MN GOP State Convention 2010

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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Dear Minnesota,

You can call a comedian a Senator...




but the joke's on us.




And just in case you forgot the kind of "man" we are getting...

Articles by Katherine Kersten

Mpls Star Tribune

Vulgar mockery of Christians: Is this what we want in a U.S. senator?

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

I get it — Al Franken is a serious senatorial candidate despite his penchant for the pornographic. Franken’s one-liners about rape and oral sex and his leering fantasies about big-busted women were just for yucks, right?

Last June, DFL bigwigs chose to forget about their man’s decades-long record of sexual crudity after he hooked the endorsement by putting on a serious face and saying “sorry” at the party’s convention.

But Franken didn’t apologize for another aspect of his trash-talking shtick. He’s aimed some of his most offensive material at religious believers, particularly Christians.

Why hasn’t this been aired in public? We in the press are too busy searching through Sarah Palin’s junior high yearbooks and tracking down the filing dates of Joe the Plumber’s tax returns.

Meanwhile, Franken gets a pass for making a joke of the life and death of Jesus Christ.

Franken finds Christ’s crucifixion to be a barrel of laughs. For example, in his 1999 book, “Why Not Me?” he wrote about his discovery — as a fictional former president — of “the complete skeleton of Jesus Christ still nailed to the cross” during an archeological dig. At the Franken Presidential Library gift shop, visitors can buy “small pieces of Jesus’ skeleton.”

“We would like to display Jesus’ skeleton at some future point,” Franken went on. “It’s merely a matter of designing and building an exhibition space … . Until then he’s very comfortable in a box down in our basement near the geothermal power station.”

Very funny. Anybody want to try a joke like that about Mohammed?

Franken also wrote a Saturday Night Live monologue for Jesus Christ that appeared in a magazine. After poking fun at Christians’ belief that Jesus was both God and man, he had Christ speculate on having the hots for Mary Magdalene:

“If Mary Magdalene looked like Barbara Hershey, I might have thought twice about this celibacy thing. I mean, the real Mary Magdalene was about four foot two, 135 pounds. And with bad teeth yet.”

In Franken’s world, God has a mouth as foul as Franken’s. In one book, he has God refer to books about liberal media bias as “total bullshit.” Later, he describes God as having his head “up his ass.”

But Franken saves his sharpest barbs for those weirdos, Catholics.

In 2006, he and a guest on his Air America radio show joked about Eucharistic communion wafers — sacred to Catholics as the body of Christ — and compared them to chips and guacamole. In “Dog Confessional,” a proposed sketch for Saturday Night Live, Franken depicted “a series of dogs, played by cast members, confessing to a priest,” according to the Washington Post. NBC refused to air it.

In another book, Franken described greeting a New York audience with the words, “Isn’t Cardinal O’Connor an asshole?”

Franken’s campaign did not return a phone call seeking comment.

If a 12-year-old kid spouted this stuff in a schoolyard, he’d be hauled to the principal’s office and told to grow up. But in today’s surreal political climate, a guy who lobs insults like these has a shot at one the highest political offices in the land.

We’re used to slanderers of Christianity getting government arts grants. But Franken wants more. He’s asking us to send him to what’s been called “the most exclusive club in the world” — and to serve us there until 2014.

Our nation’s founders wanted the Senate — as Congress’ upper house — to balance with a sober, long-term perspective the much more numerous House of Representatives, whose members serve only two-year terms and are supposed to reflect the people’s shifting sentiments. Senators serve six-year terms, and were intended to be the nation’s wisest councilors — equipped to discern and protect the country’s broad, enduring interests.

“The use of the Senate,” explained James Madison in 1787, “is to consist in proceeding with more coolness, with more system, and with more wisdom, than the popular branch.”

For this reason, the Constitution entrusts the Senate with unique powers — its members conduct impeachment trials, make treaties, and give the president advice and consent on important appointments, including Cabinet secretaries, ambassadors and federal judicial nominees with lifetime tenure.

