I'll take a new car

I wish my local dealer that I bought my truck at would do this.

"Free Handgun or Gas Card with Every Purchase."

Down in Butler, Missouri, Max Motors has been running a promotion. Buy a new vehicle, get either a gas card worth $250 or a coupon to the local gun shop worth $250 on the purchase of a new handgun.

But the real kicker on this whole promotion.

NO ONE took the gas card.



Isn't this an interesting commentary on life in the U.S right now. National average for gas is $3,969/gallon, and over $4.00 in MANY locations. But the prospect of a few tanks of fuel is not enough to entice people.

Found at The Other Side of Kim du Toit.

Explanation

Where the hell have I been?

Busy.

Let me walk you back through it all.

Last Thursday, the 22nd, I went straight from work to Ark-Builders house to work with him on his 1st Degree Catechism for the Masonic Lodge. I got there about 5:30. His mother, Red, made a great pot of chicken and noodles. Then we worked on the Catechism, and finally, the conversation deteriorated to music. Somehow, we got to talking about Hee Haw and I started talking about the greatest Kazoo solo ever.

Then, we explained to Ark-Builder about the great "Pfft! You Were Gone" skit. So he went out and found chords and lyrics and this is what it progressed to.

ptth you were gone


I ended up being there until after 11:00.

Friday morning, a couple buddies, The Man From Ohio and D-O. We heading North to Tomahawk Wisconsin to the Northwest Conservation League land for an annual gathering. It was mostly just a big reunion and a good chance to relax. Saturday evening I got inducting into the 69th Irish Poltroons. Ended up drunker than Cooter Jones on Irish Whiskey.

Monday, our friend Suffy invited us over to his place to have supper and get a shower before we headed back to Illinois. We very willingly took the offer. Suffy has a beautiful little cabin type house on the edge of a lake, surrounded by tall pines, and with the canoe shop out front. Suffy is the one who taught me how to build canoe paddles a year ago and gave me some more pointers on improving my designs/construction and invited me to come up and spend a week with him to learn how to repair boats. The hardest part is trying to find a week in my schedule. Right now, it looks like it will be 2010 at the earliest. But it is something I would like to do. I also looked at a couple of other boats I am interested in purchasing at some point. A 20' wood strip painted like a birchbark and then a 36' wood slat fiberglass. The 36' need some repair but the price is right and I could make some money on it.

On the way home Tuesday, we stopped at Pecatonica River Long Rifle Supply to browse around. I picked up some ram rods and tips to put together, and I saw another new project. I am going to build a Virginia style rifle. They had a stock and barrel matched up. Exactly what I want. 44" Green Mountain Swamped Barrel-.50 Caliber, #3 Curly Maple Stock. Pure Beauty.

Wednesday night, I went to a Masonic Lodge School in Altona and didn't get out until after 10:00pm.

Finally, Thursday I was supposed to meet Ark Builder to work on his Catechism again, but he had to work late, so I went to a 3rd Degree in Knoxville and didn't get home 'til after 11:00.


Where did the time go?

I am not dead.

The rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated. Just been a busy week and a half.

Hopefully, I can sit down tonight and go through a big collection of blog fodder I have been collecting, waiting for a break in the action to finally sit down and get something done.

What an Insult!

I don't remember how I found it, but the list of "The 9 Most Devastating Insults From Around the World" is really screwed up.

****Caution. This list borders on or even cross over into disgusting and disturbing. You have been warned.****

I found #7 particularly interesting and it immediately reminded be of Contagion. How many times have you heard him use the great "Gobshite" insult....




....ya manky Anglish Git.

Wasting Time

That is what Congress has been doing.

What is more important. Really supporting the troops and ensuring that they continue to get paid for the heroic work, or congratulating basketball teams and golfers.

Blackfive, using information from Fox News and National Review, tells us about all the great resolutions Congress has passed instead of actually getting important work done.

And this is not directed towards Dems, either. 2 of the 5 resolutions cited were introduced by Republicans.

This ranks right up there with this old gem.

Couldn't Say It Better Myself.

So I won't try.

Go over to Shakey Pete's Shootin' Shack and read this.


Pete stacks 'em in the ten ring with that.

I'm Happy.

Are you?

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Gun owners are the happiest people in the US

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

This’ll upset the gun grabbers big time.

“Nor are they “bitter.” In 2006, 36% of gun owners said they were “very happy,” while 9% were “not too happy.” Meanwhile, only 30% of people without guns were very happy, and 16% were not too happy.”

Typical.

