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!
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Monday, December 08, 2008
W-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-H-H-H-H-H-H-!!!!!!!
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!
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!
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Freedom OF or FROM religion?
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!
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!
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Popular posts
Hello, Dear blogfans, and Merry Christmas!
It's hard to know how obvious it is since I KNOW that it's there and you may not, but I have had a "hit counter" on this resource for some time now. What's nice about it is it not only tells me how many hits I get, it tells me the IP address of those looking in and where they came from if they came from some referring URL. Apparently (and strangely to me), there are a couple of posts that get a lot of hits; the one where I enclosed the image I call "NegJesus" (a negative that, if stared at for while, will give you the image of Jesus if you close your eyes) and the post I did called "sex education in Egypt" that details the attempt of a young Egyptian woman who decided to go through fertility treatments and have sextuplets to fulfill her desire to have a male child. Will the other five know they were unwanted? I can't help but wonder if she even cares. Another very popular post was a post about Maslow's hierarchy. That one, and the one with NegJesus, typically come in from Google image searches. Even though the uproar has long since died down, the most popular post EVER here was a post about the duo calling itself "God's Pottery," a group that was competing on 'Last Comic Standing." Some agreed that G'sP was bl
asphemous, while others berated me, stating that they were in fact advancing the cause of Jesus but chose to do so with self-deprecating humor rather than using a more traditional approach.
asphemous, while others berated me, stating that they were in fact advancing the cause of Jesus but chose to do so with self-deprecating humor rather than using a more traditional approach.All that said, I thought I'd re-post both NegJesus and the Maslow pyramid and see what comes up!
Merry Christmas!
Monday, December 01, 2008
The deer just keep rolling in!
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!
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!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
The one business that's booming!
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!
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!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Odds and Ends
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!
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!
Friday, November 14, 2008
Well, it's been awhile...
...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!
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!
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Well, Obama won...
...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.
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.
Monday, November 03, 2008
catching up
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!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Get some!
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'
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'
Sunday, October 26, 2008
I thought I was getting a bargain...
...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?
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?
Saturday, October 25, 2008
If I didn't think I'd get shot or arrested....
...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!
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!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Be careful who you "Dis!"
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!
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!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
I wish I could be more positive!
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!
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!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Uhhhh......shake yourselves, people!
I've written many times before of my aggravation about the expectations and behavior of people in society today.
What am I talking about? The fact that people seem to want a great deal of privilege, but refuse to accept the responsibility that goes with it; the fact that people want all sorts of assistance from the government but do not want to pay for it themselves (Oh, it's okay if some mythic "rich" guy pays for it; but if we have to pitch in, THAT'S unfair!); and, the fact that people do not want to accept the consequences that go with their actions; they don't mind the misbehavior, but, when they get caught, they want to blame anyone and everyone else. Nothing they do is their fault, it's always someone else's fault or responsibility!
Frankly, I'm sick of it!
When we have a hurricane, everyone wants FEMA to rush in and save the day. The fact is, they not only want FEMA to rush in, they want them to PREDICT the outcome and be there BEFORE the storm! How ridiculous is that? One thing I learned during EMT training; if the scene isn't safe, don't go in! What good is it having two victims to care for instead of the original only? Pretty dumb, I'd say! Yet, that's what people seem to want; FEMA is there before , during, and after the storm to care for all of those folks who've been victimized by that big ol' mean hurricane!
You know what we did? First, we heeded the warnings and got out of Dodge! Second, we got back as quickly as possible and cranked the generator, saving all of our foodstuffs! Third, we got shingles at Home Depot and replaced the damaged ones as fast as practical so we wouldn't get additional damage from a leaking roof. Fourth, and probably most important, WE HAD PAID UP INSURANCE TO TAKE CARE OF WHATEVER DAMAGE WE SUSTAINED!!!!
Interesting concept, that insurance! Having a financial plan to deal with disaster that does not include any government involvement! But then.....why SHOULD I expect the government to rush in and help? It's not their house and it's not their money!
Well, at least for NOW it's not theirs!
What about charging the whole thing off to this mythical "rich" guy that the Democrats always want to pay for everything? We're not rich like him. We don't have the life of leisure and privilege that he has. Isn't it only natural to hate those who have more than we have?
Uh....no!
Frankly, I don't understand the hatred of rich people. Fewer than 10% of rich people got their money from inheritance (actually, I think it's fewer than 2%, but I don't remember the exact figure so I'll not quote it here). Even if they did.....so what? Wouldn't YOU like to be in their shoes? I guess that's what it is; we're jealous and we wish we had their life instead of ours, so we hate them without even knowing them.
Sounds a lot like prejudice to me! I thought Democrats were all about loathing prejudice in all it's forms! I guess it's okay to hate rich people, though. It's un-American to be wealthy and NOT pay far more into the system of welfare and failed dreams that's been set up by the Democrats.
Frankly, I never got a job from a poor guy and I don't think private enterprise would continue to exist in this country if the Democrats got their way. Everything would be run by the government and everything would be owned by the government.
Uhhh....welcome to China!
I guess I don't get it! Why would Democrats whine about how inefficient the government is on one hand (aren't THEY the ones who perpetually whine about what a poor job FEMA does?) and then cry when the government doesn't take over MORE of our lives and economy?
Doesn't make much sense in my book!
Then there's consequences and actions. People today seem unwilling or unable to accept the punishment that goes with the crime! It was my rotten childhood, you Honor! It was my abusive husband, Judge! It was the stock market, my lousy boss, my horrible company, my terrible in-laws, my _________ (fill in the blank), my ___________ (fill in the blank), or my __________ (FILL IN THE BLANK!!!!). No one today seems willing or able to simply say "You know what? You caught me! I knew that was wrong, but I did it anyway. Give me the cuffs! I throw myself on the mercy of the court!"
Wouldn't that be refreshing, for a change?
Here's the deal, people! With privilege comes responsibility! If you accept the gifts you've been given, you have to accept the strings that go with them! If you vote for universal health care in America, I don't want to hear the whining the most assuredly will come when you have to wait in HORRENDOUS lines to get treatment! I don't want to hear about how horrible the health care system is if that happens, because YOU voted for it! If you did so because you liked the charisma of the guy who espoused that policy and voted out of ignorance, I STILL don't want to hear it!
It's your responsibility as an American to educate yourself about the issues! Don't blame someone else if you vote for Obama and GET Obama!; the most liberal candidate to run for president since McGovern!
More than that, don't blame ME! I'm voting for McCain even though he's probably going to lose. At least when the country goes to hell in a handbasket under Obama, no one will be able to say that I did it!
What am I talking about? The fact that people seem to want a great deal of privilege, but refuse to accept the responsibility that goes with it; the fact that people want all sorts of assistance from the government but do not want to pay for it themselves (Oh, it's okay if some mythic "rich" guy pays for it; but if we have to pitch in, THAT'S unfair!); and, the fact that people do not want to accept the consequences that go with their actions; they don't mind the misbehavior, but, when they get caught, they want to blame anyone and everyone else. Nothing they do is their fault, it's always someone else's fault or responsibility!
Frankly, I'm sick of it!
When we have a hurricane, everyone wants FEMA to rush in and save the day. The fact is, they not only want FEMA to rush in, they want them to PREDICT the outcome and be there BEFORE the storm! How ridiculous is that? One thing I learned during EMT training; if the scene isn't safe, don't go in! What good is it having two victims to care for instead of the original only? Pretty dumb, I'd say! Yet, that's what people seem to want; FEMA is there before , during, and after the storm to care for all of those folks who've been victimized by that big ol' mean hurricane!
You know what we did? First, we heeded the warnings and got out of Dodge! Second, we got back as quickly as possible and cranked the generator, saving all of our foodstuffs! Third, we got shingles at Home Depot and replaced the damaged ones as fast as practical so we wouldn't get additional damage from a leaking roof. Fourth, and probably most important, WE HAD PAID UP INSURANCE TO TAKE CARE OF WHATEVER DAMAGE WE SUSTAINED!!!!
Interesting concept, that insurance! Having a financial plan to deal with disaster that does not include any government involvement! But then.....why SHOULD I expect the government to rush in and help? It's not their house and it's not their money!
