Eddie Macken (IRL) & Carrolls Flight (ISH) – 1987 CSIO 5* Dublin Grand Prix
A Friend And Customer, Irish Legend, Eddie Macken
A customer had a problem with a six year old warm blood jumper: the horse had been castrated a few months earlier and his behavior was deteriorating rather than improving. He was pulling back and breaking the strongest rigging they could put on him, in other words he was refusing to tie and if his behavior wasn’t modified, he was going to kill someone or he would kill himself when he throws himself backward and flips over. Horses can be like people, they can get on a tangent with strange ideas in their head and really mess up a program.
A horse that won’t tie to a fence, a well, a tree, or a post is a liability to his rider and to himself; actually, he is a dangerous liability.
This particular horse is 16.3 hands and weighs just shy of 1400 pounds; he is young, strong, athletic, and can move at what seems to be the speed of light and this is too dangerous to be around, being caught flat footed around this horse will mean being crushed (literally) or killed.
The owner is a competent horsewoman that competes internationally, she can’t spell fear, so this wasn’t the usual scenario of having more horse than rider, but the horse was definitely assuming the role of chief rather than Indian and there was definitely a fly in the ointment somewhere. The owner was expecting me to bail her out of this situation. When a highly talented blooded horse develops a personality quirk or behavior pattern that is dangerous it should be nipped in the bud, before the habit becomes habitual and the horse is too dangerous and considered useless. These warm blood extreme athletes often look for excuses to be belligerent; with this one I had an edge, I’ve worked with him since he was three and luckily, he likes me. I planned to try to use this to my advantage.
Before my arrival, I had instructed my customer to buy a new soft nylon rope, 3/4 to 7/8 inch diameter and 34 feet long, a size that is used packing in the mountains to secure the top pack and steady the panniers.
When I arrived, she showed me the new rope and I was not impressed: it was the soft cotton type about an inch and a half in diameter. It had a steel eye woven into one end by one the local sail boat outfitters and it was nearly as useless as teats on a boar hog.
My customer had seen me do this to another colt several years ago, she knew what was about to happen. “Why didn’t you buy the 3/4 inch soft nylon?” I asked.
“I didn’t want him to get burned,” was her reply.
“You know this stuff stretches like rubber and keeps on stretching, until it is three times longer than what you started with.”
“The boat chandler told me it wouldn’t break.”
It was obvious she put some new parameters up for the boat chandler and being used to boats he assured her that this was the rope she needed complete with a steel eye splice braided in, and all for $150, for a rope you could buy at the hardware store for $20 dollars. Sadly, one of the disadvantages of being born rich is that you have a poor concept of the relative value of articles that the rest of us need to weigh carefully as to whether our personal budget can afford the expense compared to the object’s value and utility.
She led the horse out and I had another disappointment, he was wearing a new nylon halter with a single thickness leather crown piece. This was another slight deviation from instructions that compromised the procedure even more. I told her the reason I asked for a new nylon halter was that you could pull a semi out of a ditch with one and it wouldn’t break.
She informed me that the guy at the tack store assured her that it wouldn’t break. I should have insisted we go to the tack store and the hardware store for the right equipment; unfortunately, it was almost noon and I had nine horses to work on that day. Who knows, maybe I was being like an old spinster grammar school teacher and being too rigid in my standards: maybe these other people were right and I was wrong.
I led the horse to an old cedar tree with a four foot trunk; I new the tree would hold and I knew the horse would blow, these were the most predictable factors in this drama that was about to begin. I tied the cotton rope around the horse’s chest with a honda or a lariat knot placed in the center of his chest so that I could run the rest of the rope between the front legs and through the brass ‘O’ ring on the bottom of the halter. The rope was then tied to the cedar tree with a bowline so that the horses head was secured about 18 inches away from the tree. It was taken for granted that the horse would scrape some hide off against the tree in his struggles. Being careful not to get my fingers caught in the knots and have the horse pull back and losing digits was foremost on my mind at this stage. The horse was secured without incident and I backed away while he studied the rigging that had him secured to the tree. He waited a little over a minute and he threw his hind feet underneath himself and rolled up his back like a cat while straining against the rope and twisting his neck and head back and forth with his front feet off the ground. After staying suspended in the air for a minute or so he dropped back down to catch some air and study the rope some more. Part of the strategy of this procedure is to restrict the breathing with the lariat around the lungs when his struggles tighten the lariat, when he quits fighting the rope releases enough for him to breathe again.
