The government will start sending out the economic stimulus payments today, a few days earlier than previously planned. Those who had their refunds direct deposited will get their stimulus payments first. VK has a discussion going on about what the payment might be used for…

We have to use it for some car repairs. The driver’s side seatbelt will lock up sometimes even when the truck isn’t even moving and back in January the truck was hit in the parking lot at Dunkin Donuts. I had been to the grocery store and the bumper was fine, then I drove a mile to Dunkin Donuts for a Box of Joe and then another mile home. When I got there I noticed that the bumper was all smooshed (I love technical terms) when I went to take the groceries out of the back. Luckily, the liftgate still opened and it wasn’t damaged. Insurance will cover that but we still have to pay the deductible. The passenger restraint is not covered by our extended warranty. We’re only getting the body work done now because we can be reasonably certain that there won’t be any more snow… I did not want to give up a driveable four wheel drive vehicle for a sedan in the snowy winter we had. We even had a foot of snow for Easter this year!

Via Instapundit, as reported by C-Net News, tomorrow will be the long awaited SP-3 to Windows XP. Robert Vamosi there says it’s a quick and painless upgrade and ought to be done right away. He says:

Starting April 29, all Windows XP SP2 users should upgrade to SP3, if only to get a complete set of Windows XP patches installed.

Shark (CBS 9pm EDT/8pm CDT) and Women’s Murder Club (ABC 10:02pm EDT/9:02pm CDT) return tomorrow night. They are both good shows.

I’m reminded of this because of a conversation going on at Althouse’s regarding the 60 Minutes interview with Justice Scalia that will air on Sunday. From one of the sound bites that CBS has released in advance of broadcasting the interview, Justice Scalia speaks about Bush v Gore:

“It was Al Gore who made it a judicial question…. We didn’t go looking for trouble. It was he who said, ‘I want this to be decided by the courts,'” says Scalia. “What are we supposed to say — ‘Not important enough?'”

Coming back to the present and near future, let’s look at the Democrat convention in Colorado in August.

Neither candidate has enough pledged delegates to cinch the nomination.

Two states’ delegates were reduced to zero as punishment from the Democratic National Committee for holding their primaries prior to Iowa and New Hampshire.

Hillary Clinton has said that she has the lead in actual votes versus pledged delegates, but that counts votes in Florida and Michigan where Barack Obama wasn’t even on the ballot.

The vote count also doesn’t include the counts of people in caucuses where Barack Obama did better than Hillary Clinton.

The nomination will come down to the Super delegates, those professional politicians who were designated to be the “choosers” to avoid another McGovern debacle.

In the end, the Democrat nominee will be selected, not elected.

That’s me! It’s been great. I used laser acupuncture and it worked like magic. I even emailed Barack Obama last year and recommended it (and the people that I went to). He never wrote back and it seems he didn’t try it.

It was a pricy treatment, but it was well worth it and with the price of cigarettes only going up and the good things quitting has done for my health I have saved far, far more than the treatment cost in the first place.

Another great benefit of quitting smoking is that after a year your life insurance premiums go down! Yay!

Apparently, there was an earthquake very early Friday morning in Illinois that was felt as far away as Atlanta, GA. I slept right through it.

It was a beautiful day today and here’s a beautiful daffodil from my garden:

There’s been a lot around the Blogosphere about Obama’s speech in San Francisco and his comments about those in the midwest without jobs who are bitter and cling to their guns and religion and don’t like those who are different from them. There’s also been a lot about his explanations of what he really meant versus what he actually said.

The part that really offends me is the inference that religion is something resorted to only because of lost jobs, hard times, bitterness.

The inference that religion can not be a part of one’s whole life, the good and the bad.

Yesterday I heard a sound bite from Hillary Clinton saying that she “went to church on Easter”. I think it was a slam at Barack Obama as he was traveling to the U.S. Virgin Islands for vacation that day. I told the TV, “Well Hillary, I went to church today. Did you?”

By the way: Buy your twp t-shirts, hats, stickers, buttons, magnets, and coffee mugs here.

The Quiz Edition!

