On A personal note

The current debate on health care reform and whether or not to do Mammograms and self exams has struck a personal note. My ex wife discovered her breast cancer at the age of 47 by self exam. If she had followed the currently suggested guideline she would be dead.

She is not my favorite person, however, my son feels very strongly about the matter. The same thing might apply to me. I discovered my cancer, quite by accident, and I was outside the age group considered to be the most likely to develop. My oldest step-daughter was diagnosed with pre cancerous cells after her first child. The list goes on and on.

The Sixty Minutes “News Magazine” tonight was pure propaganda. The health care portion expounded on the money spent on the last two years of life. The doctor talked at length about a “bad death” while being kept alive by machines. I wonder what his choice would be if confronted with eminent death. It has been said “to know a man take him to the top of a volcano and hold him over the edge. Then you will know him.”

I think we might run a little short of volcanoes.

This is an orchestrated attempt to make us believe that numbers can decide who will live and die. It gives no credit to the human will to live.

There is another part of this debate that escapes notice. This is the largest tax hike in the history of this country. The total cost to my wife and I for our insurance is about$2400 a year. Under the government plan premium and deductable will be close to $14400. That will take 20% of my income.

How does this help me?

There are people who work and have insurance, who will have to switch to the government plan, put their goals away, and struggle to get by. When your disposable income, if you have any, is directed into the pockets of your rulers, you have no incentive to work, after all what do you get?

If my premiums increase by 300% where does the extra money go? Could it be I will be paying for the folks who will not work, or pay taxes. I will be subject to taxes for being overweight, jail time for not carrying insurance. I will have to submit information on my tax forms to prove that I have acceptable insurance and I’m not over weight.

What about the people who work off the radar. Paid under the table, pay no taxes, and Uncle Sam pays the bills.

Actually, the joke will be on them, the next step is amnesty for illegal aliens. When they are on the radar, and the taxes start, there may be a new migration, south this time.

The largest part of this issue is that of power, being taken from the individual and held by the government. The power to enfranchise those who will keep you in power, and the power to control every aspect of your life and now the manner of your death,

The power of life and death.

The entire issue is about power.

I'm sure there's a good reason for this

Mrs. Michele Obama's Staff This has nothing to do with race but has to do with greed, egotism, and spending of over $1,500,000 PER YEAR in personal salaries by the first lady in a time of severe financial problems in the U.S. This is amazing!! From the Canada Free Press :First Lady Requires More Than Twenty Attendants July 7, 2009 Written by Dr. Paul L. Williams"In my own life, in my own small way, I have tried to give back to this country that has given me so much,"she said. "See, that's why I left a job at a biglaw firm for a career in public service, "... Michelle Obama

No, Michele Obama does not get paid to serve as the First Lady and she doesn't perform any official duties.

But this hasn't deterred her from hiring an unprecedented number of staffers to cater to her every whim and to satisfy her every request in the midst of the Great Recession.

Just think, Mary Lincoln was taken to task for purchasing china for the White House during the Civil War. And Mamie Eisenhower had to shell out the salary for her personal secretary from her husband's salary.

Total Personal Staff members for other first ladies paid by taxpayers: Mamie Eisenhower : 1 paid for personally out of President's salary
Jackie Kennedy: 1
Roseline Carter: 1
Barbara Bush: 1
Hilary Clinton: 3
Laura Bush: 1
Michele Obama: 22

How things have changed! If you're one of the tens of millions of Americans facing certain destitution, earning less than subsistence wages stocking the shelves at Wal-Mart or serving up McDonald cheeseburgers, prepare to scream and then come to realize that the benefit package for these servants of Ms Michelle are the same as members of the national security and defense departments and the bill for these assorted lackeys is paid by YOU, John Q. Public.

Michele Obama's personal staff:
1.. $172,200 - Sher, Susan (Chief Of Staff)
2. $140,000 - Frye, Jocelyn C. (Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Policy And Projects For The First Lady)
3. $113,000 - Rogers, Desiree G. (Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary for Mrs. Obama)
4. $102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y. (Special Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the First Lady)
5. $100,000 - Winter, Melissa E. (Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
6. $90,000 - Medina , David S. (Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
7. $84,000 - Lel yveld, Catherine M. (Director and Press Secretary to the First Lady)
8. $75,000 - Starkey, Frances M. (Director of Scheduling and Advance for the First Lady)
9. $70,000 - Sanders, Trooper (Deputy Director of Policy and Projects for the First Lady)
10. $65,000 - Burnough, Erinn J. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)
11. $64,000 - Reinstein, Joseph B. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)
12. $62,000 - Goodman, Jennifer R. (Deputy Director of Scheduling and Events Coordinator For The First Lady)
13. $60,000 - Fitts, Alan O. (Deputy Director of Advance and Trip Director for the First Lady)14. $57,500 - Lewis, Dana M. (Special Assistant and Personal Aide to the First Lady)
15. $52,500 - Mustaphi, Semonti M. (Associate Director and Deputy Press Secretary To The First Lady)
16. $50,000 - Jarvis, Kristen E. (Special Assistant for Scheduling and Traveling Aide To The First Lady)
17. $45,000 - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (Associate Director of Correspondence For The First Lady)18. $43,000 - Tubman, Samanth a (Deputy Associate Director, Social Office)
19. $40,000 - Boswell, Joseph J. (Executive Assistant to the Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
20. $36,000 - Armbruster, Sally M. (Staff Assistant to the Social Secretary)
21. $35,000 - Bookey, Natalie (Staff Assistant)
22. $35,000 - Jackson, Deilia A. (Deputy Associate Director of Correspondence for the First Lady)
(total = $1,591,200 in annual salaries)

There has NEVER been anyone in the White House at any time who has created such an army of staffers whose sole duties are the facilitation of the First Lady's social life.One wonders why she needs so much help, at taxpayer expense.

Note: This does not include makeup artist Ingrid Grimes-Miles, 49, and "First Hairstylist" Johnny Wright, 31, both of whom traveled aboard Air Force One to Europe .

The reason is probably because she is so ill tempered the kids and dog avoid her, so they have to pay someone to be her friend.

The end of freedom

Socialism has come to America.

The passing of the Health Care Reform bill will mean the loss of jobs and expansion of government. I will be much surprised if the National Debt doesn't skyrocket and bring about the collapse of the federal government.

Just so you know, insurance for the love of my life costs $161 a month. That's far short of the estimated cost of the insurance I will be forced to buy.

How does this help me, how does this help anyone?

This bill was passed against the desires of the majority of voters, in the middle of the night. How is this openness in government? How is this government of the people, by the people, and for the people?

We the people need to vote all the incumbents that supported this bill out of office. I have said for years that the congress is the new aristocracy, it's time to clean out the castle.

How would you know?

