Peace vs War

You hear a lot about how people should 'give peace a chance' and how 'all we need is love' and all those silly hippie sayings. Peace is again popular amongst the younger generation and for good reason. Considering a large amount of their lives the United States has either been recovering from one conflict (Desert Storm) or preparing and executing another, I can see how they would grow tired of the death and destruction that occurs during wartime. Additionally, you have the other conflicts around the world such as Sudan (Darfur for you moronic types who are all about causes but lacking a tad in geography), Rwanda (see Hotel Rwanda for an amazing movie about the subject and a refresher in why the UN should be dismantled), and other such violent hot-spots around the world. I can understand why it is that kids are drawing the peace signs on their notebooks, wearing t-shirts with the logo printed on them, and otherwise looking for ways to express their discomfort with the conflict going on around them. It's obviously disconcerting to see so-called adults acting like school-yard bullies on a global scale.

However, here's where I think their reaction falls flat on its face. They look to our government and our military as if we are the bullies and if we only left these other countries alone, the entire world would be peaceful. We'd all hold hands and sing Kumbaya around a campfire while eating granola bars and wearing our biodegradeable sandals. What the young people (and a helluva lot of adults whose IQ runs about room temperature) do not realize is that conflict is the natural state of being for anyone who is interested in freedom and justice.

Yep, I said it and I'll repeat it. Conflict is a natural state of being for anyone interested in freedom and justice. I'm not saying that war necessarily need to spring forth from that conflict, but when rights are being trampled, people are being killed, and others threatened, war for the sake of peace is not hypocritical, nor is it oxymoronic. Unfortunately, the Cindy Sheehan's of the world do not understand this. They've lived such protected lives that they do not understand the concept of fighting for freedom, fighting for justice, or fighting to defend what we have. The local peace protesters that line the main road in front of the federal building going through my town tend to be students from the local liberal arts college and the local large state college. Students whose mommies and daddies are paying their way through school and who have never had to defend their liberties from anyone. They have a sense of entitlement that creates this elitist attitude as if we should all bow to them for having the courage to protest this war, no matter how ignorant it displays them as being.

They do not understand that in order to gain rights, to gain freedoms, to gain liberty, fighting has to happen. And when you are in a dispute with someone who doesn't recognize these freedoms as legitimate or who does not believe in them and worse, believes in violence to get you to change your beliefs, something must give. Either you concede your beliefs to their threats of violence and go along with their oppressive ideas or you fight. The amusing thing that I've found is that these "peace" protestors are oftentimes the schoolyard bullies I spoke of earlier. God help you if you show up to counter-protest one of these socialist-fests. I've read a number of instances where counter protesters were attacked by peace-protesters, spat upon, hit, kicked etc. But yet, we're the violent ones and they're the ones who are all about "peace".

Bottom line, until the evil is removed from this world, there will be conflict. Those liberal dumbasses who believe that if we just give in and let people do what they want, never responding with violence as an end to wars are merely putting off the conflict and likely insuring that it is even larger than it would have been. And until everyone works off the same rules of governance, there will be war. Just because the United States believes that things should be a certain way doesn't necessarily mean that leaders of other movements agree and conflict will result. War is a natural state of being for man and will always be. Anyone who thinks otherwise is painfully naive. We can work to reduce violence, you can work to reduce conflict, but as long as there are people out there willing to oppress, assault, and murder, there will always be war.

Always.

What is so great about America?

Pickup trucks, demolition derbies, and beautiful women, that's what!

Howeird Dean pushes Superdelegates to decide

Howeird Dean is pushing superdelegates to make their decision as to who they will support. He's stated that "I need them to say who they're for starting now". I guess that the standard dimwitcrat rant "count all the votes" is only applicable when they're not getting what they want.

So, just so we're clear, votes in two states where an election occurred that they're not going to count (Florida and Michigan), because of stupid DNC rules that were designed to minimize the impact of other states on the outcome of the nomination process are not going to count. Votes will be influenced by superdelegates who are being pushed to make their decision and publicly announce them.

But this is the party that is interested in ensuring that no one is "disenfranchised"?

I got one word for that: bullshit.

....and I'm not crazy either

United States Geological Survey site shows a 5.4 earthquake centered in Olney Illinois. A 5.4.

That's pretty significant for the center of the US. California would have slept right through that, but for Illinois, that's a damn big shaker.

whoa....earthquake?

Laying in bed this morning about 3 minutes ago, I was awakened to the sounds of someone walking upstairs in my house. As I came to consciousness, I realized that my bed was shaking back and forth. As much as I would have like it to have been something else shaking my bed, I started to hear the pocket doors of our closets moving back and forth banging against the rails they run on.
I woke my wife up and said "I think we're having an earthquake"...

Not something you usually feel in Michigan...weird. Haven't seen any confirmation of it on the news yet, but it's early.

w00t...Sending more terrorists to get their virgins

What amuses me about this particular video (besides the obvious violent termination of these jackasses that would love nothing more than to kill Americans, Europeans, Christians, Jews, or pretty much anyone who doesn't believe in their bastardized worldview), is the comments on the actual YouTube page. Morons, nothing more.

Gotcha....

Wow...with the number of April Fools posts on various websites you woulda thought that my endorsement of Obama would have been almost as transparent as the lies he and Hillary tell on the campaign trail.....

Announcement

After much thought and soul searching I've come to a conclusion: Ron Paul is not going to win the election. Yes, I know, it's tough to accept, but it's the fact. However, during my time supporting Dr. Paul, I've changed some positions on various subjects and am beginning to re-think some of my previous positions as well. It is with that level of overall emotional self-examination that has allowed me to come to the conclusion that I am announcing here today:

I am voting for Barack Obama for President.

Yes, I know, he's probably the most liberal in a field of pretty liberal candidates. But he is the agent for change that everyone has been talking about. He speaks to all races equally, discussing how white Americans are frustrated with affirmative action and losing their jobs to less qualified minority citizens. He speaks to the frustrations within the medical community where politics have gotten in the way of delivery of care to everyone.
And most of all, he speaks to the frustration of all Americans that we can't move forward on the issue of race. He allows all right-thinking Americans to show that we can support a man based upon his ideas, not his race. He shows that race should NEVER play a part in who you support for any elected position, but rather, the quality of his ideas. And finally, he does an incredibly good job of communicating those ideas via his speeches. After eight years of not exactly the greatest communicator in the world, his press conferences and speeches should be a refreshing change.

Never thought I'd vote for him, but I've finally seen the light.

La pequena Hillary Clinton

Some things once seen, can never be unseen.

RIP Gary Gygax

In an attempt to demonstrate my uber-geekness, I'm going to admit here that I played Dungeons and Dragons back in the day. Back way before cool MMORPG's like World of Warcraft or Everquest, or any of what we have in place right now existed. Back when if you wanted to be a dwarven thief, or a halfling monk, all you had to do is get out the three, six-sided dice and roll one up. Rather than succumbing to the rules of online role playing games that exist now, the only limitation to your character was your imagination. That and the sadism of the guy who played the dungeonmaster for your group.

That was one of my fond memories of junior high school was playing D&D with friends until the wee hours of the morning (or the next morning for that matter). Mike^3 along with various additions that came and went in our group and I were the core of the players for a couple years there. Mike Saxon, Mike Erlandson, Mike Lee and myself were regulars, along with Juan Crespo, Chris Saxon (Mike's older brother who introduced me to Jack Daniels & Mountain Dew....good times...good times), and the others who I cannot recall after 23 or so years of abusing my brain (see earlier mention of JD & MD) provide memories of arguments over elven superiority to dwarves, whether a rogue was better than a monk, and obviously other adolescent discussions as well. Who could forget Juan coming down the stairs into he basement of my house and whacking his big noggin on the beam that crossed the top of the stairs, knocking himself down and sliding the rest of the way down the stairs on his ass? After realizing that he wasn't dead, we all laughed, pointed, taunted, and made fun of the mark on his forehead that probably still exists today.

As we grew older the discussion of girls began to intervene into our inner circle and I committed the mortal sin of dating a D&D buddy's sister. Mary Saxon had caught my eye during one of our many late night sessions at the Saxon household and we began to date. I think that was pretty much the beginning of the end of my participation with the guys, as my interests had turned to something else.

