HOME!!!

I just got in. I've been on the road since 12 PM PST. 15 hours of travel time.

The trip was wonderful...stressful at times, but worth the headaches. Right now I am now jet lagged and worn out and surrounded by happy animals.

Back to work tomorrow afternoon (If the company is still there!).

I'll write about my journeys tomorrow (I have pictures, for now the agenda is grab something to eat and sleep.

Travel Stress

I'm sitting at home, I'm packed, showered and ready to go!

The problem is I've still got 3 1/2 hours until the airport shuttle picks me up and I'm a raving maniac!!! I just want to get going. I picked the earliest pick up time they offered so I'll get to the airport way early and get to sit there forever. My fear now is that being I worked graveyard, I'll fall asleep in the terminal and miss my flight.

I most likely won't be by here until Tuesday or Wednesday next week. If I have time, I'll try to check in Sunday or Monday when I visit my friend in Alabama. Like my missing a week is something new. You regular readers will just have to deal with this void in your day.

I still don't know when I'll be where, but once I'm out there, I'll have my own car and I've got a ream of "Mapquests" printed out so I should be able to find my way around.

I know I've said it before, but I can't wait to see Chris! I am dying to see how he's changed since the last time we were together. It only been two months, but it seems like a lifetime to me.

Music Day

I'm just going through getting everything done to leave SoCal for Georgia on Tuesday.

I'm doing laundry and trying to straighten the house up a bit before I go. That's a put on the radio and crank it time. These are just a few songs that went by and I thought I'd pass on to you. I like them, but I may not know what the message is, I just like the music as it goes by.

Sometime Around Midnight - The Airborne Toxic Event



Incubus - Love Hurts



Rise Against - Prayer Of The Refugee



Foo Fighters - The Pretender



No messages here, just music I turn up when it comes on.

4 Work Days To Go

I haven't been around here or any of the other sites I normally visit. I've been tying up all the loose ends I can for the trip to Ft. Benning. It's down to getting my laundry done and final packing.

My major concern the last couple of days was my auto insurance. I'm renting a car out there and needed to be sure I was covered. Something happened about a month ago that got me stuck in a series of cancellations and reinstatement's. It seemed that every third day I'd get a letter telling me to disregard the previous letter. It culminated in getting a cancellation with a check for $272 of unused premium, followed by a letter saying to disregard the cancellation, followed by a bill for $320.

THAT WAS IT!!! No more internet or telephone communications, I needed to talk face to face with someone. Within 10 minutes of sitting down with the very nice lady, it was determined that I owed $240, I should have "Uninsured Motorist" coverage ($21) and if I endorsed the check they had sent me, I would be rebated $11 for overpayment. More coverage and money back...how the hell does that happen?

I now can rest assured that I do not have to pay the $29 per day rental agency insurance...almost 1/4 of my yearly premium to cover 6 days. Can you say usury?

I've got someone to throw food at the animals, new jeans, new tennis shoes, new luggage, cash in my pocket and some money left in the bank.

I wrote Chris a long letter last night, then realized there was no point in mailing it. Chances are I'll get out there before the letter finds him. I won't let all that work go to waste, I'll just hand deliver it.

I Will Work Harder

That is the quote that has stuck with me for over 35 years since I read Animal Farm back in High School.

Back then that was a book on the curriculum. I liked it so much I asked my English teacher for more books on that subject. She pointed me to 1984 and Brave New World. Not only was she a babe, she would point you in a direction you showed interest in.

With Obambi's kinda semi-definition of where he wants the country to go, there has been a lot of talk of socialism. I know I'm not the first to point it out, but I listen to their arguments about how it is for the good of the everyday worker, but I've watched my tax rebate get eaten up by the tax increases.

The gov't allows me to keep $600 of my paycheck this year....then they add $0.10 a gallon tax on gasoline (there's $82), cigs will cost me $550 more a year in added taxes...I don't have to go any farther, I'm already paying more in taxes than I get with the rebate.

I would say my taxes went up.

I just watched both of the movies of Animal Farm. They both leave out something and, of course, leave out or combine things, but between the two of them cover the book adequately.

"Animal Farm" 1954

Animal Farm 1999

Why I'm So Hot To Get This Trip Right

One of my best friends use to plan 5 days of things to do on a three day trip. No matter how many things you go to do, you always felt like the trip missed something because you only had time to do 3 or 4 of the 9 things he had scheduled.

I was always spontaneous and trusted my luck on things working out. They usually did, and still do, but as I've gotten older I don't have the patience to tolerate those little glitches that pop up. The last trip Chris and I took together a couple of years ago is a good example.

Road Trip Report: Tuesday, November 13, 2007

The drive into San Francisco from Portland is the pertinent part:

Bay Area

This will be my last trip there!!! Traffic sucks! We got into the area just after dark, it was foggy and really raining. We could see the freeway well enough, but nothing beyond it so I lost all sense of direction.

After a “brief” meandering tour of the hills of Berkley (I have no idea how we got there), we finally found Oakland. I should mention that I was so disoriented, that I actually stopped and asked for directions at one point, which at least got us headed in the right direction.

Due to a bunch of circumstances, I hadn’t reserved a motel. I paid dearly for this. There really isn’t a hell of a lot of motels in the area, and they’re spread all over the place. We hit six that were booked up, one that had one room at $109.00/night (HA!). We were getting farther and farther away from the stadium and I was just hanging onto my sanity due to fatigue and the stress.

I was really starting to wonder how comfortable the seats in the car were for sleeping when we spotted a Motel 6. Three rooms left and $114 for two nights. SOLD!!!

