So, it's been a while. Welcome back to the coolest blog page ever!
Last night we were greeted by a bazillion (technical term) tons of snow. It was so bad that I couldn't even move my car out of the "parking area" at the farm. Enter the landlord's Explorer. Bad idea. Decision was made to get the Versatile out and start "plowing..." or rather, pushing snow out of the way. Thanks Dill.
Here's a few pics of the events that transpired.
The pics don't really do it justice. The snow surrounding the Intrepid was over my knees... lots of wind blowing, as can be recognized by the "DeLorean" profile the snow created. I always wanted the car from Back to the Future. I was sooooo excited this morning.
OK - so, this one isn't that obvious...
See it now?
Here's the real deal for comparison... Man, that thing is SWEET. Cheers to the Flux Capacitor.
This helps to get a better idea of the amount of snow surrounding my car. See how far up the Versatile's tire it is???
Sweet shot. Versatile, the new John Deere 8430 tractor for Cedar Home Farms, and the JD 9500 series combine tucked away in the barn above.
Like I said - LOTS of snow.
Here's a shot out my window, going down the path that Dill made with the Versatile. Note the height of the snow relative to my window. It's not an illusion.
Yes, I did have to come into work today. I hate being responsible and dependable sometimes.
I pray God's covering over all those who brave the elements in the next few days of storms.
OK, I've been saying this for years. Modern music, "today's music" is missing the "magic" of dynamics. They do it to everything from The Crystal Method to Mahler's 5th Symphony. It's degrading to us audiophiles. Here's a "simple," not-so-technical explanation.
This is one reason why there are still a lot of "record junkies" listening to vinyl. Ah, the good old days...
Here's a great little video I found. Notice in the first clip "...if they [my two daughters] make a mistake...I don't want them punished with a baby!" - right after he says he's going to teach them "values and morals."
Ugh - "morals?" Yeah, I question his - darn right. Well, I guess when you serve and believe the doctrines of Jeremiah Wright, what can you expect?
Yeah, yeah, yeah - "old news." But it's 20yrs of Obama's "spiritual leadership." Yikes.
So, back to the first video on abortion - NOTE - Obama calls "it" a "baby." Yup. A baby. Not a "fetus." Not a "conglomeration of cells." Not an "it." If his daughters make a mistake, he wouldn't want them to be responsible for their mistake... to take ownership of the consequences. No, no, no - he would just get rid of the problem - kill the baby. Nevermind the baby. They don't want the baby - and since the baby isn't born yet, educated with lingual ability to voice his or her case to protect his or her RIGHT TO LIFE (you ever read the Declaration of Independence?!?!?!?), there's nobody to make a federal case out of it. Nobody, except YOU and ME... oh - and his conscience, which he apparently chooses to ignore. He doesn't want his precious little girls to have to make sacrifices or suffer the consequences of their actions.
I guarantee you - if some crazy person came into the hospital room while Michelle was in labor with either of them and shot Michelle in the stomach, KILLING THE BABY... then, all of a sudden he's upset - and we have a "death" on our hands. But when he doesn't want his precious daughters to "suffer" the pains of raising a child, then all of a sudden "it" is just something we can discard. Double standards!!
My heart breaks. [Tear]
Lord, I lift up this man's heart to You. Only You have the power to correct this. Please, we beg you, help us, as a nation, to not proliferate the evil any longer.
Let's set the record straight here... let's end the double-speak, cover-up garbage from Obama's campaign. He's not "kidding" about his desire and plan for redistribution of wealth. He DID mean what he said with...
..."Joe the plumber"... and ...his conversation with Charlie Gibson from an earlier Democratic nominee debate about capital gains taxes. Obama concedes that the cut of capital gains tax actually increased revenues (and thus helped the economy), but says having the tax is the "fairness". (Not to mention the other great issues Charlie points out).
It's about FAIRNESS people...!! Come on! Geeeeeeez!
....and the Socialist group he's a member of... Chicago Democratic Socialists of America - yup, you read that correctly - he's a member, and contributing speaker. In 1996, the March-April Edition of "New Ground" (the Chicago DSA newsletter), a story written by Bob Roman, he quotes comments made at a convention by Obama - he talks about Obama's plan "The state government can also play a role in redistribution, the allocation of wages and jobs." Seems pretty cut and dry to me.
...and then there's his 2001 interview about Socialism and the redistribution of wealth on Chicago's PUBLIC RADIO station [GAG], WBEZ FM. When are we going to quench the government funding of the proliferation of the liberal garbage that is constantly spewed from the mouths of these NPR personalities!?!?
Friends - good choices.
He sought out campus activists for Marxism (whom were black) [from his book]... for people to be around, people he needed to be around. He needed those people to support his fundamental ideology. Good choice in friends...
More Socialism - Obama's ties to Tony Rezko in the dirty real-estate deals, and questionable campaign contributions... while Rezko is linked to Saddam Hussein (indirectly, yes). But the money flow is obvious and well documented. Good choice in friends...
Obama supported Raila Odinga's campaign. Odinga is from Kenya - an anti-American, Marxist, pro-Jihadist (not generic, but the Islamic radical kind). Odinga was there trying to undercut the pro-American movement. He's promised control of the country to the Jihadists he's friends with. Here's a well documented layout for you.
