Where to Go for an RV or Boat

Here's a nice family-run business in the Boise area where you may consider purchasing your next RV or boat. On the RV side, Dennis Dillon RV & Marine Center is the authorized Coachmen, Redwood (residential fifth wheels), Open Range (towables), Monaco (class A diesels), Fleetwood (class A and C motorized), and Outdoors RV (towables) dealer in Idaho and surrounding areas.

They also have five Master-Certified RV technicians on staff--the most in the state.

On boats, Dennis Dillon RV & Marine has the Centurion, Four Winns, Reinell and Supreme franchises in the area. They carry some pretty cool boats--many of which you can see from the freeway as you drive by on I-84 between Cole Rd and Orchard St in Boise.

They're a pretty nice little operation. Not in the mood for an RV or a boat? Try their main site HERE for a look at Kia, Mazda, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Fiat, Suzuki or Nissan, too!

Moochie's

I had a little tasty taste of SLC for dinner tonight. I ate at Moochie's here. This place was featured on the show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on Food Network. My wife and I love the show, and they've featured all sorts of places we're familiar with and love. The show also provides us with an excuse to try new places--usually pretty inexpensively. This trip to Utah has now provided me with a great burger place in Roy (Burger Bar) and now the Philly cheesesteak and meatball and provolone sandwich at Moochie's.

I recommend Moochie's. Give it a tumble if you ever head out to SLC.

UPDATE! NEW! IMPROVED!

Some commenter known as "basquegirl" recently (this morning) posted a reply that wondered aloud if anyone updates this blog.

Well "basquegirl" yes, someone does update it. Just not often. Not nearly as often as the aforementioned blog owner updates his Facebook page.

That's right, Facebook:Blogspot::Video:Radio Star in my universe. Put all the blame on VCR. I am an avid Facebooker and my stellar blog full of insightful commentary and spot-on analysis has suffered because of it. The real losers in this battle for 'net supremacy are you, all three of you, who follow my blog just waiting for just a taste of the knowledge that drips from this site.

Some things I've been thinking about over the past little while:

1) Salt Lake City sure does love them some cycling, but not as much as Boise does.
2) Saw Angels and Demons last night. Didn't read the book. Will now. Ewan McGregor was a great Camerlengo, and I don't even know if I've spelled that right. Anyway, during the movie, I couldn't stop confusing in my head the "Camerlengo" with "Carlomagno" (who is an ancestor of mine, FYI)
3) If you enjoy mixed nuts, try shopping at the downtown SLC Smith's after 9:30. The aisles were full of filberts when I went
4) basquegirl is pretty awesome and so are her kids
5) My wife gave us a second chance at getting Mother's Day right. Not sure if we succeeded, but part deux was certainly better than part deuce--which was really part one.
6) No place on earth is short on oblivions. Thankfully, no place on earth seems to be short on nice people, too. This seems to be some sort of societal yin-yang symbiosis that God has created so we don't lose faith in humanity.
7) I think if people would read their particular books of scripture--and then behave as they've been instructed--this world would certainly be a much better place to live. If only 10% of would do that (me included!!!), it would be a stellar existence. Now that I think of it, it's probably about 10% who don't that are gumming it up for the rest who are trying (or who can't read). Wha
8) It would be cool if Spring would go a little longer and not jump from 60 degrees to 95 degrees in 24 hours. I don't need anymore Al Gore-induced headaches. It's the change of seasons, not the Apocalypse.
9) Walking to work is cool, especially when it's not just down the stairs
10) I'm pretty optimistic about what will happen and I hope you are too!

The Two-headed COBRA

I spent three years in this industry, and have an above-average understanding of COBRA. I just found this little nugget, however, hiding in the "stimulus" bill: subsidized COBRA payments and a "2nd chance" clause for those who turned down COBRA eligibility.

Since businesses are required to offer this stimulated version of COBRA, downsizing to save money will end up causing them more trouble than laying off the huge bloc of employees may have...or at least send them scrambling for cash.

