The Sunday Drive from Hell

It has been a beautiful autumn season. Exceptionally so with the gorgeous colors and warm afternoons. After a week of working inside an office, I look forward to being outdoors on the week ends and working on some projects in the yard. One, that I'd been putting off, is to dig in the compost in the planting beds and plant french shallots and elephant garlic for spring. The cold winters here require that you get them planted before the first frost, which could be at any time. I was also looking forward to making another pie with the Asian Apple Pears that we have an abundance of. Maybe some jam.


However, best laid plans and all that stuff. Hubby, who has been working 7 days a week, 10 hour days for the last month had the bright idea that we take a Sunday drive in our classic 72 K5 Blazer to get away and relax.













The idea was to take a back road called Fender's Ferry, an historic stage coach road that would take us ultimately to I-5 and we would have lunch at a cutesy restaurant in Mt Shasta.

So, I'm like....."Ok....how long do you think it will take because I have some things I want to do. OK?"

He says: "It should be just about 3 hours. I took this road from Redding in the 70s"

Looking at the map it didn't seem to be all that many miles. I now realize that those roads in blue lines represent unimproved road. Really really unimproved. Tip number one. Avoid the blue roads.

The road at first wasn't too bad. Graded and obviously well traveled..... and look, there are even some people living in cute cabins up the hill and down by the creek. Soon the road became narrower and narrower. We were already too far to go back....we thought. Three hours of bumping along on a one lane crumbling dirt road clinging to the side of a mountain averaging at best 8 miles an hour. Don't look down!! OMG it's straight down.!!! The only thing between us and certain death are those humongous pine trees that are at least 4 feet on the stump. No one had ever logged this area.......because it is freaking impossible to get to it unless you are .....insane!!!! I'm gripping the side of the seat and bracing myself with a hand on the dash. No seat belts aaaaaagh! Is this ever going to end. My hand is still cramped.

We did see some pretty country side, discovered a water fall that was at least 100 feet high. Met up with some people on quad runners. I forgot it was deer season, so at least if we broke down someone would be by sometime. I just hope that they haven't seen Deliverance.

At several points we came across pretty open meadows planted with fruit trees. Really old fruit trees. Also the foundations of barns or houses made out of rocks. These must have been old homesteads or stage stops. Probably made by people who gave up traveling on this God forsaken road and decided to just stay where they were out of desperation. Seriously, people were tough in those days. No wonder they all married their cousins. It was too much work to find anyone else.

About 3/4 of the way in, according to the squiggly blue line that represented the road the car started acting up. Clue two....there was no way the map maker could possibly make the line squiggly enough to represent all the hairpin turns in such a small line.

Me: "Um... the car is missing and sounding funny. Are we ok? " "And, just how drunk were you in 1970 when you went on this road?????"

"No problem " he says, "We are just loading up with carbon and the spark plugs need to be cleaned." The hubby, I find out later is glossing over the problem, thinks we have sucked two of the 8 cylinders and is freaked out. We have no cell phone reception and there is no way in hell that we are going to get AAA to come out here and tow us.

So, we plow on and eventually make it to I-5. We wanted to get out and kiss the asphalt.

Not lunch but now early dinner in Mt Shasta and back to home. Seven hours and it felt like we had been gone for a month and like we'd been beaten with a rubber hose.

Needless to say. No pie.

Serenity Prayer and Apple Pears

This election cycle is getting the better of me. With all of the voter fraud and the mysterious (most likely illegal) donations to Obama's campaign and that no one in authority seems to be concerned, I've come to the conclusion that the election is being stolen out from under us. We are turning into a third world banana republic and our votes count for nothing. I waffle between angry and depressed.

Sooooo. It's time to take a deep breath and step back and recite the Serenity Prayer

God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

There is nothing I can do about ACORN filing fraudulent voters. Nothing I can do to stop them from busing in illegal immigrants who can't read English and casting their votes FOR them....for you know who...of course. Nothing I can do to stop people like Jive Turkey and Jjlthi htios from fraudulently channeling untraceable contributions to the Obama campaign, while McCain, the stupid shlub, is being over run and out maneuvered. I cannot change these things.

However, I have found something that I can change.

For years we have had a tree in our yard that produced mystery fruit.























Gigantic pear looking things, as big as softballs, that turned yellow on the tree and inevitably fell onto the ground. The deer enjoyed them. Turns out these apple pear looking things are just that. Asian Apple Pear. Go figure. They are quite delicious and a delicacy

They need to be removed from the tree while green and ripened on the counter or in the pump house. Crisp, sweet and slightly tart they were a wonderful addition to a salad last night.


So in my quest to change the things that can be changed and ignore the things that I can change.

I'm going to change these, and the other 30 pounds of Apple Pears, into pear pies, pear tarts and pear jam.

Making Patterns and Sewing Clothes

I just recently was going through boxes of photos ranging from 30 years ago to pick out some pictures for my daughter's up coming wedding. Yes.....photos. On real paper in envelopes with celluloid negatives. Remember? Before digital cameras. Before photoshop.

It was like digging into a box of memories. Remembering when and where I took these photos. Pictures of my daughter as a baby, a toddler, a gangly pre teen and finally a beautiful young woman. Pictures of people I haven't seen in 30 years. Pictures of people I don't even remember who they even are.

While scanning many of the early photos to put onto a disk, I realized just how much sewing I used to do. Almost all my daughter's best dresses and outfits were those that I made for her. Most of my clothes were made by myself for myself. We were poor, collected food stamps for a while, and had to make do with what we had. Even so, we got by pretty good and we look spiffy in our home made clothing.

This got me to thinking about our current economic situation and reflecting on my previous post about "Going Galt". Why pay top dollar for clothing that is poorly made, doesn't fit, probably made in Guatemala or China and continue to contribute to the "machine".

So, my creative juices started to flow and I pulled out a book that I've had for some time on making custom clothing patterns. I'd forgotten how easy and fun it was. When I was younger, ahem...thinner and gravity wasn't such a big drag on certain parts of my body, the patterns from McCalls or Vogue worked just fine. However, it seems a little alterations are in order.

If they can do it on Project Runway, heck yeah........ so can I. One more thing to liberate myself from the yoke of government control.

Going Galt

PJM (pajamas media) and Dr. Helen have put up a post about the idea of 'going Galt' If you haven't read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, you should. I admit that she isn't the best or most entertaining writer in the world. I read this book in high school and it made a profound impression on me that shapes my world view today.

For those who haven't the time to plow through her massive book, the main theme is that there are those who are productive in society, the John Galts and then there are the takers and the users. Stealing shamelessly from Dr. Helen.

"the basic theme is that John Galt and his allies take actions that include withdrawing their talents, “stopping the motor of the world,” and leading the “strikers” (those who refuse to be exploited) against the “looters” (the exploiters, backed by the government)."

My husband, who has a plumbing business (just like this guy) and also has his own blog http://dumbplumber.blogspot.com/ and I are both self employed. We have seriously discussed this concept and are already "going Galt". Cutting back on production, cutting back on business and contributing the least we possibly can to the government. We aren't the only ones. Some cattle ranchers and farmers in our area are cutting back. Less food production and laying off workers. Contractors are not going to be building. Less lumber needed. Less logging and mill production and it goes on. The economy grinds to a halt and there is no one productive to rob from to give to the leeches and looters.

Actually, by cutting back, we will ultimately have more retained income (less taxes) and more quality time to do things that we enjoy. We have already seen this.

I suggest that we ALL do the most we can to stop the engine of the world and let the looters starve.