The place was crazy with Raider fans, but maybe because it was raining, it was quiet and we got a good nights rest.

Due to working with an overly flexible schedule and counting on luck, what was overall a good trip, for about 7 hours (7 PM to 1 AM), I was a raving maniac! Part of the problem was we were in my kid's new car and I didn't want to smoke in it which just added to dealing with the rain, lack of visibility and road fatigue.

I'm just going to reserve a room for two nights around Ft. Benning, if I need a third night, I'll figure that out when I get there. That'll give me a couple of days to deal with the next leg. I really don't want to impose on my friends in Alabama for more than 3 days, but if I need to, I will. I had one of my Frat brothers move in with me for 4 months while he did some underpaid apprentice program, and the guy I'm going to visit actually stayed at our apartment on my wedding night. (He slept on the couch you pervs!)

A bright light when Chris goes to AIT is that he will have internet access and we'll be able to Email each other. I just need to get out there and give him a hug and catch up on his life.

15 days and counting.

The Phone Gods Hate Me

Another Sunday, and another week that I didn't get to talk to Chris.

I don't know what was going on on his side, but I had my phone with me all day. He didn't get his cell phone, but tried to call me three times on a pay phone (I recognized the area code). When I'd answer...it would immediately cut off the call.

I'm really PO'd! It's down to crunch time and I could use some info on when he gets released from Benning and when he has to report to Rucker...how many nights do I have to be where?

I'm trying to get everything for the trip nailed down as much as I can so that we can just relax and enjoy the little time we have without too much stress. I'm flying all the way across the country to spend time with my son, that I haven't seen in over two months, and now I'm getting really stressed.

From his last letter he was in the "elite" platoon, but it sounded like the other platoons were total screw ups and his platoon just didn't screw up as much.

That he didn't get his cell phone today is an indication someone(s) in his platoon screwed up royally. That he was allowed to use the pay phone at the end of the day, says it probably wasn't him.

I've got the flight, I've got the car, I've got new luggage. I'm going to the South regardless of what happen with him. My friends in Alabama may just end up with a guest that will stay with them longer than they were led to believe.

There Are Lies, Then There Are Statistics

Last Tuesday they had the Primaries for the City of Los Angeles. On the Monday preceding, the Mayor (former gang member and 4 time failure at passing the State Bar) Villagiarosa, along with his flunky Chief of Police Bratton, held a press conference to announce that under their leadership that the LAPD had been brought up to just 150 short of the promised 10,000 police officers.

It wasn't until the following Thursday that someone asked who many more cops were on the street?

Turns out that yes, they've got a whole shitload of new cops, but being they've been laying off the civilian workers, the new "cops" are replacing them at the desk jobs with a net gain of ZERO cops on patrol.

G-d Damn lying politicians!! Villagairosa is already called the "11% Mayor" because that is amount of time he devotes to running this disaster of a city and he's got his eyes focused on being Governor in 2011. With the demand on his time to run his campaign, that should reduce his attention to L.A. to 0%.

Headin' South

It was touch and go for a bit, but I've booked my flight to Georgia for the 24th of this month for Chris' graduation from Boot.

I have "AAdvantage" tied to my debit card, so if I select "Credit" instead of "Debit" I get miles on every purchase. It doesn't change the way they rip the money out of my account, but I get "miles". I used some a year ago to fly up to Portland Oregon and I really wasn't impressed with the savings. It may have had something to due with my flights were booked on an affiliated airline (Alaska instead of American Airlines).

This time though, the total cost Bob Hope Airport (Burbank) to Atlanta and back...$31.00!!! $10.00 ticket fee, $20.00 because I had to get something straightened out over the phone instead of the internet and some BS $1.00 fee for who knows what. That's close enough to flying free that I can't bitch.

With this saving, I can afford to rent a car for the week no problem. Not only can I rent a car, but I won't have to go with an econobox for the 500 miles I'll have to cover (Atlanta to Ft. Benning to Ft. Rucker to Tuscaloosa and back to Atlanta). Driving that far on unfamiliar roads in what looks like iffy weather, I'll feel much better in a wide track, heavy sedan rather that an underpowered recycled beer can with skinny tires.

Ft Benning has on base rooms at $37.50/night, but my Army brat foreman pointed out that it's Federal property and "No Smoking In The Rooms!" I'd rather pay an extra $30/night and not have to deal with that.

I asked Chris what he would like to do on his free time and he said "IHOP and Papa Johns Pizza". I'm guessing he's a little tired of Army chow. Even still, he's gone from 142 pounds to 154. When he went in he needed to gain 12 pounds to meet his BMI, so he's cleared that.

From what he tells me, he's going through "Boot Camp Lite". They have made sure he knows which way to point the rifle, he can stand in formation and he can salute. They've done a couple of march and sleep in the field, attack a hill, march back. He's complaining that there are days where they just seem to sit around. His platoon is made up of guys that are going onto technical stuff for AIT, there are no infantry guys with them. When he goes to Rucker for AirOps training, the infantry guys get to enjoy Benning for another 6 weeks.

I had to go back to work today and they tried to depress me with doom and gloom crap going on there, but I'm going to be in a good mood for the next 4 weeks. It's going to be a shock when I get out there, to see my son transformed. He's gone from a slacker to a soldier in just a few months. A few weeks ago he was hot to get rated as a Paratrooper, but now he says that would be nice, but he'd really like to go for Pathfinder (DON'T TELL HIS MOM!!!).

Pure Patriotism

I was thinking about posting on a couple of documentaries I caught over the last couple of nights that I wanted to point out, but I was feeling lazy and thought I could do it tomorrow. Then I got a e-mail from a fellow blogger with a truly beautiful film that I had to post right now.

