Tebow leads No. 1 Florida over Georgia

Tebow leads No. 1 Florida over Georgia 41-17.

It was a BEEootiful day for football!

Happy Halloween goes Orange and Blue!

Tim Tebow just broke Herschel Walker's record for rushing touchdowns in the SEC.




Go Gators!



And heres' a last-minute costume vid for you procrastinators!

Why is it so “cool” to hate the American flag?

Over at Piece of Work in Progress is this post about the American flag...or rather Dahlhalla wonders what in the name of ALL that is good makes supposedly 'tolerant' Americans hate the sight of Our Flag so much. How can such a symbol be so offensive?

Good question.

It's easy to hate something - or everything - when you spend your life afraid.

Panic in Perspective

From a link at Grandpa John's, I found a terrific post at American Thinker.

Remember - they're from the Government, and they're here to HELP:

Additionally, and even more disturbing, many cases are assumed to be H1N1 without testing. Yes, the CDC advised the states to stop testing for and tracking cases of H1N1. Their rationale? There is no need to waste resources when the government has already confirmed there is an epidemic. In other words, just trust us. The debate is over. I had no idea Al Gore and the IPCC were working for the CDC. As I originally contended, the number of cases of H1N1 has been overestimated, and even CBS News reported this.

I have had twenty-two patients call me or come in to the office claiming to have had contact with patients who were diagnosed with the "Swine Flu." In each and every case I took the time to investigate the contact case to determine whether the patient had actually been tested. In every case so far, the contact case either was not tested or tested negative but was given the diagnosis just the same.
...

Evidence is mounting that, as I opined previously, "Swine Flu" is less of a threat medically and epidemiologically than was feared, but is a great mechanism for the promotion of political pork. Our founding fathers taught that it is healthy to regard government intentions with skepticism. We have failed to heed their wise advice, and we are now learning that the military tactic of deception is alive and well in the Obama Administration. While we are being threatened by H1N1, they are using the distraction to infect us with a much more deadly disease that will affect not only us, but our children and grandchildren: the disease of subjugation.

It seems the H1N1 virus is epidemic and you MUST do something NOW...and you MUST give your Government saviors MORE so they can DO MORE TO SAVE MORE...but for the troops in Afghanistan there's no big hurry.

BarryO and His Weasels prove every day to be more...weaselly. *sigh*

BarryO Voting 'Present' on Illegal Immigration Shouldn't Surprise Anyone

Victor Davis Hanson's column points to something OTHER THAN BarryOCare. BarryO and His Band Of Merry CongressWeasels have more than one trick up their sleeves, and this is almost a breath of fresh air...or at least different-smelling air.

Apparently a hesitant Obama hopes that the crisis over illegal immigration will just go away on its own -- despite his now forgotten April vow to enact "comprehensive immigration reform."

The economic slowdown, together with beefed-up security and the border wall, have cut down the number of illegal entries to the lowest number in recent years. Privately, Obama must be happy that the pool of illegal aliens is shrinking, allowing the formable forces of American assimilation to work on smaller, more integrated populations, without politically charged talk about amnesty and deportation. Publicly, he can lament to his Hispanic base that Bush, not he, was responsible for the wall and increased security.

If you look up "political expediency" in the dictionary, do you see BarryO's picture?

Joke. Yes, it's clean.

Rude, maybe, but clean!

***********************

Q: What does Barack Obama call lunch with a convicted felon?

A: A fund raiser.

“$250 here, $250 billion there -- eventually you destroy an already teetering entitlement system.”

Feeling a bit tapped out today, and part of it is worry I may have taken on too much, come tomorrow...but we'll see how that works out when the time comes. I'm REALLY looking forward to Saturday, because I need a few hours to just do the fiddling around that HAS to be done SOON. Nothing major, life-changing, or difficult - there are simply some things I want to do that are tedious and mind-consuming... that is, TIME consuming...that I seem to require alone-time for. I lose my place easily, and when working on the computer, that can be frustrating as all get out, so...well, enough. You get the idea, you're not idiots.

That being said, I read an article by Ed Feulner you might find interesting - A Tale of Two $250's. Great analysis and information!
Two exerpts:

The recession has driven prices down across the board, and the cost of living has actually declined by almost 5 percent. Because of that, and because Medicare premiums won’t increase next year, spending analyst Andrew Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute estimates that the average Social Security recipient will have about $725 more in purchasing power next year. So, reasonably, Social Security plans to skip the COLA.

