I Couldn't Resist

As of a few minutes ago.

Look at the chart since November 6, 2012.

We are so screwed.

Shopping

 

Tonight I decided to take the Young'un shopping. She had money in her pocket from some work she did a few days ago and had decided that her backpack was no longer serviceable.

Some of her friends (she is about a month short of 8) were carrying a new style of book bag called a Messenger style; meaning that instead of having two straps and holding the weight on your back, this one had one strap and hung off your side.

Rumor had it- one of her friends at school had told her- that the local Kohl's had them for $4.99. And she had $10.00. So we went to Kohls.

Now I am not much of a shopper. I have a store I go to when I need clothes, because no place local has my size in dress pants or shirts. And I go to Wal-mart. Kohls is unfamiliar territory.

So first order of business was to find out where the backpacks were. The Young'un is a take charge person, and has no problem asking questions. The first person we saw who worked there did not know where the backpacks were. The second person did. Allegedly. He sent us to the far northwest corner of the store. after a few minutes fruitless search we asked again for the backpacks.

Guess what? Their in the southeast corner of the store, right next to the door we entered. so we trekked all the way BACK across the store, to between menswear and shoes, in the luggage department.

And this is where the world ended.

They didn't have any Messenger style book bags. And then the tears started. Her friends lied to her. Her friends HATED her. She hated her friends because they lied to her. But she kept looking. And found a $25 Nike bag.

When I refused to buy it,  Then I was the one that hated her and had lied to her. Her backpack was old (we bought it at the start of the school year, when it was 'the bomb') she needed a new backpack, and this one was pink.

My reminders that we had come into the store for a $5.00 book bag did not mean we would buy a $25.00 one as a consolation prize were not even listened too. The whole world and God Almighty were all against her. The world would end and she would not have a good book bag.

DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA!

I have raised 5 sons. In over 25 years of raising 5 boys from infancy to adulthood I did not have as much DRAMA as I have had with this Young'un in the last year.

I took her to get a pair of shoes a few weeks ago. With her Dad and her Uncles it was a 5 minute trip. Here's the price range and here's your size; pick out a pair of shoes. They picked out a pair of shoes and out the door we went. With the Young'un it took 25 minutes just to narrow down the selections to a couple of hundred pair, most of which were too big; too small or too pricey. We literally spent 45 minutes in the shoe aisle at Wal-Mart AND DID FIND A PAIR TO BUY!!!!!

I decided right then and there, and I do mean RIGHT then and RIGHT there never to shop with her again.

I didn't think tonight would be a shopping trip. But it was.

So right here and now I am making a vow.

I am not going to step into a store with the Young'un again. I want to enjoy the few remaining hairs I have left.

If 26 Secede, Who Wins?

I heard about htes petitions the other day, and found several on line.

But these are the 'OFFICIAL' ones, on the White House.gov website.

There is one for Kentucky, and by my count about 20 other states.

I haven't signed up yet, basically because it requires you to registered with the White House site first.

It is also interetsing that several petitions have cropped up requiring anybody who has signed one of thes epetitions to lose their citizenship. Interestingly enough, each state's petition has at least 3,000 signatures; the same as the petition to remove citizenship does nationally.

I can't remember if it was an Irish Blessing or an Irish curse that said "May you live in Interesting times."

And So It Begans

Trouble with the economy is just beginning my friends.

Hostess is just the latest symptom of the sickness, along with the Stock Market and restaurants, like Papa Johns.

Welcome to the Greater Depression.

If Romney had been elected last Tuesday the press would already be calling the most recent Stock Market crash "Romney's Recession".

I haven't been following the Hostess deal until today, but here are the basic facts: Interstate Brands- the Hostess predecessor- went thorough bankruptcy a few years ago, and came out as Hostess. Now Hostess is in Bankruptcy, and as part of the reorganization has renegotiated their union contracts, which included an 8% pay cut and greater contributions towards their health insurance. Welcome to the New Normal. These changes tended to upset the unions, who promptly went on strike, in selected locations.

Hostess had now closed those locations.

The unions will scream and shout. And then go on on unemployment for 99 weeks. Welcome to the New Normal.

If another company buys the plant and reopens it, it most likely will not be a union plant, and the wages will be lower again by 50%. So, if those workers do happen to find employment there, they won't be down by their 8%, but by 50%, or more.

But that is what has to happen. Companies can't compete by paying a union wage.

Apparently they can't compete anymore by having employees work over 28 hours a week either. Welcome to the New Normal.