I'll start with my original videos and save the best for last:

“Speed and Angels” is the real “Top Gun”. It covers the last F-14’s to go through the training, also the only female Tomcat pilot. It covers the training for Navy pilots including Carrier landings. After watching this film, I would love to launch off a flattop, but I would be willing to forgo landing on one, especially at night.


"Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag" was an IMAX film, and I don’t care how crappy your monitor is, the photography is phenomenal. It’s got a real good back story and it focuses on my favorite plane (F-15 Eagle, baaybeee!!). The first 30 minutes (of 49) cover dogfights and air command and control… but then it really gets great. They go with a downed pilot exercise that really shows coordination of all the different facets available. They finish with a live bomb exercise that just freaked me out. G-d help anyone that goes against our military is about all I can say.

This last one I just had pop up in my email and I clicked on the attachment..The tears were flowing so bad, that I had to watch it again to pick up the pieces I missed the first time. What a beautiful bird to symbolize such a great nation!

Gemerational Theft Act

A very good article on the folly of the "Generational Theft Act" by Vox Day at WorldNetDaily:

Stimulus spelled out

Amidst the dire predictions of imminent catastrophe if Obama's stimulus package were not passed by the Congress, and equally dismal prophecies of how the stimulus will extend what is looking like a doozy of a depression, there has been a near-complete failure on the media's part to explain the core principles behind the fiscal stimulus to the American people. This is due to the near-complete ignorance of economics on the part of the mainstream media; one can hardly expect them to explain what they do not understand. Some readers may find it useful, then, if I attempt to rectify the situation.

Hey, they just report the news! People certainly don't expect them to do some research and find out if what they are told is true or that their may be people that disagree with what they are being fed.

In 1987, the new Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, averted a financial meltdown in the fall when he used a variety of aggressive monetary policies to inject liquidity into the financial system, temporarily driving down the overnight repo rate from 7.5 percent to 5.5 percent in a matter of days. Interest rates, as measured by the effective federal funds rate, were slashed from 8.5 percent in late September to 5.5 percent in mid-December. The success of his actions in stabilizing the financial system gave great credence to the Monetarist school of economics, epitomized by Nobel Prize-winner Milton Friedman, who had long asserted that management of the money supply was the key to preventing the economy from contracting.

Friedman had long blamed the Federal Reserve for failing to respond aggressively enough to the stock market crash of 1929, and in collaboration with his co-author Anna Schwartz, had claimed that a more aggressive lowering of interest rates would have prevented the Great Depression. Greenspan's successful navigation of the 1987 crisis appeared to prove conclusively that the monetarist thesis was correct, and in 2002 led to current Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke making a humorous admission in his speech made in honor of Friedman's 90th birthday.

Let me end my talk by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression. You're right, we did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again.

But then something odd happened:

Similar rate-cutting actions were begun in July 1990, February 1995, May 2000 and June 2006 when signs of economic contraction appeared. However, as the cuts came more often and the target rates fell lower, it began to become clear that these liquidity injections were no longer having the desired effect of propping up stock, real estate and commodity prices. Now that interest rates are effectively at zero but the economy is still in the process of shrinking, the failure of the monetarist theory has become obvious, especially given the continued failure of the Japanese economy to respond to extreme interest rate-cutting following its 1989 crash.

It slashing interest rates stopped working, plus we had the example of Japan's economy tanking using this principle, but nobody can put two and two together.

The failure of monetary policy has caused many economists and politicians to return to the Keynesian school, which primarily concerns itself with fiscal policy. Just as the Federal Reserve's control of the price of money – the interest rate – is the primary tool of the monetarists, government spending is the primary tool of the Keynesians, or more properly, Neo-Keynesians, since even the biggest fans of John Maynard Keynes have been forced to acknowledge at least some of the fundamental flaws in his economic theories. The core of the Keynesian theory of economic contraction is a failure of demand to meet supply, or to put it more simply, people are refusing to buy enough stuff to keep the economy growing. This is why Neo-Keynesians like Nobel Prize-winner Paul Krugman worry about "the looming hole in the U.S. economy," by which he means the difference between what could be produced by the economy and what will actually be bought.

So now we go back to the "semi" discredited system that didn't work.

This next quote is long, but explains it with an easy to understand example:

Consider a hypothetical example of an economy in which there are 100 cars. Because a car lasts for 10 years, every year 10 cars wear out and are replaced. But things have been going well and people are getting wealthier, so five of them buy second cars. The three car makers each sell five cars, and there are now 105 cars in the economy. However, in the second year, there is a stock market panic due to the failure of the Madagascar cashew harvest, so the central bank gets nervous and slashes interest rates. Ten cars wear out, and 10 are replaced, but thanks to the low interest rates, the automakers can offer zero percent leases and other creative forms of payment, which encourage 20 people to buy second cars. There are now 125 cars in the economy. Interest rates stay low for the next three years, and people continue to take advantage of the new car-financing deals, until there are 185 cars in an economy that only required 100 five years before.

Then, an Icelandic bank bets heavily on the Norwegian cod harvest and goes under. The global stock markets drop, people feel less wealthy, and car drivers decide to reduce their automotive consumption. Ten cars wear out, as always, but instead of being replaced by new cars, they are replaced by cars that still have seven good years on them sold by two-car owners who decide they really don't need their second car anymore. The car economy shrinks by 10 cars to 175 cars, but even worse, the annual gap between the demand and the supply capacity is 30 cars. So, what is the solution?

