She Worked So Hard

Call Me Senator from RightChange on Vimeo.

The Reawakening

A sign that the people of this country are reawakening and once again standing up and proclaiming their pride in this country.



Hooah!!

Despare And Hope

I caught this video on the tube this afternoon and it sent a shiver down my spine.



While cruising by the Rott this evening, I caught this and I got some stiffness back.



Vote! They haven't destroyed us yet.

I Want My Job To Go Union

So I don't have to care about it anymore.

The other day I worked my normal 12 hour shift, got off, went home feed the dogs and, being it had been a busy day, went to bed early. An hour and a half later, my phone was going off. The power had gone off at work for about five seconds and when it came back on, the surge from one of our pumps blew a hold in a 8 inch pipe. A pipe that the site cannot run without.

So, it was back to work I go on a wet drizzly night.

My company lacks basic tools and supplies. In order to prop up the pipe that needed fixing, I had to pull the jack from my truck out to hold it in place and get to where the work needed to be done.

It took 7 hours to get the site back up to speed then I was able to go home, feed the dogs and get about 3 1/2 hours sleep so I could go back for an 8 hour shift. I even juggled the hours on my time sheet so that the company wouldn't get nailed for my working 20 hours in a day.

I really don't want my company to go Union, but after a day like that it would have been nice to just say "I can't help, the rules won't let me. Take it up with the Shop Steward". My co-worker and I were quit proud of getting everything running again and knowing that the company didn't lose too much production, as we were able to keep half the site running during the disaster.

Tea Party Hypocrasy?

One of the canards thrown at the Tea Party crowd is that we are hypocrites because while we want small government, we don't want to lose our Social Security.

No, I don't want to lose my Social Security! I've INVESTED money in my retirement for 40 years now with government coercion. Give me the money removed from my paychecks, that is supposedly sitting in some lock box, and let me deal with it. I think I could do better than the 1.23 percent.

Even with the few working years left to me, I doubt I could come out worse.

I Guess My Boy Still Loves Me

I received a package from my kid today. He's still stuck in Korea for another year and we don't get to talk enough due to the time difference, but I got confirmation the brat is still thinking of me...kind of a parent care package... or a bribe, I'm not sure which. He wants me to sent him two aircraft encyclopedias that weigh about 5 lbs. each.

I had asked for this when he first went over and for about it. His Division patch. He sent one regular and one cammo.




















I guess I better haul my butt down to the post office and get those books off to him.



He had mentioned this once before, but with our typical 2 AM conversations, I had forgotten about this also. Some Army playing cards for the NorKos'



And then just as a added bonus he included a cool Tshirt

I Have A New Hero

(Sorry, I have to use a link, the embed has an error in it.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1huvEAxd-Y

I wonder if she's a native Arizonan or a emigrant "Snow Bird" or transplant from Kalifornia. I know where I'd put moy money.

A Civics Test

I stumbled across this today: How Long Since You've Taken A Civics Exam?


I was a little leery going in, I haven't taken a test on anything in years, but was pleased with the results.

You answered 30 out of 33 correctly — 90.91 %

Average score for this quiz during October: 73.7%

From the summary of this test:

Seventy-one percent of Americans failed this basic test. The overall average score was only 49%, with college graduates also failing at 57%.

And I'm one of those dumb TEA Party ignoramuses that just understand what is going on in this country.

In Football People Get Hit

You look at the play and tell me what was illegal or...anything that should have set off a brawl between coaches and parents. (The controversial play starts at 0:26 and sorry, CBSNews cannot get their embed correctly set up, gotta cut and paste)

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6910808n

Looks clean to me. Why the hell would someone put their kid into Peewee football and get freaked because their kid got clocked on a play?

I LOVE football, but I'm torn about Peewee leagues, because I can understand the love of the game, but I also take into account the damage that the sport can cause. However, two 90 +/- lb. kids running into each other doesn't equal two men at 250+ colliding.

Now because of the parents not being to act like adults two teams have no chance of making the playoffs regardless of whether they are good enough for the honor.

I hope the "adults" can at least tell their kids they should go through the season and win as many games as they can and IF they should have made the playoffs with their record, the parents were responsible for screwing up.

Inspiration

After a month away from here I finally ran across something that got me worked up again. Since my Mom passed, I've been preoccupied with all the little things that crop up and have to be dealt with, and trying to do it long distance with my brother being I can't take time off of work until it's absolutely necessary for me to fly up there.

