Thanks To You, My Friends

My father's funeral was yesterday. The family was present. The services, held in a good sized chapel, were conducted by a retired military chaplain. He was wonderful, his words comforting. We looked around and observed there were many less in attendance than we surmised. We finally realized that, at 88, our father had outlived the bulk of his friends.

A United States Air Force Honor Guard carried my father's coffin from the chapel to a site of repose for the rest of the service, amidst an impressive court of columns, flags, artillery pieces. The guard ceremoniously folded the flag draped across my father's casket as three riflemen fired their salute with M-1 Garands. Despite the fact that there are so few of them left in military service, the Air Force found a bugler for my father. She played Taps. The flag was presented to my eldest brother: "On behalf of the President of the United States, the Department of the Air Force, and a grateful nation, we offer this flag for the faithful and dedicated service of Colonel Alley."

The day was clear and bright. The blue skies contained few clouds. It was a blessing.

First, thanks to each and every one of my readers for your kind comments about my father, literally, over the years. I don't have many acquaintances; I have fewer, if any, real friends.

Certainly I had "best friends" when I was young and growing up -- Randy and Rick. And I had a small cadre of very good and close friends during my college days (Randy, Chuck, Lynda, Richard, Jodee, Kerry, you know who you are!). We transported ourselves in a cloud wherever we went. Where one went we all went. Those were fabulous, fun, fanciful days.

But those days are gone. We all went our separate ways, quite physically. Cast to the four winds, little seeds blowing over hills to land in other areas and then sprout. Sprout with others.

Some of us got married, myself included. That marriage was not to last, since we were both as socially mature as a box of Frosted Flakes. We no more possessed a concept of how to conduct a true adult relationship, much less an actual marriage, than the Man In The Moon. We were young, stupid, and quite convinced the galaxy revolved around our individual selves. That we lasted six years was now, in reflection, a testament itself. We hit the rocks in the shallow waters just off the point, took water, hit the switch for the pumps haltingly, then shortly flicked it off and abandoned ship. I can only hope she's happy. I'm certain she's much happier now than then.

I'm not particularly social nor schooled in social graces. I'm not much physically demonstrative in a relationship. I can be, at times, warm and cuddly as a Bolivian Anaconda. I'm not a Joiner; I'm more the loner. It's just there, in my wiring, straight from the factory.

But one thing I've come to appreciate (amongst many, many others, recently), is the support and countenance of the people surrounding my little blip on the blogosphere, here on Bloviating Zeppelin.

Probably, like much of you, I spend way too much time on the internet either writing my blog, researching for my blog, visiting my Usual Suspects list or gathering the latest information on news and politics. That's not bad, in my opinion, not at all. I've gotten to virtually meet any number of new and fascinating people in my time following the first BZ post on June 19th of 2004. Amazing to think this ridiculous little blog has lasted so long and that, this coming June 19th, it will have been alive for five years.

Since then, I've managed to corral a readership, hit Large Mammal status, and recently enjoyed my 6,200th profile view. That may not mean much to some but, to me, for someone who writes mostly for himself and not for others (there goes that lonely, non-joining Lone Wolf crap again), I am still floored that anyone would much bother with me, considering there are so many other more infinitely valuable and worthy places to visit on the internet.

So when I welcome you, as a new viewer to my blog, when you comment -- or even if you simply come to "dine and dash" -- trust me when I write that I truly value your visit, I'm glad you stopped by and am honored that you've even chosen to comment.

Time is so precious. Thank you for giving some to me. Thank you for your support during these very tempestuous times for me and my family. What I'm experiencing isn't anything new at all per se. Most of you have likely lost very precious loved ones or even your parents themselves.

But it's new to me and you've all treated me with grace and courtesy.

For that I am quite honored. I don't know how to repay you all for the help and comfort you've provided.

And so, I conclude, that I really do have friends. Most of whom I've never met (save Gawfer!) and likely never will. But your mere presence, right now, in these times, is very much akin to aloe on a burn. Like the cool side of my pillow.

Thank you all.

BZ

P.S.
My most sincere thanks to the Travis Air Force Base Elite Honor Guard. They drove 43 miles, one way, through dense Friday traffic to honor my father and the family. God bless you all.

Costs

Drudge believes the 2009 federal budget will cost each taxpayer $11,833.

Toby Harden, UK Telegraph, believes the 2010 Obama budget will cost each US taxpayer $25,573.48.

BZ

P.S.

My father's funeral will occur at noon today. As it turns out, the prior three photographers I had hoped might document this event cannot do so. I will be attending his funeral as not only a son but an official photographer. This is a very strange role to play. I hope I am up for this. I had hoped to speak. I don't believe this is in the cards, now.

CPSIA

This act is an abortion on toast. Lead.

As Hugh Hewitt writes, both here and here, it will be the undoing of many an industry because the Demorats have no grasp of proportion, common sense, unintended consquences and "logical extensions" whatsoever.

Text of this bill here.

Passed in August of 2008 and signed by President Bush (again, a dolt who was essentially incapable of exercising his power of veto), this act took effect on February 10th. It passed 93 to 7. Fourteen days after enacting, the first lawsuit has already been filed.

CPSIA will end up killing thrift stores, killing Goodwill, killing a good portion of the ATV industry.
Small and medium manufacturers of things such as childrens apparel, crib parts, little toys, teething rings -- these people will be wiped out. Taken to its logical extension, books written for children under 12 or potentially reaching the grasp of children under 12 before 1985 will be subject to suit.

There is a provision in the bill where you could sell these things if they are but for a "collectible purpose." Little Golden Books? Damned to hell.

