Subject to Change

We have the opportunity in November, to witness history in the making: the end of the reign of the first female Speaker of The House. I’m looking forward to this momentous occasion with great anticipation. I also hope to witness the transition power away from our first black President in two years.

I sincerely hope that the second female Speaker and black President are more effective than these clowns.

“We can absorb a terrorist attack. We’ll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever . . . we absorbed it and we are stronger.”
– President Barack Hussein Obama

Patrick asks: Your Thoughts?

Here are just a quick few:

• Someone seems to have forgotten that the plane which landed in a corn field was not actually targeting our ethanol production in an effort to increase our dependence on Middle-East oil.
• Something tells me the president is not prepared to personally absorb a terrorist attack. He doesn’t strike me as a team player. What do you say, Mr. President, would you take one for the team?
• Admitting failure already? I wonder if we’ll discover that Barack has a speech ready for the event. Nixon had remarks prepared in case Moonshot failed. They’re downright creepy.
• We’ve absorbed bad presidencies before and we are stronger.
• I can’t think of a single way to spin this that makes Barack Obama appear to be in control, prepared, or effective. It will be fun to watch liberals try.
• At least he shied away from suggesting possible targets. That will give Joe Biden something to gaffe about while he’s out doing damage control.

A House panel last week advanced a bill that would for the first time require federal health officials to ask patients about their sexual orientation and gender identity.

…

“This bill is about collecting data. No more, no less,” Baldwin said at the hearing last week. She said federal programs generally do not collect this data, and that “as a result we are left with gaping holes in our knowledge on LGBT health.”

So… When Republicans “collect data” it’s spying. When Democrats do it it’s for the common good. 1984 called, they want you to know that they’re double-plus excited you decided to join them after all.

Seriously, if LGBT health is suffering due to lack of data, somebody (NOT THE GOVERNMENT) ought to be keen on doing a volunteer study. That’s how we normally do this.

By now you’ve heard that our Messiah in Chief quoted a passage of the Declaration of Independence, except that he omitted half of the original text. It would appear that Obama had a problem with the part about the Creator.

Maybe altering history through denial and omission actually works. From now on, I refuse to acknowledge slavery. I don’t believe in it and I don’t recognize the views of those who would practice it. Problem solved.

This dawned on me not too long ago.

When Barack Obama says “let me be clear” he actually means “I wish I were invisible.”

Keep that in mind the next time you hear him speak and you’ll understand why he’s so unpopular right now.

I may not have time to blog after the election results are in, so allow me to jump the gun.

Congratulations Scott Walker or Mark Neumann, but preferably Scott Walker, on winning the Republican primary for governor.

Going forward, please be careful to moderate your tone. Although you may be confident, avoid suggesting that you’re going to beat the snot out of Tom Barrett. The liberals could pick up on that as a personal attack against the mayor. Instead, tell the voters that you intend to emerge victorious and will offer your opponent a consoling pat on the back or high-five to let him know that there are no real losers as long as we try our best.

On another note: the word “hijack” is once again acceptable for common use.

The Wisconsin leftosphere has come so unhinged at the notion of Scott Walker winning the GOP primary that they’re slamming him for using the word “hijack” on Twitter today.

You read that correctly. Opening a conquering mosque near Ground Zero is not inappropriate. You’re a bigot for finding that wrong. But, when a candidate running for office in Wisconsin uses the word “hijack” in the context of his campaign on September Eleventh: well, heck, we ought to string him up by his short hairs for trampling the memory of those lives lost.

This is an attack so thin you could fly a paper airplane through it, and hit the conquering mosque standing behind it. It’s false outrage, or to use the vernacular: horse shit.

And, another thing before the we end the anniversary of the worst day of a patriot’s life. When we honor the lives lost on September Eleveth, I find it offensive any time the hijackers are included among the dead. At the very least, they deserve an asterisk. There’s no way in hell I’m honoring them and I don’t want there to be any mistake about it. May they rest in pieces.

Do you want to know what one of the greatest sounds in the world is? It’s the constant thrum of activity at Ground Zero. “The City that Never Sleeps” is something of a misnomer, except at World Trade Plaza. New York’s streets quiet down by 6pm, and it’s quite a ghost town after 10pm. But, in lower Manhattan there are men and women working around the clock. They’re working in your honor and mine, but most importantly for those who lost their lives nine years ago.

I’ve had the priviledge of being able to spend more than three months of the past year in and around New York City. I have visited Ground Zero several times, and have even taken the time to light a candle there. In one year, the construction exploded from street level and is now well on its way into the sky. I look forward to visiting when the site is complete and hope that day comes soon.

If there’s one positive that comes out of these tragic events it’s the way New York has been transformed. We experienced none of the legendary rudeness associated with the people of New York. In fact, we found people there to be quite sociable and helpful. New York is a great city for talking to strangers. I’ve been told by several friends on the east coast that it was September Eleventh that really brought out the best in people. We realized that we’re all in this together. Thankfully, nine years later New York City still remembers.

