Michigan wind power and alternative energy. Our great state government decided that it is time to look into alternative energy to help Michigan grow. Alternative energy would create new jobs, and help out the state. They put togather plans for a great big windmill, that combined with others would create cheaper energy. The construction of said windmills would create new jobs. Wind energy to the rescue..... opps... they gave the construction bid to Canada. The only wind I see is from Lansing. Last person out, please turn off the lights.

I love stupid people. I especially like people who are suppose to be smart but are really dumber than dirt. I know for a fact that I am not the smartest bulb in the pack, but at least I have some common sense and am able to use my brain for more then counter weight to keep my head strait. For years I use to listen to Rush Limbaugh's radio show. Although I did not agree with him on all topics, I did respect his knowledge,until now. I know that his show is all about ratings and making it interesting for people to listen. Love him or hate him, he just wants you to listen. He's a clown, a show man, an antagonist..... he what you want and what you hate. Why do people care what Rush has to say. His show is alot like professional wrestling, fake but with great athletes. Rush tries to be all things to all people. Either you love him and listen, or hate him, and listen. What people understand is that it is entertainment, nothing else. Once gain we give an actor credit for the role he is playing. I don't go to DR. Gregory House for medical advice so why should I go to this actor for political advice. The dumb people are the ones that faithfully follow him like a person follows a soap opera. Soap operas' professional wrestling, and Rush Limbaugh are not real. Why does the media give him so much attention? Ratings.

Wednesday morning and you can tell tht fall is in the air. Now the weather has me thin kin that I need to put the storms up. I turned on the heat yesterday for the first time.
I talked with the people at Westinghouse, about my fire in my TV. The moment I mentioned fire, they were making arraignments for it to be shipped to them and a new one sent back to me. A flat screen HD tv that is less then 2 years old should not catch fire. I have had great success with my tvs, and they all came from westinghouse should it should not surprise me that they don't want a bad one starting a fire. I'm sending ours back to them today, and they will send out a new one. They are also paying the shipping cost and all I have to do is pack it and ship it. I'll update how things go.

It just keep coming. This weekend our main tv caught fire. It's a 32" flat screen and it was less then two years old. Fortunately nothing else caught fire. The lead abatement people said we won't get our house done until next year. Lindsey's baby is due in April so I hope next year means before then. If her husband to be doesn't get work before the wedding, they may be living with us on (Walton's) Van Antwerpen's mountain. Cat and Sean are looking to move out in October, but if they don't, we will have room for everyone.
We talked with Don and Akiko in Japan. We use Skype for two way visual communications. They are doing great and love it there.
We are in the middle of sending out invites for Lindsey's wedding in November. Have you ever heard the story of a man who made a pot of soup out of two stones? This is what I feel like, paying for a wedding with little money and short notice.
Cliff asked me how I do it? I'll get back with you on that one.

Boy, is this a year. I've had more happen in the last 10 years of my life than I could dream up. Although I have had a very interesting life, lot of travel, wonderful kid, and a great marriage. Yes, this was interesting, but not like the last 10 years. When I was 47 I was suppose to be having a mid life crisis. Instead I was dead for a few minutes with a massive cornary. I few months later I lost our home to a expert swindler. WE lived in an apartment for a while until I found our new home. During this time, my wife has serious medical problem that leaves her unable to work. I also am unable to work. My oldest son get married and moves to Japan, my second child marries and her and her husband move in with us. My youngest daughter has announced that she is pregnant and is getting married in November. My youngest son want to fight MMA. I have become a pastor, married many couples, almost excomunicated by another pastor and now am playing the piano for a praise team. What a wild ride.

What a day. My daughter Lindsey told Liz and I that she is pregnant and will now be moving up her wedding date to November. I am very happy for her and Chris and looking forward to becoming a Grandpa. I know I look way too young to be a grandpa. She is due April 16, the day before Liz and my anniversary. So, within a year and a half we will have had 4 weddings and a grandchild on the way.

This bad economy brings out the strangeness in people. My daughter Lindsey has a small dog call Gigi. This dog is about the size of most cats. We licenced her the first year. This past year when didn't because money was tight. By the time you pay for her shot, and her licence you are talking over $200.00. This little dog is always inside and does not roam the neighborhood. Vector Control is now harassing us to licence her at all cost. They have sent a citation and a ticket to appear in court to make sure we license our dog. If we don't comply, we can be arrested and jailed. They haven't even stopped by to see if the dog is alive or still living with us. She is alive, and living with us. She is in great health and is very happy. Still they want their money to save their jobs. People are losing their jobs, going broke, and don't have extra money to spend. Crime rates are up, health care is down, and we are worried about a small dog having it's licence.

