Non-partisan chicken humor

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

SARAH PALIN: Before it got to the other side, I shot the chicken, cleaned and dressed it, and had chicken for lunch.

BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a change! The chicken wanted change!

JOHN MC CAIN: My friends that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.

HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure right from Day One that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.

GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

DICK CHENEY: Where's my gun?

COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.

BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with that chicken. What is your definition of chicken?

AL GORE: I invented the chicken.

JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now and will remain against it.

AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.

DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken doesn't realize that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his current problems before adding new problems.

OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed access to the other side of the road.

NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because he's guilty! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.

PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.

DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain, alone.

GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS: Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart-warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its lifelong dream of crossing the road.

ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.

BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken 2008, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken 2008. This new platform is much more stable and will never crash or need to be rebooted.

ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?

COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?

INSANE DIEGO: It was stapled to a punk rocker.

4th Estate or 5th Column?

I just signed petition to the LA Times asking them to release the Barack video they're sitting on.

They need to let the public decide not suppress the truth.

With less than a week before Election Day, the L.A. Times has
decided to
withhold a potentially explosive video featuring
presidential candidate
Barack Obama and Rashid Khalidi, a
pro-terrorist radical and one-time
spokesman for the late
PLO head Yasser Arafat, rather than allow the public
to view
the video and make up their own minds.

If they do release the video promptly it would show that maybe, just maybe in some part the LA Times still is part of the 4th Estate -- not part of a 5th Column.

Hie thee hence and do likewise. LINK

A Duty Not to Vote?

John Stossel raises the question of voters who, if honest with themselves, are too uninformed to cast a thoughtful vote. He's not talking about restricting the franchise by law. What he's suggesting is that a duty may exist to self-censorship.

I know I'm swimming against the tide. Get-out the-vote groups now register young
people at rock concerts. HeadCount cofounder Andy Bernstein told me: "We registered over a 100,000 people. It is so imperative that this generation's voice is heard."
But wait. Is that really a good idea? Many kids don't know much. At a HeadCount concert, "20/20" asked some future voters, "How many senators are there?" One said 12, another 16, and another 64. One girl guessed, "50 per state."
Most kids didn't know what Roe v. Wade was about. "Roe vs.
Wayne?" asked one. "Segregation, maybe?" "Where we declared bankruptcy?"

...more

After all, in the words of the great 20th Century American philosopher, Harry Callahan, "A man's got to know his limitations."

Brainiac Barbie

My two regular readers here are probably aware of my bias toward Wasilla Women.

Then there's this article that just showed up. h/t Hugh Hewitt.

Elaine Lafferty "The former editor in chief of Ms. magazine (and a
Democrat) on what she learned on a campaign plane with the would-be
VP..."

At least the blogger didn't go as far as NOW's Kim Gandy and declare
that Palin was not a woman. Bottom line: you are not a feminist until we say you
are. And there you have the formula for diminishing what was once a great and
important mass social change movement to an exclusionary club that rejects women
who sincerely want to join and, God forbid, grow to lead.

MORE...

Now if you'll excuse me I need to check the Weather Channel. A former Ms editor...

Hell may have just froze over...

Got my Zane Thang On

Fired up the engine. Raised the lift. Got a slightly better angle to work the c-clamp press. It was tight all the way out but after I exposed the pin's shaft, it came the last bit with a 28 oz persuader and visegrips.



Ah, the sweet sweet smell of success (and penetrating oil).






Voila! Seems to work fine sitting in the drive. Now to head down to the field and see how it does holding position moving some gravel around. Not just now though, sitting here in my Sunday best (such as it is)...

Git yer Zane Thang On!

How to turn a 5 minute job into an all day off and on project...

Seemed simple enough to push a pin out of the lift arm on my tractor and replace it with a longer bolt. I need the bolt to install a Zane Thang which will allow control of the lift position.

Woulda' been simple job if that pin hadn't apparently been in the same hole since 1941. It's happy there. Doesn't want to leave it's comfy, cozy home.

So far it has resisted my increasing insistent ministrations. First tapping, then penetrating oil, prying, vise grips, an puller improvised from a socket and nasty old c-clamp.

Rassin' Crassin'...

One more try with the puller tomorrow, then the torch is coming out.

The New Party Candidate?

The New Party, formed by members of the Democratic Socialists for America and leaders of an offshoot of the Community Party USA, was an electoral alliance that worked alongside the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN. The New Party's aim was to help elect politicians to office who espouse its policies...

