Ron Paul Is a Big Hit In The Couv'

Presidential longshot Ron Paul stopped here yesterday to a packed house with hundreds being turned away because of a standing room only venue.

I know there are a lot of Republicans around here but was really surprised at two things.
One, that there are that many Ron Paul supporters in this area and two, why he picked Vancouver when Portland is right across the river and is ten times as big as Vancouver..

It's a mystery to me.

I'll be the first to admit I have some libertarian leanings and out of all the crazy motherfuckers running with an R behind their name, he is the only one I would ever consider holding my nose for, even he is too far out there for my tastes on too many subjects though..

Still, it was interesting to see such a turn out for him in this neck of the woods.

A Heads Up For Those In The PNW, Cluck, Cluck

I just stopped at SafeWay to get a couple of items on my way home and they currently have whole roasted chickens in the cute little carrying case for$5.99.
You can't even hardly get a raw chicken for that.
Someone else pointed out that they have Mild Tillamook cheese, two pounds for a little over five bucks.
I had to go find some lady to find it for me, SafeWay is a giant cluster fuck if you don't know where every thing is.

I finally found the powdered milk, stay the hell away from that, it is outrageous.

The beer went out the roof too. What was thirteen ninety nine two years ago is now twenty three ninety nine for a thirty pack.

Any way, if ya are around one of these places, get the roasted chicken, you can't even make one yourself that cheap.
That will be enough for me to eat on for several days, if I quit drinking the beer.

Not likely to happen but I had chicken legs that were still hot for dinner and stuck the rest in the fridge.

Hot chicken sandwiches with melted cheese tomorrow.
I am thinking chicken and rice too.
Win, win.

A Public Safety Message From The Ornery Bastard

Stop and think before ya get all likkered up and start lighting fuses.
It's kinda hard to blow yer hand off if one of them has a can of beer in it and the other one has a finger up yer nose.
Just a thought.
Be safe, I'm outta here.

Superior Band-Aid Design

First time I've seen one of these but I'll tell you what, somebody at Johnson & Johnson is doing a damn good job!

The fucker looks weird when you unwrap it: one end short and squared off and the other end long and tapered. I put it on anyways, y'know...since I was bleeding and all...and soon as I did I recognized that it was the best damned band-aid I ever used. The weird-ass design makes perfect sense once you use it.

I'm a woodworker so I need band-aids every so often and from now on there ain't gonna be nothing in my shop (or house) except for these. Oh, and you better fucking believe it when it says " super-stick adhesive". They didn't name 'em TOUGH STRIPS for nothin'.

Buy some. Now. You can thank me later.

spongebobcrackwhore

Tighten Up The Tinfoil

Yes, you have every right to be paranoid, Big Brother is watching, listening and reading even things you thought were private.

Web spy software hacks into secretive online forums

THE dark corners of cyberspace are being illuminated by indexing software that can reach into secretive websites that are normally inaccessible to search engines. This could allow search engines to cover online forums lurking within the "dark web", and provide insights into what is being said by groups who would rather keep their conversations secret.

Conventional search engines use programs called spiders or web crawlers that scuttle around the internet and index what they find. However, many websites are protected by security restrictions that fend off such software. Screening out all traffic from IP addresses belonging to well-known search engines is one way to do this.

snip

The software also disguises its indexing activity by making it look like the traffic generated by users browsing the forum. What's more, it can attempt to sign up for membership on forums that require registration, though it has to seek help from Chen's team if unusual information is asked for.

Tell me the fucking Feds aren't all over that shit.

Warrantless wire tapping, Total Information Awareness and now this.
Pretty soon we will be back to talking to each other through tin cans and a string.

Unlike a regular web crawler, Chen's software looks only at sites he has specified. It has compiled data on 29 restricted forums, containing about 13 million messages in total. On one forum, it took just 39 minutes to index 29,016 posts made over a six-week period.

Sounds to me like some people are going to be getting a knock at the door, eh comrade?

It also sounds like this has been around awhile and they are just now letting us know.

Ain't that just peachy.

Motherfuckers.

Whew...glad we got that one figured out.

Autopsy: SeaWorld trainer died of trauma, drowning

Jumpin' Jesus On A Pogo Stick! They had to perform an autopsy to figger THAT out? She was attacked by a fucking killer whale! What did they think she died from...boredom?

This just in...people are fucking stupid.

spongebobcrackwhore

An Open Letter To Karl Rove

Shut The Fuck Up, you lying, mendacious, douchebag.

