franklin's Tower

There is a bell mentioned in this song, name that bell...

Too much

There is too much going on in the world at at large and in my own little slice right now to even contemplate picking an interesting topic for my 6 (yes, it has grown) readers. I could mention what an ididot Blago is, but we all know that. I could mention that the picture of Obama in his bathing suit was staged, it had to be, it couldn't have been taken surrepticioulsy, the secret service wouldn't have allowed it. I could write about the Knowledge tree in West Chester, I could rip apart Karen Porter again. I could wish every one a happy new year, or I could gripe about the shortening of the Mummers Parade.
Add to that the situation in Gaza, with the idiots on that stupid mission to save them all from a luxury yacht...
I could blog about some stupid top ten list that some other blogger has created, I could write my own top ten list that no one cares about.
So I won't blog, I will wait till tomorrow. If any of my dear readers has an idea or would like to see me introduce a topic, feel free to comment...

So ya like multiculturalism?

I have argued for years that it is wrong to change this country from a melting pot to a salad bowl. The immigrants to a melting pot assimilate, they become Americans while the immigrants in a salad bowl society never assimilate, keeping their own national identities and norms. This is insane and will be the main reason this wonderful country is beginning to fail. Take slavery for instance. Slavery is alive and well in most of Africa, the middle east, and some developing countries here in the west (think Mexico). Now, as we have allowed the leftists to take over and force us to accept multiculturalism, we are beginning to see slavery right here in the United States again, only this time, if we say anything about it we are bigoted racists.
The African kids are not the only ones though, in larger cities we see former soviet bloc girls forced to work in the sex trades, not just in their own countries, but right here in the U.S.
Every town where there is a large contingent of illegal Mexicans there is also a house full of young girls forced to service those immigrants.
This is wrong, this needs to stop, and the left needs to end the hypocrisy that is multiculturalism.

Hope?

There is the usual bluster and bull-crap from the usual sources over the ongoing Israeli strikes in Gaza. These strikes were and are in direct response to the constant rocket attacks from the area. I would imagine that if there were constant rocket attacks from an area of Mexico or Canada the United States would act to stop those attacks. Normally, the world ignores everything Hamas does or says (unless it says truce, which is actually Hudna), but, there is a glimmer of hope in an Arab News article.

Ihsanoglu said he would soon call for a meeting of the OIC executive committee
to discuss the situation in Gaza and urged the international community to take
urgent action “to end Israeli violations and protect the Palestinian
people.”

And

While most shared their condemnation, some felt the Hamas should be blamed as
well. “Hamas should be ashamed,” said one Saudi who didn’t want his name
published. “There is no good reason for provoking the Israeli strikes on Gaza.
Their arrogance didn’t solve anything; it only made it worse for the people who
had been hit.”

It is statements like these that hint at a growing exasperation with the Palestinian attacks on Israel as well as a possible understanding that Terrorism hurts the cause of Islam.

One can hope.

Gorebull Warming over?

The first, on May 21, headed "Climate change threat to Alpine ski resorts" , reported that the entire Alpine "winter sports industry" could soon "grind to a halt for lack of snow". The second, on December 19, headed "The Alps have best snow conditions in a generation" , reported that this winter's Alpine snowfalls "look set to beat all records by New Year's Day".

I am hoping I can stop obsessing over this malarky in the coming year. I know there will be remnants of the Gorebul Warming religion out there, trying hard to destroy the economy of the United States over a myth, but it may be that cooler heads wil prevail, once again. We have hit another low, as we did with Carter, and I truly believe that the Obama Presidency will be four years or less (resignation over scandals) and when he is done, this country will once again retrun to the conservative ideals that made us the greatest nation in the world.

Merry Christmas

Somewhere, out there
Just on the edge or our sight
There is someone,
Someone who needs you
Needs us
To show the way
(not just at this time,
not just this year)
to demonstrate with deeds
actions
and words
Why
Why we help
Why we care
Why we love
And
Why we celebrate
(not just at this time,
not just this year)
To do so is simple, really
No special robes
No fancy books
Just a touch,
Just a look
Or
An unexpected smile
The specifics are not the reason
Not the candles
Not the tree
Not even the birth
The reason is love
Love for all
Shown by all
And
Carried forward,
(not just at this time,
not just this year)

Charity

We all know who gives more, Conservatives do, and if we were not taxed out the wazoo, we would give even more. It only stands to reason, heck, more of us go to church. We are the Boy Scouts, we are the VFW, we are the backbone of this country. I guess by now any liberal that has accidently found this post is ready to move on, but wait, here is the proof:

A study by Google found an even greater disproportion: average annual contributions reported by conservatives were almost double those of liberals.