...The party's Spring 1996 newspaper boasted: "New Party members won three other primaries this Spring in Chicago: Barack Obama (State Senate), Michael Chandler (Democratic Party Committee) and Patricia Martin (Cook County Judiciary). The paper quoted Obama saying "these victories prove that small 'd' democracy can work.
"

The newspaper lists other politicians it endorsed who were not members but specifies Obama as a New Party member.

More at Worldnet Daily...

Don't we all think it would be nice to see the MSM in the game investigating all candidates in good faith and with intellectual honesty?

Let the chips fall where they may. When the MSM fails in this regard it just fuels the fires of the nutter_truther_tin-foil hatter_conspiracy theorists. Then we all lose.

Right or Left, Conservative, Liberal, Independant or Undecided...

The Truth Shall You Free.

Unity in Babel?

The ultimate oxymoron? Unity in the birthplace of disunity (confusion)? Well maybe not unity just yet, but, certainly encouraging progress.

Babil became the 12th province turned over the Iraqi Government today.
The province included the Sunni "triangle of death" that was once a dangerous area but has seen a turnaround since the Bush Surge of 2007.
The AFP reported:


Iraqi forces on Thursday took control of the central Shiite province of Babil, the 12th of Iraq's 18 provinces to be handed over by American troops to Baghdad.

Link

London Gazette 2.12.19

Awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

No. S/10957
Sergeant A. McLean
5th Battalion, Cameron Highlanders

On the 20th of October, 1918, in the attack on St. Louis, when his Company was held up by machine gun fire, he rushed forward alone with his Lewis gun, and, opening fire, he put the enemy gun out of action, killing two of the team, wounding one, and and causing the remainder of the enemy to retire. The machine gun was captured. On 25th and 26th October, near Ootegham, he on three separate occasions made reconnaisssances on his own initiative, and returned with valuable information of the enemy's dispositions. He showed splendid courage and did excellent work.

Published in London Gazette 2.12.19

89 years and 1 day later -- lift a glass to memory of (Grandpa) Arthur McLean, D.C.M.
(British War Medal 1914 with 1914 star)

He survived the trenches from 1914 to 1918 and brought his family to the States only to die in 1929(31?) of a pimple on his temple before the age of antibiotics. The irony...

Quote o' the day

nuff said.

Seek peace...

You know how if you pray for patience you can pretty much count on getting your patience tested?

Looks like the same thing happens when you preach on "Perfecting Unity" (Jn 17:23).
Sure as shootin' something will come up that gives you a chance to "Seek peace and pursue it."

You can take that to the bank.

Ask me how I know. /heh

Change is painful in human relationships, be they families, workplaces, or churches. Problems usually come from the most experienced, high tenure, so-called "mature" corners of the fellowship. Howls of "that's not Biblical" are quick to rise.

More often it's a case of Who Moved My Cheese?



Over time traditions and "family" ways of doing things morph into doctrine. Much is added to scripture without it being found in scripture. Great mental gymnastics ensue to make a case "supporting" from scripture the tradition as ordained by God. Or not. Often it is just stated as having scriptural authority but is unsupported (unsupportable).

Growing up in the 60's and 70's along the I-5 corridor we had some interesting characters drift into to town and our little church. It seems we were on the hitchhiking hippy/Jesus People trail between California and Seattle. As a result we faced questions about church traditions earlier and more frequently that more insulated Assemblies elsewhere in flyover country.

In retrospect I really had a wise father (he was an elder in our little Assembly at the time). When questions and upset about church practices arose (esp relating to the Lord's Supper, i.e. Rembrance Meeting or Breaking of Bread) he would typically defer answering. Instead he would direct us to check out the Bible for ourselves.

He'd answer our question with a question, "What does the Bible tell us about how to conduct the Breaking of Bread?" More often than not the answer back to him was "Not much." We're mostly told what not to do (ie I Corinthians out of control "Love feasts").

Well I (we Elders) have "stepped in it" a bit with some of the more (ahem) "mature" believers of late.

Sing a song out of the "wrong" hymnal for the Rembrance Service (RS)? Ruh-ohh!

Turn on the projector and PC during the RS so that worship hymns and choruses are available if called out during the RS? Heresy!

Lose our pianist to poor health and life threatening surgery? Fill in the gap with guitar and on rare occasion (super skillful) banjo?