The fact that you are not in jail pisses me off, Every. Fucking. Day.

Thank you.
This has been a Public Service Announcement.

Wheat Rust Spreading, Humanitarian Disaster Possible

The LA Times has an article reporting on a new Wheat fungus that says may destroy 80% of the entire worlds wheat crops in the next few years as it spreads out of Africa.
This is not an immediate threat but something that you should be aware of.
Wheat can be stored for thirty years or more.

Named Ug99, it is wheat stem rust fungus that has no cure yet and has already spread from Africa to Iran and will inevitably spread to the rest of the world.
They are calling it a Time Bomb.

Fear that the fungus will cause widespread damage has caused short-term price spikes on world wheat markets. Famine has been averted thus far, but experts say it's only a matter of time.

"A significant humanitarian crisis is inevitable," said Rick Ward, the coordinator of the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat project at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y

I am not trying to induce any kind of panic but just want to make people aware of a potential for world wide disaster and how it may affect you.

Oregon State University has a similar article printed in the Oregonian.

This is not an immediate threat but something to take into consideration before shortages and price hikes start taking effect.

This is not the first time I have heard of this but it is the latest update on it.
I would remind everyone what happened last year with Rice supplies.

Grab Yer Ankles Before Ya Fire Off The Barbie

Just one more way the average Joe is getting screwed, the "Innovative Collaborator's" at those propane bottle exchange outfits are bending ya over and ya don't even know it,they are shorting ya a couple three gallons of propane, not telling ya, and charging ya the same price!

(Good on ya LA Times)


Last I heard, that was fraud.


Like it isn't bad enough they haven't dropped the price to begin with, in the last year.

I have a couple of those little bottles that ya use for the grill, what, five gallon jugs?
It costs me 13 bucks to fill one of them and I have three for this Fifth wheel and BarBque.
I go through at least one a week just for hot water , heating and minimal cooking and it isn't cold outside.
What I didn't, and most people don't know, Propane is a By Product!

"Where Does Propane Come From?"

"A unique feature of propane is that it is not produced for its own sake, but is a by-product of two other processes, natural gas processing and petroleum refining. Figure 1 shows a diagram of where propane comes from and how it gets to the consumer. "


Here is a VERY informational Website for anyone interested, it explains where it comes from and how the price is manipulated. Of course it is tied to Crude Oil, even though it is a By Product of Natural Gas extraction and Petroleum refining.
Basically, it is the stuff they used to burn off until someone figured out they could sell it.

This should be of intense interest to those of us who live in RV's, let alone the grilling public.

I kinda felt that I was being bent over when the price of gas went down by half and Propane didn't drop a nickel and I don't do the exchange thing.
I have a little outfit that refills my newer bottles that I had to buy after they passed a law making every single portable propane tank obsolete a few years ago.

I tried to keep the profanity down with this because this is a Public Service Announcement and I got the original link from SurvivalBlog.

They tend to be an upstanding community oriented Blog with Awesome advice and great links. and I want to give credit where it is due and not offend the Blog owners or anyone associated .

Just this once.

Why Don't You Use Our Poison On Your Garden First Lady?

Seriously.
This is off the charts idiocy and lobbying run amok.
This blindingly stupid chemical outfit is "disturbed" that the First Lady is trying to grow an organic garden without using their poisonous products to, I don't know, kill things.
They even had the brass to send a letter stating this .



I personally am thrilled that Michelle Obama has put in a garden at the Whitehouse, thrilled.
Why?
Because it is a great example to the average American that if you have some space, it is not that hard to grow some basic vegetables to help save money on your grocery bill and help yourself to be a bit more self sufficient at the same time, without having to resort to using poisonous chemicals in the process.

Someone else is having a hard time that she is doing it organically.

Normally I don't just cut and paste things because I believe in giving an original author the benefit of linking to their original piece because they are the one that worked to put it out in the first place and they deserve the respect to have you go read the whole thing where it was published.
Once in a while, that is not conducive to getting the point across, this is one of those times.

I will provide the link, believe me, I am incensed enough that I want this message to get out, there will be a link to voice your personal message to these ,um, people.

Here is the text of the message and the link to respond will follow, I urge you to send your own personal message as you see fit.

The Mid America CropLife Association (MACA) has a bone to pick with Michelle Obama.

MACA represents chemical companies that produce pesticides, and they are angry that - wait for it - Michelle Obama isn't using chemicals in her organic garden at the White House.

