RowdyRebel

Also beware of copyright issues....pics downloaded from other sites may not be usable either without permission.

Stupid thing is, everyone seems to think he compared Obama to Hitler...which if you listen to the whole clip, he didn't. What he was saying was that the GOP leadership from the house and senate shouldn't have gone to play golf with Obama and Biden...it was ridiculous for them to do so given the state of affairs this country is in. In this political environment, the GOP and the Democrats are enemies....and for the top dogs in both parties to get together and try to make nice on the golf course would be like Hitler and Netanyahu getting together to play golf. He didn't say anything about who represented who....just that Obama & Biden playing golf with Boehner & Kasich didn't make much sense. Just because he used "Obama" and "Hitler" in the same sentence does NOT necessarily mean he inferred any similarity between the two.

If you're going to post a pic, at least post one people want to see...

Not all unions are created equal...and even today, there ARE benefits to union membership...in some cases. My dad was a union bricklayer until he screwed up his back, and my mom's dad was a union carpenter until his heart attack sent him into early retirement. In each of those cases, they worked for whatever contractors had work to be done. They might have worked for one contractor for 3 months until that job was completed...then work for the next contractor for 2 months...then the next one for 6 weeks...and the next one for 6 months. If they had to rely upon the contractors for their health insurance, etc., they would never see any "benefits" because they rarely worked for the same contractor long enough for even the health insurance to kick in. So, they got their insurance through the union. The union hall was also where they would go to see what contractors had jobs going requiring workers, and the contractors would go to the union hall to find qualified workers who already knew the job and didn't require training....job placement service, so to speak. My dad NEVER went on strike. He also never crossed a picket line. He had a family to feed, though, so if the union was planning to picket a job he was working, he'd show up early before the picket line formed and take his lunch in with him...and he'd work until the picketers went home. Grandma talked grandpa out of voting as the union bosses wanted him to. She went through all of the candidates...asking him who the union was telling him to vote for, and then going over that candidates positions on the issues, and grandpa came to realize that the union was asking him to vote for the candidates who did not even remotely reflect his own values. Now my other grandpa....dad's dad....he was a Teamster and went along with whatever the union wanted him to do. I really don't see the point of being in a union if I'm punching the same time clock for the same employer for 20-30 years. However, in the case of certain skilled trades, union membership has it's benefits....insurance, job placement, etc...

I'd be happy with a simple civics test on the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Make sure they have a good understanding of where we came from before we entrust them with determining where we're going... ...or at least make sure they've READ the founding documents for themselves once or twice. Not everyone is cut out for military service. I did the college thing, and then by the time I was seriously considering signing up, I couldn't afford the salary they were offering. Scored in the 99th percentile on the ASVAB, though...and as an Eagle Scout with a B.S. degree, would have started as an E4...but they refused to pay off my student loans with the job I wanted. They'd pay it off if I took a different job, but I wasn't going to take a job I didn't want JUST to have my student loans paid....and I couldn't afford to take the job I wanted at the salary they were offering AND keep all my student loans. My recruiter got an earful from his higher-ups wanting to know why I didn't get signed up...but that wasn't my problem. Funny thing was, 6 months later, they were really hurting for guys wanting to do the job I was going to take...probably would have paid twice the sign on bonus AND paid my student loans off....but by then I had bought a house and started putting down roots, so active duty was out of the question.

I paid less for the last pickup truck I bought. That was 5 years ago. Matter of fact, with the exception of gasoline, you could tally up every penny I've put into that old truck for maintenance and repairs....INCLUDING the purchase price...and STILL not even come close to the "sale" price on that brake chamber. So yeah, to say it is a bit outrageously priced is an understatement.

That's not a dirty truck....

Instructions? Real men don't need instructions. We're hard-wired to just know how to do stuff. You should've seen the look on my friend's new bride's face when I went over to help him assemble a book shelf. First thing I did was wad up the instructions and toss 'em toward the trash bin. I had the thing put together before she understood what they were talking about in the first step.

It's been said that if you are 25 and not a liberal, you have no heart...and if you are 35 and not a conservative, you have no brain. I'm proud to say I've never had a heart....and the older I get, the less tolerance I have for those who do.

dinner and a truck wash... They aren't too bad. I'll drag 'em anywhere and unload 'em where I need to...just use your head and don't send it up if it's leaning too hard. Main thing is to watch your center of gravity and make sure you keep it between the tires.

I wasn't sure WHAT had happened...first thought was the engine seized up right as the fuel ignited and blew the side out of the block or something like that. I sure was glad to see it was JUST a battery. I probably could have got by with just replacing the one that exploded...but after this happened, I don't trust the other two (same brand, bought the same day, from the same store) and just wanted them out of the truck. Great thing about where I live is the local Mack dealer has to drive past my house any time they go to one of their other locations....so my new batteries were waiting for me at home when I got there. Not sure if they made a special trip or if they made the drop en route to somewhere else....all I know is they take good care of me. I mean heck, if I had to get home and then run to town to pick 'em up, I would have been cutting it REAL close to closing time...and by the time I got back home to swap 'em out, it'd be dark. Seems just about every time I think I couldn't be happier with the local dealer, they do something like this (which makes my life significantly easier) and prove me wrong. Couldn't agree with ya more on that one....and after this, I think I'm going to rethink some of my bad habits while working on getting vehicles started around the house...never used to take the warnings on batteries too seriously, but I tell you what...battery acid ain't too pleasant on the skin. Wasn't much I could do on this job to avoid some mild contact with the leftover residue...no way in hell I'd want to have any real contact with the stuff.

