We Should Be More Interested

Big news, yet I just can't get interested.

Treasury Secretary John Snow is retiring, and President Bush is naming Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson as the replacement.

I look at the news and just bristle, realizing this is an important story, that Treasury Secretaries can leave their paw prints on the economy (positively or negatively) for years. Not as important as the Fed Chairman, but still rather important.

But the cares of the world have taken their toll, and I just can't get interested. It sounds like one of the multiple economics classes I took in my Masters program years ago. I knew they were important, but darn it, they sure weren't exciting.

Traffic Accidents and Riots

Isn't it stories like this that make you want to leave the world alone, lock our borders, and never see anything to do with foreign policy again? By now, we are all familiar with the unfortunate traffic accident in Afghanistan and the riots that followed.

Chanting "Death to America," rioters on Monday stoned the U.S. convoy involved in the accident, then headed to the center of Kabul, ransacking offices of international aid groups and searching for foreigners.

Of course, it was mechanical problems, not hatred, that caused the crash to begin with.

Military spokesman Col. Tom Collins, in explaining the cause of the traffic accident, said the truck's brakes "apparently overheated and failed" as it came down the long hill.

"The driver, very experienced in the operation of this type of vehicle, a heavy cargo truck, applied the primary and emergency brakes and took evasive action to avoid hitting pedestrians," Collins said.

The truck hit several unoccupied parked cars in an effort to slow, but it wasn't enough, and the truck hit occupied vehicles at an intersection, he said...

Afghans often complain about what they call the aggressive driving tactics of the U.S. military. Convoys often pass through crowded areas at high speed and sometimes disregard road rules. The U.S. military says such tactics are necessary to protect the troops from attack.

But, of course, there is good news out of Afghanistan:

As many as 372 people have died in fighting since May 17, mostly militants who have been killed in airstrikes, according to Afghan and coalition figures.

Hope for the Future

I get frustrated with all the bad news circulating. The "screw the US" mentality preached around the world and by our domestic media. The UN gun ban crap that is scheduled to hit us around July 4. The lack of citizenship or respect of our younger generation, brainwashed by "education." Well, at least I can tame some of that last statement.

Yesterday, while at our Memorial Day service, the youth far outnumbered us older folks. With several hundred people in attendance, I'd guess the under-30 crowd was about 65% of the group, and the under-21 group at about 30%.

When our main speaker asked for veterans to stand, I was shocked at the number of young faces standing proudly along with their older comrades-in-arms from wars dating back to World War II.

And it gave me hope. Hope that this younger generation isn't lost. Hope that there is a core of men and women who will stand up for this country, our Constitution, and the ideals that molded us into a great nation.

Blogging Slowdown

I have a lot of personal tasks to take care of this week, and I just have to put blogging on the backburner until the day after Memorial Day.

Take it easy, and I'll meet up with you on May 30.

The July 4 UN Gun Grab

If you haven't checked it out yet, go to NRA News and see the "Talking to the Media" specifics for the UN Gun grab scheduled over the 4th of July.

Tags: Second Amendment , guns

A Failed President

The Presidential mess du jour began on Monday night as President Bush announced a temporary plan to strengthen our border control - specifically, the Mexican border. Under this plan, the National Guard (as many as 6,000 Guard members) will support existing border control agents.

Hey - use the National Guard in the United States? Instead of sending them overseas for long deployments? What an unusual concept. The Guard troops should start deployment next month, and would serve at least one year.

Fortunately for all of us, we will have an additional 6,000 border control officers by 2008. We all know how effective they've been.

President Bush has increased the border budget by 66% during his time in office, yet we've seen no obvious impact on security. Now, magically, we are going to put an end to the border problem, apparently without cost, since Mr. Bush never mentioned the costs of troop deployment, the fancy, high-tech fences or 6,000 new border patrol personnel. I wouldn't mention the cost either, since it exposes a shameful practice in this Administration: W. is just like a Democrat. He throws money at a problem and hopes it goes away.

Why vote for Republicans who lie to you saying they are small government when you can vote for Democrats that have already promised to do be big government. Who is more truthful? Democrats tell you they will strip you of all rights and oppress you with burdensome taxes. Republicans campaign on the "protect your rights" and "don't raise the taxes" platform - but they are absolutely no different in documented results than the Democrats.

