Real Topics Today

I'm working graveyard and it's literally freezing at night and the site is running smooth, so rounds are exceptionally quick. Gives me lots of time for bouncing round the web.

Found these last night:

Video - Political Correctness Vs. Freedom Of Thought
via FOUNDING BLOGGERS




A man's life just about destroyed with no hearing and damn near no recourse. If FIRE hadn't gotten involved Mr. Sampson would have had to deal with being branded a racist for reading a book (available in the college's library) about the Klan being driven out of Illinois.

I wonder if I could file racial harassment charges for finding someone reading a Malcolm X book near me?

The next two are stunners:

First from (OMG) the L.A. Times:

Joel Stein:
Republicans are blinded by love
Lefties just don't have the same feeling about America as the hard right does.

“But I’ve come to believe conservatives are right. They do love America more. Sure, we liberals claim that our love is deeper because we seek to improve the United States by pointing out its flaws. But calling your wife fat isn’t love. True love is the blind belief that your child is the smartest, cutest, most charming person in the world, one you would gladly die for. I’m more in ‘like’ with my country."

Real love is not blindly believing the object of your affection is perfect, but know the flaws and still care deeply anyway. I love my country, without question! Flaws and all. I know we always strive to be better.

I wish I felt such certainty. Sure, it makes life less interesting and nuanced, and absolute conviction can lead to dangerous extremism, but I suspect it makes people happier. I'll never experience the joy of Hannity-level patriotism. I'm the type who always wonders if some other idea or place or system is better and I'm missing out. And, as I figured out shortly after meeting my wife, that is no way to love.

Will Stein change his love of country? I doubt it.

Another revelation that I ran across:

As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God
Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa's biggest problem - the crushing passivity of the people's mindset

Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.

This is coming from someone who grew up in Africa.

Whenever we entered a territory worked by missionaries, we had to acknowledge that something changed in the faces of the people we passed and spoke to: something in their eyes, the way they approached you direct, man-to-man, without looking down or away. They had not become more deferential towards strangers - in some ways less so - but more open.

Like Stein above, I have to wonder if Parris after having an epiphany, will change?

No, I don't. They will continue to look for a new way to express love of country or that religion hasn't a proven message that should be heeded. They will go through life unsatisfied. Always feeling that there is an answer just around the corner that will allow them to prove they were right by rejecting the basic ideals that drug mankind into enlightenment. We aren't perfect, never will be, but we strive forward, looking to the past for where we screwed up, so as not to repeat the mistake, but also to remember the things we did that were right and good.

We'll finish this up on a lighter note.

I love hockey....BUT....when they had the lockout, they lost me. I've got football (a post coming on why no football posts this year at the end of the season) which takes up enough of the year, but I stumbled into this video. If there are going to be more plays like this, I may consider getting out my Kings jersey again.

Jesus and John Wayne

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas. Mine was quiet. The wife is in Montana and what's left of my family is in Oregon, so it was just me, my boy and the animals.

My heater crapped out a while ago so it's pretty damn cold, we've figured out the insulation on the house is pretty good, but it's working in reverse. It's colder inside than it is outside. I was going to make a fire, I have a really cool brick mantled fireplace that if you get those bricks heated up, the heat will last radiate for two days...but my boy and his friends burned all my firewood in a little fire pot in the backyard over the summer.

Due to covering a vacation an extra shift and two holidays, that I didn't work for a change (good paycheck 40 hours OT), I've got the repairman coming Tuesday to fix it.

Which brings me to "Jesus and John Wayne". I don't do well in the cold, and it's been freezing, so Christmas was quick this year, just Merry Christmas and Chris ran off to his friends house that have heat, and I jumped back into bed with a big comforter and the dog and cat. AMC was running a John Wayne marathon, so I just let that run in the background because I love those movies, but have seen them hundreds of times and would let my mind drift onto the meaning of the day.

I was able to recall all those Christmas' past, the gatherings at relative's houses on Christmas Eve. My Dad's side of the family was spread all over hell and gone, so we didn't gather as a clan on his side, and my Mom's side was more like a formal dinner party.

But way, way back, we had two other Christmas parties that were more like what Christmas should be.

One was my parents circle of friends from the different places they worked over the years. Lots of kids, lot's of drinking (by the adults), lot's of laughter.

The other Christmas gathering, that I remember most fondly was given every year by close friends of my parents, "Uncle Bob" and "Tante Rae". Bob worked with my Dad from right after the war in aerospace, and he had married Rae who was quite a bit older than him and had a grown child, but Rae loved children and every year would have a gathering of her friends kids. This was a party for the kids.

It was Christmas carols and stories. Sugar cookies and Pfeffernüsse. Angel chimes and love.

Over the years the real celebration of the day has waxed and waned for me. I go from despising the commercialism and giving up on the holiday, to trying to reach back and reclaim Tante Rae's message of what a special day this is and you should enjoy it for it's own sake It is so much more than "us".

I'll leave with this, not a Christmas song, per se, but one of my favorites and fitting.



Celtic Woman - Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring (live)

Pet Peeves and Helping A Friend

The Imperial Tech Wizard over at the Rott is setting up the site for the new year and is running a test on the server. He's asking us to post as much as we can to test the server so glitches show up now rather than when we need it. I've been trying to swing by and post something when I get the chance and I got this little rant and decided to save it for proserity

LC cmblake6 sez:

$1.499 Here on base!

Round here we call that $1.50. :em93:

That is one thing about the oil industry I can’t stand. People drive by and go “Oh, it’s $1.49″,. NO! it’s not. I know it’s just a penny, but with a 30 gallon tank, those pennies add up over a year.

Now that I’m on a pet peeve rant…I hate digital time too. I don’t really care if it’s 9:48 PM. It’s 10 minutes to 10, or 9:50. Hell, “it’s coming up on 10 o’clock is close enough. :em12:

And people who are late really fry my bacon. :em96: Going back to the digital time thing, if you are managing your time that closely that minutes or seconds are important, you’re probably going to be late. The guy hitting the office door at 30 seconds before shift change is an inconsiderate a**hole. The guy being relieved has to stay longer to give the shift report. I shoot for twenty minutes before being someplace, then if traffic is bad I’m 15 minutes early, if traffic sucks, I’m there 10 minutes early. If it’s a fast report, the guy I relieve is free to go…early. I’m not going to hold him there until the second hand sweeps twelve. I have one guy that relieves me, and I’m lucky to get out 25 minutes after my shift should be over. The fact that he keeps interrupting with useless crap of what he would do if he were the owner makes what should be a 10 minute discussion into 30 minutes. :em98: Heard it before and would probably do the same myself…IF!!! I were the owner.

I drive by two of the four entrances to Dodger Stadium on my commute and in 5 years, I’ve only been late twice (less than 5 minutes).

OK…I feel better. :em95:

I tried to include all kinds of things in this post. Links, bold, the quote button, smiley things.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! to all.
---------------------------------
The bolding and links and I went back and blockquoted and the smiley's (those :em?: things) didn't cross, but what the hell.

The last line was sincere.

Merry Christmas!!! We've actually got SoCal snow tonight...it's raining. ;)

11 Days

I suck at this blogging thing.

Part of it is the season. I get depressed this time of year.

Everyone gets all caught up in the "Xmas Spirit", but seem to forget what that happy feeling is suppose to be about. The getting together, the gifts, the sparkly lights are meant as a day to reflect on one thing, the birth of Jesus.

If the actual date we celebrate is off, I don't care!! We stole the date from the Druids, but like April Fool's Day, them guys thought the year started on the 1st of April (ha ha, you...fools).

I work next to the wholesale district in downtown L.A.(What do you want? Clothes electronics, jewelry, mannequins? They're on sale, buy now!!). The traffic was unbelievable. Horns honking, sirens whizzing by, a lot of stress going on that has nothing to do with the real point.

