One more time

I have been reading some news about Afghanistan recently and it continues to be a rehash of everything that happened while the Russians were occupying the country. Déjà vu all over again. Once more Afghanistan provides 9/10ths of the world’s supply of heroin. Probably because an Afghan farmer can make 9 times more money per acre when selling opium than when selling wheat. Because of US price protection and tariffs, the Afghan farmer can’t compete in the world market for commodities like corn, cotton or other grains.

Speaking of crashes...

Here’s a great scenario… you are 40 years old and you have just invested all of your savings into the stock market because Congress decided that Social Security is a drain upon the nations economic health. You are now making the decisions as to how your retirement plan money will be invested. You chose some fancily named funds that seemed to be doing quite well. Oh, oh! On the bright side, you still have 25 years left before retirement beckons and you may have recovered something…

All done

This is it. There are no more days this month. February will soon be history and in a big way. The stock market collapse on Tuesday will change the way Americans think about the global market. If it doesn’t, we’re denser than I thought…

For decades now, the market on Wall Street has wagged the tail of the world. But not this time. China did the wagging and now we should all wonder about the Treasury bonds that China owns; our treasury, our bonds. Will they want to redeem them?

And I noticed that the headlines this morning were all about subjects other than financial? The DJIA drops 416 points and I only found one headline in the Times. (New York and LA) It could be that everyone is tensely waiting for the opening bell this morning; to see which way the market is headed. Then the headline writers will be busy!

“Market Recovers!” would be a nice one to see, but I’m not holding my breath.

Burger, anyone?

Amazing! Look at the size of that!

These are the explanations that I find irritating,

"...his company experimented with offering nutritional information on its menus a couple of years ago, but pulled back after receiving feedback from customers that they didn’t want it...

Really? Customers actually said, "Please don't tell me anything about the food I'm eating"? Why do I find that hard to believe?

...No,” she said. “They’re serving what customers want.”

That's always the excuse used. I'm a customer and I want smaller portions!

PG and What?

Frustrating. There’s nothing like a power outage to remind you how dependent you are on the steady flow of electricity. I could probably cope better if I had some advance notice…but no; the power always goes off when least expected. We were watching The Da Vinci Code when the power failed and I should have taken advantage of that moment and told myself that there was no sense in watching it when the power returned. That had to be one of the worst movies of all time. The power outage lasted about 30 minutes and then, like robots, we returned to the movie and watched it all of the way to the end. Did we really think it would get better?

I suppose we should invest in some sort of lantern that would allow us to read or to play a game of cards while waiting for the power to return. A flashlight just doesn’t cut it as a good reading light. Candles are frustrating; the light flickering. A generator would be even better; hardwired into the electrical panel. But that would be a pretty expensive method for dealing with short term temporary power loss. Hmm, I wonder; how much?

And it looks like I should be looking at a UPS system for the computers. The power stuttered twice about an hour before it went out for good and each time I was doing something with the computer when it failed. Apparently all is well. I haven’t noticed any corrupted files and all of my usual programs have started up normally. But I shouldn’t depend on good luck.

Seen this?

At this time of year, I love to look at this page. It makes me feel so good! (To be home..)

Quotable

Oops, I almost forgot to post the quotes of the week... some of my favorites! And I rated them with * stars.

I can believe anything, provided that it is quite incredible. - Oscar Wilde ****

There is no nonsense so errant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate governmental action. - Bertrand Russell *****

There are only two kinds of scholars; those who love ideas and those who hate them. - Emile Chartier ***

A conservative is a man who sits and thinks, mostly sits. - Woodrow Wilson *****

Everyone rises to their level of incompetence. - Laurence J. Peter ***

No human thing is of serious importance. - Plato *****

No matter how rich you become, how famous or powerful, when you die the size of your funeral will still pretty much depend on the weather. - Michael Pritchard **

Quit worrying about your health. It'll go away. - Robert Orben ***

Musings

Did you read about the 7 U.S. Attorneys that just lost their jobs, despite their great performance evaluations? Well, you should. This tells you a lot about the current administration. But you already knew that, didn't you?

