November
1 November
Magic Circle RV Park
Willcox, AZ
It has cooled down the past couple of days and the weather gurus are now giving tomorrow a 40% chance of rain and almost a week of much cooler temperatures. Expecting the highs to be in the 60s with the lows down into the upper 30s. They then say it will warm up again so winter is not here yet but it is on the way.
A morning spent building Map APIs. You would think it would become easier but I have not found that to be the case. There were two of the five that I did that were very easy but the other three were much harder than I thought they should have been. When selecting a LatLng you need to be lucky or know a lot more than I do to get Google to draw the route where you want it.
Did nothing else. Started another book so I was on the couch with Patches. The new book is a mystery novel that has started off well so it will probably be a quick read.
The review by Kirkus says it all and more. It was 'Uris' persistently researched and reconstituted history goes even further back with 18th century insets and the potato famine and Parnell and, and, and' that I think bogged down the fist half of the novel for me. I enjoy historical fiction very much but this seemed to drag on and on.
With his usual partisan magnanimity, Uris devotes himself to another popular/unpopular lost cause, the Irish, and in particular the Fenian struggle which extended from the mid 19th century to the Easter Monday Uprising of 1916 in all its "Terrible Beauty." The Trinity of the title, according to the publishers, refers to three families (only two are around for most of the book) but surely must be the past, present and future which keeps repeating itself inexorably through the years. Uris' persistently researched and reconstituted history goes even further back with 18th century insets and the potato famine and Parnell and, and, and. Prominent here, not really by virtue of characterization, is Conor Larkin, a crofty whose "hungering to read" leads to considerable knowledge if never enough to escape his Bogside beginnings; then there are the Hubbles and Weeds, affiliated by wealth, their British backgrounds, and marriage, eventually unto Roger Hubble, political major-domo of western Ulster and his "smashing" wife Caroline who can't help but notice the attractive Conor. But he will fall in love with a Scots-Presbyterian girl, an unthinkable liaison in terms of politics and the Church, just as Jeremy Hubble's love for a girl called Molly Rafferty can never be sanctioned. Out of both fact and fiction, spackled with innumerable "Jaysuses" and "Hail Maws," Uris surely will once again achieve that state of grace where doing good is tantamount to doing well. Be it admitted, he keeps his story sturdily self-perpetuating without interrupting its continuity by so much as having to change the ribbon on his typewriter. - Kirkus Reviews
2 November
Magic Circle RV Park
Willcox, AZ
I was awake, just waiting to get up, when I heard rain on the roof. That went on for about 15 minutes until it was the time to get up. I told Patches that it was raining "It is not fit for man nor beast out there and your the beast - you are going to get wet." She did not care so armed with an umbrella went out to face the storm. There was not any. It was sprinkling some and very dark in the west and north but not raining.
We did a slightly shorter morning walk and Patches did get a little wet but she loved it. I had to engage my umbrella a couple of times but stayed reasonably dry. It has remained very overcast but only a couple of little showers since we got back to the safety of Desperado. It is not a very strong storm but is bringing some cold with it. The forecast is now for a low temperature in the mid 30s for the morning hours during the next 2-3 days. It may be time to break out the wool shirt/jacket.
I added the maps that I built yesterday to the dates of travel in the Journal Pages this morning but did not do any more building. I may do some after our afternoon walk, weather permitting, or if it is raining then that will give me something to do.
Shoplifter vs. Murderer by Monty Pelerin expresses his opinion on the mid-term election. For me the most important part of his article is "If you participate..". You are not compelled to make that choice between shoplifter or murderer if you do not want to. This is a restatement of the premise that you are a virtuous person by voting for the lesser of two evils. I do not agree with that; a vote for any measure of evil is not virtuous.
Pelerin goes on to write about how Doug Ross views this issue. Ross is quoted as saying "The country is polarized. It has been beaten and molded, frightened and cowed, herded into separate camps by something called the Democrat Party, which is less a political entity than it is an idolatrous religion". (Doug Ross @ Journal is also a good web blog)
It is once again time to again exercise your Constitutionally-provided right to select the person who will plunder you for the next two or six years! Ain’t democracy wonderful?!
An entire article could be devoted to Mencken’s contemptuous quotes against these contemptuous people. He abhorred the sham of democracy, politicians and the fools who were taken in by it. Despite his utter disdain, differences of degrees exist between officially elected criminals. On the broad scale of aberrant behavior, they range from the equivalent of merely shoplifters to true murderers. If you participate in this pretense of “of the people, by the people and for the people,” vote for the shoplifter and not the murderer.
When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental — men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost... All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. - H. L. Mencken
3 November
Magic Circle RV Park
Willcox, AZ
I got the most wonderful email yesterday. One of my few blog readers sent it to say that she would take Patches if I should die. I know her only through her blog and our few emails but know that she loves her dogs and Patches would be going to a terrific home.
I am going to name her as first contact because she has arranged care providers that her dogs would go to if she should die first. I will list the Tombstone shelter as a contact if she or the others should not want Patches. The shelter presumably has longevity where individual situations can change considerably over time. I think this is a plan for Patches that I take to the meeting with my soon to be new executor. This is GREAT!
I have avoided naming names up until now but it is getting complicated to know who/what I am writing about unless I do provide some names. The first shelter that I contacted is located in the Bisbee, AZ area and is a small operation which I did not have much confidence that they could help me but I was looking for references. They suggested The Dallas Memorial Hope Fund in Benson AZ.
The Fund was established to help elderly people enjoy the company of a pet without worrying what would become of the animal if they needed to have surgery, were placed in a nursing home and provide peace of mind to these folks, knowing their pets will be cared for no matter what happens to them. That mission does not seem to include taking dogs left to them to care for under provisions in a will - they did not respond to either of two emails so I sent a third that withdrew my request.
I then sent an email to Saving Animals From Euthanasia (SAFE) in Tucson asking them if they would agree to be the second contact on a list to take in Patches if I were to die. They have not responded in a week and I am going to send a second email today. Their web site claims that "One of the most important things we do is to rescue animals for soldiers from Ft. Huachuca". Since Patches was surrendered to the Sierra Vista shelter, where I got her, I thought they would be willing to commit.
We had a stiff wind blowing yesterday afternoon and a few sprinkles. It looked like it was raining hard to the east and south of us so we did an intermediate walk. That is one that is about twice as long as a potty walk and about half of our usual one. Only got slightly damp and patches seemed to be satisfied. Much colder this morning as forecast. Officially it was 41° with the MacD sign claiming it was 40° when we walked past there this morning.
I did get some maps built yesterday afternoon and finished the month of May this morning. This was the month that I drove to OR, traded for Desperado and returned to Pahrump for my first month long stay. I think I'll break the remainder of the 2010 year into two more parts for map building. That will be about 10 maps for each part which a number that I can maintain an interest and concentration on before needing to take a break. I'm slowly getting there.
It is Election Day Eve and the News is filled with pundit predictions that the Democrats are going to take a whipping. But there is the rare article The Love Affair Ends by Erick Erickson at RedState.com that explains why the President continues to believe he is the Messiah and will defeat his enemies.
... it is important to understand the president’s delusions. A series of reports have come out that the White House believes Democrats should embrace the president...It appears the president is still taking it personally. One almost expects President Obama to announce publicly that these Democrats will deny him three times before the rooster crows on Election Day morning. “He doesn’t think they have any reason to run away from him. He thinks there is a strong message there,” a White House official told the Washington Post’s Karen Tumulty.
4 November
Magic Circle RV Park
Willcox, AZ
Election Day 2014. It is all about the election. When all the counting is done and all the analyses have been written will we be any better off that we were yesterday? It is my opinion that the answer to that question is NO. I don't expect that my life will change. I don't expect that the lives of very many Americans will change but the Ministry of Propaganda will be telling us how it has - most likely how it has now become worse.
It was colder again this morning with a low of 37°. The forecast is that we will have these cold morning through Thursday and then warming up into the low 40s for the low temperatures. The high temperatures are still great, in the mid to upper 60s that are expected to move up into the lower 70s. The only thing I have to whine about is the wind.
I finished my latest book and have started another one. I took the two that I have finished to the Park library today and got a Baldacci and another Sandford in trade. The one I started today I may finish before leaving here but then again I may not.
