John G. Rumbold

Seeking God in Our Suffering

2011-11-08T20:00:00.002-08:00

Wise Prophets in every age observe that God rarely finds people useful to His purposes who have not bee broken by life.

Our suffering, so insidious and pervasive, so unwanted and despised, hold the franchise to unlocking closed hearts and opening barred minds. When the illusion of being in control of our lives shatters, then spiritual empty-handedness begins. That condition spurs us on to spiritual usefulness. Faith begins when spiritual self-sufficiency deflates and proves empty. Usually that takes one kind of smashing or another.

The lovely paradox here is that this is precisely where joy and hope enter. The road to joy always seems to go through sadness and suffering. It’s hard to get there any other way. A strong acquaintance with death makes Easter’s victory brighter. True resurrection joy whispers in the hearts of those stung deeply by lost loved ones. Jesus’ embrace means everything to those of us who are truly burdened, legitimately helpless, and weary.

Ironically, spiritual growth involves our personal regression to that childlike dependency Jesus talks about: to become “poor in spirit.” Then we are in Paul’s words, “hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).

Healing and renewal come to Jesus’ people sooner or later:

“Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” – Psalm 30:5

From Waiting for Morning: Seeking God in Our Suffering by Pastor James R. Kok.

Venture Capitalism and your Federal Government

2011-11-06T16:05:00.001-08:00

What is venture capital and what is a venture capitalist? And, what does this have to do with the federal government?

Venture capital is the money that a start-up business raises to develop its product offering and bring it to market. A firm seeking venture capital is usually considered too risky to attract equity capital from the public. More likely, the risk would be too high to meet the strict SEC requirements for an offering to the public.

A venture capitalist is generally a wealthy person or a person who can syndicate capital from other wealth persons to invest in risky start-up businesses. Why do wealthy people want to invest in risky businesses? Because the rewards can be great. Many of the venture capital deals fail but the ones that prosper can yield returns upwards of 100% or more in a few years.

Now let’s face it. Some of these deals could be viable for offerings to the general public but the wealthy venture capitalist want the early large gains for themselves. Yes, they are greedy. But greed is not a four letter word. Greed is what had made the United States a financial success. But, I digress.

The venture capitalist cashes out when the business is ready to go public. The initial public offering (IPO) is how the venture capitalist gets their money back – and usually with a handsome gain. And, the venture capitalist has an incentive in hyping the business to get the biggest possible IPO price. Once the company goes public, its stock is available to the public as an investment and to mutual funds. These investments and mutual funds can form the foundation of retirement plans in the form of IRA’s and 401K’s.

So, what does this have to do with the government? Well, your government under the authority of president Obama has become a venture capitalist. Only thing is, the government is not a wealthy person or syndicate. The government does this with your money. Yes, your government is guaranteeing loans to risky start-up businesses with your money. When Solyndra went bankrupt, President Obama chalked it off to “these things happen in the world of investment.”

Silly me, I didn’t think our government was suppose to engage in the world of risky investments. Well, actually it is not. It is doing so with your money. And, silly me again – don’t I remember the liberals in Congress (Nancy Pelosi you know who I am talking about) becoming adamant about not letting us publicans invest our Social Security funds in the “risky” stock market. The stock market is much safer than firms only able to attract venture capital funding. And, by the way – it is most likely that Nancy Pelosi and her wealthy husband have funds invested in the stock market if not also venture capital.

But we all know what is really going on here; this President is lining the pockets of his friends in high places. These are the venture capitalist who put money into Solyndra and the other high-risk startups and then used borrowing to leverage their investment. Through the use of generous donations to the Obama campaign, they got their high-risk investment guaranteed. This is really all about Obama getting elected and trying to get re-elected. If only we could get rid of these crooks without having to go through the frustrating election process.

Old Elmcroft Documents

2011-10-29T11:27:00.007-07:00

I am scanning all of the old Elmcroft documents. This includes the original bill of sale and mortgage from when my parents bought the property in 1942 and various documents since then. The original mortgage was paid off in 1948. My parents were divorced on April 11, 1961. I also have the original decree of divorce. The house was deeded over to my mom and I have that quit claim deed. I then found a new mortgage dated December 27, 1961 for $4,500. This would correspond to the time period my brother was going off to college and I spent a year at Tilton School in New Hampshire, a private prepatory school. That was the year that I had a terrible accident on my bicycle and I was in the hospital for a few weeks. My mom arranged for me to stay a little longer in the hospital while she drove George down to Ferrum Junior College in Virginia. I can only deduce that the mortgage proceeds was to help pay for that schooling - something I never knew. I wonder if George knew that. This morgage was paid off in December 1970. Here is page one of the mortgage.

Why S&P Downgraded The United States

2011-08-30T17:53:00.004-07:00

Let's remove 8 zeros from the Federal budget and pretend it's a household budget:

Annual family income: $ 21,700
Money the family spent: 38,200
New debt on the credit card: 16,500
Outstanding balance on the credit card: 142,710
Total "deep" budget cuts: 385

When will this family get their budget balanced?
Correct - NEVER!

Those Damn Loopholes

2011-08-01T21:43:00.002-07:00

A loophole is an ambiguity in a system, such as a law or security, which can be used to circumvent or otherwise avoid the intent, implied or explicitly stated, of the system.

How many of you lemmings are marching in lockstep with the Executive Branch and extolling the loophole that allows corporations to buy corporate jets and get avoid some tax?
There is no loophole here. Just more class warfare from the left.

Here is the real story. Before the Republican took control of the House when the Democrats had control of both the Executive and Legislative Branches, they decided on a stimulus bill. Part of the bill would allow businesses to deduct either 100% or 50% of the entire cost of a capital asset all in one year.

Normally, machinery, equipment and fixtures purchased by business must be depreciated over a number of year, generally 3 to 39 years depending on the type of asset. An airplane is a 7-year asset. That means that only one seventh of the cost can be deducted from business income in a year. (This is actually a simplification.) Theh business has to come up with 100% of the cash to buy the airplane but can only deduct one seventh each year.

So, your Democrat buddies decided to allow businesses to deduct 100% all in one year so as to stimulate businesses to buy such things and cause the other businesses that make the things to have to hire more people.

Then those bad, mean big corporations went out and bought more airplanes. The businesses making airplanes had to hire more people. Gee – the stimulus worked!

There was no circumventing a law here. No loophole. They were doing exactly what the lawmakers wanted – buying more stuff to cause more hiring of workers to make the stuff.

Now for the flip flop. The Democrats no longer think this is a good idea. Since they are now running for re-election they want their constituents to think they are against big business. So, let’s remove the incentive and then those airplane manufacturing businesses will have to lay off the extra workers. But wait – they say they need to concentrate on creating jobs. Oh yea, that’s just a campaign slogan. They don’t really mean it. And besides, government doesn’t create jobs, only free enterprise creates jobs.

Traveling at 20 Times the Speed of Sound

2011-07-21T11:57:00.002-07:00

In the 1930's my parents lived in Sumatra, Dutch East Indies - now Indonesia. It took them 3-4 weeks to get home for vacation. It could take six weeks to get mail from the States. And, it would take about a week to schedule a phone call back home for my grandmother's birthday or Christmas.
This morning the Space Shuttle Atlantis did its deorbit burn over Sumatra and it was on the ground in Florida in about an hour. And, my parents thought that waiting a week for a phone call back home was an amazing technolgical advancement. You young'ns will never understand how good you have it.

