Christmas Music

A little Christmas music for you...

Boxer Compromise

"You have both sides criticizing it, which means that we did what we had to do, we compromised in a fair way,"

Senator Barbara Boxer speaking about the Senate Health Care Bill

Just how stupid is our Senator Boxer - the only fair compromise she can imagine is one that pisses off everyone? I have bricks laying in the dirt in my backyard that are smarter than this woman.

County Music

I grew up in South Dakota and Wyoming. I have been surrounded by country music my whole life. I have never like it. I really hated it as a kid, mostly because that was all that was on the radio. The last few years country music has changed, and in many cases is almost indistinguishable from pop music.

But I finally found a country song/video that I like:

Desert Flowers

Excuse the replays here, I was telling a friend about our spring desert flowers and this was the easiest way to get them online for her to see what I was talking about.


Rademacher Hills South of Ridgecrest


Flowers Along Hwy 395


Closeup of the desert flowers


More desert flowers along the highway

First watch this video:



My apologies if you are not a queen fan.

Now! Watch this video:

Happy Thanksgiving

I am thankful for my family, those here and those away. For my dear, kind, understanding wife who puts up with me, even when the stupid starts showing. For my children.

I am thankful for my volleyball club. I have had a lot of hobbies in my lifetime, but this is by far the most rewarding, most fun, way to spend my time I have ever found.

I am thankful for everything I have - freedom, house, job, property, and treasured personal possessions. I just hope that I can say that again next year after my government is going to do everything it can to take it all away from me.

Have a great Thanksgiving

Climategate?

Veterens Day 2009

I feel like I should say Thank You to all the veterens of our Armed Forces out there who throughout the generations have defended our freedom. But somehow, it seems like nothing I could ever write here would be enough.

I have two nephews - Adam a former marine served several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you Adam. Chris is still in the Navy, Thank you Chris.

My father served in the Army and was stationed in Germany when he was introduced through the mail to my mother, by his friend Marlo. Thank you Dad. Thank you Marlo for more than just your service, but also for your meddling in my Dad's personal life.

My Grandfather served during World War I, he was on his way to the ship to be deployed in Europe when the Armistice was signed. Thank you Grandpa.

My great-Uncle Arnie served in the Second World War. He was in the South Pacific near the end of the war. He never talked about his time there, even when I got him drunk. Thank you Uncle Arnie.

I suspect that there were several more relative in my linage that served. Thank you to all of them.

In addition to our family, a huge heartfelt thank you to every man and woman that has ever served to defend my families freedom.

I have spent most of my life working with military men. Almost without exception they have been some of the smartest men I have ever met. They also all remind me of a quote by George Orwell:

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

This is one of the best descriptions of our military I know - rough men/women who stand ready to do what is necessary to defend us and our country.

Thank you to all the rough men and women who now and for all time have stood ready on my behalf.

KaBoom part 2

If anyone every asks you why you should wear eye protection while you are shooting

If you ever start thinking that you do not need eye protection while you are shooting.

Just remember this picture.



This is the safety glasses I was wearing when the two hot loads went off in my M1911A1. The smudge the arrow is pointing to is not a smudge. It is a chip in the polycarbonate lenses of the safety glasses I was wearing when small shards of brass came flying out of the chamber of my gun.

In addition to the chip in my safety glasses, I also had two very small holes in my cheek and chin. But they were actually smaller than most of my shaving accidents and healed up in about a day. The glasses won't heal. My left eye, the one I aim with by the way, would probably not have faired too well if I hadn't been wearing those sacrificial lenses.

My safety glasses now have a new task. Tomorrow they will go up B Mountain with my daughter. She is going to wear them while her senior class paints the B on B mountain. I can't wear them for shooting anymore. The chip is right in my line of sight when I shoot left handed only (I blade my body and tend to not get my head turned to be square to the target. It doesn't really interfere with my vision when I'm shooting two handed because I use an isosceles stance, except that I slide my right foot just a little back from square. But it is annoying. Besides, a standard set of safety glasses aren't so expensive that I can't afford to replace this pair

KaBOOM?

I have never had a gun go KaBOOM on me before. Before today that is.

I don't know if this qualifies as a full KaBOOM. First off it wasn't a Glock that I was shooting. Secondly, my gun still seems to be intact, more or less. But I figure anything that destroys a mag, damages the remaining bullets in that mag, splatters gun powder residue all over my hands, and face, draws blood from my cheek and chin and puts a gouge in the left lens of my shooting glasses and blows apart the right grip on the gun should qualify.

I headed out this afternoon to go watch my son shoot at his Boy Scout Troop Shoot Camp Out. Since I had to drive right past the range where I shoot to get to the range that my Son's Troop was camped out at I decided to take along a few tools of my own to get some practice in with on my way home.

I watched my son and the other scouts shoot for a while. My kids is getting pretty good with a shotgun, but still has some learning to do with a rifle. After a while I headed out and stopped by the Ridgecrest Gun Range in order to break in my new Henry 357 Magnum Big Boy Rifle. The rifle shoots like a dream. After 30-40 rounds I decided I needed a change so I hauled out my Rock Island Armory 1911A1. I had 100 rnds of Winchester white box I was going to shoot, but I decided to start with the last 20 rounds of hand loads from the last batch my Father had loaded for me. I had fired somewhere between 80 to 100 other rounds from this batch over the last few months and had no trouble with them.

Things started out smoothly until I fired off the fourth round in the mag. The report sounded normal but the gun kicked oddly in my hands and the mag shot out the bottom of the gun. I don't know if the plastic baseplate on this mag broke during misfire or when it hit the concrete floor. But simultaneously the gun got a lot lighter (missing a mag and 4 rounds), and I felt something sting my face in a couple spots. Out of habit I pushed the mag release to drop the mag out of the gun, that is when I discovered that it was already gone. Next I racked the slide to check for a round in the chamber - there wasn't one.

This is what the mag looked like after the insident.



I still wasn't sure what had happened. So I laid the gun down on the shooting bench and started looking around. I noticed the busted mag and the four remaining rounds on the ground almost immediately. Then out of habit I started gathering up my spent brass. My 45 is pretty consistent in where it throws the brass - about 6 feet over my right shoulder. But I could only find three pieces.

So I took a few minutes sitting in the car and collecting my self. I finally checked my cheek in the mirror. It had a small injury that was oozing a little blood. A spot on my chin was also bleeding. But stopped quickly once I used the last of my water bottle to wash off my face and hands.

I checked out my gun pretty carefully and as best I could determine it was not damaged.

So in a minor fit of careless judgment I decided that the mag was to blame and I loaded up a second (all metal) mag with more of the hand loaded 45s. The first shot I fired acted a lot like the previous shot. This time however the effect was much harder on me. I didn't get hit in the face this time. My right hand, the one squeezing the grip got thumped pretty hard right in the palm. My hand almost immediately went numb. If I had been shoot with only one hand I probably would have dropped the gun.

This time the mag didn't fully shoot out of the bottom of the gun, it stopped about half way out. I assume that is why the grip on the gun broke, the expanding gases inside the gun couldn't exhaust out of the bottom of the mag well so they went out the side. This is what my baby looked like after the second shot.




I don't know why the mag didn't full eject out of the bottom of the gun. When I took a hold of it, it easily slide right out of the gun.

After checking the chamber for a round (and not finding one) then safeing the gun I again stepped back to do a quick inventory and see if I was hurt some more. I wasn't, the numbness in the my hand dissipated very quickly and other than a new coating of owder residue all over my hands I had no new injuries. But as I was checking my hands I did notice something off to the right of me.

I was able to determine which of these rounds was the first and second fired because the second one was still warm.