A Minnesota senator represents the whole state, not a smaller, relatively homogeneous congressional district, as House members do.

If Franken is elected, can he represent all the people of Minnesota — including Christians — for whom he has repeatedly shown disdain?

Franken’s Porn-O-Rama is no satire

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

In the last few months, I’ve gotten a flood of emails from readers suggesting stories about Al Franken and his follies. This vein could be a rich one to mine, given Franken’s years of motor-mouthing on Saturday Night Live and Air America Radio, and his collisions with taxing authorities across the country.But I’ve let the Franken stories blow by, overwhelmed by their number. However, things changed last week when Franken’s 2000 Playboy article — “Porn-O-Rama” — got stuck in my e-mail filter.

I know what you’re thinking: Kersten’s got one of those prudish, Jerry Falwell-style family filters designed to snare anything that would raise a slight pink on your grandmother’s cheeks. Not so. Mine seems to screen primarily ads for male enhancement products and overly creative animal films.

Why then did my e-mail filter crash closed on Porn-O-Rama?

In his Playboy romp, Franken fantasized about oral sex delivered by a machine, as well as sex with combinations of females who fit the Playboy view of women as big-breasted automatons, panting at the prospect of servicing the likes of Franken. That’s why they call it fantasy, I guess.

I wonder how many DFL officials will be able to pull Porn-O-Rama through their Internet filters and read it before the party endorses its candidate for U.S. Senate this weekend. I wonder, too, whether folks like Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Attorney General Lori Swanson, whose campaigns took money in 2006 from Franken’s so-called Midwest Values PAC (yes, you read that right) will feel compelled to return those bucks on truth-in-advertising grounds.

Last week, spokesman Andy Barr articulated the Franken campaign’s official defense as follows: “Al understands, and the people of Minnesota understand, the difference between what a satirist does and what a senator does.” Key Democrats like Reps. Betty McCollum, Tim Walz and Keith Ellison already have rejected Camp Franken’s attempt to explain away Al’s excellent adventures in Playboyland. Will others follow?We’ve often heard Franken described as a “satirist.” The label makes him sound respectable, even sophisticated. We associate satire with some of literature’s greatest names. If applicable, the term explains and excuses Franken’s work, placing it squarely in the literary mainstream.

Does Franken qualify as a satirist?

To find out, I pored over dictionaries and literary compendia. Webster’s online dictionary was typical. It defined satire as “trenchant wit, irony or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly.”

In other words, satire is serious business. A satirist mocks a problematic situation in order to bring it to public attention, correct or reform it. He blends comedy and censure in the service of mankind’s improvement.

Take Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal,” perhaps the most famous satire in the English language. In this work, Swift, an eighteenth century Irishman, suggested that poverty-stricken Irish families could survive by selling their numerous children to wealthy landlords to eat. Swift’s grim humor is a vehicle for what he called his “savage indignation” at England’s grievous injustice regarding the Irish.

The Greek dramatist Aristophanes used a lighter touch in his classic satire, “Lysistrata.” In this ribald play, the women of Sparta and Athens withhold sex from their husbands for a larger purpose: to bring an end to the Peloponnesian War.

Porn-O-Rama is no satire. Franken doesn’t condemn Hugh Hefner’s pornographic world — he embraces it. The piece is a celebration of the Playboy philosophy, laced with effusions about the glories of Internet porn.

Today, parents and teachers are struggling to prevent such smut from overwhelming our culture. Ellison reacted to Franken’s lewd Porn-O-Rama joke about his sixth-grade son’s supposed report on bestiality by saying, “I have to ask myself, can I explain it to my 11-year-old daughter? I’d have considerable difficulty.”

How about Barr’s second point — that Minnesotans will “understand” that Franken’s conduct as a “satirist” is irrelevant to his potential conduct as a senator?While a man’s sense of humor is only one part of his personality, it tells us something essential about him — it bears the DNA of his character, you might say. That’s why you would be surprised to learn, for example, that a friend you believed to be a devoted father and husband — respectful of his wife and a model for his children — was guffawing publicly about his fantasies of sex with other women.

