Really? The federal budget has nothing left to cut?

Does she really believe that we cant return the federal budget back to where it was 12 years ago? How can someone keep getting elected if they are that inane?      

      House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says Republican-led efforts to rein in government spending are pointless

      because there is nothing left to cut in the almost $4 trillion-a-year federal budget.

      “The cupboard is bare. There’s no more cuts to make. It’s really important that people understand that," Mrs 

       Pelosi, California Democrat, said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CNN's "State Of The Union".

     “We cannot have cuts just for the sake of cuts.”

       The federal budget has doubled in size in 12 years, from $1.9 trillion in 2001 to $3.8 trillion this year.

let me point that out again.......

The federal budget has doubled in size in 12 years, from $1.9 trillion in 2001 to $3.8 trillion this year.

muwahhhhahahahahahahahaha

President of the United States of America cant do simple math

Raising the debt ceiling doesn't increase the nation's debt, Pres. Obama declared in a speech today.

Really? 

B/c with the current debt limit the Treasury has managed to keep the national debt at $16,699,396,000,000 for the last 4 months. Who wants to take bets that the next time the debt limit is raised that the National Debt won't grow larger? 
Anyone want to take that bet?  Anyone? 

If you make the 'US pool of money we can spend that we dont have' (USPMWCSTWDH) larger, then more debt will be added to the pool. We've done this a hundred times and each time the debt grew larger.

Anyone still want to bet it wont go up this time?


I didn't think so......


Just as a reminder, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has said;

Adm. Mike Mullen: 'National Debt Is Our Biggest Security Threat'

Man feared dead after being grabbed by crocodile, also people breathe air and water is wet.

Um, yep. Once you get grabbed by a Salty, your life expectancy drops to near zilch at a dramatic rate. I feel sorry for the guy and his family, but the NBCNEWS.com headline writers have once again come up with a sandwich of "DUH!" in how they write.  Also in the headlines today at good ol' NBC?  Snipers 'deliberately" shoot at UN Inspectors. Um, yeah. That's what snipers do. They don't shoot randomly. Come on NBC, are you even trying?

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/25/20179207-crocodile-attack-australian-camper-snatched-from-muddy-river?lite

I really wish newspapers and media sites would take a little more time and either do the pun thing or at least report the facts. Trying to be a tabloid when you aren't is just lame. Guess they have to avoid talking about the Fed unwinding and the impending economic damage.

Red Head Girl in Bikini

Not really, but that seems to be a lot of what generates traffic for my blog. Odd.
Must be b/c of the Feral Irishman

Be good.

Its stuff like this that feeds conspiracy theories

I'm sure it went down just as presented by the FBI, but its this sort of odd circumstance that gets the tinfoil hat brigade salivating.

Man with ties to Boston bombing suspects shot during FBI questioning

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/22/18418012-man-with-ties-to-boston-bombing-suspect-shot-during-fbi-questioning?lite

This was not an accident, it was parental idiocy and child neglect

So a 5 year old boy in Kentucky shoots and kills his 2 year old sister with his 22LR rifle. It was a bolt action, single shot Crickett. Mom was home. They claim it was an accident; the boy was "just playing with it" and didn't realize there was a shell in the chamber. The gun normally sits in a corner in a room of the home.

1. Why wasn't this gun locked up?
2. Why wasn't the in gun lock on safe? (Cricket has a tubular key lock on their rifles)
3. What parent leaves a possibly loaded weapon around for their 5 year old to "play" with?
4. Why wasn't the child trained to only use the gun under parental supervision?
5. How do you call this train wreck an accident?

These parents need to go to jail. This is classic child neglect for the 5yr old and involuntary manslaughter for the 2yr old. I have nothing but pity for the poor boy who will now go through life as his sisters killer.

If you are in a friend or neighbors house and see firearms out and about, chastise them. We are a community and we should self-police. Although both of my kids are gun safety trained, I still check on the status of firearms before they go over to a new friends home. A little bit of "being the parent" goes a long way in keeping your children safe.

Less importantly, this kind of crap makes law abiding gun owners look bad in the press.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/01/18000685-five-year-old-boy-accidentally-shoots-kills-sister?lite

Changed the look

Changed the look to make it easier on mobile devices which is what I largely use for my IntarNetz scrolling these days. I'm sure no one will mind....

Anybody want to Polka?

I found a fun place in downtown Columbus, that serves good German Bier and Brats and has a dance floor and music for my German wife to get out and dance.
If you're ever in Columbus, check out www.germaniacolumbus.org and see if they have an event when you're in town. The Bier Garten is great, especially being a little green oasis downtown in the midst of all those tall buildings.
Prost!