We are not making this up.

In an email they forwarded to their supporters, a MACA spokesman wrote, "While a garden is a great idea, the thought of it being organic made [us] shudder." MACA went on to publish a letter it had sent to the First Lady asking her to consider using chemicals -- or what they call "crop protection products" -- in her garden.

Michelle Obama and has done America a great service by publicizing the importance of nutritious food for kids (she's growing the garden in partnership with a local elementary school class) as well as locally grown produce as an important, environmentally sustainable food source.

Yes, this actually happened, yes, they are beneath my contempt.

I do not usually urge any kind of action on anyone's part around here, I am usually content to sit and pitch a fit.

However, at this time I am going to give you an opportunity to send a message decrying the use of "crop protection products" on the garden at the Whitehouse because it is unnecessary and the fact that companies like Monsanto are actively trying to physically control every aspect of the plant farming in this country in conjunction with the agricultural lobby and their questionable legal tactics and that is a threat to every human being on this planet.

The banking industry can disintegrate tomorrow, you cannot eat money.


I will not argue that there is not a need for fertilizer and pesticides in agriculture.
I will, however, argue that this country needs to get as organic as possible as soon as possible and that by trying to lobby the Whitehouse to start spraying the historic garden that has been put in is beyond just bad taste but a sign of Big Agra trying to bully the American public by going after the most high profile organic garden in history and deciding that it knows best.

I would point out the many instances of Salmonella poisoning that has become rampant in the last few years from produce brought about by Big Agra, but that would be unsporting.

If you would care to sign a petition informing the "Pesticide Peddlers" that you support the organic garden that the First Lady has been working on, you can do so here.

Some Advice If You Want To Buy A Used Travel Trailer

This is a public service announcement.

If you are thinking about buying a used Travel Trailer, whether it be a traditional tow behind or a fifth wheel, you will want to pay attention to what I am going to say here.

First off,

If you are not a certified Jack Of All Trades, you want to reconsider this decision right now.

Some skills you will be using constantly are,

Electrical trouble shooting, 110 volt and 12 volt both, they are two distinct different systems.

Travel trailers and Motor homes use both types of electricity, at the same time, and have a converter built in where the circuit breakers and fuses are located.
A great deal of the lighting , the electric water pump and possibly the refrigerator are generally on the 12 volt system while things like microwaves and the usual 110 volt outlets for televisions and other things are on a completely different system.
This is a complex system and you had best get a good grip on it as problems can get quite frustrating if the actual wiring is involved, tearing out wall panels is a real possibility, tracking down problems involving wiring is a real life nightmare in a real sense, every one of these things are glued and stapled together.

Next, this is important, if you have to take something apart, SAVE EVERYTHING!
There are so many fixtures, couplers , plumbing parts and things like light fixtures that you are going to go match up at the hardware store that you would be astounded.

Beware, these are RV specialty items and you are going to have to get real creative in trying to find a replacement.
Take my word for this, I have been trying to fix quite a few things in my trailer and they are not readily available at your local hardware store.

I spent an hour and a half trying to make a traditional porcelain toilet adapt to the plastic water lines that they use in these trailers.
There is nothing in the plumbing system in an RV that is the same as a house, as far as I have seen. The toilets and sinks are completely different.
Speaking of plumbing, get ready to deal with tiny little sinks.
That is one of my pet peeves, the kitchens are an after thought and the sinks are a joke.

There is no counter space in one of these things and ya better get ready for that right now.

The other things that you need to be aware of are water leaks.
These can be a deal breaker in the first place if there is one disclosed while buying and are the number one killers of RV's.

Water leaks do not happen all at once, like bumping a curb tends to throw the alignment off for your car.
Water leaks are very difficult to find and repair and cause terminal damage in some cases, way too often.

Things like air vents that are a stop gap measure to let heat out in the summer are especially notorious.
They are cheap pieces of junk with hand cranks that seem to be designed to destroy the very same workings that operate the lifting mechanism they were designed to operate.

Most of these contraptions have an air conditioning unit mounted on the roof to keep the occupants from frying like an egg in mid Summer, the electric bill will reflect the amount of heat directly, as will the propane furnace and water heater will in the Winter.

Again, these are proprietary units and will have no resemblance to anything that a stick house on the grid will have.

I swapped out the hot water heater in mine today.
That is a unique experience.

