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Name: AuVox
Location: Laguna Niguel, CA
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Creepy. REALLY creepy...

Posted by AuVox on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 2:27:34 PM
Maybe it's just me, but doesn't this remind you a little of this??
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Disaster? ..or over hyped?

Posted by AuVox on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 1:58:33 PM
Impossible to tell right now.  Free markets are subject to their own whims.  If anyone could predict accurately what was going to happen, they'd be rich beyond anyone's wildest dreams.
 
But here's (H/T Instapundit) an anectdotal look at the realities of things today.  (That's today.) John McCain was right when he said that "the fundamentals of the economy are sound", if you believe--as I do--that "fundamentals" mean the  intelligence, work-ethic, and creativity of the American worker and small businessman.
 
The key to your future financial survival is exactly what it's always been: your fiscal responsibility. 
 
Spend less than you make. 
 
Save 10% of your gross for your future.  (I know it seems imposssible.  It isn't.) 
 
Ignore advertising, and only buy what you need. 
 
You can get along great--including occassional luxuries--with a lot less than you think.  Just take a look around your house--how much of the stuff packed away in closets, garages, and attics do you ever even use? 
 
Pay your bills on time.  Really.  In fact, pay 'em early.  A payment a single day after your due date can ding your credit score substantially.
 
Cut up most of your credit cards (DON'T cancel them--that'll hurt your credit score.) and pay off the balances.  Or, if you truly can't pay them all off, at least get the balances down to 30% or so of your available credit.
 
Start now.  Today.  More on financial responsibility in a later post.
 
Regarding Mr. Krumm, I'm not surprised he could get a great mortgage at a great rate.  But I'm shocked that he can buy a home for $139,000.
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Obama's judgement can't be trusted

Posted by AuVox on Sunday, September 28, 2008 1:47:51 PM
I have a friend named Alan.  A lovely man, with a terrific, loving wife.  I love him...but he drives me effing nuts when he insists on talking politics.  He used to be moderately left-of-center.  Now he's descended into full-blown Kos-Olbermania territory.  He responded to an email as imaginary, full of non-specifics, and that Obama was being persecuted by the "supposedly" biased press.  He said I never provided specifics during our exchanges (apparently he suffers from short-term memory loss as well...)

 
Here's my response.  Full of links you may have already seen.   
 
Oh please, Alan.  Here's Joe Biden:  'Look, we might not get the votes we need...so we're gonna to send in the Democrats' strong-arm guys ...

Definition:  Swiftboating:  telling the truth about Democrats.

Can you give me a single example under any Republican administration where law enforcement was ordered to bully and intimidate people carrying signs at a political rally or stations that run legal paid political advertising?  And after Obama runs ads like this you complain about "misleading" ads? Especially since even the Boston Globe explained the story originally years ago --not to mention raving about McCain's character.  Tell me....anyone out there swearing to Obama's "character"?

And for Barack to try to intimidate the media is especially disingenuous when the close-to-silence about his intimate personal involvement with the corrupt ACORN, the terrorist Bill Ayers and his terroist wife Benadine Dorn, and the purchase of his home with the help of a sleazy convicted felon.  is deafening.  Even his 20 year relationship with this guy is now treated like ancient history.  Likewise, his using a soldier's death only as a political tool despite the expressed wishes of his family is not only reprehensible, it's completely ignored by the media.

Alan, I don't think Obama is involved directly with voter fraud, Leftist terrorism, real estate racketeering, or that he hates this country.  But his intimate ties with people that are screams that he has serious problems with judgement.

And that doesn't even touch on the fact that he and I share not One. Single. Issue. in common.

You're blind.  It matters not how loud they scream about being "the party of tolerance", "the party of fairness", or how they try to paint Conservatives as "evil"; the Left is doing far, far more damage to this country than the Right.  And they are being aided and abetted by all the major broadcast networks and print media.

Obama may get elected.  If he does, God help us all.  And as things begin to rapidly deteriorate I expect all of his most visible supporters to scatter like roaches in a suddenly illuminated New York City kitchen.

