Sunday, November 29, 2009

Didn't Wanna Hafta

I'm sorry to say that I've applied word verification to my comments section. Didn't wanna hafta do that, but I've been getting spammed. Mostly viagra stuff and for some reason, almost all on the thread entitled, "A Forum For Dan Only". Can't imagine why that would be.

According to the instructions, I, as humble host, don't have to do it and word verification won't show up when I comment. Thus, I won't know for sure if I actually enabled it unless one of you tells me it's there. Let me know please. I'd disable it if anyone can tell me how to shut off comments on a specific thread, such as the one that is getting most of the spam. If the spam shows up on a different thread, then word verify it is. Any thoughts on this possibility?

Also, I know this post will cause some to drop off into "older posts". I consider the discussion on "Questions for Barry Supporters" to be ongoing still. So feel free to continue the discussion there.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Even More For My Warsaw Friend

My newest post at American Descent speaks more on the direction Barry Obother is taking us. When do we get to see some of this brilliance we keep hearing about?

Friday, November 27, 2009

Yin and Yang

I was very impressed by this comparison by Jack Cashill between Sarah Palin and Barry Obama. I guess "impressed" isn't really the best choice of words because what he says isn't a newflash. But what's impressive is how starkly different these two people are when examined closely and objectively. It really stands out when the two are put side to side.

Of course, for those who actually look and listen to what candidates say and how that matches up with what they do, to so compare candidates is natural. Palin stands easily head and shoulders above Obama. Strip away the marketing and Obama fails to elicit the fawning and adoration of honest lefties over claims of brilliance and heightened intellect. Indeed, without a teleprompter he's a stuttering and stammering buffoon. This, I believe, is the result of trying to convince others of brilliance not truly possessed, of not having a legitimate idea, of a failure of conviction in principles he claims to champion.

Palin, however, is not a product of marketing other than a "what you see is what you get" no frills, no bullshit alternative. She has distinct principles by which she has actually lived her life and thus can speak extemporaneously without stumbling. She is what she claims to be and that is hard to deny. Charges leveled against her intelligence show a decided lack of same by the accuser since anyone who could rise through state politics, even fighting against her own party, can hardly be called a moron by objective, rational people of either side of the aisle. Such charges are simply stupid.

So when you put the two side by side, there is little doubt who the truly smarter person is. Barry has done nothing that shows he's deserving of the adulation given his intellect. There is simply nothing special about it. We could say he was smart enough to not immediately withdraw troops from Iraq, or do trash all the surveillance strategies established under Bush, or to drag his feet on closing Gitmo, but all that stuff doesn't require a doctorate to figure out. But things he has done, such as apologizing all over the world, the bailouts and stimulus packages, his health care reform support (he hasn't offered anything of his own), his removing defense weapons from Eastern Europe, his snubs of Israel in favor of the blood thirsty Pallestinians, etc, etc, etc, all demonstrate an incredible stupidity that should not have been a surprise to anyone who actually looked at who this buffoon was before November 2008.

Is Sarah Palin presidential material? Well hey, after Obama the bar is now really low. But even had he failed to convince anyone he was worthy of the time of day, Palin has at least walked her talk. Is she smart enough? Again, check that bar level. It's way down there now. But even had Barry not sent chills up Chris Matthew's leg (can you say, "dipshit"?), Palin showed enough smarts in her Alaskan efforts that I have no doubt she would have surrounded herself with topnotch advisors.

Would I vote for Sarah Palin? I can't think of a Dem who would be better for the United States of America, and there are other McCains out there that would also be a worse choice than her. I don't know who she might run against in the primaries, should she decide to run in '12. But if she got the party nomination, she gets my vote for sure. Because if she's Barry Obumble's opponent then, we have the bottom line comparison in her favor. She would take the country in the direction first begun by our founders, the direction that made us a great nation. And thus we'd be on track to becoming that great nation once again.

