A blog about living, hunting, and whatever else I want.

Just Another Right Wing Extremist
Founding Member of The Party of NO
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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Housing Market

Here is just all kinds of good news.

Nobody wants to take a bath on an investment like their home, but reality insists. These houses are grossly overpriced and the owners are going to get hit. A lot of them will bail, which means the mortgage companies will get hit. That means that the government will stick the rest of us with the bill. With interest.

Hold on tight because the economy is going to suffer more before it gets better.

Thomas Sowell on socialized medicine

Here is the link.

Among the gems in this article:

Cars didn't cost nearly as much in the past, when they didn't have air-conditioning, power steering and high-tech safety features. Homes were cheaper when they were smaller, had fewer bathrooms and lacked such conveniences as built-in microwave ovens.

We would like to have all these things without the rising costs that come with them. But only with medical care is such wishful thinking taken seriously, with government regarded as a sort of fairy godmother who will give us the benefits without the costs.


Here is a good part:

The cost of developing a new pharmaceutical drug is now about a billion dollars. Neither political rhetoric nor government bureaucracies will make those costs go away.
Here is another:

Politicians may talk about "bringing down the cost of medical care," but they seldom even attempt to bring down the costs. What they bring down is the price-- which is to say, they refuse to pay the costs.

Anybody can refuse to pay any cost. But don't be surprised if you get less when you pay less.


One thing that I think he misses in all this is that I don't believe the President wants to reduce the cost of health care. I think he just wants control. Rising costs are his friend in this. Of course the President and members of congress that support this don't attempt to bring down costs because that would do away with the "need" for socialized medicine and it would solve the "crisis" that they believe only government should be able to solve.






Monday, June 29, 2009

Why I use scopes when I'm serious

In response to The Hermit.

Heavy brush and cover is an excellent argument in favor of using optics, provided they are well suited to the task. The guy with a 4-12x scope is probably hurting himself. The guy with a fixed optic from 1.5x up to maybe 4x is helping himself if the optic is mounted on his firearm so that it fits him and works for him.

I have shot deer in the kind of cover you see in the background of these pics, out to about 50 yards. In one case I saw the deer without optics when it stepped into the cover. Once inside I couldn't see it without the assistance of optics. I could see it with binos, but not without them. I looked at it with binos, kept my eye on that spot when I put down the binos, then mounted the rifle and presto, venison in the crosshairs. The scope was a 2.5x Leupold IER Scout scope.

This is a pic of my dad carrying my oldest across the grass burrs to his first deer when he was 6 years old.


Here is the boy a little later after we tagged and photoed the deer and were getting ready to get the truck.


You can see the heavy cover around the area and the whitetails and mule deer love to hide in that stuff.

You still don't believe me? Let's look at some more pics.

These muleys aren't even in heavy cover, but they would be hard to spot, let alone shoot from any distance without optics.


Still not convinced?

How many mule deer do you see in this pic?


Can you see the third deer?

If not, then I'll help you out.


Can you see it now? They aren't even in the brush, just in the shadows and they are hard to see.





I'll make it even easier to see.


If the first two hadn't jumped up and moved I probably never would have seen the third one.

Another good reason to use optics is low light conditions. When it the sun is down and the dark is approaching you often see game. It is similar in the morning before sunrise. Good optics that are correctly set up to fit you on your rifle are a great aid in low light shooting.

My camera had a hard time capturing these turkeys, but my scope did not.


Probably The Hermit and I will have to disagree on this, but having an open meadow 150 yards wide surrounded by heavy cover is an argument FOR optics, not a reason to avoid them.

Poor quality optics are a problem and should be avoided. Having your scope mounted on your rifle so that you have to fight it rather than having it work for you is a problem and should be cured. Backup irons are a very good idea on firearms used for serious purposes.

However, none of that changes the fact that good optics suited for the task at hand and properly mounted on your rifle will help you. Good optics on your rifle are like good binoculars. If properly used they let you see better in lower light and they won't slow you down. As it gets darker they will often let you shoot quicker because you don't have to spend time figuring out what is a shadow and what is your front sight.

Unions to be exempt from health care taxes

You've probably seen this story somewhere by now. Here is the one I'm going by as I type this.

The article has some nonsense in it right away:

With cost estimates already as high as $1.6 trillion . . .


Does anyone really think we'll get away with only $1.6 trillion for this? Maybe for the first quarter.

The name associated with this steaming crock is Max Baucus, D-Mont. Are you people in Montana awake? Maybe you should go get another cup of coffee before you vote next time.

The plan is to sunset this garbage in 2013. I wonder how many extensions that will get?

You are getting your change good and hard. I hope you like it.

US shows the N. Koreans how missiles are supposed to work

While the North Koreans are pretty sure they can hit the Pacific Ocean with one of their missiles the US demonstrated that our missiles can actually hit their targets.

I think it is safe to say that this test was a message to NK.

We also gave some surface-to-air missiles to South Korea.

Kim_Jong-il, are you listening?

Friday, June 26, 2009

Buy a new hot tub while you still can

From an article in The Washington Times:

The Democrat-led House pressed Thursday for enough votes to pass landmark legislation that would combat global warming by forcing U.S. companies to reduce their carbon-dioxide emissions, expanding expensive renewable-energy sources and trimming consumers' choices on new light bulbs and hot tubs.
I'll bet the hot tubs are flying off the shelves of Lowe's and Home Depot as I type this. I wish I could afford a new one. Ours is 10 years old this year. I just put some money into a new heater and control panel.