Ten reasons why bluffing, boring, blame-pointing Obama can expect a well-deserved shellacking in the midterm elections by Piers Morgan for MailOnline. Morgan says at the beginning of his article "When Barack Obama was first elected President in 2008, I celebrated by having an exquisitely romantic dinner on a tiny, temporary sand dune in the middle of the Indian Ocean... I was thoroughly entranced by this dynamic young senator. He seemed so fresh, vibrant, eloquent and smart." He then goes on to list the 10 reasons for a well deserved shellacking in today's mid-term elections. This is written by someone that likes and strongly supports him, is there any wonder why his approval numbers are down?
1. HE BREAKS HIS PROMISES.Against Obama, But for What? by Pat Buchanan is a very good article, a great analysis of today's election and comments on who we are as Americans. This is his closing.
2. HIS FOREIGN POLICY STINKS.
3. HE’S A BLUFFER.
4. HE CAN’T GET THE ECONOMY OUT OF THE TANK.
5. HE CAN’T EVEN DO THE RIGHT THINGS RIGHT.
6. HE’S BORING.
7. HE BLAMES REPUBLICANS FOR EVERYTHING.
8. HE CAN’T NEGOTIATE.
9. HE’S DONE NOTHING TO IMPROVE THE LIVES OF MINORITIES.
10. HE PERSISTS IN CALLING US ALL ‘FOLKS’.
When the returns come in, the mainstream media will declare that the country wants the Republican Party to work with President Obama to end the gridlock. Nonsense. If that is what America wanted, the country would have voted Democratic.
A Nancy Pelosi House and Reid-led Senate, with Obama in the Oval Office, would bring an instant end to gridlock. But instead of voting for a Congress to help Obama end gridlock, it will vote to augment the forces of those who have promised to checkmate him.
The country, in short, will vote today — for gridlock.
In a democracy, people get the kind of government they deserve.
The American people are today a deeply divided people — on ideology, politics, faith, morality, race, culture. Americans today — and not for the first time — do not really like each other.
As that is who we are, we will get that kind of Congress. And that is the kind of government we will have, until one half of the nation triumphs decisively over the other, as happened in 1932 and in 1980.
5 November
Magic Circle RV Park
Willcox, AZ
I finished catching up with reading my Monthly blog list last night. That makes me as current with all my blogs as I ever get. I now need to spend some time working on the Will Rogers weekly article links before I get too far behind with them.
This was my first John Sandford book and I now have three more from his Prey Series in my unread library. There are plenty more in the Prey Series which I am guessing all have Lucas as the main character. Lucas has some problems but I liked him and would like to read more with him as the anti-hero. I originally said that this was a mystery but that is only partially true. The main story line is more thriller/suspense since the reader knows all the time who the killers are. The only mystery is the identity of "Loverboy".
This is the third book in the Prey series, which steadily gets better as Sandford falls into the swing of his characters. The series is up to 21 books (as of 2011) and I love almost all of them. I particularly enjoy the development of Lucas Davenport, the protagonist, as he grows from a fairly callous womanizer into a decent, though extremely tough, man over the course of the years. In this book, Lucas is up against Internal Affairs over his brutal beating of a pimp who assaulted one of Davenport's informants. He's also seeking a killer, who turns out to be a pair of psychopaths working together. We never quite find out what makes one of them tick, but the other is well-developed. To top it off, Lucas is struggling to emerge from a suicidal depression after his breakup with his daughter's mother. A secondary character, Del Capslock, previously introduced briefly, comes more to the forefront in this story. This third entry in the series is more tightly plotted than the first two and has a cliffhanger ending. Normally, I'm opposed to cliffhangers, but since I've been following this series for more than a decade, I don't mind it in this case. - Customer Review at goodreads.com
There is a LOT of 2014 mid-term election News available today and there will be more and more to come during the next few days and weeks. The one article that I read today that I thought was most insightful was Lessons From the Night by Erick Erickson for RedState.com. I have quoted only two paragraphs from that article but he discusses 7 important lessons. One of the more important lessons that the Republicans will most likely NOT have learned is "They should also remember that the voters clearly believe government itself is the problem and not just Democrats in charge of it".
The Washington Post article that he makes reference to is also a very good article that discusses the back biting that has been going on within the Democratic Party. The Ministry of Propaganda has written story after story about dissension within the Republican Party with nary a word about what was happening among the Democrats. Now that the election is over such a story can be told.
In the Washington Post, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) Chief of Staff is on record lashing out at the White House. But in the New York Times, Barack Obama claims he has not been repudiated. In fact, liberals believe that the Democrats who did best are the ones who vocally defending Obamacare. They believe that! To win in 2016, Democrats must repudiate Barack Obama. But if they do, his base might not show up for them. If they don’t, the rest of America will reject them again.
Democrats already on the march claiming they’ll be just fine in 2016 might want to slow down. When a President is resentful his party did not stand with him, he is not likely to honestly recognize he has been repudiated. If he believes he is right, he is most likely to think he just needs a better class of voters. Should President Obama try to get that better class of voters with amnesty, he will only do more damage to the Democrats.
6 November
Magic Circle RV Park
Willcox, AZ
The Southern Arizona Chapter of Family Motor Coach Association ( FMCA) is holding a Rally here at the Park November 6-9. There were two Class As here for a couple of days and then yesterday there were two more pull in and I saw a FMCA sign out in front of the host rig and there is also one at the corner of Virginia and Ft Grant Rd. There were three more arrive by noon today, I may have a lot of neighbors before the day is done.
All the Class As are BIG and most are sporting South Dakota plates (that is the Fulltimer badge). They are pulling full size SUV as their toad. When you read that Fulltime RVers are concerned about gas prices and how it could keep them from enjoying the Fulltime life style - it is not these RVers. I doubt that any of them know what their mpg numbers might be but have little doubt that they care. These are the 1%ers of the Fulltimer culture.
I did not see any yesterday but the previous 3-4 days I saw at least one or two trailers that were carrying NASCAR cars for the Quicken Loans Race For Heroes 500 that will be run in Phoenix on Sunday. One of the trailers had the car for Danica Patrick - I think. It had her picture on the side of the trailer although I could not see all of the trailer.
I am not a big fan of NASCAR nor AARP so it surprised me that AAPR sponsors a car and would not know that now except I saw the trailer. It is still surprising to me since the left denigrates NASCAR fans as a bunch of ignorant rednecks and AAPR is a supporter of left wing causes. When I found out what my membership dues were paying for I dropped my membership - I was paying to support an ideology that I didn't believe in.
We were out for our walk this morning in the not so cold but with a stiff wind that made it feel cold. Did our shortest route and then went to the Plaza Restaurant for my breakfast. I had what they call a Mexican Omelet that was not so good with some home fries that were too greasy. The Country Pride Restaurant in the TA Truck Stop has the best breakfast I have found of the three places that are available.
Did a final shopping trip to Safeway where I picked up enough, I hope, for the next 7 days. I'll next shop in Sierra Vista the day that I have my attorney/executor appointment.
I'll be having Roasted Red Pepper & Garlic Chicken Sausages, red potatoes and cabbage for my 'linners' this next week. Changed the daily salad just a little by using broccoli rather than kale or mustard greens. The breakfast scramble will have some canned corned beef in it this week with yellow squash, onion, broccoli and either tofu or egg whites for as long as they last. May be able to buy some more tofu next week in Sierra Vista.
Some more unintended consequences of President Obama's Sanctions War against Russia are reported by Eric Margolis in his article None Dare Call It A Defeat at The Unz Review. This will not be the last, nor the most important, consequence of the Sanctions War. It will also not be the last to be ignored by the Ministry of Propaganda here in the United States.
Spare parts are unavailable for Russian helicopters bought by the US for use in battling Taliban and supposed opium fighting. Why? Because the US-imposed trade sanctions on Russia bars the US from buying the spare part. Catch-22.
7 November
Magic Circle RV Park
Willcox, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: November 7, 1926I got the crowd of FMCA Rally participants that I thought would descend on the Park. I now have neighbors on all sides of me. Big towering neighbors that almost block the sun. (HA) They have been very good neighbors so far because fortunately the Family part of the associations name means a retired husband and wife at the most. No screaming rug rats that usually make up what is considered a 'family' in the Good 'O US of A.
It was colder this morning than yesterday but the wind not nearly as strong. That made for what felt like a warmer walk. The morning lows are now down around 40° with the daily high temperature at about 70°. Still sunny and clear so it is perfect for Patches and I, she really loves these cool mornings.
