Kay Bailey Hutchison has it right

KBH has a great piece about what needs to be done as far as rising food prices around the globe and our ridiculous requirements on ethanol production.

This is the scenario that we see time after time, good intentions directing legislation with horrific results. Just one of many examples of why government needs to be as limited as possible and more importantly needs to keep its fingers out of the free market. One of the cheif reasons that oil is so expensive now is because we are depending on importing it instead of tapping into the resources right here in our own country.

As far as alternative fuels are concerned, a little creativity can go a long way.

The idea isn't "mandates" or "regulations", but rather "incentives".

How about prizes for "proof of concept" cars that use a fuel other than petroleum or biofuel products. Maybe even a bonus for one that doesn't have an internal combustion engine at all. Set up some practical criteria, for example:
- Has to have a range of > 300 miles
- Has to have a maximum speed of 80 mph
- Has to hold two adults comfortably

Give a big wad of cash to the winners and/or the colleges or groups they are associated with, have a deal already worked out with the major auto manufacturers that they will work with the winners and offer tax breaks to the manufacturers if they can have a five star crash rated vehicle, using the concept, to market in less than two years. Publicize it. Make it a big deal.

Offer a ridiculous bonus if the proof of concept vehicle can be constructed for less than $10K and can be run and maintained for 15K miles a year for less than $2K.

Make it a ridiculous timeline too, like one or two years (at the most) from the announcement. And the prize should be big, Power Ball big, $100 million plus.

Who is the next Ronald Reagan?

I have had several people ask me who the next RR is? Kind of tough to say, since obviously there could ever only be one Gipper.

However, there is an up and coming governor who might just make a new name to remember in politics. He's young, he's extremely articulate, he's witty, he's conservative, he's the son of immigrants and he got elected governor of one of the most historically liberal, and not coincidentally CORRUPT, states in the nation, Louisiana.

His name is Bobby Jindal.

Here he is with Jay Leno.

I'm kind of spoiled like that...

It started with Hunter and Jacob, who sang happy birthday to me in the car the moment they stepped in from the curb at their school. That was cute.

When I walked in the door, Kyle came running up and gave me a big hug and said happy birthday, then handed me my present from the boys. It was a Mega Tommy 20 shot dart gun. Very cool! Battery powered, semi automatic dart gun... they don't stand a chance now! :)

There were some messages for me on the answering machine, including some very spirited :) singing by my wonderful nieces and nephews in Chicago, who will be coming out to visit... very soon!

My sweet wife made an incredible batch of her homemade chicken fettucini alfredo (which supplied lunch today as well) along with garlic bread and ceasar salad. Then a chocolate and mint flavored cake with mocha frosting which was a great twist on my latest coffee obsession.

Throw in a couple of rounds of Mario Cart... it was a really fun evening.

What is Obama so mad about?

B.O. really has nothing to be mad about; that he shouldn't have been mad about years ago! Yesterday, Rev Wright, just simply repeated the same things that he has been saying for years. Really there was nothing new in what he said, other than the comment about B.O. being a politician and doing what he has to do to get elected. Which was probably the most truthful thing he said.

Personally, it feels like Christmas and Rev Wright is the gift that keeps on giving!

I hope they put Rev Wright on every news channel in the country... twice.

An Example of How Guns Help

Wow, kind of a frightening story, but hats off to the manager and assistant manager who obviously were not only packing (kind of like the BAD GUY) but showed tremendous restraint under fire and GOT THE CRIMINAL!

Wonder if you'll see this on the evening news.

Of course if the guy had gone in and got in a fight with someone (which he was obviously looking for) and shot three people and held 12 others hostage in a stand off with police, every station in the country would be talking to anti-gun experts about what needs to be done.

How about getting a couple of NRA reps to talk about how guns were used effectively, with restraint, to control and apprehend a dangerous individual?

Think you'll see that on the news?

How stupid can Hillary be?

I know, a loaded question right?

A request for $2.3 BILLION dollars worth of earmarks? Are they handing out crack at her campaign headquarters?

This is either incredibly naive or a last ditch give away to some potential big campaign donors to keep her flat broke presidency bid alive.

I love this shirt!!!

SNOBama! Beautiful.

Now this is an Obama t-shirt that I would actually wear!

It's about Al Sharpton, not Bell

It really bothers me when I see things like this for so many reasons. Number one, I don't like to hear that someone was shot in the early morning hours before their wedding. That's just sad.

Of course, I don't like to hear about police officers having to fear for their lives from drunk men who get in a car and try and run them down either.

Just a very unfortunate situation.

