Head scratchers.

Lots of companies get tax breaks. Big Oil does. So does GE and Big Auto. The tax breaks given to the failed alternative energy companies are huge.

I am not going to argue the validity of tax breaks for corporations.

I do know this. President Obama has argued that the best way to reduce prices at the pump is to remove the tax breaks in place for Big Oil. In what universe does increasing costs on a supplier reduce the price to the consumer? Ponder the position. Obama actually believes (or expects you to believe) that oil prices will go down if Big Oil's costs go up! Seriously?

Obama says increasing the supply of oil will not reduce the price, but reducing demand will. Stay with me here liberals -- reducing demand means the supply will increase! At this point all we arguing about is the methods. Obama does not want you to drive a car, to use oil; he is just sneaky about his position.  Oh, he has stated his objections to energy use, but he is trying to hide it from the average ignorant part-time news watcher.

Liberals and progressives want you to think they are smarter than you and I.  This is not about common sense, it is about power and control.

This place is going to the birds

Not this place, this place , as in the homestead. While doing some yard work yesterday, I noticed stupid robins have tried to build a nest on the brick ledge where an angle of the hose comes together. I tore it down. They can nest in the trees, but on the house is going too far.

Part of my deck is fenced in with a privacy fence.  As I went out to throw some chicken breasts on the grill, I noticed another nest was built on the top of the fence, in the corner where the fence meets the house. I picked up the nest intact and heaved it into the flower bed by the Big Grasses.

Yes, go ahead and call the EPA, the Sierra, Club, the green-enviros of your choice.  I trashed two nests in one day. Robin sucked in the batman comics and I do not want his namesake nesting on or around my house. Birds shit and make a mess and are unhealthy. A few years ago a pair of doves tried to build a nest in the gutters, and the subsequent flood made a real mess.

I took the opportunity to trash both rebuilding efforts again this morning. I will continue to harass the birds until they move on. In the meantime, I have sprinkled poison on the nesting sites and will be off to WalMart later today to get some mothballs to aid in my efforts.

update 11:18 AM...I just walked through the living room and glanced out the windows.  there I spied a damn dove head peeking above the gutter! yes, a dove has built a nest in the gutter.  I chased her away and tore out the nest.  In my experience, doves a re dumber than rocks, and once they get an idea in the head the yare persistent. This war with the birds is going to be a long battle...

Our Sunday Chat

I have had this lingering cold and nagging cough for more than a week now. I tried to sleep in my bed last night, but lying horizontal brought a hacking fit, so it was back to the recliner to try and sleep. This marks night eight. I have not slept in my own bed.

I think I am going to have to break down and go to the doctor Monday. I do not feel really bad, jut a persistent hacking cough.  Now it appears I have passed the cold to my wife. I think this is one part of my life she was not the least bit interested in sharing.

The spate of nice weather has left the daffodils and other spring flowers in rapid bloom around these parts.  Some of the flowering trees in the neighborhood are in bloom. I guess I am going to have to do some yard work as the weeds are already spreading in the flower beds. I have to cut down the big grasses , too. Many around the subdivision were mowing yesterday to even up the lawn after fall and winter. I avoided the temptation despite the raggedy condition of the yard. maybe today? I fully expect Mother Nature to bring back a dose of cold reality over the next month or so. I would not mind being wrong about that though.

It is early Sunday. The sun is on the rise and it looks to be a good day. I hope you have a great one.

Weekend Funny

Spring!

Spring. Warm temperatures. Flowers in bloom.  And the girls shed the sweatshirts, the coats, the layers.  Belly buttons are back in view..

This is for you Big Dick, wherever you are.  I miss your Fatty Fridays...

Tristate Tollway Traveloque

I spent a good portion of the week in the Windy City area. The weather was wonderful. Traveling I-65 between Gary and Lafayette in Indiana was the adventure in frustration it always is. Traffic engineers and politicians can view first hand the idiocy of having one half the vehicles on a highway travel at a slower speed than the other half. Semi-tractors travel at 65 mph, while cars travel at a speed limit of 70 mph.  In reality, the difference is closer to 15 mph between the trucks and cars and anytime a truck moves to the left lane, traffic can back up for miles in a hurry. 

Since I was (and am) still hacking a lung on a regular basis, I found myself at the Target near my hotel Wednesday afternoon. The weather was perfect and I was shopping for cough medicine. I guess Robitussin is a controlled substance in Illinois, I had to present my ID to the high school kid manning the scanner/register. Since he was underage, the clerk/associate/team member/whatever had to get a manager to approve the purchase. As we waited, the clerk attempted conversation. I felt like warmed over turds, but I tried to be nice.

