What’s The Difference? October 13, 2009
Posted by Fritz in Yachts and other things that float.Tags: conservatives, Grouchy Old Cripple blog
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This is the perfect follow-up to my last post.
Stolen without permission from grouchy old cripple.
If a conservative doesn’t like guns, he doesn’t buy one.
If a liberal doesn’t like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.
If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn’t eat meat.
If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.
If a conservative sees a foreign threat, he thinks about how to defeat his enemy.
A liberal wonders how to surrender gracefully and still look good.
If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.
If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.
If a black man or Hispanic are conservative, they see themselves as independently successful.
Their liberal counterparts see themselves as victims in need of government protection.
If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.
If a conservative doesn’t like a talk show host, he switches channels.
Liberals demand that those they don’t like be shut down.
If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn’t go to church.
A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced. (Unless it’s a foreign religion, of course!)
If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.
A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.
If a conservative slips and falls in a store, he gets up, laughs and is embarrassed.
If a liberal slips and falls, he grabs his neck, moans like he’s in labor and then sues.
I thank God I’m a conservative.
Washington, DC October 13, 2009
Posted by Fritz in Travel, Yachts and other things that float.Tags: Arlington cemetary, conservativism, DC, Ford's Theater, God, high school trips, Kennedy Center, liberalism, love of country, obama, OH, The Constitution, touring, Washington, Westerville
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America the beautiful
I just returned from another escort job to Washington, DC. This trip was a group of senior citizens from Westerville, OH. This was the first time I had been back to Washington since Obama became President. The trip was the usual fare, monument walks, museum tours, Ford’s Theater, Kennedy Center, Arlington, Mount Vernon…practically the same as the high school tours…just a little slower. My group was a lovely bunch—31 seniors whose voracious appetite at the buffet line rivaled any eighth grade group I’ve escorted.
Washington monument
Every time I visit DC my patriotic juices are stirred to the core as I see, up close, the very symbols that represent what our country is all about. And that’s what so disturbs me about those who see and visit the same things and end up interpreting them 180 degrees from me. If you’ve read any of my blog you’ll know I am very conservative. I believe in a strict interpretation of the Constitution, a Federalists approach to state’s rights and a near Libertarian view of how much intrusion the Federal government should have in our lives.
Lincoln memorial
Korean monument
I lost count of the number of Obama bumper stickers I saw on cars in and around the Capital. Most had Virginia or Maryland licenses so they were locals. They live and work in the cradle of our country’s government. A city filled with monument after monument honoring the genius founders of our country and still more monuments honoring the sacrifices of ordinary men and women who, believing in the wisdom of our founder’s words, served their country and paid the ultimate price. With the exception of the newest presidential monument, the FDR memorial, every other major monument in Washington is for a President who represented the beliefs I hold so dear.
Korean memorial
So why do so many people embrace liberalism? Why do they choose a philosophy that is virtually the opposite of what our nation was founded on? I had a nice eight-hour bus ride back to Ohio to ponder that question.
Being a liberal is like being a child. Liberals don’t like rules. When someone else succeeds they whine, “it’s not fair”. They stomp their feet demanding the same results even when they’re not deserved. Liberals will take the easy path every time. They see the success in others and never consider the sacrifice and hard work it took to achieve. They assume success was somehow stolen or bequeathed from some unfair birthright. To a large degree, I think this stems from the fact that a majority of liberals don’t have a strong belief in God and therefore reject the notion that everyone’s natural gifts; intelligence, athleticism and beauty, are bestowed upon us from the Creator.
Mount Vernon
Liberals need to read the words of our founding fathers again. Those geniuses realized everything we have is endowed to us by our Creator. In creating the Constitution, the founders were not creating equality for all but rather were creating laws ensuring everyone’s right and ability to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as they see fit. Sadly, many Americans have either not read/been taught or choose to misinterpret those wise words from the framers of our great nation.
Do you have a group interested in touring Washington, DC? Call Prime Tours at 877-289-5554 or visit www.goprimetours.com
Liberal or conservative, I promise an excellent tour.
Heed these words Obama September 27, 2009
Posted by Fritz in Yachts and other things that float.Tags: freedom, Liberty, love of country, obama, patriots, Samual Adams
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Samual Adams
The liberties of our Country, the freedom of our civil constitution are worth defending at all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have receiv’d them as a fair Inheritance from our worthy Ancestors: They purchas’d them for us with toil and danger and expence of treasure and blood; and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle; or be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men. Of the latter we are in most danger at present: Let us therefore be aware of it. Let us contemplate our forefathers and posterity; and resolve to maintain the rights bequeath’d to us from the former, for the sake of the latter. — Instead of sitting down satisfied with the efforts we have already made, which is the wish of our enemies, the necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude, and perseverance.
~ Samuel Adams ~
Stuffed peppers September 27, 2009
Posted by Fritz in Food.Tags: bok choy, crab, spinach, stuffed peppers
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Crab Stuffed Peppers
Bought some awesome orange sweet peppers this week and needed to start using them. I came up with this little dish that tasted as good as it looked.
It was a bit labor intensive but fun nonetheless.
PEPPERS:
- 6 of your favorite variety of peppers
- 4 ounces mild goat cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Colby jack cheese
- 8 ounces lump crab meat
- 1 tablespoon shallots
- 1 tablespoon lemon peel – grated
- 1/4 cup red bell pepper – diced
- 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro – chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil – chopped
- 2 cups loosely chopped bok choy
- ½ lb fresh spinach
- salt and pepper to taste
SAUCE:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic – finely chopped
- 1/4 cup shallots – chopped
- 2 red bell peppers – roasted, peeled and seeded
- 1 cup chicken stock
- salt and pepper to taste
SAUCE PREP:
In a medium skillet, heat olive oil.