Imagine this. You live in the Union of Soviet Socialist Chicagoans. City ordinance demands that you register your guns every year. If you don't get your registration renewed each year before your previous registrations expires, you can't register your guns.

Now, add this to your predicament. You are the Alderman WHO SPONSORED THE ORDINANCE.

What do you do?

Write a new ordinance to allow you circumvent your old ordinance.

That's the Chicago (and Democrat) way!

What the Hell is the Deal?

Don't they have more important things to do?

Or maybe it is getting passed around like a D.C. hooker so everybody can enjoy it?


Hey, Libtards, enjoy this.

VOTE PETEY FOR CONGRESS IN 2008!!!! DEFEAT THE HARE(BRAINED)!!!

The Country Conservative.

Another One!!

There has been another visitor that quite sparked my interest.

I wish I knew who these were associated with. Hopefully Hare(brained) is reading my extreme displeasure with him (and Foster, too).

Maybe I can be an Agent of Change...



...or, at least, fear.

Redneck Moving Crew

I wish I had taken a picture yesterday.

Background. My parents have added another person to their office staff at our business. The new person really needed an actual desk, not a table to work at.

Our house is a big old farmhouse. Upstairs there are 4 bedrooms, plus a 5th bedroom suite type area that was originally for the hired hand on the farm, complete with a separate set of stairs. A BIG house.

In one of the bedrooms upstairs, which used to be my room when I was younger, we had an old bankers desk. 5'x3' top on it. Since this is now one of the two spare bedrooms, the folks decided to take this desk out of the house to the business.

So, yesterday Dad and I set to the task of moving the desk. At first we figured just pick the desk up and move it. So we lifted and headed for the door. No dice. Too heavy to spend time manipulating. New plan. Take the top off. Out comes the cordless drill and driver bits.

20 minutes later, the top is off, down the stairs and to the truck. Along with the drawers. Pick the desk up and head for the door again. Damn. Too wide.

Turn onto its side.

No dice.

Trying rolling the desk 180 degrees. Still. No dice.

I ask dad, "Did you measure this thing before we started?"

Dad: "No."

Me: "Okay, lets set this thing down and think about this for a second."

We put the desk down.

Me: "How the hell did we get this thin in here?"

Dad: "I don't know. That was 15 years ago."

Me: "Why don't we take it out the window onto the porch roof?"

Dad: "I don't think it will fit."

Me: "I bet it will. Got a tape measure?"

Dad leaves and comes back with the tape measure. Measure the body of the desk. "21 inches"

I take the tape measure and check the window. "22-1/2 inches."

Dad: "Is the window all the way open?"

Me: "Yes."

We each get on a side and lift the desk up and start moving it through the window. When the desk was about half way through the window Dad says "One of us should have been outside for this."

Me: "I said that before we started."

Dad: "You balance the desk while I climb out the window."

Dad climbs out the window and we set the desk on the roof.

Me: "I'll go get the loader."

Dad: "It's in the machine shed. The ground should be dry enough to drive right up to the roof edge."

I go out to the machine shed, move the farm truck and start the farm loader.

The loader is the same one we use for all the general farm tasks you would use a loader for. Leveling gravel, loading silage for cattle feed, moving bales of hay or cornstalks, loading manure into the spreaders, which is what covers most of the surfaces and tires. It just so happens that the loader has the bale forks on the bucket and from the looks of the streaks on them, the last thing they did was to put a bale into one of the feed lots.

I pull out of the shed and drive across the yard. Raise the bucket and forks up to the roof and dad slides the desk onto the forks. I back up and set the desk into the grass and take the loader back to the shed. And then, instead of moving the truck to the desk, we carry the desk around the house down near the garage.

The unloading was not nearly as eventful. Stupid desk actually fit through all the doors at the office, and it is all on the ground level. Pretty boring.

I Hope.....

......I am pissing them off.

Couple of interesting hits in the old Sitemeter today. And I just really had to share.


**Walks away shaking head and laughing.**

He is still a Human

I know a LOT of people don't like President George W. Bush. And granted, there has been more than a few times he has done or said something I disagree with.

However, from the time I voted in my first Presidential Election in 2000 and voted for Bush the first time, I have had the utmost respect for the man.

I believe he is very straight-forward and genuine. I have never questioned where he stood on an issue. I might not agree with him, but I know where he is at and that he will remain there. He doesn't flip-flop based on what is popular. And I respect that. He is a man of personal conviction and faith.

