───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
TO HEAR OR NOT TO HEAR, THAT IS THE QUESTION
I guess he didn't hear near as well as he let on
And whether he heard right or wrong was nothing to bet on
He was old and set solid in his ways
He'd lived this long and saw no need to change
Get a hearing aid? "No way! That's for sissies!"
And it's not like he had some kind of disease
It just took a little patience and understanding
When you talked with him, especially when he was branding
I said, I'd come up looking for the ranch
And he lit into me before I even had a chance
He let loose with one complaint after another
Pointin' his finger, pokin' holes in the air and even gave me what fer
When I said let's go get a beer in town
He thought I said the steer was drowned
Well, it took awhile, but I finally got him calmed down
And then I knew exactly why he was havin' that grumblin’ breakdown
It was a simple mis-hearing of the proper word
The word I said wasn't the word he thought he heard
I was looking for a place with cows and horses - what we call a ranch
And that's how this chapter came to be all about Cowboy RANTS
© 2025 / Brian McNeal
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
THE FRUSTRATIONS OF LIVING IN AN OVER-SECURE AI WORLD
I need a password to make toast, Mr. Coffee is on a time-locked control
I must send a signal in code to get my robot maid to begin her stroll
My lights turn on with a hand clap, a dropped book or car door slammed across the street
My doorbell is a picture phone and my brand new programmable thermostat is now obsolete
In order to open the refrigerator door, I must enter the correct security code
Then a robot voice wants to know what kind of help I need, like I'm 3 years old
Press one for milk, press two for cheese, Ice'd tea is on three, for beer, press four
No one else can get to your food when there's an AI security lock on the door
I don't need a key to start my car but I can back it into the garage with a voice command
I don't even have to be in the vehicle to perform the mauever. Just exit and stand
In goes the car, in perfect precision, time after time, until I no longer can do it manually
Convenience to the max on everything we own, provided we pay a fee annually
Customer service for any company you need comes with free AI screening
It's a computer looped nightmare guaranteed to leave you screamming
If you are fortunate enough to survive the maze of choices and reach a live body
Good luck getting anything accomplished when, at best, their service skills are shoddy
First, the password I choose is not good enough. It's something I can remember
But the AI password generator likes more complication with an alpa-numeric contender
So I wind up with a password not my own and I write it down in a place unknown
Next time I need to use the same site, I can't get in because my attempts are blown
Now, the conglomerated, monolithic, AI-forced password is not enough to begin
Now they must call or text with a ramdomly selected, six-digit code before I get in
Security geeks in the design phase have made "user freindly" an obsolete term
One of these days they're gonna put so many hoops in the way, we'll all crash and burn
I've had my identity stolen once, twice, thrice - in this security conscience reality
The act of locking the doors and barring the windows is only a false security
The best security you can have is a shotgun next to the coffee can where your money is kept
Or live like a pauper, give everything away, go on welfare and learn to be inept
I need a password to make toast, Mr. Coffee is on a time-locked control
I must send a signal in code to get my robot maid to begin her stroll
My lights turn on with a hand clap, a dropped book or car door slammed across the street
My doorbell is a picture phone and my brand new programmable thermostat is now obsolete
In order to open the refrigerator door, I must enter the correct security code
Then a robot voice wants to know what kind of help I need, like I'm 3 years old
Press one for milk, press two for cheese, Ice'd tea is on three, for beer, press four
No one else can get to your food when there's an AI security lock on the door
I don't need a key to start my car but I can back it into the garage with a voice command
I don't even have to be in the vehicle to perform the mauever. Just exit and stand
In goes the car, in perfect precision, time after time, until I no longer can do it manually
Convenience to the max on everything we own, provided we pay a fee annually
Customer service for any company you need comes with free AI screening
It's a computer looped nightmare guaranteed to leave you screamming
If you are fortunate enough to survive the maze of choices and reach a live body
Good luck getting anything accomplished when, at best, their service skills are shoddy
First, the password I choose is not good enough. It's something I can remember
But the AI password generator likes more complication with an alpa-numeric contender
So I wind up with a password not my own and I write it down in a place unknown
Next time I need to use the same site, I can't get in because my attempts are blown
