Some Depressing Links

I got home tonight and started my perusal of web sites for what was happening today, and it just seemed to get more depressing the more I read.

One of the first things I ran into was a post by Micheal Yon on a horrific find when he wen into a Iraqi village with an Iraqi army unit. It's not pretty what the al-queda "freedom fighters" left behind. I'll let Micheal explain: Bless the Beasts and Children.

I then got to read about an insider's view of the TSA and the reasons you get to stand in lines forever with your shoes off to get on a plane: Knee-Jerk From The DC Jerks Again.

There was some good news today, even if it was a half-assed attempt of doing the right thing: Bush commutes Libby sentence.

Half-assed in that Libby should have been pardoned for being convicted of a non-crime, but the fine still has to be paid (this will be covered by donations), and he will lose his law license due to the conviction.

Ball-less George is guessing that by commuting the sentence, he gets the right off his back, but by not pardoning Libby, he will still look like he isn't completely caving in.

Didn't work.

And for those of you who think this is a "travesty of justice", just keep in mind Sandy Pantsburglar and...

Clinton's commuted the sentences of

16 members of FALN, a violent Puerto Rican nationalist group that set off 120 bombs in the United States mostly in New York City and Chicago, convicted for conspiracies to commit robbery, bomb-making, and sedition, as well as for firearms and explosives violations, and:

Carlos A. Vignali had his sentence for cocaine trafficking commuted, after serving 6 of 15 years in federal prison.

Susan McDougal, who had already completed her sentence, was pardoned for her role in the Whitewater scandal; McDougal had served 18 months on contempt charges for refusing to testify about Clinton's role.

Dan Rostenkowski, a former Democratic Congressman convicted in the Congressional Post Office Scandal.

Roger Clinton, the president's half-brother, on drug charges after having served the entire sentence more than a decade before. Roger Clinton would be charged with drunk driving and disorderly conduct in an unrelated incident within a year of the pardon.

And by all means lets remember this upstanding citizen: Marc Rich, a fugitive, was pardoned of tax evasion, after clemency pleas from Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, among many other international luminaries. Denise Rich, Marc's former wife, was a close friend of the Clintons and had made substantial donations to both Clinton's library and Hillary's Senate campaign.-- One company from which Rich bought crude during this period was a front for extremist Russian and Ukrainian organizations. All were pro-Saddam; one was a staunch supporter of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. Another company was tied to a major money launderer for Saddam.

To reach these conclusions, BusinessWeek traced crucial connections from a number of official inquiries and documents. Key among these documents: shipping tables from the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES), the preeminent authority on tanker activity in the Middle East. These detail the ports, tankers, destinations, and buyers of Iraqi crude. Other insights came from a 2004 CIA report on Iraq, data from Switzerland's Federal Commercial Registry Office, and the many inquiries launched into Oil-for-Food. The Justice Dept., six congressional committees, a U.N. commission, Morgenthau's office, and several countries, including Switzerland, are all investigating the program. Extensive interviews with dozens of oil traders, government investigators, and energy experts around the globe helped form a clearer picture of how the network operates.

How Conservative Am I?

Took this test over at Blogthings

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 90% Conservative, 10% Liberal Social Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal Personal Responsibility: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal Fiscal Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal Ethics: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal Defense and Crime: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

It came out pretty much as I supected it would.

Another Hiatus

Work, work, work ,work....hello boys. (Mel Brooks, Blazing
Saddles).

Life's been fun since the last time I posted. The intensity the workplace isn't getting better and turmoil on the home front has been occupying most of my time. This is the first I've been able to sit at the computer since my last post.

One side is worked out and the other is leaning in the other direction. Stay tuned.

Those of you who still swing by, thank you for your patronage, I'm trying (again) to get back in the swing.

Wild Wildlife

This is one of the coolest nature videos I have ever run across. A Water Buffalo calf gets taken by a pride of lions, who get interrupted by a couple of crocodiles that want in on their prize, only to have a whole herd of Water Buffalo descend on them to take the calf back.

glumbert.com

I found this at Signal 94

What's Up With This Whole MIddle East Thing?

I'm just gonna steal this off the Rott, who got it from LC nerbygirl. (HT...HT)

Try this sight and get a condensed history of what is Israel and why it is.

Terrorism Awareness Program

The "New" Immigrant

I got this off of Charming Just Charming

New Immigrants
From: 'David LaBonte'

My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to 'print' it myself by sending it out on the Internet.
Pass it along if you feel so inclined.
Dave LaBonte (signed)

Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:

Dear Editor:

So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birthplace to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture.

Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity. Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany , Italy , France and Japan . None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan . They were defending the United States of America as one people. When we liberated France , no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are in 2006 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty , it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.
(signed) Rosemary LaBonte


P. S. Pass this on to everyone you know!!!
KEEP THIS LETTER MOVING!!

Readin Pa. Needs More Gun Laws

Not if you ask the Sheriff. The mistake they keep making is asking the person who has to deal with the results of restriction of the 2nd Amendment.
By Kori Walter
Reading Eagle

Reading, PA - Berks County Sheriff Barry J. Jozwiak asked a panel of state lawmakers in Reading on Thursday to shoot down any legislation that would limit handgun purchases, claiming it would not curb crime or gun violence.

Jozwiak’s testimony before the state House Judiciary Committee in City Council chambers put him at odds with Reading Mayor Tom McMahon, Philadelphia lawmakers and others calling for tougher handgun laws in response to a rash of shootings and murders in Pennsylvania cities.

Jozwiak, a Republican, said he opposed a bill that would limit people to buying one handgun per month.

The money quote.

Instead of passing new gun laws, Jozwiak said, police and judges should enforce existing laws.

“Gun control does not reduce crime,” Jozwiak said. “In fact, criminals prefer their victims to be unarmed."

Of course it's not like the bozos sitting behind desks, with their added police patrols by their houses and state trooper escorts would ever listen to the guy that has to clean up after their diktat's everyday.

H/T rightwingprof

Is Paris Burning?

Well, at least her ears, cause I gonna talk about her and of course the MSM is going non-stop about it.

Sentenced to 45 days in Los Angeles County Jail (reduced to a "guaranteed minimum" of 24 for assumed good behavior) Paris is released after what is in the real world 3 days.

Oh yeah, she was "reassigned" to "House Arrest", but hell, if I could be forced to stay in a 4,000 sq. ft. house with maids, cooks and my friends able to come by, I'm going to go get myself arrested.

Why should I care about this? As far as Paris as a person I don't. She broke the law and should have to pay the penalty. exactly like some friends of mine.

One guy, busted righteously, got 2 weeks in L.A. County Mens Jail, before the pretty new Twin Towers. He spent (what they called) 4 days in. One FULL day to process in, 2 days of trying not to get noticed, and 36 hours processing out. They released him at 1:30 AM in the middle of downtown L.A. I know, because I picked him up. after he called me at around hour 30 that he needed a ride.

The other person (female) was sentenced to 12 days in Inyo County Jail (Bakersfeild), an exact duplicate of L.A. County, just smaller. She went in on a Friday and was released on Monday at 6:00 A.M. A short serve, but she cried the whole time she was in, and if they weren't overcrowded, she'd have been there longer. Nobody gave a damn what she felt.

Both these people are good, they screwed up, and they got what they deserved, maybe a little less, but no consideration was given to whether things where a little difficult while they were incarcerated factored in. They were there until the system decided to let them out.