14 days after taking affect, the first lawsuit has already occurred.

Doing the furthest logical extension: "ideally" for attorneys, you could be subject to suit if you sell, personally, in, say, a "garage sale" any product deemed deleterious by this act.

So you have to ask this question: could there possibly be anyone, anyone, who might want to make money suing you, because they don't know you (and couldn't care less about you) having purchased something casually from you? In technical violation of the CPSIA? Attorneys to be "specializing" in CPSIA cases?

And these assholes? These same people? They want to run your Healthcare.

With the same care, concern, competence, efficiency, proportion, rationality and humanity of your local DMV.

Holy Mother of God.

Help us.

BZ

Monterey: A Reflection

BZ

Trending: Mr Obama's First Address To Congress

Mr Obama proffered his wondrous speech before Congress on Tuesday, paving the American way with great and glorious words of positivism, hope, accomplishment and change.

He yielded in great and significant detail, much detail, his numerous plans for implementing that hope and change in order to more properly benefit the Middle Class, the average taxpayer, on whose fiscal back the support of this entire country rests.

Mr Obama delineated with masterful words of the general triumph of America, the salvation of the world that is this greatest nation, this great experiment in progress. He spoke of America's long history of hard work, dedication, courage, honor, bravery, ethics, fidelity, grit and determination. He told us all, in a Reaganesque fashion, that our most preeminent days are ahead of us and that, as with every problem America has faced in the past, we will grasp these days in both hands and confront them head-on.

Our 44th president said he will implement cuts for the taxpayers, using as an example of history the Ronald Wilson Reagan farewell address to the nation on January 11th of 1989:

Common sense told us that when you put a big tax on something, the people will produce less of it. So, we cut the people's tax rates, and the people produced more than ever before. The economy bloomed like a plant that had been cut back and could now grow quicker and stronger. Our economic program brought about the longest peacetime expansion in our history: real family income up, the poverty rate down, entrepreneurship booming, and an explosion in research and new technology. We're exporting more than ever because American industry became more competitive and at the same time, we summoned the national will to knock down protectionist walls abroad instead of erecting them at home.

And like Mr Lincoln and Mr Reagan, President Obama told us that we had to be strong, not just for us as an individual nation, but for the world as well. With threats multiplying and crises on every major continent, Mr Obama committed this nation to a path of national defense, again like Mr Reagan said in 1989:

Common sense also told us that to preserve the peace, we'd have to become strong again after years of weakness and confusion. So, we rebuilt our defenses, and this New Year we toasted the new peacefulness around the globe.

Mr Obama's speech inspired confidence in our economy, confidence in our businesses, confidence in our ability to face adversity head-on and meet or exceed national expectations.

If this be true, then why did the stock market tank again? And Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's response to Mr Obama's address? Remarkably wooden, stultifyingly boring. When will the GOP ever learn to capture hearts and minds? There is nothing wrong with utilizing emotions as well as facts.

BZ

The Stock Market:

Reached a twelve year low on Monday.

The government: "We're stepping in, or the markets will collapse."

The stock markets: the government stepped in, and the stock markets are collapsing.

For Mr Obama allegedly doing The Right Thing, with billions and billions of dollars infused into hands other than those of the taxpayer, why is it that nothing is happening?  

Did we not see The Light?  Have we not been cleansed of our sins by electing the Obamessiah?  Change was expected.  Immediate Change.  Where is this Change?

Help us, Obama-wan-Kenobi.  You're our only hope!

BZ

Price Per Barrel

If oil closed Wednesday at $34.80 per barrel, why are pump prices, absent a tax hike, increasing?

In Sacramento, Fornicalia at ARCO (generally least expensive in area): $2.17.

Up from last week.

Why?

BZ

Sunday Reflections

Here I am, away on "vacation," at the Holiday Inn Express on Wave Street in Monterey.  It is late Saturday night as I write, and the rain is finally beginning to fall.  It was overcast all day; now the rains are slanting as expected.  We are here to somewhat belatedly "celebrate" our second anniversary.  My father's death put that on the back burner, as we got married on Valentine's Day and my wife had to work that day this year.  There is a bit of celebration, yes; but there is also sadness and wistfulness.  

I wish I had my father back.

We came into Monterey yesterday afternoon and hit Bubba Gump's for dinner.  My wife loves this place.  Lauren treated us quite nicely, hovering almost.  We had the Big Drinks which yield the large 22-oz BG glasses you get to keep.  I must admit, they have a great logo.  Not as great as my blog's BZ graphic, mind you, but nice enough.  

I also bought my wife a selection of six silver toe rings, as well as two silver thumb rings.  I am going to concentrate on acquiring turquoise and silver jewelry for her, in the future.  She is Mexican and Cherokee, and her beautiful darker skin and eyes would highlight this.  We wrapped up Friday night with a stop at Ghirardelli's, with a scoop of ice cream covered in chocolate sauce (me) and fudge (her).

On Saturday, we hit the Fish Hopper's for lunch.  The clam chowder?  Exquisite!

I made an appointment for a couple's massage at GG's Salon & Spa.  We got the deep tissue 80-minute package and, for that, had our feet hot-wrapped.  We also had aromatherapy included.  My wife chose "anxiety reduction" aromatherapy, and I chose "meditation."  This spa is wonderfully designed but, if you desire a more isolated and quiet feel, it may not be for you.  The front of the spa is open to the outside mall music and shouting from passing tourists.  One interesting sidenote: I personally enjoy heavy deep tissue massage.  My massage therapist was a small female, and asked me how deep to apply her techniques.  I said: "as deep as you're comfortable with."  I think, due to her diminutive size, she took umbrage to this.  She sensed that I had hurled the gauntlet.  So she proceeded to make my massage, for at least the first five minutes, a very angry massage.