I have to admit it sounds very bad and excessive when you hear that the police fired 50 shots. 31 of those coming from one officer. That's a lot. However, I wasn't there and don't have all of the evidence and it's not my job to decide if the officers were right or wrong. That's up to the court and the court decided that the officers were not wrong. Good or bad, and I'll be the the first to admit that sometimes it is bad, that's our justice system in this country.

What is even more sad to me, is when you have people that use this horrible situation of a man being really stupid one night and getting himself into a really bad situation where he put the lives of police officers in jeopardy and paid for it, to boost their own persona in the public eye. Al Sharpton needs to go home and stay there.

What if Rev Al gets people all fired up and there is a riot? What if people are killed? What if more police officers are attacked and have to defend themselves with deadly force?

The problem here is people not thinking. Unfortunately Bell wasn't thinking straight when he went drinking, kept his car keys and then turned violent with police officers. Unfortunately Rev Al isn't thinking of ways to keep this from happening again. Instead he is inflaming a volatile situation and turning the minds of young people even MORE against authority. He is preaching animosity against the police and feeding an US against THEM sentiment. This will only cause more tension. More stupidity. Less thinking. And in the end, more deaths.

Get a clue Rev Al. Go home. Mourn a horrible situation. Work for cooperation between neighborhood leaders and the police. Realize we are all good guys on the same team. Stop thinking about yourself and think about what will really help this situation and these grieving families.

Sounds like this guys should be PAYING the county

Our prisons are WAY to easy on inmates when this is all they have to complain about.

Is this racist?

John McCain denounced this ad as "racist". Huh? What is racist about it? It doesn't talk about race at all, in fact it doesn't say anything about it! What it does bring up is the judgement of Moore and Perdue, something very pertinent to this election. It points out that Obama associates and surrounds himself with questionable (at best) and radical people. Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Tony Rezko and Jeremiah Wright, all people that are completely out of touch with the rest of the country, maybe even with reality itself.

The problem with bringing up the issue of race is that it becomes a hot button. If you get any where NEAR it sensors go off and everything blows up. Why go there? You don't have to. Take the high ground, trust me, it's WIDE OPEN TERRITORY. John McCain should have said, "It just sounds to me like they are questioning Obama's associations and the judgement of Moore and Perdue in endorsing him, which are two issues that the people of North Carolina really need to consider."

I know McCain is tough. He's been tough on conservatives for years now! I wish he would show his Democratic challengers the same kind of "love" that he's been showing us.

This story is great!!!

You have to just read it. I'm sure the officers are still laughing about this one.

Classic stuff.

What are the biggest threats to the economy?

Very interesting story from the AP about a survey that was put out to financial gurus about the future of the economy and the most looming threats. The first of course was the housing fiasco and the second and third...

the next biggest threats to the economy now as the possibility the government will impose higher taxes or raise protectionist barriers to foreign competition.

Interesting because Obama and Hillary have pledged to do both. Both pledged to review NAFTA. Both have spoken against the CFTA (Colombian). I know of course that the entire country was glued to the debate the other night and witnessed BOTH candidates talking about raising taxes. Charlie Gibson had trouble actually getting them to say the words, but if you listened it was in every economic plan that they had. Of course the taxes that are high on the list are the “death” or estate tax where the government can take as much as 40% of your estate after you die. Nice eh? And the capital gains tax, which Charlie Gibson pointed out to Barrack Obama that history shows when you LOWER the capital gains tax the revenues to the federal government go UP. He didn’t seem to care though and pointed out that it wasn’t about revenue, it was about making taxes “fair”. RL was going on and on about this today. I REALLY and sincerely hope that this all gets brought up in the general election debates and that people actually WATCH THEM.

Reconciliation

Reconciliation. It is a tough but powerful word. We heard an amazing lesson from Pastor Mark about this a couple of weeks ago. Just awesome. When the website finishes its latest transition I HIGHLY recommend checking out the audio from the Run Free series. Amazing stuff.

Of course reconciliation is not always easy. Sometimes you want to reconcile with someone who does not reflect that same desire. That is tough, even painful. Sometimes you feel that you were the one who was wronged, yet you are also the one seeking reconciliation. You extend unrequested forgiveness, you extend the hand of fellowship and love and get nothing back. That hurts.

I can not help but think that God experiences that same thing with millions of people every day. He has done everything necessary, everything essential to reconcile all of us back to himself. He was not the one in the wrong in the first place, yet he has taken all of the steps to bring us back. He calls but we don’t answer. He steps closer and we step further away. He gave his son and we turn our heads.

