Arabs running our ports

Oh brother. Talk about a non-issue. Larry Norman was spot-on when he wrote in a song:

The politicians all make speeches
and the newsmen all take notes
and exaggerate false issues
as they ram it down our throats

I may as well let you all know now that I love model trains. I've had them since 2nd grade and have collected and enjoyed them ever since. I'm not a hardcore hobbyist but there is something magical about ruling over a tiny kingdom. Just an ego thing probably...but anyway.....

...the Dubai company that is referred to in the press as "The Arab Company" is known as DP World and they purchased a British company called CSX. CSX has been handling freight in our country for a long time. Know how I know this? I have model railroad box cars with the company name on it. The same people that work for CSX now work for DP World like any acquisition. If I'm to believe the knee-jerk reaction of many politicians I guess this would mean that my model railroad is about to be overrun by Islamic fanatics.



I think what surprised people is that we don't have companies in our own country to handle this. The United Arab Emirates is a country that has been slowly moving oil out of their economy. It is a country where Christians can practice their faith openly. It is a place that manages ports (by manage we're talking about operations and bookkeeping) all over the world. Don't freak out because these people are "Arab."

You may as well also know that the terms "Arab" and "Moslem" are not synonymous. Arabs are a semetic people (like the Hebrews) that are descendents from Abraham of the Old Testament. In contrast those in Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq are not Arab. They come from a whole host of other geneologies. To single out a group for simply being Arab is in a different way being "Anti-Semetic."

I for one am going to let these Arabs manage my model railroad freely and without prejudice.

Going Number Two

I've resisted this blog post for awhile as it is pretty childish and far less sophisticated than our venture into Halloween Haikus. What euphemisms do you have for this...uh...topic above? I'd love to see some original ones.

Here are mine:

Backing the old brown Buick out of the garage.
Making mud pies. (See post from Thanksgiving)

Your turn!

Black History Month

I'm not going to preach about this month and its importance or unimportance to our nation and culture.

I know most of you don't care about Black History Month but allow me to pass this advice along:

Never grow tired of listening to stories of people overcoming adversity and becoming great despite the barriers put all around them. Someday it might be you and others will need to draw inspiration from your story. Be ready to make your own history.

Oh, and have a good President's Day too.

Offensive Cartoons Part 2

I got a couple of emails indicating that my cartoon just wasn't offensive enough. So I modified the cartoon slightly but included a few polarizing characters. Enjoy, but please riot responsibly.

Offensive Cartoons

With all of the uproar going on in response to the offensive cartoon depicting the prophet Muhammad, I decided to enter in with my own provacative cartoon.



Let the rioting begin!

My fondest Valentine's Day memory

When I was in elementary school I enjoyed Valentine's Day immensely. Our class would always make mailboxes to put at our desks and then on February 14th, before we had our class party, we played mailman and handed out our Valentines to everyone, including other boys. Most of the time I made mine by hand (ya know...folded piece of paper cut into an ear and then folded out to make a heart) but one year my mom actually procured store bought valentines so I could be like the normal kids whose parents had money left over after feeding their children.

My fondest memory comes from 3rd grade. This memory is so profound that I virtually have forgotten all other events from this time in my life. Here's how it goes:

This kid named Matt was in my 3rd grade class and I always found him to be quite annoying. He'd sit by me during lunch and strike up conversations about whatever was on his mind. Looking back I see him as a nice kid but he annoyed me beyond my words to describe. At the same time I never turned away anyone who was annoying. He pretty much had no friends and I could tell making friends was difficult for him so if he considered me a friend that was okay. My situation was the opposite...I had more friends than I wanted.

Matt's grandmother was Japanese and he talked all the time about how he was going to bring some Japanese food for our Valentine's party. He brought it up all the time and was very excited about it. Each time he talked about it I had to resist rolling my eyes.