A few minutes later, once she understood my preferences and how I relaxed, her application became much more human.  At the end, our breathing almost became as one, and, that's a huge goal attained.  For someone who's acquired professional deep tissue therapeutical massages in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, Mendocino, Santa Cruz, Capitola, Mendocino and Ft. Bragg, I know a good massage from a bad one.  The therapists here are good; the venue is loud and not so good.

Here's an earth-shaker: my wife wanted to have dinner once again at Bubba Gump's.  When we appeared at 4:45 PM, there was already a two-hour wait.  We snuck into a patio table and had dinner here.  In truth, it was quieter than having had dinner inside the restaurant and -- of course -- the food was just as good.  

We hit the antique mall directly next door to our motel.  I purchased a copy of Ronald Clark's "Einstein: The Life and Times" for $1.50.  My wife purchased some stick pins and cuff links for her starched shirts.  

Sunday is looming.  We are leaving Monterey on Monday.  I am going up to my cabin, if not snow-occluded, on Monday and Tuesday.  But I'll be making another post Sunday, for Monday.

I can still hear the ocean from the open window, at 10 PM.  And the rain.  There is the very, now, occasional barking of a seal.

BZ

Ted Nugent On Gun Rights

A bit of a break.  I'm on holiday this weekend, having taken my gorgeous wife to Monterey Bay in celebration of our second anniversary.  I've arranged for a "couples massage" tomorrow morning, then we're going to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  

From the open third floor windows on Wave Street, as I post this, though we don't have an unimpeded view of the ocean, we can nevertheless hear the seals barking in the night.  What a wonderful sound.

Unfortunately, I'm on my MacBook pro and don't know how to load photos, much less input and store them on the hard disk.  Therefore I pre-loaded some posts for this specific reason and may leave comments on them.  Some day, when I have the time, I may actually determine how to make a Mac work.  Leopard befuddles me.  It's not as intuitive as I'd hoped.  Or, probably more likely, I'm actually that old and actually that stupid and unworkable.

I'll be taking lots of photographs.  Like last time, I may have to wait until I return before I can post them for all to see. 

BZ

US To Rebuild Gaza

Mr Obama wants to send $1 billion dollars on rebuilding Gaza. Of course, because he says so, none of this money will ever find itself into the control of Hamas.

The Demorats and Leftists/Socialists think money can purchase love and adoration.

Newsflash: it buys naught but contempt.

BZ

More Taxes, Big Brother

Just when you're wondering, in only the first month of the Obama Administration, how your life could get any worse, any more taxed, any more programmed, any more monitored, how government could be any more intrusive -- ?

Well, here's how:

The system would require all cars and trucks be equipped with global satellite positioning technology, a transponder, a clock and other equipment to record how many miles a vehicle was driven, whether it was driven on highways or secondary roads, and even whether it was driven during peak traffic periods or off-peak hours.

Obama's new Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he wants to tax drivers predicated upon how many miles they drive rather than how much gasoline they use. He said on Friday:

We should look at the vehicular miles program where people are actually clocked on the number of miles that they traveled," the former Illinois Republican lawmaker said.

Who would pay for this mandatory equipment? You would. But that's simply the tip of the iceberg. Do what BZ calls The Logical Extension. Always do The Logical Extension.

Consider that this is wonderful for our government in any number of glorious ways:

- It would increase taxes on drivers. More money for government to spend foolishly;

- It would tend to keep some people out of their cars for two reasons:

* To avoid extra cash paid

* To help keep their individual privacy

- It would begin to accomplish true Enviro Social Engineering:

* To "help" people think their cars were the source of their problems than their answers to transportation;

- Furthermore, with GPS your very activities could be tracked;

- Your driving habits, locations, tendencies would be archived;

- Technologically, you could easily be aurally monitored;

- Automobile insurance companies would skyrocket your rates;

* Your speeds would be monitored;

* Do you accelerate too quickly?

* Do you brake too suddenly?

* Does this result in more abuse to the car your insurance company is covering?

* Do you even remotely roll through any stop sign?

* Do you tailgate? Correlations could be made between your vehicle and any so-equipped vehicle surrounding you;

* Do you drive in dangerous areas? Times? Tendencies? Higher rates;

* Do you drive in congested areas? Higher rates;

* Are you wearing your seat belt at every second? Higher rates;

* Now, very easy for your insurance company to completely cancel you;

* Information to be shared between companies;

- Police jurisdictions:

* Now, very easy to document you running a stop sign, a red light, one MPH over the limit;

* ANY violation of any vehicle code in your state;

* Money generation for each and every police agency you happen to visit, instantly;

- Even further, information from this system shared from government to:

* Your automobile insurance company: easy to be canceled;

* Your Life insurance company: determined by Risk Managers that you are a risk;

* Your Health insurance company: determined by their Risk Managers that you are a risk;

And, of course, it would be easy to track you, 24/7, by way of your vehicle. Your routes, your routines, where you stop, do you consistently roll through a Jack-In-The-Box? Ah, that would mean your lifestyle is compromised -- time to jack up your Health insurance.

