Tuesday, August 10, 2010

where is lindsay?

I cant believe its been a whole week without a Lindsay Lohan news update. I must admit I am really disappointed. I was just sure that she would have hundreds of reporters sneaking around the bushes and using telephoto lenses trying to catch her all broken down, going thru withdrawl no make up on and eating herself into a bigun!

I did see in the news that a California judge blocked the state from giving the state employees one day off a week as a budget cutting measure. I guess the state should just fire some of them so they can make their budget goals. Makes sense to me, that way at least the judges on the federal pay rolls will be able to keep their jobs when CA is so broke the state has to stop paying their employees. Maybe the can hire all the illegals moving into CA from AZ. One of the Hispanic rights groups in CA is buying up billboard space here in AZ basically bashing our state govt. I wish they would spend some of their money on cleaning up all the trash that the mexican illegals are leaving in the Arizona desert on their way in. I wonder if they know that July was the second deadliest month here in Arizona for illegals die-ing in the Desert on there way thru. Its too hot, and they run out of water and they die a horrible death on the way over. But I guess thats ok. Just last week a little girl escaped from a drop house where she was being held with 19 other illegals by a coyote. She went to wal-mart for help. She said some of them hadnt eaten anything in days. They were just giving them water. It doesnt make sense to me that a people knowingly makes the choice to trek thru the desert. Risk dying, or get hauled over here in the back of a truck and then locked up in a drop house and hope their families can pay enough to get them out. Why dont they just stay home and put all this effort into trying to fix their own country.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

why do we bother to vote

Why do we bother to vote. I am getting more concerned about this particular issue every day. I vote. Things dont usually go my way but I do anyway. We vote in many different ways. A friend of mine says that we vote everytime we open our pocketbook by choosing products or services. If enough of us dont buy products or services they stop making them. Why doesnt that seem to work with our government. I thought that this was supposed to be a government by the people for the people. Recently two things that have disturbed me the most have been lawsuits that have overturned laws that the majority of the people in a particular society or group have voted for. I'm not going to say how I feel about the following two issues, some of you already know and some of you might be surprised by how I would have voted but my opinions are moot.

First, the people of Arizona voted, buy their elected officials, and polls in Arizona back this up. To write and approve immigration bill 1070. By the people for the people. Then parts of the bill were blocked in the courts. One appointed judge thinks she knows more about what the people of Arizona want more than they do themselves.

Second, just yesterday the courts overturned the marriage ban in California. I personally support this ban because I do agree that "Marriage" as we know it, should be between a man and a woman. Certain things such as Child Birth and Parenthood should remain between a man and a woman. Civil Unions on the other hand are another issue, but this vote and law was about marriage. The VOTERS of the state of California VOTED to ban gay marriage, and once again the appointed judge decided to overturn the ban based upon how they interpreted the laws.

The solutions to these problems are very simple. Register to vote and VOTE. Vote the politicians responsible for making these judicial appointments out of office. And Vote politicians into office that are going to represent the majority of how Americans feel. A perfect example of this is how our chocolate president is dragging his heels on immigration reform. The longer he waits the more likely he is to win over the liberal mexican vote in this country. Which I feel is a beligerent slap in the face of the people who have immigrated here legally. Get out and Vote people.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Luke air force base

Since the announcement that Luke Air Force base had made the cut to become one of the two bases that will host the new F-35 aircraft. Providing the base passes various studies concerning noise, use , pollution etc.
What a stupid set of reasons to base that kind of decision on. I've spent some time on the internet studying the history of the base. The growth of Phoenix and Glendale and I have come up with this conclusion.
The base was built in 1941, and has a fantastic past. It has played a major part in every conflict the U.S. has been involved in since WWII. That alone should be enough to keep the base open and make it worthy of housing a new fighter jet. Noise considerations should never become an issue. The base was there first. Common sense should tell people that if you build a house near an air-base. There will be noise. Now I am sure that the greed of the increase in tax base is what drove the city to allow housing additions to surround the base. But what amazes me is the thinking that taxes would be more important than the millions of dollars in income, medical care, fringe employment supplied because of the base that will help drive the Arizona economy. Luke air force base alone supplies 2.2billion dollars a year to Arizona's economy. It's estimated the the changover income brought to the local economy will be upwards of $125,million dollars.
I say buy all the offended home-owners houses, at fair market value, sometime at the end of the year when they have gone down another 1% a month. I think that is do-able, they can be condemned under the eminent domain provisions in the law. Then bulldoze them down. Problem solved.
Common sense should tell you not to build a house by an airport.

Monday, August 2, 2010

the joy of having a dog

I decided quite some time ago that I like dogs better than most people. Not cats or birds or horses, Dogs. I've also decided that my opinion of people can be influenced by observing the relationship my friends have with their dogs. I realize if I was truly a good person I wouldnt have an opinion, but I also belive that everybody has an opinion on every subject and those who say they dont are actually just hipocrits. The real challenge is to not let your opinion of things effect you life or your relationships in any way. I think I am really good at that. Anyway back to the dogs. I know some people who are real shits in their everyday lives but when it comes to their dogs they are the most loving caring person on earth. I hope that this type of compassion would eventually work its way into how we treat others. Often it does not.

I have a real asshole for a dog. His name is Hannibal. I bought him at a horse show when he was 8 weeks old. In spite of his beauty, and he is a very handsome dog, he was the last one left in the litter and I am sure that when I bought him he was living on benedril or something because within 6 hours of purchase he turned into the asshole that he is today. I paid a fortune for this dog. I thought that he would mellow when he got used to me, I was wrong. Within 24 hours of his purchase everybody who came in contact with him at the horse show told me to take him back. Of course the people that I bought him from, who told me they were also at the show, disappeared from the face of the earth. In the first 24 hours he bit a hole in my nose, and tried to bite everyone who tried to pick him up. He was cute, everybody that saw him picked him up. A good friend of mine said "he's nasty you should call him Hannibal", and it stuck. The rest of the week at the show was spent trying to make him happy because frankly, he never was. He was too hot or thirsty or didnt want to be held, or wanted to run off, or was growling at the horses or tearing something up. He was more work than the four horses I had at the show.

Well now its been two long difficult years later and like I said, Hannibal has grown up to be a VERY handsome dog. I love him to death. He is still a handful. Very growly and difficult, chews up all his toys, he is getting very territorial. He loves to think he is hearding the horses when he is actually chasing them, and he is one great little alarm. When one of the horses lays down and rolls, or runs in his pen, or starts giving me shit when I am working it. He goes batshit crazy. Bites the fence and carries on like he is possesed by the devil. I'm not so sure he's not.

But there is also another side to Hannibal. He has started to like affection. Demanding it in fact, he wants to sit next to me now when I am sitting at the desk, wanting me to pet him, and every nite when I go to bed he gets in bed with me and snuggles and loves on me like he really likes me. In the morning when I wake up he gets back in bed, and brings all his toys too. He has four or five at any given time, and he wants to hold a toy in his mouth, while he lays up against me with all the rest of his toys around him, and I am supposed to pet him or he will whine and carry on. You may think this is not good, but its really a considerable improvement.

I have loved him all along, working it out in my head somewhat along the lines of adopting a child that turns out to be difficult. Now I have it and I'm going to love it. Now that he is starting to act like he likes me I am really happy. So if you see me at a horse show, or at a race I will probably have Hannibal with me. He thinks that he loves to go along. And like I said most of the time I like dogs better than people so I let him come along. I'm happy to have him with me.