Friday Covers

Turn! Turn! Turn! is one of my favorite hippie songs of all time. One cannot deny it is a snappy, feel-good song that leaves you full of hope and a desire for peace. It makes me want to drive to San Francisco and not only put a flower in my hair, but in the barrel of a National Guardsman's gun!

The song was first covered by Pete Seeger. He cribbed the lyrics from Qohelet's (or maybe the author was Solomon) words found in the Book of Ecclesiastes from the Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible).



You probably know The Byrds version better:



So in the spirit of today's feature flash a liberal the peace sign and smile. If you are tired or if it is too much effort flash half a peace sign, I leave my index finger down.

Organic Food is a Joke

Good Morning Blog world. Didja miss me? I spent the past several days at a sales meeting in the Motor City. The good news is I did not have to go to New York. The bad news is I spent several days in Detroit. insert rimshot Let me ask you a question. Is it right and proper I leave a sales meeting angry and depressed? Shouldn't I leave all excited and enthusiastic?

I saw earlier today that studies have found organic food is no healthier than regular food, it just costs more. Read it here. This is typical of the entire liberal agenda -- form over substance, feelings over facts. And usually these programs come at a higher cost. The liberal cries "I do not like pesticides sprayed on my apples". The result is smaller crappy apples with worms, at a higher price.

It looks like the blue dog Democrats are not pit bulls but more like the little cute fuzzy harmless ankle biter Democrat dogs. They will stand up on the hind legs and do whatever tricks The Obama says for a little pork treat. The Democrats are selling your country's future. Like Big Dick says, leave those Obama stickers on your car so we know whom to blame.

I am on a well deserved and much needed vacation the rest of the week. I hope the rain holds off so I can do the work the wife has planned for me. Hahahaha my side hurts, does anyone believe that?


urgent and critical update:

Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies kick major ass, and they are not even organic.

It is Monday

Dateline home

7:27 am waiting on the coffee maker
7:28 am waiting on the coffee maker
7:29 am cofee
7:30 am fingers poised to type
7:47 am nothing
7:54 am nothing
8:04 am still nothing

8:05 am posted

Saturday night and I ain't got nobody

Last night the wife and I went to visit our very good friends for the first time in a few months. We had a great time. We ate some pizza, drank a few beers and played some cards.

While we were enjoying almost perfect weather on the deck, my pal and I smoked some first rate stogies I had scored. They were El Rey del Mundos and they were a sweet smoke. That is a picture over there on the left. These cigars have a funky trumpet shape. If you are looking for a nice medium-bodied smoke you cannot go wrong with this guy.

Later in the evening we were playing Euchre. I was on a run of impossibly good cards all night. I will admit I have played a lot of Euchre in my day. It would be a fair criticism to say I majored in Euchre and beer in college. Last night something happened that I have never seen.

I was dealing and turned up the 9 of diamonds. In my hand were both red jacks, the ace, queen, and ten of diamonds. I picked up the nine, turned it over and laid down my loner for four sweet points. I have had lay-down loners on occasion, but never has the hole card been lower than all the trumps in my hand. If you do not play Euchre none of this makes sense, but it is like getting a royal flush in poker, only better. I will editorialize state raw facts and point out that if you do not play Euchre your life is incomplete and you might just be lacking. Let me try to explain it this way; Sammy probably does not know how to play Euchre.

This might make up for the entire evening of lousy cards I had last week when we filled in at a regular Euchre club.

Posting may be light this week, beaucoup work and travel is in store.

weekend funny

Friday Covers

Here is the original:


I really do not remember ever hearing this version. I thought this was the original:



I learn something every day

These people are teaching economics and business

The Union is furious that Indiana University is giving $500 bonuses to some of its employees. source As the University has increased tuition to students by a whopping 4.6 percent (5.6 for out-of-state tuition) with an additional increase of 4.8% (5.8% for out-of state) in 2010, I wonder how they are paying bonuses at all. Tuition rates for law and grad students are even higher. The Union is pissed that the University is not giving raises to all employees.

IU is supposed to have a great Business School.

