Last Conservative in Cleveland

God and the Western Liberal

2012-01-03T18:26:00.000-05:00

To those who are trying to banish God from Western thought, I would suggest that you give it up. God is, unfortunately for them, too much an integral part of Western thinking and ideals.

The central concept of the Western idea is the worth of the individual. Prior to this, people were interchangeable unless one was a member of an elite class: royalty or a member of the ruling party. Western thought birthed the idea that everyone has worth, no matter his birthright or class.

Unfortunately for the anti-deity folks, this idea comes directly from the Judao/Christian concept that men are made in God’s image. We all have worth as we are all images of God. So, it’s not just royalty and the elites that have value; even the lowliest peasant is important.

From this concept comes the Rule of Law; the idea that the laws of the nation apply to everyone equally. Lower class people can’t be beaten just for looking at a king and a king cannot get away with murder simply because he is a king.

Unfortunately, our own Congress is undermining this concept. They routinely pass laws that don’t apply to them.

Congressmen can engage in insider trading to pad their own pockets at the expense of other stock holders and cannot be prosecuted for doing what would land the rest of us in jail.

Think about that the next time you buy or sell stock. Your congressman possesses information that could undermine everything you’re trying to accomplish for your family.

They’re recreating the idea of the Perfect and Immune Elites who can do what they want regardless of the law.

We’re all made in God’s image but some people are extra special; just ask ‘em!

Mary

2011-12-10T02:32:00.000-05:00

A friend I’ve never met died on the 5th. She lived with her husband, daughter and numerous cats out in California. She loved to crochet, as do I. We never had the chance to meet IRL and compare notes about yarns and patterns. I feel I’ve lost something. Just that chance to meet another kindred spirit.

Kindred spirits are hard to find. Mary worked hard all her life to make a good life in a small town in a small house that she loved. When the leukemia that would eventually kill her made her too sick to work, her employer of several years simply fired her. They didn’t want to have her on the books to raise their health insurance rates.

Kent, her husband, is a tenacious old guy and gave them hell over that. They sued her employer and won monies for lost wages and the right to COBRA her health insurance.

Her insurance company cancelled her policy twice, for no reason. The premiums were paid on time. Kent did without food to make sure they were. He immediately got on the phone and yelled at enough people, including getting Stanford University Hospital in his corner, to get the policy reinstated. I don’t know if they ever paid him back for the meds he had to buy whilst the reinstatement was in process. Kent figures that they do this to people who are costing them a lot just to see if they will give up and go away. They picked the wrong man to try this on. He destroyed them. And then they tried it again…

Same result, he being an old hand at dealing with insurance company bureaucracy by then.

Mary fought a good fight against The Fury. The leukemia. It took her life but it could not take her spirit.

Bawney Fwank

2011-11-29T21:06:00.000-05:00

The respectability of Congress has just gone up 50%. Bawney Fwank, D – Massachusetts, has decided to retire from Congress rather than face a redrawn district and a real challenge for the seat.

So, not only is he a thoughtless liberal, he’s a coward as well.

This has been a regular event. For the 2010 and now the 2012 elections, liberals facing a real challenge for the first time in their careers decide to quit instead of fight..

What a bunch of wusses!! But then, that’s what being a liberal means. You never have to think for yourself. Being a liberal is easy. You just follow the party line. You never have to think of positions on the hard issues. Personal opinions are not needed. No research ever need be done. What matters is how you feel about it. Feelings, not rational thought, are what are important to liberals.

Are you under-water with your mortgage on your house? If you are, you can thank Bawney Fwank. As chair of the House Financial Services Committee, he was directly responsible for the housing bubble that burst and messed up the housing market.

The government put pressure on banks to give loans to people who did qualify for them with the Community Reinvestment Act. Started under Jimmeh Carter, it really came into its own under Slick Willie. Frank, as head of his committee, was in a position to make sure the banks gave those mortgages to people who didn’t earn them. To make it up to the bank and spread the risk around, Frank and his committee allowed the banks to bundle these sub-prime loans into securities that they subsequently sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Because government was backing the securities, people who should have known better bought the things at inflated prices. Housing prices went up as well. Anything government gets into inflates in price: housing, college degrees, medical care, etc.

Maybe with Frank off doing whatever ex-congressmen do (make more millions as a lobbyist, probably) the housing market can recover. Hopefully, the American people will recover their wits enough to throw the rest of the bums out and we can have some economic recovery as well!!

Moochelle Gets Booed

2011-11-21T23:53:00.000-05:00

Moochelle and Mrs. Biden got booed at a NASCAR event this weekend. The media are very offended.

Why wouldn’t they get booed, especially Moochelle. I don’t know much about Joe Biden’s wife but Barry’s wife deserved every second of it.

She has presumed to tell Americans what to eat and when and how much to exercise. She thinks she has the right to tell us what to feed our kids. And she’s only proud of her country because her husband could run for President. She’s the national scold!

Lots of Americans are struggling. They’ve lost their jobs and can’t find another. Or they’re underwater with their mortgage because the property values where they live have fallen so much. Most of them aren’t even thinking of taking any vacations much less ones with lavish suites, top shelf liquor and expensive massages.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2029615/Michelle-Obama-accused-spending-10m-public-money-vacations.html

Moochelle has spend over $10 million on vacations just in the past year. Summer of 2010, it was the trip to Spain for her and the kids and over 40 personal friends. Then, it was a Christmas trip to Hawaii where they rented a villa on Kailua for $38,000. that trip cost over $1.5 million! February, 2011 brought a trip to Vale for skiing to the tune of $2,400 a night for a hotel suite. Then there’s Martha’s Vineyard in August, 2011, with the rental of a property at $50,000 a week. They also couldn’t fly together, resulting in 2 huge, expensive air planes going to the same place only hours apart. Add it all up, including mini-trips not mentioned here, at you get to more than $10 million.

Fancy, pricey vacations, date nights in New York, bossy, nosey speeches about our dietary habits. Her own husband still smokes! Deal with your own household and keep your nose out of ours!

Boo away, NASCAR fans!!

Deep Fried Ribs

2011-11-18T20:52:00.000-05:00

I’m watching this show on TV about this guy who deep fries everything. He’s been challenged by a cowboy to deep fry some beef ribs and he has no idea how to go about doing so.

After thinking about it for a few minutes, I came up with a way to deep fry beef ribs that might be tasty.

First, you need some meaty beef ribs. Slather them with a spice rub that suites your taste. Allow to marinate in the fridge for a few hours. Then, slow roast them in a 300 degree oven until they are tender and juicy. Let them rest for a few minutes while you make the batter.

You are going to need a nice tempura batter. Maybe try adding some spices to this as well.

After the ribs have rested and cooled, cut them into single-rib portions. Carefully dip each rib into the batter and slowly drop into hot deep fat. Fry until golden brown.

Serve with a drizzle of your favorite barbeque sauce. Enjoy!!

This seems like it would work just fine. I’m not much for ribs but if anyone wants to try this and let me know how it turns out, I’d love to hear about it!!

Online Dating

2011-11-15T01:48:00.000-05:00

My second anniversary was last week. We got married on Veterans’ Day because we are both bloodied veterans of the Divorce Wars. We ran off to Vegas to do it. Lots of fun!

I met my husband online through a personal ad I put up mostly to have somebody buy me dinner. The guy I moved to Cleveland to be with had broken up with me for the second and last time and I was more than ready to replace him. He was a cheap bastard who insisted that we always go Dutch when we went out, whether it was steak or coffee. So, I was ready meet someone new.

About this time, a friend of mine at work confessed to me that she was putting ads on some popular dating sites and was having no luck meeting a nice guy. Since I’d done it on the first try, could I help her have similar success?

I read a couple of her ads and right away I discovered what her problem was: she was lying her ass off. And being very obvious about it, too. No body goes online for love if they’re that accomplished at art and languages. She claimed that she spoke 3 or 4 languages. She misrepresented her height, her hair color, her weight, everything! So, when she finally met somebody in person, they knew they had been lied to.

I tried to tell her that honesty was the best policy but she insisted that truthfulness was irrelevant. What ‘magic words’ had I used that caught Brian? I had just told the truth about my looks, my kids, my profession, everything. And I also used the word ‘buxom’, again, truthfully. He has said that that word was really attractive to him. I told her to tell the truth, no matter what.

As far as I know, she was still lying online in her ads and still looking for Mr. Right the last time I talked to her. The business we both worked for collapsed and closed so I don’t really know.

My best advice to someone looking for love online is to tell the truth. The line of people waiting for marriage licenses in Las Vegas proves that there really is someone for everyone! :-)

Paycheck to Paycheck

2011-11-07T13:47:00.000-05:00

I hear the phrase “living paycheck to paycheck” on TV a lot, usually implying that the person in question is poor or is about to be.

Think about that, though. Do you know anybody who doesn’t live paycheck to paycheck? Personally, I don’t. Everyone I know has to work everyday, for pay and their checks are pretty much spent before they get them for the necessities of life: housing, transportation, food, clothing, etc.

Do you know anyone who is independently wealthy? Only those with that kind of money would not have to live ‘paycheck to paycheck’. Paycheck to paycheck seems to me to be the normal way of living. Most of us have a little savings put by for a rainy day but not enough to live on for very long if we lost our jobs.

If you live within your means, you are doing well. And you are also living paycheck to paycheck. If you’re living beyond your means and racking up credit card bills, you’ve then got quite a problem. Then you’re living paycheck to next week’s paycheck. You’re spending future monies. And you are usually paying exorbitant interest to do so.

So, how is paycheck to paycheck a bad thing, again?? I don’t get it…

Muslims at the Airport

2011-10-31T14:04:00.000-04:00

Muslims are feeling harassed at airports.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/04/authorities_listen_to_arab-ame.html

Wah, wah, wah.

Maybe if they would control their more volatile members, none of us would have to feel harassed at airports! They are only reaping the benefits of what they have sown.

We Americans all remember the celebrations and dancing in the streets that accompanied 911 in much of the Muslim world. Are they ever going to denounce terrorism? Will there ever be a stigma attached instead of a reward to the families of people who blow themselves and innocents up? Will Muslims ever act in a civilized manner?

Probably not. Too many people are willing to make apologies and excuses for their behavior. Their overly arrogant despot governments are swimming in petro-dollars thanks to this country’s inability to drill for its own oil. We have enough oil reserves that we could put them out of business tomorrow but none of our political leaders except for a select, often mocked few, have the nerve to allow our oil companies to drill for the oil that we know is there. And we’re finding more all the time.

And why should they have to act civilized when the civilized world bends over backwards to make sure they’re not ‘offended’ by the security now required for the rest of us to travel by airplane? Way too many people are willing to listen to their complaints without reminding them that they are the causes of this problem. A little profiling should be the least of the burdens they should have to bear for the insane inconvenience they have caused the rest of us! Just accept it without all the whining, please. We have to accept far worse because of your countrymen!

Colts Lose, Again

2011-10-24T07:52:00.000-04:00

I’m a Colts fan. I have been since they moved to Indy in the 80s. I always liked football but had no favorite team until the city I lived in ‘acquired’ one from Baltimore. My father worked for Mayflower at the time, although he had no part in moving the team, so it seemed especially personal to me, like my daddy had got me a football team to root for.

So, they sucked for years and I watched and cheered anyway. Then I moved to Cleveland where there was no football team anymore. The owner had tried to blackmail the city into building him a new stadium, they called his bluff and he took the team to Baltimore. When I moved to Cleveland, the rumors were that the Colts would be moving to Cleveland! A full circle-jerk with the cities and their fans caught in the middle.

Well, the Colts stayed in Indy and Cleveland got an expansion team, named the Browns as the former owner took only the players and equipment, the name and colors stayed here, unlike the Indy/Baltimore deal.

About the time I moved to Cleveland, the Colts drafted Peyton Manning. I heard about it in a distant way here in northeast Ohio, where the football news was mostly about the upcoming expansion team we were getting. Then Peyton caught fire and started winning. I had to figure out a way to watch my team!!

The year they made their first Superbowl run, I discovered that sports bars in the area had the NFL Ticket on their satellite dishes and I could watch any team I liked. It felt like being in a sports book in Las Vegas, only with no outright gambling. Finally, I could watch my team every week, no matter when they were on.

So, Sunday Night Football this week. I get to watch my team at home! Yay! Then they lose. Lose badly in a rematch of their second trip to the Superbowl in 2009 against the New Orleans Saints. The score: 7 to 62. That’s correct: 62. New Orleans scored 62 points against the Colts. The Colts scored one touchdown. One.

Now, I get that with Peyton on the sidelines with a neck injury and multiple surgeries that the offense might be having some problems. They tried bringing in an older, winning quarterback, Kerry Collins, but he didn’t know the offense and got hurt in the third week of the season anyway. So, they bring in Curtis Painter, Peyton’s understudy of several years. He knows the offense and his fellow players and has some success. Unfortunately, he can’t win a game, either.

What I cannot understand is WHERE IS THE DEFENSE?!? Peyton Manning ran the offense, not the defense. Where are those guys now? Why can they not stop New Orleans from scoring every time they have the ball? What’s wrong, now?

The Colts never were a great defensive team, I get that. It just didn’t matter that much when Payton could come in and score at will. But, now, when we really need them, they’re on vacation! Why?

I’d like to win at least one game this season as well as figure out our next move at quarterback. Payton, if he has any sense, will not put his neck at risk by playing again. I’d like to see him continue as Offensive Coordinator. Give him the title of the position he been filling all along. But we need to get him some good tools to work with! He needs someone who can throw accurately and well. The receiver core is still there, if aging a bit, but they could help a new quarterback learn the offence quickly and maybe get this thing turned around for next season. This season seems done for. Maybe they should have stayed out on strike; the pressure would have been off Payton and he would have had the opportunity to make the best decision for him, his family and the team. Now, the pressure is on him to play since the team is doing so badly without him.

If we had a real defense, it wouldn’t matter so much!

Weinergate

2011-06-04T13:23:00.000-04:00

I have one question: how many crotch shots has he taken of himself that he wouldn’t necessarily recognize this one as his?

Here’s the picture that’s causing all the hullabaloo:

My first reaction to seeing this was a great big ‘Meh’. Sorry. Not that impressive nor that interesting. Grey under panties with a slight bulge in them.

All the jokes have been said by now. I’m not going to try and come up with a new one. I just don’t get why these people think they can do these things and not implode their careers! Haven’t we had enough of these events? Is no one capable of learning from others’ mistakes? Don’t put naughty pictures of yourself on the ‘net!!! It never ends well.