This is not a guilt post. Just something that I have been thinking about lately. B and I are fine, we’ve never been closer or more in love. We’ve been learning and growing from the new relationships that we are developing and from an old one that we desperately want to reconcile.

ABC Democratic Debate

It was an interesting debate last night, despite what the media may be saying about it this morning. I have to admit that I didn't get to watch the whole thing, but the parts that I saw really impressed me.

Well, let me clarify. The candidates did not impress me at all. I thought Hillary certainly did better than Obama and looked a lot more relaxed and composed than he did. I've noticed when he gets nervous when he doesn't have a teleprompter egging him on and he stands very straight up, chin out, lips pursed... like he's holding in some really substantial gas. She looked really good, very confident, but not as arrogant as he did. Interesting. Anyway, back to my point. I was really impressed with the Charlie Gibson and George Stefanopolis. They actually asked some tough questions and then probed deeper when they got the typical "duck". At one point Charlie would not let Barrack up about his proposed changes to Social Security, which of course would lead to a tax increase, but Obama did not want to admit that. Charlie finally just bluntly said, "that's a tax increase." I saw both candidates squirm quite a bit. Obama a little more than Clinton because he quite frankly can deliver a great speech, but when it comes to answering tough questions, he doesn't know where to turn since his aids can't throw some stuff up on the screen to help him out.

I enjoyed it.

I am very curious, once the democrats finally pick their candidate, how the real debates will go. I would hope that the questioning would be even tougher. I would hope that it would be more substantive so the American people can see the HUGE difference in policies between McCain and the unnamed other guy/gal. On several of the questions last night, someone from a conservative perspective could have opened up a gaping hole in their arguments.

The real debates could be pretty entertaining.

Obama wants to hold direct talks with this guy?

This is why the rest of the world doesn't just think, but KNOWS that direct talks with Iran is a bad idea.

Jimmy Carter defines the term naive

This has to be the most incredibly stupid thing that I have seen or heard all day, and people, it's been one of those days.

"When I go to a dictatorship, I only have to talk to one person and that's the dictator, because he speaks for all the people." Jimmy Carter

Wow, that really all I can say, just, wow. And this man used to be the leader of the free world. Does he really understand the meaning of the word "free"?

Wow...

The punishment should fit the crime... so...

I like it. It makes sense.

Jimmy Carter

Reading Margaret Thatcher's perspective on world affairs and the affect that the United States played in the world during her administration has been really eye opening. She constantly refers to the US as being the world leader and needing to follow their lead in several arenas. It seems very strange to me to have the leader of a major world power talking about the need for the US to step and take the reigns. I know that the US has an impact around the globe, but the degree of the impact is shocking.

In particular she talked about the difficulties that the Carter administration caused for the UK because of their lack of courage in confronting the USSR, their detrimental economic policies that pushed the global economy into a recession and in particular Carter's lack of true leadership skills.

Evidently his naive approach to world affairs continues.

After week 10

I guess the one bad thing about Sunday being my writing night is that it makes it that much harder to get up on Monday. But, that's okay, because it was a great writing night. Things were flowing pretty good and I spent time outlining as well as writing and made good progress on both. It was a lot of fun!

Eating this week was good and bad. When I focused, I did horrible. When I just worked on other stuff and let food be an afterthought. I did a lot better. Interesting.

It was a busy work week last week and promises more of the same this week, although there is all kinds of juicy political stuff to blog about. Something about dumb politicians bashing small town people that just gets me smiling in the morning.

Here is the breakdown for the week:
Weight: 237 lbs, 67 lbs to go
Writing: 5 pages, 11 pages total

So where is CPS when you need them?

In this case they should lock the dad up, slap the mom silly and take the baby away from both.

Unbelievable.

Could this be healthy?

I know weighing 420 pounds can't be healthy, and certainly losing 140 pounds is a great start. But the baked beans diet? Really?

Must have spent a fortune in Charmin.

:)

Even a blind golfer gets a hole in one every once in a while

Huh?

That's right. Check it out.

G.A.O.: Where your tax dollars are going

Here is a report by the General Accounting Office of the government that talks about the approval procedure violations within the government. It isn't pretty.

Next time you hear a suit saying that we need to raise taxes on the wealthy, think about this:

- USPS paid over $13,000 for 8121 conference attendees to dine at an upscale
steak restaurant in Orlando, Florida, in 2006. The dinner, which cost over $160
per person, included steaks, crab, appetizers, and over $3,000 in alcoholic
beverages purchased over a 5-hour period. We define this transaction as abusive.