With Paris, it's come down to the jail system doesn't want to look like it is actually punishing someone for ignoring the law and they just can't handle the deprivation, if I ever get busted for DUI, I'm gonna cry in my cell and get "reassigned to Paris' house with an ankle bracelet for the FULL term of my sentence.

Human Shield

I stole this directly from The Dread Pundit Bluto. When I saw it, I just had to pass it on.

An Iraqi child seeks safety behind an American soldier following a terrorist suicide attack.

Thanks to Gateway Pundit.

Congradulations Texas....It's Twins...Again

While inhaling lunch today (busy work day) I was watching Headline News on CNN and got this story, I can't find a link at CNN so this will have to do.

DALLAS (WFAA) -- When it comes to children, one Dallas mother knows about having them in pairs.
The odds are one in 500,000 but she gave birth to her third set of twins at Baylor University Medical Center.

[all emphasis mine]
Pretty long odds, not to mention:

She took no fertility drugs.

Of course I see no reason to do that if you've already had two set of twins, but here's where the story gets real good.

cares for four-year-old Natalie, three-year-old twins Adam and Sebastian and two-year-old twins Rachel and Raquel.

I'll do the math for you...that's a set every year.
Followed by:

The father of the latest set of twins hopes he's ready.

O.K., to me that reads this guy isn't the father of the previous four kids.
Now...the kicker

But with neither the 21-year-old father nor the 20-year-old mother employed -- all the children are supported by welfare -- the young family faces financial and emotional obstacles.

Six kids, 20 years old and unemployed and they face financial and emotional obstacles? Who'd a thunk it. (Obviously not them.)

Oh, and something you'll just have to take my word for, because it isn't in this article, She want to have at least TWELVE kids.

Not mentioned either in the cited article or mentioned on CNN was the immigration status of "young mom Amanda Gonzales", so I'm sure it wouldn't factor into the whole thing.

So once again, Congratulations Texas.

Another Broken Promise

I keep promising to post regularly, and what happens? Every time I think I got life under control, reality jumps up and smacks me a good one.

After 14 months of non-production at work (I work for an oil company, so non-production refers to barrels of oil produced, not necessarily what we're doing), we are finally starting to get things moving again. Of course we're two men short for even a minimum staff, and gee, the equipment that didn't work to well before...still doesn't work to well.

Lots of O.T., but I'm just so fricken tired, I can't even enjoy the extra income before my family spends it.

Of the five employed here, there is myself (who truly knows all and makes no mistakes), the foreman, and two new guys. One who thinks he knows how everything in the universe works (with no experience in the oil field) and will argue every procedure, and one guy who has experience, but seems to have major A.D.D., and the last guy, who broke his foot a month ago falling off a ladder and won't be back for another three weeks (thanks Workman's Comp..."how many pain killers do you want and come back next week").

I'm stressed and I'm strained and for the time being, no more promises of regular posts. I'm going to try, because I really do enjoy this cathartic exercise, but at this moment, it's just one to many things.

I see a light at the end of the tunnel....Ohh crap, it's a train.

I Normally Don't Do Endorsements

Long ago, when I first started reading blogs, I was going down the "Imperial Council" list at The Rott to see who the Emperor relied on for hearing the truth. Some of the links had been idle for some time, but then I ran into "Imperial Minister of Truth: Bill Whittle."

It is a series of essays on the American condition that were so dead on and written so well I was shamed to be even attempting to write my opinions on the same internet.

Shortly after I found "Eject! Eject! Eject!", Bill went on hiatus and deprived me of his concise view of what is right and wrong with our country.

Well he's back and writing as good as ever. He has a Two parter called "Sanctuary" (this is Part I of II), and another called "Tribes". Go and read them, they are worth your time.

The Endorsement:
If you like these I would suggest you buy his book "Silent America: The Second Edition" which has his past essays plus these latest essays.

Music - Live

A blog I drop by regularly listed all the concerts he had gone to and that got me trying to remember who I've seen back in the days when I could tolerate the hassle of going.

First Concert: Hollywood Bowl - 1967
John Mayall, Lee Michaels, Iron Butterfly
All 3 for $5.50...first time I smelled marijuana (wanted to know who was burning watermelons?) An aside: I just saw Iron Butterfly at a local "Street Fair" a couple of years ago....Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida, baby.

The Rest:
Led Zepplin twice

Lee Michaels again

Emerson, Lake and Palmer twice, once with god-awful Quad sound that was useless unless you were dead center in the arena. My girlfriend at the time was 5 feet tall and unless she was on my shoulders, couldn't see...a long concert.

David Bowie four times

Deep Purple (with Ian Gillian lead singer)


The ASU/Phoenix years:

Pink Floyd - "Animals/Wish You Were Here"

Blue Oyster Cult outside of 5 screaming lead guitars at the end, for some reason I don't remember much. (Mheh)

Dave Mason - small theater in the round with a rotating stage.

Pat Benatar - I just love her voice.

Al Stewart - "Year of the Cat", again at that small theater in the round.

Kiss - one of my frat bothers wanted to go, it was within walking distance on campus and why not. Turned out to be fun.

Frank Zappa - twice. Once in L.A.(with the Mothers of Invention) and once at ASU.

Queen - just one hell of a show. Freddie Mercury was a showman.

Since I've become a cranky old fart that hates crowds:

David Bowie - this concert is counted above, but he said it was the last time he was going to focus on all his old classics. It was at Dodger Stadium and I got tickets on the field about 20 rows back- center stage. The pisser was that a friend of mine, who could take or leave Bowie, got tickets for free 12 rows closer.

Bruce Springsteen - 3 times. My wife is a BIG Springsteen fan. Once at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum - Free tickets from a guy I think was trying to hit on my wife (sucker), we were so far from the stage we needed binoculars to see the "big screens", and twice in one month, once at the Pond in Anaheim, then 2 weeks later at Staples Center (my first and only time in a limo, paid for as a bonus by my wifes boss. If you've got a couple hundred extra to blow, that's the way to go).

I'm sure I've forgotten a couple either because I went with someone who wanted to go at the last minute and I was free, or something else could have fogged my memory. The ones I wish I had gone to and missed the chance:

The Who
Stones - No I won't go now
Beatles - There never really was the opportunity, I just missed.
Jimi Hendrix - no...really?

Biggest Regret:
The Doors: In 1968, I was in Jr. High and they played at my (soon-to-be) High School. I heard a really great band was going to play there, but fear of "the big kids" made me skip it.

May Day - An Actual Follow Up

I've often promised to do a follow up on a post and got sidetracked to where it wasn't pertinent anymore and dropped it. Not this time.

Picking up my paperwork for the drug test at the other site worked well, they said there were people everywhere in the morning. The staging area was bout two blocks north of my work site. I'm sure I passed the test as I made sure the have used only my finest drug, so they should be impressed with the high quality of my sample.

After depositing my sample with the clinic and starting into work, I heard on the radio that the parade was just starting, so by the time I got to work, most of the marchers had moved north. (I wonder why that direction was picked? Maybe it's a genetic thing and that's just the direction they have to move.)

What I did see was lots of street vendors selling American flags and those God-awful 3 foot plastic horns that they sell to the guy behind you at at sports arenas. All-in-all I wasn't affected by it to much, but one of the guys I work with went into the Jewelry District which was right in the middle of the whole thing to buy something for his new girlfriend, and all the stores had decided to close for the day. He says he may take that as a sign that maybe he should slow down with her a bit.

