Cartoonist Sighting

Cartoonist Cal Grondahl at the Hill Aerospace Museum.

He also has coloring pages at the Dinosaur Museum.

Very interesting man to talk to.

Revolutionary War Ancestors

Captain Jonathan Drown

Sarah (Wheeler) Drown

This is cool.  Captain Jonothan Drown served in the Revolutionary War.  He's not my side of the family (mostly mine were British then) but Jared's side so this one is for my kids.  Capt. Drown would be ten generations back for them.  It's interesting to me to see that ten generations later we've lost most of what this man fought for and we're back to "revolutionary times".  Capt. Drown and his wife Sarah had ten children that I've been able to find so far.  Sarah's maiden was most likely Wheeler but I haven't found a Sarah Wheeler document to prove it.  Jonothan and Sarah Drown raised their children in Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts.

LA Times Cartoon

Maybe a little out of date but it made me laugh.

I do like Ron Paul.

Ron Paul speech in Virginia Feb 2012

Ron Paul Full Speech Springfield, VA Rally 2/28/12  http://youtu.be/gp4fy9txa0A

30 minutes long.  Ron Paul's platform.  If you want information on him, here it is straight from the source.

Maybe I need a blog category for political stuff...
     If you ask me how I define myself I don't think political stuff would come up anywhere near the top of the list.  I've been involved in school government and voted in almost every election from local to presidential since I was old enough to do so.  I have voted Democrat, Libertarian, Independent, and Republican at different times over the years and all it proved to me was that the party divisions don't make sense; my basic beliefs didn't change, the platforms of the candidates shifted.  I did serve in my local precinct as a Secretary/Treasurer but the job didn't seem to actually have any responsibilities.  The President was very hands-on and just did everything.  I guess I didn't mind very much but I didn't feel like that was the way it was intended to work either.
     I wasn't very interested in politics before Ron Paul in 2008.  I still don't think of myself as politically active.  Maybe my definition is off?  I just see something horribly wrong with the way our country is headed and I want it to change.  We've got most of the world ticked off at us and we just keep insisting we're better than everyone else as we set a terrible example of going to war and racking up debt.  We're the bully with the maxed out credit cards drunk on our own power.  It's just common sense... no one wants to be told what to do by someone they can't respect.  I'd like to see us be completely respectable again.

Even Obama supports Ron Paul

(he just doesn't know it yet)
lol

John Stossel's - Illegal Everything

Here is a link to The 42 minute video on YouTube .
Stossel made so many good points in this video.  I watched it early this morning and then went to feed my kids breakfast afterwards.  I was thinking about the movie so I let my kids demonstrate some of the ideas for me by giving them some freedom in their breakfast choices.  They all chose a small handful of chocolate chips but they also wanted a banana, a glass of milk, and either oatmeal or toast.  No one went for the fruit loops, the lemonade, the Ritz crackers, the eggs, the cheese, or the spinach.  So maybe I didn't prove anything but it was interesting to me to see the choices they made.
More Americans really need to understand the main point of choice and accountability.  If all your choices are taken away you are basically responsible for nothing in your life.  You can't be held accountable and you don't have to make the mental effort of deciding anything.  I see so many people being herded along in life and they don't even know it.  Human being are meant to be challenged by choices and problems.  Our brains are too complicated and our spirits too strong to want to just submit to what's "safe" and "easy" for us.  I appreciate a good warning as much as the next guy but I don't want to be unable to try something where I feel the risk is acceptable.
I'm a reasonable person (as far as I can tell) and most of the time I try to make reasonable decisions.  While I have been to Nevada I have never gambled.  I am old enough to drink but I choose not to.  I have never wanted to smoke and have turned down offers of various 'smokables' over the years.  The only drugs I have ever taken were prescription and I took fewer than suggested (I don't even take the full dose of Tylenol).  I have tried rock climbing and bungee jumping and I loved both but now that I have kids I don't do either of them.  I don't want the government saving me from myself by legislation.  Rules are necessary for society but when even the enforcers can't figure out the rules there is something horribly wrong with they system.  There aren't enough police in the world to keep us all from eating donuts and bacon for breakfast, unless we let them.

Even the AP can't find TRUE dirt on Ron Paul

So they made some up.

http://youtu.be/Vcn15iZSjQo

6 minutes.  Even the reporter admits he wants to have dirt on Ron Paul but can't find it.  He refutes the AP report and expresses disgust.

Why I can't vote for Romney

I'm only leaving this one up on my facebook short term because it's maybe a little like Romney bashing even though it is all taken from his own speeches.  Maybe some of it is out of context, maybe some of it needs some other evidence to back it up.  I don't know.  I just don't have enough time to go over all the times he has changed his mind and why.  I do know the only issue Ron Paul has changed his stance on that I am aware of is the death penalty.  He has explained why he no longer votes for it the way he did and why he changed his mind.  Not a flip-flop, something he decided after years of experience being in a position to see what was going on in the prison system.

Here's Romney demonstrating to me how he is working towards being our next President.  He's willing to say what needs to be said at the moment and people who don't do their homework will elect him.  It's what politicians do.  I don't think he's a bad person for it, I think he's working towards a goal.  I just wish he didn't have the 'Mormon' label attached to what he is doing.  Mormons (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) are taught the Constitution is inspired by God and that this country is established on divine principles that need to be upheld by its citizens or they will lose the blessings of freedom they have been given.  It's a major theme of The Book of Mormon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQwrB1vu74c
Mormons aren't perfect.  I'm certainly not.  I don't expect Romney to be.  However, I do expect some pretty high standards from someone who wants to lead this country.  I believe Romney has good personal standards, I know people who know him and from what they say he's a great guy, he just isn't showing it in his willingness to take a stand on issues even when the wind shifts and the flak comes his way.

Watch Judge Andrew Napolitano, you'll learn something every time

This short 4 minute video is from a few days ago.  It's this kind of stuff that makes me want Ron Paul to be elected and to actually serve a full term or two as president.  Our country is so messed up and the people in charge are trying to fix it by putting more people like themselves in charge.  Local levels have their hands tied by higher-ups until no one can use their own common sense anymore for fear of something landing on them from above.

http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/1378331826001/

Iowa Caucus

Yup.
I'm still supporting Ron Paul.

Politics

I love this one.
It's super short, 2 minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05qTrn-i7PY&feature=player_embedded
It's from The Onion.
Yeah.