Yes we can...spend more money we don't have

Just watched President Obama give his first talk to Congress. Had to laugh when he tried to start his speech before he was introduced. Speaker Pelosi had to flag him down that it was not his turn yet. I guess it is OK for a new president to make inexperienced mistakes in a speech. Unfortunately he is going to make inexperienced mistakes with our government.

I agree with him that we need to cut spending and our deficit. We need to find ways to reel in health care costs and should lead the way in finding alternate energy sources. But I had to laugh when he bragged that his recent 800+ Billion (that billion with a B) spending bill did not have any earmarks in it. But it had more pork than immediate stimulus money.

I like to compare what Obama is doing to what both Regan and W. Bush did when they entered office. All Presidents entered office while the country was in a economy down turn and needed a boost. Regan and Bush cut taxes, giving Americans more money to spend, which gave the economy a boost and brought us out of the recession. It even gave the government more money in tax revenue. But Obama does not want to give Americans more money to spend (Unless you count $26 a month as more money) Instead he spent the money himself on what he wanted to buy. I hope his spending bill does help our economy I really do, but even his administration has admitted that it does not guarantee success and is looking to spend more money.

I hope our country does not takes steps towards socialism. Doing so would punish those who work hard for success and reward those to purposely do less and take more. But I fear that some of the changes Obama, Pelosi and Reid are making are taking us on that path.

Tax time again

It's that time of year again. Where we get a much needed distraction from the cold, snowy & grey days of winter by sitting in front of a computer for a few hours trying to see how much money we owe Uncle Sam. I had all but 1 tax form this past weekend and since I was with my parents for a family gathering. I borrowed my day's copy of Turbo Tax and got most of my taxes done.

Looks like we will owe a little bit more to the state and will get some redistributed wealth from the federal government. I cannot see it as anything different. When I pay only $28 in federal taxes for the entire year, but only owe $14 for my entire family, and I still get a refund that is a four figure amount. That certainly means that someone else is paying a large amount of taxes so that the government can then take it and give it to me. Since when was it ethical for the government to take from someone, not use it for government projects, but to give to a poor guy like me. Some see this as the government being Robin Hood. But Robin Hood was a thief, even if he was giving the money to others. Looks like our government also enjoys spending other people's money.

These types of tax returns will not last much longer. The Bush tax cuts will expire in 2010 and with it the generous child tax credits and other tax breaks. By that time, Obama will have to raise taxes to pay for all his bail out, so called stimulus and rescue packages he is passing. They have already passed 2 $800+ Billion dollar spending packages and now Obama is pushing for another $80+ Billion dollar housing rescue. I'm sure he is not done spending our money. So I should not worry about not paying enough taxes. There will be plenty to pay soon enough.

Ever seen an election from the candidates point of view?

Today I learned that one of my candidates for the Utah State House needed some help putting up door hangers on the homes of frequent voters. I had some time and so came to help. It was an eye opening experience to see the election from the candidates point of view.

He was trying to run a honest and fair campaign. But his opponent had just sent out some mailings with some negative and incorrect statements. He had to then make a choice. Should he not respond and risk having his opponent see that he will do nothing and so encourage her to do more negative ads. Or should he respond with a mailing with his own that attacks his opponent and risk looking like he is now running a negative campaign.

He did not want to go negative and I was impressed with how he responded. He did respond with what could appear as a negative mailing. But he held back from making it a purely negative mailing and instead pointed out some of his opponents ineffectiveness instead.

It must be hard to run for any office. You can be a person who tries to be an fair, honest and an ethical person. But when you run for office, people start saying lots of things about you and many times it is incorrect, false and even a blatant lie. Voters will hear this and regardless of its truth or not will believe it and and use it to decide who to vote for. But if you try to correct the lies you will either not be able to convince others of the truth, or worse. The lie was given just a few days before the election and you don't have any time correct the lie in time for the election.

We have seen this a lot lately here in Utah. 4 years ago a democrat in the county attorney general office suddenly decided to bring up charges against the republican county mayor, while the mayor was running for re-election. The charges were for something that happened over a year earlier, but for some reason, could only be brought up during an election year. The republican mayor lost her seat but was acquitted of all charges after the election. This year a democrat leaked to the press information that suggested that a republican had tried to bribe another legislator to vote a certain way. The republican demanded that the ethics committee investigate and decide well before the election on whether the charges are true or not. He was cleared, but was then left with very little time to get the word out that he was innocent.

