Puppy Chow

9 cups Chex cereal (you choice in flavors)
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter on high for 1 1/2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute. (or until fully melted) Add cereal and stir till coated with chocolate mixture. Once cereal is well covered, sprinkle with powdered sugar until completely covered.

I'm thinking that I need to pick up the ingredients for this at the grocery store today when I run to town!

Merry Christmas

To you and yours - on this Christmas eve - hope you all have a great Christmas tomorrow. The government gave you a Christmas present too - a raise on the debt ceiling - to 12.1 trillion (yes, with a T). Imagine every person in the US, man, woman, child, has a credit card. They're free to charge more on that card than ever before. Here's a great article on this subject. Otherwise, its a break from the great news of DC, and the idiots who are up there. Make a point of calling your representative/senator this coming week - even though they are not in the office, leave a voice message. Let them know this crap going on is NOT ok.

A postcard for a soldier

I was reading blogs, and came across this - you can pick a picture, put your name & hometown, and Xerox will print it and send it to a soldier/marine/airforce/navy overseas. A great thing to do.

The best man

I was reading local news..and a best man has robbed the DJ at a wedding in Houston. What did he take? An expensive crystal decanter of liquor. Imagine having that at your wedding... The groom says he doesn't really know the man, his cousin bowed out at the last minute and this is the guy he gets, sumdood he met at a basketball court for a game.

Invite someone you don't really know as your best man? I don't think so. This stinks to high heaven.

On another note, a woman in Kerrville called 911 because her husband wasn't eating dinner. She evidently is a serial caller of 911 according to the police, and has called before because she couldn't find her clothes. They went to the house because there was screaming and a hangup. She now faces charges of 911 abuse.

On a serious note, some senators and a couple of groups, the Fund for Personal Liberty, and the 10th Amendment Foundation, are saying they will challenge the constitutionality of the health care bill, if it passes and goes to Obama's desk.

I don't believe it's constitutional either. I read the Constitution online and it appears that nothing in there says that the government can mandate a purchase of something. Equating it to car insurance is what Obama is doing - however, you're not forced to buy auto insurance, or fined, and it's for liability against others. Plus each state has their own requirements, not a federal one.

10th Amendment: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

It appears that this health care business is state business. Not federal business. Although the federal government has overstepped its bounds many times, this is the by far the largest bite they're trying to take out of the state's rights.

"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security"

The above quote is from the Declaration of Independence. When does the government become intolerable and it needs re-doing?

Get out of our House!

While watching the news this morning, the spokesman for this group was on: http://goooh.com/home.aspx

Get out of our House - about replacing the whole House of Representatives. Its been around since 2007 he said - so it predated the tea parties.

I'd just as soon KEEP Ron Paul.

Hah!

How 'bout that global warming blanketing the east coast? I'm watching the news, and it looks like MN when I was a kid, and we had lots to shovel.

About the US and the death of it

This article states a great case for what is happening now.

Takuan Seiyo in one of the installments of his brilliant From Meccania to Atlantis series:

“The strongest, most admired country in the world until just a few years ago is now a cautionary tale of the wages of sin and stupidity told to Chinese schoolchildren. A nation that works for a living can weather perhaps even such great storms. But the jobs of the American lower class have been outsourced to imported Mexicans. The jobs of the American middle class have been exported to China and India. The jobs of the American upper-middle class have been taken from the white males who held them by merit, and given to resentful identity groups that hold them by the fiat of the government’s preferred skin colors and favored genitalia. And the jobs of the American upper class have been reprogrammed from leadership and service, to ripping off the less clever via lawyering, banksterism, and padding one’s golden CEO parachute, and then expiation via funding and leading socialist NGOs. A freefalling dollar cannot help by increasing exports, when you have off-shored your manufacturing, and your main industries are predatory lawsuits, selling shoddy American housing to Salvadorians with faked mortgages, and marketing financial weapons of mass destruction worldwide. And a falling dollar is not a good inducement for the world to keep buying dollar-denominated U.S. debt. The cessation of that buying has such dire consequences to the United States that Chinese strategists have named them ‘the nuclear option.’”

I have sometimes encountered Americans online who are convinced that they will face an armed conflict with a rising China in the future. Perhaps. But they often seem to take it for granted that such a conflict will be triggered by Chinese aggression against “foreign devils.” I’m not so sure about that. Right now I don’t see what interest the Chinese should have in provoking a war. They are currently behaving smarter than the Americans in many respects. I suspect that the Chinese are quite happy with selling cheap toasters to the United States while their presidents are bankrupting the country by making the world safe for sharia, their businesses are outsourcing jobs to Asia and their universities are educating Asian students.