The Bureau of Labor released their non-farm job numbers for October today that showed an increase of 214,000 jobs. The Ministry of Propaganda is spinning this as good News although it is a decrease from the 'growth' of last month. They are much more excited about the Unemployment Rate dropping again to 5.8%.
The number of jobs 'created' in October is down from September even more if the CES Birth/Death Model adjustment of 137,000 that was added is removed. That makes 2,408,000 jobs 'created' by the CES during the past 12 months or the 200,000/month that the Media likes to tout as evidence of strong employment growth.
If you look at the Household Data for October the number of Employed increased by 683,000 which is the fifth consecutive monthly increase. There was a 267,000 decrease in Unemployed as well as a decrease of 206,000 in the Not in the Labor Force. These are all good News numbers but the Media has ignored them for the most part and prefers to focus on the 5.8% Unemployment Rate.
That Unemployment Rate was driven by the declining number of Unemployed and would have been even greater if the Not in the Labor Force had not also dropped. That decrease in the Not in the Labor Force was responsible for the Participation Rate moving up to 62.8%. Certainly an improvement but still is a Participation Rate that prior to October 2013 was last seen in 1978.
The average earnings increased by 4¢ to $24.57 an hour, while the average workweek increased another 0.1 hours to 34.6 hours. A better report than many prior months that the Media for the most part is ignoring now that the election is over. I don't think the Media will pay much attention to 'jobs' again until the presidential primary campaigning starts to heat up. It will be BIG News again if the Unemployment Rate has moved up with a Republican Congress - stay tuned.
The elections are over in the Ukraine as well as the United States so it is time to ratchet up the war in eastern Ukraine. The Kiev government is accusing Russia of sending tanks and troops across the border once again and a complicit Reuters has been prompt in reporting the allegation. I believe this is an excuse for the Kiev forces to launch another attack with a promise of support by NATO. I think President Petro Poroshenko was given his marching instructions by Victoria Nuland, US-Assistant Secretary of State, during her last visit. Those instructions included the warning that this is his last chance, if he screws up and does not defeat the 'rebels' this time he is no longer going to be President. Look for a war in the Ukraine soon!
8 November
Magic Circle RV Park
Willcox, AZ
It was colder yet again this morning. No wind blowing but the 35° felt cold. I needed my wool cap and gloves for sure but I could have benefited from a warmer shirt and/or another layer. The weather gurus claim it will be back up into the 40s as a low temperature in the days to come but they were expecting that for this morning also.
Busy doing household chores today soon after breakfast. I got the bathroom and kitchen cleaned including a floor washing. Less hair from Patches. She is keeping as much on now as she can and has slipped on her winter coat during this past month.
I was going to dump tanks and add fresh water tomorrow but I was getting such low water pressure and the pump was running almost continuously so I did that this morning also. I got the living room and cockpit carpet vacuumed before running out of housecleaning motivation. Almost finished, I get the rest done tomorrow.
The only other thing of significance that I have done is make a good start on the Will Rogers weekly article links. I would like to complete this task before I leave here. I will not finish reading my latest book before I leave although I could if I didn't do much of anything else.
Arrogant Obama Has Learned Nothing by Jonathan S. Tobin for Commentary is a good post election article that says the same things that others are saying but I like his closing which I have quoted. I'm afraid President Obama is going to find that he is on the 'wrong side of history' as is his wont to say.
Listening to Obama discuss the need to accommodate or even listen to critics, it’s easy to see he still thinks of himself as the adult in rooms full of petulant children that an unkind fate has forced him to supervise. Rather than treat opponents as equals who must be met halfway, even after six years of failure with Congress, Obama still seems to believe he is, at worst, a constitutional monarch who must suffer the indignity of hobnobbing with commoners even if he would rather die than relinquish his royal prerogatives.The President has good reason to remain defiant after his defeat however. This is explained in Republican Majority, Day One: McConnell Surrenders by Leon H. Wolf for RedState.com. The sub headline was probably all I needed to copy We have captured your capital and destroyed your army! We surrender! but this is what he said in his opening and closing paragraphs.
Though the president did the right thing last night by calling election winners from both parties and scheduling a meeting with congressional leaders on Friday, based on today’s performance there is no reason to think the next two years will be any different from those that preceded them when it comes to Obama working with his opponents.
It is one thing to be undaunted by electoral reversals. It is quite another to pretend that such petty annoyances are unworthy of your attention. Though he was the one who reminded us in January 2013 [sic 2009] that “elections have consequences” when he was asked about working with defeated Republicans, this is a president who believes that he doesn’t have to heed the verdict of the voters if it goes against him and his allies. That, and not congressional squabbling, is the answer to the question voters ask about why Washington doesn’t function properly.
If you watched the respective press conferences of Barack Obama and Mitch McConnell yesterday [5 November 2014], you would be forgiven for thinking that the Democrats had just picked up a bunch of seats in the House and Senate, and the Republicans had just suffered a humiliating defeat. While President Obama was defiant and borderline delusional, claiming that the American people had not repudiated him and boldly proclaiming that he still had a mandate, and openly declaring that he would veto everything the Republicans sent his way and act on his own, Mitch McConnell was ruling out the use of the most potent weapons in his arsenal:
The American people elected Republicans so they would actually do something to stop the Obama agenda, not just so a different class of people could be the beneficiaries of crony capitalism. And sooner or later it is probably going to be incumbent on Mitch McConnell to take a drastic measure or two to fulfill that mandate. In light of this, it is madness for him to take two of those options off the table before the fight has even begun.
9 November
Magic Circle RV Park
Willcox, AZ
I got all my household chores taken care of. The only thing that I need to do now is stop and fill up with gas as I leave here. I was going to fill up when I went shopping but the price has been falling so I gambled on it continuing down. I'll find out if the bet paid off or not when I fill up.
Most of the FMCA rigs pulled out before noon today. All of the ones that were surrounding me were gone by 11:00 with the exception of the one next to me on the south side. They did finally leave at 12:10 so I have my views back for the next couple of days.
I did some more work on the Will Rogers weekly articles and spent more time on the couch with Patches and my book. That was enough excitement for the day.
If there was any question that the mid-term vote was one to STOP a bigger federal government and to STOP President Obama's policies then the voters in Arizona answered it. If the President can refuse to enforce the law, that he has sworn to uphold, then the States also have the LEGAL right to ignore federal mandates. As Attorney General Holder would say: The people of Arizona have told the Federal Government to kiss their ass.
PHOENIX, November 4, 2014 – Today, voters in Arizona approved a ballot measure that follows James Madison’s advice to stop federal overreach. With 80% reporting, the tally held steady and increasing at 51-49%.Why the Loretta Lynch nomination is absolutely political by Jazz Shaw for hotair.com is an article that spotlights how President Obama can meet with Republicans on Friday and do some 'working together theater' and then picks a fight with them on Saturday. I have copied the opening and closing paragraphs of the article.
Approved was Proposition 122, a state constitutional amendment that enshrines the anti-commandeering doctrine (The federal government cannot force state or local governments to act against their will) in the state constitution. The language amends the state constitution to give Arizona the ability to “exercise its sovereign authority to restrict the actions of its personnel and the use of its financial resources to purposes that are consistent with the Constitution.”
By now you are doubtless aware that the President called a presser earlier today [8 November 2014] to officially announce what the cable news networks had been saying for days. His pick for the new Attorney General, replacing the outgoing Eric Holder, is New York U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch.
But clearly, President Obama is preparing to use Loretta Lynch as a pawn in a larger political game. By picking someone with her professional history and then calling for a “quick timeline for her confirmation” the President is setting up the Republicans for a fight. When they insist that a thorough vetting and debate is called for and should be done by the new Congress selected by the voters, Obama will once again unleash the tired canard about how all the GOP leadership can do is obstruct. This is not a bug in the system, it’s a feature. He’s spoiling for that fight, and from the look of things he will absolutely get it. Nothing has changed since Tuesday. Nothing.
