VOTE NO !

I just read the power point presentation that was given to the Republicans in the House this evening on the debt compromise and it would endanger our national security because if a committee with an equal number of Republicans and Democrats is unable to agree, our national defense would be reduced by 50% of the amount Obama increases the debt limit. No way do I give Democrats a veto over our national security needs. They have been trying to decrease our national defense for years and now we give them an open road. Our national defense should be based upon the threats we face and not some gimmick.Vote NO !

Heritage Foundation:

While this deal is moving in the right direction rhetorically thanks to pressure from conservatives, it still falls well short of the standards we have consistently laid out. At its core, the deal still relies on an insufficient level of cuts immediately in return for raising the debt ceiling over $2 trillion. We are skeptical of “super committees” tasked with brokering grand bargains and we are adamantly opposed to committees that are given the authority to raise taxes on the American people and to bring about the gutting of our national defense budget. This deal highlights how dysfunctional Washington has become and we will continue to oppose it as insufficient to the task at hand.

From a GOP House office as quoted by Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post:

In] the trigger, medicare cuts are capped, defense is not. Defense cuts would make approximately half of “across the board” cuts. Defense spending is typically 18% of federal spending. Hypothetically, that means the Committee can come up . . . include gang of six type revenue plan that could force the House to a choice: the committee product or the massive defense cuts in the trigger.

Bill Kristol:

Members of Congress and their staff who know and care about defense are somewhere between alarmed and panicked at the emerging shape of the debt ceiling deal. (Consider this amazing on-the-record statement by Senator Joe Lieberman’s communications director to Jennifer Rubin just a few minutes ago: “Senator Lieberman is very concerned about rumors that the debt agreement now being negotiated will disproportionately cut defense spending and result in unacceptably high risk to our national security.”)

One of the great virtues of the Boehner bill that passed the House is that it more or less protects defense from further immediate cuts, and, since it has no trigger, there’s no presumption of future cuts either. Now defense is on the chopping block. The negotiations are moving away from Boehner toward Reid in terms of immediate defense cuts—and the trigger mechanism that’s being discussed could produce massive defense cuts in the out years. As one well plugged-in observer put it to me, in the talks right now, on defense, it’s now four against one on defense—Obama, Reid, Pelosi, and McConnell are all more or less happy to use defense as a cash cow or as a trading chip for other issues, and Boehner’s having trouble holding the line by himself.

Dream Ticket: RYAN - RUBIO 2012

Now..... this is a ticket I can wholeheartedly support !

WILLIAM KRISTOL has been promoting this on the Weekly Standard web site and on Fox News Sunday. The following is from his web site at the Weekly Standard:

Take fifteen minutes for the sake of your country.

Take one minute to watch Paul Ryan on the floor of the House Thursday (you can also read the text below).

Take fourteen minutes to watch Marco Rubio on the floor of the Senate Saturday (you can also read the text below).

And tell me why it isn’t even more obvious today than it was at the beginning of the year that the 2012 ticket should be Ryan-Rubio.

(Click on the title for a link)



UPDATE:

Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post:

Republican presidential candidates were basically nowhere to be found during the debt ceiling debate, or confined themselves to coy and cryptic comments. Not exactly profiles in leadership.” Two words: Ryan-Rubio!

National Review Cover

At a newsstand near you.

How Stands The Union ?

I wish I could say in this summer of our discontent:

"The Union stands as she stood, rock-bottomed and copper-sheathed, one and indivisible."

Abraham Lincoln said:

"A house divided against itself cannot stand."
I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.

Today America is also a house divided against itself. This time it's between those who pay taxes and those who take tax money paid by other. One group does not want any tax increases and the other is dependant on government. As a result our elected leaders have taken the path of least resistance and have incurred horrendous debt which we have borrowed from the Chinese and others.

