So I'm back!

Been a long time since I looked at this blog.  A lot has transpired in our family since I last posted.  The most devastating thing was the loss of our daughter Michelle on June 27th,2010.  A quote I once read...You bury your parents on a mountain top but you bury your children in your heart...couldn't be more true.  Thankfully we had her in our family for 54 years but she passed way too young and left her husband, her children and her extended family heart broken.
We were visited this past summer by our daughter Linda and her two daughters, Shelby and Shaleen as well as by our son Ron, his wife Lisa and three of their grandchildren, Shalee , Elton and Logan.  We are still waiting to see Garrett and his wife Lindsey and Teasha and her son Christian.
Since June of this last year we have had custody of two of our great grandchildren, Madison and Michael.  No need to go into the circumstances surrounding their placement but they will probably be with us for awhile.

Three year old in Anchorage dead.

Gryphen has a story on the Immoral Minority blog concerning a three year old boy who picked up a gun laying on a TV stand in his home and killed himself.  A similar thing happened to a good friend of mine in Washington State.  His eight year old picked up a gun his dad had laid on the coffee table and was showing his friend when the gun discharged and killed his friend.  Yes it's devastating to all the families concerned but these negligent parents have to be brought to justice.  It's easy to say...they have suffered enough but how else does society get the message across that you are responsible for that weapon and all that goes with it.

At the time of the incident I referred to in Washington, the man responsible for leaving the weapon where an eight year old could pick it up was charged with careless use of a weapon, a misdemeanor, and was fined $100.  Since then, the law has been changed and it is now a felony to carelessly leave a weapon where a minor has access to it.  I don't know what the law is in Alaska but I would be very surprised if it is severe.

I don't care if some macho man wants to strap six shooters on and prance around like he owns the world but he also needs to know that if his weapon that he is responsible for injures an innocent person, he will pay the consequences.

A Joe Vogler wannabe

So the lieing grifter has told another lie. Add it to hundreds already told. The real danger is not her but the Palinbots that worship her. It's time Levi Johnson wrote a book and exposed this disgusting narcissist. There is no room in this country for the likes of the hatred she spews in her speeches. I believe she worships at the alter of the founder of the Alaskan Independent Party, Joe Vogler who once said, "The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government".

The grifter from Wasilla has another book coming out...god save us.  It is titled America by heart, Reflections of Family Faith and Flag.   I think I'm getting sick.  This from a woman who couldn't name one supreme court decision, thought Africa was a country, couldn't name one newspaper that she read and thought the first amendment to the constitution was put there to protect her FROM the press.  Hasn't she about run out of lies?

Alaska'a Loss

Wally Hickel, two time Governor of Alaska passed away Friday.  Great loss for the state and the country.  Born in Ellinwood Kansas in 1919, Mr. Hickel arrived in Alaska in 1940.  He served two FULL terms as Governor unlike the Wasilla grifter, who he initially supported in her runup for Governor.  His statement a couple of years ago when asked about what he thought of the way she was Governing says it all...."I don't give a damn about Sarah Palin".

WISE MEN TALK BECAUSE THEY HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY; FOOLS BECAUSE THEY HAVE TO SAY SOMETHING.

So the quitter thinks this is a Christian country.  Guess she would be surprised to learn that many of our founding fathers were NOT Christians but deists.  The Constitution NEVER mentions the word God  but hey...Sarah the word salad queen has never been hampered by facts.  By the way Sarah do you know where your 18 year old daughter was last Saturday night??  Yes Bristol, after promoting abstinence, family values and all of those other hypocritical ideas she promotes was seen in a after hours OVER 21 club in NYC.  This was the same night that Willow was dancing up a storm at her high school prom in Wasilla while Mom was ???   

Palin stupidity!

The following was just posted on quitter's tweet

Gulf: learn from Alaska's lesson w/foreign oil co's: don't naively trust- VERIFY. Livelihood affected by spill?Don't sign away remedy rights.

There are two problems with that statement. Exxon/Mobile that spilled millions of gallons of oil in Prince William sound is NOT A FOREIGN OIL COMPANY and BP, a British Oil Company employeed one Todd Palin for 18 years. Oh yah, one other thing, one of the companies envolved with the Gulf spill was.....Halliburton, dick Cheney's old company and an American company

This woman's stupidity NEVER FAILS TO AMAZE ME!

