Pondering

Well, I am going to IRON MAIDEN in May. I used to be headbanger back in the day (junior high), and I have always had a hankering to go to a heavy metal concert. I almost bought tickets to Motley Crue a couple years ago, but just couldn't bring myself to do it. I was a little disturbed with some of the expected goings on at their concerts. They are pretty wild, from what I hear. I couldn't pass up IM, however, because I figure this is it for me. It will be pathetic enough to be at this concert in my late 30s, so I can't wait for another concert. I really liked their music back in my youth, still rock out to them, and understand their concerts are great. What is really pathetic is the thought of these guys, who must be in their late 40s or even 50s, squeezing into tight pants and strutting around. I think it will be really cool. Rush is coming to town soon, but IM was a bigger part of my music collection. I would love to see Rush, too, but can only afford one concert at this time. I wish I still had my spikes. I'm going with a couple buddies, so it should be fun.

I told my mom I was going to IM and I think she had a bad flashback of 1984. She just rolled her eyes and didn't really comment. Anyone who knows my mom, knows that if she isn't commenting, she must really be baffled.

Thought I would brag up Liz. She has been exercising regularly, and eating heathier. It has definitely paid off as she is looking amazing. She has more energy and is quite a bit happier. I can't seem to keep my hands off her. Unfortunately, she has no problem keeping hers off me.

Tyler is a way cool kid. He talks in this "teenager" voice that is a crack-up. He will get all serious and act grown up and tell a story. It's pretty funny. He has started T-ball games now, and that is fun. He is getting big, which is so fun, but also bittersweet since you only have those times once.

What can I say about the Princess of the World? How cute is this kid? She is a total Daddy's girl which pretty much means she runs my life. She is very fun, very sweet and seems to win everyone over who meets her. She already has a bit of an attitude, a sense of humor and is the only other one, besides Liz, who likes the dog. She is not afraid of the mongrel at all. Tyler, on the hand, won't even go from the back door to the trampoline without someone holding the crazy mutt.

Is it any wonder that the Dems use a jackass as their mascot?

The scariest woman on planet Earth. No make that the scariest woman in the entire universe.

Give me a break. This guy is a fraud. An empty suit. Pretty words, but no substance.

Click this to enlarge it and you can read it.

My pick to win it all.

My number two choice to win it all.

Tyler

Usually I leave the family stuff to Liz, but I wanted to talk a little about Tyler's first T-ball practice. I couldn't talk him into wearing sweats, so he was in jeans. He didn't run very fast because of the that fact. Usually he is pretty quick, especially when I am chasing him to get him to do something helpful. There were a few other kids in jeans, so he wasn't the only one, but I think he will wear sweats next time. I have slacked off in playing catch with him, so I blame myself that he wasn't the best one on the team. He wasn't the worst either. He loved the hitting. I need to work with him on his catching and fielding. His throwing has always been his strong point. Ask a few kids who have taken a HotWheel to the head if the kid has an arm. One kid bled all over our couch thanks to a shot to the head from Tyler throwing a car at him. Luckily he doesn't do that anymore. Anyway, he can throw well and with some mechanics will probably be one of the best on the team in that department. The best part was the huge grin he had on his face most of the practice. He just dug it. I will probably be an assistant coach. His dimple was as deep as ever while he was going through the hitting. His one complaint other than that he was cold, was that there is a girl on the team. He did say he would like Brooke on the team, but not Audry. He'll get used to it. She wasn't the worst by far. I can't believe he is in T-ball now. Where did those 5 years go? He is a fun kid.

I'm announcing my candidacy for president

As I see it, there are no good choices to vote for come November. Hillary would be a disaster. Obama may seem young and fresh, but he is even more liberal than Hillary. We would have a nation where gay marriage is rampant, unborn babies are murdered relentlessly, and convicted murderers get to stay alive, possibly getting out on parole, and hanging out with the Susan Sarandons of the world. Hillary is one of the most narcissistic people of all time, power-mad, and conniving. Obama has little experience and has shown absolutely no signs of being able to compromise at all with conservatives. No thanks, I prefer my taxes to be lower for one thing. Not to mention the fact that he supports a blatant racist in his preacher. McCain has shown signs of doing what's right, but has also shown signs of lunacy. He may be the best choice remaining, but that isn't saying much. Huckabee, well, I don't see myself ever voting for someone who was a keynote speaker at an anti-Mormon rally. He's a scumbag.

