My Take On The 2012 election

OK, here's my take on the 2012 election: I'm sure the election will be closer than I'd like and here are a couple reasons:

• The republicans are good at mobilizing their base with lies and fear and getting them to the polls -- the republicans even drive their riding lawn mowers to the polls to vote.
• Obama is half black and there are a lot of people who would rather vote for the devil than vote for a black man -- anyone who questions Obama's religion or calls him a socialist is really saying they wouldn't vote for a black man. These days, people would rather be labeled a dumb-ass than a racist.

Here are the reasons I think Obama will win:

• People saw how detrimental a right-wing government can be with the Bush administration driving up the deficit by starting 2 wars and cutting taxes.
• They saw how weak the conservatives can make the government, and tarnish our reputation with the international community.
• They saw how the conservatives can bring us to the brink of a 2nd depression.
• The republicans are tearing each other apart and the current front runner (Romney) was their third choice in the last election.
• Obama is half-black and there are a lot of people who want to vote for a black man, who wouldn't otherwise vote.

Don't be a dumb-ass -- vote for Obama in 2012.

A Business License To Sell At A Flea Market?

Did you know that you need a business license in SC to sell at a flea market? I didn't.

My girlfriend told me that she needed one, but I didn't think that applied to flea markets. Has that always been the case? Is it like that everywhere, or just SC?

Val was selling at the flea market this morning and agents from the SC bureau of flea market taxes was asking to see people's licenses. They had to either produce one, buy one on the spot for $50, or be fined $500. $50! To sell at a flea market! Sounds like extortion to me. I can't believe it. SC must be hard up for money. It's a good thing I wasn't there -- I would have given those people a piece of my mind (and I charge $50/hr for that with a $50 minimum).

That's got to be one of the worse taxes there is. I can see paying a tax on stuff you sell, or income, but not to be able to sell, especially at a flea market (in this economy). We were there both days last weekend and didn't sell a thing. So, not only would we be out the money it costs to reserve the table at the flea market but we'd be out the $50.

Other people who were selling at the flea market told Val that today was the first day in 6 months that they had seen the agents from the SC bureau of flea market taxes, so I guess we just had bad luck.

Another Redneck Tea Party

I just read that the red necks are planning another tea party for January 20th, the anniversary of Obama taking office. What do those idiots think they are protesting against? A radical agenda? What agenda would that be? Health care for all citizens instead of just the wealthy? Financial stability? They keep ignoring the fact that the Bush regime got us into the financial mess we're in by stuffing as much money into their pockets as they could while they were in office by letting the financial institutions do as they please and by starting two wars that Obama is stuck with.

I've been thinking for a long time that the republicans would love another depression because it would make their money go farther and drive wages down. It looks like my hunch was correct. And now they've got the red necks all stirred up.

I'm really embarrassed for them because it's pretty ridiculous to protest against the best president we've had in over 40 years who has done nothing but good for this country since he took office.

The red necks should really just stay at home, can something, and have a few beers.

Rush Limbaugh: The Face of the Republican Party

I recently heard that Rush Limbaugh, the Howard Stern of politics, was the face of the republican party. I guess that's the end of the republican party. They might as well rename it the redneck party.

Stephen Colbert summed it up best when he said, "If Republicans do what Rush Limbaugh says, they'll get the only vote that matters: his."

The GOP Senators Need to Shutup

GOP senators, including John McCain who said Obama is off to "a bad beginning," might want to keep their mouths shut.

After digging the huge hole we're in and spending about 600 billion dollars on the Iraq war, they should be quiet about the current administration's efforts to revive the economy, if they ever want to have a majority in congress again and, God forbid, another president in the White House.

Sure, Obama and the Democrats should reach across the aisle -- reach across and slap the GOP silly for getting us in this mess and spending billions on wars and tax cuts just so they can put more money in their pockets.

The nerve of those jerks...

Use Your Cruise Control!

I did a lot of driving on interstate highways during the Christmas and New Year's holidays this year and I just had to rant a little about the way people drive. I just don't understand why people can't maintain a constant speed. Do they not realize that it's important to maintain a constant rate of speed and stay the hell out of my way?

I suppose, ideally, everyone should drive at the speed limit on the interstate highways and maintain that speed, but since that isn't going to happen they should at least stay to the right unless they are passing someone, pass as quickly as they can, and then move back to the right as soon as they can. I am amazed by the number of people who will pull into the passing lane in front of me and then slow down! What are they thinking? Are they insane?

I like to set my cruise control so I don't have to try to maintain speed manually, but I'm constantly having to slow down for people who pull in front of me and then drive along slowly until they decide to get out of my way.

So, if you could, when you are driving on an interstate, for God's sake, decide how fast you would like to go, set your cruise control, and then only move to the left to pass someone who is driving slower than you are.

Thanks!
-Rick

Flock -- "The Browser For The Modern Web"

My brother was visiting recently and mentioned the Flock browser. I had installed it a long time ago but wasn't using it. When I first installed Flock, the only thing I remember that was different about it was that it had support for Flickr built into it. You could open a film strip across the top of the browser window that would display thumbnails of your contacts' recent photos etc. Kinda neat but I'd rather use the contacts window at the Flickr web site.

I installed the latest release of Flock to see how it had changed and was pleasantly surprised -- they've added a lot of features. You can configure a lot of your accounts for social networking sites like Facebook, Flickr and Twitter and display updates in a sidebar. You can configure your primary web-based email through Flock and it will alert you to new email, and Flock also has a built-in feed reader so you can subscribe to news feeds and display them in a sidebar.



I almost forgot Flock's blogging support. You can post to blogs from Flock's blog editor. Without logging into your blog. It seems like a quick way to post something from the browser.

So far it seems like Web pages might load a little slower then they do in Firefox, IE, or Google's new Chrome browser, but my primary computer is a little low on RAM. I want to either add some RAM to that computer or use another one that has a little more memory. I'll update this post when I've tried the browser a little longer and let you know what I find out about the speed, but if you're like me and you like to try out all of the new social networking sites, you should give Flock a try.

Later,
-R

Blogged with the Flock Browser