PRISON REFORM

(This was formerly posted in Rambler)

Hi, I'm Bo Lumpkin and I've been thinkin'.
I heard someone the other day say that it takes over $30,000 dollars a year for the upkeep of each person in a correctional facility. I think that right there is part of the problem, it didn't cost near as much when we sent them to prisons and penal farms instead of correctional facilities.We had guards to keep them in and make them act right instead of correctional officers.
This ain't a matter of arithmetic. We shouldn't be sendin' them there to be corrected, we ought to be sendin' them there to be punished. Now all of ya'll who know me know that I ain't a harsh man. I don't want to see them starved or beaten (severely) or treated in an inhumane way but I do think it ought to be hard enough that they would want to make sure when they got out that they would never want to go back.
Speakin' from personal experience I know there are a lot of people who don't make $30,000 dollars a year to live on. I do understand that you have to figure in the cost of the correctional officers and a lot of extra barbed wire but from all my figurin' I just can't see why it cost us that much to keep the bad guys off the streets.
I was talkin' to Kurt and Burt about this situation and I asked them what they thought about prison reform. Burt said, "I reckon it might help if we would send them a better class of prisoners."
Well, with all the crooked politicians and the CEO scandals that are goin' on I ain't so sure that ain't such a bad idea.
I'm Bo Lumpkin and I've been thinkin', if some of the high dollar criminals get thrown in jail how about we make them pay fer their own stay. Whatchall been thinkin? Leave me a comment or send me an email to bo@bolumpkin.com or bolumpkin@gmail.com.

SELF ESTEEM

I've Been Wonderin'

As most of ya'll know I missed getting to put some things on here and Steve Ganshert posted them on his Rambler blog for me. Over the next few weeks I will be posting those things on here on the weekends. I just want to try to get them all on this blog. I will put a notice on here for when that happens.


Hi, I'm Bo Lumpkin and I've been wonderin' about some things.

You know when you spend a whole lot of time thinkin' you are bound to wind up wonderin'(and wanderin') some too.
Since basketball season has started I've noticed a disturbin' trend on the court. A whole bunch of them young men have more tattoos than is real reasonable. I was wonderin' if they couldn't cut down on that a little if they started callin' a technical foul on a team for havin' too many tattoes on the court at one time.
I was readin' the paper the other day and I read about a trial where they were going to sequester (that means lock 'em up. You can look that up in your Funk and Wagonels) the jury. I was wonderin' if the founding fathers ever thought that there would be trials where they locked up the jury while the defendant was out on bail.
I read where someone else was wonderin' what was happening to the local newspapers and why they were going out of business. That's one I can answer. There ain't nothin' in 'em that's fun to read no more. Most of the local weekly's don't have comics. Lewis Grizard and Mike Royko passed on and all the fun writers are writin' on the internet. They don't even put in the local community news anymore. Ya'll remember that don't you. They would put in about people visitin' and about community gatherings and usually ended with ...and a good time was had by all.
Most folks like me get tired of readin' about the county government and the city council and all that. If you read the obituaries in a local paper it don't help you none because by the time you read it the funeral is over and if you didn't already know about it you missed it.
They do cover the local sports but that don't make much sense either. When it comes to High School and Youth Sports activities everybody who is interested (that means has a youngun or grandyoungan playin') should have been at the game so they don't need to read about it.
I reckon that I was wonderin' about that too, why don't they gather up some local talent and put some stuff in there that folks want to read?
I will have to admit though that we have a pretty good paper here in Gatorhead and I hope to show you some issues of that later on. Over at the Kudzu Kounty Kronicle they still put in the good stuff. The news is even fun to read because if there ain't no news, they'll make somethin' up.
I'm Bo Lumpkin and I've been thinkin'. (That leads to wonderin' and then that leads to wanderin' and I've wandered enough.) Whatchall been wonderin' or thinkin' about? Write me an email or leave a comment at bo@bolumpkin.com or bolumpkin@gmail.com.

