The Blog Less Traveled

Below are a few of my favorite quotes regarding Liberals. I’ve included the author, if known.

• The principal feature of American liberalism is sanctimoniousness. By loudly denouncing all bad things–war and hunger and date rape–liberals testify to their own terrific goodness. More important, they promote themselves to membership in a self-selecting elite of those who care deeply about such things… It’s a kind of natural aristocracy, and the wonderful thing about this aristocracy is that you don’t have to be brave, smart, strong, or even lucky to join it; you just have to be liberal. (P.J. O’Rourke)
• A conservative sees a man drowning 50 feet from shore, throws him a 25-foot long rope, and tells him to swim to it. A liberal throws him a rope 50 feet long, then drops his end and goes off to perform another good deed.
• A man with both feet planted firmly in the air can be safely called a liberal.
• Those who call themselves “liberals” today are asking for policies which are precisely the opposite of those policies which the liberals of the nineteenth century advocated in their liberal programs. The so-called liberals of today have the very popular idea that freedom of speech, of thought, of the press, freedom of religion, and freedom from imprisonment without trial — that all these freedoms can be preserved in the absence of what is called economic freedom. They do not realize that, in a system where there is no market, where the government directs everything, all those other freedoms are illusory, even if they are made into laws and written up in constitutions. (Ludwig von Mises)
• If you’re a liberal, anything you say is protected. If you’re a conservative, anything you say is hateful.
• If you’re not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you’re not a conservative at forty you have no brain. (Winston Churchill)
• Greed: A word commonly used by liberals, low achievers, anti-capitalists and society’s losers to denigrate, shame and discredit those who have acquired superior job skills and decision-making capabilities and who, through the application of those job skills, achieve success. (Neal Boortz)
• The principal purpose of the Democratic Party is to use the force of government to take property away from the people who earn it and give it to people who do not. (Neal Boortz)
• A liberal is a person whose interests aren’t at stake at the moment. (Willis Player)
• Liberals tend to put the onus of your success on society and conservatives on you and your family. (Dennis Prager)
• A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man; a debt he proposes to pay off with your money. (G. Gordon Liddy)
• I can remember way back when a liberal was generous with his own money. (Will Rogers)
• Bigot-A person who wins an argument with a liberal. (Rush Limbaugh)
• Left has come to represent increasing government control. The extreme leftist typically seeks total government. Working their way toward total government power are the Communists, socialists, fascists, and modern liberals who advocate government solutions for every real or imagined problem. (John F. McManus)
• We who are liberal and progressive know that the poor are our equals in every sense except that of being equal to us. (Lionel Trilling)
• One difference between a liberal and a pickpocket is that if you demand your money back from a pickpocket, he won’t question your motives.

• The Big Bang Theory: God spoke and BANG, it happened.
• Stupid should hurt!
• Only in America can a Vietnam Vet live in a cardboard box on the street and a draft dodger live in the White House.
• It could be worse. What if sex was fattening?
• I’m an optimist, but I don’t think it helps.
• If you didn’t get caught, did you really do it?
• I would give my right arm to be ambidextrous.
• I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather…not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.
• I LIKE CATS! They taste like chicken.
• I didn’t fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian.
• I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day and tomorrow doesn’t look good either.
• Which came first, the woman or the shopping mall?
• So your kid’s no honor student. Society needs laborers.
• If catapults are outlawed, only outlaws will have catapults.
• Your kid may be an Honor Student, but YOU’RE still an idiot.
• The trouble with the gene pool is that there’s no lifeguard.
• If you want breakfast in bed, sleep in the kitchen.
• What we need is a patch for stupidity!
• Stoplights timed for 30 mph are also timed for 60 mph.
• Say “NO” to drugs. That will bring the prices down.
• Veni, Vidi, VD. I came, I saw, I cankered.
• Veni, vidi, VISA- I came, I saw, I shopped
• Veni, Vidi, Velcro. I came, I saw, I stuck around.
• I’m schizophrenic and so am I.
• Constipation causes people not to give a crap.
• You’re just jealous because the voices only talk to ME.
• I’m not tense, just terribly, terribly alert.
• Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed.
• Kids in the back seat cause accidents; Accidents in the back seat cause kids.
• Be alert. The world needs more lerts.

Last Summer we had a hawk that would periodically visit the back deck of our house. He would sit there, sometimes for a ½ hour or more, searching I suppose, for something to eat. Our presence there didn’t seem to bother him all that much. We would look at him from our dining room or kitchen. He didn’t flinch a bit but you could tell that he noticed we were there by the movement of his eyes. We get all sorts of birds, waterfowl and other animals in our back yard. As you can see from the pictures, we have swans, geese, egrets, ducks, turtles, muskrats, etc., but we’ve never had a hawk before.

