No Smell Deodorant

I've done some stupid things in my life, but a recent purchase is right up there. I like Tom's natural products, and use their toothpaste and deodorant. I usually buy the peppermint toothpaste with no fluoride, and the apricot-scented deodorant.

When I ran out of my deodorant, I decided to try a different scent. I went to the store and noticed one labeled "for sensitive skin", (hey, aren't guys supposed to embrace that?) but more remarkable was that it was "scentless". I was intrigued. How could a deodorant be scentless? I had to buy it to find out.

I found out. The scentless deodorant does nothing. Duh. It covers up stink with somebody's imagination. What a joke.


No Smell Deodorant, Part II
Guys don't read the instructions. Or fine print. Well, I finally did look at the back of the deodorant, figuring there had to be a reason for no scent. It turns out that the stuff contains hops, which is supposed to prevent bacteria from growing (yuck, an armpit full of bacteria?) of which I have no proof, but I'm still using the deodorant, and I don't think I stink much. At least my wife hasn't complained!

Tilt

This morning as I was riding the bus down the counterbalance I noticed all the buildings were leaning uphill. How odd!

Quote for the Evening

No matter how cynical you get,
it is impossible to keep up.

-- Lily Tomlin

O Canada!

Every 4 years or so, I wish I lived in Canada. In the U.S. we have such angst about our presidential elections, and I never hear about such conflicts from our Great Northern Neighbor. I used to live in Montana, near the Canadian border, and when I was a kid, went to the Valley View Bible Camp in Saskatchewan. It always was a fun time, and I always fell in love with the Canadian people (well, maybe especially one or two of the opposite sex...). We swam a lot in the muddy river that ran through camp, and hiked into the prairie dodging ferocious cacti and ticks. One of my best friends (and college roomate) is a pastor in Calgary who used to be a farmer in Hagen, near P.A. I always loved to say P.A. For you non-Saskatchewanites, it is an abbreviation for Prince Albert. Saying P.A. is like saying L.A. for Los Angeles. It makes me feel like an insider. Let's go to P.A. and play some billiards. Let's go to P.A. and see a movie. Isn't that fun?

When I was in the 9th grade, we moved to Oakland, and when I heard people using the L.A. abbreviation, I thought that was what Californians did for all cities with two names. So when my brother had friends visiting from out-of-town, I said, "Let's go to S.F. and show everyone the sights!" Everybody looked at me quizzically for a second and then burst out laughing. "S.F. San Francisco!" I was a little embarrassed, but I just grinned and said "What's wrong with that? "

But I digress. It would be interesting to be a Canadian and watching the U.S. elections. I had a friend once who refused to fly his U.S. flag after George Bush Sr. was elected. I think that is a bit much. After all, I still flew my flag when Clinton was president. I even voted for Jimmy Carter back in the day. Can't say I'm not open-minded.

This year I'm voting for the Constitution Party's candidate, Dr. Chuck Baldwin. He promises to bring some sanity back to the U.S., like eliminating the Internal Revenue Service, and closing our borders to illegal aliens. And if you don't believe there are thousands of illegal aliens in the U.S., just watch Men in Black. As my mom would say, "Oh, horrors!".

Quote for the Evening

I like an escalator because an escalator can never break,
it can only become stairs.
There would never be an
escalator temporarily out of order
sign, only an
escalator temporarily stairs. Sorry for the convenience.

Mitch Hedberg
(1968-2005) an American stand-up comedian

Atonement

Ever since I saw Atonement, I've been racking my brain trying to figure out if I have ever seen a sadder movie. I haven't. This movie is not only sad, it is tragic. Schindler's List at least had some redeeming moments. The Shawshank Redemption had many redeeming moments. I thought with a title like "Atonement" that this would be a movie with a happy ending. It does have a happy ending, sort of, but a tragic happy ending. I can't say more without ruining the movie, but just be prepared. Fortify your emotions. Eat some breakfast of champions. Go with someone you can grip hands with. Go with someone you can hug afterwards. You'll be too sad to cry, because you'll know the movie is real life, and it can't be changed. Or can it?

The previews mention a lying child. There is a reason one of the 10 Commandments says "Thou shalt not bear false witness." There is little that is more sinister. You might be mad at the end of the movie. I guarantee you will be sad. You will be stricken. I can't say it enough. But it is an excellent movie. Sad. Tragic. Excellent.

Quote for the Evening

"The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side."

-- James Baldwin
U.S. Author (1924-1987)

Seattle Social Police

Didn't it seem innocent when they forced us to buy "efficient" toilets that wouldn't waste 5 gallons a flush? Nobody cares that you have to flush the new toilets many times to get them empty, and nobody cares that my 89-year-old dad plugged the toilet many times, and stood there in his confused adult-onset-dementia state and flushed, and flushed, and stared perplexed at the flooded floor.