Why do I mention all this? Well, E. Gary Gygax, the inventor of Dungeons and Dragons died three weeks ago. Because of the great joy that Mr. Gygax's game had instilled in me when it comes to fantasy games, I still play, although because of the lack of time, players, and general stability MMORPG's have become my outlet for this passion. World of Warcraft is my addiction and in the notes for the patch that were most recently pushed, they dedicated the patch to Mr. Gygax, noting that their love for the game and fantasy was mostly spawned by his imagination.

Godspeed Mr. Gygax, may the gods of Valhalla welcome you hours before Asmodeus knows you've passed.

Wow....

While he sounds like a complete whackjob, ignore the crazy stuff and listen to what he says. Oh wait, it's all crazy...

Ah, the REAL phone ringing TV spot

Hilarious

Obama needs a pillow?

First amusing point in a Dimwitocrat debate in a while. And while I hate the Hildebeast, she certainly has a point. The media fawning over Obama is going to make it difficult for anyone to beat him, Republican or Democrat.

They've already started triangulating the types of attacks that they can make without being called racist in Republican party headquarters. Of course, that's obviously ignorant of them, since anything they say will be called racist by the pandering press, but apparently that's too simple for them to figure out.

Ah Spring.....

Ok, perhaps it's not quite spring, YET. Especially here in Michigan where it was single digit temps overnight and only 14 this morning on the way to work.

However, watching Sportscenter this morning brought out that feeling that it's coming. It can snow all it wants in February, but come April, it's baseball season and that means summer is nearly here. Many folks no longer consider baseball a premier sport or their preferred sport, but honestly, I'd rather go to a ball game than any other sport. I love hockey and football, but give me a ballgame in the sun, sucking down some brews, chomping on a hotdog and I'm in heaven.

There's very little about baseball not to love.
I love walking up that ramp at Wrigley field and catching that first glimpse of the ivy on the outfield and grass so green you'd swear it was painted.
I love walking to Comerica Park from the PeopleMover and coming around the corner at the Michigan Opera House and seeing the park nestled in it's spot, seeing the wrought-iron bars that folks gather around to watch bits of the game from the sidewalk surrounding the game.
I love how it's an urban and rural game at the same time, where kids in NY play 'stick-ball' in the street and kids on a Kansas farm can play with just four of them on a field and bases full of "ghost runners".
I love how songs have been written about baseball and our love for it. How many basketball songs are out there that people know the words to?
I love how you don't have to be a physical freak of nature to be a special ball-player. I met Alan Trammell once and the guy wouldn't be recognized in a grocery store by a non-baseball fan. Cal Ripken Jr is 6'4", tall, but not huge.
I love how if a guy isn't gifted with natural speed, grace, or other talents, he can still make the majors by working his ass off.
I love how I can still remember the starting lineup of the 1984 Tigers during that magical game where Jack Morris threw his no-hitter. (Just try me...Morris, Lance Parrish, Lou Whitaker, Alan Trammell, Tom Brookens, Dave Bergman, Larry Herndon, Chet Lemon, Kirk Gibson)
I love how people argue as to which team was the greatest ever and how there will never be an answer (84 Tigers, no argument)
I love how kids 8 years old can love the same team as their grandfather, for completely different reasons, but still sit and watch a game with them, for two hours, uniting generations.
I love how I can play catch with my son in the backyard and not say a word to him, but know that he'll remember that time just like I remember when my dad played catch with me in the small patches of grass between the apartment buildings in Anaheim, California.
And most of all, I love baseball because it reminds me that after a long, cold winter, summer is coming.

Because the 'boys of summer' are back.

More evidence of the evil of Clinton

Pimp out the kid - check
Have the ex-president husband blow up all over various opponents (not to mention at least one intern) - check
Get the media to completely white-wash any evidence of me knowing about a $1.5 million fundraiser, despite evidence to the contrary - check

Wow. Just wow.

I can't even begin to describe how livid and violent I would have been were I the camera man or the Marine in this video.

Brrrrr

Record low for February 11: 2 degrees, set in 1995.
Temperature upon awakening February 11, 2008: -3

Screw you Al Gore.

Pimping? No one is pimping. This is not the pimping you were looking for

Nope, Clinton's are pimping out their daughter. No way. They'd never stoop to something so loathsome and reprehensible as pimping out their daughter to sway the electorate or a few superdelegates to go their way.

Now, having a simple dinner with another 20-something is a completely different story.

Especially if that 20 something is an elected official in Wisconsin.

And a super-delegate.

But God forbid anyone actually accuse her of being pimped out.....

Straight Pimpin

pMSNBC's David Schuster apparently stated that Hillary Clinton was "pimping out" daughter Chelsea when she had her make calls to Democratic Super-delegates on Hillary's behalf.

Now, I'm just wondering, but perhaps the Clinton Campaign would rather use the term "interning" Chelsea? "Whoring" is a bit strong, but hey, they brought it up. What exactly WOULD they call it, if not pimping her out? I love the hypocrisy here. Chelsea can go out on the campaign trail for mommy and criticize other candidates, but yet, if someone were to call into question her capabilities or activities, God help them.

Just more stupid media tricks.

Love that Jon Stewart

So much to say, so little time to blog

Wow...great game yesterday. I'd probably be much less enthusiastic about how competitive a game it was if I was a Patriots fan, but after hearing about how great Tom Brady is (and yes, he's a Michigan guy, so I have to cheer for him to an extent) and how great Moss is, and how much of a genius Belichek is, I was glad to see the Pats go 18-1...only 6 more months until camps and the pre-season!

In much less trivial news, the Peoples Democratic Republic of Berkley California has voted to un-invite the Marine Corps recruiting station from their downtown. They are telling the Marines that they are not welcome and if they continue to stay in their offices (as one Marine official has stated they plan on doing), they are doing so as unwelcome guests. In, what I am sure is a completely unrelated action, they voted to provide the idiots from Code Pink, a parking spot downtown, coincidentally, right in front of the Marine Corps recruiting station.

So, let me make sure I understand this....they're willing to take all the federal money they can take for their roads, for the commie-lib university, UC-Berkley, and whatever else they can suckle at the government teat for, but when it comes to the government asking for harassment-free office space for the armed forces, f___ you Uncle Sam.

Yeah, that sounds about par for the liberal/dimwitocrat course.
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MSFT wants to buy YHOO....makes me happy because those loons at GOOG are going c-r-a-z-y. Love it when liberals go whacky. Not that MSFT or YHOO is all that conservative, because they're not, but any time a lib can lose their minds about something, I'm there poking the stick in the monkey-cage. Google is talking about how having Microsoft own Yahoo is going to restrict the Internet. Just wondering Google-teers, would that be kinda like you guys currently do, where you black-list certain groups, lowering their page ranks merely because you don't like their agenda? Or would that be something like you do in various countries to censor the search results for their citizens? Restrict the Internet? Guys, you have 62% of the market, I think that the company we need to examine for that danger is YOU. Do no evil? Yeah, good luck with that
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Hitlery (Hildebeast, whatever) has announced that with her medical plan, she would garnish the wages of the workers who refuse to buy health insurance.

Wow....where do I go with this one? If you don't see the issues with this, but you have problems with the government listening to terrorists phone calls, you may be too much of an idiot to remain in the gene pool. Please send me an email to volunteer for target practice at my shooting range. Just make sure you wear a big shirt with concentric circles on it. Or perhaps a hat with the same.

I LOL'd at this

Gotta click on it to get the full effect, since for some reason animated GIF's don't seem to post well. Don't think for a second that I'd congratulate those turds. Not sure what it's an advertisement for (didn't click on it, probably should have, put a couple cents into Matt Drudge's pocket), but I thought it was hilarious.

Why do I do it?

I've had several friends ask me why it is that I support Ron Paul. Why do I support the man who is also supported by some of those out there on the lunatic fringe so far they need tin-foil hats to keep the government from controlling their brains? How is it that a veteran who loves his country so much that he was willing to put his life on the line for it, can support the same guy that people who deny 9-11 was a terrorist attack support?

While I'd like to say "politics make strange bedfellows" but that simplifies it horribly and completely takes away from what I support about Paul's candidacy.

I don't support the nutjobs who think that 9-11 was a conspiracy by W and Cheney to get us into a war. They're idiots and if you look at my blog and my history you'll see that I have told them face to face as well as in postings here that they're idiots.