Your Eyes Should Be Violet

Your eyes reflect: Mystery and allure What’s hidden behind your eyes: A quiet passion

You Are Pumpkin Pie

You’re the perfect combo of uniqueness and quality. You’re able to relate to many types of people with many different tastes. But you’re by no means generic or ordinary. In fact, you’re one of the most original people around. Those who like you are looking for something (someone!) special. You tend confuse people when they first meet you. You’re not as complicated as you seem. Even though you have a lot of spice and flavor to you, you’re never overpowering. You are a calm and comforting force in people’s lives.

You Will Die at Age 88

Congratulations! You take good care of yourself. You’re poised to live a long, healthy life.

What Age Will You Die?

We had a couple of visitors today in the yard. When I first saw them, they were standing in the puddle at the foot of the driveway. They then moved to the yard.

Mister seems to have stepped in something…

These photos were taken through a rain splattered window. The rain was coming directly towards me so I did not go outside to try to take a picture. Click on photos to embiggen.

Transcript of interview on Fox News’ Happening Now. Jon Scott interviews Lt. Col. William Russell who is running against John Murtha to represent the 12^th Congressional District of Pennsylvania.

Jon Scott: On a day when the top U.S. commander and our ambassador in Iraq testify on Capitol Hill about progress there more than a dozen Iraq war veterans are running for Congress as Republicans, a show of support they say, for U.S. troops and presidential candidate John McCain. It’s similar to what Democrats did in 2006 with some success. I’d like to introduce you to Lt. Col. William Russell. He is running against Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha, obviously a leading critic of the Iraq War.

Lieutenant Colonel, and I guess I should say retired now because you got out of the Army, at least out of active duty about what, six months ago now?

Lt. Col. Russell: Yes, actually I left active duty. I’m still active with the reserves and currently serve with the 464^th Chemical Brigade in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

Jon Scott: You have said that John Murtha has “emboldened the enemy” with some of his anti-war talk. What do you mean by that?

Lt. Col. Russell: Well absolutely. When he threw the Haditha marines under the bus he put the United States’ Congress’ ‘stamp of approval’ on enemy propaganda. And certainly, John Murtha of all people, should understand this, having served as an intelligence officer in Viet Nam, he should understand enemy propaganda. As a savvy politician he should understand propaganda, and when he takes the enemy’s side of the story; puts it out as gospel truth; accuses our marines of cold blooded murder; he has reinforced their message on the Arab street and certainly undermined the support for the troops at home.

Jon Scott: Yeah, the Haditha case was front page news in the New York Times and made the cover of Time Magazine when those four soldiers were charged. Now the charges have been dropped against three of them. And at least in the most recent case when the charges were dropped it was on page, I think, A8 of the New York Times. It didn’t get the same kind of attention.

Lt. Col. Russell: Exactly, and of course, one of the key points is that all the murder related charges have been dropped against these soldiers or marines and Mr. Murtha has so far failed and refused to apologize to them. Including one of those marines, Justin Sharratt, who is from our district.

Jon Scott: Well, you’re obviously taking on a force, John Murtha, a long-time Member of Congress. Do you think you have a prayer of unseating this guy?

Lt. Col. Russell: Surprisingly he is vulnerable. Although he’s brought home a lot of earmarks in the past thirty years, a lot of people are recognizing that perhaps this is not the way to go because they are beginning to recognize that effects of the earmarks he’s been bringing have not been reaching the average person in Johnstown. He’s not bringing in working class jobs, he’s not bringing in manufacturing jobs, and mostly jobs are going to outsiders who move into the district, build big houses, skew the property values and the property taxes of the area.

Jon Scott: Really quickly, you have been through both Iraq wars, what do you tell people, now that you’re a candidate, what do you tell people about the prospects there?

Lt. Col. Russell: Well certainly we’re making a difference. I’ve spent a total of three years in the Middle East. We recognize that things are not going to work the same. There are some cultural jumps. In Iraq we have a country that has lived under a totalitarian regime for thirty years before we liberated it. Naturally when you have all the leaders of any clan or any class that might have been a threat to Saddam or the Ba’athists were categorically removed, tortured, or murdered, it takes a while to grow leaders. Within the United States Army it takes us two years to grow a new lieutenant and twenty-five years or thirty years to grow a general of the caliber of Petraeus. And we’re trying to establish an entire government in Iraq in a matter of a couple of short years from scratch. So there’s going to be a chance.

Jon Scott: Lieutenant Colonel William Russell, we have to say goodbye. Thank you.

Lt. Col. Russell: Thank you.

Lt. Col. Russell’s website is here.

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