10 November
Magic Circle RV Park
Willcox, AZ
All I know is just what I read in the papers. Deaths get twice the notice that births do in papers. Nobody wants to know who was born, but everybody is anxious to know who dies, and the better known they are the more anxious they are to read about their death. - Will Rogers
I saw 3 NASCAR haulers again this morning. I think the truck drivers all stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn Express although #11 FedEx (the leader in the Sprint Series) was at the fuel pumps when I saw it. The Danica Patrick #10 Go Daddy hauler was pulling out of the Inn and I watched it go over to the TA pumps. The other hauler was for Tony Stewart #14 Mobile 1 that was still at the Inn. They are heading east today for the Ford EcoBoost 400 race next Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
I spent some time yesterday and this morning making notes on my previous will and testament for my meeting with the attorney and new executor later this week. I don't have much of an estate but want to make provisions for Patches, disposal of my body and if there is any money remaining give it away. Also update the powers of attorney for making medical decisions to comply with Arizona law and give the executor those powers. The VA will hound me about that until I get a copy to them.
I also made up my 3x5 cards a couple of days ago as well as directions to the attorney. I sent him an email to confirm my appointment and he sent a reply that included his new office address. Very glad I sent the confirmation or I would have been late for the appointment.
I think I will finish the Will Rogers week article link preparations later today. Will take Patches to the baseball field this afternoon and let her run. I don't know when I'll find another good place where she can.
Big review set by Democrats after election losses by Ken Thomas for Associated Press is a short article about a Democrat review of why they got trounced in the mid-term elections of 2010 and 1014. They are going to "conduct a top-to-bottom assessment of the party's performance in recent elections" but will not question the fundamental political beliefs of the Party. "The head of the Democratic National Committee — Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida — says the review will examine the party's tactics, message, get-out-the-vote operations and digital efforts in nonpresidential elections." This should be good news for the Republicans.
11 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
We did our shortest walking route again this morning and then did a stop for gas. The price was the same as when I went shopping so I did not win or lose on my bet for lower prices. That had us on the road by about 7:00 with only a short driving day but a lot to get done along the way.
If I had been just going from Willcox to my new camp I would not have driven the route that I did but I had other things to take care of along the way. My route today was 130 miles on Virginia, Rex Allen/AZ186, AZ186, Kansas Settlement Rd, US191, Davis Rd, AZ80, AZ90, AZ92, AZ90 & AZ82.
The first stop of the day was at The Last Stop Café in Elfrida, AZ for breakfast. There I got a decent Make-ur-Own Omelet with a small serving of not so good hash browns but good coffee. There were not a lot of choices along my route today so this was a good as it was going to get. I did get a discount for being a Veteran and the price was reasonable before.
The next stop was at D & J RV Center to get an appointment to fix Desperado's water pump, skylight and roof leaks. I wanted them to change the oil in Desperado but they referred me to Desert Automotive just down the street. So I have a fix scheduled for the 13th after meeting with my attorney/executor and a oil change on the 17th.
Another stop at Ramsey Canyon Feed to place an order for Canidae Pure Elements, the good stuff that Patches has become fond of. Although I think it may be wasted on her - she will eat anything. I then made sure that I knew where the attorney's office was and stopped at Patches' vet office which is only a couple blocks away from his office. Wanted to make sure that the vet here had up to date shot records. I also inquired at the Feed store and the vet about someplace that would take Patches if I were to die. Got an email address contact that I'll give a try.
Last but not lest was a grocery stop at Fry's. It was close to noon and the place was packed, the shelves were bare in many areas and stocking was going on. I don't think Tuesday is a good day to shop at Fry's and I know I want to get it done early which is what I usually do.
My space here at this Park is a bit more crowded, on the driver side, than what I have been getting . There is a lot of room on the passenger side which other people use as their patio and car park. Neighbors were home on both sides but no one stuck their heads out and they have been very quiet. I had some problems with my surge protector not giving me any electricity at first but it is working well now. That is the second time this has happened to me in the last few months. Maybe I'm having surge protector issues?
The Global Times is a daily Chinese tabloid under the auspices of the People's Daily newspaper, focusing on international issues.They published Midterm result will further thwart Obama in their 5 November online edition as an Editorial. That means that it had to have had Party approval and means that the President's trip to China is just another vacation. The Chinese leadership is not going to care much about what he has to say. Here are a few clues why that may be so.
President Obama is also catching flak from the Chinese Media for not using the limo that was provided, as did all the other heads of state participating in the meetings. He is also being criticized for his gum chewing in public which the Chinese look upon as being very low class. Their Media needs to get over it - President Obama is simply being Obama.
Obama always utters "Yes, we can," which led to the high expectations people had for him. But he has done an insipid job, offering nearly nothing to his supporters. US society has grown tired of his banality.
Obama's best performance is empty rhetoric, while he achieved nothing on issues such as lowering the income gap. The American people have not benefited from the economic recovery.
In foreign policy, Obama must also take his share of the blame. He has managed to take US troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, but left no peace. Osama Bin Laden was killed during his tenure, but the IS has emerged from the Middle East.
Moreover, the Ukrainian crisis has almost brought Europe back to the Cold War era, and his pivot to Asia strategy only increased mistrust between China and the US and among East Asian countries.
The US public used to speak highly of Obama, but now many seem to have reversed their opinions. Bush, who dared to do everything, and Obama, who dares to do nothing, come from different parties but have the same destiny.
12 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I slept in for a few minutes this morning. This is a good thing as long as Patches will let me get away with it. It is too dark for us to be walking before 6:00 although she does not have the problems that I do in the dark. We did an out and back route along AZ82 this morning. It has a good wide shoulder for most of the way and traffic is not very heavy.
There is an ATV trail along the north side of AZ82 going west that we took yesterday afternoon to Sands Ranch Rd then looped back on Sunset Rd. This is a good route during full sun but the ATV trail is not so good in the dark. There are not as many route possibilities here as what I had in Willcox but there are more than some places I have camped.
Made up a pot of Frey's Special Chili this morning. The weather has that chili time feel to it and I have not made any for a long time. It has been so long that I forgot to buy any red beans which I have always included in my chili. I didn't find any tofu at Fry's yesterday so my breakfast scrambles has egg whites for this week and perhaps longer. The daily salad is about the same with broccoli rather than greens.
I have copied from a number of different sources reporting on one of President Obama's and Senator Reid's favored green energy projects. Another success story if you are a supporter of the President, Senator and crony capitalism.
Ivanpah is a joint effort between NRG, Google, and Bright Source Energy...The project received a $1.6 billion loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office. The facility achieved commercial operation on December 31, 2013.
After already receiving a controversial $1.6 billion construction loan from U.S. taxpayers, the wealthy investors [NRG, Google and Bright Source Energy] of a California solar power plant now want a $539 million federal grant to pay off their federal loan. If approved by the U.S. Treasury, the two [three] corporations will not use their own money, but taxpayer cash to pay off 30 percent of the cost of their plant, but taxpayers will receive none of the millions in revenues the plant will generate over the next 30 years.
A new report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has labeled BrightSource Energy’s Ivanpah project a “mega-trap” for insects and birds that may get singed or in some cases, burned alive flying through the intense solar radiation reflecting off the thousands of mirrors surrounding three solar towers at the plant in eastern San Bernardino County.
13 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
We did some town walking this morning. Got up at about the same time but drove into Sierra Vista before doing our walk. We even did a little longer walk than usual, about 2.75 miles rather than 2. I had walked the streets some years ago but I can't remember if I took Patches on any Sierra Vista walks.
I had parked in my usual spot when I go to Caffé O Lé so that was where I went when we got back to Desperado. I had their Rise and Shine which is a beef enchilada, chicken enchilada, beans, two eggs on top (over easy for me) a flour tortilla and coffee. I have this at least once every time I come to Sierra Vista.
I then arrived for my attorney/executor appointment a bit early and he saw me early. Very nice fellow. If you didn't know he was a lawyer you would consider him human. I think we are going to get along fine and he won't have much to do with me until I die or reach the point where I can no take care of myself. I'll go back next week and we will go over the will draft, make any corrections if necessary and I will sign it. A copy of the Power of Attorney for Medical Decisions to be given to VA and that bit of business will be done.
I then went to D & J RV Center where I got my water pump replaced and a new water intake installed (both had been leaking). The roof leak may have been a bubble in the roof which they took care of at no charge because they resurfaced it back in February. I need to go back again next week and have the skylight installed that they needed to order. The existing one has cracks along the edge where I have been getting some leaks.