CHICAGO (AP) -- They may have been the world's most famous man-eating lions, but it turns out they made other dinner arrangements from time to time.
Scientists have determined that the Tsavo lions probably ate about 35 Kenyans in the 19th century and not the 135 they've long been credited with devouring.
The Tsavo lions are both now stuffed and on display at the Field Museum in Chicago. Their killing spree inspired the 1996 movie "The Ghost and the Darkness."
Scientists from the University of California at Santa Cruz have studied the lions' bones and fur. They determined in a study released Monday that the lions probably killed about 35, although they may have had as many as 72 humans or as few as four.

Considering that the count was made by an engineer, on the scene, rather than by scientists more than a hundred years removed, and also considering the likely hood that those lions had been processing deceased natives since cub hood, I'm going with the original number.

I'm thinking that could have been more than a little light.

To: Annony Mouse

Anonny Mouse has seen fit to pass gas in regards to a post regarding the rights of a state to pass laws that meet the approval of the residents. I was invited to leave the Union, and receive a flag. Then, if you can believe it, Mousey, resorted to personal attack. I would rather any attacks be in person, the better to respond appropriately. The disparaging remark about my intelligence was very hurtful, and probably too close to the truth, so my barbaric response should come as no surprise.

Though you don’t believe in my rights, I believe in yours. If you choose, feel free to submit everything to your federal masters. You can trust your government, ask any Indian, (sorry, Native American.)

A second nameless genius left a comment ambiguous enough to leave me wondering which side of the line he or she fell on. But the statement about “fat, old, white guys” really hurt my feelings.

So no publishing from me.

Present your case for your statements, sign your name, be a man or woman about it, I’ve been wrong before. Yes, Yes, I Know DW isn’t my name, but this is my forum.

From the Wall Street Journal, Nancy Care

On Nov. 2, the Congressional Budget Office estimated what the plans will likely cost. An individual earning $44,000 before taxes who purchases his own insurance will have to pay a $5,300 premium and an estimated $2,000 in out-of-pocket expenses, for a total of $7,300 a year, which is 17% of his pre-tax income. A family earning $102,100 a year before taxes will have to pay a $15,000 premium plus an estimated $5,300 out-of-pocket, for a $20,300 total, or 20% of its pre-tax income. Individuals and families earning less than these amounts will be eligible for subsidies paid directly to their insurer.

• Sec. 202 (p. 91-92) of the bill requires you to enroll in a "qualified plan." If you get your insurance at work, your employer will have a "grace period" to switch you to a "qualified plan," meaning a plan designed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. If you buy your own insurance, there's no grace period. You'll have to enroll in a qualified plan as soon as any term in your contract changes, such as the co-pay, deductible or benefit.

• Sec. 59b (pp. 297-299) says that when you file your taxes, you must include proof that you are in a qualified plan. If not, you will be fined thousands of dollars. Illegal immigrants are exempt from this requirement.

• Sec. 412 (p. 272) says that employers must provide a "qualified plan" for their employees and pay 72.5% of the cost, and a smaller share of family coverage, or incur an 8% payroll tax. Small businesses, with payrolls from $500,000 to $750,000, are fined less.

The first paragraph basically states that you will pay 17% to 20% of your total income for medical care. Rest assured that it will be reflected in your wages, and not in a good way.

The second says even if you have insurance that you are satisfied with, as soon as it changes, you will have to switch to the government option. Considering that they change at least yearly, you will be in a Govt. program.

The third says that you have to prove you are in compliance, or be fined, or go to jail, unless you are in the country illegally, then just continue to use the Emergency room for every sniffle.

The fourth says you must pay for your employees insurance, which sounds good, but a “Mom and Pop” business will likely close their doors because they can’t afford to dish out. If you think not, it happens every time the minimum wage goes up. I might be wrong, but having a job and no insurance is better than having insurance and no job to buy groceries and all the necessities of living.

Over all, this “plan” to provide health care is the biggest tax increase in the history of this country. It is a tax increase because I will be forced to pay for something that I don’t want, and subsidize people who want it but don’t want to work for it. The Feds will be entwined in every aspect of the insurance industry.
I predict that the insurers will either collapse due to interference, or be buried under a pile of money, later to blamed for “fraud”.

It is certain that the taxpayer will bear the burden, and be denied the benefit of making decisions in their own life.

If this passes we're screwed. I can't pay an additional 17% in taxes, and live any kind of life.

This is the perfect example of how out of touch the congress is with real people, they don't relate the dollar amount specified with a real wage. They mustn't consider the 15K a year to be burdensome.

I wish I could say the same.

Herding cats

I've learned some new ideas about work ethics.

Not adopted, by the way, just barely tolerated.

Such as; One and Done, Nothing New After Two, Nothing For Me After Three, Nothing More After Four.

Poor poetry, and not addressed in the schedule.

The "nuclear professionals" working for me have readily embraced these lyrical tenants.

I have found it virtually impossible to snap the tap root connecting their butts to the chairs in the break room.

The "one and done" is one work order per day. If that is one 24", 45 degree Rockwell globe isolation valve rebuild, it's a miracle or an alien intervention. If it happens to be a three quarter inch gate repack, somebody is taking a nap.

Unfortunately all of us are on a twelve hour schedule, and the "nothing new after two" means if I get done by two, I expect to sit in the break room until six thirty.

Let me be plain here. When I am on my tools, and the man gives me a work order and a brief, I get off my hind quarters, and go to work. The time doesn't matter, fair doesn't matter, what some one has or hasn't done doesn't matter, I have a contract that says I will be paid for the hours I work, so I work.

Not so my little lambs. I have given the task brief, asked for questions, given out the work order and then watched for an hour as the bull session continues.

I could have cooked an egg in the palm of my hand.

I got a news flash killer, if you get done at two and you will not accept more work, then you need to go home. If you don't want to work, you don't have too.

Those little poems display the attitude of "pay me but don't expect anything".

There are other games, Question it to death, only deal with one issue at a time (each separate issue requires a walk back to the break room and a break), and of course, I'm not qualified.

If someone brings me a problem, I will find them an answer, please use the phone. Our income depends on doing a better job than any of a dozen other contractors, and doing it in a timely and professional manner.

Childish poems do not a professional make.

I try to hold my temper, and mostly I can. Sometimes it just slops over the edges, and then we get the eruption. When we have a plan, don't change the plan with out telling me. I really hate having to explain why no one can be seen working on camera FOUR HOURS after I have ushered the entire crew through the briefs and sent them to work.

They thought they had a better idea......WRONG! That one slopped over the edges.

When an older team member decided to ignore safety and his work partner decided to let him, that went bad quick.

I have two levels of counseling on these matters, "a word of prayer" and "we're all gonna' come to Jesus"!

Ignoring safety will get you to the "come to Jesus" meeting quick.

I don't have the power to discipline, or fire. I can write a bad evaluation, which may effect pay or rehire. Unfortunately we can't get enough techs as it is.

So, for now, I will try to keep forcing my little kitty's into doing their jobs.

Working for a living isn't so bad, trying to get the unwilling to do their part sucks.

Bad Dog....No Biscuit!!!!

