The Metal

Unconstitutional license check strikes again

On the way home from Doug's Shrimp Boil I was going down Cottage Hill and low and behold I come upon a road block. 'No sweat' I think, I'm not a criminal, I have a valid license, I have insurance and I just got my tag renewed. But as I'm pulling up to the officer, I cannot help but already have that feeling that I have done something wrong.

I was driving down a public road, minding my own business, however I have this feeling that I have done something wrong when I haven't. So, I pull up to the officer finally and he asks for my license, registration and proof of insurance. I get my license and proof of insurance card out of my wallet and get the tag registration out of the glove box. I sit there listening to Better Than Ezra when he tells me that my truck is not on my insurance card. I pull out the second card that I have in my wallet and it too does not have my truck on the card.

So, he informs me that to pull over to the access road to receive my ticket. 'You have to be kidding me' I think to myself, I would not say that out loud because then I would probably be arrested for something he would make up on the spot. I get home and check my documents online with Progressive to make sure that my truck is listed. Currently I have insurance jointly with my mother and she recently purchased a 2008 Ford Escape. Somehow when they added it and removed mom's Explorer, my truck was removed as well. But the temporary has it on there but not the permanent one.

After calling Progressive, my truck is back on like it should have been from the beginning. I have printed out a temporary insurance card for my truck. Now I have 3 days to go to the police precinct and show them my proof of insurance and still pay $20 to clear my name. How stupid.

Brian

The 5th of November Remembered

Well, yesterday was the 5th of November which was the date in 1605 when Guy Fawkes and a group of English Roman Catholics had plotted the 'gunpowder plot' to blow up the houses of Parliment and kill king James I of England. This was to stop Protestant rule by killing the protestant aristocracy. This was also part of the plot in the movie 'V for Vendetta'.

But also, it was a rallying cry to push donations to Ron Paul's campaign. The slogan, "Remember, Remember the 5th of November". But this is not a case of trying to destroy things, but a peaceful revolution to take our country back, to bring the constitution back into the being the guiding force for our government.

Yesterday, the Ron Paul Campaign received around $4.2 Million dollars in donations in about a 24 hour period. This eclipses the amount Mitt Romney received in one day. As of the time I am writing this entry, donations to his campaign fund is nearing $7.5 Million dollars since October 1st or the 4th quarter of the year. A lofty goal of $12 Million dollars was set to help his campaign to 'be taken serious' and to politic in the early primary states.

While there is still a long way to go to the $12 million dollar mark, he has already passed his $5 Million dollar mark from the 3rd quarter of this year. There are more dates planned for mass fundraising. One is This November 11th (veterans day), another is the Ron Paul Money Bomb, and a recent one I found is Tea Party '07 to commemorate the Boston Tea Party on December 16th.

Pass the word on to your friends and family, Ron Paul is real and his ideology is sound. I thank Doug for talking about Dr. Paul and about his platform. I don't know who all he has turned onto Dr. Paul but I have started convincing people to look at him. So far I think my vote has gotten two more votes. One of my 'convertees' could possibly get three or four more votes.

This campaign will probably be a grassroots work all the way. Its not just 'a cool thing' to support him, but you must take your typing, take your words, and take your voice to the polls and vote.

I'll be there, will you?

Remember, Remember the 5th of November...

Today is that day and there is a plan. Today, all over America people are donating to the Ron Paul campaign. So far over $2 Million has been raised for the campaign just on this one day. Mitt Romney has the highest online, one day donation total with $3.1 Million. I expect this to be eclipsed today.

Thanks for Doug for the link to a semi-real time graph of donations: here.

Remember the 5th of November!

Premature halloween gorging sends dog to veterinarian again

Thor found his way onto the table on Monday and ate quite a few chocolate whoppers....wrappers and all. Tuesday he seemed okay except for twice vomiting. Wednesday morning he was vomiting more often with chocolate and wrappers coming up. So, the vet wanted to see him to make sure he did not have high levels of theobromine, which is a naturally occurring stimulate in the cocoa bean. According to 'Dog Owner's Digest', "theobromine increases urination and affects the central nervous system as well as heart muscle".

On the scale of toxicity, White Chocolate is the least toxic because it contains the least amount of theobromine at about 1mg per ounce. While the most toxic is baking chocolate which has about 450mg per ounce. Furthermore, hot chocolate has about 12 mg of theobromine per ounce, milk chocolate has about 60 mg/oz, and up there near baking chocolate is semi-sweet chocolate with 260 mg/oz. Dog Owner's Digest has a way to remember the order of toxicity, "What Happy Moose Says BAA? Or: White-Hot-Milk-Semi-Baked."

Well, Thor had to stay overnight so they could induce vomiting, take X-rays, and monitor his condition. He vomited wrappers three or four times before going to the vet and they induced vomiting two or three more times getting out large amounts of chocolate and wrappers from his stomach. He finally home on Thursday evening.

Then Friday, mom was playing with him on my bed and he suddenly yelped when mom touched his face a certain way. He then got down and kept licking his lips like there was something there he could not get off. I finally got him up on the bed and was checking his mouth when I noticed he had a tooth barely holding on. So, we decided it would be best to go ahead and pull the tooth. We tried to use floss to take it out but that never did work. So we had to use a pair of pliers (how redneckish is that?). We pulled it and it quite bleeding quickly and it looks fine now.

Now the only worry I have is to make sure he poops, which I have not observed yet (I know, not the most exciting thing).

Football round: November 4th 2007

Well, Alabama did most of the things needed to win the game but one. They could not prevent turning over the ball. They could have capitalized on a couple other things but did not. It was a good game and shows that the team is farther ahead of schedule than previously predicted.

I watched some of the Notre Dame/Navy game as well yesterday. Tied at 28 inside your placekickers range and you go for it on 4th and 8 is grounds to be fired over. Especially when your team is already 1-7, your team has not lost to this foe in 43 years, and its a service academy. You're paid to give your team a chance to win games but he clearly gave that game away. I don't care if its a rebuilding year or not, I don't care if you have a 6 year contract, I don't care what excuses you want to make. That is stupid. They may have to pray for divine intervention to win against typical cupcakes Air Force and Duke.

So, who looks good enough to win the National Championship? Ohio State looks good, it just depends on the outcome of their game with Michigan. Oregon looked good knocking off USC and Arizona State. Oklahoma looks good but I don't think they what it takes to win it all. LSU will stumble and this years 'cardiac team' will come up a little short at some point. Kansas is undefeated but do they have what it takes to win against a big team? I don't think so.

This season is heating up and will be fun to watch down the stretch.