Politician at the door

I was showering the kids and the doorbell rang. My wife we dealing with the boy so I ran down to greet a rather large smiling man on our porch. I’m not a small man. I’m comfortably over six foot and check out my post about my lovelies for an idea of my girth. See it here: http://inandoutoftruth.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-lovelies.html . This man made me feel a little small but his smile seemed genuine.

He introduced himself as Bob DaSilva and he is seeking to become Rhode Island state representative. A politician was at my door. Now when Barack Obama was looking to become the candidate we had swarms of college kids doing a politically motivated version of Ding Dong Drop but instead of running after they rang the doorbell, their jaws would drop when I started asking questions about Obama’s policy. This was actually the politician at my door. I felt so important.

I had come from shampooing the kids. I still had my work shirt on but unbuttoned to my navel and my shirt sleeves we rolled up as high as they could go. I had my slacks still on but I didn’t have on shoes or sock. I was also wet and covered in shampoo foam. That is how I met Bob Silva. His first comment to me was, “Washing the kids? That’s how I look when I wash mine.” He shook my hand and then casually flicked off some of the shampoo I dripped onto him. I immediately liked him.

Bob is a democratic candidate seeking to replace State Representative Henry Rose who is retiring at 67. It was nice to shake his hand (shampoo and all), he really did seem to be a likable guy, but I had questions before I would support him. First, I asked, how did he feel about Rhode Island State Senator Paiva-Weed, the democratic Rhode Island Senate Majority Leader, blocking a vote on a bill requiring the use of E-verify. I wrote about it here: http://inandoutoftruth.blogspot.com/2008/06/its-out-own-fault.html . Basically, E-verify is a system were employers can go online and verify the working status of new employees. If the employee doesn’t show up in the system, the employee can challenge it immediately and correct any mistakes. If there weren’t any mistakes, that person is not eligible to legally work in the United States. Paiva-Weed refused to allow the legislature to vote on the bill. She killed the democratic process and didn’t allow our representatives to even vote. Bob is from the same party and was appropriate but basically said that the legislature should have had the opportunity to vote. I warmed to Bob some more but I had another question.

I asked Bob about the use of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) database. This database is something law enforcement departments can use to submit identification checks on individuals. It will tell if the person is in the United States legally. It will also alert ICE if there is someone who needs to be deported. At this point, I probably was coming across as some racist. Bob could have told me what a racist wanted to hear and say run every hombre through the system and deport everyone who has a tan or darker skin but he didn’t. Bob told me he was a police officer and believed in enforcing the law. He would not support profiling or running anyone will dark skin through ICE for every speeding ticket. One the other hand, he would support running ICE checks on anyone who was arrested and brought to the police station. Luckily, I do think there are a lot of great American citizens who come from central and south America and profiling would be against their constitutionally granted rights. I do support ICE ID checks on all arrests.

I know I have preached voting 3rd party from president down to dog catcher but I think Bob DeSilva is going to get my vote.


Here are a few articles relating to Bob DeSilva:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2008/06/03/state_rep_henry_rose_to_step_down/
http://www.projo.com/news/content/EB_EPROV_ROSE_3_06-03-08_HQACAO8_v29.3b7a83e.html
http://bobdasilva.com/

Baby Talk

I thought I should define some language for non-parents in reading some of my posts.



Pee-through - the diaper was overwhelmed with pee. The diaper is completely full and so everything around child is wet.



Pee-around - the diaper was avoided. The diaper is basically dry but the area around child is wet.



Poop-through - See "pee-through" but texture and either brown or green color added



Poop-around - see "pee-around" but texture and either brown or green color added. Leading theory is poop traveled directly up crack between butt cheeks.



and the worst offender - Stealth poop-through - similar to standard poop-through but child looks completely clean and innocent to casual observer. Stealth poop-through only is discovered when parent slides hands beneath child to pick said child up. Usually accompanied by parents

Sean Hannity Unamerican

Sean Hannity has the Stop Obama Express dedicated to opposing Obama in all cases up to the election and beyond if Obama wins. Hannity has dedicated himself and his program to this opposition. Hannity dedicates himself to opposing Obama even if Obama's position agrees with Hannity. Hannity is putting a vindictive Right is right policy ahead of what is best for America.