While little depends directly on Tuesday's outcome, the races are an opening salvo in 2010 midterm elections, when the entire House of Representatives, a third of the Senate and two thirds of gubernatorial posts are up for grabs.

Time to send a message to the congress critters,,,,

Stop Spending,

Start Listening,

We The People, have had enough of Government.

Get Out and Don't come back!

Vote them all out!!!! Really stir the pot!

Our legislators consider them selves to be our betters, change our governors or submit to them.

Yeah, what she said!

The following letter read on Glenn Beck's show, is rapidly circulating around the country. Americans everywhere identify with this 53-year-old woman. She has given us a voice. Once you read this, you may want to forward it to all of your friends...

GLENN BECK: I got a letter from a woman in Arizona . She writes an open letter to our nation's leadership:

"I am a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. Instead, we are burdened with Congressional Dukes and Duchesses who think they know better than the citizens they are supposed to represent. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you're willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would feel so horribly disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut-job am I? Well, these briefly are the views and issues for which I seek representation:

One, illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I'm not a racist. This is not to be confused with legal immigration.

Two, the STIMULUS bill. I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you No, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.

Three: Czars. I want the circumvention of our constitutional checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution, and honor it.

Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There are many conflicting opinions and it is too soon for this radical legislation. Quit throwing our nation into politically-correct quicksand.

Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision that will burden me, my children, and grandchildren. Don't you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night without even reading it. Slow down! Fix only what is broken -- we have the best health care system in the world -- and test any new program in one or two states first.

Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. More is not better! Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real [Constitutional] obligations. Why don't you start there.

Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes -- how did they pull that one off? Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census with our taxpayer money. I don't trust them with any of our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.

Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs -- and that is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person! Why do you want me to hate my employers? And what do you have against shareholders making a profit?

Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.

Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Every company must sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we'll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. (Have you ever ripped off a Band-Aid?) We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.

Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let's have it. Let's say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please stop trying to manipulate and appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.Take a breath. Listen to the people. Slow down and get some input from nonpoliticians and experts on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed-reading our bills into law.

I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I'm busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.

I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution.

I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course.

Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained?

I do not.

It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is needless urgency and recklessness in all of your recent spending of our tax dollars.

From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane.

I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on bringing our concerns to Washington .

Our president often knows all the right buzzwords like unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don't want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we're morons.We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented.. You think we're so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work, pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone... and we are now looking at you.

You have awakened us, the patriotic freedom spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish.

We didn't ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us who will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don't care. Political parties are meaningless to us Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution, and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more.

It is not your power.

It is ours and we want it back.

We entrusted you with it and you abused it.

You are dishonorable.

You are dishonest.

As Americans we are ashamed of you.

You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them.. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it.

Speak up.

I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one.

We are coming. Are we coming for you?

Who do you represent?

What do you represent?

Listen. Because we are coming.

We the people are coming."

Amen!

The end of an era

AD has warned that those who haven’t updated their blogs will be deleted. I don’t blame him, I need to do the same thing.

I also need to recover my interest in the changing face of America. Since the last election my interest has declined because I find it difficult to believe any one, much less the majority of voters, wanted a socialist president.

Lower case is deliberate.

This political creation has convinced me that Jimmy Carter is not the worst we could pick for this high office. Carter proved that the US could survive four years without a President. Obama may prove that we can’t survive four years of social programs.

I become more convinced each day that the most powerful, productive nation in the world is doomed because the indigent have learned to vote themselves unlimited benefits.

If you are physically unable to work, or care for yourself, a compassionate nation should help. However, if you have made decisions that continue to deprive you of the means to care for yourself or your loved ones, give up the twelve pack, jerk your panties up, wipe your nose, and get on with doing what you know is right and needful.

I have been around too many that their entire life centers around where they will party the weekend away, too many that would rather buy a beer, than milk for their child. If I have to feed the child, I want the little dear put under the care of someone who will teach them how to live. Harsh I know, but we need a defense against unlimited reproductive rights by the electively stupid.

Sorry for the anger, I’m in the mood to throw someone down the stairs,

repeatedly.

The significance of the collapse of this nation will be the death of millions from starvation, and the violence of nations unrestrained by the threat of a police action. The Useless Nitwits will have to leave Turtle Bay and go harass someone else. They have no teeth without us, and no tolerance for us. The banana republic we are about to become will certainly not be able to fund them.

I was doing some of the recurring training that is done at Nukes, and heard a woman say in this weird adoring voice, “I love Obama”.

I thought I was going to puke.

Glassy eyed, unthinking adoration.

If he was a preacher in a Midwest church (sorry Midwest, Jim Jones wasn’t a southern boy), his supporters would be lining up for cool aid. I remember that party, almost had to help clean it up.

I suppose I should focus on something more positive, perhaps the building wave of protest by Dems against their own leaders. I’m seeing more protests now than since Vietnam. I think it’s only going to get worse.

Our national leadership no longer cares what the constitution says, our president ignores it, and the Supreme Court looks for inspiration to interpret that document in nations ruled by government employees instead of elected officials.

Sad days indeed.

Raceism or guilty media

Why did this article make national news,

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D99B48LG0&show_article=1

And this one did not.

http://whttp://www.ohio.com/news/50172282.html

I think I know.

Fallen Heroes

When I bought my bike last year I thought I might do something in opposition to the over publicized, protected speech of a group of religious nut jobs. I would be willing to test the righteousness of their claims with trial by combat, even though that is a little out of style.
I finally decided on the Patriot Guard. I signed up and never got a notification of a need in the area.

That all changed yesterday.

I am now a member of the Red Knights, who rode escort for an area firefighter who was killed in Iraq. We were told there was a very slight chance some of those nut jobs might show up to spread their hatred. No one wanted to miss that.

Luckily, none showed their ugly faces. I did get to see the out pouring of emotion by my entire community for a firefighter, by people who didn’t even know him.

It was said by one of the Patriot Guard Riders, “the fire service really knows how to send off one of their own.” Several of these men rode hundreds of miles to stand with us. We appreciated them very much.

The forecast was suitably gloomy to fit the occasion, a soft rain becoming a downpour occasionally. The local departments raised a forty foot American Flag between two tower trucks on the road in front of the church. A dozen pieces of apparatus joined the escort. Every branch of the military was amply represented. The officers and men of his unit made certain that one drop of rain would not touch the widow or her family. The flag line and honor guard stood uncomplaining, in the rain, for three hours, to do honor to our brother. The police made sure the procession was not delayed.

The local people stood by the road, in the rain, and held American Flags, to show their respect for a man they had never met. They stopped their cars and got out to wave tiny dash board flags, and hold their hands over their hearts.

The family was visibly moved by the honor done their loved one.

The graveside service, in our National Cemetery, included full military honors, the bagpipe corps, and the ringing of the bell for his “last call”.

Thank God for the rain, or a lot of tough guys would have tarnished their image.

