Season's Greetings

Update on UNC-Asheville

Derek has made a decision and has given his "Verbal Commitment" to accept a track scholarship and attend UNC-Asheville in the fall of 2009.

We all feel this will be a great fit for Derek, both academically and to further him on the track as well.

Derek is very excited, as we are as well.

UNC-Asheville's mascot is the Bulldog....which is great for our family...since we all love bulldogs and I even have a bulldog tattoo for those who didn't know that.

Dawn and I are VERY proud of Derek and all of his accomplishments.

.

How Will I Remember You?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av2X21qfKkc

For my beautiful wife...thanks for the dance......

University North Carolina Asheville

This past weekend Dawn and I drove our son Derek down to visit the University of North Carolina Asheville for an official visit. Derek is one of the top hurdlers in the state of Ohio this year and he is being recruited to run track in college.

The campus is absolutely beautiful!!! The mountains all around you and the fall colors as well.

We left out Friday morning at 2:30am. We drove into West Virginia and made a stop just after driving through Charleston. We stopped at a Hardee's for breakfast and had some good laughs with each other. We continued heading south and made our way into Asheville just before noon. Our meeting with the head track coach wasn't until 1:30pm. So we took our own tour around campus.

At 1:20pm we heading over to the Justice Center Sports Center at waiting by "Rocky" the school's bulldog mascot. Nine other recruits met by "Rocky" as well. Coach Jesse Morgan took use inside the Justice Center and we met briefly with the Athletic Director Janet Cone before going on another campus tour lead by Coach Morgan. At the end of the tour we went to the track, where the track team was holding practice. Coach Williams, the sprint and hurdle coach, talked with Derek for some time. After practice we headed for my sister Lisa's house, down in Greer, South Carolina. It took us about an hour to get there.

Friday night we went and watched Byrnes High School to watch Byrnes play Boiling Springs in football. Brynes won 42-6. We spent the night at Lisa and Eddie's.

Saturday morning we got up somewhat early and heading back to the campus to met with the Admissions Dept. After another campus tour, this tour took use inside some of the building around campus, we returned for an 11:30pm meeting with Coach Morgan and Williams.

At our meeting they offered Derek a nice Track Scholarship. We were so thrilled and of course proud of Derek. He is looking to study Engineering in college. UNCA has a wonderful Engineering Dept. that works closely with North Carolina State University.

We drove back to Lisa's Saturday night and just hung out with her and her family. It was VERY relaxing!!! We got up Sunday morning and really didn't want to leave....but soon realized we had to. We got home a little after 10pm Sunday night. Derek asked a lot of good questions while we were down there at the campus. He has put UNCA a the top of his list.

Here is their athletic page:

http://www.uncabulldogs.com/HomePage.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=19200&KEY=&DB_OEM_ID=19200&DB_LANG=&IN_SUBSCRIBER_CONTENT=

And the University's home page:

http://www.unca.edu/

.

The Last Day

One day until the BIGGEST election in our great countries' history begins.

I can't recall the last time I was this nervous about anything. Our entire country...our lives...our beliefs...our moral compasses are all at stake here. It saddens me to know that so many people have already gone to the polls and will go tomorrow and had no idea why they voted for the candidate the voted for.

Many will have voted for "their" candidate because what the media told them, what a co-worker told them, what a person driving the van taking them to the poll told them....yet they never took the time to educate themselves on the issues, the candidates' past, their beliefs etc.

I believe there will many people who months from now will be asking themselves "Why is this happening?". And the simple answer will be "We tired to tell you educate yourself. You didn't have to listen to us. All you had to do was go and educate yourself. Find out the information for yourself." You would have seen it coming.

It is not too late. Take the time before you hit the voting booth and make sure the one you are voting for lines up with your beliefs, your moral compass, how YOU want to see our country run and governed.

That's my two cents........

Ohio employee was ordered to snoop on Joe The Plumber

It keeps getting uglier. The Columbus Dispatch is reporting tonight that an Ohio state employee is contradicting her superiors; the worker says she was ordered to rummage through Joe The Plumber’s records — and she stated the blindingly obvious truth that such searches had never been done before simply because a citizen had come to public light.
Any outrage yet from the left-wing privacy champions? No, I still just hear chirping crickets. Will Democrat Gov. Ted Strickland stand by his specious claim that there’s nooooooo reason to believe the raids were political?

Read:

Vanessa Niekamp said that when she was asked to run a child-support check on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher on Oct. 16, she thought it routine. A supervisor told her the man had contacted the state agency about his case.
Niekamp didn’t know she just had checked on “Joe the Plumber,” who was elevated the night before to presidential politics prominence as Republican John McCain’s example in a debate of an average American.
The senior manager would not learn about “Joe” for another week, when she said her boss informed her and directed her to write an e-mail stating her computer check was a legitimate inquiry.
The reason Niekamp said she was given for checking if there was a child-support case on Wurzelbacher does not match the reason given by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Director Helen Jones-Kelley said her agency checks people who are “thrust into the public spotlight,” amid suggestions they may have come into money, to see if they owe support or are receiving undeserved public assistance.
Niekamp told The Dispatch she is unfamiliar with the practice of checking on the newly famous. “I’ve never done that before, I don’t know of anybody in my office who does that and I don’t remember anyone ever doing that,” she said today.

Redistribution Explained in Obama's Own Words

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iivL4c_3pck

Media

This Has Upset Me the Most

Members of many different liberal groups have started wearing t-shirts around McCain/Palin rallies proclaiming that Sarah Palin is a C U Next Tuesday. And to top it all off they are displaying them "proudly" on their websites.

What if some McCain/Palin supporters showed up at an Obama rally with a t-shirt calling him the 'N' word or a bastard (since his parents were never married)? I bet that would be ALL over the liberal news and those wearing them would probably either be arrested or beaten up. Those who don't believe this here are the links and the pictures.

If you don't like Sarah Palin...that is fine with me...but this kind of crap is uncalled for!!!

http://worldofwonder.net/archives/2008/Oct/10/cuntees.wow

http://wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com/2008/10/wow-staffers-also-wear-sarah-palin-cnt.html

Cartoon Moment

Click on picture to enlarge......

Personal Rant by An Ol’ Broad’s

Great post I swiped from: http://olbroad.com/

Lately, my disgust for the political world has grown to proportions that I don’t much care one way or the other….at times….and haven’t really felt like blogging about what’s going on. I see the left and their propoganda machine, the main stream media, whining like 2 years olds about how terrible John McCain is, yet they find nothing on which to base their attacks. Sarah Palin? Criminy! The biggest whine about her is that she hasn’t spend the majority of her adult life sucking up to other politicians in D.C.? Give me a flippin’ break!

If you’ve been around for a while, you’ll know I’m not a big John McCain fan, and probably would have just voted AGAINST Bubba Hussein Obama, not FOR McCain. I honestly hadn’t made up my mind. Then, along comes this fresh face, smart as a whip, and things really did change. I saw in her a hope for my daughter and granddaughters. Women really can do what they set their minds to do. Hillary tried, and I will give her credit, but her politics kept me from ever supporting her.

What is totally driving me up the wall? Facts. The fact that the MSM are pushing so hard to get a “fresh face” elected that would most likely bring about the destruction of the country. Honestly, the country I was born in no longer exists, but I’d rather not see it spiral any farther down into the muck that it already has.

Instead of pointing out the numerous criminal associates of B. Hussein, the MSM is aiding him, dragging up the S&L scandal, and Keating. Would it do any good to point out that McCain was exonerated of that previous fiasco? Well, it hasn’t so far. I heard a so called reporter on the Memphis news last night bringing it up. I have sent this particular station several emails, siting flaws in their reporting, and even gave evidence. Have I ever heard back from them, or heard a correction on the evening news? Oh hell no! Even the local stations are in the tank. No objectivity what so ever!

So, yes, my disgust is growing. I don’t trust people in D.C. I don’t trust those so called reporters. And I know I’m not alone. We now have an opportunity to make some serious changes, yet all those yapping about ‘change’ (notice…they dropped the ‘hope’ crap?) don’t really want any significant changes that would bring about improvements and, hopefully, return us to a republic based on a pretty good document, the Constitution of the United States.

The change they want will send us spiraling further into debt, and most likely completely destroy the foundations of our nation, sending us further into a socialist society, kind of like the one Hugo Chavez has created. That is just not acceptable.