Still, people cling to the Republican Party because they are the lesser of two evils in their mind. "Look at all the progress we've made in the War on Terror. Would John Kerry have done that? What about gun rights - John Kerry would have stripped them away completely by now." And on it goes.

The fact of the matter is this - the Bush administration is really not much different than the Kerry Administration would have been. Think Kerry would seize our guns? What has W. done to protect our Second Amendment rights? The BATF is running wild.

Think security from terrorists would be worse under Kerry? Take a look at our border. Take a look at the TSA effectiveness - or lack of effectiveness.

Think Kerry would abuse our intelligence agencies and use them against the public? Look at W.

Think Kerry would spend like crazy? W. puts Democrats to shame.

The Republicans haven't done squat for gun rights. Bush hasn't, and McCain won't either (assuming he is the next Republican nominee for President). They come around at election time, court us, use us, and then treat us like a cheap date until the next election cycle roles around.

It is time to stop this BS.

"But we can't afford to vote for a third party - what will happen if the Democrats get in?"

Here's a fact - we can't afford NOT to vote for a third party. Our rights have eroded just as fast under this Republican Administration as it did under his predecessor. About the only way W. has outperformed the Democrats (in a postive way) has been his "screw you" attitude with the UN. And not many Republicans have the backbone to support W. in this area.

Vote for a third party this next time around. Due to the wonderful machinations of both main parties, many blogs won't have much freedom to write a similar sentence 60 days before an election. And if you can't share an opinion - do you really have any rights at all?

Tags: Rights

Freedoms

So, President Bush's nominee for CIA Director is expected to catch a lot of crap for the Bush Administration's domestic spying.

U.S. President George W. Bush's nominee for CIA director faces a grilling on Thursday over the administration's domestic spying program that has raised concern among critics that the war on terrorism is encroaching on civil liberties...Gen. Michael Hayden is expected to face a blizzard of questions at a Senate confirmation hearing about his role as architect of Bush's domestic spying program, which the administration has defended as legal and necessary to protect citizens after the September 11 attacks.

And, of course, we have the UN meeting on July 4 to take our guns.

So, global gun grab and domestic spying... it almost sounds like (as Gomer Pyle would say, "Suu-prize, suu-prize, suu-prize) the Founding Fathers' knew what they were doing when they guaranteed our Second Amendment freedoms. No wonder governments domestic and foreign have chopped our freedom up little by little.

Tags: 2nd Amendment

FBI Still Looking For Jimmy Hoffa

One of the things I remember as a kid growing up in Michigan was the mysterious disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. The former leader of the Teamsters was last seen in 1975 at a restaurant in Bloomfield Township, Michigan. Apparently the FBI had a good lead recently on the remains of Jimmy Hoffa.

Over the years, the Feds always tear up something around Michigan, looking for Hoffa's remains. Of course, there are the rumors that he was buried out-of-state, like underneath Giants Stadium in New York.

In May 2004, authorities ripped up the floorboards of a Detroit home where Frank Sheeran, a one-time Hoffa ally, had claimed he shot Hoffa to death. But no evidence related to the infamous, unsolved killing was found.

Sheeran's claim was included in a book published months after he died in 2003 at age 83...A New Jersey mob hit man who died in March reportedly made a similar deathbed claim.

Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski gave author Philip Carlo what he claimed were graphic details of Hoffa's killing, The Record of Bergen County, N.J., reported.

"The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer" is scheduled for release in July.

The FBI was digging up spots on a horse farm in Milford Township, about 30 miles outside of Detroit.

Deb Koskovich, 52, said one of her neighbors told her after she moved next door to the farm in 1985 that Hoffa was buried there.

"He laughed and we laughed and that was the end of that," said Koskovich, adding that she would be surprised if Hoffa's remains were found. "I never thought about it again until today."

Tags: Jimmy Hoffa

UNC Cannot Discriminate With It's Anti-Discrimination Policy

While it is generally annoying, sometimes I really enjoy political correctness. Especially at an institution of higher learning. Take, for example, the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.