Frack!

2011-06-04T13:11:00.002-04:00

Someone at Salon.com, that bastion of liberal “thought” has finally noticed that energy retrieval technology has moved on from the 1970s.

Really?!? I thought we were all supposed to be dead by now!

It turns out that with the new, improved way of getting the stuff out of the ground, we may have enough natural gas and petroleum to last us millennia. Scare stories about it nonetheless, fracking works quite well in producing both natural gas and oil.

And North America has huge reserves of both. As does the rest of the world. We're not running out any time soon.

If the Imperial Federal Government would ever get out of the way, we could tell OPEC to take their oil and shove it! And stop supplying some of the most oppressive regimes on the planet with readily spendable petro dollars, too. If we stop buying their oil and financing their regimes, maybe the populace could make the Arab Spring into an Arab Lifestyle!

Another Everyday Restaurant Review

2011-06-02T14:14:00.000-04:00

Reviews of ordinary, everyday restaurants that non-foodie people might go to.

Original Pancake House.

Sunday early afternoon, my spouse and I decided to try the OPH in Westgate Mall in Fairview Park.

Handicapped Parking was available, usually a good sign, however, we were not seated immediately. The girl behind the front desk was dealing with money and someone’s check. Two apparently idle employees were leaned against the wall, not looking at us. The hostess finished her transaction and then there was a discussion with a fourth employee about what was open. Apparently, there were no booths available and we were to wait until one was. I spoke up and said a table would be fine and we were seated immediately. There were several empty tables available as we walked to our seats.

The table seemed clean enough but I was soon to learn that that was an illusion. We were given napkin wrapped silverware, an empty coffee cup and menus. The menus were sticky. A few minutes later a waiter wandered by on his way back to the kitchen and asked us what we would like to drink. I ordered hot tea, not asked which kind I would like (there are several options listed on the menu), my hubby ordered coffee with cream. After about 10 minutes, I saw a plate with a metal pot and another coffee cup full of hot water snake its way on the table from behind me. Scared me to death! My hubby also got another cup, this one full of coffee. He wasn’t brought the requested cream. The empty cups were taken away. Later on in our stay, we saw the Greeting of the Customer done properly; the waitress brought menus and had a thermal coffee pot in hand to fill the empty mugs on every table. That made more sense.

Another 5 – 10 minutes went by before we were asked for our order. My hubby still had no cream for his coffee. We put in our orders, omelets and bacon. The omelets were to come with pancakes as well.

Five more minutes passed before my hubby got his cream for his coffee.

After 20 – 25 minutes, we were finally served our food. We were both out of beverages. I asked for more tea. I got another plate with a small aluminum pot full of hot water and another tea bag, again delivered from behind me. Good thing I didn’t move suddenly! No one brought my hubby more coffee. He finally saw our water go by and asked for coffee and he was brought some.

And now, the food! The omelets were extremely large. Apparently, they are baked at some point in the cooking process. Unfortunately, mine was way overcooked in a pan before being folded and put into an oven. There was a distinct burnt butter taste. My cheese was all on one side of the crescent shape of the omelet. The texture was off-putting and took some getting used to. Whatever they do to the eggs to get them so fluffy is not necessary. I make better omelets at home with my cheap non-stick pan and an old lid! My hubby had a similar reaction to the texture of his eggs as well.

I had also order bacon, crisp but not burnt. Properly cooked bacon should shatter like glass when bent. This stuff was cut so think that it was still too chewy even done crisp. Only half my order was crisp. I couldn’t finish the last piece. I don’t eat raw pork in any form. And I expect better for $4.35!

For a place called “The Original Pancake House”, I thought the pancakes might just be the best part of the meal. I was extremely disappointed. The texture was rubbery, hard to cut with a butter knife, and tasted terrible! They were not only not sweet, they tasted sour. I concluded that mine were made from at least day-old batter. I don’t normally use syrup but tried a little in a hope of improving the flavor. I shouldn’t have bothered. It didn’t help. The syrup didn’t taste good, either!

While we were waiting for our food, I saw several tables bussed by an unenthusiastic young man. First, he played a little game of dumping the contents of the various mugs and glasses into each other and then stacking them rather precariously to carry away. This was very unappetizing to watch while awaiting a meal. He then came back with a wet towel and a spray bottle. He sprayed the easily accessible parts of the table top and wiped them down. He then walked away, having neither cleaned the whole, visible parts of the table but also not having moved the Condiment Cluster and cleaning under it. I checked the table I was sitting at and spotted salt and straw paper scraps amongst the salt and pepper. The salt cellar was also greasy with visible smears. This apparently the way the employees are taught to clean tables as I saw another employee do the same thing a few minutes later at another table. She wasn’t any more thorough than he was.

The dish washer back in the kitchen apparently really enjoys his job. We could hear him banging the sprayer, the dishes and the dish machine with great enthusiasm, laughing as he did so. Quite a lot of noise, actually.

And the architecture of the place is horrible. It is located in a strip mall, which is neither here nor there but, as is all too common these days, there was no ceiling, just painted support beams and duct work. There was nothing to absorb the noise of a mostly full restaurant of people talking over a late breakfast. With the noise coming out of the kitchen, the din was incredible! Why do restaurant designers not consider our ears when they leave out the ceilings? They do serve a purpose beyond being more visually appealing than bare support beams and duct work!

All-in-all, my recommendation for The Original Pancake House is to not waste your money. If you want pancakes, try IHOP or Denny’s. They both make palatable pancakes and are cheaper as well.

Craig's List

2011-03-16T01:35:00.002-04:00

The hubby and I are Judge Judy fans. I DVR her show and we watch them in batches when we have the time, usually in the evening after dinner. If you pay attention to the Judge and follow her advice, you will never get screwed out of your money or your time.

Craig's List is mentioned, a lot! It seems to be where people meet people to make mistakes with. So, being naturally curious, I decided to check it out.

I started with the personals. That seemed a great place to find something funny and I found something pretty quickly. The following are presented exactly as they were posted. The spelling and grammar are those of the original authors. Get this:

"I'm a mature, decent looking, hard working, white collar gentleman looking for an attractive, intelligent older woman (40+) for occasional nights of submission to my sexual demands. I won't hurt you, but I'll have you submit to all of my sexual needs for a lengthy period of time, until we are exhausted. If interested, please respond with age, hgt, wgt, location, and a photo. No games, please."

I highlighted the last sentence as it is just hilarious! No games?!? I thought that was what he was advertising for, someone to play a game with!!

Next:

"Nice looking married white male in his mid 50s seeking an attractive, educated, stylish woman of any marital status, preferably between the ages of 30-55, height to weight proportionate, for a long term "friends with benefits" relationship. Seeking a woman who for whatever reason does not want the trappings of a 24/7 relationship but misses the enjoyment of a SAFE, available and satisfying sex partner. You might be a busy career woman, an unhappily married soccer mom or someone with a lot of day-to-day commitments that make it difficult to sustain a conventional relationship, but miss an occasional evening of "rock my world" lovemaking with no regrets and no other expectations. Please respond with basic details and a photo. Thanks. Serious replies only. "

Do women really respond to these ads? I found my hubby online 12 years ago. Whilst I had my profile up, I was contacted by several men who just wanted a 'fuck buddy'. As far as I know, this is a male concept. Women may fool around but they usually want some sort of emotional attachment to the people they are fucking. "Men need a place, women need a reason" to have sex. There are lots of these ads on CL.

I had to click through to find out what this meant:

"Fake men got it good what I mean by that Is
All these fake men got a real woman while a real man gotta struggle to get one
I'm looking for somebody I can watch lifetime with help her wash dishes make her breakfast In bed
You know real gentlemen type If you wanna be treated like a queen with all loyalty and respect
Get back at this real man right here”

Um, what do any of these activities have to do with being a man? Guess good grammar and spelling have nothing to do with being 'real'.

From someone selling jewelry:

"1 carot marquie solitair engagement ring with 1 1/2 carot wrap has baggets and round diamonds. very nice set. asking 3000.00 obo."

As far as I know, you need a computer to put an ad on Craig's List. Every computer I know of has some sort of spell checker on it. There is simply no excuse for the travesty above. For three grand, you could at least spell 'carat' correctly!!

The replies I received to my online profile ran the gambit from totally illiterate to college-grade grammar, spelling, vocabulary and punctuation. I married one in the latter category.

My advise to people advertising anything online, whether to sell or buy, is to be as honest as you can and try to sound as educated as you can. Remember, what you post creates the only first impression you get.

President Obama hates white people.

2011-03-07T23:27:00.000-05:00

That’s what they said of George Bush after the epic flooding in New Orleans and the south from Hurricane Katrina. About black people, of course. Bush supposedly didn't do enough to help the 'victims' of Katrina and now Obama isn't doing a damned thing to help Ohio with it's floods. Everything must be viewed through the lens of racism. Especially when race has nothing to do with it!

Most of Ohio is currently undergoing sever flooding due to heavy snow fall followed by heavy rains. We even had a dam break on the Chagrin River that flooded more people downstream. Quite a mess.

What I think happened is that Obama got the keys to the machine that Bush used to flood New Orleans and turned it onto Ohio since it went so red in the last election. The floods are his revenge.

Obama hasn’t even been here to survey the damage! He doesn’t care about the poor, working stiffs of Ohio.

And, as far as I know, FEMA hasn’t offered a bit of help to the flooding victims. Not one bit. Obama hasn’t sent them to help anybody with their flooded basements and ruined furniture, lined up on the tree lawns all over my neighborhood awaiting tomorrow’s trash pickup.

I, myself, have some men coming tomorrow to lift my boxes and bins of stuff from my still damp basement. All loses to be recorded in film for the insurance adjusters, whenever they finally get here. Tomorrow, I will find out how many of my memories will join my neighbors’ on the tree lawn for the garbage trucks to take them away. I hope all my neighbors were insured! No one seems to have been spared.

Steak on a Stone

2011-02-15T11:18:00.001-05:00

We had Valentine’s Day dinner with friends again last night for the 4th or 5th year. It started by accident. We ran in to some old friends one year at what used to be my favorite restaurant. We decided to do it again the next year, on purpose this time, and asked another couple who live nearby to join us. So, 3 couples, us the youngest by a lot, have dinner together every Valentine’s Day. At the same place.

It’s called Steak on a Stone, now. It is located on Lorain Ave. in North Omsted. When it was my favorite restaurant, it was called Kristopher’s. I have had wonderful meals there. Only place in Cleveland I’ve been able to get a whole fish. And their Crème Brule was wonderful. But, then, they decided to change the place radically. Now, you get a 700 degree piece of granite and a raw steak and you slice and cook it yourself. And go home smelling like you’ve been grilling, because you have. Makes your clothes and hair stink. Don’t wear anything that is not washable!

This most recent trip, there was some confusion over who was going and what time the reservation was but we got that worked out and everyone arrived. Not as much snow this year as last but still cold. February in Cleveland, what else do you expect? One couple was already seated when we got there and we joined them. No one came to ask if we wanted drinks for about 10 minutes. All in all, the service was terrible. I had to ask for a bread plate and two of us were missing silverware. Water was requested and never delivered. What was delivered was never refilled. The coffee drinkers got 1 cup apiece and then had to try and catch our very elusive waitress. She was very busy, too busy to see if we needed anything. My hubby and I never did get to order our wine with dinner. She wasn’t around long enough to ask. Lots of smiles and away she would run.

And, for the record, I go to restaurants so I don’t have to cook! If I wanted to cook my steak, I would stay home. The very hot stone on the table in front of you makes the space very hot. I sweated through my dress! Around 10 PM, they turned on some ineffectual ceiling fans and pushed the smoke around. They also do a flambé cheese appetizer that felt like it set my hair on fire when the table behind us ordered one. That just added to the general over-heating of the place.

We won’t be back. Dinner with friends was the only thing that kept us going there even once a year since they changed their format. With this latest experience, not even that can lure us back!

And this used to be my favorite restaurant. So sad…

Dingy Harry

2010-12-14T20:37:00.000-05:00

Harry Reid and his accomplices in the Senate have come up with a horrible, very expensive government budget bill for 2011. One that included loads of money for ObamaCare. By adopting this in the lame duck session, they can prevent the incoming Republicans from defunding ObamaCare, amongst other things. Reid is telling his fellow budget-criminals that they need to vote approval on this or he will keep them in Washington through Christmas.

If no budget (or Continuing Resolution. They haven’t come up with an actual budget) is passed before they adjourn for the holidays, the government will run out of money and shut down. Now, this sounds like a wonderful thing to me.

Upon hearing of Dingy Harry’s threats to shut down the government, my SO and I started singing this:

(to the tune of Let It Snow)

Oh, the spending out there is frightful

But it would be so delightful

To let ‘em run out of dough

Let it close!

Let it close!

Let it close!

:-D

To any advertizing people:

2010-12-14T15:24:00.000-05:00

If you are currently in production with or even considering using any traditional Christmas song in your commercial, stop. You will not be heard. Your target audience, upon hearing the first few bars of your commercial the second time, will reach for their mute button. You might get one listen-through but from that point on, your annoying bastardization of a traditional Christmas favorite will be on the mute button from the second it is recognized.

We don’t like songs that have been beaten to death and then made to serve your purposes. It’s very annoying to hear a familiar song that has been re-purposed to something as useless as a commercial jingle.

And we won’t listen to things that annoy us when we have the option not to do so. Every TV/radio remote I’ve ever seen has a mute button it. We use them to battle the constant stupidity that you fling at us. However, occasionally, and very rarely, you come up with something that can be heard without gagging. You might want to do whatever it is that you do to figure out what those rarities are and make more of them.

But, leave Christmas carols alone!!

I know what a divorced father feels like.

2010-12-12T17:26:00.001-05:00

Those poor guys who lose their families to the capriciousness of shallow young women, I feel their pain. One day, you’re living your life, things are rough but you think you’re working on the problems and everything will be Ok. The next, she’s taken your kids and you have to petition a court to see them or you get only 1 afternoon a week, if you’re lucky and she doesn’t decide she has better things to do than bring them over.

I have lived with my grandson, my only grandchild, for over 14 months. I’m retired on disability and am home all day, every day. He and I are used to being together on a daily basis. My daughter, for reasons unknown to me, has decided to take him away to her on-again, off-again boyfriend’s grandmother’s house. I’ve asked and asked why and gotten only a litany of the bad things I did as a mother when she was eleven. She has said nothing on any current reasons why I am so impossible to live with now.