I'm pretty sure that these were the culprits in my little escapade

Culprit 1:



Culprit 2:



After this I decided to put the 45 away for the day, and I headed over to the rifle range to shoot there for a while. I have cleaned up the 45 since getting home and I still don't see any visible damage to the gun. I think I'm going to take it to a gunsmith and have him give it a once over anyway. I also called Dad and told him what happpened. He is going to check his hand loads and see what he loaded that batch with. We'll check out the rest of the batch in a few weeks.

Eight Years Ago...

Eight Years Ago....

I was 43 years old. Today, I'm over 50, feeling it, most days. I keep getting junk mail from AARP (which I don't even open). What used to be a daily list of aches and pains that annoyed me have become a regular part of my life. I have officially now lived over half my life with aching knees.

Eight Years Ago....

My oldest daughter was in 5th grade, the twins were in first grade. Today my oldest is a senior in high school. She is making college plans. She drives herself around these days. (When did that little pickup truck that I drove for 20 years stop being my truck?). The twins are in middle school and just two years short of being in high school themselves.

Eight Years Ago....

I hadn't looked at a volleyball game, or a ball for over 5 years. I had limped away from the game when my knees wouldn't let me play anymore. Today, I have been coaching middle school volleyball for 7 seasons. I am the director and a coach at my own volleyball club. This sport has taken over my life in ways that it never could have when I was a player. Eight years ago I didn't even miss the sport. Now, a week without spending time on the court with my players is a bad week.

Eight Years Ago....

I was feeling pretty good about my family's future. My wife and I were doing the right things - living within our means and saving for college and retirement. Today, I'm not so optimistic. Where I used to make plans for retirement, now the only plan I have is to hope I can keep working until I die. Because I don't beleive that our current government will ever allow our economy to recover to the point that the average guys like me will ever be able to retire and maintain any sort of comfortable lifestyle.

Eight Years Ago....

Our president was comic fodder. People made jokes about him. Called him names. Drew comical cartoons depicting him as a monkey. The media loved to ridicule the way he talked. After the 911 attackes the nation ralley around him for a few months. But then rapidly reverted to their old ways. But then some in this nation who didn't think we should fight back against the terrorist who attacked us carried things even further. They started blaming him for the attacks. Then they started blaming him for everything bad that ever happened in the world. Today, our president is an empty suited, smooth teleprompter reading chicago thug who got elected solely on the basis of his skin color. This president and his admiring throng of state controlled news media do not tolerate jokes, ridicule or derision of any kind. If you do not toe the line, smile and agree with every thing he says you are immediatley labeled a racist, a hater, or a domestic terrorist.

Eight Years Ago....

Our national debt was $5,773,172,068,291.89 that rounds off to about 5.8 trillion dollars. Today our national debt is $11,784,424,784,049.61 or 11.8 trillion dollars. (you can get those numbers here.)

Eight Years Ago....

Shortly after the 911 attacks our nation finally woke up and went to war against global terrorism. Today our leaders won't even say the word terrorism, unless it is used to describe staunch conservatives, former military, or anyone else who does not agree with them politically.

Eight Years Ago....

Our military has spent the last 8 years battling against terrorism and the despotic regimes in the world that support terrorism. The line you often here is 'Our military went to war, or nation went to the mall.' Unfortunately this has become too true.

It has been a long 8 years. Many of us swore to never forget the events of 911. I don't believe I ever will. The memories of the anger and frustration I felt on that morning mixed with the concern for the future of my children I don't think will ever fade. My grandparents used to tell me about how they heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor and how that day changed their entire lives. I feel that way about 911.

Eight years ago...

I didn't care that much about politics. I didn't follow world events that closely. I voted and occasionally read the paper. But I knew I was a little fish is a huge fish bowl. So I concentrated on just taking care of my little corner of the bowl. I didn't really believe that my life and livelyhood could be that effected by world events. I was wrong. I still concentrate on my little corner of the fish bowl. But now I watch and pay attention to the rest of the bowl also. 911 and the eight years since then have taught me one thing. I may be just one guy. I may not be able to do much to affect the big old crazy world out there. But if I turn my back on that world and don't keep an eye on it. It can, and probably will, squash me like a bug.

The Government Can

From Tim Hawkins :

Novel California Budget Solutions

As some of you may know that last weekend the State of California held a giant rummage sale in order to try and raise some money for their budget crisis.

I don't think it worked. Because there are a lot of wildfires burning in the state right now. I figure if the rummage sale idea had worked the Governor wouldn't be trying to burn down the state for the insurance money.

Semi Circle of Life

While puttering around on the patio the other day we discovered a grasshopper shell laying under the table.



Looking over and up just about a foot we discovered a spider web that had the fresh new grasshopper caught in the web.



The grasshopper was frantically trying to free itself while the black widow spider was doing her thing. We watched for a while, until the grasshopper finally stopped twitching.

Then we smashed them both with a shoe.

KennedyCare

The ruling class democrats in Congress are trying to capitalize on the death of Ted Kennedy in order to reverse the American citizen's free falling support for their rotten health care insurance scheme. Robert Byrd actually said:

"In his honor and as a tribute to his commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name calling and have a civilized debate on health care reform which I hope, when legislation has been signed into law, will bear his name for his commitment to insuring the health of every American,"

I think this is a wonderful idea. First off, this is a momentous occasion. This is the first time that Robert Byrd every supported putting a name other than his own on something.

Also, how could we possibly go wrong naming the new health care bill after a drunken fat man.

I'm a Conservative

The phone rings this evening and my son answers. He listens for a moment then walks over and hands me the phone. A pleasant sounding, polite female voice verifies who I am then says that she is from the Republican National Committee and would like to ask me a few questions. Normally this is the point where I say "Sorry I'm busy right now and hang up. But out of curiosity I agreed to answer a few questions.

First question:

"Do you generally consider yourself to be a Republican, a Democrat or an Independent?"

My Answer:

"I'm a Conservative."

The voice on the phone said "Thank you" and she hung up!

I figure this is the heart of the reason why the Republicans lost the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Since when has the Republican Party been afraid to talk to conservatives?

Senator Edward Kennedy

Senator Edward Kennedy died last night at his home in Hyannis Port. I'm sure that there are many people out there who are grieving and will miss this man. They have my condolences for their loss.

As for myself ...

well ...

Grandma always said "If you can't say anything nice ...

How Old?

I stole this from Jay at MArooned

You know you're getting old when you see a cute, approximately-teenaged girl walking down your street and your first thought is,


"Hey! I wonder if she's old enough to... babysit?"

Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R MI)

This is a little long. But well worth listening to. People keep asking who is the next great Republican leader? I don't know if this guy is it, but he certainly should be in the picture somewhere.



Oh, did you see his teleprompter? No? That's because there isn't one.

The government run media likes to talk about what an inspiring speaker obama is. Obama is a great reader. This guy is a great speaker. He blends facts, amusing anecdotes and self deprecating humor with a calm well thought out message. When is the last (or for that matter the first) time you have ever heard our illustrious leader say anything self deprecating? You probably never will. He's too arrogant and thin skinned to risk saying anything that might make him look foolish, comical or likable.

Two Faced?

I never shy away from any opportunity to point out just how two faced almost all of our elected officials in the country are. I have always had a fairly low opinion of most politicians. But some of them are just too duplicitous to believe. Take for example Texas Democratic Congressman Gene Green. From the website OnTheIssues we find that Congressman Green has twice voted against requiring voters to present ID in order to vote.

Voted NO on requiring photo ID for voting in federal elections. (Sep 2006)
...
Reject photo ID requirements for voting. (Sep 2005)

But when it comes to meeting and listening to the people who elected him to office he sings a lot different tune.

Town hall meetings are one of my favorite ways to communicate with constituents. I have held hundreds during my years of service in Congress and always welcomed everyone to attend. Unfortunately, due to a coordinated effort to disrupt our town hall meetings, we will be restricting further attendance to residents of the 29th Congressional District and verifying residency by requiring photo identification. Whether individuals agree or disagree, we must maintain order to have a civil discussion of the issues. While I regret this restriction, it is necessary for the safety and consideration of our constituents. Those who do not reside in the 29th Congressional should contact their Member of Congress to voice any concerns that they may have on issues before Congress.