We understand instinctively that the lives of real human beings cannot be separated into compartments.

Al Franken and the Accountant from Hell

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

I want to know more about this half-wit accountant, Allen Chanzis, who keeps getting blamed for Al Franken’s failures to pay every tax known to man. After all, Franken’s no two-bit bar comedian who can claim he’s never made a dime to offset his bar tab.

Even before his current attempt to get to Washington to enact tax laws that apply to the rest of us, Franken was in the Cadillac club of high-end comedians. One would assume he has a stable of accountants and lawyers housed in his servants’ quarters.

At least Keith Ellison could claim that his serial campaign finance violations involved obscure laws that bite you only when in elective office. But Franken’s failure to pay income taxes in 17 states, failure to pay workers compensation premiums, failure to pay disability premiums and failure to file corporate tax returns pretty much takes the wind out of the “gosh, I forgot” argument.

At least, that’s what I first thought. But then our chief law enforcer—Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman – announced that he has no problem with this kind of serial law-breaking. In a Saturday interview, Freeman morphed into a big softy:

‘It appears to me that this is some carelessness in his personal business,’ Freeman said of Franken. ‘Nothing criminal, nothing malicious, nothing nasty. I’m guessing most people have something [similar] in their life, where they forgot to pay their property taxes or workers’ comp.’

Fair enough, but I want the same consideration for Think Again miscreants when they skirt the edge of what is legal. When Downtown Dan “forgets” to put money in the parking meter, JonR “forgets” his driver’s license at home, Tiny Litess “forgets” the speed limit is 30 mph in town, and Average Guy “forgets” that he’s supposed to pay for the overpriced gas at the pump, I demand equal treatment from County Attorney Freeman.

And after Freeman clears these four upstanding gentlemen because they exhibited “carelessness in … personal business,” I expect that each will have a shot at a run for the Senate so that they can create laws for the rest of us shmucks. Yes, I know; they may also need qualifications for such high aspirations, such as a career as a high-end comedian.

Does Franken still have a pulse in his political life? I’ve stopped trying to guess. Stand-up comics enabled by half-wit accountants weave wonders in this world.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

PETA Upset About Obama's Leathal Strike Against Helpless Fly




The White House quickly responded....





Ahh, The President loves flies and his new fly, bug catcher thing that PETA sent. Oh, it's called a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher. It allows you to catch a bug and release it without hurting it.


He is using it in this picture here to my, ahh, right. In fact, um, he is moving a fly "killer", a spider (chuckles) to a different location without harming it due to this new thing. He, ahh, The President, wants to express his gratitude to Peta for the thoughtful gift. Thank you.




(Click link above for full article)
.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Fascist States of America? Yes. But It's Not Too Late.

I could hardly believe what I was hearing last night while listening to the radio. Poof that sure enough we have entered an extremely dangerous time in our nation's life. Real evidence of fascism.

So I'm thinking to myself, what will our nation look like soon? What will "we the people" keep allowing to happen? But I'm not hearing much noise being made or even much news about this. Maybe it's just the way the family business, the American dream, story of theirs that made this a real jolt for me.

AMERICA MUST WAKE UP! Quit caring about political party labels! We have run out of time to be playing games with party politics. Before it is too late we need to come together and realize what is truly happening and what has been happening for quite a while to our country. It has been slow and gradual but has proved to be an effective process.

Don't think this is a big deal? Or that it affects you? It does. And if you are not absolutely outraged by the end of this article then you do not believe in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of America and the Bill of Rights. I honestly can not see a way those documents and freedoms they proclaim don’t vastly conflict with the road we are heading down. And heading down faster each and every day.

First let me give you excerpts from an interview two days ago with Fox News Host Gretchen Carlson of Fox and Friends and Glenn Beck. She is upset because her parent's car dealership was one of those that is going to be closed.

