Happy New Years

Here to Happy New Year to everyone.
May 2009 bring joy and happiness to all.

Nice Job TVA

Will we ever know the real damage of the coal ash dam burst in Tennessee? If the TVA, the Clean Coal groups and the EPA has its way we won't. The EPA has not mandated how coal ash should be disposed of if the power plant in not on an actual mining site. This is despite the fact that coal ash is the nations largest industrial waste product. One would think that with all the amount of metals and chemicals left over in coal ash that we would at the very least require this to be in some type of spill proof encasement. Because the energy industry has enough power and money they have lobbied the government and stalled any progress on stricter regulations. This has to stop. This is not the first of these to burst and will not be the last. There are massive impoundments in West Virginia that have had problems for years. Some of these hold up to 9 billion gallons of waste. Time to clean this crap up and dispel the "clean coal" myth.

Maybe this dam burst is a good thing.

Things are quiet

Seems that for me things are quiet for the most part these days. Outside of work the only thing I have been really doing is taking roadtrips on the weekends and taking tons of photos. With gas being cheap again i can get out there and build up some work for Flickr and for the my website www.fadingamerica.com. The website was a gift from a friend and fellow photojunkie and Flickr member, Tom Sabo aka http://www.flickr.com/photos/damgaard/. Check out his photostream and you will be pleased with what you see.

I hope the website will be the beginning of some good things in some type of career in photography. It is something that is well suited to my temperament and personality.

Coming Soon

Check it out........

http://site.fadingamerica.com/

Events

On Christmas Eve I cashed that $50.00 dollar check I wrote about a few days ago. I fifty brand new one dollar bills and then went to downtown Tampa and gave 5 homeless people $10.00 each. Three of then very very happy and grateful while two seemed somewhat indifferent.
Anyhow I was happy to bring them some joy.

Christmas was good, however not being with family this year made it seem like any other day for the most part. This was only the 3rd time in the 19 years I have lived in Florida that I have not been with family. Seems weird.

Over in the middle east things are getting heated again. The moronic leaders of Hamas having been launching rockets into Israel on a daily basis for a long time and there had been no retaliation. This week Israel said stop or we will attack and it will be brutal. Well Israel stuck to it word and has been bombing the Gaza strip. How do the Palestian leaders fail to understand the history of Jewish people? How do they fail to realize that continued attacks on Israel will ultimately mean the end of any chance they have of getting a homeland. I agree with a lot of the Palestian demands however Israel has every right to exist and they are not going anyplace.
Israel has the military power to make you "go away" and you would be much better off if you worked with them if you want your own country. I'm just sayin........

Mariah Carey--All I Want for Christmas is You

Greg Lake-- I Believe in Father Christmas

Robert Earl Keen--Merry Christmas from the Family

Bob Seger: Little Drummer Boy

Do They Know its Christmas

A check

Last year I made a bet for $50.00 with a guy from work that he would not be able to lose the weight he wanted. I had actually forgotten about the bet. Well last week he was in the office and he gave me a check for $50.00. I told him I did not want the check but he insisted. Although I need the money I am going to cash and get 50 $1.oo bills and go and give it to some homeless people Christmas Eve. It may not be much but for those living on the street it can do some good things.

The Cardinal

So I took yesterday off so I could have a three day weekend. I went on a little drive to take some pictures and I stopped in at Rainbow Springs State Park. While I was walking around near the spring I heard this guy. Seeing Cardinals is rare for me. I hardly ever see them in the Tampa area. These are my favorite bird so I was very happy. Being a Cardinal he would not stay still and was just far enough away to always have some underbrush be in the way of getting a perfect shot.

Not sure why I like them so much but when I was a kid my grandmother Sevigny always had birds and there always cardinals around. She also made these little Christmas ornaments of Cardinals that we had on our tree for years. So I think that linkage provides some of the answer.

Anyhow it was good to see him yesterday and made the day as far as photography goes.

Get Over It

So the latest storm for Barack is his choice of Rick Warren to the invocation at his nomination.
Well I do not think it is really such a big deal. Remember that he wants people from all points of view represented in America and that includes people who will not fully represent all the views off all the people who voted for him. For this generation Rick Warren is the closest thing to Billy Graham and that is why Barack picked him. This decision will be seen as a good thing by the Christian right and by the African American community. While Barack easily won California the African American community were the ones who were the deciding factor in getting Prop 8 defeated. Please be patient.

Rude people suck

So tonight on my way home from work I stopped at CVS to pick up some cough medicine, for a cold that will not go away, and while waiting to get checked out some bitchy lady starts bitching to the cashier because she had to wait too long. She was just rude to this girl. Listen lady, the girl is a 16 or 17 year high school student doing her best to earn some money. If you have a complaint you need to direct it at the manager. There is no need to be rude to a high school student trying to earn an income because first of all the problem is not created by them and secondly they really do not give a shit when somebody like you talks rudely to them and is demeaning to them. So while you were standing there huffing and puffing everyone else thought you made an asshole of yourself. So do us all a favor and go play in traffic for a bit.

Its Monday`

Well I had a nice three day weekend and will have another one this coming weekend. Nice to short work weeks. At least I still have a work week, for now.

Took a bunch of pictures this weekend. Since gas is low for now I need to take advantage of it. So I will do more driving this coming weekend and get a bunch more.

Got my small Christmas shopping done. Going to be a lean Christmas this year. I should do things like my Mom and buy things throughout the year and put them away till Christmas. Instead of spending crazy at the end of the year it is much easier to use your disposable income throughout the year on gifts. She justs picks up a gift here and there.

Off to work...................

Auto Bailout

Its nice to see the Republican party is still out of touch with the majority of Americans. The southern Republican senators lead the way to kill the bailout of the auto industry with help from some Democrats. Was this an attempt to bust the union, keep the automakers based in the south happy or were they voting based on their constituents? It boggles the mind that the states that primarily went for McCain in the election are now the states that are leading the way in voting down the auto bailout. Some leaders just do not get it. A majority of Americans, by a small number, are in favor for the bailout so you would think are esteemed leaders would listen to what we have to say.

It is rather simple to me. If the Chrysler and GM file for bankruptcy there will be massive layoffs amongst these two companies and all of the industries that support them. Somewhere around 4 or 5 percent of all jobs are auto related. Big number my friends and if we start to see Detroit go under we will see unemployment zoom to 10% and we will be in a depression.

Bankruptcy will cause dealers to fail and will also put many retired auto workers in dire straits as they will not be getting anymore money from these companies and they will dumped onto the public dole.

While the bailout may not be the best answer it is better than bankruptcy because it will allow Detroit to have a more orderly reconstruction of their business.

Of course the banks that have received all billions of dollars could step up to the plate and offer to help the Big Three by offering lines of credit.

My Blurb Book

Check it out today.

http://www.blurb.com/my/book/detail/482360

Ouch

So today I went to the doctor for results from my blood test and my cholesterol is at 233. i guess I better get myself on a diet or at least start eating a healthier diet. My doctor wants me back in six weeks to see if I have made any progress. I'll start tomorrow.

For Sale

One Senate seat: No experience required. Must be willing to pay large sums of cash or trade for a job with a large salary. Must be willing to be recorded on tape by the F.B.I. for future use in trials and lawsuits. Stupidity is a major plus.