Living on the lake definitely gives us a wide range of animals for viewing. About the only ones I don’t really care to have on our land are the geese. When a flock of them are feeding on the lawn, they leave a ton of crap on the grass and beach. They can also be rather loud, especially if they arrive early in the morning and you’re still trying to sleep. Other than that, I wouldn’t trade living on the water for anything.

Washington, DC – Congress is considering sweeping legislation that will provide new benefits for many Americans: The Americans With No Abilities Act.

(AWNAA) is being hailed as a major legislative goal by advocates of the millions of Americans who lack any real skills or ambition. ‘Roughly 50 percent of Americans do not possess the competence and drive necessary to carve out a meaningful role for themselves in society,’ said California Senator Barbara Boxer. ‘We can no longer stand by and allow People of Inability to be ridiculed and passed over. With this legislation, employers will no longer be able to grant special favors to a small group of workers, simply because they have some idea of what they are doing.’

In a Capitol Hill press conference, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) pointed to the success of the U.S. Postal Service, which has a long-standing policy of providing opportunity without regard to performance. Approximately 74 percent of postal employees lack any job skills, making this agency the single largest U.S. employer of Persons of Inability.

Private-sector industries with good records of non-discrimination against the Inept include retail sales (72%), the airline industry (68%), and home improvement ‘warehouse’ stores (65%). At the state government level, the Department of Motor Vehicles also has an excellent record of hiring Persons of Inability (a whopping 83%).

Under The Americans With No Abilities Act, more than 25 million ‘middle man’ positions will be created, with important-sounding titles but little real responsibility, thus providing an illusory sense of purpose and performance.

Mandatory non-performance-based raises and promotions will be given so as to guarantee upward mobility for even the most inept employees. The legislation provides substantial tax breaks to corporations that promote a significant number of Persons of Inability into middle-management positions, and gives a tax credit to small and medium-sized businesses that agree to hire one clueless worker for every two talented hires.

Finally, the AWNAA contains tough new measures to make it more difficult to discriminate against the Non-abled, banning, for example, discriminatory interview questions such as, ‘Do you have any skills or experience that relate to this job?’

‘As a Non-abled person, I can’t be expected to keep up with people who have something going for them,’ said Ken Miller, who lost his position as a lug-nut twister at the GM plant in Flint, Michigan, due to her inability to remember ‘rightey tightey, lefty loosey.’ ‘This new law should be real good for people like me,’ Miller added. With the passage of this bill, Miller and millions of other untalented citizens will finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Said President Barack Obama (D): ‘As a President with no abilities, I believe the same privileges that elected officials enjoy ought to be extended to every American with no abilities. It is my duty as Chief Executive to provide each and every American citizen, regardless of his or her inadequacy, with some sort of space to take up in this great nation and a good salary for doing so.’

Since liberals are so fond of the statement, “Bush lied, people died”, I thought I’d create my own little pithy comment on Obama. Unlike the patently false Bush statement, my statement is completely true and I have a legal federal document to prove it.

During all his campaign speeches, Obama was always telling us that he wouldn’t raise taxes on those of us making $250,000 or less. He has continued to say it during his presidency. As recently as February 6, 2011, during his TV interview with Bill O’Reilly just prior to the airing of the Superbowl game, he said it again. Well, guess what? He lied again. A few days ago I received a financial statement that showed my federal taxes were increasing by 30% (29.86% to be exact). We’re not talking about a measly few percent here. We’re talking a major jump of 30%. Also, this wasn’t the result of any change in tax brackets or any change in my income from the past year. The increase was the direct result of an increase in the federal taxes on the same level of income.

Just thought you’d like to hear the truth since you won’t find it discussed very much on any of the mainstream media programs. Anyone else find a nice little federal tax increase in their mailbox recently?

Yesterday started out as a very ordinary day. I got up and had breakfast with my wife. I then wandered around debating whether or not to go out for a run. I didn’t really feel like it but I finally acquiesced, put on my running clothes and took off. I normally run to a hospital about one mile from the house and run through their campus because the roads are well plowed in the Winter and it makes the run less dangerous and more enjoyable. As I was finishing the run and heading off the hospital grounds, a car pulled up beside me and a pretty young woman gave me a big smile. It was my daughter. What a pleasant surprise that was. She’s in her final year of medical school and is doing a surgical rotation with a plastic surgeon at the hospital. She had just gotten done with surgery and was heading back home. I had completely forgotten that she was there. That made my day. I have to admit that I had a little flashback to the days when she was just a little girl and when I’d come home from work she’d give me that big smile of hers. What a joy and blessing my little girl has turned out to be. My wife and I are so very proud of her.

