In January, I start working on a couple more Bachelor degrees….double majoring in Managerial Accounting (BS) and Management (BS).  Those should supplement my English (BA) degree nicely.  The best part?  Free!  Work will pay for it all…books, tuition…everything!   No upfront costs on my part, to be reimbursed…I just have to get passing grades and the schooling is all paid for….a woo woo!

My nephew Jack is up from Washington D.C., and I took him to the pool on Saturday.  While sitting there watching my wife and nephew swim, this old lady starts up a conversation with me (old = late 60s early 70s).  She tells me how she is there for her granddaughter’s birthday party, how she has 5 kids, 21 grand kids, and 7 great-grand children.  I make all the appropriate responses, and then she asks, “Are you here with your grand-children?”.  My mind was screaming “WTF?” but my mouth just hung open.  I’m only 38…do I REALLY look so old that someone would believe I have grand-children?  That nice old lady ruined my entire day!

Immediately after the cap and trade legislation passed the House, I e-mailed the RNC membership council - cancel my membership! From here on out, I give to individual candidates - not to some slush fund that supports these RINOs who continually betray what it is to be a Republican (at least Specter had the courtesy to switch parties!).  Seems everyday I get something in the mail or a phone call about stopping the Democrats’ agenda and please send money.  My answer now is “the Democrats’ agenda would have been stopped but for “Republicans” who voted for their agenda…the same “Republicans” who benefit from my donations.”  Screw ‘em!

The RNCC called earlier today, wanting money.  I try not to be rude - the poor girl on the line probably has bought into the whole “Republicans can stop them” line, ignorant of the fact the some of the Republicans she is trying to raise money for helped pass some of the legislation.  She started with the question, “What can Republicans do to stop the Democrats spending?’  STOP SUPPORTING RINOs!  Until these organizations have prodecures in place that punish RINOs, denying them all access to funds raised and actually finding more preferable candidates to run against them, they won’t get a dime from me. 

When these organizations call, I like to remind them that if it wasn’t for the manner in which the Republicans handled Congress the past few years, there would be no threat from the Democrats’ agenda.  The blame, to me, lies soley on Republican members of Congress during the years Republicans had control.

So, consider me an Independent.  If you are a true Republican (small government, lower taxes, secure borders, anti-amnesty…), feel free to call and ask for money.  I’d be happy to give it.  If you are a Republican funding machine, giving money to any and all candidates regardless of voting record, don’t waste your time calling.  For now, I’m done with the Republican party.  Until all Republican members of Congress vote like Republicans, I’ll donate to individual candidates who have proven themselves to be true Republicans.  This way, I know what I’m getting for my money, and I know who to stop supporting if they betray my beliefs.

I just read in The Jerusalem Post that Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has said that the current economic crisis facing the United States is due to “…God chastising America for its support of the Israeli-led blockade imposed on Gaza.”

This, of course, leaves me wondering why they haven’t noticed the economic hardship that they themselves are in (seeing how they have to pretty much beg for every dollar they receive).  Using this idiot’s argument that economic hardship is an act of God, then God must be extremely pissed at Hamas.  So pissed, in fact, that God must be upset at the very existence of Hamas - that maybe God thinks Israel has the right to exist, and so has reduced these terrorist to having to survive on scraps given to them by others…like a hog rooting around in the waste of others, unclean and unholy!

So, there you have it folks - God hates Hamas!  A big thanks to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh for clearing up who exactly is to blame for the misery of Hamas and their followers.

We went to Virginia for our vacation this year.  I have to start by saying that Virginia has the dumbest slogan ever - Virginia is for Lovers?  If you drive anywhere in the state of Virginia, you can’t go 15 minutes without seeing a sign pointing out this or that battleground…so, Virginia is for History Enthusiasts or Virginia is for Military Enthusiasts seem like better options.  I wish I would have stopped and taken a picture, but this billboard on the highway stated in huge letters “Virgina is for Lovers” and the background was a battle scene from the American Revolution - I guess nothing says “…for Lovers” like peeps killing each other.

Anyway, we started off in Luray, Va., site of the Luray Caverns.  It is a pretty sweet hole in the ground…if you like holes in the ground.  While in Luray, we went to the Shenandoah National Park and drove the Shenandoah Skyline Drive, which I highly recommend (I want to go back in the autumn when the leaves are changing colors - road trip, anyone?). 

