A Wonderful Holiday

Even though I am still numb from a 14 hour drive I had to take a minute and post a word of gratitude to the guy upstairs for a truly wonderful Christmas. It actually started with a really enjoyable Thanksgiving visit here in Indianapolis with my youngest son Doug and his family. We all had a chance to connect and really enjoyed our time together. After they left Margie went into a full steam ahead baking marathon and we shipped Christmas cookies to all compass directions. Once that was accomplished it was time to drive to Texas to spend a week there with my brother and his wife Nanette. Christmas Eve, our traditional family day, was once again a real joy. The family expands each year as new relationships are entered into the fold. Really looking forward to the next one when there will be a brand new great grandchild for us to coo over.

Our Rennovation

• If you're interested in seeing what we've had done to our condo, click on the pix[^] and then either go through the pictures manually or click on the show button. The show button is much more fun but then you don't get to see the comment.
  
  This all came about as a result of the nexus of several circumstances:
• My desire to have a whirilpool tub
• Saying the heck with it and our decision to redo the whole master bathroom
• The sale of a rental property in Texas to fund major work by the Owner's Accociation
• The Association deciding not to do the major work
• Our realization that life is short
  
  We certainly didn't start out with the idea of a major rennovation, but here we are and it is much more pleasant to enjoy our surroundings than it was to cash a small monthly rent check.
  
  Anyway -come visit and enjoy it with us.

May 1st – Demonstrations that our government has failed

May 1st – Demonstrations that our government has failed

Tomorrow on May 1st, a day synonymous with communism and communist movements we’ll reportedly have millions of illegals marching in the streets of major cities to show us their strength. Today I heard that not only will it be Hispanics but Muslims as well. The demonstrations are supported by state governments (California), churches (my own church, in California of course) and silly-assed feel good liberals of all stripes.

If the activities of May 1st do not move you to call your congressional representatives and take a stand, then: you, your grandchildren and all future generations deserve the results.

What are the results?

There is anarchy, a total disrespect for our laws and our sovereignty. We have no borders, certainly no national language (press 1 for English) and no national leaders willing to enforce the laws they have sworn to up hold.

Should our inept national leaders decide to implement the so called “compromise” that hasbeen discussed, those inept leaders will extend a form of citizenship to law breakers. You will hear statements in the current debate that these illegals are not law breakers, they’re simply people looking for a better life. Well, both statements are true but if a legal status is extended, the result will be horrific. Think not? Well, do the math.

Estimates tell us that there are 11,000,000 to 20,000,000 illegals currently in the country. Few of these are here with their families.

If we compromise and say it is 15,000,000 and the Senate and the president have their way, these 15,000,000 will be bestowed a legal status, the immediate impact will be twofold. First they’ll be able to lay claim on the entire range of social services, forcing higher taxes (property, income and sales) to support. Second they’ll be able to bring their families into the country. Now we can multiply the 15,000,000 by as much as 5, adding 60,000,000 to the population. That 60,000,000 would be on the lower end of the economic scale and ultimately be able to VOTE.

Get the picture?

60,000,000 new citizens or legal residents, considering a current population of 300,000,000 means the new population would represent 16% to 15% of our population, a dramatic shift in the demographics of our country. If you consider that more than half of our current population pays exactly no incomes tax, then in the future envisioned by the senate and silly-assed liberals, something like 65% of the population will pay no taxes and be able to vote. Guess how our professional politicians get elected. Here’s a hint, they promise the masses something for nothing. Here’s another question. How to they pay for the promise? Here’s a hint, if you pay taxes then the politicians are promising your money away and will be doing so on far more dramatic terms because they will have a larger, non-tax paying group to cater too.

Mad yet? Probably not. If you are, then what can be done?

Let me repeat. Call your legislatures. Call your representative. Call your senators. Call the Whitehouse.

For my money, what needs be done:

First:
Build a real fence on the southern border.

Second:
Actually enforce the law against both the illegals and the businesses that hire them

Third
One and two above are a start. I do realize that there is a need for foreign labor so we need a guest worker program. To do that correctly and in a manner that allows our laws to be enforced, we need to support the guest worker program with state of the art identification cards. Those cards would be issued not here but in countries where the workers (should) live. That includes many South American countries. Those cards would be issued by a US Government agency and be encoded with biometrics that identify the worker and possibly a GPS signal capability. Once a worker is qualified and issued a card that worker could then contact US employers via web-site that matched business needs to worker capabilities. Once the card is issued and an employer accepts the worker, then and only then can he come to the USA.