Liar, Liar

This is a sad state of affairs. This spring I was working in Monticello Min. at the nuclear plant. My wife was not looking forward to the confinement represented by an extended stay motel. She spotted a sign showing a town house for rent. We called the number and talked to a Mr. Mike Schneider, of Homestead Builders There was indeed a town house for rent, it was close to work and reasonable. We met with Mr. Schneider, who was a little to friendly and a little to accommodating.
I should have listened to the alarms going off in the back of my mind. We paid $1600 rent in advance and a damage deposit of another $1600. We made sure that the house was kept clean and available should he need to show the place to sell it.
The issues started when we tried to pay the next rent payment, he was hard to find. When we paid the rent at last, the check didn’t clear the bank in a timely manner. When I finally got my release date, I had to call several times for him to come and walk through for our damage deposit.
When he finally showed up he looked at one room and left. He said the check for the deposit would go out the first of the week.
I guess I should have asked which week he thought that would be. It’s been three months and still no check.
He has repeatedly told me some lie or other to get off the phone, he will not return a call, even though he promises to call right back. I have left several messages, at his home address and on his cell phone requesting to know what his plan is to repay me.
All to no avail.
I will be in Min. this fall, I guess I will have to go to his house to ask personally what his plan is.
All said and done he is a liar and a cheat, if he isn’t a thief, it’s because he is a coward.
If you decide to do business with him, you are a bigger fool than me, you’ve been warned.

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We went to a flood last night

My son called last night to ask if he could borrow my Jeep or Bronco to haul sand bags(???)

That's the first indication I had that something was going poorly for the stupids.

He told me the water was up to the registers in his old store and the District had called to see if he could help because the new manager was out of reach for some reason.

When he said "up to the registers", silly me, I thought it was creeping in that far. Actually it was covering the floor a couple of inches deep, with the water outside eight inches or so higher than the floor.

Per the news this morning, we erased our rain deficit for the year last night. Seven inches in a couple of hours.

The pictures above are of standing water, very important that is!

I and a couple of very nice young men, redirected traffic and pushed several cars out of the deeper water.

The white Lincoln will be on ebay soon as the man driving it tried to get out the door and then left through the sun (flood roof) roof. He was sitting on the top of the car when we went by.

I have a 4X4 diesel pick up that sits pretty high, and enough sense to turn around if it gets too deep. We plowed through slowly to the store to get money for sand bags. I parked on the side walk and talked to the employees through the door.

Sand bags were not going to help.

At that time I got a few lessons in how stupid some people are. Any one with any type of car that didn't float plowed along through the water, some of them with a wake a couple of feet high.

The drivers of cars we tried to redirect away from the deepest part, would look at you like you were trying to trick them, and then continue on until the water killed the engine or they started to float. Cars with low bumpers, had waves running up across the hood to the windshield.

They were still coming when we were done and finally went home.

The killer is I could see high pavement, and no one went that way.

The cars in the really deep water are in the street. The police actually blocked that road.

I enjoyed being an a$$hole for a little, when every other car on the street was in the center lane to stay out of the water, I got into it, had a clear lane, and thew some really high rooster tails.

I love me some tall truck.

Thieving Government

I have been layed off for lack of work, a condition to be expected in my current career path.

So, unemployment?

Ain't happenin"!

It seems the new requirements that require income, in the claim state, in each of the last five quarters, will prevent me from ever filing a claim for unemployment payments, as long as I am a contract tech.

It will not prevent my employer from having to pay those taxes.

Thieving bastards.

Updates....

The mother in law continues to decline. She doesn't wake up much and hasn't eaten in three days.

This can't last long.

Additionally, I was told the other day that several years ago she was told that she had ovarian cancer, and decided to take no action.

If this was her wish, then as bad as it seems we must honor it. DNR in place.

I participated in a memorial walk for four soldiers from our area that died in Bagdad. About two hundred and fifty walked to our local war memorial for a short service.

We were warned that the nutjob hate mongers who protest the USA were going to be there, I had a prepared message for them. I was gratified and disappointed that the cowardly bastards didn't show.

I don't need any jail time.

I was voted into the Red Knights, (does that mean you have to call me Sir DW? Probably not.)

The soon to be son in law is still alive, as previously noted he totaled the Love of My Life's Jag XK8. She cried over the car. It isn't just "a" car it was "THE" car. Just so you know, when the Love of My Life sheds a tear, I start looking for things to break.

Do not be the cause of those tears, it will not end well.

We have found a suitable replacement, in Utah.

Road trip upcoming. Anyone want to meet and greet?

All's well that ends.

Well.

Just when you think things can't get worse......

Then they get terrible.

My mother in law has dementia, to me one of the most cruel of malady's. Your loved one slips away a little at a time, until the shell that's left is an object of pity, that doesn't know you anymore. The love of my life has been adjusting to that reality for a year or so now, not easy but doable.

A week or so ago the motherinlaws vitals dropped almost out of sight, she was recovering in the ICU with some testing, when someone did a CT looking for a stroke, and found a tumor the size of a tennis ball in her frontal lobe.

With that news, we basically threw everything down and ran for home. I put TLOML on a plane in Portland, Oregon at 17:30 on the sixteenth and ran for home. 3200 miles, in four days.

The MIL is losing body functions at a rate slowed by steroids and cushioned by dilantin.

The Love of my life is now trying to prepare herself, no hope there, and is wound tighter than a spring. There is some doubt if the MIL will make into the new week.

Amazingly enough, she is awake all night and sleeps all day. She is hard to wake, but manages with some help. Today they woke her and dressed her and put her in a wheel chair, when I walked in the room she recognised me.

It absolutely broke my heart

It's the only time that I could hug her and kiss her face, previously she did not react well to affection from me. Sadly that was never a big problem.

We had all the youngest there for pictures, it wasn't planned, it just happened. The tiniest came all the way from Japan with her mother (of course).

The MIL looks better than a lot of the residents, but we know it's drugs and can't last.

TLOML has been to fun places like the Funeral home to make arrangements in advance of the event, probably a good idea. It seems to be a little unsettling though.

What do you do with this?

I guess we will muddle through, it's not like we have a choice.

If there is a plus side to this, it would be that it will be quicker than dementia and, in a sense, cleaner.

Sad, but that's the best you can make of it.

I was talking about fishing....

I haven’t thought of this story in a long time. A friend of mine is from the Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky. He invited me and another friend to do some snag fishing below Kentucky Dam.

I’m always ready to go fishing.

The process is simple. Take a fishing rod seven feet or less long, a sixteen ounce sinker, 140 lb line, and a 14/0 treble hook, then go to the river and whale the thing as far as you can.

Hopefully it will hit the river. When you feel the sinker hit bottom, swing the rod to the side, and occasionally you will hook a fish. The day I went, we used two rods, for three men. The result was more fish than me and a big man could carry to the parking lot. I was worn completely out and I only fished for part of the day.

It’s a popular pass time. The fly in the ointment can be the commercial fishermen.