A Little ACORN Topples the Mighty Oak

ACORN the community activist organization that is supporting Obama and who has been supported by his campaign to the tune of $800,000 dollars is under investigation FINALLY for fraudulently submitting fake voter registration forms.

They have been, for years, stuffing the ballot box and overwhelming the county voter registars offices with a flood of late arriving fake registrations. This isn't an accident or sloppy work. They are doing it on purpose. The technique is part of a plan to bring down captialism and change the 'regime' in our country to socialsim. Saul Alinsky laid out the rules and literally wrote the book on how to bring down our country. The Cloward-Piven Strategy provided the blueprint for the plan that is in effect now. I'm not going to go into depth on this as there are many more sites that have done the heavy lifting. Here Here Oh , Hell....just google it.

While I agree that everyone who is legally eligible should be able to vote. Voting for our Representatives, Senators and the Executive office by the people of this country, instead of having our leaders imposed on us by fiat, is what has made America a great and free country. Up until now......the system has been working. Now with the subversive actions of a socialist/communist group we are in danger of being toppled and hamstrung by our own goodwill and our own rules.

Most of us, who read blogs and write blogs are fairly well aquainted with the issues and the candidates. However, the same cannot be said of the people that ACORN is registering, often multiple times.

Just listen and weep. This is the future of our country. Ignoramuses who vote based merely on the color of skin or merely on Party affiliation without any critical thinking or any idea of who or what they are voting for.



If it weren't so sad, it would be funny.

Predictions for the next 4 years

1. Obama will be elected President through fraud and the media will refuse to do any investigative journalism. Mainly because they are implicit in facilitating the fraud and want to have Obama elected no matter what.

2. The "fairness doctrine" will be rammed through Congress and talk radio will be diminished if not completely taken down. The only "news" and opinions we will be allowed to hear are those that are filtered through the media.

3. The internet will be next. Websites that are right leaning will be forced off of the web or mandated to express views that don't contradict the 'regime' of Obama

4. This suppression of the First Amendment will extend to individuals and our personal webpages, facebook sites and possibly even our emails will be scrutinized

5. Anyone who deviates from the 'right thinking' will be accused of racism, sued to be taken off of the television or movie screens. Only the proper expressions will be tolerated and all others will be shouted down and silenced.

6. Taxes will be levied against the so called rich to the ends of redistributing wealth. In that case, the truly wealthy will be able to save themselves by moving out of the country or moving their assets out of the country. The small business owner and entrepreneurs will be driven out of business, will lay off workers or will just go underground. The middle working class and small business owners will cease to exist. Power and wealth will be concentrated in the hands of government functionaries and there will be an even wider gap between the rich/governmental mandarin types and the rest of the population.

7. The economy will go underground. It is already happening as I type. People will be trading for services and goods. Cash economy will rule instead of a paper trail. Tax revenues will go down, and the 'regime' will demand that more taxes, fees and excises be imposed. Downward spiral.

8. The 'regime' now having controlled the sources of information will concentrate on the children. By taking children away from families at an ever younger age, they will be more able to indoctrinate the children. Teaching the children to spy and report on their parents when the adults deviate from the pre-approved programing.

9. There will be a very bad terrorist attack that will polarize people even more, with the 'regime' seeing this attack as a Godsend to allow them to maintain more power. Perhaps even repealing the 2 term Presidential rule and attempting to sieze permant status. Elections as we know them will be a thing of the past.

Within 25 years the United States will cease to exist as a free country. We will either be a socialist nation like Russia or the country will splinter into geographically drawn political fragments. Urban vs Rural. The US will no longer exist as a country at all.

Ah...The Law Of Unintended Consquences

Don't you just love the way the law of uninteded consquences continually comes around to bite us all in the ass. Thanks to mostly, not always, but mostly liberal nanny state laws we have all kinds of messes to clean up.

The mother of all messes of course has to do with the melt down in the financial markets caused by socialist goals embodied in the CRA act and the relaxing of loan standards by Bill Clinton and the erosion of the "Chinese Wall" also by Clinton that removed the barriers between banking and investment companies.

But....enough of that. I'm talking laws meant to protect us from a slight chance of harm that ultimately put us ALL in real danger. Laws like this one in California. To protect us from the slight chance that our house might catch fire, we are now polluted in our bodies by 100% more levels of flame retardent in and 1000% times more in our environment.

As I sit on my couch typing on my laptop and absorbing even more PBDEs, I ponder what other great surprises the meddling government will be bringing to us in the future in the name of saving us from ourselves.

New Game Show: Congressional Sweep

Anyone remember the gameshow Supermarket Sweep? This is what Congress is reminding me of lately and especially with this latest rush to shove a lard laden bill through which supposedly is going to rescue us from ourselves.

In the game show, contestants would frantically race through the store throwing the most expensive items in the cart they could at the fastest pace they could, and the one with the most at the end would win.

Toss in the caviar, hams, cheese, canned luxury goods......whatever cost the most. Didn't matter if the combination of food and goods in the basket made any sense or were of any actual use. Just throw it in there.

Congress is doing the exact same thing, with our money. Rushing around and throwing in the pork and the caviar. Never mind that we can't use this crap. Don't need this crap. Don't want his crap. Whoever has the biggest most expensive basket WINS!!!..

Well... except for us of course, since we don't get to actually eat any of the groceries, but have to pay for them.

Barstool Economics

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers, he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!

''Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!'

'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!

''Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

Note: I did not write this. Barstool Economics is a hairy old chestnut that has been floating around the net for years. I swiped it from a posting on a forum for financial professionals. Too good not to pass around.

Test post

Republicans protest Nancy Pelosi shutting down voting energy bill. Congress closed. House Revolt. Energy bill. Oil drilling.

My Backyard

Since I obviously have lost interest in posting here and am spending more time on my other blog posting recipies and discussing food, I thought I would just post some photos taken from my deck last winter and fall.

Sunrise

Fall Panorama

Cthulhu for President. Why vote for a lesser evil?

With this latest crop of incompentent, creepy, geriatric, evasive candidates for President, I have come to the conclusion that I will no longer settle for just voting for the lesser evil. If I were a Democrat I would have the choice between:

1. The Clintons, a pair of sociopathic grifters who want to bring European style socialism into our lives. Who want to "take things away from us for the common good" and control every last aspect of our personal and economic lives.

2. OR. Obama who may or may not be a Muslim raised by communistic anit-American parents and who is associated with an anti- Semetic and Black Separatist church. Obama who is cypher that we are not allowed to question lest we be tarred as racists.

As a Republican I am left with a candidate who is older than dirt, shows the beginning symptoms of senility. McCain who is for a free pass for illegal immigrants, open borders and calls anyone who disagrees with him racist. McCain who is just two degrees from being a left leaning Democrat.

Well, damned if I do and damned if I don't. I guess I'm doomed to be called a racist for the temerity of asking question and not falling into lockstep behind the chosen leader of either party.

So.... therefore..... I am choosing to vote for the GREATER EVIL instead of just settling for the lesser evil. Come on people. We are going to go to Hell in a handbasket anyway with any of the choices we have before us now. Let's just get the ride over with.

This site is dedicated to the great old one, who should return from his slumber to take over the U.S. government and make this country a whole hell of a lot better as the leader of our executive branch. Or destroy it and drive everyone insane, kill us all, or something really nasty! Remember, Cthulhu for President, why vote for the lesser of two evils?

Food Stamp Grocery List

Having decided to take the food stamp challenge in my own way, I went to the store and purchased these items posted on my food blog Recipe Junkie for brevitys sake.