The monetarists would recommend cutting interest rates, but since they are already low, that's not a viable option. (And then, there is the fact that because low interest rates caused the problem in the first place, they cannot reasonably be expected to fix it.) The Keynesians would attempt to stimulate the economy by having the government fill in the demand gap by buying 30 cars, but this will only put off the problem for a year since there will be 30 more used cars available to the 10 people who will require replacement vehicles next year. The optimal solution is the Austrian one, which is to leave the economy alone and wait for the extra cars to wear out. This may be frustrating to the would-be hero politician who wishes to solve the problem through decisive legislation, but it is the only solution that will not make things materially worse in the future.

Hey, there are going to be a lot of fancy golf carts on the market next year.

Doing nothing is admittedly difficult in times of crisis. But it is always wise to keep in mind that there is no crisis so severe that government intervention cannot make it worse.

AAAAmen!!!

P.S.: See my new Debt Clock on the sidebar to find out what you owe.

Finally!!!!

I'm not superstitious nor and I a big believer in premonitions...BUT...Chris didn't call yesterday. I carried my damn cell phone with all day and when I went to bed at 5 PM (day shift, up at 3:30 AM), I tried to put my phone so it would wake me (no easy feat, once I'm out, I'm really out)on the off chance he called late.

He didn't, so I figured maybe they got in trouble and were denied phone privileges.

Today when I got to work and being it's one of those "kinda holidays", I closed the gates and decided to leave my phone on the desk. (I had a phone stolen out of the office a couple of years ago, so it usually goes in my locker.) It was one of those feelings of "Well, he works for the gov't, maybe they'll consider it a holiday and he could get his phone".

At 12:42 PST my phone went off, my heart raced a couple of beats, then while reaching for the phone, I'm thinking "It's probably some new bill my wife left me with", I look at the display and it says "CHRIS"!

That was the end of my shift report, I was 2/3's of the way through, but the rest could wait.

I got to talk to him for about an hour. He's doing well, put on 10 lbs., got the hell beat out of him with pugil sticks last Friday and loved it, Tomorrow he goes to the range and tries to qualify as Expert Marksman (two more on target this time and he makes it 36 out of 40, but he's going for 40/40), Friday they get so shoot heavy weapons... .40 machine gun, SAWs, .50 Machine gun and something else I didn't recognize, and he's just short on all the PT stuff they have to pass, but he's still got two weeks to go to get by those.

For a kid whose diet was very "selective", he says he likes the army chow, mostly. There are some things he looks at and won't touch, so he just grabs veggies bread and rice and figures he'll eat more tomorrow when there is something he likes.

God I miss him! Eight months ago, I wanted him to get a job and move out. Now I'm counting the days and pennies so I can fly all the way across country to be able to spend a couple of days with him at his graduation from Boot. Then the Army takes him back for another 6 weeks for training in his specific field. After that he gets 2 weeks off to come home before posting.

Dammit!!!

Out of 23 1/2 hours that Chris could have called, he managed to hit dead center of my 20 minute commute to work. I was at the interchange of two freeways, in the fast lane, with two cop cars traveling along with me. No talking on cell phones while driving and no place to get off.

I carried my phone all day in the hope that he'd get another chance to call, but I guess not. (G-d, I hope he doesn't think I screwed up.)

I'm in a major funk now. I know he's doing well, but I sense an undercurrent of "What the hell did I get myself into?" in his letters. He's all the way across the country, with a bunch of guys he doesn't know. His friends don't know how to write letters. They are so use to cell phones, text and E-mail that to sit down and write a missive is beyond them. Quick bursts of writing on one point, send it off and wait for the instant response, then the next round.

Ah, well. Next Sunday I'm working Days and if he calls about the same time, I'll still be at work.

Yeee-Haw!!!

Chris moved into the next phase of Basic on Friday. That means he should get his cell phone tomorrow and be able to call. It'll be the first time we've been able to talk since he got to Georgia.

I've got my cell phone charging and checked to be sure the bill was paid up so there are no glitches on my end. I try to write him at least every other day, but my life is just so damn exciting! How many times can you tell someone about what the stupid animals did (sleep, eat, poo)? I try not to bitch about work, but it has crept in a couple of times. He's got enough on his shoulders right now.

He just got through the gas chamber and swears that is the major thing that drives him to pass Basic this time. He didn't puke, but said his sinuses where plugged for two days after.

Now that he's in "White Phase" I'm hoping it gets a little easier for a while. I'm not military, but I'd guess this middle section will cover the things that are more specific and technical. Lot's of learning, but Chris is smart and will do fine. My worry is the final phase. I'm guessing again, but I'd bet they put you through the wringer there. You've been taught the basics, shown how everything works, now let's see if you can do it under pressure.

I'm just soooo excited that my boy may call tomorrow, I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep well from worrying about missing his call. He's three hours ahead. What if he get's his phone early and calls at 8 AM my time? I'm on swing shift this week. and 8 AM is like 3 AM to me.

Now my next goal is getting the funds together to go to his graduation. I've already done the hard part and finagled the time off of work, I just have to get the minor things in order, like the flight, car rental, place to stay...how to pay for it.

If It's Friday...

It's raining and this storm pushed some nasty stuff in front of it coming in. It could be a cold that's got me, but it came on in minutes. I had been up for hours, feeling fine, drove to work and about 30 minutes before the rain hit, my sinuses were maxed out.

I'm not posting because the sheer magnitude of ineptness of the new administration just has me reeling. I can't beleive that someone elected President could be so clueless. Obambi can't find a single person for his cabinet, outside of the Republicans he selected, that doesn't have a tax problem.

Our patriotic duty to pay our fair share...yeah, right!

