Dan's Place

Hate to say I told you so....

2010-11-06T16:05:00.000-07:00

...but I TOLD YOU SO, DUMOCRATS!!!!

My mother was filled with good old-fashioned common sense; the kind that only comes from being raised by parents with the same kind of common sense and a lifetime of opportunities to use it and see how well it works!

She once said,"If everyone else is jumping off a bridge, that doesn't make it a smart thing to do, does it?"

Well, DOES IT, DUMOCRATS?

How many throats got slit this past Tuesday because you idiots got strong-armed by the queen of idiots, Nancy Pelosi? What ever happened to "no thank you, Madame Speaker. I'm doing just fine listening to my constituents and voting the way THEY want me to vote. Take your stupid socialist agenda and sell it to some other rube; it doesn't play very well in my district!"? If only a few more week-kneed spineless Dumocrat back-roomers had simply followed that simple advice, they'd still be employed today!

D-U-M-B-O-C-R-A-T-S-!-!-!-!-!

The only sad part of the whole thing is that the King of Idiots, Harry Reid, managed to convince enough of the deceased and criminally insane in Nevada to re-elect HIM. What are they smoking out there? So, Reid gets to keep his position as Senate Majority Leader only to face the largest conservative mandate EVER! Don't they know he was an idiot before and now he's a POWERLESS idiot?

Almost sounds like the kind of people that would invest long green in worthless desert property so they can be close to legalized prostitution and profligate spending on gambling!

Oh.....never mind!

Here's what's next. Congress may not be able to gut health care with Obama on the throne, but they don't have to fund it, either. Congress has the power of the purse, so don't be surprised if they send budgets to the WH that have no FUNDING for the whole health care fiasco and then don't be double surprised when Obama refuses to sign them or outright vetoes them.

Let's start the lay-offs with the 10,000 new IRS agents you hired to enforce you new health care taxes!

MORON!!!!

Well, tomorrow's the day!

2010-11-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

Long time, no see, blogfan!

WWWAAAAAYYYYY back in March, I predicted that the Democratic Party would sing it's swan song in November because of the VERY troubling manner in which the Health Care reform legislation was jammed down our collective throats.

Tommorow's the day!

MDB and I voted early, but that's not to say that readers here shouldn't get out and do their civic duty as well! If you haven't yet voted, GET OUT AND DO IT!!!

Maybe a little humble pie is just what the doctor ordered for Nobraina and the rest of the Dumocrats who foisted this monstosity on us!

He probably won't listen because he hasn't heard anything we've said YET, but he won't be able to do anything about it anymore, either!

Let's just pray that enough people who vote in senate races around the country are smart enough to vote out their Dumocrat incumbents as well!

So long, Dumocrats! It was NOT nice knowing you!

We need to outlaw FOOD!!!!

2010-07-16T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hello again, blogfan!

The ridiculousness just keeps getting more and more absurd, so much so that words scarcely even begin to touch the ridiculousness of it all!

To wit; NAACP vs the Tea Party Movement!

According to the resolution, the NAACP has officially condemned the Tea Party movement as racist. They've done so regardless of the fact that such an allegation had already been raised and a reward of $100,000 posted to whoever could find credible evidence of ANY racism associated with the Tea Party! None of which has been forthcoming, no less!

On Sean Hannity's show the other day, a spokesman for the NAACP admitted that no evidence was available. However, according to the spokesman, movements LIKE the Tea Party movement (i.e., conservative movements) had been racist in the past and therefore the Tea Party presented a venue for potential racism and THEREFORE must be opposed!

Uhhhhh........WHAT?!?!

Let's see....according to that logic, we must outlaw the following as well then:

1. Air. Breathing air contains the potential for future lung cancer, so we must all stop breathing immediately!

2. Food. Eating contains the potential for gluttony, obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc., so we must all stop eating RIGHT NOW!!!

3. Work. We must outlaw work because work causes stress and stress causes all of the above!

4. Thought. People who think eventually reach the unavoidable conclusion that the NAACP is an antiquated irrelevant institution that is NOT concerned with racism UNLESS that racism is white on black racism. Any institution that was legitimate and relevant would denounce the "kill all the Crackers and kill their babies" smack from the new Black Panthers and then support their prosecution by the Federal Justice Department; actions and positions, mind you, that have NOT been taken by either the NAACP or Attorney General Holder. We must, therefore, outlaw THOUGHT since any thinking person comes to the inescapable conclusion that the NAACP is ridiculous!

Let's see; NAACP. That stands for National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, right? How long has it been since it was PC to refer to people whose family tree began in Africa as "Colored?" I mean, we've gone through about 4 progressions since "colored" haven't we? We did "negro" and then "colored," right? Maybe it was the other way around, I don't remember. In any case, one or the other was followed by "black" and eventually by "African-American." Frankly, I don't think any of those labels is better than any other; we won't be where we need to be until we are all simply "American" and any other distinction is simply irrelevant. I mean, wasn't it MLK's dream that one day we would only be judged by the content of our character and NOT the color of our skin? Who, I ask you, continues to point to the color of skin as a prerequisite for judgement?

When you answer THAT question, you'll know who's racist and who's not!

In any case, the NAACP is exactly what it says it is; an organization who's sole purpose is to advance the cause of African-Americans, whether that cause is legitimate, illegitimate; just or unjust. Personally, the NAACP might actually have some merit if it denounced racism of ANY stripe, but it refuses to do so, much to it's own discredit!

Well, that's about it for now. Obama's approval rating is dropping right along the lines I said it would after that socialized medicine program passed! Stay tunes as conservatives take this country back in November!

Marketing Idea of the Week

2010-04-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

Last week's idea, the self-destructing piggy bank for federal debt relief, went nowhere.

This week's idea: a bumper sticker that says "...screw up the country in less than a year!"

For posting below all of those "Yes We Can!" bumper stickers with Obama's image blazoned across them, of course!

Who even THINKS of this?

2010-04-16T18:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, I admit it; I nearly soiled myself when I read this article! I mean, who even IMAGINES something like this?

For those of you who are too lazy to pull up the article, here's the synopsis; A man at a Phillies game (where ELSE?!?!), apparently upset that his crude, rude, and socially unacceptable "partner" was removed from the game for spitting at, spilling beer on, and cursing at (expletives NOT deleted!) an off-duty police officer and his daughters, forced himself to vomit on the man and his children!

Uhhh.....VOMIT?!?!

That's pretty inventive, huh? I mean, who says to himself "uhh...here's a good idea! I'll spend a hunny or two at the ballpark slamming beers and hot dogs (believe me, if you pulled up the article and got a load of this guy, you KNOW he was slamming beers and dogs!), then I'll tick off an off-duty Policeman and THEN I'll V-O-M-I-T on his family! Done! GREAT plan!!!"

Uhhh.....WHAT?

Is it something in the water, Philly? Was the embarrassment suffered by your "partner" not enough? Didn't your "lucky ship" already come in when the cop didn't bust your skull and play the "I'm a cop" card to get off with a slap on the back and a chuckle?

What kind of idiot comes up with a "to do" list like this?

Buy overalls check!
Polish the ElCamino check!
Pick up a case of PBR to warm up check!
Drive to the stadium (gotta get Adam Dunn's autograph!) check!
Eat a couple of (pounds of) sloppy dogs check!
Drink another 15 beers check!
Get obnoxious with cop
a. spit
b. cuss
c. spill beer check!
Get belligerent when "partner" gets ejected check!
Vomit on cop and family check!!!!!!

Spend night in jail check!

Oh my gosh! This world truly is going to hell in a handbasket! Sheesh!

RIP, Democratic Party

2010-03-21T19:58:00.000-07:00

Well, in a vote of 219 to 212, the Democratic Party just signed it's own death warrant. Mark my words; not a single Democrat who voted for this leap into Socialism will be re-elected in November.

I'll grant you; the Republicans have no one to blame but themselves. Since they took control of the House in '94, all they did was attempt to "out-Democrat" the Dems, much to their own chagrin and eventual demise.

Now, however, at this critical time in our fiscal history as a nation, the Dems have chosen to sign us up for another trillion or so of debt.

We can't afford it!

Great job, Dumocrats! I hope there's something left to pick up after the general in November!

Churchill was right!

2010-03-19T08:48:00.001-07:00

Churchill said (and I paraphrase) "If you're not liberal as a youth, then you have no heart; if you're not conservative when you're older, then you have no brain!"

How many brainless youths do we have in Congress, anyway?

It seems that the endless cadre of idiots in Congress are going to yield to White House pressure and vote for this idiotic health care reform legislation DESPITE overwhelming public opinion against it and despite election results that would make anyone not named Kennedy quiver! Voting for this thing is electoral suicide, but Obama seems to have convinced them otherwise.

He's a one-term wonder (well...they DO call people with an IQ of 60 "exceptional" these days, don't they?) and anyone who votes with him on this is doomed much earlier than that!

What's worse is the VERY troubling news coming from the financial sector! People who are much wiser and more informed than I on such matters are predicting that if we don't get a handle on our deficit and STOP borrowing to pay for all of this garbage, we are in SEVERE danger of losing our AAA credit rating as a nation! If we lose our triple A rating, it's all over, folks! The dollar will be practically worthless and nothing that has no intrinsic value (gold, silver, manufactured goods, food, etc) will have any value whatsoever! We're talking a financial meltdown that would make the Great Depression look like a cakewalk! Yet, despite the dire warnings of those in the know, Nero Obama keeps fiddling and doing everything he can to ruin this nation.

People, wake up!

That apple in the Garden looked pretty good, too, but the serpent offering it up KNEW what taking it meant to Eve!

Don't take that apple, America! There's no free lunch and our nation can't afford to buy lunch for the rest of the world AND our own Ne're-do-wells here at home any more!

Here's what needs to happen to restore faith in our economy:

1. Eliminate (over several years, of course) any program of our government that is not mandated by the Constitution. The examples are endless, but Space, Education, Welfare, Public Housing, the Arts, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are a few of the programs that come to mind. Sorry, Grandma! We can't afford it anymore! (Oh, and I don't want to hear all of your whining right about now, either! I have over $200,000 in Social Security that I would never see but, with all of the fiscal mismanagement in Washington, I really don't EXPECT to ever see it anyway!). Look, I know that there will be a HUGE uproar about the whole Social Security thing. The whole thing is going to come crashing down in a couple of years anyway, but here's how you fix it. As the debt is being paid off (see #5 below), make payments to people as part of paying off the debt for whatever they're owed. After all, the government borrowed THAT money as well, so it can be paid BACK just as the other creditors are being paid back! Oh, and I know what comes next. "Space?! You can't let all of those people go just like that!" Really? If there's a market for it (and I've been led to believe that there IS a market for the things that have been generated by the Space Program), then those folks will have jobs; mark my word!
2. Change hiring/firing guidelines for Federal employment YESTERDAY!!! A government job is not supposed to be a lifelong entitlement, but that's exactly what it's become! When someone's job becomes obsolete or superfluous, offer them retraining. If they refuse, fire them! That's what would happen in a private sector job! That's what needs to happen in public employment as well!
3. Completely eliminate the IRS and replace it with a simple government accounting office. Eliminate our unGodly tax code and make everyone pay a flat 10% of their income. Period! Yes, all corporations, businesses, and individuals. Period!
4. Make it ILLEGAL for the government to borrow money to pay for anything. If the money is not in the treasury, it can't be spent.

Look, when I get overextended, I have to tighten my belt and say "no" to things I might like to have. I might have to make an old car last a little longer. I may have to live with hamburger instead of steak. I might even have to sew up the holes in my socks instead of buying new ones, all in the name of saving money so I can pay off my debt. Now is the time to do that on a national level! We cannot afford to continue borrowing and spending money that we don't have! We have to tighten our belt, STOP borrowing our children's money, and pay for what's already been spent!

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, we worked together as a nation to fight a common enemy. With national resolve, we worked together to defeat them and we came out on the other side bloodied, but victorious! We can and we MUST do it again! Only, this time, our common enemy is an attitude, not a nation. We have become lazy and slothful as a nation. We have come to believe that we are entitled to things that we have not earned; that we have coming to us those things that politicians promised but could not deliver! We must come to realize that "the Great Society" was the pipe dream of a clever politician who knew that he'd be long gone before that check ever came due! We must know that the "New Deal" was never new and it was never a deal, not for Americans then, and not for us now! We must wake up before it's too late, because it is very nearly too late RIGHT NOW!

5. Start paying down the national debt. Oh, and I don't mean start paying on the interest. If we don't start working on the principle, the interest is going to eat up all of the GDP is less than 5 years! I mean pay the interest AND make a substantial payment on the principle and do that each year until it's all paid off. Then, when we're debt free, we can start thinking about what we'd like to do with the money in the treasury that's been going towards the debt. We may even be able to lower tax rates at that point! Woo-hoo! ME keeping MY money!? What a concept!
6. Let market forces do what they do! If a car company has been mismanaged, LET it go out of business! If people stop riding passenger trains, LET them go out of business! Believe me, if there's a demand for commuter rail sometime in the future, some enterprising entrepreneur will finance their come-back and do it much more efficiently than Uncle Sam ever did!
7. Enact term limits for every public office. Congress was never supposed to be a career! Civic-minded people who care about their country were to go to Washington for a limited time to work for the public good! The Federal government was supposed to do ONLY what was granted to it by our Constitution and EVERYTHING ELSE that was not SPECIFICALLY granted to the federal government was supposed to be taken care of by the states. They managed to work around that by taking money in taxes from the people and then giving that money back to the states but ONLY if they work within the boundaries of whatever social framework was deemed appropriate by the Fed. THAT, my friends, is unConstitutional and the whole practice needs to be abolished YESTERDAY!
8. Allow people to save for their own retirements! Since we're doing away with Social Security, people need incentive to save on their own! Let them save as much as they're able BEFORE taxes are taken out. In other words, whatever they save will reduce their taxable income. Let them put it into whatever vehicle they choose. Let employers match employee contributions to reduce THEIR taxable income as well! It's a win-win and now the government is completely out of the social engineering business! Woo-hoo!
9. Make it a criminal offense to live here illegally. Oh...nevermind! It already IS a crime to live here illegally! So, here' how to do it. If someone is caught trying to live here illegally, return them to their country of origin (well, take them to their nation's Consulate and let that nation foot the bill for their return!). If they're caught here a second time, put them in prison for 5 years and then return them to their nation's Consulate. If they come back after that, put them in prison for life! Obviously, after three times, they're too stupid to do anything here that's legal anyway and, last time I checked, "illegal" meant AGAINST THE LAW!!!! If they have family here and that's why they want to live here; fine! Go through the proper channels, become a resident alien and then become a naturalized citizen of the country. What's so hard about that?

Well, it's a start, but it's certainly not the end of it. As I said, the first thing that needs to change is attitude. As soon as we realize that the emperor's naked, we'll be on the road to recovery!

Can manners make a come-back? (part II)

2010-03-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

Hello, blogfan!

Not that long ago (I'd post the link, but I couldn't find it!), I posted just that question, wondering if it is, in fact, too late for most of this generation to get off of the "me first" plank they're on and jump to another one.

Apparently, it IS!

Last night, MDB and I attended the rodeo. We go several times a year to see artists that we like or simply to watch the goings on and marvel at the spectacle. I've wondered aloud several times if today's kids are lost, at least in terms of having any common courtesy or even the slightest consideration for anyone else.

I'm done wondering now!

Last night, we had tickets, thanks to a co-worker, that are the most expensive in the place. You would think that the clientele in that section would have a little class; you know, actually ACT like they've had some upbringing or some sense of social grace.

Wrong again!

It all started on the bus ride over to the place. I've always been taught that it's "last on, first off" and you should wait your turn. Well, that's what I thought until I got run over by a lady from the back of the bus, who apparently was raised by chimpanzees or something. Oh well...let it go; just one moron out of 100,000 people, right?

Wrong!

As we weaved our way through the crowd, person after person ran in front of us (from the side) as if we weren't even there! Look; I'm not a small guy! You'd have to be Ray Charles not to see me and MDB coming! How about wait for us to pass and move BEHIND us instead of forcing us to stop so you can get your sausage on a stick 2 seconds earlier?

Mindboggling!

Then, we finally got into the arena and sat down. Now, I know that not all that many people are there to see the rodeo. I get that. What's wrong with finding your seat by concert time and then sitting there (or getting up when everyone else does) so as not to disturb the other people around you? The group behind us must have had 4,372 beers between the four of them. How do I know? They kicked me in the back of the head EVERY TIME they got up to get one, that's how! Not to be topped by that group, the group sitting to the inside of us had 2,327! I know THAT because I counted every time one of the idiots stepped on my foot (oh, and, silly me, I rose to my feet on each occasion to be COURTEOUS and to prevent them from having to step on me, for all the good THAT did!)!! Then, there was the cadre of clowns in the row just in front of us. They seemed to be a nice little family, but mom apparently quit at step 5 since she had 2,156 beers ALL BY HERSELF during the performance! First of all, at $4.50 a pop, WHO CAN AFFORD TO DRINK THAT MUCH??? Second, if you're only there to get drunk, why didn't you stay at home so you're not endangering anyone else and not disturbing half the arena with your constant "get a beer, go to the bathroom" routine?

I don't get it!

Then, the straw that paralyzed the camel came when a group of four people showed up 15 minutes into the concert and insisted that the four people who were already there get up and move. This was really odd for a couple of reasons. First, why on earth would you pay that much for a ticket (x4) and then show up when there's all of about 30 minutes left in the show? Secondly, when you DO show up that late, why not just take the 4 seats that are empty to the right of the group that's already seated? Why do we have to disturb everyone else behind you? Finally, HOW FREAKIN' LAZY was it for the group that was already there to not simply sit in the seats they had tickets for in the first place (the 4 empty seats that the late-comers could easily have chosen WITHOUT all the fanfare!)? That was the end of it for me! I said as loudly as necessary, "Match the number on the seat with the one on the freakin' ticket! It's not that hard!", but I don't think they heard me, because they continued to ruin it for everyone behind them for another 10 minutes! Unbelievable!

Well, I'm glad I got that off my chest! I feel better now!

Okay...it's been awhile!

2010-03-15T15:07:00.000-07:00

Hello again, blogfan!

I know it's been awhile, but I've been a little busy! However, here we are at the beginning of Spring Break, so no time like the present, right?

The NCAA tournament seeded on Sunday, and I have no early-bracket favorites...

We voted here in Texas about two weeks ago. I voted for Rick Perry (surprise!) and Ron Paul (ANOTHER surprise, right?). Meanwhile, Obama and his co-conspirators continue on their quest to usurp 20% of the American economy by any means possible, knowing full-well that once the lid is off of that Pandora's box, it will be political suicide to put it back again (a la Social Security).

May God help us all if they're able to pass this monstrosity of a bill!

Now....a top ten of stuff that turns my STOMACH!!!

1. People who refer to their pets as "my kids."
2. People who refuse to acknowledge the existence of God
3. Drama Queens or any other totally self-absorbed person who thinks it's all about them 24-7
4. People who use trite, worn-out sayings like "24-7" a lot!
5. Obama supporters who refuse to acknowledge that they only supported him (and continue to do so!) because he's AA.
6. People who drive Japanese cars because they're more "fuel-efficient" or "better-built" than the American alternative (despite not having driven an American car for thirty years!)
7. People who vote Democrat because the Democrats are the party of "the common man" (despite the fact that there hasn't been a "common man" Democrat since Harry Truman!
8. Homosexuals who pretend to fall within the definition of "normal" and insist that I do likewise (look...I don't hate anybody, but homosexuality is NOT normal!)
9. Educators (ostensibly) who do the bare minimum of classroom time and then move into management because of "the kids." It's not about the kids, loser! It's about the bottom line for your paycheck, so stop pretending otherwise!
10. Legislators who pretend to know what I want or need more than I do. Look; get out of my back pocket and stay there! NOW you know what I want!!!

There....I feel better!

2009-10's in the can!

2010-02-07T04:11:00.000-08:00

Well, another basketball season is in the can! We didn't finish as strong as we started, but we ended up with a 10-2 total record, second place in the district and second in our end-of season tournament.

Why can't we ever wind up IN FIRST????!!!!!

Sometimes, you just don't match up well with another team. The team that finished first and beat us twice down the stretch was very tall and athletic for a 7th-grade group. We're pretty athletic, but not really that tall. In fact, we were thin in the front-court all year. I had a guy who probably should have been a 4 playing at the 5 all year, and a true 3 playing the 4, so we never really had a real center playing that position. The guy who started the year starting at the 4 got hurt, so we were playing guys out of position for the rest of the year.

Not the way you want it if you had your 'druthers!

Not only that, but we had really inconsistent play at the point down the stretch, which was something that we rather took for granted for nearly 3 quarters of the season.

Just couldn't get over the hump!

Regardless, it was a GREAT season overall! We finished with double-digits in the win column, which is a big plus for the program! We finished the season with a scoring average well over 50 points per game (I haven't calculated the final average, but it was 56 going into the last week of the season!). We beat a couple of teams that we've NEVER beaten before (well...not since I've been coaching them!), and we had a season high (and perhaps a school record for 7th-grade, I'm not sure) of 86 points in a single game! I've had teams that didn't score 86 total in FOUR games, so that kind of output is not to be taken for granted!

Last evening, after our game in the tournament final (we played absolutely TERRIBLE but only lost by 6 I think it was) the parents threw a party for the team, which was really, really nice! I'm telling you, this is the best group of parents I've EVER had! I didn't hear anything but encouragement all season long! I mean, there was none of the "why isn't my kid playing the point?" or "why isn't my kid getting the same kind of minutes as Little Johnny?" kind of stuff that parents usually come up with. It was all very positive and productive! The parents had gotten together and bought trophies for all of them AND a very nice plaque for me! When me and MDB walked into the room, they gave us a really nice round of applause, which was really uplifting as well. They had food, drinks (well, MDB went and got drinks, which was why I knew something was up!), cake and ice cream, and the trophies!

SPECTACULAR!!

They asked me to say a few words, so I told them that they needed to give themselves a big round of applause first, because they are the best group of parents I've ever had at any level. Then I basically told them that even though the kids were disappointed, they had nothing to be ashamed about; they played their hearts out and simply came up against a team that they did not match up well against. I told them that we have some simply outstanding athletes, several of whom could be D-1 scholarship athletes if they keep working on their game, keep their heads clear and stay out of trouble, and continue working on their academics. I told them that the 8th-grade coach, who came to our game on Friday, was absolutely DROOLING over the thought of getting these guys next year and that I was really looking forward to following their progress as they continue their careers.