Now, the conglomerated, monolithic, AI-forced password is not enough to begin
Now they must call or text with a ramdomly selected, six-digit code before I get in
Security geeks in the design phase have made "user freindly" an obsolete term
One of these days they're gonna put so many hoops in the way, we'll all crash and burn
I've had my identity stolen once, twice, thrice - in this security conscience reality
The act of locking the doors and barring the windows is only a false security
The best security you can have is a shotgun next to the coffee can where your money is kept
Or live like a pauper, give everything away, go on welfare and learn to be inept
© 2025 / Brian McNeal
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
In the cowboy business we go by exacts
We have exactly so many cows and that's a fact
Until we lose one and then we have so many minus one
When we sell 'em, we don't stop counting till we're done
Most of the world runs on the same principle
Except for a few where inaccuracies are admissible
The weatherman is the worst of the whole lot
You never know just what in the world you got
And don't ever ask two different weathermen for a forecast
You'll never get the same information no matter how many you ask
You'll have a potpourri of conflicting data to chew on
But never know what to expect in the strata of Tucson
I asked one of those guys one time, just how he does it
How does he sleep at night knowing what he doesn't
Well, he told me, "it matters not if it's for Reno, Roswell or Raleigh"
The method they use is always the same - by guess and by golly
© 2025 / Brian McNeal
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
A COWBOY'S LOOK AT A SICK SICK WORLD
Disrespect runs amok
It's the "In" thing right now
Vulgar stickers on the truck
The world has gone sour
Graffiti on tombstones
Destruction by design
Protesters foreign born
Can't be in their right mind
It's a sick, sick world for sure,
When everyone's rights trump all
It's a malady without a cure
One man's fun is another man's pall
Lie to get what they want but don't need
Steal rather than pay
That, which outshines all, is their greed
What happened to yesterday?
Honesty is now a fool's flaw
Cheating by hook or crook for fun or smite
Guess they never heard that old saw
Two wrongs don't make a right
The cowboy way has slipped away
No more can we salute that honor
Even the peaceful protest is now cliche
Simple respect in society is a goner
When disrespect is the hallmark
Common decency doesn't have a chance
When did we start living in the dark?
And why don't they pay for the dance?
© 2025 / Brian McNeal
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
A SIMPLER TIME
A simpler time was left behind
For the sake of a so-called "better life"
We got rid of the easy times
Threw the baby out with the bath water and kept the strife.
A simpler time when families could afford a Christmas tree
When a walk to school didn't require a bodyguard
When neighbors collected your mail and watered your lawn for free
When women didn't fancy nose bling and body art.
A simpler time when a year's income could buy a new car
When learning a trade was better than a degree
Back when a trip to Grandma's was not all that far
And a Saturday trip to town meant a new movie.
A simpler time when you could trust the truth
And it didn't come shaded in various colors
Before political correctness made everyone rude
And those who weren't became suckers.
A simpler time when gas stations had a pop machine and a mechanic
Rather than cashiers and refrigerators full of beer
Back when church Bingo was the local dynamic
And the candidate's platform was clear.
When gas was a quarter, coffee was a dime and water was free
Before fuzzy math and political misconduct
When highway fun was Burma Shave signs on trees
Before the country was set to self-destruct.
No need for a horse anymore, now a cowboy needs a pickup truck
And where he's needin' to go, one spare tire is not adequate
He used to put his entire worldly posessions in a roll on his bunk
Now, he carries around so much he has to join the teamsters to haul freight
No, this is not the world that any old-time cowboy would have depicted.
This world is like a movie where both good and bad wear gray hats
Where right and wrong are misunderstood, confused and conflicted
Soon, we'll all be scurrying and scrapping like a herd of stray cats.
© 2025 / Brian McNeal
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
PET PEEVE
I'd like to start this off with a rant
I'd like to be polite, but somehow I just can't
It peeves me off to pay and pay and pay
And not have anything left at the end of the day
I get upset when I expect a full measure
But then end up with only displeasure
A dozen was always twelve and 16 ounces made a pound
But it's no longer that way according to what I've found
From imperial to metric, we've been converted
But along the way our quantities have been perverted
We still pay with a hundred cents in every full dollar
And get less and less goods but so much more choler
Is progress really better or do we just make an exchange?
