Eve of the holidays...

Well, it's x-mas eve. I am not christian, jewish, muslim, are anything religious (quite proud of that BTW). So, what's a non-theist to do on a day like this? Enjoy... More later.

Fatherly Pride..

It's Sunday morning and I am the first one up. Only the sound of my keyboard tapping break the silence. I am still bloated with pride over yesterday's events.

My daughter had her first Gymnastics meet of the season. You see, she is a "level 7" competitor. There are 7 levels of competitive amateur gymnastics (levels 4 through 10). At this particular level they begin to create choreographed floor exercise routines, perform rather difficult beam exercises, do incredible things on the uneven bars, and vaults... Well, they get hard at level 8. Back to my bragging...

My daughter received the highest overall score for the entire meet! There were 8 teams represented at the meet. It included levels 7, 8, 9, and 10 (Elite). Wow! I watched my daughter perform maneuvers with such grace, strength, and poise that I was stunned. My 11-year-old baby girl was amazing. I was awe-struck to put it mildly. There is also, just a little guilt...

Now, normally I refrain from entertaining feelings of guilt. Such a waste of time. I would rather just change my behavior and leave out the emotional deteriation/dilapidation. However, it might be justly earned to allow myself a bit of extra punishment in the circumstance. It seems that I am often pointing out to my sweet child that her gymnastics lessons (4 times a week, four hours per time) are quite costly with respect to time and money. When she is (as pre-pubescent children often are) hesitant to try a new "move"; or having a hard time staying on task during training; I often hoist up these self-serving canards. She, of course, is racked with guilt for a time, and re-doubles her efforts.

After seeing her do what she did, it is quite clear that the investment of time and money has paid huge dividends. Not to mention the wonderful sportsman... er... sportsperson she is. Her attitude of supportiveness; the incredible friendships she has created; and her amazing humility would, themselves, be worth millions of dollars to me. So... shame on me. I think I'll stop writing, go upstairs, and give my just-awake daughter the good praising she deserves.

I'll be better about this from now on... Just watch!

Quiet afternoon alone

Well, the kids and wife are out-and-about town shopping. I am alone at home traveling the Net. My BIL sent me an e-mail about his blog (you forgot to send the ADDY), and it reminded me that I had one too.

Politics has begun to burn me out. It was delightful to see the Democrats do so well just weeks ago. I was rooting for Corzine to take NJ. I hated the disgusting methods used by his opponent.

Right now I am just biding my time until the holidays. Living where I do, there are few people who share my world-view. Luckily, my BIL comes in for holidays and I can expend a little political gas (poor imagery I know) before blowing up.

Well, short and sweet. If you need a link here's one.
It should get you through.

I will be posting again over the holidays. Oh... I dumped CORI stock. Lost a 1,000 bucks, but made it on other issues. So, I broke even. If you are interested, look into UARM (IPO last week) and NOVN (buy early, it got some really good news from the FDA). I also bought some F (ford) shares (really low price... A bargain).

HH

July 1st in Utah

There is nothing quite like July in Utah. It is always hotter than hell. And, given the already stuffy nature of society in this neck of the woods, things are exacerbeted.

Sandra Day O'Conner is stepping down here. I was priveledged to see an interview with her on PBS recently. She is my juldicial hero. Let's hope that her replacement is as wise as she. Goodbye Sandra! You were awesome!

It seems that W's little speech last week didn't do the trick. Not only were the ratings low, a new specter has arisen..."Impeachement." It seems that the American people are finally showing a little "buyers remorse." Its about freaking time! Bush is an embarassment to the USA, the GOP, and decent humans everywhere. Get him out of the gene pool.

I can't say that the liberals are getting abum rap all the time. It seems that the Lincoln memorial film is a bit "conservative" shy.

Finally, Iraq is a mess... Afganistan is being ignored... and the AlQaida is becoming emoboldened and more deadly. Good thing were "winning." *heavy sigh*

The Market took a bit of a hit yesterday. And so did my portfolio. Please buy Corillian (CORI)! Its a great company with solid earnings and a decent board of directors. P/E, Beta, and Earnings all look good. Get me to 6.00 a share. I won't be greedy... promise!

Hap

Been a While...

It has been a while since my last post. I should have been on earlier, but I just have been enjoying my Summer-break.

I see GW's rating are in the toilet. See here.
.
IT seems that Democrat Durbin is getting a bit of a drubbing by Faux News.
What is more patriotic: calling cruelty when its cruelty, or excusing it when we are doing it?

The wingers have gone completely nuts! They are even eating each other. Check out this rampage of Imus regarding Tucker Carlson.

On the other hand, Father's day is coming! I love being the father of my two munchkins! Life is going well at HappyExmo's house!

Later,
Hap

Ahh the weekends...

