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Well, we did it again. We went back to Bryson City, NC to go rafting again. This time we had a primo cabin, courtesy of Carolina Mountain Vacation Rentals, and we went rafting twice.

The first time was on Saturday. We did a guided raft trip down the Nantahala river. It was POURING down rain, do hard at times, that we could not see because of the water running down our faces. Next time, we’ll wear caps. The river was up a little bit, but still very similar to last year. Our guide this time wasn’t as fun as last year’s guide, but we still got to see the river again.

The second was on Monday. Pam did a guided raft trip again, and Dee and I did ducks. The river was up almost a foot over normal. We were told that the water was flowing at 1800 CFM (cubic feet per minute). Normal flow on the river is about 700 CFM. WOW! Rocks that we saw on Saturday were submerged on Monday.

The ride was freakin awesome! It was also alot of work. 8 or 9 miles of almost continuous paddling. I went for a swim twice. I also learned a couple of things. When you’re going towards a rock, hit it straight on, not sideways. The water will flip your duck if you hit it sideways, and you’re guaranteed to go for a swim. And it does not always fall to reason that if a raft can take a certain line, a duck can also.

Our guide, Reggie, said I was pretty good at paddling. I just need to remember the basics when things get hectic (like when you’re going through the last set of rapids on the Nantahala. He said I could have stabilized myself and kept from flipping. That’s where experience comes in. I’ll try to do better next time.

I’ll write more later and post some pics also.

or Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About My Opinion on Matters Pertaining to the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution

Well, it’s all over the news that the supreme court is hearing (going to hear?) a case regarding a 13 yr old girl strip searched in her school over “prescription strength ibuprofen”.

In my never to be humble opinion, this case should never have made it to the supreme court. Not, however, because it is without merit, but because it shouldn’t have become a federal case. There is NO WAY IN HELL that this lawsuit should have been granted an appeal, and it illustrates quite clearly what is happening to our society. You can get ANY legislation passed, and get a majority consensus to amend social policy and restrict our freedoms as long as you do it “for the children.” Don’t believe me? Just look at what’s happening in London and New York City regarding their “feel-good” regulations to help stem childhood obesity.

Searches of ANY KIND, by any government official, are a violation of one’s fourth amendment right to be secure in one’s person.

A little background may be in order. This is the text of the fourth amendment:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

* This doesn’t say “with the exception of children, while in school, because the school officials are idiots and blindly follow policy, and think that they have the ultimate control over the students.”
*This doesn’t say “unless there is a ‘war on drugs’ going on”
*This doesn’t say “unless a school has a ‘zero tolerance policy’ about drugs”
*This DOES say that we DO NOT have to submit to a search of our person if the requesting authority has not, or will not, or can not produce a valid search warrant. A search warrant backed by probable cause. Little orphan Annie saying “Jill has some pills” to a school administrator or teacher is NOT probable cause. Annie might be upset because Jill wouldn’t share the pills. Annie might be upset because she thinks Jill stole the pills from her. Annie might be upset because she’s an attention whore. Or, Annie might not be upset at all, but is jealous because Jill gets better grades than she does, or Jill stole Annie’s boyfriend for whatever reason.

Annie is NOT probable cause, and Annie is NOT a search warrant.

Additionally, if a child …(key word … CHILD …) is suspected of having some form of drug, be it aspirin, tylenol, motrin, or phenobarbitol, it is NOT within the school administrations authority to search that child. That is what parents are for. The school upon learning of the suspect possession, should have called Jill’s parents, and told them what they suspected was going on, and request that the parent(s) come to the school to deal with the matter. Their failure to do so was extremely negligent. Their efforts to act as law enforcement officers and conduct an illegal strip search, WITH OR WITHOUT the parents’ consent AUTOMATICALLY opened the school up to a HUMONGOUS lawsuit. If the parent(s) consented to the strip search, they should also be named as defendants in this lawsuit.