Retired people: a lot of their income is capital gains --> in Obama's plan, their taxes are going up, and they're middle income families.
The benchmark Obama is working from is from 2002 - the "tax cut expiration" is his reference. You and I are working from the current tax percentages... the cuts from President Bush. If you're a dual income family, making between $50k-$100k a year, your taxes are going to go up between $2,000 - $5,000.
Not uncommon for most "professional" graduates to be making 40-50 grand a piece. Marries couple, say they're bringing in $100,000 combined. With Obama's reform, they're going to be giving up another $200 to taxes every paycheck (bi-monthly), or nearly $400/month LESS income. Holy Shneikes Batman.
Fine, let's take a couple bringing in $60k/yr. They loose almost $200/month to taxes. That's real. That's the car payment. Or maybe the gas budget. Nope, can't drive to work anymore.
Howard Stern's crew interviews some black Americans on who they're going to vote for in the upcoming election. They were asked about Obama and "his policies" when in actuality the policies discussed were McCain's stances on the issues. These people apparently don't care what the policies are, only that Obama is "black."
Have a listen to what these liberal media-blasted suckers have been duped into. For the record, I'm NOT implying that all blacks voting for Obama are racist. The sad reality is that racism is real - STILL - from all sides of the fence, all races. Let's pray for some healing and reconciliation!
This is support for the argument to have a basic interview process to even be able to cast your vote. What a bloody crock. If you don't know what you're voting for, do yourself and our country a favor - STAY HOME!
The candidacy of Barack Obama cast a spotlight on his pastor and mentor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Seeing and hearing some of what Rev. Wright preached from his pulpit was a revelation of sorts to me. Call me naïve, but I was unaware of the undercurrent of anti-white sentiment that ran through churches like Trinity, and found voice in ministers like Wright.
Throughout history, much evil has been perpetrated in the name of Christianity. And there is no denying the racism and hatred that black people have suffered at the hands of whites in the past and in my lifetime. Nonetheless I was shocked that in 21st-century America people who called themselves Christians could act in such a way and expect to get away with it. White racists like David Duke are duly villified by the media. Black racists – well, there aren't any I guess.
In Denver this year, we watched as a black man accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for the presidency. And while I don't agree with Senator Obama's political views or his stand on virtually every social issue, it was a moment of historic significance. It was a moment that should have made all Americans – black and white – proud.
Denver was host to another historic convention back in 1956. That year, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a sermon at the National Baptist Convention there which, according to eyewitness accounts, gripped the crowd of thousands.
The sermon was called "Paul's Letter to American Christians," and King would deliver it again a few months later from his pulpit at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church nine days before the Supreme Court declared Alabama bus segregation unconstitutional. In this sermon, King reads an imaginary letter from the Apostle Paul written to Christians in America.
Here is a portion of it:
"There is another thing that disturbs me to no end about the American church. You have a white church and you have a Negro church. You have allowed segregation to creep into the doors of the church. How can such a division exist in the true Body of Christ? You must face the tragic fact that when you stand at eleven o'clock on Sunday morning to sing 'All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name' and 'Dear Lord and Father of All Mankind,' you stand in the most segregated hour of Christian America. They tell me that there is more integration in the entertaining world and other secular agencies than there is in the Christian church. How appalling that is."
He goes on:
"So I would urge each of you to plead patiently with your brothers, and tell them this isn't the way. With understanding goodwill, you are obligated to seek to change their attitudes....Always be sure that you struggle with Christian methods and Christian weapons. Never succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter. As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love. Let no man pull you so low as to hate him."
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright's preaching bears little resemblance to the Christian message King was preaching during much more difficult times for blacks in this country. Wright preaches that "white man's greed runs a world in need." Wright preaches that "the government gives them [blacks] the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law [and] then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no. Not God Bless America, God d--- America!" Wright declares from the pulpit, "Who cares about what a poor black man has to face every day in a country and a culture controlled by rich white people....Jesus was a poor black man who lived in a country and who lived in a culture that was controlled by rich white people. The Romans were rich. The Romans were Italians, which means they were European which means they were white!" After the attacks of September 11, Wright preached that "America's chickens are coming home to roost," because "we have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans" and "the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yard." We brought it on ourselves. Wright gives a lifetime achievement award to Louis Farrakhan, who openly proclaims his anti-Semitism, calling Judaism a "gutter religion" and Hitler "a very great man."
Martin Luther King stood up for blacks, fought against racism and segregation, and ultimately gave his life for those causes. He also preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, not a gospel of victimhood and hatred.
I cannot say what he might think of Jeremiah Wright. But there is no denying what he preached. This is from one of King's sermons called "Rediscovering Lost Values":
"[W]e have adopted a sort of pragmatic test for right and wrong – whatever works is right....No matter what you do, just do it with a bit of finesse. You know, a sort of attitude of the survival of the slickest....It's all right to lie, but lie with dignity. It's all right to steal and to rob and extort, but do it with a bit of finesse. It's even all right to hate, but just dress your hate up in the garments of love and make it appear that you are loving when you are actually hating."
