Word Verification

Well tonight I tried to make a post about Backwoods Home Magazine and when I went to post, the verification word was blank. This prompted me to look around and try to figure out how to cut word verification off. Of course you have to type the verification word to cut word verification off. Catch 22.

Finally I tried a different browser and the verification word displayed and I was able to make my post. Then I went back to the word verification page and discovered that the reason word verification is turned on is that blogger thinks I might be a spam blog. Apparently what constitues a spam blog is a lot of links with non-sense text. I guess that pretty much describes my Blog ;>)

Backwoods Home Magazine

Several years ago, I had a subscription to Backwoods Home Magazine. I really liked it but during one of my economizing efforts, I let my subscription expire. I did not have a subscription for quite a while, then a few months back, I was reading Claire Wolfes blog and came across a mention of Backwoods Home Magazine. I checked out their website and ended up subscribing again. It is an excellent self reliance / self sufficiency magazine.

I'm Not A Homophobe

Before any of you read my last post and think I am a homophobe, let me assure you that I am not. As a libertarian, I really don't care, nor do I think it is any of my business, what consenting adults do sexually. I am for equal rights for everyone and that is an all inclusive everyone. What I don't like is this never ending process of identifying "minority groups" and setting them and their feelings above everyone else. Sure, I think it is insensitive and vulgar to make fun of someone else because of their race, or religion or sexual orientation, or anything else that makes them different. I also suspect that occasionally all of us have been insensitive and vulgar during our lifetime. If everyone does it, then how can you expect to police it? When I was growing up in Coosa County, we used to have an expression for someone who was being obnoxious. We told them "rave on catshit, someone will cover you up." Unless the thought police and PC police in California are willing to cover every pile, they should just back off and let school yard squabbles work themselves out. Sooner or later every pile will get covered.

Looks Hypocritical To Me

So in California, it is alright to mock someones religion, but using the word

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070228/ap_on_re_us/so_gay_1

'Gay' is hate speech? If God does not send down fire and brimstone on California pretty soon, he is gonna owe Sodom and Gomorrah an apology.

I Find This Interesting

I find the last sentence

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070228/ap_on_re_us/padilla_terror_charges_6

of this article interesting. I originally thought that this was the guy that tried to light his shoe on fire, but according to this article, he is being charged with "being part of a North American terror support cell that provided money, recruits and supplies to Islamic extremist groups." Islamic extremist groups? For my part, I differentiate between extremist groups and terror groups. I know people that think that Jerry Falwell is a Christian extremist. Does that mean I can be charged with a crime if I provide support for Rev. Falwell? Or, is the article wrong and Padilla is actually being charged with providing support to Islamic terrorist groups? Inquiring minds want to know.

For Every Customer That Complains...

I was once told that retailers estimate that for every customer that complains, there are thirty more that are unsatisfied, but don't complain, they just take their business somewhere else. That says alot about how people react to bad situations. I suspect that for every soldier that signs this petition there are thirty more that know this war is beyond hope, but will bite their tounge and keep on keeping on.

I don't blame them for not speaking up. They should not have to. That is our job as citizens. Its time that people get their head out of their ass and tell their congressman enough is enough. Hardly a week goes by that I don't write my congressman Spencer Bachus and tell him that we need to bring our men and women home. His office writes me back some of the "W" claptrap about staying the course, accomplishing the mission, etc. In the mean time, our troops are being blown up for hauling "school supplies and soccer balls and crayons and notebooks and coloring books."

If you really love your country and want to support the troops, write your Representative and tell him or her to get our men and women out of that Godforsaken shithole.

Redneck Economic Indicators

Thanks to the internet, I can read about a lot of things that I really don't understand. One of these things is what is called "the inverted yield curve." Seems it is a fairly accurate predicter of a recession. For those of you who are like me and don't know a lot about such things, we have an inverted yield curve when the interest rate paid on 30 year government bonds is lower than the interest rate paid on 90 day government bonds, or is it 1 year government bonds? Anyway you get the picture. Short term bonds paying a higher rate than long term bonds.

I don't know much about government bonds. Until I was middle aged, the only bond I knew anything about was what my parents called "war bonds." Needless to say, the inverted yield curve is a somewhat abstract indicator where I come from.

Don't worry about us Rednecks though. We have our own set of indicators. My personal ones are pickup trucks and travel trailers. I can drive up and down US Hwy 31, 231 and 280 and get a pretty good idea of how the economy is doing. How you say? By observing the number of pickup trucks and travel trailers that are sitting on the side of the road with for sale signs on them. The more of them that are for sale, the worse the economy is. Of course, in the case of the travel trailers you have to do a little seasonal adjusting cause there are always more of them for sale in the offseason.

