Targeted, Part deux

What do you think of this story? I will offer my own commentary later, but I am interested in your take. I will say I think it is somewhat overlooked in the story that the exchange student had illegally entered the garage, Breaking and entering is a crime.

Dear Republican Party

It seems you have a choice. You can roll with the Conservative wing, or you can roll with the money men. Here is the dilemma, you can't win control of Congress without our votes.  You cannot win the Presidency in '16 without the RINO money. I maintain that if you win Congress, the money men will show up, buying influence.

Sadly, I think the GOP establishment would rather remain a minority, and keep getting invited to the Washington cocktail parties, and keep getting the payoffs from Wall Street. What is it going to be; win elections or raise money for the party coffers?

Targeted

The rains dried up late yesterday morning. I fired up the grill and made supper over the open flames. I cut up some spuds and onion and threw in cubes of cheddar.  I wrapped it all in foil and grilled it for 45 minutes or so. Chicken kabobs, corn, and slices of fresh pineapple went on the grate as well. I ate too much and enjoyed every bite.

The daughter called this morning. To make a long story short, someone has helped themselves her identity and has actually filed tax returns under her SSN. It seems her entire credit is under suspicion. Luckily the IRS found the crime and is working on it, but now she will have to go through her credit report with a fine tooth comb, get new credit cards, everything. She suspects the Target breach. What a pain.

Speech, (huh), what is it good for?

Donald Sterling is a douchebag.

The First Amendment was not created to protect speech upon which we all agree. Burning flags, crosses in a jar of piss, the KKK, Louis Farrakhan's Jew baiting, Black Panther calls to kill whitey -- all hateful, all evil, all protected speech. If I was a player for Sterling's team, I would refuse to suit up. Fans should stay home. I have no issue with the NBA, should it sanction the racist asshole. But Sterling has every right to utter whatever nonsense he chooses. He does not have to right to avoid consequences for his words.

Absolutely Riveting

"April showers bring May flowers"  is the rhyme we learned in elementary school. If there is any truth to that statement, based on today's weather, May should be bursting out in blooms.  We need the rain, it has been a dry spring so far.

I spent the weekend cleaning up the yard, mowing, trimming. The wife emptied all but the last few boxes in the garage, moving more stuff to the attic, some into the house, more junk to Goodwill. I still need to power wash the patio, but there is no sense in getting everything done in one weekend. If I did, the wife will find less pleasant tasks for me to tackle, like painting the shutters. Nothing pisses her off more than to see me sitting on my ass on a weekend afternoon. I joke. I also acknowledge there is more than a little truth in all humor.

For some good Monday news, JOG has started blogging again. You can find him HERE. If you do not read James, you should. As an added bonus the news of the demise of Velociworld was a bit premature too!

Game of Thrones and the remote control

I have read with interest the various critiques and counter critiques and critiques of the critiques about the HBO series Game of Thrones. I love the books. I like the mini-series. For those who are concerned about the gratuitous violence and graphic sex, I suppose my best response is that you probably should change the channel if you do not care to see it. It is one thing to be a critic of the show, it is a far different thing when a self-appointed critic suggests the show should not be aired. Blah, blah, I am not aware of requirements to have positive heroes, or positive life lessons in my entertainment. If so Bill Maher, Chris Mathews, and David Letterman would be talking to themselves in mirror above the bathroom sink instead of polluting the airwaves with their crap. The Kardashians  would be consigned to the ether of deep space. Most religious programing and televangelist preachers would be forced to do missionary work.

Turn the show off if you do not like it. Here is the crazy thing about entertainment; if there are no viewers, no new episodes will be made. No one is forced to watch Game of Thrones or any other show on the TV. There is plenty of programing to be found on the two hundred or so channels that beam into my home that I find stupid, repulsive, unwatchable, and a waste of time. At any given moment that may mean 199 of my two hundred channels are unwatchable. I find the one I can tolerate or read a book or listen to music. It is a concept called freedom and the antithesis of political correctness.

Weekend Funny

Here is the first in a series of classic ads from the days of yore:

A Friday Music Extra Without Music

Here is a great article about my mostest favorite band in the world. Come on, click the link for once.

