Armchair Quarterbacks

The election is over. It has been for some time now. I watch the "news" on television, read up on events via the internet, and I'm certain that the election is, in fact, over. Yet for some reason or another the whines and moans from the left seem to be getting louder rather than softer. Seems to me that they had their chance, three and a half years of chances, but they lost. Plain and simple. Blame it on the voter turnout, blame it on the same sex marriage issue, blame it on the Red Sox winning the Pennant if you like, the fact of the matter is that they lost (and their candidate CONCEDED DEFEAT). When/if there is a Democratic candidate elected president you can bet I'll voice some concerns, most Republicans would, but any whining three or four months after the fact just seems....well...girly. Roll with the punches for crying out loud. When your favorite team loses the championship they don't whine about it for the rest of the off-season, they go out and sign some recruits, work a little harder in practice, find a quarterback that doesn't look like Herman Munster and prepare for the next game. I'd like to see more of that. Whether you're a right wing nut or a left wing hippie we're all Americans in the end, it's just not in our nature to take losing well. Just know this; a commentator never won a Superbowl for their team, a cheerleader never hit the game-winning home run, and a whiner never won an election.

Only When You're in a Hurry

We're living in the 21st century. A century full of technological advancements that boggle the mind. People from opposite ends of the world can talk over the internet instantly. We've visited the moon multiple times, and we're looking to visit Mars. Advancements in medicine have lengthened the average life expectancy by decades. That being said, I still manage to get behind someone on the road going 10 miles an hour. Motor vehicles have been around since the 20's, so it's not like driving is something new. It's not difficult either. You get in, start it, put it in gear, then stay under 100 mph and between the mailboxes while avoiding other traffic. It's just that simple. Yet, amazingly enough, there are still those who don't feel "comfortable" driving the speed limit. Here's a thought; if you don't feel comfortable going 40 in a 45, catch the bus. What strikes me as the greatest irony of all though is that you would think the longer you've been driving the faster you'd drive. Wrong. Why is it that a 16 year old can drive the speed limit after driving for 2 months, while the person who's been driving for 50 years needs to drive 30 on the highway? It's a beating, pure and simple. I reached boiling point this morning. I found myself driving to work with 10 minutes to spare. It takes roughly 2 minutes to make it from my house to my office. I have ample time to stop for breakfast, right? I pulled onto main street and made my way to the donut shop. It begins. I get behind two people (taking up both lanes) going 20 in a 45. I ignore this as best I can and roll into the drive through. 6 minutes later the Suburban in front of me finally receives every donut on the shelf and pulls out, only to stop a half car-length later, effectively blocking the drive through window. They're checking to make sure that they got all 34 dozen donut holes. My rage-O-meter begins to peg out. I finally make my order and hit the road, running very short on time. Then it happens. A Buick in one lane, the donut ravaging Suburban in the other, both driving 17 miles per hour. I start to see red, the few muscles I have begin to twitch, the vein in my forehead begins to throb, one hand slides to the horn, the other prepares to let fly with the bird of expression. It's 7:32, I'm officially late. I eye the turning lane, then the shoulder, contemplating a pass, then decide against it. Surely one of them must be turning soon....surely. Negative. Both drive all the way to my office and beyond. I pull in, collect myself, and open the door. Friends, neighbors, countrymen I emplore you, something must be done. There must be a way. Cars have governors to keep them from driving faster than 100 or so miles per hour, why not a low speed governor? Why not a shock collar that activates when you drop 10 miles below the speed limit? Ever watch the movie "Speed"? Come on people, if we pull together and stand united we can win the fight against the slowinization of America. Work with me here.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

Well it's that time again. Christmas. It seems to start earlier every year. I'm not a very patient person; slow traffic upsets me, slow computers upset me, and ten mile long slow checkout lines enrage me. There's at least 15 check-out lanes in most large stores, yet for some reason at least five of them are closed during the holidays. It doesn't make any sense....or does it? Think about it for a second. You're standing in line with a cart full of items, five minutes pass, then ten, then you see something that someone else is buying and you want that, or you remember someone else you have to shop for and you step out of line to do that. It all makes perfect business sense, the longer you're in line, the more you'll buy. You might say to yourself "I won't wait 20 minutes in any line, I'll shop somewhere else." Will you? Where? Every store in America is packed to the brim with people. They've got you by the preverbial cojones. I suppose it's all worth it though...I mean, if you don't stand in line to buy gifts, you wimp out and buy everyone underwear and socks with a nice card, what do you think you'll be getting next year? It's a vicious cycle, but in the end, when you're sitting next to the tree trying to assemble something (with instructions in French and Taiwanese only) you can be sure the 15 hours waiting in line weren't a complete waste of time. Then you have eleven months (or ten if the trend continues) to recouperate. Oh, and if you were planning on buying me underwear and socks for Christmas this year, save the money, I've got three pairs of both, that should last me another two or three years.