The commercial guys buy the biggest flat bottom john boat they can, and a six horse power Johnson out board motor. They have one wash tub for cut bait, and another for fish. Their sinkers are two or three pound balls of lead. Those are kept in a bucket with the pistol. They will motor to the top of the boil below the dam, drop a bait from a two inch long rod and wait for something whiskered to show an interest. They then hand over hand it to the top of the water, accesses the danger, apply sedation with a small pistol as appropriate, and throw them into the wash tub.

Pistol?????........yep, pistol!

If you’re wondering why a pistol in the boat, consider what would happen if you hauled an unsedated catfish of,, say,, 100 lbs into the boat? Nothing good, you can be sure. Some times a tourist will see the big fish, and see just enough to be foolish and drag a pissed off monster into the boat,,, sans sedation. Said tourist will immediately be balanced on the windshield like an ungainly cat, whilst the fish swats every thing not nailed down into the river. The oh, so helpful river rats, between gasping for breath and belly laughs, are yelling helpful advice, like, “shoot ‘im”. Like the dude has a gun or it wouldn’t blow a hole in the boat.

The bank fishermen have a gun also, in their sinker bucket, after all they don’t want to get a leg broken, or get finned by a catfish.

The problem starts when a boat fisherman decides to fish the boil nearest the bank. The bank fishermen are shut out until he leaves.

They take exception to that, seriously.

A new boat fisherman decides that the bank fishermen are having better luck a hundred feet away, and they can’t do anything to him, so he’s going to putt over and drop a bait. Profanity and verbal abuse ensue. Threats and such fly back and forth. Still the boat guy doesn’t move off.

A small group of bank fishermen gather and discuss tactics, then spread out and get ready to cast. The boat guy is lulled into a false sense of security. When the boat comes into range, all the bank conspirators cast at the same time.

It sounded like a hail storm on a tin roof.

Remember all those 140 lb lines and 14/0 hooks?

The boat guy is caught, and the six horse motor starts to lose ground. Someone is about to get his butt kicked.

Boat guy panics and grabs his pistol first, after a couple of shots, the bank guys, not to be out done, grab their pistols and return fire.

These are .22 or .25 hand guns with a two inch barrel, kept in a bucket full of lead balls. Probably not target pistols to start with and likely abused for years, a hit would have been an act of Providence, who was bent over laughing hard enough to puke at the moment, not deciding anyone’s fate.

The unarmed people freak and streak.

Good idea!

The TVA guard hears the commotion and takes cover with my friend behind a parapet wall.

Boat guy finally grabs a bait knife and starts cutting lines to make his escape.

So my bud asks the guard, who is holding his .38 revolver in his best TV dude, “point in a safe direction”, grip…”What are you going to do about that?”

He replied, “As soon as they run out of ammo, I’m going down there and run them off!”

Who says fishing is boring?

Sotomeyor,

The law has no color, no ethnic background, no personal history.

This country was founded on the premise that all men are equal, that premise has been changed by the will of the people to include all genders and races, as it should.

The law can have no preference, no "more equal than others".

The racial quotas created by the Federal Guilt mongers is counter to the literal reading of the Constitution.

We don't need ethnic experience to be just. We must all be compassionate to those in need, but not because of the color of their skin or their gender.

The First Kenyan

I have deliberately avoided commenting on the election or its supposed winner. I know the American people are the sure losers.

The debt issue that was part of the election rhetoric has been tossed aside in favor of, what appears to be payoffs for election support. The Gaffs, goofs, and B.S. are horrible. All the supposed bi partisan airs in Washington are in the toilet. I heard the comment regarding "the Constitution gives the American people the right to keep and bear arms, I believe however that we can manage that right." That only means one thing to me, how about you?

The current appointment of a Supreme Court Justice, who immediately makes chauvinist and racist statements is an indicator of his intent.

His nomination of several politicians with tax and other legal problems indicates an inability to judge acceptable candidates, or he just doesn't care.

The media, as usual, bow to the most liberal candidate, no matter what their issues. If the media can't overlook or sweep the issues under the table, then what are they hiding that will fit under the table?

I have a conviction that if you run anything through the money filter and the ego filter, then the real reason for the act will be left on one of the filters .

God Help Us All.

Allergy

I have developed a positive allergy to shoe leather.

Every time some jackass sticks a boot in my butt,

I get a positive rash and a bad attitude!

Remember,,,,,, I'm from the south, I don't do hurry up!

The china shop dwelling bovine hired to apply said leather, avoids me.

When I see him, I put him to work helping me with the heavy lifting

You just have to make your weakness your strength.

A step back in time

This is a spooky place, particularly for a nuke.

It's the only place I've been where there is one working plant, two unfinished, one shut down, two entombed and one fast flux test reactor. That's just what I can see on the ride to work.

There is a high energy laser looking for gravitational "string" evidence up the road.

The stories of things found in the desert abound, they are questionable in the extreme, just based on money. You can ride to the tops of the mountains, and find the remains of buildings. There are pull outs that go to the foundations of structures, and their attendant parking lots.

Kind of makes you wonder what really went on in the day.

Elevator tactics

I have learned something. (imagine that!)

If you are on a crowded elevator, the loud announcement "I HAVE GAS!" will get you all the room there is, and a path to the door with no hassles.

Just in case you need to know.

The South 'Gonna Rise Again!

An update from Oklahoma .

The state law passed today, 37 to 9, had a few liberals in the mix, an amendment to place the Ten Commandments on the front entrance to the state capitol. The feds in D.C., along with the ACLU, said it would be a mistake. Hey this is a conservative state, based on Christian values...!

Guess what..........We did it anyway.

We recently passed a law in the state to incarcerate all illegal immigrants, and ship them back to where they came from, unless they want to get a green card and become an American citizen. They all scattered. Hope we didn't send any of them to your state.
This was against the advice of the Federal Government, and the ACLU, they said it would be a mistake.

Guess what..........we did it anyway.

Yesterday we passed a law to include DNA samples from any and all illegals to the Oklahoma database, for criminal investigative purposes. Pelosi said it was unconstitutional.

Guess what........We did it anyway.

Several weeks ago, we passed a law, declaring Oklahoma as a Sovereign state, not under the Federal Government directives. That, for your information, makes Oklahoma and Texas the only states to do so. Guess what.........More states are likely to follow. Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, both Carolina's, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, West Virginia , just to name a few. Should Mississippi act, so will Florida . Save your confederate money, it appears the South is about to rise up once again. The federal Government has made bold steps to take away our guns. Oklahoma, a week ago, passed a law confirming people in this state have the right to bear arms and transport them in their vehicles.

I'm sure that was a set back for the Kennedys and Ms Pelosi.

Guess what..........We did it anyway.

By the way, Obama does not like any of this.

Guess what....who cares...were doing it anyway.

God knows, I hope this isn't a spoof. It's time to take the advice of Larry The Cable Guy and GITERDONE!

