Swhicker's World

Sorry For The Delay

2008-07-15T10:14:00.003-05:00

It's been quite a while since I've posted a blog. There are many reasons why. Just to name a few; I am in the middle of a divorce, I am completely turned off by the political climate we now have & I've been busy.

First off, anyone that has ever complained about how expensive a divorce can be was correct. Man 'O man, it's unbelievable. It's also very emotionally draining on everyone involved. Hopefully it will end soon. I doubt the bitterness and spitefullness will every really end. But hopefully it will diminish to a manageable level. It's a really difficult thing to go through especially when kids are involved.

Secondly, I have always been patriotic and thought that voting was not only a priviledge, but a duty of every American citizen. But, honestly, I don't want to vote for either of the two Presidential candidates we have running. If this is the best we can come up with then we are in bad shape as a country. Obama doesn't have near enough experience. I think McCain got the nod by the RNC because of all the years he was passed over by them. There are far better people out there for the job. Why can't we get someone that has the experience and intelligence to our country back together?

Since my seperation, I have been extremely busy getting situated in my new house. It's extremely expensive having to walk away from my worldly belongings and start over. You never realize how much crap you have until you don't have it any longer. I can't tell you how many times I've needed a tool or something like that and I thought to myself, "I used to have one of those". The folks at Lowes call my name out as soon as I enter the door like they used to shout out "Norm!" on the TV show "Cheers".

I will try and get more blogs out there in the near future. Although, I don't know what else to say about the two idiots we have running for President.

Christmas Gifts For Dudes

2007-11-28T09:55:00.000-05:00

Wives, daughters, girlfriends & sisters, here's a list of Christmas gifts you can't go wrong with purchasing for the man in your life. In fact if you purchased one of these gifts, you will make him a very happy man. They're not that expensive and are guaranteed to put a smile on his face. So here goes:

Firearms - Any kind of firearm. You can buy a rifle, shotgun, pistol, black powder gun, it doesn't matter. If you were to actually go out to a gun store, fill out the paperwork and purchase a gun for your man, he gain a level of respect form him that you never thought possible. Be prepared for him to return the favor on your birthday by purchasing you a gun. He will take your willingness to buy a gun as a sign that you are interested in shooting sports. That's the only flaw with this gift.

Power Tools - Any kind of power tool will do. Don't worry about whether or not he already has one. Most men will take a duplicate of a power tool in a heart beat. He will apply man logic to the situation and create scenarios where two of the same tool is warranted. Ex: one for the shop and one for the house.

Dirty Magazine Subscription - If you were to surprise your man with a subscription to Playboy, you will be telling your man that you want him to be happy. You will be telling him that you are confident in your sexual relationship. Confidence is an extremely sexy quality in a woman. You man will also apply man logic to this gift and assume that you will be open to a 3-way with another woman. He will probably never approach you about it, but it will strengthen his life-long fantasy and he will be indebted to you forever. CAUTION - This is not a gift for sisters to get brothers or daughters to get fathers. That would just be weird.

Home Beer Brewing Kit - This really needs no explanation. I only caution those that live with alcoholics to rethink this one.

Fishing Gear - Even if the man in your life doesn't fish, it doesn't mean he wouldn't like to. I strongly caution you not to buy this fishing equipment at Walmart or Kmart. Get something good from Cabelas, LL Bean, or Bass Pro Shops and spend some dough. If you buy him something from Walmart he might use it for a little while but then he's just going to go behind your back and spend a butt-load of money on a really nice rod and reel anyway. So, just cut out the middle man and splurge.

Slippers - There's not a man out there that doesn't appreciate a good pair of slippers. When I say a "good pair" I mean something made of leather with a comfy lining. I suggest LL Bean's "Wicked Good Slippers".

Video Game System - If you bought you man an Xbox 360 or Play Station 3 for Christmas, I virtually guarantee you will get lucky on Christmas night. Be prepared however. This may be the last time you get any for a long time because he will have his ass planted in front of the TV playing video games until the wee hours of the night from that point on.

Pool Table - Pool tables are like magnets for men. There's not man out there that hasn't stopped in his tracks while at a mall when he sees a pool table. I don't know what it is about hitting balls with sticks, but men love to do it.

Golf Clubs - Again, it's the whole hitting balls with sticks thing.

Pro Sports Jersey - I know this one sounds stupid. Why would a grown man want a jersey of a professional sports team. It's not like they are ever going to receive a telephone call asking them to play. But, every man wants one. They may not have had the courage to buy one for fear that they would look stupid. But, I guarantee they will like it if you get it for them and they will find an occasion to wear it.

Electronics - This is a huge catagory and encompasses many things. If you buy a dude any kind of electronic gadget, he will be happy.

Sporting Goods - This is another huge catagory, but any kind of sporting goods will make him happy. If you bought him a football or a new baseball glove, he will not act very happy about it, but inside, he will be ecstatic. I think it has something to do with the smell of leather. All dudes love the smell of leather. If you could find some sort of spray that make anything smell like leather, buy it. If you sprayed yourself with leather he'd want to hang out with you more.

Red Sox are NOT The Yankees

2007-10-30T08:35:00.000-05:00

I think it's too easy to say the Red Sox "are now" the Yankees. But I think they are a team that had to do whatever it took to beat a team in their division that is willing to spend ungodly amounts of money. If the Red Sox were to compete with the Yankees they needed to pony up the dough to do so. Thankfully the Sox now have an ownership group willing to do so. They also have brains in the organization that knows throwing money at a problem is not going to solve it. You also need to have a system in place for the future. The Indians are a great team and could very easily compete again, but they are going to have to spend a bunch of money to sign some young guys to long-term contracts in order to stay competitive. Will they then be called the "Red Sox that are now the Yankees"? I understand that the Yankees are the standard bearer for big spending and thus the comparison.

Because the Red Sox are now a winning team does not automatically make then the Yankees. It makes them a winning team. The Yankees are not going to be a winning team for a while, in my humble opinion. By "winning team", I mean Chamionship caliber. So, if the Sox go on a losing skid in a few years will that mean they are going to be called "The Yankees of the first decade of the new millineum"? During the late 90's why weren't the Yankess called "the Red Sox of the early 1900's"?

The Red Sox are the Red Sox and The Yankees are The Yankees. Will the Red Sox be vilafied like the Yankees because they are willing to spend money to get and keep great ball players? Maybe. But Red Sox Nation is due for a winning streak and be damned with those that want to whine that they win all the time. We'll be happy to listen to jealous cry babies.

More than likely, what will happen is other teams will follow suit and start spending to get a great GM like Theo Ebstein and let them spend the money necessary to build a strong organization that wins games and puts fans in the seats and generates even more money.

Soaring Healthcare Costs

2007-09-26T13:06:00.000-05:00

It's been quite a while since I've posted a blog. It's not because I haven't had things that I wanted to talk about. It's mainly because I've been busy. But, it's also been because I got sick of trying to reason with irrational, hot-headed liberals that are constantly spouting the main stream media's agenda verbadum. I recently experienced something that I just can't keep to myself.

In late August of this year, I was at a local music store buying a violin for my son who is starting orchestra this year for his school. At some point during the purchase, I passed out and hit face first on their carpeted concrete floor. I was rushed to the emergency room of our local hospital via ambluance and then later that night transferred to a hospital in Charlotte. Apparently I did enough damage that I needed to be taken care of by the types of physicians that our little town doesn't have. A Plastic Surgeon and Neurologist were called in to make sure I didn't have brain damage and to try and put my face and skull back together the way it was supposed to be. I sustained multiple facial and skull fractures from the fall. The doctors in Charlotte were also trying to figure out why I collapsed in the first place.

I admire the good work that a lot of doctors perform. I have plenty of freinds that are doctors and they will always tell you that the reason healthcare is so expensive is because of all the people that don't pay their bills because they either don't have health insurance or because their health insurance sucks and they still end up with huge bills that they can't or won't pay. I've heard on many occasions from these doctors that as long as "they" pay something on their bill, even if it's only $10/month, there's nothing we can do about it. I used to believe that was the only reason for high healthcare costs. I still believe those situations exist and that it's unfortunate for the doctors and for those needing healthcare.

After my recent experience, I saw a different side. I was now the patient in the medical machine and I saw things that I didn't think I would. While I was in the hospital for two days, there were at least ten different doctors that came into my room. Only 2 or 3 of those doctors actually did anything. The others simply walked into my room, asked me how I was feeling and then left. At the time, I thought that there are a bunch of concerned doctors in this hospital. What I realized after Blue Cross started mailing me copies of the hospital/doctor bills was that each of those doctors billed my insurance company at least $200 everytime they popped their head in my door. They did absolutley nothing!

I know that they did absolutley nothing because nothing was done to me. I was given a bunch of pain pills by the nurses, but that was it. The Plastic Surgeon wanted to do more. He sent his PA into my room one day to tell me I needed surgery to repair the fractures in my skull and eye socket. He told me that they would have to make an incision from ear to ear across the top of my head and pull off my face. I told him I would rather get a second opinion. So, I went home and saw a local doctor that agreed that I needed the surgery. I called the Plastic Surgeon's office to tell them I wanted to go ahead with the surgery. Their response was, "Well the doctor hasn't even seen your scans yet to determine if you need surgery or not." I was floored. That doosh-bag was going to pull off my face but hadn't looked at my CT scans? So, they scheduled an appointment for me to come to the Plastic Surgeon's office in Charlotte and "penciled me in" for surgery in 10 days. I went to my appointment and the Plastic Surgeon told me that it was kind of late for surgery because the bones were already healing. He said that there really was no need for surgery.

So, to recap: I went to the hospital for 2 days. I was only given pain meds. They wanted to pull off my face and operate on my skull but I wouldn't let them. 10 days later they "determined" that I didn't need the surgery after all. My total bill for that 2 day stay is over $30,000, so far. I wonder how many people are needlessly operated on everyday because they take their physicians word as gospel.

I think there is a special hotline that the ER doctors call especially when it's a head trauma case with insurance. They call all the doctors in the hospital and surrounding areas to let them know "it's time to make some money". I guess they figure that this dude won't remember anything anyway, let's bill the shit out of him. So, they take turns "visiting" me and then bill my insurance $200-$250. I actually think they were lined up outside my hospital room and were high-fiving each other and trying to muffle their giggles as they left. I think I actually heard one of them whisper, "Cha-Ching!"

So, don't buy the bleeding heart stories these doctors are trying to sell about the uninsured causing the astronomical prices of healthcare today. They are as much to blame as anyone. If you don't believe me, read all of your recent hospital bills line for line. I bet you will find something in there that you know you didn't have done. I bet you will find at least one doctor's name on that bill that you never saw.

Not About Money? Come on Roger!

2007-05-08T08:05:00.000-05:00

As everyone who follows professional baseball knows, Roger Clemens signed a one year deal with the Yankees for $28 million dollars. Yes, that's right, $28,000,000 for less than half a years "work".

My beloved RedSox offered something like $18 million for "the Rocket" but for some reason Clemens turned it down. His reason for going to the Yankees is to have the best chance to win another World Series and it's not about the money. If that were true, then he would have signed with the RedSox. The Sox have arguabley the best pitching staff in baseball and an arsenal of hitters. The Yankees have potentially a Cy Young winner in Hughes if his pulled hammy doesn't flare up any more and now Roger.

Don't get me wrong, I do not expect the RedSox to make it to the World Series this year. The only reason I say that is because I am a true RedSox fan and we always expect the worst. Should the Sox make it? Yes. But, I know somehow, someway the Yankees will screw us somehow. 2004 was an anomaly. I mean seriously, who would have bet that the RedSox would have come from being down 3 games to the Yankees in the ALCS to win 4 straight and get to the World Series and then sweep the Cardinals who had the best record in all of baseball that year?
No true RedSox fan.

Roger is a smart businessman and more power to him (or his agent) if he can get $28 million for pitching 4 or 5 months. He is the best the game has ever seen in my humble opinion. But he is a terrible liar. It's all about the money and nothing more. He started his career with the RedSox and like so many of Boston's great players, he ended up with the F***ing Yankees. For that alone, I hope his right arm is ripped off in a freak accident.

Gun Control

2007-04-19T12:40:00.000-05:00

The old argument of gun control resumed the second after the last shot was fired at Virginia Tech. Immediately the anti-gun crowd wanted a ban on all guns. The gun nuts (of which I am one) argued that criminals are going to get guns whether there is a ban on guns or not. Let's examine this.

If there were to be a complete ban on guns, do you think that will stop criminals? The United States' crime rate is just about the same as any other country's. Let's remember why our country is so free about gun ownership in the first place. We needed guns when we settling this country and moving West. England's monarchy put a ban on all guns because they noticed how we "settled" the West and wanted to remove guns from the general public to prevent an over-throw of the existing monarchy.

I guess the argument would be that now the West has been settled, why do we still need guns. Well...let's remember...there are over 250,000,000 guns in this country. How could the government possibly confiscate all of those guns? Do you think that the gun owners would willingly give up those guns? ... OR... A better question would be: Do you think criminals are going to give up their guns? Where would that leave the average American citizen? It would leave them unarmed and unable to defend themselves.

We as Americans have the right to defend ourselves. There simply are not enough police to watch over us 24/7. That is why the Second Amendment was enacted in the first place.

Now, having said all of that, I do feel that strict laws are necessary. Laws that require lengthy background checks are completely reasonable. In fact, after yet another massacre at the hands of a madman this week, they are necessary. I am all for making someone that wishes to buy a gun wait 7-10 days. I would even agree with mental health background checks for handguns and assault weapons. I own over a dozen guns. Some are hand guns and the others are hunting rifles and shotguns. I legally purchased everyone of them and went through the 7 day waiting period (for the handguns) and background checks and had no problem with it. The waiting period is not only to have the time to perform a thorough background check but it also in place to help prevent crimes of passion that are, more times than not, spur-of-the-moment crimes.

I also believe that anyone that is going to own a gun should have proper training on how to handle and care for their weapon. There are hundreds of accidental deaths every year because people do not know what they are doing when they are handling a gun. Teaching a youngster gun safety can be fun and rewarding. I recently introduced my son to shooting and hunting. I am extremely strict with him about gun safety. We really enjoy target shooting and hunting small game. He understands that a gun is not a toy and is to be respected for the power it wields. He is not allowed to touch his guns unless I am present. In fact, he can't touch them because they are locked in a safe. Not only do I want him to enjoy shooting and hunting, but I also want him to know how to handle a gun in the event that he may need to defend himself and someday his family.

