Ant Bites

Blogging has been zero due to extreme heat and a full schedule.

I have a long red blotch on my ankles that itchs like mad from fire ant bites - apparently they penetrated through a hole in my sock as I was walking the district.

It's finally a bit cooler for a few days, after hitting 110 heat index for days on end. My nose looks like Rudolph the red nosed Reindeer from keeping my car top open for ventilation (A/C is still out and needs to be converted from an R 12 to one of the new systems that doesn't kill ozone - not sure it's worth it).

A client needed some help so ended up going to L.A. on a case (a big company attacking his little one, the usual) - but in this economy cash is tight so he could pay only part of it. The rest he wanted to pay via a barter with a third party --to get me something I need, a pickup. Well, the pickup looks great but instead of running well it has a dead engine.

It reminds me of the depression stories. "Thanks Doc for your help, but gee, we've got no cash -- but we can give you a chicken and a goat!"

Well, I didn't get a goat but I did get a pickup that doesn't (yet) work. Amazing. I took it. I figured "Half a truck is better than none."  In time I can always get a motor in it and will enjoy driving something that hauls my stuff and has a working A/C!

While I'm trying to survive and take in chickens and pickups for fees, the other two candidates have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars - one has spent a million -- yet both of them have gone DOWN in the polls!  Amazing.....

With less than $10,000 I - the 3rd candidate-have been going UP (I had no where else to go).

I found out that the incumbent polls without using my name (giving him false numbers since it only compares him vs a Democrat) and the Dems poll using the independent me -- and it shows my being on the ballot has dropped the incumbent below 49% without my even making a phone call or a mailing.

Not to bad when you running against someone who has been in power as long as Saddam and has more money than some countries!

Tells me the boy's in a heap of trouble. We could yet see a David topple a Goliath.

We could use one of those stories, especially when you scan the awful headlines - Iraq is still a hellhole, politicians are being overly partisan and the whole world really needs a makeover and fresh faces in leadership...

We'll see what happens. I have to go check, after a long absence, the blog of the Iraqi girl who lives in Baghdad - to get the real facts of what is happening over there.

I don't think our gov't or media really gives us an accurate picture than someone living in it....more later, when the ant bites subside.

Mike

The Whirlwind Begins - 9 11 Report Released

Americans should unplug their air conditioners to get a feel for what our troops and civilians in Iraq are going through, only more so.  Last night our 13-year old house air conditioner gave up the ghost and died.

In Houston, loss of air conditioning is treated like instant death. People grab their phones and ranson their kids to buy a new working compressor if it goes out in July when its hitting triple digit heat index.  A new one was $3,500 - a fortune to most people (including me).  The house felt like a sticky hot box. Imagine going through that all day, day after day, month after month in Iraq as one of our soldiers, or as an Iraqi civilian?  We need to remember that.

Got to run - New A/C is humming, Thank God. 9 11 report just came out. More on that later. It was like a Compressor blowing it in it's revelations.

No Time

I've had no time, or energy, to blog lately. 

Our Houston summer has turned from rain to HOT AS HADES and the A/C remains out of action on my '90 Mercedes (at least it's paid for and still rolling with 261,000 miles so far - I'm tempted to see how far it will go).

The election is heating up and Iraq and the economy are said to be the key deciding factors that will swing the swing voters who will decide this dead heat. The voters I talk to on the street don't reflect the happy numbers coming out of DC - the hiring of burger flippers is up, but not engineers or real jobs.

I caught a bug last Thursday that had me throwing up and it took several days for it to give up, so I'm just now getting rolling again. But it's summer and people's minds are on vacation and I can't blame them. It's good to have some fun when the news has been awful and the times have been hard for most. Some escape helps keep one's sanity unless you have already lost your mind, then the escape helps those who have to put up with you! I know my wife would agree with that.

Interesting. We have Dick Cheney telling a senior Senator "F*** You" and then  goes on a road trip talking about how their team has superior values. Ummmmm.

Campaign 2004: "Our foul language is of higher quality than the other guys!"

 Perhaps that's the new definition of values.

I think this is not what most Americans think equals values.

I don't think Americans like arrogance. Or false values, or hypocrites who do what they condemn, often at the same time.

I don't think they like those who never apologize for bad behavior while claiming they have "values."  We'll see.

The good thing about democracy is that we have a chance to change the players and start fresh. Boy, we need a fresh start ...

