Iraq Elections

Good for them: Iraq holds peaceful elections, Obama, U.N. applaud

Too bad this did not happen two weeks ago when Bush was still in office. Although I doubt the press would have been so congratulatory since the success of the elections might have shown that Bush's plan was working...

Waterboarding

Thank God someone in Obama's inner sanctum has a brain

Do they really think you can just ask "pretty please, will you tell us where the rest of the bad guys are" and they will tell you???

Gtimo closure

Good question: If Not Gitmo, Then Where Should Detainees Be Held?

Obama: "Close Gitmo in one year"

US Military: "Yes, Sir. So where do we put them?"

Obama: "umm"


Another cart before the horse episode for Obama.

Ford Stock

Looking at the 2010 line up Ford Fusion Hybrid and new Ford Taurus SHO gives me hope that my Ford stock will rebound soon!

eh, maybe not: Ford posts $14.6B 2008 loss

It figures

Perfect, just frikin' perfect: Blagojevich Says He Considered Oprah Winfrey for Vacant U.S. Senate seat

Oh, and thanks Illinois for showing the rest of the country that the city of Detroit is not only place where a complete nut job can get elected and unabashedly abuse the power of his office. At least Kawame did it for love.....

Who cares?

I was watching tv with friends yesterday, and it seemed like every commercial had something to do with SAG (Screen Actor's Guild) awards. Specifically, what the actresses were wearing on the "red carpet." Here is an example: SAGs Red Carpet sees Michelle Obama effect I don't know what that dress or any other one the actresses were wearing cost, nor do I really want to know.

All I thought was: Who cares? The economy is tanking: Job Cuts and CAT says to cut 20,000 jobs plus four more soldiers die in Iraq. (Mission accomplished my a*s.) And the only thing the media thinks "we" care about is what some overpaid celebrity is wearing. Pitiful. No wonder bin Laden thought he could attack us (again) and we would be too preoccupied with stupid b.s. to respond.

Hey Hollyweird: want to really make a statement? Wear something old, and give the money you would have spent on the dress to a soup kitchen.

Bush

George W. Bush may have not have been perfect, but William Kristol of the NY Times has a unique look at Mr. Bush's last eight years. It is worth reading: The Next War President

Thanks Mr Bush for the past eight years. You made some major mistakes (the reasons behind the Iraq war is the most obvious) but I will say you faced some of the toughest challenges during your presidency. The US suffered an attack on our soil for only second time since the war of 1812, and we had one of the largest, if not the largest, natural disasters this country has ever faced (Katrina.) Yes, there were screw ups during both operations, and the press really emphasized the mistakes, but it is easy to second guess decisions from the sidelines. I predict that in the coming months we will see more articles like Mr. Kristol's about what Bush did right as the press backs off their feeding frenzy and take an objective look at the past eight years.

Good luck Mr Bush.

Obama

So, we finally have our new President. I wish him luck. I will be watching how the press reacts in the next few months. Up to this point, it has pretty much been a love fest, and I am curious to see if that will continue. He has been already been compared to Lincoln, and it seems that he is viewed as the second coming of Jesus by his followers, and yet he had not even taken office! (and it ain't just me who feels this way, check out Hey America, Take a Chill Pill.) Cults scare me, and the cult of Obama is no different. Hopefully the press will do what they claim is their "job," asking the tough questions and not accepting the pat answer but do some investigating. It will be interesting.

But I do like the make up of his cabinet. He did the right thing and recruited a bunch of very smart, very seasoned (something Bill Clinton did not do at the onset of his presidency) people to surround himself with.

Good Luck Mr. Obama

want vs need

A friend recently mentioned that his wife constantly asks him: is that a want or a need?

With the recent economic news stocks plunge on banks, retail sales as well as the latest unemployment figures, I thought I might be looking for a job for quite some time. So I thought about ways to save money. One thing that came to mind was my cable bill. I had already reduced it some by changing packages, but I thought: Do I really NEED ('cause I sure don't WANT) to pay such a ridiculous amount for the 20 or so channels I watch? Do I really NEED cable? There are people advocating getting rid of cable How to cancel cable/satellite without being miserable and Get rid of cable, watch your fave shows on the net are two interesting articles that have merit.