The emphasis is mine.

Do you think it has ever occurred to this tool what a total hypocrite he is?

I wouldn't count on it. He probably believes that asking a constituent to prove that he really is a constituent before allowing him to ask a question is more important than asking them to prove the same thing in order to vote.

Cheeseburgers

If you like cheeseburgers, and I do like cheeseburgers. Then you need to take a look at this site:



Granted this is an advertising site for Wisconsin Cheese. But what they heck, thirty receipes and 30 days in the month. What more could a guy ask for, except maybe a triple bypass after trying all these delicious looking burgers.

Cash for Codgers

Og over at the Neanderpundit thinks that the "success" of Cash for Clunkers program will lead our neophyte president to to model his new health care program the same way.

You need a service from your health care provider you will have to trade in a codger in order to get that care. Og suspects that they fee schedule may be:

Heart surgery? Two geezers.
Colonoscopy? one geezer or two dogs.
Boob job? five geezers and a bowl of goldfish. And one abortion.
Liver replacement? One geezer and all his clothes, and a cat.

I hope the libs in congress don't read this. They may just like the idea.

More State Senate Subterfuge

If you are one of the few citzens in California who still thinks that your state assemblycritters are working in your best interests I have some bad news for you.

The CA legislature's latest stunt is reminiscent of a child breaking something that belongs to their parents then trying to hide it so Mommy and Daddy will not find out who did it.

So what happened? The CA Legislature passed a budget to heal our 26 BILLION dollar deficit. When the voters had rejected all our elected representatives ideas on raising our taxes we hoped they would fix the problem by cutting spending. Oh, how silly could we get? Sure there are budget cuts in the new budget. But the legislature is not willing to cut the things that we are really wasting money on - like welfare, healthcare and education for illegials, and all the silly green initiatives and government subsidies for green and medical research. So instead of making real cuts that will solve our problems they resorted to accounting gimmicks.

They also decided to cancel a provision to raise revenue by allowing existing off shore platforms to drill new oil wells.

That is where things got hinky.

The new drilling off existing platforms near Santa Barbara was endorsed by the county's board of supervisors last year. Unfortunately this move was being opposed by the state environmentalists and 43% of the voters.

So the same group of people who have destroyed the farm industry in the central valley and a minority of the voters in the state don't want new drilling. So our state Senate voted with the majority in the state and passed the bill last week. But when the bill got to the Assembly things went sour.

Democratic Assembly Speaker Karen Bass claimed that there were only three democratic legislators willing to vote for this bill. So the bill was defeated 43 to 28.

Then, right after the State Assembly voted to NOT allow new revenue to be generated to try and help our state dig its way out of the hole they have spent us into, Democratic floor leader Alberto Torrico motioned for a vote to expunge the record of that vote from the public record. This motion was approved by voice vote.

That's right. We are 26 Billion dollars in debt. Our legislature just voted to deny a new revenue stream from the state. Then they voted to strike the record of that vote from the public record.

Not only are these clowns refusing to do their jobs and fix the ecconomics of this state, but they are now openly hiding what they do from us.

I asked this a while back and I'm going to ask it again. Why are these clowns not standing at home in their bathrooms trying to figure out how to wash tar and feathers out of their hair?

B5 vs Star Trek

OK, if you didn't already know it, I'm a Sci-Fi fan. Some of my favorite shows have been Babylon 5 and the Star Trek series of shows. Now I am not going to get involved in a who would win argument here. As I said, I'm a fan, not a total geek. Besides everyone know that the Star Wars ships would win. OK, so I do have my total geek moments.

Regardless this is a great little fan video.

How Good is Your Passward?

At work we have pretty rigid rules about passwards in our computer systems:

Our passwords must be 27 characters long and contain:
- at least 2 capitols (state capitols, not countries),
- two special olympics contestants middle names,
- 7 numbers (3 odd numbers and 4 even numbers, none of the numbers can be a multiple of 3)

In addition we have to change this password every 4 days and the system keeps a log of old passwords. So you cannot reuse any part of a old password until your 32nd password change.

OK, so I'm exaggerating just a little bit. But not by much. There is one system I have to log into at work that requires a password change every 6 months. Since I only log into this system about 3 times a year I pretty much am required to change my password every time I log in.

All in all the password as a method of security on computers is getting ridiculus. I even have to change passwords every six months on a machine that is locked in a vault and has no connection to any other computer.

And if I thought work was bad, you should try keeping up with passwords if you do any e-mailing or online commenting or shopping from home. The largest book in our house is the one we use to write down all our online shopping passwords.

Now I know many of you (OK, all two of you) will say "Hey dorkface!, just pick one password and use it for everything, and make it clever so no one will guess it."

Well the folks at Whats My Pass? have been doing a little password homework. They have compiled a list of the top 500 common passwords that people like to use.

That list is here! (But don't click on that link if you are easily offended by seeing profanity. Apparently a lot of people are willing to type things into their computers that they would never say out loud in public. But then again I've been to our local high school and listened to the way they talk.

There are some interesting passwords on this list that show how people try to be clever, but even human cleverness is predictable. For example, look at these passwords that I found interesting:

ncc1701 The ship number for the Starship Enterprise
thx1138 The name of George Lucas’s first movie, a 1971 remake of an earlier student project
qazwsx Follows a simple pattern when typed on a typical keyboard
666666 Six sixes
7777777 Seven sevens
ou812 The title of a 1988 Van Halen album
8675309 The number mentioned in the 1982 Tommy Tutone song. The song supposedly caused an epidemic of people dialing 867- 5309 and asking for “Jenny”

“…Approximately one out of every nine people uses at least one password on the list shown in Table 9.1! And one out of every 50 people uses one of the top 20 worst passwords..”

I am pleased to say that I have not used any of the passwords on that list at home or at work. Well except one. Back when I did computer and network support I used number 96 as a default password if I had to reset someone's email password or their account password. But in my defense, that was back in the day when keyboards only had 4 numbers and 13 letters on them. We have come a long way since then.

Not A Clue

It has been a while since I last posted. The club volleyball season is over and I am just starting to get back to a normal life for a month or two. But more on that later.

Our state legislature has officially lost it's mind, gone bonkers, jumped the shark, total lost all focus, pick your euphemism of choice. These people, if they ever knew in the first place, have completely forgotten why they were elected to office in the first place.

Our state is 26 billion dollars in debt. We are spending way more money than we are taking in. Our budget was due last week, the governator is preparing to issue IOUs for state spending because we have no money. So what is our legislature working on?

They have three bills that:

1)create a commission to serve the marketing interests of the blueberry industry.
2)defines "honey" to mean the natural food product resulting from the harvest of nectar by honey bees,
3)adopts regulations establishing definitions and standards for 100-percent pomegranate juice.

WHAT THE HELL?

Why are these morons still employed? Why are they still allowed into their offices? Why are they not at home in their bathrooms trying to figure out how to get tar and feathers out of their hair?

Ignore the fact that the state doesn't need these stupid laws in the first place. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE DAMNED BUDGET YOU IDIOTS??????

He's how to solve this problem. Call the legislature into order, lock all the doors and windows, turn off the air conditioner. Give them a port-a-potty and nothing but chili to eat until they all agree on how to cut 26 billion in spending out of our state budget.

You will notice that there is no provision in that plan for raising taxes, fees, etc. Cut the damned spending! Stop threatening to cut all the stuff that people actually want like parks, police, schools, etc. Cut the waste, cut the liberal bullshit, cut the spending on illegals, get rid of all the spending on climate control garbage, etc.

Until they do, they do not leave that room!

Then once the balance the budget send them home to get real jobs. Tell them they can reconvene for one week every other month. The rest of the time they are on their own. Make them go get real jobs to support themselves.

