A Bad Luck Wish For....

....The Oklahoma City Thunder. May they suck not just in tonight's opener, but for the whole season. I hereby curse them to be the suckiest team in the NBA until Seattle is awarded another NBA franchise. Worst of luck to you OKCT.

Decisions Decisions

OK, if there are people across this country who are going to vote for Nobama just because he is black, (I happen to know of a few in particular. None who read this blog though.) or the other side of the coin, not vote for him because he is black, (Which is equally as stupid. There are so many valid reasons to vote Nobama.) I decided that there must be people who vote on how attractive the person is.

So lets just say for fun that you vote for the "pretty" candidate. Based on the pictures below, which party would you vote for?

OR.......

I have an idea where my vote would go. Of course the only reason why I even did this post was so I would have an excuse to put that picture of Rosie O'Donnell up. I didn't know she was John Belushi's long lost sister.

Happy Wednesday to all!

Yet more proof about how Obama will destroy us

I was going to try and go the whole week without any political blogs, but then I heard this. This is scary my friends. If you Obama supporters think that what your candidate said to Joe the Plumber wasn't exactly how this man thinks, I have a feeling that you will not be bothered by this video. You might also say that this is politics of old, and how we need to look to the future. But anytime I hear someone say these type of things, it worries me. When I hear someone talk about how the constitution needs to be reinterpreted, it worries me. I just hope that America will wake up and see what this guy really is. After all, we can only find out what is in store for us by looking at a presidential candidates' past. From what I have seen, Barry's past isn't all sunshine and flowers, unless the sunshine is blotted out with storm clouds, and the flowers have been stomped on and are wilting.

Oh yes, one more thing. Do you wonder why you never see Obama/Biden asked any tough questions? It is because when they are, they shut down the people who are asking them. Read about it here.

Thursday Funnies

I receieved these in an email yesterday. And instead of forwarding it out, I decided to use it as blogger fodder. As usual these lean to the right, but would you expect any different from me? Happy Thursday everyone!

A "Fair" Kind of Tax Plan

Last week on my blog I posted the video of the now famous “Joe the Plumber” exposing Obama for what he really is. He is nothing but a socialist who wants to play Robin Hood, and by in his own words, “Spread the wealth around.” Before I go any further, I want to know how in less than a week in a half, we know all that there is to know about Joe the plumber. Whether it is unpaid parking tickets, owed taxes, or detentions served in Junior High, the media had dug up everything they could find.

So how is it that we don’t know everything about a man who has been running for President almost as long as he has been a senator? This situation is an excellent example of what is going to happen with an Obama presidency. Anyone who questions him is going to be slammed up against the wall and hushed. Never mind the fact that Barry came up to Joe to talk to him. And when Joe challenged him on something, and he didn’t have a teleprompter or some memo from his campaign telling him what to say, he blurted out what he truly believes.

Add on the human gaffe reel Joe Biden opening his pie hole this past Monday saying that something catastrophic is going to happen to this country, and even though what Obama will do to fix the problem will not be popular with the public, we need to just trust him anyway. Talk about a jagged pill to swallow! I trust Barry about as much as a cold snake on top of a mountain. Much like the snake, once we transport him to the warmth down below, he will bite us, claiming that it is the “change” that we need.

OK, back on subject. Liberals like to cry and whine about how our tax system is unfair, and how the middle class is shrinking and being hurt by it. (Of course they don’t ever mention the reason why the middle class has shrunk is because they have moved to the upper class.) After all, according to them, if we just taxed the rich more and gave the poor and middle class more money, than everything would be “fair.” You and I know that is Socialism, but don't try to tell them that. They wouldn't understand.

Well my friends, there is a tax solution that would make everything “fair.” It would jump start our economy, and would make taxes so easy to file, even a third grader could do them. It is called the Flat Tax.

I have been reading more about the flat tax, and the more I read the more I like it. It makes things very simple. Everyone would pay the same rate of taxes. You could be Bill Gates, or the guy who messed up my Grilled Stuffed Burrito from Taco Bell. Also, there will no longer be a need for the IRS in its current form. In fact, the tax form you would have to fill out would be about the size of a post card. It would look something like this:

Major features of the flat tax are as follows:

A single flat rate
Instead of varying rates across the board, there is one low rate. This would therefore reduce penalties against productive behavior, such as work, risk taking, and entrepreneurship.

Elimination of special preferences
Things such as deductions, credits, exemptions and other loopholes would go away, which would help take care of some of the complexity of filing taxes. This would also allow your taxes to be done of the postcard sized card I mentioned above.

No double taxation of saving and investment
This means no death tax; no capital gains taxes, no double taxation of saving and no double tax on dividends. By taxing income only once, the flat tax is easier to enforce, and is more favorable to job creation and capital formation.