Things like Trailer brakes, tires that rot off the rims while sitting for long periods of times, wheel bearings are a huge maintenance item.
Take the time and expense to take the tires and brake drums off, take the wheel bearings completely out, replace the wheel bearings ,bearing races and pack the new bearings with a graphite based grease.
This is one of the most important maintenance items you can do and it does not cost a fortune.
It ain't cheap but two hundred bucks compared to a wheel falling off at sixty miles an hour with pretty much every thing you own inside that long box? Coupled to the Truck hooked to it and your kids?
Just do it.

To make this post short enough to read, I am going to stop here but just for grins, consider the waste water systems and the cost of repair and maintenance of those...
Do the math.
Trailers do a lot of sitting and wheel bearings will put you on the side of the road with a gaping hole in the side of your trailer in a heart beat.

Geithner Confirmed Secretary Of Treasury

Tim Geithner was confirmed as Treasury secretary moments ago by the Senate by a vote of 60 to 34, making him the successor to Hank Paulson and the man charged with leading the United States out of a global recession.

H/T The Ticker.

The news is coming fast this afternoon.

Winter Vehicle Maintenance

Winter is here, we just got blasted for two weeks with snow and ice and now flooding.
The ice on your windshield can shred your windshield wipers.
If you have not changed your wiper blades in a while, now would be an excellent time to do so.
Get GOOD ones. Cheap wiper blades are a waste of time to change.

Check the protection level of your antifreeze. You can't believe what can happen to an engine block that freezes with water in it.
I have seen it a few times and it is ugly. The block literally splits wide open.
I actually drove a truck one time about a mile round trip that had frozen and I did not realize it until I parked almost exactly in the same spot when I got back.
I noticed a bunch of little metal disks laying on the ground, they were the freeze plugs that had been pushed out of the engine when the ice expanded.
I opened the hood and could not believe that that thing had even run!
The intake manifold had split, the heads had split and the block had split down both sides!

Yeah, check your antifreeze.

Top off the washer fluid, check the oil, belts and hoses.
Check all of your lights and just how soon are you going to be needing new tires?

Now is the time to get on top of the maintenance of your vehicle so it doesn't unexpectedly strand you in the middle of a snowstorm, at night.

Also make sure you have a blanket, some food and water just for emergencies.
A flashlight is a must have also.

A little preventive maintenance goes a long way.

Get Home Bag, Winter Version

I will be the first to admit I am not prepared for this winter weather, I have already been bit on the ass with the frozen pipes but I got a real reminder tonight on my way home from some relatives that live 35 miles away after doing the Christmas thing.

If you do not have a Get Home Bag, get one together now, I am dead serious.
I first learned of these on the internet some time ago and kind of scoffed at first and then thought about it for a while and then got my head out of my ass and put one together and threw it in the truck.

Actually, in the interest of full disclosure, I pared down my Bug Out bag and threw it in the truck.

I am just as lazy as the next guy and figured I had it covered.

Wrong.

Way wrong.

It has been crazy around here with the weather. Snow, freezing rain, ice, rain, more snow, wind, more snow, ice, you get the picture.
Let's just say all the modern records have been broken.

You could not find a set of tire chains to fit your car to save your life.

I tried.
My boy has been stuck at his friends house for six days.
He is OK, they finally got out today, but I called and called around to find some cable chains or anything I could get my hands on to get the kid mobile again. It is not like he has some odd ball tire size, I gave him an old Ford Ranger a while back and it has standard 14 inch tires on it, not happening with the chain thing.
Anyway, I have been out running around all over the countryside for Christmas. My folks, my kids, my Grandmothers, and the Evil White Stuff just keeps coming out of the sky.

That Get Home Bag?, yeah, I have been cussing that thing for days, I put it on the front seat of my truck and it has been in the way ever since.
I grab it and throw it on the floor and then I need to put some presents in the cab so I grab it and throw it on the seat and then I grab it again and push it towards the passenger door so I can shift the truck and you kind of see that this is a problem. I would throw it in the back but it is full of tool boxes, a spare tire and all manner of miscellanious crap.

On my way home tonight, right in the middle between civilization and a four mile walk to the next town, one of the heavy duty tire chains let go on my truck. WhamWhamWhamWham, shit.
Of course the side of the road was piled four feet high with snow from the snow plows.
My truck is so old it does not have emergency flashers and for once in a great while, I actually had nice clothes on, of course it was as dark as the inside of a derby hat at midnight to boot.