I don't know exactly why it works but I have a theory. It has to do with who the recession affects the most. It does not drastically change the life style of the poor people. They already have it tough and anyway they can't afford travel trailers. It does not dramatically affect the rich people, they just use their class A motor home less frequently. Nope, it affects the middle class. The folks who have pickup trucks as their second vehicle, unless they are like me and have a pickup truck as their primary and second vehicle. They are the ones who opt for travel trailers instead of motor homes cause travel trailers are cheaper and can be pulled by one of their other vehicles, usually their pickup truck. They are the ones that feel the affects of the recession first. They have to cut back so they sell their travel trailer and may have to sell their second vehicle, the pickup truck. It cuts back on tag, insurance and fuel expense and generates some much needed temporary cash flow.

As a point of information, the last time I checked, the yield curve was inverted and there are a lot more pickups and travel trailers for sale than there were this time last year.

If You Have Nothing To Hide...

One of the least compelling arguments that can be made for a warrantless intrution is the phrase, "if you have nothing to hide, you should not mind us taking a look around." The sister argument that I often hear about new laws that invade our privacy is, "if you have done nothing wrong, it won't affect you." Both of these statements imply a naiveness on the part of the speaker.

First of all, everyone has something to hide. It may not be illegal or immoral, it may just be embarrassing, like a sink full of dirty dishes or a soiled pair of underwear on top of the clothes hamper. The founding fathers recognized that fact and included the fourth amendment to the constitution in the bill of rights. I like to think of it as the sink full of dirty dishes amendment. If authorities suspect that you have something illegal on your property, they can go before a judge and get a search warrant. If they just don't like you because your son beat their son out for a position on the basketball team, they can keep their ass off your property.

As for the argument that innocent people have nothing to fear from the law, that is just not true. With troubling frequency, I see news reports of someone who has been wrongly accused and convicted of a crime and is being released. Often the release is due to DNA evidence, but many times it is due to the uncovering of procecutoral misconduct. Police under pressure to clear cases and government procecutors hoping for promotion bend the rules to get convictions.

Several years ago, when I worked at a local public utility, I often told my coworkers that it was preferable for ten guilty persons to go free rather than one innocent person be convicted and imprisoned. Many of my coworkers disagreed with me. Some characterized my statement as being leftist, socialist, communist and even athiest. I suspect that if they were wrongly convicted of a crime and sentenced to prison, they would quickly recognize the truth in my statement.

Congressman Ron Paul

Congressman Ron Paul has a video on YouTube explaining why he is considering a run for the Presidency.

A FoxNews.Com Article about Congressman Ron Paul

You won't see me linking to Fox News very often, but it seems to me that this article does a pretty fair job of describing Congressman Ron Paul and his candidacy for President.

The Overall Tax Rate

A while back, I did some rough calculations and determined the average overall tax rate (ie. total taxes paid divided by total income recieved) for an average American is about 50%. This weekend I read an article where the author was comparing overall tax rates in various countries throughout the world. He used 50% as the overall tax rate in the USA. Unless he and I made the same mistakes, I guess my estimate was fairly accurate. Half of all the money we make goes to taxes. That includes income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, excise taxes and all the other open or hidden taxes.50%, half, we keep half and the various government agencies take the other half.

Along about the same time that I did my calculation, I read an article that was discussing the plight of one town in Ohio. They had a Ford plant that was closing and when it did, the tax revenues that were collected in the town were going to go down. The city government said that in order to "maintain city services", they were going to have to come up with a way to offset the decrease in tax revenue. To do that, they proposed to raise the local sales tax by one and one half percent.

This past weekend, I read an article that said that the decrease in sales of tobacco products, brought about by the tax supported campaign to get people to stop using tobacco, was resulting in a decrease in tobacco tax revenue. The article pointed out that something had to be done to offset the lost revenue. While no specific solution was offered, the implication seemed to be that other tax revenue sources would have to be found to offset the loss.

Similarly, I have recently read at least two articles that discussed that higher fuel cost would result in people buying less fuel. Lower fuel sales would result in less fuel tax revenue. Governmemt agencies that would be affected were said to be scrambling to figure out a way to offset the loss in tax revenue.

Back in 1980, I went throught a divorce. Suddenly, I had less income and about the same number of bills. I did try to increase my income, but mostly, I had to immediately reduce my spending. No where in any of the articles about loss of tax revenues did I see anyone talk about reducing spending. Apparently, reduction of government tax funded spending is unthinkable.