Wow, guess some things never change. How did this guy think he could get away with this? Amazing. What else did this do to get to where he is today? I suspect it was nothing good.

Car Czar

Really do we need another Czar. Not one of them has done a damm thing to make me feel any better. A bullshit job for somebody who can blow a lot of hot air and make people who do not pay real attention happy.

Give GM the money, give Ford the line of credit in case they need the money and fuck Chrysler.
Let Ceruberus, the private company, bail themselves out or sell the damm company. We need the auto industry to survive or the economy is totally doomed.

Time to watch out for your fellow citizens. They may need your help and will not ask for it. Just be there for them when the time comes.

Good Morning

Well it was a great weekend. Spent most of it sleeping trying to fight off a cold. Nothing better than that. Hopefully I have been able to hold it off.

Have to go Christmas shopping this week. Going to be a low cost holiday this year. Maybe I will do photobooks for everyone.

My week in review

So this week I was away at a trade show and international Swat team competition. this is a pretty interesting show. One thing was very evident this year. The economy sucks. There were far less teams competing and far less foot traffic at the trade show. All the vendors were commenting on this and expect things too be tough for some time. The only dealers that are seeing good to excellent sales are dealers selling high powered rifles like the AR. A lot of people expect some kind of crazy shit to go down in the near future.

Well it looks like the auto industry is going to get a bailout, finally. They need it because they actually make something we use and need as a country. They are much more important to the United States than AIG and the others who have received our tax dollars.
Here is Jon Stewart's take on this. It really is the truth in the whole thing.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=212877&title=autoerotic-explanation

Although the case was a bullshit case it looks like OJ is getting his payback for committing murder. Now maybe all this can finally go away.

I saw gas tonight for $1.59 a gallon. How low can we go? I hope it goes lower so I can take more roadtrips. :)

With gas getting low when will we see food prices start to drop. It does not seem like that is happening. I bet they stay high. Will the grocery stores will just take the profits and leave prices high.

That's it for now. I actually watched very little news this past week and am much happier for it.

Off again

So I go home from Thanksgiving late on Saturday and now I am off again for the next four days.

I am headed to Orlando for work. We are going to the http://www.swatroundup.org/ . We set up as vendors here and do tons of business. These are very long and busy days. I hope this the last one I have attend. Hopefully I will have a different job next year.

So anyway I will be back to regular blogging late Thursday or Friday. Hope you all have a great week.

Happy Thanksgiving

Off to my grandmothers for Thanksgiving.

Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving.

Ralph Stanley Patty Loveless Pretty Polly

UFO--Lights Out in London Live

Saturdays Drive

So yesterday I put about 500 miles on my truck driving to north Florida taking pictures. Although it was mostly driving. I went from Tampa up 301 to the Georgia line and came back. It was a great day. The weather was great and in north Florida it was perfect. When I stopped and was out and about you smell people fires. The sky was bright blue with hardly a cloud around.
It felt like the perfect fall day the further north I went.

If gas prices stay low I will be doing a few more of these trips and going to areas of the state I do not get to that often. Who knows what I will find.

Refreshed

I took a few days away from blogging and here are some observations and questions I have.

Why has gas gone down so much? Do you really believe that demand world wide has dropped so much that a barrel of oil is now below fifty dollars. I think the price was manipulated up to its high and it is being manipulated now. I hope oil companies are storing up reserves so the next time prices are out of control the market can be flooded with cheap oil.

How come the leaders of AIG and the others who have recieved the bulk of the bailout were not asked how they got to Washington. Do you think they flew commercial? How come they did not ask them to come back with a plan on how they plan to spend the bailout money they were going to recieve?

Why do the democrats have chickenshit leaders like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid leading the party in the house and senate? They have no guts and they actually act like republicans.
They do not stand up for the common man and if they do not get off their ass they will voted out of office next time. I bet if you take a poll of democrats around the country and asked "Do you think Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are doing a good job leading the party?" the answer would be a big NO. They are both big wind bags who are masters of spinning and lying.

Some of us are starting to wonder where the "Change" is in the Obama administration. Seems like a lot of the same old people to me. I could be wrong. I and many others were hoping that the cabinet would be a mix of new and old.

Opinions Rants and Raves

The U.S. should have loaned Iceland the 6 billion dollars it needed for their bailout. The goodwill generated from this would have proved to be very valuable.

The world needs to get their Navy's together and go over to the Somalian coast and put an end to all those pirates. How do we let this continue?

How do we continue to let Darfur happen?

We need to lift the embargo against Cuba. We can do business with China and have an Embargo against Cuba. The last vote to keep the embargo was 179-4. Voting to keep the embargo are, The United States, Israel, Palau and the Marshal Islands. What the hell do Palau and the Marshal Islands have against Cuba. I guess maybe if the vote against the U.S. they can have any more shows on Survivor.

Why isn't Florida one of the states leading the way in solar technology. We are the Sunshine State.

How come the United States completely ignores all the very poor people of rural America?

The reason the economy is such a mess is, allegedly, because of the credit crunch. Well if that is the case then why are we trying to fix things so people can get more credit. Maybe if credit is not easy to get then people will not spend money they can not afford to spend. More credit right now leads down the credit crunch path again. I say very soon.

I think housing prices need to fall all whole bunch more before they are actually at the right level.

Why are some so paranoid they are buying guns and ammunition at alarming rates.

Why are there so many rude people?

Why is Kmart open on Thanksgiving? Oh yeah, they do not give a shit about their employees.

$1.99

Hooray, I paid $1.99 a gallon yesterday for gas. It has been some time since gas has been that low. It will be interesting to see where the price of gas goes during this financial mess. Hopefully it will stabilize instead of going up and down all the time. I think it will stay low for a while, unless OPEC manipulates production. Anyway it is good prices are low during the holiday season.

You better think twice

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger is saying that they will not give anymore concessions to the auto industry. Well Ron that may turn out to be quite prophetic. Many of your workers will most likely end up losing their jobs very soon because you have failed to give any meaningful concessions.

If you want to be part of the solution here I think you may want to reconsider where you and your members are at. Your members would much rather give back to the companies than lose their jobs. Of course you will still have your job.

Save the Auto Industry

While many Americans including yours truly did not want the gov't to bail the financial world out We do need to save the auto industry.

I am sure many disagree for very valid reasons but you are wrong in the long run and here is why.

For many years now we have let many industry's and jobs go to other country's and have devastated sections of the country with little care how it affected those people or the nation as a whole. The auto industry is different in many ways. If we do not bail these guys out the direct impact on Ohio and Michigan will leave these states virtual ghost towns. It will be completely impossible to find enough jobs in those states to cover the amount of people who will be unemployed. The revenue those states would lose will cause them to collapse. There are also the dealerships, parts manufacturers, the parts sellers, repair shops that would directly feel the collapse of the U.S. auto market. Of course there also the side business's that would be affected in those towns. It maybe the local barbershop, restaurant or retail store. It would be widespread in many communities and I think would cause the U.S. a major recession if not a depression.

Then you have this. Many people have been commenting of the years about the loss of manufacturing jobs in this country. How can so easily give up on the industry that built America.
If the auto industry had never happened in the U.S. we would not be the nation we are today in terms of size, strength or power. Those are the people who retooled their machines and helped build the planes, tanks, boats and other equipment in both World Wars. Without them we would be very different today. They helped rebuild the nation after WWII buying selling cars at affordable rates and the nation expanded. They were important to us as a nation. They helped us grow. We can not just give up on them.

