Don't Kick the Bee Hive

Several years ago, my parents were blessed with a summer visit by a particularly obnoxious grandson, whose name I will omit to protect the guilty. This was the meanest kid I ever saw, diminutive in stature, but with a throwing arm to rival Bob Feller. He perfected his throwing ability by putting the rocks to chickens, ducks, dogs, cats, cows, and on one memorable occasion, hit my father between the shoulder blades with a baseball-sized rock traveling about 80 miles per hour. He got his ass warmed for the last effort, and I think the only way the old man caught him was that he stayed frozen on the spot for a couple of extra minutes waiting for dad to die. After that dust had settled, I overheard the old man talking to him in the yard. His conversation went something like this: "you have terrorized every dog, cat, etc, on this farm since you have arrived, but I am warning you to leave the bee hive in the garden alone - you can't whip them." This, of course, was like waving a red flag in front of a bull, and the kid immediately headed for the bee hive and gave it a hell of a kick, maybe two. He shortly learned that what dad had told him was true, and it took about 30 seconds for him to depart the area at high speed, crying, with a cloud of angry bees in hot pursuit. He left that particular bunch of livestock alone after that.

I bring this story up because it reminds me of the current unpleasantness in the Middle East, between the Jews and Hamas. It seems that the Hamas group believed that they could lob a few rockets into Jerusalem without fear of retribution. This went on quite a while until the Jewish equivalent of "don't kick the bee hive" finally happened and the bees came out of the hive with great enthusiasm. We are now constantly shown via TV of the poor, oppressed, Palistinian people who show us their wounded and dead citizens caused by the outrageous behavior of the Jews. I do not pretent to understand all of the political ramifications of this episode, but I do understand that if any of those folks remembered their history, they would have realized that the Jews can only be aggravated so far - and then they will kick somebody's ass. They (Hamas) continue to fire their rockets, although it looks like being on a rocket launching team is about as safe as being a suicide bomber - with similar results. Some people may not like my interpretation of this situation, but my opinions are my own, and if you don't like them, don't read this Blog.

On the National front here at home, it is reported that the bailout money for GMAC will b used to buy shares in the company so the Government can control the operations of the company. If I had to pick the worst possible senario for new company management, you would not have to look very far to decide to let the Government run the show. Their track record at manageing the economy is not my idea of a very good track record. Maybe things will change in the future, it will have to if things are ever going to get straightened out.

Up here on the Edge of the World, it is snowing, and it is predicted to change to sleet, freezing rain, you name it - It would not surprise me if manure fell out of the sky. At least the Government is not involved in this mess, and folks up here cope with it as they always have - by cleaning up the mess ourselves. Happy Winter.