So February 14th came and it was the day of our party. I brought a small bag with my valentine's to hand out to everyone but didn't bring any food for our class party. This is when I was relieved that I came from a poor family because I really didn't want to be encumbered any more than necessary.

Matt brought his sheet of whatever it was (I'm remembering it being California rolls or something but at that time I only had the sophistication to call it "that Japanese stuff.") When our party started Matt started handing it out to everyone from this flat cookie sheet. He was holding one half of it and had the other end resting on a table while handing it out to everyone. He was so excited.

Now here comes the part that brings me the fondest memory. He started to pull away from the table but didn't grab the other end of his cookie sheet. What happened was he dropped all of his grandmother's food on the floor. It all cascaded down into a big sticky rice mess. I saw it all happen almost in slow motion as Matt yelled, "Oh no!" He was so bummed that his exotic party dish was now all over the floor of our classroom.

Why is this my fondest memory? I didn't have the heart to tell Matt how annoying he was and I would've felt like a jerk telling him. I also never would have had the heart to knock his sheet of food out of his hand and tell him to shut up either...but it was like fate smiled on me for the sake of my entertainment...albeit, at his expense.

Aside from laughing at Matt's misfortune I gave this girl named Michelle a valentine with Donald and Daisy Duck on it and both ducks were surround by lots of hearts. I'm sure she understood fully the subtle symbolism of the affection I had for her for about two weeks that year...until I became distracted by our new playground balls. Yes, I've always been that smooth with the ladies.

Happy St. Valentine's Day everyone.

It's almost real money

As the saying goes: If you rob Peter to pay Paul...you can generally count on the support of Paul.

You Conservatives that elected your beloved George W. Bush now have this legacy to hang your pointed hats on:

1. 2.77 Trillion Dollar Budget proposal. This number doesn't even sound real...it may as well be a gazillion dollars. Yet Bush insists he made some smart cuts to the budget. Here's a reminder for you thickheaded conservatives: There is no such thing as a fiscal conservative. You either think it's right to take money from some to pay others or you don't. If you want a smaller federal budget you must elect someone who is a fiscal libertarian. (No capital L required)

2. Debt up the wazoo. Congratulations conservatives, you now have more debt and a more worthless dollar to pay it off with. Good thinking.

3. You've shown that you can no longer blame liberals for 'tax and spend' politics. They are not above blame still because the modern-day liberal generally thinks that socialism would work if the right people were in charge...basically them. So if Conservatives are Tax and Spend and Liberals are Tax and Spend...what hope is there to ever get a handle on debt? Not as long as they're getting support from all of you. Some of you 'Paul's' are going to have to give 'Peter' back his money at some point and stop taking it. If you don't, Peter is eventually going to kick your ass.

To both parties: So as you're looking to 2008 please don't nominate another "we need to cut Government waste" pinhead...elect someone who understands the constitutional role of the federal government and can communicate it effectively. If nothing else he can just rip pages out of the Executive Order book while congress wipes their collective butts with your tax dollars. That would be an improvement.

Missed Opportunity for the Modern Civil Rights Movement

I'm saddened that at this point in history, some major players in the Civil Rights Movement are passing on. What saddens me more is that their legacy is being rewritten by the modern movement that calls itself by the same name.

I learned about the civil rights movement initially as a child. It was not discussed at school, but if it had it probably would've been wrong anyway. I learned about it from home from my mother who was mortified by segregation. Not because of the inequality necessarily but because the social cues it spawned kept her from knowing and speaking to people she thought were interesting.

I shared the story about how she cried from embarrassment when she got on a bus quickly from out of the rain to accidently sit in the seats reserved for "Colored Patrons." The black man sitting behind her just took the sign off of her seat and moved it back one.

