Quote of the Day     “We’d like to thank Pascagoula for participating in this year’s State Tournament and wish Laurel well in the World Series.”     –P.A. announcer in the 5th inning of the 1983 Dixie Youth Baseball State Tournament championship game, just before Goula came back and won, then won again the following night and sent those rednecks home with the black pants they’d told the state to buy them for the World Series that we wouldn’t be caught dead in

TB had to cruise down to Laurel and Ellisville today. Weaving through traffic and absorbing the scenic landscape dotted with broken down trucks selling satsumas, single wide trailers with FEMA-blue roofs, and the occasional display of muffler yard art, my mind travelled around a bunch of subjects. None of them coalesced into an essay. The Philosobaen section of TB’s brain has already observed “Third Week” and is shut down for awhile I guess.

I heard lots of news about the Citibank bailout. And the other bailouts. And the handouts. It seems some companies with a little political stroke are declaring themselves “banks” and being bumped to the front of the line for some taxpayer cash. This reminded me of an annual celebration they have in Key West at the end of April. Sometime around 1980 (could’ve been 1990 or 70–the blog doesn’t make enough for me to hire a fact checker) Key West seceded from the Union, declared war on the United States, surrendered, and asked for federal aid. All in one day. It makes me wonder if TB could declare himself a bank, declare insolvency and get in line for some of that free money they’re givin away?

I’m not too happy about the way the Sirius-XM merger has gone down. First, Clearchannel used their stroke to delay the merger long enough to cripple both companies. Then Sirius took away all of my favorite channels. I’m totally pissed about the weak imitation of XM cross country twelve that is “outlaw country.” It’s a good station still, but it’s half outlaw and half alt country. I’ve heard all that old school outlaw all I need and what I like best is on my ipod. I want some new stuff man. I’m also disappointed in what they did to the old XM progressive rock/old school college rock stations “Fred, Lucy and Ethel.” And I haven’t heard Jimmy Buffett on “Margaritaville” yet. And do they really need a whole comedy station dedicated to “git-er-done?”

Do people really subscribe to satellite radio for the NFL, MLB, NBA or Oprah? It seems to me both XM and Sirius wasted a bunch of money for stuff that was really just for braggin rights. I get that a lot of people like Stern, but they paid him too much too.

I’ve heard that cows sit down when they know its going to rain. I forgot to look again today if they were sitting before the showers started.

There are a whole lot of rebel flags in the “free state of Jones”. It doesn’t make much sense to TB. I thought they were supposed to be proud of seceding from the Confederacy? As I drove into Ellisville, there was a sign prominently placed warning drivers that “jake brakes” were prohibited in town. First time I’ve seen that. A double wide was being transferred on the interstate between Ellisville and Laurel. The truck was doing about 25 and you couldn’t pass it. All the bathrooms, even the secret ones, were out of order at the Laurel courthouse today. A man came in to the clerk’s office and told the girls they were workin on it. I wasn’t listening, but couldn’t help my ears perkin up when I heard him say they were gonna “git-er-done.” Thank God we kicked Laurel’s ass back in ’83. I’d hate to have the denizens of that godawful place having anything to give me crap about.

I sure do love me some Hardee’s biscuits.