If we wait too long there will be nothing to save.

Herding Cats

I am a little amazed by the amount of money that is dumped on me, on a weekly basis. I'm not complaining mind you, just amazed. It, most weeks, comes to about 2500 a week after taxes. I am riding herd on a bunch of over trained, under motivated retirees, who have collectively, more knowledge regarding smart remarks, bad attitudes, and valve lore than a whole school of engineering graduates.

I will say though, they hide their light under a bushel quite well.

Most I would allow to work on a clock, some of the others I wouldn't let touch a manure spreader.

Boring, however, never enters the picture.

I told a tech today, one that I actually like, that sometimes when you just keep pushing all the buttons, you find the one that sets the bomb off. Food for thought if nothing else. Another, that I am starting to really like, is a professional "grumpy old bastard", except that he hasn't managed to get under my skin yet, and he is obviously going for the reaction. He always speaks softly to me and will do most anything I ask. What else do you need? I am always in the field with them, something that some of the other supervisors don't do. Those other supervisors didn't get asked back and couldn't figure out why.

We have some new tech's that are young enough to make a name for them selves as "hands" if I ever get to pick my crew, or at least some of them, I am going to snag as many as I can. Then watch the grease fly.

I suppose my worth to the job comes from my knowledge of power plants and industrial safety. The other part is error prevention tools.

If I can I think I will try to get a slot at the Crane Valve School, and then work a dirt burner with them. More knowledge and more experience would be good on the resume.

Work

I have one of those jobs, currently, that you never want to get good at. That would be because, then everyone wants you to have it every time.

It amounts to dragging a Cadillac through a keyhole. Actually its a series of valve components that weigh as much as a small Cadillac, that need to be guided through a space smaller than a door in your living room, with a giggling gaggle of goobers galumphing along in, and out of the line of fire.

These things don't say excuse me, or sorry, they just crush you like the cockroach you are, provided you let them get loose.

Note to self: Duck!

Desert Hazards

One of the things I find it hard to get used to here is the ubiquitous tumble weed. Many times you will see them huddled out of the wind in any lee, or huddled against a fence trying to be still. You may see one, or a hundred, rolling across the sage in a race to the horizon. They never make it, they wear away until they are too small to catch the wind, or disintegrate under your wheels. When the wind shifts all the hiding places become launching pads, and the piles become herds racing off to nowhere.

They do attack motorcycles. I was going to work this evening and saw a huge aggressive ball of sharp sticks about ten feet in the air fly toward my truck. He missed, but not by much. I can only imagine what it would do to me on my bike. Thank God for leathers. I’m sure I’ll have the rest of the question answered eventually.

Back at work....or what ever...

I should apologize to all and sundry for my lack of posting, or maybe not, because it's not for others, but for myself that storys are written.

The LOML and I are living a dream. We are checking out state after state to find where we would like to live. We are in Washington now, good weather, good food, fishing, hiking and all sorts of outdoor activities. A fun place.

We lived through Minnesota and Iowa. Coldest place I have ever lived. All you tough types, try riding your scooter to work with out a heated suit in 14F weather. Trust me a snow flake in the eye at 55mph hurts. A doe deer four feet in front of your head light looks like a moose, and your butt will eat cotton like a combine.

I have empirical evidence.

We had quite the trip here to Wa. Got snowed on twice. The love of my life was looking for a snow storm of disasterous proportions, up to the time it happened. Then the question was"For heavens sake it's APRIL already, does it never stop?"

Yes, Virginia, it does stop, but not when you expect.

My question is a little more general, if you are in the desert, as we are, why does it rain so much? It seems I can only ride one or two days a week due to a rain storm.

On the road again

Don’t pay the ransom, I’ve escaped!

It’s been a tough quarter, January was spent getting the home and the survival facility ready for the spring outage season. We loaded up and sailed on the twenty first, landed on the twenty third and started on the twenty sixth.

Lessons learned :
At twenty five below, diesel fuel turns to yogurt, and will not flow through injectors.
At twenty five below, when it finally starts, it sounds like someone is inside using a hammer to get out.
The transmission sounds like a twisted ball of rubber bands until it warms up.
Snow will not make a snow ball.
My mustache collects ice, lots, quickly.
Your first breath outside will freeze all your nose hairs together.

That was the first stop.

We worked seven, ten hour nights, for twenty one straight. All the pain of a night shift with none of the mitigating factors if it was on days. Blech!
I was presented with several work orders that no had ever done before, that’s positive I think. These particular valves had never had maintenance done on them. I also got my hands on some big valves types that I had never worked on before, good training.

The second stop is just getting started.

I spent two weeks in supervisor training, and am now a valve supervisor for general valve and air operated valves. Woo Hoo! We are working six, twelve hour days, with every Sunday off. It’s a union plant and Sunday is double time.

The trip to the first plant was a worrisome thing. We were running ahead of a major storm. It eventually hammered western Kentucky, but we were off the road by then.
I wasn’t seriously worried about the trip to the second job, it’s only three hundred and sixty miles, what could go wrong?

That was stupid.

I am usually addicted to the Weather Channel for one reason or another, wind or wave of ice.
Therefore, I was more that a little upset when we were caught on the road with a trifecta of winter slop.

First worry, the road is getting white, no problem, slow down. Next problem, the wind shield is icing, no cure for that.

Deal breaker, the idiots on the Interstate with me are still doing sixty!

There is no honor or courage in being stupid, and when you are risking being taken out by a random moron, it’s time to get out of the way.

We got a room and waited for morning. There was three inches of new powder on the parking lot when I went out to clear the wind shield, the DOT crews had done their usual wonderful job and magically produced a clear road by morning.

The Government and me

Phlemfatale had a post on property tax, which indeed sucks. I am having issues with capitol gains tax.

2007 I sold a piece of land that I had owned for close to thirty years. I made a good profit. I had to invest a lot of time in prepping the place for sale, changing the lot boundary and generally jumping through hoops. No problem, it's always that way.

I consulted my accountant and wrote several large checks to have the money in my tax account to avoid penalty's. As I was leaving town I filed an extension on the filing date so I would not be late. While I was in the tax office for the state I asked the people working there, who you would expect to know something about the tax laws, if the state had a capitol gains tax.

If you expect the people who work with the tax laws to know anything, you would be wrong.

When I finally got home I filed my taxes, and found I owed another $15,500 roughly, I drove from the accountants office to the tax office and wrote them a check.

Six months later I get a notification that I owe another $1687 in penalty's and interest to the state.

Why did it take six months? Now I have 45 days to act, pay or write for a review, if the useless tits that work in the office had done something like heroic, like look it up, or know something about their job, they would already have their money.

It gets worse.

When I sold my land, because there was no structure on the land, I paid a ten percent commission on the sale, the federal capital gains tax is fifteen percent as is the state capital gains tax. Yep, that's forty percent right off the top. Now lump that right into my income for the year, now I have topped the Alternative Minimum Tax threshold.