I’m not saying she didn’t have reasons. I know I’m an opinionated, crotchety old woman. I’d just like to know what I actually did wrong. If she won’t tell me what bothered her enough to take her son and run away, how am I supposed to do better in the future?

I had asked for every other weekend visitation with my grandson. She has countered with every Saturday afternoon when she comes over to take care of her cats that are still a part of my household. Since the boyfriend and his family are Jewish, I’ve also asked for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. No answer on that as yet. They are invited for Christmas Eve dinner and dinner on Christmas Day as well. (I do a lot of cooking and baking in December!)

I miss him terribly! My house is still full of his toys, furniture, clothes, and just stuff in general. So, there is a constant reminder of who is not here. My house is still majorly disrupted by being “baby-proofed” by my daughter. I’m reluctant to put everything back if he’s really going to be here every week. She still has my sewing room full of her stuff and one other bedroom is still dedicated to him. So, they are gone but their stuff and her cats remain. I’m very lonely without him. I had such plans for Christmas together.

I’d like to have my house back if they’re not going to live here. I’d have her remove her stuff from my garage, basement, living room, family room and my sewing room but I’m afraid, if I push the matter, she will retaliate by withholding my grandson from me.

So, I know the pain, uncertainty, confusion and fear that fathers go through. Maybe we should form a support group.

All About Eve

2010-11-14T17:47:00.000-05:00

The hubby and I watched a great movie recently: All About Eve. Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Gary Merrill. Written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. TCM’s Robert Osborne says it’s one of the greatest movies ever made and we would have to agree. He also stated that it will never be remade, the way too many older movies are these days. I hope he’s right.

However, for a laugh, Hubby and I decided to take a try at casting an “All About Eve 2010”. Here’s what we came up with:

Character           1950                  2010

Margo Channing Bette Davis         Meryl Streep (badly aging star)

Eve Harrington   Anne Baxter        Cameron Diaz (scheming younger woman)

Max Fabian       Gregory Ratoff     Antonio Bandaras (foreign twit producer)

Addison DeWitt George Sanders   Johnny Depp (scheming cynical critic)

Lloyd Richards   Hugh Marlowe     Leonardo DiCaprio (pretty-boy playwrite)

Bill Simpson       Gary Merrill          Keanu Reeves (director and boyfriend of aging star)

Karen Richards Celeste Holmes     Susan Sarandon (aging star’s best friend)

Miss Casswell     Marilyn Monroe    Renee Zellweger (empty-headed protégé of cynical critic)

Bertie                 Thelma Ritter          Shirley MacLaine (down-to-earth maid of aging star)

Phoebe               Barbara Bates        Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan (even younger scheming woman)

Wouldn’t that be simply awful?

The original is fantastic. There is no reason to ever remake this movie and, yet, I’m sure that the idea is percolating through some movie-maker’s head.
Most remakes of classic movies are dreadful and this one would be no exception.

If you haven’t seen this movie, you should make time to do so. It’s so worth it!!

Ted Strickland

2010-10-02T16:46:00.002-04:00

I just saw a campaign ad for Ted Strickland, the current governor of our fair state of Ohio. He is running for reelection. He has promised to lower taxes on small businesses. Ha!

Not only did Strickland not lower taxes on small businesses, he doubled them instead. My SO is a part owner of a small business in downtown Cleveland. He pays personal income taxes on his share of the profits and also subject to the Commercial Activity tax on the gross sales of the company. This was enacted by Strickland after he came into office 2 years ago.

According to the Ohio Department of Taxation website, the tax is described thusly:
“The commercial activity tax (CAT) is an annual tax imposed on the privilege of doing business in Ohio, measured by gross receipts from business activities in Ohio.”

“…the privilege of doing business in Ohio…”?!?

Ohio is losing businesses right and left due to its high taxes and this is the arrogant tone they take about it?? It’s no wonder the state is in trouble and tax revenues are falling!!

He’s had 2 years in office. Ohio is in much financial trouble and unemployment is still over 10.1% in Cuyahoga County as of August, 2010. The state unemployment rate is 9.7%. He claims he is going to ‘create jobs’. He’s had 2 years. When was he planning on starting?

His opponent is John Kasich. His experience is as a congressional representative with a solid conservative record. He, at least, won’t be supporting Obama’s destructive policies.

As a Democrat, you know Strickland will be.

I think the choice is crystal clear.

LOL

2010-10-02T04:39:00.000-04:00

Literally!

I 'waste' several hours a day on the Cheezburger network of sites. It's a fun place to go!

FOOTBALL!!

2010-09-12T12:51:00.000-04:00

The first game of the Colts' season starts today!! Against Houston. They are favored by only a single, lousy point in the line on the games. It looks like they split the pre-season games. They usually lose all 4 and then go on to set wins-per-regular-season records so I don't know what the bookies are seeing right now. The first string has only played about the equivalent of 4 quarters at the most.

So, here I am, in my favorite booth at the Rusty Barrel in Westlake, waiting for the games to start. I have a private TV turned to the Colts' game but the Browns call will be on the room speakers very loudly all throughout my game. Fortunately, I can turn up my TV as much as I need to.

If you're in Westlake, OH, I'm in the front booth with the TVs. Stop by and say hello!!

GO COLTS!!!

Criss Angel

2010-08-08T23:03:00.000-04:00

Criss Angel has some new TV programs out soon. I’m here to tell you not to bother with them.
While my SO and I were in Vegas getting married last November, a total stranger came up to him and gave him 2 tickets to the Criss Angel, Mindfreak show at our hotel. Just gave them to him. We decided to see the show since it didn’t cost us anything. And it was worth every penny!
This guy is supposedly a magician. In the 90-minute show, he did 5 tricks. Entirely predictable, you-gotta-be-kidding-me easy ‘tricks’. One involved supposedly electrocuting himself with 100 million volts or some such. Lots of sparks and screaming and bright lights. From my third row seat, I really wanted to shout, “How many amps you pushing there, Criss?” but I resisted heckling him.
Most of the show consisted of a bunch of people wandering around in rabbit costumes. Never made much sense to me. Not very entertaining, either. More magic might have been but there was very, very little of that.
I don’t know what he does for his TV extravaganzas but it can’t be any better than his live show and will prolly be worse.

Don’t waste your time!!

Obambi and the Yentas

2010-07-26T19:14:00.000-04:00

If still had any doubts that Obambi was a light-weight media-whore, he has put your doubts to rest: Obambi will be appearing on The View on Thursday, July 29th. The taping is on Wednesday.

Do ya think any one in the audience will have the balls to question why he is there??

I don't.

He clearly has no respect for the office he holds.

Yech!

Old 'Net Funny

2010-07-22T02:03:00.002-04:00

I stole this from the Internet years ago:

A study by Lifestyles Condom shows that the average length

of a male sex organ is 5.877 inches. At 5.877 inches, the

average penis is about the size of an unwrapped Nestle

Butterfinger candy bar or a medium cup of coffee at

Starbucks with the sip lid. Most men vary in size between a

Twix bar and a Peter Paul Mounds with the wrapper extended...

... Hey - I just figured out how Eminem got his name!

LOL!!

Political Quiz

2010-07-21T23:07:00.000-04:00

I'm apparently more politically informed than 95% of my fellow Citizens:

Now, that's a scary thought!! Take the Quiz here: Political IQ Quiz

Hattip: Grouchy Old Cripple

LOL

2010-07-14T22:07:00.000-04:00

This made me laugh out loud:

via Graphjam.com.

Gushers

2010-07-12T20:20:00.001-04:00

Well, it looks like they might have finally capped the oil gusher at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. After 84 days of fumbling around, they might have finally made some progress.

Now, imagine that W. is still president. Can you hear the LSM screeching? There would be new programs devoted to counting the number of days of the crisis and lambasting the tepid response from the Fed. Imagine W. taking 3 vacations and playing 12 rounds of golf during the crisis! That's what Obambi has done and the only place I've heard about it is on Hannity. Thanks, Sean, for keeping us informed!!

The media giving Obambi the pass it has given him is simply a disgrace. None of them are worth listening to. I haven't watched a major network news broadcast in decades. The ONLY reason my TV is ever tuned to CNN is because my daughter, the Obambi voter, tunes in to catch her daily dose of liberal spin and misinformation. I don't know where I went wrong with her. I consider myself a total failure as a parent.

Now that we've got the gusher in the Gulf capped, think we can cap the one spewing taxpayers' money in Washington???

Al and Tipper

2010-06-22T21:49:00.000-04:00

Al and Tipper are splitting up, probably getting divorced.

As a 3-time loser myself, I know the pain that goes along with admitting defeat and getting divorced.
However, I have never blamed my divorces on anyone other then my then-spouse and myself. The media has seen fit to blame the Gore’s divorce on, of all people, George W. Bush.
The ‘reasoning’ goes thusly: Bush stole the election in 2000 from Al. He and Tipper were so unhappy about that that they took it out on each other. Apparently, acquiring a 10,000% increase in one’s personal wealth isn’t enough to guarantee marital happiness.
In 2001, when he left public office, Gore’s family fortune was estimated by the Washington Examiner to be in the range of a million dollars. Six years later, it had grown to over $100 million dollars. They own 5 rather posh places of residence:
1. 6,500-square-foot villa in Montecito, CA

2. the mansion in Nashville everyone talks about due to its excessive electricity usage.

3. a Tudor-style house in Arlington, VA

4. the Gore family farm in Carthage, TN

5. a condo in San Francisco

6. 100-foot houseboat
All in all, it’s estimated that the empty-nester Gores have over 20,000 square feet of living space at their disposal.
You would think that that would be enough living area, spaced widely enough apart, that they would have to make an appointment just to be in the same state together. Surely, that’s enough space to get far enough away from each other not to fight over whatever is driving them apart!

How much space does he need, anyway? I know he’s put on some weight since leaving office. Apparently, he’s a ‘worry eater’ and worrying night and day about the fate of the planet has resulted in a few too many late-night trips to Taco Bell. But, my rather large husband and I manage to get along in only 1,975 square feet just fine. He channel surfs (which drives me batty!) down in the Family Room and I watch my DVRed shows up in the kitchen. Everybody gets what they want.
Compromise is a part of marriage. I guess that’s just something Al is not too good at.

I’m Such a Stickler

2010-05-18T18:28:00.000-04:00

Does anyone besides me find the language used to refer to our military annoying?

Today, on Fox News, it was reported that “five troops died today in a road side bombing.”

Um, five individuals lost their lives, correct? Is not ‘troops’ used to refer to a plural? “Troops of Soldiers’. Like ‘Flock of Birds’. You would never say, “Five flocks died today in a tragic power line incident,” meaning that 5 birds were dead.

Please don’t misinterpret my meaning here. I think that the loss of even one soldier is a tragedy. They are so brave and I respect them for being so. I would just like them to have the proper references in our media, who so often get the basics about the military wrong.

So, tragically, five soldiers lost their lives today in Afghanistan. My heart and prayers go out to their families.

Just get it right, media. It’s the least they deserve.

Sheesh!

Abuse

2010-05-08T08:18:00.002-04:00

I am an abused child.

I used to say I ‘was’ an abused child until it occurred to me that it never ends.

I just want it to END. I have always looked forward to the deaths of my parents. I figured that was the only way the abuse would end. Boy, did I get that wrong.

Really abusive parents find a way to continue abusing from beyond the grave. I suffered for years at their hands. For my trouble, I got cut out of their estate. My brother and sister assisted them in this. They are accomplices in the continuing abuse, whether they realize it or not.

My sister denies that any abuse took place since she wasn’t on the receiving end of any. Just because she didn’t see or experience it, it didn’t happen. Or I’m just exaggerating or being overly ‘melodramatic’, our mother’s favorite way of invalidating a complaint. She had a childhood because I didn’t and she refuses to recognize this.

My husband and children have heard me tell stories from my childhood over and over. The stories never change. I don’t need to elaborate or exaggerate; the truth is bad enough. In addition, they have each witnessed the continuing abuse at the hands of my mother and sister. My younger daughter isn’t speaking to either of them at the present although they are invited to her wedding, pending their good behavior. My older daughter discounts my accounts of my abuse because she likes her grandmother. The older daughter is my mother’s favorite so she has always received special attention, like my sister did before her. My husband has actually come to my defense against my mother’s abuse. That was a special moment!! Even thinking of it now gives me a warm feeling.

Years ago, I tried to distance myself from my parents in the hope that the abuse would fade off. Hah! They got at me through my siblings and kids. Abusers always find a way. Even moving over 300 miles away wasn’t far enough.

For my attempts at self preservation I was branded an ‘ungrateful daughter’. I still haven’t been able to figure out what I’m supposed to be grateful for: the childhood that ended suddenly at 9 years of age, the beatings, the lack of medical care that almost killed me and contributed to the terminal heart condition I live with today or the physiological abuse that still prevents me from fulfilling my potential. (When you live with constant, harsh criticism, it’s hard to ever find the courage to do anything.) Therapy helped keep me from suicide.

So, not only did my father not love me, but my brother and sister were content to assist him in hurting me from beyond death.

I don’t know which hurts more.

LOL For the Day

2010-04-24T21:04:00.000-04:00

In reference to a black man at a TEA party rally via Jin Treacher at DC Trawler:

John Hinderaker at Powerline to ask, “The real question is not, of course, whether this gentleman ever feels uncomfortable. The real question is, don’t liberal reporters ever feel stupid?”

Which is kind of like asking if fish ever feel wet. They have no frame of reference.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/dc-trawler#ixzz0m4ETyKIg

Yet another Obama flunky lies his face off

2010-04-23T23:53:00.000-04:00

Ed Whitacre is a liar

GM is currently running a commercial featuring their CEO, the aforementioned Mr. Whitacre, claiming that they have repaid their loan from the taxpayers, including interest 5 years early.

What he fails to mention is that they have actually returned only 13% of the loan as cash. The remainder is to be in stock. So, the taxpayers are now going to be the proud owners of a sizable portion of GM stock.

GM got a total of $52 billion from the U.S. government and $9.5 billion from the Canadian and Ontario governments as it went through bankruptcy protection last year. At first the entire amount of U.S. aid was considered a loan as the government tried to keep GM from going under and pulling the fragile economy into a depression.

But during bankruptcy, the U.S. government reduced the loan portion to $6.7 billion and converted the rest to company stock, while the Canadian governments held $1.4 billion in loans.

The automaker hopes to repay the remaining $45.3 billion to the U.S. government and $8.1 billion to Canada via a public stock offering, perhaps later this year. The U.S. government now owns 61 percent of the company and Canada owns roughly 12 percent.

They got cash, they should return cash!!