Well, at least for NOW it's not theirs!
What about charging the whole thing off to this mythical "rich" guy that the Democrats always want to pay for everything? We're not rich like him. We don't have the life of leisure and privilege that he has. Isn't it only natural to hate those who have more than we have?
Uh....no!
Frankly, I don't understand the hatred of rich people. Fewer than 10% of rich people got their money from inheritance (actually, I think it's fewer than 2%, but I don't remember the exact figure so I'll not quote it here). Even if they did.....so what? Wouldn't YOU like to be in their shoes? I guess that's what it is; we're jealous and we wish we had their life instead of ours, so we hate them without even knowing them.
Sounds a lot like prejudice to me! I thought Democrats were all about loathing prejudice in all it's forms! I guess it's okay to hate rich people, though. It's un-American to be wealthy and NOT pay far more into the system of welfare and failed dreams that's been set up by the Democrats.
Frankly, I never got a job from a poor guy and I don't think private enterprise would continue to exist in this country if the Democrats got their way. Everything would be run by the government and everything would be owned by the government.
Uhhh....welcome to China!
I guess I don't get it! Why would Democrats whine about how inefficient the government is on one hand (aren't THEY the ones who perpetually whine about what a poor job FEMA does?) and then cry when the government doesn't take over MORE of our lives and economy?
Doesn't make much sense in my book!
Then there's consequences and actions. People today seem unwilling or unable to accept the punishment that goes with the crime! It was my rotten childhood, you Honor! It was my abusive husband, Judge! It was the stock market, my lousy boss, my horrible company, my terrible in-laws, my _________ (fill in the blank), my ___________ (fill in the blank), or my __________ (FILL IN THE BLANK!!!!). No one today seems willing or able to simply say "You know what? You caught me! I knew that was wrong, but I did it anyway. Give me the cuffs! I throw myself on the mercy of the court!"
Wouldn't that be refreshing, for a change?
Here's the deal, people! With privilege comes responsibility! If you accept the gifts you've been given, you have to accept the strings that go with them! If you vote for universal health care in America, I don't want to hear the whining the most assuredly will come when you have to wait in HORRENDOUS lines to get treatment! I don't want to hear about how horrible the health care system is if that happens, because YOU voted for it! If you did so because you liked the charisma of the guy who espoused that policy and voted out of ignorance, I STILL don't want to hear it!
It's your responsibility as an American to educate yourself about the issues! Don't blame someone else if you vote for Obama and GET Obama!; the most liberal candidate to run for president since McGovern!
More than that, don't blame ME! I'm voting for McCain even though he's probably going to lose. At least when the country goes to hell in a handbasket under Obama, no one will be able to say that I did it!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Sorry (pant...pant...) I've been a little busy
It's now nearly two weeks since I posted anything here, but I've had good reason(s).
First, I really haven't had much of anything to say.....
Second, I've been busier than a one-legged man in a jumprope contest.....
Third, read one and two.
Actually, there's a lot going on, so let's start with sports:
Jesus is coming back tomorrow; the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (oh, okay; I know they dropped the "devil" from their name to try and attract the over eighty crowd to their home dates, but they'll always be "devil rays" to me!) are ahead of the BoSox in game 5 of the ALCS and look like a shoe-in to win the American League pennant. A Rays v Phillies world series?
Better check the clouds tomorrow to make sure the sign of the Son of Man isn't blatantly displayed there!
Next, two HIGHLY unlikely things happened in football this week. First, on Monday evening, my beloved Browns absolutely THROTTLED the defending world champion, the undefeated New York football Giants. That was a big enough surprise, to be sure. Then, yesterday, my little 8th-grade "B" team won THEIR first game of the season by the astounding score of 7-0. Yes, boys and girls, my defense pitched a shutout! Woo-hoo!
We actually did some things well, too! After we scored our touchdown at about 2 minutes into the second quarter, our little kicker was kicking into a strong wind, so I called him aside and said,"Carlos; you aren't gonna get much distance against that wind, so let's kick it onside. Which way do you want to go?" He said "Left," so I called the rest of the kickoff team together and told them what we were going to do and then reminded them that, after 10 yards, a kickoff is a live ball, meaning that it's just like a fumble. Then I asked them if they remembered the fumble drill, which brought a rousing "Yes SIR!!!", so I told them that it would be just like that drill.
Carlos kicked the ball a perfect distance (about 12 yards), the left side of the kickoff line covered it perfectly, even knocking one guy away from the recovery, and one of our guys fell on it at about the 45 for wonderful field position and a real opportunity to run away with the game.
Well.....it was a great opportunity anyway!
At work......that's where the jumprope contest has been going on!
I usually stay pretty busy during the season in any case. This year has been worse than usual. We HAD three main academic "thrusts" last year; "Rigor and Relevance," SIOP, and Safe & Civil Schools. This year, we've still got those, but we added CHAMPS, the DATE grant, and the 21st Century grant. In addition, they asked me to mentor one of the new ACP teachers, so I'm doing that (AND all the training that goes with that) in addition to all of my regular duties AND coaching.
Juggling all of this stuff is about to drive me insane!
Well, actually, it was fitting together pretty well until Ike butted in. I had training or some other duty on five consecutive Saturdays, but nothing I couldn't handle. Then two of them got cancelled due to Ike and all of them wanted to reschedule for exactly the same day!
Sorry, folks. I gave my clone the day off and I can't be in two places at once!
Anyway, I'm taking a weekend off this weekend. All I'm going to do is finish the storage building in the back and move stuff from the garage into the building. Can you say "walk through the garage? That's good......I knew that you could!"
That's not what I'm looking forward to, though! In a couple of weeks, MDB's brother invited me up to God's country for a deer hunt. It'll be my first and I'm REALLY looking forward to it!
First, I really haven't had much of anything to say.....
Second, I've been busier than a one-legged man in a jumprope contest.....
Third, read one and two.
Actually, there's a lot going on, so let's start with sports:
Jesus is coming back tomorrow; the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (oh, okay; I know they dropped the "devil" from their name to try and attract the over eighty crowd to their home dates, but they'll always be "devil rays" to me!) are ahead of the BoSox in game 5 of the ALCS and look like a shoe-in to win the American League pennant. A Rays v Phillies world series?
Better check the clouds tomorrow to make sure the sign of the Son of Man isn't blatantly displayed there!
Next, two HIGHLY unlikely things happened in football this week. First, on Monday evening, my beloved Browns absolutely THROTTLED the defending world champion, the undefeated New York football Giants. That was a big enough surprise, to be sure. Then, yesterday, my little 8th-grade "B" team won THEIR first game of the season by the astounding score of 7-0. Yes, boys and girls, my defense pitched a shutout! Woo-hoo!
We actually did some things well, too! After we scored our touchdown at about 2 minutes into the second quarter, our little kicker was kicking into a strong wind, so I called him aside and said,"Carlos; you aren't gonna get much distance against that wind, so let's kick it onside. Which way do you want to go?" He said "Left," so I called the rest of the kickoff team together and told them what we were going to do and then reminded them that, after 10 yards, a kickoff is a live ball, meaning that it's just like a fumble. Then I asked them if they remembered the fumble drill, which brought a rousing "Yes SIR!!!", so I told them that it would be just like that drill.
Carlos kicked the ball a perfect distance (about 12 yards), the left side of the kickoff line covered it perfectly, even knocking one guy away from the recovery, and one of our guys fell on it at about the 45 for wonderful field position and a real opportunity to run away with the game.
Well.....it was a great opportunity anyway!
At work......that's where the jumprope contest has been going on!
I usually stay pretty busy during the season in any case. This year has been worse than usual. We HAD three main academic "thrusts" last year; "Rigor and Relevance," SIOP, and Safe & Civil Schools. This year, we've still got those, but we added CHAMPS, the DATE grant, and the 21st Century grant. In addition, they asked me to mentor one of the new ACP teachers, so I'm doing that (AND all the training that goes with that) in addition to all of my regular duties AND coaching.
Juggling all of this stuff is about to drive me insane!
