ASSASSINATION POLL

What in the hell is wrong with people? Someone puts up a poll on Facebook asking if President Obama should be assassinated. The loonies who think President Obama is not a citizen or he's the anti-Christ. or what ever goofy ideas they all have are responsible. If something happens to President Obama they would all disavow any responsibility. The Republicans have a difference of opinion about the way the country should be run, but they play into the fringe by going along with some of the far-out ideas. Limbaugh is just an opportunist, Beck I think is flat out nuts. To me the worst of the group though is the religious zealots. They will try and quote scripture trying to prove they are right. If you point out where they are wrong, and use the facts, they totally ignore them, and go on with their fantasies.

Politics

I have had several different discussions with people about politics ranging from the health care debate to the Iraq war and everything in between. I do not have all the answers, and never claim to. My question for these people is when you have facts and the proof of those facts why do they still ignore them and cling to their wrong ideas? One of the answers I get from them is that the main stream media is biased. Then they put their faith in cable talking heads. I mean for God sakes how does people like Limbaugh, or Hannity, or Mathews become experts on anything and everything. I think they take their talking points from what ever side they are supporting and go from there. How many times have they been wrong? I would say mostly. There are sources that check facts. They are not biased in my opinion. Now if you find a site that always agrees with you, I would say you should question those results. Hopefully this folly will stop, and we as a country move forward making all of our lives better.

GREEN BAY PACKER FOOTBALL

I have been a Packer fan for more years than I care to count. This year Brett Favre will be playing against the Packers. I had no problem with him playing for the Jets last year. This year is different. Of all teams to play for, the Vikings! I always considered the Packer season a success as long as they beat the Vikings. I don't want to see Favre hurt, but I really have to pull for his humiliation against the Packers.

Maria Bartiromo

I have to apologize to some of the right-wing loonies. I didn't think I would find anyone as uninformed as they are. To my surprise her she is, (Maria Bartiromo). She is an anchor on cnbc the financial network. She was questioning a Congressman who is 44 yrs. old. She was outraged that this man was so proud of Medicare, and he wasn't on it. He mentioned that you have to be 65 to enroll. She went oh yeah. and rolled her eyes in disgust. This women had no idea that you had to be 65 to be on Medicare. Why would anyone take her advice or even listen to anything she had to say from now on?

THE INSANE RIGHT

How much longer are the people going to take the idiocy coming from people like; Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity and the rest of the loony tune patrol. These people are instant experts in their mind about everything. I personally don't think any of them can find their way around the block without a map and a guide.

Today a friend said to me Ted Kennedy was such a scum bag. I asked him why he thought that. Well, he said I got all kinds of emails stating all kinds of things he did. This shows two things. The loons have no respect for anyone or anything that they don't agree with, and the right wing will believe anything. They never check facts, or even listen to differing view points. Beck etc. are constantly proven wrong. Oh well, the sheep say, and just go on their way to the next goofy thing.

KENNEDY

REST IN PEACE TED KENNEDY!

STEEL WORKERS

I am going to Milwaukee tomorrow to a meeting about bankruptcy. The company I work for is in it. We are worried that the company will now try to cut wages, and renege on pensions. Hopefully this won't happen. The plant I work in is doing well, and always has. A lot of the company's problems were brought on my mergers and poor management. I know people will say that the employees should shoulder some of the responsibility. True, and all those plants that under performed have been closed in the last 3 years.

HANNITY

Is Sean Hannity a bald face liar or just a moron? A couple of days ago he told his audience that Max Baucus the Democrat said social security could default within 2 years. The actual person who said this was Spencer Bachus a Republican. He even later amended that statement. Our hero Hannity still went on the air again and said Max Baucus said this. My personal feeling is that Hannity is so invested in the down fall of the Democrats he will say anything or do anything to see that happen.

The other major problem with this story, is that the people he talks to actually believe this garbage. I would like to blame this all on Hannity, but his disciples just go merrily along with him. Scary!

UNEXPECTED PLEASURE

While on vacation I didn't have much time to watch or even listen to TV. No one making up lies or ranting or raving. I didn't miss it a bit. The only down side is that when I came back the same liars and charlatans were still spewing their venom. To tell you the truth, I like to keep up on the news, but I sure wish we could get more straight news, instead of all the spin. I know there is always two sides to every discussion, but just be fair about it.