In addition to a faculty salary freeze, the University will implement a 50 percent reduction in travel funds and restrictions on nonacademic hiring.

However, the University plans to hire an additional 129 faculty members, 61 working for IU-Bloomington with the other 68 distributed among IU’s seven other campuses.

source

The school plans to invest $200 million in infrastructure in the next several years.

These people are training our future economists and business leaders.

We are truly screwed.

How about you?

Smooth, creamy Jif on white bread with pretzel sticks and a glass of cranberry juice.

12 million

$4,175 a year is what the Milliman Consulting group estimates we spend per capita on health in the US. That figure includes the cost of insurance borne by your employer, you and your out-of-pocket and co-pays etc. source

The current version of Obamacare covers illegal immigrants and their families. There are an estimated twelve million illegals in this country. That means you, Joe Taxpayer will be footing an annual bill of more than$5 billion to pay for illegal immigrant healthcare. That is $5.01e10. That is $5,010,000,000 or $167 for each and every one of us to pay the health care costs of an illegal alien. That is $167 for you, your spouse and everyone of your little rugrats. For a family of four $668 will be taken from your take home pay to pay for lawbreaker illegals health care. These people are criminals. The Democratic Party wants to take $668 per year of your hard-earned income and reward these people for breaking the law. Instead of using that $668 to buy them a bus or plane ticket home, we are going to pay their medical costs. Soon those 12 million will be 20 million and then what will it cost you?

$668 will buy a lot of milk. You could take your family to the movies every month! You could buy a new bike for both of your kids. $668 will buy a weekend getaway. $668 will get you a nice Washburn acoustic guitar. $668 will get a top of the line Coach handbag or a pair of Tortoise Campari Mary Janes by Manolo Blahnik. That same $668 will buy your kids a new XBox 360 and several games. You could throw a hell of a party for your friends for that amount of cash. $668 buys a lot of top of the line cigars.

In other words, I bet you could find a better use for $668 than paying for an illegal immigrant's health needs. Write your Congressman and Senator. Tell them not just no, but hell no.

I can't get it up

I am in Charlotte, the city, not the girl. My customer cancelled my appointment, so I am just waiting on my evening flight. I can't muster the energy to type a real post. I have a dozen posts swirling in my head, but I do not have the patience or available blood pressure to type them. Themes include The Obama's falling popularity, the need to pass all of this stuff quickly before the average American finds out what the government is doing, and the continued failure of the Stupid Party to move away from the McCain/moderate faction.

I know, fill in your own post. Anyone with 1/10th a brain is on board with me. I just do not have the energy to get my brain up to a quality post.

Fail

Right about now Sammy is looking at this and starting to understand the liberal control of Congress will be a thing of the past. If the trend continues, Obama will join Carter in the worst Presidents/thank God he only got one term category. Old Sammy-boy is probably lying in the fetal position sucking his thumb and crying no, no, no.

People are starting to figure out that our economic problems started when the Democrats came to power. The American people are starting to understand you cannot spend your way to prosperity, no matter what that genius Joe Biden says.

Weekend Funny

Cronkite is dead and that is the way it is

I was going to write my thoughts on Walter Cronkite, but Og says it so much better.

read it here

...and that is how one single reporter used his political agenda to lengthen a war in Southeast Asia and cost the lives of thousands through his lies. And you were there...

I have been going about things all wrong

Joe Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’

source

Just think, Sammy and Erin O'Brien and my other liberal buddies constantly tell us that Sarah and GW are dumb. If Palin is a "silly little broad", what does that make Biden?

I need to wake up the wife, we have some shopping and spending to do. We are clearly broke because we do not spend enough.

Friday Covers

I was prepared to hate this version by the delectable Dolly Parton. It is actually pretty compelling. I especially like the arrangement and Dolly has the range to carry it off.

Here are a couple of unrelated notes:

One of the comments on YouTube: "Who did the original?". Seriously. Stairway to Heaven is one of the most famous rock songs in history.