If this passes I might refinish the outside of ours and try to sell it for 2x the current price of a new one. The ad would read something like "Pre-ban hot tub for sale. Get it while you still can. No government paperwork required. It was filled with water to test it out, then emptied and never used. It's been sitting in the back of my garage since then. These are really getting hard to find, especially in this condition. $6000. Bond wire not included but I will sell it to the buyer for only $250 more."

Do you really want the government deciding what kind of hot tub you are allowed to purchase?

Maybe we could all join a union because they will probably be allowed more choices in hot tubs and light bulbs.

Some of you wanted hope and change. You're going to get it good and hard.

Just Say NO to Cap and Trade

If you don't say NO then you will regret it.

Electricity rates will necessarily skyrocket.

President Hussein Obama
How much more do you want to pay?

Thursday, June 25, 2009

The government caused the mortgage crisis and now they want to do it again

So soon? I thought even Barny Frank's memory would be longer than this.

We got into trouble when the government started pushing mortgage companies to make loans to people that had a high probability of defaulting. After the SHTF on that little fiasco the standards were tightened. Now just a short time later we are going to loosen the standards again? Say it ain't so!!

There is no hole do deep that the federal government won't try to dig it even deeper.

If the President's wife wants to have an impact . . .

. . . then she should get herself elected to some office somewhere.

From the article:

For weeks, Michelle Obama had been telling her staff and closest confidantes that she wasn't having the impact she wanted.

I guess that making people want to puke was not the impact she wanted. Too bad.

You can count on the Washington Post to gush love and kisses on a liberal ivy league lawyer.

Some more nonsense from the article:
She is a woman of substance, with a background in law, public policy and management, who found herself relegated to role model in chief. The West Wing of the White House -- the fulcrum of power and policy -- had not fully integrated her into its agenda. She wanted more.
A "woman of substance"? She's a lawyer but I wasn't aware that being a lawyer turned you into a "woman of substance". I guess you learn something new every day.

I wish she would be relegated to making the President a sammich and bringing him a beer. She'd do less damage to the nation that way.

Continuing from the article:

Although Obama's job-approval ratings have soared, the first lady -- a Harvard-educated lawyer -- wasn't satisfied with coasting.
That is sort of a double whammy. The President's job-approval ratings have soared? I didn't know that. I thought people were actually starting to wake up. Of course the writer had to throw in the little attempt to inspire awe in the peons from flyover country by bringing up the lawyer business again.

Ooh! A "Harvard-educated lawyer"!!! OMG!! Can I touch you? No, if I tried the SS would declare me a terrorist and lock me up. Besides, I wouldn't want to get my hand dirty. She's got her little photo-op garden and a staff of people working full time to make it look nice in the pics. I'll bet she ran from the last photo-op to to the shower to get the dirt off her hands.

More from the article:

The president's advisers acknowledge that Michelle Obama was ill-served in the early days of the 2008 campaign, when opponents were able to portray her as unpatriotic, haughty and a caricature of an angry black woman. She was horrified to learn that she had become a liability to the candidate for saying that for the first time in her life, she was proud of her country.

I thought she pretty well portrayed herself as a haughty, anti-American, liberal, angry black woman. When your opponent is making a fool out of herself the best thing you can do is sit back and let them. She didn't need anyone's help to look like a jerk.

Don't you love this:

Obama took another step toward re-creating her Chicago life on a world stage.
If there is any way to make Washington, D.C. life any worse and more corrupt it is to inject Chicago life into it.

Here is another bit of nonsense:

At work, Obama runs her office like a business in which she is chief executive.
The obvious difference between how this chick runs "her" office and how a real chief executive runs a business is that a real executive has to actually show a profit.

This entire article is just a big wet kiss to the President and his wife from the leftwing media. Apparently hussein is not the only person in the White House that can walk on water.

I haven't seen this kind of ridiculous groveling since hillary was the President's wife.

Yuck.

Elite left-wing President wants better health care for his family than his plan would give you

No kidding. Did anyone not realize that?

Socialized medicine is not about improving health care for Americans. It is about increasing the power and size of the government.

LOL at this part:

The president rebuffed that, arguing that "we can set up a public option where they're collecting premiums just like any private insurer and doctors can collect rates," but because the public plan will have lower administrative costs "we can keep them [private insurance companies] honest."
Are you kidding? Does this guy that was elected President of the United States of America ACTUALLY think that a government run program will have lower administrative costs than a plan run by a business that has to make a profit?

He must be dumber than he looks when his teleprompter fails.

Government programs hemorrhage money at fantastic rates because they don't have to be efficient or turn a profit. The employees and administrators all have the attitude that it isn't their money and their continued employment does not depend on them working efficiently or profitably.

In fact the opposite is true: If they actually worked efficiently and saved money and ended up the year with a budget surplus then they would be punished with a smaller budget next year. That is just the way government works. If you didn't spend at least as much as the budget then the budget will be cut. The goal is to spend more than the budget so you can justify a bigger budget next year.

Here we go with some more nonsense:

Obama said he didn't understand those advocates of the free market who constantly say the private sector can do things better and are yet worried about this plan.
When the government is involved it is not a free market!! Get that through that thick head of yours Mr. President.

Actually, he understands that very well. He knows that this will result in private insurance being driven out of business. That will create a "crisis" which of course the government can then "solve" by spending even more money.

