Religion, Politics, and Culture: Explained and Defined
In the news today several more men have come forward claiming to be the father of Anna Nicole Smith’s baby daughter. A coworker commented to me today, “It sure looks like Anna Nicole Smith slept with just about everyone.”
My response was, “Finally; Hillary has an excuse.”
This one could make Jay Leno’s Headline segment.
In the December 29, 2006 edition of the Sacramento Business Journal is the following item on page 33.
Rachel Mikel is suing Petsmart, Inc, Whitney Lumstead and Antionette Valles for a complaint of sexual battery and false imprisonment.
This raises many questions to the careful reader including:
How did Rachel get in the gerbil cage?
Are Whitney and Antionette employees?
Does Rachel buy all her leather goods at Petsmart?
Aren’t the cages too small for any kind of imprisonment?
Rachel, that’s not what they mean when they offer obedience classes.
Several months ago, I was talking on the telephone to my sister about her child rearing experience. She said that her one regret was that she didn’t have a room in her house that was dedicated for her children to play with their friends.
This seemed like good advice to me so I decided to follow her recommendation. I decided to convert part of the garage into such a room. Like many homes, we have a “three-car garage”. If our garage could really hold three cars this would be no big deal, but the garage size is really more like my wife’s car plus a golf cart.
Anyway, I was able to carve-out an area about 10 x 14 to make into a room. I have been working on nights and weekends to make this room a reality. Thus far I have had to move lighting, jack hammer floors to move drain lines, relocate water pipes, roto-hammer wedge anchors and take one trip to the emergency room for stitches. The room in now framed and my plumbing wall is close to completion.
To get to this point has taken much longer than I had anticipated, but with no one to help me except my energetic two-year-old son, I think that I’ve done ok. Yes, I get to do this project and baby-sit at the same time. When he’s asleep I have to quit working. This is one reason that my progress has been slow. (I also have spent a few weekends playing in my new Jeep, a subject of a future blog.)
I have several obstacles yet to overcome but I can see the end point approaching. My remaining tasks are electrical, drywall (including tape and texture) and floor coverings.
Most of my tools for this project have been cordless, battery operated tools that my wife bought me about two years ago. Considering it’s been 30 years since my last woodshop class, I think I’m doing ok.
The one aspect of this project that I might actually hire a contractor to do is the tape and texturing. While the theory of this is simple it seems as much art as science to get consistency in the final result.
I look forward to getting this room completed. So far it has been a relatively inexpensive way to spend some quality time with my son doing “guy things”.
NASA (National Aeronautical and Space Administration) has lost its way and is returning to its roots in search of direction.
On the same day two disturbing stories appeared.
First, NASA has managed to loose the original films of man’s first landing on the Moon. The government has begun to search its vast archives of warehoused material to see if the films are hidden away somewhere. (Rumor has it that they are also keeping an eye out for the lost Ark.)
Secondly, many rocket parts have been quietly disappearing from museums and other places housing relics from the Apollo Program. Why? Because engineers at NASA want to copy fuel valves and other gizmos for use in rocket designs for the new push for the Moon and then Mars. Based mostly on 1950’s era technology, these systems used in antique rockets are going to be the backbone of 21st Century space exploration.
Gene Roddenberry would probably find the irony quite funny. So much for the newer is better axiom of American society.
This Week has been a real wonder.
God is given a PG rating by the Motion Picture Association of America.
Facing the Giants is too evangelical for a “G” rating.
The head terrorist in Iraq is sent straight to Hell by the US military.
Democrats in the US Senate proved once again that their strength is in their perversity as only one could vote in favor of traditional marriage and only because he is up for re-election this year.
In Tuesday’s Primary Election we saw Rob “Meathead” Reiner and his Socialist proposal for universal pre-school get soundly rejected even after a 23 million dollar campaign of taxpayer money on its behalf.
