Obama hits the field

Like millions of other Americans, I watched Barack Obama's speech last night. I am grateful that a speaker at the convention finally explained what the democrats are going to do and how they will do some of those items. That had been something that was missing from every other speaker. All they were doing was complaining about everything that is happening, including what they voted for.

I am thankful that I have lived during the time when Martin Luther King's dream has come to fruition and anyone, regardless of the color of their skin, can run for any office. It was nice to hear from John McCain saying the exact same thing. It certainly is a good day for our country.

I noticed a re-occurring theme through the entire convention. The democrats are excited to be able to finally defeat George Bush. I wonder why they kept mentioning that until I realized that they failed to beat him twice and so they think that the third time is the charm. However they do not seem to realize that because of the 22nd amendment, George Bush is 1 of only 2 living people who are now unable to ever be President again. Regardless of if you love or hate Bush, he must leave office and never return. But the democrats do not want him to leave until they have defeated him in at least 1 election. So they are pretending that they are running against George Bush. But they are not, they are running against a total different person who felt that he was different enough from Bush that he ran against him 8 years ago. So stop trying to defeat your past opponent and focus on your current one. But I have the feeling that the democrats cannot do that and that most Americans will fall for the illusion that Bush is running for president again.

It was nice to actually hear some of the plans that Obama has for his presidency. I agreed with some of them. But I soundly disagree with his desire to redefine marriage, increase the government's role in all of our lives and his desire to increase all our taxes through the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, his increase of taxes to corporations which will be passed along to consumers and his not mentioning one word about getting rid of our deficit and paying off the debt. For these reasons and a few others, I will not be voting for Obama.

I fear any government created program that is designed for and paid for by all Americans. Those government programs have proven to be terrible and far more in-effective than any comparable program offered through the free market. Social security & medicare are just 2 examples. Each year I get a statement about my social security benefits and each one mentions that by 2041 social security will no longer have enough funds to meet all it obligations. I am afraid to see how a health care program would end up. I don't want my government to compete with the free market, I want my government to help lower the prices in the free market.

Well, today we should learn who the GOP vice-president candidate will be and then we will hear from the GOP convention next week. I'm sure we will see more finger pointing, but hopefully some of them will say what they will do if they are elected.

Hey Hillary, were the ones paying the high gas prices!

Just finished watching Hillary Clinton speak at the Democratic National Convention being held in Denver. She blamed the Republicans for giving oil companies their large windfall profits. I'm sorry Hillary, but the Republican party is not paying for the billions of dollars of profits that the oil companies are receiving, nor are the Democrats. WE THE PEOPLE ARE!!!

We are the ones paying 4 bucks a gallon, not the government or a political party and so we are the ones giving the oil companies their big profits. So don't try to pin this on your opposing party and tell us exactly how you are going to give everyone health care, how you will bring the troops home, how you will produce all this green energy and how you will fight for gay rights. You gave a rousing speech but did not say a word on how you and the democrats were going to deliver moon beams home in a jar. All you did was say how great you are, are supporting Obama and pointed the finger at Bush and McCain. Change? No, it looks like more of the same politics.

I hope Obama does a better job of telling us how he is going to save the world on Thursday night.

Thanks for letting me rant. You should see less of it by November 5th. Think you can survive till then? Will I be able to survive after then?

Weekend-Partying with the Stevens family

Friday was a crazy day for me as two branch offices for Winder Farms were moving into new locations. Meaning that I had to be on site at Orem and remotely help Las Vegas get all their phones, computers and Internet connections transferred, set up and tested. Nothing ever happens perfectly. After we had moved all the equipment and services, we could not get a connection between the both branch offices and the main office. It made for a stressful end to the week and made me welcome the weekend. Thankfully everything got resolved by late Friday night and so the weekend could be enjoyed without work related stress.

Our ward had a picnic on Friday night and even though I was late to it due to the afore mentioned location move, we had a lot of fun. I tried to imitate the USA mens gold winning beach volleyball players in a game of volleyball with my fellow ward members. But I think I proved that I am a better spectator than competitor.

Saturday began as a day of house hunting. (Be vary quiet, I'm huntin houses) But like Elmer Fudd, we have yet to catch our prey. But we ended the day well by hanging out with the Stevens family. They have 4 kids, with ages similar to ours. The kids had a lot of fun playing with each other and on Sunday Karen asked me to take her back to the Stevens house so she can play with them again.