This is written by a liberal, who is in shock over the results of his own personal study, Liberals are generous with other peoples money, but stingy with their own. I could have told him that.

Secret Recipe

I am one of those, I used to think that keeping a recipe secret made it special. One of them, for wing sauce, was secret due to a non-disclosure agreement, the other, a cookie recipe, made me feel like I was the only one who could make these cookies. These cookies are wonderful and I should not be the only person who makes them. Enjoy:

1.5 cups oatmeal
1.5 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda
.5 tsp salt
(sift dry ingredients and mix)
1 cup shortning (I use .5 C butter flavor Crisco and .5C butter)
1 eggs, beaten

Add wet to dry, mix thorougly.
drop by spoon onto greased (only the first batch) baking sheet and bake for 13 minutes at 350 degrees f.

Good luck!

I am Embarrassed

I have to put the whole embarrassing article in the blog, I have to. The reality of what is happening has to get out, even if it is on a small blog like mine. I am a Union worker, a steward actually, hoping to reform the union from within. Our union was swallowed by a bigger union, and now we are royally screwed...yeah, I used foul language, read on to find out why:

Mike Fishman Honored for Immigration Work
Mike Fishman, President of 32BJ (right) with Rubén Beltrán, Mexico´s General Consul in New York (left)
Mike Fishman, President of 32BJ, was recently honored by the Mexican organization Asociación Tepeyac for the union's work and commitment to the defense of immigrant workers' rights.
At the ceremony, Fishman offered words of support for all of the hardworking undocumented workers living in the US. "We should find a way to deal with immigration that doesn't include building walls between countries," said Mike Fishman. "And the twelve million immigrants, who are here without proper documentation, should be able to have a path to citizenship."
Other awardees included Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan, Ambassador of Mexico to the US, Albor Ruiz, Columnist for the NY Daily News, and Professor Robert Smith from Baruch College.

My union, defending illegal workers, what has happened to unions? It is a fact that illegal workers drive down wages, a freakin' fact. Here we have the head of a union defending this, and defending ILLEGAL activity. This man shouldn't be rewarded, he should be fired.

cognitive dissonance

The title of this post is Cognitive Dissonance (CD), which is a term describing the insanity of holding two conflicting truths in ones own mind; or something to that effect. This is something we have seen over and over from the left, the biggest one being the right to kill a late term baby Vs. the non-right to kill a cop-killer. There is another example though that might just be coming to an end soon, and that would b a good thing for our country.
First, we have the group Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism, or QUIT. They tend to carry signs at many left wing protest marches, proudly supporting a group of people who want them gone, if not DEAD.
So, the practice of CD on display.
Well, now we have a leftist leader, we have leftists in control of both houses of Congress, and we have the UN issuing a Gay Rights Declaration, which the US has not signed. Oh, neither have 60 other countries, most of them Arab, and all of them from the pool of 77 countries where homosexuality is illegal. I am hoping this wakes up the queers to the fact that America is not the oppressive place they claim it is, and that our actions in backwards societies such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and even the territories called Palestine, further the cause of the LGBT community.
Okay, I threw-up a little in my mouth when I wrote that last sentence, but in the essence of equality and fairness I had to. (Do not take the word marriage from us boring hetero's please, there, my right wing is showing.)

Really though, most of us on the right just want to live our lives in the greatest nation that has ever graced the planet, we don't care what two (or more) adults do in privacy with consent, we don't march to deny any one rights, we do not discriminate, and we want everyone, regardless of protected status, on our side in the Global War on Terror.
That being said, there is no room in my army for the racists that seem to be climbing out of the woodwork in Europe in response to the ant-jihad movement, those types I surely do not want.

