Blog Droll

I Hated Christmas

2011-12-24T03:20:00.006-06:00

I’ve always worked on or around Christmas since my early days as a bag boy at the Tom Thumb Grocery store.

They’d start playing the same loop of Christmas songs some time in the middle of November and you’d hear the same 20 or so songs over and over and over until you wanted to jab a sharpened candy cane in Tiny Tim’s eye socket.

From that job I went on to work for Dr. Pepper and then eventually Frito Lay. The pay and the hours were much better but I was still working inside grocery stores during the holidays and still listening to the same songs over and over.

While working for Frito Lay, I had a grocery store in a Hispanic dense area of North Fort Worth. In that particular store they played Christmas music same as everyone else but in Spanish. I couldn’t understand anything past “Feliz Navidad” but it was refreshing to have a break from the usual crap and I found myself looking forward to that account at that time of year.

Looking back, it’s been nearly 20 years since I first applied for the “courtesy clerk” aka bag boy position at Tom Thumb and over those 20 years I grew to really hate Christmas.

The rage cycle started at my first job and would start to build when we were putting the Halloween candy on clearance and wouldn’t subside until we were marking down the canned black eyed peas next to the new display of Slim Fast.

In the grocery business, the holidays are a time of year that you simply endure. You put your head down and doggedly plowed through hoping to make it out the other end with your sanity intact.

I later went to school and got my edjumakation and moved out of sales and into my current career. I don’t work edible retail anymore and hope to never go back.

At my new job, Christmas doesn’t mean that I have to work harder and longer hours. The job is pretty much the same despite the holiday and now the only Christmas music I hear comes from my car radio.

I’m feel somewhat normal now and the joy I once had as a child for this grand-daddy of all holidays has replaced the dread of a 6 week long kick in the nuts.

This is the first year in many years that I’m actually looking forward to Christmas. The food, the gifts, the decorations and even the music are exciting to me.

Not to sound fruity but I feel like Dorthy in Oz when she sees everything in color for the first time.

Like most of the things I write, there is no point to this. I only wish to express how happy I am at the moment and how much I’m looking forward to the next few days.

I wish and hope the same for you.

And now…since I haven’t posted anything to this blog in a while….here are a few pictures for your pleasure.

Enjoy!

My oldest daughter wrapped her very first present for her Mother's 24th birthday earlier this month. I was going to do it myself but she insisted that she knew how to do it and all she needed was some tape, wrapping paper and scissors. She proudly posed for the above picture with her finished product. Can you believe the store charges for this service?

My oldest again wearing this when I picked her up on the last day of school before the holiday break. I hope her selection in reindeer is no indicator of future professions and if it is I hope it is the "ballet" type and not the "these girls work for tips and tips only" type.

First off, I would probably wake up without any testicles if I posted a picture of my wife sleeping so as you can see I've edited the picture a bit. The girls sleeping in our bed is why I couldn't turn my neck to the left for two days without having 10/10 pain. I was forced to wad myself up in an area no bigger than a small skate board that night and paid dearly for it. But aren't they so cute?

We saw this picture in the Christmas ribbon section of Target tonight. I don't know who it is or why it was placed there. There are about a thousand different directions I could take this one but I've got it narrowed down to 4 guesses:
1. The old lady suffered from dementia and wondered off. They were using the picture to look for her. Exhausted from the search, they discarded the photo and chose to buy metallic silver ribbon instead.
2. The people were searching for a picture frame and were distracted by the pretty metallic silver ribbon. They put the photo down to closely examine the ribbon and forgot where they left it. It makes sense that they would be this stupid when you consider that these morons actually brought an average 4x6 photo to the store to size the frame.
3. The lady in the picture is being kidnapped. If that's not the John Wayne Gacey version of Santa then I don't know what is. Dude looks psycho. He planted the photo of the kidnapped granny in the store at Target and left clues as to where the family could find it. In the picture, there are other clues that only the family would recognize that will eventually lead them to the ransom drop location.
4. Someone left a photo in Target. They dropped it and someone else picked it up so it wouldn't get trampled by herds of shopping carts. It's probably #4 but I prefer #3. It's much more exciting.

Diet Update

2011-11-22T16:04:00.002-06:00

I'm playing a LOT of Call of Duty at the moment and Thanksgiving is right around the corner but I have to work. I plan to eat a lot of turkey. I don't have too much to say....but I have lost 90 pounds thus far....so there's that.

That is all.

Making Sure Fall Isn't a Fail.

2011-10-10T14:30:00.007-05:00

This diet has been pretty good to me thus far. I recently discovered that about I can now wear about 1/3 of all the clothes in my closet. Before I started this diet, I was down to about 5 shirts and 1 pair of pants worth of clothing that actually fit my fat body.

So if anything, that is encouraging from a fiscal viewpoint because I really dislike paying money for new clothes simply because I'm too fat to wear my old clothes.

Fall is my favorite time of year for a few reasons:

1. End of summer.

2. Start of school year (free babysitting!)

3. The monthly holiday celebrations with family and friends for the next 3 months.

4. The food.

Fall is somewhat worrisome for me at this point. What was a former source of anticipation and joy has now become a hurdle and something to be avoided.

Specifically: What the hell am I gonna do about the food?

My SIL wrote this blog post about eating healthy and Thanksgiving.

Her blog post go me thinking about it and here is what I responded with on her blog:

I declared thanksgiving meal as my one "cheat" meals back in July when I started my diet.

I plan on eating whatever I want for one meal....yes even BREAD!

If I want to make my "diet" into a "lifestyle change" I have to work the change into my life.

For better or worse, Thanksgiving is part of my culture and therefore an important part of my life.

Ergo, the challenge for any lifestyle modification must include some level of compromise towards incorporation into my daily living or it won't be a viable and true lifestyle change.

Rather, it will just be another "diet".

All those words to say... I'M EATING WHATEVER THE HELL I WANT STARTING AT 1PM TO ABOUT 2PM ON THURSDAY NOVEMBER 24 2011. :-)

OK...maybe that "lifestyle modification" stuff is bullshit and maybe not but it sounds good, right?

Believe it or not, I'm doing pretty well on this diet. I'm not tempted to eat sugar or carbs in the least.

When I'm hungry---I eat.

When I'm not---I don't.

My hunger/full cycle is about 4 hours long and I usually eat on this schedule:

8am--egg white omelet with veggies and a cup of fresh fruit

12pm--lean meat and veggies

4pm--lean meat and veggies

8pm--lean meat and veggies

Its working and I can see it working for the long term.

Here are my thoughts on the upcoming holidays:

Halloween won't be a problem. I don't like candy that much anyway. Candy isn’t the reason I’m fat and I’m confident I can have it in the house and not be swayed. I mean, look at the “what makes my diet difficult” post for Christ sake.
Thanksgiving I've already covered.
Christmas....eh....maybe I'll eat a Christmas Eve meal like the Thanksgiving meal. I don't like candy that much so that isn't gonna be as problem. Maybe we'll cook a few dozen turkeys that month and I'll eat that instead of chicken.
New Years: I'll probably be working both New Years Eve and New Years Day so that isn't gonna be a problem. I'm a married 34 year old with kids...what do I care about New Years?

So that's pretty much my game plan for the next 3 months. Now that I put pen to paper it doesn’t seem that bad.

One last thought:

Getting to a healthy weight is often a losing undertaking because progression requires the person who failed miserably for so long to change course and thrive superbly for an equal or greater amount of time.

Success is all up to the person who put themselves there in the first place and ultimately, there is nothing that any outside force can do if the over weight person does not help himself/herself.

By the time you read this..

2011-10-04T16:58:00.001-05:00

I'm taking an extended break from writing this blog.

Thanks for reading and I'll be back writing pointless nonsense whenever I'm back in the mood. For now, I'm putting it on hold because I'm bored with it.

Best Regards,

-John

PS: I've lost 66 pounds thus far.

10 Easy Steps to Change Your Refrigerator Water Filter

2011-10-01T09:15:00.007-05:00

The ice machine on our refrigerator stopped doing it’s one and only job a few months ago.

Since then, we've become ice connoisseurs and fancy ourselves as unofficial experts. Did you know that you can buy a bag of ice from and Sonic? Neither did we! It changed everything because Sonic ice is second to none and I highly recommend buying it if you are unable to freeze water yourself.

My FIL told me that the problem with my ice maker on my refrigerator might be my filter.

Oh yeah...DUH... the filter.

The filter is the thing I was supposed to change when the idiot light on the inside of the door turned red 6 years ago.

My gift to you (and mostly because I’ve always wanted to make a how-to-step-by-step post) is a photo explanation on how to change the filter in your refrigerator.

Youth Softball Rant

2011-09-25T12:30:00.010-05:00

Our oldest is playing softball for the first time this season. I have a plethora of complaints regarding the youth league and her coaches in general (yeah...I'm THAT parent) but this post will address one in particular.

Most youth leagues offer the promise of equal play time for the children involved. After all, it's about the kids learning to play as a team, building confidence and teaching them to over come adversity by mastering a skill level to succeed.

If they win: Great!

If they lose: We'll get em next time...the important thing is that we had fun and everybody got to participate yada yada

Right?

This particular youth softball league (for girls 9-10) offers the promise of "equal play time for the kids" as do most youth leagues.

Honestly, I can't verify that fact because this particular league's website links to an "error" message when you click on the "rules" tab.

I can only assume the "equal play time" rule is true because it has been true for all of the youth league sports in which we have participated.

Consider these facts about our youth softball:

10 kids on the team
Half the game your team is out on the field and you can watch your kid play assuming she isn't the 1/10 kids that has to sit on the bench that inning or multiple innings of that game.
Half the game your team is batting with a 1/10 chance that it will be your kid batting.
The games are 1 hour and 15 minutes long so there an average of about 3 full innings in a game.
The end of the game is determined by expiration of the aforementioned 1 hour and 15 minutes and not the number of innings played.
The average inning (based on the only 2 games we've played) is 25 minutes long giving 12.5 minutes at bat and 12.5 minutes on the field.
The average time spent on the field is 12.5 minutes per inning times 3 innings which is a total of 37.5 minutes.
There is a 5 run limit so at the most you will see your kid at bat is every other inning.
Time spent at bat is 12.5 minutes divided into 5 girls batting is 2.5 minutes.
1/2 the girls in the team are put in the top 5 batting order and subsequently bat twice because there are only 3 innings for a total of 5 minutes at bat.
The other 1/2 of the girls are in the last 5 at bat and subsequently get to bat usually 1 time because there are only three innings for a total of 2.5 minutes at bat.
No batter ever hits it past the infield in these games if they are lucky enough to get a hit at all
4 balls equals a walk to first base.
3 strikes equals a run to first base but the defending team has the opportunity to tag the runner out.

To maximize playing time at bat it is beneficial to be in the top 5 of the batting order and usually the coaches' kids are in this top 5.

To maximize playing time on the field it is beneficial to be at the primary action positions like pitcher and catcher. These two positions give their parents the full 37.5 minutes worth of something to cheer for when it comes to their own kid.

Secondary action positions are first base, second base short stop and third base. Remember, the ball NEVER get's hit past the dirt track of the infield.

90% of the pitches thrown over the plate either hit the ground in front of the plate or go off course completely. Rarely, there is a pitch that is a "strike" worthy throw. Therefore, ALL of the action is between the pitcher and the catcher with an occasional throw to first base. The other infield players rely on whatever crumbs come their way from a fluke hit from the batter.

Outfield sees no action. The three girls at left, center and right field stand in position and do absolutely nothing for the entire 37.5 minutes. At the beginning of the game, the outfielders are in their "ready" stance. Knees bent, gloves up, eyes focused. By the 20 minute mark they are standing with legs together and arms at their side. They don't even bother faking it at that point.

Our head coach is an obnoxious wild boar. Think Roseanne Barr without all the charm. Seriously, I'm done with this woman and I can't wait until she is out of my life.

Guess who plays pitcher?
Her daughter of course.

Guess who can't pitch worth a crap and throws a wild pitch every other pitch while the other team steals bases?
Her daughter of course.

Guess who plays catcher?
The assistant coach's daughter of course.

Guess who can't catch worth a crap and drops every other catch while the other team steals bases?
The assistant coach's daughter of course.

Guess who plays outfield the entire game?
My daughter of course.

Guess who never touches the ball and does nothing for the entire 37.5 minutes on the field assuming she isn't the one sitting on the bench?
My daughter of course.

So here we have a situation where I am held hostage in the stands watching OTHER kids play softball ineffectively while my kid is forced to stand out in an open field doing nothing.

For this pleasure,

I get to take my daughter to softball practice 2 hours before her bed time 3 nights a week on school nights.
I get to schedule my Saturday's around the game time.
I get to sit in the stands facing west and get to block the blinding glare of the setting sun for 75 minutes worth of game time.
I get to spend almost $200 on uniforms, entry fees, gloveS (yes the wife bought 2 lol...I assume she thought she needed one for each hand), a new bat, a new helmet with face mask, cleats and a damn hot dog for my daughter from the concession stand every time we walk by.

In return, I'm guaranteed 2.5 minutes of batting time for my daughter and 37.5 minutes of watching her stand in an open field doing NOTHING.

As a bonus, I get to watch the offspring of the coaches (the ones who screw my kid out of playing) suck at softball in the 2 key positions on the field.

Screw the coaches and screw this cluster f@$k of a league.

I CAN'T WAIT for middle school sports run by the school district with impartial third party coaches who actually play kids based on skill level and talent instead of playing them based solely on the question, "Was this child birthed from my own vagina?".

My daughter is a foot taller than all the other kids out there. She has all the potential in the world to excel and yet she is being muzzled by nepotism and bullshit politics propagated by a disorganized, cruel and idiotic jack-wagon in charge.

The Internet is a Playground.

2011-09-24T12:42:00.002-05:00

The internet is a playground. BTW, that book would make a great gift for my birthday. I haven't had a chance to read that book (hint hint) but I am a new fan of the guy who wrote it. (His blog here).

Working from that idea, I wrote the following a while back....

The Square Giraffe

2011-09-23T23:18:00.000-05:00

The route I take through Arlington takes me right by this house. It sits at an intersection which gives me ample time to look at it and wonder, "Why?"

The "bones" of the house are not all that bad and I would have liked it up until the bricklayer crew showed up and ruined it.

WTF were they thinking?

I guess the taxi yellow H2 parked out front should have tipped me off. These people are clearly flashy and operating 6 whole levels above me when it comes to style.

Don't Pat My Belly

2011-09-22T22:38:00.001-05:00

There is a doctor I know who pats my belly every time I see him. He does it in such a casual way that you would think he was using a hand sanitizer dispenser. Sometimes I feel like the "Play Like a Champion Sign" on the way out of the Notre Dame locker room when I'm around this guy.

Touching another person's body short of handshake or mutual hug by a non-family member is in my "do not do" list.

What in the hell compels people to do this to fat guys? Could you imagine walking up to a bone skinny person and patting their stomach? They'd look at you like you were crazy and possibly throw a toothpick shaped elbow to your face.

Leave my belly alone! It didn't do anything to you. It's not magical. It doesn't bring good luck. A Jeanie doesn't come pouring out of my belly button when you rub it.

My belly is nothing special. It's simply a monument to gluttony. A trophy for thousands of meals conquered.

Sure my belly is funny looking and can often be mesmerizing. I get that. But please, for the sake of fat guys everywhere, I ask you....no....BEG YOU...please f%$# off with the belly patting.

