A taste of Early Spring

Wow two days in a row that were quite nice.  I actually got out in the shop yesterday and open up the doors so that it would warm up. That was nice. But at lass it will not last. Winter still has their heavy hand in the day.

I did yesterday decide that I would never again buy a Skill Router. No matter how much I tinker with it trying to refine it's use it keeps balking and showing me who's boss. Right now it has a favourite bit and will not give it up. I think it is time to start haunting the pawn shops and flea markets and see what I can find in a way of a 1 1/2 hp router or up along the lines of a Bosch or Porter-Cable.

Well I in the spite of family I loaned my old Isuzu Pickup out to my son and he was rear ended and knocked into another so. I am mini-truck less now. It doesn't help that the insurance company looks like they are trying to bail out on paying something for it. Anything would help towards getting another old mini-truck.

By the way did I mention that the truck that hit him and knocked him forward bugged out and left the scene of the accident. I think the terminology for this situation is screwed, blued and tattooed. O well.

I have begun to work on how and what form the next mini truck will take.  I am thinking about a 4wd one . The only thing is that goes against my philosophy of keeping it simple stupid.  Of course I will probably pick one that is quirky for me. I actually leaning toward a Mitsubishi Mighty Max. They are low to the ground get reasonable good gas mileage and are built like a tank. I have had over the years 3 of them


My favorite on was a little red  90 model  I owned. It was like a little skate-board.  Combined that with the fact that you can find one for about $2500 the rest speaks for it self.  Even so I will miss the old white Isuzu PUP. So long old gal.

Reading Material

Finished reading Alan Furst "The Spies of Warsaw.".  ---Excellent is all I can say. If you like your thrillers with a taste of history then Furst is the guy to go too.

Also Finished  "Collins- The Complete Woodworker" written by the editors of Wood Magazine and published by the Smithsonian's.. Good book to have around got me to thinking about a lot of different approaches to my wood work.

Starting Stig Larrson "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo".

Politics, Economy, and Life

Well, what can I say. the economy still sucks and the politicians are still playing the finger pointing game. In short expect nothing to happen.  What really blows my mind is the fact that on paper the stockbrokers and big fiance and big internationals are doing great. Profits are up. Bonus are up. So why is their no jobs no investment in the USA.

Because people the trickle down theory does not work!

Never has and never will. The Rich get richer because they sat on it and the poor or working people of this nation as usual carry the burden on our backs for what these people don't do in carrying their share of the tax burden and the government and politicians developing some backbone and saying it is time we do something about

1. affordable housing - and I don't mean Mac-mansions
2. universal health care - move us up to the rest of the major world players
3. establishing a living wage - I don't mean minimum wage which is ridiculous
4. decent public transportation
5. investing in our environment
6. investing in our infrastructure
7. getting out of wars that has nothing to do with us.- If a country doesn't like their rulers then do what Egypt is doing.
8. Education that means something. - No child left behind does nothing when it just causes kids to drop out because they are not good test takers.

These are just a few of what I talking about needing to be done.

Do I vote? Hell yes.

Because I vote to let them know that I am not happy by my vote and while it is possible to say my vote doesn't count. That the election is rigged. That all might be true but it at least I voted and I voted my beliefs . I may be a socialist in my thoughts and beliefs but it does not change the fact that I believe I am without questions right.
Liberal and Proud of it.

Just in passing

I was thinking about what to write about in this week blog and finally decided why have a theme this time why not just things in general.

First, I have had the opportunity of late to do how- to do articles and what more do I like than telling people what to do. After all I used to be an inspector and what more does a inspector does if it is telling people what to do. 

But I found that telling folks how to do is quite a bit different than telling people what to do.

As a inspector I would be required to tell someone his work was not in compliance. But as a how to do author I must tell them how to do it.  It is a different mindset.

Now don't get me wrong. When I was a young inspector I would often find myself inclined to tell someone how I appreciated them. Before I came to know them I didn't believe in abortion but now I see a purpose. Later as I grew older and would be meeting some of the children of the men I inspected as a youngster I found myself telling them they were prof that stupidity is genetic. For their father believed I would fall for some of the same things.

