A New Year

As I write this, the year 2008 has less than 2 hours left before it dies of old age. Many of us will probably be glad to see it go. But in spite of the heartaches, the pains, the disappointments, the fact remains that we made it here.....we are about to embark on a new year. With all of its faults, 2008 was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrance, never to be seen again. And much of what happened to us during that year were things that we might have changed or done in a different and better way. Likewise the new, not yet born 2009 will be, to a great extent, what we make of it.

I am not stupid enough (well, I guess I AM that stupid, but nevertheless....) to think that all that happens to us is under our control, but even when fate, or chance, or luck, throws us a curve, how we handle it IS under our control. And we can make a choice as to how we handle that bad break...either it beats us or we beat it. Of that we do have control. I'm sure that all of you reading this (all 3 of us) can think of someone we have known who seems almost to thrive on bad happenings. Every piece of bad news is embraced as a reason to bemoan the fates, to cry and sigh, to toss in the towel and sink into a funk. And I suspect we also know of people who can't seem to stay down, who get it on the chin over and over again by the breaks in life and yet are still upbeat, are happy, are optimistic and eager to get on with life. Think about it for a moment. Who do we enjoy being around? Who do we remember long after they are no longer here? Who do we wish we could be like? The person who is gutsy enough to take what life gives and work with it somehow is the one we admire and want to emulate.

And now with the birth of a new year, we can do that. For those who believe in New Year's resolutions, what better resolution than one to try and work for that goal of personal courage and strength in the face of hard times? I'm certainly no prophet or soothsayer, but I guess that there are some serious hard times ahead for us. But that doesn't mean that all is lost. It means that there will be a need for strong people, people who can "suck it up and get on with life" even when things are rough going. One step, then another.....one obstacle overcome and then another, and always with a smile and the inner peace that comes from the belief in what we are and what we can and should be. Hard times sometimes are needed to help us to see what is worthwhile, what should be preserved and protected, and what is useless fluff to be discarded and not mourned.

Are we up to it?

Am I up to it?

I don't know, but maybe that's why I've been given a new year, to find out if I'm up to the challenge. A new year, fresh and untouched, to be used by me, by each of us, either to strengthen us and better us, or to grind and wear us down. It's there, neither good nor bad; it just is. What we do to it and with it is what is important.

Have a great new year!!!

What Is Really Important

In the crazy world that we live in, it is all too easy to get caught up in the day-to-day skirmishes, which, though important, pale in comparison to what really matters. I will be the first to admit that I can joust with others, and try to defend my beliefs, and probably sometimes go over the line and become a bit of a pain. While not making light of these arguments, nor the differences in beliefs which cause them, I also find that at this time of the year my thoughts drift to a different plane.

On a spiritual level, I once again remember that about 2000 years ago, the Son of God came down to earth as a poor infant. He took on a human nature out of His love for each and every one of us. That thought is so difficult to grasp, so beyond my understanding, and yet I believe it as strongly as I believe that the sun will rise tomorrow morning.

While they were there, the days of her confinement were completed. She gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

There were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch by turns over their flocks. The angel of the Lord appeared to them as the glory of the Lord shown around them, and they were very much afraid. The angel said to them:"You have nothing to fear! I come to proclaim good news to you- tidings of great joy to be shared by the whole people. This day in David's city a savior has been born to you, the Messiah and Lord

Now that is something to think about, and to appreciate!!! And it certainly is something to celebrate.

Along those same lines, but on a slightly different level, it also is a time of the year that I find my thoughts turning more often to all those people who have been and/or are a part of my life. From family to friends to people who have been there for me in ways they probably never even realized, people I laugh with and people who have cried with me, people I never really knew but still somehow brightened my life, if even for a moment.......so many people who have left some sort of mark on me and lighted up my day and lightened my load, if even for a moment. What a tremendous gift to have received from so many different people! To all of them and to all of you, collectively and individually, my heartfelt thanks and I wish you all the happiest Christmas.