Buffalo Sauce: My Top Pick

2011-09-21T21:21:00.000-05:00

I eat a lot of chicken. Holy crap I eat a lot of chicken. Lean protein is a key part of this diet.

My BIL and I were discussing chicken and various cooking/grilling methods (I know! Exciting right?) and I mentioned the fact that I recently started to use Buffalo Hot Sauce for dipping my chicken bites. I use the Buffalo sauce because it has minimal calories per serving compared to something like BBQ sauce AND it tricks my mind into thinking I'm not eating the same damn thing every single day.

I bought a few types of Buffalo sauce from the store and planned to try them out to see which one I liked best.

Louisiana vs Frank's

The 4 Types of People That Would Buy This House

2011-09-20T17:12:00.005-05:00

There are only four types of people who would buy a house like this.

White trash lottery winner
Athlete who just signed his first million dollar contract straight out of college.
Saudi Prince
Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson is dead and based on the Dallas Cowboys, American and Texas flag trio flying in the front yard, I assume it isn't owned by a Saudi prince.

I don't think any professional athletes reside here because it hasn't been foreclosed in some time and most pro-athletes are from other states and wouldn't be likely to fly a Texas state flag.

I strongly suspect that the only person who lacks enough common sense to buy this monstrosity is an idiot redneck who by some miracle hit the powerball.

Think about it, no other explanation really holds water.

This "house" is located near the center of Arlington, Texas. Sure, the homes in the area are well above "middle class" but nowhere near the scope of this behemoth. I haven't talked to any of the neighbors in the area but I assume they are all pretty pissed at having to look at this "house" everyday when they walk to the mailbox or happen to glance out their front window.

Consider this picture from Google Earth:

The picture was taken in early 2001, when the neighborhood was being developed. These homes are large. I would estimate that they are all at least 4-5000 sq ft.

Fast forward 1 year and this is the image from Google Earth:

YIKES! This "death star" takes up 3 lots and if that wasn't enough, they bought the house and lot behind them, bulldozed all the buildings and made it into a private pond.

It takes up over 500 feet of street frontage. The actual structure of the house (including that big ass garage? to the right) is longer than a football field. WTF!?!

One last picture:

My favorite feature is the pair of giant twin lions standing guard outside. It just screams "sophisticated Colombian drug lord" doesn't it?

edit to add: a friend from face book answered the question as to the ownership of the house: "That's Kenyon Martins house (Denver nuggets)!! He grew up in Dallas." Gawd I love the internet!

Bunk Beds are G-O-N-E

2011-09-19T16:53:00.001-05:00

Grace, our 6 yr old, never has liked sleeping in her own bed. She would always end up with her sister's bed even when the girls were in bunk beds in the same room. We gave Madison, our 9 yr old, her own room about a year ago. Grace kept the bunk beds in her room and Madi, for her birthday, got a nice full size bed with an old antique metal head board.

I can count the times Grace has slept in her room in the last year on my left hand.

Soccer: Beast Mode 1.0

2011-09-18T02:07:00.007-05:00

Our youngest lion cub, Grace, is playing soccer this year with some of her best friends from our street. All the girls are in the same grade and live within ten houses of each other. This post is a photo album of their march to victory last Saturday.

We arrived late of course. Grace's friend, Audrey, had ridden with us to the game. The girls ran across this vacant field to meet their team 10 minutes behind schedule.

Marriage is Like Prison...

2011-09-17T17:26:00.002-05:00

My nephew is getting married early next year and I was talking with him today.

I asked him, "Have you ever been to prison?"
He replied, "No."

I Want My Potatoes!

2011-09-17T09:15:00.000-05:00

I eat a lot of steamed veggies as part of this diet. I'm usually at work or home and when I'm home I'm usually too lazy to cook and am left with few options in the way of veggie nutrition.

However, I found salvation and variety in the frozen food section.

The Bag I cooked today

I'm sure everyone has seen these veggies in the steamable bag. You put the whole bag in the microwave and set it for 5 minutes and BAM...fresh steaming veggies with no pots to clean and no water to boil. LOVE IT!

Best Wife in the World

2011-09-15T21:39:00.000-05:00

And the award for the best wife in the world goes to….the envelope please….Ladies and Gentlemen, best wife in the world is MY WIFE! Ok, a little bias on my part but I think you might agree with me when you see what she bought me for my birthday a few years ago. Here are two of my favorite “toys”. I dare not open them for they are far too valuable too be played with like a common GI Joe action figure. No no no. These two priceless items are proudly displayed on the top of my computer desk as a constant reminder of how much she loves me and how much I love ~~the Big Lebowski~~ her.

The two items pictured are a NIB blowing ball that contains the limited edition 2 disk set marking the 10th Anniversary of the movie and a NIB Big Lebowski bobble head.

Ladies...the bar has been set.

Brilliant!

2011-09-15T00:10:00.001-05:00

US Tax Revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000
New debt: $1,650,000,000,000
National Debt: $14,271,000,000,000
Recent budget cut: $38,500,000,000

Lets translate this into a houehold budget:

Annual income: $21,700
Money spent: $38,200
New credit card debt: $16,500
Outstanding balance on the credit card @4%: $142,710
Total budget cuts: $385

I think the US needs to go back to school.

(Someone posted this on facebook and at first I thought it might be original but turns out it is in an email circulating around. I found it on a message board here.)

How I make Grilled Chicken in About 30 Minutes

2011-09-14T06:06:00.003-05:00

If you've been reading this blog you know that I eat a lot of chicken as part of this diet. 90% of the time I grill my chicken. I usually grill several pounds at once and then store them for when I'm hungry. I've found that the key to success on any diet is to NEVER run out of diet food. ALWAYS have plenty of core foods on hand. In my case it's chicken, salad stuff, fruit and frozen veggies.

Here is how I grill my chicken. It's simple and easy and doesn't involve a lot of extra prep work and I'll probably keep doing this until I get tired of eating chicken this way.

How to Increase Accuracy for Call of Duty

2011-09-13T00:05:00.000-05:00

This is an easy trick that will help increase accuracy while playing any first person shooter game. There is no hack or cheat and can be done in just a few minutes (assuming you can find your scissors). All you need:

clear tape
scissors
pink (any bright neon color) paper
hole puncher

I heard about this 2 years ago but for whatever reason thought it would mess up my TV. Today I thought about it again and realized my TV was only around $300 from the Wal-Mart after Thanksgiving sale a few years ago and it's only purpose in life is to display Call of Duty games for me to play so I went ahead with it.

Here's what I did:

First, I spent a very frustrating 20 minutes looking for 1 of the 12 pairs of scissors we have. Finally, my oldest daughter came home. After asking about the scissors she replied, "Oh, you can use one of mine". I thought, "Everything in this house is MINE because I paid for it" but decided to to go with "thank-you sweetie" after she handed them to me. I found some pink paper and punched holes in it with a hole puncher. I got a square piece of tape and put the dot on the tape careful to not get fingerprints on the sticky side. I cut the tape down to size and put it in the middle of my TV using the cross hairs below as a guide on exact middle.

I Call BS on this Story

2011-09-12T00:03:00.003-05:00

From this article.

A man left a large yellow rental truck parked in restricted parking directly outside of the DFW terminal where the US troops step off of airplanes when coming home from overseas. The rental truck was reported to authorities by concerned civilians and it was found to be full of weapons and what was initially reported as "explosives". The man left this truck parked here on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 at one of the busiest airports in the country.

911: 10 Years Later

2011-09-11T03:09:00.016-05:00

It’s been 10 years and I don’t know if this is ever going to be a “normal” day again. I expected the impact of this day to diminish with time but for me it hasn’t.

The wife and I just finished watching a documentary, 911: Heroes of the 88 Floor. The documentary follows two Port Authority workers, Frank DeMartini and Pablo Ortiz, who gave their own lives to lead 77 trapped people to safety.

The documentary, narrated by the survivors, reenacts the events of that morning as the two fearless men went floor to floor searching through smoke and debris for ensnared victims in Tower 1.

Frank Demartini was working that morning in his office on the 88^th floor when the first plane hit. His wife was in the office with him. He sent her down the stairs with everyone else on the 88^th floor with a parting promise of “I’ll be right behind you”. From there, he worked his way up to the impact site freeing people as he went.

As they cleared each floor, they waded through unspeakable hell without even the knowledge that anyone around them was still alive.

77 people!

77 fathers, mothers, sons or daughters are alive because of these two guys.

One of the last scenes in the documentary really got to me. By this time the Tower 2 had collapsed. Frank’s secretary, Judith Reese, was over come with asthma as she was gradually making it down the stairs with one of Frank’s coworkers, Jeffry Gertler. Judith was in her 50’s and a bit overweight and I can only imagine how difficult it was walking down several dozen flights stairs in her physical condition. Every step was a struggle to breathe. She was drained of energy and losing hope.

They made it to the 11^th floor and stopped. By now, the stairs were empty. She began to panic because she couldn't catch her breath and that it was taking too long to get out of the building.

The Trees are Safe

2011-09-10T15:46:00.002-05:00

Our town is one big speed trap. The police pull people over left and right for even the most minor infractions. Secretly, (don't tell the libertarian side of my brain) I'm sort of fine with it. I'd kinda rather live in a community where everyone goes through some sort of "security screening". Crime rates here are low and it's generally a safe place to live.
The other day, police car 121 came barreling down our residential street at about 40 mph while our kids were riding bikes outside. The wife yelled "slow down" as the cop roared by. You would think if the cop was on his way to somewhere important like a shooting or bank robbery if he was speeding like that in a kid infested neighborhood.
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"Ron Paul is Crazy"

2011-09-09T15:28:00.004-05:00

For whatever reason, I was reading this thread and it's comments from redstate.com. After reading a few posts and it's comments, I concluded that RS.com is a neo-con echo chamber. The original post of the tread and subsequent comments went on and on about Ron Paul being crazy as evidenced by his comments in the September 8 debate.

I went to all the trouble of creating an account over there to respond to this criticism of Ron Paul. When I finished writing, I pushed "submit" to add my comments to the thread and a window popped up and told me that I hadn't been a member long enough to comment. Damn! I wasn't going to let my brilliance go to waste so I copied my response and put it here. Perhaps later I'll post this comment when my probationary period expires on that site.

I won't argue that Ron Paul did well in the September 8 debate. In fact, it's one of his worst performances ever. He did not communicate his position well and allowed himself to be muzzled by MSNBC. That said, I don't think that he is "crazy".

I do however think its important to the neo-cons to call Ron Paul “crazy” and dismiss his followers as “insane” et al. When you call someone “crazy” you automatically get to ignore everything they are saying and you don’t have to bother yourself explaining your own neo-“conservative” hypocrisy of big government spending on big ticket items like multiple unsustainable wars with no end in sight.

Seizure Update

2011-09-09T02:45:00.005-05:00

Some of you may remember, Grace had a seizure back in July. In late August we went to see a Neurologist at the Forth Worth Children’s hospital. An EEG was done and we were told that she had abnormal spikes in her occipital lobe (back of head) thus confirming abnormal electrical activity in that area of the brain. The neurologist wanted a MRI of the brain to rule out any abnormalities that the CT scan might have missed.

Our insurance is weird. If we got the MRI at the Ft. Worth children’s hospital it would have cost us 20% of the scan out of pocket co-pay and would have been around $1000. We are only required to pay $75 co-pay for the same scan if we got the MRI at an affiliated hospital in our “network”. The nearest approved hospital that does MRI’s on children is in Dallas and about 60 miles from our house.

We had the Ft. Worth neurologist order the scan in Dallas and they called us on Tuesday of this week and told us to be there on Thursday.

Hazzard County Car Wash

2011-09-08T00:39:00.001-05:00

There is a scene from the Dukes of Hazzard tv series where the General Lee goes splashing through a low creek. The narrator Waylon Jennings, called the creek the "Hazzard County car wash". While growing up, the Dukes of Hazzard was the only thing I ever watched on TV and was one of the most important things in my life at the time. I had the toy cars and even wanted to paint my bike orange but my dad wouldn't let me because he said I'd get hurt trying to jump it. (in hindsight, I sort of agree with him and I hate to admit that)

To make a long story longer, there is an road smack dab in the middle of Arlington Texas that dips low and allows water from the creek to go over. Most of the time there was at least a trickle of water and your car would splash as it went down and back up the other side. My parents always joked that it was the "Hazzard County car wash". One summer we were low on money as a family and after driving through the "car wash" my dad said, "OK kids! That was your vacation!"...still funny to me.

Why You So Fat?

2011-09-07T22:44:00.001-05:00

(This is response to a great post at my SIL's blog that got me thinking about my own life and why I am the way I am. My response was long enough to be blog worthy so I'm posting it here.)

First and foremost: I blame no one. Ultimately, I did this to myself.

Growing up, my dad wouldn’t let us have sugar in our oatmeal and we had to drink reconstituted powdered milk with ice cubes. We only got white bread as a treat when we went to our grandparent’s house and even then I remember feeling guilty for eating it. Besides the aforementioned powdered milk, we ONLY drank water. We never got Kool-Aid , soda, tea or even so much as apple juice. We NEVER ate fast food or even at a sit down restaurant except once a year individually with mom and dad on our birthdays.

Don’t get me wrong. I realize that my dad meant well and it wasn’t until I became a father of my own children that I began to understand his motivation (although I disagree with his motives) for his way of promoting healthy eating. I get it now. He wanted us to simply be healthy and he went about it in the best way he knew how. Being healthy isn’t a bad thing. Wanting your kids to be healthy isn’t bad either. It’s a very reasonable desire for our next generation.

However, his promotion of healthy eating had an opposite effect on me. As far back as I can remember I began sneaking food. I would go into the kitchen dozens of times a day and take a piece of bread here and a little snack there. I would hide in the pantry and eat it fast so I wouldn’t be caught. These undercover habits eventually grew into full blown food addiction and culminated into the morbidly obese adult I am today.

Cheddar's: Restaurant Review

2011-09-07T00:48:00.001-05:00

The wife took the above picture as we were speeding down Little Rd in Arlington. After cropping out the door frame of the car, I think it was pretty damn good from the passenger seat. By the way, the red Toyota has nothing to do with the picture so don't be confused. It Just happened to be hauling ass in the south bound lane at the time.

I love Cheddar's and always have. It is easily one of my favorite eating establishments if you consider price, portion size and food quality. They pile on the food there and everything I've ever had is delicious. It is the only restaurant I can say that about without lying or getting paid to say it.

Ron Paul and War

2011-09-06T13:47:00.004-05:00

Recently, during a family gathering, we discussed the pro's and con's regarding Ron Paul's foreign policy and specifically his stance on war. The Question was asked regarding WWII and should America have entered that war. Constitutionally speaking the answer is yes on both the European and the Japanese fronts. Japan because they attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Germany because they declared war on the United States December 11, 1941. Subsequently, a formal declaration of war was issued by the US congress and we rolled forth.

Wasp in our Bathroom

2011-09-05T10:51:00.006-05:00

The above brown wasp has been living in our bathroom for about 4 days now. From day one there has been an unwritten rule of "don't mess with me and I won't mess with you" between us and the wasp. Nobody tries to kill anybody and everybody is cool.

Today, my dear wife was soaking her troubles away in a freshly drawn bath. I walked into the bathroom to see our little wasp friend 5 feet above my wife's head hanging out on the wall. I couldn't resist. I joked with her, "What would you do if I swung at that wasp and ran out of the bathroom closing the door behind me?"