As usual Victor Davis Hanson says it best when he writes:

About 50 percent of taxpayers don’t pay federal income taxes. Almost half of American adults receive either the majority of or all of their income in some form from government. They are naturally desirous of even more entitlements, in the sense that even higher taxes on the top 5 percent might ensure at least some of the needed revenue to pay for them. And if that echelon must pay 70 percent or 80 percent rather than the present 60 percent of all collected income taxes, it would still not be such a bad thing, inasmuch as the circumstances surrounding their earned income must be somewhat suspicious. In the words of the president, the so-called affluent surely at some point must realize that they have made enough money and have hundreds of thousands in unneeded income that could easily be assessed with higher taxes

The agenda of the poorer and lower-middle classes is championed mostly by an affluent elite located on the two coasts, who find power and influence in representing “the people,” and are themselves either affluent enough, or enjoy enough top government salaries and subsidies, to be largely exempt from any hardship that would result from their own advocacy of much higher taxes and larger government expenditures.....

Behind the current mess and shrill rhetoric in D.C. are these two larger competing visions—the belief that the Obama agenda is the road to serfdom for everyone, and the belief that it will result in a long-overdue equality of result.

I believe it's the road to serfdom and destruction of the Union.

(To read the rest click on the title for a link)

Peggy Noonan: "He is a loser"

Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan who supported President Obama in 2008 has lost her confidence in the man. In her column today she writes:

So he is losing a battle in which he had superior forces—the presidency, the U.S. senate. In the process he revealed that his foes have given him too much mystique. He is not a devil, an alien, a socialist. He is a loser. And this is America, where nobody loves a loser.

To read the rest click on the title for a link.

Could the United States lose it's triple A rating because we don't have a triple A President?

Go Ahead, Harry Reid, Make My Day !!!

Pac-12 TV Network

Click on the title for a New York Times story on the new Pac-12 TV Network. There will be 6 regional networks and one national. The 6 regional will be Washington, Oregon, N Cal, S Cal, Arizona and Colorado/Utah. Each regional channel will pair the two Pac 12 schools in the region. For Example: Oregon will have Oregon and Oregon State. The regional networks will be carried on the lower tier of cable companies such as basic, expanded basic and digital. The national channel will be a upper tier channel that will cost most cable subscribers an addition fee. Click on the title for a link to the New York Times story

It looks like the Oregon regional provider will be "good old" Comcast which in the past has prevented most of us in Southern Oregon from getting Duck games and other sports programing because of their refusing to give Charter, our local cable provider, a reasonable rate. Let's hope not ! Will Southern Oregon Duck fans be scr**ed again ?

Where is the Plan, Mr President ?

What is the White House plan to cut the deficit ?????????

Animal House on Blu Ray

Yes, that classic movie is released on blu ray today. $14.98 at Best Buy! Did I say it was filmed at the University of Oregon. Toga...toga !

UPDATE;

I got it yesterday and watched it last night. I have watched this movie many times on VHS and on DVD and this blu ray is a definite improvement as far as picture and sound. In the past I have paid little attention to the sound track but it definitely stands out in the blu ray. The picture is better but you notice it most in watching the background details that now are much clearer. One of the thinks I love about this movie is it shows what the University of Oregon was like when I was there. The movie was made a few years after I left but it is a trip back in time for me. I love the food fight scene in the "Fish Bowl" because that was one of my favorite places on campus where I would relax with a newspaper, a REAL coke and a donut. It was a great place for people watching and meeting friends. The movie brings it all back. My second favorite place on campus was a stone bench in the old part of campus behind Johnson Hall and near the Pioneer Mother statute. I can remember a summer sitting there to relive the stress of preparing for the Bar exam. In one of the scenes you see that bench and that period of time is preserved. Almost every scene takes me back. The campus has changed since I left but this movie preservs it the way it was and the way I remeber it.

Pawlenty Resonds to Obama

Tim Pawlenty’s statement


President Obama is lecturing the country instead of leading it. He has presided over the largest and most irresponsible run up of debt in our nation’s history, and he now threatens to preside over the first default in U.S. history. Once again, President Obama did not have the courage to offer real solutions to fix runaway debt. Where is his plan to fix Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid? Tonight’s speech was all rhetoric and no results, and is another reason why President Obama needs to be removed from office

George Will: "Huey Long with a better tailor"

From George Will's latest column:

Obama — a demagogue for an age of smooth surfaces; Huey Long with a better tailor —

Click on title for a link to entire column

One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage ?

Nina Eastman of Fortune Magazine is reporting that one in five American men are unemployed. That's right 20% of American men are not working.The equivalent number in 1970, according to the McKinsey Global Institute, was was only 7%.