Then it was water-flow reducers, that make you take a 15 minute shower that used to take 7 minutes because it takes longer to wash off all the soap suds with the reduced force.

Garbage cans became Seattle's next target, with recyclable materials outlawed from your trash can, complete with garbage police to inspect and reject garbage cans with more than 10% recyclable material by volume. There are two warnings before a $50 fine.

Table scraps were the next feast for the newly-monikered Seattle City Clowncil. All except meat and diary products are also outlawed from the garbage can, and have to be put in the yard waste container. And beginning in 2009, residents will be charged for their work.

Now the city is proposing a 20-cent tax if you use a grocery store's plastic or paper bags. And they want to give part of the money to stores for having to collect it. Not to mention that the stores will save "hundreds of thousands" in bag costs, according to the local news broadcast.

Proposals are also in the works to tax un-green things like disposable diapers and plastic bottles.

When do you think the social engineering will stop? I think they'll soon charge $5 a gallon for water, $10 a gallon tax on gasoline (to encourage conservation, of course!) and a dollar-a-day for the air we breathe.

Oh, and the Seattle Social Police will just want to be called the SS.

A Quote of Despair

There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don't know what can be done to fix it.

This is it: Only nut cases want to be president.

-- Kurt Vonnegut

Supreme Air Force Stupidity

I am outraged that the Air Force would send 40 BILLION of our U.S. tax dollars to Airbus to build tanker planes! Having foreign countries make our military planes is the height of stupidity, and outsourcing 40 billion dollars worth of U.S. jobs with our own money is downright criminal.

If the president allows this sale to stand, we should outsource the president's job to England, and beg Her Majesty, the Queen of England, to rule in Bush's place. If congress also does not nullify the sale, we should outsource their jobs to the English parliament. Congress will have proven themselves incompetent to rule the colonies.

Maybe when the U.S. politicians are in the unemployment line they will realize how sick and tired we are with their gross mismanagement of the defense budget. We will not be able to get tanker planes or parts when World War Three starts.

Does anybody know the procedure to impeach both the president and congress for high crimes against the United States?

Quote for the Evening

"Whenever someone asks me if I want water with my Scotch,
I say I'm thirsty, not dirty."

-- Joe E. Lewis
(January 12, 1902 - 4 June 1971)
born Joseph Klewan in New York City, was an American comedian and singer.

I Just Joined the Constitution Party

As an independent voter, I am not allowed to vote in Washington State's primary election. A year ago, the majority of voters decided that only Republicans and Democrats should be allowed to vote, and voters must sign an oath saying they belong to one or the other party.

Not only are oaths un-Biblical, neither major political party has a candidate that deserves my vote. All Democrat candidates support the killing of babies, which disqualifies them for public office, and the Republican candidates are so far left they could easily fit in the Democrat party.

Follow the money: rich, radical socialist leftists support both Republican and Democrat candidates. John McCain has accepted money from "...left-wing donors such as George Soros and Teresa Heinz Kerry." http://www.constitutionparty.com/news.php?aid=727

The Constitution Party is the largest third-party political organization in the United States, and my vote, combined with all those who are sick and tired of the status quo, will elect a president who will support the constitution and reject the liberal, secular, big government agendas, including the Republican war machine and the Democrat's social engineering.

Quote for the Evening

"I love to sing, and I love to drink Scotch.
Most people would rather hear me drink Scotch."

-- George Burns

Personalized Sin Plates

Washington State is proposing bright yellow license plates for people convicted of driving under the influence of intoxicants. When I saw the Seattle Times newspaper headline, I thought, "Yes, what a great idea!", but as the day wore on, I thought about the rising tide of legislated political correctness, and became increasingly angry wondering who would be the next target of social police.

Would women convicted of prostitution have scarlet plates? Would men convicted of soliciting have pictures of used condoms on their plates? Would ex-cons have jail-house bars on their plates? How about a picture of a severed hand for those convicted of shoplifting?

Maybe this is a social experiment to see how much shame a person can bear before they jump off the Aurora bridge.

Quote for the Evening

Always carry a large flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite,
and furthermore always carry a small snake.
-- W.C. Fields

How to Rob a Bank (or) How Banks Rob Us

What's the best way to rob a bank?
1. Embezzle millions
2. Raise interest rates so your customers will default on your loans.
3. Write off millions to match what was embezzled.

How many banks wrote off how many billions? Did that money just vanish into thin air, or did it ever exist? Follow the money. This is the biggest scandal of all time, and nobody sees it. Houdini couldn't have done any better.

Sell Our Nukes to the World

The United States should sell our nuclear weapons and bombs to the world as fast and as furious as possible.

This would:
1. Eliminate our national debt
2. Eliminate accusations of aggression
3. Soon everyone would destroy everyone and the world would return to Eden, unmolested by humans.
4. There would be no more bad news, no murder, no rape, no terrorists, no sickness, no pollution.