A great read

While I was at the library the other day I picked up, among other things, Michael Crichton's State of Fear, It was a great book, sometimes overloaded with characters, but that is how Crichton writes. If you want to buy it, go here, no this is not an ad for Amazon, I just have never had a problem buying used books from any of the sellers linked. Or, grab it from your local library, READ this book.
It is fiction, to a point, just like most of his works, he cites actual studies, he researches very well, and comes to some startling conclusions.
While not fully denouncing AGW (Anthropological Global Warming or Anthropogenic Global Warming), Crichton does call out the hysteria for what it is, NOT based on science. He does this in a manner that is not only easy to understand but fun to read.
Seriously, go find this book, take the time to read it, very interesting.

I may have been wrong

In a comment below, I linked the reporter that Mr. Obama cut off to Blagojevich...it was the entire editorial staff of the Chicago Tribune blago wanted fired...
A criminal complaint filed in federal court outlines wiretapped conversations between Blagojevich and his chief of staff—who also was arrested Tuesday—in which the governor said he wanted the Tribune to fire its editorial board, which has called for the Illinois House to explore impeaching the governor. In one wiretapped comment in the complaint, Blagojevich is quoted as saying the Tribune's owner should be told to "fire those [expletive]."

Of course if the journalist in question was part of that staff, I was right, but I am too lazy to do the extra research, and a tad busy researching tractor parts as well. Oh, that and 12 hour shifts, if anyone has a link to a union contract with a 12 hour shift in it, please feel free to send it along.

Update: the name of the reporter is the same as an editor on the Tribune staff, John McCormick, however it is not the same person.

A great Country

Yanno what, we still live in the greatest country on the planet. It is going to tak emore than Barack Hussein Obama to bring us down. Here I sit, in a public library, on a public computer, typing away on a blog, and I fear no retribution. I know that what I type is not going to bring the power down on me. Sure, there are web-sites I cn not visit while on this computer, but that is how it should be, it is not my computer and not my space, there should be rules.
If anyone gripes to you about this country, point out that one can still dissent without going to jail, no matter wahat the nutty left wingers say.
Oh, and ask them how the flow of immingrants is going, both legal and illegal. When that slows down to a mere torrent, from flood stage, maybe we can talk about the downfall of America.

Arrogance? or A sign of what is to come

Now a question is "wasted"? I was under the impression that the media was to ask any question of anyone, at least that is how it has been for the past eight years. Hmmm, maybe dissent is not patriotic anymore, I guess we will have four years of a lock-stpe media, if they want access anyway.

Like I have written before, it is going to be interesting.

Tammy says it best

This ad should be seen by everyone, but John McCain and Newt Gingrich do not agree. Where are the real republicans? There are unanswered questions, and if we do not push the issue, no one will, surely not the media...

Tammy Bruce has other links

School Choice?

In the state of Illinois, the Chicago school district ranks 778 out of 842 districts in the state. SO it only stands to reason that the man who is responsible for those failing schools is now going to be in charge of the eduction department of the Obama administration.
Now, I re-read my constitution the other day and found not one word regarding the federal governments involvement in the education of our children, that is the duty of the individual localities, I won't even give it to the states. We all benefit from an educated society, it is worth the expense, however, it is not the duty of the federal government. I understand that when localities extend the begging hand along comes the regulations, but it is getting disgusting. How can our next President justify appointing the head of a failing district?

Oh, and just for the record, when will the hypocrites that are democrat politicians start to send their kids to these failing schools? No, they send their offspring to the schools that they deny the rest of us by fighting the school voucher program. (I am against any federal money going to schools, be they public or private, vouchers should be local.)

Religion of ????

BAGHDAD: Iraqis and other Arabs erupted in glee yesterday at the shoe attack on US President George W. Bush. Far from a joke, many in the Middle East saw the act by an Iraqi journalist as heroic, expressing the deep, personal contempt many feel for the American leader they blame for years of bloodshed, chaos and the suffering of civilians.

So the members of the religion of pieces are happy that one of their own insulted the very leader that gave them the right to publicly insult leaders? That is funny, really, they are just like the leftists here in America. One of the things I have always felt is that there should be no flag burning amendment, let the idiots prove in public how stupid they are, burning the symbol of the only country that allows them to do so.
I guarantee that not one of those journalists that are now cheering would have tossed a shoe at Saddam, and none of them would throw one at Amadinajad or even one of the Saudi princes. Think about that for a minute or two.

Just WOW

I must admit, Charliedelta found this. I can't link back 'cause they use too many...uhhhh...non family words on the blog, but the ideas are still good. Oh well, listen, it is incredible.