It's hard to believe that it is already September. What a year so far. I do misss the chapel and all of our friends from their. I Miss hearing the golden vocals of cliff. What a voice and mind.
I miss Don and Akiko. They are now in Japan. I talk with them regularly on Skypes, two way video. After teaching his first day of school, they closed the school for a week. No, he did not cause it, swine flu did. So his first week is a paid vacation. This swine flu thing might end up being a bad as predicted.
With all this debate over nation health care, and can't but wonder how people can outright lie about nation health care in other countries. As I said, my son and his wife are in Japan which has national health care. They love it, their friends love, everyone loves it. I talk with Canadians, they love it. I cannot find a real Case of people hating it, except people who get rich off it. Getting rich off sick and dying people is.......well............ sick. Oh, by the way, this depression or recession that we are in was caused by the greed of the rich, not the poor. The people who don't want a national health care is because of greed, not because of government, bad medicine or any other thing that they would concoct.

Today, a new day is dawning at Westwood. Our new pastor start his new calling with us. I have worked with him this week and he seems to be a wonderful person. He seems easy to work with and very down to earth. Westwood has shrunk over the last 10+ years and is in need of new life to be pumped into it. We have taken time to look at ourselves, our calling to the community, and our relationship with God. There will be changes, and changes are difficult, but sometimes necessary. I will be learning to play as part of a praise team,( can you teach an old dog new tricks?), plus helping to maintain the old hymns, maybe in a livelier tempo. May God bless us a we renew are faith, in his honor and to his glory.

My tribute to Ted Kennedy. Thank you for not becoming president. Thank you for being a senator from Mass. and not Michigan. His record for winning battles is below average. He is from a troubled family that has had a fair share of adversity. Everyone who worked with him says he was vicious in battle and gracious in in victory or defeat. He was a devoted Catholic, and had a history of bad behavior. He was truly a man of contradictions. He lavished in wealth and fought hard for the poor and downtrodden. If anything Teddy, you were good press. God Bless.

I talked with Don today on Skype. Video conferencing is very nice. Him and Akiko have moved into their apartment in Tokyo and are now trying to get settled in. We got a video tour of their apartment.

I have returned. Many things have happened since I last blogged that have kept me off line. First of all, the computer shorted out and had to be repaired.
Don and Akiko have arrived safely in Japan. We just set up our skype connection with them. This enables us to talk face to face with them, for free. Liz and I bought their car from them, so once again we have car payments for a while. Don and Akiko had to trim down all they had, to two suitcases and two carry on bags each. I'll have more later, as this blog is very cathartic.

Yesterday, two people in the entertainment industry died. Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Most of the attention goes to a black pedophile over a white christian. Michael didn't want to be black, didn't want to be a grown up, and played with children and prescription drugs. But wait, he was an entertainer so that makes up for everything. Even when he admitted that he slept with children, he bought his way out of trouble. By the time the results of the autopsy are in, we will know that he abused prescription drugs and his heart couldn't take it. Elvis Presley syndrome. Farrah, on the other hand, fought a courageous battle against cancer. She would be alive today if she had agreed to a colostomy. She decided to get treatment outside the United States because it wasn't approved here. This was called, "The Steve Mcqueen syndrome." They both made beautiful corpses.

How Hot is It?

Is it hot enough for you?

These are just some of the weather related question often asked yesterday. It was so hot that 14% of our residents didn't go to work. It was so hot that republicans were blaming the democrats for leaving the heater on. The democrats were blaming the republicans for trying to make a profit off the heat. It's a government conspiracy to make people more dependent on the government. Idiots.

President Obama introduced his effort to offer government assisted heath care. The insurance companies say that statistic don't support an overhaul. They claim that 8 out 10 peoples are happy with the insurance that they are paying for. What they fail to say is that the other 90% can't afford health insurance. Idiots.

Last week our esteemed governor announced the introduction of new jobs. Bad news is that they won't be available until nest year. She also introduced her wind powers jobs, but local ordinances won't allow these things to be constructed. For more information call the republican headquarters which are now located in India. Idiots.

Summer Celebration announced that if you don't purchase a ticket for the concerts, you have to purchase a pass just to walk around the fairground. For those of us that live near the concert fair will have to pay more because we get to hear the garbage for free. Idiots.