Additionally, the pentagon agrees that Obama was not going to bring the press and camera to visit the troops and yet Hannity has a little song talking about Obama not visiting the troops because Obama couldn't bring the cameras. Clearly Hannity (through his show) is lying. Apparently, lying and the resulting ratings is more important than what is best of America.

Therefore, I'm going to give my first Great Unamerican award to Sean Hannity.

Oh man

The baby sleeps in another room but my wife and I have a monitor in his crib. Basically we can hear every burp, cry or other bodily noise. We don't have formal system on who gets the baby when he cries. Basically who ever hears him cry first has to measure what will be more difficult, feeding the kid or waking up the spouse and convincing him/her to go feed the baby. Last night the baby woke up at three and my wife wisely evaluated getting me up to feed the baby this time would be too difficult. Through the monitor I could hear my wife enter the baby's room. First she spoke to the baby to try and calm him without feeding him. She said something cute and in singsong. It didn't work. Then I heard fabric rubbing as my wife slid her hand across the sheets to pick him up. I tried to go back to sleep. Then she said, "oh man." It wasn't loud or upset but "oh man" usually means I can't go back to sleep. Baby Sammy did a pee-around. That is when is diaper is basically dry but everything around him was dripping wet. My wife grabbed and changed the kid. I changed the sheets. The rest of the day, I yelled a lot.

BFF

There was a promotion on the radio today to win a Best Friend Forever party, called a BFF party. I’m assuming my age disqualifies me from winning a BFF party, since I’m no longer pubescent. Wouldn’t someone who is your BFF deserve a little more effort than an acronym? It only takes about 2 seconds to write BFF. Someone who is your best friend forever actually deserves the couple extra seconds it takes to write the entire words. A FWF, fair weather friend, is an acronym level friend. A MEA, mildly entertaining associate, is an acronym level friend. Someone who ranks so highly as to no only be a best friend, but one you are willing to label as a best friend forever, really deserves vowels.

Why aren't there more gay martyrs?

An Islamic extremists believes if he becomes a martyr, meaning dieing in the act of killing someone else, he will go to heaven where 72 virgins will be waiting to serve him. That’s a lot of virgins. Multiply out 72 virgins by the number of martyrs and you really started accumulating some hymen.

Where are the virgins coming from? If the virgins are the female version of Islamic extremists, then some of the martyr’s motivation is suddenly more understandable. He isn’t getting any satisfaction on earth, might as well blow himself up. Ending Islamic extremist sponsored terrorism could be as simply as putting Spanish Fly in the water supply. Loosen up those bursas and put away the exploding bels.

Since the incentive is virgins, I would suspect that there aren’t very many gay martyrs. I can’t imagine they want to spend their afterlife coordinating shoes and providing fashion advice to a bunch of women who couldn’t even get laid in life. Where’s the drama in that?

What about women martyrs? Do they get 72 female virgins? If so, does that imply that women martyrs are lesbian? If they aren’t lesbian can they go on the prowl in heaven looking for a guy and would that guy need to have 72 wingmen to occupy the virgins?

Are the virgins all female? Having male virgins would allow some reward for female martyrs but would being the only women with a bunch of guys who died virgins be heaven. She’d never get any rest. All 72 of them have some serious pent up energy from a sexless life. She’d spend half her afterlife hiding behind clouds. Also I can’t image 72 dead male virgins would be much for upkeep on the heavenly home.

If there are male virgins, gay martyrs are back in play but I think there might be a better recruiting angle. Instead of telling prospective martyrs they get 72 virgins if they go blow themselves up, tell them that they will be one of the virgins to a gay martyr. The choice is clear. Either they blow themselves up on earth or they spend their afterlife blowing something else.

Finally, what if the virgins, whether male or female, gay or straight, are from other religions. What sort of major sin must one commit to die a virgin and then have to spend your afterlife in heaven as a slave to some smelly martyr? It seems like it would be worse than hell to be in heaven but to spend your afterlife with a murder who keeps trying to ride you like a camel.

