Monthly Archives: October 2008

Tested

So far this morning I’ve heard Maria Cardona and Stephanie Cutter trying to explain Joe Biden’s remarks from Sunday.

Both are saying that with the world as it is today, whoever is elected president will be tested, especially with the “failed policies of the last eight years”.

Joe Biden said:

Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy. (emphasis mine)

Maria and Stephanie are just trying to spin us away from what Biden actually said. The fact that Biden speaks only of Obama, not McCain is one reason; The “whoever wins the Presidency will be tested” line just doesn’t cut the mustard.

The other is the emphasized phrase above: “a generated crisis”. Joe Biden is telling his audience that one of our enemies out there will generate a crisis in order to test Obama. Creating something new, not just the world as it is today. Not just Iraq and Afghanistan. Something else.

Obama is running for Jimmy Carter’s second term. The world will expect Obama to react just as Jimmy Carter did.

UPDATE: Your Radio Equalizer has talk radio reaction to Biden’s comments and the Obama camp spin.

Does Joe Biden want to be VP?

That’s a question I must ask when I hear him say this:

Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.

Endorsements

Now that Colin Powell has endorsed Barack Obama here’s a poll question for you.

Do political endorsements matter?
Yes, what other people think matters to me.
No, what other people think makes no difference.
pollcode.com free polls

Monday Morning Musings

We had a busy weekend including spending yesterday after church at Six Flags. It was a very nice day for Six Flags, low to mid 60’s, sunny, not too breezy. Fright Fest is a lot of fun and even the regular characters get in costume (Daffy Duck was a pirate, Pepe Le Pew was a jack-0-lantern, Wile E. Coyote was dressed as a wizard…)

hmmm – I wonder if those three are registered to vote here in Lake County, IL? They live here after all… Our County Clerk, Willard Helander (A Woman Named Willard) has contacted the Lake County Sheriff’s office, State Attorney General, Lisa Madigan(D), the US Attorney, and the FBI regarding problematic voter registrations.

A deceased pet goldfish named Princess was one of those registered. many of the troublesome registrations were hand delivered by a man from Chicago. His name has been given to law enforcement. Many of the registrations had Chicago addresses with Lake County zip codes.

Ms. Helander says that Acorn doesn’t seem to be involved in this case, many of the troublesome registrations were hand delivered by a man from Chicago. His name has been given to law enforcement. Many of the registrations had Chicago addresses with Lake County zip codes.

Most of the registrations were from the 10th Congressional District where Democrat Dan Seals is challenging Republican incumbent Mark Kirk.
(source)

$250K Gross

That’s the number given by Maria Cardona of the Obama campaign when asked by Julie Banderas if the $250K was net or gross.

That makes it even worse.

Maria Cardona continues to insist that 98% of small businesses make less than this. But she’s talking gross numbers here. Does she or the Obama campaign realise how many small businesses can GROSS a quarter million dollars a year? Easily?

There’s a HUGE difference between a company grossing $250K and netting $250K…

Say you have a small retail establishment.

You may have rent of  $2,250/month (1,500 sq ft @ $1.50/sq ft) = $27,000

You may have a couple of employees. Maybe at $12/hour. That’s $48,000 just for regular time, 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. Then add in $4,131 for the employer’s portion of FICA (social security and medicare), add in unemployment taxes and any benefits you might be paying. That $48,000 in salary can become $62,000 when all is said and done.

So far, with just rent and two employees we are up to $89,000.

Then we have insurance, advertising, shipping, inventory, licenses and other business fees, local taxes, inventory losses, perhaps franchise fees (depending on the business), and a myriad of other expenses. And you want to pay yourself something. You also want to be able to reinvest something into the business.

With good sales, or a service that’s in demand; business to business or business to consumer or both, I would say the number of small businesses that can gross $250K or more in any year is far in excess of only 2% of small businesses.

I Found the Cross

I still don’t know why the three young men were carrying it up the street, but I found it and didn’t imagine it after all.