The “Greek Mafia” and Organized Labor spanked Steve Westley and gave us another stereotypical liberal to run as fodder for the Terminator in Novembers General election.
Matt Rexroad places first in Yolo County Supervisor’s race with less than 2,300 votes. Most people running for Republican Central Committee in Sacramento County got better vote totals than Rexroad did in his Yolo County race. Plus County Clerk, Freddie Oakley managed to hose the results on election night and she gets rewarded for another four years after running unopposed.
Craig DeLuz ran a slate for Republican Central Committee in Sacramento and had mixed results. Had the slate been a major factor in the outcome, surely Craig would be one of the winners; especially after his previous campaigns for other offices. Instead he places fifth in District 1.
Support the Platform Slate results from Sacramento County Elections
I am grateful to God for the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ and for the son he has given to me.
Jesus is the reason for the Christmas Season.
In the movie Gumball Rally, there is a scene where the driver of a sporty convertible is preparing to enter the race from New York to Los Angeles. As part of his pre-race checklist, he reaches up and breaks-off the rearview mirror. The driver then tosses it over his shoulder and behind the car. His partner is shocked. When asked why he did that the drive responds, “What’s behind us doesn’t matter”.
While this philosophy is a hazardous way to drive, it is even more irresponsible when you are hauling furniture. On Saturday my wife and I loaded the family car and headed to the East Bay to do some shopping and see some family members. On the way we had to slow to a near crawl because someone had dumped a once comfortable chair into the number two lane where it had been struck by several other vehicles and caused a major backup in the middle of nowhere.
If someone had secured the chair better then this hazardous situation would have been avoided.
I thought that was about as bad as these incidents get, but I was wrong. That night on the way home I encountered a full sized refrigerator in the second lane of a three-lane highway while going 70 miles per hour! It was sitting upright even though it had been hit by at least one vehicle before I came upon it. At first all I saw was a silhouette that made me think it was a cardboard box but then it was obvious that it was white. My mind registered what it was and I took evasive action as I missed the refrigerator and the parts that had broken off of it. Then I noticed the small car on the side of the road with its flashers on because it had hit the wayward icebox moments earlier.
In both instances, it is negligent and irresponsible behavior that drivers would let cargo they are hauling simply slip off the back of a truck and keep going down the freeway thinking that what’s behind them doesn’t matter.
It is unfortunate that many of us live our lives with the same attitude as these drivers. This is the time of year when we look at the good that our lives can do for others. If you want to contemplate the way that your life touches others; then take some time out of you schedule and dust-off your copy of Its a Wonderful Life , pop some corn and spend an evening counting your blessings. And be careful out there!
We All know that competition in the fast food business is tough but this story is really hard to swallow.
It seems that Ronald McDonald was arrested for robbing a Wendy’s Restaurant in Manchester New Hampshire. Why Ronald would steal from Wendy is not revealed in the story. Wendy’s manager caught Ronald McDonald in the act and called police. There is no indication whether McDonald had been consuming Eggnog Shakes prior to the incident.
From the middle of my junior year of high school until the end of my second year in college I lived in the South, mostly in Mississippi. My first year there, they had over 144 inches (twelve feet) of rain! The lifestyle and climate in the part of the country is very different from ours here in the Sacramento Valley.
The contrast between Mississippi and Louisiana has grown since my time there. Louisiana has not changed; it is still an area of graft, corruption and political cronyism. Mississippi was just starting to become a Republican area. It is proof the competitive elections will result in better government for citizens.
I think Eric Hogue deserves a broadcasting award for his excellent coverage of the hurricane damage this week. He has made a far away tragedy into a personal experience for us all. See SactoDan”s review of the coverage.
Besides the debris, the smell and the devastation that we hear about in the news coverage, there are a number of unpleasant critters in that part of the country that are living among the rubble. Three are at least three species of poisonous snakes and plus alligators that call Mississippi and Louisiana home.
My heart goes out to the folks there.
