Christmas Past - Christmas Present

When George and I were growing up at Elmcroft we used to have small Christmas trees in our rooms to entertain our cats. These little trees were decorated with small round ornaments which the cats would make quick work of. Two of the little trees were planted by the swimming pool. They are now about 50 feet tall. Click on picture to enlarge.

Doing My Part for the Economy

I finally got around to spending my stimulus payment. I decided to spend it on new granite counter tops for my kitchen. It was time for the 1980's style white ceramic tile to go with all of its problems of keeping the grout line clean. The porcelain sink had a big ding that was just about to rust through. You figure out which are the before and after photos. Click on pictures to enlarge.

California Election Results

The little red spot down south by the coast is my home county of Orange. We couldn't hold out for the capitalists against a sea of blue.

Self-ism

If you ever wondered what this nation is really all about and its place in the world, this is a must listen audio clip. This clip defines the difference between socialism and capitalism.
Bryan Suits is a radio talk show host in Los Angeles. He served as a member of the Army National Guard in Operation Desert Storm, Bosnia and Iraq. As a Lieutenant, he was decorated with a Bronze Star and awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in combat during his last tour of duty in 2004-05. He honed his broadcast style when Tony Snow (later White House Press Secretary) called him in Iraq to describe life in the war zone on his syndicated show each week. Bryan has his history accurately placed into the present. He uses satire and humor to get his points across. Enjoy...(This audio is 31 minutes long)


Get Your Own Free Hypster.com Playlist.

This is a dangerous man

Senator Obama believes that the courts should do more to effect economic change in the country. Specificaly, to help with his plan of redistributing the wealth. This is a very dangerous and radical position that would create another legislative branch of government with the power to unilaterally impose their will.

The Fox in Charge of the Henhouse

Starting next January.
Watch this: http://www.jibjab.com/view/253615
And if you want a sampling of the electorate that will probably put the socialists in control, listen to this clip:
http://beltwayblips.com/video/howard_stern_interviews_obama_supporters/

Another Opinion on the Obama Tax Plan

The writer argues that Obama’s plan to raise taxes on households making more than $250,000 will raise taxes on most small-business profits in America.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11670.html

I Told You the Storm Troopers Were Coming

'Two federal agents arrived at Jessica Hughes' home Thursday to ask her if she said, "I will never support Obama and he will wind up dead on a hospital floor."
Hughes said her words were deliberately twisted by a volunteer who was apparently unhappy Hughes was rude during a phone conversation the two had. The Lufkin mother, a Republican, said she received a call on her cell phone Wednesday from a woman with the Obama Volunteers of Texarkana.
"She asked if I was an Obama supporter, to which I replied, 'No, I don't support him. Your guy is a socialist who voted four times in the state Senate to let little babies die in hospital closets; I think you should find something better to do with your time.' (And then) I hung up."[her husband and children overheard this conversation]
(Hughes is referring to a "born alive" Illinois bill that did not pass in the Illinois state Senate in 2005 and had previously been opposed by Obama because he said it undermined Roe v. Wade, according to FactCheck.org, a non-partisan organization. A federal version of the bill, which Obama said he would have supported, passed by unanimous consent and was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002.)'

In an interview on a Los Angeles AM station, Hughes said the secret service agents asked her what her opinion and thoughts were on Senator Obama. Fortunately she had the prescience of mind to remind them that her thoughts on any matter were none of their business. She gave them the true facts and that is all they were entitled to.

Now, we don't know if the Obama volunteer intentionally misinterpreted the conversation or not. Nevertheless, you can be certain that socialists want to control your life and monitor your behavior. Will visits by Federal agents become more commonplace under a socialists government?

The Socialists are Coming

We are now on a path to becoming a completely socialist state. Unfortunately, the alternative is not very appealing but if you thought government was disfunctional now, wait until the socialits take over in force. If you thought medical care was expensive, wait until it is free to see how expensive it can really get.

These socialists will use any method to gain control of the government and society. You have now heard of the ulta-left group ACORN. Have you heard this from CNN?
"A subsidiary of the group was paid $800,000 by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign to register voters for the 2008 primaries, and ACORN's political wing endorsed Obama back in February. But Obama's campaign told CNN that it "is committed to protecting the integrity of the voting process," and said it has not worked with ACORN during the general election."

The storm troopers are coming. The brown coats are coming. If you are opposed to the degradation of our society you need to act and act now.

Pandering or Ignorance

In politico speak pandering means lying. It is saying one thing to one group of constituients and saying the opposite to another group. One of those has to be a lie. But, when it comes to politicians it is sometimes difficult to discern if a statement is just pure ignorance.

My Obama and Mr. Biden seem to be running against George Bush. Here are some paraphrased statements by Mr. Obama and my take on them:

"The financial debacle we are in is a verdict on eight years of failed economic policy."
No, banking and lending deregulation started in the late 70's and continues today, promoted by both political parties.