My mother's other story was when she worked at a New Orleans country club. The wait staff (all black) got their tips at the end of the week because no one bothered to add it all up and distribute the money. She asked if she could do this in her spare time so that they could take home some cash at the end of the day. It was no big deal to her but they were grateful. Eating everyday at the country club for lunch was free for employees but she always ate alone. She finally asked if she could eat with the wait staff in the kitchen so it wasn't so lonely. My mom was not trying to bridge the gaps between racial lines, but just didn't like being told who her friends could be. She was from Seattle and didn't know any better. This is the way my mom tried to teach me about. It had nothing to do with race, but she emphasized "Don't let anyone tell you who you can be friends with or who not to like." I knew nothing of the individuals behind the movement that changed segregation forever.

To take the legacy of these great heroes of the civil rights movement and rewrite them within the context of our current politically divided time, does a huge disservice. To eulogize Coretta Scott King by taking swipes at the president was in poor taste and was a lost opportunity. It not only reduced the memory of her cause, but lost a great opportunity for all of us to understand the great sacrifice of her time.

Martin Luther King Jr. did not run down this country or claim it to be a major force of evil in the world. He proclaimed that the country simply hadn't fulfilled its promise of equality. He likened it to writing a bad check and having it come back with insufficient funds. His dream was to have the promise fulfilled and the check cashed so that everyone could stand together and proclaim that they were 'Free at last."

I'm not patting myself on the back for being completely free of prejudice...because prejudices are a part of my life. I've grown to appreciate what that movement has meant to this nation and to the many it has given opportunity...a lesson I should've learned long ago. A lesson that many should've had the opportunity to learn yesterday but probably did not.

A year of blogging

Blogmess is about a year old now. I started it to get feedback on the things that I wrote and continue to use it to entertain and be thoughtful from time to time. Here is the year in review from my blog.

I shared dreams about Aliens spanking me. I gave a tribute to the Pope before he died and suggested that people could win arguments more easily if they stopped comparing people to Hitler and instead compared them to Liberace.

I made fun of Oregon as often as possible and commented on all the holidays that dot the calendar including St. Patrick's Day, President's Day and the now famous 'crap candy' post from Halloween. I made fun of red staters and exploited blue staters for their stupidity. I reached a lull in April but picked right back up again.

I complained about taxes, President Bush, the Election, and Hospital Volunteers. I took cold medicine and then tried to blog...not recommended. I shared a rare appreciation for my brother and called for the legalizations of drugs.

I had explosive diarrhea on Thanksgiving and wished Veteran's a happy day. I made a movie and made a plea for people to stop complaining about offensive sports mascots. I shared immortal wisdom like: If no one gets the joke, then you're basically just cross-dressing. Hey, don't forget Halloween Haikus. Fun! You all helped me go get a real tree and I enjoyed it...even though Christmas sorta sucked anyway.

All in all, a great year of blogging. Let's do it again.

Sudafed

This morning I signed for Sudafed and had the pharmacy take my ID so they could make a log of me buying this cold medicine. This is what you have to do in Washington State because the drug is not simply an effective cold reliever but an active ingredient in meth.

The pharmacist said, "Sorry, I have to ask for your ID, this is truly the dumbest law in the world."

I asked him, "Has making the log made a difference?"

He said, "No, in fact it does no good at all. We have the same people in here all the time and it doesn't stop them. So we make you wait in line and bother you with all of this just because you have post-nasal drip." I let him continue.

"I called the police and showed them the log and told them that if they stopped this guy in the parking lot he'd probably have 30 boxes of sudafed in his car. They didn't care and they didn't do anything about it. This law is pointless."

I signed for my cold medicine and had my Washington State Driver's License recorded and then walked away. Here's my full take on the situation:

1. Lawmakers should really consider talking to the police...not police unions, but actual beat cops and ask them if they'll likely enforce a law if it were put on the books. They'd probably be surprised to hear that most laws are not enforced and the police has no interest in doing so...not to mention the lack of resources.