I once even went to a bar in Utrecht, The Netherlands devoted to Led Zeppelin called The Stairway to Heaven. The lyrics were inscribed all over the walls. Unfortunately, when I was there, they were playing typical electronic disco such as you find in every club and bar in Europe. To be fair, I do not remember many details, I was totally wasted slightly inebriated at the time it was several years ago.

Bonus

Then there is this, perhaps one of the worst covers of all time:



You are welcome.

Pasta, Cookies and Harry Potter

My youngest is spoiled. I admit it. We had spaghetti for supper last night at his request. We have spaghetti at least once a week as it is his favorite food. I have never been overly fond of Italian food, and I can barely stomach spaghetti anymore. Later, I baked some home-made chocolate chip cookies for him. He had been asking the wife to do it for a week. I bought her the stuff at the store yesterday. She was doing laundry so I agreed to make the cookies. Pie dough Tuesday and cookies last night -- I am becoming a regular Betty Crocker.

While I was baking he asked if I would take him to see the new Harry Potter movie. He must have really wanted to see it if he would go with me. Usually we have to drop him off in front of the movieplex, lest his friends discover he actually has parents. We did go to the late showing, to lessen the chance he might be seen with me. I good-humorously asked him if he wanted to sit separate when we got into the theater. He hesitated a second before telling me no. He will be sixteen in a couple of months and he will not have to worry about these embarrassments when he can drive himself. I gave up being hurt in these situations when my first kid did it the third time. I find it kind of amusing now.

Anyway, the movie was pretty good. Not as good as The Prisoner of Azkaban, which I think is the best of the film installments. In all, The Half Blood Prince is well worth spending your increasingly hard to come by wealth to see. I think The Half Blood Prince was the best of the books. I found the film to be very good, but not great. As the book was so massive, it was necessary to leave out some critical events. Many of the memory/pensive scenes were cut, so we do not get the full background on why/how Voldemort adopted his evil ways. The funeral scene from the end of the book is left off completely (look Ma -- I did not type a spoiler for the three people who will see the movie and not read the book).

Like the books, the movie was filled with humor, action, romance and tragedy, all essential elements in great writing. Hey, just because I can't do something does not preclude me from knowing how it is done. I can't throw a major-league curve ball either, but I can hook one enough to strike out a twelve fifteen year old. I may not be a great writer, but I know it when I see it and the Harry Potter books are all great writing and storytelling. And on a side note, I will not entertain discussion on how the books are evil, etc. You are the parent, if you cannot explain real vs. fiction to your kid and the concepts of real-life good and evil, then failure is yours, not some work of fiction. Just as your offspring will not immediately become a Christian fundamentalist after reading a tablet of the Ten Commandments on the court house lawn, your little Johnny and Janie will not become witches and Devil worshipers if they read Harry Potter. Be a parent fer cripes sake.

I give this movie four stars out of five on the Hoosierboy rating system. Take a piss before the movie, it is a long one.

Government-run health care decisions

When Reagan told us Government was the problem not the solution he was dead on. This is the Democrat Health Care plan under consideration. I wish this was a joke.
source

So far, this proposal is expected to cost you, the taxpayer, over $1,000,000,000. When did a Government program ever come in on-budget?

This is what happens when you let the Government run your life. This must be stopped.

Why it is good to be me volume 37

It started to rain a while ago. Just as I realize it is really starting to rain hard, I remember today is Wednesday. Wednesday is trash day and I did not put out the cans last night. Now I am wet.

sigh.

All about nothing

We had a healthy supper last night. I made a salad and grilled up chicken to put on top. I even used a low fat raspberry vinaigrette for the dressing. Later the wife and I both were hungry. I know, there is no use eating a light dinner if you are going to snack later. Tough Tetons as the French might say. I rolled out some pie dough (from scratch) and covered it heavily in sugar and cinnamon. I cut it into squares with a pizza cutter and then put it into the oven. The crust was light and flaky, the sugar slightly caramelized and the house smelled wonderful. It is good to be me.

I took the car to WalMart to get an oil change yesterday. They were pretty backed up so I had ample time to walk around. For kicks I stood on some scales in the bed and bath department. I nearly cried. I have lost over fifty pounds. I guess I will have to change the name of this piece o'crap to Not Quite as Fat in Indiana!