• At the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a
cardholder used the government purchase card to acquire two 60GB iPods. Although NASA officials maintained that the iPods were essential for official data storage, we
found that the cardholder personalized the iPods with the requester’s and agency’s names and used the iPods to store songs and music videos. Although the iPods had some business files on them, we concluded that the purchase was abusive because other data storage devices without video and audio capabilities were available at lower costs.

- A postmaster at USPS used his government purchase card to fraudulently subscribe to two Internet dating services over 15 consecutive months (April 2004 through October 2006). The monthly charges for these dating services were the only charges that appeared on the cardholder’s monthly statements during this period; yet each of these charges was authorized and paid for by USPS. The cardholder paid restitution of over $1,100 but faced no disciplinary action for this fraud.

- From October 2000 through September 2006, a cardholder at the
Department of Agriculture (USDA) fraudulently paid over $642,000 to a live-in
boyfriend who shared the same bank account as the cardholder. The $642,000 was
used for personal expenditures, such as gambling, car loan and mortgage
payments, and other retail purchases. The activities took place over a 6-year
period, but were not detected by the agency until a whistleblower reported the
cardholder to the agency’s Office of Inspector General in 2006. The cardholder
was sentenced to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of over
$642,000.

Michael A. Monsoor

I haven’t seen much main stream coverage of this, but I think it is something that everyone should take notice of. A Congressional Medal of Honor was given to the family of Michael A. Monsoor in a moving ceremony with President Bush. You can watch the speech here.

Here are some excerpts from his bio:

- Mike and his platoon operated in a highly contested part of Ramadi city called the Ma’laab district. During their deployment, Mike and his fellow SEALS came under enemy attack on 75 percent of their missions. On May 9, 2006 Mike rescued a SEAL who was shot in the leg. He ran out into the street with another SEAL, shot cover fire and dragged his comrade to safety while enemy bullets kicked up the concrete at their feet. For this brave action, he earned a Silver Star.

- Petty Officer Monsoor was subsequently awarded the Bronze Star as the Task Unit Ramadi, Iraq Combat Advisor from April to September 2006. His leadership, guidance and decisive actions during 11 different combat operations saved the lives of his teammates, other Coalition Forces and Iraqi Army soldiers.

- Petty Officer Second Class (SEAL) Michael A. Monsoor will receive the Medal of
Honor posthumously in a ceremony at the White House April 8, 2008. He will
receive the award for his actions in Ar Ramadi, Iraq on Sept. 29, 2006. On that
day, Monsoor was part of a sniper overwatch security position with three other
SEALs and eight Iraqi Army (IA) soldiers. An insurgent closed in and threw a
fragmentation grenade into the overwatch position. The grenade hit Monsoor in
the chest before falling to the ground. Positioned next to the single exit,
Monsoor was the only one who could have escaped harm. Instead, he dropped onto
the grenade to shield the others from the blast. Monsoor died approximately 30
minutes later from wounds sustained from the blast. Because of Petty Officer
Monsoor’s actions, he saved the lives of his 3 teammates and the IA
soldiers.

The following are some excerpts from from Bush’s speech, which can be found here:

- One of Mike's officers remembers an instructor once asking after an
intense training session, "What's the deal with the Monsoor guy? He just says,
'Roger that,' to everything."

- In May 2006, Mike and another SEAL ran into the line of fire to save a
wounded teammate. With bullets flying all around them, Mike returned fire with
one hand while helping pull the injured man to safety with the other. In a dream
about the incident months later, the wounded SEAL envisioned Mike coming to the
rescue with wings on his shoulders.

- One of the survivors puts it this way: "Mikey looked death in the face that day and said, 'You cannot take my brothers. I will go in their stead.'"

- Perhaps the greatest tribute to Mike's life is the way different service members all across the world responded to his death. Army soldiers in Ramadi hosted a memorial service for the valiant man who had fought beside them. Iraqi Army scouts -- whom Mike helped train -- lowered their flag, and sent it to his parents. Nearly every SEAL on the West Coast turned out for Mike's funeral in California. As the SEALs filed past the casket, they removed their golden tridents from their uniforms, pressed them onto the walls of the coffin. The procession went on nearly half an hour. And when it was all over, the simple wooden coffin had become a gold-plated memorial to a hero who will never be forgotten.

Soros: the biggest Democrat supporter of them all

It's no secret that conservatives (me included) aren't the biggest fans of John McCain. Not because he is a bad guy, and I will absolutely be voting for him come November, but he has been on the wrong side of several issues. Not necessarily wrong motives, just missing the boat on the execution.