So here is my presidential platform.

War in Iraq(Afganistan)-First of all, quit whining about whether or not we should have gone in there to begin with. The fact is that we are there and it is time to win this war. The Democratic controlled congress wants you to believe we are losing. We're not. They want you to believe the best course is to pull out all our troops tomorrow. It's not. We have seen success with the recent surge. The answer is not less or no troops. You can't go in and eradicate a government and then get out before you help fix things. We kept troops in Germany and Japan after WWII and it seems to me like it worked out pretty well for both. Obviously, those are different cases, but the fact remains we have to help get things going. I would suggest even more troops to completely root out and destroy the insurgents. Put the Iraqis through intense training, and then steadily pull out troops until we have a force similar to what we have in South Korea guarding one of the most dangerous borders in the world. It would be a rotation base with overlapping troops so that there are always troops there to train the new arrivals. We still have bases in Japan, Germany and other countries. We would have bases in Iraq as well, just to be sure. We also would maintain rotating carrier groups in the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean and Persian Gulf to always have naval support near the Middle East. We also must include the Iraqi people more in their country's oil trade. A successful people will be a happy people.

Iran's Nuclear endeavors-No, Iran cannot have nuclear capabilities for weapons. If, as they insist(which is total BS, but let's humor them), it is only for nuclear energy then we must step in. They must agree to let us build there nuclear power plants and then maintain a force there to oversee the operations. We can build it on the border of Iraq where we will already have troops. Then they can have nuclear energy, but we have the oversight needed to maintain security. Their leader is an outspoken anti-Semite and total lunatic. He complies with us or he is removed. Why do we feel we have the authority to interfere with other countries? Because he has repeatedly spoken out in favor of our destruction, Israel's (our ally) destruction, and he is supporting insurgents in Iraq. He is every bit the war time enemy that Saddam was. He is a threat to American lives whether you want to acknowledge it or not. Pull your heads out of the sand. It's ridiculous for these countries to hate us like they do. Without us, they would lose a huge percentage of their national revenue and often aid as well.

Abortion-At what point does a fetus turn human? Can you not tell from DNA that it is a human fetus from conception? Is there a difference in the DNA of a 55 year old from that of a 5 day fetus? The arguments in favor of abortion are ridiculous. Free "choice" to kill? It's her body? She should have thought of that before. The fetus isn't viable? A newborn isn't viable on its own. It would quickly die without care. It doesn't look human? How closely does a 60 year old resemble himself at 60 days old? Abortion is reprehensible. I can make only these concessions-rape, incest, or severe health issues. Abortion is morally wrong. No one will ever convince me that it is ok. I have plenty more to say, but here I only need to state my position. I am against abortion.

Capital Punishment-It is insane to me that often the same people that support killing unborn babies, do not support killing convicted murderers. What is wrong with this picture? I support capital punishment. There needs to be restitution when a crime is committed. You cannot give back the life you took, so you need to give your own. From a religious standpoint, I believe this is the only way a murderer has a chance of being forgiven(own opinion). It is definitely a deterrent to more murders. Show me one executed murderer who killed again. Didn't think so. Does it deter other killers from killing? There is no way to know. There is no way to know how many people decided not to kill someone because they were scared of getting caught and getting the death penalty. Obviously, the justice system needs to be overhauled to better ensure that innocent people are not wrongly convicted. And the appeals process needs to be streamlined so that people are not sitting on death row, eating up tax money, for very long. Some say life in prison is punishment enough. Is it? Some slimebag child killer gets to live out his life for another 30 or so years? Even in solitary confinement, he still gets to eat, read, and overall, live. Suppose a glitch gets him paroled. Suppose he escapes. Suppose he does just stay there for years. I prefer not to pay for his food and lodging through my taxes. I can go to foxnews.com right now and there will be a horrifying murder that the perpetrator of deserves the death penalty for.

Gay marriage-Marriage is between a man and a woman. That's that.

Taxes-Property taxes should be lowered. Income tax should be a straight 10-15(or whatever number works) percent no matter what you earn. Everyone should pay the same percentage. Do away with loopholes, breaks, etc. Everyone pays a flat percentage of what they make. Whatever number is determined to be fair, that should be it. This may raise some people's taxes and lower others'. If anything, raise tariffs. I would rather have foreign companies pay higher taxes than myself paying higher taxes. They don't have to be raised that much, but it should be easier for American companies to do business in America, than it is for foreign companies. Don't raise taxes on businesses because they will just pass that cost on to us in the form of higher prices. Don't continue to raise minimum wage because that cost is also passed on to us in higher prices. Hello, think about it. You can, however, tax the crap out of companies that outsource jobs to other countries. They'll pass the cost to us as well, but more jobs for Americans is worth it. One thing I hate is calling about a credit card or something, and I can't understand the person I am talking to, and they can't understand me.

