Happy Birthday Blog…

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

…You’re 1 Year old! We started this blog exactly a year ago on St. Patrick’s Day while we were living with Eric’s parents waiting on our house to be finished. We thought it would be a great way to share photos and home improvement stories with family and friends, but it turned out to be a great outlet for stupid videos and weird pictures. Thanks for putting up with us and reading our rants and sometimes not so interesting posts.

funny pictures of cats with captions

 

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By Lauren in Life

Monkeys Who Floss

Monday, March 16, 2009

I have mixed feelings about monkeys. Sometimes baby monkeys are kind of cute and it makes me want one as a pet. Most of the time monkeys just creep me out with their human-like poise and gestures. This is no exception, but at least they’re teaching us a lesson. My Dad (like most dentists) recommend flossing once a day to remove plaque that otherwise would stay behind even after brushing. I’m sure he’d tell you to use floss rather than human hair (weird…) like these monkeys, but still, quite interesting that they’re picking up the habit. However, if they keep learning this kind of stuff we should all be really scared because it’s only a matter of time before they take over the world.

 

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By Lauren in Interesting

At the Firing Range

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Thought you guys might enjoy this little video…

Me, Lauren and my Dad decided to go spend the morning at a local firing range since it was such a gross day outside. We fired a Glock 19 9mm pistol and a .357 Smith & Wesson Snub Nose; I have to say, we probably had more fun than we should’ve (with the exception of the guy in the lane beside us who was firing a hand cannon - no idea what exactly he was shooting, but it was ridiculously loud). Check out the video below…

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By Eric in Funny, Life

American Idol Double Takes

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

And we’re back with some more look-a-likes. I have to admit…the only thing I got out of this last season of the Bachelor was doing the Similarity post on some of the women. I’m going with my better judgement this time and am planning on not watching the next season. With all the crazy things going on right now I think it’s good for me to do mindless things like this. If you come up with more let me know and I’ll add to the post.


Robert Downey Jr. and Danny Gokey


Jason Segal and Matt Giraud


Ron Perlman (as the Beast) and Michael Sarver

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By Lauren in Funny, Lists

Adding to the previous post…

Friday, March 6, 2009

Saw this in the Wall Street Journal today…

Mr. Obama’s $3.6 trillion budget blueprint, by his own admission, redefines the role of government in our economy and society. The budget more than doubles the national debt held by the public, adding more to the debt than all previous presidents — from George Washington to George W. Bush — combined. It reduces defense spending to a level not sustained since the dangerous days before World War II, while increasing nondefense spending (relative to GDP) to the highest level in U.S. history. And it would raise taxes to historically high levels (again, relative to GDP). And all of this before addressing the impending explosion in Social Security and Medicare costs.

Once again, let me state that I’m not trying to be anti-Obama or anything; I’m just completely freaked out by the direction the government is taking us right now.

Let your voices be heard people.

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By Eric in News, Politics

Enough is enough.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

“A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.” - Edward R. Murrow

American Flag

Let me preface this by saying that throughout most of my adult life, I’ve only had what I would consider a passing interest in politics. I always find the elections interesting and will follow geopolitical topics and foreign policy from time to time, but I’ve rarely paid much attention to the partisan bickering and inevitable flip-flopping that goes on in Washington.

All of this has changed for me recently, as we’ve elected a new leader and have entered into a monumental economic crisis. As I’m beginning to dig a little deeper beyond the glossed over governmental PR department that the media has become these days, I’m uncovering a lot of things that make me frightened for the future of our nation.

As I’ve blogged about in the past, it’s safe to say that I am no fan of the strategy our leaders are pursuing to “fix” the current economic meltdown. It seems like it’s only been a few months since our leaders pulled a “chicken little” on our citizens to scare a reluctant House and Congress to pass an absolutely ridiculous 700 Billion dollar bailout bill. Our leaders chose to plunge our nation deeply into debt to put a band aid on many businesses that were already largely terminal to begin with. Now, several months later, we’re realizing a good chunk of this money has been squandered or is unaccounted for after our leaders blindly made one of the worst financial decisions in our nation’s history. As many predicted, the bailout package had no effect on the economy and the stock market continues to free fall (only now our nation is even more up to it’s eyeballs in debt).