Clerk: You from Indiana, huh?
Moi: Huh?  Yep.
Clerk: I was in Indiana once (like it was some exotic far-flung destination, not just a very short car ride away).
Moi: Yeah (not really caring), What part?
Clerk: I don't know, but it seemed like a nice place.
Moi:  Hmm.
Clerk: (wistfully)Yeah, I visited Indiana once...

I once spent a wild weekend in Paris, France. I guess if you are teen from Naperville, Illinois, the Hoosier State must hold the same allure.

Best of bad blogging Volume IV

Here is another post from 2005. It speaks for itself:

July 28, 2005

Ode to my baby girl.

My daughter will leave for college in a few weeks. I am terrified. Not for the reasons you might think. She is smart, fun and driven. She knows what she wants and will make sure she gets there. She has worked three jobs this summer to make money; she knows things will be tight paying for college. She has applied for every scholarship imaginable. I know I have taught her right from wrong. If she does not now know the difference there is not much hope. She will party and have a good time. She will also remember why she is there – to learn.

I am terrified because I know my daughter will be leaving forever. She will come home for breaks and holidays. She will spend her summers in her familiar yellow painted bedroom. However, she will be gone. After college, she will move out and be on her own working, eventually falling in love, gaining a new family in time. Never again will she look at my home in the same light, it will be a stopping point, a place to sleep, a rest stop on life’s highway. I am terrified for me, how will I get along when she is gone?

We have not always agreed. I get pretty mad at her, probably a lot less than her aggravation at me. We are so much alike, it is scary. We laugh at the same things. We are both pig headed. Both are convinced of our inherent righteousness in every matter. The biggest difference is she is beautiful and good.

I remember the day my wife found out she was pregnant. We skipped the needle on my favorite John Cougar album, jumping for joy. I remember the night she was born. I came home from the hospital, elated, exhausted, and sobered by the enormous responsibility now placed on my shoulders. I had never even held a baby prior to that night!

I remember the nights driving her in the car, mile upon mile down the country roads through the cornfields. This was the only way to get her to sleep. Have you ever smelt corn growing in the field? That scent still reminds me of my baby girl, crying in her car seat as she drifted off to her sweet dreams.

I remember the afternoons I picked her up from the babysitter. We went to the park to swing endlessly; she could never get enough. She then would sleep on my shoulder in the old recliner until my wife came home from work. My little girl’s love of spicy foods was foretold the time she ate my chili as a toddler. She ate bowl after bowl, tears streaming down her cheeks. The chili was over spiced, the result of too much beer while cooking. She loved it.

My heart was ripped apart in her early teen years, when girls can be so mean to each other. I had no way to help her. Soon new friends came along. I watched her grow into a beautiful young woman in high school: class president, scholar, and friend to all. I am sorry I rode her too hard for her grades. I did not tell her enough that I love her.

Now she is leaving for education, adventure and excitement. In a small way, I envy her: too soon will she find the burdens of bills and work, and life. I hope she has fun, stays safe, and thinks sometimes about her Daddy. I will be thinking of her.

Through the looking glass

Only the political left can spend more than the year before, but not as much as they  wanted to spend, and call it a budget cut.

Only the left can try to force a business to add coverage to their employer-provided benefits and when the business complains, accuse said business of trying to take something away.

That is the current "contraception" kerfuffle in a nutshell. The Obamaites decreed that all PRIVATE businesses should now provide coverage for contraceptive pills/devices in their insurance plans. Except the Catholic Church has some severe religious issues with that notion. Remember the famed wall between Church and State?  Isn't that also a wall between State and Church? Now, somehow, protecting the religious freedom of private citizens has become a so-called "war on women".

Some on the Left would have you believe the business and Churches and "Righties" in general want to take away your access to birth control pills. This is like advocating 3+3=11. No one is advocating there should be no access to contraception.  The argument is whether the Government can force a private business to pay for certain benefits.

 Note the term is benefit -- an extra, like vacation or paid holidays. An incentive to get you to work at that business. Should the Feds dictate mandatory vacation days? Heck, I negotiated my vacation time when I came to work at my current employer.  I did not want to start over at one week. Should the Government determine how much vacation we get? Why should the Feds tell us what insurance we are offered? Hey, my last employer had much better life insurance, it is not fair!

This is all about moving to a single-payer, national health system. When the real cost of this "free" coverage mandated by the State kicks in, then there will be a hue and cry to nationalize the whole system.

Just remember all you Progressives out there -- as I heard a commenter say on the radio -- when the State provides contraception, it is only a step from them forcing you to take them. 

people watching

I find it ironic to watch drivers circle the parking lot looking for a close space to park at the Gym.

In a country state of mind today