Speed Hump

2011-09-04T16:11:00.005-05:00

This sign popped up one day about a year ago. It's intended purpose is to alert drivers of speed bumps as they approach the upcoming intersection and take a potential right turn. The intersection from this sign is about 30 yards away. The city installed speed bumps on that street because of speeding motorists and the large number of children populating the area. In my opinion, the bumps have been a good deterrent for speeding and everyone has slowed down because of it. The children are safe, cars are slower and everyone is happy.

However,

Our Dirty House and Dead Lawn

2011-09-04T10:53:00.001-05:00

Picture taken of our living room after the end a 4 girl slumber party.

I’m doing nothing while I sit in a house full of dirty dishes, dirty laundry and unyielding clutter. Any minute now I’m going to get up and clean this place and I’ve been promising myself that for the last week. I’d hire a maid if I wasn’t so embarrassed about the constant state of disarray in this house. The wife and I both work full time and neither one of us want to clean, mow, scrub or straighten anything. During the work week, laundry is done on a need-to-wear basis and dishes are washed by the first person unable to find a clean spoon.

My Prank Phone Call

2011-09-03T16:18:00.002-05:00

The wife and our oldest daughter Madi found themselves in a heated disagreement about lunch today. Madison wanted a hamburger from Dairy Queen and the wife wanted her to have the Mac-n-Cheese she had already made. In my mind that is a choice between something dreadful and something terrible but hey what do I know? I eat grilled chicken 3 times a day…everyday.

The argument went on for far too long. Madi was being a smart ass to her mother and her mother was getting irritated.

After 10 minutes of pointless debate and a few “you don’t talk to me that way” type statements, the wife left and went to go shopping…alone. The kids were playing in the backyard and I was sitting on my ass in front of the computer.

I was doing a whole lot of nothing online when I heard the wife’s cell phone ring. I looked around and found it on the floor next to the computer desk. The caller ID screen thingy said “Home”. I rolled my eyes and mostly out of boredom decided to answer with my version of a high pitched voice (think Mrs. Doubtfire without the English accent).

My little lion cubs

2011-09-03T09:19:00.009-05:00

Posted by Sharon aka "the wife"

Madi told me this morning, "Mom, we lay on you because we are like little lion cubs that just want to be with their momma". Well, that would've been so sweet five years ago, but now that she is almost ten, not so much, oh add in the fact they've laid on top of you for the last six-eight hours and your back is shot and both arms are asleep. Precious as they may be, I've got to figure out how to get them out of my bed so I can get some restful sleep.

You see, John lays over on his side of the bed totally unaware,

What I'm Drinking

2011-09-02T21:30:00.001-05:00

I’ve quit drinking soda, coffee, tea, fruit juice and any thing with sugar/caffeine in it since I started this diet back in July. The tap water where I live tastes like goat piss smells so I’m left with little choice in the way of hydration. This post will explain what I’m drinking and why.

3 Reasons Why Colorado is No Place for Fat People

2011-09-01T20:04:00.001-05:00

You know how some sites on the internet tend to be just 5 or 6 clicks away from something totally unrelated to what you were originally sat down to find? Today, I was surfing through random stuff (no, not porn). One link led to another and I was reading this article about the Gallup Poll results for obese rates in the US from 2010. In short, the data from the link says that Colorado has the lowest obesity rates of any state in America.

This completely random and utterly useless information found a way to jar my memory loose and I happened to recall our Colorado Springs vacation 14 months ago.

During that week long retreat in the Rockies, I discovered 3 key reasons why Colorado is no place for fatties.

Two Girls and One Camera

2011-08-31T21:46:00.002-05:00

You never know what kind of silliness is going to happen when two little girls play with the camera while eating two bowls of ice cream. Their parents were enjoying their weekly Sunday ritual of viewing HBO's True Blood in the living room during this photo session. I kept having to increase the volume on the TV in order to hear the dialog over the shrill cackling and giggles coming from my office. Later, I found these pictures on the camera.

Ron Paul Interview on FOX August 28, 2011

2011-08-31T06:11:00.001-05:00

Great questions from Chris Wallace and fantastic answers from Ron Paul. Dr. Ron Paul probably makes too much sense to be President but I hope the American people get angry enough to want to rescue this country from it's own bankrupt and broken federal system.

Gas Station Ripoff Theory

2011-08-30T17:47:00.007-05:00

The following are pictures of the 1 year old QT gas station in our home town. Like most QT's, it does quite a lot of business. The store is clean, big and has a wide variety of high quality items at rock bottom prices. I assume the new competition has caused the other gas stations in this town to reduce prices on Dr. Pepper, Funyuns and Misty cigarettes or else they will inevitably lose their core customers.

Here is the official QT sign that sits out by the road. You can't swing a dead squirrel by the tail outside without hitting one of these signs in Texas. They are everywhere.

Here is the front of the store. Notice my sideview mirror as I was doing a "drive by" shooting with my camera. I felt so gangsta. If you haven't put 1+1 together, QT stands for "Quick Trip". Remember that part. It will be important for the last picture.

The EZ Mart is located 1 mile down the road and on the other side of a large hill. It had it's signage taken down and replaced with what you see in the below pictures just 1 week ago....

3 Reactions to the Michelle Bachman Video from 8/28/11

2011-08-30T13:23:00.010-05:00

Full disclosure: I don't like Michelle Bachman. I especially don't like Michelle Bachman after she said this to Idlewild Baptist Church near Tampa last Sunday.

"I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?' Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now because they know what needs to be done. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and its got to rein in the spending,"

Watch the video here:

Few observations and thoughts about the quote/video:

I KNEW IT!

My Profile Picture Explained

2011-08-29T21:28:00.003-05:00

This is the picture I have in my facebook profile and it makes me laugh each time I see it. The picture took place at Grace’s 2nd birthday party over 4 years ago. The theme of course was Sesame Street as evidence by the cake, decorations and the cookie monster tiara on my head. We were at the table singing happy birthday and Grace (on my left knee) started hysterically crying.

I'm Ron Burgandy?

2011-08-29T16:46:00.002-05:00

Watch This:

Compare it to this:

...and this:

What Makes My Diet Difficult

2011-08-29T09:13:00.007-05:00

I’ve been on this diet since back in July and have since lost 43 pounds. That sounds like a lot but not if you knew my starting weight. I tend to be either all or nothing and once I start a diet I usually stick with it for the long haul. The problem is, this black and white thinking usually works against me too. Once I’m off a diet…I’m really off a diet and bam I've put on the pounds because I’ll usually only eat fast food or dine out for all 3 meals a day on average with little to no regard for calories, fat or carbs. I’ve only cheated once (edit: I've cheated twice) on this particular diet and it was when I visited one of my best friend’s restaurants.

Burger from friend's burger place called "Patty Shack" It was worth cheating.

For the most part actually cheating isn't a problem for me. That said, it is still very difficult to be on this diet because of the temptation from all the junk food laying around the kitchen. Here is a picture of my refrigerator and freezer.

A Photo Album of Our Garage Fail

2011-08-28T12:39:00.004-05:00

Below are some pictures of our garage and some explanations as to the history and rationale for this otherwise seemingly pointless junk . Enjoy.

Here sits the crown jewel of the garage. This is a “champagne amber” 1994 Chevy Z-71. I know what you are thinking, “John, how can I get one of those to take up over half of my garage?” It’s quite simple.

Our Broken Down Car

2011-08-28T01:11:00.002-05:00

Tonight, the wife decided we were going to start going to church on Sunday (the next day Sunday. I hate when she gets specific). She slept all day Saturday so there is a very low chance that she will end up sleeping in again on Sunday and I’m not that excited about it. I’ve enjoyed a reprieve from church since we moved to this town from Arlington 4 years ago but it looks like that is all coming to an end very soon. You can only fight off the hoards of nagging so long until it over-runs your perimeter.
Apparently, to go to church we must have something new to wear so the wife and Madison (9 yr old) went to the next town over to go shopping. At about 8 pm I got a call from her cell phone saying the car wouldn’t start. “Figures”, I thought, “it’s been paid off for a year now”. She said the lights came on when she put the key in the ignition but the engine was silent when she tried to turn it over. As I listened, I paused for a moment and thought of the best way to handle this. First I thought, “I guess God doesn’t want us to go to church after all. Message received Lord!” Then I thought it would be best to just drive over there so I told her I’d be there in 10 minutes. Grace (6 yr old) and I were out the door after 5 minutes of looking for flip-flops for the both of us and a semi-clean t-shirt for me.
I called the wife’s cell phone on the way to pick her up. She said that it was hot sitting in the car and that she and Madison were going to walk over to GameStop and wait for us. On the way over I was hoping that she was parked in a lit part of the parking lot so I could actually see the part on the car I was supposed to be changing. I figured it was the starter (in hindsight my FIL said he thought it was the solenoid and I tend to believe him on all things automotive) and I was somewhat worried as to how I was going to get these XL hands inside and around the guts of a Toyota Camry 4 cylinder engine. My plan was to pick the wife and Madison up and take them home and get my tools. Then, I planned to go buy the replacement starter at Autozone and go change the part. If successful, I was going to go back home and get the wife and kids and bring them back to pick up the car. Or, if I couldn’t see in the parking lot/fix the car tonight, I could call a tow truck and have the car hauled to our house and fix it in the morning (haha no church).
Grace and I pulled up to Gamestop and saw Madison and the wife browsing the video game selection. We recently acquired an X-BOX 360 and Madison was eagerly searching for a new game to play. Her mother had agreed to buy her an XBOX version of “Sonic the Hedgehog” and they were just about ready to check out as walked in the door of the store. Grace ran over to the Wii section and immediately started begging for a game. We told her no and that her and Madison would share the game we were buying today and that she could pick the next game. My eyes were rolling at the thought of buying Madison a game but let’s face it; on the subject of video games I have no room to talk. We also bought rechargeable batteries for the XBOX controller and a special XBOX cable to charge them with (these items did not come with my XBOX and they had been playing with disposable batteries. We are always thinking about the enviornment). We left the store after paying a little under $50.
On the way out of the store I thought, “WTF is wrong with us? Our car is broken down in the parking lot. We will need to pay gawd knows how much for a possible tow, parts, and on and on and we spend $50 on video games!” We are so stupid but hey…at least we know it.
We drove back to the wife’s car. The wife jumped in the driver’s seat to pop the hood. She then attempted to demonstrate to me what the car was doing and it turned over and the engine started. We were sure to leave it running and I got in her car and she followed me home with the girls in my car. The A/C, lights and radio all worked fine all the way home. Her battery and alternator were OK. “Maybe it was the solenoid and maybe I should fix it but not tonight”, I thought. We got home and 30 minutes later the kids were in the following positions:

Madison Playing Sonic on the XBOX. She makes me so proud…my little gamer.

Grace crashed out on the couch waiting her turn to play

In the end, we still might be going to church in the morning. However, Madison and her mother went to sleep a little after midnight at about the same time I sat here to write this post so maybe everyone will be too tired. Maybe on my way into the bedroom I’ll accidently trip over the alarm clock cord. Accidents happen.

“Your Co-Workers Might Be Killing You"

2011-08-27T15:52:00.002-05:00

Someone posted this article on the wall in the bathroom at work. At first, I couldn’t stop laughing at the mental picture of a coworker taking a page from the Martin Luther “nail to the church door” playbook with an article with the title “Your Co-Workers Might Be Killing You: Hours don't affect health much—but unsupportive colleagues do”. Unsupportive? Killing someone? Oh my! They must have meant this for someone else other than me. I’m supportive…usually…sometimes.
The article goes on to say that, “The typical American will spend about 15% of his or her lifetime working at the office”. Actually, to me that sounds sort of low and 15% just isn’t’ that much when you think about it. For example:
15% of a minute is 9 seconds
15% of a day is 3.6 hours.
15% of a year is less than 2 months.
15% of a lifespan of 75 years is 11.25 years.
You get the idea. It’s like telling a new born baby, “You will have 75 years on this planet total. 11.25 of those years will be spent working but the other 63.75 years you can do whatever the hell you want.” I as a newborn baby would be ready to sign up for that offer.

7 Questions about Homework

2011-08-26T20:28:00.003-05:00

Can someone please tell me:
1. Why was this sent home as "homework"?
2. What valuable learning is going on here?
3. Why can't they do this sort of crap at school?
4. Why do they insist on wasting my time?
5. Why did they send it home knowing I was going to do it long after my daughter went to bed because it is a school night?
6. How does looking for words in a jumble of letters teach my child anything about what the words mean and/or how they apply to the subject of science and/or the scientific method?
7. What do they do up there all day from 8am to 3:30pm?

The Way to Luckenbach

2011-08-25T21:36:00.004-05:00

Last summer we rented a house in Dripping Springs just outside of Austin for vacation. It was an old hunting lodge once used by President LBJ that had been converted into a vacation rental house (or at least that is what we were told). We had a fabulous time there and spent the week doing whatever. One day, we decided to drive to Luckenbach Texas.

Hooters with Scissors

2011-08-24T23:13:00.008-05:00

Last week my days off backed up to each other and I just happened to have 6 days off in a row. With all that time on my hands, I thought, “why not get a hair cut?”. My “fro” was in full bloom and my beard had a small family of rabbits living in it. I was tired of the unemployed stoner look and the 100+ degree heat was finally getting to me. The wife and I were out for lunch and we stopped at a place called Knockouts. Like the title of this post says, this place really is like Hooters but with scissors. I won't go into anymore detail because I don't want to rob the reader of the opportunity to draw their own mental picture. I had figured the wait would be long because it was the weekend before back to school and had already planned to drive to the next barber if the place was packed. I honestly (no seriously!...no really) don't care who cuts my hair. I went in and the estimated wait time for a hair cut was 10 minutes. I signed in and was offered a complimentary beer or soda. I declined and watched baseball highlights on ESPN until it was my turn.

When it was my time at bat I bought the “heavyweight” because I am and it included:
1. Consultation
2. Relaxing Shampoo
3. Haircut
4. Shampoo/rinse
5. Scalp massage
6. Style

So the girl takes me back to her barber chair. When I say “girl” I’m not being sexist. This was a YOUNG girl and young enough to make me feel elderly.

What Happened to All the Condom Machines?

2011-08-23T22:10:00.003-05:00

When I was in my young teens, I remember seeing condom machines in the bathrooms at bowling alleys, crappy gas stations and so on. At the time, being pure as white snow, didn’t really understand the purpose of these condom machines. Sure, I understood the function of a condom but WHY were they available in a dispenser for 25 cents? What kinds of people fill up there car with gas, maybe buy a Sprite and a pack of cigarettes and 1 condom from a gas station bathroom? I didn’t understand the consumer demand from this particular form of condom sales. Surely, it would be cheaper to just buy a dozen or so in a box from the pharmacy. Maybe the condoms in the dispenser were like the fire ax with the “break glass for emergency” type of dates.

My View from the Toilet

2011-08-23T12:28:00.004-05:00

This is my view from my toilet. Actually, it’s not even “my” bathroom but it’s centrally located so I often use it. Lately, I’ve been making a point to use this bathroom in sort of a primitive passive aggressive marking of my territory. I first felt the sting of homeownership at this house the day we took possession and began stripping wall paper. Seriously, we got our keys, walked into the kitchen and began tearing it off the wall. In one month’s time we (mostly me working but with the wife picking colors etc) completely redid all the flooring, paint, light fixtures, ceiling fans and plumbing fixtures (including toilets). I did most of the work with help from family because a) I’m me and b) I was between semesters in school.
In this particular bathroom I stripped the old vinyl floor, hand scrapped all the glue, laid all of the tile, installed the toilet (the old toilet was so small it felt like taking a dump on a coffee can) and all the plumbing fixtures. I put in the towel rack and I even painted it that gawd awful Tahitian Sunrise blue color after the wife said “yes” when I asked her if she was SURE she wanted THIS color in the bathroom. Since then, I’ve been asked to repaint the bathroom a different color 4 years later by the same person who picked the original color in the first place.