When you pay for a service but get short-changed
When your phone never rings but you get a voicemail
Seems like truth in advertising has been curtailed
Back on the ranch we knew if it was a cow, a bull or a steer
But here in town, things are not nearly as clear
A smidge, a tad, a dollop were all easily understood
But a fudge was something that tasted good.
We used to buy nails by the pound, weighed on the hardware scale
Now we buy by the count and pay the counter according to union scale
The cost of the package is more than the product inside
The marketing geniuses must think we're all pie-eyed.
Now they sell a bottle that looks the size of a gallon
But they short the contents and hook you with deceptive talons
96 ounces at this store and 112 at the next
Planned confusion to make you perplexed
One is advertised lower but with the other you get more
No limit to the illusions to get you into their store
You'll never know just what the trickery entailed
Compared to yesterday, today seems to have failed.
...
© 2023 / Brian McNeal
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
RE-NAMING
From the generations that can't invent anything new
They just rename everything so green becomes blue
It's not really their fault, I guess
Society just didn't do it's best
They were never taught how to think for themselves
Everything given to them or done for them by parents or elves
Brains that were never exercised or challenged
Left fallow to become shallow and damaged
Well, what can we expect when we see the advertisement
"Paperless Paper" is something to take under advisement
I'll bet they think they've got something wonderful and new
But they'll never understand they don't have a breakthrough
A paperless paper towel for kitchen clean-up duties
When you think you've heard it all, just listen to that beauty
It ain't nothin' new. We had that long before there was "Goth"
We used 'em every day. It was something we called a washcloth
© 2025 / Brian McNeal
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
THE CIRCUS HAS COME TO TOWN
The circus has come to town Hooray
The circus has come to town
The freaks have all come out to play Hooray
The freaks have all come out today
We used to stand in line for tickets
Now we watch for free
Someone loosed the flaps and pulled the pickets
Now the freaks are on the street
The tents are down, the animals run amok
The performers and the fans all look to be the same
The acts don't parade and no one pays a buck
The greatest show on earth looks very very lame
Who knew the bearded lady was really trans
And the highwire would be on the ground
Are we watching the performers or watching the fans
But all is free - pay not a penny or a pound
Walmart is the place to be and to see
Or sometimes the courthouse on the square
Watching freaks a plenty any day of the week
Just be there, stand and watch, but never pay a fare
You get exactly what you pay for and nothing more
Or so the sayings go
And just like I've said many times before
It's nothing like the big show
No high trapeze, no three rings
No Master of Ceremonies on the microphone
No clowns going honk, honk, ding-a-ling
No death-defying cyclone
Under the big top we used to sit on bleachers
The sideshow barkers hawked their wares.
Bizarre, wierd and all sorts of crazy features
The big top is gone but let the world beware
The big top has come down boo hoo
The big top has come down
The freaks have all come out today, boo hoo
The freaks have all come out to stay
© 2023 / Brian McNeal
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
WITHOUT MY PERMISSIONWhen I first registered for college, what a thrillEvery single class desired had a card to be filledName and Social Security number on every oneWho would have thought that a problem in nineteen seventy-one?There were no computers to record the student informationNothing but card files and hand-typed records across the nationAs the electronic information highway blossomed and grewColleges input that data into their systems and who knew?Thirty-five years later, I got a notice from the college I attendedSeems their system had been hacked and the records upendedWithout my permission, they compromised my securityWas I wrong to expect more from a college of maturity?With identity stolen, their offer to ease the situationWas to pay for a year of Identity Theft ProtectionBut the first thing this third-party firm wants to getIs my Social Security Number entered on the InternetOr I can call and they'll send me the paper formWhich someone there will input online, I'm informedCan I trust a security firm with that intelligence overload?What genius decided that would be the way to go?Seems these very bright people who are in the education realmCan't learn from their own mistakes with these geniuses at the helmAgain, in another town and years later, it happened anewSystem broken into and they send me letter number twoWould you believe that bad things happen in threes?Yup, another case of a system hacker and I'm not at easeThere was a reason why we weren't supposed to use SS for IDAnd now we know, or do we? Seems the geniuses don't agree© 2025 / Brian McNeal
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
RED HAT WOESWhat's worse than being stupidIs being proud to be stupidWhat's worse than being ignorantIs knowing that you're ignorant