Family friendly tax system
All flat tax proposals have one loophole. Luckily for families, that loophole is an exemption based on family size. To give you an idea of how much you would pay, check out this website. But if you don’t have the time, I will give you a quick example. A Family of 4 would not begin to pay a tax until its annual income reached more than $37,000.

Two of the principal arguments in favor of a flat tax are growth and fairness. (Ahh…fairness, the word people on the left love and adore.) Economists across the nation like the idea of a flat tax because the current tax system, with its high rates and taxation of investment, reduces growth, destroys jobs, (check out what the tax rate is in countries where American jobs are going, and see what they are. I can guarantee they are lower than ours.) and lowers incomes. And while a flat tax would not eliminate taxes altogether, it would erase the current tax code’s bias towards saving and investment. It would also boost the economy’s performance compared to the present tax code.

Now onto the fairness part of the deal. Do you have any idea how many documents, instruction manuals, and forms that taxpayers across the nation struggle to understand? With the flat tax it would be replaced by two simple postcards. One for individuals and one for businesses, and a set of instructions on how to fill the card(s) out. This would not only make filing taxes easier, but it would give many people the peace of mind to know that there are no special advantages given to people who have political power, or can afford to hire high priced tax advisors.

Not only that, but everyone would be paying the same rate. A wealthy taxpayer who makes 100 times more than your regular Joe would be paying 100 times more. No longer would the tax code penalize success and discriminate against citizens on the basis of income.

Do you know what else a flat tax would do? No longer would politicians on either side of the aisle be able to pick winners and losers, reward friends at big corporations or punish enemies who might have crossed their path, and who use the tax code to impose their values on the economy. In other words, the amount of political corruption would decrease. Instead of corporations spending money on the lobbyists, lawyers, and accountants they send to D.C. to try and get favorable tax treatment, the money could be spend trying to grow their company, and create jobs.

The one thing that really bothers me about Barry is that he and is lib friends think that raising taxes in the answer. But if you look at what some of the old Soviet countries are doing, you will see that they are lowering their taxes, not raising them. One way they are doing this is by implementing the flat tax. When Russia implemented a 13 percent flat tax in 2001, their economy started to prosper. No longer was tax evasion and avoiding having to pay taxes as profitable. Throw in their increased oil production (Which is a great idea. Too bad if ol’ Barry is elected it won’t happen) and their bottom line is even better. Other Baltic States with a form of flat tax include (but not limited to) Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, and Georgia.

So there you have it. Special interest favoritism goes away. All taxpayers would be treated equally. A taxpayer would no longer be able to scam the system. Economic growth would be boosted by reducing the tax burden on work, savings, and investments. No more double taxation. But most of all a simple and transparent system that would make it harder for political hacks to manipulate. I guess the only problem would be that Democrats could no longer play the political game they love to play by pitting the poor and middle class against the rich and upper class. Sucks for them I guess.

If you would like more info on the flat tax, just do a Google search. That is what I did, and found a ton of info on the subject.

Oh, I did forget a couple of the cons about the flat tax. The IRS would have no purpose any longer, and those people would have to find new jobs. Not to mention what would happen to companies like H&R Block. But the way I look at things, which are when the people who want to succeed in some other career will pull themselves up by their bootstraps, and find another way to make money. It has been done before in this country, and it can be done again.

Making a Hobby Pay Off

One of the things that I absolutely LOVE to do is wash my car. Well, I guess I should expound upon that statement. I LOVE to not only wash my car, but to clean and shine the tires and wheels, (rims are on bicycles, not cars) wash the windshield and windows, lay a good layer of wax on the body, vacuum out the inside and wash the carpets and/or seats if necessary, clean off the dash, and slap a nice layer of protectant down on the dash and any other surface on the inside or out that need shinning. I know that to most people the thought of doing all of that yourself does not sound fun, but to me it is almost relaxing. You could say instead of gardening to melt away stress, I do it by detailing my car.

So go back about 10 years ago when I was working at B and B printing. Our graphic design guy was always jealous at how nice and clean my car always looked, and asked me where I took it to. When he found out that I did it myself, he insisted that I do his car too. And if any of you have read the Workin' for the MAN series I wrote a few months back, you know that I love making money. I was more than happy to detail Mark's car. I was a little nervous since I had never done a car that wasn't mine, but once I started I felt right at home. Of course Mark was amazed at the job I did, and every 6 months after that until he quit working there, he had me detail his car.

In the last few years I started shopping my services out at work. Every person that I have done a detail job for comes away impressed, and I have even been told that I did a better job than the person they had paid almost twice as much to do their car.