Here, click this one in case you missed it before:

CLICK HERE

Little Red Ants

I cruised in from Rockford last evening a little past dinner time. Baseball and audio books made the boring drive tolerable. The Cubs lost. Burning Daylight made millions. The wife had skipped down to the mall for whatever she goes to the mall to do. She was waiting on me to eat. I told her I was home and she said to meet her at a specific local sports bar.

We arrived within a few minutes of each other. Since it was late, almost eight o'clock, we did not have to wait on a table. On the spur of the moment I ordered a breaded tenderloin instead of my usual bacon, jalapeno, peanut butter cheeseburger (trust me it is way good). The place was crowded as usual, and even more so on account of the Pacers/Hawks game. We were not surprised when it took a while to get our food. We waited. We waited some more. We continued to wait. Our server never came by so we could ask if our order was lost. We waited some more. No food.  No server. Finally, 50 minutes into our wait he stopped by and seemed surprised we had no food. I was amazingly nice and polite about it.

He came back about ten minutes later with a tale of computer problems and blah, blah, blah excuses. I know the server is not in control of the kitchen, but perhaps he should have stopped by the table a little more often than every 50 minutes -- if only to refresh our drinks? He said a manger would stop by. About 15 minutes later a gent in a tie stopped by and gave us our food. He said nary a word of apology. No sorry, no kiss my rear, just "enjoy!". Now I am not one of those people who wants or expects free stuff. Things happen, orders do get lost, mistakes are made. But a simple "sorry you had to wait so long" would have been nice. And no, it was not the crowds that delayed our food, they turned over some tables right by us while we were waiting on our food. Finally, long after we were done eating the server showed up and said we could have a free dessert. Since we had now been there more than two hours, I said sure, why not. I left 15%, only out of pity since I know servers work for tips. I guess he made just over two bucks an hour for sort of waiting on us.

On the bright side I got to spend dinner with my beautiful wife instead of huddled alone in a restaurant, or eating with a customer, so I won in the grand scheme of things. When we got home the wife found a half dozen little red ants marching in echelon across the kitchen floor. They had a flanker scout posted high on the island countertop. We were out of bug spray, so, being a prince of a human being, I drove down to WalMart to get some bug killer. The wife gave me a kiss and told me thanks when I got home. It really was a good day.

Friday Music

How about some blues from the great Lonnie Brooks for your Friday Music selection?

Stephen Stills quipped on the live album Four Way Street that "the blues ain't funny". That may be true, but there is significant humor in this song:



I had hoped to find Mr. Brooks' tune Alimony from the album Bayou Lightening. Alas, you will have to find it yourself. But here is a Lonnie Brooks bonus track, because you can never have too much of the blues. Plus, it is some great drinking music to start off a beautiful Friday:

Shouting derogatory sarcasm in the face of a hurricane wind

Work, life, and this blog in particular seem to conspire to bring me down. I am disgusted with politics. You have no desire to read my semi-coherent rantings. My life is boring; there is nothing there of interest to anyone. Let us face it, you could care less about my lunch or latest music recommendation. Work-- I drove six hours yesterday and spent the night in an OK hotel in a dump of a city so I can spend 1-1/2 or 2 hours, including lunch, with a complete asshole. I will smile and be nice while fantasizing about giving him the Theron Greyjoy treatment. Then I get to drive 6 hours home.

I know. Boo fucking hoo. Suck it up Nancy. Too bad for you, occasional bouts of whining are the price you pay for stopping by.

Wadda ya want for nuthin?

Wriigley Field is 100 years old

She is probably not surprised the Cubs choked on the birthday cake. At least a poor fan in the left field bleachers won't get blamed this time

Example 1,748 of what is wrong with our Government

The IRS paid bonuses to employees who fail to pay taxes.

Those 11 eleven words sum it up nicely.

Not angered by those stories?  Try on this one:

According to an investigative report by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), over 300,000 federal employees and retirees were delinquent on their own taxes to the tune of $3.5 billion:source

Most Americans display smugness and tacit smirk when discussing the bureaucratic corruption of the Third World. Perhaps we need to look a little more closely at our own federal, state and local bureaucracies. Of course, given this complaint is about the IRS, I should expect a little extra scrutiny in the coming weeks and months of my Federal Returns. After all, we know the Agency is not loath go after their political opponents.