"The subprime lending meltdown is an indication that families have been under stress the last eight years"
No, it results from families being given loans that they cannot repay. Risk management in lending used to take economic cycles into consideration.

"We need 21st century regulation for 21st century conditions."
No, we need a return to basic lending principles that do not entice the poor to take on debt they cannot ever have a chance of repaying. We don't need change here, just a return to the basics of financial regulation and oversight that both political parties abandoned many years ago.

The Obama Tax Plan

Let's try to understand what the Democratic tax plan really means but cutting through the double talk that most of the electorate cannot understand.

"Middle class families will see their taxes cut – and no family making less than $250,000 will see their taxes increase."
The key phrase to interpret here is "no family." This means that single individuals and perhaps those married couples without children will see a tax increase.

"Families making more than $250,000 will pay either the same or lower tax rates than they paid in the 1990s."
The key phrase here is "tax rates." It doesn't state that these "families" will not pay more taxes, only that their tax rate will be rolled back (increased) to the pre-Bush tax cuts. This is a tax increase but you can see the slick words that can make people believe there will not be a tax increase for these families.

"Obama will ask the wealthiest 2% of families to give back a portion of the tax cuts they have received over the past eight years to ensure we are restoring fairness and returning to fiscal responsibility."
This is a classical socialist mantra - that the money you earn belongs to the government. That any tax reduction is really the government giving you money. The real truth is that the money you earn belongs to you. Keeping more of it after taxes is not a benefit that the government bestows on you.

"In fact, dividend rates would be 39 percent lower than what President Bush proposed in his 2001 tax cut. "
This is double talk for dividend rates will go up.

"...his tax relief for middle class families is larger than the revenue raised by his tax changes for families over $250,000."
In this sentence, "changes" means increase. People making over $250,000 are the most likely to reinvest in businesses that will create jobs. Obama is saying that we don't need that job creation stuff.

"Fairness" is a phrase that socialist use that means those with more should pay more. Here are some statistics from the IRS on individual tax returns from 2006:
Those with adjust gross incomes of $200,000 or more pay 53.2% of personal income taxes.
Yet these people represent only 4.4% of all tax returns filed. Yes indeed, 53.2% of the taxes are paid by only 4.4% of people.
The average tax rate for those same people is 25.9% of AGI. The average tax rate for those earing less than $200,000 is 11.8%. Yes, indeed, the Obama middle class has a tax rate is less than half of the upper class.
I don't quite understand where the fairness is in all this. Isn't that enough "fairness?" I guess I just don't understand the definition of fairness.

Words to Use

Feel free to use the following words to send a message to your elected representatives in the federal government. I am sending this to my elected officials and to the leader of the house and senate.

"You incompetent politicians should get off your high horse and stop acting like you are saving the country and your constituents. You are responsible for this financial melt-down in the first place. Republican and Democrat alike, Legislative and Executive branches together decided that it would be a good thing to allow home ownership to those who could not afford it. Beginning with Jimmy Carter in 1977 and continuing in the 1990s and the early part of this century, Congress pushed mortgage lenders and Fannie/Freddie to expand subprime lending. And, the subprime lending fiasco was more than a minor relaxation of existing credit guidelines. This lending was a wholesale abandonment of reasonable lending practices in which borrowers with poor credit characteristics got mortgages they were ill-equipped to handle.
You have implemented Socialist principles into a Capitalist system and anyone could have told you that it would not work. If you want Socialism to be the core principle of this country then go for it and see how quickly you get kicked out of office. But, don’t try to mix the two.
You have failed the American people and now you act like you are saving us. The way to save us is to own up to your failings, apologize, ask for forgiveness, and resign. You should be ashamed of yourself.Let the market react as it will. Allowing incompetent politicians to spend $700 billion would be irresponsible on the part of the electorate."

Message to Senator Dodd of Connecticut

After listening to the press conference just now on the bail out package, I sent the following message to Senator Dodd:
"You are pathetic. You stand up there thanking all your colleagues for this bail out package. I like the rest of your constituency know the real truth. Both Democrats and Republicans alike in the legislative and executive branch of the federal government brought about this mess. Liberals and conservatives alike have spoken often in the last ten years about giving home ownership to people who cannot afford it. This has been a despicable strategy for garnering votes that has now come back to bite those same voters. Instead of thanking your colleagues, you should be apologizing and admitting your failures to the electorate. You should be asking for forgiveness. The people cannot trust their elected officials."

Getting the Word Out

http://www.antiquehomesmagazine.com/property.php?listing=117442
New posting on Antique Homes Magazine.

Life Vest

Can you Trust Congress?

The democratic presidential candidate seems to be blaming the republican party and the Bush administration for the present economic problems. The first thing you should know is that you cannot trust that this man has the knowledge or experience to understand that current economic situation. He recently appeared at a speech in Florida to speak on economic policy accompanied by a bevy of ex-Clinton economic advisers. Is this going to foster change in government? Aren't we done with the Clinton people yet? Third, on the weekend talk show circuit this man was asked what caused the mortgage meltdown. He response was, "many factors contributed to the current situation." "May factors?" He doesn't know. Or, he isn't willing to tell the truth. But he is willing to blame republicans. This is the definition of pandering.