While we were with Rob & Heather, we played a game called "Wits & Wagers." For those of you who I have talked into playing this game with me, you know how much I love this game and how well I do at it. But Rob's & Heather's 9 year old daughter was able to beat me in this game. They sure have a smart daughter who was able to spout off historical dates and events that would impress any history professor.

Thank you Rob & Heather for a pleasant evening together. We will do it again soon.

Olympics, Blogging & VPs

The ratings show that this has been the most watch Olympics ever. I am certainly one of the many Americans who are staying up late and watching them. The lack of sleep is starting to catch up to me and I am looking forward to the Olympics being over so I can go to sleep on time again. I was planning on going to bed at my normal time last night. But a US men's beach volleyball team was playing in the gold medal match and it turned out to be a very close and exciting game. I just could not bring myself to turn the TV off as it came down to the 3rd and final set to find the champion. The US team pulled it off and now the US has swepted gold in both the men's and women's beach volleyball.

It was a disappointment to see both the mens and womens track and field relay teams drop the baton and so become eliminated from medal contention. It was also interesting to see that investigations have been opened to look into the age of some Chinese gymnast who won a few gold medals. If these girls are proved to be under 16 then the US will receive a few more gold medals, which will be very beneficial to keeping the USA ahead in the medal count. I really enjoy watching these competitions and seeing many Americans succeed in their quest for gold.

It has been fun to see many more family members join the blogging world. All but one of Jen's sisters are now bloggers and it has been extremely helping in keeping informed and feeling close to Jen's family. With Jen's father passing away earlier this year, it looked like there would be fewer opportunities to gather together as a family. But with each family writing blogs, I feel closer to them then when we had the frequent family events. Another benefit to having the Internet in our lives. Thank you information age.

OK. So everyone is excited to see who Obama and McCain will pick for their running mate. But because none of them are sharing their plans with us, it only gets us more anxious to learn who their VPs will be. Its like everyone is on pins and needles as they were when Michael Phelps was trying to get 8 golds. Only the VP selection is really not that important. I only want to see if McCain picks Romney. I was kinda bummed when Romney did not get the GOP nomination, and so if he gets on the ticket, it will get me more excited about the election.

Well, that is enough ramblings for one day.

Star Wars & Birthday time with the family

We have a tradition in our family to gather together and celebrate all the family's birthdays and anniversaries for the entire month. Some months have lots of birthdays and August is one of them. So last night we all gathered together and had many extended family members attend as well. My wife was reminded that when I get together with my Brothers and with my cousin Richard Eddington, that I get really goofy and we all try to out do each other in cheesy jokes. After an hour of hearing every political and paris hilton joke we could think of, she had very sweetly asked me when we could leave. She sure is patience with me when I get together with my family and turn into a teenager again. I sure love her for putting up with me.

Our kids were able to play with all their cousins and had a ball. Karen learned how to roll down the hill, which made Michael want to also learn how to. It looked like they were having fun, until they started rolling in spilled food. Thankfully it did not stick.

Jen was extra special nice to me on Friday night. She found out that a friend of ours got free tickets to see the new Star Wars movie and she got me invited to go with them. So I was able to have a guys night out while she stayed home to care for our kids and get the house clean for the open house we had the next day.

The Star Wars movie was pretty good. It takes place after episode 2 during the clone wars, but after Ankin has been made a full Jedi Knight. He takes a Padawan learner and together with Obi Wan Kenobi, they strive to win the clone wars. The 3-D computer animation was pretty cool and the story was very entertaining. There was a character who was the uncle to Jabba the Hut, name Zero the Hut. Zero seemed to be the bisexual verison of the Hutts. He had a female voice and dressed like he was going to a tribute to Freddy Mercury event. It was comical to see this character.

I recommend seeing the new Star Wars movie, but it does not need to be in the movie theater. The movie would be just as good on the small screen as on the big.

First time I've wanted to move to Wyoming

So gas prices have begun to slowly fall. But for some reason, prices outside of Utah are now averaging 3.75. But not here, we are just approaching $4 a gallon. Why are we suddenly so blessed to be paying the highest gas prices in the nation? No one can say. Doug Wright on KSL has been trying to find an answer and the only one forthcoming is that it cost more to transport the gas.