Then I thanked them for the plaque and the wonderful party, and sat down!

So, here's good-bye to 2009-10 and a look forward to 2010-11!

Double-whammy!!!

2010-01-27T20:19:00.000-08:00

My "B" team got their first win tonight, 38-14, which was really nice for a change, but the real damage was done by the "A" team, who wrecked shop BIG TIME with an 86 to 35 win over another 2-win team!

We weren't about to repeat LAST WEEK'S mistake!

The other team's coach was really upset, which, by the way, I understand completely. I mean, I can't tell you how many times some other team has laid a 40+ on one of my teams. You hate it and it leaves you with a big knot in the pit of your stomach, but you just have to take it, congratulate the other team, and thank them for pointing out your weaknesses.

I wasn't going to have another "let our foot off the gas and let the other team back into the game" moments, so we never let up.

Sorry!

Not only that, but we have a really big game coming up next week against the second-place team who, as of this writing, only has one loss. A loss to them means finishing second in our district because we lose the head-to-head tie-breaker and we'd have the same season record. All that said, we needed to use this game to tune up for next week.

Sorry, coach! You were in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong team!

We wanted to send a statement to the rest of the district as well. We want them to know that the old Cowboys are back! You know, the ones who were dropping 30+ point wins on practically everyone not all that long ago! Well, the pure fear factor to everyone else was worth the trouble.

Well, I hope it was, at any rate!

So, we're now 8-0 with one regular-season game to go, and then comes our tournament!

We want to take that one, too!!!

Well, THIS one wasn't easy!

2010-01-22T18:30:00.000-08:00

This week, my undefeated 7th-graders went up against a team that had only 2 wins coming into the contest.....

DANGEROUS!!!!

We won the game, but we had to fight tooth and nail for it! Final score; 58-54!

Games like this are dangerous for any number of reasons! First, everyone brings their "A" game when the first-place team rolls in, no exceptions! Second, your team is liable to come in overconfident having seen the other team's record. Third, the combination of the above AND a cold-shooting night from several of the better players on the team makes for one very exciting night indeed!

So, we're now 7-0 with two regular season games to go! This week, another 2 win team rolls in and then the second-place, one-loss team comes in for the finale! Should be exciting!

Well, that's about as easy as it gets!

2010-01-14T17:50:00.000-08:00

Dear Blogfan,

You know I never like to take a win for granted. I mean, everyone knows the old "on any given Sunday" mantra; any team can go unconscious and hit everything they throw up on almost any occasion and, at the same time, the other team can go arctic frigid and not be able to make the simplest lay-up.

I know.....I know!

Well, that didn't happen last night! The team we played last night came into our game with the same record we had....if you're dyslexic! We came in 5-0 and they came in without a win; 0-5.

We left 6-0 and they kept their perfect streak alive as well!

I may have seen more inept teams at this level, but I can't remember when. They simply could not get the ball across half-court on us! The score at halftime was 30 to nothing! At the half, the other coach asked if we could run the clock during the second half. I said "sure, why not?" I subbed out all of my starters and played only 3nd and 3rd string guys the entire second half. With those conditions, we only scored 12 more points for a total of 42.

They scored 6!

Not 6 in the 3rd quarter, or 6 in the 4th quarter, or 6 in the first minute and a half of the third.....

6

TOTAL!!!

I felt sorry for them! Having been in their shoes more than I'd care to mention over the years, I did everything I could to keep it from becoming an embarrassment, but, short of simply stalling the entire second half, I don't know what else I could've done to keep the margin any less than I did.

I hope karma pays me back in the end!

The other battle I've been facing has come to an end very much in our favor! At this point last week, I had about 15 guys failing one or more classes and they were going to become ineligible as of a week from this coming Thursday. That would force them to miss their end-of-season tournament and their last regular-season game. Fortunately, their efforts in tutoring (and my size 12 up their backside) paid off. NOW, with grades final as of this afternoon, only 4 guys are being lost to grades! Woo-hoo! AND (and this is a big "and"), only one of those is an "A" team guy!

In the immortal words of the Taco Bell guy, we're "good to go!"

Now, if we can avoid getting the "big head!"

We'll see!

football, basketball, and any other sport with balls

2010-01-10T07:41:00.000-08:00

Sorry, did I really say that?

It's kind of like the Solar System Unit; you just can't avoid that costly "Uranus" joke, can you?

MDB and I had the opportunity to attend a couple of NFL games here in town this year and I have to admit something; I'm more amazed by the athletic prowess of these athletes now than I ever was! Why do I say that? If you've ever been to a game, you don't need to wonder. It goes something like this:

Kickoff, 5-minute TV timeout; first series team 'A', 7-minute TV timeout; 1st series team 'B', punt and return, 5-minute TV timeout. 2nd series team 'A', 2 minute station identification; 2nd series team 'B', break to the network for highlights, finish 2nd series team 'B', 10 minute break at the quarter change, etc., etc., etc.!!!!

OMA!!!! - how do these guys manage to stay warmed up enough to actually play football when they're actually PLAYING??? No WONDER there are so many pulled muscles in the NFL!!!

Speaking of the NFL, my beloved Browns hired Mike Holmgren as President al la Big Tuna in Miami and his first decision was to retain Eric Mangini as Browns Head Coach. Smart move, in my opinion. First of all, Mangini said (and I believe him) that he inherited "a mess" when he got there and he needed to do some pretty drastic things to turn things around. Since the Browns truly were "a mess" under Romeo Crenell, his claim isn't too hard to believe. Secondly, he had to turn over a large (and I mean LARGE) percentage of his personnel since they were used to how Romeo did things and would resist whatever change he brought about (obviously!). Finally, when his people and his system eventually caught on, the Browns finished with a 4-game winning streak and looked pretty good (especially on the defensive side of the ball!!!) doing it, so it would simply not have been fair to blow the Browns up AGAIN and not give Mangini a chance to finish what he started. Frankly, it's a wonder that Mangini isn't still in New York. As far as I can tell, the only reason he had eventual failure there is the fact that management crammed Bret Favre down his throat and the old man simply didn't have what it took to win over the course of a whole season! As long as Mangini was allowed to do things his way, the Jets were having success!

I have a feeling that the Browns are on their way up and the rest of the AFC North (with the possible exception of Baltimore) is on its way down. Too bad for Pittsburgh, too! I really love those guys with their silly little towels! NOT!!!

Basketball is going really well this year so far!! My 'A' team has won 5 games and has not lost as of yet; a precarious situation for any basketball coach! Why precarious? Well, the dangers are numerous! First, in Texas, we have "no pass-no play" to deal with. Players who don't pass their classes are not eligible to compete in extracurricular activities. Grades for the third 6 weeks will be posted as of Thursday this coming week and ineligibility begins on Thursday the following week, which means that any of my players who become ineligible due to grades are finished for the season! Not a pretty picture for us if any of my "A" team players become ineligible! Second, our schedule has us playing only 4 more regular season games. Three of those four games are against opponents who have a total of 3 wins between them. In other words, they're not very good! The danger there is that we'll get soft and start to think that we're "all that," setting us up for a fall in our last game, which is against an opponent who has only lost one game, that loss coming to a team that we only beat by 5 points. In other words, they're pretty good! I'd hate to have 8 wins going into the final game of the year with a team with an overinflated estimate of their own abilities only to have it handed to us by a team who's hungry and more than ready for us! Lastly, we have a real chance at injury in any one of those games. We're perilously thin in the front court and any injury there could sink us very easily. I've already lost my starting '4' to a hand injury and his back-up is currently failing two classes. We could put ourselves in a position to lose that final game and wind up in a tie for first with the first tie-breaker being head to head competition. If we lose that final game and wind up tied with that team, they would win the championship despite having the same record as us!

Oooohhhh!!! My head is swimming!

Somehow, we've developed an adversarial relationship with our girls programs and I'm not really sure why! The 8th grade girls have a new coach this year and she seems to think that her program is the only one that counts despite the fact that they're not really very good and they don't seem to be in a position to really make anything happen this year! It's getting old!

Back to football! The Bengals lost (what a surprise!) and the Eagles got beat, rather badly, by the Cowgirls! All I can say is that it's about time that team from Dallas lived up to all the hype! However, who else out there is ready to finally agree with Rush Limbaugh and state that Donovan McNabb is perhaps the most over-hyped quarterback of this generation and the main reason for it is his race!

If Donovan McNabb were white, would anyone say that he's a perennial all-pro or, as the illustrious commentator Charles Barkley stated yesterday, the greatest quarterback in Eagles history? Uhhhh.....anyone out there ever heard of Norm Van Brocklin?

That's what I thought!

McNabb is good, no question; but the "greatest quarterback in Eagles history?" I don't even think he cracks the top 5!!! I mean, come on! Van Brocklin, Cunningham, Snead, Jurgensen, and Jaworski all played for the Eagles! I'm sure if I dig a little harder, I could come up with 5 or 6 more who are better than McNabb! Let's face it; McNabb is good and the Eagles will only go as far as he takes them but at this point, he's not even the greatest quarterback on the Eagles roster RIGHT NOW, let alone the greatest in Eagles history!!!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!

5-0, here we go!!!

2010-01-07T17:06:00.000-08:00

Well, dear blogfan, we started off 2010 just as we finished 2009; with a lopsided victory and a comfortable maintenance of our first-place credentials, 48-17!

What was interesting this time was the official. He's a guy who's coached at one of our upcoming rivals (a team we have traditionally had a hard time against) for many years but recently retired a couple of years ago. He came to me after the game and told me that our group was the best 7th-grade group he'd seen in a very long time!

Pretty high praise!

Our challenge now is to make sure everyone passes their classes, no one gets injured, and we don't get overconfident!

We'll see how it goes!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T13:59:00.000-08:00

Well, another wonderful Christmas at home with MDB!

It was another strange and wonderful week in Brownsworld! It was announced that Mike Holmgren has agreed to fill the position of "Football Czar" with the Browns a week after Josh Cribbs set the all-time NFL record for career kick-off return touchdowns AND the all-time Browns single game rushing record (and the third most in NFL history) was set by Jerome Harrison!

Of course, Kansas City was the opponent, but THAT doesn't matter, does it?

Mangenius has the Browns playing half-way decent the last couple of weeks, so maybe they can close out on a high note and get some momentum going into next year!

Meanwhile, MDB got me a new leaf blower (my request) for Christmas and a card to Lowe's. I was planning on getting a power washer, but I may spend it on our new patio cover...

...I haven't decided!

I got her jewelery from James Avery, a new leather jacket and a Wii game (well....we got each other the Wii game) and she seemed happy with it all!

So....Merry Christmas!

Uncharted waters

2009-12-17T16:52:00.001-08:00

Hello again, blogfan!

We're in uncharted waters tonight. My "Light" team won again last night by the lopsided score of 62 to 41, taking their record to 4-0. As I'd hoped for, the team that gave us a game (in the end...we had them down by 21 and had to take our foot off the gas per league rules) last week rose up and beat the only other undefeated team, leaving us alone in first! When we come back from the Christmas break, we face a 2-2 team that we really shouldn't have any problem with, and then play three teams in a row that are sub .500.

THAT'S the scary part! I'm afraid that we'll play a bunch of soft competition, get soft ourselves, and then play that other team to close out the season as a soft and unprepared basketball team.

I can only say....I'd rather be where we are than where THEY are!

Pointy-headed libs at it again!

2009-12-15T17:05:00.000-08:00

Hello again, blogfan!

Well, it seems as though the pointy-headed libs at the University of Texas (smack-dab in the middle of the People's Republic of Austin) are upset that the University increased Mack Brown's salary to $5 million per year. It seems that the poor faculty of that cash-strapped university is upset that, at this time of financial tumult, a sports figure would be offered a raise.

Anyone up there ever heard of Capitalism? Uhhh....its the financial system of this country, Mr. and Ms. pointy-headed liberal economics professors!

Coach Brown has once again taken his Longhorn football program to the national championship game, which, in and of itself, would warrant a raise. He has taken UT football to a plateau that it has never known before, not even in the time of the revered and renowned Daryl Royal, which means that it is bringing in MEGA bucks! According to the article, Coach Brown's salary is paid entirely by receipts of the UT athletic program and has no impact on the receipts of the university, either pro or con. IN FACT, the article says that the UT athletic program has generously donated some 6.6 MILLION dollars to UT academics in recent years despite having no mandate to do so.

Sounds like a little socialism gone amok there, pointy headed libs!

I tell you what. Why don't you FIRE Mack Brown and hire some nobody that will bring in no recruits, no acclaim, and no success; THEN you can control the government-issued piece of pie that's left and act as though you had it coming all along!

You people are stupid, degree or no degree!

Sheesh!

Houston, we have a problem!

2009-12-13T11:47:00.000-08:00

So, Houston now has the nation's first openly gay mayor.

Does that qualify her to govern, or is it just a statement of some sort from the nation's gay rights activists?

Well, duh!?!?

She CLEARLY was not the most qualified candidate, but every gay, lesbian, cross-dressing, hermaphrodite weirdo in the country got behind her with a national fundraising effort, attempting to make her candidacy a referendum on the legitimacy of being gay instead of how well (or not well) she would govern Houston.

Thanks for not showing up, NORMAL Houston!

You know, I don't throw that term "normal" or "abnormal" around loosely. From any perspective (except the gay perspective, of course) homosexuality is simply NOT normal. What IS normal? From a simple statistical standpoint, "normal" is any part of the bell curve that falls within two standard deviations of the mean. Typically, "normal" encompasses about 95% of the sample population, which means that about 5% of any population could be expected to be "abnormal" in some way. This, of course, is why the gay rights people are so adamant about pronouncing that, according to them, 10% of the population is homosexual. THAT would mean that about 50% of that population falls withing the range of "normal." Which half is abnormal, gay rights guy? The half that becomes a priest and molests little boys or the half that becomes a serial killer and eats people?

Just wondering...

In any case, even if you buy the gay rights statistics (which I clearly DON'T by the way!!!), look at it from a clearly anatomical standpoint. Sex, by its very nature, is meant to cause propagation of the species. We're built so that the female partner donates 23 chromosomes and the male partner donates the other 23 and the zygote winds up with the normal number of 46. Although I do not mean by any stretch of the imagination to be insensitive, this is exactly why Down's Syndrome children are not normal; they have an extra chromosome (47) that causes any number of physical problems for them.

Having an extra chromosome falls within the 5% of the population that could be considered "abnormal" from a statistical standpoint. I'm sorry if that offends some; but it IS the truth!

Anyway, try as they might to represent themselves as "normal" through "Partner" adoption, artificial insemination, or some other form of parenthood by artificial means, gay unions are not capable of procreation in the manner intended by God.

They are therefore, NOT normal!

All that said, it's clearly a sickness that activists do whatever they can to push their agenda DESPITE what may or may not be good or acceptable from the standpoint of pure governance. Anise Parker was caught in several untruths during the course of the campaign, ranging from fabrications of her own voting record while on city council to made up endorsements.

Well, since the Clinton years, we know that lying isn't that big a deal to the electorate....

even if it SHOULD be!!!

So, much like the nation in which it resides, Houston is stuck with an unqualified, if decidedly PC candidate for at least 4 years.

I hope I'm not anywhere near here when the wheels fall off!

3-0; NOW what do we do?

2009-12-12T13:32:00.000-08:00

Well, dear blogfan, it's been a wonderful and strange week in Dan's sports world; my 7th-grade "A" team is 3-0 and tied for first place in the district, and my beloved Browns actually won a game, beating the despised (pronounced dE- SPIZE- eD) Steelers and essentially knocking them out of any hope they may have had for the playoffs this year (snicker...snicker...). Strange and wonderful, no?

My "A" basketball team is special. They don't look it, but they're absolutely the most athletic bunch of kids I've ever coached! Even better, they put the ball in the basket when they get and take a shot! I've had teams in the past who worked really hard, got a good look at the basket, but actually put it in the hole at an alarmingly pitiful rate! Well, this bunch gets the good looks AND sinks the shots they get! AMAZING!!!!! They scored 64 last week and 53 this week. I hate to sound like I'm bragging, but that's a LOT of points in only 28 minutes of basketball especially when you consider that on the night they scored 64 the clock ran for the whole 4th quarter!

This past week, we built up a 21 point lead before we had to stop pressing (league rules prohibit pressing with a 20+ point lead) only to finish with only a 5-point margin of victory. Having to take our foot off of the gas took us out of our rhythm.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

This week, we face a team that lost last week to the only other undefeated team in the district, so this is going to be another tough week in basketball! Fortunately, the team who made such a valiant come-back on us this past week faces the other undefeated team; maybe (good Lord willing) WE'LL be the only one left standing after the week is over! That would be AWESOME!!! I hate to hope for someone else's demise, but we don't face them ourselves until the final week of the season, so what's wrong with hoping that someone gets to them before WE do?

On the other front, it sure is nice to see my Browns play well for a change!

Well, it may have been more of a function of Pittsburgh playing poorly, but who (outside of Pittsburgh) is going to look this gift horse in the mouth? Certainly not I!!!

The Browns sacked Rothlisberger (sp?) 8 times overall, I believe. Uhhh....how about a little protection for Big Ben, what do you say Steeler's O-line? Didn't he just recover from a concussion? Seems to me like you'd want to offer a little more protection for your franchise quarterback than that........I'm just saying!!!

I'm not complaining, mind you! It was really nice to see Brown and Orange all over that black and yellow, not to mention the pain and bewilderment in his eyes, but, were I a Pittsburger, I think I'd be looking for a little more "max protection" calls from Mike Tomlin and a lot fewer "everyone in the pattern" calls......I'm just saying!!!

What was really nice was the fact that the Browns seemed to be able to run on Pittsburgh almost at will, especially in the first half. Josh Cribbs did to them what he usually does; slice and dice like a vegamatic on steroids! Why would anyone wearing black and yellow EVER punt a ball to Josh Cribbs? Do they have game tape in Pittsburgh? Has anyone seen what Josh Cribbs ALWAYS does to Pittsburgh? Maybe they should consider NOT punting the ball to him anymore...I'm just saying!!!

Well, that's enough advice for the evil empire. They have enough else to worry about, what with searching for a new head coach and all. Maybe they can bring Chuck Noll back; he was such a breath of fresh air, wasn't he?

He made Bill Belichick look like Robin Williams in comparison!

I'm just saying!!!

basketball, broken arms, and multiculturalism!

2009-12-05T05:32:00.000-08:00

Hello again, blogfan!

Well, another busy week in the books! My 7th graders came on strong again this week and took a lopsided 64 - 31 victory over another team that I've never been able to beat! Looks like it's going yo be a good year! I told them Thursday that putting that kind of whooping on someone has pluses and minuses. The big plus is that teams in the district see the same scores we see and it adds a little fear factor to us walking in the gym. The big minus is that other teams see the same scores we see and it puts a big bulls eye on us! Oh well; I'd rather be where we are than where they are!

I told one of the parents the other day (who was bubbling because of our early-season success) that I've coached this bunch pretty much the same way I've coached every other team I've ever had. The difference with this bunch is that they're actually going out and executing the things we've worked on!

You can go from idiot to genius in about two nanoseconds in this business! Coaches with good athletes are geniuses by and large and the ones without them are idiots (or so it would seem!).

This Wednesday we have our first home game. The team we play is one that is always tough but I've managed to get wins over two of the last three years. Their coach is pretty well schooled in the game and always has his teams prepared for us. I say we've beat them two of the last three years; we've beat them in the tournament at the end of the year despite losing our regular-season game against them. This year I'd like to get the regular-season game and let the tournament take care of itself!

It's a strange year so far! 5 of the ten teams in the district are undefeated at 2-0 and 5 do not have a victory! STRANGE!!! I'm glad to be one of the teams at 2-0! It's hard getting motivated when you know your season is already over with only two games in the can!

Toward the end of our game this week, a kid from the other team fell down and broke his arm. From all appearances, both the radius and the ulna were pretty much snapped in two, though the skin was not broken. Despite that, there was MAJOR deformation (it was UGLY!!!) and naturally, a lot of pain! Having been trained for 15+ years as an EMT in my former career, I went to see if I could help and wound up doing the splinting. The young man was able to hold the clipboard (all they could find for a splint was a clipboard) without a sling, so we tucked it under his arm and off to the ER he went (mom was at the game, thank goodness!!!). Thursday, I sent an e-mail to the opposing coach and asked him how the young man was doing. The coach e'd back that he was set to either have surgery or get the bone set that day and that the ER doctor was very pleased with the job I'd done with the splint. He also passed along gratitude from the mother who was very happy that her son had been efficiently and professionally taken care of in his time of need. Then the phone started ringing; the 7th-grade AP called and left a message with a voice mail from the mom in question attached. She had called my school and left a very nice message praising the work I'd done on her son. THEN the school principal called and enclosed the same message! THEN I got down to the coaches office and our AD played it for me AGAIN!!! WOW!!! It's nice to be appreciated!

Meanwhile, I hope the young man is doing okay; he did not cry during the whole ordeal despite what must have been excruciating pain and he exhibited a great deal of courage!

My thoughts on multiculturalism probably ought to go on a whole new entry, but here's the gist of it; pride in America is waning because we have inculcated in our youth that what we honor is NOT the country that allows us the freedom to celebrate our cultural differences, but the country from which those traditions arose. Put simply, we need to make sure our young people realize a few things; America is the greatest country ever to grace planet Earth! The constitution of this country allows people to be different while still being Americans! That said, if you live here, if you draw your sustenance here, if you make your living here, you need to honor and pay tribute to the country that allows you the freedoms you enjoy! Try NOT honoring China in China! Go to Mexico and tell them that America is WAY better than Mexico and see what happens to you! Have pride in your heritage, but realize that you're an American now and America is the country that needs and DESERVES all of your allegiance and pride both now and in the future!

Why don't some black athletes do what the libs want?

2009-12-01T17:34:00.000-08:00

Hello again, blogfan!

I listen to a lot of sports talk radio, so I hear frequently from listener-callers about how they wish Tiger Woods and/or Michael Jordan would speak out about social issues. Jim Brown, the best running back in the history of football and notorious advocate for social change, has mentioned this, most recently in an interview on the Jim Rome show. Brown basically wished out loud that either Tiger, Jordan, or both would use their considerable sway with the public to elicit change in public policy.