The bad side of this demonstration seems to have come at the after party get together. A couple thousand gathered at MacArthur Park and after a couple cervesas, decided to toss the empties at the cops. The news this morning said they hit a motorcycle officer in the head while he was riding by. This got the cops a tad PO'd and they decided the party had gone long enough. The order to disperse was given and they started herding the crowd towards the exits. The crowd didn't move and the police used rubber bullets and pushing to get them to comply. The reason for the crowd not complying, is being put forth, that the order was not given in a language they could understand. Number one, I would be willing to bet that the cops did give the order in both English and Spanish
, and what difference would it make if they didn't?

Today I read that the trouble makers weren't part of the community, that they were anarchists. Well hell, if you're going to associate yourself with these asshats, you are going to be rolled up with them when they do their thing. Look at who sponsored your little parade.

May Day

Or as I refer to it "National Socialism Day".

I just got a phone call from work a few hours ago to tell me I needed to come in early (Yeah OT) so I can can drive to the edge of the world to take a drug test. In itself no biggy, if they can't get readings from over 15 years ago, I'm OK, but shortly after I got off the phone with my Foreman, I caught the news and they were talking about the illegal immigrant protest for tomorrow in downtown L.A.

For the last two weeks there has been one of those fold-up road barricades sitting in the center divider of the street I work on warning about the street being closed. I was going to work at night and couldn't read all of it until a few days ago when there was nobody behind me and I could go slow and point my headlights at it. Yep, they were closing the street so the illegals could take a day off of work and protest that they had jobs.

Now, with this drug test, I would get the pleasure of driving through this crap, not once, but twice. I immediately called work to get directions and said I'd just go straight from home...nope gotta pick up the form signed by the Foreman.

We finally worked it out that I can pick up the form at our other site which is hopefully far enough away to be out of the clutter zone.

A couple of months ago there was a mini illegal rally and I watched a guy across the street selling American flags right and left and I'll admit, except for one asshole driving up and down the street in his '64 Cheby lowrider laying on his horn (obnoxious bastard) and waving a Mexi flag, I didn't see many, but that one was small and planned at the last minute. I'm waiting to see what tomorrow's looks like.

My hopes aren't high. Between the flashes of red realizing my commute was going to be a real bitch, some jerk off activist was explaining that the reason all these people were here was due to a conspiracy between "Big Corporations" the U.S., and the gov'ts of their home countries. The answer to this was for the U.S. gov't (not their home gov't) to create more jobs so the "Big Corporations" couldn't exploit the people.

May Day from Wikipedia:

The date consequently became established as an anarchist and socialist holiday during the 20th century, and in these circles it is often known as International Workers' Day or Labour Day. In this form, May Day has become an international celebration of the social and economic achievements of the working class and labor movement. [emp. - mine]

Building Trust

I was just listening to "Geraldo At Large" on Fox where they were discussing "sniching". The message was that the cops have to do more to create trust with the community, but how are the cops going to do anything when the people they need to talk to about a crime are just going to lie to them, or not give any pertinent information.

If you want the gangbangers out of your neighborhood, you have to tell the cops who the bad guys are.

This is just like having Iraq in our backyard. Somebody has to stand up and point at the guy that is dragging the rest of the area down, and someone has to stand up behind them and on and on.

The police want to do their job, but if they don't trust the info fed to them or they think you're lying to protect your cousin, nothing gets done.

Stand up and make your kids life better than yours.

If It Wasn't So Sad....

A couple of days ago the Emperor posted a bit "Burqa, Burqa Cucumber Jihad" from an article on Al-Queda's in Iraq's take on islamic law.

...al-Qaida has warned street vendors not to place tomatoes beside cucumbers because the vegetables are different genders, Col. David Sutherland said.

We had a good chuckle over the idiocy of this, and rightly so. These bozos seem to fear anything that could have a sexual connotation that I think it can be classified as psychotic. Then last night I ran into this news out of Iran:
Anger at Iran dress restrictions
By Frances Harrison
BBC News, Tehran

....Police say they stopped more than 1,300 women for dressing immodestly on the first day of the campaign in Tehran.

More than 100 women were arrested on Saturday; half of them had to sign statements promising to improve their clothing, the other half are being referred to court.

That really isn't unusual, for these goat molesters, they do this every year when it starts to get warm out. The part that points out the derangement involved with this whole thing was:

One foreign journalist was stopped and the police complained the photograph in her press card was indecent, even though it was taken by the Ministry of Islamic Guidance.

I'm just waiting for sharia law to go into effect in Fwance, Britain, Canada or Minnesota, whichever comes first, to watch the reactions of the women when they start having to run the gauntlets of morals police swinging at them with canes and writing tickets because their overcoat is to tight and you can kind of see where their waist might be.

Here you go ladies, the new spring fashion.

What's Right With Country

Country Music isn't my favorite, but there are quit a few songs that I enjoy. While I was cruising around last night, I came across this little speech that Jeff Foxworthy gave at the opening of the County Music Awards. It's a good summation of what I do like about the music. You'll have to go to Hot Air to see the video.



His speech reminded me of song I hadn't listened to in a while, so I headed over to YouTube and found it. It still brings tears to my eyes when I hear it.

Another Long Hiatus

Damn life just seems to keep getting in the way of important things like posting what's happening in my extremely exciting life and pontificating on the events in the world.

Work's been very busy and the projection of running the site at something close to it's capacity is a reality. However, it has required a bit of work to get the final pieces set up and we've been operating with minimum crew -1. One of my co-workers had the gall to fall and break his ankle, so we've had to work a lot of 12 hour days to cover his shift.

I had today off and go on graveyard shift tomorrow, so things should slow down and let me catch my breath. Check back and we'll see.

And thanks to those that wrote your condolences for my Dad. My brother wrote me a letter on his feelings, and if I get his permission, I will post it.

Dad

I've known it was going to happen sooner rather than later, but I still haven't been able to take in the news yet.

Just before 8:00 AM this morning my Father passed on. He was 89 years old. Two days ago he had a massive heart attack that put him back in the hospital, so I knew it was likely his time was real short. He had had like 5 minor attacks over the last few years, but they were so mild that they were only diagnosed through treating some other problem.

Dad's parents came over from England just before the turn of the century (1900) and settled in Northern California. His Dad was a carpenter who built a large part of the town of Fortuna California and had the misfortune to step on a nail and get tetanus when my Dad was five. The vaccine was newly discovered, but had to be brought up from San Francisco and it just took to long.

He grew up as the baby of the family through the Depression with a single mother, two brothers and three sisters.

He and one of his brothers ran a radio repair shop for a while, then he went to college. He never finished due to WWII, enlisting in the Army Air Corp as a radioman and served in the Pacific.

After the war, he sent to work in the aero-space industry, working for McDonnell Douglas, JPL, Space General/Aerojet General, and Hughes. His work was always "classified", so I never knew what he specifically did. I knew he had worked on a early seeker torpedo, so I just assumed he was involved with radar and guidance.

Every year he would "disappear" for two weeks to do testing up at Vandenburg. We didn't "know" he where he was and had to call his office to leave a message to have him call us back if we needed him. Course when he brought back pictures of the fields of wild flowers blooming we could guess where he a gone.