When there is a "public option" then companies will stop offering health care coverage for employees and everyone will be forced to go to the only option.

Ron Williams, the CEO of AETNA put it well:

"It's difficult to compete against a player who's also the person refereeing the game," Williams said.
The President had this to say:

"If we are smart, we should be able to design a system in which people still have choices of doctors and choices of plans that make sure that necessary treatment is provided but we don't have a huge amount of waste in the system," he said.
If we are smart we will keep the government out of this and that will reduce the amount of waste in the system.

Government = waste

I have to go do some things so I'll let you read the rest of the article and then go lose your breakfast.

European Central Bank lends more money

Here is the link.

Does this mean that running the printing presses 24/7 in this country worked so well that the Europeans are going to do the same thing?

This can't be good.

State Shutdowns Loom

From the article:

If spending plans aren't approved, state workers may not receive their paychecks and some government offices may shut down.

I strongly suspect that life will go on even without all the state agencies. In fact life would be better in many ways without all the state agencies.

Unfortunately we have gotten our economy hooked on having so many government employees spending our money that this will impact actual businesses.

I say "Let's get on with it and get the pain over with!"

I love this:
Leaders are at odds over how to contend with a deficit that exceeds $3 billion.

The standard advice when your spending exceeds your income is: CUT YOUR SPENDING!!!

I know that these aren't the brightest people but I'd like to think they could understand that.

Here is a good one:
(Governer) Brewer is hoping lawmakers will send her a budget before Arizona has to start shutting down non-essential state services.

Am I the only person in the nation that thinks ALL non-essential state services should be shut down permanently? Why is a state spending people's money on things that aren't essential?

I'd better get off this topic.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Status Quo "unsustainable"

Oh my.

From the article:

Obama, who described health costs as the "primary driver" of the federal deficit, said the country will spend $1 out of every $5 on health care within the next 10 years if the government does not mandate reform.

If the government get's involved in this the way many people including the President want then the country will be spending $2 out of every $5 on health care within the next 10 years. I could be wrong. It could be $3 out of every $5.

What difference will that make when the printing presses are running 24/7? Probably not much. This will just accelerate the bankruptcy of the nation and put our children and grandchildren further in the hole.

Here is a disturbing, but not surprising part:

"If any bill arrives from Congress that is not controlling costs, that is not a bill I can support," he said, adding that coverage for uninsured and underinsured Americans should be a right, not a privilege.
Should be a right, not a privilege!!!? What is he talking about? Did I miss that in the Constitution? Maybe that is included in Amendment 3 1/2? It's probably an emanation from a penumbra.

Here is a news flash Mr. President:

HEALTH CARE IS NOT A RIGHT!!!!!

When a lefty says that something should be a right what they really mean is that they want to make someone else pay for it. Everyone has a right to buy health care. Nobody has or should have an obligation to pay for health care for anyone else.

On the "it would be funny if it wasn't so sad" side of things:

"If private insurers say that the market place provides the best quality healthcare, then why is it that the government is suddenly going to drive them out?" Obama said.
Why doesn't the President enlighten us as to why the government would like to drive private insurers out of the market? Because he knows that the American people wouldn't like the answer.

The answer is that the President wants to inject the government into every aspect of our lives. Some people in congress LOVE big government and want it to grow. More government power means more power for them. The same goes for government employees in all kinds of alphabet soup agencies that would benefit from this sort of thing. There will be armies of new government employees to oversee this kind of program and regulate everything from what kind of treatment you can get (depending on your age, the amount of taxes you owe, and who knows what else) to how many boxes of tissue you are allowed to buy when you go to the drug store. Here are my thoughts on the power of government and corruption.

Ultimately, there won't be drug stores as we know them today. There will be government run health care distribution centers. Remember the stories about the Soviet Union where people stood in line for hours to get a bar of soap? That is what the health care industry will be like when the government runs it.

Here is another bit:

A sweeping bill unveiled in the Democratic-controlled House last week is being weighed in hearings that got under way Tuesday. The draft legislation, written without Republican help, would require all Americans to purchase health insurance and would put new requirements on employers, too.

So they want to force everyone to buy insurance. Well isn't that nice. If someone refuses what will the government do? I guess throwing them in jail and providing health care for them would be the answer.

The "new requirements on employers" sounds scary. As Shaggy Rogers once said "I don't know and I don't want to know!!"

Here is a good one:

Looming large is the question of cost.

No kidding. However, with a national debt as big as the one our children face I'm not sure anyone will notice the difference. When everyone owes 200% of everything they earn in their life then I don't guess another 50% will matter.

One last bit:
Initial estimates had Senate plans topping $1.6 trillion over 10 years, and senators are working to scale back. Curbs on Medicare and Medicaid spending are assured, and a range of taxes are under consideration, along with the possibility of fees on employers who don't cover their employees.

"Curbs on medicare and Medicaid spending" means "rationed health care and employing low quality medical staff".

" . . . a range of taxes are under consideration" means that the government wants the authority to tell you what to eat and drink and wants to require you to exercise.

" . . . the possibility of fees on employers who don't cover their employees" means loss of jobs, reduced pay, more businesses going bankrupt, and more government employees to monitor and regulate businesses. I guess the people who lose their jobs because the small company they work for can't afford them can get productive jobs with the government.

A few good Reagan quotes

Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.

Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.

Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.

Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.