Carlson stated, "I'd like to get a hold of the car czar too. Never did I think personally that I would need to get a hold of him, but now I do because my parents have owned a General Motors dealership in Anoka, Minnesota, for 90 years and they were terminated last week and they would like to know why. They would like to know why from the car czar."

"It said you would no longer be part of the new General Motors. Apparently there was criteria, but let me tell you this Glenn - they haven't lost money. They are a profitable operation. Their objective, they met at 103 percent. You can't go higher than that and yet they are being terminated. There are 80 employees who will not have jobs anymore. My parents lay awake at night worrying about those employees."

"Many, they all had a meeting yesterday in the state of Minnesota, but here is the ironic thing - there was a dealership that was closed in the first round in the metro area of Minneapolis. That person was able to get a meeting with GM executives last week for an hour and a half. And lo and behold Monday night, that dealership is back in business. Now you tell me this isn't about who you know and who you can speak to."

What she is referring to is the intervention by Minnesota Senator Amy Klobachar (D) in the closing of a dealership owned by Paul Walser outside of Minneapolis. After Sen. Klobachar's involvement GM reversed their decision and allowed the dealership to remain open.

Carlson went on to say, "There was government intervention with a political person who was able to set up that meeting. But I thought this was supposed to be that you were closing dealerships because they weren't performing."

In addition she explains that GM threatened not to honor warranties on the remaining vehicles in the closing dealership lots if they did not agree to GM’s terms.

"It gets worse because by Friday (June 12) terminated dealers by GM have to sign what's called a wind-down agreement. And if they don't sign it, they have a gun to their head - they will not get any warranties on any of the vehicles that are currently sitting in their lots, which the judge [FNC contributor Andrew Napolitano] tells me is illegal."

Judge Napolitano confirmed that federal law required GM to fulfill the obligations under the warranty and such agreements can not alter those terms. However, Carlson stated there is a “gag order” being forced on the dealers that forbids public discussion about this.

Carlson stated, "There's also a gag order in the agreement - a gag order that says you can not speak to anybody other than your employees unless you get GM's consent."

Now, it might seem redundant but I think it's important. Last night I heard the interview Glenn Beck had with Gretchen Carlson and both her parents, who own the dealership she was talking about in the above excerpts. I can't do this interview justice except to share it in its entirety and allow them to speak directly to you.

I ask that you read it carefully and listen to their story. Listen to the story of two regular Americans whom you probably hadn’t even heard of before today. Owners of a private business that has been in their family for 90 years and in a blink of an eye watched the government just takes it away, with no questions asked.

GLENN: From Radio City in Midtown Manhattan, third most listened to show in all of America. Hello, you sick twisted freak. Welcome to the program. Glad you're here. Yesterday on the TV program well, let me start earlier than that. Gretchen Carlson who is on Fox and Friends, she's the one in the middle. She's the girl. And I went in yesterday and she was she had a bee in her bonnet and it was all about I'm sorry for the bee in the bonnet thing. Stu just looked at me. I'm sorry, I think I did get that from the Ingalls family growing up. I'm sorry. So she was all up in arms because of the bailouts and what's going on with the auto industry. Well, as I continued to talk to her, I realized that her family owns a car dealership and has for 90 years, and it's a successful, profitable one. Made 103% of their goal last year. And now all of a sudden they made the first round of cuts. Now all of a sudden they're out of business. Meanwhile Gretchen finds out that somebody who didn't make the first round of cuts meets with a congressman or senator. We'll get the story from her. And all of a sudden they're back open for business. What is going on in our country? Gretchen Carlson is with us now. Is this your mom and dad, Gretchen, on the phone?

CALLER: I hope they're with me. They are in
Minnesota. I'm here in my office in New York. And by the way, I don't mind the bee in the bonnet because Little House on the Prairie was from Minnesota.

GLENN: See what I mean? See what I mean? Hi, Karen and Lee, how are you?

