Subtle oak flavor;Pleasing finish

The T4 wars, Part 8: My second year of thyroid illness

2011-10-12T10:49:00.000-04:00

I am well into my second year of sickness due to the removal of my thyroid.

I don't feel that ill this week. This is great because I know thyroidless people who go 10 or 20 years in misery. But I am recovering somewhat, mainly because I have gone my own way.

First, I am an endocrinologist now. As C Kurt Alexander of Muncie Indiana yelled at me "I am an endocrinologist! I took your TSH! I don't CARE how you feel." So, since the only requirement for being an endocrinologist is learning to read a TSH test, I am now an endocrinologist. The only differences, and I admit they are critical, are that:

1 I know there is something wrong with that TSH test and I don't dose my thyroid hormone based on TSH test results.

2 I care how I feel (which by C Kurt Alexander's definition makes me a GP as well. My honors are just adding up.)

So, I now take, exclusively, four grains of Thyroid S from Thailand. My TSH tests are low (natch), which, to us endocrinologists, means I am hyper. My T4 tests normal and my T3 tests high.

In terms of symptoms, I actually had an idea yesterday. AN IDEA. AMAZING. Do you realize how unbelievable original thinking is for someone who has had a lobotomy... er I mean a thyroidectomy? It is unheard of. Most of the time I complain about brain fog to which my own GP responded that I should retire. Rueful laugh. None of you are getting off quite that easy.

Also, the lingering symptom of my eyes. I see double. A neat little post-surgery treat which is also not C Kurt Alexander's problem because he took a TSH test. Prism glasses have helped me work on the computer, but going places like Wal-Mart with a very busy vista of clothes and boxes, is difficult for me to sort out.

Besides these symptoms, all of my other symptoms are hypo symptoms, not hyper symptoms. If C Kurt Alexander had taken my TSH test this time, he would have instantly seen (as I did, since I now know as much about surgical hypothyroidism as C Kurt Alexander) that the test results say I am hyper. He would have ignored the fact that I am usually tired, disinterested, gaining weight, constipated, hay-like hair, dry skin.... in short, I APPEAR to be hypO -- not enough thyroid hormone. That's what we call in the endocrinologist trade, clinical presentation. As C Kurt Alexander pointed out to me in his tirade, as endos, we ignore clinical presentation and take a TSH test.

But, luckily, ME to the rescue! As a combination endocrinologist, GP, and patient, I do not ignore symptoms, which makes me a kind of super-endo. I ignored the TSH test. I did not reduce my dose. And, zounds, brain fog lifted enough for me to have an idea.

I'm starting to think the TSH test is just for laughs but, if that were true, I wouldn't be an endocrinologist anymore and I hear that they have great conventions.

The T4 Wars: Experimenting - Part 7

2011-02-22T10:55:00.003-05:00

At the time I left the Happy Nigerian, my TSH was 6+, a high number that indicates hypothyroidism. But TSH tests are moving targets. They can be different at various times of the day or week. I was certainly more hypo than the numbers indicated.

I was going into thyroid psychosis. At night, as I lay in bed, I heard people calling my name. I would jump up. Someone was outside the fence calling to me. But no one was there. I thought I was having a sort of waking dream.

Later I realized that these auditory hallucinations were the result of being too hypothyroid for too long. My previous doctor, C Kurt Alexander of Muncie IN, relentlessly followed TSH tests. These tests variously led him to reduce my meds or not raise them enough. Since, like all Endocrinologists, he doesn't consider symptoms, he did not see me slipping deeply into the hypo zone. Or he did not care. Probably both.

A month after taking the higher dose recommended by the Happy Nigerian, I was feeling better and no longer hearing voices. But the double vision and mind fog persisted.

I decided to take matters into my own hands.

From Mexico, I ordered T3 tabs, called cynomel in Mexico. From Thailand, I ordered Thyroid S, a tablet containing about 75% T4 and 25% T3.

T3 is the active hormone in the thyroid nexus. In normal people, T3 is made by a conversion process from T4 (the hormone contained in Synthroid and Levoxl). I wanted to see if T3 would improve my thinking and double vision.

It did but my experiments were not entirely successful.

I tried cutting down my T4 tab and adding half a T3 tab. Then adding T3, half tab, in the evening and morning. I tried taking a full dose of T4 and then adding half tabs of Thryoid S.

After six months, my experiments had both failed and succeeded. The failure was instructive. Taking a full dose of T3, propelled me into panic attacks so severe that I spent literally hours every day gasping for breath. I could not tolerate people around me. Could not tolerate 'problems.' I found myself in the emergency room where Ativan solved most of the panic symptoms. But I had definitely found the wrong dose of T3.

I was angry. Why the hell didn't my doctors use their freaking experience and help me find a combination that worked? Why was it left up to me?

The T4 wars - Part 6 - Words mean nothing

2010-12-09T11:39:00.005-05:00

I told my pleasant, new endo, the Happy Nigerian, that I felt fine, though I was suffering. My previous Endo, C Kurt Alexander of Muncie IN, had threatened to let me die before he would change my treatment. My GP showed me that she would play along with the Endo. I felt trapped with no choices: I had to comply and that meant stop telling them I had no hypo symptoms. I would then get the hormone I needed to live.

So I said I was fine and the new endo took another TSH test.

This time, the TSH test, taken one month after my 'normal' test, showed that I was hypo.

I laughed to myself when the doctor's nurse called up with the test results. She said the new endo was raising my dose of T4. Surely a patient's words do mean nothing. Telling a doc I was sick meant nothing. Telling a doc I was well meant nothing. Only the TSH test, which had proved to be something of a moving target, was to be believed.

I started to feel as if I were running out of time. I might not survive another six months in search of a perfect dose. I took the new dose of T4, but every day I also added another sliver of a leftover pill, adding what I guessed to be about 25 mgs more T4 than prescribed.

After two weeks on the new (and padded) dose of T4, my muscle pain was nearly gone. I was still in a fog and still felt as if I were walking through and breathing syrup. And now I started to be fearful about my next doctor's appointment. I had put myself at the high end of the accepted T4 dose. If my next TSH test showed a dip into the normal range, my T4 dose would be cut again. I would again be in agony, not just fog.

Now I had to ask: Is there anywhere else for me to go? Any other choices? Could I doctor shop or was there an alternative.

The T4 wars - Part 5 - How are you feeling?

2010-12-09T11:27:00.002-05:00

My new doctor - whom I named in my head 'The Happy Nigerian' - looked at my old blood test results and made noises of understanding. While examining me, he said casually, 'How are you feeling?"

How was I feeling? I had barely dragged myself to the appointment. My husband drove; I slept as much as I could. The air was syrup and I was trying to breath it. I had suddenly developed double vision. I was freezing cold. I was fragile... that was a very strange part. Subtle changes in my body and environment made me anxious and panicked. FRAGILE? ME? Impossible! No one, meeting me for the first time, at least PRE-surgery would EVER think I was fragile. And yet I was so fragile I couldn't choose between three options (two I might have a chance); could not drive; could not bear emotion in the people around me. Suddenly I was incompetent in my own world.

A couple weeks earlier, I told the Endocrinologist C Kurt Alexander of Muncie IN how I felt and he raged at me: How you feel has nothing to do with me! You have a symptom, go see your GP! You will die before I prescribe (another treatment)!

And I did go see my GP who, to my astonishment, played along with the Endo, pretending that I had suddenly become mentally ill or, as an alternative, I had a brain tumor. To my doctors, I realized with real revulsion, nothing I was feeling was acceptable to them. To my doctors, I was cured and functioning normally. The TSH tests said I was 'in normal range' and my doctors now embarked on a mission to convince me that the way I was feeling had nothing whatsoever to do with my thyroid hormone levels.

On these doctors, I was dependent for my very life, a reality Alexander had put a fine point on. I would die without their treatment, however ineffective it was or how sick it left me.

So now, when I heard my nice new doctor ask me " How are you feeling? " I played along.

"I am fine."

The Happy Nigerian gave me a satisfied 'Good' and ordered a TSH test.

The T4 wars - Part 4 - Standard (and cruel) therapy

2010-12-09T10:35:00.008-05:00

After the Endocrinologist C Kurt Alexander told me I would die (and he would presumably let me) before he prescribed another thyroid therapy, I went home to suffer -- but also search for answers.

In desperation, I searched the Internet for information on thyroid treatment, for any glimmer of hope that I would ever feel better. I learned that there are two main thyroid hormones T4, the hormone that stays in the body for a long time, and T3, a short-lasting hormone that is actually created by the T4 hormone. It is the T3 hormone that has much to do with metabolism and energy.

Patients suffer, that's the way it works

Like all patients, I was being give synthetic T4, in low doses that the doctor would raise ever-so-slowly, until finally I would fit inside a 'normal range' on a test called TSH. Patient suffering is understood to be a part of this treatment, a medically approved cruelty probably unequalled among modern medical practices. While doctors raise the dosages (and some docs take years to raise the dosage), patients suffer a plethora of profoundly disturbing symptoms: agonizing muscle pain, extreme fatigue and disinterest, cognitive changes, loss of hair and skin tone that makes their appearance age rapidly, breathing difficulties, digestive disruption, and more.

The idea is that, since synthetic T4 can be administered in very low increments, doctors can get the patient to test in the center of the TSH test range. Thus, a patient in the middle of the 'normal' TSH range is assumed to feel well. If the patient claims otherwise, they are lying or something unrelated to thyroid is wrong with them.

