Back Home Again

So after an extremely nasty underway for our last certification before deployment I decided to take a week off and fly back to my homestate of Arkansas to see some family.

It is depressing to find myself getting pissed here in AR at the very same things that annoy me in Hawaii. I guess retarded people are everywhere (no surprise there) but I was hoping to get away from all the ridiculousness at least for a while.

I read in the local paper (Log Cabin Democrat, 5/12/05, Rural Schools Get Poor Marks, pg. 1B) about how southern schools suck as far as standardized test scores- my home state ranked 7th on the suck list. Coincidentally, I was just talking about the school systems in HI and AR yesterday with my family. The only thing Hawaii schools have going for them is that at least they aren't Mississippi who continually ranks as having the shittiest schools in the U.S. The ironic thing about this edition is that there is an article about the once thought to be extinct ivory billed woodpecker on page A7. This bird gets $10 million annually to protect the areas it lives in. So, screw the schools, protect the woodpecker. People can be so stupid.

Another thing that has really chapped my ass for as long as I can remember is the concept of "wet" and "dry" counties. This has to be something the Bible thumpers came up with. Being a religious person myself I use that as a term of endearment. The strategy is that if you only make certain counties "wet", or able to sell alcohol, you will keep the sales down and therefore people won't be drunk all the time. What kind of ill conceived logic is this? Here's how it really works. People are pissed off that they have to drive to another country for booze so they stock up on it when they do go consequently getting shit-housed whenever they can. I guess this is another law that will require the old farts to die who keep this law in effect.

The last thing I will bitch about is a Catch-22 concept many states have adopted to raise revenue for the petty cash drawer. Tunica, MS is a popular casino for people to throw their money away. Yes, a casino in Mississippi to help raise money for stuff and the schools suck ass. So there is a cases against how cool casinos are for the state economy. My mom said AR should get casinos going here to help the state out but I made the point it is always the borderline "bad" things that are proposed to help the state economy- getting rid of dry counties, bringing lotteries and casinos, etc. Don't get me wrong, I like throwing the dice when I go to Vegas but I think that Vegas has a lot more experience in that area than the bum-fuck southern states do. I just get the feeling that these southern states want to rip off the Sin City capitol.

Sheez, haven't gone on a rant like that in a while. I'm going to open the back door to my parents house and fire off a couple of shotgun rounds. Just because I can.

Comments

  1. Welcome back!

    I agree, liquor laws can be completely idiotic. Here in the Great Blue State of New York, it is illegal to sell or serve alcohol on Sundays before noon. Not sure why they think someone couldn't by a six-pack on Saturday night and have it for Sunday breakfast, but whatever.

    The other thing I thought about your "wet and dry" county issue is that people are probably more likely to drive while intoxicated if they have to travel to get liquor.

    And don't be too hard on the poor woodpecker. By all accounts, it's a spectacular bird. There is no reason on earth that we can't find the money to improve schools and protect the environment.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Commanding Officer sacked

Dog in Jail