Who is Brett Kimberlin? If you don't know you should

Way too much has already been written about this convicted domestic terrorist.  What is scary is that he and his associates are systematically harassing conservative bloggers, causing things like job firings, SWAT raids, and legal harassment through frivolous lawsuits.  He has managed to become well-funded through the use of non-profit organizations that raise money from various left-wing sympathizers, who are all happy to see these attacks carried out on their ideological enemies.  Do yourself a favor and read about this guy.  And remember that you too could be a target of this guy or people like him.

How to change a headlight in 3+ hours

After being pulled over by Lawrenceburg's finest last night for having the audacity to drive to work with a burned out headlamp, I resolved today to replace the bulb. It was an off day, and the December weather wasn't so terrible, so working on the car didn't seem especially scary for my non-mechanically inclined self. I needed to drop off my daughter at school for the pep band, so afterwards I made my trip to the auto parts store to procure the replacement. This was at 6 PM. Around 6:15 I arrived at the Harrison Advanced Auto, where the clerk promptly offered to help when I mentioned I needed a new low-beam. A couple of seconds later, he had looked up the part and within two minutes, I was on my way $15 poorer. I knew the fun was just beginning however, as this car was (relatively) new to me and I hadn't really done anything to it myself.

After arriving home, I got my meager basket of tools and got set up in the driveway, where the outdoor floodlights would provide enough light to do the chore. I got out the owner's manual the manufacturer provided with the vehicle, to see if there was any helpful information to be found. My previous experience told me not to expect too much, and I was not disappointed. Most of these books tell you nothing, other than to take the vehicle to the (fill in the blank) dealer for service. Not wanting to pay a hundred bucks to swap out a light bulb, I persevered. This particular vehicle has a four foot long cowling for which the only function I can ascertain is a dust cover for the radiator. Of course this piece is in the way from the headlamp assembly, or at least the brackets that hold it in place. It is held in place by a dozen screws, so I dutifully removed them, taking care not to misplace them (experience has taught me this lesson, like anything else I ever learned about working on cars, learned the hard way.)

After a few minutes I removed the giant dust cover, and loosened the bolts that held the brackets. But the headlamp assembly still didn't move, and the flood lamps didn't produce enough light under the hood to see what the obstruction was. Need a flashlight I guess. Twenty-five minutes and two phone calls later, I find out that the flashlight (the one that still works) is in the blasted car! Now I can see that nothing is obstructing the headlamp assembly. A little wiggle and the whole assembly turns, so now I can get to the actual bulb. Of course, the useless owner's manual doesn't tell me that the connectors are not pulled out like other vehicles I have had in the past; instead, the bulb is rotated to disconnect, then it just sits there with nothing holding it in. Luckily, I figured this out BEFORE I broke the connectors that didn't want to move (my Voyager wasn't so lucky.) Finally, the bulb is free! Now just put the new one in, and I am done.

This is where frustration sets in, as the new bulb, so thoughtfully provided by the helpful clerk, was NOT the right one. I purchased a H11, but the proper replacement is the H11B, which looks like the H11 but the base is different. Dead in the water, no other car here, got to reassemble the car and head back to the store. Closing in on 8 PM, got to call the store and make sure they are still open. Open until 9! OK, off I go again.

Now it is about 8:15, and I find out when I arrive that they don't have any H11B in stock, but they can get some tomorrow. Which would mean another trip. So I opt instead for the refund on the first bulb, and take my chances at the Auto Zone down the road. Apparently H11B is a popular replacement bulb in Harrison, because they don't have any at Auto Zone either, but they do have four in stock in Lawrenceburg. Back in the car.

Fifteen miles of driving later, I am at the Lawrenceburg Auto Zone, which does indeed have 4 in stock. $23 and I am out the door, and this isn't even a SilverStar bulb.

Now after 9 PM, I am back in the driveway, this time with the proper replacement bulb. The disassembly goes quicker this time since I had so recently done so before. The new bulb goes in without a hitch, and then all that remains is to put it back together. Of course, that too is easier said than done, because the lower bracket is bolted on through a recessed portion of the giant dust cover. I can't just drop in the bolt because, oh no, it falls off to the side underneath the cowling! Therefore, I must take the dust cover off again to retrieve the bolt. Not wanting to repeat this scenario, I find some needle-nosed pliers and replace the bolt in the manner one uses when playing the childhood game "Operation". This is successful and I finally finish the task at 9:53 PM, having only busted one knuckle and driven only 51 miles.

Now why is it I don't work on cars more often?