VACATION

I plan to take next week off, this will be my first extended time off this year. The sad thing is that I have so many projects to complete. It is a vacation in name only. This is the only way I can get anything done. For anyone who doesn't know I work out of town all week, and only go home on the weekends. The up side is that I do get to spend quality time with my family. It is my oldest daughters birthday too. A side bar to this is that for anyone who hasn't been doing any driving, there are so many road projects going on. It is hard to drive very far without a detour or at least a slowdown. I guess it's good that the roads and bridges are being repaired.

STOLEN CAR

Last week my brother called me and said his car was stolen. He is 78 yrs old, and that car is his life-line. He called the police, but they didn't offer any hope in finding it. 3 days went by and he just happened to hear someone in the management team of his apartment building talking about having cars towed about 3 days previous. Guess what? They had his car towed along with several others. He had the required parking sticker, besides the fact he has lived in his building for 10 yrs or more, and everyone knows him. He went to the place where they tow the vehicles, and yes, it was there. After paying $169.00 he got his car back. He went to the management and they reimbursed him, but they blew it off, no apologize for the inconvenience. They sort of thought it was no problem. I guess treating people with respect, and doing the right thing are passe.

PAUL STANLEY

Who is Paul Stanley? He's is a state senator from Tennessee. He rants and raves against gays, and preaches abstinence, He got caught having an affair with a 22 yr old. When will these guys learn? The following was something I think is totally approriprate. I found it as one of the comments on the story.

"Whatever I stood for and advocated, I still believe to be true," except for ME. God loves me and I can do whatever I want. I am a little fuzzy about the 22 year old, though. I am not sure God is going to forgive her. It might even be her fault that I broke all the rules I believe in - sex outside of marriage and stuff like that.

MICHAEL VICK

As most of you know Vick was just released from incarceration. Now there is this big debate whether he should be reinstated in the NFL. I have been hearing how the Commissioner of the NFL has too much power. The argument goes that he shouldn't be able to suspend Vick, because he has served his time. I have news for these people. I work in the paper industry, and one of rules is, if you get convicted of a crime, you can be fired. So I think the apologists for Michael Vick should be happy that the the Commissioner is actually thinking of letting him play again.

BIRTH CERTIFICATES

I have been listening to all the hubbub about President Obama's birth certificate, or lack there of. I hate to keep repeating myself, but are all those non-believers crazy? I don't think they will believe any kind of evidence. Well, they don't want to believe it. they don't have much else to hang their hats on. The thing that really bothers me is why they get so much air time. I know Fox has as a vested interest in it, but why the other networks? I guess the other stuff is just to hard for them. Hopefully, in the near future this will end.

40 YEARS AGO TODAY

I was in Fort Gordon Georgia, getting ready to go to a movie when I heard man landed on the moon. It doesn't seem like such a big deal now, but then it was truly amazing. Not surprisingly, I don't remember the movie. What is truly astounding, is that there are so many conspiracy buffs who claim it never happened. Of course these are the same people who believe in area 51, and we blew up our own pentagon, and the list goes on and on.

The men who landed on the moon should never be forgotten.

ABORTION-RACISM

This clown shows his true colors. Of all the people to choose. He just happens to choose 2 black people. Other than the fact that he's a racist, he's also ignorant. This half-witted argument could be made for anything. Anyone who dies, or their unborn children might have done something to benefit mankind.

GETTING OLDER

I work out of town, and usually only make it home on the weekends. This weekend when I went home my 12 yr old daughter was gone for the weekend with a friend and friends parent. She went to the Mall of America in Minneapolis. I guess it just struck me that she is growing up so fast, and how much I actually missed her when she wasn't there. My daughter is a non-stop talker and it was so quiet. She made it home Sunday night about midnight. It sounded like she had a great time. She talked of doing it again in a few weeks. I guess I am the only one who isn't looking forward to that. I know she is growing up, but I was hoping it would take a little longer.

WISHFUL THINKING

I was leaving work today, and the person who replaces me is a rabid right- wing conservative. Nothing wrong with that. I asked anything going on today? He said President Obama was caught checking out this young girl. Well, I am not one who really cares about those kind of things. but I see where the anti-Obama faction would be delighted. I got home and looked at the video. Not even close. My God! how low have these people sunk to try an infer that he was checking out that girl? Is that all they can do, don't they have any ideas of their own to offer?

Just so the people understand even if he did that, it is a programmed response in men. You can ask a man why he looked at some women, and a lot of times he won't even remember or know he did it.