Click on the title for a link to read the news report.

Oh, I believe in yesterday !

Jerry Allen, the radio voice of the Ducks, talks about 2010 football season and the end of the Oregon State game. It will warm your heart.

Yesterday,
All my troubles seemed so far away,
Now it looks as though they're here to stay,
Oh, I believe in yesterday......
There's a shadow hanging over me,.....
Oh,I believe in yesterday!

Charles Krauthammer: Obama At His Most Sanctimonious

Charles Krauthammer on Obama's press conference after the debt limit talks broke down on Friday:

KRAUTHAMMER: This is Obama at his most sanctimonious, demagogic, self-righteous and arrogant. And given the baseline it wasn't a pretty sight. Look, he started out by summoning the leaders of Congress -- summoning them -- at 11:00. Who does he think he is? In the American system, the executive and Congress are coequal. In a banana republic, the caudillo will summon the members of the Congress. The way he demanded their appearance in the Oval Office I thought was disgraceful. The branches are coequal.

Second, on this issue he said "We have set forth a plan." He has set forth nothing. Nor has the Democratic controlled Senate. The Republicans offered a detailed plan. The Ryan plan in the House, and they offered Cut, Cap and Balance this time around. The President has offered nothing except he says if you go in the back room now my staff will give you a tick-tock of everything I'm supposed to have given. He has never once spoken about real cuts.

And lastly, what was interesting is even at this late date where he says that the fate of the republic hangs on the debt ceiling extension, he said if given a short extension of, say, half a year I won't except it. Why? because he says I want this to go past election day. That is entirely self-serving and political, and he pretends he's the one who's not interested in politics.

Yes, the Sugar Daddy is out of sugar and he is not happy!

"Pathetic"

We have now run out of time," a visibly angry Obama declared at a hastily arranged press conference in the White House briefing room.

The bottom line was Speaker Boehner and President Obama were close to a budget/debt agreement and at the last moment Obama required new taxes to appease the Democrats in Congress and it blew up the deal.

Jay Cost on President Obama's press appearance tonight:

Obama campaigned on changing the way Washington works, and today -- live on national television -- he is venting his frustrations about his inability to change the old processes.

Right now, Barack Obama looks like a president who knows he is failing to do what he promised, and he is visibly angry about it. Pathetic.

George Will:

Richard Miniter, a Forbes columnist, is right: "Obama is not the new FDR, but the new Gorbachev." Beneath the tattered banner of reactionary liberalism, Obama struggles to sustain a doomed system. Democrats' dependency agenda is buckling under an intractable contradiction: It is incompatible with economic growth sufficient to create enough wealth to feed the multiplying tax eaters.

Read more: Impediment to reform - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_747817.html#ixzz1Stw7VZR2

Keep Calm And Quack On

Click on the title above for a link to a picture of a poster Duck fans can buy in
this summer of our discontent. I received one in the mail today as a surprise from our daughter. The poster is very well done on good paper and is good way to keep up our humor and morale. The poster is take off of a poster the British used to keep their morale up in the early dark days of World War II when England stood alone.(See picture above)Go Ducks..... stay calm and QUACK on !

The Perry Trove

Governor Rick Perry of Texas will be running for President before the leaves fall and will be a MAJOR candidate. If you want information about him click on the title for a link to the Texas Monthly web site called "The Perry Trove" where they have linked their extensive news stories on Rick Perry. I have a "wait and see" attitude about him but he very well could go all the way. Any political junkie will want to spend some time reading up on him.


A few interesting quotes from the "Dear Yankee" article:

5. Perry is not a male hair model. The late Molly Ivins coined the nickname Governor Goodhair, and it has stuck, especially with ?liberals and journalists from up north. It is true that Perry has a much-remarked-upon coif, but don’t let this lead you to assume that he’s soft, or feckless, like that other recent walking shampoo ad, John Edwards. Perry is a hard man.......

6. Perry is from the middle of nowhere. The first place you need to go to understand Perry is Paint Creek, where he grew up. Paint Creek is not a town. It’s a watercourse that runs through the cotton fields of southern Haskell County. Perry’s parents were tenant farmers, and not just tenant farmers but dryland farmers, which is as hard as farming gets.......In the interview, Perry also described taking baths in the number two washtub and using an outhouse until his father built indoor plumbing in his early years. “We were rich,” Perry said, “but not in material things. I had miles and miles of pasture, a Shetland pony, and a dog. . . . I spent a lot of time just alone with my dog. A lot.”