Well, actually, it was fitting together pretty well until Ike butted in. I had training or some other duty on five consecutive Saturdays, but nothing I couldn't handle. Then two of them got cancelled due to Ike and all of them wanted to reschedule for exactly the same day!
Sorry, folks. I gave my clone the day off and I can't be in two places at once!
Anyway, I'm taking a weekend off this weekend. All I'm going to do is finish the storage building in the back and move stuff from the garage into the building. Can you say "walk through the garage? That's good......I knew that you could!"
That's not what I'm looking forward to, though! In a couple of weeks, MDB's brother invited me up to God's country for a deer hunt. It'll be my first and I'm REALLY looking forward to it!
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Hilarious!
You've GOT to see MDB's blog "speaking the same language"! It's hilarious!
Here's what happened. We were watching the Biden-Palen debate the other night and it was nearly over when Biden was asked if he regretted anything or would change anything he's done based upon his experience. Naturally, he launched into a lengthy explanation of how he'd change the way he viewed judicial appointees. Nearly finished, he inadvertently did one of the best porky pig impressions I've ever heard. I wasn't sure I'd heard it quite right, so I paused the DVR, ran it back, and repeated it. It was so funny we ran it over and over again! You can click here to see the exchange for yourself!
Well, MDB got out her camera and recorded it and now you see the fruits of her labors on her blog!
Hilarious!
Here's what happened. We were watching the Biden-Palen debate the other night and it was nearly over when Biden was asked if he regretted anything or would change anything he's done based upon his experience. Naturally, he launched into a lengthy explanation of how he'd change the way he viewed judicial appointees. Nearly finished, he inadvertently did one of the best porky pig impressions I've ever heard. I wasn't sure I'd heard it quite right, so I paused the DVR, ran it back, and repeated it. It was so funny we ran it over and over again! You can click here to see the exchange for yourself!
Well, MDB got out her camera and recorded it and now you see the fruits of her labors on her blog!
Hilarious!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Strange times
These are strange times. A REPUBLICAN president has led the charge for a government bail-out (uhhhh.........W-H-A-T-?-?-?-?) of greedy mortgage companies and even greedier mortgagees; we are fighting wars in two different countries and THREATEN to make war on more yet; the mortgage crisis has led to a general collapse of the economy and the whole thing has created a situation where the political party that institutionalized racism, the Democrats, has nominated an African-American candidate and it looks like he'll WIN!
Strange times!
If you're not religious, this is a good time to get to know Jesus, that's for sure! If I didn't know better, I'd say the four horsemen of the apocalypse are riding away with things about now and it won't be long before things get really rough around here!
Revelation 6
1I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" 2I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. 3When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" 4Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword. 5When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"
7When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" 8I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth."
Hmmmm......war, soaring food prices and failing economies, and extensive death tolls from war, famine, and disease......
Sounds like 2008, actually!
Strange times!
If you're not religious, this is a good time to get to know Jesus, that's for sure! If I didn't know better, I'd say the four horsemen of the apocalypse are riding away with things about now and it won't be long before things get really rough around here!
Revelation 6
1I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" 2I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. 3When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" 4Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword. 5When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"
7When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" 8I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth."
Hmmmm......war, soaring food prices and failing economies, and extensive death tolls from war, famine, and disease......
Sounds like 2008, actually!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Our government is out of control!
Read "WE are out of control!"
We ARE the government, after all!
The whole Rita, Katrina, Ike, Gustav, Jorge, Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice clean-up, all by itself, is costing BILLIONS with a capital B.
When did it become part of the purview of the federal government to pay for housing and lost wages and food and Lord knows what else after a hurricane? I mean, I know HOW we got here (unsolicited whining from every liberal corner!), but when, Constitutionally speaking, did the federal government usurp the authority of the states to deal with local catastrophe?
That's what I thought.
Now, the government tells us that it's bailing out the institutions who lent the money to the deadbeats who bought WAY more house than they could ever afford and expected (I guess) the government to pick up the tab when the market stabilized to a place it probably should have been all along. Greedy lenders loaning money to greedy borrowers equals OOL (Out Of Luck!) if you ask me! I know why they're doing it, and it has nothing to do with stabilizing the markets or whatever else GWB said in his speech last night.
It's an election year.
End of story.
Here's the lesson to be taken from all of this. The government tells lending institutions who they can and cannot lend money to via regulation (you know, all of those equal opportunity lending regs that drive all of us crazy!) and then recoil in horror when those same institutions cannot make money that way and turn to less than favorable loans to people who DO qualify.
The systems broken and will never be fixed until the government gets out of the equation and allows banking institutions to loan money to whoever they like AND deny whoever they like! In other words, let the bankers do what they're trained to do and get back to governing!
We ARE the government, after all!
The whole Rita, Katrina, Ike, Gustav, Jorge, Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice clean-up, all by itself, is costing BILLIONS with a capital B.
When did it become part of the purview of the federal government to pay for housing and lost wages and food and Lord knows what else after a hurricane? I mean, I know HOW we got here (unsolicited whining from every liberal corner!), but when, Constitutionally speaking, did the federal government usurp the authority of the states to deal with local catastrophe?
That's what I thought.
Now, the government tells us that it's bailing out the institutions who lent the money to the deadbeats who bought WAY more house than they could ever afford and expected (I guess) the government to pick up the tab when the market stabilized to a place it probably should have been all along. Greedy lenders loaning money to greedy borrowers equals OOL (Out Of Luck!) if you ask me! I know why they're doing it, and it has nothing to do with stabilizing the markets or whatever else GWB said in his speech last night.
It's an election year.
End of story.
Here's the lesson to be taken from all of this. The government tells lending institutions who they can and cannot lend money to via regulation (you know, all of those equal opportunity lending regs that drive all of us crazy!) and then recoil in horror when those same institutions cannot make money that way and turn to less than favorable loans to people who DO qualify.
The systems broken and will never be fixed until the government gets out of the equation and allows banking institutions to loan money to whoever they like AND deny whoever they like! In other words, let the bankers do what they're trained to do and get back to governing!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
This just in....
...a candle, left burning while you sleep, MAY burn your house down!
MDB and I watched the news last night and were left quite perplexed. Apparently, a young woman, who, like many in Houston these days had no power, fell asleep after lighting some candles and awoke to the sound of fire engines and roaring flames!
What part of "sleeping while candles are burning" did you not understand as hazardous?
What was really troubling was the reaction of relatives who were interviewed.
"Well, she didn't have any power, so she lit some candles to see and, next thing you know, her house was gone! If she'd have had power, this never would have happened!"
Newsflash! Everyone in Houston is burning their own house down because they don't have power!
Uhhhh....no they're not!
I guess the part that troubled me more than anything was the tone of the comment about not having power. The young woman, who, based upon her comments, was obviously not the brightest crayon in the box, expressed surprise and out-and-out shock over the concept that an open flame near combustibles might be a problem. The tone from her grandmother, though, was a bit more irritating. I know I'm just reading into her comments, but it was almost as though she was saying her g-daughter was being discriminated against by the power company because she was African-American.
Let's don't go there, grandma!
If we pull the race card on a hurricane, what's left? Let me guess....large weather systems are racist? God sends hurricanes only to harm black people? Nobody who was white or Hispanic lost power? Only black folks were affected, is that right?
Let's don't go there, grandma!
Let's take a deep breath, think about what you're saying, and reason through this, shall we? Millions of people here and elsewhere were affected by Ike and I'd venture to say that a number far below a majority of them were AA. so...
let's don't go there, grandma!
Ike struck homes representing every race, creed, language, and color. This was not some re-enactment of the Passover where people with "Ike-Away" painted above their doors were spared (although some actually tried it! How many "Take a hike, Ike!" signs were emblazoned across plywood window coverings?). So, before you start crying that it was the lack of power that burned down your granddaughter's home, why don't you try asking her whether or not she knew that an open flame might propagate into one much larger if left alone long enough! While you're at it, ask her WHY NOT if she answers "NO" and offer to send her to the volunteer fire academy if she's really that ignorant about fire and what causes it!
Sheesh!
MDB and I watched the news last night and were left quite perplexed. Apparently, a young woman, who, like many in Houston these days had no power, fell asleep after lighting some candles and awoke to the sound of fire engines and roaring flames!
