Winner winner chicken dinner! According to urban legend years ago a casino had a chicken dinner that cost $1.79. Back then a minumum bet in 21 was $2 so if you won you would have enough money to pay for dinner when an old chinese man hit blackjack he yelled "winner winner chicken dinner" the phrase stuck...it has since become synonymous with a cheap win, its what the southerners would say as jeff gordon takes the checkered flag.
I spent this last weekend at the threshold of a place where the cheap get cheaper and the dirty get dirtier. Its a place where you can feel like you re in paradise at the pool and at a jenny craig convention at the same time. Its where waiters are high rollers and truckers get all the women. Where truth is irrelevant and facts are as well.... everyone has a different story to tell. This place i speak of if you dont already know is the beloved gateway to vegas called Mesquite.
Having watched the movie 21 the day before i was anxious to use my newly acquired gambling technique of counting cards. I even joked with the dealer letting him know my intentions and oddly enough he even gave me a few helpful pointers about the odds and how i should play them. An old timer sitting next to me said forget all that you cant play the odds because the odds are set against you. He continued to explain his rationale in betting high even against the odds and not hitting on 15s and 16s when the dealer is showing a 10, but as his last chip fell and before he walked towards the sunset out past Beaver Dam he offered his last pearle of wisdom... "be sure to stay in the game no matter what, your here to gamble win or lose if you dont enjoy it dont play!"
The pitboss walked up to the table and I playfully gave the signal to my friend Chad that the table was hot. It wasn't. The pitboss laughs, he was unfased for he was watching the signs and signals that showed I was not counting correctly... me reaching into my pocket to exchange my green cash for their red chips and doing so on a consistent basis. Losing became enevitable and even accpeted. Even tho the signs and signals...green go...red stop... are very concious to me and constantly echo in my mind.. well the probability factor just never seems to set in... the variables may be different and ever changing, but the truth is the equation is always the same... you may win here and there but ultimately you re gonna lose, so just sit back forget about all the absolutes and try to enjoy all the plausibilities. Just give me the illusion of paradise. Make me feel like I could be a winner!
In this years election we are deciding our president from a limited pool of congress whos approval rating as of this morning is at %21. What does the dealer have to say about those odds! We now have left the democrats Queen of diamonds and the King of clubs and the republicans ace in the hole the Ace of spades. Even tho once a fighter pilot this self proclaimed maverick was never an ace and is hardly a spade. Hes more of a club juggernaut and acts more like a goose then a maverick. The queen of diamonds is as avertised but now wishing she looked more like a heart and a little less like a diamond. Which leaves us the king of clubs. The odds on favorite to win it all. Which makes me wonder how a man who has accomplished as little as he has has risen to the top of this club. What makes him different and better then the rest? Is it really his message and his inspiring speeches? Or that combined with the fact that hes black? Hes a "rockstar" they say at the podium. His speaking skills has given him an edge against his rivals. But what is his message? Can anyone really tell me what he stands for, what he wants to do with our country besides bring our troops home? Or do we even care as long as it sounds good?
socrates, an old timer, once said:
The aspiring speaker needs no knowledge of the truth about what is right or good... In courts of justice no attention is paid whatever to the truth about such topics; all that matters is plausibility... There are even some occasions when both prosecution and defence should positively suppress the facts in favor of probability, if the facts are improbable. Never mind the truth -- pursue probability through thick and thin in every kind of speech; the whole secret of the art of speaking lies in consistent adherence to this principle.
Obama has mastered this principle. The club leader is starting fulfill his role. The variables are a little different this time but the equation is still the same. Truth is irrelevant and the facts are as well... Just let me play my game and give me a nice sense of plausibility. The nation is starting to place its bets... the dealer is showing a King of clubs and the world awaits its new leader. He will have his enemies even some for the wrong reasons of course... the southerners will say "hes black jack" ....but somewhere in some cave you can almost hear the echo... "winner winner chicken dinner!"
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7 comments:
Touche! But I can still kick your ass in golf!
Do you also wonder why it is that everyone at the table helps one another? No one will gain by the other's winning anyway. But still we all cheer and celebrate with our new found friends that were mere strangers to us only minutes before. We will feel the loss for them as well when their chips are dowm. We'll even give a chip or two to lift someone up to be able to try yet again. There is generally no jealously or real rivalry amongst winners and losers alike. The *dealer* is either the hero or the enemy. Could this be how we all make it better in the world too. We blame the dealer. Our President, God, our boss, our partner or spouse...life really is a gamble anyway. WE didn't do anything "wrong". Gotta be someone elses fault as to why we are going through so much. Helping those around our table, cheering them on; maybe this is how the Plan is designed to work. Strangers cheering each other on when really there is nothing in it for the other, just the sight of hope and happiness in someone elses life. Maybe we won't need to blame anyone if we all have everyone's best interst at heart...Winnig in the game of Life!
Who knew that the beautiful gateway to Sin City held the key?
GWB is the worst pres in the history of the U.S. He has done more damage to our constitutional rights than any other person in our brief history. I used to say to myself, "one person cannot do much damage in only a 4 year term." I have eaten my words until I threw up blood.
We are now in a horribly war, based upon lies that never should have been waged, our economy and the once mighty dollar are at rock bottom, gas prices are through the roof, the opportunity for open helping hands after 9/11 have turned into hands flipping us the bird because of Iraq. Americans are sick of it.
As for the winner of the chicken dinner. We have on the republican side a career military man fully embedded in politics for 25 years now. Career military means to me not experience as a commander but feeding the military industrial complex which many since George Washington himself warned us about. Sounds like more W, Cheney, and Rumsfield to me--more of the same.
We also have a female democrat, the first real woman candidate with a shot at the presidency. She claims experience but her version of the facts seems delusional, however she seems also embedded in Washington connected to big money and lobbyists. She does want to right the wrong of the war which seems to be the root of all other problems we are currently facing. Her husband was a fine pres unless you're like some where I live and whenever the name Bill is mentioned they think of a purple dress and a cigar. She appears to be a better candidate than the republican and anyone could do a better job than W.
Lastly we have the African-American democrat. He spouts on about hope, coming together, fixing our many problems, "yes we can, yes we can" he says. He speaks like JFK, Martin Luther King jr, and Abraham Lincoln. He is educated and smarter than any of the other candidates (he makes W look like a chimp) yet he comes from humble roots and an unusually diverse background for an American. Some say he has little experience however he has more than Lincoln did when he became pres. He says he wants to take America in a new direction, and since he isn't embedded in Washington like the others, perhaps he can, perhaps he can.
I almost forgot to mention to Mike in the cowboy hat-you don't know what you're talking about. chicken dinner whatever.
Frazier I always knew you were a girl!
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