First Observations

don’t know if it’s just that I’ve been too busy to see a lot of stuff worth commenting on, or if it’s been a slow news week… Or maybe both. Whatever the case, it gives me a chance to make some observations about my new home.

So pull up a chair, grab something to drink, and let’s talk. Dinner hasn’t been figured out yet, the booze is in the sliding pantry, the soda is under the settee, and the tip jar is at the link.

Let me be clear that visiting a place is not the same as living in a place. A tourist’s take on a place doesn’t include much in the way of dealing with businesses, or with neighbors, or with government. As a resident, all those come to the forefront. A tourist doesn’t interface with grocery stores much, or other tradesmen, such as gas and electric companies, car dealerships, and so on…

Here’s some things I’ve noticed about moving down here to Tennessee, especially East Tennessee.

1) Things move a little (OK a lot) slower here. That’s both a good thing, and a bad thing. Outside of driving, no one is going to rush you to do anything. (Driving is a special case, speed limits are merely suggestions, and for when it’s dark or slick out. Fortunately I’ve driven in the south before. Do NOT camp out in the fast lane, that’s for people in a hurry. Do not be an ass, the truckers will notice you and they will lock you out. Sure, a cop can give you a ticket, but that trucker will keep you from merging until you either have to brake, or run out of road and take the ditch.)

On the other hand, when you want to get something done, be it an answer on a bank policy, or get service started for electricity, Get a survey so you can split property, any of the vast number of things keeping you from really fully moving in to your new home… Well, like I said, things move a little slower around here.

2) With that comes the caveat that Folks are much more relaxed. That’s an unquestioned good thing, in this case. By relaxed, I am talking about things like “do I need a permit for this?”

A lot of times the answer is “well, yup, technically you do, and you can go up to the hardware store and get one, But this little thing? It’s not like anyone is going to care, it’s on your property, isn’t it? I wouldn’t worry much about it. For big things like a house, yeah, you’ll need a permit. For that 30 x 40 haybarn? Naw…” “License? You ever going to take this off your property? Well then why would you need a plate on it?”

3) There’s a second caveat as well, if folks like you, (and believe me, you want folks to like you,) best plan for taking some time with them. A simple three-minute conversation in Washington State, or Michigan, Ohio, etc… Becomes a 45 minute to two-hour jawbone session down here. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great people… But I am a little surprised to learn a dude’s life story because I asked if he was interested in haying my field. On the other hand, that same dude knows a few dozen other dudes that do just about anything you might want to get done… And if you have a skill set that he can add to his mental rolodex, (like electrician, or hydraulics) well my friend you’re in! “Oh, and let me tell you about my cousin Bob, he does….” If you can get in with the Good Ol’ Boys network, things may not move faster, but they will move with a lot less complications, and a lot less hunting to find someone that knows how to do X. Admitting that you don’t know much about something is a winner, because this guy has farmed this area for forty years, and what he doesn’t know, he knows a guy who does…

4) If you are not familiar with the south, there’s one thing that will throw you a bit. (Fortunately this isn’t my first experience.) Every one of the opposite sex, and sometimes of the same sex if the speaker is female, is Honey, Darlin, Dear, Sweetheart, or Sister. If you’re NOT hearing those, you had best examine your behavior. If the waitress calls you “sir” you have messed up about something, figure it out quick, or well… lets say your dining experience will not be up to their normal levels of service.

5) Then there’s the two articles of Faith in the South.

One is Sweet Tea. And friend, most of this stuff is SWEET. I mean it makes Lipton-ice-tea mix taste like black navy issue coffee strait from the midwatch pot. This is the expected drink at any time after your morning coffee, until it’s time for booze. Even my DOG likes it.

The other is lawn care. This is a formal ritual and seemingly twice a week, for most yards. It’s not run like an HOA, no one is going to come knocking on your door and issuing a citation or anything like that, but there seems to be two different types of folks here. Those that regulate their yards to within a quarter inch, and those that are not sure what a mower is, or why someone would buy one even if they could afford one. You don’t really want to be in that second group.

There was one little bit of news that crossed my desk worth mentioning: In what had to be a very painful experience, I see that the Mayor of the city of D.C. Muriel Bowser, came out in a news conference and admitted that since President Trump federalized the Law Enforcement in D.C. the crime problem has improved dramatically. https://www.dailywire.com/news/bowser-touts-extreme-reduction-in-crime-since-trump-took-over-d-c-law-enforcement

“Bowser, a Democrat, touted the cratering crime rates and said she ‘greatly appreciates’ the resources that have been surged into the city since Trump’s early August emergency declaration. She signaled that she would like to continue to work with the federal government to police the city after Trump’s emergency declaration times out at the end of 30 days.”

She goes on to list crime statistics, and how they have improved… That had to hurt, especially after the way she had fought against it, when Trump first took action. Still I must give her credit for not continuing to claim that it was worthless and ineffective, like the NY Times and Newscum are doing.

I’m not going to get into that loon “Some Asshole” Transvestite that shot up Minneapolis, other than to sneer at leftist media idiots that are trying to claim that this guy is a right winger, in spite of the pictures of his rifle with the words “KILL TRUMP” deeply scratched into the surface. Seriously, how much of a true believer do you have to be, and how much of an idiot do you have to think the audience is, to try and paint this guy as anything but a mentally ill leftist?

Now we’re all conditioned to seeing the official numbers revised after the last four years’ worth of various high level officials coming out with good looking statistics, to make the government look good, then quietly revising them downward several times… But in a switch, for the second quarter in a row, the Commerce Department had to revise their numbers UPWARDS. https://notthebee.com/article/us-gdp-for-second-quarter-revised-upward-beats-expectations-set-by-economists/

Folks made a big thing about Trump firing a few career apparatchiks that had been hauling water for Biden… It seems that if you’re constantly over estimating the quality of work done by Democrats, and constantly underestimating the quality of work done by Republicans, you’re either a political operative dressed in Government drone clothing, or you suck at your job.

Various groups, including the Federal Manager’s Association, are screaming and wringing their hands that “Oh. My. God. Trump is trying to politicize the Civil Service.” Four years of overestimating how the economy is doing, then quietly walking back those numbers, followed by two quarters of underestimating how the economy is doing, and having to quietly move up those numbers, tells me that the Civil Service is already political as hell.

Of course I didn’t need this evidence to know that, I was IN Civil Service for twenty one years.

In WWII, before Pearl Harbor, we were “neutral.” But we were “Neutral in the allies favor.”

Providing them with everything they needed to fight, and doing everything except actually pulling triggers.

It’s the same way the Civil Service is “apolitical,” but it’s “apolitical” in the Democrats favor, doing everything except actually formally campaigning for them. They would be doing that as well if it wasn’t for the Hatch Act.

In times when the Democrats are in power, a lot of stuff that is a violation of the Hatch Act gets ignored, as long as it’s for the “right” party. When the Republicans are in power, the Hatch Act is vigorously enforced, against anyone who would like to support the party in power.

This is why Trump’s “Schedule F” employee classification is overdue to be enacted. People who have the power to alter the official numbers, and official policy to favor one party over another are already as political as the Kennedy family, it’s time that we acknowledge that, and treat them as what they are, political appointees, who are running the spoils system over a hundred years after that system was supposed to have gone away.

Well that’s all I have for the week this week folks, I’ll leave you with the:

QOTD: From the “Tell me you don’t know a fucking thing about firearms without saying the words ‘I don’t know a fucking thing about firearms’” Files.

"We have these assault rifles that can reel off 30 clips in conjunction with a magazine before the person needs to reload." —Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey

Yours in Service,

William Lehman