Icewind's Ramblings

I saw this and figured I would post this for my friend Terran who enjoys such nonsense. Enjoy Terran! Ice

It has been one of those weird Saturday’s with various things going on and nothing in particular. It was a bits and pieces kind of day with morning coffee and waiting for the concrete guy to show up to start his forms for pouring a slab in the garage.   Needless to say it was about noon before the phone call came in that he would not be here until Monday.   Possible morning golf missed before the weather turned, typical for this summer so far.   Then it was debated on heading out to the lake with golf tomorrow but the boat is still in for a tune up and not ready until next week so again no golf. Have a tee time for noon tomorrow so it allows time to piddle around finish laundry and other chores so not totally a wash plus I went to Lowe’s this afternoon and bought a BBQ grill and a couple chairs for the deck. A friend of mine emailed me this joke once he heard I was installing drains in the garage and possibly was going to install a urinal along with a slop sink in t...

It was an interesting State of the Union speech tonight . . . Wrap things in the American Flag, throw in our great military men & women, and add some things about unity and greatness . . . we must be doing pretty damn good right now. I'll probably blog about it but let's see . . . 3 years of promises, out of control spending on borrowed dollars, massive unemployment . . . I thought it was a fairly confrontational speech going after the partisan other side.  It made a direct reference to Mitt Romney’s 15% taxes and used the charisma of his speaking abilities to ask American for a second chance.  It seemed like he was saying I have for the most part pissed away the last three years but hey look, the economy might be in a small rebound so give it another look.  I am sure the young will get all worked up in the same vein that John Kennedy’s speaking did for a nation so many years ago.  The problem is that time period is long gone and the world is so much differ...

Politics can sometimes be a very frustrating and rewarding thing and over the last couple of years I have wondered where the direction of this nation might be headed since Obama’s election. There are still many ideals I cannot see eye to eye with the current administration as I believe that both sides debate for the sake of debating and not looking out for the needs and wants of our nation.   But when one does rise to the occasion I have to admit I put away all of the misgivings and embrace the words and emotions of the occasion. We finally saw something out of the man who leads our nation, that spark that makes men and women want to protect the freedoms we have every day.   We saw that moment, 51 seconds that could very well define his Presidency. Did you catch it during the memorial service in Arizona? He was giving his speech, part sermon, more heartfelt than most of the last two years of speeches about the senseless tragedy last weekend.   He had started talking...

Remember back before the election during all of the campaigning and coverage of the presidential primaries how MSNBC was gushing all over Barack Obama? Well it is interesting now a year later to see how things have changed.  Its not the same now as reality sinks in.  Did you watch Obama's TelePrompTer reading last night?  What a mess we are in and a joke of a speech.  I couldn’t watch all of it because my bullshit meter kept going off and pegging the “get out your chest waders” because we are in deep shit.  He didn't read anything that was unexpected. Holding BP accountable.                        Yep we’ve heard that for 58 days now. We've been on the job from day 1.      Yep typical ‘no urgency’ gov’nment job. Clean up the Gulf Coast .                ...

I . . . am curious to know your thoughts on this?  As you know, recent Earthquake activity has sparked death and fear throughout Chile , Haiti and Japan .  It seems that more and more earthquakes are occurring, more and more wars are beginning or starting and the rumors . . . such as Libya declaring a "jihad" of sorts against Switzerland .  What’s that all about?  Are we rushing towards the “End Times”?   What are your thoughts?  Is this simply sudden random acts of nature . . . or are the predictions of our Lord coming true? The news of yesterday’s earthquake in Chile brought to mind a bible verse I learned so long ago . . . Matthew 24:7 Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. Ring of Fire Chile and Haiti . . . Two countries . . . Two earthquakes, both tragedies and apparently two vastly different outcomes. One , Chile : a relatively wealthy nation, one of th...

Have you ever seen the 1976 movie Logan ’s Run? It was pretty good science fiction in its day. Can we find Sanctuary or does it really exist in the first place. Sometimes I start to wonder if we are not already closing in on the “Lastday” syndrome here with no where to run to. I was watching a television commercial recently from a drug company when the narrator said, "Tell your prescriber about all your medications first." Prescriber? If you’re not getting drugs from a doctor then it’s a ‘dealer’. Or the Internet. Welcome to the future. Citizens are now consumers and the people you buy drugs from are prescribers. Can a real life Logan 's Run be far behind for us now? Remember all the hype about “Change” before and during the elections? Here is one I would like to see . . . This is a little off the topic but you think now that Obama is our president spell check can stop trying to correct it to Osama? ...