Obama: Means Test Medicare

2011-07-15T19:35:00.002-07:00

Obama said today that he would be in favor of means testing Medicare - that is, people with higher incomes would pay a higher premium for their basic medicare coverage. That's a great idea Mr. Obama. Only thing is - WE ALREADY DO THAT!

You know - we need someone leading the Executive Branch that has a clue.

The basic Medicare Part B costs $96.40 per month for married taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes up to $170,000. As income increases, the premium increases up to a maximum of $353.60 for married taxpayers earning over $428,000. Now, a good topic might be to increase the premium for those higher income taxpayers. Food for thought - those on Medicare Advantage are covered by an insurance company much like an HMO. This HMO Advantage plan gets paid on average $900 per month for each enrollee by the government. That's right, I pay $96.40 a month for my Medicare Advantage plan and my insurance company gets $900 a month to take cae of all my medical needs. No wonder that invite me to an annual update meeting at a fancy hotel with fancy finger food.

Adopt a Child - Get a Big Check from the IRS

2011-04-20T20:41:00.001-07:00

The federal tax code contains a provision that provides a tax credit (reduction in tax liability) for people who adopt a child. This is one of those tax code provisions meant to affect social behavior.

Taxpayers who incur expenses to adopt a child can take a dollar for dollar tax credit up to a maximum amount of $13,170 for 2009. This is adjusted for inflation each year. So that high income taxpayers do not benefit from this credit, there is an income phase out, such that generally taxpayers with Adjusted Gross Income over about $222,000 cannot take the credit. They can, however, carry forward any un-allowed credit for up to five years in case they have a future year with lower income.

This credit has been a non-refundable credit. That means, if allowed, it cannot lower tax liability below zero – it cannot be refunded to the taxpayer if they do not have a tax liability. We’re not talking refund or balance due here, just tax liability before applying any withholding. It does, however, still carry over for a future year when they might have a tax liability to offset.

Now, adoption is a good thing and it should be encouraged. It can be argued that the adoption credit is good for our society even if it reduces government revenues.

So, as part of Obamacare passed by your Congress and your President, the adoption credit was extended through the end of 2011. You might ask why when there were revenue generating needs in Obamacare. But wait, it gets better for you head scratchers. The new law allowed this credit to be refunded. So, even if you don’t owe any tax you get the money – a check in the mail. And remember that you can carry over from five years ago? Yes, indeed, taxpayers that never expected to get the credit but adopted anyway now get a windfall. These people had already adopted. Can you imagine the surprise of a taxpayer who had adopted – oh, let’s say five children in the past five years. They are median income and they look at their refund and see a refund of about $65,000. Don’t forget, they have already spent the money for the adoption and never expected to get any tax credit.

But you ask, if it is meant to affect social behavior, why did they make this refundable part applicable to the carryover part? You figure that out because I am still scratching my head. Oh, and if you think this cannot happen, I have seen tax returns with enormous adoption credit refunds. How much is this adding to the deficit?

Sputnik Moment - Whaaat!

2011-01-25T19:41:00.006-08:00

Mr. Obama and his executive branch cronies coined this his Sputnik moment. Shame on him and his lackeys.

I was 13 at the time the Russians launched Sputnik - the first earth orbiting man-made object. I was too young to appreciate the fear that it imbued in our country. But I remember listening to the radio at the bleep bleep transmissions as it passed overhead.

I did, however, live vividly through our nation's response to the threat from the Russians. I remember listening on my car radio in Boston (I have no idea what I was doing in Boston at the time) when Alan Shepard was launched into earth orbit in the Freedom 7 Mercury capsule in 1961. I remember the inception of NASA and the great leaps in technology that resulted in that moment late in the night on July 20, 1969 watching a scratchy black and white TV when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. Apollo 11 launched on my 25th birthday. I remember the brave men that went before and after Apollo 11 and the prayers for their safe travel and the prayers for those lost (Grissom, White & Chaffee). I remember our frozen poses as we watched on the TV the dedicated men (no women in those days) in mission control in their white shirts and narrow ties as they guided the missions to safe conclusions with cheers. These were defining moments for mankind and the people of the United States of America achieved this though the leadership of a president from a Democratic party that has since fallen in to disrepair.

I have lived through the amazing technological innovations that NASA and the space program have brought to us. Those that don't have these memories cannot comprehend how far we have come with the efforts of the brave and dedicated people of NASA and its subcontractors. I worked with some of those contractors, building equipment to assure the safety of the equipment that our brave astronauts relied upon. I am blessed now to be able to see talented and hard working women serving in mission control (yea Melissa!) alongside those men in their white shirts and narrow ties. This is the kind of progress that the only real Sputnik moment could have fostered.

This president has the gall to compare his desire to reverse his failed policies to bring us out of a depression, to Sputnik and the NASA space program. To one who has lived through the latter, it is embarrassing to say the least and an insult to the millions of people who worked through the 50s, 60s and 70s to bring us things like personal computers, lasers, cell phones and GPS to name just a few. While this president cuts funding for space exploration he co-ops that legacy for his pathetic political life. Research and read about those wonderful times in our nation. Then, make a pledge to repudiate this president. What we need now is another Jimmy Carter presidency - one and out!

Follow the Money to your Safety in the Air

2010-11-24T20:24:00.004-08:00

Michael Chertoff, Former Department of Homeland Security, is the head of the Chertoff Group, the lead cheerleader for what is being called the Full Body Scanner Lobby, reports the Washington Post and the Washington Examiner. He is a consultant to Rapiscan, one of two makers of the full body scan backscatter systems.
The only other company that manufactures such scanners, L-3 Systems, has spent more than $1.4 million on lobbying the government since 2004 - one of its best-connected lobbyists is Linda Daschle, wife of ex-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), earning almost $100,000 in fees for working on "matters related to advanced imaging technology."
What will they do with these machines when the terrorists begin placing the explosives in their bodies? Well, the people in the industry will have made their millions by then.

Sexual Battery at the Airport

2010-11-19T17:08:00.004-08:00

When Senator LeMieux from Florida (R) was interrogating John Pistole during the TSA hearing this week, he said the following; "... no one wants to talk about profiling cause its a scary word." This, my friends, is the absurd political correctness that is going to lead to more Americans being killed. And here I thought a major role of our government is to provide security for its citizens. The Israels profile. They do not use metal detectors. They do not use backscatter x-ray imaging. They do not use pat-downs. They profile. They do not profile based on national origin although I don't see anything wrong with that. They profile based on behavior.

Our government believes that profiling is scary but sexual battery is acceptable and, presumably not scary. What say you? Are you going to put up with this? Silence is acceptance.

Who Says Police Officers Don't Care!

2010-10-20T20:05:00.002-07:00

I get irritated when people come down on our police officers, saying that they don't care. Well, here is a story that shows not all of them are in that category.

The Altus OK Sheriff's office reported finding a man's body last Saturday in the Red River 1-1/2 miles south of the turnpike bridge . The dead man's name would not be released until his family had been notified.

The victim apparently drowned due to very excessive beer consumption while visiting "someone strange" across the state line near Wichita Falls , TX .