Later that evening, I was watching a repeat of the series finale of the TV series JAG. I had seen it before, but this time I noticed the background song playing during the final few minutes of the episode. The song is called, “100 Years” and is sung by the group, Five For Fighting. What an amazing song. The piano melody is beautiful but the lyrics are what truly set it apart. I’ve included the lyrics below. It’s a song that explores a man’s life as he passes through the various stages of his life. When he’s 15, he’s longing to become an adult. At 22, he’s found his true love and things are great. At 33, he’s still a man but now he’s married and has a child on the way. At 45, he’s having a midlife crisis and looking back at his youth. Then he’s halfway through his life; suddenly he’s in his sixties and wise but life is quickly passing by. Finally, he’s 99 and dying for just another moment and longing for his youth. The chorus line throughout the song is telling you that 15 is the perfect age to be because you have your whole life ahead of you – time to buy, time to lose, time to choose. “There’s never a wish better than this, when you’ve only got 100 years to live.”

Seeing my daughter that morning and hearing the words to that song in the evening provided a needed moment of clarity in my life. Life is quickly starting to pass by. I need to enjoy the moments of the present. I can’t do anything about the past and I can’t worry too much about what the future may bring.

Click this link 100 Years to watch the video. It’s a beautiful song. Highly recommended.

Lyrics for 100 Years by Five For Fighting

I’m 15 for a moment
Caught in between 10 and 20
And I’m just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are

I’m 22 for a moment
And she feels better than ever
And we’re on fire
Making our way back from Mars

15 there’s still time for you
Time to buy and time to lose
15, there’s never a wish better than this
When you only got a hundred years to live

I’m 33 for a moment
Still the man, but you see
I’m a They
Kid on the way, babe
A family on my mind…

I’m 45 for a moment
The sea is high
And I’m heading into a crisis
Chasing the years of my life

15 there’s still time for you
Time to buy, Time to lose yourself
Within a morning star

15 I’m all right with you
15, there’s never a wish better than this
When you only got a hundred years to live

Half the time goes by
Suddenly you’re wise
Another blink of an eye
67 is gone
The sun is getting high
We’re moving on…

I’m 99 for a moment
Time for just another moment
And I’m just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are

15 there’s still time for you
22 I feel her too
33 you’re on your way
Every day’s a new day…

15 there’s still time for you
Time to buy and time to choose
Hey 15, there’s never a wish better than this
When you only got a hundred years to live

• Biblical scholars recently unearthed a previously unknown gospel written by a disciple named “Rusty”.
• If you place a fresh Viagra tablet in a houseplant’s soil every six months, the plant will not wilt.
• The number of words in the Bible divided by the number of verses equals exactly 666.
• Winnie the Pooh was originally named “Winnie the Pee”.
• After extensive study of the Shroud of Turin, it has now been theorized that Jesus had muttonchops.
• Citizens in Ohio unsuccessfully tried to start a charitable organization called “The Salvation Coast Guard”.
• By law, all globes in Australia are displayed upside down.
• If you notify the flight attendant that it’s your birthday, most airlines will let you exit the plane on the inflatable slide.
• Bonnie and Clyde had another partner named Harold who was unfortunately killed in their first holdup.
• The last words of 47% of American men are “Hey, watch this!”.
• Beethoven wasn’t really deaf, but only pretended to be deaf when his mother-in-law was around.
• One-third of explorers who’ve visited both the North and South Poles developed bipolar disorder.
• The Q-Tip was developed after serious design flaws were found in both the O-Tip and the P-Tip.
• Mr. Rogers was a sniper in the Vietnam War.
• Alan Shepard was the only astronaut to leave his wallet on the moon.
• 22% of airline pilots have a child named “Roger”.
• BMW is developing a side-view mirror in which objects may be farther away than they appear.
• No death-row inmate has ever asked for tofu as his last meal.
• In the Blackfoot Indian language, there is no translation for the name “Clarence”.
• Orville Wright was the first member of the mile-high club.
• The earliest rocking chairs only rocked forward.
• If you make a cow laugh hard enough, milk will come out of its nose.
• By 2012, Pizza Hut hopes to focus less on pizza sales and more on its hut business.
• According to a recently found artifact, it appears that Mary and Joseph’s second choice for a name was Larry.
• To create a nurturing, non-judgmental atmosphere, many math teachers now tell children that no numbers are truly negative.
• A strict vegan will not indicate nonsense by using the word “baloney”.
• A Wisconsin man was beaten by an angry mob because he asked for “no cheese” on his Whopper.

In 1969, Dr. Laurence Peter wrote a book called “The Peter Principle.” He formulated the principle that “in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.” Well folks, if there’s any president in history that epitomizes this principle to a tee, it’s Obama. He’s finally seeing firsthand that when you’ve never led a day in your life, it’s a bit of a challenge to be a U.S President. He did a great job campaigning for President, but as everyone can clearly see now, it’s a whole lot easier promising all these great “Changes” than it is actually delivering on them by governing.

