Stimulate This

DemoMemo, a blog by Cheryl Russell has this fascinating post titled The Great American Shopping List that I have clipped the 10 bullet points below. They are listed from the largest to the smallest top 10 expenses for American earners. Now consider where our money is spent and the Obamanomics agenda for economic stimulus. Spending our way to prosperity will result in an increase for the rest of us who are footing the bill.

1. Social Security payroll taxes
2. Mortgage payments
3. Car payments
4. Groceries
5. Restaurant meals
6. Gasoline
7. Federal taxes
8. Property taxes
9. Health insurance
10. Electricity

Read her blog and then consider that 3 of these items are TAXES, lower those taxes and consider your budget stimulated. Now consider that your gas and your car are heavily burdened by taxes and government regulation. Lower the gas tax and ease the regulation on car manufacturers and you provide a double stimulus. Lower car prices and lower price of fuel for the cars will stimulate the auto industry far more effectively than government handouts. With half of the top 10 household expenses now stimulated consider us on our way to recovery.

Now let me squelch your enthusiasm. The Obama energy plan calls for the bankrupting of the coal industry with no feasable stratagy to replace it. I predict #10, cost of electricity in this list could quickly offset any stimulus benifit we could possibly employ. 70%-80% of our electricity comes from a source our current adminstration admitedly wants to eliminate. If you thought the price of gas was an issue in 2008, just wait for the carbon off-set tax to start effecting your electric bill. Secondly, consider how the latest policy Obama has to allow states to indipendantly regulate car emission standards and his plan to increase regluation for fule economy standards you can kiss the US auto industry goodbye.
Feeling stimulated?

A transparent canoe/kyak gives you a view of the bottom (provided you can find a polution free clear lake or stream) and is lighter than an alluminum canoe. I found this online for sale by Hammacher Shlemmer for $1600. You can find other interesting tansparent product ideas that have become a Japanese trend of late here.
Source as usual Mike Elgan

Cleanly Bad Marketing

I'm no marketing genius however when I saw the new packaging that Tropicana has on the shelf next to the Minute Maid I immediately thought to myself I would much rather have a nice glass of pure orange juice from that dripping orange on the bright orange bottle than to drink anything from the bottle that resembles laundry detergent.

Judgement in Leadership

We choose our leaders based on the ability they have to echo the goals of we the people in shaping our government policy and making decisions on our behalf. When we go to the polls we make the decision based on what we know about the candidate, the judgment they have proven in the past, the issues that align with our own, and the causes that we wish them to champion. We vote with the belief that they will be a leader we proudly represent our community, our neighbors, and our children. A leader who we would follow, who we would trust, and who will lead by example.When our leaders fail, when they fall, and when they falter, we must hold them to the standard that we set when we elected them. To do anything else is to ask less of ourselves, and to lower the standards we set on our society. Leaders should be held to the highest standard. Above all, they should represent the majority of our views, our values, and our principals. While there is always a minority opinion and view equally respected, the moral standard should never be lowered. The expectation of a greater sense of responsibility and judgment should never be altered, excused, or forgiven. We are speaking of our leaders, roll models, and the people we look to for guidance. When these leaders reveal a lack of judgment or character, no matter if in there private or public life, they should be called to account, and if they fail to voluntarily resign, they should be replaced.

We the people expect better than ourselves in our leaders!
Why would anyone support Mayor Sam Adams of Portland? Would you ask him to run your local high school after admitting to a sexual affair with a 18 year old that started when that person was only 17? Not only should he resign, those fostering support for him should be put on notice that they too lack judgment to lead.

Party Tonight - Compulsory Service Tomorrow

Part of the Obama Administration policy calls for a national civil defense program that requires community service. A civil defense training course described in 2006 by Rahm Emanuel suggests a militarized training program aimed at preparing Americans to deal with terrorist attacks.

Now imagine for a moment as the US Military was strained by our conflict in Iraq then President Bush suggests we require military training of our college students. Why does this get swept under the media rug when it is part the Obama plan for national defense?



"The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start."

Compulsory Service as well funded as our US military? Sounds like a similar youth program started in 1939 by another charismatic leader.

See also the "Real Patriot Act"

Viral Compiral AKA Pork & Beans

Weezer Video compiles the worst of the webs viral YouTube videos onto one awesome music video...I want my MTV back! - Thanks Break.com!


If you recognize more than half of these characters you spend way too much time online, GUILTY as CHARGED!

Wet Winter Blues

Don't let go Jon!

On a rare dry January day when the sun peeks out and teases me with the threat of winters close, I reflect on what the 1st day on the lake will be like. While rummaging through some old photos this one will remind you that rain is not the only thing in Oregon that can get you wet. (innuendo not intended)
P.S. O'Brien is Irish for "Oh SHIT!"

