The fall garden

Fall Garden

I planted a larger fall garden this year. Our favorites are Brussels sprouts; the plants are more numerous and healthier than last year when some developed a disease. As I probably say in another blog, other cold weather crops include broccoli, collards, lettuce, cabbage, Kohlrabi and arugula.

Here are some pics:

Traveling Stories and our New President

The Gilliam's of Johnston County have been pretty busy over the past month, thus the lack of new blogs. As the previous blog tells, Cecilia and I took our annual vacation to Holden Beach 4 weeks ago. The week after our return a trip to New Orleans was planned. We made these plans at least 6 months ago with the main intention being a big concert called the Voodoo Fest that had three bands, which have been among our favorite older bands from the 80's and early 90's. These bands were REM, Stone Temple Pilots and Nine Inch Nails. The concerts were good, especially REM who we saw a few years back in Raleigh. Our hotel was down near the water front area close to the famous Bourbon Street. The food and sites were great. Personally my favorite part was just seeing the old building, streets and to a lesser extent weird people. Unfortunately we did not take any tours, but if there is a next time the tours will be a main part of day. I was somewhat amazed that the part of town we stayed showed no damage from Katrina.

This time of year premium bottom fish like grouper and red snapper move from the deeper parts of the ocean along the continental shelf closer to shore, so I always take a bottom fishing trip to stock up on fish for winter. The chance presented itself last weekend as the weather was perfect. Since the big boat was sold a year ago, I rely now on my brother-in-law who has the 31 ft Bertram, however, that boat had a little damage and Steve had plans out of town. So, I contacted his fishing buddy who has a much smaller boat. We went out 30 miles offshore in 120 ft of water. We had absolutely the best fishing trip ever. Doug had fished this area for 30 years and said the fishing was the best he's seen. Everyone had a great time. The best bite was around noon and over the next two hours we hooked up with nice sized snappers, black sea bass and trigger fish as soon as our bait hit the bottom and in several instances two fish at a time. The cooler, a big cooler was so full by 2 pm we had to quit. When I returned it took 3.5 hours to clean the fish even though I took a whole small cooler full to a friend at work. I took a few pictures to remember the trip, but almost every minute have been seared into my memory.








President Barack Hussain Obama

What a long campaign. It's nice that the election is finally over. Too much time was spent over the last year in our household keeping track of the election, so I'm looking forward to getting back to other important things around the house. I realize many in the family were strongly against Obama. If it ends up after 4 years that I was wrong in my instinct of who he is and what he'll do as President, I expect a "I told you so", but right now there is good bit of confidence that he'll be a good if not great leader of America. One of the most positives that came from this election in my opinion is the end of Karl Rove-type politics of character assassination rather that issue-based dialoge. Obama, as many of my blogs have argued, faced the largest number of character attacks via email smears, books and directly from the opponent. When you say a potential leader of the country is an empty suite, Muslim terrorist sympothiser, socialist or traitor rather than challaging policy using factual information it does not benifit the country as a whole. Obama kept a cool, benevolent demenor throughout the negative campaign, and this in the end won out. Personally I was skeptical after 10 or more negative mailers were sent to our address over the last week, but substance won over smear this time around.

I get a sense that a major part of his plan, which is backed by many of leading economist will be a major investment in the nations infrastructure which includes bridges, roads, a new energy infrastructure. The key word is investment as projects like these will benifit the country for decades to centuries. Some think the governement does all this stuff, but the reality is small buisness are at the core of these efforts and the created jobs are ones that stay in America.

love you all!

Robbie

Beach Trip at Holden Beach NC 2008

We just got back from our annual beach trip at Holden Beach yesterday. It seems these trips are just too short, over before they start, but that's what happens when your having a lot of fun I guess. If I had the ability to hand-pick the weather for the week, the conditions could not have been chosen any better than what Mother Earth gave our family.

We left on Sat morning and checked in around 2 pm. The weather was cool, windy and a little rainy Saturday, so we left the boat on the trailer and fishing rods in the truck and enjoyed the fact that we were on vacation and had no responsibilities except to enjoy life and each other.

The weather improved Sunday as the sun and warmth returned, although it remained a little windy. I put the boat in the water early while Cecilia worked on waking. We did a little flounder fishing with no luck. A friend from work came down Sunday evening through Monday afternoon, so we fished quite a bit and although we caught 3-4 flounder and a few other assorted fish, nothing was large enough to keep for dinner.

We had several other friends make short visits, so there was not a whole lot of alone time, but we did get a few more fishing trips together. The highlight was on Wednesday when Cecilia hooked what I'm positive was the largest flounder we've ever caught. The tell sign is when you pull up on the rod tip and cannot budge the fish. Unfortunately the fish had half the finger mullet in it's mouth, but not the hook, so as it's shadow came in sight the fish released the mullet. Cecilia did get excited when she pulled a flounder in the boat later in the day, but the fish as a little short to keep at 13 inches.

I fished each morning early. It was nice to have the company of Cody and Cady. They make great boat dogs. For the first time, although the weather, moon and time of the year considerations pointed to one of the best weeks of fishing of the year, I did not catch a single keeper flounder all week, only a few bluefish and lizard fish. The two keeper flounder were hooked in quick succession Thursday morning from the pier. I found out that day that the flounder action was hot Sun-Thu in the morning at high tide. The flounder lady I made friends with caught 4-5 good sized fish each morning. Nonetheless, the trip is mainly about having fun and not neccessarily catching fish the whole time. Cecilia and I had a nice fried flounder dinner on Friday night before we left.


Cady in the Captain chair


Cody and Cady on our Dock


Oh, Cecilia did not spend much time at the beach, but I got a little saltwater therapy almost every day, mostly in the afternoon. The surf was not good enough most of the week, so I swam or just floated in the ocean in the afternoon and some evenings. A few good waves were caught on the Saturday we arrived.

My main regret as I sit here Sunday morning is that I did not take more pictures of us, but I did take some of the dogs.

This is a picture of a place we call Bailey's beach, which is the spot we started taking Bailey our first dog that died last November. We take the dogs here to let them play and swim. Cecilia and I wrote some words about Bailey and read them on Wed afternoon in memory of her.



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Politics 2008

As I write my blog this morning Colin Powell just endorsed the judgment and leadership style of Barack Obama. Any non-biased person over the last month would agree that Obama presents a more calm, collective and intellegent approach to problems. McCain has not only shown that he had poor judgment in his pick of Palin, but has proven an erratic leadership style by the fact that his campaign jumps back and forth its focus. Powell just stated a similar opinion and talked about the jumping from Ayres to tax/wealth redistribution.

The Ayres issues is just silly. It was the Annanburg Foundation, a Republican group that was started by one of Reagan's ambassadors, who funded Ayres proposal for an education program for intercity schools. That is right, if you want to tag Obama as a radical supporter of a terrorist then you need to also agree that the Republican Annanburg Foundation funds terrrorist. Again it's silly to say that because a group of Republicans and Democratic civic and buisness leaders in Chicago serve on a board that focuses on educational issues and one of the members did some bad things 30 years ago that all the people somehow are tied to those past transgressions. I just recieved a flyer from the NC RNC regarding this and shot back an email that describes my Republican roots including the scouting merit badge that orginally had me register as an NC Republican. I told them Bush lost me and I'm now an Independent, and a large part of that transition are the Rovian political strategies that this Ayres issue fall within.