I looked at our highly recommended rope and noticed that the horse was now standing four feet from the tree and the rope had enough slack to droop about two feet. I’d step in and retie the ropes, but I would probably just get caught in the next explosive tantrum; just then, the horse threw himself backwards with the extra force he could generate with the extra slack provided by the stretched rope and the crown piece exploded and flew apart as if it was loaded with a charge of dynamite. The horse did a 180 and rolled over backwards, when he stood up, the lariat fad tightened around his gut just in front of his hind legs and he was now kicking insanely at the rope and tree. He was in panic mode because of the pain and the situation was out of control, I drew my knife, walked up to the tree and touched the rope with the blade, ‘pow’ it blew apart like I had cut it with a straight razor.
Suddenly, the rope that I had asked for appeared from out of the tack room, I put a rope halter on the colt and we started over. This time our rigging held and the gelding fought against the tree, the rope, and himself until he was exhausted. This time the horse fought and the rope tightened around his ribcage, restricting his air and brought his chin to his chest when he tried to rear up on his hind legs. It took about 30 seconds for the horse to become civilized once again.
He stayed tied to the tree for the rest of the day without incident. Once in a while, I’d take a break and walk over to check the knots and touch the horse while speaking softly to him, to reassure him or provoke him, that was his choice, but he had learned his lesson. He hasn’t pulled back since.
The ‘colt’ wasn’t really a colt, a colt is an un-castrated male horse under five ears of age, if he is castrated as most are, he becomes a gelding regardless of his age, if he is five ears od age and still intact, he is considered a stallion. The term ‘stud colt’ is actually an oxymoron, at least in the parlance of the old horsemen of the past.
America, led on by a duplicitous media, managed to vent anger and frustration over several issues against former President George Bush. Some of this negativity was created by the president by his own policies or lack of policies. His indifference to the people’s concerns over spending and his lackadaisical approach to the illegal alien invasion was more than enough create a backlash of resentment towards the president and the Republican Party as well, a feeling of guilt by association.
Consequently, the public was ready for change and the Progressive/Euro-Socialists rushed to fill the breech. Manufacturing an image or political stage persona, complete with an ever present teleprompter with canned speeches and calculated responses to preprogrammed questions as well as women who could faint for camera cues, thus the super candidate Obama was literally created from nothingness.
The public was benumbed with the less than stellar oratorical skills of George when they were seeking the measured cadence of a refined statesman: suddenly, the seemingly refined Black Man stepped to the podium and delivered the reassurances of Hope and Change, that the public was desperately seeking. He seemed so perfect, a Brad Pitt with brains; although there was nagging and persistent problem that reused to go away. There were slight discrepancies in the man’s documentation; well actually, there is no documentation, neither academic nor of basic citizenship proving eligibility. Sadly, for President Obama, there are states that are working to deny him the right to be on their presidential ballots in 2012 unless he can prove he is eligible to be to hold the office.
For almost a year into Obama’s presidency, people were willing to overlook these matters of documentation in the forlorn hope that Obama could deliver us from our problems; unfortunately, after 20 months our problems seem to be increasing exponentially and our president is still unwilling to produce documentation of academic achievement or of his eligibility to serve and the American public watches while Nationalized Health Care is imposed against the will of the people and so-called stimulus plans seem to be nothing more than Chicago-style graft on a monumental level and the future of our grandchildren is compromised so that loyal Progressive/Euro-Socialists can retire as mega-millionaires.
If we think back to our six year old gelding tied to the tree, it is easy to imagine an American public that has become disappointed and resentful over being castrated or having a Republican President ignoring a public that wants a sound fiscal policy with a balanced budget and enforcement of our borders and immigration laws.
