Sitting Home ISN'T the Answer!!

Ok folks...conservatives...we have a problem. The problem is only partially that John McCain is now the leading candidate for the Republican nomination despite being a liberal-minded person in a party that is typically considered to be full of conservatives. The bulk of the problem is that people are talking about sitting out from voting this year if McCain does go ahead and get the nomination. Are you kidding me?!?!?!? Cry me a river!

Now while I consider myself a conservative, I also mostly consider the fact that I'll be voting Republican, as they'll typically be the more conservative person to vote for. But I don't consider myself a Republican, as I can see myself voting for other people besides a Republican nominee. It also helps not to consider myself a Republican, because I strongly oppose our two-party system.

Anyway, like many conservatives, I will not vote for McCain...even if he's going against Hilliary whom I will also never vote for. But I WILL NOT sit home and refuse to vote.

I believe it's our basic responsibility as Americans to vote. If your a "Republican" and you can't vote for McCain...research a third party candidate and vote for them. Sure, at this point, they'd have little to no chance of winning, but you must stand up and do your duty and vote. There will come a day, in this ever increasing digitalized world, that a third party candidate will have a viable shot...look at what Ron Paul did this year via the Internet.

Besides, the Presidential vote is only part of what makes this country run. Hilliary, or McCain, or Ron Paul, or whoever...none of them can change the country by themselves. The "checks and balances" is required to forward their proposed agenda. So, if for whatever reason, you can't get excited about the presidential race, find a senator or representative that you can get behind and make sure to vote for them. Don't forget about the local politics either...as local politics can effect your daily lives just as much as a national politician can.

So folks, do your duty...get involved. Don't just sit home and make yourself a pouter. Vote! Then you will be able to feel better about voicing your complaints...or at least you should. For those that don't engage themselves in the process, but have no problem criticizing after merely sitting on the sidelines...those are the people we should fear. Those are the ones that feel like they are owed everything for doing nothing...and that, my friends, is unAmerican.

Resolutions...

Although it's not quite a month into the new year, my resolutions are going well so far, knock on wood. I'm typically not one for adamantly making New Year's Resolutions, but I decided to commit to changing/creating four habits to better my life.

There's the always popular, lose weight. I'm more focused on being healthy than losing a specific amount of weight, though I could certainly use to trim the solar-plexis some. I'm eating better and jogging two and a half miles four days a week. The fifth day, I've only been doing a mile and a half, and take two days off. At least it's a start, and I'm thinkinf of adding a caveat...prepare to run in a marathon (at least a small one).

Then there's, simplify my life. Who couldn't go for a streamlined lifestyle? Well, when you have three kids, you quickly decide that much of what you've been keeping around is junk. So I did some spring cleaning in January, and I can already tell a difference.

The next one's more personal in nature, but since I've already written a post on it before I may as well spell it out. I just decided to put my foot down (with myself) and am forcing myself to get to know my father better. We used to rarely talk, even though we weren't really at odds, we just never made the effort. I've complained in the past how I need effort from him, which is partly true, but if I want this so badly, I've got to be the one putting in 170%. So far, calling him once a week is working out well. I'm trying to "teach him", and really teach myself too, that our conversations don't have to be so loaded like our previous conversations were. When you talk only one to three times a year, the conversations are all about catching up. I want him, as well as myself, to know that a 3-minute call just to say hi and find out about his day is perfectly acceptable.

And finally, there's reading. This is the one resolution I can remember making last year (I could have made more, but I don't think so). As I've said before, I've heard somewhere that reading three different books on a particular subject makes you an expert. Additionally, I've heard that millionaires, on average, read at least one non-fiction book a month. So my resolution last year was to do just that, read one book a month. I failed. This year's resolution is the same, and so far I'm doing better. I've decided not to restrict it to non-fiction, and that seems to help. I will make sure to read some non-fiction books...but the only ones I have now are related to politics, and can get boring at times. Sure the two books I've read so far have been fiction and rather small, but if for no other reason that getting myself in the habit of reading regularly it has helped tremendously.

So, so-far-so-good. With any luck I can keep up the trends.