Crime-We need to be tougher on crime. We need to have more police in high crime areas. Every so often you hear about how an area is so bad, even the cops won't go in there. Say what? The cops should fear no area. Sentences should be strict, consistent, and swift.

Free Enterprise-To listen to the media, you would think it is a crime for anyone to be successful. The oil companies are terrible because they have huge profits. Um, isn't that what they are in business for? Isn't any business trying to be profitable? Leave free enterprise alone.

Social Security-I know it needs fixing, but I'm not sure how at this point. I'll think about it and get back to you on this one.

Drilling in ANWAR-Give me a freaking break. You cannot tell me it is more important for caribou to have a nice, romantic place in remotest Alaska to mate than for humans to have fuel to heat their homes, get to work, and all the other things that come from oil. Besides the impact on the caribou would be negligible. They will adapt and with high standards the drilling and plant operations will be clean and safe anyway. There would be little human impact on the precious oversized deer. I don't understand anyone who puts an animal above a human on the benefit scale.

Immigration-This is a tough one. First we need to better control the borders. If this means more cameras, a wall or fence, more patrols, so be it. Illegals have 30 days go to back to their homeland. Before they leave, they can get references that support their claims that they are here to work and support their families. Then they can apply for citizenship (which also needs to be reworked), a work permit that lets them work here, but taxes them or an education permit. They must register so that we know who they are and where they are. Security is the main concern. Those that fail to do so, will be thrown in jail, fined and then deported. Those that fail to comply will also be prohibited from applying for any permit for 3 years minimum. If caught again, they will be thrown in jail for 10 years minimum, fined, and forfeit any future chance at getting a permit. Employers will pay a fine for each illegal they hire. Each alien applying for any permit to be here must supply a background check.

Education-Definitely needs an overhaul. Where do I start? I'll add to this soon.

Variety of thoughts

Huckabee is just another anti-Mormon

I don’t care if he doesn’t support Romney. I don’t care if he doesn’t believe in the LDS faith. I don’t care if he doesn’t like Romney. What I care about is the truth. Let’s be honest here. Huckabee is staying in the race because he is an anti-Mormon and he knows that the only relevancy he has left is that he can take votes away from Romney. Anyone with half a brain can see that Huckabee has no shot at getting the nomination. This is a two-horse race and he isn’t one of them. He has repeatedly dropped the typical, tired jabs at Mormons (“not Christians”, etc) and then backtracked like a gutless Chihuahua nipping at someone’s heals. Now that it is evermore obvious that he is out of the race, he is only sticking around to split the vote away from Romney because of jealousy and his anti-Mormon beliefs. Huckabee is a Baptist. Why isn’t anyone asking him about those other Baptists from the Westboro church that like to shamefully protest at funerals of brave American soldiers? Oh, they’re different Baptists? Well, isn’t it interesting that the LDS church gets lumped in with anything an offshoot radical group does, even though they have long since been severed from any support, ties or fellowship with the LDS church? Yet, no one feels the need to lump all the Baptists together when those lunatics from Westboro do their disgraceful business. If you are looking for a group of people that you can still get away with persecuting with no political correctness police speaking out against you, it’s the Mormons.


JUST SAY NO TO HILLARY

Belicheat got what he deserved

I was not only thrilled, but relieved that the Patriots were stopped just shy of finishing the season undefeated. One of the first things I said to my students was that cheaters do not prosper. The Patriots were overwhelming favorites to win and they were denied. It's justice. Obviously, it is a matter of one team outplaying another on a specific day. It is a matter of heart. It is great that those pompous jerks from New England were stopped just 2 1/2 minutes short of their expected destiny. The coach is a classless piece of crap. He left the field early. He was not a gracious loser. His postgame interview was nothing but a bunch of insolent mumblings of a poor loser. He has shown repeatedly that he is not a good winner either. I saw the interview of Brady laughing at the notion that his team would only score 17 points, when a Giants player made that prediction. Yeah, Brady, that was pretty funny. You only scored 14. A Boston paper already commissioned a book about the perfect season. They trademarked the title, "19-0". Talk about premature speculation. Randy Moss was his old pouty self during the game, taking several plays off that weren't in his direction. Then he does his ridiculous touchdown celebration move. I don't think I want to know what it meant, but it was snotty to say the least. I must say, though, that he was one of the more gracious losers in his postgame interview. He's used to it, I guess. Props to Eli Manning. The kid became a man in this game. I never thought much of him, but now am an Eli Manning fan. I hope he does well in his career. Now the Patriots have new accusations of cheating to deal with and I hope the NFL doesn't just sweep it under the rug this time.