I spent 133.86 and still have left $66.14 for the rest of the month. The expensive purchases were meat, cheese and milk. A couple of chickens, some pork steaks, hamburger, london broil. The idea is to buy things that are on sale, in bulk quanties that you will be able to use for more than just one meal, use leftovers and use the freezer for something other than prepackaged pizza and junk food.

What do you notice about my shopping list? NO junk food. NO fast food. NO pre prepared meals.

Preparation and storage of the food

I bought a lot of meat at one time so to keep it from spoiling you need to separate the portions into meal sizes and freeze for use during the month.

1. De Bone the chicken breasts from the two birds. Freeze two halves of the breasts separately. Cut off the legs and thighs and freeze. Keep the backs and wings for later this week.

2. Separate the hamburger into 2 portions of about 1 pound each and one portion 2 pounds. Freeze the one pound portions.

3. Cut off about 1 pound of the London Broil and freeze the rest.

4. Freeze the pork steaks for later in the month.

Dinner Day One

Stir fried chicken with vegetables over rice.

One whole chicken breast.
Two spears of celery
Half of one onion
One and a half carrot
Half of one head of broccoli
Half of the red pepper.
One and half cups of rice.

This made enough for a large portion for each of us and we have left over stir fry and rice. Way less than $3.00 per person for this meal!!

The stir fry will be a lunch in a couple of days served over cooked ramen noodles. The rice could be used as rice pudding for dessert or as a breakfast dish.

Breakfast Rice

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 tablespoon brown sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 cup cooked rice
Fresh fruit
Combine rice, milk, brown sugar and cinnamon in small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, about 10 minutes. Spoon into serving bowl, let cool 3 minutes. Top with fresh fruit

Makes 1 large serving.

Use berries, sliced banana, peaches, chopped apples, raisins ...... Whatever you have handy

Food Stamp Challenge /= Fat Poor People

Meagan McArdle is being roasted over her article that the poor and food stamps and she has been told by Unfogged to take the Food Stamp Challenge to live on 3$ a day in food.

"What about the argument that the poor are forced into eating high-calorie diets by the expense of produce and whole grains? This is silly on many counts" Says Meagan.

I agree. There is nothing about being poor or being on food stamps that is contributing to obesity. Poor people during the Great Depression, were not obese and they had no free food available to them. They didn't starve either. Most of our parents or grandparents survived the Depression and the food shortages of WWII quite nicely, thank you.

Here is why "poor" people on food stamps are obese.

1. They don't know how to cook and make efficient use of food or leftovers. The schools no longer teach home economics and if you come from a family that has been on the dole for generations you have no one to teach you those skills.

2. They don't know how to budget or plan. Again. If you haven't gained those skills through education or by example you don't know where to begin

3. It is just easier to buy pre prepared foods and high calorie junk food than it is to make meals.

The way that the Food Stamp Challenge is constructed is ridiculous and deceptive. Going out on a daily basis and buying only $3 of food a day? No one does this......not even obese people on food stamps. You get your food stamps once a month and then go to the store to buy food. If you have spent the entire food stamp allotment at one time (poor budgeting skills) then you will need to have some cash to buy items like milk that later in the month. If you cook, you also buy staples that can be used for multiple meals and ingredients that will last for months. This means that in the next month, you will have more available to buy other things.

The $3 a day per person is also deceptive. In California the maximum per person is $152. The average is $89.

Your food stamp allotment depends on the size of your household. The maximum allotment for one person is $152 per month. The maximum allotment for a four-person family is $506. In California, the average amount of benefits per person is approximately $86 per month, and the average amount of benefits per household is $200.

Are you going to eat luxurious meals on a food stamp budget? Not hardly. Can you prepare good, healthy, tasty, nutritious meals on a food stamp budget? You bet.

So then, lets assume that I am a household of 2 people and that I am getting a $200 allotment a month. How will I spend that allotment on food? What meals can I make? I'm up for the challenge.

I will post some of the meals and costs of a $200 budget. Using the rule #3. Eat only food that you have purchased for the project. Does not include spices and condiments. I'm going to assume in my budget that I already own some basic things like salt, pepper, some spices and condiments like catsup, mustard and so on.

One of the problems with food stamps and you assume that they spend no other money on food is: that if you do have to spend every last amount of allotment on food for that one month it doesn't enable the person to accumulate pantry staples like cooking oil, flour, sugar, cornmeal etc. Assuming the person has ZERO food in the house, starting a budget on food stamps is going to be tough.

Next post...... My shopping list and a rough outline of meals for 3 weeks.

Glittering Generalities

Yes We Can. Says Barack Obama. I'm fighting for you. Says Hillary. Two Americas. Says Edwards.

Video of Barack Obama's speech in New Hampshire. It is so full of Glittering Generalities that I think I'm going to go blind. Of course, that is the point: to blind us, make us think with our emotions and not with our brains. This is how politicians get votes and how they keep the rank and file under control

Text: Part of the speech. The most obvious Glittering Generalities bolded.

We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds; when we've been told that we're not ready, or that we shouldn't try, or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.

Yes we can.

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom through the darkest of nights. implied: if you don't vote for me you are against freedom and freeing the slaves you racists.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness. implied: if you vote for me you are a pioneer

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land. implied: if you don't vote for me you are against progress, against the Sainted John F Kennedy and are against Martin Luther King Jr and therefore racists

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

Aheeee. My eyes. I'm going blind!!

What? We can what? Nothing but Glittering Generalities and vague promises of WHAT? Give us some ideas... concrete ones of what changes you are proposing. Give us some ideas of what your goals are... real ones.... not glittering vague ones.

I'll be ever grateful to a high school Social Studies teacher, back when they actually taught us things and held us accountable for learning, for being introduced to the concept of "Glittering Generalities" and the idea that we should examine speeches for these so we can really understand what is happening to us when people we listen to politicians and others who would persuade us.

Glittering generalities are emotionally appealing words so closely associated with highly valued concepts and beliefs that they carry conviction without supporting information or reason. Such highly valued concepts attract general approval and acclaim. The appeal is to emotions such as love of country, home; desire for peace, freedom, glory, honor, etc. They ask for approval without examination of the reason. They are typically used by politicians and propagandists. The term may have originated with the Institute for Propaganda Analysis.

A glittering generality has two qualities:

It is vague
It has positive connotations

I'm not just picking on Barack. Just listen with a critical ear to Hillary, Romney, Huckabee, Guiliani, Edwards etc. The totality of what I have heard from all of these politicians, with the possible exception of Fred Thompson, consists of these Glittering Generalities. Possibly this is why people find Fred, boring. He is telling us the plain unvarnished truth without the glitz or bling bling.

Grifters Back in the White House

Over the years of watching Bill and Hillary Clinton ,with the same unsettling fascination as watching a snake eat a live gopher, I have finally put my finger on what it is that makes them so repulsive. They are both Sociopaths. The masks that they have worn for years have developed more and more cracks and the rest of the world is slowly waking up to the dysfunctional nature of the Clintons.

Sociopaths are not always the serial killer or the rapist. Quite often they are just the guy or gal next door. They blend well into society because they appear to be normal, intelligent and charming. But that is just an appearance an illusion carefully crafted to be able to get what they want. The typical sociopath is also your typical grifter or con man. They aren’t crazy people. They know exactly what they are doing and do it with ruthlessness.