Good Lies Bad Lies - tribute to McCain

Sung to Good Times Bad Times from Led Zeplin, although you may know it from covers by Cracker, Phish or Godsmack.




Good Lies Bad Lies

In the days of his youth, he was a prisoner in Vietnam
Now he’s reached that age, he’ll try to use it to be the president man
No matter how he tries, he’s sucked into Bush’s tax plan

Good lies, bad lies, you know he told his share
When Obama left home with a foreign plan
Well he still seems not to care

Sixty – I fell in love with amnesty as illegal as could be
It only takes a couple of babies till citizenship you see
He swore that fence to build and support law to the end
When illegals whispered in his ear, voters lost another friend

Good lies, bad lies, you know he told his share
When honestly left him for a republican plan
Well straight talk seems not to care

He knows countries that are gone
He sure remembers countries before the telephone
He doesn’t care what the voters say
He’s going rule like Bush in each and every way
You can’t teach him countries fell apartRealize, sweet babe, his lies are pure art

Parental Morning

Today started so nicely. Both my wife and I woke up before the alarm. I was still dozing but reasonably well rested. Since the kids were all asleep still, we could talk together like adults. The baby was awake and talking in his crib but he wasn’t calling out. Eventually, his conversation started to become more urgent. I went in his room while my wife took care of other things. He smiled when he saw me. There was a wet area around him and he hates to be wet. That was why he was getting more urgent. No problem, I incorrectly thought. A diaper change and new clothes and he would be content again. I took off his outfit and put a clean diaper under this old one. With one hand I raised his body. With the other hand I grabbed the front of his diaper and whipped it off. Half way through my whipping action, I realized that the diaper was also full of poop. Since I was only holding the front of the diaper, the bottom half acted like a slingshot. Chunks of brown material shot out in an arc.

After a little scrubbing, all of my lovelies were awake. We were enjoying a little family time in mom’s and dad’s bed still dressed in our night attire. Since it was hot, the boy and I weren’t wearing any shirts, not to mention my son’s shirt was dripping wet. My four year old was gently poking the chest of our four-month-old boy. He was laughing at the attention from his big sister. She said his boobies were mushy. My wife told her only girls have boobies. Boys don’t have boobies. My six year old who is smarter than the rest of us, especially around her mouth, said daddy does. Look! and she pointed to my bare chest. My day had begun.

Sean Hannity Isn't Reagan

Sean Hannity’s Bitter Whine

Phil Gramm, at the time McCain’s financial advisor, said that the current economic difficulties weren’t real and are just in our heads. He called Americans a bunch of whiners. Last week, Sean Hannity mirrored the sentiment by saying, “we do whine too much.” Newt Gingrich, on air at the time, put Hannity in is placed by proclaiming, “that is the least Ronald Reagan like quote I’ve heard from you.” To an anti-thought conservative like Hannity, telling him he said something far away from Reagan is like telling a six-year old Santa doesn’t exist and mommy is the tooth fairy. I believe Hannity’s heart didn’t actually stop but medics were on hand.

I have to admit both that Hannity’s point is valid and that there is more to his quote than I presented here. The additional part of his quote minimizes his anti-Reagan comments and provides a rational context for his statement. Even with the context, as Newt said, Hannity had a momentary deviation from Reaganism. Unfortunately I’m petty. Hannity beat Obama with his bitter remarks by only playing a portion of the quote. Hannity refused to provide a context for the bitter remark. Unfortunately, Hannity bills his show as doing the major news networks’ job for them. This would imply a certain obligation to the truth. By not providing context, Hannity’s show does not live up to his own expectations and becomes just an agenda based opinion mongering show. Since I do not claim to provide a news service, I can happily refuse to provide a context and say “Hannity’s not like Reagan”, “Hannity’s not like Reagan”, “Hannity’s not like Reagan!” Since I create no expectation of being a news service, I can say that over and over and over without remorse. Back to you Sean.