I hate to say I told you so, but if you look back to when the bail-outs started, I said it was the beginning of the end of our form of government and economy. Since then the government seems to be giving OUR money away to anyone and everyone. But it is really difficult to even conceive how much money we are talking about here.

Perhaps this will put the numbers into some sort of perspective. The government has spent more in the past few months than ALL of those projects combined. It has spent more than ALL the costs of WWII.

The politicians in Washington seem intent on spending until the entire system fails.

Insolent S.O.B.

Sen Harry Reid is so very happy that those dirty, unwashed tourists won't be around to offend his upper-crust sensibilities any more.

Perhaps someone should remind this bas****d that those tourists are the ones who are paying his salary and funding all the billions that he and his compatriots are spending every freaking day they are in Washington. Where does he get off, anyway? He and all the other professional politicians are supposed to be there solely to look out for the good of the country; they are supposed to be public servants. Instead they have become, at least in their own eyes, so much better than us unwashed and sweaty commoners.

Hey Sen. Reid, guess what.......this country became the greatest country in the history of the world because of that sweat. The men and women who sweated as they forged steel, plowed fields, built skyscrapers, planted crops in all sorts of weather, and did the thousands and thousands of other tasks that needed to be done to make themselves and their country better, they are the ones who built this country. It wasn't a bunch of career politicians, sitting on their asses in Washington as they pissed away the common man's tax money, who built up the US of A. And when things got bad and dirty, hard work had to be done, it sure as shooting was NOT the politicians who stepped up to do it. It was one of those sweaty common folks who volunteered to do what had to be done.

This little speech of his does a much better job of explaining and revealing what is wrong with those who think they lead us than any long-winded blog ever could. He and his ilk see themselves as the elite, the first-class, the best of everyone. In fact, it shows me exactly what he really is, and confirms why many of us look at politicians with contempt.

When the brown stuff hits the fan, I know who I want by my side, and it sure as hell would not be Sen Reid who would be standing there complaining about the terrible odor of sweat and the commoners and riff-raff. It would be that riff-raff that would be the one who would be working AND SWEATING to save the day.

Special People

There are some very special people in the services, protecting us and our country. I wonder if I'd be able to have an attitude like this if I were wounded.

No Comment Needed

From the blogsite http://www.theodoresworld.net/, with apologies...I couldn't make a link to this article.