The extreme far left Hollywood nut bags are constantly preaching anti-gun rhetoric. They may not personally own a gun, but I would bet my left nut that their body guards have them. Rosie O'Donnell has admitted that her body guards pack heat. Yet, she is an anti-gun fanatic. This is another example of extremist hypocrisy.

Extreme Left Liberal Media

2007-04-17T15:08:00.000-05:00

I don't know if anyone was watching The Factor last night, but Bill O'Reilly had a very interesting guest on his show. Tammy Bruce who is a former Director of N.O.W. (National Organization for Women) which is a liberal organization that supports the advancement of women in our society. Tammy is also a liberal democrat as well as being a lesbian. She is as far from the conservative right as you can get. The interesting thing that she talked about was how the far left extremists in our society are advancing their agenda through the main stream media.

She confessed that during her association with N.O.W. she had a contact with the New York Times. When ever she had a theory or an idea that she wanted published in the New York Times and all of the New York Time's subsidiary papers located all over the country, all she had to do was make a phone call to that person and those theories and ideas of hers were then published without question or fact checking. She informed the viewers of The Factor that the extreme far left has a "hit list" with names like Bill O'Reilly (of course), Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Dr. Laura and any others that have voiced opposition to their agenda. She even said that Don Imus, a democrat, was targeted because "he is the Joe Liberman of the liberal media". In other words, Don Imus would not promote their agenda.

Ms. Bruce also stated that there was a TV arm to the beast as well and that very well financed extreme left wingers are using puppets like Rosie Odonnell, Alec Baldwin, etc. to promote the their extreme views. Their motus operandi is to take a word or phrase uttered by those on their "hit list" out of context and repeatedly air it on TV or print it in the New York Times. They know that if the general public hears it over and over they will believe it to be true.

George Soros is the body of the beast. Unfortunately when a lunatic has more money than he knows what to do with, he can creat havoc. I want o make something perfectly clear. I am not referring to run of the mill Democrats. I have no problem with them. Extremists on either side can and will ruin this country. Most Democrats have strong moral values and good intentions. ( that was for you Brian)

Nigga Please!

2007-04-11T17:31:00.000-05:00

I haven't written a blog for quite a while, mainly because I got sick of reading the never ending onslaught of whining and nonsensical ranting of the liberal left. But I am so outraged by what is happening with the Don Imus incident that I can no longer hold my tongue. I realize that probably no one will read this as I have been absent from the blogging world for so long, but I don't care. Like most of my previous blogs it was just a way for me to vent and let go of built up frustration.

Don Imus, a radio and TV giant, is being unfairly raked over the coals. He made comments about the Rutgers lady basketball team that have, for some reason, outraged the liberal mainstream media. The reason I said "for some reason" is because I know there were very few black people listening to him. I would bet that none of the Rutgers lady basketball team were listening to him when he made his, now infamous, comments. The only ones listening were his loyal followers of 30+ years. It was the liberal media that got wind of this and ran with it. They have made it a headline story every night. Let me back up this claim with a question. How long did it take from the time he made the comments to the time the storm hit? He made the comments last Wednesday and nothing was said about it until the following Friday. This is nothing more than another liberal witch hunt.

Don Imus didn't say anything last Wednesday any more outrageous than he has said over the past 30+ years. He's a shock jock. That's what he does. People tune in everyday to see just how far he will go over the line. It was said with the intention of making people laugh. Just as Richard Prior, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy and hosts of others have done over the years. Liberals claim that the difference is that he is broadcasting it over the airwaves and that all those black comedians did it strictly on a pay per view/listen basis. If you pay for it or it is broadcast "free" over the airwaves, everyone out there has a choice of either listening/viewing it or turning it off. No one is forcing them to listen/watch.

Barack Obama stated that this is not just a simple case of bigotry, it is something more than that. It is a "coursening of our culture when we think it is funny to make fun of someone else". What an idiot! Of course making fun of someone else is funny. It always has been and always will be. Once again, liberals will say anything to get elected. This whole PC thing is so far out of control that if we continue to give big eared fools like Obama a platform to spout this nonsense, there will be no more comedy on TV and radio. If Don Imus' brand of comedy/entertainment is not your thing, CHANGE THE CHANNEL! These liberal blow-hards are the same ones that would stand up for Chris Rock's right to free speech or Snoop Dogg's right to continually spout bigoted and sexist comments under the banner of free speech but then crucify Don Imus for exactly the same things. It's called hypocrisy.

Al Sharpton responded to a question about the Rev. Jesse Jackson's famous "hyme-town" comment as if that was not the same situation as what Don Imus said. Al Sharpton's response was that he could not believe someone would even try to equate the two. He said, "That's apples and oranges. Rev. Jackson said that in confidence to someone in the privacy of his hotel room and it was then later leaked to the press".

This is the first and hopefully last time I will ever agree with anything Al Sharpton has to say. He's right that it is apples and oranges, but not for the reason he stated. The difference between what Jesse Jackson said and the context in which he said it is so far from the context in which Don Imus made his statements. Don Imus made his racial statement in the context of a comedy show with the purpose of being funny. Jesse Jackson made his statement in private with malice and hate towards a whole race. Jesse Jackson said what he really felt in private because he thought that no one would ever hear what he said. Don Imus does not hate black people. He was simply trying to be funny. If Don Imus hated black people, why does he have the cattle ranch for kids with cancer and blood disorders. The particular blood disorder that qualifies you for the all expenses paid trip to the cattle ranch is sickle cell anemia which is a black disease.

Blacks in the entertainment industry call others in their culture far worse than anything Imus has ever said. They use this type of language as their normal vernacular. They use the excuse that if you are a part of that culture then it's OK. I don't buy that...or as they would say "Nigga Please". No one owns the right to use certain words. And, let's remember, that what they are -words. Our PC culture now takes itself so seriously that we have lost the ability to laugh. Sometimes words that could be used to purposely hurt someone else, could also be used to make us laugh. It's called context. Don Imus did not say the Rutgers lady basketball team was a bunch of "nappy headed hos" with hatred or malice. He said it to get a laugh. Just as Chris Rock, Richard Prior or even Snoop Dogg would. They use language that in a normal everyday conversation might offend, to entertain. George Carlin has made the use of language that normally offends as a form of entertainment his life's work. And you know what? It works. George Carlin, Richard Prior & Chris Rock are all funny as hell. If they were to call me the blue eyed devil or a cracker in a one on one setting and with hatred in their voice, I would be offended. But if they said it with the purpose of getting a laugh, I'd be the first one laughing along with them.

The biggest mistake Don Imus made was to apologize for it in the first place. Once someone, the liberal mainstream media considers an enemy, apologizes, they pounce and never relent. They get some sick satisfaction of kicking the crap out of someone when they're at their lowest point. Liberals are nothing more than a disruptive force in our culture. If there's nothing for them to bitch about, they will create something which is exactly what the whole Don Imus incident is about.

Best Buy Sucks!!!

2007-01-09T09:31:00.000-05:00

Normally I wouldn't come right out and name the name of a major retailer, but everything I am writing is absolutely true. If after reading, you don't think Best Buy does indeed suck, then continue spending your money there.

I ordered a 20" TV with built in DVD player for my son for Christmas. This was his big Christmas gift from Santa. Christmas Eve, I brought the big box up from the basement and began unpacking it. When I opened the undamaged box, I noticed that the door to the DVD player was not attached. A wave of anxiousness came over me. I rationalized that it probably simply snaps back on. So I continued to unpack it. When I got it out of the box and plugged it into the power outlet, it wouldn't turn on. I know I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I think that I can handle turning on a TV. Just in case there was some new fangled trick to this particular model, I decided to consult the manual - nothing. I tried both the remote and the power button on the TV. I checked the outlet to make sure there was power coming from it. There was. THE DAMN THING WAS BROKEN! CRAP! Now what was I supposed to do?

All I could do was tell my little boy that his big Christmas gift doesn't work and that I'd have to get him another one (he already knows that Santa is his mom and I). He took it like a trooper.

I ordered the TV on the internet because of the great deals and because the nearest BestBuy is a 30 minute drive and I didn't feel like fighting the holiday traffic. Besides if it's available online, why not? I would assume that BestBuy, like most retailers do a very large portion of their business off the internet. I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $36 to have it shipped to me. I felt it was worth it to pay that to have the item brought straight to my house. In my humble opinion, internet shopping is the only way to go. Every retailer I have ever dealt with via the internet has been extremely helpful when it came time to return something...NOT BESTBUY.com

I called them the day after Christmas to arrange for returning the item. They told me to go ahead and ship either USPS or UPS and to include the receipt for the shipping costs and they would reimburse me for the item as well as the shipping. So, I shipped it UPS Ground and included the receipt as instructed. My initial thought was this was a very efficient process and that they should be commended. WRONG!

I received an email from them a few days after I shipped the TV back to them stating that they have credited my credit card for the price of the TV. They didn't reimburse me for the shipping cost to ship that piece of shit TV back to them. They didn't reimburse me for the original shipping cost. I contacted them as soon as I got the email and was assured that they would "have someone look into it". That was over a week ago and I have heard absolutely nothing from them. So, in essence, I bought a $120 TV paid $36 to have it shipped and then paid another $36 to ship the defect thing back to them. I got screwed out of $72 by Best Buy. I probably should have known that a 20" TV with a built in DVD player would probably be a piece of shit. But that is not the point. If Best Buy is going to sell crap they should be prepared to receive returns and reimburse the customer for any extra cost associated with it. They said that I had the option of driving to a store and returning it. If I wanted to drive to the store, I would have done that in the first place. If they offer online purchases of TVs they should take returns online and be prepared to pay the return shipping charges. They told me on the phone that they would reimburse me the shipping charges. I guess it is their practice to lie to their customers.

You would think that they would bend over backwards to stay competitive with Circuit City, Tweeter Etc., Sears, etc. But I guess they just don't give a shit. I can tell you that I will NEVER shop at Best Buy again. In fact I bought my son a replacement TV from SEARS (online) with absolutely no problems.

Heritage

2006-12-21T15:23:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday I took my son to the rifle range to teach him how to shoot a gun. So we loaded up the truck with 3 rifles, a bunch of ammo and binoculars and head to the range. He seemed to like shooting the .22 rifle and was kind of intimidated by the .270 an .223 that I was sighting in. I was glad to see his enthusiasm for shooting. It has gotten me more interested in shooting now that I know he likes it.

I recently decided to take my black-powder pistol the next time we go shooting. I bought a old western style holster and a 2 inch leather belt for it. When I bought the belt I had a choice of buying either a belt with a "U.S." civil war buckle or a "C.S." civil war buckle. I opted for the Confederate buckle because I was born and raised in North Carolina. When I showed my son the buckle, he asked me what the "CS" meant. I explained to him that it meant "Confederate States" and gave him a brief explanation of the civil war and how the South seceded from the union. He then asked me if the Confederacy were the ones that had the flag like the one on the top of "the General Lee" from "The Dukes of Hazard". I told him that that was the same one. He then asked me why people hate that flag so much.

I can only assume that my son thought that most people hate the confederate flag based on what he sees on TV. Once again the liberal media has misled and brain-washed another sole. Thankfully, I was there to straighten my boy out. I had to explain to him that the Union Jack is the flag off the Confederacy and historically a very important part of the South. It is part of Southern heritage. It is unfortunate that some bigoted groups have adopted the flag as their own, but it does not change the true heritage of the flag and what it symbolizes. It is a symbol of Southern heritage.

Letters to Iran

2006-11-29T16:37:00.000-05:00

Hey Ahmadinejad, I have 2 letters for you - F U

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas

2006-11-21T11:17:00.000-05:00

As always, I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas!

Please remember, if you are out and about on our Nation's highways, to be safe. Please DO NOT drink and drive. Enjoy yourselves but not at the expense of others. Let's all try and show the same love and generosity that Christ himself showed us.

PEACE

Here We Go! This Is Going To Be Fun!

2006-11-17T19:42:00.000-05:00

The only reason the Democrats won the mid-term election is the war in Iraq. No other issues were discussed prior to the election by the main stream media. So, they were successful in swaying a national election. The Democrats are as unorganized as always and have no real platform.

We got to see a glimpse of what is to come this week. Speaker elect, Nancy Pelosi, endorsed Sen. Jack Murtha to become the new House Majority Leader. But a little more than half of the other Democrats had another choice - Sen. Steny Hoyer. Her reasoning was to increase the chances of an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. Because Murth has been adamantly opposed to the war in Iraq and very public about his stance, Pelosi thought this would further her agenda. NOPE!

The in-fighting has begun. This is going to be a pleasure watching. In a weird way, losing both the House and the Senate to the Democrats is going to shed some light on the wacky antics of the Democrats. Having Nancy Pelosi upfront, is going to be a pleasure to watch. It is going to be sweet vendication to watch the Democrats implode right there in front of our eyes. In just a few short years there are going to be a lot of people walking around with red welts on their foreheads where they smack themselves while asking, "What the hell was I thinking voting for these morons?"

Jonathan Altar wrote an article just 3 days after the election stating that the conservative movement in America is dead. Not hardly. The MSM (main stream media)successfully swayed a majority of Americans into believing that democrats had a better way. The democrats preached endlessly that it's time for a new direction. They never once offered how they were going to do this and now it is going to come through loud and clear that they never had a plan. They have no substance.

Just once week since the election, the democrats have stated that they were going to wait until Jim Baker and crew reveal what they have decided about Iraq before making any decision. Even after a decision is revealed by the special Iraq study group, the Democrats will have no solutions. It will just be another round of bickering among themselves.

As much as I hate having the world see what idiots we have in power now, it will be on some level fun to watch.

Raise Minimum Wage?

2006-11-13T11:29:00.000-05:00

One of Nancy Pelosi's goals as Speaker Of The House, as she has stated, is to raise the National minimum wage. I take issue with this on many levels.

First off, if you are looking for a way to shut down the small business owner, placing a minimum of $7/hr for every worker is a good way to do that. If you make it too expensive for small businesses to operate they go out of business.

Secondly all you need to do is give businesses an excuse to move their operations out of the country where a minimum wage doesn't exist or is so low that it increases that company's profits by 200-300%. That's a no-brainer.