My lovelies

As a parent, I’m obligated to say that I love my children. I have three of them and just looking at their lovely faces fills me with joy. However, there are a few drawbacks to being a parent. Let me itemize my top five for you.

5 – Restaurant selection - We select our restaurants by what is on the children’s menu. Pre-children, I would go to a restaurant simply because I had never been there. I’ve been to restaurants where menu could have been in hieroglyphs as far as I could tell. I would order third from the top and eat whatever came to my table. Those days are gone. Instead of checking the internet for up and coming places to try, we now look at the menu online and make sure they have mac’n’cheese.

4 – I’m shrinking – I’m a big guy. I used to be 6 ft. 3 inches but now I have to round up to 6 ft. 2 inches. The cumulative weight of carrying a child or two or three with all of their accessories really weighs a man down. Each kid comes with an assortment of snacks, wipes, diapers (for the little one) and distractions. I insist on the distractions, which are a series of things mom or I can give the kid to entertain themselves for 5 minutes so we can catch a breath of air. My little lovelies don’t carry much of their own accessories. The really difficult part is that those who can walk only want to walk at the beginning of the day when I’m fresh. Near the end, when I’m worn out and tire, they’ve allowed themselves to get tired too. That’s when they want to be carried. My kids weight approximately 45 pounds, 40 pounds and 16 pounds, plus car seat (about 8 pounds) and accessories (about 12 pounds). The child weight addition to the grocery store is 121 pounds.

3 – Honesty from 3 feet and below – My oldest children’s new favorite game is sitting behind me on the couch with their legs wrapped around my hips. Then I have to stand up. Their legs are still wide open to where they wrapped around my hips. Then they show me exactly how big my butt is by pointing to the space their legs had to wrap around. That is enough on that topic.

2 – Body excretions – There is fluid (or something) coming out those kids non-stop. When my girls were younger, they could not be woken up. Believe me, we tried everything. So in the mornings, I would just carry them downstairs and put them on some cushions we had while I got ready for work and my wife showered. At the time, they still wore diapers but their bladders where up to the challenge. The diapers were able to contain their bladders’ work enough to keep the bed dry. When I picked them up, however, the diaper got squished and stale pee would drip down my stomach every morning. We had a name for it. It was a pee-through. Thankfully, they finally out grew that. This morning I hopped into bed with my eldest to wake her. I got enough movement that I called it a success and when to the middle child. I hopped into bed with her and I heard a splash. It was like a Nestea plunge. I got her cleaned up and got dressed. I picked up the baby to go down stairs and he pooped around his diaper onto my shirt. Not a lot but enough. I’m so used to it, that I didn’t even change. All day today I can look at the little brown green stain on my arm and think fondly of my little lovelies.

1 – Lack of sleep – My middle child, the Nestea plunge girl, was born with a shortened ligament in her neck. It made it so she couldn’t look left. All that rightward looking as an infant started to cause her skull to flatten. She kind of looked like some primitive tribe in National Geographic. We had to put a helmet on her for 23 hours a day. It provided a rounded surface for her skull to rest against so it could grow normally. Normally as defined by the readers of National Geographic as apposed to those pictured inside of National Geographic. Everything is fine now but between the pain in the neck and the uncomfortable helmet, she woke up four or more times a night as a baby. The eldest isn’t really that much of an elder and was still waking up once or twice a night. My wife and I looked like zombies for that first year. It got so bad that I wasn’t paying attention while I was driving and turned in front of an oncoming car. Totaled the car and kept me out of work for a week, so it wasn’t all bad. Check out “The life and times of Malady” on my blog list to the right for her experiences with just one kid. I encourage you to share it with anybody you to scare out of having babies.
To be fair, I should mention that there are positives to having kids. I can think of one. Wherever I am, what ever I’m doing, there is a bucket of wipes around. When I travel for work and don’t have the kids around, I’m terrified of spills and random icky things. Granted there are a lot fewer icky things without the kids but I don’t have my wipes.

Nancy Pelosi Failure of the House

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House and Democrat, has balls. Today she said, “You know, God bless him, bless his hear, president of the United States, a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject.”

