Monthly Archives: October 2011

Two Things I Knew But Reinforced Yesterday

Posted on October 14, 2011 | 4 comments

I went to the doctor yesterday for a “check-up”.  This isn’t my physical or anything like that, just a quick and simple check and chat.

Good times.

So, as always the doc isn’t happy with my weight, my exercise or my daily ration of my local beverage:

Whatever.

After telling me that she wanted to put me on blood pressure medication 2 years ago, I sign and accepted it; getting old is both a bitch and not a choice.  And it beats the alternative.  Then, last year when she asked me how my blood pressure was, well, she was less than impressed when I told her that I didn’t know.  I never check.

Well, after listening to her go on and on about how important it was, I rushed out and bought a digital cuff machine thingy.  And now I check twice a day.  And record it.

This time I had my data and, surprisingly, she was pleased with the blood pressure.

So, now she’s done and I ask her if it could be my turn.  She kinda looks at me and nods and then I ask her this:

Doc, I read a lot and recently I came across data suggesting that salt does not, repeat does NOT, contribute to higher blood pressure.  Is this true?

She leaned back and nodded, then said;

Yes.

Son of a bitch!

So, that’s the one thing I knew but confirmed.  The other is that hyper-tension is the #1 killer in America.  The cure?

A pill.  Total cost?

$4 a month.

What do these two things mean?

Life is good!

4 Comments

Posted in Health Care

Tagged ,

The Death Penalty

Posted on October 14, 2011 | 4 comments

Let’s be very clear: I am against the death penalty.

I am as sure as I’ve ever been that Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes did what they were accused of doing.

I swear to you, if I were to come home to this scene in my own home, I would shoot them dead on the spot.  Further, I feel these men deserve to be put to death for their crimes.  I honestly feel that the State is entitled to deliver death on criminals who behave in such a manner.

However.

We’re wrong too often; both in application and accuracy.

4 Comments

Posted in Government, Liberty

Tagged

Occupy Wall Street and The Tea Party

Posted on October 12, 2011 | 2 comments

In one night alone the Occupy Wall Street movement had many people arrested:

(Reuters) – Tensions boiled over early on Tuesday in downtown Boston, where police arrested more than 100 protesters after the Occupy Boston group expanded its footprint and was told by authorities to move back.

The OWS folks have been at this for less than a month and already they have seen violence and lawlessness.

The Tea Party?

Zero arrests.

2 Comments

Posted in Idiots on Parade, Liberty

Tagged ,

Google

Posted on October 12, 2011 | Leave a comment

If you haven’t yet, go on over to Google.com

Cool Google draw today.

Leave a comment

Posted in Fun

Tagged

Brad And Britt: How The Left Works

Posted on October 12, 2011 | 5 comments

I’ve been listening to the Brad and Britt show for a whole bunch of years,  Partly because they are local, partly because they are entertaining and partly because I need some Leftist influence.  Just to keep me honest.  And almost always, they deliver.  I enjoy the show.

I get that they are a profit center.  They are hired to deliver ratings in a market so that they can sell advertising to an customers.  I get it.  And so I mostly let most of the stuff they say go in and then go out.  They’re playing to an audience and are more circus performers than they are knowers of important things.

But jeepers, sometimes they say things that are just not so right.  So wrong in fact, that they are lying.  And I call ’em out.  And when I post I tweet.  And they notice.

Sunday night I pinged Brad and Britt.  I posited that the Occupy Wall Street crowd is racist.  I came to this conclusion in the same way the media decided that the Tea Party was racist.  Some fun tweets occurred and we called it a night.

Then I listened to this:

Brad and Britt interview

The interview was offensive.  And after I dropped my kids off at school, more of the same.  A caller was interrupted by Britt parodying Rush and shouting him down.  Funny stuff, I guess, if you’re on that side of the football field.

And I called him out:

The response of the tolerant Leftists?  They “blocked” me on Twitter.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m a Twitter rookie.  I’ve had an account for years and only posted a little.  That I get blocked or not blocked isn’t the point.  The point is, that’s how the Left rolls.

5 Comments

Posted in Idiots on Parade, Liberty

Tagged ,

California Bans Tanning Beds

Posted on October 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

California is just awesome.

It used to be the law that:

Previously, California had banned minors under the age of 14 from using tanning beds, but allowed those between 14 and 18 years of age to use tanning beds with parental consent.

Now, though, California has gone further:

Minors in the state of California will no longer be allowed to use tanning beds after Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill on Sunday prohibiting anyone under the age of 18 from using ultraviolet tanning devices.

But minors wanting abortions, without parental consent, are still okay.

Douche bags.

