Bumper Sticker Fun

"Democracy is being allowed to vote for the candidate you dislike least." ~ Robert Byrne

Today we've decided to post something that made us laugh.

Bumper Stickers

We Would Like To See

The proctologist called...he found your head.

Everyone has a photographic memory...some just don't have any film.

Your ridiculous little opinion has been noted.

I used to have a handle on life, but it broke off.

Some people just don't know how to drive. I call these people 'Everybody But Me'.

Don't like my driving? Then quit watching me.

If you can read this, I can slam on my brakes and sue you.

Some people are only alive because it is illegal to shoot them.

Try not to let your mind wander. It is too small and fragile to be out by itself.

Let's Give Our Politicians the Finger

By now most Olympics fans have heard the news of the American mens' 4x100-meter freestyle relay gold-medal swim. The French team was highly favored and Alain Bernard, French team member, even said before the relay, "The Americans? We're going to smash them. That's what we came here for."

With 50 meters to go, Jason Lezak, anchor of the American relay team, was at least a half body length behind Alain Bernard. At that point in the race, not even the commentators thought that America would win a gold medal. It seemed impossible that one Olympic swimmer could swim that much faster than another Olympic swimmer in such a short time. But the impossible became the reality as American Jason Lezak touched the wall before Frenchman Alain Bernard.

Commenting on the victory, Amaury Leveaux, one of the French swimmers stated, "a fingertip did the victory. It is nothing."

Leveaux probably wants to believe that, but the truth is that it was everything in that race. A fingertip became a gold medal -- four gold medals to be precise.

At voting time, we often hear people say that they don't vote because their vote won't make a difference. Truthfully, those non-voting people always make a difference. If all Americans voted, many of our elections would have different endings. Interestingly, we often hear people talk smack about our elected officials or the direction this country is going, only to find out that their fingertips made the difference because they chose not to vote.

This election like all elections is important. A "fingertip" can make a difference. It's important that we all take part in the voting process and that we all make sure we are voting for the candidate who will fight for the sanctity of the U.S. Constitution. We do not want more politicians who will sell out the freedoms of the American people or who do not think that the United States of America is the greatest place on earth to live. So please take your fingertip to the voting polls and let it make the difference.

Seventy Times Seven

"A spirit of forgiveness and an attitude of love and compassion toward those who may have wronged us is of the very essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ." - Gordon B. Hinckley

To forgive is a divine attribute. It is to pardon or excuse someone from blame for an offense or misdeed. The scriptures refer to forgiveness in two ways. The Lord commands us to repent of our sins and seek His forgiveness. He also commands us to forgive those who offend or hurt us.

Besides seeking forgiveness from our Father in Heaven, there are two other types of forgiveness; the first is to forgive others and the second is to forgive ourselves.

To forgive others doesn't mean that we are saying that it's all right that someone hurt us. It just means that we aren't going to be consumed by the perceived injustice. We will learn from the experience and, in the future, will be kinder to others because we know what it's like to have someone be unkind to us.

"Forgiveness is freeing up and putting to better use the energy once consumed by holding grudges, harboring resentments, and nursing unhealed wounds. It is rediscovering the strengths we always had and relocating our limitless capacity to understand and accept other people and ourselves." -Sidney and Suzanne Simon-

"There is no peace in reflecting on the pain of old wounds." -Gordon B. Hinckley-

Forgiving ourselves can sometimes be harder than forgiving others. We can't believe that we did something so stupid, or behaved so badly, and wonder why we can't manage to learn a simple lesson and stop repeating bad choices.

"God's forgiveness is often nullified because the sinner does not forgive himself. What good does it do for God to blot our evil from His mind, if we continue to let it dominate our thinking by rerunning it in our own?" -Sterling W. Sill-

Peter asked Jesus how often he should forgive someone who sinned against him. Jesus reply was "seventy times seven." If we forgive others "seventy times seven," should we not do the same for ourselves?

A Harry Situation

We live in Nevada where we have the sheer joy of having Harry Reid for a U.S. Senator. (Wow! That doesn't sound nearly as sarcastic as it was meant.) We like to keep in touch with Harry by sending him emails letting him know what we think of his policies and ideas. We're just sure that if we quit writing Harry he would miss us. Today's blog is a letter that we sent last night to Harry. This letter is part of a series of emails we have sent him asking him to allow a vote on oil drilling. It is a response to a response he sent us. Harry's response is first; our response follows in blue capital letters.