From “Without Conscience” by Robert D Hare PHD

"Psychopaths are social predators who charm, manipulate and ruthlessly plow their way through life, leaving a broad trail of broken hearts, shattered expectations and empty wallets. Completely lacking in conscience and feelings for others, they selfishly take what they want and do as they please, violating social norms and expectations without the slightest sense of guilt or regret."

Here are a few of the traits of the Sociopath from the Humanities and Social Sciences Dept at the California Institute of Technology. CIT http://www.hss.caltech.edu/~mcafee/Bin/sb.html

1.Glibness and Superficial Charm
2. Manipulative and Conning
They never recognize the rights of others and see their self-serving behaviors as permissible. They appear to be charming, yet are covertly hostile and domineering, seeing their victim as merely an instrument to be used. They may dominate and humiliate their victims.
3. Grandiose Sense of Self
Feels entitled to certain things as "their right."
4. Pathological Lying
Has no problem lying coolly and easily and it is almost impossible for them to be truthful on a consistent basis. Can create, and get caught up in, a complex belief about their own powers and abilities. Extremely convincing and even able to pass lie detector tests.
5. Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt
A deep seated rage, which is split off and repressed, is at their core. Does not see others around them as people, but only as targets and opportunities. Instead of friends, they have victims and accomplices who end up as victims. The end always justifies the means and they let nothing stand in their way.
6. Shallow Emotions
When they show what seems to be warmth, joy, love and compassion it is more feigned than experienced and serves an ulterior motive. Outraged by insignificant matters, yet remaining unmoved and cold by what would upset a normal person. Since they are not genuine, neither are their promises.
7. Incapacity for Love
8. Need for Stimulation
Living on the edge. Verbal outbursts and physical punishments are normal. Promiscuity and gambling are common.
9. Callousness/Lack of Empathy
Unable to empathize with the pain of their victims, having only contempt for others' feelings of distress and readily taking advantage of them.
10. Poor Behavioral Controls
Impulsive Nature Rage and abuse, alternating with small expressions of love and approval produce an addictive cycle for abuser and abused, as well as creating hopelessness in the victim. Believe they are all-powerful, all-knowing, entitled to every wish, no sense of personal boundaries, no concern for their impact on others.

The Clintons exhibit almost all of the 10 classic symptoms of Sociopathy. Bill’s habitual lying, promiscuity, lack of remorse over abusing women and his out of proportion anger when questioned by others. Hillary’s sense of entitlement, cold reptilian personality, lust for power and lack of concern for anyone but herself. Witness her throwing her staff under the bus, ruining their lives and careers when it suits her purposes and her manipulative ways with not only colleagues but with her own mother and child.

Just imagine the hell on earth that these two sociopaths have created by being wed to each other. They need each other in the way vampires need warm blood and they are shackled to each other by their congruent forms of Sociopathy. Hillary is the more ruthless and power hungry of the two pushing for her ambitions with every calculated move she makes. Imagine the abuses of power that she will feel to be her right if she should ever (God forbid) be given control of our lives and of our nation. At least the abuses of power Bill exercised were merely over the small lives of individuals like Monica and Jessica and other women. With Hillary’s grandiose plans to remake society into her ideal of socialism and her sociopath’s lack of concern for people, do you think that we will have any hope of free will?

The mask is falling off of the Clintons and what is underneath is truly hideous. The “Long Con” is falling apart. It has taken years, even decades, but the citizens--the Marks-- are finally beginning to realize that they have been manipulated. It has taken decades because the Clintons have had enablers and assistants in deceiving the public and keeping the illusion….the media and those who have profited by riding on the political coattails of the Clintons. Do we really want to bring these dysfunctional grifters back to the Whitehouse?

I Forget How Beautiful

I forget how beautiful San Francisco can be.



Yes, the buildings are the same ticky tacky houses, little boxes all in a row that I remember. We were awash in a sea of beige, tan, cream and brown buildings. With the exception of a few mavericks in the Haight all homes seemed to be from the same palette.


But, the parks, the ocean and sky with its ranges of blues and whites spanned by, what I think is the most beautiful bridge in the world...The Golden Gate.

Whenever the City gets too claustrophobic, there is always Golden Gate Park or the endless vistas of the Pacific Ocean to stare at and get grounded again. I would never be able to live there again. Visit yes..... live there no. I'm now accustomed to the peace and quiet of the countryside. The loudest thing at night is the hoo hoo hooing of Great Horned Owls and the howls of distant Coyotes, instead of the steady stream of traffic and sirens.

We saw the beauty of the City and some of the ugliness too. Homeless and obviously mentally ill people. We also saw the generosity of the City with the Thanksgiving food events for those less fortunate.


The City is a young person's playground and I enjoyed my times there. Now it is my daughter's turn.

Into the Belly of the Beast

Come this Thanksgiving, my hubby and I are going to venture into the Belly of the Beast. Yes....we are going into the bluest of blue cities, the looniest of loonieville towns, the city that can boast the biggest swinginest BDS, the city with the best restaurants in the world and some of the most beautiful buildings. Yep... San Francisco. Yummmmmm ...Dim Sum.

Fortunately, we don't have any political stickers on our car so other than being a SUV (yes, I really do need a 4x4 vehicle to get out of my driveway in the winter) we should be pretty incognito as dreaded conservate, rural, knuckle dragging, slobbering rednecks.

Don't get me wrong. I like San Francisco. I lived there for quite a few years, with flowers in my hair..la la la. Those were the days my friend...we thought they'd never end. It was a great city to live in. You didn't need to drive a car, everything you needed was within walking distance in neighborhood shops. The mom and pop grocery, variety store, hardware store, cute craft shops, the local pub, the head shoppe...oops I digress.

If you wanted to get anywhere in The City, public transportation was a great way to get to work......well, except for the winos in the early morning trying to hit up us commuters for some money. I could never figure out if they were just getting up early or if they were just finishing up their night or if they were like the living dead who never went to bed. It was for sure, they never washed or changed their underwear. At 5am, we commuters would huddle close together in a tight little band of brothers and try to not observe the guy barfing in the doorway.

Want to see a show? No problem. There was always something going on somewhere. Want to eat Chinese, Russian, French, Japanese, Mexican food? You betcha.. any time of the day or night a fine restaurant was open for my dining pleasure. When I had limited money, a not so fine restaurant was available. Have no money at all? Spend the day at the beach flying kites, lounge in Golden Gate Park.

Now, however, the City has changed. Oh I know, I've changed too. I'm no longer a young long haired idealistic hippie chick. I'm now a middle aged Republican stock broker. Seriously if someone told me then what I would be doing now, I would have laughed my ass off at them.

BUT the City has changed. It isn't as friendly. The pan handlers are aggressive professionals who set up work schedules and partition off territories. The gay community, which was full of interesting characters exploring the new freedom to be publicly gay when I lived in the embryonic Castro district, is strident and humorless. The gay community in the City is sick and angry with most of the moderate and productive Gays moving out of the city into suburbs to have families and a more normal life. This is a good thing for them... acceptance.. but has left the community in the city a hollow shell.

The protesters aren't idealistic and bright eyed as I remember. We were going to persuade people to see the light, change the world, and make it a better place. Now, they are mean, bigoted, violent and intolerant. They will make you see their light by force. There is no grey area or room for disagreement now. You are with them or against them and never mind trying to reason. They will destroy you, your career and your property if you dare express another viewpoint, be it a disagreement on the commandments of the God Gore on Global Warming, or that we might actually be doing something positive in Iraq, or that Bush isn't really Hilter/Satan reincarnated or that sustainable forestry with select logging isn't going to make all life on earth become extinct.