Nationals Time

It must be time to go to the Starlings Nationals Volleyball Tournament in San Diego.

How can I tell?

Each year the landscaping in my front yard changes when it is time to go to Nationals.









Now I would never try and implicate the dear sweet young ladies on MY team of such devious behavior. But the culprit of this heinous act actually wrote their names on one of the signs.


So we are off to Nationals today. I will try and post updates over at the Ridgecrest Starlings News Site if I have time.

Wyoming Road Rage

A friend sent me a link to this little gem from Sinks Canyon up above Lander Wyoming.

Perfect Score

For the first time in 24 years of voting in California I feel like I didn't waste my votes yesterday.

Everything I voted for - passed. Everything I voted against - failed.

Oh crap! The one time I go a perfect 6 for 6 and I waste it on a special election ballot instead of a lottery ticket.

Election Results

The voters in California yesterday went to the polls and sent a message to our state lawmakers.



The folks I have talked to have all said pretty much the same thing.

STOP Spending Money on things we don't want or need!

We don't trust you to actually make the tax increased temporary.

We don't trust you to actually attempt to control the spending.

Unfortunately I don't think that our RINO Governator got the message:

Instead of sticking around here in the state during this critical vote, our girly-man governor spent the day hiding out in Washington DC. Apparently he hasn't heard yet that Nancy Pelosi's skirts aren't really a very good place to try and hide behind these days.

But today is a new day here in California. The people have spoken, we don't trust our lawmakers, we want the spending controlled. Now our Governator is talking also, unfortunately all we are hearing from him is the same fear mongering that we heard before the election.

How does Arnold think he is going to save this state?

1. lay off 5,000 of the state's 235,000 workers.
2. slashing education by up to $5 billion
3. selling state properties
4. borrowing $2 billion from local governments
5. release and deport from state prisons up to 19,000 illegal immigrants
6. transfer of up to 23,000 other prisoners to county jails
7. potentially reducing eligibility for healthcare programs

You will notice that two of those options (4, 6) will attempt to help the state by directly damaging the budgets of the counties in the state.

Also you will notice that not one of those plans becomes even close to addressing where the troubles all came from. There is not one solution there that will effect the billions of dollars this state spends on every liberal mamby pamby give to people who do nothing to earn it "social" program that this state has funded for years. #7 may actually be a step toward denying social services to illegal immigrants. But I wouldn't count on it.

So how about we try a few new ideas, other than just threatening the good honest people of this state.

How about:
1. Cut healthcare, welfare, education for all illegial aliens.
2. Cancel all "green programs" designed to save the planet while bankrupting the state.
3. Cancel all funding for programs that do not directly support the police, fire, education and state infrastructure.

Sure those are probably impractical solutions but according to everyone we are in for some tough times. So maybe it is time we start looking at some tough solutions. Not just the normal "lets threaten to cut things that are important to people so they will let us raise their taxes."

I stole this from the Boston Herald



Boy isn't that the sad truth.

Obama's Fiscal Responsibility

President Obama is putting forth a 2010 budget of

$3,600,000,000,000.00

But after a brief bout of fiscal responsibility he has reduced that number to

$3,583,000,000,000.00

I don't know about you but I feel much better knowing that this move will probably save my great grandchildren about $1.37 in taxes.

Solar (No So) Powered House

Students from Lawrence Technological University in Troy Michigan built an 800 square foot

"shining example of the green movement -- a completely independent solar-powered house with no gas or electrical hookups"

This technological marvel had only two little problems:

1) it cost over $900,000 dollars
2) it didn't work.

That's right, $900,000 dollars. That is $1,125 per square foot. If I was to build my current home from the same technology at the same price it would cost over 2.8 million dollars. Which is probably a great deal. I would be off the grid, I would never have to pay an electric or gas bill again. Heck I should do this. After all its free energy right? Never mind that it will cost almost 3 million up front. Think about how much I will save in the long run. At the current rate that I pay per month for electrical and gas I will make up that 2.8 million dollars in just 11,250 months. Heck that's just a piddling little 937 years, 6 months. What a deal! Where do I sign up? Just think if I do this right now, without delay, my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandchildren will be able to live here for free.

Oh, wait, I forgot about the second little problem. The system didn't work well enough to produce enough power to keep the heater working during the winter, the pipes froze, flooded that house and now the City of Troy doesn't have the $16,000 dollars they need to repair their new state of the art house. Whoops, I better recalculate my numbers. If I have to add an additional $16,000 per year, plus the cost of living somewhere else while my house is fixed each year, you had better add a whole bunch more greats to that list above.

Now to make matters even worse, the Oakland County Planning and Economic Development Department advertised tours of the house for its Tuesday Oakland County Green Summit.

Yeah, thats the ticket. Lets have a green summit and we will all tour the little house that couldn't. Does anyone think that anyone in the Troy area learned anything from this little exercise in incompetence and stupidity. I wonder, how many scholarships the $900,000 dollars could have provided for deserving students at the Lawrence Technological University to go to a real engineering school where they might learn some real engineering.

Don't get me wrong now. I'm all for sane common sense ideas that will protect our environment. You know things like don't litter, don't polute, turn off the lights when you leave the room, limit the amount of running around town you do, stuff like that. But spending close to a million dollars on an 800 square foot house that doesn't work is insane. Isn't there anyone in the city of Troy, the University, the student body, anywhere around there that said "maybe we could put this money to better use somewhere else?" Even if the goram house did work who in their right mind thinks that building a million dollar closet that is off the grid is a good idea?

Morons!

OS Wars

Comment on a blog in the midst of a long discusion about Operating Systems on PCs.

The OS wars are over and the Web Browser won.

Boy isn't that the sorry truth.

My entire Windows Operating system treats everything I try to do like it is a stupid website.

Anarchy in Contra Costa County

Well the lunatics are definitely in charge of the asylum in California. At least they are in Contra Costa County. According to the San Francisco Chronicle The Contra Costa County District Attorney Robert Kochly has announced that due to budget cuts his office will no longer prosecute:

Misdemeanors:
assault
thefts
burglaries

Felony Drug cases involving:
less than a gram of methamphetamin or cocaine,
less than 0.5 grams of heroin,
fewer than five pills of ecstasy, OxyContin or Vicodin

Also on the no prosecute list is:
people who are suspected of misdemeanor drug crimes,
minor traffic laws,
shoplifting,
trespassing,
misdemeanor vandalism

So what exactly does District Attorney Robert Kochly think he is being paid to do? Personally I think this is probably a ploy to try and coerce more money from the people this clown works for. But if it isn't a ploy and this negligent bastard really starts neglecting his duty this way I hope the first house that is invaded and stripped to the foundation is his own. Assuming of course that this coward actually lives in the same county that he is selling down the river.

So if you have ever wanted to rob someone, shoplift, trespass, vandalize something, or experiment with certain drugs you better get up to Contra Costa. If you live in Contra Costa County - may God have mercy on your soul. I would get out while the getting is good. It is going to get really ugly up there really soon.

The soft headed, earth first, save the planet folks over at Vote Earth 2009 are encouraging everyone to turn off all their lights tomorrow night (3/28) from 8:30 to 9:30 PM.

Their website claims that turning off your lights is a vote for earth, or leaving your lights on is a vote for global warming.

Personally I intend to turn on a couple extra lights. Call it a vote for reason, sanity and freedom. But I am not voting for global warming. I'm voting to be a light in the darkness caused by hysteria, panic and blind over reaction. How much effort and money have these clowns sunk into this endeavor? Do they think it will really matter? Do you think they'll see a satellite picture of the Korean peninsula at night and notice that the entire North Korean portion of the peninsula is dark and
think "Hey, everyone there is voting for the earth!"

A message for the Vote for earth crowd - You are wasting both yours and my time. You are attempting to cost our society billions of dollars with wasteful legislation that will accomplish nothing. You will not stop global warming by turning off your lights. You will not cool the planet by shutting down factories, cars, light bulbs, etc. The only thing you can do to cool this planet is to turn off the sun. But don't worry we can do that.