C
ALLER: Pretty good, pretty good, thank you.

CALLER: We're both here.

GLENN: Good. Wow, Lee, you are I mean, Karen, you sound like my mom there. My parents were from or my grandparents and my mother was from
Minnesota, and you just, that was a flashback there for a second.

CALLER: Well, but she's probably just as proud of you as we are of our daughters.

GLENN: No, uh uh, no, I don't think so. Anyway, so tell me the story here, Lee. Your father

CALLER: Yes, sir.

GLENN: Or was it your father started the business?

CALLER: He started the business back in 1919 on Memorial Day and it was a Dodge dealership and they immediately turned it into a Chevrolet dealership and then over the years they acquired other lines like Buick, Olds, Cadillac. And we had those for many, many years and then we became what they call a metro dealer and we built a new store, and the rules at that time were you could only really have one line to be a metro store and so we went to bat and we were able to keep Cadillac and we gave up Buick and Olds. And so we've been sitting here now for 31 years in a new building and operating selling Chevrolets and Cadillacs.

GLENN: Okay. Now, Gretchen tells me that you guys made the first round of cuts.

CALLER: That's right.

GLENN: And then you didn't make the second round.

CALLER: No. We got the registered letter and the FedEx and the first sentence says we are not renewing your Chevrolet or your Cadillac franchise. And then went on to explain.

GLENN: You've been in business for 90 years?

CALLER: Yep.

GLENN: 103% of goal last year?

CALLER: Yep.

CALLER: And we haven't had a losing month since the Eighties when there was 21% interest rate, you know, on anyone that bought a car. And even through all this, and the interesting thing is that we know for sure that some dealers who were kept are losing money. And the other kind of upsetting thing is the one that was given the dealership back, it seems somewhat political because it's very hard to determine. I don't think any of the big conglomerates, i.e., the dealers who owned six, seven, eight, nine, ten franchises in around the
Minneapolis area, this particular person that was cut and was reinstated is one of those. Otherwise it's hard to tell if any of them have lost a dealership. But they have a gag order on you. You are not supposed to tell. And Mr. Henderson said, well, he is not going to tell because he doesn't want to ruin your business. Well, when you get a letter, FedEx on a day that they determine you are going to get the letter, it's only fair to your employees to let them know what it says. We can't go around pretending. Because you can't appeal if you done tell, either. So that's what happened to us.

GLENN: Okay. Did they have any criteria in did they have any reason why they cut you guys?

CALLER: Well, they claim that they have some criteria like profitability, sales, your capital standard, if you have enough capital in the business, your customer satisfaction. But they won't say which one they are using or if it was a conglomeration of them or if it was something else or if it was your location. I think that was, too.

GLENN: How are you doing on all of those?

CALLER: Well, we're wonderful. We're way over our percentage of where we should be capitalized. We've been profitable. And our CSI, in fact in our sales CSI, I think we're the top dealer in the city of
Minneapolis if not second or third and our service is in line with everybody else. And it could be location. They are looking at where these dealerships are placed and what kind of a number of people that we're representing. And I suppose that might have had something to do with it.

CALLER: Yeah, but we're on the freeway with 13 acres.

GLENN: Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean what kind of people you represent?

CALLER: Numbers of people, I suppose, in our area of influence.

CALLER: Glenn, my dad's being too nice.

GLENN: Yeah, tell me, Gretchen.

CALLER: Well, this is why my dad's been so successful in business. Because everybody loves him. And this is why this will be a humongous blow to this community because everyone knows that (inaudible) run this dealership to the Nth degree and they will give you the best service possible. My dad's being too kind because they don't know why they were cut, Glenn.

CALLER: No, we don't.

CALLER: What they are telling you is that they are profitable and I interviewed two more dealers on Fox and Friends this morning who are also profitable and they don't know why they were cut. So when is America going to wake up and say that they want answers about why free enterprise is under assault in America. That's what I want to know.