And the stock it to be in a future offering. It’s not even currently existing stock. The more shares that are issued, the less any individual share is worth. A company is worth only so much. You keep dividing that pie into more and more pieces, the pieces start getting awfully small.

Where did they get the money for this?

During the financial crisis that led to GM filing for bankruptcy protection last year, the automaker closed 14 factories and shed more than 65,000 blue-collar jobs in the U.S. through buyouts, early retirement offers and layoffs.

This article doesn’t say this but Rush said these 65,000 workers also lost their pensions. Rush is not often wrong. No one in America is as fact-checked as Rush. He works hard to get it right so as to not give his detractors any ammunition to use against him. Thus, if he says it, it’s probably true.

According to Rush:

RUSH: There's a story out there, the automobile salesmen at General Motors, automobile salesmen at AP, an excited headline, breathlessly so: "GM Pays Back Government Loans from US, Canada." No, they didn't. Here, listen to the lede: "General Motors Co. has repaid $8.1 billion in loans it got from the U.S. and Canadian governments, a move its CEO says is a sign automaker is on the road to recovery." Now, if you only read the headline and the lead paragraph, you'd get the distinct impression that what? They paid it all back, right. You get the distinct impression that GM has fully repaid all the money they've gotten from the US and Canadian governments. Why would the AP want to mislead its readers like this? In fact, the General Motors outfit got a total of $61.5 billion from the US and Canada, but now it's shouted from the rooftop when they paid back a mere eight billion. That's what they've paid back. They have paid back a total of 13% of the government loan, and here the car salesman from the Associated Press report says they fully paid it back, which they have not. One thing that they don't point out here very stridently -- of course, leaving it to me who can read the stitches on the fastball -- they had the money to do this. Where did they get some of the eight billion to pay back? They did it by jettisoning 65,000 jobs, and the pensions that go with them, so they fired 65,000 people, got rid of their pensions and they said that they are paying it back. They haven't earned it. They're cutting and it's only because Obama owns the car companies along with the UAW that you can fire 65,000 union people.

GM Cuts 65,000 Jobs, Pretends to Pay Gov't Back

And don’t forget, Ed Whitacre was picked by Obama to run GM. He’s a government and Obama stooge through and through.

We hope to buy a car next year. It won’t be from GM, of that you can be sure!!

Obama Health Care Bill

2010-04-13T21:46:00.000-04:00

Every time I think of this, I grin:

The law apparently bars members of Congress from the federal employees health program, on the assumption that lawmakers should join many of their constituents in getting coverage through new state-based markets known as insurance exchanges.

But the research service found that this provision was written in an imprecise, confusing way, so it is not clear when it takes effect.

The new exchanges do not have to be in operation until 2014. But because of a possible “drafting error,” the report says, Congress did not specify an effective date for the section excluding lawmakers from the existing program.

Under well-established canons of statutory interpretation, the report said, “a law takes effect on the date of its enactment” unless Congress clearly specifies otherwise. And Congress did not specify any other effective date for this part of the health care law. The law was enacted when President Obama signed it three weeks ago.

They couldn’t take the time to actually READ the bill and now it’s gonna come back on ‘em and bite ‘em on the ass.

At least, I hope it does.
My SO doesn’t think that they will allow this to happen to themselves. They will find some weasel way out of it.
He’s probably correct but it is a delightful prospect in the meantime.

(Quote from the New Yolk Slimes, to which I will not link.)

Earth Hour

2010-03-28T14:07:00.004-04:00

Did you participate in Earth Hour last night? I did.

I turned on every light in the house for at least an hour. Many of my neighbors were totally dark, including the guy behind me who illuminates his American flag 24/7. He turned off that light, too. My house shone like a beacon of sanity in a sea of stupidity.

Personally, I refuse to cooperate in anything that perpetuates a hoax. Anthropogenic Global Warming had been proved to be a hoax months ago. That anyone would still think they needed to go along with anything to do with it astounds me.

I hate to think of my fellow Americans as gullible boobs but there's just so much evidence that they are, beyond AGW. They elected Bill Clinton twice and then fell for the sham that is Barack Obama.

I really hate the idea that people are that stupid but they apparently are.

2010-03-28T14:07:00.001-04:00

Found On Road, Dead

2010-03-03T15:22:00.000-05:00

Yet another Japanese car manufacturer has had to issue a massive recall of their cars. Nissan has recalled 540,000 cars and trucks for break pin and gas gauge problems.

And Toyotas recent problems were so bad they shut down their production plants until they could get them sorted out. This has been all over the news for weeks.

Consumer Reports, the premier consumer product rating source, has been in love with Japanese cars for many, many years. They finally seem to have noticed the problems, suspending recommendations on eight Toyota models. Despite all its problems, Toyota is still fifth on the Consumer Reports list of recommended cars. Ford is 15th.

I purchased my first-ever new car in August of 2006. I bought a kiwi green Ford Focus with just about every option available except a sunroof. Having a 6’ 6” fiancée precluded getting a car with a sunroof. I refuse to have a car he can’t at least back out of the driveway if necessary. Because of the sunroof issue, they had to special order my car. That was the longest month of my life! I took delivery the end of August. My car was perfect.

My pretty, little car now has just over 20,000 miles on it. Since I got laid off in 2008 and subsequently obtained my disability benefits, I don’t drive much. It has, however, been back and forth to Indianapolis a few times. It has never needed any repair, maintenance only (oil changes).

The car is now over 3 ½ years old. It has never had a recall of anything. I checked with Ford just prior to writing this article.

My family mocked me for buying a Ford. “Found On Road, Dead.” “Fixed Or Repaired Daily.” Nonsense like that. My daughter bought a Prius a few years ago.

It has been recalled.

They bought that car because Toyota had such a good reputation for quality.

Ha!

Maybe next time they will consider an American car company.

I realize the lots of Japanese cars are made here these days. While I applaud their efforts to employ Americans, the profits still go overseas. My Focus was made in Wayne, Michigan. Employing Americans and profiting Americans.

Buy American. The job you save may be your own!!

Cats

2010-02-22T23:08:00.004-05:00

How many cats does it take to go to the bathroom?

Four:

Garfield
Puff
Klein
Trusty Sidekick

Garfield is my orange boy. He follows me around and is a great bed kitty.

Klein is my little odd one. Rag doll Siamese with blue eyes. And really just a strange cat

Puff is black with a white chest patch and belongs to my daughter. Sweet kitty but really, really dumb.

Trusty Sidekick belongs to the daughter’s boyfriend. He's staying with us until the boyfriend gets a full-time job and an apartment of his own. Isn't that a great name for a cat??

Pix:

Garflied, being silly in front of the kitchen heating vent

Klein, looking nice and fat before he got sick. He has a thyroid condition that made him too skinny for a while. He's getting better, though.

Trusty Sidekick. He has long hair and a very sweet personality. He's only been here a couple of days and is still feels a bit insecure.

Puff. I call him Puff-in-Stuff after that awful children's show from my childhood.

Cowbell

2010-02-22T22:26:00.005-05:00

Many things could benefit from more cowbell. Bobsled racing is not one of them.

The clanging gets so loud you can't hear the cheers!

Snow

2010-02-06T21:13:00.001-05:00

In my opinion, Washington D.C. getting 2 FEET of snow recently is God's way of telling Congress that Globull Warming is a hoax.

Think they're listening??

Probably not. Throw more snow on 'em!!!

:-)

Anthropomorphic Global Warming is a HOAX

2010-01-11T21:13:00.000-05:00

Don’t fall for it. I make it a policy not to do business, if I can help it, with companies that tout how ‘green’ they are. They are only contributing to the scare-mongering and I won’t abet this behavior.

Lord Monckton’s letter to the PM of Australia is particularly illuminating. Read the whole thing:

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/01/03/climate-change-proposed-personal-briefing/#more-14778

Professor Richard Lindzen of MIT has published a peer-reviewed paper that, if anyone was paying attention to science, would end the entire debate.

http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/images/stories/papers/originals/co2_report_july_09.pdf

Takes a bit to load but it is devastating to the ‘settled science’ of AGW. Guaranteed to make Algore cry! :-)

In addition, food prices have doubled in the past 2 years, according to Lord Monckton. Poor people in the third world are dying so that rich people in first world countries can feel better about themselves because they drive cars with ethanol in the tank. I’m sure they don’t mind dying so some do-gooders can feel better about their life-styles. It’s for a good cause, after all!

Ray Stevens, "We The People"

2010-01-09T12:18:00.002-05:00

I saw a bit of this the other night on Glenn Beck and just now found the whole song on You Tube:

It's by the same guy who gave us The Streak, amongst other memorable, culture-changing songs.

And to Mr. Stevens I say, "Amen!"

DO NOT VOTE FOR ANY INCUMBENTS THIS YEAR!

SEND 'EM ALL HOME!

An Inconvenient Al

2009-12-15T19:18:00.000-05:00

Well, after seeing it parodied for years, I finally watched Algore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth.

My first question is “What was this movie about?” The ‘inconvenient truth’ seems to be Al himself! Most of the movie is spent showing him either giving his slide show to adoring audiences or backstage before and after a showing, including the applause. Or it tells some tale of his childhood or some personal tragedy. Throughout most of the film, the personal reminiscences seem like nonsequitors, spliced in for emotional impact only, not moving his ‘scientific’ narrative forward to any conclusion other than that he’s had some bad luck. How is that the fault of Global Warming?

He reaches lots and lots of conclusions without ever explaining exactly how he got there. Bold-faced assertions that some dire consequence will happen in the future without the back-up of real data makes them totally meaningless.

He several times throughout the film says that some friend of his gave him pictures or evidence that supports his conclusions but never shares who these people are. Are we just supposed to trust him that he knows important people who are ‘in the know’?

There are lots and lots of ‘maybe’s in this as well. Well, maybe I’ll win the lottery, too, but I’m not making major financial decisions based on any future lottery winnings. Making decisions that undermine our economy based on a series of improvable ‘maybe’s is just as foolish.

The film’s director, Davis Guggenheim said of the film, “Al Gore strips his presentations of politics, laying out the facts for the audience to draw their own conclusions in a charming, funny and engaging style, and by the end has everyone on the edge of their seats, gripped by his haunting message.” All of this is complete nonsense. The film is completely political with Al bring up his lost election over and over. In his first appearance, his makes a joke at the expense of the Bush administration.

Siteing a sampling of ‘peer reviewed’ articles as evidence of the ‘settled science’ is also quite spurious. For decades, it was almost impossible to get published in the ‘peer reviewed’ publications if you disagreed with the Global Warming hysterics. Since the release of the emails from England, we now know why. Anyone who was foolish enough to actually publish anything that challenged the orthodoxy was run out of their job. ‘Peer review’ is meaningless if you can only get published if you agree with the party line.

Gore might be more believable if he didn’t live such an extravagant lifestyle. He jets all over the world telling people that they need to cut back on their carbon emissions that then goes home to a huge mansion that uses more electricity in one month than the average home uses in an entire year. You first, Al!!

And he really does make that joke that he ‘used to be the next president of the United States’! I thought Rush’s parody made that up! He also apparently doesn’t find the joke all that funny. I guess I wouldn’t either. Who likes to be reminded of what a loser they are?

My Definition of a Moron

2009-12-13T23:21:00.002-05:00

An Obama voter:

(stolen from Denny Wilson at http://www.grouchyoldcripple.com/)

Co-workers

2009-12-13T23:04:00.000-05:00

One of the more irritating things about most of the TV I watch is how all these people who work together never seem to have any lives outside of work. Their work ‘family’ is it. They’re all great friends and hang out together even when not forced to do so by working hours.

Does anybody out there actually work under such conditions?

I’ve been working since I was 16 and am now pushing 50 and have never, ever encountered such a situation. Where co-workers are friends, they tend to form exclusionary cliques that are then quite cruel to their other co-workers. Not fun if you’re not in The Group.

Most groups of co-workers are barely polite to each other. We don’t get to pick our co-workers and probably wouldn’t pick the people we end up working with. We’re lucky if we can work with these people. Hoping to make friends is very unrealistic.

In all my working life, I’ve made two friends that lasted after our work association ended. I still maintain contact with them, mostly over Facebook. But if not for that, I probably would have never spoken to them after we both moved on to other employment. That’s the way it seems to work.

If you can find someone you can be friendly with, the friendship ends when you are no longer co-workers. It seems that employers is the only thing you have in common, no matter how well you get along. I’ve run into ex-coworkers and been confused at their response to meeting again. I’ve always been glad to see them, they give me a cold shoulder, usually. And it’s not just me. I’ve spoken to others who have had the same experiences.

I am now retired and on Disability. Once I got used to staying home every day, and that was quite an adjustment, I realized that no one was now forcing me to associate with unpleasant people for money. It’s an odd form of prostitution, really. I have contact with my friends and don’t have to fake interest in nasty, boring people. Win-win!

I still get to read the Internet all day and now I get to cook and knit as much as I want. More money would be nice but everything is a trade-off in life.

No more nasty people I have to pretend to like!

Clevelanders are Such Morons!

2009-10-19T20:20:00.002-04:00

I knew I lived with idiots.

These are the same people who return Dennis Kucinich to Washington year after year so I really wasn't expecting any intellegent behavior.

It was over 60 degrees in Cleveland today.

I needed to go to Wally-World for prescription refills. (Yay, drugs!) There, I observed several people also out and about. And WEARING PARKAS!!!

It's 60 degrees out. What are they going to wear when it's -30 degrees??

Not only wearing parkas but also hats and gloves.

I was in a short-sleeved t-shirt. And perfectly comfortable.

When I got home, I sat out on the patio and read for a while. Sunny, beautiful day.

Definitely no need for PARKAS!!

Idiots.

Peace, Yeah Right!

2009-10-10T00:48:00.001-04:00

So, the Empty Suit wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

I knew it wasn’t all that much when they gave it to Jimmah, Algore and Arafat. Let’s see: a racist anti-Semite, a world-wide hoax perpetrator, and the guy who used the plite of the Palestinians to enrich himself and his family.

Apparently, they decided that he deserved nomination for this after 11 days in office. 11 days. What was the biggest thing going on at that time?

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_011609/content/01125113.guest.html

Rush Limbaugh saying he hoped Obama fails. Personally, I also hope he is a miserable failure. I hope every policy he tries to enact fails disastrously.

But that’s what we were talking about back then. Rush Limbaugh, not anything splendiferous that Obambi did.

And SNL got it exactly correct. He still hasn’t done anything. Not that I’m complaining, mind you, but there are things he could be doing that would be of great help to this country.