This morning I read a piece by Maureen Dowd. I really need to read her more often being she gets me pissed off faster than anyone, except maybe listening to Olberman.

Going Mad in Herds

Read her take on why a majority of the nation just doesn't trust Obambi and doesn't think he's actually up for the job.

The bookstore gave the president a copy of “Freedom,” a new novel by Jonathan Franzen about a dysfunctional family in America. This is apt, since Obama is the head of the dysfunctional family of America — a rational man running a most irrational nation, a high-minded man in a low-minded age.

The country is having some weird mass nervous breakdown, with the right spreading fear and disinformation that is amplified by the poisonous echo chamber that is the modern media environment.

[emphasis: mine]

It's the typical East Coast Elitism, "The peons are just too dumb to understand." Well, the people after finally getting the details of what "Hope and Change" entailed...do not like it one bit!

A commenter, Chris C. Riley of Seattle Wa. seems to be able to sum up nicely what the problem the p0easants are having with this administration.

If we’re not the ones we’ve been waiting for, who are we?

I am happy to be the first to provide an answer to this question. We are the chumps. We are the chumps that believe that appeasement is a substitute for defense. We are the chumps who believe that, while a for a family to attempt to spend its way out of poverty is idiocy, it is sound policy for a nation to do so. We are the chumps that believe that by turning the health care system over to the Federal Government we will simultaneously cut costs and improve quality. We are the chumps that believe that they way to ensure that African American children close the education gap with their white peers is to make sure that they are denied school choice and access to charter schools. We are the chumps who believe that if we smash the existing energy industry we will all get high paying government jobs as wind-mill oilers or solar cell squeegee boys. We are the chumps that believe that we can alleviate poverty by raising the minimum wage. We are the chumps who appreciate being forced to buy dangerous little lawnmower-cars by people who fly around in corporate jets to give speeches about our excessive use of energy.

We are a nation of chumps. Us chumps elected socialist Democrats in both houses of Congress and the White House. Us chumps(and our grand children) bought a multi-trillion dollar ticket to the most expensive three ring circus ever imagined. We chumps may have destroyed the most free and the most prosperous society in the history of mankind. At least we will ave earned a place in the history books

Poll: How many are flying the flag on your street today?

Take the poll then view the results

Poll: How many are flying the flag on your street today?

I was disappointed.

4th of July

Y'all have a happy and safe 4th of July!

Celebrate the creation of the greatest country to exist.

America, Why I Love Her

Mom

Age 88 and at home in her bed holding my brothers hand, my Mom passed peacefully on today to be with my Dad and the rest of our family and friends that have gone before her.

She was a great old dame.

Her passing is not a sad thing. She's been sick for years and in and out of the hospital for the last two, but her complaints were minimal, she just wished she could get up and do more.

She was a stay-at-home mom all through my brothers and my young years, but when we got into Jr. High, she decided to go back to work. Her money was for fancy things for the house...and buying crap for my brother and I, and having someone to talk to beside the dog.

Mom told my brother yesterday that she had a good life and that even though she would like to stay around, she was ready to go.

Is This A Surpirise???

I took a "test" today on "The Best Political Quiz" site. I gotta say, I was stunned by the result!

Well, It Didn't Take Long, Did It?

The G-20 Summit started today and....



within hours the destruction starts.

Thousands protest summit in Canada; vandals smash windows, torch police car
Published June 26, 2010
Associated Press

TORONTO (AP) — Black-clad demonstrators broke off from a peaceful protest and torched a police cruiser in the financial district and smashed windows in a shopping district after veering off from the planned protest route.

A group, dressed all in black, smashed the windows of a bank, a coffee shop and some stores before heading to an area where Canada's largest banks are headquarted, smashing restaurant and shop windows there.

The roving band of protesters in black balaclavas then turned north and broke shop windows for blocks with baseball bats and hammers. They also broke windows at police headquarters.

Police with shields and clubs earlier pushed back a small group of protesters who tried to head south toward the security fence around the site of the G-20 summit. Some demonstrators hurled bottles at police.

And what is it that warrants all this destruction. (From Free Speech Without Focus
June 25, 2010 - 9:23 PM | by: Michael Tobin)

In the end, a staggering amount of money is spent on the manpower that maintains order while these demonstrators want to challenge it and I still don’t get the point. Most of the interviews I’ve done arrive at the goal of “Raising Awareness.” But in the attempt to raise awareness of everything, you communicate nothing.