Think about this, ladies and gentlemen. I am not a loon, for if I can think of these things now, various other entities -- governmental and private -- are already rubbing their hands with glee, pondering the potentials of this new technology. You would be a true Sheeple, used only for two things:

1. A source of revenue from many directions;

2. A way for companies -- mostly of the insurance variety -- to divest themselves from you.

Government considers you, the producer, the provider, the person of sufficient affluence to own a vehicle (oh my God, do you own more than one vehicle?) as nothing more than a vein to tap, to monitor, to use like a Kleenex. No privacy. None. If government can do a thing, it will do a thing. And anything government does is seldom if ever reversible.

To Big Government, a new and budding Socialist Government, you are nothing more than a cow. If we chip your car, you will be chipped next. You. Your person.

You let this go, you just bend over, plans for Phase II Chipping procedures will commence.

I can hear you say: BZ, now you're the Moonbat.

Oh really? Well, just sit back, relax and do nothing. Government will "take care" of you.

We'll see, won't we?

BZ

Fornicalia GOP Sacks Up

The Demorats are holding the Fornicalia budget hostage. In a recession, they want to spend spend spend spend. Fornicalia's budget is more than six months overdue. The proposed budget, locked by Demorats, includes $15 billion dollars in tax increases which averages out to a toll of $1,500 per Fornicalia family.

If you're a Fornicalia resident, you can calculate your tax hit here. Here is the budget proposal as of last Saturday.

The budget is at an impasse. Left Wing Liberal Governor Schwarzenegger wants the Forniculus budget (replete with the above taxes) passed -- despite the fact that Schwarzo himself acquired the Guv's chair on the back of exorbitant VLF (vehicle licensing fund) rates via vehicle registration fees proposed during the tenure of Gray Davis in 2003. Why yes, that's correct, registration fees in this new budget would double current fees.

That was enough to kick Gray Davis out of the Sacramento comfy chair. But not Schwarzo?

A heaping helping of hypocrisy, anyone? Bueller?

On Wednesday, Fornicalia Republicans had had enough when their GOP leader did not oppose the new taxes in the proposed budget. They sacked his ass. From SacBee.com:

Senate Republicans ousted their leader early this morning as other lawmakers continued searching for one more GOP vote in the upper house to break the state's budget deadlock.

In a contentious meeting that lasted through the midnight hour, Senate Republicans removed Sen. Dave Cogdill as leader and replaced him with Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, who opposes the budget deal Cogdill negotiated for his caucus because it contains new taxes.

Apparently Fornicalia Republicans are beginning to coalesce.

UPDATE: FORNICALIA BUDGET PASSES

Most everything was included in the budget with the exception, I understand, of the 12-cent per gallon tax on gasoline. Not much to be proud of, not much about which to be jubilant.

From SacBee.com:

Leaders also agreed to Maldonado's demand to eliminate the 12-cent additional gas tax, which was estimated to bring in $2.1 billion through June 2010, and up to a 5 percent surcharge on income tax liability. The money will be replaced with a 0.25 percent increase in the state income tax rate, federal stimulus dollars and more than $600 million in line-item vetoes.

With the changes made today, the deal totals $15 billion in state spending reductions, $12.8 billion in temporary tax increases, $11.4 billion in borrowing and a $1 billion reserve.

Republican Abel Maldonado held out, then finally voted for the package as delineated above. Here are the "concessions" Maldonado allegedly acquired. Please note this, however:

But legislative leaders refused to grant him his proposal to eliminate legislative pay altogether when the budget is late.

Politicians actually penalized when a budget is late? We can't have that! cried the legislators.

What a damnable abortion.

BZ

Obama & The Fairness Doctrine

An actual official statement by the Obama Administration:

President Obama opposes any move to bring back the so-called Fairness Doctrine, a spokesman told FOXNews.com Wednesday.

The statement is the first definitive stance the administration has taken since an aide told an industry publication last summer that Obama opposes the doctrine -- a long-abolished policy that would require broadcasters to provide opposing viewpoints on controversial issues.

"As the president stated during the campaign, he does not believe the Fairness Doctrine should be reinstated," White House spokesman Ben LaBolt told FOXNews.com.

This, apparently, in direct contravention of what The American Spectator wrote about a very recent meeting involving the FCC and influential Demorat Henry Waxman. From the article:

Senior FCC staff working for acting Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps held meetings last week with policy and legislative advisers to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman to discuss ways the committee can create openings for the FCC to put in place a form of the "Fairness Doctrine" without actually calling it such.

Waxman is also interested, say sources, in looking at how the Internet is being used for content and free speech purposes. "It's all about diversity in media," says a House Energy staffer, familiar with the meetings. "Does one radio station or one station group control four of the five most powerful outlets in one community? Do four stations in one region carry Rush Limbaugh, and nothing else during the same time slot? Does one heavily trafficked Internet site present one side of an issue and not link to sites that present alternative views? These are some of the questions the chairman is thinking about right now, and we are going to have an FCC that will finally have the people in place to answer them."

The article continues by writing that "both the FCC and Waxman are looking to licensing and renewal of licensing as a means of enforcing "Fairness Doctrine" type policies without actually using the hot-button term "Fairness Doctrine."

I'll not be jubilant yet. With this administration, it's about visible deeds and not words. Plus, as indicated above, might there likely be a variant proposed cleverly not entitled "Fairness Doctrine"? I say the chances are good, with the end game being the same: quashing Conservative free speech.

BZ

IT'S AN ATTACK ON ALL FRONTS

I said it from the very beginning: once the trough was opened, the pigs would never stop coming and, further, they would bring their friends:

DETROIT (AP) - Billions of dollars in government loans to prop up General Motors and Chrysler won't be enough. The companies, which have received $17.4 billion so far, filed plans with the government more than doubling that request to a staggering total of $39 billion.