God bless America.

One of the many ideas I’ve had for this blog is to chronicle the places I’ve traveled to. I have dozens of experiences I’d like to share, because I know that if I talk about somewhere you’re going you might latch on to some key piece of information that you can use.

On that note, my family and I found ourselves doing something on Labor Day weekend that we never thought possible. We planned our trip to Mackinaw (pronounced Mackinac) City because we wanted to end our summer at Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw) Island. We planned to see the laser show at Mackinaw Crossings mall, tour Fort Michilimackinac, and spend a day or two on Mackinac Island.

Due to a late start, we never made it to the fort. We arrived on Saturday night, just in time to see the laser show. Mackinaw Crossings is an outdoor mall full of fudge shops, t-shirt shops, several interactive exhibits, and the usual types of things found in high tourist areas. It has a great play area for kids, which makes it a nice spot to kill some time with a family. The laser show is free and is not to be missed. Colored lasers draw animated scenes to music. The first time I saw this show I was amazed at the colors. Somehow, the laser light is blended to create impossible colors such as yellow and orange. Kids love the loud music and laser beams, of course.

Mackinac Island was the main reason for this trip. If you’ve never been there the main way to get there is by ferry boat. The ride across lake Huron in view of the Mackinac Bridge is one of the many reasons to visit at least once in a lifetime. We even enjoyed a sunset cruise past the bridge on our return trip! On the island there are no cars. Transportation is on foot, by bicycle, or by horse-drawn carriage. Busy days on Mackinac can be quite a mess of all three. Dodging traffic is one of the things I don’t enjoy while visiting, there are way too many amateur cyclists about.

This time, the amateur cyclists counted my wife and myself amongst them. I’ve always wanted to bring my own bike to Mackinac Island, so that I could see things not on the tours and ride the perimeter road around the island. Circling the island is most definitely a bucket list worthy feat. The road is eight miles, mostly flat, and is very scenic. With the slight breeze off the lake I had no problem towing the carrier with my son in it. To make this trip, bring your own bike. It’s the least expensive way to ride. The rentals on the island are also not much to look at, unless you decide to ride tandem. I should also note that it was easy to bring our bikes because Mackinaw City has a bike trail that runs south from the ferry terminals to the campgrounds nearby.

The island also has a tourist friendly Main Street, full of all the same types of shops I mentioned before. It’s like downtown Wisconsin Dells with horses and bikes instead of cars. You really need to avoid main street if you’re like me and just want to enjoy a relaxing day seeing a few unique places. The island is full of uniqueness: a colonial fort, a butterfly house, lilacs (with a festival in spring), horseback riding, carriage tours, carriage rentals, horse poop, giant houses, kites, boats, and of course fudge. If you manage to visit without buying fudge, they ought to pin a medal on you.

We enjoyed a fairly laid-back day on the island. Most of it was spent exploring on our bikes. We knew that we had to pace ourselves for the big day ahead. Upon planning our trip my wife discovered shuttle service from our campground. The shuttle advertised service to the ferries and the bridgewalk. Wait, what bridgewalk?

Even though I’ve heard of it before, it never dawned on me that I could plan a trip to walk the Mackinac Bridge. This is an event held once a year only, on Labor Day. And, boy, does it draw a crowd! Tens of thousands come out to walk the Mighty Mac. We managed to get ourselves up at 4am to join them. You have to arrive early. The walk takes place from 7am to 11am and it’s organized chaos to participate. Half the school buses in the state of Michigan showed up to carry us from the ferry terminals in Mackinaw City to the starting line on the north side of the bridge. Those same buses were used later on to carry people back if they parked on that side of the bridge. They only allow the foot traffic to cross the bridge in one direction, and with good reason. The trip is about five miles over the water and takes two hours to complete.

When you walk the Mackinac Bridge you’ll meet people who’ve been making the trip for ten, twenty, or fifty years. It can be cold up there, and you’re exposed. My wife and I both got a little wind burnt. The suspension part of the bridge sways a nit in the wind. I noticed that my feet didn’t always land where I expected to plant them. Oh, and the inside traffic lane is a metal grate. You can see straight down to the water through the bridge. When people come up to this portion of the bridge they bunch up as a good number of them move into the other lane, while others stop to take pictures. Myself, I was a picture taker. I then proceeded to walk along the grating, while looking down (and up) at the structure of the bridge. I’m not much for heights, but this was too cool to miss.

The bridge didn’t fully reopen until after 3pm, when the last of the walkers finished. Even then, southbound traffic remained very heavy. I assume those people were Michiganders headed home from the holiday. Going north, however, was easy. We crossed the bridge one last time, noting where the stroller wheels got stuck in the gap between bridge sections.

In Folkbum’s world poor grammar disqualifies you from running for office, but stubborn reliance on a teleprompter and constant use of “um” and “ah” do not.

I’m not trying to call him a hypocrite, because more interesting words come to mind.