Monday, November 23, 2009

More For Muh Man To Ponder

I posted an article at American Descent that I found to be a good analysis of the downward direction of Obamanomics. Check it out.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

For My Pal

This piece from Wintery Knight is a sample of the direction Barry is taking this country. It is intended for the edification of a close friend lost in the hell known today as liberalism and those like him. Read carefully and be enlightened. It is typical of the man some strangely call brilliant.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Health Care Question

So I keep hearing this particular point being raised about Health Care Reform regarding pre-existing conditions. Some people don't think you should be turned downed by insurance companies because of a pre-existing condition. I don't understand this. Sure, it would be nice to be able to have the cost of every ailment taken care of. But in the arena of insurance, this concept of pre-existing conditions makes no sense.

It is my understanding that the purpose of insurance is to be financially protected, or covered, in the case of a catastrophic illness or injury. The idea being that such can be financially challenging and, perhaps, able to bankrupt. The insurance companies make their money when such things don't happen. They collect premiums paid in regular intervals with the hope that they'll never have to pay a claim. At the same time, though most people hope to never have to endure a catastrophic illness or injury, they pay the premiums so as not to have to save up millions of dollars just to protect themselves. It's a nice arrangement and we should be grateful that there exist entities that will risk their money to pay for our medical problems.

Auto and homeowner insurance works the same way. You are actually paying for repairs or replacements that may or may not ever be necessary. Repairs or replacements that would be financially difficult to make without massive savings available.

But no insurance company will insure a home that's on fire or a car that is totalled from having crashed. So whence comes the expectation that an insurance company must cover a new client with a pre-existing condition?

Don't get me wrong. I feel for anyone who finds himself in such a position: a victim of a serious or chronic disease, loses his job and with it, his insurance, seeks coverage elsewhere and no one will take him, or they'll cover everything but that which is related to the illness from which he suffers. But is that really the insurance company's problem?

Put yourself in they're position. Consider the car scenario if it helps to understand: someone comes to you for coverage on his car. You go outside and see that it's on fire. Are you a jerk for telling the guy to push off? I think the customer's a jerk for expecting a total stranger to come across with bucks just because he came knocking and asking for it. It's really unconscionable.

Does no one prepare for the unexpected? Is no one responsible anymore for their own troubles? Must we impose upon each other when we should be thinking in terms of never being a burden on others? I would hope that everyone who still has a job is thinking in those terms right now. It's too late for those who have already lost their job. We're taught not to store up treasures for ourselves, yet, should we act as if we are impervious to nasty turns of events?

Of course, from the insurance industry standpoint, losing the job does not have to mean losing the insurance. The ex-employee should merely take over the share paid by the employer, thus maintaining the coverage he had when he got sick. There's really no need to bump him off the group plan. If he never lost the job, the insurance provider would be paying anyway. The insured would simply maintain the policy as long as necessary. The insurer, it seems to me, is still liable for the coverage since that was the point of the insured buying the policy in the first place.

Monday, November 16, 2009

New Blog Added

Take a peak at a new blog I've added that focusses on how gun laws don't work. It's called, appropriately enough, "Gun Laws Don't Work". Actually, I've been meaning to put this up and it kinda fell by the wayside. But there it was in my favorites all along (I've got way too much stuff in my favorites---it's really long). So now it takes it's rightful place under "Right Ones", and that, too, is suitable as the sentiment is absolutely right. Such laws are stupid and dangerous to law abiding people everywhere, particularly in the inner cities, college campuses, and strangely enough, miltary bases.

I posted a comment under one the recent posts there which I'll rehash here. It seems that Barry O, while still pretending to be a state senator in Illinois, had supported a bill that would prohibit a self-defense plea for defendants who use a firearm to stop a ne'er do well if the action takes place in a town that had outlawed firearms. He's a great American, ain't he? What a putz. Yet, he had voted against another bill that would have called for captial punishment in cases where the defendant was found guilty of murdering someone for the benefit of his street gang. Just a couple more reasons in a very long list of reasons why people were complete idiots for voting for this guy. Barry O is the poster child for voter responsibility. He's what you get when you don't take the time to research your favorite candidate.