He was wearing black fishnet stockings, 6 inch spike high heels, a red garter belt, a black G string, florescent pink lipstick, and an Obama t-shirt over a matching black bra.

The police removed the Obama t-shirt to spare his family any unnecessary embarrassment.

Police officers don’t care!!!

The Obama Amnesty, err Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Plan

2010-09-25T11:20:00.001-07:00

Recently, Mr. Obama outlined his CIR plan before the American public. He and the democratic bandits in Congress have consistently made the argument that it would be near impossible to deport the estimated 12 million illegal aliens in this country. Never mind that President Eisenhower deported about 3 million in Operation Wetback in 1954. About 1 million of those left on their own accord.
So, we all know that the claim of “near impossible” is cover for their desire to admit as many illegal aliens as possible to swell the ranks of their “wetback” electorate.
So, here are the points of Mr. Obama’s plan to allow a “path to citizenship:” 1) They must be law-abiding; 2) they must acknowledge that they broke the law;
Wait a minute! They must be law abiding and acknowledge they broke the law? What the hell! Only an ignorant politician could make a remark like that. Ok, back to the list:
3) they must pay fines (uhm, how much?); 4) they must pay their back taxes (how do you figure that if they were paid wages in cash?), 5) they must perform community service; and 6) they must learn English.
So here is my question; how is monitoring and controlling those six requirements for 12 million illegals easier than deporting them? I’m just asking.

Pelosi Re-Writes History

2010-09-16T16:25:00.002-07:00

Pelosi Calls for Vote on 'Obama Middle-Class Tax Cuts'
"What I believe the American people deserve is a tax cut for the middle class," Pelosi said during her weekly press briefing. "And without getting into procedure and timing and process, what we're going to do is to say at the end of the day, the extension of the Obama middle-income tax cuts will take place, and that's what I have to say on the subject."
This person is either deranged, stupid or a liar. I choose all three.

Volcano Erupts in Sumatra

2010-08-29T21:05:00.013-07:00

Mount Sinabang in North Sumatra province Indonesia erupted on Sunday for the first time in four centuries, with ashes and smoke shooting 1.5 km into the air, killing one person and prompting the evacuation of over 10,000 people from nearby villages, officials said.

Here is Sinabang in the distance taken from the caldera of Mount Sibayak in 1997 by yours truly on a hike that Andy and I did to repeat a hike that my mom and dad did in 1935.

And, here is the same photo taken by my parents in 1935. I was not aware of this photo at the time I took my photo in 1997.

A Must Listen History Lesson - 20 Minutes

2010-08-13T09:58:00.002-07:00

NH Democrat Resigns and Shows His Incompetency

2010-08-13T09:13:00.005-07:00

State Rep. Timothy Horrigan (D) stepped down Thursday after posting a Facebook page in which he described the "myth" of the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate.

In his post, Horrigan wrote, "a dead Palin wd [sic] be even more dangerous than a live one...she is all about her myth & if she was dead, she cldn't [sic] commit any more gaffes."

In his non-apopogy apology Thursday, Horrigan didn't say much about being wrong for the sentiment.

"I apologize to anyone who feels they need an apology from me. And anyone who feels the need to be angry at me is free to be angry at me. I made some mistakes, but I am not ashamed of who I am. I am not ashamed of anything which I am. Nothing anyone says to me is going to change the way I feel about myself -- especially if you don't know me."

The next statement is truly enlightening as to the kind of idiot, inarticulate peopele you are electing to government office.

"I take no blame whatsoever for anything any national Democrat has ever done, with the possible exception of Dukakis. I used to work for Dukakis, so maybe I am partially responsible for him. I might also add that I was born in 1956 and didn't start to become politically active till 1968 or thereabouts -- and I didn't turn 18 till 1974. Any political events before that time period happened without my involvement,"

The Republic Is Over

2010-07-24T12:41:00.004-07:00

Big Brother Is Here

2010-07-24T12:22:00.002-07:00

Please set aside 17 minutes to watch this. Your future depends on it.

The Obama Amnesty, err Comprehensive Immigration Reform Plan

2010-07-17T11:59:00.003-07:00

Recently, Mr. Obama outlined his CIR plan before the American public. He and the democratic bandits in Congress have consistently made the argument that it would be near impossible to deport the estimated 12 million illegal aliens in this country. Never mind that President Eisenhower deported about 3 million in Operation Wetback in 1954. About 1 million of those left on their own accord.

So, we all know that the claim of “near impossible” is cover for their desire to admit as many illegal aliens as possible to swell the ranks of their “wetback” electorate.

So, here are the points of Mr. Obama’s plan to allow a “path to citizenship:” 1) They must be law-abiding; 2) they must acknowledge that they broke the law;

Wait a minute! They must be law abiding and acknowledge they broke the law? What the hell! Only an ignorant politician could make a remark like that. Ok, back to the list:

3) they must pay fines (uhm, how much?); 4) they must pay their back taxes (how do you figure that if they were paid wages in cash?), 5) they must perform community service; and 6) they must learn English.

So here is my question; how is monitoring and controlling those six requirements for 12 million illegals easier than deporting them? I’m just asking.

Remember Your Freedoms on July 4th

2010-07-04T12:21:00.004-07:00

Today is the day that we celebrate our nation and our freedom. Our independence, our constitution and our nation were built on Christian principles. We should therefore reflect on the freedom we each have to speak our mind and criticize our government and our leaders so as to build a more perfect union. We speak out not to demean the person but to continue in the tradition begun on this date in 1776 to protect our God given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Over the ensuing 234 years, many brave citizens have fought and many have died to protect my right to speak my mind even here on this most modern of gazette. As we celebrate this day, there are citizens in harms way on the battlefield in far away lands. Make no mistake about it, the Muslim extremist that they battle are laying down their lives with the aim of taking away these freedoms of ours. They would silence me and you for the purpose of controlling our thought in furtherance of their oppression of our inalienable rights. But, the freedom to speak that we fight for is not only your right but your duty to perfect. Speak now for whatever you see as wrong in our nation so that someone like me can be criticizing our government 234 years from now.

Authorities Raid Arizona Business, Arrest 7 Employees

2010-06-25T15:59:00.003-07:00

Authorities raided a Maricopa County, Ariz., sanitation company after receiving anonymous tips that some of its employees were in the country illegally and had used false identification to get hired, MyFoxPhoenix.com reported.

"They're coming here to arrest people that are here working. How come he doesn't go to the border and or to somewhere to arrest criminals,” said Maria Ruiz, the wife of a Parks & Sons employee who was taken in by deputies.

Ok, here’s the deal Maria – Your husband (and probably you) broke U.S. federal statutes by entering the U.S. without a valid visa. Then, apparently, your husband obtained a false Social Security card which is a crime of tax fraud and identity theft if the real owner of the SSN is still alive. So, an alleged criminal has been arrested. As you say Maria, there are probably lots more at the boarder who should be arrested but your husband is possibly guilty of more crimes than the aliens coming across the boarder today.

Now, fortunately for you and your husband Maria, the current President and Congress of the U.S. doesn’t care that you and your husband may have violated federal statutes. You will get a pass on the “rule of law” concept of our federal democracy. I, on the other hand, a legal citizen, will be prosecuted if I were to fail to purchase health insurance – something which you don’t need because you and your husband will be given free health care without needing to have health insurance.
Welcome to America!