Yahoo had an interesting set of videos up today. Mike Allen of Politico.com did an Oval Office Interview with President Bush. They talked about everything from his daughter's wedding, to baseball, to Will Ferrel and Dana Carvey impressions of W. and his father, the economy, congress, to Myanmar and China and how he misses being able to e-mail his pals. It was a very insightful look at the very human side of the most powerful man in the free world. Go over and watch either the clips or the whole interview. The link above takes you to the video of Bush doing a pretty bad impression of Dr. Evil. If you go to the bottom of the video list there is the whole interview-about 23 minutes. Or watch a bunch of the clips.

Whether you like him or hate him, it is worth watching. At least to get a little perspective on the man.

Who is Obamaramadingdongdiddlyhopeychangey?

Through Jaz McCay at 1560KNZR, I read this perspective on the Snake Oil Salesman.


Really freaking accurate.

FOUL!!!FOUL!!!!FOUL!!!!

I cry FOUL!!!!

Spotted at IMAO, who got it from Hot Air.

Think back 5 long months ago, back when Mike Huckabee was still running. Remember his Christmas Ad? Him sitting near a Christmas tree, wishing everyone peace and joy in that special time of year. Ring a bell?

No, think about the reaction to the BOOKCASE in the background that a few people thought looked like a cross. The media raked him over the coals for that.

And now Obamaramadingdongdiddlyhopeychangey has an add out with him IN A CHURCH, PIPE ORGAN and CROSS INCLUDED.

Where's the outrage now?

taptaptaptaptaptap (taps foot waiting for someone to show some fucking outrage besides me)

(no one does)

That's right. No outrage. No one screaming Foul (besides me). Why not?



Because they that scream foul on Obamaramadingdongdiddlyhopeychangey would be called racists.

Fucking Double Standards.



If you want to see the "real" Obamaramadingdongdiddlyhopeychangey's ad, IMAO has it.

The Forgotten

In this quagmire year of campaigning, there is one important demographic that has been horribly ignored and/or insulted.

The Angry White Men.

In 2008, Don't Forget About Angry White Men

By Gary Hubbell
February 9, 2008

THE ASPEN TIMES

There is a great amount of interest in this year’s presidential elections, as everybody seems to recognize that our next president has to be a lot better than George Bush. The Democrats are riding high with two groundbreaking candidates — a woman and an African-American — while the conservative Republicans are in a quandary about their party’s nod to a quasi-liberal maverick, John McCain.

Each candidate is carefully pandering to a smorgasbord of special-interest groups, ranging from gay, lesbian and transgender people to children of illegal immigrants to working mothers to evangelical Christians.

There is one group no one has recognized, and it is the group that will decide the election: the Angry White Man. The Angry White Man comes from all economic backgrounds, from dirt-poor to filthy rich. He represents all geographic areas in America, from urban sophisticate to rural redneck, deep South to mountain West, left Coast to Eastern Seaboard.

His common traits are that he isn’t looking for anything from anyone — just the promise to be able to make his own way on a level playing field. In many cases, he is an independent businessman and employs several people. He pays more than his share of taxes and works hard.

The victimhood syndrome buzzwords — “disenfranchised,” “marginalized” and “voiceless” — don’t resonate with him. “Press ‘one’ for English” is a curse-word to him. He’s used to picking up the tab, whether it’s the company Christmas party, three sets of braces, three college educations or a beautiful wedding.

He believes the Constitution is to be interpreted literally, not as a “living document” open to the whims and vagaries of a panel of judges who have never worked an honest day in their lives.

The Angry White Man owns firearms, and he’s willing to pick up a gun to defend his home and his country. He is willing to lay down his life to defend the freedom and safety of others, and the thought of killing someone who needs killing really doesn’t bother him.

The Angry White Man is not a metrosexual, a homosexual or a victim. Nobody like him drowned in Hurricane Katrina — he got his people together and got the hell out, then went back in to rescue those too helpless and stupid to help themselves, often as a police officer, a National Guard soldier or a volunteer firefighter.

His last name and religion don’t matter. His background might be Italian, English, Polish, German, Slavic, Irish, or Russian, and he might have Cherokee, Mexican, or Puerto Rican mixed in, but he considers himself a white American.

He’s a man’s man, the kind of guy who likes to play poker, watch football, hunt white-tailed deer, call turkeys, play golf, spend a few bucks at a strip club once in a blue moon, change his own oil and build things. He coaches baseball, soccer and football teams and doesn’t ask for a penny. He’s the kind of guy who can put an addition on his house with a couple of friends, drill an oil well, weld a new bumper for his truck, design a factory and publish books. He can fill a train with 100,000 tons of coal and get it to the power plant on time so that you keep the lights on and never know what it took to flip that light switch.

