Justin Buist

I’m usually annoyed with Democrats point to the national budget and get all hot and bothered that defense spending is the biggest slice. Yeah, it’s huge. It’s insanely huge, but it’s also about the only 100% legitimate task of the Federal government that requires any sort of real funding.

However, when ex-military folk, like E.B. Misfit point to actual programs that are money pits, well, I kind of like that. She does it fairly frequently too.

Here’s an idea for Obama: If you want to find some wasteful spending assemble a team of of ex-military folk. Let them build up a list of programs that just don’t work. Then kill them. The programs, not the vets.

Yep, you and I are now partial owners of Chrysler now. They’re not going to pay back their loans so we’ve acquired controlling shares in the company. Or at least that’s the plan. I’m not sure it’s if it’s final yet.

I’m generally capable of understanding how various clauses in the Constitution enable the Federal government to go far and above what they’re actually permitted to do. I don’t agree with them, but I “get” it.

This one? I haven’t a clue.

It came together a couple weeks later than we’d originally planned, but it still should increase our plants’ growth this spring.

Behold:

Click to enlarge.

Okay, technically it’s not a greenhouse as it has no heat source. It’s a poly covered cold frame, but it still will allow us to get our raised garden going darned near a month before any sane person would be planting in Michigan. The idea is for it to keep the frost off the plants, not create a proper seed germination environment or anything complicated.

What you’re looking at is a really simple 4′x8′ raised garden made out of 2x6s and a few 4×4 posts. Pretty easy to build, and when I told my dad about it he asked if I was going to put some PVC hoops over it and cover it. Good idea. So, snagged 4 pieces of 10′ long 1/2″ PVC pipe and shoved them in there as hoops. Drilled some holes and stuck U-bolts in there to keep them upright, filled with black dirt, and then laid some plastic sheeting I got from Big Lots over it. Then we snaked a 50′ section of soaker hose in it, also sourced from Big Lots. After that a 1″x2″ piece of lumber (cedar in this case, because I couldn’t find anything else in that size at Home Depot) was placed along the sides atop the 2×6 and drilled down to secure the plastic. The ends at the front and back you can see that we’re holding it in place with some clamps. The idea there is that we’ll keep it closed up until about May 19 or so, and during the days after that remove the clamps, fold the ends over the top, and clamp it back to the PVC pipes to keep it from getting too hot. Close the plastic up and at the end of the day to keep the heat in. When June rolls around I’ll loosen the U-bolts remove the hoops and plastic, and throw them into storage for next year. I’ll probably need to stick small sections of PVC pipe into the existing holes to keep it from filling back in.

Watering everything will be easy: Just hook the garden hose up to the soaker hose and turn it on for 15 or 20 minutes every day.

Two other things: Yes, that’s an oil rig behind my house, and yes, I’m aware that a section of my fence is missing. I kicked it out in haste while chasing a cat one day and later screwed it back to the rest of the fence. Poorly. Chuck Norris knocked it down after that and I haven’t seen much point in replacing it, though my wife would probably like it put back up one of these days.

If this goes well we’ll probably build a 2nd one near it next year.

I’ve avoided looking at any polls until tonight. Last night I looked up previous elections for the local stuff.

InTrade calls it for Obama at 364/174.

AST’s elctoral-vote.com has it at 353/185 again with Obama winning.

Folks, these sites use different methods, one of which has actual money behind it, and were both accurate in 2004. By 9pm or 10pm tomorrow the election will be called for Barack Obama.

Michigan will vote for Barack Obama with room to spare.
My State Rep (District 74) will be Dave Agema (R) in a 2:1 victory over the Democrat challenger.
My US House Rep (District 2) will be Pete Hoekstra (R) in a 2:1 victory over the Democrat challenger.
My US Senator will be Carl Levin (D) in a nearly 2:1 victory over the Republican challenger.

Unless a candidate is endorsed by either SAFR* or the MCGRO in a given election I’ll be voting for a 3rd party tomorrow morning.

I was tempted to vote for the Republican challenger to Levin until I went through some of his survey answers the other night. When asked what the largest threat to national security was Hoegendyk responded with:

The Supreme Court decision giving terrorists the rights of American citizens could mean that dangerous detainees at Guantanamo Bay might end up walking Main Street U.S.A. The Supreme Court’s decision could unleash a torrent of court filings from detainees seeking their freedom. This is probably the greatest threat to our security.

And, well, that’s just a level of stupid I’m not prepared to side with. The single greatest threat to our country is our own legal system? Give me a break. Damnit, I double-checked and SAFR endorsed him. I’ll stick to my word and vote for the guy based on the SAFR endorsement.

As far as the Michigan proposals go:

Prop 1 (Medical Marijuana): Yes. Something that adds a right to the citizenry certainly belongs in the State Constitution, and I have no qualms with the measure as written.

Prop 2 (Stem Cell Research): No. I have no ethical concerns with it, as written, but don’t believe it should be enshrined in the State Constitution. Let the legislature deal with it as it’s easier to fix issues there if we get it wrong the first time.

And, finally, given that I live in Ottawa county I’ll be voting “NO” on the issue of continuing to prohibit sales of alcohol on Sunday.

*: SAFR endorsed Palin, but there’s no way I can stomach voting for McCain. He’s going to lose this state anyway. I’ve never intentionally voted for a big-government liberal before and I’m not going to start with McCain, damnit.

Link — no details yet, not that we really need any.

Sad.

She made up the ATM mugging story. Charges will be filed.

I saw this bumper sticker today:

Renigg on Obama!

Now, I suppose there’s a chance that this was driven by a Hillary supporter that thought Obama shouldn’t be given the Democratic Party’s nomination, but then I’d have to assume that a Hillary supporter was driving a 1982 Ford F-150 with Florida plates in Maine.

Seems unlikely.

Outside that context it just doesn’t make any sense, so I’m left assuming it’s a non-clever way of getting a jumbled up version of “nigger” next to Obama’s name without tripping any indecency charges.