Just sayin'

The TSA is obsessed with making sure my toothpaste is a tiny tube. They make me undress to go through the screening. A bottle of water is treated like a bomb. Old ladies and young children are subject to additional screening.

Maybe they should make sure a teenager can't climb the fence at the airport. If no one can notice a kid in the wheel well of a jetliner, a tiny bomb should be easy to sneak in.

I know, I am an insensitive ass

Seriously, enough about the Boston Marathon already. I know some terrorists attacked the event last year. Do we really have to interview every person who has ever heard of Boston this year?

Monday Musings

Yesterday was a great day. We had near-perfect weather. All of the kids came for Easter dinner. We continued the tradition of celebrating the life of a Jew by eating ham. After everyone left, the wife and I sat on the patio and enjoyed the sun. I had plenty of yard work to do, but I took the day off. The sticks and old leaves will still be there today or tomorrow or until I do the work to clean it up. I read a bit of The Searchers by Alan Le May. You probably have seen the great John Ford film starring John Wayne based on this novel. If you haven't you are missing one of the true great films.

I had weird dreams all night. I will not go into the details, because I think nothing is more boring than hearing about someone's dreams, and besides, I can't remember most of the details.

I got my laptop back from the home office late Thursday afternoon. The UPS driver was dropping it on the porch just as I pulled into the cul-de-sac from a business trip to southern Indiana. It will take some time to get used to Windows 7 after using XP for so long. But change is part of life. We current dinosaurs must adapt of die.

Listen my children

It was on this day 239 years ago that a group of farmers stood up to tyranny. I wonder what they would make of the oppressive Federal Government that has morphed over the intervening two centuries.

Friday Music

It was sometime in the mid-1970's when my brother gifted me his old stereo system.  It boasted a tuner and an 8-track player. He also passed along his 8-track tapes.  One of them was the soundtrack from "Godspell".  If you have not seen of this play/movie it is "hippies do the Gospel of Matthew".



Here is the finale, appropriate for today, I think.

My back yard

A poorly written and ill-conceived Haiku:

the willow sprouts leaves
the greening grass hurts my eyes
Easter lillies bloom

Don't blame me. This is what happens when the blogosphere's resident poet goes on hiatus.

If the show fits...

It is called taking responsibility. It is not about the amount of melanin in your skin.

The art of manly chest pounding

I could ramble on about the weather, but we have various forms of it every day.  You do too, I suspect. I could write about the NBA, but I don't care.  I could complain about the Chicago Cubs, but you don't care. I am reading one of the dumbest, worst written books ever, but for some reason I won't quit reading it. I will not even give out the title in the rare case you buy or download the book and encourage the author to write more. I am fairly certain you are not interested in my complaints, aches, or pains. I am bored with politic;, astounded by the ignorance of half the American populace. Work is called "work" for a reason. Yet, once again I have accomplished  the blogging equivalent of pulling a rabbit out of my hat and somehow presented an entire post about having nothing to post. Ta da!

I really, really need a vacation

OK. It is not my internet causing problems, it is my laptop. Through a long sequence of events that are neither germane nor interesting, I am using my son's old laptop this week. It runs Windows 7 and IE. For some reason I cannot post to the Blogger template. I can write a title, but I cannot write in the text block in "compose" mode. I am bringing this to you in HTML mode. The things I do for you... 

After Chamber of Commerce weather over the weekend, and temps in the low seventies yesterday morning, we have snow on the ground this morning. You read that right. At 11:00 AM yesterday morning I had the window open and the ceiling fan running in the office. At 11:00 PM it was snowing. Mother Nature is a bipolar bitch.

My interwebz are wonky today

A short story beginning that just sort of peters out

I woke at the crack of Dawn. She farted and I nearly choked.

Friday Music

 We will step into the wayback machine again this week and try on some British Invasion:



Sitting in a hotel this week I was channel surfing and I ran across a documentary about the Dave Clark 5. Their heyday was a bit before my time. I did not realize they were second only to the Beatles in popularity in the mid-sixties. Dave Clark was a pioneer, he kept ownership of his masters and rented them to the label. Very smart.