Beauty of Open Source

What are you surfing the web on right now? No, not the brand of PC, not the connection...the browser, what are you using? I'd lay 10-1 odds that you're running Microsoft Internet Explorer. 90% of all PC users run Internet Explorer. Everyone knows it...and hackers certainly know it. IE has been the target of every hacker under the sun. There have been options though; Netscape and Mozilla to name a couple. Now another option has been released...Firefox by Mozilla. It promises to rock the web browsing world. How? Well I'm glad you asked. First off, it's infinitely customizeable (I think that's a word). You can change the theme of your browser as you would a media player, there are multiple skins just waiting for download. You can add multiple extentions (such as the FoxyTunes utility, which allows you to control all of your media players from your browser, no more minimizing and maximizing to change the volume or song). Not to mention the fact that it runs faster than IE or Netscape. These are just a few examples, there are many that I haven't had the opportunity to delve into. So, lets break it down...limited hackability, infinite options, and faster speed...any questions? Good. Now, get out your wallet and be prepared to pay the monumental cost of $0.00. Thats right, it's free. All of it. The plug-ins, extentions, themes, all of it. So now you have no excuse, just go and get it. You'll be downloading the bare-bones version of Firefox, but you can add any of the goodies through Firefox's website or by searching the net. Since it's an Open Source program, there will be hundreds and hundreds of new add-ons flooding the web, so if you get bored with it, change it. Just go get it, you know you want to.

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Duh, what's an election?

In watching the news over the weekend I couldn't help but hear underhanded comments and excuses. The comments mostly centered around how different the "Red States" were. That everyone in the Red shopped at Wal-Mart, toted a firearm in one hand and a Bible in the other, and didn't understand the in's and out's of politics. There were even comments about the Blue states leaving the union. I'm amazed at the loads of media dung being unloaded on the nation. I live in Texas. I own several guns. I go to Church. I even shop at Wal-Mart. Amazingly enough I have the common sense to put on a coat when its cold, and take it off when it's warm. Contrary to popular [yankee] belief, not everyone living in the south is a "redneck", not everyone carrys a weapon, not everyone goes to Church, not everyone shops at.....ok, scratch that, everyone shops at Wal-Mart. It just makes sense, but that's another story. If the liberal media wants to believe that everyone in the south is out of touch, that everyone here disregards fact in favor of faith, that we're all inferior to the mighty blue states.....let them. The left speaks of faith as if it were a virus, yet it's that faith that built the foundation of our country. They attack the right to bear arms, but fervently defend the first amendment (An idiot with a podium and an audience is just as dangerous, if not more so, than and idiot with a firearm). They view our bargain shopping as low class, yet how could anyone pass up 500 Q-Tips for 99 cents? They couldn't. The saddest part of all of this is that they honestly believe all of these things...and they wonder why they lost this election? All the excuses amount to this...they lost, but they won't admit that they lost this election because their views are not that of the majority of America. Try as they might, they just couldn't convince the slow "rednecks" that their plan (or lack thereof) was better. To be honest, I don't want to worry about politics for another three years. It's just such a beating. I just want to go fishing, shoot my guns wildly in the air, drink moonshine, go to church, and go buy discount socks at Wal-Mart....is that too much to ask?

Then there was......

Nothing. Well, not necessarily nothing, but nothing of political importance to expound on (though the whines of the left are still very audible...that too will pass soon enough). It does seem that some of the main stream media outlets have softened on the political scene. Yesterday while listening to the news it actually sound like the reporter was happy Bush was re-elected...unfortunately that came a little too late. The media's very obvious left wing slant during the election has all but dashed the Red state's (Republican majority) confidence in them, all the brown nosing in the world can't change that. I'd like to think that this may cause the MSM to return to the middle of the road, and I believe that if we only had ABC/NBC/CBS to choose from (no internet, no CNN/FOXNEWS/MSNBC) they would return to the middle, only because America would require it. It's obvious now that conservatism isn't limited to the south, and the numbers are rising. Media is a business, and if they don't start selling what everyones buying they'll be out of business. At least we have several different media flavors to choose from (I still haven't decided whether that's good or bad, as the news should be un-biased either way), if you lean left, watch CNN. Like right? Fox News for you. Either way, we'll get to see it play out over the next four years. So the political scene is slowing down...what's left to rant about? NHL Lockout anyone? Have a great weekend--

A Nation Divided? Here's a map of counties that had a Bush vote majority. Have a look for yourself. 