Men Like This Gave Us FREEDOM for America
As I came out of the supermarket that sunny day, pushing my cart of groceries towards my car, I saw an old man with the hood of his car up and a lady sitting inside the car, with the door open.
The old man was looking at the engine. I put my groceries
away in my car and continued to watch the old gentleman from about twenty five feet away.
I saw a young man in his early twenties with a grocery bag in his arm, walking towards the old man. The old gentleman saw him coming too and took a few steps towards him. I saw the old gentleman point to his open hood and say something.
The young man put his grocery bag into what looked like a brand new Cadillac Escalade and then turn back to the old man and I heard him yell at the old gentleman saying, "You shouldn't even be allowed to drive a car at your age." And then with a wave of his hand, he got in his car and peeled rubber out of the parking lot.
I saw the old gentleman pull out his handkerchief and mop his brow as he went back to his car and again looked at the engine. He then went to his wife and spoke with her and appeared to tell her it would be okay. I had seen enough and I approached the old man. He saw me coming and stood straight and as I got near him I said, "Looks like you're having a problem."
He smiled sheepishly and quietly nodded his head. I looked under the hood myself and knew that whatever the problem was, it was beyond me. Looking around I saw a gas station up the road and told the old man that I would be right back. I drove to the station and went inside and saw three attendants working on cars. I approached one of them and related the problem the old man had with his car and offered to pay them if they could follow me back down and help him.
The old man had pushed the heavy car under the shade of a tree and appeared to be comforting his wife. When he saw us he straightened up and thanked me for my help. As the mechanics diagnosed the problem (overheated engine) I spoke with the old gentleman.
When I shook hands with him earlier he had noticed my Marine Corps ring and had commented about it, telling me that he had been a Marine too. I nodded and asked the usual question, "What outfit did you serve with?"
He had mentioned that he served with the first Marine Division at Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal. He had hit all the big ones and retired from the Corps after the war was over. As we talked we heard the car engine come on and saw the mechanics lower the hood. They came over to us as the old man reached for his wallet, but was stopped by me and I told him I would just put the bill on my AAA card.
He still reached for the wallet and handed me a card that I assumed had his name and address on it and I stuck it in my pocket. We all shook hands all round again and I said my goodbye's to his wife. I then told the two mechanics that I would follow them back up to the station. Once at the station I told them that they had interrupted their own jobs to come along with me and help the old man. I said I wanted to pay for the help, but they refused to charge me. One of them pulled out a card from his pocket looking exactly like the card the old man had given to me. Both of the men told me then, that they were Marine Corps Reserves. Once again we shook hands all around and as I was leaving, one of them told me I should look at the
card the old man had given to me. I said I would and drove off.
For some reason I had gone about two blocks when I pulled over and took the card out of my pocket and looked at it for a long, long time. The name of the old gentleman was on the card in golden leaf and under his name........ "Congressional Medal of Honor Society."
I sat there motionless looking at the card and reading it over and over. I looked up from the card and smiled to no one but myself and marveled that on this day, four Marines had all come together, because one of us needed help. He was an old man all right, but it felt good to have stood next to greatness and courage and an honor to have been in his presence.
God Bless America, our Veterans and Troops.

Change That We Can Believe In

As our president-elect sets up his new cabinet, we see that the change really ends up being a Clinton Cabinet replay. As one pundit pointed out, it sort of reinforces the feeling that he really has no experience at what he is doing and is in over his head, so he falls back on others who do have the experience. In any case, some of the choices are rather troubling.

I hope this is a mistake quickly corrected, though I rather doubt that it will be. And one of his spokespersons a short time ago assured us that he would be ready to rule from day one. I am deeply sorry, but no one, NO ONE, rules in this country. People govern, they lead, but they do NOT rule. I personally see this as more than a "slip-of-the-tongue"; I see it as yet another piece of evidence that the Obama movement has every intention of trying to fundamentally change this country and its government, changing it away from the system that has brought us to the position as the best the world has ever seen

Let Us Remember To Be Thankful

Let's try to remember to say "Thank you" to the men and women scattered around the world to protect us and our country.
And at the same time, remember to stop and enjoy all of those things we take for granted.

Just For Fun

For those of us who enjoy Matrix, and who have had problems with Windows (problems and Windows....aren't they synonyms?), watch and enjoy this

Fundraising Investigation....NOT

Why doesn't this surprise me at all?
We see what is potentially one of the greatest frauds in presidential fundraising and it will go uninspected and uninvestigated.
Once again to show it isn't what you know or what you did, but rather who you know and who you are.

It Ain't Over, Ain't Over At All

For those who see the election as a setback, who weren't swept away in the rhetoric and the blindly obedient media, please read this article, the entry for Nov. 6th.
He says it much more clearly and concisely than I ever could. It isn't over by a long shot....maybe it's just starting. Maybe true conservatism is getting a wake-up call.

More Loud Noises and Things

As noted below, I never grew out of the stage of liking loud noises, breaking things, and other childish behavior. So in that spirit.

I truly admire these guys and what they do. If you watch as he banks right, his right wingtip (lower one) appears to be less than 10 ft from the ground.....that is gutsy!

A Way To Handle Change

One approach to the possible upcoming "change".

I sincerely hope that this "change " never happens! It has nothing to do with Repub vs democrat, red vs blue etc, etc. But the whole idea of redistribution scares the crap out of me.