Good. Olbermann is an Idiot

Behold Tuesday's Cable opinion show ratings:

CABLE NEWS RACE
TUES., MARCH 10, 2009

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,212,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,376,000
FOXNEWS BECK 2,331,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,274,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 2,044,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 1,965,000
CNN COOPER 1,214,000
CNN KING 1,185,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,041,000
CNNHN GRACE 986,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 928,000

The funny thing is that Maddow, who's been on the air a lot shorter time than Keith Uberdork, is now eating his lunch in the ratings...wait...they're both employed by MSNBC, and Maddow comes on AFTER Uberdork--which means people WAIT until Keith is done before turning on Maddow.

HAAHAHAHAHAAHAAA

Your Tax Dollars at Work, Although You May Not be at Work UPDATED

So if this is to be believed, the Kennedys are getting fatter off of your tax dollars, courtesy of the ridiculously socialist "stimulus" package that Pres. Obama signed. Now that it's already signed, we get to read the hundreds of pages of earmarks.

So much for the "Americans will have five days prior to any vote to review legislation online" pledge:

"Sunlight Before Signing: Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days."

Lie #1.

So much for the "no earmarks" pledge as documented here.

Lie #2.

So much for the "no lobbyists in my house" pledge.

"No political appointees in an Obama-Biden administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years. And no political appointee will be able to lobby the executive branch after leaving government service during the remainder of the administration."

Exhibit A. HHS Secy Nominee Daschle. BOOM! Outta here.

Lie #3.

I don't care who you voted for in the '08 election. But if you voted for Obama based on his shallow "hope" and "change we can believe in" bumper sticker campaign, you were misled, either willfully or unwittingly. You were misled. Inside his first 50 days, Pres. Obama has already reneged on key pillars of his "change" foundation--destroying credibility and positioning himself to be an even bigger liar than Pres. "I am not a crook" Nixon. Not good company. Not a good start.

And I leave you with this nice little summary of Obama's ability to pick credible, worthy individuals to fill his posts.

Does anyone feel inspired or a sudden increase of confidence with Timothy "Timmy" Geithner opens his mouth on the economy? <crickets chirping>

How about master locutor Robert Gibbs? "We're working on it." "We're putting together some proposals." "I'll check on it." Huh?

Heaven help us.

UPDATED: Apparently I'm not the only one who is "underwhelmed" by Robert Gibbs.

The Idiot Who Got Me Off Facebook for a Night

Sean Penn is a tool. I knew this would happen. I got my copy of Entertainment magazine a few weeks ago with the Oscars preview. The editors correctly predicted that Penn would probably get "a lot of sympathy in the wake of the Prop-8 vote" and win Best Actor.

The irony in that suggestion is incredible.

It would seem to me that to win "Best Actor in a Leading Role" you would have to be "the best actor in a leading role." Now, I'll come clean. I don't know that I've seen any of the films for which the men nominated in this category were nominated. This commentary isn't about that. If Mr. Spicoli truly was the "best," then he deserved to win. However, if Entertainment magazine's pre-Oscar summary of the situation has any merit, then Penn wasn't the "best" actor, but simply the "Best Role by Which to Make a Hollywood-esque Political Statement."

You be the judge.

I am inclined to believe that the uber-liberal secularists in Hollywood selected Penn in order to give him the pulpit from which to lob these gems:

"For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think it's a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect on their great shame and their shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that support...We've got to have equal rights for everyone."

Yeah, Jeff Spicoli. I saw the signs of hatred. Those signs of "acceptance" and "inclusion" and "tolerance" that were lifted high in San Jose as the home of a Prop 8 and their car were vandalized. I saw the "love" and "understanding" as the Los Angeles LDS Temple was picketed and elderly temple patrons were jeered, mocked and profaned. These "courageous warriors" for "civil rights" were conspicuously absent, however, from locales associated with other more sizable voting blocs who opposed Prop 8 in California. For example:

- African Americans
- Latinos
- Catholics (practicing...)
- Evangelicals
- Muslims

Especially that last one. Why not picket a mosque? Why pick on the LDS church? You and your (m)ilk, Mr. Penn, are cowards. When you have no ideological leg upon which to stand, you shout louder, instead of understanding the merits of an argument. Yours is the intolerant, undemocratic, anti-social, non-inclusive, ostracizing side. Your loudmouthing from the Oscar stage ("You commie, homo-loving sons of guns") simply belies your own shallowness.

