Early Empty Nest

It's hard to believe, but our time with Lucianna is drawing to a close. Almost a full 21 months have elapsed and I haven't written one story regarding her time spent with us. It's not that our time together wasn't without antics, I think it was more out of respect for her and her internest prowess than it was about writable stories. Lucianna's English is way too good to have the double meaning communications we had with Asmira, who by the way is still in country on an education visa living in Cleveland, Ohio. Sheri still corresponds with her pretty regularly. She is doing well, studying to be a dental hygienist, has her own car and a boyfriend!


So, what have I learned about Brazilians during her stay?

For one, when you remove a Brazilian from their climate, their seemable permanent tans fade considerably. In fact, Sheri and I were darker than her this past summer and I made sure she was reminded of it.

Also, the bikini bathing suit originated in Brazil and was (thankfully)imported by the US in the seventies. As a man I never understood the term "Brazilian wax" but now I know. Get one thing straight; it wasn't a penchant for wearing a speedo that enlightened me.

Brazil is a pretty industrious nation. They have found prosperity in oil independence, a model the US could follow.

Brazilians love their soccer. Their biggest rival is Argentina and I had to draw a comparison to anything we have here, it would be like the hatred between the Redskins and the Cowboys. They really do despise the Argentineans as much I despise the Cowboys.

I hope that she has learned something about America while she was here besides our love for football. Sheri and I definately saw a change in her from the young girl she was when she arrived to the independent young woman she is leaving us as. My big fear and I would tell her this repeatedly is that I haven't spoiled her for all men...what with all my "SuperDad" and "SuperHusband" abilities. Able to leap piled toys in a single bound, to paint tall ceilings, to fix what needs fixin and to build what needs building, to clean what needs cleaning, to heat what need heating and to work what needs working, to communicate what needs...(okay I fail that one)... Ha!

Anyway, we love Lucianna and wish her the best in whatever it is she does. She's got a good head on her shoulders and we're confident she'll succeed in life. After 21 months of watching our three gremlins, she STILL says she wants to have lots of her own children. Wow! She is moving in with a friend while she awaits her education visa so she can begin taking college courses at the local college.

As far as the next au pair? Well, Grandma has decided to take over the daily chores of watching Isabel while the two boys are in school. Hopefully that will continue until the summer and we will get a summer only au pair. We've had a extra person living in the house for so long now, its going to seem a little empty.

How Obama Got Elected

It comes as no surprise (at least to me) the influence of the MSM coverage in the presidential election. The point of the video is NOT that Obama supporters are morons (although the ones in the video certainly are), the point is what actually got through to voters via media coverage or lack thereof. I think the most sincere Obama Supporter in the video is the younger girl with the pink sweater who mentions that maybe she wasn’t as informed as she thought. There may be hope for her, the rest are doomed.

Just for the record I’ve posted the results of the Zogby poll and John Zogby’s defense of said poll. What I find most astonishing and probably one of the worst acts committed by Obama and ignored by the MSM was the fact that he got his start by having his opponents removed from the ballot through the use of lawsuits. The free pass given to the Obama\Biden Campaign was and is absolutely shameful.

57 states, my goodness…

Zogby Poll

512 Obama Voters 11/13/08-11/15/08 MOE +/- 4.4 points

97.1% High School Graduate or higher, 55% College Graduates

Results to 12 simple Multiple Choice Questions

57.4% could NOT correctly say which party controls congress (50/50 shot just by guessing)

81.8% could NOT correctly say Joe Biden quit a previous campaign because of plagiarism (25% chance by guessing)

82.6% could NOT correctly say that Barack Obama won his first election by getting opponents kicked off the ballot (25% chance by guessing)

88.4% could NOT correctly say that Obama said his policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry and make energy rates skyrocket (25% chance by guessing)

56.1% could NOT correctly say Obama started his political career at the home of two former members of the Weather Underground (25% chance by guessing).

And yet.....

Only 13.7% failed to identify Sarah Palin as the person on which their party spent $150,000 in clothes

Only 6.2% failed to identify Palin as the one with a pregnant teenage daughter

And 86.9 % thought that Palin said that she could see Russia from her "house," even though that was Tina Fey who said that!!

Only 2.4% got at least 11 correct.

Only .5% got all of them correct. (And we "gave" one answer that was technically not Palin, but actually Tina Fey)

"We stand by the results our survey work on behalf of John Ziegler, as we stand by all of our work. We reject the notion that this was a push poll because it very simply wasn't. It was a legitimate effort to test the knowledge of voters who cast ballots for Barack Obama in the Nov. 4 election. Push polls are a malicious effort to sway public opinion one way or the other, while message and knowledge testing is quite another effort of public opinion research that is legitimate inquiry and has value in the public square. In this case, the respondents were given a full range of responses and were not pressured or influenced to respond in one way or another. This poll was not designed to hurt anyone, which is obvious as it was conducted after the election. The client is free to draw his own conclusions about the research, as are bloggers and other members of society. But Zogby International is a neutral party in this matter. We were hired to test public opinion on a particular subject and with no ax to grind, that's exactly what we did. We don't have to agree or disagree with the questions, we simply ask them and provide the client with a fair and accurate set of data reflecting public opinion." - John Zogby

