Jesus and John Wayne

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

Pet Peeves and Helping A Friend

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

LC cmblake6 sez:

$1.499 Here on base!

Round here we call that $1.50. :em93:

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

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

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

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

OK…I feel better. :em95:

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

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

The last line was sincere.

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

11 Days

I suck at this blogging thing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE WORST CHRISTMAS GIFT IN THE WORLD

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

One more thing about Christmas.

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

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

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

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

Somehow I Knew It was My Fault

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

Blockquotes from: Deepak Blames America

By DOROTHY RABINOWITZ

Ah, the intellectual mind!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The author, Rabinowitz, sums it up:

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

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

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

Bonus:

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

Just Music

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

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

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



Foo Fighters - Everlong (live on Letterman)

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



Shiny Toy Guns 'GHOST TOWN'

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

What Day Is It?

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

Republican Call Girl | Funny Jokes at JibJab

I Want My Relief! UPDATED

Where is it?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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




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

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

(paraphrased)

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

Representative: It's not their money.

Say What?

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

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

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

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

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

UPDATE:

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

As Reality Rears It's Head

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

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

Let's start with the President-elect.

Back in June 2007:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Decompression

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

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

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

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

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

Election Day And So Much More

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


Today we're voting for a new President.

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

My son, Chris, enlisted in the Army yesterday.



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

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

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

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

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

I'm doubly afraid today.

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

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

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

Vote Early!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BowieFest

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



"The Man Who Sold The World"

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



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



Let's not forget "Station To Station":



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



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

Capt. Kirk Redux

I love it!!!



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

An Investment Plan I Can Get Behind

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I Am Joe

Amazing!!

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

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

ACORNholed

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

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

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

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

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

Blue State?

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



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

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



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

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



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

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

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

Housecleaning

Just goofing today.

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

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

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

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

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

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



Future President of the United States.

F*ck Yeah!!!

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

The Obama Youth Movement: UPDATED

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

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

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


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

From Cabaret: Tomorrow Belongs to Me

and Children Palace


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

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

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

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

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

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