What part of "sleeping while candles are burning" did you not understand as hazardous?
What was really troubling was the reaction of relatives who were interviewed.
"Well, she didn't have any power, so she lit some candles to see and, next thing you know, her house was gone! If she'd have had power, this never would have happened!"
Newsflash! Everyone in Houston is burning their own house down because they don't have power!
Uhhhh....no they're not!
I guess the part that troubled me more than anything was the tone of the comment about not having power. The young woman, who, based upon her comments, was obviously not the brightest crayon in the box, expressed surprise and out-and-out shock over the concept that an open flame near combustibles might be a problem. The tone from her grandmother, though, was a bit more irritating. I know I'm just reading into her comments, but it was almost as though she was saying her g-daughter was being discriminated against by the power company because she was African-American.
Let's don't go there, grandma!
If we pull the race card on a hurricane, what's left? Let me guess....large weather systems are racist? God sends hurricanes only to harm black people? Nobody who was white or Hispanic lost power? Only black folks were affected, is that right?
Let's don't go there, grandma!
Let's take a deep breath, think about what you're saying, and reason through this, shall we? Millions of people here and elsewhere were affected by Ike and I'd venture to say that a number far below a majority of them were AA. so...
let's don't go there, grandma!
Ike struck homes representing every race, creed, language, and color. This was not some re-enactment of the Passover where people with "Ike-Away" painted above their doors were spared (although some actually tried it! How many "Take a hike, Ike!" signs were emblazoned across plywood window coverings?). So, before you start crying that it was the lack of power that burned down your granddaughter's home, why don't you try asking her whether or not she knew that an open flame might propagate into one much larger if left alone long enough! While you're at it, ask her WHY NOT if she answers "NO" and offer to send her to the volunteer fire academy if she's really that ignorant about fire and what causes it!
Sheesh!
I'm S-H-O-C-K-E-D-!-!-!-!
According to the headline on Yahoo.com, Clay Aiken admitted in a recent article that he is gay.
Boy, you could knock me over with a feather!
I mean, who would have ever thought? I see quack, waddle....I think duck! I see dark clouds, lightning, high winds....I think thunderstorm! I hear Clay Aiken speak, watch his mannerisms, see him perform....I think GAY!!!
Imagine my surprise when all of the indicators proved to be correct!
Well, so much for that. Let's get on with the real reason for this blog: euphemisms.
We're eaten up with them in this day and age. "Homosexual," "queer," "fruitcake," etc., were apparently inappropriate, so we came up with "gay," which, BTW, used to mean "happy."
Who are they trying to convince?
I mean, I'm a live and let live kind of guy, but don't coin yourself "happy" if your lifestyle choices cause acrimony and heartache at every turn. Has any parent ever found out that their son or daughter was homosexual and jumped for joy? How many parents, friends of family, or relatives throw a party at that announcement?
That's what I thought.
And "gay" isn't the only one. Mentally challenged people are now "exceptional." Fat people are now "Plus sized." A bum is now "homeless." A prostitute is now a "call girl" or a "lady of the evening." I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Who's trying to fool who, and what's the purpose? Is a duck offended if I call it a duck? Would "aquatic waterfowl" be more appropriate?
If you don't like your circumstance, do something to change it! Don't call yourself something else to make it seem less offensive!
The only person you're fooling in the long run is yourself!
Boy, you could knock me over with a feather!
I mean, who would have ever thought? I see quack, waddle....I think duck! I see dark clouds, lightning, high winds....I think thunderstorm! I hear Clay Aiken speak, watch his mannerisms, see him perform....I think GAY!!!
Imagine my surprise when all of the indicators proved to be correct!
Well, so much for that. Let's get on with the real reason for this blog: euphemisms.
We're eaten up with them in this day and age. "Homosexual," "queer," "fruitcake," etc., were apparently inappropriate, so we came up with "gay," which, BTW, used to mean "happy."
Who are they trying to convince?
I mean, I'm a live and let live kind of guy, but don't coin yourself "happy" if your lifestyle choices cause acrimony and heartache at every turn. Has any parent ever found out that their son or daughter was homosexual and jumped for joy? How many parents, friends of family, or relatives throw a party at that announcement?
That's what I thought.
And "gay" isn't the only one. Mentally challenged people are now "exceptional." Fat people are now "Plus sized." A bum is now "homeless." A prostitute is now a "call girl" or a "lady of the evening." I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Who's trying to fool who, and what's the purpose? Is a duck offended if I call it a duck? Would "aquatic waterfowl" be more appropriate?
If you don't like your circumstance, do something to change it! Don't call yourself something else to make it seem less offensive!
The only person you're fooling in the long run is yourself!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Buzzards
Having been off from work for nearly two weeks, I've noticed a few things as I work outside repairing storm damage from Ike.
First, it seems that many, if not all of the people who've suffered damage to their homes are waiting for insurance adjusters before they start with any repairs.
For their sake, I hope it doesn't rain any time soon!
I've spent the majority of the last couple of days up on the roof replacing damaged shingles. It may not look all that great, but the roof will not leak when it rains. As far as I'm concerned, that's 9/10 of the battle!
Second, I've noticed an inordinate number of folks out "trolling" for junk. They're cruising slowly up and down the street carefully eyeballing everyone's stack of garbage, stopping to pick out this item or that item. How can you tell? They've got a trunk full of yard umbrellas, bar-b-cue pits, twisted steel poles, and other assorted stuff that got damaged by the storm.
I know that one man's junk is another's treasure, but tell me a few things, will you, Mr. Junk? How is it that you have time to troll around looking for trash all day? Is scrap metal your hobby or your livelihood? If it's the latter, get a trailer so you look a little more professional, will you? If it's the former, school is starting back up soon, you'd better hurry! Next, pile things back up neatly, will you? I know that twisted pool ladder is really valuable and all, but someone is trying REALLY hard to get things back to normal and they really don't need to re-stack all of that garbage that they already stacked up neatly once before. Finally, stop and ASK someone before you just grab stuff and drive off, will you? People have been laying stuff out to dry and the LAST thing anyone needs is for their stuff to dry out and then drive off!
Here's a reall business opportunity! If you have a chain saw, a trailer, and a hydraulic log splitter, you have an UNLIMITED supply of firewood piled up on every street in town and no one, and I mean NO ONE, would mind even a little bit if you drove up and removed their stack of THAT at your leisure!
School starts back up for teachers and administrators on Thursday! That means, of course, that I won't be around to guard the trash piles so, Mr. Junk, PLEASE be kind to my neighbors!
First, it seems that many, if not all of the people who've suffered damage to their homes are waiting for insurance adjusters before they start with any repairs.
For their sake, I hope it doesn't rain any time soon!
I've spent the majority of the last couple of days up on the roof replacing damaged shingles. It may not look all that great, but the roof will not leak when it rains. As far as I'm concerned, that's 9/10 of the battle!
Second, I've noticed an inordinate number of folks out "trolling" for junk. They're cruising slowly up and down the street carefully eyeballing everyone's stack of garbage, stopping to pick out this item or that item. How can you tell? They've got a trunk full of yard umbrellas, bar-b-cue pits, twisted steel poles, and other assorted stuff that got damaged by the storm.
I know that one man's junk is another's treasure, but tell me a few things, will you, Mr. Junk? How is it that you have time to troll around looking for trash all day? Is scrap metal your hobby or your livelihood? If it's the latter, get a trailer so you look a little more professional, will you? If it's the former, school is starting back up soon, you'd better hurry! Next, pile things back up neatly, will you? I know that twisted pool ladder is really valuable and all, but someone is trying REALLY hard to get things back to normal and they really don't need to re-stack all of that garbage that they already stacked up neatly once before. Finally, stop and ASK someone before you just grab stuff and drive off, will you? People have been laying stuff out to dry and the LAST thing anyone needs is for their stuff to dry out and then drive off!
Here's a reall business opportunity! If you have a chain saw, a trailer, and a hydraulic log splitter, you have an UNLIMITED supply of firewood piled up on every street in town and no one, and I mean NO ONE, would mind even a little bit if you drove up and removed their stack of THAT at your leisure!