Let's look at the history of deregulation. The first deregulation bill was proposed by president Jimmy Carter and passed by the Congress under his watch. The result was the Savings and Loan crisis. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savings_and_Loan_crisis

Then, you can read about how the democratic controlled congress failed to heed the warnings of Greenspan in 2005 and failed to pass legislation to curtail the excesses of the mortgage lenders. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aSKSoiNbnQY0 If the link goes dead, I have the full article to send to you.

But, the question is can we trust Congress? Here's my take. The Republicans want their big banking buddies to have less regulation. Conservatives and libertarians believe in this stuff and generally, less control over business by government is a good thing. However, there needs to be a balance especially when it deals with capital markets that have wide-ranging impact. The democrats believe that their low income, working class constituents should be able to enjoy home ownership even if they can't afford it. They would prefer to tax the rich and give the money to the poor to buy a home. This is the liberal philosophy. So, here we have both parties working against common sense and the result is that the economy falls into despair.

The answer is that you cannot trust Congress. You need to vote these people out of office, Democrat and republican alike. The ones who created and want to continue this level of deregulation. Now we have a Secretary of the Treasury proposing a multi billion dollar bail out of the financial services industry. This man used to be the CEO of AIG folks. Where do you think his loyalty is? In four months he will be out of a job and looking to get back into a big paying job in the very industry he is trying to bail out. He stands to make a bundle from helping his buddies. You have to assume that he doesn't give a damn for your well being. Speak with your vote.

Vice-Presidential Nominees

A certain rocket scientist that I know who happens to be my daughter asked my opinion on the Republican Party vice-presidential nominee.
My answer is; we’ll have to wait and see.
This is the second time in history that a woman has been nominated to one of the major political parties as a vice-presidential candidate. The first time was in 1984 when Democrat Walter Mondale, the vice-president under Carter, teamed up with Geraldine Ferraro to run against Ronald Reagan. Mondale/Ferraro lost in a landslide to Reagan partly because Mondale promised to raise taxes and argued that Reagan would also raise taxes while promising not to. Is history repeating itself here? Just to remind those students of history out there that did not live through this era in adulthood, the Reagan presidency ushered in the era of deficit spending and tax cuts that brought about the longest sustained period of economic growth in history and simultaneously brought the tiger of inflation under control.
So, the liberals and liberal media seem to be now on the defensive. The attacks on this woman vice-presidential nominee are endless, going to the core of gender stereotypes.
For me, I don’t care about gender or race. I look to qualifications and platform. So, one question might be; “is a governor qualified to be president?” Well, Reagan was previously a governor of California and in addition to his economic accomplishments, he was instrumental (with others including the Pope) in bringing about the end of the Cold War and the fall of communism in Russia. On the other hand, we have Jimmy Carter the former governor of Georgia, a one-term president that history mostly refers to as the most incompetent president in the modern era. However, he had one thing going against him from the start – he is a liberal democrat. He couldn’t solve the oil embargo and his military spending cuts were punctuated by a failed mission to rescue hostages in Iran – Operation Eagle Claw on April 24, 1980. It could be argued that the lack of military funding contributed to the helicopter mechanical failures of the mission which caused it to be called off. During the extradition of the forces from the rear clandestine air base in Iran, a helicopter crashed into a C-130 resulting in the death of eight American troops.
So, back to vice-presidential qualifications. Other history shows us that ultra-qualified candidates turned out to be incompetent in office while non-qualified candidates made history. Disclaimer: Don’t use anything I say to influence your vote decision. Go with your intuition.

More Pandering on the Right

Here are the promises of Senator McCain in his acceptance speech and my comments that you have all been waiting for. Well, there were more like beliefs than promises. Probably a safe strategy since I, like most of the electorate don’t believe in any politician promises.

“We’re going to change that [instead of freeing ourselves from a dangerous dependence on foreign oil, both parties and Senator Obama passed another corporate welfare bill for oil companies]”
Sounds like a good idea but I am not hopeful that any politician can break the oil cartel. Carter couldn’t do it.

“We believe in low taxes; spending discipline, and open markets.”
Something John Kennedy believed in also.

“We believe in a strong defense, work, faith, service, a culture of life, personal responsibility, the rule of law, and judges who dispense justice impartially and don’t legislate from the bench.”
Here’s one that is completely opposite to what the liberals in control of the Democratic Party believe.

“We believe in a government that unleashes the creativity and initiative of Americans. Government that doesn’t make your choices for you, but works to make sure you have more choices to make for yourself.”
Definition of a Republican. Democrats don’t believe this.