My Dad's finger prints are on the moon. Some component that went into the lander was worked on by his team, and just before it absolutely had to be shipped they found out something hadn't been plugged in properly, so they told him to go into the clean room and open it up and re-hook it, no gloves, no bunny suit, just get it done. I guess it worked OK.

He was always there for us, providing what we needed, and giving us more than we probably deserved. The only time you couldn't find him was Sundays. My Mom, brother and I are night people and never got up before 10-11 AM, Dad was long gone. He would take MY dog, Tori, get in his '59 VW bug and hit the road. It was just his time for himself.

I'll miss him so much. I just thank God I was able to see him two months ago and tell him I loved him.

The Great Mortgage Debacle

Why a car at the top of this post, read on.

There has been a ton of coverage on the MSM about the number of "homeowners" (you really don't own it, the bank does) defaulting or getting two or more months behind on payment.

The big question seems to be, who is to blame, the company that lent them the money, or the guy who was probably pretty sure it was going to be tough making the payments, particularly if interest rates started to creep up.

I can use something that happened in my life to illustrate what happened with these loans.

Shortly after I started working full time, I decided I wanted, not really needed, a new car. My rent was ridiculously low, I was single and I had no debt hanging around. The Porsche 924 just came out and I thought this was the hottest car since the '65 Stingray. (I also learned, don't just go by how a car looks, but that's another story.) My trade-in (another mistake), a 1976 TR-7 was in mediocre shape so I didn't bring the out-the-door cost down much.

The final numbers worked out that it would cost me about $600/month. That was more that two weeks wages back then. I still had to by insurance, gas, registration and all those other "little" things you don't think about when you are in love....and food, utilities and maybe be able to go someplace in that cool new car.

Needless to say, after a year I was already behind and the car got repo'd. In this case it was early enough in my life that I just said goodbye to the car The fact I was disappointed in buying a fancy body on an Audi frame with a "Premiere" name made it easy.

What it boiled down to was I knew deep down from the get-go it would be almost impoosible to make the payments, and the company (thanks GMAC) knew it too.

I now pay cash for damn near everything. I have one credit card with a $1500 limit that I use for emergencies, real ones, not "I have to have a 72" HDTV for the Super bowl next week". It gets used for big ticket items like new refrigerators. only. The credit company always wants to raise the limit, but I decline. If they want me to use it more, lower the interest rate.

One of my close friends worked at a bank as a loan officer and always used my saga as benchmark for approving loans. If the deal looked wobbly over the long run, he squelched it. I've always felt that because of that, I may have saved others from screwing up like I did.

In the end, you had someone trying to take on debt they weren't ready to handle, and a company that saw a slight chance on profit with no concern for how it would affect the poor schmuck if they failed.

They both were wrong, but I shift more of the blame onto the lender, they should be the adults in this situation. Saying no to someone may hurt for a bit, but if they are better off in the long run, you've save them years of grief.

Global Climate Change

Got an hour and 15 minutes? Go see the other side of the story that is "indisputable" . Believe me, it will go by quick. When you see what gets left out (suppressed) by the Envroloons you can make a decision, but to just state that "X" number of "scientists" support this position, and the guys they've got listed as authors of the report are telling you that what they really reported wasn't even in the document. you have to wonder who is telling the truth here.

I'm not against making the air cleaner, or turning off the light when I leave the room, but let's all be sure we are using facts that are relevant before shuting down civilization.

The last five minutes are the most poignant, as they deal with how this craze is affecting the developing nations.

The Great Global Warming Swindle

UPDATE: The original link has disappeared, so just click on the search and there should be other copies available.

Amazing Guitar Player

Ran into this on Break.com. If you're like me and love music and play an instrument ( I beat on a piano, poorly), this guy is one of those people you secretly hate while admiring his talent. Andy McGee has that natural affinity to work an instrument. I haven't bee over to his web site yet, but I will be shortly.

Cpl. Sanchez

This last week at the CPAC meeting Matt Sanchez, a Marine reservist and student at Columbia University received the Jeanne Kirkpatrick Academic Freedom Award.

Being he was feted at this Right Wing gathering, the left had to dig into his past and see if they could dig up some dirt on him. Like most of us, he had something there, perhaps you could think worse than most, but he has moved past it and I know has made those that really know him proud.

That the "tolerant" left would condemn and threaten him for past transgressions, says a lot about their dedication to their stated ideals. They say he is a hypocrite, but to arrive at this conclusion, you have to use the New Left's Dictionary. This definition is "Hypocrisy: anyone who has done anything in the past and now renounces it and doesn't do it anymore and says that they no longer believes or practice the aforementioned ".

Going by Merriam-Webster:
Hypocrisy 1: a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; especially : the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion.

People change over a lifetime. My values have certainly changed.

If you want to know the details for this kerfluffle that has the lefties so up in arms there are articles at Michelle Malkin and Hot Air.

To hear what this fine man did to warrant this outrage go to his site, but first read this article he wrote for the Marine Corps Times: Missing the Big Picture.

Cpl. Matt Sanchez served this country as a Marine, is now in the Reserves, is attending school, holds a job and still finds time to assist others at Columbia negotiating the hassles of getting the services and guidance that our Vets and Officer Candidate students do not receive from the University.

I wrote Cpl. Sanchez, just to let him know that he had friends out there. I told him he did not need to respond, but within an hour he wrote back just thanking me for the support. This was 2:00 AM his time. We need more men like this and we need to support them.

Thank you Cpl. Matt Sanchez.

Smell and Memory

It's been said that smells will evoke some of the strongest memories. My wife bought a new brand of one of those under the rim toilet bowl thingies this week and it has a lime scent. For the last two days I have had this overwhelming urge to go out and find those damn lollipops that were sold with something like 30 of them wrapped in a sting of cellophane.

I always craved the cherry ones, but through my own rules, known only to a kid of around eight, I had to eat them in order. I wasn't big fan of the lime ones but got them down anyway. Perhaps because of these lollipops and rolls of Life Savers (same rule) that the smell of sugary lime thows me back to those days.

Of course, being I had to eat my way through all the flavors I didn't really want at the time could have been a factor in why my teeth have so much silver in them I'm surprised I haven't kicked from mercury poisoning.

Thankfully, My Boy Is Grown...

Now I'll just have to worry about the grandkids.

Calif. Lawmaker Seeks Spanking Ban
Provided By: The Associated Press
Last Modified: 1/21/2007 10:04:34 AM

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- California parents could face jail and a fine for spanking their young children under legislation a state lawmaker has promised to introduce next week.

Democratic Assemblywoman Sally Lieber said such a law is needed because spanking victimizes helpless children and breeds violence in society.

"I think it's pretty hard to argue you need to beat a child," Lieber said. "Is it OK to whip a 1-year-old or a 6-month-old or a newborn?"

Lieber said her proposal would make spanking, hitting and slapping a child under 4 years old a misdemeanor. Adults could face up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Aides to the assemblywoman said they are still working on a definition for spanking.

Now I'm a little late coming to this party, but I ran into it on a few other sites today and just got more PO'd every time I crossed it.

I never beat my boy, but from about 1 1/2 to 3 years old a quick cupped handed swat to the pampers was a quick attention getter that made it clear that whatever preceded it was not going to be tolerated any further. Before that age, leniency was granted because they're so damn cute and how do you retort the argument of "but..me .... ooh....butterfly"? After 3, there was enough concentration that reasoning could be employed most of the time, and if that didn't work, "The Look" could be pulled out and that would usually settle it.

