I'm back on-line now.  I had a couple of projects that I wanted to complete and it took more of my morning time than I wanted to, but I am back now (why does grammar checker want to change that to "I am backing now."?).  Bwahahahaha!  The election results were interesting.  I think that by shifting their party line to the right and keeping all of their lefty-socialist leaders in hiding (We heard nothing from Howard, The Chappaquiddick Kid or anyone in the Hollyweird crew and nothing from Nancy until after a Drudge Report comment saying that she must be in hiding because no one, not even her own party knew where she was) they were able to win big.  Much of it was the Republican party's own fault, too.  They moved away from all of the values that got them elected in the first place and stopped talking about them and conservatives and independent voters of and for integrity got fed up.  I do feel the need to point out that there has not been a lot of the ridiculous, often childish claims of voter suppression and fraud that there would have been had the Republicans won.  The Dems were poised and ready to do it.  Anyway, I may write a letter to the RNC explaining the reasons they lost.  If I do I will make it an open letter and will post it here with their response.

Sometimes I just don't have time for all this.  I love blogging and blog-hopping but there is a lot of life going on out there as well.  Top that with frustration trying to get into websites like Blogdrive and being unable to update or access your site or anyone else's, well, then it's pretty much an "aaarrrrrggggghhhh" kind of day.  I will say that at least this time BD did tell visitors a little bit of what was going on.  That was something...

Speaking of "arrgghh" I have discovered a new game by the creator of Civilization, Sid Meir, called "Pirates."  It's a lot of fun and has taken over from Civ as the current game I am obsessed with.  They are very different from each other, Civ being "turn-based" and Pirates being just sort of a "go-where-you-want-and-play-however-you-feel-like-and-oh-by-the-way-these-are-your-objectives-if-you-want-to-win" sort of format.  The forum, with the likely name "Hooked on Pirates" has an interesting contest where you have to use the worst, slowest, clumsiest ship in the game and do all your pirating.  I had started to think the game had lost its challenge until now.

Tabitha just returned from Fresno, California, where she was at a church conference with Ashley and some of the other young people from our church.  She had a pretty great time except for losing her purse in the Denver Airport.  Hopefully it will turn up in the lost and found.  Her kitty's all missed her and kept asking me where she had gone and why she hadn't taken them with her and when she was going to be back.

I guess that's all the news that's fit to blog...No, there were a couple of more things.  I heard a guy talking about the time he spent working in the New York Times newsroom.  Having just heard that overall newspaper circulation is 2.8% daily and 3.4% Sundays this interested me.  One of the things he said is that over 70% of his co-workers were active liberals.  This didn't surprise me and I don't think it surprises anyone, but I think that people are learning that to be truly informed they need to go to more than just one source.  If all the news and information you have is from the Main-Stream-Media, you are woefully misinformed and will absolutely have a lopsided view of the events of the day.  7 second sound-bites just don't tell it all.

Another reason the newspaper industry is failing is the funny pages.  When I was a boy, the funnies were the very first thing, wrapped on top of the paper and easy to get at; pages of large comics, my favorite being Peanuts.  Now they have shrunk the comics down and hidden them in the middle of the ads.  It has been a little over 2 years since I did anything on the funnies so I think I will soon.  Anyway, if they made the funnies full-size and prominent, more people would buy them.

Well, I have a few ideas to work on but without the laptop it is a lot harder.  Hopefully some opportunity will present itself.

Remember, the Good Book says, "Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work..."

PRAY

&

VOTE

&

PRAY SOME MORE!