What an interesting summer this has become.

Tragedy in Medford

I like to think of Medford Oregon as one of the safe sheltered places on this earth. For the most part it is, but this week tragedy struck with the killing of 5 people a few blocks from my office.Even more tragic is that 4 of the five victims were small children.The fifth was their mother. The five body's were taken from their home, which was on fire, by our local first responders. The victims had all been stabbed before a fire was started in their home. Their father (and husband) is in a local hospital suffering from smoke inhalation under police guard until the local authorities can determine the person who caused this crime. When the police and fire personal arrived on scene they thought it was just another home fire until they viewed the grizzly facts and attempted to revive the 5 victims in the front yard of the home.
Our local newspaper published pictures of the makeshift triage in the front yard. The look on the faces of the first responders told the tragic story. They tried to revive the victims with no success. The local hospital emergency room soon confirmed the harsh facts. The police officers who responded were sent home early. The photographer for the local newspaper told of his distress today in a highly personal story. A makeshift memorial has been placed in front of the home as Medford and Jackson County attempts to come to grips with the fact we are not as sheltered as we thought.


Click on the title above for a link to one of the many excellent news reports of the event published in the Medford Mail Tribune Newspaper.

G.O.P.: "No Time to Get Wobbly"

The United States House of Representatives last night passed a bill tying strict spending cuts and a balanced budget amendment to an increase in the debt ceiling. It is called "Cut cap and balance." It will now go to the United States Senate controlled by the Democrats.

At the same time the "gang of six" in the Senate has been working on a proposal that will increase the debt limit by prosing budget cuts that is smoke and mirrors and will do noting to limit spending down the road. It is more of the politics as usual that has gotten us into this crisis.

Darrell Delamaide of the Wall Street Journal explains it this way:

The Gang of Six, breathless reporters told us this week, has found a solution that tons of senators in both parties are willing to go along with. It will cut $3.7 trillion from the deficit over the next 10 years while lowering taxes.

Wow! How did this group of Democratic and Republican senators do it? Well, for starters they’re going to save $500 billion just by changing the way inflation is calculated. And the rest will be put out to committee, you know, with six-month deadlines and specific targets

To read more click on the title for a link.

During the lead up to the first Gulf War British Prime Minister, Margret Thatcher, told George H.W. Bush "George this is no time to get wobbly." The same thing needs to be told to the Senate Republicans! Stand your ground!

Good News Duck Fans

Duck Fans......if you have been depressed by the NCAA investigation of the Oregon Ducks based upon Willie Lyles allegations read this analysis of the facts that has been floating around the Internet today:

Couple of issues to think of... first, Lyles was not paid by Oregon when LaMichael James was recruited. Like many of the media members you scold, you fell into that trap. James' recruitment is not, and should not, be an issue regarding Lyles. At the time, Lyles worked for a different scouting service. His help with James does not qualify in this debate.Second, there are 2 problems with even talking about vacating anything... IF it is found that Oregon violated bylaw 13.14.3 Recruiting or Scouting Services, then there is a very applicable part of this rule at the end of the bylaw which reads: 13.14.3.1 Effect of Violation. Violations of Bylaw 13.14.3 and its subsections shall be considered institutional violations per Constitution 2.8.1; however, such violations shall not affect the prospective student-athlete’s eligibility... therefor, no player(s) will be ruled ineligible, hence no vacating of wins. Second problem is that, supposing for a moment that Oregon is found to have violated different rules regarding the 2 players who Lyles mentored during the same recruiting season as Oregon signed them, neither of the players playes last season, again, negating the concept of vacating wins.

Third issue is the mere fact that Cal and LSU are also involved with this. By all accounts, Cal and LSU supposedly "did it right" by getting documentation, etc. IF this is true, then the NCAA would be, in effect, ruling that Lyles service was legitimate. If he had a legitimate service, Oregon's violations are minimal... not obtaining and maintaining proper documentation. If the NCAA rules that Lyles service was not legit for any of the 3 schools, then they are left defining Lyles as a booster for multiple schools... if that is the case, considering one of those schools is an SEC team, I cannot see them taking away 12 scholarship... that is actually insane... especially given what was announced today regarding LSU's OTHER violation which was a clear and willful violation of recruiting rules and extra benefits to a player... 2 TOTAL scholarship reductions... no way Oregon get 12...