They also sent another flyer that further illustrates how behind the times Rovian politics is now. It tries to link Obama to Hollywood. I know this is a good dogwhistle with the base of the Republican party, but come on, send me something on how John McCain's policies are better than Obama's. Again, don't treat me like I'm stupid Republicans. When your only telling me how bad the other person is and not telling me how great you are, there must be something your hiding.

One last piece of information is Obama's latest fund raising. This is the definition of grass roots organization and contributions.

Over 632,000 new donors.

3.1 million total donors.

More than $150 MILLION.

Average contribution for the month was under $100.

Average contribution for the entire campaign is around $86.

As a proud American, I'm even more proud that I have been a part of what could be a historic election. Each time I see an Obama ad in NC I see my small contributions put to good use.

Fall/Winter Garden

Family: The garden as a whole did well this summer. This was our second summer garden, which was expanded from last year. My goal was to can/freeze enough that it could be eaten on all winter; this did not neccessarily happen, but we did improve from the first year and learned a lot that will push us closer to that goal next year. The best vegtable of the summer award goes to the heirloom Brandywine tomatoes that according to Mother Earth News are considered the most tasty variety; our tastebuds certainly agree on that ranking. These were grown from seed and while they don't bear a huge amount of fruit, what they lack in quanity they make up for in taste and size. BLT sandwitches are a staple in our house when toms are ripe. Runner-up had to be the bananna peppers that were pickled. These are so tasty on sandwiches and salads; the crop was large enough that this was the only vegtable that was plentiful enough to last all winter. Third place goes to the basil crop. If you have not made or tasted pesto, you need to. I'm able to make batches or pesto throughout the summer and freeze for winter use. Last year we had pesto on pasta through early spring. Last place goes to the squash; we had very little because of a vine boaring worm. I may have to use chemicals next year to get a squash harvest because none of the organic methods worked.

I don't recall the Gilliam's in the late 70's or 80's ever putting in a fall or spring garden, so this was something new last fall and this spring and again in a more expanded form this fall. Many different cool season crop were planted over the past month including collards, broccoli, leaf lettuce, radishes, brussel sprouts, cabbage and arugala. I was amazed last year that the collards, brussel sprouts and broccoli kept producing throughout the winter even after temps dropped into the teens a few times. We never ate collards when young, but I've found these are delicous winter time greens. The vegetable has been a staple of eastern NC culture since colonial days because it was practially the only fresh vegtable people had for certain vitamins in the winter. Collards tast best once they are exposed to a good frost, so I'm hoping to bring a pot to the table when we visit for Thanksgiving this year. I would post some pictures of the fall garden, but my camara battaries are dead. Will do next time.



Politics:

Wow, I re-read my last blog and it occurred to me that the passion of the moment was a little harsh. I hope no one was too offended. I also have to do a bit of a mea culpa on assigning blame only too Phil Gramm and the republican party. I've used factcheck.org in the past to knock down unfair allagations against Obama, so there's a need to remain consistant. FactCheck.org just did a write up on the core reasons for the economic mess were in now, and while 2/3 of the blame probably does lie with the Bush and his oversight of the economy via Treasury Sec and his influence on market regulation and Federal reserve, as well as the Republican lead congress from 1996-2006, and especially the period 2001-2006 when all of the bad morgages were made; the democrates and the Clinton Administration do hold some blame. Here is a list of causes:

a partial list of those alleged to be at fault:

• The Federal Reserve, which slashed interest rates after the dot-com bubble burst, making credit cheap.
  
  
• Home buyers, who took advantage of easy credit to bid up the prices of homes excessively.
  
  
• Congress, which continues to support a mortgage tax deduction that gives consumers a tax incentive to buy more expensive houses.
  
  
• Real estate agents, most of whom work for the sellers rather than the buyers and who earned higher commissions from selling more expensive homes.
  
  
• The Clinton administration, which pushed for less stringent credit and downpayment requirements for working- and middle-class families.
  
  
• Mortgage brokers, who offered less-credit-worthy home buyers subprime, adjustable rate loans with low initial payments, but exploding interest rates.
  
  
• Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, who in 2004, near the peak of the housing bubble, encouraged Americans to take out adjustable rate mortgages.
  
  
• Wall Street firms, who paid too little attention to the quality of the risky loans that they bundled into Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS), and issued bonds using those securities as collateral.
  
  
• The Bush administration, which failed to provide needed government oversight of the increasingly dicey mortgage-backed securities market.
  
  
• An obscure accounting rule called mark-to-market, which can have the paradoxical result of making assets be worth less on paper than they are in reality during times of panic.
  
  
• Collective delusion, or a belief on the part of all parties that home prices would keep rising forever, no matter how high or how fast they had already gone up.

Republican: The party of lies

As we all go about our daily lives we encounter some who seem a bit shady. In some circumstances we find that a colleague, acquaintance or even a stranger tells a straight up lie; we know it right away. The normal thought process is to back away, withhold trust or scrutinize with even more doubt this persons character and motivation. It is not normal for a person to keep trusting or believing these dishonest people while holding the facts, that expose the lie, with more scrutiny.

John McCain, the leader I most liked in the Republican party (I've told this to many people over the years including Mom), has lost his honor in my eyes. A lot of my education has been in the math and sciences where, especially in math, there is often one solution to a particular problem, there's a correct answer that despite an effort to move variables from one side of the equal mark to another, the answer remains the same; there is a truth. Politics is certainly different, especially when you get into crafting policy where many viewpoint need to be considered, but most statements made can be tested against factual information.

The John McCain's campaign and the Republican party have built their 2008 platform on un-Christian like lies, distortions and character assassination. My interest in politics was sparked by the horrible attacks of 911. I was 100% behind President Bush (voted for him in 2000) through 911 and the Afghanistan war. Man, this country was some kind of united back then and it felt good. However, I started to question some of the claims in the run-up to the Iraq war. It was unclear to me as a regular guy that Saddam had a role in 911 or that he possessed WMD's. Our economy was shaky; Saddaam was contained and Osama Bin Laden/Al Queda were on the loose in Afgan. Several segments on 60 min began to indicate that much of the evidence that Saddam had WMD's were simple not true or cherry-picked while counter-facts were ignored. I've written several journal articles, and this just did not seem like the correct procedure to craft policy. The war started, and soon after, the conclusion was that Iraq had no WMD's. Wow, my President was not only totally wrong about a major decision made under the newly formed "Bush Doctrine" or pre-emptive war, but he used lies and deceit to push his agenda. There is overwhelming evidence now that our President was ready and eager to invade Iraq at least a year prior. Thus, two critics of Bush were born in Our household. I think it's clear now to most Americans that the foundation of the Bush Administration, one that is suppose to be built on honesty and openness, is about as firm as quicksand. John McCain, by using similar lies and decit, has decided to build his house on the same shaky foundation that could not support the Bush estate. Honor has always been a prideful characteristic of John McCain, but John, part of honor is speaking the truth, not flat out lies for political gain.

Politicians often stretch the truth by enhancing figures or their resume, but often grains of truth make these claims difficult to totally dismiss. Obama stretched the truth when he said that 95% of Americans would receive a tax break under his plan. Independent tax groups say that figure is more along the lines of 81% per factcheck.org. He pushed the comment made by McCain that he'd keep us in Iraq for 100 years. He's also used the the wealthy == 5 million a year comment made by McCain in a joke. However, these cannot be classified as out and out lies because they have a lot of truth. Obama will lower taxes on a super duper majority of Americans. John McCain did speak about a Korean style occupation of Iraq (~ 50 years in Korea) and the maintaining of bases in that country. McCain and the republican party do think that people making 250-600K a year is still middle class, and very much dislike any specific talk of what wealthy means.