Watch the career trajectory of Mr. Penn. The more he started spouting off against conservative values, the more Hollywood and Cannes love him. His secularized agnosticism is certainly indicative of an apple that has fallen quite from his Russian/Lithuanian Jewish and Irish/Italian Catholic tree.

But all that worship and reverence of God has no place in Hollywood.

So Penn got me off Facebook for a night--to post this. When an agent of intolerance points the finger at others and accuses them of his own crime, it's time to tune out. Penn's hollow argument may play well in the Kodak Theater, but preaching to the choir comes across as so cowardly.

When You Invite UConn to Play, Watch Your Meat

I found this little tidbit as I checked the ESPN site this afternoon (as I do quite frequently). I know it's dangerous to have great basketball teams come to your place to play, but I had no idea that the Huskies were known for pilfering porterhouse.

I'm loving that headline.

Well, their politics are straight out of the Dark Ages...

If this is true, and I really hope it is, the Bubonic Plague has struck an al-Qaeda training camp in Algeria. As my post suggests, this is the most fitting piece of karma I've seen in quite some time, as the politics of AQ are to return man to the Dark Ages, forcing women out of schools, and creating a patriarchal society where these same women have no say, no rights and no place save it be below the man.

I smell a rat. A plague-infested rat. Maybe this is all the workings of the CIA's latest bioweapons program: RC rats running around desert camps biting terrorists. Heh.

I can't take it anymore...

I know it's been an eon since I've posted, but Facebook has taken control of my online life. If you really want to know what's up with me, go there. Now, for the reason I've posted.

I am going to officially boycott history Tuesday. I DO NOT CARE ABOUT OBAMA'S INAUGURATION. I'll tell you why.

The consistent cross-outlet fawning over PE Obama is disgusting. The ten official inaugural balls are opulence in a time where frugality is needed. $150M? Come on. Four years ago, the media decried Pres. Bush for having any sort of gala at all. "Too expensive." "Unnecessary." Where are they now? They are silent and complicit in this. It is, after all, their doom and glooming which in my opinion, contributed to the outcome of the election. The consistent character assassination of both Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin, playing the old "Republicans are doofuses, dummies and dolts" card, was so transparent. The hero worship aboard Obama Force One by media reporters was about as far from objective journalism as you can get. Chris Matthews's tingle on his leg moment actually made me wretch a little in my mouth.

What did the losing side do in 2001? They cried "thief" when the election was won in the Electoral College by G.W. Bush. They then spent the next four years complaining about the illegitimate president who "stole" the White House. When he kicked Kerry's can in 2004, they complained again that "millions were disenfranchised." Complain. Complain. Complain. We just found out what the liberal loudmouth machine does when their guy wins: they spend millions of dollars--many of them my and your tax dollars--and throw a party...er...multiple parties.

What does $150M buy?

• At $250K a pop, you could apply a personal housing bailout to 600 people.
  
• At the new low price of oil of about $60 a barrel, you could add almost 4.2 million barrels of oil to the strategic reserve.
• The military could purchase 18 additional Predator MQ-9Bs and drop some crap on idiots around the world who are causing such a ruckus--like Hamas kooks in Gaza or Taliban fools in Afghanistan or Pakistan.
• Give every teacher in my now-home state of Idaho an $11,000 raise. (That's the 13,328 non-administrative members of the IEA--the union leadership doesn't need a raise. They need to be fired, along with every other teacher union hack in America.)

I could think of a million other uses for Obama's millions, but The One has decided that the best use of these funds, and the taxpayer dollars used to secure law enforcement support, etc. is to have a Bruce Springsteen concert for Mom and Dad and the JoBros with Miley Cyrus for the kids.

Guess which mouse-themed network we will NOT be watching in our house come Tuesday?

WARNING! Adult Content!

So we were playing the "ha ha" game yesterday. That's the one where everyone lays on the floor and rests their head on the stomach of someone else. Then the hilarity ensues. The first person goes "ha" (and the heads start bobbing). The next person goes "ha ha"...you get the idea. Usually the group just starts laughing and bobbing up and down at that point. That was about how far we got before we were all laughing ourselves silly.