Thirdly (& not last) it offers no incentive to work harder. Let me give you an example of what I am talking about:

Last night my wife and I decided we would order some pizza for the kids and us for supper. I call a Nationally known pizza chain (Rhymes with "Smominos") and place an order for a couple of pizzas to be delivered. I was told it would be 35-45 minutes to deliver. No big deal. That would make the pizza arrival time a little past 6pm. I get paper plates out, parmesian cheese & some red pepper flakes out to get ready for the arrival of the pizza. I make the kids some drinks and sit and watch some TV as I wait. At 6:20pm, I notice the pizza delivery guy zipping past my house. The reason I know it was the pizza delivery guy is because he has an illuminated sign on the roof of his vehicle with the name of the restaurant on it (Rhymes with "Tominos".) So I figure he will realize that he has driven too far, turn around and will be back momentarily. 20 minutes go by and he finally comes back by. He slows down to maybe 20 miles/hr and then takes off again. I am, at this point, a little perturbed. My house has a house number sign mounted to the side of my house right beside the front door. The front of my house is illuminated very well. I live on a main thoroughfare in my little town. My house is only 50 feet from the street. So after this bozo takes off back the the store, I assume, with my pizzas still in his car, I call the store. The manager tells me that he is indeed back at the store and says that he couldn't find my house. I told her that it was little wonder that he could not find my house because he never slowed down enough to even try to look for my house number. She told me that they tried to call, but got no answer and that if I had answered the phone I would have gotten my pizzas. So now it's my fault this jackass didn't do his job. The reason I didn't answer the call was because my 11 year old was on the phone. We have call waiting, which apparently my son doesn't understand how to use. So when someone is calling while the phone is in use, it doesn't give a busy signal. I told the store manager that as much as she would like to pass the blame on to me, it isn't going to work & to just keep her pizzas, I would be getting my food from somewhere else.

The point of all this is that pizza delivery people for this international pizza chain (rhymes with "Ominos") get paid between $10 & $15/hr. They are paid well above minimum wage and still DON"T GIVE A SHIT!

Ok, Which Direction?

2006-11-08T11:05:00.000-05:00

So the democrats pulled it off. They promised us a new direction. Although they never told us how or which direction they would take us during their campaigns, they said would lead America in a "new direction". OK, where?

If they think they can get us out of Iraq, it would be interesting as to how they would do that. The Commander-in-Chief is still George Bush. He is in control of our armed forces not Congress. If they think they can make the economy any better, I would really like to know how they could do that. If they think they are going to automatically raise minimum wage, that ain't going to happen. If they are going to tackle the deficit problem, no need, it is going down already because the economy is growing.

More than likely what the new Democrat run Congress is going to do is - NOTHING! George is going to dust off his veto pen, fill it with ink and veto every crazy socialist bill presented to him. Basically what we have is a Congress that will get absolutely nothing done.

So, congratulations main stream media, you have successfully brain washed enough Americans into voting for Democrats that ran on a "let's change things" platform. So, now what? Where's the big plan? The only thing you have succeeded in doing is making Nancy Pelosi 3rd in line for the Presidency. How scary is that?!?! I guess I could say we now have an opportunity to bitch and whine at all the blundering mistakes the Congress makes. Maybe it will be fun. Lord knows the Democrats seem to enjoy it as much of it as they have done over the last decade. It might be refreshing being able to say "don't blame me, I didn't vote for them". Unfortunately, I have a business to run and try and keep people employed. I can tell you one thing, If minimum wage is raised, I will think real seriously about when or if I hire any new employees.

Mid-Term Election 2006

2006-10-24T09:46:00.000-05:00

All I have heard for the past couple of months is that the Democrats are going to take control of both The House of Representatives and The Senate. All the polls indicate that this is the case.

First off, I don't believe that the polls are completely accurate. There may be leanings toward what the polls indicate, but I do not believe that the margins are as large as some polls may indicate. The reason I don't believe in the accuracy of the polls is because of those taking the polls. I mentioned this in the past and I will repeat it. Republicans are known as "The Silent Majoriy". They got that moniker because they do not take polls, at least not as much as Democrats. Which stands to reason because that is the nature of a Democrat. Dems love to bitch and moan to whoever will listen. Which brings me to my next point.

Before casting a vote, one should ask "Am I better or worse off than I was since the last election?" If you are better off, stay with the same party in control at the moment. If you are worse off, make a change in your previous party voting lines. If one is completely honest with oneself, they would have to agree with me that they are better off since the last election. Don't listen to what the liberal media is telling you you should feel. Think for yourself by asking that one simple question.

I for one, am better off. My business has never been better. There have been no negative impacts for me or my family since the last election. I am making more money than I ever have and my family is healthy and happy. The economy is the strongest it has ever been. The stength of the economy has been tested over and over (Israel/Lebanon, War in Iraq, Katrina, North Korea, etc.) and has remained strong. There were some minimal dips only to regain strength in a very short time.

Has our country been attacked again since the last election? No. So, we are safer. There's an arugment out there that the current administration's foreign policy is creating more terrorists that want to do us in. Is that a certainty? Who knows? What is fact is that we have NOT been attacked again. Taking the war to the terrorist keeps them occupied on their soil, not ours.

This may sound like a selfish way to vote, but lets be honest. Do you actually cast a vote for the prosperity of another country or another individual. You may say that you do (Dems) but in reality, you are looking out for you and your family, as you should.

Here's the BIG question - what is it that the Democrats propose to do differently? I haven't heard a damn thing that they have proposed to do. All I have heard is constant whining about how bad things are. Democrats are masters of hindsight. They absolutely love to point out faults but have no solutions - NONE! At least no solutions that make any sense. They find talking points and beat them to death. They are nothing more than opportunists looking for a way to get a government job. They will flip, waffle, whatever they have to do to get elected. They have no solid platform.

If you really want your taxes increased and want to see the economy take a downward turn, vote Democrat. If you want our national security to be seriuosly jeopardized, vote Democrat. If you want radical judges to legislate from the bench, vote democrat. If you want your standard of healthcare to go the way of public housing, vote Democrat. If you want to be forced to speak Spanish, vote Democrat. If you want to see the end of Social Security, vote Democrat. If you want to see an increase in welfare, vote Democrat.

Has Reality TV Gone Too far?

2006-09-14T13:28:00.000-05:00

Fist off let me state that I am a big fan of reality TV and tonight is the season premier of Survivor. I know that there are a lot of TV goers out there that can't stand reality TV. Whatever their reason, to each his own I guess.

Normally, Survivor is not a big deal and worth writing about. But this year they have decided to separate the competing teams by race. Last year they were separated by gender and age. That didn't seem like such a big deal because everyone is aware that there are two different genders and there has always been a fascination with watching women and men compete against each other. They also separated them last year by grouping the older women, younger women, older men and younger men separately to pit wisdom against brawn, I guess. It was entertaining to see how each group faired. It was cool to see how attributes of being older and more experienced could sometimes "out wit, out last and out play" the the young bucks and vice versa. It was an interesting study in sociology.

But this year everyone is up-in-arms because the contestants have been separated by race. What is the big deal? We know that there are different races in our culture, right? I think it would be another great sociological experiment to see what different ethnic cultures can bring to the playing field. Are those that are against Survivor separating by ethnicity, afraid that the show may enforce bigotry in those that are watching? Are they afraid that it may expose some weakness in certain ethnic groups?

Those that are watching and it does reinforce their bigoted view point, can find anything to reinforce their prejudices. As far Survivor exposing weaknesses in certain ethnic groups, I don't think so. I don't think you can take that small of a sample of American culture and determine anything from it. The interesting part will be watching the contestants to see how many of them use their race as an excuse for failure or attribute any success to their heritage.

Iraq Quagmire

2006-08-28T09:41:00.000-05:00

Yup! I said it - Quagmire. Because things in Iraq seem to be the same, day in and day out, I have to use that word. We don't seem to be gaining any new ground.

The insurgent battles that seem as regular as the nightly news broadcasts, don't seem to be letting up. That could go on forever. Everytime we kill one of the insurgents they seem to recruit 2 more. Those insurgents are some really good salesmen. How do you convince someone that you will probably die if you join our struggle? They're not right in the head.

So...we have a few choices:

1. We can have an immediate withdrawal like the majority of Democrats would like to do. I think this would be a disastorous mistake. It would mean that we don't care about the sacrafice our soldiers have given. It would send a message to the rest of the Middle East that we don't really care about helping them with progressing them into the 21st century. It would send the message that we were there for selfish reasons.

2. We could stay the course that we are currently on. I think we all know how that is going.

3. We could finish the job once and for all. We would need about 100,000-150,000 more troops over there. We would need to put the entire country on lock-down. We would need to root out all the insurgents and lock them up or kill them. Ideally Iraq would need to have mandatory military service for all males like Israel does. When we see, after a period of a year or so, that there is no more insurgency, we go home.

The third option is our only option. In order to do this, Donald Rumsfeld needs to go. We new new ways of thinking. Mistakes are always made in war. Learning from mistakes and adjusting is how you win wars. Not learning from mistakes or not even admitting that mistakes were made, is how you lose a war. Fighting a war the way your enemy wants you to fight the war, is another way to lose. The insurgents have us fighting their war. We can cut and run or continue with the same course of action we have been on for the past 4 years and the whole world will see us as the paper tiger that Osama Bin Laden has always claimed the USA to be.

I understand this change of attitude will come as a big surprise to most of my liberal friends out there in cyberland. Those that have read my posts in the past, probably view me as a blind supporter of the current administration. Although I do agree with most of what Pres. Bush's administration ahs done so far. I have had a change of mind about how we are handling this war in Iraq. What changed my mind? Well, I'll tell you.

Yesterday in church there was a babtism of a little baby girl. This baby girl is the grandaughter of someone I know. He's not what I would consider a close friend, by any means. He's more of an aquaintance. What really hit me hard was who the father was. The father of this child, the son of my friend/aquantance, is an active soldier in the US Army. He was all decked out in his dress blues and made me proud to be an American. The whole time this babtism was being performed, all I could think of was the fact that in a few short months, he was being shipped back to Iraq. I couldn't help feel sorrow for his wife, baby girl and him. The pain and sacrafice this soldier and his family must be going through having to abandon his precious baby girl for me, you and everyone else in this country. He deserves better than what we are currently giving him. All of our soldiers need a solid course of action. A plan to win.

There are not many that would leave a family behind to fight a war. May God bless him and all of our uniformed personel and their families!

Turning 40

2006-08-07T16:58:00.000-05:00

Well, I finally made it. I turned 40 a few days ago. When I was in college I never thought that I would make it. 40 years seemd like an eternity. My lifestyle at that time, if continued, would have ensured that I didn't make it to 40.

When I was 29 we had our first child. When people repeatedly told me that children would change your life, they were right in so many ways. The way that I din't expect was that when children enter your life, you life goes into warp speed. Time just flies by. One day melts into the next, season into the next, year into the next. Routine becomes such a part of your life that everyday is almost indistinguishable from the next.

Birthdays no longer become important. Those belong to the children. You start getting gifts from your parents like books, socks & underwear. You grow accustomed to a certain level of present and then poof, it's gone. The adults that used to spend lavishly on you have now bypassed you and are funneling that money to your kids. You get used to it.

I haven't noticed much change in my physical being. I'd like to think I am a little wiser. I am actually in better shape than I was 15 years ago. You start paying more attention to your diet and exercise than when you are younger. I do notice that my knees ache every now and then. I take Metamusil everyday to stay "regular". So I guess bowel movements have become more important in my life. But other than that, I really haven't noticed a big change.

The one thing that really threw me into a mild depression was the fact that my 40th birthday was pretty much overlooked by my family. Normally, I wouldn't care. The older you get birthdays don't really matter as much. But, as your 40th approaches, you start to think about surprise parties, big celibrations, etc. My family is not one to throw a big party for anything, so I don't know why I would think they would throw me a party. But, still, you like to think about things like that.

My son's birthday is 2 weeks after mine. He had a pool party with his friends 2 weeks prior to his actual birthday. He wanted to "have enough time to play with his toys before school started", so we had his party early. Then the "family" party (grandmas, grandpas, great grandma, parents, etc) was the following Sunday. That's when they decided to "celebrate" my birthday as well.

So, my big 40th celebration consisted of a bunch of old farts doting over an almost 11 year old, lavishing him with even more gifts, while I sat in a corner wondering if I even needed to be there.

So I guess getting old means that no one notices you any more. Maybe I should just walk around naked. As long as no one is noticing me any longer, I might as well be comfortable. Besides it would be good to give the "boys" a breather after 40 years.

Crucify Gibson

2006-08-03T15:24:00.000-05:00

As everyone in the indutrial world has probably heard by now that Mel Gibson was arrested for DUI (Driving Under the Influence). HE was drunk and speeding late on night and was pulled over by police. Apparently he got beligerant and made some anti-semitic remarks. He stated that "Jews start all the wars in this world". Then asked one of the arresting officers, "You aren't a Jew are you?"

Gibson has appologized repeatedly for his comments. He is going to get help for his drinking problem. I guess some things are unforgivable. Don't say anything about Jews, Blacks, Muslims, Native Americans, Women, or any other group besides White Males in a derogatory manner. Let's suppose that the Rev. Jesse Jackson made some sort of anti-semitic remark, what would happen to him? NOTHING! Because he did. In 1984 he referred to New York city as "Hymietown" and as far as we know he wasn't even drunk when he said it.

The guy made a mistake and is trying to make ammends. Who hasn't said something they later regretted, especially while they were drinking. He will pay the price for breaking the law becasue of his drinking and driving, which he should. Why should his career be ruined because he let something slip that he didn't really mean. Everlyone is getting frustrated with the tension and ongoing confilcts in the Middle East. It is affecting all of us. No one has an answer for peace. When there seems to be no answer for a real problem people naturally start grabbing at straws and start blaming nayone and everyone but themselves. That's just the way people behave. So Mel Gibson should be hung out to dry? No. Give the guy a break. He'll be punished enough for his actions. MAybe if there was more forgiveness in this world, especially over a simple mispoken word, there would be far fewer conflicts.

Kick a Tiger in the Ass - Expect To Get Bitten

2006-07-31T15:21:00.000-05:00

Hezbollah signed their own death warrant when they entered Israel and kidnapped 2 Israeli soldiers and then had the balls to lob some missiles into Israel.

No one besides Iran and Syria want to see Hezbollah succeed in this war they started with Israel. The Saudi and Egyptian governments quietly watch and hope that Israel destroys Hezbollah. They are sick of Iran and Syria's (Iran's puppet) power grab in the Middle East. Pitting Sunnis against Shiites against each other is what is destroying the Middle East and they know this.

What is hard to believe is that there is any pressure what-so-ever on the US government to broker some sort of peace. Israel is completely justified in obilterating Hezbollah. Hezbollah struck first, now they must pay the price.