What I don’t understand about the current economic crisis is why they are not doing what has been proven time and time again to help.

Cut taxes. Eliminate regulations. Unleash the American business marketplace.

Works every time it’s tried.

Worked for Kennedy

Worked for Reagan.

Worked for Clinton.

Would work for Obambi, if he would only try it.

I guess he’s not serious about helping this country out of its economic crisis.

I really like to know why!!

Weight Loss

2009-10-02T14:46:00.001-04:00

Well, the fat, old lady who is too sick to exercise has managed to lose 37 pounds since the first of the year.

I was messing around with dieting after New Year’s as I was finally disgusted enough with my weight to try and do something about it. Then, in April, I found out that my blood sugar was over 400!! Yikes!! Time to get serious!

So, I went online (of course!) and did some reading at the American Diabetes Association website on limiting my carbohydrates so as to lower my blood sugar.

According to the ADA, the most carbs I should eat in a meal is 60 with one 30-carb snack per day. That’s 210 carbs per day. I probably don’t spread them out like I’m supposed to but since I never seem to get even close to my limit, I guess it doesn’t matter all that much

My blood sugar is down in the 150 to 175 range most days and I’VE LOST 37 POUNDS!!!

:-)

I’ve had to go through my closet and put away clothes that are too big. That’s fun! Since I don’t work, I didn’t have all that much, just a few nice tops, but I also took the opportunity to put away the work clothes I no longer need. Space Bags work well.

I’m so overly warm most of the time so I also put away most of my sweaters. I used to be a real ‘freeze-baby’ so I had a lot of sweaters. Now, I have lots of closet space. And, I can wear clothes I haven’t been able to wear for 2 years!!! Yea!!

And if I need any of the work clothes or sweaters, I just open up the bag, take out what I need and reseal and re-suck. The bags are under the bed. Unlike cardboard boxes, clothes won’t get mildewed or dusty. Wrinkled, oh, yeah, but I should not have to worry about moisture. Or cats. Cats like to pee in boxes. That really ruins things!!

In addition, I think I’ve finally gotten all the Coreg out of my body. Coreg is a beta-blocker. Three years ago, when I was dying, my cardiologist suggested that Coreg might help. Since I was dying, I agreed to take this drug again. The first time I was on it, I gained 65 pounds. This time, I was on it for 2 months and gained 25 pounds. I stopped the drug when this happened. I’ve got enough problems without weighing over 300 pounds. You gain weight at that rate and 300 happens real fast!

My daughter proclaimed getting the Coreg out of my system as cheating as she can’t replicate it to help her lose weight. I suggested that she could count carbs like I’m doing and that would probably help her. She’s exercising every other day, walking miles or biking same. She’s saving the stationary bike for snowy days. She prefers to be outside. Me, I like staying where I’m comfortable.

I was doing pretty good about getting on the exer-cycle every day until we went on vacation in July. So far, I haven’t gotten back into the habit. I need to work on that!! My legs were getting quite nice!

Well, enough about weight and dieting. I guess my message is, if you need to lose weight, count carbs. It works!!

Freethinkers, Again

2009-07-26T00:09:00.000-04:00

Strike Two!

I subjected myself to the Freethinkers again tonight. Why I did this I am not sure.

Most of the evening was fairly enjoyable until someone I did not know joined a discussion I was having about abortion.

Everyone in this group seems to think that reductio ad absurdum is way to prove every point. At least, everyone I’ve had a pointless discussion with does. The abortion discussion was going well until some guy felt he could butt in and make absurd statements like, “every sperm has the same potential as a fertilized egg.” It clearly doesn’t. Once egg meets sperm and development starts, that’s when it acquires its potential.

And pigs do not have the same potential as a newborn human baby. I don’t care about what tricks they can be taught to perform. A pig will never understand why he’s doing what he’s doing nor do any of the tricks mean anything to the pig.

No, I do not believe that irresponsible people should breed irresponsibly. That does NOT make a eugenicist!! It makes me an advocate of personal responsibility. Coming up with a logically absurd scenario and then calling me names for expressing my opinion about your absurdity is not debate!

The same thing happened to me last time I went to one of these things. I think maybe I’m done with the “Freethinkers”. The one person I wanted to talk to wasn’t there. She maybe the only reason I would ever consider going to another of these functions.

At least the food was good. The last place only had weird sandwiches. I don’t like sandwiches for dinner.

Reductio ad absurdum (Latin: "reduction to the absurd") is an argument against a proposition to disprove it by following the implications of a related proposition to a logical but absurd consequence.
--Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum

Unemployment

2009-07-18T00:45:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to thank all you 52-ers out there for our wonderful president and the wonderful job he is doing helping our economy to recover.

The unemployment rate for June, 2009 is now 9.5% and 15 states have an unemployment rate over 10%, including Ohio!! Michigan’s unemployment rate is over 15%.

These are the worst unemployment figures seen since 1984.

So, thanks, again, 52-ers. He’s doing a bang-up job!

Keep up the good work!!

UPDATE:

It's 15 states. DC is NOT a state. Never trust an AP story to get it right! Always count for yourself! :-)

Uncle Walter

2009-07-18T00:27:00.000-04:00

Walter Cronkite died today. He was 92.

The lying sack of shit is finally dead.

Walter Cronkite more than any other person, is responsible for our losing the Vietnam War. He helped the American people lose their sense of purpose and honor in what we were trying to do in Southeast Asia and helped the Communists subjugate and murder millions of innocent people. People whose only crime was believing us when we said we would help them.

Walter Cronkite told American every evening how wrong he thought the war was and how many of American’s sons had died in a futile cause no one believed in. Stopping the war became more important than the truth.

Any one other than me remember the Tet Offensive? We won that battle decisively. Uncle Walter made sure Americans thought we lost. That one battle crippled the Communists’ ability to further prosecute the war from that point on. Their general has since corroborated this. Had we stuck to our guns and not lost our nerve, we would have beaten them back. The South Vietnamese would have never suffered under the brutal thumb of the Communist government that the victorious North laid upon them.

Remember that video of the last helicopter out of Saigon? Those people had helped us and they all died. Most of them were sent to “re-education camps”. Others were forcibly relocated to “new economic zones”.

Over a million people launched themselves and their families into the sea in small boats to escape. 250,000 of them are estimated to have perished either from storms at sea or Thai pirates. Hundreds of women and girls were raped, beaten and sold into sex slavery in Thailand.

Americans trusted Walter Cronkite to tell them the truth. Instead, they got what Uncle Walter thought they needed to know. Quite a difference.

Stimulus 2.0

2009-07-09T00:47:00.002-04:00

Isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results?

They're not just stupid, they're crazy, too!!

God, help us!!!

We know how to solve the present economic mess: cut taxes. Think early 1980s. Remember Stagflation?? No one knew how to solve that problem until Ronaldus Maximus came in and cut taxes. That worked and started the longest peace-time expansion of the economy in the history of this country!!

CUT TAXES, you idiots!

Marcelita’s

2009-07-09T00:30:00.002-04:00

A restaurant review:

We had dinner tonight at Marcelita’s, 7774 Darrow Road (Rte 91), Hudson, Ohio.

Quite frankly, I’ve had better Mexican food at Taco Bell. Mexican is so easy to do deliciously that it is quite a shame when it's done badly.

First, we had a short wait for table. No big deal. Then, the waitress took our drink orders: waters with lime and a pitcher of Margaritas, rocks, no salt. They were delivered promptly. There was no lime in the water. The Margaritas were bitter and contained very little alcohol as far as I could tell. I’m a cheap drunk and 2 large glasses full should have had me a little tipsy but that didn’t happen.

We asked for a bit more time to study the menu. We got almost 20 minutes before she checked back. I ordered the Beef Chimichanga. My companion ordered a combo meal with an enchilada, a taco flauta and a wet burrito. He was quite happy with his choice.

I was very disappointed with my dinner. The chimmie was served ‘naked’. I got a flat, fried flour tortilla packet that wasn’t crispy in the least and full of a sweet sauce of onions, green peppers and tomatoes with a few strands of beef throughout. It was just this side of vegetarian!

I also had a small bowl of some sort of red sauce. I believe it was their Rancheria sauce. It was spaghetti sauce in consistency and had no spicing indicative of Mexican flavors.

I also received a small portion of rice with peas in it and some refried beans. The rice was tasteless so I didn’t even bother with the beans. There was no cheese on any part of my meal.

The chips and salsa served when we were seated were good. They were crispy and the salsa, while a bit spicy for my companion, was just right for me. I like a little burn to cut with the Margarita.

The restaurant itself was nice enough. The restrooms were clean. The dining room we were seated in was full and thus quite noisy. I’m not sure what restaurants can do to lower the noise levels but I wish more of them would work harder at it. Having to yell to carry on a conversation does not make for a relaxing dinner experience.

No one ever asked me how I liked my dinner after I had had a chance to actually eat anything. The waitress had asked within a few minutes of serving us but I hadn’t tasted anything yet. I didn’t volunteer my complaints as there really wasn’t anything anyone could do to fix what I found wrong. Nothing else on the menu looked good

I wouldn’t recommend Marcelita’s. If you want good Mexican food and can get to the west side, Nuevo Acapulco, 24409 Lorain Rd., North Olmsted, is much better!!

Definition of Conservative.

2009-07-06T22:56:00.001-04:00

From the mouths of babes:

Definition of Conservatism:

Four principals:

1. Respect for the Constitution
2. Respect for life
3. less government
4. personal responsibility

Jonathan Krohn, author of “Define Conservatism”. He’s 14!!! Imagine that! A child gets it correct!!

I saw a broadcast of his speech to CPAC on TV recently. My TiVo recorded it for some reason. I’m not sure why but I’m glad it did.

More from Jonathan:

“It’s not an ideology of feeling or romanticism. It is an ideology of protecting the people and the people’s rights.”

And that’s why I’m a Conservative. Not a Republican. Too many times, the party sacrifices its principals to political expediency.

Think John McCain.

Maybe in 2012 we can run an actual Conservative as our candidate?

I hope so. We’re going to need someone strong to clean up President Bubonic’s messes.

"Free Thinkers"

2009-06-28T16:54:00.002-04:00

I went to a Free Thinkers Meetup last night hoping for some conversation and maybe an argument or two. Some how I figured I would meet a few people who could think! What I found instead was that I walked into a den of fascist, arrogant, unrepentant lock-step thinking Liberals!!

I got brow beat about global warming for about 2 or so hours by a young man barely out of diapers who kept exclaiming “But, there’s a consensus!” and “But, they have PhDs! Don’t you respect that?”

I could barely get a word in edgewise.

It was not a discussion. I was hammered at by a True Believer who adamantly refused to admit that there’s any proof on the other side.

I finally had to declare that I simply was tired of talking about it just to shut him up.

I don’t think he heard a word I said all night.

The other young man I met, again, barely out of diapers and still living with his parents, was probably the worst fascist I’ve ever met. He thinks that because he shares the planet with other people, they need to kowtow to his opinions of what kind of car they should drive, how much energy they can use and where they can live! And he sees nothing wrong with this. Wonder what he would say if the shoe was on the other foot? If people he disagreed with tried to tell him how to live his life? I wasn’t rude. I didn’t point out what a fascist he was.

At one point, the coordinator of the group came over to challenge me to reconcile being a conservative and not a religionist. Apparently, at least to him, the two are not severable. I pointed out that there’s many ways to the same destination. I don’t know which bothered him the most, that I wouldn’t condemn religious conservatives or that I professed to be a Conservative in the first place. Again, more lock-step Liberalism from supposed “Free Thinkers”.

Oh, and, apparently, being an atheist is required for membership, too!

“Free Thinkers”

Yeah, right.

Enough already!!

2009-06-26T15:04:00.002-04:00

Breaking news from Fox News:

Michael Jackson is still dead!!

Sheesh! Nobody protesting anything in Iran at the moment?? Nothing else happened in the past 24 hours?

I feel sorry for Farrah and her family. Talk about getting lost in a media feeding frenzy! No body even remembers her at this point.

And, let me point out the obvious: Farrah was never accused of molesting anyone. True or not, the accusation was still made.

Mensa

2009-06-25T23:04:00.001-04:00

Is everyone at National asleep?

Do they know what time it is, much less the date??

This past Friday, I received a document in the mail from our National organization, post marked 6/10/09. This document contained the rules and regulations for our upcoming Annual Gathering.

Now, the idea that we need a list of rules and regulations related to our national party is maddening enough. However, contained in this missive was information on several events taking place at the AG that had deadlines for participation.

The deadline for signing up for any of the tours being offered at this year’s AG was June 8, 2009.

The deadline for the Mensa Marketplace was June 5, 2009

And all this information was postmarked June 10, 2009. Thanks, National, for making sure that I won’t be cluttering up the tours or offering any of my handicrafts in the Marketplace!!

And then we get lectured on “Mensa Time”!!! How presumptuous!!
These are the same people who cannot get information to the membership on submission deadlines in time for members to actually participate! In addition, we are all adults! We don’t need Mommy nagging us about coming in on time! Most of us realize the value of a person’s time and treat them with according respect. Those who don’t will miss programs and events that start on time. Go ahead! Start everything on time!! I dare you!!

And don’t believe you can do it!!

(I’ve been to many AGs. Running late is an art form at these things!)

Muslims are barbarians.

2009-06-25T23:02:00.000-04:00

I’m not Christian but I am getting very tired of the old ‘Crazy Christian’ killer on the cop shows.

Whenever there’s a religious nut killing his fellow men, it’s never a Muslim, who we know are a bunch of violent thugs who kill their own family members over the slightest slight to their ‘honor’. No, it’s always a Christian who’s using his religion to justify his killing.

I’ve known a lot of Christians in my life. Some of them were quite devout and some were even a bit fanatical about it but I have never met one who would try to justify murder with their religion.

Muslims, on the other hand, subscribe to a religion that specifically entreats them to kill people. Especially if they are Jewish. Or female.

You need a religious nutjob for your plot twist, why not make it one who is actually likely to be violent?

Probably because the writers and directors and actors like living themselves. I would have to guess from the ample evidence that all these people who pride themselves on ‘speaking truth to power’ or some such silly catch phrase when they’re making a political statement are abject cowards when it comes time to subject religions to the same treatment.

Christians don’t get their panties in a wad, riot in the streets and kill each other when there is a perceived slight to their religion. They’re secure enough and adult enough to take a few insults in good grace.

Muslims, spoiled children that they are, are incapable of even seeing Islam mentioned without having a tizzy fit.