Maybe the City was always as dirty with garbage and papers blowing in the streets outside of the tourist areas. Maybe there were just as many obviously mentally ill people talking to themselves on street corners. Maybe I just don't remember or more likely I have a rosy memory of the City.

Why are we going to the Belly of the Beast. My daughter lives there and we are meeting her significant other (in the olden days I would've said boyfriend but that seems silly today). We are also going to meet his family, so I suppose this is a serious meeting. I have the sinking feeling that everyone besides us will be left, lefter and leftist liberals.

Here's to talking about food, wine, art and no politics and no religion. Ah well, for love of my child, I can put up with it for an afternoon. I plan to take some bandages to apply to my husband's tongue from biting it all afternoon and duct tape to wrap his head in so it doesn't explode.

Wish us luck.

The Missing 5 Minutes.

The missing 5 minutes... and no I don't mean the Nixon tapes. I mean the last 5 minutes of a show that I've recorded on the Dish DVR. You get to the end of the show, the climax, the revelation of all that has come before, the reason for being.... and .......brrrzzztttt .... the end. Five minutes short. Program interuputs. Even less satisfactory than sex interuptus, because at least with sex you were having some interaction and fun until ...brrrrrpppp .... the end.



What are the networks thinking when they start a show at 9:05 and end it at 10:05 and my DVR ends the show at 10:00 ...effectively cutting off the last 5 mintues of the program?



Well, I know that the big issue with TiVo and other types of recording devices is that it allows us skip the commercials. Oh Yeah!!! I can understand that the companies who support the shows want to have their ads viewed. But, as a consumer I LOVE the ability to skip over the anoying advertising. The reality is that a one hour show actually consists of less than 40 minutes of actual entertainment (and that is stretching the definition a bit) and 20 minutes of mindless repetetive drivel. I've timed it.



Why do I record shows to watch later? The main reason is the sad fact that I'm old and too tired to stay up at night past dark thirty. I might want to read in bed or do something else in bed, if you get my drift. So if I want to watch Shark or Greys Anatomy, and it comes on too late, I would like to see the show at my convenience. It IS all about me, you know.



The other reason, was to watch one show on the East Coast feed in real time at 6 or 7 pm.... and then record the competing show ..after bed time of course at 9 or 10 pm. Two for one. It was perfect until the satellite and cable companies took away that ability because they wanted to force us to look at local advertising on our local stations. As if I'm interested in Joe Bob's hog feed chow or the Cowboy's Mattress Outlet. An actual store ... imagine the commercials for that one!


So, what are they thinking? They are thinking that if they make it impossible to record the shows we will be forced to watch them in real time and forced to view the ads.

I'm thinking the shows aren't all that great anyway. I'll read a book.

It's Hit and Miss

Nothing like taking a veeery long hiatius from my blog (as if anyone is listening anyway) , but what's the point of blogging if you don't do it. Oh sure, I can make excuses. Lots of them.

I've been busy with my career.

I've been playing way too much World of Warcraft.

It's been a beautiful summer and fall and I have been outside.

The political scene is just to depressing to think about.

The never ending campaigning for President is like a slow drip Chinese water torture and I just don't want to think about it for now.

The never ending arguing between the right and left ends of the political spectrum just goes on and on with no resolution.

The trains are in the tunnel and I feel helpless about being able to do anything positive to prevent it.

I've been working on my personal cookbook and organizing my recipes on a new computer program. (True!!)

I'm lazy (actually the most accurate excuse)

So for those one or two people who may actually be looking at my blog, I'll try to come up something more frequent than once a quarter.

My Greek Mythology Personality

Yet another personality test. Some how I alway end up basically the same no matter what test. Shrug

Your Score: Hermes

0% Extroversion, 33% Intuition, 0% Emotiveness, 23% Perceptiveness

You have a very keen intellect, are interested in the facts and the truth, but you don't have the antiauthoritarian streak of The Oracle or Prometheus. You are most like Hermes. You are dependable to a fault, and you can develop feirce institutional loyalties. You can seem outwardly cold, and very calculating, and any display of emotion is extremely taxing for you. You are, above all else, dutiful, punctual, and reliable.

More rebellious types will see you as a toadie and a stiff, but they're unreliable iconoclasts anyway. You are very pragmatic, and you aren't easily distracted from the task at hand. You can be counted on to do your job without being hampered by personal interests. You are extremely traditional, and are most likely to use "We've always done it this way" and "Those are the rules" as justifications for hanging on to the status quo. Most of the other personality types will have a difficult time relating to you, but will work something out. Prometheus and The Oracle freaking hate your uncritical position regarding established rules and procedures, and they'll let you know it. You'll get along well with Atlas and Apollo if they're your boss. You'll probably get along with Icarus, too.

Famous people like you: Judge Judy, Andrew Johnson, Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan
Stay clear of: The Oracle, Prometheus, Dionysus, Pan, Orpheus, Aphrodite
Similar Personality Types: Atlas, Icarus, Apollo, Nemesis

Link: The Greek Mythology Personality Test written by Aleph_Nine on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Am I Speaking in Tongues???

Do I speaking a foreign language, speak in tongues or was I born on another planet. Sometimes it is so freaking frustrating to try to talk to people at corporate "help" desks. I think I'm being pretty clear but I get the feeling that I must be from another planet.

Trying to set up bill pay through my bank so I can pay on line. My concern is: when will the company I'm paying get my payment. Are they going to send a check through snail mail? Sheesh...I can do that! or is it going to be an electronic transfer from my bank account to the company I am paying the bill to.

At least if I send the snail mail check myself I will have a copy for my business records and KNOW that it was sent off. Electronic would be great, since I am currently going into each site and making a payment. This means I have a zillion passwords and user names for multiple websites. In fact I have an entire Rolodex of passwords for personal and business purposes.

So I call and ask........ How can I tell on these accounts that I'm setting up if they are going to be paid electronically or if you are going to be sending a check?

Sounds like a simple question....right? Evidently not.

So I ask the help desk:

Help Desk (HD): you should allow 4 business days for your payment.

ME: Ok... but how do I know which are being sent electronically and which are being sent by mail.

HD: When you click on the payment, the little calender will have a blue date which is the first date the payment will be sent out.

ME: OK. But how can I tell if you are sending it by mail or by electronic transfer?

HD: you should allow 4 business days.

ME: RIGHT....but is there any way to know which way you are sending the payment? For example if I have a bill due on the 20th and today is the 13th and the calender says it will take the money from my account on the 14th. How do I know if the payment is going to be received by the 20th or of it is going to go by mail which can take up to 7 business days??

HD: You need to allow 4 business days.

ME: So you are telling me there is no way to know how the payment is being sent out?

HD: You can ask the company recieving the payment after the payment has been sent.

ME: So in other words if my payment is sent electronically I will be on time but if it is sent by mail I should send it earlier, but I have to take a chance because until I make a payment and it is past due there is no way to know HOW YOU ARE GOING TO SEND IT OUT??

HD: You should allow 4 business days.

ME: AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH. Forget it. I'll just send a check

HD: Thank you for calling have a nice day.

Misheard Lyrics........wut?

On a lighter note from the doom and gloom of my last few posts.



I've been afflicted with blocked eustachian tubes due to seasonal allergies for the past few days and my hearing is muffled. As Joni Mitchell says "You don't know what you've got till its gone" Or in my case just impaired for a while



This video of misheard lyrics fits in perfectly with my current and thankfully temporary condition. Muffled and mumbled lyrics.