Keep this thought of mine in the back of your head as you watch this election unfold. The Obama campaign is focused on the issues, mostly backed up by facts because this is how politics should work; this is how the game should be played. On the other hand, the Karl Rove strategy, which is now the blood of the Republican campaign methodology, is to tear down the other candidates integrity and divide people into distinct groups, then pit these groups against each other rather than play off the common threads that connect Americans. The common phrase, "What Would Jesus Do?" applies here. Which campaign methodology is most honest and best for America?

Is the new John McCain strategy, which started when John hired Karl Roves protoge Steve Schmidt, one that reflects the values the Republican party? This new strategy started around the time of Obama's overseas trip. McCain made two claims that filtered through the American conciseness before they were termed flat out lies. The first lie was something to the effect that rather than visiting the troops in Afgan he went and played basketball. The second had to do with the cancellation of his visit with wounding troops in Germany. So, the common implication of these charges is that Obama does not support the troops, not to mention that the basketball part is a dogwhistle to whites that Obama is a basketball playing thug. McCain here is attacking Obama's patriotism, he's not focused on any policy differences he has with Obama. Again, personal attacks that nearly charge Obama on with treason.

After Obama's overseas trip the McCain campaign resumed the personal attack that still did not highlight the contrast of the candidates policies, but rip at the opponents character and love of America. The celebrity ad was a successful attempt to cast Obama as a pretty boy that talked nice, but had no substance. What you see here is an attempt to tear down Obama's intelligence and popularity, two characteristics we should strive to have in a leader. There are also some racial undertones here as many Americans do store in the back of their minds a sense that Blacks are not as intelligent as Whites, but can talk a good game. I'm not going to get into specific names, but there is a situation I've heard a lot about lately where a Black guy, who has a job probably because of affirmative action, is seen as all talk but no substance. It is clear that this ad weaves these threads in our consciousness using ingrained stereotypes. Again a direct attack from John McCain, not activist bloggers on the web, on character with no relationship to the real issues of the day.

Since the republican convention these personal attacks have become more apparent and the lies more clearly debunked by facts, and in at least a few cases an assault on Obama's character that is even more despicable. During this same time Obama has kept his campaign focused on the issues. When Obama attacks McCain, it's always on his support of the failed Bush policies.

1) The most despicable ad was released this week and aims at a bill Obama supported that would teach kids in elementary school about inappropriate touching. The FACTs are that something like every few minutes a kid is molested by a family member or child predator. From factcheck.org the assessment is that the claim is a pure LIE. McCain is trying to sear the conciseness of America that Obama wants to teach 5 year olds what sex is and how you have sex. How low can you go John?

Off Base on Sex Ed: A McCain-Palin campaign ad claims Obama's "one accomplishment" in the area of education was "legislation to teach 'comprehensive sex education' to kindergarteners." But the claim is simply false, and it dates back to Alan Keyes' failed race against Obama for an open Senate seat in 2004.

2) McCain and Palin repeated lies on the campaign trail include the two big parts of why Palin was chosen. Her supposed opposition to the "Bridge to Nowhere" and adversion to earmarks. Her reform image is just that, an image, not a reality. Finally this week, the facts have been made more well know that it was not until the bridge was deamonized in Congress that she pulled her support, and Alaska still took the money and used for other construction purposes. Also, Alaska recieves more earmark money per capita than any other state and that has not changed since she's been Gov. She also hired a Washington DC lobbyist when she was mayor and got something like 26 millions dollars for a town of 9,000. The are two facts that directly counter the claim that she's a reformer. Their trying to pull the wool over your eyes!

3) Taxes: McCain-Palin continue to look Americans in the eyes and say that Obama will raise your taxes. This is a complete lie, but at least it's focused on a real issue. If you want to know the truth that Obama will lower Gilliam taxes use this link: http://alchemytoday.com/obamataxcut/

4) Obama has never worked with Republicans on legislation. Well folks this is a complete lie that can be disproven by going to this link (www.fedspending.gov). He worked and passed the most stringent ethics reform in 20 years, since the freedom of information act. This makes all earmarks, contracts and other government spending transparent to all Americans, so they can make decisions about how their elected officials spend taxpayer money. See my previous blog for a number of other bills that Obama worked with Republicans on including many that were supported by John McCain. They are lying to you and liers cannot be trusted, especially after what took place under the Bush administration.

5) The diversion of Lipstick-gate. This is a new low in politics. Obama used a well-know and often used phrase by Republicans (John McCain's adviser wrote a book on the subject), when talking about John McCain's version of change that you can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig. How in the hell do you translate this quote, that John McCain used to describe Hillary Clinton's healthcare plan, to Obama calling Palin a pig? Again, Obama was truthfully speaking directly at John McCain's policies, but the Republican diversion moved us away from talking about the issues for two days.

Obama is running a issue's fact-based campaign while John McCain wants to run a personality campaign because the issues he supports have been proven failures under the Bush administration. McCain's campaign is executed completely by lobbyists and Rovian tricksters. One of the scariest members of his inter-circle is a guy named Phil Graham. Facts directly link Graham to two aspects of our failing economy, high energy prices and the mortgage meltdown. The legislation he supported and actually forced through congress, with his name on the bill, eliminated regulation of the morgage industry.

Later in his Senate career, Gramm spearheaded efforts to pass banking reform laws, including the landmark Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999, which served to reduce government regulations in existence since the Great Depression separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities.

This basically lowered the bar on who could obtain mortgages and how much people could borrow and how these morgages are regulated. Why do you think everyone and their brother all the sudden in the early 2000's started buying huge homes that they could barely afford? The banks and lenders bundled these loans and sold them as investments. Man, what a great situation for Wall Street. People were making money hand over fist, but once the rates reset the people could not afford their payments, so these bundled loans that propagated throughout the financial markets rotted and weakened the structure of our economy. John McCain voted for this legislation and his top economic adviser was the sponsor. Do you trust this type of economic policy in the future?

The second critical policy that John McCain supported and Phil Graham pushed was what was called the Enron Loophole. This is another successful attempt at de-regulation, a cornerstone of the Republican platform. It basically opened the buying and selling of oil contracts by organization outside of those who actually purchase oil for refineries. It opened up energy markets that are a foundation of our economy to quick trades for money. Take a look at the graph below that chronicles the price of crude oil and you see that since this legislation was enacted around 200 the price of oil has skyrocketed. We all see this in the day-to-day fluctuation in gas prices that is much more commonplace nowdays than back in the 1990's. As much as 20-30% of the price of gas at the pump is due to speculation, so this has cost the average Americans thousands of dollars over the past 8 years. It's interesting that oil companies and Wall Street are the sectors living high-on-the-hog in the last 3-4 years while average Americans struggle.




Ok, let me get this straight. McCain's judgment cost American taxpayers billions of dollars in the 80's because of the Keeting-5 scandal. His poor judgment on the invasion of Iraq will cost as much as 2 trillion. His association with Graham and actual vote on the deregulation of the mortgage and energy sectors is directly responsible for high fuel prices and the failing economy, and he has the audacity to make this election about personalities and lipstick on a pig. As Obama stated, for the Republican's to constantly throw out false claim, lies and diversions then say they can CHANGE America for the better, they must think we're stupid!