But not if the Obama administration can help it.
...
More than a decade ago, lawmakers passed a law that was supposed to solve that problem by capping payments to doctors. According to the law, fees paid to doctors under Medicare will be slashed by 21.5 percent this year, and by 40 percent over the next five years. Of course, no lawmaker wants to be accused of cutting payments to doctors. So every year lawmakers in both parties vote overwhelmingly to override their own law.

Tricky bastards, our Elected CongressWeasels. It didn't start with this batch, but now that we KNOW, we really outta t'row da bums out.

Can you see the snake?

BarryO does not make his decisions about those who populate his administration from lack of knowledge about what they are and what they believe. He knows full well who they are and what they will do when given all the power of the federal government. I have thought this for a long time, and also thought that those who think he'll 'wake up' are the ones who are delusional. Much as I hate saying that about some people whose writing and opinions I usually admire, it's still my belief that they still don't see the snake.

Thomas Sowell sees the snake.


"Just one year ago, would you have believed that an unelected government official, not even a Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate but simply one of the many "czars" appointed by the President, could arbitrarily cut the pay of executives in private businesses by 50 percent or 90 percent?

Did you think that another "czar" would be talking about restricting talk radio? That there would be plans afloat to subsidize newspapers — that is, to create a situation where some newspapers' survival would depend on the government liking what they publish?

Did you imagine that anyone would even be talking about having a panel of so-called "experts" deciding who could and could not get life-saving medical treatments?

Scary as that is from a medical standpoint, it is also chilling from the standpoint of freedom. If you have a mother who needs a heart operation or a child with some dire medical condition, how free would you feel to speak out against an administration that has the power to make life and death decisions about your loved ones?

...

Barack Obama has not only said that he is out to "change the United States of America," the people he has been associated with for years have expressed in words and deeds their hostility to the values, the principles and the people of this country.
...

Among the people appointed as czars by President Obama have been people who have praised enemy dictators like Mao, who have seen the public schools as places to promote sexual practices contrary to the values of most Americans, to a captive audience of children.
...

Those who say that the Obama administration should have investigated those people more thoroughly before appointing them are missing the point completely. Why should we assume that Barack Obama didn't know what such people were like, when he has been associating with precisely these kinds of people for decades before he reached the White House?"

It's past time to think about how to stop BarryO and Bill Ayers and Friends from taking over the administration. NOW we have to work on keeping them from taking over the rest of America.

Do you know the snake for what it is, not for what it says?

We are NOT alone...

Another day when I have little or no energy for political strife and the bullshirt that is the Present Administration. The Current Occupant and His Merry Band of Weasels disgust me almost to the point of paralysis.

It's a beautiful Monday to spend with my BEEootiful Pixie, not let that bunch of hooligans make my head hurt. It's ALWAYS good to spend time with the Pixie. Grandpa now has Mondays off, and he's spending this morning making the Pixie's Halloween costume. She's going to dress as a BEE, of course! Last year she was Tinkerbell. The pattern for this year's costume was a LOT more expensive than patterns I remember my mum buying when I was a kid, and it was ordered off the internet. Grandpa & I are doing a bit more finish to it than the directions call for (I was taught well, even if I'm only now using that part of my education), but I just tried it on her and it's adorable...which really isn't any surprise. She's the kind of girlie that could make a gunny sack or a brown paper bag look cute!

THEN, as a reminder that I'm not the only one who believes in this Great Nation the way I do, I found this article at JewishWorldReview.com. According to George Will's column, Michelle Bachman sounds like my kind of politician, a woman to be trusted with running my government with as little interference in the private sector as possible. ALMOST makes me wish I could move to Minnesota again...but that's not happening unless the Pixie's parents go!

Pompous Liars...at BEST, pompous liars.

If you haven't seen this already, it's going to make you cry, or maybe just make your heart hurt. From a post at Piece of Work in Progress, this excerpt from Powerline:

In short [. . .] the Obama administration falsely claimed that the Bush administration had done no planning or analysis regarding the worsening situation in Afghanistan, even though it (1) knew this was false, (2) had asked the Bush administration not to disclose its work, and (3) relied in part on the same work it claimed the Bush administration had not performed. Paul [Mirengoff] judged that what Cheney described went beyond lack of class to demonstrate bad character on the part of the Obama administration.

Now comes the Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes to examine the issues of fact raised by Cheney’s account. In “Obama’s minions are ingrates,” Hayes documents the formal review conducted by the Bush administration that was turned over to the Obama team and inquires whether (as Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs has charged) the Bush team sat on a request for increased troops. Hayes confirms Cheney’s assertions as a matter of fact.

This bunch of crap comes from an administration so many Americans had so much 'hope' for. Transparency. Tolerance. Democracy. Efficiency. Fairness. Equality. Pride.