I don't support those people who believe in racism and are supporting Paul. I don't believe in racial set-asides or affirmative action, but that certainly doesn't make me a racist. They're idiots.

I don't support those people who say (and Paul is not one of them) that the war is about oil and was all a sham to get control of Iraq's oil. Paul acknowledges that it was a well intentioned war,but has turned into nation-building and has been marred by procrastination and poor planning. While I disagree with his solution to the problems in Iraq, I agree with his analysis. We've f-d it up pretty good and should have done better by our troops. I don't agree with Paul in his stance that we should immediately pull out, but do you agree 100% with everything your candidate says?

McCain, Romney, Huckabee, Giuliani, Edwards, Obama, Clinton are all cut from the same cloth essentially. No REAL change will come from electing any of them. I've been around long enough to notice when change happens and truly none of this cluster of incompetents will make any real change in DC. Sure they'll make subtle changes, incremental changes, most of which won't make any difference in the big picture. But the only candidate that will turn this country back into the Constitutional Republic that it was founded to be is Ron Paul.

“If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”
- Samuel Adams

New look

Sorry about the weird look today. Trying to do some changes to the site to make it more readable, but that doesn't seem to be working real well. Hopefully I'll have that fixed soon.

An open letter to Sean Hannity

Dear Sean,

Over the years I've been a regular listener to the Sean Hannity show on 1360am in Kalamazoo. I've supported the causes you've supported such as your Freedom concerts to raise money for the children of slain veterans and others. I've agreed with you on most of your positions, at least the ones that remain true to conservative values.

When you came out in support of George Allen for president, I wholeheartedly agreed that he would have been the only Reagan-esque conservative in the group. He dropped out and your support seemed to swing to Rudy Giuliani, someone that would be hard pressed to be called a moderate, much less a conservative. I stuck with you, despite our disagreement there. You continued to call for conservatives to rally around Rudy with your interviews with him to point out his "law and order" values, except when it came to gun control, social values, and other aspects of his personality that you failed to address. You regularly make ridiculous statements in support of your opinions that I tend to overlook because I generally agree with you on most things.

However, yesterday(1/28/2008) was the last straw. You had a caller on the air who was questioning the opinions of a conservative radio host and asked you what you thought. Additionally, he asked you about Ron Paul. You promptly went on a rant about Ron Paul and dismissed all of his supporters as "nuts". I believe your quote was something along the lines of "Listen, if you are a Ron Paul supporter, generally speaking, you are a nut".

Really? A "nut"? A nut because I believe in the constitution? A nut because I believe that under the president I voted for twice, as well as the Republican congress our government grew at a rate comparative to Lyndon B. Johnson's welfare state known as the 'Great Society'? A nut because I believe that the President should actually wield his veto power on occasion and not just as a political weapon but also when he sees more pork than substance in a bill? Am I a nut because I believe in state's rights and believe in the power of the individual rather than the government? Am I a nut because I believe that the federal government has grown vastly out of control and that Ron Paul is the only candidate that will actually fight to change that? I guarantee that Rudy won't. Mitt won't. McCain won't. None of them will work against the power structures that are already in place.

You even mention in your book, Deliver us from Evil, the quote that George Washington used in his farewell address warning America against "entangling alliances" in an effort to persuade people to not support the Democrats and their desire to use the UN (Useless Nations) for support in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet you can't see the logic in Ron Paul's position to get out of the UN and begin to take care of things at home instead of abroad?

Honestly, I my patience with your show was growing thin and I'd already heard pretty much all your show has to offer: "3 hours a day, that's all we ask", "make the Bush tax cuts permanent"-(which, by the way, Paul supports), "Stop Hillary Express", "Amnesty yada yada" -(again, which Paul opposes). If you truly ARE a conservative, you will stop with the bias against Ron Paul and begin to LISTEN and READ his opinions. For the most part, you will find that his stance on damn near everything important to America is pretty close to yours.

Speaking of your general ignorance on Paul's positions and your bias against him, I notice on your site today that the poll asking people who they want to win in FL only had three entries. Nice of you to leave Paul off of that and guarantee that your ignorance will continue as far as his grassroots support is concerned.

Sean, don't try to cast this as a liberal masquerading as a upset listener. I'm not a nut, liberal, or even conspiracy theorist. I am a combat veteran who loves his country more than anyone could ever know and am sick of the establishment candidates on both sides running it like it's their own damn piggy bank. By the way, a large amount of Paul's support, both canvassing and financial, is from active duty military. It's too bad that you can't lend a voice of reason to the ongoing bias against Paul, but it sounds like you've already closed your mind. I'm even willing to bet that if you went out and answered a set of questions that asked your opinion on various subjects, you'd find that you agreed with Ron Paul a majority of the time. Just asking for you to be intellectually honest, something that you like to ask people to do on your show.

For America,

Big Johnson

Interesting survey

I posted a link to this survey in my open letter to Sean Hannity, but I thought that I'd put an additional post here so that folks could see it and try it.

It's interesting but a bit inaccurate. It has me as a McCain supporter (ewwww), but if you look at the answers it's because I didn't specifically answer exactly as Paul, Romney, or others did. Additionally, there are a few answers where they are very very close to each other and answering one way will give you a match to one candidate and the other will go to another. But it's still interesting and also gives you a central spot to see the candidates positions on several issues.

And finally, the next logical step

Newsflash from Britain, where socialized medicine is all the rage and has been for thirty-something (or more) years. Queues to see your physician are longer than a donkey's wang, and finally, the physicians in Britain are providing some advice to the British National Health Services to help alleviate the problem: Don't treat the old and infirmed.

Yep, there's your genius solution. Just don't treat the people who actually need treatment. Only see the healthy. That'll keep the lines short.

F-ing idiots.

Faux News

In an ongoing effort to defame and besmirch Ron Paul, FauxNews is chasing an old story about Paul being racist. Of course this attack has to happen on Martin Luther King day when folks are most likely to pay attention to it.

The background to this is that Dr. Paul used to have a newsletter published in his name after retiring from Congress the first time, written by ghostwriters. Unfortunately, one of those newsletters included an article with disparaging remarks about MLK jr. These remarks have been claimed to be written by Paul, but a political aid of his, Lew Rockwell, has said on multiple occasions that he wrote them without Paul's permission.

Facts? We don't need no stinkin facts. We got emotion on our side.

However, Paul has had some folks come out on his side, supporting his position that he is not a racist, including the Austin Texas NAACP president, Nelson Linder. He says that Paul is being attacked because he's a threat to the establishment.

Honestly, the best way to show how biased FauxNews is against Ron Paul is to use their own graphic. Ron Paul finished 2nd in the Nevada primary, but yet, the three pictures they have on their screen? Romney (the winner), McCain, and Huckabee. WTF? Don't believe me? See for yourself:So much for "you decide"

Bill Clinton whines again

We all remember the Bill Clinton unleashed video of him getting all red and unhinged at reporter Chris Wallace when asked about Osama bin Laden and his limp-wristed attempts at killing him. Well, here's Bitch Clinton again getting all kinds of fired up over an attempt by the Hildebeast supporters in Nevada to suppress votes using a lawsuit to stop caucuses in casinos. No coincidence that this lawsuit was filed two days after the union that represents most of the workers at casinos who will be voting in those caucuses came out with an endorsement for Obama I'm sure.

Whew, good thing I'm not a bettin' man

Man, I'm glad I didn't lay any $$ down on my predictions. Romney's home-town boy schtick worked in Michigan and got him the victory. However, I also think that the crappy weather throughout Michigan worked against the Dimwitocrats who wanted to throw a wrench in the Republican's plans and get a McCain victory. Those Dimwits who would have voted in the Republican primary rather than make a single choice for the Hildebeast didn't bother coming out because of the weather. However, I did get the top 4 right, just mixed up the top 2 and overestimated the Paul vote.