The ostrich boldly struts aroundThen hides its head under groundSheep run from a threatening concernOnly to die at their own turn
Only the animal with the red hatBrags about being a ratOnly the fool believes a known lieBut a bigger fool believes his own lie
© 2025 / Brian McNeal
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
ONE HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW
It all began in the year twenty-twenty fivePlans for a future when none of us would be aliveNo one would complain or try to cry foulThey'd not know of the skunk on the prowl
Throw out all the old rules and make up your own
National treasures demolished and civil liberties overthrown
Unstoppable in his quest for greedy dominationThe king gets just what he wants in spite of public agitationAnd that's how it all began, with just one dump truck at the firstSoon, more and more from shore to shore couldn't meet his thirstDay, after day, after day, twenty-four-seven, those trucks ranHauling the world's refuse to fill up the canyon called Grand
Compacted with heavy mining equipment and layers of dirtFor years, the operation worked with the king cracking his quirtHe was too old to see the finished completion in his lifetimeBut his heirs will forever hear the sound of the cash register chime
The world's largest golf course — 300 miles long and 18 miles wideThe only golf course in the world that requires you to have a guideWith sand traps made of native soil and water hazards with rapidsMan-made clubhouse casinos on either end, and in the middle as it happens
So now here we are in the year twenty-one twenty-five, 100 years laterGolfers and gamblers pay homage to the designer and creatorKudos to the man who had the dream to kill the streamPraise be to him who first had this elaborate scheme.
No more hiking or rafting, they all drive around in electric haulersNo more scenic vistas or panoramas — nature sacrificed for almighty dollarsNo more switchback trails with mules of the four-legged kindThe mules have all been replaced with jackasses, dumb and blind
Now, no one alive can remember the canyon and all its splendid grandeur.No one can remember what used to be and that is for damned sureNever knowing the real cost of their high-priced, luxury dumpThey give thanks to the visionary and legendary, Donald John Trump
© 2025 / Brian McNeal
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
BY JINGO
Well, by jingo, if we don't have another one
The voters who put him there are stunned
They got what they asked for and more
Now they can't even get in the door
The government is closed up tight
Just when they thought they had the right
The celebrations are over—maybe for good
If only they could go back, oh, if only they could
By jingo, did they know what price they'd pay?
When they cast their ballot on that fateful day
Did they know the paychecks would be dead?
Oh, if only they didn't like so much the color red
Did they not remember the turmoil of the past
When they rallied and praised the caste?
How can they not see it now that it has slapped them in the face?
Oh, if only, if only they'd been born in another place
By jingo, it'd make me smile if only I didn't suffer too
What the people wanted they got—a voter's coup
What the people lost, they're only just now learning
Oh, if only, if only someone understood "overturning"
If someone had come forward and told them what to expect
Would we have a better outcome with a better effect?
Did they make personal choices or just follow the herd?
The warning was there, if only, if only they had heard
By jingo, I hope we survive, but the future looks mighty bleak
How much more can we endure when the truth plays hide-and-seek?
A jingoist in the driver's seat with no road map of where to go
It's a forecast for doomsday, an illusion that is only pseudo, by jingo
Well, by jingo, if we don't have another one
The voters who put him there are stunned
They got what they asked for and more
Now they can't even get in the door
The government is closed up tight
Just when they thought they had the right
The celebrations are over—maybe for good
If only they could go back, oh, if only they could
By jingo, did they know what price they'd pay?
When they cast their ballot on that fateful day
Did they know the paychecks would be dead?
Oh, if only they didn't like so much the color red
Did they not remember the turmoil of the past
When they rallied and praised the caste?
How can they not see it now that it has slapped them in the face?
Oh, if only, if only they'd been born in another place
By jingo, it'd make me smile if only I didn't suffer too
What the people wanted they got—a voter's coup
What the people lost, they're only just now learning
Oh, if only, if only someone understood "overturning"
If someone had come forward and told them what to expect
Would we have a better outcome with a better effect?
Did they make personal choices or just follow the herd?
The warning was there, if only, if only they had heard
By jingo, I hope we survive, but the future looks mighty bleak
How much more can we endure when the truth plays hide-and-seek?
A jingoist in the driver's seat with no road map of where to go
It's a forecast for doomsday, an illusion that is only pseudo, by jingo
© 2025 / Brian McNeal
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────