So, why don't they do it?

Well, obviously liberal agents of change ASSUME that black athletes like Jordan or Woods would trumpet the "party line" and sing for Obama-esque change; more government assistance, affirmative action, and government control over whatever CAN be controlled by government. However, what would happen if their assumption is wrong? What if Woods and other insanely rich black athletes would take a conservative stand and ask people to assume personal responsibility for their own well-being? Not only would that be treacherous to "their roots" in the eyes of the libs, but it would severely undermine whatever credibility they enjoy in African-American culture, or at least the liberal version of it.

Maybe Woods and Jordan know this and therefore refuse to say anything at all! At least they don't risk the ire of the community that hold them up as examples of success by not speaking out.

How ironic would it be if THAT were the case?

Busy week!

2009-11-21T10:32:00.000-08:00

Well, there's lots going on, so lets get to it!

The Senate votes today on whether they should debate their version of the health care bill. Republicans vow to filibuster, but the Dumocrats have the 60 votes they need to bring it to a vote if they vote in lock-step (like they do on everything else!), so don't be surprised if it comes to debate, passes, and goes to conference.

The Dumocrats just don't get it; we don't WANT nationalized health care! It doesn't work anywhere it's been tried! In fact, the several states that have similar plans in place already are going broke faster than the rest of the states and SURELY wish they could go back (but we all know that once you've opened this can of worms a la Social Security, Medicare, etc., it's next to impossible to put that lid on again!), but it's too late.

Dumocrats just don't learn the lessons of history!

Did Socialism work in the Soviet Union or in Eastern Europe? Has it been a huge success in Korea, Viet Nam, or any other country you can name? Oh, and don't get off on China! They adopted (very successfully I might add!) Capitalism a long time ago. The difference there, of course, is that they have a HUGE, VERY CHEAP labor pool upon which to build their brand of Capitalism and that is exactly why they have been so successful in world markets!

In short, please pray with me that a few Dumocrats actually LISTEN to their constituents and vote NOT to proceed instead of voting "aye."

Write it down: if this bill passes, it's the absolute beginning of the end of this Republic.

Then there's this; my kids are coming for our Thanksgiving celebration today! Woo-hoo! I'm really proud of all of them! They're all making positive steps toward a long and happy life! It should be a lot of fun!

Finally, my 7th graders went to BHI to play the Bears on Wednesday. Now, everyone (I guess) has that rival that they can never seem to get past. BHI has been ours. I've coached at PVI for 6 years and I've never had a team that's beat them. They get superior athletes year in and year out and they have very good coaches who have them prepared to play and prepared for whatever we throw at them. As I said, we haven't beat them in six years and who knows how long it'd been before that.

Well, that all changed on Wednesday! We beat BHI to start our season (34-30) and now we're tied for first place in the district! The boys played their hearts out! Naturally, being the first game of the season, we didn't execute our offense all that well, but our defense was outstanding and BHI was never really able to get going against us! What a hoot!

Oh well, that's enough for now! Pray with me that socialized health care in this country does NOT happen. We can't afford it and, as bad as I feel for those who don't have health care for whatever reason, sinking the ship to make sure everyone is in the same water just doesn't make any sense!

Going Rogue!

2009-11-19T18:54:00.000-08:00

Well, Sarah Palin has been all over the news recently doing interviews and pimping her new book, "Going Rogue." Naturally, the left has done everything they can to discredit her.

Of course, they don't challenge her on the issues because they have no basis for such a challenge. They go straight to their favorite tact, "the politics of personal destruction," and attempt to discredit her personally rather than ideologically.

Why do they fear her so?

Simple. Sarah Palin is intelligent, well-spoken, down-to-earth, firm in her beliefs, and....

wait for it....

Conservative!!!

You see, the libs have come to see themselves as the "owners" of women's issues. You know, equality in the workplace, the right to decide about their own bodies, the right to exist as an autonomous entity, etc. So here comes Sarah Palin, a working woman who chooses to be happily married, chooses to have children, chooses to find strength in family and faith AND chooses to succeed despite coming from the polar opposite side of the political spectrum as the libs (who believe its not POSSIBLE to succeed without THEM)! The fact is, they can't afford, literally AND figuratively, for her "template" to be seen as a viable alternative for women because it discredits THEIR contention that theirs is the only way for a woman to be seen as successful.

I've got to hand it to her; she's taking on all comers. Her interview on Oprah was one of the best I've seen, but you would fully expect "O" to toe the party line and do everything she could to pull the rug out from under her. Props to you, Oprah! You played it fair and Palin came across as honest, intelligent, well-spoken, and right on the issues.

What a shock since she IS those things!

Take note, libs! This is a conservative nation and Palin is the flag bearer for the conservative movement at the moment; attack at your own risk!

Happy Veteran's Day!

2009-11-11T18:11:00.000-08:00

Hello blogfan!

I'd be remiss indeed if I let this day pass without a heartfelt "Thank You!!!" to all of our veterans. The freedoms I enjoy today were bought and paid for with their toil, sweat, blood, and tears and I've done little, if anything, to earn any of it. So, thank you, men and women of the US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard; I owe you a debt of gratitude and I'll NEVER be able to pay it back!

I was fortunate, I guess. As I came up through High School, the Viet Nam war was in full force. Oh, there was talk of cease-fire and an eventual end to the conflict, but we'd been hearing that for how long? Almost as long as I could remember! So, I turned 16 in 1973 and those "don't forget to register for the draft" notices started coming to the house, I grew concerned that I may have to go to Viet Nam. A lot of my friends were already talking about going to Canada, burning their draft cards or simply not responding, but I'd already decided that I was going to do my duty and report if I were called.

I never got an opportunity to make that choice. The war ended in 1974, the draft was discontinued not long afterward, so that dreaded notice never came and I never had to serve.

I often wondered how things would have been different if I DID have to go. Would I have come back? If so, would I have been in one piece? I only know one thing; God knew what path my feet would take and I can only thank Him that I am here today to share this with any who care to read it.

I thank God and I thank our veterans, many of whom did NOT come back and allowed me the opportunity to not go at all. Thank you, veterans!

When computers get in the way

2009-11-09T15:33:00.000-08:00

Wow! Two posts in two days! It's a miracle!

Well, not really, but it may seem like one!

Anyone who knows me at all KNOWS that I think the technology that's available to us today is remarkable, EXTREMELY useful, and a wonderful contribution to society far more often than it is a detractor.

That said, it IS a detractor at times and it is for us, the users of said technology, to figure out when it gets in the way of progress and avoid those applications!

To wit: Once upon a time, in my previous career, my department occasionally had to write up accident reports. Sometimes, legal wheels would begin turning before the mess was fully cleaned up and people from Corporate would immediately start pressuring us for our report. WAY in the early days of computer usage in business when we had ONE to share for our entire department, we typically wrote such reports by hand, gave them to the department secretary to type up, proofread them for corrections, mistakes, or other changes, sent them back for a final copy, signed it and sent it up the chain of command. On one occasion, just such an accident had taken place and, as the guy on call, I had to get the investigation done and issue the report. It was a case of "legal wheels turning," because I had scarcely returned to the office when the phone was ringing, looking for the report. I wrote it up as quickly as I could, told the secretary that it was a "needed it yesterday" report, and asked that she drop pretty much everything and get to it right away. She acknowledged me and, ostensibly, got to work. I went to work on something else and, after what I considered to be a reasonable time, went to get the report.

But she hadn't even started it yet!

When I asked her what was taking so long (even with my HORRENDOUS skill on a typewriter I could have written it about ten times already!!!), she said that she was trying to learn a new computer program and was having difficulty with some of the commands (an old DOS-based program).

I probably wasn't very diplomatic, but I instructed her to write it up on the typewriter and learn her program when it was a little more convenient to the flow of work through the office!

Sheesh!

Anyway, I said all of that to say this: computers STILL get in the way at times and when we reinvent the way we do things JUST to make sure we include technology JUST for the sake of using technology, we're missing sight of the what we're trying to produce (the product) in favor of HOW it's produced. If the old way produces just as good a product in LESS time with LESS hassle, I say keep with it until the application of technology catches up!

Sheesh!

Good job, Dumocrats!

2009-11-08T11:50:00.000-08:00

Well, despite the stinging repudiation from the electorate during last Tuesday's election, the Dumocrats went ahead with their planned destruction of capitalism and voted up on their stupid health care reform legislation.

Yes, it theirs, lock, stock, and barrel. I hope they're big enough to own it in 2010 when the electorate will speak again about their displeasure with the measure!

Unfortunately, I'm afraid it will be too late at that point. Much like Social Security or Medicare, it may be too late to put the cap back on the bottle at that point and put things back in the hands of the free market. Too many people dependent on the largess of government

Again!

How sad that we've come to a place where so many people are willing to trade freedom for so-called security.

I guess it's like a lot of other things. We've got to hit absolute rock bottom, where government dictates absolutely EVERYTHING about your life, before people look up and go "remember when I didn't have to have a permit to flush the commode? Do you recall, back in 2009, when we could go to any doctor we wanted to see? I remember seeing grandma at the old folks home; that was before the government decided that geriatric care was too expensive and mandatory euthanasia went into effect! I wish we still had freedom in this country!"

I won't forget, that's for sure!

Black is white; white is black!

2009-09-12T07:27:00.000-07:00

Hello again, blogfan!

Today, it's unAmerican to tell a liar that he's a liar; or so it seems.

Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina reacted emotionally to Obama's claim that illegal aliens have never been on the projected roles of those he intends to cover with "Obamacare."

Obama lied, but everyone nodded politely and agreed with the lie because it's not nice to NOT agree with the liar while he's still lying! Joe's only mistake in my eyes was his choice of place and time!

Obama and the cronies he keeps trotting out to replay his lies keeps telling us that nearly 20% of Americans are without health insurance. Well, we KNOW that 10% are without it since his stimulus bill that failed to stimulate anything except the pockets of his cronies has driven unemployment up to nearly 10%, but what about the other half of their claims? Most of the rest of the people he's talking about have no legitimate claim to any largess of the US taxpayer in any case because they're here ILLEGALLY! What's worse (and this is truly the dirty little secret that Obama doesn't want you to know), nearly ALL of the ailments THEY would seek treatment for under Obamacare are already covered under existing programs OR the "mandatory treatment in the ER" laws that already exist!

This in not about health care; it's about grabbing as much power and money as possible while he's got a double-majority in Congress!

In short, he's lying to us (again!). Poor Joe didn't time it well, but he's the only one who spoke the truth during the president's speech the other night!

Obama on education

2009-09-05T11:48:00.000-07:00

Here's a new one; I think the President of the United States ought to be able to address the schoolchildren of America without all the hoopla! The fact is, parents need to do their job and inform their children!

What a sad day it is when we can't trust the guy to deliver a plain ol' "stay in school, work hard, get a good education and be a productive member of society" message. What a sad day indeed!

What a sad day when parents are concerned that their parenting skills will be overridden by a US President! I'd have to say, "listen to him, kids! If he tries to indoctrinate you into National Socialism, I'll set you straight!"

There are so many sad things about this day, it's hard to know where to begin! Superintendents of school districts across the country are being asked to take sides; show the President and risk a schism among the parents of the district or don't show him and risk the same! The bottom line here is, we have a President who has managed to polarize this country like none I can remember and he basically did it in a very simple way; he said one thing during his candidacy and now he's doing another thing altogether (i.e., he lied to us!) and, like any other liar, we simply don't trust him now!

The worst of all is the hypocrisy that is coming to the fore. You say, "Let's show the President's address and if your kids don't like it, you can tell us and we'll send them to an alternate location to do something else!" If I said, "let's allow prayer in school; if your kids don't like it, they can go somewhere else while everyone else enjoys it!" , you'd say "Uh, it's not fair to single out certain kids or make them feel somehow inferior. We cannot allow it!"

Well, you DID say the latter, so where's the fairness in the former? It's strictly a double standard (something libs are EXCELLENT at, BTW!) and I don't know how any fair minded individual could ever even SUGGEST it!

What do you expect from the same folks who brought you "(you) travel in a shoebox that gets 400 mpg to save the planet and we'll meet you in the private jet that belches enough greenhouse gas to destroy the entire ozone layer in about 30 minutes!"

Hypocrisy everywhere!

So, go ahead and say what you want, Mr. President. With your track record, no one except the blindest of your minions will believe what you say anyway!

Michael Vick, Ted Kennedy, and PC run amok!

2009-08-27T17:56:00.000-07:00

Hello again, blogfan!

Michael Vick resumes his NFL career this evening with the Philadelphia Eagles.

As me if I care?

Frankly, I think it's fine. I mean, we're a Christian nation despite what Obama says! If anyone can appreciate a second chance, it's someone who's been redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus for us all, so I think we need to understand the shortcomings of others and give them second chances when we can.

He among you who is without sin, cast the first stone!

Of course, the PC aspect of this is that PETA, who most people I know thinks is a bunch of fruitcakes and nut-jobs, has somehow managed to make a large group of people think that what Vick did was tantamount to the murder of a human being!

Look, what he did was terrible, reprehensible, and absolutely shameful, but it was not the same as the killing of a human being!

Not even in the same city, let alone ballpark!

Enough of Vick, already! The women of New England can breath a sigh of relief! The womanizing (allegedly) Ted Kennedy has finally gone to a much warmer place and taken his ultra-liberal politics with him! I'm not going to cry for a 77 year-old man who lived in the absolute lap of luxury, got just about anything and everything he ever wanted (including EXCUSED for the killing of at least one young woman), and did everything he possibly could to turn the US into a North American version of Red China! Vick at least did his penance and has shown signs of remorse for what he did! The coward Kennedy never admitted or showed contrition for any of his deeds!

Of course, the Dems have trotted out the notion that Obama's health care bill should be re-packaged as the "Kennedy Memorial Health Care Plan" in the hopes that they can actually garner some sympathy for the ostensibly failed package.

Look, Dumocrats! A bad idea is a bad idea regardless of who's name is on it!

Driving me CRAZY!!

2009-08-22T11:43:00.000-07:00

Hello again, blogfan!

Well, I'm taking a break from telling you how ridiculous the current administration, their policies and their proposals are; today I'm going to reprise my disgust with people who climb behind the wheel of their car with no more intention of driving a car than Ray Charles (and Ray was probably a better driver than most of these idiots!)

I understand driving for fuel economy; I do it myself. However, the optimal economy in almost any vehicle is achieved when you keep your RPMs at or below 2000 and, generally speaking, the rate at which you achieve that optimal engine speed has little or nothing to do with how much fuel is consumed in the process (within reason, of course!). Therefore, if you take off so slowly that your car spends most of its time at the upper ranges of that gear's range before it shifts to a lower gear, you're actually getting LESS fuel economy than you would if you simply got it up to speed and let it shift into a lower gear where the engine turns more slowly. GOT IT?

I didn't think so! If you did, you wouldn't go from 0 to 60 in 6.5 weeks and hold everyone else up! By the way, having to stop at every light because you've got turtles peeing on your tires costs you and everyone else a lot of gas as you sit there idling with your A/C blowing as well, you inconsiderate moron!

The other form of highway inconsideration that is driving me absolutely loony has to do with communication. I remember a time when no one, and I mean NO ONE was so important that they couldn't sacrifice contact with friends, co-workers, and loved ones for at least as long as it took to drive from A to B. In this modern age of instant communication via cell phone and the marriage of cellular technology to the Internet, no one can really get away from instant access to whomever they choose, even if they desired to do so. All that is fine and really useful under most circumstances, but the same guy who seems to be able to handle about ten things at once in an office or at home seems to turn into a jello-brain once he tries to drive and do ANY of the above at the same time. I'm serious! I've had to wake so many people up at red lights lately that my horn is about to wear out! I'm tired of getting run off the road as people attempt to text and drive at the same time! I've had it with cars moving fine in two lanes and that one car in the middle causing people to swerve and slam on their brakes because the driver of the slow car is too busy talking on a cell phone to pay attention to their direction or speed!

Here's a suggestion, morons! If you can't handle the cell phone AND the driving, do the one that will certainly kill people if you do it poorly! DRIVE THE FREAKIN' CAR FIRST!!!! Or better yet, if you're unable to do both, put down the phone and NEVER EVER pick it up in the car if you can't handle it!

Guess what? Even though you're usually in the giant Tahoe that no one else can see around, your car will crash and roll just like any other if you continue to drive like its Stevie Wonder behind the wheel! So, if you won't do it for us, do it for yourself, loser!

Sheesh!

Town Halls

2009-08-15T16:12:00.000-07:00

This week, all the talk's been about the so-called "Town Hall" meetings that have been taking place across the country to "discuss" the President's health care proposals.

Of course, "discuss" isn't exactly what's been going on, but there've been groups of people showing up for one purpose or another!

If you've gone to one of the Obama-led meetings, you were hand-picked because you're able to shake a pom-pom and ask puffball questions that the Comedian-in-Chief can handle without his teleprompter telling him what to think!

If you went to a Shirley Jackson-Lee meeting, you learned that it's okay in "Shirley World" to ignore your constituents by answering your cell phone in the middle of a cancer survivor's question and then go on Greta Van Susteren's show a little later and lie about it while being equally rude to Greta!

If you went to Benedict Arnold "Arlen" Specter's town hall meeting, you're still "waiting a minute" since he told one poor old dude who had apparently been promised an opportunity to speak to "wait a minute" about 3500 times. If you're waiting all the minutes he told you to, you should be free to move about your home sometime next Thursday!

In all but the Obama-choreographed meetings, it should be apparent that America does not want and does not feel that it needs Obamacare! I've said before that I think it would be a good idea for them to clean up their Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security messes before they start another one, but that doesn't seem to be what they want! Frankly, as I've said before, I think they should phase Medicare and Medicaid out altogether and let market forces determine the cost of health care without the artificial influences of those "price-fixing" government entities, but, much like Social Security, it's not likely to happen as long as the elderly depend on the programs as they apparently do.

So sad to be fed a bill of goods like that! Sadder still that now we've all been suckered into placing ourselves into this situation where they can force this crap down our throats whether we want it or not!

Is it 2010 yet?

Life's little ironies!

2009-08-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

I'm constantly amazed by life's little ironies!

The other day, I was pulled over for failing to fasten my seat belt. As the officer penned the ticket, a group of helmetless motorcyclists passed us doing what was probably at least 15, perhaps 20 miles per hour above the speed limit.

Am I not less likely to be deathified in a car crash without my seat belt than the motorcyclists without a helmet? Where's big daddy doing all he can to protect THEM from themselves?

By the way, I thought I had a constitutional right to kill myself if that's what I want to do? It MUST be constitutional! Oregon will pay for assisted suicide in lieu of life-saving cancer drugs, or haven't you heard? Not to say that that's the only thing they'll help you off yourself for, mind you, but that's the most bizarre example I've heard to date!

And speaking of killing yourself, hasn't big daddy gone on the rampage to stop cigarette smoking?! Have you SEEN the price of a pack of cigarettes these days? That's $5.50/pack in taxes of one kind or another, 15 cents for the retailer, and a nickel for Philip Morris! And that's here in TEXAS!! I've heard that in places like the People's Republic of New York, it's nearly twice that!

Look, I just want a little equity in all of this. If it's NOT okay for me to kill myself in my car by refusing to wear a seat belt, then it's not okay for a bunch of motorcyclists to go helmetless, either! I don't care how powerful their lobby is! However, as I've stated before, I think both are okay, as long as I'm not endangering someone else with my actions! I don't think my demise at the hand of a telephone pole is going to affect anyone other than me any more one way than the other, quite frankly!

Big Daddy government, get out of my life! I thought I had a right to privacy! Or does that only apply to pregnant women?

Sheesh!

I NEVER would have figured THIS!!!

2009-07-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

Nadya Suleman, the mother of octuplets most recently and 14 children altogether, has reportedly signed a deal with the company that produced "The Biggest Loser" to star in a reality TV show.

The biggest loser, indeed!

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I never would've believed it if I hadn't read it on Yahoo!!

The woman with no skill, no job, no income (well, no skill other than getting pregnant, apparently) and no viable prospects has agreed to assist her kids (read as "exploit," "use," "manipulate," or "rape" as you see fit) with their future by inking them to a reality TV deal! That always works out, doesn't it, Jon and Kate? Danny Bonaduce, you wanna chime in here? Where's Willis when you need him?

I thought selling kids was illegal? Why don't we just attach little shackles to their ankles and make them drag rocks around or something? That might be entertaining as well, don't you think?

There's a really warm place in hell for people who exploit children like this and Jesus is coming soon, so I'd see if I couldn't spend some of that easy money on icewater if I were you, Nada! (No, I didn't misspell it! If there was ever a zero, this one's it!)

Sheesh!

Another symptom!

2009-07-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

Well, the headline this morning was "States Where Job Seekers Have Given Up," or something to that effect.

To me, it's just another symptom of the "Everyone Gets a Trophy" generation. If you can't find that perfect work experience, you just give up and let Big Daddy Government take care of you. I mean, it's actually their responsibility anyway, isn't it?

This is just the sort of shift in our collective thinking as a society that makes me physically ill! If you can't find that "perfect" job, then you take one that's a little less perfect until that "perfect" one comes along! Since I was 17, I've been out of work a total of three days! I never willingly left a job without having another in place and, even though I may not make as much money as I could if I really "worked" the system for all it's worth, I make a fair wage and I'm happy with what I do. Who could ask for more?

Here's an idea for all of you "Discouraged Job Seekers;" Get up real early, log onto "Craig's List," and start applying for anything legitimate that will actually earn you a paycheck until your ideal job comes along! Frankly, I'd hang off of a garbage truck and pick up trash for the city before I'd sit around feeling sorry for myself and let someone else take care of me or my obligations!

Shake yourselves, losers! Go get a job!

Coburn's my new hero!

2009-07-15T11:24:00.000-07:00

During questioning of SC nominee Sonia Sotomayor (means "make it up as you go along" in Spanish, come to find out!) today, my new hero, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma asked Ms. Sotomayor how she could stand so positively on an "implied" right, the "right to privacy," and remain vague on a very simply STATED right, the right to keep and bear arms (2nd Amendment).