I also of late because of te cold weather found myself doing a lot of reading of magazines and books. The magazines vary from woodworking to Popular Mechanics magazine and so guess what comes in a PM issue dealing with "War On Privacy". You know that helps my love of conspiracy theories.

The newest issue of UNTE magazine deals with the destruction of the middle class in Great Britain and the US through the destruction of the Unions. Unlike the rest of Europe where Unions have significant power. It makes a interesting read.

Then there are the books I just started reading Alan Furst "Spies of Warsaw" and just got through reading Robert Greer "The Devil Hatband" these are just fun reads.

I also have been haunting Craig's list and pawn shops looking for replacement tool for my shop and looking for wood to do the project. Did you know that Rockler has Maple on sale for $4.59 a board foot. that is a good buy.

I am definitely looking forward to warmer weather where at least my little shop heater has a chance of keeping up. Meanwhile when the weather hits where my garage temps are in the 50's I have been going out and reworking the top of  the end table I had given up on. I think it may be saved.  A little time will tell.

TV sometimes surprises you with some good stuff and recently the show "The Cape" has done that. Llow budget maybe but really good acting and action scenes make it  really fun too watch much like the "The Human Target" all taken from either comic books or illustrated novels.

Are We Being Held Hostage?

Yesterday I was listening to my usual NPR station morning show , "The Morning Edition" when they threw a news tidbit where a former Big Oil Executiv, John Hofmeister (former Shell Oil CEO) now representing a politcal action group devoted to energy policy,  stating that we can expect to see $5.00 a gallon oil by the end of the year.

At the time I heard this I am thinking he just using fear tactics to create a more willingess to drill in the Gulf. But I may of been wrong.

After listening and watching a little more in depth interview on NPR Energy in Review I now think he is just saying yes the price of oil will be going up but what he is more afraid of is actual shortfalls in meeting energy needs (hydrocarbons) distract us from developing alternative energy.  He has come out with a book that promotes development of alternative energy and creating a quasi-federal organization similar to the FED to oversee and implement energy policy. This Federal Energy  Commission would oversee the development of alternative energy and better management of our energy supplies (hydrocarbon and nuclear). The ideal is to prevent a company like Enron did in manipulating energy supplies to create a artificial crisis. 

Hofmeister may very well have a good ideal but he also said something also very significant.  He said that in the current political climate in Congress he does not see anything like what is needed to come out. Because of that with the shortfalls in oil productions and increase demand from the US and other countries like India and China we can expect $5 a gallon by the  end of the year.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/12/28/132416574/-5-a-gallon-gas-forecast-has-ex-shell-exec-making-headlines

So, are we being held hostage to allow further drilling in the Gulf. Yes!

But who is to blame? I don't think we can point fingers at responsible parties without realizing we are looking into a mirror. It was our unwillingness to give up our big gas hogs for something a little more fuel efficient. It was our unwillingness to invest in development of alternative energy. It was our unwillingness to see the need to invest in good conservation practices that has put us in this situation of being held hostage.

As Pogo has said "We have met the enemy and it is us"

New Year Resolutions Suck

Christmas is over and it is natural you start to think about the New Year that is rapidly approaching.


You think about time wasted. Money wasted. You tend to think about the general confusion you seem to be in but in truth it has been just another year.


Yet we inevitably think about what we want to accomplish, of the year's past resolutions we failed to live up to and think about what we want to try to accomplish next year.


Good friends and readers let me make a pre new years toast if I may


It is simply "Thank God we survived another year."


I mean really this has been one really strange time we are living in right now. So forgive yourself not living up to or accomplishing your goads you had set for yourself. It is a miracle you survived no thanks to the powers that be.


Bu what the hell. I tell you what I'll do I start out with this last post of the year with my New Years' Resolutions.

