{"id":985,"date":"2017-11-29T00:06:10","date_gmt":"2017-11-29T05:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=985"},"modified":"2017-11-29T00:06:10","modified_gmt":"2017-11-29T05:06:10","slug":"extreme-vetting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=985","title":{"rendered":"Extreme Vetting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My uncle was a mercenary in a foreign war.<br \/>\nIt was very hush-hush. We don&#8217;t know who he fought for.<br \/>\nAll he said was he had many notches on his gun.<br \/>\nAs a boy I&#8217;d see him comin&#8217;, then I&#8217;d start to run.<br \/>\nKillin&#8217; folks for money is an awful evil scam.<br \/>\nTakes a special kind of soul to just not give a damn.<br \/>\nLater on when he was old, my uncle went insane.<br \/>\nDoctors said perhaps he had some shrapnel in his brain.<br \/>\nI think it was just the memories of the blood he shed.<br \/>\nHow can one walk through his life on roads built by the dead?<br \/>\nKillin&#8217; folks for money is the worst of lifestyle choices.<br \/>\nIt&#8217;s no wonder Uncle Sam went crazy hearin&#8217; voices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My uncle was a mercenary in a foreign war. It was very hush-hush. We don&#8217;t know who he fought for. All he said was he had many notches on his gun. As a boy I&#8217;d &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=985\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[3,4],"class_list":["post-985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poem-2","tag-poem","tag-poetry-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2575,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=2575","url_meta":{"origin":985,"position":0},"title":"Uncle Sam Land MMXXI","author":"Rick Young","date":"October 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"America is a Fantasy Park. The light side's\u00a0on the left. The right side's in the dark. The Gates of Hell are in Las Vegas, tourist destination. And any city street stands as a Mecca of Fixation. In Old Folks Land, they stand in line whole lives to reach their ends.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Poem&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Poem","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2298,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=2298","url_meta":{"origin":985,"position":1},"title":"Howdy, Martial","author":"Rick Young","date":"December 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"When General Flynn talks martial law, Trump thinks about Matt Dillon. In every Gunsmoke that he saw, there always was some killin'. His chance to shoot folks on the street might be around the corner. He could blast everyone he'd meet, especially a foreigner. A presidential killing spree would not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Poem&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Poem","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1031,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=1031","url_meta":{"origin":985,"position":2},"title":"Mother&#8217;s Ebony Chopsticks (1970)","author":"Rick Young","date":"December 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"My mother's ebony chopsticks are not in storage. My George Mikan doll is in storage. My little basketball plaything that was so complete, Even to the elastic strap on his teeny safety glasses. I used to chuck George across the den to my dog, Pan, Who always licked at Uncle\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Poem&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Poem","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":623,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=623","url_meta":{"origin":985,"position":3},"title":"Uncle Sham","author":"Rick Young","date":"December 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Uncle Sham pulled nickels from my ear. Always smelled of cigarettes and beer. Told me once that he'd buy me a horse. It was just a plastic toy, of course. Sometimes he would bounce me on his knee. That made me sore and feel I had to pee. One year\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Poem&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Poem","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":749,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=749","url_meta":{"origin":985,"position":4},"title":"Spotted Uncle","author":"Rick Young","date":"August 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Robin spied a spotted uncle on her way to the Dansk outlet. He flitted from branch to branch, his silvered wrists aflutter. She'd once thought him a nuthatch, but he'd grown into himself. She would never forget his bright red coat, that one fashionable fall, or her childhood wonder at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Poem&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Poem","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":511,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=511","url_meta":{"origin":985,"position":5},"title":"Medicinal Weed","author":"Rick Young","date":"January 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Put me on a government list. Gotta get me some of this. I got problems medical. Need some prophethetical Gotta smoke to get me well. Government can go to hell. Give my name to Uncle Sam. Give me meds and let me jam. Get me to the clinic, stat. Doctor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Poem&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Poem","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}