Keep in mind, I have no deductions, everything I own is paid for. I will have to check but I think I paid upwards of $80,000 in taxes.

I took me thirty years to make a profit, and one year for them to keep more of it than I did. And now they are getting more.

Yeah, I love my government.

From George Will on Townhall

A New York Times article, "Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending" (9/30/99), reported, "Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people …" The pressure was the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act that was beefed up during the Clinton Administration. It required banks to make high-risk loans they would not have otherwise made. Failure to comply meant fines and difficulty in getting approval for mergers and branch expansion.

When questions began to arise about government policy that intimidated lenders into making high-risk loans, we received congressional assurances. At hearings investigating the solvency of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Rep. Barney Frank said, ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.'' In a speech to the Mortgage Bankers Association, Frank advised, "People tend to pay their mortgages. I don't think we are in any remote danger here. This focus on receivership, I think, is intended to create fears that aren't there." Protesting against greater controls against lax mortgage lending, Sen. Harry Reid said, "While I favor improving oversight by our federal housing regulators to ensure safety and soundness, we cannot pass legislation that could limit Americans from owning homes and potentially harm our economy in the process."

I heard Frank on Good Morning America make the bald statement that there was inadequate Federal oversight in the free market.

Sounds to me like they hammered the lending institutions in to a corner and then fooled them into thinking the Govt. would protect them.

Turns out the Govt. did protect them, but not for the reasons they thought. Congress had to stop the "correction", which has only been postponed, so no blame would accrue to them.

Too much federal interference more likely.

GO!!!! Read the Corruption Chronicals... on the side bar!

Tue, 01/13/2009 - 11:53 — Judicial Watch Blog
As Hillary Clinton’s Senate confirmation hearing begins today, a major news organization reveals that the future Secretary of State intervened at least half a dozen times on behalf of her husband’s donors including the manufacturer of a controversial cervical cancer vaccine linked to 21 deaths and thousands of adverse reactions.

Clinton regularly used her power as a New York Senator to intervene in government issues directly affecting companies and individuals that gave hefty sums to Bill’s presidential foundation, according to the international news group that obtained official correspondence of the acts through a public records request.

Among those that benefited from the senator’s clout is pharmaceutical giant Merck, a member of the Clinton Global Initiative and manufacturer of Gardasil. The highly controversial human papillomavirus vaccine has been linked to the deaths of at least 21 young women and girls and nearly 10,000 adverse reactions including life-threatening effects such as paralysis, severe circulatory problems and seizures.

Judicial Watch has uncovered extensive Food and Drug Administration (FDA) records detailing Gardasil’s serious side affects and published a lengthy report outlining the crisis associated with the vaccine, a top seller that has generated more than $1 billion in revenue for Merck. The report as well as the FDA documents, obtained through the Freedom Of Information Act, can be viewed here.

Incredibly, Hillary pushed the U.S. government to approve the use of Gardasil in females ages 9 to 26 by writing a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt in 2005. To purchase its coveted spot on the Clinton Global Initiative, Merck has dished out tens of thousands of dollars in the last few years. Company officials insist they never communicated with either Clinton about passage of their extremely profitable vaccine, however.
Hillary also wrote to the FDA on behalf of another major Clinton Foundation donor (Barr Laboratories) that makes the emergency contraceptive known as the morning-after pill and the Federal Communications Commission to advocate for a benefactor who is the chief executive of a New York-based communications company.

The Commerce Department and the Long Island Power Authority also received letters from Hillary pushing for the controversial projects of an energy company that gave her husband’s foundation at least $35,000 in just a few years.

These alarming interventions by a powerful elected official at the very least raise ethics issues. They may also be predictors of Hillary’s future activities. There’s no telling what she may push for—on United States Secretary of State letterhead—on behalf of her husband’s wealthy donors.

How can this woman shrug off the death and illness of thousands of other women? I guess they don't really mean that much to the voting demographic, or she thought no one would find out.

Smartest woman in the world? I'm thinking not. Else she wouldn't get caught at this junk.

Ethics problems? She doesn't have any ethics, so how can they be a problem?

The Obamesiah will have to muddle through without me....

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I'm an embarrassment to Barack!I only scored 16 on the http://obamatest.com/%22%3EObama Test

Odumbo is already showing his colors as a Chicago politician, reeling in the promises, tapping scandal ridden cabinet members and then dumping them. The Queen Pelosi is changing the house rules to keep the good old boy network in charge, removing as many tools as possible from the Republican bag. Obumbles is positioning him self as blameless in the release of the remaining $350B bailout money. He asks while Bush is still in office, if the answer is yes, he gets the credit for asking, if no then he does it later, and no matter what happens he comes out looking like nothing was his doing.

If you voted your feeeelings in November, best put them away for the next four years, they are likely to be bruised.

Oily Dragons

Last week the Drudge Report noted that the price of oil dropped more than any week in the last seven years.

The price of gas went up.

I know the price of anything is dependant on what the market will bare, but that's just stupid.

Tension in the middle east- the Gaza strip exports flowers and herbs for heavens sake.

Big oil is as greedy as ever.

Snotty Dragons

When you don't care to send the best, get a resolution from the Useless Nitwits.

JERUSALEM- The U.N. Security Council called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, but an intense bombardment of missiles from Israeli jets and helicopters early Friday and a barrage of Hamas rockets indicated there may be no quick end to the fighting.

The Security Council resolution was approved Thursday night by a 14-0 vote, with the United States abstaining. The resolution "stresses the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza."

This would be the church lady telling the Angels and Outlaws to sit down and shut up.

Now I bet the UN will absolutely fume or huff.

Stupids.

My lucky red hat...

All of us at one time or another have had our "blankey", that ugly dirty thing that was a charm or comfort totem.
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Mine was a red knit cap that I bought for a dollar in a gas station. I think I remember buying the thing when working as an electrician's helper. In those days becoming a helper was no more complicated than adopting a cat. It also paid as well as adopting a cat. We would gather at the bosses house and get our days assignment for the day and off we went to string wire in the morning and then go to a finish job in the afternoon. Summer time wasn't too bad, winter was another story. Have you ever hit your fingers with a hammer when they were so cold you had to wait to warm them up to bleed?
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It sucks swamp water.
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I was working with my future brother in laws. Bruce was a comical little troll, who tried to scare me one morning by almost rear ending a car, and swerved just in time to hit another car turning across our lane. He didn't see that one.
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He almost scared me to death. I came out of the seat in a ball, bent the dash with my knees and destroyed the wind shield with my head. The red hat didn't help.
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A new job taught me cool things like welding and grinding. How to saw asbestos with a sawzall, and line heat treat ovens. That one gives me nightmares. I came so close to dieing so many times there I can't count. One that made a real impression, and collected four stitches, was pulling a fly wheel off a punch press. The dudes who installed it were a little less than patient when fitting the key. The end result was a 20 ton porta power to remove the fly wheel. It slipped with about ten tons of load on it and I caught a one inch diameter threaded rod across the top of my head with a sound like breaking a ball bat.