After ten years as a producer for CBS News, forty-something years as an Episcopalian, and fifteen years as a mother, Marcia Segelstein (mvsegelstein@optonline.net) considers herself a reluctant rebel against the mainstream media, the Episcopal Church (and others which make up the rules instead of obeying them), and the decaying culture her children witness every day. Her pieces have been published in "First Things," "Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity," and "BreakpointOnline," and she is a contributing editor for Salvo magazine.
Opinions expressed in 'Perspectives' columns published by OneNewsNow.com are the sole responsibility of the article's author(s), or of the person(s) or organization(s) quoted therein, and do not necessarily represent those of the staff or management of, or advertisers who support the American Family News Network, OneNewsNow.com, our parent organization or its other affiliates.
Check out some insight on the tax cuts that Obama says he's going to give to 95% of American workers. It's from an editorial in the Wall Street Journal, Dated 10/13/08.
Obama's 95% Illusion
It depends on what the meaning of 'tax cut' is.
One of Barack Obama's most potent campaign claims is that he'll cut taxes for no less than 95% of "working families." He's even promising to cut taxes enough that the government's tax share of GDP will be no more than 18.2% -- which is lower than it is today.
AP
It's a clever pitch, because it lets him pose as a middle-class tax cutter while disguising that he's also proposing one of the largest tax increases ever on the other 5%. But how does he conjure this miracle, especially since more than a third of all Americans already pay no income taxes at all? There are several sleights of hand, but the most creative is to redefine the meaning of "tax cut."
For the Obama Democrats, a tax cut is no longer letting you keep more of what you earn. In their lexicon, a tax cut includes tens of billions of dollars in government handouts that are disguised by the phrase "tax credit." Mr. Obama is proposing to create or expand no fewer than seven such credits for individuals:
- A $500 tax credit ($1,000 a couple) to "make work pay" that phases out at income of $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 per couple.
- A $4,000 tax credit for college tuition.
- A 10% mortgage interest tax credit (on top of the existing mortgage interest deduction and other housing subsidies).
- A "savings" tax credit of 50% up to $1,000.
- An expansion of the earned-income tax credit that would allow single workers to receive as much as $555 a year, up from $175 now, and give these workers up to $1,110 if they are paying child support.
- A child care credit of 50% up to $6,000 of expenses a year.
- A "clean car" tax credit of up to $7,000 on the purchase of certain vehicles.
Here's the political catch. All but the clean car credit would be "refundable," which is Washington-speak for the fact that you can receive these checks even if you have no income-tax liability. In other words, they are an income transfer -- a federal check -- from taxpayers to nontaxpayers. Once upon a time we called this "welfare," or in George McGovern's 1972 campaign a "Demogrant." Mr. Obama's genius is to call it a tax cut.
The Tax Foundation estimates that under the Obama plan 63 million Americans, or 44% of all tax filers, would have no income tax liability and most of those would get a check from the IRS each year. The Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis estimates that by 2011, under the Obama plan, an additional 10 million filers would pay zero taxes while cashing checks from the IRS.
The total annual expenditures on refundable "tax credits" would rise over the next 10 years by $647 billion to $1.054 trillion, according to the Tax Policy Center. This means that the tax-credit welfare state would soon cost four times actual cash welfare. By redefining such income payments as "tax credits," the Obama campaign also redefines them away as a tax share of GDP. Presto, the federal tax burden looks much smaller than it really is.
The political left defends "refundability" on grounds that these payments help to offset the payroll tax. And that was at least plausible when the only major refundable credit was the earned-income tax credit. Taken together, however, these tax credit payments would exceed payroll levies for most low-income workers.
It is also true that John McCain proposes a refundable tax credit -- his $5,000 to help individuals buy health insurance. We've written before that we prefer a tax deduction for individual health care, rather than a credit. But the big difference with Mr. Obama is that Mr. McCain's proposal replaces the tax subsidy for employer-sponsored health insurance that individuals don't now receive if they buy on their own. It merely changes the nature of the tax subsidy; it doesn't create a new one.
There's another catch: Because Mr. Obama's tax credits are phased out as incomes rise, they impose a huge "marginal" tax rate increase on low-income workers. The marginal tax rate refers to the rate on the next dollar of income earned. As the nearby chart illustrates, the marginal rate for millions of low- and middle-income workers would spike as they earn more income.
Some families with an income of $40,000 could lose up to 40 cents in vanishing credits for every additional dollar earned from working overtime or taking a new job. As public policy, this is contradictory. The tax credits are sold in the name of "making work pay," but in practice they can be a disincentive to working harder, especially if you're a lower-income couple getting raises of $1,000 or $2,000 a year. One mystery -- among many -- of the McCain campaign is why it has allowed Mr. Obama's 95% illusion to go unanswered.
Huckabee Show, FOX, 10/12/08: Interview with David Oreck of Oreck Vacuums. David (my approximate summary) "...you know, I was around during the Great Depression. And in that time, people went around looking for a job, not a handout - and that's a big difference. [applause ensues]"
Check out Huckabee's wisdom. Mike's website. Huck PAC website. Speaking of great quotes... Mr. Huckabee during one of the debates.
And more of the great Mike Huckabee.