I'll pull out of my funk. It usually works out that the closer to the 25th we get, the more the other crap falls away. So after putting a dent into your good mood I offer this:

May you, your family and friends, have a very heartfelt Merry Christmas

THE WORST CHRISTMAS GIFT IN THE WORLD

When I got home this morning, I was just bouncing around the net looking at stuff and I came across this at Townhall.com:

THE WORST CHRISTMAS GIFT IN THE WORLD
Posted by: Michael Medved at 1:53 PM

At first I thought I was just going to read about some tacky crap like the Obama Victory Plate,but this one really stunned me.

Planned Parenthood, one of the nation’s most strident supporters of abortion on demand, is offering a novel Christmas present for its supporters this year: gift certificates for “reproductive services” – including abortion. The Indiana branch of the national organization suggests that families should buy generous credits to cover contraception of every kind, including abortion, and then present these certificates under the tree to grateful daughters, sisters or even wives. Can you imagine the reaction of a family member who holds a brand new abortion certificate, and chortles: “I’ve always wanted one of these!”

It’s ironic that Planned Parenthood wants to associate these services with a sacred holiday that focuses on a miraculous birth—not a termination of pregnancy. The secular left remains hopelessly out of touch with the American people and their most cherished traditions.

Remember that little sojourn in the supply closet at the office Christmas Party? Show her you remember her by giving her a gift certificate to deal with that "burden" you hadn't planned on, or if she didn't get knocked up, at least she can turn it in for the pill, or least she could have some condoms next time.

Why is it that anything religious the atheist's feel they have to mock and/or spit upon? They can't understand the simple wording of the Constitution?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Ah! The phrase that is always ignored. "Or the free exercise thereof:".

Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists is always cited as intent with the line "...I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."

His intent was was to assure the Baptists that the Constitution prohibits the US gov't or the state of Connecticut passing a law that any one religion would be made a national or state mandated religion.

If I decided to proselytize my beliefs to you against your wishes, you are free to tell me to "fuck off!" ("or abridging the freedom of speech").

That the atheists claim that they suffer depression and sleepless nights because they have to walk by a creche or menorah...give me a break. You're so upset about something you don't beleive exists?

One more thing about Christmas.

I'm sick and tired of hearing that Christmas Day isn't really the day Jesus was born on. So what!!

It's the day chosen to celebrate his birth. If more people were convinced to celebrate Christmas than the winter solstice, guess that message was more compelling.

Was MLK born on the third Tuesday of January (birth: January 15)? Does it demean him by using the wrong day? Don't know, don't care, it's the day we chose to celebrate the man.

Now I need something to cleanse my soul and get me into the Christmas spirit (not easy any year).

Somehow I Knew It was My Fault

"If you have happy thoughts, then you make happy molecules."

Blockquotes from: Deepak Blames America

By DOROTHY RABINOWITZ

Ah, the intellectual mind!

The font of wisdom that is a "healer, New Age philosopher and digestion guru, advocate of aromatherapy and regular enemas", Deepak Chopra, has pointed out the real reason for the Mumbai massacre.

In his CNN interview, he was no less clear. What happened in Mumbai, he told the interviewer, was a product of the U.S. war on terrorism, that "our policies, our foreign policies" had alienated the Muslim population, that we had "gone after the wrong people" and inflamed moderates. And "that inflammation then gets organized and appears as this disaster in Bombay."

See, I told you it was my fault. My desire to stop people that will settle for nothing less that killing or subjugating me caused these people to attack a city in India.

Funny thing though, when asked why they were doing this, the terrorists told their hostages that they should remember some mosque that was burned down decades ago.

When called on this being solely the U.S.'s fault, dr. Chopra backed up a bit...for a bit:

The Mumbai catastrophe was not Washington's fault, it was everybody's fault. Which didn't prevent Dr. Chopra from returning soon to his central theme -- the grave offense posed to Muslims by the United States' war on terror, a point accompanied by consistent emphatic reminders that Muslims are the world's fastest growing population -- 25% of the globe's inhabitants -- and that the U.S. had better heed that fact. In Dr. Chopra's moral universe, numbers are apparently central. It's tempting to imagine his view of offenses against a much smaller sliver of the world's inhabitants -- not so offensive, perhaps?

What the hell has changed here? I guess now being a major (22.4%) make up of the worlds population makes it OK to do whatever you feel you should do. I'm getting confused. They keep changing the rules on me.

A faithful adherent of the root-causes theory of crime -- mass murder, in the case at hand -- Dr. Chopra pointed out, quite unnecessarily, that most of the terrorism in the world came from Muslims. It was mandatory, then, to address their grievances -- "humiliation," "poverty," "lack of education." The U.S., he recommended, should undertake a Marshall Plan for Muslims.

Why is it our responsibility to address their grievances? Perhaps their "humiliation," "poverty," and "lack of education" have something to do with their choice to follow Islam. They send their children over here and get western educations, yet can't seem to develop anything when they get back home to better the plight of the people.

Nowhere in this citation of the root causes of Muslim terrorism was there any mention of Islamic fundamentalism -- the religious fanaticism that has sent fevered mobs rioting, burning and killing over alleged slights to the Quran or the prophet. Not to mention the countless others enlisted to blow themselves and others up in the name of God.

Well, if you mention it, they riot, burn and kill. It's another slight against them that must be avenged.

The author, Rabinowitz, sums it up:

So unworthy is the U.S. -- an attitude solidly established in our media culture long before the war on terror -- that only it can be held responsible for the deranged fantasies cherished in large quarters of the Arab world. So natural does it feel, now, to hold such views that their expression has become second nature.

Which is how it happens also that the U.S. is linked to the bloodletting in Mumbai, with scarcely anyone batting an eye, and Larry King -- awash perhaps, in happy molecules -- thanking guest Dr. Chopra for his extraordinary enlightenment.

God help us.
-------------------------------

Bonus:

A journalist who was braver than the police during the attacks. He pointed out where the terrorists were and tried to get the cops to shoot back, they didn't.

Just Music

Long night at work. Not much happened, so it was just boring and cold. I tried to watch the replay at 1 AM of the USC/Notre Dame game, but I knew the outcome so it wasn't very exciting. I read the blogs till my eyes blurred, so it was Spider solitaire and KROQ to stay awake.

When I hooked into the radio station it was playing some sort of techno/rock/rave stuff that I almost turned off, but I kept listening and kind of enjoyed it. Thought I'd give it a listen next week and see if I still could take it. Turns out it was the guys last show and he thanked all his listeners and signed off before I got any of the artists names.

The next DJ payed some good stuff. Here's a couple that I like.



Foo Fighters - Everlong (live on Letterman)

I listen to "Talk Radio" during the week, so music is only a weekend thing. This one I've heard a few times and I just like it.



Shiny Toy Guns 'GHOST TOWN'

P.S. You guys that post music videos on your blog...give a title or group. If I like it, I hate having to search for it.

What Day Is It?

I;ve lost track, depression is a bad thing. After the elections I just went into a funk that I couldn't throw. Then I found this website that I thought was saving me, it made me feel better for a while, but I stopped keeping track of the minutes adding up while I was there. Now I'm still depressed and my credit cards are maxed. These people will say anything to keep you online.

Republican Call Girl | Funny Jokes at JibJab

I Want My Relief! UPDATED

Where is it?

I bought my house 23 years ago. We tried Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but we didn't qualify, so we went with an adjustable. The interest was around 7.25%, but the payments were very affordable.

A little over a year later, the interest rates took a small jump (with economic indications of more increases to come), so we refinanced with a fixed rate. Got a decent deal and knew what our payments would be and could plan.

