The next election.

I want to vote the Democrats out of office but I don't want to vote the Republicans in.

Obama versus Bush

Democrats are still blaming Bush for today's economic woes. They say it will take Obama much longer than two years to fix Bush's mess. Exactly how long will it be before it stops being George Bush's fault and how long does Obama need to fix the mess?

The biggest thing Bush did wrong was trust Donald Rumsfeld's judgement on running the war effort. The housing bubble bursting is the biggest culprit in our economic troubles and while it is true that financial institutions had policies and practices in place that lead to the bubble and its collapse, one has to remember that congress, not the President inacts legislation and congress was controlled by the Democrats. Remember who was in charge of Fannie Mae and who his lover was?

Obama's failed policies are being blamed on the Republican minority. He faces no more obstacles than Bush did; in fact, his party has a majority.

Bush wasn't a good President but he wasn't nearly as bad as others. I won't mention names but one of them's initials were Jimmy Carter.

I'm not saying that we would have been better off with McCain and Palin. But I do believe we will be better off without Obama in the Oval Office.

love my Computer

On my computer i didn't install sanboxie, a big mistake. Some one hijacked my e-mail account and all the people on my list received one or more ads for viagra and other services. I apologized to the all and dropped that e-mail account. Still, it wrecked havoc in my new computer. I got rid of the two trojin virurses left my the hijacker but my flash player was corrupted and would not work, I could not access my rr e-mail nor could I ask for help from my cable provider.

Even going back in time solved no problems but I need not have worried. Windows seven fixed the problem with just a touch of a button. Of course, all my files were delected but with a back-up disk and/or backup file services, one won't lose a thing.

In case you are unfamiliar with Sandboxe, it is a program that runs your web pages and places everything in a box. It doesn't matter is a file is infected or a virus came in on your e-mail account or one a link that looked too good not to click on, because once you go off the internet, everything in sandboxie is gone too. Nothing every enyters your computer and nothing can infect your computer.

There are time when one can't use Sandboxie. If you want to down load a new security system or load updates to your computer or save to file those cute pictures of the new grandbaby, you have to do that without benefit of sandboxie because, like I mentioned earlier, once you go off the internet, everything you did is gone too.

had I been on Sandboxie, none of you would have received an apology for the hijacked emails because, of course, there would have been no need to apologize for something that didn't happen.

Again, windows 7 is great.

Yard gifts

The story about the woman who bec ame angry and returned a yard gift left by her neighbor's dog helped me recall zsome presents my neigbors left me once. My front yard was littered with little packages wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with red ribbon. There must have been several dozen of these little bundles of rocks.

It seems my neighbors thought I had picked up their newspaper and brought it to their front porch. Now if I had done that, one would think they might have been gratgefull for they were in their eighties and it is a long walk down their drive to where their paper was usually delivered.

Life is much better when we don't take things so seriously.

The Dismal Swamp

When I was in college, my best friend and roommate decided one day to change to a different school; one located on the other side of the Dismal swamp. One day I was missing my friend as he never kept in contact with me so I decided to go visit. having no mode of transportation other than what God had given me, I set out on my journey figuring it would take several hours at the longest. Rides were far fewer and for shorter distances than going from Murfreesboro to Hickory. I left a nine in the morning and it was well after one before I finally arrived. I was hungry but pretty much broke and the diner I stopped in wanted to charge me for a glass of water. I went thirsty.

Sad thing was, my friend had joined the navy. I never heard from him again.

I'll never forget that hard trip, the frustration, the cop who hassled me, telling me I could hitchhike or walk but not do both. He kept coming back to see what I was up to. The best part of the trip was going through a small town with a hand painted sign indicating the number of residents. I remember receiving one ride and the man had his radio on and the news told of a man killed in a car wreck. He was from that little town. On my return trip, they had changed the sign.

I miss my friend and think of him whenever I hear about the Dismal Swamp. I wonder if he ever went to one of our high school reunions. I wonder if her ever thinks about me.

Sports writer rant

Just finished reading an article on the Michigan/Notre Dame game. The sports writer first described the last play of the game, then the next to last play of the game, then a play which tied the game at 7 apiece, then a game that tied the game at 14, then who passed to whom and who ran the ball.

Why start at the end, go to the middle then to the beginning and then start towards the end, then start describing the same plays again from the running backs perspective versus the coach's or quarterback's angle?

I could make more sense of what happened during the game if the writer would start at the beginning and describe what happened up until the end. If one starts with the end of the game, then just leave it there and quit the flash back crap. Writing in circles just makes the article harder to understand and I most often don't bother to finish reading it.

I know one is taught in journalism school to get the most important stuff up front and then fill in the details later in case the article needs to be shortened but there has to be a better way. How about something like, after three tie scores and five lead changes, Team A pulled an upset in overtime with a fake field goal.

There, everthing important is there.

Tea Party

In my book "Feet of Clay" I predicted a Democratic victory with a minority candidate (however I wrote that the candidate was a woman). After this crushing defeat, the Republican party disintegrated and was replaced by another political party. It wasn't the Tea Party but it came into existence for much the same reasons.