Speaking of the Ron Paul, I think that his supporters are too busy being paranoid of "the enemy" and not enough time rustling up the vote. Seems that a 6% vote total is way less than even the 'pundits' predicted and shows the volatility of his supporters. This weekend there was an activity in Kalamazoo to ensure that there was some organization surrounding getting the vote out. Initially it was advertised as a "Ron Paul Event" which I took to mean that Dr. Paul was going to speak. I was later informed that was not the case, that it was merely a 'get out the vote' event. Knowing that I was unable to volunteer to help on Tuesday due to prior work committments, I didn't bother to show for the event. However, when it was emailed out, the sender didn't use a generic mailing list to hide all our email addresses and one of the recipients did a "Reply to all"(always love that). His reply was as follows:

i'll be there, and i'm bringing between 5-10 undecided. by 2:00 p.m.,
they'll be decided. :) there has been a lot of propaganda used against us.
DO NOT LET THAT DETER YOU!!! STAY FOCUSSED. OUR ENEMIES LIKE TO DIVIDE AND CONQUER. DO NOT ALLOW IT!!!!

Now, I'm not a big fan of propaganda but understand that it's part of the political game. But "enemies"? C'mon man, take off your tinfoil hat and come back to us.

Seriously, I love Dr. Paul's stance on gun control, taxes, immigration, economics, health care, social security, the war on drugs, and a myriad of other subjects. However, when the primary season is over and the Republican party has a nominee, that person will more than likely have my vote, due to the complete dearth of competent candidates on the Dimwitocrat side. And, as my brother likes to suggest, if Dr. Paul decides to drop the (R) from his name and become a (L)ibertarian, I may still vote for him, but I would never consider the Republican nominee my 'enemy'.

My enemies tend to wear diapers on their heads, have an overwhelming desire to kill innocent women and children, have sex with goats and camels, and rant about how evil and horrible America is, even when we feed their people because they're too busy having a revolution to actually produce anything. My enemies are also those who would take away my freedoms in the United States, like the right to choose my own physician, the right to choose whether or not to HAVE health insurance, the right to own a handgun, and the right to eat whatever the hell I want, even they have transfatty acids in it. They also don't dare to get into a straight up man-to-man fight because they know they'll never win.

Kind of like the nanny-state Dimwitocrats.

Predictions for Michigan

As the election cycle started, I started to get IM's from friends of mine, from whom I've not heard in some time. Most were looking for some insight into what I thought or just shooting the bull about the stupidity of the candidates. It's been nice to touch base with y'all and I'd like to hear from you more than once every 2 or 4 years.

That having been said, here's some insight into what's going to happen tomorrow night in Michigan.

Hillary will win. Duh. She's the only viable candidate on the Dimwitocrat site on the ballot. Due to the fact that Jenny "from the block" Granholm supports Hillary, she worked to ensure that she was on the ballot. The national Dimwitocrat party has taken away the ability for Michigan delegates to come to the convention in the summer anyway, but we're still having the primary, since they want to give off the impression that the people's votes actually mean something. However, Edwards and Obama are not on the ballot. So people's choices are to vote for Hillary or "uncommitted". Or one of the other losers on the ballot like Dennis Kucinich or Bill Richardson.

OR Dimwitocrats who feel like they can't win the election on the merits of their candidate have a third choice. Throw a wrench into the democratic process (note- little d) and vote for the candidate who is least likely to be acceptable to the national Republican party. Last time in 2000, it was John McCain. Yes, there was an orchestrated effort to get Dimwitocrats to vote for McCain because they thought that it would weaken W and Al Gore had the nomination wrapped up.

So, on the Republican side, I predict that McCain will win once again, Romney will finish a VERY close second, beaten only by those jackass Dimwitocrats. Huck will finish a distant third, and Ron Paul will have his best showing yet, beating Thompson AND Giuliani, while garnering about 12% of the vote.

There you go, let's see if tomorrow night I'm feeling as confident about these predictions as I am tonight.

Go Hill

"Bah, that Martin Luther King jr. clown couldn't shine LBJ's shoes. LBJ was da man. Who says everyone from Texas hates black people? Dem colored folks wouldn'ta got no civil rights without us crackas"

Ok, that's not a direct quote, but close enough. Watch for yourself.



Keep talking Hillary. It only helps us.

A little insight into Hillary's immigration position

Whilst pandering for the hispanic vote in Las Vegas, The Hilldebeast had a conversation with some folks about the economy and one man mentioned that his wife was illegal. Her response was that "No woman is illegal".

Curiouser and curiouser.

So, what exactly is she saying here? Men are illegals, women are merely inconveniences when they cross the border without permission, breaking American laws. Or is she saying that because she's a woman, she can't be illegal because of some cool genetic thing that only the Hilldebeast is intelligent enough to understand? Remember, she IS the smartest woman on the planet.

Just ask her.

Kerry backs Obama...whoopee

So Lurch came out in favor of Obama. That's an obvious case of pandering, much like the majority of the Kerry/Edwards campaign. And speaking of Kerry/Edwards, it kind of makes you wonder if his endorsement is an indication of how big a putz Edwards is or how much of a disloyal prick Kerry is.

Probably a little of both.

Early primaries

Well Ron Paul has actually done better than I expected in the early primaries, beating Rudy in Iowa and finishing only 1% behind him in NH. Not bad for a relative unknown versus "America's Mayor".
I think you'll see a better result from him in states where he's been working for some time like Michigan and South Carolina. It seems I can't go anywhere in Michigan without seeing a Ron Paul sign or bumper sticker. I just hope that those people who were excited enough about him to order a sign or bumper sticker are still excited about him next week at the primary and frickin show up.

As for the Dimwitocrat side of the primaries, I'm not surprised by the results. Obama winning in Iowa wasn't that big of a surprise as Hillary's numbers have been falling off for a while there and Obama is from the neighboring state of Illinois. I'm sure he didn't play that up at all. And while Hillary did show horrible polling numbers in NH, I didn't think there was any way she was 13 points behind Obama there. I didn't think she'd win there, but I figured it'd be a helluva lot closer than that.

And, as much as the national polling suggests that Hillary would beat most of the Republicans in November, (and maybe this is denial) I just don't see her winning. Her negative numbers are so high that she's going to have a really difficult time overcoming that. The only way she'll pull it off is if she appoints Obama as her VP. Then you'll have idiots voting for that pair of socialists because "I wanted to vote for a woman and a black man", as opposed to the right person for the job.

I still don't understand why it is that no one that she's running against has brought up her lack of experience. She loves to tout her loads of experience on the job, but let's check our facts shall we? Did we elect her to President? Nope, she just slept with him (along with what sounds like a lot of other chicas).

I sleep with an Ob/Gyn, are you going to let me do your Pap smear?

Yeah, I thought not.

Healthcare

Really? Socialized healthcare is so much better than our system? Really?

Not so much

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we
are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most
frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and
fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing
small doesn't serve the world. We were born to make manifest the glory of God
that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let
our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the
same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically
liberates others. - Marianne Williamson

What's a birthday post without me getting a little sappy? I watched "Coach Carter" the other day and was reminded of a passage from a book by Marianne Williamson that never ceases to inspire me when I get frustrated. One of the characters in the movie is a gang-banger who knows he has to get out of that life and sees basketball as the only way out. But Coach Carter makes him play by his rules, not by the undisciplined rules that he knows. Plus, I kept expecting Samuel L. Jackson to bust out the "English mfer, do you SPEAK IT?!?!" Decent flick that I'd recommend. Nothing too in depth, but still a decent way to spend 90 minutes of your life.

It is based on a true story and is an example of what can happen when we expect the most out of people instead of making life easy for them. Set goals for people, expect that they will have to work to reach them, and celebrate it when they succeed. And never set those goals too low. A worse failure than not achieving your goals is to set them too low and achieve them easily. Self-esteem is never greater than when you achieve something you never thought you'd be able to do.

It's tough being right all the time

Actually, it's not so tough. Hell, lots of people wish they were me, so I can't complain.

What have I been right about that the liberal media and liberal politicians are finally admitting to?

Well, let's see...the Iraq war and the surge. Is it working? Of course it is. You can see that it's working by the media's inability to really push all the bad news from Iraq to the forefront and focus on it, and instead they're focusing on bad news elsewhere. And the New York Slimes this past weekend finally acknowledged that there are lots of good things going on in Iraq, writing a complete article about how Dimwitocrats are shifting their tone on the war after seeing the successes of our troops there. Just listen to the tone of even the most liberal of the Dimwitocrat candidates and they've slowed their call for a full pullout. Funny how success is something that the Dimwits cheered against so strongly. Shows their overall love for country, huh?

