Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Got My Internet Back Today

We got power back a couple of days ago, and today a technician came by and replaced my cable, and now I am back online. I have missed reading all of your blogs. Been able to read a few from work, but now I can do it from home and not feel guilty.

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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

A Few Pictures From Ike At and Around My house





I spent 21 years in the USAF, and about half of them in Asia. Been through a lot of storms much bigger than this one, but Ike was not like other storms. I sat in my garage through most of it, and once the eye passed over, I new it was going to get worse, and it did. I have learned a lot about myself and my family through this ordeal, and how people can cope with loss of property and basic human needs, like electricity, the ability to cook food and most of all how we can survive without TV and Starbucks. I am pround of my wife and kids for their ablity to handle all of this. We were without power for 11 days, unable to get food, water or ice for three days. We kinda got use to living like folks did 100 or so years ago, and it's not that bad. Cought up on some reading, and drank a lot of beer. After it was safe to go outside, it was amazing to see all of the folks on my street, myself included jump right into clearing our street, heavely blocked by very large trees, and then everyone helped everyone else clear their yards of broken limps, trees and all sorts of other things. Of course the total clean up will take a long time, but we are now back to normal. Everyone is really worn out though, not just from the physical work of cleaning up, but the mental tiredness of being under such stress for such a long time. I am glad it is over. Our damage though bad, was nothing to compare to the almost total devestaion of Galveston and nearby areas.








My Back Yard

Pool Area

More Back Yard

Next Door

Couple Of Houses Down

Down The Street

My Grandson helping to clean up

Frying chicken on my 2 burner Coleman Stove. Best thing I ever bought

Next door, my daughter in the street

Neighbors Helping Neighbors

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Monday, September 22, 2008

Wednesday Hero


Click Image For Full Size
Yeoman 3rd Class Margret Ueberlauer
U.S. Navy

Yeoman 3rd Class Margret Ueberlauer hands out toys to HIV infected children during a community relations project at the Camillian Center in Pattaya, Thailand. The USS Abraham Lincoln Strike Group is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility.


These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
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Got Power

Well happy days are here again. We got power in my area last night at 7:26 pm. Total of 11 days without power. Everyone on my steet was yelling and screaming and just going crazy when the power came on. We had just put a pot of chili for supper. Everything came back up except the AC. It worked for about one minute and then no more. Don't know what it could be. I checked the breaker and reset it, still nothing. I hate to call a repairman, big bucks, especially after this storm, they are jacking prices. I don't have internet at home, our cable was cut in half by an uprooted tree, i'll get to working on that today. At least we are not in the dark anymore. I have some pics i'll try and get up soon.

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Saturday, September 20, 2008

Still No Power

Well we got word today that my area will not get power for at least another 10 days. It's getting hard. We lost power on the 12th. Stores are open, but you can't get meat eggs or anything that requires refridgeration. Getting tired of soup and noodles. The things we really need are candles or light source, but that is hard to find. Batteries are now available, but you really have to look to find them. We a sort of watch system on my street, all of us are armed. Lots of teens and other strangers around laste at night. I am at work now and we are running on generators. Not much to do, but keep the servers up. Should get off at 1700 today, don't know about tomorrow yet. Oh yea, sonic is open. Strange how half of kingwood has full power, and my half has none, so at least we can get a fatburger. More later.

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Friday, September 19, 2008

Well Ike Kicked Our Ass

This is the first time I have been able to get online due to IKE. I am at work and we are running on generator and have partial Internet, with ATT card only. We had very severe damage in my area. I had two trees fall in my back yard, and take out one side on my fence. There are many houses with trees on their homes and very large holes in their roof. We still don't have electric power. Today is 7 days without it. We are kind of getting use to it now, but will be gald to have lights again. Lines for gas were miles long, so waiting 2-3 hours was the norm. We have not had any meat for 6 days, but the stores are now starting to open up with generators, but stil can't get anything that requires refridgeeration. Been living on noodles and snacks for a while. Lucky I have a two burner Coleman stove, best purchase I ever made. I have pictures of my area to post after we get power back, and the way it looks, we at least in my area of Kingwood may not get it untill next week. You never know. We are very lucky it could have been a lot worse.