The other thing to remember is that only 14% of the worlds population own vehicles at this point in history. There is much room for growth, just not in the United States. If we are to be a player in the world economy then we need these guys.

As the world grows and continues to become more closely tied together do we want to become a nation of consumers and not producers. As the world continues to grow new leaders are and will emerge. The country's that will rise towards the top will be the producers. They will have the power.

We must become a nation of manufacturing again.

To save the auto industry we will have to be tough on them. They did this to themselves by being arrogant, blind and just plain stupid. The labor costs are ridiculous. Here is an example,
my father had to buy an oil hose for his GM pickup. He went to the dealer and the price was $113.00. He decided to check the price at the auto parts store and it was $38.00. Well how does Detroit expect us to pay $113.00 when you can get the part for $38.00. Yes the quality may not be the same however the price difference is asinine. There is no good justification for that difference.

Here are some of my solutions before they get any bailout money. They may be tough in the beginning but will pay off in the end.

1. Cut 60% of all staff not directly associated with production.
2. Cut 20% of all production staff.
3. A five year hiring freeze unless they increase sales by 20%.
4. Cut production so there are only 14 days worth of inventory on the auto lots.
5. All vehicles will need a 5 year 100% bumper to bumper warranty.
6. Cut model production by 50%.
7. All models must be get 35 real world miles within 5 years.
8. All cars must be some version of a hybrid within 5 years.

My two pet peeves that should be addressed are these.

1. We want set prices on your cars. Most Americans dread buying cars because we have to dicker on the price. There should set and fair pricing on vehicles. The negation of vehicle pricing leaves the majority of us with a very bad taste in our mouths.

2. Stop with all the option bullshit. There some options that should come with every vehicle. They are am/fm radios with cd's and mp3 players. All vehicles should have front, side and rear air bags where applicable. All vehicles should have ac. All vehicles should have cruise control. All vehicles should have a basic GPS. All vehicles should have blue tooth capabilities. All vehicles should have power windows, locks and seats.

Currently you pick out one or two of these options and package them together and add thousands off dollars to the price of the vehicle, then you have more options for more money.
Make these items standard.

That is enough for now.

Thank you and have a good day.

Bailout This

We it looks like we are getting the short end of this from our leaders. We are not going to give money to people with failing mortgages now. I guess that means AIG can get more before they are sold or split into several companies. Nice job Mr. Paulson

We have the auto industry, American Express and others lining up to take their share of the billions being given away. Meanwhile working Americans are losing homes, losing their retirement savings and losing faith in our leaders everyday.

If the average American continues to lose their retirement savings we will not spend more money, we will save what we can from our "disposable income" to attempt to make up for losing retirement savings. Do our leaders not get this. Most likely not. Since very few of them have any connection to the average working citizen. Remember we did not want the bailout because just like the war in Iraq we rushed into this damm thing with no plan. Big surprise that the economy is getting worse.

All these leaders say that the "credit crunch" has nothing to do with the continued slide of the stock market. Really, do they actually believe this. I know many people who have pulled out because they could not stand the lose. I suspect that many people and investment houses are doing the same thing. If this "credit crisis" never happened the stock market would be fine.

All those companies that lend money to the average person are to blame for this. They gave easy credit and high credit card limits to people who did not actually qualify for those terms and they never looked back. So I say let them fail, be bought or file bankruptcy. No more money to these dirtbags. They are the ones who caused homes prices to get so out of control. Homes may be much lower than they were when people bought them however they were never worth that much in the first place. Easy credit drove that market to such extremes.

WAKE UP PEOPLE.

Veterans Day

Why is everything open on Veterans Day? It seems to me that it is a hollow tribute to our Veterans with everything being open. What do you think?

DHL you suck

You have to feel for the folks in Wilmington, Ohio. With the 9500 jobs that are being lost because DHL is closing you have to wonder how the town will survive. The economy will thin the herd this holiday season. I suspect there will be more companies that will go under because of mounting debt. Circuit City is on the verge again. They have already let 7500 people go and now they have filed bankruptcy. They will be next to go away. I do not see how they survive.

Obama will have to have a pretty aggressive plan to fix things and it will need to be enacted very fast. I wonder what the plan will mean for the everyday working family.

American Express has now become a bank in order to survive and AIG keeps sucking more money from the bailout plan. At some point we need to stop giving AIG so much money and split the company up. THey now have recieved over 150 billion. Seems a little much in my opinion.

Time to get back to work

Well its time to get out and start taking pictures. Since I am working on a few things so maybe I can have a show some time down the road I need to have a large variety of pictures to chose from. The weather is perfect, gas is at a decent price so I need to take advantage of this.

This picture is of smelting pots from the Bura Bura Mine in Ducktown, Tenn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burra_Burra_Mine_(United_States)

The Future is Here

Watching Barack give his speech last night was a pretty amazing event. For me it was amazing that we have elected some who speaks quietly, with conviction, determination and with a lot of thought. He is very good a measuring his speech and being able to rally people to his side.

What I find appealing is that he has been able to give many Americans a renewed sense of pride. He never seems to get rattled and he has an air of confidence about him that does not seem phony. He seems to want to listen, learn and use that in how he governs us as a country.

How many times in your lifetime have you seen a politician be able to stir up passions in people like he has been able to do.

I hope that Obama will be able to achieve what he sets out to do. It is not a smooth path that he is going down. I hope that America gives him a chance as the problems we face are many and the obstacles great. It will take time to repair what has been broken and we need to give him the chance to implement his programs. He is a very thoughtful individual and he will not rush into things looking for a quick fix. So give him a chance and you will see we have made the right choice.

Thank You

I just want to say THANK YOU to my fellow Americans. We have done the right thing today and for that we should be proud as a nation. This election will speak volumes around the world.

Nasty Ads

Wow, here we are on election morning and the nasty ads from the political action groups are hitting an all time high here in Tampa. It seems a little late for this tactic.

Tonight should be very telling on where we are going as a nation.

Good start

Well my week is off to a roaring start. I locked my key in my truck last night and it is the only key I have. The other key went missing some time ago. So now I am late for work and am messing around with getting the door unlocked.

Please tell me this the only bad thing that will happen this week.

Another nail in the coffin as I work my way down the corporate ladder.

Going down Da Nile

So I hear this morning the pundits and politicians talking about the election Tuesday and I heard the Republicans say some crazy things.

The Democrats are likely to gain several Senate seats and the Republicans are rightly nervous about losing control. So this morning the Republicans are saying, in the face of these losses, that the Democrats are running the most liberal candidates ever and they will tax and spend, redistribute your income and increase our dependence on foreign oil. We as Americans are going to vote for those candidates because your right wing, fear mongering, war raging, money grabbing, take care of the rich, candidates had no spine and voted down the line with George Bush and got the United States into this mess we are in right now. So you may not like what is going to happen to your party but if you had integrity as politicians you would have listened to your constituents over the last eight years and voted against Bush every so often and maybe things would be better for your side.

The other thing they are repeatedly saying is that Sarah Palin has not been a drag on the ticket.

I assume that your saying this to save face. There will be many people who will not vote for your candidates because Sarah Palin is in no way qualified to be President of the United States. You can spin this all you want but this is the truth.