Back to School Revenge

2011-08-23T09:33:00.005-05:00

I hate it when my kids are in school for one simple reason: I’m pretty much a night owl and getting up at 7am when I’m not working is no way to start the day. Today is the second day of school and I just dropped the kids off. They were out of bed, had eaten pancakes and were ready to go to school when their mother left for work at 6:00 AM. If history is an accurate indicator, that morning zeal will be muffled in about a week and they will be impossible to wake up for the rest of the school year. I’m sort of looking forward to that versus them trying to wake me up prior to the set time on my alarm clock. This morning the alarm clock went off and I was in my 20 minute “hit the snooze button” phase and I kept waking up to the face of a 6 year old standing at bedside and asking, “Daddy, is it time to go yet?” I told her, “We aren’t leaving until the number after the 7 on my alarm clock is a 4”. To which she responded, “oh” and then was back five minutes later asking the same question. Finally it was 7:45 and I took the kids to school and was back home before 8 am. I’m sleepy as I write this but not sleepy enough to fall back asleep and that irks me.

So yesterday was the first day of the new school year. Their mother did ~~most~~ all of the back to school shopping and subsequently I didn’t see any of the girl’s new clothes until yesterday morning when I took the above picture.

Play Station 3 vs X-BOX 360

2011-08-22T21:42:00.014-05:00

I’ve owned a Sony Playstation 3 (PS3) since 2007 and have been playing Call of Duty (COD) ~~obsessively~~ regularly since. I’m an above average player but certainly not the best. I mostly bought the PS3 system because my younger brother Adam wanted me to play COD with him with PS3 online. Plus, I’ve always liked video games since the Atari years. At the time of purchase, I didn’t give a lot of thought between the PS3 and it’s direct competitor, the Microsoft manufactured X-BOX 360.
Recently, I was able to acquire a lightly used and fairly newer X-BOX 360 for $100. I jumped at the chance. It has sat in a bag on the floor of my office ever since I brought it home. There are a couple of hurdles to playing online with the X-BOX. 1) I have to buy an X-BOX 360 subscription for $40-50 for a year to play online. 2) I have to buy an X-BOX 360 version of the COD game to play it online. 3) I have to talk the wife into going along with number 1 and 2.

Big Lebowski: Tribute

2011-08-21T16:13:00.006-05:00

This is the greatest movie of all time. Its amazing...you never know when you are gonna run into a fellow Lebowski fan and they are everywhere. The movie is complete greatness and it's influence extends well beyond the closing credits. Please see it if you haven't already. If you don't like it...watch it twice. There is no hope for you if you don't love it after seeing it two times. Here are a few of my favorite scenes:

Ron Paul and Media Bias

2011-08-21T01:43:00.009-05:00

First, for those who are exhausted of this sort of thing: Sorry about all the Ron Paul stuff. I presume you just skipped over this blog entry anyway and are not reading this to begin with...and that's cool with me. I don't mean to be domineering with political discussion however I'm inspired by this guy and I can't stop thinking/talking/writing about it. I've been following politics for years and my political views have shifted gradually from an across the board conservative Republican type to pretty much a right leaning Libertarian (and have/will vote(d) for the right Republican/Democrat) although admittedly the implementation of Libertarian ideals is easier said than done. But, as the old cliché goes, "The Journey of a thousand miles begins with one step". In my opinion, Ron Paul is that first step. He is changing the political discussion in America back to a governing by the rules of the constitution. This nation desperately needed him in office in 2008 but the Republicans put up that jack-wagon McCain against a treasure chest of empty promises from B.H. Obama. Fast forward 3 years and Obama's base is weakened due to his various blunders while in power so there is hope just yet. We can't wait another 4 years. We are driving the country right off the financial cliff as we speak. We need "Dr. No" in office right now and he has every obstacle in his way. Most significant being the media. The purpose of the following clips is an attempt to shed some light on the media bias against Ron Paul.

US Supports Opium Growth in Afghanistan

2011-08-21T01:40:00.006-05:00

I found this video while surfing Youtube. Originally, this post was supposed to be part of the “Media Bias” post but it went off on a tangent from the original idea of that post and I therefore decided pull a King Solomon and split them in two. Here goes:

Rant: This Computer

2011-08-20T03:14:00.004-05:00

***language***

OMG I'm tired of my computer. It is a 2007 HP with Windows Vista. If I could afford an Apple, I'd buy one. F%&# BILL GATES! Windows Vista is shit. It always has been and always will be. Always error after error. I can't download youtube videos and now as of yesterday, I can't download videos from ebaum's world. You have to load and reload pages to view them. Internet Explorer is completely shot. It's in a fetal position in the corner sucking it's own thumb. Google Chrome worked for a little while and now it is going tits up as well. I've rebooted the computer twice due to viruses. I've tried to upload updates. I can't get the new IE on this computer because my operating system is too old. GAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH! DAMN DAMN DAMN. I just want to take this thing and throw it off a bridge and then piss on whatever is left in the pile of rubble below. Then I want to poor gasoline on it, burn it and dance naked on the ashes once the fire has consumed this pile of shit computer. Then I want to take those ashes and grind them down to a fine powder. I want to throw that powder in a blender with broccoli, red beans and cabbage. I then want to store the shake in a thermos, get on a plane to Washington and find Bill Gates House. There in the front yard, I want to down the shake and take 20-30 laxatives. Once the laxatives kick in, I then want to go in his house and take a big dump on his computer in his office...you know... in order to share the love.

Brothers at Christmas

2011-08-14T22:30:00.002-05:00

Seriously, if you need a caption to explain why this is funny then one of us doesn't know funny.

Ron Paul 2012!

2011-08-14T01:51:00.006-05:00

There is hope for America and change we can believe in. This presidential candidate came in second in the Iowa-who-gives-a-shit-state-fair-straw-poll. You know , the place where you vote and get a free funnel cake. Out of the 17,000 people who voted, 4823 voted for Bachman (I disagree with her and certain ties to the religious right: e.g. her husband's "ministry" to turn gay people straight) and 4671 voted for Ron Paul. I realize that these results are probably meaningless and the republican landscape will probably change 4 or 5 times in the next 15 months….but WOW! The guy might just have a chance. If you recall, I was a Ron Paul supporter back before it was cool. I wrote the guys name in when I voted in 2008. Here is Ron Paul on the issues:
(from www.ontheissues.org)

WARNING: THE LIST IS LONG!

"look at the unit on that guy..."

2011-08-13T15:42:00.003-05:00

That's me in the K-Mart issued green sweat pants with the bulging crotch. The wife wants to know what happened to me in the last 22 years...

Peewee Football Memories

2011-08-13T15:31:00.004-05:00

I'm number 9 on the back row. That was me in the 6th grade. It's funny, I was one of the biggest kids on the team but I had never played football before and didn't really understand what I was supposed to be doing on the field. Subsequently, I was on second team defense and spent most of the game on the sidelines. They gave me number 9 for crying out loud. That should tell you how much they thought I was going to play.

3.5 Week update

2011-08-13T15:17:00.003-05:00

I've lost 34 pounds thus far. It's weird. I'm not hungry but always find myself in the kitchen like a deer in headlights looking into the pantry/fridge at all the food. I think it's mostly out of habit and hopefully that will pass. I've grilled what seems like 500 chicken breasts in the last 3 1/2 weeks and eaten about 100 heads of lettuce. I did cheat a week ago but I was drunk as hell and it was 4 in the morning. I wonder how many carbs are in Jack Daniels Black.....

The Letter Wars

2011-08-09T21:15:00.005-05:00

The following letter was found in our mailbox today on folded white paper with no postage. It was sent from our next door neighbor. About a year ago they moved in and we as a family walked over and were attempting to say hello and introduce ourselves. The husband told us that they didn't have time to talk and jumped in his truck and took off. Other than some small chat with the wife, we haven't spoken to them since. They are about our age (maybe a few years younger) with no children.

2 week update

2011-07-30T03:37:00.005-05:00

Since starting the diet I've lost 23 pounds. It is a drop in the bucket from where I need to be and the weight loss will slow down if history is any indicator. Some friends and I were talking and had asked me about my diet and I told them how much I lost. Then, one of the people in the group asked, "Really? Where?"

Now for some levity...

2011-07-29T17:09:00.003-05:00

Here is what happened...

2011-07-29T01:01:00.007-05:00

Grace was playing in water with a friend in the backyard. The friend hit Grace in the back. Grace went inside the house to tell her mother who was sitting on the couch next to the coffee table. As Grace approached her mother her knees buckled and she fell forward hitting her head on the coffee table. Immediately her body went limp and she fell backward hitting her head on the floor. She landed laying back with her knees bent under her. Her arms were rigid and shaking, she was unresponsive and her eyes were fixed on a rightward gaze. Her arms were stiff and shaking as she was laying on the ground in that position and her mother instantly rushed over to help help her. This lasted for a little under a minute and then she was alert and oriented shortly afterward.

Speed vs Velocity

2011-07-24T23:29:00.003-05:00

Speed is the measure of how fast an object is moving. Velocity is measure of how fast an object changes position. If an object moves 1 foot forward and 1 foot back it can do so at a high rate of speed but with zero velocity because the position did not change. Thus, the primary difference between speed and velocity is directionality. The question is: Am I heading towards accomplishing the goals of my life with speed or velocity?

BTW, I wrote this at 1130 PM right before bed. It may not make sense to me in the morning but right now it seems like gold.

Murky Corners of the Internet

2011-07-24T23:08:00.006-05:00

The other day I posted the following on Face book:

“Reading articles from murky corners of the internet does not give someone the preparation, education or personal liability that Doctors have today. Do what you want with your own body but don’t think you know more than someone who has spent their entire adult life studying/practicing medicine just because you have a degree from Google University.”

Working the last few years in my job has opened my eyes to how much medical voodoo and misinformation people believe.

Some of it comes from Hollywood for example: the 85 year old with a massive hemorrhagic stroke has a family sit by the bedside because they just know he is going to wake up, get dressed and go home. It takes days of tactful teaching to bring them under the umbrella of reality that their loved one is never going to be the same ever again if he survives at all.

People just don’t know what they don’t know.

Hell, I had no idea before I cracked my first book on the subject. How many people really know what a heart attack is? Pre-nurse me thought it was when the heart just stopped beating because something to do with the blood pumping through it was clogged up or something. I had bits of the truth but I didn’t fully understand it until I studied the anatomy of the heart and pathogenesis of a heart attack.

Making Changes

2011-07-16T12:32:00.011-05:00

The ~~diet~~ life style modification I’m doing borrows from numerous diets. I’m doing a blend of carb reduction with lean meats, calorie counting, exercise, the Body For Life diet and counting calorie’s burned/steps taken.

Still Cute after all these Years

2011-07-15T15:08:00.002-05:00

Sharon and I were pushing Grace through Wal-Mart (Madi is taking a San Antonio trip with her girlscout troop). We start to approach the deli counter and Grace turns to her mother and asks, "Momma, can you ask them if I can have any examples of ham?"

Let Them Be Little

2011-07-15T12:48:00.007-05:00

A response to Annie’s blog regarding co-sleeping got me thinking about what I think about co-sleeping vs sleep schedule. My response to her post after fixing the spelling of “rogue” from “rouge” was this:

I'm philosophically opposed to co-sleeping but too lazy to walk them back to their beds when they crawl in with us during the night. OTOH, I admire Adam and Courtney's sleeping schedule but as a parent lacked the discipline to keep that ball bouncing. . We are some where in the middle on the continuum of sleep schedule vs co-sleeping and the kids STILL end up in our bed every night. My back hurts every morning because of a rogue elbow or knee that finds it's way to my spine in all the sleepy confusion.
At this point, I'm just waiting for them to out grow it. Madi will be in college in another 9 years and grace 3 years after. At that point, I'm certain I'll miss those little elbow and knee jabs at 4am.

Awwww…

It’s a cliché but its so true: They grow up so fast.

In my opinion, there are two types of co-sleeping:
1. Purposeful co-sleeping where the parent actively and purposefully brings the child into their sleeping quarters/bed.
2. Child driven co-sleeping where the children get up in the middle of the night and climb into bed with their parents.
Let me be clear: I hate both co-sleeping philosophies and would much rather be on a sleep schedule where all children go to their beds at a certain time and stay there until the new day begins. I don’t doubt that both our children would be sleeping in their own beds had we done this from birth as have Adam and Courtney. (If I understand correctly) Michael and Annie’s two oldest boys sleep in their own beds after spending the first couple of years co-sleeping and make no attempt to go back to their parent’s room. Two opposing sleep philosophies have yielded the same result.
Sharon and I have always had a sort of “whatever” attitude with regard to sleep. She rocked both children (Madi up to the age of 5 and Grace up to the age of about 4) to sleep in the recliner with a Sippy cup full of milk and would then carry them both to bed when they fe1l asleep. At night, when they would inevitably cry, she would go get them and bring them to our bed so we could all get some sleep. That transitioned into them just getting up in the middle of the night and climbing into bed with us. EVERY NIGHT.
Considering all sleep philosophies: The best way to have your kids sleep with you is to allow them to dictate where they want to sleep. By not actively kick them out of our bed and/or get them used to falling asleep by themselves in their own bed we have created a monster. But hey, it’s a cute monster. One of the highlights of my day when working is on my way out the door to say “I love you” to my wife and see both my little girls snuggled up with their mother like a family of squirrels.
They are so sweet.
They would never do anything wrong.
They were provoked….
As corny as it sounds it reminds me of the lyrics from

Let Them be Little:
(Richie McDonald/Billy Dean)

I can remember when you fit in the palm of my hand
Felt so good in it, no bigger than a minute
How it amazes me, you're changing with every blink
Faster than a flower blooms they grow up all too soon

So let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little

I've never felt so much in one little tender touch
I live for those kisses, prayers and your wishes
Now that you're teaching me things only a child can see
Every night while we're on our knees all I ask is please

Let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little

So innocent, a precious soul, you turn around
It's time to let them go

So let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little

Let them be little

Anything Else Quote

2011-07-15T00:37:00.001-05:00

Was watching "Anything Else" today on HBO and the following line hit my funny bone:

"It's funny. I was once in a cab...this was year ago. And I was pouring my heart out
to the driver about..life, death, the empty universe,the meaning of existence,
human suffering...And the cab driver said to me:

'You know, it's like anything else.'

Think about that."

Too Big to Fail

2011-07-15T00:08:00.006-05:00

The sun, one of more than 100 billion stars in the universe, was formed four and half billion years ago and has enough juice left to keep us warm for another five billion years.

