Liberty Mule

Here is the original 'Mule'. A camping trailer I built in my backyard and unsuccessfully tried to market under the DBA, 'Liberty Mule'. This photo was shot on a test run in Sun Valley, Idaho.

My Great Grandma Houtz

I took this photograph in 1973 in Miami, Florida where I believe she spent her whole life. I have no idea how old she was at the time. I didn't really know her but what I remember is that she was a small, rugged and perky old woman. She was working in her garden when I took this photo; she was fun to be around. I was 23 at the time.

North Beach - San Francisco, California

It was about 2:00 a.m. and I was trying to photograph the couple sitting on the steps off to the right. As soon as I pointed the camera at them they got up and actually ran away.

The Broccoli of Logic

Makes me want to gag.

Mandated health insurance is now being compared to auto insurance. If you drive you must have auto insurance. I agree with that. Good idea. The flawed logic that follows is that if you are alive you must have health insurance.

This logic, 'spoon fed' to the masses by the Obama administration and propagated by the mainstream media, is like being forced to eat broccoli, or lima beans or in my case, asparagus. What's next, mandated life insurance? Burial insurance?

Many people don't even own a vehicle. Some who do never intend to drive them. Can you imagine the outrage of New Yorkers who walk, bicycle or use mass transit if they were forced to purchase auto insurance via a government mandate?!

Ironically, if you do own a vehicle and drive, your mandated auto insurance covers medical expenses for at the very least, someone you hurt in an accident (you can choose to exclude yourself).

The solid logic that follows the above is that not everyone needs or wants health insurance.

Here's a very enlightening video from Reason TV illustrating how some people, by their own free will, choose to spend their hard earned money on other 'stuff:'



- Larry

The Ignoramuses Rule

The airport serves about 20 people a day, and the only flights are to Washington, D.C. Dozens, perhaps hundreds of news outlets covered this story of waste over the last several months, after the airport snagged an additional $800,000 in stimulus funds to pave a backup runway.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) proposed an amendment to stop the insanity. He sums the situation up (house floor video) tidily and bleakly. "This is something we need to stop. If we can't stop it, we can't stop anything."

The bill was DEFEATED!



- From Reason.com

I'm Being Tortured by Stories of Torture!

What's the big deal?

Here's a list of the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques as reported by ABC news:

• The Attention Grab torture.
• The Attention slap torture.
• The belly slap torture.
• The Long time sanding torture.
• The cold cell torture.
• The water boarding torture.

So far I've been lucky, I’ve never been captured by anyone for any reason and yet have endured much more torture than that which is listed above.

The following is a list of tortures I have endured:

• The silent torture (coupled with the I don’t hear you torture).
• The won’t shut up torture.
• The wash your own clothes torture (coupled with the make your own bed torture).
• The "don’t touch me!" (cold shoulder) torture.
• The "it wasn’t me" torture, and,
• The absolute mind breaking, over the line, demonic torture, delivered by hand picked, hardened teen-aged torturers, the 'I know more than you do' torture.

I have to admit, I’ve never been water boarded but apparently there must be some appeal or amusement involved with the process as two C.I.A. prisoners took the ride 266 times before they decided to 'open up' to their interrogators.

- Larry

'Rub-on Viagra'

Finally, the big pharmas are making some sense.

'Naked' Salad

Now before anyone gets upset, it’s only carefully placed food and it’s as risque as you’ll ever see on this blog.

Be careful how you word your reply the next time your waitress asks you what dressing you prefer on your salad. Here's what I was given when I replied with the single word, "naked."

No one at the table was upset or embarrassed. Perhaps because there were no women seated.

Anyway, it was delicious and matched the centerpiece, an ice sculpture of the Venus de Milo.

All were amused except Robert. He was more than amused. He carefully put his salad in a Styrofoam container and took it home with him. When I asked him why he replied, “It doesn’t come with any warnings about headaches, high blood pressure, dizziness or four hour erections.” ;-)

- From a small café in the art district of Santa Fe, New Mexico

Idiot Wind...

...blowing across your teeth every time you speak.

