An Uproar

So the local hypocritical Christians are in an uproar again. This time against ME!

You see it all goes back several years ago when I found a loophole in the law. You see, the law allows me to something rather unique on my property. I am allowed to kill anyone for any reason or no reason, as long as they are on my property. Things were slow at first, but after a while people would start bringing other people to me so I could kill them too. You see, it doesn't matter if they come willingly or if they are forced onto my property, as long as they are on my property its all legal.

I started earning enough money from this little endeavor that even tho there are those who don't like it I have been able to purchase some rather considerable influence with the politicians and they in turn have ensured that this loophole is not closed. Its a pretty good deal. I get paid, and others get to be rid of someone who is bothering them. It's my right after all, and ain't no one gonna stop me.

But those darn Christians keep at it. Its gotten so bad that I have had to go to the courts to enact a "bubble zone" to keep these Christians away, and the local police force has to stand watch to ensure that my rights are not violated by those who wish to take away not just my rights, but yours as well!

They are a huge nuisance. They picket my house, shouting their inane slogans and showing pictures they have obtained of dismembered corpses (how else am I going to dispose of them?) My neighbors have complained, but there is nothing I can do about it. There is just no reasoning with these backwards people. They are all fascists who listen to their imaginary friend and are always looking for ways to control my life and those who come to me. So far the courts have upheld our freedoms, but we must remain vigilant to see that those control freaks don't take them all away.

Ethanol Causing Price Hikes For Beer Drinkers

The Gazette has an article today stating that there is a price-hike going on amongst the beer brewers, particularly the smaller specialty brewers (meaning everything not Coors, Bud or Miller.) This increase is due to farmers growing corn in response to the artificially inflated demand for ethanol (created by government mandate for ethanol fuel) which has predictably caused a shortage of other crops, barley and hops in this article.

It seems that I have read about this previously... Oh yeah, on my own blog. Seems I wrote about this" over a year ago.

Way to go FedGov! Just keep ignoring economics, its worked so well for us so far.

Lil' Bear Is Growin' Up!

Boy do they grow up fast! My boy just used his super deluxe music-playing potty-sensing big boy potty for the first time today. Not once, but twice. Now the question is, which is worse, changing diapers, or hearing DAAAAD WIPE MY BUTT! There is no dignity in either one but one I am used to and the other is new.

Also, I read that you can get a good estimate of a child's adult height by measuring them at age 2. A boy will be 49.5% of his full height and a girl 52.5%. Having measured my boy he should reach about 5'10 or 5'11.

More Government Spying

The Federal Government is set to give immunity to telecom companies that broke the law by handing over information to the federal government.

The Senate on Tuesday approved new rules for government eavesdropping on phone calls and e-mails, giving the White House much of the latitude it wanted and granting legal immunity to telecommunications companies that helped in the snooping after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The House version did not include this immunity but from what the article states they are now wanting to adopt this provision.

Worse, Bush states that the Senate bill provides "fair and just liability protection to those private companies who have been sued for billions of dollars only because they are believed to have done the right thing and assisted the nation after the September 11th terrorist attacks." This "right thing" of course was flagrantly breaking the law for a white House that believes the Constitution is nothing more than a "god-damned piece of paper" and has no respect for the Rights of the Citizenry. The current administration has been hell-bent on reducing the freedoms that Americans have, apparently pursuing a goal of reducing our freedom so that those who "hate us for our freedom" will hate us less.

There is a possibility that the House will fight this provision. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers said Tuesday he still opposes retroactive immunity, also writing "There is no basis for the broad telecommunications company amnesty provisions advocated by the administration." But I think that longtime observers of our Government know full well that they will give in.

Hungry anyone?

I was getting ready for work on Monday and my Lil Bear was sitting on the floor playing and said something to me. I didn't understand and he repeated it a couple of times and he was extending his closed hand towards me. I leaned in closer to try to understand him...

"Wanna knuckle sammich?"

I about died of laughter! He just keeps getting cuter and more precious.

FEMA and Katrina

Guess what? I just found out that FEMA is STILL paying rent for victims of Katrina. Just so you don't have to look anything up, Katrina hit New Orleans on August 23rd, 2005. So FEMA has been paying rent for who knows how many people for... 29 months.

Government Intelligence

The largest vehicle in the world is the one that moves the space shuttle. This thing is a massive 3,300 tons and has a maximum speed of 2 MPH. In the interests of safety the driver is required to wear a seat belt.

In Colorado Springs the police had a three hour standoff with a sleeping man after hearing an "unloaded gun being fired"

Officers went to the Summer Grove Apartments, about 4 a.m., on a report of gunfire. During a search in the building, an officer heard what sounded like an unloaded pistol being fired in apartment No. X.