Potato Wave... LOL

Paris Hilton and Illegal Immigrants: two sides to a coin

What do Paris Hilton and an illegal immigrant have in common? .............Neither one of them has to obey the law. da dump rim shot.

Too bad this isn't really a bad joke. The reality is that the rich are privileged. They are different from you and me. They don't have to play by the same rules and get special treatment. Apparently that privilege now extends to the people who are here illegally in the United States. They are two sides of the same coin.

You don't think that people (the ordinary tax paying, hard working middle class people) are not paying attention to this? Think again. Everyday we see the inequities and start steaming a little bit more. Like a pressure cooker with a worn out seal, don't be surprised when the top comes off.

WSJ Sees the Light on Immigration....Sort of.

After their editorial about immigration that drew my ire and evidently the ire of many more who wrote in to them, the WSJ Opinion page re-opines with this editorial.

"The word "citizen" is everywhere in the immigrant discussion, but it blows by as if its full meaning were obvious. But it is not obvious because it's a lot more than just an idea. For many people, being born in the United States is just the beginning of citizenship. Genuine American citizenship is about a lot more than that. It's doing what's required to maintain all the communities, large and small, that constitute the 50 states.
This is what former House Speaker Tip O'Neill really meant when he said "all politics is local." It's about being willing to put in the time to deal with local tax issues, zoning fights, school-board controversies, battles over utility rights of way, traffic lights--all the stuff that runs beneath the Big Media radar but is what really constitutes the bedrock of American politics for most people. This is what citizens do. The problem for many people with the illegal workers, no matter how hard they work, is that they exist entirely outside the complications of civic life for an American citizen. And they appear to do so more or less permanently. For many, this makes the illegal-worker status quo a rebuke to the idea of dutiful citizenship."

It is also about fairness in enforcing the laws. If we can pick and choose which laws we feel like enforcing. And if we can select a group of people who are exempt from enforcement, the public (rightly so) sees the inherint unfairness.

There are many laws that I would rather not obey. From the small to the large. Seat belts, helmets on bikes, transfat ban, mandatory car insurance, registering my vehicle, drinking and driving (kidding on that one).....PAYING TAXES.

If it is OK for immigration laws to be flouted because the numbers of illegals makes it hard to enforce, then I suggest we all cease obeying the laws that we don't like. Our numbers are more than the illegals and if sheer numbers makes flouting the law acceptable........let's go for it.

The laws are for everyone or the laws are for no one. The Government needs to make up its mind or we will make the decision for them. Anarchy is become a more interesting proposition all the time.

The Bitter Immigration Pill and a Spoonful of Sugar

I have been participating and reading the discussion at The Anchoress on the topic of immigration. It is good to see that there remains a section of the blogosphere that can rationally discuss issues without devolving into name calling and hysteria.

As I have posted before; I'm not so much concerned with the actual people who are illegally immigrating as I am with the effect on Society as a whole. Having a background in College, studying Anthropology and Sociology, I see no good in the future for our Country unless we soon get a handle on this problem.

One of my biggest reservations with this humongous everything and the kitchen sink bill is that it is trying to be all things to all people all at once. Any sane person knows it will be impossible to implement because of the current Government inadequacies. Background checks in 24 hours??? Please. Everyone knows that is not going to happen and all who apply will be rubber stamped. The criminals along with the regular folks. What’s the rush?

I believe that if we had TWO separate bills the immigration pill would go down easier with the public.

1. FIRST a bill to address the border security and to fix the INS immigration system. Set up an integrated data base system interfacing INS, FBI, Police records etc in a system that will be able to efficiently track, locate and identify who is entering the country, for what purpose and how long. Create a system that will deport the proven criminal element. Eliminate the illegal practice of "Sanctuary Cities".

If Wal Mart can keep track of its inventory world wide and know to a penny what their profit is, why can't we take a page from their technology book. I know....inventory doesn't have legs. BUT, maybe we should outsource this project to Wal Mart.

2. Once the first bill has been implemented and is showing signs of real progress, THEN a second bill to address the "path to citizenship". Included in this path must be measures to encourage assimilation of the immigrant population into society as a whole. Having isolated ghettoized populations of foreigners who can't speak the language, can't function fully in society and who live by separate cultural rules is a recipe for a fragmented and disintegrating society. Burkean Reflections has a good post on this with many links to ponder.

Those details should include provisions for English proficiency and education. Paying back taxes would be nice, but probably an unrealistic goal. We want to bring the illegals out of the underground economy (that is eroding the economic chances of our own Middle Class) into the mainstream. Punitive measures will only drive people further underground.

The goal is to have productive, legal, participating citizens and not a permanent underclass of un-educated workers who can watch our children, mow our lawns, lay the patio bricks for less money than legal citizens are willing to accept.

If we don't take this problem head on, without the weakness of political correctness we are doomed as a Country and as a society. I have a friend who says: "The trains are in the tunnel. The question is how fast and how soon the train wreck is going to be."

I am afraid that there is no way to stop the trains.

Weapons of Mass Destruction and Porous Borders

This recent hysterical and breathless 24/7 reporting by the media of a man being quarantined for having a rare but drug resistant form of Tuberculosis, makes me wonder why the media can't connect the dots or add two and two to equal four. While they are hyperventilating about the risks to the population of an infectious and incurable disease, and while the ACLU is attempting to get another man with this disease released from quarantine before he is no longer contagious, I consider the real risk of a terrorist organization using diseases as weapons of mass destruction.

Am I the only one?

Consider that 10 dedicated jihadists, who are more than willing to become martyrs to Allah, infect themselves with Smallpox or Bubonic Plague We know that reservoirs of these germs along with Bubonic Plague, Anthrax, and the 1918 Flu which for some reason we have kept in research facilities world wide, have disappeared. Is no one worried about this in the media?

How to wipe out 80% of the world's population in 5 easy steps
1. Become infected with Smallpox......praise Allah
2. Send your infected smurfs out on 10 different international flights with many connecting flights in large well populated airports. No one is checking this very well, as we know our borders internationally and in the US are meaningless.
3. Be sure to cough on people and touch as many things as you can so the laws of geometric progression in infection can take place. Use an aerosol spritzer if at all possible for mass effect.
4. Rent a hotel room at your final destination. New York, London, Singapore, Tokyo ...you get it.
Touch and meet as many people as you can who will then pass the infection on to multiple other people and so on.
5. Die in obscurity or commit suicide before your symptons become obvious. That way no one can track the contagion back to you or your group.

Before long the the doctors and hospitals are swarming with sick people with a disease that many have never seen and to which we have no defenses. Millions upon millions of people will be infected and die. If you don't die in incredible pain, you will be horribly disfigured for the rest of your life.

Given the anemic and ineffectual response of the government to just one person with TB, can you imagine the incompetence when dealing with millions of people. We must dither and waste time deciding if we are violating civil rights by imposing quarantine or forcing medical treatment on those who have religious objections. Never mind that while the Governments, the ACLU, religious fanatics are fiddling, the world is dying. Link to a CDC scenario detailing the chaos and ineptitude it expects, just so you don't think I'm over reacting.

Global warming is a danger? Piffle!!! A tiny vial of smallpox or other disease germs cleverly hidden in a country the size of California......There is danger.

Just because we haven't found this tiny vial doesn't mean it doesn't exist. We know that they existed in laboratories and are now missing. I assure you that if I wanted to hide a weapon of mass destruction the size of a tube of lipstick in the Trinity Alps of California, no one would ever find it.