Global Warming - ok, the libs still aren't turning around, but people are becoming more and more skeptical of all the doom and gloom that the advocates for it are pushing. Look at the Telegraph article (one of the more liberal London papers) today where they really slam the transparent mouthings of the Gordon Brown government to reduce carbon outputs through the banning of plastic bags. Yep, that's it. Nothing else. Doubling the flights from Heathrow and expanding the size of the airport is fine, but those evil plastic bags must be stopped.

Illegal Immigration - John McCain could have had this nomination wrapped up with a golden bow on it, with Giuliani as his VP, they could have blown away anyone the Dimwitocrats put up there. Not that it would have made me happy, but that's the way it could have gone. Instead, McCain came out in support of illegals and amnesty, contrary to the majority of the country and conservatives and he languishes behind Giuliani, Romney, and depending on the state, Thompson. Illegal immigration is the one issue where the Republicans can capitalize on the majority opinion that we need to control our borders and deport people who are here illegally. But are we doing it? Nope. Ron Paul has a common sense proposal for Illegal Immigration reform that would not only help us secure the borders, but would also give legitimate immigrants the opportunity to enter the country legally. And he does it in the right order. Secure the border, THEN reform immigration.

Jennifer Granholm = worst governor evah
If you live in Michgan you know. If not, pray to God and give him thanks that you live in a state with someone who has an IQ higher than room temperature running it. No imagination, no leadership, no initiative. Blame everything on the Republicans and conservatives because they are easy targets and the Detroit Free Press will blindly mimic whatever Jenny says.
Update on the post from over a year ago on the U-Haul economic measurement used to measure the success of a state:

26' Truck from Kalamazoo to Nashville - Dec 2007: $709 Sept 2006 - $1,326
26' Truck from Nashville to Kalamazoo - Dec 2007: $211 Sept 2006 - $318

26' truck from Kalamazoo to Orlando - Dec 2007: $1041 Sept 2006 - $1,997
26' truck from Orlando to Kalamazoo - Dec 2007: $1484 Sept 2006 - $615

It's still much more expensive to move from these cities to Michigan, but there's some discrepancy as to the prices now. Not sure exactly why..will have to look into it.

Anyway, they say that with age, comes wisdom. Could be that I'm finally getting that, or I coulda got lucky. Starting my fifth decade on this ball of mud, hopefully it's the latter.

Google

One thing I really hate are people who complain about something and when that something gets fixed, they don't acknowledge it.

As much as I hate to give them props, I have to say that Google finally came through. I'll give them the props that I've given to other sites in the past. Not the most inspirational logo, but at least they are acknowledging Veterans Day. I'll give them credit for that, since they've not at all over the past three years. At least, not on their American servers.

Economic boom times?

As much as the media would love for you to believe the stories of recession and malaise, so far, other than Michigan, the economy is still booming. Despite the slowdown in the housing market and difficulties of the sub-prime housing market, manufacturing is rolling. The week's economic releases were decidedly positive. The top story was the continuing reduction of the U.S. trade deficit, which fell for the fourth straight month in September and reached its lowest level since May 2005. Meanwhile, nonfarm productivity grew at the fastest pace in more than four years and activity in the services sector improved in October.

Now, I live in Michigan, where all this doesn't matter, since we're stuck in the 70's. 4th highest gas prices in the country (behind Hawaii, California, and Washington), highest unemployment in the country, and now joining the northeast as one of the highest taxed.

Thanks Jenny and the crew...nice work.

Gay Marriage

Honestly, I could care less whether gay people are allowed to marry or not. Why the hell should just us straight people lose 50% (or more) of our shit every time a relationship fails? Gays should enjoy that sort of horror equally with us. As well as the misery of having to deal with the same fat ass getting fatter the older we get. And waking up to the same nasty morning breath and bed-head every single morning. Welcome to it boys and girls. Enjoy it. Hell, I say MAKE 'em marry. That'll teach 'em. Fuck that bouncing from bed to bed, stuff. Get their asses in the same bathhouse every day with the same guy/girl. See how enthusiastic they are for gay marriage THEN!

Either way, the govt or some busybody down the street doesn't have any business telling me or my gay neighbor what we can do as long as it's not hurting others. And keeping with that same theme, I thought I'd post this list of reasons why gay marriage is bad.

1. Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.
2. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
3. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
4. Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.
5. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Brittny Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.
6. Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet, and the world needs more children.
7. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
8. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.
9. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.
10. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

Yep...makes sense to me....

Granholm renig on a campaign promise?

Some folks are making this to be a bigger thing than it is. In this commercial Jenny the Canuck states that she won't raise our taxes so that big corporations (read: evil corporations) will pay less. Some folks are reading that as her saying she's not gonna raise taxes. I'm not taking that meaning, but I figured that I'd let y'all figure it out yourself. Oh yeah..and I need to get that clip where she says "And in five years, you're going to be blown away" and edit it to make it look like she is saying "And in five years, you're going to move away"....because we're getting blown away Jen...thanks a lot.

Am I on crack or is this reporter?

In a story on the LA Times website, they reference Hillary's uncanny ability to raise money in areas where no candidate was successful doing so before. Specifically, they point to thousands of dollars coming from waitresses, dishwashers, and other low-paid people who live in New York's Chinatown. They attribute her success to her ability to get the community leaders behind her and get them to convince these people to donate.

Hmm...

I have another theory, call me crazy if you want....

How about, these people don't really exist and that they are merely fronts for illegal campaign donations?

Just throwing that out there. It seems that Hillary has this problem on a regular basis, as did her husband. Google John Huang, James Riady, or Liu Chaoying and do a little research and you'll see that her husband had amazing support from the Chinese immigrant community. Bafflingly high support when it comes to fundraising.

The article seems to insinuate this theory of mine, but it's obvious that the author didn't want to start another investigation, as they never come out and really say it.....

If assholes/liberals (interchangeable) are going to insist upon the 'fairness doctrine' in radio, let's have it in newspapers like the LA Slimes as well, eh?

More Ron Paul

Since I 'came out' the other day, I've had several questions both via email and in person and I thought that instead of answering them again and again, I'd rather answer them here. One, it gives me something to blog about, and two, it makes it so I don't have to repeat myself forty times.

Why do I support Ron Paul when he voted against the Iraq war?
Well, I figure that in today's political climate against the war, no one is going to come out in SUPPORT of the war. It's political suicide with the way that the major media has brainwashed the majority of the population. Yes there are candidates whose beliefs run more closely to mine in regards to the war, but that's only one aspect of the political spectrum and with so many other things out there to discuss. Additionally, Dr. Paul's vote against the war was more a statement upon the expansion of the Imperial Presidency and the power that the legislative branch is giving up to the executive branch rather than a vote against the war per se. Additionally, Dr. Paul is against the use of the military as president clinton did, as a police force in Serbia et al, as am I.
However, this IS the one stance that eventually may cause me to rethink my support at some time in the future. His moderation of his opinions from 2002 have been his saving grace in my eyes.

Do you really expect him to win?
Not at all. But wouldn't it be a kick in the teeth to both the Republican and Democratic parties if he did? Someone who is against the entire government support structure that the two major leeches off the government teat getting elected would cause a major outcry in DC from those who have made their careers on retaining one portion of the electorate or another based upon governmental reliance. What I do expect is that the major candidates will be forced to talk about and address the positions of Dr. Paul. If he brings enough influence to the table during the primaries, he will be able to influence the platform of the Republican party and perhaps swing it back to the limited-government party that it was under Ronaldus Magnus. Much unlike the current fat, bloated, disgusting mess of a party that it has become over the past 10 years. I don't blame President Bush for this, although he's allowed it to happen. It's the so-called Republican leaders in congress who have never met a federal program they didn't like. And unfortunately, President Bush had forgotten that he could veto things during these spending sprees or was afraid of what the NY Slimes would write about him if he did.

Do you really agree with the other groups that support Dr. Paul?
Anyone who asks this question obviously doesn't either know me or hasn't read much of this blog. Of course not. Truthers are morons. Anyone who believes that the government committed the atrocities of 9-11 needs a big-assed sign that they must carry to warn others that that they are in the presence of someone with an IQ lower than room temperature. And racist groups are generally ignorant white/black/hispanic/whatever trash. That would be TRUE racist groups, like the NAACP, KKK, Black Panthers, La Raza, etc. Not groups that are labeled racists by liberals because they espouse ideas of equality as opposed to favoritism based upon race.