JUST SAY NO TO HILLARY

How about a little more TV?

Well, I am liking the new show, "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles". The terminator girl is a little strange, but hey she is playing a killing machine. It is actually a pretty entertaining show. "Prison Break" should probably be done at the conclusion of this season. What was already a preposterous show, is getting even more outlandish. But, it is sure entertaining. I'm looking forward to the return of "Life", which I believe is the best new show on TV, by far. "Heroes" was just starting to get good again when it went on hiatus. And the return of "24" should soon be upon us.
"Lost" has returned and is decent so far. It will never regain its first season glory, but is good entertainment. "Survivor" starts yet again this Thursday. It is pitting passed fan "favorites" against new players. It is more like passed players who wanted more exposure or don't have anything else going on in their lives right now rather than "favorites". Might be interesting. I unfortunately watch "Smallville". You get one really good episode for every 3 totally lame episodes. I hope "The Office" and "CSI" return with new episodes soon.
Mainly I am just trying to convince myself that I can make it until August when football starts over. At least Liz is happy. Little does she know that there is basketball and golf.


JUST SAY NO TO HILLARY

Life and other TV thoughts

If you haven't watched the new TV series, "Life", Wednesdays on NBC, you should check it out. It is a pretty good show. Both Liz and I agree it is hands down the best new show on TV. It is probably one of the best shows on TV period. It just ended its Fall run, so you would have to catch up with it online, but it is worth it. Good show.
Heroes finally got good again the last 4-5 episodes before going on their huge vacation. Give me a break, I can see taking 2-3 weeks off around Christmas, but some of these shows don't return until Feb. or worse. They act like they are doing us a favor by running 10 straight new episodes in a row to finish the season. Um, pretty sure that is what they used to do all the time. The Fall season would start in Sept. and take a month break around Christmas. They would take Thanksgiving week off too sometimes. Then return in January and go until May. Only a few reruns in that whole time. Usually prompted by major sporting events on competing networks.
The team we rooted for won Beauty and the Geek, so that was enjoyable. This is a pretty entertaining show.
Getting pretty burned out on Amazing Race and Survivor. CSI and The Office are still great, although both suffer from the rerun bug too often.

Taser Incident

Ah, the story that will not die. Many of you, especially those who reside in Utah, have seen or at least heard about the guy getting tasered by a Utah Highway Patrol officer during what should have been a routine stop. I watched the whole thing on youtube. First of all, I'm not sure why this was allowed to be disseminated to the general viewing public. Yeah, yeah, public records and crap, but is the UHP stupid? Ok, don't answer that. Seriously, keep that video under wraps. At least get a court injunction to allow for the video to only be viewed by attorneys and clients in a lawsuit. Regardless (irregardless is an invented word, people) of the video evidence, I personally think many people are missing the point. DO WHAT THE COP SAYS! Unless he is telling you to break a law, coercing you into "favors", or telling you to do something that will cause you bodily harm, DO WHAT THE COP SAYS. You can give your side in court later. When he pulls out his gun or taser, DO WHAT THE COP SAYS.

Of course some cops are corrupt, on power-trips, or merely incompetent, but they still are cops. Arguing with a cop is more often than not going to get you in more trouble. Repeat after me, do what the cop says. Be respectful and you have a good chance of getting nothing more than a warning. Or play really dumb. Obviously, this isn't going to work every time. When it doesn't there are better ways of handling it than arguing or provoking the cop. In a traffic stop, be respectful, say yes sir/ma'am, and if it is for speeding, ask to see the radar. If they refuse, you have some influence with the judge later. Arguing isn't going to work. What do you think will happen? The cop gets beat down enough verbally that he throws up his arms in defeat and says he won't give you a ticket and have a nice day? Never happens. They get aggravated. First of all, they are totally irritated that you aren't giving them respect of office. Second, they are human and don't like having attitude thrown at them. Third, they are cops. I believe it goes to their heads a bit having that power.