And I feel quite successful...I didn't even notice that the Oscars were being handed out once again. When did that happen? And when I was reminded of that fact, it was the Oscar for best documentary that I was happy about. The rest of them? Who cares!

You haven't seen "An Inconvenient Truth"? You should...

Truth be told

This month is just about over with and it seems as if went by in a whirl. What happened? Probably too much happened. As I’ve stated before; retirement has turned out to be far different than how I had envisioned it. Days of leisure? Nope! That’s a myth. But, as a procrastinator of the highest magnitude, I usually have only myself to blame.

I know that I have been neglecting my other blogs for the past month; not because there was very little to write about, there was plenty. But I have discovered over the years that I can’t write unless inspired. And that inspiration is a nebulous thing. I can’t summon it up; demand its presence! That’s certainly not an original thought…a million ‘would be authors’ have said the same thing.

My daughter recently posted her thoughts about writing as a possible career move. I think everyone who reads a great deal also wonders if they have what it takes to become an author. I’ve certainly done that and I continue to wonder. But I don’t believe I want to face the hard work that goes into becoming a published author. I’m retired. So I’m going to have to content myself with my every day journal and my blogs. And I do have 3 or 4 short stories that I turn to when I’m bored with the blogs and I add a paragraph or two.

Now that I’ve said that, I must admit that if a writer’s workshop became available in the near future, and locally, I would like to attend. Who knows? I might get lucky!

And now… Words of wisdom, or simply stating the obvious?

"If we were to design a system for electing a president, I don’t think we could do worse. It’s terrible."

GOV. EDWARD G. RENDELL of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, on what has become a two-year presidential election cycle.

I read that close to a BILLION dollars will be spent during this coming election. And the obvious will not be noted by the electorate…the one who spends the most will win. Instead, the triumphant masses will anoint their chosen one with all sorts of supernatural powers. “We elected him because he’s brave and smart and (fill in your own thoughts here)…” We don’t want to believe that a person can become president simply by paying for it. Yet that’s the truth of it. Always has been, always will be.

And it’s not always money that is paid, sometimes it’s promised power or access to power. That’s as good as gold.

Stormy outside

That’s better. The heater is running and we’re quite comfortable. I burned up the last of the cut firewood that was stored in the garage and now I can sweep up the mess that was left behind.

When the repairman took out the old heat exchanger we got a good look at the damage. The underside of the tubes, unseen from the top, was riddled with large holes that were allowing carbon monoxide to enter the house. If the house had been smaller, I’m sure we would have been affected. We now have a CO detector in our bedroom. A little late, but better…

On a different note; I have revived my links to Bartleby.com, the greatest of reference sites. I used to get their Word of the Day mailed to me, along with a WAV file to play and hear the word spoken correctly. Here’s today’s word; Palinode. I wonder if it will post and then play when I move this text over to Blogger?

Apparently not...

And Justice For All

I was scanning the headlines when I ran across this one, “Better Pay for Judges Capable, independent and impartial judges are essential to the workings of American democracy.”

Of course I had to think about what a juror is paid these days. And then compare that to what the rest of the people in the courtroom are being paid. I know; jurors aren’t in the courtroom for money, but for justice. It’s our civic duty, etc. But did you know that the jury system is not universal throughout the world? It’s very much an American thing. And how good is it? If it is such a good thing, why aren’t more countries using it? And since we don't pay jurors very much, we really can't expect much from them. After all; what's the downside of being "fired" from jury duty?

After reading about the case of Julie Amero and her conviction, by a jury of her peers? I’m absolutely certain that I don’t want to be judged by dimwits like that! If I’m going to be judged, I want the best and the brightest, not the average. I’ve seen the average and they scare me!

I would support an overhaul of the justice system; getting rid of the elected justices (And juries) and replacing them with a well paid cadre of appointed judges. Those appointments valid only as long as the judge passes a yearly performance review by a panel of retired justices. And that reviewing panel must come from a geographical location far distant from that of the reviewed. Remove all possibilities of partisanship. Salaries would be based on the quality of the judgments and not the quantity.