We left Luray and headed for Kings Dominion, and from there to Virginia Beach.  We visited the Virginia Aquarium (turtles are awesome!), which was cool - the place was under construction, being updated for new exhibits, but still cool.  We left the aquarium and drove to Newport News to The Mariner’s Museum, which I thought was extremely awesome.  This is the place where the turrent from the USS Monitor is being kept and preserved.  The Newport News Shipyard even built a replica (outside only) to scale, using the original plans for the ship.  They have hundreds of ship models, and theaters that give short movies about some of the exhibits.  Final destination was Williamsburg for some go-kart racing.

I turned my small front porch into a small sunroom.  The porch wasn’t that useful…when it rained, the rain blew onto the porch.  The sunroom is primarily for my dogs - they like to keep an eye on the neighbors while staying inside where the air condition is running, and I’m hoping it will keep people from ringing the doorbell when they see Rio trying to attack them through the glass.  There is a big oak tree right outside the sunroom that keeps direct sunlight from ever getting into the room, so it stays cool even when we don’t have the AC going into the room.  My plan is to replace the light that is currently out there with two small ceiling fans.  I need to add an electric outlet, with the hope that I may sit out there and work.  We also are going to put in some carpet.

So far, seems like it was a good investment.  Now I just need a fancy mailbox post to replace the temporary cedar post I have out there right now!

FYI, the contractor was Ohio Builder Resources.

This is awesome, and by awesome I mean it totally sucks!  I live in Ohio, where hurricanes don’t hit that often.  The socialist in Congress think I should help pay for hurricane insurance, though, and the insurance companies agree. 

How about this instead - if you live by a river, you pay a much higher flood insurance premium than ol’ boy who built his house where it doesn’t flood; if you live on a coast that gets hit every year by a tropical storm and/or hurricane, you pay a much insurance premium than ol’ boy who doesn’t like rebuilding his house every year; and if you live on a fault line, you pay a much higher insurance premium than ol’ boy who doesn’t like his world rocked. 

I like year-round sunshine, and I hate the cold of winter.  I’m not a big fan of the beach, but I love the ocean.  Florida seems like the ideal place to live - except they get hit every year by hurricanes!  So, I live in Ohio, which has tornados and some pretty wicked hail storms - occassionally - and when it does happen, we don’t expect the citizens of Florida to pay for our damages.

If the insurance companies can’t afford to pay for hurricane damages, they need to rethink their business model.  Here are my common sense suggestions:

1) charge enough in premiums to ensure you can afford to replace the covered property - premiums should be based on risk, not affordability - if your clients can’t afford to insure their $5 million dollar homes against a hurricane hit, don’t build a $5 million dollar home where a hurricane can hit it.  For example, I pay for flood insurance because there are a few rivers and creeks nearby.  I don’t pay a lot for flood insurance, though, as I’m not in a flood zone - meaning it would take rain of biblical proportion to flood my house.  If I live near the Cedar River in Iowa, I’d expect to pay a much higher premium for flood insurance.

2) Refuse to insure homes in high risk areas, or insure only to a specific amount, and make the homeowner who likes hurricane hits take the brunt of the costs.  This way, less people would build million dollar homes in areas that are prone to hurricane  hits.  If it can’t be insured, banks won’t finance the building - banks don’t finance, building doesn’t get built - building doesn’t get built, hurricane can’t destroy it - hurricane doesn’t destroy, insurance companies don’t have to pay for damages

Bottom line, it is all about personal choices.  You choose to smoke, you choose die from lung cancer.  You choose to drink, you choose to die from a destroyed liver.  You choose to take drugs, you choose to die from an overdose.  You choose to build your house in an area prone to hurricane hits, you choose to have your home destroyed.  I feel as sorry for the home owners who had their homes destroyed by a hurricane as i do for the drug addict who overdosed and died - not at all. 

Those of us who actually think about the areas we live in before we build or buy a house may be forced to pay for the poor choices made by people who insist living on or near the beach in areas prone to hurricane hits.  Do we include earthquakes, floods, tornados, blizzards and hail in this national coverage?  Insurance is a business, not a socialist program.  You aren’t guaranteed coverage, and if you do get coverage, it should only be guaranteed to the point the insurance company has agreed to cover - and that coverage is the insurance company’s responsibility, not the tax payer’s.

…honor a hero!

http://www.lesttheybeforgotten.com