A few tiny things to consider...

Not a lot I can add to the compare and contrast chart on this one other than the fact...yes liberals, it's a fact look em up...that EVERY one of Obama's stimulus funded fly by night green energy operations took taxpayer money and donated it right back into Obama's coffers before declaring bankruptcy...and in the case of Solyndra's leadership, taking the 5th when asked by congress where all the money went.

So, as I see it, Obama's campaign is partially funded by stolen tax dollars which is neither a coincidence nor, an accident.
It's the Chicago way!

I'm no fan of Romney but, I can give credit where it's due because the guy does seem to know something about economics and how a free market economy works...while the current Bozo stands clueless with his belief that government mandates, taxes and, regulations grow businesses and jobs.
His pro-Soviet upbringing shining through!

What Obama never seemed to grasp is that his soviet commerade's command economy produced little more than a working class that did very little work, produced almost nothing of quality and, had anyone who could afford to escape it, escaping.

Now that America has the highest corporate tax rate on the planet, regulations created willy-nilly from the oval office or, his socialist minions planted elsewhere within the administration which has created a climate of fear and uncertainty for American businesses...
They wonder why jobs aren't popping up like weeds.
They're completely dumbfounded as to why businesses would be exercising caution...while the administration has been working overtime to box them all in.

Then they play the patriot card...which for liberals is a laughable attempt at very bad acting...and criticize companies that have fled to other countries in order to avoid being taxed into non-existence or, regulated into just having enough money to buy plywood for the windows.
Yeah, any businessman who wants to feed his family and prosper is just greedy and unpatriotic for seeking a better deal elsewhere as opposed to just shutting down and ceasing to exist at all.

What is unpatriotic is a president and, administration that sees it's taxpayer as cattle who are living just to produce funding for leftist government pet programs and social engineering schemes.

Of course, a business that wants to grow and produce goods that people want will always be seen as "greedy" by leftists...while their welfare leaching base that is always demanding more while offering nothing in exchange aren't "greedy"...they're "needy"!

...Just Blame bush...

Hard to argue with the truth in this one...

Ohio's newest Katahdin sheep producer...

I am now the newest producer of Katahdin sheep in NW Ohio!

Starting with a flock of 5 ewes and a ram and, a viable business plan in place that I project will within the next year cover the initial cost of the flock, feed and fencing with a return on fresh grass-fed lambs for sale to my local resturants and, local Arab population that currently travels 60+ miles to buy lambs in Dearborn.

The hook is that they can view the lambs they buy from me from pasture to plate and, examine the conditions they're raised in and, what grasses and supplemental feeds are going into them.

Right now, it's not uncommon to see Arabs buying lambs at auction in Michigan, duct-taping their feet and tossing them into the trunk of a car and driving off.

I'll be offering lamb and mutton on the hoof or, pre-butchered from a facility that is open to examination also here in my area and, cut to order.
It's a win-win for everybody.

I haven't bought chicken or, eggs in the last 3 years.
After September and my hogs are butchered, I'll never have to buy factory produced pork again.
After September of 2013, I'll also be butchering this year's stears.
My garden has already produced so many tomatoes, apples, onions, pears and asparagus that I'm feeding the leftovers to the hogs and chickens.
I have so many rabbits that are ready to butcher that I'll be flush with stew all winter long.

...And this is just my first year farming!

