Crash and Burn!!!

There was more and there will be even more football playoff action, but! The New England Patriots with a healthy Tom Brady, Just Crashed and Burned. It was pathetic. Baltimore jumped to a 24 - 0 lead by the beginning of the 2nd QUARTER! New England never made up the 24. 2 int and 1 fumble, a team record, NE never had an answer for the Run happy Ravens. I don't know what to say, I never thought the Ravens got where they were by being good, but they sure made the Patriots look bad. I, of course, hope my Chargers get it done this year. They haven't looked this good in a long time. They have experience, they have talent, the coach is committed the Quarterback, Phillip Rivers, is one of the best in the NFL and there is no back stage drama as there was with Spanos and Shannahan. LT is doing great and seems to have no problem sharing the running duties for the younger Sproles. Everybody is looking healthy too. Now, no matter how they do, I just want to give a raspberry to the great Jerry Rice, who said "I have never played for a worst coach all the way back to pee-wee" Norv Turner has won more game than any coach in Charger history. That includes Don Coryell (everybody stands, hands over their hearts and say "Don Coryell"). AFC champs again, one and done two years, two and out last year, this year, Bye week and home field advantage. We'll just see. Cowboys? Packers? Vikings? Just don't bring on Walsh, Montana and SF. But this year that is San Diego or New Orleans.

But that's how I feel.

Here It Comes

The new year begins. It's been cold. It should get up to 2 above today (warm). Back to working full weeks.

I got approved for the Venezuela team at church. We send a team down twice a year for a couple of weeks. I've never been before.

"My" Chargers won their last game of the season. It was not important at all since they had already clinced the AFC west title , 1st round bye and home field advantage.. The first string players got pulled pretty early in the game but they were only playing Washington. The Redskins were trying desperatly trying to win number 5.

Had dinner New Years Eve with the Herman's and Gleason's. At the Ranch. Very nice night.

So, we're off to a good start.

This year is almost "in the can"

I am thankful for this country. For it's being a light of freedom and helping other countries experience democracy. I am thankful for my family who serve and continue to serve. I am thankful for the men and women in the armed forces who put themselves in harm's way to protect us and freedom everywhere. I am thankful for God, the almighty, the Alpha and Omega. I am thankful for the founding fathers who envisioned a free and just democracy.

Alone again (unnaturally)

Spent Christmas alone and snowed in. It was okay, I got to watch my Chargers win again and clench the second seed for the playoffs. Laurie's in California, Eliza is in Texas and though Alex was going from Grand Forks to Kaycee's parents, he couldn't get down the country roads in the storm to pick me up. We had a little Christmas dinner at Paradiso's last night and exchanged gifts. New Years might be about the same. But alls well. I hope everybody had a Great Christmas and let's have a better New Year where we actually talk to one-another. I promise to try.

Does this bother anyone else?

I was on my Facebook account and my liberal relative made a comment about never wanting to hear the name Sarah Palin again. Her friends all chimed in blah, blah, blah. They said some things like how can anyone listen to Rush, Beck et al and not see how bad they were. Conservatives are so stupid. Same old stuff.

I just started thinking. How did it get so bad? There was a time when, although Dems and Reps disagreed on some things, they still held to some shared core beliefs in the foundational ideals that formed America. Sure the founding fathers fought over slavery and other things, and we have had to fight about Imperialism vs Isolationalism. States rights vs Federal rights. But all-in-all, The American dream was alive and we could all stand together as Americans.

But now it seems like we conservatives have the ideals of personal responsibility, free market solutions, private property, secure borders, and strong national defense. And it seems like the left is totally opposed to this. But it confuses me, because Democrats still start and grow businesses. Still buy houses, cars, boats, and vacations. Still want their children to be safe in the neighborhood and school, and want the US government to be the US government.

But no one on either side can seem to speak to anyone on the other side in a rational conversation. If we want to talk about free market, they say we’re greedy and I have to admit, that unchecked, the greedy person will take advantage of things. But they want to help the needy and we scream “welfare state” even though the majority of conservatives believe in helping the less fortunate.
I know what any of you will say to these examples, but the point is, neither side will listen to the other.

Am I making sense?

There is less animosity at a Packer-Viking football game than there is in today’s political discussion.

I’m not blaming the left for this, I thing both sides are to blame. We have people in Washington on both sides who spend too much and take unfair advantage of the system for their own benefit. I’m no longer sure if either side being in control is the answer. I know another party or two isn’t. Somehow we as citizens have to realize how badly we have been divided by the ones in power. The grass roots movement has to be more than just a move to the right or left, It has to be a move towards us taking intelligent control of the systems and stop being pawns who are kept at each other’s throats while our pockets are being picked and this country is systematically destroyed.

My challenge is for all of us to start reaching out to the others and getting some serious thought and dialog started.

Community Organizes!

Heard about this story on Rush this morning. I nope I can get a link to it. On the island of Kuaii in Hawaii, there was a state park and access road that had been damaged by a storm. The locals were waiting for the state to provide help to repair it. The estomates from the state was 2 million dollars and 4 years. The help wasn't coming and estimates were 2-4 years before the park would be reopened. The people got together and - at no cost to taxpayers - did the repairs in 8 days. Outrageous! An example of American principles of self reliance. This is great! When I hear the term Community Organizer, this is the picture that comes to my mind. This is what it should be, not people working to get voters for a particular group. It should be a term for activities that pull people in a comminity together to get projects done not lobbying for Liberals.

San Diego Comic-Con founder dies

Why is it always raining when I get bad news? Shel Dorf, The founder of the San Diego Comic-Con has died at the age of 76. I was periferally involved in the con for the first couple of years and spent some time around Shel. I am sad at his passing and will always remember the impact "his" convention made in my life. I was aroun 17 when the first mini-con was held at the U.S Grant hotel in San Diego and it was the biggest thing I'd ever been a part of up to that point in my life. Here is a link for the Reuters story.

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE5A35W220091104

And here is a link for a autobiographical page on the comicartville library site.

http://www.comicartville.com/dorfpage.htm