Ms. Sotomayor went on for about 10 minutes about New York state law, retrieving a gun from home, chicken noodle soup recipes, and the proper procedure for an oil change on a 1972 Volkswagen Beetle, all the while managing to repeat the phrase "I am not a lawmaker" about 35 times (nice job, prep committee! She's managed to remember 4 words from the talking points you gave her!). Of course, while waxing philosophical on the true color of a blue moon, she failed to answer the Senator's question.

Why should I be surprised? He earlier asked a simple "yes or no" question and she stammered stupefied for about ten minutes on THAT one as well, never mentioning either of the correct response choices, "yes" or "no."

By the way, what is this "settled precedent" she keeps referring to? Settled or not, isn't bad law or a poor interpretation NEVER settled? Once upon a time, Brown V. Board of Education was "settled," was it not? Wasn't "Dred Scott" a "settled precedent" at one time? How about a hundred other famous cases that, once reviewed, revealed failed logic or a poor reading of our Constitution?

Is that the best you can do, Obama?

I think it's time to pack up for the Bronx where people don't seem to mind the invention of law from the bench, Ms. Sotomayor!

Sheesh!

Jackson's remains

2009-07-09T07:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I seldom blog more than twice a month these days, so NOW to drop my thoughts on you twice in one day....

Here goes!

The whole Michael Jackson spectacle makes my skin crawl in so many ways! First, who really cared anything at all about MJ until he kicked it? I mean, he'd been forced underground essentially, called "Whacko," and marginalized in every way imaginable. Of course, he brought most of it on himself by turning himself in a clown, but who really knows what the underlying cause of THAT was? The irony is the whole circus that came after his untimely demise!

Now I read that no one will know where MJ's remains will be interred. I don't think anyone really cares at this point, do they? I mean, will there be live cameras and opportunities for free pub at the gravesite?

I didn't think so! Don't worry, then! The "King of Pop" will remain forever undisturbed regardless of where you put him!

How many so-called "black leaders" showed up to pay tribute? The "never saw a camera I didn't like" Representative from Houston, Shirley Jackson-Lee even showed up! For what? Maybe it was just an invitation to everyone with "Jackson" in their name (or so it seems; Jesse, Shirley, Andrew; ALL the Jacksons were there!), but I suspect that the opportunity for a little free pub was the main reason. So sad!

I'm sorry, did I say "free?"

That's part II of what upsets me about the whole deal! I mean, if you're Michael Jackson's family, with millions of dollars at your disposal to have a remembrance ANYWHERE you'd like, why choose the one place in the nation that simply cannot afford your presence? The opportunity to host the MJ memorial circus cost LA a reported 1.4 MILLION dollars! See! I told you that Andrew Jackson showed up! 70,000 thousand of the bills with his likeness went flying out the window to fund the debacle!

Incomprehensible!

I guess the main thing, though, is the total hypocrisy involved! Here's a guy that NOBODY cared anything about for the longest time and now that he ostensibly did us all a favor and went away, EVERYBODY loved the guy! What a bunch of hypocrites! If you care about someone, show them while they're still alive to enjoy it, NOT afterward!

You phonies didn't care anything about Michael Jackson; all you care about is the photo op!

Losers!

Well, the Dumocrats are at it again!

2009-07-09T06:12:00.000-07:00

Hello again, blogfan!

As anyone who's been paying any attention whatsoever already knows, our President has vowed passage of a sweeping health care reform measure before the end of August. Anybody want to guess how he's going to pay for it?

That's RIGHT! We're going to tax "the rich" once again!

Who are these so-called mythical "rich" people, anyway?

I guess we could tax Tony Soprano; he's got lots of cash! Well, it's all under the table and unreported, but we've seen him pull out those horse-choker wads of greenbacks and peel off a couple of thou like it was nothing, right?

Uhhhh.....it's fantasy, right up there with this stupid health care reform plan and your funding choice, Dumocrats!

Wasn't it bad enough that the government ran GM out of business with their stupid CAFE standards and their unadulterated love affair with the UAW? Can't these idiots see that any business worth it's salt (and wishing it's survival) has already left for India or Mexico? When you kill the goose that laid the golden egg, THERE AREN'T ANY MORE GOLDEN EGGS, YOU IDIOTS!!!

We keep hearing that 50,000,000 people don't have health care. How many of those are legal citizens of the US? How many can't get to a local ER for the free care that they MUST provide by law? How many have opted out of their employer-provided coverage for whatever reason, or simply are between coverages because of job loss or other employment issues?

That's what I thought!

"But Dan! Isn't just ONE person without health care one too many? Isn't health care a RIGHT?"

Uhhhh.....no, it's not! There are two sure things in life and a lot of people seem to get by without experiencing one of them; death and taxes! We already HAVE a universal health care policy for those of you that haven't been paying attention; it's called Medicaid! How's that little experiment going, Dumocrats? You say it's going bankrupt, along with Medicare and Social Security? Why is that, Dumocrats?

Think about it!

I say, clean up the messes you've already made before you start another one! If you want to continue to fund Medicaid, then fund it and LEAVE THAT MONEY ALONE!!! Lord knows, I've paid a quarter of a million dollars into Social Security and what I've got right now is a government IOU with some future taxpayer's name on it! Your "steal from 'the rich' and give to the poor" scheme doesn't work, Dumocrats! "The rich" got that way because they're savvy with their cash and they know how to keep it out of your grubby little hands (if you don't believe me, ask Timothy Geitner!), so all you wind up doing is taxing ME more and God knows, I'm not rich!

Once again, lets get the government out of business where they HAVE no business! We have this little thing called a Constitution! I've read it and, quite frankly, I thought it said that powers not expressly granted to the Federal government were supposed to be granted to the states. Funny, I didn't see anything in there about a "right to free health care" or the idea that the Federal government should establish some national health system! It's time to revert to what the Constitution dictates and get rid of all of this ridiculous Utopian state-run boondoggle that we've allowed to be created!

We have a right to PURSUE happiness, not an absolute guarantee of it!

A "Must Read!"

2009-07-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

Hopefully, those of you who read here fairly often (BOTH of you!) can surmise for yourselves that I am fairly conservative. Sometimes, being conservative without being especially well-read in the law can be a handicap, especially when it comes to defending my viewpoints in the face of the completely inane nonsense that is presented by liberal defenders of THEIR viewpoints, none of which are based in logic or common sense, but in emotional knee-jerk reactions to this "crisis" or that.

Now, all I have to do is point to one book; Liberty and Tyranny - A Conservative Manifesto, by Mark R. Levin.

Dr. Levin, a lawyer by trade and a conservative talk-show host by profession, explains in great detail why liberals think as they do (or NOT think, as the case may be!) along a wide array of topics, from their insistence on the dismantling of capitalism to their even greater insistence on scuttling our very livelihoods in the name of extremist environmentalism.

It's all about power and who calls the shots, just as I've said all along!

In any case, if you've not read Levin's book, do yourself a HUGE favor and buy a copy and then read it from cover to cover. There's not a word wasted and it will thoroughly explain MUCH better than I ever could why I think the way that I do, especially since I agree with nearly all of the assertions made by this truly amazing author!

Here's why America is going to Hades in a manual cartage device!

2009-06-23T05:45:00.000-07:00

North Korea is threatening to respond a thousand-fold to any (perceived) American provocation, the libs are doing everything they can to destroy our economy, I now own General Motors (well, the American taxpayer owns them!), and all anyone cares about is a couple with too many kids and their inability to handle the "pressure" of fame and fortune!

It's embarrassing!

Yes, boys and girls, Jon and Kate announced their "separation" and their producers updated us with a text announcement that "legal proceedings" have begun to nullify their ten-year relationship. Has anyone ever watched the show? How could anyone who has possibly wonder about any of this?

I have to admit; MDB was/is a big J&K+8 fan. It's programmed into the DVR and we've got about 10 of them on cue at any given time. Now, to her credit, she knows I don't really care to watch their exploits, so she watches mostly when I'm not around, but I have seen my share of episodes. I've watched more than once when they sat on that couch and Kate basically demeaned and belittled John. I've watched him swallow it and never say anything about it unless it was to sheepishly agree with her assessment. I've leaned over and said on more than one occasion, "My Lord! How does he continue to put up with that?" I guess the answer to that one is now painfully clear!

It's hard to put a finger on a single reason for disliking the show, but here's one that comes to mind; I don't like watching a show that exploits children for profit, especially when it's supposed to be a "hands-off glimpse into the life" sort of thing! They claim that the show will go on, but I doubt that it will survive for very long (thank God!!!). I mean, we have enough turmoil in our own daily lives, right? Do we really need to tune in to see someone else's drama play out? Do we really need to see the lives of these kids destroyed in half-hour increments? How long before it's "J&K's kids in drug rehab?", or "J&K see the counselor at school because little Suzy is cutting herself?"

The whole thing makes me sick, quite frankly!

Children who are exploited for cash always turn out well, don't they? The kids from "Diffrent Strokes" came out great, didn't they? I can think of about a thousand other examples, but the point's clear, isn't it?

Now I've heard that the female who had a litter of twelve has been signed on to do her own reality show.

That should be pretty special!

Perhaps the first few episodes will air BEFORE North Korean nukes start dropping on the west coast!

Update!

2009-06-11T06:28:00.000-07:00

Well, more than a few gallons have passed under the bridge since my last post, so here goes!

The whole gay marriage thing is about to make me sick at my stomach! God created men and women for procreation, not sexual pleasure. Now, I'll grant you, He made it a lot of fun so we'd want to "go forth and multiply", but pleasure is not the primary purpose!! Since gays are not capable of procreation, their very existence goes against the will of God (implied AND stated!), so the entire gay rights and gay marriage movement is not a question of equal rights so much as it is a repudiation of God and His will. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God!

I hope that won't be construed as "hate speech!"

I don't hate anyone, but the bible clearly says that homosexuality is "an abomination." What part of "abomination" don't you get, gay rights advocate? Look, I didn't write it, so don't shoot the messenger!

Anyway, I can commiserate somewhat. I don't think it's fair necessarily to codify discrimination against any group or subgroup, but it's not the government that's doing it!!! It's private companies who refuse to view a "partnership" with the same lens as they use for a marriage! So, powerful homosexual voting and purchasing block, boycott the companies who refuse to recognize your immoral and deviant lifestyle and FORCE them to come around!

Tried that already, huh? Too bad!

Look, even in California, the majority of people don't want to recognize a homosexual partnership the same way that a heterosexual one is recognized. It's CALIFORNIA, for crying out loud!! I'd say give it up for a while and see if a new generation of homosexuals comes along who side with your point of view, that's what I'd do.

Oh, that's right! Homosexuals don't procreate! No chance of passing that "gay gene" along then, is there?

How does our President, Mr. Nobraina, have any feet left? I mean, it seems as though he shoots himself in the foot two or three times a day; why is he not on crutches?

He just couldn't help himself, could he? A Supreme Court vacancy came along and he just couldn't take the high road and nominate someone who's actually qualified to be on the High Court, could he? Noooooooo!!!!! He said "Hmmmm.....here's an opportunity! Let me find the most liberal, most far-left leaning individual in the country and put her name forward in nomination!"

Uhhh...Newt said it best (and I paraphrase); a Latina female racist is no better than a white male racist and both should be asked to withdraw if sanity prevails.

I don't see any withdrawals, Ms. Sotomayor!

Then Nobraina continued on the "See, I'm really a Muslim and you can trust me" tour and made another big batch of apologies for our "arrogance."

It ain't bragging if you can do it, Mr. President!

THEN he went out and bought GM with my tax dollars! Anyone who reads here very often KNOWS that I'm a Ford guy! It positively makes me want to wretch knowing that my money is now buying a Chevrolet!

Maybe there's too much invested at this point, I don't know, but I DO know this; the United States government had NO business bailing out ANY of these private entities and it would be absolutely SHAMEFUL if they went under anyway, despite the best efforts of all concerned to prop them up! Look, these corporations failed for a very simple reason; they're poorly run, way too fat, and not willing or able to change rapidly enough to stop the hemorrhage of red ink! They SHOULD fail!! They should be forced to sell off their assets to whoever wants to buy them and restructure whatever's left into a leaner, more competitive company!

Anyone ever hear of American Motors? How about Hudson? Or Packard? Or Studebaker, or Nash, or DeSoto, or any of a hundred other failed car companies? The car business is high risk and high reward! Those who venture there do so at their own peril...

...or that's how it USED to be! NOW we don't let anyone fail! We can't allow market forces to determine the fate of these former corporate giants! NO!!!!! We've got to step in and use tax dollars to prop up the rotten, termite-infested structure! Allowing the market to determine the fate of GM would be.....can't bear to say it......sniff!!......CAPITALISM!!! We're not a capitalist economy anymore! NO! We're now socialist and everyone must get a trophy!!!

Should have put them in the junkyard with all those Studebakers and Hudsons while we had a chance! Now we've got to grit our teeth and PRAY that the thing succeeds so I can get my money back!

Thanks, Mr. Nobraina!

Is it 2010 yet?

W-W-W-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-H-H-H-H-H-H!-!-!-!

2009-05-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

Poor John and Kate! They don't have any privacy to go with their $75,000 per episode! They have Paparazzi lined up to take their pictures! They have an adoring public that just won't leave them alone!

Dry your tears with a couple of those checks, why dontcha?

Look; I understand your frustration. You thought you could take the cash and conduct your private lives any way you want.

Sorry; it doesn't work that way!

WITH the fortune comes the fame, and with that comes the added responsibility of acting like your persona on television. If you don't like that gig, give the money back, rescind the contract, and go back to raising your twenty-seven kids on your $12.50 per hour, you loser!!!

I didn't think that was a viable alternative!

Better hone up on "Well, thank you ma'am! We're SO happy you like our show!"

Loser!

2009-05-15T17:47:00.000-07:00

Well, the American Certainly Loonie Union is at it again.

Oh, you know, they're the guys who ostensibly work to preserve our rights of free speech (unless that speech happens to come from a Christian or from the right), of free press (unless it's the Washington Times, Rush Limbaugh, or any other progenitor of conservative principles), and free religion (as long as you mean free FROM religion and not free to practice religion). [Click HERE for a statement of the ACLU's mission.]

Now, they're stepping up to the plate to make sure that Gitmo detainees get their full portion of rights as they're being prosecuted in military tribunals for practicing terrorism (allegedly) against the United States and her people.

I thought it was the AMERICAN civil liberties union? I thought that the rights granted under our Constitution were guaranteed to Americans? Since when did we extend our rights, fought for and earned by the shedding of American blood, to foreign nationals, especially foreign nationals who killed thousands of Americans in the worst attack on America since the Japanese pulled off that little sneak attack on Pearl Harbor? Worse still, why SHOULD we extend those privileges to them?

Let me tell you something, American Communist Lipservice Union! If those same enemy combatants were captured perpetrating those crimes in their own countries, they wouldn't have any of those rights and their interrogations would have been a tad bit worse than a little pretend drowning! Last time I checked, people lost parts of their bodies for theft in Muslin countries and a heckuva lot more than that for crimes more severe! Oh, and they don't do some little lethal injection thing, either! It's hanging by the neck until dead!

When those clowns do something to earn some rights, I say let 'em have some, but to extend American civil rights to non-citizens is just plain stupid and totally counterproductive, especially in light of what these criminals have perpetrated against us!

Oh, and don't get me wrong! I'm not saying that we should abuse non-citizens just because they ARE non-citizens. I AM saying that we should apply whatever measure of justice they could expect to receive in their own home, NOT roll out the red carpet and presume innocence when there's a clear burden of proof on the accused in their own homeland!

The sad part is, most of these dunderheads will tell you that a little waterboarding to save 10,000 American lives is not worth the price that poor little terrorist had to pay as he pretended to drown.

I'd say drown a million of them if it would save ONE American! It's the only justice they understand and certainly the only incentive they have NOT to do it again!

Shame on you, ACLU!

I don't blog as much as I used to

2009-05-08T14:49:00.000-07:00

Hello again, blogfan!

If anyone who reads here regularly had any doubt, I don't blog as much as I used to. It's mostly because I started feeling a little like Rush Limbaugh, saying the same thing over and over again. What I (and he) said was true, but if you didn't get it the first thirty times, why would you get it now?

Uhh...here we go; water is wet, sky is blue, Barack Oboma is WAY overmatched, totally disingenuous, and frankly, not worthy to be the President of the United States. He got into office because every AA in America voted for him and CONTINUE to defend him and his policies despite the sheer idiocy that they represent, because of white guilt, and because liberals FINALLY got a true socialist that they could get behind and support with confidence because BO was saying enough centrist stuff to get elected and they KNEW that he was a radical leftist in the McCarthy mold from the get-go!

Is it 2012 yet?

I have two pieces of advise for Mr. O. First, if you plan on executing your destruction of American capitalism, you'd better get it done QUICK! The 2010 elections are right around the corner and the American people know now that the emperor is naked and they WILL NOT re-elect anyone who stands with you now, so, to quote the bible, "what you must do, do quickly!" Second, how do you plan on governing when you lose your majority in both Houses, Mr. O? If I were you, I'd try to develop some coalitions and that right quick so you have some semblance of governance when the dust settles!

Then again, that's just me!

Oh, and BTW, Mr. President; thanks a lot for breaking a tradition that has stood since H. Truman by NOT attending an organized Christian church service on the National Day of Prayer! You present yourself to the electorate as a Christian, talk about your years of faithful service to your church (well, the radical white-hating, America-hating, Jew-hating organization you attended...I don't know if it really qualifies as a 'church'), and then go out and proudly announce that America is NOT a Christian nation and, just to prove it, fail to follow through with a time-honored tradition of American Presidents going to a service to pray on the National Day of Prayer.

You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Mr. President!

Katrina syndrome

2009-05-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

Okay; I'm sick of it already! I'm sick of this "Katrina syndrome" that controls every aspect of society these days!

You know what I'm talking about!

The public backlash (well, not so much the PUBLIC backlash as it was feigned outrage from the media and the Hollywood elite!) that ensued after the supposedly botched rescue effort after Katrina has generated an out and out FEAR of a similar fate for any public official who seemingly fails to effectively respond to a forthcoming public problem.

Katrina syndrome is why we evacuated 10 times more vehicles than the highways around Houston can handle when Rita hit Port Arthur, doing little or no damage at all in the Houston area! Katrina syndrome is why we're having this stupid knee-jerk panic about this swine flu outbreak! Nobody wants to be the director of FEMA when the levees break!

Uhhh....it's the flu, for crying out loud! If it were an Ebola outbreak, I'd say it's time to close the borders. If it was an airborne form of HIV, I'd be the first in line for a mask! IT'S THE FREAKIN' FLU!!!!

Like any other flu, be it bird or swine, or just good old regular flu, it's hazardous to the very young, the very old, and people with compromised immune systems, NOT the public at large!

Thanks, whiny liberal media and Hollywood elite! Do you see what your finger-pointing and vilification of FEMA has done? Now, EVERYTHING is a crisis!

Idiots!

All I can say is......Be Careful what You Wish For!!!

2009-04-19T18:00:00.000-07:00

Hello again, blogfans!

MDB and I went out for breakfast this morning and, since we were on our way to the baseball game in Houston, we'd stopped in a small (but getting bigger by the second!) town along the 288 corridor. This particular town has become predominately African-American for whatever reason, so we were exposed to large numbers of AAs at the place we chose for breakfast.

No big deal, mind you, but it led to an interesting observation!

That observation is this; what will African-Americans do if Obama fails as miserably during the rest of his term as he has thus far?

Here's what I mean.

I don't KNOW any AA person who DID NOT support Obama during this most recent presidential election. I know that many of them agreed with his stated policies, but many if not all of them really didn't care about that; here was a legitimate AA candidate and they were going to support him come hell or high water or hell IN high water!!!!

What happens if he fails?

I mean, when you put all of your eggs in that one basket and the basket has a huge hole in it, what do you do when the eggs hit the ground and shatter?

Obama is Humpty Dumpty as surely as I am a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant living in Texas!

Maybe AAs had better have a look around and jump off that ship before it rolls over them!

Those tea parties had LOTS of participation!

I think JC Watts is looking pretty good right about now! Maybe Alan Keys isn't as big an Uncle Tom as we were led to believe!

Here's what I'm trying to say (now that I'm done dropping lame metaphors!); AA voters were happy that they finally got a legitimate candidate into the White House, but he'd better DELIVER for them or it will be a very LONG TIME before voters will trust another one!

Obama is carrying their banner; I hope for their sake that he isn't as big a rube on an OJT mission as he appears to be at this stage of his presidency!

It'll be 50 years before another AA candidate has a chance if that's the case!

Isn't THIS a strange time!

2009-04-18T19:07:00.000-07:00

Well, blogfans, I know it's been awhile since I entered any thoughts for you.

I guess our new Conspirator in Chief has been so busy dropping one idiot bomb after another, it's hard to stay out of "Incredulousville" long enough to develop a sane thought or two about any of it!

I mean, Obama goes overseas and apologizes for American "arrogance," then declares that the United States is not a Christian nation!

Well, anyone who would spend as much time as he did listening to Jeremiah Wright is clearly not Christian, but don't paint the rest of us with the same roller you use on yourself, Mr. Clownbama!

Now, he's in Mexico apologizing for American guns in that country (and I use the term "country" loosely for that place!). I'll say it again; either you get a grip on your citizens, Mexico, or we will! If Mexico can't control their own citizens, we should just annex that place and make it the 51st through 55th states! At least that way, when they swim across the Rio Grande, they're swimming from one US state to another! In fact, let's just take over everything down to and including the Panama Canal! WE dug the dang thing and it'll surely be a lot easier to build a fence across the Isthmus than the current border! See!!! Win-win!!!

Well, anyway, I hope both of the people who read here can understand my inability to post most recently! I simply can't believe the unbelievable chutzpah of this clown Obama! Apparently, a whole lot of my closest friends can't believe it either since they attended "tea parties" on the 15th to protest! Of course, the Obama White House pretended to not NOTICE the tea parties, which, in an of itself, is a HUGE reason to distrust this clown even more!!! How can ANYONE who was living in this country on the 15th pretend to NOT know about the tea parties? Totally disingenuous!

Is it 2010 yet? I can't WAIT to go to the polls and vote for every conservative on the ballot!

NOW I see what's been going on!

2009-03-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

Hello, dear blogfans!

For some time now, any who have read here know that I think much of our troubles today began and ended with the "everyone gets a trophy" mentality that has overtaken our society.