The opposite of "progressive" is progress

3 calves, 3 hogs, 30 rabbits, 47 chickens, 6 sheep, 8 geese and, so many tomatoes and eggs that we supplement the hog's feed with leftovers and blemished stuff from the garden...which includes apples and pears by the wheelbarrow full. I picked up an old 1948 Ford 8N tractor for under 2 grand that has been rebuilt and repainted and, looks like it just came off a showroom floor. With the sale of my house in Toledo, this place will have 60% knocked off the principle of my loan and result in my farm being paid for in ten years instead of twenty. With the sale of my wife's home in P-burg, the proceeds will be going toward a 1 acre pond stocked with bass, bluegill and crapie. Since my stepmother is an Arab, my income is now padded with the network of Arabs from Toledo who used to drive all the way to Dearborn to be fleeced for lamb meat at inflated prices. Now, they can drive 15 minutes as opposed to an hour + and, be able to choose their lamb where it stands, see the conditions it's been raised in and, do what Arabs do best...haggle the price in person. My goal to retire from my regular job by age 55 with a viable income and, 401k padding is now more realistic than ever since working the farm is almost generating enough income to eat for free and, my day job is making the house note and, the utilities with enough left over to sock away for misc stuff that pops up or, catches my fancy. I have to openly admit that without my wife and kids jumping in and sharing a stake in all this, it would have failed from day one. I work 50+ hours a week on a night shift with a 55 minute drive to work and back...and mucking the pens, feeding the critters, caring for the garden, mowing the lawn and all the other stuff would be a bitch without a dedicated bunch standing behind me and pushing me when I need to be. It isn't easy getting off work at 6 am, driving for an hour and, taking care of a farm for a few hours, then, sleeping until 3 pm, out the door by 4 and, rinse and repeat without the support of my wife and kids helping with the legwork. In other news, my neighbors that each live a half mile away, are damned fine people of a caliber that don't exist within city limits. I'm storing my neighbor's fleet of gravity wagons in one of my barns...he offered to pay rent but, instead of cash, he's now my "go to guy" for farming questions since he's 81 years old and has more passable knowledge than I'd ever get for mere money...and, my youngest son will be learning how to operate his harvester in the fall. Besides that, my neighbor is also our first egg cusomer...who has also advertised to our other neighbors where to get eggs from free-ranged chickens at half the cost of buying organic eggs from a store. Indeed, I am fortunate that things are working well for me...and NOTHING the government has done has been able to wreck it.

Greetings from the stix...

Greetings everyone! My leap away from aguing about politics has been...wonderful. The farm and farmlife are a welcome change that I won't be changing...ever! Since my last posting here, the wheat grew, and was harvested. My hogs went from being tiny piglets to being monsters that are almost ready for the butcher and freezer. I have 4 head of cattle and, a garden that is bursting at it's seems with tomatoes that are comming ripe. Obama is still a douchbag and, regardless of whatever evidence is produced...morons will still blindly support him without question. So, my saved breath goes toward something productive....that the government didn't help me accomplish! This endeavor was a family operation...which Obama's labor secretary FAILED to quash also. I'll try not to be such a stranger on you folk's sites and chime in from time to time from here on until November when the little marxist gets the boot. -Sepp

Too political?

Polish officials requested that Walesa accept the Medal of Freedom on behalf of Jan Karski, a member of the Polish Underground during World War II who was being honored posthumously this week.
The Obama administration said "no" citing that Walesa is "too political"

Yeah, he fought against the communist oppression of the Polish people...which runs counter to everything Obama and his friends stand for.
The last person a communist would hang a medal on would be Lech Walesa...only due to the fact that Reagan is dead.

So who did get a medal from Obama?

The obviously "not-too-political" Delores Huerta...the honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America!

No surprise there eh?
Obama shunning a man who had fought against communism for being too political while hanging a medal and kissing the ass of some hag who hates America and, the human liberties it stands for.

Yeah, yeah, yeah...bring it on moonbats. Go into your canned duckspeak about how Obama isn't a socialist etc, etc, etc even though the evidence has always pointed to the contrary and paraded before your eyes.
You're either too stupid to see it or, too smart to admit it.

Obama admin pulls back from moronic farm rule...

Anyone who is still stuck on the idea that the Obama administration is somehow NOT trying to push it's nanny state ideals and stick it's nose into the private lives of citizens where it's not welcome or wanted are obviously still delusional from the kool-aid they drank 4 years ago.

The measure proposed by Obama's blatantly socialist hag Hilda Solis would have prevented kids from doing labor...IE...chores...on their family's farms such as...storing, marketing and transporting farm product raw materials...eggs? ...milk? ...hay and straw? ...chickens?
The measure also would have prohibited them from stacking hay and straw in a loft and operating machinery or handling and showing of animals.

This isn't the first time this sleazy administration has attempted to pull a fast one on the family farmer.
Just over a year ago they were trying to push for anyone operating a tractor / tiller / combine etc to obtain a CDL in order to use the machinery.
THAT idea went down in flames also...which is'nt surprising that the administration would be back with another anti-farm scheme to replace it.

Kids have been helping and doing chores on their family farmsteads since long before this country was founded. Not only is the operation of the family farm a PRIVATE matter that the DOL should stay the hell away from but it's also a parental issue in which the government has no business sticking it's beak into.

What next? Dictating to parents that doing dishes or taking out the trash is illegal for their kids to do too?
How about mowing lawns? A lawn mower is also "farm machinery" which pretty much would have stopped Junior from mowing the lawn and also making a few good summertime bucks mowing the neighbor's lawns too.

What I believe Solis's motive was / is... was to eliminate a section of the workforce (farm kids) and leave the family farmer stuck with having to hire someone...which would likely be an illegal since she's so PRO-illegal alien or be stuck doing everything himself.