But I digress.

This new blog addition is an important addition for it's focus on the 2nd Amendment and our right to carry weapons to defend outselves. If we don't have the right to defend ourselves, our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is worthless. It can be taken away by any jerk with a bad attitude. It happens all the time, especially where the idiot party (that would be the Democrat Party) is in charge and bans either handguns or the right to carry them. Innocent people die because the fools play their games, pretending to be hard on crime by taking away the weapons of law-abiding people, leaving only the law-breakers and vultures with guns. It gives them the green light to do as they please, because no one will stop an thug with a gun. Yet all states with conceiled carry have lower crime rates. Gee. I wonder why?

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Question for Barry Supporters

I got this in an email and thought I'd put it here for Barry O supporters to respond:

!If George W. Bush had been the first President to need a teleprompter installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how he inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?

If George W. Bush had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to take Laura Bush to a play in NYC, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had reduced your retirement plan's holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky?

If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia , would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the non-existent "Austrian language," would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?

If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current in their income taxes, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?

If George W. Bush had mis-spelled the word "advice" would you have hammered him for it for years like Dan Quayle and potatoe as proof of what a dunce he is?

If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?

If George W. Bush's administration had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually get what happened on 9-11?

If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans , would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?

If George W. Bush had created the position 32 or more Czars who report directly to him, bypassing the House and Senate on much of what is happening in America , would you have approved.

If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?

If George W Bush had proposed to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had spent more than all the Presidents combined since George Washington, would you have approved?
So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can't think of anything? Don't worry. He's done all this in 10 months -- so you'll have 3 years and 2 months to come up with an answer.

Two Posts

The following are two posts of mine at American Descent:

Direction
A Historic Event?

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Two New Blog Additions

I have added two new blogs under "Right Ones". The first is Wintery Knight, a blog I've found through Neil's site. One of the things I like about Wintery Knight's blog is the great links he provides in his posts. He has some great links to articles and audio dealing with apologetics. Great insights and writing where he mixes faith and the public square.

The second is Winging It. I'm not sure how I came across this one even though it happened only within the last month or so, but it is a site that has two contributors, Stan and Jonathan, though I've only read Stan's stuff so far. Just the same, his thoughts on Christianity are interesting and written in an easy conversational style, yet he makes his great points obvious.

Of course, with both these sites being under "Right Ones", I find them both filled with wisdom and logic. Check them out.

Friday, November 06, 2009

Whoops! Sorry Barry!

Yeah, I apologize. Last I heard the unemployment rate was 9.8%. The day after I resign my position it's 10.2%. I didn't mean it. I'm just one guy. And hey, I've already filled out a couple apps online.

I heard someone say that the number of unemployed is going down every month. It was 190K for Sept or Oct but I haven't really been watching that. But to say it is slowing doesn't necessarily mean things are getting better. For the companies that aren't ready to go completely belly up, they've likely cut staff about as much as they can and still function. I mean, just how many jobs are there to lose? If we lose them all, then the rate will have stopped. "Number of new unemployment clams for April? Zero! Hurrah! The economy is improving!"

I know that Barry and his defenders will remind all that the unemployment rate is a lagging indicator. What's lagging is his ability to stimulate the economy such that jobs will be created that aren't in gov't. I will take a second year of this buffoon if he makes like Slick Willy and supports conservative proposals that work. Because I need to work (so I'm told---I don't feel like I need to, but I do need more sheckels). And the country needs to work. So he'd better get to work instead of fartin' around with economy damaging health care reform bills.

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Tested...And Found Wanting

Just can't do it. Tried to suck it up and deal with the away time, but I just can't do it. I just called in and tendered my resignation. Probably a very bad idea, but I just can't freakin' do it. It ain't in me. I never wanted to go on the road (except on a whirlwind concert tour entertaining screaming fans) in the first place, but attempted to force myself for the sake of the check. Mark suggested a low paying alternative would resign me to home, but I've been doing that for the last 10+ months anyway. The risk I'm taking is great. Despite a report that another twenty weeks will be added to unemployment compensation, there's no guarantee that they'll re-open my claim. Yeah, jobs are scarce, but they're not non-existent. I'll find something and there are other people keeping a look out on my behalf as well, as I have been on behalf of others. JEEZ! what a pain!