The Election, My Thoughts

To start off, as I write this blog Tropical Storm Hanna just passed about 20 miles to the east of our home south of Raleigh. The rain was steady all night long with moderate wind gusts to 30 mph. We are lucky this was not a potent system as it could have been another Fran-type disaster for eastern NC. The eye came onshore at the NC/SC line, which put Holden Beach on the strongest side of the storm. We have a vacation there in one months, so we're relieve not only that the people there have been saved from damage, but our vacation will not be canceled.

Keep an eye on Ike now. The long-term projection is another strong Gulf of Mexico storm in 5 days that has sights on New Orleans again. To inject a little politics in the tropical discussion, could Global Warming be partly responsible for what seems like an elevated number and strength of Hurricanes over the past 10-15 years? The oceans are verifiable warmer in the tropics and part of a Hurricane's purpose is to evacuate ocean heat from the tropics to extra tropical areas. Hurricanes are basically a redistribution of heat mechanism. More ocean and tropic heat, more need to redistribute the heat across the globe. Three of the top six strongest storm of the last 100+ years took place in the last couple of years. Statistically speaking, this is very unlikely unless some other factor like global warming is at work.

Ok, the election of the next President of the United States of America is fast approaching. John McCain made a very interesting choice in Sarah Palin. It's great that the Republicans have jumped on the 21st century bandwagon of change by choosing a woman to be one heartbeat away from the Presidency. I feel the prodding of her family issues should be off limits as Obama sternly stated. The issue I have with the Palin pick are two fold.

1) John McCain's argument against Obama is that he's too young and not experienced enough to be President. So, after Obama's big speech the McCain campaign saw internal polling numbers that would make it very tough to beat Obama. He had to compete by adopting the Obama strategy of CHANGE. Thus, he had to try to become Obama by picking an exciting figure for his ticket. So, he's basically admitted that his earlier criticisms of Obama's lack of experience and leadership were not genuine. In fact, the Palin pick shows that Obama is a leader since McCain has been following Obama's well thought out strategy of the need to CHANGE Washington.

If anyone wants to make a an argument that Palin is as or more experience than Obama, I like that fight because a fact-based reality does not bear that out. A) Obama has been running one of the best organized campaigns for the same amount of time that Palin has been Gov. He created a wealthy grass-roots organization of thousands of boot-on-the-ground through a record primary and now general election. Gov. of Alaska is surely has some executive experience, but the state does not have many economic, or other issues, that the lower 48 states are experiencing. How can the Alaskan population relate to issues like high gas prices, falling values of homes and income or the shipping of local small town jobs overseas, when they are swimming in money from the selling of oil at high prices of which they receive a direct royalty? During her time as Gov of Alaska, Obama has been canvassing the country talking directly to regular folks about their problems and proposing common sense pragmatic solutions for the middle class. Obama has also been closely involved in foreign policy, not only during the campaign of the last few years, but prior, as he was assigned to serve on various foreign relationship committees. This does not take into account a VP pick of Biden who has more foreign policy experience than John McCain and will be at Obama's side when tough decisions need to be made. Palin has absolutely zero foreign policy experience. If you want to talk about judgment and futuristic thinking you need to revisit what Obama said prior to the Iraq war:

I don’t oppose all wars. And I know that in this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots, or of patriotism. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other arm-chair, weekend warriors in this Administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.

I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.

So for those of us who seek a more just and secure world for our children, let us send a clear message to the president today. You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s finish the fight with Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, through effective, coordinated intelligence, and a shutting down of the financial networks that support terrorism, and a homeland security program that involves more than color-coded warnings.

These statements made during a time when a war with Iraq was popular demonstrate keen judgment and clear forward thinking. To contrast, days after 911 John McCain was already talking about invading Iraq to seek retribution for something Iraq played no part. This crystalizes why I support Barack Obama. I trust his judgment.

2) Judgment! McCain, despite the surge who even the Blue-Ribbon bi-partisen panel of experts (The Iraq Study group) did not support, has repeatedly show poor judgment on foreign affairs. The risky pick of Palin supports the prior established facts that McCain makes quick decisions with little background investigation of facts. She could turn out to be a very good pick in the long run, but the issue is McCain's tendency to make roll-of-the-dice risky decisions (his favorite gambling game is craps, a game of chance while Obama prefers poker, a game of strategic thinking). In John McCain's own book he says these words:

"I make them (decisions) quickly as I can..." Mr. McCain wrote, with his top adviser Mark Salter, in his 2002 book, "Often my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint." - John McCain

These words are consistent with his lives decisions. While in the military he was a reckless pilot, crashing 5 planes, because of trigger-happy nature. As indicated above, his quick decision that we should have invaded Iraq a few days after 911, before any facts were established was un-wise. His vote to give Bush the authorization to invade Iraq was a poor decision. A month or so ago when Russia invaded Georgia his first reaction was to ratchet up the rhetoric by saying "United States should respond harshly to Russia’s anti-democratic actions". This was said to provoke Russia before any facts were examined. In contrast again, Obama said something along the lines of we need to step back and look at the facts because both sides have some blame. And now, the choice of Palin was again a quick risky decision considering the chances that he could die in Office and she would inherit the Presidency with very little experience, much less than Obama. Who would you feel more comfortable with their finger on the button so to speak? Obama a person with moderate experience and good judgment with side kick in Biden who's extremely well experienced, OR, McCain with lots of experience, but poor judgment and his sidekick Palin who knows very little about national and international problems, other than how to drill for oil?

One last point. I liked Palin more before she ripped Obama for being a community organizer. This is very interesting coming from the "party of values". She drew great applause when she said that being a mayor was like a community organizer except that you actually have responsibilities. How pathetic of a statement is this when Christ actually taught that we should be our brothers keeper, you know, feed the sick, take care of the poor, all those community support ideas. First of all, she did not make mention of Obama's 8 years in the same state Senate that Lincoln served or the 4 years in the US Senate where he gained the reputation of being a tireless lawmaker who worked with Republicans on pragmatic legislation. Second, Obama turned down a big lawyer job to serve his community where he organized faith-based programs to help the poor, those with addictions and those who had lost their jobs. This is a clear assault on everything good about our country. One of greatest Presidents in Lincoln was a state lawmaker with only a few years in Washington and a great orator that could inspire people. By Republican standards, Lincoln would not have been given a chance today.

Back on topic, they also lied when she and McCain stated that Obama has never reached across party lines and has not passed legislation during his time in the Senate. You will keep hearing these lies from the party of values, so here's the proof that they are false. Pay close attention to the government transparency bill that he and the most conservative republican Colburn passed. It has been the strongest ethics reform in the last 20 years or so. Other lies include the false statement that Obama will raise your taxes. The truth is that only those making over 650 K a year would see a significant tax hike. Everyone in the Gilliam family would receive between a $1000 and $2000 tax break, enough to almost pay for fuel for an entire year. Be aware and comb through the BS and straight-faced lies because the McCain-Palin gift of CHANGE is wrapped in the same Bush-Rove paper of deceit.

OBAMA's Senate accomplishments
The Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act
Introduced by Sen. John McCain in May 2005, and cosponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy. Barack Obama added three amendments to this bill.

The Lugar-Obama Cooperative Threat Reduction.
Introduced by Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Dick Lugar and Sen. Tom Cobur

Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006
This act of Congress, introduced by Senators Obama and Coburn, required the full disclosure of all entities or organizations receiving federal funds in FY2007.