Being tied to the tree with an inferior halter and a rope that stretches to the point of absurdity, is easily transposed to the horse sniffing the Socialist system and balking or trying to rid itself of this phony system that is doomed to failure. When the horse reacts the bonds of Socialism will try to restrain the horse, at least until the halter breaks and the horse flips over backwards and reverses his position so that now the bondage of Socialism is no longer restricting his breathing, but is tightening its grip around his gut in an attempt to kill him. The horse is struggling in desperation and fear and the ever tightening rope of Socialism is is a ligature that will soon kill the horse. The rope of Socialism has to be cut or the horse will die.
Once the correct rigging is applied, representing the Free Market and our Constitution, the horse tests his boundaries and submits. Our system isn’t perfect, but like the correct ropes and halter, it’s way better than anything else that has been tried.
The situation with the gelding and the last election happened because if a catalyst, the election of Obama was predicated upon George Bush: I have no idea what caused the problem with the colt, unless he was just pissed over having his nuts cut out.
A young horse with limited experience is more than willing to try a new behavior, much like our youth vote who identified with the Progressive/Euro-Socialist candidate, who thought the new candidate would be free of corruption and lead the country to a new Utopia that would provide them with all their worldly needs; at least until the rope began to tighten around their gut and they realized that corruption was rampant and business as usual was the real agenda.
This fall we can cut the Progressive/Euro-Socialist ligature wrapped so tightly around our guts, instead of a knife, we will use the ballot and hope that this time we have a legislature that will listen to the will of the people.
A Grande Prix Jumper is worth about $500,000 to two million; so for myself, I will continue to ride horses that people give me, because they are scared of them.
A professional horseman for over 50 years, Skook continues to work with horses. Skook has finished an historical novel, Fifty Thousand Years, that traces a mitochondrial line of DNA from 50,000 years ago to the present. The story follows a line of courageous women, from the Ice Ages to the present, as they meet the challenges of survival with grit and creativity. These are not women who whimper of being victims, they meet the challenges of survival as women who use their abilities without excuses or remorse, these women are winners, they are our ancestors.
Fifty Thousand Years is available in paperback and e-book, it is getting great reviews. You can purchase a copy here; Visit me on Facebook.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dylantheauthor
Well done, Skookum. As some of us have learned, each individual hores has it’s own unique character traits and the mis-behaving ones offer challenges. Great piece and well done, Pardner!
In the middle of this horse story, the author apparently takes a moment to state his position among the minority of people called ‘birthers’. He’s also takes a turn at attacking Socialism–even though some socialist systems are showing an improvement on ours (for example, over the past 20 years American exports have sunk to the level that they’re lower than Germany, a country with about one-quarter of our population). I think it would be good for the conservative population to quit thinking they know everything, and take note of how other people are doing things which might benefit our country.
Thanks OT, I know you have been in similar situations with horses and people many times. Dealing with difficult situations requires experience and judgement, being able to think on your feet is important, but that is intangible and hard to evaluate until the situation is grim.
Our president lacked experience, and judgement is only gained with experience, two important factors were obviously missing from the beginning. Being able to think on your feet requires a dynamic mind that can change as conditions change; sadly, an ideologue can only read from a programmed script or formula with no variation, that is one of the reasons why our economy is hurtling toward chaos like a runaway train down a mountain with no brakes.
@ Skook,
Great read. The presentation of the approach to the rebelling horse was inviting and compelling. If you need a complex merger or acquisition structured or negotiated, call me, but horses . . . I know nothing about, and yet you drew me in and I grasp a little more about this majestic creature.
I’ve never spent so much as one night camping in a tent, yet I follow your meanderings in a remote corner of this spectacular continent, and feel I’ve touched that slice of nature. This won’t make me a camper or outdoorsman, however, our broad though vastly different experiences seem to have provided some measure of common sense. . . . This contrasts with the absolute lack of experience, and lack of common sense exemplified by the current occupant of the Oval Office, which leaves him lazily mired in an extreme ideological morass. No matter how much he might read (even if he did) about entrepreneurship, or hard work, or ingenuity, or leadership, . . . will not inject him with lessons learned by “doing.” No matter how much his well-wishers dream of it being different, it will never be so.