What is it with this ‘white guilt’ nonsense? As far as I know, I’m not guilty of a dadburn thing. Should we all elect a guy, just because at one time, there were slaves in this country? I don’t bloody well think so. Honestly, if anyone should be guilty, it’s the ones who insist that black people aren’t smart enough to do anything on their own. They NEED government intervention! And which party would that be? Why, that would be the Dhimmicrats, who have been working against black people since that ol’ REPUBLICAN president signed the Immacipation Proclamation. While the ‘guilty’ white Dhimmi elitist are spewing their lies, the blacks of that party should really look into the history books and find out exactly WHO they are voting for, and with:

“In effect, the Klan was a military force serving the interests of the Democratic party, the planter class, and all those who desired the restoration of white supremacy. It aimed to destroy the Republican party’s infrastructure, undermine the Reconstruction state, reestablish control of the black labor force, and restore racial subordination in every aspect of Southern life.”
Not much has changed. They are still using terror tactics, fighting to silence anyone who speaks out against “THE One”.

Psst….these are the same people who inspired the “Oreo” incident involving Michael Steele. I wonder, has anyone said such a thing to Bubba Hussein? I mean, after all, he’s not 100% black, or 100% white. Wouldn’t that mean if the former Lt. Gov of Maryland was an ‘oreo’, isn’t Obama as well? Just asking.

Of course, there’s the most recent debacle concering the “financial crisis”. Isn’t it interesting how the MSM played Queen Nan’s pap over and over, yet never once questioned the connection with the Dhims, where the whole mess actually started? Did the media bring up the times that both Bush and McCain tried to reign in the whole business, but were blown off by House members? All DHIMMOCRATS? No? Well, why the hell not? Oh yeah…my bad! Because the main stream media is full of large steaming piles of male bovine excrement!

Yup! My disgust is at the point, if there was an opportunity to throw them all out on their collective hind ends….and shut down the MSM, start from scratch…..I’d do it!

The housing mess explained in less than 10 minutes...

I strongly recommend you pause this video frequently and examine each point!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WINDtlPXmmE

JUDGE ORDERS OBAMA TO PRODUCE BIRTH CERTIFICATE

By Jon Christian Dryer
October 3, 2008
NewsWithViews.com

On September 29, 2008 US District Court Judge R. Barclay Surrick, the federal magistrate for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled in the matter of Philip J. Berg vs Barack Hussein Obama, et al as the world was distracted by the $700 billion subprime mortgage crisis. Obama signed a breathe of relief as the mainstream media chose to ignore the question: "Can Senator Barack Hussein Obama legally seek the office of President of the United States?"

The flap began in June when National Review's Jim Geraghty raised the question and asked the Obama Campaign to release a copy of his birth certificate in order to prove that he actually was born in the United States. (Reports had previously surfaced claiming that Obama's Kenyan grandmother, Sarah Hussein Obama, told reporters that Obama was not born in Hawaii, but in Kenya. She reportedly told reporters that when her son, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. returned to Kenya he was accompanied by a pregnant white wife who was close to term.)

Obama's family did not take to Stanley Ann Dunham Obama well according to Sarah Obama because she was white. Shortly after she arrived in Kenya Stanley Ann decided to return to Hawaii because she did not like how Muslim men treated their wives in Kenya. However, because she was near term the airline would not let her fly until after the birth of her baby. Obama's grandmother said the baby was born in Kenya and that shortly after Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. was born, Stanley Ann returned to Hawaii.

Purportedly, when she arrived back in Hawaii, Stanley Anne registered her son's live birth as an event which had just happened—in Hawaii. This supposition is based on the appearance, shortly after Nov. 6, 2007, of a Hawaiian birth certificate that was issued, as a duplicate birth certificate, by the State of Hawaii to a US Senator who requested it.

While the Internet screamed that the birth certificate, which appeared on the Obama Campaign's "Fight The Smears" website and was also downloaded and used by far left blogger Markos Zuniga on his website, Daily Kos, it was not an electronic image concocted by Daily KOs as was hypothesized by a self-described cyvbersleuth who uses the cyber pseudonym Techdude. It was the real McCoy—even if it was issued as a political favor to a prospective Democratic presidential candidate by a Democrat official in Hawaii. The county clerk who issued the document, which purports to be a copy of an original document, was date stamped "Nov. 6, 2007" on the reverse side of the birth certificate in blue ink which bled through and is visible on the front of the electronic image.

Attorney Philip J. Berg, the former head of the Montgomery County. Pennsylvania Democratic Party and a former member of the Democratic State Convention and, reportedly a Hillary Clinton supporter, wanted to learn the truth from the myriad of rumors that also suggested that Sen. Obama may also have been a citizen of Indonesia. The only consistent part of the story was Stanley Ann returning to Hawaii to claim he had been in the United States and was a US citizen. In his ruling, Judge Surrick noted that the "...cause came before the United States District Court Judge, Honorable R. Barclay Surrick on defendant Barack Hussein Obama and the Democratic National Committee's motion to dismiss." The order continued, "Having reviewed the motion and plaintiff's opposition to said motion and for good cause shown, it is hereby ordered that the motion to dismiss pursuant to F.R.C.P. 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) is denied. It is further order of this court that the following discovery is to be turned over to plaintiff within three (3) days.

1. Obama's "vault" version (certified copy of his "original" long version) birth certificate; and
2. a certified copy of Obama's Certificate of Citizenship;
3. a certified copy of Obama's oath of allegiance."

In his original filing, Berg specifically asked for those three items. Berg told the court that "...at the time Plaintiff's complaint was filed, Plaintiff was requesting protections from the court in order to stop Obama from being nominated by the DNC as the Democratic Presidential Nominee as Obama is not eligible to serve as President of the United States. However, Obama was nominated by the DNC...For that reason, Plaintiff must amend his complaint and will be amending this complaint to file a First Amendment complaint...."

Berg argued that he felt it was the role of the Federal Election Commission to ensure that presidential and congressional candidates are eligible to hold the positions for which they were seeking, and that those candidates run a fair and legitimate campaign. "In vetting the presidential candidate," Berg argued, "the DNC and the FEC are required to ensure the eligibility requirements pursuant to our Constitution are met and the Presidential nominee, if elected, is qualified and eligible to serve pursuant to our United States Constitution. In order to be eligible to run for the Office of President of the United States, you must be a "natural born" citizen.

"There appears to be no question that Defendant Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was a US citizen. It is also undisputed, however, that his father, Barack Obama, Sr., was a citizen of Kenya. Obama's parents, according to divorce recorded, were married on or about February 2, 1961.

"Defendant Obama claims he was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. on August 4, 1961 and it is uncertain in which hospital he claims to have been born. Obama's grandmother on his father's side, his half-brother and half-sister all claim Obama was born not in Hawaii but in Kenya. reports reflect that Obama's mother traveled to Kenya during her pregnancy; however, she was prevented from boarding a flight from Kenya to Hawaii. at her late stage of pregnancy (which apparently are normal restrictions, to avoid births during flights). By these reports, Stanley Ann Dunham Obama gave birth to Obama in Kenya, after which she flew home and registered Obama's birth. There are records of a "registry of birth" for Obama, on or about August 8, 1961 in the public records office in Hawaii."

Berg's investigators revealed that Obama's own half-sister Maya Soetoro—with whom he was raised—seemed not to know where her own brother was born. In the Nov., 2004 interview by the Rainbow Newsletter Maya Soetoro said Obama was born on Aug. 4, 1961 at Queens Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. In February, 2008 Maya was interviewed by the Star Bulletin. This time she told reporters that Obama was born on August 4, 1961 at the Kaliolani Medical Center for Women and Children. On June 9, 2008 Wayne Madsen, a journalist with Online Journal published an article in which he said a research team went to Mombassa, Kenya and located a Certificate registering the live birth of Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. to his father, a Kenyan citizen and his mother, a US citizen.