The liberal media is all athither about the mean evil bigots who want to have border security. They are also hyping the TB scare. They deny that there could be any danger from chemical and biological weapons known to exist and which may have fallen into the hands of jihadists. They just can't put the dots together, because the left leaning media is blinded by Bush hatred and blinded to anything else.

Contents of the Armegddon Pantry

As long as I'm on a doom and gloom kick, here are the contents of my Armageddon Pantry. When all hell breaks loose, at least I will have enough supplies to enjoy the ride to oblivion. This assumes that if all hell does break loose, it will do so fairly far from our rural location, leaving us stranded from supply lines for a while, or possibly a pandemic where we must stay isolated.

If all hell doesn't break loose, I don't have to go to the store for items that I need. Just trundle on out to the pump house and grab the ingredient I need. When I take something out of the pump house to use, I replace it with new. It is a good idea to keep rotating this stuff as food doesn't keep forever.

FOOD

Can Goods:

The quantities are in case lots of most canned goods= 12 large cans or 24 small cans
2 canned tomatoes = 24 cans
2 tomato sauce
1 tomato paste
2 black olives
3 corn
1 creamed corn
2 green beans
1 kidney beans
1 garbanzo beans
1 pinto beans
1 peaches
1 pears
1 grapefruit sections
1 home canned pie cherries


In individual can amounts from at least 8 to 20 (I'm too busy to go take accurate inventory)

Albacore tuna
Chicken meat
Beef in cans
Beef stew
Chili with beans and meat
Vienna Sausages
Spam (lol)

MSC Food

Dried fruit (about 4 pounds of dried apricots, apples, pears, prunes.)
Craisins (2 large packages)
Wild Rice in retort cooked packages
Rice, brown, wild and white
Pinto Beans
Navy Beans
Split Peas
Soy Sauce
Peanut Butter (3 large)
Apricot Jam (2 large)
Honey
Brown Sugar
White Sugar
Vinegar (cider and balsamic)
Olive oil
Peanut oil
Crisco
Mayonnaise
Hot chocolate mix
Chocolate chips
Coffee!!!! very important ....ground coffee 3 large cans
Tea
Dehydrated Buttermilk mix
Marie Callander Cornbread mix
Dried milk
Dehydrated onions
Case of Top Ramen
Lots of pasta
3 really large containers of Parmesan Cheese
4 pounds of kosher salt
Iodized salt
Barbeque sauces
Marinara and Alfredo Sauces in bottles
Sardines
Anchovies
Pickles
Sauerkraut
Lop Cheong sausages (Chinese dried sausages)
Dried Mushrooms
Nori (seaweed sheets)

Case of wine, several bottles of champagne, Scotch, Rum, Vodka and other spirits
Several cases of Snapple drinks
V-8
Grapefruit Juice
Orange Juice
Cranberry Juice
Bottled Green Tea
Lots of bottled water

Cat Food

More misc food things I can't recall right now.

Flour, Polenta, Cornmeal, Bisquick, Walnuts, Pecans and other nuts...I keep in my freezer to avoid weevils. The freezer contents are another story. Plus I have a kitchen full of spices, salt, pepper and other food stuffs. My husband says we can eat for a month out of the crap (his term) I have in the kitchen.

NON FOOD

Bleach
Rubbing Alcohol
Lots of Lamp Oil and extra wicks
Candles
Matches and Butane Lighters
Clothes Pins
Laundry Soap
Liquid hand soap and baby wipes
Twine and light rope
Paraffin blocks
Canning Jars with Lids
Paper plates, plastic utensils, paper napkins and plastic drinking glasses
Toilet paper and paper towels
Plastic drop cloths and table covers
Garbage bags
Plastic wrap and waxed paper
Amunition.... yes for the guns. If push came to shove, I would not be adverse to knocking off a deer, pheasant, goose or even one of the local cows of which there are hundreds.

Medical kit for grab and go. In addition to the extensive medical kit I have in my bathroom.
Batteries, Flashlight, Blanket, Plastic Tarp also for the grab and go. Hopefully we get to sit and stay put.

Decks of cards and poker chips (to go with the alcohol)
Scrabble and other games. Hey... If we are going to be stranded in our home, might as well have some fun.

Plus my husband has an entire shop filled with tools of all kinds, generator, gas cans, nails.... you name it..... he's got it.

It may sound like an excessive amount of pantry preparedness (probably it is), but it isn't at all unusual for my area which is quite rural and has bad winters. People tend to be more self sufficient and stock up than the people in cities. So when the crap hits the oscillating mechanism, if I don't have something, my neighbors down the road will. People also tend to share and help each other in rural areas. We hear the horrible stories of the Great Depression. What we don't hear is that the people who lived in the sticks, didn't have nearly the hardships that those in urban areas did. I pity the people in the cities who live from week to week, have nothing stored up and have no close friends or neighbors to lean on.

Anal? Yes. Being prepared? Priceless.

Serf City, Here We Come (Apologies to the Beach Boys)

With the stunningly bad immigration bill before us and the past decades of uninforced illegal immigration, it occurs to me that the American Dream if not dead is certainly in its death throes. The dream that a middle class citizen can improve their economic lot in life, advance, create a legacy to leave to their children and that their children will have a better life. Well..... unchecked illegal immigration has put the final nail into that coffin. As time goes by the middle class will slip further into poverty and marginal living circumstances. We are encouraging and creating a permanent class of have-not's. Serfs, if you will, who will provide the menial, low cost jobs for a small class of lucky "haves." A fuedal system of wealthy and a support group of undereducated peons who have little to no chance to rise above their circumstances.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out, but let me bring the macrocosmic train wreck that is occuring in our society and economy down to a one person example.

We have Joe Carpenter. He has built himself a nice middle class American Dream life in a mid sized city. Let's suppose Joe lives in Albequerque. Joe owns his own handyman business, maybe a small commercial shop from which to operate, has a ranch house in a modest subdivision, wife, couple of kids whom he hopes to send to college, several vehicles: one for work, one for his wife to ferry the kids to their after school activities. They like to take a vacation once a year for the family, Disneyland or camping in Yosimite. Something affordable that will create memories for his children.

Joe doesn't have any permanent employees but occasionally will contract a helper when his job is too big for one person to handle. Joe pays his quarterly IRS taxes, property taxes and sales taxes on his supplies. Makes sure his vehicles and home are insured and properly registered. As a self employed person, Joe buys a catastrophic health insurance policy to cover himself and family. He also carries liability and property insurance on his workshop and business. To protect his family, he also has a substantial life insurance policy. In addition to saving for college for his children, Joe tries to put some extra money aside for his well deserved retirement and hopes some day to have his son take over the business.

Joe is an upstanding citizen. Belongs to the Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, coaches Little League and does charity work to improve the local park where his children like to play. Joe's wife is an active member of the PTA and the Library Guild in addition to helping with school fund raising activites.


He charges a fair hourly rate in his geographic area of $35.00. Joe is making progress with a small overhead and also hopes to expand his business in the near future; get his license and employ a few full time construction workers.

We have Jose the illegal allien. Here is where we begin to destroy Joe's life and dreams. Joe is forced to compete for jobs with Jose, the illegal alien. (Before I am accused of racism, it could just as well be Pierre the illegal Canadian or Stefan the illegal Romanian or Muhammad the illegal Somalian. But let's use Jose because it equals Joe.)