One thing is for sure, baking up a batch of pie dough at 11:30 pm is not the way to keep off those pounds.

I watched the All-Star game...sort of...last night. I turned it off when the Pres was on. I thought for a moment Joe Buck was going to kiss Obama's ass right there on the screen. I could not bear to see that, so I switched channels. Later, I switched back and forth between the game and Chopped -- one of the best shows on the Food Network. It was way cool to see Stan The Man Musial trotted rolled out before the game. I thought he was dead!

I am glad Obama is restoring our reputation around the world

Has any President ever been treated this way? The Obama garners no respect around the world. In the Ruskies defense, I would act that way as well. I am a petty individual and really despise anyone with freedom destroying policies, but that is just me.

h/t C&S
also found at Johnny Ps

Edit: I guess The Obama should be getting used to it by now:



Maybe world leaders will not shake a Democrat's hand -- they know the Dems screw up everything they touch. Maybe they believe all Democrat presidents are in the mold of Clinton -- No one knew where his hands had been. Perhaps The Obama has been spied leaving the executive lavatory without washing? Could it be the snubbers are afraid some rat bastard commie will rub off on them?

How not to service your customers.

Severe weather rolled through the area Saturday afternoon and evening. Nothing major -- high winds and lots of rain. I am not completely sure how bad it got, we were not at home. Anyway, the cable and Internet were out. I called Comcast and they confirmed there were general outages in my area. These things happen. They asked if I wanted to be called when the service was restored. I told them yes.

An hour or so later I noticed the modem flashing and checked the TV and sure enough all was working in TV land. The wife and boy each jumped on the Internet and I settled in to watch...something. I really cannot recall. I thought no more of it.

Sunday morning dawned and I was up early. I watched a couple of old movies and ignored the Internet and this blog, and your blog completely. Around 10 o'clock, the phone rang. It was Comcast calling to tell me the cable was now fixed. It took them 14 hours to call me. I don't really care that it took so long, but that is a classic definition of shitty customer service.

I did manage to watch 18 innings of baseball yesterday.

Cubs win.

F-ing Cubs.

Good Morning

Igor is the man.

click here

Weekend Funny

The first testicular guard (cup) was used in baseball in 1874 and the first batting helmet was used in 1934.

It took 60 years for men to realize that the brain is also important.

Friday Covers

Here is an interesting cover -- Led Zep doing the Buffalo Sprinfield classic hippy tune For What it's Worth. Listen to the whole thing there are two very differnt takes. One is pretty close to a straight cover, the other is pure Zep.

I will gladly take suggestions for next week's Friday Cover, which will be a regular feature until it isn't.

It Friiiidaaaaay

Happy Friday to you. I need to mow the yard this afternoon before it rains. They are predicting a washout all weekend.

I have been unusually productive this morning. Emails and such have flowed from my fingertips like water over the rocks at Niagara. I marked up changes to a contract, did a little forecasting, called a few customers and started a new feature on the old blog.

Stay tuned.

In other news:

The Government finally admits that Democrat policies caused the current economic recession.

read this

primary source

I bet this is going to get a lot of coverage on the evening news.

The legacy of Michael Jackson

My last post enticed me to take an honest look at the Michael Jackson legacy. According to the Billboard charts* Jackson clearly cannot be labeled as the greatest entertainer of all time.

For instance Jackson does not make the top five in the following categories:

Most Top Ten Albums
Most Number One Albums (not even in top 10)
Most Weeks on the Charts (not even in top 10)

Here are some of Jackson's better rankings:

Most cumulative weeks at number one (tied for fourth)
Most weeks at number one (album) (second)
Most weeks in top ten (album) (tied for fifth)

* source

If we look at raw sales as opposed to the charts we find the following:
According to RIAA certifications**:

The top selling artists:
BEATLES, THE
BROOKS, GARTH
PRESLEY, ELVIS
LED ZEPPELIN
EAGLES
JOEL, BILLY
PINK FLOYD
STREISAND, BARBRA
AC/DC
JOHN, ELTON
(Jackson is 17th)

**source

Further, if we look at the number of Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum records, Jackson does not even make the top 60! Consider Elvis had a staggering 151 recordings reach these pincles of success (a recording is only counted once -- it does not get counted as both gold and platinum)***.