School starts back up for teachers and administrators on Thursday! That means, of course, that I won't be around to guard the trash piles so, Mr. Junk, PLEASE be kind to my neighbors!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Whining
Hello, good blog-reading peoples!
Please read MDB's blog about this same topic! It's E-P-I-C!!!!!
For those of you who a) cannot read this typing; (b) are too stupid to fend for yourselves; (c) have a combination of one or the other; (d) have been socialized into the "gimme gimme, something for nothing" society of today.....listen up!
NO ONE OWES YOU A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G!!!!!!! If you're looking to FEMA to make you wealthy or bail you out because you had no insurance, no job, no prospects, no family or whatever........GET OVER YOURSELVES!!!!
Sorry.....but I'm totally sick and tired of listening to the complaining and whining about what FEMA is doing, has done, had NOT done, or whatever. This is TEXAS!!!! We get up in the morning, go to work, and do what we can to solve our own problems! If you're looking to the government for a handout, you're in the wrong place! Go back to Louisiana or wherever it is you came from! We're pretty self-reliant around here and we don't need and don't WANT some pointy-headed bureaucrat telling us what we can and cannot do!
Another aspect of that: Who twisted your arm and forced you to live here? Perhaps this comes as a huge surprise, but living on the Gulf Coast brings with it the hazard of potential hurricanes from time to time! If you're going to live here, you have to accept that possibility, just like you have to come to realize that living on the west coast brings with it the potential for wild fires and earthquakes, living in the midwest exposes you to the possibility of tornados, residing in New England bring the potential for "Noreasters," large river valleys (Mississippi and Ohio, mostly) the possibility of flooding in the spring, etc. Let's face it; just living (period) is not a hazard-free proposition! You choose where you live and face the consequences of your decision! You take the good with the bad and move on!
Oh, and BTW, New Orleans, if you choose to enjoy the "Big Easy" lifestyle, you have to know that living below sea level has "disaster" written all over it! So don't bring your whining around here when your basin fills up and there's no place for the water to go! You knew (or should have known) that it would happen eventually! Get over it!
Meanwhile, I appreciate all of the efforts of everyone who's been trying very hard to restore our power, water, etc. However....I, and many of my close friends here in our neighborhood, had generators and gasoline to provide our own power as we waited in the interim. We don't want, and we don't NEED, the Federal government to bail us out!
Bottom line.....S-T-O-P W-H-I-N-I-N-G!!!!!!! You whiners and "Oh, woe is me" types need to look around and thank God that this storm wasn't worse than it was! Did anyone see what happened to Galveston, Chystal Beach, or Bolivar? Now, can you imagine what it would have been like if this had been a Cat 3, 4, or 5 storm? OMG! It would have been SO much worse! So thank God that you have all of your fingers and toes, that you're moving air in and out, and you have whatever it is you've been left with; it could have been much, MUCH worse!
Please read MDB's blog about this same topic! It's E-P-I-C!!!!!
For those of you who a) cannot read this typing; (b) are too stupid to fend for yourselves; (c) have a combination of one or the other; (d) have been socialized into the "gimme gimme, something for nothing" society of today.....listen up!
NO ONE OWES YOU A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G!!!!!!! If you're looking to FEMA to make you wealthy or bail you out because you had no insurance, no job, no prospects, no family or whatever........GET OVER YOURSELVES!!!!
Sorry.....but I'm totally sick and tired of listening to the complaining and whining about what FEMA is doing, has done, had NOT done, or whatever. This is TEXAS!!!! We get up in the morning, go to work, and do what we can to solve our own problems! If you're looking to the government for a handout, you're in the wrong place! Go back to Louisiana or wherever it is you came from! We're pretty self-reliant around here and we don't need and don't WANT some pointy-headed bureaucrat telling us what we can and cannot do!
Another aspect of that: Who twisted your arm and forced you to live here? Perhaps this comes as a huge surprise, but living on the Gulf Coast brings with it the hazard of potential hurricanes from time to time! If you're going to live here, you have to accept that possibility, just like you have to come to realize that living on the west coast brings with it the potential for wild fires and earthquakes, living in the midwest exposes you to the possibility of tornados, residing in New England bring the potential for "Noreasters," large river valleys (Mississippi and Ohio, mostly) the possibility of flooding in the spring, etc. Let's face it; just living (period) is not a hazard-free proposition! You choose where you live and face the consequences of your decision! You take the good with the bad and move on!
Oh, and BTW, New Orleans, if you choose to enjoy the "Big Easy" lifestyle, you have to know that living below sea level has "disaster" written all over it! So don't bring your whining around here when your basin fills up and there's no place for the water to go! You knew (or should have known) that it would happen eventually! Get over it!
Meanwhile, I appreciate all of the efforts of everyone who's been trying very hard to restore our power, water, etc. However....I, and many of my close friends here in our neighborhood, had generators and gasoline to provide our own power as we waited in the interim. We don't want, and we don't NEED, the Federal government to bail us out!
Bottom line.....S-T-O-P W-H-I-N-I-N-G!!!!!!! You whiners and "Oh, woe is me" types need to look around and thank God that this storm wasn't worse than it was! Did anyone see what happened to Galveston, Chystal Beach, or Bolivar? Now, can you imagine what it would have been like if this had been a Cat 3, 4, or 5 storm? OMG! It would have been SO much worse! So thank God that you have all of your fingers and toes, that you're moving air in and out, and you have whatever it is you've been left with; it could have been much, MUCH worse!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Greetings from "I-ville!"
Well......back from the brink comes good news!
As many of y'all know, MDB and I live in the portion of southeast Texas that was recently ravaged by Ike.
Thanks a lot, Ike.
The hurricane came ashore about 5 miles from our house and did quite a lot of damage here and there, but not much to speak of at Casa del MDB, praise God! Oh, we lost some shingles and had a couple of sections of fence blow over, but compared with the damages sustained in other parts of town, we got nothing at all to speak of!
My former house in Dickinson did about as well, so praise God for that as well!
Over there, all of the windows were spared; I lost NONE of the sheet metal from my patio cover or from the dog kennel, and I did not lose a single shingle!
My storage building was not so fortunate.
One of the neighbors trees fell on it; a 70' red oak. It landed full force on my neighbors storage building and turned it into a pile of scrap metal, but the upper branches fell on my building. In one spot, it merely punched a hole in the wooden decking (an easy enough repair), but in another area, it broke three rafters AND punched a hole in the decking, which means I'm going to have to take it all the way down to the rafters and replace the rafters, decking, roofing felt, and shingles on that side.
I praise God, though, because some people over there had more than one tree fall on their house rather than their unoccupied storage building and their houses are now uninhabitable; I was much more blessed than that!
The storm hit early Saturday, but we'd already hightailed it to the safety of Abilene late Thursday, so we were nowhere near to see it. The traffic was much better this time than the evacuation for Rita a few years ago. If it had not been, I don't think I'd ever think twice about leaving ever again! Anyway, we came back into town at around 4:00 on Sunday and saw widespread devastation, mostly in damaged roofs and fences and downed trees. Water did not appear to be a big issue on our side of the storm (another "thank God!" by the slimmest of margins, we wound up on the "clean" side when the opposite had been forecast for several days before!).
In any case, power outages were widespread as one might imagine. We only got power back on here a few moments ago.
"Don't it always seem as though, that you don't know what you got till its gone?"
Here's to all the folks out there who still have no power AND to everyone who's out there working hard to restore it. I wouldn't have that job for anything!
A few highlights from the evacuation:
*Police officers should allow traffic signals to do their jobs unless traffic is actually backing up because of it. We hit two major snags on the way out of town. The one in Rosenburg could have been avoided if signals had been allowed to do their jobs and the Police would have stayed out of it.
*One good idea they had there in Rosenburg; they put the signals on flashing yellow there on the main drag so that traffic would simple slow to caution and then advance. Sadly, the state of driver's education in this country is abysmal! People kept STOPPING on the flashing yellow instead of rolling through it at a slower pace! I got very frustrated at this little bit of stupidity, and MDB got frustrated with me as a result...........sorry!