PESSIMISM

I read a lot of blogs and I have come to the conclusion that so many people are pessimistic about the direction of our country. I have thought about this, and have some advice for these people. ' GET OVER IT' What makes these people so negative? They don't like the new President. It's sad in a way. Every 4 years we have an election and there are always disappointed people. Maybe it's that everyone has access to make their thoughts known to the rest of us, and they feed off each other. I think the most disturbing think is that there are people in the public arena that make their living off of being negative. They get caught lying and go merrily on their way like nothing happened. To be fair there are people on the left and right who indulge in this kind of behaviour. The thing is most of us are closer to the middle, and have lives to lead . So to all you negative people, if the disaster of the day doesn't come true, and you just move on to the next one, stop and think about it and ask why you were so worked up. The main thing to do is not to just listen to one side, take the time to research the issue from both sides, and then make up your own mind.

CLUELESS

I didn't really want to write about Sarah Palin, but I guess I can't resist it.

I am not sure why anyone really cares about what she says or does, but they seem to, especially my crazy right-wing friends. The thing is she has quit both of her state government jobs early. That doesn't bode well for her reliability. Bill Clinton, George Bush, and even President Obama get raked over the coals, and they stick it out and do the job. You may not like them, but they were elected, and they did their jobs. My main problem with her is that she is a whiner, I mean she whines about everything. So hopefully she will sail off into the sunset and we never hear from her again.

INDEPENDENCE DAY

I know Independence Day is to honor our creation, but I got to thinking about the best fireworks display I have seen. I have been up to Duluth many times and their display is magnificent. However, I think the best one I have seen was when I was in the army at Ft. Hood Texas. I was guarding a entrance gate by myself, and the fireworks started, I had no idea it was coming, They were terrific, I think just because it was so dark, and I was by myself made them that great.

I hope your holiday weekend is as good as it can be, but keep in mind the reason for it. I sometimes think people loose the reason for the holidays.

CNBC COMMENTATORS

The talking heads of that channel were bemoaning the fact that GM was going to build a small car plant in Michigan. They had a conniption fit about the fact that the unions there caused them to file for bankruptcy in the first place. Are these people just stupid or intentionally ignoring the mismanagement of GM management for the last 40 yrs? The union workers didn't make bad investments, or design flawed cars. Management thought they could do anything they wanted. The arrogance of power is not uncommon among the corporate elite. One of the reasons they get away with this stuff because people like those commentators are apologist's for them. As most of you have seen a lot of these corporate CEO's and the like have given themselves retention bonuses. They don't want their key people going somewhere else. These are the same people who have brought ruination on their companies. The union is always a easy scapegoat for them because the financial commentators never seem to see managements indiscretions.

SUPREME COURT

I am not a big fan of this court, but they finally got one right. Reverse discrimination is still discrimination. The case brought by the white firefighters against the city who threw out the results of a promotion test, because no black firefighters scored high enough to be promoted. The city was afraid they would get sued by the black firefighters, well they got sued anyway, and in my opinion justice was served for a change.

MICHAEL JACKSON

I feel bad when anyone passes away. My question is why so much coverage is being devoted to Jackson? If this was 20 yrs ago I would understand, but today? Is this one of those cases where the media sees other parts of the media devoting full coverage so they think they have to keep pace? Hopefully this will pass over soon, and he can be finally laid to rest.

Mark Sanford

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I am, another one of those I know what is best for you guys falling off the marriage merry-go-round. I actually feel sorry for the wife, and kids, but this guy, no! He is like Spitzer, Vitter, Ensign, and the clerical better than thou group, Haggard, Swaggart, Baker, The list seems to go on and on. If they would just keep their mouths shut no one would really care, but they have to tell other people how to live, or criticize others. The thing than really bothers me is the fact they come out and ask for forgiveness when they don't offer it to others.

Mark Sanford

The Governor of South Carolina disappeared for at least 5 days. The thing is he didn't tell anyone where he was going, no way to contact him. This is supposed to be a leader of a state. Didn't tell his wife. Missed Father's Day, has 4 young boys. Did I forget that this is one of those family value Republicans. I guess it only matters to him what other families are doing.

BAD WEEKEND

It started on Friday. I started my car to go to work, stepped on the brake it went right to the floor. I pumped the brake and got some pressure back, but the grinding was awful every time I stepped on the brake. Then that night I was in bed, I live in a old two story house. I thought the wind started to blow because of the sound at the window, 10 minutes later it happened again, but it kept up, and the entire storm window fell off. The next day a dog shows up in my backyard, and my dog had it by the throat, the owner came running and my dog attacked her. No serious damage done. Hopefully this week is better.

APOLOGIES

I consider myself a pretty liberal person. I just heard that the US Senate has decided to apology for slavery in a non-binding resolution.