 

Letter to the editor

This is a letter I posted to our local paper on April 16th, 2010. I t was finally published today May 5th, 2010. Yes our paper, La Crosse Tribune is just a little slooooooow, unless you are a Republican.

Letter to the Editor
La Crosse Tribune
401 3rd street
La Crosse WI. 54601

April 16, 2010

Dear Sir,

There were so many misrepresentations in the letter written by Phil Miles and Dennis Olson, it would be difficult to respond to all of them in one letter, but I will try.

First..The claim that President Obama is a Socialist is ridiculous. Even the Socialists say so. Frank Llewellyn, national director of the Democratic Socialists of America says Obama is far from being a Socialist. However, I will agree there are Socialist programs within our government. Medicare, Social Security, Veteran Administration Health Care, Public Education and even the Military itself are all programs owned, at least partially, by the Government. I wonder which of these Miles and Olson would like to see eliminated? Llewellyn also states, that of the candidates running for office in 2008 there was one that stands out as having instituted a socialist program. That would be Sarah Palin, when she imposed a winfall profit tax on the oil companies in Alaska, then turned around and gave the money directly to the population of Alaska.

Second..The charge of racism is easily proven by watching clips of the tea party gatherings. What purpose do signs of President Obama made up to look like the joker serve? How about signs showing him as Hitler or the disgusting slogans on some of them. They serve to demean the person in office and nothing more.

Your statement that the health care bill does not immediately cover those with pre-existing conditions or young people under the ager of 26 on their parents policies is just flat wrong. Young adults under the age of 26 are mandated to be covered within six months after enactment of the bill. The elimination of exclusions for Children with pre-existing conditions is mandated within six months after enactment and for adults by 2014 just as the President stated. My question to you is have YOU read the bill. I have. Further, your statement that 47% of doctors have said they will quit under this health care bill is totally misleading. The survey that you reference was taken in December of 2009. The doctors in question were against the public option because they thought it would restrict or reduce their income. As you well know, there is no public option in the health care bill and there has been no survey done since its recent passage.

Last..Your non-sense statement about Fox news being unbiased. Can you say with a straight face that people like Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Greta Vansusteran are "unbiased"? It has gotten to the point where the Republican Party takes their talking points from Fox News just as you seem to. For sure there is bias on the other networks. That's just the way our country is these days and I think we are all poorer for it. Discourse is one thing but the level of vitriol now witnessed on both sides is deplorable and can easily lead us down a path violence

Great week-end with my son Ron, his daughter Alisa, her husband David and their three boys, Levi, Brigham and Hyrum.

BIMBO

In March of 1989 the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound in Alaska, spilling some 10,8 million gallons of crude oil and ruining lives and fishing for decades. Initially Exxon was fined $287 million dollars in compensatory damages and $5 billion dollars in punitive damages for their gross negligence. That punitive award was reduced to $2.5 billion on appeal. Exxon then went to the right wing supreme court and in 2008, the supreme court capped the punitive damages at $507 MILLION dollars. They were also later fined an additional $408 million dollars to cover interest. So for a total of $1.2 billion dollars, Exxon got by with destroying the Prince William Sound fisheries.

On April 20, 2010 it has happened again. An oil platform in the gulf of Mexico, just 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana caught fire and sank, killing 11 workers and spilling some 200,000 gallons of oil PER DAY into the gulf. It has now reached the shoreline and it is estimated it will surpass the Exxon Valdez spill of 10.8 million gallons.

What has the Wasilla hillbilly, half term governor, drill baby drill queen have to say about this latest disaster???? NOTHING! Total silence from her imbecilic facebook page that someone else writes for her. Believe me, the words...Drill Baby Drill won't be spewed from that facelifted mouth again anytime soon. Even this moron knows when to back off of a stupid statement she has repeated over and over.

Palin speak

The sunshine in Boston yesterday must have baked Sarah Palin's brain. She said "I'm not calling anyone un-American, but the unintended consequences of these actions -- the results -- are un-American." Of course she then did not explain what the hell she was talking about.