People will have less and less money, and its not just from crashing wages. If the reports are to be believed, $2,000 to $4,000 a year more will go to the Federal Government because of the repeal of the Bush tax cuts in January; $40 to $80 a week, or thereabouts. About a tank of gas, depending on what you drive; unless it starts going up, like I expect it to.

And the cost of fuel will drive everything else up; everything that requires energy to manufacture, package or ship.

Food and fuel going up; paychecks going down. Guess who gets squeezed in the middle?

Anybody still trying to get by earning a wage.

Welcome to the New Normal.

Honor and Respect

Veterans are a special breed.

We have done things no civilian probably has. Some of us had it easy. I like to brag, especially around guys who were in the Army or Marines at the same time I was in the Air Force, that in four years of service to my country I never spent a night without a soft mattress under my butt and a cold beer in the fridge a few steps away.

I especially like to let that 'slip out' after the conversations about 6 weeks in the field during training with only a Saturday Night Shower; or tales of being at sea for 6 months.

But even those guys had it easy, compared to the combat vets. The men who fought from Normandy to Berlin. The men who had ships blown out from under them in the Pacific. The men who then spent two years in Korea. Or Vietnam; the Gulf War; Iraq or Afghanistan or countless other situations where our military men and women have willfully gone into harm's way.

There are other, earlier wars, going all the way back to the Revolution, but veterans of those conflicts are no longer with us, according to Wikipedia.

There are those who hope our country creates no more combat veterans, I among them. War is, as General Sherman described it, Hell. The fewer young men and women we put into that Hell the better.

But I know that is, at least for now an unattainable goal. The world is not full of peace and light and unicorns.

It's full of Iran and Al-Qeada.

We cannot fight Al-Qeada with good will and happy thoughts. We have tried that in the past.

It caused September 11, 2001.

We are seeing the effects again of our slackening resolve against Al-Qeada, with the increasing attacks in Afghanistan. This isn't the 1960's. We can't be the proverbial hippy, poking daisies in the gun barrels we face. The finger on that trigger isn't a well disciplined National Guardsman; its an uneducated young Moslem, hyped up on thoughts of revenge for imagined slights.

So we will, by necessity, create another generation of veterans. We'll send them off to do our dirty work, pray for them while they're gone and honor them when they return; either with a parade, or a flag-draped casket. It is only through our resolve to create and use that force, and, more importantly, the willingness of our young men and women to volunteer to do that dirty work, that this country is and will remain free.

To honor them, every year we set aside a day to recall and honor those men and women, their service, and their sacrifice.

Today is that day.

Take a minute today to thank a veteran you know; I think they have earned it.

Friday NIght at the Movies XI

I watched Peggy Sue Got Married Friday night. Lots of interesting things going on right there, and lots of sweet cars. It is 1960 after all.

I had never seen it before, but it was about the only thing on Netflix, so what the Hell? If it's junk I can turn it off.

Like I said; lots of interesting things going on in this movie. But the one that caught my attention was this; can you imagine trying to find your desk in home room 25 years later?

Or take an algebra test?

Certain things just make you stop and think.

Now: solve for y in the following equation:

Ah... who am I kidding? I could even write an algebraic equation, much less solve one!

ReStore Score

The Cincinnati Chapter of Habitat for Humanity has a series of stores that sell home goods and building supplies they call the ReStore. Some are new, others used or antique. They also have appliances, both new and used. Until today all of the stores were on the Ohio side of the river, and since the only thing I buy up there is Yuegling Beer, I never had the opportunity to visit.

Today they opened a store on the good side of the river out on US 42, on left just past Mall Road. If you're local, those are enough directions. If your not local, what the Hell do you care where it's located? Since I was out in the Florence area anyway dropping in to see the grandsons I decided to stop by.

I probably shouldn't have. I could have spent $500 in there today. As it was, I spent just over $100. But what a deal! I also agree with the premise; donate the used stuff that still has life in to save space n the landfills and to allow cheapskates like me access to inexpensive, quality goods. Plus, whoever does the donating gets to cheat Obama out of a few bucks. Win-Win- WIN!!!!!

I have been needing a new garage door. The old one is still serviceable. Meaning it does go up and down, and does at least block the hole when its down. Somewhat. More or less. Its an old wood door, probably from the late 1960's, so it has done its duty and ready to retire.

But I was having issues buying a new one. $250 for a cheap one; $5-600 for a decent one. Chunk of change, to replace one that still worked. Somewhat. More or less.

Then today walking around the ReStore between the $15 ceiling fans and the $5 fluorescent light fixtures are new garage doors. Brand and style aren't important, but the doors that I have been seeing at Lowes and Home Depot in the $600 range are here for $145.00. Now that's a deal!