Some random quote from Chad tonight during the Packer party at Mom's - "You know why they have twice as many people at Obama rallies than at McCain rallies? Because the McCain supporters are all at work." LOL.
After weeks of agonizing waiting, the ring was finally finished, courtesy of the craftsmanship available at Barnes Jewelers of Oconomowoc. For those of you that don't know the whole story... In short, it took longer than expected for the ring to get done, and due to extenuating circumstances, I couldn't wait any longer. Barnes was nice enough to lend us a loaner until they finished (thanks, John!).
Christina came up Saturday after a meeting she had for work. She was patient in watching me reassemble the clutch and later helped bleed the brakes on the Venture. I had a little something up my sleeve.
Mid week, she had called, very excited that the weather was going to be so nice this weekend - a beautiful 80 degrees. Wow. Strange October. Unbeknownst to her, I had just gotten off the phone with Barnes, getting the exciting news that the ring would be done Friday. We talked a bit, and decided it'd be a great time to go check out Lapham Peak, one of the numerous stops on our first date, back on November 17th (yur Mom). I was super excited to have another excuse to ride around on the Venture and enjoy the beautiful weather while enjoying the beauty of my home state.
I got up bright and early Saturday to start the project on the Venture - replacing the clutch. I knew there was no chance we could make another "2 up" ride for a day on that old clutch. I got new pads and upgraded springs for the pressure plate. It's like a dream now.
Half way through, I cleaned up as best I could to run across town to pick up the ring. It was stunning. I was speechless - hopefully, they don't think I wasn't impressed due to my lack of words and praise. I called up Mom and met her and OC to show them - I was very excited :-).
So, Christina arrives and was very patient in waiting for me to finish up getting the bike ready. I knew that it was entirely likely that it wouldn't get finished - it's just the way things work when us Quick boys get going on a project. "It'll only take 2 hours or so." By golly, I think this one was actually right about on par with the plan. I spent some time working on the brakes and wiping down the engine with Engine Degreaser too since there was still plenty of time and daylight left.
So, I took a quick shower, and sneakily threw the ring box in a little carry on bag. In honorary tradition, I packed a bottle of wine for us to drink there at the park (as we did on our first date). This was the "cover" for the bag. I'm so sneaky.
Since it was so beautiful, I took us on a very roundabout way to get there... lounging around the beautiful highways of Washington, Dodge, and Waukesha Counties. The colors aren't all quite out yet for fall, but it was still stunning. God's hand in the beauty of the Creation He's given us is simply incredible.
After arriving to the park, we climbed the top of the tower. Looking out over Nagawica Lake, standing behind her, I clumsily swept my hand back into the bag to dig out the ring. And again, got down on one knee and asked her to be my wife. Had there not been a dozen other people on the tower with us, it probably would have been a bit more romantic... oh well.
After we got back home...
These were supposed to be some "better" shots with my "good" camera. Well, they're more detailed anyway...
This is a design that I came up with after browsing around a few stores with Christina back in May. I took some of the basic concepts from a few that she really liked and ran with it. Barnes took my ideas to 3D CAD and had custom castings made for this. It's a work of art - thanks to John @ Barnes for helping my ideas come to reality.
So - what's it like? There's a round, Brilliant cut stone in the center, set in a pendant style perimeter (top and outer edge) of melee stones. The top sides of the four bands are lined with the same melee stones. The side "cross" bands are lined with alternating standard clear/white and a "Caribbean blue" melee diamonds. The pictures just don't do it justice. Or her, obviously. Duh.
I'm a bit behind on the blogging, so I'm going to steal soon-to-be-family's work on the Lewis family blog. There are some other great pics on from the Crowley blog, but it's VIP access only. Christina has a great album posted on her Facebook page, if you're cool enough to be one of her friends.
Mike used his fancy iPhone to shoot a picture of the maze map (shown to us at the entrance to the maze). After sufficiently humoring ourselves getting lost after 5 minutes, it was time to break out the phone and map. It was decided to hand the phone to me. After finally figuring out where we were, getting us out was easy. It was a pretty impressive maze - I think they said over 5 miles in paths. And even cooler, the maze was made in the shape of a vintage row crop tractor. Check out the image on the Lewis blog above - it's hard to see, but I'm sure the die hards can make it out.
Here are a few pics that I snagged on my camera phone.
The family in awe of a Farmall H. You'd think they'd never seen one before - wierd.
Tyler trying out the driver's seat. Tori is not impressed.
Here's the three little dumplings.... eeeehhheeemm... pumpkins.
Dude - this kid is 5 years old. OK, going on 6 soon, but still. The apple does not fall far from the tree at the orchard.
Last Friday, the brothers' Bush hosted a bonfire extravaganza. There were times where fire hit more than 25ft in the air. Despite being a brisk 40 degrees, we were all PLENTY warm.
Friends gathering around the flames, rotating face to butt so as not to burn our clothes in the radiant heat.
Rob sharing a tale of terror. Hats off to a great salesman.
Dill with Rob's fiance, Katie. He's not normally that friendly - he just wanted one of her Marb's...
Jimmy and Dill sharing in mans' excitement of the power of fire. This is just before it started rolling... they were gritting their teeth shouting at me to take the picture faster. She was HOT.
