Looking over some blogs today, and trying to decide where the balance is when it comes to "prepping." I live in a suburban area, and while I'm fortunate enough to own another property that's remote, has an independent water supply, and great land for farming, it's just too darned far away from anything to live there full time. My family needs some contact with modern society, and that property, as much as I love it there, just doesn't cut it.

So, as a suburbanite, how do you balance being cautious and prepared, and having realistic expectations of your logistical situation, all while not morphing into a raving Kazinskiite?

Some of these blogs... wow. Many are good, with great, practical info. But some of these folks take it just a bit too far. They've got three-thousand pounds of rice and wheat squirreled away around their property in five gallon buckets. ("Hey honey, what's for dinner?" "Wheat." There's only so much surviving you can do.) Not only have these folks drawn up strategic defense plans for their "retreat," but in each of their 300 food buckets they've packed a 9mm handgun and two spare magazines, and they've learned how to fashion claymore mines out of a latex glove, a handful of dried kidney beans and hairspray. They can rebuild a car engine with a pair of pliers and a butter knife. Some of them have shot their dogs, just so they could practice their field surgery skills and nurse the poor damned thing back to health. The dogs are no good for hunting after a couple of these experiences.

These are the folks that make me wonder exactly how long I'd want to stick around if things went south. But, there's certainly nothing wrong with buying an extra can of ravioli every payday, and keeping a couple of weeks worth of water on hand. Some "home defense implements" are nice to have around, and while I might not be able to fend of a raving pack of zombies, I'm betting I could defend myself against a large racoon or a few cranky possums.

So, I'm going to continue "prepping," but only in the reasoned, measured scale of one who's just slightly paranoid.

Be nice, relax, and hug the census worker who comes to your house, she's probably bugged.

Losers of all kinds...

Okay, I've taken some months off. I was getting overly emotional and too involved in politics, so I had to take a step back. I'm better now. Really.

I was watching, very briefly, and only by accident, the last few minutes of "The Biggest Loser."Anyway, it ended up in a big argument with my wife about how insensitive I was. I was under the impression that, after they voted the weakest person off the show, they ate her. Apparently, that's not how it works, but it was an honest mistake on my part.

My seven-year old son was in the room as I watched the news tonight, and I made a comment about all the politicians being criminals, to which my son responded "But they're not wearing ski masks." This makes me realize that only the half-assed crooks wear masks; the good ones do it in plain sight.

Listen to children; they're smarter than you are.

Nobel Prize for Weakness

The Nobel prize now holds about as much value as the Confederate dollar. Obarrassing winning the Nobel peace prize is like me winning a gold in Olympic swimming. I risk drowning every time I brush my teeth, and likewise, Obarrassing's clearly in over his head. This street fair's just too big for him.

So why did he get the award? Because he's not only willing, but eager to bring the United States down to the level of a 3rd world country to gain their favor. He wants to be liked, and if that means ruining our economy, taking away our freedoms, and denigrating all that this country once stood for, so be it.

There's a difference between arrogant and proud. We should be proud of our achievements as a nation; Obarrassing views this as arrogance. We should be confident that we can continue to help the peoples of the world in their quest for freedom; Obarrassing would rather help their oppressors. He's genuflecting to corrupt, ineffective beaurocrats and dictators, and alienating our allies.

Obarrassing vision of peace is rooted in weakness for all. Unfortunately, there are some big kids on the block that will see this as just what it is - cowardice. He's won the prize; now we'll all get to pay the price.

Who does the IOC think they are, denying the shining Obarrassing duo the 2012 Olympics? This is inconceiveable! That a board of mere mortals, the dregs of society, clearly biased and uninformed, would dare to deny Obarrassing his goal? Clearly race is behind this; it must be. Chris Matthews' legs must be aching today, the tingle gone, faded into a fond memory, one that I'm sure he relives nightly in his sordid little left wing dreams.

Clearly, the international community is getting just as tired of Obarrassing's "I Love Me" efforts as we here at home are. He's an empty suit with a smile, propped up by a mindless pack of willing automatons. Fortunately, as the weight of actual responsibilities presses on him, more and more of them are seeing that the man is all hat, no cattle.

The Olympic torch will burn brightly, but the light of Obarrassings self-aggrandizement has, at least momentarily, been snuffed.