Berg's argument to the court was that under the US Nationality Act of 1940, Section 317 (b), a minor child follows the naturalization and citizenship status of his or her custodial parent. In Obama's case, Berg argued, a minor child follows the naturalization and citizenship status of his or her custodial father. Obama's Indonesian stepfather, Lolo Soetora signed a statement acknowledging Obama as his son, giving Obama natural Indonesian citizenship, which explains the name "Barry Soetoro" and his citizenship listed as Indonesian. Loss of US citizenship, under US law in effect in 1967 required that foreign citizenship be achieved through "application." Which, according to Berg, is precisely what happened to Obama when his mother married Soetoro and the family moved to Indonesia.

When Obama and his mother moved to Indonesia, Obama had already been enrolled in school—something that could not have happened under Indonesian law if Soetoro had not signed an acknowledgment (the application) affirming that Obama was his son, it deemed his son to an Indonesian State citizen. (Citizenship of Republic of Indonesia, Law No. 9 of 1992 dated 31 mar. 1992, Indonesia Civil Code): "...State children of Indonesia include: (viii) children who are born outside of legal marriage from foreign State citizen mother who are acknowledged by father who is Indonesian State citizen as his children and that acknowledgment is made prior to children reaching 18 years of age or prior to marriage; Republic of Indonesia Constitution, 1945." Furthermore, under Indonesian law, if a resident Indonesian citizen married a foreigner—in this case, Lolo Soetoro marrying Stanley Ann Obama—she was required to renounce her US citizenship.

In his lawsuit, Berg demanded a copy of Obama's Certificate of Citizenship, a document Obama must have applied for to regain his citizenship—which was lost in Indonesia. He will have that document only if the proper paperwork was filed with the US State Department when Obama returned to Hawaii in 1971 since that is the only way Obama could regain his US "natural born" status. Berg is convinced that Obama was never naturalized in the United States after his return. Obama returned to his maternal grandparents in Hawaii without his mother. Since she is the only one who could have filed for the reinstatement of his citizenship, it is unlikely it ever happened. If it did, his Certificate of Citizenship would affirm his right to seek the office of President. Without it, Barack Obama is just another resident alien who can't legally hold his seat in the US Senate.

© 2008 Jon C. Ryter - All Rights Reserved

A Letter From a Florida Teacher

Letter by a Florida teacher................ A teacher speaks

This is a subject close to my heart.

Do you know that we have adult students at the school where I teach who are not US citizens and who get the PELL grant, which is a federal grant (no pay back required) plus other federal grants to go to school?

One student from the Dominican Republic told me that she didn't want me to find a job for her after she finished my program, because she was getting housing from our housing department and she was getting a PELL grant which paid for her total tuition and books, plus money leftover.

She was looking into WAIT which gives students a CREDIT CARD for gas to come to school, and into CARIBE which is a special program ( check it out - I did, http://www.caribeprogram.com/) for immigrants and it pays for child care and all sorts of needs while they go to school or training.

The one student I just mentioned told me she was not going to be a US Citizen because she plans to return to the Dominican Republic someday and that she 'loves HER country.' I asked her if she felt guilty taking what the US is giving her and then not even bothering to become a citizen and she told me that it doesn't bother her, because that is what the money is there for!

I asked the CARIBE administration about their program and if you ARE a US Citizen, you don't qualify for their program. And all the while, I am working a full day, my son-in-law works more than 60 hours a week, and everyone in my family works and pays for our education .

Something is wrong here.

I am sorry but after hearing they want to sing the National Anthem in Spanish - enough is enough. Nowhere did they sing it in Italian, Polish, Irish (Celtic), German or any other language because of immigration. It was written by Francis Scott Key and should be sung word for word the way it was written.

The news broadcasts even gave the translation -- not even close.

Sorry if this offends anyone but this is MY COUNTRY. IF IT IS YOUR COUNTRY SPEAK UP -- please pass this along. I am not against immigration -- just come through like everyone else.

Get a sponsor; have a place to lay your head; have a job; pay your taxes, live by the rules AND LEARN THE LANGUAGE as all other immigrants have in the past --

and GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Ten Reasons To Vote 4 John McCain

1. Barack Obama spent 20 years sitting in church while his preacher and others bad-mouthed the United States of America. Navy pilot John McCain spent five years being tortured in the Hanoi Hilton, and refused a chance to walk out ahead of fellow POWs with more seniority.

2. Obama wants to cut and run from Iraq regardless of conditions on the ground or future consequences. McCain took on the president and secretary of defense in demanding more troops for Iraq, a policy that is inarguably winning the war. He also has two sons who fought in Iraq.

3. McCain supports nuclear power. Obama backs wind energy.

4. Obama wants restrictive gun control because only economically depressed middle-Americans “cling to God and guns.” McCain unwaveringly supports the Second Amendment.

5. McCain has deviated from his party’s conservative base on several occasions (McCain-Feingold Bill, Gang of 14, McCain-Kennedy Bill, opposition to torture). Obama has voted the left-wing line every single time, and been designated the most liberal Senator in Congress.

6. Obama is willing to meet with hostile state leaders like Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez without preconditions. McCain will set conditions first, talk later — maybe.

7. Obama is married to a bitter, angry lawyer who became “proud” of her country for the first time this year. McCain’s wife is a beer heiress who founded an organization to provide MASH-style units to disaster-torn world regions. Did I mention that she’s a beer heiress?

8. Obama supports higher taxes for a government-run nanny state that will coddle all Americans like babies. McCain trusts people to spend their less-taxed money however they wish.

9. The name John McCain sounds like “John McClain,” the action hero played by Bruce Willis in the manly Die Hard series. “Barack Obama” sounds like the kind of elitist villain John McClain has to outwit and defeat.

10. McCain is endorsed by Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Obama gets support from Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks, and every weenie in Hollywood. Plus, Susan Sarandon has vowed to leave the country if McCain gets elected. Case closed.

The United States Military

Sailors and soldiers come in all shapes, shades, weights, sizes, states of sobriety, misery, and confusion. They are sly as a fox, have the nerve of a dope addict, the sincerity of a politician, and the subtly of Mt. Saint Helen. They are extremely irresistible, totally irrational and completely indestructible.

A sailor/soldier is a warrior all his life even if only for a few years of that life. He is a magical creature. You can kick him out of your house but not out of your heart. You can take him off your mailing list but not off your mind.

Sailors and soldiers are found everywhere... in love...in battle... in lust... in trouble...in debt...in bars and ... behind them. No one can write so seldom and yet think so much of you. No one else can get so much enjoyment out of a letter or clean clothes or a six pack.

A sailor/soldier is a genius with a deck of cards. A millionaire without a cent and brave without a grain of sense. HE IS THE PROTECTOR OF AMERICA! When he wants something, it's usually 30 days leave, music that hurts the ears, a five dollar bill...or a woman he can count on.

Girls love them, mothers tolerate them, fathers brag about them,the government pays them, the police watch out for them and somehow they all work together.

You can beat their bodies, but not their minds. You can tame their hearts, but not their souls.

He likes girls, chow, females, guns, women, alcohol, ladies, did I say alcohol?, and the opposite sex.

Sailors and soldiers dislike small checks, working weekends, answering letters, waking up, maintaining a uniform, and the day before payday.

You may as well give in. A sailor/soldier is your long distance lover... they are your steely-eyed, warm-smiling, blank-minded, hyper-active, over-reacting, curious, passionate, talented, spontaneous, physically fit, good for nothing bundle of worry.....

And he will always be there for you, regardless of how long its been since you've last talked.

Take time and say a prayer for the men and women of our great military today.

Day Off

If John McCain wants to take the day off from campaigning then I guess I'll take the day off from posting any political related posts.

Yesterday our youngest daughter, Danielle, was the recipient of a Proud Principal Phone Call Home Award at school. Danielle and the principal of her school, Barb, called Dawn on her cell. Danielle got the award because last week her teacher was out sick for a few days and Danielle helped the subsitute teachers out. She helped them with the order of class and where to find things in the class. Two of the subs made mention to Barb what a great help Danielle was. Danielle received a nice certificate, a gift certificate for a free pizza buffet at Cici's and will have her picture up on the schools in-school TV channel "screen-saver" for the next month. So needless to say, Dawn and I are VERY proud of her.

.

A Great McCain Ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nA1MwOE86U

Monday, Monday

I have always said Mondays were Fundays. (insert sarcastic tone here)

I am truly getting tired of the Dems bashing and continuing to lie about the Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin, I think what is ticking me off the most is that she is soul focus of the Dems attacks and she is the VP candidate...not the President candidate.