Senator,

On June 26, 2008, you sent to me a reply to a letter I had written to you regarding the need for increased drilling in the United States. I am now going to respond to your letter. Please note that my replies are capitalized.

"Currently, there are 45.5 million acres of federal onshore lands that have been leased to oil and gas companies, yet 31 million of these acres are not producing." THEY ARE NOT PRODUCING BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO OIL. OBVIOUSLY, IT WOULD BE POOR BUSINESS FOR OIL COMPANIES TO PAY HIGH GOVERNMENT PRICES TO LEASE THE LAND, THEN PAY YEARLY RENTS TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ON THEIR ALREADY LEASED LAND, TO THEN NOT FULLY DRILL AND DEVELOP THAT LAND. SHAREHOLDERS WOULD BE UP IN ARMS. SO WHEN YOU SAY THAT 31 MILLION OF THOSE ACRES ARE NOT PRODUCING, YOU DON'T MEAN THAT THE NON-PRODUCTION IS BECAUSE OF LACK OF EFFORT ON THE OIL COMPANIES PART; YOU MEAN THAT THERE IS NO OIL ON THOSE 31 ACRES. JUST MORE REASON TO OPEN UP MORE SITES FOR DRILLING. (Note to blog readers: oil companies fully develop the land they lease. They often find after they pay the lease they won as highest bidder at government auction that not all of the land is oil producing.)

“Additionally there are 33 million acres leased in the outer continental shelf that are also not producing.” SEE MY ABOVE RESPONSE

“Opening up even more land to drilling would only reward big oil companies which have already amassed over $600 billion in profit since 2000 and provide little price relief to consumers.” WHAT DO YOU HAVE AGAINST COMPANIES MAKING A PROFIT? ISN'T THAT WHY PEOPLE START BUSINESSES? IF THAT'S SUCH A PROBLEM FOR YOU, WHY AREN'T YOU GOING AFTER PHARMACEUTICALS AND ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESSES THAT AMASS MUCH MORE PROFIT THAN OIL COMPANIES. THE PROFIT MARGIN FOR OIL COMPANIES IS AROUND SEVEN TO TEN PERCENT. PHARMACEUTICAL PROFIT MARGINS ARE IN THE TEENS; ENTERTAINMENT IS HIGHER THAN THAT. FURTHERMORE, THE U.S. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GETS A HUGE PORTION OF THE OIL PROFITS, SO I'M NOT BUYING INTO THE EVIL OIL COMPANY CONSPIRACY. (Note to blog readers: recently the news reported that oil companies made an 11 billion dollar profit for the last quarter. What they failed to tell you is that the U.S. Government made 32 billion dollars from oil for the quarter.)

“The United States consumes roughly 25 percent of the world's oil, but only has 3 percent of the world's oil reserves. Even if oil companies were permitted to explore and drill for oil and gas on any federal land they wish, America would still be dependent on foreign oil. And OPEC, oil companies, and oil speculators would still have the power to decide what price Americans pay at the pump.” AND YET, WE ARE DOING NOTHING TO EVEN TRY TO EASE OUR BURDEN. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CAN CONTROL ANY OF THE U.S. LAND. OWNERSHIP OF LAND BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BORDERS ON SOCIALISM; WITHHOLDING THE LAND FROM THE CITIZENS OF THE COUNTRY BORDERS ON COMMUNISM. RIGHT NOW ALL THE AMERICAN PEOPLE CAN SEE IS THE POLITICAL TUG-OF-WAR THAT YOU AND NANCY PELOSI ARE CURRENTLY DOING WITH THEM.

“For these reasons, I believe that major investment in efficiency and the domestic production of clean renewable energy and alternative fuels is both the best solution and the inevitable solution to our dependence on oil. Unfortunately, the oil companies have only invested negligible amounts in these solutions thus far.” BECAUSE THE EVIL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS IN CONTROL OF THE PEOPLES’ LAND.

SENATOR, YOUR SELFISH POLITICAL MOTIVES ARE HURTING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. AS OPPOSED TO YOU, I ACTUALLY WORK AND LIVE WITH REGULAR EVERY DAY AMERICANS AND I KNOW WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT YOU, ABOUT CONGRESS, AND ABOUT DRILLING. YOU NEED TO ALLOW A VOTE ON DRILLING AND YOU NEED TO RELEASE THE AMERICAN PEOPLES' LAND TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. IT'S NOT YOUR LAND AND IT'S NOT YOUR LIFE OR POCKETBOOK THAT'S BEING RUINED. YOU ARE HURTING ME, YOU ARE HURTING MY FAMILY, AND YOU ARE HURTING THIS COUNTRY. SIXTY-NINE PERCENT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE WAITING FOR YOU TO START DRILLING.