Having been in Washington for a couple of decades and seeing the corruption that is there, McCain made a push to "get the money out of politics". Sounds great, but the premise was all wrong. His thought was that most politicians were good people but when they got to Washington, or got into politics they got tempted to the dark side by money from special interest groups and influential people. It isn't that they were bad people, it's that the money was bad.

Hmm... didn't like that premise from the beginning because it makes it sound like money (an inanimate object) is evil, not the men who crave it and give into temptation. Personal accountability should be demanded of everyone, especially our leaders in Washington.

Let me continue. He along with Senator Russ Feingold came up with the now infamous McCain/Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Bill to accomplish McCain's mission of getting money out of politics. Well, unfortunately it has been a total failure, because it puts restrictions on free speech for everyone accept the media and opened the spill way for money to pour into politics, unchecked and unlimited through the 527 groups.

Now 30 days before a primary and 60 days before a general election, non-party groups cannot run media campaigns that identify a candidate. That’s right, if you were part of a group that found out 59 days before a general election that a candidate for president had bribed a judge who let him off and sealed court records after he raped an underage girl who became pregnant and used campaign contributions to pay for her abortion (wow, quite the hypothetical), you could not run a national campaign to expose this information. Your only hope is to take this to a media outlet who might or might not release the information (remember by their OWN admition 70% of those in the media identify themselves as LIBERAL). Of course it doesn’t have to be THAT much dirt, it could be anything, it could be video of them yelling at a Starbucks barista. The point is that your right to reveal this information, a right expressly guaranteed in the Constitution, is gone.

Of course infringing on free speech was only part of the bill. The other part is new limits on campaign contributions. Now, any student of history and more importantly anyone who understands ANYTHING about people will realize that most people are basically good, however, they will also act in ways that promote their own self interests. So, if you limit them in some way, they will try and find another way around those limits. This is absolutely true when it comes to money and politics. The 527 organizations were ready to hit the ground running as soon as McCain-Feingold was signed into law. The beauty of these is that contributions to the organizations are not limited. That’s right, unlimited. So, if you were say, a BILLIONAIRE, you could give as much money as you wanted to influence an election. If your name was George Soros you would do just that. This man is the money behind half a dozen 527s, which I previously mentioned here. A great example of this is the $40 million dollar campaign that he will be running against McCain. That’s right, all of the money that McCain has been able to raise legally can be swamped by ONE person, in ONE advertising campaign.

Let’s not forget how Soros made his money either. Keep in mind that this article is from the NYT, where they actually like (and probably fear) Soros. Ask the Brits and the Thais what they think of Soros, considering a good chunk of his money was made crushing their economies for his own personal profit. As you can read in that article he wants to crush the dollar too. This is a man who thrives on power and influence. His life’s goal has been to be noticed and have influence over world affairs. This man is frightening. This man is financing the liberal agenda. Unfortunately for McCain, he handed Soros not just a bullet, but a box of ammo to fire back at him.

You can never get the money out of politics. If the John McCain legacy teaches us anything, it should be that. So instead of getting it out, we just need to shed light on it. Don’t try to stop it, just make it obvious to everyone where it is coming from.

There goes Air America

I know, you probably thought it was already gone, but it still had a few stations around the country. However, after RR went on a Clinton tirade on film and then refused to apologize, she is quitting the station or "exercising her option".

Too bad for Air America, she is the only thing that has kept them on the air this long after their previous celebrity hosts all flopped. She was the only real "radio" person that they had. They will disappear all together now as congress renews talks of the "fairness doctrine" to try and silence Limbaugh, Hannity, Ingraham, Prager, Hewitt, Medved, Borts, Levin, Miller... the list goes on.

Classic. I think you could call this another casualty of Rush Limbaugh's Operation Chaos. :)

(Public) Islamic School in the US... as in tax payer funded

I don't know if there is anything about this one that doesn't shock and disturb me.

Main points:
- We are a melting pot, we need to encourage the melting part. Students need to learn about ALL of the things that have made this country great. My kids go to a charter school that does not teach and promote religion, but the still learned specifically that the pilgrims came here because their old government would not let them worship God the way that they wanted.
- All schools should fly the American flag... period, end of story.
- Reverse this. What if it was a Jewish charter school and the kids were all asked to where yamicas (sp?) and speak Hebrew. You can't tell me that the people at TIZA academy wouldn't be up in arms.

I don't know how to work the flag pole... pa-lease... and this man is supposed to be an educator? Tell him they need to host a boy scout troupe at the school, then they can teach him how to use the flag poll.

