It has been three weeks since my last post. I have been busy writing the first part of my Thesis, along with two long papers for other classes. I have come up this week for a breath and I will be out of pocket again (more papers due).
Thanks for being patient with me. In the mean time enjoy the three new posts.
Jim
Friday, October 20, 2006
Can Democrats Be Trusted to Govern in Wartime?
The Investor's Business Daily doesn't think so. They give 97 reasons why, here.
The Ant and the Grasshopper - 2006
My liberal mom sent this to me, she thought I would like it...and she was right!
The ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER - OLD VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible
MODERN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. CBS, NBC, ABC & CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green." Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. Ted Kennedy & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Dan Rather that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share. Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act," retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government. Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients. The ant loses the case. The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Vote Republican
The ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER - OLD VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible
MODERN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. CBS, NBC, ABC & CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green." Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. Ted Kennedy & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Dan Rather that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share. Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act," retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government. Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients. The ant loses the case. The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Vote Republican
Sunday, September 24, 2006
He's Wagging His Finger Again - Watchout
Does this seem familiar to you? When he starts wagging that finger you better start checking his facts. Check out Michelle Malkin on the topic. Allahpundit at hotair has a great round up. Here is my favorite exerpt,
5.Despite the fact that it’s central to a debate that’s been raging for weeks, Wallace’s question about whether he did enough to eliminate Bin Laden is a “conservative hit job” designed to appease Fox’s right-wing viewers, who’ll all be very, very sore when they find out Rupert Murdoch is working with Clinton on climate change. Presumably Wallace should have stuck to the script followed by Meredith “Giggles” Vieira, CNN schlockmeister Larry King, who bombarded Clinton with tough questions like “How’s your health?” and “Have you seen Gore’s movie?”, and of course Keith Olbermann, who played his part perfectly except for the lack of a blue dress.
It always amuses me when liberals get mad because of the questions they are asked when they go on Fox News. They are so use to getting fawned over and asked softball questions by the MSM that they become undone and lose their composure. Instead of answering the questions they attack Fox as being "right wing." Well guess what, at least half of the country want those questions asked, and answered. Since no one from CNN or MSNBC is going to ask those questions, somebody has to. Conservatives are much better at this than liberals because they are used to tough interviews.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Been Busy
Posting has been light over the last week because we have been very busy. This was Rose Festival week in Wasco and we had a lot going on. First, my daughter was a contestant in the Rose Queen pageant. It has been a great experience for Alysse, but it has taken up a lot of our time and energy (especially my wife and daughter's). Then we had the Rose Parade along with the Arts and Crafts Fair in the park, which took up Friday evening and the entire day yesterday. In addition, my son Aaron came home from college for the weekend with four of his new friends!In one of my first posts on this blog, I wrote about why I love the Rose Festival weekend, and you can read the original post here. This year of course was special because of Alysse's participation in the pageant. The parade was great, it really is Americana. I took pictures of the parade so that I could share them with you. I hope you enjoy them.
The Crowd gets ready for the parade.
The parade always begins with this large American Flag.
The Color Guard
You won't see this kind of float in the other Rose Parade!
More Parade Pics
The Grand Marshall
Some lovely parade watchers (that is my wife in the middle and my youngest daughter next to her).
During the parade we congregate in front of our church which just happens to be right on the parade route.
Aaron's friends aren't sure what to think about small town U.S.A.!
Mr. Reding has been riding a scooter in the parade for over twenty years. It is his job to keep the parade entries moving along at the right pace.
Parade Pics Continued
Last year's Rose Queen
This year's Queen
Rose Queen and some of her Court
My Rose Queen
She definitely favors her mother!
Even More Pics
The Shriners are always a hit.
The Wasco High School Band
The Thomas Jefferson Junior High band
The Wasco City Council
Monday, September 04, 2006
Bachman Turner Overdrive
In previous posts (see here, here, here and here) I discussed why Rush is my favorite band. Now I want to talk about my second favorite band, Bachman Turner Overdrive or as they are affectionately known as BTO. Whereas Rush is known more as a "progressive rock" band, BTO is a more straight up "hard rock" band, although several of their songs have a jazz flavor to them.
As I began my High School years I became fascinated with BTO largely through my neighbor and classmate Bill Fisher . Bill had an LP (remember those?) by BTO called "Four Wheel Drive" and because I had just been given an old record player and needed something to play on it, he graciously let me borrow the album.
Given that it was going to take some time for me to earn the money to buy new albums I literally played "Four Wheel Drive" day and night. Every song on the album became my favorite as I listened to each one until the words and music were etched in my memory. Even today, I can still hear the music in my mind.
In any event, this led to the purchase of my second BTO album, "Not Fragile." Arguably their best album, there is no debate that it was their most successful, reaching number 1 on the pop album charts in 1974. It also included two number one hits, "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" and the instrumental "Free Wheelin." This album also included several of their best known songs, like "Roll on Down the Highway," "Not Fragile," and "Sledgehammer." Over the next few weeks I will be posting more on my favorite BTO albums and songs, but for now I want to post a couple of BTO videos from youtube.