Sun facts:
-Surface temperature of the sun is 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit
-The core temperature of the sun is about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit
-The Sun rotates once every 27 days
-The Diameter of the sun is 870,000 miles wide and 109 times as wide as the Earth.
-It is 333,000 times heavier than the Earth.
-Over 1 million Earths could fit in the Sun
-Assuming you didn’t burn up: A space craft would have to go over 600 miles per SECOND to escape the Sun’s gravitational pull.
- The Sun can burn over seven million tons of natural gas every second.
The elements of the sun are pulled to it’s core due to it's overpowering gravity. These elements experience nuclear fusion and explode outward. The sun itself doesn’t explode and keeps is spherical shape because of it’s own gravitational pull. Energy from nuclear fusion is released as heat into our solar system and provides energy for all forms of life.
Gravity drives the nuclear fusion and also keeps the nuclear fusion in check as the Sun bestows light and heat on to what would otherwise be a frigid and dark Earth made of rock and ice. Because of the causative and regulatory properties of the gravity, the Sun is the ultimate “too big to fail”. I’m clearly a layperson when it comes to Sunology but I find it utterly mesmerizing. The Sun has been a mystifying being in the sky ever since man was able to gaze upward in trepidation and wonder. Over the years, civilization after civilization has developed their own belief system surrounding this inexplicable globe of fire in the heavens. Today’s scientific understanding has brought us as close as we have ever been to appreciating the reality of the Sun.
But, one question answered with regard to the Sun opens up a new set of questions. We have known about gravity for some time now but no one knows why gravity works. It plays a central role in formation of everything but remains a mystery as to why or how. We do know that without it nothing is possible and can aptly be described as the paintbrush of the universe.
A question that really bakes my noodle is this: Why is there something instead of nothing? Gravity is the paintbrush and matter is the paint. From where did the paint come? Some would say it was spoken into existence by a painter. That answer only delays the question for one more question: From where did the painter come? Some would answer that the painter always was. Why can’t that answer apply to the paint? I can’t wrap my mind around anything that “always was” and we can assume that we have just scratched the surface with regard to the mysteries of the universe. At this point I believe I know only one thing: I don’t know.

Paradigm Puzzler

2011-07-12T14:54:00.003-05:00

As many of you know, I love talk radio. Work, family and Call of Duty leave little time for catching up on the day’s events so I usually listen while in the car to and from work. I try to balance my media patronage between both conservative (mostly WBAP) and liberal (Jon Stewart, Bill Maur and NPR) points of view. I’m mostly right leaning on just about every issue and over the last 6 years considered myself more of a Ron Paul libertarian type.
To me I’ve always thought that taxes should be even across the board and as low as possible. The poor and rich should all pay in the same percentage. The Republican argument for not raising taxes on the rich is that it would punish the job creators. Sounds good, right?
So I’m listening to NPR yesterday and they were talking about upping the limit on the national credit card. The republican talking head pretty much said the same thing about cutting entitlement programs while not raising taxes and punishing the job creators. Then the liberal guy got on and made what I thought was a very good point. He essentially said that we have two groups of people in America. One is the super rich and big business and the other are the poor, students with loans, elderly and people working in healthcare (ouch). He asked the question: Why should we take from the poor and the people who can least afford it and not expect to raise the taxes on the rich?
Light Bulb moment in ….3…2…1….
I then had an epiphany: I’m NEVER EVER going to be a millionaire. Like most Americans, I will slave until I’m 65 (probably closer to 75 by the time I make it) and retire on whatever I was able to save while working. Social security will be gone although I paid into it all those years. Who knows where Medicare will be at that time.

You know what? F&%k the millionaires. How bout we help grandpa get a new hip or Aunt Susie get a new set of false teeth? How bout we help the single mother/father with 6 kids under the age of 12? Why don’t we help send poor kids to community college so they can end the cycle of poverty in their families?

I say tax the bastards. The job creators are not creating anything after 10 years of tax cuts. The economy is in a shit spiral right now, unemployment is through the roof and there is not even a glimmer of hope on the horizon for recovery.
What does this mean for me? This is a major paradigm shift in my thinking. Maybe I’m wrong…maybe not. As I ramble on I should probably mention that I don’t trust the federal government and I think it wastes a large portion of the money it takes in from the people who pay taxes. I would like to see the power shifted back to a state and local level. Social programs should be run by the states and the federal government should only function as outlined in the constitution (military, mail and so on).

Pickle Policy

2011-07-12T10:47:00.004-05:00

I sent the following complaint to Subway Cooperate today.

(My use of age and race descriptions are in no way discriminatory. Rather, they are meant to be descriptive in the absence of a knowledge of names of the people involved)
I'm a long time fan of Subway and have been enjoying your products for the last 20 years. I don't like most vegetables and usually top off my foot-long with pickles, salt and pepper and whatever sauce/dressing best matches the particular sandwich I'm having at the time. I really do like pickles and always enjoy a large helping of pickles on my sandwich. Today, I visited the (my town) store and ordered a foot long pulled pork sandwich. I'd never had one before and I must say it was quite tasty. There were two female sandwich artists working that morning. One was younger than the other and Hispanic (?) and the older was Caucasion. Neither employee introduced themselves by name but to be fair, neither did I. The younger employee made the first half of my sandwich without incident and I have no complaints. The older employee took on the task of completeing my sandwich assembly. She asked what I wanted and I told her, "I want a lot of pickles". She took a small handful and counted out six pickles across the sandwich. I then tried to explain that I really did want a lot of pickles. She took another small handful and counted six pickles across the sandwich. I told her that I didn't want any more vegetables OTHER THAN pickles and that I wanted her to take a handful of pickles and put them on the sandwich. She explained that the policy was for 6 pickles per foot-long (this policy was verified by Subway Corporate representative "Annie" in a recent phone conversation/fact gathering mission prior to writing this message). I laughed and am still laughing as I write this. At 6 pickles a request I finally got about half the pickles I wanted and gave up. I don't buy food wholesale but from a layperson's perspective it would seem that pickles would be one of the more inexpensive vegetables on the bar and is non-perishable. I don't really understand why this particular employee gave me so much grief over pickles. I could go down the street and buy a JAR of pickles for 1/6 the cost of the entire sandwich. I can understand wanting to cut costs especially in these tough economic times.
However, I'd like sum up my perspective:
1. I was SAVING the store money but not getting other vegetables and just getting pickles even in large handfuls.
2. Common sense should trump "pickle policy" and employees should be trained to give a customer the requested amount instead of increments of 6 pickles per request.
3. I've never had this problem before even at this particular store location. I live 1/2 a mile away from this store and usually eat there at least once a week. Other than the occasional foot long meatball, I request and always get extra pickles by the handful.

Thank-you for taking the time to read this. I'm not angry or looking for any coupons or free stuff. I will continue to enjoy subway products from this location and many others in my area. I just want this franchise owner (and perhaps on a cooperate level)to revisit the pickle policy. It seems petty, myopic and laughable.

Best Regards,
John H

UPDATE: A few weeks ago I got this response in Email.

Hello, I am the Area Supervisor of the (my town) Subway. I have received an e-mail from Subway Head Quarters in the concerns of pickles on you your foot long pulled pork sandwich. We do put six pickles on all foot longs but if the customer ask for lots of pickles then that's what we give them. Unfortunately we have lacked at training the crew at this location if they didn't give you what you wanted.I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that I am very sorry about the service you received and I am so thankful that you took time out of your busy day to let us know how you were treated at our establishment. So we can improve where we failed and better serve our customers. I have addressed this issue with the crew at this location. And look forward to serving you again in the near future.

Sincerely yours
Lisa

Drachen Weihnachten

2011-05-13T18:55:00.003-05:00

The following was by guest writer M. The title is in German because it just sounded cooler. It means "Christmas Dragon".

Once upon a time … There was A wonderful princess her name was Maria she lived in a castle and she woke up that fine day the birds where shimmering and dogs barking but …something was not right it was HOT the princess found then she just realized it…was DECEMBER she herd her brother banging on the door SANTA CAME SANTA CAME and do you know what happen…so I got up and I went in the living room and do you know what happen again …Santa did come and I Looked all around the house and I saw fire go around my back yard and I wondered Santa maybe got me something for a gift so I took baby steps when I got there I yelled there was a DRAGON in my Backyard so I went out side and the dragon stop shouting fire and do you know what happened for the 3 time…he wanted me to get on his back and he took off and it was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen. I’m gonna write this in my diary because it’s the best time of my life. So I said I’ll name this dragon Lea and that’s my Christmas.

By M.

PSN Down

2011-05-13T15:02:00.006-05:00

(this post was largely cut and pasted from various internet sources)

The Sony PS3 console was hacked, or more appropriately "jailbroken", by iPhone hacker, George Hotz, aka “Geohot”. He managed to reverse engineer his own PlayStation 3 to run homebrew applications on it. He then later released the method to the public through his site, geohot.com. Sony responded with a lawsuit and demanded social media sites, including YouTube, to hand over IP addresses of people who visited Geohot's social pages and videos.
Pay Pal has granted Sony access to Geohot's PayPal account, and the judge of the case granted Sony permission to view the IP addresses of everyone who visited geohot.com. Sony is also after another group of hackers for the same case. In April 2011, it was revealed that Sony and Hotz had settled the lawsuit out of court, on the condition that Hotz would never again resume any hacking work on Sony products.
Shortly following the settlement, the hacker hordes of Anonymous (a nameless legion of hackers) transferred their attention to Sony. They attacked the company's online Playstation store in retribution for Sony's lawsuit against PS3 hacker George Hotz (aka "GeoHot"). A denial of service attack temporarily took down playstation.com.
In a manifesto announcing the new operation, Anonymous railed against Sony for going after coders who seek to modify hardware that they own. The lawsuits are an "unforgivable offense against free speech and internet freedom:
"Your corrupt business practices are indicative of a corporate philosophy that would deny consumers the right to use products they have paid for and rightfully own, in the manner of their choosing," continues the pronouncement. "Perhaps you should alert your customers to the fact that they are apparently only renting your products? In light of this assault on both rights and free expression, Anonymous, the notoriously handsome rulers of the internet, would like to inform you that you have only been 'renting' your web domains. Having trodden upon Anonymous' rights, you must now be trodden on."

The PlayStation Network April 2011 outage began on April 20, 2011 and affected 77 million registered accounts, is the longest amount of time the PSN has been offline since its inception in 2006. Sony acknowledged that the outage prevented users from having the "ability to enjoy the services provided by PlayStation Network and Qriocity including online gaming and online access to music, movies, sports and TV shows.
While remaining offline, the PlayStation 3 is unable to play certain Capcom titles that were downloaded from the PlayStation Store. Streaming video providers Hulu, Vudu and Netflix are noted to be inaccessible displaying the same maintenance message. The maintenance message on Netflix can be bypassed, however, and the service can be used (two failed attempts to sign into PSN will allow access to the service).
Sony reported on April 26, 2011 that user data had been obtained by the same hack that resulted in the downtime. This includes names, addresses, email addresses, birthdays, PlayStation Network passwords and logins. It is also possible that profile data, including purchase histories, billing addresses and PlayStation Network password security answers may have been obtained. Sony proceeded to give step-by-step guidelines on how US users could obtain a credit report, place a fraud alert, and freeze their credit file through Equifax, Experian andTransUnion in an effort to prevent identity theft.
On May 1, Sony issued a press release and their sincerest apologies stating that the PlayStation Network would shortly begin a "phased restoration", starting with gaming, music, and video services. Sony also announced "a series of immediate steps to enhance security across the network and a new customer appreciation program to thank its customers for their patience and loyalty."
On May 5, Sony announced that they would be offering all PlayStation Network and Qriocity account holders in the United States one free year of AllClear IDPlus, an identity theft protection program powered by Debix.
On May 6, Sony stated that “As you may know, we’ve begun the process of restoring the service through internal testing of the new system. We’re still working to confirm the security of the network infrastructure, as well as working with a variety of outside entities to confirm with them of the security of the system. Verifying the system security is vital for the process of restoration. Additional comprehensive system checks and testing are still required, and we must complete that process before bringing the systems online.
As you’ve heard us say, our utmost priorities are the security of the network and ensuring your data is safe. We won’t restore the services until we can test the system’s strength in these respects.
When we held the press conference in Japan last week, based on what we knew, we expected to have the services online within a week. We were unaware of the extent of the attack on Sony Online Entertainment servers, and we are taking this opportunity to conduct further testing of the incredibly complex system. We know many of you are wanting to play games online, chat with your friends and enjoy all of the services PlayStation Network and Qriocity services have to offer, and trust me when I say we’re doing everything we can to make it happen. We will update you with more information as soon as we have it. We apologize for the delay and inconvenience of this network outage.”

On May 10, Sony stated, "I know you all want to know exactly when the services will be restored. At this time, I can’t give you an exact date, as it will likely be at least a few more days. We’re terribly sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we work through this process.”

That’s all we know. It’s been over three weeks. IN that time I’ve rediscovered sunlight, my blog and cleaned out my garage. Tick tock.

Nursing School Sucks

2011-05-13T14:35:00.007-05:00

Nursing school is not nursing. Nursing school is a 2 year kick in the nuts. Nursing, in many ways is a rewarding profession that enables one to make a positive impact in the lives of their patients and the patients families.

Nursing school is terrible. It sucks. I hated it…and here is a few reasons why:
I hated the stress.
I hated being made to feel stupid.
I hated the uniforms and all white shoes.
I hated the care plans.
I hated the paperwork.
I hated when I felt like I was bothering nurses in hospitals during clinical rotations.
I hated feeling like the dumbest person in the class (turned out, everyone is "dumb" and no one really understands what is going on).
I hated that OB was the most difficult semester while as a male nurse I KNEW there wasn't a snowballs chance in hell that I'd EVER be an OB nurse.
I hated buying EXPENSIVE books and carrying them with me every where I went.
I hated making straight A's on my prerequisite courses then making a C's and a rare B in the program.
I hated the tests and the possible 3/4 right answers.
I hated the skills check offs and stupid nursing school protocols that had no real world application. (Example: everytime we entered the room, we would have to introduce ourselves by full name and title and check the pt's ID. I assume they thought we were all going to work in an Alzheimer's ward. )
I hated that my wife had to work 2 jobs to cover my 2 years of unemployment while going through the nursing program.
I hated post conference and being kept an extra 30 minutes so the class know it all could hear herself/himself talk.
I could go on...but you get the idea.

I would have never thought nursing school was any more difficult than any other type of schooling had I not gone through it myself. The above list doesn’t include the prerequisite courses in anatomy and biology and chemistry and on and on…

Nursing school is not nursing. Nursing is one my favorite things in life. Nursing school was one of the worst.

How I Ruined Our Wood Floors

2011-05-13T14:30:00.006-05:00

About a month ago I was going to hang some shelves in my laundry room. I marked the studs with a stud finder and was ready drill with some 2 inch screws. I had to hang 3 brackets and was working from right to left. I was putting one screw in each one to make sure it was level before tightening the others down.

I did bracket 1 no problem followed by bracket 2. As I was screwing in the screw for bracket three I felt resistance. I thought, "I must have hit a knot in the wood or something”. So I pushed the drill harder and fast into the wall. I got it screwed in and noticed dribbling water coming from around the screw head. I quickly unscrewed the screw and a stream of hot water hit me in the face.

Apparently, I had hit a copper hot water pipe that was running along one of the studs. I put my finger on the hole and screamed for my wife to shut the water off at the meter. She couldn’t find the meter (at this time I called her an "idiot" out of anger...LOL....as I'm getting spewed in the face by water from a hole I created) so I went out and turned it off at the street and the valve on the top of the water heater.

By then, there was 2 inches of water on the tile floor of the laundry room. We made a dam of bath towels but water soaked through onto the wood floor (not hardwood…the fake stuff) in the hallway. I repaired the pipe but had to cut a hole in the sheet rock on the garage side of the wall. 3 days later the wood floor had buckled in about a 3X 8 foot area.