Born In The Wrong Century

From the blog of TigerHawk:

Regular readers know that I rarely post the internet joke du jour, but this one seems to be right down our strike zone. I supply it as a public service on the small chance that I am not the last conservative in America to see it:

Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.

1958 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack!
2008 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.

1958 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2008 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1958 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2008 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

1958 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2008 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.

1958 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, and goes to college.
2008 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.

1958 - Ants die.
2008 - BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated; Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.

1958 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2008 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces three years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes five years of therapy.

Sadly, there is very little actual parody in this joke.

After reading this, I am even more convinced that i was born in the wrong century!

Give a little help

Here is something that we all can do to help someone in need. No politics here, just a young man who needs our help.

Humor with a Lesson

I've seen this before, but it worth repeating.

My only change would be to substitute "Conservative" for Republican.

Where Are We Going Part 1

What is happening to my country?
In this, the bastion of freedom in the world, I see running for president a man who refuses to allow us to see his past, who associates with a known and unrepentant domestic bomber and terrorist, a hate-filled priest, a country-hating preacher, a now-convicted wheeler-dealer, and who tells us in so many words that his goal is to redistribute the wealth of this country.
Excuse me, Mr O, but if you would take a moment to read some of the documents upon which this great country was founded, you will note that my personal possessions, my personal property, and my money is MINE; it does NOT belong to the government or to you to redistribute to anyone.
Back in the mid to late 1700's, the British government tried to tell the colonists that their personal homes could be taken and used to house British troops, and that the government in England could take whatever taxes they deemed necessary. This country came into existence because a group of men said "No" to what they saw as unfair and unjust governmental actions. I cannot even imagine what these same men would say if they came back and looked at what has happened to their ideals and dreams, what has happened to their country. Instead of a government of, by and for the people, we have become a people of by and for the government. The government....no, the government people in Washington, have become an all-consuming monster, whose function first and foremost is its own survival and growth. The term "public good" is simply an excuse, a catch-phrase, to justify whatever it is that allows government to grow and extend its reach deeper into our lives and our pockets.
The "War on Poverty" of the Johnson administration, which continues to this day, has spent literally billions of dollars, of OUR dollars, and guess what........there is still poverty, poverty as bad and as wide spread as it was back then. There are also literally hundreds if not thousands of people now on the government payroll to "administer" these programs. And what have these programs accomplished? They have given us 2 generations of people who expect, who demand that we "take care" of them. HORSE-HOCKEY!!! Our society has always been notable for its concern for the downtroden and those who needed help (No, I am not saying we did as much as we should have, but we did a darn sight better than most countries did or do). But that concern and assistance had an unstated corollary, which said that we were more than willing to help, but that the recipient was also expected to do his best to get back on his feet and recover, to once again become a part of the functioning society as quickly and as fully as he is capable of doing. I can’t go to the grocery store any more because as I stand in line to check out, counting and recounting to see if I have enough cash to pay for what food I have, I see strong, healthy people, their grocery carts overflowing with top-of-the-line foods, with their handful of food stamps, and I get so angry that I come THIS close to shouting out my anger over this ripoff of the money that is being taken from me. This is not my idea of where this country should be, or should be going. You can work, then get a freakin’ job. You have "issues’? Well guess what...we all have issues and we still manage to drag our bodies to work. (I’ll say it once again.....there are people who need assistance. God bless them and I have no hesitation in helping them. I am talking about those who have found that there is no reason to try, since food stamps, WIC, medicaid, SSI, etc etc will pay them to remain off the work rolls forever. Let us call them, for convenience, freeloaders.) Do you think the God-fearing men who sat down in Philadelphia and set up this country ever thought that this type of activity would be encouraged, let alone tolerated, by the government they were setting up? Did any of them ever consider the possibility that their creation would morph into a monster that consumed 50 % of some people’s incomes, that would insinuate itself into almost all facets of day-to-day life? Would any of them, even those most in favor of a strong central government, ever dream that the government would essentially take over medical care (Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, etc, etc), retirement (Social security), and now the financial markets (Buy-outs, bank take-overs, etc), while at the same time impinging on the very rights for which the founding fathers were fighting and dying (Fairness Doctrine, innumerable gun-control law, IRS DEA EPA and so on)?
I dare say that if they were alive today, the founding fathers would be heartbroken at the destruction of their dream, and would be hard at work to make things right once again.

