Bed-Time Stories

My almost-14-year-old daughter, Chickie, still has a pretty good case of "Hero-Daddy-Worship".

She just poked her head into my office and asked me to "tuck her in", and "tell a story" about when I was young.

I try to dredge up, from the dim mists of memory, stories about how it was, 'way back when, or even not so far back.

I do try to keep them entertaining, albeit with lessons from life.

She seems to like this "tucking-in" routine.

She's a Good Kid, and I'm very pleased with her.

Except when I'm sorely tempted to resort to regular beatings...

She is, after all, 'mostest 14....

"Liberal"?

What's so liberal about a "Liberal"?

More gas taxes - so I don't drive so much, thereby using less gasoline, and when I do fill up, the gummint gets more of my money.

More income tax - so the gummint can "take care of the less fortunate" twerps who wouldn't learn anything while they were in school, WHEN they bothered to attend school.

Censorship - also known as the "Fairness Doctrine", which means that the liberals from "Air America" get to hijack air-time from Limbaugh/Hannity/Boortz/any-conservative-at-all, because "fairness" means that "Air America" failed outright in the market-place of ideas.

More Censorship - "Free speech on college campuses" - unless you're Republican or Libertarian.

Bias in the Media - Dan Rather. MSNBC. CNN. CBS. AP. Reuters. Most newspapers, especially the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the L.A. Times.

The list goes on and on.

So, the Big Question remains - why, oh why, are McCain/Palin doing so well?

Could it possibly be that Lincoln was right when he said, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time. You can't fool all of the people all of the time."

The Political Season

We are now entering the "political season".

For about one month, every four years, most American voters actually give a hard look at the candidates for President.

These American voters will look at a candidate's positions and proffered policies, and decide which candidate to vote for.

Above all, these voters will look past the pictures and the sound bites, and try to discern the bones and the body of the man (or woman, should that ever come to pass), and try to divine what's in that person's mind.

They will give a hard (though cursory) look at the record.

Then they will go out and vote.

Should be interesting, this time around, don't you think?

Hurricane Ike Missed Me By A Bunch!!

Of course, I'm VERY glad that Ike didn't come anywhere near us here in SouthEast Jawja.

On the gripping hand, my heart goes out to those folks who heeded the warnings and ran to a safer place. They're going to come back to flooded and destroyed homes and towns.

For those that chose to stay, my sympathy is, ummm.....limited?

How's about non-existent?

You knew that Ike was coming - and you stayed. You rolled the dice, and you lost.

My sympathy is reserved for the folks who have (because they've solemnly sworn to do so) to go in and either rescue your dumb butts, or remove your corpses.

Domestic Discussions

We've been here in SouthEast Jawja for five years, almost, and in the same house for four and a half. And now, we're thinking about having a place built for us - to our specifications.

Hooo-boyoboy!

Do we really want to do this?

Well, on the one hand, we get to specify exactly what we want, right down to the light-bulbs.

On the other hand, we get to bleat and moan at the construction people until it's what we want, and done right.

On the gripping hand, if it doesn't turn out well, we have only ourselves to blame.

Of course, we could just stay put, and expand/remodel to make what we have better suit what we think we want.

But the idea of getting exactly what we want is.... seductive.

Get thee behind me, temptation!

Dodging Hurricane Bullets

First there was Fickle Fay - who slow-danced her way up Florida, raining like Billy-be-Damned - and did zippo (comparitively) to us here in SouthEast Jawja. Some of our folks who lived near rivers, who weren't required to get flood insurance, are having a very rough time indeed. But the monster floods that we might have had didn't happen.

Now Horrible Hanna is churning her way up to the Carolinas, bypassing Jawja entirely. Hard, very hard on the Carolinas - but here in Jawja we be counting our blessings.

The projected track for Itchy Ike puts him out into the Gulf of Mexico. Presuming that happens, no one has a clue as to what he'll do next. Ike has been up to a Cat 4 in strength, and if he gets into the Gulf, he could turn back into one of those monster storms again, and go to who knows where?

We've got our supplies in. We're ready to ride it out if we can. We're ready to run if we have to. And we're ready to help out as we can.