Guard Dog

Woldan was that the only one?

I don't know man, the people I see complaining about immigration the most tend to live in wide open spaces surrounded by mostly white people. Typically living among a diverse community makes it harder to be against diversity. The folks who live on the Texas border who are typically the victims of the crimes of border jumpers might disagree with you on that one. Laredo, Eagle Pass, and El Paso have real problems with Mexican drug cartels and their use of people who cross the border unimpeded. I'm guessing Kate Steinle would disagree also if she hadn't been murdered by an illegal that had already been deported five times for criminal acts and came back a sixth. Don't know that name? That's ok Barack Obama didn't either, although this happened in San Francisco. While I realize it is faulty logic to paint the many with the actions of a few it sickens me to see people gloss over the criminal acts, many of them violent, of people who are breaking our laws just being here. The governments of Europe are doing the same thing by glossing over the rapes and assaults by those mindless savages they are importing from the middle east. The folks on the left who want this to happen don't want to hear about the harm it causes to people who wanted nothing more than to live their lives in peace in their home countries.

The changes don't affect me? Sorry Bruce I like you but you don't know what the f--k you are talking about. My cost for health insurance has tripled, (you understand the meaning of that word?) tripled in the years since the ACA passed. When Barack Hussein Obama took office I was a RF Design Engineer with AT&T. I had a great job with a decent salary. The ACA drove up costs to the point that AT&T laid off 12,000 employees. I was one of them. The ACA included a "Medical Device Tax" that includes EVEY F-----G piece of diagnostic medical equipment in the US of A, Including veterinarians. So thanks to Barack Hussien Obama it not only costs more to take care of myself it also costs more to take care of my dogs. Thanks to Obama's "war on coal" the cost of electricity has doubled per kilowatt hour all across the US (even in markets served by nuclear power). Who do you think that hurts the most? The wealthy? Guess again. He allowed the sale of guns to Mexican drug cartels under the premise of "tracking" them. Those guns have so far been used to kill 17 US Border Patrol agents, 32 US citizens and over 200 police and citizens in Mexico. Obama's response to all this? Cover it up and make a cynical attempt to blame the violence on the need for more gun control. Under Obama the IRS has become the "Thought Police" ruthlessly persecuting PACs and individuals whose politics they don't approve of. They got caught, the Obama admin tried to cover it up, but the worst f-----g part is it's STILL HAPPENING! Don't even get me started on the VA and his notion to make veterans pay for their own healthcare for combat injuries. And to top is all off let's look at his admin's deficit spending over the last seven years. Tell me Bruce, how long can anything spend more than it's income before it collapses? It was not an exaggeration to say his administration has spent more in real dollars that all 43 administrations before him. No this is just the way he has hurt people. I didn't even get into the power he has usurped from Congress, or the political philosophy on the role of government or the way he has groveled and weakened our position in the world. If this is your idea of making things better you can keep it.

Its not so much Clinton I like but she wants to continue the fundamental policies of Obama which are about ensuring a more equitable society and a stronger more significant middle class. Also she isn't planning anything radical that may impact the USA economy, like Sanders and his dislike of big business and the financial sector And that doesn't mean she plans to target people like you ....your commitment to the overall economy and people like you are the foundation of what the USA is built on and despite right wing rhetoric this will never change No thank you. The middle class does NOT need another helping of what Barack Obama served up: http://www.investors.com/incomes-fall-and-poverty-rises-under-obama-census-report/

Bruce I just can NOT fathom this infatuation you have with Hillary Clinton. A more toxic and unlikeable human being I simply could not imagine. If there was a single other viable candidate running for the Democratic bid (and there is a good reason why there isn't) she would be in distant second right now.

You are leading the charge into the modern wireless world! I've considered giving up DirectTV myself. I find I'm preferring to listen to the radio broadcasts of sports, particularly baseball while sipping good whiskey or regular iced tea from the rocking chair on my porch. Beyond sports there is nothing on TV I care about I can't catch on Hulu, Netflix, of HBO Go. And once GoT is done HBO Go will be done.

Driving to work in the snow. I hate snow.

Those Wall Street donors would have gotten a better return on the money they gave Bush if they had just lit it on fire.

I was working in Marfa Texas a few years back and had a pizza with diced habaneros on it. It was hotter than hell but in good way.

Great. Thanks a lot everyone. Now I want pizza and I live in the sticks. So there is nowhere to go to GET pizza. Nowhere close anyway.

You guys need to take it easy. Take it easy. Don't let the sound if your own wheels make you crazy. Lighten up while you still can, don't even try to understand. Just find a place to make your stand and take it easy.

Now look what's happened: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2016/01/18/glenn-frey-founding-member-eagles-dead-at-67/?intcmp=hpbt4 2016 is starting out a really crappy year. The Eagles are one of my favorite bands and definitely an American icon. And you can't even think of the 80's show Miami Vice without thinking about Glenn Frye because he did several of it's biggest music pieces. It looks like he's been sick for a while. Such a shame.