An implicit assumption of this treatment is that each patient's body takes the T4 and converts the appropriate amounts into T3, the active hormone. Another assumption: That the T4 dose is always sufficient if in range. Since 'symptoms' can't be taken into consideration, doctors rarely have these assumptions challenged.

Despite his protestation that 'everyone feels great' on thyroid therapy, Alexander's hostile response made me suspect everyone did not feel great on T4 therapy. I suspected that he, along with most Endocrinologists, were being inundated with unhappy thyroid patients, who were difficult to manage and who insisted they felt badly when his test, the TSH test, suggested otherwise.

Medicine's dirty little secret

Indeed, thanks to the Internet, the agony of thyroid patients is no longer medicine's dirty little secret. There are hundreds of Internet groups all dedicated to finding a solution to their very bad outcomes from thyroid removal. One quickly suspects that millions of patients, if not all of them, do not feel well on T4 therapy, suffering sometimes for decades at the hands of doctors who have one pill (synthetic T4) and one test (TSH) and contempt for the words of their patients.

It was easy for C Kurt Alexander of Muncie IN to be a petty bully to a hypothyroid patient. Not all docs have that particular bedside manner, but then not all of them are quite so honest as Alexander, either. You see a lot of patients online saying their doctor listens so well, but still the patients are so very ill. My theory is that all mainstream Endos do the exact same thing whether they 'listen' or not: They prescribe one pill and test it with the TSH test. They listen but they do nothing as their patients slowly die. At least C Kurt Alexander stated for the record that he was going to let me die. You have to give him that.

I went in search of a new doctor and my theory was quickly proved.

The T4 wars - Part 3 - You will die

2010-12-07T11:12:00.008-05:00

My Endocrinologist C Kurt Alexander of Muncie Indiana was probably showing off for his young Physician's Assistant when he first started yelling at me:

"I am an ENDOCRINOLOGIST. If you have some kind of symptom, go see your GP! It's not this treatment. Everyone feels great on this treatment."

My treatment was standard: Levoxyl, which I knew to be the synthetic thyroid hormone known as T4.

"BUT my hair is falling out. I'm in pain. I can't think. Surely this has something to do with thyroid treatment?"

At the top of his voice he denied it and repeated that how I was *feeling* was not his concern.

"I'm losing my business. I can't work. What about T3?" I asked, still thinking there had to be possibilities other than me going home to suffer.

C Kurt Alexander of Muncie Indiana said simply: "You will die before I prescribe T3 without the numbers."

In that moment we both knew I would have to find another doctor and Alexander could go back to lazily prescribing insulin and getting to lunch on time. No doubt Alexander was relieved to be rid of another sick thyroid patient; I was alarmed, confused, and in hypothyroid tears.

But later, as I struggled to understand what happened through my thick hypothyroid fog, his statement came back to me. Why was he so against T3 that it would take my very death before he prescribed it?

The T4 wars - Part 2 - The cruel TSH test

2010-12-07T09:29:00.015-05:00

Seven months after Total Thyroidectomy, I was suffering.

Compared to how I felt then, PRE-surgery life seemed pretty good. It had been nearly 10 years since the doctors told me thyroid removal was the only treatment that would restore me to health. Although I felt very well for most of those years, by the time I considered surgery, I was suffering symptoms that caused concern. My thyroid (goiter) had grown so much that it was an obvious lump on the side of my neck, barely covered by my hair. My legs were covered in bumps and so itchy that scratching seemed the only relief, and yet that made them more inflamed. By this time, my legs were scarred from scratching and embarrassing to look at. My quality of thought was problematic. I tended to have racing thoughts, unable to concentrate. I was taking more anti-thyroid meds than ever and, I thought, perhaps they were doing less good. Certainly they were not stopping my goiter from growing. Finally I opted for surgery since less invasive techniques (like Radioactive Iodine to kill the thyroid) would not sufficiently shrink the huge gland.

All of these symptoms were real, the doctors assured me, and would go away with a thyroidectomy.

But all these symptoms, as troubling as they were, could not prepare me for the life-killing treatment that followed, a treatment governed by the cruel medical standard, a measure of thyroid health, called the 'TSH test'

TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is a hormone secreted by the pituitary. When the pituitary senses that the body lacks the thyroid hormones, it sends out a chemical message to the thyroid to produce more hormone. Thus, a high TSH reading supposedly suggests that the body is in need of hormone. A very low TSH supposedly suggests the body has enough or even too much hormone.

Key to the interpretation of TSH, is the normal range determined by the lab doing the testing. Doctors believe that, to be normal, patients must fall in the center of the lab's manufactured range.

Before surgery, my TSH was very low. My thyroid was pumping out too much hormone, causing my racing thoughts. Surgery stopped the pumping and for the first few months, I was put on very low doses of replacement thyroid hormone.

At first I felt great. I have heard others say that their brains went on vacation post surgery and that was exactly how I felt: Calm and composed. That didn't last.

By the third month, I had double vision. My hair was coming out in clumps. I was in constant, severe muscle pain. Painfully constipated. Extreme fatigue and exhaustion characterized all of my days and I felt that I was swimming through a dream world. I lost the ability to spell. I lost the ability to use complicated software. Indeed, I lost the ability to make a to-do list or think ahead to the next step in a project. I lost all interest in my appearance, my home, and my work. I was gaining weight (an expected side effect). I frequently felt I could not breathe, though I felt air going to my lungs. I suffered from heartburn. I was freezing cold and I lived with gloves that still could not stop the biting cold in my fingers and toes. I was dizzy and unbalanced. I started to panic at small changes in my environment. I wondered if I had lost my sanity along with my ability to think. And my legs were still itchy.

I was about to discover that, no matter how miserable my post-thyroidectomy world, no doctor would take my misery seriously.

The T4 wars - Part 1 - Total Thyroidectomy

2010-12-07T00:01:00.011-05:00

I'll confess at the beginning of this as to my biases. I have little respect for doctors. I think they are narrow minded and uncreative, always preferring to cling to the great truths they learned in medical school even in the presence of evidence to the contrary.

This is a story of evidence to the contrary: The long cruel treatment that robbed me for months of any quality of life, all at the hands of physicians.

It wasn't that long ago in medical history that physicians regarded leeches and bleeding as the standard treatment of disease of all kinds, though they knew from observation the treatment seemed to kill patients more often, if ever, than cure them.

Today doctors similarly distrust the evidence of their eyes and, like the fictional Dr House, assume all patients are at best lying or at worst neurotic.

Physicians are useful insofar as they can accurately report what they observe in similar patients, which rarely happens, and offer information on treatments, assuming they actually keep up with treatments.

Unlike most of the non-compliant patients I know, I respect Big Pharma. Whatever 'cures' are ours today, come from pharmaceutical companies. I would merely prefer not to have doctors between me and pharmaceuticals.

I have no use for 'natural' cures: herbs, vitamins and the like. I think they are stuff and nonsense. If herbs cured anything, Big Pharma would have long ago packaged them into a pill (or I guess they HAVE packaged effective herbs into pills).

Recently I was, after a span of nearly a decade, finally persuaded to have my thyroid removed. I knew at the beginning this was going to deliver me into the hands of the doctors I so little respect. The thyroid is the engine of the body. Without it, you MUST have replacement hormone or you will die. Simple as that. Doctors are the purveyors of thyroid hormone. One has little choice but to visit doctors after a thyroidectomy. They hold life in their hands.

I resolved early on to adopt a benign attitude toward doctors and give their treatment a chance. When I consented to this surgery, my GP, frustrated by years of dealing with me, the non-compliant patient, sent little love notes to my surgeon in the form of background informing the surgeon of my resistant ways. The surgeon apparently told the nurses (who so wonderfully cared for me in recovery) about my heresy and one said to me: If you will simply TRUST US...

Nurses are creatures of healing and if you have ever been in the hands of one you will agree to anything they say and I resolved to TRUST.

For a while.

Today, having been misused and aggressively abused by doctors, I apologize to the great nurses who healed me from surgery for no longer trusting, but, as you will see, this is the only lucid course for a patient who wishes to be well.

In the next few posts, I want to discuss how the Internet and the Doctor Culture have collided to create huge groups of noncompliant patients ( I am one) who know a lot about their illness, but also fall into unscientific traps that are harmful to themselves and others. The Doctor Culture has miserably failed to meet the information age and, in effect, has created and helped grow these 'noncompliant groups.'

If you are a woman (most often woman but sometimes man, too) who is facing a thyroidectomy, the total removal of the thyroid, this is the story you will live, although you soon won't think you will live through it.

OBAMA'S top priority is not jobs

2010-02-05T09:54:00.002-05:00

If it were we wouldn't STILL be waiting for a jobs bill.

Why does this seem so obvious to people?

2010-02-03T16:44:00.003-05:00

"If you don't believe in global warming, you are actually saying that SIX BILLION PEOPLE couldn't warm the planet!"

Cough. Yes. That is, yes, I do not believe SIX BILLION people can warm the planet.

Why do I keep seeing this argument from the credulous global warming crowd? I suspect that it is a lower-level argument aimed at the gullible who have no idea how large the earth is or how ancient. These are the same people who think THREE TRILLION is nothing in the federal budget, but think SIX BILLION people are unsustainable on the earth.

I suspect that argument resonates with liberals who check their horoscope regularly, love buddhism, can't do their own 1040-EZ, wonder why we haven't colonized Mars, and go around opining that, according to evolution, the giraffe's long neck was designed to reach high branches of trees.