Let the Israelis do what they do best, kick the shit out of terrorist organizations. They are plently capable. They have lived with terrorist attacks on regular basis for over 60 years. There can be peace in the Middle East if we just sit back and let Israel kill the terrorist organizations like Hezbollah. Hezbollah's mission is to obliterate Israel. They have stated this repeatedly. They do not recognize Israel as a legitimate government. Hezbollah wants to turn every nation from Northern Africa to the Philippines into Islamic theocracies. They have no plans at stopping with Israel.

Just let Israel keep pounding Hezbollah into dust and then we'll see if another one of these Islamic terror organizations trys the same. My bet is they won't. Then maybe finally there will be some sort of peace in the Middle East.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research

2006-07-19T14:59:00.000-05:00

Today President Bush vetoed a bill for federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Good for him. Good for him because it was the right thing to do. I am not saying it was a good thing to due to moral obligations. It was the right thing to do because:

Embryonic Stem Cells have not cured anything that adult stem cells haven't already cured. The only advantage that embryonic stem cells had over adult stem cells was that they good change into any type of cell. Adult stem cells can now be manipulated in the same exact way and can be harvested from living adults from blood, hair, bone, etc. So the only advantage that embryonic stem cells had is no longer an advantage.
If embryonic stem cell research showed so much promise, why aren't private medical research companies running to spend billions of dollars on it? Because they know it doesn't work or at least have an advantage over adult stem cell research. This is the main question that people need to ask themselves before criticizing . If it is such a wonderful thing, why does it need federal funding?

Yes there is a moral issue with harvesting stem cells from live embryos. But, that's a topic that will never be answered until the day you meet your maker.

"Godless" in review

2006-07-13T19:33:00.000-05:00

I got a request to share my thoughts on "Godless", Ann Coulters new book.

Well I finally finished reading it and it was well worth the read. It took me quite a while to read it because of the thought provoking statements.

The most noticeable thing about this book is how liberal the media is in our country. All we heard about Ann's book was how controversial it was with statements about the widows of 9/11. In reality, if taken in context, the statements were not that inflammatory. But as usual, the liberal media takes whatever nugget they can twist and try and use it against any conservative that voices an opinion other than theirs.

This book is chock full of facts (documented facts) that blow holes in Darwins theory of evolution. Why would Coulter go after Darwin's theory of evolution? Not for the reasons that liberals like to contstantly chant: "fundamentalist Christian". She goes after the "darwiniacs" because that is the only explanation for creation that is LEGALLY allowed in our public school system.

There's no sense in getting into all the details because the liberals that love to try and refute anything I write as lies, will simply continue in their insane babbling. It bores me. They will never read the book, so there's no sense in trying to have a discussion about it.

All I am going to say about this book is that it was carefully research and all the facts were carefully documented, footnoted and attributed to their authors. It is a must read for all of my fellow conservatives. It would be nice if some liberals read it, but I am sure it will be dismissed out of hand by them and deemed heresy.

Father's Day

2006-06-19T12:56:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Father's Day.

Normally I detest all the commercialized, invented holidays that only exist to sell us more crap we don't need. However, this one was different and not because it was Father's day and I got to be the recipient of the crap.

It was because I felt good to be a father. I loved waking up and seeing a little glimmer in my son (10 yrs. old) and my daughter (9 yrs. old). They were so excited to wish me a happy Father's Day and give me their gift. My gift from them was what you would expect from young children. It was a giant coffee mug adorned with golf graphics and the words "Best Dad" on it. I know it's a corny and cheesy gift, but I absolutely loved it. Hell, if it were a gift wrapped turd, I would have loved it. I loved it because I know my kids paid for it with their own money that they earned by working (doing chores).

All the times I have come home from work and listened to them bickering over who gets to watch what on TV seemed to just melt away. My sweet kids were excited to do something nice for their old man. That's the coolest feeling ever!

Sometimes those little pecker-heads can really surprise the crap out of me. The weekend before last, our little town of Shelby, NC was hit with a wicked Thunderstorm with very high winds (60 mile/hr. gusts) and lightning everywhere. Our house sustined some damage to the tune of $1000. When my son found out how much it cost, probably because his mother told him, he offered to give us the money he has saved up in his bank account. That absolutley blew me away. It actually caused me to get choked up (a little).

Being a father is the greatest thing I have ever done and ever will do and I am so proud of that fact.

On a side note - My wife gave me Ann Coulter's new book "Godless". Can't wait to read it so I can impart some wisdom on my liberal brethren.

I Took My Kids To School On Memorial Day

2006-05-30T15:43:00.000-05:00

Monday, 05/29/06, was Memorial Day. Memorial Day is the day we as a nation remember those that gave their lives for our freedoms and our way of life. So to celebrate, I started my Memorial Day by driving my kids TO SCHOOL! I was shocked to find out that they had school on a national holiday.

They get numerous "teacher work days" off during the school year. They get Martin Luther Kings birthday off. But they didn't get a day to remeber our fallen heros. I don't how the rest of the nations public schools operate, but I am outraged at the Cleveland County School System here in North Carolina.

They could easily eliminate at least one "teacher work day" to give these kids what is commonly celebrated as the first day of summer, off.

A true sign of the decay of this nation is when we start eliminating national holidays and substituting them with politically correct holidays. What ever happened to Washington's Birthday or Lincoln's Birthday? Why don't we remember September 11th as a National Holiday? Remembering our men and women soldiers that have given their lives is paramount! When we forget them, we are destined for failure as a nation.

From Now On You're On your Own New Orleans

2006-05-22T09:54:00.000-05:00

It's beyond belief, but Ray Nagin won re-election as the Mayor of New Orleans.

So, New Orleans, you've made your bed. You have re-elected an incompetent, racist that has no business in charge of anything, much less a major U.S. city. Whatever happens from here on out, let your favorite son, Ray Nagin, deal with it. You saw what a great job he did before, during and after Katrina. What in the hell were you thinking re-electing this bozo?

This is the same guy that wants New Orleans to be a "chocolate city". Does he think he's Willie Wonka? Of course not, he's a racist that wants a city of only one color. When asked to explain his remarks, he said "Everyone knows how chocolate is made. It's made with brown chocolate and white cream." WHAT THE F***!?!?!? That is the rambling of an insane person, not someone that is entrusted with the safety and welfare of hundreds of thousands.

The citizenry has the power to control what happens to them through the vote. Those that don't vote should never complain because you never participated. Those that vote for sociopaths like Nagin, get exactly what they deserve.

What is up with Contractors?

2006-05-15T13:10:00.000-05:00

I am 39 years old and have owned a home for over 15 years. I am a do-it-yourself kind of guy. On most problems having to do with my house, I will fix it or build it myself. I like doing that kind of thing. The part I like the best is the excuse to go buy a new tool.

But when something major needs to be done, like a roof or something major league, I will call a home improvement contractor. The fist phone conversation usually goes pretty well. They are very courteous and professional. They usually let me know that I have contacted the right guy and that he can fix my problem. After that, things usually go down hill rapidly. More times than not, I never see or hear from them again. I then have to try and hunt them down and force them to either start working, admit that they can't do the job or admit they gave me a low bid for the job just to get the job and after further consideration they realized that they low-balled themselves. If I am lucky enough to get them to actually start working, the job they promised would only take a week and cost $1000 turns into 3 weeks (if lucky) and at least $2000.

How is this not illegal? Tell me any business that can operate this way and still stay in business besides building contractors. It is mind boggling. Maybe I am a dreamer, but I think that when you tell someone you are going to do something, you should do it, especially if you are being paid to do it. And why do I even bother getting an estimate? They're useless. Their normal plan of attack is to tear the shit out of your house, take 2-3 weeks off with no warning or phone call, show up after their little vacation and then break the bad news that their original estimate didn't include some hidden cost that will double the final price of the job. What can you do at that point? They know they got you by the short and curlies. Your house is a wreck and they are the only ones that can put it back together. It's nothing short of extortion!

Are there secret contractor meetings where they sit around guzzling beer and laughing their asses off at who ran the most elaborate scam on some poor unsuspecting bastard? The reason I think that there probably is, is because every single contractor I have ever dealt with pulls the same shit. You'd think there would be at least one honest guy out there that wanted to run an honest home improvement business. If there is and he or she happens to read this, please email me. I have a couple of things I need done around the house. Why do I have the feeling I have just opened myself to yet another con job?

Ass Kicking

2006-05-12T13:19:00.000-05:00

My blog is titled "Swhicker's World". Here's what my ideal world would be like.

In my ideal world there would be one governing law. It would be called the Ass Kicking statute. Here's how it would work.

Every time you did something that inflicted physical harm to another - you got your ass kicked by someone bigger than you.
Every time you are malicious towards another - you get your ass kicked.
Every time you failed to use your turn signal or failed to turn off your turn signal while not turning - you must pull off to the side of the road and await an ass kicking.
Every time you sit at a traffic light that has changed to green and no body is in front of you for more than 2 seconds - you get your ass kicked for not paying attention.
Every time you cheat someone out of money - you get your ass kicked.
Every time you mistreat a child or anyone less fortunate than you - you get your ass kicked.
Every time you drive drunk - you get your ass kicked repeatedly. If you cause the death of another while driving drunk - You get your ass kicked to death.
Every time you stick your nose in someone else's business - you get your ass kicked
Every time you spread rumors (true or false) about someone - you get your ass kicked.
Every time you don't defend someone smaller than you or less fortunate than you that is getting their ass kicked for no reason - you get your ass kicked.
All New York Yankee, UNC Tarheel & Dallas Cowboy fans - Automatic annual ass kicking.
If you complain to the department of ass kicking that you have been wronged in some way and it turns out to be just on of life's injustices and there was nothing anyone could have done to avoid it - you get your ass kicked. In other words, whiny babies get their asses kicked. Life's not fair, get used to it.
Those that constantly complain about their civil rights being violated - get their asses kicked. If their rights are truly being violated, the violators will be found and thy will get their asses kicked.
People that talk during a movie as if they were sitting in their living rooms while watching said flick - get their asses kicked.
Blatant rudeness warrants an ass kicking.
Men that abuse women - get their balls kicked in, then get an ass kicking.
Women that hen-peck and treat their men like subordinates - get their asses kicked.
If you are caught kicking someone's ass by law enforcement, the situation will be neutralized, then evaluated. If you are justified in your actions, you will be allowed to continue kicking ass. If you actions were deemed unwarranted, you get your ass kicked.

Immigration - Part 2

2006-05-02T14:44:00.000-05:00

This is such a hot topic and one that really burns my butt, that I thought it warranted another visit.

Yesterday (May 1st), across the Nation, there were protests by illegal immigrants. They were protesting for their "rights". WHAT? Since when do ILLEGAL immigrants have rights? They already have more than they would in their home countries. Hell, they get free health care here. They wanted to show the citizens of this great country what an impact on the economy there would be without them around. The impact was not noticable. Well, let me rephrase that. The detrimental impact was not noticable. I would like to know the actual figures on health care savings to the tax payers of this country. I would like to know the crime statistics for yesterdays boycott by the illegal immigrants. I would like to know if the children of these illegal immigrants were in our tax funded public schools while they were protesting.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for them obtaining citizenship. If all of these illegals were forced to get citizenship, the tax base for this country would greatly increase. Right now, most of them pay no income tax, but they reap the benefits. But, where in the hell do they get the right to protest? That right is for American citizens!

Another issue with this whole thing that really chaps my ass is the fact that we missed a great opportunity the first time these ILLEGAL immigrants marched a couple of weeks ago. We should have had every single INS agent at that rally to herd them up and process them. Not only did we let it go the first time, WE DID IT AGAIN yesterday! When someone has done something illegal and then tells the authorities he/she will be in a certain place at a certain time, shouldn't the authorities be there to arrest them? What in the hell is going on?

As far as the National Anthem being translated into Spanish - GIVE ME A BREAK! This whole situation is way out of control. Would you put up with someone coming into your house and telling you to rearrange your furniture to suit their personal taste? Would you allow them to come into your house and tell you to speak a foreign language from now on? Maybe if they paid a an equal share of the mortgage.

Duke Lacrosse Team

2006-04-21T09:31:00.000-05:00

OK, I think enough time has gone by that I need to go ahead an weigh in on the Duke lacrosse team rape case.

From all appearances it seems to me that these are trumped up charges for political and financial gains. The District Attorney in Durham is up for re-election and is afraid of losing the "black vote". The alleged victim is an African American that was allegedly raped by rich white boys attending a prestigious university. If he didn't press charges and arrest these young men, there would be a demand for his head.

These two women had an agenda going into that party that night. They knew where they were going. They were going to Duke University to a party held by the lacrosse team. Everyone knows that lacrosse is a sport that is played by rich kids at private schools. They saw an opportunity for a money grab. They are hardly upstanding citizens to begin with. They're strippers!

There was no DNA from the supposed crime. There are time stamped receipts from an ATM machine that puts the accused somewhere other than the scene of the alleged crime. There's a cab driver that admits the accused were in his cab at a time that the supposed crime was happening. There are no witnesses to substantiate the alleged victim's accusations. There's not one shred of evidence to prove that these young men did anything illegal.

The only crimes committed that night were under age drinking. There will be a conviction that comes out of this whole mess and it will not be against the Duke lacrosse players. It will be against the stripper. If this goes to trial, and by all appearances it will, the stripper will perjure herself when she takes the stand. The other crime here is the fact these young men's lives will never be the same. They have been suspended from school and their families are going to have to shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

The young men accused of rape were stupid for hiring strippers to come over that night. They should know what kind of people they were dealing with. Unfortunately we all do stupid things at that age, but being stupid shouldn't get you locked away in a federal prison for 10-20 years or longer.

Immigration Issues

2006-04-11T08:35:00.001-05:00

Ok, let's try and tackle this sticky issue.

I am not real sure about the issues surrounding this one. So, maybe someone can help me with this one. I'm sure Bob or Brian will weigh in on this one.

Is it or is it not unlawful to be in this country illegally?...Hence the term "ILLEGAL immigrant". So, where do these illegal immigrants get the right to protest about being in this country illegally? I would think they would want to stay out of the lime-light, not marching down the middle of a main thoroughfare proudly proclaiming that they are illegal. I don't get it.

I've heard them stating that there is no way to enter this country legally, therefore they had no choice but to enter the country illegally. What? So if I can't afford a new car, it's ok for me to obtain one illegally?

unfortunately, because of the events of 9/11 we learned that we have very porous boarders and that needs to be fixed. For years we turned a blind eye to the millions of illegal immigrants coming to this country for a better life. After all that's what this country is all about, right? But when we are attacked on our own soil by terrorists that were living in our country because of our lax immigration policies, something needs to be done about it. We need to tighten up our boarders.