The University developed an "anti-discrimination" policy that - no surprise here - blatantly discriminated against people of faith. Specifically, this "anti-discrimination” policy required Christian ministries on the campus to promote non-Christian students into ministry leadership. If these Christian ministries refused to do so, they would lose student funding and access to campus facilities that other groups enjoy.

Come on, do they seriously expect a Christian group to promote an avowed atheist, a Hindu, or a Muslim to their leadership? Would an atheist group promote an evangelical Christian to it's leadership? Get real, UNC.

As expected, the Christian groups on campus took it to court. In March of 2005, the court granted a preliminary injunction against UNC’s policy and as a result, the university revised its policy to permit student groups to "select their members on the basis of commitment to a set of beliefs."

That court injunction forced UNC to change it's policy 14 months ago; in effect, the basis for the lawsuit was no longer an existing condition after March 2005. As a result, the courts - after taking 14 months to review and ensure the "anti-discrimination" policy now didn't discriminate against Christians - dismissed the lawsuit this month. So what happens? The University and several campus leftist groups immediately declare a victory for the discriminatory policy. After all, the judge threw out a case brought on by Christians taking on the discrimination policy.

Like I said, even though it is generally annoying, sometimes political correctness is incredibly funny.

Tags: Politically Correct

Pro-Second Amendment

There were two good Pro-2nd Amendment letters to the Editor in the Detroit Free Press recently, in response to an anti-gun article. This is unusual for the Freep, which has a long history of... well... lifting up their leg when writing about the Second Amendment. Unfortunately, the Freep only allows something like 100 words to make your point, and they reserve the right to "edit" these words "for clarity." Probably like they reserve the right to misquote whoever they want. Anyways, this is a minor miracle, so enjoy the next 12 seconds of reading:

Criminals want more gun laws

It doesn't matter to the criminal if we have one law or 1 million laws; violent criminals are lawbreakers. But if we are speaking about "sensible gun laws," the criminals will give you their full support, as they prefer to rob, steal and rape unarmed victims.

Criminals do not play by the rules, but the ordinary citizen has to. Sensible gun laws are simply making it more and more difficult for ordinary citizens to purchase guns legally for self-defense. Give the good guys a break and focus our energy on enforcing and prosecuting existing law.

Jay S. Jeffrey
St. Clair Shores

Get tougher on lawbreakers

Wrong again! Instead of knocking the National Rifle Association and irritating peaceful, law-abiding gun owners with more dumb laws, how about really getting down on those who break our present laws and then get light or no punishment?

Maybe you should do a study. Perhaps you might find that law enforcement and prosecutors are not doing a very sterling job of capturing, prosecuting, convicting and punishing people who get away with breaking our already formidable gun regulations.

Joe Doremire
Bakersfield, Calif.


Tags: Second Amendment , guns

Cool Piece of Trivia Amid a Sad Story

Picture copyright brachauto.com

A few weeks ago, I was driving down I-75 from Detroit, through southern Michigan, and into Ohio. I passed a long - and I mean long - train that paralleled I-75. The train, chugging along south for the Ohio border, brought to mind so many people I know who have moved out of the state due to the paltry Michigan economy.

Looks like another auto supplier is making that trek south - this time to Kentucky.

The German steelmaker, ThyssenKrupp AG, is hightailing it out of Detroit by December. According to the Free Press, their Detroit plant is hemmoraging money to the tune of $28 million in the last quarter alone.

Now, the 2-million-square-foot factory builds parts mainly for Ford's Expedition and Lincoln Navigator large SUVs, which are being redesigned later this year. Combined U.S. sales for those SUVs fell 23% this year through April. ThyssenKrupp declined to say whether it will be a supplier on the new model.

Cool piece of trivia: Their 82 year-old plant built the body for the '55 T-bird.

As many as 8,000 people worked at the Detroit plant in the mid-1950s, making roofs, doors and fenders for General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and the former Chrysler Corp...

The plant is on 85 acres east of downtown Detroit, with a facade that's a replica of Philadelphia's Independence Hall. In 1924, Budd Co. bought the factory from Liberty Motor Co., which built cars there from 1919 until 1923. ThyssenKrupp purchased Budd in the mid-'70s.

Picture copyright seriouswheels.com

Michigan Castle Doctrine

Click here to read the Michigan Castle Doctrine Bill (SB 1046) which is going before the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow.