That was about if for the day. It is very tiring for me to be out spending lots of money. The will was not cheap and the RV fixes are still an unknown cost but they are not going to be cheap either. I think I'll collapse for the rest of the day. Do a shorter afternoon walk since Patches had a tough morning also. She had to do a lot of waiting and then all the attention she garnered while at D & J has left her exhausted.
14 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: November 14, 1926I am getting very tired of Windows Updates. It seems that I have another update installed every week and this is happening right after I installed Windows 8.1. Is this just another manifestation of Programer Full Employment or is there really, really some reason for the updates. I have not noticed any differences so why where the updates necessary?
I ordered some of the parts that are necessary to build a heater for the basement area where the water manifold and pipes are in Desperado. I don't plan on spending much time in below freezing temperatures but it seems that I can not avoid it happening sometimes. I probably will not receive them before my next appointment at D & J but will get it done before leaving here - I hope.
I also ordered some more Arbuckle's Ariosa (The coffee that won the west). I should get it on Monday but there is a chance that it will be delivered tomorrow. I'm sure it will be in Sierra Vista by tomorrow I'm not sure that it will make it to the Huachuca City post office in time to be delivered.
I found another walking route along AZ82 and AZ90 yesterday that will work. I was disappointed that there was not a gate that I could get in and out of on the south side of the Park. There is a street that borders the south side that is a good walking route but I have to walk about a mile to get to it. If I could go out of the Park to the south it would be perfect.
The other goal that I have while here in Sierra Vista is to get my laptop repaired. The keyboard key printing was wearing off within 6 month of my buying it. That I could live with but one of the keys failed within 9 months and I have a couple more that are going to fail soon. I also need to get dog hair and other dust blown out of it. I did some searches online today and I don't have a lot of choices. I'll stop by the one that has a store front on Monday and see what they can do for me.
Finished reading one novel and have started another. I'll have a review of the one I finished posted in a day or two.
15 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Partly cloudy this morning but very nice temperature to walk in. The forecast for the next 3 days is not a promising. The weather gurus claim it will be down into the 30s for a low and the lower 60s for a high.
We did our morning walk along AZ82 and then north along the shoulder of AZ90. The route was out and back except we used an ATV trail on the east side of AZ90 on the return. A good route, especially on the weekend when the traffic is less.
I was back to building Map APIs again this morning. I still have quite a few to do before finishing 2009/10 but I am making progress again after a few days away from this project.
This was not my kind of book and does not seem to be typical of what the author usually writes if the Weekly review is any indication. Judith Michael is the pen name of the husband and wife team of Judith Barnard and Michael Fain. I selected this book mostly because of its size, 632 pages in paperback. I'll give the author(s) another chance but will not be specifically looking for a book by them.
This plodding riches-to-rags and rags-to-riches tale is likely to disappoint fans of Michael's glittering bestseller Inheritance . Privileged and beautiful Valerie Sterling arrives at Stanford, and ignores fellow student Sybille, daughter of her mother's dressmaker, to dabble in acting and dally with Nick, an impoverished student who loves her. Two bad marriages later, Valerie loses a cheating husband and a fortune in a mysterious plane crash, but finds her courage. Sybille, meantime, marries and divorces Nick, then scrambles to the top of the heap in network news. Her envy and hatred of Valerie snowball when Valerie becomes an investigative reporter at the cable network Nick owns and digs up dirt on a televangelist show Sybille has launched. A one-dimensional cast brings little sparkle to the predictable plot. Only in the final quarter is there excitement enough to carry the heavily padded prose to a spirited conclusion. - Publishers Weekly
16 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The weather guessers missed the mark once again. They didn't miss it completely; I think they will come close with their guess of a high temperature at 61° but the low was in the mid 40s rather than the mid 30s. They also claimed it would be clear but there have been some heavy clouds blow in all morning that look like they could carry some rain.
I went to the Park Club House this morning and traded the book that I just finished for a Baldacci. There is a dearth of trading material here. Maybe a couple more available if no one snatches them up before I get ready to trade.
I moved 7 times in the month of October 2010. That means building 7 Map APIs for that month. I got 4 of them completed this morning and may get the other three done this afternoon. I think the remaining three will be easy ones as were two of the four this morning. It was the other two where I drove through Las Vegas or Phoenix or Tucson that were the time consuming ones to build. They were all a mix of highway (as Google defines them) and avoid highways which are always tough to make Google draw the route that I drove.
17 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I did finish building all the Map APIs for October 2010 yesterday. That leaves me with only four more to do for the year. I still need to embed the 7 into my Journal page but I see an end to this project. Maybe not today or tomorrow, I have other things to do but by the end of the week for sure. All the maps will have been built and all the camp maps in the left column of the home page will have been redone using New My Maps.
I have a lot of maps that I pieced together years ago and took screen shots of them and then saved them as .gif pictures. I think I replace all of those with Map APIs but they will open when a Map Button in the Journal is clicked rather than being embedded. There are too many on a Journal page which would take far too long to open if the maps were embedded.
We did a town walk again this morning. I parked behind Denny's and we walked a 2.25 mile loop that took me past the dental office that I will be going to in a couple of weeks. I then went into Denny's where I had their Santa Fe Skillet, which is my usual when I stop at a Denny's.
Arrived for my oil change appointment at Desert Automotive a few minutes early and asked if I could bring Patches inside while we waited. The scheduler said it would not be a problem if she was well behaved and I assured him that she was. After we had been waiting for about half hour he said that Patches was better behaved that some customers especially those with children. She did her sniffing of everything, got a pet from a woman that was also waiting and then laid down for most of the wait. She is such a Good Dog, made me proud!
Took an oil sample to the UPS Store to be mailed off for analysis. While there I picked up all the mail that was waiting for me, mostly junk. I'll sort through it today and keep some of the magazines to read but the majority of it will be trash.
Last stop of the day was at Monsoon PC repair. This is the same store that I used back in 2010 but they were at a different location. I ordered a new keyboard that they will install next week and blow out dog hair or dirt while they have the case open.
I had wool cap, gloves and wore a shirt, windbreaker and wool shirt/jacket this morning. The weather guessers got it right with the low at 33° this morning. It hasn't warmed up very fast with a high thin overcast the high is expected to be only 60°. About the same tomorrow then warming up for about a week before going back to these temperatures.
18 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
The Arbuckle's coffee that I ordered on the 14th was delivered the next day but I didn't check to see if it had. Two of the basement heater items I ordered from Amazon were to be delivered yesterday and they were but I did not go to the Park office to check before they closed. Went this morning and picked up all three packages.
I still have one more thing to come for the basement heating but I can show Mitch at D & J RV what I have and he can then buy the rest of what is needed locally. I want to schedule the installation to be done a week from today on the 25th when I have an appointment to tour the Tombstone Small Animal Shelter and do my weekly grocery shopping.
It was slightly warmer this morning at 35° but felt colder. It also stayed colder, or felt like it, longer inside Desperado today than yesterday. The high was 57° yesterday and it is expected to reach 62 today then up to 68 for a couple days with a chance of rain on Friday.
I have posted my thoughts about providing care for Patches if I should die before her. That has been a problem for me because I have no close living relatives and because of my Fulltime RV lifestyle. That lifestyle also makes it difficult to arrange for the disposition of my mortal remains.
I have decided upon Science Care’s whole body donor program that links donors with medical researchers and educators that are working to advance medicine. If they accept my body they will pay all expenses to get my body from where ever I might die to the researchers or educators that will then do with it as they will.
If Science Care does not accept my body and I die within the state of Arizona then the University of Arizona Willed Body Program will take me. But, if Science Care does not accept my body and I die outside of the state of Arizona then my executor will do his best to give my whole body away to some university medical school near the place of death. It is a lot simpler if you live in a fixed location.
On 12 November 2014 I posted some quotes about Ivanpah. Among them was the report that the owners of the project wanted a federal grant to pay off part of the loan that has a federal guarantee. The News about this green energy boondoggle just keep seeping out a little bit at a time; for now it is reported why they companies can not make the loan payment - the Solar System is not generating enough power.
On top of that, they are turning it into a gas fired generating plant. Cleaner than coal but where is all that FREE solar power? This technology was not ready for prime time and the taxpayers are going to pay $1.6 Billion for the experiment.
...the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System opened in February, with operators saying it would produce enough electricity to power a city of 140,000 homes. So far, however, the plant is producing about half of its expected annual output for 2014, according to calculations by the California Energy Commission.
