United Socialist States of America

The President fires the CEO of GM. He declares new CAFE standards that used to have to be passed into law. He bypasses all the court protections of bond holders for Chrysler and bullys them into accepting 29 cents on the dollar for debt which used to be considered priority. He just decides Guantanamo must go so those terrorists will be placed in US Prisons, where they can recruit some more terrorist wanna-bees like the ones arrested last week in New York. When hes done with health care, no more private payers will exist, and the government will ration care any way it sees fit. Meanwhile, we are making big cuts in defense spending (what else can socialists think to cut) while North Korea is launching missiles and setting off nukes. Did our forebears fiht and die for this country so a bunch of Ivy Leaguers can come in and turn it into a socialist workers paradise? By the way, ask the USSR how that little experiment turned out. He is moving so fast in so many directions that 95% of the people can't even keep up, and there sure isn't any time to actually debate the merits of any of these actions. Welcome to Amerika, comrades.

Tax day is now Tea Party Day

Just got back from the Cincinnati Tea Party, where several thousand people showed up to voice their displeasure at the current taxation and government spending policies by the current administration. Even though Obama was mentioned a lot, Bush got no praise ( he didn't deserve any anyhow.) The crowd was extremely nice and well-mannered, and if there were trouble makers there I didn't see or hear them. There were some great signs and I've posted some of them here.

I've seen the error of my ways

All this this I've carping against Obama the Saviour, but now I can see the error of my thinking. After all, he is curing ALL the problems twenty years of Bush-Clinton-Bush couldn't touch. The mortgage mess will be fixed, car companies are being fixed, the global environment is being fixed, and all of this while I am getting a tax cut, and health care to boot! Why did I resist when resistance is futile?
Happy April 1st.

Spring Break

Spring break is here...this year we aren't going anywhere far away. Just Coconut Joes on Tuesday. I'll try to get caught up on a few things I have let slide. My basketball picks are doing well if North Carolina wins out I got a real chance to win the bracket pool.
I haven't been making too many political comments lately, mostly because all the news is so depressing. I fear that our new administration is running this country straight into the ground. The level of spending and subsequent taxation required to pay for all this does nothing but saddle our kids with a debt so enormous that we will eventually return to serfdom, with only a few well connected people able to live a decent life by the standards we have come to expect here. People are cutting back and they probably should have a long time ago. Easy credit snared me and millions of others, but sooner or later the bill comes. We have not addressed the 50 trillion dollar time-bomb that is social security liabilities. We are talking about nationalized healthcare (again) that will ultimately end up rationing care. We have people seriously talking about a cap and trade program to address a non-existance carbon problem, that will drive up electric costs about 50%. He wants to make peace with Iran which can only be done by sacificing Isreal (as if they wouldn't defend themselves.) He's gonna give MORE benefits to illegal aliens here while the people who choose to follow the rules are still waiting to get in to the US. Were gonna buy him a new fleet of Marine One helicopters and keep fueling Nancy Pelosi's personal USAF jetliner (a 767 i believe). Meanwhile, we are gonna pay higher gas taxes and more for gas because (once again) no drilling is allowed anywhere (did anyone really think they were gonna let it happen anyway?) And oh yeah, those rules Clinton signed in the 90's for welfare reform, you remember, the ones that said you have to WORK? There gone, too. So lets bail out some more wealthy executives in the financial sector because its for our own good and we wouldn't want to cut off our nose to spite our face, as he said on 60 Minutes on Sunday.
Personally, I expect a disaster worse than any in our lifetime, and it will be sooner rather than later. Can government be contained? At least up to this point no one seems up to the task.

What a Super Bowl

Two years in a row we have had great finishes to the Super Bowl. I thought the Cardinals would pull it off after the long TD in the fourth quarter, but the Steelers put together a game winner. A Bengals fan can't be too happy about a Steelers victory, but I can't complain about the quality or intensity of the game. Now comes the long off-season, where we can root for the Reds until they are out of it in July.

Sad news

Today Devin Reid passed, so young, such a tragedy. Read about my cousin here .
And here, too.

Welcome 2009

Yeah man!
I dare to to check out this video and tell me these guys don't ROCK!!! Hell, I thought they went away in the 80's, but here they are still crankin' em out! ( I love the little things I find out trying to update the track info on my Realplayer! )
Ok I know something that was released in 2006 doesnt exactly qualify as new but in the vast radio wasteland around here I had never heard this song until I stumbled across it on the net. I really don't like some radio exec deciding for me what tunes i will like and which ones I won't, and I sure don't want these musicians to starve to death while everyone steals their best tunes from limewire. So I think the fact that I found this myself shows that the net is the best way to get a little exposure and maybe sell a few things. I don't envy todays performers having to pretty much market themselves. So just support your local music by seeing the shows when you can, and if you like their stuff, buy a CD and don't be a cheapskate.

Good riddance, 2008. Welcome, 2009!

What a bummer of a year this turned out to be. The major Presidential candidates had almost zero appeal, the economy tanks, and our so-called right-winger President injects enough cash into the banking system to make FDR blush. Personally I only lose about 40% of the 401k, it might have been more if I hadn't borrowed against it last year. Well, I'm retooling for 2009. Belt-tightening and refocusing. Learning from my past mistakes. Hope you will too.

Twitter= whats all the tweeting about?

Today I trying to learn something new. I had hear about Twitter before, but my eyes just sort of glazed over the way they do when I think about the time Jessica spends on MySpace and Facebook. This looks a tool grownups can use too.

DTV

Check out this

After the Palin Rally

Some of our favorite pics:





Megan, Daniel, Lisa and I went to the Clermont County rally tonight for McCain-Palin. We got pretty close and the weather was nice as can be for an Ohio November. Megan especially was caught up in the excitement and was within inches of getting that handshake at the end. Yeah it was just like this!
Also some earlier pics we liked:

How about the debate

All of those who have already drank from the Obama Kool-aid were saying what you might have guessed they'd say: she was ditzy, didn't answer the questions, they really hated the winking, they hate her, hate hate hate! They didn't notice all the crap coming out of Biden's mouth, because, after all, he is so smart and said it so well, with such conviction. So when he lied about how much we are spending on the war, or the laughable claim that the US and France kicked Hezbollah out of Lebannon, well the kool-aid drinkers didn't even notice. But real Americans not living on the coasts can tell who is being straight with them and who is full of it.

I've been saying this all along....

It's the GOVERNMENT'S fault! I just haven't been saying it as well as this.
UPDATE: For a good explanation of this bailout problem from a non-economist point-of-view, go ahead and read this.

Pepsi..no coke

Enjoy

Wayne's World, enjoy some more.

Summer's close to over?

It's almost August, training camp has already begun, and the kids go back to school in two weeks! Seems like summer just started -- I only have made two trips to the pool for cripes sake!

Jessica's graduation

Here are a few pics from graduation day

nother new pic

I like this one too.

Vacation pics

Some of my favs

What a great article

From Newsweek even! A true giant of the twentieth century.

A True American Hero

Notice I did not say native American. Just American.
Getting his just due, long overdue.