I really think they are going after her to keep that lack of experience problems off of Obama. One question I have yet to have answered by a Obama supporter is,"What experience does Obama have that qualifies him to be President of the United States?" I have NEVER gotten one answer from any of them...I always get THIS question back,"What experience does Sarah Palin have to be President of the United States?" I reply,"She is not running for President!!!" Focus on the TWO candidates that are running. If the Dems were to focus on Obama vs. McCain I think they know they will get their butts kicked, but little do they realize....Sarah Palin will prevail because the cream always rises to the top.

Obama Releases his "in your face" Hounds

By Michelle Malkin
• September 19, 2008 11:16 AM

My second syndicated column of the week looks at Barack Obama’s Call to Strong Arms. Looks like the “in-your-face” brigade has already struck — and vandalized GOP offices in Indiana and Florida. Expect more. We’ve been here before.
***
Obama releases his “in-your-face” houndsby Michelle MalkinCreators SyndicateCopyright 2008
Warning: If your neighbor’s got an “Obama ‘08″ bumper sticker or lawn sign, you might want to double-check your door locks at night. The One has commanded his Purveyors of Change to go forth and proselytize to the unbelievers. And they’re not going to be knocking gently like Avon Ladies.

Barack Obama, you see, is done fixing souls. It’s time to crack heads. Prodded by panicked Democrats to take off his white gloves, he issued a Call to Strong-Arms to his legions of angry followers on Wednesday. Hope is out. Hellfire is in. Now, the same analysts who tut-tutted Sarah Palin’s mild use of sarcasm at the GOP convention are heralding — in the words of the Obama water-carriers at the Associated Press — Obama’s “feistier, more sarcastic tone” and his push for Democrat activists “to sharpen their elbows, too.”

When Republicans get aggressive, it’s “dirty.” When Obama gets aggressive, it’s “feisty.” Exorteth the One: “I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.”

Team Obama is so committed to this “face-to-face” shock troop campaign that it is now busing activists from state to state (“Drive for Change!”) to target undecided voters – and offering subsidies to volunteers. In advance of Obama’s rally in Nevada, California field director Mary Jane Stevenson organized a pilgrimage to boost the crowd numbers with housing incentives:
“Face-to-face contact with undecided voters is the single most effective way to grow this movement. No experience is required, and we’ll help you make the trip as easily as possible with either housing in Nevada or discounted group rates at an area hotel.”

Yep, a bunch of angry Obama cultists and left-wing ACORN drifters are coming to your neighborhoods to accuse you of racism, call you unpatriotic for not bowing down and forking over more taxes to keep the Mother Ship afloat, and check your tire pressure and thermostats while they’re at it. Feel the power of positive change.

The in-your-face directive comes as Team Obama Chicago-fies its tactics by:
*Stepping up sleazy ads. The latest one twisted the words of radio talk giant Rush Limbaugh in a laughable attempt to paint John McCain as an immigration hardliner and stir fear among Hispanic voters;

*Doubling down on the race card. Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius shamelessly baited supporters with this line: “Have any of you noticed that Barack Obama is part African-American? (Republicans) are not going to go lightly into the darkness;”

*And suppressing dissent. Rebuffed by the Justice Department in their efforts to prosecute conservatives for running ads critical of Obama’s ties to Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers, the campaign is using an army of supporters to mob radio and television stations daring to air investigations of the relationship. The foot soldiers receive their marching orders through “Obama Action Wires” and bombard critics with disruptive phone calls.

Meanwhile, the Left’s Sarah Palin hatred has been encouraged by the in-your-face comments of Michelle Obama, who derided the Alaska governor’s intellect (”What you learn about Barack from his choice is that he’s not afraid of smart people”) and looks (don’t cast a vote because “she’s cute”) on the campaign trail. And Team Obama’s goons on the Internet – led by Gawker Media and the Huffington Post – are reveling in the hacking of Palin’s private e-mail account, the publication of private, family photos of her children stolen from her account, and the abuse of daughter Bristol’s cell phone number stolen from the account. For countless friends of Obama, “in your face” is code for “anything goes.”

Sarah Palin's Involvement in Troopergate

Sarah has a sister

Sister was married to a State Trooper

State Trooper is just a world class a-hole (there's a theme here)

Did I mention that State Trooper husband is an a-hole? He tasered their 11 year old son (his step-son). Nice man.

Palin's husband and basically everyone that knew about what an a-hole Mr. State Trooper was, told the Commissioner to fire the Trooper*

Commissioner decided that there was nothing wrong with State Trooper being an egotistical a-hole, tasering 11 year old boys and carrying around a gun while being an a-hole

So the A-hole Trooper was investigated further

This was during the term of the Governor BEFORE Sarah Palin

A-face Trooper was suspended for ten days (which was shortened to five days after the Union complained, apparently they think it's a good idea for troopers to be assholes, taser 11 year old boys and carry guns while under the influence of a-hole)

This was also done prior to Palin's election (two months)

Time passes and finally in July of 2008 Palin removes the Commissioner from office after a performance review and offers him a job in another part of Government (which he declines)

The allegations of impropriety come from the person that Palin defeated in her successful election. Of course the media has pounced upon these allegations as truth and will sensationalize, as much as they possibly can, any allegation against Palin.

I'd like to go on record as being under the impression that what Sarah Palin did was not only the right thing to do, it was done in an honorable manner. Police who abuse their position of power MUST be removed. The commissioners, unions and others that seek to protect abusive police men and women are wrong.

They should be reminded that they are here to protect the populace, not promote the intimidation of the citizenry by police force.Not that it will matter one bit to the nutroot moonbats that can't think for themselves... they just see a Conservative woman, therefore, she must be wrong!*

Something about how a jerk like him with a gun and a taser and a propensity for using said taser against 11 year old boys didn't need to be a State Trooper...

A Email from One of the Best Senators

Yes, Palin Did Stop That Bridge
By JIM DEMINT
September 10, 2008

"But, you know, when you've been taking all these earmarks when it's convenient, and then suddenly you're the champion anti-earmark person, that's not change. Come on! I mean, words mean something, you can't just make stuff up." -- Barack Obama, Sept. 6, 2008

In politics, words are cheap. What really counts are actions. Democrats and Republicans have talked about fiscal responsibility for years. In reality, both parties have a shameful record of wasting hundreds of billions of tax dollars on pork-barrel projects.

My Senate colleague Barack Obama is now attacking Gov. Sarah Palin over earmarks. Having worked with both John McCain and Mr. Obama on earmarks, and as a recovering earmarker myself, I can tell you that Mrs. Palin's leadership and record of reform stands well above that of Mr. Obama
.
Let's compare.

Mrs. Palin used her veto pen to slash more local projects than any other governor in the state's history. She cut nearly 10% of Alaska's budget this year, saving state residents $268 million. This included vetoing a $30,000 van for Campfire USA and $200,000 for a tennis court irrigation system. She succinctly justified these cuts by saying they were "not a state responsibility."

Meanwhile in Washington, Mr. Obama voted for numerous wasteful earmarks last year, including: $12 million for bicycle paths, $450,000 for the International Peace Museum, $500,000 for a baseball stadium and $392,000 for a visitor's center in Louisiana.

Mrs. Palin cut Alaska's federal earmark requests in half last year, one of the strongest moves against earmarks by any governor. It took real leadership to buck Alaska's decades-long earmark addiction.

Mr. Obama delivered over $100 million in earmarks to Illinois last year and has requested nearly a billion dollars in pet projects since 2005. His running mate, Joe Biden, is still indulging in earmarks, securing over $90 million worth this year.

Mrs. Palin also killed the infamous Bridge to Nowhere in her own state. Yes, she once supported the project: But after witnessing the problems created by earmarks for her state and for the nation's budget, she did what others like me have done: She changed her position and saved taxpayers millions. Even the Alaska Democratic Party credits her with killing the bridge.
When the Senate had its chance to stop the Bridge to Nowhere and transfer the money to Katrina rebuilding, Messrs. Obama and Biden voted for the $223 million earmark, siding with the old boys' club in the Senate. And to date, they still have not publicly renounced their support for the infamous earmark.

Mrs. Palin has proven courageous by taking on big spenders in her own party. In March of this year, the Anchorage Daily News reported that, "Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens is aggravated about what he sees as Gov. Sarah Palin's antagonism toward the earmarks he uses to steer federal money to the state."