Right handed but left eye dominant

So I find out out yesterday, after taking my #1 kid to a 4H shooting safety training course that said child is right handed (I knew that) but left eye dominant. Since all I knew about eye dominance I can sum in up two words (not much) I'm looking for help from the intarwebz.
We ended up after multiple iterations and options having the kid shoot with from the left shoulder on a right handed rifle (we had left and right handed savage mark II's available). This resulted in pretty good groupings and the cheek weld was natural while aiming with the left eye, but it still made working the bolt awkward. Using a lefty rifle was tough b/c there was no fine motor control in the left arm, and using the right handed rifle was tough b/c the right arm had to come back from the forend. This worked b/c we were using a bench rest setup and the barrel and forend were supported without the kid's arm.
Of course in a standing or prone situation this would be difficult for a kid to hold up the rifle entirely from the trigger guard area since that would be so far behind the center of balance for the rifle.

So, should we stick with left shoulder, right hand rifle or maybe just move straight from bolt-action to semi-auto to avoid any issues with the bolt altogether?

The kid also wants to get into archery and there just happened to be an archery instructor on site yesterday who said we were going to be pretty much looking at a left handed bow as the only option for someone using their left eye to aim.

I spend all these years making sure both my kids are right handed and no one ever told me to also put a patch over their left eye and make damn sure they are right eye dominant. ;)

Anybody have any experience or thoughts? By the way, the #1 child has gone through a couple of doses of vision therapy over the years to cure the kid of being cross-eyed and we have absolutely no interest in trying to go back at 10 years of age and re-train the eyes on something else, so using the right eye isn't an option.
Anyone with any feedback is appreciated.

Repost - Solar Water Heater Offer from DR Power - New update

Solar Water Heater Offer from DR Power

for comments see original post  http://seanownsthemoon.blogspot.com/2010/03/solar-water-heater-offer-from-dr-power.html

I like DR products, made like tanks and made in the USA.

They are partnering with built by a sister company firm that build solar water heaters, selling a DIY kit that includes solar collector, heat exchanger and a water storage tank that connects to your current hot water heater. Plus the solar collector has a small photovoltaic cell that powers the pump, which A: means you don't need to run any new electric for this system and B: the solar water heater only runs when their is sun enough to power the PV cell. So another one on the plus side is that it looks easy to install in that you don't have to re-plumb your house. 

This is all well and good and I have been considering one, especially with the federal and state tax credits knocking about $4K off the price, plus as a previous DR owner, I get a special $450 coupon.

I initially was confused by Sunward's pricing information, but thanks to their help I have seen that it is pretty straight forward and I hope to be able to place an order in 2010.
Heating water in your home and refrigerating food are about 80% of an average homes energy usage. If I can knock a dent in one of those, that's not a bad thing. Running a fridge on alternate power.....now that's for another blog post on anther day.

UPDATE, August 2011: Well, with my change of vocation at the end of 2009 and the ongoing economic troubles making me save every dime I could for a rainy day, I still haven't bought this system.....but I still want to. Anyone out there own one that wants to give a review? DR and Sunward, any chance you'd long term loan me one to try?  ;)

UPDATE, Feb 2013

Their new website does a much better job of marketing the whole kit. I'm seriously considering buying one still, I have about half the $$ saved up, and while I normally don't like debt, I may finance one soon as this would be a good time to become less grid reliant. We've lost our power multiple times this winter and I really enjoy hot showers.

I hate loud cars

http://xkcd.com/1156/

I'm going to use some Pavlovian skills and see if I can't get the kids in my neighborhood to turn down their bass......

Get a grip on reality will you please?

So someone in Turkey bought their kid a LEGO Star Wars set, and when the Uncle came over and saw it he immediately decided that is was a Turkish mosque and Asians being represented instead of...well...fake stuff from George Lucas' mind.He got incensed, spoke to his local community center and now is contemplating a lawsuit for this great insult against Islam.

I'm well aware that ol' GL has co-opted pretty much anything not nailed down in order to add filler to his Star Wars series (And God knows he has re-released the films every time some new tech has come along that lets it come out an iota better for the viewer)
                                                          but to think that he took this

and created this

is really pushing it.

Considering that they dont look anything like each other other than both having domed roofs, I can't imagine they are linked.

So when LEGO comes out with this

I have to say it looks a lot more like Star Wars than a Turkish Mosque (which by the way started life as a Christian Basilica under the Eastern Roman Empire, look it up).

As for the characters looking Asian  sure Jabba has almond shaped eyes, and smokes a hookah, but I have yet to meet a large green worm looking "person" claiming to be from Asia, so I'm going to have to shut that argument down as well.

This is why religious nuts (no matter the religion) drive me crazy. Its a childs toy modeled after a childs movie. No hidden meanings are required. The set will run you $120, which is also crazy as a price for a kids toy in my mind, but hey, if those Danes can get that price, more power to 'em.

Jason Sudeikis now luckiest man alive

Its official, he's engaged and now gains the coveted title of man for whom I am the most jealous.