Gentle readers, there is a lot of “bull” in many of the advertisements that we see on the “telly” and on the radio, plus of course, your personal “magic box” you always have with you. “Whatever do you mean, Huckleberry?” Here’s the deal: we have all seen the ads on this place or that where the guy is extremely excited and he grabs that can of white “paste” and slaps it on something or other that is gushing water everywhere and “presto” it stops the leak instantly. Hummmm. I bought a can of that to patch a small leak in a water tub. The directions were to have a clean dry surface and when you apply it, please allow 12 to 24 hours to cure! Now see, they don’t tell ya all of that, do they? Nope, not a chance. Why, well because you might have second thoughts on purchasing it. Actually, I know it works and is a good product as far as I can tell, but don’t we wish we could just get the “facts” right up front?

I bet most all of you remember the song, “This Land Is Your Land?” Sure, it’s got a catchy tune and words to go with it. By the way, I heard Larry Gatlin, of the Gatlin Brothers say that it’s really not hard to write a song. According to Larry, “heck, all the words are in the dictionary, and all you have to do is put them in the right place.” I reckon that is as true as it can be. Good ol’ Larry. I digress. Woody Guthrie wrote that song back in the 1930s. He was a singer, song writer and he was also a communist revolutionary. He actually came from a fairly wealthy family if you compare their wealth to most of the others around them. His dad, as I understand it, was a land speculator. Woody, from what I gather just hated when some folks did good and others not so good. Of course he lived off his old man and until he wrote “This Land Is Your Land,” he was just a traveling troubadour hating America. He hated when Kate Smith sang “America the Beautiful.” Yep, to him, America was not beautiful because we weren’t all at the same level. We all needed to be rich or struggling at the same time. Well, duh! If we are all poor, who provides the jobs? OH, I KNOW!.. The government does. We all work under the commands of the government and we all share the same “miserable” living experiences, but we can be assured the government will be there to punish anyone who steps out of line and thinks or works for him (her) self!

I can remember singing that song many, many times back in the 60s. “What a great song,” thought I. It’s about America, my land, and your land. Why, well because all government land is public land and belongs to us the taxpayers and we can go and see the beauty of it all and bathe ourselves in our fortunate luck to own and enjoy AMERICA. Had I known who Woody Guthrie really was I would have not wanted to embrace that song at all. Then of course, his offspring, Arlo Guthrie, also a folk singer and hippy claimed his fame and took all of his rewards to the bank, I suppose. I never heard of him or his “hero” father giving away any of what they had acquired pretending to be just poor, wandering troubadours out to settle the score with rich white folks! I was deceived into believing that ol’ Woody was this great American that loved this country so much he would honor it with such an inspiring (?) song! Well, as Paul Harvey would always say, “and that’s the rest of the story!”

Stay tuned, check yer cinch on occasion, stay in a fighting mood, this is no time for “Kum bi yaas” (sp. whatever). Hope you got to celebrate our independence in a safe and happy way!, I’ll c. y’all, all y’all. I miss Paul Harvey! ❖