While I agree President Bush will go down in history is one of the worst presidents of all time, Nancy’s soapbox isn’t exactly standing on the strongest of soapboxes. The president only has a 29 percent approval rating. Congress, led by Nancy Cajones Pelosi, only has an 18% approval rating. I couldn’t find the statistic to prove this but I think more people think Elvis is alive than approve of the Congress.

The congress is supposed to be a check and balance to the president’s power and yet our congress continually rolls over and plays dead every time our constitution is threatened. Our congress has failed to pass a meaningful immigration law or a responsible energy policy. Alternative energy tax incentives are going to lapse and the end of this year because Congress, as led by Nancy, hasn’t been able to pass legislation to extend the incentives. Nancy’s congress can’t get energy extensions at a time when the cost of energy is at an all time high. This session is also the longest in 20 years that Congress has gone without passing any legislation on spending.

What has Nancy I-can’t-believe-I-still-have-a-job Pelosi been up to, instead of passing valuable legislation, that is? Well she has successfully prevented impeachment proceeding of Bush. She started that in 2006 with the comment of, “you never know where investigations might lead.” Wow. Maybe the would have led to impeachment of a terrible president and the removal of power from a whole host of people who haven’t done their duties to the United States of America and it’s citizens, for example . . . Nancy don’t-look-at-the-facts-because-I-won’t-like-what-you-will-see Pelosi.

Nancy party-before-America Pelosi has also been actively trying to get more Democrats into congress. She says that it part of her job as Speaker. Quite frankly, as a thinking American, I don’t care if there are more Democrats or Republicans. Nowhere in the job description on a Congressperson does it read, “get more of my party in power.” She, and the rest of the slackers taken together we like to call Congress, have duties to perform to make our country better. In the end, Nancy if-its-good-enough-for-me-than-good Pelosi has been more concerned with personal and party power and we The United States of American, have suffered for her success.

The answer is blowin' in the wind

How many flips must a candidate flop
Before the voters know to run?
Yes, ‘n how many John Hagees and Reverend Wrights
Before the voters stop having fun?
Yes, ‘n how many times must a candidate pander, either to the left or the right
Before the rot has begun?
The answer, my friend, is votin’ third party,
The answer is votin’ a third party.

How many rights must the president take away
Before congress gets off its knees?
Yes, n’ how many tears must the constitution cry
Before big business is pleased?
Yes, n’ how many times must the citizens sigh
Before with a vote they do the deed?
The answer, my friend, is votin’ third party,
The answer is votin’ a third party.

How high must gasoline rise
Before the parties compromise?
Yes, n’ how many billions must politicians spend
Before democracy dies?
Yes, n’ how many times must our government fail
Before we send them to jail?
The answer, my friend, is votin’ third party,
The answer is votin’ a third party.

Congressional Raises

I’ve just had my annual review (actually it was at the beginning of the year but pretending it just happened is more convenient to my post). I accomplished three of my goals. The other two goals weren’t accomplished but I made satisfactory progress. Overall my boss was happy with me (he wasn’t really but it works for this blog). Therefore, I got a three percent raise (again, made up fact).

Congress is scheduled to receive a 2.8% raise, making their annual salary $174,040 per year (approximately three times the annual HOUSEHOLD SALARY), not counting other perks and benefits they receive (all facts in this paragraph are actually factual).

What did congress do to receive a pay increase on top of their already bloated salaries, you may ask? Great question. I say that because that is the question I’m prepared to answer. Most importantly, congress has been able to increase their disapproval rating from 53% according to NBC/Wall Street Journal in 2005 up to 79% in 2008 according to the same polling organization. Why is this an accomplishment? Well, nothing unites people like a common enemy. The American public is becoming increasing united knowing that our own congress is our enemy. Keep in mind that the year is only half over. Congress is likely to increase their disapproval rating even further before year end, binding the American public much closer.