*** source

The bottom line is his Thriller album was a monster hit (second best selling record of all time). Based on that criteria, The Eagles are the Greatest entertainers ever. A great deal of Jackson's fame came from the weirdness and bizarre behavior that surrounded his life. In fairness, I am not sure he even deserves the moniker King of Pop.

Thoisday

Good morning bloggedy world. I woke up around 5:00 am this morning. I put up a valiant effort but I could not get back to sleep. I am now in what you might describe as a bad mood. I have coffee dripping, maybe that will help. It is payday. Too bad the check is already spent. I bet you have months like that -- too many days, too little check.

Did I mention I am getting a new boss? He is supposed to start next week. He has already left me a voice mail. He wants me to call him to discuss several things. He sounds like a real go-getter. I do not need that right now. I have dealt with the micromanagers in the past and I have neither the desire nor patience to go through that again. I really hope we are not going down that road. I have to say I am somewhat uneasy about a guy who wants reports and such a week before he officially joins the payroll.

I am hungry this morning. That is because I ate something shortly before I went to bed. It always works that way with me. I had a bowl of snap crackle and pop around 10:00. Now my belly growls for more food. I usually skip breakfast, but I may have to have some toast or something later. It all started when I when down to the hotel breakfast bar yesterday morning. They had biscuits and gravy and I could not resist. Now my eating cycle is all messed up.

I am not sure if you have seen it on the news, but Michael Jackson has died. I cannot believe it is not getting more coverage. Last night at supper the wife, boy and I got into a discussion. The wife claimed that Jackson was the greatest entertainer ever, hands down. I said hold on, you have to put Elvis and Sinatra into that discussion. Since she loathes Sinatra, and does not think much of Elvis, she poo-pooed that in her dismissive fashion. I pointed out that if we are talking entertainment, that Sinatra dominated every medium -- stage, TV, film. He won an Oscar fer cripes sake. Elvis made what -- 50 movies? Several did very well at the box office. I did have to reluctantly admit that Elvis just played Elvis in most movies. The King's comeback special remains one of the highest rated TV specials of all time. Jackson sold a lot of records and took the art of the video to new levels, but success in movies and TV eluded him. That is unless you take into the account the ratings for his child molestation trials.

I tried to point out that each was the dominant performer of their era, and the styles are different, but she was having none of it. I guess since Sinatra did not dance, and Elvis was not a child performer, that was the end of the discussion. Just between you and I, we know who was the greatest entertainer in modern times, don't we?

edit. I think Nathan may be right. I am not even sure if Jackson was the dominant performer of his era -- the MTV/music video era. One could argue that Madonna and Mariah Carey have had a longer and more productive careers. Somehow in the media frenzy we have forgotten Jackson last had a hit ...when?

living with me part two

The wife was wondering why it is taking so long to get Michael Jackson into the ground. I told her that with all that plastic in his body they were waiting to get the hazardous materials burial permits...

damn whippersnappers

I have become a crotchety old man. I expect I will be screaming at the damn kids to stay off my lawn any day now.

For some time I have been irritated that my cable station COMCAST blacks out several Cubs games in my area. You see, often when the Cubs are on a national broadcast they are carried by Comcast Sports in the Chicago and large metropolitan areas. When that happens they block the national feed so the viewer has to watch Comcast Sports and their advertisers. I have no issue with that, except COMCAST does not offer the Comcast Sports Channel in my area -- for any price. It is not an option. That means I do not get to see the Cubs.

I called up Comcast to complain yesterday when they blocked the TBS signal. After the various phone system push this and that menus I finally got a live person. She proceeded to tell me that it was TBS blocking the signal. I told her I could not believe a broadcast station would deny viewers the chance to watch their programming. She allowed that it did not make sense but I should complain to TBS. I asked her why TBS and ESPN and Fox only blocked out CUBS games when Comcast was broadcasting the game in Chicago? She admitted that was weird, but they were not to blame. She suggested I call TBS again.