All of that notwithstanding, the supreme court should not have heard this case because it deals with a civil matter pursuant to the fourth amendment, and their dealings with this particular amendment should be, and are, criminal in nature. There is nothing indicating that there was ANY CRIMINAL ACTIVITY OCCURRING, merely a violation of the school’s idiotic zero tolerance policy. That is why law enforcement was not involved, and is why this case shouldn’t have made it to the supreme court.

Here’s what should have happened:

Annie tells teach that Jill has a pill. Teach tells the principal. Principal calls mommy/daddy dearest and tells them Jill’s a poppin. Mommy/daddy dearest tells principal to go suck an egg, she sprained her knee at karate last night and has that motrin for when the pain gets too bad. Mommy/daddy dearest additionally tells the principal to tell teach to tell Annie to get a life. Any other scenario IS CRIMINAL.

Given that the school decided to play SVU with Jill (aka Alice, as in “Go Ask Alice), and strip search her, all involved staff should have been IMMEDIATELY canned, and the school should pay for Alice’s shrink bill for the next 40 years, and any and all divorce attorneys she may retain because she is emotionally scarred for life for having to bare all for Mr. Cooper and Nurse Ratchet.

Don’t even get me started on drug testing, locker searches, fast food restaurants, or airports …

Most of you who know me know my view on taxes. For those who don’t, I’ll give you a brief primer. But, before I do so, I must comment on a comment our President made regarding making the tax code more fair.

President Obama wants to bring “fairness” back to the tax system. At least, that’s what he says. His idea of fairness and mine, however, are two completely different things. My idea of bringing fairness to the tax code is to go to a flat rate, and cut out all of the pet project deductions, loopholes, or whatever you want to call them. Yes, including the home mortgage deduction. It’s NO WONDER we have a financial crisis in this country. Congress, through the mortgage interest deduction, ENCOURAGES people to take on debt … LARGE amounts of debt. Then THEY (congress) also spend way more than THEY take in … and voila! We have a financial system on the verge of collapse. THEY then sit there and wonder how this all happened, and point to the evil bankers and investment brokers on Wall Street and say “It’s their fault” and THEY, along with the all-too-willing mainstream media, create a lynch-mob mentality. Then, THEY have the nerve to RAM an unprecedented spending bill through without even READING the damn thing, and say that the only way to fix the financial crisis, caused in part by overspending and overborrowing, is to SPEND MORE AND BORROW MORE!!!

HELLO!!!! MCFLY!!!!!! IS ANYBODY HOME?????? Is there anyone out there who thinks this plan makes sense? If so, PLEASE email me and tell me why you think so. I really want to hear from someone who is oblivious to economic reality.

Additionally. If there is anyone out there who pays more than $10,000 in income tax each year, and feels that they are not paying their fair share, let me know… I have some requests to send to you … for donations. You can pay some of my taxes. you can pay ALL of my taxes if you REALLY feel guilty about how well you are doing. My guess, however, is that although you feel that you aren’t paying enough in taxes, you WONT voluntarily give more to Uncle Sam, AND you WONT give as much to charity, on average, as your conservative economic equals who feel that they are overtaxed. Oh Wait … That was ALREADY shown to be true in a survey… Christian conservatives, on average, gave a greater percentage of their net income to charity than their liberal academic counterparts, when grouped by income level.

Nevertheless, I want to hear from you. If you feel you are STICKING IT to THE MAN (Uncle Sam) because you aren’t giving any more than the minimum confiscated … er … required … amount … send me an email. Tell me that you LAUGH in the face of capitalism, and will celebrate the day that there is no more free-market economy …

Now … about taxes. I think our tax code stinks. I think we pay waaaaayyyy too much in taxes. I also agree with the sentiment of the “Tea Parties” but I think they are largely ‘feel-good’ in nature, and will only succeed in helping the next Republican candidate launch a presidential bid. There’s talk of Newt Gingrich making a run. I bet if he does, he’ll choose Sarah Palin as his running mate. I won’t be a likely voter for that ticket.

Both parties are responsible for getting us in this mess. And I’m not just talking recent administrations. This “tax and spend” has been going on for a long time … way too long, if you ask me.