This is not one sided, I'm sure republicans have done this to democrats too. But I do not know of any examples currently. But I have grown very tired of tricks like these to get elected. Many voters don't know much about local candidates and learn most of it from headlines only. Some candidates know this and spread untruths about their opponents that they know will make headlines and then influence voters. Because of this, it is very discouraging for an honest and fair person to want to run for office. We need good people, but because bad people do what they do, good people do not step up to serve.

This is a very good reason why I will never run for any office. I would not want anyone to spread falsehoods about me, my family, my beliefs or any other thing I hold dear.

But I was glad to be able to assist a good man in his election bid and I am hopeful that we will elect a good person to represent us.

I just had to laugh

So the election is in full swing and we have many local candidates seeking office in our area. There is a home that is located on the corner of two busy streets and so has many political signs displayed on it. I drive past the home everyday on the way to work. Whoever lives at this home gave me a chuckle today. Very early in the campaign season they put up a sign for a candidate . Then last week they had another sign posted next to the first sign. This one was for that candidate's opponent.

I always get a chuckle when I see a house showing signs for both candidates seeking the same office. It shows that the home is either really undecided or do not know enough about the people they are endorsing. I would assume that when you endorse someone, you had compared them to their opponents and then decided on endorsing one of them. But if you do not even know who the people are who are seeking political office, are you informed enough to start advising others on who to vote for?

Some one from the candidate's camp who had the first sign up must have approached the home owner and pointed out that they have a sign for their opponent and they then took it down. So I guess that proves that the owner of this home was one of those uneducated voters who did not look at or compare the candidates before they started encouraging us to vote for someone. The funniest thing about this is that this home is not even in the district for the office that these candidates are running for. So not only does this uneducated home owner try to tell me who to vote for, they don't even have a vote in this contest. They should be worrying about their own candidates rather than telling me how to vote with mine.

Is it done yet?

Been very busy . But after watching Washington flip flop on the bailout and the market still fall like a rock. All I can say is, Is the election done yet? Another month of this!? Dang it.

Presidential Debates- How to say something without saying anything

First off, check out my wife's blog for a report on a family outing we had this week to the circus. It was very enjoyable for all of us and I'm very glad the circus only comes once a year. (Very tiring taking the family to an event like this.)

Last night I watched the first debate between McCain & Obama. I did not hear anything that has caused me to change my vote. But I did appreciate hearing what both candidates would do so I can know what to expect from the next president, regardless of who it will be.

I had to laugh at Obama when he said that he listens to and believes the words of the military commanders in Afghanistan. But he refuses to listen to the commanders in Iraq and insists on following his own agenda, oops, I mean plans, concerning Iraq. I wonder why he will listen to one and not the others?

I also liked the comment that McCain said about Obama. "You cannot reach across the isle when you are that far left." That is the same problem I have with Janice Fisher, who is my house representative in the Utah legislature. She is the 5th most liberal member of the house and so is ineffective in working with anyone on the other side of the isle. Which in Utah is the conservatives who hold a 2/3 majority in the house. So she cannot work with anyone and cannot get anything done. I surly don't what that in a president. But if Obama is elected, we will certainly have someone who only works with people on the left and never the moderates or people on the right.

The Moderator correctly pointed out that the bail out that is being worked on, will prevent many planned programs from being funded by the next president and ask both of them what they would give up for the bailout. But neither of them would say what they would give up and only what they would pay for. That is a major problem with all politicians. None of them are willing to stop spending money, even if it is the only option. McCain does say that we need to cut spending, but I don't think either of them will do it enough to make a difference.

I don't think either McCain or Obama won the debate or gave the other a knock out punch. I would be surprised if any voter changed their vote based on this debate. At least we can watch Saturday Night Live to laugh at their interpretation of the debate. Plus we have 2 more presidential & 1 VP debate to watch. Maybe we will see a difference from those.

Mountain Con 4-the search for big name stars

It had been a long summer and Jen & I did not have much alone time since our spring time vacation. So we found an excuse this weekend to pawn our kids off on my parents and head out of town. But we did not go far (nor could we at today's gas prices.) We went to Layton to attend the local science fiction convention called Mountain Con. This was the fourth mountain con and we had the pleasure of attending all of them. We got a room at the adjoining hotel and enjoyed the quality time together.

My brother Carl has been a major participant in past mountain cons, but took a smaller role in this year's event. The new managers of the con tried very hard to bring great guests and enjoyable panels. But they got some bad luck when their main headline star, Kevin Sorbo, had to back out. Leaving very little time to find a suitable replacement. So we did not have any spectacular stars attending the con this year. But we still had fun. Check out Jen's blog for the pictures we took at the event.