Noise and Shooting and all the things little boys like

Ok, so I admit it....I really like guns and shooting and big noises.
I never grew out of that, thank goodness, and hope I never do. So of course I like this video.
Now if my memory serves me right, tracers are 1 out of every 6, so there are 5 unseen rounds for every visible tracer round.....and I believe that the cyclic rate is somewhere in the order of 4,000 to 6,000 rounds/minute. Now that is serious firepower.

I Hope This is Wrong!

With every fiber of my being, I hope that this view is wrong, is being too pessimistic. But there is a nagging feeling that I cannot shake that tells me that if anything, it is being too optimistic. I truly fear for our country, what it is and what it is becoming as opposed to what it once was and should still be. I wonder if we can survive 4 years of pure socialism and come out of it intact.

Just Unbelievable

I HATE ballet, but you have to see this. Talk about overcoming handicaps!!!!!
We all can learn a lot from these 2.

A Little From Tolkien

From Lord of The Rings

Hold your ground! Hold your ground!
Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers,
I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me.
A day may come when the courage of men fails,
when we forsake our friends
and break all bonds of fellowship,
but it is not this day.
An hour of wolves and shattered shields,
when the age of men comes crashing down,
but it is not this day!
This day we fight!!
By all that you hold dear on this good Earth,
I bid you stand, Men of the West!!!

Not a bad thought on which to end the day

Freedom of Speech ???

We all know "Joe the plumber", who had the nerve to ask Mr Obama a question, and how the answer to Joe's question revealed what Mr Obama's plans were for OUR money. Those of us who have become somewhat cynical about the intolerance for dissenting views were muttering under our breath that Joe was going to pay and pay mightily for his errors. It certainly didn't take long for the media, the "impartial media", to start digging for all the dirt that they could find.

That by itself is shameful, but add to that this little note. Something here smells just a wee bit stinky......the media can dig up all the dirt on Joe the Plumber, but somehow can't find anything, ANYTHING, even vaguely nesworthy in the background of Mr Obama or any of his associates.

Update

It seems that more than a few people are upset, not just with the sliming of Joe the plumber, but also with what the answer revealed about Mr Obama's ultimate plan for our money.

"Signs of the Times"

Just a little comic relief for the end of the week

try this

or this

An Approach To Life In Today's Dangerous World

Every day, there seems to be some sort of crisis or other, either in our country, the world, or even in our own personal lives. Such crises are unavoidable and are part of our imperfect world. But how we approach them and deal with them can make a world of difference, sometimes even a difference of life or death for ourselves and/or families. The folks hit by floods, or hurricanes, or ice storms or wildfires, or any of the many disasters that we read about, all these people were cast into a situation that demanded that they respond. How they responded had immeasurable impact on them and their communities.

Years ago, I stumbled upon a webpage that had an article about living as sheep, sheepdogs or wolves. That article made a great deal of sense to me then, and still does.Whether you believe in carrying firearms or not, the underlying idea of self sufficiency, self reliance, and that character we call courage, fortitude, or whatever you want to label it, is a valid one, at least to me (and as my profile says, I admit that I may be living in the wrong century). This site (LANGUAGE IS A BIT ROUGH) carries it one step further, builds upon it, and gives what is to me a sensible basis upon which to build, a way to mentally prepare for the events that may befall any one of us. Whether we like it or not, the world is NOT a friendly place......never was, never will be. And of necessity, we better be in a position to protect that which we hold most dear.

I would also recommend that you go to this website to get some practical advice from a man who is experienced in this area. Lord willing we will never need to use the advice, but that is what the residents of Galveston, TX also said.