If memory serves me well, isn't there a refinery in North Salt Lake? Why would we need to pay higher prices for transportation cost if the transportation is less than 10 miles? That refinery also provides gas to Wyoming and Nevada, each with lower gas prices than us. Why doesn't the gas company just come clean and admit that they have higher prices because they can and we cannot do anything about it? Then I would think that they are honest thieves instead of the lying thieves that they currently are.

Some possible good news from Congress. Republicans continue to stand on the darken house floor demanding the right to vote on a energy policy that would try to address our energy woes. This has inspired 10 Senators, 5 GOP 5 Dems, to come together and compromise on a bill that would allow off shore drilling and encourage alternative energy sources. It may result in higher taxes as the gas pump, but I am encouraged that some politicians are actually trying to work out a solution to the problem.

However I am disappointed at some conservatives and GOPs (like Sean Hannity) who are trying to continue to play the political game. They feel that the current energy woes will benefit the GOP in the upcoming election, which it probably will. So they do not want to work on a compromise with the Dems to address the energy problems, cause it may benefit the Dems and allow them to get re-elected. This is just playing politics, plain and simple, and I hate it no matter who is playing it. Our current politicians are elected to address our current problems now, not use them to benefit from them politically and then address them after the election. We need solutions and it does not matter if the solution comes from someone with a D or a R by their name, or by a group of both Ds and Rs.

The best parties are thrown by the Communist Parties

It finally came. 8-8-08. The first day of the Olympics in China have started and I must say that the communist know how to throw a party. I was greatly impressed with the opening ceremony. I had picked up some Chinese food and sat myself in front of the TV for the next 4 1/2 hours. I was impressed with the visual effects and the use of China's most abundant resource within the show, her people. They used people as paint brushes and block lifters. (If you saw it then you know what I mean.) The saddest thing was when the Nazi looking soldiers took the flags from the cute children and hoisted them on the flag pole. I made me think we were watching the 1936 Olympics with Hitler. But other than that, it was cool. It is always fun to watch the parade of nations and see which countries have smaller populations then the amount of people in the stadium. USA always sends a big team, but this year I think China sent a bigger one and could win the metal count.

Saturday I was happy to watch beach volleyball, gymnastics, bike riding and Michael Phelps blow the socks off all the competition. That man certianly is amazing and it is nice to have a role model who does not get to the top of his game by using illegal drugs like steroids. I look forward to watching the Redeem Team try to take home the gold in Basketball. It is nice to have a distraction from all the busyness of today.

Go USA!!!

Democrats are against the energy policy after they are done being for it

I'm amazed that it has taken me this long to go on a political rant, but now the time has come. We all suffer from extremely high gas prices. (The words suffer & extremely are correctly used.) The prices are so high that it has a significant effect upon our economy. Prices on all products are going up because of it. Everyone agrees that this is a significant issue and according to polls, it is the number 1 issue of this election.

The President and many members of Congress have been pushing for an up or down vote on allowing more domestic oil to be obtained and sold to the public. But instead of allowing the vote to happen, and most likely pass. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi quickly adjourned the Congress for 5 weeks, thus avoiding the vote that she knew she would lose. Because of this, many members of the House stayed in the house chamber to debate the issue and call for congress to return and vote on the issue. But instead, Pelosi turned off the lights, cut the microphones and prevented CSPAN from filming any of these events.

When asked on a news program why she would not allow the vote, Nancy replied that it is her duty to save the planet. I ask, is it worth it to save the planet at the expense of the people who live on it. Food and heating prices are growing to levels that many people cannot afford, but (according to Nancy) this is unimportant compared to the needs of the planet. Does she feel that we do not have the ability to extract oil from the planet in an environmentally safe way? If we cannot, then why does she allow any oil in any part of the world from being refined and sold in the US? According to her, any oil regardless of where it is refined is causing environmental problems. It is because our economy is to much dependant on it and she knows this. But since we are so dependant on it, shouldn't the short term solution be to increase the amount of oil on the market so that the prices will decrease and our economy does not suffer further?