Korean War - 60th Anniversary - June 27

2010-06-03T19:59:00.012-07:00

At the end of World War II, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel into Soviet (North Korean) and U.S. (South Korean) zones of occupation. In 1948 rival governments were established. The Republic of Korea was proclaimed in the South and the People's Democratic Republic of Korea in the North. In 1950 North Korea, supported by China, invaded South Korea. UN Forces, principally made up of U.S. troops, fought successfully to protect South Korea. The Korean War was the first armed conflict in the global struggle between democracy and communism, call the Cold War.

Actual hostilities occurred from June 27, 1950 to July 27, 1953. However, the war period was extended to January 31, 1955 by Congress to define a period of benefit eligibility following uneasy peace negotiations after July 27, 1953.

There were 6.8 millionAmerican men and women who served during the Korean War period. During the period of actual hostalities, 54,200 Americans died in service. Of these, 33,700 were actual battle deaths. Many of the non battle deaths were a result of the severe winter weather conditions.

There were 7,140 POWs during the Korean War. Of these, 4,418 returned to the United States, 2,701 died, and 21 refused repatriation. There have been 131 recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor among Korean War veterans.

My father, John Storrow Rumbold, was a research chemist at U.S. Rubber Company (now Uniroyal) footwear division in Naugatuck, Connecticut during the period before and during the Korean War. In addition to being the inventor of the arch cusion in Keds sneakers, he was on the team that developed the cold weather insulated boot for the military that was very successful in Korea. This boot was called the Mickey Mouse boot because the toe was very bulbous to provide an air picket for insulation. We had a pair of the boots at the house in Woodbridge and I used to wear them a lot in the winter. I once went for a long walk with the boots from the house over to the town center during a blizzard. I had to find refuge in a stranger's home because my fingers were approaching frostbite but my feet were cozy warm. If you would like to learn more than you ever wanted about these boots, click on the title to this blog.

Rebuttal to Mexican President Calderon

2010-05-21T17:19:00.009-07:00

You have to listen to this speech by Representative McClintock of the 4th district of California.

Here is the actual writing by President Theodore Roosevelt:
"We should insist that if the immigrant who comes here does in good faith become an American and assimilates himself to us he shall be treated on an exact equality with every one else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed or birth-place or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American and nothing but an American. If he tries to keep segregated with men of his own origin and separated from the rest of America, then he isn't doing his part as an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, of American nationality, and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding-house; and we have room for but one soul loyalty, and that is loyalty to the American people."
January 3, 1919 (three days before his death)

A top Department of Homeland Security official reportedly said his agency will not necessarily process illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona authorities. John Morton, assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), made the comment during a meeting on Wednesday with the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune, the newspaper reports.

Don't you think it is about time that this traitorous administration was eliminated?

Hewlett-Packard Looses Lawsuit Over Incompetent Tech Support

2010-05-06T15:40:00.006-07:00

On Sunday, December 6, 2009 I purchased a new Hewlett-Packard Officejet 6000 color printer. After spending over an hour in attempting to install the software that came with it, I called HP technical support and spoke to Samarjeet in Pakistan. He took control of my computer from his location and spent about an hour trying to identify the problem. Eventually, after putting me on hold for fifteen minutes, he announced that he had identified two services on the computer that needed to be running and that would not start automatically.
He proceeded to edit the registry as a solution to getting these two services to run. Upon rebooting, the computer would not function anymore. I asked Smarjeet if he had backed up the registry before he modified it. He replied that he had. I asked him to walk me though the process to restore the registry backup but he said he could not do that. He said that a supervisor would call me back on Monday which never happened.
I called HP tech support on Monday morning, December 7, 2009 and spoke with a person in Canada. I asked if he could send someone to my home office to repair the computer so that I could proceed with conducting my business. He said that HP did not have any people available to repair computers. I asked and he located some IT firms near my location. I engaged TekScape to repair my computer and the technician was at my home office later in the morning and spent most of the day rebuilding my hard drive and reinstalling Windows and most of the system drivers. I spent an additional two full days reinstalling all of my software and data.
I contacted HP and aksed them to reimbuse me my costs. They offered me $150 which was an insult. I filed suit in small claims court. HP sent a manager from their service group to represent them in court. He argued that the warranty didn't cover data or software. I pointed out to the judge that I wasn't making a claim against the product for breach of warranty. Rather my claim was for negligence on their part causing me to suffer damages. I have been awarded $800 plus court costs.
It's about time that these US companies hiring incompetent foreigners were made accountable for their acts. By the way, the printer cost my about $90.

Updating the Genealogy

2010-02-22T16:29:00.011-08:00

I went back to Getty Center on Sunday to meet with Luther Gerlach who is putting on a demonstration of platinum photographic prints, a process from the late 19th century. He mixes the chemicals and applies the liquid to paper and then does a contact print to create a beautiful print using platinum rather than silver as the light sensitive emulsion material.

I took the two 8X10 photos of what I believe to be my great-grandparents from England. These photos are on 1/4 inch thick white glass. According to Luther, they are either carbon or silver gelatin on opal glass porcelain, heavily retouched with paint over the photo. The opal glass would have come from Germany. This process was developed about 1870 and was popular for many years. The evidence is strong for it being a silver gelatin emulsion print because there is considerable evidence of oxidation. Luther is going to refer me to a conservator who may be able to remove much of the oxidation. Then I have to properly frame the photos to preserve them. I have had them wrapped in brown paper since 1970 when I obtained these pictures from my father's house in England. He passed away in 1970.

John Rumbold was born in 1847 in Kings Somborne, Hampshire, UK. He married Ellen Storrow (b. 1849) in 1873. He died in 1902, the same year that my father was born. Ellen died in 1923. My brother's middle name is Storrow from Ellen's last name and her first son's (my grandfather's) middle name.

John and Ellen (Storrow) Rumbold

You Have to Watch This

2010-01-18T18:29:00.001-08:00

Time To Listen

2010-01-12T12:12:00.001-08:00

Off To The Races

2009-11-23T12:49:00.018-08:00

Subtitle: Eating Dust

On Sunday I joined my friend Ray Bowman at Anderson Dry Lake in the Johnson Valley OHV area for a cross country motocycle race. You can click on the title above for some information on Johnson Valley OHV. This OHV area is about 100 miles as the crow flies northeast of Orange County.
Ray had not participated in such a race for twenty years. He once came in first in the Barstow to Vegas race in his novice class. The Barstow to Vegas race is not run anymore due to fear of hurting desert turtles.
I have been out the the desert and rode motorbikes and quads into the hills but I had never seen a sanctioned race. The loop was 42 miles. Spectators only get to see the start and finish. The more expericence riders do two loops (84 miles) with a pit stop back at the starting point. Ray only did one loop. The start is arranged in "lines" based on experience level (expert, intermediate, novice, beginner), age range, and motorbike displacement.
Here are some pictures from the event:

Ray at the starting line

Pit area Ray at finish line

Here is some videos of the event. My camera was set to low resolution so the videos are not very big or clear. Sorry about that:

Ray Bowman at the start

47 Milliion Without Health Insurance

2009-10-27T18:12:00.002-07:00

Sounds dramatic doesn't it? Well, first of all it is only 17% of the population. Is it worth ruining the future of the country for solving a problem for 17% of the people when there are far greater problems?
So, here is the real breakdown:
20 million are above average income and choose not to buy insurance.
14 million are poor and eligible for Medicaid
8 million are illegal aliens
That leaves 5 million that are truly without health insurance. That is only 1.8% of the population.