A few years later, the tax rules were changed so that interest on auto loans and a bunch of other things you do in everyday life couldn't be written off. We needed new cars, we had a ton of equity in the house, interest rates had dropped, so over the next few years, we pulled some of the equity out got decent vehicles, added a little to the home loan (tax deductible)and moved on with life.

I'm now separated from my now minimally waged wife (income cut in half), with all the same responsibilities, plus some debts that were a...surprise. When I signed those contracts, I didn't know that these things were going to happen! It isn't fair.

I've muddled through, so far. I'm paying off what I can when I can. I just deal with it one thing at a time. Once something is gone, I move to the next. Constant stress, but I keep hoping that there are no new things popping up. It's got to stop somewhere.

I had the privilege of listening to Maxine Waters today telling me that people who signed contracts saying they didn't understand them, or what could happen if interest rates go up. She informed me that due to lack of regulation, it wasn't their fault.

Let's go see what was said:
(Maxine starts at 2:00 and runs thu 3:18, but you really should watch the whole thing)




I was yelling at the TV so loud that I scared my dog.

I then got to hear a Republican(?) Rep from Michigan try to tell me that giving money to the auto companies is in my best interest.

(paraphrased)

Cavuto: Why should the taxpayer give their money to a failing company to continue?

Representative: It's not their money.

Say What?

From what I've read, about $3,000 of that 1 trillion is mine. $6,000 with my (still) wife. Either I pay it all now, or they just print more dollars that are worth 5% less...which will work out great for me trying to get out of my personal debt...what's another 5% added on?

I'm seriously considering not paying my mortgage for three months so that I can get the gov't to reduce my payments. Damn stupid of me to play by the rules of personal responsibility and to pay off any debt I incurred. I didn't understand everything in the multitude of pages I signed or initialed during refinancing...but I'm just a dumb oilfield worker, not a lawyer, so how can they hold me to it. The three biggest corporations in the world, with all their lawyers couldn't foresee signing contracts with the UAW would bankrupt them? Why do they get gov't money to correct their mistake, but not me?

I've lost faith in my country's ability to face up to missteps. When the market doesn't go they way they want, it's the fault of somebody else. Nobody told them that the economy cycles? After way too many years of an up market, nobody expected a down correction?

I bought my house at around 100K (I felt it was overpriced, but I loved and wanted to live in my home turf), and last year was it would list at around 550K...pretty good return. I didn't foresee this either. If I don't weather my current storm and have to sell my house, I'll still come out OK. I bought at a good time and survived long enough. Luck!

My Uncle gave me some of the best advice when I was around 16 and becoming aware of the stock market. He said "Never invest money that you can't afford to lose."

UPDATE:

I couldn't find the video of that asshole cogresscritter telling us "It isn't our money" at first, but ran across it at Hot Air this morning. This guy lost his reelection bid, but I bet the guy replacing him has big plans for HIS money also.

As Reality Rears It's Head

Am I surprised? Not at all. That it started so quickly did.

As I've been cruising around the web the last couple of days I've noticed a consistant theme t coming out of the Obambi camp and the Dhimmi Congresscritters..."We may not be able to deliver what we promised."

Let's start with the President-elect.

Back in June 2007:

“While we’re at it,” he said, “we’re going to close Guantanamo. And we’re going to restore habeas corpus. … We’re going to lead by example _ by not just word but by deed. That’s our vision for the future.

Now that he would be the one responsible for jihadi's running around the country the message from his team:

“You can’t be a purist and say there’s never any circumstance in which a democratic society can preventively detain someone,” said one civil liberties lawyer, David D. Cole, a Georgetown law professor who has been a critic of the Bush administration.

How about those changes in the tax codes to redistribute money to those less fortunate lazier? Our old friend Charlie Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees tax policy has a little epiphany:

New York Representative Charles Rangel said he’s revising his tax overhaul proposal to reduce U.S. corporate tax rates to 28 percent, down from the current rate of 35 percent.

Although like most of what comes out of Rangel's mouth he leaves out the details that contradict what he just said:

In July 2007, the Treasury Department said the U.S. could reduce the corporate tax rate to 25 percent by eliminating popular benefits such as a research credit and a deduction for making products domestically.

Rangel two months later also recommended repealing the deduction for domestic production, other incentives that primarily benefit multinational corporations, as well as tax benefits associated with a popular accounting method known as last-in, first-out.

So, they lower the taxes, but remove deductions for the things they want accomplished.

No deduction for research? How do they plan on getting companies to invest in developing all those new green energy systems?

No deduction for domestic production? Bye-bye domestic jobs.

And just for grins and giggles, let's not forget out esteemed Goddard Institute for Space Studies announcement that last month was the warmest October on record.

Really? Turns out they don't have, nor can they guarantee that they can get accurate figures to punch into their computers to predict the weather. What do they do, they reuse old data or just make up what they beleive it should be. Even in the face of facts that counter what they "feel".

The error was so glaring that when it was reported on the two blogs - run by the US meteorologist Anthony Watts and Steve McIntyre, the Canadian computer analyst who won fame for his expert debunking of the notorious “hockey stick” graph - GISS began hastily revising its figures. This only made the confusion worse because, to compensate for the lowered temperatures in Russia, GISS claimed to have discovered a new “hotspot” in the Arctic - in a month when satellite images were showing Arctic sea-ice recovering so fast from its summer melt that three weeks ago it was 30 per cent more extensive than at the same time last year.

They lie, then when caught, make up a new lie, only to be caught again. Management at GISS needs to go now!

It's been two weeks since the elections and the Dems are feeling the heat from how the world works in reality. I don't think they believed any of the crap they spewed during the last two years, they knew if they could put off the collapse of the mortgage industry and confuse the populous long enough about what caused it, they could win by promising everything to everybody.

This whole thing reminds me of a little ditty from "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas".

Decompression

I haven't been on the net at all for the last week. I'm on "vacation", had six days (10 tacking on my long change)to use and running out of year all ready. I can't afford to go anywhere or do much, it it's really just been some time away from work and trying to spend a little time with the boy.

Nailing Chris down is hard. He's trying to see all his friends, and his recruiter is constantly calling about this paperwork or that test. On his aptitude(?)test he got a 94 out of 99. Last night they hauled him off to Ft. Irwin overnight for his physical. If he passes this, I guess it's just wait until he has to report in January.

He's got his specialty reserved and will be doing Basic at Ft. Benning then on to Ft. Rucker for his training. We have close family friends in Birmingham and New Orleans, which is a good thing.

Myself, I just haven't been in the mood for anything political. Little news and less internet. From now until the inauguration I don't see anything really big happening. The Dems may try to push through some stuff, but I think the Repubs will fight it off until it can be completely dumped on the Dems.

Last week my "check engine" light came on, then started flashing. It was "just" my spark plug wires, I say "just" because a new set cost $130 + labor. Two days later the damn check engine light came on again, luckily that was just a hose that got knocked loose during the wire change and fell off. No charge for the fix, but the stress of more truck troubles wasn't what I needed.

Election Day And So Much More

Note: I started writing this prior to the election. When you get to the line, that is the day after the election.


Today we're voting for a new President.

There are so many things I could say to try to sway you to my side of the argument that would just be political. I now have something that is much more important to me.

My son, Chris, enlisted in the Army yesterday.



He just turned 20, he's an adult, and he has the right to decide what to do with his life. Since he was 10 he has been interested in the military. I had taken him to Air Shows since he was 2, but from when he was old enough to understand, I never said that that military was the only way to go.

In High School, he went through JROTC, and he (now tells me) planned on going in right after graduation, but he was "in love" with a (smart, good, parent approved) girl, and she didn't want him to go away. So he didn't.

With only a HS education and not knowing what he wanted to do, he got a crap job and as a floor stocker then cashier at a local department store. They managed to always schedule him for 38 1/2 hours a week, so no benefits. They kept dumping more responsibility on him with no compensation until he said enough is enough.