When the sales tax is raised in that Ohio town, the effective tax rate on those people will become 1.5 percent higher. If the tax on tobacco is shifted off onto some other "vice" like fast food, the tax rate on all those non-smoking McDonald's customers will be increased. When the government figures out how to tax fuel by the mile instead of the gallon, many of those people who have opted for fuel efficient vehicles will have their tax rate increased.

With overall taxes currently at 50%, and the trend in government spending increasing and tax rates increasing, where does it all end? Will we eventually get to a tax rate of 100%? Will every penny you earn go to pay some government tax and you will have nothing left to buy food, pay your mortgage, or go to the movies? Obviously not. But where is the break point? How much is too much? Where between 50% and 100% is the proverbal straw that broke the camel's back?

The Sunshine Vitamin

This article by Bill Sardi says that Vitamin D is much more important than we have been told previously.

I remember that when I was very young my mama used to give us Cod Liver Oil. Our family doctor had recommended it. I've always been reasonably healthy, I wonder if that extra Vitamin D in the Cod Liver Oil had anything to do with that?

Fight Them Over There

One of the mantras of the supporters of the Iraq war is "fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here". Sounds good in theory, but in practice, fighting them over there is

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070219/ap_on_re_us/iraq_small_town_burden_1

hurting some folks just as much as if we were fighting them over here.

End Hammer Violence Now!

When will Chicago realize that enough is enough and move to put a stop to

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070218/ap_on_re_us/chicago_slayings_1

this hammer violence? I know, the capenter's unions will say when hammers are outlawed, only outlaws will have hammers but is the City of Chicago going to cave to a special interest group and allow this senseless violence to contine?

I have heard that anyone can go into a home improvement store in Chicago and buy a hammer without producing any ID. Apparently there is no hammer licenseing either. It is time for Chicago's mayor and city government to stop hammer violence.

The Wonders Of Direct Deposit?

Ok, I'm guessing that

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http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/17/death.television.reut/index.html

this man was drawing social security and it was directly deposited to his bank and that his electric company was set up to debit his bank account for his electric bill.

Bugatti Veyron

All I can say is DAMN!

Bugatti Veyron at top speed
Uploaded by Flabber

An Honest Politician

There is one man in Washington, D.C. that tells the truth. He is Congressman Ron Paul of Texas. Yesterday he made a speech before the House of Representatvies, during the debate on the Iraq War Resolution. You owe it to yourself to take time right now to read that speech . After you do, ask yourself, "What part of Congressman Paul's speech do I disagree with and why?"

I agree with him completely. You may not, but it is time that we all ask ourselves, Why? Why do we believe what we believe? Is it because of what we were taught in school? Is it because of what our parents taught us? Or is it because of listening to CNN and Fox News, et.al.? The time for rote is over. We all need to begin to question what is going on around us. We need to look for real causes and real answers and not just babble back sound bite answers like a bunch of trained parrots.

God Works In Mysterious Ways

Is this his way of telling us to get our head out of our ass?

The Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 14, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building has been postponed due to inclement weather. The hearing is entitled “Climate Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?”

The hearing will be rescheduled to a date and time to be announced later.

Could just be a coincidence, but you gotta wonder ;>)

The Next President

Those of you who know me best (by the way, y'all are the only ones that read this blog, I don't even read it myself) know that one of my pet theories is the 'Presidental Deterioration Theory' or PDT. Stated simply, it says that since the early 20th century, each President of the United States has been worse than his predecessor. Maybe wrong, maybe right, its just a theory I have based on my observations.

Given that the politicing for the next presidental race is heavily underway, I decided to apply my theory and see if I could predict who the next president will be. Notice I didn't say who the winner will be. Believe me, if the PDT holds up, the next one definitely won't be a 'winner'.

First of all, I double checked to make sure that Hitler, Stalin and Chairman Mao were all still dead. Next I checked to assure myself that Charlie Manson was still in prison. With those tasks out of the way, I surveyed the field and I can report that we have a definite front runner. If the PDT continues to hold up, Hillary Clinton will be the next President of the United States. She is the only one of the existing candidates that can possibly be worse than Bush.

One cavet, if the decider, who by his own proclamations is above the law, decides that the 22th amendment to the constitution does not apply to him and decides to succeed himself, then he would be the next President. In that case, the PDT would definitely be working cause I am sure that a third term would be worse than the second.