And this "Stimulus Bill"! Obambi thought he could just trust Pelosi to write it without administrative guidelines? 40 years of pent up socialism all rolled up in a bill that is suppose to get the economy under control? Nothing like telling people to work hard so we can tax the hell out you once everything is back to normal. Makes me want to work harder.

Right now I'm just sitting back and smiling at the silence of my lib friends and co-workers who are now realizing what they voted for.

I got a jones on for classical music today and just happened to run across this:

"Guitar: Impossible"

Keep Pressing 1

I ran across this article last night:

Nashville's English-only measure defeated
By Chris Echegaray • THE TENNESSEAN • January 23, 2009

Nashville listened to its leaders — the governor, the mayor, and a vast coalition of churches, businesses and universities — and defeated an English-only measure by nearly 10,000 votes in Thursday's special election.

No one predicted the massive turnout on the special election, one that inspired strong emotion from voters on either side. Ultimately, opponents said, the message that diversity is a good thing came through.

Ahh, yes. That "diversity" thing. The reason people don't bother to learn English while living in an English speaking country. The reason I couldn't communicate with half the people in the neighborhood I worked in, even though they had lived there for 20 years. They didn't need to learn English.

Baron said English-only measures are often veiled attempts against immigrants and non-English speaking groups. The argument over English-only found itself framed around Latinos and illegal immigration, but it also would have affected the thousands of refugees the federal government resettles in Nashville.

Yes, there are some idiots whose whole point is to pick on immigrants, but in my case that is not it. Come here legally, learn to talk to us,and I'll welcome you with open arms.

The problem I have is when I cannot get service or information here in Los Angeles in English.

At my old oil company I drove a small tank truck and needed a commercial drivers license. Having a clean record, I only needed to take the written test every four years, so I decided to swing by the DMV and pick up the commercial handbook and review it. They had it in Spanish and Chinese, no copies in English, so I drove to the next city...Spanish, Korean and Tagalog...no English. I did get a copy in the next city up the road, but now my boss is calling me wondering if I just took the rest of the day off.

There is such an emphasis on bilingual employees now at gov't agencies, that while the civil servant may be able to speak English, you can't understand them and half the time I'm not so sure they really understand what I'm asking.

Just Fun Today

Work is good. I'm on graveyard shift (which I like), and I've just missed the rains that are passing through. Nothing on TV at night so lots of cruising the net and reading between rounds, which are every 20 minutes right now due to trying to sell natural gas and having to manually operate a valve to keep the pressure and flow right. No biggy, it's something to do.

A couple of thing I ran across:

Why engineers have dogs



Just a song that was hanging in my head this morning

Incubus - Love Hurts



Think I'll go buzz the ATM. I'm going to start pulling cash out to shove in an envelope for my trip to Georgia for Chris' graduation from Boot. If I don't start setting the money aside in small chunks now, I'll spend it somewhere else and come March I'll be scrambling.

White Is The New Black

Somehow, I don't think MLK had this in mind.

You don't disqualify someone because the are other than white, you now disqualify them because they are white.



Though the country is deep shit economically, all this taxpayer money being laid out doesn't...shouldn't go to the most qualified workers...it needs to be spent for "high social return".

The official Federal policy now is "It doesn't matter whether you are the most qualified, you just fill the quota of the right number of people of that ethnic slot that needs to be filled.

According to Rangel, the States that have to count on these projects are going to have to abide by the number of minorities and women hired for that project in order to get the money to do the job that needs to be done.

The Feds will have to make sure that the "formulas" are met.

Rangel also pointed out that they don't have to worry about the "Middle Class" as they will be working too hard to pay attention to this boondoggle...until they lose their job due to this reverse discrimination.

A little thing that makes me wonder: Construction worker = Union.

Why would they target one of their base?

Perhaps with the taxes Congress plans to impose, they know these existing middle class workers are going to be a wee bit upset that they are expected to pay more taxes to fund the give-a-ways?

By then, they will be the ones laid off with no job and counting on Gov't largess to get them through. The new guys will just think these taxes (45%...70%) are what we pay to live in this country. (you did know John Lennon moved to the U.S. to avoid the 70% income tax of Great Britain, while telling us what shits we were for having such a capitalistic society?)

Socialism has come to this country. What you earn is not yours. The house you bought can be taken "for the good of the community", the job you've held for the last twenty years may be in jeopardy because your company is a percentile under the minimum of minorities needed to qualify as acceptable.

Fun With Taxes

I had my Geithner moment this year.

My wife did the taxes two years ago, gave me the forms (State and Federal)to sign, and after cringing at the amount due, signed them and I thought that was over.

Last year, with my wife gone, I did the taxes. With only one income, we were getting money back (both State and Federal)for the first time since I can remember. Silly me!!!

Turns out she "neglected" to send in the checks to pay the owed taxes, so I got letters stating not only would they not rebate my overpayment, they were garnishing my wages to collect the past due amounts (plus penalties and interest).

Odd thing though, they garnished the total due (plus penalties and interest).

The State of California, finally realized what they did (overcharge me and forcibly took more money than they were "owed"), so they issued me a credit of $550 on this years taxes for their overcharge (NO interest or penalty to them).

The really fun thing about this is the State of California is broke, so being my financial situation hasn't changed, I should be getting a refund again this year, so I should get another refund of around $500, there is no money in the state treasury to pay me, so they are going to give me an IOU (no penalty or interest).

$1000 owed me by an agency, that refuses to pay me the money they owe me and there ain't squat I can do about it.

That $1000 would pay for my trip to Georgia to see my son's graduation from Boot.

