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A perfectly healthy sentence, it is true, is extremely rare. For the most part we miss the hue and fragrance of the thought; as if we could be satisfied with the dews of the morning or evening without their colors, or the heavens without their azure.
-- Henry David Thoreau
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Had breakfast with my mom today and she had a portrait photo of my grandmother at age 27, so I took a picture of it with my cell phone:  Pretty cool. |
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A friend of mine sent this to me:  |
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I've been reading with interest the recent threads over at conservative blog, HotAir, regarding Joe Wurzelbacher - aka Joe the Plumber - and his semi-celebrity status. Evidently, some in the Republican party, such as McCain supporter and Internet guy Patrick Ruffini, don't like the fact that Joe has been elevated to some sort of "spokesperson" status. He's on news shows and delivers his comments, he wrote a book, and he recently became a news correspondent for Pajamas Media. The problem I have with this critique is that those who lend it are also critical of Palin's folksy manner, hoot over Jindal's wooden reply to Obama's speech, and otherwise faint at the mere whiff of some conservative performance that the Big Media folks won't accept and praise. While I agree that it's always best to have an excellent speech delivered with a smooth Reaganesque efficiency, I think that there's room for many voices at the table. I mean really... are we looking for a single person to front the conservative perspective? If so, isn't that a bit messianic, the very criticism we give so many on the left who raise Obama to heights undeserved? I rather prefer the Army of Davids approach. Can we get rid of the central planning/messianic expectation? Because it's not helping this country become better... |
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A little lunchtime fun today...  (If you're wondering why "trauma" is misspelled, it's because Barack's tenure in the White House is so not about U.) ETC: Bought the domain and changed the graphic a bit... |
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I've been spending a lot of time on web site work lately. The new server allows me to create as many web sites as I have domains. So one of the sites is a dedicated guvsux.com. It has my political cartoons, and as soon as my work settles into a groove, I'll get back to cartooning and more art. I'm not done with guvsux... I want to put comments and such on it, but I wanted the look of it to be irreverant and rebellious. It's enough for right now... I've also created forwardynamics.com, which is the more business side of me. My original blog, Opinion Paper, is revived a bit. It's missing some parts, but the gist of it is there. It was my first big web site effort. Kind of fun to revisit it. A couple of others are being shown for commercial purposes... let's see how it goes :) |
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Earlier this week, I visited my grandmother and took her to Panera. It was the first time she had ever been there.  I love her smile. She ate a pecan braid... and discovered that she likes caramel latte. |
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I'm re-reading Atlas Shrugged, and just a few pages into it, I find this: When [Eddie Willers] came to Fifth Avenue, he kept his eyes on the windows of the stores he passed. There was nothing he needed or wished to buy but he liked to see the display of goods, any goods, objects made by men, to be used by men. He enjoyed the sight of a prosperous street... What does it say that our political class - starting with this president - can't stand up for and set an expectation of success and achievement in America? Why play figurehead to the derision of some for prosperity and wealth?I look forward to the day when our politicians enjoy the sight of a prosperous street, take pride in it, and again showcase the successful as an example to all. |
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I've moved web servers, so a few things here on the site might be a bit jumbled, like the order of my art and photos in the gallery. I've checked most of the pages and I think things are okay. The move will allow me to do more with my other domains and segregate their respective databases better, which is cool. |
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How to Achieve World Peace |