I was spanked, switched and had a belt used on me growing up and I can say that in all cases, I never deserved it (...Mheh). My parents beat me without mercy for any minor infraction of their ridiculous standards they had set for me, not realizing that I would grow up to be the sociopath I am today, a steadily employed, middle class homeowner, with a clean driving record and no rap sheet.

The topper to this story comes here:

Lieber, who has no children, attracted nationwide attention after she pledged to introduce an anti-spanking bill to protect children from violence.

The good news:

A Democratic lawmaker has abandoned her heavily ridiculed campaign to make spanking a crime, acknowledging that the idea would get whacked even in California's sometimes whimsical Legislature.

Of course she still doesn't believe she could be wrong

Spanking a child on the buttocks — even to the point of injury — will remain legal in California, Lieber said.

I've got news for her, if she had bothered to read some of the existing laws in Kalifornia, injuring a child is illegal and always has been.

What a maroon.

Dogs and Cats

This sounds very resonable to me.

Excerpts from a Dog's Daily Diary:
8:00am Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30am A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40am walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30am Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00pm Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00pm Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00pm Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00pm Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00pm Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00pm Wow! Watched TV with my master! My favorite thing!
11:00pm Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

Excerpts from a Cat's Daily Diary:
Day 683 of my captivity: My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat,while the other inmates and myself are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets.
Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape.. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the floor.
Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. The audacity!
There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.
Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs.
I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released --and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded! The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. The captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe....... for now....

Hattip to Hujonwi

Don't "Infringe" On The Gang's Rights

The guy I relieved tonight left a copy of the L.A. Slimes sitting on the desk. I was picking it up to file it in it's proper place (it's circular and get emptied once a day) when one of the headings caught my eye. [all emphasis-mine]

Gang Members charged in killing witness
By Amanda Covarrubias and Sam Quinones, Times Staff Writers
1:26 PM PST, February 23, 2007

Members of a Harbor Gateway gang accused in the racially motivated slaying of 14-year-old Cheryl Green have killed an eyewitness to the attack, fearing he would testify against them, prosecutors charged today.

The Los Angeles district attorney's office accused five members of the 204th Street gang -- one of whom is already charged in Green's killing -- with fatally shooting Christopher Ash on Dec. 28.

Prosecutors said Ash was an acquaintance of the suspects. His body was found on a Carson street; he had been stabbed numerous times and his throat was cut (see below), authorities said.

The charges mark another twist in a murder case that outraged the community and prompted a major LAPD crackdown on gang violence, focusing particularly on crimes in which victims are targeted because of their race.

Green was standing with a group of friends on Harvard Boulevard just south of 206th Street when two men approached in broad daylight. Without saying a word, one suspect pulled a gun and opened fire, killing Green and wounding three others, witnesses and police said.

Authorities declared Green's slaying a hate crime, concluding that members of the Latino 204th Street gang killed her as part of a larger effort to intimidate black residents of the Harbor Gateway district.

I hope you noticed that, once again, the community is outraged, outraged I tell you, that this could occur in their neighborhood. Of course when the Slimes say the community is outraged, that is only the side that had one of their fine upstanding kids killed this time.

In the wake of her slaying, the LAPD vowed to add more officers to the area and listed the 204th gang as one of 11 across the city it plans to target as part of a new crackdown.

And you know, I think this 738th or so "new crackdown" is going to make all the difference in the world. This time when the cops put the pressure on known gang bangers, the lefty activists are not going to start protesting and filing charges of Police brutality and "infringement of rights" of peaceful citizens.

It's unclear how Ash came to witness Green's death, but prosecutors believe the other gang members became worried he would cooperate with authorities.

The five suspects are accused of one count of murder with the special circumstances of intentional murder of a witness to a crime, lying in wait, and carrying it out to further the gang's activities. The suspects are scheduled to be arraigned in Long Beach on Monday.

This is all that's on the online post, but in the paper it has a few more little non-informative things like:This 1st one is the (see below)

Five members of the 204th Street gang allegedly stabbed 21-year-old Christopher Ash 80 times and cut his throat before dumping his body in the middle of a Carson street, according to L.A. district attorney's office.

Several other witnesses to Cheryl's killing have moved out of the neighborhood, said Nahee Ale, an African American activist who has worked to build a gang truce in Harbor Gateway

Doing a good job Nahee.

The 204th Street gang has 120 members and is accused of terrorizing African American residents in a nearly 2-square-mile area it considers its turf, according to the LAPD,

If these people reside there, isn't it their "turf" or does this go back to that Azlan argument?

Another tragic round of nothing happening. A girls dead, a guys dead, a few of the scum off the streets for a while, then back to the same old, same old.

What Being an Immigrant Really Means

Dropped by Lady Heather's sight this evening and found part of one of her posts that I would like to pass on:

Newspapers simply won't publish letters to the editor which they either deem politically incorrect (read below) or which does not agree with the philosophy they're pushing on the public.

This woman wrote a great letter to the editor that should have been published but with your help it will get published via cyberspace!

New Immigrants From: "David LaBonte" My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to "print" it myself by sending it out on the Internet. Pass it along if you feel so inclined. Dave LaBonte (signed) Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:

Dear Editor,

So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants.

Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr..Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer.

Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home. They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture. Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.

Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany, Italy, France and Japan.

None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United States of America as one people.

When we liberated France, no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here.

These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are in 2006 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. (and that includes my fellow American "enablers", those that want to grant them the right to vote, credit cards, and a "right" to taxpayer funded welfare and other benefits- LH)

I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about.

I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill.

I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.

Illegal Immigration

I found this as a draft that I wrote a year ago. Why it didn't get published, I don't know, but I still think it's pertinent.

Three stories today on immigration.

Marchers decry U.S. immigration policy, wall plan from the Miami Herald
Resistant TB from Mexico feared from WorldNetDaily
Illegal Iraqis nabbed trying to enter U.S. from WorldNetDaily

About 250 migrant activists and their supporters marched through the center of Mexico City on Sunday to protest U.S. immigration policy, which they say is racist and deadly.
Shouting "justice for migrants," the demonstrators tore apart a giant paper wall, a symbol of a planned fence along large parts of the United States´ southern border, which the demonstrators say will violate human rights and cause more deaths.
WTF? Because we want to have some control over who comes and goes that makes us racist and violates “human rights”? Can somebody show me where it is written that anyone has the “right” to enter any country without some sort of permission of the host country? Cause more deaths? We have a system to allow people in; we would just like them to ask so that we know why you’re coming. You want a job, if you can show there is a job where you want to go, we’ll let you in, providing you can also show you’re not going to cause problems i.e.:

A drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis from Mexico is worrying U.S. health officials.

I use to work in a Respiratory Hospital years ago and I saw this coming.

With MDR-TB (multidrug-resistant tuberculosis), a patient's immune system does not respond to basic antibiotics rifampin and isoniazid.
The costs to the state are staggering. While a standard TB patient costs some $2,800 for about six to nine months of treatment, an MDR-TB treatment runs about $250,000 for two years, said Charles Wallace, manager of the state's infectious disease, intervention and control branch.
and
According to the Herald, in 2005, the county health department handled 101 new cases of TB, a 25-percent increase from 2004.
and
One family in the Rio Grande Valley with nine members afflicted with MDR-TB recently cost the state $4 million over a three-year period, including drugs and multiple hospitalizations.

