Friday, July 31, 2009

One Doc's Opinion of Obama Care

A Texas surgeon, who goes by the name of Bonedoc33 on The Old Hippie's forum, received a letter from the President asking for his support to enact healthcare reform. Old BO obviously doesn't understand that socialized medicine doesn't sit well with medical professionals, 'cause it sure put a bur under one doctor's saddle blanket. Yes, he signed it with his real name and he said I could also use his real name here, but it's no use tempting the leftist nut-jobs any more than necessary.

With Bonedoc's permission, I give you a wonderfully written letter guaranteed to make any patriot smile and cheer.


Chairman Obama (I refuse to call you President as you stand against everything I belive in)

You, Sir, are absolutely full of crap. This national healthcare reform plan you are so vehemently pushing will do nothing but destroy the best healthcare system in the world. As a current medical doctor I do not want a future consisting of a system of rationed care, long lines, shoddy doctors and high taxes. You need to wake up and realize that the vast majority of the citizens of this great country do not agree with your plan, nor do they want it enacted. This is just another bid for big government and a step closer to your goal of absolute power.

Sir, you are the Josef Stalin of our time. You are desperately trying to move us into a socialist system, and you do not care that the people do not want it. Look at communist China. Look at the former USSR. Look at Cuba. Socialist systems DO NOT WORK, HAVE NEVER WORKED and WILL NEVER WORK. In order to give someone something that they have not worked for, you must take it away from someone who has worked for it. Your idea of pouring money into social programs for the lower classes who do not care to work for anything will only furthur bankrupt our country. Wealth does not trickle up, it trickles down. Your plan will not be one of trickle-up wealth, but one of trickle-up poverty.

To conclude, Chairman, I think you are a complete moron who will not stop until you have destroyed this great country. I would tell you where you can stick your national healthcare plan, but that would just be rude. The fact that you hesitated when asked if you would enroll your family into the plan speaks scores for the unviability of it. Finally, I would just like you to know that I am doing all that is in my power to see that you do not serve a second term in office. I have organized Tea Parties, I send emails that uncover your lies to everyone that I know, I follow your political agendas and tell people the truth about what you are really saying and I will be actively campaigning for whomever your opponent is in the next election. I fully intend to get you thrown out on your ass in 2012.

Good day, Chairman

Bonedoc33

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Deliverance



In the real estate business, there is a thing known as a "BPO", or Broker's Price Opinion. A broker or agent is contacted by a lender to appraise the value of a house or other real property, for whatever reason they need the information. For a small fee, the agent researches similar properties to come up with a best guess of what the property would sell for. It's mostly paperwork, but you do have to visit the property and take a few pictures.

Today, Judy had a commercial property BPO in a very rural area, so she asked me to go along and help her find it. Well, we found it, but not until we passed a "No Trespassing" sign and wound several hundred yards down a two-rut trail, through the heavy woods and into a small clearing. When we pulled into the yard, you could almost hear the banjoes tuning up!

We didn't even get out of the car, but took a couple of quick pictures through the windshield. The roof of the commercial building was missing, and you could barely make out the walls through the heaps of debris. Nearby, a small house was hidden beneath a bunch of big oaks, and a dirty old red pickup was parked in front.

After taking the pictures, we had to back down that narrow trail, as there was no place to turn around without going thru the yard and past the pickup. Had we done that, we might have been greeted by Cujo and a toothless meth-head with a 30-30, so we didn't take any chances.

It sure felt good to get back on the highway...and I do feel sorry for the census taker that has to visit that place.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Relaxing

Once in a while you just have to lean back, relax and let the world go by. That's what I did today.

The day started with threats of rain, which eventually resulted in a few sprinkles and one brief shower, but it was enough to convince me it was too wet to work on the landscaping. The recent rains and the fertilizer I applied have the lawn looking the best it ever has, so the only things I had planned were to trim around flower beds and apply some more mulch...but those jobs can wait a couple of days.

Tonight, we went to Pop's for his Tuesday Hamburger Special. You can get a hamburger for $1.09, or the combo for $2.99, which includes fries and a small drink. Delicious! I've been trying to lose a few pounds, so it wasn't the best meal to help that cause, but I'll get back to my popcorn lunch tomorrow.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Another Democrat Politician Who Loves America

Once more our politicians reward their constituents at the expense of patriots and this one severely tests my gag reflex. It's a long read, but at least view the video.

Veterans land grab

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Garage Projects

After two years, I'm finally getting my garage in condition to be useful.

I gave up on going cheap with the storage cabinets and work bench. I had planned on building them all myself, but there isn't enough time in the day to accomplish all my projects, so I bought three three-drawer base cabinets from Lowes. Now I can begin to store things properly.