I've never been able to understand why a Republican contributor is a 'fat cat' and a Democratic contributor of the same amount of money is a 'public-spirited philanthropist'.

Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man.

I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!

One way to make sure crime doesn't pay would be to let the government run it.

Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing.

Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15.

The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away.

The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much.

There seems to be an increasing awareness of something we Americans have known for some time: that the 10 most dangerous words in the English language are, "Hi, I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help."

There are those in America today who have come to depend absolutely on government for their security. And when government fails they seek to rectify that failure in the form of granting government more power. So, as government has failed to control crime and violence with the means given it by the Constitution, they seek to give it more power at the expense of the Constitution. But in doing so, in their willingness to give up their arms in the name of safety, they are really giving up their protection from what has always been the chief source of despotism — government. Lord Acton said power corrupts. Surely then, if this is true, the more power we give the government the more corrupt it will become. And if we give it the power to confiscate our arms we also give up the ultimate means to combat that corrupt power. In doing so we can only assure that we will eventually be totally subject to it. When dictators come to power, the first thing they do is take away the people's weapons. It makes it so much easier for the secret police to operate, it makes it so much easier to force the will of the ruler upon the ruled.

If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth. And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.

The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so.

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden.

You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we're not bound by that same limitation? We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow.

I intend to go right on appointing highly qualified individuals of the highest personal integrity to the bench, individuals who understand the danger of short-circuiting the electoral process and disenfranchising the people through judicial activism.

"We the people" tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us. "We the people" are the driver, the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the people" tell the government what it is allowed to do. "We the people" are free.

Every now and then when I was in government, I would remind my associates that "When we start thinking of government as 'us' instead of 'them,' we've been here too long." By that I mean that elected officeholders need to retain a certain skepticism about the perfectibility of government.

I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting.

So much wisdom in those words. He was a man who understood the importance of government. I wish the current President had that level of wisdom and understanding.

Some of these my be misquoted or misattributed. If you can show me any errors please let me know.

Ford, Nissan to get government loans

So what will the government demand in return?

Getting the government out of industry is vital to the survival of this nation. This isn't helping.

Adopt-A-Highway

Ok, here is the link.

There are so many silly things in this that I'm not sure what to think.

At the center of this is a group that calls itself "The National Socialists Movement" which sounds like something the President would approve of. Both the President and the National Socialists want the government to take control of industry, banks, and pretty much every aspect of our lives. The difference is in the basis for deciding exactly WHO should be in control of industry, the banks, and pretty much every aspect of our lives.

I love this quote from one Rabbi Alan L. Cohen of the Jewish Community Relations Board of Kansas City:


For the National Socialist movement to be in the Adopt-a-Highway program is well within their rights, but obviously there were people raising the concern that this is the wrong message for people to see driving down a Missouri highway, that there are National Socialists out here.

If I had socialists running around here I wouldn't want anyone to know about it, either.

I guess it's ok to have socialists in Washington, DC, but not in MO. Surprisingly, the author of the article didn't call the socialists "conservative" or "right-wing" or any of that kind of nonsense. I will give the author, Maria Sudekum Fisher credit for that.

Before you get your panties in a wad, I understand that people in this nation aren't really upset about socialism these days. They are upset about the racial angle that these particular socialists take. Fair enough. I don't like them either.

Another thing that caught my attention is the idea that Susannah Heschel didn't want the road renamed after her father. The symbolism of National Socialists picking up trash on a highway named after a rabbi is strong, but I guess everyone doesn't see it that way.

The Adopt-A-Highway program frequently seems to be used as a political tool. On my way home I see where a Moslem group has adopted the highway in front of a Christian church and private school. I'm sure that was a random pick. I haven't been by the mosque so I don't know who has adopted that section. I saw where a GLBT advocasy group adopted the highway in front of another church, and churches have adopted highways in front of abortion clinics. When you let people put the name of their particular group on a sign on the highway you invite that sort of thing.

If you see someone with a firearm, call the police!!

Oh, my, another tattletale program. Since when does the possession of a firearm indicate criminal activity? I thought FL was supposed to be "The Gunshine State" or something.

At least the rewards only go to the tattletale when there is an actual arrest made for illegal possession of a firearm. Sounds to me like a great chance for the government to initiate "professional" contact between the police and citizens.

Don't Flush U.S.

I love it.

The black hole of government, so to speak.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

There are countries where a single-payer system works pretty well

The title is a little clip from this quote:

Let me also say that -- let me also address a illegitimate concern that's being put forward by those who are claiming that a public option is somehow a Trojan horse for a single-payer system. I'll be honest; there are countries where a single-payer system works pretty well. But I believe -- and I've taken some flak from members of my own party for this belief -- that it's important for our reform efforts to build on our traditions here in the United States. So when you hear the naysayers claim that I'm trying to bring about government-run health care, know this: They're not telling the truth.
The quote is from the President and comes from the official White House transcript of the President's comments to the AMA.

First, I'd like to know which countries he is referring to. Name one country where a "single-payer system" has worked even "pretty well". I guess you could say that "pretty well" covers a lot of territory. Sort of like saying that the soviet system "worked pretty well" at providing soap.

The President doesn't want government-run health care just like he didn't want to take over GM and he doesn't want to control the banks.

As far as "public option" not being a trojan horse for a "single-payer system", well it isn't exactly. I think it will be the cause of and justification for socialized medicine, or a government takeover of the health care industry, or if you want to use his euphemism it will lead to a "single-payer system.