PRICELESS SMILE

Hi, I'm Bo Lumpkin and I've been thinkin'. One of the things I try to think of before I leave the house or before I answer the door is to put my dentures in. I ain't a vain person but a toothless smile can throw you off guard.
I ran into Old Odis Walker the other day and I noticed he didn't have his teeth in. He was having a little trouble talkin' which is sure hard on Old Odis but it didn't stop him from tryin'. Knowin' that there ought to be a good story behind why he wasn't wearin' his teeth I had to ask," Odis, why ain't you got your teeth in?"
"I lost them in the river," he said, "I hooked into a big old catfish on my trot-line and was trying to pull him in when I fell out of the boat. As soon as I hit that cold water I blew out real hard and just spit them teeth plumb out. It's a shame I ain't a Baptist Preacher though."
"I hate it about your teeth but why is it a shame you aren't a Baptist Preacher?"
"If I was a Baptist Preacher I could just tie me a chicken leg on a line and throw it out near where I lost them teeth and they would find it and bite into it for sure."
I didn't see Odis for a day or two but when I did he smiled real big and he had his teeth in. "I see you bought some new teeth," I said.
"Naw," he grinned, "These are my old teeth."
"How did you get them back?"
"I was runnin' my lines the other day and I pulled in this little old five pound flathead and shore enough there he was smilin' at me with my own teeth."
I'm Bo Lumpkin and I've been thinkin', them teeth sure did look brand new to me. Whatchall been thinkin'. Leave me a comment or write me an email at bo@blumpkin.com or bolumpkin@gmail.com.

HOSPITAL SURVIVAL

Hi, I'm Bo Lumpkin and I've been thinkin'. Somebody ought to write up a list of rules for people who are going into the hospital to help them make it through with as little permanent damage as possible.
I met some mighty fine people while I was in there. The nurse in the pre-operation and the recovery area was just wonderful.
I had made up my mind before I went in to be positive and nice to everyone and for the first couple of days I pretty much made it. I even made friends while I was in there. I really liked Justin. Justin's job is to shave all the hair off of you where they are goin' to operate. Justin obviously enjoys his work because he is friendly and smiles a lot and sometimes he even laughs as he is shaving little designs in your chest hair. I don't remember his last name but I just call him Justin the Shaver. If attitude makes a difference I think Justin the Shaver has a great future in his field.
There was another one(which I wasn't particularly fond of) who was especially dedicated to her job. She was the lady who came around to weigh me twice a day. It was painful to get up and painful to lay back down but that did not deter her in the least. She was determined to weigh me twice a day regardless of how much pain it caused me. Now that's dedication.
The pain probably would not have been so bad if I had pain medication. There was one of them little buttons on my IV which I was supposed to push when I was in pain. I kept telling my nurses that I wasn't getting anything from it and they kept telling me that they could not give me anymore until the doctor came around.(That was at about 3:30 pm the next day)Luckily the thing started beeping and a nurse(not one of mine) passing by heard it and came in to check. She looked at it and asked me if I had been getting my pain medicine. I told here I didn't think so. "No wonder," she said, "This thing is not working," and she fixed it in about a minute. That was at 8:00 PM the day of the surgery.
I would give more details but after the nurse fixed the pain medicine dispenser things are kind of blurry.
I'm Bo Lumpkin and I've been thinkin' the best way to recover from surgery is if things are kind of blurry and you can't remember much.

COMIN' BACK SOON

Hi ya'll, I'm Bo Lumpkin and I've had more time to think lately than I usually do. I had a little minor heart surgery and have taken the last week to recupperate. When you are in the hospital bein' injected, inspected and sometimes neglected you do have a considerable time to think but you can't write much of it down.
One of the things I've been thinkin' about is how thankful I am. I am thankful to all those who have been prayin' for me and for all the people who have checked on me and kept up with my progress. I want to give a special thank you to my new friend the Rambler himself, Steve Ganshert who has been posting my stuff for me on his blog.
I am recovering nicely and have started back writing and drawing again and I hope to be back to posting things on my own blog Thursday, Feb. 12. It will be then before I return to my regular schedule and have internet connections on a regular basis.
Be sure and keep up with Steve's ramblin' on his blog. You can go to his site by clicking on Rambler under My Blogs listed at the right of this page.
Thank ya'll all again.Bo

What About Phil?

I will not be able to put anything on this site tomorrow. If there is nothing new here go to the sidebar under My Blogs and click on Rambler. He is going to be posting my stuff while I am recuperating. Thanks a bunch.