This is a major problem. We had this disease practically eradicated 30 years ago.
Without a screening process to catch this before they come into the country not only are the US taxpayers having to pay for the treatment, but their health is put at risk. TB is spread by just coughing or sneezing. With so many illegals working in the food industry the danger of spreading this disease to many, many people is far to grave.

And lastly:
Mexican officials say they've arrested four illegal-alien Iraqis trying to sneak across the border into the United States.
Acting on an anonymous tip, police found the four aliens on a bus in Navajoa, about 375 miles south of the Arizona border, Mexico's attorney general's office said.
Mexican immigration officials are investigating to try to determine how the Iraqis got into the country.
OK, they find four Iraqi’s in Mexico trying to sneak into the US, but the Mexican government doesn’t know how they got into Mexico. So they don’t know who is in their country, but we should allow people to cross our border freely. Now the Iraqi’s most likely were not terrorists, however if they just stroll into here and they are terrorists, I don’t think we would like the way we would find out.

Put the military on the border now. Close it off and get things under control, find out who we’ve got in the country now and what they are doing. Then we can talk about Guest Worker Programs and making it less of a hassle for Mexicans to come and go.

But, Things Were Suppse To Be Different Now.

I made my (semi) daily cruise by Barking Moonbat Early Warning System to see what was on the Skippers mind and he had a post on how the Dimacrats are going about the "getting rid of the lobbyist corruption that those evil Republicans were guilty of".

Democrats Offer Up Chairmen For Donors
Party’s Campaigns Had Faulted GOP For ‘Selling Access’
Washington Post Staff Writers Saturday, February 24, 2007

Eager to shore up their fragile House and Senate majorities, congressional Democrats have enlisted their committee chairmen in an early blitz to bring millions of dollars into the party's coffers, culminating in a late-March event featuring House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and 10 of the powerful panel chairs.

Well it certainly didn't take them long to "forget" about that campaign promise. I mean really, what's more important, keeping your promises, or getting enough money in those old campaign coffers so you can pay for more ads to disperse your next set of promises out to the public to get reelected and then ignore those promises.

"Financial services companies are inclined to give to me because I'm chairman of the committee important to their interests," said Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, who will headline a breakfast Wednesday at a D.C. hotel, for which donations range from $1,000 to $15,000 for the Democratic National Committee. "I'm fundraising to give to others so I can help stay in the majority and do the public policy things I want." [All Emp.-mine]

At least he isn't lying now. He know it's two years until the next elections, so grab the cash now and the sheeple will have forgotten all about come time to vote.
Earlier this month, Frank traveled to Charlotte, home to two of America's largest bank companies, for a similar fundraising breakfast, for a fellow Financial Services Committee member, Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.). Donors got to hear firsthand about Frank's plans for upcoming banking legislation. He assured attendees that more federal regulation of banking is on the way and that it will help banks to prosper.
The old "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" meme. Get ready for the return and/or increase of all those banking fees to help fund the government's help.

But it was in part a Republican lobbying scandal -- GOP lobbyist Abramoff's defrauding of Indian tribal clients and the subsequent investigation into his efforts to influence lawmakers with lavish gifts -- that gave Democrats their opening to regain control of Congress. Democrats took over in January after a campaign that accused Republicans of fostering a "culture of corruption" in Washington and "selling access" to lawmakers. Abramoff has been convicted of fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy and is in federal prison.
Now, with the tables turned, Democrats are courting Abramoff's most famous clientele -- Indian tribes.

But this is different, can't you see.

Found the Flaw I Was Fearing

With the upgrade to Haloscan, all the old comments prior to installation have disappeared. Bummer.

I'll spend some time to see if they still exist and if they are retrievable. I knew some problem would be lurking to bite me in the ass, but if this is the worst, I can live with it.

I've Upgraded The Upgrade

I now have Haloscan installed for the comments. This is just to much fun.

I Don't Care Who You Are, Now That's Funny

"Borrowed from my good friend GuyK, who shouldn't complain as he "borrows" a few things himself.

I'm Still In Love With Pat Benetar

Working graveyard and the site is down, so I'm just a well paid night watchman tonight. I've been able to patch this blog up with a couple of the things that got lost in the upgrade and drop by some of the other blogs that I've neglected lately. I'd forgotten how good some of these people write. Makes me jealous.

I've been listening to Radio Free Colorado with it's superb streaming audio and "Love is a Battlefield" by Pat Benetar came on. When I was at ASU in '79, she was the hottest thing in Rock and everyone I knew lusted after her in the worst way. I got to see her in concert twice out there, once at a outdoor festival and once in a smaller auditorium. Great shows, both of them, and I can actually remember being there and what songs were played.

This is a later song from 1984, but it was the one that started this drift back to the old days. Sorry the video stops a little short.



God, what a voice.

Maybe It Won't Be Too Painful

This is the upgraded template. A few things are missing and I think I can pull them off the hard copy I saved. I'm on graveyard shift tonight, so I can put some time in to reinserting the dropped stuff, and maybe have some time during the week to try using some fancy do-dad's like Haloscan comments and such and so forth.

I Really Wanted to Post

I have had things to post on, but I've been leery about putting things on. Google has taken over Blogsnot and wants me to "upgrade" to their "easier to use" template. It's tempting and I think I'll give it a try.

My fear is my history with using upgrades. I can safely say about 90% have given me trouble, anywhere from just requiring fine tweaking to total system crash.

The assure me that they will save a copy of my old template, but if it's a total screw up, I may not be able to get back to the old one.

I have copied and save a hard copy, so I hope that saves me a little grief if only minor problems arise.

If things look a little askew here for the next week or so, you can be assured I'm trying to fix the problems, but I'm not a programmer, so it may take a bit of research and begging friends for hints.

Wish me luck.

Brit Hume Rips Murtha

From Hot Air

Damn, I love Brit Hume. The man is smart and lays the facts on the line. Today on Fox News Sunday, he let Murtha have it on his position on the Iraqi War, stopping just short of calling him senile.

Hume: Murtha is not “well informed about what’s going on over there [Iraq]” and he doesn’t have the “foggiest awareness of what the heck is going on in the world.”

'Nuff said.

Somebody Found Me-Tagged Dammit

Even though I've tried to keep a very low profile, Blackiswhite, Imperial Agent Provocateur found my backwater site and tagged me. This will be remembered BisW.

Six Unusual Things About Me.

I almost cheated here by saying I'm so ordinary that I don't think I have 6 things that are all that unusual, but I won't . So here goes...

1. Even though my entire academic career from 6th grad on was directed towards going to college and getting a degree, after a year of college I ended up working as an oil field hand.

2. My employment at my first oil company was "just until I figured out what I wanted to pursue in a year or so", those few years turned into 29 (so far).

3. My house and garage are total chaos, yet at work I go ballistic when people can't pick up the tools when finished with a job, or file paperwork in the proper place.

4. I can appreciate and enjoy any style of music (inc. Rap, Duranguense (Mexican polka), Raga, Britney Spears) for at least two songs, but that's about my limit on most crap.

5. I've survive 50+ years with all the stupid ass stunts I've pulled, knowing at the time I was most likely going to kill myself trying it. I wasn't trying to prove anything (machismo or through a dare), just wanted to see if I could do it.

6. I'm actually happy living a middle-class life. I've got what I need and I'm comfortable, so I don't feel a driving compulsion to own more.