Wait until about 8:30 tomorrow night, then go outside. Look up into the sky and be amazed, because the sun will have gone dark. It will be turned off. Then if you dare to, turn on a light so you can read a thermometer. You will discover that it is already getting cooler outside. Amazing huh? If we turn off the sun then the atmosphere cools. Then, go back in your house, turn on your lights so you don't break a toe tripping over something. Sit down, read a book, watch some TV, play a
game with your kids, then turn off the lights, go to bed and get a good night sleep. Don't worry, the whole world will not be a frozen wasteland when you walk up. I promise that we will turn the sun back on in the morning so that your world will warm back up again. When that happens you should get up, shower, put on a clean tee shirt, braid your hair, then go outside into that great big warm wonderful world and find yourself a useful job.

Oh, if at anytime during the day you happen to see Algore speaking, stick both your fingers in your ears and run like your life and the lives of your children depend on it - because it does.

Ban Guns to help Mexico

Last month our glorious Attorney General stated that in order to reduce the escallating violance in Mexico we have to start banning the sale of guns here in the United States.

I have tried several times to put my thoughts about what a ridicuously foolish train of thought this is. But as I was trying to find the right words, one of my favorite bloggers did it for me. Mostly Cajun said it this way:

You’re a big Mexican drug cartel. You daily smuggle TONS of marijuana and cocaine across the border into the United States. You decide you need a few guns.

Do you

1. Send Pedro and Paco to San Antonio to buy up the legal semi-automatic guns from a legitimate gun shop
2. Talk to corrupt military and government officials in your own country and arrange to get fully automatic guns from THEIR stocks.
3. Buy guns from munitions dealers on the international market that supplies arms to trouble spots all over the globe.

I won’t even go into the idea that an American gun shop would deal in fully automatic weapons. Yes, it IS done, but it requires a special and expensive license and is highly regulated and watched. For a private individual to get the license to OWN one of these weapons is a long, drawn-out process involving fingerprints and background checks. And in the end you end up with a weapon that might have cost !50 to make, but you paid $5000 (or much, much more) to own. The same goes for “destructive devices” such as grenades.

The same $5000 in the right places on the international market will get you a truckload of REAL AK-47’s.

As much as the gun-grabbers and lamestream media would like to have you think that you can walk into and gun shop, plunk down cash and walk out with a bucket full of hand grenades and a couple of light machine guns, it just ain’t so.

And while a knowledgeable individual with the proper machine tools and parts can convert many semi-auto rifles into full auto versions, why would they do that when a few pesos in the right pocket can get you one out of the back of Mexican Army truck? Or with a phone call to Venezuela?

And to further laugh at the furor over the supposed flow of guns to Mexico, really, we can’t seem to stop the flow of drugs coming this way, so what makes people think that we can stop the flow of arms the other way, anyhow? Seems to me that if we have this magic technology that can somehow stop stuff going into Mexico from here, we could, like, turn it around and stop stuff coming here from Mexico.

Oh, wait! I forgot. What they’re proposing is that we stop selling guns here. If they’re illegal here, then the Mexican drug cartels won’t buy them here. Right! A LAW is going to stop that. After all, it works so well making drugs illegal that you can’t buy THEM from Jamar on the street in any US city.

Unfortunately we are dealing with domestic jihadists who only want one thing - the complete disarmament of the American population. They don't care about logic. They don't care about common sense. All that matters to them is taking away our most basic freedom - the freedom to defend ourselves and our families.

As long as "We the People" are allowed to own guns our elected overlords will never be able to sleep well at night. As long as we have the ability to defend ourselves we may one day wake up and discover that we don't need their constant interference in our lives. The very thought of an armed society strikes fear in the hearts of our liberal leaders. So far they have done a great job of taking over our country using our schools, colleges, universities and polling places. But as long as the unwashed masses have the tools to stand up and say "NO MORE!" their reign can never be complete. So don't be surprised when this attack on our freedom fails. Just be ready for the next one, and the one after that, and so on. As long as the whacko libs are in charge they will continue to attack our ability to defend ourselves. They don't hide that any more. In fact they proudly proclaim that they are going to make taking away our guns a priority. Get ready folks, this is just round one of what will be a long, long assault.

Electric Sheep

This may be fake, or maybe not, but its entertaining none the less.

If this is real I think the London 2012 Olympics Committee should hire these guys to do their opening ceremony

The New Gun Ban

Attorney General eric holder announced today that the obama administration will attempt to re-enact the expired 1984 assault weapons ban.

Holder says that putting the ban back into place would help stem the flow of US weapons into Mexico where violence between the government and the drug cartels is escalating daily.

So, our esteamed attorney gnereal wants to help our neighbors to the south stop violence by denying American citizens their rights to own guns. First off, why is this our problem? The same Mexican governemnt that refuses to try and stem the illegal invasion of American by it's citizens now wants us to stop exporting guns to their country. Well tough! We have an extensive network of border defenses designed to stop illegal aliens from invading our country, why doesn't Mexico do the same thing on their side of the border to stop the gun runners? Oh wait, we really don't have such a system and I guess neither do they. But that does not change the arguement. If you want something to stop coming into your country then stop it at your border. It is not our problem!

Secondly the on Feb. 20, 2009 the State Department issued a travel warning:

"Some recent Mexican army and police confrontations with drug cartels have resembled small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades," the warning said. "Large firefights have taken place in many towns and cities across Mexico, but most recently in northern Mexico, including Tijuana, Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juarez."

Ok, two bonus points for anyone who can spot the big problem with this statement.

"cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades" I have news for the attorney general since he is apparently incapable of understanding US law. The average citizen cannot walk into a gun store in the country and buy "automatic weapons and grenades."

Banning US citizens from buying assault weapons will NOT in any way curb the use of automatic weapons and handgrenades in Mexico. So lets forget all about poor Eric's arguement that we have to do it for the Mexicans. Since we know its really not about helping Mexico. Instead lets focus on what he wants to ban.

Assault weapons and high capacity magazines. These are evil devices forged in the depths of hell that just cannot be allowed in the hands of bitter, religious rednecks here in the United States. Do you know what an assault rifle is? An assault rifle is an automatic rifle that is usually issued to the military for the performance of their duties. If you went out right now and tried to buy an assault rifle in the United States you would not be able to do so. Do you know why not? BECAUSE THEY ARE ALREADY ILLEGAL!!!!!!

Oh, by he way - hand grenades? Same problem, they are already illegial to own in the US. You cannot buy them here.

What obama and holder really want to ban is semi-automatic weapons. So what is a semi-automatic rifle? According to Wayne LaPierre, president of the National Rifle Association:

"A semi-automatic is a quintessential self-defense firearm owned by American citizens in this country,"

So why if obama and holder really want to ban semi-automatic weapons why do they call them assault weapons? Because they are lying to you. Both these men are theoritically smart enough to know that a semi-automatic weapon is not an assault weapon. But a large portion of the voting public isn't informed enough to know the difference. Besides a lot of today's semi-automatic rifles look like assault weapons because they have a military syle stock that is made out of evil black plastic.

Califonia has already done this. See California has already outlawed many of obama's and holder's "assault weapons"

12276.1. (a) Notwithstanding Section 12276, "assault weapon" shall also mean any of the following:
(1) A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and any one of the following:
(A) A pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon.
(B) A thumbhole stock.
(C) A folding or telescoping stock.
(D) A grenade launcher or flare launcher.
(E) A flash suppressor.
(F) A forward pistol grip.
(2) A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has a fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds.
(3) A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has an overall length of less than 30 inches.
(Source(s):http://ag.ca.gov/firearms/dwcl/

Our wonderful chicken-hearted politicians here in California have defined an assault weapon for you. The problem here is items A, B, C, D, E and F are just cosmetic features that do not increase or decrease the lethality of a semi-automatic rifle. They just make it look really really scary. Because everyone knows that a semi-automatic hunting rifle is a lot safer than a semi-automatic hunting rifle with pistol grip on it. Cause you know, once you put a pistol grip on a semi-automatic rifle they lose all control. When the owner isn't looking they have even been known to sneak across the border to Mexico and shoot at drug runners.