A party for quasi-revolutionaries to wreck havoc on society is all this is. But don't worry too much. [emphasis:mine]

Toronto Police Sgt. Tim Burrows said authorities are quite pleased that the protests have been tame so far compared to what they've seen at previous summits. Hundreds of protesters moved through Toronto's streets Friday, but police in riot gear blocked them from getting near the summit security zone downtown.

Burrows said police will be watching splinter groups within the protest who he said have promised violence.

"From what we've seen in previous summits we're quite happy with what our protesters are bringing to the table with the exception of a few," Burrows said before Saturday's march.

"They've protested peacefully. There have been a few people that have decided that they wanted to step out of line and test our response and they found themselves where they should be."

Tame so far...setting a police car on fire and busting windows for blocks on end is considered tame now? Remember, this is just day one of two, but hey! grab the kids and attend after all according to a sponsor of the march:

The march, sponsored by labor unions and dubbed family friendly, was the largest demonstration planned during the weekend summits.

The Right Is Out Of Control

Just look at the news today.

Judge Faces Death Threats After BP Gulf Oil Drilling Moratorium Ruling

‘Green’ Energy Company Threatens Economics Professor … with Package of Dismantled Bomb Parts


Toronto G20 summit: car with extra gas and weapons found; arrest made


G20 lockdown cuts into downtown business
Hotels are full but restaurant tables are empty

T.O. man charged with possessing explosives in G20 probe

What? WHAT?

Oh! These are lefties?

Well it's a damn good thing they aren't Tea Partiers, or we could have had some real damage done here.


Asshats

Truth In Advertising

I think I may vote for this guy...he's honest.

Return From Rottfest

Actually I got home four days ago, but I had such a marvelous time, working on not enough sleep that I lost one day. I loved being there so much, that I stayed over an extra day. The few extra bucks for "Business Class" paid off right there, being I could change flights without penalty.

The Rottfest was a gathering of some of the nicest, most interesting and informative people I have ever meet. An eclectic group for sure. A military doctor, a long haul truck driver, LEO's, teacher...not to mention all the myriad jobs we had each had in the past.

There was three firearms instructors there, along with a pile of various long and short arms. Got to shoot a .45 and .40 semi-auto handgun, plus a custom built AR-15 ("Bad Karma") and 50 rounds through one of these bad boys:



An HK PS90

We even managed to break the indoor range we were shooting at. An armor piercing round got mixed into a clip and a weld on the backstop split. (I didn't do it!) I did get a couple on pointers on my stance and I didn't get yelled at for any mistakes in range etiquette or safety.

One of the guys offered to build a custom AR-15 for me at a price that is less than I could get a basic off-the-shelf one for here and I think I'd be a fool to pass him up on the offer.

I've already got my calendar marked for Rottfest 2011.

YeeeHaaww!!! An Update

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I was heading to Texas for Rottfest 2010. I'm psyched for the trip and getting to meet the LC's that are going to be there...but (and why does there always have to be a but?) After I got my plane tickets, made arrangements for boarding my dogs and got the cash out of the bank needed for beer...er..for expenses, the "Check Engine" light comes on in my pick-up?

I swear my family seems to have a curse on it sometimes. When things are going smooth and you think you can relax and enjoy yourself for a bit....WHACK!!! something bad pops up at the last second.

Ah well. I'm not going to let it ruin the trip. The truck will be in the same shape when I get back. It'll just set back getting that HDTV I've been looking at for the last 6 months off a few more, and I'll have to keep using the semi-crappy battery eating Kodak camera for a while instead of that bitchen Nikon SLR I wanted to get for this trip.

If my truck is the biggest problem I have right now, I guess my life isn't really all that bad.

Have We Forgotten?

I'm coming in just under the wire here, and it doesn't make me happy.

I knew that this anniversary of our countries finest moment was here, and yet I almost let it slip past. I forgot to put my flag out this morning, and even though I finally realized what this day was, I put off posting.

I am ashamed!

There was very little on the news today about a day that shaped my entire life.

That D-day could pass with such little acknowledgment of the sacrifices of the generation before mine makes me fear more for the generation that is coming behind mine.

What is this day? What did it mean to those in Europe that where waiting for someone to throw off the oppression of NAZI socialism?

I give you a video of a French citizen who, even though he had to go through an interpreter, needed to express his feelings about what America did for his country.



God bless our soldiers both past and present. May we always stand for right and to free those who are under fascist regimes.

May we not forget what they did, EVER.