Mr. Obama had a chance to take on his party when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered a sham ethics bill, which was widely criticized by watchdog groups such as Citizens Against Government Waste for shielding earmarks from public scrutiny. But instead of standing with taxpayers, Mr. Obama voted for the bill. Today, he claims he helped write the bill that failed to clean up Washington.

Mr. Obama has shown little restraint on earmarks until this year, when he decided to co-sponsor an earmark moratorium authored by Mr. McCain and myself. Mr. Obama is vulnerable on this issue, and he knows it. That is why he is lashing out at Mrs. Palin and trying to hide his own record.

Mrs. Palin is one of the strongest antiearmark governors in America. If more governors around the country would do what she has done, we would be much closer to fixing our nation's fiscal problems than we are.

Mrs. Palin's record here is solid and inspiring. She will help Mr. McCain shut down the congressional favor factory, and she has a record to prove it. Actions mean something. You can't just make stuff up.

Mr. DeMint, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from South Carolina.

Sarah Palin killed. And more than killed.

DECLARATIONS
By PEGGY NOONAN
The Wall Street Journel'A Servant's Heart'
September 6, 2008 4:48 p.m.; Page A11

Much has been said about her speech, but a few points. "The difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Lipstick" is pure American and goes straight into Bartlett's. This is the authentic sound of the American mama, of every mother you know at school who joins the board, reads the books, heads the committee, and gets the show on the road. These women make large portions of America work.

She has the power of the normal. Hillary Clinton is grim, stentorian, was born to politics and its connivances. Nancy Pelosi, another mother of five, often seems dazed and ad hoc. But this state governor and mother of a big family is a woman in a good mood. There is something so normal about her, so "You've met this person before and you like her," that she broke through in a new way, as a character vividly herself, and vividly genuine.

Her flaws accentuated her virtues. Now and then this happens in politics, but it's rare. An example: The very averageness of her voice, the not-wonderfulness of it, highlighted her normality: most people don't have great voices. That normality in turn highlighted the courage she showed in being there, on that stage for the first time in her life and under trying circumstances. Her averageness accentuated her specialness. Her commonality highlighted her uniqueness.

She seemed wholly different from, and in fact seemed a refutation to, all the men of Washington at their great desks who make rules others have to live by but they don't have to live by themselves, who mandate work rules from which they exempt Congress, for instance. They don't live by the rules they espouse. She has lived her expressed values. She said yes to a Down Syndrome child. This too is powerful.

What she did in terms of the campaign itself was important. No one has ever really laid a glove on Obama before, not in this campaign and maybe not in his life. But Palin really damaged him. She took him square on, fearlessly, by which I mean in part that she showed no awkwardness connected to race, or racial history. A small town mayor is kind of like a community organizer only you have actual responsibilities. He wrote two memoirs but never authored a major bill. They've hauled the Styrofoam pillars back to the Hollywood lot.

This was powerful coming from Baberaham Lincoln, as she's been called.

By the end, Democrats knew they had been dinged, and badly. After the speech they descended on cable news en masse with the dart-eyed, moist-browed look of the operative who doesn't believe his talking points. They seemed like they were thinking, "I've seen this movie before and it doesn't end well." Actually they haven't seen it before in that Palin is something new, but they have seen it before in terms of what she said.

Which gets me to the most important element of the speech, and that is the startlingness of the content. It was not modern conservatism, or split the difference Conservative-ish-ism. It was not a conservatism that assumes the America of 2008 is very different from the America of 1980.

It was the old-time conservatism. Government is too big, Obama will "grow it", Congress spends too much and he'll spend "more." It was for low taxes, for small business, for the private sector, for less regulation, for governing with "a servant's heart"; it was pro-small town values, and implicitly but strongly pro-life.

This was so old it seemed new, and startling. The speech was, in its way, a call so tender it made grown-ups weep on the floor. The things she spoke of were the beating heart of the old America. But as I watched I thought, I know where the people in that room are, I know their heart, for it is my heart. But this election is a wild card, because America is a wild card. It is not as it was in '80. I know where the Republican base is, but we do not know where this country that never stops changing is.

It all left me wondering if this campaign is about to take on a new shape, with the old time conservatism on one side, and a smoother, evolved form of the old style liberalism on the other.

It doesn't get more dramatic, or dramatically drawn, than that.

I don't like the new media war. I don't like what it has the potential to do to the election, and the country.

The media overstepped. The Republican party resented it. GOP strategists saw a unifying force rising: anger in the base. They too had seen this movie before. They slammed the media. The media shot back: "You're attacking us for doing our job!"

How did the media overstep? By offending people by going so immediately and so personally into issues surrounding Mrs. Palin's family. They did not overstep by digging, by deep reporting, by investigating Palin's professional record.

Campbell Brown of CNN did nothing wrong for instance in pressing a campaign spokesman on Palin's foreign policy credentials. She was unjustly criticized for following an appropriate and necessary line of inquiry. But endless front page stories connected to Mrs. Palin's 17-year-old daughter? Cable news shows that had people insinuating Palin, whom America had not yet even met, was a bad mother, and that used her daughter's circumstances to examine Republican views on abstinence education? That was ugly.

In the end it made Palin the underdog, and gave her the perfect platform for the perfect dive she made Wednesday night.

We have had these old press fights in the past – they were a source of constant tension when I was a child, when Barry Goldwater came forward as a conservative and the press scorned him as a flake, and later when Ronald Reagan came up and the press dismissed him as Bonzo.

But this latest fight commences on a new and wilder battlefield. The old combatants were old school gentlemen, Eric Sevareid and Walter Cronkite; the new combatants are half-crazy cable anchors, the lower lurkers of the Internet, and the anonymous posters on the comment thread on the radical website.

This new war on new turf is not good, and carries the potential of great harm. Everyone really ought to stop, breathe deep, and think.

I am worried they won't. A friend IM'd the day after Palin's speech, and I told him of an inexplicable sense of foreboding. He surprised me by saying he shared it. "Calling all underworlds reporting for duty!," he wrote. "The bed is about to fly around the room, the puke is about to come out." He meant: this campaign is going to engage unseen powers and forces. He meant: this campaign, this beautiful golden thing with two admirable men at the top and two admirable vice presidential candidates, is going to turn dark.

It is starting to look to me like a nation-defining election. And in this it seems almost old-fashioned. 1992 for instance didn't seem or feel nation-defining, not as I remember it, nor did 2000. 1964 did, and '80 did, but they both ended in landslides. Landslide is not what I'm seeing here.

Where are the Democrats going to go? I suspect to foreign policy. In politics it used to be called Tolstoy: war and peace. McCain-Palin will mean more war, Obama-Biden will mean peace.

This campaign is about to become: epic.

Obama a Muslim???

A verbal slip by Barack Obama, in which he made a reference to "my Muslim faith," unleashed a barrage of Internet attacks Sunday.

The Democratic presidential candidate appeared on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos, which aired Sunday morning.

Obama was -- ironically -- addressing the false rumors that he is Muslim. He suggested that Republican rival John McCain was behind them, according to ABC News.

Obama was reminded that McCain denied spreading the rumors.

"You're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith," Obama said, before being corrected by Stephanopoulos.

Obama pointed the finger at "the Republican camp."

The quote became a magnet for comments on the YouTube.com video site and by bloggers as the day went on. Some seized on it as confirmation of their suspicions and some ridiculed it as a gaffe.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton bristled. "Printing a blogger suspecting that Obama is a Muslim is pretty irresponsible and below the standards that we're used to out of the Sun-Times," he wrote in an e-mail.

A simple gaffe or truth coming out???

Someone Please Explain

I really just don't get somethings that have taken place over the last couple of weeks.

I do understand politics and everyone has to "attack" their opponents, but do they have to go after their kids. I have actually talked with people who said,"Well if Palin has her kids on stage with her, then they are open season." Since when is hunting humans/children legal???

I love how the liberal main stream media has reported that Sarah and Todd Palin's youngest son, Trig, is really their eldest daughters child. How US Weekly magazine has a wonderful love story and cover for Barak and Michelle....

And then publish this one a week later.....