*Another Rosenburg highlight; don't attempt to divert northbound traffic onto a southbound highway INTO the path of the storm! ANYBODY OUT THERE GOT A MAP???? Well, the Police directing traffic apparently didn't; they would NOT allow us to continue north on TX36 when we hit US59, so I whipped into a strip mall and then re-entered the northbound lanes from the other side of the intersection.
*The only other major snag was US290 in Brenham. You have to get onto 290 there to continue on 36, so we did so and promptly ran into the "Houston to Austin" traffic jam. If I'd have known that's what it was, I could have gotten into the left lane and gone straight on 36. I'll know better next time!
Another 'THANK GOD!!!!" Thank God for MDB's brother Wes and his darling bride for allowing us to evacuate to their place for three nights. It was a Godsend and we appreciate them a LOT!!!
By the way.....here comes another one. From the time the storm left town until now, the weather here has been SPECTACULAR!!! The nights have been unseasonably cool and the air's been really dry. What's so great about that? With no A/C, it has been a HUGE blessing to have such cool air in the house to sleep in!
All in all, it's been about as good as this sort of thing can be! Praise God!
As many of y'all know, MDB and I live in the portion of southeast Texas that was recently ravaged by Ike.
Thanks a lot, Ike.
The hurricane came ashore about 5 miles from our house and did quite a lot of damage here and there, but not much to speak of at Casa del MDB, praise God! Oh, we lost some shingles and had a couple of sections of fence blow over, but compared with the damages sustained in other parts of town, we got nothing at all to speak of!
My former house in Dickinson did about as well, so praise God for that as well!
Over there, all of the windows were spared; I lost NONE of the sheet metal from my patio cover or from the dog kennel, and I did not lose a single shingle!
My storage building was not so fortunate.
One of the neighbors trees fell on it; a 70' red oak. It landed full force on my neighbors storage building and turned it into a pile of scrap metal, but the upper branches fell on my building. In one spot, it merely punched a hole in the wooden decking (an easy enough repair), but in another area, it broke three rafters AND punched a hole in the decking, which means I'm going to have to take it all the way down to the rafters and replace the rafters, decking, roofing felt, and shingles on that side.
I praise God, though, because some people over there had more than one tree fall on their house rather than their unoccupied storage building and their houses are now uninhabitable; I was much more blessed than that!
The storm hit early Saturday, but we'd already hightailed it to the safety of Abilene late Thursday, so we were nowhere near to see it. The traffic was much better this time than the evacuation for Rita a few years ago. If it had not been, I don't think I'd ever think twice about leaving ever again! Anyway, we came back into town at around 4:00 on Sunday and saw widespread devastation, mostly in damaged roofs and fences and downed trees. Water did not appear to be a big issue on our side of the storm (another "thank God!" by the slimmest of margins, we wound up on the "clean" side when the opposite had been forecast for several days before!).
In any case, power outages were widespread as one might imagine. We only got power back on here a few moments ago.
"Don't it always seem as though, that you don't know what you got till its gone?"
Here's to all the folks out there who still have no power AND to everyone who's out there working hard to restore it. I wouldn't have that job for anything!
A few highlights from the evacuation:
*Police officers should allow traffic signals to do their jobs unless traffic is actually backing up because of it. We hit two major snags on the way out of town. The one in Rosenburg could have been avoided if signals had been allowed to do their jobs and the Police would have stayed out of it.
*One good idea they had there in Rosenburg; they put the signals on flashing yellow there on the main drag so that traffic would simple slow to caution and then advance. Sadly, the state of driver's education in this country is abysmal! People kept STOPPING on the flashing yellow instead of rolling through it at a slower pace! I got very frustrated at this little bit of stupidity, and MDB got frustrated with me as a result...........sorry!
*Another Rosenburg highlight; don't attempt to divert northbound traffic onto a southbound highway INTO the path of the storm! ANYBODY OUT THERE GOT A MAP???? Well, the Police directing traffic apparently didn't; they would NOT allow us to continue north on TX36 when we hit US59, so I whipped into a strip mall and then re-entered the northbound lanes from the other side of the intersection.
*The only other major snag was US290 in Brenham. You have to get onto 290 there to continue on 36, so we did so and promptly ran into the "Houston to Austin" traffic jam. If I'd have known that's what it was, I could have gotten into the left lane and gone straight on 36. I'll know better next time!
Another 'THANK GOD!!!!" Thank God for MDB's brother Wes and his darling bride for allowing us to evacuate to their place for three nights. It was a Godsend and we appreciate them a LOT!!!
By the way.....here comes another one. From the time the storm left town until now, the weather here has been SPECTACULAR!!! The nights have been unseasonably cool and the air's been really dry. What's so great about that? With no A/C, it has been a HUGE blessing to have such cool air in the house to sleep in!
All in all, it's been about as good as this sort of thing can be! Praise God!
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Update
Well, there is certainly no shortage of stuff to report about.....so let's get to it!
School started back up on 8-26, which means that football season is in high gear! Well.....sort of! Our numbers are down this year, so we probably don't have enough 7th graders to make an A and a B team and our 8th grade numbers aren't much better.
Ready or not, games start in a week!
Somehow, we dodged another bullet. Gustov landed to the east of us, but not a direct hit upon precious New Orleans. It's time for a little straight talk about that place!
I'm not one of those "God's Vengeance" zealots, but I do believe that poor choices lead to poor consequences. New Orleans has reveled in its debauchery for a long time and it was that very "lawless" attitude that created such a group of needy people who somehow felt entitled to instant transportation, instant sustenance and instant shelter the last time a hurricane hit there. Let me tell you something; if you build a city below sea level, don't act surprised when it floods! If you failed to heed warnings and get out of Dodge when you had a chance, don't cry when you get trapped! If you have leaders who have never heard "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail!", then you reap what you sew!
Props to NO this time; they apparently learned their lesson the last time! This time, they got people out and refused to listen to "No." They got tough on lawlessness. They made sure that there were enough police, National Guard, and other law enforcement there to handle whatever happened. Good job, NO!!
My very favorite time of the year is upon us; the beginning of the NFL football season! I have high hopes for my beloved Browns, of course, but the trepidation there is the extrememly horrible pre-season they had and all of the injuries they've incurred. Not only that, but their 10-6 season last year set them up for a really tough schedule this year, so a duplicate season will be much harder to come by!
I've learned something difficult the last year or so.
Be careful what you wish for!
The year before last, I had no honors classes, only one conference period every-other day, AND a group of losers who were grouped into a class called "Study Skills." Why a group like that, with absolutely no interest in study PERIOD were enrolled in that class, I have no idea, but there they were none-the-less!
Woo-boy!
Last year, I had the honors classes, two conference periods, and NO silly loser class to deal with. AWESOME!!!
This year, I've got the honors classes again, a relatively small class load, and a first year teacher to mentor! The extra training involved has me attending class every Saturday for the next six weeks, so I won't see MDB on a Saturday morning for quite a while.
Like I said, be careful what you wish for!
School started back up on 8-26, which means that football season is in high gear! Well.....sort of! Our numbers are down this year, so we probably don't have enough 7th graders to make an A and a B team and our 8th grade numbers aren't much better.
Ready or not, games start in a week!
Somehow, we dodged another bullet. Gustov landed to the east of us, but not a direct hit upon precious New Orleans. It's time for a little straight talk about that place!
I'm not one of those "God's Vengeance" zealots, but I do believe that poor choices lead to poor consequences. New Orleans has reveled in its debauchery for a long time and it was that very "lawless" attitude that created such a group of needy people who somehow felt entitled to instant transportation, instant sustenance and instant shelter the last time a hurricane hit there. Let me tell you something; if you build a city below sea level, don't act surprised when it floods! If you failed to heed warnings and get out of Dodge when you had a chance, don't cry when you get trapped! If you have leaders who have never heard "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail!", then you reap what you sew!
Props to NO this time; they apparently learned their lesson the last time! This time, they got people out and refused to listen to "No." They got tough on lawlessness. They made sure that there were enough police, National Guard, and other law enforcement there to handle whatever happened. Good job, NO!!
My very favorite time of the year is upon us; the beginning of the NFL football season! I have high hopes for my beloved Browns, of course, but the trepidation there is the extrememly horrible pre-season they had and all of the injuries they've incurred. Not only that, but their 10-6 season last year set them up for a really tough schedule this year, so a duplicate season will be much harder to come by!