Barack Obama's tentacles

2009-12-17T18:46:00.003-05:00

I hate to be a scrooge. What I have to tell you, however, is based on my experience with a business that has customers from every part of the country. It's not as if I'm writing from Michigan where NO ONE ANYWHERE is working and never will be so long as the Democrats are in charge there. No friends, my business spans the country and I'm here to tell you this:

This is not a recession.

NO ONE has money to spend. No one anywhere. You might see a little dip or little uptick in unemployment but that number, if it is calculated fairly at all, is preparing to skyrocket.

While Congress and the President crucify the financial sector, keep this in mind. They haven't merely killed 'evil mortgage brokers.' While they make bonuses and reward trips illegal, remember they aren't just killing greedy salespeople. They are killing the usual suspects like the real estate, mortgage, insurance, financial industry but they are also killing industries like travel and meeting. When you kill one industry, the poison drips through the whole economy. You kill the meeting industry, you just don't kill a hotel: You affect airlines, taxi cabs, rental cars, golf courses, bars, bands and every form of transportation and entertainment. You kill catering, beverages, decorating, and the whole array of service jobs occupied by waiters, housekeepers, and small artisans. You kill bakeries and delis and that reaches farms and cattle. Feed stores, farm equipment, grocery stores.

These are the tentacles of Barack Obama's philosophy of poverty.

The next time you cheer when you hear that an evil CEO isn't going to get a bonus. Watch your back. Poverty is coming to a town near you, Bub. And that is courtesy of BO.

So freakin funny

2009-08-05T20:49:00.001-04:00

...despite the gratuitous Bush slam.

But I am Le Tired

Remember When the Left Was Up In Arms About This?

2009-08-04T15:51:00.003-04:00

Neither do I. George W. Bush as the Joker was perfectly fine. A political statement. Now, some wit in Los Angeles has done the same thing to Barack Obama, and it's dangerous.

Soon any criticism of Obama is going to be deemed "dangerous". And punishable. Probably with some new "dangerous political speech" tax. Because you know the Obama Administration is going to need more money. Lots and lots of money.

GROSS ALERT! Bulletin from a nurse friend...

2009-07-23T14:58:00.004-04:00

... these don't work and she's tired of pulling them out of well-meaning earth-friendly liberals.

Diva Cup

Ewww.

Think Republicans are Racists Now? Wait Until The Next Election.

2009-07-06T17:21:00.007-04:00

The Latest.

Racial slurs--uttered by somebody else--makes you evil if you don't condemn them fast enough. Agreeing with somebody, about something else, that later or previously had used a racial epithet that liberals think you should have seen . . . makes you a racist, and you need to be tarred and feathered and, if in office, driven out of it.

It's not enough that these people run the country, control the congress, with control the Supreme Court, and own the auto industry and the banks. They want it all. Every last bit. Every last freedom you have? They want it.

Maybe Vice-Chairman of the Young Republicans, Audra Shay, really meant to say that she liked calling African-Americans a particular racial epithet. I don't know. But she didn't do it.

And you can miss a lot in a given thread of comments. If it happened on Facebook, any Facebook user knows that it's very easy to not see comments, which start getting hidden at a certain point, or posts themselves. Forget to click that little "Show all comments . . . " these days, and it can get you in trouble.

Anyhoo, they also cite "Barack the Magic Negro"--a Rush Limbaugh parody based entirely on the words of a liberal African-American journalist questioning Barack Obama's "authenticity" as an African-American--as an example of "fringe" Republican racism. But leave that little story about the origin of Limbaugh's parody out.

Because they want Republicans to be racists and Nazis--even when the liberals win, even when they are in charge of everything and overseeing the destruction of the Last, Great Hope of Capitalism, they still can't help themselves. Dissent cannot be tolerated.

They are insatiable.

So, look for a lot more of this leading up to the 2012 election. There will be hundreds, if not thousands, of stories of pockets of racism and racial epithets supposedly uttered by, or agreed with by, certain Republicans. There will be RINOs confessing that, yes, the Republican party has a long history of racism and still has a problem with a lot of racists, especially among the Christian Right, today.

If you thought the GOP was racist before, you ain't see nuthin' yet.

Mark my words.

Spooky

2009-06-11T15:52:00.000-04:00

HT: Carpe Diem

Thinking of building a pool? Here are my swimming pool tips

2009-06-09T16:53:00.006-04:00

We built a pool three years ago and, if you are thinking of doing the same, here are my tips for a great inground pool:

1. Larger is better, but is deeper better?

Go long, go wide, but reconsider deep.

One of the best things we did was build a pool that is 4.5 feet deep all the way across (except for a 2 feet or so where it is 3.5 feet). If your pool will be used mainly for adults, this is the perfect depth for playing volleyball, basketball, or standing around drinking beer.

One unexpected consequence of building a long, but shallow pool: We never have to buy pool water. Every fall we drain it half way down and by summertime rain and snow have filled it up again.

Another consequence: Our pool heater can raise the temperature of the pool two degrees in three hours. That makes a HUGE difference. The deeper your pool is, the less likely it is that you can HEAT it. And when you spend a chunk of change on a pool, you want to be able to get in it.

2. Buy the winter cover.
It's pricey but it is worth it. More security, easier to clean. No netting small, dead mammals out of the pool all winter.

3. Buy the solar blanket.
Cheap heat but not ENOUGH heat for May and June.

4. Buy a heater.
Here in the middle of the warming globe, summers are getting colder and colder. Right now it is mid-June and there hasn't been a really decent swimming day yet. BUT thanks to our trusty pool heater, we swam all weekend even though it was mid-70s.

Is it expensive: Oh God Yes. Is it worth it? You Bet!

5. You usually only need a 6-foot chain link but save some money for a good privacy fence.
Psst... you are gonna want to skinny dip. And you can! It's your pool!

6. Think long and hard about the liner.
The pool liner is like a tattoo on your forehead. Everyone is gonna see it and it is going to be there forever. Choose wrong and you won't even be able to dress it up with the right landscape.

-- Go simple. That dolphin motif really inspires you today, but do you want to swim with the dolphins for 10 years?
-- Attempt to 'match' the surroundings in color and style in some way. Personally, I wish I had gone with a brown and light emerald liner. Sounds weird, but it would really match the woodsy backyard. Also, I don't like the gray in my liner. The blue is okay, but the gray looks out of place. Not horrible. Just not perfect.

-- Lighter colors look cool or even cold. Do you live in Jamaica? 'Cause if you do a really light blue pool would be perfect.

7. Consider a small waterfall. This is one we didn't do, but I think it adds to a pool so much and they are not that expensive.

8. Buy a reel for the solar cover. They can be salty but hells bells, removing the solar cover by hand takes two people.

9. Get enough patio for friends.

10. If you want to swim lengths, put the pool step at the corner of the pool so you have enough wall to push off from. This was something we didn't think about....

11. Remember that a pool is no more expensive than a late model car and it is so much more fun.

They sold them a bill of goods

2009-05-13T19:14:00.002-04:00

In the Financial times, May 8, Gillian Tett writes that the housing crisis was forged from the creativity of a group of young mortgage hawks who invented the subprime paper and claimed it was Grade A.

I believe otherwise.

I believe that subprime mortgages were the policy of liberals who had one goal: Make sure minorities or "the poor" had homes, whether they were ready or not.... a redress of the badness of living in non-liberal America, if you will.

Two recent quotes seem apt:
A particularly pernicious aspect of the defaults was that when this new breed of subprime borrowers walked away from their homes, they often left them in such a bad state that it was hard for lenders to realise any value from the repossessed properties. Gillian Tett, How panic gripped the world's biggest banks.

From the Wall STreet Journal, May 13:
Since the housing bust, homeownership levels for minorities have fallen more steeply than for whites... blacks and Latinos were far more likely than whites to take out so-called subprime loans — those designed for people with weak credit records or high debt in relation to income. In 2007, 27.6% of home loans to Hispanics and 3.5% of mortgages to blacks were in the subprime category, compared with 10.5% of those loans made to whites.

Why the disparity between whites and hispanics and blacks? Were irresponsible whites just so much more savvy? Er, no... people like Barack Obama and organizations like Acorn went out to the communities and found people to take subprime loans.

Miniorities set up to fail by their so-called protectors.

These liberals are despicable.

I'm hiring

2009-05-04T08:47:00.002-04:00

But it ain't easy!

The government 'work force' website doesn't let me describe the job I have. Instead I must pick from list of trades.

And, who is surprised by this?, When you call the government phone number you get this message: This Mailbox is Not Initialized.

Welcome of BO'S AMERICA!

Mark becomes a grandpa

2009-04-29T16:30:00.007-04:00

Below, Little Dude, close up. His name is Adam, but he is cuter and more talented than that Adam I mentioned in the post below.

THANK GOD ADAM CUT THAT HAIR

2009-04-14T20:27:00.001-04:00

Re: American Idol

Adam Lambert looked like a freaking hair dresser doing Pink Floyd with that awful hank of hair plastered to the side of his face.

Thank GOD he cut that.

I'm just saying.

Oh I'd just like to support you!

2009-03-17T13:58:00.003-04:00

I get calls like these every once in a while.

Caller (a touchy feely women's rights person): Oh, I love what you do!

Me: Okay. Thanks.

Caller: How can I get your (product or service) for free?

Me: You can't.

Caller: But I want to support you!

Me: Send me $250.

Caller: I can't afford that!