Yeah, that's right, right around 1:50 where he says how he has to instill confidence in the American people that he knows what he's talking about... 1:54 when he says he knows what he's talking about. LOL. PLEEEEEASE. "...listen to me and follow what I'm suggesting, we can fix this..."
1:59... this is great... "...when the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on television..."
Secondly, the standard for broadcast TV (NTSC) wasn't developed until 1941, delivered via NBC (owned by RCA) and CBS. (Reference) (Reference 2) And it was largely put on hold due to Hitler and his ridiculous notions. TV wasn't largely available in the US until the ealry '50s - approximately 50% of households had TV by 1955. FYI. Just in case you were wondering.
Too bad Al Gore didn't invent the TV earlier! LOL!!! Thanks to Chad for that great comment!!
I'm part of a commitment of daily prayer for the upcoming November 5th election through the Presidential Prayer Team (PPT) website. Today's scripture note from them is Exodus 18:21.
Moses' father-in-law is giving him some guidance in how to govern his people. The many "small" questions and issues could not all be settled by Moses alone. He was to select Godly men (people) of character, that fear God, that hate covetousness and unrighteous gain. These people were selected to hold judgment over groups of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, of tens. Just like our court system is set up by our founding fathers - our CHRISTIAN founding fathers. As things get more and more complicated, they are to be sent up the food chain to the most righteous of judges.
That should indicate to you how important the choice of our supreme court judges is - and the President is responsible for choosing those seats. Keep this in mind in your prayers and who stands to rule as the "ultimate, righteous judge" over our country. This is the prayer I submit to you. May the Lord God convict your heart to see who He would choose to lead this nation's hierarchy of judgment.
Also, keep in mind, our great President Abraham Lincoln's quote: "The philosophy of the classroom of one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next." This was indeed prophetic wisdom... and something President Lincoln fought for - that our country's past unrighteous embrace of slavery and racism would be cast from the schoolroom. Our current battle has far greater consequence - God was removed from America's classroom in a New York Supreme Court decision on June 25th, 1962. Justice Hugo Black, from Alabama, was a staunch liberal, the justice that made the judgement in the Engel v. Vitale (1962) case. This "leader" judge was called out early on, in Newsweek magazine, on his membership to the KKK. (Reference) Not exactly a guy who had his head wrapped around God's righteousness. Lesson learned?
Here's the prayer from PPT for today...
Awesome, God: You are awesome and mighty, lifting up those who You desire to lift up and putting down those You desire to put down. You love it when Your people come to You with longing for righteousness and godliness.
As our nation looks to the elections this fall, I ask that You will move among the people of our country, causing us to desire righteous, godly leaders. May we yearn for godly leaders and, desiring that, may we vote in such a way that we elect at every level those who will honor and obey You in godliness and wisdom. I pray this, honoring the holy name of Jesus, amen.
Be blessed, be courageous, be filled with passion for righteousness. DON'T be lukewarm... (Rev 3:14-22)
For the record, I'm neither a Democrat or Republican. I beleive in choosing the best man for the job, not a party. My "party" is that of the righteous laws and views of my Lord and Savior. And unfortunately, I usually feel the pressure to choose the "lesser of two evils" rather than the most qualified and best man for the job. I still like Mike! Now, Huck and Palin (or Palin and Huck) - that's a team!
First off, there is no way that you and I should be paying for Fanny and Freddie screw ups while their crummy management make out like bandits, receiving "compensation" for a job-crappily-done. Of course, we're lead to believe by the Clinton News Network (CNN), ABC, NBC, etc. that this is all recent and a result of Bush's poor economics. Right. Here's a little history lesson for you...
And lets not forget to mention Senator Obama's compensation...
Fanny and Freddie put themselves into these situations. They went off buying tons and tons of high risk mortgages. High-risk. That's right. Identified back in 2001 by President Bush's informants, and pushed hard for regulation by Senator McCain. But, that's not covered on "network TV" - what's interesting is that people are obviously il-informed, based on the polls taken regarding this specific question (Reference): When asked... "Who do you think is most to blame for the current financial crisis? 1. Greedy corporate and Wall Street executives 2. Incompetent government regulators who let things get out of control 3. Congress not minding the store 4. The Bush administration not minding the store 5. All of above equally 6. Other 7. Don't know Democrats: Execs-15%, Regs-9%, Congress-6%, Bush admin-32%, All-33%, Other-2%, DK-3% Republicans: Execs-25%, Regs-14%, Congress-26%, Bush admin-2%, All-27%, Other-1%, DK-2% Independents: Execs-21%, Regs-9%, Congress-12%, Bush admin-12%, All-41%, Other-2%, DK-2%
Interesting how much liberal media has misconstrued things for us. Notice how the Dem's don't want to blame their Congress of the last 2 years... or the regulatotions that were violantly lacking - nope, to the Dem's, it's largely Bush's fault - despite his announced fears of Fanny and Freddie explicitly back in 2001! And of course, the Rep's want to put more blame toward the (now) Democratic Congress of the last 2 years... and have the tendency to blame the real people at fault - the executives. Interesting how things play out.