Go ahead, click it. The bill is only 5 pages long and it isn't full of legalese. If you are a Michigan resident, you owe it to your self and your fellow citizens to understand this proposed legislation.

Tags: Castle Doctrine

New Findings in the John the Baptist Cave

photo © 2006 Netscape

Back in 2004, archaeologists discovered a cave they believe John the Baptist used for anointing his disciples.

A couple of years down the road, and they think they have some new information on the cave, known as the Suba Cave.

The cave includes a huge cistern with 28 steps that lead to an underground pool of water. Some 250,000 pottery shards were also found and are presumed to be remnants of small water jugs used in the Christian baptismal ritual performed by the fiery New Testament preacher. Wall carvings etched into the cave tell John's life story; they were likely made by monks in the fourth or fifth century. In addition, a stone was found in the cave that researchers believe was used for ceremonial foot washing.

This may be, but there were many places all over Israel where people could perform Mikveh - the Jewish ceremony that is the foundation for the Christian rite of Baptism. Plus, as the New Testament records, John the Baptist (in Hebrew, "the Immerser") wasn't afraid to hold his Mikvehs out in the open - as in the Gospel recording of Jesus' baptism.

But I digress...

Led by University of North Carolina at Charlotte archaeologist James D. Tabor, the team believes the site dates to the time of the prophet Isaiah in the 7th century B.C. and may include a second, still unexcavated cave. In early 2006, the team uncovered an outside corridor leading to what appears to be another cave. The corridor was filled with deposits that date to the Iron Age--within 100 years of the site's original construction--and leads directly into the steep hillside. Tabor says it now looks as if this is some huge complex.

All in all, it is a quick read and very interesting - if you like Biblical Archaeology - even if it contains one of the worst "no kidding" endings in the history of articles:

Tabor speculates that if John the Baptist did use this cave for baptisms, he may have chosen it because it has some kind of special significance to him and his followers.

Wow. No kidding?

Tags: Bible , Archaeology

Never Give Up Hope

An amazing story out of Oakland County, Michigan, originally released by Sheriff Michael Bouchard and the Detroit News.

(Sheriff Bouchard, of course, is expected to be the Republican answer to Democratic US Senator Debbie Stabenow in November. The NRA love-fest never ceases. He receives top marks from the most famous gun organization in the US, even though he vehemently opposed concealed carry and several other firearms freedoms... but I digress...)

On Mother's Day weekend in 1976, Laura Gooder's estranged husband, Eric Douglas Nielsen, picked up 21-month-old Genevieve Rachel Nielsen for an overnight visit. They never returned.

This Mother's Day weekend, a police officer arrived Saturday at Gooder's home in Frederic, Mich., with news that her daughter - now 31 - had been found, The Detroit News reported.

Gooder's daughter had been raised under another name and grew up believing her mother had been killed in an auto accident. Law enforcement officials declined to release her other name...

Eric Nielsen was incarcerated in Arizona under a different identity on an unrelated charge, authorities said. A tip led investigators to visit an Arizona prison Thursday, said Michael Bouchard, sheriff in Michigan's Oakland County.

Gooder's daughter, who now has a child of her own, was traumatized by the revelations, Bouchard said...

Last year, U.S. marshals joined the search for Gooder's daughter, and a judge charged Eric Nielsen with kidnapping. He had been wanted on a state kidnapping warrant since 1976.

Tags: Crime , kidnap , Michigan

History Lesson and the Immigration Problem

There is a lot of buzz regarding the immigration issue.

I just found an interesting historical anecdote that may help smooth over some of these angry feelings people are experiencing. After all, the better we know each other, the less likely we are to feel threatened, right? That's what Hillary said, anyway, and she wouldn't tell lies, would she?

Most people don't know that back in 1912, Hellmann's mayonnaise was manufactured in England. In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York.

This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico. But as we know, the great ship did not make it to New York. The ship hit an iceberg and sank, and the cargo was forever lost.

The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise, and were eagerly awaiting its delivery, were disconsolate at the loss. Their anguish was so great, that they declared a National Day of Mourning, which they still observe to this day.

The National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th and is known, of course, as Sinko de Mayo.

Sorry, I don't know who gets credit. It came from an email that was forwarded ad naseum.