The past few days I installed door openers on both doors and installed an overhead interior door between the parking area and my workshop. I also removed some temporary shelving, and now I can cut a hole in the wall to install a room air conditioner/heater. That will give me a bunch of extra days to work on other projects without sweating or freezing to death.

Next on the list is either painting the floor, or installing some type of flooring in the workshop. I really like the rubber, interlocking tiles, but they are expensive. However, epoxy paint isn't cheap either and it's a lot more work. Not sure which way to go yet, but that decision can wait for a while.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Lousy Name...Great People

Krum, TX is a town of about 4,000 people in Denton County. Even the locals make fun of the name, but no one is making fun of its citizens today.

A 5-year-old little girl by the name of Reagan Richards is suffering from advanced leukemia and is not expected to live until Christmas, so the town decided to help her celebrate Christmas in July. They put up the city Christmas lights and are going to have a Christmas parade on July 25th. A company that operates a snow-making machine has offered their services to make sure it snows for Reagan, even if the temperature reaches triple digits, as it often does this time of year.

Way to go, citizens of Krum. You give us hope for the future.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

For the Children

About the time you begin to doubt the history of our nation, someone manages to find a way to remind us of reality.

Too bad the vast majority of the target audience for this piece will never read it.


For the Children

Monday, July 20, 2009

Oathkeepers

Oathkeepers has a new website that is much improved over the old blog. Please pass the address on to the oathtakers you know.

New Oathkeepers Address

This video is sort of long, but it explains the basis for the organization.



Sunday, July 19, 2009

Free Health Care! Free! Free! Trust Me!

We’re going to give you free health care, and it will be done by August, so why are you fighting it? So says the President.

Why are we opposed to the government taking over?...because nothing is free and if you have to funnel decisions through a government bureaucrat, every medical procedure performed will become even more expensive. History has proven time and again that government agencies are inefficient, yet for some unexplainable reason, many of us want them to run the largest segment of our economy. How in the world can anyone think this bureaucracy would be any different?

Here’s a fact. The government pays for nothing. You, the taxpayer, pay for everything. You might think that the rich, or big business will pay for everything, but that’s wishful thinking.

You and your friends and your family will pay for it in higher prices that are passed on to the consumer by corporations who must make a profit to stay in business.

You will pay for it in new taxes, because there is no way they can fund such a program unless they raise taxes on the middle class.

You will pay for it in time, as it takes eons for the government to approve anything.

You will pay for it in the quality of your health care. If doctors can’t become wealthy by being the best and the most sought after in their field, what is their incentive to excel?

You will pay for govenment bureaucrats to run the program, and they are paid more than insurance paper pushers.

Under a single payer healthcare program, you will receive mediocre care from mediocre medical staff, and if you aren’t happy with the care you receive, you won’t be able to find another doctor unless you pay 100% of the bill. And you think insurance is expensive!

There’s nothing wrong with our healthcare system that couldn’t be resolved by placing more constraints on lawsuits, but since Congress is made up of mostly lawyers, you know that won’t happen any time soon.

Our District 1 Representative, Louis Gohmert, will soon introduce a bill that would drastically reform healthcare, but leave the government out of it. When it’s introduced, I’ll post a link so everyone can read about it. He discussed the basics with us during our visit at Pop’s last week and it made a lot of sense. Probably too much for the Democrats.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Rain!

We had a wonderful rainstorm last night. The accompanying thunder scared the poor dogs half to death, but it was music to my ears. It's amazing what 2" of rain will do for a lawn that's burning up. Just hours later, it began to green up. The best news...more is expected in the next few days.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Catching Up and Filling Space

Seems like I have days when nothing happens to write about and no matter how hard I try, I can't come up with a subject to comment on, so I'll do the potpourri routine one more time...but probably not the last.

I haven't wasted one minute watching the Supreme Court nominee hearings. The Republicans should have done the country a favor and called for an immediate vote. She'll be confirmed and the state-run media won't report on her unconstitutional behavior, so why waste everyone's time and money.

Wonder how long it will be before someone gets angry enough to resort to civil disobedience to protest the pillaging of the nation's wealth. I follow a couple of forums where tactics are being discussed for the day it hits the fan. Scary!

I still haven't read Glenn Beck's Common Sense. I've been trying to finish a novel that puts me to sleep before I can read more than a couple of chapters. At this rate, it might be a month before I finish.

The hot weather has pretty much kept me indoors lately. I manage to go out every hour or so to move the sprinklers, but I haven't been able to do much actual work outside. Despite all the watering, the grass looks burned. The forecast is for rain on Friday and I hope they're right.

Took the old truck to the air conditioner shop today. The last place that charged the unit put in too much refrigerant, which caused some ungodly sounding harmonics when the fan was on high. It works great now.

Picked a dozen nice tomatoes yesterday and the vines are full again today. I've given a bunch away and we still can't keep up with the rate of production. Last year nothing and this year a glut.