Then Nate makes a stinker.

Of course, in normal families, this would stop the laughter. Not in ours. It amplified it. Then Mommy says "Nate has the buns of doom." And of course, the "jokes" continued. We use the word "chones" in our household to refer to undies, so I said "Nate: Attack of the Chones." Then Riley chimed in, "He's Count Doodoo." It finally degenerated into "Nate is Darth Skidius, Evil Sith Lord."

Nate of course couldn't get enough of it and tried in vain to come up with his own monikers, most of which were things like "Yeah! I'm Count Doodoo!"

Of course, trying to keep it high-brow, as we drove around looking at Christmas lights last night, I decided to "have a talk" to the family and discuss how it may be better and more appropriate if we start to talk "nice" and remove references to "body functions" from our dialogue.

All four kids were put to sleep by this. I heard snoring. I did.

What the crap? (Sorry about the title, Mom)

Never mind that the earth has been cooling for the last three years, the idiot climate global warming kooks are trying to take over your kid's Christmas program. My buddy in Salt Lake sent me this link--his kids were indoctrinated into this just this past week as they performed the drivel to his shock and horror.

Join your local PTA before Principal Gore makes this a horrifying reality at your local elementary school.

FYI: We live in a place where the kids can still sing Silent Night and say "Christmas." Yep, you guessed it, we're no longer in California.

I've been a Reagan Republican for quite some time...

My mother emailed me this little tidbit this morning. I wrote it when I was eleven years old for a creative write assignment in sixth grade. It's interesting to me in that I was so cutting-edge in my political priorities. Economy. Alternative fuels. Homeland security. I was Hopechange before Hopechange was Hopechange!

Behold:

If I Could Vote....

If I could vote I would probably vote for Ronald Reagan. One reason is because I am a loyal Republican (even if I'm only 11). When I'm 12 I'll be a TAIR. Teen Age Independent Republican. Another reason is I like his way of doing things. I know he has a good record in California as Governor of that state. That sounds like a tough job.

What I would want him to do if he were elected is to help make a more stable economy, help bring down inflation, start searching for more American oil so we rely less on OPEC and other countries. To put more money into military spending and find safe ways to make alcohol and coal fuels.

My Essay on Marriage

Since November 4th, when Californians again (without my help this time) affirmed their majority belief that marriage should be defined as between a man and a woman, I've had some interesting discussions with people on both sides of the issue, and have witnessed questionable behavior as well. I'd like to dispatch with all of those actions, thoughts, observations and votes and state my case for marriage between a man and a woman. I warn you, that my opinions and beliefs on this issue are formed as a result of my faith, conviction and experience, and I neither seek to "understand" or "be tolerant" of others here. My purpose is to lay bare the reasons why I assert that marriage is to be confined to that between a man and a woman. Before I continue, let me state for the record that I do not deny that there are numerous pairs of loving men and loving women who would like nothing more than to pledge their love to someone of the same sex--and who may very well be better at executing their homosexual relationship than many heterosexual couples. As you'll see by reading my commentary, I am not grading the "love potential" for lack of a better phrase of couples--homosexual or heterosexual--but want my friends and family to know why I believe and act the way I do. I also acknowledge both my inability to clearly articulate all that I wish to say and my own imperfection before a God who I will reference in these comments. We are all sinners in this life, we have all fallen short of the glory of God. That is a commentary for another day.

First and foremost, I know that I am a spiritual son of my Father in Heaven. I know that I was spiritually begotten of him before coming to this earth. My earthly parents, married since 1957 in this life, gave me life almost forty years ago--and in so doing, were made participants in God's plan of happiness for each of us--His children--here on earth. I know that God extends to all who will accept these same opportunities to partake of the blessings of creation and raising children in this life. As we are all sons or daughters of our Father in Heaven, He has entrusted us to help one another--our brothers and sisters--to come to know Him in this life and to work together to return to live with Him again, given that we've successfully exercised our agency in this life. He does not restrict us in this life. He has blessed us with the gift of agency--basically the ability to choose our path--in this life. It is why we are here. Life is therefore like a big test. He has provided us with study guides, mentors, proctors for the test and the answer key. He will not, however, force us to use any of these tools as we take this examination. He will merely show us where the helps are and allow us to choose for ourselves.