40 years ago we landed on the moon. I thought about this when I heard that NASA was trying to figure out how to go back to the moon. You would think they would have left a map. It reminds me of Captain Kirk asking Scotty if he found the engine room? Mr. Scotts reply, "right where I left it". The moon was right where we left it. In a world wide case of CRS, we forgot about the moon.
This , I believe, is the perfect example on how everything comes around. You would think that after 40 years, NASA would come up with a better way to get to the moon. I don't mean by "transporter", or "warp drive", but come on, the same Apollo rocket. Well at least we left the rover up there, just recharge the batteries. Just a thought, "If we use the same technology to get back to the moon, is disco and platform shoes coming back?" I wish I had my old leasure suit.

Fathers Day 2009

To all you fathers out there, Happy Fathers Day. My father is no longer alive so the emphasis is a little different. Now my kids fight over what I am going to do on this day. This will be the last time for a while that Donald and Akiko will be in the States on Fathers Day so they want us to spend time with them. Catherine and Sean want to share the day with his father and with me. Lindsey is visiting with her boyfriend's father, and I'm not sure about Cody. I always wondered why my father was agitated on Fathers Day. I always thought it was the tie I made him. I guess I'm pretty lucky, I could be sitting alone at home wondering why my kids don't care.

I read in the "comical" that the insurance industry want the government to pass a bill requiring all americans to purchase health insurance. What people don't realize is that they are asking for a bailout. By making it illegal not to have health insurance they are forcing everyone to help them. I have to laugh when people don't want a government run health care system, call it socialism, and want to tell the government to stay out of their business. In Michigan, the government forces everyone to purchase auto insurance. They call it no- fault insurance.
We are told that the Canadians are lining up at the border to come to the States because of their goverrnment run healthcare system. They can't wait to dole out their money for insurance that gives them less coverage then they have already. The insurance industry is already trying to stick it to the middle and lower class people by determining their insurance cost by their credit reports. People that have fallen on rough times, are now paying more insurance because they have missed a few bills. Foreclosures are on the rise and the insurance companies want to charge more.
I apologise to the insurance industry. I have just picked on you, but there are others who do the same thing. For years the auto industries forced gas guzzlers on the American market. They have given lucrative jobs and have forced the cost of buying a new car out of reach for many. They have padded the wallets of the petroleum industries buy failing to make fuel effecient vehicles. The list goes on and on. When will some of these people wake up.

A full weekend and now the new week. I performed a small wedding on Saturday, did my music stuff on Sunday. On top of this I cleaned the church and the house, with some help.
Liz goes in for her shots in the spine tomorrow and hopefully this will help her a lot. She is almost immobile because of her back. Since we don't have proper insurance, we had to come up with $600.00. This is her second round of shots. The first lasted about a month.
We are still waiting to hear from the county as far as lead removal. They did the paperwork, and the examination of the house which revealed a lot of lead. We are waiting for an estimator to come out and then the work is put out for bid.

Let's see. This depression was caused when gas prices escalated past three dollars pergallon toward the five dollar mark. Here we go again. The automotive industry is in chaos, jobless rates are at an all time high, homes are being foreclosed left and right, and the petroleum industry is going for more profit. General Motors is now government motors because of the profit greed. I saw this starting to happen in the 80's. Back then we called it the east coast philosophy. Make your profit today, make your profit tomorrow, and keep making a profit everyday. We call it the "now" generation. It started with the dot com business and spread from there. Instant profit at all cost.

Proofreading is a dying art, would you say?
Man Kills Self Before Shooting Wife and Daughter
This one I caught in the SGV Tribune the other day and called the Editorial Room and asked who wrote this. It took two or three readings before the editor realized that what he was reading was impossible!!! They put in a correction the next day.


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Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
No, really? Ya think?
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Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
Now that's taking things a bit far!
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Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
What a guy!
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Miners Refuse to Work after Death
No-good-for-nothing' lazy so-and-so's!
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Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
See if that works any better than a fair trial!
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War Dims Hope for Peace
I can see where it might have that effect!
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If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile
Ya think?!
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Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
Who would have thought!
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Enfield ( London ) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
They may be on to something!
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Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
You mean there's something stronger than duct tape? Oklahoma's new construction program!
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Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge
He probably IS the battery charge!
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New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
Weren't they fat enough?!
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Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
That's what he gets for eating those beans!
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Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
Chainsaw Massacre all over again!
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Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
Boy, are they tall!
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And the winner is....
Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead

Did I read that right?