Honest Leadership and Open Government Act
In the first month of the 110th Congress, Obama worked with Sen. Russ Feingold to pass this law, which amends and strengthens the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995.

Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act

This law helped specify US policy toward the Congo, and states that the US should work with other donor nations to increase international contributions to the African nation.

The bill marked the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor. Following this legislation's passage, Obama toured Africa, traveling to South Africa, Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Chad. He spoke forcefully against ethnic rivalries and political corruption in Kenya.

Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act

Following the Republican-sponsored voter intimidation tactics seen in mostly black counties in Maryland during the 2006 midterm elections, Obama worked with Sen. Chuck Schumer to introduce this bill

The Obama-McCain Climate Change Reduction Bill

The Obama-McCain bill, which is co-sponsored by Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., would cut emissions by two-thirds by 2050.

Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007

Introduced by Obama, this binding act would stop the planned troop increase of 21,500 in Iraq, and would also begin a phased redeployment of troops from Iraq with the goal of removing all combat forces by March 31, 2008.

Amendments to the 2008 Defense Authorization Bill

Obama worked with Sen. Kit Bond to limit, through this bill, the Pentagon’s use of personality disorder discharges in the FY 2008 Defense Authorization bill.

The Comprehensive Nuclear Threat Reduction provision

Working with Sen. Hagel and Rep. Adam Schiff, Obama authored this provision, which would require the president to develop a comprehensive plan for ensuring that all nuclear weapons and weapons-usable material at vulnerable sites around the world are secure by 2012 from the threats that terrorists have shown they can pose.

__________________________________________________________

Sunday Update: An update to yesterday's political discussion is necessary. I ran across an article this morning that really supports my position. Palin was presented as a reformer of Alaska. Obama as indicated by the transparency of Gov spending bill he crafted above (www.fedspending.gov), is the one who has actually done something to reform the way the government spends out money.

Here are the FACTS of Palin's short political career as Gov.

She didn’t say “no thanks” to the “Bridge to Nowhere” until after Congress had already abandoned it but given Alaska a blank check for $223 million in taxpayers’ money anyway. Far from rejecting federal pork, she hired lobbyists to secure her town a disproportionate share of earmarks ($1,000 per resident in 2002, 20 times the per capita average in other states). Though McCain claimed “she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities,” she has never issued a single command as head of the Alaska National Guard. As for her “executive experience” as mayor, she told her hometown paper in Wasilla, Alaska, in 1996, the year of her election: “It’s not rocket science. It’s $6 million and 53 employees.” Her much-advertised crusade against officials abusing their office is now compromised by a bipartisan ethics investigation into charges that she did the same.

Here is the section that discusses John McCains judgment in picking Palin.

That ideological sellout, unfortunately, was not the worst leadership trait the last-minute vice presidential pick revealed about McCain. His speed-dating of Palin reaffirmed a more dangerous personality tic that has dogged his entire career. His decision-making process is impetuous and, in its Bush-like preference for gut instinct over facts, potentially reckless.

As The New York Times reported last Tuesday, Palin was sloppily vetted, at best. McCain operatives and some of their press surrogates responded to this revelation by trying to discredit The Times article. After all, The Washington Post had cited McCain aides (including his campaign manager, Rick Davis) last weekend to assure us that Palin had a “full vetting process.” She had been subjected to “an F.B.I. background check,” we were told, and “the McCain camp had reviewed everything it could find on her.”

The Times had it right. The McCain campaign’s claims of a “full vetting process” for Palin were as much a lie as the biographical details they’ve invented for her. There was no F.B.I. background check. The Times found no evidence that a McCain representative spoke to anyone in the State Legislature or business community. Nor did anyone talk to the fired state public safety commissioner at the center of the Palin ethics investigation. No McCain researcher even bothered to consult the relevant back issues of the Wasilla paper. Apparently when McCain said in June that his vice presidential vetting process was basically “a Google,” he wasn’t joking.

Where has Summer gone?

Hi all, where did summer go? It seems like yesterday I was waiting for the first warm season veggies and the water to warm up enough for fishing. Now, the garden is slowing production and our labor day trip to Morehead City is approaching. Season come and go too quick it seems when you reach your mid 30's. At any rate, we had a great summer overall, which is why I have not written a blog since July; we've been gone a lot of weekends.

Cecilia's has really fit in her job that she started in May. It's been several months and she enjoys the work and the fact that unlike before, she not being overloaded by a disorganized boss. My job, for those of you that don't know, has gone through some changes this summer. Our group, the Atmospheric Modeling Division, was a NOAA organization that was basically hired by the US EPA to develop and apply air quality models to answer various questions and solve problems. In an effort to streamline government and save money, NOAA allowed the US EPA to absorb our group into their National Exposure Research Lab. We are now officially EPA employees, which saves the taxpayers a nice chunk of money that would have otherwise been use to pay NOAA's overhead. I made a joke to several at work that I'll have to keep this quite from my conservative friends (mostly fishing buddies like my brother-in-law, Steve) because government organization like the EPA, which make environmental regulation, are not well liked by strong conservatives. So, rather than working for NOAA, who many like because they provide all kinds of weather forecasts and data, I'm working for a regulatory agency. If you all want to pretend I'm still NOAA that's fine with me :-)

In a more serious tone, I do like the idea of working to protect our environment, which is an amazing gift from God, for the next generation. I've always had a close connection with the outdoors, from the time Adam and I explored the woods and streams around Marion to learning about nature as a Boy Scout, to the years of paddling out in the surf of the Florida and NC beaches and more recently, fishing in the backwaters and offshore NC. So there you go, I can be officially labeled an environmentalist that is solidly against drilling for oil off our NC and Florida beaches. All you have to consider is the government report (EIA: http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/otheranalysis/ongr.html) that indicates additional offshore drilling would not have a significant impact on oil prices even out to 2030. So the question is why risk our shorelines and beaches if there is only a few cents change in the price of gas. Heck, a few cents is withing the variability of gas prices between towns, so it would not be noticeable. This is a political trick by republicans and their best buddies, the oil companies.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/19/opinion/main4275167.shtml


At any rate, I'll quit talking politics for now; I have a lot a yard work to get on...

Eastern NC Summer

Our life in eastern NC has been enjoyably busy over the last month or so since the last post. We enjoyed a few days visiting with the family in early June. Cecilia and I both had a wonderful time, especially interacting with the new and young kids in the family. We look forward to the next visit or a visit from anyone who wants to come here for a short get-away.

Several events/trips have taken place over the last month. I had another chance to fish offshore in mid-June. Although we did get a few mahi-mahi (8-9 total), more people were invited than normal so I was only able to fillet one fish for the freezer, which equates to about 16-18 servings, or the way we do it 8 meals. I typically cook in the evening then pack up the left overs for lunch the next day.

After this trip I had to leave Cecilia for the week on a trip to Boulder, Co for a meteorological conference. Part of the goal of the trip was to present some material on the meteorological modeling and model development we do at the US EPA. It was a nice conference and great trip overall. The presentations went well and it was nice to hang out in the drier climate for a week. We had the most fabulous view each morning as we drove over a bluff overlooking Boulder. Unfortunately I left my camera in the car at the RDU airport. One of my favorite parts of the trip is the food. I love Mexican-type food and it's everywhere in the southwest US. One favorite is a place called Wahoos Fish Tacos. It was a weird combination in my mind at first, but once you try a fish taco, you'll instantly realize why they are so popular. I try to make them at home on occasion.