PS:  I implied the other day that the financial mess, particularly in mortgages,was the Democrats' fault.  I'm sorry.  It isn't.  Their fault lies in starting the mess, and maintaining the problem while it gained steam; but there's plenty of fault to go around on BOTH sides for not having the courage to fix it in time.  (On the other hand, somebody tried )
 
UPDATE:   Turns out Sgt. Jopek's Mom didn't want her late son's bracelet turned into a political tool, but in retrospect she gave her blessing.
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Guest Editorial

Posted by AuVox on Saturday, September 27, 2008 2:48:17 PM
The following was written late in the spring by my younger son, Hunter, for a school assignment.  He just turned 14 a few weeks ago.  Proud father or no, I think it's pretty clear:  The kid can write.

Change of Stance

Iraqi War Series

Hunter McLaren 

      Most everyone has seen the 60-Minutes specials on the inner city war hero, who joins the Marines as a last-ditch effort to escape the ghetto. But who joins the Marines after living in a white, wealthy, educated family? Who passes up college to go fight a war most of his family is dead set against? Well, as it happens, my cousin did.

Greco, Michael A.

      Most people have one solid, unshakable opinion on the Iraqi War. These conclusions, drawn from the media’s latest report or simply based upon party lines, are what these people stand for, in any debate or argument. However, I am not one of these people. Born and raised anti-war, (in the hippie state of California, no less) I would state my well drawn conclusions furiously and justly. Then, out of the blue, my cousin joined the Marine Corps. How can I condemn a war my cousin is fighting in?

      A tight-knit Italian family, my grandpa, mom, three aunts, three uncles, and the ten cousins are all very close.  It is not uncommon for one of us to mow an aunt’s lawn in the morning, go to the gym with a cousin and uncle in the afternoon, and eat dinner at Grampa’s house that night. For every major holiday I can remember, I’ve been with my family.  Basically, except for my brother and me, everybody grew up within four miles of each other. So now, with my cousin gone to fight in a Middle-Eastern country, there is a gaping hole in my family’s universe. Each of the ten grandchildren, throughout their childhood, grew up basically in everyone’s arms. Doted over, coddled, and played with, the cousins grew to be one being. This absent cousin is like a missing arm or leg. And since the beginning of April until November, my family will be sick with worry.

      However, the Iraqi War is not World War II. Advancements in technology have made it possible not only to save lives in a hospital, but to avoid being injured at all. Countless lives have been saved by the Kevlar vests and helmets worn by soldiers. Countless more, though sustaining injuries requiring amputations, have been able to live pretty normal lives thanks to prosthetic limbs. But to tell you the truth, that doesn’t mean squat.

      I am scared every day for my cousin’s life. As of writing this, he is stationed in Fallujah, one of the most dangerous cities in Iraq. However, for me, the biggest pain isn’t that I see my cousin’s face on every Marine pictured in the obituaries, nor the constant fear for his well being, but the agony of hearing every jeer or insult or nasty word I sent his way. To think that I said something mean to him that distracted or upset him before he shipped out tortures me every day. All he deserves are positive thoughts during his time of struggle.

      To me, it doesn’t matter if we went to Iraq for oil or WMD’s; it doesn’t matter if we stay for conquest or for terrorist expulsion. The only thing that matters to me is that the war ends, so I can see my cousin healthy, happy and whole again.

Tags: Iraq war  
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The Best Political Ad of the Season

Posted by AuVox on Saturday, September 27, 2008 12:21:54 PM
Without question.  (H/T InstaPundit)
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The Gaffe Machine, plus "all I need to know"

Posted by AuVox on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 10:54:23 PM
Look.  I know people make verbal mistakes, stumbles, and gaffes.  We all do.  But Senator Joe Biden is seemingly in a class by himself.  In fact, far, FAR worse than the most famous alleged gaffe-meister of the 20th Century, George W. Bush (isn't he?  I mean,  that's what I've heard for years from the media, the Left, and late night comics...) Consider this:  Joe says that, when it comes to trial lawyers, he's "done more than any other senator combined".  Yes, that's 'Senator', singular.  I guess someone should have asked a follow-up:  "Combined with what?"
 