Now the hard part is the change of stress the fetching Mrs. Marshall Art will now undergo. Where the long absence of her beloved (that would be me) burdened her loving heart, the continued absence of income will play on her fears (she's the worrier). This causes me no small amount of regret, to say the least, as well as a great deal of second guessing. Perri tells me he must leave home for a year in order to make some righteous bucks. If I had a sense that my situation was so determined, fixed to a specific period of time, perhaps I could weather the period knowing there was a goal line. But I have no such certainty. I don't even have certainty that I'll be home on a specific day regularly so planning anything resembling a normal life on my two days off is a crapshoot that can be further complicated by inclement weather. I'm 1.5 hrs from my operating center if I drive the limit. Imagine a screw-up getting me back from my trip late and then having my travel time doubled (and easily so) due to heavy snowfall. That drive-time home is MY time and counts against my reset time. If I already have an assignment, then my off time is further curtailed.

No. I just can't do it. I'll find something. And if we continue to get more conservative victories as elections come up, economic recovery will accelerate and more jobs will be available for those of us impacted so ruthlessly.

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Bulls 83 Bucks 81

For the eighth straight time, the Bucks come up short in the United Center against da Bulls. Picked up the action at the start of the fourth with the Bulls down a few. They tightened up the D and kept the Bucks to one and done, eventually taking the lead about the half way mark of the quarter. It was no looking back then.

Is it me, or did Luol put on some beef? He had a stellar game with 24 pts. and 20 boards, his career high for rebounds.

Too soon to know who this team is, but it seems obvious they've still got Milwaukee's number.

In other news, some guy named Christy is the new New Jersey governor. Repubs are looking good in all the major races out east, with the notable exception of that congressional race, where the asshole Republican who has bowed out has thrown her support to the Dem candidate rather than the conservative independent. With 77% of the vote in at this writing, Hoffman is behind like 49%-46% or thereabouts, but at least that fool Republican has no shot.

One more important contest is in Maine, where a vote to repeal the current law and allow homosexual phony marriages is, by a Yahoo article, too close to call with an even split. Apparently, if I have the info straight, Maine's legislature approved homosex phony marriage and this would be the first time a state has voted against such a situation. May God grant a victory for those in Maine who aren't fooled by the lies of the homosex agenda thereby allowing traditional marriage to prevail.

That's it for sports.

Monday, November 02, 2009

A Test Of Resolve

I got home Sunday morning at about 00:00 hrs., the end of my second week over the road with a trainer. I gotta say, I don't know how long I can handle being away from home. The job itself doesn't seem such a bear, though there are numerous details I'm sure I will fail to remember in the beginning. This is true of most jobs, so I'm not too concerned about that. It's just the week to two weeks away. That's tough. If I was young and single it might not matter as much. But I'm not either.

My last day out was particularly crappy and a bit of a portent of things possible on the job. It began with my trainer being late. (I hope this doesn't get back to his boss.) I'm not really raggin' on the guy here. Our last stop of the night was near his home and he took advantage of the situation to be with his family. Good for him. I'm glad for him sincerely. We agreed that he'd not only be back a 09:00, but that I would complete most, if not all, of the "homework" he had assigned me.

This homework included completing all paperwork that was my responsibility to have finished. No problem, as there wasn't much left to finish. Also, there was trip planning the rest of the day until the point where I'd be dropped off at my car. Until this point, I had not had any trouble sleeping in that upper berth in the tractor. But this night it was quite windy. It seemed that every time I dropped off, the wind would pick up and shake the truck, as if some one was jostling your bed to awaken you. So of course, when that annoying alarm went off, it was way too early. And of course, forgetting that it was to be a Saturday morning, I had called my wife to give me a wake up call, just in case. So she really didn't need to get up for that as I was quite awake climbing down from that berth to figure out how to turn off that alarm on the truck radio. And it was a chilly morning.