1. I will continued to be the best person I can be and when I fall short I hope I recognize my failure and ask for forgiveness of those I offend. and strive harder. For I will fail for I am not perfect.
2. I will continued to strive to protect my family and fiends and expect minimum help from my government.
3. I will strive to think before I speak and hopefully make fewer idiotic statements and give less foolish advice.
4. I will try to hid any money that comes my way from those who wish to part it from me. Although I figure that is a lost cause I still will try.
5. I will try to enjoy each day as it comes and accept it for what is is.
6. I will accept the fact that there is a sour grape in every bowl of grapes. When I get one I promise to spit it out and not let it spoil the rest for me. That goes for whether it be a bowl of grapes or a room full of people.
7. I promise to holler out my war cry and  stand firm against the injustice and abuse of power and privilege.

Well that is enough for now.

Domino Effect

One of the things I like watching on you-tube is the guys who spend a week or more setting up dominoes so that when they tip one over they create the cascade effect that  is unique and creative.

But unfortunately in life the domino effect often is not that unique or creative. You would think that folks would realize that by this time the simple law of physics that guide the domino fall creators effect all walks of life. But no sadly our leaders haven't a clue.

They say they do but as of yet I have not seen any proof of it. They keep setting up the same old dominoes up and then they say that it will last a life time or until someone sneezes and they all fall down.

You can understand why the activist become so dispirited no matter what they do it never seems to change. You elect the first black president. You put a overwhelming wave of vote out that says get off your duff and do something different. Then when the people we elect get into office what happens?

More of the same old s@#$ or SOS.

We think that means save or ship but for a activist it means more of the same old S%^&.

The problem as I see it is that the people we elect are either not honest with us as to how they really feel or who their allegiance is with or their butts hit the seat in the chambers of power and their mentality totally changes. Remember Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

So what do we do?

A good question and the answer can only be one and that is to never give up.

If Martin L. King and the NAACP had given up because of the seeming no changes to attitudes or laws from previous generations of Civil Rights activist do you think there would be the Civil Right Act. I don't think so. Rather it is the steadfast pressure that will lead to the changes that will make the diference.

We must keep active. We must keep pushing no matter how ineffective we think our efforts are. It is the combination of the all the protest and letters and non-viloet acts of civil disobedience that will eventually lead to change. Just like it did with Civil Rights.

So we must keep on setting up the dominoes so that eventually and rightfully they will fall into something beautiful and righteous. It is only a matter of time.

Solyent Green

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt, Citizen in a Republic

I couldn't help but start this blog but with this blog.

Sometimes I believe that we become so overwhelmed by what we hear on the TV/Radio/Internet Blog sphere/print media that we start to feel why are even trying.

 Because we have to. The alternative is worse.

To give up and lay down and allow the powers to be to run over us is exactly what they want. Who are they?

I guess it is who ever you want to blame for the feeling of oppression. For me it is the nameless  Ultra-rich. Those who feel that they know what is best for me and I just need to accept. This I can not do. Someone once said that the best revenge is to live well and I believe that it up to you to  decide what is living well means.

For me it means not worrying about the what if's on  my health , food on the table, clothes on my back, and a roof over my head. Simple things it may be until it is thearthen then it becomes a major issue.

It is that way for many.

Right now folks are worrying about their job, mortgages, how they are going to put healthy food on the table on a beans and potatoes budget. How are they going to just get through the day.

This daily persistent and unrelenting concern becomes so overwhelming I believe we end up making mistakes. It makes us too cautious when we need to step up to the plate and swing for the fence. We may strike out but at least we tried.

Great things never happen or even the smallest things unless we are willing to take that chance. I believe President Obama has forgot that .That he has people whispering into his ear play it cautious, don't take chances. If it goes wrong you may loose the race in 2012.

Now you are thinking but we must have realistic expectations. You would be exactly right. why shouldn't you. You tell me that we must be willing to give up something for our security. I say security means nothing if you don't have your self-respect.

To me to not hold people accountable for what they do is to find our self in thar classic Sci-Fi movie "Soylent Green"  where we are eating ourselves.