Fourth issue, you are using the rules, as they exist now, to condemn the program for what happened over a year ago. The importance of the distinction is that the bylaws regarding recruiting services changed in August 2010. Prior to this the "quarterly written report" was NOT required by the NCAA... So, regarding the written reports, at worst, the Ducks are guilty of not obtaining proper documents after the rule change... and, it may be that they thought the agreement with Lyles was "grandfathered" in so that they did not need to go back in time to produce the records... it COULD be that the "scramble" was nothing more than Oregon getting direction from Bill Clever that they should attempt to obtain some information anyway...

Fifth issue, and this is huge. There are some facts not being reported ANYWHERE which might cast a different light on the subject.

FACT 1: Lache Seastrunk made several unofficial visits to Auburn in Summer 2009

FACT 2: On each of these unofficial visits, there were a few minor recruiting violations that occurred.

FACT 3: Lache Seastrunk was originally committed to Auburn.

FACT 4: The NCAA, in light of a host of minor violations told Auburn to stop recruiting Seastrunk.

FACT 5: Oregon agreed to become Lyles' first client in December 2009

FACT 6: USC was Lache's 2nd choice, until the coach left

FACT 7: Pete Carroll's departure from USC was announced January 11, 2010

FACT 8: Josh Gibson's email to Bill Clever re: Lache's signature was dated January 12th

FACT 9: Lache Seastrunk did not officially commit to Oregon until January 27.

FACT 10: Lache's mom visited LSU with him

FACT 11: She wanted him to go to LSU

FACT 12: lache Seastrunk's mom was in and out of his life as a child, she had her own demons and did not raise him.

You see, Oregon was actually his 3rd choice. Yet, the Ducks had agreed to be Lyles 1st client while Lache was committed elsewhere... and Oregon stayed true to this even when Lache committed to USC (silent commit)... so, to say that the 25K was to get Seastrunk is extremely naive... the problem is that the facts I present do not generate clicks or sales... they are not "headlines" that make people happy, so they get tossed on teh side of the road... sometimes headlines are better than facts...

Click on the title for a link to one source of the story

Obama to shut down US Government

Today President Obama threatened to veto the U.S. House bill to "cut cap and balance" the United States budget that would effective shut down the government. If he does the consequences will be squarely on him. BTW where is HIS plan ????

Sen. Marco Rubio: Real Problem Is Not Debt Limit, But The Debt Itself

Watch this video ! Senator Rubio is fantastic.

Line in the Sand

There is a time for compromise and there is a time to stand your ground. Figuratively the Republicans in the U.S. House have drawn a line in the sand and who will cross that line and stand with them in refusing to incur more and more debt?

When I was a young man LBJ started the "Great Society" and the "War on Poverty" and we have been on a spending binge ever since..... Democrats and Republicans.... No MORE !

To those who recommend caution and compromise I say, if not now, when? The press will always be against us. We may not have this chance again. America may not have this chance again. Give the President and the Senate an out and if they won't take it they will be responsible for any shutdown in the government.Even at this late date neither the Senate or President Obama have offered any concrete solution. You can't negotiate with the wind.

2nd American Revolution

The battle over increasing the deb limit is much greater than that ..... it is the battle for the soul of America.


Jay Cost of the Weekly Standard:

Thus, our deficit battle today is not simply about getting taxes and discretionary spending to sync up once again. It’s about dealing, for once and all, with the irresponsibility of the last fifty years, when time and again politicians in both parties have piled new obligations on to an unsustainable welfare state, leaving the bills to come due long after they have gone to meet their maker....

So, what we should see over time is increased partisanship – as the zero-sum policy battles over the deficit reinforce the ideological divide that separates Democrats from Republicans. The GOP has long been the party of the “full dinner pail,” beliving that mass prosperity comes from the promotion of capitalism, meaning a tax structure that facilitates wealth creators. The Democrats have long promoted a redistributionist ideology on behalf of the “humble members of society” -- from Bryan to Wilson, FDR, LBJ, and now Obama. As the deficit forces Washington D.C. either to raise taxes or cut spending, those ideological lines will only grow sharper.