The Cost: 24 square feet at 3.50 a sq foot plus the copper to fix the pipe and the repair kit to fix the sheet rock.

Hell yeah!
It reminds me of the old saying: Behind every good man there is a good woman…rolling her eyes.

Consequences

2011-01-14T21:03:00.001-06:00

My nine year old “M” and I were in the car and talking about consequences for bad behavior earlier this evening. The conversation went something like this:
Me: …daddy doesn’t like to get on to you and your sister G. I want you two to be happy and have all you want in life. However, I would not be doing my job as your daddy if I let you two get away with having a bad attitude, being disrespectful and not listening to your parents and grandparents. Part of my job as your dad is to get you ready to be in the “real world”. Do you know what I mean by the real world?
M: No.
Me: The real world refers to a time in your life when you are a grown up. You will have a job, pay for your own food, house, clothes and car. You can’t treat other adults in the real world with a bad attitude. For example, if you were to talk back to your boss at work and were not nice to your co-workers the consequence of that would be that your boss would tell you that you couldn’t work there anymore. You wouldn’t have a job and therefore wouldn’t have a paycheck. If you didn’t have a paycheck, you wouldn’t have any money for a house, car or even food.
M:..and if you weren’t nice to other people then no one would want to marry you and would be all alone….and a bear could get you and bite your leg and no one would help you.

Birthday Memories

2011-01-09T12:37:00.003-06:00

Every once in a while I will allow a guest author on my blog. I left the "Ave Maria" story up on a Word Document. My 9 year erased everything back to the first few words and filled in her own story. Here goes:

Several months ago it was my birthday it was a icarly birthday it was on a Friday I had school that day when it was time for me to come home I had to go to my memaw’s house then my pawpa drove me home my home was coverd in ballons all over the floor then I sat attrhe table then I said mom when are thay going to be heare she said in 30 minits then it hapend ding dong Kelly hi arin mom said we should paint why all the girls get here grown ups started coming we opend all the perasents then all the parents started to leave we had are sleep over kindall started cring she wanted to go home she tried to call here mom she did NOT ansre so my mom had to DRIVE her home so we wahshed a move me and my bestest firend in the hole world sleep together then it was morning dad went to go get donutst then we played then averie body left.
LOVE
_______________

Ave Maria

2011-01-08T22:12:00.003-06:00

Several months ago we got a little Chihuahua we named “Maria”. She’s was an adorable petite dog found by a co-worker roaming some apartments in west Fort Worth. Unable to find an owner, the co-worker offered the dog to our family and we gladly accepted. According to our veterinarian’s estimates, the dog was 3 years old and had been on the streets for some time. Her teeth were jagged and absent and she had recently had a litter of puppies. After a few days at our house we discovered that she only barked when someone was on the front porch, was well house trained and great with kids. We were delighted to have her as the newest member of our family.
Maria liked to wander. She found every possible escape route under the fence in our back yard. We would fill holes with bricks just as fast as she could make/find a new one but she usually came back after about an hour of making her rounds. Our daughters, with the help from their mother, bought a blue and white polka-dotted with red ruffles on the bottom dress for the 5 pound dog. The dress fits tightly around the bottom and her white fury ass-puffs would flare out of the red ruffled bottom. The dog always sort of gave me the “Really!?!?” look wearing it. When no one was looking I would slip her out of it and hide the dress in a drawer somewhere in the house. The dress always seemed to find its way back to the dog.
One day, I was home alone with the dog. I had just dropped the kids off at school and as part of my routine was letting the dog out in the back yard to do her business. The dog was wearing the dress again and I made a mental note to remove it later. I went back to let her in about 15 to 20 minutes later. She was gone. I called. Nothing. I went into the backyard and looked around. Nothing. I went into the front yard and yelled her name. Nothing and no trace of Maria. I thought, “She’ll be back” and vowed to continue the search later if need be. I went back in side. After about an hour, I drove up and down the streets with my head hanging out the window yelling “Maria”. Nothing. I tried again when it was time to pick the girls up for school. Three of us were hanging our heads out the window yelling for the pint sized pooch to return. Nothing.
The wife came home from work after dark. I had explained what happened. We planned to put up flyers in the morning and comb the local animal shelters and other known canine hangouts. The kids were upset and the wife was of course pissed off at me for not keeping up with the dog. Just then, the door bell rang. It was the neighbor from three houses up the street. This neighbor had 3 dogs in their backyard and had discovered our dog in the backyard with them. They identified Maria from the tags on her collar. I was sitting in my recliner when the wife brought Maria to me.
It was a vision of pathetic. She had a tooth mark on her face and one on the top of her head with dried caked blood. It looked as if a larger dog had picked her up by her head and threw her. She was shivering uncontrollable (not the usual piss-ant Chihuahua shiver…but a real shiver) Her paws were covered in clumps of mud with more dried mud spots covering the rest of her coat. The white patches of fur seemed to have a dirty haze to them. To make matters worse, her dress was gone and undoubtedly ripped from her body by a roving vicious and jealous pack of dogs with no sense of high fashion or polite society. The wife bathed her and dressed her wounds. She gave her a few drops of leftover liquid hydrocodone and cuddled her to sleep.
I bite my tongue and resist laughing at the imagined circumstances surrounding the undressing of our Maria. What moved the other dogs to remove the dress? Was it her proud puffs and wagging tail as she leisurely strolled down the street? Did she provoke the attack? In their minds, did she deserve it? Had she broke an unspoken rule of puppy protocol? What was it? The unknowns make me chuckle even as I write these words.

There is a silver lining: The she doesn’t have to wear the dress anymore and she will probably be more cautious about running off in the future. However, the hydrocodone may have turned her into a junky and she could be faking all kinds of injuries in the future trying to chase that first high. Time will tell.

Baby Boy

2011-01-03T23:14:00.004-06:00

My brother Michael and his wife Annie are having their third child today. We are watching their children and met their grandma “Mimi” at McDonald’s for some lunch and play time. The kids were playing when we got the text message of a picture of their new baby brother. I called them over to see the picture. The boys were both excited. The 2 year old said, “He’s naked..and I see his penis”. I was caught off guard and started to laugh. It seems my laughter only encouraged him and he repeated, “penis”. His brother was now laughing and they ran back to the McDonald’s play room with the youngest yelling “penis”…”penis”….

Congratulations to Michael and Annie on their new baby boy and his penis.

Court is in Session

2011-01-03T23:08:00.005-06:00

The County Sub-courthouse

Wow. It’s been a year and some months ago since I last blogged. With a bit of luck the handful of eyeballs that read this blog have been forgiving and unwearied by my absence and have kept me in their favorites tab.
Good news! I’m back bitches!
I was sitting with mother, the wife and kids at McDonalds today and telling this story. It was then that I realized, “Hey, I should put this on my blog”.
Here goes:
As I’ve said before in another blog post: we live in a small town. The small town has a small school district. There is one middle school, one high school and 4 elementary schools. We, the parents of two girls, have always had a problem getting to school on time. The Texas Board of Education whatever- whatever law states that a child must not be absent from school without excuse a certain amount of days or parts of days. Last year, our little ISD began interpreting “parts of days” as one second or more past the first bell and according to policy, 10 of these “parts of days” will get you a date with the local Justice of the Peace.
Naturally, we were tardy 10 days this year and subsequently received our notice to appear before the Court. The letter read:
“The above named Defendant (me) is accused of PARENT CONTRIBUTING TO NONATTEND. This is a criminal misdemeanor offense. Notice is hereby given that the above styled and numbered case has been scheduled for court on the 3rd day of January, 2011 at 1:30 PM at the __________ Sub-Courthouse. You are notified to personally appear and to be personally present with your child ______________, in the court at all proceedings in the above styled and numbered cause.
Notice, failure to appear and bring the above named child as requested may result in a warrant being issued and/or your license being suspended.”
At the bottom it gave this warning IN ALL CAPS:
“PROPER DRESSS ATTIRE IS REQUIRED UPON ENTERING THE COURT ROOM, NO HATS , NO SHORTS, TANK TOPS, BODY PIERCINGS, T-SHIRTS WITH IMPROPER LOGOS OR PROVOCATIVE CLOTHING WILL BE ALLOWED.”
Therefore, I spent the better part of this morning taking out my nipple and lip rings and looking for a suitable replacement for my leather hot-pants and rhinestone studded tube top. The wife had to make this very same walk of shame with the second grader last year and we can only assume that they did not dress in provocative clothing. At registration for the 5 year old she discovered a loophole and with a bit of maneuvering in the main school office she was able to sign the kindergartener up for school with myself as the primary parent. A side note: she also name swapped with the now third grader…she ain’t dumb. Don’t tell her she can’t wear provocative clothing because she will inevitably find a way around those sorts of puritanical edicts. By the way, what the hell is an “improper logo”? I digress…
By this morning (and with a little help from big sister) the 5 year old was terrified at the thought of having to go with daddy to court to stand before the judge. With unfailing objection and tears from the five year old, her mother dressed her and we left the house at 12:45. I didn’t want to show up late to a court hearing regarding my kid showing up late to school and I sort of thought It might hurt my case. We arrived at the court house ten minutes after leaving home. I wasn’t sure where I was going or how much paper work I needed to do before my official 1:30 start time. As it turned out, I didn’t have to do any paperwork and our court room was easy to find. It was the only room marked “Court Room”. The smiling female bailiff walked us through the metal detectors and we took a seat in the back of the room.
The room held about 90 empty chairs. Eight were occupied by people who were either foreclosing, being evicted or trying to evict a tenant. The 5 year old and I sat at the back of the room on the back row. In hindsight and for reasons unknown, it sort of felt like visiting a church. The judge entered from a side door into the court room. “All rise”, said the bailiff. I didn’t get halfway out of my chair before the judge said “be seated”. The 5 year old and I watched case after case come before the bench and be heard. Some cases took under three minutes. Others took five or ten. There was no clock in the courtroom and we were not allowed to bring in our cell phones. I assume the time was 1:30 when the back door of the courtroom opened and people began pouring in to take their seats. Most were smart-ass looking teenagers. Most were 16-17ish and all were there with a parent or legal guardian. The next youngest to my 5 year old was probably old enough to drive himself to court.
The judge called all the defendant’s names in order to take an attendance. Most were present and by this time the 90 empty seats had been filled. “Shit on a shingle”, I thought. Our name was at least 20 people down the list. We will be here forever. The 5 year old was sleeping in her chair and technically sitting up straight. Just as I was making myself more comfortable the judge said, “John, please come up here”. The tone and content of the comment lead me to assume that “John” was some courtroom lackey or coffee minion. He said it louder. I pointed to my chest and did the “what? Me?” look. He nodded “yes”. My fellow defendants turned to look at the asshole holding up the court proceedings as I hopped up out of my chair and adjusted my sagging pants. I couldn’t wake the 5 year old after the first few tries but soon she had her eyes open. She started off walking the wrong way. I had to course correct and lead her through the maze of coatroom furniture and equipment.
The five year olds forehead came even with the ledge on the front of the judge’s bench. Tilting her head all the way back was the only way to see. The judge was kind to her and asked about her about toys she got for Christmas and other 5 year old small talk. The 5 year old gave limited and guarded responses to the judge’s questions. Trust had not yet been established. Finally, the judge turned to me and confirmed the elementary school. He knew the close proximity of our street to the school and told me that I shouldn’t have any problems getting there on time. I agreed. He said that usually he doesn’t give out fines to the parents and encouraged me to make better habits about getting to school on time. I agreed. He told the five year old that he was giving her a court ordered double scoop of ice cream from Braum's. I was expecting him to pull a few gift certificates out of his pocket until I realized that “court ordered” meant it was coming from my pocket. I plead no contest, signed some papers and was out the door .

PS: Last year, the 9 year old was in this same courtroom with her mother under the same circumstances. The judge has long shoulder length hair and a beard because he plays Jesus (yes, that Jesus) in a play a few towns over. The judge was speaking to the 9 year old and finished with “do you understand?” The 9 year old said “yes ma’am”. :-)

I want this on a t-shirt

2009-08-03T18:41:00.002-05:00

BH Obama = Most Stylish Man

2009-06-21T16:18:00.004-05:00

BH Obama was voted the most stylish man in the world from a list of 3000 challengers. To put it in perspective, Brad Pitt came in second. I’m sure the Obamaniacs are circle-jerking this latest victory by the entity of their adulation. I guess it’s a good thing to have a President who has a first-class sense of fashion although I’ve never noticed anything special about Obama in this regard.

IMO, we certainly wouldn’t want some sleeveless- jean short wearing- tornado bait- rube shaking hands on behalf of America with other heads of state. With that in mind, I’m sort of obligated to say ‘bravo’ to the person or persons dressing BH Obama. The linked article lists the top 20 pop idols from the survey. Elvis came in 16th place which leads me to believe that rotting corpse will be the new “brown” for fall.

Loophole for Gay Marriage

2009-06-03T22:52:00.003-05:00

Conservatives Warn Quick Sex Change Only Barrier Between Gays, Marriage

I'm on a roll

2009-05-26T14:09:00.004-05:00

I can't help it. These two videos need to be included in my video posting frenzy.

(Language in this next one. I met a guy just like this at work one time.)

Astronaut Jones

2009-05-26T13:43:00.003-05:00

Hilarious!

Jesus is a Friend of Mine

2009-05-26T13:28:00.004-05:00

Someone posted a link to this recently. I LOVE it!. My favorite is a two way tie between the fat guy back up singer and the guitar player.

ENJOY!

(BTW, this song might get stuck in your head)

American Idol: Observations from Finale

2009-05-20T06:29:00.003-05:00

I've been watching American Idol all season. Last night was the finale and here are my thoughts on what went down.

If I'm voting on 1st song alone I think Adam did the best. I dig the Mad World song and think it was right up his alley. Kris's choice "Ain’t no Sunshine" was alright but not as good IMO.

Simon Fuller, the show's creator, supposedly hand picked "A Change Is Gonna Come" for Lambert and "What's Going On" for Kris Allen. These are some of the worst possible song choices for these two and thus began what was a steady hour long decline in to an abysmal show.

The Coup de Grace for this display of musical mediocrity was the utter abortion that was the third song, called “No Boundaries”. It was a song co-written by the brainless hack and 4th judge, Kara Dioguardi. First, “No Boundaries” is probably one of the cheesiest titles ever conceived for a song. Second, the lyrics sound like a love letter from an emo 7th grader. Third, all I could think while watching the show live was: “This sounds like something Dirk Diggler sang in “Boogie Nights” when he was trying to cut his rock album”.

Here are the lyrics. I listened to the show and typed them out. In doing so, I realized that Kris forgot the lines and did some pretty remarkable improvisation. Here goes:

Seconds, hours so many days
You know what you want but how long can you wait?
Every moment lasts forever when you feel you’ve lost your way
What if my chances are already gone
I started believing that I could be wrong
But you gave me one good reason to fight and never walk away
So here I am still holding on.

Chorus
With every step you climb another mountain
With every breath its harder to believe
You will make it through the pain
Weather a hurricane
To get to that one thing
Just when you think the road is going nowhere
Just when you almost gave up on your dreams
They take you by the hand and show you that you can

You can go higher
You can go deeper
There are no boundaries above or beneath you
You break every rule
But there is nothing between you and your dreams.

Chorus

BUAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!1!!!!