My Baby

It’s birthday time! My beloved is a year older and that much wiser as well. This means I still have a long way to go if I want to catch up with her…in wisdom, not age. Of course I have a few pictures to go along with the birthday notice. The first one shows her at the age of one and the second one is her graduation photo, demonstrating a natural law; the one that states that a beautiful baby remains a beautiful baby. Forever.

I love this stuff!

Corn, ethanol and corncobs...perfect!

Little Bombs

"46 of 49 Nations OK Ban on Cluster Bombs..."

When I first read this headline, I was certain that the US wasn't among the signers. But I was both wrong and right...our government didn't even bother to show up.

"Some key arms makers _ including the U.S., Russia, Israel and China _ snubbed the conference of 49 nations. Of those attending, Poland, Romania and Japan did not approve the final text."

Why? Is there anything worthwhile about these weapons? Anything at all? OK, you're right; they do help to balance our trade deficit.

Power

Power Point is one those programs that we all love to hate. Well, some of us do... But don't get me wrong. It's the perfect tool to show family vacation slideshows. That's it.

Read this for some good reasons to continue avoiding Power Point for anything serious.

The Right Thing

Our local library had a copy of Jimmy Carter’s new book, Peace: Not Apartheid. I have checked it out and I’m about halfway through it now. Good book. One of the more telling bits in the book was when President Carter describes how he was told, in 2005, by the current president (via a White House spokesperson) to not visit the President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad. Carter wrote, “In a somewhat heated conversation, I also expressed my view that refusing to communicate with leaders with whom we disagreed was counterproductive.”

This refusal to communicate is a hallmark of the current administration. Does anyone wonder why they cannot spread democracy? When democracy looks like their version of it, who would want it?

I have always admired President Carter, but this book shows his failings, in my mind. Instead of telling Bush he was going to go to Syria anyway; he complied with their request. And as I read the book, I see other times when Carter was more interested in political expediency than in doing what was right.

Jack of all trades, master of none...

Web mastering is not all it’s cracked up to be… was it ever? But it is fascinating to see how much it has changed since I first experimented with it back in the 90’s. CSS is what’s used these days to expand on the basic HTML of a web page and so I’m tasked with learning how to use that.

And during this process of self instruction, I came across a CSS code editing program called Style Master. It’s most cool! With my typing skills slowly fading away each day as I age, I need a program that does the grunt work for me. I’ll just watch…

I learned to use HTML the old fashioned way by using Notepad and typing in all of the instructions. Boring. But it does teach you all about the keyboard shortcuts for Delete, Cut and Paste and a few other more obscure ones. Now I’m a fan of WYSIWYG programming (Coffee Cup HTML Editor) and only use code editing to trim some lengthy instructions.

And speaking of old fashioned, the web sites I’ve been working on lately have an old fashioned look that has got to go! Definitely 20^th century. I need to do more reviewing of websites for the ‘look’ I want.

Suggestions, anyone?

Smart Cops

do the dumbest things!

CYA...acronym of the year.

The long and the short of it

The rain has arrived once again. And also the good news that our heating system will be fixed…tomorrow morning. Of course I have to continue cutting wood and feeding the fire for the next 24 hours. But after that, it’s back to the future! I can walk over to the thermostat and tell the system to warm me up or cool me down. No more ashes and no more dirt on the rug. Well, no more than usual.

But amidst all the joy of having our heating system back, is the realization that it’s an old system (19 years) and this might just be the beginning of our problems with it. If so, our insurance policy will have been a wise choice. Just this one repair will have made the cost of the policy worthwhile.

And now the news… Clinton, Obama camps mix it up verbally

2/22/2007 4:20:45 AM

“The two front-runners in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination traded jabs Wednesday over remarks made by a Hollywood mogul and a powerful South Carolina lawmaker.”

Sad. Will we have to endure 18 months of this? The two least likely to win candidates have become the news media darlings. They are currently not valid front runners, but they definitely are the current ‘Britney Spears’ of the political world.

Richardson and Edwards are the valid candidates, but that’s just my opinion. And who am I to argue against the likes of Britney? Or Paris?