Operators initially expected to need steam from gas-powered boilers for an hour a day during startup. After operations began, they found they needed to keep boilers running more than four times longer - an average of 4 1/2 hours a day.
Fromer [executive director of the Resnick Sustainability Institute at the California Institute of Technology] said it was surprising that so much additional gas is needed, adding that it "signals to me they have some very large problems that they are going to need to sort out."
19 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
We went to town again to do our morning walk and that may be all I do today. I don't feel up to it this afternoon. Parked near the Landmark Restaurant and did a loop of 2+ miles. Patches got her breakfast and I then went to the restaurant for mine. It was Corned Beef Hash with poached eggs on top and a satisfying serving of home fries. The service was slow but a good breakfast.
I then went to my attorney/executor office to review and sign the new will and all the power of attorney documents. This took twice as long as my previous appointment when I sat down with him and told him what I wanted. It was not cheap but was something that I needed to do. Especially the Power of Attorney for medical decisions and make provisions for Patches.
Was a few minutes late for my appointment at D & J RV Center but I have everything taken care of and need not go back unless something goes awry. I got a new water pump, new skylight, new water intake, modified water manifold that makes it easier to drain the system and my water bay heater. The water bay heater is a 150W ceramic heating element that is sold for reptile cages that has an inline thermostat which will turn on at 35° and turn off at 45°.
Went to Fry's on the way back to the Park and picked up groceries for next week. It was late in the day so I got some chicken strips and a deli salad for my 'linner' today. This is the first afternoon meal that I have not cooked in a long time.
Back to my doing nothing routine tomorrow until next Tuesday when I take my laptop in for a new keyboard. I'll also go tour the Tombstone Small Animal Shelter that day. Slowly checking things off my To Do List while I am here in the area that is a step closer to being my 'domicil'.
20 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
It was only slightly warmer this morning than it was yesterday. The weather guessers have changed their forecast to reflect the lower temperatures and have the lows forecast to stay in the 30s for the entire 10 Day Forecast. The daily high temperatures to be mostly in the lower 60s with a couple of spikes up to 68° which I don't believe will happen. Not complaining, these temperatures are what I expect at this location and Patches loves them.
I browned off some pork and added it to a pot with potatoes which I brought to a boil until the potatoes were almost done. Rinsed sauerkraut to remove some of the salt and then layered it on top of the pork and put the pot in the Thermal Cooker until 'linner' time today. There is enough in the pot to serve my 'linners' for the rest of the week.
I have made a good start on my Monthly blog list during this past week. This morning I got the Map APIs embedded for October 2010 and may get the remainder of the maps built later today.
Playing with Constitutional Fire by Andrew Napolitano is a clearly written article about the possible consequences of President Obama's amnesty speech tonight. I have copied only a small portion of it and recommend that it be read in its entirety.
If the president nullifies deportations on such a grand scale that the effect is the nullification of federal laws, then he has violated his oath “faithfully” to execute his presidential obligations. The Framers required that every president swear to do his job “faithfully” to serve as a reminder to him that his job requires fidelity to the enforcement of laws with which he may disagree. The American people, Congress and the courts need to know we have a president who will enforce the laws, whether he agrees with them in his heart or not. Without presidential fidelity to the rule of law, we have a king, not a president.The major TV networks (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox) have all said they will not be carrying the President's speech. Have the networks finally reached the point where they know there is no audience for the President's speeches anymore? Did they hear what the voters said in the mid-term election? Do they not hear what the President heard from those that did not vote? Or perhaps it is something as simple as recognizing that the President lies and what he says is meaningless, they will wait to see what he does and report on that.
21 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: November 21, 1926Met an old codger about my age on the ATV Trail as I was coming back to the Park yesterday afternoon. Patches barked at him which is not like her. The fellow immediately said "I think it was my fault, I raised my hand and she probably took that to be a threat". I then let her give him a good sniff and everything was fine.
He is here at the park also so we talked RV talk for a while. Then started talking about the state of the state and where we might live with not much money when inflation goes through the roof. I did not know that Mexico had raised the income requirement. He said that it was now at $2,000 and he did not have that to become a resident. Neither do I. I suggested Chile which he had not considered although he had thought about South America.
I have finished the Map API project and have re-built the 2009/10 Camp Map that is in the left column of the home page. I will now start on what I am going to call the map replacement project. This is building Map APIs that will replace map screenshots that are now .gif images that are opened when a Map Button is clicked on a Journal page. Map1 starts in Road Trip 5 so that is where I will begin the replacements.
My neighbor on the east side left yesterday at about noon. That leaves 3 vacant spaces and the street on that side for a nice view. The neighbor on the west side was putting outside 'stuff' away yesterday afternoon and the Airstream slides were in this morning, his car was parked in the patio area where the truck was usually parked and it was gone. He has not pulled out but seems to be gone on a 'vacation' from here.
PCR [Paul Craig Roberts] Interviewed by Russia and Italy by Paul Craig Roberts is the text of an interview conducted by Costantino Ceoldo. I have copied only two questions and answers, it is worth reading the entire interview. Paul Craig Roberts does not pull any punches and must be hated by both Party Establishments.
CC – The recent mid-term elections have turned President Obama into the proverbial “lame duck.” How do you think the last two years of the Obama presidency will run?
Dr. Roberts – Lame-duck thinking is passed. Obama represents the Establishment just as will his replacement. The Republican attacks on Obama are nothing but the Republicans’ hopes that they will be the next whore for the private interest groups that rule America and that Republicans instead of Democrats will receive the rewards.
CC – Finally, in your opinion what should we expect from the next US President? Whether it’s Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton or even a sudden outsider, what will change and what will not change in American politics?
Dr. Roberts – The only thing that can be expected from the next US president is more war, more murder, and more oppression of the gullible American people. People as uninformed and as gullible as Americans have no future. Americans are a dead people that history is about to run over.
22 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
With the new water pump I continue to hear it running long after I shut off the tap when the water level is low in the tank. How low is it? I don't know because the idiot light can not be trusted. I also have very low pressure so yesterday I filled the tank and while I was out there I dumped holding tanks. Much better pressure and quicker pump shut off.
I got my basement heater plugged in today. The forecast is for freezing, or below freezing, temperatures Sunday and Monday night. The temperatures will not be so low that I have not managed them without the heater but this will give me a good trial.
I had one slight problem. I designed the heater system to plug into the Park electrical pedestal 110v outlet - my space does not have a 110v outlet. Not to worry, I knew that there was a 110v outlet in the basement compartment on the opposite side of Desperado from the water compartment. Therefore, I plugged into that outlet for the needed 110v - and didn't have any electricity.
I now have it plugged into an outlet inside, at the end of my kitchen counter, with the extension cord going out the small kitchen window. I'll check tomorrow morning when the temperature drops below 35° and see if the heater is working. The weather guessers claim it will not get down below 35 tomorrow morning but I'll check anyway.
Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Obama said the following at a town-hall meeting at the John Barley Multi-Purpose Activity Center at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster, PA on 31 March 2008. But as the Senator also said in another stump speech on 16 February 2008, "Just words?". What he has reversed is his position not the 'biggest problem' that he described.
I taught constitutional law for ten years. I take the Constitution very seriously. The biggest problem that we're facing right now has to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that's what I intend to reverse when I'm President of the United States of America.Obama’s Imperial Transformation Is Now Complete with the subtitle The president has become everything he ran against by Charles C. W. Cooke for National Review Online, the final paragraph.
Today, the transformation of Barack Obama from wide-eyed idealist to bitter imperator will finally be completed. Amid the glitz and the artifice of Las Vegas, the last vestiges of the one we were waiting for will be swept ignominiously away, leaving only power, cynicism, and partisanship in their stead. There was a time when our 44th president claimed to stand for transparency, modesty, moderation, tolerance, humility, reason, and calm. Today, just feet from Caesars Palace, he will don the robes of the emperor and spin minor discretion into gargantuan usurpation, all norms and touchstones be damned. However convincing are the promises of the ambitious, Lord Acton always has the last laugh.It will not happen while Obama is President and/or the Attorney General reports to him but what might happen in January 2017? If there is a Republican Attorney General, or a Democrat Attorney General that wants to uphold the law, will they bring charges against citizen Obama for his crimes under Title 8, U.S.C. § 1324(a)? My guess is no, as a former president he will be given a Get Out of Jail Free Card. Note: my underlining.