“I will keep taxes low and cut them where I can. My opponent will raise them. I will open new markets to our goods and services. My opponent will close them. I will cut government spending. He will increase it.”
Ok, I’m for that. Studies and experience has shown that when capital gains tax rates are raised, tax revenues go down. When Senator Obama was presented with that information when he was asked about his plan to raise capital gains taxes, he response was that raising capital gains rates was only fair. This is a clear indication that he is not interested in raising government revenues, but only in redistributing the wealth.

“Doubling the child tax exemption from $3500 to $7000…”
Let’s hope this doesn’t cause more illegal alien anchor babies.

“We need to shake up failed school bureaucracies with competition…”
I don’t see this happening. Schools are controlled by liberals and their unions.

“We are going to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don’t like us very much…”
Not much chance of this happening either.

“Senator Obama thinks we can achieve energy independence without more drilling and without more nuclear power.”
Yea, I’ve been wondering about that also. He and Pelosi have their heads in the sand if they really believe we can become free of foreign oil in ten years.

There is a resounding void in his speech on anything to do with immigration. Yet, we know that McCain believes in amnesty. He joined with that ultra-liberal Ted Kennedy to sponsor an amnesty bill. Fortunately, it was defeated by an up swell of public outcry. This is something to watch out for no matter who gets elected.

Elmcroft Website is Up

www.elmcroft.info
I created this website for linking from various advertisements I plan to post on Craigslist and Antique Homes Magazine. Yes, it is rather crude but I think it will get the job done.

More Democrat Lies

On the Sunday talk circuit Senator Biden claimed that this is the only time we have instituted tax cuts during a war. I guess Joe is not a student of history. In 1964 the Kennedy tax cuts passed by Congress created the largest percentage tax cut in the history of the nation. Does anybody know what else was going on in 1964?
By the way, does anybody else get the feeling that these democrat liberals are going down in flames? They seem to be on the defensive now and Obama seems to be running against George Bush. Somebody needs to remind Obama that Bush is termed out.

Summer Closing Down

Well, in Woodbridge anyway. Last evening was the last concert on North Lake in Woodbridge, ending in a traditional Southern California style with a Beach Boys tribute band. Then it was on to the new Orange County Great Park just a few miles down the road still in Irvine to see a great performance by Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul, the nine-time all-Ireland fiddle champion and her all-Irish band. Did I mention that all of these concerts are free? Not even a charge for parking. And you can bring your own picnic food including alcohol and seating. The Orange County Great Park concerts continue through September 27. Check out the schedule.
The Orange County Great Park is being built on the old El Toro Marine Corps Air Station which has a rich history in the defense of our nation dating back to 1942. We attended some spectacular air shows at the base during the 1990's which drew an attendance of about 300,000 except for the last one in 1997 during which 2 million people attended. We were there in 1993 to see the pride of the air force F-118 roll out onto the runway and awe the crowd with spectacular aerial maneuvers. It was also that year that we witnessed the crash of the F-86 Sabre Jet.

Lack of Experience

One more big error from the Obama acceptance speach. I'm not suggesting that Senator Obama made this error. His error was in hiring advisors that lack knowledge and experience in fiscal matters.

"I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow."

Now, I would estimate that about 0% of all small businesses and start-ups are subject to capital gains tax. Capital gains tax is a tax on the gain or loss from the sale of capital assets held for more than one year. So, what is a capital asset? Well, real estate (land and improvements), machinery and equipment, furnishings, and stocks or bonds of other corporations. Would you think that any start-up business would be looking to make capital gains on these types of assets? Just to clarify; any business that buys and sells such items as its primary business is not engaged in capital assets. They are selling inventory. So, if your business is developing land into residential homesites, you are selling inventory, not capital assets. The profit from such activity would be ordinary income, not capital gain.

Is Senator Obama the kind of person you want to be running the executive branch of the US Government? Perhaps we should wait until he has a better grasp for fiscal matters.

More Political Pandering

I have read with interest the acceptance speech of Senator Obama and I thought I might just point out some of the pandering contained therein. The oratory contained no less than 16 promises. I doubt that if elected President he could bring about even 10% of them. It will be interesting to see how many promises Senator McCain makes because he won’t be able to bring about any higher percentage.

It is interesting to note that Congress of which both Obama and McCain are members have not been able to effect the changes they are presenting us. Of course, it is well know that Senator Obama has spent his entire short Congressional career running for President.

Considering that most of his speech was finding fault with the Bush administration and trying to tie McCain to it, here are his quotes and my comments.

“[Tonight] more of you have lost your homes and even more are watching your home values plummet.”
Congress passed the laws to de-regulate the banking and mortgage industry.

“[Tonight] more of you have … tuition that’s beyond your reach.”
Liberal universities set their tuition fees. Of course, the liberals would like to take more money from the rich to subsidize tuition.

“This country is more decent than one where a woman in Ohio, on the brink of retirement, finds herself one illness away from disaster after a lifetime of hard work.”
I’m not quite sure what the Bush administration has to do with this woman’s illness.