Back in the old days...(Is that a good name for a blog?) we had political party conventions where the candidates were chosen by the party faithful. It usually took the full week of the convention for this to happen, though there was a good chance it had already been decided by those in "the back room". Was it a better system? No. But it was mercifully short!

Supporting the troops

and your tax cuts... Life at Walter Reed Army Hospital.

Well, maybe not YOUR tax cuts. Those only went to the more deserving among us, the wealthy.

How Rude!

Another morning searching for images. This time I’m looking for advertising from the 1940’s and it’s been hard to find. It’s scattered all over the internet and I’m looking for one central location. There is a site for the history of advertising and it has a great collection, but most of the images are from the first part of the 20^th century or older.

While I was looking for those images, I ran across an article from the Economist, detailing the big drop in tourism to this country. The number of foreign visitors has dropped 17% since 2000. And last year, the number of visitors from western Europe dropped 3% despite the fact that it was a record year for world wide tourism.

According to the article, the travel industry blames ‘a tortuous visa process and a perception of poor treatment on entering the country.’ In a survey last year, America scored more than twice as badly as the next region (the Middle East) on traveler friendliness. Respondents to the survey said they feared immigration officials more than terrorists.

Wow! Who would have thought that people would rather go to the Middle East before visiting Yellowstone Park? But I do remember my visit to Montreal and the reception I had upon returning…the Mounties were polite and cheerful when entering their country; while I was given a rude greeting upon returning to the US. At the time, I assumed it was because I was returning through a New York state border crossing. (Don’t we all assume that New Yorkers are rude?) Apparently that’s wrong… American border officials are perceived to be rude at all of the crossings!

Website design

Some great stuff my sister sent me.

Fake websites? Of course... try this site. OK, they aren't really 'fake', just randomly designed.

Of course there is a need for 'fake' Latin. And so there is a website to provide it.

And once you've mangled your website beyond description, you might want to use a 'fake' identity from now on.

Telling a story

Statistics about our armed forces...

-"nearly three-fourths of those killed in Iraq came from towns where the per capita income was below the national average. More than half came from towns where the percentage of people living in poverty topped the national average."

Leave them alone!

Things that make a grandfather cringe... and wonder what's happening to this world?

Does it ever change?

More news… One interesting story is all about how John McCain has become somewhat of a chameleon. Abandoning all of his previous principles in his quest to become the candidate of the Republican Party. Wow! Isn’t that a surprise?

Connections

So far, so good; it’s a quiet morning. But with 4 year old twins sleeping nearby, there is no guarantee that the silence will last. Both the cat and I are taking no chances and we’re tiptoeing past the door to their room.

What’s new? The one story I keep reading about, the JetBlue story; has turned into a couple of news items. First, JetBlue kept a number of passengers on their planes for an extended period of time (11 hours) during a storm. Now Congress is debating a ‘passenger’s rights bill’ that would give airline passengers some protection from the airlines. The airlines, in general, deny that there is any need for such a bill and are asking the Congress to drop the whole thing. JetBlue, to their credit, is admitting that a terrible thing had happened and is asking their passengers to forgive them.

As a former frequent flyer I can make a valid comment (or more). I do know that there is a thin veneer of civility between passengers and crew on most flights. And you can feel the tension that exists between the two. Say the wrong thing or smile inappropriately and the wrath of a flight crew can descend upon the passenger without warning. The flight crew has the ‘power’ and they know it! Being subservient is not an option for them.

I was stuck on a plane for only 6 hours, so I can’t even imagine 11 hours! We had pulled away from the gate at Sacramento and then the engines stopped and the pilot told us that we were going to wait for a break in the fog. So we sat; looking through the windows at the warm and spacious terminal, where others looked back at us. For 6 hours. After that time, the pilot did move the plane back to the gate and we were told that we could leave the plane and stretch our legs…as long as we stayed within the confines of the jet way and the boarding area. Unfortunately, a few passengers made the mistake of taking this moment of freedom too far and they went to the restrooms. Real restrooms. Of course that coincided with a call from our pilot to get back in our seats; the fog had lifted and we were on our way. Minus the passengers that had erred by straying. I mentioned to the flight attendant that the two people who had been sitting directly in front of me were not on board. Oops! I had crossed the line and received a wrathful glare that quickly made me remember who was in charge!