He quit, and while I don't believe in leaving a job without somewhere else to go, I understood. He spent the next 9 months looking for jobs. He basically lived off what he had saved for everything outside of room and board, but the responses he started getting lately was that "No hiring until February and even then, they may lay people off". Just the prospect of a Obambi election was killing expansion.

------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm doubly afraid today.

I now live in a country who's people have decided that they want the gov't to make all those hard decisions for them. The fact that, like all gov't programs, that we will only get .30 return on the dollar (if lucky), well, don't bother them with the details, it'll be "free".

My son is going into the military. I'm am still very proud of his choice, but now I fear for him. Obambi is going to gut the military budget, yet...I'm willing to bet...commit them to "blue helmet" conflicts with no set ROE or real goal. I just wonder, is he going to throw us into the middle of Darfur with the rule of "don't hurt anyone"...or maybe "help out" in the stability of Kenya, by shoring up Obambi's family ties there?

And the left kept telling us that overthrowing a dictator that killed an average of 2,000 people a day, every day for twenty years, wasn't justified. Want to know what real torture is like, go here. (WARNING: GRAPHIC)

Vote Early!!!

Obambi is not a good closer. At first I was wondering why there was such a big push from his campaign to vote early!!! Get your vote in now!!! Don't wait!!!

As was shown in the primaries, Teh One almost let Hillary pull it out at the end. It's happening again. Obambi was up 16 points last week and now with just 5 days left, McVain has closed to about 2 points (within the margin of error).

There are quite a few things that could have caused this.

The shackles being taken of Sarah Palin and letting her do what the VP nominee is suppose to do, challenge the other side.

Maybe "Joe the Plumber" struck a chord with some younger people just starting out and do not appreciate the message of "If you make too much more than everyone else, WE will take that "extra" money and give it to someone who didn't feel like working as hard as you...and where that line of "too much" is is in doubt. It seems to get lower as time moves on, 250K, 200K, 150k...where's it going to settle?

I've heard that these numbers have been out there all the time, they just didn't specify which particular tax classification they were using. These are the guys who we expect to state our goals to other countries. There can be no doubt about what you're saying when dealing with foreign countries. Obambi can't count on the press digging them out or hiding what they said in those circumstances, and he's got to keep in mind, his VP would be "Mr. Gafftastic".

Personally, I beleive that the earlier polls were completely made up (i.e. weighted on bad data), the MSM held out as long as they could with polls shifted to the Dems, to discourage the Right, that they will look like complete idiots if the vote runs closer to where it stands now. If they stuck with the 16 point lead for Teh One up to Monday, and the popular vote ends up 46/48 either way, any believability in fairness would be proven even to the densest among us.

The votes that went in early missed all the info that comes out in the last week. A lot of it is BS, but some of it is when the candidates slip and say what they didn't want to let out yet. I have to wonder about those who voted weeks ago wish they could have that vote back?

BowieFest

David Bowie has got to be my favorite artist. My high school years were spent trying to convince my friends how great he was. They wanted another version of the last album and I loved his always changing style. I got into him during the Ziggy Stardust period, but didn't see him until he was into "The Thin White Duke". There were a lot of people dressed up as Glam Rockers (Ziggy) while David came out with in a Zoot Suit. I missed this song for a long time for some reason, but the first time I heard it I feel in love with it. Ziggy means a lot to me, the album was a whole story, but this song...the simple guitar riff and vocals for the chorus...



"The Man Who Sold The World"

And here's Ziggy again, just to show why I love this song so much:



This is the song that really showed me what a voice he had. "Wild Is The Wind" written by Dimitri Tiomkin:



Let's not forget "Station To Station":



Finally, just because I could keep posting this song and, oh yeah, that song, I'm going to close with "The Bewlay Brothers" for now.



I'll get in another BowieFest mood somtime, so you can look forward to more.

Capt. Kirk Redux

I love it!!!



I stole this from Blackiswhite, who stole it from here.

An Investment Plan I Can Get Behind

I was sent to this site by a false internet friend to look at something and while I was there I ran across this:

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Delta Airlines one year ago, you would have $49 today.

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in AIG one year ago, you would have $33 today.

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Lehman Brothers one year ago, you would have $0 today.

But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the aluminum cans for the recycling refund, you would have received $214.

Based on the above, the best current investment plan is to drink heavily & recycle. It is called the 401-Keg.

A recent study found that the average American walks about 900 miles a year. Another study found that Americans drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year. That means that, on average, Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon.

I figured my MPG just for work, which involves a lot of walking and adjusted for my beer consumption, I average about 35.5 MPG. Hope that meets the CAFE standards.

I Am Joe

Amazing!!

That the Obamamedia fears a normal everyday guy asking Teh One a simple question about his tax plan.

It wasn't really the question that bothered them, it was the answer their candidate gave. The easiest way to push attention away form that answer was to attack the guy that asked the question.

ACORNholed

How ACORN keeps getting grants to register voters is beyond me. Every election they have been involved in they have been charged with filing false registrations, 1,000's of them. This time, no difference. They are under investigation in 15 states, all of them a battleground state that will probably decided which way the election tips.

Every year it's the same excuse of it's just a "few" bad apples and they, themselves point out some of the shady looking ones. I don't buy it any more, and this year more than any other. They point out enough to look like they're policing themselves, but while they get the county boards of election looking here at a few dozen "questionable" registrations, they shove through 100's over there.

It looks like a scheme to just overwhelm the system during the last few weeks and that there is no way for the states to comply. If(?)the investigations continue past November and it's found out that 1000's of people voted twice or voted that shouldn't have and the final race is close, how legitimate can the elections be?

I fear the next month because of this and a topic that my friend Blackiswhite is covering on his blog. Berg v. Obama Update.

These two things alone could lead to a Constitutional crisis that has never been experienced before.

Blue State?

Yeah I live in Kalifornia and I hate the political scene here, but in spite of what everything you hear and/or think about us, there is a significant number of people living here that are conservative. When you get out of the cities along the coast and into reality, the state becomes very red. (I swear the MSM made the Republicans red just to piss us off) Look at this county map of the state.



I really think that proximity to the ocean does something to your brain unless you're very careful.

Yesterday Sarah Palin came to my home town (if you'd be willing to accept the L.A. basin as a "home town") and was greeted by overflow crowds.



Yes it was overflowing. There was overflow into the soccer stadium next door. If I'd known she was going to be so close, I would have gone. Carson is only about 15 minutes from where I work.

Another pic to show that it wasn't just everyone they could find to stand behind her.



I know it's conventional wisdom that we are all a bunch of moonbats out here on the Left Coast, but don't condemn us all. There are those of us just born into our lot. Offer me a decent job in Texas, and I'm outta here next week.

There are lots of things that I really love about L.A., but as time has moved on, there are so many things about this city and this state that I can't stand, so I'm willing to abandon ship and just leave it to the socialists. Thirty years of trying and I'm about worn out.

For the story from someone who was there, go to The Blog @ Spolitics: Palin Rocks the House in SoCal

Housecleaning

Just goofing today.

Did some housecleaning on this site. Had some things that were driving me crazy, so I figured out how to fix them. Nothing anyone is going notice but me, but every time I ran into these little glitches I'd just get a little angrier about not catching them before it got stuck in here.

I wanted to customize my header with a Pic...Text...Pic, but it got to complicated for me to work on today.

I've added a poll to the sidebar. I'll update when I feel like it.

Four and a half weeks until the damn election. I know how I want to vote, I could just go absentee, but that wouldn't shut up the talking heads on TV. I can't get away from it.

I have listened to the debates and will try to catch the last two, but that will be just to see if either of our esteemed Presidential nominees manages to screw up bad enough to flush his chance (I can hope can't I...leave me something to live for!).