*aside: By the way the banjo is just brilliant on many traditional Brethren hymns -- it's as if they were written perfectly for bluegrass. It's a very traditional sound but done well and (surprisingly) our younger generation of city kids actually relate well to the bluegrass sound.

Never mind that all the hymnals are still available and can (and are) still used. It's somehow just not in line with our "Brethren Distinctives." Hey if the "black hymnal" was good enough for the Apostle Paul it should be good enough for us. That settles it! Singing that hymnal is the biblical approach. Yep, and I'll argue it till the cows come home.

/sarcasm off

So back to Paul's instruction to Timothy for me as a Younger (oops, I mean Elder).
Let no one despise your youth... Teach, exhort, reprove... with patience..

As for what is truly biblical in the Church's practice: to the "mature" I remind them,

It ain't what a man don't know that makes him a fool.
It's what he does know that ain't so.
-Josh Billings-

No kidding, eh?

Take off, eh Hoser?



From the MANITOBA HERALD, Canada (a very underground paper):

A flood of American liberals sneaking across the border into Canada has intensified in the past week, sparking calls for increased patrols to stop the illegal immigration.

The possibility of a McCain/Palin election is prompting the exodus among left-leaning citizens who fear they‚ll soon be required to hunt, pray, and agree with Bill O‚Reilly. Canadian border farmers say it‚s not uncommon to see dozens of sociology professors, animal rights activists and Unitarians crossing their fields at night.

„I went out to milk the cows the other day, and there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn,‰ said Manitoba farmer Red Greenfield, whose acreage borders North Dakota. The producer was cold, exhausted and hungry. ŒHe asked me if I could spare a latte and some free-range chicken. When I said I didn‚t have any, he left. Didn‚t even get a chance to show him my screenplay, eh?‚

In an effort to stop the illegal aliens, Greenfield erected higher fences, but the liberals scaled them. So he tried installing speakers that blare Rush Limbaugh across the fields. ŒNot real effective,‚ he said. ŒThe liberals still got through, and Rush annoyed the cows so much they wouldn‚t give milk.‚

Officials are particularly concerned about smugglers who meet liberals near the Canadian border, pack them into Volvo station wagons, drive them across the border and leave them to fend for themselves. ŒA lot of these people are not prepared for rugged conditions,‚ an Ontario border patrolman said. ŒI found one carload without a drop of drinking water. ŒThey did have a nice little Napa Valley cabernet, though.‚

When liberals are caught, they‚re sent back across the border, often wailing loudly that they fear retribution from conservatives. Rumors have been circulating about the McCain administration establishing re-education camps in which liberals will be forced to shoot wolves from airplanes, deny evolution, and act out drills preparing them for the Rapture.

In recent days, liberals have turned to sometimes-ingenious ways of crossing the border. Some have taken to posing as senior citizens on bus trips to buy cheap Canadian prescription drugs. After catching a half-dozen young vegans disguised in powdered wigs, Canadian immigration authorities began stopping buses and quizzing the supposed senior-citizen passengers on Perry Como and Rosemary Clooney hits to prove they were alive in the ‚50s. ŒIf they can‚t identify the accordion player on The Lawrence Welk Show, we get suspicious about their age,‚ an official said.

Canadian citizens have complained that the illegal immigrants are creating an organic-broccoli shortage and renting all the good Susan Sarandon movies. ŒI feel sorry for American liberals, but the Canadian economy just can‚t support them,‚ an Ottawa resident said. ŒHow many art-history and English majors does one country need?‚

Zombie medicine

Scored at the used bargain barrel this week...

Stopped by local gun pusher on the way home. Spotted a used 18.5" cyl bore for a Remington 870. It's almost in new condition.

I've been shopping for an HD barrel for my son's Magnum Wingmaster, but, not wanting to pay full retail. It's even gloss blue at almost half the price of same unit w/ bead blasted finish. Good things come to those who wait.


Good to go for goblins in close quarters now.

Why?

What genius at VW designs a plastic water fitting to bolt directly to a diesel engine head?

My guess? One who knows better but has no choice since he is working at gunpoint held by an accountant.

Result? Early life failure. At least it was a seepage and not a total blowout -- didn't strand me by the side of the road.

O'course it didn't speed things along when the VW parts guy gave me the wrong part first time round. Nothing I enjoy more than going back to an autoparts store a second time to get the right part.
Sarcasm, just another service I offer.