So I'm up, and being parked in a Wal-mart parking lot, a not uncommon rest stop from what I've gathered, I was able to dress and then go into Wal-mart to handle a few morning rituals, if you know what I mean. Unfortunately, their Subway shop wasn't yet open. Unfortunately, when it was, I found out their breakfast sandwich isn't as delightful as their sub-sandwiches are. But I digress.

Back in the cab I get to work and with only a few alterations my trainer would later make, I completed my task and then went on to wait for the guy for an hour later than planned. During that time I went ahead and performed the standard pre-trip inspection and brake tests and felt that at least when he arrives we could then depart quickly. But no. It took another hour and a half before we could split. Keep in mind that I'm thinking of this as my last day of the trip and hoping to be heading home ASAP, a departure that very well could have occurred the previous night but not for the over-kill training style of this particular trainer.

Finally we leave, and our first stop is Gary, IN. We were departing from Manesha, WI. We have to drop a trailer and pick up an empty. We get to Gary, which is the operating center from which I'll be based, and he gives me the quick tour, which I needed I guess but could have done without. So we go drop the trailer and pick out an empty. As we try to exit the gate, the voice from the speaker says that the trailer is tagged for repair, even though the computer assigned it to us, which means it should be fine. We have to back up and take it to the shop for a looking over. We have to wait for two other trucks waiting ahead of us and of course, by the time we get in, the mechanic finds no problem worthy of the trailer being put out of service. Wasted time because some jerk saw something minor he didn't want to handle himself possibly, and some guy back at HQ didn't read the computer properly and released a trailer he shouldn't have.

Now we're off to Woodstock, IL. which is within an hour of my own home, but of course, my car is elswhere. We get to Woodstock and drop the empty trailer and find the one we're to transport to Wisconsin (dropping me off before it gets there), and this trailer has an issue with one of it's brakes. So there's time screwing around with that. These two holdups would have been bad enough on their own, but my trainer had insisted on me, not only doing most of the work, which was fine, but also having me practice backing up when such extra practice was really superfluous at this point.

Finally, we're at the Wisconsin yard where my car is parked, and this dude has about another half hour of crap to write out and point out and in short, making me want to bang my head on the side of the truck. I just wanted to go home. But he's only doing his job as he sees it and it's just the situation that's pissing me off. He finishes and I make with the small talk as we part company and finally I'm off. Again, he was really a nice guy, very informative about the job and driving and all that good stuff.

But the day really crystallized what I'm up against here. As I said, I don't want to be an over the road driver for anyone. Any delivery job, semi or straight truck, any dump truck job or the like, anything that gets me home every night like a normal job is what I'm after. Frankly, it really doesn't need to be a trucking job at all. I'd even consider going back to my previous line of work, even to the guy that laid me off (after an agreement is decided upon) because it's really just a regular paycheck I'm after. I don't need a career at my age, just a job to get me from here to retirement at a wage that's decent. OTR, however, is giving so much of my life to the job for frankly poor return on that very major investment. One is basically working 24/7 for the duration of one's time out. Then, only two days home to enjoy time with the family and really, nothing, and I mean NOTHING else. Yeah, maybe we could squeeze in a movie, and today we had the family over to celebrate a birthday (not mine), but tomorrow is Monday. The wife is at work, the kid at school and I'm trying to handle whatever chores I can. On top of that, problems as described above can alter whatever plan one foolishly believes one has the right to make. Even if I get approval for a day off for, say, a wedding, there's no guarantee I'll actually get home on time for it. That's living?

Tuesday I report to Gary around 14:30 for a final test which will determine if I get my own truck, additional training, or sent packing. So I'm wondering if I should spend some time tomorrow studying (some of the test is written and some driving). I feel like the last three weeks has been non-stop testing. I wouldn't care if I fail this last one. Yet, I have to pass. My thought at present is to pass and then tell them "no thanks". Either way, I'm still looking for a job. This bites.