Right now I do not have a clue as to what todays post is going to be

so let's look up at the TV for a second and get an idea.

A quick spin of the dial shows me a glimpse of wheelchair basketball and when I see ittle things like this I think of the Harlem Globetrotters because I watched a part of a game years ago when they played against a Marine Corps team on the deck of an aircraft carrier.

Of course, the Marines insisted on a pretty good equalizer get injected into the game, all players were to play while wearing 40 pound packs.

It was funny watching the Globetrotters, normally known for their grace and style falling on their asses with the newly found weight. I remember laughing myself silly. The Marines, of course, were used to the excess weight and looked pretty good.

I also heard that the Globetrotters played a game in wheelchairs against a handicapped team. I wish I could have seen THAT game. I'll bet it was a zoo.

And now that I have given this some thought I'll continue that I have met a number of people over the years that I think had to be handicapped in some manner to be successful.

I worked with a guy that had never finished high school and watched him work his ass off to get ahead. He was constantly working his ass off to overcome his lack of formal education and certainly succeeded. He mentioned it quietly to me and I told him that the way I figured it is that if he had gotten a degree he would have probably wound up as just another Dilbert in a cubicle instead of a fairly competent mariner.

I get a pretty good feeling when I watch someone that is handicapped overcome the odds. This goes back to the time a neighbor I had as a kid growing up suffered permanant blindness in an automobile accident.

The man, a banker of some sort, was back at work in an incredibly short period of time and seemed to do quite well.

He raised his family and put all of his kids through college and did what he had to do. Later on as I was growing up he became a good friend I could go to for advice. Sometimes I did a few odd jobs for him.

He taught me a lesson about courage and persistance.

I was young when this happened and before his accident I didn't look at him as one of the guys I admired because he didn't do something cool for a living like run a boat of fix a car. He worked in an office.

As I grew up I realized that he had a lot more courage than most of the people I did admire. I suppose he could have gone out on disability or something and sat home and felt sorry for himself but he didn't. Instead he got back on the horse.

That in and of itself gets my utmost respect.

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Yesterdays post seems to have drawn a few comments about sacred cows because I suggested putting Social Security, military pensions and medicare on the back burner for cuts.

I didn't say anywhere in my post that they these programs should not be looked at. Everything should. In fact I mentioned just that.

I simply said that before we start making cuts in programs that have required productivity to be eligible for that we should start making our cuts in programs that reward failure and bring the congressional gravy train to a halt.

After we stop reinforcing failure and simply giving money away (foreign aid and the like)then maybe then we should look into seeing if cutting programs that require hard work and paying into it is necessary.




my other blog is: http://officerpiccolo.blogspot.com/ http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/