BUSH WINS!

Well after a long (and often virulent) election, there is now a clear cut winner. Miraculously there will be no re-counts, no lawsuits, no "riots"...just a beautifully simple answer to the question that has had America on edge for months. During the early hours of the election coverage most of the major media outlet's began showing "Exit Polls" reflecting Kerry as the winner of all the swing states by no less than 5%. However, as the actual votes began to be tabulated the outcome was much different. The race was tight throughout the swing states, but President Bush came out ahead in Ohio, a lynch-pin swing state needed for his re-election. As of right now, Presidential hopeful John Kerry is starting his concession speech. Soon President Bush will make his acceptance speech. In a government who's senate and house are in Republican majority we can all expect to see much cooperation with the President, the benefits of which will be long reaching. A better outcome of this years election could not be imagined. Through the media bias, the negative campaigns, and hours of uncertainty America has it's President...and the victory couldn't be sweeter.

Liberal Extremists threaten to Leave Country if Bush Wins

As in 2000, some of the radical Liberals from Hollywood are threatening to leave the country if Bush is re-elected...and as in 2000 these people are blowing smoke. We aren't that lucky. Click the link for the full story from LGF.

Open Forum (Post at Will)

Here's an open forum for any random thoughts--

Vote (or don't complain about who wins)

Well today is November 2nd. I have my voter registration card, know which precinct I'm voting in, all I need to do now is go to the polls. I couldn't be happier that today is the end of the presidential race. If anyone else out there is like me, you've decided who you're voting for months before the actual election. So you have to sit for months listening to the other candidate talk about why he's better, what he'd do differently, and which rock star will join him on stage at a rally. It's a circus. I'm growing weary of the constant beating that the national media doles out. I'm a Republican, or Conservative, and anyone else associated with our party should be outraged at the level of media bias in this years election. Forged documents, phantom missing explosives, and amazingly enough, everyone saying that the race is a "dead heat". Does anyone wonder if it would actually be close if ABC/NBC/CNN/FOX would quit saying it was? I never noticed before I graduated, but almost all of the media directed at the youth has a liberal angle. The Mtv crowd will almost assuredly vote democratic. Why? Because for their whole lives they've depended on TV and movies. If an actor/entertainer is for Kerry, why shouldn't I be? This election has left me jaded to no end. All I can hope for is that there will be enough people with the common sense and moral stability to vote their conscience. If I've learned anything through my time studying politics it's this: Every polititian, no matter what seat they're running for, will stretch the truth. They'll promise you things that can't possibly happen, they'll all tell you that voting for them will lead your town/county/state/nation to the promised land. Our job, as Americans, is to vote for the PERSON more than the promises. That's why I'm voting Bush. Not because he says the economy will get better, not because he says education will get better, not even because he says that he'll track down any person or country looking to do our great Nation harm, but because I believe he's the better man. He speaks his heart, a rare attribute in polititians today. Good or bad, you'll know what he's thinking. You don't have to agree with everything he says, that's the beauty of living in America, but I ask that you don't vote Kerry just to vote against Bush. Think about it. Are we safer now than we were four years ago? I believe so. Is the economy on the rise? I believe so. So what else is there to question? Either way, everyone who's REGISTERED, everyone who's A LEGAL CITIZEN, everyone WHO UNDERSTANDS HOW TO USE THE BALLOT should vote...ONCE. So, that's my rant for the morning, let all two people who read it take it to heart. Tomorrow mornings post will be either a celebration, or a piece on how idiots continue to multiply in America. Have a great day...GO VOTE.

Inaugural Steaming Post

Well here is the first (and quite possibly the only) post at The Steaming Blog. The purpose, if any, of this blog is for the open discussion of all topics. Politics, sports....hmmm...and any other topics you can think of. I'll be posting some of my MANY opinions from time to time. If you don't agree with me, post it. If you agree with me, post it. If you disagree with me, post it, but be sure you have some sort of argument stating your case (i.e. don't just post "You suck", as that would not be an argument, it would be an opinion...albeit a solid one). So, for those of you who've accidently stumbled across this blog, I apoligize in advance. Maybe someone smarter than I will post something worthwhile here...heavy emphasis on the maybe. Enjoy the Steaming bLog.