Leave a comment

Posted in Liberty, Politics: State

Tagged ,

I Am The 53% #OMJ

Posted on October 11, 2011 | 2 comments
  • I am a child of a divorced family.
  • Growing up, my family qualified for free and reduced lunches.
  • I got my first job, literally, for my 10th birthday.  I’ve been collecting a pay check for 33 years.
  • I took out student loans to get through college
  • I worked 20-30 hours a week to get through college
  • I paid back my student loans
  • I once offered to work for free for two weeks in order to secure a job.
  • I later managed that business.
  • When the technology start-up company I worked for went out of business, I moved 1,200 miles.
  • To secure employment as a cafeteria cashier.
  • AND I worked a second job as a wedding bartender.
  • AND I worked a third job, on weekend days, as a bartender at a Ground Round.
  • For more years consecutive than I care to think about, I’ve worked my allotted number of yearly hours by the month of August.
  • I’ve purchased hundreds of dollars of books and trade magazines to remain educated in my field.
  • When there is no one else to go to, I raise my hand.

I am the 53%.  And I will do what I always do:  Occupy My Job

 

 

 

2 Comments

Posted in Idiots on Parade, Life

Tagged ,

Domestic Oil Production: The Liberal Myth

Posted on October 11, 2011 | 3 comments

During the 2008 campaign, we heard a lot of Sarah Palin extolling America to “Drill Baby Drill”.  And, from the Left, we heard the mockery of such a policy.  Chief among them the complaint that any oil production is more than 10-15 years away.  We’ll simply never see the oil is what they would say.

It’s starting to look like that’s not a true statement:  Hat Tip to the incomparable Care Diem

A new record for monthly production: 13,768,395 barrels, a 34.6% increase from last August.  In just a little more than two years (since June 2009), oil production has doubled in North Dakota.

Like anything, expose it to the market and the benefits will astound you.

 

3 Comments

Posted in Economics, Economy, Energy

Tagged , ,

North Carolina’s Toll Road

Posted on October 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

I’ve long been an opponent of toll based funding of our public roads, highways and bridges.  However, as I’ve been enjoying my Libertarian blossoming, I have come to embrace the idea.  And mainly for two reasons:

  1. The closer we can get to real use based funding, the better our roads will be funded.  Those that use the road more will end up paying for that road.  Big corporation drives trucks over our publicly funded freeways?  Charge those trucks for that privilege.  Don’t drive those roads but DO purchase the goods and services of those corporations?  Pay that toll through pass through costs.
  2. Tolls can easily be adjusted using technology to influence traffic patterns.  Traffic begins to choke things up at 08:00?  Reduce the toll for drivers up until 08:00.  And then increase it slightly through the rush hour until the demand goes back down.  Over time, traffic will normalize.

And so North Carolina begins its foray into toll based funding:

MORRISVILLE, N.C. — North Carolina’s first toll road is almost ready for drivers…

….

When Phase I of the toll road – a stretch of 3.4 miles between Interstate 40 at N.C. Highway 147 in Durham County south to Interstate 540 in Wake County – opens in December, it and the existing portion of N.C. Highway 540 between N.C. Highways 54 and 55 will be the Tar Heel state’s first toll road.

Drivers will have one month’s grace, and tolls will begin in January 2012.

I’m excited to see how the toll goes.  I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to recover enough money to fund these “infrastructure jobs” that the Obama administration continues to talk about.  The direct tax from tolls should be able to be easily tracked to highway funding.  This should be a no brainer.

However, I also fear that the money we normally collect for our roads will simply be diverted to other uses and that, in net, our roads will continue to be underfunded.

Sigh.

Leave a comment

Posted in Government, Politics: North Carolina

Tagged , , ,

How To Address The Deficit

Posted on October 11, 2011 | 2 comments

All the talk has been about how we are going to reduce our debt and cut into our deficit.  Indeed, much debate has occurred over the proper way to accomplish this.  Those on the right are more willing to see a solution that attacks this problem only through reduction in spending.  More centrist folks want a raise in the tax revenues to be part of that solution.

I happen to fall in the middle.  While I really want spending to be the only method we use, I’m willing to compromise and agree to small tax increases.  But only because I don’t think the taxes being proposed are meaningful and amount to a political win only for the Democrats.

In other words, give ’em there trophy so that we can get to the business of fixing this mess.

But then I saw this:

Democratic leaders in the Senate are scrambling to avoid defections on President Obama’s jobs package, which appears headed for defeat on Tuesday.

…

Lieberman opposes the bill because the 5.6 percent surtax on millionaires is being used for new spending instead of reducing the deficit

This is why you can’t negotiate with these people.  And this is why this problem may never get fixed.

2 Comments

Posted in Economy, Politics: National

Tagged , , ,