One small step for mankind, one giant leap for cockroaches.

-- Louie Bergsagel

Don't replace Seattle's viaduct until after the earthquake

1. Don't replace the viaduct until it is undrivable.

2. The viaduct in any form will be damaged in the expected large earthquake. Why build one that will be destroyed?

3. A tunnel would be damaged in the earthquake, with the distinct possiblity of flooding and drowning everyone. Why build a tunnel that will be destroyed?

4. You should only allow people on the viaduct who are willing to take the 10 percent risk.
"... experts predict there is a one in ten chane of this earthquake happening in the next 50 years."
-- Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement Project E-mail Update, 18 Aug 06

5. Let the coming 9.6 earthquake tear down the viaduct, and be ready with money and resources to replace it. Assuming there is anyone left in Seattle

-- Louie Bergsagel

Independent yes, Republican maybe, Democrat never

I am mystified as to how anyone with a conscience, or moral values, can vote for a Democrat. Liberal Democrats (the vast majority), by their unanimous embracing of abortion, are nothing more than mass murderers. That alone disqualifies them from any public office.

After Kerry lost the last presidential election, I posted on a Democratic blog two things Kerry could have done to win. If he had said nothing about abortion, and nothing about Vietnam, he would be the current president. But he chose to champion the murder of little babies, those who would have shared the United States with the rest of us in the world. And Kerry chose to bombast America (full of Gulf War veterans, Vietnam War veterans, Korean War veterans and WWII veterans) and say that our history was a huge mistake. The U.S. certainly did make mistakes in Vietnam, mainly allowing politicians to micromanage the war, but we did no wrong trying to keep South Vietnam from being conquered by North Vietnam. They ASKED us to help!

We also did no wrong in liberating Kuwait from Iraq, or chasing the Iraqi chumps back to Bagdad. And George W. Bush did no wrong in liberating Iraq from the death monster Saddam Hussein. Over 300,000 Iraqis were murdered because the world stood around and watched while Saddam killed. Our greatest shame in history will be recorded that we waited until hundreds of thousands of people had been killed before we deposed the murderer. Could you imagine 300,000 people in your city killed? If that happened, would you object if some foreign leader came in to restore law and order? Liberal Democrats simply don't care about anyone but themselves. Weeping in Iraq are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters because we waited.

The same kind of murder-spree happened in Rwanda, while our Democrat president Bill Clinton sat by and watched 20 million murdered. His response? He sent a message saying "Please stop the killing." He probably caused more murderers to die laughing than were brought to justice.

Another huge problem I have with Democrats is that they are in favor of big government, and big federal socialist programs. Their goals are wise and wicked: if a majority of the people in the United States get a check from the government, either through employment or welfare, they will be more likely to vote for a political party which is interested in big government.

My political science professor in college was a Democrat/Socialist whose goal was that all "means of production" be owned by everyone, so you couldn't have your own farm, your own business, your own factory or anything private. Fortunately for us, we have seen that model fail miserably in countries like Russia and China. China has learned quickly, and will probably be the next world leader because they have embraced private enterprise and government promotion of business.

So, if I have problems with most of what Democrats stand for, does that make me a Republican? I don't think so. When I woke up the morning of Washington State's last primary election, I had an ache in my heart from the dismal and depressing realization that Washington State no longer had democratic elections. They passed a law here that you have to declare yourself to be a Democrat or Republican in order to vote in the primary. I am an independent voter, so I was not allowed to vote. Many people said "Why not just check one of the boxes and vote?" To do so would mean the government would have successfully coerced me to lie on an official document. I don't think so.

Neither the Republican nor Democrat parties are worth my alliance. I vote for the person, their character, their values, and to whatever extent a politician can be trusted, their promises. I don't have much hope for the Republican Party, because I believe the Democrats will attract the majority of voters with their platform of greed, and they will tax the middle and upper classes to death, and give our hard-earned money to miscreants and people who don't want to work. They also are giving away our social security, healthcare and education to illegal immigrants, who will then vote Democrat. This will be even easier now, because most states are refusing to require proof of citizenship in order to vote.

So will I leave the United States if the next president is a Democrat, like the radical Democrats promised (and reneged) when Bush became president? No. I may not like a Democrat president, but I don't believe in tearing down the president like the Democrats seem fond of doing.

The one light at the end of the tunnel is that if a Democrat is elected president, his or her performance will be so dismal, and the United States will be plunged into such a deep and miserable depression that no Democrat will ever be president from then to the end of time.

Democrats want to coddle terrorists, and won't realize their mistake until we are dead. They will increase taxes until no one has any money or is willing to work for someone else, and they won't realize their mistake until we are more socialist and communist than the late U.S.S.R. with all the accompanying misery.

Unfortunately, we will then be the Late Great United States.

-- Louie Bergsagel

Friday, November 03, 2006

I was hot, so I cut my hair all off. Sure is easy to not comb!