It is time we stop consuming our self's. It is time we take back control of our lives.  Stand up for what you believe in. Take responsibility for what you do.

As i was finishing this article I found myself thinking about my Dad and his first heart attack.

He was laying semi-conscience in the Intensive Cardiac Care Unit. and he had been giving the doctors and nurses a difficult time .

It was about 2 in the morning and Dad had come too and I asked him to be patient with the staff that all they wanted was to help him. While it was the morphine talking he told me "I rather be shot for a wolf then die like a sheep."  Totally disapproved but I understood what he meant.

He might be in a hospital bed, semi-consciouses but as long as he could he was going to have a say over his life. That is all I am trying to say.
We, as a nation, may be on life support,  As a individual we may be gasping for air struggling to find a moment of respite. But Never give up. Live your life as a wolf for it is better than dying led blindly to the slaughter.

In the Shop

Well this week I need to spend some time in the shop at the wood lathe. One of my sons has ask me to turn some wine bottle stoppers to give to a few of the folks at work as Christmas presents. 

I think today I will glue up some turning blanks out of red oak and mesquite. Should make a interesting combo. I see about posting some photos when I get through.

"It anin't over until it is over"

Yogi Berra was one of my favorite baseball players. More so because of his witticism that seem to just pop out of him. One of my favorite is "It ain't over until is is over."  Why? Because that is just it "it ain't over until it is over.

We tend to forget that. Just because something doesn't go our way we think that's it. It is all over. But that is far from the truth. It is over when we draw our last breath. When they put the pennies on our eyes to pay the ferryman is when  it's over.

So do you just give up when things don't go your way? Of course not

Does it change the reality of the day? Of course not.

To paraphrase another great philosopher of our time Popeye "It is what it is and that is all it is"

Since Cain and Able there have been someone trying to gain favor over you at the destruction of your person. Let me put it to you heathens this way. Ever since man has stood upright there has been one man tying to put his bare foot on the neck of another. So why should now be any different.

Obama accepted a compromise with the republicans, for what I truly believe he felt out of necessity, that would extend the tax cuts another two years. He did this he said for the working people not for the rich but to do so he had to accept the republicans trickle down economy BS and extend it for the very wealthy. This compromise also extended the unemployment compensation for those who were about to run out of them. This in itself would of hurt the economy.

Either way it has not ended it. It has to still be approved by the congress and senate and the democrats. particularly the more progressive are livid that they are being forced to accept this compromise. Yet at this time I think they have no other choice. They gave up the high ground for fear of being called Tax and Spend democrats.  About the only thing they can do is take the moral high ground and point their finger at the republicans and say "for shame". They need to do this and make their case at the same time. One with out the other is useless.

What does this mean. Will it means another two years of nothing happening .Another two years of our economy tanking and maybe never having a chance to stabilize. That is why it is even more important that you vote. That you make known your beliefs and positions. for not to do so is to give up an that is unacceptable.

Later in the Week

The Pres has come out with a little more fight to him. About time. The word is that he intends to work on getting the tax code changed into a more balance system with fewer loop holes. States that the current agreement if passed he has hopes will not stand for the entire two years. "It anoint over until it's over"

Reading Material

One of my favorite type of literature is the Essay form of writing. It is a interesting way of looking at different ideals and has been a boost to my mental acuity by making me stop and think. Currently I am reading the "Writers on Writing -The New York Times Collected Essays. It is just what it says Different writers of all kinds and genre talking about what motivates them. Common theme is it is all they know what to do and driven to do it. Makes for a interesting read.

Just started "The Devils Hatband" by Robert O. Greer. set in Denver, Co. new author for me.  A type of mystery that works for me are those that are regional in nature. Writers such as Tony Hillerman, New Mexico - John Dunning, Colorado - Jean Hagar, Oklahoma - James Burke, New Orleans La.  are a few of the type of authors I am talking about. Hopefully Greer will be one of those regional authors that will introduce me to a whole new way of looking at an area.