Christians don’t kill their own daughters for having the temerity to speak to a member of the opposite sex who is not a family member. Muslims have that daughter stoned to death. Real civilized.

Muslims are barbarians.

There, I said it and I believe it.

Any group that would kill their own children the way they do qualifies as a bunch of barbarians in my book.

Anyone who thinks peace is possible with these nutjobs is kidding himself.

Only when they love their children more than they hate us will there be peace.

Doesn’t seem to be happening any time soon!

The Wisdom Of Rush

2009-06-25T23:01:00.000-04:00

"If you go through life seeking to appease your critics, you will cease to be who you are. Which is what the critics wanted in the first place."

Gotta love it!!

Snooze-a-thon

2009-06-15T18:32:00.003-04:00

Middle of the kitchen floor:

Wish I could be so comfortable!!

John Madden

2009-05-01T21:30:00.002-04:00

A bit out of date but still relevant.

John Madden is retiring

Finally!

His blather has ruined many a football game for me. The second worst part of this year’s Super Bowl was Madden’s endless talking. He goes on and on in that horrible whiney voice. (The worst part was the singing of the National Anthem. See here.)

The only way I could listen to him was to imagine he was dong color for a pron flick. Then it was funny.

“And he’s run around the back side and is pounding it up the middle!”

OOOH, baby!

LOL

I have been afraid that they would partner him with one the ex-quarterbacks. Then no one would know what was going on. Phil and Troy were good quarterbacks in their day but they mostly are the worst part of their respective talking-head teams.

I tell Phil Simms to shut up several times a game. He also has a tendency to go on and on pointlessly. Maybe he’s been styling himself after Madden and will now stop and thus improve. I hope so, anyway.

They've replaced him with Chris Collingsworth, who apparently hates the Colts. He never has a good word to say about anything they do and is definitely a charter member of the "Tom Terrific Team of Saint Brady". I'm sure I'll get sick of that this season.

We will just have to see how it goes!!

Why We're Screwed

2009-04-29T15:35:00.002-04:00

I know why this country is broke and going down the tubes.

Because people like my exhusband, who has never paid his taxes that he has owed from back in the 1980s, is getting a tax refund this year. Thanks to the 3-year statute of limitations on back taxes and the Earned Income Tax Credit, this man, who has never paid into the system the entire 18 years I've know him, is getting a check from the government!

Unfortunately for him (he tends to spend the check monies before he actually had the check inhand!), The State of Ohio has seized his refund for some back child support they think he owes me. We setteled that debt, for over $8,000 less that he really owed me (part of something is better than all of nothing), so Ohio still thinks I am due money from him and seized not only this year's refund but his stimulous check last year as well.

He called me all upset. He was sure I had done this to him ON PURPOSE!!!! And he was going to GET ME FOR IT!!!

AFter I calmed him down, I suggested that since he was the attorney (yes, really), maybe he should be the one to notify Cuyahoga County of their error. In the meantime, I got a money order for his money and sent it to him. He tried to give me a time frame in which to accomplish this but I did it at my own convenience. Quite frankly, I don't care when his rent is due. Not My Problem Anymore!!

This time, I'm taking out the cost of the money order and my gas to go get it. I'm through doing this man favors!!

He owed me $40,000 in unpaid child support and got our younger daughter emacipated behind my back. She was due child support, according to Indiana law, until she graduated from college. He snuck into Ohio court and got her emancipated under Ohio law behind our backs. He has not, to my knowledge, contributed anything to her college expenses. Not one thin dime. I gave her a big chunk of the back child support to help but she's still in school. And on the Dean's list, too!! She's doing quite well without him.

If a non-productive asshole like my exhusband can get a government check, we're really in trouble!!

Gee, getting that ole Deja Vu feeling, yet?

2009-04-10T21:24:00.004-04:00

You morons! You let the media bamboozel you into electing an empty suit that reads Teleprompters well as President.

Low and behold: Americans Held Hostage, Part Deaux!!

The last time Americans were held Hostage, a Democrat was President!! Jimmeh and the Iranians.

We've been down this road before.

I hope that poor ship's captain isn't held until we can elect a Republican to deal with the pirates!

Hey, Obama: Send the Marines!!

"From the Halls of Montezuma
to the shores of Tripoli,
We will fight this country's battles
in the air, on land and sea!"

That second line refers to the first time we fought these bastards. We won that time, because we fought them. Now that we have our "Compromiser in Chief" at the helm, those pirates feel safe to attack us. They know Obama would never risk world opinion by fighting back.

Send the Marines! Defend our country and its' citizens!!

IT'S YOUR JOB!!

Dumbass.

Ha!

2009-04-10T00:04:00.001-04:00

Just saw a commercial for Botox: Freedom of Expression.

And I thought the whole point of Botox was no expression!!

Dinner!

2009-04-07T21:32:00.003-04:00

First dinner with the new toy!!

Chicken
Red bell peppers
Onion
Garlic
Lemon juice
White wine
Chicken broth
Tarragon
Salt and fresh ground pepper

All over rice cooked in chicken broth.

Yum! Yum!!

(Recipe available, drop me an email if desired.)

I have a new toy!

2009-04-07T14:42:00.003-04:00

My SO bought me a mandoline! We even found it at KitchenAid in red!

Yeah, we like bright red kitchen gadgets! The whole kitchen is ivory colored and kinda bland but we might be going a little too far. Thus far he’s bought me:

KitchenAid Mixer with attachments
4-slice toaster
Slap-chopper (not the one from the Informercial, a KitchenAid!)
An immersion blender with whisk and chopper attachments. I use these the most.
A Cuisinart coffee maker in the same color
A Keurig coffee make in almost the same color (it’s a little darker red)
A pump soap dispenser for the sink
A tea kettle
Various cooking spatulas and spoons
Silicone bakeware
A food processor

Quite a collection! When we decide we want a new kitchen gadget, we first go to KitchenAid online to see if they offer it in the red. If not, we mostly shop for price.

I’ll be slicing and dicing tonight!!

Kitties

2009-03-29T14:24:00.006-04:00

Well, I can’t seem to lose any weight but I seem to be able to help my kitties to do so. Klein, who used to look like a fat, little dog, has slimmed down so much he looks like a cat again! Cookie is looking better, too.

Before:

My curiosity got the better of me so I decided to weigh everybody this morning. I weighed myself (ugh!) and then picked them up, one by one, and reweighed the two of us.

Klein, who was 15.9 lbs, is now 12.6 lbs!! He’s lost 3.2 lbs or 20% of his body weight!! Cookie, who was 12 lbs, is now 10.2 lbs. Almost 2 lbs down for her. Garfield, however, is going in the wrong direction. He’s gained a pound and is up to 15 lbs from a previous 14 lbs.

After:

They’re all still too fat but looking batter these days. Since Klein’s lost so much weight, I should probably take him to the vet just make sure that nothing else is wrong.

Update: Klein has a vet appointment for Friday. He's been coughing. Not a good thing in cats!!

They’re on a very expensive kibble. Cookie is allergic to corn. According to the label, they should get 1 cup of it per day per cat. Since I supplement with canned cat food in the evenings, they would probably be supposed to get half that much kibble. Because they are all so fat, I give them only a heaping 2/3 cup of kibble in the morning. And their evening ‘stinky stuff’.

The trade-off of all this is that they are hungry and as a consequence, get in trouble overnight. We have to make sure the butter dish is not on the table as Klein will get up there and push it off onto the floor. We’ve gone through 3 glass butter dishes before we bought stainless steel ones. They’re ugly but unbreakable.

Garfield is the only one who knows he can get up on the counter. He doesn’t do so very often. The other two will probably figure it out soon as they get used to weighing less. I may have to get some kitty hissers, www.ssscat.com, in that event. We may get some for the table in any event.

Now, all I need is someone to come in and do the equivalent to me!

Honesty and a Hoax

2009-03-28T20:35:00.003-04:00

Well, I guess there is one honest person in Cleveland besides me and my family.

My SO accidentally left his wallet in our local Marc's store. It's a deep-discount store frequently mostly by the elderly and the poor. My SO likes their pop prices.

He realized he didn't have his wallet and, after a frantic search of the house and car, called Marc's. Someone had turned it in and they had it! Yay!

He went over there and retrieved it. Not only were all his credit cards still there but so was all his cash!!

So, thanks to the anonymous Good Person who turned it in!!

Also, this evening is Earth Hour. Yet another stunt being foisted on us by the Global Warming crowd.

Global Warming is a HOAX!!! Scientists cannot accurately tell us what the weather is going to be next Wednesday and yet they can be believed when they try to tell us what it will be in 100 years?? No way!!

I posted extensively
here. I stand by that post.

Right now, I've got every light in the house on. It's very bright! Maybe I'll be able to pick out my house in the satellite pix the Hoaxers will be showing tomorrow!!

I'll go back to regular illumination levels at 9:30PM. Seems kinda dark out there right now.

The Limbaugh Challenge

2009-03-05T13:41:00.001-05:00

Rush has challenged Obama to a debate! No Teleprompters, no note cards, just debating the issues.

He has even offered to pay all Obama’s expenses to get him to Florida and back and while he is there. The Taxpayers wouldn’t be out one dime.

He is completely serious. The Left has said he is the ‘Head of the Republican Party’ so he says “I’ll debate the head of the Democrats on the issues!”

This would be a blood bath!! Rush makes his living talking extemporaneously on the issues and Obama can’t recite the alphabet without a Teleprompter! Rush will have him for dinner!!

Sorta like Mohammed Ali taking on Barney Fife:

(Apologies to Don Knotts.) Great visual, though!! LOL!!

C’mon, Obama, put your mouth where your money is!!

Joke

2009-03-03T22:11:00.001-05:00

My newest favorite joke:

What is the difference between Jesus and Obama??

Jesus could assemble a cabinet.

LOL!!!

LOL

2009-03-01T16:20:00.002-05:00

Women have finally achieved parity with men in an important arena:

There are now 5-blade razors for women!!

ROFLASTC

(Rolling on the Floor Laughing and Scaring the Cat)

Can vibrating ones be far behind???

TV Drugs

2009-02-25T16:59:00.000-05:00

I have the same response to all miracle weight loss drugs and pills that claim to “enhance” men:

If such a thing actually worked, it would be owned by a major pharmaceutical company and you’d need a doctor’s prescription to get it.

This also applies to anything except Rogain that claims to grow hair.

If any of these miracle drugs actually worked, Merck or Pfizer would be making millions on it. There’s no way some nobody supplement company is selling anything that actually works. It’s got to be a waste of money. If it is real, it would have been long ago bought by Big Pharma.

And would have been subject to FDA approval. None of these preparations have had to prove to the FDA that they are safe or effective. Thus they are a huge risk. There’s no guarantee that these drugs won’t cause more problems than they claim to solve.

Save your money. None of this stuff works and may actually be detrimental to your health. Why risk it???

Superbowl Song Stylings

2009-02-02T03:13:00.002-05:00

Well, that’s over for another year. No Manning boys in the Superbowl this year to give the game some interest and the damned Steelers won.

One highlight was the Cash4Gold commercial with MC Hammer and Ed McMahon. That was a stitch! Poor Ed misses his golden toilet!!

The lowest of the low was the singing of the National Anthem. This is our national song, people! Have some respect!

This has to be the most recognized song in America. We all know the tune and the words, unless it’s sung by some cretin who decides “to make the song their own.” What crap! Just sing the thing!! We want to sing along, too. However, if you mess around with the timing and tune so much as to make it unrecognizable, forget it. No one can even tell what song you’re attempting to sing.

The girl who sang it tonight, Jennifer Husdon, is overcoming some personal tragedies, I get that. Good for her. However, that does not give her license to butcher our national song! And she butchered it, right good! Completely changed the rhythm, pacing and notes of the song. I think she got the words correct, if I remember correctly. That would be the only way to tell what song she was singing. Without an announcer telling us what the song was, we would have never known! It was probably the worst performance of the National Anthem I have ever heard.

Who told her that was a good idea? You know she practiced it that way beforehand. No one goes out and sings a song on national TV in front of 100 million people cold. Who ever told her she should sing it that way is also an idiot. Most of us don’t like our national song treated like the latest hip-hop noise. She’s getting very bad advise from somebody who is doing her a grave disservice and deserves to be slapped.

SING THE SONG THE WAY IT’S WRITTEN! Save your ‘interpretations’ for a more frivolous occasion and more frivolous music!!!

Pet Peeves

2008-12-07T21:38:00.002-05:00

Driving edition.

I’m an Official Cripple; I have a State of Ohio issued Handicapped Parking tag. Am I the only one in America who has actually read the thing? Right at the top is says “Remove before driving.”

How many people have I seen driving down the road with this huge, blue blind spot in the middle of their vision? Hundreds if not thousands. Idiots! Take the damned thing down when you’re driving! You can’t see through it!!

I am also apparently the only one who reads No Turn on Red signs.

If the sign reads:

No Turn on Red
9:00AM – 3:00PM
School days

Would you be able to turn on red on Sunday afternoon?

I would think so.

This afternoon I got stuck behind some idiot who can’t read. Turning right, there’s the above sign. He just sat there. I blew my horn at him and he finally moved. Fortunately, he didn’t make my next left with me!

READ THE SIGNS!!! That’s what they are there for!

Liberals and Nixon

2008-12-07T21:28:00.000-05:00

Liberals, would you leave Nixon’s corpse alone?!?

There’s yet another ‘Nixon was such a monster’ movie coming out. Directed by Ron Howard.

Opie, I’m very disappointed in you!!

From the trailer: “Richard Nixon lied to the American people!”

So did Bill Clinton and I don’t see any ‘what a bad guy he is!’ type movies being made about him.

Clinton lied under oath; Nixon lied to reporters. As much as they would like us to believe to the contrary, that’s not quite the same thing!!!

Clinton didn’t have the grace or the dignity to resign when he was literally caught with his pants down. Nixon only sanctioned some political dirty tricks that Clinton far surpassed in his own quest to stay in power.

How many FBI files of the opposition were found in the private residence of the White House during Nixon’s time? None. You can’t say that about Clinton!!!

The Circle Constricts Again.

2008-12-04T17:36:00.001-05:00

A gentleman named Dean Barnett wrote:

"As I grew sicker, I had what for me was an extremely comforting insight. I came to view serious and progressive illness as an ever-constricting circle with oneself at the center. The interior of the circle represents the contents of one’s life. As the circle gets smaller, things that were inside get forced out. Some of these things are dearly missed; others that were once thought precious get forced to the exterior and turn out to go surprisingly unlamented."