It’s so dreadful it’s almost good. It is overflowing with clichés and has a unique glam rock flare. I don’t mean to keep piling on here but doesn’t this song sound like something that would be played in the closing credits of an 80’s “teen angst” movie? What say you?
_________________

Clouds

2009-05-08T21:01:00.005-05:00

We went out to eat tonight as a family. In the car on the way home we saw the sun set with the most amazing looking clouds. We were all looking, pointing and commenting when my 7 year old asked, "What are clouds made of"? Her mother responded, "Water". To which the 7 year old replied, "So we are living under water?"

:-)

Ten Arguments Against Same Sex Marriage

2009-05-08T11:17:00.004-05:00

My responses to Ten Arguments Against Same Sex Marriage. These arguments are a synopsis of the book by Dr. James Dobson, Marriage Under Fire and was found at this LINK.

Away we go...

Argument #1.
The implications for children in a world of decaying families are profound. A recent article in the Weekly Standard described how the advent of legally sanctioned gay unions in Scandinavian countries has already destroyed the institution of marriage, where half of today's children are born out of wedlock.
It is predicted now, based on demographic trends in this country, that more than half of the babies born in the 1990s will spend at least part of their childhood in single-parent homes.

--The “Weekly Standard” is not exactly the greatest example of an unbiased news source. Second, according to CNN , “Nearly 40 percent of babies born in the United States in 2007 were delivered by unwed mothers, according to data released last month by the National Center for Health Statistics. The 1.7 million out-of-wedlock births, of 4.3 million total births, marked a more than 25 percent jump from five years before.” Straight Americans are choosing to have children out of wedlock. It has nothing to do with gay marriage. In this particular situation, gay marriage is being used as a scapegoat.

Social scientists have been surprisingly consistent in warning against this fractured family. If it continues, almost every child will have several "moms" and "dads," perhaps six or eight "grandparents," and dozens of half-siblings. It will be a world where little boys and girls are shuffled from pillar to post in an ever-changing pattern of living arrangements-where huge numbers of them will be raised in foster-care homes or living on the street (as millions do in other countries all over the world today). Imagine an environment where nothing is stable and where people think primarily about themselves and their own self-preservation.

--Again, we are talking about straight couples making these choices. This has nothing to do with gay marriage. In fact, one ironic solution could be that maybe a gay married couple could adopt some of these poor disadvantaged children and give them some stability.

The apostle Paul described a similar society in Romans 1, which addressed the epidemic of homosexuality that was rampant in the ancient world and especially in Rome at that time. He wrote, "They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless" (v. 29-31, NIV).

--See previous blog post for response to this.

It appears likely now that the demise of families will accelerate this type of decline dramatically, resulting in a chaotic culture that will be devastating to children.

--This is a false conclusion and is also the classic slippery slope argument. A slippery slope fallacy is one that claims that something is bad or wrong because it could snowball into something that is bad or wrong. It ignores middle ground or other possible outcomes and relies on a magic crystal ball to foretell the future. Not to mention, the person making this particular argument has yet to prove causation with the idea that gay marriage somehow takes away from “traditional” marriage.

Argument #2
The introduction of legalized gay marriages will lead inexorably to polygamy and other alternatives to one-man, one-woman unions.

In Utah, polygamist Tom Green, who claims five wives, is citing Lawrence v. Texas as the legal authority for his appeal. This past January, a Salt Lake City civil rights attorney filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of another couple wanting to engage in legal polygamy. Their justification? Lawrence v. Texas.

The ACLU of Utah has actually suggested that the state will "have to step up to prove that a polygamous relationship is detrimental to society"-as opposed to the polygamists having to prove that plural marriage is not harmful to the culture. Do you see how the game is played? Despite 5,000 years of history, the burden now rests on you and me to prove that polygamy is unhealthy. The ACLU went on to say that the nuclear family "may not be necessarily the best model." Indeed, Justice Antonin Scalia warned of this likelihood in his statement for the minority in the Lawrence case.10 It took less than six months for his prediction to become reality.
Why will gay marriage set the table for polygamy? Because there is no place to stop once that Rubicon has been crossed. Historically, the definition of marriage has rested on a bedrock of tradition, legal precedent, theology and the overwhelming support of the people.

--There are at least 3 fallacies at work here. First, there is appeal to tradition. Appeal to tradition is when you assume something is right or true because it has always been done that way. It’s like saying “We have been burning fossil fuels for years so it is obviously the best way to power a vehicle.” An example of this fallacy is evident when he says that “Despite 5,000 years of history” and “Historically, the definition of marriage has rested on a bedrock of tradition, legal precedent, theology and the overwhelming support of the people.” That last statement “overwhelming support of the people” is a fallacy of appealing to the majority. Appealing to the majority is when you claim a proposition is right or true because so many people believe it. In reality, a thing can be true even if no one believes it. Next is the fallacy of slippery slope where gay marriage opens the flood gates of polygamy (I’m for polygamy, BTW. Perhaps I will explain that in another post.).

After the introduction of marriage between homosexuals, however, it will be supported by nothing more substantial than the opinion of a single judge or by a black-robed panel of justices. After they have done their wretched work, the family will consist of little more than someone's interpretation of "rights."

Given that unstable legal climate, it is certain that some self-possessed judge, somewhere, will soon rule that three men and one woman can marry. Or five and two, or four and four. Who will be able to deny them that right? The guarantee is implied, we will be told, by the Constitution. Those who disagree will continue to be seen as hate-mongers and bigots. (Indeed, those charges are already being leveled against those of us who espouse biblical values!) How about group marriage, or marriage between relatives, or marriage between adults and children? How about marriage between a man and his donkey? Anything allegedly linked to "civil rights" will be doable. The legal underpinnings for marriage will have been destroyed.

--The first paragraph is future forecasting and appeal to fear. The last paragraph is one giant slippery slope. It’s beyond ridiculous. He makes the leap from two committed people getting married to some sort of orgy and some dude getting together with a donkey? What? I also chuckled when he said “rights” at the end of paragraph 1. The quotations around it made it seem to me like that word should be read as if it was a word uttered by a poor soul who just stepped in dog crap. Is it just me? Then he says, “those who disagree will continue to be seen as hate-mongers and bigots”. He’s probably right about that.

Argument #3
An even greater objective of the homosexual movement is to end the state's compelling interest in marital relationships altogether. After marriages have been redefined, divorces will be obtained instantly, will not involve a court, and will take on the status of a driver's license or a hunting permit. With the family out of the way, all rights and privileges of marriage will accrue to gay and lesbian partners without the legal entanglements and commitments heretofore associated with it.

--I’ll have to take his word for this. I’m all for divorces being obtained instantly. Why not? In my opinion, people should be free to make these choices for themselves. I’m not saying it isn’t a sad thing when two people get divorced. I am saying that when two people want to get divorced they should be able to get divorced without expensive court fees and lawyers. I’m still not very clear on what this has to do with gay marriage other than accusing the “homosexual movement” of somehow destroying the “marital relationship”. I don’t think much of a point is being made in argument 3 so I’ll move on.

Argument #4
With the legalization of homosexual marriage, every public school in the nation will be required to teach that this perversion is the moral equivalent of traditional marriage between a man and a woman. Textbooks, even in conservative states, will have to depict man/man and woman/woman relationships, and stories written for children as young as elementary school, or even kindergarten, will have to give equal space to homosexuals.

--LOL. What? Where to start? Appeal to fear, slippery slope and crystal ball forecasting. A recent study found that about 7% of men reported having sexual contact with another man in the last year in the United States. That ain’t that much. Why are we assuming that this will open the flood gates to “equal space?” Also, what exactly is the fear here? Does homosexuality cease to exist if people prevent their kids from hearing about it? What happens when these kids grow up and step out into the real world? Do the words found in a book on a school library shelf trump the teachings of a parent? Is this really a concern?

Argument #5
From that point forward, courts will not be able to favor a traditional family involving one man and one woman over a homosexual couple in matters of adoption. Children will be placed in homes with parents representing only one sex on an equal basis with those having a mom and a dad. The prospect of fatherless and motherless children will not be considered in the evaluation of eligibility. It will be the law.

--OK…and? If you want to adopt a child you need to show that you are more capable of raising that child than the competition. If 2 gay dudes win that contest then more power to them. Guess what? In the courts view, you would suck as a parent. Sorry. Remember this: Just because you got 2 people with opposite “plumbing” doesn’t mean you are automatically more suited to raise a child. There are plenty of bum straight parents out there.

Argument #6
Foster-care parents will be required to undergo "sensitivity training" to rid themselves of bias in favor of traditional marriage, and will have to affirm homosexuality in children and teens.

--OK. So people will have to stop thinking for themselves and start promoting the agenda of “big brother”. Argument 6 is moronic.

Argument #7
How about the impact on Social Security if there are millions of new dependents that will be entitled to survivor benefits? It will amount to billions of dollars on an already overburdened system. And how about the cost to American businesses? Unproductive costs mean fewer jobs for those who need them. Are state and municipal governments to be required to raise taxes substantially to provide health insurance and other benefits to millions of new "spouses and other dependents"?

--Go with me back in time. Can’t you just hear this argument being made in the 1860’s? “We can’t free these slaves! What about our labor costs? How will we turn a profit on this cotton? This will ruin us financially!”

Argument #8
Marriage among homosexuals will spread throughout the world, just as pornography did after the Nixon Commission declared obscene material "beneficial" to mankind.11 Almost instantly, the English-speaking countries liberalized their laws against smut. America continues to be the fountainhead of filth and immorality, and its influence is global.

The point is that numerous leaders in other nations are watching to see how we will handle the issue of homosexuality and marriage. Only two countries in the world have authorized gay marriage to date-the Netherlands and Belgium. Canada is leaning in that direction, as are numerous European countries. Dr. Darrell Reid, president of Focus on the Family Canada, told me two weeks ago that his country is carefully monitoring the United States to see where it is going. If we take this step off a cliff, the family on every continent will splinter at an accelerated rate. Conversely, our U.S. Supreme Court has made it clear that it looks to European and Canadian law in the interpretation of our Constitution.13 What an outrage! That should have been grounds for impeachment, but the Congress, as usual, remained passive and silent.

--More slippery slope. At this point I don’t even care anymore.

Argument #9
Perhaps most important, the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be severely curtailed. The family has been God's primary vehicle for evangelism since the beginning.

Its most important assignment has been the propagation of the human race and the handing down of the faith to our children. Malachi 2:15 reads, referring to husbands and wives, "Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are His. And why one? Because He was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth" (NIV).

That responsibility to teach the next generation will never recover from the loss of committed, God-fearing families. The younger generation and those yet to come will be deprived of the Good News, as has already occurred in France, Germany and other European countries. Instead of providing for a father and mother, the advent of homosexual marriage will create millions of motherless children and fatherless kids. This is morally wrong, and is condemned in Scripture. Are we now going to join the Netherlands and Belgium to become the third country in the history of the world to "normalize" and legalize behavior that has been prohibited by God himself? Heaven help us if we do!

--Appeal to tradition and slippery slope.

Argument #10
The culture war will be over, and I fear, the world may soon become "as it was in the days of Noah" (Matthew 24:37, NIV). This is the climactic moment in the battle to preserve the family, and future generations hang in the balance.
This apocalyptic and pessimistic view of the institution of the family and its future will sound alarmist to many, but I think it will prove accurate unless-unless-God's people awaken and begin an even greater vigil of prayer for our nation. That's why Shirley and I are urgently seeking the Lord's favor and asking Him to hear the petitions of His people and heal our land.

As of this time, however, large segments of the church appear to be unaware of the danger; its leaders are surprisingly silent about our peril (although we are tremendously thankful for the efforts of those who have spoken out on this issue). The lawless abandon occurring recently in California, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Washington and elsewhere should have shocked us out of our lethargy. So far, I'm alarmed to say, the concern and outrage of the American people have not translated into action.
This reticence on behalf of Christians is deeply troubling. Marriage is a sacrament designed by God that serves as a metaphor for the relationship between Christ and His Church. Tampering with His plan for the family is immoral and wrong. To violate the Lord's expressed will for humankind, especially in regard to behavior that He has prohibited, is to court disaster.

--Appeal to fear, slippery slope, appeal to tradition. I’m spent.

Gay Marriage

2009-05-05T23:54:00.004-05:00

In Christianity, the Bible is used as a guide for setting moral standards for society. Today I was talking with my brother about homosexual marriage and I rhetorically asked, “Why are we using obscure passages from an archaic book to dictate laws (whether or not homosexuals should be allowed to marry) in America?” It was pointed out that Paul condemned in Romans 1. I admit, I was more thinking of the Pentateuch passages dealing with this “abomination”. It was also pointed out that Paul is responsible for most of modern day Christian thought since his books, in number at least, contribute the most to the New Testament and also that his legitimacy was reinforced by Peter. I guess the word “archaic” is subjective in that the OT is 4000 years old versus 2000 years old for the NT. Either way; it is a long time ago and we are dictating law for our present day society with ideas from thousands of years ago in a completely different society.
The Romans passage says this (NIV):

“24Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves:
25Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
26For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.
28And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” ---Romans 1:24-32

This could be interpreted that homosexuality, according to Paul, is at the very least “unnatural”. So, don’t be gay. This is a home run for the Christian heterosexuals. That’s like asking me to not ever have a menstruation cycle. I CAN AND WILL FOLLOW THAT COMMANDMENT. Check that one off the list and let’s have a law that says that men can’t marry men and women can’t marry women.
Here is where the “pro-family” Christian movement loses all credibility. I’ve not heard of many (outside of Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church) supporting any of the following. Even the most fundamental of Christians aren’t calling for laws supporting these passages:

Ex. 22:20 He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.
Lev. 24:16 And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death.
Ex. 31:15 Whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
Ex. 21:15 He that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.
Ex. 21:17 He that curseth his father or his mother, shall surely be put to death.
Ex. 22:19 Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death.
Lev. 20:13 If a man lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death.
Lev. 20:10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, the adulterer
and the adulteress shall be put to death.
Ex. 22:18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Mal. 2:1-4 And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. If you will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name,...behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces. (Will Jesus do the spreading of the dung??)
Deuteronomy 22:5 The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so [are] abomination unto the LORD thy God.
Leviticus 12:2,5: 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean… 5 But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.

But that is the OLD Testament! Modern day Christianity follows the NEW Testament. So it’s OK to have a law for something in America today because it is in the New Testament? Paul also wrote:

1 Corinthians 11:14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
Romans 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to [her] husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of [her] husband.
1 Timothy 2:9 – 15: 9. In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; 10 But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. 11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. 12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. 13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
1 Corinthians 11:7 – 9: 7 For a man indeed ought not to cover [his] head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. 8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. 9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
1 Corinthians 14:34 – 35: 34. Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but [they are commanded] to be under obedience, as also saith the law. 35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

Peter says:

1 Peter 3:1 -3: 1. Likewise, ye wives, [be] in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;
2 While they behold your chaste conversation [coupled] with fear.
3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward [adorning] of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

In my opinion, the vast majority of Christians do not want a law for any of the above. Furthermore, very few believing Christians follow the above with any amount of regularity. But those same people want a law so that homosexuals can not be married. Why doesn’t the Christian community take the advice of Jesus and remove the plank in their own eye first? The arrogance and hypocrisy of the “pro-family” movement is this: They decide for everyone else and seek legislation based on their own beliefs, preferences and predilection without considering what life would be like if the shoe was on the other foot. And, all the while they decide to ignore and disregard other passages that are less convenient and relevant. In my opinion, this sort of thinking falls somewhere on a continuum of myopic and tyrannical.
One of the great things about our country is that we protect the minority from tyranny of the majority. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter if 99% believe that a Holy Book is telling them that women shouldn’t be able to vote or that dark skinned people should drink from a separate but equal water fountain. The law should protect the rights of the 1% regardless of the religious preferences of the majority and not the other way around. This is so fundamentally important to our free society. Freedom of religion also includes freedom from religion. In my opinion, we should nurture that idea or we may eventually risk the possibility of a theocracy and we may or may not get to pick the God.

