McCain's in trouble

I did not watch much of the 2nd debate. I still believe they are all liars. However the little I did see McCain looked old, hell he is. Unfortunately his limited arm movement makes him look somewhat handicapped. This bullshit of "my friends" is bogus. His style is stiff and he just comes across as cold and unyielding. Obama isn't a lot better. He is charming and smart. But I am really afraid of a power shift that may spell trouble for the country. There seems to be a backlash against the Republicans. Several traditional Republican seats in the both Senate and House were lost to Democrats in the last year or so. The sentiment against Bush is heavy and I don't think he could carry a jockstrap now.

The conservative wing of the Republican party seems to be inflexible and I do not understand that. What scares me is that there will be a Democratic majority that will be so strong that liberal laws will be passed that will create more national debt, will create more people in our society dependent upon public support and eventually increase the tax burden on all of us. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid at not wise political leaders but have an extreme liberal agenda. We can't afford for the rail to socialism to be greased.

A Contradiction

Today I had to go pay my local taxes. No problem. However I began to ponder the mindset of people. I stopped by to assess for 2008, I was already assessed. The lady at the counter was quite heavy set. She was wearing a dress that was fairly low cut exposing some substantial cleavage. She had a light sweater on and then kept pulling the sweater over her cleavage, unsuccessfully I might add. It made me think, why would a person dress in a fashion designed to emphasize something and then use something else to hide it. Would it not be more natural to simply make your statement without embarrassment. And for my daughters who may read this, I did not stare, I did not drool, I observed her action while waiting on someone else. I just wonder why people wear what might be considered provocative clothing to then try to hide the exposure.

Health Update

In two days it will have been 21 months since I had bowel resection surgery. A rough time line goes something like this: Jan, 2007 Bowel resection surgery, February 2007 irregular heartbeat becomes noticeable, March 2007 hospitalized for an Afib episode, August 2007 irregular heartbeat becomes so noticeable that a Holter monitor is prescribed for a 24 hour period, at the same time I start to encounter gall stone attacks, November 2007 gall bladder surgery, June 2008 small bowel obstruction. Whew!

I have had almost 5 months of peace. My irregular heartbeat still exists, however the sensation has almost slipped below consciousness. The gas attack episodes I was having due to the gall bladder removal have become very mild and almost not noticeable. I still am not used to the bowel activity and variation I run into, however I am sensing a pattern and am relieved at that.

From a psychological stand point I believe I am now getting some stability. When I had bowel resection surgery and realized my brush with cancer I have had to deal with mortality issues all over again. I am older now, time is passing rapidly and I don't want it to. My work years are dwindling down, I still haven't made up my mind when I shall retire however retirement does not seem like vacation to me. It seems more like a recognition of the end.

The small bowel obstruction scared the hell out of me. At the time it was very painful and I was as sick as I ever have been. I thought perhaps ulcer, some sort of rupture, then when I learned obstruction I thought a recurrence of cancer. It all worked out very well, but the Dr. told me that I might have another occurrence in a week, thirty days, a year, thirty years or never again. The not knowing was hard on me. Every time I had a gas pain, did not have a BM for a day or so, or just felt a little bloated I worried about an obstruction. I am now worrying less, but it was such a painful, unpleasant experience that I do not want it to come back, ever.

One of the things that seems to be important in my digestive tract activity is drinking water. Soda, coffee and other liquids all contain water, but my system seems to want a pretty good dose of water.

I am more at peace now. I am able to plan for the future better than a year ago. I have bought some "boy toys" like a tractor with a front end loader, I bought a new air rifle to do some squirrel hunting, Terry and I have some plans for landscaping. My mind is reaching out further and the end of time is moving out away from me again. However, 30 years ago time was like a grand ocean to me, I could not see across it. Now, I can see the distant shore and the outline of trees, but I still cannot see an individual tree, but the far shore is now visible. Perhaps being closer to an end will make life that much sweeter to me. We shall see.

Right now, I feel fine, I exercise. I am having difficulty keeping me weight down and have to work at that. Work is interesting, however working around the house is becoming more pleasurable. Maybe I am in mental transition from work to retirement.

Some thoughts on the upcoming election

I was emailed an article in the NY Times recently. It was a story about the roots of the credit problem in the U.S. From the article Congress is to blame. However, in addition to Congress we can find the roots of the problem in the Clinton administration. You see, in the late 80's the Attorney General Janet Reno began pushing Fannie Mae to take on loans from people who were less that adequate credit risks. This was a public push to get lower income families into home ownership. At the same time congressmen were calling Fannie Mae urging them to take on riskier loans because their constituents financial needs. In fact, one of the congressmen urging Fannie Mae to take on high risk loans was Barney Franks, the same chairman of the Banking committee pushing hard on the bailout bill. I guess the democrats will take every opportunity to piss away our tax dollars.

One democratic senator is quoted in the article about Fannie Mae taking action because the cost of homes was doubling every 6-7 years yet income was only going up about 1% a year. Now it seems to me that simple logic tells you that at some point in time there will be a problem. How about requiring classes for people on financial responsibility.

The article pointed out that Senator McClain had a premonition of the trouble we were headed for and asked for oversight back in the 90's. Maybe if some fiscally responsible congressmen stood up and quit excusing the plight of the poor we would be a stronger country instead of being built on a revolving line of credit.