The USA, on the other hand, is a country with a massive national debt and large armed forces, a potent combination which has facilitated wars in the past. I don’t rule out the possibility that Chinese nationalists could create trouble at some point but frankly, if there is a war between China and the United States in the near future it may well be triggered by the USA, not China.

Whether the Americans, whose armed forces are infiltrated by Muslim Jihadists and Mexican gang members, would win a conventional war is a different matter. After the Muslim Nidal Hasan killed many of his fellow soldiers the US military intensified its efforts to recruit more Muslims to the military. Recruiting people from hostile cultures to protect your country is the behavior of nations that want to die, and apparently, that is what the West now wants to do.

The US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year for “saving” the global economy. Man of the Year, as the award was called before our gender neutral age, has earlier been awarded to Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin (twice), the Ayatollah Khomeini and other distinguished gentlemen, so Mr. Bernanke is in good company.

Yet as the insightful financial observer Karl Denninger states, “Bernanke’s actions have singularly done more damage to the American economy - and America - than anyone in the history of this nation. He clearly eclipses Nixon in his dissembling, while making a mockery of the free market.” This is because “By encouraging the bubble economy during Greenspan's time in The Fed (Bernanke was the chief agitator for 1% interest rates - and holding them too low during the early part of the 2000s) and trying to restart the bubble economy this time around through both ZIRP and intentional distortions through the credit markets, shielding those who made bad decisions while cramming the inflationary pressures down the throat of trading partners, Bernanke has guaranteed the loss of global reserve currency status for The Dollar. Our Senate is too stupid to recognize this and stop his re-nomination.”

Regarding the financial crisis of 2008, Denninger comments that “We have fixed nothing in the last two years.” In his view, “…the root problem is an excessive level of debt in the system at all levels, a level of debt that exceeds capacity to pay, and as a consequence any and all attempts to restart the credit-driven consumption economy would fail, and if pressed too far the government will fail. The evidence strongly suggests that you are getting awfully close to your last chance to stop being stupid before the market hands you a lesson that has the potential to destroy both our economy and government.”

In case Europeans believe that the EU is in a much better shape, the same man also claims that the Eurozone is “an absolute train wreck” which is “dancing with jugs of nitroglycerine.”

The price of gold will probably continue to rise. Investors buy precious metals because they no longer trust many currencies, above all the US dollar, and they are right to distrust the dollar. Although the price of gold has already risen significantly, the expatriate American investor Jim Rogers believes this is not a bubble since virtually nobody still owns gold. As a friend of mine comments, “I think gold is going to hold the level for a while now, for some months bordering to half a year. Then, due to the money-printing, the sky will be the limit.”

Another book

I just received one of my orders from Amazon, and the book I bought was Road to Serfdom,texts and documents, The Definitive Edition, by F.A. Hayek. I'm up to chapter two, The Great Utopia, and this book is quite interesting - and although originally written in 1944, looking at England at the time of WW2 socialists which were going to 'make over the country', it was printed in the United States, and was even condensed for the Readers Digest. It talks about classical liberalism (basically western thought) and the socialists, and progressive thought at that time. Progressives promise a 'new freedom', yet their 'freedom' brings servitude to the state. Look at what's happening today in Congress - for the first time, you will be required to purchase something. Never before has this occurred in the history of the United States. Is this despotism under another name, i.e. "good for you, good for the country"? I say that it is.

The Tea Party movement is more popular than the Republicans and the Democrats, yet the Tea Party movement is not a party, nor does it have a head. I think congress and the senate is in for big changes on these coming up elections.

Have you joined the Tea Party movement? The liberal establishment has taken to calling tea party members an obscene term, I guess they are following Alinsky Rule #3 - "Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also, it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage."

However, the Tea Party movement is not going away - people are finally waking up to the government, and taking an interest in politics, people that were not previously involved in things are now. Look at the town halls this past August. Housewives, retirees, etc were standing up and asking hard questions of the elected officials, who often did not have an answer for their constituents.

Glenn Beck, who is often vilified by the left (and people on the right also), has a book out called Common Sense. I have the book, have read it several times, and am re-reading it again. Everyone, left, right, people who don't know which side they are on, should read this book - it's a book that is neither left nor right, but as its title says, is common sense.