I AWAIT YOUR RESPONSE.

Politicians & Comedy

"Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke." ~ Will Rogers

Official Obama campaign car
Designed to match his campaign message!!

'A NEW DIRECTION'

You figure out what his message is...

Scary bridge segment: These are pictures of the Oresund bridge that connects Sweden and Denmark. It starts out as a bridge and then turns into a tunnel (or vice versa, depending on which way you're traveling). It's also fairly high and a little curvy. Way too many phobias involved with this one. But no worries--I doubt that we'll ever have to opportunity to travel on this bridge.
























Shout out to our "sister from another mother." Thanks for catching up on our blog and for adding your comments.

Shout out to the guy at Von's who pulled out a shopping cart from the shopping-cart train and gave it to us.

Founding America: A Timeline

1778 - In February, the French monarchy of Louis XVI signs a treaty of alliance with the United States.

Light-Hearted Fare

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." ~ Mark Twain

Trish Perry has written a very entertaining series of Christian romance books that we are recommending. They are laugh-out-loud funny, clean, and a quick, easy read. You should read "The Guy I'm Not Dating" first, then "Too Good to Be True", and "Beach Dreams" last.


An "anonymous" commenter asked who Mr. Charlap and Mr. Wegman are (Ms. Anonymous is just catching up with our blog entries from our trip). Charlap's is a frozen custard store in the Buffalo area of New York. It is owned by Nick Charlap. We went to Charlap's every evening while we were in Buffalo. When compared to the frozen custard in the east, frozen custard in the west is similar to ice milk.

Wegman's is a wonderful grocery store that not only sells groceries including beautiful produce, health and organic foods, etc., but it also sells many other commodities such as kitchenware and home goods and has a sandwich shop and a to-die-for bakery. Sandy loves this store. It is clean, the bathrooms are clean, and the folks who work there are friendly; however, as far as we know, Wegman's is only in New York. It is owned by Danny Wegman.

Sandy's daughter, who lives in the Buffalo area, often tells her that Nick, Danny, and Tim (from Tim Horton's), or if she's feeling more formal, Mr. Charlap, Mr. Wegman, and Mr. Horton want her (Sandy) to come play with them.

Scary bridge segment: Theses are pictures of the seven-mile bridge that goes to the Florida Keys. We'll just add the Florida Keys to our list of destinations we'll never visit.

Founding America: A Timeline

1777 - While one British army under General William Howe occupies Philadelphia, another under General John Burgoyne surrenders to American troops at Saratoga, New York. On November 15, the Continental Congress formally endorses the Articles of Confederation, which provide a system of national governance for the thirteen American States.

American Justice

When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it. ~Clarence Darrow

The expected Mexico uprising over the Texas death-row execution of convicted rapist & murderer, Jose Medellin, appears to have been nothing more than bombastic utterings by a few out-of-touch individuals. Mexicans have more urgent issues of concern as they watch skyrocketing crime rates and violence ravage their country. We will blog at another date with more information concerning the world court and its involvement in the United States. Please check out the link below for an article regarding the attitudes of the citizens of Mexico and the Medellin execution:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/5927961.html

Scary bridge segment:
This is the Talmadge Memorial Bridge in Savannah, Georgia. It may not look as ominous as some of the other bridges that we've posted pictures of; but we also suffer from a fear of heights, so this bridge fits the specifications for this segment of our blog.

Founding America: A Timeline

1776 - On January 10, Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense as an anonymous fifty-page pamphlet denouncing the British monarch and monarchy in general. Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations. In April, John Adams publishes Thoughts on Government. George Mason drafts Virginia's Declaration of Rights; it is published on June 12. On July 4, members of the Second Continental Congress approve the Declaration of Independence. On December 26, troops led by General George Washington are victorious at the Battle of Trenton, a turning point for American military enlistment and morale after earlier defeats in Long Island and Manhattan had made the American cause seem doomed. Emanuel Leutze's iconic painting, Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851), was inspired by the advance of the American forces over the Delaware River from Pennsylvania to New Jersey.