Where I got my icon

I cropped the image on this to create the icon I am using for myself and my blogs. I posted this earlier back when I first started this blog. I like it so I brought it back again. I even thought about putting in on the sidebar. I have some thoughts for things to put on the sidebar, but nothing definite.

Campaign Ads

Last night while watching TV, the Old Lady said that she wished there was someway we could hit a button like a mute button that would eliminate the campaign ads now that we have already voted. During the day, I usually have the TV on CNN and whenever they go live to a campaign event, I change the channel. While watching shows in the evening, it's not so practical as you might miss part of the program you are watching.

One of the ads that gets to me is Saxby Shameless saying his opponent will work with Obama to raise your taxes. Shameless at one time introduced a bill for the mis-named FAIR tax. (Fucking Americans In the Rear) Not only would it let the Corporations and the rich off the hook, it would put a 23% national sales tax on everything you buy. This would be on top of any local taxes. Of course the rich would be all in favor of this plan. Instead of paying taxes on the money coming in, you pay tax on what you buy. For those on the lower end of the scale, adding that much to the cost of everything would be disastrous.

It's bad enough as it is with hedge fund managers paying capital gains taxes on their income and paying a lower percentage than their Secretaries. How in the hell they were ever allowed to do that is a mystery to me. Of course their buddies in Congress had something to do with that.

New Investment Plan

Found this on Nitwit's blog and thought that it pretty much sums up the financial situation today!!

I like the how Americans get 41 mpg.

Pasty

Had a comment on my blog that mentioned pasty ( rhymes with nasty not hasty) and I thought I'd do a post on my favorite food. I googled pasty and found a lot info on pasties including this about someone who thought the Economist magazine had made a mistake and dropped the r from pastries. The comments section of that post shows that pasties are not a local phenomena but are available in various places around the world.

The ingredients in a pasty vary but I prefer meat (beef and pork or all beef or even venison), potato, rutabaga, and onion wrapped in a crust and baked. The crust can be a pie crust or there are also pasty crust recipes. One time the Old Lady was talking about pasties with a grad student from the UK and mentioned rutabagas in pasties and the grad student said, "You put
Swedes in your pasties?" In the UK, rutabagas or yellow turnips are called Swedes or Swedish turnips.

Unless I am back UP on the tundra in Yooperland where places that sell pasties are as common as doughnut shops on Cape Cod, I have to make my own pasties. And I mean I have to make the pasties. Over thirty years ago, I decided to try my hand at making pasties after having baked a couple of pies. Anywho, the pasties turned out pretty good, so good that the Old Lady said since your pasties are better than mine you can make them from now on. So for the last 30+ years when we have pasties, we either bought some or I made them.

And for those who think pasty rhymes with hasty, those are nipple coverings and generally not edible.

Things you find while surfing

I wasn't going to do another post, but while surfing I spotted a couple of things on a blog. The first one is about a hedge fund manager talking about the level of intelligence of those in the financial business. The other is about some of the lies that McSame is willing to put out to the people that he and his campaign think are too dumb to check. Then there was a link to Driftglass, and I figured I would put it here because it is a good post.

Voting

The Old Lady and I went and voted yesterday. It took most of the afternoon, but now we are done with it. We figured even tho it took over 2 hours it was worth it as on Election Day it may take longer. What was funny was the way the line went to finally get to the voting machines. As we entered the building a voting worker handed each person a form to fill out to vote absentee. This was actually early voting, but the forms haven't been changed yet. We were shown into a large room where the line snaked back and forth several times and while in this line we filled out the form and a worker came and checked our ID's and noted it on the form. The line went back to the door we entered. When we reached the door, we were motioned thru the entryway thru another door into another part of the building. Slowly we moved down a long hallway and when we got to the end, we went thru another doorway into a long, skinny room where the line went down one side of the room, across the end and back down the room. Another door and another hallway at the end of which we finally got into the room where the voting machines were at. A short line and then up to the counter to turn in the form to receive the card for the voting machine. As for voting, no name with R next to it got my vote, and I had to vote Libertarian for one office. It looks like the R's couldn't find anyone brave enough to run for Congress in my district as the incumbent was unopposed. We also got to vote Yes on No on several proposals. Then it was give the card to a worker and out a side door to figure out how to get back to where we parked.

Bread

This is a picture of the sourdough bread that I baked the other week. It took me more than a dozen tries to get a sourdough starter using only flour and water. My early attempts were using a Mason jar and I didn't have any luck. The last attempt I used a mixing bowl and was successful. I guess it needed a larger surface area to work.