CALLER: Well, and here's the thing. About three weeks ago or two weeks ago before they said they were going to cut all these dealers you had, you know, 13 acres, you had your building, we have a body shop, we're profitable, we employ about 85 people, sometimes up to 100 full time, healthcare, everything. And you had a certain worth to your dealership which obviously was a fair amount. All of a sudden and last Tuesday we had nothing, nothing but a white elephant building and hard to employ employees were going to try.

GLENN: I have to tell you that I never even considered the fact that you have, for 90 years, legacy now gone. That's it. My husband's been a dealer for years and he has credentials including the Time dealer of the year, Time magazine dealer of the year in Minnesota, and he was the runner up in the national contest. And he's been the president of every bank board and hospital board and church board. And, you know, I wish they would just come and visit us working at our dealership and the people we service. And they love coming. And we have a huge area of influence. I'm wondering if what they are going to do is they are going to take it away from us and give it to someone else and all our dealer franchise was now are negated. We have no rights.

CALLER: No.

CALLER: Nothing. They have taken everything away.

GLENN: So you have over $4 million worth of inventory.

CALLER: Right.

GLENN: If you didn't sign the gag order, which means that you're talking now, if you don't sign the gag order, you won't they are saying to you that you can't sell the cars. They're yours, right? You bought them from them.

CALLER: Uh huh.

GLENN: And you won't get any warranties on these cars.

CALLER: What will happen, as I understand it, it's very confusing. I'd have to ask a Chrysler dealer, I suppose, because they are in the middle of it. But I think what you have to do is you have to sell those cars to another dealer or something like that at a loss so that they can then retail the car and cover it with warranties. Once we're terminated, we can no longer do any warranty work, you see. So if we don't sign this thing and send it in, what happens is they will put us in the bankruptcy court and the judge has the authority to probably terminate us within a week, you know.

CALLER: But Glenn, here's the deal. They got a gun to their head because they have to sign this thing by Friday. Keep in mind that they filed an appeal which General Motors, by the way, never even informed them that they could file an appeal. They just happened to find out. They got that in by Monday night. Now you are telling me that of all the GM dealers who have been cut and all the ones that possibly are filing appeals that somebody was actually looking at those appeals on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and giving them an answer back and by Friday they have to sign this agreement or they're dead.

CALLER: Well, and we don't even know to whom we are appealing. That's, we just said to the review committee we don't know if it's the government, we don't know if it's General Motors. We have absolutely no idea. And then at the end when you're all done, you have you're forced to give them your customer, all your customer base and your customer service base and then you have to say, well, that's good; now you've cut us. And if you want to put up someone else three miles from us, we have to agree to that. So it's

GLENN: This is unbelievable.

CALLER: It is unbelievable that they can do that to private enterprise.

GLENN: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It was originally life, liberty and property.

CALLER: Right.

GLENN: I mean, the only thing they haven't done is taken your property.

CALLER: I know, but

GLENN: They have taken everything you've had of worth.

CALLER: Completely.

GLENN: They have made it worthless.

CALLER: Well, and you know the other night I had a dream about our employees. I know all of our employees and their families and, boy, you know, in this economy if we can't keep them on, what are they going to do?

GLENN: Lee, what are you going to do? You've been doing this forever. What are you

CALLER: We'll keep operating here and we have an excellent body shop.

GLENN: Selling what?

CALLER: Well, we'll sell used cars. We've always had a good used car operation. And we'll try to expand that and we'll also go, have to go look for other franchises, whatever that may be, if there's anything at all out there that would be possible, you know.

CALLER: You know what that's going to be, Glenn? That's going to be a foreign dealer. So as much as we're trying to promote patriotism and buying American here which I've done my whole life, now the answer ironically may be to have somebody like Volkswagen or Honda come in. I mean, how crazy is that?

