Tea Party Eve

Here I sit on the eve of the biggest nationwide political protests since the sixties, pondering what it means to me personally, but more importantly what it means to the future of our country. Some critics are making snide jokes about the futility of such an event as a modern day tea party, while others fear it’s the beginning of the breakup of the union of states. I don’t know what it will be, but I think it will at last make the evening news in the leftist controlled media.

I’m amazed when I realize I’m going to be a tiny part of such an event and I wonder if the movement will fizzle, or if it will actually be the spark to light the fire that pushes a return to constitutional government.

I’ve attended political rallies before, but they were always pro-candidate and pro-policy, not anti-government, or anti-anything. My life has always consisted of being the quiet person sitting in the back of the room…never seeking attention, but now I’m expected to be a voice of discontent in a choir demanding freedom from federal despotism. I have a lot to learn about political protest and not much time to learn it, so I suspect that once again I’ll be the quiet one standing in the back of crowd, adding to the headcount, but not the protest’s volume.

I’m glad to see that Governor Rick Perry has finally joined the fray, but I wish he had been out front leading instead of waiting to see which way the wind was blowing before committing. He has become a poster boy of Republican inability to express the party’s core principles and to fight for them publicly…but he has great hair!

R&R

Got both my federal and state taxes sent off, and yesterday I mowed and trimmed the lawn for the first time this year. Since I'm mostly caught up with the pressing demands, I decided to relax for a day and take the convertible to a car show in the neighboring town of Canton.

It was a fairly big show, but the ride was chilly and the show didn't last very long, so it wasn't really worth the trip...especially since I got lost twice trying to take a shortcut on the back roads.

I was hoping to see lots of spring flowers on the way, but for some reason they are in short supply this year. There were only a few Bluebonnets...a few more Indian Paintbrush, and quite a bit of Red Clover.

I did see several birds that are recently arrived. Saw the season's first Snowy Egret, as well as a bunch of Purple Martins and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers.

Speaking of birds, our Bluebirds are busy feeding their first brood and a Tufted Titmouse is sitting on eggs in the hollow tree the wind broke off a few weeks ago. I had planned on cutting it down, but now I'll have to leave it up until the babies fledge.

The forecast is for showers tomorrow and with the new sod in need of another watering, I hope the weatherman is correct.

Oathkeepers

Looks like it's going to be a busy month for those who belive the country is going to hell. Tea parties around the country on the 15th, and then on April 17th the Oathkeepers will hold their first meeting in a rather appropriate place...Lexington Square. Let's hope the gathering is recognized by the federal government as a similar act to that which took place in 1775, but without the same results.

The link to Oathkeepers is over in the right column. Give it a look.

Catching Up Again

Winter took its last dying stab at us last night. The forecast was for temps in the low twenties just a few miles to the north of us, so I gathered all the plants from the patio, put them in one place and covered them with a tarp. The hanging ferns were carryovers from last year and I didn't want to lose them, so they went back into the garage to spend the night.

When I got up just before daylight, it was 36F on the patio, but when I drove into town for coffee, the low meadows were white with frost. It looked odd to see all that fresh, green grass and spring flowers covered in white. According to the morning weather report, we set new low temperature records again. I hope they told Al Gore, so the moron can add that info to his computer models.

I e-filed my income tax last night so today was a day to relax and work in the yard. I fertilized all the shrubs, pulled weeds and cleaned up some of the dead branches that were knocked down by several days of gusty winds.

One of my coffee buddies has been putting in a solar power generating system this week. It will produce enough power to supply his needs all day, plus sell some back to the power company. If our power company would buy back the excess power, I'd think about installing a system, but they are a Co-op and have operating rules that won't allow them to do that yet.

Jury Duty Again

I wonder how many people have been summoned to jury duty nine times? I got my ninth summons last week and have to report on April 22. The last time I was called was last fall, but I didn't sit on a jury that time. I've been either a juror or an alternate on 10 or 12 cases, so my curiosity has been satisfied and I'm beginning to resent being called so many times.

Unlike Washington, where you are required to serve for two weeks at a time, Texas calls you for one day, unless you are picked for a jury and then you are required to serve on only that one trial. Because the pay is the princely sum of $5 a day, not many people could afford to stay away from work for long. Everyone dreads being picked for a long trial, since the pay doesn't even cover transportation costs. At least they provide a juror's parking lot.

I noticed one interesting fact the last time I was called. Though the Hispanic population of Smith County is about 25%, there were less than a half-dozen people with Hispanic surnames among the 150-200 people called. I guess that's a clue to how many illegals there are in the county.

I Despise Tax Time!

I spent most of the day working on taxes again, and it looks like I'll have to call the IRS to explain something next week. Maybe I can get Treasury Sec. Tim Geithner to help me figure out how to enter information from Schedule K-1 on a 1040. He should be an expert by now.

H&R Block TaxCut software can't figure it out and it tells me I should contact a tax expert if I have a problem. I thought that's what I paid for when I bought their software, but it appears that's not the case.

After tiring of the tax battle, I decided to go out and cut down the oak tree that died in the back yard. I've been waiting for a calm day and this was the first such day in a couple of weeks. The tree was located in an area that didn't give me much room to fell it and if things weren't perfect, it would hit the fence or another nearby tree. I managed to drop it exactly where I wanted it and only damaged one small branch on an adjacent tree. At least something went right today.

April Fool

I’d like to nominate Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) for the April Fool Award, which would automatically put him in contention for Moron of the Month and Dunce of the Decade.

He introduced a bill that would give the Secretary of the Treasury blanket power to set the compensation for anyone who works for any company that takes/took federal bailout funds.

He was interviewed by Neil Cavuto and said his reasoning is that any executive receiving obscene bonuses could be told by Treasury that the money had to be returned. The problem was that he had no idea what amount of money should be considered obscene, nor does his bill specify who in a company is included. His answer was that the Treasury secretary would have the common sense, and should have the latitude to make that decision. Let me see…isn’t that the infamous tax evader, Tim Geitner?...the guy who is supposed to be so smart that his crime was overlooked because he was the only person who could resolve the financial mess?...the guy who can’t operate TurboTax, but will run the IRS?

Sounds to me like it’s just one more way of pandering to the lowest common denominator and potentially coercing anyone who receives a bonus to do your bidding. “Contribute to my campaign and I’ll let you keep your bonus.”

Welcome wage and price controls.