I created the starter while UP on the tundra and was able to transport it down to the land of Kudzu in a cooler with no problems. It is happily living in a Mason jar in the back of the fridge. Once a week, I either make bread or feed it half a cup of flour and half a cup of warm water. You are supposed to throw half a cup of starter away when you feed it, but I don't because I want more starter so I can do two loaves at a time instead of one. After going thru the trouble of making a starter, the Old Lady said, I don't know why you bothered with that because I don't like sourdough bread. I just like the idea of making bread without buying yeast and it isn't a real sour sourdough. Also I just wanted to see if I could do it and I was able to create a sourdough starter from scratch. Maybe it will get more sour as it gets older but for now it has a sour smell in the jar and when I proof it but the bread has very little sour smell or taste.

SAMHAIN

The Old Lady went all out decorating for Samhain this year!! I hope the coven doesn't descend upon us.

I wonder if we will have any goblins or other critters this year. Last year we bought a couple of bags of candy and not one trick or treater came around. I know if we don't buy any candy, then some will show up and if we do buy candy we will get to eat any that is left over.

Protests at the MBA conference

Here is a video from left i on the news, on the protests at the Mortgage Bankers Association conference in San Francisco. The only thing on the news here in Hot-lanta about the conference was the attempt by a woman to handcuff Rove in an attempt to do a citizen's arrest. Would anyone else like to see Rove frogmarched off to Gitmo???

McCains Black Relatives

This may explain some things about McCain. Until now I never knew that McCain had black relatives. The fact that his ancestors were plantation owners in Mississippi helps me understand why the airfield in Meridian, MS is named after his grandfather.

Obama and Zombies

Saw this on the blog WTF is it now, and could not resist, so I stole it to put on my blog. The longer this campaign goes on, the more it looks like McSame needs to be put in the Old Soldiers and Old Sailors Home. At times you have to feel sorry for McSame because of all the fucking he's taken from Rove and aWol and never any kisses. I take another sip of my coffee and the feeling goes away.

Gas Revisited

A week ago on her way home the Old Lady decided to gas up. The fact that the needle on the gas gauge was pointing towards excitement may have influenced her. When she saw that the price was down to 3.159, she went WOW it's low and filled both tanks on the truck. Every day since the price has dropped. Now it's down to 2.619. It wouldn't surprise me to see the price drop below 2 bucks by Election Day. The oil companies don't want people pissed off when they are voting. If the price had stayed above $4, no one with a R next to their name on the ballot would stand a chance of getting elected. The oil companies are just looking after their buddies and it sure as hell isn't you and me!!

Personally, I won't ever vote for anyone with a R next to their name again. Not even if they are running for dogcatcher.

Finns are Smarter Than the Average Bear

Yesterday morning while eating brunch and reading the ethnic paper, Raivaaja, I noticed a small blurb. It said that according to a poll done recently in Finland that if Finns could vote for the U.S. president, Obama would win handily. Only 13 percent favored McCain. Makes me proud of the land of my forefathers, actually the land of my father.

There are still a handful of my friends and relatives that are over on the dark side. If only they would see the light and realize that the party of McCain is destroying this country, then I would be truly proud!!

Camping

The other day I did a post titled Welfare and received a comment that said I should go camping. Well, the picture is of the shower that I used all summer long. It's a solar shower, you fill the bag with water and set it in the sun to warm up. One side of the bag is clear and the other is black. You set in the sun clear side up and hopefully after sitting in the sun most of the day the water inside will be warm enough for a shower. It reminded me of the story of The Three Bears. Some days it was too hot, some days it was too cold and sometimes it was just right. Bathing al fresco was refreshing at times and sometimes a little chilly.

Not to worry about me scaring the neighbors by being naked in the backyard. The neighbors in either direction are close to a quarter mile away and out of sight.

You Can't Make This Shit Up!

This hit the news last week. There is an article in the AJC about a county commissioner that tried to hire a Voodoo Priestess to have her opponent get cancer or die in a car wreck. The really funny part is that she gave the priestess a couple of bad checks. If you believe that someone has the power to cause someone's death, wouldn't you make sure the payment was good because you don't want to piss them off and have them do something bad to you?? I like her excuse that her car won't let her go to South Carolina. Does she have a car like Christine??

On top of all that, she is also a dead-beat slumlord. Didn't pay property taxes on time and had code violations.

Cartoon

Welfare

For decades we have been hearing let the market solve all our problems. Free Market, Free Market, Free Market. Now that a number of banks and most of Wall Street are in danger of going tits up, they need the government to bail them out. I remember St. Ronnie saying that government is not the solution, government is the problem. What happened to that??

What's interesting is that whenever aWol the Conspirator in Chief goes on TV to reassure the public about this financial mess, the Stock Market takes a dive.