I'm wondering that if McCain loses, if Palin will be around in 2012. A combo of Palin and Jindal might not be a bad ticket. Even if McCain wins Palin/Jindal '12 wouldn't be bad.



Future President of the United States.

F*ck Yeah!!!

(Sorry I caught part of Team America last night.)

The Obama Youth Movement: UPDATED

I'm sure most of you have seen the exploitation of children that the supporters of Nobama have gone to: "We're sorry, this video is no longer available". It's been pulled, guess the rumbles of using children singing about the "Great Leader" made them realize they'd pushed the 'Cult of Obama" too far.

Update: (before posting: actually, it's still available, just designated as "This is a private video. If you have been sent this video, please make sure you accept the sender's friend request."

If I can find it again, and I will, I'll update.
----------------------
UPDATED:Found the bastard. I knew someone would grab it before it disappeared didn't exist.


----------------------
The two other songs this was compared to were:

From Cabaret: Tomorrow Belongs to Me

and Children Palace


I put these on to give background to this next video. I will admit that if you read the info next to the video at YouTube, the Asst. Dean, when contacted about this video

He assured me that they stopped this "regiment" because they felt the person who was organizing it was pushing his political agenda.

He then asked me, nicely, "what's the main concern? Because I want to understand where you're coming from so that I can figure out how to handle this."

Nicely, I told him that the video looked militant. I told him about the Colburn School video and how it resembles propaganda films from Communist dictatorships. I told him that the US military is frowned upon for going to high schools trying to recruit potential grads into joining their ranks. Why shouldn't we frown upon those who come to a school like yours to encourage kids to worship a politician? One who is not even a president.

I also said that if this was done to make kids feel better about themselves, why do it in the name of Obama? Why not encourage kids to believe in the power of themselves?

Why not indeed? I was always led to believe that the individual was the focus of the liberal party. No longer, I guess. It's sacrificing your self for the good of your neighbors, or I will achieve great things in the name of "this man", and all things I achieve will be because of him alone. If he hadn't existed, I would be nothing, because we know that without the "Great Leader" there was nothing and I had nothing to inspire me to push myself that extra inch.

TGIF

This was one of the picts tied to an Email sent to me today about a hamburger joint in Chandler, Az. Damn, I was in Phoenix just 3 weeks ago. Would have gone by, if I knew it was there. My host in Phoenix will hear about this oversight.

Here's their site: Heart Attack Grill (Sound on for the theme song.)

That was something I needed to run into today. Work hasn't been bad, but the crap going on with the bailout of the sub-prime companies has kept my blood pressure up at the limits. I now have 2 2/3 days off before my stint on graveyard shift.

Other things I ran into.

This is great: Evolution of Wedding Dance. Look like a fun loving couple. (Peruse the site, Deej has got some great stuff there)

This was inspired by the viral video: Evolution of Dance

I mentioned above the Sub-prime debacle going on, well not to be outdone, there is this fun piece of news I got this morning:


Villaraigosa to unveil L.A. housing plan
The mayor will propose a $5-billion, five-year effort to build homes for the poor and middle class. But some wonder whether it is feasible.

I ain't one of the ones wondering if it's feasible. This city can't keep it's hospitals open, the roads repaired, the tax increase that was suppose to hire more cops got diverted to gang programs that I wrote about earlier: Why Is L.A. Going Down The Crapper?. Now we are going to build "affordable housing"? We never learn. New modern tenements to warehouse the poor. By the time these things fall apart, Mayor (and "former" gang member) Villaraigosa will be long gone...along with his kickbacks.

Hell!!! Now I'm mad again.

I need a happy thought...

I'm going to meet a fellow Rottie at a shooting range in just over a week.. He sent me a list of his guns, and outside of the uniqueness of my black powders, he's got me beat. I'm going to owe him a beer.

I'll close with a song. Most of you (that would be you 7 of twelve) won't like this, but I'm not posting for you. It's got something catchy about it and it's the most requested song on the music station I listen to. Give it a chance and you may get one of them earworms. If you hate it, I didn't post it for you, I just hope it's there years down the road if I ever stumble into this again, I'll wipe the spittle from my chin and go "What the hell?", kinda like when I thought "The Knack" were hot.



Paper Airplanes by MIA

A Good Time Was had By All

I had a major jolt of OT on my paycheck last week so I decided it was time to spend something on me for a change. I hadn't been to a gun store in close to a year and I was down to enough ammo to fight off a first assault.

I posted this at the Rott to see if they could advise me on possible next steps and I'm going to just paste it here.

Back from the toy store.

Got to caress some .45 Kimbers. The salesman handed me a stainless and I told him that while balanced it just felt heavy, so he showed me the UltraCarry (Aluminium frame), felt nice, but I bet you have to make sure the thing is spotless after firing or the pits start to happen. He also told me you don’t know exactly what color it will be, when they blue it, it can come out anywhere from green to dark blue. He also showed me a version that that was colored like a rattlesnake. They were all way too cool, but I can’t afford over $1000 for a pistol.

The main point for going was to find a conceal weapon. The only .40 that they had that was small and very very light. I figure every time I shoot it I’d have to bring my aim back from 45 degrees due to kick. It was a Kahr who I know nothing about, and when he said “until you put minimum of 300 rounds through it, it will jam. (No go)

We then looked at some .38’s and as a carry weapon, the hammerless revolvers look good. They are much thinner than I thought, and no hammer, no added catch on clothing.

I did pick up a brick of .22 ammo (I’ve got plenty, but now we can go always psycho at the range with it if we want), target rounds for the 12 ga. (There had been a run on 00). 120 rounds .40 JHP, some to run through at the range (new brand) and some for…being available. They were out of wad cutters, so I go back Tuesday to pick up a box of 00 and some target rounds for the pistol.

I wonder if other people are getting edgy, I’ve never seen this store run out of things.

If any of you GLP’s (Gun Loving Psychos) here have suggestions, I am a more than an willing student. I’m not rich, so “you can’t go wrong with Kimber” isn’t what I need. I’ll pay for a good piece of machinery that does what it’s suppose to do, but my initial budget from what I looked at today, is set around the around +/- $500 range. I’ll pay the limit if someone can convince me it’s worth it.

I asked if they were going to stock the XM25 soon, I doesn’t look promising for the near future.
==========
If anyone here has suggestions, I always open.

Earworm Outbreak

I came down with a few earworms today. I'd just shake one out and other would wiggle into it's place. I haven't heard the songs lately that I remember. I was at work for 11 hours by myself today and it was like a loop of these songs wouldn't go away. Let me try to exorcise my demons.

This one hit me about 4:30 this morning while I was waiting for the sun to come up so I could get going on my project. During the week I listen to talk radio and on the weekends I listen KROQ which is newer stuff, like what my 19 yo boy listens to, so why a song from the '80's would pop up befuddles me.



"Goodbye To You"
Patty Smyth and Scandal, damn she was hot. If i had to chose between her and Pat Benetar, I couldn't do it. Great voices, great bodies and a real presence, you feel like they are really enjoying singing that song for the 500 time.

The next one I probably did catch on the radio not too long ago.



"Pork and Beans"

Weezer. To tell the truth I Have a hell of a time finding the newer stuff on YouTube. I don't listen to the DJ's so song titles and groups are not known, I just know if I like the song or not. To find the videos, I have to recite lines from the song or, G-d forbid, have to sing or hum phrases to my son and see if he can guess. He really likes it when I do this when friends are over.

The last one isn't really a "song". It's just something that I ran across yesterday and it got stuck in the rotation.



"Funny Obama Song"

I love this song, but even at 1:37, this version is a little long. If you didn't watch the whole thing, I won't blame ya. It's really only mildly funny, but I didn't ask to have it worm into my head.

Let's see if I can find the great version....Ah Yeah, here it is.