The pro-Obama idiots out there have been defending this asshole by stating "It was Solis...not Obama!"

Well sure you could say that and technically be correct had the fact not existed that HE hired her knowing full well that she is a moonbat socialist with pro illegal alien leanings and a history of anti-Americanism...just like many of his appointees...and for the fact that he never stepped in and stopped her moonbat ass from trying.

This entire administration is chock full of shitbags who's interests run 180 degrees counter to American values.
Typical liberal agenda...first they made kids stupid via the dumbed down public school system and now they're trying to make them all lazy by banning common chores.
What better way to usher in the next generation of lazy idiots who become dependent on the government to seek salvation via the freebies offered by the democraps?

A huge part of American exceptionalism is the fact that our farmers can still feed the entire planet while most other nations can't produce enough to feed themselves.
Only a liberal would look at that as a "bad thing" and try to subvert it.
What better way to subvert it than to eliminate the future of farming by destroying the means to learn it firsthand?

Banning kids from working on their family's farm...where the hell are we...
Cambodia circa 1975 working toward "Year Zero"?

...kind of explains Obama's logo symbol pretty well.

Stix pix update...

Looking East

Looking West...

Eastward view from yard...

Neighbor across the street...

A better Eastward view...

Northern neighbor's house...perfect!

The wife had snapped these pics of our new place a few weeks back and neglected to mention them until I asked to use her camera. The major difference is that the trees are now in bloom and, I can't take a picture of the peace and quiet that conveys living away from constant traffic, nosey neighbors and, city drama that has been less and less intrusive and annoying.

Yesterday, I fenced my poultry area off with 150' of wire fencing and transported my flock to their new digs and, I've set up a deal to get 2 Katahdin sheep and a Dorper Ram to mow the grass in the back.
Still looking for for a few feeder pigs to round things out but, it seems that lately everyone thinks that every piglet is a 4-H show winner in the making and are trying to charge champion bloodline prices for standard run of the mill piglets...county fair season for kids...go figure.

As for internet, still no concrete decision.

For phone service, I opted for virgin mobile's $35 a month plan that includes unlimited internet over the phone and is still better than any landline deal available...so my blogging days may be numbered unless I shit or, get off the pot and, make a decision for internet service since blogging from a blackberry is out of the question for me.
We'll see what happens but, with the nice weather popping up here lately my favorite medium of working in my yard and, getting the garden prepped will soak up a lot of time.

I picked up 50 Jersey Giant Asparagus crowns to plant and a shitload of garlic and onion sets as well as seed potatoes the other day.
My tomato sprouts will be trans-planted mid-May-ish if all looks well.

Updates to follow!

Here we go again...

While checking around for a hot deal on some hot rounds, my distributor's website had a new disclaimer on his page...

"WHOLESALE PRICES HAVE SKYROCKETED..WE ARE PAYING TOP DOLLAR JUST TO KEEP AMMO IN STOCK..DEMAND HAS DOUBLED JUST THIS YEAR..STAY TUNED BUT IT'S NOT LOOKING GOOD. "

It wasn't the only place that is beginning to see shortages and price hikes not unlike what we'd seen 4 years ago when prices nearly doubled and, common calibers were listed as being "back ordered indef" for months at a time with the exception being that it's only April and, the rush is already beginning.

This being an election year is part of whats fueling the rush as well as the growing potential for civil unrest in many places along with violent crime spiralling out of control.
People simply aren't feeling safe anymore nor, do they believe that police protection actually protects them or, deters criminals.

It's pretty shameful for a few reasons because NO American should ever live with the concern that the government has become such a rogue entity that people actually believe it would remove a constitutional right or, restrict it into being impossible to exercise.

It's also shameful that thugs and criminals no longer fear any deterrent to crime because going to jail is a hoodrat's highest honor second only to killing someone.
That has happened because too few people said a word while the crime culture has been being glorified and sold to kids for 30 years.

Civil unrest? I highly doubt at this point that wide scale rioting will be breaking out anytime soon but, I can certainly see why many folks have concerns about it since it seems that every goofy splinter group of miscreants and malcontents have grown bolder over the last year or, two and, like their "thug and drug" brethren, they have no concern for people, property or, the police catching them.
I've watched in the last year some outright thuggish behavior being performed in direct view of the police who seemed to have had a greater fear of the media's portrayal of them arresting a drama queen than a concern for their law enforcement duties.