                                                                - Bob Dylan

Just after Obama's glorious victory somewhere I read an op-ed that seemed pretty logical. It stated that the best thing about America electing a black president was that race could no longer be used as an issue. America elected a black man and that in itself was a ringing endorsement and a clear sign that America had finally come of age and shed her racism.

Then came comments from more foward thinking people who feared that the race card would be played everytime someone disagreed with Whitehouse policy. If you are critical of Obama and his ideas, policy, leadership or anything else it is only because he is black and nothing else and you are therefore, a racist.

Enter Jimmy Carter, the Sultan of Stupidity trumpeting his latest "Idiot Wind" and Maureen Dowd apparently inspired by voices being channeled through her cat.

I can't link you to Maureen Dowd. You need to Google her yourself and see if you can find a source that doesn't make you register with a left wing newspaper in order to view her words.

- Larry

P.S. - I just discovered a back door link to Maureen's op-ed. It's at the bottom of this article.

U.S. Government-Management Track Record

It seems we are hung up in arguing about the details of government health care which always leads to partisan accusations and fighting. That keeps us citizens divided. Without needing to read a health care bill or arguing about the cost and details, the following are legitimate reasons we shouldn’t want the government involved in managing health care:

• Social Security - Broke
• Medicare - Broke
• Vietnam War - Failed
• Discover Weapons of Mass Destruction - Failed
• Postal System - Broke
• Katrina Relief - Failure
• Border Security - Failure
• Energy Independence - Failure
• Financial oversight - Failed
• Fannie Mae - Failed
• Freddie Mac - Failed
• Congress - Corrupt
• Judicial Branch - Politicized
• White House - Corrupt
• Budget Management - Failure
• Immigration Policy - Failure
• Medicare Fraud - Out of Control
• Modernize Air Traffic Control - Failed
• Deficit Control - Failed
• U.S. Dollar - Falling
• Alternative Energy - Failed
• Nuclear Containment - Failed
• Mustang Ranch in Nevada - Failed ...these folks can't even manage a Whorehouse and sell booze and sex and make money!

~ Health Care? ~ Please just give us all a BREAK, Hello!!!?

Credit to my friend DSG

P.J. O’Rourke on the automobile (and other topics)...

A very enlightening video interview from the legend himself (15:37 min.).

- Via Drew Carey and Reason TV

A Haunting in Congress

If you've ever watched the TV series, A Haunting, on the Discovery channel, whether you believe the stories or not they will creep you out; send chills down your spine.

Today, shivers ran down my spine as I believe The United States Congress has been themselves, overcome by evil. And so I find myself creeped out again, big time.

Under the guise of enforcing House Rules, under the guise of reprimanding a man for breaking decorum, they officially condemned a man for speaking his mind.

In reaction, Dennis Miller stated that Congress has been infected with a severe case of "sickophantis assinintis." It's worse than that. I believe the consequences of this action are so far reaching that it may forever change the face of politics and further erode our freedoms in this country.

Congress, a group of men and women who are supposed to represent our population and who each and every one took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of The United States of America formally, officially and publicly rebuked a man for his right to exercise his freedom of speech!

He did not yell "fire!" in a crowded theater. He was not vulgar or vile and caused no harm to anyone. He was not publicly intoxicated. He did not incite a riot. He did not contribute to the delinquency of a minor. What he did may have been rude, he may have broken decorum in the strictest of minds but he broke no law and should not be punished.

In many people's mind he simply blurted out, in loud frustration, a two word truth; "You lie!"

He did not call the other members of Congress liars. He called one man a liar and immediately apologized to that man and that man accepted his apology. The demand that he apologize to all of Congress, and then be punished for his refusal to do so, is not only irrational but smacks on the wretched surface of stagnant and polluted waters.

It's time to drain the swamp.

- Larry

Gasping For Air

It was enthusiastically reported today that the recession is over, based in part because of a 2.7% surge in retail sales in August.

I bought some stuff I didn't need last month. Even I need to come up for air once in awhile.

But I'm going right back into my foxhole until Christmas. And then back in again, I'm guessing, until... next spring?

More Famous Quotes

"You know the one thing that's wrong with this country? Everyone gets a chance to have their fair say."

- Bill Clinton

"We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?"