"Muppets - Mahna Mahna"

May one of these be transfered to your ear now and relieve me of my burden.

Fuuunnny!!!

Where the hell did this week go? Work is ...well, not bad, but I guess has kept me busy.

My friend, Cheapshot911 (he's a fellow Rottie, so I will make the assumption he's my friend) posted this:



I took karate in my youth, but I know now that it's best to keep it a secret till absolutely necessary. The more you tip your hand, the harder you get smacked.

ThingsThat Had To Be Done

I'm not writing anything on a topic tonight because I've ignored too many of my friends sites for too long.

I've tried to get around to some of them and post a comment to let them know I still care. It got late and I'm not going to start a post now.

This Is Comedy???

This is the promo for her show!

If these are the highlights of what she's going to be covering, I don't think that outside of L.A. and N.Y. she's going to sell a lot of tickets. I couldn't listen to this bitch for 90 minutes let alone pay the $40 dollars or whatever for the privilege of being there to hear this shit.

Listening to this clip, I can't decided if she's drunk, brain addled or just so full of hated for the human race she can't contain herself. I think I'll opt for the latter.

Like Linda Ronstadt (Political controversy), she isn't and doesn't hold a divine handle on what's wrong with the world, and we aren't going to pay money to have you tell us how to think. We paid you to entertain us. Do the job you were hired for. Yes, it may be hard for you to grasp, but I paid you to perform a certain function. Once I bought the ticket, you were employed by me. You made me laugh with your insight on the stupid things in life last time , or you made emotions well up with your song on that CD, but you don't realize that you are just an entertainer, don't start lecturing me on how to think. If you want to do that, at least make it funny or insightful. I could get up on stage and start rambling about how I hate someone or something right now. If that's all it take to be "special", I guess I missed my calling, because I hate everyone and everything.

Feh!

The last two days at work have been...frustrating.

Not bad, not good. Not getting ahead, but not falling behind. Just a lot of walking trying to figure out an adjustment to make on some piece of equipment that would at least let me feel like I accomplished something beside maintaining our meager status quo.

I was talking to my relief tonight about the work we use to do 20-25 years ago in the oil field (I still have all my fingers)and while this job can be a bitch, we wouldn't want to go back to "the good old days", but it got me thinking about "those days" on my drive home and it made me remember this song by Madonna.

I'm not a Madonna fan, but I like some of her songs and don't think about her politics when listening. The exteriors of this video were shot on property that belonged to the company I worked for. As a favor to the employees, the owner would insist that a company rep (me) had to be on site during filming paid by the filming company. Long hours of boredom watching them shoot the same scene over and over (the kiss at 3:24...I watched them film it about 5 times, then went to dinner...good food...sat around and BS'ed with the cops on "crowd control", went back....and they were still filming the same kiss), followed by intense chaos of the crew moving everything for the next shot. I talked to Madonna, she just showed up next to me before I realized who she was (she's a dink, I'm 6'2" and she didn't even come up to my shoulder). The closing scene of her and the kid dancing up the street, if you look at the trees on the right side of the street, you can see some movement. There were probably about 50 people from the neighborhood behind those trees.

Our big starring moment comes at 3:45, that's our oil well.



If you ever rep for a company during a film shoot, bring a lawn chair and a book. I've worked a few and it's boring as hell.

Cavuto v O'Reilly On Gas Prices

HT: Hot Air

I like Cavuto. He seems to be very up with business and how it affect politics and can explain it well.

O'Reilly, I can take him or leave him. He was my original draw to Fox News, but I tired of him over the years. Now I'll leave it running if he's on, but I don't schedule my day around him.

One area that O'Reilly pushes my buttons is when he goes off on oil. Here's a video with Neil and Bill going at it:



I love how Cavuto quietly explains how Bill is picking numbers that fit his position and ignoring those he doesn't like. Bill starts raising his voice to prove his point saying he likes "these numbers", even though they relate to different periods. Neil quietly tells Bill to "stop yelling at me".

Bill's big point was that oil prices have dropped 33% and we haven't seen a 33% drop in the price of gas. One thing that was pointed out and Bill didn't want to hear was that even though the price of oil had increased threefold, the price of gas had not even doubled.

I buy gas also. I have the same heart attack as everyone else when I fill up. Hell I've got a 30 gallon tank on my truck and if I don't catch it before 1/4 tank, at $4.00/gal.,the damn pump cuts me off before full ($100). I've also worked in gas stations, the cents they make on each gallon has to be able to pay for the next load coming in. The price drops slower that it goes up because you have to guess what that next load is going to cost.

I haven't seen a 33% decrease in the price, but it had gone down 28% as of last week when I bought gas, but the price of oil shot up $2 today after dropping $10 over the previous two days. You tell me what the dealer is going to pay for the some thousand gallons of gas he's ordered so you can make snide comments to the poor SOB working the cash register.

Why I'm So Damn Sick of the Elections

The primaries ran what? About 3 years? If it was a strategy to make the populace just bore and sick of the whole thing, it seems to have worked with me.

I decided how I was going to vote at the end of the conventions, and now I just wish we could cast our vote and get the thing over with.

For the last couple of days I have been listening to the Dhimicrats gloat over how bad the economy is and how we can't afford 4 more years of the policies that got us into this shit.

They just forget to mention the facts behind the collapse of Bear Sterns and the collapse and bailout of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG.

What was the Bush policy on Fannie and Freddie? (From the NY Times Sept. 11, 2003)

The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.

Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.

The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies. It would exercise authority over any new lines of business. And it would determine whether the two are adequately managing the risks of their ballooning portfolios.

The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt — is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates.

Whoa!!! We can't have that! Imagine the nerve of trying to rein in a runaway train 5 years before it hits the wall. Surely the Dhimicrats foresaw the problem also.

Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.

”These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ”The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”

Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.

”I don’t see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,” Mr. Watt said.

Either they really didn't see it coming, or they were just using their usual playbook and giving "free" money to people to win the next election. Whichever it was, can we afford four years of a continuation of this type of planning and policy?

It goes back way further, back to our old buddy Clinton. (from IBD)

But it was the Clinton administration, obsessed with multiculturalism, that dictated where mortgage lenders could lend, and originally helped create the market for the high-risk subprime loans now infecting like a retrovirus the balance sheets of many of Wall Street’s most revered institutions.

Tough new regulations forced lenders into high-risk areas where they had no choice but to lower lending standards to make the loans that sound business practices had previously guarded against making. It was either that or face stiff government penalties.

The untold story in this whole national crisis is that President Clinton put on steroids the Community Redevelopment Act, a well-intended Carter-era law designed to encourage minority homeownership. And in so doing, he helped create the market for the risky subprime loans that he and Democrats now decry as not only greedy but “predatory.”

Yes, the market was fueled by greed and overleveraging in the secondary market for subprimes, vis-a-vis mortgaged-backed securities traded on Wall Street. But the seed was planted in the ’90s by Clinton and his social engineers. They were the political catalyst behind this slow-motion financial train wreck.

And it was the Clinton administration that mismanaged the quasi-governmental agencies that over the decades have come to manage the real estate market in America.

The Demorats set it up in the '90's and when Bush tried to correct it, they told Bush he was racist, denying affordable housing to the poor and minorities. Now that their homes are foreclosed and their credit is fubar, I bet they'd really thank their protectors on the left side of the aisle, not to mention how trilled I am to pay part of the mortgage they never should have had in the first place.

When they raise my taxes to pay this fiasco off, there is a good chance I may not be able to meet my obligations, so the situation won't be getting better. It'll most likely get worse being we're already committed to the bailouts.