Apparently, it's not just the citizens themselves that seem to be expecting some type of domestic unrest since the military has updated FM 3-19 which covered civil unrest operations outside of CONUS to 3-19.15 (2005) which now covers operations within our borders so, it isn't just a bunch of "nuts" who smell something cooking since the government seems to have been preparing for the same thing for some time now.
As reported in multiple sources on March 28th, the DHS has ordered some 450 million rounds of .40 S&W and, some 175 million rounds of .223 ammo.
Nothing to see here, move along, move along! 

Earl Scruggs - January 6, 1924 – March 28, 2012

Rest in peace Mr Scruggs.

I've noticed over the years something about banjo players...they always seem to have a big smile on their faces and appear to be having the time of their lives while playing which is transmitted to the audience who always seem to be smiling back and having the time of their lives too.
Thanks Earl, for years worth of wonderfull playing!

Taking the good with the bad...

The good news...I'm now the owner of 8 acres of a rural Sandusky county homestead on a dead-end road...woo-hoo 15 years of house payments.

The bad news...it's so far out in the sticks that cable hasn't even made it that far yet...so in the next few weeks, I'll either be offline for an indef period or, coughing up the scratch to get satelite tv (which I don't watch anyways) in order to connect with something a bit faster than dial-up...which would suck.

Anyone have experience with Sat-internet?
Cost?
Speed?
Down time?

I've also considered doing the cell phone to computer connection
Good? Bad? A ripoff? Limitations?

I have about 2 weeks to decide on something or, possibly be happy in skipping it altogether and missing out on reading about the latest idiotic idea in D.C or, the daily body count from shootings in Toledo.

Liberal groups "shocked and outraged" over government spying

Remember back in April of 2009 when Jan-nut Napolitano issued her homeland security "warning" about gun owners, 2nd amendment supporters,  returning veterans, anti-abortion people, white people who hate Obama, Ron Paul supporters, constitutionalists or, those who are complaining about illegal immigration  who were targeted "without any speciffic information" that deemed those folks as a "threat" at all?

I certainly remember the left's glee in response to that crap. They were rabidly cheering it!

Well, now we've come to find out that LEFTIST groups were also being infiltrated by the police and FBI to monitor their actions and potential for terrorist activity.

It seems that the left doesent like that for some reason and, they feel "violated" now!

Well shitbags, THAT is what communism / socialist / facist regimes do!
And, while your silly asses were cheering for that shit, are you really going to say now that you were too damned dumb to understand that what you've been asking for all along...you're finally getting?

"Oh my goodness...they've been spying on...gasp...US!...they're only supposed to be after "them"!

Sorry dummies, it doesent work that way.

When you were busy cheering that MY rights were being shit on, you were too ignorant to consider that your own would soon follow.
In fact, many of you simply thought that since you supported the regime, the regime would leave your rights untouched.

A lot of Russians and Germans thought the same way not long ago while they were cheering the regimes for getting rid of their enemies and later finding themselves on the same side of the barbed wire wondering what happened.

In this latest matter, it's a simple case of liberals failing to learn from the history of their own foolish beliefs and, not liking the same outcome...again.

You want socialism / communism but, NOT the "bad stuff" that comes along with it?
How do you think those regimes retain power? By respecting the citizen's rights?
You asked for it, you got it!

Open thread 2012 election flowchart...

Atlas shrugged...the movie

I saw the film version of Atlas shrugged a few days ago on netflix.

4 stars and very well done.

The book was written in 1957 and if you've read it, you're seeing life immitating art here in the present.

For those of you who haven't read the book, it's about runaway liberalism that with the help of political correctness and the government goes about trying to destroy the producers of society via class envy.
After being beaten down and, having their businesses destroyed by over-regulation that is designed to ruin them...the business people are offered a chance to "disappear" and create wealth and enjoy life away from the reach of the system and, they do.
And since the government nor, the indoctrinated idiot population it has produced have the ability to run a functional society without the innovators, everything falls apart.

Keep in mind that this book was released in 1957 but mentions,
"Equal opportunity" which in typical liberal fashion has very little to do with actual equality even today.
And,
The government picking winners and losers of industry...look at how many millions have been thrown at "green jobs" and rolled snake-eyes.

If you read Rand, Huxley or, Orwell, it seems obvious that liberalism has taken the worst villians and ideas from those authors and have used them as a script to live by.

Orwell's 1984...an all encompassing government that spies on every aspect of everyone's life and uses fear to control them...or, sends them off to the basement of a secret jail to be tortured.