Can I ask you a question, aren't you concerned about the numerous concerning comments Trump has made about USA foreign policy and he would do things? When all the choices are bad what does that matter? Bluster and arrogance on one hand vs. cowardice and obeisance to enemies on the other.

Hmmmm.... wouldn't Bernie be more likely to be the Sith Lord? He's the one whose for authoritarian government that takes everything away from everyone. Or... maybe I'M the sith lord? Maybe from my point of view the Jedi are evil.

That's not how it works around here my friend. You have to tell us what YOU think of Donald Trump...... Then we flame you!

The Iowa caucus (where people actually start voting) are just two weeks away. Until then this monkey poop fight will hit fever pitch. After that some of the monkeys will start dropping out. But we still have a long hard slog to November. In the mean time here are the latest polls: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/2016_republican_presidential_nomination-3823.html & http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/2016_democratic_presidential_nomination-3824.html And this was my favorite cartoon from the last monkey poop fight:

I listened to the debate today. You know the thing about Trump is he is actually getting better at BEING a candidate. Rubio handled himself well, Cruz not so much. The rest can just go bugger off now. They are like those folks who bought more Powerball tickets than they could afford and are now hoping against hope.

In other news I saw Dan Haggerty passed away today. For those who grew up in the 70's you might remember him as Grizzly Adams. But beyond acting he was also an animal handler and a big conservationist. RIP Dan.

You are going to Chicago now? It's January. There ought to be a law against that, Not that it's warm where you are now.

This seems to describe Jeb and Hillary well enough, yes. Of course they were forced to pass the Omnibus Spending Bill, the alternative would be a government shutdown. History has shown that Republicans fare worse if they use that tool. The truth is that the American political system is absurd and requires some level of civil understanding between the congressional majorities and the President in order for things to work at all. Absent this, you will get anarchy. And I can imagine only very few actually want that, and most of those who do want it live in Russia and China. I would really like to see President Cruz facing constant government shutdowns. That would be absolutely hilarious and highlight the hypocrisy of the politicians and absurdity of the system. The fact that Obama has taken rule by executive order one step further than Bush is already very funny, of course. But it seems to me a bit bigoted to call out Obama specifically here. An ideologue is a person who makes political decisions from a formulated and coherent ideology, as opposed to ad-hoc decisions made from sentiment or reasons of popularity. So what are you and Ron Paul if not ideologues of the Libertarian variant? How would you have acted if you were president? IMO all politicians should be ideologues and nothing else. It would be so much easier to vote then. I wouldn't call Ron Paul an ideologue necessarily, he was a Republican with strong libertarian leanings rather than a "true believer". I'm probably closer to being one than he is although there are some decidedly un-libertarian things I'm in favor of (restoring Glass-Stengal for example) and opposed to (open carry for example). But as for the notion of all politicians being ideologues the result would be a government completely paralyzed by the intransigence of it's members. Sound good to me! A lot of my fellow Americans bemoan government gridlock but the truth is when they all cancel each other out they can't screw anyone over. It's when one party holds all the cards I lose sleep at night.

"Happy trails Hans". RIP Mr. Rickman

Let me tell you a dirty little secret about career politicians. They don't believe in anything. They believe in what they think voters want to hear. Last week the Republicans sent a bill to repeal the ACA (Obamacare) to the President who, of course, vetoed it. Now bear in mind this is the ACA that THEY fully funded last month in the Omnibus Spending Bill. Had they actually wanted to kill this thing, that was their opportunity right there. Why did they do this? Because the republican voters are at their gates with torches and pitchforks and they were hoping a stupid, futile and useless gesture like that will mollify the peasants. No one in DC gives a damn about illegal immigration. They don't live on the border. They will never be the victim of a crime committed by an illegal that has been caught and released several times. The only reason it is ever brought up is because it inflames passions on both the right and the left. Passions can be fanned into votes. It may seem cynical but nothing ever said by a career politician is ever genuine. All of it is calculated. The only truthful thing Jeb Bush said in the last debate was "I'm Jeb Bush and I want your vote". There are two other types of fish to be found in the political sea. Ideologues like Barack Obama. They are scary because the first type I mentioned while despicable people, are predictable. Self preservation keeps them in check. Ideologues believe they are right, they are RIGHT dammit. They are smarter than you and better than you so it is only right they tell you what to do. (This is what Hayek called "the fatal conceit"). They don't care how their will gets done or who it hurts. I think BO is ready to leave office and he'd probably like to give us all the middle finger as he does because we put up so much resistance against him. How dare we! The last kind are the ones with an axe to grind. Ron Paul, Donald Trump, Ben Carson, etc. Some of these are ok, some are not. Depends on the axe.

That aircraft carrier will have to wait. I didn't win. Not that I was expecting otherwise. Normally I wouldn't play but what the hell. For $3 I'll take a shot at that jackpot.

Excellent point.

I bought a powerball ticket. With an luck (actually with enormous luck) I'll be able to afford my own aircraft carrier shortly.