Hey eveyone, be sure to get out and vote today. I went out this morning and voted alreay. I am glad I choose the paper balot, it was much faster than the touch screen. (At least there was no line for the paper voting, there was one about 10 deep for the touchscreen.) Ahhh, technology.
So, I don’t care if you a Democrat, Republican, Green, Libertarian, or some other party, do your part and vote.
I am really tired of hearing the presidential candidates saying how the housing market is ‘broken’. It is not broken, in fact, it is now working exactly like it should. It HAS been broken since about 96 or so, with many years of divergence between incomes and prices. Housing going up 20 to 50% a year with incomes going up 3% is broken. We don’t want and can’t afford a return to the old housing market. If you bought a home you can’t afford, I am sorry. Home ownership went from a 100 year historic 60% to 65%. Those extra 5% are what is the problem. Many people own homes now who shouldn’t. Let them be foreclosed and let market prices return to where they should be. It is a hard lesson to learn, but necessary.
Another thing, with all the credit markets, yeah it’s screwed up. You know why? Due to all the deregulation of the last 30 years, we lost the checks against leveraging, so we returned to the problem of the 1920’s. Borrowing money to invest it. Too much lending, not enough making things to create real weath, not the funny money that is our economy now.
So, now we are just entering a phase where market forces come back into play and the weak loose and the strong survive. Hey, I’m a liberal, but I believe in the free market with regulation.
Warning, More Politics Below!
With McCain, I keep hearing how he is ‘ready to lead’ and ‘tested.”
His arguments have no logical flow to me. Some examples:
Standing on a deck of an aircraft carrier waiting for someone else to make a decision makes you ready to make a decision right out of the gate. Hugh? What? So, since other people make decisions around me, I am more capable?
Getting shot down and captured and tortured in a POW camp makes you understand world politcs better. How? If you were a more competent pilot, you would of not gotten shot down. Yeah, it sucks you were a prisoner, but how does that make you a more competent leader? It means you are a survivor, with lots of will, not a leader.
McCain blindly supported and continues to support the war in Iraq. He never questioned or has admitted we invaded that country illegally and have no clear reason for being there or exit strategy. He says we can win with honor here. How? I don’t know what victory looks like. Our basis for invading was a pack of lies, so we can never achieve those goals. Remember Weapons of Mass Destruction. They were imaginary. So, what is our goal there? Saddam is dead. The country is in ruins. I’m sorry, the surge had nothing to do with less violence. There reason violence is down is the country is now segregated and we literally paid off a lot of insurgents. Many independent analysts argee these are the reasons why.
Put it all together, and I don’t know how McCain can claim he is better able to lead. I just don’t understand the logic.
I added a gallery of Heston Steam Meseum photos http://blog.cyberphreak.com/photographs/heston-steam-museum/
Enjoy!
Another trip down memory lane. Here are all the cars I have owned since I was 16. These are all images found on the Internet. The cars are in the order I owned them.
My first car. Underpowered with no options. It had an AM radio. Manual windows and so much rust you needed a tetanus shot to drive it. Mine was a darker shade of blue. It ran for about 3 or 4 years. Threw a rod through the oil pan creating a Batmanesque oil slick.
A much better car than the Granada. 400CID V8 and enough room in the back to lay a 4×8′ sheet of plywood and close the tailgate! Seating for 8. Drove this for 3 years? Transmission eventually died. Too expensive to repair. Mine was red as well.
The pimpmobile. White with a white leather interior. 425CID V8. The largest front wheel drive car ever made. Got about 9MPG in the city. Every option you can think of, including automatic headlights! Quietest and most comfortable car I have ever driven. Drove for several years, sold for a net profit!
A simple, reliable car that served me for many years. Good mileage overall. Eventually too many repairs I could not afford added up, including the brakes failing on the highway. Junked. Mine was the same red as this sample photo.
The hoopdie. Bought this from the Spunkmonkey while I was in college. The only car I have ever had stolen, then recovered a few blocks away. Started with a screwdriver for a while. Ended up with over 252,000 miles on it. Uneconomical to repair, junked. Mine was a darker shade of blue than this one.
Found on Road Dead says it all. Learned a lot about car repairs on this one. Drained the battery, transmission slipped, starter died, leaked gas. Didn’t need oil changes because it burned so much. Smelled of burnt oil all the time. Heater didn’t work, AC didn’t work. Mine was the same ‘silver’ as this stock photo. A fine example of Ford engineering. Junked.
A decent car, could use a little better power. It had the 3.0L instead of the 3.8L. Fully equipped and had a nice ride. A little big compared to more recent cars, but it was nice to drive. Ours was red as well. Traded in.
A nice beuty shot of our present car. Ours is red, like so many other cars I have owned. Good mileage, sporty ride. It could be a little larger and quieter, but a nice car overall. We bought it new and it is still under warranty.
So, there we have it. All the cars I have owned. 30 years seperates my first and present car. In the end, they are just pieces of steel, plastic, and rubber.