My shattered ass.

BarryO babbles that Communism, Socialism, Buddhism and Islam are blessings to the world, religions and political dogma to be imitated and implemented here, while doing his level best to leave Israel defenseless against those sworn to destroy her, and ensure that Christians and Jews worldwide are silenced as troublemakers.

George W and Cheney did their best to keep this country from being attacked AGAIN. BarryO has no such wish, in my opinion. He and his mentors and followers have the best of all possible worlds and will never experience the heartache and loss that Working America is going to see. He and his family will celebrate our hunger and poverty with kobe beef for supper. BarryO and his weasels lied before, and they will lie again. To get what they want, to accomplish their mission.

I couldn't make myself read the quoted NYTimes article

Jenn Q. Public has some interesting remarks about an article in the New York Times. Yes, that New York Times. I'm not even going to link 'em - you can find 'em through the other link if you really need to read such poor excuses for "news reporting."

I participated in a couple knock-down drag-out fights in a domestic battle that ended many years ago. I won't go into details. There was not, however, any inkling at any point that I'd been stabbed. We fought like crazy, but we fought with only our hands as weapons. It's been several decades since the last contact, a fact I'm sure neither of us is sorry for.

It's still not funny. If I'd ever read the Times on a regular basis, this would be my best, most recent reason for stopping.

Chicken-little governance comes with a steep price tag

David Harsani at Townhall.com:

If TARP recipients are under the thumb of a pay czar, what about other corporations consenting to Washington aid or accepting contracts -- a group that grows with each misguided stab at stimulating the economy? And why stop there? Why not make all compensation fair?

"I don't think that's healthy, and I don't like it," Camden Fine, president of the Independent Community Bankers of America, said of the pay czar's cuts. "These are decisions for boards of directors to make, not the government. I think this is a very slippery slope."

Applebee's ROCKS!

I may not be crazy about the food - well, they do have Triple Chocolate Meltdown - but I cannot criticise their heart. This link was in my email this morning from my brother, the Old Retired Petty Officer.

Veteran's eat FREE at Applebee's on Veteran's Day.

If you know of any other establishments doing this, please let me know and I'll post 'em.

Why I read Lileks

James' post today at the Bleat is far from one of his best - and I'm not going looking right now to put up that link, you can find many FABulous writings in his archives - but this line hit me right between the eyes...so to speak:

What we see as a breathing space or a sign the worst is over is probably just the gap between swings of the two-by-four.

I better shower so I'm more awake when it comes around.

In the year 1909

I got this in my email a few weeks back. I haven't fact-checked it, so it's probably as accurate as ANYTHING you hear on CBS...but you can always do that yourself with these wonderful computer thingies, can't you!

THE YEAR 1909

This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine!
The year is 1909.
One hundred years ago.
What a difference a century makes!

Here are some statistics for the Year 1909:
************ ********* *********
The average life expectancy was 47 years.

Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!

The average wage in 1909 was 22 cents per hour.

The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year.

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME .

Ninety percent of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION. Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned by the press AND the government as 'substandard.'

Sugar cost four cents a pound.

Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.

Five leading causes of death were:
1.. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was only 30.

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented yet.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school..

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then most pharmacists said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."

Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.

There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A.

I am now going to forward this to someone else without typing it myself. From there, it will be sent to others all over the WORLD - all in a matter of seconds.

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.
*************************************************
Well, what it might be like if we get our cojones back as a Nation, that is...

AND IN FAMILY NEWS: The cancer that didn't kill my brother (TYG) is about to become blog fodder. Check out the Old Retired Petty Officer for what could be some very sickening photographs and excellent running commentary.

Nobel Prize for Economics goes to woman whose work proves GOVERNMENT is more often the problem than the solution!

John Stossel is a libertarian, and I guess I am one, too. Many times this suggests things that are too wacky for words, but hey...Dimmbocrats claim part of that title, and so do many Republicrats. I prefer things sensible, proven by unbiased methods, which treat grown-up citizens like grown-up citizens, and which are Constitutional. Makes me sorta unusual, I know, but I sleep ok at night, believe me.

Stossel's column today is required reading if you believe "Government-imposed regulation" is completely different than the rules of behavior needed for managing some resources (among other things) by those involved.

She writes in her 1990 book, "Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action," that there is no shortage of real-world examples of "a self-governed common-property arrangement in which the rules have been devised and modified by the participants themselves and also are monitored and enforced by them."

In other words, free people work things out on their own.

Not only is government help often not needed, Ostrom says it usually screws things up because bureaucrats operate in an ivory tower ignorant of the local customs and the specific resource.