Butch the Rooster

2009-10-20T09:47:00.000-07:00

John the farmer was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young layers (hens), called "pullets" and eight or ten roosters, whose job was to fertilize the eggs.

The farmer kept records and any rooster that didn't perform went into the soup pot and was replaced. That took an awful lot of his time so he bought a set of tiny bells and attached them to his roosters. Each bell had a different tone so John could tell from a distance, which rooster was performing. Now he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report simply by listening to the bells. The farmer's favorite rooster was old Butch, and a very fine specimen he was, too. But on this particular morning John noticed old Butch's bell hadn't rung at all!

John went to investigate. The other roosters were chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing. The pullets, hearing the roosters coming, would run for cover. But to Farmer John's amazement, Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring. He'd sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one. John was so proud of Butch, he entered him in the Boone County Fair and Butch became an overnight sensation among the judges.

The result... The judges not only awarded Butch the No Bell Piece Prize but they also awarded him the Pulletsurprise as well. Clearly Butch was a politician in the making: who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most highly coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the populace and screwing them when they weren't paying attention?

I.O.U.S.A. America on the Brink of Financial Crisis

2009-10-18T12:45:00.004-07:00

I saw David Walker, one of the authors of the movie IOUSA, speak at the Financial Planning Association's annual conference in Anaheim last Sunday. You need to pay attention to this man and wake up to the impending financial doom coming your way. The politicians you elected last November don't get it. They are taking this country down the tubes to further their ideological agenda. Rent the move and watch it. Then give it to a friend or enemy.

David Walker - 60 Minutes report

asHLey MySpace Video

The Goal in Afganistan

2009-10-06T09:37:00.002-07:00

Yesterday the Obama administration in the persons of Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates stated that the goal in Afganistan is to disrupt al Qaeda. You might ask why Obama is not interested in defeating al Qaeda. Usually in war the parties are looking towards defeating the opposing side. Certainly, al Qaeda is looking to defeat and bring about the destruction of the west and in particular the United States.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the true color of liberals. They don't want to hurt our enemies. They want to make nice to enemies. They think that they can negotiate with tryants and have us all just get along. This enemy will kill you just because you are American. If you happen to be Jewish-American they will cut your head off. Christian-Americans just get shot in the head. You don't have to be a combatant, journalists and ordinary citizens are targets for these tryants. But, your president just wants to make nice to them and hope that they will all of a sudden be nice to us after thousands of years of holding a grudge.

Will you speak out for the safety and security of your fellow Americans? Even the liberals that don't have a clue?

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

2009-09-23T09:02:00.002-07:00

OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

MODERN VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.
How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.' Acorn stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.'
Rev. Jeremiah Wright then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ants food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it and the ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY. Be careful how you vote in 2010.

The Bacus Health Care Plan

2009-09-22T08:28:00.004-07:00

Like it or not, this is what you may get if you don't speak up:

Like other versions of ObamaCare, the Baucus Plan proposes to:

Impose an Individual Mandate. All Americans will be required to purchase health insurance designed by special interests, lobbyists and Congress. Americans who elect not to fall in line will face a penalty of up to $3,800.
Impose a De Facto Employer Mandate. Although not described as an employer mandate in the legislation, the Baucus Plan will require employers with more than 50 employees to pay a $400 tax for each full-time uninsured employee.
Mandate a 'Healthy' Lifestyle. The Baucus plan will provide Medicaid and Medicare patients with incentives for healthy living, as defined by the federal government. Of course, this means that the federal government would directly encourage and discourage American lifestyle choices.
Instruct Doctors on Best Practices. Under the guise of encouraging cost savings, the Baucus Plan proposes to create an "Innovation Center" which will instruct doctors as to how they should work together in the treatment of their patients.
Punish Hospitals for Readmitted Patients. In an effort to control cost and ensure quality, the Baucus Plan proposes to pay hospitals 20% less if a patient is readmitted to the hospital. Of course, this proposal will instead encourage hospitals to keep patients longer and discourage patients from returning for care after they are released.
Tax Expensive Plans. The Baucus Plan will impose a 35% excise tax on insurance which exceeds $8,000 for individuals or $21,000 for families.
Ignore Tort Reform. Despite the widespread belief among the American public and the medical community that tort reform would save billions of dollars and reduce the practice of defensive medicine, the Baucus Plan addresses the subject of tort reform only long enough to meekly express concern through a "Sense of the Senate" resolution.
Undermine Health Savings Accounts (HSA). The Baucus Plan would limit the amount that employers and employees can contribute to HSAs. Moreover, the Plan would double the tax penalty on individuals who withdraw HSA funds for non-medical expenses.
Deplete Medicare. Millions of America's senior citizens will see a significant reduction in the quality of their health care coverage. Roughly $500 billion in Medicare will be transferred to younger Americans and Medicare Advantage will be destroyed completely.
Push Americans to Public Insurance. The Baucus Plan will cause millions of families to move from private coverage - where they currently enjoy broad access - to Medicaid and S-CHIP - where they will enjoy limited access. Moreover, millions more will lose their employment-based private coverage and instead obtain insurance in an artificial market (an "Exchange") in which insurers have perverse incentives to underprovide to the sickest patients.

Click on title about to see what you can do about it.

HAPA Concert at the Great Park

2009-09-20T16:36:00.005-07:00

Superb Hawaiian music, hula dancing and guitar playing last night. These YouTube videos do not do it justice. It was the largest crowd ever for the free Saturday night concerts - 4,000 in attendance.

Double Header Concerts

2009-09-13T17:15:00.008-07:00

There's nothing like two free concerts on a Saturday evening. First Debi and I attended the last of the summer concerts on the lake in Woodbridge Village. It was The Rat Pack tribute group featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. We packed wine and a lite dinner for the event.

Then it was off to the Great Park for Niyaz, a taste of Persian music. There was standing room only as Irvine has a large Iranian population.

17 Hippies Concert

2009-09-07T09:11:00.004-07:00

The newly evolving Orange County Great Park puts on these free concerts in August and September. The OC Great Park is on the site of the old MCAS El Toro. (Marine Corps Air Station) There are also free tethered baloon rides.

The 17 Hippies is a group from Berlin. They play a selection of French tunes, English ballads and other internation songs in a genre tah I characterize as a mix of hillbilly and gypsie.

Foreign Health Care Experiments

2009-08-17T12:51:00.003-07:00

Dr. Anne Doig, the incoming president of the Canadian Medical Association, said her country’s health care system is “sick” and “imploding,” the Canadian Press reported. Ouellet (current President of the CMA) has said that “competition should be welcomed, not feared,” meaning private health insurance should have a role in the public health system. "(Canadians) have to understand that the system that we have right now — if it keeps on going without change — is not sustainable,"

So, the single payer Canadian system is failing. Mr. Obama said in 2003 that he favored a single payer system. Recently he said that he never said he wanted a single payer system. This is a continuation of the lies that are coming from Washington in spite of Mr. Obama's campaign pledge to change the way things work in Washington.