So jut what does an "unloaded pistol" sound like when it is being fired? Mine sounds like "click click" In fact, every gun I have ever owned sounded an awful lot like "click click" when being fired when unloaded. I for one am grateful that CSPD has taken extra steps to protect us from dry firing by hiring officers with them big everlasting ears.

Amazing F-15

I always loved the now-grounded F-15. It is an incredible jet with some impressive capabilities, but flying on one wing is not something I was aware of.



For those of you on dialup, this F-15 was in a mid-air crash and actually lost a wing but they were able to fly ten miles and land it. Cool stuff!

Guiness Records

An interesting and a stupid record

The interesting record is a new pool in Algarrobo, Chile. Guinness World Records named the swimming pool at the Chilean San Alfonso del Mar resort the world's largest on Tuesday. It is 3,323-feet long, holds 250,000 cubic meters of water and covers about 20 acres. It is a saltwater pool that pulls in and cleans water from the ocean.
The next largest pool? 450x300 feet in Morocco.


And now for the stupid record:

Just who enabled this woman? And for how many years have they had to do it? Its one thing to bathe and wipe the butt of a loved one who is sick or old, but this woman is neither (tho maybe a bit sick in the head) She can't cook, she can't clean, she cant drive, she probably cannot work at all, likely needs assistance with getting dressed, and she cant use the bathroom by herself. Definitely stupid.

For You!

You know who you are!






For those not in the know, this is an Indian actor named Surya.

Miscellania

You know it is bad when you don't even bother to check your own blog. I havent had much time to keep up on this lately. Nothing new there tho.

Lets see... Two Sundays ago Lil Bear put on my shoes and start walking around the house. He kept repeating "Wearing daddies shoes, Ha Ha, wearing Daddies shoes, Ha Ha" with the occasional "Harder to walk, harder to walk" thrown in. Very very cute. He is talking, making sentences, singing to quite a few songs, even ones that he hears for the very first time. He got VERY excited about Rich Mullin's One Thing which he loudly sung along to despite the fact we haven't listened to it for quite some time. In fact it was perhaps a month before he even cared about the music. We also have quite the band going on with a kazoo, bongos, a drum, maracas and a harmonica he recently learned how to play.

He'll be two in less than two weeks. My lil boy is growing up! (sniff) He talks about dinosaurs and sharks and how they try to bite your fingers and feet. and when we go to the store he will hop up on the cart to escape from the sharks. But when he isn't dodging sharks he wants to push or pull the cart and I had better not interfere. in fact I had best just step aside. Either that or he wont have anything to do with the cart at all

Some of you people are making me feel inadequate with my posts. Triton and Wes both just put out books. Wes actually put out a trilogy while Triton just put up a single tome. But it doesn't matter. You know why? Darnit, I don't either and I was hoping you might.

Ben Bernanke and all the rest of the Fed are thieving bastards. The deserve to be beaten, tar'ed and feathered. And then strung up by their toes and waterboarded. And when that is done thrown overboard into shark infested waters, and shot just to make sure there is some blood in the water. They have stolen so much from the middle class that if a number could be put on it there would be riots. But before that number is known there is other bad financial news. Seems yesterday is being called "Black Monday" and the US markets were spared only due to the fact that they were closed.

okay, thats it. No more. Come back later. Theres nothing to see here now.

Downfall Of An Empire

The following excerpt is from Pat Buchanan's latest op-ed.

Last week, Moody's warned that if the United States fails to rein in the soaring cost of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the nation's credit rating will be down-graded within a decade.

Our political parties seem oblivious. Republicans, save Ron Paul, are all promising to expand the U.S. military and maintain all of our worldwide commitments to defend and subsidize scores of nations.

Democrats, with entitlement costs drowning the federal budget in red ink, are proposing a new entitlement – universal health coverage for the near 50 million who do not have it – another magnet for illegal aliens. Moody's is telling America it needs a time of austerity, while the U.S. government is behaving like the governments we used to bail out.

This self-indulgent generation has borrowed itself into unpayable debt. Now the folks from whom we borrowed to buy all that oil and all those cars, electronics and clothes are coming to buy the country we inherited. We are prodigal sons, and the day of reckoning approaches.

The same day we have a story of a 2nd state approving an end run around the electoral system which is sure to upset the larger area of the country. This end run will allow just 11 states to control the presidential elections, the will of the other states be damned. And altho the middle of the country is less populated it also produces the majority of the food and ores (and soon the fuel) necessary for the functioning of the country.