2010 comes to an end

Another year gone by, this one was a rough one. I fear more rough ones are on the way. I don't think people realize yet that our economy can get worse, much worse. This country has had really tough times before, like the Civil War and the Great Depression, but most people alive now remember nothing but relative prosperity. When states and cities go bankrupt, hard choices will have to be made. We've been promised the world, but there is no way to pay for everything we've been promised. So get yourself ready now, while there is still time.

Grandchild is here; Megan gets gold

Spending more time lately on facebook and less blogging. Noah arrived Feb. 18, 7lb 6oz, what a beautifual addition to our lives. Yesterday Megan got gold for the Indiana State competition for flute. we are some pround parents/ grandparents!

Welcoming in a new decade

Having never really figured out what to call the last decade (the o's, the aughts, who knows) we made it to the tens (or is it teens? Someone will set me straight.) Didn't know if I would make it here with the cancer and whatnot, but by the grace of God I'm still among the living. Don't forget that every day could be your last so don't waste them.

2009 Wrap-up

List of the big things this year as I see them:
1. The arrival of socialism in America, courtesy of Barack Hussein Obama. Sure, we've bits and pieces of it for years, but now we have real socialists in charge in Washington. Predictably, they immediately went for an explosion in the size and scope of government, with the push for health care takeover, cap and trade energy taxes, card-check unionization, innumerable unaccountable "czars" making policy, and bloated (non)stimulus packages, to name but a few things.
2. The rise of the "tea parties" in response to all of the above. Truly from the grass roots, rallies from people who never protested anything before popped up all over the country. Attacks from the biased media only made the protesters angrier as regular people saw an establishment that just wanted the people to shut up and pay their taxes like good little sheep.
3. Unemployment at over 10% as the traditional manufacturing jobs go away for good. Employers here continue to be burdened with more and more onerous rules and regulations. Where are the incentives to hire more workers? Maybe if you need some "green" energy that isn't commercially viable.
4. Usain Bolt. Fastest human ever.
5. The fall of the great "tiger", just sordid. If you want to live like a lout, go ahead, nobody cares these days. Just don't get married and make a mockery of marriage, especially when your wife is a supermodel.
6. The treatment of Guantanamo detainees as common criminals with US constitutional rights instead of the terrorists/enemy combatants they are. This is has been going on quite awhile with the ACLU types, but now its government policy. September 10th thinking.
7. Climategate. If you don't know what it is you probably still think the polar bears are dying and the ice is melting. Please, please DO NOT let facts get in the way of your dogma. After all, we must save "our mother".
8. Bengals in the playoffs. Big around here, especially after the disaster of the 2008 season.
9. 25th anniversary. Also big around here. Nobody else probably cares, but this is my list, after all.
10. Be grandpa soon. Check back in 2010.

Hilarious video

check out this.
If you haven't been following the broohaha over the climate change hacked emails, you might want to do a little research and this will make more sense.

Chinese school the West

It is ironic that the Chicoms have to teach the rest of the western world that uncritical acceptance of environmental propaganda of global warming is against their own self-interest, considering the years of propaganda they fed to their own people. But modern-day China is the industrial powerhouse that the US was 60 years ago, and they would be foolish to give that up. check out this article on the topic.

Very interesting piece

This opinion piece is very interesting, a viewpoint not often heard, which was actually published on the Cincinnati Enquirer website. So many people view birth control as a given and there is never even any debate about whether or not its even healthy or right.

Too important to ignore when Obama gets a Nobel (give me a break!)

I, like half the rest of the world, heard the news of our glorious leader, the ONE, Barack Hussein Obama's winning of a Nobel Prize for Peace with incredulity. After all, I thought the wars were supposed to be over by now, so there really would be peace, which is what we were promised in the unending campaign that is now the election of a US President. Strangely enough though, the wars are NOT over, and pulling out of Afghanistan is not an option, even though its apparently a very difficult decision to send over the resources the ground commanders of that war believe we need to avoid mission failure. If we had spent half as much time studying the situation in Afghanistan as we did trying to get the 2016 Olympics into Chicago, maybe we might have figured out by now that more troops might be needed to do the job right. But ramming health care "reform" down our throats is more important, after all those troops fighting and dying are from mostly red states anyway so by definition unimportant to the military hating lefties. so if you think I am alone in my thoughts about this perhaps you should take a look at this.

This is a great story for football fans

Check out this link about last weekend's game.

25th anniversary - night on the town

Just a little celebration for the 25th anniversary, could it really have been so long? Went for a cruise on the Ohio on the BB riverboat. Twenty years since I had done it, Lisa never had. So even though it rained buckets today, the nights cruise was beautiful.

Megan makes a movie, daddy helps

OK here it is and hope it works since this is my first time trying this. Try this link, its has the sound

I'm stoked

We are getting a makeover at work, and it's a doozy! Check out this from the Enquirer. And this.

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.