Jose doesn't have to pay taxes, he works for cash. He doesn't buy insurance......for anything. Jose can apply for Medi-caid and other social welfare benefits. If Jose is injured on his job, he goes to the emergency room and recieves free medical care and prescriptions. Since his cars are not registered, they are also not insured. If Jose has a driver's license, he most likely bought it on the black market. Jose lives in a place where there are many other men like him who are sharing the costs. His family might still be back in the "home country" or (less frequently) if his family is here it consists of a larger extended family where everyone is working. Now there is nothing at all wrong with this. In fact this is how the Irish, the Italians and other immigrants of the past were able to work and integrate themselves into the society. While Jose might be active in his church, he isn't a contributing member to the local community as Joe and his wife are with their Rotary and civic commitments.

Because Jose, has none of the taxes, insurance or expenses that his competitor has, he can charge much less for the same jobs that Joe would charge. Instead of $35.00 per hour, Jose asks for $20....CASH. Joe loses out on many jobs because people are just cheap. Eventually, Joe cannot afford his shop and has to let that go and tells his part time people he can't hire them any more. He hopes they can find jobs, but knows it won't be at the pay scale that he has been able to give to them. Joe's family won't be able to afford a new car for several more years and he ceases contributions to his retirement and college funds.

You see where I'm going here, I hope.

Joe has to reduce his hourly rate in order to get jobs. He decided to charge $28.00 and work harder to make up the lost revenue. Futher paring down his lifestyle, Joe has to eliminate his health insurance and hope that nothing happens. Of course, when he does this, his insurance agent who also has a small business, loses the income from the premiums that Joe isn't paying any more. The two employees he was hoping to bring on permanently have vanished, up in smoke, just like the American Dream.

Skipping ahead, Joe is now working for cash "under the table", has cashed in his retirement plan, cashed in his life insurance, lost his home....oh and you can forget the kids' going to college. Mrs. Joe can no longer stay at home with the children and works for minimum wage at McDonalds. Soon Joe Jr. will be sixteen and will get a job after school to help out. Of course, he will have go give up his sports program. The youngest daughter at 12 is too young to work, so she just goes home after school and hangs out.

I suppose the good news is that Joe and his family now qualifies for food stamps and welfare.

As more and more 'Joe's' are sucked down, they give up. Why work and beat your head against the wall, when all you have to do is some menial jobs for cash and take the freebies that are paid for by.......who? If the middle class has disappeared into the permanent SERF class, where is the money going to come from. Where are the future builders, inventors, entrepeneurs, skilled labor classes going to come from? Since Jose and his family don't really plan to become part of the American culture because they are illegal aliens, they don't learn the language and who needs anything more than an elementary school education anyway.

The other sufferers here, besides Joe and his family, are the community. No more Rotary or Library Guild participation. The schools, Jose and his wife don't speak as much English so don't participate in the PTA. The insurance agent with the cancelled policies, the investment advisor who has no more business, the hardware store where Joe can't shop anymore, the auto dealer and manufacturer where Joe will not be buying new cars, the vaction spot where Joe used to go, the taxes that Joe used to pay....... so on and so on...... like a giant snowball going down hill, destroying the economy faster and faster, the American Dream is dead for the middle class.

Of course, there will still be people of means. The wealthy will still be with us, as will the poor. There will be fewer wealthy with much more concentrated wealth per capita, employing the Serf class at very affordable wages. The nanny, the gardener, the brick layer, Joe (our carpenter) all vying to see who can get the job at the lowest cash bid.

What will be missing is the vibrant middle class represented by Joe's extinct and enviable lifestyle. What will also be missing are all of the people Joe could have employed, the industries and businesses he contributed to which also employed others. What will be missing is the hope of a better today for ourselves and a brighter future for our children.

Serf city, here we come........

Armageddon Pantry

Since the disasters of Katrina and recently the tornadoes in Kansas added to the worries about pandemics or terrorists attacks on major population areas, I have gotten serious about stocking up supplies for an emergency. The Dumbplumber calls it my Armageddon pantry. Actually this is something I have been serious about for some time and it gives me a really good excuse for my hoarding behavior. I must have learned this when I was a child: this need to have not one, not two but a dozen cans of corn, soup etc.

Well, a while back, we got a small preview of what the effects of a "disaster" would be. Ok, a very, very small preview. Our house wasn't destroyed, my cat can still come in and whine for her "TREAT" (a tablespoon of canned food), we still had running water and the natural gas to the Wolf Range was still functional. What happened was that for some inexplicable reason the electricity went off on a Sunday afternoon about 1:00. I was in the middle of a load of laundry, in the middle of typing up recipes into my Master Cook program and whamo......power outage. Fortunately I have a power back up on the computer so I shut it down. The Dumbplumber was taking a nap. No need to disturb him. I had full confidence that the power would be back on shortly, after all it was a beautiful sunny afternoon. So, what to do now? Grab a beer, a bowl of potato chips and my latest paperback and go sit on the deck in the sun and read…. naturally.

As the day wore on, DP woke up and there seemed to be no progress from PG&E. I decided to get some of the supplies from the Armageddon Pantry. Out come the oil lamps....hmmm I only have one more bottle of oil, better make a note. Out come the candles and candle holders....better buy some more candles, all I have are two green decorative candles. I had already made most of dinner so that wasn't too bad. But after about 8 hours of no power, I am beginning to worry about the food in the fridge getting hot and my half done laundry getting moldy. Wow, I think I'd better get some old fashioned clothes pins for the future disaster room.

So, the evening wore on. We had roasted chicken, macaroni salad, green salad and rhubarb crisp. Fortunately I had purchased an antique (OK only 1950's) rotary egg beater, so I was able to make whipped cream without electricity. Whew! averted that disaster. No television! Actually that was the best part of the whole experience. Whipping out the matches, which didn't work because they were too old....hmmm more notes to self, and then getting the butane lighter from the bbq, we lit the oil lanterns. Feeling like Abe Lincoln, we read our books by oil lamps sipping on a glass of wine. I said, "No wonder women did so much needlework, they were bored." The Dumbplumber said, "No wonder people had such large families."...So we went to bed. Suddenly, twelve hours after the outage, everything comes back on with a vengeance. Lights, washer, stereo and all electronic devices begin beeping. Life is back to normal.

In all seriousness, our little inconvenience was’t much, but it has reinforced the need to be prepared. What if this was not just an annoying 12 hour event, but a situation that would last for days or weeks? We are in a somewhat remote rural area. If anything happened (earthquake, terrorist attack, bird flu epidemic) it is highly likely that we would be cut off from supplies of food and other necessities. I am determined to beef up the disaster pantry. Plus it is pretty convenient to grab that extra jar of mayonnaise from the pump house instead of trundling off to the store.

CFP Test REALLY HARD

Boy am I dense. I just realized that comments need to be moderated before they post. Sorry to everyone who tried to post.

Well, I didn't pass the test. To be frank I really didn't feel good about it after taking the test. It was two days of testing 4 hours Friday and 6 hours on Saturday. I try to comfort myself with the knowledge that only 53% of the people who took the test actually passed. Ok...that's lame comfort but I'll take what I can get. Even though I didn't pass this time, the information gleaned from the 2 1/2 years of study for the CFP and the review course has been invaluable in being able to do good overall financial advising.

So the big question is: do I want to put myself through this meat grinder again? Time, money, stress. Or should I refocus on obtaining the next license which isn't predicated on having the CFP designation? I was planning to do that as well. That one allows me to do financial planning and hourly or flat fee based business. The reality is that I am within sight of retirement and in doing a cost benefit analysis of obtaining the CFP with the time left and my clientele and how many people I would or would not do business without the designation....... I've decided.....refocus. Whew. That decision is made.

I'll post my next test results.