Thursday, January 22, 2009

Something you should know....



There are a couple of theories about the origin of this display, though it's meaning is pretty much an accepted fact. My favorite is the following, but I can see how a longer history would not conflict with the following account.

Origin of The Finger

(This may or may not be true but it is told repeatedly....so here you go)

In 1415, Henry the V took his army of around 6,000 men across the English Channel and into southern France. After cutting trees and preparing large pointed sticks, Henry marched his army northwest for 17 days and over 270 miles. With only one day's rest, the mighty force was haggard and exhausted by the time they reached the flat land between the forest of Agincourt.

The French army, consisting of 25,000 troops, 15,000 of which were mounted knights in armor, arrived on the evening of October 24. Their army was a mishmash of Frenchmen from all over the feudal country. It rained hard that night, and both armies were soaked to the bone my morning. Most French knights slept in the saddle so as not to sully their expensive and ornate armor.

On the morning of October 25, the French and British armies were salty and ready to fight. Henry moved his troops slowly up the 1/2 mile wide passage between the two forests of Agincourt. By 11 Am, the French commanders were still bickering over tactics and whether or not to charge all the while the British were within 400 yards of the French.

Now what made the battle of Agincourt so interesting was the introduction of the Welsh long bow. This weapon could dismount a rider at 300 yards and with top notch arrows, could pierce armor at close range.

The French King had heard of the longbow and smugly claimed that when the fight was over, he would cut the bow finger from every Englishman in France. As the long bow was made from the yew tree, it took great strength to draw the bow back and without the middle finger, this would be impossible.

When Henry had his troops within bowshot of the French, he loosed the first of many volleys of arrows. The French, caught off guard, charged with half their forces. The Duke of Orleans barely made it 200 yards before his knights broke and ran under a hail of deadly wood and steel. Many of the knights sank into the mud and were trampled as the horses and frightened soldiers pummeled them into a fine paste.

Those knights that did make it to the British front lines were let upon by unarmored soldiers carrying short swords, who plunged their blades into the joints of the French armor. All this came after a great number of horses were impaled upon the huge pointed sticks the British had placed in the ground in front of them.

At the end of the day, the French had lost some 10,000 men, and the British mourned only 500 dead. In one day, the Hundred Years War had turned and the long bow had successfully defeated the myth of the invincible knight in armor.

The French nobility stood horrified on a hill over looking the battle when the Englishmen in mass turned to face them, middle finger held high for the French to see.

Shakespeare went on to glorify this battle, and the French, to vilify it. For the next 100 years, every lad over the age of 6 in Britain was required to be instructed in the firing and maintaining of the long bow.

In response to this, the French began cutting off the index and middle fingers of all British men caught in battle or on French land, thus removing the digits that allowed the firing of a bow. This is where the British tradition of waving two fingers at someone as an insult arose. And, the very American middle fingered salute or "the bird," is a descendant of this. As the feathers on the arrow were made of pheasant feathers, the saying “Giving the bird” soon arose.



As the Brothers C are of Greek descent (yes, our ancestors were formulating representative democracy whilst yours were buggering their mothers, eating each other, and living in caves) this account also has a certain appeal, though as a redneck I have to say I prefer the former but will accept the combination of the two. Ignore the Freudian bullshit:

Giving someone "the finger" is one of the basest violations in modern culture, but its origins date back over 2500 years. The first written record of the insult occurred in ancient Greece, where the playwright Aristophanes (the Adam Sandler of his day) made a crude joke mixing up the middle finger and the penis. Even back then, the bird was considered an aggressive, phallic put-down.

It has been argued by anthropologists that the finger is a a variant of a classic "phallic aggressive" gesture used by primates. By jabbing a threatening phallus at your enemy like a wild animal, you aren't just belittling him, but also making him your sexual inferior. Instead of using a real penis, civilized Janes and Platos called upon the substitute wieners within their own hands to mock, threaten, and humiliate opponents.

And boy, did it. When the Romans imported the art, music, and culture of the Greeks, the finger came along, too. Roman Emperor Caligula, a pioneer in perversity, frequently shocked his citizens by forcing them to kiss his middle finger instead of his hand. One of his subjects, Cassius, who Caligula often taunted as being too effeminate, finally had enough humiliation and assassinated him. Clearly, the bird was not to be taken lightly.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The Rubber Meets the Road

Dick Morris is always close if not spot on with reporting of the true intentions and results of the calculated and cynical machinations of our political leaders. Obama's intended demographic shift will make the US just another Euro-trash collection of bums dependent upon the government teet for all our needs.

And he will so sharply cut taxes on the middle class and the poor that the number of Americans who pay no federal income tax will rise from the current one-third of all households to more than half. In the process, he will create a permanent electoral majority that does not pay taxes, but counts on ever-expanding welfare checks from the government. The dependency on the dole, formerly limited in pre-Clinton days to 14 million women and children on Aid to Families with Dependent Children, will now grow to a clear majority of the American population.


Next comes the back-door implementation of the leftist wonder drug; !Euthanasia!, through the overburdening of our healthcare system.


Without a lot more doctors, nurses, clinics, equipment and hospital beds, health resources will be strained to the breaking point. The people and equipment that now serve 250 million Americans and largely neglect all but the emergency needs of the other 50 million will now have to serve everyone. And, as government imposes ever more Draconian price controls and income limits on doctors, the supply of practitioners and equipment will decline as the demand escalates. Price increases will be out of the question, so the government will impose healthcare rationing, denying the older and sicker among us the care they need and even barring them from paying for it themselves. (Rationing based on income and price will be seen as immoral.)


Mr Morris has been a voice in the wilderness of the mainstream media of late and you would do well to heed this insider's knowledge and insight.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Harley Bashing Fest

This vid is in a post below, but it deserves it's own space as it is one of my all time faves.




True story:
Pulled into gas station on GS. A kid (late 20's - early 30's) with a newer Sportster is fueling up on the other side of the fuel island and steps around looking at the GS.

kid "Nice bike."
GS "Thanks!"
kid "Couldn't afford a Harley?"
GS "I can afford any bike I want."
kid "Then why didn't you get a Harley?"
GS "Because I wanted a bike that would start everyday and get me where I want to go."
kid "My bike starts everyday!"
GS "Then why are you riding your sisters?"

Dude's a Hoss !

This is NOT a light motorcycle. 402 honest pounds. Dayum.