“We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets…”
Surveys show that most of these veterans choose to sleep on the streets.

“Why else would he [McCain] define middle-class as someone making under five million dollars a year?”
Senator McCain never so defined the middle-class. He did say that a rich person might be defined as someone making that amount.

“How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than one hundred million Americans?”
Senator McCain has consistently proposed keeping the current tax cuts for individuals while you have proposed raising taxes.

“How else could he offer … a plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement?”
Investing in equities is not gambling. In fact, most investment managers agree that retirees will run out of money if they don’t continue to invest at least 40% of their portfolios in equities. Let’s see what kind of investments Senator Obama uses.

“For over two decades, he’s [McCain] subscribed to that old … hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else.”
Well, that was the philosophy that John F. Kennedy subscribed to. And, it worked.

“In Washington … what it really means is … Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps – even if you don’t have boots.”
Oops, something Senator Biden believes in.

“We measure the strength of our economy [on] … whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job.”
This waitress can probably already do that. It’s called FMLA.

“Businesses should live up to their responsibilities to create American jobs…”
Well, maybe that’s what the responsibility of a business should be in a socialist economy. In a free-enterprise economy, businesses have a responsibility to their shareholders to make a fair return on investment. Creating jobs is a by-product of a successful business. This, folks, is the true mantra of a socialist.

“[John McCain said] no to renewable fuels.”
You mean those renewable fuels that are driving up the cost of food worldwide. Another liberal debacle of trying to manage the economy.

“Drilling is a stop-gap measure.”
Maybe, but why are you so against it? Perhaps you think we should keep importing oil from unfriendly nations.

“I will find ways to safely harness nuclear power.”
“Duhh – we already do that.”

“[I] made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights.
How come your buddy Clinton didn’t do that?

“[McCain] won’t even go to the cave where he [bin Laden] lives.”
And, just where is that cave, Mr. Obama? And, why haven’t you gone there?

“We are the party of Kennedy.”
You mean the Kennedy that put through the biggest tax cut in this nation’s history and successfully turned around a recession? By putting more money back in the hands of the people? Something called supply-side economics? The fact is the democratic party of today is not the party of Kennedy. What have you liberals done with that party?

“Don’t tell me that Democrats won’t keep us safe.”
I’ll take that challenge. Democrats won’t keep us safe! Carter made disastrous military spending cuts. Clinton consistently avoided dealing with the terrorists. Clinton’s secretary of state said that we “are not the police of the world.” I guess Clinton believes that we should just stand by and watch people being oppressed and killed.

“I will end this war in Iraq responsibly.”
But not with dignity or victory.

“I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons...”
I didn’t know the Bush administration stopped.

“Passions fly on immigration, but I don’t know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers.”
So, we should keep anchor baby illegal alien mothers in the country but not let them work. By the way, any illegal alien mother can take their anchor child back home to her home country.

SPRINGSTEEN

The Woodbridge Community Park hosted Josh Tanner and his SPRINGSTEEN tribute band to end the summer concert series put on by the city of Irvine. The audio is not so good on my little Sony camera but it was an awesome rock concert. Most of the bass is supressed. Also, it was getting quite dark as they played Born in the USA past 8 pm.
The first video is the north end of South Lake as I was walking from my home to the Woodbridge Community Park. Tht structure out in the lake is a gazebo.

When is Fuel Not a Fuel?

Jason Grumet is the energy advisor for Mr. Obama. Recently I saw an interview that Mr. Grumet gave in which he claimed that we "need to promote alternate fuels for automobiles like electricity."

Now, Mr. Grumet is probably a smart man and maybe he just misspoke. Or, perhaps basic science and the laws of thermodynamics are not his strong suit.

So Mr. Grumet, it may come as a surprise to you but electricity is not a fuel. This goes to the core of how we use energy to move people from place to place.

From Wikipedia: "Fuel is any material that is burned or altered in order to obtain energy. Fuel releases its energy either through a chemical reaction means, such as combustion, or nuclear means, such as nuclear fission or nuclear fusion. An important property of a useful fuel is that its energy can be stored to be released only when needed, and that the release is controlled in such a way that the energy can be harnessed to produce work."

Electricity is a form of energy but it is not a fuel. Electricity is a flexible form of energy in that it can be transported and stored as an electrical charge with high efficiency.

So, for those of you who may have been misled to think that powering your automobile with electricity will result in less fossil fuel being burned, just what fuel will be used to generate that electricity? Currently about 95% of all electricity produced in this country comes from fuels like oil, natural gas and coal. Most of the remainder comes from solar, nuclear, and hydroelectric. Switching to electrically powered vehicles does not, in and of itself, reduce reliance on oil or reduce the production of carbon dioxide as a by-product. It would seem that Mr. Grumet does not understand this concept.