How much have you donated to Dr. Paul's election effort so far?
None of your damn business. Want to know? Look up my name in the FEC records.

What do you agree with Dr. Paul on?
Gun control, federalism, the UN, immigration, border security,

'nuf said

After reading, researching, and doing a lot of looking around, I've found my candidate. His chances of winning are pretty slim, especially since major media has largely ignored him, but he's the guy that would put this country on the track that we need to be on. He's the only true conservative in the field, and by conservative I don't mean bible-thumper. I mean my kind of conservative.


So, the official WTHIWWY Blog endorsement goes to:

Got nothin else to add

Google Sucks - Yep, back to that

So much for 'don't be evil'. Google's supposed company motto is apparently 'don't be evil, unless it helps your political pals, then hey, go for it".

Google has banned ads purchased by a committee to help re-elect Susan Collins (R)ino, ME. Apparently she has become a target of Moveon.Org and they've helped her opponent raise over $250,000. But when Senator Collins attempted to purchase ads on Google to rebutt the attacks, Google said that they would violate trademarks, copyrights or some other such nonsense and wouldn't allow them.

Funny how Google allows ads that denigrate all kinds of others like Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, President Bush, et al, but has zero problem banning advertising that attacks their buddies at Moveon.Org.

I can't say it's censorship because only the government can censor people's RIGHT to free speech. Google can truly choose who they want to sell advertising to, being an independent corporation.

However, perhaps next time you're doing a search, you'll choose Yahoo, Dogpile, or some other less obviously biased search engine.

Yep... Google Sucks

Politician = decreased IQ

I'm not sure what the hell goes on with someone once they go into politics, whether it's the constant input from people who weren't smart enough to get elected in the first place or being forced to just smile and nod when some whackjob from some special interest tries to buy their favor. Constantly worrying about the next election rather than doing what is right is what has gotten this government into the shape they're in currently. And I'm not just talking about DC, although they're the epitome of this, state governments do the same thing. Michigan is a particularly nasty state for this. The idiots in our state government have the gall to think that closing down the state government would be second only to a nuclear explosion in the greater Detroit area in terms of catastrophe (actually the entire rest of the state would have to think a couple seconds before choosing between the two, but then we'd realize that we'd end up getting saddled with the costs of the cleanup anyway, so may as well go with #1).

Unfortunately the bozos in Lansing came up with a last second compromise and were able to avert a government shutdown. I was really cheering for the shutdown, to show people how little our government actually does for the people. To show how much of your billions of tax dollars are being pissed away on stuff we could do without. Stuff that we were prepared to do without for weeks, according to many political pundits, if the idiots in Lansing didn't work out a compromise.

Some compromise...raise taxes AND cut spending. Great. We pay more and get less. yeah, that seems about right for those idiots we put into office. Although remember, we're the ones that voted for them...so who's the real idiot?

Little Friday funny

A Japanese doctor says, "Medicine in my country is so advanced that we can take a kidney out of one man, put it in another, And have him out looking for work in six weeks."

A German doctor says, "That is nothing. We can takea lung out of one person, put it in another, and have him out looking for work in four weeks."

A British doctor says, "In my country medicine is so advanced that we can take half a heart out of one person, put it in Another , and have both of them out looking for work in two weeks."

The Canadian doctor, not to be outdone, interjected,"You guys are way behind. We took a woman with no brains, sent her to Michigan where she became Governor, and now half the state is out looking for work."

Hillary-care part 1

Matt Drudge has a link on his site to an article where Hillary states that she said she could envision a day when "you have to show proof to your employer that you're insured as a part of the job interview — like when your kid goes to school and has to show proof of vaccination," but said such details would be worked out through negotiations with Congress.

Funny how the Klintons can envision a day when you have to show proof that you have health insurance to get a job, but can't envision a day when you have to show proof that you're legally allowed in the country.

And people are eating it up....

Socialized medicine

For those of you who know me, or who have at least read a damn word in this blog, you know that I view socialized medicine as pretty much the end of the US as a leader in the world and the climactic point of the marginalization of this country as a free country.

Hillary-care was announced yesterday, and my wife, who is a physician and is about as disinterested in politics as any human being I know, lost her damn mind. The funny thing is, for someone who really doesn't like politics or the whole process, she had some spot-on observations. Her biggest point was 'freedom'. Whomever presented the plan said that it was not unlike requiring people to have car insurance, but that they were going to require people to have health insurance. I'm not a big fan of the prior, but I'll be damned if I'm going to have the government tell me I HAVE to have health insurance. If I wasn't old and decrepit, I'd drop my insurance just out of spite. And yet, the funny thing is that people just think that this will be 'free'. John Edwards says that his program will be paid for by rolling back all the tax cuts given to the rich. Except that it wasn't just the rich who got tax cuts during the Bush tax cuts. Additionally, they define 'rich' as making over $200k. While that is a good chunk of change, that's not rich. Rich is "I can go fly to Europe when I show up at the airport whenever I want". 200k is hard working, motivated upper middle class.

However, one thing I do know is that this is going to be a HUGE impact on the budget. Taxpayers think they have a burden now, just wait until Obama/Hillary/Barbieboy care gets implemented...jesus....

And don't get me started on why it is that medical costs are so high. Between Barbieboy and his fellow ambulance chasers and the ultimate bureaucracy that IS hospital administration, it may actually BE more efficient run by the government...and that's not sarcasm.

Deja Vu all over again

No, I'm not talking about the strip club, although that'd probably be a much more interesting post than this one, probably.
So I find myself in the strange, but repeated position of butting heads with management once again, after a transition. Perhaps I expect too much from people who get hired to leadership or C-level type positions and that puts them in position to fail my expectations immediately. Perhaps I have some sort of deep down feeling that I could do better and as a result start them off with a deficit. Either way, this is the third time in my professional life that I've had an issue with upper management where I've actually thought "man, I'm seriously going to get fired if I'm not careful with this email/comment/phone call". And the third time in my professional life when I've said "screw it, I gotta do what I think is the ethically/morally right thing"...

So if I post on Monday/Tuesday quoting that great philosopher Britney Spears, "oops I did it again", you'll have some sort of idea as to wtf happened.

I work for an IT outsourcing company in an unwinnable situation. They came into a hospital where the employees were happy and comfortable with their positions. They weren't pushing the envelope from a technical standpoint, nor were they in the stone-age. But this company came in and introduced tons of processes and administrative overhead that these people were not used to. Were they doing any sort of documentation or if they had any sort of actual processes in place, this wouldn't be so bad, but they didn't. Truly, even now, with the processes in place from the new company, they're either bypassed or completed minimally/begrudgingly.

They had a Watchguard firewall in place which had been advertised as having content filtering. However, it didn't. They had a Surf Control box in place at one time, but it was about as stable as Carrie on prom night, so it didn't do its job. A network engineer decided to bring in Bluecoat proxy/filtering to set up some stability and content filtering after having dealt with a number of porn issues. Funny thing with technology, the Watchguard melted down before we had an opportunity to fully test and implement the Bluecoat with a smooth transition. So we had a 9 month period where anyone could go anywhere on the Internet without any sort of authentication, and a four month period where they could do it without any filtering. Now we have a 12mb connection to the Internet, so just imagine the amount of porn I was getting calls about from managers.
So we finally implement authentication AGAIN (Watchguard required authentication) and people act like we've pissed in their eyes and called it lemonade. It's gone so far that our CIO wants to white-list the entire basic profile and allow anyone to go there without authentication. That would allow anyone to surf for hours without stop and keep HR/IT from being able to tell supervisors what they're doing...a huge thing for many supervisors, since I've gotten a lot of email asking "When are we going to be able to have reports again!?!?!" Additionally, the CIO seems to think that since no other hospitals in the parent hospital organization require authentication to the Internet, we shouldn't either. First of all, WRONG you frickin moron, lots of them do, I can list them for you, and second, didn't your momma ever teach you the whole 'if everyone is doing something it still may not be ok for you to do it' concept?

This is way longer than I wanted it to be, but suffice it to say, there's been some emails, ones where I've had to sit and re-read what I've written to ensure that I'm not insulting his mother too badly...

Should be an interesting day on Monday.

wow

Three weeks between posts....

Either I've been really busy or I've decided that blogging isn't that important.

Probably a little of both. Finished my 5th of 6 classes for my masters of information assurance, and that took some major time the first couple weeks of August. One more to go...