If that wasn’t enough of an accomplishment to earn an automatic raise, congress has accomplished so many things this year. It has clearly established that a baseball player and the player’s trainer will tell conflicting stories about steroid use. It has also rushed through an economic stimulus plan that ensures our great grand children will be paying for the IPODs many of us rushed out to purchase. Congress has continued the tradition of not balancing the budget through wasteful spending and lavish pork barrel projects. It also continues to defy the calls for creating an exit plan out of Iraq. Congress has also continued the traditions of not defining an immigration policy, an energy policy or a rational foreign relations policy (other than “if you are not with us, you are against us” and we will shoot you). Perhaps one of the most notable accomplishments over the past twelve months is the complete absence of Senators Clinton, Obama and McCain even though they continue to receive paychecks and benefits.

I can imagine going to my boss and saying, “Jim (his real name), I haven’t accomplished anything (except getting a Woodstock Museum in New York funded by tax payers in all of the other states), I barely show up for work and everybody here hates me. Where’s my raise? Oh, it’s automatic. Great. See you next year.”
How about this? Nobody in congress gets a raise unless it 1.) accomplishes goals set before it by voters in the previous election and 2.) its approval rating is above 50%. Note that I didn’t put any unreasonable suggestions like they have to show up for 95% or more of the votes. I didn’t mention harsh evaluation items like being arrested for sexually harassing interns or misappropriation of funds barring you from your raise, just for that year. I’m not even suggesting that if you take 18 months off the job to run as president, you need to take a leave of absence and suspend your pay and benefits.

Obama the Muslim President, not that he is Muslim

Let’s say Obama really is a Muslim. Worst case, he is an America hating Muslim. In that scenario, he could arrange with fellow extremists to attack and destroy the most important American symbol, namely the president. If he manages that our problem is solved.

Michelle Obama is a pretty strong woman. I just don’t see her putting up with the second-class citizenship women have under extremist Muslim doctrine. Therefore, he is more likely a moderate Muslim. In that case, he wouldn’t arrange attacks on the U.S. but he would stop and pray facing Mecca five times a day. I worked for a Muslim boss before. In fact, 80% of the office was Muslim. Five times a day, I was among a very small group of upright people. Other than requiring me to suppress my inner urge to play leapfrog, they were non-offensive. My office workers had to make up the time at the end of the day. I don’t think presidents really have an end of the day. Therefore, the more time he spends looking a Mecca, the less time he would have messing up the country.

The truth is out there . . . don't let it in: test

The truth is out there . . . don't let it in: test

test

I'm just trying stuff. Don't read me. Really stop reading me now. No more. Don't go any further. I would really like you to stop reading now. Ok. I'm just going to entertain myself for a minute while you look away. La de de deeeeee dee de deeee dee deee. You're still here. Read the next post on my blog. It's better. I'm especially proud of the Urinal Etiquette post and the post about campaign promises and budgets being compared to car shopping. Those ones are better. Stop reading here and go there . . . . . please. . . . . thank you.

Seatbelt Mania

My wife and I grew up in the 70s. Seatbelts were something you pushed between down deep between the seats so you could squish a couple more kids into the back seat. I was one of four kids and there was no such thing as a mini-van. For most of my life, all four of us squished into the back seat of a two-door sedan. If one of us brought a friend along, the smallest kid was thrown on top of the rest of them.

We camped a lot. We had a pickup camper that sat in the back of dad’s pickup for the summer. Mom and dad sat in the pickup and the four of us, plus friends, hung out in back. There wasn’t a seat belt in the entire rig. The closest thing was an old road we used to dry out towels. As we drove if one of us kids needed something or if mom needed to make lunch, we climbed through the little window between the camper and the pickup.

Fast forward to now. We have a mini-van that claims to seat eight. We have booster seats and car seats galore. Although there are only five of us in my family, we don’t feel comfortable taking along more than two of the kids’ friends because of the size of the booster seats. My dad would have taken all the seats out of the back and piled my family and all of my cousins too.
We were backing out of our driveway and my wife hadn’t clicked in her seatbelt yet. The belt was in her hand. Clicking was eminent. She screamed at me to stop the car. I thought I ran over the cat. No. She just wasn’t clicked in yet. She was almost clicked in. She would probably had been clicked in by the time we reached the street but just not yet.

