Free In Idaho!

From SondraK’s place I found that Squidoo has been saving up and is now doing a charity giveaway.  All YOU have to do is go over there and scroll down the list to Soldier’s Angels and click it.  Two bucks from their stash goes in the pile for a very worthy charity that helps out and supports our troops in a number of ways.  Do it now before you forget. 

Are you PO’d yet? Why not?

Still think it’s the Republican’s fault?

Think Obama can fix it?

Then you’d better watch this

thanks Rodger!

For this morning’s pithy quote, do we take a serious free market conservative quote?

The United States government in effect decreed credit a human right rather than a privilege judiciously granted by one independent contractor to another. 

Or do we take the snarky, tar-feathers-rail-some assembly required approach?

If the entire global economy is so vulnerable that only the stalwart action of Barney Frank stands between it and ten years of soup kitchens, can it, in fact, be saved?

Head over to the Corner and read Mark Steyn.  You decide.

I saw Boone Pickens, one of the world’s smartest men (next to good old Hank and Warren) on the TV this morning.  He made the point that the American people just didn’t understand the big picture or the big problem or the bailout plan.   That strikes me a bit like Dr Frankenstein bitching that the stupid townspeople don’t understand him or science or how wonderful his creation is.  And it isn’t just Pickens, it’s Paulson, Pelosi, Bush… the whole crapweasel chorus.  But they don’t seem to get it that we want to hear other plans, not that this one is the only one.  

It’s an old truth that if you can’t explain the problem you don’t know enough to solve it.  Washington and Wall Street oughta quit pointing fingers at the people and take a look in the mirror.  They didn’t make their case to people who are intelligent enough to understand it.  And some of the posturing and political game playing in the midst of it makes us wonder just what they’re trying to pull here.  First it’s a bailout.  This morning it’s a “rescue”.  Nancy Pelosi going on a rant?  Very helpful.  Then it was ‘It HAS to be done by Wednesday, no Thursday, well by Monday at the latest, or we’re going down the toilet for sure’.  And then 95 Democrats vote No when it comes to the vote,  12 of them on Barney Franks’ own committee.  Good job of leadership there Barney.  Perhaps this problem isn’t quite so dire as you’re making it out to be, if you can’t get your own people on board?

But there are a lot of other things that could be applied to the problem that aren’t even being mentioned in Washington.  Tax changes.  Getting rid of the ‘mark to market rules’.  Freezing spending and earmarks.  Shut off the flow of dollars to foreign countries for awhile.  Round up some crooks (Raines, Johnson, for starters, and then let’s look at some of the Dems who, knowingly or not, diddled the books and told the lies about the supposed strength of Fannie and Freddie).  My sweetie just mentioned that we haven’t seen any heads rolling yet… if they were really serious we’d see some heads rolling, but they’re all playing Cover Our Butts back there.  And hey, maybe they could even quit some of the racially driven bullcrap in lending, hiring, and politics.  They’re being awfully quiet about ACORN, aren’t they?  I know… ain’t gonna happen.  What we get is “the mother of all bailouts”.  The first second third of many.  Or is this now the fourth?  And sorry, not bailout plan, Rescue Plan (I forgot, you changed the name last night).

It’s for the children…a bill they’ll have to pay long after we’re gone.  A bill, not just in monetary terms, but more importantly in terms of radical damage to the strength of the Constitution, and the whole idea of free markets and the strength and validity of contracts.  And what about that $700 billion?  How did they know how much they needed?  They didn’t.

“It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”

They made it up to be sufficiently ginormous to frighten everyone into rapid action.

And it worked.

Only, it didn’t work, because enough Reps on both sides of the aisle had the stones to vote NO (thanks Bill Sali).  95 Dems broke away from the shrill marching orders of Nancy Pelosi, preferring instead to listen to the people rather than the big clown show on stage (Paulson, Bernanke, Pelosi, Reid, Bush, Dodd, and the loveable Barney Frank…)

They made the number up.  What else did they pull out of the hat, a month before the election?  By the way, the stock market is currently pricing in an Obama presidency.  That 777 drop yesterday wasn’t simply a panic attack or a hissy fit.  They know this stuff helps Obama.  Kinda like gun folks stocking up… just pricing in an Obama presidency.  Happy Halloween, eh?