Bed Wetting Liberal

So most of the people I work with are solid John McCain supporters and they call me a bed wetting liberal. I just laugh at them. Some of them believe Obama is a Muslim, and they fear he will take their guns or he will redistribute their money and they are afraid he will talk to nations we are enemy's of. They say he is a communist. They are afraid that we will be involved in more wars if we leave Iraq. That we will be perceived as a weak nation if we leave Iraq.

Do you see a trend here? Its the politics of fear. In any of our conversations they never bring up any points for McCain it is always things against Obama. That in itself speaks volumes. If you have nothing good to say about your candidate and can only pick on the other side then you must have the wrong person running.

Barack Obama is not a Muslim and so what if he was. Is that any different than being a Catholic like John F. Kennedy. The answer is no.

He is not going to take your guns. Like the NRA will ever let that happen. Lets get real.

The government already redistributes your money through your income tax dollars. That is what Medicad and other programs do. He also means that redistribution will happen by creating more jobs and keeping jobs that for the middle class.

We need to talk to nations we do not agree with. If we continue to talk trash to them and about them then what do we expect when they attempt to do us harm. All country's have something to offer one another. We need to us this to our advantage. The United States has much to offer. some very simple. Just think what good it would bring by being able to get country's things like potable water, electricity, roads, education and food. These are things that North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela, Russia all need help with. These country's need major help in these areas and these are very simple things we can do to improve our standing in the world.

We need to go into Darfur and do some real good. If we can invade Iraq we can invade Sudan and do some real good for humanity. Sudan may not have much to offer on the world stage but it would help our standing if we went in their full force and put an end to genocide.

We need to stop torture. We all know what torture is. Stop playing with words. Torture need no definition. That may help our world standing.

Simple things Barack can do to help the worlds view of the United States.

Oh yeah, he is not a communist. That is beyond words.

I asked one of my bosses, a big McCain fan, how come if things were so great during the Bush years the "trickle down" theory of economics did not work. He just mumbled, "I am not going there" as he walked way. I guess he had no answer.

Why would you?

An eight year old boy dies in Massachusetts from a self inflicted gun shot wound while shooting an Uzi at a gun expo. I ask why on earth would you ever let an 8 year old shoot an Uzi. The young boy's father is a medical director at a hospital, you would have thought he would have known an Uzi is not for an eight year. Just plain stupid that a young life is wasted because of complete and total ignorance.

Complete waste of a young life. Sad beyond words.

Frank Zappa on Crossfire

We need to stand up and be heard

I have always been fascinated by the events that took place in the United States in 1968. In my opinion that year changed the United States forever. I wonder how much different we would be today if Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King had not been assassinated. Would we see a better world? What would we have become?

The thing that fascinates me the most is the student protests that happened around the world. Those students believed they could change the world and made the world aware of their opinions. Many of the things they believed were radical and many were not. They were sick and tired of the status quo and actively went about trying to change the world for the better.

I think the time is near where this will happen again. However this time it will be the poor and middle class that will protest. The students of today are spoiled and really have no clue in the workings of the world. Ipods, cell phones, laptops, nice cars and other things have made them complacent. The poor and middle class are the ones who now can see what needs to be changed and I think we are close to seeing us pushed to the brink. The rich are getting richer and the poor and middle class are getting closer together economically. As we lose jobs, lose homes, cars, have larger credit card debts, get paid less and feel like our opinion is not heard we will begin to stand up and be counted. The thing we need to watch out for is the government, police and other authority figures will not be nice. They will take dissent much less kindly that they did in 1968 and those days were not pretty. Police tactics are much more advanced these days and the government will not be afraid to use these tactics to suppress distention.

I know that many police departments around the country are actually preparing for some type of riots after the results of the election are fully know. I know this for fact. I work in the law enforcement field and they think riots are a likely possibility. Of course a vast majority of them are very afraid of Obama winning and this plays right into their hand.

I say go Obama. I hope you can be the catalyst for change. We truly need it.

The wheels are coming off

It seems that the whole economy is coming apart. The Dow keeps dropping at crazy rates and there seems to be nothing to stop it. The unemployment rate is starting to creep up at an alarming rate and there seems to be nothing to stop it.

We look to our leaders for answers and they all have nothing to say. No real answers just your typical bullshit. They keep on giving money to big corporations while we the people are losing our retirement, paying more for goods and losing our jobs and getting downsized.

Its about time we stand up and demand some answers. Maybe we need to start hitting the streets and protest. Tell Washington we want results and not faulty bailouts for the company's that got into this mess. They did not listen when we told them no to the bailout and they all voted for it. If we hit the streets then they will have to listen. The time is here.

I do not get it

So I know some people, as we all do, who think that Barack is a Muslim and a terrorist and now a communist or socialist. Come on people. Do you not think that the F.B.I. and the CIA have thoroughly investigated ALL of those claims? Do you really think that the answer is yes to those questions? Is the government hiding its findings? Is they found out he was anything other than what he claims to be and actually was a subversive do you think they would not have let this be known. Would they actually let an actual Muslim terrorist become president?

Come people wake the hell up? Are you really that ignorant.

Speaking of ignorant I see that Rush Limbaugh has said the Colin Powell is supporting Barack because he is black. This is actually getting some traction in the right wing media. Well if that is actually true then I guess Joe Lieberman must be supporting John McCain because he is white.

And we wonder why the country is so fucked up. People you need to think things through before you believe all the shit that ANY form of media puts out daily.

I'm back......................

Well after a nice weeks vacation away from home I am back.

I was up in the Florida panhandle for a few days. Stayed in a hotel right on the beach for $52.00 a night. It was nice to just hang out on the balcony and watch the waves roll in. Went on a roadtrip on took a decent amount of pictures. Will post those on Flickr.

Then I got to spend a few days in St. Augustine and watch my 16 year nephew and his baseball team play in a tournament. They got invited down from Ct. to play. Unfortunately they did not do well but it was great to see him play. I very rarely get to see him and have seen him play only a few times. It was good to see him outside of his regular environment. He is a good kid.

He is a big McCain fan and I got him to go into a Barak Obama campaign office in St. Augustine and get me some bumper stickers. It was fun too see him go in against his will. All for Uncle Mark. Yes I do have a picture of him going in.

What the hell did Flickr do to the home page. It has some decent new features. However the whole comment portion of the page is not how I like it. It needs some tweaking to say the least.

Times must be tough. My company is taking away our cell phones. They told us today that Wednesday morning we have to turn them in. Thanks for the huge lead time. I went and got and Alltel after work. Nothing fancy. Just a decent phone. I think I will join the ranks and get rid of my land line. No need for two phone numbers anymore.

Road Trip

Off to the Florida panhandle for a few days. A little photo journey to an area of Florida I have not really explored.

Things I wonder about

Are turn signals on car an option? I see any cars where they seem not to have them or maybe they are just broken. Have you seen this?

Is eating healthy an option? All the food that is bad for your health is cheap and healthy food expensive. Since we have so many people living paycheck to paycheck what option do they chose?

Why do so many people give up their vacation time and go to work instead? You deserve your vacations, take them. Believe me the company does not give a shit if you do not take the time.

Why do so many people drive slow in the left hand lane of six lane highway. You can at least go faster than the people in the lanes to your right, and use your turn signal when you do move over.

How come so many people get drunk at sporting events and become real assholes?