But wait! There's MORE!!!

Because this is the inaugural weekend, they are giving you, GIVING you I say, another 20% off of that price! Okay; I thought I had a deal before, but now's it's REALLY a DEAL!!!!

But wait; there's MORE!

IF you donate a can good too the Freestore Foodbank, they will take off another 10%!!!!

So I grabbed a garage door and two cans of green beans from the trunk, called my son- who lives close and has a minivan, and purchased myself a $600 garage door for.....

$107.00, tax title and warranty; out the door. I also couldn't resist, and bought 2 fluorescent light fixtures, complete with 4 bulbs, for $7.42. 8 bulbs would cost twice that at Home Depot.

Plus they were giving away free hot dogs, metts and brauts, so I was able to chow down on a hot dog and a couple of brauts while I was at it. No sauerkraut or horseradish, but still, for that price, who am I to complain?

So to recap: I got a $600 garage door and $80 worth of light fixtures for less than $120 bucks, plus a free lunch, and I helped out a charity that actually does good work that I support all in one afternoon.

I am hoping you stopped reading a few paragraphs ago and have already grabbed you keys.

If you haven't, then you must have more money than Romney.

Yeah; It Was THAT Close

I found this post on Instapundit this morning, and while he talks about how close the election was, I am going in another direction with it. The author, Mike Harwood, is talking about how few voters, most influenced by Obama's reaction to Hurricane Sandy's destruction in New York and New Jersey. The email reads in part:

In Florida, with nearly 8.3 million ballots cast, the margin of victory was a mere 52,000 votes. Because this U.S. presidential election was a two person race, a takeaway by one candidate from another represents a two vote swing. Accordingly, if somewhere in the order of 26,000 Floridians, out of 8.3 million, decided that they were changing their vote from Romney to Obama ... those voters alone decided Florida’s 29 electoral votes.

The same argument can be made in Ohio. 5.3 million votes cast, margin of victory: 103,000. If the storm flipped about 52,000 votes or more from Romney to Obama, then no storm meant Ohio would have been a Romney win on election day.

In Virginia, 3.7 million votes cast, margin of victory: 107,000. If the storm influenced 54,000 voters or more to abandon Romney for Obama, the storm was decisive in converting a Romney win in Virginia to an Obama win.

In Colorado, nearly 2.4 million votes cast, margin of victory: 113,000. If 57,000 voters or more moved from the Romney camp to the Obama camp based on the storm, then Obama doesn’t win the state if the storm never happens.

A Romney win in these four states would have given him the election.

Less than 200,000 voters in four states, out of nearly 20,000,000 total visits to the polls in just those four states decided this election in Obama's favor.

Never let anybody tell you your vote doesn't count.

And never let them tell you voting fraud doesn't exist or doesn't matter. All it would have taken was 50,000 democrats to vote 4 times each over the course of a month, and Obama wins.

Every vote counts. In 2014 let's REALLY make them count.

Wanna See Something Cool?

This is, as is sometimes said, Wicked Cool.

Especially if you like sciencey stuff.

And really fast airplanes.

I was over at one of my guilty pleasure sites, trying to climb up out of a massive idiot inspired depression, and found this video.

Yeah; it helps.

The Borderline Sociopathic Blog for Boys; check it out!

Its Time For A Change

I haven't yet analyzed exactly why Romney lost. Maybe I really don't care why. I really wasn't that enamored of Romney anyway. I voted for him because he wasn't Obama. I would have (ALMOST) voted for the devil himself instead of Obama, but I am convinced that Obama is the devil himself.

Something has to explain those ears.

But, I digress.

As of today we have just short of four years and a Congressional election to do SOMETHING.

Tomorrow I am changing my voter registration form "Independent" to "Libertarian".

I have never been much of a joiner. I'm not a big fan of people or being around them. But sometimes you need to do things you hate in order to support things you love.

And I love this country. Or, at least what this country used to be. And will be again.

I'm thinking Libertarian is the way to go for a lot of reasons, but mostly because they believe in leaving folks alone.

Are they perfect? Hell no. Most of their foreign policy stands are naive, especially in the modern world. In George Washington's day we could ignore what happened in West Africa; it would take months to get the news and years for it to affect us, if ever. But when you can have lunch in Kenya and dinner in Washington, we need to take a little more notice of what happens overseas. The Libertarians need to recognize that our national interests do extend beyond our borders.

It's on domestic issues I am 100% behind the Libertarians.