So I stopped for fuel this morning, shut the truck off, and filled up just as I do once or twice every day I run the truck. After paying for the fuel, I turn the key to fire it back up and as soon as the starter engages, there was a loud explosion. It sounded like someone shot off a 10 gauge shotgun right under the cab. I released the key and removed it from the ignition before climbing out to investigate what went wrong. The liquid pouring out of my battery box was a pretty good clue what had happened. I got lucky...nothing MAJOR....only one battery self-destructed in a most spectacular fashion. So, I disconnected the one that blew up and ran the rest of the day on the remaining 2 batteries. Just got done swapping out all 3 for some brand new Mack batteries. The ones that were in there were bought 3/28/2010....Continental "X-Treme Duty" (XHD-31C) The white powder in the pics is baking soda...wanted to neutralize the acid. Spread quite a bit of it in the battery box, too.

I've been stocking up on incandescent bulbs...hope to have enough to trade for ammo when the shit hits the fan and I run out.

I found that amusing, too. All of the pundits were expecting the typical 2 point bump in the polls following any major speech given by a president. Not this one, though. I'm surprised the dems ain't got anyone stepping forward yet to try to take him out in the primaries before they just hand the white house back to the GOP. I'm watching the debate right now...and ANY of these clowns would be better than the fool currently in the White House.

Grandpa was a teamster, too. Die hard, did as he was told, democrat voting (because the union told him republicans were the devil) teamster. It was almost embarrassing listening to the man talk whenever politics came up. Luckily he died before he had to choose between voting for a black man (although he'd use the politically incorrect term beginning with the letter n) or a woman in the primaries... As for unions supporting Obama, I wrote a letter to the head of the UMWA questioning his endorsement of Obama after Obama expressed his intent to bankrupt the coal industry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdi4onAQBWQ How exactly is that GOOD for the UMWA member working in the coal mines? Yet, he received the UMWA endorsement from the union leaders. It was pretty amusing, though. Everywhere anyone had placed an Obama sticker at most of the coal mines I was going in and out of, it was either scratched out or an "N" was scribbled in front of his name to read "NObama"

I remember getting into an argument with a friend of a friend who was still hanging around smoking dope in a college town a few years back. He was under the impression that there were no jobs, despite the fact that I saw "help wanted" signs damn near everywhere I looked. Those jobs were beneath him, though, because he had a college degree in computer graphics or web design or some high-tech crap like that. I suggest he apply for jobs in that field then, to which he replied that he needs a laptop to work in that industry, and he doesn't have one. I told him to buy one....but he claimed he didn't have the money. When I suggested he get an available job, perhaps lay off the weed for a while, and save his money for a couple months he'd have the money to buy a laptop so that he could pursue a job in his field. He didn't think he should have to put forth that sort of effort....because America is supposed to be a free country. Yeah. Free as in freedom....LIBERTY. The freedom to PURSUE happiness, although there is no guarantee that you will find it.

First thing we learned in high school economics class was TINSTAAFL. There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. Somebody somewhere has to pick up the tab.

Friends don't let jackasses drink and drive.

Dontcha know? We're in this here predicament all because the millionaires and billionaires aren't paying their fair share of the taxes. Never mind the fact that millionaires and billionaires only make up 1% of all Americans and already pay damn near 50% of all revenues collected by the feds...THEY NEED TO PAY MORE!!!! I don't know about you, but I've never been hired by a poor person to do any job for them. When the government turns the rich into the poor, who's going to supply the jobs for regular people to fill?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_txOTG3wnfI

You see where Colt is threatening to leave the northeast due to the whole microstamping issue being pushed by the state they are currently in? http://articles.boston.com/2011-08-28/bostonglobe/29938833_1_gun-control-gun-manufacturing-casings

I'm saving up for a S&W Governor.

The ones that piss me off are the picketers who sit at non-union job sites protesting against people who are actually WORKING for a living. Guess what...if your union contractor didn't have to factor your inflated hours at your inflated wages into his bid, he might have been able to bid competitively enough to get that job. However, when he's paying you higher wages (which the union takes as your dues), you are taking home JUST AS MUCH as the guys who are out there working without the union. They are doing the job just as well as the union guys, in less time because if they don't produce, they can be fired without the long drawn out process required by the union. A union will NEVER be able to place a competitive bid on a job going against a non-union company....too much "waste, fraud, and abuse" built into union wages.

My parents had kids to get things done around the house they didn't feel like doing. Our first job? Changing the channel on the TV so dad didn't have to get up and walk across the room to do it himself (pre-remote control days). It's how I learned my numbers. Can't wait to have kids myself....put 'em to work and make 'em earn their keep.