On top of this, WTF is the gov't doing pledging to cover housing for a month for the people of Texas that were displaced by the hurricane? Since I was born, I've heard the rest of the U.S. bitch at me about if I live in an earthquake zone and get hit, I deserve the grief. We get a quake that does damage about every 10 years. You asshats that live in hurricane and tornado country get nailed how many time EVERY year? And then go right back into the same place and rebuild, but don't worry, we'll bail you out again next year.

World...Hell...Hand basket. I think it's already been assembled.

Rip Van Winkle Impersonation

After the fine welcome back the site gave me, things just got better.

I didn't disappear over the last couple of days, I was asleep.

We had to take a 3 day HAZWOPER class to be certified as first responders to any oil spill. Normally I don't mind taking a class, but this time it sucked. I'm working graveyard so my schedule Sunday though Thursday was this:

9PM to 5AM: Work

5AM to 8AM: Sleep in my truck on site.

8AM to 4PM: Class

4PM to 9PM: Drive home, grab something to eat, sleep, get up and get stuff together for work, go back to work.

I got about 4 1/2 to 5 hours sleep broken up, which didn't seem to do any good. I use to be able to do things like this, but no longer. When I got home Thursday morning, I was so tired I couldn't go to sleep, so I goofed around until about noon, then laid down and left the world for 24 hours straight.

The problem with sleeping that long is that you want to keep on sleeping. Saturday was a total waste as I couldn't work up enough energy to do anything. So today, it's catch up day. Laundry, grocery shopping, house cleaning, bill paying.

I don't return to work until Tuesday afternoon, so life may return to what I consider normal by then.

9/11/2008

My God! It's been seven years since we were attacked on our home turf.

I'm torn about my feeling as we cross this anniversary.

The good:

We are safer than we were in 2001.

We did major damage to the assholes that hit us.

Iraq looks like it on the verge of becoming a stable country and we can start to draw down our troop strength.

They put out two 37 ft. beams that will be used as a memorial to the people that were murdered on 9/11 that the public can sign in tribute.

The Bad:

A lot of our Safety is cosmetic like Airport Security which is mainly for show. Grandma gets strip searched because of her underwire bra, while Accchhhmed cruises through because if you stop more than every 18th person of "indiscriminate nationality" you're racial profiling.

The assholes for allah that we didn't whack, cockroached across the border of Pakistan and set up bases there. (Though I read yesterday that we are hitting them with Predators and now sending SpecOps across the border to engage them and fuck the do nothing Pakistani gov't.)

It took six years for our gov't to commit to the fact that if you're going to fight a war, you go in with overwhelming force and kill the enemy.

It took seven years for us to get our act together and just start on the project that will "show that the U.S. will overcome this and build something bigger and better".

I'm tired. It's been a looong week at work (details to follow). I haven't had anything that would approximate enough sleep for four days now and my head feels like it's stuffed with cotton.

I'll close out with two videos that bring tears to my eyes every time I see them, both are listed as Permanent Posts on the right sidebar.

First Darryl Worley, "Have You Forgotten?"



And finally this:

Never Forgive, Never Forget.

May all our soldiers return home victorious and whole, and may God Bless America.

Why Did I Come Back?!!?

I had a marvelous vacation! More things to do than we had time for, but 6 days with my two closest friends and their overly understanding wives. Typically we guys acted like we were back in college again and I'm not sure about them, but I'm still sore and tired three days later.

An added bonus to the trip was I got to see my godson who was, by luck, out for the holiday from New Orleans. He was safe in Phoenix while hurricane Gustav hit Louisiana. Of course he was suppose to fly back on Monday, but with the airport closed and the city still shut down, he couldn't get home until Thursday night (broke his Mom's heart having him home three extra days).

I hadn't realized how long it had been since I had driven to Phoenix until I got outside of San Bernardino and the speed limit jumped to 70 MPH. Last time I drove, we were still stuck with the 55 limit. Arizona had to do us one better and when I crossed the state line, their limit was 75 MPH. With the truck on cruise control and staying around the speed limit, I was there in 6 hours, including one stop for breakfast and one stop for gas.

My hosts had just had a pool installed that is 4 1/2 feet deep...designed for pool volleyball, and did we play a lot of volleyball. I can hardly lift my arms over my shoulders. The night my godson had all his old friends over and they forced me to drink to much and insist I get involved with their game didn't help this 50 something old man. Fun, and the patience of a cagey dink shot just over the net can throw off the power game of twenty year old's.

The drive home was boring,but I did stop by a Indian casino and donate some funds to the tribe. Doubled my money in the first hour, then gave back my winnings plus the initial bet in the second.

Went back to work last night (graveyard), and was told everything was running smoothly and it should be a quiet shift. Two hours in and I get an alarm. A valve blew on something I had walked by 35 minutes before and water and silty mud was ankle deep in one of our containment basins.

I diagnosed the problem, figured out how to fix (bypass) it...but...for lack of a 15/16" box end wrench and/or a 1/2" drive ratchet (found a socket), I couldn't break the bolts to isolate the leak. I kept the site running for another 2 hours until my tanks were full and I had to shut the entire site down.

It was a fine "Welcome Back!", but it is what I've come to expect in my life.

If I'm Gone

I made it! Got through my last day at work and am ready to relax for the next ten days. Tomorrow I've got some errands to take care of, just little things like finally clearing up my truck registration, get food for the kid to eat while I'm gone, laundry. Wednesday is pack up and go over the truck once to reduce any possible troubles while on the road. Looking at the weather in Phoenix, I better get new wiper blades as thunder showers are predicted. I've never seen it just rain in Phoenix, it's either dry and hotter than hell, or deluge.

I'm really looking forward to the drive (Hah!), I've made it about 30 times, but I was much younger then. I once made the drive from my parents driveway in San Pedro to the parking lot of my Frat in Tempe in 5 hours and 55 minutes, and this was back in the days that I-10 came to a stop in Buckeye and you had to take back roads for the last. Out off 360 odd miles total, the last 45 were "interesting".

No going for records this time, I just want to get there. I'm hoping to leave L.A. around 4-5 AM, beating any traffic. I'll stop in Blythe for something to eat, then the final run, so I'll land there around noon.

Steve assures me that they have the internet in Arizona, but whether I'll get around to posting is dicey. My intention is to live blog the weekend, but I've hung with these guys a long time, so a 3 AM blog of "wEnt to teh place today to get something that jOe needed and we got lost and had to go badk home to member what we left for anyways", isn't something I want to look back on. Nor would you like to read it, I'm sure.

Once in Phoenix, my truck doesn't move. I've been out of that town too long so I won't recognize anything. I'll make an exception if I can meet with friends from the net, but that will be early enough that I can find my way.

I can't say it enough, after two years of life just sucking (work and home), to have 10 days for just ME has me het up something awful.

Countdown

One more day at work, then ten days off. Vacation...a real vacation. My last two vacations had to deal with my Dad's passing, necessary, but not overly relaxing.

This one's for me. Thursday, I drive to Phoenix and meet up with two of my best friends, both from college (ASU). I was enrolled, they actually graduated. We belonged to ΘΔΧ, at the time I was there we were about a step to a step and a half above "Animal House". Our chapter got kicked off campus and folded about three years after I left, but damn, those were some fun times.

Steve, the guy who still lives in Phoenix, actually Glendale, but it's all one big metropolis now-a-days, has made plans to my liking for a vacation. He just had a pool put in so we're going to sit in the pool, drink beer and watch football on the TV he's going to move outside. Except for the big plan of going to Laughlin for one day and leaving a bunch of money in their Video Poker machines, it's just float, eat, drink and BS for 4 days.

Pam, Steve's wife, is a paragon. She has put up with our get togethers for all these years, and still says she loves us. She has always denied it, but I think she hated our guuutttsss!!!! back in college before they were married. We were constantly trying to drag Steven into doing stupid stuff with us. She was right, but we felt she was keeping Steve from having fun.

Pam you were right, and most likely the reason he's still alive today.