Public-option is a tool to bring us closer to socialized medicine.

Are you a low level terrorist?

Well, are you?

You might be if you believe this nonsense.

Here is another link.

I'm not a big fan of the ACLU, but they have their days.

So there are a lot of low level terrorists out there folks. If you disagree with the government on any issue enough to paint a sign and be seen with it in public then you are a low level terrorist.

It starts with a protest, then, next thing you know these people are using box cutters to hijack airplanes and fly them into buildings.

If I were the President then every one of the losers that thought this up would be fired. The lucky ones would escape jail time.

Honestly, you could pick replacements by having a computer randomly choose drivers license numbers and the people you came up with would be better than what we have now. From what I've seen this week you could pick replacements by having a computer randomly choose drivers license numbers in Iran and we'd be better off than we are now. At least that way SOME of the people would be in favor of freedom.

Good Advice

If you see an old abandoned house that might have a barn owl in it, don't stick your head in the window.

I know this from experience.

Misc pics

The kids found this nest in the yard. My better half put some toys around it we wouldn't mow it.



Here is the almost finished chicken cage. I told my wife she needed to add another hinge or move the center one down. You can see the door is sagging a little. We haven't had time. I still need to put the wheels on it, too.



Here is some meat on the paw. Or maybe it is meat on the stomach. We have a pen built in the yard and let one of the rabbits out in it each day.



Here I am putting my best foot forward. Or maybe showing my best side.

Garden pics

Here is the corn. My better half replanted where some didn't come up the first time. It had small weeds and grass growing in it at the time and needed to be tilled. I'm going to wait until the new corn sprouts are big enough to see to go clean out the weeds.



Here are some beans, onions, radishes, and maybe some carrots. The row that looks like grass has the onions hidden in it. It doesn't look as bad in person as it does in the pic.


We've got pears and figs and berries, too

We put that tree out spring a year ago.


Here is a closer look.


We planted the figs and berries this year.




It's not much but it's a start.

We have several other pears, peaches, and apples. The apples didn't do anything this year. Not a single fruit on any of them. One peach tree had about a dozen peaches and then suddenly the tree died. It had a wire basket around it to keep the rabbits away and I couldn't see any evidence of borers. I don't know what happened.

We've got plums

We planted two plum trees in the front yard about three years ago. They put on a few plums the last two years. This year they came on strong. One tree is almost overloaded even after high winds blew a bunch of plums off it during two different storms.




Here is one bunch of plums. There were more but the kids have been eating them. The space alien in the background is a clay pottery piece my better half made.


Good stuff.

One of nature's bug killers

We now have three nests of barn swallows sharing our house. The first ones started on the porch on the east side several years ago. Last year another couple built on the porch on the south side. This year another couple built on the porch on the north side. All three pairs had babies this year and most of them are flying. While I was out taking pics the other day I looked up and the sky was filled with the little buggers. At least 10 were flying and four more were sitting on the roof. The ones on the roof took off before I could get the camera ready but I caught 6 of them in the air in one pic.

The dogs and the people keep predators away from them and they help keep the bugs away from us. They also give us a little bit of fertilizer. I'm going to start putting a box under each nest to make it easier to transfer the fertilizer to the garden.

Here they are in flight.



I thought I'd circle them to make them easier to see.




Here is what the little critters look like before they leave the nest.

Pictures from the farm

I was out there a couple of weeks ago with my dad spraying some Chinese Elm trees and wild plums that were getting out of hand. I thought I'd show a few pics of the scenery.

Here are a couple of mule deer that were watching us. There was another you can't see that jumped up after I took the pic.

The first pic is looking straight west. Each following pic is turned a little farther to the north. The final pic is still a little west of north. I was standing near the SE corner so pics the other directions would be of other farms.





I'm 53, registered democrat, blah, blah, blah

If I see one more blog or email that starts out with that I may just rip my internet connection out of the wall.

Quote of the day

This was so good I had to add more quotes.

You can spend your money better than the government can spend your money.

President George W. Bush

Now go spend your money on something that will make you less dependent on the government.

Government does not create wealth.

Therapy isn't going to cause terrorists to change their mind.

One last one:

You don't know what's going to come when you're president. You just have to be ready for it.
That doesn't apply just to Presidents. Everyone should try to be ready for whatever is coming.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Men only train cars in Tokyo

I have to laugh to keep from crying.

First they make some cars for women only so the women can avoid groping from men. I find it difficult to believe that the women (or other men) wouldn't explain to these guys in terms they could not misunderstand that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.

Now there are so many charges of groping against men that they want cars for men only to avoid being accused of groping. Apparently many of these charges are false. I guess in a train car that is crammed full of people it might be difficult to tell who is doing the groping.

I can just see this happening for real:




I wonder what they would do in San Fransisco? Would they have cars for homosexual men only, heterosexual men only, homosexual women only, and heterosexual women only? What would they do if they only had 3 cars on route? Do married couples have to ride in separate cars?

This reminds me of being in elementary school with the boys on one side and the girls on the other.

I am glad I don't have to ride in those things. They probably have metal detectors at the doors and wouldn't let me on in any case.

In response to the Hermit

I saw this and the comments and it made me think of one thing:



How many people will stand up like that man?

More people raising chickens is a good sign

It's a sign that at least some people are waking up and realizing that people are responsible for their own safety and survival. Not the government. Not Red Cross. Not Walmart.