Here is another tune as a bonus. You can see the hysteria is akin to what the boys from Liverpool experienced:

On Flying

To be honest, the whole security screening ordeal at the airport does not bother me much.  Perhaps I am used to it. Taking off the shoes, keeping liquids separate is a pain, but not nearly as annoying as the people who are not prepared for the security measures. I wish I could bring a bottle of water from home, but I suspect the airport authorities like the "you gotta buy any drinks on the other side of security" rule. What bugs me is the whole lack of any sense of urgency on the part of TSA workers. I almost always get to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Still, the half-speed at which most of the workers move is maddening. I don't want to stand there in my socks waiting on my bag to come out of the belt while TSA workers are joking around. I know the job is boring, but there is no need to move in slow motion. I have encountered first hand this tendency to operate in low gear at a dozen different airports. Perhaps it is a union rule? I will admit most of the TSA folks I have encountered are friendly and professional, but they move at zombie speed. It must be something in the air at government installations, because I have seen the same attitude at the BMV, the courthouse, and the Social Security office.

Mid week cleanse

We do lots of classic rock, how about some classic country today?

Sadly this is not an Onion story.

Eric Holder is an embarrassment, and not fit to hold office. He cannot be serious. This proposal is more like an April Fool's joke. Is this administration trying to create unrest, riots, and civil war? Thank goodness this is a non-starter with anyone who possess a brain. Even Congressmen are not this stupid...well most.

10110111000110101

Bits and bytes. I don't understand 'em.  I do know my old steam powered desktop computer was purchased in 2002.  It was state of the art in those dinosaur days of computing. Today it runs Widows XP and is unusable without upgrades.  The good news is the wife transitioned to her iPad some time ago and I use a laptop. The only thing we used the desktop for was a repository for pictures (that does not need internet) and for our iTunes accounts.The old desktop was little used and will be less so as Microsoft ends support for XP operating system, including (most importantly) security updates.

We had a Windows 7 laptop we bought the boy a few years ago.  He abandoned it when he got a new, more powerful Apple machine for graduation. I copied all of our iTunes stuff to it yesterday. The pictures have long been backed up to external drives.

The truth is the desktop has been lingering in a slow death for a long time. I only fired it up every few months to transfer pictures. It will serve the same function going forward, but the internet cord has been pulled, No use leaving the door unlocked for cyber thieves and viruses, in the event I try to go online on some future occasion. Old people forget important stuff like that.
 

S'Long Mickey

RIP, my man.  You always entertained me. I always watch an Andy Hardy flick when one shows up on the old movie channel.

Billions missing from the State Department

Don't worry, Hillary will just invest a few bucks in cattle futures and get it back pronto.

Changes

Semi-warm weather and some rain have combined to turn the yard from dead-looking shades of brown to a vibrant emerald green, seemingly overnight. Perennials I did not know existed have poked their heads cautiously through the mulch. It will not be long before I have to drag the mower from the shed.

A public private post to Madame OB

Note, this is my response to a comment on this post and it is way too long for the comment box, so I am offering my rebuttal as a post. Thank you for your indulgence.

Madame OB, as much as I enjoy your writing, I do have access to other websites on the internet, and some of them are also left-leaning. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it is not all about you or your little domain. Just as you stereotype "righties", I stereotype the lefties who comment on various websites based on emotion, and run away and hide when confronted with facts, or result to name calling or trying to obfuscate the facts. I will aknowledge certain individuals who comment at your blog fit this profile.

As far as the horrible GOP doing all they can to oppose Obama and his agenda; I hate to break it to you Honey, but that is politics.  There is little difference in the GOP actions in the past 5 years and that of the Democrats in Congress when W occupied the oval office.  Remember how they were for the Iraq war before they were against it? Grow up.

More importantly, we as individuals are always in lockstep with those who share the politics we believe.  Since I have strong “rightie” leanings, are you in any way surprised I agree with those who also are small “L” libertarians?  As an aside, while I have offered plenty of posts criticizing the GOP, A steady reading of your writings demonstrates your positions are pretty much straight out of the Democrat Party talking points, nary a criticism of any Democrat leader comes to mind.  Just who is in lockstep here? But again, I would expect one with a left-leaning political bent to actually be left-leaning in her writings. It would be silly for me to complain that you never support Sarah Palin. It is just as ridiculous for you to complain I am not behind Obama and his agenda.