Great post, Skookum. The picture reminds me of a palomino Quarter Horse gelding my dad gave me as a high school graduation present. He was as gentle as a lamb as long as he was barebacked. But he was a former barrel racer. Once you put a saddle on him, he thought you meant business, and he was ready for some action — so you had better be, too. The current administration has saddled us with so many debts and failed policies that they better be ready for some voter action in November!
tadcf – You still enjoying that Agent Orange induced fog? What unit did you claim you served with in Vietnam?
@ the economic illiterate tadcf
German export totals in 2009 was 60 billion…a new record for them
US exports in 2009 was 122 billion during a recession.
Shuddap.
@Skooks. Damn that was good!
I’ll be sending some pictures your way, that will warm the cockles of your heart…Kayla has become the first human to mount/ride our young male mustang after much hard work and patience by her mother. This big galloot is only 4, and is already almost 17H.
JR, I doubt that I will ever need a complex merger or acquisition; truthfully, I don’y even know what they are, perhaps you can weave them into a story and educate some of us at the same time.
I am glad that you enjoy the stories. I always suggest to people that they consider a dude ranch holiday. It’s a great way to have a horse experience, see the mountains, eat some great grub, and meet some dyed in the wool cowboys.
Thanks for sticking with me JR!
Yes Tooth, those barrel racers can be a fired up bunch at times. My girl friend is a Professional Barrel Racer and her horse is an ex-race hose and ex-polo pony that was ruled off for trying to kill people. An example of a bizarre personality type for sure, but a fast horse, just don’t make a mistake.
With the palomino, I would have put the pack saddle on him with a 140 pounds and tied him to the tail of a Percheron or Clyde stallion (those big boys intimidate men and horses) and let him pack that weight through the mountains for twenty miles a day for two weeks, after he was exhausted and packed out a couple of moose and elk carcases, he would have been glad for me to climb aboard for a leisurely ride in the hills.
The discipline of work performs miracles for people and horses.
Churchill, Patton, and T. Roosevelt are some of the more recent historical figures who loved to ride, so you are in good company when you ride, at least spiritually.
PV, I am so glad your daughter has a new horse. The whole episode is a story of life itself for your daughter and she is learning valuable lessons of life that aren’t available in books and Universities. Tell your wife that I am proud of her and I wish the best for you and your Norman Rockwell Family.
@Skook
Nice read brother. It’s not surprising that leftists like tadcf do not understand the relation between your stories and the moral one can glean from them.
You do have a way with words mister. Looks like the people here lucked out to get you on a regular basis. I love it how you can tangle up the “other side”. 😉
Skookum…. I meant to congratulate you on becoming an official FA author when it was announced. I’ll do that now… congratulations. And another fine story with appropriate analogy.
I got my first horse when I was five and she had a foal the next year, sold the foal to buy some pigs, by the time I was 10, I had 6 hogs, 2 horses (my original horse had a colt later on) and a goat along with cash in my savings account (sold some hogs along the way and ate a couple of em). Got the goat at a county fair animal scramble. There’s nothing like having the responsibility for the care of animals to learn a few good life lessons, and how true wealth is created.
Ten was the age I moved to Canada where I branched out into the shoe shine business for the cowboys on the ranch and green breaking horses (we always put them waist deep into the pond before climbing on board). I also recycled beer bottles… those cowboys were a gold mine…
Skookum… a complex merger is when you remarry your ex-wife…. an acquisition is when you meet your mistress.
John, some people have trouble seeing the forest, because of all the damn trees. For a lack of a better term, we call them Leftists.
Well thank you for the kind words Dee, I try to have at least one wild and wooly story a week. My favorites are Castle On The Peace, Frenchy’s Mail Order Bride and The Damn Liquor Store. If you need a break from the modern world, punch on my name at the top of a story and scroll down till you find those titles. Most of the stories with animal pictures are about the wild critters that have either two legs or four that live in the Northern Mountains.
Don, you should teach a business course, you make these complex issues seem so easy to understand.
I had a great time raising pigs and chickens, I never liked slaughtering them. I have no soft feelings for milk cows and beef cows, and even less for bulls.
Skookum… dairy cows enslave good men!
@tadcf:
It’s “apparently” not the author’s position:
Where do you see the me, my or I? I would think “Sadly, for President Obama……” would disqualify Skookum from the “minority of people called ‘birthers’.