Election Day

People vote their interest. That's what they're supposed to do, but the problem is that a very large number of people aren't competent or far-sighted enough to really understand what is in their best interest. All they can see is today, and whatever issue is of concern at this moment. The potential disastrous consequences that may lie a few days done the road are of little import, because they're crude decision making mechanism isn't sophisticated enough to take them into account. Right now finances are the pervasive concern for a lot of people, and since they're too intellectually lazy to figure out how best to address that problem, they just decide to buy into the notion that stealing some more money from those evil rich people will do the trick.

So once again, we return to the topic of targeting America’s rich. If 2% of the population paying 60% of our country’s taxes is not enough, what is enough…70, 80, 90%? Where does it end? This isn’t new and it certainly isn’t change; its typical liberal economic policy. Its more class warfare, mob rule and punitive measures against the nation’s most productive citizens; citizens who have no means of defending themselves against the will of the vast majority of modern voters who have been trained to believe that they have a right to the earnings of others. Democrats know this and it is the source of their power.

What they can do to 2% of the population, they can easily do to you, and given the opportunity they eventually will. That's why Marx was right when he said that democracy is the road to
socialism.

Bass-Ackwards

If anyone needed proof that Barack Obama is an empty suit, they only needed to tune into watch the vice-presidential debate. Forget about who won or who lost, Biden has got serious qualifications as does McCain. It was pretty obvious as it was on display last night as was McCain’s last Friday. Palin? She went toe-toe with a 35-year veteran of Washington, who has deep knowledge of the issues. I thought she was relaxed and on offense the entire debate.

Does anyone really care about vice-presidential debates? Does anyone really remember who the veep candidates were for Gore or Dole? Vice presidential candidates do not bring votes to their respective candidates. Palin’s job last night was to ease the minds of conservatives (which she did) and not lose votes for McCain (which she didn’t). Biden needed to not come off as over-bearing or sexist or make any gaffes (which he didn’t).

This leads me back to my original point that Obama is an empty suit. It’s simply a joke that this guy is even the presidential candidate. He has never run a business, has zero foreign policy experience, never been a governor or a mayor, no military experience and no independence. Obama has voted with his party over 95% of the time. That’s not particularly a bad thing because there are mucho republicans that do the same, but McCain isn’t one of them and neither is Biden. So…Biden and McCain are more qualified. Hell, Palin is far more qualified than Obama.

The democratic ticket is as backwards as the tax and spend policies they espouse.

The Complacenist Papers

I once thought that the American voter was savvy and politically aware, but the inevitable truth is; an enormous number of them have absolutely no idea what they are voting for come November. There's a large contingent of voters who base their opinion and understanding almost entirely on TV ads and past voting habits. As such, there will be millions of voters going to the polls to vote for a D or an R, a black man or a woman, against a Muslim or against Bush (again), without having read a single pamphlet, flyer, book or anything detailing what the candidate is for.

Also, half of the country just won't make it to the polls at all. These are the folks that just don't care. So, for groups one and two I've taken it upon myself to create a new party. They shall now be known as the complacenists. The preamble shall be;

We the people of the Complacenist Party have decided that societies of men are incapable of establishing good government from reflection and choice, that we are forever destined to depend, for our own political constitutions, on accident and force.

Membership is easy and one or more of the following criteria have to be met:

1.If you've ever been pissed because your favorite tv show was preempted by a presidential speech.

2. If the only voting you've ever done involves a phone and an 888 number.

3. The only judges you can think of are either Judy, Roy, Simon, Randy or Paula.

4. The last magazine article you read was from US or People.

5. You have no idea where CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News are on your channel lineup.

6. There is nothing on regular TV on Sunday Mornings from 10 until 12.

7. You have no idea what CSpan is.

8. You use the Internet primarily for shopping, catching up on tv shows or porn.

9. You think the president controls the price of gas.

10. You have no idea who your representatives are.

11. You didn't know there was a state senate.

12. You don't know what states Obama and McCain actually represent.

13. You hurriedly file your taxes so you can get a refund with no regard to what you actually paid.

14. You think the Constitution specifically mentions abortion.

15. You would rather watch a rerun of American Chopper than the local news.

16. You only get the Sunday paper for the coupons.

If you meet any of these criteria, then I advise you to join. Enrollment in the complacenist party can only be done one way; by not voting this November. Your non-vote will send a message to Washington that you won't be just another ignorant voter... you'll just be ignorant.

When Snakes Attack!!

Call Discovery...Call Animal Planet!!

Found this danger to mankind lurking in the garage waiting to sink its teeth into an unsuspecting victim. It wasn't pretty but after much trepidation, we were able to corner the beast and remove it from the garage. I thought I was going to have to call animal control.