Its just too much to handle when the weekend was a beautiful as it was. I spent some time at my fathers house. He has FUAX news on 24/7. It amazes me how much "sheep" need to continually feed themselves bullshit in order to function. I watch the news, every now and again, but it is taken with a grain of salt.

The filibuster fight has me kind of excited. Harry Reid has turned out to be quite the scrappy fighter. Smart Guy. His equal in the other side isn't even in the Repulican leadership. Bill Frist is a total weenie!

I loved this read:
And this one too:
The whole "Kansas" Scopes revisited nonsense makes me want to move to France. BTW... I think France has gotten screwed by the USA. They stood up for what was right in the IRAQ issue. Now the screaming,whining, liars and pudits should have to apologize because France got it right (along with Russia, Germany, and many others)! Bush needs to be tried for treason. He should also be tried for War Crimes in the international courts. God, my country is in the shitter right now.

Later,
HH

Ahh the weekend...

My weekend was awesome! The trees were in bloom; the weather was warm; and the temperatures were just right. I am a bit of a tree fanatic (not Hugger... fanatic). I love nothing more than wandering about my yard looking carefully at my trees for new growth, smelling thier flowers, or standing in their shade. Nature is a wonderful thing.

The debate going on in Kansas makes me nervous.

The lack of debate at home makes me nervous.

This man give me hope. Take a listen.

This... is the ultimate zeitgiest marker! Evil empire versus the crusading rebellion. Let Star Wars Roll!!! Yes, I am a nerd.. ;)

Things at work are going to be slow this week. Students are invovled with CORE testing all week, so they will not be available to test, therapize (my own word), or analyze. Luckily I have enough paperwork to keep me busy.

On burning out...

I like to visit "dailykos." Cheers and Jeers is a great read. Much has been written there lately about "impeachable" offenses by the current whitehouse. I am one of those who thinks that the Iraq invasion was illegal and immoral. I have been faced with a bit of personal hypocrisy, however. How can I support the Bosnia/Herzigovnia invasion but not Iraq.

I have come to the conclusion that it is not the military action, per se, that haunts me. But the justification provided to the people. Bill Clinton made it clear that he was committing troops for purely humanitarian reasons. He was up front about his reasoning and stood up against those who doubted it.

The Iraq war was sold as a pre-emptive defensive maneuver to deter the creation and proliferation of "WMD."
Based on this recent information from Great Britain, it is clear that the whitehouse was planning on invading Iraq long before the 9/11 attackes.

Being a moderate, I want to support my government regardless of who is filling any particular office. I must, however, have no reason to doubt the honesty of those serving the people. Although I think Bill Clinton's personal ethics were appalling, he gave me no reason to doubt his presidential honesty. G.W. Bush has consistently lied to the American people. Although it seems his personal ethics are above questioning. He seems like a decent father, and a loyal husband.

Perhaps it is the power of government in and of itself that is at issue here. If government had little impact on my finances, and day-to-day life, then the quibbles of the political beujoisis would be of no interest. So, I am a traditional conservative when it comes to governmental power.... "Smaller is better." Seems ironic that the current "neo-cons" have produced the largest beaurocracy in history.

I 'm outta here....
HH

Bigotry

I just received and e-mail from my father. I would call him a "blind-faith" Repulican. Now, this is not to say that "blind-faith" democrats are any better. His e-mail was, essentially, a poem about how illegals go on welfare and get free homes, healthcare, and turn our streets and towns into tenements. I wrote a response, but didn't send it. My smart wife talked me out of it. "Is it worth offending him?", she asked. "no," I replied. "But did he care whether it offended me?" I quickly came here to post my thoughts. I hate being surrounded in my life by ignorance and arrogance. It goes straight to the heart of our problem today, Intolerance. We are so divided because every fool is convinced that he/she is right, and every person of wisdom is so full of doubt. But the wise are in the minority. I feel incredibly ashamed that someone I love so dearly can be so foolish. =( Just had to post... Thanks for reading. HH

First installment

Well... Here I am. This blog is just a collection of my random thoughts, especially political.

The reason for doing this is simple; things in America suck right now. My ire is not the result of right-wing nuts running my country, nor is it that democrats are such wimps. MY problem is the dividedness of my fellow Americans. One side hating ....er... Loathing anyone who disagrees with them. It is shameful. There is nothing wrong with disagreeing IMO. Let's agree to disagree! In the end we have to give and take in order progress as a country.

What I hope to elucidate is that American pluralism is the basis for America's greatness. It is consilience that I yearn for. I want my views given equal weight with every others no matter which party, ideology is in the majority. The President is supposed to represent me too (liberal social values, conservative economic values, and all).


Anyway, I will be posting/ranting about how I think government ought to serve over the coming days, weeks, months, and years. I may add a few meaningless tangential rants about various subjects too.

HH