Back to my favorite

The following quote says it all about our incoming President:
Obama is stacking his Cabinet and inner circle with advocates who have pushed for deep mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas pollution and even with government officials who have achieved results at the local level.

Mandatory means that unproven fear-mongering will cost us all more than we can afford. The other statement in that article about the hottest years 'on record' are so misleading that it scares me. Are people so out of touch that they do not understand that the 'record' is such a small percentage of the life-span of the Earth as to be laughable in terms of scientific inquiry?

This is going to be an interesting 4 years.

Weekend Dead

Love 'em or hate 'em, ya gotta admit they loved to play.

More media Bias

So it really is not a shock that there is media bias towards Mr. Obama, heck, they admitted it during and after the campaign. What now bothers me is the lack of reporting by the media on the scandal in Illinois and how the new administration is connected and the continued reverence of Mr. Obama at the expense of President Bush. Take the following facts into consideration. There is a guest house in D.C. that is used by the President and it is available to the incoming President on the 15^th of January. That is the tradition. The Obama family asked for special dispensation to move into the guest house early and were informed by the current administration that the property is booked until the traditional turn-over date. One would expect this to not be a news item, both sides of the issue claim it is a non-issue, but someone in the media decided it was a story. So, instead of being honest and having the headline read: "Mr. Obama asks to move in early" the headline is: Sorry, We're Booked, White House Tells Obama. The request was made by the Obama camp, not by the White House but the New York Times tries to make it seem the other way around, understanding the fact that many people do not read past headlines such as that.

This may seem trivial but it is just more proof of the entitlement mentality of the incoming administration and the complicit media that is going to usher in Socialism.

I sure do hope I am wrong.

Nice Try Mr. Obama

Since I spend some time over at Little Green Footballs I have learned quite a bit about the Country of Israel. I have also worked for a family that was of the Jewish persuasion and we were able to speak freely about Israel and the settlements. This was a family against building any more settlements that Israel wouldn’t be able to protect, they saw the settlers as wayward children clamoring for what the felt they deserved. This is not my opinion, I do not know enough about it to have that deep of an opinion, this is the opinion of the wife of a man that was there in 1968, lost friends in 1968, and was not shy about sharing.

So now, I read an article over at Fox that basically dooms Israel to a first strike by Iran. Mr. Obama has graciously told Israel that the United States will retaliate for them if Iran were to ever attack with a nuclear weapon…gee, I am sure all the dead Israeli’s will appreciate that Mr. Obama.

The slow wheels of Justice

A former Illinois bank official, now claiming whistleblower status, says bank officials replaced a loan reappraisal that he prepared for a Chicago property that was purchased by the wife of now-convicted felon Tony Rezko, part of which was later sold to next-door neighbor Barack Obama.

In a complaint filed Thursday in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Kenneth J. Connor said that his reappraisal of Rita Rezko's property was replaced with a higher one and that he was fired when he questioned the document.

Not much else to say, other than the Illinois Governor was just arrested as well, what a wonderful place our next President cut his teeth.

"The workers who are asking for the benefits and payments that they have earned, I think they're absolutely right and understand that what's happening to them is reflective of what's happening across this economy," Obama said.


Two different stories on the same issue, the workers that have taken over a window factory. Neither story has any quotes from the business owners and no caveat that says the business owners refused to comment. This tells me the business owners have commented and those comments do not fit the meme the media, Jesse Jackson and Senator Obama want pushed.

"They're for loans and credit to businesses just like Republic," he said Monday while visiting the plant site. "We have been sending billions of dollars to banks like Bank of America and the reason we have sent them the money is to tell them that they had to loan this money out to companies just like Republic so that we can keep these companies in business and not lose these jobs here in the United States."

Quite possibly the most inane thing I have read about the whole buy-out mess. NO, banks are not to loan my money to failing businesses, they are not to loan my money to bad risk clients and they are not to make any sub-prime mortgages with my money. Why is it so hard to understand that a large part of the mess we are in is the unsecured loans that banks were making. I know, it did not stop there, but it started there. Now the government is trying, once again, to force banks to make bad loans.

Oh, and those benefits the workers are demanding, instead of looking for new jobs, are severance pay and vacation pay. I would have sympathy for them if they wanted back pay, but they are asking for money they did not work for…this is nuts.