The piece also told me everything I need to know about the Democratic ticket in three paragraphs.
 
First of all, talking to trial lawyers, he mentioned the Democrats plans for the election, "We're going to need you going into election time, because we're going to mobilize thousands of lawyers to make sure they don't steal another election."  Are they still trying to sell that myth?  The myth that anything was "stolen"?  It's been eight years Joe.  AlGore lost.  Get over it already.  When Republicans are faced with a serious perceived threat, they send the Armed Forces.  The Democrats?  They send lawyers.
 
This one was telling as well:  "There are two...groups that stand between us and the barbarians at the gate," Biden said. "It's you and organized labor. That's it. So, mark my words,  if we lose this election, you are going to continue to see a continuation of the onslaught on everything we care about."  Tell me, Joe.  What do Democrats, organized labor, and trial lawyers have in common as to what they "care about"?  The only honest, logical answers are "money" and "power".
 
And of course, there was Joe Biden bragging about how much he's done for trial lawyers.  There's a political winner for you, Senator.
 
On the other hand, Senator Biden did give me a couple of great reasons to vote for John McCain:
 
Again, he was talking to trial lawyers when he said of McCain, "He has never, never, never, never, never, never, never shared the values set that you share," Biden said.  Woo-Hoo! John!  M'MAN!!
 
Or this, when Senator Joe said, "we talk about how John McCain's 'changed,'" Biden said. "He hasn't changed a bit. John McCain has not changed one single solitary bit from the day I met him 34 years ago."  So you're saying that the John McCain that you disdain today really is exactly the same as the John McCain the Left loved in 2000.  That he's shown decades of solid consistancy.    And this is a bad thing...how?  Hmmmm.... and how many times has Senator Obama's changed this week?  Just sayin'...
 
UPDATE:  VDH has more on NRO's The Corner.
 
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"Everyone wants to come here..."

Posted by AuVox on Saturday, September 20, 2008 3:46:03 PM
If you listen to the political Left, you would think that the United States of America is a simmering cesspool of evil which the world hates with a passion--and that it's all our fault.  Charges that "the world is against us!", "Bush has destroyed our international reputation!", and "we've become hated worldwide!" abound.

 
But as Dennis Prager often points out, "the world doesn't hate America, the world's Left hates America."  If the USA were such a horrible place, why would we be building a fence to help control the millions who try to get in every year?  The truth is self-evident from what's been called "the gate theory":  if you build a gate at your border, are more people trying to get in, or to get out?
 
America is more than a place.  It's an idea.  An idea that says you can start here with nothing, and what you end up with is completely up to you.  It's about the idea that one's success isn't dependent upon one's family name, accident of birth, or whim of a ruler. Excellence is rewarded.  People with the best ideas, the best imagination, the best planning, and--most importantly--the best work-ethic have the best success.  Are their exceptions?  There are always exceptions.  (Let's not forget that "the best luck" is not an unimportant factor...)  But for the most part, in America if you can dream it you can do it.
 
To the cynics these are but cliches.  But to the believers, they're reality.  How many immigrant success stories begin, "I came to America with nothing.  Just look at how much I've accomplished!"  Ben Stein met one just recently.  He gives us just one more chapter in the real story of America.
 
Your own vision of America is up to you.  Is it the Great Satan the Islamicists scream about before their truck bombs kill their own people?  Is it the international stain that the Leftist elite would have you believe?  Or is it The Shining City on a Hill that one of America's greatest leaders called it?  Whatever you believe, you can accept it or try to change it.
 
America's freedoms don't stop at speech, press, and assembly for the millions in the world that want to come here.  Here there is something even more valuable to them.  Here you have the freedom to try.
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Nerd Alert! Nerd Alert!