Now here is my real issue in regards to this story. Who in Hades does that idiot getting pulled over think he is? I'll tell you who this whiny, holier than thou jerk thinks he is. He thinks he is the moral superior to everyone around him. I know you know the type. He's the guy who is right all the time, just ask him. He's the guy who thinks he knows more about everything than everybody. Obviously he would know more about the law than the cop because he's him. He's the guy who thinks his intellectual skills will get him out of the perceived injustices that he encounters in life. He honestly believes he has the moral high ground in whatever argument he is in. He's like that brown-nosing AP on your mission that was better at kissing butt than really being a true missionary. He's like that bleeding-heart pansy who makes his decision based on an ideal rather than on the cold hard facts that make ideals unrealistic sometimes. He's the college professor who thinks he knows more than everyone else because he is educated, and thus is supposedly expected to spew his opinions about matters of morality, politics, or religion even though his expertise is something called Early European Literature. He is like politicians from both parties who claim to know what is best for you and everyone else based on their own limited experience and opinions.

As I watched this whiny pansy complain and try to verbally twist this cop around, I couldn't help but look forward to when the jerk got tasered. Listen to this guy. He's the guy in Sunday School who answers all the questions, but not exactly correctly. You know the type. He's the guy who tells you how to be, think, act, and live, but obviously hasn't read the U.S. Constitution to see that he is wrong. This guy got under my skin. His girlfriend/wife was almost as bad. How dare a cop pull us over. We are good people. We're not criminals. What did we do wrong? I've never even been grounded. Personally I would have wrote him about 3-4 tickets. Harassing a police officer, broken tail-light (which happened to break somehow after I pulled him over), the original speeding ticket, and finally resisting a police officer.

I thought that for the most part the cop was pretty calm throughout. I do think he finally overreacted with the tasering, but by then I hated the whiny guy and thought it was deserved just for being a butthole. The cop was pretty clear in his instructions, he told the guy what he was pulled over for (even though the guy kept asking after he was told at the beginning), and the cop wasn't being too much of a jerk himself. I think he should have yelled in the guys face saying "HEY BUTTFACE, I PULLED YOU OVER BECAUSE YOU WERE SPEEDING! STOP WHINING AND SIGN THE TICKET! IF YOU DON'T, AND LET ME BE CLEAR BECAUSE YOU CLEARLY ARE AN IDIOT, IF YOU DON'T COMPLY, I WILL USE FORCE AND ARREST YOUR HIGH AND MIGHTY BUTT! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" The cop doesn't have to read the guy his rights right away, he could do it in the car or when things settle down. The cop will get the shaft because he tasered the guy probably unnecessarily. But the guy was a complete jerk. This is a case where the cop is totally frustrated. The guy won't comply at all, but is not doing enough yet to get forceful with. The cop tried to be reasonable, but finally had enough. In this day and age, it is not a stretch to think that a guy that is this uncooperative could have a weapon or something. In reality, this guy is probably afraid to even hold a steak knife and the cop should have realized this and just grabbed him and thrown the cuffs on him. He was probably afraid of getting slapped by this guy.

Just do what you are told. It starts at home with enablers. In school these are the kids that think the rules don't apply to them. What do you mean I can't text my friend all during class? That's silly. What do you mean it is wrong to copy someone else's work? That's not cheating. What do you mean no food in class? I'm hungry. Kids these days are more and more pampered. Let me give you one example. In my school, we HAVE to provide a complete review for the students for their final. No problem, I do anyway. But, we also HAVE to give them the answers to the review. Not have them go and find the answers. Not have them do some actual work and search their books for answers, no way, that is way too hard for these kids. So basically, I have to give my students a review that is basically a copy of the final exam with the answers provided. They are required to do nothing more than breathe. They are not required to put forth any effort or do any thinking other than memorizing the answers. Enabling is the name of the game. I remember getting no test reviews in high school. Maybe a review for the final that we had to fill out or make our own notes for. I give my kids test reviews with the exact test questions and they still whine because I make them actually look for the answers. The final is a different story, so the only thing I can make them do is copy the answer down rather than give them a printed copy. They whine about that too. These coddled, enabled kids are our future. They are appalled when they get pulled over. How dare anyone scold me or tell me what to do.

Doomsday is close.

That's my take on this situation.

AnchorMan

Funny Anchorman meets ESPN