- Lee Iacocca (chairman of the Chrysler corporation)

"Solutions are not the answer."

- Richard Nixon

And two from my top ten list:

"My main hope for myself is to be where I am."

-Woody Harrelson

"They misunderestimated me."

-George W. Bush

Right Wing Talk Shows

The following is a list of all of my objections concerning Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin, O'Rilley and all other "right wing" talk show hosts.








Followed by my rants against Maher, Franken, Maddow, Maloney, Olbermann and all other "left wing" talk show hosts.








;-)

- Davey Kilban

Women

I’ve been surrounded by them my entire life. As my father’s only son I had four sisters. I’ve been married twice, both times to women. Like my father, I had one son and four daughters. My mother was a woman as were all of my aunts and even my grandmothers and mother-in-laws.

When I was in grade school, during recess I used to chase them. Once I got in trouble for kissing one of them after a successful ‘catch.’ Thus, my first ever pang of guilt was felt because of a soon to be woman.

Oh, make no mistake; many of them are evil, all are annoying. Estrogen is kryptonite to any real man.

It’s said that behind every great man stands a women. What they don’t say is that behind every man’s fall, everyman’s most insane and stupid act stands a woman. Remember Delilah and Pandora’s Box?

Yet they are nice to touch and easy on the eyes. Adorable and loving; intelligent and strong. In the end they level the scale and are indispensable.

I’ve often toyed with the idea of ‘dropping out’ by becoming a mountain man. Then it hits me; I’ve got to find a mountain woman first. So far I’ve been unsuccessful.

- Larry

An after thought: I think it was a good idea, attributed to God, to leave the decisions and actions of 'war' to men.

Babies Who smoke Cigarettes

There’s a growing body of work that indicates a relationship between our health as adults and our early diet, and even our mother’s diet. This research shows for the first time that our early childhood diet may have a huge impact on our health as adults.

This research dovetails nicely with the previous studies which showed that:

• Babies who smoke cigarettes are more likely to develop lung cancer.
• Babies who do shots of tequila with their parents are more likely to become alcoholics.
• Babies who drive automobiles without wearing a seat belt are more likely to be involved in traffic accidents

Seriously, as a result of such direly needed research a ‘sin tax’ on soda and sugary foods has gained momentum in the press and in some political circles.

When I grew up, we ate doughnuts and candy and drank a lot of soda. Not diet soda because it hadn’t been invented yet. And we stuffed our pie holes with, well…pie; hot pie. And hot dogs and Twinkies (anything with the word ‘Hostess’ on it) and put plenty of sugar on our cereal which we covered with whole milk and sometimes even cream; real dairy cream.

When I look around me today I don’t see kids riding bicycles anymore. In fact the only people I see riding bicycles are middle aged men wearing brightly colored spandex and teenagers participating in X-games. Our kids are all speeding around on solar or micro-gasoline engine powered scooters or other such self propelled devices. Parents shuttle them 6 blocks down the road to their friends house (apparently the cut off for walking is 2 blocks) in SUVs and they throw tantrums if you restrict their time viewing TV/DVD or playing with their computer controlled ‘virtual word’ gaming devices. Apparently at some point in time, these tantrums became so serious it became necessary to install these devices in the head rests and ceilings of SUVs and install miniature wheels into the soles of their little shoes!

When I was a kid we played outside most of the day, even in the winter. We ran and jumped and pedaled our single geared bicycles up and down hills and played baseball in an empty lot or in the middle of the street with a real bat and ball. As a result, most all of us grew up ‘mean and lean.’

There is nothing wrong with downing a 44 oz. Mountain Dew on a hot summers day, eating a 1,200 calorie burger at Carl’s or sitting in a big over stuffed chair with a bowl of sugar coated Coco Puffs watching a great movie or spending some quality time playing with your Wii, especially if you can afford a big flat screen to watch it on.

Government taxation on anything we consume or choose to do in our spare time is like a speed trap. It’s an unnecessary intrusion (and even more so an annoyance) into our personal lives, unfair most of the time and is usually the brain child of some career politician or some power grubbing authority seeking a way to pay for another one of his or her hair brained, unnecessary and intrusive projects or policies.