Congratulations, Rio!

"You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free."

This is a line from Obarrassing's upcoming speech to school children. All this time, I've been thinking America was the land of the free, where everyone has an opportunity. Again, my foolish patriotic nature has apparently blinded me to the reality of enslavement and discrimination that lurks outside my door. This is the type of thing that, true or not, will creep into your child's thoughts. The more they hear this sort of anti-American propaganda, the more true it becomes in their minds. This is why I'm disturbed by Obarrassing's speech. Sure, it's just one speech. Tomorrow. But with his ego, and his agenda, you can rest assured that there will be more, and each of them will be sprinkled with this kind of suggestive blather. If this were Joe Liberal, sitting on a bus, it would be some guy sharing his opinion. It's not... it's the President of the United States, being pumped into hundreds of thousands of classrooms simultaneously. This is indoctrination, and this is exactly what we don't want.

Here are a couple other gems: "Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country," and , "I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down."

Why not just use a little guilt, too? I'm working hard to make it better for you; so gosh, please, don't let me down, Bobby. Or your parents. Or your country. Guilt is a great tool for an ineffective parent, sure to burden a child with a whopping dose of insecurity. Again, combine this with being pitched in a school setting, and you're compounding the problem. I don't really need my child being demeaned by his President.

And despite the actual content of the speech, I was listening to a liberal blogger today on a national radio talk show. He attributed the reluctance of some parents to let their kids sit in on tomorrow's speach to their misgivings about having a black president. The left can't grasp the fact that we can actually disagree with someone's philosophies and ideas without taking their race into account.

Hijacking Young Minds

My child's school superintendent was quite surprised when we expressed concerns over the upcoming forced indoctrination session that Obarrassing has planned. "Why wouldn't you want ___________ to listen?" they asked.

1) My child has an excellent teacher, and I'd rather my child spend an extra hour with her, actually learning, than being primed to vote as a Democrat and having his head filled with nonsense about climate change and socialist utopias.
2) Because it's my job, not Obarrassings, to instill the importance of hard work, education, and community service in my child.
3) Because Obarrassing should have more important things to do than campaign to elementary schools.
4) Because I beleive that roughly 99.73% of his ideas are harmful to our country, our children, and life as we know it on planet Earth, and I don't needed him promoted blindly by the schools.
5) Because my child doesn't "serve the president," it's the other way around. Or at least, it's supposed to be.

Schools need to teach kids about the government, the branches, and checks and balances. We need to teach respect for the office of the Presidency, not blind devotion to a man who's basically a vacuous ego with feet.

When liberals protest, no matter how disruptive, loud, or disrespectful, it's a beautiful, essential expression of free speech, of standing up against "the man." This is true whether they're promoting abortion, calling George Bush a terrorist, saving whales or chaining themselves to trees. (Too bad they wouldn't try chaining themselves to the whales for a change...)

But let an average American take time off from work to show up to disagree with Obarrassing's "Death to Health Care" program, and suddenly it's a vast, right-wing conspiracy funded by insurance companies and manned by closet Nazis. And good Lord, if they happen to be wearing suits... well, we know that just couldn't be! Well-dressed Americans, protesting? Clearly, this is too bizarre to comprehend, and thus, must be the result of a black op of some kind.

It's an interesting double standard, and yet, the more I listen to these arrogant, self-centered blowhard Dems, the more I'm starting to think that they ACTUALLY BELIEVE this to be the truth. Is this possible, and if so, how?

It's apparent to most that Shrieker Pelosi isn't accessing anywhere near the normal level of human intellect. This may explain the problem. Perhaps bits of Nancy Pelosi's brain have been aerosolized (probably as a result of flying around in a delapidated, horribly outdated aircraft with tragically faulty air circulation and cabin pressurization) and have spread throughout elected Dems. Once lodged in the unsuspecting Dem's brain, the Pelosicytes infect them, pumping massive doses of fermented estrogen and surplus botox into their cerebellums, causing the host politician to become completely, irreversibly, deranged.

Another cause could simply be the sudden presence of Al Franken. That dropped the average IQ in D.C. from slightly-below-normal to turnip.

Regardless, it's a problem we must deal with. Stand up. Speak out. Exercise your rights to free speech while you still can. And please, for safety's sake, if Nancy Pelosi walks into the room, hold your breath.