Latest from the Japanese banking industry.....

(pun alert)

Yesterday, we heard that Karaoke Bank is up for sale, due to poor
performance, and will likely go for a song. Today, shares in Kamikaze
Bank initially nose-dived and leveled off very low, despited a fleet of
defensive actions. In the last 12 hours Origami Bank has folded,
expecting never to open again. Also, Sumo Bank has gone belly up and
Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut back a number of branches.
Furthermore, it was just announced that 500 staff at Karate Bank got the
chop.

In somewhat better territory, Samurai Bank is soldiering on following
sharp cutbacks in close trading; and although Ninja Bank is reported to
have taken hits, it remains in the black.

Meanwhile, analysts report that there is something fishy going on at
Sushi Bank, where it is feared that staff and customers may get a raw
deal in the open market.

Perfecting Unity

lite blogging alert... prepping for Sunday message on our Chapel's theme for the coming year (title of this post). Taken from Jesus' prayer at the end of his upper room discourse (John 17:15-23).

Jesus' High Priestly prayer starts with "Sanctify them in truth." Continues on to pray that the fruit of that would be the church "perfected in unity." (heh, you see a lot that?) Ultimate goal of Jesus' prayer is "that the world may know."

There you go. 3 points. You've heard all of it.

Now you can sleep in Sunday and stay home to watch the Chargers and Bills play at 1000 PST instead of sleeping through me sermonizing. ;-)

No TiVo required.

By any means necessary?

Seems to be the thinking... Their cause is "just" therefore their means are justified. Especially since it's been clearly established that voters on the Right of the political spectrum are bad people.

That there is a key bit of clarity for our times. Those on the right think folks on the left are wrong, well intentioned, but, wrong in their thinking. On the other hand, those on the left think people on the right are bad people.

Now then, once they've concluded someone is a bad person they can rationalize all sorts of behavior to contain them. Their higher cause is just and their opponents are bad people:h therefore facist intimidation and suppression of the opposition is justified.

Case in point: Roger's latest column

The pattern is unmistakable. The drumbeat of jackboots echoes now faintly, but persistently, in the fall breeze.

They came for Jessica, and I will not be silent.

Escape to the movies

Saw "American Carol" this afternoon with the Son&Heir and wife. Good fun seeing Micheal What's_His_Name roasted. Excellent performance by Kelsey Grammar as Gen. Patton. Scary brilliant, but too brief, portrayal of George Washington by Jon Voight.

The ACLU lawyer bit with Dennis Hopper and trench sweepers was my favorite gag.

Funniest spot would have been the Rosie parody if she hadn't actually said that stuff in real life. The lines were all straight from her mouth -- my son didn't realize that until after the show. Seriously, you can't make some of this stuff up. You just have to go with what people have actually said.

Cruder than necessary to make it's points and jokes work -- didn't really expect otherwise considering Zucker's previous work. Still, no pangs dropping a few bucks at the box office to support this parody of one of generation's most prolific misrepresenters of truth (how's that for a euphemism?).

Cramer capitulates?

The Boo-yah boy says get yer cash out that'll you'll need for the next five years. Is that sound advice or capitulation? Here's hoping it's capitulation that (in retrospect) will mark the bottom of this stock crash.

Maybe this most recent market action is not about the debt bubble though. If Mr Market is a discounter of the unseen future then the debt business which is seen may be a red herring for this week's price action. Maybe Mr. Market is discounting the results of the Presidential Election. Hmmm,...

Time will tell. Don't jump off no rollercoasters. You'll get hurt for certain. I'm no good at calling tops but I've been pretty "successful" in selling the bottoms in the past. Yeah, that rollercoaster jump hurt, it did. Too late to take more cash for me. I'm still in and still puttin' in (my 401K) -- time will tell, indeed.

Was thinking how Joseph made all that money for Pharoah. Maybe we'll all be selling our property and persons into bondage by the time we're through (either real or figuratively to a statist leader).

On that cheery note. Happy Friday. God is good. All the time.

Too much 'ttention to the news?

Me thinks it has been for me. A reminder for me,

Phillipians 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Chickens home to roost? Finally?

Ruh-roh!

Looks like this nut might finally get cracked. Question is, will it have any affect "The One" at the polls?

What could have been. What still may be?