@Skook
The “arrogant” might have been appropriate to be worked into the title. Those who are now running the country, not being consumers of history or willing to listen to those who are, have bought faulty equipment upon the advice of untested, arrogant upstarts. I just hope we have a decent rope we can drag out of the barn before it’s to late.
Don, the Civil War was fought over dairy cows.
SKOOKUM: SO VERY INTERESTING, WE had 3 of thoses,there gone to others owners who ride them and spend time to their needs and discipline,but the horses let 3 persons wounded because of one fall on each: YES, as you said, BY not doing the right thing for the PEOPLE,this government has wounded them to a disabling degree ,the GOVERNMENT showed failure to lead
MAKING it a must to remove them from offices,THE PEOPLE WILL do it.
Thank you Missy, when poor comprehension interfaces with a condescending attitude it produces a boor.
Must be why you noticeably ignored him. 😉
I’ve had the pleasure of my grandchildren around me often this summer and am still in “nip it in the bud” mode. Fortunately they are still listening to gram and grampa.
Had a wonderful conversation with my 16 year old grandson about government last week. He attends a small country high school in Colorado, I think he said he had 25 students in his class. His sister just graduated from there in a class of 33. I must say, that school has done an impressive job of educating their students. Granddaughter’s ex boyfriend received a $191,000 scholarship, so sad he’s an ex.
As we were having our little back and forth, I kept thinking it would be nice if my grandson were able to pen pal with some of our outstanding people of FA, he’s on the right track, that would certainly keep him on it. If wishes were fishes I would own a seafood store, sigh.
Patvann:
Please document your sources. Here’s mine: Already the biggest auto market and steel maker, China edged past Germany in 2009 to become the top exporter, yet another sign of its rapid rise and the spread of economic power from West to East. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-01/11/content_9295021.htm (That means that the US would be somewhere below Germany, and probably somewhere below Japan.)
Also, the according to the graph at http://www.starmass.com/china_review/global_economy/major_countries_exports.htmfigure on if a line of best fit was drawn, the continuous decline of US exports over an extensive period of time can be seen.
Additionally, Germany’s exports were $1.1 trillion in 2009. http://www.manufacturing.net/News-German-Exports-Plunge-In-2009-020910.aspx?menuid=36
If America had such a good trade balance, we wouldn’t be in the fix we’re in.
Put up, or “shuddup” yourself.
tacf: THIS is just one of many mistakes THIS GOVERNMENT has done.
Missy:
It’s implied by the text.
Good job tadcf!
There is indeed a discrepancy in numbers, and I’m sure I’ll be able to not only find it, I’ll be happy to be wrong…and I’ll even say so when and if I am.
Now the bigger question is why, isn’t it? Could it be because America has the highest corporate tax-rate, and the most onerous regulations out of the 3 countries listed in the article? (among a myriad of other reasons)
FairTax now.
Minutman26:
To bad you didn’t serve in either the military or a war–then you could truly call yourself a patriot.
@Patvann:
Also regulations, how many green initiatives do you think the Chinese are saddling their industrial community with, how about paying their workers a living wage, what….no minimum wage law in China?
Obama’s answer to competing with our competitors…. growing Big government bigger, paying the workers twice the amount the private sector aka/tax payers are paid and ignoring free trade to appease…….Big Unions.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/543496/201008111854/Freeing-Up-Trade.aspx
Could it not be clearer that Obama is taking a torpedo to our struggling economy. 🙄
@tadcf:
Obviously not:
@Skookum:
@Missy/Tadcf
The reason for the large discrepancy was that we used different metrics. I listed goods, he/you listed goods and services. Both are important, and I would love to see us take that position back. No, I don’t think (nor does anyone else on the conservative-side) that we “go Chinese” and gut all environmental regulation, but we’ve gone over the top.
With China’s complete lack of environmental concerns (which has already caused riots, and deaths), and slave-like labor-costs, they will remain at the top for the foreseeable future. I also see great strife in that future that may portend revolution there.
-More to come.
@Patvann:
My intent was to show how lack of regulations, etc. benefit China leaving us disadvantaged from the git go. Also that Obama is going in the opposite direction of where he needs to be going….competing by opening up more markets. Three countries ready, set to go, just need his signature.