So this past week my boss sent me and email (She is on long term disability right now while she is treated for breast cancer. I am happy to say that she is done with treatment, and is close to coming back to work.) and asked if I could detail her cars for her. First she wanted me to do her Acura. It was the car that she had been driving back and forth between here and Seattle for her treatments for the last 10 months. Her grandchildren had taken over the back seat, and as Simon, Paula, and Randy would say, "made it their own." And now that she was done with her trips, she wanted it nice and clean again. The second car that she wants me to do is her Mercedes convertible that she is going to be selling soon. She told the guy that she wouldn't sell it to him until it was nice and clean.

Since Christmas is right around the corner, and it is always nice to have the extra money, I told her that I was more than happy to do this for her. This past weekend I did the Acura, and next weekend I am going to take care of the Benz. I am really proud at how nice the Acura turned out. Take a look for yourself:

The carpet in the back seat had 5-6 black spots from the grandkids. No problem for the Bissell. Looks brand new now!

Not to toot my own horn too loud, but as you can tell from the pictures I do pretty good work. And like I said, I love to detail cars because it is relaxing, and there isn't much that I appreciate more than a nicely cleaned car.

So if there are any of you in the Tri-City area who are thinking about getting their cars washed and waxed for the winter months ahead, and you don't know where you want to go, feel free to give me a ring. My prices are good, and I will put all I have into making your car look like it belongs in the showroom instead of parked on the curb.

Hear My Favorite Four Tops Song Here!

Thanks to my uncle Mike, you can now here my all time favorite Four Tops song, "Walk Away Renee" Enjoy!

Goodbye Mr. Stubbs

Over the weekend a musical legend passed away. He fronted one of the most popular Motown groups of the 60's and 70's, and was the voice of Audrey II in the 1986 classic, "Little Shop of Horrors." His name is Levi Stubbs, and he was the lead singer for The Four Tops.My mom introduced me to The Four Tops when I was in High School. She had purchased their greatest hits CD, and while I had heard a lot of the songs before, I didn't know that they were all done by The Four Tops.Classic songs such as “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)”, "Bernadette", “Baby, I Need Your Loving", and "Walk Away Renee" can be attributed to this popular group. The only male Motown group that was more popular than The Four Tops were The Temptations.

But the thing that made The Four Tops special was that unlike The Temptations, who were always switching members, The Four Tops stayed the same for 40 years. They started out together in high school as The Four Aims in 1953 before changing their name in 1954.

In 1956 they signed with Chess Records, a Chicago R&B label. They didn't join Motown until 1963, a full 10 years after they started making music.

From the very beginning it was clear that Stubbs, who possessed a loud booming voice would be the lead singer, according to Abdul Fakir, the only surviving member of the group. Yet many of their songs were written in Tenor range, which in turn produced the urgent and pleading sound that he was famous for.

Levi Stubbs died last Friday at his home in Detroit. He was 72 years old. He will be missed, but in his memory, I will listen to The Four Tops all day today. You can too, I have some of their songs over on my play list today. I only wish I could have found the song "Walk Away Renee" to put on there. It is by far my favorite Four Tops song, and I can listen to it over and over again.

A Dream Come True

For a long time now, I have wanted to buy an older car that I could work on in my spare time. I didn’t really care what make or model it was. I just wanted one. Maybe it is because my dad has an old Buick that he has been working on over the years. (Much to the disgust of my mother I might add.) In fact, every time Lisa and I are out and about, I will see an older car for sale, and I always make the comment to Lisa how nice that car would look in our driveway.

Well my friends, the day has come that I am going to get myself a project car. And the best part is that I wasn’t even expecting it! It all started with Lisa talking to her mom on the phone on Friday. Her mom was trying to think of ways that she could save some money. The one thing that she thought of was the storage unit that she had. It was costing her a lot of money each month to store things in it. If she cancelled it and moved the stuff into her garage, then she could save that money.

The problem that she was running into was the car parked in the part of the garage she wanted to use. It stored the 1971 Chevy Nova that Lisa’s sweet Grandmother Tamblyn had purchased brand new back then. Since Lisa’s mother is very sentimental about things, she has been keeping it all of these years, not having the heart to sell it. But in order to save a little dough, she was going to have to part with it.

Then Lisa had a brilliant idea. What if her mother sent it up here and we could keep it? That way it would stay in the family. On top of that, her mother has always wanted to see that Nova restored and either be in parades, or entered into car shows. Luckily for me, Holly thought that was a fine idea, and agreed to let us have the Nova.

It really is a win win situation all round. First, Holly gets to save a good chunk of cash each month. Second, the Nova was the car that Lisa drove to High School, so it has some sentimental value to her too. And third, I get what I have wanted for a long time. A car that I can work on, and turn it into something that Holly has wanted to see done to it. As you can see from the pics, it is in pretty good shape already. I will be sure to update you with anything I have done with it.

I can’t wait until next week when this baby arrives. Let the fun begin!