Take Colorado; they just voted to legalize recreational marihuana. I don't know the details, like distribution or sales, but why has the government determined that one intoxicant- alcohol- is legal, and another- marihuana- is not? Or why do I need a prescription for one medication and not for another? Some Medications once required a prescription now do not, and some medications that do not require prescription are locked up behind the counter and restricted for sale. Why?

If I think I need a medication for a head cold, why do I need permission to buy that relief? Am I not a competent adult? Who makes these decisions, that one medication is over the counter, and another is not? Whoever it is has decided I am not competent enough to handle my own health without supervision.

Should all drugs be over the counter? Hell no. Antibiotics should still be prescription. Here's why: A lot of diseases can be made resistant to antibiotics by over medicating, which would affect everybody, and not just the one who is over medicating.

But that is what Libertarianism is all about. You can screw yourself up all you want. But not me.

Look at all of the government would could get rid of if we just stopped  controlling every little thing.

Would we still have an EPA? Maybe; but it's role would not be as controlling and punitive as it is now. But we would still need to make sure that what you did on your land didn't affect me. Think of them more as cops; the oil you dumped in your backyard ruined my roses. The EPA is the special police to handle the issue.

We have four years to sort it out and to get a viable candidate; some one right and left can get behind.

It's time to drain the swamp in Washington, and it is obvious neither party is up to the task. Lets see if somebody else is.

What do we have to lose?

Seriously; what do we have to lose?

Well, It's the Day After

The day for post-postmortems, recriminations and Monday Morning Quarterbacking.

What the Hell happened yesterday?

Yesterday was worse than 2008. In '08 I expected McCain to lose. I wasn't looking forward to it, but I was expecting it. And Obama could have been a decent President.

But yesterday? We know what kind of President Obama is, and will be.

And re-elected him.

Over 60 million people in this country think Obama is leading us in the right direction. Seriously?

That tells me one thing; It's not just the re-election of Obama that will send us down the road to ruin, it is the voters in this country who think we need to head that way.

And that is just sad.

Whether it is the over-educated Marxists or the 'Obama Phone' class we apparently have a majority who think stealing from the producers to give to non-productive is okay. And if the rich aren't rich enough, borrow the rest.

Or just print more money. That won't hurt anybody, will it?

Did you know we are currently EXPORTING gasoline? So why is gas so high? It's not short supply; it's too many dollars in the market place. Oil trades in dollars. When there are lots of dollars in circulation their value decreases with respect to other currencies. When fewer pounds or yen or yuan are required to buy a dollar the price of a gallon of gas goes up. and when producers can get a higher price on the world market than they can at home, they export gasoline.

It's not a short supply of gasoline that is keeping the price over 3 dollars a gallon; its the Federal Reserve printing money like its toilet paper that is doing it. I don't see Obama shutting down the presses in his second term, do you?

If you want to have some idea where this will end, do a search on 'Wiemar Republic'. Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.

I'm not the only one who knows where this will lead. Did you notice that the Stock Market crashed today? Down over 300 points. Banks were especially hard hit. I wonder why? Could it be that the fear of new regulation will adversely affect profitability?

And watch the unemployment numbers the next few months. Right now new jobs are being added, and people are starting to look for work again. Look for that to change. the rate of unemployment may not change, but fewer and fewer people will be working starting in January, after the Christmas rush.

Or sooner, if consumers decide to keep their wallets in their pockets again this season.

The class that accepts money from the government may think Obama's policies are a good idea, but the people who fund that government do not. And they will vote a second time in the coming months. This time with their wallets.

Less investment in the market place means fewer jobs; fewer jobs means less money trading hands; less money trading hands means less revenue to the government; less revenue means another round of printing money.

And the Stock Market drops again.

But what the Hell will the folks who voted for Obama care? They'll be eating Government cheese and talking on their Obama phone.

As long as somebody else's money holds out.

Blogger has Crashed; New Post Required

Sherrod Brown is still a Senator; Elizabeth Warren is now a Senator.

The Country is F***ED.

Sorry for the vulgarity; but that is the way I feel right now.

Romney will not win; Obama will.

Say good bye to the greatest country that ever appeared on the face of the earth.

Grab your guns folks, and prepare to go under ground.

10:17 Eastern time; November 17, 2012.

The cheaters won.

Its over.

Hand me the bourbon.

And a government check. My resignation from the work force is effective as of tomorrow.

If, by the grace of God, Romney does win, please disregard the previous post.

Those of you who voted for Obama Enjoy the country you just voted for. I hope its REALLY what you wanted for yourself and your children.

Maybe I will need to retract this post in the morning.

But I doubt it.

The second Civil War starts tomorrow. Bring your attitude.

And your tea bag.