Not sure why I got linked in with the idiot. 😉
Skookum,
Love your horse stories and equine parallels. Being a horse person myself, some of my fellow horse people and I have wondered on occasion if Bambi and the Belle would have ever mucked a stall, walked a colicy horse till all hours of the night, picked up bales of hay in the field, dealt with the more “delicate” cleaning of a geldings man parts or would have even ridden a horse. How different their outlook on life would be. There is no greater joy in life than riding a wooded trail with your four legged best friend and taking in the beauty of this great country from a mountain top in Wyoming or from the bottom of the Grand Canyon or on the slopes of the Ozarks. Would something like this even appeal to the Won? The current “reality show” in the White House needs to get down and dirty with the rest of us or they will never understand the “little” people in this country.
The story is excellent.
There is a slight gap, however.
How did you persuade the horse to accept the new bridle?
How did you persuade the owner to allow the use of a nylon rope? Was it the failure of the cotton rope to keep its length?
It is my understanding that a 1400 pound horse is quite strong, and so the failure of the girth rope and the bridle comes as no surprise.
No surviving mountain climber would trust to a cotton rope!
IMHO the proper analogy here should be to the behavior of the Congress and the Administration, who seemed to have jointly decided that our Republic has been abolished, and that they (and they alone) will set all public policy in the future, without the consent (or even the knowledge) of the people.
The check rope which I have in mind is the ballot box.
Given what happened in Philadelphia with the Black Panther Party, we had better look for a good nylon rope in November. There was entirely too much give in the old rope; General Holder has simply looked the other way at the voter intimidation issue, and the States (which, once upon a time, established their own criteria for voting places) need to get their acts together.
People need to vote. They need to carry cameras to their polling places. They need to volunteer as poll watchers. They need to demand to see the voter rolls. The nonsense about general absentee voting has got to stop. There needs to be a return to voting for citizens only, and the notion that any person residing in the country is a voter brought to an end.
Look out for the lame-duck session of Congress. Great evil awaits.
tadcf – I served two combat tours in Vietnam, which is why I don’ t like posers.
Patvann #27:
You’re grasping at straws–but I’m sure you’ll find one to blame it on. But the conservative propaganda you’ve been told about the US having the highest corporate tax. With the number of deduction corporation’s can take, it actually has one of the lowest rates.
Patvann #31:
But what about Germany? They don’t have slave labor and are environmentally responsible.
Minuteman26:
Good. What outfit were you with? By the way, that wager is still open.
@Tadcf
It may surprise you, but I’ve taken the info you’ve presented, and have spent a lot of time getting to the bottom of it. I do NOT discount or minimize those who present a different view, especially when that view has merit.
What is that bottom?
Reporting methods, and tax law.
Before I explain, I want to say that what you’ve presented so far is absolutely right, but… (there’s always a “but” isn’t there?)
Because of tax-law, America’s industries and corporations do almost all of their foreign business through foreign subsidiaries. Germany does not, because the German government does not tax that part of their business.
We do.
The result (for instance) is that GM of China is is NOT considered an American company, so any money made there is not shown as an export, even if GM of America is supplying most of the hardware in the cars.
In German tax law, the Mercedes plant in Alabama uses the same sort of supply model as GM (major component source) yet it is allowed to show the value of that component as an export, because that operation is exempt from their tax.. they can write-off the costs of those components from cost-of-business totals, where-as GM can’t.
Thus, the import/export numbers over the years have become almost moot. Apples to oranges sort of thing.
This is also why corporations have moved so many heavy-industries out of America.
In this case, I apologize for being flippant earlier.
John Galt:
The ‘moral’ of stories like this are like a bad analogy: They are written to be read and believed by a certain audience, but they don’t stand up to the truth.
Razor: Nice to hear from another horseman, (Non-sexist compliment) there are a few riders ad ex-riders that read these pages. However, it’s nice that people who have never touched a horse can enjoy the stories and the analogies with our current political situation.
Whether you live in the city or 30 miles from a paved road, there is something that cleanses the soul and takes you back to an earlier time when you commune with a horse. Getting dirty and working in the barn is part of the horse experience.