When I got off the plane in Chicago, I remember looking at the empty spaces in front of me. Almost empty. The two abandoned travelers had left their personal belongings in the seats, briefcase, jackets, a book or two. Even a pair of glasses. And I wondered how the airline justified their actions? We were already 6 hours late! No one made their connecting flight. C’mon…what would it have taken to make sure that all were aboard?

And whenever I hear the airlines moan about their troubles…I remember the empty seats on that plane. Go for it Congress!

More Images!

Change is good! That’s one of my favorite maxims. And it looks as if we will see some weather changes soon. “1 to 3 feet of snow are possible at the highest elevations through Friday. Rainfall amounts in the valley are expected to be around one to two inches by Friday.

It sounds like I need to get busy working on replenishing the woodpile. Not my favorite thing to do. But at least I have plenty of olive wood available for my use.

And now this…It seems as if digital photos are going to be a big part of my life for the foreseeable future. We’re putting together a slide show for the church to use at different public functions. A slide show that will attempt to show the role of the church in the community. Luckily, I have a large collection of images ready to use; all I have to do is find the right ones. And that’s the big problem. I have created folders, lots of folders, for the thousands of images I have, but I’m not that good at putting the images in the correct folder. I have a good start on the sorting, but I can already see that I will have hours more!

Yesterday, I started looking for photos of Orland, using PicSearch. On one of the sites I found this, Wandering Lizard?, a site with images only…or very little text. If you weren’t familiar with the area, the photos would be meaningless. But since the photos were of such exceptional quality, I had to find out more about the author. After seeing the previews, it’s obvious that I need to view all of the links. (Wow! There’s a lot here. Links everywhere!) This is the kind of photography I wish I were able to create…

I just did some more research on the photographer and the site…3,500 pages! I think I’m going to be busy looking at this work for awhile.

Old News Made New Again

History.

Back when the Soviets occupied Afghanistan, the Afghans quickly learned to target their helicopters. And using American supplied weapons, they were shot down regularly. A $25 RPG and the loss of a multi million dollar aircraft. Plus the irreplaceable loss of lives. That's what drove the Soviets from the country...

Planning Seen in Iraqi Attacks on U.S. Copters
By MICHAEL R. GORDON and DAVID S. CLOUD
Documents captured from insurgents indicate that some of the recent attacks are the result of a strategy to down coalition aircraft.

News Failure

I posted a comment recently about a traffic accident nearby and the fact that it wasn’t reported in any news source that I could find. Now I have the rest of the story! It was raining that night; about 8 PM and the large truck (10 tons) from the rendering plant was on its way home when it made a left turn too fast. The truck landed on its side and the load spilled out into the intersection. The load consisted of a whole days worth of dead animals and animal parts. Gross! Then a speeding SUV struck the truck, adding to the confusion. No one was hurt but it took quite awhile to clean up the intersection. It was simply offal! (I can’t pass up a chance to use that word in such a great pun.)

Now here is where the local news fails again. They had a perfect chance to use that pun legitimately...and didn't.

Can you spare a dollar?

A great morning! I always feel this way after doing better than expected in an event. Yes, I have done faster 5K races, but since I wasn’t expecting to beat last years time, it was sweet to have done just that. Especially after such slow practice times leading up to the race. Now I have to get ready for the Bidwell Classic in less than two weeks. Just doing a couple of ten milers during this time should get me back in shape for the longer distance. But after Bidwell? What will my goal be? I better start looking for some more races for spring... and summer.

The fire has been started once again. I had to let it go out the other day because of the unexpected warm temperatures (76°) we were experiencing. The forecast is for more seasonal weather, down into the 40’s and so we begin again. The upside of all of this wood burning is a very low PG&E bill and the promise of a rebate in March because we are such thrifty consumers! (as if we had a choice)

Temperature maintenance is tricky with a wood fire. You have to keep it on ‘low’ with very little air and then add wood only after the fire is down to glowing embers. Then hope that there is enough heat left to ignite the wood you added. Do it at the wrong time and you’re soon on your hands and knees, blowing into the stove in the vain hope of ignition.