Here we are heading for a strong democratic congress, and perhaps a liberal democratic President. Heaven help us! Since when did owning a home become an entitlement or a right instead of a privilege. Since when did sitting home on your ass collecting a "crazy kids" checks or a check for aid to dependent children become a means for steady income. We are destroying people's incentive to work by providing them with money that is not founded on effort or skill but condition. There are people who need help, but there a many that milk the system and it is job security for those agencies providing the aid. Ken Hamblin makes a good point on the "brood mares" sustaining their economic condition by having foals.

Well, guess I'll end here this has the making of an out of control diatribe. We've survived for 200 plus years through a variety of political powers. However, with retirement so close I end up personally concerned for the ever increasing government incursion into areas it is incapable of handling effectively and efficiently.

The Credit Crunch

My nephew sent me an article in the NY Times about Fannie Mae. The reason he sent the article was because he works for Fannie Mae. This is the quasi-government corporation that specialized in buying and selling bundles of mortgages with a guaranteed buy back on risky mortgages. Sounds like a deal too good to be true.

The article goes on to discuss the tremendous pressure Congress exerted on FM back in the Clinton era and since to expand their portfolio to take in riskier and riskier stocks. Large financial firms got in on the deal by buying bundled securities directly from lenders and bypassing FM. The competitive pressure and Congressional pressure grew to enormous proportions. In addition FM was guilty of using tactics to prod Congressmen into exerting pressure. The senior executives of FM were also awash in riches and the races was on. The loser is the consumer and other high flying companies.

Frankly I think the government should reach back at least 5 years and require CEO's to give up their golden parachutes. I think that the market should not be propped up but allowed to sink to a sustainable level. Home prices are out of whack now because of the rampant rush to sell a mortgage. Home flipping became a speculative market that was like a pyramid scheme, eventually someone was going to be left holding the over valued property. Why should we bail them out?

Colleges in the U.S. with tremendous endowment funds raise their tuition at will. College student debt is enormous with young people coming into the labor market owing tens of thousands of dollars for their education. Credit card debt is over extended. Our economy is propped up by debt which is hard to value. A home mortgage is secured by real estate, a college loan and credit card debt is unsecured. When will that devil come to bite us.

The democrats are basically to blame with their loosen the purse strings attitude in the 1980's. I believe that Congress will reflect a backlash against the Republican party, Much in part to the religious right and their "my way or the highway" mentality. My fear is that we will have a powerful democratic congress with a liberal democratic president and the door will be open to all kinds of excesses. I do not trust Obama, I believe he has an agenda that is not necessarily in the best interest of all Americans. At least with government gridlock the harm that will be done by the expediency of our legislative and executive branch is blunted. If we end up with a democratic congress and a democratic president we shall indeed be on a slippery slope.

Harvesting Cotton in Missouri's Bootheel

While I live in Arkansas and work in Arkansas the easiest way for me to get to work is through Missouri. I live in northeastern Arkansas just west of the Bootheel of Missouri. Blytheville, AR where I work is southeast of Paragould. The route that is most time efficient is to go through the Bootheel to I-55, then south five miles to Blytheville. As a result I go through some of the best agricultural land in the Mississippi delta. Huge fields dominate the scene and rice, cotton and soybeans are the most often planted crops. About this time of year harvest is in full swing. The equipment used is massive and fields are cleared in hours not days.

Cotton pickers pick six rows at a time. They have tapered cones that guide the plant into two rotating drums that have rubber fingers that strip the cotton bolls from the plant. Then a suction system takes the boll up to a cage that traps the cotton. When the cage is full a tractor pulling a large cotton wagon comes along side the picker and the cage elevates and tips so the cotton is dumped into the cotton wagon. The picker resumes picking and the cotton wagon transports the cotton to a cotton module compress. The compress has two hydraulic rams and a large bar that goes back and forth in the module compress and packs the cotton into a module. The cotton module is about 30 feet long, 8 feet high and 6 to 8 feet wide. A module holds about 13 to 17 500 lb ginned cotton bales.

The process is very efficient, however in the last two years J I Case, my former company and John Deere have improved the process even further. Case makes a cotton picker that compacts its own module. The module is about half the size of a module but a transport truck can handle two modules so the weight is about the same as a full sized module. The Deere picker rolls the cotton into a large round bale similar to a very large hay bale. The pickers are huge to accommodate the compacting system. The cost runs almost $500,000. However it eliminates the need for a cotton wagon and a module maker plus the attendants. So it is a little more cost effective.

I have attached a video I shot near what is known as Cotton Plant Corner just north of Hornersville, MO. I go past these fields every trip to Blytheville so when I came along Wednesday morning I stopped and shot some video. I hope you enjoy the brief amateur video, but it does show cotton picking in full swing.

Be Sure to VOTE!

If you are voting for McCain because Obama is black you are voting McCain for the wrong reason. If you are voting Obama because Pallin is a woman, you are voting Obama for the wrong reason. If you are voting for Obama because he is black then you are voting Obama for the wrong reason. If you are voting for McCain because Pallin is a woman then you are voting McCain for the wrong reason.

However, if you are voting Obama because his past actions most express your values then you are voting Obama for the right reason. If you are voting for McCain because your values are best expressed by his past actions then you are voting McCain for the right reason.

However, If you are voting for Obama or McCain based on what they are saying right now during the campaign, you will be voting ignorance because they are all lying. There is only one thing we have to learn that we don't already know. Is Sarah Pallin capable of presenting her credentials in a meaningful, articulate way? We don't really know that yet. She has faced interviews by folks trying to trip her up rather than explore her knowledge. She has been kept under wraps from the prying questions of the press. In addition she is stonewalling an investigation that may have political motivations rather than a search for the truth. So that is one question we don't have answered. Hopefully we will become knowledgeable before the election.