Do you ever lie and why should I believe you?

I’m one of those people who is easily entertained, even when alone. When I say, “I crack myself up,” I am not lying. I really do. Often.

I was doing accents in the mirror this morning while I was getting ready and really cracking myself up. Suddenly it occurred to me, someone else might think this is funny too! WORK FROM HOME FRIDAY VIDEO!!

For those Bronco fans out there who love to trumpet the Bush administration’s “reckless spending on an unnecessary war” (*cough* Ghosty *cough*), let’s step back and take a look at real facts. I know that’s uncomfortable for people who prefer to argue politics on emotional grounds and rhetoric rather than quantifiable statistics and history, but humor me.

This graph depicts the U.S. budget surplus/deficit since 2000. The right end of the graph shows projected values published by both the Obama White House and the Congressional Budget Office.

You can see how the Clinton “surplus” (which was largely do to Clinton removing Social Security from the equation, i.e. cooking the books) was eaten up right around the time some nut-job Islamofacists crashed airplanes into our financial sector and that evil and scary Bush fella spent a hundred billion here and there trying to strike back.

But then, Bronco Bomber came on the scene and spent exponentially more in six months and plans to spend that much more for years to come. Also, keep in mind that this does not include the current proposed socialized health care, which the CBO is expecting to top $1.6 trillion over ten years.

There’s some idiom about a “glass house” and “throwing stones” but I’m sure it’s not important. Let’s all just be mindful of the facts, mmkay?

Ok, so if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you must know that we have been house shopping. And you know that we made an offer on a house yesterday. I’m sure you are on the edge of your seat waiting to hear what happened.

Frankly, so am I.

We toured about a half dozen houses last Friday night. Then about two dozen on Saturday. It was fun, but at the same time, it was a beating. By Saturday night we were exhausted. I had taken pictures of every house, inside and out, because I knew they would all run together in out minds. I ended up with over 100 pictures.

The market around here has been crazy. There are a ton of homes for sale, but the good ones, the real deals, are only on the market for a few days. We had several on our list to see that were contracted before we got to them. So we felt some urgency on picking one to make an offer. We finally decided and started the paper work.

Then I realized, there was a lot about our choice that I didn’t remember, so I asked for another tour. Monday, around lunch time, I met our realtor and went over the house with a fine-tooth comb. There are some little issues, but nothing we can’t deal with. So, I submitted the offer.

I asked our realtor when we should expect to hear back. She said she had talked to the selling realtor Sunday night and Monday morning. He asked her to send over our offer as soon as possible. He would be waiting for her email. Now, to an average human being, like you or me, that means the sellers were eager to get the offer and we should expect a prompt reply, right?

At 5:30 (PM!!), I left a message for my realtor. I apologized for bugging her, but we’re property virgins and overwhelmingly anxious. She called us back about an hour later. (She had been with a client.) As soon as she listened to our message, she had called the selling realtor. (He was also with a client.) Finally, he emailed her with this… (This is his entire email.)

Seller is on a cruise ship you most likely will not hear from them for 3-4
days.

GAAAHHH!!!!

Stay tuned for further updates as they develop… eventually.

This, I believe, is a first. This week’s white board quip is a bit of self glorification. I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve ever had a white board quip in which I was the original author. When I said it, those present told me that I must put this in the queue for my white board.

I would say that it is not in the specs, but… HA HAAA!  WHAT SPECS?!  FOOL!!

A wise man learns from his mistakes. A wiser man learns from the mistakes of others.

Why does the (Big L) Left, currently at the reins of our great nation, so desperately want to implement a socialized health care system (modeled after that of Canada and Europe) when Canada and Europe are rabidly retreating from this same system now that is has come crashing down around them?

Read this article stating the point above from someone much more educated and knowledgeable on the subject, a Canadian doctor.

[For my Facebook friends: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124451570546396929.html#mod=rss_opinion_main]

We’re back from New York. I’ve spent hours and hours culling and reorienting our nearly 400 pictures from the trip (and I haven’t even started any PhotoShop cleanup). I will do my best to get a full report posted this week.

Suffice to say it was a fun trip, but I’m glad to be back in Texas.

To preface, on Facebook I voted on an approval poll for Bronco Bomber. The poll offered me a place to expand on my opinion. And you know me. I couldn’t pass that up. I wrote…

I tried to warn you guys. He’s an ignorant, inexperienced, naive, racist socialist with a big chip on his shoulder. He hates success. He hates prosperity. He hates everything that this country stands for and he WILL destroy it. Vote Conservative in 2010!!!

