Long time coming

Yeah, it's been a long time since my last post. I have been INCREDIBLY busy--remodeling, new semester starting, teaching a class of college freshmen, no work-study students to help me out with my 4 computer labs, new building on campus...and the list goes on. So, I'll take a few minutes to jot something down and throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks.

Mr. Obama. Wow. What can a guy say? Let me see if I can come up with a few one-word descriptions....idiot, anti-Christ (ok, 2 words), Socialist, uninformed, un-American (or anti-American)...and that's just 30 seconds worth of thinking. Give me a couple more words or a couple more minutes and I'll come up with more. This guy has NO concept of what the hell he's doing, yet there are still lemmings in his ever-shrinking popularity pool who still choose to follow him and his dumbass ideas right off the cliff. Given two full terms--and assuming someone doesn't off him--this country would be a full-fledged Socialist union. And yes, there would still be idiots that felt as though this was the "right" way.

Well, no way, Mr. Obama...Osama...whatever you are. I'll go out on a limb and call it like I see it while I still have my First Amendment rights. You area complete and total idiot. Your ideas were tired before you attempted to ram them down our throats and railroad them through the House, Congress and anyone else, and you have no plan for escaping this cesspool of an economy that you claim you inherited from GWB. Want comparisons? OK, here are just a few:

• 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 on 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 fourth of May (Cuatro de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?
• If George W. Bush had misspelled 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 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?

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 5 months -- so you'll have three years and seven months to come up with an answer.

And, for those of you who thought "Cash for Clunkers" was a great idea, here's what you didn't count on--the truth.

• A vehicle at 15 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 800 gallons a year of gasoline.
• A vehicle at 25 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 480 gallons a year.
• So, the average clunker transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year.
• They claim 700,000 vehicles sold – so that's 224 million gallons / year.
• That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil. 5 million barrels of oil is about ¼ of one day's US consumption.
• And, 5 million barrels of oil costs about $350 million dollars at $75/bbl.
• So, we all contributed to spending $3 billion to save $350 million.

How good a deal was that?

So, my closing comment is simple. He's YOUR President. I didn't elect this fool, nor do I support any of his actions. He's a boil on the ass of the world's political leadership, and he should be lanced before any more TAXPAYER money is mismanaged.

Until next time (if the Constitution holds)...

2009: The Year of the Celebrity Death

Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, David Carradine, Billy Mays, Bea Arthur, Karl Malden, Natasha Richardson...just a few of the celbs who have died so far this year. BIG names, I tell you! And some of these people were so young--50 these days is not a terminal age, yet several of those I've listed died at that age. What a waste.

Rest in peace, celebs...you don't know me, but you've been in my house many times. I shudder to think what lies ahead for this deadly year.

Summer's here, and the time is right...

OK, so it's another God-awful summer in Arkansas. Yay. I'm so happy I could just shit. Another 4 months of blistering heat, drought conditions and high electric bills. And for those haters amongst you who say "Why don't you move if you don't like it", I have 4 words for you--I'm working on it! My estimated departure is less than 5 years away, when I will move away to a place where winter is WINTER and summer is, well, summer. I want snow. I want autumn leaves. I want mountains. I want lakes. I want a nice summer when it isn't 100º for a month of the summer. Give me a glass of sweet tea and a folding chair in the shade--THAT is summer!

With that said, there has been a lot going on. I'll just hit on the "this and that", rather than bore you with the details. My son has decided against going to school this summer. Not because of lack of funding. Not because of lack of support. Only because he has no license and no hope for employment. He was the brainiac that chose to do 125mph on the interstate and got caught-THEN didn't pay the fine. How bad is it? At 19 years old, he now holds 28 points on his license. If you don't have a point of reference, a speeding ticket is anywhere from 3-8 points, and a DWI is typically around 12-14. Got the picture? He won't be driving for at least 2 more years. So, he's on his own once again, living with the bag of unmotivated protoplasm we'll call his mother. But, I digress...

The kitchen is considered "done" for all intents and purposes. The only thing left to do is install the baseboards (about 4 feet) and the quarter round. Everything else is done. Finally. It took 13 months and 8 days, but it's functional! And in case you were wondering, don't EVER go to Lowe's for anything in your remodeling--cabinets, countertops, appliances--NOTHING. They are the worst of the worst at absolutely everything. Every time we bought from them, they were able to screw it up as much as it could be screwed up. Cabinets--reordered missing pieces 6 separate times. Countertops--recut 3 times, taking 6 months, before finally being totally free quartz solid surface. Appliances--bought and ordered, only to be sold before we could pick them up. Flooring--proprietary flooring 'out of stock' for 7 straight months. Shall I go on?

So, we're moving on to the laundry closet now. It's about 50% complete, and will be getting closer by the day. I projected 2-3 more weeks on that, then we tear my daughter's room down and rebuild it...along with the adjacent dining room. FUN FUN!

We're taking a cruise the first week of August. We're going to the Bahamas for 3 days of fun and sun and no worries. No cell phones. No internet. No worries. Just beaches and bikinis! That's what I'm talking about! So, until next time...