Add garlic and shallots, sauté for 5 minutes, until shallots are tender.
Transfer to a food processor or blender.
Add roasted red peppers and chicken stock.
Blend until smooth.
Pour back into the skillet and reduce by a third before serving.
Can be made a day ahead and refrigerated.
PEPPERS PREP:
Carefully cut the top quarter off of the peppers, remove the membranes, leave stem on.
Grill peppers on a stovetop grill or outside grill for approximately 5 minutes per side or until nicely charred.
Place in a paper bag and let them rest for 10 minutes.
In a medium bowl, mix together the goat cheese, colby jack cheese, crab, shallots, lemon peel, red pepper, cilantro and basil.
Season with salt and pepper.
Mix well.
Remove peppers from the bag and peel off the skins.
Stuff mixture into the prepared peppers, don’t overfill. 1-2 tablespoons should fill the peppers.
Transfer them to a baking sheet and place in a 350° oven for 15 minutes. Finish under broiler for 2 minutes.
Saute bok choy and spinach for 2 minutes tossing frequently, remove from heat.
Ladle approximately 3 tablespoons of sauce onto a serving plate. Center a mound of sauteed bok choy/spinach in sauce.
Place stuffed peppers on mound and serve.
It’s all Bill Clinton’s fault September 25, 2009
Posted by Fritz in Humor, Yachts and other things that float.Tags: Bill Clinton, Cultural Revolution, George W. Bush, Monica Lewinsky, moral decay, obama, technology, Tin Men
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For the past several years I have watched, sadly, the slow, cultural demise of the United States. Future doctoral theses will undoubtedly be written about the events that precipitated this change but I’ll provide the Cliff notes.
It’s all Bill Clinton’s fault.
A culture reflects it’s current state of evolution through it’s leaders. We only get as good as we give. It can be argued that America’s Cultural Revolution that began in the mid 20th century was spurred on in a big way by the across-the-board advances in technology that added to the overall prosperity of the United States. Huge leaps in communication allowed more information to be spread faster and further than in any generation before. At first the rate of innovation was slow enough to be assimilated by a sizable majority of the population. But with each succeeding year, the rate of technological expansion grew, exponentially, until it reached a point where it was no longer something the average American could take in on the whole. More and more ‘average’ Americans had to choose what they would commit to in terms of understanding how things worked. They would be forced to rely on others as the ‘experts’ to help them deal with the complex world driven by ever expanding technology. Thus began the ‘great information rift’.
So along comes Bill Clinton. Highly intelligent, egomaniac, horn dog.
The quintessential aluminum siding salesman. He told America just what she wanted to hear…”Don’t worry, I’m the expert, I’ll do the thinking for you”.
Well, America got taken big time—by a man so consumed with his own ego, he actually thought he could confuse us with what the real meaning of ‘is’ is.
The hug
He confused a lot of us. So many in fact chose to accept his behavior that suddenly it wasn’t detestable. I’m not talking about the kinky sex with Monica…I’m talking about the lying about it. When the leader of a nation can boldly look his people in the eye, lie like a rug and then get a pass even though everyone knew he was lying, the seeds of social demise are sown. The damage done. Clinton tarnished the office such that boorish behavior, rudeness and low brow manners were suddenly acceptable from our leaders.
Bush’s 8 years were certainly an improvement in the presidential decorum department. Unfortunately the elevated level of Presidential propriety exhibited by the Bush administration was destroyed by the Press during their eight-year evisceration of the man.
So nine more years have passed since Clinton was president. In those years we have raced forward technologically, faster than imaginable, and the ‘information rift’ has grown ever wider. More and more Americans are having to rely on ‘experts’ to guide them through life. Our ‘expert’ this time is Obama…
Thanks Bill, you’re still screwing us.
Talk Like A Pirate Day September 19, 2009
Posted by Fritz in Humor, Yachts and other things that float.Tags: booty, flagon, grog, hornpipe, me bucko, saucy wench, Talk Like A Pirate Day
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Jolly Roger
Today, don’t be aghast if you hear someone yell, “Avast!”
Today is ‘Talk Like a Pirate Day‘ or TLAP Day so no matter what your doing— ya got to talk like a pirate.
If you go out to dinner, spring this one on your waitress, “Well, me hearties, let’s see what crawls out the ol’ bung hole.” (food on ships was stored in wooden casks. The stopper in the barrel is called the bung, and the hole is called the bung hole.) Infestations of one kind or another frequently plagued the ship’s stores.
If you visit your favorite watering hole today, be sure to order like a pirate, “Time to splice the mainbrace me hearties, flagons of grog for all”! Should someone at the bar foolishly rebuke your generosity, call them a ‘lubber’ (short for land lover, a powerful pirate insult).
Should you be asked, “Is that there a ‘hornpipe’ in yer pocket or ya just glad to see me?”, pray it’s coming from the saucy wench standing next to you and not from the lubber on his third flagon of grog. (A hornpipe is a single-reeded musical instrument, usually the only form of entertainment aboard ship)
Whatever you do; do it ’smartly’ (fast), don’t be a ‘bilge rat’ (the lowest of the low) and don’t confuse ‘Arrr!” with ‘Arrrgh!’ (the first is an affirmative answer to anything, the second is the exclamation uttered when surrendering your booty).
So me bucko’s, put on yer eye patch, uncork the rum cask and talk like a pirate all day….or we’ll make you ‘kiss the gunner’s daughter’!