It would be interesting to know what is the true efficiency of the different fuels and forms of using the energy produced thereof to move humans and goods. For instance, what is the true energy cost of buring oil or coal? How much energy is consumed to locate it, extract it, transport it, process it, and deliver it to a vehicle? I could argue that wood might be the most efficient fuel when considering all of the other energy costs. Ultimately, the market should give us a guide as to the true cost of a fuel. When I was involved in the nuclear energy marketplace, I always wondered when the breakeven point is reached in terms of net positive energy produced from a new nuclear power plant. Consider all of the materials, work and services that goes into producing a power plant and all of the energy consumed along the way. When is the energy payback reached?

So, Mr. Grumet, before we can allow the government to mandate that all of our vehicles use electricity as an energy source we need to see where that energy is coming from. Your boss doesn't think that the use of nuclear energy is in the mix.

No Contest

For your reading pleasure:
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=303952351194789
Update: As of 8/20/08, three days after the event, McCain is leading Obama in the poles by 5% up from even before the event and an Obama 7% lead in July. Reason and logic quite often prevail.

Yes, I do Have a Life

Every other week on Saturday evening there is a concert on the lake in Irvine. Actually, North Lake as there are two lakes in Woodbridge Village. I understand that some of you may think that these are just big ponds but we call them lakes.

http://www.wva.org/

Two weeks ago we had the Orange County Philarmonic Orchestra. This past saturday evening it was The Ho-Dads, a great roak-n-roll group: http://www.hodads.com/ Click on "Videos" to see some of their music.

The tradition is to bring some wine, cheese and other snacks. It's very much like the band concerts on Cape Cod except here we have ducks and geese flying overhead instead of gulls.

Windfall Profits Tax

The presumptive Democratic presidentail nominee has suggested a windfall profits tax on the big oil companies. He further advised that the revenue from this tax would be used to pay for another stymulus payment individual taxpayers.

So, let's analyze how much proft the oil companies make. At the left are three representative big oil companies. Notice that only ExxonMobil has crept over the 10% net profit mark in the last ten years. Next, we can see the net profit for Microsoft during the last ten years. It looks like it has averaged about 30% during that period.

So, whom does the Democratic nominee suggest is making windfall profits?

Prediction: The price of oil will be below $60 within 18 months.

Celebrity Politics

This will be the first of many political rants as we enter the final run for the presidential election. The democratic candidate seems to be fine tuning the art of pandering that democrats are so well known for.

"I was merely trying to express my delight at Obama's commitment to his campaign in every aspect and his interest and his support (in) his surrogates and his staff and his fellows, and how wonderful and refreshing that is."

This quote was uttered by one of many celebrity airheads that seem to favor the liberal agenda, none other than Scarlett Johansson. Yes, indeed, an important aspect of a president is his commitment to his campaign and lackeys. Never before has a candidate been committed to his campaign. Brilliant logic. Never mind that policy stuff Scarlett. I guess you can't quite grasp things like the economy, energy, and security. With spokes people like this and their minions that will follow them, Rome here we come.

Bathroom Upgrade

I finally got around to installing the new shower door and spray nozzel. The old door has a rotted rubber gasket on the frame that was leaking and growing mold. I bought a framless door. Naturally, it wasn't easy. Some of the grout needed to be replaced and the anchors were a problem since the tile is place on a mud wall. So, it took me most of Saturday and Sunday morning.

And, no, there isn't a toilet in the shower. It's a reflection from the glass.

The World is Upside Down

The other day there was a middle-age man in a suit standing at a bus stop at 6:45 AM. This is just not right. After all, standing at bus stops is only permitted for cleaning ladies in the late afternoon as they return home to their barrios.

Then there was this chubby guy riding a bicycle of all things, along a main road between the industrial city of Santa Ana and the residential/professional city of Irvine. He was wearing a brand new velour sweat suit. I guess he doesn’t understand that these roads as just for motor vehicles. Bicycles are for the parks on the weekends.

How about the people walking along sidewalks during rush hour? The injustice of it all! They create a nuisance for us SUV drivers trying to make a right hand turn as they actually have the nerve to use a crosswalk.

I must have seen several of these Vespa-like scooters out and about during rush hour. I try to run them off the road but they scamper about between the rows of vehicles as if they have some superiority over us traditionalists. I’ll get one some day if I just keep trying.

Then I hear there are people actually using old vegatable oil to run their vehicles. Make it stop!

Now we can see the results of all this nonsense. In May U.S. drivers drove 9.6 billion less miles that in the previous May. That’s about $2 billion loss in revenues for the oil companies. Now you see who is driving who off the road. I say abandon the bus stops, bicycles, scooters and walking shoes. Back into your vehicles you beatniks. Think what might happen to my equity investments in big oil. Think about my retirement. My children’s inheritance. Woe the injustice of it all.

Moderate Quake hits SoCal

A moderate earthquake occurred at 11:42 a.m. (PDT) on Tuesday, July 29, 2008. The magnitude 5.4 event occurred 3 km southwest of Chino Hills, CA. The hypocentral depth is 12km.
This is about 20 miles as the crow flies from my home in Irvine. The shaking was quite severe for about 15 seconds followed by a slow rolling motion for about 30 seconds. No significant damages.