One thing I want to add is that you shouldn't judge the band by their looks or by the quality of these videos. Randy Bachman and especially C.F. Turner do not look like your usual rock band members, but that doesn't mean they can't produce some very good tunes. So enjoy.
As I began my High School years I became fascinated with BTO largely through my neighbor and classmate Bill Fisher . Bill had an LP (remember those?) by BTO called "Four Wheel Drive" and because I had just been given an old record player and needed something to play on it, he graciously let me borrow the album.
Given that it was going to take some time for me to earn the money to buy new albums I literally played "Four Wheel Drive" day and night. Every song on the album became my favorite as I listened to each one until the words and music were etched in my memory. Even today, I can still hear the music in my mind.
In any event, this led to the purchase of my second BTO album, "Not Fragile." Arguably their best album, there is no debate that it was their most successful, reaching number 1 on the pop album charts in 1974. It also included two number one hits, "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" and the instrumental "Free Wheelin." This album also included several of their best known songs, like "Roll on Down the Highway," "Not Fragile," and "Sledgehammer." Over the next few weeks I will be posting more on my favorite BTO albums and songs, but for now I want to post a couple of BTO videos from youtube.
One thing I want to add is that you shouldn't judge the band by their looks or by the quality of these videos. Randy Bachman and especially C.F. Turner do not look like your usual rock band members, but that doesn't mean they can't produce some very good tunes. So enjoy.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Game Week - San Jose State
Well, game week has finally arrived. This week the Washington Huskies prepare for their first game of the season, against San Jose State. It has been a tough couple of years for this Washington transplant living in Southern California. Most of the people here are either UCLA or USC fans. Since it is just up the freeway, there are some Fresno State fans here as well.
Quite a few people here root for UC Berkley, mainly because one of Wasco's own has played and started there over the last few years (by the way, his name is Aaron Merz and he was drafted by the Buffalo Bills, go Aaron). Aaron started playing for Cal, the year they broke the losing streak to UW. Mostly people here have been gracious about the condition of my Huskies, but it has been humbling to see how far this once mighty program has fallen.
I was excited when they hired Rick Neuheisel, but he was a big disappointment. He and Barbara Hedges helped take Washington from the best and most consistent program in the PAC-10 to where it is today. Our record for the last two years? 3-19, it even pains me to write that. Keith Gilbertson (the most recent coach) probably should also get some credit or rather blame for our sad state of affairs, but he was put in a no win situation.
I was not very thrilled when they hired Ty Willingham as head coach because I considered him to be a retread, and what we needed was fresh ideas and new blood. However, Ty is a quality individual and a great man of character. He has put together a good staff and there is some talent on this squad...we are going to find out very soon if this staff can get the job done, let's hope so. Here is this year's schedule and it looks pretty tough.
Sept. 2 San Jose State
Sept. 9 at Oklahoma
Sept. 16 Fresno State
Sept. 23 UCLA
Sept. 30 at Arizona
Oct. 7 at USC
Oct. 14 OREGON STATE
Oct. 21 at California
Oct. 28 ARIZONA STATE
Nov. 4 at Oregon
Nov. 11 STANFORD
Nov. 18 at Washington State
GO DAWGS!!!!!!
Quite a few people here root for UC Berkley, mainly because one of Wasco's own has played and started there over the last few years (by the way, his name is Aaron Merz and he was drafted by the Buffalo Bills, go Aaron). Aaron started playing for Cal, the year they broke the losing streak to UW. Mostly people here have been gracious about the condition of my Huskies, but it has been humbling to see how far this once mighty program has fallen.
I was excited when they hired Rick Neuheisel, but he was a big disappointment. He and Barbara Hedges helped take Washington from the best and most consistent program in the PAC-10 to where it is today. Our record for the last two years? 3-19, it even pains me to write that. Keith Gilbertson (the most recent coach) probably should also get some credit or rather blame for our sad state of affairs, but he was put in a no win situation.
I was not very thrilled when they hired Ty Willingham as head coach because I considered him to be a retread, and what we needed was fresh ideas and new blood. However, Ty is a quality individual and a great man of character. He has put together a good staff and there is some talent on this squad...we are going to find out very soon if this staff can get the job done, let's hope so. Here is this year's schedule and it looks pretty tough.
Sept. 2 San Jose State
Sept. 9 at Oklahoma
Sept. 16 Fresno State
Sept. 23 UCLA
Sept. 30 at Arizona
Oct. 7 at USC
Oct. 14 OREGON STATE
Oct. 21 at California
Oct. 28 ARIZONA STATE
Nov. 4 at Oregon
Nov. 11 STANFORD
Nov. 18 at Washington State
GO DAWGS!!!!!!
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