Me thinking: I can't afford to work for free because for some odd freaking liberal reason you want to support me by not paying for my product. You goddamn idiot.

Me talking: Sorry we charge for our (product or service) because that's the way we support our families.

Gawd liberals are idiots.

Million versus Trillion

2009-03-10T15:57:00.005-04:00

From Carpe Diem

Original post here.

What a million dollars looks like in $100 bills

What a trillion dollars looks like...
Notice the guy is still there in the lower left corner.

Shared Sacrifice

2009-03-10T13:32:00.002-04:00

It doesn't matter which measure you use to gauge 'wealth' because whatever one you use, I don't qualify as wealthy. But I am a business owner and this idea of 'shared sacrifice' is one that should make business owners angry as hell.

Every business owner is doing two or three jobs these days at our businesses while the indolent are further supported by most holy and compassionate Democrats.

Right now I'm doing two jobs. I have an opening for an employee but I am not going to fill it. For one thing, I am not sure sales will support it in six months. For another thing, sales will have to be much better before I want to take a chance on whatever new work and benefit rules will be instituted in the Obama administration.

But at any rate this call to sacrifice is not a call to shared sacrifice. In the Abomination, sacrifice is shared only by producers. If you work, you will work more. If you once worked, you will work again. If you were planning to retire, you will instead be working. If you were working toward retirement, you will now be working toward survival.

If you were productive, if you are productive, you are a sucker.

If you never worked, you will never have to. You are the clever one.

AH...Etta. Good Music. Good Taste.

2009-02-08T14:57:00.004-05:00

Cat door? Who ever heard of a cat door?

2009-02-05T16:09:00.005-05:00

Our temporary house has a cat door, not a dog door, to the consternation of Fiddle.

Who is Blagojevich really talking to...

2009-01-30T12:30:00.000-05:00

... with his tour of the media?

OBAMA

I think the tour is an implied threat to tell what he knows. I doubt Blag goes to trial.

Cat Update for Pamela

2009-01-27T13:23:00.003-05:00

He is adjusting remarkably well to his new life inside. To say the least.

Dogs are okay but I won't be working at home until April or May so they are alone during the days.

Yup, we are creating jobs, that's for sure. And it is a good thing, since apparently under the Lord Merciful Messiah Obama white men can't work construction any more. HT Hoosier Boy

Construction

2009-01-26T15:07:00.002-05:00

Junk pile: Thanks Fire!

2009-01-26T12:43:00.004-05:00

One thing I never thought about in a fire. A huge amount of stuff gets wet, frozen, broken, smoked or generally crapified.

This is a 6-foot stack of crap. This crap came from every nook and cranny in my house. Last week it was in a crap stack in what was once my great room. You have to go through the crap, piece by piece and make an inventory. I hear the insurance then gives you a pittance for your crap.

Text of Rick Warren's prayer

2009-01-21T08:12:00.001-05:00

Almighty God, our Father:

Everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of you alone.

It all comes from you, it all belongs to you, it all exists for your glory.

History is your story.

The Scripture tells us, "Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one." And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now today we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge point of history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the United States.

We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where a son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.

Give to our new president, Barack Obama,

the wisdom to lead us with humility,
the courage to lead us with integrity,

the compassion to lead us with generosity.

Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.
Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans--united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.

When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you--forgive us.

When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone--forgive us.

When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve--forgive us.

And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes—even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all.

May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet.

And may we never forget that one day, all nations--and all people--will stand accountable before you.

We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life—Yeshua, 'Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus—who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,

for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Inauguration reaction

2009-01-20T12:44:00.004-05:00

After listening to the inauguration speech, all I can say is if Obama can do all that, what's he going to do on the eighth day?

After 3 hours, my reaction:

He starts out saying he is humbled, but his agenda is anything but humble. It strikes me as either naive or insane.

After Reagan won, his motto was: It's morning in America! As a young liberal at the time, I remember thinking: Who was unhappy? I was really happy with Carter. I thought everyone was thrilled with him.

Now I listen to the "we are one" crowd and I think, who is more unified now with the looney left than they were before? I can't see it myself. I don't feel unified.

But I did LOVE Rick Warren's prayer that among other things called for more civility. That would be great.

Coming to America soon!

2009-01-20T10:35:00.001-05:00

According to the British Taxpayers Alliance, the top 10 useless government jobs for 2008 include:

* "Street Football Coordinator £19,887," plans street soccer games for the local children who apparently are unable to get the games going on their own.

* "Sport and physical activity development officer - £34,695-£37,368," nags locals to play sports or exercise.

* "Climate Change Manager: £34,542-£38,562," nags locals to think green.

* "Sex Work Strategy Co-ordinator £27,594-£29,762," thinks up something to do with all the prostitutes about.

* "Food Policy Officer. £30,598-£33,291," nags locals into eating what the city government wants them to eat.

* "Senior Play Ranger. £28,778-£31,068," plays with the local kids who, apparently, can't play on their own.

10. "Parenting Coordinator. £27,594-£29,728." nags parents into raising their children in the government-approved fashion.

Toot takes up residence in my office

2009-01-18T14:25:00.007-05:00

I say again: I'm allergic to cats and they give me asthma. But I'm kind of enjoying Toot in the temporary office. Toot looks happy to be out of the -17 weather, too!

Expensive Inaugurations are Good When Democrats Are Spending The Money

2009-01-16T15:22:00.003-05:00

Brent Bozell spells it out. When Bush threw a pricey inauguration, the AP attacked him and listed everything else he could spend the money on. Now that we're teetering on the edge of a depression and Obama is going to spend twice as much on his inauguration, AP thinks it's awesome!

You have to love the media. No liberal bias, though. No, indeed.

Holy Moly

2009-01-16T11:02:00.003-05:00

Soo Cold out there. I captured the kitty Toot and have confined him to the office.

The lovely and talented Pamela did send me a link to a solar water heater, which I still might get. But it is just too cold for a small cat to live outside.

So I'm living with him inside, allergies and all...

ah choo!

Fire update: We're in the house with dogs, but no chest of drawers!

2009-01-14T13:22:00.002-05:00

There is 4 inches of Globally Warmed snow on the ground with subzero temps predicted for tomorrow.

I am afraid for our kitten, who still lives at the burned house. I had a heated water bowl and cat mat for him, but they require ELECTRICITY.... exactly what we don't have at the old house right now. I've been going over with food and water every day. I'm afraid the weather will be so bad I won't be able to get to him one day this week. Food I can load up but water freezes in an hour or so. He has to drink fast. He's been crawling through our crawl space and going up through the burned out floor into the house. It is so COLD in the house but no wind. He found a memory foam mattress pad that was left in the house and is sleeping on it. I piled feather pillows around it so he can snuggle in. (Smoke restoration people don't do feather pillows so they are still in the house).

Does anyone know of a kind of battery powered heating thing I can put water in for the cat?

I'm at work in a new office about 20 minutes away from our temporary house, and the muttleys are hanging out in the garage of our temporary house, their necks properly ruffled as Pamela requested. You might have seen the comment my husband Mark made in another post, that he put in a dog door. He's my hero! So there is progress. We're hoping we might be back in our house in June (please God, not JULY!)

I admit I've been whining quite a bit recently and have been not at all the inspiration that Patrick thinks. (But thanks for the thought :-)

We have borrowed a lot of things from friends and neighbors for our temporary house. Insurance company rented some furniture, but sheesh, I never thought of how many things one has to bring into an empty house. I got a set of pans for Christmas that I am using. And the sheets I wanted for Christmas, we are using. At one point I was longing for a simple trash can. (We finally bought one) Now I am dying for a chest of drawers. We can't find one to rent or borrow. We don't have that many clothes, but what we do have are all over the floor of the spare bedroom, in boxes. Can't find anything. I've been running back to the burned house looking for extra hangers on the thought that maybe we can hang EVERYTHING.

Children Coerced to Come Together and Worship "The One"

2009-01-13T14:46:00.004-05:00

In Chicago, 800 kids from two elementary schools were rounded up to create a 150 foot, helicopter-viewable portrait of Barack Obama.

Pay special attention to the worshipful reporting from the true-believers at MSNBC. How wonderful it all is, all the children getting together to show their love of and obedience to our new Glorious Leader.

Just makes my heart go pitter-patter.

No dogs home yet, but tomorrow we move

2009-01-06T18:59:00.002-05:00

Thursday our dogs will be with us!

Most splendid

2009-01-02T17:33:00.002-05:00

What I am listening to over and over... The late Jeff Buckley.

Hallelujah

Fire update

2009-01-02T14:00:00.003-05:00

We have finally seen an adjuster, 12 days after our fire! Holidays, vacations, etc., made it impossible to get one there sooner.

We have a temporary house, thank God, that we'll move into on Tuesday. Hotels can get very uncomfortable when they are not in a vacation spot. :-)

Thanks Pamela, JuneBug, Kevin, Fish, and everyone for your comments.

Our furniture has been packed off for cleaning. We lost very very few personal things, like pictures and such. The fire really just burned out the floors and walls on the south side of our house.

I hate working on this laptop and I am sick of this hotel.

We'll get the dogs back on Tuesday!! Yippee!! Little guys have probably lost hope.

Haven't had the heart to take any more pictures.

Death to all Liquid Extracts

2008-12-31T15:50:00.002-05:00

HT Daily Telegraph

Thanks everyone

2008-12-31T12:38:00.002-05:00

Took a while to get the computers back online, new office set up. We're still in a hotel and the dogs are still kenneled. This is the worst part for me. :-(

Here is one picture of what the firefighters had to do to our floors to get at the fire.