As you can see, it has been well cared for

Only 66,249 original miles
It might not be a V8, but I can work with it
Back view with the classic California blue plates
I love the 70's green. Very groovy!
So if you live here in the TC, feel free to stop on by and have a look for yourself. And notice the giddy grin that I have plastered on my face when you visit. I have a feeling the grin is going to be there for awhile.

Who Needs to Lie About Obama When the Truth is Scarier?

Check out what Komrade Obama said to this guy during a campaign stop. I wish the lemmings who live in this country would stop drink their Obama-aid and actually start listening to what this moron is saying. He is nothing but a socialist. For all of our sakes, I hope people wake up and realize that NoBama is the way to go. Scary stuff my friends, scary stuff.




Oh and in case you didn't catch it at the end, Mr. Obama said "Spread the wealth around." Right now Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin are smiling somewhere in the after world.

How About a Break From Politics Talk? Weekend Video Time Blooper Style!

OK, less than a month to go until the election. We get to choose between a Socialist/borderline Marxist (NoBama) who is going to destroy America, and a really bad Republican/borderline Democrat (McCain) whose only tie to the Republican party is the (R) besides his name. It really is a horrible choice. And frankly, I am tired of turning on the news and hearing about the election. Yes, I know, not something that you thought you would hear from ME. But alas, it is the truth.

So I decided that for this edition of weekend videos, I would show some great blooper clips from these same news people who are shoving all of these crap sandwiches regarding the election down our throats. Some are funny, some are painful. And maybe a little bit raunchy. No swearing, just some slight slips of the tongue. So enjoy the clips, and feel free to take your mind off the direction our country is heading in for at least a few moments. Sure, your 401K will lose about 1,000 while watching these clips, BUT THAT IS OK!!! Afterall, Mr NoBama's government will give you EVERYTHING you need! Even if you don't WANT it!! Happy Weekend!!


This is what you get when you try to cheat at grape stomping.



POLE!


This is by far my favorite blooper!



You want to bad mouth little birdies huh?? Well take this!



A good ol' fashioned on air argument. It reminds me of the movie "Grumpy Old Men."



A little too much info.



Yes my friends, produce can be funny.



There...don't you feel a little better now? Enjoy the wonderful fall weather this weekend!

Have You Ever Had Soda Pop Come Out of Your Faucet??

Man, I have been totally slacking when it comes to blogging. Not only have I not written anything for a week, but I haven't visited any of your blogs either. So tonight I will write my blog, and try to stop by and say hello to all of you out there in blogger land. And while there are some pressing political issues that I want to blog about, they will have to wait for another day. For tonight I am blogging about a book that I read as a child, and am now reading to my Alexandra and Lorelai at night before they go to bed.

This particular book was originally written in 1951. I remember reading it when I was in Elementary school, and it quickly became my favorite book of all time. I am pretty sure that we checked it out at the Mid Columbia Library and not at Eastgate, the elementary school that I attended.

Fast forward to about 2 years ago. From time to time I would remember things from this book, but I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of it. I knew that it was about some kids staying with someone other than their parents, but whether it was a babysitter or a friend, I could not recall. Someone suggested that maybe it was a Mrs. Piggle Wiggle or Pippi Longstocking (Both series also good reads by the way) book, but I searched both of them, and did not find the particular chapter that I remember reading.

Then last Christmas, my sister Heidi had a present for me. She said that I was going to flip over it, and that she had to scour the local used bookstores and the Internet to find it. To my surprise it was the book I had been thinking about for all of this time! What is the name of this book you ask? The name of the book is Mr. Pudgins by Ruth Christoffer Carlsen.

This book is one of the most magical books that I have ever read. It is one of those books that I would love seeing a movie made out of it. This charming story tells the tale about a male babysitter (Mr. Pudgins of course) who watches over 3 children, John, Pete, and Jane. He drives a Model T Ford named Annabel, and has a pet dodo bird. Rarely do you see Mr. Pudgins without his pipe in his mouth. And when Mr. Pudgins is around, magical things happen!

My favorite chapter in this book is the one where there is something wrong with the pipes in the house, and when Mr. Pudgins tries to fix them, different flavors of soda pop start flowing from all of the faucets. For dinner they had to cook their potatoes in orange soda, wash the lettuce for their salad in grape soda, and steam their carrots in limeade.

In another chapter the bathtub mysteriously starts to fly away with all three children inside, and Mr. Pudgins sitting on the end. Only by letting the water out can they get back down to the ground.

So far my girls are loving the book. And of course since it was originally written in the 1950's, there are things in it that you would never find written in the children's books of today.

I have to give a big shout out to my sister Heidi for finding this book for me. I feel as if part of my childhood has been restored, and I have her to thank for it.

If you too had the pleasure of reading Mr. Pudgins when you were younger, by all means let me know! I would love to talk to others that also remember this wonderful work of fiction!