Bad Dad

Alright. There is nothing wrong with the kid. He just doesn't like to sleep.

Nancy Boy

Ok. I’m a bad parent. I am praying my child is sick. Something curable, mind you. He’s four months old and has almost completely stopped napping and he cries and cries and cries. (I call him Nancy Boy. Nance for short.) My wife, after a couple of hours of the no-sleeping-crying-unless-you-carry-me-around-until-your-back-hurts, called me and told me she’s taking him into the doctors. My first response was that this is overacting but now I want him to be sick. Something curable but sick. If that explains the crying and not sleeping and we can make it go away, I will be very happy.

sitemeter is pretty cool.

I don’t mean to sound like a commercial but I just added sitemeter.com to my site. Another blogger The Logistician had suggested it. It is really cool and was easy to set up. To give you an idea of how easy it was, I did it and I’m ignorant about computers. Yeah I can do great things in excel but beyond that not so much.


Anyway, now I have an idea of how many people are checking out my site. There are bunch of other statistics available too, like a world map with the location of the people. Don’t worry, nothing private but it is going to be fun playing with it for a while.

It is my new toy.

where have all the homeowners gone?

Where have all the homeowners gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the homeowners gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the homeowners gone?
Banks have foreclosed them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the banks gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the banks gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the banks gone?
Congress bailed them out every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the congressmen gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the congressmen gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the congressmen gone?
Voters voted them out every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the voters gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the voters gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the voters gone?
Evicted by bankers every one
When will they ever learn?When will they ever learn?

talking frogs

I traded links with Frog in NC. Check her out.

http://froginnorthgeorgia.blogspot.com

password blues

My password at work is about to expire. It does so every 90 days. I created a system for picking my next password so that for the first 30 days after the change I can log on. Otherwise, I’ll forget. The system has a second benefit that allows me to track how long I’ve been at my job. In 14 days, when my password expires, I will have changed my password 23 times. That means I’ve been here (23 * 90 days) 2070 days or 5.6 years. Today is going to be a sad day.

ads

I love watching what adsense deems is appropriate ads for my site. When I compared candidate's lying claims of balancing a budget to going car shopping (you had to be there), the ads were about cars and credit for weeks. I've posted a few things about my home state Rhode Island, so a bunch of local businesses are advertising on my site. Recently there have been a series of ads about classes in etiquette. I think that is related to when I wrote about urinals.

American laziness may give McCain the presidency

Obama has continually and consistently called for the removal of troops from Iraq, except for small levels necessary to protect the embassy and American civilians. Unlike Richardson who wanted to run out of Iraq so fast he wanted to leave heavy equipment behind and Hillary who wanted to pull the troops out so she could obliterate Iran, Obama did the politically inconvenient thing and refused to commit to a date when all troops would be out. Obama said from the beginning and in every speech and debate since that he would listen to the Generals on the ground. If troop safety demanded a delay, he would delay. Safety first but still withdrawal. In a moment with the press, Obama, again, said he would bring the troops home and would refine the details as the situation demanded.

McCain, formally known as honest, latched onto the word “refine” and used it to claim Obama is a flip-flopper. The media, lazy as usual, hasn’t bothered reviewing the claim. For days, the media ran stories saying McCain claims Obama is flip-flopping again. The professional media hasn’t bothered to do any research and the common man, who typically has uncommonly low intelligence simply listens to the talking heads. The lazy media and the lazy voters listened to the GOP, costing Kerry an election. History may repeat itself and American laziness combined with McCain and Republican lies may cost Obama the presidency.

Rhode Island Paint Law

A House of Representatives committee examined lead-based paint and found them to be highly toxic. “The most eminent scientists and doctors . . . reached the conclusion that white lead is poison,” testified Marion E. Rhodes, a representative from Missouri. A big was introduced in May of that year in the interest of public health. The bill required for federal regulation concerning the manufacture, sale and use of any paint containing white lead. Also, all lead-based paints were to be labeled with a skull and crossbones and with the words “Poison: white lead.” The bill was defeated. The year was 1910.