You can really get the idea of the size of the beast from the below.

Patriot Day

On this the 7th anniversary of "9/11", we celebrate, with pride, what it means to be American. We will not forget those who have lost their lives, and we salute those who even now stand in harm’s way fighting for the ideals of freedom and democracy upon which this nation is founded.

May this day forever us remind that we came together as one to fight an attack on our soil, to save our citizens, and protect our country!

On this Patriot Day, I hope you are as inspired as I by the words of our sixth president John Quincy Adams:

“And now, friends and countrymen, if the wise and learned philosophers of the elder world, the first observers of nutation and aberration, the discoverers of maddening ether and invisible planets, the inventors of Congreve rockets and Shrapnel shells, should find their hearts disposed to enquire what has America done for the benefit of mankind? Let our answer be this: America, with the same voice which spoke herself into existence as a nation, proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable rights of human nature, and the only lawful foundations of government. America, in the assembly of nations, since her admission among them, has invariably, though often fruitlessly, held forth to them the hand of honest friendship, of equal freedom, of generous reciprocity. She has uniformly spoken among them, though often to heedless and often to disdainful ears, the language of equal liberty, of equal justice, and of equal rights. She has, in the lapse of nearly half a century, without a single exception, respected the independence of other nations while asserting and maintaining her own. She has abstained from interference in the concerns of others, even when conflict has been for principles to which she clings, as to the last vital drop that visits the heart. She has seen that probably for centuries to come, all the contests of that Aceldama the European world, will be contests of inveterate power, and emerging right. Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be.

But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will commend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence; she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force.... She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.... America's glory is not dominion, but liberty. Her march is the march of the mind. She has a spear and a shield: but the motto upon her shield is, Freedom, Independence, Peace. This has been her Declaration: this has been, as far as her necessary intercourse with the rest of mankind would permit, her practice”

God Bless America

Diversity

The other day the Post ran a story about the lack of diversity in the Republican Party. The question they so conveniently chose to ignore was; is diversity a reflection of the party or a reflection of minorities? I tend to believe its the latter.

The truth is the Republican Party opens their arms to all minorities. This is a reality based in fact that literally smacks the left in the face and they choose to ignore said fact over and over. If the Republican Party was not open to minorities why then are Condoleeza Rice, Clarence Thomas, Michael Steele, Alan Keyes, J. C Watts, Colin Powell and Thomas Sowell (one of the greatest republican columnists) active members? These are just the ones I can name off the top of my head. I challenge any democrat to do the same.

Its actually sickening the way the left treats republican minorities. In brief (because there are actually far more attacks than I care to discuss), they called Condoleeza Rice an Aunt Jemima, the farcical attack on Clarence Thomas and the most recent was when Michael Steele had oreos thrown at him at a debate for Md State Senate. Who, by the way, lost to a crotchety old white guy democrat.

The fact is we have minorities in the republican party, its just we give them positions of power to gain experience. You see, we give the most qualified candidates the job whether its a supreme court justice or secretary of state or Lieutenant Governor. The democrats have fallen for the cult of personality and nominated an inexperienced Senator who spent his short time in Congress not doing the work of the people who elected him but seemed to spend his time running for president.

The only way Obama should be in the White House is if McCain invites him over for dinner.

No Nominees for Me

If you are as unhappy as I am with republican nominees for president, you need not look any further than the state of Maryland for why. You see, the partisan demagoguery in MD saw it fit to remove its only successful republican governor in 30 years. Yes, I am still reeling from Martin O’Malley winning the governorship of MD.

Despite the fact that the first thing O’Malley did was raise the sales tax 20 percent and raise cigarette taxes (ahem taxes that effect the poorer populations more than any other), something Ehrlich with his democratic legislature was able to hold off from doing do for 4 years, I’m bitter because Ehrlich would have made a fine presidential nominee.

He was an unapologetic Reaganite. He made the Md government smaller, turned a big deficit into a surplus and staved off 7.5 billion in proposed taxes.

He enacted Maryland's first-ever charter schools law, establishing 15 charter schools benefiting more than 3,000 students in just three years

More than 100,000 net new private-sector jobs were created during his time as Governor. Maryland's unemployment rate was one of the lowest in the nation at approximately 4 percent and its welfare rate is at its lowest level since 1962.

His approval ratings never went lower than 50 percent even though he had a hostile legislature, hostile political establishment, and a hostile press.

He had never lost an election during his 20 years as a politician.

He is young and energetic. He has a youthful family and as far as I know, no baggage or skeletons in his closet.

He would have made as good if not better nominee as the four we have now. I would have gladly given him up as the Governor of Maryland had he had presidential aspirations. I guess we’ll never know.

I really feel Republicans have been stung twice by Maryland Democrats, the obvious being O’Malley’s win, the devastating blow for all republicans, was the lost potential of a winning Republican Candidate.

It was a sad day for conservatism when Ehrlich lost the election in 2006; it will be an even sadder day should the 72 year sold McCain win the republican nomination.