LET. THEM. GO. BANKRUPT. Force them into restructuring.

Former FedRes Chair Alan Greenspan thinks it's a good idea to nationalize our banks:

The US government may have to nationalise some banks on a temporary basis to fix the financial system and restore the flow of credit, Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, has told the Financial Times.

Further, now some on the GOP side had bought into this:

Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator for South Carolina, says that many of his colleagues, including John McCain, the defeated presidential candidate, agree with his view that nationalisation of some banks should be “on the table”.

A good idea, says Mr Obama:

Barack Obama, the president, who has tried to avoid panicking lawmakers and markets by entertaining the idea, has moved more towards what he calls the “Swedish model” – an approach backed strongly by Mr Graham. In the early 1990s Sweden nationalised its banking sector then auctioned banks having cleaned up balance sheets. “In limited circumstances the Swedish model makes sense for the US,” says Mr Graham.

Germany has now gone this route:

The German cabinet approved a law on Wednesday letting it nationalise banks, setting aside a reluctance to seize private property in the latest government intervention worldwide to tackle the financial crisis. Germany said it was not planning to extend the role of the state through the bill, which it described as a last resort and could lead to the forced nationalisation of struggling German lender Hypo Real Estate (Xetra: 802770 - news).

But it nonetheless set aside a postwar commitment to respect private property, becoming the latest government to edge away from free market policies, instead using state support to prop up flagging banks and industries.

Read this: German private property can now be seized.

"We are all Socialists now," says Newsweek magazine.

At this rate, you think your property can't be seized in the future?

BZ

The Formula =

The One + The Porkulus = a Triple Digit Stock Nosedive on Tuesday, February 17th.

You do the math.

Meanwhile, Back In Fornicalia:

The average Fornicalia family faces a $1,500 yearly tax hit if the new Fornicalia budget passes -- which IN A RECESSION contains TAX INCREASES. The proposed budget spells out $15 billion dollars in tax increases. Some say the budget is alleged to have "cuts" -- but, in the real world, these "cuts" are nothing more than NO INCREASES. In PoliSpeak, these are "cuts." Once again, purposely duplicitous behavior by politicians.

I can hear you thinking right now: "Good. To hell with Fornicalia. I live in _____, not Fornicalia, so I couldn't care less." Really? You forget the axiom that "what happens in Fornicalia comes soon to your state." If the proposed State of Fornicalia abortion-of-a-budget passes it will drag down the rest of the nation.

Fornicalia is on the verge of a tax revolt. This nation is on the cusp of a general revolt.

What possible portion of "tax increases during a recession" makes sense?

BZ

Blogworld Expo, 2009

Yes, you can count me as one of the self-evident "mindless drones" the Left so hate, who happens to listen to Dennis Prager, Michael Medved and, mostly, Hugh Hewitt (if I'm near a radio after 6 PM, I try to listen to Dennis Miller). I occasionally listen to Rush Limbaugh but not frequently.

As I am a Hewitt daily listener, I am familiar with Blogworld Expo, a yearly convention held in Las Vegas, Nevada, which is billed as the "world's largest blogging and new media conference." Go here to see the site.

Blogworld Expo is:

Blogging, Podcasting, Social Media, Oline Video, Music, TV, Radio, Gaming, Entertainment and Communities. In addition to the only industry-wide new media industry exhibition, BlogWorld & New Media Expo features the largest new media conference in the world including more than 50 seminars, panel discussions and keynotes from iconic personalities on the leading-edge of online technology and internet-savvy business. If you are currently blogging, podcasting, vlogging, producing other forms of new media content, entering the new media industry, or researching ways to leverage new media for your large or small company, then you need to be at the only comprehensive new media convention--BlogWorld & New Media Expo. Located in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center at: 3150 Paradise Road, Las Vegas, NV 89109

As many of my dear readers already know, I am an admitted HTML idiot and, if it were not for the talents of Bushwack, my blog would still be back in the Stone Age.

However, I have future visions for Bloviating Zeppelin. I would like to enter different realms and begin to focus more on:

• A complete revamping of my blog;
• Podcasting;
• Possibly enlisting in BlogTalk Radio

All pretty much predicated upon, of course, my divestiture of dial-up and investment in satellite. Which means I also need to come into some money.

Las Vegas in October sounds like good, clean entertainment. If I can pull it off, what fun to blog daily about blogging.

I think I'm going.

BZ

The Bloodletting Begins

Every once in awhile I come across a piece of information that I have to confirm through as many sources as possible. The topic of this post is such an event. Moreover, I am shocked to discover that this potentially history-making event is occurring in my very own back yard, Sacramento County, where I work.

From ABC New 10 in Sacramento:

SACRAMENTO, CA - With a $55 million budget deficit staring them in the face, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors began slicing away health care programs Wednesday.

The largest item on the chopping block was the estimated $2.4 million annual cost of providing non-urgent health care to illegal immigrants.

"There are no good choices at this point. Everything (that is cut) is going to hurt someone," said Sacramento County 4th District Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan.

She is one of three supervisors who voted in favor of cutting health care for undocumented immigrants with two voted against.

"No one wants to make these cuts," MacGlashan said. "They're very painful."

She said the cut on health services for illegal immigrants will go into effect shortly. It will need to be supplemented by a program to identify who, among those entering public health care clinics, is a legal citizen eligible for services. That program is expected to cost $500,000 a year. The ACLU opposes the measure, saying it is unconstitutional and a "bad policy."

Take a look at some of the photos. These are the illegal invaders who want their own Free Cheese and then further advocate Reconquista. They don't respect our flag. They don't respect our language. They don't respect our culture and, most importantly, they don't respect our laws.