Ghosty, a frequent comment and ‘net friend, who holds views counter to my Conservative Christian stance (Did I say that diplomatically enough?) replied as follows (unedited).

ignorant – a generlization, and uncalled for.

Inexperienced – In what capacity? No, he doesn’t have a great deal of experience as a politician. Then again, I don’t believe he was elected because he was a great politician, but because he is an educated, thinking individual – something the Republicans can’t seem to come up with in a presidential candidate in any given year. All they HAVE to offer are politicians, it seems.

Naive – more generalizations. I’ll get back on this when you have something more specific.

Racist – For this bit of libel, I’ll just say “prove it” and ask you to put up or shut up.

“Socialist with a big chip on his shoulder. He hates success. He hates prosperity.” No, after reading his books and becoming familiar with his life’s doings before voting for him, I know he’s anything but. Instead, I see hard-core right-wingers hating the success of a black liberal from the Dems. I’ll vote Repub when they offer a thinking candidate, instead of more ideological bullcrap!

I didn’t have room to fully reply in the small comment box on Facebook, so I’m forced to bring this conversation here.

First, I want everyone to know that I don’t like to debate with Ghosty because I value his friendship. I know that we don’t see eye to eye. I also know that there is very little chance that either of us will change out views because of something the other says. But, since his comments asked for clarification, I offer this:

Ignorant: Because anyone who embraces polices that have failed in the past (either here or in other places) is either ignorant or willfully inviting failure (See taxation, deficit spending for economic recovery, socialized medicine, government control of industry, and appeasement diplomacy).

Naive: Because I really do think he believes his own rhetoric and that the fundamentalist nut-jobs in Iran, N.Kor, Hamas, Al Qaeda, et al, will change their core beliefs and hold hands with us, singing Kum Ba Yah, if he apologizes enough for US policy and (what he perceives as) our previous aggression.

Racist: Because his history, the people he surrounds himself with, and the things that he says, both explicitly and implicitly, are evidence that he follows the racist philosophy that whites are inherently bad and should be punished (or at least purposefully disadvantaged vs. other races) because of (what he perceives as) our previous aggression.

I agree that the Republican party has done a pitiful job in the last two or three years. The party, driven by a powerful few, has pulled the party to the center, in an attempt to draw in more moderates. This has failed completely and alienated the party’s base (including myself). I really really dislike the RINOs (like McCain) and I feel strongly that the party will tear itself apart if it doesn’t correct this leftward lean before 2010. That’s why I have stopped calling for people to vote “Republican” and changed to “Conservative.”

Many (big L) Liberals are shocked when a Conservative like myself accuse them of racism. But the simple fact is that a true Conservative doesn’t care about race. Upon deeper investigation, it is the (big L) Left that is always going on about race, insisting that minorities get special treatment (That’s racism, folks!), assuming that any opposition to a minority person must involve racism when, in fact, the opposition has nothing to do with race. I think you will notice that my comment never mentioned race, gender, religion, or any other demographic. I find it ironic, then, that anyone would accuse me of racism, thus revealing the fact that they are less “color-blind” than I am. Oh, and by the way, Bronco’s only half black and he was raised by his white mother, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

I’m sorry that you “see” conservative hate in our opposition to socialism. I can only speak for myself and those close to me in that I don’t give a flying rip what race he his, what religion he is, what gender he is, or what flavor ice cream he likes. I don’t hate the man. I do hate his policies.

What I oppose, with my every fiber and to my last breath, is anyone or anything who would attempt to bring big-government socialism, that vile and despicable politic that is a proven failure all throughout history, to this, the greatest nation in the history of the world, which was founded not on the oligarchy of the few, but the democratic republican, grass roots, power of the populace. Anyone who really understands what socialism is, what it causes, and how it invariably ends, and still embraces it, must be an enemy of progress, freedom, and prosperity. Either that, or they are absolutely ignorant of history.

Tammy’s in bed. I’m going over my packing list one last time. We leave at butt-ugly early in the morning for our super-secret, extra-awesome, 10th anniversary trip.

Keep an eye on our twitters (trint99 and tkladd) or on Facebook for updates on where we’re going and the goings on while we’re there.

I can honestly say I do *not* look forward to filling you in the details on Monday (because that will mean we’re back home from this all-to-short vacation).

It seemed too good to be true, and it was. Our offer was rejected. They made a counter offer that was only a smidge less than the asking price and still thousands of dollars beyond our budget. Oh well.

Funny thing is we are pre-approval with our lender for three times that asking price.  They would loan us half a million dollars for a house at the lowest available rate. Of course that would make our payments orders of magnitude over our budget. We would be completely broke and defaulting in a month.

No wonder the mortgage industry is in shambles.