Icewind's Ramblings

Have you seen this yet? Ray Stevens . . . still going strong after so many years. You Betcha! Ice

The purpose of Veterans Day is to honor all veterans. To the Fallen we salute you and remember your sacrifice . . . To those who continue to serve around the world we gratefully thank you for standing post and protecting those who cannot protect themselves . . . Soldiers have always been more about peace than war as we have seen firsthand the effects from conflicts in our past. We will always remember . . . as it stays with us within our memory’s reach. Ice

There’s a moment in the movie “Apocalypse Now” where the colonel played by Robert Duvall looks out over a burning battlefield and says wistfully “someday this war’s going to end.” That’s how a lot of people feel after the 18 month contest our country and the candidates have run. It hasn’t always been ‘pretty’ or nice as both sides have run a hard fought campaign to the Presidency. But it has been an ‘Amazing Race’, a historic election on so many fronts, with unconventional nominees and enough twists and turns to fill a feature film or a long running television show of the sorts of “The West Wing” . Today was D-Day of sorts, and we now know the 44th president of the United States and after months of being in partisan mindsets we need to begin transitioning back to thinking about, yes, Country First. If you care about the Country First, which all of us should, than the wounds left by even successful low-blows are troubling if they divide the country, dumb...

Tonight there was a lot to laugh about as SNL’s Presidential Bash 2008 brought plenty of old and new skits for everyone to enjoy. Some of the old greats were remembered and the current nominee’s showed a slightly fun side of themselves much needed in this long campaign. There is only a few hours left to exercise your right to vote . . . Get out and cast your ballot as the poles have already opened on the ‘left coast’ in New Hampshire. I am reminded of an old child’s fable that sheds light on my feeling of what I fear of Barack Obama`s campaign and possible tenure running the country. Once upon a time there was a scorpion that desperately wanted to cross a river because on the other side was a lovely female scorpion waiting for him. But since scorpions can not swim he was sure to drown if he tried to cross the river. Hop, hop, hop along came a frog intent on crossing the river too. Now frogs are perfect swimmers so it would be a piece of cake for our l...

It’s down to the wire now and people will stand up and make a choice for President based on whatever it is that they think is the right information. I guess part of the problem is both side tend to skew the information to support their claim to be the next President. One seems to be a better ‘showman’ than the other and seems to possibly “look” better than the other guy. Some people only see what is on television or in the papers without really understanding what the issues are and will vote based on those assumptions . . . whether or not they are valid or not. Sometimes a simple example might be effective to help those understand an issue and this was sent to me by several readers which illustrate the “share the wealth” plan of Obama. Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read "Vote Obama, I need the money." I laughed. Once in the restaurant my server had on an "Obama 08" tie, again I laughed as he had given away his political preferen...

He certainly got plenty of airtime. Funny thing is . . . I’m a “Joe the Plumber” now for over 35 years. I’m thinking the hottest costume this Halloween: Joe the Plumber This debate came totally out of left field for me. Like, who knew to put Joe the Plumber down as the “drinking game” name in the debate tonight? If you for some reason had decided to take a drink every time Obama or McCain referenced their imaginary friend, you'd be dead. Dead of alcohol poisoning. For those of you who don’t know what that exchange was all about, McCain and Obama were referring to an impromptu encounter between Obama and Toledo , Ohio , plumber Joe Wurzelbacher. Jake Tapper, at ABC News, has the full video . Now I’m not an economist. Nor am I a medical doctor, but I don’t have to be one to know that smoking is not good for my health. Likewise, I don’t have to be an economist to know that capitalism is good for a country’s economic health and socialism is not. This ...