That kind of lays out the foundation. Another fundamental belief I hold--which has been confirmed to me as truth by a loving Father in Heaven--is that just as we lived in the presence of Him prior to coming to this earth, we have the potential to return to His presence if we are faithful in making and keeping the covenants He has laid out for us. Of course we first must apprise ourselves as to what these covenants are, but once we know--we must do. In addition to this, I know that the rewards for this life are not a "thumbs up--thumbs down" heaven or hell scenario. We are promised a variety or degree of glory commensurate to our disposition and actions here--basically we merit what we're comfortable with. (Think of the common idiomatic expression "as comfortable as a whore in church." We won't be comfortable in the presence of God if we've lived so as to exclude him from our lives or at least not make him the center. He does not want us to be uncomfortable--nor does he reward us or give us something we haven't warranted or desired, hence the situation as I see it.)

Because our Father in Heaven desires that we inherit everything He has, he has designed this life to provide us with opportunities to grow, learn and through trial and error, come to know what He knows and act as He does. He has also provided us the great eraser for our mistakes--our elder brother Jesus Christ. Basically, it's a foolproof plan--except for one thing: our own disposition to err. If we can overcome that basic nature, we can overcome the weaknesses and sins of this world and be blessed with a full measure of God's inheritance--just as a loving earthly father would leave his "millions" to his posterity.

Earlier, I mentioned "covenants" which I define as a two-way contract between God and one of his children--son or daughter. In order to gain this inheritance, God has prescribed that we faithfully attain to knowledge of His plan in this life and make covenants with him. One of the key covenants we must make is that of marriage--what he refers to as "the new and everlasting covenant of marriage." In other words, a marriage that is not just a "til death do us part" promise, but an eternal covenant that has effect after this mortal life has ended for us. In His definition, Father states that this eternal covenant is to be made between a man and a woman. The mortal purpose of raising righteous posterity to him and raising them (as I already noted) is key to our joy in this life. Our desire to make this covenant is critical to our eternal happiness.

So if we are comfortable with the marriage covenant being between a man and a woman, God will bless us with the blessings associated with that desire. He has noted that the reward for faithfulness in this regard is exaltation--in other words, eternity with all that He has, and the potential for eternal increase--an eternal family. If our desire is something else, He promises us blessings commensurate to those desires. My feelings are that any blessing or reward for something other than the eternal marriage God has prescribed will end when mortality for that individual ends. They may be "happy" with their mortal choice, but will never know "joy"--the lasting effects of making choices that are pleasing to God, not just ourselves.

So there it is--poorly written, but from my heart. I am blessed with a beautiful wife here in this life, but even more so, I am blessed with an absolute knowledge that this angel who walks by my side as my mortal equal in theory (and mortal better in practice) and I will be together in the eternities because we have chosen this as a course of action--and we know that God approves. He has spoken it to our souls, we have felt it in our hearts. A loving Father would do nothing less than to confirm that what we're doing is right. A loving earthly father would do the same. "Good job, son. I know you're having a tough time, but you're on the right track."

My Father in Heaven has told me the same. THAT is why I know that marriage between a man and woman is an integral part of God's plan for our eternal joy. I do not apologize for this view. I advocate it. I know there are many who disagree with it. I know there are many who ridicule it. I know that there are many who do not understand it, may call it outdated or any number of other things. Nevertheless, I know it to be true, and for that knowledge, I thank my Father in Heaven daily. I trust that if you do not have this same conviction that you take it to him in prayer--even if it's the first time you've had a conversation with your "Dad." Ask Him. It could be the start of something eternally beautiful.

Catherine Vogt Gets a Lesson at School

Here's a great story from the Chicago Tribune that shows just how unified America has become, and how the candidacy and election of Obama will most likely lead to more unifying unification, tolerant tolerance and understandification.

Hopechange

Well, despite my one vote to the contrary, everyone else in America, including the collective staffs of CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, BBC, RAI-1 and RAI-2, TVE-1, Telemundo, Galavision and CNBC voted for Barack Obama. So the landslide was complete. Obama: 49 bazillion, McCain: 1.