Must be Global Warming

Today we had three tornadoes in Southern California. Train cars and big rigs were tossed around. Dogs went missing in back yards. We also had snow about fifty miles west of Palm Springs - not in the mountains but in the desert! Here in Orange county we had rain and a few thunder claps. Five miles east of here where the fire burned last year we had mud slides from a cloudburst. Two weekends ago we had temperatures near 100. So, is snow in Southern California in May caused by global warming? Seems to be counter intuitive. How about exceptionally hot weather in May? Perhaps it's neither. It may be just the normal variation in short-term climate. No, that doesn't compute because it doesn't fit any political agenda.

The Renewal of Life

Spring has arrived at Elmcroft and the goldfish have survived yet another winter. It must be so boring for them to live under the ice for four months without even a book to read. Pictures courtesy of Suzanne's children who had the pleasure of frolicking on the grounds during the warm spell during spring break.

Politics Goes on - Even in Death

As the executor of my mother's estate, the address of the estate is my home address. Somehow, these mailing lists seem to go on forever, even after death. Hillary is needing to raise $3 million in the next three weeks to match her oponent's Pennsylvania campaign. Unfortunately, the estate of Adelaide is not inclined to help because the executor has a fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries. One of those duties is to be a part of preventing a tax increase for the beneficiaries.

Earthquake

"A minor earthquake occurred at 9:28:49 PM (PDT) on Wednesday, March 26, 2008.The magnitude 3.1 event occurred 3 km (2 miles) NE of Newport Beach, CA.The hypocentral depth is 8 km ( 5 miles). "

This earthquake was about 7 miles from my house. It was a quick short jolt that made the house creek but there was no wave motion. This is typical of a close earthquake - no rolling motion but just a sharp jolt.

"A" is my home on the map and "B" is the earthquake location.

Awesome bird's eye view of Elmcroft

This is on the Neighborhood Info tab of the Realtor.com listing for Elmcroft. It is a paid subscription from Microsoft Virtual Earth. You can go to http://maps.live.com/# and find your favorite spot on earth. Notice that in the images the wisteria trellis has been replaced. Also, the dead tree behind the carriage house has been felled. This must have been taken about November 2006. In one view (not shown) you can see the panel truck of the furnace service man parked up by the house. I remember that day but I had no idea someone was taking pictures from on high.

Virtual Tour of Elmcroft

The virtual tour of Elmcroft is now available. This will be updated in the spring.
http://www.circlepix.com/home/FVAVPU
Also on Realtor.com:
http://www.realtor.com/realestate/woodbridge-ct-06525-1096584821/
And, the Coldwell banker listing:
http://www.coldwellbankermoves.com/ID/797692

Google Earth image update for Elmcroft

The Google Earth data for Woodbridge used to be a winter scene, mostly brown color. It seems that the database has been updated with new imagery taken in the summer. I couldn't find any way to determine the exact date of the imagery so maybe some of you know how to do that.

Elmcroft Relisted

As of March 1 the Elmcroft Estate has been listed with Nancy Shattuck of Coldwell Banker. Nancy is a long time resident of Woodbridge and has a distinguished career in the real estate business. Previously, the property had been listed by Weichert Realtors from December 2006 through June 2007 and by William Raveis from August 2007 through January 2008. Look for a new listing on Realtor.com in the coming week.

It was Nancy who wrote a letter to the "Rumbold family" and left it in George's mailbox where I found it on November 15, 2007. In this letter Nancy tells the story of being contacted by the Seymour Police Department on November 13. It seems that the police were trying to locate some next of kin. Somehow they learned that George had a connection with the property on Amity Road. From the For Sale sign on the property, they naturally called William Raveis Real Estate. They were told that Raveis no longer had the listing - remember, they had it from 8/07 through 1/08. They were further told that Nancy Shattuck from Coldwell Banker now had the listing. It was very disturbing to me that someone calling the listing agent would be told they did not have the listing. This was, however, not the only reason why Raveis no longer has the listing.

Nancy took a great picture of the rear of the Carriage House, a picture that can only do the structure justice when taken in the winter. Remember my previous blogs showing the repairs to the rear upper loft gable which now shows beautifully.

After many failed attempts in 2006 at trying to find a contractor from referrals, I resorted to calling people advertising in the local weekly paper. Willis Maki was the one person I called who responded and was at the property within a day. I firmly believe that it was not just coincidence that Willis was the one. He proceeded to have custom clapboards and bead board fabricated to bring the structure back to its original condition. He also had custom windows made to replace the two on the stable. Willis has continued to exhibit his competence with the repairs to the bathroom floor, replacing the cellar Bilco door, correcting the clogged bathtub drain, and he will soon be repairing some loose floor boards in the attic.