The A Daily Show - 01/24

Last night on The A Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he had a guest on, Jerri Willis from CNN, speaking about the state of the economy. I know a lot people watch Jon Stewart and even rely on his show for their news, so I need to clear some things up that this guest was either misleading about or was ill-equipped to speak about.

One of the first things that Jon did was have Jerri comment on two video clips, both of which made the people seem like they didn't know what they were talking about. What was missed was...well...everything in the clips was easily explained, but Jerri Willis either chose not to or didn't know anything about what she was talking about.

The first clip was a lady, whom I've seen before but I don't know her name off hand, who's comment was something to the effect of "this is the market that everyone's been dreaming about". While the second guy was quoted as saying, "that was a great moment to cover those shorts and take a shot on the long side", referring to the stock market's 500 point drop early in the trading day the other day.

Now, if you've followed my blog at all, you may know that I'm worried about the economy...very worried. It's almost scary to me. There's a culmination of events that have come, or are coming, together to potentially send our economy seriously out of wack. HOWEVER, both of the comments by these people are perfectly legitmate statements, when taken in context without extrapolating them out to be general comments about the overall economy.

The first lady is a big real estate investment proponent. If you take a second to think about it, this is a great time to be a big real estate investor. Individuals are losing their houses at alarming rates, so now is the perfect time to drive real estate prices further down, and buy at a cheap price. Also, keep in mind I still don't think the individuals should be bailed out...they have a responsibility to know if they can afford a home or not.

The guy's statement was textbook from an investing standpoint. It is a little complicated, but what he was essentially saying is pay back your loans, take the profits from that loan and invest at a cheap price. Who in their right mind wouldn't want to do that? Now, as I said, it's a little complicated to explain, and I'd be glad to do so if any one wants me to, but Jerri Willis completely misinterpreted that gentleman's comments. In my opinion, if you don't understand the market, you have no business making a comment on the gentleman's statement. If you do supposedly understand the stock market, and you're not on board with what the gentleman said, you should really go back and re-learn the stock market.

Again, folks, it's crazy out there. The economy could be in trouble, and I don't have the opinion that this "stimulus package" will help much...though I'll gladly take the money. But do the smart thing...pay off debt with that money. The government isn't running the economy well at all. If the government was a company, they'd be out of business. So if our economy turns out bad, your best bet is to have little to no debt.

I like Jon Stewart...I watch his show all the time...and I do learn things about current events from there. But don't fall into the trap of believing everything on there and take it as gospel. Yesterday's guest and the above explaination are prefect examples how someone that doesn't know exactly what they are talking about can give people a misrepresentation of things.

Something Else I Don't Understand...

...is parents that swear. I just don't get it. I don't. It's clearly undesirable and unnecessary, not to mention teaching bad habits.

I'll admit it...I used to swear like a sailor...excessively so. I've never smoked, done drugs, never been drunk in my life, so I used to say that I'm entitled to let the language fly. If that's the worst thing I do, there's millions of people that I'm already a leg up on.

All it took was once. The first time my daughter repeated a swear word, as children often repeat any words they hear...a swear word is inevitable, and I quit. Cold turkey...I stopped swearing. There was no way I was going to have my daughter repeating the nasty things I was saying.

To this day, I almost never swear. On the rare occasion I do, it's usually to myself and never when my children are around.

Aside from the occasional "crap" which they get from my wife, the worst thing they say is "stupid". I still don't like them saying that. One day they will be old enough to understand that it's ok to call things stupid, but not people. Now, it just always promotes a 30-second conversation on how they shouldn't say stupid. Admittedly, they mostly hear that during the holidays when they are watching a Charlie Brown show.

I think that the American culture is continually getting worse than the generation before it, and it will continue to do so until either the end of our country or the world. But I don't understand why we can't preserve our culture as much as possible, to delay the inevitable, by at the very least using good language in front of our own children. It's sad that it doesn't happen, and for the life of me, I don't understand why.

Party Politics at it's worst...

This issue is a little late, but still lingering with me from late last year. In many areas, including the Mayoral election of the city I live near, Evansville, Indiana, Democrats won their elections.