Monday, July 13, 2009

A Soldier Comes Home

I borrowed this link from a thread on www.absolutewrite.com


The right hand side is cut off, so if you want to see a full screen display, try this link.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Cowboy Rules

This came via e-mail, so you might have seen it, but it's too good not to pass along.

Cowboy rules for: Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, The Dakotas, Utah, Idaho and the rest of the Wild West are as follows:

1. Pull your pants up. You look like an idiot.

2. Turn your cap right, your head ain't crooked.

3. Let's get this straight: it's called a 'gravel road.'
I drive a pickup truck because I want to.
No matter how slow you drive, you're gonna get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way.

4. They are cattle. That's why they smell like cattle.
They smell like money to us. Get over it. Don't like it? I-10 & I-40 go east and west,
I-17 & I-15 goes north and south.
Pick one and go.

5. So you have a $60,000 car. We're impressed.
We have $250,000 Combines that are driven only 3 weeks a year.

6. Every person in the Wild West waves.
It's called being friendly. Try to understand the concept.

7. If that cell phone rings while a bunch of geese/pheasants/ducks/doves are comin' in during a hunt,
we WILL shoot it outta your hand.
You better hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.

8. Yeah. We eat trout, salmon, deer and elk.
You really want sushi and caviar?
It's available at the corner bait shop.

9. The 'Opener' refers to the first day of deer season.
It's a religious holiday held the closest Saturday to
the first of November.

10. We open doors for women. That's applied to all women, regardless of age.

11. No, there's no 'vegetarian special' on the menu.
Order steak, or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off
the 2 pounds of ham and turkey.

12. When we fill out a table, there are three main dishes:
meats, vegetables, and breads.
We use three spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup!
Oh, yeah ... We don't care what you folks in Cincinnati
call that stuff you eat ... IT AIN'T REAL CHILI!!

13. You bring 'Coke' into my house, it better be brown, wet and served over ice.
You bring 'Mary Jane' into my house, she better be cute,
know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair.

14. College and High School Football is as important here as the Giants, the Yankees, the Mets, the Lakers and the Knicks, and a dang site more fun to watch.

15. Yeah, we have golf courses.
But don't hit the water hazards - it spooks the fish.

16. Turn down that blasted car stereo!
That thumpity-thump crap ain't music, anyway.
We don't want to hear it anymore than we want to see your boxers! Refer back to #1!

A true Westerner will send this to at least 10 others and a few new friends that probably won't get it, but we're friendly so we share in hopes you can begin to understand what a real life is all about!!!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Pop's Cafe Gets a VIP Visitor


A few weeks ago, one of our coffee drinking regulars called Rep. Louie Gohmert’s office regarding some political issue, and then asked if the Congressman would consider joining us for morning coffee to discuss what was going on in Washington. Since our group usually consists of less than a dozen people, we didn’t expect that he would waste time with us, but to our surprise, he said he would be glad to attend as soon as he could fit it into his schedule. Last Monday morning was the day.

He arrived about 9AM, with a young aide-de-camp in tow, and stayed for an hour and a half. He related the stories behind the stories regarding the bank bailouts, the stimulus, healthcare reform, and problems within the Republican Party. Then he fielded a bunch of questions.

We were really impressed that he didn’t dodge a single question. He was forthright about everything and said if people didn’t agree with him, they could vote him out, but that he was going to support the Constitution and not the party, the polls, or the President, when they were wrong. He shared e-mails that he had sent and received from President Bush, the cabinet and White House staff, and in them he didn’t pull any punches. They were strong, eloquent letters reminiscent of those written by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. He told Bush that Ben Bernanke and Sec. Paulson were dead wrong and that Bush was getting bad advice, and should not go along with the bailouts.

He was very critical of Republican leadership in both houses of Congress and suggested the party needs to clean house. He was not a fan of McCain, and didn’t volunteer any enthusiasm for any of the potential presidential candidates on the horizon today. He also failed to express enthusiasm for our two wishy-washy Texas senators who succumbed to pressure to vote for the bailouts.

It’s wonderfully refreshing to be represented by an unabashed Conservative, who fights the political battles with a copy of the Constitution in hand instead of a Bible, and who isn’t afraid to challenge his own president or the party.

He’s been interviewed on dozens of radio talk shows and has been a guest of Lou Dobbs and Neil Cavuto. Right now, he’s in the process of gathering data for a national health insurance plan that will not be a government program. His plan is getting support from people like Newt Gingrich, so it should be in bill form before too long.

Too bad he isn’t a handsome, charismatic man, since that seems to be what it takes to succeed on the national scene. He just looks like the rest of us coffee drinkers, but his brilliance flows when he begins to speak, and he certainly has the guts and the desire to return America to the greatness it once had.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Requiem

Thanks to everyone for the comforting words about Sassy. She's probably at the Rainbow Bridge by this time, doing her best to convince all the other dogs that the boss has arrived. As usual, they’ll probably let her think that, but laugh behind her back.

