Very Proud, continued

Here is a sort of journal that was kept by the president of our company while he was down in Houston with the Red Cross as a volunteer. I didn't think I could be more proud of his sacrifice, but I am. Thanks again, Rick for your help.

Whaaa!?!?!

I knew there were environmental wachos out there but this is ridiculous!! How can one come to the realization that animals and plants are more important that humans. I'm not saying we are more important that animals and plants, but I think we are at least equal. But that's not all! Check out this. Holy shit! These people are fucked! They are messed up worse than the Islamic fundamentalist wacho anarchists in the middle east! (Little Sheet Heads for those of you who frequent this blog). The primary goal as I see it is to eliminate all industrialism. And these wachos spooled off these who want to take it even further. They don't just want to stop procreating, they think it's ok to wreak havoc on all things industrial. They think the ultimate in conservation is eliminating people. Fuck! What fucking drugs are these fucking people on!!
I have one thing to say to these people: "Fuck you you fucking fuckers!!" We, of the civilized world enjoy our toasters and vacuum cleaners and hot water to keep clean and medicine to stay healthy and live a long long life (hopefully). If you want out of this world, take yourself out. Leave us to "suffer" in this one.

Thanks to: Vodkapundit who led me months ago to the Bidnotto Blog. How can you not love sites that get inspiration from Atlas Shrugged and the Fountain Head. I will never be able to thank my mother enough for handing me those books to read while I was working 70 hours as a security guard after flunking out of college. Please read this for a significantly better description of the groups I mention above.

Somewhat related: I read this article about protestors traveling to and from Washington this past weekend. I nearly pissed myself laughing.

Asparagus

I just went "number 1" after having had asparagus for dinner. I had other things to eat too, of course, but it's the asparagus that I need to address. Why does my "number 1" smell like asparagus one and a half hours after eating? In fact, sometimes the first morning "number 1" will smell like asparagus. Is this too much information (TMI)? Too bad. I need to know. This does not happen to me with any other food. Why asparagus? Why? Does this happen to others? With other foods, or just asparagus? Too many questions? Tough, I need to know. Thanks in advance.

Holy Crap!! It's Done!!

We are so excited that the house is finally Done!! All Hail Liquicoat!! Duval and his crew were great and performed nearly every task I asked of them. We think it looks Great!!

Without any further ado here are the photos:

Diary of Coating the Estate

9/8/05 - Scraping and sanding is going well. In hindsight I wish they tented or tarped or something before they sanded. Dust and crap is EVERYWHERE! Especially in my neighbor's beautiful koy pond. I eased the tension as best I could, then called the big boss at Liquicoat and asked what could be done to minimize the dust. He said they'd take care of it.

9/14/05 - Well, the painting, sorry, coating of my house is proceeding quite nicely. The sanding is almost all done except for one spot I noticed they missed. The special primer is all on and there is even a spot of pink on the wrap around porch. Of course, that's when it started to rain. No rain all summer but start painting, sorry, coating my house and it rains.


9-20-05 - The first coat of pink is nearly complete. They are doing the front today.






















The yards (mine and neighbors) are really messy/dusty. Mine is the worst. I'll have to really work to get it cleaned up if they do not do a good enough job. Boy's sandbox is full of paint crap, and paint chips surround the house. I'll have to power wash my neighbors homes to keep everyone calm. Other than that, Liquicoat has been very responsive to our needs. I'll not complain to them about the mess as Liquicoat is not done and hasn't had a chance to clean up yet. I know any project makes a mess first then work happens (while making more of a mess) and then when the job is completed, there is clean-up. I just hope they do.

Stumbled

I stumbled across this blog entry this morning. I've avoided contemplating this issue for some time but a couple quotes struck me.
"Posterity may very well know Katrina to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back in regard to the level of abuse Blacks in Amerikkka are willing to tolerate before we demand an end to it."
I'll disregard the "kkk" in the misspelling as hyperbole, but the author appears to be trying to make this point: "Blacks are abused in America". I may indeed live just east of Fairfield County, CT but I am not telling myself any lies. I know that Blacks are not abused. This is abuse. And this. And this. And this. Perhaps the author means Blacks are "held down by the Man!" Then what are all these government programs for? All these programs were designed for people who wished to help themselves. Helping oneself is the American way. However if you need more help it is available to you because Americans also are compassionate. The most compassionate country in the world. Bar none.