Lies and Scandal??? What a joke!!! In the article it mentions Todd Palin's DUI arrest, but does not say it was 22 years ago!!! It states that Sarah was at one time a member of the Alaska Independent Party, which the McCain camp AND the Alaska Voting Commission has said is NOT true. Please try and continue to paint this great American and her family in a negative light...because the American people are NOT stupid...they will see the light.

McCain's VP Choice

A relative unknown in the national political circle. She is a first term Governor. Only 44 years old. A former runner-up in the Miss Alaska Pageant. She is pro-life, against gay marriage (she did however veto legislation that would bar the state from granting benefits to partners of gay state employees), supports capital punishment, and belongs to Feminists for Life (a pro-life organization).



She has a bachelor's degree in journalism and minor in politics from the University of Idaho.Palin and her husband, Todd, have five children. The older son, Track, is in the Army. Then they have three girls: Bristol, Willow, and Piper. The youngest son, Trig, was born April of 2008 and has Down's Syndrome.



She is not afraid of the "good ol boys". She blew the whistle on former Republican Chairman Randy Ruedrich. Ruedrich was accused of doing party work on public time and supplying a lobbyist with a sensitive e-mail. Palin filed charges against Ruedrich and former Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes, both resigned. Ruedrich paid a record fine of $12,000.



Highlights of Governor Palin's tenure include a successful push for an ethics bill, and also shelving pork-barrel projects supported by fellow Republicans. Palin successfully killed the Bridge to Nowhere project that had become a nationwide symbol of wasteful earmark spending.



A poll published by Hays Research on July 28, 2008 showed Palin's approval rating at 80%.

Check out one of my blog brother's posting on this topic as well.....

http://disgruntledtruckdriver.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/08/if-this-is-trueobamas-post-convention-bounce-is-going-to-be-a-massive-thud.html

Olympic Fatigue

Now that the 2008 Olympics have concluded....I can now get some sleep. I don't know what it is about the Summer Olympics. I just have to watch as much as possible live. I guess it is the sports nut and track coach coming out in me. I haven't been to bed before midnight since they started on 8-8-08.

So with that being said I guess I will have to go back to see what has been and is going on in the rest of the world. I think I will need this one day, Monday, to read up on some things and get back to posting/blogging.

Just remember....Mondays are always Fundays.......

Now that is what Sunday is for....

Yesterday was a VERY relaxing day here in the Larsen household.

Dawn and I got up and came downstairs around 8:30am. I ran out to the corner store to grab a newspaper. I grabbed a nice big cup of coffee when I returned and went to the couch. Dawn had picked up some REALLY nice cinammon rolls covered in maple icing while she was in Amish country on Friday/Saturday. Now those were really good!!! After we got done reading the paper we sat on the couch for the remainder of the day and watched movies ALL day. It was nice to have the kids sit and watch some movies with us. Derek's girlfriend, Kit, came over and spent the afternoon with us before she had to leave for work at 5pm.

For dinner I cooked up some ground turkey and mixed that in with some Dirty Rice....nice comfort food. To the couch we went for the remainder of the evening.

It was nice to unwind and spend some "quality" time with the family and just relaxed!!! I recommend it to everyone every now and then......

My Birtday

Today is my birthday, but I think I'm going to write about the fun party we had yesterday for Amanda's birthday, which was the 22nd. It was nice to have family and friends over yesterday. Guests started arriving around 2:30pm and the last ones left at 1:30am. We went through 9 pizzas, countless cans of soda and three and a half cases of beer. So that made for a good day right there. But there was more that happened that made it even better.

First, when my in-laws got here they gave me a present that really surprised me. A new cornhole set. One was painted in St Eds color and the other in Fairview's colors. I was really surprised!!! We ended up playing until a little after midnight.

Another thing that made it a better day was the fact that my Mom and Dad both came. They didn't talk, but everyone else did around them. I even asked Dawn if she thought one day the two of them would be able to sit with everyone else and hold a civil conversation. I think it will happen someday....

Last was just seeing Amanda having a good time with all her friends who came over. She got a lot of really nice gifts and she had a really good time.

The Greatest Video I've Ever Watched

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfK2BQCIIes

Been Awhile

Summer is flying by.....but so does every season...doesn't it?

It has been a busy weekend.

Friday was the kick off of Fairview's Summerfest. Amanda and Danielle marched in the parade. It was nice to watch a good ole fashion "small town" family style parade. Baseball teams, the high school marching band, nice cars, etc....

The only thing that really bothered me was when the beginning of the parade came by. The parade was being lead by both color guards from the Legion and the VFW. What got me was as they marched by very few people stood up. I heard people clapping but very few stood up. Where is the respect for the men and women who not only served but more importantly gave their life for our country/freedom? I stood at full attention when those men and flags marched proudly by.....just like my parents taught me and came to understand while serving in the US Navy.

I may not agree with everything that goes on in our country and how it is being run....but I will always support our sailors and soldiers....NO MATTER WHAT!!!!

One of the Funniest Videos EVER!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5iEK-IEzw

Happy 4th!!!

Happy 4th Of July Everybody!!! I Hope We All Have A Great Day And Take A Minute To Think About What An Incredible Accomplishment Our Founding Fathers Pulled Off Back 1776.

Energy Thoughts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW8W_KS52FI

Troubleshooting to Hot Tub

Yesterday afternoon Dawn and I took a drive out to Lagrange to Carrie and Patrick's house. Patrick had called because he was having an electrical problem. We've known Carrie and Patrick for years. I use to work with Carrie, who is a Dietitian, and Patrick is Derek's boss.

Upon arriving I went and looked at the four switches where the were having the problem. I took the cover plate off and looked for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing. So we went down into the basement and went to the main circuit panel. I took the outer cover off and checked the breaker. It was mounted good and the wire was nice and tight. I hit the breaker and it tripped immediately. We turned all four switches on and tried to reset the breaker. One by one Patrick turned the switches off and had to reset the breaker it time. Then he got to the fourth one. He turned it off and the breaker did not trip.

I went upstairs and asked what did that switch control? Carrie responded that is was the lights on the front of the garage. Carrie and Dawn were out front with their almost 1 yr old son and their dog.

I went out and took the lights off the garage to isolate the line. I attempted to reset the breaker to no avail. It tripped. I put the lights back up. We ended up going into the garage and looked for any shorts in the wiring. Nothing. A hour had past in the troubleshooting. A neighbor of Carrie and Patrick walked by and they started talking to her. That left me to go inside and think. I knew there was no way that with everything disconnected that the breaker should still trip.

I turned all the switches off and reset the breaker again. I turned switch one on. The foyer lights came on. Then number two, the dining room lights came on. I flipped the third and I didn't see anything come on. Dawn "yelled" from the front yard that the front of the garage lights were on. I then flipped number four and the breaker tripped, but not before Dawn saw a flash of light come from on of the porch lights.

We had been troubleshooting the WRONG area.....I couldn't get upset.....

I went out and we took both fixtures off the porch ceiling and isolated both. It turns out that one of the candelabra bulbs in the chandelier fixture outside the front door had blown/melting into the socket and was shorting out the hot and common wires. I disconnected the wires and will be getting a new fixture for them.

We all laughed at the mistake/miscue. Patrick went into the kitchen to retrieve a couple of beers. Carrie and Dawn had already been walking around with wine glasses in hand.

I got cleaned up and went into the kitchen and Dawn was telling Carrie what we both liked in our salads. I had no idea we were staying for dinner. Carrie finished the salads and asked Patrick to put the chicken breasts and brats on the grill. So Patrick and I walked out onto their patio overlooking hole #11 on the golf course that is their backyard with beers in hand. The sun was just about 30 minutes from setting.

By time the chicken and brats the sun was only minutes from setting. Dawn and Carrie brought the salads out and we ate. Enjoying good conversation and good friends.

After eating they asked if we would like to jump in the hot tub. Dawn and I looked at eachother and decided...sure what the heck.

Carrie got Dawn a swimsuit and me a pair of shorts. She also gave us these very soft heavy Hugh Heffner style robes. We walked out onto the deck. Patrick came out behind us with reserve beers. Carrie was already in the hot tub so the three of us jumped in to join her.

We enjoyed more life stories and conversations. After about an hour or so we decided to get out. It was just about 11pm. We went in the kitchen for a nice bowl of vanilla ice cream with fresh blueberries, peaches and strawberries on top.