At least they were trying to prevent the problem, rather than lining their pockets with dirty money. I don't agree with the Government bail-outs at all. Let Fanny and Freddie go under. Hold their CEO's and upper management accountable!
Believe this: Dan Mudd, CEO of Fannie Mae, is getting $9.3 million of severance for running his company into the ground... and while doing it, he's received $12.4 million in pay and stock option GAINS since 2004 while the company's been on a steady decline assuming the risk that they were so eager to absorb. (Reference)
Believe this: Richard Syron, the CEO of Freddie Mac, is slated for $14.1 million in his severance package, largely in part because of a clause he added to his employment contract last November, when, ALREADY, it was clear Freddie was following the path of poopy in a toilet. He has already received $17.1 million in pay and stock option GAINS since 2003 when he took over as CEO. (Reference)
Here's the crux - YOU AND I are paying for their severance packages. How do you like them apples?
If the superintendant of your schools implemented changes and curriculum that reduced your districts test scores drastically to the point of dismal state funding, would you concede to offering them a HUGE dismissal severance package? Yeah, I kinda' doubt that'd make the next referrendum funding sheet. So why is government effectively buying out Fannie and Freddie losses to the point of paying these guys off for creating the problem in the first place?
If you and I make a gamble on an investment, does Uncle Sam come to our rescue? Do they pull us out of bankruptcy? What the heck are these guys in Washington doing???
Next topic: Obama's brother Denesh D'Souza reports the real story (Reference) Obama has a half brother (same father) living in Nairobi, making $1 per day, despite CNN's attempt at a cover up (Reference). They met in 2006, and while Obama exploits this as his "African-American" blood, he makes no attempt to help sustain or enable a self-starting, hard-working, driven individual who happens to be his brother.
In 2nd Thessalonians, Chapter 3, Paul tells us that a man that doesn't work, shouldn't eat. But this is not the case with Obama's brother. He's working as a mechanic, and helping leading youth groups in his home area. I know, I know - easy to point fingers. Here's my rub - Barack and Michelle raked in $4.2 million in 2007, $3.9 million of which was from the Senator's book... a lofty increase from their 2006 return filing of $996k. They dumped $50k into the United Negro College Fund, but not a penny to his own blood. (Reference)
I'm in no place to judge, but it seems a bit odd.
Next topic: Lies in Obama ads... WI Governor Doyle used the same woman, Jody Montgomery, in an ad in 2006 when competing against Mark Green for the seat. Jody's daughter, Maddy, was diagnosed with early onset diabetes and has to be tested 6 times a day. I offer compassion and prayer to the Montgomery's in dealing with such a terrible circumstance. (Reference) The problem is that the ad quoted Jody as stating that Mark Green was against stem cell research, repeatedly voting against it. This is largely false. There is a distinction - Green voted against EMBRYONIC stem cell research, not the common adult stem cell research that has been done for years and years. Here's the BOGUS ad...
And here we go again. Obama's campaign is up to the same dirty tricks. The SCRIPT for the new BOGUS "Obama Understands" ad broadcasting in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania is below:
Jody Montgomery: My name is Jody Montgomery and my daughter Maddy was diagnosed with Type I Juvenile Diabetes at age 3. Six times a day, I take her blood. Six times a day, I pray for a cure. Researchers are working hard to do just that. Our best hope is stem cell research, and that's why we support Barack Obama.
Announcer: Stem cell research could unlock cures for diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer's too. But John McCain has stood in the way...he's opposed stem cell research. Picked a running mate who's against it...And he's running on a platform even more extreme than George Bush's on this vital research. John McCain doesn't understand that medical research benefiting millions shouldn't be held hostage by the political views of a few.
Jody Montgomery: For Maddy and millions of others, stem cell research can unlock cures. Barack Obama understands that. But John McCain just doesn't.
And what's even worse, is that McCain has proven track record for promoting and voting for embryonic stem cell research. I personally do not agree with this approach, but the Obama campaign ads stating blatant lies really get my goat. (Reference) The utter nerve of these guys...
Next topic: Even Clinton isn't interested in supporting Obama? OK, maybe I'm reading into this... here's an interview on The View with former President Bill Clinton, commenting on Senator Hilary Clinton's potential request to serve as the Dem's VP on the ticket this November. Here's a condensed version. The full length can be found in Part 1 and Part 2.
So, she'd do it out of "duty" for her country, or perhaps her party... but she's not interested in going as VP under his wing... interesting.
I lured Christina to the Oconomowoc Lake Club for a "meeting" with the event coordinator for our upcoming reception there on February 14, 2009. Thanks to Sue, Angela, Rick and the rest of the gang that helped set everything up for us at the Club!!
After presenting her with the evening's program, I played a few pieces on the piano for her, and then asked her to sing her favorite Sara Groves song, Awakening, while I accompanied her. I finished the program with my 3 favorite Yanni tunes. Turns out, much to her dismay, Christina DOES like Yanni. LOL.
Here's the program... (FYI, "Yiannis Hrysomallis" is Yanni's birthname)
Following the recital, there were some "closing remarks." Christina and I talked about some things that we want for our lives down the road. After telling her a few things I wanted to do to manage proper health of our relationship, I got down on one knee... and, well... turns out she's in. Her face says it all...