Women either love him or hate him, but they know he’s a man, not a dishrag. If they’re looking for someone to walk all over, they’ve got the wrong guy. He stands up straight, opens doors for women and says “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am.”

He might be a Republican and he might be a Democrat; he might be a Libertarian or a Green. He knows that his wife is more emotional than rational, and he guides the family in a rational manner.

He’s not a racist, but he is annoyed and disappointed when people of certain backgrounds exhibit behavior that typifies the worst stereotypes of their race. He’s willing to give everybody a fair chance if they work hard, play by the rules and learn English.

Most important, the Angry White Man is pissed off. When his job site becomes flooded with illegal workers who don’t pay taxes and his wages drop like a stone, he gets righteously angry. When his job gets shipped overseas, and he has to speak to some incomprehensible idiot in India for tech support, he simmers. When Al Sharpton comes on TV, leading some rally for reparations for slavery or some such nonsense, he bites his tongue and he remembers. When a child gets charged with carrying a concealed weapon for mistakenly bringing a penknife to school, he takes note of who the local idiots are in education and law enforcement.

He also votes, and the Angry White Man loathes Hillary Clinton. Her voice reminds him of a shovel scraping a rock. He recoils at the mere sight of her on television. Her very image disgusts him, and he cannot fathom why anyone would want her as their leader. It’s not that she is a woman. It’s that she is who she is. It’s the liberal victim groups she panders to, the “poor me” attitude that she represents, her inability to give a straight answer to an honest question, his tax dollars that she wants to give to people who refuse to do anything for themselves.

There are many millions of Angry White Men. Four million Angry White Men are members of the National Rifle Association, and all of them will vote against Hillary Clinton, just as the great majority of them voted for George Bush.

He hopes that she will be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, and he will make sure that she gets beaten like a drum.

--------

Damn. Very well put.

Found at Jaz McCay's at 1560KNZR out of Bakersfield, CA. Through IMAO.

Too Bad Ramadamadingdong

Hey, Obamaramadingdongdiddlyhopeychangey.

If this is how American's write, we are fucking SCREWED!!!!!!!!!!!


There is NO HOPE for America if this is a remote example of how the majority of American's write.





Thankfully, most of them will burn up because of Globull Warming.


Some of them are kinda funny, though.

Perspective

Found via Kim du Toit.


Go Read.

Update #2 especially.

Probably the best perspective I have read about the 2008 quagmire that is trying to be passed off for an election.

Bidinotto brings up "the GOP will suffer crushing defeats at the congressional level in November." My one thought on this is the Dems ran on a platform of changing things in 2006, gaining seats and putting Pelosi into the Speaker's chair. Pelosi made a lot of extravagant promises of things they were going to do and have failed to get most of them accomplished. Hopefully, the GOP can use this failure against the libtards this year and unseat some of them.

Personally, I would love to see two libtards around me get unseated. First off, the Congressman from the 17th district, which I live in, Phil Hare. I really hate him with a passion. He is nothing more than a carbon copy of he predecessor (for whom Hare was a chief of staff), Lane Evans. The other, was just elected in March to serve out the remainder of longest serving Speaker of the House in history, Dennis Hastert's seat in the 14th district.. Democrat Bill Foster won the seat over Jim Oberweis. I really like Oberweis, a former Gubenatorial and Senatorial candidate for Illinois. A third seat that I will be watching closely this year is the IL 18th District, where long serving Congressman Ray LaHood is retiring. The GOP Candidate is a young guy named Aaron Schock. He is 26, and has already been on the Peoria School Board (at the age of 19), including being the President there, and has served in the Illinois General Assembly, among other accolades.





It is going to be a long year.

He's Arrived

I am way the hell behind in getting this posted. Last week just got away from me.

A week ago today (Tuesday) I had an e-mail and a phone call from the dog breeder.

The puppies had arrived on Monday. Kita went into labor about 3:15am and the last of the 5 puppies was born after 7:00pm by c-section. The last two were both born by c-section.

3 males and 2 females. The females and one of the males are white, and the other 2 males are brown and white. The breeder named them: Bodie (brown male), Kima (white female), Omar (brown male), Bubbles (white female), Cutty (white male).

Hopefully in the next few weeks I can make a trip up to the breeders (about a 2 hour 15 min drive).

Figuring the breeder will keep the puppies with the mother for about 8 weeks, I should bring my puppy home around the 4th of July. I am excited and nervous. We have always had a farm dog, but a hunting dog is a whole new ball game for me. I have never tried to do training to that level that I will require of myself.