Here is the link.

I am glad to see this. I wish more people in urban and suburban areas would raise chickens. When people start providing some of their own food they start to get the idea that they don't have to be so dependent on the government for all their needs. They might even get the idea that they can take care of themselves in times of crisis.

That is a good thing.

AG wants a new "hate crimes" law

Is he on drugs? Why don't we just outlaw murder instead? Oh, wait, we've already done that and there are still murders. So the answer is to create special categories of people worth more than other people and make longer jail terms for perps if they kill a person in a special catagory. That idea is a messed up as a football bat.

Here is the link to insanity.

This is just another attempt to increase the power of the federal government and inject the federal government into lower levels of government.

I've got a much better idea. Why don't we drop the whole idea of "hate crimes"?

When a person is murdered it makes no difference if the perp called the victim bad names or wrote bad stuff about them on a website. Murder is murder.

Giving the federal government more power will not make everything better.

The UN and homeschooling

My advice to these people is to put down the crack pipe.

It's obvious that big government types don't like homeschoolers because homeschoolers don't teach their children that big government is good and all that kind of nonsense. Big government types don't want the peasants getting any ideas about independent thought or anything like that.

We're homeschooling and I'm sure the UN wouldn't approve of a lot of the things that we teach our children.

Ask my kids "What do you say when the government wants to take away your guns?" and the answer is "NO!!!"

Ask my kids why people from the government want to take away our guns and they will say "To make us helpless."

When we were studying geogrophy a while back their task was to learn the names and capitols of all 50 states and what the state was known for. When I pointed to MA on the map my then 8yo said "Boston, Massachusetts. That's the place where the guy drove into the water and then went to a party and left the girl to die."

If you ask them what is the least efficient way to accomplish anything they will tell you "Have the government do it."

You can see why the UN and the federal government wouldn't like us homeschooling. I also suspect that this treaty won't be approved by 2/3 of the senate.

I'm off to spray paint the steel plate targets at the gun range "UN helmet Blue".

Update on stuff around the house

My better half started buying wood for the next chicken house/tractor/cage or whatever you want to call it. I think I've figured out how to easily mount wheels on the thing so it can be moved. There are many ways to mount wheels on it but I want something easy and inexpensive. One person can move the cage without wheels, at least over reasonably smooth ground but it is a little tough when there are clumps of weeds etc. that the frame can catch on.

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The battery in the truck died this weekend. My better half was going to buy some bulky items and fortunately went to pick up a friend to go with her. She turned off the engine in their driveway and it was dead. The friends husband tried to help jump it off but couldn't do it. I went over later and found that they just weren't making a good connection on the ground side of the truck. When a volt meter shows 14.8VDC on the charging vehicle and the same 12.5VDC on the dead vehicle with our without the jumper cable you know you aren't making contact. The guy was trying to use the alternator support for a ground. It's a big chunk of oxide covered aluminum that is attached to the engine block by a hinge. I wouldn't think that would make a very good ground. On that truck there is a nice big piece of steel that holds up the hood latch and it makes a great ground. After I drove the truck home I put the battery charger on it for about 5 hours and it was still dead. Fortunately there is one month left on the 2 year free replacement warranty and I had the receipt in the glove box. The battery is in the wife's car and going back to the store today.

Lessons:

1. Make sure you have a good connections on both ends of both jumper cables.

2. A volt meter is a great tool to have. You don't really need one for this but any excuse to buy a great tool is a good excuse.

3. Keep your receipts.

**************************************************

I went back through most of the garden with the cultivator this weekend. The cultivator is a little TroyBuilt model and it's great for taking out the weeds. It doesn't use much gas and it is small enough that you can get up close to the plants you want without hitting them. We got it at an end-of-summer clearance a few years ago. I saw one like it in an ad and the price these days is $300!! Wow.

**************************************************

We picked a bunch of plums last night. They weren't all completely ripe, but if we don't pick them then the birds will get most of them. I guess I need to get some nets to put over the trees. Hopefully we can get the fruit to ripen in the house. If not, they will still make great jelly. I'm glad we've got some here because the wild plums at the farm don't seem to have any fruit on them at all this year.

More Power to the Federal Reserve

Ok, so I'm a little late on this. Here is the link.

From the article:

The Federal Reserve, already arguably the most powerful agency in the U.S. government, will get sweeping new authority to regulate any company whose failure could endanger the U.S. economy and markets under the Obama administration's regulatory overhaul plan.

I don't remember seeing anything about this in the Constitution. I guess it must be an emanation of a penumbra.

Also:

The most likely candidate for elimination is the Office of Thrift Supervision, whose failure to detect and forestall problems at Countrywide, IndyMac, Washington Mutual and other freewheeling mortgage lenders is thought to have contributed to the financial crisis.
I'm all for eliminating as many federal agencies as possible, but not when the power is simply shifted to another bigger agency. If government intervention makes things worse then the obvious solution is more government intervention.

To be honest I wasn't aware that there was an Office of Thrift Supervision. It must be another emanation.

At this rate we will all be government employees before long. I'm not sure how that is supposed to help this nation.

The President is worried about the debt?

Here is the link.

I don't see any proof based on his actions. It is kind of scary when a tax-and-spend guy is worried about the debt.

According to the article the President said:

There's no doubt that we've got a serious problem in terms of our long-term deficits and debt
You mean he actually realizes this!!? The guy has more brains than I thought.