How come when I take pictures at night they usually suck a great deal?

Why am I having panic attacks?

Holy Crap

I am going to the bank tomorrow and withdrawing some money to squirrel away. The great depression round two is coming to a neighborhood near you. Be ready. Look what greed has done to us. Would you have ever thought it possible that the worlds banking system could collapse?

How many average Americans have lost what little retirement saving they had and now will have to work years after they had planned to retire. That will ultimately be real issue of this whole mess. The average American getting stuck with the bailout bill and getting to work more years as a reward.

So Sad

So I see on the news tonight that McCain's supporters are mad and they do understand how they are losing to Obama at this point. They are asking him to turn up the negative ads about Obama and are asking him to push the William Ayers story. They are also blaming mainstream media. I guess they just do not get it. McCain is losing because he picked Sarah Palin, because outside of his core supporters the rest of us do not care about the William Ayers story, because the rest of us do not like they way your supporters attempt to tie him to terrorists by using his middle name in a negative fashion, because we do not like to tone of your campaign.

You are losing more votes as time goes along because your campaign does not seem presidential anymore. If you ratchet up the negative ads and smear tactics at your rallys I promise you that you will continue to slide in the poles.

You seem to be lost and are struggling, thank you for this.

They are running SCARED

Well it seems that John "The Angry Old Man" and Sarah "The Puppet" Palin have decided to ramp up the nasty part of the campaign. I guess when it seems like you are on your way to becoming a LOSER you will resort to bullshit schemes and tactics to get votes. Well I say just keep on coming with all your crap. It will backfire for you and result in a win for America.

I hope that Obama ramps up his game at a little and put a little extra pressure on McCain. I want to see McCain crack on national television. Oh the joy that would bring.

BTW, thank you to Tina Fey. You kick ass.

Justice Served?

So I see that O.J. Simpson was convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping in Las Vegas.
Well is this justice served for his being found not guilty of killing his wife and Ron Goldman?

I think, like most people, that he sure as hell was guilty in those murders. The whole case in Las Vegas stank from the very beginning. It stank of setup, stupidity, and a whole host of other things. However it seems that the crimes he was convicted of are really complete bullshit.

The whole lot of people in that hotel room where morons. Why is there a tape of this whole thing by one of the "victims". The guy who arranged the whole deal tapes it and then sells the tapes for $210,000. It seems nobody disputes the items really belonged to Mr Simpson. A bunch of dumb and greedy people doing dumb things. It really is that simple. The only real crime is that of being a bunch of morons.

So I ask. Is this a case of justice served? Because he got away with murder do you think he got a fair trial this time? Could he really have gotten a fair trial? Could you have sat on the jury?

We have been saved.................

The world is all ok. We have passed the "Make Wall Street rich, screw the little man" bill and we have seen the real puppet "Sarah Palin".

I guess because we are so rich we can just add another $110 billion to the bailout bill. WTF is that all about. Maybe all this money could have been used to help people with no insurance actually get some, maybe we could have given that money back directly to the taxpayers, maybe we could have created a fund to help stem the home foreclosure crisis or maybe we could have used the money to help the people on our ever growing unemployment rolls. Maybe.

As for the Dullbate Thursday night it was not that great. Sorry pundits. Sarah Palin may have made her party happy because she made not big blunders, but really. They wound her up, pulled the string and she went out and said what she was told to say. You could tell quite easily that everything she said was what she was trained to say. It did not seem forced, but it also did not seem like they were original thoughts. I know that is part of the debate process, but you need to let the debater be their own person. When she lost her train of thought she always went to energy or some other subject like stating she and John are mavericks. If they are mavericks we are screwed.

As for Joe he did fine. He was in a no win situation really. He could not go to soft and he could not really push too hard or he would have been vilified. However he knew the facts quite well and Sarah did not.

If that debate made the Republicans happy and brought the party closer together well I am glad. I'll be happy when we win on November 4th and you will be wondering what the hell happened.

By the Way

If the banks really gave a shit about home owners failing mortgages they would renegotiate the mortgages. They would be better off getting something back from homeowners than getting nothing. But they only care about themselves and not "We the People".

I say negotiate in good faith and you will see the economy repair itself. If not them you deserve to fail. Remember you are the ones would pushed these crappy deals and knew that many of these people were bad risks.

What a sad bunch of Leaders

So now we have the Senate poised to vote on their version of the bailout plan tonight. The bill has gone from a paltry three pages to a massive 451 pages. The sad thing is that we have now added a whole load of crap to the bill that has nothing to do with the bailout. There are now tons of tax breaks which had nothing to do with the problems we are facing today. These items should not be in the bill. Do our leaders get it? Do they understand that these should not be part of the bill? Of course not. We want the bill to fix the problem and not give out all these bullshit tax breaks.

Here are some highlights:


EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN WOODEN ARROW SHAFTS.


INCOME AVERAGING FOR AMOUNTS RECEIVED IN CONNECTION WITH THE EXXON VALDEZ LITIGATION.


Seven-year cost recovery period for motorsports racing track facility


Increase in limit on cover over of rum excise tax to Puerto Rico and
the Virgin Islands.


Indian employment credit.

There are many more things that do not belong in this bill.

Here is a link to the bailout bill. Read away, its long.

http://banking.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Articles.Detail&Article_id=76b1aea4-39b8-404f-b3cd-f8b6c46e3b14&Month=10&Year=2008

Time

Man do I feel like I neglect things. Between the blog and Flickr I always feel like I neglect my contacts and can never do the blog the justice it deserves. After being on the computer at work all day long sometimes I just want to hang on the couch. How does one find a balance?

Please provide me with an answer.

Thank you.

Who would have guessed?

Well the bailout package failed today and people seem surprised by this. Well it would have been a bigger lose if all the elected officials listened to their constituents. Most people do not want this because they would rather see Wall Street get out of the mess themselves and they also do not see any upside to the bailout. If we could see the upside to this as an average citizen then maybe most of us would be in favor of it.

The biggest thing for me is that is does nothing to address the mortgage failures that got us into this mess in the first place. The bailout needs to address this or the situation we are in today will rear its ugly head again in a few short years. The bailout needs to force banks to negotiate with homeowners so they do lose their homes. It is far better for the banks to have people paying a lower mortgage rate than have them paying nothing.

I say hold onto some cash. The ride is going to get bumpy.

Mayonnaise Army

Sarah this is painful

Sarah please stop speaking. Your answers are so painful to watch I almost feel sorry for you. Some of these answers are totally incoherent babble. They actually hurt to watch.

Whatever you say John

What a big load of garbage McMoron came out with today. Please keep your campaign suspended. It is a nice trick you are attempting to pull here but we see right through it. Since you have been losing traction with your economic policies you have decided to grandstand and show are a leader by going to Washington and sticking your nose into the bailout mess. Please do this. Most Americans do not want this package and we gladly encourage you to help pass this bad deal. Thanks for making things easier for Obama.

Now you want to cancel the debate. You have got to be kidding me. What the hell is that all about? Are you afraid of Obama or afraid that your answers during the debate will make you look like a fool. If there ever was a need for you to be able to get your ideas out to the American public now would be the time. You would have the attention of America, we are watching, we are listening and we are seeing who will emerge as the most viable candidate. By attempting to cancel the debate you look like a fool. The other thing with your debate mess is it would delay the vice presidential debate for a week or more. Is this your attempt to give Ms. Sarah more time to brush up on what is going on in the world? No, you would not do that

Times Marches On

Great song. Very fitting.