We have also been blessed to have the able help of Dick Strong as the primary caretaker for the property and Tony Fonte as a grounds keeper. Our tenant, Suzanne, has volunteered to help with a garden planting day in the early spring to make sure that the gardens are beautiful as mom always did. More volunteers are welcome. Date to be announced.

Billy Joel in Concert

Saturday night Debi and I went to see Billy Joel at the Pond in Anaheim. Well, it's called the Honda Center now but I hate the renaming of these venues to the highest bidder. It was a one-time only event to a sold-out crowd. It was a great concert of old favorites interspersed with a rendition of Highway to Hell by Chainsaw with Billy Joel on guitar. You can see a similar rendition here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLeEjOSYL78. Also you can read a review of the concert here: http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/billy-joel-honda-1986654-center-anaheim. What was surprising was the number of yount people in the crowd. Most of them were probably not born when Billy Joel's string of populare albums were released in the 70's.

Picture Identified

Click picture to enlarge
This is the picture that Karen found at George's house. It is a picture of my mother, Adelaide Congdon, with her grand uncle Kenyon Hampton driving. This was taken circa 1926 when my mom was about 11 years old. She was living in Glendale, California with her grand Aunt Grace and grand Uncle Kenyon. I sent a message to the Los Angeles historical society and they identified the building as the Los Angeles Amory. This is one of the last great city armories still standing. It is located in Exposition Park which includes beautiful rose gardens. The Los Angeles Coliseum is nearby. Today the Amory has been converted to a science museum and includes an Imax theatre. Notice in the picture to the right below the exact spot where the picture was taken next to the lamp post. I can only imagine that they were on a outing to tour Exposition Park. My mom used to say that they took rides into Los Angeles on weekends and that her uncle had many fender benders with that car. The car is a 1924 or 1925 Ford Model T with nickle radiator shell. This car cost $685 in 1924 and based on inflation, the price today would be about $8,300.

1924 Ford Model T and advertisement

Another Old Friend Passes On

I bought my HP Laserjet 4L printer in 1994 for $600. It was a major purchase but it has served me well with thousands of pages printed. I have repaired it several times over the years and parts are readily available on the internet. Recently it starting giving me trouble and after about 4 hours of work on it, I was unsuccessful in getting it back to life. I have been wanting to get a new printer anyway since the 4L only does 4 ppm. So, for $160 I bought a new Dell 1720 Laser printer that prints 27 ppm. This is about the only printer available that has a parallel port that I can connect to my printer server.

Old ........................................................................................... New

O-KAY! I give up!

Today I retired my 20-year old Ikea desk chair. I had the seat and back reupholstered about ten years ago but the arms had several layers of black tape. I took them to an upholstery shop today and was told it was hopeless. When I moved last January I had forgotten to give my Ikea chair to the movers. So, I put it in my truck and carefully transported it across country. This chair originally came from the Ikea at Plymouth Meeting, PA. This is going to be a difficult transition for me so please pray for me.

Out with the old ....................................... In with the new

Rose Parade 2008

A good time was had by all thanks to Ray Bowman's hospitality with his motor home parked on Colorado Boulevard. Ray, his son Brad and I arrived about 1 p.m. Monday afternoon to set up the RV at about the 4 mile point of the parade. We got the RV settled and then welcomed our two neighbor RV's on either side. We staked out a sidewalk location with chairs and the self-contained fire pit. Soon Ray’s friends began to arrive. In total I think there were about 17 of us. We spent the night staying warm by the fire, cooking hot dogs and marshmallows, and drinking heavily. The children occupied themselves with the tossing of marshmallows and crazy string attacks. Ray insisted on launching fistfuls of marshmallows with his giant slingshot to the partiers on the opposite side of the street for which he had to attend a meeting with the police.

The police were in full force all evening up and down the street in squad cars, paddy wagons and on foot. Strangely, just before midnight they all disappeared only to show up again at about 12:30 a.m. For sleeping arrangements, there were eight of us in the RV, three on the street in sleeping bags, and some of the women and children in a local hotel.

I was up at 6 a.m. to sit by the fire and watch the sun rise over Pasadena. The parade starts at 8 a.m. but we didn’t see the start until about 9:30 a.m. It was great seeing the floats up close and all the bands and equestrian teams - a real treat not to be missed in one’s lifetime.

Ray is the consummate host with everything prepared, including fresh roses for the ladies, lots of marshmallows, dozens of cans of crazy string, party favors and a great breakfast. Thanks man! We love ya!

Christmas 2007

Many thanks to Andy, Dorinda and Maya for hosting the Christmas get together for the Rumbold clan in Perkasie. It was a great week of gatherings. On Wednesday and Thursday Andy, Jonathan and I drove up to Woodbridge. I installed the low temperature alarm in Elmcroft and on Thursday Karen came down to take us to the cemetery to see the plot for her parents and to George's house to see the work that has been done to get it ready to market.
See Andy's blog for lots more photos of the Christmas gathering.