Well Palin, I think it is un-american of you to proclaim that the President has raised taxes when he has in fact lowered them. It is un-american of you to say we are less secure under this president when he just signed a start agreement with Russia to reduce the number of nuclear weapons both countries have stockpiled. It is un-american of you to say that your family is pro-american when it was your husband who was a member of the Alaska Independent Party for seven years. It is un-american of you to profess that you love the state of Alaska and all of it's glory when it was you who pushed a law to slaughter wolf pups in their dens by gassing them. It was un-american of you to suggest, while you served your half term as governor, that the alaskan villages, many of which have been in existance for 300 years, consolidate so you wouldn't have to spend money to support them. It was VERY un-american of you to take an oath of office as Governor to serve four years and then QUIT after only serving a little over two years so you could CASH in on your notoriety.

Grifter

GRIFTER...definition...A grifter is someone who swindles you through deception or fraud.

Know anyone that fits that definition? How about Sarah Palin? A person who, without her good looks, would never have been elected Mayor of Wasilla AK or Governor of AK. As Chris Matthews once observed, this person is an empty vessel who speaks word salad and talking points. To that end, in all her political life she has never been in a real debate. The reason...she would show herself to be a fraud. She set up a phony trust in Alaska to "help pay her legal fees" when she was Governor. Almost a year after she quit her job, this trust is still accepting contributions and has never had an audit of where the money is going.

The book "Going Rogue" that was ghost written for her, has at last count, 32 lies in it. for that, she has made over $2 million dollars. Can you say..gullible palinbots?

A report this morning read that she has made 12 million dollars since walking away from the Governor's office, a position she promised to hold for 4 years. This same report talks of her sarcasm laden speeches and her ever dwindling poll numbers even among Republicans.

Yes my firends...example A of a grifter is the quitter from Wasilla...SARAH PALIN

Replublicans cave

A cloture vote was defeated this evening on extending unemployment benefits. It now goes to the senate for a vote and will pass handily. Frankly, I hope this is the last time this is done. I believe many people are taking advantage of this, in fact I know of one for sure. He sits on his butt, won't look for work and is drawing $300/wk unemployment. In addition, he draws $400/mo in food stamps so this guy is making #1200/mo and will not look for work until he no longer can draw unemployment.

The Immoral Minority: Palin comes in distant third in SRLC straw poll which also points to giant fissure in Republican party.

The Immoral Minority: Palin comes in distant third in SRLC straw poll which also points to giant fissure in Republican party.

The Immoral Minority: How to render Sarah Palin speechless.

The Immoral Minority: How to render Sarah Palin speechless.

Explanation

As I stated in my profile, I am a political junkie. What I didn't say and want to make clear to any readers that might stop by is ...I am a life long Democrat, liberal on social issues, conservative on fiscal issues and patriotic on National security issues.

In that light, I believe George Bush, in concert with the Democrats put this country on the verge of bankruptcy. With the near doubling of the national debt in his eight years as president, he fundamentally changed this country forever. For President Obama, a man I voted for, to be following some of the same policies as G.W. Bush fiscally, is sickening. We are on an unsustainable path fiscally in this country and NO ONE seems to have the answer to change it. Spending must be cut, programs eliminated, and taxes RAISED. Yes...RAISED. It is disgusting that corporations like Exxon/Mobile and Boeing pay NO taxes. It is disgusting that corporations continue to set up off shore offices as nothing but a drop site so they get around paying taxes on income earned in this country.

There has been much ballyho about deficits and debts and who did what when. The fact is, in the 1990's when Bill Clinton was President, he presided over a budget that had a $236 billion dollar surplus when he left office. Of course what isn't said, is that the surplus mentioned came with a Republican congress and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 was authored by John Kasich, a Republican from Ohio, and Chairman of the House Budget Committee. Can you imagine....Republicans and Democrats working together....what a concept!

Of course in the vitriolic days we now witness, such a thing is all but impossible. Hate radio, hate TV, the fringe groups, the upsurge in militias and hate groups have taken their tole on political discourse. What a shame for our country. A country I love and a country I served for 20 years in the Navy during the Vietnam era.

NEW BLOG ...FIRST POST

Welcome to my brand new blog. I have thought about this for a long time and finally took the first step. Hopefully as time passes I will draw some readers and fellow bloggers, if not, well, it's been fun to set it up and see my first writings published.