News… I understand that another dollar coin was introduced the other day. And once again it’s close to the size of a quarter. Doesn’t anyone in charge of these things understand? It will never be popular until it’s distinctively larger. Start calling in the few 50 cent pieces that are left in circulation; melt them down and make dollars that size. That would work. And I doubt that you will find much interest in keeping the 50 cent piece around. In the meantime, has anyone seen the new coin? Of course not.

And it’s time for some more great quotes…

A waist is a terrible thing to mind.
- Jane Caminos

If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can't be done.
- Peter Ustinov

Honesty pays, but it doesn't seem to pay enough to suit some people.
- Kin Hubbard

I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
- Sir Winston Churchill

A thought is often original, though you have uttered it a hundred times.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing.
- Wernher von Braun

Our national flower is the concrete cloverleaf.
- Lewis Mumford

Hollywood is a place where people from Iowa mistake each other for stars.
- Fred Allen

No matter what side of the argument you are on, you always find people on your side that you wish were on the other.
- Jascha Heifetz

Good times!

Check out the Short Laps blog for news of the Almond Blossom 5K...

Walking

Today is the day for the Almond Blossom 5K walk. Am I in shape for it? No, not really, but I probably won’t embarrass myself too much. After all, it’s still winter time and except for the die-hards, most of us are using this race as a reminder that’s it’s time to get in shape again after a season of eating all of the wrong things. Which I have. Once again I’m reminded of how I was once able to eat as much as I wanted without suffering any consequences. Those days are long past.

But...I have lost the weight before, so I can do it again.

It's in the genes II

OK, how about these people...related?

Gun Laws

“A shopping mall where five people were gunned down this week reopened Wednesday as authorities tried to figure out why a Bosnian immigrant committed the rampage and how he got his hands on a pistol.”

It’s beyond me! How in the world could he have done that? Buy a gun, that is. In America, of all places? Don’t we have laws against that kind of thing?

And another story that defines your (Our) government in action!

LAA

Hi. My name is Steve and I’m addicted to linking. It all started about 7 years ago when I discovered that you could use hypertext markup language in a simple Word document. Links; that would move you quickly from one place to the other within the document and beyond…out onto the internet!

Why, oh why do I do it? Someone needs to help me. I am so addicted to ‘links’ that I now put them everywhere. I can’t write a simple sentence without looking for a way to include a link or two. If you read much on the internet, you will have seen evidence of this sickness everywhere; especially on Wikipedia.

I first noticed my addiction just the other day, when I responded to a post by my granddaughter and I used two links in what should have been a simple declarative sentence… but oh, no! I had to make a production out of it.

Perhaps I can taper off?

It's in the genes

There has been some (family) debate recently about who has who's nose and smile or dimple or...

So here's some genetic proof or lack thereof.

Are these people related?

44 and more

It’s that time of year again. February is filled with family birthdays and other memorable dates. One of which is the anniversary of our wedding. This year it’s the 44th anniversary. Memorable indeed!
It’s been a wonderful journey together. And we continue on, not out of habit, but because we enjoy our traveling companion.

Surfing USA

Surfing the web...

I was looking at the military pay schedule and decided to see what an E4 with over 2 years of experience would make every month. (That would have been my pay schedule when I was on active duty.) $1,786. I make more than that being retired! And I’m not asked to risk my life for it. Let’s see…$21,432 per year as a non-commissioned officer. If you’re new at this war thing, you only make $1,458. Experience counts.

My actual pay when I was an E4? $78 every two weeks. (1961)

Growth Industry II

Of course...it has certainly worked so far. It makes sense to continue doing it.

Of Course

"President Bush said Wednesday that he did not believe morale of troops in Iraq had declined because of repeated deployments to the war zone, saying his commanders on the ground would have informed him ..."

And some history..."On Feb. 15, 1898, the U.S. battleship Maine blew up in Havana Harbor, killing 260 crew members and escalating tensions with Spain." When this happened, it was determined to have been caused by Spanish saboteurs. Absolutely! No doubt about it. Later, much later...it was found to have been caused by a faulty boiler.