Is an amnesty policy for all of those illegally in our country now a good idea? Don't know. Is deporting the millions that are in our country illegally a good idea? I don't think so. Most of those that are here illegally are hard working, good people that want a chance at a better life, just like most of our ancestors. Whatever we do with the existing illegals now living in our country, we need to change our security on our boarders to halt to deluge of illegals pouring into our country unchecked. If it means a huge bottle neck at our boarders to insure our safety, so be it.

Tiger = golf?

2006-04-06T14:47:00.000-05:00

This one is for all of you golfers out there.

Tiger Woods is unquestionably the best golfer in the world right now. That can't be argued. But why is he the only golfer we read about or hear about? The reporting done by the media is creating a real distain for Tiger, fair or not.

From all that I have read about Tiger and seen about him on TV, Tiger seems to be a pretty good guy. He does a whole lot for charity. He carries himself well in the public eye. He stays out of trouble and makes his family proud.

The guy has more talent than most will ever dream of having. His imagination on the golf course is in a class by itself. He really is the total package.

But, when I go to the web to check out the leaderboard for the Masters tournament and the headline on the sports page is all about Tiger, it gets me a little angry. Vjay Singh is leading the tournament at -5. Where's his headline? A few weeks back Rory Sabatini was leading the tournament he was playing in and there wasn't a single second of TV coverage on him, it was all Tiger.

Tiger deserves credit where credit is due, but so do the rest of the players on tour. Granted, because of Tiger the purses in golf are at all time highs and players are making more money than they ever have and that is becasue of the increase in television coverage that Tiger has created (or at least helped to create). But, when a guy is at the top of the leader board at what is considered to be the Super Bowl of golf, The Masters, don't you think he should be on the front page?

Part of the reason Tiger is basically polarizing golf fans is because, there are those that love underdogs and those that love consistant winners. It's kind of like the Dallas Cowboys during the 80's and 90's. It was real hard to find someone that was on the fence when it came to the Cowboys. Either you loved them or hated them. I think the same applies to Tiger. I have to admit that I am getting sick of watching Tiger during every major golf tournament. But I'm a David Duval fan and I guess I will never get to see him on a Sunday again.

Are you Kidding me!?!?!?!

2006-03-24T10:11:00.000-05:00

I just read an article about people in Texas getting arrested for public intoxication while still inside the bar. What?!?!

Apparently the police in some Texas towns are arresting people while they are still in the bar for public intoxication. Their reasoning is that they can stop these people before they get into a vehicle and drive drunk. They even arrested a woman at a hotel bar that was going to check into that hotel later that night. She was never going to set foot outside that hotel once she started drinking. Have the police in Texas lost their friggin' minds?

Texas was one of the last states in America to outlaw open containers in a vehicle. For years, after the rest of the country made it illegal, people in Texas could drive around with an open beer in their vehicle as long as they were not drunk. So what happened?

Believe me, I am in no way condoning drinking and driving. That is the dumbest thing anyone could do. But to arrest someone for being drunk in a bar because they may or may not get behind the wheel of a vehicle, is insane. Why not arrest them as they leave their houses to go to the bar. That way you will at least save them a few bucks on their potential bar bill.

Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don't

2006-03-21T16:22:00.000-05:00

After President Bush (41) pulled out of Iraq during the first Gulf War, the liberal bitch was that we should have stayed and finished the job. By that they meant that we should have removed Saddam from power then. President Bush's mission at that time was to free Kuwait not rid Iraq of vicious dictator. He left it up to the UN to put pressure on Saddam.

After repeatedly thumbing his nose at the UN, violating over 14 UN sanctions, murdering tens of thousands of his own countrymen, President Bush (43), along with most Americans, decided it was time to get rid of this menace. Weapons of mass destruction were sited as a reason for going into Iraq. This has become the liberal banner cry. We acted on faulty intelligence as did the rest of the world. The only reason France, Germany and Russia didn't agree with us is because they were in bed with Saddam. It would hurt them financially if we ousted Saddam. But the WMD's were only a small reason cited for our invasion. The main reason was because of the blatant disregard for the UN sanctions imposed. The UN sanctions were not working. We gave Saddam over a decade to comply and he simply threw back in our faces. Hell, even the UN was in bed with Saddam with the oil for food program. It became quite clear that we had no other option.

Unfortunately the liberal media created a campaign to make the whole Iraq invasion illegitimate. It was hard for the rest of the liberals to resist jumping on that band wagon. Somehow they have convinced a great deal of the American public of this.

Sure we have made mistakes. But to leave now would be disastrous for the whole region. The battle cry of the liberals now is that we should never have invaded. So, 41 was wrong for not ousting Saddam in the 80's but 43 is wrong for getting rid of a vicious regime in now?

Tax Cuts For The Rich?

2006-03-09T09:54:00.000-05:00

There is a misconception about how our tax system works and how tax cuts are percieved as only tax cuts for the rich. Below is a story written byDavid R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. He is a Professor of Economics at the University of Georgia. His story is a perfect illustration of our tax system and how it works. Yes, the wealthiest tax payers get a larger tax break than those with lower incomes. Why? Because they are paying more taxes than anyone else!

Anyway here's the story:

This is a good explanation of how income taxes really works!!

Sometimes politicians, journalists and others exclaim; "It's just a tax cut for the rich!" and it is just accepted to be fact. But what does that really mean? Just in case you are not completely clear on this issue, I hope the following will help. Please read it carefully. Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." Dinner for the ten now cost just $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to eat their meal. So, the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100%savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $! 7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than me!"
"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill,they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start eating overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D Professor of Economics University of Georgia

Wait a Damn Minute!

2006-02-21T16:37:00.000-05:00

Arab Musilms are taking over control of U.S. ports? The suprising thing about this bit of news is who's against it - The Democrats! I thought you democrats loved Middle Eastern folk. What happened to all talk of me being a racist because I think that Middle Eastern men should be singled out at airports. Now you are scared of them?

Once again, when it really comes down to it, you can't back up your bleeding heart rhetoric. You say one thing and do another.

The secruity of the ports is still in the hands of the U.S. Coast Guard. Dubai is an ally of the U.S. Hell, Tiger goes over there every year to play golf. How dangerous can it be?

Call 911 or Alert the Media?

2006-02-14T15:24:00.000-05:00

Well as everyone that has a TV or reads a newspaper knows, Vice President Cheney accidentally shot a co-hunter while quail hunting. When I read the story my first reaction was "I wonder if the guy is dead". I was glad to hear that he wasn't. My second reaction was, unfortunately hunting accidents happen. Any sport involving a shotgun is bound to have shooting accidents. I thought that the story was news worthy. I had no idea that it would be a top story for 2 days running.

The reason this story is leading most others, if not all, is because the press Corp was not immediately notified about the shooting until some time after the accident. Apparently the press Corp thinks the story of the shooting is more important than getting this poor fellow to a hospital. VP Cheney knows what's important - get the man some help. That's the only thing important at the time. To even think that one should notify the press Corp first and foremost is insane.

This typifies the medias mind set. More important than doing the right thing is making sure the media has their story. HOLY CRAP! The biggest problem with this country right now is the media. They would rather air a story that involves our troops movements than consider that they might be putting them in danger. They do all this in the name of free speech when it is those troops that are providing that free speech.

Example: Abu Graib

No I don't agree with what a select few troops did to those being detained. Let the army deal with it. Punish those involved. But when the media aired the story it created more animosity in that region and put our troops in greater danger. It's all about their right to free speech and to hell with Americans putting their lives on the line every day, the same Americans that are defending that right to free speech.

But even more bizarre than that is this whole thing about the cartoon of Prophet Mohammed that was published in Denmark. You have to look real hard to find a copy of that cartoon. The reason you may not have seen this cartoon is because the media won't publish it! Again- HOLY CRAP! They don't want to offend Muslims. Either that or they are scared of retaliation from radical Islamic groups. So, to recap, the media doesn't give a rat's ass about the safety of our troops if it means getting their story out, but they won't publish or air a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed because they don't want to offend Muslims.

Profiling Solves Crimes

2006-02-06T19:20:00.000-05:00

Like it or not, profiling works. Every criminal investigation starts with profiling. The definition of profiling from Dictionary.com - n : recording a person's behavior and analyzing psychological characteristics in order to predict or assess their ability in a certain sphere or to identify a particular group of people. Profiling is basic to solving crimes. The common misconception is that one who fits the profile will automatically be arrested. There is always more to an investigation than just picking the first person that matches a certain profile.

It is human nature to associate certain profiles with danger and to avoid those profiles to insure our own safety. Here's an example I have used in the past: If you are walking down the street and a dog is walking toward you, you may hesitate for a moment or even change directions. First you will assess the situation. What kind of dog is it. If it is a small dog like a Chihuahua you might proceed with little or no caution. If however it is a a Pitbull or Chow dog, you will do whatever you have to do to avoid it. Why? Because, unless you have lived in a cave for the past 20 years, you know from the news that those two breeds of dogs are responsible for more attacks on humans than any other breed of dog. The particular dog in this scenario may be the most gentle and loving dog that ever walked the earth. But, are you willing to take that chance?

Most violent crimes are committed by men. Would be fair if a police officer questioned me, because a violent crime was committed in my neighborhood? Probably not, but based on history tells police that a man would be a more likely suspect than a female. So if my wife were not questioned, I certainly would not start whining about my civil rights being violated.

For the past 20 years or longer, who has been responsible for most of the terrorist attacks all over the world? Middle Eastern Muslim men. So if extra attention is paid to Middle Eastern Muslim men by our intelligence agencies, so be it. I have no problem with that. If people of Middle Eastern decent would like to be treated with less contempt, they should start turning in some names of their brethren that they know have ties to terrorist. If Islam is a peace loving religion, why aren't they doing whatever they can to stop the violence that is perpetrated in the name of that very religion?

Boo Hoo Hilary

2006-01-17T09:49:00.000-05:00

Senator Hilary Clinton gave a speech yesterday at a church in Harlem where she said, "The House has been run like a plantation, and you know what I’m talking about. It has been run in a way so that nobody with a contrary view has had a chance to present legislation, to make an argument, to be heard.”

Well, Hilary, that's called majority rule. The American people elected those Senators and Congressmen because that's the way they wanted them to vote. If they wanted a democratic majority, they would have voted for more Democrats.

How can you argue about the fact there are more Republicans in Congress than Democrats? That's just the way the American public voted. Get over it.

The other amazing thing about this quote is her equating not getting her way to living on a plantation. I think that slavery was probably a little tougher than not getting a bill you authored passed in Congress. I don't know haw that congregation reacted when she said that. But, they should have run her big butt out of there. Hilary has never known anything close to slavery in her life. I am guessing that no one in that congregation is old enough to have been a slave either.

Do you think her and al-Gore wrote their speeches together? I would have expected such a lame statement from al-Gore.

al-Gore Replaces al-Zawahri as al-Qaida’s No. 2 Leader

2006-01-16T18:15:00.000-05:00

al-Gore is at it again. This bloated loser is, for all intents and purposes, crying for the impeachment of President Bush for the "illegal" NSA wire tapping of "American Citizens". This moron doesn't know when to quit.

I said it a previous blog and I'll say it again. Those people that were electronically spied on, were credible threats with ties to terrorist organizations. I can't explain it any better than an Article written by Ann Coulter -

"WHY WE DON'T TRUST YOU WITH NATIONAL SECURITY January 4, 2006

It seems the Bush administration — being a group of sane, informed adults — has been secretly tapping Arab terrorists without warrants.

During the CIA raids in Afghanistan in early 2002 that captured Abu Zubaydah and his associates, the government seized computers, cell phones and personal phone books. Soon after the raids, the National Security Agency began trying to listen to calls placed to the phone numbers found in al-Qaida Rolodexes.

That was true even if you were "an American citizen" making the call from U.S. territory — like convicted al-Qaida associate Iyman Faris who, after being arrested, confessed to plotting to bring down the Brooklyn Bridge. If you think the government should not be spying on people like Faris, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

By intercepting phone calls to people on Zubaydah's speed-dial, the NSA arrested not only "American citizen" Faris, but other Arab terrorists, including al-Qaida members plotting to bomb British pubs and train stations.

The most innocent-sounding target of the NSA's spying cited by the Treason Times was "an Iranian-American doctor in the South who came under suspicion because of what one official described as dubious ties to Osama bin Laden." Whatever softening adjectives the Times wants to put in front of the words "ties to Osama bin Laden," we're still left with those words — "ties to Osama bin Laden." The government better be watching that person.

The Democratic Party has decided to express indignation at the idea that an American citizen who happens to be a member of al-Qaida is not allowed to have a private conversation with Osama bin Laden. If they run on that in 2008, it could be the first time in history a Republican president takes even the District of Columbia.

On this one, I'm pretty sure Americans are going with the president.

If the Democrats had any brains, they'd distance themselves from the cranks demanding Bush's impeachment for listening in on terrorists' phone calls to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. (Then again, if they had any brains, they'd be Republicans.)

To the contrary! It is Democrats like Sen. Barbara Boxer who are leading the charge to have Bush impeached for spying on people with Osama's cell phone number.

That's all you need to know about the Democrats to remember that they can't be trusted with national security. (That and Jimmy Carter.)

Thanks to the Treason Times' exposure of this highly classified government program, admitted terrorists like Iyman Faris are going to be appealing their convictions. Perhaps they can call Democratic senators as expert witnesses to testify that it was illegal for the Bush administration to eavesdrop on their completely private calls to al-Zarqawi.

Democrats and other traitors have tried to couch their opposition to the NSA program in civil libertarian terms, claiming Bush could have gone to the court created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and gotten warrants for the interceptions.

The Treason Times reported FISA virtually rubber-stamps warrant requests all the time. As proof, the Times added this irrelevant statistic: In 2004, "1,754 warrants were approved." No one thought to ask how many requests were rejected.

Over and over we heard how the FISA court never turns down an application for a warrant. USA Today quoted liberal darling and author James Bamford saying: "The FISA court is as big a rubber stamp as you can possibly get within the federal judiciary." He "wondered why Bush sought the warrantless searches, since the FISA court rarely rejects search requests," said USA Today.

Put aside the question of why it's so vitally important to get a warrant from a rubber-stamp court if it's nothing but an empty formality anyway. After all the ballyhoo about how it was duck soup to get a warrant from FISA, I thought it was pretty big news when it later turned out that the FISA court had been denying warrant requests from the Bush administration like never before. According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the FISA court "modified more wiretap requests from the Bush administration than from the four previous presidential administrations combined."