2. What an adult decides to put in his own body is his own business. This goes for both pot and sudafed.

3. Since stores are requiring signatures and ID checks, the meth problem has not gone away in this state.

4. Our state spends millions of dollars in anti-smoking campaigns while the product is completely legal...then makes me sign for a completely legal cold product...all while not enforcing our own controlled substance laws.

5. The war on drugs is lost. The drugs have won. All must bow down to our new drug rulers and surrender our citizenship. Just kidding, sorta.

The Real State of the Union

If you catch the president making the State of the Union speech tonight, try listening to it through the filter of some realities that probably won't be mentioned...not even by the useless Democrat response. I'm a libertarian...I don't carry water for either party. This is how I see the state of our union.

The baby boomers are a disproportionately large demographic in this country that are demanding an unprecedented level of benefits (read: entitlements) from the United States Government. Without intervention we will go broke meeting their alleged needs.

Acting as the world's policemen we must maintain a military force designed for National Offense instead of National Defense. This is not only expensive but requires our country to have standing Armies in dozens of nations around the world.

We continue to mount debt because we spend more than we take in through tarriffs, excise taxes, and the income tax. We print money to buy bonds to offset our debt and rely on the voluntary devaluation of currency from our great friends China to sustain our more and more worthless US Dollar.

We worry about Roe v. Wade, which would hardly impact the laws that most states have on the books if it were overturned, while Social Security continues to be a broken, pay-as-you-go system designed for the year 1929 and not 2006.

Most citizens are concerned with illegal immigration though we refuse to create and maintain a provision for large amount of workers from other countries (trying not to say Mexico) to make a living here. The same agency tasked with deporting immigrants is also tasked with giving them proper documentation. Is it any wonder they don't bother to be documented?

We continue to trade with too few nations. As once said, "If good and services do not cross borders, eventually armies will." Trade is an ignored key to peace.

Lastly, with all of our problems...we're still better than Canada.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.

Hamas will eventually lighten up

All I've read in the news lately is about how the middle-east and the Palestine area is in a state of panic over the Hamas party victory in the recent Palestinian parliamentary elections.

Now that they're in power their focus will eventually have to turn from 'Death to Israel' to 'Let's try to keep the lights on and have the garbage trucks rolling.' Right now Hamas is saying all sorts of goofy things like wanting their militants to be used in the military and demanding that Israel change their flag. They are new at this and are feeling out their power structure. Eventually they'll be discussing things like campaigning to keep power, foreign diplomacy, etc...and their role will be that of a meddling government before long.

I'm not saying that they'll eventually be friends with Israel, but the nature of political power will eventually get the best of them and they'll seek to preserve their power instead of wage war with their neighbor.

Who knows, maybe they'll get an NHL Hockey franchise...they can be the Palestine Pythons or something.

Superbowl and Bandwagons

This is a different kind of post, but please read anyway.

Here in Seattle we've had only a handful of championship memories when it comes to our sports teams. The 1979 Supersonics and the 1991 Washington Husky Football team make up the only pair of champions we can claim to be our own.

In 1995 the Seattle Mariners came back and beat the Yankees in a five game series and transformed how folks in Seattle look at baseball. You can trace almost all Mariner fans back to 1995 and most of them have never heard of the likes of Floyd Bannister, Mickey Brantley, and Bruce Bochte. In other words...a new bandwagon.

Now our Seahawks are in the Superbowl and everyone cares. Hell, I care too!

I used to never miss a Seahawks game. Starting from 1976 I watched them every Sunday. I remember my dad scored two tickets to a game in their first year and we took a bus to the Kingdome and watched the Seahawks win their FIRST home game against the Atlanta Falcons.

I guess I began to lose interest in the Seahawks and the NFL in general after the player strike and eventually when a bad owner tried to move the Seahawks to Los Angeles. Generally if I had just one day to watch football during a weekend, it was on Saturday, not Sunday. I've followed the Seahawks but only as a casual fan attending a game whenever I had a chance. I am a bit of a bandwagon fan.