CALLER: Well, and now all of our customers, if and when they get rid of us will be at least a 30 minute drive. And so for getting their services or even buying the car. What's going to happen is they are just really going to lose most of our Chevy buyers. That is basically what is going to happen unless, of course, they choose someone else and us and put them in a location very, very close. It's quite amazing when you read the documents. It's taken away every right you ever had. And think of these people who just may have purchased a dealership and paid big money for these franchises and now they have nothing. They're gone.

GLENN: Have you guys, have you thought about suing for any sort of restitution?

CALLER: You can't do that according to this agreement.

CALLER: That's why I said the gun's to your head, Glenn.

GLENN: Wait, wait, but if you done agree to the agreement.

CALLER: Well, if you don't agree to it and don't sign it, like I say, in a few weeks dealers in that position will be terminated immediately rather than given this time of six to eight, ten, twelve months to wind down your business.

GL
ENN: So what are you going to do? Are you going to sign that agreement or are you going to stand fast and roll the dice that at some point sanity prevails?

CALLER: Well, everybody we talk to, we were at a big meeting Monday with all these dealers that have had something happen to them and we don't know what. Nobody said anything at the meeting. But it was highly recommended by the attorneys that were there, it would be very foolish if you don't sign it. Because it's your only chance to hang on and see what happens down the road.

CALLER: Well, and if you sue, you have to pay all of General Motors' lawyer fees. That's in the contract. Whether you win or lose, you have to pay them. And our lawyer said they charge about $1500 an hour. I mean, you could be in the millions. So you could lose, which you probably would, against General Motors. You know, you can't really fight the factory.

GLENN: No, you are not even, you are not in the fight against General Motors anymore.

CALLER: No.

GLENN: You are in the fight against the unions, the government and General Motors.

CALLER: Yes.

GLENN: Big business, big labor and big government. This is, this is fascism. This is what happens when you merge special interests, corporations and the government. And you know what, guys? If people like you don't take a stand and I'm not suggesting that you, you know, don't sign or do sign. That's up to you. You've got a lot riding on it. But at some point you know what poem keeps going through my mind is, you know, first they came for the Jews. People, all of us are like, well, this news doesn't really affect me; well, I'm not a bondholder; well, I'm not in banking industry; well, I'm not a big CEO; I'm not on Wall Street; I'm not a car dealer; I'm not an autoworker. Gang, at some point they are going to come for you.

CALLER: They are. If they can do this, they can do anything.

CALLER: And you know what, Glenn, you know who is paying their $1500 an hour general legal fees for General Motors?

GLENN: We are.

CALLER: The taxpayer. The taxpayer is paying that and that's why people should care about all of this and they should also care because their taxes are going to go up when dealerships like my parents go under. Because how are the communities going to pay the tax revenue that
Main Motors in Anoka, Minnesota was giving to the City.

CALLER: Yeah, that really is, that is completely true.

CALLER: It's just a big chain reaction that will have a tumbling effect, there's no question.

CALLER: Even the gas station across the street where we fill up all our cars is going to take a big hit. You are right, Glenn. People don't realize how important. And Lee and I were trying to figure out what plan General Motors has to be profitable. I mean, how many cars do they

GLENN: Here it is. Here's their plan. Their plan is the government is going to give $4500 rebates if you buy one of these cars. You buy a car, you get a you turn in your junker, you get $4500 to the next car. Let's play that out. That's a second GM bailout and then other side it is protectionism. Because now you have to protect this big American company, big American labor that your tax dollars are at stake. So you've got to protect it. The minute we go down the road of protectionism, look up Smoot Hawley, the minute we go down protectionism, it's over, game over. Because other countries will do the same thing and then you're in trouble. Then you've got then you're over in this global economy.

CALLER: Well, who's going to pay the $4500? It's going to be the taxpayers.

GLENN: The taxpayers. The taxpayers.

CALLER: It is. And it's going to be those people who are I mean, it's so crazy. And eventually I can tell you one thing. Our employees here at Main Motor have it figured out. They might not have had it figured out two or three weeks ago, but they hear the writing on the wall loud and clear. And I think the rest of the American public will figure it out, too. We hope so. We hope so.