The other guy is flying out from Alabama with his wife. Joe has been a rock in my life for the last 20+ years. He's a psychotherapist and boy have there been times I've needed one. He's always been there for me, as long as I remember the time difference (he did chew my ass out once for calling at 11PM..1AM his time on a weekday, and I haven't forgotten since). He knows me better than most and goes beyond "Councilor Troi" crap of "How do YOU feel about that?" and gives his opinion. I never follow his advise, but a year later, I can see he was on the right track.

Joe's wife, Jaana, is coming with him. This is a rare treat for me. I've seen her just twice since they got married, long ago. She's Finnish and between my decrepit hearing and her accent...we have some interesting conversations. She's a beautiful person, both physically and mentally. I've called many times when Joe wasn't home and held long conversations with her. She has always accepted me as a friend of Joe's, therefore I'm a friend of hers.

I am soooo looking forward to next weekend!!!

Dana, if you've dropped by, Steve has to work Saturday, so I'm free for lunch. We can meet somewhere. You don't know me and I'm sure you don't want some freak from L.A. knowing where you live. I'll try to get in touch in the next few days. Also any Rotties in the area, I'd love to meet ya. Drop an E-mail, it's on the sidebar.

Hither, Thither and Yon

I had a relatively slow day at work today and got my project done early, so I was able to watch the second half of my RAIDERS get their ass kicked, 24-0, by the (OH, this hurts!!) Arizona Cardinals. So I ended up cruising Fox News and ran across some interesting stuff.

Before I get to those stories, I'd like to have you drop by my friends BlackisWhite's site and read his excellent fisking of a Slate article explaning that if the Obamamessiah isn't elected it just prove to the world that we're all racists.

Why the Self-Appointed Cognoscenti Aren't
-------------------------------
Ok, my turn.

I suppose I have to mention the "big" story of the day.

Mr. HopeyChangey selected his running mate, who upon getting the news reversed his opinion of his, up till then, wise and trustworthy friend.


Out of the Gate, Biden Strikes Hard at McCain

In the above article the number of house's ker-fluffle is brought up.

Obama, McCain trade barbs over housing issues

Actually, McCain personally doesn't own even one house, let alone 8. His money is separate from his very rich wife's, and she owns all the houses. Some have relatives living them and some are investments and some are places they spend part of the year. It was a gotcha moment, If he gave the number he and Cindy use, he's hiding information (or got Alzheimer). If he had given the correct number, he's accused of being rich and exploiting the little people. I'm still trying to figure out why it is so evil for honest people to be rich.

I think McCain's situation is better than Obama's, where his deal for his MANSION is worked out by a guy that is so crocked that his ass is in jail now.
----------------------------------------------

Nannystatism


Cavuto gives a clue about what to expect as our populace demands that the government bail them out of any stupid mistake or decision.
-------------------------------------------------
Well damn, who'd of thunk?

Illegal Immigrants Returning to Mexico in Record Numbers

DALLAS — Illegal immigrants are returning home to Mexico in numbers not seen for decades — and the Mexican government may have to deal with a crush on its social services and lower wages once the immigrants arrive.

The Mexican Consulate's office in Dallas is seeing increasing numbers of Mexican nationals requesting paperwork to go home for good, especially parents who want to know what documentation they'll need to enroll their children in Mexican schools.

Better they deal with their unemployed than us. Funny thing about being here illegally, for all the safety nets provided, when there is a downturn in the economy, unemployment insurance isn't one of them, although I'm sure Congress will get right on that over site.

The illegal immigrant population in the U.S. has dropped 11 percent since August of last year, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. Its research shows 1.3 million illegal immigrants have returned to their home countries.

Jeez! No jobs and they go home voluntarily? Guess we'll have to cut back on the order for all those buses we ordered to deport them.

Advocates for immigrants are disturbed by the trend. Albert Ruiz, an organizer for the League of United Latin American Citizens, agrees that more undocumented immigrants are going home — but says families are being torn apart in the process.

If a father is deported, Ruiz says, his family members in America are forced either to fend for themselves or follow him to a country where they've never even lived.

"So the mother is saying we should return home with the breadwinner of the family to Mexico, and the children are saying, I don't want to leave, I'm a U.S. citizen, I don't know that country," said Ruiz.

I am so sorry that Senor Ruiz is disturbed by this trend, and G-d am I tired of this "families torn apart" meme. If I break the law just bad enough to be deported...to jail...my family would be torn apart also. Does that mean I get off?


-------------------------------------------------
I can't decide whether this surprises me or not?

A New Focus on Faith at the Democratic Convention

Do I believe them? No.

The Pew Forum polls after the 2000 and 2004 elections showed that the Democrats were perceived as unfriendly to faith. And for the last two presidential elections, the Democrats have suffered defeat at the hands of the GOP. The GOP has been a magnet for the faith vote. But if Democrats have their way, that may be changing.

Not likely. When damn near every policy they put forward restricts or flies in the face of religion, it's hard to take them seriously.

For the first time the Democratic National Convention has a “Faith Caucus.” In fact, “faith” will have a higher profile at the Democratic National Convention than it has ever had before. The reason? The Democratic Party has been aggressively going after the “God vote” since at least 2004.

[emphasis: mine]

They may have been going after, but the peons ain't buying.

And reaching out they are. On Sunday an “Interfaith Gathering”, as mentioned before, will officially launch the Democratic National Convention. All the major religions will be represented: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists. Daughtry says (on the DNC’s Web site) that the Interfaith Gathering is the best way to “kick off a week-long celebration to showcase our Party’s nominee, our strength, our diversity and our shared values. “

In addition to the Interfaith Gathering on Sunday, there’ll be two Faith Caucus meetings, one titled “How an Obama Administration Will Engage People of Faith,” the other “Getting Out the Faith Vote”. Plus, one member of the clergy from a different faith will open and close (give the invocation and benediction) each of the DNC’s evening programs.

First off, what happened to that separation of Church and State thing? Invocations at a political event? G-d, they don't want anyone to forget they are all on that faith thing, opening AND closing.

Now all of this is very Kum Ba Yah, but according to pundits and pollsters, the Democrats’ increased faith effort has not helped Sen. Obama cut into the evangelical vote. In fact, according to a new survey by the Pew Forum, Obama’s appeal to evangelicals is about the same as fellow Democrat John Kerry’s was four years ago – around 25 percent. Talk about a tepid response to a hot pursuit!

We may be religious, but we ain't stoopid. There are readin's in the Good Book about those who will try to use The Word agin ya.

The Pew Forum’s Michael Cromarty says the reason could be that even though Obama is much more comfortable speaking the language of faith than Senator Kerry, his and the Democrats’ platform, aren’t connecting with evangelicals. Evangelicals, he says “are interested in policy not just language.”

Ah!! There's the rub. They can invite us in all they want, but just talking the talk doesn't make them one of us, and when I know you're going to propose legislation that is against everything I believe in, your pretty words don't convince me.

But I guess regardless of whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, faith is a matter of function, not form. Every day all of us are walking, talking billboards for what we believe. And our voting choices reflect those beliefs — they also reflect what we believe about how we should live and the way in which we should treat our fellow human beings. But the problem with politics is that even though government can create policies to ease or increase our burdens, ultimately policies can’t save our souls. But sometimes parties and politicians campaign as if they can. And that certainly makes any election…. very interesting.

Concern about faith by the Dhimi's is a lie. I think they honestly beleive that we are like their other followers and will listen to what they say today without looking at what they did yesterday or plan to do tomorrow.

-------------------------------------------------
Lastly...

Just for amusement, a bikini clad waitress nails a perv who thinks that just because she has "provocative" clothing on, she wants it.

Coffee Confrontation

I just hope the SOB is married and has to explain to his wife why his nuts got scalded.