You know what I'm talking about; junior's team finishes dead last and the only thing junior won all year was the greatest number of splinters in his backside award...

...but he still got a trophy!

I didn't know they gave trophies for collecting splinters!

Guess I was wrong!

Well, it's been that way for at least twenty years now and if anyone tried to say anything about it, well...they were just un-American! What's the harm in trying to build up their little self-esteems, anyway?

Well, I'll tell you what the harm is! We've developed a whole generation of kids who think that the world owes them something whether they do anything to earn it or not! They think that they can put as little or as much as they want into an effort and, lo and behold, everyone gets the same reward in the end!

Hmmm....sounds a lot like SOCIALISM, doesn't it?

Well, that's exactly what it is and we, through our "go along to get along" attitude about it, have stood by and watched a whole generation get indoctrinated into socialism right under our noses!

Devious, they are!

Right now, before it's too late, we need to reverse this course and award trophies only to those who earn them, in every walk of life!

Maybe its too late already.

I hope not!

Well, maybe I was wrong!

2009-03-25T17:34:00.000-07:00

Some time back, a dear Christian friend of mine asked me if I thought that Barack Obama could be the Anti-Christ.

At that time, I said no; he's not from the former Roman Empire as required by Daniel the prophet.

Well, in hindsight, who really knows WHERE he's from? He won't produce a birth certificate to verify his American birth, so who really knows where he's from?

Not only that, but signs of the end times are all around! Read Matthew 24! One-world government isn't far away! They're now talking about a universal world currency and our illustrious tax-cheating Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner seems amenable to the proposal! Outrageous!

All I can say is, come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Technology I could do without!

2009-03-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

Hello again, blogfans!

Today, I'm railing against the (apparent) latest in public restroom technology, the motion-activated towel dispenser, toilet, urinal, water faucet, hot-air blower, waste can lid, and bidet.

Well, a couple of those aren't motion activated as of now (as far as I know), but it can't be long, can it?

I kid you not; I fully expect Ashton Kutcher to jump out of a corner, rolling around and peeing himself laughing as I go through the gyrations necessary to make one of these devices do what it's supposed to do! "Punked, M-O-R-O-N!!!"

What are these ridiculous devices supposed to accomplish? Oh, I sort of get the fact that some people are immature, destructive, wasteful, stupid, or a combination of the above, but why do I have to stand on my head and plead with a wall-mounted box for a 3x5" sheet of brown paper that will dry right about NOTHING and then do it all again for another just a few seconds later? Oh, I KNOW why; we get frustrated, dry our hands on our pants, and save the retailer (AND THE PLANET, SUPPOSEDLY) a few nickels worth of paper!

What's with automatic urinals or commodes, by the way? You can't tell me that people stand at the facility and flush it over and over just for the fascination of it, can you? What's the harm in flushing your own? If it's not sanitary (allegedly), my foot works pretty well on the handle!

I think it's a huge conspiracy, that's what it is! Ashton?! Alan Funt? America's Funniest?

The moment I see myself on TV screaming at a toilet, a towel dispenser or a faucet, I'm going to sue!!!!

Okay, so what's fair about THIS???

2009-03-22T06:24:00.000-07:00

Hello, dear blogfan!

It seems as though liberals don't like to take their own medicine.

As long as it's Michael Moore making hit-piece movies about GW Bush, it was a matter of free speech.

Now, it's a conservative movie-maker doing a similar piece on Hillary, and the thing's being taken to the Supreme Court!

Liberals are whiny, two-faced, hypocritical cry-babies!

Look. libs (and I know I've said this before, so please forgive me!), you can't have it both ways! You can't scream "McCain-Feingold!" when a conservative does a documentary on Hillary and then scream "free speech!" when that fat tub of disingenuous goo Michael Moore makes one on GW! It doesn't work that way! So, grow up, develop some stones, and learn how to roll with the punches, whiny two-faced, hypocritical Libs!

Even better; if you don't like the movie, don't watch it! Don't pay to see it, don't support the producers who made it, and don't buy the products of people who did! Now THAT'S an effective political statement....

...dunderhead libs!

It's not too often....

2009-03-19T16:42:00.000-07:00

...that I post more than once a day these days, but our new Comedian in Chief is just too much!

First, doesn't he find it strange that no sitting President has ever been on the Tonight Show before? Doesn't he wonder why?

Hmmmm?

Well, let me tell you why (since you obviously don't know, Mr. Obama); the Secret Service has enough of a headache at a public outing without you turning it into Romper Room, that's for #1. #2 - Can you say "Presidential?" Do you know what that word means?

Apparently not!

And then there's this; When was the last time a sitting President made a prediction about an intercollegiate sporting event like the NCAA championship tournament?

Anyone wonder WHY sitting presidents don't do that? Simple! IT'S NOT PRESIDENTIAL!!! The President represents ALL the people, not just those from Chicago or whatever the favorite of the month is!

Whoever is advising this clown, PLEASE tell him that we don't have time for any more OJT! Please explain to this rube that there are some things that Presidents do and other things that they don't do and, so far, PRETTY MUCH EVERY SINGLE THING HE'S DONE IS SOMETHING THAT PRESIDENT'S DON'T DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please hurry, before we get stuck with something we can't get out of!

Buy American!

2009-03-19T11:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've got to admit it; I'm a big "buy American" guy, but not for reasons of patriotism or even economics.

American goods are as good or better than their foreign counterparts most of the time and, if you know what you're doing, they cost less to buy as well!

In 2003, I bought a 23' bay boat. The dealer that I bought it from recommended a Yamaha outboard, but they also sold Honda and Mercury. I told the guy I wanted the 150 Merc on my boat, so he grudgingly had one put on. In the 6 years since, I've replaced the spark plugs one time, AND THAT'S IT!! Today, after sitting for nearly a year, I cranked it in my flush tub and it fired right up! So, not only has the Merc been everything I could have hoped for in an outboard motor for my boat, IT WAS $1500 LESS THAN THE YAMAHA!!!!

Take that, foreign equipment honks!

I didn't bother to tell the guy, but once upon a time, I worked in a job where spill response was part of the gig. We had a large spill boat with a 175 Yamaha on it and, every time we went to crank it up, it failed to start. It wasn't THAT much older than my 150 Merc, so I know it wasn't some sort of revolutionary advance in technology or something; the Merc's just a better engine! I wasn't about to tell the guy that the Yamaha is a piece of garbage, but I think he knew what my opinion of them was after I absolutely INSISTED he put a Merc on the boat.

I've already gone into some detail in previous posts about trouble we had trying to buy a Civic, but here's the bottom line on that. We got a GREAT deal on a Ford Focus and it gets just as good fuel economy as the Civic, so, here you go; Dear Honda - stick your Civic where the paint won't fade from the sun! I'm driving American!

I could go on and on, but the crux of the matter is clear; buy American, save money, and support the American economy!

Spring Break

2009-03-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I've ranted long enough about the ridiculous new administration and their inability to keep their collective feet out of their collective mouths.

Let's talk about Spring Break!

My "to-do" list for Spring Break was 10 items long! Here it is:

1. Prime/paint storage building (has been bare wood for WAY too long!);
2. Yard work/boat prep at house #2 (my former bachelor pad that STILL hasn't sold!);
3. Clean closet/hang tie and belt racks;
4. Check washer/clean drier vent;
5. Yard work/fertilize yard here;
6. Clear east sidewalk, clear/clean patio;
7. Plant trumpet vine seeds;
8. Cash in aluminum;
9. Fix east gate;
10. Clean shower.

I worked on #1 until I ran out of paint (RATS!). I haven't made it over to "the bachelor pad" yet, so #2 is in limbo. #3; mission accomplished! #4 is a two-person job, so MDB and I need to work on that one together. #5; done deal! #6; ancient history! #7; I can hear those trumpets blowing a mile away! #8; I have $6.90 to show for that effort! #9; the east gate is RE-PAIRED!!! #10 (shhhhh....don't tell! this one's a surprise for MDB) the shower is C-L-E-A-N!!!

Hopefully, tomorrow will take us to "the bachelor pad" and I can get the boat ship-shape for a fishing trip on Friday (woo-hoo!!!)

Wish me blessings!

When are we going to get enough of THIS?

2009-03-14T18:57:00.000-07:00

Drug violence along the Mexican border is at an all time high and much of it is spilling over into the streets of El Paso, Laredo, and other Texas border towns.

We don't look to the Federal government for help on much else, but we could use a little military assistance on this one, Barack!

The government of Mexico is corrupt and doesn't seem willing, or able, to do anything to stop drug crime within its own borders, let alone the violence that is spilling over into our country.

I have a solution to this AND the problem of illegal immigration from Mexico; lets annex that country, sweep their supply cartels AND their filthy corrupt politicians into the sewer where they belong, and make the hard-working and generally honest citizens of Mexico citizens of the 51st through 55th states of the United States!

I know; fat chance!

Well, the last time we had a problem like this, Pancho Villa was the culprit. What happened to our willingness to defend our border since then?

That's what I thought!

Health Care Reform (Economics 102)

2009-03-05T19:46:00.000-08:00

In the most recent power grab attempt from the Obama camp, "the status quo is not on the table" was the rallying cry for the latest attempt of government to take over one-fifth of the US economy. I thought, just in case anyone really cares, I'd start Econ 102 for those who agree with him.

You see, the government doesn't HAVE any money; it takes it from citizens, corporations, importers, etc., in the form of taxes and tariffs and then spends it as directed by the Congress. Lately, as far as I'm concerned, Congress has taken FAR TOO MUCH of mine and spent it in a lot of ways that have little or nothing to do with their constitutional mandate, but that's another topic for another day. Here's the problem; when taxes are raised (and who in their right mind really BELIEVES that taxes won't go up to pay for all of this stuff Obama wants?), it creates an economic strain that WILL be relieved in one way or another. When the so-called "rich" have their taxes raised, they pass along the increase in their cost of doing business to their consumers in the form of higher prices, which means THEY don't pay it at all; WE DO!!!! Of course, higher prices mean that you have less to spend, so you ask for a raise, which, of course, raises overhead and causes still higher prices! Negative inflation spiral!!! When government does the right thing in cases like this and LOWERS taxes, employers can hire more people, or, if they don't need more people, they can lower prices, which increases sales and actually generates greater tax revenue for the government in the long run! I know that the libs called it "trickle down" during the Reagan years in an attempt to paint it stupid or evil, but the logic is undeniable and it works EVERY TIME!!!

It's all about supply and demand, Libs!

Higher prices reduce demand (see decreasing gasoline demand when gas goes to $4/gallon) and force prices to fall again! Falling prices usually bring demand back and would have in the case of gasoline as well if it hadn't been for everyone running out and buying a more fuel-efficient car to combat the high price of gas!

Why is health care so expensive? Easy! Supply and demand! There's not that many doctors and it takes a long time and a great deal of educational expense to become one, so they don't work for peanuts! I know that everyone wants to be insured and everyone would like it to be more affordable, but quality comes with a price! You don't pay the same amount for a Mercedes that you pay for a Hyundai, do you? Same principle! We have the best health care system in the world because there's money in it for those who provide the services. If you take the incentive away by controlling pricing, we'll have the same horrible system that Canada has or that Great Britain has!

Ask a Canadian what they think of socialized medicine!

So, Mr. Obama, if you want to do something to make health care more affordable, how about scrapping the market controlling Medicare and Medicaid and letting competition control pricing! I mean, a medical voucher for current recipients would be cheaper than what we're doing now, and the burden to non government health care recipients would be substantially reduced!

That's not status quo, now is it?

But you'll never go for it even if it makes sense, because the attempt to take over health care isn't ABOUT health care; it's about CONTROL and POWER!

What a sad place we've come to in America!

Well, the Clown in Chief finally got one right!

2009-03-04T18:49:00.000-08:00

As much as I disagree with most of what our new president has done so far, you know, socializing our economy, nationalizing health care, rewarding thieves and losers with government bail-outs and attempting to stifle the rights of free speech for those who oppose him, I have to admit, NoQuama finally got one right!

In this article, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090304/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_waste , the president states that he has ordered a make-over for government contract procedure, doing away with "no-bid" contracts and "cost-plus" contracts where the "plus" isn't decided until after the work is performed! It's about time!

The return of the so-called "fairness doctrine" is another matter altogether. I have two questions; first, why is it wrong to deny the rights of suspected terrorists at Gitmo and perfectly alright to deny freedom of speech rights to freedom-loving Americans here? Second, what gives ANYONE the right to dictate to a private corporation what it may or may not do when their actions are perfectly legal and do no infringe upon the rights of any other person or entity?

Hey, Libs! There's a couple of buttons on the radio that you may want to familiarize yourselves with! First, there's this button typically labeled "power" or "on-off." If you manipulate this button, you can make whatever offends you go away! MAGIC!!! Second, there's another one called a "channel selector." With it, you can change the frequency of programming you receive! You don't have to listen to stuff that you find offensive! MAGIC TIMES 2!!!!

Now, to the two-faced Libs who would like to have their cake and eat it as well: You can't scream "human rights violations!" and then do everything in your power to deny those same rights to other Americans who simply do not share your myopic Utopian views! It begs a third question; What are you so afraid of? Ours has always been and, God willing, will always be a system of checks and balances with voices of dissent being given ear as well as those you agree with! Like I said before, if the cacophony of dissent bothers you, you have two choices; you can listen and find out where our objections lie, or you can TURN THEM OFF!!!

Thanks for listening and THANK GOD that I still have the right to write these words and publish them in this public forum!

Rick Santelli's rant

2009-02-24T15:15:00.000-08:00

Well, FINALLY someone else said what I've been saying! The emporer is naked! Santelli was exercised about the bogus mortgage bail-out plan in particular, but I have a feeling he's not too proud of the whole "economic stimulus" package that our current regime forced down our throats, either!

Can anyone say "root cause analysis?" That's good; I knew that you could!

Now, does anyone in Washington know how to do one? Obviously not! If they did, they'd have come to the inescapable conclusion that their stupid community development legislation is almost wholly to blame for the so-called mortgage "crisis" and the cure, sad as it is, is to tighten credit makets and lend money to people who have demonstrated a propensity for paying their bills!

Is that what we did? NOOOOOOO!!!!!! We ran the banks into the ground by forcing them to make bad loans and then we stole money from the taxpayers to prop the whole house of cards up! NOW, if the Obama regime gets it's way (which is a foregone conclusion since the keys to the piggybank have been left with the largest legalized theft ring in the country (the Democrat-controlled US Congress!), we're going to have our money taken again to prop up the losers who borrowed the money to buy houses they never should have bought in the first place!

I say LET them lose their homes! LET the banks who loaned them money go bankrupt! LET the market right itself as it surely will if left alone long enough! There are investors out there who would LOVE to buy up those foreclosures and sell them for a profit! Meanwhile, the losers who are losing them should find apartments (which is where they probably should have been in the first place), SAVE for a home in the future, and buy another when WHEN THEY CAN AFFORD IT!!!!!!!

"Property is the fruit of labor...property is desirable...is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built." -- March 21, 1864 - Reply to New York Workingmen's Democratic Republican Association". - Abraham Lincoln

Where's the fairness?

2009-02-20T19:16:00.000-08:00

I don't want a nickel of my money back; my tax money, that is. You see, my family and millions more just like mine are now in the business of financing irresponsibility. Families who could not afford to buy a home did so anyway, getting money for the transaction from banks who were forced to lend it to them.

I'm bailing out both sides of the rotten equation at this point, and frankly, it makes me sick!

I'd like to scream out, "Where's MINE!!! I pay my taxes, make good decisions, try to save money, and PAY MY BILLS!!! When is someone going to reward MY good behavior?"

We're not in the business of rewarding the people who do things right anymore. We're in the business of rewarding poor decisions and irresponsible behavior. What else would I expect in the "everyone gets a trophy" generation?

As I said, the whole thing makes me ill. I think I'll stop paying on my mortgage. I'd be rewarded for it, wouldn't I? I think I'll stop paying my bills. Uncle Sam will come to my rescue, won't he?

Not for me! I didn't make poor decisions and allow myself to be victimized by an adjustable rate mortgage. I didn't demand a lot more money than I was worth, so I don't have a Federal bail-out with my name on it. Where's the bail-out for my retirement fund? I'll have to work until I'm 80 to make up the losses; losses that were essentially generated by the whole banking mess that the government produced with its Community Development Act, which forces banks to lend money to people who are not qualified under normal circumstances for a $20 loan, let alone a $200,000 loan!

Our government, part in parcel, is out of control and WE sat back and allowed one liberal idea that sounded good but was rotten to the core after another steal any semblance of logic from our collective thought, all the while KNOWING that Uncle Sam would provide the safety net if it failed.

It HAS failed, Sam! Can we please go back to capitalism before we're nothing more than Red China with a red, white, and blue flag?

Nice job, Chicken Little!

2009-02-15T09:19:00.000-08:00

Well, Chicken Little, you did it! You managed to scare the bejeebers out of everyone and get the largest socialist legislation package since the New Deal passed through our new Chicken Little controlled Congress.

I've heard all the arguments; "We're in crisis! We've GOT to do something!" "Only the government can get us out of this!" and "Our problems have gone beyond the ability of 'normal' mechanisms to cope!"

That's a bunch of garbage!

First, our problems could and should be fixed by realizing that the market forces that got us into this situation can be used to get us out of them. American labor costs have priced our goods and services out of the world market. We've got to realize this fact and adjust those costs to reflect what the market will bear. A tough thing to do, no doubt, but absolutely necessary.

Second, the government cannot and should not "get us out of this." The government has a strictly stated constitutional place in all of this, i.e., "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes (Section 8)." In case English is a second language to some who read here, "regulate" means "oversee and facilitate", it does NOT mean "control and dictate," which is how it is being practiced in this most recent legislation.

Finally, "normal" mechanisms, i.e., the law of supply and demand, will, despite attempts to the contrary, "get us out of this" just as it always has done in the past.

Unless Chicken Little manages to convert our economy into a pure socialist monstrosity, that is!

You know, there's a reason for declining turntable sales, just as there's a reason that covered wagons have gone away and 8-track tape players can only be found in antique stores these days. The market dictated their demise and the companies that produced those goods either changed to produce what the market demanded or they went bankrupt.

Where was their bailout?

If IBM was still just a typewriter company, do you think they'd still be around?

Here's the deal, Chicken Little; get out of the way and let the miraculous mechanism that is free enterprise take over! Will some suffer? I'm sure! But hasn't there always been suffering as change occurs? Adjust or perish, that's how things work!

Sadly, we're now in the "everyone gets a trophy" days, where there ARE no losers. Hate to pass this tid-bit along there, Chicken Little, but everytime someone wins, there's a loser in the other locker room! The losers either fix what cost them the game or they continue to lose! What happened to the Washington Senators? Anyone remember the St. Louis Browns? Teams that did not do what it took to adjust and become winners disappeared just as companies that do not do what's necessary to become profitable disappear.

It's called "Capitalism," Chicken Little. It's the economic system that has brought this country the wealth and prosperity that we all enjoy today and would continue to do so if you'd leave it alone and stop trying to kill it every chance you get!

The sky is NOT falling, Chicken Little, but if you don't stop pulling on it, it may very well if you absolutely demand it!

Well, there's a first time for everything!

2009-02-12T19:02:00.000-08:00

Hello again, blogfans!

Those who read here fairly consistently know that I absolutely love Jason Whitlock, who contributes regularly to the foxsports.com website. Almost without exception, I agree with what he says and applaud his stances on various topics. Recently, I had to take exception to an article he wrote about Michael Phelps; not to disagree with his stance on Phelps, mind you, but to disagree with his arguments in favor of legalizing marijuana. Actually that's the first time I can recall that I had to disagree with Whitlock.

This time makes #2!

In his most recent entry, Whitlock attempts to argue that the reason white fans have such distaste for Barry Bonds is because he broke the record of white icon Babe Ruth and white fans need the Babe to bolster their opinion of the athletic prowess of their race.

I hate to disagree, I really do, but that's preposterous!

Barry's disliked because he is and always has been a boorish, moody, unlikable guy! Barry's disliked not such much because of whose record he broke, but by how it was broken! Did anyone other than a bunch of pointy-headed backwoodsmen dislike Henry Aaron when HE broke the Babe's career mark? No, no one with a real live functioning brain said anything at all except to laud his accomplishment and acknowledge that his hard work, stamina, and perseverance paid off handsomely. Hank did it the right way and he was accepted by ALL fans because of it.

Barry cheated and now, with the exception of the few "blacks can do no wrong" apologetics out there, he's universally vilified because of THAT, NOT because of the color of his skin!

In case Mr. Whitlock hasn't noticed, one Mark McGuire is getting pretty much the same treatment because he, too, is seen as someone who didn't do it the right way, choosing instead to cheat his way into the record books.

It's cheaters we don't like, Mr. Whitlock, REGARDLESS of what color they are!

Quantrell Strikes Again!!!

2009-02-09T15:52:00.000-08:00

Hello again, blogfans!

As you know, I'm vehemently opposed to "finding racism under every rock" and those who seem to do just that. Here in Houston, our community activist of that stripe is one Quantrell X, the Nation of Islam mouthpiece who shows up for every little thing that involves someone of color (well, as long as a video camera is anywhere near, that is!) and assumes the role of "family spokesperson."

This time, Quantrell bit off a little more than he could chew.

In the case of NFL receiver Donald Driver's father, Quantrell showed up as usual, and ranted about the (alleged) brutality of the Houston police and how they supposedly forced him to ingest cocaine in an effort to introduce him to Jesus (Quantrell's words, not mine).

You can read about Quantrell's rant here.

Well, imagine this! The police officers were exonerated! There is no evidence that any of the allegations against the officers have any merit, so charges are being dismissed and the officers involved are suing Quantrell and the elder Driver for defamation of character!

Hmmmm.....not too bright, eh Quantrell? Perhaps it would be wise to see that camera as a two-way mirror from now on! What you say may jump up and bite you on the other side!

Look; no one is more against police brutality than yours truly, and no one detests racism more than I do. Here's the key; rail against REAL racism when it shows it's ugly head and leave the "alleged" variety to the people who investigate that sort of thing for a living! If it proves to be racism as well, THEN you can call the limelight to yourself if the family wants you to do so and shine the light of truth on it! In this day and age, racism is totally without a home and you may find yourself on the RIGHT side of a public argument for a change!