Twenty one years later, the president of the National Lead Company, Edward J. Cornish, admitted in a letter to the dean of the Harvard Medical School, David Edsall, “manufacturers as a result of fifty to sixty years experience, agreed that lead is a poison when it enters the stomach of man – whether it comes directly from the ores and mines and smelting works or from the ordinary forms of carbonate of lead, lead oxides, and sulfate and sulfide of lead.” Within a year 400 delegates from 40 nations met at the Third International Labor Conference of the League of Nations and discussed the regulation of lead and lead-based paints. As a result many European counties started bans or restrictions on the use of white lead paint. France, Belgium and Austria were ahead of the rest of Europe by enacting regulations in 1909. Tunisia and Greece were in 1922, Czechoslovakia in 1924, Great Britain, Sweden and Belgium in 1926, Poland in 1927, Spain and Yugoslavia in 1931 and Cuba in 1934.

In 1935, Felix Wormser (great name by the way) from the Lead Industries Association admitted, “Hardly a day goes by but what this subject (poisoning from lead-based paints) receives some attention at the headquarters of the Association.”

The National Lead Company responded by including children in it’s Dutch Boy brand’s marketing images. It created “A Paint Book for Girls and Boys” that tried to minimize the dangers of lead and it also targeted using lead paint for painting schools. Images of children playing around painted surfaces or even mixing paints were commonly used.

It wasn’t until the 1950’s that manufactures, responding to growing concern about the safety of lead-based paint, eliminated lead from their products. Twenty years later, in 1978, the United States Government finally banned the use of lead paint, 54 years after Czechoslovakia banned it’s use. In 2003, the new Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch resumes legal action against the paint companies. That case was won in 2007. In July 2008, the Rhode Island Supreme Court overturns that ruling against the paint companies.

When the original case was started in 1999, 6.9% of children tested in Rhode Island indicated unsafe levels of lead in their bloodstream. By 2007, the rate had fallen to 1.3%.
The ruling would have penalized the paint companies billions of dollars. Motley Rice, a private law firm Rhode Island outsourced this case to, would have earned a healthy percentage of billions of dollars. Motley Rice LLC labels themselves as, “. . . one of the nation’s largest plaintiffs’ litigation firms. Our attorneys and staff work hard not only for our clients, but for the causes they represent. We are working to advance the greater good – for out clients and for all society.” Motley Rice could really advance their standing in high society with a percentage of billions of damages from one state alone. Had they won the case for Rhode Island, they would have been the law firm of choice for, not only other states, but for many counties, cities and towns wishing to take legal action against the paint comp

A simple regression with shows the incidence of lead poisoning by birth cohort heavily influences the number of children shown as proficient in reading and math. In fact, it shows the percent of children testing positive for lead poisoning explains as much as 22% of the variability of school performance.

Comments on Society, Politics, Business, & Entertainment Industry.: McCain vs. Obama

Comments on Society, Politics, Business, & Entertainment Industry.: McCain vs. Obama

Mr. Horn, House Sitter.

Last year, Mr. Horn saw two men break into his neighbor’s house in a small community in Texas. Mr. Horn quickly called 911. He continued to speak to the 911 operator while waiting for the police to arrive. Unfortunately the two men started to leave carrying a bag of items they stole from his neighbor. Mr. Horn told the 911 operator he was going to stop the thieves, grabbed his shotgun and went outside. He confronted the men, when they started to run, he shot and killed them. This week, a grand jury concluded that there was no case against Mr. Horn. He is free. This story is very topical because the Supreme Court recently ruled that Americans have the right to own guns.

To me, the real question is what sort of present should the neighbor give Mr. Horn. When I’m away and a neighbor watches my house or even feeds my cat, I give a little something. A token from the trip I went on. I don’t give anything really grand but something more than a postcard. If feeding my cat earns someone a set of drinking glasses with “My neighbor went to Somewhere and all I got were these lousy glasses” printed on them, what does shooting two men in the back earn? Whatever it is, it had better not piss off Mr. Horn.
If you lived in the neighborhood and were going on a trip, would you ask Mr. Horn to watch your place?