Deja Vu

One of the advantages of being an old fart is that nothing is really new.

Yesterday I read how bell-bottom  blue jeans were the new "it". Remember the 70's anyone?

Now I am listening to President Obama speak about reducing our dependence on foreign oil.  Did you know that that is why the Energy Department was created? I was a brand new program under President Jimmy Carter. Its budget has inflated wildly as has the number of barrels of oil we import.

Let's get another Government program with our taxpayer dollars.

Hip Hip Hooray

blech

Oh shit Oh dear

I have recently come to the conclusion that at heart I am a Libertarian.  The Republican party is too involved with the assorted "Christian" agendas to understand that by excluding people they are being decidedly un-Christian.  The Tea Party is too anti everything to really get n board, I actually think they, too are falling into the "Christian" agenda trap.

As an avowed Libertarian, though, I do every once in a while see a headline that makes my blood boil:

I.R.S. Sits on Data Pointing to Missing Children

The whole raison d'etre of the IRS is to collect data on us to pay our taxes to be part of a bloated and uncontrollable system.  Yes I am a fan of privacy laws, and the IRS should sit on 99.9% of that data as a fiduciary of public funds. But for all of those sad faces I see on the sides on Milk Cartons ... they need Federal protection and all the resources that our government can provide 
 

4 letter words

There are certain things I do that I feel require the liberal use of 4 letter words. I am actually doing one of those things now. After dealing with a "press 1 for English" telephone tree at 1-800-BEST BUY, I have been getting shuffled around from department to department to figure out why I am not getting confirmation emails from them. My big worry is that my Kaspersky will not renew when due.even though my credit card number is on file for automatic renewal.

PS If anyone at Best Buy  reads this turn down the volume on your hold music.

Phony Internet Advertising

Does it sound too good to be true?  It probably is. I clicked a link from an About.com news story. Should be okay, it's the New York Times for Pete's sake.
http://markets.about.com/about/news/read?GUID=17855217

I read this: Read our shocking news report on e-cigarette. You will be surprised what we found.

So I did. It brought me to a "news" site http://www.channel7wbc.com/electronic-cigarettes.htm 

It is a "Channel 7" News station that tells of a news anchor who quit smoking lickety split with an electronic cigarette that could be smoked in public places. The problem is that the call letters WBTV belong to a TV station in North Carolina, and they have no such news anchor.And it is on channel 3.

Are you getting all this? I did a little more fooling around and there actually is a "channel7wbc" web site with news from September 27, 2010. Interestingly enough, the links work to some extent. This is a very elaborate hoax.  It works on several levels, all the way to the point where the venerable New York Times takes their money for their phony advertising.

In sum, it might be in writing, but if it on the internet it can easily be a phony. Please my friends, be careful.

A New Year

Hmm ... I really feel that I should have a lot to say.  It is a bright shining New Year and everything ought to look rosy. This is a Red Letter year for me.  Lots of developments, including ... sit down everyone ... my 60th birthday on May 15th. If you had asked me in 1981 (age 30) how old 60 was ... I would have looked at my 4 grandparents, all in their 80's and said I guess 60 is getting up there, and I don't think I will make it. But these octogenarians are going fishing, playing golf, sitting on Boards of Directors, active at Church and like that.
As I prepare for the coming snowstorm I made sure the oil was changed in the snow blower I operate to dig myself and the rest of my condo out. I have plans to go to the  movies tonight, and I have plans in Yonkers on Saturday night (a little over an hour away in good conditions) at UrbanH2O .Do I feel old? No way. I Skyped with my Parents this morning just before Dad took Mom to another of her myriad Doctors' appointments.
I do hold out hope for the coming year. I would like to see the world resolve its problems without bullets or bombs or the threat of them, but I am smart enough to keep my shotgun handy
.
I hope everyone has a peaceful New Year and has a wonderful network of friends and family ... in short real wealth.

Right to Vote in Elections

I am looking at the closely contested Governor's race in my home state of Connecticut.


Currently, the count is 517,209 to 515,437.  


That means that 1,032,646 (more or less) people voted in the Nutmeg State.


According to Wikipedia "Connecticut is the 29th most populous state, with 3.5 million residents"  and has over 2 million registered voters. belonging to 27 parties. I do not know which parties endorsed the Gubernatorial candidates other that the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.


I am kind of proud of my state. We had a voter turnout of approximately 50%. That's about the highest I ever heard of. I believe that there was so much publicity about our Senate race, that people actually showed up to voice their opinion.


The Candidates for Senate from my point of view:


Linda McMahon (R)) - Believe it or not, she was the CEO of the entertainment company World Wrestling Federation. She and her husband built the company from a smallish regional business into a multi billion dollar organization.  She stepped down to run the Senate race. Although her campaign had many positive things to say, I think what did her in was her negative advertising. It was 30 seconds of Dick Bluenthal did this bad thing Dick Bluenthal said this bad thing, asked if you wanted Dick Bluenthal to be your next senator. Then the ad finished with a nice bright cheery I'm "Linda McMahon and I am running for senate". Dumb Dumb Dumb ... repeat the other guys name 3 times and yours once. Okay. Now you are in a voting booth and see the names against each other. Which one do you fill in the blank for? Of course. The one whose name you heard most often. I heard some people say that is why they voted against her.


Dick Bluenthal (D) - Career politician. Was our Attorney General for years and had lots of fun throwing spectacular lawsuits around. I think his heart is in the right place, but he sold out years ago and will do or say anything to anyone to get elected. I would not trust him to hold my coffee. He would spill it on his lap and sue me for burning his willy. Most recently his party tried to deny voters wearing the garb of their favorite wrestlers the right to vote! claiming it was political advertising.  


I wore my Clearwater Shirt. Now That's political advertising, isn't it?


Interestingly enough, I believe our Founding Fathers did not want career politicians. They wanted merchants and traders and manufactures to spend some of their time serving their country in office, then go home to their jobs.

I love Summer

Bill has been managing his time well, so I am only needed in the shop here and there for errands.  I think tomorrow I am going 90 miles round trip to Irvington, NY. This is actually working out well because the bass fishing is pretty good right now. Last trip to Marshepaug I even caught a rainbow trout ... the caveat being that the water is so warm that any trout you catch you must kill because the water is so warm and the stress of being caught would kill the fish anyway.

That worked out fine.  The trout tasted great grilled in foil and eaten with fresh sweet corn on-the-cob.  Summer is a great time.

I had a fabulous time at Falcon Ridge.  Since I never know who I am camping with, I have had to revamp my gear a little so I don't bring so much. I find it hard to believe that a few short years ago I went camping on a motorcycle. Now I fill my Jeep from tailgate to passenger seat with necessities. And I nearly used it all!