I've learned something difficult the last year or so.
Be careful what you wish for!
The year before last, I had no honors classes, only one conference period every-other day, AND a group of losers who were grouped into a class called "Study Skills." Why a group like that, with absolutely no interest in study PERIOD were enrolled in that class, I have no idea, but there they were none-the-less!
Woo-boy!
Last year, I had the honors classes, two conference periods, and NO silly loser class to deal with. AWESOME!!!
This year, I've got the honors classes again, a relatively small class load, and a first year teacher to mentor! The extra training involved has me attending class every Saturday for the next six weeks, so I won't see MDB on a Saturday morning for quite a while.
Like I said, be careful what you wish for!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Don't the weird ones come out on "hurricane's eve?"
Well, we're praying (naturally) that Gustav goes elsewhere (except NO; I think those poor folks have had ENOUGH for awhile!), but people are coming up from the river bottoms and swamps to get "supplied up" at the neighborhood Wally World!
Seriously! We saw momma Cletus, papa Cletus, Grandpa Cletus, Grandma Cletus, Aunt and uncle Cletus, and all the little baby Cletuses right there at our own little neighborhood Wally World just a-shopping away. Strangely enough, we saw them on the soap aisle, but who knows why THAT is!? Maybe they were looking for something to keep the varmints away under higher than normal tide conditions....
All I know is that all of the Frenchmen in the store ran the other direction!
Anyway, there's nothing like an impending storm to bring them out of the woodwork!
Pretty convenient, actually. Aunt Cletus and momma Cletus is the same person....
Anyway, what happens to all of the stuff that gets purchased in the name of hurricane preparation? I mean, a lot of stuff has a relatively short shelf life and, God knows, we pray that we buy stuff that we will never need....
I pray now that we won't need any of the stuff we bought this time, either!
Seriously! We saw momma Cletus, papa Cletus, Grandpa Cletus, Grandma Cletus, Aunt and uncle Cletus, and all the little baby Cletuses right there at our own little neighborhood Wally World just a-shopping away. Strangely enough, we saw them on the soap aisle, but who knows why THAT is!? Maybe they were looking for something to keep the varmints away under higher than normal tide conditions....
All I know is that all of the Frenchmen in the store ran the other direction!
Anyway, there's nothing like an impending storm to bring them out of the woodwork!
Pretty convenient, actually. Aunt Cletus and momma Cletus is the same person....
Anyway, what happens to all of the stuff that gets purchased in the name of hurricane preparation? I mean, a lot of stuff has a relatively short shelf life and, God knows, we pray that we buy stuff that we will never need....
I pray now that we won't need any of the stuff we bought this time, either!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Water is wet, sky is blue and...
...you didn't have to be a freakin' Kreskin to predict this one! That's right! Bill and Hillary are upset and tensions between them and the Obama campaign threaten to boil over onto the convention floor and split the Democratic party wide open!
Bill and Hillary......causing DIVISION in America?!?!
N-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O!!!!!!!!!!
Could these people be ANY more predictable if they tried? If someone had said, "Hey, Dan! Bill is going to pitch a fit because the convention isn't about HIM and what he considers to be his accomplishments and Hillary is going to pitch a fit because the convention isn't about her and her total LACK of accomplishment! What do you think about that?"
Sky is blue..... water is wet.....Bill and Hillary will ALWAYS do whatever serves their own selfish interest EVERY time!
And the Dems wonder why the 'Pubs have to run a total statue to lose!
Incredible!
Bill and Hillary......causing DIVISION in America?!?!
N-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O!!!!!!!!!!
Could these people be ANY more predictable if they tried? If someone had said, "Hey, Dan! Bill is going to pitch a fit because the convention isn't about HIM and what he considers to be his accomplishments and Hillary is going to pitch a fit because the convention isn't about her and her total LACK of accomplishment! What do you think about that?"
Sky is blue..... water is wet.....Bill and Hillary will ALWAYS do whatever serves their own selfish interest EVERY time!
And the Dems wonder why the 'Pubs have to run a total statue to lose!
Incredible!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Can manners make a comeback?
Hello again, dear blogfan!
An incident happened to MDB earlier that reminded me of one of my "hot buttons;" the disappearance of common courtesy and good old-fashioned manners in today's society.
It seems that MDB was carrying on a conversation with a friend when another lady came up and interrupted the conversation they were carrying on and interjected her own subject, all without apology or apparent awareness of the fact that what she'd done was just wrong!
This lady has an uncanny likeness to a cartoon character that my kids watched. But her appearance has little to do with what irks me about her behavior. Sadly, it's not even her; it's the trend in our society to mirror the behavior that she so clearly demonstrated this morning!
I wish her behavior was an aberration. Unfortunately, it is not. I see every day that children are NOT being taught what was once called "common" courtesy. Sadly, it's not nearly as common as it once was. Things that I would never dream of are typical now. I would NEVER stand in some one's personal space while they're clearly involved in something else already EXPECTING them to drop what they're doing and pay attention to me, but that sort of thing happens constantly now! I would NEVER interrupt someone else's conversation with one of my own, but that rude action is repeated multiple times every day in this day and age! I will strive to ALWAYS be on time for whatever it is I'm expected to attend. In fact, I generally make it a rule to be there at least 15 minutes early. I guess it's not that the acts described are rude or indicative of a lack of respect for others; it's just that such behaviors, at least to me, indicate that the actor believes that his/her time is somehow more valuable than mine or that whatever he/she has on his/her mind is much more important than whatever it is I'm engaged in at the moment.
Uhhhh......no it's not!
To all you other piglets out there - whatever you've got on your mind is NOT more important that the thoughts or conversations of others! Your pressing matter is seldom if EVER more important than what's already being pursued! What you consider an emergency is hardly ever an actual emergency!
Get over yourself, piglet!
Next topic - ATTENDING A SEMINAR JUST SO THAT YOU CAN MAKE COMMENTS TO PROVE TO EVERYONE IN THE ROOM HOW SMART YOU ARE
Uhhh....seminars are held for LEARNING!!!! People who attend them are there to LEARN!!!! If you already know everything in the world (or think you do), WHY ARE YOU GOING TO A SEMINAR?????
Stay home next time. Everyone already knows you're the smartest guy in the room. How could we not? You've been telling us for YEARS!!!
Stay home next time; Or, barring that, get there on TIME and LEARN HOW TO PUT A FREAKIN' CELL PHONE ON VIBRATE, FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!!!!
You'd think the smartest guy in the world would know how to read a clock and show up on time for a seminar AND would NOT get outsmarted by a cell phone CONTINUALLY, but then, evidence seems to be incontrovertible!
There.....I feel better now!
PS - Can you tell I've been to WAY too many seminars lately? Can we just get school started already?
Thanks! I feel better now!
An incident happened to MDB earlier that reminded me of one of my "hot buttons;" the disappearance of common courtesy and good old-fashioned manners in today's society.
It seems that MDB was carrying on a conversation with a friend when another lady came up and interrupted the conversation they were carrying on and interjected her own subject, all without apology or apparent awareness of the fact that what she'd done was just wrong!
This lady has an uncanny likeness to a cartoon character that my kids watched. But her appearance has little to do with what irks me about her behavior. Sadly, it's not even her; it's the trend in our society to mirror the behavior that she so clearly demonstrated this morning!
I wish her behavior was an aberration. Unfortunately, it is not. I see every day that children are NOT being taught what was once called "common" courtesy. Sadly, it's not nearly as common as it once was. Things that I would never dream of are typical now. I would NEVER stand in some one's personal space while they're clearly involved in something else already EXPECTING them to drop what they're doing and pay attention to me, but that sort of thing happens constantly now! I would NEVER interrupt someone else's conversation with one of my own, but that rude action is repeated multiple times every day in this day and age! I will strive to ALWAYS be on time for whatever it is I'm expected to attend. In fact, I generally make it a rule to be there at least 15 minutes early. I guess it's not that the acts described are rude or indicative of a lack of respect for others; it's just that such behaviors, at least to me, indicate that the actor believes that his/her time is somehow more valuable than mine or that whatever he/she has on his/her mind is much more important than whatever it is I'm engaged in at the moment.