This country is rapidly heading for a cliff with the recession that is already upon us, the outrageous Inflation Tax (the core cause of the high oil prices), the collapse of the housing bubble and the corresponding banking crisis, the retirement of the Baby Boomers, an ever expanding so-called "War On Terror" for which we cannot pay and have to borrow to finance leading to ever higher inflation and debt. And to top it off the Citizens are lulled into complacency with their bread and circuses, currently the NFL playoffs, Jamie Lynn Spears shocking pregnancy, Brittney Spears custody issues and Dr. Phil's desperate attempt to help Brittney.

Illegal Aliens

I was watching a news report on the Latino vote (Latino always being perfectly accented of course) and how it will affect the primaries and the election. It seems that for them the talk about illegal aliens or "undocumented workers" is really just "bashing brown people." Even for the Puerto Ricans who are citizens from birth, they see illegal aliens as their "brothers." But this is really a nonsensical position. Talking about the problem with illegal immigration is not bashing Latinos, rather it is recognizing that there are people who are coming into our country illegally and this quite specifically does NOT include Puerto Ricans.

There are currently 12-20 million illegals here in the States. Due to the large amount of illegals in the country and because they are largely uneducated (tho not unskilled) what we have seen is a suppression of wages in all labor markets. Be it factories, construction, slaughterhouses, or janitorial the jobs requiring labor have all seen their wages drop or remain stagnant (which means they drop due to inflation.) These are male dominated industries and therefore affects men more so than women, and has no doubt had a large impact on the black community, which was also pointed out in the report I was watching. Many of the jobs that the Blacks have held they hold no longer as illegals will do the job for much less. Nor do the illegals complain as they quite simply can't complain. Their employer would just fire them and there can be no legal recourse when you aren't here legally to begin with.

It is impossible to say just how many jobs those illegals hold as they are "undocumented" and companies cover them up to stay out of trouble. And some of these jobs cater almost exclusively to the Latino/illegal community, things such as the local carnicerias which don't get much business from the White, Black or Asian communities, so in some aspects some of these jobs are irrelevant when figuring out the economic impact of removing these illegals from the country.

Another point that needs to be considered is just how much money LEAVES the US via these "undocumented workers." Remittances is the 3rd largest source of foreign income for Mexico, just after maquiladora (the assembly-for-export sector) and oil. In 2005 that total was 20.6 billion. But of course it isn't just Mexico. A total of 75 billion (in 2002) leaves our economy every year, Mexico is just the largest single destination. Now when a dollar circulates it is said to circulate a total of seven times, which would give us a total of 450 billion in wealth that isn't happening here in the States. And please don't be fooled into thinking that that money will buy US products because it won't. It will buy local goods or Chinese goods, just like what we buy. That money is forever lost to the US economy, it will never buy goods here, never create jobs here, never sustain jobs here and will never pay taxes here.

There are social issues that need to be considered. The main issue is that we really ARE headed into a recession, and that means that society is going to look for scapegoats. One can argue whether or not it is right, but you might as well argue against the sun rising. Its going to happen. And with the moral structure of this country in such horrendous shape there will be violence, and that violence will beget even more violence. But it can be reduced if we act now in helping the illegals self deport. Some states are already passing and enforcing legislation that is encouraging the illegals to "self deport." Oklahoma, Colorado and Arizona are among the vanguard in that respect. Arizona is particularly strict. If a company knowingly hires and illegal their business license will be suspended for 10 days, while a second violation could mean their business license is revoked entirely.

The effects of these new laws have not yet been seen, nor can it be known where these illegals will go, be it back to their country of origin, or more likely to another State. But what is certain is that the illegal immigration problem will be resolved one way or another. Personally I prefer the most peaceful method possible as it would be both peaceful and most likely it would also be gradual which would allow the economy to adjust to the loss of workers and the reassigning/adjusting of economic priorities that will no doubt take place.

Miscellany

Some updates to the blogroll...
I added MikeT and WonderWoman, both of whom I have been reading for a while but was too lazy to link to. I also updated the links to Birdie and Heidi as they have migrated off of blogger.

I added two new blogs. Bethyada who often writes on biblical topics writes to such a level that I am often in way over my head anymore. I hope that with a return to working days that will stop... Also added the Elusive Wapiti. Good stuff over there as well, Triton I think you will like that blog if you haven't already checked it out.

In other news, Doctors suck! By and large they are a waste of time and money. It took almost a decade to get diagnosed as hypothyroid and add another ten on top of that to figure out that I have a wheat allergy (kinda hard to figure that one out perhaps as it is in darn near everything) but that was figured out with no help from the medical community after my older brother was finally diagnosed with Celiac's, which is perhaps a more advanced form of wheat allergy.