But enough sarcasm. obama and holder want to ban scary looking rifles and magazines that will hold more than 10 rounds.

Now I don't want to give them any more ammunition to work with here, especially since they want to do the same to us. But, do you know what the difference is between me shooting a semi-automatic pistol with a magazine that holds 17 rounds and a 10 round magazine and a spare is? About 2 seconds. That is how long it takes me to drop a mag, slap in a new one chamber a round and start firing again. 2 seconds. And I am slow, I don't practice that enough. I'm sure there are guys out there that can do that in half the time I can.

Limiting the size of the magazine a weapon can hold doesn't make the weapon any safer to let it run around loose in public. Again like any tool a cap mag or a 10 rnd mag is only as safe as the user makes it.

So here comes your hope and change folks - Clinton Mk II. Ban guns and mags that will not make America safer and will not make Mexico safer. Because the other lie of ommision they don't tell you is this: Banning guns and gun control is not about the guns. It is not about the ammo or the mags. It is all about control. If they can control your life, they control you. More importantly if they can weasal away a little more Constitutionally protected rights it will make it easier for them to take away even more of them later. What is next? free speech, freedom of religion, etc? And lastly in extreme thinking cases only, it is much easier to supress an unarmed population than it is an armed one.

Satellite Fall Down - Go Boom

A satellite that was supposed to measure green house gases in order to help governments continue to use scare tactics to further repress their citizens develop global climate change policies crashed after take off in California today. A payload fairing that covers the top half of the satellite during launch failed to seperate so the launch was unable to reach a sustainable orbit. The satellite crashed into the ocean near Antartica.

Alan O’Neill, a science director of the Centre for Earth Observation in Reading, U.K. said:

“It’s disappointing because it was giving us novel information to help us move our understanding forward on global warming,”

Wow, that is impressive. The satellite didn't even manage to achieve orbit before it crashed yet it was already giving them "novel information". Any bets on what kind of novel that satellite was reading? Fantasy? Sci-Fi? Horror?

According to NASA's Mission Website :

Of all the carbon emitted by human activities between 1751 and 2003, only about 40 percent has remained in the atmosphere. The remaining 60 percent has been apparently absorbed (at least temporarily) by the ocean and continents. Recent inventories of the ocean can account for about half of this missing carbon. The remainder must have been absorbed somewhere on land, but scientists don't know where most of the land sinks are located or what controls their efficiency over time.

I have a couple questions: We can inventory the entire freaking oceans? All 60% of the earths surface, but we need a satellite to find what on the land is stealing all our CO2?

Secondly, the ocean is only absorbing about half of the CO2, and is only doing so temporarily? OMG what are we all going to do when suddenly the ocean lets loose with one huge burp and spits out 30% of all the carbon emitted by humans since 1751? Damned! Will there be an "excuse me" big enough to handle that magnitude of burp?

An improved understanding of carbon sinks is essential to predicting future carbon dioxide increases and making accurate predictions of carbon dioxide's impact on Earth's climate. If these natural carbon dioxide sinks become less efficient as the climate changes, the rate of buildup of carbon dioxide would increase-in fact, today's carbon dioxide levels would be about 100 parts per million higher were it not for them.

Notice the completely blind faith that the CO2 is impacting Earth's Climate?

Also the assumption that these sinks will become "less efficient" as the climate changes. We can't even find the damned things but we know they are going to be less efficient if we don't hurry up and ban light bulbs and cow farts.

And - we can't find the sinks, we only know that about half of the CO2 is being absorbed by the ocean and about half by the sinks (that we can't find), but we know that there would be 100 parts per million more carbon without them? Please?????

I have long been a proponent of a space program and I wish to God that we had one! So, far be it from me to cheer on the loss of any legitamate space vehicle. But this sounds more like a junk science vehicle than a space vehicle so I'm not too sorry its gone.

Tax Calculator

The Sacramento Bee has a new tax calculator online to help you figure out how much our new State budget is going to cost you.

Tax Calculator

Warning: If you don't like the numbers you see when you do this don't blame me, I'm still cleaning the outrage off my monitor from when I finished.

Bend Over, Here it Comes.....

California Senate approves long-awaited budget

California Budget Deal?

The Sacramento Bee is reporting that state legislative leaders and our RINO governor have reached a deal to solve the state's budget crisis.

In a nut shell the deal boils down to bend over grab your knees and kiss your butt goodbye. They are going to fix our budget crisis by taxing the hell out of every honest working citizen in the state.

The deal includes:

$15.8 billion in spending cuts,
$14.3 billion in taxes and
$10.9 billion in borrowing

Of the 15.8 Billion in spending cuts, 8.6 Billion of that would be to cut funding in K-14 education. Yeah, thats what the state needs right now - more uneducated people running around.

But the taxes are going to hurt:

- 1% sales tax increase
- 77% vehicle license fee increase (does anyone remember old what's his name who got recalled for dramatically raising vehicle license fees?
- state's dependent credit would be cut in half - effectively raising taxes on parents.
- 12-cent per gallon tax hike on gasoline
- an Income Tax Increase
- and the best one yet a 5% tax surcharge on your taxes. That right they are going to start taxing your taxes.

Does anyone want to bet there will be absolutely no reduction in the amount of money we will spend to provide welfare, education and health benefits to the approximately 3 million plus illegals in the state?

Do you think there will be any reduction in all the money this state is spending on whacko green programs to prevent non existent global warming?

So get ready folks. Our national economy is going to get bad and California is going to lead the charge in making things as bad as they can for all everyone.

I would like to go off on a rant about our idiot legislature and our even worse governor. But I'm afraid that it would just be useless ranting and raving. So I'll just leave this at we are a state being run by idiots and morons.

Catching Up?

Wow it has been almost two weeks since I last wrote something. At least since I wrote something here. I have been busy. The club volleyball season is in full swing and trying to be a good coach for one team and a good director for two others is keeping me very busy. This last weekend I had to substitute coach for the 16s team on Saturday and then coach my team on Sunday. It was fun spending time some of the players on the 16s team who played for me last year. I miss those girls. On Sunday my team played in qualifier no. 3. We didn't have the best of days but still managed to finish 2-1 for a second place finish.

There has been so much going on the country that I want to write about but my feelings on the economy, politics and stuff swings wildly from irate rage to stunned dispair. One minute I am feeling so angry at what is happening in our country that I can barely think, yet alone try to put those thoughts into a coherently written blog posting. Then the next minute I am depressed, sad and disillusioned. there is a big difference between thinking that our new President and our idiotic Congress is going to destroy the American I grew up in. But it is a lot different watching it happen before my very eyes and being powerless to do anything about it.

I used to write here to try and organize my thoughts and to deal with things that were irritating me. But I just don't seem to be able to do that these days. I can't type fast enough to get the thoughts out of my head and onto the page. When I try to slow down and rationalize things I end up ranting and raving. So instead I have been avoiding thinking about it. I watch TV, I read, I go the range and shoot, I listen to podcasts, and I muddle through the day at work. Mostly I concentrate all my efforts on my volleyball club. I do anything I can to not think about what is happening in the world. Unfortunately not thinking about things also means that I haven't been writing about them.

So I think I'm going to try and not write about politics here for a while. I'm going to try and write more here, but it might be kind of boring. Because right now my life is my boring job, my family and my volleyball team.

You've been warned.

Challenger - 23 years later

At 8:39 PST on January 28, 1986 the Challenger Space Shuttle Exploded 73 seconds into its flight. Killing all seven astronauts.