...
in 2005 Alan Greenspan told Congress how urgent it was for it to act in the clearest possible terms: If Fannie and Freddie ``continue to grow, continue to have the low capital that they have, continue to engage in the dynamic hedging of their portfolios, which they need to do for interest rate risk aversion, they potentially create ever-growing potential systemic risk down the road,'' he said. ``We are placing the total financial system of the future at a substantial risk.''

What happened next was extraordinary. For the first time in history, a serious Fannie and Freddie reform bill was passed by the Senate Banking Committee. The bill gave a regulator power to crack down, and would have required the companies to eliminate their investments in risky assets.

Different World

If that bill had become law, then the world today would be different. ...

More....

Sarracuda: Raising the Roof

She hits a 3 pt shot with a heckler like it's nothing, like she can do it all day. Like she's sayin' "Plenty more where that came from."


h/t the Magnificent Michelle

F_o' the IM, "Cowboys and Indians"

TNT (Flail of the Iron Minotaur, Part Deux)

They were back in the saddle last Friday night with a 5 song set. It was the Son&Heir's debut singing -- well that's what they call it nowdays I guess...

Awake!

Awakening Chorus
A 1st Stanza:

Awake awake! and sing the blessed story;

Awake awake! and let your song of praise arise;

Awake awake! the earth is full of glory,

And light is beaming from the radiant skies;

The rocks and rills, the vales and hills resound with gladness,

All nature joins to sing the triumph song.



Chorus:

The Lord Jehovah reigns and sin is backward hurled!

Rejoice rejoice! lift heart and voice, Jehovah reigns!

Proclaim His sov'reign pow'r to all the world,

And let His glorious banner be unfurled! Jehovah reigns!

Rejoice rejoice rejoice! Jehovah reigns.



2nd Stanza:

Ring out! ring out! O bells of joy and gladness!

Repeat, repeat, a new the story o'er again,

Till all the earth shall lose its weight of sadness,

And shout anew the glorious refrain;

With the angels in the heights sing of the great Salvation,

He wrested from the hand of sin and death.

The race well run

up sleepless in the early hours. fretting.
praying fitfully.
singing hymns in the dark at the dining room table.
Faith in God who created all things and holds all things together.
Peace.

Can't find the one in my head in the hymnals at hand. Found lyrics online. Oh the memories. Tears well up thinking of God's goodness to me. The family I was born to, the parents I was blessed to have. A dad (and mom) I've always been proud of. A dad who's fading now at 83. Came to visit this weekend from Seattle -- his last hurrah roadtrip. A son of Midwest pioneers who himself pioneered in Alaska.

Passed out standing up in my closet yesterday as we looked at a rifle of mine. Hit his head on the way down, caving in the drywall. Thought I'd lost him, that he'd died right there as I hustled to help him/reposition him.


Grace of God another day together this side of glory. A strong man, a man of impeccable integrity, wouldn't take a paperclip home from the office that wasn't his. My hero all my life. An unmatched example of godliness this side of heaven. A faithful man.

All flesh is like grass. A life lived to share the good news, children's work, Gideons, prison outreach, church planter, teacher, discipler, Elder/pastor. God Lover.
No fear for those who are in Christ Jesus. Hope that will not disappoint.

Great God of Wonders
1 GREAT God of wonders! all thy ways
Display the attributes divine;
But countless acts of pardoning grace
Beyond thine other wonders shine:
Who is a pardoning God like thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?

2 Crimes of such horror to forgive,
Such guilty, daring worms to spare;
This is thy grand prerogative,
And none may in this honour share:
Who is a pardoning God like thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?

3 In wonder lost, with trembling joy
We take the pardon of our God;
Pardon for crimes of deepest dye,
A pardon bought with Jesu's blood:
Who is a pardoning God like thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?

4 0 may this strange, this matchless grace,
This God-like miracle of love,
Fill the wide earth with grateful praise,
As now it fills the choirs above!
Who is a pardoning God like thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?

West is best

Been busy with family visiting, kid's soccer, Son&Heir concert (video to follow when i get time for Youtube download). Here's a oldie but goodie to fill some space...


Rules for Blue Staters taking up residence in Utah, Colorado, Montana, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Idaho and the Wild West are as follows:

1. Pull your pants up. You look like an idiot.

2. Turn your cap right, your head ain't crooked.

3. Let's get this straight: it's called a 'gravel road.' I drive a pickup truck because I want to. No matter how slow you drive, you're gonna get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way.