Port Security Controversy

I don't want to complain about poor service from the US Postal Service, but I received a somewhat dated magazine in my mail yesterday. How late? The main articles deal with the Port Security controversy.

Overheard

Gas prices still have people griping. But I heard this insightful comment during a gripe session:

A fool and his money are soon parted.

Hummer is the proof.

Michigan Castle Doctrine Hearings

From NRA-ILA

Michigan State Senate Committee hears "Castle Doctrine" legislation!

On Tuesday, May 16, Senate Bill 1046, "Castle Doctrine" legislation sponsored by Senator Alan Cropsey (R-33) is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee. This legislation will help the citizens of Michigan in two important ways:

• protects your right to self-defense, and ensures you do not have a "duty to retreat" from a violent attacker; and
• gives immunity from criminal prosecution and civil action for the use of such force.

Please call the Senate Judiciary Committee at (517) 373-3760 and respectfully ask them to support SB 1046.

Tags: Castle Doctrine

Hunting and Biology

(AP Photo/Canadian Wildlife Service)

I like to hunt, and for all the grief hunters catch from the animal "rights" crowd, you think we'd get credit when credit is due. Credit, for example, when through hunting, someone discovers a new type of animal. Or perhaps validates a legend. Both applied to the exciting discovery of a polar bear-grizzly bear hybrid.

Now, I believe in dropping what I am hunting in one shot - but I'd be especially careful to do it if I was shooting at either a polar bear or grizzly bear. But a hybrid? Good thing Idaho big-game hunter Jim Martell was a fine shot. It is also good he's loaded - a license to hunt polar bears set him back $45,450. Dang, I was upset when Michigan raised my resident white tail deer tag to $15. Forty-five G's for a polar bear? And that's before the taxidermist submits his bill. At least Jimmy's trophy made history.

Roger Kuptana, an Inuit tracker from the Northwest Territories, suspected the American hunter he was guiding had shot a hybrid bear after noticing its white fur was spotted brown and it had the long claws and slightly humped back of a grizzly.

Territorial officials seized the bear's body and a DNA test from Wildlife Genetics International, a lab in British Columbia, confirmed the hybrid was born of a polar bear mother and grizzly father...

"It's something we've all known was theoretically possible because their habitats overlap a little bit and their breeding seasons overlap a little bit," said Ian Stirling, a biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Edmonton, Alberta. "It's the first time it's known to have happened in the wild..." Stirling said polar bears and grizzlies have been successfully paired in zoos and that their offspring are fertile, but there had been no documented case in the wild.

While that polar bear tag cost three times more than my car, Jim Martell was facing a possible $909 fine and up to a year in jail for shooting a grizzly. Oops. (I wonder if then he'd be re-arrested for using a gun to commit a crime in Canada?)

The DNA results saved him the jailtime and the fine. The Northwest Territories Environment and Natural Resources Department even intends to return the bear to him soon.

Tags: hunting , polar bear , grizzly bear

Fishing, Anyone?

Photo: AP Photo/Greek Culture Ministry

I've had the (dis)pleasure of catching many things when I go fishing (other than fish, that is). Besides catching cold several times, I've caught storm debris, miscellaneous trash, and once I even caught a badly rusted eye hook. But I never caught anything like this. It is a 3-foot high statue of a horseback soldier, discovered by a Greek fisherman in the Aegean Sea. He turned it over to the Greek Culture Ministry.

(Yeah, it looks like a cruddy piece of encrusted bronze to me, too - but the AP swears that it is a horseman statue - and they couldn't be wrong, could they? Don't answer that.)

What was it doing in the sea? The Associated Press reports that it was part of the cargo of an ancient ship that sank in the area. This part of the sea is dotted with ancient shipwrecks.

WARNING: BAD PUN AHEAD
This kind of fishing can net big rewards. In 1995, another fisherman found a large statue that is now on display at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. He was paid a $558,000 reward.

Tags: archaeology

Political Humor

I received this joke in an email the other day (sorry, no credit to whoever came up with it... it was forwarded several times).

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.

She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a Republican." "I am," replied the man. "How did you know?"

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me."

The man smiled and responded, "You must be a Democrat."
"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?"

