Icewind's Ramblings

America is all about celebrating our freedoms and differences.  I believe the American people are getting wiser.  I hope so anyway, and I'm sure that there are those that would beg to differ, and that's ok, too.  Here's the thing that you have to realize during this election process.  Any candidate for the Presidency must raise a shitload of money in order to get the job.  That's just a fact.  It has been that way for many years now and probably will not change anytime soon even with the revisions in elections laws. Another fact this is often missed by the public is that the candidate owes these people for contributing enough to get him or her elected. I would like a list of donors from each candidate before the elections are done.  I think that would actually be a better way to tell who to vote for.  It shows more of the people and special interest groups and how much they are willing to pay to have a certain side in office. Those are the...

Does life in Washington actually resemble an endless round of Crossfire? Or does it just seem that way from the boonies of Alaska? Life is not Crossfire . . . I can only hope a really good candidate comes to the forefront before election time. Ice

Recent political activities seem to prove this point of mine. To succeed in politics . . . it is often necessary to rise above your principles. Ice

This from the Wall Street Journal’s report from tonight’s NBC’s magazine “Rock Center”, Jerry Sandusky says: “I shouldn’t have showered with those kids”. I am one not to rant too much but this really pisses me off to no end.   He states he is innocent but he did do some of those things.   Now I am not sure where you come from or what your daddy taught you but anytime that urge hits you to shower or touch children comes over ones self it is time for you to put a gun in your mouth as God intends for you to be culled from the herd of those of us who never entertain those thoughts.   Anytime there is no major flag or siren going off in ones head as they are about to do something so terrible to an innocent child, you have lost your moral compass and to my way of thinking the compass was never there in the first place or there is no way to redeem oneself to get pointed back on track.   Rehabilitation should not be an option as it has repeatedly shown that more often t...

The tragedy of 9 years old, Christina Taylor Green being killed in Arizona while she was learning about the freedoms in this country and was on her way to meet Rep. Gabrielle Giffords since she was just becoming interested in politics having been elected to student council. Christina was born on a day of overwhelming tragedy, 9/11/2001. She died on another. As a baby, Christina's photograph appeared in a book commemorating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.   Faces of Hope: Babies Born on 9/11 was a project undertaken by a Pennsylvania mother who sought out children from each of the 50 U.S. states to be featured in the book. "A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on." - Carl Sandburg "I think it's something hopeful," Christine Naman, the book's author, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2002.    "Maybe they were born to help us remember those who were lost, as well as to help us remember the things we should fight to hold...

Tomorrow is another election day and things are still in turmoil.   I see signs that ask “How’s that ‘Change’ going for you?” and “Yes we can!”   At times I wonder it the changes that have taken place are really changes at all. It’s well nigh impossible to assess the true character of a human heart . . . even one’s own.   We use words (Oh, so many words!) to describe our selves, our wants, desires, ideals (and imperfections) to others.   We go through life “self-characterized”, for the most part.   The face we reveal to the world is the face we primp and preen to present.   It sounds like a woman thing but it fits our thinking. Words are our cosmetics. I don’t really have a problem with that.   I believe most of us want to embody our ideals.   I believe we humans, for the most part, want to live peaceful, loving, noble lives.   We certainly tell ourselves that, often enough.   We assure others we are peaceful, honest, loving and ...

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 .                ...

The last couple of days in Cancun have been a much needed break so everyone has been hanging out around the hotel soaking up sun, tropical breezes, and resting. The hotel is packed full of people from all over the world and it still does not seem overly crowded. There are several swimming pools, the beach front lounges and palm tree covered paths filled with chairs or lounges to relax in. Our group seems to have splintered into about three groups each finding a different portion of the property to relax and enjoy the sun. It’s funny with Anchorage being a relative small town so with this group everyone knows each other or has worked at one time or another for the different companies represented here. With a few of us there has been ‘history’ with each other providing some of the divisions it seems. It has also been a time for some of us to reflect on past ill feelings and talk to repair friendships once again which has been great while with others you can see there is...

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...

Continuing last night’s blog about Joe the Plumber . . . before we move onto other things since this cycle is quickly winding down. With more of Senator Socialist’s tax plan. The government raises taxes on behavior it wants to discourage, and lowers taxes on behavior it wants to encourage. It becomes clear from Obama’s statement that he wants to discourage Joe’s success and wants to encourage socialism by giving a handout to the “bottom.” The idea that “when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody” is naive at best and nefarious at worst. It isn’t good for anybody! Joe the Plumber is punished for his success; the “bottom” is punished by being locked into the lie that somehow they deserve a portion of Joe’s money and should not apply themselves through hard work to rise from the bottom. The thread worn class warfare rhetoric of taxing the rich and giving to the poor is a thinly veiled fabrication that there are “have’s” and there are “have not’s” in our co...

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 ...

America . . . we are going into a big recession. Buy yourself something nice . . . Before it catches up to you. Ice

I returned home tonight for an odd mixture of things. Anchorage opened its first Target store in Alaska today so there was this mad rush of people heading to see everything that wasn’t available in the far north until today. The store is 172,000 square feet (about four acres) and the ‘official’ opening is not until Sunday but they opened a few days early so everyone could get a brief look and bargains before the weekend. The mad house today was like the opening of the Golden Corral restaurant a few months back . . . packed house with a full parking lot overflowing into the spaces of the soon to open Kohl’s, Lowe’s, and several other stores. I think Target’s red bull’s eye found its mark in Alaska . I sat down and flipping through the channels came across the movie ‘Transformers’ thinking it would be a stupid silly movie. I started watching and could not turn it to another channel. It was fun, witty, and sci-fi entertainment. As I sat there watching thinking ab...