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Friday, September 12, 2008

The Second American Revolution

I am sure a lot of you have seen this before, but now is probably a good time to see and really listen to it again.

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Thursday, September 11, 2008

Waiting On Ike

How boring is this. We have been getting ready at my office starting yesterday, I am tired. We have been raising systems off of the floor onto bricks, covering systems with plastic, shutting down most of the servers and virtual machines in the company. I backed up our 2200 yesterday to tape, took 9 hours, back and forth to the server room to many times to count, hell I got home last night and was to tired to even open a beer. I had to get my daughter to do for me. Not lazy. Tomorrow we will shut down the rest, only leaving our mail and phone switch up. As we are the corporate headquarters for the company we do all the customer support, well we are transfering that responsibility to our office in France. Guess that is about all we cn do now. Waiting for the storm is the worst part. It is suppose to hit us streight on sometime during the early morning hours of Saturday, so that means there will be a huracain party at my house. Stocked up of scotch and beer today, bought chips and dip and pizza. Should go well till the power goes off. The news said that our area could loose power for up to 2 weeks, now how in the hell can they say that when the storm isn't even here yet. If that happens it will be bad. At least I have a pool and we can use the water from that to keep ourselves clean, and if worse comes to worse I guess we could drink it, just add a couple drops of chlorine. Who knows. Anywho, that about it for now.

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Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Oprah and Her Sponsors

I borrowed this fro Political Beach Girl. I think this hits Oprah where it hurts. Hell I haven't been to Target in 2 years anyhow.

Here's a h/t to Sooshi Soo for listing Oprah's sponsors, here. And here's another one, The Roast of Oprah Winfrey. From Sooshi Soo - some of Oprah's sponsors are: Lowes, Chase, Visa, Wachovia, Frontline, Murad, Clinique, Philosophy, Pella, Pfizer, Bali, Disney/Universal and Target.

Okay, boys and girls, we can do the rest. Oprah is a big girl and she tackled the Texas Ranchers but she has now offended and insulted ALL American women - liberal and conservative alike. When she insults one of us for our achievement, she insults us all. When she touts her stance for women, she needs a disclaimer that her stance is ONLY for women who agree with her.

So, tune her out, turn her off, and do like Sooshi Soo suggests, use your time more wisely. We don't need Oprah; she needed us and now she has kicked us to the curb. Celebrities such as Michael Phelps and others should consider not being guests on her show. They don't need her either.

Like many celebrities, Oprah seems to have forgotten that it is we - the people - who have made her a celebrity. Those checks she gets through direct deposit are from money we paid to her sponsors. Her beautiful homes and furnishings are from us. I don't begrudge her her accomplishment but she sure begrudges Sarah Palin her hard work and earnest effort. Oprah won't ever be a governor of a State. We are the women viewers who "butter her bread" and I think it is time to stop.

I say we can shop at Home Depot; who needs Target? Remember the dust-up with Target over them not allowing their employees to say "Merry Christmas" a year or so ago? Well, last Christmas, I went into the local Target and had to laugh at all the Merry Christmas signs hanging from the ceiling.

So, when our money "walks", they hear our "talk." Let's send Oprah's sponsors a message too...and let's do it now - just in time for Christmas.
Labels: Oprah Winfrey

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Wednesdays Hero

SSgt. Andy Pena
SSgt. Andy Pena

U.S. Air Force

Staff Sgt. Andy Pena performs in-flight calibrations on a HH-60 Pave Low while flying Sept. 3 over Ellington Field, Texas. He and members of the 55th Rescue Squadron deployed from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., to Ellington Field in response to Hurricane Gustav with less than 24 hours after notification. Sergeant Pena is an aerial gunner.