He’s become so petulant and thin-skinned over the past several months and his rhetoric is so completely over the line that it’s hard to believe that he’s actually a President. He seems so childish in how he handles any form of criticism. Calling Republicans “public enemies” and telling them they can “go to the back of the bus” is so beneath the office, it’s ridiculous. He certainly doesn’t dignify himself by taking so many cheap shots. It’s one thing to make valid rebuttals to your adversaries. However, name-calling and petty rejoinders are demeaning and have no place in Presidential discourse. This summer, just a few miles from where I live, Obama was at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new battery plant. Sitting in the front row was our U.S. House Representative, Peter Hoekstra (R). During his speech, the President said; “Some made the political calculation that it’s better to obstruct than lend a hand. They said no to the tax cuts, they said no to small business loans, they said no to clean energy projects. It doesn’t stop them from coming to ribbon cuttings — but that’s OK.” Talk about cheap shots – this was completely over the line of decency in politics. To make that statement in someone’s home district while he is in attendance is beneath contempt. I can’t think of any President in recent memory that’s stooped so low. And this comes from the same President who just a few months before said the following at the University of Michigan commencement ceremony on the other side of the state: “We can’t expect to solve our problems if all we do is tear each other down. You can disagree with a certain policy without demonizing the person who espouses it.” A little hypocritical now, isn’t it Mr. Obama?

The latest case in point that shows how his general lack of character and unseemly speeches have diminished the office he holds was how he was spoken to on his interview with Jon Stewart a few days ago. Here’s a comedian calling the President of the United States, “dude.” Never in my life could I imagine someone calling the President a dude, right to his face. Unbelievable! It shows a total lack of respect for the man and the office he holds. He, and he alone, is responsible for lowering the stature of the office. It’s as simple as that. After his term is over, I see him following in the footsteps of Jimmy Carter. He’ll be going on every talk show he can and making the same lame and pathetic excuses for his failed Presidency. Just like Carter, he’ll blame someone else for his shortcomings. These two men demonstrate with perfect clarity what you get when you lack leadership skills and a sense of honor.

I, for one, will no longer call the man, Mr. President. He doesn’t deserve the title and he will never get my respect.

I did something sort of unique last Saturday without even realizing it. It was a beautiful and sunny Fall morning and I decided to go out for a run. I was planning on doing a medium length run of 10-15 miles. I haven’t been doing much running or biking since the Boston Marathon. Prior to the marathon, I would usually get a half-marathon run in every week or so. Without any marathon to train for, I’ve been slacking off. I decided to try for a little longer run. I ended up running 10 miles. I didn’t really think anything of the distance until I plugged my GPS watch into the computer to upload the data. There it was. I had run 10 miles on 10/10/10. I started the run at 9:49AM. Therefore, I also happened to be running at 10:10:10AM on 10/10/10. The picture below is a screen capture from the Garmin program that shows the data from that run. Pretty cool, eh?

That little bit of trivia is pretty small potatoes compared to what happened to a local couple from the Grand Rapids, MI area on that day. They had a baby born on 10/10/10. Of course, you’re probably thinking that a lot of other couples had babies born on that day, too. However, the Soper family’s story is even more unique. They also had a baby born on 8/8/8 and one on 9/9/9. Can you believe that? I don’t know for sure, but I would imagine that they’re probably the only ones that can claim that. It sure makes it easy for them to remember their kid’s birthdays!

Here’s a link to the story that was carried by the local news station.

As you know from an earlier post on this blog, I had hand surgery done on my left hand back in July. The graphics on the left are the before and after pictures. As you can see, the recovery is pretty much complete. There’s still a bit of a scar showing, but with time it should be less noticeable. The day after I had the stitches pulled, I was in my backyard raking the beach. I probably should have waited a few more days before doing anything because I slightly reopened the top portion of the incision. As you can see from the photo, the top portion isn’t quite as cleanly healed as the rest of it.

The surgery itself was pretty interesting. I didn’t have them put me under. I avoid general anesthesia whenever possible. Instead, I had them perform what is called an arm block. They basically just deaden the arm muscle. You essentially have no real feeling in your arm and it seems like a dead weight if you try to move it. I was fully awake in the operating room and talking to the doctors and nurses. I could feel the surgeon as he cut into my hand and started to cut out the extra tissue. The surgeon let me look at my hand while he had it cut open. The inside of your hand is a very amazing piece of work. The blood flow to my hand was cut off so you could clearly see the blood vessels, muscles, tendons and bones. He had me move my finger, and as I did, you could see the tendon sliding back and forth on the back side of the finger. It was really cool. It’s times like these that I wish I had gone to medical school and become a surgeon. I think it would have been a great and rewarding career.

All-in-all, I’m pretty happy with the final results. My hand is back to normal and I’m pretty much doing everything I was before the surgery.