They both suggest watching your shows either over the air, via the Internet, or using Netflix, etc which makes your TV watching either free, or significantly less. I have watched tv episodes via the Internet when I missed them and had forgotten to hit the record button. It was nice, but I can not envision my family huddled around my 17' monitor watching tv. It would be too much like the 1950s, and would be fun for about 32 seconds, and after that we would all be looking for our "space..."

Besides, I may not WANT to pay my cable bill, but I NEED to watch the Red Wings and Tigers and they don't broadcast the games over the air, or on the Internet. Maybe I could get rid of my last child who still lives at home. That might save me enough money (showers, food, etc) to upgrade my cable package...

Unemployment Claims

I guess that is why it took two days to finally log on just to start my claim! State unemployment claim systems overwhelmed.

to buy or not to buy?

Remember after 9/11 when Bush told us it was our patriotic duty to spend money to get the economy moving again? We did, and the economy rebounded. However, it does not look like that is going to happen again any time soon Consumer borrowing falls by $7.94B in November so it looks like the recession is going to last for awhile. Funny how an attack on our country does not instill the same fear in us as the thought of a recession.

David Chameides writes that we should Get on Board the Non-Consumption Train and give some serious thought to any purchases we make. He writes the article from a "green" point of view, but the tips he mentions are sound, especially when we are trying to save a different type of "green."

Just before Christmas, Best Buy had a great deal on a new TV system. It was a (all Sony products) 46" LCD, surround sound system, blu-ray dvd player, and "professional" (Geek Squad) installation for $2000 (with three years to pay it off.) Not a bad deal until I remembered that my 36" Sony still works great (and like my brother in law mentioned "it is a Sony so it will probably last for a long time" plus it weighs +250 lbs so where would I move it to anyway? Using some of David's suggestions, it will be a LONG time before I buy a new TV.

However, my neighbor suggested that I go out and buy "something" to give me incentive to get a job to pay it off! Maybe a new F-150 that my wife keeps telling me to wait on...

You can't make this stuff up

I guess it takes all kinds... Police seek blow-up doll sex bandit.

Prison food is worse then I thought! Texas death row inmate pulls out eye, eats it

I will never complain about Hamburger Helper again!

Bush and the shoe episode

I see in the news that an art gallery in Portland has opened up a new exhibit where patrons can throw their shoes at an image of Bush in a " 'statement of solidarity' with Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi journalist who was arrested after hurling two shoes at Mr Bush in protest during a Baghdad news conference last month." Gallery has shoe throw at Bush

My opinion? If there is any doubt that despite the original misinformation that led to the invasion, this illustrates that Iraq has changed and for the better. Can you imagine what would have happened to that individual had he thrown his shoe at a visiting head of state under Saddam's regime? He would have lived long enough to get dragged out and shot . Instead, he gets arrested (as anyone one would for attempted assault) and both the Iraqi media and the rest of the world can hail him as a "hero."

In a truly democratic society, you have the right to protest decisions you disagree with and people you have issues with. Iraq may be a mess, but they are on their way to becoming a much more open and free society.

Having said that, there isn't jack sh*t in Iraq worth one GIs life.

Job Searching

Well, I am up to 8 or so resumes sent out this week. However, I just saw the latest unemployment figures, and they are the worse the country has seen in 16 years, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090109/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/financial_meltdown so go figure on my chances. Plus, the Detroit 3 are shutting down factories and idling workers, so more gloomy news.

On the plus side, I can always go be a trucker. It would be hard to outsource that job...

First posting

This is my first blog posting. I had given serious consideration to starting a blog in the past, but my work and life made it a little more difficult then I thought it would.

However, I was recently laid off after 4 1/2 years so I suddenly have the time. I decided I would write from the perspective of a a 40-something man who was unexpectedly laid off and my attempts to look for another job, as well as general comments about life.