What I find extremely disgusting is that for decades these Free Marketeers have called anything that would help the average person Socialism. Now when we will be on the hook for over a Trillion $$, it's all good. Over 100 billion for AIG, over 300 billion for Fannie and Freddie, and over 700 billion to bail out the banks and Wall Street. As Sen. Dirkson used to say, "A billion here and a billion there, sooner or later it adds up to real money". This is the biggest example of Socialism that this planet has ever seen and all the talking heads are saying it needs to be done. This is just Socialized Kapitalism. And they scream bloody murder when someone gets a $100 or $200 in Food Stamps.

It's time to get rid of these Robin Hoods in Reverse, they take from the poor and give to the rich. I've been saying to years that I can't afford another tax cut because all the local taxes and fees go up.

How do you tell he's lying??

Lately there has been an ad running on TV for Saxby Shameless. It shows the gas lines from the recent shortage and blames the liberal left. Shameless says we need to drill more to bring the price down because this country has a bigger oil reserve than Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has the largest oil reserve in the known world. Iraq is second. The United States is lucky if it is in the top ten.

How stupid does he think the voters are?? I forgot, this is Georgia and he won his Senate seat by running a campaign that was based on smearing Max Cleland by among other things saying he wasn't patriotic enough. By implying that Cleland's wounds in 'Nam were self-inflicted. I watched this from the States six years ago and was just thoroughly appalled by the sleazy politics coming from the right-wing. This year I will get to vote against him, because someone like him deserves to be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail. How's that for old fashioned values??

And the answer is: his lips are moving!!

Random Thought

While on my almost daily walk today, the sign about drugs in a school zone made me think. To help relieve the pain of thought I will set it down here.

Whenever I hear of someone getting arrested and charged with manufacturing marijuana, I have trouble getting my head around the idea of manufacturing marijuana. I mean you plant the seed (sometimes all you need do is scatter the seed) and if it sprouts you can then tend to it or not. You can water it, cultivate it, prune it and harvest it, but how do you manufacture it?? I guess you could say that this summer I manufactured potatoes, green beans, radishes, tomatoes and some itty bitty carrots. Every year on the ranch UP on the tundra we manufacture asparagus which in recent years just went to seed, but this year we at least got a meal of asparagus. Tried to manufacture some other veggies, but because of little rain and my not watering enough they didn't amount to much.

Gas

When I take my walk, it is interesting to see the price of gas come down. The price at QT is 3.799 for regular which is about 20 cents less than it was a week ago. It still isn't as low as it was the last time I gassed up the other week UP on the tundra prior to coming back to the land of kudzu. It was 3.609 at the tribe's gas station. When in the area I buy my gas there because they have been holding down the price of gas as long as the station has been in business.
At least there are no lines of cars waiting to get gas like there was when we got back to the land of kudzu.

Commenting on other blogs

Recently I made a comment on another blog about hunting.
" Kulkuri said...
What bothered me more than the killing of animals was the pictures of people mingling with the grizzlies. These are wild animals and can not be trusted at close range. It is fine to look at them from a safe distance, but to be in the middle of them and even between Mamma Bear and the cubs is pure stupid.

I don't approve of hunting anything from airplanes. But hunting for food in Alaska is one way that allows the people there to survive considering the high cost of living."
This is what the blogger replied.

"There is a high cost of living in Hawaii too, but it doesn't justify some kind of atrocious thing like hunting tourists.

If the cost of living in Alaska is prohibitive, well maybe one needs to look for a cheaper place to live. Like the lower 48.

And I think bear hunting should be done without weapons or traps. If you can't kill a bear with your bare hands, then you ought not be living in the bears neck of the woods. Unless you're bat shit crazy, get out of there. Self defense does not mean hunting. Raise rabbits if you want meat. Lambies, chickens. But leave the bares and wolves alone."
Notice there is no mention of my first comment about grizzlies and people.

After seeing this, it made me think and the thought that I had is that too many people think this is the face of the Democratic Party, the Anti-Hunting take everybodies guns away people. I have been a life-long Democrat (well, ever since I first voted) and there are times when I think gun control is hitting what you are aiming at. On the other hand I don't think anyone has the right or the need to own an AK-47 or a Bazooka. A decade ago I asked a right-wing fellow worker why anyone would want a fully automatic rifle when they are not very good for hunting? He said that it is fun to mow down small trees with one. My only thought was, what a waste.

But anywho, until the Democratic Party starts to let people know that they respect hunters and anglers, they'll have trouble connecting with a lot of people. The other party promises to let you keep your guns, but think on this, even if they do let you keep your guns (and their track record on keeping promises is very, very piss poor) what good does it do you if there is nothing left to hunt and you can't eat any fish you might catch?? The Reich-wingnuts have proven time and time again that they will do any and everything in the pursuit of a quick dollar. They are perfectly willing to destroy the environment to turn a small profit.

Amusing Truck

Saw this truck on the interstate in the Mad-town area in Cheeseland. I wasn't driving at the time so was able to get a couple of pictures of it.