Pain.

2008-12-23T10:04:00.002-05:00

To goodness and wisdom we
only make promises; pain we
obey. ~ Marcel Proust

Funny that quote should come from Proust. But I think it is a most Christian quote. Pain we obey. Because pain is a teacher, motivator, healer. Pain makes us cautious and bold.

I am reminded very powerfully this week the motivating power of pain. Our house burned Sunday. In the space of 4 minutes our house was lost, but it still took the firemen five hours to put it out.

Should God have stilled the wind to make the fire not spread? Should God have prevented the spark? Should God have changed the molecules in our water so that our water in particular wouldn't freeze?

Should God take the smell of smoke from our clothes and hair?

Is it the job of God to make everyone live pain free?

No. Just no. I don't demand that God make my life painfree. I've read that children who can't feel pain are horribly deformed by their teen years. They repeatedly hurt themselves.

Pain. You gotta love it. You gotta love God for allowing it. And this comes from someone who has had a little taste of it this week.

----
I wrote the above on the comments section of one of Chas' posts. He refers to a book that asks "In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?"

Day 2: Homeless but insured

2008-12-23T08:44:00.003-05:00

The outside cats won't leave their house, but it is 1 or 2 degrees outside with horrible wind. No water. We still have our sheds and the generator. We hooked their heated cat mats and heated water bowl to the generator. We figured it would run for six hours last night.

Except for boarded windows the outside of the house looks fine. Inside we have no floors. All my lovely laminate burned.

The fireman said it was the coldest, hardest fire he ever went to and one of the longest. It lasted five hours in 2 below screaming 30 mph wind. But he has gone to a 12 hour fire before.

The firemen get $24 each for fighting our fire. They are volunteers.

God. Where is my toothbrush?

2008-12-22T21:01:00.002-05:00

Nothing is rightl Dogs have been kenneled. i'm sad.

Fire.

2008-12-22T12:39:00.001-05:00

We had a fire yesterday. Half the house is gone. Other half, we don't know yet. Dogs got out. We got out. Got the computers (natch!)

I'll write more later.

Indiana Christmas

2008-12-19T10:14:00.002-05:00

A video of IU's Straight No Chaser (men's a cappella group). Very pretty song.

If you haven't heard any of SNC, be sure to check out this fabulous rendition of '12 Days of Christmas' -- The only version I have ever been able to really endure.

Ice storm in Indiana; record cold in China; frost damages crops in India; Las Vegas snows

2008-12-19T09:42:00.002-05:00

Good article.

Subversive Christian Behavior

2008-12-18T11:36:00.001-05:00

Groups of Christians should go into stores together and start wishing people Merry Christmas. Let the words ring out!

Gabriel's Message by Sting - sublime

2008-12-18T11:14:00.005-05:00

Compare with the choir of Winchester Cathedral. Love this one, too. My favorite version is by the Tewkesbury Abbey, but I could not find their version on Youtube.

Below the album I got the Sting version from.

Gabriel's Message
Traditional -- Sting

The angel Gabriel from heaven came
His wings as drifted snow
His eyes as flame
"All hail" said he "thou lowly maiden Mary,
Most highly favoured maid," Gloria!

"For known a blessed mother thou shalt be,
All generations laud and honor thee,
Thy Son shall be Emanuel,
By seers foretold
Most highly favoured maid," Gloria!

Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head
"To me be as it pleaseth God," she said,
"My soul shall laud and magnify his holy name."
Most highly favoured maid Gloria!

Of her Emanuel, the Christ was born
In Bethlehem all on a Christmas morn
And everyone throughout the world would ever say
Most highly favoured maid Gloria!

I-----

It's worth noting that the traditional verse at the last is
"and christian folk throughout the world forever saved"

Sting apparently changed the words.

Dog TV (again)

2008-12-17T16:01:00.003-05:00

My cute kitty Toot wants to come in... but there are dangers lurking inside. (Toot has a heated cat house so he isn't freezing.)

Things that bug me

2008-12-17T12:46:00.001-05:00

The word is GRAY. With an 'a.' Not Grey.

Grey is the British spelling of Gray. We live in the U.S. We spell it gray.

So just stop it. Stop.

Obama's menu of change

2008-12-17T11:17:00.004-05:00

I saw this list on a post on another blog by someone called Michael Smith. I thought it was pretty interesting since it lines up all Obama's promises in a row. Imagine checking off all this insane crap one-by-one as Obama works to create change in America! Can you imagine any other recipe that could so completely lead to the decline and fall of America?

Obama has promised to:
- To raise the top income tax rate
- To raise the corporate tax rate
- To raise the dividend tax rate
- To raise the capital gains tax rate
- To create a new tax on businesses that outsource jobs overseas
- To seize a portion of the oil industry's profits to fund an "energy rebate" (to buy votes)
- To seize a portion of the pharmaceutical company's profits to lower drug prices (to buy votes)
- To "spread the wealth around"
- To eliminate the secret ballot and allow union organizers to bring intimidation and threats to bear directly on anyone who dares to oppose a union.
- To raise the minimum wage by 50%
- To impose "cap and trade" limits on CO2 emissions that will, in his words, "cause electricity rates to soar" and "bankrupt anyone who builds a coal-fired power plant".
- To force all businesses to pay 100% of their employee's healthcare costs
- To complete the nationalization of the healthcare industry
- To impose protectionist trade restrictions by "renegotiating" existing free trade agreements.
- To commit America to funding U.N. anti-poverty programs, so that American taxpayers are not only bled to fund our home-grown bums and deadbeats, but the who world’s as well.
- To raise a “civilian defense force” which, in his words is just as strong and well-funded as our military.

Costco gets the Christmas spirit

2008-12-15T20:38:00.006-05:00

Thanks to Costco for finally getting its courage up and saying that word hated by all liberals: Christmas.

Looks like they have some good Christmas gifts there.

Update: Costco got the Christmas spirit for ONE DAY! LOL Just like a bunch of dishonest liberals. They want your money, but they don't like your religion!

A JAM: Where the Soul Never Dies

2008-12-12T21:19:00.001-05:00

You briefly get a look at our wonderful Aunt who got a lung transplant last week and is doing great.

Hallelujah!

2008-12-11T14:11:00.002-05:00

Although I am skeptical about organ donation (mainly because people seem confused these days as to the definition of life), I am praising God today because our wonderful Aunt got a lung transplant and is doing great. We love her so much and, of course, we will keep the anonymous donor in our hearts.

The Democrat business cabal aimed at eliminating Christmas

2008-12-08T08:39:00.011-05:00

Leftist Ralph Nader supportersBarnes & Noble 1-800-843-2665 - Offers "Holiday Gift Guide." Christmas not found on website. Riggio at right.

Braum's Ice Cream 1-877-274-4197 Sells "holiday" items only. Online feedback form

LeftistCostco 1-800-774-2678 - Costco's "Holiday Catalog" is obvious in purposely avoiding the use of Christmas. Heavily references "holiday" in its Gift Guide Catalog. email Costco. Costco's Democrat activitst CEO James Sinegal is on the forefront of this movement which is being heavily tested by the left this year. The issue? They want to prove they can take Christian money and still outlaw the name of their holiday.

DemocratCVS Pharmacy 1-800-746-7287 - CVS offers a "Holiday Center" on its website. The Nov. paper insert avoids using the term "Christmas." Phone: 1-888-607-4287 or email customercare@cvs.com CEO Tom Ryan is a modest Democrat contributor

Huge Democrat Donor - Millard Drexler, Gap Stores, pictured at right. (Gap, Old Navy) 1-800-427-7895 - Gap stores avoid using Christmas at every opportunity, being a very secular company. custserv@gap.com.

Kroger 1-866-221-4141 -Website uses "holiday" extensively. Weekly ad uses "holiday." email Kroger
Office Depot 1-800-463-3768 - Newspaper inserts reference "holiday" only. Website void of Christmas references. Online form

This list from the AFA.

I would add Lowes to this list. They are supposed to be Christmas friendly but their television ads all say 'holiday'.

Olive Garden 1-800-331-2729 -

Radio Shack 1-800-843-7422 - Website search for "Christmas" results in "holiday" page. No mention of Christmas anywhere. Online feedback form

Staples 508-253-0879 - Staples' press release referred to "holiday" 13 times without a single mention of Christmas. Last year, Staples emailed a customer to say it refused to post "Christmas" signs in their store. Live chat with Staples online or email Staples.

SUPERVALU 952-828-4000 -Owns Albertsons and Jewel-Osco. Refers to Christmas decorations as "holiday" on website and weekly ads. email SUPERVALUE

Josh Groban: He might be a liberal, but he's not afraid of Christmas. That's more than we can say for the Christian-haters at Costco.

2008-12-06T11:58:00.003-05:00

Beautiful Christmas CD. Recommended! Buy it at Sam's Club. And remember, at Costco, the head bigot in charge is James Sinegal, who is a Democrat operative. This year he is trying to prove that he can hate Christians and still get their cash. Sinegal not only bans Christmas at Costco, he bans Christians. Did you know you can't wear any Christian symbols, nor can you expect to be promoted at Costco if you are a Christian? Sinegal is pictured at left.

Now for a funny Christmas picture go here to an old issue of Chas' Compilation.