Consider this testimony by an official of CATO institute. Unless one helps oneself no advancement happens! The most important recommendation as I see it is:
"Given this record of failure, I recommend that Congress:
- In the long-term, Congress should end all federal funding of welfare. In the short-term, Congress should end the entitlement status of welfare and return control of welfare programs to the states with as few strings as possible. Congress should resist the temptation to impose conservative mandates on the states in lieu of liberal mandates.
- Begin the transition from government welfare to private charity by creating a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for contributions to private charity.
- Make adoption easier. This includes eliminating barriers to transracial adoption, including repeal of the Metzenbaum amendment passed last year.
- Tear down tax and regulatory barriers to economic growth and entrepreneurism, particularly in high poverty areas."

And the conclusion should be read to all Americans:
"We should not pretend that reforming our social welfare system will come easily or painlessly. In particular, ending government welfare will be difficult for those people who currently use welfare the way it was intended -- as a temporary support mechanism during hard times. However, these people -- almost by definition -- remain on welfare for very short periods of time. A compassionate society can find other ways to deal with the problem of people who need temporary assistance to get through hard times. But our current government-run welfare system is costly to taxpayers and -- more important -- cruel to the children born into a cycle of welfare dependency and hopelessness."

The author of the hyperbole should also consider that the spending on welfare in "rich" states and poor states is not the same.

"This study sought to understand how state fiscal capacity affected spending on social welfare programs. It found that low fiscal capacity states spent less on social welfare programs than did high fiscal capacity states and that these differences were greater for cash assistance and non-health social services than for health-related programs."

"Rich" States spend an amazing amount more than poor states on welfare and other programs. I have a therory that this is due to the fact that rich people can afford to be liberal, but that's another rant.

So if the rich are not the enemy of the poor. Who is? This group. If ever a group were set up to take advantage of every benefit given by the government it's this one. But they are worse. They continually DIVIDE this country into two groups. Pitting them against each other when they should be working together to better themselves and America.

There was a song that came out in the 80's by the Rainmakers that hits home in many ways. Depending on one's outlook on life it could mean two decidedly different things. One could say: "How dare those guys disparage people in need!!" or one could call this the observations of someone in an unfortunate circumstance yet still looking on the bright side in an attempt to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and make a better life for themselves by not accepting that government cheese forever, but only until they get back on their own two feet.

Every person is able to make something out of their life. I moved to KC with little savings and worked four part time jobs until I got a decent full time position. I worked pretty hard to get my degree. I got grants from the government to pay for part of my education. I took out loans. Everything is paid back now. Those grants and loans got me through school and I'm thankful.

I do not expect every American to act as I do. God forbid! I'm no role model. But, if we all took responsibility for our "ownselves" we'd be a lot better off and a lot happier.

The Day of Rest?

I read this column when it came out in my Sports Illustrated. (there is a chance you cannot view it online if you are not a subscriber to SI so I'll paste it in below. I didn't ask his permission, I hope he doesn't mind. I'm a big fan of his either way.) We chatted about this in church that week; and the following week our head of the Sunday school program mentioned it during service. But what can one church do to change this?

I think first we have to somehow change the perception that anyone who goes to church is a Jesus Freak. Because this stereotyping of good church going people is allowed, no, reinforced, by the mainstream media it will be a very difficult perception to overcome. Unfortunately it will take a long time, because we ARE good people. We simply turn the cheek and take another shot when it comes. Someday the snipers will grow weary of taking snipes at an object that doesn't react. Until then we go to church instead of a sporting event and enjoy our lives.