Once I returned from Boulder I took the following week off to spend some time at my Brother-in-law's (Steve Smith) doing a little inshore fishing. Cecilia was able to take part of the week, so we had the chance to spend a few days together on the water. Below are some pictures including one of Cecilia and I that was taken with Mom in mind (she's wanted a current picture of the both of us). It was a fun time, but few fish were caught. We did load up on some fresh Carolina Blue Crab that we used to stuff flounder and mahi-mahi for a few dinners. Good "stuff" indeed!

We finally tested the small boat Adam gave me and it's pretty much ready to go. A friend from work and I are going next weekend on an overnight camping/fishing trip at the coast, so the boat will get a good workout. Adam, I just bought a small utility trailer and will use the tag for the boat trailer. I'll post some pictures next Sunday of our maiden voyage.

The last exciting development is our garden. Since I've been gone most of the last three weeks, the garden has really taken off, for the most part. I qualify that because I'm having some problems with certain veggies, mainly the squash and some varieties of peppers. Otherwise, I had a nice crop of tomatoes, beans and carrots last weekend. I brewed up a nice batch of salsa, green beans and brown sugar carrots. I made the first attempt at canning these treats for our food storage. Last evening I picked another large batch of tomatoes and plan to make spaghetti sauce this weekend. The pole beans are also ready to be picked again this weekend. On top of this, I did a test dig in the 6' x 6' potatoes patch and found a plethora of racquetball size fingerling potatoes. I microwaved one, topped with some butter and sour creme and it was one of the best potatoes I've ever tasted. I think these are a great veggie to grow because I can leave them in the ground through the first part of winter and harvest as needed. I also have what's called a tomatillo plant, which are the green Mexican tomatoes. These are not native, but love hot weather, so the plants grew from a foot hight to 4 foot in just a few weeks and are covered with blooms. I'll make a verde salsa from these, so we're looking forward to the plants maturing. Here are some garden pictures. Enjoy -- Rob

Memorial Day in Morehead

We finally got some time off that enabled us to take a 5 day vaction at Steve and Melonie's (my sister and brother-in-law) house near Morehead City, NC. Cecilia was able to visit with her mother for a few days. I got the chance to fish for 5 days! They have two dogs and a fenced in backyard, so we are now allowed to take our two pets when we visit our family in Morehead. Our friend Misty was also able to come down for a few days and hang out in the sun and have fun.

The first few days I did a good bit of fishing in the creek adjacent to Steve's house. They are situated on a small creek off the inter-coastal waterway. Steve graciously allows me to use his boat that is on a dock lift, on the creek of course. It's such a great setup as all you have to do is walk out the back door, lower the boat in the water, and your off; no need to drive to the boat ramp, wait in line and launch a boat. Plus, I probably used at most a few gallons of gas all weekend. The fish bite occurred early when I was by myself and Cecilia still in bed. I caught the largest speckled trout of my life and two nice flounder the first few days. I took Cecilia, Misty and Melonie out several times, but no luck, however, it was satisfying to just float around and soak up the rays.



The dogs, in particular, our relatively new pet Cady, had their first fishing experience in Morehead. They fished with me each morning and came along for the mid-day excursions. Near the intercoastal waterway is a long sandbar that's exposed at the lower part of the tide cycle. We anchored and allowed them to swim and chase birds for a while. Cady was so worn from all the activity that she burrowed under the bow on top of the cool and wet anchor rope and slept the rest of the day. Just a funny side story, her first trip was at Christmas. She had so much fun, mind you, dog fun is when their tails are wagging, that by the end of the trip she developed limp tail. This is a condition that develops when a dog is not condition and wags their tail too much for too long. She's conditioned now as they run with me each morning, so "limp tail" did not occur on this trip :-)






It's been 4-5 months since I've had the chance to fish offshore. We took the 31' Bertram offshore in search of mahi-mahi on Memorial Day. Steve guided us to a total of 7 mahi and 1 king mackerel, which is a decent, but not record shattering day. Last year we caught 12-15 on multiple trips. Nontheless, the two I brought back for our freezer will keep us in good shape for a few months. In fact, we've already had it twice thus far. I also caught about 15 blue crabs off Steve's dock. After this blog is posted we will have blue crab omelette for breakfast. With that said, see ya!

Our new start

Cecilia finally started her new job this past week and by all indication thus far, she's going to really enjoy the job. Her schedule in terms of when she leaves the house and returns home are essentially the same, but she has every other Friday off and all Saturdays, plus her pay is just about double. She is still coming up to speed on a few of her new duties, but is already being invited to meetings not particularly related to her workload because of her previous 18 years of experience. So, in short, she has basically hit the ground running full speed.

In a group/team like human resources compensation, as I understand from listening on the sideline, each person in the group manages a certain part of the company. Her new boss is a fantastic manager and has assembled a team that is not only beyond competent, but they have no personality conflicts; several of them are friends. I relate it to a seasoned football or basketball team where there is very little effort wasted holding the hand so-to-speak of a team member, every one can independently complete their job with little micromanaging. Part of the reason she grew tired of the job before was that in order to save a few million dollars they forced out the long-term experience/seasoned workers and hired in newbies straight from college. How's that for stupid? This may provide a short-term boost in profits, so the CEO's get a nice bonus, but it harms the long-term viability of the company. I think they started started seeing the error of that and Cecilia's boss hired back not only Cecilia but another long-termer. So, let's hope she'll be able to hang on for 5 years or so.

I guess some recent news with my job can be classified as a new start. In an effort to streamline government spending our group, which is officially a NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) division, is going to be absorbed or transfered to the US EPA. Before, the EPA basically hired us out from NOAA, but they had to pay NOAA not only our salary, but a large overhead. Their basically cutting out the middle man, which all of us certainly agree with. Many conservatives seem to really dislike the US EPA because they do oversee regulation on businesses, but I'll wear the EPA badge with honor as we move forward and protect the planet, a beautiful gift from God.

I'm slipping into politics it seems, so why not just dive in full bore. It is clear now that Obama will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. This week our current President used the Israeli parliament to launch a veiled attack on Obama. They are trying to now back down and say it was general attack on whoever disagrees with their foreign policy direction, but people close to the President acknowledged it was aimed at Obama before our President made the speech. Plus John McCain was quick to pounce on Obama after the speech leaving no doubt that it was aimed at Obama. It is despicable for the President to play domestic politics overseas. I've got to think that Obama's been holding back in his fight against Hillary because he did not want to be seen as an angry black man fighting a white woman because absolutely crushed, in my opinion, John McCain and George Bush. If you do not think about anything else, think about the fact that our intellegence says that Al Queda is as strong as at 911 and we've been fighting them for 6.5 years what will cost by some estimates 2 trillion dollars, sacrificed easily over 100 K lives including Iraqi civilians and our brave soldiers.



Here are some of his words if you can't watch the video:

You know, after almost eight years, I did not think I could be surprised about anything that George Bush says, but I was wrong. Yesterday, George Bush was before the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, to help commemorate the 60th anniversary of Israeli independence. That's a wonderful occasion and a time for celebration.

But instead of celebrating and offering some clear ideas about how to move the situation in the Middle East forward, the president did something that presidents don't do, and that is launch a political attack targeted toward the domestic market in front of a foreign delegation.

...

George Bush and John McCain have a lot to answer for. They've got to explain why we are now in our sixth year, entering our sixth year of war in Iraq.

We were supposed to be going over there for weapons of mass destruction that we never found. We were told that it was going to last a few months and cost a few billion dollars. We have now spent over $600 billion, thousands of lives lost, and we have not been made more safe.