Posted by AuVox on Friday, September 19, 2008 2:19:06 PM
I'm thinking of taking up chess.
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The Great Escape

Posted by AuVox on Thursday, September 18, 2008 10:39:31 PM
Keep prisoners together long enough, and eventually their combined guile, creativity and courage will lead to no good. Starring Steve McBeagle. (Sigmund, Carl, and Alfred, via H/T LGF)
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Productivity Enhancer

Posted by AuVox on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 10:41:02 PM
(...as Dave Barry would say.)  Most guys will probably love it, most gals will think it's stupid.  Well...Sarah wouldn't, I guaran-damn-tee it!
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If I'm ever looking for a contractor...

Posted by AuVox on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 4:10:38 PM
I want the guy who built THIS house:
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Lipstick Republicans

Posted by AuVox on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 12:54:15 PM
Some nice shots from Mondays' GOP rally in Colorado.

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A Must-Watch

Posted by AuVox on Sunday, September 14, 2008 1:45:08 PM
There's nothing worse than a parody that doesn't work--and you've seen a zillion of them.  This one, however, succeeds on so many levels that I would dare call it brilliant.   (H/T: Copius Dissent via NewsBusters)
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Thank "W" for lower oil prices

Posted by AuVox on Friday, September 12, 2008 4:42:23 PM
Despite Hurricane Ike's march across the Gulf--and its speculative effect on gasoline prices--Crude Oil dropped briefly below $100 a barrel.  This important dip beneath the psychologically significant benchmark probably means additional steeper declines to its true "fair market" value of somewhere between $80 and $90 per barrel.
So what halted the "never-ending price climb"?  What nicked the "oil bubble"?
 
President Bush.  Virtually single-handed.
 
The price of gas had been steadily climbing for months.  Three dollars.  Three fifty.  Four dollars.  Higher.  Despite pleas to Congress, Democrats steadfastly refused to allow a vote on offshore drilling.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was no doubt counting on increasing gasoline prices driving Americans (no pun intended) further away from George W. Bush.  The Democrats were more than willing to let Americans continue to suffer if it meant something else they could use as a tool in the November election.
 
Oopsie.  On July 14, 2008 President Bush ended the executive ban on offshore drilling.  The next day, oil prices plummeted. And have been dropping steadily ever since.  Why?  Like the real estate bubble, prices had been originally driven by natural market forces--"supply and demand"--upon which speculators began to attach to the market's coattails.  Futures market speculators can make--or lose--boatloads of cash by "leveraging"--controlling large quantities of a commodity with relatively little capital.  They were pouring into the market, counting on continuing profits.
 
When President Bush lifted the ban on offshore drilling, the smart money realized that increased supply--even potential increased supply--meant less demand, and thus lower prices.  The big speculators realized they were exposed to massive potential losses and they began to get out.
 
Remember when Speaker Pelosi, Senator Reid, Senator Clinton, Senator Obama, et al said very specifically "we can't drill our way out of this problem."  They were right.  All that was necessary was to threaten to drill our way out of this problem.
 
Expect George W. Bush to get all due credit for his courageous and effective move.  Not.
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Trying on a tinfoil hat

Posted by AuVox on Friday, September 12, 2008 2:55:24 PM
I'm sure it's only coincidence that Senator Joe Biden admitted that Hillary Clinton would make a better VP candidate on the very same day that Barack Obama announced that he was putting Bill Clinton "to work" for him.
 
Others have suggested that Senator Biden might find some excuse--perhaps an undisclosed medical condition--to withdraw from the ticket; whereupon he could be replaced by, oh...say, Hillary Clinton for example!
 
This would accomplish two things instantly: 1) Re-energize a Democratic party demoralized by the recent McCain/Palin surge; and 2) trigger a media frenzy around Obama/Clinton that would immediately suck all of the oxygen out of the Palin balloon.
 
OK...farfetched paranoia perhaps.  On the other hand, the buzz on Intrade doesn't seem to think so.
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