Just a friendly piece of advise from a casual observer who's sick and tired of hearing your wolf cries, Quantrell!

Phelps, MJ, and Obama

2009-02-07T18:42:00.000-08:00

As usual, Jason Whitlock hit the nail on the head in this recent article about Michael Phelps and "Bong-gate." The common denominator of why Phelps gets a pass and an AA athlete doing the same thing is not the weed; it’s the surrounding behavior of the perpetrator. Now, I’m not sure if I agree that drugs in general ought to be legalized. Let’s be honest; it’s not so much the drug use as it is the surrounding behavior; thieving stuff that doesn’t belong to you in order to purchase said drugs or killing people to keep your corner. Who’s to say that such behaviors would change if the object of the stoner’s affections were suddenly legalized? People always want to compare alcohol to the chronic as well, but oranges are orange and apples are red, aren’t they? Drinking under every circumstance isn’t allowable, either, so why would burning blunts be any different or any less a headache for law enforcement? I don’t think that it would. I guess you could agree that the dollars that are being wasted to prevent the importation of said hemp could be better spent, but I certainly don’t think they amount to a drop in the bucket compared to the dollars that would be wasted picking up the pieces after the full impact of legalization is known. Who’s to say? I’m sure Obama will fix that, too. After all, he’s going to fix everything, right?

In an article about the recent Democrat party lovefest, we find that ALL of our nations woes are due to the last 8 years. Who are these idiots trying to convince; themselves? We’re in the mess we’re in BECAUSE we have TOO MUCH government, not because there’s too little! If it hadn’t been for the government telling lending institutions who they MUST lend money to, we wouldn’t have a foreclosure crisis and we wouldn’t have banks going under or a NEED for government money to help those poor newly homeless from their own stupidity! We need LESS government interference, not more! Furthermore, the only way out right now is to reduce the tax burden (read, “operating expenses”) on corporate America so they CAN hire people instead of laying them off! Economics 101, Mr. President; a company operating in a capitalist economy MUST make a profit or it becomes another government-subsidized bankruptcy statistic! If you want this economy to thrive, go back to Washington and get out of the boardroom! Let these companies do what they do best; pad their bottom lines! Then and only then will this economy turn itself around! (See “Great Depression” and “Economic Recovery after WWII”)

Uhhh...who ARE these guys?

2009-02-04T19:08:00.000-08:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090204/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bailout_executive_pay

Has this guy no shame? On one hand, he approves of top executives of the US government not paying income taxes and then caps executive pay in the private sector. Can anyone say "contract?" That's good; I knew that you could!

How about this? Tell companies who wish to receive economic aid from Uncle Sam that they may not exceed a payroll of x% of reported income. Why not tell them that if they have executives making in excess of x% of their total company payroll, they're not ELEGIBLE for government bail-out funds? How can you or anyone else, Mr. Obama, tell a guy who's been making 1.5 or 2 million dollars per annum that his salary was just reduced to merely $500k? How's HE supposed to pay for those things he's obligated to pay for, like his mortgage, car notes, college education for kids, electricty, water, etc.?

I know you guys like to scoff at "trickle-down" theories, but you cannot deny that that is exactly how it works, can you?

The naivete' and sheer ARROGANCE of this bunch simply amazes me!

Daschle Bows Out

2009-02-04T05:18:00.000-08:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090203/ap_on_go_pr_wh/daschle_taxes

Today, the ultra liberal Tom Daschle, formerly of the United States House of Representatives and the US Senate, removed his name from consideration as Barack Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services.

It’s about time someone down there got one right!

I guess it’s okay to nominate one crook after another, starting with the governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson (who was asked to be the Secretary of Commerce) and including the current Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, the Secretary of State (whom I’m STILL not convinced is free of interest conflict when it comes to purchased favoritism via her husband’s fund-raising efforts overseas), and Nancy Killefer (Secretary of hurry let’s make something up!). Was Michael Millikin not available? Of course, these are the same folks running the Executive branch, which is responsible for ENFORCEMENT of the very laws they apparently hold in disdain!

What a shock! The guy who sat and listened to Jeremiah Wright for twenty years and never heard a word, the guy who sought the advice of Bill Ayers, and the guy who had a shady Chicago businessman (and I use that term loosely) running point on his fundraising efforts, has nominated a bunch of shady characters to run the government! Is the AED charged up? Does anyone know CPR? I’m having a heart attack over here from my total shock and surprise!

Uhh…..no I’m not!

What did you expect, America? You elect a guy with shockingly poor judgment and he exercises it with aplomb! Way to go, dunderheads! God, please see this country through the next four years! We’ll need all the favor You can muster!

Not a time for profit?

2009-01-31T09:31:00.000-08:00

In a comment he made following a meeting with Secretary of the Treasury Geithner, Barack Obama said:

“There will be time for them to make profits, and there will be time for them to get bonuses — now is not that time. And that’s a message that I intend to send directly to them.”

Now, in fairness, I must report the context of the comment. Obama was referring to a report that Wall Street executives were still being paid bonuses even as they accept bail-out money from Uncle Sam.

There. Fair and balanced.

However, Obama's comment did not directly speak to that situation alone; he spoke of profit, the reason any business exists and the sole engine of the economic system in America! Without profit, no business has any reason to continue! Does Mr. Obama not understand this? Is he really such a neophyte? Has he been stuck in one public sector job after another so long that he does not understand where the money for such jobs come from? Let me set him straight. Without private industries and private citizens working for profit and then paying a portion of that profit in taxes, THERE IS NO GOVERNMENT, Mr. Obama!

That is, unless you plan on nationalizing everything and following the Red Chinese model!

Uhhh...let me think; Red China, the home of government control and direction of every aspect of life. Red China; the progenitor of stifling repression and forced labor. Red China, the society that must impose stifling censorship on its populace lest they find out what freedom brings. Red China, the bastion of zero pollution control, lead-based children's toys, forced abortions, rigid population control, and zero personal liberty. THAT Red China, Mr. Obama? That's what we aspire to?

You voted for it eyes wide shut, America!

All I can say is this; someone.....ANYONE...please set Obama straight and educate him on how American capitalism works before he completely undermines the whole deal and his little speeches on how "now is not the time for profit" becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy!

Sorry, Pittsburgh!

2009-01-30T19:52:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess it’s time to weigh in on the Super Bowl. As usual, there’s plenty of stuff to talk about.

I could talk about former bag-boy Kurt Warner and his Horatio Alger story of rags to riches to rags and then back to riches again, all the while being one of the true nice-guy role models in the sometimes nasty business of the NFL. I could talk about Pittsburgh’s tenacious defense and their seemingly magical ability to disguise blitzes and stifle any semblance of offense by the opposition. I guess I could make a prediction (Pittsburgh 24, Arizona 17) on Monday and then tell everyone that Nostradamus predicted it 400 years ago in a quatrain where Pittsburgh was called “smelly mountain” and Arizona was called “habitual loser.” I could even discuss the relative success of the Pittsburgh model and how they’ve adapted to the age of free agency and the new CBA and still maintained a high level of performance.

I don’t think I’ll talk about any of that. I’m a Browns fan; Pittsburgh sucks!

Seriously, you’ve got to give the devil his due. Pittsburgh is good and they’ve earned what they’ve achieved, but they still suck! Their fans are arrogant in the Dallas mold, and they wave those silly little yellow towels, reminding me more of a mid-major college game than a real, live NFL contest. Pittsburgh’s stadium, Heinz Field (aptly named since playing there can only be described as slogging through a bottle of ketchup), is the worst surface ever. Sitting on the banks of the famous “three rivers,” it’s more akin to playing in a swamp than on a proper playing surface. Kickers can’t kick there with any proficiency, so it’s either touchdowns or punts and not much in between.

Pittsburgh sucks!

Where you’ve got to give them credit is that they KNOW Pittsburgh sucks, so they’ve worked very hard over the years to develop and maintain an effective running game. They know that no one is going to throw for long gains in that muck, so they get receivers who specialize in short routes; pudgy little guys with wide feet and big hands who can cut in that slop and then catch short, efficient little passes to keep the ball moving up the field. They got a quarterback who’s tall, so even if he sinks down 6 or 8 inches, he can still see over rushing linemen. What’s amazing to me is that the NFL allows games to be played at Heinz. It hasn’t been that long ago that the NFL canceled a game in Houston because the playing surface was deemed “dangerous.” Where’s the NFL when it comes to Pittsburgh?

They’re up the distal end of the Rooney family’s alimentary canal, that’s where!

Let’s face it; the NFL wants powerful, stable ownership like they had in the old days; you know, the Wellington Moras of the world. What they’ve got now is a bunch of “profit-first” guys who’re liable to move their franchise at a whim just for an extra nickel or two, fan loyalty be damned! Pittsburgh has such ownership in the Rooneys and it’s just what the NFL wants, so who cares if they play in an oft-times dangerous quagmire?

I do!

The NFL ought to insist that Pittsburgh repair its home field and keep the number of games played there to a minimum so the field is playable on Sundays. Of course, that doesn’t include re-sodding every other day and pretending that new grass that is simply laid on underlying dirt is an acceptable playing surface; it’s not! Loose grass is worse than worn grass, which is only slightly better than the painted dirt that Cleveland used to play on routinely.

So, even if Pittsburgh is good and is going to win it’s sixth Super Bowl on Sunday, they suck!

Rush listens!

2009-01-27T17:38:00.000-08:00

Recently, our new President, one Barack Hussein Obama, mentioned that people who wish to do business with his administration would be better served to spend no time listening to radio personality Rush Limbaugh. Well, actually what he said was “You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," which I take to mean what I said at the beginning.

There are more than a few problems with that.

First, it is perhaps the least Presidential thing I’ve heard for awhile. How is Obama concerning himself with the people’s business if he’s overly concerned about what a fully-marginalized radio talk show host has to say? I’d say that if he’s that concerned with Limbaugh, it may very well be that what Mr. Limbaugh has to say has merit, Obama knows that what he says has merit, and he’s scared to death of losing his grip on the tender coalition that he helped to create during this most recent election cycle, a la 1994. Perhaps Limbaugh and conservatism isn’t quite as marginalized as he would lead us to believe!

Second, does Mr. Obama have any background in American economics? Surely he recognizes that our economy is based in capitalism. Maybe he’ll read here, who knows? Just in case, here’s a brief lesson. Capitalism involves producing goods or services and then selling them at a rate that is over and above the cost of production (i.e., a “profit”). When businesses make a profit and thrive, they often need additional assistance (i.e., “labor”), so they hire people to assist them in their effort to advance the business and increase the profits of the enterprise. Some very successful businesses manage to hire thousands of people as the demand for their goods or services increase. This brings us to economic forces that determine how much a business can charge for their products; it’s called the Law of Supply and Demand. This principle is called a “Law” because, much like always-true forces of nature like gravity or motion, it’s principles never fail. Basically, it says that when supplies increase beyond normal demand, prices will fall in response and when supplies decrease below normal demand, prices will fall. Conversely, higher prices will cause demand to decrease and lower prices will cause an increase in demand. We saw a really good example recently in the petroleum markets. When gasoline prices rose to nearly $4/gallon, consumers reacted by either driving less or by purchasing more fuel-efficient transportation, the result of which was a marked decrease in demand for gasoline. The market responded by reducing prices and gasoline reached points that were around $1.50/gallon before the recent uptick in prices that were caused by a reduction in supply by oil producing nations. Contrary to what you may believe, Mr. Obama, the only role the government plays in this equation is determining the cost of production. If tax and tariff rates are high, businesses pass that cost of operation on to the consumers which drives prices up. Let’s review, shall we? Higher prices cause a decrease in demand, which means that businesses don’t need as much labor to produce their products. This means lay-offs to those of us who work for a living and a decreased tax base for the government. So, what should government do when a negative business cycle is experienced? Reduce taxes! The last time we saw this principle in action was the Reagan years, when Reagan pushed the largest tax decrease in history through Congress. Naturally, it led to economic prosperity that this country hadn’t seen in the previous twenty years! Kennedy did the same thing in the 60’s, leading to boom times during that period as well. Take a lesson from history, Mr. Obama; lower taxes before it’s too late!

Lastly, if Obama is concerned with the validity of his “big-government” principles or conversely, worried that the principles discussed by Rush Limbaugh have greater validity than those he espouses, why does he champion them in the first place? That answer is somewhat sinister and hard to imagine, quite frankly. Democrats know that their principles go against every accepted economic Law, but they push them anyway because they are masters of the nature of humans. Dems know that people are basically like electricity; they will travel the path of least resistance to their lowest state of potential energy whenever the opportunity arises! In other words, people are apt to take the easy way out if that is indeed a viable option. Dems have figured this out, so they tell people not to worry, let the government take care of it and danged if they don’t! Of course, no one really prospers on the largess of government, but you can get by if you know how to work the system. Pretty soon, of course, people forget how to fend for themselves and actually DEPEND on the government for their very existence. In America, where production and resourcefulness are rewarded and sloth is discouraged, this tenet goes against the very grain of American culture and economy! The solution, of course, is not MORE government, but LESS!!!

The sad part is that the poverty pimps LIKE it when people are absolutely dependent on the government for their very survival; it ensures their re-election.

LISTEN to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, et al! They seem to be the only ones who have the best interests of the country at heart these days!

6 cars that probably OUGHT to go away!

2009-01-25T16:58:00.000-08:00

According to this article, 6 "beloved" automobiles are about to disappear altogether.

The list includes some that don't really make much sense and a few that make perfect sense and make you wonder why other, similar makes don't disappear as well!

The curious "disappearances" include a two-seater from Honda (the S2000), the PTCruiser from Chrysler, and a Saturn (but then, the whole Saturn line is going away). These are headscratchers because they're not gas hogs or inordinately expensive vehicles, unlike the others on the list. The other three, a rich man's Lexus, the always ridiculous Hummer H-3 (well, the whole Hummer line is going dinosaur as well, but it's about time, isn't it?), and the equally ostentatious Dodge Viper, make more sense in this day and time.

Much like the current troubles of Toyota and their departure from what they know (small, fuel-efficient cars and trucks), these last three make perfect sense. Corporate CEOs make a lot of money to foresee market trends and respond before their markets dry up, don't they? Well, I'm not Kreskin and I don't make enough money to be a CEO, but I think anyone who buys gas on a regular basis could have predicted that gas hogs would lose favor in the market and done SOMETHING to ease themselves from the production of SUVs and full-sized trucks to smaller vehicles that meet current market demand!

I guess the "head in the sand" and "stick out the hand" plan was more their style.

Uhhhh......it's not mine!

Nice Coronation!

2009-01-20T18:31:00.000-08:00

Well, wasn't THAT a nice coronation?

I'd call it an inauguration, but that's clearly NOT what it was. Inaugurations don't cost nearly as much as this one did and they're not nearly as full of pomp and circumstance as this one was!

If Obama cared as much about our troubles as he claims he does, wouldn't it have made more sense for him to downplay this event and do what he could to minimize it to save taxpayer money?

That's what I thought!

Old Liberals

2009-01-19T13:26:00.000-08:00

Did you ever notice that the only old liberals you ever see are politicians or Hollywood elitists? I sure have, and I have a couple of ideas about why that is.

1) Almost EVERYBODY is liberal when they're young. They are full of idealism and hope and genuinely believe that there's plenty to go around for everyone if we'd all just pitch in and share with one another in love. Pretty lofty goal, but it leaves reality in the dust! No one, not conservatives, not liberals, not moderates, no NOBODY, does something for nothing! Everyone does what they do for what they'll get in return, which, in most cases, is monetary gain of some sort. Businesses call it profit; they don't operate so that they can be helpful, they do it for the health of their bottom line. When the young idealistic liberal comes to realize that this is how things work in these United States, they get more and more conservative and eventually wind up voting for those who best allow them to pursue their most profitable pursuits. The BEST proponents of liberal virtue are some of the most conservative people around; Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, etc., who earn billions in the free market and then give it away via charitable foundation or whatever.

2) Even though most young ideologues figure out #1 and are real, live conservatives by their 35th birthday or so, a lot of politicians of a liberal stripe are still ostensibly liberal at a very old age. Why is that? See #1!!!! They've figured out that their way to greater personal gain is via parasitism; they suck the life blood out of those who depend upon them for their very existence and then move on to a new batch of young liberals when the older ones figure it out! These so-called "poverty pimps" depend upon a large underclass of welfare honks who have nothing if it's not for the handouts of big daddy government. Very sad, but very real!

3) The third "class" of liberal in this country is the "Hollywood elite" crowd. They're the ones who make big dollars for acting, singing, writing, or whatever, and then cry long and loud about how insensitive it is for conservatives to insist that the underclass referred to in #2 get off of their lazy butts and go to work when the government should be doing more to help! Uhhh.....look, Mr. Hollywood; I know you pay taxes of some sort from the gross you earn, but you still bring home a lot more that I do. Instead of being so generous with my money, why don't you donate all of the proceeds from all of your films and live on my salary? You know....put your money where your mouth is! That's what I thought; as long as we're talking about someone else's money, it's okay to insist upon higher tax rates and bigger giveaways. When we start talking about YOUR money, it's a different story! Naturally, there's exceptions to this, but they're few and far in between! Paul Newman and Oprah Winfrey come to mind, but, like I said, they're the exception, not the rule! What REALLY riles me about this class of idiots is the sorts of things they say about CEOs or other corporate movers and shakers who earn a lot of money. "Uhhh....Hello, Mr. Pot? This is Mr. Kettle! YOU'RE BLACK!!!" At least when a CEO makes a lot of money, he's doing so in the practice of free market economics and he succeeds or fails at his own peril. If he does a poor job, the stockholders fire him! Frankly, much like his cohorts in Hollywood, who only have the earning power they generate in their own popularity, or the professional athlete, who's merely as good as his last season's statistics, the high-dollar CEO is only as good as the corporate profit he generates or does NOT generate and, frankly, I don't begrudge any of them a nickel of it as long as they shut up and stop telling ME that I'M immoral for not giving up MY whole check every other week!

So, there you have it. Now you know why there are no old liberals other than the ones I've mentioned.

Division

2009-01-18T09:36:00.000-08:00

From time to time, I read on several political chat boards and, after having done so for the last several weeks, I've come to one inescapable conclusion; this country is more divided after this past election than at any time I can recall, bar none!

So, what's causing this division?

First, liberals don't know how to win with dignity. When THEY win an election, they spend as much time and effort in gloating and posturing as they do in governing, which is NOT a good thing! Naturally, all that nose-rubbing causes animosity on the right and steels their resolve to NOT cooperate on anything at any time! THAT, of course, is counterproductive and leads to that old foe, gridlock.

You remember gridlock, don't you?

I think that the 'pubs would do what they can to cooperate is it weren't for all that gloating from the left, but, for some reason, they just can't help it. Maybe it's the same psychology that goes on in the sports world. You know; team 'A' which never beats team 'B' finally gets over and then the rhetoric gets ramped up to proportions epic, which merely steels the resolve to team 'B' to kick the crap out of team 'A' for another twenty years. I have a feeling that the current political climate is similar. The dems win the White House so seldom, they don't know what to do or how to act when they finally DO win one, so they engage in counterproductive behavior which sinks their own ship for another eight or twelve years.

Not very smart, is it?

Well, what would you expect from those who espouse a theoretical construct that is devoid of any semblance of common sense or reality?

In America, we have a capitalist economy. It requires several items to be in place to operate efficiently and/or properly. First, private enterprise must have incentive to operate. If some outside entity (i.e., the government) takes away all of that incentive with confiscatory tax policies, then entrepreneurs will take their marbles and go home. If enough of them do it, the government has nothing left to confiscate! Sadly, we're approaching the critical mass of just that scenario and what are we doing about it? Confiscating MORE money from entrepreneurs! NOT smart! Second, you must have an inexpensive source of labor upon which to base your manufacturing and agricultural base. Our inexpensive source of labor has dried up and has been replaced by VERY expensive union labor which, quite predictably, has sent our manufacturing base to a place where cheap labor IS available. Has anyone seen this happening?

That's what I thought!

What needs to happen to bring our economy back? We have to create incentives for business to flourish with lower taxes and a source of cheaper labor. THAT means that unions are going to have to swallow their pride and take wage cuts or face their new careers in the fast-food industry.

You want fries with that?

What it does NOT mean is that the government really has no place in any of it EXCEPT lowering taxes so the economy can get going again.

When are they going to learn?

Now THIS is the kind of representation we should ALL have!

2009-01-13T18:18:00.000-08:00

Our local Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb in Houston are Quantrell X, of whom I've spoken before, and the Congresswoman from the most gerrymandered district in the country, Sheila Jackson-Lee, who never misses an opportunity to find racism under every rock and who NEVER met a camera she didn't like.

At a recent news conference designed to lobby for government cash for Houston, Shirley and her crack staff (or staff on crack, whichever rings most true) displayed the signs pictured.

No child left behind?

How about no Congresswoman left behind? Did the spell check on the computer go down? Did anyone on the Congresswoman's staff not realize that one sign or the other MUST be incorrect?

You get what you vote for, I guess!

Well, THAT was a short eternity!

2009-01-10T20:37:00.000-08:00

I got a pretty good chuckle earlier. It seems that, in Bullhead City, Arizona, eternity isn't nearly as long as it is elsewhere. In November, city officials dedicated a park honoring war veterans and lit an "eternal flame" to honor our war dead.

Mission accomplished!

When they got the gas bill in December, they promptly shut the flame down to save on expenses. It seems a one month supply was nearly $1000!

A really wise man once said that only a fool begins a project without considering the cost.

I think it was Jesus, actually! (Luke 14:28-30)

I pray that my eternity lasts longer than that!

Bits and Pieces

2009-01-10T14:04:00.000-08:00

Hello, dear blogfans!

Lots of stuff going on! School started back up this week after a two-week vacation with MDB, which was truly wonderful! Two weeks off is nice, but it's nice to get back to work as well. I know....I know.....

W-W-W-W-A-A-A-A-A-A-H-H-H-H-H-H!!!!!

Only two weeks? Why not a month?

It's my cross to bear!

Anyway, part of why it's nice to get back is the resumption of basketball. My A team is underachieving, but my B team got their second win of the year this past Wednesday and they're looking pretty good for the most part. The best part is that we got both wins with our starting center on suspension and we go into our district tournament this week at full strength. If we win on Monday, one more win puts us into the championship game on Thursday; it's the best tournament seeding we've had since I started coaching here!