So, there I am, broke down at night in freezing weather, in a baaaaaad place .
I got my flashlight out and turned on my turn signal to let the idiots know to get in the other lane and out I go to unhook the chain and check for damage.

Actually, I didn't care about body damage, it's an old truck. So I unhook the outside of the chain and go to unhook the inside, no go, no slack.

I get in and pull forward a bit and get back out, still no go, it is under the tire.
One more time I pull forward. This time when I get out, the chain is clear inside the tire and wrapped around the axle and...

This is where my mind flashed onto the Get Home Bag, the tire chain was not only wrapped around the axle, it was dragging on the ground and hooked to the metal brake line.

If not for the Grace of God, one more foot and it would have ripped that brake line out and there I would have sit, in the freezing ass cold weather, waiting, with idiots going by at sixty miles an hour.

That Get Home Bag suddenly had a very real value, exactly what was in it?

A couple of cans of food, two multi purpose Swiss Army knives, a tiny fold up shovel, a Filet knife, small candles, Dry socks, a wool sweater and a wrist rocket sling shot. A small pocket survival kit with fishing gear, waterproof matches, etc, etc.

One wind up flashlight, a pint of Vodka , a basic First Aid kit and some other unremarkable items that need to be replaced..

Not exactly real inspiring.

I have a couple of blankets behind the seat but I think you see my point.
Just how effective would any of this be sitting next to a snowbank on the side of a freeway in the dark when the temperature is 31 degrees?

I am not going to drag this out, I just wanted to bring this to your attention without you having to get on your knees in freezing weather and realize you are not going anywhere for quite a while.

There are many, many recommendations on Survival Sites on what to have on hand for roadside emergencies, I do believe I am going to revisit my Get Home Bag, tomorrow.

One thing I am going to make sure and get are some reflective triangles and some road flares.
I had the shit scared out of me twice by idiots not paying attention and having to do evasive measures to get into another lane at the last second because they were not paying attention.

Breaking News

The local morning news just reported that Illinois Governor Blagojevich has been arrested for impropriety in the selection process to replace Barack Obama's seat.

Nothing on any major news sites at this time, I will update this as I get more info later.

Update;

I saw this right before I headed out the door to go to work this morning and was busy all day.
If you don't know what this is about by now, Google the dickheads name.
This guy is going to jail and from what I am seeing this evening, his wife might be right behind him.
Fuckers have kids, too.

Gordon Smith (R) (OR) Has Trouble

I live in Washington state but I am right on the border of Oregon and the only television stations I get come out of Portland.
I use my little television for an alarm clock, it has a built in feature,every morning, I wake up to the local news so I can catch the weather and the traffic report.
Every morning I am bombarded with Oregons political campaign ads.
Jeff Merkely has been taking it to Gordon Smith lately and has actually squeezed ahead slightly.

Gordon Smith is a rich Republican who paid a Million dollars for a set of fucking golf clubs.
That should tell you all you need to know about that guy.
He has repeatedly voted with Bush and now he is desperately trying to pass himself off as a reasonable guy who constantly reaches across party lines by using the likes of Ted Kennedy and Barack Obama in his ads.

I think maybe the man is going to have a hard time selling that shit now.





Found at Chris Cilliza's column in the Washington Post.

A Public Service Announcement

Hurricane Gustav has just been upgraded to Category Four with sustained winds over 145 MPH.
If you live anywher close to where it is predicted to land,

GET THE HELL OUT!

This thing still has TWO DAYS to gather more energy over the Gulf before it hits landfall.

000
WTNT62 KNHC 301718
TCUAT2
HURRICANE GUSTAV TROPICAL CYCLONE UPDATE
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL072008
120 PM EDT SAT AUG 30 2008


DATA FROM AN AIR FORCE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT
GUSTAV HAS CONTINUED TO STRENGTHEN AND NOW HAS MAXIMUM WINDS
NEAR 145 MPH...230 KM/HR WITH HIGHER GUSTS. THIS MAKES GUSTAV AN
EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON
HURRICANE SCALE. A SPECIAL ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED AT ABOUT 200 PM
EDT TO MODIFY THE INITIAL AND FORECAST INTENSITIES. THE SPECIAL
PUBLIC ADVISORY WILL TAKE THE PLACE OF THE INTERMEDIATE PUBLIC
ADVISORY PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULED FOR THAT TIME.

$$
FORECASTER KNABB

Monitor the NOAA Hurricane site for more and updated information.