Category Archives: Mr. Boy

White men were not alone in voting for Romney

Posted on November 12, 2012 | Comments Off on White men were not alone in voting for Romney

Never mind the usual Democrat media blather about how the Elephants can only win national elections by becoming Democrats and white men should be ashamed, ashamed….

“Don’t accept the isolating, poisonous, drip-drip demonization of white men. Yes, they voted for Romney 62 to 35 percent… However, a majority of white women voted for Romney, too. Fifty-six percent of white women voted for Romney; 42 percent voted for Obama. End of gender gap. We’re back to a racial divide.”

Not entirely racial, of course, but close enough. As an angry Mexican-American mother told me on Mr. B.’s playground back in 2008 when I made the mistake of criticizing Barry’s victory to her: “At least we won’t have another white man as president.”

Remains to be seen what all this animosity will mean in the long run, other than continued high unemployment as Barry piles on the business regulations and pursues higher taxes on “the rich” who his backers undoubtedly perceive as mainly white men.

Meanwhile, whether they realize it or not, it’s mostly blacks and Hispanics who are the victims of Democrat economic politics because they’re mainly the ones who are unemployed. Parlous times ahead, especially for them.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Mr. Boy, Obamalot, Texana

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Mr. B’s clavicle

Posted on October 18, 2012 | Comments Off on Mr. B’s clavicle

Mr. Boy has been playing seventh grade football this year. He wanted to be a wide receiver, after he figured out that he couldn’t be a quarterback. A star seeker. When he accepted his assignment as an unsung offensive lineman, I knew he was serious. Then they switched him to defensive strong safety.

Not so strong, as it happened. Yesterday, in his team’s next-to-last game which turned out to be their first win, he was hit pretty hard. He said the opposing player got his helmet under Mr. B’s shoulder pads. I saw him walking back to the locker room with a scowl on his face.

Since he’s going through puberty, a confusing time for a child, he often scowls and so I didn’t think anything of it. Until I got home and the phone rang. It was his coach who said Mr. B was injured, and in a lot of pain, possibly from a dislocated shoulder. I should come take him to a hospital.

We didn’t get out of the emergency room until after midnight. It was that busy. The ER doc showed us the x-rays. Mr. B’s collarbone is fractured, which could take six to eight weeks to heal. So he’ll miss the last game. But he says he’s going to try out for football again next year. Like I said. Serious.

UPDATE:  An orthopedic surgeon we saw this afternoon pronounced the fracture “light,” with the same healing time the ER doc specified but no need for any special brace or meds stronger than Ibuprofen. Mr. B., however, successfully convinced Mrs. Charm that he needed two days off from school going into the weekend.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Rancho Roly Poly, Texas Football

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Mr. B.’s Rangers cap

Posted on October 12, 2012 | Comments Off on Mr. B.’s Rangers cap

He bought the cap figuring the Rangers would get back into the World Series again and, just maybe, this time they’d win it. Third time charm and all that.

Instead, they bombed out of the playoffs, homer-hitter Josh Hamilton was booed and may not be back next year and, suddenly, the cap has sentimental value only.

Mr. B. still wears it but now it reminds me of all the years the stRangers faded after the All Star Break. Even TFG, possibly their most loyal fan within a thousand-mile radius of San Antone, isn’t talking about the meltdown of 2012.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Mr. Boy, Scribbles, Texana

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Middle school grade inflation

Posted on September 21, 2012 | Comments Off on Middle school grade inflation

The new big deal among the unionized teachers of Texas (ably assisted by their overpaid chums in the administrative office) is giving grades for study hall in middle school. Yep.

To make the teachers and the administrators look good they now give study hall grades, which generally helps raise a student’s overall average.

So if you’re barely passing major subjects, your A in study hall will pull you (and them) through. Unless—like Mr. B. here lately—you’ve found a way to flunk study hall.

Well, actually he has a 69 which is a D. Or he would have except they’ve also eliminated the D. Nowadays, a 70 is a C, but a 69 is an F. More grade inflation. It’s a game folks, a game called politics and it’s reached down to sixth grade.

Well, actually, it’s reached down to first grade where, for the longest time, Mr. B. thought Sojourner Truth had freed the slaves. Just like he was all worked up (at six years old) about the threat of global warming which was presented as the truth. You know “settled science.” Politics, indeed.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Scribbles, Texana

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Obamacare is about coercion

Posted on August 30, 2012 | Comments Off on Obamacare is about coercion

So I asked Mr. B.’s 40ish pediatrician, when he went in for a physical recently, if she was looking forward to working for the feds under Obamacare. She frowned and said, well, looking on the bright side, she might make more money. Peedees, after all, are not high fliers on the physician food chain.

The problem she foresees is all the extra paperwork she’ll have to hire someone to deal with and the inevitable interference in her medical judgement by, as you might think of the new federal Independent Payment Advisory Board, “fifteen philosopher kings who will rule over U.S. health care.”

Not that Mr. B.’s pediatrician doesn’t already see some of that from the health insurance companies, but she fears it will be much, much worse with the feds who are not known for efficiency in anything and don’t have the profit motive as an incentive. “I just might quit and write a book,” she said.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Obamalot, Scribbles

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Back to school

Posted on August 26, 2012 | Comments Off on Back to school

G-d’s mercy returns. Mr. B. goes back to middle school tomorrow morning. Now all I have to do is monitor his zeros on the local gradespeed dealie the school system provides. And bat any incoming teacher emails back with an appropriate answer.

The zeros he gets when he doesn’t do the work. Poor grades I can handle. As long as he tries. And his grades rarely are poor, even in math, which he hates but does well in when he does the work. Very well, generally. Had a low A average overall last year, afterall.

But, ah, back to school. Sweet. The peace of the morning returns and the mid-day and the early afternoon. This is parenting the way I like it. Part time. It’s only fair. I pay taxes. Let the schools do their part.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Scribbles, Texana

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Plastic Army Men

Posted on August 7, 2012 | Comments Off on Plastic Army Men

My youth was spent without video games, the Internet, or even, for the most part, television. It would have been a lot more boring without these guys, and they almost didn’t come along in time. Plastic toys were not on my personal agenda immediately because they were expensive. Plastic being new, you see.

There were tin soldiers around in about the 1730s. Hollow-cast metal ones all painted and pretty became available in the 1920s. I first encountered those in the living room display (behind glass) of a friend whose father was a British army officer. Pricey, though. Too pricey for me and my friend to touch.

The plastic ones I’m thinking of first appeared on this side of the lake about 1936, though I didn’t see any until I was, oh, about nine (1953). They were all one color, usually green. But that was okay. I could use my imagination. I bought some for Mr. B. when he was about eight. Mrs. C. was aghast. She wasn’t sorry when he put them aside in favor of video games. I winced.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Mrs. Charm, Rancho Roly Poly, Troops

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