It's nice to know that others find the little critters we share our lives with so precious, and Howard, that poem was very touching...thanks for sharing it. Maggie must have been very special to have inspired it.

We’ll pick up Sassy's ashes tomorrow, so she can come home to join Dakota and China, her Shar Pei best-buddies that left us before she did.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Lighter Fare

Time to lighten up the subject matter. Here's one of the most popular You Tube videos going today.


And this is a picture of Sassy when the groomer, unwilling to comb out tangles, shaved her in the middle of winter. The groomer told us that she would need to cut her short, but we never expected to see this.

Sassy was terribly embarrassed that her beautiful long hair was gone, and she didn't like the sweater, but at least it kept her warm. We changed groomers.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Sassy



Sassy, our little 15-year-old Maltese, died July 2, 2009 in Lindale, TX.

Sassy was born Aug 23, 1993, to Terry’s Lucky Toby and Karl’s Chinese Lotus, in Auxvasse Mo. Yes, she had a pedigree, but she was never registered. She wasn’t a show dog and was never intended to be. She was just a little white dog that weighed only five pounds, but thought she was a hundred-pound Rottweiler.

Sassy had no fear. If she heard a noise that needed investigating, she would launch off the bed at a full run and travel ten feet before she touched the floor. If one of the big dogs accidentally hurt her in play, she’d latch onto their muzzle and growl like a banshee while they swung her around trying to shake her loose. When you carried her, you had to hold tight, because she would jump out of your arms if something looked interesting, or if you were too slow putting her down. If a strange dog headed her way, you had to grab her before she instigated a fight…no matter how big the other dog might be.

When Sassy was young, she had a terrible housebreaking problem. She knew she was supposed to go outside, but she would find a place to hide so she wouldn’t have to be bothered with going outside. Judy tried to change Sassy’s toilet practices, but that little dog would just look her in the eye and dare Judy to mete out punishment. I finally began taking her outside several times a day, and during the night I’d wake her up to take her outside, no matter if it was raining, snowing, or stifling hot. The little monster would growl at me and try to get back in the house, but I made her stay outside until she did her job. After a few weeks of that, she began to accept the fact that no amount of stubbornness would allow her to have her way, and her toilet habits improved tremendously. It must have been her instinct to defer to the wishes of the alpha male, because about that time, to Judy’s dismay, Sassy decided that she would become my dog.

Every place I went, she’d be right behind, and if I stopped, she’d stay close by. If I was on the computer, she would sleep on a little pillow next to my feet. If I was sitting in a chair watching TV, she’d hop up beside me and sleep next to me. Even as she got older, she’d do her best to keep track of where I was during the day, and during the night she slept on a pillow next to the bed.

Men are supposed to have big dogs…hunting dogs, or herding dogs, not little fluffy dogs with fancy haircuts and ribbons in their hair, but Sassy didn’t know that, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her. I’m sure people thought I was a strange duck, driving down the street with a freshly groomed little Maltese sitting on my lap, head hanging out the window, with her ribbons blowing in the wind.

The past couple of years haven’t been good for her. She began to go blind soon after we moved here in 2007, and it progressed very quickly. Her hearing also began to go, and at the last, she was nearly deaf. Only a yell or a very loud noise could get her attention. Only her nose still worked, and she’d find her way around the house and yard, sometimes bumping into things, but never giving up.

Despite her ailments, she’d still go outside and stand by the fence waiting for me to come home. She’d sometimes stand there for hours, and when I got home, the first thing I’d see is her little nose poking through a gap in the fence. Then she’d follow her nose through the doggy door and hurry to greet me when I came in. She couldn’t see me, or hear me, but she could still smell.

A couple of months ago, right after she finished eating, she shrieked in pain and several minutes went by before the pain eased. These episodes occurred every few days, until recently they happened nearly every day. In the middle of last Wednesday night, she again screamed and I had to hold her for several minutes before she began to relax. Then on Thursday, she was walking down the hall when she suddenly had a seizure and fell backwards on the floor, losing all body control. The time had come. That Rottweiler heart was too strong for her little Maltese body and it was allowing her to suffer too much. We called the mobile vet, who came out that evening. Sassy went to sleep in Judy’s arms. The house is so empty without her.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Common Sense

I used my Father's day Amazon gift certificate to buy a copy of Glenn Beck's Common Sense, and it came today. I was pleased to see Thomas Paine's 1776 version included in the back of Beck's book, so you can compare the two works for style and content.

I think I'll spend Independence day comparing Paine's account of British tyranny with that of today, as recounted by Glenn Beck. After attending the tea party in the morning, I should be fired up to read the book.