Anti-Cat Blogging

For those of you that are tired of your cats using up your bandwidth with their incessant attempts to blog, I've run across that much demanded software to put an end to this.

It's called PawSense (winner of the Ig Nobel Prize in 2000) and will put an immediate end to your cats opining on your dime.

For the meager sum of $19.99 (plus S & H) you can purchase this product and save the world from cat's pushing their attempt with their feline agenda of human inferiority.

And No, GuyK, it doesn't come with an interface to attach a shotgun.

They Raised theMinimum Wage And...

Got this through rightwingprof:

New wage boost puts squeeze on teenage workers across Arizona

Well, now isn't that interesting? In order to help those on minimum wage attain a better life style they enact a law that wipes out existing jobs and puts a stopper on creating new ones.

"We're from the Government and we're here to help." Oh stop it, you're killing me!!

"Workers affected by the minimum-wage increase are less likely to be supporting a family than the typical Arizona worker," it stated. "For example, 30.4 percent of the workers are living with their parent or parents, while only 7.6 percent of all Arizona workers are in this category." [emp-mine]

Like most of the Dem's feel good plans, it looked good on paper and sounded good to the idiots that have never run a business, but after it gets enacted and reality sets in, it's to late for the person that lost their job. So sorry.

Well, I Know a Guy Who Knows A Guy Who Isn't Doing Well

Here's one of those things that they just can't find time for on the news. Not with all the breaking reports about Anna Nicole Smith, oh, and that unprecedented white stuff that is piling up in the northeast (I think they're calling it snow?).

US Tax Revenues Up 9.7% through four months, Deficit Down 57%; US Media Outlets Mostly Ignore the News

May God have mercy on our souls.

Home From Portland

Dad's much better and was released yesterday. What had put him in the hospital was an bladder infection, dehydration, and another of those small heart attacks.

He is able to dress himself and get around with a walker.

Thanks to those of you who sent their best wishes, it was appreciated.

Amtrak ran 4 1/2 hours behind schedule coming home, so I arrived in L.A. at 1:30 AM on Tuesday and had to be at work for afternoon shift the next day, so I haven't gotten back on schedule yet.

Bad News

My Dad, who is 89, is in the hospital. He has been suffering from a urinary infection for the last few weeks, and that on top of his weak heart (although the medicos haven't been able to figure out exactly what is causing the periodic chest pains over the last couple of years) has worn him down. He's lost a lot of weight, is freezing cold all the time. Yesterday his blood pressure dropped dangerously low and he was listless and incoherent.

Luckily my brother lives with my parents and was able to deal with the problems till the EMT's arrived. My Mom is in her 80's also and semi-bedridden (due to breathing problems, that the doctors are also at a loss to explain).

At the ER they got him on IV's and got his BP back up to a safe level and he became coherent again.

Both my parents have live a long time and I know the human body cannot run forever and I haven't seen them since they moved up to Portland over 7 1/2 years ago.. Tomorrow I'm taking Amtrak up to see them, I checked on flights, but to book at the last minute is just prohibitively expensive, being I just blew my discretionary funds in Vegas a week ago. I talk to them weekly, but it always seems like there would be time to get up there.

Well, now time is way to short. Luckily I work with a great guy who will cover a couple of my work shifts plus I'm coming up on my long change (5 1/3 days off), so outside of the 30 hour train rides, I'll be able to spend a few days up there.

If I can get on my Dad,s computer, I will try to post in a couple days, but, there just may be a weeks gap if I can't make a connection.

Vegas-Why I Drive

Well here goes. I said I was going to post about my Las Vegas trip, and damn it, I’m gonna do it. Because I have a lot to expound on this, I’m going to break it into three installments: This one will deal with why I chose to drive to get there, then some observations on gambling and getting around town and finally a post on the drive itself.

I use to love to fly - but not now - not if the trip can be driven in 6 hours or less. I have two airports to choose from: Burbank and LAX. Burbank is very close, but it’s small and they put a surcharge on top of the normal airfare for the convenience. LAX is a bit of a drive, and requires either a heavy sedative or heavy drinking to deal with their setup.

Either airport I choose, I have to get there, which means either get an airport shuttle, or use long term parking – basically a push when time and money are factored. On top of the just getting there, they want you there 2 hours before your flight leaves. S0, with driving to and sitting there forever, you’ve already used up three hours and haven’t even left town.

Shall we mention “security”? You are not allowed to take half the stuff you need in your carry on, so now you are faced with the choice of going shopping when you first arrive at your destination and then chucking the stuff you just bought before going home, or checking your bag and waiting the year or so it takes for them to offload it and get it to the baggage carousel. Both are sucky options and more time, money and effort than it’s worth.

Flight time: one hour in the air – this does not include the planes taxi time.

If going to Vegas (275 miles), it’s taken one hour longer to fly than to drive without rushing. If I were going to Phoenix (380 miles)I’ve saved, maybe, an hour, but in both places I’m still at the airport, I still haven’t gotten to the hotel or house and once at those final destinations, I have no easy or inexpensive way to get around.

Now you may bring up the fact that Vegas just put in a monorail system. Yes, they did, but it doesn’t go to the airport and it cost $15 for a one day pass. Cheaper than taking taxis, but still way overpriced. Also, it goes nowhere close to The Palms our favorite casino, which is located on the other side of the freeway from The Strip

And of course there is no way to Boulder Station which is about 5 miles east of The Strip. Yeah, Boulder Station caters to older clientèle, but hey, we are old now, and this is a good place to go during the day. It has a good movie theater, thousands of machines, lots of TV screens for sports and a payoff rate that is fair enough that you can usually play for hours without losing a lot. This is also one of the few casinos that I have left with more money than I walked in with (once, and not much more).

Duke Rape Case

Watching the news this morning, I got to see Michael Nifong, the "illustrious" D.A. from Durham County, N.C. being hauled before the State Bar on a second charge to explain how withholding evidence from the defense and colluding with another party to keep the information suppressed is justified.

If anyone has ever kept track of the number of times a State Bar has bothered to even investigate a case of ethical behavior involving their members, let alone censor or disbar someone should realize that this is big news.

Even if nothing much comes of the hearings, at least we can be reasonably sure that Nifong's political career is over.

The main thing about the original "Rape Case" that has bothered me most is the fact that nobody seems to remember how many peoples lives were screwed up. You always hear about the 3 guys that were charged, but what dropped off the radar was that 1) the Lacrosse coach lost his job, 2) the entire 46 man nationally ranked team was disbanded , 3) the players were threatened, assaulted and condemned for "covering up" the rape (that did not occur).

Back when this started, I opined that the case would fade away after the election. I was terribly wrong. I didn't know exactly how low Nifong would stoop to keep his phoney-baloney job, but I should have realized you couldn't get anything much lower than a cross between a lawyer and politician.

I won't say the Lacrosse players were upstanding examples of morality, they are what that they are, college age boys. Back when I was their age I think I may have been to a couple of parties where strippers were present. Where it seems silly now to pay to have a lady come take off her clothes and dance for a group of drunks, I can't condemn them going through this "rite of passage" that I would hazard to guess that 90% of guys have gone through at least once.

I'm Think I'm Getting Better

I was going to try to post more regularly this year, but things happen. The getting better part is that I feel I've let myself down by missing a whole week.

