Wishes for a Happy New Year!

Your beloved Peasant wishes you, my great and grand readers,
a blessed, prosperous, joyous, love-filled, Happy New Year!
I'm taking things easy during this stretch encompassing both
Christmas and New Year's day, so I'll be back with you in a
rejuvenated and refreshed state.

Together we'll make 2019 a year to remember! I'll see you all
in its first week! In the meantime, enjoy this lovely little
New Year's song by the Beatles' George Harrison, which quite
captures the feelings and the joyful expectation of the brand
new year!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN2q472rJC0
Be sure to type into YouTube's browser the following:
George Harrison + DING DONG DING DONG
Yes, that's the song's title. But believe me, it's a great song for
the occasion, especially for a New Year's Eve party!


Happy New Year!


MEM

Good Christmas Tidings All Around!

Friends, your faithful Peasant, in the spirit of the season,
wishes all of you a most Merry Christmas! May you all
get together with your families and friends, enjoy your
services in your houses of worship, give and get some
wonderful presents, enjoy sumptuous Christmas dinners,
and perhaps even run a DVD of a Christmas-themed movie,
such as "It's a Wonderful Life" or "Miracle on 34th Street".

And Christmas is another wonderful time of year for getting
up a left-winger's nose! Whenever you encounter one,
especially if he's one of those who wants to abolish greeting
people by saying "Merry Christmas" to them so as not to
"offend" those who are not of the Christian faith and its
denominations, say those very words anyway! If he's some-
one with whom you are on at least a polite and cordial basis,
invite him to your home to partake of your Christmas dinner.
You and yours, with your guest, will certainly have a
Christmas for the books! Think of it as a sort of a cultural
exchange! Hopefully it won't devolve into a food fight!

And we'll get together back here for another visit or two
after the big day and before the arrival of the new year!
As Tiny Tim said in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas
Carol", "God bless us everyone!"


MEM

Fighting City Hall in Milwaukee

Last month your favorite Peasant took part in a protest in downtown
Milwaukee; it was the first protest which I had attended in too many
years, so I thought that it would be good to get back into the game.
On this occasion I had gone to protest the launching of the Milwaukee
streetcar, the "Trommey" as we who are opposed to this boondoggle
call it, as it is the pet taxpayer money-wasting project of Milwaukee
Mayor Tom Barrett. The white elephant on tracks was situated by
Cathedral Square, where the mayor, several of his chums on the city's
Common Council, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, and some other municipal
officials along with some wealthy liberals all in support of the thing
(never mind that they will never ride in it, as they will stick to their
Cadillacs, Lincolns, and Mercedes Benzes; they back Barrett to the
hilt on anything that is obscenely expensive, not at all necessary,
a burden to the taxpayers, and makes them and Barrett feel oh so
visionary, so intelligent, so intellectual, so much smarter, better than,
and superior to the local peasantry whom they hold in such disdain
and contempt, for they see these Great Unwashed as being simply
too stupid to see what is truly best for Milwaukee --- a trolley which
precious few will ride, as opposed to an improved bus system and
safer neighborhoods through hiring, training, and sending more police
to make them so. All plebeian concerns, not at all worthy of the city's
elites' time and efforts, you understand.

I was invited by Thomas Brian, the founder of G.R.A.S.P.
(Group Resistance Against Streetcar Policy), whom I had mentioned
in an earlier post on this topic, to join him and some other members
of our organization for a protest there at the launch party. I happily
accepted, and what I saw there made me so glad that I moved to
the suburbs! Hizzoner and his aforementioned chums and cronies
were gathered there, with Barrett and the municipal officials giving
self-congratulatory speeches, and doing more than a wee bit of
mutual backside-kissing. To witness it was as nauseating as watching
the Oscars for all this stomach-turning behavior! It made me again
ask a question that has been rattling inside my head since the last city
elections: Why did the people of Milwaukee re-elect the clueless
elitist Mayor Barrett, and by a huge margin? They complain about
the soaring crime in the city, the potholes in the streets begging to be
filled in, and other things that Barrett and Co. can't seem to be
bothered with, but they vote overwhelmingly to keep him on?
Talk about voting against your interests, to steal a favorite phrase of
left-wingers when they criticize people for not voting for their
candidates and causes.

Thomas handed me some placards to hand out, listing the Top 10
Reasons to oppose the Streetcar, and I immediately got busy. After
a while, a nicely dressed middle-aged woman who, as it turned out,
was one of the Barrett people putting on the party, politely but firmly
informed me that I couldn't hand out our material on the park grounds
while the bash was proceeding. I found it very odd and most discom-
fiting, but I played along just to see where this would lead, reasoning
if there was to be a scene, I would not be the one to start it. Thomas and
I were there just to make our side of the issue known, to ensure that we
would have our half of the inning. She guided me to a spot on a corner
across the street from the square, saying I would be free to distribute
my lit there. I still went along with this, and if she was hoping to quash
distribution of the literature, she miscalculated greatly. I gave out half
of the sheaf that Thomas gave me, and then I decided to head back to
the square.