In the 20 years preceding the attack of 9/11, the FISA court did not modify — much less reject — one single warrant request. But starting in 2001, the judges "modified 179 of the 5,645 requests for court-ordered surveillance by the Bush administration." In the years 2003 and 2004, the court issued 173 "substantive modifications" to warrant requests and rejected or "deferred" six warrant requests outright.

What would a Democrat president have done at that point? Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack. Also, perhaps as a gesture of inclusion and tolerance, hold an Oval Office reception for the suspected al-Qaida operatives. After another terrorist attack, I'm sure a New York Times reporter could explain to the victims' families that, after all, the killer's ties to al-Qaida were merely "dubious" and the FISA court had a very good reason for denying the warrant request.

Every once in a while the nation needs little reminder of why the Democrats can't be trusted with national security. This is today's lesson. "

Let's talk FOOTBALL!

2006-01-16T15:00:00.000-05:00

Here's a subject that I haven't touched on yet - sports, in particular football.

How 'bout them Panthers?!?!?!

Steve Smith was simply outstanding and without question the undisputed best wide receiver in pro football today! What a show he put on against the "Monster of the Midway"!

John Fox has put together a temendous franchise and a whole bunch of the credit should go directly to him. A part of the team that never gets much recognition that played fantastic football yesterday is the offensive line. All the credit that Smith got (and he earned it) never would have been possible without the protection and blocking that the offinsive line provided.

That's the beautiful part of football, it is truely a team sport. If one player on that field fails to perform the whole team suffers. And, if everyone does their job, certain positions can shine like the QB, wide receivers and running backs.

Now, on to Seattle. This is going to be a tough one, especially considering the fact that Foster is out. Goins is an outstanding running back but he can't do the job that Faster and he did all by himself. The other question is the health of Peppers.

There's still alot of talent and heart on the team. Maybe with some lucky breaks we can pull it off. GO PANTHERS!

You Democrats just don't get it!

2006-01-13T16:36:00.000-05:00

Here's quote from former President and felon, Bill Clinton from Esquire magazine when asked if Tim MCGraw (country music superstar) should get into politics:

"“I think he’s got it,” Clinton says of McGraw in an Esquire magazine story that hits newsstands Monday. “The Democrats need candidates whom people can relate to in a personal way, people who understand their lives and their concerns and share their values. And I think that’s something Tim can do without even pretending.”"

He thinks that normal hard working Americans can relate to a mega star in a "personal way" . Billy, Billy, Billy, you underestimate the mentality of normal folk. You think that we look to Hollywood for guidance. WRONG! Us normal Americans look to our fathers and mothers, our friends, Clergy and teachers. We respect and look to those that we can actually learn something from, not a country music superstar, TV actor or movie star.

What in the world was Cashman thinking?

2006-01-13T08:59:00.000-05:00

Have you heard about the wacko judge in Vermont? Let me let you what this wack-a-do did. He sentenced a guy that repeatedly raped a little girl over a 4 year period to 60 days in prison. 60 DAYS, not years, DAYS! His rational behind his decision is that he "doesn't believe in punishment anymore". He think it doesn't do any good. He think s that rehabilitation is the only answer.

Here's what I think - when someone commits a crime like that, I could care less about whether of not they are rehabilitated. They just need to be put away or put to death, preferrably put to death. They serve no purpose in society. In my opinion, you lose all rights as a human when such a heinous crime as this is committed. What about the little girl? What about her right to feel safe again, if that's even possible? LEt me tell you again, she was repeatedly raped by the monster starting at age 4.

A Judge's job is to interpret the law. The laws on rape are pretty clear. The laws on rape also come with preset punishments. This is just another case of a reactionary judge legislating from the bench. If Cashman really wanted to rehabilitate this guy he should have ordered him castrated and throw in a labotomy to boot. You don't let monsters like this walk around free. You take them far far away and lock them up for life. Personally, I'd rather save the tax payers a bunch of money and put a bullet in his head.

Before all of my liberal friends decide to pounce on this one because Cashman is a Republican, let me assure you that no Republican wants any part of this nut bag. This guy has transcended party lines and now is in the catagory of mentally insane.

Too Busy to Blog

2006-01-10T11:02:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay on my latest blog folks. I have been very busy. As I have said in the past, I am a professional recruiter. With the economy booming, jobs are plentiful and in this business you have to strike while the iron is hot.

Unemployment is at it's lowest in 4 years. In 2004 unemployment was over 5%. In 2005 it hovered arounf 5% and now in the first part of 2006, unemployment is below5%. By the way did anyone notice that the Dow closed over 11,000?

Tax cuts don't work? The proof is staring us right in the face. Admit it dems, the economy is great! The more you dems bitch and moan about the economy the more you look like a whiny bunch of babies. Maybe if you would use the time you spend complaining about everything on refreshing your resume, you could find a job or find a better paying job is you are currently working, like 96% of Americans.

That's really the funny thing here. Dems complain about unemployment and our country has one of, if not the lowest, unemployment rates anywhere in the world. Since most of you dems like Europe so much, try moving there and finding a job where their unemployment rate (on a good year) hovers aroung 10-15%. Dems think that Europeans are sooo much smarter than us stupid Americans. You know why those European countries stage so many anti-American rallies? Because they have no jobs and plenty of time for that kind of thing.

INSURANCE -WHAT A SCAM!

2006-01-05T10:46:00.000-05:00

Ok....here goes. I brushed on the subject in an earlier blog and thought I might as well throw it our there. I would be interested in hearing from anyone on this subject. I'd be really surprised if anyone is totally against me on this one.

The insurance industry is the biggest scam ever invented. You have to have it to buy a house. You pay premiums every month. The first time you make a claim because of a hurricane, tornado, earthquake, whatever, you get dropped or your premiums get raised to offset the "costs" the insurance company incurrs from your claim. My question is; Isn't that what the premiums were for that you paid all the previous years? These bastards are just stealing money from us. It is a 100% profit industry. They recoop their "losses" by jacking up your premiums and keep all the money you have already paid into your policy.

Same thing with health insurance. If you have a prescribed medication that you have to take, after a period of time, your insurance company will send you a letter informing you that that drug has been moved to a "different classification" and your co-pay is now increased on that particular drug. If you really want to know why healthcare is out of control in this country, look at the insurance companies to blame. If you have ever had a serious medical condition that required intensive treatment (ex: surgery), look at your insurance bill and see what they, the insurance company, decided was necessary and covered under your plan. It's unbelievable!
Thank God that new legislation was passed a few years ago that nowprohibits insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing medical conditions. Maybe we should demand from our law-makers the same sort of legislation of homeowners insurance companies.

I hope nobody from my insurance company (whom I am very pleased with) reads this or they will drop me. Then I'd be F***ed, and they know it!

Happy New Year!

2006-01-03T11:28:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! What makes me most optimistic about it being a new year is that the holidays are OVER! I don't mean to sound like a scroog, but that much time around family is just too much. Not to mention the millions of parties and get-togethers one is obligated to attend. Personally, I am a creature of habit and routine. I like knowing what is happening next and predictability. I hate thinking that I might get a little down time and then come to find out from my wife that we are expected to go to some other family/friends get-together.

2006 is going to be a great year! The economy continues to grow thanks to the Bush tax cuts. (Yeah, I know I just opened up a new gripe for the liberals). But the truth of the matter is that the economy is growing. You can argue all you want about "trickle down" economics. But the truth of the matter is - IT WORKS! It is the only sound & proven economic theory. Clinton benefited 7 years of a great economy that Reagan and Bush (41) created. But you saw what happened towards the end of the Clinton adminstration - we slipped into a recession. What saved us from that recession - TAX CUTS!

Giving those in a position to create new jobs by letting them reinvest their money to grow their businesses createsd more jobs which creates more tax payers which means a larger tax base. If you tax the business owners to death, they go out of business - NO JOBS! Pretty simple to understand. But for some reason, liberals look at business owners as the evil ones of our society.

Have a great 2006!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2005-12-20T14:43:00.000-05:00

I will not be posting any new blogs until after the New Year. So, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Please drive safely if you are going anywhere during the holidays. And, Please, please don't drink and drive.

Patriot Act

2005-12-19T10:04:00.000-05:00

OK...let's do this! I understand that I will be openly inviting the usual screaming liberals to spout their usual BS...but here goes anyway. After all it's my blog, so I will write whatever I want to write.

Let me ask one simple question: Since the Patriot Act was inacted, has your life been effected in anyway differently than before it was inacted?

In my life, NO.

Liberals like to cry the usual party line BS about our civil liberties being taken away. Personally I haven't had anything taken away that I am going to miss. Know why? Because I am a law abiding citizen. It seems real simple to me. If you are obeying the laws and doing what you are supposed to do, like going to work everyday, raising your children & providing for your family, then you don't have to worry about it. It seems to me that the ones worried that someone might be monitoring them, are the ones that are up to no good in the first place. If I were involved in illegal activities, I might be worried about my civil liberties as well.

I know that the liberals use the old "give an inch, take a mile" argument. But I don't see it. This is not the first time in our nation's history when our civil liberties were infringed upon. During WWII we had to forfeit some of our civil liberties, but they were restored after the war. We live in a time in which we have had more freedom than ever before. It is so free in fact that it can be argued that is why the terrorists responsible for the tragedies of 9/11 were able to get by with what they did. It's funny how the same ones who are always whining about their civil liberties are the ones that wanted a 9/11 commission to find out how such a thing could have happened.

Why not get rid of all of our intellegence agencies? Hell, let's just let everyone do whatever the hell they want to do, unimpeded. Let's go back to the old west era and just shoot someone because they looked at our women the wrong way. For all of you liberals out there that read too deeply into things that a conservative may say or write, I'm being sarcastic. In an industrialized society as ours, laws must be inacted and enforced to insure peace. By "peace" I don't mean hippy, dope-smoking "peace". I mean a non-chaotic society.

OK liberals...bring it on, but first answer my original question. Has your normal daily life been effected by the Patriot Act? If it has, how so?

Letter To Our Troops

2005-12-14T14:10:00.000-05:00

For all of our troops stationed overseas and here at home:

Thank You! From the bottom of my heart I want to thank you for ensuring our way of life. Thank you for giving us the freedom to express our opinions whenever and however we wish.
Thank You for the personal sacrifices you endure for your country.

I dare say that there are very few Americans that would be willing to put themselves in harms way for people they have never met. It takes a special individual to do such a thing. All of your are heros.

For those of you actively involved in Iraq and Afghanistan, God Bless You! I truly believe that one day, maybe 20 or 30 years from now, you will be able to tell your grandchildren that you were involved in creating peace in a part of the world that has never known peace. You are part of a plan to finally bring peace and stability to a region that has never known anything other than tribal conflicts. Democracy and freedom are the only answers. It is a long hard road with many sacrificing their lives for the greater good. And for that I salute you! This world of ours will be better because of the work you are doing.

Never ever think that what you are doing over there is pointless. The politicians at home that have gained the medias attention with anti-war rhetoric are just trying to get elected. They will say whatever they need to say to get elected. Unfortunately, they don't seem to care what it is doing to our troops that are away from their families in harms way. I can't speak for all of America, but my family and I support and thank you.

I will continue to pray for your success and your safety. Merry Chistmas!

God Bless Everyone Of You!

Tookie Executed - GOOD!

2005-12-13T10:58:00.000-05:00

Well, the Reverend Jackson was at it again last night outside of the prison where Tookie Williams was to be executed. He always seems to be right in the mix of everything. What surprised me most was there wasn't a riot after Tookie bit the dust like the Rodney King riot.

I am not pro or anti death penalty. I don't really know if we should decide who lives or dies. What makes me feel better about all this is that Jesse Jackson wanted Tookie to live, so I automatically wanted him dead, just to spite Jesse. I was really surprised Al Sharpton and Farrakhan weren't involved. Those 3 bozos have backed so many losers soley on the basis of their race, not whether they were guilty or innocent, that I like many Americans automatically take the opposite stance of theirs. They do more harm for "their" people than good. They are not promoting their cause by backing murderers.

What really blows my mind is that "their" people don't see them for what they are - opportunists. They are no better than Jim Baker. They take money from the poor under the guise of helping them. All 3 of those snake-oil salesmen have become rich off of the black community. They promote racism. They create animosity between races. If those 3 were to somehow disappear from the face of the earth, everyone would be better off. There are plenty of black leaders that are trying to promote black causes, but are severely hampered by the likes of Jackson, Sharpton & Farrakhan.

Jimmy Carter is out of his peanut picking mind!

2005-12-07T15:37:00.000-05:00

Former President Jimmy Carter's new book, "Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis" is riding high on the New York Times best seller list. I watched the former President on the Daily Show on 12/05/05. I haven't read his book, nor do I plan to. He let me know that the gist of the book is that America has turned into a religious state. It is turning into more of a theocracy more under the Bush (43) administration than at any other time in this countries history, according to the former President.

The old fool has obviously lost his mind! It amazes me that when good and decent Americans stand up for the right to have a moment of silence (for prayer or whatever) in their public schools, stand up for The Pledge of Allegiance or stand up to the liberal radicals that demand the Ten Commandments be removed from public court houses, they are then labeled religious zealots. The Pledge of Allegiance had the words "Under God" added 50 years ago. It wasn't the Bush administration. Those court houses with the Ten Commandments displayed on them (including The United States Supreme Court) were built, in some cases, over a hundred years ago or more, not during the Bush (43) administration. And banning a moment of silence? What are the wacko liberals afraid of? Maybe giving kids a chance to think in silence will somehow lead them closer to God? Well, I pray to God it does.

If anything, this country is being stripped of everything it was founded upon by these wacko extremist liberal communist bastards that would like nothing better than the downfall of this great country of ours, so that everyone is exactly equal. If they have their way, we will be. We will all be non-thinking, lemmings like very other communist state ever created.

President Bush (43), the Congress and the Judiciary have not tried to institute any new Christian policies or laws during the past 5 years. The only actions taken by the Republicans is to try and keep the liberal left from taking away what was instituted by our forefathers. Jimmy Carter had obvoiusly spent too much time in the sun. Time to put the old codger in a home.

MARK MY WORDS!

2005-12-07T15:27:00.000-05:00

I just read a story of an Air Marshall shooting to death a passenger suspected of carrying a bomb. The American Airlines flight arrived into Miami from Columbia when a passenger with a carry-on indicated he was carrying a bomb. When the air Marshall ordered him to stop, the suspect ran off the plane. When the air Marshall apprehended him on the tarmac and was in the process of getting him detained, the suspect tried to reach into his bag, so they shot him.