Just then, the blacked-out station began playing commercials. It was the "local" spots TBS had sold. One of which, by coincidence, was a Comcast commercial. I told the customer service rep it was interesting that TBS would block all programing except a Comcast commercial which happened to be airing. I asked her again why TBS would do that and maybe it was really Comcast that was blocking my signal?

She said she would pass on my complaint to marketing and hung up on me.

I did not really expect a response, and did call just to bitch. It is not like they were going to say, "Oh, Hoosierboy is upset, turn on the signal." I was irritated the game was not on, I am pissed they lied about it.

BTW save the comments about satellites etc. It ain't gonna happen. The dish does not do well with the rain and wind in this area. All of my neighbors have switched back to their shitty cable service.

What it is like to live with me

We were driving to Bloomington, IN to pick up the boy at tennis camp Friday morning. Along the highway, near Gnaw Bone, I saw a guy walking beside the road wearing a camouflage T-Shirt.

I could hardly see him.

Friday Night Fun

Friday night the wife and I were retuning from a quick sandwich when she said those words I most hate to hear: "We need to stop by WalMart". I repeat -- it was eight o'clock on a Friday night. I asked if I could have a prostate exam and my fingernails pulled off instead. Perhaps, I suggested, I could suffer a session of waterboarding. I would do anything to avoid WalMart on a Friday night.

We pulled into the lot and there was barely a car in sight. I scratched my head in confusion. In the distance I heard the sound of roaring engines and remembered, the County Fair was in session. I was missing the tractor pull! WalMart was empty because the white trash that clogs the aisles, drives the fat-ass electric carts, and unleashes D-Day-type waves of screaming hordes of dirty offspring into the toy section were busy buying elephant ears and riding the tilt-a-whirl. We did our shopping in peace and quiet. The wife only saw one or two people that she knew and the trip was shorter than usual. Of course, in typical WalMart fashion only four of the fifty registers were open, so the check-out lines remained WalMart long.

I tried to get the wife to go to the fair, but she declined. Oh well, another summer Friday night was in the bag. I bet you wish you lived my life.

The Unanimous Declaration
of the Thirteen United States of America

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:


For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

Finally Friday -- and Five Free

We are heading downstate this morning to pick up the boy from tennis camp. I hope he had a good time. I am ready for him to be home. It had been lonely around here.

I am glad to have a long weekend. I need a break from work. The past few months have been frustrating. I need information and answers, but it seems to take 15 emails and 10 phone calls to get anything -- and I am talking about within my company! Customers are as bad. I am sure they are sitting around this morning complaining on their blogs about how unresponsive I am. See above. I am getting a new boss. I have been without a supervisor for more than a year. Maybe he can help with the communication issues. When the President called to tell me the company was hiring a couple of people I think I pissed him off. I told it was great we are getting some support, but how can we be hiring when all of us are working on reduced pay? As you can imagine his answer was bullshit. With so many out of work I know it is ridiculous for me to complain about pay cuts.

We have been socked with global warming. We have finally strung together a stretch of more than 48 hours without rain, but the temps are only in the sixties for highs. Can you imagine a high of 67 in July?

I watched Bonnie and Clyde yesterday. I had forgotten how much I liked that movie. For some reason I had remembered it in black and white when I saw it years ago. I guess I am getting old, 'cause it was in color. In the movie Bonnie Parker's mother reminded me so much of my late mother in law. Her speech pattern, accent, even a little in how she looked. It was weird.

Boom boom bang bang celebrate your Nation's Birthday this weekend!

Some questions for my liberal friends

What 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 Fifth 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 misspelled the word advice would you have hammered him for it for years like Dan Quayle and potato 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 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 is inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?


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 10 weeks -- so you'll have three years and nine-and-a-half months to come up with an answer.

Unapologetically stolen from the GOC because everyone should read this list. I also got it in an email.

Words to live by

A government big enough to give you anything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.

-- Thomas Jefferson