Title 8, U.S.C. § 1324(a) defines several distinct offenses related to aliens. Subsection 1324(a)(1)(i)-(v) prohibits alien smuggling, domestic transportation of unauthorized aliens, concealing or harboring unauthorized aliens, encouraging or inducing unauthorized aliens to enter the United States, and engaging in a conspiracy or aiding and abetting any of the preceding acts. Subsection 1324(a)(2) prohibits bringing or attempting to bring unauthorized aliens to the United States in any manner whatsoever, even at a designated port of entry.
23 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
I checked my basement heater this morning and it was not working. I did not expect that it would be, it felt much too warm for it to have been 35° and the inline thermostat to have turned on. The low temperature this morning was in the lower 40s but the forecast now is for freezing, or below freezing, for the next 3 mornings. I'll be checking it again tomorrow morning.
Soon after I had my breakfast I got laundry done. The laundry here has only 4 washers and 8 dryers for a huge Park. Those machines are in a large closet that when more than one person is in there they are in each others way even when they try to not be. I got it done but learned some new dance steps because there was someone else in there dancing with me.
I got a map replacement built late yesterday and another one this morning. Trip 5 is one done with my Teardrop in tow and I did some long miles on some convoluted routes. That makes the map building very difficult and slow going but I am making some progress.
I have also made good progress reading my Monthly blogs. There were a couple that I accidentally deleted, found them again and caught up to current with them. Some time on the couch with Patches and my latest book filled in the remainder of the day.
24 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
My basement heater is working. I don't know how well it will work or how low the temperatures might get and it will keep the pipes from freezing but it is working as designed. The low this morning was 32° and I could see that the heater had turned on, probably around 5:00am when it went below 35.
The weather guessers have changed their forecast again and now expect it to be below freezing only tomorrow morning then up into the 40s until December. I fired up my Wave heater for the first time this morning for the winter and Patches remembers. It was not burning well yet and she was on top of my feet right in front of it. She thinks I am Hêphaistos/Vulcan!
Tomorrow I take my laptop in to have the keyboard replaced. I told the shop last week that it was important to me to have the work done in one day. That I get the laptop back by tomorrow evening. I hope that happens but realistically I have my doubts so there may be no posting tomorrow. If there is one it will be late in the day. If there is not a posting I will then catch up when I can which may be as late as after Thanksgiving. I hope everyone has a Happy one!
The Media is awaiting the grand jury decision, and subsequent riots, in Freguson, MO. This will then become the headline for the week and take the heat off of President Obama for his usurpation of power with regard to immigration law. This is going to work out well for the President and the Democrat Party since the Republicans have retreated from any engagement on the issue.
When the rioting begins once more the Media will promptly report that it is because of Republican racism. There will be no reporting of the racism of our President that has been in evidence since the end of 2008.
There have been 794 law enforcement officers die (some of them African-American/Black/Negro) in the line of duty since he took he took office, with no special recognition from him or the White House. However, Michael Brown (an African-American/Black/Negro) robs a convenience store, then assaults a white police officer (who kills him) and the White House sends three representatives to the memorial service.
The Big News of the day is the resignation of another Cabinet member. This time it is Secretary of Defense Hagel but unlike Attorney General Holder his resignation is being reported as forced.
President Obama can not place blame on former President Bush for the lack of progress against the Islam State so the nearest Republican at hand to scapegoat just happens to be Hagel. He served well as the token Republican in the Cabinet and will serve even better as the goat for Obama's incompetence.
25 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
A busy day for me and an upsetting one for Patches. She does not like for me to be driving all over the place, leaving her for sometime and then doing it again. That is not the way things are to be and she had some words for me about doing that today.
Went to town and did another walk there which is good. I then had a Spinach Omelet with good home fries for breakfast at the Landmark Restaurant. So far so good, but then we waited about 1/2 hour until 9:00 am for Monsoon PC to open. That is when they were to open if you believed the Hours of Operation on the door. I waited until 9:20 and could not wait any longer.
I had a 10:00 appointment to tour the Tombstone Small Animal Shelter and I arrived right on time. It is a good facility and they seem to take good care of the animal. They had only 4 dogs today but the shelter manager said that they could stay full if they accepted every request that that get.
Back to Monsoon PC at 11:00 and they were open but did not have the keyboard that they had to order. They also had no idea when it would arrive and would call today and find out. Said they would send me an email to let me know when it would be available and I could set another appointment. I think I have made a big mistake but there are not a lot of PC repair shops to choice from here in Sierra Vista.
I think I was more successful when I stopped at the VA Clinic. Signed a request to have Secure Messaging transferred to Sierra Vista. They had my medical records transferred since my visit in February when I requested that they do so. They had one VA employee direction traffic and assisting people. Sort of a Greeter that was prompt to ask what each person that came in the door was there for. Need to try and set my appointments in about a month.
Went to Fry's and got groceries. It was a madhouse again at noon. People everywhere and some shelves bare. I got the last egg whites and had to ask if they had some buttermilk. I was going to fill up with gas but the station was the same kind of a mess; I'll do it Thursday morning as I go through town to my cousins for Thanksgiving Pot Luck Dinner.
All that running around has me wore out. The same is true of Patches, she has been on the couch catching up on her deprived sleep ever since we got back to the Park.
26 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
While visiting the Tombstone Small Animal Shelter (TSAS) yesterday I picked up some information about how I can, in my limited way, contribute to the organization.
First, there is the Fry's Community Rewards. Any Reward Points that I receive when I use my 'Kroger' Card will be given to TSAS. In the past I have used these points to reduce the cost of gas but I always 'loose' some of the points because I am no longer near a gas station that will give me the Reward. My card was originally issued by Smith's but I have registered with the Fry's Community Rewards program so all points will now go to TSAS.
Second, there are a number of blogs that participate in the Amazon Associates program where the blogger receives compensation if you link to Amazon from their blog to make your purchases. There have been, or are, some bloggers that have made some good income by being an Associate and I have contributed a small amount to 2-3 of them.
No more, I will now use smile.amazon.com where qualified purchases that I make at Amazon thru that web address will contribute 0.5% of the purchase price to TSAS. It is an easy way to make a contribution to a charity and will cost me nothing extra.
Among the groceries that I picked up yesterday were the fix'ins for what I'm calling Elote con Suero de Leche. That is corn with buttermilk but I added some diced green chile, diced jalapeño, broccoli, some browned off chicken breast and just a dab of powdered cayenne to the mix. Let it cook in the Thermal Cooker until 'linner' time. I have plenty of it so I hope it is esculent.
Immigration amnesty is old News as I predicted. The Ministry of Propaganda is trying their best to make Ferguson the compelling story for as long as they can. It is great cover for everything that President Obama is doing while they maintain an 'other news' blackout. There are plenty of alternate sources for Ferguson news that have a different view of the 'what and why' of Ferguson; those are what I usually read.
Ferguson Fiasco Exposes Ruling Class’s Relentless Anti-White Agenda by James Kirkpatrick for VDARE.com is a good article about what has happened in Ferguson. More importantly what can be expected to happen to the United States.
Full disclosure: VDARE.com is accused of being a white nationalist website by Right Wing Watch the website for People For the American Way (dedicated to monitoring and reporting on the activities of right-wing political organizations). James Kirkpatrick previously wrote for The American Conservative so he holds conservative views but I do not think that makes what he says in his closing paragraphs less true.
The real message of Ferguson: we are seeing multiculturalism itself go up in flames. A polity where the Chief Executive has to address the people over a local law enforcement matter is fatally unstable.
There are plenty more Fergusons out there, tinderboxes ready to be lit the next time a white cop confronts a black criminal. As the Ruling Class has empowered a permanent anti-white Narrative seemingly impervious to facts, this is only the beginning of the violence.
Until the historic American nation can develop a collective identity of its own, there will be more sacrificial victims to the cult of diversity—and the next one might not be so lucky as Officer Darren Wilson.
27 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Today was a long day for me. I don't do much socializing and with my poor hearing a group of more the 2-3 wears me out. I can sit and talk to one or 2 people but when you add that third one and they begin talking among themselves I must work hard to make any sense of what is being said. There were about a dozen cousins and first cousins once removed at the Thanksgiving Pot Luck and to me it sounded like they were all speaking at the same time.