These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Have Every Right To Dream Heroic Dreams. Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
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Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Dear Mr Obama

I borrowed this from http://sargecharlie.blogspot.com/

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Noriega Refuses to Fight For Texas Communities

Now this is just just dosen't seem right to me. What's Noriega's problem. Why should we have to pay for border jumpers.


AUSTIN—At a news conference Monday on his new “Education plan,” U.S. Senate candidate Rick Noriega refused to say whether he would seek federal reimbursement for local communities burdened by soaring enrollment from undocumented immigrants.
Asked twice about whether federal funds should help offset higher education costs incurred by local school districts because of porous federal borders, Noriega twice declined to answer directly.
The Houston Chronicle reported today that “A report from the state comptroller's office in 2005 estimated the annual cost of a public education for an estimated 151,000 undocumented children in Texas schools was $957 million for the 2004-05 school year.” (R.G. Ratcliffe, “Noriega, Cornyn disagree on illegal-immigrant issue: Cornyn wants feds to reimburse state for education; Noriega doesn't,” Houston Chronicle, 09/09/08)
$957 million…that’s nearly $1 BILLION coming out of the Texas taxpayers pockets every year, and Rick Noriega doesn’t see any reason for them to be reimbursed.
Senator John Cornyn believes strongly in the value of a good education and he also believes that we have a responsibility to educate all of our children, no matter their circumstances. He does not believe, however, that Texans should be left holding the billion dollar tab for the federal government’s failures.
To that end, Senator Cornyn has strongly advocated federal reimbursement for the added costs to localities stemming from lax border enforcement, including costs of policing, other law enforcement, and health care expenditures. Working with others in the Texas delegation, he has obtained U.S. funding to step-up supplements for border sheriffs, hospitals and schools such as the John Cornyn Head Start pre-school in Mission, Texas.
Cornyn campaign spokesman Kevin McLaughlin faulted Noriega’s priorities. “State Rep. Noriega wants the government to pay for a host of activities that are not its responsibility—such as public financing of elections. He has now published four policy position papers—each one seeking a massive expansion of federal responsibility and a corresponding increase in federal government spending.”
Common Cause estimates that it would cost $1.75 billion each election cycle to publicly finance elections in the United States. So, by his logic, Rick Noriega believes we should finance negative ads instead of education. (Breaking Free With Fair Elections: A New Declaration of Independence for Congress, March 2007)
“But when the federal government is directly responsible for an existing problem, Rep. Noriega falls silent. He won’t fight for Texas communities trying to cope with the federal government’s lapses? This represents a bizarre set of priorities,” McLaughlin added.
Federal reimbursement programs for costs states incur regarding illegal immigrants are nothing new. Senator Cornyn championed bipartisan legislation which reimbursed local law enforcement for costs they incur and he also led a bipartisan effort to reimburse states and local governments for health care and education costs, as well.
Senator Cornyn’s Bipartisan Record On Reimbursing Border States
Senator Cornyn Cosponsored the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program Reauthorization Bill: Authorized funding to reimburse state and local governments for incarceration costs related to illegal aliens. In 2004, Texas received $24.7 million under SCAAP. In 2005, Senator Cornyn worked to increase the funding and was successful in obtaining $26.5 million for Texas. (H.R. 3402. Passed Senate on 12/16/05 by unanimous consent. On 1/5/06 became Public Law No. 109-162

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Saturday, September 6, 2008

Part 1 of OBAMA's Motivational Video

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Part 2 of OBAMA's Motivational Video

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OBAMA Motivational Video Part 1, 2 & 3

Lessons learned from the past will help him in the future.

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Toby Keith's Finest Patriotic Song's

I know everyone has seen and heard this a thousand times, but I haven't seen it on any blogs for a long time, so this is just a reminder of what was done to us not to long ago. Allways remember.