They're going to have to explain the fact that Osama bin Laden is still at large and is sending out videotapes with impunity.

They need to answer for the fact that Al Qaida's leadership is stronger than ever because we took our eye off the ball in Afghanistan.

They've got to answer for the fact that Iran is the greatest strategic beneficiary of our invasion in Iraq. It made Iran stronger, George Bush's policies.

They're going to have to explain why Hamas now controls Gaza, Hamas that was strengthened because the United States insisted that we should have democratic elections in the Palestinian Authority.

They're going to have to explain why it is that Iran is able to fund Hezbollah and poses the greatest threat to America and Israel and the Middle East in a generation.

That's the Bush-McCain record on protecting this country. Those are the failed policies that John McCain wants to double-down on, because he still hasn't spelled out one substantial way in which he'd be different from George Bush when it comes to foreign policy.

NC in the Spotlight

Good week all! Cecilia is on her last week at House of Lights, my ankle is on the mend and we're both updating our vehicles. Cecilia will start in a little over a week back at Progress Energy working for Misty Easton. She has a good idea of the new work assignments, so she's not worried about the transition. When I first tweaked my ankle I was sure that the recovery would last into the first part of the summer, but after walking with my removable air cast for a week and a few days, it feels great. We went to a friends 40th birthday party last night and I went castless. I think I'll be able to walk the dogs and do my normal stuff including fishing soon. Finally on our family update, Cecilia's Taurus station wagon's transmission has been slipping for a year now, but at the same time last week the alternator and starter crapped out. We're going to give it to her sister who will put a new transmission in it for her niece, who is in a bind. We found a 1999 Toyota Camary with low miles this week. We're also buying a 2002 Accord from our friend Misty. So, I plan to sell my little beater car and drive the Camary. I've never paid over 4K for a car, so the Camary will be luxurious to me.

Could NC play a part in what could be a historic election? I think so. Many so called experts agree that if Obama can win NC the superdelegates will start moving to him in large numbers and the Democratic primary will be over. We went to a friends party last night and there was a collection of all types of people from good ol' country boys, upper middle-class and couples in their 20's. We've hung out with these friends quite a few times in the past and really never heard any political leanings. I was talking with one acquaintance who is a good ol' boy and out of the blue he goes on a hate filled rant on Obama. It was stunning the amount of hate towards a guy who has never done or said a thing personally or politically to warrant such criticisms; I could sense that it was mostly racial. Another country couple, the husband, said something about negative about Obama and wife spoke up about their political disagreements, so I got the message that she was pro-Obama. I talked with a younger friend and his girl friend about his strong plans for the middle-class and they liked Obama. I guess the point I'm trying to get to is there is a political buzz like I've never seen before, which is a great thing despite who wins.

Why I support Barack Hussein Obama

1. Our politicians in Washington are controlled by lobbyist. A great example is the drug benefit program for seniors that was crafted a few years back. The drug lobby worked directly with the Republicans in Congress to make drugs available to seniors using our tax dollars. Congress basically allowed the drug companies to charge whatever they felt for drugs, no negotiation on getting prices lower, just whatever they wanted to charge. Once the bill passed, several of the key Congressmen went to work for the drug companies as lobbyist for millions of dollars. This needs to CHANGE now and Obama is in the best position to do it. The government is suppose to work in the best interest of all people, not a select few.

2. The man himself. He is an elite. Some people like to tag him as out of touch or an elite, but as I've heard other say, do we not want a President who we feel is a lot smarter than us regular folk? We talk about how we have elite warriors in the military or we want to send our children to school so they can get an elite education. Well, I want an elite president and I've paid a lot of attention to Obama and he's a real smart person that could be an elite President of the US.

3. History. It would be historic if Obama became President and I want to be part of that CHANGE. Many like to say that opinions throughout the world do not matter. We should not base our policies on world opinion alone, but when it's on your side it's good. Obama as President would show the World what America really is; a place where all men are created and treated equal. It would not only improve our image abroad, but I think it would mark a huge change in race relations.

4. The middle-class. He will cut taxes for those 95% of Americans who are making less than 70K a year. He will shift tax breaks from companies who have all their products produced overseas to companies who keep jobs in the US. There is a lot of momentum behind the green revolution. He will put money back into science to develop an alternative to oil, coal and nuclear power. The US can be a leader in the use of wind, solar, geothermal sources of energy. You know what, jobs that will result from this shift will be jobs that pay well and stay in the US. The end result for the middle-class is lower energy costs.

5. Foreign policy. His judgment that the Iraq war would lead to fighting between specially the Sunni and Shiite and would end up taking our eye of the real enemy in Afgan/Pak was prophetic. We're at a point where by some estimates we've spent as much as 2-3 trillion dollars thus far on Iraq and reports last year and actually one this week indicate Al Queda is as strong as at 911 and they are growing stronger in Afgan/Pak as we speak. Think about that for a second. We've (military families in particular) gone through hell for 5-6 years now and we've made no progress on Al Queda, our military has been crippled and we've made Iran more powerful. Obama has judgment to tackle foreign policy in a more comprehensive way. Not only that, but he will appoint Republicans like Chuck Hagel and maybe Colin Powell and very skilled and respected Democrats like Jim Webb, Sam Nunn, Joe Biden and Bill Richardson.

I know many in the family are probably registered as Republican, but if your not registered or registered as Independent like myself or Democrat, I urge you to at least think about Obama because I have no doubt he'll be a very good president.

Spring Garden

Well, I finally made it to the doctor about my foot on Wed and it was just a bad sprain. A $500 air boot later and I was on my feet walking again. So, I jumped back on the chores Friday and Saturday. I posted a picture below of the tile job and new bathroom vanity we've been working on the last few weeks. Cecilia just completed her last Saturday at the old job as a lighting consultant. She'll start back at Progress Energy in two weeks. We'll have more time on the weekends together and hopefully that will translate to more joint trips to Marion for family visits.




Here's a recent shot of my main raised garden. Snow peas started producing in force a week ago and are to the far left. The bigger plants in the center are broccoli; the crowns are starting to shoot up, so it will be ready for consumption in a few weeks. Lettuce and spinach in near the center of the first bed, we've been eating salads this past week. I also started replacing the lettuce with warm season crops like tomatoes and peppers.
















I've prepared the bed around out back patio and just planted a lot of tomatoes and peppers. The pots have basil that I use to make pesto, a few cucumbers and some specialty cherry red sweet peppers. The next image is my herb, onion, shallot and carrot bed.







This last picture is of a couple planters I made from the shell of an old grill. These are planted with lettuce and garlic. Behind these planters are my blueberry bushes. I have all beds sprayed by an irrigation system I installed a few months ago. A neat battery powered valve hits the plants with water twice a day.



Have a nice week all!

My accident

Everything was going great this past week. Spring weather started again in full force Wed and Thur and we were anticipating an almost summer-type weekend with temperatures in the mid-80's. I had a long awaited, first offshore fishing trip of the season set up on Saturday in a effort to reload the freezer. It all came crashing down literally as I stepped off the back porch Thursday evening. Our new dog Cady dug a small trench and my foot turned 90 deg to my leg. I heard two distinct pops, so I figured I may have fractured my ankle. The X-rays turned out negative as far as the local clinic doc could tell. I'll have to get an MRI this coming week to see if the ligament are completely torn. Hopefully its only a bad sprain, but we'll see. The hardest part is staying still. I've earned the name in my household, the ever-ready bunny as I'm always doing something around the house and it's tough because Cecilia took out my batteries :-)

I don't want to bore with much of my political thought this week, but did want to paste something I wrote to Mom that I thought was interesting.