Political theorists assume away the problems of political control, but the problems are real. There is no reason to believe that bureaucrats and politicians, no matter how well meaning, are better at solving problems than the people on the spot, who have the strongest incentive to get the solution right. Unlike bureaucrats, they bear the costs of their mistakes. Moreover, as the prize committee pointed out, "Rules that are imposed from the outside or unilaterally dictated by powerful insiders have less legitimacy and are more likely to be violated."

...

We libertarians aren't against rules — we are against top-down rules imposed by out-of-touch bureaucrats.

UPDATE: I have just one question. Is this the Nobel committee made up of the same bozos that chose BarryO for the Peace Prize? If so, does the rest of the country know they've got Multiple Personality Syndrome?

Quotable Democrats

Quotes from...well, you'll see...

Great Orators of the Democrat Party...

'One man with courage makes a majority.' - Andrew Jackson
'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.' - Franklin D. Roosevelt
'The buck stops here.' - Harry S. Truman
'Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.' - John F. Kennedy

And from today's Democrats...

"It depends what your definition of 'is' is?" - Bill Clinton
"Those rumors are false .... I believe in the sanctity of marriage." - John Edwards
"I invented the Internet." - Al Gore
"The next Person that tells me I'm not religious, I'm going to shove my rosary beads up their ASS." - Joe Biden
"America is--is no longer, uh, what it--it, uh, could be, uh, what it was once was...uh, and I say to 'uh, I don't want that future, uh, uh for my children." - Barack Obama
"I have campaigned in all 57 states." - Barack Obama (Quoted 2008)
"You don't need God anymore, you have us Democrats." - Nancy Pelosi (Quoted 2006)
"Paying taxes is voluntary." - Sen. Harry Reid
"Bill is the greatest husband and father I know. No one is more faithful, true, and honest than he." - Hillary Clinton (Quoted 1998)

And here's one of my favorite quotes, though not a politician, just a Real Man.
"Life's tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid." -- John Wayne

(Thanks, Fred!)

UPDATE: I've been reminded that gaffs are not party-exclusive. ALL politicians have things come out of their mouths that are wrong, mistaken, lies, or examples of oral dyslexia - just like the rest of us. WE, however, don't spend a lot of time with cameras and tape recorders following us around to preserve our flubs for posterity...thank goodness! This particular little collection just happened to be all in one place all at one time, so here it is.

I am as racist as Rush...

...and since I really LIVE by the words spoken by Martin Luther King, Jr so many years ago, I decided to post this article from CNSNews.com:

This man is probably the single greatest spokesman for the NFL other than someone that’s in the NFL, and he’s disqualified because he’s conservative? I find it quite offensive.

I am not a member of any religion. I don't belong to a church or a synagogue. Don't see that changing any time in the near future. What I do have is a set of personal standards, most based on Old Testament Biblical teachings.

One of the reasons I don't have a religion is that too many who do belong to a church seem to have rather flexible 'standards.' I have certain standards - maybe fewer than churchgoers, which simplifies things for my little brain. Too many rules mean I forget too many things. I work at sticking by my personal standards. Never say Never. People are more important than Things. Racism is wrong. When you work to earn something, its value increases a thousandfold over having it handed to you for free.

Standing up, when necessary, for a man who's been lied about repeatedly - whether I agree with him or not - is one of my standards. My own personal integrity demands it.

The NFL owners and commissioner are obviously the hypocrites many "big business rich folks" have the reputation for being. This makes me sad. Having been to only one NFL game and only because Lovely Daughter was there to perform with her cheer squad at half time, I can't exactly do what Mr. Muller has done.

But I would.

Tuesday with Thomas

Our retreat was everything it was created to be, and as usual I am STILL a bit...out of sync. It isn't as far off my routine as it is off Duffy's, but evidently it doesn't take much to throw me out of whack these days. I may post a picture or 2 later, depends on how much time I have and whether I can make my brain take orders.

Tuesdays are the days I read, post, and comment on Thomas Sowell's most recent column, and today is no exception. With one exception. My brain isn't taking orders just yet, and I have no comment on this column - I merely ask that you read it, to get the reasoning behind this Wisdom:

"The courts should not be the only line of defense. Common decency should be the first line of defense..."

For now, I'm getting some coffee and a bite to eat. Thanks for stopping by!

Retreat

In order to keep my sanity and sense, I help lead a personal growth Retreat every six months. This is then. Will return Sunday afternoon, but have no idea when I'll be posting again, as My Chief has Mondays off. Might jump back here then, but might still be dealing with Retreat Headache...just have to wait and see. Hope your weekend is productive and restful.

See you next week!