Gone Green

After many different directions, I have decided to take this blog green. In addition to the occasional other news I may pop off on, I will be offering green tips and tricks from myself and the web. I hope you enjoy.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Foreclosure pains

Its getting to the point now, where almost daily the news reports somebody doing something drastic when the repo man comes for their home. There have been reports of suicides, chaining, fights, desecration and more.

I know times are tough, and people are struggling, but killing yourself doesn't hurt the banks. And it leaves family and friends with the burden of having to bury you. Think of them before you kill yourself.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Why the Republicans will lose this election

Yes, I am calling it now. The republicans will and have already lost this election. They are not even trying anymore.

It began with Sarah Palin. I understand that it was political, to get a women in for VP pick. However in this case it was the wrong choice. She is and was mired in controversy in her home state of Alaska. This alone should have been reason enough not to pick her. But by picking her McCain destroyed his claims of inexperience on Obama. If something were to happen to McCain, Palin would become president. She is not experienced enough to handle that, and the American people know and understand this.

The next major failing is their inability to handle the racist remarks coming from their supporters at their rallys. McCain had the decency to look embarressed, but did nothing to stop the hecklers. As much as he proclaims himself to be decisive, he appears terribly undecisive when facing these dregs of humanity.

Their poll numbers are collapsing daily, and Obama really doesn't have to do anything except to not make a political, or personal gaffe. The republicans I believe know this, and are throwing the rest of the election. The main reason is the disaster the country is in. The shape of Amreica cannot be fixed in 4 years. Progress can be made, but not a complete and utter recovery. In 4 years the republicans will be back to rescue America, or that will be how they play it. The fickle Americans who love to debate over sports, cars and American Idol will believe the new stance, and we will have a Republican again for 4 or 8 years, to undo the mess of the Democrats. It will be the same type of campaign that allowed our current president to remain in power for 8 years.

Policies and politcs change with the wind, and the American peoples opinion goes with it. Who knows the shape we will be in come 2012, but one thing will be certain, there will be a Republican who is young, experienced and ready to attack Obama running a smooth and slick campaign.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Barack Obama and the Sheeping of America

Not since JFK have Americans fallen in love with a candidate so completely, and not since Bill Clinton has there been such a polished and articulate public speaker. Obama firmly has America under his sway, hanging on every word, every moment. Obamamites, as I like to call them, believe he is the messiah, can do no wrong, will fix every problem, and will lead America to a glowing new age. A few see him for what he is, and that is a politician.

Make no mistake, Obama is brilliant, articulate, well groomed, and very charismatic. However, and this is not a slam against him, he is a politician. This campaign has turned into a mudslinging campaign, finding it hard to seperate fact from fiction.

There are in my opinion, 3 types of Obama supporters.
Type 1: Obamamites. These are the ones who are turning this into a religious experience. He can do, and has done no wrong, is Jesus re-incarnated and will be the saviour of the country. Comments about Obama are responded to with accusastion of racism, or anti American, or being stupid, or part of a Rovian comspiracy to undermine the election. They are fanatics of the worst kind.

Type 2: The Traditional Democrat. These are the people who vote democrat, no matter what. They would never dream of voting any other way. Their parents, friends, family have always voted democrat, and they are a proud follower of this tradition.

Type 3. The "He is the lesser of two evils" type. This is actually two subtypes. People in this catagory have reservations about him. Either based on his policy, or his past voting history. The other half are of the he is not bush camp. People in this catagory typically have thought this out, compared the two on their own, and are voting based on the difference between the two campaigns.

There may be a few other types, but for the most part, his supporters fall into one of these three categories.

Obama himself has a large lead, probably unsurmountable without a major mistake on his or Bidens part. And honestly, as cliched as it is, this country needs change right now. Record foreclosures, record gas, record bankruptcies and unemployement has the average American scared about the future. But can or will Obama fix it?

First is can he fix it. At this point, there will be drastic actions that will be needed to "fix" most of the problems. He will have congressional support for a while, and will get to pass a few things. His tax plan is decent enough, and should help middle and lower America. His energy plan however is unsubstantiated and will not alleviate that problem. Plus he never really explains where he will get the majority of the funding to do what he wants. He says he will cut government spending, but how much? He will instantly lose support if he starts cutting out pet projects and people paycheck. Like every other politician before him, he will have to toe the line between feasible and doable.

Will he fix it. Once again, he will make attempts, but if past voting history is an example, it will not be something the people want. Do not forget, he voted yes to FISA. Against everything he has claimed, he preached, he voted to enable eavesdropping, and to not prosecute those who have and did. He also voted for the bailout bill, even though every economist said it was a bad idea. Granted McCain did as well.

He also voted against a Low income energy amendment to increase funding for this program. (Bill Number: HR 3010)

Has voted for defense budgets as are.

Has had a large number of NV in the past year( primarily so they can't be held against him).

Vote for Obama if you think he can help this country, but don't vote for him because you think he will change it all. You will be dissapointed. He is above all else, a politician.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Meals Cheap

Most people right now are struggling for money and trying to find places to cut back, save an extra dollar anyway they can. Many look to cut cost everywhere, but food.

If you want to make a serious attempt at saving money, quit eating out first and foremost. Secondly, use some coupons. Honestly, coupons can save a lot of money if you use them correctly. Correctly? Is there a wrong way? Sure there is. Don't buy something you don't need just because you have a coupon for it.

Here is my list for a weeks shopping.

1 Loaf of bread. Get the two pound kind if your store carries it.
1 dozen eggs
2 lbs of meat
2 boxes of hamburger helper
2 boxes of rice.
5 cans of soup
1 pack of cheese
1 package of sandwhich meat
2 green peppers
1 cucumber
1 12 pack of generic mountain dew
1 box of oreos.


Mix and match various things to fit your taste buds. Remember, we aren't trying to get the best, but survival food. You want to spend only about $30/week on groceries if possible. The average person will spend around $100/week on food, including eating out and buying groceries that sit on the shelf and rot or go uneaten. If you can do this, thats an easy $200 a month in your pocket.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Aliens today?

So, according to net rumors, message boards, and blogs, today is the day the galactic federation of light is supposed to visit earth. They are too make landfall in Alabama.

Well, its currently 2:41pm EST and all that has happened is a voltage swell and a screwed up cell phone. Some people are reporting in that they are feeling odd. Personally my inner ear is screwed up, but that is more then likely related to allergies from the fall.

This appears to be more of a spiritual desire then an actual true first contact. Some of the people claiming this are saying they are mediums, channelers or remote viewers.

All we can do is wait and see.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Local Searching

I always try to stay updated on the local Knoxville scene. To do so I have to try and find new ways and bookmark new sites that help me do so. I also like to see customer reviews and comments anytime I try a new restaurant's, being super picky and all.

Because of my job, I also travel a lot, and being out of town alone makes decision making for dinner difficult. Sure I ask the locals, but it usually ends up being a bad experience because either I can't find it, or I get lost or something. I stumbled across a website the other day called local.com. It is a nice little repository, that is growing rather nicely of local information in areas around the country.

There is two ways to search, either by location or by business, or a combination of the two. Say I want to look for a certain restaurant's in Knoxville, I enter it in and find a listing of the restaurants in the Knoxville area, along with a nice little rating system, and some comments. Also has options to poke around and view a map, gives phone numbers, etc etc.