I had been working as a young engineer here in Ridgecrest for only about 2 months when this happened. Several of us wanted to watch the launch, so we were gathered around a small TV in the projection room of one of the conference rooms in Mich Lab. The projection room was so small that we had to stand in the hallway and look in through the door in order for more than just 3 or 4 people to see what was going on. When the shuttle exploded we were stunned. Quickly the crowd around the TV grew so that most folks could no longer see the set, and they had a hard time hearing also because of all the sniffling and crying going on. The crowd quickly filled the hallway. We had been standing there for several minutes when suddenly an angry voice demanded "What the hell is going on here. You people need to get to work."

Simultaneously about half the crowd snapped back "Shut up!"

Fortunately one of the people in the back of the crowd quickly explained to our now very irate department head what had happened. So he didn't take being told to shut up by a cocky bunch of young engineers too personally.

Potpourri

Mostly Cajun had this up, and I'm looking for an excuse to put off working on my volleyball club website. Which I need to do, but am just having a hard time getting started.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 5:30 AM
2. Diamonds or pearls? Other than my wedding ring I don't wear jewelry. But my dear wife is partial to diamonds.
3. Last movie you saw? Soldier of Fortune with Clark Gable and Susan Hayward is on right now.
4. What is your favorite T.V. show? Firefly. Favorite that is still on the air? - Mythbusters
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? A bowl of cereal.
6. What is your middle name? I haven't been in enough trouble lately for anyone to use it.
7. What food do you hate? Hate? None, but I'm not too fond of Macaroni and Cheese and I don't care much for brussel sprouts.
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Boston's first album.
9. What kind of car do you drive? Dodge Magnum stationwagon (I didn't get the hemi engine - too expensive)
10. Favorite sandwich? Pastrami with brown mustard and onions.
11. What characteristics do you despise? Loud, pushy, arrogant.
12. Favorite item of clothing? sweatshirts
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation? Norway, Egypt or Israel, but I certainly wouldn't go to the last two these days.
14. Favorite brand of clothing? Whatever fits good and is comfortable when I am forced to shop for clothes. I don't look at brands.
15. Where would you retire to? I would love to retire to the mountains anywhere outside of California. Preferably the Black Hills, Wyoming or West Virginia. But I'm not ready to leave my volleyball team yet so that will all have to wait.
16. Favorite birthday? The next one.
17. Favorite sport to watch? 1) Women's court volleyball. 2) The Tour de France 3) NFL
18. Furthest place you are sending this? My hosting service is in Utah. So I'm sending it there. After that I'm not sure where it will be viewed from.
19. Person you expect to send it back first? No one.
20. Are you a morning or night person? Night
21. What is your shoe size? 12
22. Pets? Absolutely not. I don't like house pets. I like dogs as long as they are not in my house or yard and they belong to someone else.
23. What did you want to be when you were little? older
24. How are you today? older
25. What is your favorite candy? I have a horrible sweet tooth so just about any candy will do. Favorites are Reese's Peanut Butter cups, Almond M&Ms, Chocolate Covered Cherries.
26. What is your favorite flower? Anything that will bloom in this desert we live in.
27. What are you looking forward to? Time to keep up with all the hobbies I keep starting.
28. What are you listening to right now? Were you not paying attention to No. 3.
29. What was the last thing you ate? Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies (my stash from last year is almost empty)
30. Do you wish on stars? No
31. If you were a crayon what color would you be? ???
32. How is the weather right now? Cold, windy. Well at least cold for the desert.
33. Last person you spoke to on the phone? The father of one of my volleyball players.
34. Favorite soft drink? Grape Soda, sometimes root beer.
35. Favorite restaurant? Mama Maria's but it has been closed for years. Right now it would be In-n-Out. I would eat at Prejeans in Lafayette LA or the Parson's Table in Jonesborough TN any day.
36. Color of hair? Clear
37. What was your favorite toy as a child? Books
38. Summer or winter? Never liked winter, but summers here are just way to hot to like. I'll take what passes for spring and fall around here.
39. Hugs or kisses? Kind of partial to both.
40. Chocolate or vanilla? Milk Chocolate
41. Coffee or tea? Coffee
42. Do you want your friends to email you back? No, just leave a comment.
43. What is under your bed? Shoes, extra leaves for the dinning room table, my dear wife's wedding dress (archived in a sealed box), dust godzillas and some sort of monster that nibbles on toes that hang off the edge of the bed at night.
44. What did you do last night? School Advisory Council meeting, helped out at a volleyball practice, updated the club's website while watching a little TV.
45. What are you afraid of? What kind of nation are we leaving for my kids? Am I being a good Dad? Am I being a good husband? Am I being a good coach?
46. Salty or sweet? Some of each, but usually not together.
47. How many keys on your key ring? 8
48. How many years at your current job? Less than a year. I've been working at the same place for over 23 years and haven't had any single job last more than 5 years.
49. How many towns have you lived in? Madison, Rapid City, Hot Springs, Cheyenne, Laramie, Casper, Brookings, Amarillo, Ridgecrest.
50. Favourite seafood? Crawfish ettoufee. But since Louisiana is so far away I'll settle for shrimp, crab or scallops.
51. Do you make friends easily? I make acquaintances easily, friends take a lot of time and effort that shouldn't be rushed or wasted.
52. How many friends will you send this to? I'm not sending it to anyone.
53. How many will respond? Check the comments to see for yourself.

Happy Birthday JMB

John Moses Browning was born January 23, 1855 in Ogden, Utah. He was a remarkably prolific weapons designer. From his first rifle, a single-shot falling-block design through his last, the Fabrique Nationale GP35 which is more popularly known as the Browning Hi-Power. JMB was awarded 128 patents in his career. He also developed at seven different cartridges for use in his weapons. JMB passed away on November 26, 1926 while working on his final design the fabrique Nationale G35.

Both of my favorite weapons to shoot, rifle and pistol, are John Browning designs. More importantly, while they are not old weapons, they are essentially unchanged in design since the day Browning created them. My Winchester 94 30-30 is only 34 years old but it is exactly the same weapon that Browning invented in 1894. It is also the longest run production rifle and has sold over 7.5 million copies. It is the first hunting rifle chambered for the first smokeless powder cartridges.

My favorite pistol is a 1911A1 45ACP. I only just got mine last year. But I used to love shooting my Dad's 'colt'. That is what he called it - 'the colt'. I never had to ask I always knew exactly which weapon he was talking about, even though he owned four other colt pistols. His 1911 was the only one he ever named. I haven't named mine - I probably won't either. I don't usually assign names to inanimate objects. Besides mines not a colt its a Rock Island Armory. No, I'm not going to call it Rocky.

Thank you John Moses Browning your designs gave my Grandfather, my Dad, myself, and now my children hours of enjoyment. Food for our table and the ability to defend ourselves.

Thank you.

Students Robbed in Classroom

A wigged gunman walked into a class room at LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis TN and ordered the 18 students and 1 professor in the room to turn over their wallets and purses. No one was hurt, but the campus was locked down and classes were canceled for the afternoon.

All I have to say is HOW DARE HE? Doesn't that evil gunman know that college campuses are gun free zone. Boy he better hope the authorities don't catch him or he'll be in real trouble for having a gun on campus. This just isn't right. We need a law. What would be so hard about passing a law mandating that you aren't allowed to steal from people in gun free zones.

In case you missed it, the previous paragraph was written with the sarcasm switch on my keyboard turned up to high.

Now the really disturbing part of the whole thing:

President Johnny B. Watson says the "incident is over" and that faculty followed set protocol in an emergency situation like this. Watson said those who feel the need to go home should do so.

The guy was not caught, but since no one was hurt the President decides that the incident is over because they followed the rules. What the hell? What is the mascot at LeMoyne-Owen College? A sheep? Maybe its a victim?

