I Hope For Spring To Be Here Soon

Here we are in the middle of March, and looking at the calendar
it says that Spring soon will be here. Now I live in the midwest
and am smart enough to know that just because the calendar says
it's spring doesn't make it so.

Spring, to me, brings hope. We have had a terrible winter in
this part of the United States, with lots of snow and brutally
cold temperatures. Soon, however, we will hear the crack of the
bat and two of my favorite words, "Play ball." We will hear birds
singing, and see leaves on the trees. The unmistakable sounds of
a lawn mower and the smell of newly cut grass will fill the air.
And the days, well, they'll just keep getting longer.

As a person who is blind I don't feel I miss out on much of the
beauty of the spring season. I can hear the birds and smell the
flowers and plants as "you come to life. I can feel the air as
it warms up, heading us toward summer.

There is, one thing however, about this spring that will be sad
for me. For over 35 years, my father has looked forward to
spring for getting into the fields, working the ground and
planting the crops. He won't be doing that for the first time in
all those years this year. This is because he has decided to
retire from farming and will be having a farm sale very soon.

Not only has the farm been where my dad worked tirelessly to
plant, tend to and harvest his crops, but it also is where I grew
up. It's where I learned how to ride a bike, weed a garden, and
many other things. The farm held me close as I grew from a boy
into a man. With the farm sale will go a large piece of my
childhood.

So as I look forward to Spring this year with enthusiasm, that
enthusiasm will be tempered a bit by what this spring season
means to my family and the place I grew up and still call home.
Will will devote at least one blog entry to the farm before the
sale.

Let The Madness Begin

We're coming to one of my favorite times of the year, the start of the NCAA
Men's Basketball Tournament. Let the madness begin.

What an exciting tournament field we have this year. We have four well
deserved number one seeds, including three from one conference. I predict
that Pitt will win the overall national championship.

As usual, we can quarrel with some of the the committee's choices. Why did
Wisconsin, a team which has been up and down all year get in, but North
Western which played very well, especially in the non conference did not?
Why didn't the University of Florida get in? Oh well, the choices are made
and now the madness can begin.

Yes, there will be several upsets, you know there are. I really wish I
could take this first Friday of the tournament off so I could watch game,
after game, after game.

Let's tip it off and watch the brackets!

Who Is Going to Bale Me Out?

Just a bit over a year ago I believe, my retirement savings were
nearly twice what they are today. I just looked at my retirement
account yesterday and determined how much I have lost.

The Federal Government is baling out the big banks, auto makers,
irresponsible companies like AIG, and on and on. Meanwhile, I
and millions of other Americans who did the responsible thing are
suffering.

I did what many others did. I have saved my money, and thought I
made wise choices about how to invest it. I chose to invest in a
reputable fund family. Others did too. Yet, here we see our
retirement savings dwindling down and down and down.

My question to the President and Congress is, so who is going to
bale us out? Who is going to help us recover our losses so we can
actually retire sometime and enjoy a well earned leisure life
after working hard for many years? I know the answer and it
pisses me off The answer is nobody is going to bale us out, we're
just taxpayers who, by the way, are expected to bale everyone
else out. This sucks and it better stop and stop now!!!

Obama Continues To play Loose with Taxpayer Dollars

Well, President Obama is at it again. Today, he has, by
Executive Order, lifted the ban on using Federal funds for
embryonic stem cell research. By doing this he continues to play
loose with yours and my tax dollars.

Obama's actions today were not necessary, although he did not go
as far as he could have which I appreciate. Embryonic stem cell
research has been permitted; all that was banned by the Bush
administration was using Federal dollars to pay for it. This
policy struck an important balance between allowing research to
move forward while respecting the rights of tax payers like me
who have ethical concerns with it.

If I could be 100% sure that the embryos being used truly were
those being discarded by invetro fertilization clinics, I could
support Federal funding of this kind of research. Neither I nor
anyone else can be sure this is 100% true. I fear we are heading
down a slippery slope with today's decision. You just watch!
Congress will soon act to repeal the law that bans creation of
embryos for research purposes. Then, we're really in trouble!

We need to support and fund ethical medical research. Many
tremendous medical advances have come about thanks to research on
stem cells, adult ones. I support mothers saving cord blood for
the cell contents it contains for research. The destruction of
embryos, however, crosses an ethical line and I do not want my
tax dollars used to pay for it. Let those scientists who plan on
conducting this research apply for foundation or other grants to
do it. Let them seek money from states which allow state dollars
to fund this kind of research. Scientists have said they have
alternatives to embryonic stem cells, such as adult skin cells.
Since embryonic stem cell research presents ethical questions,
Federal dollars should you be used to pay for it and I am
offended that President Obama and others feel my ethical concerns
do not matter, that they can spend my tax dollars as they see fit
for this research!

Great Progress on H.R. 734, Keep It Up!

I'm pleased to report that we've made great progress in signing on
co-sponsors to H.R. 734, The Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act <a
href="http://thomas.loc.gov">Click here to learn more about it</a>. We've
got 81 co-sponsors, but more are needed.

Go to the <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov">Thomas Site</a> type in 'hr734'
into the search box, click the radio button for bill number and click the
search button. Once you have done this, click on the link that says
'Co-sponsors'.

If your representative is on the list of co-sponsors, contact their office
and thank them. If your representative is not on the list, call their
office and ask them to sign on.

Thanks, pedestrians everywhere are depending on you to help get H.R. 734
passed so we can make the streets safer, even with the growing popularity of
quiet cars.

Back To Reality

Tomorrow, it's back to work for me, back to reality. While I have had a
very good vacation, accomplishing what one wants to do in re-charging my
batteries, it's normally, always a little hard to get back into the swing of
things.

It's not quite as hard at this time, though. This is because as I look at
the current mess our country's economy is in, I am thankful that I have a
job. There are many out there who do not have a job and don't know when
they will get another one. Some of these folks are probably having trouble
putting food on the table, paying for housing, or whatever. I've been laid
off before and it is a scary thing to go through. I was laid off in better,
albeit not great economic times.

So tomorrow I'll go back to work thankful that I am able to make the money
to help keep us safe, warm and fed. But I pray those out there who are
jobless will find work soon.

The Economic Mess Is Obama's Problem Now, Stupid

I'm back and I'm angry! What did we hear in the news this week?
Well, we heard GM may be forced into Chapter 11 Bankrupsy
protection and should bee in my opinion. The Federal Government
is contemplating throwing more money down the sewer which is AIG.
My answer is no. On Friday, we heard that the economy lost some
651,000 jobs in February, sending the nation's unemployment rate
to over 8%, worse since 1983.

Things continue to go from bad to worse in our economy, even
after President Obama took office. It's his problem now, and he
needs to deal with it responsibly! No longer can Obama claim he
inherited this mess, because the mess continues. However, the
left wing liberal nut jobs and the main stream media will
probably let him continue to do so at least for a short time.
Americans like me aren't going to buy it. We're not going to buy
stocks just because Obama decrees that owe should, at least I'm
not.

It's time for people who know financials, and not politicians to
be put in charge of trying to help our economy. The economy is
cyclical, and will recover and prosper again, even without
Governmental intervention. It sure as hell doesn't need the
kinds of out of control, deficit spending we are seeing to help
it. The sooner people like Obama and his treasury Secretary who
doesn't even know how to pay his own taxes figure that out and
get the hell out of the way, the better for America.