Big T's Pic of the Day

This place is definitely not like Dixie!

Wow, I have been busy! I have one thing to say. Moving sucks, really, really sucks! Avoid it at all cost if you can. If you can’t avoid it, then hire someone else to move it for you. It will be worth every penny!

Anyways, I have left the land of Dixie and am now in the Baltimore-Washington DC area. Could someone tell me where I can get some sweet tea and homemade grits around here? How about some BBQ?

You folks do know BBQ is a type of meat and not a social gathering consisting of grilled hotdogs and hamburgers? What the hell is wrong with these people up here?

It really is amazing the differences between the North and the South to this day. I will take the South any day myself.

I may have been born a Yankee, but Dixie has captured my heart and mind...and my taste buds.

Man, I could use some cornbread and chicken.

Am I better off today than I was 4 or 8 years ago?

A real good friend of mine and I were having some drinks last night. He is a liberal and a huge Barack Obama supporter. He decided to engage me in some political conversation, or debate for a better choice of words.

Anyways, my friend is aware that I am not a huge fan of John McCain or the Republican Party as a whole right now. I guess he figured maybe he could persuade me to jump across the aisle. I may have problems with Republicans, but that doesn’t make me a socialist!

As our debate progressed, I noticed a common themed question among Obama supporters I talk to. The question: Are you better off today than you were 4 or 8 years ago? Now there is no doubt the premise of this question is to imply if you are not better off it is somehow President Bush’s fault. After all, everything is his fault for those suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome.

My answer, absolutely I am better off than I was 4 years ago or 8 years ago. But what if I wasn’t better off than I was four or eight years ago? Would I truly have anyone to blame than myself? I don’t give credit to President Bush for being better off. I did it. I put myself in positions to make myself better off. The choices I make today will make or break my tomorrow. If I make choices that break it, then I have to fix it. I don’t turn to politicians or government to fix it for me.

Oh and guess what…. If Obama or McCain wins I will be better off in four years than I am today too. Just like I was better off four years after Bill Clinton.

The bailout is full of pork!

The Senate and the House have passed the bailout bill, and President Bush has signed it into law. It wasn’t just a bailout though. This 400 plus page bill is loaded with pork, some additional spending here, a tax break there, and government regulations. A lot of these add-ons have nothing to do with the bailout at all. The Tax Foundation has compiled a list from the pork-infested bill.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Health insurance companies are now going to be required to include mental health care on parity with care of physical illness. This will increase premiums on every health care plan in America. You get no choice if you want such coverage; they are required to include it in any plan.

Look for more people to drop coverage, and more politicians scream for the dire need of universal healthcare. Of course that is the goal, to make private health insurance unaffordable. Why would they do that? Control. The government gains even more control of you by controlling your access to health care.

Also in this bailout is a tax break for some company that makes a particular type of wooden arrow used by some children somewhere.

A seven-year cost recovery period for motor sports racing track facility… No…I am not kidding. You can’t make this stuff up.

If this is the crisis our politicians keep making it out to be, then why are politicians putting racetrack pork, tax breaks for children’s arrows and mental parity spending into this bill?

Here is a full copy of the bill for your reading enjoyment.

Vice Presidential Debate

I thought both candidates did a decent job in the debate. I doubt anyone’s mind was changed either way.

One thing I did noticed is neither campaign wants to place any of the blame at the hands of the government for this financial mess we are now in.

If we do not know or are unwilling to acknowledge the roots of the problem we can’t fix it. The government should share in the blame here…big time.

Senator calls for Justice Dept. to investigate institutions in financial crisis.

Senator Kent Conrad, D-North Dakota, has sent a letter to Attorney General Mike Mukasey calling for a criminal investigation into the failed economic crisis.

“…Given the gravity of the situation, the American people need to know if any of the blame lies with the wrongdoing of any individuals or institutions,” writes Conrad. “It is my understanding that the FBI has undertaken investigations into certain activities of AIG, Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I call upon the Justice Department to expand its scrutiny of the financial and housing industries in order to expose possible wrongdoing at other institutions that may have contributed to the present state of our markets and economy. Any violations of law must be prosecuted and those responsible must be held accountable.”

Absolutely Senator. How about we start in the Halls of the Congress? That is where my investigation would start, and the first person I would interrogate is Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the Financial Services Committee chairman.

Big T's Suggested Reading and Viewing from around the Web

The media doesn’t seem to like a “sarcastic” John McCain… Well…they would really like me then. I LOVE sarcasm!

It looks like John McCain’s campaign is giving up on winning Michigan…I don’t care much for giving up!

Only the mentality of government could come up with this solution. A city council in Great Britain is asking people to leave their sheds unlocked, because it costs taxpayers more money to repair sheds damaged by burglars breaking in.

What would you think about Hollywood getting a cut of this bailout? Oh yeah…it doesn’t matter what you think anyway!

The US automakers are saying they didn’t receive a bailout. It was a loan to pay for the price of complying with government environmental regulations. That is a valid argument.

Ten things that will result from the financial crisis…they are not really changes, just going back to the way things should have and use to be done.

The national debt has now gotten so large that in the near future it may not fit on the national debt clock near Times Square in New York City.

For those of you taking bets there is a one in four chance John McCain would die in office in a second term as president…hmmm. He has to win a first term first.

Big T's Kewl Beans

Here is a prank involving a stuffed skunk on a stick and a park bench…Just watch it…this is hilarious!

I love pranks….check this one out…May not be appropriate for work or children.

And one more…this is a good one.