Now, my other task in preparation for the puppy's arrival, getting my kennel and run constructed, along with cleaning out some space in my room for his crate for nights.


If anybody has any pointers, I am glad to get any advice/help I can.

You have the Right to Free Speech, BUT....

.....only if you agree with me.

I first saw this at Ogre's.

I always thought that in the United States we have the RIGHT to speak freely. But according to a member of the Student Senate at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, You don't.

When a group of Pro-Life students staged an authorized demonstration with University permission, including a field of white crosses for the children who never had the chance to live their life, another student destroyed their field of crosses by pulling them out of the ground and screaming that the pro-life students didn't have the right to challenge abortion.

What a great mentality to have. You have rights, as long as you don't disagree with me. Sounds like communism.

Let's see, where else we can apply this idea. Press. You can only write what I approve. Communism. Religion. You are only allowed to go to a church who preaches my approved message. And the list goes on.

I have no problem with a good debate on issues, but you cannot ignore the counterpoint.

Personally, I take pride in my ability to at least listen to the other side. When I was in college, I wrote a research paper on the right to keep and bear arms. The professor was a pretty strong anti-gun advocate. However, our opposite views did not affect the merits of the work.

The Dukes

Confession. I love "The Dukes of Hazzard." No, not the movie that came out a couple of years ago, but the original t.v. series with John Schneider, Tom Wopat, Catherine Back, Sorrel Booke, and Denver Pyle.

I grew up watching the antics of the Duke boys and how they would cause so much heartburn for Boss (J.D. or Jefferson Davis) Hogg and Sheriff Roscoe Coltrane, while Daisy would leave Enos bumbling. It was the good life.

And yes, I even own the first 3 or 4 seasons on DVD.

And now I see that over at Yahoo! Sports, they have a contest up for "The Greatest Driver That Never Was." And in the finals it is Bo Duke versus The Bandit (Burt Reynolds from "Smokey and the Bandit"). So head over and cast your ballot for Bo Duke.

New License Plates

Well, it is that time of year. You all know the time. When the Secretary of State sends your annual bend over and take it notice.

Also known as the license plate renewal notice.

And since I am a VERY Proud Master Mason (a.k.a. Freemason), I am going to change from my standard issue B truck plates to Master Mason plates.

It costs an extra $25 a year, but that goes to the Illinois Masonic Foundation for the Prevention of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Among Children. I had them on my old trucks, but they were actually registered to my dad, who is also a Master Mason. When I bought my current truck new in 2005, I didn't get the Masonic plates. And then last year when my renewal notice came, I was between jobs and couldn't afford the upgrade. But now I can.

And here is what I need from you, my faithful readers (and not so faithful passers-by), I am looking for recommendations for what I should have put on the new plates. I am either going personalized or vanity plates. Vanity plate option: Must limit alpha letters to max. 4 characters and numbers to 2 or 3 digits (ABCD or 123). Personalized plate option: A space must separate letter/number combinations. (A 123 or AB 12 or ABC 1).

I had a few ideas. Like ONW, KJIV, BEVR, ADAM, SPNR, HNTR, GOOS, DUCK, KJ 4.

So please, leave in the comments if you like one of those or if you have another idea that you think would be fitting for me. I have about a week before I have to send in my renewal.

*************************************************************************

Here's another one I thought of: FOWL.

Bloody Lake

Well, I made it back home last night about 6:20.

What a good weekend. Mostly. Parts of it I would like to forget. And I would guess there are other people who would like to forget it as well.

I arrived Thursday morning a little after 10:00. Wil, Red, Ark Builder, the Marine, and the Man From Ohio were already there. The Man From Ohio had a wall tent set up that he was trying to sell, so I just crashed in with him versus setting up my own (why waste the effort). And the weather proved this to be a good idea. We were fighting rain most of Thursday afternoon, Friday, Friday night, and Saturday morning. Some heavy. Some not. A thunderstorm Friday night. Some high winds. But we have all camped in worse.

On Friday night Contagion, Ktreva, and Clone arrived for there first time to this event. They made it in after a hard rain but it was not raining when they arrived.

Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday, the clouds finally moved out and it got warm and sunny. My face has my usual rendezvous sunburn. Red face with a line across my forehead, which makes me look like I am a quart low.

The Company meeting on Saturday afternoon went pretty well, at least from my perspective. The rain had moved out of the area by the time of the meeting. The big item on the agenda was the election of the 2009 Bourgeois. When it finally came down to election time, we were left with two guys still nominated-at one point we had 5 nominations. The vote was pretty uneventful. We also added 3 new members to the Company.

All in all, a pretty darn good weekend.