The highly touted French system - which resulted in the death of Princess Diana - is running a 50 billion deficit which is not sustainable.

This is where were are headed folks, if we allow the liberals and socialists to create a government run health care system. Speak up now to your Senators and Congresspersons or shut up and take it in the wallet and your physical well-being.

The Health Care Debate

2009-08-10T18:48:00.002-07:00

The battle against the socialist health care bill is heating up. Today the topic was the rumor that the bill contained a provision that elderly people would be forced to have a discussion with their doctor about their plans for end of life care, leading some to believe that the bill was authorizing euthanasia. The liberal counter attack corrected the rumor that the provision only provided that doctors would be reimbursed for having an optional discussion about end of life care. So now all was alright with the bill and its benign provision.

Or was it? Think about it. This is exactly the tenant of the liberal big government agenda - control over your life. Can you imagine the government delineating all of the things that a doctor is allowed (paid for) to talk to you about. What about all of the things not mentioned in the bill? Since the doctors will not be paid for them, you will not get that advice. Shouldn't doctors be able to make their own decisions about discussion with patients?

Email you legislators and tell them you don't want government control of health care.

Thoughts on Health Care

2009-07-31T11:13:00.004-07:00

Most of you don't know that only 17% of people in America don't have health insurance. Why don't you know this? Because your government and the liberal media doesn't want you to know it. When they say that 47 million are without health insurance it sounds like a big problem. Is a problem that affects 17% of the population a big enough problem to spend more that 1 trillion dollars and turn over your health care decisions to the federal government - to risk the financial security of future generations?

Next - what we are all calling health insurance is not insurance at all. Ask Andy, he will confirm this. Insurance is to spread the risk of catastrophic risk. When you buy auto insurance you don’t expect it to pay for oil changes do you? When you buy home insurance you don’t expect it to pay for the annual cleaning of your furnace do you? The fact is that you hope you never have to collect on your auto or home insurance because that would mean you have experienced a catastrophic loss. What everyone calls health insurance is just prepaid medical care plus an insurance component for the catastrophic risk. Why is everybody entitled to prepaid medical care? Only in a socialist state would this be a tenant of the government supported programs.

So, what is the answer to medical care in this country? Firstly, the federal government has no business being in the health care business or even health care regulation. There is nothing in the Constitution that allows or permits this kind of intrusion into your life. Any such regulation is the exclusive purview of the states - unless, of course, the country wants to prosecute a Constitutional amendment. Second, a mandatory insurance plan like Massachusetts has and similar to what most states have for auto insurance might be a better solution if one is needed at all. But, this should only be for catastrophic medical risk, not prepaid medical care.

Please write to your Senators and Congresspersons and tell them to stop this insanity.

Debi Doing Dancing Queen

2009-07-28T16:42:00.001-07:00

Debi Performing "Man! I Feel Like a Woman"

2009-07-27T18:53:00.007-07:00

Debi performing "Man! I Feel Like a Woman" at the Echo Entertainment "Songs of Your Life" show at the Crystal Cathedral last Saturday evening. I missed the first 20 seconds while fumbling with my zoom. The quality is a result of my Sony Cybeshot camera. High quality DVD will be available later. Echo Entertainment is a non-profit organization that raises money to support military veterans. This is the third show that Debi has performed in.
There is a secret about this performance. See if you can quess.

A Reckless Congress

2009-07-22T13:59:00.001-07:00

Click on the blog title above to see how the Wall Street Journal is weighing in on the Obama socialist health care plan.

Hummingbird Home

2009-07-13T08:00:00.006-07:00

While trimming back the bougainvillea bushes I found this small nest. It had been protected by lots of branches above it that I had removed. It doesn't appear to be occupied. It is very soft like cotton. I believe it is a hummingbird nest.

Did You Know?

2009-06-25T09:41:00.003-07:00

That the Obama health plan legislation will exempt Congressional members and Federal employees? Seems to me what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
That Congressional democrats are pushing for quick adoption for the legislation? So that you and others will not have time to understand the complexities of it before it is enacted?
It is reported that last night Mr. Obama said that he will allow you to keep your doctor. Who the hell does he think he is? The Constitution does not give the executive branch the power to limit my choices of personal service providers and then the right to grant exceptions. Will he also grant me the right to choose my baker and candlestick maker? The Constitution is not a living document except to the extent of amendments passed by Congress and the states. It cannot be amended by executive branch decrees, by court decisions or by Congress (without the approval of the states).
Stand up for your rights people. This president and congress are taking them away one by one.

Stimulus Impact on Jobs

2009-06-17T07:30:00.003-07:00

Click on the title above to find out how many jobs the stimulus program has saved.

Let's look at the Great Depression which is being compared to this recession. President Roosevelt and Congress enacted a massive spending program for public works projects in 1932. By 1940 the unemployment rate was 15%, down from 22% in late 1934 but still higher than the 13% it was in 1932. The mass media wants you to believe that the New Deal got us out of the depression. It is a myth. It is also not entirely true that World War II got us out of the depression. Sure, unemployment dropped well below 5% during the war but a great part of that drop was the removal of hundreds of thousands from the employment rolls - they joined the military. It is a complex issue but most economists understand that the Great Depression was ended by the economic boom that occurred after the war. The recession we are in today is better compared to the one we suffered in the 1970's.

Ask yourself why your government is spending your grandchildren's future. The only answer I can come up with is to promote some great socialist manifesto that history has shown doesn't work. And, why is your government trying to convince you that health care (actually, lack of health insurance) is the next biggest problem that the country faces? Another socialist manifesto. Where is your government when it comes to Social Security? Nowhere to be seen.

From Rush Limbaugh

2009-06-11T06:34:00.003-07:00

What do God and Obama have in common?
Neither has a birth certificate.

How do God and Obama differ?
God doesn't think he is Obama.
Liberals love Obama.
Obama gets better press.

This is the Vice President You Wanted

2009-06-10T05:49:00.001-07:00

For those of you who voted for the Obama/Biden ticket and spent the campaign dishing Palin, are you now sure that the VP you elected is the right person to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency?

Earlier this week Mr. Biden commented that the new tunnel linking New Jersey with Manhattan would be a benefit for automobile traffic. Only problem is that the tunnel is only for trains. Gosh, I knew that and I am sure I don't read as many newspapers as Biden. And, why would a Democrat be happy about bringing more automobiles into New York City? One would think that liberals would favor mass transit. Perhaps he doesn't understand his political philosophy.

Also earlier this week Mr. Biden told a group of law enforcement officials that the Supreme Court nominee "has your back." Does he really believe that Sotomayor will care less about civil liberties and do whatever law enforcement wants? This is another major departure from his political philosophy. By the way, this comment was not reported in the mainstream media.

When you vote for charisma over competency, you may get unintended consequences.

Supreme Court Candidate a Member of La Raza

2009-05-29T06:32:00.001-07:00

Click on the title above for the full story.
It is not surprising that a president who brings admitted tax cheats into his cabinet would nominate a racist and activist judge to the Supreme Court. Amazing, isn't it?

When is Racism Not Racism?