I sure hope we can put a two-game winning streak together!

Meanwhile, I can't believe how blessed I am to be married to the most wonderful woman on the planet! She's so supportive, sweet, and understanding! She came to our game on Wednesday and then met me for dinner afterward. It was awesome and, even though I was bummed about the most one-sided call I've experienced in a very long time, being with her calmed me down and soothed my angst like nothing else can. God, I love this woman!

We had my kids over for Christmas during the holidays and my boys told me to start up a Facebook account to help us stay in touch, so I did. I've got all of 6 friends, I think, including my two boys. Meanwhile, MDB started one up, too, and now she's got about 40 friends or so.

It's SO not fair!

Just goes to show, though; EVERYBODY loves MDB! I'm just blessed that nobody loves her as much as I do and she loves no one else as much as she loves me!

She's at the Boat Show working for the second weekend in a row, so I'm holding down the home front, doing laundry and such and watching football. Pretty good game so far....7 to 7 with 12:05 to go in the half.

I wonder how many people are actually buying the "only government can fix it" line that Obama dropped the other day? Have we really sunk that low? Have we become so helpless and so completely dependent on the largess of our government that we simply cannot see any other way out? You know, back in WWII, we really dug ourselves out. The government got more involved that it ever had been before, starting all sorts of public works projects and handing out money on the dole at an unprecedented level and yet, we really didn't get out of it until the industrial might and resourcefulness of the American people kicked in and we started producing war material for WWII.

Anyone see a common denominator here?

We need to swallow our collective pride, take pay cuts where necessary, take jobs we would normally consider "beneath" us, and start producing goods, especially manufactured goods, again. Only when we manufacture do we prosper! We have gone from a manufacturing economy to a service economy. The dirty little secret is that, when our manufacturing base suffers, people can't afford to pay for the services that employ others and don't buy them!

You listening, Obama?

We need tax breaks for almost every aspect of the manufacturing sector, not a bunch of make-work projects that simply take money from one sector and redistribute it to another! We need to PRODUCE wealth, not steal it from one faction and give it to another!

It's going to be a long four years!

In Obama we trust

2009-01-02T09:21:00.000-08:00

The day before yesterday, I saw the above image on the back of a car in front of me from a distance. Frankly, I thought it was some sort of Catholic saint image or something until I got close enough to see that it was in fact an image of our President-elect, Barack Obama.

Look, I understand the euphoria that goes with the "Finally! Our guy won!" sentiment. I even understand the hope that change brings, especially if you're one of the unfortunate people who've lost large amounts of your personal wealth in the stock market. I can even understand the hopeful anticipation that goes with the "I made a dumb choice and lost my house; I hope Obama's able to bail me out!" sentiment (even if it turns my stomach to think that MY tax dollars are going to save some irresponsible moron's house!).

What I CAN'T understand, and what I will never understand, is the out and out WORSHIP of this guy! Uhhh.....he's just a MAN, people! I haven't seen a red "S" on his chest! I haven't seen the nail-scarred hands! I didn't see a halo last time I looked! He's not a saint; he's not a god; he's not even an accomplished politician at this point! Well....he's obviously a SUCCESSFUL politician....but what has he ever DONE to deserve all of this praise?

Only time will tell. He may well accomplish some good, at which point I'll say, "You know what? Obama actually DID some good things! I sure am glad I was wrong about him!"

Until he does....I'll reserve my judgement and continue to wonder what on earth people see in this guy that's worthy of worship!

By the way, I worship the one true God who manifests Himself to us in three persons, the Father, the Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit!

Happy 2009!

2009-01-01T07:24:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, blogfans!

Unfortunately, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

In Illinois, that bastion of political righteousness, soon to be ex governor Blagojevich nominated Roland Burris, an African-American, to fill the vacated senate seat of Barack Obama.

Now, this opens so many questions, I don't even know where to begin!

First, I was unaware that one of the two senate seats from Illinois had been designated "black only." When did that happen? Second, does governor Blago...ch have a brain in his head? He's all but impeached, convicted, and removed from office. Does he really think this nomination will just be agreed and forgotten to smooth transition? Obviously, Burris doesn't think so; he's asked the courts to step in and certify the nomination before the ink's even dry! Does anyone (not living there) really take Illinois politics seriously? Finally, why is it that only African-American reporters are allowed to report this story? Perhaps there's no formal restriction there, but I haven't seen any non-black journalists reporting on this story! Even guest comments on it are coming only from AA commentators. I thought this was 2009? I thought we were past all of this "black only" or "white only" stuff!

The more things change, the more they stay the same!

On another note, the NCAA is apparently turning a blind eye to bowl participant perks, causing questions to arise from some watchdogs in the sports world. One commentator said something along these lines; "Let's drop the pretense; NCAA athletics is professional athletics and we should just accept it and treat these athletes for what they are and pay them in the open for their services."

Anyone price a college education lately? I thought a full ride scholarship WAS remuneration for their services? Let's not pretend like that little detail is insignificant; it's not! After all, for every NCAA athlete who is able to enter the NBA, the NFL, or some other major league sports organization and get paid to be a professional athlete, there's at least 200 who do not! That scholarship is their ticket to a bright future! It IS remuneration for services rendered!

Why the outrage over Israel retaliating in Gaza? Didn't Hamas start this squabble? Didn't they fire their little rockets into Israel, aimed at no one in particular? That's what I thought! So, when you poke the tiger, how can you feign surprise when he turns around and bites back?

Maybe everyone wants peace there ("everyone" being every non-Arab in the world at large), but there will never be peace there, at least not until the Arab world accepts that Israel is there to stay and stop all of this ridiculous effort to eliminate them.

If the antichrist won't even be able to get it done, how are your little rockets going to make it happen, Hamas?

May 2009 be a year of peace, prosperity, and love.

It's not starting out that way!

Amazing!

2008-12-30T15:59:00.000-08:00

Hello again, blogfans!

This one will be short. I stand completely amazed at MDB and her recuperative powers! All day today, she sat on the floor and worked to catch up on filing. I sat for a couple of hours and helped, but my back soon prevented me from doing so any longer.

Uhhh....MDB had gall bladder surgery last Wednesday, for cryin' out loud!

I'm telling you! She's amazing!

How blessed am I?

I wish I could describe it!

Well, just call me Kreskin!

2008-12-29T21:11:00.000-08:00

Okay...it didn't exactly require a professional mentalist to predict the demise of Romeo Crennel, but I called it here some time back. Cleveland football fans are tired of losing! Other teams and other organizations seem to be able to obtain good coaches and players consistently, so why not Cleveland? I think that's what Randy Lerner is trying to find out, so here we go again; another rebuilding project!

Bill Cowher, the former Brown's linebacker and assistant coach, and, by the way, a former Pittsburgh head coach as well, has already turned Lerner down. So, who's it going to be? Only time will tell.

One thing I do know is this; Brown's fans are among the most loyal in the NFL and they deserve a consistent winner or, at the very least, a team that is well-coached and consistently puts in the work and shows that effort on the field. We haven't seen that this year! How many cities in the NFL could survive the removal of their team to another city and insist that the colors, mascot and uniform of that team belong to the city and not the owner of the team? Green Bay? Pittsburgh? Perhaps. One thing's for sure; that's exactly what happened in Cleveland and those fans deserve better!

Sticking it to "The Man!"

2008-12-28T09:23:00.000-08:00

It's now well over a month since the latest presidential election and, having listened to what has transpired since then from Obama supporters, I'm convinced it was all about one thing and one thing only;

Sticking it to "The Man!"

Oh, you've heard it as well. People who claim to have voted for Obama going through a list of questions about his policies having NO IDEA what those policies actually are! In one instance, an Obama supporter was presented with a top-down list of McCAIN'S policies, right down to his choice for VP (Sarah Palin), and the Obama supporter was in favor of all of them! I've heard the same thing over and over on talk radio, primarily the Mark Levin show (an intellectual exercise I would recommend for any thinking American!), but also on Michael Berry's show. One supporter with whom I recently held conversation espoused staunch belief in our capitalist system with regard to the auto maker bailout, then turned right around and expressed out and out GLEE concerning the upcoming inauguration of Obama, the closest thing to a socialist candidate we've seen in my lifetime! The bottom line: Obama supporters in many cases, did not vote for Obama because they agree with what he stands for, but rather because of his complexion!

They're "Sticking it to 'The Man!' "

Here would be an interesting experiment. In 2012, let's present an obscure conservative candidate and, if that candidate does not happen to be African-American, let's present him publicly wearing black face make-up. Make him appear to be African-American in every way. I think it would be interesting to find out what kind of support he'd garner!

Meanwhile, Martin Luther King Jr. is turning in his grave. It's NOT about the content of one's character, apparently, but about the color of one's skin!

I think we Americans did not stick it to "The Man," but stuck it to ourselves.

Only time will tell!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T08:30:00.000-08:00

Here we have an annual paradox; the real reason for Christmas.

Humanists would have us believe that Christians borrowed a pagan celebration of the winter solstice and converted it conveniently into a celebration of Jesus' birth.

I say, what does it matter when we celebrate the birth of Jesus? The fact that we celebrate it and recognize that the reason for Christmas is that celebration is good enough for me!

So, where did all of this gift-giving stuff come from?

Right from scripture, that's where!

Matthew 2: 9 "After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh."

So, giving gifts at Christmas emulates the actions of the Magi, with one marked difference; the Magi presented their gifts to Jesus and WE present our gifts to one another!

Perhaps Christmas would be less commercial if we went back to presenting our gifts to Jesus and His representatives on earth. Who are they? Well, Jesus told us who they are!

Matthew 25: 34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' "

So, how did Christmas go from what was intended to the debauchery it has become?

Matthew 6: 19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

We decided as a society and a people that we would ignore Jesus and store up treasures here rather than in heaven! Worse still, we do not worship God, but the almighty dollar instead.

And we wonder why our economy is collapsing? It isn't based on charity, hard work, and saving; it's based on the opposite of those things.

Happy birthday, Jesus! May we come to realize our error and return to You as a people and nation! - Amen

Life is Short (I hate funerals!)

2008-12-24T17:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, MDB and I attended a funeral. The lady was not well known to us, but, judging from the things said about her at the ceremony, she was a very fine lady, a great mother, a wonderful teacher, and a loyal and steadfast friend. Her husband, a former coach at the school where I teach, is somewhat better known to us. He coached there for over thirty years and then retired, settling down with his wife, Linda, fully expecting to sail off into many wonderful years of excitement and adventure. Tom's a great guy. Our football field is named after him and he was loved and respected for all of his years at our school. Every year, all of the coaches, past and present, have a big get-together at Tom's house to celebrate the school year and reminisce. This was the extent of our knowledge of Linda, but our brief exposure told us that she was indeed a fine lady and a wonderful wife to Tom.

Early on the 21st, a massive blood clot broke loose and caused a terrible and fatal stroke, stealing her from Tom at the tender age of 58.

Linda was Tom's second wife. His first also died very early in life. I'm not familiar with the circumstances of her death, but it left Tom alone and heartbroken for nearly ten years until he married Linda in 1992. Linda's death leaves Tom with grown children, a large house to himself, and a lifetime's worth of broken dreams.

We are not guaranteed anything except this moment. A wise man said, "tomorrow never comes," and he was right. We have to live in the present and let tomorrow take care of itself.

Praise God for the moments with which He blesses us! Praise Him for the time He's already given! Praise God for watching over us and putting people like my wonderful wife in my life and Linda in Tom's. God only knows why He took her, but He knows indeed, and we have to trust that He does all things for the good of those who love Him.

Pray that God will grant His peace to Tom; He needs it!

While I'm at it, thank God for seeing MDB through her surgery today and bringing her back to me safely today! God is good!

Did I call this, or what?

2008-12-22T16:16:00.000-08:00

Not long ago, I wondered here if it was just me, or was Toyota stupid for basically leaving their area of expertise behind and venturing into the land of gas-guzzling full-sized vehicles, a-la-Detroit.

This just in; Toyota is stupid!

According to a report on the CBS evening news this evening, Toyota posted its first operating loss in 70 years during 2008!

Well, let's do the math, shall we?

2008 is 63 years removed from the utter devastation and destruction of the Japanese empire via American atomic bombs and incendiary bombs in 1945. 70 years also encompasses a time since the post-war period, when buying Japanese was tantamount to buying from Iran, or Osama Bin Laden. It's also part of the time period that saw them evolve from a single model (called Corolla in America) to multiple models, all of which were renowned for their reliability and fuel economy. So, the first operating loss in company history begs a question, doesn't it?

If you survived all of that, Toyota, how on earth did you manage to lose money in 2008?

Well, I'm sure there's a lot of "reduced world economy" talk or "overextended credit markets" talk, or other blah, blah, blah, excuse, excuse, excuse talk, but I really don't want to hear it, Toyota! If you survived an atomic bombing, the utter and total devastation of your national economy, and the word "Japanese" being synonymous with "crap," and still managed to turn a profit, how on earth can a little economic turmoil in 2008 cause you to lose money?

You got away from what you know, that's what!

You made your money making small, fuel-efficient cars and compact trucks! Now, you hang your hat on a behemoth Ford F-150 wanna-be truck and not so fuel-efficient SUVs and luxury sedans? You got away from what you know, Toyota, and now you're paying the price!

This just in!

2008-12-19T16:59:00.000-08:00

T!he Cleveland Browns are not a very good football team!

Oh, and by the way, water is wet and the sky is blue!

After a 10-6 effort last year and high hopes for this one, my beloved Browns have taken a nosedive of mythic proportions. Romeo Crennel is going to wind up like his namesake. Well, I doubt he drinks poison, but he'll be just as dead professionally after his stint in C-Town!

The sad part is, the Browns actually have some talent and, if used appropriately, they could really turn their team into something special!

So, here's to the war-cry of Browns fans every year; Wait till next year!

To bail or not to bail...

2008-12-11T18:24:00.000-08:00

...that is the question!

According to this article, the Senate is about to cave as well, and continue the enabling that the market and especially the unions have started!

Anyone out there ever heard of K-Mart? How about Continental Airlines? There are numerous other examples, of course, but companies come out of bankruptcy all the time, restructured, leaner, and more profitable than ever. Why are the car companies, those bastions of endless charity for labor, any exception?

Why not ask why has the government been in the endless welfare business since the early 60's? Why Social Security? Why Medicare? Why any other government program that is ostensibly meant to help but only ends up causing dependants who are unable, or simply unwilling, to take the reigns of their own destiny?

The last thing the auto industry in this country needs is a government bail out. They DO need to rework their CBAs; they DO need to get leaner and start producing products that are fuel-efficient and stylish; AND they need to restructure their management and pay salaries to CEOs that are more in line with profitability (you know...those merit-based salaries that get foisted off on the blue-collar rabble!)

I hope Washington is listening! If they bail out the Big Three now, you'd better get used to the idea of them coming back every 6 months or so for more.

That's what happens when you serve as the enabler!

Change we can believe in?

2008-12-09T17:30:00.000-08:00

You knew I couldn't let this one go; Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D) was arrested today for numerous ethics violations, the largest of which was his alleged attempt to sell the vacated Senate seat of Barak Obama to the highest bidder.

The more things change, the more they stay the same!

What a shock! The governor of the state most known for the Daley machine and the deceased voting has attempted to auction a seat in the US Senate!

Great job, Democrats!

That's a change we can all believe in, right?

Uhhhh.....I don't think so!

W-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-H-H-H-H-H-H-!!!!!!!

2008-12-08T17:11:00.000-08:00

According to an article I just read, Jennifer Aniston is "sick" of people caring so much about her life! W-A-A-A-A-A-A-H-H-H-H-H-!!!! Poor baby! I'd be willing to bet she's not tired of making $15 million a picture!

It goes with the territory, darling!

When they DON'T care anymore, you'll be doing the dinner theatre circuit making $100 a night if you're fortunate!

Meanwhile, stop whining and get over yourself!

Freedom OF or FROM religion?

2008-12-07T13:49:00.000-08:00

We started an interesting discussion in Sunday School this morning regarding the chipping away of our rights by liberal judges and lawmakers, the ACLU, atheists, religious minorities, and others who, for some reason, resent the practice of our Constitutional rights in public! Let's review the religion clause of the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution, shall we?

Amendment I
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.

For those in the groups listed above who seem to be challenged with regard to the reading of English, let me translate:

"no law respecting an establishment of religion" means that there will be no mandatory public religious entity like there was in England. People are free to worship as they choose!

"no law...prohibiting the free exercise thereof (religion)" means that the government, in it's multiple forms and entities, may NOT prohibit the free exercise of religion. That means that public displays of faith cannot be restricted unless those displays are intended to establish a mandatory state religion!

I've been living in this country a long time and, as long as I've been here, I've never had a government official knock on my door and say, "You and your family are under arrest if you don't come and worship at the local nativity scene," or "You must attend the Methodist church; all other churches have been banned," or "The worship of Jesus has been outlawed; from now on, everyone MUST worship this potted tulip!"

In short, I don't think I've ever been associated with an infringement of the 1st amendment, but I've read about plenty of them! A Houston judge being forced to remove a glass-encased bible from public property because it may hurt someone's feelings; A Florida Supreme Court Justice being forced to remove a monument with the Ten Commandments engraved upon it; Prayer outlawed in schools; An invocation in Utah outlawed because atheists, in league with the ACLU, insisted that it be stopped.

Where's my right to "free exercise?" What happened to the right of these individuals to worship as THEY choose?

It's time to take our rights back!

Sadly, it takes individuals of courage AND deep pockets to make it happen! The liberal Judiciary loves to hear cases like these! They love to chip away at our rights every chance they get! We need men of faith to stand up and men with resources to back them up before we can re-establish our rights of free exercise!

The only thing required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing!

The deer just keep rolling in!

2008-12-01T19:11:00.000-08:00

Well, dear blogfans, MDB and I took another opportunity to travel up to God's country and take care of a little "deer business." We picked up the meat from the first one and then I took an opportunity to go out and fire my new rifle, a Remington 770 30-06.

We went out the first evening (Friday) and saw a really nice buck. It's hard to tell from so far away, but the height and width of his antlers makes me believe he was at least a 10-point. He was large in the body and well-defined, so I squeezed off a shot! Well, having not sighted in the gun, I missed by a substantial amount on the low side. Amazingly, when he stopped running, he turned on the hillside and looked back, leaving me a second shot! Well, that one missed low as well, so we spent the rest of that trip honing the scope on the new rifle.

Saturday morning at dawn, I saw a nice 8-point, so I squeezed of a shot and he dropped right in his tracks! The wind was blowing at probably 30+ mph, so I aimed a little left of his front shoulder. Having sighted the gun in a little high (probably 4-6"), I figured to hit the deer high on the neck or torso. The bullet actually struck him in the front of the neck, severing one or more of his carotids. At any rate, we loaded him up and prepared to take him to the field-dressing area when WWH's phone rang. It was his step-son, reporting that he had also shot a buck and needed help with it, so we took off for his location.

WWH's ss shoots a .243, which is a small caliber for deer hunting, but he did knock down a nice 10-point. When we rolled up to his location, he had his foot on the deer's neck and the deer, clearly upset, wasn't real pleased with his situation. Not wishing it to get up and run off, WWH shot it again, but it still wasn't dead. It rather reminded me of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you know the part where the guy with the cart rolls by hollering "Bring out your dead" and the people throw a corpse onto the pile who promptly screams "I'm not dead, yet!"

This poor buck hadn't quite figured it out; he was dead, he just didn't know it!

So young ss pulled out a knife and attempted to cut it's throat, but he barely scratched it, so I think it was more of a torture than an attempt to put the deer out of its misery!

Regardless, we loaded it up and took it to the cleaning rack as well.

I field-dressed mine first, being careful to save the liver and heart (the heart for dissection purposes in my science classes), then we started on the finally-dead 10-point. A fine deer, to be sure.

Well, I'm out of buck stamps (it's a two-buck county), so when we go back to pick up the meat from this last one, I hope to get a doe or two just for the meat. We'll field-dress and skin those and do the processing ourselves.

Anyway, two 8-points is a pretty good first season if I say so myself! The best part was Saturday; I got mine so early, that I got to spend the rest of the day with MDB and SHE'S the only dear I care that much about anyway!

The one business that's booming!

2008-11-26T19:31:00.000-08:00

Those of you who follow here on a regular basis know that I recently went on a deer hunt and bagged a nice little 8-point using a borrowed 30-06. That experience hooked me! Anyway, after that, MDB suggested that a rifle of my own may make a great Christmas/birthday present.

Who could argue with that?

So, as I do with all such purchases, I started researching, reading up on the different calibers available and the pricing structure of different manufacturers, including Mossberg, Ruger, Remington, Weatherby, and Winchester. After looking online and checking ads at different stores around town, I decided that the Remington 770 would be the best gun for me and I decided that the 30-06 would be the best caliber. Did you know that the 30-06 Springfield was used during WWII in the famous M-1 Garand rifle? Did you know that the venerable M-14 also used(s) the 30-06 and that that very rifle is making a comeback with the US Marine sniper service because of the power and reliability of the cartridge? How could such a well-known and renowned cartridge go wrong?

Anyway, Part of the research I did took me to a local gun show. The place was absolutely PACKED!!! You literally could not get down the relatively wide aisles without turning sideways! I found out that the .308 cartridge is basically the same as the 30-06 except that it uses less brass for essentially the same sized bullet. I also asked about business in general and found out quickly that gun sales are brisk and getting brisker! Each vendor offered the same reason; the election of Obama!

Apparently, the gun-owning and using public is VERY concerned that after Obama gets in office, their gun ownership rights will erode quickly and they may not be ABLE to purchase a gun as easily as they can today.

Well, I thought "Dan, that's one gun show; only one single anecdote." Knowing statistics as I do, I know the size of the sample determines the accuracy of results in most cases, so I didn't think too much about it. After all, these guys are TRYING to convince people to buy guns; what better way than to make people afraid that their 2nd amendment rights will be taken away! Anyway, as I said, I had decided that a Remington 770 would be the best gun for me and, lo and behold, Academy Sports and Outdoors has them on sale this week for a mere $429! So I called the local store and found out that they had ONE left, so I asked them to hold it for me and went down there this afternoon!

MADHOUSE!!!

At the gun counter, there must have been 50 people lined up or waiting for their background check to run through! I asked the guy if it was unusually busy today and he said "No, it's been like this every day for at least a month and there doesn't seem to be any sign of a let-up!"