Congress and the White House inched toward a financial rescue of the Big Three auto makers, negotiating legislation that would give the U.S. government a substantial ownership stake in the industry and a central role in its restructuring.

So call me silly, but is there any out there that the federal government does better than the private sector? No, the answer is NO. Now our wonderful congress people want to add the auto-makers to the banks in this insane scheme to nationalize everything. This is insane, nuts, COMUNISTIC. When will the rest of the Country wake up? Serisoulsy, when? I know, over 50% voted for this type of government, but that was over 50% of registered voters, not over 50% of the adult population. When will the apathetic realize that the apathy they cling to is going to be the destruction of this great nation?
Idiocy it is, sheer idiocy. The economy is crashing, sure, but that is our own damn faults and we should all pay for it. That is the way the world works, that is the way nature works. Grow up people, take responsibility to your actions, lose when it is time to lose, win when it is time to win and accept both with heads held high. STOP looking to be held up by others, they should be taking care of them selves and so should you.

Recycling

So now the recycling business is going to pot with the rest of the economy. I find this rather humorous to be quite honest. It costs money to collect all that stuff, then it costs money to sort it, then, to actually use it costs even more, not only in terms of money but in energy and waste. Is it a bad thing that we throw away so much? Sure it is, but it is ‘cheaper’ that way, not only in economic terms but in ecologic terms. Even the returnable bottles are a drain on the ecology with the extra washing required.
Recycling is a ‘feel good’ boondoggle foisted upon us by the eco-commies, and I am happy that the companies that have been getting rich on my trash are now struggling. I am not happy that employees are being laid off, that part sucks, but the fact that maybe, just maybe, recycling will go the way of the dodo bird makes me smile

The new toy

There is a new toy in the family this week! Maybe this is a way to inject lightness into my otherwise dull and political blog. The picture is of a Case 480 CK with loader. It is about 40 years old and runs well. We have been having fun taking care of the basics, learning how it ticks, and looking for things to lift and carry!

World War Three

There will be discussions over when WWIII started, was it in Beirut? Was it in Iraq? Or maybe in Manhattan. All of those are good guesses, but the straw may have just hit the camel, in India. First, the Indian government blames Pakistan for the attacks on Mumbai last week which most likely is true. This accusation is riling up the citizens of India who are now yelling:

"Down down Pakistan, attack Pakistan," they shouted angrily. "Hail India, shame shame politicians."

So, in fifty years, when we are asked where we were when WWIII started, we may have to add the Mumbai attacks of Nov. 30, 2008 to our list of atrocities remembered.

Personal responsibility

I guess personal responsibility is my new rant. It is tiresome to continue to read about the coming generation and how they “…lie, steal, cheat at 'alarming' rates…”. This of course follows the election of a man the media did not question at all, leaving his past out of our consciousness. When did this start? Could it have been the 60’? or how about the 50’s, right after the war, everyone doing well, and teens really rebelling. Maybe it was the 40’s, when FDR told the country that he would make work, he would save us in our old age, don’t save for your self, don’t better yourself, we’ll take care of you.
It could have been farther back, it could have been just parts of the whole, but what ever happened, it is disgusting.
We can’t punish our own kids, schools can’t punish the kids. There are no more failing grades and teachers are afraid to ‘give’ less then a B anyway. The teachers are leaning more left every year, ignoring basic facts to push a failed ideology.
“Teach your Children Well…” we were told, by a leftists no less, and yet, we seem to have forgotten that simple thought.
Perhaps we need more exposure to the Ten Commandments rather than fighting to remove them from sight.
Just a thought.

Not a good thing

I can’t say that I like this too much. Planting armed troops inside the United States was NEVER the desire of the founding fathers. Way back when Rumsfeld made a comment, or was it Powell, regarding being diligent about what your neighbor was doing, I began to be a tad afraid that the President Bush Administration was trying to militarize the entire country. I am not a BDS sufferer, I voted for the man, I was more afraid of Powell then anyone, really, as he wasn’t nearly as conservative as President Bush. Now, it seems that the rest of the Administration is not as conservative as I am, and even President Bush is a far cry from the man I thought I help elect.
There is no justification for using the military to do civilian work. If the civilian forces can not handle things, we need to beef up our response teams with civilian volunteers, not military people. We will have the horrible situation of military members standing guard over our own citizens…this is not a good thing.