This, in and of itself I have little problem with. I try to adopt the mentality that what's done is done, there's no need to dwell and be nasty about it. If someone I didn't vote for wins, ultimately they still have to answer to me, as a voter, even if I don't agree with their stances.

What I can't stand is the braggard's mentality. The same mentality that boasts of having control during the redrawing of congressional districts. Republicans are certainly guilty of this as well. The problem is, this does nothing to help. It is divisive and hurts the people...the very voters that put them in power.

Many have stated, this is a clear statement that Americans want change. Duh! Many elections are about change...there's nothing new there. Regardless of how you were elected, show us how your going to bring about change...don't yap about it, for crying out loud!

Folks, we need people to bring things together, not keep them apart. The mayor of Evansville, in which the city councel is not all Democrats and one Republican...and he ran uncontested, bragged "What a win for the Democrats, huh?" Later on, he continued, that a his win was a win for Evansville.

I'm all for being proud and confident of yourself...but come on. In a city of 150,000 there was 15,000 voters in that election!!! Is that really something to brag about?

I'll say this much...Barack Obama at least brings people together rather than push people away. I can even see myself voting for him over some so-called conservatives that may wind up with the nomination. And that's what we should demand from elected officials at all levels. If someone is satisified with a victory in which there could only been as much as 20% voter turnout, that's someone who doesn't have lofty enough goals.

American in Economic Trouble

Ok...we need to face some facts, as Americans. Our country is great...there's no other country like it. It's also facing some potentially horrible times. Recent polls say that the number one concern of people is the economy. I know that it is my number one fear. There are obviously many concerns, but the economy is at the forefront of many people's minds.

Now I don't want this blog to become about doom and gloom, but I also can't turn away and pretend everything is rosy when it isn't. The economy is something that is complicated, but something that I think is made out to be too complicated...so much so that not many people truly understand what is going on. I won't stand here and pretend that I do understand everything that's going on, but I do believe that things are headed in the wrong direction.

What I plan on doing is taking on small segments so it won't be overwhelming. If we talk about the falling dollar, housing crisis, interest rates, productivity, deficits, etc. in one post, it will be too much. But my hope is that after several segments, people will get a better feel for how those things affect the economy.

So for this post, I just want to talk about the falling dollar and how the Federal Reserve affects it. Now, the Federal Reserve, quoting from it's website "is the central bank of the United States and provides the nation with a safe, flexible, and stable monetary and financial system". The important thing to know is that there is currently little oversight to the Federal Reserve. They are run almost like a corporation, aside from monthly meetings that they have with congress to tell them what they are going to do, but they don't have to take instructions from congress on how to run the national bank.

Among other things, the Federal Reserve has the ability to create/print money, and it is precisely this ability that is creating the falling dollar. This can be explained simply by the law of supply and demand. The more supply there is, the less demand there is for it, and thusly the more the price must lower to create sufficient demand to meet the supply.

Think of it in terms of...oh say...cars. Let's say someone made a car that many people would want...one that very safe, roomy, runs on water, and gives out no pollution. So the manufacturer says that the cars will be selling for $10,000. Initially, everyone wants one, so the price quickly rises to $30,000 based on high demand. Soon, the manufacturer is able to multiply his production of these new cars by ten fold. Before too long, the price on the exact same car would drop down...and let's say that the manufacturer begins producing so many throughout the world, that to sell one, he now has to lower the prict to say $5000, because there is a greater supply of them out there.

That's what's happening to the US Dollar. The Federal Reserve has the ability to, and does, print new money often enough, causing our dollar to fall in value. But in value to what? In value to other country's currency. A country doesn't have to spend as much of their money to exchange it for the US Dollar if the US Dollar is vastly overcirculated. Conversely, we have to spend more of our money in exchange for a currency that isn't being overcirculated.

Why is that a problem? Because now we have to spend more money to buy the same goods produced in other countries. Oh, by the way, most items that you buy on a daily basis is produced in another country. Not good. Has anyone noticed the price we pay for a barrel of oil recently, despite the production of oil having not changed at all?

This is something that the front-runners of the presidential race should be, but aren't, discussing. It's up to us to let them know that they need to develop an economic plan if they want to be elected.