Below are a couple shots of the ring. Its a loaner from Barnes Jewelers. They're custom designing a ring for me (OK, for her). But, this is, in some generic ways, similar. For those good coworker friends... "It's exactly the same as, EXCEPT..." mine's so cool they wanna' add it to they're permanent portfolio :-) This one is beautiful in it's own right, so we felt it worthy of a few pictures.
Here's a couple pics of the setup of the beautiful piano and ballroom at the Lake Club. Christina sat in the chair next to the fireplace as I played...
"The Beast" has risen. It may be considered a geriatric recovery by most computer nerds, but I am ecstatic. This was quite the feat!
Monday night, I got a call from cousin Chad: "Wanna' LAN it up?" How do you turn down an offer like that? My first instinct was "Let me see if I can revive 'the beast.'" As you may recall, my RAID array went haywire a few months ago. Over the passing time, I've slowly been trying to monkey with the box, here and there. I figured out my BIOS processor problem - BIOS thought it was an Athlon XP 1500... but the chip is an XP 1900. Change a few settings, and back in business. No more CPU check errors. And it seems as though the memory testing I've done indicates that the 3 1GB Crucial modules I have are all good. There were some indications to the contrary earlier on.
In addition, it seems as though only one of the 2 drives in the RAID array went south. I actually almost recovered it, but just has too many bad sectors... and is now making that fabulous seeking clunking sound.
I'm hoping that with the old installation of Windows on there it just had too many unorganized corruptions to keep track of, and eventually just went south. So far, I've had no blue screens in the setup tonight after getting home from date night with Christina in Kenosha.
So, anyway, last night was a long story. I can't express the frustration I was running into with my Windows installation. In a nutshell, the disk was corrupted. Chad was nice enough to hang a new disk on my door knob tonight for me. So, tonight, I went to town right away when I got in the door.
I pulled all the drives out and did some diagnostic scans. I pulled out my old 60GB Seagate Barracudas that used to be my RAID array in this machine when I first built it in summer of '02. 6 years is a pretty good run for a gaming rig. And, it seems as though it has some more life left in it.
So, I've finally learned my lesson. I setup a RAID 1 array, "mirrored," with the two Seagates. That's going to be my important files backup. I'll sync up my laptop to backup here on my network as well seeing as the Western Digital 250GB "my book" I bought for this purpose decided not to even power up on it's 3rd use in May. If you could have seen the steam pour out my ears as DJ S2H was preparing for a show. It's very difficult to pull songs from your library of 150GB of MP3s when the drive won't even turn on. Turns out, the early generation was rifled with crappy power supplies. With a little creative debugging with the help of Nate during my DJ gig, we were able to narrow down that the power supply was the problem, not the drive. So, I picked up a replacement supply on eBay for a bargain $6.99. Gotta love those mass qty Chinese suppliers. Upon inspection when it arrived, it seems like a pretty decent unit...for consumer grade stuff. I look forward to getting the drive going again...
Anyway, yeah, so the Seagates are going to be my "important" data for backup. It will actually be duplicate backup because of the RAID Mirrored array.
So, I also did some reorganizing. Moved some cards around (to redistribute PCI bus loading), pulled out the dead drive, added Seagates, removed an old CD-ROM, put a new TV tuner card in (from another computer), and cleaned out the dust bunnies - doesn't look like I cleaned from the pictures, but there was a 1/4 of dust layered throughout the case. I also rerouted some cables to help improve airflow. There are 4 case fans for this beast to help keep the drives cool... and the proc and video card, course.
So, why try so hard to resurrect this beast? Well, for one thing, I'm cheap. Hoping I don't have to invest in a new desktop for a while now. It seems there's another major financial obligation I'm saving for (hmmmmmm). That, and my laptop (while a thunderous gaming laptop in it's day of 2004), is horrifically slow. Laptops are all about comprimise. Here is a beautiful example... I started a fresh install of Battlefield 2 on my emachines M6802 laptop last night at Chad's. It took 1hr 20 minutes to install the game off of 3 CDs. Following that, there is a major patch update over 500MB in size. The patch took an additional 2 1/2 hours. 3hrs 50mins total. Tonight, I installed all 3 discs on "The Beast" in about 23 minutes while I've been typing up this post. The patch update is 50% complete or so, with a grand total of 13 minutes on the clock. Now, I'm sure a new gaming rig would smoke past these times, but you can see that this is a major improvement. Imagine the improvement in game play! We're looking at about 45 mins total for the Beast.
Well that said, here are a few pictures of it while I was screaming in the background... "It's.... aaa aaa -aaallliiiiiiiiiiivvvvvveee!!!! IT'S ALIIIVE!!! [Muuuuuuuwwwwwaaaaahahahahahaaaa]"
"Don't take it to those fly by night shops. They use crappy oil, crappy filters, and who knows what they'll forget."
You'll notice a few things in this one. Yes, this is Christina's car, Foxy Vanilla. Yes, that's my my Venture in the background. Yes, this is in a parking garage downtown Milwaukee. Yes, it's on the 10th floor on the parking garage. Yes, that is oil on the ground in front of Foxy Vanilla. Yes, that is oil from Foxy Vanilla's engine.