I printed up a 16x20 of one of my photos and I am happy to say that it printed perfectly with no flaws and none of my edits showing. The edits I made we to remove numerous birds from the background that showed up more as specks than anything else, as well as to remove a stick from the water that detracted from the reflection of the hot air balloons. Now I need to find a pic that I am willing to get blown up even larger, possibly in the 30x40 range, but it is going to cost about $50 to do so so I am reluctant to do it. And having printed in glossy I am wondering how the "matte" option would look. Maybe I will print up an 8x10 (cost $5) to see the difference.

Workin' For A Livin'

Huey Lewis and Garth Brooks:


Man, Huey plays one mean harmonica!

Then there is this guy Buddy Greene who is incredible:

Iowa Caucus prediction

Okay, tonight is the night. We finally get to see where the candidates stand (at least in Iowa 'eh?)

My prediction is for Huckabee, Romney and then Paul taking 3rd place. On the Democrat side I think it is FAR too close to predict anything but I would like to see Edwards pull off a win there. It might not catapult him into the nomination, but it would be great to see the Hillary machine suffer a defeat despite all their money.

So-Called Scientific Polling

This pic is an example of just why current methods of polling is about worthless.


Its all over the place. On the extreme end of things, Huckabee is at 23% in one and 36% in the next and Paul is at 10% and then 1%. How can this possibly be? Can a persons support jump 13% practically overnight? I would posit that it isn't possible without some fairly major event taking place, perhaps a disaster or attack or a candidate dropping out of the race. Therefor so-called "scientific" polling is dead or dying. It is no longer a reliable method of gauging public opinion and will need to be reworked in short order to remain valid.

Graphic is from RealClearPolitics.com specifically from the Iowa Republican race.

A Party Divided

Taken from Phyllis Schlafly's WND Column

A book of political history from 2003 called "Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield" (Carroll & Graf) might provide the model. Kenneth D. Ackerman tells the fascinating story of how the 1880 Republican National Convention in Chicago deadlocked, with three sets of delegates unwilling to abandon their first choice, and a totally unexpected non-candidate dark horse named James A. Garfield was nominated on the 36th ballot and then elected president.

Sen. James G. Blaine of Maine was the first major name placed in nomination, soon followed by New York powerhouse Sen. Roscoe Conkling's nomination of war hero Gen. U.S. Grant for a third term. The third major contender was Treasury Secretary John Sherman, nominated by his friend and campaign manager, Sen.-elect James A. Garfield.

The first ballot on Monday, June 7, produced Grant, 304; Blaine, 284; Sherman, 93; and a handful of votes for minor candidates. All were well short of the 379 votes needed to win.

It took two days and 36 ballots to make Garfield, who wasn't even running, the Republican Presidential candidate. This election is perhaps shaping up to have another floor fight over the nomination which hasn't happened in 50 years. The reason of course is that despite the media's much ballyhooed "top tier" and "front-runner" candidates, no one is taking a lead. The field is very crowded and the candidates are so close on issues (with the obvious exception of the good Dr. Paul) that no group or segment of the population has attached themselves to a particular candidate. and as noted in the cited article some 76% of Republicans are open to changing their mind as to whom they support. I think it is safe to say that there is no more than 5% of Ron Paul supporters who are so willing to change their support.

For those who care to keep an eye on the polls check out RealClearPolitics.com for the latest polling data compiled, averaged put into easy to read graphs. They even do the same for the polls of the early states.

Ann Coulter

Writes:

Hey! How about adults privately smoking cigarettes in their homes? Nope, Huckabee wants a federal law banning smoking but thinks state laws banning sodomy are "probably" unconstitutional.

I love how consistent his reasoning is. One consensual destructive behavior should be banned while the other should be allowed.

Know what I would love to see? I would love to see Coulter endorse Ron Paul. Yeah it would be a big boost and all but that isn't the reason I want it. The day that Coulter endorses Paul will be the day Bane's head explodes! I don't know if he could handle his "goddess" supporting someone he dislikes so much. The question is, would he then like Paul? or hate Coulter?

Holiday Pay

Or lack there of.

I'm a contractor working for one company that goes thru another that works for the place I'm at. Make sense? Basically the hiring company uses a contracting agency to fill positions and that agency will also use other agencies to fill positions it can't fill. So there are two middlemen between me and my check.

My agency doesn't give holiday pay, but the main one does. With that in mind I have been trying to get on with this other agency for the past month, especially considering there is not one, but two holidays upcoming. Well, I found out today the conversion isn't going to happen till next month which I am sure is entirely due to the delay in management asking about the conversion.

Also today I found out that it isn't 2 paid holidays, but 4. And as I will be working each of those days I will be missing out on 60 72 hours worth of pay. It isn't like this benefit hasn't been accruing, it's just been getting absorbed by the two layers of middlemen.

Lovely.