The first minority male to win election was in the 2012 election after a disastrous four years under the Democrats. That seems likely to happen too.

But in today's world, Tea party backed candidates have had strong showings and veteran law makers are being ousted. "Politics as usual" is cited as a thing of the past. Why should we swap a evil Democrat for an evil Republican. We should elect people who have never had the chance to be evil before.

Some fear that Tea Party candidates are not going to fare as well as more established Republican would have but it's all about who can get their supporters out to vote.

I am not against an idea just because it was thought of by a Democrat nor am I for an idea because it has been put forth by a Republican. An idea should be able to stand on its own merits. If it doesn't, it should be cast aside.

It seems the new way of thinking is that if you can't give me a good reason why we should not change our way of thinking, then we should entertain the new idea. For example, if you can't give me one good reason women shouldn't be allowed to vote, then we will allow them to vote. If you can't give me a good reason why same sex couples should not get married, then we should allow them to marry.

My the same reasoning, if a mother is allowed to kill her baby before birth then why doesn't she have the right to kill it after birth? It may still be the product of rape or incest or make life difficult for a teen aged mother. it could be that the youngster was convinced that she could handle motherhood but after the birth of the baby discovered it was way too much for her.

See, one has to be careful in their thought process.

I hate the idea of people going hungry or being homeless (been there, done that) but I also dislike the idea that I have to support people that are capable of supporting themselves but are too lazy or too trifling to hold a steady job.

I like the idea of universal health care. With the system we have now coverage is too expensive if one does not have a job that pays a big portion of the costs. But I also don't think that you should have to pay my doctor bills because I am too lazy to work or to pay that cost for my family because I am too sorry to get married and too cheap to buy coverage for my kids.

maybe the Tea Party condidates have some answers for us or maybe they will wake up the politicians that are able to hold unto their seats. Inspire us, Tea Party candidates to do a better job.

It's a slow day when only one customer gets pissed.

The health department has many rules and they are designed to protect the health of food service customers. The meat department handles raw poultry, beef, and pork therefore the health department will no longer allow us to handle opened cooked product because of the chances of cross-contaimination. To my knowledge, no one has ever became sick from a food born illness as a result of mishandling of product or cross-contaimination in any meat department in which I have worked but I still must follow the law.

Today a man came by the meat department while I was out to lunch and handed the man in seafood a cooked boneless ham quater and asked him to slice it. He had no idea how and as I just returning from lunch he asked me how to slice the ham for the man. I told him we couldn't do it in the meat department but before I had the opportunity to finish my sentence he said "Why?"

"It's cooked product and besides, we don't have a slicer. It will have to be taken to the Deli to be sliced."

The customer heard our conversation and he spoke rather loudly "Well foret it."

"Sir, we will slice your ham. We just have to do it in another department."

"No, just forget it?"

I hate that I lost a sell and a customer went home unhappy but his unhappiness was his own fault. It would have only taken 30 seconds to have walked over to the Deli and have the ham sliced for him. He either has to go home without the ham he wanted or he will have to go to another grocery store and start the process all over because only Food Lionand harris Teeter still cut meat and if their meat cutters follow the law like they should, he will have to wait while they take it to the Deli to slice it for him.

Patience is a vurtue.

Going to the doctor can get you arrested

Many years ago my son had an infection of the scalp so I took him to the doctor who prescribed some medication which didn't work. He went back to the doctor and got a different prescription which didn't work either. He had to go back several more times and if I hadn't used an old oriental remedy, he may have seen a different doctor as well.

The Sheriff's association and SBI want permission to access the prescription data base to look for violations of the prescription laws. Of course they promise they will only look at the data base if they have reason to believe a particular person is violating the law. I would like to think I could trust the cops but I would also like to think I could trust pro sectors to seek justice too but many will cover up the truth in order to get a conviction. The SBI crime lab is being audited now to determine how many people have been wrongfully convicted because they covered up evidence that they were innocent.

Recently, a young man convicted of killing his morning was set free when the evidence of his innocence was found in the files of the man who prosecuted him. More recently and locally is the prosecutor who withheld or ignored evidence so he could try 5 men on rape charges. The truth was that no rape occurred and if one had occurred, the five Duke lacrosse players accused of it could not have done it anyway. Eye witnesses accounts, a changing story by the accuser and DNA evidence all excluded the accused by Wilfong was determined to get a conviction.

No, law enforcement and legal representatives cannot always be trusted. I can foresee the time when a couple wants to adopt a child so a law enforcement person or someone who has a friend in law enforcement has information looked up on the people and finds that one of them had been treated for cancer and uses that fact against them in the adoption process. Maybe someone will dig into the background of a political candidate looking for leverage.

I'm sure there are other ways this information can be used to cause oneself harm but that really doesn't matter. If one has nothing to hide it still doesn't change the fact that my medical condition is none of your damn business.