They offer a chance to eat a very nice dinner with the stars. We normally do not participate in that as I find the cost to be unrealistic, just like the prices they charge to give autographs. But they were unable to sell all the tickets they had for the dinner and since they had already bought all the food that was going to be served. They asked Carl and his entourage if they wanted to attend for free. So the weekend started off with some wonderful food and some good time spend with good people. My 8 year old niece was instant on sitting next to me during the dinner. It is nice to be liked by my brother's daughter. She is fun and cute.

I got to hear a presentation about what we know about Mars from someone from the Clark Planetarium. That was very cool, as was playing a role playing game with my wife, watching a fan made star trek film and taking a starfleet course about romulans and Capt. Kirk's first 5 year mission. They had a panel about Stephanie Meyer's Twlight series and I made the mistake of joking calling the books a romance novel. All the girls in the room gave me the evil eye and one began to blame me for every mis-characterized author in the entire known universe. I learned not to joke about Stephanie Meyer.

It was very nice to have some time with just me and my wife. I relaxed, slept in, ate out at restaurants and enjoyed spending some one on one time with the woman I fell in love with and had a great weekend. Hearing that both the Utes and Cougars won their games completed the perfect weekend.

Quick book review: I am currently reading the book "Paul of Dune" which continues the Dune series. I am a third of the way through and so far I am enjoying it greatly. I enjoy the works of Kevin Anderson and Brain Herbert very much. I think I enjoy their books more than Frank Herbert's works. I will give a full review when I am done with the book but can already recommend it to anyone who wants to see what happens to Paul before and after the first Dune book.

Third party canidates have no chance of winning

I started a reply to a blog my brother Carl posted. But I got so long winded that I decided to add it to my blog. Many people are looking at the presidential candidates and finding it too easy to find faults with both of the major candidates. So some are complaining about the lack of good candidates and are looking to third party candidates. Here is my opinion on that:

Warning: Another political rant by a Stark.

I don't think that 3rd parties are the answer. Instead if people actually participated in the primary elections, then they would have a choice on who the major candidates will be in the general election. Instead, most people just wait until the general election, after the major candidates have been decided by the primary election. Then when they don't like the choices in the general election, they whine and complain and start looking to third party candidates. But if the third party candidates has no real possibility of winning. (Which has been true since 1912) Then any vote for them is actually a vote for the major candidate that you certainly would not vote for. When was the last time a 3rd party candidate even took 2nd place in the general presidential election? Answer: 1912 when Theodore Roosevelt ran on a third party ticket.

So if you want to make a difference and want good candidates available to choose from in the general election. Get involved in the early primary and caucuses. Join a party and run for the delegate positions. Then you can attend conventions and vote on candidates who 9 times out of 10 are chosen there before they even get to the ballot. Don't just wait until the general election, when the choice on who the candidates are has been made for you.

Raising McCain

The conventions ended last night with John McCain speaking at the GOP convention. This is a first for me. I had watched more of the democratic convention than the GOP convention. But I did catch it Wednesday and last night and I liked McCain's speech. He spoke of his military service and why he loves his country, took a few jabs at Obama but not as much as Obama did to him. He stated what he wanted to do and gave some details on how he will do it.
I really agree with him on the differences he has with Obama. McCain wants a smaller government, Obama wants a bigger one. McCain wants to keep taxes low, Obama wants to raise them. McCain wants to bring the troops home in victory, Obama wants them home with or without a victory. McCain wants to use all available options to fix our energy problems, Obama wants us to inflate our tires.

I really liked how McCain did not turn a blind eye to the failures of either party. He acknowledged that both parties failed to address our energy crisis. He blamed both republicans and democrats. I agree that both parties failed us in this area. McCain talked about working to get things done rather than focusing on taking credit for our country's success. Again, this is what I want from all of my elected officials. One who does not fight against a good plan just because his party did not think of it first. McCain has shown throughout his entire political career that he is not a traditional politician who only works for his party. But a politician who works for what is right and fights what is wrong, regardless of which party the opposition is part of.

McCain has proved to me that he deserves my vote and that we probably should have voted for him back in 2000 rather than who we did elect. Unless some extreme change occurs between now and the election, then I will be casting my ballot for John McCain.

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.

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.

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.

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?

I got booted out by my wife.