There is NO Constitutional guarantee, state or federal, that ensures NON-CITIZENS are DUE any "entitlements" whatsover.

I can tell you with great certainty, however, that a large number of local and state governments will be examining this issue with much scrutiny. If it turns out that, after the dust and suits have settled, Sacramento County divests itself of these parasites, many other jurisdictions will follow this pattern.

As well they should.

Follow the trend, Illegal Invaders. Go back to your own damned country.

BZ

Raping the Citizen: It's Starting

Whatever crazy and overbearing idea can be created by governments, will be created by governments. It is already beginning. Please consider:

1. Australia: Charging To Flush Your Toilet:

HOUSEHOLDERS would be charged for each flush under a radicalnew toilet tax designed to help beat the drought.

2. Oregon: 1900% Tax On Beer Proposed:

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Five Oregon state lawmakers want to impose a hefty tax on beer and have introduced a bill that brewers say would cripple them.

Video: Brewers hopping mad over tax: 1900% beer tax proposed - Deschutes makes Oregon 150 brew

Four Portland legislators joined a Springfield senator to introduce Oregon House Bill 2461, which would impose a $49.61 tax on each barrel of beer produced by Oregon brewers.

Along with this "stimulus" package (to be signed Tuesday by Mr Obama) -- and the other MASSIVE Porkulus packages yet to come -- local, state and federal governments will create more and varied ways to ensure you, the citizen, are taxed and fined to the Nth degree, and your freedoms limited.

More, of course, to come. Just you wait.

BZ

Do I Detect. . .

. . . a GOP testicle?

As Republicans confronted President Barack Obama in another budget battle last week, their leadership included another new face: Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, who as the party's chief vote wrangler is as responsible as anyone for the tough line the party has taken in this first legislative standoff with Obama. This battle has vaulted Cantor to the front lines of his party as it tries to recover from the losses of November.

As Republican whip, Cantor succeeded again on Friday in denying the White House the support of a single House Republican on the stimulus bill. That was a calculated challenge to the president, who, in his weekly address on Saturday, hailed the bill as "an ambitious plan at a time we badly need it."

Cantor said he had studied Gingrich's years in power and had been in regular touch with him as he sought to help his party find the right tone and message. Indeed, one of Gingrich's leading victories in unifying his caucus against Clinton's package of tax increases to balance the budget in 1993 has been echoed in the events of the last few weeks.

This after the Demorats, throwing their much hallowed "bipartisanship" right off the roof to land in the dumpster, crushed through a $787 BILLION dollar "stimulus" package.

House Republican leader John Boehner(R -Ohio) summed it up best when he said: "The bill that was about jobs, jobs, jobs has turned into a bill that's about spending, spending, spending." The 1,071-page bill, which you KNOW that NO ONE has actually read, will be the source of these comments in the upcoming weeks:

"I didn't know that was in there!"

Mark my words.

And that was the point. This bill's ramdown occurred precisely because Mr Obama and the Demorats didn't want anyone to completely read the bill.

Yes, the bill was in such dire need of passage that Mr Obama then took a vacation to Chicago. He won't sign the bill until Tuesday.

Even the UK Times Online wrote, of the "stimulus" package:

RONALD REAGAN started it, Bill Clinton finished it and last week Barack Obama was accused of engineering its destruction. One of the few undisputed triumphs of American government of the past 20 years – the sweeping welfare reform programme that sent millions of dole claimants back to work – has been plunged into jeopardy by billions of dollars in state handouts included in the president’s controversial economic stimulus package.

This government will be the undoing of the American people.

BZ

Ponderations

After my father died early this past Wednesday morning, the 11th, I've been less than inclined to write about politics. I just haven't felt the mood. But I decided early on that I wouldn't purposely avoid blogging altogether. Writing can, as many of you already realize, yield a cleansing of the soul, a catharsis, an expurgation that soothes like the application of aloe on a burn. Like easing your head onto the cool side of the pillow.

For me, such as writing can be.

That first night of the 11th, I had a dream. I awakened with it in my head. Carole King was singing "So Far Away." I remember that most distinctly.

I and my brothers are good during the day. We have been keeping ourselves together by being near to each other. We've had dinner, lunches, together. This in and of itself is a rare thing. We are not much of a social family. We were held at arms' length as children by our parents. Hugs and kisses were non-existent. This isn't a bleat; it's just truth.

During my stint at home, growing up, Dad was mostly gone. I spent a good amount of time at my grandparents house in downtown Sacramento. I can still remember the address: 2526 27th Street. The phone number was GL-55483. Gladstone-55483. It was easy to remember for my mother; she lived there with my grandparents: Nelson Newton Goodenow and Stella Artois Goodenow (nee Meldrum).

I can still remember when my mother beat the air out of me, on three separate occasions.

I can only remember the specific events of one instance: I had lost a toy or a car. I was told to find it. I couldn't find it. I can only recall having no breath and thinking I was dying. After the first round the next two were tolerable. I kept these examples to myself for years. My mother is gone. My father is gone. Who cares if I reveal them now? No one. My mother was not perfect. Maybe she was at the edge herself. To this day I dislike her for doing that to a child.

My father had the luxury of being predominantly gone. To WPAFB. To Washington, DC. To the Pentagon. To wherever.

When my mother died in 2002, I shed few tears. My two brothers spoke words at her service. I remained seated and said nothing. I can recall one of my mother's admonitions: if you can't say anything nice, say nothing. I had no good words to say about my mother.

So I said nothing at my mother's service.