It was at the side of a house down the street and across the cross street. A house where the kids go to jump on the trampoline…

click to embiggen

click to embiggen

Monday Morning Musings

Happy Columbus Day!

IN 1492

In fourteen hundred ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

He had three ships and left from Spain;
He sailed through sunshine, wind and rain.

He sailed by night; he sailed by day;
He used the stars to find his way.

A compass also helped him know
How to find the way to go.

Ninety sailors were on board;
Some men worked while others snored.

Then the workers went to sleep;
And others watched the ocean deep.

Day after day they looked for land;
They dreamed of trees and rocks and sand.

October 12 their dream came true,
You never saw a happier crew!

“Indians! Indians!” Columbus cried;
His heart was filled with joyful pride.

But “India” the land was not;
It was the Bahamas, and it was hot.

The Arakawa natives were very nice;
They gave the sailors food and spice.

Columbus sailed on to find some gold
To bring back home, as he’d been told.

He made the trip again and again,
Trading gold to bring to Spain.

The first American? No, not quite.
But Columbus was brave, and he was bright.

Found at My Life, or Something Like It.

There are those, including some of America’s aboriginal peoples, who protest Columbus Day. These protesters feel that the land was “stolen” from the aboriginal people. I have to admit that the Europeans who came here were not always “angels” but neither were they “devils”. Manhattan was purchased. We may not think that the purchase price was fair, even the Dutch probably thought they were getting a great deal, but the purchase price was set by, or at the very least accepted by, the seller.

Europeans came to a land where the native peoples were still living a hunter/gatherer lifestyle for the most part. Their own civilizations rose and fell – the Anasazi abandoned their “city” hundreds of years before the Europeans came.

We are all Americans. Of Indian, European, African, Asian, Arab, or whatever descent. This land would have been settled by others than the aborigines at some point in time, it just so happened to happen 500 years ago, with a voyage underwritten by Queen Isabella of Spain on a search for a western route to India.

Happy Columbus Day.

A Very Strange Thing

It’s a beautiful afternoon, the kids were out of school early, and I had a bunch of kids in my house.

I looked out the window and there were three young men walking up the street. One was carrying a very large wooden cross. It looked like it was made of 4×4 lumber. The cross was at least 8 feet tall, and could have been 10-12 feet tall. There was one wheel, like a caster, on the bottom of the cross so it wouldn’t drag.

I wish I would have gotten a picture of them, but they went by pretty fast and I have no idea where they went from here, or where they came from in the first place.

This is what they reminded me of:

Acorn

Fraudulent registrations don’t really matter because they don’t lead to voter fraud on election day.

That’s what Chris Sautter, Democratic Attorney is saying on this video from Studio B.

“But who is going to turn up? Is Terrell Owens going to turn up in Las Vegas with an ID that says that he’s Terrell Owens? That’s not gonna happen.”

Mr. Sautter, that only works where a photo ID is required when going to the voting booth on Election Day.

In Indiana, where a photo ID is required, voting under someone else’s name is indeed difficult if not impossible.

It doesn’t work when, as in Illinois, one need only give the poll workers a name that the poll worker can find a sheet in their book for.

This goes along with my post on registration deadlines. A four week deadline is perfectly acceptable and there is no need for same day registration and voting anytime, anywhere. It only leads to fraud.

And look how hard photo ID laws have been fought against by the likes of Acorn and their friends. They’ve been fought against because it makes it more difficult to actually cast a fraudulent vote on election day.

Costumes

Little Guy wants to be Speed Racer this year. I’ve been looking at costumes at Amazon’s Halloween Costume Shop, but I can’t seem to find one in the right size.

Looking at the costume, however, I might be able to make one for him. It’s white pants with a white and blue jacket, and a hat or helmet.

Last year I made a costume for Raven, my Shih Tzu:

Raven as Dorothy and Toto

Raven as Dorothy and Toto

There’s even “ruby slippers” – although she didn’t like those at all, at all. Little guy wants me to dress up this year to give out the treats. I have to decided what it is I want to dress up as.

mm-5