But my friend Ken is not. Ken has followed them through the bad years and through everything. He is now being rewarded for following them so closely all these years and will watch his team in the Superbowl. If they win, I'd bet he'll cry. Ken kicks ass.

I'm a bit sad that I don't have that fire for watching the NFL anymore. I really enjoy it but not like the college game. Thankfully this time I'll watch the Superbowl for something more than the commercials and the awful (and I mean absolutely dreadful) halftime show.

I will not cry, but it will be moving. Congratulations Ken, enjoy this.

When a lame joke backfires

I like juvenile jokes. Anything an 8th grader will laugh at will generally get a laugh from me. It was only a year ago that I asked my mom, "What are you eating under there?" She cooperated fully by stepping into the trap of a 14 year old's mind by responding "Under where?" I jumped on it immediately while laughing, "You're eating underwear?!?!" She looked at me like I was retarded.

I had a guy who worked for me named Arnold. He was from mainland China and spoke English very well. I wanted to try on one of these jokes as he really wasn't as familiar with American Junior High culture so I figured he'd appreciate some light-hearted jocularity.

I bent my index finger over and showed it to Arnold while asking the question, "Do you know what this is?"

Arnold played along and replied, "No, what is it?"

"It's buttpickers cramp...do you get it?" The idea is to illicit some recognition of the joke by getting the response "Yeah, I get it I guess." This allows you to reply with "How often?"

Arnold blew the joke up though. His reply was:

Yes, I understand. Your finger is cramped from picking your butt.

I was stunned as this joke has never backfired before. Now I was the one with buttpickers cramp and had the bent finger to prove it.

The moral of the story:

I have no idea.

Minnesota - The Land of Lots of Lakes

I just put a Minnesota state quarter in a vending machine and looked at it briefly. It celebrated that they are the land of 10,000 lakes and it reminded me of a story...

I was on a business trip with a buddy of mine and we were flying over Minnesota and would eventually land for a short layover in Minneapolis. Looking out the window I noticed that there were truly lots of lakes out there. On our row my buddy was sitting on the aisle and between us was a guy from Minnesota. Here is how the dialogue went.

Me: Wow, there sure are a lot of lakes down there.

Minnesota Guy: (nods)

My buddy (what is Tracy up to?)

Me: They should call Minnesota the "land of lots of lakes."

MG: It's "10,000 lakes"

Me: I don't think there is that many, but it's still alot.

My buddy (oh no)

MG: It's "The land of 10,000 lakes."

Me: Yours is good, but I like mine better.

MG: No seriously, it's called the land of 10,000 lakes.

My buddy: Don't listen to him, he's yanking your chain.

MG: (to my buddy) I'm right, it's our state motto.

Me: Now I know you're joking, Minnesota is not a state.

MG: What?

This is what I do when I'm bored on a plane talking to a guy from Minnesota. I've had this same conversation with people from Minnesota on at least three different occasions. This from a guy who comes from the state of "lots of green trees."

Exit Strategies

A friend of mine is in the U.S. Army. He's glad to be in the Army and I suspect he may retire while still in the Army years from now.

The last five years have been very telling in regard to where he has been stationed. While Democrats and a few Republicans are clammering for an exit strategy, it seems that these strategies are more rare than you might think. Once you enter a country and fight a war, you're very likely to stay there awhile. Look at where my buddy has been stationed over the last five years.

South Korea - No exit strategy since the cease fire agreement in 1953.

Germany - No exit strategy since the Allied powers defeated Hitler's Germany in 1945.

Iraq - Look above. I think we'll see servicemen spending a tour in Iraq for decades to come.

I think those wanting an early exit strategy from Iraq are just trying to make political hay. If you really want to create an impact and bring our military home, you'd start by reducing troop numbers from our older wars.