I think today, the Republicans and the Democrats are both progressives, just not equal in their views. Both are to the left of center, although some Democrats and Republicans are starting to view this leftist point of view with some dismay. I think the Independent candidates are going to fare better in the upcoming elections than either Republican or Democrat. The people are tiring of the 'ruling elite' that makes up our government. Look at the number of years some of the congressmen and senators have been in office. They've made politics their career, even though this was never envisioned by the Founding Fathers. George Washington was offered the post of President for life, he turned that down, along with a third term.

Enough rambling, back to the Hayek book - even though I am only just into chapter 2, this is another book that I think people need to read today, and apply it today's politics and government. Its not that expensive at Amazon.

Now back to watching GB :P

Here and there

As fond as I am of credit cards, I am not fond of this rate - 79.9%, which is charged by First Premier Bank for their Visa card. I don't know of ANYONE with a brain that would get a credit card with that sort of interest rate. It says it's sent as an offer to those with a low credit score, has a maximum of $300. I'd say only an idiot and a fool would get that credit card.

While I'm thinking about idiots and fools, reminds me of a video I saw earlier this evening of Lord Monckton talking to a Danish woman up in Copenhagen. If there ever was a fool, HERE is one. All 10 minutes something of it. She doesn't let the facts confuse her at all.

While I was reading blogs, I came across The Cat in the Hat Goes to the White House, quite a charming tale of the Cat and Thing 1 and Thing 2. Some good snark there.

A day at the groomers

The dog went to the groomers Wednesday, and he came out looking like this. The stupid upload isn't working, so a link is the best I can do for his picture.

The elitists

While Al Gore flies his private plane, uses 20 times the average household's consumption of energy, and makes millions off selling 'carbon credits' with his business, the elitists and those who make the laws are leaving themselves out of the equation that everyone else has to live by. A good article from Jewish World Review has this:

The contemptible mindset of intellectual elitists can be reduced to just two words: "privileged exemption."


* Al Gore and his soulmates want to "save the planet" from global warming—which completely justifies their flying to conferences in private jets, riding around in gas-guzzling limos, and living in homes that use twenty times the energy of ordinary houses.

* Congress can destroy the best health care system in the world—because they have their own Cadillac health care coverage, and will never have to endure whatever system they foist on us.

* College professors can rail against the injustice of our democratic republic and our capitalist system—because they live in college-supplied housing, have job-for-life tenure, and adjuncts relieving them from much of the "burden" of teaching.

* Politicians and celebrities are overwhelmingly in favor of "gun control"—because they have armed bodyguards and live in protected communities.

* The same bunch wants "social justice," even if it bankrupts America in the process—because they've already amassed so much personal wealth (from the very same capitalist system they ostensibly abhor) that no amount of "income re-distribution" will alter their lifestyles one iota.

* The miserable status quo of public education, due in large part to the intransigence of union contracts which nullify accountability, is acceptable—because the children of the elitists attend private schools, and because elite politicians need union contributions to get re-elected.

* Prosecuting wars without an all-out effort to achieve victory is acceptable—because "other peoples' kids" are doing the fighting and dying, and it's far more important to be "sensitive" to our enemy's concerns.

* Legalizing millions of lawbreaking border-busters is the "right thing to do"—because the privileged in business get cheap labor, and the privileged in politics get cheap votes.

* All attempts to foist world governance on America are perfectly acceptable—because elitists will be running things, and "messy impediments" like the Constitution will be unnecessary.

Look at the system in Russia. There were lines for food, wood, everything down to tiny potatoes, while the elites in Russia shopped at special stores, didn't have to stand in line for everything, and got the buttered side of the bread while making everyone else do what they're told. Look at Cuba as another one. Michael Moore says Cuba has the best health care in the world. Do you really think he got the average person's medical treatment? Reserved for the elites is what he got. They put on the full dog and pony show for him.

Speaking of the Constitution, FDR wanted a second Bill of Rights. Obama is trying to put that into use now - with the health care bill, being a "right" to health care, housing, etc. check this out:

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens.

Look at what they consider rights. Obama refers to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as negatives. This has been a long time coming, out of the progressive movement of the early 1900s on through today, each president has been further to the left, including the Republicans. Progressive thought is interwoven all through today's politics, and it's the very few that have not succumbed. (Ron Paul comes to mind). His son Rand Paul is running for the Senate in Kentucky. He's got the same views as his father on government. We need more like that, that stick to the Constitution, and what the Founding Fathers stood for.