Fourth
Once the engagement between employer and worker is completed, the worker must leave. I believe the employer should fund transportation costs, something as simple as bus fare. If the ID card is GPS enabled then we'd know the location of the worker.

Fifth
Any illegal caught violating the law / rules would then lose all privileges of entry into the USA for all times.

What should be done if our government continues to fail us? Ultimately it is the citizens of the country who must be in control, after all our form of government is democratic and the people must speak and be heard.

How can we make them listen if they refuse?

A set of simple steps:
First
On January 1, submit a W-4 claiming 99 dependents. That will squeeze the nation's coffers since virtually no tax revenue will be collected.

Second
On January 1, cash in any and all government bonds, further squeezing the federal government.

Third
Cease any and all political contributions and when asked why, explain.

Fourth
On January 1, contact your mortgage company and get the paperwork you need to fill out that says you no longer want them to escrow for your property taxes. Then refuse to pay those property taxes – that will squeeze local governments just as we did with the federal government. It will takes years of action for the local government to do anything significant in the way of collection activity. The minute they take action pay the minimum necessary to get them off your back.

Fifth
On April 15th of the following year fill out the federal tax form that requests an automatic 4 month extension for your federal income taxes.


Sixth
On August 15th of that same year make your personal decision whether or not you’ll pay. My guess is that by that time the federal government will have gotten the message or the country would have imploded.

I’m not sure which is worse. An imploded national government or a country that has been handed over to an invading army, which is what is now taking place.

Summary
I believe our country is committing national suicide, for corporate greed and silly-assed liberal feel good notions. The next time someone explains to you that these people just want a better life, remember that they got here illegally and achieved employment by using falsified social security numbers and utilizing other falsified papers – so, extending a legal status to these people is extending a legal status to people who have already proven they have no respect for our laws.

The point is, we lose and lose big if you don’t do something. The “something” today is as difficult as making a couple of phone calls and making your voice heard. Later it gets much much worse.

Not a rant - just a good idea

The other day I needed to create a back up of a project that I've been working on. It is huge and I have been working on it for years so if it ever gets trashed I'd have a problem. when I tried to burn a CD I discovered that the result was unreadable, so I have a problem with the one high capacity media on my machine. This isn't a surprise as I have had this system for 5 or 6 years and it is wellpast it's prime. I still had to find a way to create the back up though because one thing is certain, if you think you need to back up something and don't then you'll soon regret it.

Here is what I did:
Identified the files I wanted to back up
Using winzip, zip up the files
Get on my Google gmail account and create yet another
Create an email from my old account to my new one
Attach the zipped file to the email and hit send

Now I have a redundant copy of those important file, 1 in my sent folder and 1 in my new in-box. Really works well, Google storing my files for me. Since they give you a little more than 2 gigabytes of space per account, I'm good for a while and have to find a new way to justify a new PC.

Article on illegal migrant workers

A few days ago our local Indianapolis paper published an article on the protests / rallies / marches conducted by illegal migrant workers. I fully agree with Representative Hostettler's opinion but was absolutely disgusted by Senator Lugar's opinion. A representative government like our own is incredibally frustrating when our elected officials refuse to enforce the laws they have passed. At least one Indiana representative, Hosettler[^], has it right. The content of the article quoted Lugar and prompted me to write to the editor and express my opinion[^]

The 14th Amendment and more on the invasion of illegals

As pointed out by MG below, the 14th Amendment makes any child born in the USA a citizen.

In the current debate, these children are called, “anchor babies”. The idea being that “you” won’t want to deport the parents (here illegally) if their children, born here, are citizens.

The question becomes, what do you do where “you” is the United States of America.

First there needs to be an effective wall built on the Southern border.

Yes, it can be done – Google up some research on Israel to see how effective this can be.

Second, as MG stated there needs to be serious penalties for any business that employs an illegal, migrant worker. Maybe a hand slap the first time, a stiff penalty the second, and forfeiture of their business and jail time the third. The effect will be to dry up the opportunities for work. This should be followed by a voluntary migration back to thee home of origin for these people.

Third, create special migrant centers in Mexico and other countries. These migrant centers would issue biometric (possibly GPS enabled) migrant worker identification cards. Once issued to a potential migrant worker, the worker can then contact employers through a web-based system that is accessed in the migrant worker center. If they connect with an employer then their migrant worker identification card would be authorized to allow entry into the United States.