So, where does that leave us as a nation? I'll tell you this: on election night, I went out and stocked up on two-inch plastic "supplies" for my little slice of the 2nd Amendment. Alarmist? Maybe, but I'm not getting caught flat-footed if this place goes wacky (news flash: stock market bombs on Nov. 5).

We've elected the most liberal senator in the entire U.S. Senate--who successfully hoodwinked the majority of the electorate into thinking he was a centrist. He is just the third sitting senator to be voted into the highest office in America, and no doubt, the least-experienced of the three. Oddly enough, despite Chris Matthew's shivers of ecstasy up his leg, others in the media, including none other than Tom Brokaw (on the Charlie Rose show), have quietly admitted that "we don't really know much about Obama or what he'll do." It's the most impressive job of marketing that I've witnessed since we purchased Moon Shoes for my daughter two Christmases ago, after she swore they would help her jump 20 feet into the air. Within two hours of opening the gift, she was telling us that "Moon Shoes are the worst toy ever!"

I wish Obama well. I'm sure it won't be as uphill a battle as the asserted in his acceptance speech. He already has a willing propaganda arm in the American media who will no doubt coddle him, write glowing reviews of his time in office and blame any missteps on the opposition in America. That's what the press is good for here--and that is why print media circulation continues to drpp faster than a lead balloon floating over an electromagnetic gorge. (There was a spike on Nov. 5, as people clamored to get a piece of "history" at the local 7-11.)

Here are a few of my observations: you normally can tell a man by the company he keeps. Unless his name is Barack Obama. Apparently decades of political and religious affiliations with Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers and Rashid Khalidi don't count as "questionable" or "dangerous liaisons." Instead, they qualify as "people I hardly know." Also, Barack Obama, according to his close friends in the media, "didn't really work for ACORN (the notorious voter fraud peddlers--sign up the Dallas Cowboys get a free t-shirt)" but had only heard of them or some other dumb excuse when he got his hand caught in the cookie jar. Redistribution is apparently okay as long as you are the recipient of whatever is redistibuted--and voting for the redistributor--not if you're the victim of this shake down. Agency and ability be damned--choice and accountability are out, replaced by arbitrary assessments by the elected elite as to who qualifies as "rich." (According to Bill Richardson [ironic name], Obama surrogate, "rich" is now $120K. This figure is the only number to fall faster than the stock market in October--as it started at $300K--losing more than half its value in a matter of days.)

So, again, the P.E. is in for a tough road. Because I'm an American and I respect the office of president, I will not refer to Mr. Obama as ObamaHitlerMcChimpy or any other iteration of the vitriolic names the left has been using against Pres. Bush for the better part of the past eight years now. Instead, I will respect him as much as he does me. He keeps his hands off my "stuff" and I'll play nice.

But I will not vote for him in 2012--regardless.

By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them?

I picked up a free subscription to the Economist, a UK-based weekly magazine, using frequent flier miles. I started reading it casually while in business school, and usually liked what it had to say. If offers a different perspective--not another parroting of the American MSM.

The latest article that caught my eye was on p. 43 of the print edition. (URL here)

The article discusses the Mormon work ethic, and how the economy in Mormon-dominated Utah continues to grow--and unemployment remains low compared to regional neighbors. Two pieces of this article stuck out to me, and I quote them here:

The "cultural thing", as businessmen from out fo state delicately refer to Mormonsim, helps in other ways. Utah's almost universal conservatism makes for stable, consensual politics. It took the state legislature just two days last month to plug a $272M hole in the budget. By contrast, California's budget was 85 days late. Nevada's politicians are preparing for a nasty fiscal fight next year.

Mormons do not come to work nursing hangovers, and they are inclined to stay put in the promised land rather than pursue better-paying jobs elsewhere. Matthew Donthnier, who is hiring for a new Proctor & Gamble plant, has only one complaint about the local workforce: it can be a little difficult to persuade people to toil on Sundays.

"I teach people correct principles and let them govern themselves." -- Joseph Smith

Every Once in a While--You Pause...