If the police have reasonable caused to believe one is obtaining prescriptions illegally by visiting numerous doctors, they let them present their case before a judge and get a court order to view your prescription history. If the prescription data base works properly, the those who seek out various doctors to get the same medicine from will be identified and doctors will cut them off.

I don't buy into the argument that the jails can't handle all the prisoners so we should not prosecute. We would just have to seek out different forms of punishment or incareration, like home monitoring, property forfeiture, hefty fines, or teeth extrations (that was just to see if you were paying attention).

New Comedy routine

Obama to take GOP to task on economy, tax cuts

International Burn a Korna (Quaran) Day part 2

I'm glad thge pastor that sonsored the Internation burn a Quran Day changed his mind and abandoned the idea. The most shocking thing about this whole incident was the Muslim reaction. One man said he wanted to strap himself in bombs and go to a Christian church and blow everything up. One man promised a war like no other. Protests and threats of violence are everywhere.

Kind of hard to convince people that islam is a peaceful religion with reactions like that.

International Burn a Koran Day

Believe it or not, Jews, Christians and Muslims all worship the very same God, the God of Abraham and Jacob. Where the conflict is began with Abraham and Sarah. God had promised Abraham a son and he was getting old so Sarah suggested he sleep with Hannah, the women who took car of Sarah. He did and a son was born. He was the first born son of Abraham but he was not the son that God had promised Abraham. When Issac was born, the promised was fulfilled and to avoid conflict between Hanna's son and Sarah's son, Sarah suggested that Abraham turn Hanna out of the camp, which he did.

Christians accept Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah, Jews reject Jesus outright, and Muslims believe Jesus Christ was a great prophet but not the son of God. Muslims believe the Abrahamic Covenant should have been made with them and the Jews stole that birthright from them.

Both the Koran and the Old Testament have some cruel teachings in them. The biggest difference between the three religions centers around Christ. The Korean and the Old Testament are books of law. Christ said that he came not to change the law but that the law through Him is fulfilled. he ushered in the age of grace.

What that means, simplified, is that we are no longer required to obey the law and are not under the penalty of the law but we are now under grace. Christ paid the penalty of the law for us. The Jewish religion and the Muslim religion are all religions of law, not grace.

Jesus had harsh words for the Pharisees, not because they didn't accept him, but because he saw them as perverters of the Jewish religion, paying more attention to pomp and circumstance than to the spirit of the law.

I believe that is where the founder of "International Burn a Korean Day" has missed the mark. His burning of the Koran serves no purpose but to spread hate and is a show. That act lacks the love that Christ showed towards his friends and enemies alike and is not the spirit in which He wanted his followers to live in. Christ dieing on the cross said of those that were crucifying Him and those that accused him as well as the one who convicted Him "Forgive them, for they know not what they do."

half-full or empty

I hate that analogy of whether one is optimistic or not. Waitresses must think we are all pessimists because when one gets to half of a glass, the waiter or waitress will refill ones glass. To me, it depends on whether I'm filling the glass up or drinking the contents as to if it is half full or half empty.

I'm more of a realist. I have half a glass of liquid. it doesn't matter whether I want more or am happy with what I have- it is still only a half a glass of liquid.

Spring cleaning

Once upon a time it dawned on pond owners thar inspite of due deligence in pond maintenance, one still had to pull the liner out from time to time and give the pond a good cleaning. Normally pond cleaning is done in the spring to remove fallen leaves but I didn't clean mine this spring and with my water level low, I decided not only to clean the pond but to dig it deeper since my fish have grown large and had babies.

I caught the bigger fish and put into the little pond. I knew they wouldn't be happy but they will really enjoy their new home once I get it ready for them. It took me over an hour to catch all the little baby goldfish wish I could have saved them all, but there is always collateral damage no matter how careful one is.

It was getting to dark to continue working last night so I came inside, changed out of my wet clothes, took a shower, and sat down to my computer when someone knocked on my door. It was my neighbor and she was holding Showa. "Tyler found your fish,." shed said.

Fish will do that you know. Unhappy fish will try to leave their environment and showa jumped out of the small pond and flopped down to the neighbors yard. Their five year old, Tyler, saw my fish and told his mother.

I owe him a reward.

The fish can go home once the pond is put back together and we have a good rain.

Pet Pictures

picure1: Showa, Shark, Spot
2: Old yeller, Spot, Showa
3: Showa
4: Spot
5: Shark, Showa, Old Yeller

Not pictured is the babies. One baby looks like Shark (black and orange) and the other baby is white with an orange spot on its head. There was a third baby which looked like Showa (three colors) but it perished, maybe at the mouth of our neighbor's dog, maybe of natural causes. I couldn't recover the body as my neigbor's boxer jumped into the pond. By the time i got the dog out, got the problem settle for that day, there wasn't time left to do it and the carcass wasn't available later.

I haven't been able to photograph the babies yet but they are actually larger than the adults were when I put them in the pond last year. Anyone having a good home for a koi or two keep in mind I may have some for adoption next year.