Also from the article:

"I am concerned about the long-term issue of our structural deficit and our long-term debt because if we don't get a handle on that then there's no doubt that at some point whether it's the Chinese, the Koreans, the Japanese, whoever else has been snatching up Treasuries are going to decide that this is too much of a risk," he told Bloomberg.

Sounds like he might have been reading this blog.

Here is another gem:

"You're starting to see the engines of the economy turn," Obama said on Bloomberg.
Yeah, the engines of the economy are starting to turn alright. They are starting to turn Tango Uniform.

My favorite part:

"It's going to take a long time. We had a huge deleveraging that took place, but I'm confident that if we take the steps that are necessary on healthcare, on energy, on education. If we get a strong financial regulatory system in place so people have confidence in the markets again, that we will end up seeing a recovery shortly."
Did his teleprompter wig out again? First he says "It's going to take a long time." Then he says "we will end up seeing a recovery shortly." Make up your mind.

Maybe what he meant to say is that it's going to take a long time if we set up a strong financial regulatory system but we will end up seeing a recovery shortly if we can just get the government out of the financial business. Somehow I don't think that's really what he meant.

When this President is concerned about the debt I think the rest of us should probably go ahead and panic.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

First Swine Flu Fatality in FL

Here is the story.

Florida health officials say the state's first swine flu fatality was a 9-year-old Miami-Dade County boy who suffered from asthma.

Fermin Leguen, the chief physician for the county's health department, says the boy was brought to a hospital on June 8 within 24 hours of showing flu-like symptoms. The boy died at the hospital the next day.

The doctor says it took health officials a week to test tissue samples and confirm he had the swine flu virus.

The boy died about four days after he was last in school. Neither his name nor the name of his school have been released.

State health officials say Florida currently has 417 confirmed cases of the swine flu virus, including 143 in Miami-Dade County.


I guess they don't want everyone to keep their kids home from school. Did asthma contribute to his death? I don't know but I wouldn't be surprised if that is the case.

The biggest problem with this Swine flu is that it was not in the flu shots people got. If it mutates into something nasty then we could have a problem but for right now it still doesn't seem to be a big deal.



Advice from Dad

Always a wise man, his advice has never steered me wrong.


Don't build your house in a flood zone.
If more people took that to heart we could avoid so much misery and expense.


Be sure you hit him hard the first time.
If you are going to hit a person or an animal you then don't just play around. Make the first one count and you may not need a second one.


When you are buying a truck or a tractor always get one a little bigger and more powerful than you think you need.
I would add that when you are buying a trailer you should probably get one with a higher load capacity than you think you need. The obvious exception to all this is if you will be using the truck, tractor, or trailer in tight places.


Don't put your foot under a lawn mower and disconnect the spark plug before you start to work on it.
It sounds obvious but I hear of people being injured every year while working on a mower, power saw, or tractor. If you are using any kind of power tool or big machinery and you get something stuck in it or have a problem the first thing to do is disconnect the spark plug for a gasoline engine or pull the fuel shutoff if it is a diesel. Then use a stick or other tool to reach in and clear it instead of sticking your hand or foot in. If possible make sure you have someone around to help when you are working on big equipment like farm tractors and make sure that they know how to run and stop the equipment.


Don't trust a jack.
When you jack up your vehicle to work under it then put something under it to hold it up in case the jack fails. Jack stands are not very expensive. My dad used sections of railroad tie that he cut off about two feet long. He would stack them up in a pyramid shape. This is good advice even when changing a tire. If you've ever had a truck fall off a jack when the tire is off and had the hub sink so the frame is resting on the ground then you know what I mean.


Don't cut towards yourself.
In some situations you have no choice, but as a general rule you want the sharp side of things facing away from you.


When you use a match to look under the seat of an outhouse make sure the match is really out before you throw it in the hole.
He made a late night trip to the outhouse one night and the next morning there was just a hole with a bunch of ashes around it.



There are many more but I've got to stop here.

So N. Korean missiles could be upgraded to reach the US.

Here is the link.

It's a short one so I'll just put it all here:

The Pentagon's second-in-command says North Korea's missiles could threaten the continental United States if the reclusive rogue nation continues to develop its weapons.

Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn agreed with an assessment by Sen. John McCain that the U.S. should be prepared for a "worst-case scenario" with North Korea.

Pentagon officials also told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday that North Korea is working with other nations, including Iran and potentially Syria, to develop ballistic missiles.

Not that this is really news. When a dictator decides he wants to run with the big dogs there are two outcomes:

1. He develops ICBMs to deliver his nuclear weapons.

or

2. The big dogs put him in his place before he develops the missiles and/or warheads.

Which do you think this President will push for? They already have at least entry level nuclear warheads. Can we stop them from getting or developing missiles capable of reaching the US? Will we even make a serious effort to stop them?

ABC turns programming over to the White House

I don't think anyone will notice any difference.

Laugh line:

ABCNEWS Senior Vice President Kerry Smith on Tuesday responded to the RNC complaint, saying it contained 'false premises':

"ABCNEWS prides itself on covering all sides of important issues and asking direct questions of all newsmakers -- of all political persuasions

Who does this guy think he's fooling?

More from the article:

ABC TURNS PROGRAMMING OVER TO OBAMA; NEWS TO BE ANCHORED FROM INSIDE WHITE HOUSE
Tue Jun 16 2009 08:45:10 ET

On the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government run health care -- a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm!

