The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.


The Wisdom Of Barnyard Bruke: "Farm Sale, Political Ineptitude And Wal-Mart"

Greetings to everyone in Western Illinois. It's good to be back with youn's again this week and again share some thoughts.

I traveled up north last Saturday to attend the estate sale of J. David Hill. A good man he was as was his father, Ben Hill. The sale bill advertised some Henderson historical information and I always enjoy history.

Two old Henderson County plat books were sold along with an original 1882 history of Henderson County book. I believe John Graham from up north, purchased one of the plat books. Not sure where the others went.

In thumb'n through the books before the sale it was interest'n to note the many changes that have taken place in Western Illinois. Land has changed hands many times from earlier days until now and not much of it remains in original family names of early settlers.

It was very hot on sale day but that didn't seem to limit the crowd any and bidd'n was aggressive. Many folk from down our way was up there in attendance.

Davy Hill had quite an arrowhead and Indian artifact collection. Some of his arrowhead collection he had previously given to the Watson museum in Biggsville for posterity to enjoy. Others sold quite well at the sale.

Apparently Ben Hill was a life long Republican with three box fulls of Republican memorabilia. It was interest'n to follow how candidates had changed over the years. Some were losers and some were victors.

Cornelius Farkwad reminded us boys, losers versus victors reminds him of Wal-Mart versus the inept politicians.

Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart every hour of every day he was told. This works out to $20,928 every minute.

Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1st to St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year. It is bigger than Home Depot and Kroger and Target and Sears and Costco and K-Mart put together. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people and is the worlds largest private employer and most speak English.

Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger and Safeway combined and they did this in only fifteen years. Dur'n this same period, 31 big supermarket chains sought bankruptcy. It sells more food than any other store in the world with approximately 3,900 stores in the USA with 1,906 be'n Super Centers.

This year 7.2 billion different purchas'n experiences will occur at Wal-Mart stores, keep'n in mind the earth's population is approximately 6.5 billion folk. 90% of all Americans live within fifteen miles of a Wal-Mart store.

Cornelius suggests, maybe we should hire the guys who run Wal-Mart to fix the economy. Those who are work'n on it now, 535 members of legislature and all Presidents, Republican and Democrat, officially are inept.

The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775. Politicians have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke.

Social Security was established in 1935. They have had 75 years to get it right and it is broke.

War on Poverty started in 1964. They have had 45 years to get it right, confiscated $1 trillion of our money each year which was transferred to "the poor" and they only want more.

Medicare and Medicaid was established in 1965. 44 years have been used to get it right and they are broke.

Freddie Mac was established in 1970. They have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke.

The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before. The politicians have had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure, by Cornelius standards.

The politicians have "FAILED", by Cornelius's estimation, in every "government service" they have forced the taxpayer into while overspend'n our tax dollars.

Well, after ole Cornelius got done remind'n us boys of his version of comparison with Wal-Mart management and political ineptness, we had us a spell of silence and reflection, a stare'n off into space as we swatted flies and skeeters.

Buster Jigs then stated "Most knockin' is done by folk that don't know how to ring the bell". Bill Jones then said "Tall trees ketch a lotta' wind".

I spect that was enough said for political talk for Sandy Bob then changed the topic over to county fair results.

After that Jasper Jenx dwelled on the weather for a spell with us boys and we all agreed it was "warm enough" for now.

As for me, I'm gonna dwell on them thoughts for awhile and will be look'n forward to next week to renew and broaden our minds!

Keep on Smile'n
Catch ya Later
Barnyard Bruke