How about this?

All across the United States there are tens of thousands of homes, condos, townhouses and property that now sit abandoned because of the economic crisis. There are also many properties that have been abandoned for a variety of reasons and they just sit there with nothing happening to them.

I have a plan. Let people homestead them. If we as a society let people homestead these properties we could have a cultural shift in America. People all across the land would move to places that they desire to live in and be a productive part of that community.

There would be many details to work out but I think this would be a great way to let many people in on the American dream of owning a home and rebuild many communities across this land.

Would this ever happen?

So

So now that I own AIG will I be getting a stock certificate.

So now that I will be paying for poor bank management and poor financial decisions by home owners who did not deserve the mortgage in the first place can I have my choice of home to move into when they fail to pay their mortgage this time.

So now that we are going in debt to the tune of one trillion dollars what do I get for that. Higher tax bills and a smaller paycheck.

So now that all this has happened will the price of homes, cars, food, gasoline and all the things we need to live our lives drop. No. Nothing accomplished.


I keep hearing all the financial pundits on tv saying the economy will straighten out when homes start to sell again. They think this will happen soon. Well I have news flash. Homes prices are still way to high, overpriced, overvalued, pick your term. If home prices do not drastically drop and banks now fresh with cash start lending like crazy again we will be in the same situation with the real estate market we are in today. If banks do not start lending cash to people to buy homes then what have we done to our economy. Prices on homes across the U.S. need to drop another 10-20 percent before they can find a home that they will be able to afford. We are losing jobs, prices are on the rise and paychecks are not rising so how are we to live better than our parents.
Someone please tell me.

We are getting the shaft by the gov't and the financial world and we sit around and do nothing.
No matter what people say we are to fat and happy no matter happens. We need some good old fashion protesting like what happened in the late sixties and early seventies to wake the country up. Those protests brought about civil rights changes and brought the soldiers home from Vietnam. Those protests were started by people who many thought were "radicals", but they changed the thoughts of many mainstream Americans. It is that time again. The gov't needs to remember the country is "We the People". They do not remember that anymore and are ruining our country.

Your Day

You take and take and take
Your day will come

Laugh at us and smile
Your day will come

Corner us like an animal
Your day will come

You steal from us
Your day will come

You have forgotten us
Your day is coming

We are not invisible
Your day is coming

We are rising up
Your day is coming

Beware, we are here to rise up
We are here and your day is close at hand

Beware your day is coming

I am scared

Because all these big companies are failing. I am scared because there is nobody who has any plans to make this better. I am scared because we keep bailing out these companies. I am scared because my tax dollars are getting wasted. Because we keep borrowing money from China, because our leaders are clueless, because we are losing our place in the world, because people keep spending money they do not have and keep on charging everything. I am scared that the credit card crisis is the next problem. Then what happens?

I am scared because people just do not get it. We are in big trouble. Money and greed are the problems. The rich will still get rich while the poor and middle class become one group.

Keep some money under the mattress people. The shit is gonna hit the fan.

The Band with Emmylou Harris

How much better does it get? Two great artists from the greatest rock movie ever "The Last Waltz".

Its a money grab

So we get all this hype about the Hurricane Ike bringing the end of the world or something close to it and the rest of America gets screwed on gasoline prices. I cry foul. I got gas Friday evening at the cheapest place around for $3.54 a gallon and now today it is $3.69. Its a damm money grab. These places already have that gasoline in the tanks and have payed for it, now they are over charging us for it. What the heck it that. We know Ike did not bring the end of the world and we sure as heck do not know what damage, if any, it did to the oil rigs and refineries yet we the American public are getting screwed by big oil. Why do we put up with crap? End the oil companies subsidies. Give that money out in grants to people who are actually working on real energy solutions.

Time too brush up Sarah

So I caught some of Sarah Palin's interview and was a little surprised. The first thing is that like a politicians she was good at not answering questions that would compromise her earlier statements. She just turned those answers into "John McCain will do this or that" instead of actually answering. It also seems to me that she is not fully prepared to be able to handle the national press unless the situation is a controlled event. She seemed to stumble when the questions were out of her comfort zone. This does not bode well for her in the debate. I suspect the Dems will try to put a bunch of pressure on her and see if they can cause her to falter in the limelight.

On the other side she does come off as a personable candidate and that will win her votes not matter the outcome of the debate.

Stop the Bullshit

So instead of discussing the issues all we hear is crap about "pig lipstick".
This is not an issue and never will be.

The issues are: education, economics, war and peace, technology, health care, poverty, repairing our infrastructure, diplomacy, the emerging cold war.

You need to talk about the issues only. No more crap. This "pigstick' garbage falls right into McCain and the Republicans whole strategy. The less they have to actually talk about real issues the better off they are. The Dems better wake up and start pushing issues hard and fast. Start using all the millions of dollars for tv ads that point out the real issues and differences between the parties.

And why the F*** is there a Sarah Palin doll? Give me a fucking break.

Now we have Russia with two bombers visiting Uncle Hugo for some war games. Just what we need in our backyard.

And now Evo Morales, the President of Bolivia, wants our ambassador kicked out of the country because the Bolivian government suspects the U.S. is behind the demonstrations in the oil rich eastern parts of the country. Is he right, who knows. Our reputation for being on the wrong side of things in South America is well documented. We would do well to work with Morales and help his gov't out. This would weaken his ties with Chavez and gain us some respect amongst the average Bolivian citizen.

Just some thoughts.

Grateful Dead--U.S. Blues

I love this video. all seems so happy.

Warren Haynes

Time for an upgrade

When I was home in Ct. for vacation I met with a professional photographer who shoots ads as his primary business. He like my style of work and thinks I should be able to get a show in NYC.

I am doing a portfolio to send to him and he is going to get it to a contact in NY and see what happens. To that end I need to get a better camera so I can get sharper and larger prints. I think I am going to get the Nikon D60 or D80. How ever since I have no money I have to start selling some things I have collected over the years. I am going to put things on Ebay and let the money sit there until I get enough to get what I need.

Heck I did this when I bought property off of Ebay, so why not a camera

Would

Would you be able to live in torment and pain.

Would you be able to live without love.

Would you be able to live without loving.

Would you be able to accept a hug.

Would you be able to cry for a lost soul.

Would you be able to know where to turn.

Would you be missed if you disappeared.

Waves

Waves of smoke waft around.
Thoughts pondered, nothing found.

Waves of emotion drift in the mind
thinking thoughts very unkind.

Waves of hands twirling in the air
seeking smiles from the traveling pair.

Waves of heat rising from the dust
clogging minds, penetrating rust.

Waves of water roll from their eyes
seeking solace from above the sky's.

Joel Sternfeld

I just picked up this great book, Stranger Passing, by Joel Sternfeld. Got it off of Ebay for 10.00.

This is a first edition coffee table book. It has some great pictures of everyday people. The thing about the pictures is they are not fancy yet they all make you wonder the what, where or why.

Sternfeld has many great pictures, worth checking out. You will be please.

I have been wrong

After all these years I just found out I was wrong. Sarah Palin just told me that God and patriotism are the exclusive property of the the Republican party. How silly of me to think that God and patriotism belonged to all AMERICANS. Now I have to switch and become a Republican.