Only a matter of days ago, our leaders passed another monumental “stimulus” package with an even larger price tag, but for some the sticker shock didn’t appear too bad this time around (after all, what’s another 787 Billion dollars when we can just create this money out of thin air, right?). Once again, the package was passed in a matter of days, with a large majority of our leaders claiming they didn’t even read it! This package is absolutely loaded to the gills with pet projects and wasteful spending that is even more appalling given the pretense with which it was sold to the American public.

If the financial implications weren’t startling enough, many of our leaders have sneaked in foundational laws for dramatic changes in the way our country will work in the future. Using fear as a catalyst, they’re somehow passing huge chunks of enormous legislation under our noses; our internal alert signals should start ringing like crazy any time a politician tries to pass urgent legislation with fear as their primary motivational tool.

I think the average citizen (yours truly included until recently) just doesn’t realize the cost of the decisions we’re making right now. Since we don’t understand economics, we just assume that the Fed can keep printing more money out of no where and it will all just balance out in the future somehow. Since we aren’t too interested in how other governments work, we don’t understand why it might be a bad idea to go in on another “new deal” with a bunch of other nations and their economies (most other economies are tanking even harder than we are).

Most of all, I believe a large majority of us have completely lost touch with what makes America great. Instead of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we’re buying into “fairness” for everyone and government programs to take care of us. We’re beginning to see the possibility of success and wealth that have made our country so strong (and so inspiring to millions of immigrants) being replaced with a sense of entitlement where home ownership and a regular pay check is a right, not something fought for and earned.

It seems like we’re becoming more content with leaving the wonderful foundations our country is built on behind us; because our generation is scared and has lost the grit in it’s gut, we’d rather be passive and give away more control to the government (giving away more and more of our rights in the process). We’re being told that higher taxes are a duty we should take pride in. We’re being told that the government knows better how to spend our money, manage our health and provide for the needy than we do. Heck, we’re even being told that our free speech shouldn’t be quite so free, and we probably shouldn’t be trusted to defend ourselves and our families.

We’re being told that the government is the answer instead of the ingenuity and determination of the American people.

The thing is, I’m not buying it, and I have a sneaking suspicion that many of you feel the same way. You feel helpless when you see us going into utterly insane levels of debt to circumvent capitalism and bailout broken business practices. You feel sick as you watch your retirement account waste away more every time the government tries to get involved to fix things. You feel angry when you see our leaders try to take over more parts of our lives when you see how messed up current government-run social programs are (Medicare and Social Security anyone? I for one can’t wait to visit the waiting room that’s run by the same people that control the DMV and Post Office!).

If you feel the same as I do, I urge you to join with me in taking a stand for the America you believe in. These ridiculous and continuing (here comes another one!) spending packages and moves towards socialism have got to stop. Write your congressmen and representatives - make your voice heard when you disagree. Instead of being passive and keeping in line with fashionable opinions, speak up with your peers about your opinions on the health of our nation and the direction we’re heading. I truly feel that many of us, on both sides of the political fence, feel the same way.

Somehow we’ve developed the crazy concept that elected officials somehow know best, and how dare we criticize their decisions?! Free speech and the ability to inspire change is what makes this country great! There’s a reason we have elections so frequently - sometimes you have to fire the idiots and elect better people to do the job (don’t forget, they work for US!).

As I wind down this post, by now I’m sure you think that I believe government to be some sort of evil entity; I assure you this is not the case. You may also think I’m writing this to air my political grievances with President Obama, given my expressed skepticism in the past. This is not purely the case, as it takes more than one person in power (including passive, overly trusting citizens) to make some terrible decisions. For the record, I’m not convinced McCain would be doing much better right now given his support of the first bailout; we need to look beyond this two-party political system to get some fresh blood and ideas in office.

I do believe it is important that we remind ourselves every so often that our nation was created to escape the rule and excessive control of a government that presumed to know better than it’s people. We must never forget the rare and unique gifts of freedom and liberty, and the price our forefathers paid to hand them down to us. I hope we can give our children the same inheritance.

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By Eric in Life, News, Politics