The question is will the moderates find another " Missouri Compromise" ( Read McConnell Plan)which will just kick the can farther down the road or will we stand here and now and say NO MORE DEBT..... will we cut up the credit cards !

Tim Pawlenty:

If we don’t get people in Washington D.C. to take this seriously and actually make the tough decisions — they always say ‘Oh, we’re going to make the tough decisions. We’ll do it. We’ll do it’, and then they never do,”
“The only way you’re going to get people to do something tough is to put their backs up against the wall,”

MY Hero

Draft Eric Cantor for President. Someone who is willing to stand up to Obama !

Media meltdown over GOP tax pledge

The mainstream media is undergoing a "meltdown" over the GOP pledge to not increase taxes and demanding real budget cuts as a condition of raising the debt limit. All you need to do is to read your local newspaper or watch ABC,CBS,NBC, MSNBC or CNN to see how it's the Republicans fault we have not worked out a budget deal.

Joe Scarborough has an excellent column on The Political where he writes"

For 50 years, the federal government has grown at a sickening rate. Whether Republicans or Democrats run the White House, Washington’s establishment always gets its way — bigger budgets, bigger deficits and higher taxes.......


As media types blast away at their barbaric Republican opponents, it is worth noting that just last year the GOP won the largest nationwide landslide victory in modern history based in large part on its pledge to oppose tax increases. Over 230 members of the House signed the no-tax pledge while 40-plus Senate members also signed to oppose tax increases.


It is interesting to see politicians savaged by the mainstream media as hostage-takers, members of Hezbollah and deranged cult leaders for doing no more than following through on a signed campaign pledge. Wasn’t keeping one’s word to voters once seen as a positive political characteristic instead of a personal moral deficiency?

PS have you also noticed how the media has been downplaying the unemployment issue. They have a big investment in Obama and they want to protect their investment!

To read the rest click on the title for a link.

The Garage Sale

This last weekend we had a garage sale. Every three or four years we have one to empty out our two car garage that only has room for one car. I enjoy the actual sale but it is a lot of work getting ready before and after the sale. Our son come home to help us with the sale and the three of us spent many hours in preparation.

The Countdown:

Sunday July 3.... Spent 6 hours going through garage on a hot day determining what would be kept, what would go in garbage and what would be put for the sale.

Monday July 4...... Took day off from getting ready for garage sale

Tuesday July 5...... After work spent the evening going through the rest of the house pulling out those items that would be used for the sale. Put ad in local newspaper and on Craig's List.

Wednesday July 6...... After work we had a "poster party" making signs to be posted around the neighborhood using magic markers.

Thursday July 7.......After work put together shelves, put up our large canopy for shade, and got the tables ready to display the merchandise.

Friday July 8........ After work put out all the merchandise and priced it. After dark put up signs in strategic areas around the neighborhood.

Saturday July 9...... GAME DAY..... got up early for 8 am opening. My wife hates these sales so she went to Donut Country to get our "sustance" as my son and I ran the sale. My brother-in- law was also there to help along with his friend. My friend, Shaun, brings by some Subways for lunch. Thanks! People are funny at these sales. We had everything priced very low and still some wanted a barter. Some were very insulted when we wouldn't go as low at they thought we should.For example, my wife had put her quilting magazines in packages of 10 each and priced them at $.50 per package. One lady offered $3.00 for all ten packages and my wife came back at $4.00 and the lady acted insulted and stomped away. On the other end we sold a lot of stuff. You can tell we are in a recession because while we had a steady stream of people there was not the "mob" of people we have had in other years. At the end of the day we still had not sold two desks we did not want to put back into the garage.


Sunday July 10...... Overnight our son put pictures of the desks on Craig's List and we sold them on Sunday at the price we wanted to people who would appreciate them. We had a good sale on Sunday to limit the items we had to put back in the garage.

After the sale on Sunday we picked up signs and spent 5 hours in a hot garage moving things around, taking down the garage sale, making a Goodwill pile, a "dump pile" and a Craig's List pile.