The Feds have done the exact same thing. I just haven't had time to figure out how much they've screwed me for. Rough guess...about $3500.

Phone Call From Boot

He started Thursday, they were suppose to get phone privileges on Sunday, BUT, "someone stole" something so privileges where suspended. Lot's of time standing in formation, after little sleep for 4 days waiting for the thief to fess up to the crime.

Chris sensed that nothing had really happened, it was a test. It was a message that any behavior by one person deemed unacceptable to the Sgt's would be paid for by the whole platoon.

He got his phone back Monday for two hours, but when he tried to call me (4 X's), I was at work, cell phone in my locker, so he'd try my number, call someone else to try to get my work number, then try me again. (I told him to enter my work phone, but...) By the time he finally got me the DI's were yelling at them to turn in their phones.

For some reason about 2 hours later, they were reissued their phones for 2 hours and he called me again.

He's really tired (sleep deprivation), he's pissed at the gung ho assholes, and he's been issued an ancient weapon.

Sleep Deprivation: He remembers my stories from going through "Hell Week" in a Frat (ΘΔΧ), and how they used waking you up constantly with only an hours sleep, kinda screws your reasoning processes. I did it for one week, he has about 4 weeks to look forward to.

gung ho assholes: The guys who are sure the Army is what they are here for...they volunteer for Team Leader duty..."they'll be Sgt. by the end of Boot". The Team Leader's job is to make sure their detail is awake for their 1 hour duty at 0200, but they screw up and get the guys up at midnight. When everyone is up, dressed and ready to report, they realize they don't have to report for 1 1/2 hours, no time to go back to bed, so they're up. What should be a two hour duty is now 4+ hours. We agreed that either the DI will point out the error of his ways, or his "team" will let him know.

issued an ancient weapon: His rifle is old!!! He's already figured out the proper sequence of whacking it on one side during assembly, then whacking it on the other to get the bolt to work properly. He is very happy he spent time learning how to clean my guns.

There is the typical mental BS they put them through, He has to know the SecDef (The Right Honorable Robert Gates) and all the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was scared to death that they would change today (the Inauguration of Obambi), but I assured him that with Gates still three, nothing will change for a week or two.

He graduates March 25, I'm trying to find the monies to fly out there to be there, and by G-d, I think I may pull it off. I've got 3 weeks vacation this year and I'd only have to use 3 work days. My Foreman is an Army brat and realizes this is an important day and said he'd do what he can to clear it, even though there is a ban on vacations until June. I have a five day "long change" on the end of his graduation, so as long as I'm in the South, I have a chance to visit a very close friend in Birmingham, Al.

Outside Of What Would Have Been a Good Article

Admit It: The Surge Worked
By Peter Beinart

Nobody can even write a conciliatory piece saying that some things went right without that last little dig. And this one pisses me off more than any other:

Convinced that the Reagan years had forever vindicated deregulated capitalism and unfettered American might, the Bushies blithely dismissed liberals who warned about deregulation...

For Gods sake look at the records!! Bush actually pushed for regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It was the Dems that stopped it. If those regs had been put in place, this collapse wouldn't have happened.

The Reason For My Fear

The Only Thing We Have to Fear . . .
is Obama.
by Fred Barnes

Presidents with strong nerves are decisive. They don't balk at unpopular decisions. They are willing to make people angry. President Bush had strong nerves. President Clinton, who passed up a chance to eliminate Osama bin Laden, did not. Obama is a people pleaser, a trait not normally associated with nerves of steel.

We're Pathetic

The U.S. has become a nation of cry babies that can't deal with anything like adults.

From Mark Steyn in the OCResgister:

Our permanent state of routine emergency

In just about his last act as president, George W. Bush has declared Washington, D.C., a federal disaster area.

It's been a disaster area since it was founded, but I don't think that's what he's getting at.

No, seriously. I'm not setting up some lame-o punchline here, like we used to do a decade back in the good old Monica days: "President Clinton today declared his pants a federal disaster area," etc. What happened last week was that the Bush administration formally declared a federal emergency in the District of Columbia.

So what was it? An ice storm? A hurricane?

Do tell! What is this impending disaster?

No, it's the inauguration of his successor. The inauguration is scheduled to make landfall on Tuesday and wreak havoc all night long, as Category Five conga lines buckle highways round town, and emergency busboy crews find themselves overwhelmed as they struggle to clear drained champagne flutes. So the mayor, Adrian M. Fenty, put in a request for more federal money, and, apparently, the easiest way to sluice the cash to him no questions asked was for the president to declare a state of emergency in the District and funnel however many extra gazillions he wants through FEMA – the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"I don't know if anybody's ever done that," said Dana Perino, the White House press secretary.

Aaahh! I get it. This sudden, unforeseeable "disaster" is about to fall on the district, and in spite of us being told that all expenses ($150 mil worth) would come from private donations, they need more and lucky us, we get to pay for it.

They don't even have the cajones to come right out and tell us we've got to pick up this slack, they do the little sidestep, and sneak it through as disaster relief.

Indeed. One reason why nobody's ever done that before is because a presidential inauguration is not (to be boringly technical about it) an "emergency." It's penciled in well in advance – in this case, so well in advance that for years Democrats have been driving around with "1-20-09" bumper stickers on the back of their Priuses. Emergency-wise, that's the equivalent of Hurricane Dan Rather wrapped around a lamppost in his sou'wester, hanging there in eager anticipation every night for half a decade. Generally speaking, changes of government are only "emergencies" in the livelier banana republics where this week's president-for-life suddenly spots the machete-wielding mob scrambling over the palace walls so nimbly he barely has time to dial the Liberian branch of FEMA and put in a request for extra Portapotties and a rope-line management team

As far as the allusion to banana republics...we'll have to wait and see how the gathered throngs react.