So my wife is really excited to have a blog website and set it up for both of us. I have always wanted to have a blog website, but could never find the time to find one and create it. So when my wife announced that she made one for us, I was really excited and began to share my thoughts and ideas on the unsuspecting public. My wife was probably the first to see my blogs and after reading them, she very quickly suggested that we have separate blog sites.

I guess I'm not surprised and I am certainly not mad. I can go off on controversial or unpopular topics, which one of my blogs very well could have been. So if you are interested in hearing more about the world according to Phil. You will need to go to the website http://neilsstarkrants.blogspot.com/ to read my blogs. A reminder that I don't always go off on rants, but can also discuss the latest movies and TV. So this will not be like a political talk show all the time. Just when that is on my mind.

So, if you stuck with me this far, I guess you will stick around for more.

Here's to the next week of blogs.

What's next? Kissing the cattle?

Last weekend, Jen & I worked in our basement. Going through large amounts of boxes to identify items we will try to sell at our yard sell this Saturday . We had the radio going while we labored and a song was played by Katy Perry. It was called "I kissed a girl." I normally don't listen to the lyrics of music, but this one just could not be ignored.
I found myself shocked and baffled. The girl singing described how she kissed another girl, just to experiment, and found that she liked it. She describes the pleasures of it and how there is nothing wrong with it and its it completely innocent.

Whether she was trying to create the theme songs for lesbians or just trying to sell CDs, I don't know. But I was very disappointed in the portrayal that there is is nothing wrong with this and that experimenting is perfectly fine. If I took that logic, then could people begin experimenting with anything? Are children, animals and inanimate objects in danger of experimentation? Where is the line drawn? Has it already been crossed? I think it has.

I looked up the lyrics to this song to make sure I did not hear incorrectly and on the website that hosted the lyrics, they allowed people to post their comments. Numerous comments were on how it is OK for same gender couples to experiment. One even said that she knew it was a sin, but it was OK because she could be forgiven for it and so felt no reason to stop.

I think it is clear that when you compromise on what you accept as right and find fewer things as wrong, you distance yourself from the religious or societal principles that keep our community safe and secure. If I now find the restrictions against same gender interaction incorrect then will I next find the restrictions on theft, dishonesty and even murder to be too restrictive and just an outdated tradition that no longer applies to my day and age?

I guess my point is that songs that glamorize actions that distance us from our values make me sorry for the direction our society is heading.

My Rants & Ramblings

Modern wonders are exciting. Such as the modern wonder of being able to document my feelings, ideas and experiences in a medium that is available to the whole world through the Internet. I have always enjoyed viewing the blogs of others and have felt closer to the authors and edified by them. One person's blog I have always enjoyed reading was my oldest brother's blog. He has been doing it for years now and checking his blog quickly became a daily ritual for me. My brother has always encouraged me to start my own blog, but laziness and constant distractions have always prevented me from doing so. But, thanks to the efforts of my wife, I now have a blog set up and waiting for all my rants and ramblings. So here it goes, my first blog...First off, I should give some back ground about myself and advance notification on what you can expect to hear me ramble about in future blogs.

I am a 33 year old husband and father of 2 toddlers. I keep myself extremely busy with trying to provide for my family, physically, emotionally, spiritually & as many humorist moments as possible. When I have time to myself, I like to spend it reading books (history or sci fi) playing games, watching TV (Dr. Who, American Gladiators, American Experience) swimming or any playtime I can get with my children. I keep myself aloof on local and national events and try to remain politically active so I can do my part to improve the world for my children.

What can you expect to hear me blog about. My head is full of random and sometimes useless ideas. Many of which you will hear on this blog. You can also expect to hear me talk about politics. I consider myself a moderate conservative who has an open mind to all ideas and strongly respects every one's right to believe whatever they want to believe. (Even if it is misguided, bias or completely and totally wrong.) I enjoy history and will frequently mention historical events in my blogs. I very much enjoy sci fi in the form of movies, television and books and so will discuss the upcoming Star Trek movie, the Dune novels, Dr. Who, Battle Star Galactic and of course, Star Wars. And finally you may hear me discuss the most insignificant topic you could think of. Whatever happens to be on my mind when I lay in bed at night trying to sleep could end up in a blog.

So there you have it. Should you agree to endure my future blogs, you can now say that you have been warned. If you find my blogs to contentious, thought provoking or just plain poor english. Than you can always skip over my blogs and just read Jen's. Which I'm sure will always be an uplifting and a pleasant experience.

Thanks for sticking around. Let the blogging begin.