If government insists that somewhere in our constitution it states it is their responsibility to look after the weight of our children then what they should do is offer an income tax credit to parents who submit with their tax return a certificate of education, provided by free enterprise, of the successful completion of a class on ‘Parenting; the Proper Nutrition and Exercise for Children and Adolescents.”

Now there’s an economic stimulus that would benefit everybody.

- Larry

God’s Gift to Me

When geologists and archeologists fan out and search the globe they don’t find electric generators, windmills, solar cells, batteries, electric wiring, transistors or integrated circuits anywhere.

What they do find is cellulous material which equates to wood, coal, volcanic and geothermic steam vents, dinosaur bones, tar pits, natural gas and oil and an occasional encounter with static electricity and lightning. All of which were formed and in place long before man was present here on our earth. Modern science has declared it so in books. So it must be fact.

Yes, God put all of these things in place long before he created the Garden of Eden because he knew Adam and Eve’s offspring would eventually need to consume all of these resources, in one way or another, in order to energize the mechanical devices they would invent to make their lives easier (after he tossed them out of the garden) and which would ultimately enable them to overdevelop out of control technologies that would, as planned, bring them back to him. God knew all there was to know about carbon, in all of its forms.

What the authors of the Bible (and subsequent historians) missed was that God had given Adam, in the Garden of Eden, a book of matches. God knew most of these natural resources which he had so cleverly provided would need to be consumed by fire.

So, God made certain to create and add an atmospheric buffer around the globe that was adequate enough to protect the ozone layer (which he originally set at 500’ above sea level) from the effects of burning these resources.

Earlier in the week God made a bunch of other miscalculations but managed to correct them all, to absolute perfection, on Saturday.

You may think I’m joking but I’m not; drill, mine, funnel, process, refine, concentrate and burn. The only way to exist in our God given environment is to consume it!

It is what it is and no form of governmental control or regulation is ever going to change it. Period.

- Larry

Note: If you are interested in exploring this issue in detailed and complex terms read this excellent (and lengthy) article titled, ‘The Socialism Implicit in the Social Cost of Carbon.’

As always... the key is in the illusion.

- Davey Kilban

More evidence of government ‘propaganda’ through The National Endowment for The Arts (NEA)

Leveraging federal dollars (holding back financing). This is the problem with marrying issue specific topics, like health care and energy, with any group that is assisted or funded by tax dollars; it increases the potential of taxpayer-funded propaganda. It is precisely the reason many wise State Governors refused to take money from the Federal stimulus package.

If you don't have time to read the article (it is lengthy) here is the bottom line:

The government gives you a grant for you to produce or assist you in the production of your artwork and then later comes in and threatens to stop funding you unless you produce artwork related specifically to subject matter of their choice.

Moon Dog

ABIGAIL MEETS THE FULL MOON

One of my early attempts at digital art.

- Larry

Now That It's Over, Uncle Jay Explains Recess

Almost exactly 2 years old but still applicable. I've posted it the last two years before the recess but it slipped my mind this year. Until now.



- Larry

Dennis Carl Wilson

On the evening of December 28, 1983 he dove off of the side of his yacht moored at Marina Del Rey and never resurfaced.

Divers found his body the next morning and seven days later he was buried at sea.

Dennis was the only real surfer in the band and as the drummer was rarely given the opportunity at lead vocals. He was their drummer and was 39 when he passed.

I shed a tear when he died and will remember him forever.

Treat your ears to Dennis' vocals.

- Larry

Halloween? Not!

I took this photo 12 years ago. Two of the girls are my daughters (the good looking ones) and the other two are their friends. They were experimenting with "beauty masks" and I pointed my camera at the mirror.

It worked. They are all now beautiful young women!

- Larry

New Element Added to Periodic Table

It’s official. The heaviest, and admittedly most inexplicable element yet known to science, Gv has been added to the Periodic Table.

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 sub-neutrons (estimate), 88 nano-neutrons, and 198 idio-neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of +/- 312.

These +/- 312 particles are held together by an also newly discovered force tagged as “moronTic” and are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles referred to as aPathetic indiv-entities.