Uhhhh......no it's not!
To all you other piglets out there - whatever you've got on your mind is NOT more important that the thoughts or conversations of others! Your pressing matter is seldom if EVER more important than what's already being pursued! What you consider an emergency is hardly ever an actual emergency!
Get over yourself, piglet!
Next topic - ATTENDING A SEMINAR JUST SO THAT YOU CAN MAKE COMMENTS TO PROVE TO EVERYONE IN THE ROOM HOW SMART YOU ARE
Uhhh....seminars are held for LEARNING!!!! People who attend them are there to LEARN!!!! If you already know everything in the world (or think you do), WHY ARE YOU GOING TO A SEMINAR?????
Stay home next time. Everyone already knows you're the smartest guy in the room. How could we not? You've been telling us for YEARS!!!
Stay home next time; Or, barring that, get there on TIME and LEARN HOW TO PUT A FREAKIN' CELL PHONE ON VIBRATE, FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!!!!
You'd think the smartest guy in the world would know how to read a clock and show up on time for a seminar AND would NOT get outsmarted by a cell phone CONTINUALLY, but then, evidence seems to be incontrovertible!
There.....I feel better now!
PS - Can you tell I've been to WAY too many seminars lately? Can we just get school started already?
Thanks! I feel better now!
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Someone please tell me what "Final" means!
Hi there!
I saw an article the other day ( I wish I could remember where!) that said that video game players were playing a certain video game with the name "Final" in the title and were passing out and dying as they tried to save whatever from a virtual enemy that you or I have never heard of....
Got that!?
That's right! A certain group of losers are playing a video game until they pass out or actually DIE from lack of food and/or water.
Of course, this video game is one I've played myself a few times before it went "online." In the old days, you died, you tried again, and then you quit! It wasn't a "lifestyle" per se!
That was then.....this is now!
Now, in the latest version, you join other virtual warriors and battle imaginary enemies till you can't see straight (allegedly).
Sounds like fun, huh?
Not so much!
Final question. This is the 14th chapter in this series of video games. What part of "final" did you fail to understand?
I saw an article the other day ( I wish I could remember where!) that said that video game players were playing a certain video game with the name "Final" in the title and were passing out and dying as they tried to save whatever from a virtual enemy that you or I have never heard of....
Got that!?
That's right! A certain group of losers are playing a video game until they pass out or actually DIE from lack of food and/or water.
Of course, this video game is one I've played myself a few times before it went "online." In the old days, you died, you tried again, and then you quit! It wasn't a "lifestyle" per se!
That was then.....this is now!
Now, in the latest version, you join other virtual warriors and battle imaginary enemies till you can't see straight (allegedly).
Sounds like fun, huh?
Not so much!
Final question. This is the 14th chapter in this series of video games. What part of "final" did you fail to understand?
Life update
Well, dear reader (there's only one, hence the lack of the plural), you can probably tell I'm back to work from the lack of posts lately. Actually, I've sat down to post a couple of times and thought, "I really don't have anything to say....why manufacture something just to be blathering on?", so I didn't post at all. However, I thought I'd fill you in on what has been going on just so.
As mentioned, we're back to work full time now. We won't see the kids until this coming Tuesday, but we're hard at it preparing our rooms and doing staff development trying to make sure we're ready. On my 7th grade team, there are only a few of us left from last year and my cohort across the hall is not only new to the building, but new to the profession as well. He's former military and had gone into some sort of counseling field before this, so he's got a lot on the ball, but I'm afraid his expectations are too high and he's going to be disappointed by the level of kids he's going to get.
It's like riding a bike; you've got to fall and scrape up your knees a bunch of times until you figure out how to make this gadget work!
In any case, they had a "secret" meeting on Thursday that I was surreptitiously invited to attend. I had no idea what it was for, but it turned out that they wanted me to be my new cohort's official "mentor" teacher. Being the official mentor is detailed and somewhat tedious, but it does add a little to your paycheck and, more importantly, if you do it right, you can develop someone into a really good teacher who will thank you for your efforts in the future. I was mentor to the person who was named our district's secondary teacher of the year last year, so I know that it's possible to take someone who's never taught and turn them into someone who teaches very well.
Along those same lines, my poor mentee is freaking out because of all of the various initiatives they lay on us this time of year. Happens every year! The administrators get all pumped up and tell us about all of these wonderful things that are going to happen (well, wonderful in THEIR eyes because they're not the ones doing the work most of the time!) and about all of these new programs that are being initiated.....blah....blah....blah. I told my cohort not to worry too much; it happens every year. They come in, freak us out with all of this stuff that we're supposedly going to be doing that we KNOW we don't have time for, and that's as far as it gets; the planning stage! This year the administrators are supposed to do 20 walk-throughs a WEEK and we're supposed to observe someone else teaching on some interval that wasn't shared. Uhhhhhhh........that's not happening; at least it's not happening IF you want grades turned in on time and lesson plans turned in on time AND parent contacts made. Yes, boys and girls, we're supposed to start turning in a parent contact log every two weeks along with our lesson plans! Here's how this is going to go:
"Hello, this is Dan at your child's school. Could I speak with Mrs. Martinez, please?"
"Hola? Como Esta? Su Iglesia con nino?"
"Sorry, ma'am, no comprende! I'll call back when I learn to hable some espanol. Click"
I'm really going to try on this one, actually! Making parent contact has consistently been a shortcoming of mine, so I'm really going to work on it this year. I'm going to make at least two calls every day and even if they really do turn out like the one above, I'm going to log and turn them in.
Well, wish us Godspeed as we move into the new school year!
As mentioned, we're back to work full time now. We won't see the kids until this coming Tuesday, but we're hard at it preparing our rooms and doing staff development trying to make sure we're ready. On my 7th grade team, there are only a few of us left from last year and my cohort across the hall is not only new to the building, but new to the profession as well. He's former military and had gone into some sort of counseling field before this, so he's got a lot on the ball, but I'm afraid his expectations are too high and he's going to be disappointed by the level of kids he's going to get.
It's like riding a bike; you've got to fall and scrape up your knees a bunch of times until you figure out how to make this gadget work!
In any case, they had a "secret" meeting on Thursday that I was surreptitiously invited to attend. I had no idea what it was for, but it turned out that they wanted me to be my new cohort's official "mentor" teacher. Being the official mentor is detailed and somewhat tedious, but it does add a little to your paycheck and, more importantly, if you do it right, you can develop someone into a really good teacher who will thank you for your efforts in the future. I was mentor to the person who was named our district's secondary teacher of the year last year, so I know that it's possible to take someone who's never taught and turn them into someone who teaches very well.
Along those same lines, my poor mentee is freaking out because of all of the various initiatives they lay on us this time of year. Happens every year! The administrators get all pumped up and tell us about all of these wonderful things that are going to happen (well, wonderful in THEIR eyes because they're not the ones doing the work most of the time!) and about all of these new programs that are being initiated.....blah....blah....blah. I told my cohort not to worry too much; it happens every year. They come in, freak us out with all of this stuff that we're supposedly going to be doing that we KNOW we don't have time for, and that's as far as it gets; the planning stage! This year the administrators are supposed to do 20 walk-throughs a WEEK and we're supposed to observe someone else teaching on some interval that wasn't shared. Uhhhhhhh........that's not happening; at least it's not happening IF you want grades turned in on time and lesson plans turned in on time AND parent contacts made. Yes, boys and girls, we're supposed to start turning in a parent contact log every two weeks along with our lesson plans! Here's how this is going to go:
"Hello, this is Dan at your child's school. Could I speak with Mrs. Martinez, please?"
"Hola? Como Esta? Su Iglesia con nino?"
"Sorry, ma'am, no comprende! I'll call back when I learn to hable some espanol. Click"
I'm really going to try on this one, actually! Making parent contact has consistently been a shortcoming of mine, so I'm really going to work on it this year. I'm going to make at least two calls every day and even if they really do turn out like the one above, I'm going to log and turn them in.
Well, wish us Godspeed as we move into the new school year!
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