NUMB3RS...

Ok...so I watch a lot of TV...cutting back will be a resolution for another year, provided I can keep the ones I made this year. Anyway, regardless of how much television I do or don't watch, this show has got to be one of my favorite shows of all time.

There's two main reasons for this. Aside from being entertaining, it is fascinating how much Math they can come up with to put in this show. Now, if you are planning on hopping on to say that there is no way the math used in the show would work in real life, save it. I don't want to hear it. I don't KNOW how realistic this show is...for those not familiar, this show is about a mathematician genius helping out the FBI to solve crimes...but it seems like it's realistic, so for me, it is. I didn't do poorly in Math, but if this show was around when I was in high school, I am sure I would have looked at Math differently. A show like this should give Math teachers hope in finding ways to make Math entertaining enough to teach it to people.

And the second reason this is one of my favorite shows, is that every show ends highlighting the importance of family. For the life of me, I don't know how successful I'll be at raising my kids, but I'll consider my life a success if, at the end of the day, my kids and their family will realize the importance of family unity.

If you haven't seen the show, I highly recommend it. I don't know how many different ways they can have Charlie, the mathematician, help the FBI out, but I know I'll watch every episode I can of this show...and at the end, when the family sits around the table for dinner, laughing, I'll be hoping that, in the future, my family can stay close enough to resemble that unity.

Ellsworth for Re-election

I live near Evansville, Indiana. My representative is Brad Ellsworth(D). I may not agree with everything he does, but believe it or not, I do agree with much of it. I believe he represents me well...aside from voting for the crazy spending bills that this government has put forth. So he will be getting my vote for re-election this November.

I'll admit, when I didn't vote in the last election, I didn't want him to win. Why? Sadly, mostly because of a negative attack add that centered around the claim that Brad Ellsworth, a former Sheriff, had his daughter's speeding ticket fixed. I don't know if that claim is true or not, but I've come not to care. Only recently did I admit to myself that if I had the opportunity to "take care" of a speeding ticket of one of my kids, I'd likely do it. It would be passing up an opportunity to teach them a valuable lesson, certainly, but given the hassle that comes along with getting a ticket, I'd probably "take care" of the ticket for them.

I can also tell you two people that DO NOT have my support...both Indiana Senators, Richard Lugar(R) and Evan Bayh(D). Neither of them return my emails. Brad has returned nearly every one. Most recently I let him know how disappointed I was with his vote on the Budget Bill, outlining the reasons I've spoke of here before. It was a perfect opportunity, and to be honest I expected it, to ignore the email altogether because it called into question his voting record. To my surprise, he did reply. He outlined reasons why he thought it was good that he voted for it...he even mentioned things that he wish would have received more money for, but he also showed concern for cutting spending on other wasteful programs.

While he didn't detail what he would have liked to spend more on, or what he deemed wasteful, he earned my respect for merely replying to a topic that he could have easily ignored. I call on everyone in Indiana's 8th district to research Brad's voting record and see that he's clearly doing his best not to represent himself, but to represent us.

He needs to be mindful in the future, to stay in touch, stay along this same path, and keep representing the Indiana residents, but I see no reason why he shouldn't be re-elected...not one. And again...he will be recieving my vote.

Target Sucks...

I vow...now...this very minute (well technically I vowed this last night, but it sounds better if my epiphany is happening real time) that I shall never buy another item from Target again, ever. Not even an aspirin, a soda, a stick of gum.

For the longest time, I've not liked Target. They NEVER have anything in stock that I'm shopping for. There's a slot for the item, but I guess their Just-In-Time stocking is severely lacking. That or it's just a cruel hoax to make you think they plan on stocking items that you need, when they have no intention of ever doing so. And it's been that way for several years. For example...for several years in a row, the week that the newest Madden Playstation game came out I'd go buy it. For those not in the know, a new Madden game comes out each year because it's a football game and each year the creators over at EA Sports like to delete useful options such as using a customized playbook in Franchise mode and add useless options such as SuperStar mode. Also they like to update the roster each year, but I'd prefer to dwell on the negative right now, thank you.