Watched Hotel Rwanda tonight...man, depressing movie, especially when you consider it's based upon a true story. But definitely shows the complete and utter worthlessness of the United Nations peacekeeping forces....what a waste of energy.

Gotta love those Chinese products huh?

In yet another attempt to kill Americans, Chinese manufacturers have created children's toys with an excessive amount of lead in them, and the toys are now being recalled.

Am I the only one seeing a pattern here? We move all our manufacturing off-shore to China because it's cheaper and now we get stuff like this.

They poison our dogs with tainted dog food, poison our pigs with tainted pig food (will of course eventually reach our digestive system...mmmm...ribs, bacon and other yummies). They add cardboard to egg rolls in order to make them cheaper, cardboard that has been softened with a chemical that shouldn't be consumed by people. They export toys with lead paint like the popular Thomas the Tank engine, jewelry with excessive amounts of lead, faulty baby carriers that result in babies falling out and getting bruised, getting skulls cracked and hospitalizations, and exploding air pumps that have resulted in 13 lacerations including six facial injuries and one to the eye.

And my wife wonders why it is that I constantly look for the 'MADE IN ____' label on the things I buy.

Not saying that the stuff made here in the good ol' USA is that high a quality sometimes, but I can guarantee that I don't have to worry about it having cardboard instead of pork in it...or lead, melamine, or anything else, without that being on the ingredients list.

A little free advertising

I finally found a store that I can get behind. Seriously, they have the best shit in town. And you don't take it in the rear when you buy stuff there. They're not number one, but they're definitely number two.

Ok, I'm done....

For those of you in the Mount Pleasant area, or who have attended CMU, this place is right there on Mission.

Love it.

wtf

So, when you get old, apparently you start falling apart.

First, I was playing basketball (yes, for those who know me, this is an amazing feat in itself. Basketball to me was always the sport boys played while the men were busy playing Hockey, but I digress) and came down hard on the side of my foot, spraining my ankle. Had some bone bruises, but mostly was ok as a result.

Unfortunately the hobbled walking that I did, as well as the crutches, seemed to awoke a rebellion in my lower back as it seems that it doesn't want to listen to the signals from my brain to chill the hell out. Spasms have pretty much knocked me out for the last three days or so. It's been tweaked for a while, but I must have done something over the last week or so to fire it up, as there is a full on civil war going on around the kidney area and a wide band thereabouts.

I sent in negotiators from Darvocet and Flexeril, but they only seemed to knock me out. Stretches and exercises that I used the last several back problems don't even make a dent.

Someone, please, declare a jihad on me so I can strap a belt to myself, and go running into a mosque.....

all in the name of jihad and backspasms of course

More immigration

Not only do we have an illegal immigration problem, but we have an illegal immigration employer problem, as well as an illegal immigration employer facilitation problem. These frickin people should be behind bars.

This is akin to holding a conference to tell someone how to embezzle money and not get caught.

As heard about on Rush today

Welcome Home

Nice.....

Denver, how did you become Berkley?

In an attempt to out-liberal Berkley CA, Denver has recently decided that they wanted to be the hippie, tree-hugging, bicycle riding, capital of the world.
The mayor there has proposed that instead of allowing the market to decide where people live (or, God forbid, the PEOPLE to decide), he wants to institute higher insurance rates for the amount of driving that people do. This would, in his mind, penalize people who live in the suburbs and of course force them back into his city (becoming Denver taxpayers again, as opposed to suburbanites). Of course, he's billing it as an environmental thing, to lower emissions from the vehicles that drive the additional miles, but we all know that it's not that at all.
Additionally, Denver is going to charge their residents more money to dispose of their garbage, recycle, and a number of other things. Users of large amount of electric or natural gas will be charged extra as well.

My question is this: Will this have any affect at all, environmentally? Or will it merely cripple the city, by forcing companies to relocate to the suburbs because quality employees won't want to drive into the city (for multiple reasons, not the least of which is the insurance hike)? The companies would have to pay employees more to compete with suburban companies because of this additional cost to the drivers. Additionally, how many people in Denver can barely afford to live their now, and the additional cost of utilities and garbage disposal may force them elsewhere as well. And how many poor people do you think live in energy efficient homes? So those poor people, who I am sure that the Denver mayor campaigned that he 'cared' about so much, will be the ones penalized the most, because they live in older homes that may not be as efficient, where they may have to use space heaters to keep warm (horribly wasteful) will be charged extra for using more electricity than some rich families that can afford to purchase new, efficient furnaces, insulation, windows, etc.

Typical liberal socialist stupidity. Make everyone pay for the agenda of a select few, while those select few barely sacrifice at all.

One other thing....

The warmest years on record in Denver? 11/12 were before 1990. Coldest morning in 50 years? June 8, 2007

Yep, that's some global warming going on out there.

Careful, may get frostbit from all that global warmin

Subsidizing Illegal Alien tuition

In response to the comments, I did a bit of research.

What I'm assuming that the commenter was referring to, when referencing the subsidization of the illegal's college education, is that illegal aliens are allowed to attend state schools in nine different states (California, Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma Texas, Utah, and Washington) at in-state tuition rates.

This means that legal US residents, who happen to live in other states, have to pay more than someone who is in the country illegally, which is discrimination against US Citizens and violates the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.

So, this great new Immigration Reform bill will probably contain other laws that will not be enforced, just like the last one, and the one before....which explains pretty clearly why it is that most conservatives are against it. It also explains why it is that the Bush administration's approval rating is as low as it is. The 'base' is actively being alienated by this horrible bill, and is responding appropriately.

Same crap, different day.

God Bless Texas

Don't know if this is an urban legend or not, but Dr. Ken forwarded it to me and I found it clever, so it works either way:

T. Bubba Bechtel, a part time City Councilman from Midland, TX, was asked on a local live radio talk show the other day just what he thought of the allegations of torture of the Iraqi prisoners. His reply prompted his ejection from the studio, but to thunderous applause from the audience.

"If hooking up an Iraqi prisoner's scrotum to a car's battery cables will save one Texas GI's life, then I have just two things to say":

"Red is positive" - "Black is negative"

Memo to NYT writer Jodi Kantor:

Hey Jodi, I realize that you work for the NYSlimes, and you're not really expected to write fairly about conservatives or even write a 'puff piece' about them. It's your job to expose their wicked, evil, sins and as a NYSlimes reporter, you're gonna.

So, why is it that your not-so-subtle, blow-job of a piece on Obama wasn't nearly as critical? Just curious...

Oh, and Jodi?

You got a little on your chin there.....

Iraq

As I've not blogged about Iraq in a while, I've felt a jonesin' to do something, but just couldn't figure out what exactly to write. This past weekend I received an inspiration. The inspiration was named Corporal James.

Corporal James had just come back from Iraq about a month or so ago. He was attached to a local reserve unit and was finishing up his second tour in Iraq. I noticed his short hair and tatoo in a watering hole I had visited for dinner and walked up to thank him for his service. I bought him a beer and he thanked me for the support (and the beer!) and we began to discuss the military, his experiences there, and how he was shocked at the lack of support and lack of reporting of the positives that have happened over there. Additionally, he was irritated at the confining rules of engagement and much of the bureaucracy that has somehow taken hold there. He wasn't a complete rube, he understood the cynical nature of politics and the like, but he said it seems like many of the people who should be on the side of the military weren't, like the officers who were more worried about their careers than the success of the mission.

It reminded me of the many discussions surrounding Vietnam and how the politicians took the war from the military and made it a political football rather than a military action. How the media's continued harping on the death toll and the protests took away from what should have been a successful military campaign. I told him about the 'Big Lie' that Joseph Goebbels theorized about during the Nazi era, where if you tell a lie so unbelievable enough times, and grind it into people's unconscious, they'll eventually begin to believe it. He agreed that the Democrats and the media, as well as many Republicans have bought into the big lie and were fooled by it.

His main point? "Shut the hell up, let us finish our jobs and come home to our loved ones"

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Semper Fi, Corporal

Do as I say.... pt 2

A California state senator was involved in a two car accident yesterday. Why do I care? Why is this news?

Well, the senator was reaching for her cell phone when it was going off and ran into the other vehicle.

Again, why should we care? Lots of people do this, just because she's a state senator doesn't make it news.