Another Easter Sunday in the Cathedral. Hushed voices. Amens. People holding hands and praying. At the end, all of them rising as one and screaming, "My God, it's a miracle!"
Church? Hell, no. Augusta National. It was Phil Mickelson's win at the Masters. Sports has nearly swallowed Sunday whole. Every pro sport plays on Sunday. The big day in pro golf and tennis is Sunday. College football started playing bowl games on Sunday. Here's March Madness: 10 NCAA tournament games were played on Sunday.
Now more and more youth sports teams are playing on Sunday, when the fields are easier to get and parents are available to drive. It's that kind of stuff that has really torqued off Pope John Paul II lately. In March he decried the fact that Sundays are losing their "fundamental meaning" to "such things as entertainment and sport." It's not as if he's antijock. The pope was a goalkeeper, skier and kayaker in his day. Hey, he just blessed New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's right arm. He's just hacked at the way sport is crowding God right off the list of Sunday passions.
The first people he might want to crack down on are the Christians themselves. Think he knows that the Santa Clarita (Calif.) YMCA has youth hoops on Sundays? Think the pope would be down on Notre Dame if he knew its softball team will play more games on Sundays in May than on any other day of the week? He's not the only one who's chapped about sports becoming this country's main religion. Priests and pastors across the country have noticed something lately: God is competing more and more with Sunday sports -- and losing. Especially with youth sports.
"It's only happened the last two years," says Rich Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals. "Coaches never used to schedule games on Sunday." Says the Reverend Julie Yarborough of Summit (N.J.) Christ Church, "You see kids coming to Sunday school late and their parents coming early to get them for games -- if they come at all. Sports is really eating into our time." Her colleague at Christ Church, the
Reverend Charles Rush, knew there was a problem the other day when his 12-year-old acolyte lit the candles at the front of the church wearing his soccer cleats.
I'll tell you exactly what's going on here: the upping of American youth sports. For some reason overcaffeinated parents feel they have to keep up with the Joneses. They used to do it with their cars. Now they do it with their kids. Upping means putting little Justin into not one soccer league but three, not one soccer camp but four.
Upping also means playing up, forcing a kid to play one or even two levels above his age group, so that little Benjamin, age eight, can sit on the 10-year-olds' bench, play three minutes a game and whiff in his only at bat. But, hey, he is playing up! And upping means moving up. The local team isn't high-profile, so little Amber has to switch to an elite team, usually in another town. That means extended drives
to and from practice plus traveling three or four or six hours to play in tony invitational tournaments on weekends. This way parents from far-flung towns can flaunt the status symbol of spending beautiful warm weekends in a freezing ice rink watching 14 mind- and butt-numbing hockey games.
"I admit, we're guilty from time to time," John Burrill, head of the Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association, says of playing on Sundays. "We don't feel particularly good about it, but with today's busy schedules Sunday is the only time some of us have to do these things. And if you're going to travel two states away, it doesn't make sense to not play Sunday, too."
Well, religion bosses have decided that they're not going to take it anymore. Spiritual leaders in Summit got together recently and appealed for sports leagues to stop scheduling games before noon on Sunday. A meeting between them and area youth coaches is set for May.
We'll see who kneels first. Don't bet on coaches doing the right thing. If they could, they'd have your kids running stairs on Christmas morning.
What has to happen is the parents have to start saying no. Not to their kids -- to their kids' coaches. "I told my boy's coach he wouldn't be playing on Sundays," says Cizik, "and he looked shocked. I said, 'You act like nobody's ever said that to you before.' And he said, 'Honestly? They haven't.'"
I'm with the holy men. Not that I'm the Reverend Lovejoy, but I just feel sorry for these kids who get nothing but organized sports rammed down their gullets 24/7. My Lord, even God took a day off. Kids might weep with joy to get a day off from sports. If they don't spend it at church, maybe they'll spend it getting to know their siblings' names again. Or swing in a hammock without a coach screaming, "Get your hips into it, Samantha!"
Hey, you do what you want. Just remember, when little Shaniqua has two free throws to win or lose a game on some Sunday morning, good luck finding somebody who'll answer your prayers.
Issue date:
April 26, 2004
Rick Reilly, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, has been
voted National Sportswriter of the Year nine times.

Very Proud

We had a company meeting today and it was odd because the President of the company (RK) was not there. We soon found out why. He volunteered, through the Red Cross, to go down to Houston and help in the rescue mission for the Hurricane Katrina victims. I know I felt very proud of him for doing so. I imagine everyone else did also. I am also filled with a sense of pride since I now know that RK has so much faith in us that he believes his company will be fine while he gone. He trusts us to take care of the company as he would himself. I for one am glad that I can help in this small way.
But it has gotten me thinking. I talked it over with A and we have volunteered to take in an orphan child from any of the devastated areas. WE do not have any room for a family, just one top bunk on my son's bunk bed, but I imagine it's better than nothing. I don't know if anything will come of it, but we volunteered and I hope we can help.

update: Boy's school has volunteered to take in 4 private school students, so we put our names in for taking in a child for that school.

Accurate Droll Sarcasm

This post killed me, but I love sarcasm. I've not watched much coverage of the flood, but Wife has and mentioned to me that she thought the mayor of New Orleans was out to lunch and I trust her opinion.