Why do wars happen? Because either someone wants territory/possessions that someone else has (land grab), or because someone wants to control the behavior of someone else (power grab). In both cases, it begins with a lack of respect for the sovereignty of others. Every individual and every state has the right to its own things and to determine its own destiny. Peace happens when people and nations are respected to be left to themselves to enjoy what's theirs and to make their own decisions. The most curious thing to me is that a good number of those who call for "world peace" are the ones who least want to respect the property and decisions of others. They want access to the money of the rich via overbearing taxation and they want to coerce behavior into their vision of how it ought to be. Neither of which they have a right to do. Taking what doesn't belong to them and restricting the freedom of others to choose their own way angers people. And it should. Theft and coercion are wrong - evil, even. Want world peace? As Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." Leave others alone to keep what they earn and to live their own lives. Funny, but that's pretty much what was written into our country's Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. When those who call for world peace preach a respect for the unalienable right of liberty and self-determinmation for everyone, I'll take them seriously. Otherwise, they're just despots in miniature, trying to grab what isn't theirs and bringing about anything but peace in the process. |
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Ten Alternative Ways to Stimulate the Economy |
Obama and the Democrat congress aren't serious at all about stimulating the economy. Instead, they're selfishly giving money to their donors and allies at the expense of us and our kids' future earnings. Jason Lewis says it best when he explains it this way: Politicians who invest taxpayer money don't do so for the maximum financial return on investment, but invest money instead for the maximum political return on investment. Theirs is a political motive, not a profit motive. Theirs is self-interest, not your interest. So here are my ten alternatives to stimulate the economy, all of which run rings around the proposals of Obama/Pelosi/Reid. Instead of $800 billion given to the never-solvent Amtrak, the reduction of the hazard of lead-based paint, and stop smoking campaigns - none of which helps the unemployed or tanking homeowner - how about these proposals for the $800 billion: - For the next year, freeze all federal and social security taxes on any hours worked beyond 30 for per hour workers to provide incentive for people to work more.
- Freeze all federal and social security taxes on any person in default on their home mortgage.
- Provide money to allow homeowners to defer payments on their mortgage if they lose their income.
- Provide $10,000 start-up capital for anyone who comes forward with a viable business plan.
- Provide full/partial scholarships to public colleges/universities for young entrepeneurs with a viable business plan.
- For those who have started a small business in the last two years, freeze all federal and social security taxes.
- Double the tax credits given to those who donate to non-profits that help those in need.
- Provide tuition assistance to students who attend colleges/universities who create expedited training programs for unemployed workers.
- Charge the Department of Commerce with amplifying the success stories of those small businesses who make a profit and can provide a "lessons learned."
- Resolve to veto any legislation with politician-supplied earmarks - because frivolous spending will only worsen things in the long-term.
The difference between my approach and those of Obama/Pelosi/Reid is that mine focuses on creating jobs and helping people maintain their wealth (their home). Relatively little in the Obama/Pelosi/Redit approach has any concern whatsoever with actual people in need - because, in truth, they don't care about actual people in need.Here's what Massachussettes' embarrassment had to say about giving the little people stimulus money: If you put a tax cut into the hands of a business or family, there's no guarantee that they're going to invest that or invest it in America.They're free to go invest anywhere that they want if they choose to invest. So there you go, America. You're just not smart enough to know what to do with your money. Instead, trust politicians with your money.There are a bunch of idiots in Washington who've never had to worry about money or make a payroll. They are irresponsible and they need to hear from you about it. ETC: Just a bit of further explanation. An economy is driven by the velocity of money. What stops the velocity of money is uncertainty. So I'll ask you this - what will put the brakes on the economy more: people being unemployed or people not having more information about quitting smoking? People losing their homes to foreclosure or Amtrak having another bad year? Which causes more uncertainty in our nation's economy: the hazards of lead-paint or small businesses going under? Look at where the politicians are spending the stimulus money. They're doing almost nothing to allay uncertainty in the marketplace, and in fact by spending so much money so wastefully, they're only increasing the uncertainty in the marketplace. That's why these "leaders" of ours are completely clueless and can't be trusted. Geez... I spent twenty minutes thinking up my little list, and I didn't even graduate from college. Surrounded by so much brainpower in Washington and for his much touted Harvard education, that's all Obama's got? That's it? Pelosi and Reid can't do any better than that puny list? And the real crime - the shame - is that the press corps can't muster an honest critique for all its doe-eyed adoration of our president. Hope? You have got to be kidding... |
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