Look out! Here comes the liberal left! They will pounce all over this. They will turn this obvious case of a nut job getting what he deserved into a civil rights issue. The Patriot Act will be brought to light again. The liberal lunatics will start whining about their freedoms being infringed upon, again. MARK MY WORDS!

I say, Good job Air marshals! Way to go!

This WAR is for Real!

2005-12-01T14:18:00.000-05:00

Below is a letter written by a retired attorney to his sons. It is floating around the internet right now as something that Major General Vernon Chong USAF (ret.) wrote. Gen. Chong did receive this letter through email and like most of us that have received it, he fowarded it along to his friends and family. It is definitely worth reading:

"This WAR is for REAL!

To get out of a difficulty, one usually must go through it. Our country is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we know it, that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which includes WWII).

The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there are very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war and even fewer who realize what losing really means.

First, let's examine a few basics:

1. When did the threat to us start?

Many will say September 11, 2001. The answer as far as the United States is concerned is 1979, 22 years prior to September 2001 with the following attacks on us:

* Iran Embassy Hostages, 1979;
* Beirut, Lebanon Embassy 1983;
* Beirut, Lebanon Marine Barracks 1983;
* Lockerbie, Scotland Pan-Am flight to New York 1988;
* First New York World Trade Center attack 1993;
* Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Khobar Towers Military complex 1996;
* Nairobi, Kenya US Embassy 1998;
* Dares Salaam, Tanzania US Embassy 1998;
* Aden, Yemen USS Cole 2000;
* New York World Trade Center 2001;
* Pentagon 2001.

(Note that during the period from 1981 to 2001 there were 7,581 terrorist attacks worldwide).

2. Why were we attacked?

Envy of our position, our success, and our freedoms. The attacks happened during the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2. We cannot fault either the Republicans or Democrats as there were no provocations by any of the presidents or their immediate predecessors, Presidents Ford or Carter.

3. Who were the attackers?

In each case, the attacks on the US were carried out by Muslims.

4. What is the Muslim population of the World? 25%.

5. Isn't the Muslim Religion peaceful?

Hopefully, but that is really not material. There is no doubt that the predominately Christian population of Germany was peaceful, but under the dictatorial leadership of Hitler (who was also Christian), that made no difference. You either went along with the administration or you were eliminated. There were 5 to 6 million Christians killed by the Nazis for political reasons (including 7,000 Polish priests). (see >http://www.nazis.testimony.co.uk/7-a.htm )

Thus, almost the same number of Christians were killed by the Nazis, as the six million holocaust Jews who were killed by them, and we seldom heard of anything other than the Jewish atrocities. Although Hitler kept the world focused on the Jews, he had no hesitancy about killing anyone who got in his way of exterminating the Jews or of taking over the world - German, Christian or any others.

Same with the Muslim terrorists. They focus the world on the US, but kill all in the way -- their own people or the Spanish, French or anyone else. The point here is that just like the peaceful Germans were of no protection to anyone from the Nazis, no matter how many peaceful Muslims there may be, they are no protection for us from the terrorist Muslim leaders and what they are fanatically bent on doing -- by their own pronouncements -- killing all of us "infidels." I don't blame the peaceful Muslims. What would you do if the choice was shut up or die?

6. So who are we at war with?

There is no way we can honestly respond that it is anyone other than the Muslim terrorists. Trying to be politically correct and avoid verbalizing this conclusion can well be fatal. There is no way to win if you don't clearly recognize and articulate who you are fighting.

So with that background, now to the two major questions:

1. Can we lose this war?

2. What does losing really mean?

If we are to win, we must clearly answer these two pivotal questions.

We can definitely lose this war, and as anomalous as it may sound, the major reason we can lose is that so many of us simply do not fathom the answer to the second question - What does losing mean?

It would appear that a great many of us think that losing the war means hanging our heads, bringing the troops home and going on about our business, like post Vietnam. This is as far from the truth as one can get.

What losing really means is:

We would no longer be the premier country in the world. The attacks will not subside, but rather will steadily increase. Remember, they want us dead, not just quiet. If they had just wanted us quiet, they would not have produced an increasing series of attacks against us, over the past 18 years. The plan was clearly, for terrorist to attack us, until we were neutered and submissive to them.

We would of course have no future support from other nations, for fear of reprisals and for the reason that they would see, we are impotent and cannot help them.

They will pick off the other non-Muslim nations, one at a time. It will be increasingly easier for them. They already hold Spain hostage. It doesn't matter whether it was right or wrong for Spain to withdraw its troops from Iraq. Spain did it because the Muslim terrorists bombed their train and told them to withdraw the troops. Anything else they want Spain to do will be done. Spain is finished.

The next will probably be France. Our one hope on France is that they might see the light and realize that if we don't win, they are finished too, in that they can't resist the Muslim terrorists without us. However, it may already be too late for France. France is already 20% Muslim and fading fast!

If we lose the war, our production, income, exports and way of life will all vanish as we know it. After losing, who would trade or deal with us, if they were threatened by the Muslims.

If we can't stop the Muslims, how could anyone else?

The Muslims fully know what is riding on this war, and therefore are completely committed to winning, at any cost. We better know it too and be likewise committed to winning at any cost.

Why do I go on at such lengths about the results of losing? Simple. Until we recognize the costs of losing, we cannot unite and really put 100% of our thoughts and efforts into winning. And it is going to take that 100% effort to win.

So, how can we lose the war?

Again, the answer is simple. We can lose the war by "imploding." That is, defeating ourselves by refusing to recognize the enemy and their purpose, and really digging in and lending full support to the war effort. If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. If we continue to be divided, there is no way that we can win!

Let me give you a few examples of how we simply don't comprehend the life and death seriousness of this situation.

President Bush selects Norman Mineta as Secretary of Transportation. Although all of the terrorist attacks were committed by Muslim men between 17 and 40 years of age, Secretary Mineta refuses to allow profiling. Does that sound like we are taking this thing seriously? This is war! For the duration, we are going to have to give up some of the civil rights we have become accustomed to. We had better be prepared to lose some of our civil rights temporarily or we will most certainly lose all of them permanently.

And don't worry that it is a slippery slope. We gave up plenty of civil rights during WWII, and immediately restored them after the victory and in fact added many more since then.

Do I blame President Bush or President Clinton before him?

No, I blame us for blithely assuming we can maintain all of our Political Correctness, and all of our civil rights during this conflict and have a clean, lawful, honorable war. None of those words apply to war. Get them out of your head.

Some have gone so far in their criticism of the war and/or the Administration that it almost seems they would literally like to see us lose. I hasten to add that this isn't because they are disloyal. It is because they just don't recognize what losing means. Nevertheless, that conduct gives the impression to the enemy that we are divided and weakening. It concerns our friends, and it does great damage to our cause.

Of more recent vintage, the uproar fueled by the politicians and media regarding the treatment of some prisoners of war, perhaps exemplifies best what I am saying. We have recently had an issue, involving the treatment of a few Muslim prisoners of war, by a small group of our military police. These are the type prisoners who just a few months ago were throwing their own people off buildings, cutting off their hands, cutting out their tongues and otherwise murdering their own people just for disagreeing with Saddam Hussein.

And just a few years ago these same type prisoners chemically killed 400,000 of their own people for the same reason. They are also the same type enemy fighters, who recently were burning Americans, and dragging their charred corpses through the streets of Iraq.

And still more recently, the same type enemy that was and is providing videos to all news sources internationally, of the beheading of American prisoners they held.

Compare this with some of our press and politicians, who for several days have thought and talked about nothing else but the "humiliating" of some Muslim prisoners -- not burning them, not dragging their charred corpses through the streets, not beheading them, but "humiliating" them.

Can this be for real?

The politicians and pundits have even talked of impeachment of the Secretary of Defense. If this doesn't show the complete lack of comprehension and understanding of the seriousness of the enemy we are fighting, the life and death struggle we are in and the disastrous results of losing this war, nothing can.

To bring our country to a virtual political standstill over this prisoner issue makes us look like Nero playing his fiddle as Rome burned -- totally oblivious to what is going on in the real world. Neither we, nor any other country, can survive this internal strife. Again I say, this does not mean that some of our politicians or media people are disloyal. It simply means that they are absolutely oblivious to the magnitude, of the situation we are in and into which the Muslim terrorists have been pushing us, for many years.

Remember, the Muslim terrorists stated goal is to kill all infidels! That translates into ALL non-Muslims -- not just in the United States, but throughout the world.

We are the last bastion of defense.

We have been criticized for many years as being 'arrogant.' That charge is valid in at least one respect. We are arrogant in that we believe that we are so good, powerful and smart, that we can win the hearts and minds of all those who attack us, and that with both hands tied behind our back, we can defeat anything bad in the world!

We can't!

If we don't recognize this, our nation as we know it will not survive, and no other free country in the world will survive if we are > defeated.

And finally, name any Muslim countries throughout the world that allow freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, equal rights for anyone -- let alone everyone, equal status or any status for women, or that have been productive in one single way that contributes to the good of the world.

This has been a long way of saying that we must be united on this war or we will be equated in the history books to the self-inflicted fall of the Roman Empire. If, that is, the Muslim leaders will allow history books to be written or read.

If we don't win this war right now, keep a close eye on how the Muslims take over France in the next 5 years or less. They will continue to increase the Muslim population of France and continue to encroach little by little, on the established French traditions. The French will be fighting among themselves, over what should or should not be done, which will continue to weaken them and keep them from any united resolve. Doesn't that sound eerily familiar?

Democracies don't have their freedoms taken away from them by some external military force. Instead, they give their freedoms away, politically correct piece by politically correct piece.

And they are giving those freedoms away to those who have shown, worldwide, that they abhor freedom and will not apply it to you or even to themselves, once they are in power.

They have universally shown that when they have taken over, they then start brutally killing each other over who will be the few who control the masses. Will we ever stop hearing from the politically correct, about the "peaceful Muslims"?

I close on a hopeful note, by repeating what I said above. If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. I hope now after the election, the factions in our country will begin to focus on the critical situation we are in, and will unite to save our country. It is your future we are talking about! Do whatever you can to preserve it.

After reading the above, we all must do this not only for ourselves, but ourchildren, our grandchildren, our country and the world."

They're Sneaky. Don't Be Fooled.

2005-11-28T15:09:00.000-05:00

From a previous blog of mine, you may remember me talking about the left leaning media types and their slanted "news" stories they pipe into America's living rooms each night. Most times, anyone with a head on their shoulders can detect the liberal slant to a story printed or broadcast. But, sometimes they get sneaky and start a campaign against the conservative movement.

The whole story about the CIA agent's identity leak is a good example of that. The truth about this is that there really isn't anything news worthy with this story. The whole thing was blown way out of proportion. No one knows for sure who leaked the identity of CIA agent Plame. It could have been Novak, Woodward, Cheney, "Scooter", or anyone else. It's another case of the media inventing news.

The bigger and most harmful example of their subversive tactics of inventing news are the stories we have been subjected to for the past 6 months on the war in Iraq. All anyone has to do to get a real picture of how the war is going is to look at the numbers. Now before I get too deep into this, I want to clarify something. I am not equating human life with numbers. Every American life lost over there is one too many. Having said that, we have lost over 2000 soldiers in almost 3 years of war in Iraq. How many soldiers did we lose in Vietnam in a 3 year period? How many in Korea? How many in one day at Pearl Harbor? How many at Normandy? Get my drift? We are creating real change in the Middle East. For the first time ever, there will be a democratically elected government in the Middle East. Real change takes time and unfortunately sometimes American lives. If we change course now, we will have created a worse situation than what we had prior to the war. Osama stated that the USA was a "paper tiger". If we leave now his statement will prove true to all the radical Muslims all over the Middle East. If that happens, it will be open season on America.

Have we made mistakes during this war in Iraq? Sure. Mistakes are made during every war. The biggest mistake of all, which we can not afford to make, for the sake of our children, is to cut and run. We are a whole lot closer to achieving our goal than we were 3 years ago. Most soldiers that are over there know that what they are trying to accomplish over there is a noble cause. They are proud of what they are doing, as am I. The American media is subverting the cause. Some might say their actions are treasonous. Demanding a time table for American troop withdrawal, is the equivalent of giving the enemy our play book. If you let them know when we will be leaving they will wait it out until we are gone and then spring to action. So, we must wait it out and wait until they spring and kill them.

One day, history will look upon George W. Bush as a great President who took a stand against a growing menace and crushed it with the might of the United States military, but only if we stay the course. Leave now and he'll look like an idiot. Hum? kinda makes you wonder. Is that what the liberal media is up to?

Here's what it all boils down to: The liberal left can not and will not get over the loss in the 2000 election. Ever since Bush was successful in preventing Gore from stealing the election, they've been on a mission to discredit Republicans. Hell, they even tried to blame a f***ing hurricane on Bush.

Torture? Why not?

2005-11-11T09:13:00.000-05:00

According to the media, Dick Cheney is a war mongering nut bag. He's crazy. He's Evil. Right? Well, maybe he's just doing what needs to be done to insure the safety of Americans.

If we outlaw torture, if we actually write into law, we are setting ourselves up for another attack. If we make it a criminal offense for our military or intelligence agencies to use torture on prisoners of war, we are opening the door for more terrorist attacks.

I'm not saying that we are currently employing torture tactics now. I have no idea and I don't want to know. I know that I want our military and intelligence agencies to do whatever they have to do to keep us safe. Let's not forget that those crazy bastards were cutting the heads off American citizens that had nothing to do with this war. But, I guess torture would be violating their human rights.

If we get a warning that there is an eminent attack on us and we have those that are involved with such terrorist organizations in custody, we should have every option available to extract any information that could thwart such an attack. I guarantee you that if an attack is executed that kills another couple thousand Americans and we had key terrorists in custody but we couldn't use whatever we needed to use to get information from them, the same ones that want to ban torture would be blaming the military and intelligence agencies for not doing their job.

Now, having said that, I understand the argument against the use of torture. The old argument is that if we use torture it puts our soldiers and citizens over seas in danger of retribution. It's been argued that Americans that are being held captive will be tortured because it is know that we torture. Bulls***! Our people will be and have been tortured anyway. This isn't "Hogan's Heros". The rules of war no longer exist. Today's enemies are radical religious extremists. They don't give a rat's ass about the Geneva Convention. I think they made it perfectly clear when they video taped the beheading of Americans.