A chance to explain how taxes work

Check out this report from the Associated Press

WASHINGTON - (AP)The federal government posted the first budget surplus for December in three years as corporate tax payments hit an all-time high, helping offset a record level for spending, the Treasury Department reported Thursday.

Click here for full article

When a politician asks questions like "how do you expect to pay for these tax cuts?" it proves they don't know the first thing about economics. With marginal tax rates lower than they've been in decades you'd think it would be impossible to see "corporate tax payments hit an all-time high." After all we know that the rich pay squat in taxes so that they can keep their wealth while school children have their lunches taken away and drink poisoned water...oh and grandma has to eat cat food to pay for her medicine. Of course this is all a myth as school children don't eat their lunches anyway and cat food is way too expensive for even grandma to eat.

While record tax receipts will go largely unreported so will the "record level spending" that our government continues to levy against future generations. Supply-siders have it half right...you can get more revenue by lowering taxes rates but it isn't a license to spend $1.50 for every dollar of revenue.

Women Owned Businesses

I was just reading the latest issue of Seattle Woman magazine which bills itself as being "intelligent, insightful, and involved." Why was I reading it? That's a post for a different day.

An article by Marianne Scholl entitled "What Certification Can Do For You" poses the importance for women to certify their business as "Woman owned and operated." Without going over the whole article the gist is that it is important to certify your business as a woman owned business so that your company can officially be seen for what it is. Below is a quote from the article that explains the need:

But what if Microsoft or the Washington State Department of Transportation is a potential customer? Like many government agencies and most large corporations, they have supplier diversity programs to ensure that women-, minority-, or disabled veteran-owned business enterprises are considered in their purchasing decisions. Because they want to be absolutely certain that the business they assist through these programs are what they say they are,...

This article really pissed me off. In another part of the article Scholl describes women and minority owned businesses as "disadvantaged." What this certification is attempting to do, along with many idiot lawmakers, is repeal the laws of economics.

First, a disadvantaged business is one that is not owned and operated by women but instead is one that is owned and operated by people who suck at running a business. If you provide a good product at a competitive price and are willing to back it up with service and support you will be successful. My friend of 15 years owns a painting company. He is honest, backs up his work, very competitively priced and treats his workers with respect. He is not allowed to bid a job for a state agency because he is non-union. Apparently his business is only good enough to collect tax revenue from so that they have money for someone else to put paint on their walls. Is his business a disadvantaged one?

Secondly, when you do business with a company, you're not 'assisting' them as the article claims. You're doing business with them. The state has an obligation to smartly spend the money they take from me, and not give it to a business to do a job because they fit some arbitrary criteria. The only criteria should be: Best quality for the best value...period.

Lastly, people tend to own businesses where they know the industry well or know people who are interested. For example I've not known many men who start craft stores, and the same can be said that most women don't dream of opening a corner hardware store. Each business will succeed and fail based upon the same factors...and gender isn't one of them.

Next post: Why was I reading Seattle Woman magzine.

Sandra Day OConnor

Did anyone else notice a sense of irony about Sandra Day OConnor's role as grand marshall of the Tournament of Roses and the Rose Bowl Game?

She'd always been known as a "swing-vote" on the court and with that famous distinction she's invited to the Rose Bowl game to flip the coin. I wonder how many times she used the same deciding technique while on the bench.

Perhaps an activist judge would've merely told us how the coin was going to land despite how it actually landed. Texas won the toss of the coin and the game which can obviously be blamed on the Bush administration.

Real tree, real picture

So here is what it looked like:



Working train around the tree and everything!!! WOO HOO!

Also, notice to the left there is a neat little picture book of the story of Christmas and milk and cookies for Santa...does that kick ass or what?

Too bad only my mom showed up for Christmas and the rest of my family didn't. Such is life with my family...not having them for Christmas still beat the explosive diarrhea I had at Thanksgiving.

Thanks to everyone who gave advice on what to do for my first Christmas Tree in 11 years.