I was reading a supplemental to the ensign early this morning about President Hinckley and was amazed at one paragraph in the section "A Friendship with Marjorie". He talks about going to college around the start of the Great Depression and how this was a time of terrible discouragement. He says that the testimony which had come to me as a boy remained with me and became as a bulwark to which I could "cling" during those very difficult years.

You've probably heard about the comment Obama made in an effort to describe the people of Appalachia Pa. I never thought he was putting down people for their strong religious or 2nd amendment rights, he was just, from more of an academic viewpoint trying to analyze the truth that when people have very little they find religion as their only constant or bulwark. He did say that the way he phrased it was clumsy. I just thought it interesting that Obama spoke almost the exact words of President Hinckley.

Boat

Here are some pictures of Adam's old boat that myself and a friend from work are fixing up. We had to put in a new floor, a new/used motor and built some storage boxes in the bow. We should be ready to test it in a couple of weeks and may do the first fishing trip as soon as I get it registered.

Michelle Obama

Check out the previous blog to see our old boat we're fixing up. Thanks again Gram and Briggs for helping get the outboard motor. We should have it ready for the water just in time for the spring run of fish at the coast. Once the water temps rise to 64-70 a fish called an Atlantic Bonita magically shows up off the Carolina coast for several weeks before migrating across the ocean. As they leave the Spanish mackerel and king mackerel show. Hopefully I'll be going offshore this week in search of yellowfin tuna, wahoo and mahi-mahi.

I wanted to just write a little about a person I think is being mis-represented by right-wing snipers. First of all, I urge those who read this to be wary of all political emails you may receive from friends/acquaintances. I use the word sniper above because the email is becoming a great tool to pass on mis-information, please forgive, but I have some anecdotal evidence that Republicans are much more active that Democrats. Not to stray off too far, but Barack and Michelle Obama are at the top of a list on Snopes.com, a non-partisan site that does fact checking to confirm or debunk various claims that are mostly of the viral email variety. Out of 12 of these claims against Obama, one was confirmed and that was him not placing his hand on the heart during the national anthem (not a modern day requirement), but he was singing to this great country like his grandfather taught him. The Obama's are not the only victims of completely false information, but these are the most recent, numerous and complete out of step with Christian ideals that the Republican party is suppose to represent. Ok, the moral of the story, if you get an email that sounds a little sensational, then it may be. If you want the truth, it's pretty easy to use google or snopes.com to find more information or a different viewpoint.

Ok, back to the story at hand. I tell this just to provide a different viewpoint in an effort to mainly counter some of the falsehoods that these emails portray. Michelle Obama came this past week to speak at my university, NC State. I took the opportunity to listen to what she had to say. She spoke eloquently for over an hour about her family without a single note, which to me is a signal that she was truly speaking from the heart and not prepared, set narrative. A main theme of her talk was the idea that there is a bar set in the US that represents a level that if we reach we can expect to make a reasonable living to support our family. Now, for different people that bar is at a different level, for instance, a person who does not go to college, but has developed a trade that person, if they work hard, should be able to make enough to put food on the table, pay rent and have access to health care. She spoke about her upbringing in the intercity of Chicago. Her Korean war veteran father was a maintenance worker for the city. He developed a disability from the war, but she said that he never complain, got up every morning and did what he had to to support the family. She said that back in those times a father could make a living while allowing a mother to stay home and raise the kids to be productive members of society and that nowdays the bar has been raised. In a family like hers both the mother and father has to work to get by, which leaves less time for the parents, especially the mother to nurture and teach the kids. It was her mothers influence that put her on the right track that eventually led her to be accepted at one of the best schools in American, Princeton. It was the hard work of her father and Christian values taught by both parents that made her a success. This day in age the bar is constantly being moved because of the high cost of health care, fuel, food, etc which makes it difficult for average Americans to get ahead.

She then made a pivot to Barack and his history. Obama was raised in his early years by a mother from Kansas who dreamed of seeing the world (I recommend taking a look at the article linked here. She was one of the early foreign aid workers for the US in Indionasis helping disadvantaged women. She taught Obama several important lessons when he was young. One was "not be limited by fear or narrow definitions, to not build walls around ourselves and to do our best to find kinship and beauty in unexpected places". Another important message was the value that to whom much is given much is required. She also taught him ideas like the measure of a person is not what they do when everyone is looking, but what they do when they are out of the spotlight. I personally see these as not only core Christian values, but core values of humanity. These kind of values stick with a person as they grow. Just one quick example, I remember my Mom telling me about Aunt Joe buying a refrigerator for the church, but she did not want anyone to know. To this day I try to keep charitable contributions, etc private. So, Obama grew up, got a scholarship at Harvard, graduated and became the first Black president of the Harvard Law Review. I don't know much about this title, but evidently a person who achieves this level basically has the credentials to work in big city law firms making on the order of a million a year or more. Get this, and this is extremely important, he turns this opportunity down in the late 80's and goes back to Chicago to work as a community organizer in an effort to make the lives of those disadvantaged better. To who much is given, much is required was what he recalled from his mother. Or, the measure of a man's character is best gauged when others are not watching, as Obama was not in the national spotlight.

There is an under-current that is being forced by many of these false emails that Obama is against personal responsibility (real this article about how he thinks parents need need to be more involved with there children). About 1 of 8 people actually still think that he is a trojan horse Muslim extremist. Probably half the people in the US think he will raise taxes. Some think he is racist even though he said that he channeled his white mother in his speech a month ago, in particular her teaching "not be limited by fear or narrow definitions, to not build walls around ourselves and to do our best to find kinship and beauty in unexpected places". Some like to think of Obama as an elitist even though he grew up in the middle class, used scholorships and loans to make it through college and turned down a high paying job to work in and for his community. If you think he's elite because of his high intelligence level than I see that as a good quality and something we need in a President. I urge everyone to turn the focus from the ideas put forth in these emails that he's a scary person to the facts that are on the table. I can appreciate if his so called "liberal views" are challenged, things like full health insurance coverage for children (SCHIP), affordable heath insurance for those who want it, ending 200 billion a year spent in Iraq, tax cuts for the middle-class, student Pell grants to those who work in community and national service programs, helping parents with child-care costs, etc. But, what is not productive are the third rail issues that only attempt to divide America. In closing Michelle Obama said that the kind of change that they are pushing will not happen if Obama simply gets elected, it will be hard work for everyone, because it requires us to be more introspective of how we see each other and that remove boundaries that separate us. We don't have to compromise our own values, but we at least need to try to understand viewpoints other than our own. Here's a flyer I plan on handing out in my own neighborhood that outlines some of Obama's ideas.

One other story that made me tear up just a little (I'm a little to sensitive some times). When the Obamas were in SC Michelle made a stop at a local beauty salon in a Black area of town. After she talked a little girl came up and tugged on her dress to get her attention. The girl tells her that if Obama gets elected it would he historic. Michelle asked her why she thought that way and the girl said something to the effect that it would mean that she could do anything or be anything that she wanted when she grew up. I could see an Obama Presidency having a huge impact on the Black youth in our country who now look up to rappers and sports figures. It would in effect raise the bar in a good way.

Cheers and have a nice week!

Rob

PS please excuse any grammar errors, I do not have the time right now to proofread.