Looking for a Vacuum

In our last house we had a central vac and it was THE BOMB!!! When we had our current house built it was NOT an option and they wouldn't even let us bring an installer in. No bueno.

Since then we have gone through a list of HORRIBLE machines.

Here is my criteria:
- Light weight. I don't really WANT to do all of the vacuuming, so if it was light enough for the kids that would be great. Of course B would LIKE to be able to use it, so it has to be light weight.
- Good on tile. I have been sweeping the tile, but that just doesn't cut it. I need a vacuum that will be good for the tile.
- Dependable. This thing has to last with minimal help from me. I have repaired FAR too many of these things.
- Good power. By this I mean cubit feet of airflow per minute CFM. Our central vac had 240 CFM. Can you imagine that? It was so wonderful. I would tell the kids I was vacuuming their toy room and they would scramble because they knew that if they left any small toy on the floor it would soon be flying through the walls of the house at break neck speeds. I loved it. It would suck up a small dog. Beautiful machine. It's one of two things that I really miss about that house. The second was the pool because it had the BEST cleaning system. Yes, it is true I love EFFORTLESS cleaning.
- Clean. We have a bagless model right now and it is a HORRIBLE machine. Dust everywhere. No bueno on SO many levels.

Any suggestions?

I am seriously thinking about biting the bullet and having someone come out and install a central vac.

Lock 'em up

MM has an unbelievable story. I would be LIVID. I would not only have a lawyer but he would be very high on the speed dial.

Outrageous stuff.

They need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

You've GOT to be kidding me

Congrats to ABC news they found the dozen or so people in the military who are going to vote for Obama or Clinton.

Pa-lease!

I can't wait to see the post election results and see how the military voted. I can't imagine that it will be ANYTHING other than a landslide for McCain.

One of the talk show hosts pointed out the speech that McCain gave yesterday. He started it off by saying, "My fellow veterans..." He's the only candidate right now who can say that.

Number three hits four!

Check out the family blog here.

If you can't employ them, they will leave

It's the voice calling from the cotton fields of AZ. Our employer sanctions law is working beautifully. Who knew it, but if you force businesses to actually follow the law and NOT hire illegals, then the illegals can't find jobs and they... hold on to your hat... they leave.

Wow, what a concept.

MM has some great excerpts from an LA Times article here.

Things could be looking up for AZ. Nice.

The situation in Iraq

You are going to hear a lot (if you pay attention) in the next few days about the situation in Iraq. You will hear critics (including two Dem candidates for president no doubt) saying that we have failed politically, even while we have made achievements militarily. The truth is that they don't know what they are talking about. Here the truth from someone on the ground who really knows. There is a great post from a soldier on PowerLineBlog here.

Success and victory are within our grasp. A stable democracy in the middle east is quickly becoming a reality.

After week 9

So, the flavor of the month/week/day/hour :) is this. First of all after starting the week horribly I decided that I should not eat fast food if I'm alone. I say that because I usually grab fast food at lunch as a quick thing and end up eating too much through the drive through window. As a family, we really don't eat it that often, so I thought that would be a good way to moderate how much fast/unhealthy food I was eating. So that's the first thing.

Then I started watching the way my kids ate. Kyle is a snacker and a pretty good snacker at that. He loves fruit and cheese. We've even found an empty bag of chocolate chips on more than one occasion. Pretty sneaky considering it was a big bag and we never really caught on. Hmmm.... got to watch that kid. Hunter is more like me, he eats what you put in front of him. If he likes it, he eats a lot of it. Fortunately his metabolism can take it right now and if he keeps this up he'll be about 6'4'' tall and he'll still be able to eat quite a bit. The one I found intriguing was Jacob. He eats an enormous breakfast, for instance, yesterday I made french bread french toast and bacon for breakfast. Jacob ate four full pieces of the toast (I ate two) and four pieces of bacon, plus a glass of milk. Lunch, he backs off quite a bit and he hardly eats ANYTHING for dinner. That's just what he does day in and day out naturally, but it seems like a pretty good plan.

So... my current deal is:
- no candy, no ice cream for 2008 (my new year's resolution)
- no fast food while I'm by myself (this means bringing lunch from home)
- Big breakfast, small lunch, small dinner
- no snacking
- no eating after 8pm (period)

I have been doing this for about three days (laugh here). I was up a few pounds for the week when I started, but after the last three days, ended a pound down for the week. We'll see how long it lasts, but right now it doesn't seem too bad. I really get to eat at breakfast, but have to behave at lunch and only really feel the pinch in the late afternoon and then again when I get my late night cravings.