Well, it's news because this particular state senator led the charge to make it illegal to talk on your cell phone while driving, punishable by a $50 fine.

Edwards speaks to something he knows nothing about

And that would be poverty.

Yes, John Edwards spoke last fall at University of California Davis, in front of a crowd of 1700 students and faculty about a subject that he seems to think that he knows a lot about: Poverty. However, let's face it, Barbie doesn't know jack about poverty. He likes to fashion himself as the "everyman's candidate", but how many 'everyman' pays $400 for a hair cut? Oh yeah, that'd be his former running mate, John Kerry.

And did Edwards do this speech for free, preferring to donate his normal appearance fee to the local poverty relief centers or a homeless shelter?

Hell no. The $55,000 he received for giving a speech on POVERTY, went to his bank account.

Typical politician. Do as I say, not as I do.

Please someone, anyone, take these empty suits out and push them under water until the bubbles stop.

Amnesty. Plain and simple

While I've not actually read the bill, since it was written in secret and is over 1000 pages according to those who have, the people who have read it, say that the new Senate immigration proposal includes a new 'Z Visa', which rewards people who have broken the law and entered our country illegally by allowing them to stay.

During the last amnesty bill, during the Reagan years (one of the few things I disagreed with the great Ronaldo on), everyone who opposed illegal immigration was promised that it would tighten the borders, help to lower the numbers of illegals in the country, and gain control over who entered, both legally and illegally. In actuality, that amnesty bill did the exact opposite. We have more people in this country illegally from a larger number of countries than we ever have in the history of our nation (and anyone who comments about how the settlers were illegals on indian land, I'll hunt you down and scalp you...idiot).

Plain and simple, if people are here illegally, they MUST be sent home, to go through the process the correct way. I don't CARE if the process is horribly slow and brutally oppressive. You want to live in the greatest country in the world, it's worth the trouble.

And hell, if Hillary or Obama get elected (or worse, Edwards), it'll give you experience on how to deal with their health care system.

No more illegals. No more amnesty.

Equal treatment under the law my ass

Don Imus calls a bunch of rough-looking basketball players from New Jersey "nappy-headed ho's" and it's headline news, cover of Time sorta stuff. He draws protests from the black community including the camera whores themselves Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. He of course eventually gets fired for saying it.

Opie and Anthony talk about raping the sitting Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, who herself is black as well, and yet, where's the outrage?

Oh yeah, that's right...she's not really black. Because she works for a Republican and is conservative herself, she's lost all blackness. She is now a 'house negro' in the words of that master of intellectual discourse, Harry Belefonte.

Think that this story will make headlines like Imus? Think again.

Polls, lies, and statistics

I don't know said "Lies, damn lies, and statistics", but that pretty much describes the recent binge of news pointing out that President Bush's approval numbers are dismal, down near the patron saint of liberalism, Jimmy Carter. However, what every one of these stories don't tell you is that congress' approval rating is equally as low. Nancy Pelosi's crew is sitting at about 35%, while Bush is around 32%, a statistical dead heat.

But of course, since the Congress is controlled by the media's buds, that story is probably hidden on page H-47.

Baffling....

I don't know if I'm reading this article correctly or not, but it seems as if it's saying people who have children with Down's syndrome want to make sure that the population of people with Down's maintains at a stable level.

Now, I guess I can understand their logic, if there are less people with Down's, there will be less support for them from the government and I truly believe that this is part of the role of the government, to take care of the folks who can't take care of themselves.

However, it just strikes me as odd that they would be arguing against the ability to lower the population of people suffering from Down's as well as the families struggling with supporting their loved ones with it. I mean, if you live through it, you'd think that you wouldn't want others to have to suffer through the same issue. The point of the article is more that women who are told before birth that their child is going to have Down's, they have an abortion.

Funny that out of the blue, the NYSlimes is suddenly anti-abortion.

Here comes the call for gun control....

I don't think that the bodies in Virginia Tech were cold before Teddy Kennedy took the opportunity to start pining for that old song, gun control. The fat bastard didn't talk about how his gun control has already taken the guns out of the hands of the people that may have stopped the massacre before it became a problem. Remember, Virginia Tech, because it is an educational institution, is a 'gun free' zone. Guns are not supposed to be allowed on campus. Had a student been allowed to have a carry permit, and been carrying, this would be a backstory hidden in the small print of section C of the NY Slimes. Because if that were to happen, the story would be 'Gun Carrying Hero saves Students from Psycho'. And we can't have that can we?

So, be on the lookout for Teddy, Diane Feinstein, and the rest of the anti-gun whiners to start calling for hearings on gun control, laws, etc.

And they'll jump in front of any TV camera that is live to promote that stupidity.

White guilt?

I've been thinking about this whole Obama candidacy for a bit now and listened to some opinions of folks who are also wondering about Obama's popularty. I'm not sure who first advanced the idea that his popularity is based upon the fact that he's telegenic but that's not it. And it's definitely not his politics. He's only outdistanced by whack-job Kucinich when it comes to being left-leaning.

Examples? Of course:

Believes that the Bush tax cuts aren't working. Nevermind that every single state in the union, excepting Louisiana and Michigan (don't get me started again), have some of the lowest unemployment since the early 90's, inflation has been tame and businesses are profitable, despite the changes that are taking place in our economy caused by globalism and the influence of international competition. People have more money in their pockets, and apparently that's bad.

Against the death penalty and believes in alternative sentencing rather than making people pay for the crimes they commit. Because we need more criminals on the street.
Believes that all students should be given a free college education as long as they maintain a B average. Because all that spare money in taxpayer pockets is only being wasted.
Voted to raise the CAFE (average fuel economy of a fleet of vehicles that a company makes) to 40mpg rather than letting the market sort it out. Because people aren't smart enough to buy cars that use less gas when it's $3.00 a gallon. Also voted against drilling in ANWR, to ensure that gas REMAINS $3.00 a gallon, thanks Obama.
Voted yes on a free trade agreement with Oman, a country on the Arabian penninsula that has been known to fund terrorism as well as being ruled by a dictator/king but voted AGAINST a free trade agreement with Central America to keep their citizens in their countries, rather than having them cross the Rio Grande and come here.
Believes that healthcare is a right...aka supports governmental takeover of the healthcare system.

Now, he IS taking a page out of the book of Clinton, running to the center, trying to portray himself as more conservative than he is, so that he'll appeal to the middle of the road voters. But truly, he's even more liberal than Hillary, which is scary.

So, what is it? White guilt.

You heard me. White libs, white moderates, etc, look at him as the opportunity to assuage their collective consciences by supporting him. Media and the civil rights industry (you know, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, the ACLU, et al...billions of dollars spent in that industry) have given everyone the impression that they have taken advantage of institutionalized racism or are actually racists even if they've never even thought the 'n-word' or displayed any racist tendencies. So, how better to show that they're 'really not racists' by voting for a black man? Do they agree with what he believes in? Do they even KNOW what he supports?

Doubtful.

But that's how sheeple are. Baaaaah....let's follow the flock.

Morons.

Detroit News Editorial

The guys at the editorial board at the Detroit News are starting to sound like me, as the headlines of their latest editorial suggests "An iPod for every kid? Are they !#$!ing idiots?"

The Dimwitocrats in MI have suggested that money be set aside to buy every school child an MP3 player, supposedly to help them download lessons and listen to them. Yeah...that'll work. Almost as good as those plans where kids were bought laptops for schoolwork and they turned around and sold them...nice work Dimwits

Another actor for President?

Fred Thompson, famous for his role in Law & Order, other roles in manly movies such as Hunt for Red October, Die Hard 2, and Necessary Roughness, has rapidly grown a large contingent of folks who support him for president.
On March 11, during an interview with Chris Wallace, he mentioned that he was seriously considering a run. His numbers went immediately into double digits, while Rudy and Mitt have seriously stalled.

Can an actor with conservative chops be elected president? I mean, the guy was rated an 86% by the American Conservative Union for his votes for smaller government, lower taxes, etc. The only reason that he wasn't 100% was due to votes for the McCain Feingold election reform law. That in and of itself may cause me not to vote for him, but not much else. I liked him as a US Senator and was seriously disappointed when he decided not to run for a third term four years ago.

So, could Fred win? Guess we'll see, but since my first choice, Newt, doesn't look like he's running, I may have to take a close look.