Closer inspection...
What you can't see is that the hood liner is SOAKED with oil... some spray is evident in other areas.
And the problem... anybody notice the cap missing? I peeked in the hole, and there's a rocker arm almost directly underneath the hole... perfect for spraying oil out the top and into the engine compartment.
Apparently, the car was running fine until just before Milwaukee. The oil light would come on here and there, car still running fine. Pulling into the garage (about 20 degree incline), the car reportedly started shaking pretty bad.
Intuition tells us that eventually the oil got so low in level that the oil pump started not being able to pull it out of the reservoir, thus the oil pressure would occasionally drop down in curves as the oil would slosh to one side of the pan, and thus turning on the oil pressure light occasionally. As she started heading up hill in the garage, there was no hope of the pump getting any oil from the pan... and by some miracle had enough lube in the engine to run it all the way up 10 floors in the parking garage. The oil you see on the ground in the first picture is what eventually dripped out of the hood liner, onto the engine fan, and eventually the ground.
So, knight in shining armor arrives (that's me). On the way to meet her, I picked up a 5 quart bottle of oil, oil filter, adjustable wrench, filter wrench, and bag of shop rags from Wal-mart. As I was crawling under the car, I actually had to lift the car up with my hands for me to fit my head between the ground and the frame. I was inspecting to make sure they managed to get the pan plug and filter on properly and tight enough.
All of a sudden, the car drops and smashes my head. Yup, I pooped my pants. I scream, kicking my legs and trying to get my oily, slippery hands back under the frame to lift it up again. My head happened to be looking out the drivers side. I was screaming for Christina, but she was apparently on the phone... IN THE CAR. I peered out with now blurred vision from smashed temples, and see some vaguely adorable feet dangling out of the side of the car. (Picture a little kid with his legs hanging over the edge of a pier/warf on a lake... real cute, right?) It took about 3 microseconds to figure out what happened. Christina had plopped down into the driver's seat while talking on the phone. As kindly as I could, "GET UP GET UP GET UP GET UP GET UP!" I don't know if you can picture what it was like for me under the car to see those legs dangling out the side... if you do it right, you'll be laughing a lot.
Lesson: use jack stands.
Anyway, as I was fumbling around underneath the car, following the near-death experience above, I was feeling around for the oil filter. All of a sudden the cap for the valve cover plops to the ground. Somehow, it managed to fall onto a frame member and wedged next to a plastic panel for about 70 miles. Thank God He worked that into our favor - good luck finding an auto parts store for a replacement in downtown Milwaukee.
While pouring the new oil into the engine, I kindly said something like this to Christina, "You realize that you're NEVER going to one of these Jiffy-lube type places again, right?" "Yeeeeesss, I know."
So, in an effort to make the Intrepid more appealing to a buyer, I figured I should probably get rid of the sound of a G-65xtz warp drive winding down while braking. About 60,000 miles ago, I put on a set of cross-drilled and slotted rotors. They were a really big boost in braking performance, but as I came to find out, most of the performance gains were in the new pads I was using more than the upgraded rotors.
Back in January, my good friend Ben was up visiting from Uruguay and I let him borrow my car (...one of the extra 7 vehicles I have sitting around...). He called me the day after I dropped it off for him and commented saying that the brakes were totally worn out and down to metal on metal. I chuckled. "No, Ben, that's just the way those performance rotors sound when you get on 'em hard."
In all fairness, the noise has gotten significantly worse in the last year. When replacing them a few weeks ago, I realized that the slots had gotten packed with salty rusty goo. it filled them up and no longer allowed proper function of the slots (to excrete the build-up of gas during heavy braking - i.e. eliminating "fade"). It got so bad that there was enough consistent friction that it was heating up the entire disc, bearing, hub, through the wheel and into the tire. That's a lot of heat transfer... the last few times, it got the tires so warm, they smelled like burnt rubber. Not good. I'm amazed the rotors didn't warp under such extreme heat...
So, I was able to trade in a pair of old struts at NAPA that I bought about 4 years ago and exchanged for a new set of rotors for the front.
Here's the old (left) and standard new (right).
Ever wonder what the strut and arm assembly look like on the LH series of cars? Here you go. This is with the wheel, brake caliper, and brake rotor removed. The signs of 8 years in the salt belt are evident...
This is my "workspace," not my "office."
And the finished product... aren't they perrrrty? This was taken after "break in," involving numerous 60mph to 0mph hard stops in immediate succession.
See it now?
Here's the real deal for comparison... Man, that thing is SWEET. Cheers to the Flux Capacitor.
Here's a shot out my window, going down the path that Dill made with the Versatile. Note the height of the snow relative to my window. It's not an illusion.
The candidacy of Barack Obama cast a spotlight on his pastor and mentor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Seeing and hearing some of what Rev. Wright preached from his pulpit was a revelation of sorts to me. Call me naïve, but I was unaware of the undercurrent of anti-white sentiment that ran through churches like Trinity, and found voice in ministers like Wright.![[Review & Outlook]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-CM643_oj_1ta_D_20081012211332.jpg)
AP![[Review & Outlook]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/ED-AI343_1taxcr_NS_20081008232813.gif)