Does NASCAR thinks its the NCAA

Tonight I was reading the news online and I came across this article. I don't follow NASCAR and I don't have the slightest idea what is going on with these crew chiefs and drivers but when I read where NASCAR Chairman Brian France had said "It's obvious that we've ramped up our penalties, and we're going to get people's attention and slow this down," I was immediately reminded of the NCAA. As I have said before, I think the NCAA is an organization that has outlived it usefulness. Instead of regulating college athletics, it has become an organization that appears to think that college athletics exists to give it a reason for being. Is NASCAR headed in the same direction?

Does NASCAR have a problem with rules being broken, or is the problem that NASCAR just has too many rules? It has been my experience that all organizations, governing bodies, and bureaucracies that exercise control over others continue to become increasingly restrictive and their rules escalate in complexity until they destroy the very entity they were set up to regulate. Is that what is happening here with NASCAR? I don't know but knowing what I do about such organizations, I would bet that it is.

Bankruptcy

Who? The US Government. When? Soon. Doubt it, then read this quote from David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, The Washington Post, 24 December 2006.

The largest employer in the world announced on Dec. 15 that it lost about $450 billion in fiscal 2006. Its auditor found that its financial statements were unreliable and that its controls were inadequate for the 10th straight year. On top of that, the entity’s total liabilities and unfunded commitments rose to about $50 trillion, up from $20 trillion in just six years. If this announcement related to a private company, the news would have been on the front page of major newspapers. Unfortunately, such was not the case – even though the entity is the U.S. Government.

To put the figures in perspective, $50 trillion is $440,000 per American household and is more than nine times as much as the median household income. The only way elected officials will be able to make the tough choices necessary to put our nation on a more prudent and sustainable long-term fiscal path is if opinion leaders state the facts and speak the truth to the American people … We hope the media and other opinion leaders do their part to save the future for our children and grandchildren.

~ David M. Walker
Comptroller General of the United States
"America’s Red Ink" (The Washington Post, 24 December 2006)

Still skeptical? Check out this article by Chris Leithner. Its very long but contains a lot of valuable information.

Hubris

Hubris is defined as exaggerated self pride or self-confidence. When I look around me today I can't help but think that it is the one word that most throughly describes us. We are a nation of hubris. Don't misunderstand me. I still love this country and would not consider living anywhere else. We, for the time being at least, still enjoy several of the original rights described in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We still have plenty to eat. But, we are not the same great nation we once were.

My love for this country now is much like the love you would have for a wayward adult son or daughter. One who had become a drunkard or dope addict. One who worked, but spent much more than they earned and who was constantly bulling or threatening those around them. One who engaged in all sorts of questionable acts, but who went to church on Sunday and then pointed their finger at others as being "sinners." Yes, you would still love them, but definitely not their acts.

Of course the question comes to mind, if this is true, what can we do about it. As individuals, not much. Unfortunately, we still have too many folks running around thinking and saying "we're number one." At one time, John Dillinger was public enemy number one, so being number one is not necessarily a good thing. I suppose we can recognize our own short comings as individuals. We can try to make ourselves better and serve as an example to others. And most of all we can pray for a restoration of the humility and compassion that once made this such a great nation.

Charley Reese on the Muslim Peril

Charley Reese talks about the Muslim Peril or more correctly the lack of it. As I read this article, I once again asked myself, why is it that we cannot catch Osama Bin Ladin? Could it be that he is more useful to the powers that be if he is running around stirring up things?

Still More On Global Warming

This is another thought provoking blog entry that talks about global warming.

More On Global Warming

I have heard it said that if you tell a lie long enough, you begin to believe it yourself. I think this article indirectly addresses how that phenomenon has affected the debate on global warming. It also details some interesting observations made by Henrik Svensmark.

Our Troops

Everyone is always writing and talking about our troops. I admit I am as guilty as anyone else. With all this "troop" talk, did you ever stop to think about who these troops really are? [THIS LINK NO LONGER POINTS TO THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE] http://www.capitolhillblue.com/wp/2007/02/09/2043 This article provides some insight into the answer to that question.

Goodwater and Rockford

I subscribe to the Coosa County News to make sure that I know what is going on in Coosa County. Since I am in Shelby County more than I am in Coosa, it helps me to keep up. A few days ago when I drove by the Eagle, a local convenience store in Rockford, I noticed that it had closed. In the January 26th issue of the Coosa County News, the managing editor of the paper had a editorial where she mentioned the closing of the Eagle. In that same paper, there was a article about the Wachovia Bank closing in Goodwater. Some of the folks in Rockford were upset about the Eagle's closing and many people in Goodwater were concerned about losing their only bank. I symphatize with both towns, but I don't think that either one of these closings portend a death knoll for these two communities. No, rather I think that the closings are just signs of a downturn in our economy. When the economy is booming, businesses expand. When things tighten up, businesses often feel the need to streamline or in some cases cease operation. Having lived through a few downturns, my observation is that This Too Shall Pass .