2009-05-28T06:00:00.002-07:00

When it's affirmative action.
If a person nominated for an important judgeship were to utter; "I would hope that a wise white man with the richness of his experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a hispanic woman who hasn't lived that life," the nomination would be over and the candidate would slip into oblivion. However, the woman nominated for a seat on the Supreme Court actually did utter; "Second, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." Is this the kind of impartiality we want in our courts?

The fact that she will get a "by" on this is another pure example of affirmative action and the harm that it can do to our Union. As for me, I have had enough of this affirmative action crap.

In Memory of John Ford

2009-05-27T06:05:00.010-07:00

John Ford was the "F" in FDR Lawn Mowning, a small business that he, my brother George and Bruce Dapkins ran in their teenage years. John passed away suddenly on May 19 at his Maine summer home and today is his funeral service in Bethany, Connecticut.
Some pictures from the old days. Click to enlarge.

John & Janice's wedding. L-R rear: Bruce Dapkins, Dick Strong, George Rumbold, Joe Gordon, George Lemont.

Janice & John in the living room at Elmcroft

The gang during Christmas at Elmcroft

Bruce's Tempest with Janice & John in the back seat. George Lemont, George Rumbold and Bruce in the front. The FDR Pickup truck in the rear.

Our Founding Fathers Would Cringe

2009-05-26T17:30:00.004-07:00

The appointment to the Supreme Court is on the record stating that the "Court of Appeals is where policy is made." She then caught herself, realizing that what she said was on tape and trying in a vane attempt to distance herself from the comment. She then goes on the say how a judge must think about a decsion and the ramificatioins it has on other matters. This is blatant activism in the judiciary. Welcome to the further errosion of your rights and our Federal system of government.

And get this, according to Judge Sotomayor, if your state or city bans all guns the way Washington, D.C. did, that’s okay under the Constitution.

Memorial Celebration at Crystal Cathedral

2009-05-25T17:40:00.011-07:00

It was a NASCAR Memorial Day Sunday celebration at Crystal Cathedral on the 24th. The morning service was replete with the local VFW post posting the colors, patriotic songs, and the unfurling of a huge American flag about 50 by 100 feet up to the heights of the cathedral. After the service we were treated to a display of NASCA driver Blake Koch’s #21 and burgers by In-N-Out.

Car #21 is sponsored by http://www.godspeaks.com/
Andy will be pleased to know that it is also sponsored by: www.baybiodiesel.com

Debi posing with Blake Koch

We return for the evening serivce and I got this picture of the flag from the outside through the glass walls of the cathedral.

Bougainvillea in Bloom

2009-05-17T21:59:00.006-07:00

The bougainvillea is in full bloom now. You may be surprised to learn that the red color is not a flower or bloom. The red is the leaf of the plant. The flower is the little white things that can be seen in the second picture closeup. Soon I will be trimming it back quite a bit because it grows like a weed and it has very sharp barbs on it. The hummingbirds have been busy in the patio also.

Click on pictures to enlarge.

The Socialist are Taking Over - from the RNC

2009-05-14T06:14:00.002-07:00

The Obama Democrats and their leftist allies at ACORN, the “Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now,” are doing all they can to cement left-wing rule in Washington for good. Over $50 million in federal funding money has found its way into the hands of ACORN’s leftist activists over the last several years, but now the Democrats are about to make $8.5 billion more in tax-payer funds available to this radical group. All of this for an organization indicted just last week in Nevada, and charged with similar allegations in Pennsylvania, for paying money for fraudulent voter registrations in last November’s election. Minnesota Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann’s amendment to block indicted organizations from collecting more public funding passed unanimously through the U.S. House Financial Services Committee. But now Committee Chairman Barney Frank, far-left Democrat from Massachusetts, has decided he made a mistake by supporting the amendment, and will now offer his own amendment to restore ACORN’s opportunity of receiving billions of taxpayer dollars. “I did not read it carefully, and it was in the last minute that the amendment was accepted,” said Frank. “It is a deeply flawed amendment and I am opposed to it…” Didn’t read it carefully -- or just now realized what it meant for his pals at ACORN? Since ACORN’s efforts are all about electing leftist Democrats like himself, why would Frank want them to go unrewarded? It’s time we told Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, and Barack Obama that we won’t tolerate using our tax dollars to pay off their electoral support machine.

Illegal Immigration Is Not A Crime - Huh?

2009-04-24T05:41:00.001-07:00

Click on the link in the title above for another great example of how your Federal government is ignoring the laws of the United States. For the actual law that makes immigration into the United States without a visa a crime, see USC Title 8 1325

Protesting Higher Taxes Is "Unhealthy?"

2009-04-20T06:26:00.002-07:00

Senior White house advisor David Axelrod said on Sunday that the TEA Party events, which were organized by the conservative group FreedomWorks, comes from a dissatisfaction with the economy that "can mutate into something that's unhealthy."
Of course, only a liberal socialist would think that exercising your constitutional rights could become unhealthly. After all, these people have been violating the constitution for decades.
Axelrod also seemed to be upset at the tax protests against the Obama administration on the grounds that Obama had "cut taxes for 95% of the American people." In the same interview he defended allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire and he tried to make the argument that this was not going to be a tax increase. So, Obama and the Congress give workers $15 more in every paycheck and then let all the tax cuts of the past eight years expire. The biggest of these is the lowered tax rates on capital gains, now set at 15% and due to reset to 20% next year. Next the liberals will argue that 95% of the American people do not pay capital gains taxes. This is simply not true because the capital gains rate applies to qualified dividends and capital gains distributions from mutual funds. Way more that 5% of Americans own stocks and mutual funds.
The fact of the matter is that given the outrageous spending proposed by the Obama administration, taxes will have to increase to pay for the excesses.

They're Coming to Get You Soon

2009-04-17T06:32:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge

Hillary - Lies and Damn Lies

2009-04-01T22:40:00.002-07:00

On her recent trip to Mexico, SOS Hillary Clinton said in her customary liberal elitist speak, that the US was to blame for a lot of the drug war violence in Mexico and across the boarder. This is blaming the victim for the crime, a favored tactic of liberals. Then she went on to say; "And since we know that the vast majority, 90% of that [weaponry] comes from our country, we're going to try to stop it from getting there in the first place."
CBS newsman Bob Schieffer referred to the 90% figure while interviewing President Obama.
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said at a Senate hearing: "It is unacceptable to have 90 percent of the guns that are picked up in Mexico and used to shoot judges, police officers and mayors ... come from the United States."
William Hoover, assistant director for field operations at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, testified in the House of Representatives that "there is more than enough evidence to indicate that over 90 percent of the firearms that have either been recovered in, or interdicted in transport to Mexico, originated from various sources within the United States."
The problem with this 90% statistic is that it is simply not true. The real number is more like 17% according to statistics from the ATF when analyzed by someone without a political agenda. The difference comes from the number of guns traced to the U.S. Guns seized in Mexico that can be traced to the US are indeed found to have 90% origin in the the US. What you weren't told is that thousands of other guns seized in Mexico from drug gangs did not have a US origin and came from places like Russia, China, Guatemala, South America and - yes, get ready for this - the Mexican army.
Are you ready to take back control of your government from these nut cases?

The Face of Socialism

2009-03-25T21:15:00.005-07:00

Click to enlarge

What we Learned in the Press Conference Last Night

2009-03-25T05:59:00.001-07:00

Click on the title link above for a perspective on the goings on in Washington.