Not really. Those parts of the speech were strong and did exactly what they were supposed to do. Brainwash the base.

The whole POW thing this week is a little much for me. The Dems need to push back on this before it gains some traction.

She did give a very good speech and this is exactly what the republicans were looking for. I would say that she brought home a winning speech for her team.

I expect the money will start rolling in big time. The Obama bump from his convention will be gone in a day or two. Now we get down to real race. The debates should be fun.

Barak and Biden need to ratchet up the rhetoric real quick. The Republicans hit hard tonight and we need to punch back, now.

Ouch

That's the sound Obama is making from the back stabbing from his alleged "fellow" democrat Trader Joe Lieberman. You are a little turd bag. Remember in 2006 the Dems in Ct. did not want you anymore so you ran as an independent and screwed the state. Now it comes out that Christian conservatives did not want you as VP and McMoron was ultimately forced to pick Palin so they could could make the hardcore conservatives happy and use Palin to raise millions of dollars.

Then during the speech he praises Palin. Hey Trader Joe you don't even know her.

Now McMoron can make Trader Joe his secretary of state if he wins and we will never have any peace in the middle east. You know that he will be a cabinet choice.

Joe, when Barak wins will you do us a favor and leave the democratic party. Please.

One more thing Joe, please stop kissing the president in public.

Remembering Gramp

This is my grandfather Harry Kennedy. He passed away one year ago today. He is greatly missed by my grandmother and the rest of his family and friends. He is fondly remembered by all.

Gramp did many things in his life. He was a WWII vet, deputy sheriff, construction foreman, caretaker/handyman/jack of all trades for well known Ct. politician amongst other jobs. He was very interested and involved in politics for some time. The last number of years he was very involved with his church. He liked to teach teenagers about the bible.

I got my wandering spirit from him.

I have tons of great memories of my grandfather as I got to spend lots of time with my grandparents all of my life. There is not one favorite as there are too many, but here is a good little one. He also liked to tell stories. He was very good at that.

My grandmother used to make bacon and eggs for my grandfather all the time for breakfast because that was his favorite breakfast. This was passed on to me. I love bacon and eggs. When I was very little and was staying with them one of the little tricks he used to play on me was when we were eating. If there was some food I did not like or want to eat my grandfather used to tell me it was bacon and I would just gobble it up.

So thanks Gramp for being what a grandfather is supposed to be.

Peace.

Jill Freedman

Jill Freedman is a great photographer who has done some excellent work covering the gritty side of New York City. She may not be as well known as other documentary photographers but her work is every bit as good. She was out of the limelight for a number of years however it seems that her work is getting rediscovered. Lets hope so, she deserves it.

Labor Day Roadtrip

Decided to take a quick little Labor Day roadtrip here, http://www.gastateparks.org/info/providence/. Should be pretty darn cool. I know they got tons of rain from Tropical Storm Fay so hopefully that does not mess things up to much.

Going to take Route 27 from Tallahassee up so there should be tons of photo ops. Lets hope so.

Untitled

This picture is from William Eggleston. It is untitled. Eggleston for me is great at capturing the everyday moments that most people pass over, they never see it or process it. Simple yet captivating shots of life.

His color work is fantastic. Many great pieces of work to choose from.

Candy Cigarette

For my next few posts I am going to show some pictures of some of my favorite photographers.

The first one here is from Sally Mann. I think this is a classic photograph. Sally Mann has caught a lot of grief over the years for some of her material but she is a great photographer and art should make people think.

This photograph is simply classic and a great piece of work.

What a Dork

Well I screwed some camera settings on vacation and the picture file size are very small. I take pictures at the largest file size so I can get some large prints. I can still do this however it is not easy. Oh well, maybe I'll watch what I am doing next time.

Dear CNN

Dear CNN,

You are screwing up your convention coverage.

We the grownup citizens of the United States want you to take all your stupid crap off the tv screen. Do we really need the sound level indicator on the screen. Nobody fucking cares about that. If there are really people who need to see that I do not want them voting in the election. It is just plain stupid. Then you have the Gavel to Gavel schedule on the other side of the screen and you continue to show this over and over. We do not need to see this over and over and over and over and over and over. Get the point. It is just plain annoying. Then you have the largest amount of space taken up on the bottom of the screen that the world has ever seen. Again most of this is just utter crap. Make it smaller and if you feel you need to have the Gavel to Gavel coverage then scroll that across the bottom of the screen. Please. You really make watching the unbearable.

I will be watching on PBS. No crap on the screen, just like we want it to be.

Thank you, now please fix this. Immediately.

Joe Biden

Well I said it a few weeks ago in a post that I thought Obama needed to pick Biden. I am glad to see Obama has been reading my blog and accepted my advice. Biden has a great view of the world and where America needs to be and he will be able to help Obama guide the U.S. back to a place where we are respected around the world again. He also is not afraid to speak his mind even though sometimes he gets hammered for his thoughts. The other great thing is he will know where to strike at the heart of the Republican team. I am sure that McCain is somewhat afraid of Biden being the attack dog for Obama. He knows McCain very well and will be able to punch many holes in McCains platform.

Now Obama needs to pick Bill Richardson as Secretary of State and Jim Webb as his Secretary of Defense, Robert Reich as Secertatary of Labor and if he wants it Al Gore as Energy Secretary.

Vacation is over

Man, do I hate coming back from vacation. I always want to be someplace other than home. My house is fine, however I need to be someplace else.

Vacation was great. Was in Connecticut for 9 days. The weather was perfect. Low eighties, no humidity and the temp at night was around sixty. Just perfect. Went swimming in Rhode Island a couple times. The Ocean was around 67 degrees. A tad cooler than the Gulf of Mexico where this time of the year the water is 90 degrees. Like swimming in a bathtub.

All in all a great vacation. Spent time with the family and friends. Went to some car shows, looked into putting some photos in an art gallery.

All in all very good.

We better keep our eyes open

One other thing we need to watch out for during the Georgia/Russian conflict is something that Putin said recently was he thought that Russia should renew their Cuban/Soviet alliances. Now that would be trouble. All we need is Cuba, Russia, and I bet good old Hugo would join the party to be plotting things right in our backyard.

We could diffuse that whole problem by normalizing relations with Cuba. It is time to get over Fidel and our Bay of Pigs fiasco. There is nothing more the Cuban people want than to have normalized relations with the U.S. The Cuban embargo has to be one of the dumbest policies we have. How can we justify this policy when we do all the business we do with China? Oh yea, I forgot it is about money. We stand to gain nothing from Cuba like we gain from China. We have nothing to fear from Cuba as long as we keep Russia from going back to Havana.

I find it interesting all this happening during the presidential election and when our troops are stretched as thin as possible. The Russians are seeing us as being weak and attempting to put the screws to us.

We are in some deep trouble. We better be picking our friends very carefully.

Gutter Journalism

How come a major publisher like Simon and Schuster publishes a book of shit about a presidential candidate? Is their agenda just about money? I am talking about Jerome Corsi's book about Obama. The Obama campaign better push back hard and make this guy squirm.
Are people ready so stupid they will actually believe this type of crap. As a matter of fact if I was part of the Obama campaign I would literally drive this guy's reputation into the ground. We do not need assholes like this fucking up our presidential campaign. The candidates can do that by themselves just fine.