I never knew Stephen Fortunato, yet I am fortunate that he served me--and the rest of America--for all the right reasons. I want to thank him and the thousands of others like him for selflessly serving me and the rest of this great nation of America, and for giving his life in that struggle. It would seem by the included blog post which he wrote, that the sacrifice he made was done so willingly, with a clear head and with gratitude for the opportunity.

From Boston Globe:

If I may …

I'd like to say something....Just to get it out there so it is clear.
To all the pampered and protected Americans who feel it is their duty to inform me that I am not fighting for their freedom, and that i am a pawn in Bush's agenda of greed and oil acquisition: Noted, and [expletive deleted] You.

I am not a robot. i am not blind or ignorant to the state of the world or the implications of the "war on terrorism." i know that our leaders have made mistakes in the handling of a very sensitive situation, but do not for one second think that you can make me lose faith in what we, meaning America's sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers in uniform are doing.

I am doing my part in fighting a very real enemy of the United States, i.e. Taliban, Al Qaida, and various other radical sects of Islam that have declared war on our way of life. Unless you believe the events of 9/11 were the result of a government conspiracy, which by the way would make you a MORON, there is no reasonable argument you can make against there being a true and dangerous threat that needs to be dealt with. i don't care if there are corporations leaching off the war effort to make money, and i don't care if you don't think our freedom within America's borders is actually at stake. i just want to kill those who would harm my family and friends. it is that simple. Even if this is just a war for profit or to assert America's power, so what? Someone has to be on top and I want it to be us. There's nothing wrong with wishing prosperity for your side.

I am a proud American. i believe that my country allows me to live my life more or less however i want to, and believe me, i have seen what the alternative of that looks like. i also believe that our big scary government does way more than it has to to help complete [expletive deleted]-ups get back on their feet, a stark comparison to places where leaders just line their own pockets with gold while allowing the people who gave them their power and privilage to starve. I have chosen my corner. I back my country, and am proud to defend it against aggressors. Also, if you dare accuse us of being inhumane, or overly aggressive because we have rolled into someone else's country and blown some [expletive deleted] up and shot some people, let me remind you of just how inhumane we COULD be in defending ourselves. Let me remind you that we have a warhead that drops multiple bomblets from the stratosphere which upon impact, would turn all the sand in Iraq to glass, and reduce every living thing there to dust. Do we use it? No. Instead we use the most humane weapon ever devised: the American soldier. We send our bravest (and perhaps admitably craziest) men and women into enemy territory, into harms way, to root out those whom we are after and do our best to leave innocent lives unscathed.

...One last thing...a proposal. i know it has been stated time and time again but i just think it is worthy of reiteration. If you find yourself completely disgusted with the way America is being ran, and how we handle things on the global stage, you can leave. Isn't that amazing? No one will stop you! If you are an anarchist, there are places you can go where there is no government to tell you anything. That's right...you are left solely to your own devices and you can handle the men who show up at your door with AKs in any way that you see fit. Just don't try good old American debate tactics on them because you will most likely end up bound and blind-folded, to have your head chopped off on the internet so your parents can see it. However if you insist on staying here and taking advantage of privilages such as free speach and WIC, keep the counter-productive [expletive deleted] to a minimum while the grown ups figure out how to handle this god-awful mess in the middle east.

Thank you, Spec. Fortunato. Rest in peace.

I think I just wet my pants laughing.

HA HAH HAHAAHAHAHAA!

HAHAAHHHAAAA!!!

HAHAHAAHAAAAA!!!!

Umm...Let's do the Math.

At first glance, this story from Indystar.com looks terrific. Voter registrations in Indianapolis are up. People are taking a stake in the elections. I've always said that it's shameful to have anything less than a 90% turnout in elections (hey, you get sick, you travel, it happens--100% is a pipe dream).

Well, apparently, 100% was setting the bar too low for Indianapolis. According to some quick math figures by blogger Ogden on Politics, there are now officially 105% of the eligible voters in Indianapolis registered to vote. Uh. Um...er...what?

I notice that Say Anything has made the obvious connection. Yes. ACORN has an office in Indy.

Photoshop courtesy of Blind Mule.