After about another half hour we decide we should get changed and start the half hour ride home.

I guess I wrote all this because it was fun to be together, just the two of us, and be with good friends. We both had a good time and enjoyed Carrie and Patrick's company.

It was nice to go over there thinking I was there to do a side job and end up having a nice evening.

Carrie, Patrick, and Broden....from last winter.

Take a Minute

A wonderful video link. It doesn't matter what your political views are...just watch the whole video and you'll understand......

http://s259.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid259.photobucket.com/albums/hh289/Impish_Dragon/Untitled.flv&fs=1&os=1&ap=1

Real Hollywood Stars/Heros

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WW II MOVIE STARS

Hope you find this as informative and interesting as I did.

In contrast to the ideals, opinions and feelings of today's 'Hollywonk' the real actors of yester-year loved the United States.

They had both class and integrity. With the advent of World War II many of our actors went to fight rather than stand and rant against this country we all love.

They gave up their wealth, position and fame to become service men & women, many as 'enlisted men'.

This page lists but a few, but from this group of only 15 men came over 70 medals in honor of their valor, spanning from Bronze Stars, Silver Stars, Distinguish Service Cross', Purple Hearts and one Congressional Medal of Honor.

So remember; while the 'Entertainers of 2008 have been in all of the news media lately I would like to remind the people of what the entertainers of 1943 were doing, (65 years ago).Most of these brave men have since passed on.

'Real Hollywood Heroes'

Alec Guinness (Star Wars) operated a British Royal Navy landing craft on D-Day.

James Doohan ('Scotty' on Star Trek) landed in Normandy with the U. S. Army on D-Day.

Donald Pleasance (The Great Escape) really was an R. A. F. pilot who was shot down, held prisoner and tortured by the Germans.

David Niven was a Sandhurst graduate and Lt. Colonel of the British Commandos in Normandy.

James Stewart Entered the Army Air Force as a private and worked his way to the rank of Colonel. During World War II, Stewart served as a bomber pilot, his service record crediting him with leading more than 20 missions over Germany, and taking part in hundreds of air strikes during his tour of duty. Stewart earned the Air Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, France's Croix de Guerre, and 7 Battle Stars during World War II. In peace time, Stewart continued to be an active member of the Air Force as a reservist, reaching the rank of Brigadier General before retiring in the late 1950s.




Clark Gable (Mega-Movie Star when war broke out) Although he was beyond the draft age at the time the U.S. entered WW II, Clark Gable enlisted as a private in the AAF on Aug. 12, 1942 at Los Angeles. He attended the Officers' Candidate School at Miami Beach, Fla. and graduated as a second lieutenant on Oct. 28, 1942. He then attended aerial gunnery school and in Feb. 1943 he was assigned to the 351st Bomb Group at Polebrook where he flew operational missions over Europe in B-17s. Capt. Gable returned to the U.S. in Oct. 1943 and was relieved from active duty as a major on Jun. 12, 1944 at his own request, since he was over-age for combat.





Charlton Heston was an Army Air Corps Sergeant in Kodiak.




Ernest Borgnine was a U. S. Navy Gunners Mate 1935-1945.




Charles Durning was a U. S. Army Ranger at Normandy earning a Silver Star and awarded the Purple Heart.




Charles Bronson was a tail gunner in the Army Air Corps, more specifically on B-29's in the 20th Air Force out of Guam, Tinian, and Saipan





George C. Scott was a decorated U. S. Marine.






Eddie Albert (Green Acres TV) was awarded a Bronze Star for his heroic action as a U. S. Naval officer aiding Marines at the horrific battle on the island of Tarawa in the Pacific Nov. 1943.




Lee Marvin was a U.S. Marine on Saipan during the Marianas campaign when he was wounded earning the Purple Heart.




John Russell: In 1942, he enlisted in the Marine Corps where he received a battlefield commission and was wounded and highly decorated for valor at Guadalcanal.


Audie Murphy, little 5'5' tall 110 pound guy from Texas who played cowboy parts: Most Decorated serviceman of WWII and earned: Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, 2 Silver Star Medals, Legion of Merit, 2 Bronze Star Medals with 'V', 2 Purple Hearts, U.S. Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, 2 Distinguished Unit Emblems, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with One Silver Star, Four Bronze Service Stars (representing nine campaigns) and one Bronze Arrowhead (representing assault landing at Sicily and Southern France) World War II Victory Medal Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Clasp, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Marksman Badge with Rifle Bar, Expert Badge with Bayonet Bar, French Fourragere in Colors of the Croix de Guerre, French Legion of Honor, Grade of Chevalier, French Croix de Guerre With Silver Star, French Croix de Guerre with Palm, Medal of Liberated France, Belgian Croix de Guerre 1940 Palm.


So how do you feel the real heroes of the silver screen acted when compared to the hollywonks today who spew out anti-American drivel as they bite the hand that feeds them? Can you imagine these stars of yester-year saying they hate our flag, making anti-war speeches, marching in anti-American parades and saying they hate our president? I thought not, neither did I!

To my Dad and all other Fathers out There Today

A Cool Breeze

It is Saturday afternoon and I am sitting here at the kitchen table with the window open and a nice North breeze is coming through the window. It is amazing how relaxing a simple breeze can be. My Dad, Corky, taught me along time ago to enjoy the simple things.

I will never forget a life lesson he taught Kurt and I years ago in North Carolina. The three of us were driving up to Mount Mitchell, the highest elevation point east of the Mississippi, when Dad pulled the van off to the side of the road. There was a small dirt pull off that we parked in. The three of us got out and walked up to the guardrail. It was a beautiful day out. Carolina blue sky, a few passing clouds, warm sun on your face. We all stood there just looking out into this valley below us. All you could see was green, until you got to the bottom of the valley and there sat a wonderful blue lake reflecting the blue sky and green trees. Time seemed to slow as we just took in the wonderment of it all.

Dad bent down and picked up a medium size rock and tossed it up in the air and caught it. He did this a couple of times. I looked over at him and he just had this look of deep thought on his face. Dad took a deep breath and said this to us:

"Sons, this rock represents you. And all this, (pointing out to the valley, lake, trees, mountains etc.) represents the world."

He took that rock and threw it out into the valley. We heard the rock hit a tree and then a faint second hit and then nothing.

He then said,"You only have one chance in your life to make an impact that the whole world can hear. Make sure when you get that chance, that as many people as possible will hear it. Make it mean something, make it change themselves for the better."

I will never forget this life lesson. I know my opportunity to make some noise has not past. I look forward to it though. This really isn't what I had in mind to write when I started, but what I wrote was what I was suppose to write today.......

Frus·tra·tion

frus·tra·tion-–noun-1.act of frustrating; state of being frustrated 2.something that frustrates, as an unresolved problem 3. a feeling of dissatisfaction, often accompanied by anxiety or depression, resulting from unfulfilled needs or unresolved problems

Anyone feeling that lately??? I believe to some degree ALL of us have. Gas prices, food prices because of the gas prices, kids, bills, work, boss, c0-workers, politics, McCain, Obama, voting, heat, humidity, stupid drivers, stupid in general, rude, unappreciative, disrespectful, taxes, oil, ANWR, war, military, death, cancer, illness, infection.........

love-noun, verb-
1.a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.
2.a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.
3.sexual passion or desire.
4.a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart.
5.(used in direct address as a term of endearment, affection, or the like): Would you like to see a movie, love?
6.a love affair; an intensely amorous incident; amour.
7.sexual intercourse; copulation.
8.(initial capital letter) a personification of sexual affection, as Eros or Cupid.
9.affectionate concern for the well-being of others: the love of one's neighbor.
10.strong predilection, enthusiasm, or liking for anything: her love of books.
11.the object or thing so liked: The theater was her great love.
12.the benevolent affection of God for His creatures, or the reverent affection due from them to God.

I love #12. We still live in a country with many great freedoms. Freedoms that give us choices. We can love freely. We can use love to remove frustration. What do I love?