Public Gay Sex ok With Newsom

[WARNING - THE FOLSOM STREET FAIR LINK BELOW IN THIS POST- NSFW]No matter what your view of homosexuality is, you might find it shocking how far some fringe elements of the GLBT community will go to promote the idea of free sexual expression in the name of diversity. My opinion has been constant: straight or gay, Keep your PDA to yourself, much more, your sex to yourself. It is intolerable enough to see heterosexual teens sucking face at the bus stop, now if you want to attend the Folsom Street Fair, you might see more than what is even legal in your neighborhood strip club. Public gay sex. Consider the risk of lawsuit if a school so much as permits a prayer, now the San Fransisco police won't even prosecute public indecency! What used to be considered normal and decent is now disgusting, what is considered disgusting by most is being called and expression of diversity.

Your witnessing the end of civilization not just in your lifetime but today.
WND EXCLUSIVE
-- READ FULL STORY HERE --San Francisco fest features public sex with no arrests LINK
'This is what the gay agenda is all about'

1 Year in 40 Seconds

Happy New Year



Watch a Year in 40 Seconds - Watch more free videos

Newbies

This week on my vacation I was running on as I often do about how blogging and twitter has become a passion for me in my spare time. I am often asked how do I find time to post, or to learn how to do this stuff, and it surprises me because of how little time I actually devote to my blog, or my tweets. More often the post arises from a brief moment of boredom, or sparked by a link that I can't wait to share. With the ease of publishing on blogger I recommended it to my parents, as well as my brother's in-laws, as a way to avoid the complexity of hosted sites, and web page design effort. The Lakeview Vocalists and St. Cloud Hog are two new blogs I have added in my links section. Totally unrelated to my topics, except for the way that Google technology has allowed even the most novice users to become instant publishers and web masters. Start yours today!

Economic Insantiy

I rarely watch CNN however visiting family there was a segment I was viewing where they were reading viewer email. I can't quote this word for word but what I remember was well worth repeating because of it's raw truth.

We got into this financial crisis by encouraging people to spend money they didn't have, and by lending money to people who could not afford to pay it back.

We are trying to solve it by allowing our government to spend money it doesn't have by lending it to companies who will never be able to pay it back.

I like to remind people of the definition of insanity:
Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Season of Giving

The media and liberal pundits like to suggest the United states is out of favor with the rest of the world. Even the republican party began to fall into the media trap using buzz words like corporate corruption, and wall street greed to fault our long proven system of capitalism. The facts support that capitalism and freedom of religion (not freedom from religion) has made America the most generous nation in the world, more than twice as giving by percentage of GDP as the number 2 spot the UK.


The following numbers from MSNBC

World's most charitable nations

A country's social and political cultures influence how much money citizens give to charity, according to a November 2006 study by England's Charities Aid Foundation that ranks philanthropic donation as a percentage of gross domestic product. Among nations surveyed, these 10 are the most generous.

• 1. United States, 1.67 percent of GDP • 2. United Kingdom, 0.73 • 3. Canada, 0.72 • 4. Australia, 0.69 • 5. South Africa, 0.64 • 6. Ireland, 0.47 • 7. Netherlands, 0.45 • 8. Singapore, 0.29 • 9. New Zealand, 0.29 • 10. Turkey, 0.23

Federal tax laws -- notably low income tax, plus breaks for donations -- are often cited for American's generosity. As is religion, which drives one-third of U.S. charitable giving.

With this type of generosity why do we get such bad press from the media complex? This is the season of giving, all I want for Christmas is for the media to give me a break! Quit trying to be entertainment and report the facts. If I want drama and intrigue I will watch the Lifetime Channel.

And here is another interesting trivia question about US generosity, guess who gives the most? Read and learn.

Left Oregon Snow Behind

My sister sent this photo of her car in the Wilsonville, OR. I had been joking about my vacation travel to Minnesota for Christmas, well as it appears, I have left more snow behind that I am heading to. I am currently on I-90 near Sioux Falls, SD and there is less snow here that what looks to be in Portland Oregon.

Eagle's View Point

While visiting family in Ogalalla Nebraska we went out on a Geocaching search nearby where the eagles nest and hunt the open water by the spillway. They are amazing creatures to see in the wild and dont let you get very close. I have seen them in Oregon, never so many in one area, and never so close up.

The Odd Old West

This weekend I am in Nebraska visiting family. We visited the local western museum where a display (pictured right) was one of the west's first daycare. As it appears, the child would be caged while being supervised by a local Indian. To insure the safekeeping the sheriff would check in. In this simulated scene, a mother picks up her infant after a long night working the local brothel.