Too much is being invested in our image across the world. Do you think that if we continue to bend over for the rest of the world, so they will like us again, they will? America has been the world leader for many many years. We are the freest, richest, healthiest country in the world. They hate us for that and that alone. No matter what we do to please every other country in the world, like the billions of dollars we give in aid, we will always be resented and disliked. It's simply the "have-nots" resenting the "haves".

I'm not advocating our use of torture nor am I protesting it. I am simply saying that we should leave well enough alone. Do not make it against the law to do something "we aren't doing" anyway. It's like outlawing unicorns.

ENOUGH is ENOUGH!!!!!

2005-10-27T14:40:00.000-05:00

As some of you might already know, Exxon-Mobile posted their biggest quarterly gains ever! $100 B-b-b-b-billion in one quarter!!!!! That's more money than a lot of nation's gross income. Gas prices are around $3-$3.25/gallon and I can't wait to see my utility bill this winter.

A couple of years ago, I decided to get new appliances and a new heat system for my house that would use natural gas. After all, natural gas was far less expensive that electricity back then. I thought that spending the money to retrofit my home would save money in the long run. Boy, I was wrong! It seems no matter what you do to try to save money, you get corn-holed anyway.

I've seen many emails requesting everyone that reads them to pick a day of the week and not buy any gas. For example, I read one that wanted everyone to stop buying gas on Sundays. In theory, that sounds good. But, if you need gas and don't buy it on Sunday, You will just double gas sales for Monday. So they really don't lose anything.

I suggest that everyone stop taking unnecessary trips. By unnecessary, I mean anything other than work, grocery shopping, etc. - just essential travel. Only when the tourism, entertainment, etc. Industries really start to suffer, will big oil companies reduce their prices. Hell, if I were selling a product that I couldn't keep on the shelves, I would jack my prices up to what ever I could get. That's exactly what the oil companies are doing. When the price gets too be high on a product, stop buying it (at least don't buy it like usual). Believe it or not, the consumer (us) dictate the prices. If we drastically cut back, prices will fall.

Oooh Noooo!!! BIRD FLU

2005-10-18T14:32:00.000-05:00

Is it just me or does the Avian Flu seem like this year's big scare by the media? It seems like every year we get bombarded with a scary story. A couple of years ago it was SARS. Then it was West Nile virus. Now it seems like the Bird Flu is the big scare for the media to latch onto and inundate our lives.

I'm not saying that any of the deadly diseases of the past were not real. I'm just wandering if they are as earth shattering as the media types make them out to be. I wonder if the WHO (World Health Organization), United Nations, etc. inflate the threat level. After all these are organizations that rely on government money for their very existence. Without a new "pandemic" every year or so, they would not get the funding they are used to.

How many of you that read this have ever been in contact with someone that had SARS or West Nile Virus? OR...know someone that knows someone that has ever been in contact with someone that had SARS or West Nile virus?

If you remember from one of my earlier blogs, I stated that the media needs to scare their readers/viewers. If they can't scare the crap out of their patrons, then they loose advertising revenue to their competitors. Fear gets viewers/readers. It's a very simple equation and one that the media types have known about for years.

Personally I want to hear facts, not opinions from "news" agencies.

Hey, Mayor Nagin - SHUT THE F*** UP!

2005-09-20T08:36:00.000-05:00

What's up with Mayor Nagin? Now he's pissed at the federal government for halting the repopulation of some parts of New Orleans because of the pending hurricane. His feelings were hurt because the feds undermined his authority. This bozo wants it both ways. He wants to blame the federal government for not evacuating earlier when it was his responsibility to do that. Now he gets his panties in a wad because the federal government steps in and let's him know that moving people back into an already flooded area with another hurricane on the way is not such a good idea. He actually said, on the news last night, "there's only one mayor of New Orleans and I'm it" - referring to the General that is in charge of FEMA Katrina relief.

The part that gets me is that democrats have always said that Bush can't admit when he's wrong. Well, he took the blame for something that was not his fault. Now the democrats are beating him over the head with it. Bush should have never admitted any blame for this. He was baited into it by democrats who have been looking for some sort of smoking gun for the past 5 years. They have gotten so desperate that they are blaming the President for an act of God. The only people to blame for this are the people of New Orleans. By people, I mean the elected officials of New Orleans and Louisiana. They were given $500 million a few years back to come up with a hurricane evacuation plan, which was supposed to include bolstering the levee system or reworking it or whatever. It was left up to them. They were given the funds to do it, but nothing was ever done. In fact no one can explain where that money went.

Here's the simple truth, that will never be published in any newspaper or broadcast on the TV news: New Orleans is and always ahs been one of the most corrupt political systems in the country. The local government of New Orleans has never had the welfare of it's citizens as one of their priorities. They have the highest murder rate in the country. Only 7% of the murders committed in New Orleans ever results in a conviction. That means that 93% of the people that commit murder in New Orleans never go to jail. That's a comforting thought, huh? But, the federal government is going to spend over $100 Billion on building that city back. If we (the rest of the country) has to pay for that, then New Orleans should be under the complete control of the federal government. If you were given the money in the first place to protect your citizens from a disaster like a category 4 hurricane, but never used it, then have the nerve to blame the federal government for all the destruction and lack of evacuation efforts, you should automatically forfeit any rights to govern yourself.

I am of the belief that it is not the purpose of the federal government to look after the states. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's how our government was designed. If it wasn't, why do we have state governments? Mayor Nagin reminds me of a little kid that wants to blame the whole world for everything that goes wrong. It's time to grow up Mayor Nagin. It's time to act like an adult. Start taking some responsibility for your position. If you don't want responsibility, do everyone a favor and resign.

Is The Media Liberal Biased? - ABSOLUTELY!

2005-09-07T09:52:00.000-05:00

Although the major TV Networks and newspapers claim to present fair and objective stories, they are unquestionably liberal biased. Why? Because that is the nature of the business. Bad news keeps them in business. What is a liberal? Someone that constantly complains about their current situation, but never provides a viable solution to solve that problem. They also never actually do anything to solve their problems. They are all fluff with no substance. Everything to them is about show instead of action. Appearances are of the utmost importance to a liberal.

Evidence of this is the economic news that has been broadcast over the past 18 months. We experienced the shortest recession in the history of our country recently. A recession that was created by Bubba Clinton. We started the downward slide into a recession before George Bush (43) took the Oath of Office. In the summer of 2003 the economy took a noticeable turn for the better and has continually gotten stronger ever since. Jobs have been plentiful, across the board, for 2 years now. How do I know this? I am a professional recruiter. If you ever want to know the real situation with the job market, ask a recruiter. We are the first to see trends in employment. For the past year, we have had more problems finding people for jobs than ever before. But, when was the last time you read or heard anything from the mainstream media about how well the economy is doing? More new houses have been built than at anytime in our nations history. Who do you think is buying those homes, the unemployed? They certainly don't build homes just for the sake of building them.

A more blatant example was the reporting done by 60 Minutes and Dan Rather on President Bushes Texas Air National Guard duty. The actions taken by 60 Minutes and Dan Rather were criminal fraud. Did President Bush cry and complain about a blatant attempt to smear his service to his country? NO! He had every right to bring legal action against this so called news agency, but he did not. He treated it like you would treat a child that is in the midst of a temper tantrum - he ignored it. Basically that is how the main stream media is perceived. It has gotten so biased that only the simple-minded actually give their broadcasts and credence.

More and more Americans are turning to conservative media like Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, etc. Speaking of Blatant examples of liberal news media bias is the witch hunt perpetrated towards Rush Limbaugh. Yes, Rush did some questionable things concerning prescription drugs. Yes, Rush admits to these actions. Yes, he was addicted to prescription drugs. He was in extreme amounts of pain after his hearing loss surgery. Like many people, he made mistakes. He's admitted them and has ceased that activity. But the media pounced on him as if he were a pedophile. Normally, liberals jump at the chance to make an appearance at the side of someone that has fallen upon hard times as if they were the only ones that cared. In Rush's case, they wanted nothing more than to kick the sh** out of him while he was down. What happend to the liberal "compassion" for the down-trodden?

The liberal left has consistantly tried to portray the conservative right as the ones that have no compassion towards the poor and/or down-trodden. Here's the truth folks. The liberal left doesn't give a rat's ass about the poor or down-trodden. But they love to talk as if they do. It makes them feel better about themselves. They think that if they talk like they care it is the same as if they actually take action to help those less fortunate. Conservatives on the other hand understand that the true nature of giving is to not want or expect anything for doing a good deed. It is what we are supposed to do. Conservatives don't want praise for giving a helping hand. All they want is to help for the sake of helping.

It all boils down to this - If you constantly need praise and attention, you are a liberal. If you are self assured with your beliefs and actions and have no need for praise for doing the right thing, then you are a conservative. I firmly believe that the further you stray from God the more liberal you become.

Retreat From Iraq? - BIG MISTAKE!

2005-09-05T20:08:00.000-05:00

We have been at war in Iraq for over 2 years now. Many here at home, courtesy of our liberal media, think we aren't making any progress over there and that we never will. I would ask any of you that think we aren't making any progress in Iraq to ask someone who has been over there. Don't take the word of the media. They LIE!

Let's look at the big picture here. I know that is very difficult for the majority of Americans. With technological advances and the "got have it now" mentality our country ,for the most part, has an attention span equal to a hiccup.

First off, what ever the reason expressed to the American public for going to war, the real reason we went was to try and get a hold of and put and end to terrorism. Terrorism by Muslim extremists is not a new thing. It has been going on for decades. But we tend to blow things off as if they we mere anomalies. Unfortunately, it is real and increasing in frequency and magnitude. It was high time we did something real about it. Unlike Bubba Clinton who fired a 20 million dollar cruise missile into an aspirin factory after the first attempt to take down the World Trade Center towers in order to get the focus off of him for having his nob polished by a White House intern, President Bush (43) has a real plan.

This plan is to get a "democracy" established in the Middle East as a model for other countries. A free state that flourishes will invite others to embrace democracy. Younger generations want freedom but are oppressed. From that oppression anger and resentment takes hold and is directed towards the West, the "infidels". And the cycle of breeding terrorists continues. Freedom in the Middle East is one of only two solutions. To many this sounds like a pipe dream, a foolish effort. Many say that we are fooling ourselves to believe that any Arabic country will ever embrace freedom because they have always been and always will be warring tribes that can never get along.

Maybe they're right. Maybe it is a pipe dream. But that leaves the only other possible solution - free ourselves from being dependent on Arabic oil. That brings me back to my previous blog on gas prices. Until the tree-hugging liberals allow us to tap into our own natural resources by building new refineries and drilling in Alaska, we can't be free of Saudi oil.

So please don't complain about the current situation, unless you are ready to do something about it - VOTE REPUBLICAN!!!! The biggest problem that we face as a country is ourselves. We want everything and we want it now. We have this sense of entitlement. Previous generations of Americans, like my Grandpa who fought in WWII, created this great life for us. And what do we do?.....We take advantage of it by wanting our big SUV's, jet skies, boats, motorcycles, etc. But we also want every inch ofour country untouched by oil refineries or, God forbid a nuclear power plant. We can't have it both ways without getting OPEC involved. We've become OPEC's bitch.

Here's an idea, if you don't want to live near an oil refinery or, god forbid, a nuclear power plant - MOVE!!!!

Gas Shortage

2005-09-02T08:55:00.000-05:00

Here in little Shelby, NC gas prices jumped $1 in one day. A lot of the gas stations in town have completely run out of gas. I've heard people blaming President Bush. Some have blamed the recent hurricane in the Gulf. But, the real reason is this - the tree-hugging liberals! Yeah, that's right I said it. The only reason we are being rationed gasoline is because of the tree hugging liberals - plain and simple.

There is plenty of oil, we just can't get to it. Why? Because we have not been able to build any new refineries for the past 30 years! Naturally, the population has grown over the past 30 years. When the population grows, oil consumption goes up. Follow me so far? So, when we are using all we are able to pump out of the ground and something happens to interrupt that flow, oh I don't know...something like a hurricane, we now are using more than we produce.

For the past 30 years, every time a bill came before congress to allow new refineries to be built or new drilling in Alaska, it has been shot down by the liberal left. The latest was President Bush's proposal to drill in ANWAR (Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge). This is one of the most barren places in the world. It is in the upper west corner of Alaska, where NOTHING LIVES! But for some self righteous reason, the liberals don't want us to use our natural resources.

The liberal answer has and continues to be to get rid of our "Gas guzzling" vehicles (most new SUV's get an average of 22-24 mpg in the city) and drive alternative fuel vehicles. Let's think about that for a minute. They are suggesting that all Americans, should get rid of their current " gas guzzlers" and buy electric cars. Think about what that would do to our economy. Detroit would become a ghost town. And..Where in the f*** do they think electricity comes from? It comes from burning fossil fuels!!! The very thing they are opposed to. It would take literally 50 - 100 hundred years to rid our society of the use of fossil fuels, at least in a way that would not cripple our economy. The liberal environmentalists said the same thing about the Alaskan pipeline when we started drilling in back in the early 80's. They protested, as if it were fact, that we would wreck the natural habitat of the caribou and devastate the caribou population. Today that very same caribou population has more than quadrupled. Why? They love the pipe-line. The pipe-line emits heat and the caribou have been congregating around it ever since it was built. The caribou absolutely LOVE IT!

Like it or not, our society and economic system was built and relies on burning fossil fuels. We have plenty of it. We just can't get to it, because the EPA and all the tree hugging environmentalists block any new efforts to get to it.

If you want to blame anyone for this mess we are in - BLAME THE LIBERALS!!!!

Katrina Aftermath

2005-09-02T08:20:00.000-05:00

The events of the past week in New Orleans have really stirred an emotion in me that I usually try to keep suppressed. ANGER! I have so much anger torwards the looters and thugs in that city that are prohibiting the rescue workers from doing their jobs. And for what?!?! GREED! Pure and simple greed. Those selfish few that think this is an opportune time to get some "free" stuff are putting lives at risk. In many case they are actually causing the deaths of innocent people.

The mayor of New Orleans is complaining about the lack of relief efforts. Some have said "our government can travel around the globe to help the tsunami victims in Sri Lanka but can't help people in their own country". Here's the difference - the victims in Sri Lanka were not SHOOTING at the rescue workers.

The National Guard, Police, Army and whoever else they can get in there should start shooting anyone near a store front, other than grocery stores. There is no reason to be in front of a FootLocker during a disaster like this. The world would be better off without low lives like them anyway. These are the parasites of our society. They have never contributed anything towards our society and never will. All they know is taking. In my humble opinion...F*** 'EM! Kill them all!