Buy Aaron Neville records wherever Christmas is sold. (Remember: Costco hates Christmas and Christians)

2008-12-05T09:54:00.005-05:00

Notice it isn't Aaron Neville's Soulful Holiday. It's CHRISTMAS.

Why Costco hates Christmas and Christians

2008-12-03T09:21:00.008-05:00

Two words: James Sinegal.

CEO James Sinegal is on the forefront of the leftist effort to take the word "Christian" out of daily life and he is the stormtrooper for the anti-Christmas movement. And this year, the world's most successful anti-Christian retailer is poised to cash-in big.

Sinegal and other liberal operatives hope they can prove that you don't need Christmas to get cash from Christians. At age 72, Sinegal is boiling for a fight with his customers.

An avowed liberal, Sinegal has been a Democrat operative his entire life and he strives to be just the sort of CEO the mainstream media loves. He puts on the poor face whenever possible, comparing his own $3 million a year salary to the salaries of companies the media loves to hate.

In public, Sinegal himself refuses to use the word Christmas, sticking to the word 'winter' instead. Even when the company took on Toys R Us over that retailer's Christmas season strategies, Sinegal refused to use the word Christmas in his legal dealings.

In business, Sinegal has received heaps of liberal praise for policies that seem to reward employees more than similar competitors but it comes at a price. Employees can't wear crosses; religious employees do not get promoted. Employees must never use the word "Christmas" while on the job. In short, any whiff of anything Christian is too much for Costco, which appears to have a vendetta against Christianity in particular.

With the Democrat win in November, Sinegal now sees an opportunity to utterly remove Christians, Christianity, and Christmas from the public square. Other liberal CEOs are watching.

Will you let this anti-Christian bigot win? Or will the spirit of tolerance prevail?

Banning Christmas: The 'inclusive' lie

2008-12-02T19:30:00.007-05:00

Above, the Head Bigot in Charge of Costco, James Sinegal

Is banning the word 'Christmas' being inclusive of all those hundreds of other belief systems that celebrate something-or-other on December 25 using a lighted tree?

No.

Well, as a matter of fact, there aren't any other belief systems that celebrate that way.

Let's face it. This is the CHRISTMAS season. You want to sell Hanukkah gifts, then do it. Call them Hanukkah gifts. What's the matter? You don't like Jews or something?

You want to sell Christmas gifts, sell Christmas gifts.

Here's what the honorable Kevin Willis says:

I understand being inclusive, but this is exclusive--excluding Christians. And, let's be honest, this sort of crap excludes even secular American's who enjoy long standing traditions like Christmas. Independence day is going to be "Summer Festival Grilling Time" in no time.

Walker's observation -- Of course if we renamed Independence Day to "Summer Festival Grilling Time" this WOULD give Democrats something to celebrate.

Kevin says: Saying the banning of Christmas is "inclusive" is frickin' Orwellian, BTW. It's one thing if they want to add some "Happy Kawanzaa" type stuff, but it's frickin' Christmas, and when I'm buying presents from stores like Costco, I'm not buy "holiday festival presents" or "winter solstice presents", I'm buying Christmas presents. You don't like Christmas? Then you don't like my money.

And I would have said that as an atheist, because I celebrated Christmas--not "inclusive celebration day" for years as a non-believer, and never cared for this erosion of American tradition, and, yes, great American Christian traditions, even when I was a non-believer. I understand as a former atheist, I have no street cred with current atheists, but still. There are conservative atheists and agnostics who are appalled by the efforts of multi-cultural nazis to tear down Christmas under the bullsh*t banner of "inclusiveness".

"Inclusive", my big round red rear end. Ho-ho-ho.

Walker interjects: I'd like to point out here that Kevin is referring to his own "big round red rear end." I would never refer to mine that way, no matter how much I resemble that remark.

EMAIL THE HEAD BIGOT IN CHARGE OF COSTCO AND TELL HIM WHAT YOU THINK OF HIS INCLUSIVENESS.

Email the Head Bigot in Charge: jsinegal@costco.com

James D. Sinegal and Costco Stores are anti-Christian bigots

2008-12-02T16:24:00.006-05:00

Here is a photo of James D. Sinegal, the head bigot in charge of Costco Stores, who has ordered his store to refuse to use the word "Christmas."

He is an anti-Christian who is anti-Christmas but, like all hypocrite liberals, he hopes to take some Christian money this December.

BOYCOTT COSTCO

Email the Head Bigot in Charge: jsinegal@costco.com

DON'T SHOP AT COSTCO STORES

2008-12-02T12:43:00.004-05:00

According to the AFA, Costco stores are run by anti-Christian bigots. The word Christmas will appear nowhere in their advertising or stores.

They can do without Christmas. Maybe they can do without Christian customers too.

Email the Head Bigot in Charge: jsinegal@costco.com

BTW, if you email doesn't go through, you might try a different name like, for example, bigots@ or maybe Jerk@

Remember what he said!

2008-12-01T14:28:00.003-05:00

BO, when asked what he would do in the event of another major terrorist attack, said he would make sure he got the first responders out! Looks like he is going to get his wish. 20,000 first responders.

The new national security policy: We don't need soldiers to fight terrorists or prevent terror attacks. We need them to bury the dead.

John Coleman Explains The Well-Financed Myth of Global Warming

2008-11-20T12:26:00.003-05:00

The planet isn't doomed. At least not yet.

Hat tip, strangely enough, to podfather and former MTV VJ Adam Curry and the Daily Source Code.

John Coleman was the founder of The Weather Channel. And he thinks Al Gore oughta be sued for meteorological malpractice. Heh.

Just wondering what you all think...?

2008-11-19T08:31:00.002-05:00

Can you impose a government monopoly (socialism) on a fully wired country?

Wouldn't you have to first have control over the internet? I don't know if that it is even possible to truly control the internet. China attempts to do this with politics and that is at least superficially possible so long as Google complies for searches.

Possum tracks on the cat house or possibly raccoon?

2008-11-18T08:41:00.006-05:00

It's really cold outside. First snow of the year -- about an inch and just enough to see the tracks of a cat food thief. I've seen this possum on the porch before. I imagine he is a nightly visitor.

Update: I'm thinking those are racoon tracks now.

Gunny

2008-11-17T16:50:00.005-05:00

A puppy sleeps under a U.S soldier's hat and rifles in Baquba, in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad November 6, 2008. From MSNBC's fun photo blog.

The anti-gay marriage votes

2008-11-17T09:45:00.004-05:00

One of my favorite bloggers Chas has a post about the reaction to the anti-gay marriage votes in the recent election. He makes a point I have argued (unsuccessfully) for years that no-fault divorce gutted marriage. When one partner can simply quit the contract without regard to the desires of the other, you have something less than marriage. Chas says it is simply a civil contract.

"As a civil contract, how can it be legally denied to gay people? Arguments against gay marriage as a religious choice will probably still hold up, because no one has to join a religion that they don't like. (snip) If the religious right continues to try to control secular civil marriage contracts to reflect their own views, they may find themselves in a very uncomfortable, and losing, position."

I think, however, that the votes on gay marriage nationwide tell us that it isn't just the religious right trying to control marriage. There is a vast pool of sentiment against 'gay marriages.'

Now, is that bigotry? Is that prejudice? I would say yes. Is it wrong? If it is wrong, it is at least understandable.

The gay movement is a movement based on sexual behavior and it is a movement that insists on special rights to that sexual behavior, special tolerance, even before we get to the issue of marriage: Sex parades, sex clubs, promiscuous sex, and public funding for health problems arising from promiscuous sex. Demands for public education in the 'right' of people to have sex a certain way, even as far as educating children in the 'right' to have sex a certain way. All of these things I would put in the category of demands for special tolerance and special rights. To date, the larger culture has granted the gay movement these special tolerances, even at enormous cost to the state and culture. I might add that, though the heterosexual culture is also increasingly perverse, it still does not condone any of the behaviors for itself that the gay movement prides itself on.

These are serious presumptions on civil culture and public sentiment. But to my mind, that isn't all that is wrong with the so-called gay movement. I know we are just stupid idiots here in mid-America and what we think shouldn't count, but I rather doubt we know all there is to know about human sexuality. What we might find out has been utterly blocked by politics. So I'll just go ahead and show what a stupid idiot I am:

- Is it a normal human development (a perfectly acceptable alternative lifestyle) for a man to adopt the mannerisms of an adolescent girl? Or does it not strike you as a manifestation of mental illness?

- Is it normal human development for a woman to adopt the mannerisms of a boxer or a street fighter?

You may argue that not all gays do this and I would agree with you, but I also think that gay politics has prevented us from looking further into the issue of what is and what is not a manifestation of mental illness. Now, suppose we find out with certainty that my two examples are indeed mental illnesses. What should be done? Nothing. But I think we do then have an argument to make that our children should not be instructed that this is a normal example of human development.

As a former writer for a gay magazine (yes, friends, I wrote for a gay magazine because at one time I was young and liberal), I knew lots of gay men and women. (As a matter of fact, I know a lesbian couple who have been together for years, whom I love, who barely speak to me any more because I am not liberal.) I rarely met a gay man with a lasting love relationship and where there was one, it was never, ever monogamous even temporarily. Indeed, I would say the norm for gay men was to fall in love madly every week. And all the time cruising the bars for a sexual encounter (more than one) every night. The relationships I saw were also more likely to be violent, among gay men and women. I'd say since the gay movement began, we have never heard anything remotely honest about the nature of gay behavior. If we did, I think the vote against gay marriage would be exponentially higher.