The proposition that a new federal administration is itself a federal emergency is almost too perfect an emblem of American government in the 21st century. FEMA was created in the 1970s initially to coordinate the emergency response to catastrophic events such as a nuclear attack. But there weren't a lot of those even in the Carter years, so, as is the way with bureaucracies, FEMA just growed like Topsy. In his first year in office, Bill Clinton declared a then-record-setting 58 federal emergencies. By the end of the Nineties, Mother Nature was finding it hard to come up with a meteorological phenomenon that didn't qualify as a federal emergency: Heavy rain in the Midwest? Call FEMA! Light snow in Vermont? FEMA! Fifty-seven under cloudy skies in California? Let those FEMA trailers roll!

Tent...camel nose...Nobody seems to learn. Once a state or federal agency is formed, all the DDT, dynamite or penicillin in the world will ever make it go away let alone stay with the constraints it started with. It'll just morph into something bigger with more areas to cover. And it won't matter that they sucked at trying to cover their original obligations...if they get bigger, and get a larger budget, they'll provide more civil servants services.

The Cato Institute's James Bovard was struck by the plight of Vernon, Conn., a town ravaged in the winter of 1995-96 by, er, slightly more snow than they'd expected. So FEMA sent them a check for $40,023. Vernon had 30,000 people, and its town snow-removal costs that winter were $258,000. "That's just $8.60 per person," Bovard pointed out, "less than a 12-year-old charges to shovel out a driveway after a good snowfall."

OMG!!! A town in Connecticut got snow (love that Global Wormering) and it was more than they anticipated? Being rational human beings one would plan for something close to the same thing next year, right?

So why did they need "federal emergency" aid? Because the town had only budgeted $104,516, and so claimed to be "overwhelmed" by the additional costs. They could have asked the good burghers of Vernon to chip in an extra five bucks apiece. But why bother when FEMA's so eager to give you a warm bath in the federal love nectar? The town government wised up pretty quickly. The next winter, they set the snow-removal budget at just $69,383.

That's the ticket, cut the snow removal budget by 33%! If it snows this year (want to take bets on if it did?), the Feds will make up any shortfall.

So a "federal emergency" is no longer a nuclear strike on Cleveland or even a Category Three hurricane, but now a snowfall in New England and an inaugural ball at the Mayflower Hotel. As Mister Incredible shrewdly observes to his kid in "The Incredibles," when everybody's special, nobody is. Likewise, when everything's an emergency, nothing is: We live in a permanent state of routine emergency.

Anything basic that we don't want to pay for now can just be ignored, don't plan for snowfall, don't plan for mudslides (Calif.), don't expect it to get effing hot in Arizona and have a shortage of electricity to run the A/C... FEMA is there and will bail us all out.

This is just another example of "spreading the wealth". I'm in California paying for snow removal in Connecticut, and Iowa is paying for my mudslides and fire prevention. That Bush declared this POS just fries my bacon...to burnt!

The metastasization of FEMA teaches several lessons – the first and most obvious being that any new government program, agency or entitlement will always outgrow whatever narrow purpose it was created for. Which is why we small-government types are wary of creating any new ones in the first place. Thus, an itsy-bitsy bit of inconsequential government tinkering on the periphery of the mortgage market expanded to the point where federally mandated home loans to the uncreditworthy came close to collapsing not just the U.S. property market but the global financial system.

If you'd suggested in the Seventies a new federal agency to cope with municipal snow removal in Connecticut, you'd have been laughed out the room. But, with government, mission creep isn't a bug but the defining feature. In mid-September, the "bailout" was a once-in-a-lifetime emergency measure to save the planet. A mere four months later, it's the new baseline. If your congressman's lousy boondoggle has got six zeroes on the end, it's an earmark: Boooooooooo! If it's got 12 zeroes, it's a "stimulus": Hurrah!

Laugh it up fuzzball. FEMA is now willing to cover any inconvenience our elected officials decided not to budget for, that way they can supply free needles to addicts and university education to illegals. Oh, you get to pay for that too.

I'm not worried about "change" so much as creep. The Obama administration doesn't have to do anything terribly transformative – overnight socialization of health care, etc. In fact, it doesn't have to do anything at all. It could just sit there, and America would still drift remorselessly, incrementally left, inch by inch. Eventually, you reach a tipping point: At some point in the next four years, we will reach a situation where the majority of Americans pay no federal income tax but are able to vote themselves more goodies from those who do. The most basic of conservative principles is that if you reward bad behavior you get more of it. We now have a government offering trillion-dollar rewards for bad behavior to the financial system, to the housing market, to the auto unions and to individual voters. And the heirs to those Connecticut town meetings that Tocqueville regarded as the best form of government ever devised by man now underbudget their snow-removal costs, secure in the knowledge that the Feds will pick up the tab.

This is beyond bad behavior, this is pathetic. My income was cut in half two years ago, but I've kept my house payments current, paid insurance, even most of my bills are paid up. I cut back on expenses and prioritized what was necessary to keep up with my obligations and try to plan for future "disaster". I doubt I'm going to get a court ordered refi on my house or any forgiveness on debts. Most likely, I'm going to be taxed higher to help those SOB's that were underqualified for a loan. Sounds fair to me.