Huxley's Brave new world...a leftist government that keeps it's citizens drugged, happily hedonistic and too stupid to question anything...consider that when the school is recommending ritalin or, prozac to your 8 year old in order to keep them from acting like an 8 year old and in a daze staring back at the teacher.

Then we have the latest "pink slime" shit that the government is pushing on the schools to feed children that even the nutritional scientists have dubbed "Soylent pink" in reference to the film Soylent green...
Government McNuggets anyone?

Liberals immitating art.

For my good friend muddy...

Liberal life in Imagination land...where you can just pretend that failure is success, poverty is wealth, fools are enlightened, war is peace, freedom is slavery and, ignorance is knowledge and responsibility is the other guy's problem!

A little sarcasm to start your day...

Sorry, liberals...he's mocking you!

Record spending, record debt, record gas prices, inflation so, what's a few million here and there on the taxpayer's dime for a few luxury vacations to exotic places every few months?

R.I.P Andy 1969 - 2012

One of the good guys...Andy Breitbart 1969 - 2012 telling the truth.

A warning from the grave...

http://www.snopes.com/photos/signs/grigsby.asp

And, 120+ years later...he's still right!

Camp Democrat...

My kid is going off to 6th grade camp.

Cabins, bonfires, ghost stories, horseback riding, pranks, etc right?

Obviously not.

My son's school had a "primer" for the district's 6th graders to all attend on Friday.
As a parent and, from experience of going myself and, sending my 3 older kids off to 6th grade camp, I assumed it was going to be an informational type meeting that tells the kids what to expect from leaving home for a week for the first time by themselves.

Nope!

It was a "primer" alright...my son was subjected to activities such as "hug tag" where all the kids are on the gym floor while music plays and when it stops...they have to be hugging the first kid they get their hands on or, be "frozen"...IE "bad".
It didn't matter who you were hugging...boys with boys...just so long as you didn't end up "frozen" and frowned upon...and "out".

The next "activity" was touching your knees with another student and gazing into his / her eyes for a timed 2 minutes.

Next came the "anyone who has ever been bullied or, made fun of...stand up and tell your story" time.

My son said that 3 kids who nobody from his school knew, stood up and told stories about being bullied or, picked on and, began to cry halfway through their stories.

What the hell does any of that shit have to do with going to 6th grade camp?
Acting gay and doing obviously gay things is good but, if you're repulsed by it..."you're bad and somethings wrong with you" and, you're just like the villians in the stories those other kids told?

What next? "If Johnny touches your weiner in the bathroom and you don't like it, somethings wrong with you" indoctrination crap?

Fucking liberals. I'm fed up with the crap they try to push on adults but, when they start trying to ram their shit down the throats of kids, I draw the fucking line.

My son was told that the function was "to enhance the kids in mixing with other students as opposed to spending the week hanging with their friends."

Guess what? Kids who decide to go to the archery range or, ride horses or, go hiking...ARE going to meet other kids due to shared interests!

And this entire "school bully" bullshit just teaches kids to continue to be cowards while using "the government" as their crutch.
We're breeding the next generation of anonymus tipsters to every problem people have deep into adulthood.

I myself, saw the former "school bully" from my own school last year.
He took my money...at the carwash he works at!
Wanna teach kids about school bullies?
Explain karma to them and, how it works!

The assholes I went to school with all seem to be 43 years old and still working entry level jobs.
Karma baby...don't forget to wash the wheels!

I teach my kids that if Johnny is an asshole, stay away from Johnny!
And, if Johnny is an asshole to them, kick Johnny's ass and let Johnny know the actual pecking order...backing down from Johnny and telling on him just emboldens him and gets you the "pussy" label.

As for qweers...which it seems this entire "meeting" was all about anyways, I find it disgusting that an adult agenda is being forced onto kids in the 6th grade.

Guess what? If a boy is repulsed by the idea that another boy is sexually atrracted to him, it isn't he that is the odd man out and worthy of public scorn.
He's reacting in a natural way to something that isn't natural.
So liberals feel the need to step in and criminalize the natural instincts of a child and force him to feel an awkward shame for being human as opposed to being a socially engineered drone who is afraid of thinking opposed to what the flock has been conditioned to think?

Liberalism and political correctness...the art of knowing better but, afraid of being honest for fear of being cast out of the flock. Going along to get along while knowing the truth is supressed in order to save feelings.

I can't see any culture surviving when it's forced to lie to itsself to save people from the bitter truths that surround it.

My 6th grader son described the "meeting" as "awkward and creepy for everyone".
Everyone who didn't have an agenda to push I suppose!