Maybe it was Good Cop, Bad Cop. My mom was Bad Cop. But my father ended up being final Bad Cop. I finally realized that my father was sorely manipulated continuously by my mother. He had to live with her. I and my brothers did not. So he acquiesced to her judgment. On any number of issues and topics. My father wrote me and my brother out of the will. He wrote us back in. It was all at the behest of my manipulative and plotting mother.

When she died, I didn't much cry.

See the first photo above? That's my cabin today, surrounded by Global Warming.

When my father passed -- I didn't expect it, and it hit me hugely.

I finally got to know my father for what he was: an easygoing man, a national servant, a smart man, a financial wizard.

I finally got to know him, uninfluenced by his overbearing and manipulative wife. Who smoked continuously. Who concealed her COPD. Who concealted her inhalers. Who concealed her condition from her very own husband. Who was rapid, quick to point out any flaws exhibited by myself, my brothers, my previous wife, my then-girlfriend (so sorry, Wendy), myself.

That is MY determination.

I finally realized where the manipulation lay. And it wasn't pretty. Or expected.

This is my cabin today, as I exposed it. At least five feet of Global Warming.

This was taken, Saturday, from the interior of my house. The snow level exceeds my windows.

Huh.

Must be Global Warming.

BZ

Coming: New Star Trek!

New Star Trek crew, L to R: Chekhov, Capt. Kirk, Scotty, McCoy, Sulu, Uhura.

BZ

Appreciate Today

BZ

In Memory of My Father: 1920 to 2009

We received the call at 3:33 this morning, Wednesday, February 11th, 2009.

You know, instinctively, that an early morning phone call is no good. It was my eldest brother saying that our other brother had gotten a phone call from the hospital. Our father had just passed away.

My father, Richard, was 88 years old. He had survived a world war, Korea, Vietnam. He was a US Army Air Corps bomber pilot. He trained aviators in the B-25 Mitchell at Mather Air Field, east of Sacramento. He married his sweetheart; they eloped to Reno for marriage. They had three children, including myself -- Baby Boomers from the Greatest Generation. He made full bird Colonel in the United States Air Force. If it had rivets, he could fly it.

His wife, my mother, passed away on May 14th of 2002. She had COPD from smoking. Everyone smoked back then. She had just observed her 80th birthday at the time, and her anniversary of April 24th, 1942 -- their 60th.

Dad was two months shy of his 89th birthday, April 13th of 1920.

I called my father's brother at their Highland Park, Texas home early this morning. I woke up my Aunt Gloria.

Dad once told me: "All I want to do is be older than my father when he died." His father was 80 when he died. He was in the front yard of their Texas home. He had a heart attack and fell dead. You made it, Dad. You beat him.

There is so much to do. So much to do.

Blogging may be sporadic. Or I may redouble my efforts. I can't say.

I'll bet my Dad's flying high above the earth right now, in an open cockpit Consolidated Vultee BT-13, canopy slided back, where the skies are blue, the weather fair, and he's young, strong and free. So free.

BZ

Emotional Cheese

In a recent New York Times opinion piece by Judith Warner on February 5th, she wrote that:

Many women — not too surprisingly — were dreaming about sex with the president (Obama).

Wonderful. Just wonderful. But this is not surprising.

Clinton and Obama are of a bit of the same cloth with regard to women (Conservative women, avert your eyes and dismiss one word, at this point -- I make it only for emphasis).

Clinton already said he was our first black president in an attempt to garner alleged minority votes. And all womyn's groups refused to repudiate Mr Clinton or his predatory ways during his administration. It was just fine that he was and always has been on the prowl for pussy other than his wife's.

Not to worry. Women carried this immature adorative trait over from Clinton and applied it to Obama. That is to say, Venus vs. Mars.

It isn't about solutions to problems; it's just about if you're good looking, have charisma, and pretend like you're actually listening -- though you really aren't.

Yes, apparently the bulk of American women are this shallow. Mr Obama is, after all, occupying the White House. At least Mr Obama isn't as craven and callow. Yet.

Further: Today, Mr Obama took his "stimulus package" bleat to the road and "happened" to land in Elkhart, Indiana on Monday, February 9th, in hopes of appealing to the most base of our emotions. Not logic. No. E-mo-tions.

This is national manipulation of an extent to make Josef Goebbels sublimely proud.

Mr Obama's plea consisted of: "Yes, we know you're hurting. O, how I can sympathize. Therefore you need more cheese. And not just regular cheese. Free cheese. Paid for by -- well, it won't be you and, after all, the source isn't important. It's just important that I look good for the womyn, I listen to you and nod my head regally at the important parts."

From Mr Barone:

Barack Obama is speaking today in Elkhart, Indiana, which had very high unemployment (15.3 percent) in December, a record. But why does Elkhart have such exceptionally high unemployment? The answer is that it is, as a promotional website tells us, "The RV Capital of the World." RV sales are down this year, and I don't suppose they'll be helped by the cap-and-trade system that Obama and most Democrats want to impose on our economy. Yes, Elkhart County trended hugely to Obama. George W. Bush carried it 70 percent to 29 percent in 2004, and, Obama lost it by only 55 percent to 44 percent in 2008. Obama made those gains because of what people in Elkhart County thought George Bush failed to deliver. Now Obama must deliver himself.

Mr Obama, I submit, appeals only to the most shallow and base in us all.

Shame on the politicians. Yes.

But shame on the electorate for buying into this bullshit. Shame on the young. Shame on women. Shame on your stupidity, ignorance, naivete.

We the Sheeple. We want our Free Cheese.