Speaker rants against immigration laws

2009-03-19T05:38:00.001-07:00

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently told a group of both legal and illegal immigrants and their families that enforcement of existing immigration laws, as currently practiced, is "un-American."
Yes, this is the person on the right in the picture below.
She said to a group of illegal imimigrants: "You are special people. You're here on a Saturday night to take responsibility for our country's future. That makes you very, very patriotic."
I for one don't want illegal immigrants taking responsibility for my country after seeing what a fine job they are doing for their country of citizenship.
So, silly me for thinking that a congresswoman and the Speaker of the House should uphold her oath to protect the Constitution and laws of this country. I guess that principle just doesn't work in a socialist world now does it?
This woman should be impeached.

'Nuf Said

2009-03-12T06:08:00.001-07:00

I told you so

2009-02-10T06:14:00.002-08:00

Read the link in the title above. It says it all.
The executive branch is stuffed with ex-Clinton cronies and the democratic house is going to make you pay for pork projects with your future earnings.
I don't quite see the change here that the new President was supposed to bring. It is Washington politics as usual and the taxpayers get screwed as usual.
This is what you get for voting for a socialist that doesn't have any government or political experience.

Another Tax Cheat in the Administration

2009-01-31T13:49:00.003-08:00

President Barack Obama picked former Senator Tom Daschle to lead his health reform efforts. How interesting that just before the announcement Mr. Daschle filed amended tax returns for 2005, 2006, and 2007 and paid $140,167 in additional taxes and interest. This resulted from unreported consulting income of $88,333, overstated charitable contributions of $15,000 and unreported income from the use of a car service in the amount of $250,000 from a close friend and business associate.
Way to pack the administration with thieves, Mr. President.

Politics As Usual

2009-01-31T13:40:00.003-08:00

President Barack Obama issued new rules on January 22, 2009 which forbid a lobbyist who joins his administration from working on issues they were previously involved with.
The next day he appointed William Lynn, a 55-year-old senior vice president and lobbyist of the fourth largest US defense contractor, Raytheon, to be a Deputy Secretary of Defense. Mr. Lynn will be very familiar with the halls of the Pentagon where he will switch from being an influence peddler to a peddled official.
Way to go with the hypocrisy, Mr. President.

It's time to pray for global warming

2009-01-23T18:27:00.001-08:00

At December's U.N. Global Warming conference in Poznan, Poland, 650 of the world's top climatologists stood up and said man-made global warming is a media generated myth without basis. Said climatologist Dr. David Gee, Chairman of the International Geological Congress, "For how many years must the planet cool before we begin to understand that the planet is not warming?"
To read the entire story, go here:
http://blog.mlive.com/flintopinion_impact/2009/01/its_time_to_pray_for_global_wa/print.html

Geithner Nomination Moves Out of Committee for Full Senate Vote

2009-01-23T18:17:00.005-08:00

Your US Senate is about to confirm Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary. The Treasury secretary is the IRS Commissioner's boss. Mr. Geithner has apologized to the Senate finance committee for his failure to pay self employment tax for calendar years 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004. If you read the Senate finance committee's report (first 4 pages) and you are a tax professional like me, you cannot but draw the conclusion that Mr. Geithner knew about his obligation to pay self employment taxes. Here is the document:
http://finance.senate.gov/press/Bpress/2009press/prb011309d.pdf
What is self employment tax? It is both halves of the Social Security and Medicare payroll tax that employees pay. If you are self employed, you get to pay the employee half and the employer half for a total of 15.2% of net self employment earnings.
Do you really want the cabinet level post that heads up the IRS to be a tax cheat? Should a person with his professional stature really be doing his own taxes? I think that this shows an irresponsible character flaw. If you believe as I do, write to your Senators and ask them to vote against his confirmation.
http://senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

More on Executive Orders

2009-01-23T06:23:00.001-08:00

You might have already seen or heard the news conference that the President held for the signing of the executive orders. If not, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGEyODB3tks
In the video you can see the President hemming and hawing and actually asking a White house consul questions on how things are going to be implemented. At one point, if you listen carefully, you can hear the President repeating the words verbatim from this White House lawyer. This clearly shows the President's lack of experience. If President Bush had been repeating the words of some advisor in a news conference, the main stream media would have been all over it. Does this President get a by because his is black, a liberal, or inexperienced? You choose.
Now, it is one thing to make fun of a politician for his lack of preparation and eloquence, but image what this image looks like in the international arena. This is very embarrassing at the least to the world image of the United States.

It Begins

2009-01-23T06:09:00.002-08:00

The liberalization of the United States has begun as promised by Mr. Obama.
In a sweeping move, your new President has signed an executive order requiring the CIA to adopt and use the Army Field Manual on Interrogation for all terrorists interrogations anywhere in the world. Those familiar with the AFMI claim that under this executive order your local police can use more severe interrogation techniques on you than the CIA can use on terrorists in Afghanistan. Furthermore, the AFMI is a public domain document that is freely available to the terrorists so that they can train themselves in counter-interrogation techniques.
Here is the AFMI: http://www.army.mil/institution/armypublicaffairs/pdf/fm2-22-3.pdf
Playing nice to bad people and rouge states is a hallmark of liberals. They think that negotiating with terrorist, dictators and perpetrators of genocide will bring peace and tranquility to the world. For the classic example of this, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_for_our_time
It is my opinion that you should all start to practice prudence in public places, including air travel. I believe that our safety will soon begin to be compromised by the liberal agenda. Did you know that about 60 detainees released from Gitmo have returned to terrorists activities? The head of al-Qaida in Yemen is a former Gitmo detainee. Under your new President it is likely that many of the remaining detainees will be placed into prisons in the United States - prisons where their colleagues living freely among you (because our boarders are not secure) will be able to take hostages in exchange for release of the detainees or drive fuel laden trucks into the gates of such prisons. Oh, and these enemy combatants (prisoners of war) will be given the benefit of civil and criminal justice rather than military justice.
Is this what you intended when you voted for Obama?

Christmas Past - Christmas Present

2008-12-17T11:53:00.005-08:00

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

2008-11-30T20:11:00.013-08:00

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

2008-11-05T05:56:00.002-08:00

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

2008-11-04T20:19:00.002-08:00

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

2008-10-27T06:16:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-18T08:12:00.002-07:00

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

2008-10-16T05:22:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-15T18:33:00.002-07:00

'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

2008-10-10T05:18:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-05T15:18:00.003-07:00

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

2008-10-05T14:07:00.009-07:00

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

2008-09-29T17:27:00.002-07:00

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

2008-09-28T15:51:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-26T05:12:00.000-07:00

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

Life Vest

2008-09-25T18:17:00.000-07:00

Can you Trust Congress?

2008-09-23T11:19:00.008-07:00

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

2008-09-21T13:49:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-15T05:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-14T20:45:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-08T06:09:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-07T09:02:00.005-07:00

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

2008-09-01T12:02:00.002-07:00

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

2008-08-31T15:28:00.002-07:00

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

2008-08-24T22:44:00.002-07:00

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?

2008-08-20T05:52:00.003-07:00

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

2008-08-19T21:24:00.003-07:00

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

2008-08-10T21:16:00.006-07:00

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

2008-08-07T18:38:00.010-07:00

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

2008-08-06T06:19:00.000-07:00

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.