But It's OK If I Do It

Seriously Isreal, you feel the need to bomb the UN Headquarters? You guys sure know how to win friends and influence people.

Back in the Day

Well I have heard that things change when you have a baby and I for one would like to confirm this.

I used to be a staunch proponent of socialism but now, with our tough economic times, I say; "screw ya'll! Every man for himself! I got a baby to take care of and he don't feed himself."

I have had enough "change" bring back the status quo when everything was working just fine and plausible deniability made sure we were /NOT/ in a recession.

Ahh the good 'ol days, Remember how good they were?

I love me, and I Am the Only One That Really Matters

GeeDub delivered the commencement address at Texas A&M on December 12, this was a quote;

"Remember that popularity is as fleeting as the Texas wind. Character and conscience are as sturdy as the oaks on this campus. If you go home at night, look in the mirror and be satisfied that you have done what is right, you will pass the only test that matters."

Hmmm I wonder whom else was satisfied with themselves at the end of the day. . . without the benefit of fleeting popularity.

Hitler really liked what he was doing.
Mussolini was pretty self satisfied.
Jeffrey Dahmer? Ted Bundy? Ken Lay? Rod Blagojevich?
Half of the Russian population, all of the US population
You? Me?

Son of a Dirt

Three weeks old today. He is still occupied with his primary concerns; Eating, Sleeping and pooping. Ahhh the life.

Arrgh Matey!

I think I might be a bit naïve but how can "pirates" hijack a huge naval vessel, hold it for ransom, get the ransom and make a clean break of it?

Even LA cops can track down little bitty cars on their busy highways; a tanker shouldn't be that hard to find.

These people are asking for millions in ransom; these can't be cash transactions so the banking numbers should be pretty easy to track.

Although there are crew issues to deal with all of the boats have a manifest it isn't like you would get confused between who is or isn't on it while the hijackers are getting off.

Weird and strangely appealing to me. . . Piracy: The recession proof career?

Stop Spreading My Wealth

Palin is a Maverick alright. Bucking the trends of good taste, good judgment and any kind of connection to the middle class she has:

Charged more than $20k to the state of Alaska for her kids to travel, then she changed the expense reports to make it look like they were on official business.

Spent more than $150K of Republican National Committee money on clothes for her and her family

Paid her make up artist over $22K from McCain Palin campaign money for the first two weeks of October

Paid her hair stylist more than $10K from campaign money for the first two weeks of October

So, aside from being pro-family (even if her take on it is not quite on the moral high ground), in less than two months she has accounted for nearly $200K of her own version of an economic stimulus package. No wonder she is so against "spreading the wealth around," she is already providing that maverick example all by herself.

. . . In a Rich Man's World

Please, somebody has got to help me out with this.

-Bush and Bernanke want congress to enact another stimulus package.
-McCain wants to pay off all "bad" mortgage loans.
-The Congress and Senate approved the 700 billion dollar bailout plan.

All of this comes with the promise of no raised taxes? How is that possible?

If you or I promised our kids a bunch of things we couldn't pay for; a new playstation, a trip to Disneyland, clothes etc, would it be responsible to follow through on all of that without getting a second job to bring in some more resources? That's what our government is trying to do? Wouldn't it be better to cut back on things a bit if we aren't willing to bring in more cash?

I'm getting pretty tired of hearing the phrase, "tax and spend Democrats." I'm not saying that unnecessary spending is justifiable. However, taxing and spending beats the hell out of "no tax and all spending."

How are we going to pay for all these handouts and bailouts if we continue to cut taxes? –not forgetting that we have a war going on and 3.1 trillion dollars worth of domestic budget expenditures a year. That money has to come from somewhere. Our political leaders are acting like spoiled college kids, run amok on spring break with daddy's credit cards. We aren't Zimbabwe, where we just print more money (without anything to back it) to pay off our debt.

Or are we?

Here's to Good Friends

Tonight is kinda special.

I'm back in Madrid and just a quick note to John McCain: I have no problem meeting with any of these Spaniards. . . I have no pre-conditions either. Does that make me a terrorist too?

The Pain in Spain Falls Mainly on McCain

Don't Think, Just Believe

If you have to tell me that you are something. . . you probably aren't.

I once dated a girl that said she was an artist. She didn't own a single brush, or pen, or pair of scissors or – well, you get the idea. Yet, she told everyone within earshot that she was an artist.

A guy I was going to buy a car from kept telling me that "you can trust me, not like those guys at the other dealership." The more he said it the less I trusted him. I didn't buy the car.

If you are a thing shouldn't I be able to recognize it without you telling me?

McCain/Palin insist on telling us they are "mavericks", "folksy", one of us, "straight talkers." I don't believe it, but apparently 47% of the population does.

Why do Republicans insist on reinforcing the idea that they are willing to purchase, wholesale, any line of prepackaged bull from a marginally functional moron and then vote for that moron to boot.

Seeing in the Dark

If the Denver metro police have taught sports figures anything it is to "turn on your headlights when you are driving drunk."

I'm not sure how that translates during Oktoberfest but I think that two grosses bier + no headlights ='s trouble regardless.

Three of the better known headlight-less celebrity arrests from the Denver sports world.
Joel Quenneville
Carmelo Anthony
Darrell Hackney

Ranting at the Wind-fall

I believe in Socialism but I believe it should move in more than one direction. You and I and every other taxpayer in America now own a part of the recent financial problems but none of us got to share in the profits. The bail out of AIG shows that the good 'ol US of A is not above working on a socialist system to help huge, multinational, faceless conglomerates but it rankles at helping real people. It'll spend billions upon billions backing a failing company that is destined for complete failure (mark my words) but will not consider funding schools, welfare programs or even social and community initiatives.

Why don't we get to own a portion of the good times, just the bad? What makes it my responsibility to pay off the debts of these fiscally irresponsible corporations when they did nothing to help me? Nobody in the government would ever propose that these assholes share their gains with all of us but our government is willing to make all of us share in their corporate losses.

McCain and the rest of the "fiscally conservative" geniuses say a windfall tax on these companies (like big oil) would be a detriment to our economy. They say that taxing the rich will drive us bankrupt, but when these companies mismanage themselves beyond repair and they go bankrupt who is left holding their sizzling stick of dynamite? When the poor and middle class have nothing left to give, then what? Who does the "government of the people, by the people, for the people" really work for?