Marriage stands for something in our culture that is more than a contract, no matter how trivial liberal governments have tried to make it: Monogamy, commitment, sexual discretion, and civil society.

NONE of these qualities are valued by the gay movement though, I happily and heartily admit that these are certainly values of SOME gay men and women.

But before we further chip away at the idea of marriage, can the gay movement attempt to show some responsibility? Can it value some of the things we value? Can it fearlessly face and analyze its own behavior?

Not yet it can't.

(COMMENT MODERATION TEMPORARILY ON)

Thought for the day

2008-11-16T18:51:00.002-05:00

"Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." --Sir Winston Churchill

(HT to Jill Cruzan)

Thanks for the thought, BO!

2008-11-11T15:12:00.003-05:00

An contract laborer complained to me that his son had grown up and therefore he would no longer get the 'Earned Income Tax Credit' -- which, for you other people like me who are not parents -- this is just free money the Democrats spread around to buy votes. He was shocked because for the first time in his life, he was going to have to pay $3,000 taxes!

I asked him if he wanted me to lower his salary. That way he would have to pay less taxes. This didn't seem good to him.

I helpfully let him know that payroll deduction was a great way to save money for taxes. This didn't make him any happier.

Indeed, he exclaimed that this tax thing was going to cost him $250 per month!!

I said if everyone had to pay that AFTER they received their checks, why, taxes would be much lower and that would be good. But since he and his wife were avid BO supporters, I added that they were probably way more patriotic than I am.

(hee hee heee heee! This gave me a lot of glee. Good one.)

All I can say is: Welcome to the world of taxpayers! You are doing your patriotic duty!

Global Swarming House

2008-11-11T14:50:00.004-05:00

When water levels rise, you can get your house out of the way! hee hee. These people crack me up!

Obama Guaranteed to Win in 2012

2008-11-10T18:20:00.003-05:00

Just FYI. I explain on my blog here.

Hint: History is against us, and increasingly more dense and more populated (and more dependent) urban areas are turning formerly red states blue. It's no coincidence that liberals argue so passionately against the evils of suburban sprawl. The more tightly packed the big cities are, the more votes Democrats get.

And when liberal policies fail, the lefties abandon those blue states to populate the big cities that haven't yet succumbed the liberal plague, mostly in red states. Thus, the big population centers start turning those states blue, but the abandoned states--despite the daily evidence of the failure of liberalism all around them--remain blue as well. At least, they have so far.

Republicans will need to their act together, if they hope to win in 2010 and beyond. And watering down conservatism is not the answer.

Man Arrested for Wearing McCain Shirt at Obama Victory Rally

2008-11-10T07:43:00.005-05:00

Isn't that nice? They're going to reach across the aisle. And slap a pair of handcuffs on us!

So much for dissent being the highest form of patriotism. I guess that's just for when Republicans are president.

I touch on the Orwellian redaction of Obama's hubristically-titled website, change.gov, here.

A very strange reaction to the public analysis of his agenda, given that his agenda hardly seemed all that far reaching, or atypical, for serious progressives with designs on a more utopian nation.

I reviewed it here, where there were still some specifics up. They haven't shut me down, yet!

Frankly, some things in his agenda sound pretty reasonable to me. I mean, I might like as many things on the Obama agenda as I would have liked from McCain, to be 100% honest. McNugget wasn't exactly a rock-ribbed conservative.

I'm just curious about why they felt compelled to pull all the specifics down.

Just curious: Do you think Obama was born in Kenya or Hawaii?

2008-11-08T12:28:00.003-05:00

It doesn't matter now. No, it doesn't. He's president. As my illustrious husband says there would be a civil war were he to be removed on a technicality now.

But, just curious. Don't you think , if there were in fact a valid Hawaiian birth certificate, it would have long ago been produced?

Now, I imagine if anyone ever got close to producing evidence that he was born in Kenya, we would see a birth certificate produced, but I rather doubt it would be legit.

So, it's just a exercise in trivia: Do you think he was born in Hawaii?

I think you would have to be fairly naive to think so.

Changing social classes: How Barack did it; how Sarah didn't

2008-11-08T07:40:00.001-05:00

By Conservative Professor via Buyer Behavior

I also teach marketing. Yesterday, in a consumer behavior class, I used Obama as an excellent example of how people can change social classes by 1) getting the right education -- Columbia/Harvard in his case; 2) pursuing an occupation with prestige -- Congressman, Senator; 3) living in the right type of house in the right location (that's why Obama HAD to get that Chicago mansion -- no matter what); and 4) earning a salary -- not wages -- with other sources of income (Obama didn't have investment income, so he wrote two books). As well, Obama had to move to a location where he did not have a history -- so that he could be a clean slate with his new-found credentials. Voila -- an upper-class, elite citizen.

As an aside -- so I told my students -- except for the occupation part, Sarah Palin failed on the other three requirements of social-class change, and she never really changed locations. She is Governor in the same state she was PTA president. So, the elite media was never going to give her a pass -- according to them, she's just plain old middle class, despite her election as Governor of Alaska.

The Wiz

2008-11-07T08:53:00.001-05:00

Obama theme song?

2008-11-06T16:07:00.003-05:00

According to Hoosier Boy, this is eerily like Obama's acceptance speech. Hmmm ... sing along... I'd love to change the world, but I don't know what to do... catchy tune...Tax the rich, feed the poor, Till there are no rich no more

Global Warming makes the earth cuter with more kittens

2008-11-06T15:53:00.003-05:00

Not joking.

Above, Toot, the cutest, product of Global Warming.

Can Obama deliver?

2008-11-06T08:23:00.002-05:00

From Prof. Ray Titus

The best thing that's happened to the Republicans is that they lost the White House. Brand Obama has over promised. World peace ain't any closer than before. Outsourcing will continue. There will be no pullout from Iraq. If there is one, the mess will be greater, worsening what's presently a state of reasonable calm. Troops for Afghanistan won't come easy. Its one thing to be a media built superstar at a rally in Germany, its another, when it comes to troops for Afghanistan, Angela won't be as forthcoming. The canard of 'global warming' will be hyped as always, but it won't in any way drastically alter present environmental policies.

The list is endless.

Brands gotta be careful with their claims and promises. The bigger the promise the greater the expectation. And if not delivered on, the greater the disappointment; there may be even a risk of consumer anger. And that's what I foresee for Brand Obama.

Republicans, sit tight and watch Brand Obama equity erode.

Socialism illustrated

2008-11-06T08:19:00.003-05:00

HT Carpe Diem

We can be bought, but we ain't cheap

2008-11-06T07:12:00.003-05:00

Has anyone yet stated the obvious.... that Barack Hussein Obama's poll rigging organization ACORN stuffed the ballot boxes with so many phony votes in big cities, that he has singlehandedly set the record for election fixing? I don't suppose there will be an investigation.

Indiana was a prime example. On the Huffington Post the day before, they were saying BE SURE not to worry about Indiana until Gary got counted. This was no doubt because of the enthusiasm of Gary's large black population for a bigger ~~welfare check~~ part of the American dream. Or, it could have been obvious to everyone that entire cemeteries in Gary were about to empty out.

One thing I am kind of happy about: It took hundreds of millions of dollars, a professional voter fraud organization, and black skin to give this dishonest brat just an edge for the presidency. It ain't cheap to defraud Americans. As Barack demonstrates, it can be done. But you have got to be ready to pay.

Post racial America?

2008-11-05T10:23:00.001-05:00

According to the Huffington Post:

Rove's comments did center on race, and the post-racial America Obama inherits as President.

I'd be curious about what you all think of this. Is this a post-racial America or a hyper-racial America?

God Bless Barack Obama

2008-11-05T09:38:00.003-05:00

I think being the President of the United States is not a glorious experience, but instead a humbling one. I pray God Barack Hussein Obama is up to the task.

We have elected a man who is profoundly anti-American to lead our country. I pray the people of the United States will have the courage to stand up to Barack's worst inclinations. I pray Obama will grow up in the office that he will begin to see the values of honesty, hard work and fair play as valuable in American life.

Let us pray that the left wing grows up.

Let us pray that conservatives never become as angry as the left wing. After all, we're armed. :-)

God Bless Barack Obama. It's kind of cool that you guys elected the first black president. I would have preferred electing the first Democrat president who liked America, myself. But, it is kind of cool, still.

May conservatives have the will and energy to stand up to him as he attempts to gut business, destroy our way of life, and tax the middle class into extinction. Go on welfare now because change is coming!

God Bless Our President

2008-11-05T09:37:00.002-05:00

From Walker's hubby:
I opposed this man from the start. Having said that I pray God to keep and save my president-elect Barrack Obama. Give him wisdom to lead our great country, and keep him and our great country safe from harm. Lord keep us a thriving and prosperous country.

Although I may oppose some of his policies in the future, I pray God that I never succumb to the vile hatred that was directed at our current president.

God bless America, and God bless our president elect !

Obama Wins; McCain Concedes

2008-11-04T23:38:00.005-05:00

And I'm depressed. But, it happens. You win some, you lose some. We lost this one.

I watched McCain's concession speech. Profoundly inspiring and depressing at the same time. McCain was very gracious. Sounds like Obama was also a gracious winner. So, good.

Democrats are picking up seats in the House and the Senate. Not filibuster proof, but not good news, either.

It's going to be a tough, unpleasant, expensive ride until 2010.