Anyway, that's for the eating. The writing... that definitely took a hit this week. We started a small group on Thursday evenings to go through a marriage study, which meant that my normal writing night was spent cleaning, sweeping and mopping. I thought I would move my writing night to Sunday nights, since I never like to go to bed on Sundays anyway (you know, because if you go to bed that means that you have to get up and go to work on Monday, it's a denial thing). Unfortunately that didn't happen last night because of some of some other stuff going on.

Weigh in: 238 lbs 68 lbs to go
Writing: 0 pages, 6 pages total

Pelosi has no shame... let alone class

Nancy Pelosi has proven herself to be the preschooler standing there with her fingers in her ears humming and screaming because she doesn't want to hear the truth that she is being told.

It is a shame and quite frankly ridiculous that you have an adult, a grandmother, a Speaker of the House who would have so much disrespect and contempt for a gifted leader in our armed forces like Gen. Petraeus. This man took a bad situation, I mean BAD, and completely turned it around. One of the posts I read from Michael Yon said that there just isn't that much fighting in the country any more. Compare that with two years ago and congress (along with the rest of America) should be doing what our armed forces are doing and sing the praises of this military genius.

Here is a story about Petraeus that should give you a glimpse into the kind of leader and the kind of person that he is. I am quoting from Michael Yon's site. CAUTION: The whole story is here, but I don't think it is something that everyone will be able to read. If you accept and understand that the enemy that we are fighting is evil, pure evil, then don't read it. If you have any doubt, reading the whole post will definitely clear it up for you and leave you emotionally scarred from just reading it. So... if you are a normal human being and can't handle the reality of the evil that we face just read this.

A couple weeks ago, LTC Fred Johnson told me a story about General Petraeus.
Back when LTC Johnson was Captain Johnson, and General Petraeus was Colonel
Petraeus, Colonel Petraeus was Captain Johnson’s new commander. They were doing a live-fire exercise at a range at Fort Campbell when a young soldier named
Specialist Terrence Jones tripped and accidentally fired his weapon while
conducting a live-fire assault. The bullet from Specialist Jones’ weapon struck
Colonel Petraeus, slamming through his chest and taking a piece of his back on
the way out. Petraeus fell to the ground, bleeding out of his mouth. He nearly
died. We could have lost one of the most important and influential military
leaders in generations to a mistake. To a professional misstep.

The best that Captain Johnson and Specialist Jones might have hoped for was a painless end to their military service. I asked LTC Fred Johnson about the story of his own soldier shooting David Petraeus, and I asked how it could be that Johnson
was still in the military.

Johnson looked me in the eye and said something like, “Mike. You know what Petraeus did?”

“What?” I asked.

“He gave me a second chance.”Fred Johnson actually got picked up for promotion early.

“But what happened to the young soldier?” I asked, thinking surely there had to be a consequence. Conventional wisdom stipulates that for balance to be restored
after accidentally shooting and nearly killing a superior officer, a sacrifice
of some magnitude is necessary. A soldier just can’t shoot a commander in the
chest and walk away. There is no such thing as an “accidental
discharge.” Unplanned bullet launches are called “negligent
discharges.” As in negligent homicide.

LTC Johnson answered something like, “Mike, you won’t believe how Jones was punished. Petraeus sent Jones to Ranger School.”

I couldn’t believe my ears! That’s a punishment that a lot of young soldiers dream about, even though Ranger School is a very difficult course. But after thinking on it awhile, I realized it probably explains why LTC Johnson sometimes says, “I believe in second chances.”

Fred Johnson said it just the other day. He said it to me, “When someone gives you a second chance, you should pass it along.”

That's the kind of men who are fighting this war. That's the kind of leader that Pelosi should be, but clearly isn't.

Praise God that we have men like General David Petraeus. He should be treated with the utmost respect. I think it’s obvious that he’s earned it.

The Real Problem in Mexico

This story goes to the root of the real problem in Mexico. Which of course isn't that the rich white people to the north won't let their citizens come here and work so they can send money back home. It's that their OWN political system is filled with so much corruption that it's just become accepted.

Good grief, we've had governors, mayors, congressman and even presidents that can't seem to keep their belts fastened and we wring them out and hang them out to dry! Dirty politicians beware! Eventually we'll catch up to you! Can you imagine if one of them was running illegal drugs into another country?! Come on!

This is what REAL government oppression looks like

I get so tired of the Ted Rall, left wing, aluminum hat wearing, paranoid, conspiracy theory, nut cases in the US that say that George Bush hijacked the 2000 election, imprisoned American citizens without due process, listened in on opponents phone calls and emails... the list goes on.