Anyway, for three years running, I'd go to Target the week the new Madden came out and sure enough...out of stock. Folks, it's the most popular sports title around, and a bankable seller in August each year. EA, I'm sure, makes plenty of games to go around. Why can't Target have them in stock??

Because they suck.

But I've tolerated them for those three years, mostly because my wife loves the store, and partially because I get a kick out of making the same old tired joke to her that we are getting ready to waste a half hour of our lives by going there because they won't have one item we are shopping for. Then I love to gloat how after we are done shopping at Target, we now get to go fight the crowds and uncomprendable long lines at Wal-Mart to shop for the other half of our shopping list that...you guessed it...wasn't stocked at Target. Luckily, she puts up with my obnoxiousness as it pertains to Target, and I love her for that.

So...here's the straw that broke this camel's back. I headed over to good ole Target to return a few Christmas items that I couldn't use...PC Games...each still wrapped...each with the large Target magnetic, security sticker on it. No, I didn't have the receipt...they're gifts people. Believe it or not, some people still don't like putting receipts with Christmas gifts they are giving out. I know, I know, the nerve of some people wanting their presents to be used by the person they give the gift to. That's heavy sarcasm for the dense retailers out there.

I should also add that I was returning a movie that my well-intentioned, mother purchased for my 5-year-old daughter. It was inappropriate, but that's beside the point.

Low and behold, Target only allows a total of 2 items returned with out a receipt...PER YEAR. Hello?!?! Anyone paying attention over at Target? Per YEAR?? Wait...there's more. On top of that, one of Target's rules is that they won't return any item without a receipt that costs more than $20. *sigh* Twenty Bucks??!! Target is supposed to be the Wal-Mart for affluent customers. Not including food, is the average price per item in their store even less than $20??

So I did get to return my daughter's video and one game that was *gasp* $19.99. Then I went on the nerve-wracking event to find an item that one, I wanted, and two, was in stock, to spend my new handy-dandy $30 gift card on. It was not a fun journey...nor was it a quick one...did I mention that Target doesn't have many items that normal customers want in stock?

And so, no less than a half hour later, I walked to the register...which unlike Wal-Mart didn't have long lines - because every patron in the store is just trying to find something in-stock to buy...and purchased Glenn Beck's new book and a roll of auto-glass wipes for my wife. As I exited the store, I vowed never to spend another red-cent in the establishment in my entire life.

But now that I think about it, it's not as if I'd ban my wife from shopping there, so here's my new vow...I'll never step foot in target again as long as I live. Not even to go to the bathroom. See...I did get to have my real-time epiphany after all.

Of course if we move back near a Super Target while my kids are still young and there's a Photoshop there, all bets are off. They take great pictures at a great price. Sometimes I miss Indianapolis.

*sigh* Big Government Democrats...

Sorry for taking some time off...the family took turns at being sick for the new year. So I'll just try to make a quick note about how I think big government is not a good idea. In the Democrat's bid to take the moral high ground on major issues, they will ultimately drive the economy into further duress, tax the heck out of everyone, and build a federal government so big that the gaps in nearly all government offices will be much worse than the gaps in intelligence agencies leading up to 9/11.

Let me just say that I like education reform, health care reform, and the like, if not in whole at least in part. But have those socialized, that is to say run by federal government is apalling. Many agree that No Child Left Behind has been largely a disaster. So how is adding more government involvement to education reform going to help?? I agree that there must be some national standards, but the states need to decide how best to meet those standards.

And Barack...you're going to cut health care spending and expenses as a means to nationalized health care?? Please. Are you going to make it impossible for someone to sue a doctor that acts with malpractice? That's one of the main reasons that health care prices are so high...malpractice insurance is outrageous.

Does anyone see shady doctors charging the government $4000 for an office visit and some antibiotics? Because I can...and the federal government will be so innundated that it will take forever to investigate phony charges, if ever.

So folks...you have to realize that, while definitely worthy causes, nationalized health care, education reform...none of these will be solved by a bloated federal government. It must be taken care of at the state level. Don't let candidates talking of high moral issues cause you to be blinded by what would inevitablly happen if a over-sized government took over operations of those worthy causes.