4. They are cattle. That's why they smell to you. They smell like money to us. Get over it. Don't like it? I-80 goes east and west, I-15 goes north and south. Pick one.

5. So you have a $60,000 car. We're impressed. We have $250,000 combines that are driven only 3 weeks a year.

6. Every person in the Wild West waves. It's called being friendly. Try to understand the concept.

7. If that cell phone rings while a bunch of geese/pheasants/ducks/doves are comin' in during the hunts, we WILL shoot it outa your hand. You better hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.

8. Yeah. We eat trout, salmon, deer and elk. You really want sushi and caviar you can get them at the bait store on the corner.

9. The 'Opener' refers to the first day of deer season. It's a religious holiday held the closest Saturday to the first of November.

10. We open doors for women. That's applied to all women, regardless of age.

11. No, there's no 'vegetarian special' on the menu. Order steak, or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of ham & turkey.

12. When we fill out a table, there are three main dishes: meats, vegetables, and breads We use three spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup! Oh, yeah... We don't care what you folks in Cincinnati call that stuff you eat... IT AIN'T REAL CHILI!!

13. You bring 'Coke' into my house, it better be brown, wet and served over ice. You bring 'Mary Jane' into my house, she better be cute, know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair.

14. College and High School Football is as important here as the Lakers and the Knicks, and a dang site more fun to watch.

15. Yeah, we have golf courses. But don't hit the water hazards -- it spooks the fish.

16. Colleges? We have them all over. We have State Universities, Universities, and Vo-techs. They come outta there with an education plus a love for God and country, and they still wave at everybody when they come home for the holidays.

17. We have more folks in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines than all of you put together, so don't mess with us. If you do, you'll get whipped by the best.

18. Turn down that blasted car stereo! That thumpity-thump crap ain't music, anyway. We don't want to hear it anymore than we want to see your boxers! Refer back to #1!

Como le va

Lots of goings on in Bolivia. Still taking to the streets Texas style. Here's hoping and praying forces of liberty and good prevail.

I don't have any striking observations or analysis to add to stuff being blogged by others. Just a bit of personal interest to add -- asked my family there how they're faring -- this came back:

Hi, yes, we are in the news. Our President gave a very convincing
speech on CNN last night!! Never heard communism called democracy before but
that is what he calls it!! (this might be censured) For the past 3 weeks
we have not received mail, roads closed all around and American Airlines
will have no flights from Miami to Bolivia until Sept. 30. The US Embassy
just informed us. Today the roadblocks around the city of Sta. Cruz (4 hours
away from us) were lifted for 3 weeks. They may resume later! What a mess.
We usually get money out of the ATMs there so since it was all closed off
yesterday still we drove south to Yacuiba (on the Argentina border) and got
money out of ATMs there. There is one ATM here in xxxxxxx but we can only
withdraw small amounts.

VP debate reflections

The pistol packin' momma had her way with the old Beltway insider right from the start. "Can I call you Joe?"


Slow Joe didn't blatantly embarrass himself but it'll be interesting to see what the fact checkers come up comparing some of his statements to the record. If the minimum standard Gov Palin needed to meet was to demonstrate that she's got a brain, then she won going away.

A conservative I correspond with (and who was hoping for more redmeat) thinks Gov Palin "blatantly dodged questions, kept going back to buzzwords."

My response? "You say that like it's a BAD thing!"

Dodged questions?
It's called reframing the debate or question. It shows presence of mind, strength, a tactical awareness and ability to stay with the message she wanted to get out -- not just acquiesce to the moderator's agenda. The moderator isn't running for anything -- her agenda should be of no, or little, consequence.

Going back to buzzwords?
Again, that was Palin successfully staying on message. Repetition is fundamental to getting the message out. Remember that half the bell curve lives on the south side of the mean and are slow on the uptake -- and many of them vote. Also, remember who the candidates are trying to communicate with during these debates (hint, it's not the firmly entranced fringe).

The candidate needs to connect with people who are undecided and probably haven't been paying too much attention so far. A large % of the population doesn't really tune in to the race until about a month before election day.

As for the moderator...
Subtle bias is more powerful than blatant bias.
Just like the best lie is the one that has 99% truth.

At one point well into the debate Ifill had given Biden something like a 6:1 advantage in number of times he was allowed to rebutt and clipped Palin short/changed the subject on a couple strong answers from Palin.

whattya think?

This new Palin ad resonate with you?