Governmentium has no electrons and is therefore inert; yet can be detected because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. Even trace amounts of Governmentium can delay reactions that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to ‘forever’ to complete. Contact with Governmentium has been determined to be unavoidable, thus the initial alarm was sounded in the scientific community (these people are so smart) with the connection to the formula; time = money.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 to 6 years x infinity. Remarkably, it does not decay, but instead undergoes an oxymoronic process in which it decays and then replicates itself into a complex and ”chaotic” rotating cluster of nano and idio-neutrons.

Many scientists are deeply concerned. While concentrating on the integer in the equation, “chaotic,” they discovered the basic building block of Governmentium is in fact idio-neutrons or what is now commonly referred to in the scientific community as idiotrons.

Further distillation of idiotrons reveals an even more basic element, IDiot.

The fear is that the force of moronTic coupled with the element IDiot will infect humanity with an irreversible and perhaps fatal state of IDiotocrasy.

Should such an event happen, it would take you about 6 months to read this post.

- from the musings of my Uncle Lee and the scientific portion of the left side of my very small brain.

- Larry

I actually remember seeing this 49 years ago...

CREDIT TO: FAMILY SECURITY MATTERS - A MUST VISIT LINK!!

Life's gettin' pretty freakin' complicated...

Davey Kilban

Rock me momma like the wind and the rain...

I'm not sure why but this song reminds me of my friend, and trucker, Andy.

- Keep on truckin' - Larry

It can't be said any clearer than this...

This video needs to be posted on it's own. Pay particular attention to the end, the part about energy, automobiles, light bulbs and windows. Yes, it's a republican speaking but first and foremost an intelligent American. Regardless of who he is he's hit the nail on the head and this video should be passed around ad nauseum.



- Larry. Thanks to DSG for passing this on to me.

Some excellent health advise...

- Davey Kilban (the other Gary Larson).

"How Open-Minded Are You?"

Open-minded equates to stupidity.

An open mind is what you hear when criteria goes down the toilet. When someone says they are open-minded, they are waving the white flag, for there is no way a human being can defend a decision, if he forfeits the framework for making one.

Yet, university professors and the media tell us that being open-minded is good! But try it in the real world. Imagine being open-minded using power tools or pit bulls — it would only end in tears. Just ask my good friend Jim who only has one hand (he was born with two) and Michael Vick. Worse, being open-minded is a refusal to identify evil. That's because defining morality is seen as close-minded.

I think it's time we declare a war on open-mindedness. It is a costume of fake intelligence, a way to undermine all of us who make real decisions each day.

The next time someone tells you to be open-minded, hit them. If they get angry, simply tell them they're being narrow-minded. After all, they should be open to violence, especially if it allows you to grow as an individual. Then, take their wallet.

Credit: Greg Gutfeld

The Liberal Disease...

I find these two videos very disturbing. I have to wonder who is applauding in the first video as Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.) celebrates a murdering tyrant. You may think the second video is an isolated incident. I don't, there's too many such videos out there on the web. Even if it is, my good buddy's Melanoma started out with just a few tiny, isolated cancerous cells.

Build your own custom video playlist at embedr.com

Don't forget, use the slider at the bottom of the window to change videos. Hover your mouse over the video for controls.

- Larry

Keep your self-righteous fingers off my processed food...

Don't try to pry me from my Häagen-Dazs dark chocolate ice cream. I bought it at Safeway, and it's sitting on my IKEA kitchen table.

Ah, yes, good old bureaucracy...

Quietly we go like sheep to slaughter.

Does anybody out there have any memory of the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, established during the Carter Administration?

We've spent several hundred billions of dollars in support of an agency ...the reason for which few people who read this can remember.

The 'Department of Energy' was instituted on 8-04-1977 TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.

Now 32 years later it has a budget of 26.4 billion dollars a year, 16 thousand federal employees and approximately 100,000 contract employees. And we’re still dependent on foreign oil.

Does anybody else out there see the main reason for this as being powerful lobbyists greasing the palms of career politicians?

We’ve currently turned over our entire banking system and a large segment of our automobile industry to our government and now we’re considering doing the same with health care.

What??

- Larry