Don't Feed The Homeless

When I read
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070203/ap_on_re_us/do_not_feed_the_homeless_2

this article somehow I was reminded of John Stienbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath." Could be because I just watched it this morning over at Linda's, but I think I would have thought of it anyway. I generally do think of "The Grapes of Wrath" when I hear of someone or some group coming down hard on folks who are down on their luck.

Now, before you say it, I know that some of the homeless are mentally ill or sick with some addiction, but I also know that many of them are just folks that have fallen on hard times. As the article pointed out, an increasing number of the homeless are children. Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC's "Mad Money" talks about the time he had to live in his car, that is very close to being homeless. The recent movie "The Pursuit of Happyness" was about a homeless man, who went on to make good. I realize that there are two sides to every story and I probably would not be excited if a bunch of Orlando's homeless moved into the vacant woods next to my house, but still, there seems to be something hard and cold hearted about an ordinance that denys charities the right to give food to homeless people.

The One Thing I have Learned About Baghdad.

There is one thing that I have definitely learned about Baghdad. Don't go to the

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070203/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_070203195544
Market! Seems like everyday I read where someone has blown up a market and killed a lot of people. So, if you find yourself in Baghdad, Don't go to a Market!

Learning Curve

Well one of the previous strikes turns out to be a foul tip. I discovered that by selecting "Edit Html" instead of "Compose" I could indeed paste text. Good thing too, because I realized that often the links that I use are so long that typing them in and getting them correct with my typing skills would be nearly impossible.

All just part of the Learning Curve. If there is one thing that I have learned about software improvements, they are usually "not" improvements, just changes and there is always a Learning Curve. Oh, well, it keeps a lot of IT people employed. I suppose that helps the overall economy.

Two Complaints

Well I have only made a couple of posts with the New version of blogger and already I have complaints. First of all, they have apparently disabled paste in their editor. I often compose my posts offline in word or some other editor, then cut and paste them into the blogger editor. A few minutes ago I tried to paste the correct spelling of a word intothe blogger editor and it would not let me. I can't figure a reason for that unless they think it will cut down on copyright infringements.

The second complaint is with that stupid word verification. I went to publish a few minutes ago and while the word verification box was there, the picture with the word to be typed was not. That is three strikes. If this were baseball, that would be out number one. Two more to go.

Where We Are Headed

Well, I found it. I knew it existed, I just did not know where. What you ask, why our game plan, our goal, our target. A few minutes ago I was reading a newsletter and I came across a statement and immediately I realized that I had discovered the guiding principle for our nation. The one statement that sums up where we are headed.

It is, "That which is not forbidden is compulsory." It obviously sums up what we are trying to achieve. When we, as a nation can say, "That which is not forbidden is compulsory", we will have reached the pinnacle. We will be where most of our elected officials and apparently a majority of our citizens want us to be.

Forced Upgrade

Well Blogger has forced me to update to their new version. I don't have any reason to believe that it will be better than their old version, just different. Since I waited until they forced me, maybe they have gotten out the initial bugs. I notice that they are still using that insipid word verification. That is one strike against the new version. I will pass along any others as I discover them.

The Bible isn't a Screen Play

Often I get to wondering what is going on with the folks in DC. This is especially true of the President and the Vice-President. Much of what they do, particularly in the middle east, just does not make sense. Last week I read an article that said that they (Bush and Cheney) act as they do because they are Dispensationalists and they are "acting" out their parts in history as they see them. Now I am not too knowledgeable about religious things so I went and looked up Dispensationalist and Dispensationalism. I've read about it, I can't say that I understand it, but at least I have a better understanding than I did.

My daddy always told me that his daddy told him, don't make fun of anybody else's religion, it might just be better than yours. Therefore, I am not gonna pass judgement on what Dispensationalists think. And I am not going to accuse Mr Bush and Mr Cheney of being Dispensationalist. I will say this. The bible makes it pretty plain in a couple of places, [In Matt 24:36, 42, 44 , "No one knows about the day and hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father . . . because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him," and Acts 1:7, "It is not for you to know the dates or times which the Father has set by his own authority."] that no one knows when the end times will be. That would seem to indicate that no one should be "acting" out their end time roles. In fact it would seem to me that if you are sure that it is the end times, then it is not. Also, since the bible is not a screen play, a little less "acting" and a lot more living seems to be in order.

Support Our Troops

The very best way to do that is to bring them home NOW!