GLENN: Okay. Lee, Karen, thank you so much. And Gretchen, you stay in touch with me and let me know what's going on, all right?

CALLER: Thank you very much for having us on.

CALLER: Thanks for your time.

GLENN: You bet.

CALLER: We really appreciate it and keep up your good work.

GLENN: Thanks a lot. We just love your daughter. She's great. Thanks a lot. Thanks, Gretchen.

CALLER: Bye bye.

So now I ask you, where is your outrage? What will you do about it? Do you understand that eventually, if it hasn't yet, the government will eventually take what you have too?

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

AF1 Spotted Again?




Was it really strong winds due to a storm, as was reported, that knocked down a tree on the White House's North Lawn today?

Or does this picture show a different culprit?


Stop The Insanity

Aside from our collective protection (i.e. our military/police) name a program that our government has been in complete control of AND was a SUCCESS. Go ahead and take your time.

I don't really feel I need to say too much because I believe your lack of responses, at least lack of accurate responses, will say it all.

So why in Heaven's name are we allowing so much power to be turned over to the government? Banks? Car companies? Health-care? What's after that and where will the line be drawn?

All these programs and spending might have good intentions behind them and I'll give you that. But, for example, name a country where these have been done and actually worked? Why are we refusing to look to examples all around us to see if the paths we are trying will work out well? I don't see what is so complicated about that idea!

We have to wake up before we are fighting FOR our freedoms, rather than simply to PROTECT them.

What was that phrase again? Do you remember that line? How does that go again?

We the government? No.

Oh, that's right...

"WE THE PEOPLE..."

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

I'm having a "reflective moment" and would love to hear your answers...



Feel free to just "cut and paste" the following and then insert your comments when you respond.


What did you want to be when you grew up?

Did it change when you were in high school/college?

Did you end up doing what you wanted? Why or why not?

If not, do you wish you had and are you/will you still pursue those dreams? Why or why not?


.

PICTURE SLIDESHOWS

Coming soon: pictures of the kids!!

Pictures (from before the kids ruled our home)

One Last Thought From Me

Why not remember this act of love and sacrifice daily rather than just at Easter? Yes, this event is an indescribably joyous one because Jesus did rise from the dead but we should never forget how and why He suffered unimaginably before defeating Death and Hell itself on our behalf. He did so while thinking of you and me. In doing so he personally took on our sin, our pain and a debt we could not pay in order to provide a way to complete forgiveness and redemption. The truth is, either way death is not the end and being a “good person” isn’t a substitution for being truly forgiven.

God tells us that by simply believing Jesus rose from the dead, confessing and turning away from our sin and making the Bible the true foundation of our life, we will be forgiven for our sins and live eternally in Heaven.


As you may know, I am far from perfect and if you have doubts about that I’m sure you can find a multitude of people who can confirm that. I have made countless mistakes and bad judgments and will again in the future despite my best intentions. It is because of this that I am exceedingly thankful I can go directly to God and ask for help, ask for forgiveness and know that God's mercy is new every morning as I continually work to keep my foundation on God's Word. Truly accepting God's love, mercy and a true freedom offered in a life firmly anchored in His Word is something there simply aren't words to describe.


I have to admit that I regularly take that for granted and listening to the words in a song like “Via Dolorosa” is one way to help remind me of the sacrifice Jesus made on that cross. Deciding to live for Christ was without a doubt the best decision I made in my life. Don’t get me wrong, it didn’t solve all my problems and make my life perfect. But I have a peace and hope only God can offer and I know in God’s eyes He sees a child forgiven rather than condemned. Now that I am a parent I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like for God to watch His children exercise their free will when they chose to reject Him rather than embrace the salvation He offers each of us.


Regardless of your feelings on God and Jesus I hope you enjoy the power of the images and music I posted. And thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts about what can be a very sensitive issue.

Via Dolorosa (Latin for Sorrowful Road)


Countdown to Election Day 2012