"The Sugar Daddy is out of Sugar"

And now he wants us to eat our peas ! The man has no credibility .... NONE!

The president said today at his press conference he would not accept a smaller, short-term deal on extending the debs ceiling "We might as well do it now," he said. "Pull off the band aid. Eat our peas." This from a President who spent his presidency spending like a drunken sailor. Well... the credit card is due and there is no more credit !

Victor Davis Hanson of National Reviewonline:

The president who has run up $5 trillion in debt in three years is now accusing those who are horrified by that figure of wishing to turn America into a “banana republic.” But don’t banana republics print money they don’t have?

Dismal Jobs Picture

The unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent in June, dousing hopes that the economy is picking up steam.

President Obama is out of answers and running out of time. His policies are not creating the necessary jobs and he has no plan to do anything about it. We will have continued anemic growth and disappointing job creation so long as Barack Obama is president. I will turn around the economy as president by setting bold growth goals and implementing specific proposals to achieve them.

Tim Pawlenty

Today's report is more evidence that the misguided 'stimulus' spending binge, excessive regulations, and an overwhelming national debt continue to hold back private-sector job creation in our country,"

House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner

Hang in there Duck Fans !

Regardless of what happens there will always be an Oregon Duck football team and they will play a full season schedule.

Let's Go Ducks!

The Runner

10k run early in the morning in Ashland, Oregon for the 4th of July. Over four hundred runners.


Warming up before the race


Starting Line


Here they come. Ready to pass the runner in the orange shirt



The warrior runner !



Sprinting to the finish line. Ready to overtake the runner in the white shirt. (See runner in orange far behind)


Passes the runner in the white shirt on the inside just before the finish line (see the green shoes)


After the race

10k (more than 6 miles) in 44minutes and 37 seconds. # 39 among male runners.

Way to go !

JULY 4th

Forget the recession,the failed Obama Presidency , the NCAA investigation of the Ducks....... at least for one day......it's Independence Day !

Our son is home from grad school so the three of us will drive to Ashland early so he can run in their 10 K run (Over 6 miles) . We drove over there this afternoon to stake out a place on the parade route. The parade starts after the run. After the parade and run awards ceremony we will head to the Lithia Park band shell for the reading of the Declaration of Independence then home for a BBQ. Fireworks will end the day. I will be wearing my USS Ronald Reagan hat to Ashland. A friend of mine got it for me when he went on a tour of the aircraft carrier. It's a great day!

Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present Generation to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it."

— John Adams


John Adams on celebrating Independence Day:

The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations (fireworks) from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

Well John it's 235 years later and we are still celebrating.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,......

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We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

Freedom & the Light Bulb

Extinguishing Freedom.........First they came for my light bulbs . . .

Have you tried to find a 100 watt light bulb lately ? Well, there getting harder and harder to find ! People are stocking up and some stores have already stopped stocking them.

Matt Patterson at National Review Online:

in 2007 (Congress) decided to undo Edison’s achievement with the so-called Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The energy law creates new “efficiency standards” for light bulbs, effectively legislating the old incandescents out of existence starting in January 2012. Stock up now.

It’s for our own good, of course. Elites want us to replace our beloved Edisons with more energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), because, you know, the Earth is warming, maybe. And light bulbs are partly to blame. Or something like that.

Trouble is, CFLs are way more expensive than the old Edisons. They also give off a puny, cold light that brings out every flaw and every pore in your face, so unlike the brilliant warmth of the old bulbs. Oh yeah, and CFLs contain toxic mercury, making a broken bulb, once a simple job for a broom and dustpan, now a chemical-waste hazard. Aren’t you glad Congress is watching out for us?

Sadly, this is a bipartisan travesty

What an appropriate topic for this 4th of July ! In the Declaration of Independence Jefferson wrote:

The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

One of those "usurpations" was:

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

It's not only light bulbs, Federal, state and local governments are "outlawing" all sorts of our freedoms from plastic bags, what we can buy at McDonald's to a proposed law to outlaw pets in San Francisco. There are new laws requiring us to buy flood
insurance in areas never before facing that requirement and now the law requiring us to buy medical insurance. It is time to say HALT ! Government is closing in on us and slowly strangling us.

Prohibition did not work and I predict there will be a big "black market" for the 100watt regular light bulb.