I started the day by wanting to stop at Caffé O Lé, do a walk from there and then have breakfast when I finished our walk. They were closed so I went on to Denny's and started our walk from there. After breakfast I filled up with gas at Fry's and then drove to The Homestead near Double Adobe, AZ.
Let Patches run in a fenced yard for a few minutes and then we went in and visited for a long time with one of my cousins as she was preparing Thanksgiving vitals. Patches got as much exercise in the kitchen as she did out in the yard. She was on my cousins heels with every step she took. Got a few Thanksgiving treats and didn't do much to earn them. She loved it!
We didn't get back to the Park until almost 4:00 which is our usual afternoon walk time. Not doing that today. We are both tired so it will be a short potty walk after I get this blog entry posted.
The Park has a resident roadrunner that I have seen a few times since being here. He is always too far away or too fast for me to get a picture. Yesterday I saw him again and he was very intent of getting a bug or grasshopper and stayed in one place long enough for me to get a few pictures. These two are the best of the lot. I only have 5x zoom and was using that as I shot into the sun. I think he has a grasshopper in his bill because I saw him dash forward and grab something but the picture is not clear enough to tell for sure. Click on the pictures to get a larger view.
The Ferguson Disaster: The Wreckage of Obama & Marx by Lee Stranahan on the Rebelpundit.com is an article that discusses the central idea that’s behind the rise of the unrest in Ferguson: oppressor-oppressed as put forth by Karl Marx. Stranahan goes on to explain how the Ruling Class has accepted this idea and their desire to transform the United States with an end goal being a reversal of the existing oppressor-oppressed.
The idea was first introduced by the philosopher G.W.F. Hegel but really began to sweep through modern political thought with the publication of the Communist Manifesto in 1848. Karl Marx introduces the oppressor-oppressed concept immediately in Chapter I...Marx’s oppressor-oppressed lens is the prism that President Obama sees the world though.
Once you understand his filter, it makes a whole host of issues that Obama has supported make sense in terms of having an internal consistency. On events from the “Arab Spring” uprising to his current plan to scrap deportation for millions of illegal immigrants to his support of Ferguson protesters, Barack Obama sees a struggle of the oppressed vs. the oppressor…and his role is to take the side of the oppressed, in the public view, as much as possible in his role as President.
28 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: November 28, 1926I forgot to report the excitement that we had yesterday at the Pot Luck. Well not so much AT the Pot Luck but outside. The Homestead is a small 'out in the country' community of relatives; some as close as cousins, but the family tree branches out to rather small twigs from there.
One of these distant relatives killed a couple of rattlesnakes just before leaving his place to walk over to the Pot Luck house. Then just as I was leaving the pack of dogs that run loose set up a ruckus and there was a third one less than 100 yards from Desperado. That one was being dispatched as we drove away.
The low temperatures over there are a lot colder than here. Yesterday the morning low was 27° but the high temperatures are about the same, 75 there and 73 here. That is warm enough for the snakes to come out in the afternoon and they were out in force yesterday.
The good News about the Ferguson riots is they have been quelled by snow and cold weather. The street rioters have given up for now and will wait for warmer weather.
They have been replaced in the headlines with the brutality of American style Holiday shopping. People fighting to receive the opportunity to buy 'stuff'. There are some places in the world that people will fight to get food but I think it is only a "more economically developed country" (MEDC) tradition to fight for the privilege to buy 'stuff'.
A laid back today and what I have scheduled for the weekend. I have a couple more appointments next week and will stop at Monsoon PC. They have not sent me an email telling me when the keyboard will be in and available to install. I think when I stop on Monday I'll be asking for my money back and try someone else either now or in March-April.
29 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
So far I have accomplished the goal that I set for myself and Patches for this long weekend after Thanksgiving - do nothing. I did build a couple of Maps for Trip 5 this morning but considered that enough. I have read a few of the blogs on my Monthly list and am current with Daily and Weekly.
I went back to 21 & 28 November and added the Will Rogers links. Since I arrived here I have failed to include the links on Friday. That is what happens when my daily routine becomes disrupted by doing things outside the usual. I can't remember what I need to do.
Scoured the News and found a couple of items that I thought were interesting. Other than that it has been some restful time on the couch with Patches and my book.
Ponzi: Treasury Issues $1T in New Debt in 8 Weeks—To Pay Old Debtby Terence P. Jeffrey for CNSNews.com a News source that covers stories that are subject to the bias of omission by the Ministry of Propaganda. The article is well written in language that even those that are "economics challenged" can understand.
This is not the first time that this has happened, it has been going on for a long time. The ponzi scheme is also not something that Congress is unaware of. Treasury Secretary Lew in testimony before the Senate Finance Committee in October 2013 said, “principal on the debt is not something we pay out of our cash flow of revenues. Principal on the debt is something that is a function of the markets rolling over.”
The Daily Treasury Statement that was released Wednesday [26 November 2014] afternoon ... revealed that the U.S. Treasury has been forced to issue $1,040,965,000,000 in new debt since fiscal 2015 started just eight weeks ago in order to raise the money to pay off Treasury securities that were maturing and to cover new deficit spending by the government.The Michael Brown case is going to provide the Ministry of Propaganda with News fodder thru the 2016 election. Lisa Bloom is NBC/MSNBC Legal Analyst which presents the liberal legal counterview to Judge Judy and Judge Jeanine. In her analysis of the grand jury decision on the Brown case she said the following (I have added the underlining):
A Ponzi scheme ...is an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to existing investors from funds contributed by new investors,” says the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“With little or no legitimate earnings, the schemes require a consistent flow of money from new investors to continue,” explains the SEC. “Ponzi schemes tend to collapse when it becomes difficult to recruit new investors or when a large number of investors ask to cash out.”
Now, this issue about charging, which I find to be a racially-tinged offensive word in and of itself, but I would have asked him, what exactly does that mean? You can't let an ambiguous word like 'charged' get out there to the grand jury without analyzing it without cross-examining it and that just didn't happen.This is good News for the Washington Redskins. The liberals will now have to split their efforts to get the name changed because it is racist with efforts to change the name of the San Diego Chargers. It is not surprising that a liberal legal analyst can find racism in almost any word but I find it preposterous that someone would say that the word 'charge' is ambiguous.
30 November
Quail Ridge RV Resort
Huachuca City, AZ
On our way out of the Park yesterday afternoon we stopped at a neighbor for Patches to get some attention. I did some socializing with the couple that now live in Phoenix but the wife was born and raised in Sierra Vista. They have been touring the area on a small dirt bike motorcycle for the past few days that they carry in a cargo trailer behind their Class C. Their afternoons are devoted to sitting outside to enjoy the great weather we have been having.
I got new neighbors on my east side very early this morning, just a little before 8:00am. I have no idea where they may have come from this morning but the trailer has WY plates on it. They might have stayed in the Sierra Vista Veterans Memorial Park but I have not been able to find any information about using the electric hookups that I saw there during our most recent town walk. Or maybe they had just blacktop boondocked at Wal*Mart.
I got 3 more replacement maps built for Trip 5 this morning. That was about all I got done other than my usual daily reads. Also read a few more of the blogs on my Monthly list. Last but not least was time on the couch with Patches and a book that I might finish today, if not today then tomorrow for sure.
Is Attorney General Holder and the FBI racist? In my opinion they are. We know that Holder dismissed the charges of voter intimidation that had been filed against the New Black Panther Party members (African-American/Black/Negro) in 2008. In that case the victims were white.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation was prompt in launching an investigation of Mike Adams (white), the founder and editor of NaturalNews.com–a favorite site of Dr. Oz and anti-GMO campaigners, with Adams facing possible felony charges of inciting violence. He posted a screed on his website (since sanitized by Adams) attacking supporters of genetic engineering as modern day Nazis, suggesting that anti-GMO activists should consider murdering scientists and journalists (almost all white) for their crimes against humanity.
The FBI has not been nearly as prompt in investigating the New Black Panther incitement to violence in Ferguson. Nor have they announced that an investigation of Louis Head (Michael Brown's African-American/Black/Negro step father) has begun. He urged crowds on Monday night after the grand jury decision was announced to “burn this bitch down.” It could be argued that most of the violence was directed toward other African-American/Black/Negro rather than whites so there was no racism. But what of the businesses that were burned to the ground that were white owned?