People keep talking about Reagan as the great idol of the Republican party … yes, he gave us tax cuts. Yes, he was good for our military. Yes, under him, gross revenues increased. and yes, under him, our budget deficit soared also. What he proved was that we could outspend the Soviets in an arms race, and he caused them to bankrupt themselves in the process. Reagan was not, however, a fiscal conservative. Look back about 20 years prior, and you’ll see the last true fiscal conservative of the Republican party … can’t guess? can’t remember? Not a clue? Does AuH2O ring a bell? Yes, folks, Barry Goldwater.

I can’t even say that Nixon was a true fiscal conservative, although I’ll stand by my assertion that he was one of our best presidents. He was a foreign policy genius. He opened up relations with China … (Hmmm, maybe I should rethink the “foreign policy genius” appellation.) His main failure was that he was a paranoid SOB, and forgot the first rule of paranoia … “If you think they’re out to get you, and you can’t trust anyone, then DON’T keep records”. But that’s a topic for another rant.

Why is it that we pay so much in taxes? We have personally seen a modest increase in our income the past couple of years, and each time, I’ve seen roughly 60 percent of it go to taxes. Now, I understand that there is not supposedly a 60 percent marginal tax bracket, but that’s what I see.

A small example here should illustrate my point. Not real figures, but proportionate. Suppose that we had a $2000 increase in income. When I looked at the taxes we owed, it went up $1200 from last year. If I do the math, it comes out to about 60 percent on that extra 2 grand. Maybe I’m looking at things wrong. So, why is it that we pay so much in taxes? OHHHHHHH that’s rightttt … we have a HUGE federal budget.

But, not to worry … our GREAT Orator President Obama is right on top of things … He asked his cabinet to pare 100 MILLION DOLLARS from the budget by closely examining their respective departments, and eliminating unnecessary expenses. Way to go B.O. to SHOW US you’re SERIOUS about this spending cut thingy! I’m going to guess that the only people who WONT see through this BLATANT PR MOVE are the mainstream media and the die-hard Obama disciples. For those who can’t do math, imagine you take home $37,000 a year. Your boss comes in and says that he needs to cut all of the salaries in order to keep the company open, and your pay will be cut by 1 dollar a year. That’s how significant this 100 million is in the overall scheme of things. I can sleep comfortably, knowing our fearless leader in on it …

Anyway, as I was looking around for a particular piece of info, I came across something interesting…
There was this one article on the web about Obama’s tax plan … his plan to make the tax system more fair … There was this guy who said he made 50K last year. and he paid a whopping $1900 in taxes. Part of the reason was that he had paid over 14K in mortgage interest. He said that the problem in this country wasn’t that we were over taxed. He said “housing costs are out of control”. YES HE DID!

Well, gee … if our house cost so much that the INTEREST was a third of our gross income, I’d probably be thinking that, also. This man is house poor, and needs to sell his house. Ohhhhh Waitttt!!! Real estate prices are down, ’cause demand is down, cause TOO MANY IDJITS bought WAAAAYYYYY more house than they could REALISTICALLY afford, and then cashed out any remaining equity (and then another 25%) to finance their vacation/new car/motor home/etc. so NOW they owe about 50% more than the damn thing is worth! …. BUT … I digress …

Another person said that the GOVERNMENT should control housing costs as follows:
-buy down everyone’s mortgage so that they have 10 percent equity.
-set the rate at 4%
-make all mortgages fixed
AND THEY WERE SERIOUS!

Our tax and spend policies have not only succeeded in bankrupting our future, they have created a moral bankruptcy where people are enslaved to the entitlement mentality.

There used to be a stigma attached to welfare. There isn’t anymore. There used to be a stigma attached to alot of things. In the interest of political correctness, we have removed shame from society.

Some will maintain that since I get a check from the government every month, I am being hypocritical … but … I have and will continue to maintain, that I will gladly surrender my military retirement check if it means that we can DRASTICALLY pare down or eliminate all but the most necessary of welfare programs. When a single mom on welfare refers to her check as “my salary” then something is SERIOUSLY WRONG with our society.

Hold on to your stocks, folks. President Obama is going to speak today.