Highlights on the agenda:

ABCNEWS anchor Charlie Gibson will deliver WORLD NEWS from the Blue Room of the White House.

The network plans a primetime special -- 'Prescription for America' -- originating from the East Room, exclude opposing voices on the debate.

Once again, this is ABC. Will anyone notice any difference in the slant?

This seems appropriate:
The bad news is that we're on the road to Hell. The good news is that we're making great time.
I don't know where I picked that up. Maybe someone can tell me so I can credit the author.

The Economy is doing GREAT!

According to this article "Industrial production tumbled a larger-than-expected 1.1 percent in May". Isn't that nice?

From the article:

The overall operating rate fell to 68.3 percent in May, a record low dating to 1967.

Wow. That doesn't sound good.

Also:

Production in the manufacturing sector fell 1 percent in May. That was down from a revised drop of 0.6 percent in April, double what the Fed initially estimated.
The hard times aren't over yet.

"Public Option" will be the Standard

From this article:

One such "scare tactic" the president cited Monday was an assertion that he favors socialized medicine.

Obama again denied that, although he did say he thought that a "public option" should be available as a choice for those who currently have no insurance coverage.
There is no doubt in my mind that as soon as "public option" (coverage that the government forces other people to pay for, which sounds a lot like socialized medicine to me) becomes available then many employers will dump their current coverage as a cost cutting measure. While that coverage is part of your total compensation I wouldn't expect many employers to give you a raise or increase your other benefits when they drop medical coverage.

You can count on "public option" to become the only option. When employers start dumping medical coverage then the insurance companies will start going out of business. As more insurance companies go out of business then more employers will lose the coverage they have so their employees will go on the "public option". This will start a vicious cycle that will force almost everyone into the waiting arms of the government. Soon the only private medical insurance coverage left will be so expensive that only Bill Gates will be able to afford it.

This will be like the government using your money to help Government Motors to undercut the competition and drive them out of the market and into a bailout of their own. Sooner or later your only option will be to buy from a government owned company.

If you are really unhappy with your current coverage then just imagine what it will be like when you have to deal with people like government code enforcement "agents" when your 18 month hold has an earache.

The Cost of Presidential Travel

$236,000 to fly from Washington to Chicago and back. That doesn't include SS protection, motorcades, and helicopters. I'll bet the fuel bill for the armored cars and helicopters would be enough to bankrupt many small nations.

From the article:

But the bill, White House aides say, is one that is largely unavoidable because of the security and communication needs required by the modern president.
So why does the President have to travel to Chicago to push his agenda? Why not economize a little and do speeches live from the White House? Teleconferences and videoconferences are a lot cheaper than flying in a jet and they create a lot less pollution. Imagine that, the President could save us a lot of money and "save the planet" at the same time.

The published costs never include any estimates on how much the trip cost citizens in terms of time and money wasted, either. Almost every trip involves shutting down some freeway somewhere. All the people that normally use that freeway have to find an alternate way to get to their destination and it usually takes longer and burns more fuel.

I just love this part of the article:

Perhaps aware of the costs of Air Force One, the Obama family has used the plane for just one recreational trip to Chicago in his first five months in office.

As expensive as that trip was, it is still roughly half the distance President George W. Bush routinely flew to visit his ranch near Crawford, Texas.
The President's family has only made ONE recreational trip to Chicago in his first five months in office, while the evil W "routinely flew to visit his ranch" blah, blah, blah.

As far as the first paragraph goes, it's not like the current President has only used AF1 for one flight. Don't forget the President's little date with his wife. I don't think they've calculated exactly how much that cost. As far as the second paragraph goes, it looks like more of the sad old "no matter how bad hussein is, W was worse" argument that crops up in the LWM.

"Bush did it, too, and he did it more!" I tried that argument once with my Dad and it didn't go over well.

Dad - "Why did you do that?"
Me - "Big sister did it first."
Dad - "If she stepped in a pile of dog mess on purpose and tracked it on the carpet, would you do it, too, just because she did?"

Seems to me that supporters of the current President are about as mature as a four year old, which is about how old I was when I tried that trick.

In the end, the trip probably cost $300,000 or more, which is still peanuts compared to all the other money that this President has wasted and will waste and the debt he will saddle our grandchildren with. Still, TV broadcasts are a lot cheaper and he ought to be leading by example. If he made all the speeches pushing his agenda by broadcast instead of traveling he would save so much money that nobody would care when he took his family on vacation in AF1.

Let's here it for the Presidential videoconference!!

The US likely to lose it's AAA rating

Hold on tight because the bumps aren't over yet.

There is no way this nation can pay off it's debt. So far foreign debt holders have played along with the fantasy that everything is fine because they know if we go down then they go down.

What would it take for foreign investors to finally say "We don't think you can pay off all your debts and we want our money now. We aren't buying any more of your worthless paper."

Sooner or later someone is bound to point out that the Emperor isn't wearing any clothes. Have you thought about what will happen then?

Letterman vs. the President

I wish people would get as fired up about all the things the President is doing to the nation as they are about Letterman's poor sense of humor.

Letterman is a jerk. I have no problem with him losing his job over his gutter-minded comments. However, he is not going to bankrupt the nation, nationalize the banks and industry, bow down to foreign dictators, and ruin healthcare in the USA.

People have things backwards here. Instead of booing the President and having a "Fire Letterman" protest we should be booing Letterman and having a "Fire the President" protest instead.

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