When I got back from Vegas, I hand wrote a long diatribe on the gambling and driving in that city and the drive home. However, when I got home, my wife had a huge head cold, which due to the hours I keep in Vegas (about 6 hours sleep over 4 days), I was not in shape to fight off. I spent the last two days of my vacation with mountains of kleenex piling up next to me in bed, then back to work for 6 days on day shift.

My project for this week was to stay out of the way while Schlumberger played with explosives and blew some new perforations in one of our injector wells. The other was to give our yard a high pressure enema to clean out some drains that had plugged up over the summer. If you've worked on oil wells, you know that great smell associated with brine and the wonderful feeling of the crap blowing back on you along with the sludge that builds up in field drains while it's 50 degrees down in the cellar. Cold, wet, stinky...that's how I like to spend my weekends.

If I can make it through my shift tomorrow, I will try to get my musings on the trip posted. I got over the cold last Friday, so I'm almost back to feeling normal.

Home Agian

Wonderful time, and came home under budget.

Snowed, froze,laughed (a lot) and caught up with my friends.

Around six hours sleep over three days has left me a little tired, so I'll try to post more tomorrow.
I've still got 3 days vacation to recuperate.

Getting Ready For Fun, Maybe

I'm getting things together for my trip to Vegas. Picked out some DVD's to watch while we're out there, got some CD's together to stay awake on the drive back and forth and found my "Preferred Sucker" cards for the different casinos.

The first problem I've had with the trip, is that I save up aluminum cans between trips to help defray the cost. Upon loading my truck with all the cans I could carry and driving down to Glendale to cash them in, I find that they've moved the Recycling Center that I've gone to for the last 6 or 7 years....No sign of where they've gone, nothing. I'm now at home have found the new location, but will now have to delay my departure time to deal with this tomorrow morning.
In one way this is good. After thinking about leaving early (5:00 am) to beat the traffic, I realized I'm driving NE most of the way and would be driving into the rising sun most of the trip, so leaving around 10- 11, after morning rush, isn't so bad.

My new jacket hasn't arrived at my door yet, but the UPS tracking says it's on a truck for delivery. It better get here, as the projected high for Saturday is 38 degrees, and this SoCal boy doesn't do well when temps get below 60.

I'm going to keep a positive attitude and figure these little annoyances will just help me appreciate the time away more.

Christmas--Vacation

Christmas is arriving a little late this year. Due to budget constraints at the North Pole, Santa had to defer the delivery of one of my presents till the new year.

I just got word today (placed my order) that this beautiful (I mean that in a manly sense) jacket will be arriving at my house no later than Wednesday, January 10th. Just in time for my trip to Lost Wages, Nevada to blow a lot of cash, but also get to spend time with friends from my wasted days at ASU back in '79-80. These Frat brothers (ΘΔΧ) are still my closest friends, even after all these years.

This trip to Vegas is the first vacation I've had since '05. Due to all the crap that's been going on at work, even though I've put in for vacation time, it kept getting put off "cause we're going to start up next week, and we need you there". We never started up and the company finally had the opportunity of 1) I take all my vacation right now and I'll see you in a month, 2) Pay me now for the vacation time I wasn't allowed to take or 3) Carry it over (not company policy) and I get to use it in '07. I know the company is short of cash, so I accepted the carry over, now I've got 6 weeks vacation to use up--minus the 7 days I'm using now.

Typically, now that I get to take vacation, my wife can't get the time off. Just before the end of the year, the guy that knew all the secrets to get the jobs done at her company left. Now they "can't spare anyone until they get things under control again".

We'll still get to spend time together, as I won't leave town until Thursday, but she still has work. This is still an improvement over our normal schedule as I'll be home and awake while she's home. Being on a rotating shift schedule can take a big toll on together time. I don't think she knows how much I appreciate her tolerance of things not getting done around the house when I'm on graveyard and the day or so period when I try to force my body back onto a daylight schedule.

My major project over the next week is to cash in all the aluminum cans I have been saving for my Vegas trip over the last year and a half. This should be fun, as we tend to drink a hell of a lot of coke (and another thing thing that comes in cans), so I probably should be able to gamble with little or no drain on our banked money. I actually have $100 left from my last gambling trip stashed, so that will make my spree that much cheaper (Ha-rationalization at it's best).

All I can say is those Video Poker machines had better watch out, they won't know what hit them with all the money I going to pull out of them. Hoped the cashier has stocked the vault.

RFC-Don't Go Here

While at work last night (between rounds), I decided to see if I could find out what ever happened to a Classic Rock internet radio station I really liked. One week it was there, and the next gone... without a word. Originally I just figured the guy got tired and gave it up.

I ran some searches and got all kinds of speculation on why it went off line without any notice. To me, the guy that ran it, Gary Burke, seemed to just get closer to the edge of nuts, whether due to the pressure of running a 24 hour station solo, or some other reason.

Once after he had upgraded to a new server and the feed keep getting dropped, I wrote an E-mail just to tell him that I loved the station, but they were having major problems and they might want to get it what they were paying for, I got a replay back that was insulting and downright mean.

Well, Radio Free Colorado is back online. I was able to sneak in (the server always seems to be full) and if you want Classic Rock, no advertisements or talk, this is the best. Now if the formats the same as before, Gary may get on once a day and express his opinions for about 20 minutes, and he is a real left winger, but it's his station and I can wait for the next song.

I'll warn you right now, getting on during normal hours is next to impossible and if you get on, make damn sure you're done, cause it will be a battle to get a slot in the limited space he has.

Last night I turn off the TV at work for the first time in ages. I don't really watch anything until TVLand shows Gunsmoke at 3am, followed by Bonanza (love those show I grew up with), and just listened to a good mix of music that I grew up with.

The reason I say don't go there, is because I would prefer that there were a slot open for me when I want to listen.

It's 2007, Happy New Year

I've had another exciting New Years Eve, sitting in the office at work for the fourth straight year. At least I haven't heard any bullets bouncing off the roof this time around.

Not that it really matters. The years prior to my getting stuck on graveyard shift, I was to the point of going to bed before 11:00. I like the idea of a new beginning, but I like to sleep also, and drinking heavily and staying up till midnight got old. I prefer getting up in sunlight to greet the new year, kinda like a sunrise service.

To any and all that pass by here, I wish a a sincere, heart felt wish for a great year coming up for you and those you love.

I got my New Years present about 1:00 PM (PST) when my Raiders lost their last game and the Detroit Lions won theirs, clinching our bid for the first round pick in the next draft. Now it's just waiting to see how bad Al Davis can screw this up. He'll probably go for another quarterback using the idea of "with no offensive line, we need to be deeper".

Right now I'm sitting and waiting to see how long the company I work for can continue to make (or not make) decisions that achieve nothing, nor produce anything resembling income, not to mention profit. We get instructions to run equipment that just costs us money to have it going, delay repairs on equipment that doesn't work correctly and jump from a project that is half finished to another project that we stopped working on (half finished) two months ago, and for some reason we pull off that before it's finished and go to something else.

I've got a couple irons in the fire, but I know this place could make money again and I like the job, when thing are going right. I must say though, that after 9 months of no income, my outlook isn't positive.

As far a resolutions, I believe they're crap, but I'll make one anyway. "I RESOLVE TO POST ON A MORE REGULAR BASIS SO THAT THE WORLD CAN BENEFIT FROM MY BALANCED AND LEARNED OPINIONS." Let's see how long that sticks.