All these things that FDR wanted as a second Bill of Rights, are NOT rights. It's more of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Even if we took all the money from "the rich" it would not even begin to cover all the spending that this government is going for. Tax increases are coming for everyone, including the middle class.

From Americans for Tax Reform, comes this:
"What Will Your State's Top Income Tax Rate Be?" When the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts expire at the end of 2010, marginal tax rates will spike back up to 39.6%. This means that top marginal rates will rise everywhere; when integrated with state taxes, the marginal rates are even higher.

This document describes what each state's top rate will be after the tax cuts expire, and ranks them from best to worst. (9 states have no state income tax and are tied for first place with 39.6%; Oregon is 51st, with a top integrated marginal tax rate of 46.24%.) Find it HERE.


Just great. Plus figure in the higher taxes on tobacco, health care, everything else, you'll be paying close to 50% of your income in taxes. Don't forget to throw in your yearly property tax! We chose to live out of town because in this little town, we would have been paying close to $1400 a year for a 3 br house of a bit less than 2,000 sq. feet. Out here we pay much less. Throw in *all* the taxes you pay, and what if taxes had to come out one time a year paid all at once? People would be up in arms, and crying foul because of the amount they'd have to shell out to the assorted agencies. But we're being nibbled to death bit by bit, and people generally don't notice the huge chunk that is coming out of their pay.

From one of my bumper stickers: "You are not entitled to what I earn"

Oh no!

We have a gingerbread village like that this year. It has not been assembled yet.. I wonder if the kitten will attack it like this cat is?

Dec 14,2009

why such a title? because its' a bunch of things.. here ya go..

A couple of things I was made aware of today – an article from Fusion magazine – about the environmentalists, and their shoddy record. I remember while I was growing up, the big scare was “the coming Ice Age” complete with capital letters in order to scare the heck out of us. Then suddenly, it was completely silent during the 80s, until global warming came upon us. Can’t they make up their minds? The earth goes through natural cooling and warming cycles, and it appears we are shifting into a cooling cycle, as the past 10 years have had a gradual decrease in temperatures. Of course, let’s not let facts stand in the way of mass hysteria. I somewhat remember my mother complaining about the lack of good stuff to get rid of mosquitoes, (the state bird of Minnesota), only to find out years later that malaria was almost conquered, but with the bans on DDT, it resurged and today over a million die yearly from malaria. Now that mosquitoes are carrying other diseases, it would be a good thing for us to re-look at DDT and bring it back. I’m seriously considering subscribing to Fusion, either that or Wall Street Journal. I’m finding that I like WSJ more and more.. apart from all those pages of stock figures. Their opinion pages and articles are more relevant than most of the so-called “news” organizations.

And yet we still listen to the loose wing-nuts of the left , with their dire predictions. CNN, MSNBC, et al are not reporting much on, if at all, of the emails that have come to light in climate-gate. Making up data and throwing away original data because it didn’t support the pre-determined conclusion… lovely stuff. Why am I not surprised? The people on the left seem to have no morals or anything that stops them from lying, cheating, etc.

On another note, federal workers are going gangbusters. The average federal worker makes MORE than a private industry employee, at $71,206 per year, with private industry at about $40,331, plus it’s about impossible to fire a federal worker. I remember when I was in the Navy, and we had a secretary in Supply. She slogged off the job quite a bit, took extra-long lunches, and generally did a shoddy job. You can’t fire them, without reams of documentation. They finally shoved her off onto another division, and we got on with our work. Federal workers were a laughingstock when I was in, as most of them were slugs and just plain lazy. Freshman Congressman Jason Chaffetz is calling for investigation into the paying of federal employees. I was reading yesterday how Dept. of Transportation has quite a few making over $170,000 a year. WHAT?

Federal pay is increasing, while private sector pay is decreasing. The two sectors of growth in industry is health care *duh* and GOVERNMENT. Do we really need all that government?

Today I was watching television, and a reporter asked Nancy Pelosi about the Constitution and the requirement that is in a bill to buy health insurance. She stammered “what? What?” and never answered the question. The political whore of a Republican that is in Louisiana, Mary Landreiu (sp?) , paid off by $100 million for her state, said that she would leave it up to the constitutional lawyers as to where in the Constitution it is found that the government can FORCE you to buy something.