If the now legal migrant worker wants to become a citizen and his background permits, he can apply for citizenship through a formalized process.

Forget about and fight against the garbage about creating paths to citizenship for the illegals already here. Allowing that is the next step into turning our country into something you don’t want for your grandchildren.

Along those lines, at today’s march of illegals in Dallas the news captured a leader of LULAC as he exhorted the crowd with, “this is our land, we’re not going anywhere”. This “our land” exhortation is (as I’ve been told) the battle cry of Hispanics who are working to create a Hispanic homeland in our country. Read up on LULAC, LaRaza, the Reconquistador movement, MEChA (Aztlan) – think long and hard, then make your voice heard.

Dig into Lulac[^]
and read between the lines.

Dig into LaRaza[^] and read between the lines.

Dig around on some of the links provided by MEChA[^]

If you don't read anything else, dig into Aztlan[^] - this is what is at risk, a Hispanic homeland carved out of your country, helped along by cowardly poiticians.

What can you do about the border and immigration?

I am sick and damned tired of the politicians who refuse to address the problems they have created by ignoring the danger of unprotected borders. Repeat, THEY HAVE CREATED THE PROBLEM.

Those same buffoons have now converted the problem they have created such that it is now an immigration problem. So let me have the luxury of repeating myself, I AM SICK AND DAMNED TIRED OF THE POLITICIANS WHO REFUSE TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEMS THEY HAVE CREATED BY IGNORING THE DANGER.

Sorry President Bush, as much as I respect you, it is not a problem with our immigration laws it is a problem with you and your partners on both sides of the political spectrum who refuse to do their constitutional duty and protect our borders.

The most recent farce was the idiotic dance in the Senate. If you didn’t watch it or pay attention to what went on, a couple of bills introduced in the Senate focused on creating a path to citizenship for people who are here illegally.

That would have been the equivalent of rewarding the guy who tried to jack your car by forcing you to buy him a new one. Just how stupid are these people?

Those Senate bills were roundly defeated, the most egregious being the McCain / Kennedy piece of garbage. That was soundly rejected.

Then there was the farce created by Frist / Reid. This was a “compromise”. This particular compromise INCORPORATED AND EXPANDED the McCain / Kennedy bill – the same bill that was defeated earlier that same day.

The House of Representatives has it right. They have a bill that focuses on border security. Of course the senate can’t stomach it, because it makes sense.

What can you do? Don’t say nothing because it is time to wrest back your country. Consider the following:

Put them on notice. I mean you should let Washington DC (the President, your Representative in the House, your two senators) know how you feel. Call and email each and all.

When you call and / or email, tell them:
If they don’t do anything about border security, and I mean build a real wall like Israel has done, that you’ll mail in your voter registration card and sit out the next election.

Make sure they know you’re a voting Republican or Democrat.

Let them know your household income (you’ll see why below).

Tell them you’ll cash in any US savings bonds you happen to own, this will put a drain on the Treasury if there are any significant number of bond holders out there.

Tell them that on 1-1-2007 you’ll submit a W4 form claiming 99 (or the maximum amount) of dependents so the government will have a limited flow of income during the year.

And if we still don’t get something done, continue not voting and continue the W4 activity years into the future. No, it won’t hurt our country because we’ll have lost it anyway.

Still not completed

Geez, this is taking forever. We've now nearly completed our painting project, but not totally.

• The office is painted and Margie did a superlative job. Instead of "just" a color Margie did sponging for the walls. What "we" did was create a Florida kinda room with a coral color. The way it was done was: 1) wash the walls and ceiling with a solution of TSP, 2) rinse the walls and ceiling with clean water, 3) prime the ceiling with Killz [a kick butt primer that hides everything], 4) prime the walls with a tintable primer that contained pigment that matched the first coat of color, 5) paint the ceiling with an off-white called "Honey Bloom", 6) paint the walls with an undercoat of Blaze Red, 7) apply a Coral color, using sea sponges instead of a brush or typical roller. The result is really slick and makes it look like high dollar wall paper.
• Three walls of the living area are painted a nifty green color. We went through the same drill on those walls: 1) wash, 2) rinse, tinted primer, 3) paint - but no sponging.
• The other wall in the living area is yellow, again the same drill. We carried the yellow color down the hallway. Unlike with the green, we did a special effects thing on the yellow. We mixed in some sparkling granite chips. The result on the yellow walls is a sparkling effect when the light hits it just right.
• The TV now sits inside one wall of the living area, in one of the green walls. It is really pretty, the 61" TV is framed in the green wall with a 3" wide frame, painted off white to match the ceiling.