These people are ridiculous because they have no idea what government oppression really looks like. And how could they? They live in the United States, which if they stopped to notice, has done more to spread freedom and liberty than any other nation in history.

Seeing what is happening on the other side of the globe just makes me sad. Real freedom fighters, real patriots, real victims of government oppression are suffering as they yearn for the freedoms the Ted Rall neglects to notice that he is using.

EVERYONE should call foul when we see this.

Global Warming Hoax

It might be one of the best money making scheme that we have seen in decades. Global warming... save the planet... buy my light bulbs, hybrid car, Eco-friendly dish washing detergent... you get the picture, you've seen the adds. And you will see more of them. Al Gore is starting a new campaign involving HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS to raise awareness about climate change (because it isn't enough to teach it to your kids in school).

Of course if he really wanted to do something good with the money there are several REAL charities that could benefit. But who cares about starving AIDS orphans in Africa that might die next week when there is a looming crisis (that is perpetually 30... 40... 50 years away).

Anyway, as you are deluged with stories about polar bears dying and ice caps melting, just keep this story in mind and ask yourself what this is really all about.

Quite simply it's about $. Al Gore is one of the founders of leading supplier of "carbon credits". Which really cracks me up when he says he is "carbon neutral" because he offsets his emissions with these credits. Of course, he buys the credits from HIS company. Hmmm... interesting.

It's also about fear. It goes back to the idea that if you can convince people that #1 they are miserable OR there is a looming catastrophe... then #2 you give them a source for the misery OR a cause for the catastrophe... then #3 you can present yourself or your idea as the thing to save people from their misery/catastrophe. The end result is control, regulation, less liberty, less freedom... more power to the government.

Saul Alinksi would be so proud.

A Disturbing Glimpse into Hillary's Pattern of Lies

Wow, I have to say that most of my bosses have like me.

I wouldn't imagine that ANY of them would refuse to write a recommendation for me.

But I KNOW that none of them would say anything like this.

Maybe she didn't learn her skills in deceit from her hubby. Maybe it was the opposite.

Planned Parenthood is not only using YOUR tax dollars, but getting RICH off of them

That's right! Your tax dollars are not only being used to fund abortions but they are getting rich doing it. Total assets of PP are over $1 billion. How sad is that.

Check out this piece by MM and then sign the petition to stop tax funding to PP.

Here is the link for the petition.
http://www.stopplannedparenthoodtaxfunding.com/

FYI, over 40 million babies in the US have been murdered since Roe v Wade. Can you imagine that?

40 million, and "providers" like Planned Parenthood profit from hit. Partially from your tax dollars.

Great Post from MM on the Mortgage Bailout

There is a great post here from MM about the mortgage bailout and how ridiculous it is.

I understand that this is a big problem for a lot of families, but an even bigger problem for a lot of investors who took a gamble and lost. That's called risk. Every investor makes it. I've still got capital losses that are carrying over from bad risks. That's the game that investors play.

I remember when we got out current mortgage, the representative was really pushing an ARM and I finally said, no I want a fixed rate. This is a problem between businesses and private citizens. It has nothing to do with the government. The government needs to stay out of how banks run there mortgage business. If they had done that in the first place, we might not even be in this mess.

What Hillary REALLY Forgot About her Tuzla Trip

A frightening and moving piece from Christopher Hitchens on Hillary's trip to Bosnia and more importantly the calculating and compromising that the Clintons are infamous for.

Will history forgive them?

It's one thing to make mistakes and admit them, but its a whole different scenario to deny them and then bank on the forgetful public to try and turn the whole thing to your advantage.

Shameful.

After week 8

It was a challenging week. I went a little too crazy with the soda and WAY to crazy with eating out at fast food. I managed to stay true to the no candy/no ice cream pledge, but I can say that I definitely substituted this week with additional other junk.

I kind of restarted on the writing. I just didn’t like the previous start, it really didn’t flow and the beginning dialog came off really cheesy. I think the new start that I did this week was a lot better. At least it feels that way to me. I’m very excited for my writing day this week, I think I just need to stay up as late as I need and just keep going with it. Maybe I should set some crazy goal like 10 pages or something.

We’ll see.

Weight: 239 lbs, 69 lbs to go. Getting stagnant here. No bueno.
Writing: 3 pages, 6 total, but the 3 replaced the previous 3, so really 3 total.

Dogs

Okay, there is just something about a well trained dog that just gets me.



Check this one out.