I caught up with Thomas and told him what happened, then we went to
look for this woman. Upon finding her, Thomas demanded to know
why we weren't allowed to give out our information to the attendees,
to which the woman gave a bunch of reasons which didn't make much
sense or none at all. She even said that she was concerned that our lit
would end up on the ground (!) after the event. Thomas said that as
head of the group he'd take full responsibility for the literature, but
she was unpersuaded. Thomas said that we had every right to be
there with our materials, the First Amendment and all that, as she
walked away. Then it was time for Mayor Barrett to address the
gathering, followed by the aforementioned big shots joining him.
Thomas had something else up his sleeve; signs to hold up, one
saying "Boo!" (to hold aloft when cheering and clapping interrupted
the speeches), and another saying "Say No to the Trolley!". He had
other signs, but the others who said they'd show up didn't, including
some friends of mine whom I had called to ask them along. And we
gave out more of our "Top 10" placards, in defiance of the Barrett
stooge. By the by, City Hall never complained about the signs, lit,
and other items strewn on the ground by left-of-center protesters
at their gatherings at Cathedral Square and elsewhere around
Milwaukee. I've seen the terrible state in which they left the city's
public squares and other gathering places and can attest to their
making pigs look like The Odd Couple's Felix Unger to their
Oscar Madison. And not a peep from the city's bigwigs!

We chatted with attendees who were opposed to the streetcar but
came out of morbid curiosity to see how big a turnout there would
be, what the streetcar looked like, would there be any others there
in opposition to the "Trommey". I had my picture taken by a couple
of these folks with my big sign. Although we didn't have much of
a turnout for our protest, we did encounter people there who shared
our opposition to the thing, all for the same reasons. And we learned
that dissent in Milwaukee, when aimed at the powers that be, is
NOT patriotic, and is to be frowned upon and discouraged. Such as
it is when dealing with liberals in positions of power. And a reminder
of what we as a nation are facing across the political divide in the
war for the heart and soul of our country. Fighting the flight of fancy
of a left-wing mayor is but a skirmish in this nationwide war. We
have many bigger clashes ahead. This all is far from over, my grand
readers, so count on our being in it for the long haul --- and it
shall be very long.


MEM

George H. W. Bush, R.I.P.

After a long and full life, one filled with accomplishment,
adventure, excitement, breathtaking peaks and deep, dark
valleys, George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United
States, passed away after several years of declining health
at the grand age of 91.

Born to a prominent political family in Milton, Massachusetts,
his father being U.S. Sen. Prescott Bush, George Bush lived a
life of service. The future president postponed his university
academics to enlist in the U.S. Navy on his eighteenth birth-
day and became one of the youngest aviators in the navy during
WWII, having flown 58 missions.  Having been shot down over
the Pacific Ocean, George cheated death by evading sharks, an
island populated by cannibals, and more Japanese airmen. He was
rescued by the crew of a U.S. Navy submarine and was awarded
the Distinguished Flying Cross for his meritorious service.

After returning to his studies, upon graduation Bush went to the
Texas oil fields to forge a business career, in which he became
wealthy in his own right, becoming a millionaire in 1964 at the
age of 40. The young New England Republican next entered
politics, running unsuccessfully as a candidate for the U.S. Senate
that year (he would again run for the Senate with the same result),
but would taste victory running for the House of Representatives
twice consecutively. President Richard Nixon was so impressed
with the young dynamo that he appointed Bush to be Ambassador
to the United Nations, followed by stints as Chairman of the
Republican National Committee, Chief of the Liasion Office
in China, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA).

The patrician Bush would make his first try for the biggest prize
in U.S. politics, the presidency in 1980, vying for the Republican
Party nomination, but couldn't withstand the Reagan juggernaut.
But in seeking party unity, California Gov. Ronald Reagan would
offer Bush the Vice Presidential spot on the GOP ticket, which
he accepted. They were elected in a landslide over incumbent
President Jimmy Carter and his Vice President Walter Mondale,
and would be re-elected in a bigger landslide four years later on
the strength of a strong, improved economy spurred by tax rate
reductions along with a strengthened military and accompanying
resolve in the face of our principal Cold War enemy, the Soviet
Union, finally bringing the decades-long standoff to a victorious
conclusion over a favorable arms control treaty with Moscow,
with the Strategic Defense Initiative (nicknamed "Star Wars" by
Reagan's detractors) as the ace in the hole. Bush would run to
succeed Reagan as president in 1988, handily defeating Democrat
Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. After waging a short and
victorious war in the Middle East and garnering lofty approval
numbers in polls, Bush punctured the balloon by agreeing to a
budget deal with Congressional Democrats who proposed that
Bush go back on his promise not to raise taxes in exchange for
spending reductions, only to be burned by the dishonest, welshing
Dems resulting in the economy spinning into a recession which
sent Bush's ratings plummeting and his presidency crashing, losing
his re-election bid in 1992 to Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton.

Throughout his life, Bush remained true to his personal creed of
a life of service; he even teamed with the man who defeated him
for the presidency for charitable causes, including a golf
tournament which they played in together. Bush could easily have
immersed himself in his monumentally successful business interests
and his considerable money, but he remained a man of service to
his church, his community, his state, and his country.
A model husband and father, Bush's sons George W. and Jeb
involved themselves in politics as the elder Bush had, with "W"
winning the governorship of Texas followed by election to the
presidency, thereby making George H. W. and George W.
Bush just the second father and son presidential pair in U.S.
history after John Adams and son John Quincy Adams. Warm
and avuncular, a contrast to the typical stern and stuffy patrician
image of prominent New Englanders, Bush left a legacy
of love to his family, friendship to his friends and political rivals,
and consistent service to community and country. He now is
enjoying our Lord's hospitality, along with the company of his
wife of over 70 years Barbara Pierce Bush and their daughter
Robin, who unlike her parents was denied a long life by cancer
at the tender age of three. Rest well, Mr. President.


MEM