"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you're going. You've risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but, somehow now it's my fault."

(photo from wiki)

Startling... and gross... News

From Netscape:

Germs don't stick where you think they will:

Go ahead and touch door knobs and elevator buttons. Germs rarely stick around on them long enough to do you any harm. "Never fear a doorknob," Gerba explained to Reuters. Why? They aren't moist, and germs need moisture to thrive for long.

In a typical office, computer keyboards and telephones, especially when they are shared, carry far more bacteria than elevator buttons, the handles and buttons on the communal microwave oven or the office water fountain. "Keyboards are a lunch counter for germs," Gerba told Reuters. "We turn them over in a lot of studies, and we are amazed at what comes out of a keyboard."

There is 400 times more bacteria on the average office desk than on the average office toilet seat. Why? Toilets are cleaned regularly. "Nobody cleans the desktop, usually, until they stick to it," Gerba explained to Reuters.

While the toilet and bathroom door are safe to touch, beware the sink. "They have got everything a bacteria likes. It's wet, it's moist," he told Reuters. "In a home we usually find more E. coli in a sink than a toilet." The dirtiest handles in public restrooms are urinal flush handles in the men's room.

And check this out - for some reason it makes me think of liberal Democrats -

When it comes to germs, dirty underwear is just about the worst thing you can touch, according to Dr. Germ, a.k.a. Charles Gerba, a microbiologist and clean water expert at the University of Arizona.

Here's the real shocker: Your clean underwear isn't much better. There is about a 10th of a gram of feces in the average pair of dirty underwear. Thanks to our propensity to use cold water
when we turn on the washing machine to save wear and tear on clothing and use short wash cycles to save on spiraling energy costs, our dirty laundry is not being properly sanitized, reports Reuters. That means viruses such as hepatitis A, rotavirus and bacteria such as salmonella--all of which are carried through feces--survive not only the wash, but also an average 28-minute drying cycle.

You can kill all those nasty germs if you wash your clothing in hot water. "Water at 140 degrees Fahrenheit will sanitize laundry," Gerba told Reuters. But only 5 percent of Americans use hot water for laundry."

The bottom line? Don't wash the handkerchiefs and kitchen towels with your underwear. And wash your hands after you touch the dirty and clean laundry.

Londonistan

I highly recommend Londonistan, by Melanie Phillips. Also worth the (fairly quick) read is the National Review interview with Ms. Phillips.

She is a columnist for the London Daily Mail.

Britain is in denial. Having allowed the country to turn into a global hub of the Islamic jihad without apparently giving it a second thought, the British establishment is still failing even now—despite the wake-up calls of both 9/11 and the London bomb attacks of 2005—to acknowledge what it is actually facing and take the appropriate action.

She calls out a strong and effective warning to America.

Well, I'm Back

After a long, unwanted break from blogging, I am back! Sorry for the time off. But now I have lot's of time on my hands and I am ready to get at it.

God bless you all,
Jay

Well, It's Over

Work ended forever today at lunchtime. Another casualty of the Michigan economy.

To be honest, I was in the worst mood when I signed on the internet to send some emails to family members and friends, informing them of the demise of our jobs. But as the home page loaded, it showed the picture of an Iraqi man - I'd guess he was my age - in tremendous grief. The caption disclosed that his children had just been killed in a suicide bombing.

It didn't take more than a millionth of a second to realize that I have it real good. Sure, the company I work for went out of business, but I could go home and be with my kids and wife. There will be another job someday. What I was going through was important, but it really wasn't the big deal I was making it. That father on the internet - he was the one really going through grief, and his grief, unlike mine, wouldn't end with the next job he finds.

We have a lot to be thankful for in this country, and in the State of Michigan. To all my fellow unemployed Michiganians (or Michiganders, if you prefer), God Bless You all.

Jay

Sorry for the lack of posting

Sorry for the lack of posts on this blog lately. It has been a couple of challenging weeks. I have to help close family members with medical stuff, plus I have to figure out what to do with my work life since the business has announced it is closing this month (just like many other Michigan businesses).

Anyways, that has put blogging on the lower eschelons of things to do, and I apologize. But, hey, by the end of the month, it looks like I'll have a lot of free time to make up for the current lack of posts.

Thanks,
Jay