I hate scumbag journalists. This guy qualifies.

The Bear Awakens

So the mighty Russian bear is coming out of his slumber. They decided they had to beat up little old Georgia. They are testing the United States and we are losing this battle. Now we are sending troops in with humanitarian aid. What happens when the Russians do not let us through?
What happens if our troops get caught in some crossfire? Will we fight or walk away?

Believe me this is a test . The Russians are going to push this as far as they can. What can we do? The Russians do not need the U.S. They have enough resources and will work with anybody they want to achieve their goals. We better watch out or will be be in a war that will make Iraq look like a walk in the park. The Russians have a massive army and they do not care how many of their own die. This is very dangerous.

Dumb Politicians and Corporate Thieves

Florida is going to hell.

1. We are going to have an amendment on the ballot in November that if passes will cut property taxes by 25% to 40%. Sounds good, right. However that money, 8.2 billion dollars this year, is what we use to fund our education system. There is no current plan in place as to how we are going to replace those education dollars. The amendment only requires that the state legislature finds a way to do this. How can you vote for a plan when you do not know where the missing money will come from. You know full well it will some form of tax.

Who is supporting the amendment? Why it is the "Florida Association of Realtors" and our lightweight governor Charlie Christ. Follow the money trail.

2. State Farm wants to be able to raise insurance rates by an average of 47%, despite making $5.5 billion in profits last year and $5.3 billion in 2006. They have been screwing the people of Florida since the hurricanes of 2004. Follow the money trail.

3. Our local energy company Tampa Electric, part of TECO Energy, wants to raise our rates by 31%. By the way they just posted a $51.4 million dollar profit for the second quarter. Follow the money trail.

So now Floriduh will produce more ignorant kids, steal money from my pocket to give to big corporations and will wonder why people are leaving the state in droves. Long time residents are leaving and new people moving in is at a 30 year low.

Crime in Hartford, Ct.

Since I grew up in Ct. and have family in Ct. I like to keep tabs on what is happening there. So what do I notice is going on in the capital of Ct. Tons and tons of crime. This past weekend there were 11 shootings and one death. There have been 110 shootings, at least reported shootings, this year. Now they are going to enforce a curfew between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. for anyone under 18. A law that has been on the books but not being enforced. Its about time. Now to be fair I really am against these type of laws, however Hartford has been a crime ridden city for many years and nothing has been done about it. They are going to enforce this for 30 days. How about until you can safely walk down the streets of the capital city. Maybe you need to dip into the coffers and hire more police officers. There is no nightlife in Hartford because people are afraid to be out late. Business will not invest in the city if they can not get people to the restaurants, clubs, art galleries, theaters and so on. They keep on trying all types or revitalization projects and they always fail. If the city is not safe people will not come. Plain and simple. If your city is not safe please suck it up and hire enough law enforcement so the dirt bags either end up in jail, clean up their act or move on. You can always send them to Detroit.

Hartford has been a dump for at least 30 years. Get your shit together.

If you want to visit a nice town in Ct. go the little town of Chester. You will be pleased.

Stellar Blue Jay

In July 2006 I went on vacation to Northern California. I stayed in the small town of Crescent City which is just a few miles south of the Oregon border. It is a very beautiful area. The Pacific Ocean on one side with mountains and Redwood trees on the other. Because of the ocean and mountains it stays cool all year long. Even on July 4th the temps never got that warm.

Many people were wearing jackets that morning during the parade. If you headed east to the other side of the mountains the temps would be 20 to 30 degrees warmer

What I loved about the area was were ever you were the magic of mother nature was right there for you to view. Seals in the ocean, Elk on land and birds all over the place. Magical in my opinion. There were many long stretch of beaches between Crescent City and Eureka were there was not a soul on the beach. Something you do not see on most east coast beaches. Another cool thing was one of the beaches had loads of cool rocks of all shapes and patterns. There was always people on this beach laying on the rocks looking for "right ones" to take home.

They are playing us as suckers

So I am watching the Olympics and during the latest commercial break, of which there are too many, and Exxon-Mobil put this nice B.S. commercial out. They are touting how great they are because they are giving out nets and medicine in Africa to help combat malaria. Now I applaud them for doing that. However they are not being altruistic. The commercial is nothing more than a feeble attempt to throw us off and make us forget how much money they are raking in and how much they are really not giving back. Nice try but it is not working.

Dear Mr. Clinton

Dear Mr. Clinton,

Enough of your crying. So your wife lost the primary and you are mad. Tough shit, I say. She lost in no small part to your running of the mouth and not doing any effective campaigning. If you had campaigned effectively she would most likely be the candidate. We the people of the Democratic party do not owe you anything. Barack Obama does not owe you anything either. The more you act like a little child the more respect I lose for you. If you are mad at Barrack then just say nothing or get behind him and act presidential. You seem like a little kid who is mad because he did not get his candy.

Also I think Hillary needs to pay off her own campaign debt. Why should Barack pay it off, seems like a bunch of garbage to me.

This may seem a little rude but you are an ex President so start acting like one or you will get a time out.

Paris for Prez

Thank you Paris Hilton for running the best campaign ad this year. Nuff said "bitches".

Photo Contest

So I will be going home in about ten days and I am going to be bringing a couple of my recent favorite pictures with me to enter in my hometown's fair. The pictures came out great and I had them mounted and matted at the local Pearl Art store. The guys there do an excellent job working with you and getting the right matting and helping you work on getting the picture framed to show your work in its best light. So I say kudos to Matt and the others in the frame shop. It also is cheap. Getting a 16 x 20 picture mounted and matted cost between $11 and $12 dollars. I think it is worth it for doing a picture of this size.

If you have never mounted and matted your pictures I encourage you to do so. It puts your work in a whole new light and you will not look at that piece of work in the same way. You can see yourself as an artist and not just somebody who takes pictures.

http://www.chesterfair.org/

Things I am wondering about today

Why won't Obama have town hall debates with McCain?

When airlines are in such poor shape why do they raise rates, charge for an extra bag, charge for pillow and blankets and any other thing they can screw us for?

Where should I go on my last vacation this year?

Why don't cable companies have more channels and then let us pick what we want to view and not have to pay for crap we do not want?

Why is there Fox News?

Why am I tired?

Will I ever be able to own a house?

Should I move someplace else?

Why are there video cameras wherever you go? Sometimes I like to flip them off while I stare into the dumb thing. Have you done that?

What do most people really think about gas prices and do they really care?

Why does organic food cost so much?
If it were cheaper would people eat any better?

What's wrong with us?

So we now have 1% of the population of the United Stated in prison. Not sure what that says about the U.S., but that number is staggering and I fear will get much worse down the road. If we do not work on fixing the education system in this country we will be on the long slow path to decline. We need to teach the basics first. How do we expect do get anything done when we have so many people who can't read, write, know any geography, any history or math. Just basics. With these fundamentals at least we give people a fighting chance. We could also stand to have schools get back to teaching technical skills like auto mechanics and things of that nature. We need to create and foster kids to learn these skills so we can get back to being a creative and manufacturing society. Is it too much to teach simple skills.?

We also need to teach kids the arts. Music, books, drawing, painting and so on. We seem to forget how art is something a society needs to thrive and grow.

If we do not address these issues we will continue to help the prison business grow and the world will take notice.