(More Later)

Charlie Bit My Finger

2009-03-01T05:03:00.002-06:00

This one reminds me of my two nephews....you know...if they were from England and one of them was named "Charlie".

SNL Wii

2009-02-25T15:19:00.002-06:00

I laughed until I cried watching this. Check it out.

Emergency Spending

2009-02-25T14:39:00.004-06:00

Tax cuts
Total: $288 billion
Tax relief for individuals
Total: $237 billion
• $116 billion: New payroll tax credit of $400 per worker and $800 per couple in 2009 and 2010. Phase-out begins at $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for joint filers. [30]
• $70 billion: Alternative minimum tax: a one year increase in AMT floor to $70,950 for joint filers for 2009.
• $15 billion: Expansion of child tax credit: A $1,000 credit to more families (even those that do not make enough money to pay income taxes).
• $14 billion: Expanded college credit to provide a $2,500 expanded tax credit for college tuition and related expenses for 2009 and 2010. The credit is phased out for couples making more than $160,000.
• $6.6 billion: Homebuyer credit: $8,000 credit for all homes bought between 1/1/2009 and 12/1/2009 and repayment provision repealed for homes purchased in 2009 and held more than three years.
• $4.7 billion: Excluding from taxation the first $2,400 a person receives in unemployment compensation benefits in 2009.
• $4.7 billion: Expanded earned income tax credit to increase the earned income tax credit — which provides money to low income workers — for families with at least three children.
• $4.3 billion: Home energy credit to provide an expanded credit to homeowners who make their homes more energy-efficient in 2009 and 2010. Homeowners could recoup 30 percent of the cost up to $1,500 of numerous projects, such as installing energy-efficient windows, doors, furnaces and air conditioners.
• $1.7 billion: for deduction of sales tax from car purchases, not interest payments phased out for incomes above $250,000.
Tax relief for companies
Total: $51 billion
• $15 billion: Allowing companies to use current losses to offset profits made in the previous five years, instead of two, making them eligible for tax refunds.
• $13 billion: to extend tax credits for renewable energy production (until 2014).
• $11 billion: Government contractors: Repeal a law that takes effect in 2012, requiring government agencies to withhold three percent of payments to contractors to help ensure they pay their tax bills. Repealing the law would cost $11 billion over 10 years, in part because the government could not earn interest by holding the money throughout the year.
• $7 billion: Repeal bank credit: Repeal a Treasury provision that allowed firms that buy money-losing banks to use more of the losses as tax credits to offset the profits of the merged banks for tax purposes. The change would increase taxes on the merged banks by $7 billion over 10 years.
• $5 billion: Bonus depreciation which extends a provision allowing businesses buying equipment such as computers to speed up its depreciation through 2009.

These are all fine and good but they aren't really "tax cuts" because they are part of a spending bill. It is simply money not paid now that will need to be paid later. They aren't decreasing the governments income. Rather, they are just delaying it. This is really a 288 BILLION dollar welfare handout. Thankyou BH Obama!

Healthcare

More than 11% of the total bill is allocated to help states with Medicaid
Total: $147.7 billion
• $86.6 billion for Medicaid
• $24.7 billion to provide a 65 percent subsidy of health care insurance premiums for the unemployed under the COBRA program
• $19 billion for health information technology
• $10 billion for health research and construction of National Institutes of Health facilities
• $1.3 billion for medical care for service members and their families (military)
• $1 billion for prevention and wellness
• $1 billion for the Veterans Health Administration
• $2 billion for Community Health Centers
• $1.1 billion to research the effectiveness of certain healthcare treatments
• $500 million to train healthcare personnel
• $500 million for healthcare services on Indian reservations

This is certainly not an "emergency" to get our economy running. This is political opportunists working towards socializing the nation's healthcare system. This is a step in that direction and a huge $150 BILLION mistake for this country. Remember, all this money has to be paid back and it all has to come from somewhere. If it comes from the "rich" or large corporations then those people will simply charge the "poor" more for goods and services. There is no escaping the fact that everyone will have to pay this back eventually either directly to the government or through private exchange. Thankyou BH Obama!

Education
Total: $90.9 billion
• $44.5 billion in aid to local school districts to prevent layoffs and cutbacks, with flexibility to use the funds for school modernization and repair (State Equalization Fund)
• $15.6 billion to increase Pell Grants from $4,731 to $5,350
• $13 billion for low-income public schoolchildren
• $12.2 billion for IDEA special education
• $2.1 billion for Head Start
• $2 billion for childcare services
• $650 million for educational technology
• $300 million for increased teacher salaries
• $250 million for states to analyze student performance
• $200 million to support working college students
• $70 million for the education of homeless children
Aid to poor, unemployed and retirees (including job training)

Again, this is a $91 BILLION dollar politically opportunistic spending frenzy and nothing else. This does nothing to stimulate the economy. It throws more money at the best funded and most under achieving school programs in the modernized world and I'm sure the teacher's unions are thrilled at this part of the bill. None of the above should be able to qualify as "emergency spending" but it certainly does according to BH Obama. Thankyou BH OBama!

Unemployment benefit expansion and food stamp increases are the main social funding parts in the final bill
Total: $82.5 billion
• $40 billion to provide extended unemployment benefits through Dec. 31, and increase them by $25 a week
• $19.9 billion for the Food Stamp Program
• $14.2 billion to give one-time $250 payments to Social Security recipients, poor people on Supplemental Security Income, and veterans receiving disability and pensions.
• $3.95 billion for job training
• $3 billion in temporary welfare payments
• $500 million for vocational training for the disabled
• $400 million for employment services
• $120 million for subsidized community service jobs for older Americans
• $150 million to help refill food banks
• $100 million for meals programs for seniors, such as Meals on Wheels
• $100 million for free school lunch programs

Why do unemployed people need more money? Honestly, did it get more expensive to be unemployed? More welfare programs for those on the government tit. It's pathetic. $83billion dollars so that unemployed people don't have to live as poorly as unemployed people used to live. Thankyou BH OBama!

Infrastructure Investment
Total: $80.9 billion
Core investments (roads, bridges, railways, other transportation)

Highway construction is the biggest single line infrastructure item in the final bill
Total: $45.2 billion
• $27.5 billion for highway and bridge construction projects
• $8 billion for high-speed rail projects
• $6.9 billion for new equipment for public transportation projects
• $1.3 billion for Amtrak
• $750 million for the construction of new public rail transportation systems
• $750 million for the maintenance of existing public transportation systems
Investment into government facilities
Total: $20.7 billion
• $4.6 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers for environmental restoration, flood protection, hydropower, and navigation infrastructure projects
• $4.2 billion to repair and modernize Defense Department facilities.
• $4 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (wastewater treatment infrastructure improvements)
• $4 billion for public housing improvements
• $2 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (drinking water infrastructure improvements)
• $890 million to improve housing for service members
• $250 million to improve Job Corps training facilities
• $240 million for new child development centers
• $150 million for the construction of state extended-care facilities
• $100 million to improve facilities of the National Guard
• $240 million for the maintenance of United States Coast Guard facilities
Supplemental investments
Total: $15 billion
• $7.2 billion for complete broadband and wireless Internet access
• $1.5 billion for competitive grants to state and local governments for transportation investments
• $1.38 billion for rural drinking water and waste disposal projects
• $1 billion to the Bureau of Reclamation for drinking water projects for rural or drought-likely areas
• $750 million to the National Park Service
• $650 million to the Forest Service
• $515 million for wildfire prevention projects
• $500 million for Bureau of Indian Affairs infrastructure projects
• $340 million to the Natural Resources Conservation Service for watershed infrastructure projects
• $320 million to the Bureau of Land Management
• $280 million for National Wildlife Refuges
• $280 million for the National Fish Hatchery System
• $220 million to the International Boundary and Water Commission to repair flood control systems along the Rio Grande
• $220 million for other public lands management agencies
• $500 million to update the computer center at the Social Security Administration
• $290 million to upgrade IT platforms at the State Department
• $50 million for IT improvements at the Farm Service Agency

Parts of this section grow the federal government so I pretty much disagree with them on principle. The other parts pay for things like Highways and bridges. IMO, we ought to be paying this money to our state and local governments and allowing them to decide what to do about our local bridges and highways. Instead, we give it to Washington and they give it back if we comply with their federal programs. It's poppycock to say the least. This is another 20 billion dollar shot in the ass. Thank you BH Obama.

Energy
Loans and investments into green energy technology is a significant part of the final bill
Total: $49.7 billion
• $11 billion funding for an electric smart grid
• $6.3 billion for state and local governments to make investments in energy efficiency
• $6 billion for renewable energy and electric transmission technologies loan guarantees
• $6 billion for the cleanup of radioactive waste (mostly nuclear power plant sites)
• $5 billion for weatherizing modest-income homes
• $4.5 billion for state and local governments to increase energy efficiency in federal buildings
• $3.4 billion for carbon capture experiments
• $2.5 billion for energy efficiency research
• $2 billion for manufacturing of advanced car battery (traction) systems and components.
• $3.2 billion toward Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants
• $500 million for training of green-collar workers
• $400 million for electric vehicle technologies
• $300 million for federal vehicle fleets, to cover the cost of acquiring electric vehicles, including plug-in hybrid vehicles.
• $300 million to buy energy efficient appliances
• $300 million for reducing diesel fuel emissions
• $300 million for state and local governments to purchase energy efficient vehicles
• $250 million to increase energy efficiency in low-income housing
• $600 million to cleanup hazardous waste that threaten health and the environment
• $200 million to cleanup petroleum leaks from underground storage tanks
• $100 million to evaluate and cleanup brownfield land
• $400 million for the Geothermal Technologies Program

50 billion for energy. Yipee! Thankyou BH Obama!

Housing
Total: $12.7 billion
• $4 billion to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for repairing and modernizing public housing, including increasing the energy efficiency of units.
• $2.25 billion in tax credits for financing low-income housing construction
• $2 billion for Section 8 housing rental assistance
• $2 billion to help communities purchase and repair foreclosed housing
• $1.5 billion for rental assistance and housing relocation
• $510 million for the rehabilitation of Native American housing
• $200 million for helping rural Americans buy homes
• $130 million for rural community facilities
• $100 million to help remove lead paint from public housing

Can I make a prediction here? None of this $50 billion dollar "investment" will do any good. Why? Because if green energy was profitable, it would already be in the market and consumers would be buying it up. This is the American tax payer subsidizing research/development that could not and would not exist or be sustained without the subsidization. The same is true for all non-metal recycling. It would not be economically viable for private companies to recycle non-metal materials if the government did not pay for it to survive. This is a complete waste and has a track record of epic failure. Thank you BH Obama!

Scientific research
NASA is among the research centers receiving additional funds under the Act
Total: $8.9 billion
• $3 billion to the National Science Foundation
• $2 billion to the United States Department of Energy
• $1.3 billion for university research facilities
• $1 billion to NASA
• $600 million to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• $580 million to the National Institute of Standards and Technology
• $230 million for NOAA operations, research and facilities
• $140 million to the United States Geological Survey

How is this an "emergency"? 9 billion dollars! Thankyou BH Obama.

Other
Total: $17.2 billion
• $8.8 billion: State Block Grants: in aid to states to defray budget cuts.
• $4 billion for state and local law enforcement agencies
• $1.1 billion for improving airport security
• $1 billion in preparation for the 2010 census
• $720 million for improving security at the border and ports of entry
• $650 million for DTV conversion coupons and DTV education
• $210 million to build and upgrade fire stations
• $150 million for the security of transit systems
• $150 million for the security of ports
• $24 million to improve security systems at the Department of Agriculture headquarters
• $150 million for an increase of claims processing military staff
• $150 million for VA general operating expenses
• $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts to support artists
• $50 million for the National Cemetery Administration

I like the 24 million to improve security systems at the DoA headquarters. First of all, WTF does that have to do with anything? Second, how is it an "emergency"? Third, doesn't 24 million seem like a lot of money for security in a building? How much does a few cameras and monitors cost? But, it is typical of this whole bill. It is a complete and total waste of future tax money. We will all pay the price in the future.

Thank you BH Obama!

A Falling Star?

2009-02-24T17:39:00.003-06:00

Source

For the first time since Gallup began tracking Barack Obama's presidential job approval rating on Jan. 21, fewer than 60% of Americans approve of the job he is doing as president. In Feb. 21-23 polling, 59% of Americans give Obama a positive review, while 25% say they disapprove, and 16% have no opinion.

Approval ratings are down 10%. Turns out, Hope and Change and $5 will buy you an overpriced cup of coffee but not long term satisfaction with the Commander in Chief. Sure, it is still early and he could top out at 95% by the end of his term but I doubt it. IMO, he peaked before he was even elected and his popularity was due more to a hate of the previous administration rather than earned by achievement and track record. Thus, he has no where to go but down. Granted, “down” for Obama is a long way to travel but he might just speed up the journey once America realizes that he is full of empty promises and bankrupting the country with his massive spending. I just hope they realize it in 4 years instead of 8.

EPIC FAILURE: NASA fires off a 273 Million Dollar Bottle Rocket

2009-02-24T17:30:00.002-06:00

check out this article

A satellite launched from California failed to reach orbit today, crashing into the sea near Antarctica and dooming a $273 million mission to study global- warming gases.

“The mission is lost,” National Aeronautics and Space Administration spokesman Steve Cole said in a telephone interview from the launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The satellite was going to shed new light on what happened to a over 400 billion tons of man-made Carbon Dioxide. The article says:

The craft contained a monitoring device designed to collect 8 million measurements every 16 days. Scientists hoped to use the data to find out how much carbon dioxide is absorbed by the forests, grasslands and oceans, which are collectively known as “sinks.”

Man-made carbon dioxide, which traps heat in the atmosphere, is largely produced by power plants, vehicle engines and factories.

The data gleaned from the satellite was intended to help guide government global-warming policy, NASA said.

“An improved understanding of carbon sinks is essential to predicting future carbon-dioxide increases and making accurate predictions of carbon dioxide’s impact on Earth’s climate,” NASA said on the mission Web site. “If these natural carbon-dioxide sinks become less efficient as the climate changes, the rate of buildup of carbon dioxide would increase.”

Natural Sources

Technology allows scientists to distinguish between carbon dioxide that is generated by humans and that which is emitted from natural sources such as decaying plants, according to NASA.

Between 1751 and 2003, human activities released 626 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere, NASA said. Yet only about 192 billion tons of the gas remained in the atmosphere, according to the agency.

Helping to find out where the missing carbon dioxide went was one of the satellite’s missions.

I think Albert Gore sabotaged the mission. They were on to him.

Texas Judge gives 7 year old right to decide custody

2009-01-20T04:50:00.002-06:00

Dallas, TX, December 31, 2008

A seven year old boy was at the center of a county courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy had a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law and regulation requiring that family unity be maintained to the highest degree possible.

The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried and said that they also beat him. After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.

After two recesses to check legal references and confer with the child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Dallas Cowboys, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.