All of this goes very nice with the bamboo floors.

This weekend we'll paint the kitchen. We're going to carry the yellow into the kitchen and get rid of that gawd-awful orange color I chose umpty-two years ago,

Next week we're having our remaining bathroom redone. This isn't as major an undertaking as the other bathroom was. Here we're going to install a stacked washer and dryer and use the bamboo flooring that remains instead of tile. This means our full size shower will be a half sized shower as the washer and dryer will go in that area. We'll install a new toilet, the black one just doesn't look right now that everything else in our home is brightly colored. Of course, this means more painting. We're going to try another sponging technique on this bath, using a glaze. It should be interesting.

Once the bath and kitchen are complete we're going to re-do the paint in the master bedroom. We aren't satisfied with the paint job the contractor did so we're going to re-paint it using the same color but use a technique called "dragging". That is a base coat of a high gloss (for color and slickness), with a top coat of the same color but maybe a slight variation. You put the top coat on over the base, then take a stiff bristled brush and drag it through the top coat creating lines in the covering. It will look something like a linen finish.

Once we finish that, I'm propping my feet up for a while.

Half finished

Okay it has been a while since I posted anything. Normally I'd be upset enough about something going on that I'd post a rant. Problem is, we're still upside down here with the latest bit of renovations we have going on. Actually this bit is done. The master bedroom is now big enough to call it a master bedroom. The cat, poor Moose - bless her kitty heart, walks around trying to figure out what has happened. A couple of months ago she watched a bathroom disappear, only to see it be replaced by a much bigger one. Then she watched the bedroom disappear only to see it be replaced by yet another, bigger room. She's still having trouble figuring out where the wwalk-in closet came from, I don't think she's noticed that the office has disappeared.

We still haven't put everything back in it's proper place. We have 3 bedrooms worth of "stuff" (actually an office and 2 bedrooms) scattered on the balcony (hope nothing blows off) and in our living room, hallway and dining area. It really is fun to have to stumble over "stuff". Oh yeah, the dust is great too. I never in my wildest imagination (and I have an active one) would I have thought that a little sanding could generate dust dunes, but for sure we'll get that taken care of as well.

I haven't posted any pictures from Christmas, much less the renovations, since one of the things that is scattered all over the house happens to be our personal, non-work PC. With luck we can get that set back up and I can go back to ranting about things I can't control. Or not. Now that we've done the back of the condo (bath, bedroom, walk-in) it has become apparent that we need to do something about painting the rest of the place and re-carpeting. We're toying with not doing carpet but going with a bamboo floor. Bamboo is interesting, more expensive than laminate flooring (imitation wood) and less expensive than wood. Since it is a renewable resource (bamboo grows fast) it doesn't come at a premium. So we still have a decision to make, wood v. carpet v. laminate v. bamboo.
Oh, did I say the bedroom is red?

Cripes - another renovation project

We had so much fun renovating our bathroom that we decided to do another project. This time we're deleting a bedroom. What we're doing is converting our 3 bedroom condo into a 2 bedroom. When we redid the bathroom we accidentially got rid of half of Margie's closet space. Now that is bad because she had to store a lot of her clothes in big plastic tubs.

The 3 bedrooms were fairly small as you may remember if you ever visited. That really didn't matter much since one of the three was used as my office and the other just a junk room. The change we're making combines half of one of the bedrooms with the master bedroom, making it an actual master bedroom. Doing this makes the master bedroom and the rennovated bathroom a master suite. The resulting bedroom is roughly 23 feet by 18 feet, big enough for a party.

The remaining half of the bedroom (the other half is being added to the master) is being converted into a walk-in closet - giving Margie back her lost closet space. I get some too and really need it because in between the two combined rooms was a small closet that was a part of the original master bedroom(on the master bedroom side) and another small closet in the bedroom beng used as an office. The walk-in closet will be 16 feet by 8 feet. We'll outfit it with a closet system, We discovered that you can find some nifty such systems, custom designed, on line.

The other thing we're doing is embedding our large screen TV into the living room wall. The back of the living room is a closet so we'll lose half of that to house the TV. That is okay because, well, we're adding a walk-in as discussed above. The result will be more living room space.

Of course the Christmas Tree is still up and we have "stuff" sitting everywhere and everything is a complete mess at the moment. Once it is complete we'll have a very comfortable home, albeit shy one bedroom.