After a hard day of work, on top of the frustration of watching the biggest clown show in America, I hadn’t planned to post tonight.

But then I swung by Say Uncle’s and he linked to THIS post, and, well… just go there and see.

Good Sunday morning to you!  Sunday Music today is one of my favorites, this time by Wintley Phipps, “It Is Well With My Soul“.

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trumpet shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
Horatio Spafford

Because it causes them so much grief, and the Obama campaign is acting like the Chicago thugs they really are, let’s look at this ad again.  Know Enough?

Maverick…on embryonic stem cell research.

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign has enlisted the aid of Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) in reaffirming McCain’s support of taxpayer funding for embryonic stem cell research in the face of an Obama for President campaign radio ad that accuses McCain of not supporting stem cell research.

“The fact is John McCain has been a champion for stem cell research, which holds the promise of curing devastating diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease,” Specter said in a press release put out by the McCain campaign on Wednesday. “John McCain bucked the majority of our party in standing strong with me in urging the Bush Administration to lift restrictions on stem cell research, and last year voted to overturn the Bush policy.”

Just being his loveable old, maverick self. 

Hey Maverick.  Read the papers.  You might find out you’re behind the curve here.  Instead of hacking off “your” party, why not take a position that REALLY says “reform” and support government funding for this research instead?  You’ll thank me if you take my advice.

A breakthrough in stem cell research reported Thursday could render moot the divisive political-ethical debate over the use of cells culled from human embryos.

A team of Boston scientists announced that they have developed a safe way to generate pluripotent stem cells (iPS) that are functionally similar to embryonic stem cells, but are derived from adult cells. A previous technique had a cancer risk.

The breakthrough involved using mice cells, but if it can be repeated in humans, it could pave the way for treatment of a wide range of genetic diseases. The ultimate promise is to one day develop therapies using a patient’s own cells to cure disease.

I’m not a huge supporter of government funding every research scientist in the country, but this might be a good investment for somebody with a little cash (which we taxpayers DON’T right now).

Stopped by one of the local shootie stores yesterday on my way around town.  Thought I’d see what they had in the way of 1911 grips, or maybe a holster.  Nothing caught my eye from the smallish selection, so the proprietor says ‘take a look at this’.  Hmmm, the Crimson Trace catalog.  Yes, those are pretty nice.  So he told me that since I liked them from the picture but he didn’t have a set to sell me, the least he could do was show me a set that was installed on someone else’s 1911.  He went up front and came back with a nice Colt that had a set of burl laser grips on it.  It was the office gal’s carry piece.  He unloaded it and showed me how to work the light.  He aimed it across the shop and that little red dot was rock steady on the wall.  Sigh…

I tried them next, and hard as I tried I couldn’t get that damn dot to sit still.  I think I’ve mentioned before that I have a tremor that makes it a tad difficult to score well on the ePostals.  Some days it is enough to spill coffee, and other days it hardly shows at all.    There’s a drug or two I could take, but who wants to do that for the rest of forever?  Not me.  Those are very nice grips.  Skip the drugs, I think for much less money I could outfit my carry guns and one or two of the more regular shooters with some laser grips and achieve much the same results.  Knowing where my shot will print, and how bad the shake is might be real helpful for my shooting.  No, it wouldn’t stop the coffee spilling.  But it might help me tighten up and stay on paper better.

Speaking of staying on paper, I took some time this afternoon to get in to the range and shot the September ePostal.  You’ve got until Monday to get it shot and submitted, by the way.  This is an interesting match, with targets that represent a bad guy with a hostage.  I know I’m not good enough with a handgun to take out the bad guy behind the hostage in real life.  Could manage it with the 700 off the bipod though.  But then, that .308 is awfully hard to conceal.  And drawing it in a hurry is the pits, even if your hands don’t shake.  I ended up staying on paper this afternoon, and I even have a couple of sets of targets to enter.  Only a few paper hostages got in the way, but they moved.  Really.  How’s that saying go… ‘I missed him the other four rounds’?  Yep, that’s what happened.

I just heard the news announce that John McCain is suspending his Presidential campaign in order to concentrate on the bailout crisis.  He’s asked Barack Uhbama to match him on this one.  I can hear them both now

“It is NOT a bailout, it is a comprehensive economic reform plan.”

“Uh, Present.”

Why am I not feeling relieved and calmed here?