in atheists. I have never met one. A lot of people have passed my way who said they were atheists, but a little time invested in listening to them has always revealed that they are mad at God. Not mad at the concept of God, or the belief in God, but […]
TURN IT OFF
Jan 28
Turn it off. Don’t turn it down or over or around.TURN -IT- OFF. There is too much of it. Too much music, talk, opinion-expert or amateur. Too much gunfire. Loud mufflers blaring, people yelling into cell-phones, whining motorbikes, air brakes on buses, iron wheels on iron rails. Air horns on trucks, blaring horns on trains, whistles […]
Words
Dec 20
In the movie “The Cinderella Man”, Russell Crowe plays real life Depression Era boxer James Braddock. After a promising start as a contender for the Heavyweight title, “Gentleman Jim” breaks his hand and must stop fighting. The onset of the Depression sees the family reduced to a cold water basement flat where the faithful wife and […]
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