“The problem with Socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” --Margaret Thatcher The $827 billion stimulus package is full of earmarks that probably won’t stimulate the economy. The new bank bailout package was just announced and the markets took another dump. Confidence in the new changes . . . I’m not feeling too warm and fuzzy right now. Ice

I awoke this morning much like any other but there were things going on outside my space that had me stirring earlier than normal. My daughter was having a restless night in the hospital and when I turned on the television to see what was happening with the lead up to the Inauguration. There was the spectacle of pomp and circumstance as the crowds gathered from all over the country around the Lincoln Memorial and The Mall. It was a moving sea of people and tonight I learned that there were no incidents in Washington during this celebration so that may be one of the first visible signs of ‘Change’ to come about. There was the gathering of past Presidents and Vice Presidents who have shown the signs of age that has come with the office. They smiled and some seemed to be glad to see each other while others stayed focused on the tasks at hand. Obama`s girls looked great taking in the moment and bringing back younger children living in the White House. ...

It was a long drawn out campaign for both sides and to be honest I’m kinda tired of all of this now. But I know I will keep watching, reading all I can to learn and stay informed of the issues. Because I know, that despite the divides that politics can create, despite the unrest from all sides, the strained tensions that develop . . . politics ultimately DO bring out the good in people if we let it. Politics allows everyone to put our heart on our sleeve, to illustrate what we believe matters. It allows us to talk of subjects we have views on but may not know how to bring up . . . topics of abortion, of gun control, government size, wars and the environment. It provides the perfect opportunity to believe with every ounce of you in something outside yourself. Politics sometimes brings out great people . . . it’s given us Churchill and Trudeau, FDR, Mandela and the Kennedy’s. Politics has provided a platform to address social injustices . . . to highlight inequaliti...

President Elect Barack Obama has started his Cabinet appointments. Today he announced his economic cabinet positions . . . I’m still holding out for T. Boone Pickens for Energy Secretary. Ice

The election is over but I still have to have a little fun with this before it gets to boring and I’m locked into the winter observations found here in the Arctic northland. Watching the election night speeches were a mixed bag for me but I thought both men did a great job both victory and defeat? It was great seeing the mix of all those involved in the celebrations around the country. Hopefully it will continue as we work through the upcoming difficult times we are facing. One of the comments on election night was getting a new dog for his family so their stay in the White House would be like most other first families. I guess having ‘normalcy’ is a good thing but if they have not had a dog in the past getting a new puppy to ‘break in’ will have some added entertainment for those covering the political beat. I cannot wait to see those stories in the near future. He expounded on his pet plans during Friday’s press conference. “With respect to the dog, thi...

Well after months and months it’s over . . . the ‘change’ is in the air and a night full of celebration is over. I am reminded of a line in one of the best movies about political campaigning, “What do we do now?” Solidly the best movie about a political campaign and the rigors of the campaign trail The Candidate , the charming, unapologetically liberal Robert Redford vehicle from 1972. I was considering writing a post on the ways in which the movie predicted this modern campaign but I was busy and like many of us never got to it. See for yourself . . . The question that ends the segment is the question that ends the movie, and it’s the question that’s before our nation today: What now? When Obama was announced last night even an hour before the polling places closed in Alaska , it was Obama and now his party will finally have to come up with an answer. To its credit, the film doesn’t attempt to provide one and we were left with the promise of John ...

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...

A friend in Florida sent me an E-Mail circulating around Orlando which detailed the following . . . A small business owner who was resigned to the probability of Obama winning the Presidency had done a little preliminary financial calculation & came to a realization he would at a minimum have to raise his pricing 7% to 10% just to meet the minimum increased costs for what he anticipated the healthcare costs from Obama`s plans would be. With sad realization he knew in his business field, most customers would be unwilling to accept the increased costs. He estimated that perhaps 10 of his 30 employees would have to be laid off due to a projected loss of business. This individual felt very sad about the situation, particularly given that these employees had been with the company for a long time & he considered them to be almost like family. Pondering who would most likely be the ones who would have to go, during his lunch break he took a walk around his busines...