Unfortunately, I have worked for a lot of people who stood on the mounting block and pulled on their gloves while a groom led their horse up to the mounting block. This type of person bypasses the true horse experience with their arrogant display of superiority, while they considers themselves to be the best of the best. I ca see BO and MO in this category.
I prefer working for people like you and your friends!
Mathman: It wasn’t a bridle it was a halter. He was confused and scared, if you approach with confidence and show no fear you can get a lot done. I wasn’t worried about putting on the rope halter, I was worried about retying the new nylon rope around his barrel and the tree, but everthing went well.
It was a lapse of judgement to use the cotton rope, but I have spent a good part of my life working for spoiled rich women, they are way more difficult than the horses.
I have never climbed mountains with ropes, but I have held on to my horse’s tail and let him pull me up an incline that would have had me climbing like a dog. It’s not s hard as you might think. I am not a sheep or goat hunter, I hunt Grizzly for the thrill of the hunt and moose and elk for meat.
The analogies of this story and others is only limited by the imagination. I would like to hear other analogies, when you have one to discuss.
Thanks for the feedback.
@tadcf
They do not stand up to your version of the “truth”, is what you mean, right?
tadcf – Ref 38 – I served with the 101st Airborne Div, Americal Div and 1st Aviation Bde. As stated previosly, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force never served in Vietnam. Have never met a Marine who didn’t know what unit he served with much less the one he served with in combat. I still think your a poser. A left wing one at that. Don’t know anyone who says he spent time in Vietnam fighting a Communist enemy can love them so much now.
Patvann #39:
This reason may explain some of problems, but I don’t think discrepancies in bookkeeping don’t explain everything. Everyone knows we have had a decline in manufacturing, and consequently a decline in exports, for over a decade–that’s why we have such an unemployment problem. Even changing our global accounting method–if that is indeed the problem–would not remedy the situation in this country. The real problem is ‘corporate-think’ that it’s always best to out-source products to be manufactured overseas, where labor is cheaper–thus increasing the baseline corporate profits, while minimizing the well-being of the workers in this country.
I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt regarding your explanation regarding ‘bookkeeping’ as being part of the primary problem. But, as with your initial assertion, I would ask you to document your assertions with an inter net link–as I have done–but which you have failed to do in both case.
@Minuteman26
My son is presently with the 1st Marines…Let’s see what he thinks of liberals, shall we?
http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu80/Patvann/JohnLiberals.jpg
Wup!…Don’t think he likes them one bit!
@Tadcf
Well, when you’re ready to pay 5X more for everything, we’ll do as you suggest.
@tadcf
And just why do you think that is?
Patvann has already stated part of the reason.
Liberals are into giving money away to supporters and their voting blocs, in so many different ways that it’s impossible to list them all here. Their ideology that includes the redistribution of wealth in the country has to get paid for by someone, and higher income earners and corporations are who gets attacked. Those groups are vilified and forced to pay higher taxes to pay for the liberal/progressive social programs.
Corporations, and their leadership, answer to shareholders and are supposed to provide earnings for them. When presented with higher taxation, just for doing business, they find other ways to increase their bottom line, one of them being that they move some of their business overseas. Yes, it is for the cheaper labor, and it is also for the less restrictive regulations.
Liberals don’t like to see that the results of many of their actions are detrimental to America’s economy, so they play the blame game and accuse corporations of actions, which the liberals have forced the companies to take, and state that it is pure greed that is the cause. The companies get vilified again by the left, and for what end?
Companies aren’t worried about the well being of workers in this country, tadcf. That is not their responsibility. They are worried about their shareholders and in producing profit for them. The blame for unemployment and moving jobs overseas gets placed on these companies, but the actual reasons for it should be laid at the feet of the liberals and progressives who think feelings are what builds wealth in this country.
@tadcf
Sorry no link provided, but as economics are based on sound reasoning and wisdom of what works and what doesn’t, it wouldn’t do you any good anyway.
One way to get corporations to move their operations back to the USA is to pull our troops out of every country and return them to our soil for our defense and let the rest of the world fall into chaos. Political uncertainty in foreign lands would make the prospect of doing business there an onerous proposition and business being adverse to risk would seek the least risky places to do business.
Donald Bly 49:
It would also result in the loss of the benefits we gain by issuing some control over other countries.