The unforgiven

I'm mad. I mean, I am red-faced, bloodshot-eyed, gritted-teeth, clinched-fist PISSED. Why? Because of the actions of someone who claims to be family, but puts a condition on that family membership. That membership is exclusive of certain other members of another family--who just so happens to be linked to said family. Confused? I planned it that way so I won't be liable for any slanderous remarks. Therefore, I shall remain vague.

A child makes mistakes. Everyone knows this. It's life, and it's necessary. Parents also make mistakes. That's also life, and it's also necessary. Should the children be forced to pay for the mistakes their parents made? Should the children become pawns in a sick, twisted chess game with no winners--only losers? Children are meant to be a prodigy--a way to carry on the family name and the family genes. The love from their family should be unconditional and complete, regardless of the situation. You can hate what they do, what they become, or who they choose to spend their time with, but in the end, you love them...PERIOD.

However, in my 41 years, I have learned that "forgive" is a very strong word. I didn't say "forgive and forget", as you can never forget some things. You can work through them...you can talk about them...you can get past them. But you can likely never forget. I was afforded forgiveness time and time again through a very destructive era in my life, and in the meantime, I have become very tolerant to the screw-ups of others. Putting conditional love upon a child, regardless of the age, is so far from wrong, you can't even see 'wrong'. Yet, some have to live with it and figure out a way to explain it to young minds that don't understand. It is truly a sad, sad day.

If you've read carefully and put two and two together, this will make perfect sense to you. If you just 'read' it, you'll see a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, and that's fine. Just know that anyone that places conditions on the love of an immediate family member deserves nothing but the worst fate can deliver. An out of control bus, a lengthy but painful death, a crazed gunman--these are all fate's promise of justice.

Think about that. Until next time...

Death and taxes

Well, so far, I have to say that 2009 has SUCKED. Let me explain...

I have to begin the year knowing that Osama Obama is going to be living in the Black House. That alone is enough to ruin my year. However, a mere 5 days after the inauguration of Bat Shit Obama, I receive that late night call that nobody ever wants to get. My other dad, John, had passed away unexpectedly on January 25 from an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm at the age of only 66. For those of you who don't know me, I refer to John as my "other" dad, rather than my step-dad, because he was just that--my other dad. He was in my life from the age of nine. That makes him my other dad. His wisdom and no-nonsense approach will live on after his passing through his three daughters (my sisters), my brother, and myself. I was very close to John, and for the first time since I can remember, I cried after hearing of his abrupt departure from this world.

I won't go on and on about John, as I could fill pages with all of the things that this man meant to me and did for me. His work wasn't done here, but I suppose he was taken away because someone had a need for him elsewhere. One of a very select few men that I can truly say I loved, John was a great, great man. He loved all of his kids and treated us all as equals, showing no more or less favoritism to any of us, and giving us the same praise across the board. He was a man of very little anger, and had a huge group of friends and acquaintances. For 32 years, John kept my mother company as her husband and her best friend...and her Jeopardy partner. These two lived for each other. If there were ever 'soul mates', these two would be it. But now my mom will have to pick up and go on without our beloved John. He was, indeed, a great man, and I will take his wisdom, his discipline, and his lessons to the grave with me. I miss him every day...as we all do.

Moving on to the day after we arrive back home from John's funeral, I get a call from my step-mom, Jan. After the huge ice storm that hit during our absence, nearly all of the trees on my dad's 200 acre farm were damaged, some of which fell across the fences. While clearing some of the brush off the fence, there was a combination of poor balance, icy conditions and a springy branch--leading to an accident where he nearly severed his left hand just above the wrist with a chainsaw. He was airlifted to the hospital in Springfield, MO, to have his hand reattached, and as of today, it appears as though he'll get 90% of its use back. He'll have a beauty of a scar and a little odd numbness here and there, but for the most part, a functional hand. I have stated numerous times that perhaps THIS is the 'sign' that he needs to take it easy and enjoy his autumn years. He is rapidly nearing 70 years old, and it's time to reap the benefits of retirement. Whether or not that will happen still remains to be seen...but one can hope!

OK, so now we move on to February. My great aunt 'Tillie', whom my father had moved up to be with them, had grown weaker and weaker. She had good days and bad days, but basically was becoming worse and worse. At 98 years old, she didn't have a long way to go. On February 26 (also my son's birthday), Aunt Tillie finally gave up her battle. She died in her sleep, quietly and painlessly, as it should be. Her graveside service was made more surreal by the weather--rain, strong winds, and 35º temperatures. I sleep better knowing that her pain is gone. She can finally be with Uncle Anton, who died 40 years earlier.

We finally made it to March--taxes have to be filed! Yes, they're done, and with no help whatsoever from bailouts and Obama's great "nobody will ever have to work again" plan, my lovely bride and I received over $5000 from our illustrious government. It was almost like our own little stimulus package. Who needs Obama when you can actually PLAN for financial crises?!

All that, and it's only March 4. I shudder to think what lies ahead for the next nine months. I've been told that bad things happen in threes--I hope I've had my 'three' for a long time. Until next time...good bye, John and Aunt Tillie...you will both be missed.