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Thursday, September 4, 2008

Our New Vice President


I found this out there somewhere, and it is a photoshop, but I like it.

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Wednesday, September 3, 2008

The Diddy Retort

I know everyone has posted this, so I thought I would as well. I saw it over at Texas Fred's

It's great

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Todd Palin: 'First dude' and right-hand man

With a man like this and a women like his wife along with a documented war hero, I don't know if Washington is going to be able to handle it. I think the old ways may be out.

As "first dude," the title he prefers, Todd Palin reinforces the average-family image that his wife, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, has sought to project.

He is a member of the steelworkers' union and has continued to work part time for BP in the oil fields of the North Slope, and summers as a commercial fisherman, since his wife was elected. He also finds time for more traditional duties, like playing host to former first ladies of Alaska for tea, or judging the 2008 Miss Alaska beauty pageant - the contest in which his wife had been named runner-up and "Miss Congeniality" nearly 25 years earlier.

He is a champion snowmobiler known for his navigational skills - a four-time winner of the Iron Dog competition, a 2,000-mile, or 3,200-kilometer, race that is Alaska's equivalent to the Daytona 500. He drove the last 400 miles of this year's race with a broken arm after he was thrown 70 feet, or 21 meters, from his machine in a crash.

Click the link above for full story

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Homeowner kills one intruder, wounds another

Well done. He should be given an award, wonder if they were legal or not. We will wait and see.

BLUE MOUND — A homeowner who saw his wife threatened at gunpoint by an intruder wrested the gun from the man, killed him and wounded another intruder, police said.

The incident happened early today after two men kicked open the front door of the couple's home in this Fort Worth suburb.

Keith and Kellie Hoehn told police the men burst into their house and one of them pointed a shotgun at Mrs. Hoehn's head. She brushed the barrel aside, and a struggle ensued.

The husband got control of the gun and shot both men. The man who survived is being treated at a Fort Worth hospital.

Investigators said the homeowner is unlikely be charged. They said he shot the men out of concern for his sleeping children.

Police suspect that the intruders had broken into the garage of a nearby house earlier in the night.

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Woman's body in suitcase traced to teenage romance


How would you like to have a daughter like this one. I think not, and oh no not another illegal, who would have thunk it.

Priscila Rodriguez had only been dating Gerson Funes-Reina for a few weeks when she cut a hole in her bedroom window screen so her boyfriend could sneak inside her family's east Houston home.

Dressed all in black, Funes-Reina wore gloves and carried a length of nylon rope.

Once inside, the 18-year-old from Honduras handed his 17-year-old girlfriend a pair of ear plugs.

"You're going to need these," he said, and left the bedroom.

When he returned minutes later, he told her: "I've killed your mom."

That's the story Priscila Rodriguez told Harris County homicide detectives after her mother's body was found Sunday morning in the woods of northeast Harris County. Maria Rodriguez, 55, had been strangled and stuffed into a suitcase.

At first Priscila denied any involvement, but detectives soon noticed "something wasn't jiving right" in their conversations with her, said Sgt. Larry Davis of the Harris County Sheriff's homicide division.

After further questioning, Priscila admitted to helping Funes-Reina load her mother's body into the suitcase, which the couple later dumped in a wooded area near Guinn and 10th Street, about 15 miles from her home.

"She knew what she did was wrong," Davis said. "But as far as remorse, no."

On Monday, Priscila was charged with abuse of a corpse. Funes-Reina, who authorities say is in the United States illegally, was charged with her mother's murder. He is scheduled to appear in court for arraignment this morning.

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Governor asked to stop execution next week

Let's see if our Governor has a set, or will he bow to pressure. What does a little hit on the side have to do with a murder. Nothing I think, unless you are a Lib/ACLU wanker.

HOUSTON — Twenty-two former judges and prosecutors on Wednesday asked Gov. Rick Perry to stop next week's scheduled execution because an important hearing in the condemned inmate's case is scheduled for two days after the lethal injection.