What kind of administrator deals with a situation like this by just telling the victims if you feel the need to go home you should do so? Today there should be 18 sets of really pissed off parents in that clown's office demanding his head on a pike.

If the politicians and bureaucrats in this world want to take the responsibility for defending ourselves away from us, then they had better be ready to step up and do the job for us. Maybe we should get the lawyers involved - every time a person is victimized in a gun free zone they should sue every administrator of that area and every politician that is in charge of that gun free zone. Start with the mayor and work your way up through the governor, congressmen and senators. After all they are the ones who made those 19 victims such easy pickings. If they want to disarm the population they should have to pay the price when those disarmed people are victimized.

Now, I'm not sure I like the idea of unlimited guns on campuses. I remember how stupid most of the kids were when I was in college. I'm not sure I want kids that drunk carrying firearms. But I have a daughter going off to school in less than two years and I would like to know that she is able to defend herself if need be. Because depending on university bureaucrats and politicians to protect her isn't going to cut it. Do you think the criminal in this story would have been so bold if he thought that the professor and maybe one or two of those students were carrying concealed.

CA Out of Cash

California's Controller, John Chiang, has announced a 30 day delay on tax returns and other payments, beginning on Feb 1, because the Golden State is running out of money.

OK, being a little snarky right now, but I haven't gotten a refund from the state for almost 10 years now. I always owe them something, no matter how much I have deducted out of my check each month, it is never enough. But then I always try to guess how much I will owe and pay only that much. I have never liked making interest free loans to the government.

But back when I did get a refund, it was always a check, and it took a long time to get. Usually at least 6 to 8 weeks. So first off is anyone going to notice a 30 day delay?

Secondly. Since the state has said that they are going to delay those payments will we, the taxpayers, you know, the people these clowns work FOR, be allowed the same indulgence? Will I be allowed to send in my tax return with a note that says

"Sorry cash is a little tight right now, I will send in your check in 30 days."

I'm not holding my breath on that one.

But this leaves me with one very important question. The state is facing a huge deficit, some experts are saying as much as 41 billion over the next 18 months. And yet our state legislature still hasn't come up with a balanced budget proposal that does not solve all our problem by taxing the hell out of all of us. Are we still paying our state senators and congressmen? Are these clowns collecting a paycheck for running our state into bankruptcy? If the state starts issuing IOUs will the first ones issued be given to the asshats who have legislated us into this situation?

We need a policy here in the Republik of Kalifornia - on the the day the budget is due and the state government has not produced an approved balanced budget, their paychecks stop, immediately. They do not get paid until they start doing their jobs.

So in the interest of not just bitching but actually trying to do something useful I'm going to quote the Governor's own Budget proposal explaining why we are in this mess:

In 1998‑99, the state’s budget was balanced and projected to remain in balance. Figure INT‑01 displays General Fund revenue and spending growth since 1998‑99. As the figure shows, one year later, revenues increased by 23 percent, due to a stock market and dot‑com boom that drove unprecedented increases in stock option and capital gains income. These were magnified from a state revenue perspective, because the state’s income tax system relies disproportionately on the very high‑end earners most likely to receive such gains. The surge in revenues resulted in massive – and unsustainable – new spending commitments. When revenues declined, the state relied mostly on one‑time measures, such as borrowing, to temporarily reduce spending without cutting back underlying program commitments. Thus, the structural deficit was born.

Emphasis is mine, in order to point out that we got into this mess because our elected officials were spending like drunken sailors and when the good times of high revenues ended the spending didn't. Now our elected officials want to punish all of us for their idiotic and irresponsible actions and fixing the problem by taxing us back into a high revue condition.

Of course it never occurs to them that runaway spending got us into this situation so maybe we should stop rein in the spending. Its like the old joke of the man who goes to the doctor and says "It hurts when I do this." and the doctor replies "then stop doing that."

Great Movie Quote

Over at Curmudgeonly and Skeptical there is a thread discussing favorite comedy movies. One early comment pretty much describes my opinion of my movie theater experiences the last 10 years or so:

I got tired of spending the entire contents of my wallet on a small popcorn and two hours of Suck. - AWM

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2009! Does it look, feel or smell any different than yesterday? Other than your hang-over, I mean?

My 16 year old daughter had a New Years Eve party last night. She had 7 friends over, two of which had to go home before midnight. So five of them slept over. My dear wife and I stayed up till midnight to welcome in the new year, share some bubbly and a new year's kiss. Then she headed for bed. I ran herd on the party to make sure they didn't stay outside making too much noise for too long. Then I finished up some volleyball scheduling I was working on, then headed to bed. The girls were all settled down to watch movies. But since they were watching them while laying down with their heads on pillows and snuggled under blankets I don't know how long they all lasted.

Yep, that was it, the wild New Years times at our house.

However getting through the early evening I was reading a lot of blogs. The one common thought I found all over the internet last night can be summed up as:

"Thank God this horrible year is over."

and

"2009 is going to be so much better!"

Say what? The only thing that ended last night was the functionality of your 2008 calendar. Our economy is still tanking, the recession is still gaining momentum, our elected officials are still incompetent boobs who think they are smart enough to fix our problems, as a nation we are exchanging freedom for socialism, our retirement accounts are still worth only 60% of what they were a year ago.

So what has changed? Overnight, in the last 24 hours what really changed?

The answer is NOTHING!

Yeah, Personally 2008 wasn't that great a year in many ways.

- I turned 50
- I ended up in a job that I really hate.
- My savings and investments aren't worth as much as they used to be.
- Gas was $4.50 a gallon.
- I didn't bowl well in the city tournament.
- I didn't get to go to the state bowling tournament.
- I finished the summer golf league with a losing record.
- My club volleyball team tore itself apart off the court and didn't play well at Nationals because of that.
- My middle school club team followed up three years of local championships by finishing fourth this year.
- I think our new President and the administration is going to lead this country down a path to nanny state communism that we may not be able to recover from without another civil war.

But there were a lot of good things that happened this year also.

- I turned 50. Hey, 20 years ago I wasn't sure I would make it this far.
- I hate my job, but it pays the bills, and it is necessary work, even if it does bore the living crap out of me.
- Sure the market tanked and my savings and investments aren't what they used to be, but at least I have some savings and retirement left, for a while at least. But more importantly, I'm still able to support and provide for my family.
- Gas was over $4.50 a gallon but now it is under $2 a gallon.
- I didn't bowl well at city, but at least I got to bowl.
- OK, missing state sucked. No silver lining there. Except that I missed it because I was with my club volleyball team. I can't think of a better reason for missing something I love doing other than to do something else I love doing.
- Yeah, I lost more matches than I won golfing this summer. But I still got to golf. And at 50 years old with my 60 year old ankles and 70 year old knees I can still walk the course, carrying my clubs, in 100+ degree temperatures and still be competitive in most of my matches.
- Yeah, I screwed up as a coach - I let my club team's off the court problems effect their on the court performance. But we still finished tied for 5th at Nationals which I thought was pretty good for a first time club team with a first time club coach.
- Yeah I screwed up again in middle school. I wasn't able to get my 8th grade team that had more 6th and 7th grade players than 8th grade players to compete well enough to beat all the other 8th grade teams at our end of the season tournament. But we had fun that season and we did finish higher in the other two tournaments we playing in than our previous teams ever managed. I have been complaining for years about the level of volleyball competition in the middle schools in town. Well I finally got my wish. The other schools in town don't roll over and play dead for us anymore, and that is a good thing.
- I am going to try and be optimistic that our new government won't be as bad as I think it will. But I'll give them credit for one thing. I have wanted to buy several different guns for many years now but just never got around to it. But with the pending gun bans that are going to happen I finally got in gear and bought the guns I wanted. So far my son, oldest daughter and I have had a blast at the range shooting them.

So let me wish you all a happy new year. You know what the new year really means don't you? For the next four weeks most of you will be writing year old checks.