I read a couple of blog posts that I found very interesting today, about 2nd Amendment issues. New Jovian Thunderbolt has some information on pending laws that are affecting your dealings with others, and Lawdog has a link to a blog that examines court cases.

In Palestine, the idiots populace marched in green for Hamas, and the end of Israel. Since the inception of Israel, the Arabs have turned down every peace talk that is put towards them, their only wish is the destruction of Israel and the Jews.

On a good note, the youngest had her Christmas Concert at the local HS, they had from elementary school on up to the high school bands play. She is in the percussion section, and seems to land behind the tubas each year, so no good pictures can be taken of her! Also bought some tasty peanut brittle from the little table they had set up as a fundraiser for Band Boosters. I forgot peanut brittle was so chewy once you started eating it. Well the internet is not cooperating, so you get more of my thoughts.

Christmas seemed to come upon us really quickly from last year. This past year I spent some time away from home to help my mother-in-law, I guess that made it go quicker. Also seems like when you get older, the time goes quicker. Each day does not go by so quickly, but next thing you know, another day is gone, and what have you done? I guess being a stay-at-home wife does something to you, makes you look at things in a different perspective. Housecleaning is not all its cracked up to be. It’s boring and dull. When I was a kid, I’d trade my household chores with my little sister, so I could be outside and *do* something, even if it was just mowing the lawn. Now it’s come to the internet, where this is my little outlook on the world, and it’s expanded from just the family, to political turmoil in Iran, and what else is going on in the world. Funny how the internet has changed the the views and outlooks of a s. Texas housewife. Years ago, I was not in any way political. I voted for Mondale against Reagan only because he was from Minnesota, I didn’t know anything about their platforms, or their background or anything. Today I write emails to congress, representatives, and follow on Twitter all the Texas politicians that are on that service, including quite a few Washington politicos.

Ron Paul has finally gotten an amendment into a bill, that will audit the Federal Reserve Bank. It’s about time. He’s been on this since the 80s, to get inside this private company that has the printing capability of our country, and this administration’s wonks have had it on fire, printing up more and more money. I’m noticing grocery prices are going up, and I’m afraid it will only get much worse than it already is. At least rice and beans are still cheap, although the price of specialty beans has risen. Pintos are still cheap.

I guess I’ll re-read Glenn Beck’s Common Sense – which I highly recommend to everyone – right, left, in between, undecided. It also contains Thomas Paine’s Common Sense.

Spend, spend spend

Let's spend our way out of a recession. Spend money we don't have. Don't worry, the Fed will just print more! Hyperinflation? why that will give people more dollars in their pockets. BLAH the politics coming out of Washington is making me more nauseated by the day. Ron Paul slipped in an amendment to audit the Fed. About stinkin time, and the bums are now trying to take it out (guess who - the ones who let money go through their fingers like water through a sieve). oh wait.. made up money at that! It's not even cash in hand and they spend worse than a drunken sailor. GAH!

While cleaning off my desk...

which took almost an HOUR to sort through the assorted junk on it, I came across an old (from the 70s) clipping out of mom's cookbook, for Rhubarb Nut Bread. So if you have some, here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup salad oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
2 1/2 cup white flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1 1/2 cup diced rhubarb
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon softened butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine the brown sugar, oil and egg in a large bowl and beat until fluffy.

Combine the salt, soda and flour. Add to the brown-sugar mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Beat until smooth. Beat in the vanilla. Fold in the nuts and the rhubarb. Pour into two greased 9- by 5-inch loaf pans.

Blend sugar, cinnamon and butter. Sprinkle over batter. Bake for 60 minutes. Do not overbake. Let cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pans. Best second day.

They've not had fresh rhubarb at the grocery store for a while, I think they stopped carrying it, but I am not sure how well frozen rhubarb would work in this recipe. But being I *love* rhubarb, I think I'll try it this week. Mom had 3 large rhubarb plants growing out in the back yard, and she'd barely have enough for one pie, because I was picking them all the time and munching on it.

Charlie Brown Christmas tree

Because Obummer pre-empted A Charlie Brown Christmas on Tuesday, here is the tree to help ya'll out. I have it DVR'd from last year, so I will watch it again (maybe three or four times even) this year. Between the snow and Charlie Brown, it's starting to seem like it's getting to Christmastime.

Snow!

We got snow today - the earliest snow to date! If we get snow at all, its not until later on in December. BRRRR it's cold outside. The cats and dog all want to be inside, even the outside cats. I wonder if it will snow again tonight?