State District Judge Robert Dry in Collin County has set a Sept. 12 hearing on the request from attorneys for convicted killer Charles Dean Hood for arguments on whether a former judge and district attorney were in an unethical romantic relationship during Hood's trial. Hood's set to die Sept. 10 for the slayings of a topless club dancer and her boyfriend.

Perry has the authority to block executions with a one-time 30-day reprieve for condemned prisoners.

There was no immediate response from the governor's office. Perry on Wednesday was in East Texas, visiting Hurricane Gustav evacuees preparing to return home.

Hood's lawyers contend the alleged secret relationship between now retired Judge Verla Sue Holland, who presided over Hood's capital murder trial in 1990, and the prosecutor, former Collin County District Attorney Tom O'Connell, tainted the trial.

Holland, who in the mid-1990s served as a judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and O'Connell, now in private practice, have declined to address the allegations.

"It is an irrevocable wrong to send a man to his death without ever hearing this critical evidence," the group of former judges and prosecutors said in a letter to Perry.

Among the 22 signers are William Sessions, a former FBI director and federal judge in Texas; John Gibbons, former chief judge of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; Kenneth Mighell, former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas; and J. Joseph Curran, former attorney general of Maryland.

"We write because our long experience as jurists and law enforcement officials leads us to believe that justice cannot be served unless the courts are able to consider whether Mr. Hood's conviction and sentence are invalid," their letter said. "In our view, it is inexplicable that the court hearing to consider this vital matter is scheduled for two days after Mr. Hood is scheduled to be executed."

Hood was scheduled to die June 17 but his lethal injection, which had cleared numerous lengthy last-day appeals to the courts, was aborted by state prison officials after they ran out of time to carry out the execution by midnight.

Hood, 39, is a former topless-club bouncer who was 20 when he was arrested in Indiana for the fatal shootings of Tracie Lynn Wallace, 26, an ex-dancer at the club, and her boyfriend, Ronald Williamson, 46, at Williamson's home in Plano in 1989.

Hood, who has maintained his innocence, was driving Williamson's $70,000 Cadillac at the time of his arrest. Fingerprint evidence tied him to the murder scene. Hood contended his prints were at Williamson's home because he was living there.

Evidence also tied Hood, who had served two years in an Indiana prison for passing bad checks, to the rape of a 15-year-old girl.

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Fred Thompson's Speech Last Night

For those who may not have heard his speech here is some of it

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Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Dutch Paper: U.S. Will Attack Iran in Weeks

Ya can kinda take this with a grain of salt I think.

The largest newspaper in the Netherlands, De Telegraaf, reported this past weekend that its nation's intelligence agency has been working closely with the CIA to help prepare the U.S. in a planned air attack on Iran.


The front-page story in De Telegraaf, published Friday and headlined "Attack on Iran Imminent," claimed that U.S. military strikes on Iran's nuclear and weapons facilities would happen in weeks.


The paper indicated Holland's military intelligence service (Algemene Inlichtingen-en Veiligheidsdienst, or AIVD), has pulled back from its operations inside Iran helping the U.S. to identify targets.


De Telegraaf reports that the decision has already been made by the U.S. to attack Iran using unmanned aircraft, hence the Netherlands' decision to remove its agents.


Excerpts from De Telegraaf follow:


"Good sources have declared to the Telegraaf that the AIVD Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst has been operating in Iran for the last few years with the purpose of the infiltration and sabotage of the weapons industry of the Iranian republic.

"The operations are said to have been 'very successful' but have recently been put to a halt because of American plans for an air attack. Information regarding the AIVD operation has been shared with the CIA in recent years, according to the sources.


"Iran is believed to be working towards an atomic bomb and refuses to comply to Western demands to stop enriching uranium. In June Israeli vice president Shaul Mofaz made the statement that an Israeli attack is inevitable if Iran continues its quest for atomic weapons."

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