He’s probably going to say that we’re starting to see some hopeful signs in the economy, but that there is much work yet to be done.

That “much work” means more federal dollars need to be spent. “Much work” means that he doesn’t have all of his social(ist) programs in place, and congress needs to get their collective asses in gear and pass the bills already, to hell with reading them. Obama wants them, and that should be good enough for you and me. How dare we question his actions.

I noticed that Jay Leno STILL hasn’t made any Obama jokes… Lackey! I say!

We’ll see what the market does today, after his speech. Y’all come on back now…

This morning on the Today Show, they outed a few democrats who accepted campaign contributions from companies that received bailout money. Granted, they made the republicans look worse by showing a couple who had taken MUCH MORE than the democrats, but they mentioned democrats also. They let Barney Frank state that it would be a conflict of interest for him to take contributions from those companies.

Anyway, I wonder if the democrats mentioned, like Harry Reid, are responsible for opposing some of the socialist initiatives in the Obama budget that was talked about at the FAQ press conference. (see Socialism 101)

more on this later …

So our president and his Treasury secretary want to expand Federal powers. They want the ability to step in to large, non-financial businesses, renegotiate their contracts, restructure the organization, and liquidate “toxic” assets.

They want this power, they say, so that companies like AIG who are “too big to fail” won’t take taxpayer dollars and turn around and hand out millions in incentive bonuses.

What they “claim” they want to do is to step in when a company doesn’t pass their “risk assessment”, and perform the aforementioned steps. They have the recommendation for the go-ahead from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.

Ummmm … Is there anyone else out there who is concerned about this blatant power grab attempt by the executive branch? There is NO REASON on this earth why they need to have this power. After all, the things they want to do are things that COULD have been accomplished LAST YEAR, if they had kept their mitts out of things and let AIG file for chapter 11. YES, FOLKS, the good people in DC, who declared last year that allowing AIG to file for bankruptcy protection under chapter 11 would cause the entire world financial system to collapse NOW want to perform the same tasks that AIG management could have done WITHOUT sucking up 200 BILLION (with a B) taxpayer dollars.

Yes, under chapter 11, they could have liquidated bad assets, renegotiated contracts, and restructured the organization to streamline its operation. The short term financial pain would have been greater, I’m sure, but we would likely be recovering NOW and not listening to the president try and ram a conversion to a more socialist state down our throats in the name of “rescuing the economy”.

Kinda gives a new (and very frightening) meaning to the phrase “We’re from the government, and we’re here to help.”

AKA, OBAMA POLICY FAQ.

Watching the Presidential press conference tonight, I was reminded of the FAQ section of many of the websites out there. You know, you’ve seen them … They are those advertising bullets disguised as questions that people ask about the product or service …

Question: “Can I use Tide on my permanent press?” Answer: “Of course! Tide is your ONE SOURCE laundry detergent for everything from your unmentionables to your delicates.”

Question: “Can I use Tide in cold water?” Answer: “Of course! You can use Tide in hot, warm, or cold water, and it will clean just as effectively because of our super secret superior formulation”

He started off with a statement about what all he’s done to effect the recovery of the “deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression”

He then addressed the AIG fiasco, including appropriately controlled outrage (feigned, I’m sure)…

He then reiterated the importance of passing the budget as written, although he later said that he realizes that congress doesn’t just Xerox and sign the budget that he wrote, so that they all could go home …

When asked whether he would sign it without two key elements, he declined to answer the question… He provided an answer, but did not answer the question.

Remember these elements, folks, as you will soon notice a familiar theme in every instance where he gets in front of a camera …

1. health care reform to make entitlement programs more efficient … (remember Soylent Green)

b. reduce deficit by half by the end of his first term (he can do this by bringing about 100,000 troops home from iraq)

IV. cap in trade, which ushers in a new energy era, and prices pollution… (you can call it whatever you want, but it boils down to an energy tax. Come on, do you REALLY think that businesses that have high energy usage will not pass this pollution tax on to the consumer / end user? You do? I’ve got some swampland in Florida for you …)

D. invest in education … this is important to keep those 25 teachers and 15 police officers working through the remainder of his term. He likes to remind us that he kept those teachers and police officers employed with the 900 Billion dollar (Billion with a B) giveaway, aka the economic stimulus package, which we ALL KNOW is just a HUGE pork barrel.