My objections against Obama and his policies have nothing to do with race, or party, but a total disagreement that America needed a fundamental change. It is of little wonder I oppose the expansion of government, the idea that the Feds can force someone to buy something, the weakening of the dollar, using the IRS to attack political opponents, running guns to Mexican drug lords, allowing voter intimidation, and massive foreign policy mistakes. Which of those programs do you think I would support? I was just as opposed to HillaryCare as I am to ObamaCare. I have equal disdain for RomneyCare and anything the Heritage Foundation might have proposed regarding universal government healthcare. Further, I would have opposed the similar plan championed by Democrats going back to FDR. The massive increase in debt and tax increases are opposite of my firm economic beliefs. I do not support the Ryan budget because I know politicians will not make the promised cuts a decade from now. I don't think the Government should be picking private companies to feed tax dollars (Solyndra) and I do not want my energy prices to necessarily skyrocket. So just which of Obama’s programs do you think I would get behind? To imply I am but a mind-numbed robot following in lockstep with the nefarious leaders of some political machine is insulting. It is not just those of the political left who can think, analyze, and draw our own conclusions.

Do I have a universal difference in opinion with Obama, Pelosi, Reid, the Clintons  and yes, Madame OB?  Certainly.  That does not make me an acolyte of the Koch Brothers.  Nor does your adherence to politics I find mind-boggling indicate you are dancing at the strings of George Soros. I am certain we are all capable of independent thought.

I welcome a diversity of thought. Dialogue and argument and the Socratic Method are what help us learn. Unfortunately, I see an increasingly hysterical response from many on the left that tends to stifle argument and differing opinions. This is a historical tendency that permeates those of the left from the French Revolution, to the Chinese Communists, to the Soviet Bloc, to modern Cuba and Venezuela. We see this attitude in leaders of the Climate Change movement who want to jail “deniers” or Bill Ayers' infamous belief it will be necessary to confine and re-educate those who would oppose the vision he has for America. So you may ridicule my position on forcing employers to offer certain benefits. (I noticed you skipped the part of my position where I maintained it is silly for employers to not offer contraceptive benefits to employees in the comments to this post at your site.). I am OK with that. I am a big boy. 

I advise you to suck it up.  Thank the stars that America is a place where we are all allowed differing opinions. Be thankful that we live in a place without fear of the thought police forcing us into lockstep -- at least for now.

Friday Music

Unionizing College Sports

Do the football players at Northwestern understand that they will be forced to pay union dues if they are allowed to unionize and hefty initiation fees? If their scholarships are determined to be income (thus subject to collective bargaining) they will then have to pay taxes on said income? Do they understand it just may be easier to drop the football program than to deal with the unions and government?

More importantly, do the athletes understand that thousands of students would trade their very soul for the opportunity to get a free or semi-free education at Northwestern University? That most college students struggle to find money for food, gas and entertainment, and they still will be saddled with student loans amounting to a house payment for thirty years after graduation?

There is not a lot of sympathy for the poor football players, I am sure.

Hooray for the ACA

Queue up Kool and the Gang! It has to be a celebration -- 7 million Americans followed the law. Most because the same law took away their insurance, but we will hide that dirty secret under the old rug in the foyer.

I suspect I will see countless others stopping at stop signs, driving on the correct side of the road, and paying the tolls on the TriState later today. 

I did not rob a bank, take illegal drugs or kill anyone. Party!

Just the facts

Liberals kill me.  They are all about arguing, as long as it is about emotion, or feelings, but when confronted with actual facts they go silent as a church mouse. Somehow they cannot grasp the difference between opinion and fact.

You know

...it is amazing what a little warm weather and some sunshine will do for your attitude on life.

Desperation

John Kerry and the Obama Administration are so desperate to have any sort of foreign policy success they are willing to consider releasing Israeli spy Jonathon Pollard if that would get Israel to agree to release Palestinian terrorists and give up sovereignty of their borders.

I never cease to be amazed that the Jewish voters in this country flock to the polls and vote in overwhelming numbers for Democrats. Jimmah Carter is an active cheerleader for the Palestinians and Hamas and he is not alone among elected Democrats who help, cheer and support the very people who have vowed to push the nation of Israel into the sea.

Sadly, this Pollard proposal is no April Fools Joke.