Unfortunately, I was more optimistic about this thing than I really let myself believe. I've got no liquor in the house. This would be the perfect time to get a little sauced, and I did not plan ahead.

It's not all bad news. We got Sarah Palin. She may never be president, but I don't think she's just going to wither up and float away, either.

And I think the economy has serious problems which have been exacerbated by the bailout bill, rather than fixed. While, yes, the Democrats were actually to blame for most of this in the first place, there won't be any place to put it but right at their door. They'll have the Whitehouse. They'll have the congress and the senate. They will not be able to blame further market collapses on the Republicans.

And, believe it or not, it could have been worse. I'm thinking particularly of John Edwards or Dennis Kucinich. Either of these guys would have been much easier for McCain to beat, but, if elected, almost certainly worse for the country.

And, um, Obama speaks well. Um. I'm running out things. Guys, help me out.

There are a few unpleasant things to face. The judiciary and federal bureaucracy are going to be infected with radicals and liberals. However, we've been there, done that. It's a constant problem. I think this will be as bad as it has ever been, if not worse. But still, better than most of Europe.

Taxes are going to go up. For everybody. The economy is going to slow down. Our National Security may be jeopardized. Which will, at least, establish without a doubt that Democrats really are, after all, weak on defense. New energy sources will not be explored. Money will be thrown at alternative energies that produce no results, and drive the prices of fuel and food up.

Other stuff will be harder for Obama to do. Bankrupting the coal industry might be in his plan, but he's going to have a hard time getting all the Democrats he will need to make that happen to sign on. Legislation that will make national energy prices go up at every level will be less popular than Clinton's proposed VAT tax. Trying to silence Fox News and Rush Limbaugh will backfire. Majorly.

Still, I'm girding myself. This is going to be a bumpy ride.

Based on historical trends, an Obama victory was almost inevitable. I hoped that the American people, collectively, would be smarter than history. But you know what? They almost never are. C'est la vie.

Still, at the end of the day, I can understand Obama's appeal. I can find a lot to like about him. Sure, he's done some very questionable things and supports some suspect policies, but he never called 5 brave and innocent Marines murderers and rapists in a press conference, and elsewhere. He never referred to his own constituents as racists and ignorant. Meaning, I can understand why Barack Obama is our president elect. But I can't understand why John Murtha's constituents returned that worthless sack of excrement to the house. I really can't. I also can't understand Dick Durbin being rewarded for being a complete and utter jackass.

Barack Obama may loathe the military, but I don't know it. If he does, he at least has the good sense to keep it to himself.

That's it. I'm rambling. Walker's gonna revoke my posting privileges.

I'll finish it thusly: like it or not, Obama is now the President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief. His past does not bode well for his wise and responsible use of this revered office. But I hope, since then, he has changed.

-- Kevin

Obama Staffer Registers to Vote in 3 States; Votes in Two

2008-11-04T18:15:00.005-05:00

You gotta admire that Obama campaign staff creativity. Now, that's confidence.

And, apparently other staffers are doing likewise. But I'm sure Obama doesn't approve.

I thought this was a guaranteed landslide. Why go to the trouble and expense of state hopping just to add your vote to an already guaranteed landslide?

Jimmy Carter Was Polling Better than Reagan in 1980

2008-11-04T09:09:00.003-05:00

Not that it means anything today. The New York Times doesn't think it does. But the pullquote here is still interesting:

Since Gallup began presidential polling in 1936, only one candidate has overcome a deficit that large, and this late, to win the White House: Ronald Reagan, who trailed President Jimmy Carter 47 percent to 39 percent in a survey completed on Oct. 26, 1980.

So, go forth and vote. You never do know.

I Like James Carville

2008-11-04T07:24:00.004-05:00

He's wrong about so many things, but I like him. And I just ran across and old quote of his that, during this day the the Youth coming out to Coronate the One, seems very apropos:

“You know what we call candidates who rely on the youth vote? We call them ‘losers’.”

I picked that up from Sean Malstrom, a former political analyst that thinks McCain is going to win by larger margins than Bush. Right now, I think he's out of his gourd, but it's nice to see some genuine optimism, backed by real-world political analysis, out there.
And I love the picture of Barack Obama manifesting on a piece of toast.

Obama Wins Dixville Notch in a Landslide

2008-11-04T06:16:00.005-05:00

Dixville Notch, which hasn't gone for the Democrat since 1968, cast their ballots for Barack Obama in a Dixville Notch landslide early this morning. Obama took it handily, 15 to 6. That's 15 votes to 6 votes, to be clear.

Although I'm preparing myself for a day of exquisite political depression--and, if you have to be depressed about the direction of the country, you might as well plan on savoring it--it is worth noting that in 1968, the Democrat that Dixville Notch went for was Hubert Humphrey. Richard Nixon ended up winning the general election, in a close contest, by just 500,000 votes.

Vote Palin/McCain! I'm planning on hitting the polls just around 11:30. A short drive, a little Rush Limbaugh on the radio, and I will cast my vote for the guy and gal the pollsters and the MSM are sure are going to lose, and lose big.

Ah, well. If no one ever stood athwart history shouting "Stop!", we never would have gotten The National Review or the legacy of William F. Buckley. So, this time, it might as well be us.

Vote for McCain/Palin

2008-11-03T23:14:00.001-05:00

Looking forward to Skyrocketing Energy Prices

2008-11-03T22:08:00.006-05:00

Obama wants our energy prices to skyrocket. It'll force us to conserve. He also wants to bankrupt the coal industry. Because coal is dirty.

Awesome! Add that to raising taxes on anyone making more than $250k--um, I mean $200k. I mean, ah, $150k. Did I say $150k? I meant $120k. Now, where was I? Oh, yes, add that to raising taxes on anyone making more than $50k a year, and this guy just keeps getting better and better.

And the polls all say this guy is going to win.

Our country has lost its collective mind. Seriously. Even if the polls are wrong, that there are enough people out there to let so many polls show such support for a 60s radical whose politics make George McGovern look like more Joe Leiberman . . . something has changed. And not for the better.

I sure hope it changes back. As soon as possible.

Ah, well. See you tomorrow, at the only poll that really counts.

Vote Palin/McCain!

Greedy CEOs

2008-11-03T15:50:00.000-05:00

Speaking of CEOs, there's the "unconscionable," "obscene" salaries they receive, in some cases over $10 million a year. Wackonomics has an easy answer for these high salaries: it's greed.

However, CEOs don't have the corner on greed. There are other greedy people we don't scorn but hold in high esteem. According to Forbes' Celebrity 100 list, Oprah Winfrey receives $275 million, Steven Spielberg gets $130 million, Tiger Woods $115 million, Jay Leno $32 million and Dr. Phil $40 million.

I need to talk to these people and learn their strategy. I've been making every effort to get that kind of money. I go to bed greedy, dream greedy dreams, awaken greedy and proceed through the day greedy. Despite my heroic efforts, it's all been for naught; I earn a pittance by comparison.

~George Mason economist Walter Williams

(HT Carpe Diem)

Seinfeld on how Dems choose their candidate

2008-11-03T15:27:00.002-05:00

Elaine: Well, I'm sure he's pro-choice.

Jerry: How do you know?

Elaine: Because he... well... He's just so good-looking.

(HT http://www.johannorberg.net/)

I think I'll vote Democrat!

2008-11-03T09:48:00.001-05:00

Walk down memory lane

2008-11-03T09:05:00.001-05:00

Jimmy Carter

Stagflation.

Prime rate 20%

Unbelievable, eh?

He's always the 'man on the street'

2008-11-01T09:48:00.004-04:00

Seems the New York Times quoted professional 'man on the street' Greg Packer again!

This reminds me of an incredibly silly liberal policy by the Gannett organization that once required its reporters to practice affirmative action in news stories. The way it worked was that every news story had to quote at least one black person and one Asian person, *even if* there were no black or asian people associated with the story. So the member papers repeatedly quoted their token black person. In every single story, the same black person was quoted again and again. So in other words liberals, trying to mainstream blacks, ended up making them tokens. Liberals are racists. No two ways about it.

Liberal birdies! Trick or treat!

2008-10-31T19:36:00.002-04:00

We're teamsters and we will never vote for Barack Obama

2008-10-29T16:07:00.004-04:00

This is one of the blizzard of Obama brochures my Teamster husband gets every day. Inside are separate photos of the 110 total Teamsters who are voting for Barack Obama. But I'm thinking the other 1.4 million are not so sure.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which includes my husband who is certainly NOT voting for His Highness OprahOsama Hussein Obama, appears to be absolutely terrified that it can't deliver the Teamster vote for Obama, at least judging from the panicked mailers which arrive every day.

This particular union, renown for its mob ties that land its leaders in jail or cement overshoes every five years or so, has screwed us so many times through outright lies and manipulation, that I'm just wondering if someone like McCain couldn't stir this pot a little bit. I think there is a deep and abiding hostility to the Teamsters on the part of its members and, if not for the Teamsters, certainly for Obama.

For one thing, teamster drivers who dream of their own rig,don't have to do a lot of math to see that a tax on $250,000 gross receipts pretty much puts them in a higher tax bracket.

And contrary to the Teamster Magazine, not every Teamster is a socialist, a single mother, or an oppressed minority looking for a shortcut to a job at UPS. Most Teamsters are at least as suspicious of the assholes running that bunch as they are about any oppressor.

Time for Republicans to mine union membership a bit more. While some unions -- the autoworkers come to mind -- consist of a fairly brainwashed bunch, others include a variety of views. -- Walker