Dean had Cystic Fibrosis. It claimed his life on October 27, 2008
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2008/10/29/dean_barnett_41_conservative_blogger_writer_for_the_weekly_standard/

I wish I had discovered his blog earlier! Now there’s someone who has walked the walk!!

My circle just got smaller. I lost my job on November 19th. I’m really too sick to find another one much less to really work during the day. My job was mostly sitting around waiting for something to break so I could fix it. While waiting, I surfed the ‘Net. Got a lot of reading done but didn’t work very hard.

This was a good thing. Most days, I was too tired to really work anyway. My EF is around 20% but I’m still exhausted most of the time. And getting up at 6:30AM didn’t help at all!

So, I’ve applied for Disability. It could take 2 years or more for a final adjudication. In the meantime, my SO is going to have to kick in to support our household way beyond what he has been. Way more.

I’ve always been very independent. Asking for help, especially financial help is very hard for me to do. Now, that independence is gone.

I knew this would happen eventually. You can’t be this close to dying and still keep working full time like there’s nothing wrong.

At my last cardiologist appointment, he told me that my next hope for any improvement was a breakthrough in new technology. And with the Dimmocrates getting ready to ruin the health care industry, there’s not much hope of that any time soon. Take the profit motive away and innovation will dry up. Why spend all that money to invent something new when you will never see a return on your investment?

So, I guess I just keep going as long as I can.

That’s how I’ve gotten this far: just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Yes, You are a Socialist!!

2008-11-09T23:20:00.003-05:00

Obama said in his infomercial: "Just because I want to spread the wealth around, they call me a socialist. The next thing you know, they will call me a communist because I shared my peanut butter sandwich in kindergarten!"

It's fine if you want to share YOUR sandwich, Senator Government, but when you insist that I share mine, that's Socialism!!!

And taking anything from someone and giving it to someone to whom it doesn't belong is STEALING!!! I really don't give a shit about your motivations. I earned it; it's mine. You have no right to it!!

So, not only are you a Socialist, but you are a THIEF as well!!!

According to my SO, the CPA, when ther Dhimmocrats let the Bush tax cuts expire, as they have said they will, the income for the 25% tax bracked returns to $42,000. Right now, the tax rate is 15%. Now, that's a 10% tax INCREASE anyway you cut it!! My taxes are going to go up by thousands of dollars!!

Just remember, "Evil Rich" starts at $42,000 per year income.

$42K. Yeah. That's real wealth!!

Doctors!

2008-10-30T16:50:00.002-04:00

I have a new physical problem.

It’s actually been building up for years. My right shoulder has gotten more and more painful over the past year or so. It’s ached with use or extension for years but in the past year, I’ve been almost unable to use my right arm. It hurts just typing this!

So, I went to an orthopedist. Since I cannot have an MRI due to my cardiac implant, having a torn rotator cuff is difficult to get a definitive diagnosis on. He wants to stick needles in there and see what happens.

Now, I ask you, is this any way to run a popsicle stand?!? You’re suggesting that I let you jam a steel spike into an already painful portion of my body just to see what you find?? And you can’t understand why I have a problem with that??

What are you, nuts?

I’m of the opinion that most doctors have forgotten what it’s like to be at the mercy of people who have none. Most people don’t like needles. Me, I’m terrified of them.

Now, imagine this. You’ve got a health problem. You go to the doctor for it. He suggests a therapy. That therapy happens to be the thing you are most afraid of in this life. Say you’re afraid of heights. So afraid you can’t ride in an elevator because you know you’re standing over a 10-storey hole while doing so. So, said doctor says the first recommended therapy for your problem is to go sky-diving. Or jump off a very tall building, complete with parachute. And won’t consider or discuss any other therapies. What do you do?

Find another doctor!! There has to be another way to treat this condition that does not involve needle torture!!

And, yes, I went to Physical Therapy. That made it hurt worse. Much worse. Totally incapacitated me with pain. So, I don’t think that’s the answer either.

I’ve got a referral to another doctor. Guess I’ll see what he has to say…

UPDATE:

I went to a different orthopod. He diagnosed my should as "frozen". No tears, nothing broken. I'm not sure how using my right arm more made my shoulder freeze up but he seems to be correct. I've gone to a different physical therapist, someone who is interested in actually doing their jobs and helping people, and they've pointed out that if I had really torn my rotator cuff, I wouldn't be able to hold my arm up at all, which I still can do. So, now I got and "get bent" twice a week and it's really helping. Those prissy girls at the other PT place were all wrong!

Obama's Logo

2008-10-23T14:33:00.005-04:00

James Madison reported Benjamin Franklin saying, "I have often looked at that behind the president without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now I... know that it is a rising...sun."

I’ve been thinking about Obama’s logo, the one you see everywhere:

That looks more like a setting sun to me.

The fools elect this clown, I fear for my country.

The sun is going to set on America.

MSM takedown

2008-10-22T16:26:00.003-04:00

Orson Scott Card is one of my favorite authors. Today, he has out-shown his previous writings.

http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2008-10-05-1.html

FYI, he's a Democrat, too.

Check it out!!

I wish i could write like that!!

The Case Against Obambi

2008-10-22T14:10:00.003-04:00

If you haven't seen this yet, go. Read. Watch the videos.

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/10/21/the-comprehensive-argument-against-barack-obama/

Send the link to everyone you know who is even remotely considering voting for Obambi.

Guy Benson, Mary Katharine Ham the Great, and Captain Ed do a fabulous job of putting the whole case together. Anyone who, after reading this, still votes for the guy is truly an idiot.

Oh, and the newest piece of Liberal idiocy (but I repeat myself!) is that Socialist = Black. All those codewords, don't ya know.

Somehow, I think Hitler would be surprised to find himself considered Black. As would Stalin, Lenin and Mao!!

Barack and Marx

2008-10-22T14:02:00.003-04:00

No real post as yet today. I've been working!!

But I did find somethig to swipe from www.imho.us, one of my favorite websites:

I'm not sure where they got it.

Joe Biden

2008-10-21T13:30:00.002-04:00

Just which candidate is this guy supporting anyway?

I knew Biden would be a lot of fun but I didn’t expect him to make our point for us in such a bald-faced way!!

“Mark my words,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. “It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

And not only is he going to cause a world-wide crisis, he’s going to mishandle it as well!

"Because I promise you, you all are gonna be sitting here a year from now going, ‘Oh my God, why are they there in the polls? Why is the polling so down? Why is this thing so tough?’ We’re gonna have to make some incredibly tough decisions in the first two years."

But keep following blindly!!

“And he’s gonna need help. And the kind of help he’s gonna need is, he’s gonna need you - not financially to help him - we’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.” *

Are we sure this guy isn’t on the McCain payroll??

What do various bloggers call him? Oh, yeah…

Gaff-o-matic.

Absolutely priceless!!

No wonder Obambi has the endorsement of every tin-pot (and otherwise!) dictator on the planet. They think he’s going to be a push-over. They know he won’t have the balls to give them a muscular response. They see how he responded to the Russian invasion of Georgia and know he won’t make the correct response. He’s going to want to talk it over, first. That will give them plenty of time for making mischief and consolidate any gains. I wonder if Russia will even wait for him to be inaugurated before they invade their next target??

He’s so inexperienced that even his running mate thinks he is going to screw up his response to the test!

And don’t forget the Islamic terrorists. They are still out there. It’s been calm for a while because they knew that if they misbehaved, Uncle Sam would spank. Obambi will make sure those spankings are never administered. He’ll want to lecture and put them in “time-out” instead. That doesn’t work with violent children and it won’t work with violent terrorists.

Of course, most Dhimmicrats don’t believe that we’re in any danger from Islamic Radicals. Their willingness to blow themselves up if they can take a few of us with them is all our fault. It’s not their repressive, violent religion or anything, right? It’s our fault their governments keep them in poverty in spite of the billions and billions of Petro Dollars they get from the West. What we need it more foreign aide!!

One person who has gone into hiding is Joe Biden. He’s no where to be found. Gee, ya think somebody noticed what an idiot he is?? :-)

*Quotes swiped from Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler.

Poor Joe!!

2008-10-17T15:02:00.001-04:00

He has dared to question the Messiah and for his temerity in doing so, he is being vilified and his entire private life is being dragged thought mud by the Dinosaur Media.

How dare he think he could get away with such a thing?? Doesn’t he know that you don’t question The One?

All sarcasm aside, what it wrong with the press in this country? This guy isn’t running for office. He’s a private citizen who asked a question of a politician. And got an honest answer. One that Obambi’s acolytes in the Media don’t like. So, instead of actually addressing the issues raised by their own candidate, they go after the regular guy who asked the question.

This is what our presidential politics has descended to in this country? Smearing average citizens when a candidate makes a gaff??

“He made me say that!” “That’s not what I meant!”

Not that Obambi has tried to ameliorate the statement. It still stands there, a blatant statement of socialism and Marxism, with no explanations or excuses.

Apparently, he means to do what he said.

Any one who hopes to do well and votes for this guy is the worst sort of fool.

Blogging

2008-10-16T17:00:00.002-04:00

Got this from a friend. Had to post it!!

Obama’s Tax Plans

2008-10-16T16:20:00.001-04:00

Imagine you are a realtor. I was one at one point in my life.

In Ohio, realtors earn 3% on each sale. It they’re smart and not splitting it with some realty company, that means that they have to make only 2.7 sales of $250,000 houses (not hard to do in the Cleveland area) to make in excess of $250,000.

Think a hard working realtor could average just under 3 sales a month? You betcha!!

So, the next time you hear Obambi going on about how only “rich” people will have a tax increase, think of your aunt the realtor. Or that friend of your mothers.

They are who he is talking about!!!

Realtors work 24/7, which is why I am not one any more. My kids were little and I was a single parent. I needed to be there with them, not sitting in some open house on the other side of town. And you do work very hard for that money!!

So, now Obambi wants to take all that hard earned money away from the people who earned it and give it to people who didn’t. How is that fair?

The whole of the American Dream is that you can, if you are willing to work at it, make something of yourself. There’s nothing stopping you.

I hope all those deluded idiots who plan on voting for the guy are aware that they are voting away their best chance to be successful. The moment that they are successful, Obambi is going to come along and take it away from them.

Obambi’s message: Don’t be too successful. I’ll take it away from you!

That’s seems to be the Democrat’s message in general.

They whine about “fairness”. As defined by whom???

How is it fair to take something earned by one person and give it to someone who didn’t earn it?

If I did that, I’d go to jail! That’s robbery!!

And not any more right when a government does it than when an individual does it!!

200,000

2008-10-16T14:45:00.002-04:00

If you listen to Rush on line, you already know this:

Jennifer Brunner is hiding 200,000 unverified voter registrations from the county election people who are supposed to track down these people and verify that their information is accurate. The county election people are supposed to take all unverifiable registrations and investigate them and make sure that the people registered are legally allowed to vote in Ohio.

And she’s sitting on 200,000 of them.

George Bush beat John Kerry by 118,457 votes in Ohio.

Hello, voter fraud!!

On a massive scale!

Wake up people!!

You are ALL being disenfranchised!!

Every vote cast fraudulently diminishes your vote by that much. Your vote is a percentage of the large whole. The larger the larger whole is, the smaller percentage that one vote is. Now, if those votes are legitimate, that’s just the way it goes. But if your vote is being diluted by fraudulently case votes, you’re really out something!! You lose even more of what little effect your one vote has.

We need to fight this!! Make our Secretary of State do her job!!!

Call her office. Send an email. Make a pest of yourself!!

Our vote is the only thing we’ve got!

Do your job!

2008-10-15T15:21:00.002-04:00

How dishonest does one have to be to refuse to do the job to which one was elected because not to do so might benefit a political candidate one supports?

Apparently, as dishonest as Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner. Until the courts got involved and ordered her to do her job, Ms Brunner had refused to follow Ohio law and cross check new voter registrations against other state databases thus establishing their validity.

Two people have filed a RICO lawsuit to use the force of the courts to disband ACORN. She’s so ‘in the tank’ for Obama that she’s willing to break the law and help them cheat to help him to win.

Didn’t she learn as a child that a win acquired by cheating is wrong? You have to win fair and square before you can be considered to have accomplished something.

Sure, Obama may be president but half the country will see through the chicanery and won’t respect him. Being president isn’t an easy job. Why make it harder on him by tainting his win?

Weren’t you paying attention the past 8 years when Democrats made W’s life hell for their cheating that they projected onto him? There are bloggers out there who are pledging to make the same nasty accusations if Obama wins by cheating. ACORN is cheating. Ms Brunner is cheating.

I didn’t vote absentee because I figured it would just get ‘lost’ since I don’t intend to vote Democrat. If I wait until November, maybe I’ll get included in the general chaos. It will be harder to pick out the Republican ballots and pitch them. Especially since I’m in Cuyahoga County. All votes from here will be assumed to be Democrat.

I voted Democrat in the primaries as part of Operation Chaos. I couldn’t bring myself to vote for Hillary, however. I am now really regretting that vote for Obama. All I really wanted was a chance to vote against Dennis. You know, Cleveland’s Biggest Embarrassment.

Incidentally, Congress’s current approval rating is somewhere in the neighborhood of 9% these days. W is still in the 30s

In any case, I vote against this appalling silly person every chance I get. I’d like to ask the people who vote for him:

How many cities does a guy have to bankrupt before you won’t vote for him?

I should think the answer would be one!!

Socialized Medicine

2008-10-13T14:38:00.002-04:00

One of the more interesting things about living with a CPA is that he can effortlessly defuse economic demagoguery by the Left.

Obama is currently running an ad slamming John McCain for wanting to tax our health insurance as ordinary income and giving us ‘only’ a $5,000 tax credit to off set the increase in taxes. Obama is also claiming that the $5K would go straight to the insurance company.

My CPA explains it thusly:

Say your health insurance costs $800 a month. That’s $9,600 a year. I’m probably in the 25% tax bracket. That means my tax liability goes up $9,600 * .25 = $2,400 per year.

Then I get a $5,000 line-item tax credit ON MY 1040 TAX FORM. Me. Not some insurance company.

So. Let’s see: $5,000 - $2,400 = $2,600.

Yeah, my benefits get taxed but I clear a $2,600 credit applied to all my other tax liabilities, which are refundable. Get it? REFUNDABLE!!!

I get it back!!

I get taxed more heavily but get back way more money.

How’s that a bad thing???

Huh??

And if you damned fools elect this lying charlatan, he wants to nationalize health care. You’re already on the internet. Look up waiting times for simple procedures in Canada and England. What’s the wait for an MRI in Canada? 72 days. Even if you have brain cancer!! Average wait time for surgery? 18.3 weeks. Weeks!!

