Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone.  It sure was nice to have Greg, Dianna and the girls here this year.   It was definately an exciting week around here.  Having a two year old and an eight year old running around made the place a lot more lively than it usually is.

They've only been gone one day and I already miss them!  

Well, I finally got around to buying a new amplifier. I sold my Mesa Boogie and Fender Twin some time back so I've been without an amp to play the electric guitar for quite a while.

The amp I chose is a Line-6 Spider Jam. It's not overly powerful at only 75 watts but it has a ton of features.

To start with, it has over a hundred jam tracks built into it along with a dozen different amp "models".

It also has inputs for a microphone, a bass guitar or an acoustic electric guitar and a built in four-track digital recorder.

D.B. Cooper

Today is the anniversary of the hijacking of Northwest Orient flight 305. In 1971 a man called D. B. Cooper claimed he had a bomb and demanded $200,000 and two black parachutes with reserve chutes. He lowered the rear stairway of the 727 and jumped out somewhere over southern Washington and disappeared without a trace. Some of the money turned up in 1980 but the case is still opened and unsolved.

The incident is memorable to me for a couple of reasons. First, anything to do with jumping out of airplanes was of interest. I had just graduated from U.S. Navy jump school the previous june and was an active jumper stationed in Naha, Okinawa at the time. When this happened it was a major topic of conversation around the parachute loft. After all, jumping out of a jet was not something the average skydiver experienced.

The second thing that makes the incident so memorable is the impact it had on air travel in the United States. Hijacking was not something that happened in the U.S. There had only been one prior to this and that was a cuban militant in 1958. Hijackings were not uncommon in Europe where people used it as a means to escape the Soviet Union but the U.S. was relatively immune to that sort of thing. Then along came D.B. Cooper.

After Cooper's hijacking the airlines began putting metal detectors in all the airports and air travel would never be the same. Prior to November 1971 air travel was almost as easy is riding a bus. Buy a ticket, go to the gate and board the plane. Guns? Not a problem. My handgun was usually in my carry on bag and the stewardess would store long guns in the closet with all the suit bags for you. No one ever gave them a second thought.

Aleya and Milana are visiting

Greg, Dianna, Aleya and Milana arrived safely from San Diego today. As you can see, Aleya is really excited to be here. As I'm typing this I'm hearing some yelling and it sounds like someone (probably Milana) fell down a couple of stairs and Aleya is trying to explain how it happened. She's OK though, they're off to make some cookies with Grandma. Going to be an exciting week!!

They're getting so big. Milana just loves to talk and is always picking up new words. I guess we'll have to be REAL careful around her or she'll be picking up words that she shouldn't.

We have lots of exciting things planned for their visit. They want to go visit the snow up at one of the passes. (I'll pass on that, I HATE snow!!). A trip to downtown Seattle and Pikes Place market is on the agenda as well. Of course we'll be having a couple of big family dinners as well. One on Sunday and one on Thanksgiving day when we'll finally get to meet Amanda's boyfriend Joe.

Time for a national civics lesson

I'm afraid that our country is in a pretty sad state right now. It was recently reported that our elected officials really don't know much about our country, our government or economics. According to the Intercollegiat Studies Institute, the average score for an elected official on their 33 question civics quiz was just 44%. Not that the average citizen did much better at 49%. You can view all the results at the following link:

http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/2008/additional_finding.html

Two things jump out at me.

First, it's painfully apparent that our teachers are not teaching American history. That or they're teaching some sort of revised version of it which bears no resemblence to what actually happened.

Second, We really, really need to do a better job of electing people to our government. I kind of think that a test should be required before they're permitted to run for office to prove that they have a basic knowledge of how our government works and what rights our citizens have and what restraints there are on government.

Want to see how you fare against the people who govern you? Take the test at the following link. It's only 33 questions so it won't take too long. If I hadn't read about the results from previous test takers I would have been upset at my score since I consider myself to be a bit of a history buff and pretty knowledgable about the founding principles of our country. But, given that the average citizen only scored 49% and the average elected official only scored 44%, my 87.88% (I missed 4 of the 33 questions) looks pretty darn good. Still, I think I should have done better.

http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx

Bill of No Rights

The following is often attributed to State Representative Mitchell Kaye from Cobb County, GA but was actually penned in 1993 by one Lewis Napper, the Libertarian Party candidate for the U.S. Senate in Mississippi.

Being about 15 years old now (he wrote it during the Clinton administration) and sometimes referred to as the "email heard 'round the world", everyone has probably already seen it but as we approach the inauguration of our first socialist president I thought it was worth posting.
_______________________________________________________

We, the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid anymore riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt-ridden, delusional and other liberal, bed wetters.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: That a whole lot of people were confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim that they require a Bill of No Rights.

ARTICLE I: You do not have the right to a new car, big screen TV, or any other form of wealth. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything.

ARTICLE II: You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone - not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc., but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be.


ARTICLE III: You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful, do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy.

ARTICLE IV: You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes.

ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in health care.

ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair.

ARTICLE VII: You do not have the right to the possessions of others. If you rob, cheat or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big-screen color TV or a life of leisure.

ARTICLE VIII: You don't have the right to demand that our children risk their lives in foreign wars to soothe your aching conscience. We hate oppressive governments and won't lift a finger to stop you from going to fight if you'd like. However, we do not enjoy parenting the entire world and do not want to spend so much of our time battling each and every little tyrant with a military uniform and a funny hat.

ARTICLE IX: You don't have the right to a job. All of us sure want all of you to have one, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful.

ARTICLE X: You do not have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to pursue happiness - which, by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an overabundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.

New Blog

Ok, I've finally created a new blog on blogspot like the rest of the family.

Stand by for some really, really interesting posts on an electic bunch of topics ranging from politics to motorcycles to the odd behavior of teenagers and the elderly.

On the topic of the elderly. A man in Phoenix calls his son in New York the day before Thanksgiving and says,"I hate to ruin your day, but I haveto tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough.

"Dad, what are you talking about?" the son screams.

We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the father says. "We're sick of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her."

Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. "Like heck they're getting divorced," she shouts, "I'll take care of this," She calls Phoenix immediately, and screams at her father, "You are NOT getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back, and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?" and hangs up.

The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. "Okay," he says,"they're coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own way."