We're now told that the problem with the last New Deal is that it was too small, so Obama's new New Deal has to be even bigger. That's like telling New Orleans that the problem is they're not far enough below sea level so they need to dig deeper. If Washington is now a federal disaster area, it would be nice to think of Barney Frank and the gang waving from the roof of the Capitol until they can be evacuated somewhere safe, like one of the outlying South Sandwich Islands or Charley Rangel's vacation property in the Dominican Republic. But, alas, Washington is one of those disaster relief cases, where they get the relief, and the rest of us get the disaster. As the incoming president has said, this is the worst crisis since …oh, at least the great Vernon, Conn., snowfall of 1996. To facilitate the stimulus, I urge him to declare every American his own individual federal disaster area.

Government does not create productivity!!!

Government may create a job, but to pay for the job they must provide the funds, The funds come from the taxpayer, who must now pay more in taxes to fund the government created job, thereby, the taxpayer, having less to spend on products depresses the economy more, causing layoffs with more people looking to the government to give them something to do (or at least pick up their bills), making the few remaining taxpayers pay more....and around and around...and around.

Obama seems to be naming a lot of "czar's" in his administration. These are people who are going to make policy on all these different facets of my life. I didn't elect them and I don't what them telling me how I have to live my life. If I can afford something, I'll use it. If I can't, then I'll adjust my lifestyle (right Mr. Gore?).

I waiting for the food police to kick in, probably shortly after they get National Health Care. I've never eaten a "good" diet, I've got too many vices that I indulge in, BUT, even though I'm way under BMI and eat what I feel like, I've had 5 sick days in the last 10 years...and I don't get paid for unused sick days. (Aside: I don't take "Metal Health" sick days, I can get sick, but it's not on a Monday or Friday.)

Anyone want to go up against that? I don't need instruction on how to live, I think I do OK.

We're a nation wussies that want someone else to cover our shortcomings, but we've forgotten that the money to do that comes from us, and the more people that want to be protected from their shortsightedness, the fewer people there are to cover their mistake(s).

I've Heard From Chris!!!

I got my first letter from my son since the Army drug him off a week ago. He wrote it by flashlight after lights out and psyching himself up for "fire patrol" from 0300 to 0400 (I'm learning this Army lingo :) ).
He was awake for over 40 hours from the time they left L.A. til he got bunked down at Ft. Benning. Due to his JROTC stint, he was made team leader and got to shepherd a group through all the indoctrination process.

He's wearing his ACU's now and is realizing he's just a cog in the military machine. He felt unique in HS in his Air Force ROTC uniform being they were 100 out of 900, now everyone wears a uniform.

I've gone from counting the days when he would leave and I'd get the house to myself, to missing him and wishing I could at least talk to him on the phone. The good news is he misses home and is looking forward to coming back, but that is still four months down the road.

Now I'm just counting the days until I see him again.

What To Do When Bad Things Are Gonna Happen

Watch this;



From DJ Allyn

Fighting With My Personal Devils

For the first time in over 30 years, I am alone.

The wife is back in Montana, and Chris left for Ft. Benning last Thursday. I haven't lived by myself since the late '70's. I had roommates, then my wife and the kid. Now it's just me, the dog, my a**hole cat and the bird. (I tried to slip the cat into my wife's suitcase when she left, but the bastard wouldn't keep quiet... note: next time drug the cat first)

My devils...

1) I am not a cook, don't like to do it and hate the aftermath (cleanup).

2) I despise housecleaning, I did the vehicles, yard and repairs around the house, unless the belt broke on the vacuum cleaner, I didn't touch it.

3) My Mom scared the hell out of me the day Chris left for boot. She called me, which she never does, she and my brother had a big fight and she wanted to come back to L.A.. She's semi-invalid and I'm gone everyday anywhere from 10 to 18 hours. I can't take care of her like my bum brother can, that meant selling her house (in this market) and finding an assisted living place close by that wouldn't wipe out her savings too quickly. I love my Mom and would do anything for her, but my wife didn't leave me in the best financial shape, so it was more crap piled on top of everything else.

I called today after researching things and...of course, they've made up...she was just mad and frustrated because my brother was feeling put upon by having to cater to her necessities, even though he's 50 years old and never held one of his few jobs for more than a year.

4) While I love "classic rock", I started to listen to the stuff my kid was listening to and I think all that teenage angst is getting to me. Two songs that come to mind...

I've Given Up: Linkin Park



I Don't Care: Apocalyptica



Actually, I'm in a really good mood. I get to have my midlife crisis foisted upon me. My whole life has changed in the last 9 months, and in some ways it is better. My fear is that while I've always talked to my dog, I'm worried that like "Terrible Troy" over at the Rott, Ralph is going to start talking back...and telling me what I should do about it.

Goodbye '08, Hello '09

Hope ya'll had a happy New Year!!

Mine sucked. I had to work last night, but that wasn't the problem. About 30 minutes after I started my shift, a tank overflowed so I got to spend the next hour and a half running around trying to divert water someplace else and clean up the mess as best I could in the dark. Just to make it the most fun, it was also cold and foggy, so foggy that I couldn't see much over 40 yards. Getting wet with stinky well water really puts you in a good mood.

I pretty much had everything under control by 11:30, so I went into the office to get warm and try to decompress a bit. At midnight, I headed for the door for rounds, and realized just as I was pushing the door open, I really didn't want to be wandering around out in the open right then. I wanted that steel roof over my head. I didn't hear any gun fire this year, but about 2 minutes after 12, there were sirens going every which way.

The rest of the night was uneventful, so maybe I can take that as a sign that this year will be better.

My wife flies in from Montana this morning. A combination of her families Christmas gathering and seeing our son before he heads off to Boot Camp on the 7th. She heads back to Polson on the 5th, "Where they don't get that much snow" (Mheh)

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.