A larger sample, folks!

As I waited for my own background check to clear, I must have heard the name "Obama" 100 times! Apparently, the guy at the gun show was right! People are scared to death that their 2nd amendment rights are going to be attacked and they want to get their guns NOW before it's too late!

I only wanted to get my own gun to deer-hunt with! Well, we're heading back to God's country on Friday, so I'll report on any further baggings afterward!

Odds and Ends

2008-11-15T17:43:00.000-08:00

Occasionally, my mind just sort of wanders. Sometimes, wandering isn't such a good thing!

Politics is on the agenda, of course. Its hard to tell what Obama is going to do and what he's not going to do, but the Democrat majority in Congress has already set its sights on a few things that have been out of reach until the most recent election, such as the "Fairness Doctrine," federal law that would supercede concealed carry laws in the states, tax increases, and nationalized health care, just to name a few.

For years, talk radio, which is primarily conservative, has been a giant burr in the Democrats saddle. Talkers like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and others, have given voice to the so-called silent majority and allowed them to bolster their opinions, few or none of which are available on the so-called "major" television networks. Since conservatives control the one outlet that the Democrats didn't want, they don't want the conservatives to have that voice, either! Look at the constant outrage over "fair and balanced" reporting on Fox, the network that now leads all others just because it leans conservative and mirrors the opinions shared by most Americans. In any case, Democrats are going to attempt, via the so-called "fairness doctrine," to silence talk radio!

Good luck with that, Democrats!

There is a reason those programs are so successful; people LISTEN to those shows and CALL those shows! Not only do they call and listen, they call and listen in record numbers! When Congress gets a load of the uproar that their attempted attack will generate, I have a feeling they'll decide to let that sleeping dog alone.

Then again, Democrats aren't too bright when it comes to this sort of thing, so they probably won't, much to their own detriment!

States passed concealed-carry laws as a hindrance to gun violence perpetrated by criminals, using the idea that law enforcement personnel cannot be everywhere and the possibility that there COULD be someone at the scene of a crime who's carrying a firearm other than the criminals may very well serve to give pause to those considering such crimes. I've not seen statistics to suggest that violent crime has been reduced in those states, but I haven't heard anything about gangs of gun-toting vigilantes taking the law into their own hands or violence randomly perpetrated by legally-carrying individuals, either. I know that liberals think that guns are responsible for death in this country, but those are the same people who'd like to deny that KNIFE violence in the UK is at epidemic proportions. Of course, carrying a gun in the UK is against the law, so, following the logic forwarded by the Dems, wouldn't it stand to reason that violent crime there would be practically nil? I hate to parrot worn sayings, but its not guns who kill people; its people who kill people and, quite frankly, someone who's bent on killing someone else will do so whether it be with a gun, a candlestick, a knife, a rope, or almost any other lethal object they can carry.

If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will carry guns!

Well, I've got bad news, Barack! I've got a constitutional right to own and BEAR a firearm. The only business in America that's really doing very well at all right now is the retail gun trade and YOU created that boom with your rhetoric, pandering to the left-wing of your party and their insatiable appetite for a communist state in America! Gun owners, and potential gun owners have RUN to gun stores to buy their weapons before you try to outlaw their sale!

Oh, and, by the way, (before a bunch of revisionists start trying to tell me that the 2nd Amendment only applies to the National Guard), I know that the first clause of the 2nd Amendment says "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state..."

Uhhhh....in the days when this country was founded (when the Constitution was written!) armed citizens WERE the militia! Therefore, in the context within which it was written, a militia WAS an armed citizenry!!! So I don't want to hear that the 2nd Amendment wasn't talking about an armed citizenry; that's EXACTLY what it was talking about!

Tax increases are coming, you may as well get used to it. I know Obama promised that taxes are only going up for people who make $250,000 or more, but, let's be serious. How many people MAKE that much money versus how much are all of his gigantic spending programs going to cost?

That's what I thought; it doesn't add up!

It doesn't really matter what Obama promised anyway! The Democrat-controlled Congress is going to forward their agenda and the far from mandate-earning Obama is going to go along to get along! He'll get his tax increases because his hero, Bill Clinton, got similar increases and managed to ride the good policy of his predecessors into prosperity. I really don't believe that America is ready for an all-out takeover of the health care system, though.

If he wanted to help health care along, he'd abolish Medicare and Medicaid and get the government out of the equation altogether so that the free market can operate on a level playing field again, but I know that'll never happen just like I know that if the government takes over the way he wants it to, Pandora will never get the lid back on THAT box again, either!

Think about the things that are screwed up right now and in nearly every case, government invention is the reason it's screwed up in the first place! Health care is messed up because the government sets pricing structure for a large percentage of the market, forcing health care providers to seek their profits from those of us who are NOT on Medicare or Medicaid. If they'd just get out altogether, providers would have to compete for business once again and that competition would lower the prices for everyone!

Supply and demand, baby! Supply and demand!

Banking is screwed up in part because of all the "fairness in lending" regulations imposed by the government! If banks could simply loan money to people who have the ability to pay them back, there probably wouldn't BE a banking crisis right now! But we live in a world today where the government is the jackboot that every citizen fears! If an accident happens at work, you have to worry about OSHA showing up and fining you! If you accidentally underpay your taxes, you can bet your last nickel that Uncle Sam will charge you more in penalties and interest than the original amount of the tax by the time you're finished! I could go on and on, but most everyone knows how screwed up the government is and most of us feel powerless to do anything about it other than electing a continual stream of clones to go to Washington telling us they'll do one thing when they go and then watching them get swallowed up by the tide of corruption and bad policy that Washington has become! I'm ready for a change all right, but more big government isn't the change I'm looking for, Barack!

Here's what I'd like to see; government run like a business! If someone isn't doing their job, fire them! If someone's job becomes antiquated, retrain them to do another one or lay them off if they can't be retrained! That's what happens every day in the real world! Why doesn't it apply to a government position? When revenues are down, companies pare back expenses, they don't increase their spending by a thousand times! Every agency in government needs to account for every nickel of tax money they get! If they're not spending it on a Congressionally authorized expenditure, it needs to be eliminated! I'm convinced that I'm paying plenty of taxes already. I'm convinced that most Americans are paying plenty of taxes already! I'm also convinced that the government is fat, and lazy, and spends WAY too much money and that it could and should get by on a lot less!

There; I'm done ranting! I hope Obama does effect change and I pray that it looks more like what I described and much MUCH less like what I think its going to look like!

Well, it's been awhile...

2008-11-14T17:21:00.000-08:00

...since I posted anything, so now's as good a time as any!

This is my favorite time of year, and my least favorite time of year. Right after football, I hold open tryouts for basketball. I usually pick up several guys who did not play football, which means they're not scheduled into the athletic period and they don't have physicals, all of which adds to the stress of trying to get the team organized and ready to play the first game, which happens to be this coming Wednesday.

As usual, I've already lost one guy to grades, and two of the guys who tried out and made the team decided to go into off-season instead, so, as far as that part's concerned, it's been pretty normal so far!

Here's the difference; this year, I've got 4 guys who are 6' or better, and several more who are pretty big by 7th grade standards!

It stands to be a good year!

More later....time to eat!

Well, Obama won...

2008-11-06T18:46:00.000-08:00

...and America lost.

Ought to give the "gimme-gimme" crowd a thing or two to crow about!

On Wednesday, my kids asked me who I voted for. Like most inexperienced young people, they were ebullient at the thought of "rich-people" financed handouts. I told them that, like most Texans, I voted for McCain. When they asked why, I told them that I don't think that Obama can deliver what he promised without a massive tax increase and, quite frankly, I work too hard for my money to have some pointy-headed liberal confiscate it from me and give it to someone who either cannot or WILL not work as hard as I do for it!

They couldn't disagree!

Despite my philosophical differences with Obama and his party, I intend to reserve judgement until he's been inaugurated and has had time to institute his agenda.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid it may be too late for the country by then, but what's a poor conservative to do?

Here's what I'M going to do!

I'm going to implore the leadership of the Republican party to return to traditional Party ideals; limited government, individual liberty and responsibility, and freedom to pursue financial well-being with little or no government interference. Of course, at the same time, I'm going to insist that they abandon the big government approach of the Bush years and get back to the Reagan approach.

You think anyone will listen?

I didn't think so.

catching up

2008-11-03T19:49:00.000-08:00

Hello again, blogfans!

Well, it's time to catch up.

This past weekend, I went on my first-ever deer hunt. It was a hoot!

I'll grant you; it's not what I thought it would be. Whenever I've thought about the term "deer hunting" in the past, I thought about quietly stalking the brush for that elusive creature and "freezing" when the prey was cornered, leveling the gun and squeezing off a shot as the startled herbivore stopped to listen and detect the intrusion of an interloper. The reality is a little less dramatic!

In actuality, the hunter hides in a "blind" as deer gather at a feeder that has been stocked with deer candy (corn), waiting for said feeder to "dump" some of said corn at a pre-set time. Naturally, the deer have been "programmed" to gather at a specific time by setting the feeder to dump at the same time each morning and evening. The challenge comes in choosing a deer that is worthy of "harvest" and actually hitting the deer that you're aiming at!

It's not as easy as it looks!

On Saturday, we sat in a blind on a hill, picking through countless fawns, small does, and immature males. One large deer worthy of a bullet came into view, but there were too many cows close by (the rancher wouldn't appreciate the "collateral damage" associated with a ricochet or a poorly aimed shot!) and the wily buck only presented himself for very short periods of time, making a shot at him unwise at best, so no shot was taken.

Later in the evening at a different blind, I took a shot at a nice 8-point buck, but missed (apparently high). Naturally, all of the deer that had gathered scattered wildly at the sound of the shot, so the hunt was over for the evening.

The next morning, we took to the blind again and waited. As before, the gathering of small fawns, does, and young bucks came to the feeder first. None of these were suitable for a shot, so we waited. Then, finally, a stout but apparently somewhat young 8-point buck came into view, so I determined to take a shot at him. I breathed deeply, then let it out. Having missed high last time, I aimed at a point about 2" from the bottom of the chest, and squeezed the trigger. The 30-o6 roared to life and, as I watched through the scope, the deer fell in place.

MDB's brother, who was my very helpful and accommodating guide, suggested that we wait for about 10 minutes to see if anything else came up and, more importantly, to make sure that the wounded buck was dead. It didn't move in all that time.

Meanwhile, a second, much larger buck came up from the left of the blind. This deer was "Bambi's Daddy" to be sure! He had a massive rack of antlers, a large, thick chest, and great definition through his neck and hindquarters. In short, he was a buck among bucks! MDB's brother said "I'll take a shot!", so he leveled the gun, aimed, and fired.

I saw a cloud of dust about 15 yards beyond the great deer as he turned and scrambled for the hills!

We left the blind and searched, just in case he'd been hit and didn't know it, but there was no sign that he'd been injured in any way and no sign of a wounded deer anywhere near the shot.

A real shame!

In any case, we then went to retrieve the deer that I'd shot earlier. It was in the same place it had been all along. He'd dropped at the very spot he'd been standing when shot. Even though I aimed low, the shot hit him in the spine just above his shoulder, instantly paralyzing and killing him. MDB's brother said that we'd missed the hard part because of the spot where I'd hit him. Apparently, it's typical to shoot the deer and then wander around for long periods of time trying to find the spot that it fell. My deer dropped instantly, so there was no long search involved!

Then the hard stuff began!

We had to cut a small hole in the gap behind each hind leg (between the bone and tendon) and sling the deer through it's hind legs so that we could hoist it upside-down from a tree. Then, with the deer hanging from the tree, we had to remove it's male parts, slice it open from pelvis to throat, and remove all of the entrails.

Fortunately, I hit the deer in a place that killed the deer quickly but did not cause any internal damage to speak of, so this process was mainly bloodless and relatively clean!

Once the deer was "field dressed," we lowered it back into the back of the truck and headed for the processor!

I LOVE deer sausage and, hopefully, we'll get plenty of it from 8-point #1!

I can't wait to go again!

When we go to pick up the meat from this one, I hope to get a chance to go for another hunt! Perhaps that big 10-point will be waiting for me next time!

Meanwhile, it would be really cool if I had my own gun next time and a chance to sight it in prior to the morning of the hunt!

MDB says that she's excited! She now has a goal for a birthday present (you know...for the guy who has everything he ever wanted AND a case of chips!) and I couldn't be happier!

Woo-hoo! Life is grand!

Get some!

2008-10-30T19:14:00.000-07:00

Hello again, blogfans!

Well, MDB and I are headed for Abilene again, this time to celebrate the beginning of deer season with her brother and family and to catch some of the local culture.

A big part of that culture is "get some!"

What's "get some?" Well, if you venture to Abilene district stadium for an Abilene High School home game and sit on the home side, you're sure to hear one fan in particular who, for no apparent reason, screams "G - E - T S - O - M - E - ! - ! - ! - !" as loud as possible all game long much to the consternation of the Abilene faithful. Having only experienced "get some" once, I apparently was not the only person there who had a hard time figuring out exactly what the boys were supposed to get, why they were only to obtain "some" instead of "all" of this precious commodity! As I sat a few short rows in front of GetSome, people sitting in front of us turned around, clearly dismayed by what they were hearing! I had to admit that I'd never heard anything quite like it, either! My host related that he'd had previous conversations with people about going to the games and had been asked where his seats were. When he answered "three rows in front and two seats over from GetSome," he almost universally got the following response; "Oh! I know RIGHT where your seats are!"

Hoo-boy!

So, what are the boys supposed to get? Well, I'm almost afraid to guess about that one, but I hope he's talking about some wins! Anything else might be a little risque'

I thought I was getting a bargain...

2008-10-26T12:03:00.000-07:00

...when I filled up the truck last week and paid $2.49/gallon.

Today, gas is $2.19/gallon at the same station!

If (when) it goes below the $2.00 mark, I'll take a picture and post it here so my grandchildren will know that I was not lying!

Of course, they already think I'm telling a story when I tell them that there used to be "gas wars" and I'd fill up my Volkswagen for less than $2.00.

Uhhh....NOT $2.00/gallon.......$2.00 TOTAL!!!!!

Oh, and they'd give you a plate, or a glass, or an insulated mug, or some other little gift as their special "thank you" for shopping with them!

Oh....and another blast from the past; that was when some stations were still "full service" stations and most were part self-serve and part full service! If you pulled into the full service lane, a guy in uniform met you at the car, filled your tank, checked your oil, checked your tire inflation, and washed your windshield, all for only $0.10/gallon more!

That was a LOT, people! During "gas wars," I'd often pay less than $0.20/gallon altogether! In fact, I remember buying from the Shamrock in town and paying $0.159/gallon once upon a time!

My VW bug would run for two weeks on $1.60!!!!

Of course, that really WAS a different time. Not many people drove pick-up trucks in those days. If you DID drive a truck, you could expect to get 8 mpg regardless of engine choice, make, etc. Naturally, most people who drove trucks got the big powerful v-8 engines to go with them. If you bought the stock power package, which typically consisted of an in-line 6-cylinder engine of around 200 CIs displacement and a "three on the tree" manual transmission, you might do better; perhaps up to 20 mpg on the road! Remarkable!

As I said, I had a 1962 Volkswagen. It had a 1200 cc horizontally-opposed 4-cylinder engine that was air-cooled and a four on the floor transmission. I usually got around 25 mpg, which was pretty good for that day and time of poorly-tuned carburetors and manually-adjusted valve lifters! It had been painted using an aftermarket paint, so it looked like a German helmet or something! It was forest green metallic! I wish I still had that car today! It was awesome!

Well, that was then and this is now! Today, we're looking at the advent of socialism in America, which, quite frankly, is something I never thought I'd see in my lifetime. That's not to say that I didn't think it would ever happen; I just never thought I'd see it!

It's not hard to see socialism on the rise here in America and, with an increase in the practice of incrementalism by it's proponents, it's really not that hard to imagine that it's here so soon!

Uhhh.....what's "incrementalism?" It's the little by little "chipping away" of our objections to something that would have once been unimaginable! A good example; gay marriage. If someone would have said that I'd see openly and LEGALLY married gays in America 30 years ago, I'd have accused them of smoking the stuff from the evidence room! I mean, at that time, no one would have EVER admitted to being homosexual, let alone living an openly homosexual lifestyle! Now, not only have they slowly but surely come out of the closet, they've convinced a preponderance of lawmakers in the more liberal states that allowing gays to marry is a good idea! Well, that wasn't achieved all at once, but little by little over along time. That "little by little over a long time" thing is "incrementalism," and it's practiced more and more to achieve things that were once considered preposterous!

So, how did socialism, an economic system once synonymous with communism and/or fascism, get to the fore in America? Well, it started with all of the public service stuff of FDR during the depression and became entrenched because of Social Security and later, Medicare. A whole generation of Americans were raised with the notion that taking sustenance entirely from the government was okay! So, in this day and time, it's suddenly not that preposterous to imagine everyone working for the government in some form or fashion.

Uhhh....repeat after me, people:

If I have no inherent reward for doing good work and building my profit-centers, I will surely not do good work or worry about making a profit!

That's why the Soviet Union didn't make it AND why China is more capitalist today than we are! People will not do their best when there's no incentive to do their best and an economy that's based on products and services offered for no other reason than boredom will be shoddy and hardly worth the material that's put into them!

Sadly, the Russian people had to learn this lesson the hard way, the people of eastern Europe had to learn it the hard way, and the people of southeast Asia are still learning it the hard way today!

We don't really have to go there, too, do we?

If I didn't think I'd get shot or arrested....

2008-10-25T21:19:00.000-07:00

...I'd carry my Bible and my gun down to the library tomorrow after church as I go to vote early.

After all, we're in a "crisis," right? Aren't we supposed to cling to our religion and guns during a crisis?

Well, that's what the man said, isn't it?

We're now less than two weeks to go until the most important presidential election of my lifetime. I hope that people have seen through Obama by now, but that may be wishful thinking. It's actually comforting to know that, despite the outcome, the country will survive. We made it through the Clinton years and the tax increases that he laid on us. We even made it through the Carter years though, honestly, I'm not sure how sometimes.

Despite the horrendous job Carter did and the damage that had to be undone during the Reagan years, four years of Obama may very well make the wheels come off altogether. I mean, even though Carter was a rube and a relative simpleton, he left the mechanisms essentially intact. Obama is talking about converting our entire economy into one giant socialist enterprise, starting with health care. Does anyone know how much of our economy is represented by health care?

The numbers are mind-boggling!

I have a few questions. If government is so totally inept in most of its functions, why on earth would we turn a fifth of the economy over to it? The last time I checked, our government couldn't correctly account for one individual tax account correctly! How on earth are they supposed to account for a couple of trillion dollars each year?

That's what I thought!

The sad part is, much like social security, once the lid's been pried off of that box, it can never be put right again; at least not without causing harm to a large portion of the population. I'm fully vested in social security, but I fully expect to lose all of it to the greedy, money-grubbing congresses of years past who've "borrowed" from the fund and so conveniently forgotten where that money came from; my back pocket!

I guess the Bible was right after all; the sins of the fathers will be visited upon his children up to the third and fourth generation! (Exodus 34:6-7).

Maybe we should have listened to those words of wisdom! There's another one in there that says if you don't work, you don't eat! (2 Thessalonians 3:9-11) Maybe that would have been a pretty good thing to follow as well! It sure seems like we've got a lot of people today who don't seem to know how to put in a fair day's work and don't seem to have any compunction at all about surviving on the largess of government!

Yes, I'd like to carry my guns and my Bibles down there when I go to vote. I have a feeling that the crisis has just begun and I may as well get used to "clinging" to them a lot more in the years to come!

Be careful who you "Dis!"

2008-10-24T16:09:00.000-07:00

Hello again, blogfans!

The prefix "Dis" is one of those that is constantly misused.

For example, if it's possible to be dishelveled, why don't we mention the opposite condition, to be "sheveled" more often?

"Bill looks particularly sheveled this morning, doesn't he?"

You don't hear that much!

If it's possible to be "disingenuous," why aren't people "ingenuous" more often?

If it's not nice to disparage, is it a good thing to "parage?"

If we find ourselves in discord, why don't we find ourselves in cord more often?

When we throw something away. we're said to discard that thing. What is it to card something?

If I treat you with disgust, is it a more pleasurable experience when I treat you with "gust"

When I'm discrete, am I a big blabbermouth when I'm crete?

Uhhhhh......I don't THINK so!

Now, this is not a universal phenomenon!

"Disinterested" IS the opposite of "interested."

"Disenchanted" is the antithesis of "enchanted."

Go figure!

So, if you think about disrespecting someone, remember that the opposite is to "respect" someone and not all "Dis" words have an opposite!

I wish I could be more positive!

2008-10-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, my teams are really pretty pathetic right about now and there's no good way to sugarcoat it to make it more palatable.

We suck!

My 8th-grade team came out like gangbusters yesterday and put up 20 unanswered points to start the game....

....then the other team woke up!

At the end, we returned the 20 points, and another 13 to go with them and lost 33 to 20.

Can you say "four quarters?" That's good! I knew that you could!

Today, our little 7th-grade team gave up three touchdowns in the first half and lost 21-0.

The score would've been worse, but the other team called off the dogs and put the 3rd or 4th, or maybe 5th team in.

They hadn't won a game until they came to our place!

Then, to top it all off, my beloved Browns looked a lot less like the team that WORKED the Giants and a lot more like the team that lost to the Bungles last year to lose out on a chance at the playoffs. Kellen Winslow worked his mouth when he should have been looking for a place to hide and got suspended for his efforts. Derrick Anderson looked like, well, Derrick Anderson, and Braylon Edwards looked like "Evil Braylon" instead of "Circus Catch" Braylon. You know what I'm talking about; Evil Braylon drops wide-open passes that my 2 year-old granddaughter could catch. EVIL Braylon couldn't catch a cold at the rhino virus hall of fame! Circus catch Edwards catches balls with one hand between three defenders, stiff arms the strong safety and runs in for a TD with three Defensive Tackles hanging on to him.

That's not the guy who played on Sunday, though. "Evil" Braylon showed up just fine, though.

This week, we play Jacksonville. Jacksonville has a very effective running game. Cleveland has a problem stopping anyone who has an effective running game.

Can you say 2-5?

I knew that you could!