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    Maynardville Tennessee Welcome to my page. This is my personal web page and it's a hobby. There's some commentary and links and other stuff. Any suggestions, let me know. Send me some mail!
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    Click to take the poll. Only ONE question - updated December 23rd!!

    "The greatest mystery is not that we have been flung at random between the profusion of matter and of the stars, but that within this prison we can draw from ourselves images powerful enough to deny our nothingness".
    Andre Malraux

    17 December 2008

    I have abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system.
    President George W. Bush

    27 September 2008

    House of Ill Repute What a sorry state our government is in. Back when I applied for my first mortgage, I needed 15% down and I had to pay PMI mortage insurance until 20% of the loan was paid off. My spouse and I were young professionals, but they analyzed our financial situation closely to make sure we were worth taking a risk on. The mortgage mess is traceable back to the Community Reinvestment Act, which is a federal law requiring banks to offer credit throughout their entire market area and prohibits them from targeting only wealthier clients. So anybody could get a mortgage. In April of 2006, Freddie Mac was fined $3.8 million because of illegal campaign contributions.
    The percentage of subprime as a portion of total mortgages was:

  • 5% in 1994
  • 9% in 1996
  • 13% in 1999
  • 20% in 2006 ($600 billion by now!)

    • So what we have here are representatives and senators that have empowered Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac to dominate the mortgage market squeezing out competition and funneling campaign money & favors back to to their cronies in elected office. Thus you see the house of ill-repute to the left. I think these crooks should be tried and convicted and forced to serve time for selling Americans down the river financially. They are scum and criminals and should be ashamed of their criminality. Vote the bums out.

    I don't necessarily subscribe to their opinions, but here's what foreign folks are saying:
  • "The US will lose financial superpower status" - German Finance Minister, Peer Steinbruck on Sept 25 2008
  • "The Americans harass us and attack us... (they) want to buy the world with paper that does not have any value," - Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez
  • "The American empire is nearing collapse" - Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sept 25
  • "The world is on the eve of big developments. The era of powers that had weapons and used force is nearing its end,.. " - Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sept 27
  • "Between the dread of a world in the midst of collapsing and the shiver of pleasure that finally something serious is happening to the kingdom of liberalism, how to orient oneself?" Author - Eric Aeschimann wrote in the newspaper Liberation on Sept 25 2008
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    1 January 2008

    Bluewater Bridge The holidays are over and it's time to get back to work. I'm changing jobs internally in my company, which is great. I've been travelling 70% of the time, spending week after week in customer factories. Now I'll be assigned to the R&D lab and might travel 15%, likely less. I'm looking forward to spending more time at home; I should be able to eat better and be healthier.

    We had a chance to spend a few days in Sarnia Ontario Canada over the holidays. I didn't realize how industrialized the area was. There are several very large chemical/oil processing plants along the river. We took a ride to Grand Bend on Lake Huron one day, and then to London Ontario on another day. The picture at the right is an arial shot of the Bluewater Bridge (from MapQuest), which connects Port Huron Michigan USA, with Sarnia Ontario Canada. The Saint Clair River flows south from Lake Huron to Lake Saint Clair (not shown).

    Canada is getting expensive. A six-pack of beer is over $10. Since the exchange rate slightly favors Canadian currency, and since their tax rate is high (6% national sales tax called GST, and 8% provinial sales tax called PST), it was a little pricey. I did have enough Holiday Inn points to get the hotel for free.

    The restaurants there had some interesting idiosyncrasies:

  • Every menu I saw had liver and onions.
  • We had a "crunchy BLT" - that's a BLT with a perch filet on it.
  • All of them served beer, wine, & cocktails (even the Family Diners).
  • They served a coffee cream that was 10% milk-fat, much higher than in the US.
  • There are a lot of donut shops, Tim Horton's is the favorite brand; the one we stopped at was packed.

    • 2006 & 2007 entries

    2005 entries