Sounds Familiar

A great dream. I was hired to be a superintendent again and I was building things. Then I woke up. And it was just as I was explaining to the owner how I had built something similar and this was going to be easy. He was impressed. Darn! I wonder if I can re-run that dream tomorrow night? I’d like to see if I could do it as easily as I claimed.

On a different subject. (That's what paragraphs are for...) As I fool around with these websites I'm publishing, I have to go back and forth between lots of different software. Text editing software, graphics software, HTML editors and last, an FTP program to load it all on the server. Most of these programs are now familiar enough to me so that I don’t have to hesitate when using them. But graphics…that’s a different story. I use an old version of Microsoft PhotoDraw, a program that is no longer in existence. I can create buttons and transparent background 3D text images with it in a snap. But it’s limited and I would love to have Photoshop instead. I need to find out what Photoshop would cost. Is there a substitute for it? I doubt it.

OK, Photoshop costs somewhere between $500 and $700. And since it’s an Adobe product, it works great but is less than intuitive. Far less. So I Googled for substitutes and found GIMP. The price is right; free. And they have tutorials available. But will it work for me?

And the news, of course…

Bush Declares Iran’s Arms Role in Iraq Is Certain

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and MARC SANTORA

President Bush said he did not know whether Iran’s highest officials had directed attacks on U.S. troops.

Someone had better tell General Pace what the Decider has decided. This could be embarrassing. Or, perhaps the General is looking forward to an early retirement.

And as I was looking at various blogs this morning, I found a comment that deserves repeating.

“Don't tell me you're a Christian- let me figure it out for myself.

Before spreading indignation about respect for a religion tell me:

Have all the poor been fed?

Have all the naked been clothed and the homeless sheltered?

Have you visited every prisoner?

If not, then you're jumping ahead on the to-do list and need to get back on

track.”

My Club

Not much to say this morning. What a relief! For both of us. But…I suppose as the coffee kicks in and the mind warms up to the task ahead, something will come along to fill in this blank piece of electronic ‘paper’.

I could always start with a little gossip. I was reading one of those disreputable left-wing blogs and ran across an article that informed me that Laura was going to divorce W just as soon as they left the White House. For a moment I felt like I was standing in line at Raley’s and reading the Star…

But, now that I think of it; where has Laura been lately? And the twins? Not a lot of news exposure for them lately. Are they being held prisoner in the White House basement, by Karl?

Speaking of bloggers, I read some of the comments that so called ‘Christians’ posted on the blog written by a former John Edwards staffer. I don’t remember her name but it isn’t about her anyway. It’s about freedom of speech and it’s apparent that some ‘Christians’ aren’t in favor of it. It’s amazing how people will behave when they believe that God has empowered them to be RIGHT at all times, while everyone else, or those that disagree are WRONG. But these are the same people that, due to a lack of intellect, can’t depend on logic and facts to prove a point; so they steal what they need from Christianity, using it like a club...and a shield.

No matter what the name of the religion; these same people can always be found right in the thick of things. Just change their names and the clothes they are wearing and they would fit right in…in any country and within any religion.

In an odd way, I guess this proves (to me) that, “God so loved the world…” For if He didn’t, we would really be in trouble!

Remembering the 'Good Old Days'

and how it is done today.

"...the only way that they can fill their recruiting quotas is by lowering their standards"

Birthday Wish

It's that time of year. Birthdays. And lots of them, starting with my middle daughter whose birthday is today. And an important one, or so some think. After having more than my share of so-called important birthdays, I find that they all sort of blend together. How long ago was my 40th? And where was I?

Enough rambling...Happy birthday daughter!

I told you so!

I love research like this...

Just the facts II

On a more serious note; with the current administration accusing Iran of supplying weapons to Iraqi insurgents, it seems appropriate to see what kind of weapons are being sold…everywhere and by everyone. It didn’t take long to find this website and these facts. Sad. Is there any nation with clean hands?

And this, just in..."Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said yesterday that he has no information indicating the Iranian government is directing the supply of lethal weapons to Shiite insurgent groups in Iraq."

Apparently General Pace didn't get the memo...