>. invest in infrastructure … I honestly think he has no clue what this means, but like so many executives, he tosses it about because it SOUNDS COOL.

Then came the Q&A session. This was really the meat and potatoes of the FAQ session.

The question dealt with how to pare down the military budget, while maintaining the safety of our country and also of the troops, and without cutting VA programs. The president then reminded us that he is INCREASING funding for the VA (to show his support for the military), and still managed to find a spare 40 Billion with a B dollars by making the procurement process a bit more efficient. That 40 Billion with a B dollars might come in handy for either paying the AIG bonuses for next year, or for clearing up the Obama Cabinet’s tax issues. Either way, it goes back in to the federal coffers to be doled out when he needs to boost his popularity again…

Anne Compton … hard nosed whitehouse reporter, asked him about race and whether it has come up in any of the committee meetings or discussions that he has had with congress or his cabinet or heads of state, or if his first 64 days been relatively colorblind ….

Way to go Anne, nice hard hitting question to the president … was that question a plant to make sure that Obama talked about how very concerned he is about the state of the economy?

There was another softball question, this one about embryonic stem cell research…He mentioned how he wrestled with this issue but feels he’s doing the right thing by lifting the ban on embryonic stem cell research. He’s all about doing the right thing, you know.

He was asked about his pledge to bring peace to the middle east, and how likely is it now that the Palestinians don’t want a two state solution, and the Israeli prime minister insults Arabs … He gave a good answer without saying a damn thing, but managed to plug all of his taglines in his answer…

health care reform to make entitlement programs more efficient

reduce deficit by half by the end of his first term

cap in trade / new energy era / prices pollution

invest in education

invest in infrastructure

and said that just as we can have hope for a future of prosperity, we can have hope for a peaceful middle east …
That tells me that we will see NEITHER during his administration … Let me translate for you …
We have as much chance of having a prosperous future as we have chances for peace in the middle east. Remember, we are dealing with Orwellian terms here. Leftist politicos tend to prefer things that way.

Today, President Obama held a summit of sorts. A FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY summit. We (our government) are NOW going to “Pay as we go”. Isn’t that a bit like closing the barn door AFTER all the livestock escapes? Congress just passed and the president himself just signed an 800 Billion dollar “economic stimulus package” that reads more like 800 Billion dollars in pet pork projects. And NOW the president wants to get serious about controlling spending.

You can’t make this stuff up.

So, the bailouts are expanding …. Now the financial crisis has spilt over into the mortgage world … and John Q. Deadbeat is in Congressional sights …. They have put us all on notice that no good deed shall go unpunished …. and no irresponsibility shall go unrewarded…

Add to that the fact that some are advocating armed resistance should the occupants of a foreclosed property be evicted … And so the battle shall begin.

I heard some people talking on the local talk radio show the other morning … Way to go guys, to get the points out that we Kentuckians who are conservative and gun owners: a) believe that there is a new world order type conspiracy, and that the federal bureaucracy is building concentration camps for us non-compliant types … and b) people will be running “naked in the streets” …. (He ACTUALLY said that on a talk radio show) …

Anyone who knows me knows that I FIRMLY believe that the Second Amendment is there to ensure all the others, but COME ON GUYS … don’t make all of us pro-gun people look like the stereotypical tinfoil hat gun nut …

I can’t resist writing this brief post. Both the NBC Today Show crew AND the president are making the Republicans into the bad guys, the REASON this bill is not going through …. That their opposition is keeping his stimulus package from passing both the house and the senate …

Ummm Matt and crew, and Mr President… Last time I heard, the Democrats held a significant majority in BOTH houses. Don’t say that the MINORITY is the reason the package isn’t passing.

Let it be known, here and now. Anyone of my representatives who votes FOR any stimulus package will NOT be getting my vote.

It just appalls me that the discussion has turned from “should government be involved” to “how much can we spend?”.