Dawn, Derek, Amanda, Danielle, Mom, Dad, Lisa, Tiffany, Kurt, God/Spirit, April 20th, chocolate chip cookies, Dawn's cooking, yellow roses, sunsets, rainbows, Somewhere in Time, ice cold beer, pizza, Rocky River Brewing Co., officiating wrestling, coaching @ St Eds, a babies laugh, a good joke, family pictures, online games, fall leaves, spring flowers, autumn rain, trumpet solo, good sportsmanship, a firm handshake, quiet time with Dawn, walks to no where, crashing waves, pumpkin pie, 300 meter hurdles, a bald eagle, english bulldogs, grilled steak, a hug for no reason, smell of cherry tobacco, thin mints out of the freezer, Dad's laugh, butterfly kisses, a soft breeze, a well run track meet, seeing an old friend, SHMILY, toads, lawn jarts, North Carolina, Kittery, Maine, Dawn's spaghetti, sub homecoming, Caddyshack, thunderstorms, fresh cut grass, #22, love songs, Trugger, Pickle Bill's, candlelight, climbing trees, leaf sliding, Tom & Jerry, Christmas time, Fairview's track/field, Red Perfume, a cool breeze, a back rub, hot chocolate, Fritos, butterflies, a new challenge, Philippians 4:13.......

I do believe my loves far out weigh my frustrations.........

Working Class

Both Derek and Amanda have summer jobs. Derek is back working with Patrick doing landscaping, Derek did not work last summer because of his back injury. He loves getting out there doing the hard labor, working on his suntan, and having fun joking with Patrick.

Amanda is working for Dawn's friend Trish at her deli, Pic-A-Deli Cafe. Amanda is excited to be working and earning a paycheck. We are proud of both of them for taking the responsibility on their own to go out and experience the working world. I think they both will have an appreciation for the "all mighty dollar" when it is their own that they have earned.

I just don't understand how we have such high numbers of unemployed people when two teenagers can go out and get jobs....and decent paying jobs at that....but that is a whole other topic that can and probably will be discussed later.....

Monday...Monday

What can I say......it was another Funday Monday at the ol'Manor.

Everything was made good when Dawn got home and made turkey burgers topped with mashed potatoes and cheese, with a side of fresh butter corn. Mmmmm, Mmmmmm good. Some good comfort food.

I did hear one good/funny quote today. We were all watching the Evening News on NBC. Brian Williams was interviewing Senator John McCain. Williams told Senator McCain that Senator Obama was quoted as saying that,"McCain was running for Bush's third term." Senator McCain's response had me on the floor laughing when he said, "Well it looks like Senator Obama is running for Jimmy Carter's second term." Now that is some funny politics.

A Must See Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px_XBJHrs4I

A Better Day at Jesse Owens' Track

We got home last night from Columbus with some "hardware" as the boys call their medals. The 4 x 200 meter relay started off the day for the Eagles. Alex ran a great lead-off leg, his split was a 22.3. His hand-off to Derek was lights out and on the money. Derek came off turn 4 and into a nice head wind and still put in a 22.1 split. Derek's hand-off to Mike was in the zone this year. (last year Mike left early and the team was DQ'd in the state semi's) The team was in third place. Mike had a rough weekend...his split of 22.5 put us into 6th. The hand-off to Seth was a little shaky and that took us completely out of a top four finish for sure. (our goal was top 4) Seth ran a blistering 21.9 split and we finished 6th in the state.

The 4 x 100 was up a short time later. Alex once again led off the relay and he did not disappoint. Alex had another nice hand-off to Odis. Odis flew down the backstretch with the leaders. Another nice stick exchange to Seth kept the Eagles in the top four. Seth's exchange to Latwain was a lot better then Fridays. Latwain sprinted down the home stretch all knotted up with 3 other teams trying for spots 3 to 5. As the runners hit the finish line we could not tell who finished where. We all stared at the finish line clock waiting.....first place came up...then second...then third and then Lakewood St Edward came up as the fourth place team!!!! Coach Mann was high fiving everyone around him. It was a good conclusion to a rough couple of days in Columbus.

Kind of Tough/Rough Day in Columbus

Yesterday made for a long day on the track. The boys were ready to get to the track and compete against the best in the state. The 4 x 800 relay was first to go. Peter ran a great first leg...the team sat in a group of teams 5th through 12th. Mike ran the second leg and that is where the relay fall behind. Mike has only been training for the 800 for about a month now. Unfortunatly that is right were some kids that go from a "true" sprinter (400 meters or less) can hit "a wall". Mike's hamstring tighten up on lap two and he fell to about 15th. Matt and Steven ran really good third and fouth legs of the relay. They did end up finishing 15th. We thought they would finish no less then 10th.

Next on the track was the 4 x 200. Alex had a wonderful lead leg. Derek, running the second leg, took off a little early and had to slow down in the exchange zone, which cost us some time. Derek came down the straight away into a strong head wind and put in a 22.1 split. Derek handed it to Brandon, who ran a great curve and then slowed down the back straight away. We found out later that Brandon's hamstring was tighten up on him. He got the baton to Seth for the anchor leg. Seth pushed us into second place in our qualifying heat. We made the finals and will be in lane 3 this afternoon.

The 4 x 100 was up right after the 4 x 200. Again Alex looked like he was shot out of a canon on the first leg....great hand-off to Odis...who put us into first place. Odis handed off to Seth right in front of me...another great exchange of the stick. Seth came of the turn to hand off to Latwain. Latwain left early and hand to almost come to a complete stop....something you can't do in the 4 x 100 relay. All sixteen teams coming in were seperated by .5 of a second!!! We finished 3rd in our qualifying heat and will have lane 1 for the finals.

On to the hurdles and Derek. This is the toughest hurdle field, depth wise, the state meet has seen in a long time. All sixteen hurdlers came in all running under 39 seconds in the 300 meter hurdles!!! Derek was in the first of two semi-final heats. I was on the turn by hurdle four. Derek had a great start to the first hurdle and cleared hurdle two in perfect stride and was in 3rd place (top 4 in each heat make finals). Hurdle three became his nemisis once again. Twice this year his hurdle three during races was set at the wrong height...39" instead of 36". This time the hurdle was at the right height. Derek came off the hurdle and had a slight lean to his left. His momentum caused him to get on the outside of his left foot and he rolled his ankle. He regained his balance/running form, but a this level one mistake and your out of the money. Case in point...Tyson Peoples, from Glenville, who was second in the state last year, did the same thing as Derek did and will miss running in the finals as well. I held back my tears as best I could. We always want the best for our kids.......

Seth was running in the open 200 meters. Many considered Seth the 'wild card' to place in the top 4 this year. He ran a great turn, but finished 5th. He was only .03 of a second out of fourth place in his heat.

Last was the 4 x 4oo relay. Brandon reinjured his hamstring and could not run. So Coach Mann put Seth in to replace him. Seth's calf cramped up on him after running the 200 meters and could not run. So Coach put Derek in. I had to tell Derek he was our only option left to run, while he was sitting on a bench icing his ankle he rolled during the 300's. He said if Coach needs me to go...I'll run. Cam lead us off...Derek ran second and ran a 52 second split. Brandon and Seth usually run 49-50 second range. That 2 extra seconds put us in the back of the teams. Derek handed off to Mike and then to Steven. We came in with a qualifying time of 3 minutes 20 seconds...today we ran 3 minutes 26 seconds and did not make the finals.

This was a lot of drama today. And of course I found myself trying to be a buffer between coaches and athletes...parents and coaches......etc. It got to me today....I even snapped at Dawn. She did nothing wrong, but I let my emotions speak......I told her I was sorry.

We did all have a pretty good time last night out at Olive Garden. The boys sat a one table and the Coaches and our wives and the parents sat at another table. We had some good conversation and food.

We have two relays to celebrate with today. I'll be happy just because they will finish no less then 8th in the state of Ohio today...not many teams can say that....yeah only 8 in each event.

In Columbus for States

We left to travel down to The Ohio State University at approx. 2:30. We stopped by the hotel, checked in and then went over to Jesse Owens Track at OSU. The boys worked on baton exchanges and we had a nice picnic dinner at the track, made by Coach Mann's wife Donna. I brought some of the boys back to the hotel. The other coaches and a few of the boys went to go watch St Ed's baseball team play in the state semi-finals against Lakota West.

St Ed's, the school where Derek attends and I coach, has had quite a year in sports. They won Ohio state titles in Wrestling and Hockey. They were state runner-ups in Basketball. The baseball team and lacrosse teams are in the final fours. And most important, to me at least, is that the Track Team is sending the most competitors to the state meet in school history.