Noahs Flood

I found 5 inches of rain in the backyard gauge - it's been raining every day for days. It may be time to start working on an ark. It's supposed to continue another week.

News has been a strange mix: bombings in Iraq - we are 6 days from the June 30 turnover - President being deposed on the exposing of a CIA agent, and other assorted downer news.

People in the 30's depression used to watch Seabiscuit's improbable races (and wins) as a distraction from the bad economic news. Smarty Jones did that for two of three races, but has disappeared from the scene, leaving us without a distraction.

But then "SpaceShipOne" made a successful flight to the edge of space - 3 entrepreneurs opening the door to private flights in space. That was a great day. Then the next day it was back to hearing about someone losing their head in Iraq and more bombings. Bummer again.

I have been talking to a lot of people in my quest for Congress - the Main Street report is grim, some tell me sales are off 75% the last two years! Jobs are going elsewhere. The mood out there is frustration and insecure. People seem to be in the mood to roll some heads of their own.

Well, back to building my Ark.

 

Only in America -

It's official - I'm a Congress candidate officially.

I found a letter in my mailbox Sunday from the Texas Secretary of State, stating that I had qualified for the November ballot as a candidate for US Congress (www.Congress1.com).

The present incumbent has been there for 20 years. When I challenged him in 2002, I was thrown off the ballot and had to sue to get back on. And I won the suit, but not that primary.

So I'm on the ballot again, but for the first time on the general election ballot - the last two times were in the GOP primary. This time I'm an independent and I like it. Now I can talk to everyone, not just members of one party.

Only in America can the little guy challenge the powerful - and polls are showing that the incumbent is down to 36% among likely voters. 54% say that they want "someone else." Earlier this year another challenger for a Constable position actually beat a 16-year incumbent in my district, after he was knocked off the ballot by the GOP. It made people very angry and the kid swamped the incumbent with 60% of the vote.

My case is unique.  Unlike most independents I have a prior track record in this district - so it's going to be close between 3 of us. It looks like the Democrat is the potential spoiler, not the independent (me) since the best a Dem ever gets is 36% in this district in a 2-way race. Just call me the anti-Nader independent.

My entry makes it a possible for possible "Seabiscuit" race against the incumbent (actually 3 -- a Libertarian with the same name as the Democrat (ironically) is also in and usually pulls votes from the GOP side).

So this should be interesting. I'm definitely the darkest horse in the race...

Only in America...

 

Pres. Reagan Joins the Challenger Crew

Yesterday was an odd day. It was the day before D-Day, a time to think of our vets.

Then their was surprising news that President Reagan had died after a ten year losing battle with Alzheimer's. After that, Smarty Jones lost his bid for a triple crown win in the last seconds of the race. The Strawberry Full Moon was in full swing.

The highlight was attending a Literacy fundraiser in the George Library that was very successful, and it went late.

I had to get up early since I was a layreader at church. So I got there feeling still half numb and not running on full batteries.  I found the "Prayers of the People" section, and came to a place where it said "We pray for those who have died, but it was blank.

So, I penciled this in and read it to the congregation without prior approval:

"We pray for those who died, especially former President Reagan, who has slipped the surly bonds of earth, to touch the face of God."

The idea came after reading about his remarks after the Challenger crew was lost. They also fit for a former President, who has now joined the Challenger crew in touching the face of God....

Michael Fjetland

 

Strawberry Full Moon tomorrow - HOT

It's a major "Global Warming" outside - HOT as hades in Houston. We get a wet heat that makes your clothes stick to your body in seconds despite air conditioners blowing full bore. In the Texas panhandle it's a DRY heat, but not here on the coastal plains.

And I haven't even seen the move "The Day After Tomorrow" and its global weather disasters!

Tomorrow is unique. "The moon will be full June 3 at 12:20AM ET. Indian tribes called this the Strawberry Moon because it came during the short strawberry harvest season."

Yep, the strawberries are roasting out there today. So are the issues - it turns out the guy who talked the Bush admin into invading Iraq, Ahmad Chalabi, was arrested by our own forces and charged with giving confidential info to the Iranians.

Moral: Don't invade a country based on one guys "inside info."  That mistake just cost us $300 billion1

Well, back into the H E A T in a few minutes. Half of Houston has fled town, probably for a beach or mountain top somewhere.  Americans should move north in the summer and south in the winter instead of being savaged by the extreme heat and ice.