Bank Bailout= More Government Takeover

The Feds seem to be committed to getting more and more involved in the banking sector, whether or not they are needed. If you look back to the note I posted here, you will note that I predicted that the bailout was the beginning of the end for the free market.

Now the Government seems to be pushing like crazy to get more into the banking industry, even in areas where it is not needed or wanted.

Air Traffic

True or not, I don't know....but one CAN hope!
read here

The Troopergate Report

Well,well.....what a surprise! The Alaska senator who promised to get a report out in time to hurt S. Palin's campaign managed to release a report finding her guilty.

If you read the report, however, the case seems a bit less than convincing.

More here

Making Sourdough Bread

Making Bread

My dear wife has made bread for years, and when she makes it, it is to die for...light, soft, and delicious. So last week, I get the wonderful idea to try and start a sourdough.

Now for those of you not into sourdough, the idea is to get some yeast, give it something to eat, and let it sit until it starts to ferment and turn sour (NOT spoil, but to ferment). There are several ways to get the yeast......the cheater way is to buy commercial yeast, and let it gradually turn wild again. Or you can get some starter sourdough from someone else and use that yeast as a starting point. Or, you can try your luck at capturing yeast from the wild and starting your own strain.

Since my wife had been baking bread for years, I was almost sure that I could capture the yeast that was floating around from her previous bread-making ventures. So I made up the necessary starter, let it sit out for a few days, and sure enough, it began to bubble and looked like some yeast had started to multiply in it.

After letting it grow for several days, it began to take on the sour smell that said the dough was becoming sourdough, so I mixed up the necessary ingredients, added the starter, and put it aside to start rising. Lo and behold, it actually DID rise, so after the necessary rising and re-rising, I shaped it into loaves and into the oven it went. About ½ hour later, I took out the loaves.....they were golden brown. Each one seemed to be a bit on the heavy side (I'd estimate somewhere in the range of an equal size of depleted uranium) but it was easy to overlook that if one just thought about the warm moist interior underneath that crust. The next problem was how to gain access to that moist interior.

Now I like to keep my kitchen knives really sharp, but even they were no match to the crust of those loaves. They couldn't even dent the crust. Finally, I was able to hack off one end of a loaf, and gaze upon the warm, moist, airy bread within.......sort of.

The inside was a pale off-white, sort of like a poorly set concrete, with a texture and taste to match. To say that it was inedible would be charitable to the point of lying. So now what to do with the loaf, or as it was now labeled, the cobblestone? I drilled a hole in one end and hung it from a limb in the front lawn tree....at least the squirrels would have something to eat beside my birdseed.

If you want to see something REALLY funny, watch a squirrel try to gnaw through a crust that has a Mohs hardness of at least 8.5 on a scale of 10. These squirrels who think nothing of eating through metal cans to get to my birdseed gave up in disgust and didn't even dent the crust!!! If I had a few more loaves, I might consider repaving the driveway.

Drs View of Bailout

In the very serious situation of the bail-out, I found this and had to laugh in spite of myself.
read and enjoy

A Change of Pace for Sunday Evening

After a lovely weekend, beautiful weather, family in visiting, I wasn't in the mood for anything too heavy or contensious, and stumbled across this.

See "A difference of religious opinions" and part 2 of same

Everyone have a really GREAT week.

Well, it's over. Mark on your calender the date Oct 3......perhaps the death of free market capitalism in the USA. Can we ever go back???

A good quote:

MICHAEL MALONE: When policies collide:

From where I sit, the United States government has embarked on two pieces of social engineering in the last few years. One was to make oil expensive as expensive as possible to drive people to greater use of alternative energy sources – because anything less would be irresponsible and destructive to the environment. The other was to enshrine home ownership (i.e., easy-to-obtain mortgages) as a new American right – because anything less would be unequal and racist.