BZ

This Is Sheer Insanity

Bloomberg News, known for its cogent summary of economics, penned this shocking article with the pull quotes I've illuminated here:

Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The stimulus package the U.S. Congress is completing would raise the government’s commitment to solving the financial crisis to $9.7 trillion, enough to pay off more than 90 percent of the nation’s home mortgages.

The Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have lent or spent almost $3 trillion over the past two years and pledged up to $5.7 trillion more. The Senate is to vote this week on an economic-stimulus measure of at least $780 billion. It would need to be reconciled with an $819 billion plan the House approved last month.

Only the stimulus bill to be approved this week, the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) passed four months ago and $168 billion in tax cuts and rebates enacted in 2008 have been voted on by lawmakers. The remaining $8 trillion is in lending programs and guarantees, almost all under the Fed and FDIC. Recipients’ names have not been disclosed.

“We’ve seen money go out the back door of this government unlike any time in the history of our country,” Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, said on the Senate floor Feb. 3. “Nobody knows what went out of the Federal Reserve Board, to whom and for what purpose. How much from the FDIC? How much from TARP?When? Why?”

Anyone, and I mean anyone who is advocating this so-called "stimulus package" is absolutely, certifiably insane and deserves, at minimum, excoriation, up to and including necessary and reasonable censure, blockage, protest, impeachment. There is no "stimulus" here. For this kind of money, shouldn't there be certainty of results? Proof? Concrete historical evidence?

This is a debt that cannot be repaid. Ever.

BZ

Steele Cleans House

Some say this is bad.

Some say this is good:

Michael Steele, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, has asked the entire staff to resign, FOX News has confirmed.

Unless proven otherwise, I say this is good. Out with the disfunctional, in with the functional.

I'll give him time.

Until he proves me wrong.

Show me the money.

BZ

Not Just The Pork: It's The Power

TARP I - passed. Thank you, Mr Bush.

TARP II - passed. Thank you, Mr Bush and Washington.

Two plans now for stimulus packages: House, roughly $820 billion. Senate, roughly $827 billion.

Mr Obama praised the Senate version and urges speed speed speed speed speed. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Ask no questions. Trust your government. Verification not required.

As Mr Obama recently said, "By the way, these days everybody thinks they're economists." Translated: you're a dolt. I'm more intelligent. I know better than you how to spend your hard-earned tax dollars. Just be quiet and don't interfere.

As Bushwack recently pointed out in my last post's comments with remarkably clarity and perspicacity:

Who said: "We have chosen hope over fear"?

And who said: "A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe"?

Yep, the same man, Barack Hussein Obama. I guess fear is only good when you need it. **sigh**

Truer words were never written, dear sir. Fear works only when it works for you, eh, Mr Obama?

Mr Biden, however, may not be as completely asinine as he's been in the past when he stated:

Vice President Joe Biden acknowledged today that Democrats could face political repercussions in 2010 for their support of the $900 billion economic stimulus package.

An "anonymous" commenter on my last post indicated that "your ignorance of economics is shown by your criticism of the stimulus bill. We really DO need this stimulus, it really IS stimulus, even the alleged 'pork' in the bill puts money in the hands of CONSUMERS, which is what stimulates the economy."

I asked then and I ask now: where is it, pray tell, that money is being placed into the hands of the actual consumers in the country? Where is the proof? Documentation? Charles Krauthammer writes about the Urgency Of Pork here. Further, Mitt Romney says the "stimulus package" stimulates only government and not the overall economy.

93% pork, 7% stimulus: Republican Senator James Inhofe (OK) issued this statement on Friday:

While I appreciate the efforts of my colleagues to bring down the price tag of this bill, the fact is we still face a trillion dollar spending bill. Making it worse, the bill is 93% spending and only 7% stimulation. Over the past few days I have fought to include more in the way of real stimulus through higher percentage of infrastructure and defense spending, while working to cut much of the typical government waste often found in a bill of this size. Yet Democrats have blocked these efforts.

"The good news tonight is that the American people are catching on to the fact that this is the largest spending bill in history and are becoming more and more vocal in their opposition. My offices in Oklahoma and Washington DC have been flooded with emails, phone calls and faxes overwhelmingly opposed to this trillion dollar legislation. They can rest assured that my vote remains an unwavering ‘no.'"

Further, read this amount of arrogance:

U.S. Rep. David Obey (D-WI), the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, helped write the bill and says he doesn't like being asked about earmarks.

"We simply made a decision, which took about three seconds, not to have earmarks in the bill," he says. "And with all due respect, that's the least important question facing us on putting together this package."

Leaving out the earmarks does mean Congress will have less control over how the money is spent. But, Obey says, "So what? This is an emergency. We've got to simply find a way to get this done as fast as possible and as well as possible, and that's what we're doing."

That doesn't mean Congress will be responsible if the money is spent badly, he says.

Can you believe the lies? No earmarks? No pork? Nope! he says. Nothing of that nature in the current "stimulus" package. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Yes, the Demorats truly and fervently believe you ARE that stupid, electorate.

What's more, they're COUNTING on your ignorance and, moreover, indifference.

Further, as Rivka was keen enough to point out on Saturday (I didn't see this coming):

President Obama has decided to bring the U.S. Census Bureau under White House jurisdiction, a move that incensed House Republicans, who fired off a blistering letter to him Thursday, calling it "outrageous and unprecedented" and a "blatant partisan and political maneuver."

Think that Republicans "suggested" that "the move could improperly influence legislative redistricting, which is shaped by Census counts"? Really? Could that be?

Pork and Power. All in one. Right off the bat.

BZ