This kind of thing is what makes people mad. It seems to me that none of us have anything to do with it. We just try and lead our lives to the best of our ability. I don't want anyone apologizing on my behalf for anything that I had no part in. If these Senator's want to apologize fine, do it, but not on my behalf.

The next step will be reparations. I am not sure if they feel white guilt, and are just trying to ease their conscious. If I do something to someone or some group, and feel the need to apologize I will.

SEX

In view of Senator Ensign's revelation about having an extra marital affair, and his previous comments on President Clinton's Monica affair, combined with a lot of other politicians who subsequently got caught in some kind of sexual escapade, maybe it's time to quit judging people on their sex lives.

If people have sex with someone other than their spouses or are gay, so what? As long as it doesn't interfere with their official duties let them alone. The only people they have to answer to is their spouses or loved ones, and themselves. The only caveat is if they go around preaching about morals as some people have, they become fair game in my opinion.

EMBARRASSMENT

I live in the district who has Michelle Bachman as its  representative in Congress.  She is an embarrassment to this district and to the state, and our country.   I honestly don't think she has had a thought in her head that wasn't put there by someone else.  I asked a couple of people who have voted for her why they did.  " Well she is good-looking"  I guess if that is the reason you vote for someone, we get what we deserve.

SCHOOL ENDS

My youngest daughter just finished 6th grade.  I think it was her best year so far.  

I always hear how bad the school system is.  In my opinion, at least in my area it's terrific.  My older daughter and my youngest have had good educations.  The teachers with a  couple of notable exceptions have been terrific, they really care about the kids. I have had several actually call and ask how my child was when she was sick.  I realize that the bigger the system the harder it is.  I couldn't be more happy with our schools.  

DAYS OFF

I work for a paper company, and we make boxes for almost anything.  We usually know how the economy is before most people just by how busy we are.  Recently things have been picking up.  Summer is usually are busiest time of the year.  Then out of no where  we have Friday off.  Hopefully this is an aberration.  I do realize that a lot of companies are being very careful, and not storing anything.

A GOOD BOOK

I read the book "The Shack"  the other day,  I really didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised.  I won't give away the book, suffice it to say if you're religious or not it is a good read.  The only caveat is that I think some really religious people will be offended.  Religion and believe in God are not exactly reconciled,  in fact organized religion doesn't come off to well. Basically it's about forgivness. Forgivess of others as well as yourself.

A STRANGE VIEW

A  few weeks ago I read a blog.  Basically it was an attack on "over paid factory workers" it was stated that there are 85 dollar an hour fork truck drivers out there. . Well being a good union man I politely responded by stating that factory workers are not over paid, and most of us didn't have the opportunity to go to college. Plus could I have the name of the place where they paid that much, because I would like to apply there.  The response was  unexpected. She stated that I was angry and jealous of  the fact she went to college, and she told me how hard it was for her to do that. The thing that really startled me though was that her husband drives fork truck.  She stated she would be angry if he made that much money and hour.   The only thing I can think of for her anger is that she thinks just because she went to college she is entitled to more, and the worker bees are lucky to get anything.  I would think someone who has gone to college would be more enlightened in this day in age.

Political Hacks

It has been a pet peeve of mine for along time.  Why does anyone take seriously anything people like O'Reilly;  Hannity, Limbaugh Savage, Beck say?  They very seldom have any facts to back up their statements, and more often than not they distort or even just flat out lie.

If your a political person, why not  go by what the people you elected say?

Now, before you say I am just a Liberal, let me say that I have the same problem with the left wing nuts too.  It just so happens that the cable stations are filled with the right wing loonies at the moment.

1 Income family

Since I am getting older, I have found that 1 income will not suffice.  Years ago money wasn't a big issue, but now I have to borrow money every year to survive.  It's not that I don't make good wages, I do.  I am not a professional, just a factory worker, but I do alright.   

 

It seems to be that technology has a lot to do with this.  First there was cable t.v.  then  you had to have a computer, then a cell phone, or several as the case may be. As all of you are aware none of these things come cheap.  I don't mind supplying these things for my family, but the cost sure takes a bite out of your weekly paycheck.  

  Anyone with children know that teenagers sure cost a lot of money.  They're worth it.  I guess what I am saying is the cost of living has exceeded my capacity to pay for it.  

 I know most people would just say give up most of those things.  All I can say is my family and I would hazard a guess that most families are worth  it.  As long as I don't ask the government to help out, Food Stamps or fuel assistance things like that I think it's ok.