Front Street,Olgallala , NE

80% Chance of Snow Sunday in Portland

Bad things happen when Portland gets snow. Re-posting this as a reminder of the dangerous combination of ice, hills, and bad Portland drivers.

Pat McGee & Ernie Halter

Last night I went to a concert in Portland with my friend McKay. It was a random chance that I noticed Pat McGee was playing so I purchased tickets online, and was lucky to be in town the night of the show. I hadn't seen him play live in years, the first time I was more impressed by his music than the headline performance of Sister Hazel and started collecting his music, listening to it regularly. Saturday I decided to get the details on the show, when it started, and how to get there. I did not recognize the guest opening act, so I found his MySpace page, and immediately became a fan of Ernie Halter. The acoustic set was so intimate and personal it will go on my list of best ever entertainment experiences in my life. Sadly the show was barely booked up, and we sat 2nd row but this was in our benefit because we could converse with these artists, discuss our requests, and it was like listening to a good friend play guitar in your living room. Pat McGee finished his set, and then graciously came out for an encore where he unplugged and sat at the edge of the stage and just 'hung out' with us. It was more than words can describe how down to earth and personable both of these performers were. I shook Pat's hand after his encore and sincerely thanked him for what was the most memorable musical performance I had ever witnessed.

Find Jesus, with a GPS?

Mike Elgan's RawFeed blog, that I have neglected to read for the last week posted, GPS For Jesus where "Village officials in Wellington, Florida, last year inserted a GPS tracking device in the baby Jesus doll to combat theft. And wouldn't you know it? Jesus went missing, and authorities used the GPS to catch the 18-year-old girl who stole it. This year, Wellington officials plan to insert GPS trackers into the Christmas Tree, the Menorah and everything else in the holiday display that isn't nailed down."

If they are using GPS to find Jesus, would it be a sacrilege if I placed a geocache called find Jesus? I often find evangelical swag in geocaches, what a better way to get saved than by searching for him literally instead of figuratively. I am a Christian, just not a very respectable one apparently.

Hackers Ahead - Beware of Flash Update

A friend sent me a link to a video, and I love watching funny YouTube videos so I was eager to click even without reading any of the message that was included with the link. I was directed to a site with a typical video player as you would find on YouTube but it loaded for a few seconds and then popped up a notice that my flash player was outdated and I needed to upgrade, and provided a handy link to the update installation file.

Well most people would just run the new flash player right? While the notice may look ligitimate, I just know from experience that if my computer needs any updating, I will do so from a trusted source so I closed the notice, and instead went to official Adobe website to download the latest Flash Player from them. My player was not the latest version so I performed the update and returned to try and watch the video. Still no video, the site was a trick to get unsuspecting viewers to run a spyware program and collect personal information.

After some research this has been going on since August, and it was the first I have heard of it. Chances are you may have fallen for this, if you think you may have, you might want to be sure your virus and spyware software are up to date and scan your system.

One Dose of Sarin Can Ruin Your Day

How safe will we be under an Obama administration? The majority of the press coverage of the war and the standing opinion seems to be that the liberation of Iraq has put us in greater danger than had we left Saddam in power. What should be remembered, is one dose of sarin gas can ruin your whole day.

When you live your life in denial that you have made any mistakes, then you fail to accept them, fail to learn from them, and fail to improve your judgment in future matters. This can be said of both the Bush administration and the policy to be set in Obama Nation. GW neglected to administer the war in the early stages as he did in the latter, relying on Rumsfield's bad strategy, and to top it off, mishandled the media and the information that mattered to the public. Why we went to war, and what the results were, the insurance that no chemical weapons get into the hands of terrorists.

We all buy insurance, even though none of us plan to burn our homes down, or crash our cars. We all have airbags, not because we scheduled a head on collision, but because even the remote possibly exists and the safety measure may one day save our lives. For this logical reason alone, the invasion and destruction of the military capability of Iraq was good insurance for the safety of our future.

Since Obama was opposed to the war, opposed to the surge that proved to bring a successful end to the war, how can we be assured he will continue to pay the premiums of the insurance policy that has kept our nation safe for the last 8 years?

Obama's national security policy is akin to keeping your hands on the wheel, and looking both ways before crossing an intersection. Trusting that the other drivers are as safe and courteous as we are. He plans to release or prosecute terrorists as if they are simply criminals in our legal system, he wishes to withdraw completely from Iraq, when it would be in our best interest to keep a close eye on the region, and his policy of diplomacy with rouge dictators is naive and dangerous.

It will take just one munition smuggled into our country and detonated in a public place to show the world how weak the US has become under new leadership, and this is the test that Joe Biden was likely speaking of. Even Joe the senator knows what we may be facing.