Guess what I was wearing instead of a hard hat? (They ordered them while I was on the way to the ER).
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I was somewhat smaller than I am now and drove a Triumph Spitfire MKIV, probably the coolest car I have ever owned. It met it's demise one evening at the bumper of a 1965 Galaxy 500. It was my fault. When the dude hit me the car spun so violently I broke the passengers window with my head.
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Still wearing the red hat.
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I kept the hat for a long time, it was just something I wore because I had it.
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I sat down one night and counted all the scars and stitches I had accumulated while wearing the one dollar hat. When I was done and the total considered, I couldn't get it in the trash soon enough.
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Slow learner, that's me.

The large TIM (Time Is Money) calculator shown above was based on the stepped drum calculator mechanism. This was the first type of four function calculator and these machines were inherently large and heavy. (The model shown was 21.5" x 7" x 6" and weighed 23 pounds.)

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The first stepped drum calculators were made in wooden boxes (see the Burkhardt below), but the model shown was an improved metal-cased model that was made in 1909. Because of their bulk, sales of these early machines were relatively small. (Dozens to hundreds per year.) Price was another obstacle. In today's dollars, a TIM would be priced at well over $10,000.

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Manual four function calculator.

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For a small amount I could have a scientific calculator wrist watch, that I would never use. If I wanted to, I could use my cell phone. Actually I can do most anything I need on one of the three desk top calculators cluttering the joint.

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Which I bought for a dollar each.

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Where will it go?

Great expectatioms

.Lets see, the Obamasiah has yet to be sworn in and already is brushed by two scandals.

One Democrat selling a congressional seat and another who already sold something.

The old media has given them the benefit of the doubt, something they never give most people.

I don't have any doubt that they are culpable, of something.

The anointed one has an untenable position in the middle east, a worldwide financial crisis, campaign promises that have the welfare queens believing he is going to buy their gas and pay their rent.

He also has a congressional majority that is making noises like they want to bail.

There is some talk of spraying about a few trillion of our dollars to create jobs. By all accounts this was the same tactics that that FDR used to extend the Great Depression.

How long before we can start calling him a liar and stupid?

On a slightly more grim note, why has anyone said a single word to Israel regarding kicking the soup out of Hamas? No nation in the entire world would tolerate that sort of attack. Lets toss in the phone calls to residents in the area, tellin' them to bag ass, 'cause bad stuff is on the way.

Heck, we don't even do that.

If some bordering nation, any of the four; Canada, Mexico, Russia, or Cuba, launches a random missile attack against civilian targets, I expect a serious ass kicking in the immediate future.

What we would get from the incoming administration, would likely be a meeting with out conditions.

Then I'm callin' him stupid!

Free to a good home.....

I have a New Condition Encyclopedia Britannica, that I no longer have room to store or display.
I can prove it's unused by the big kids report cards.
If anyone wants it, pay the shipping and it's yours.
If you know of any one who needs it forward my contact info.
These are beautiful books and it would be a shame to stick them in a dumpster or in a home that doesn't want them.

Thanks in advance,
DW

A busy time

All of us have our excuses for failing to post. Work, tired, family, just living is bad enough. I hate to see Monkey Girl go, but I thoroughly understand. I have been posting enough to let every one who cares (few enough, I expect) know I'm still alive.
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I'm getting ready for my next contract,and getting the Love of My Life ready to go with me. Two is not twice as much, it's more like a geometrical progression. We, or at least I will be gone for six months, approximately. The big kid is going to house sit, and feed the livestock. That will let him set up for his own rental place by paying down his debts.
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I on the other hand have spent about a week juggling furniture, ferrying trash, generally clearing every ones problems away.
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Today I sat down at breakfast with a calculator and took a stab at estimating the cost of the coming trips. 5600 miles, at the current price of diesel, unless I come home from Minn. and then drive to Richlands, Washington. I took the general numbers and cranked them through a hat full of scenarios to see if there was any justification for larger exhaust or power tuners.
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Not!
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I can buy a lot of diesel for a thousand bucks. Minor power and torque gains would add little to drive ability, not to mention my new truck has about a hundred more horsepower than the old truck, and 500lb/ft torque. My transmission guy said he could change the front throttle body spring and give me the crisp shift I want. It would also reduce wear on the bands, all for the cost of a service. Guess what the trans command (electric) modules do.
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Same thing.
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Besides, if I feel I really need an exhaust change out, I can have it shipped to me where ever I happen to be, and have it installed.
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I may be able to post something a little more interesting soon.

Monsters in the yard

I found a pair of these growing in my yard, had no clue as to where they came from or what they were. Seems they are European imports spread by bugs.

They are a variety of stink horn.

The things look like monsters breaking through the ground, small but disgusting.

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Some say they are edible, some say not.

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I'll never know.

A long walk on a beautiful day

I enjoy walking, it's a good thing too, as the love of my life loves to walk.

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The 27th and 29th were two of the prettiest days I have seen in a long while. Particularly in the winter, almost 70 F by lunch, cloudless skies and light winds. The first day we were in shorts and walked bare foot on the beach, for six miles. I got a blister on my big toe.

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The second day we drove down the beach to the edge of a State Natural Area (didn't know there was such a thing), and walked down the beach from there. There were no vehicles and almost no people. We saw a total of six or so in five hours.

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Some where about two hours into the stroll, I took leave of my senses and thought it would be cool to walk to the next village for coffee.

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The round trip was thirteen miles, give or take.

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Thank God most of the sand was hard, slogging that far in soft sand would be a real nightmare.

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The first picture above is the Outer Banks pretty much as Stead Bonnet must have seen it a few hundred years ago.

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If you look closely Ft. Caswell and Old Baldy can be seen, as well as the mouth of the Cape Fear River. Those places were vacant in Bonnets time. Just to the right of this picture is Southport and Bonnets Creek, where the pirate hid his vessel, until his capture and hanging in Charleston.

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The second picture captures your humble scribe in winter plumage, standing on a dune, under the bluest sky I have seen in ages, with the wind at my back. Shortly after this was taken it warmed to the point that the jacket had to come off.

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I wish I could grow hair on my head like I can on my face, I'd look like wolf man. I already have the hair on my ears.

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To my left as you view the picture is Bonnets Creek.

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The third picture is a view of one of the few pristine beaches left, about five miles of strand with nothing on it except tracks.

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One of the things we do used to be called "beach combing". In our case, the search is for "sea glass", broken bottles that have washed in like sea shells, smoothed and frosted. We use them to fill the bottom of clear bowls for decoration.

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There is no point to our excursions, we just go and walk or wander for miles, soaking up the sun getting wind blown and hot or cold as the season dictates.

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The Ft. Fisher Hermit lived near here in a WWII bunker. He was there for twenty or so years, alone except for his dogs, until he was murdered for something he didn't have.

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I think I know why he stayed.