John McCain was against drilling for more domestic oil, but he saw the writing on the wall and knows that this is needed for the short term solution. Even Brack Obama, who has been adamantly against domestic drilling, has turned around and now acknowledges the need for it. Some democrats say they are for it too. However this may be because 70% of Americans want it and so these democrats want to be re-elected. However these same democrats have put and will continue to put Nancy Pelosi in as Speaker of the House and she will do anything she can, including mis-using her power, to prevent this issue from even being voted on. That leads me to believe that many democrats and going to flip flop and say that they are for the energy policy and once they are elected they will then be against it. Else they would force Nancy Pelosi to allow the vote, like what the Republicans standing in the dark house chamber are trying to do right now.(They have been on the darken house floor since Friday 8/1/08, but cannot get any news coverage. But that is for a different blog.)

I am sick of political games being played rather than work being done to address this national emergency. If our current politicians will not do their part to fix the problem, then I say throw the bums out and get someone who will.

P.S. For those who want to know what my idea is to fix this problem, here it is. I think our short term solution is to increase the amount of oil on the market to drive down prices. This includes getting more domestic oil sources that are not under the influence of OPEC which is a monopoly that drives prices up. We also need more hybrid and natural gas cars. Our long term solution is to obtain alternate energy sources. Someone invent a car that runs on water please! If we could drive our cars and fly our planes on an element that we have a lot of, then price would never be a problem. And if we could use an element that is already in our environment, then we would greatly decrease our pollution problem. What do you think?

Random Weekend Events

Monday has arrived again and I have to admit that this past weekend was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable weekends I've enjoyed in a while. This whole summer my weekends have been booked solid with either home improvement projects, house hunting trips, family & holiday events or work emergencies. But not this weekend. Here are some of the things we were able to do:

Dr Who season finale- The last episode of Dr. Who was shown on Friday night and it was extremely bitter sweet. It was another phenomenal episode that was worthy of the season ending type of episodes that Dr. Who normally has. Since I have a brother who has not yet seen it. (Come on Carl, catch up.) I don't want to give away any details. But it was exciting to see an old foe re-emerge in the series. I am extremely depressed that they will not be releasing the next season until 2010, and that will just be in England. So it will be some time before we see some new episodes of Dr. Who. But I will be waiting and watching for it.

Torchwood- Because of the Dr. Who finale, I decided to check out the spin off series called Torchwood. I had enjoyed the character of Caption Jack, who moved from Dr. Who to Torchwood. But I could only get through 2 episodes before I had to give up and send the remaining DVDs back to the library. The show is sci-fi based, but it is to much like an episode of Sex in the City. But instead of the traditional relationships, it is human-alien or man-man, woman-woman or alien woman-human woman, etc. I had always hated the soap opera portion of Battlestar Galactica. This show had it 10 times worse and I did not enjoy it. So that was a disappointment.

Open house & Temple trip-We had an open house for our home we are trying to sell. Jen wrote about that in so you can check her blog out for details. But I really enjoyed going to the temple with my wife and doing a sealing session. I just enjoy kneeling at the altar and looking across at my lovely wife who is dressed in white. It brings back many happy memories from December 14 2001.

Star Wars: Empire at War-I really enjoy playing computer games and any that involve Star Wars is a double the fun for me. One of those games are Star Wars: Empire at War with its expansion pack. I get to play the good or the bad guys and attempt to take over the universe. It is a long game to play, which Jen can attest to, but it really relaxes me and helps me unwind.

Parks & Friends-We had some friends who had moved away come back to town and visit this weekend. So a bunch of friends got together at a park to spend time together. It was a lot of fun and there was cloud cover, which helped it not be to hot. We played a little volleyball which has always been an enjoyable game for me. I left the park feeling happy at the time we spend together. Even my kids were able to play with us on the volleyball court. When the ball rolled off the court, Michael would be the one to chase after it and return it. And Karen learned how to hit the ball and did a pretty good job. I wish I had pictures to share.

Sunday was as it should be, a day of rest. So we had a wonderful weekend. I am excited for this month. The Olympics begin this week and football is just around the corner. I will be able to watch the season finale of American Gladiators tonight and pre-season football is starting up. Now if only I could get into my next house before football season begins. Then I would be all set for the fall.