None of us voted on these decisions – indeed, neither was even spoken about directly, much less debated. But nevertheless, both became national policy . . .and both have sparked national, now international, crises. Then, once they became crises, both were blamed on ‘greedy capitalism’, instead of what they really were: legislative interference into market forces. . . . To my mind, what makes this economic crisis different from ones in even the recent past is that it has exposed the fact that there are, apparently, no real leaders left in Washington – that the intellectual capital in the National Capitol has fallen to a new low – if that’s possible. Most of all, it shows that we can no longer look to D.C. for leadership into the rest of the 21st century.

Read the whole thing.

Well, the original 3 page proposal for the "bail-out" is now up to 400+ pages. And those 400+ pages were voted on and passed by the senate today. Now I am a fast reader, and can knock off a novel in a single sitting of 3 to 4 hours. But even so, I am SURE that I couldn't read that bill in the time available to the senators. So, in fact, they are essentially voting blind on this most important bill.

And in this "the world is ending if we don't pass this bill NOW, RIGHT NOW" bill, here are a few of the other things included:

A few examples of those earmarks:

New tax breaks earmarks in Bailout bill

• Film and Television Productions (Up to $15,000,000.00; Sec. 502)
• Wooden Arrows designed for use by children (Sec. 503)
• 6 page package of earmarks for litigants in the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident, Alaska (Sec. 504)

Tax break earmark "extenders" in the bailout bill

• Virgin Island and Puerto Rican Rum (Section 308)
• American Samoa (Sec. 309)
• Mine Rescue Teams (Sec. 310)
• Mine Safety Equipment (Sec. 311)
• Domestic Production Activities in Puerto Rico (Sec. 312)
• Indian Tribes (Sec. 314, 315)
• Railroads (Sec. 316)
• Auto Racing Tracks (317)
• District of Columbia (Sec. 322)
• Wool Research (Sec. 325).

It sure is hard to see how this is anything but just another "handout to our friends" bill.

I've tried to grab this several times, but it keeps getting blocked/removed...almost like some one doesn't want it to be seen.

watch this movie

It paints a pretty good picture of how we got to where we are.

Bailout Bill

Well, it is Sunday around noon, and it sounds suspiciously like the taxpayer is about to be sold down the river yet again. The bailout bill reportedly is almost complete, to the tune of $700,000,000,000. And since the gov't has only one source of income, and that source is your and my pockets, we are about to be royally and regally s-c-r-e-w-e-d by our representatives in DC.

see new plan here

Plan went from 3 pages to 100+ pages, with all the "gimmie-gimmie add ons

I guess that my skin is getting a bit thinner, but watching TV and seeing Barney Frank and Chris Dodd on the screen, telling me that all of this "crisis" is because the administration failed to oversee things, makes me want to punch the screen. Go back and look at who was SUPPOSED to be overseeing......it was Barney Frank's committee. Who fought against bills reining in Fannie May and FreddyMac...it was Chris Dodd. Who took LOTS of money from Freddy and Fannie.....want to hazard a guess here?? Who got REALLY NICE deals on their mortgages from Country-Wide, which was very very buddy-buddy with Fannie and Freddy?? Hint hint, first name is Chris, last name starts with D. And then they have the audacity to stand in front of TV cameras and try to tell us how we have to undo this crisis with our hard-earned money!!!!! It is almost enough to make me ill. How about we assist those who need assisting via loans or whatever, so that Joe and Joan taxpayer don't end up getting hit with the bills while those who caused the problem ,or allowed it to happen, walk away fat and happy on my dime.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/25/AR2008092503602.html

More on the Financial "Meltdown"

I'll preface this by admitting that I have absolutely no idea how the financial markets work, and have no financial stake in the stock market at all. Having said that:

Years ago, when someone owned stock in a company, what he/she owned had an intrinsic worth. Those shares in XYZ Company were a fractional ownership in the company, and the assets of the company gave shares a true, tangible value. That has changed now. Now many companies have no inherent worth, but simply are companies whose only business is owning other company's stocks, which companies own yet a third company's stock, etc, etc. So at the bottom of the food chain, the shareholder is holding a piece of paper, whose only value is what someone else says it is worth. Everything further up the chain is all "smoke and mirrors". Is it any surprise that such a system must topple sooner or later?