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/10/15/fraser-report.html

Britain? 13 weeks.

http://www.rangelmd.com/index.php/2007/08/09/nhs-kills-young-woman/

Yeah, socialized medicine is such a success.

It’s great, unless you happen to get sick!

http://www.rangelmd.com/index.php/2007/08/12/socialized-medicine-and-excessive-wait-times/

Then, you’re on your own for weeks at a time. Plenty of time to contemplate your fate as you slowly die of heart disease or cancer and to get your affairs in order.

It’s just one more gift from your government.

An American Carol

2008-10-04T21:50:00.000-04:00

We went to see this movie last night.

I highly recommend it. It was hilarious! I haven’t laughed out loud at a movie like that in a long, long time!

It was really good to see the other side get skewered, for a change. They laugh and mock us constantly, misrepresenting our views and positions, all to supposed great hilarity. Not!
My favorite part was the ACLU lawyer zombies! LOL!!! And a crazed Dennis Hopper, looking crazy in that special way only he can, blowing them away in the courtroom!!! Almost too much.

I do have to question the judgment of the theater management, though. We were clearly a conservative audience there specifically to see a conservative movie. What do they choose to show us previews of??

A Jimmy Carter Documentary and Oliver Stone’s “W”!!!!!

The crowd booed and hissed!

I just can’t imagine that they are that brain-dead to think that those two movies would get a positive response from that audience!

Those weren’t the only previews, of course. We were late getting there so these two were the only ones I saw.

Unbelievable!!

Very funny movie! Zucker does it again!!!

Drill!!!

2008-10-04T21:25:00.000-04:00

I used to think that the stupidest people in the world were Christians. Who could be that gullible to believe that crap? How dumb do you have to be to send money to those guys??

However, with my increasing access to the internet, I’ve discovered that the truly stupidest people in the world are liberals. Who but a liberal could believe that taxing the producers would bring down the price of gas but increasing the supply would not?

And, let’s get this straight: we don’t have a “Gas Crisis”. We have plenty of gasoline. When was the last time you went to a gas station and were turned away? What we have is a problem with the price of gas. There’s plenty available, we just don’t like what they’re charging for it. That’s not a “crisis”. And if the damned liberals would get out of the way and let us drill, we could all pay less at the pump.

Saudi Arabia is bring a new oil field on line that is expected to be producing oil in less than a year! China is drilling off the coast of Florida. Why aren’t we???

Romance

2008-09-23T11:08:00.001-04:00

I think I’ve finally figured out why women my age (almost 50) read romance novels.

When I was in my 20s and 30s I had no patience for such things. I didn’t want to read about romance, I wanted to do it! And I still thought it was possible.

Women in our late 40s, we’re lonely. We’ve been through the relationships, gotten the divorces, and had the nasty breakups. Now, we no longer believe romance is even possible, much less lasting. The guy whose eye used to dilate when he looked at us now doesn’t have anything nice to say. And now that our kids have grown up and moved on with their lives, we don’t have that distraction.

We’ve finally got the time for dedicated romance but no longer believe in it.

Romances in books never end with one partner finding the other so irritating they can’t stand to be in the same room with them.

Sure, he still does the laundry but now he bitches about what types of clothes we wear and how hard they are to take care of. Do we really need to wear clean clothes everyday? Yes, yes we do.

We need attention and affection and, somehow, wind up with neither. So, we read about it. It’s better than nothing!

whew

2008-05-08T11:14:00.000-04:00

Glad that’s over!

Indiana can now sink back into its normal state of political obscurity.

One of the things that’s been hard to get used to about living in Ohio is all the attention from the political candidates. Indiana usually and reliably goes Republican and, at most, will see a Republican candidate or two through the course of the general election. The Democrats usually don’t waste their time or money campaigning there.

This election season, they descended like locusts. My sister says that one of the Dem candidates gave a speech at the small town she lives in and shut the whole town down for most of the day. Streets were blocked off and the Secret Service was everywhere.

Quite inconsiderate.

Fortunately, she was already at work when they arrived. Others were not so lucky and the doctor’s office where she works had an unusual number of late and cancelled appointments.

Headline: Democrats Prevent Citizens From Obtaining Necessary Health Care.

Film at eleven! ;-)

Dangerous Barbie Dolls!

2008-04-29T15:37:00.001-04:00

This is really funny:

A top Iranian judiciary official warned Monday against the "destructive"
cultural and social consequences of importing Barbie dolls and other Western
toys.
Prosecutor General Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi said in an official
letter to Vice President Parviz Davoudi that the Western toys was a "danger"
that needed to be stopped.
"The irregular importation of such toys, which
unfortunately arrive through unofficial sources and smuggling, is destructive
culturally and a social danger," Najafabadi said in his letter, a copy of which
was made available to The Associated Press.
... Najafabadi said Iran was the
world's third biggest importer of toys, and these smuggled imports posed a
threat to the "identity" of the new generation.
"Undoubtedly, the
personality and identity of the new generation and our children, as a result of
unrestricted importation of toys, has been put at risk and caused irreparable
damages," he said.
Authorities launched a temporary campaign of confiscating
Barbie from toy stores in 2002, denouncing the un-Islamic sensibilities of the
iconic American doll. The campaign was eventually discontinued.
That same
year, though, Iran introduced a competing doll—the twins Dara and Sara, who
promoted traditional values with their modest clothing and pro-family stories
but they proved unable to stem the Barbie tide.
In 1996, the head of a
government-backed children's agency called Barbie a "Trojan horse" sneaking in
Western influences such as makeup and revealing clothes.
Barbie is sold
wearing swimsuits and miniskirts in a society where women must wear head scarves
in public and men and women are not allowed to swim together.

Swiped from Right Wing News

I raised two daughters in the “decadent” Western culture of Indiana. They received Barbie dolls for birthdays and Christmas. Never did I consider Barbie to be undermining their morality!

They also received Care Bears and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I didn’t expect those to be corrupting, either.

I carefully raised my daughters to think for themselves instead of following the herd. Neither is fashionable or trendy. They don’t waste time worrying about their appearance beyond what they like and boundaries of good taste.

Neither are they overly violent or overly cutsie. One is an aspiring musician/music producer and the other designs web pages and does custom sewing. Both are independent thinkers. Neither was damaged by any images of Barbie and her extensive wardrobe.

With all the poverty and other real social problems available that need solving in their culture, the Iranians instead choose to inveigh against poor, ole, much-maligned Barbie?!?

Oh, well. As long as they’re wasting their time on such nonsense, they won’t have time to think any new ways of killing each other and us!

More Computer Follies:

2008-04-21T16:40:00.001-04:00

At a previous job, I was the programmer of the Access front end that we did all our work in. It was a huge program that gathered immense amounts of data into a SQL Server database.

The bosses had decided that I was to make certain fields off limits for a few lower-end users. I had this musical co-worker who, upon hearing of my newest project, started going around the office humming “Can’t Touch This”

When I was done with the newest revisions, I put into it code that would run only for her that would open Internet Explorer and go to You Tube and start playing MC Hammer’s Video of “Can’t Touch This”. The office manager was in on this gag with me so I figured I wouldn’t get into too much trouble.

I didn’t count on the stupidity of one of our senior managers. The office manager was late that day and the senior manager happened to be walking past my co-worker’s computer just at MC launched into his song and dance.

The senior manager freaked, assumed we had some horrible virus in the system and made the whole office sit there, doing nothing, until I got there at 9:00.

She was furious when I explained the gag.

I was quite offended that she would think that I would have damaged the company’s greatest asset on purpose.

I didn’t tell her that the office manager wanted me to pull the gag on the whole office! I figured I didn’t need both of us in trouble with this no-sense-of-humor idiot!!

I still smile when I hear that song!

Old News

2008-04-03T11:48:00.001-04:00

The very definition of “schadenfreude”:

The guy who laid me off a few years ago dropped dead, at the office no less, last year!!

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

He was nasty to me when I worked there and saved the job of one of his friends when he should have laid one of them off instead of me. They were redundant, I was not.

Hope he likes the neighborhood, now!

(Hey, I never said I was nice!)

Hillary updated

2008-03-26T16:24:00.001-04:00

Apparently, the MSM is shocked, shocked! to find out that Hillary Clinton lied to them.

LOL

Gee, where have they been all these years? Not paying attention, obviously.

Hillary loves the Big Lie. Like: claiming to be named after Sir Edmund Hillary when he didn’t climb Mount Everest until she was a small child. No one had ever heard of him before that. And: turning a $1,000 investment into $100,000 by reading the Wall Street Journal. Not to malign that great publication but, if it was that easy, this country would have many more millionaires than it does!

She and her husband, both, have been lying to the world since 1990. They’ve been lying to the people of Arkansas longer than that! For the MSM to only now notice is such hypocrisy!

I guess the Left-Wind Media has decided that Obama is the one they want (like they did with McCain) so anything anyone does, even a Clinton, to hurt his candidacy is going to get slammed.

She didn’t really think that she could get away with this forever, did she? Of course, why wouldn’t she? Her husband didn’t come under fire until he criticized Obama, either. And they LOVED him!

“First Black President.” Not with those pasty, white thighs! Remember those shots and video of him jogging? How ridiculous was that? The Leader of the Free World out running in the street in short shorts.

Of course, she’s absolutely correct about Obama and the Rev. Wright. You choose your pastor. Obama chose this guy and stayed with him for over 20 years. Therefore, he must at least tacitly approve of his opinions as expressed in his sermons.

Just as she’s stayed with Bill. She has approved of his behavior as well. You can’t have one without the other. She chose him; she can un-chose him at any time.

I’ve been cheated on. I found out about it only after we had broken up, in a rather artless way, from the woman he cheated on me with. I treat him as a non-person. He simply doesn’t exist.

I’m not sure that would work with Bill but she could at least have the dignity to tell him to get lost!

I could almost respect her for that!

She’s still not qualified to be President, though. Nothing will change that!

Update:

A score card from Dick Morris, who probably knows Hillary best:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/hillarys_list_of_lies.html

His book on her was scathing! Quite a good read. I recommend it!

Enough!!

2008-03-18T10:03:00.001-04:00

Ok, time for a bitch session!

For the past week, it’s been All Eliot, all-the-time.

Now it’s All Hate-Monger Jeremiah, all-the-time.

Gee, anything else happen in America in the past few days???

And, I don’t care who had a three-way with whom! It’s none of our business! Quit reporting this stuff!

This is as bad as during the Lewinsky scandal. I had to explain to my 8-year-old what a “blow-job” was. She kept hearing the term on the news and wanted to know what it meant. (Her response: “Gross!!”)

I feel sorry for people with younger kids. The media is making such a big deal about all this that the kids can’t help but notice.

Kinda like hearing Haldeman and Erlichman every night on the news when I was 13 and very preoccupied with being a newly-minted teenager. I didn’t understand what was going on at the time but I was aware that it was bad.

I finally realized when I was in college that I had lived through a huge scandal and knew, essentially, nothing about it. I happed to catch “All the President’s Men” on cable. That got me curious about what had actually happened. I knew anything Hollywood put out was most probably not the truth.

About that time, most of the players in Watergate had started publishing their books. I went to the library and skimmed several, choosing the one by the judge in the case, John Sirica, to read in depth. I figured he had heard all the evidence and didn’t have a horse in the race, so to speak. He didn’t have any personal agendas to protect.

What are today’s children absorbing from these scandals? “God Damn America” and “Client #9”?!?

I’m glad my kids are grown and my grandson is too young to watch TV!!

And I’m also glad I don’t have to explain any of this to an innocent!

Where are the Grown-ups?? Updated

2008-03-14T14:17:00.002-04:00

Back in the 1980s, when I was in my 20s, I didn’t really feel like an adult. Even though I was a married woman with 2 kids by the end of the decade, I still didn’t really feel like a grown-up.

In the 25 years since, I’ve grown-up quite a bit, shouldering my responsibilities as a single mom and sole support of those 2 kids, who are now grown.

I have a good driving record, a clean credit report and I pay my bills on time.

Back then, there seemed to be a few people who were the grown-ups: Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Pope John-Paul. All but Dame Thatcher have gone to their reward.

Unfortunately for us, no one seems to have stepped up to replace them. No one seems capable of making the difficult decisions that can end the War on Islamic Fascism like Ron, Maggie and John-Paul did with communism and the USSR. Where are the leaders?

Hell, one of our 2 political parties won’t even admit there IS a War on Islamic Fascism! They have their collective heads buried so far up their asses they haven’t seen daylight in years!

And yet, 47.5% of Americans poll that they will vote for a Democrat in November!

What’s wrong with these people? These Islamic nutjobs are AT WAR WITH US?

They seek our death and the total destruction of our country and our culture.

To those who say we need to talk and “negotiate” with these people, I want to know what you think there is to negotiate about? If your opponents’ starting position is your death, what’s there to negotiate, the where and how?

They don’t want to live with us! There’s nothing we can do that can change that. We didn’t cause it. We can’t fix it.

But we can stop it.

This country desperately needs some grown-ups who recognize the danger we are in and have the balls to do something about it.

Since it looks like I’ll have no other choice, I’m hoping that McCain turns out to be an adult!!

I hope he makes a good, conservative choice for VP. There’s been rumors on the ‘net that he’s thinking of asking a Democrat to run with him.

If he wants to guarantee that the conservative base stays home in November, he should do just that. I’ll definitely sit that one out. I don’t vote for Democrats in the general election.

*Update*

I forgot one of the adults from this time period: Lech Walesa. Now, there's a man with BALLS! He stood up to the Soviet Union! He and his Solidarity labor union helped Reagan, Thatcher and John Paul bring down the USSR.

Sorry, Lech, I'll try and do better next time!

Computer Stupidities

2008-03-13T11:23:00.001-04:00

I’ve been reading this great website of Computer Stupidities and realized that I have a few tales of my own I could tell.

For instance:

At a former job, I had an older use who really didn’t understand anything about the computer he worked on every day.

One afternoon, he came to me, all upset.

“My computer is making this ‘bip-bip-bip’ sound!” He was very indignant. He took every problem with his computer personally; sure that his computer was out to get him, and all the problems were my fault, somehow, because I was the computer support person and I should just make sure nothing ever went wrong.

So, I got up, crossed the open office and sat down at his desk. I moved the file folder off his space bar and the sound went away!

“There ya go!”

He didn’t even say thanks!

I went back to my desk on the other side of the room and nearly strangled trying not to laugh out loud.