Now add to that the fact that somewhere in that food chain, there is someone who is less than completely honest, and who realizes that if the supposed value of that piece of paper is jacked up, it becomes more desirable, and so more shares can be sold and so he/she can make more money, and his/her company becomes worth a lot more because of this sudden added value. Starting to sound familiar?

I honestly don't know if the proposed bailout is necessary or not, to "save the economy". But there are some features about it that certainly raise red flags in my mind.

"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."

Those words, straight from the bail out plan, scare the pants off of me. They put the Secretary of the Treasury completely outside of and above the law of the land. For the life of me, I can't think of ANY way to justify that.
The plan also basically is giving a huge chunk of the economy over to Federal control. And since there is good evidence that much of this mess was caused by federal control, why on earth do we think they will do any better job in the future?
In July, the feds gave something in the neighborhood of $400 Billion for protection of those holding bad mortgages and in danger of foreclosure, remember?? WHERE IS THAT MONEY?? Why are we paying twice?

I'm getting long-winded here...... a link to an article that talks about some of this"derivitives" stuff which I found helpful

http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/yourlife109609;_ylt=AihYXGa_2tf9PJDeCl.2G0S7YWsA

A Beautiful day

In the midst of all the political rancor and feuding, let us not forget what a beautiful day we enjoyed today!!
It is all too easy to get caught up in the world and miss some of the truly wonderful moments that happen....a lovely day, a friend, a pretty flower, a clear blue sky. I need to remember to stop and enjoy every now and then

More hacking

This just in....the website for Bill O'Reilly has been hacked, apparently in retaliation for his demand that those who published Gov Palin's stolen e-mails be prosecuted.

Once again the party of compassion, love and kumbiah shows another, less-pleasant side.

More on the financial collapse

It seems that the current administration DID try to put some controls on the Fannie Mae and FreddyMac nonsense.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/11/business/11LEND.html?ei=5070&en=f31e9de1e37a3180&ex=1221969600&pagewanted=all&position=

Note the date here. This was in 2003. And the Democrats, especially Senator Barney Frank (D), stood up and claimed everything was just peachy and no regulation was needed.

Also of note, the sub-prime lending was MANDATED by the Congress under bills passed by the Carter and Clinton administrations; these bills mandated loans be made to applicants who could not meet the banks' requirements for mortgages, else the banks faced stiff penalties.

Once again we see the fantastic job that government intervention leads too!!

Let me see if I understand this correctly........a bunch of people take a quasi-governmental agency and cook the books to give themselves obscenely large bonuses, and in the process they run that agency into the ground. Now that FannieMay and FreddyMac are on their last legs, I’m supposed to give my money to bail them out while those who caused the problems are spending their multimillion dollar bonuses.
Can you think of any way, any way at all, to justify this? If you or I tried this, we’d be under investigation, then under arrest, long before the sun went down. But because of who these people are, they walk away scot free leaving the stupid taxpayer to clean up their mess. And I say stupid because we will sit here and allow it to happen, again and again.
This is NOT a partisan issue. The B.S. in Fannie May and Freddy Mac has been going on for years under more than 1 administration. And no one, NO ONE, has done spit to stop it or to hold anyone responsible. Why aren’t those who fudged the books under indictment? Why aren’t those who took the illegally-obtained bonuses forced to at least repay them, if not be arrested for fraud and theft?
Is there no one in Washington who gives a tinker’s dam for the common man?

Yup, ANOTHER blog from the Hudson Valley

With all the goings on in the world, especially all the financial and political happenings, I had to find a place and way to vent, someplace not associated with any other website.

This is my effort