*Standing at attention, right arm at ninety degree angle*

"I, Herbert C. Thiel, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

*Lowers arm, considers solemnity of the moment.  He had the option of saying, "I...affirm..." but it comes out the same.  It is a promise.  An oath.  A conscious decision to give whatever is necessary.*

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."  John Kerry - Democratic presidential hopeful for 2008

Well, if anything were to ever be able to sway me to vote a straight party ticket, it would be this.  All of the candidates of this party, in one way or another are NOT for real people and are out of touch with reality.  From not comprehending the Second Amendment to insulting the troops they are all clueless.  Oh, his apologists are already trying to do damage control for the major spokesperson, a former and possibly future presidential candidate, showing us the attitude expressed by most of the major members of his party.  I was furious, but there you have the attitude of the left in a literal nut-shell.  This is your Democratic Party.  He hastily arranged a news conference in Seattle (a very fitting location since the people there are so hateful to the military anyway.  They still think it's the 60's there and that they can get by with spitting at soldiers.).  After calling the Republicans "assorted right-wing nut jobs."  (I guess it's okay to lump all Republicans together.  His saying that made me realize that all Democrats are probably alike as well.)

Kerry then said: "I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and of his broken policy."

Well, no, duh, sir.  Who didn't know that, but then he had the nerve to prove his disrespect for the intelligence of the military people around the world by trying to play it off, saying the comment in question was, "a botched joke about the president and the president's people, not about the troops...and they know that's what I was talking about."  Who knows sir?  Oh, yes.  We absolutely know what you were saying.  We heard you sir.  We heard the tone in your voice, your inflection. We know.

Anyone who has ever served in any capacity who has heard this ought to be outraged.  Anyone who has loved ones in harm's way ought to be furious.  I decided that, even though he is moving, I would call my buddy SSG (ret) Carter R. King.  Here's someone who has been "boots on the ground" in Iraq 3 times (plus numerous other assignments around the world) and survived being blown up by a roadside bomb.  He became apoplectic and I thought he was going to have a stroke in his medical condition.

"OH!  MY!  GOD!  He is F****** smoking crack!  There are 300 million citizens and only 130 thousand of them are qualified to be where they are.  If you want to give your readers a polite answer from me on my thoughts, you can say I reacted with, 'Scornful disdain' otherwise you can just quote me straight up."

Staff Sergeant King was not the only one to express scornful disdain.  Our Commander-In-Chief responded, "Our troops did not enlist because they did not study hard in school or do their homework.  The men and women who serve in our all-volunteer armed forces are plenty smart and are serving because they are patriots."

GOP Sen. John McCain, a decorated Vietnam veteran, said while campaigning for Republican candidates in Indiana that "the suggestion that only the least educated Americans would agree to serve in the military and fight in Iraq is an insult to every soldier serving in combat today."

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., "Our soldiers risk their lives in the face of grave dangers on the battlefield, and no one who chooses to courageously and selflessly defend our country can be considered 'uneducated.'"

The National Commander of The American Legion, Commander Paul A. Morin, called on Sen. John Kerry to apologize for suggesting that American troops in Iraq are uneducated.  "As a constituent of Senator Kerry's I am disappointed. As leader of The American Legion, I am outraged.  A generation ago, Sen. Kerry slandered his comrades in Vietnam by saying that they were rapists and murderers. It wasn't true then and his warped view of today's heroes isn't true now.  And while we are on the topic of education, why doesn't the senator and his comrades in Congress improve the GI Bill so all of today's military members - reserves and guard included - can achieve the educational aspirations that the senator so highly values?" Morin said. "The senator's false and outrageous attack was over-the-top and he should apologize now."

AMVETS National Commander Thomas C. McGriff, "For the Senator to suggest that today's United States military is made up of uneducated men and women who didn't 'study hard' or 'make an effort to be smart' is ridiculous and appalling.  The men and women in uniform today make up the most advanced, highly-educated force ever seen. To suggest otherwise is a slap in the face to every soldier, sailor, airman, Marine and Coast Guardsman who has spent countless hours working to better him or herself. This is also an insult to every person and organization who has worked tirelessly to provide our troops and their families with education benefits.  Senator Kerry should retract his remarks and apologize immediately," McGriff said after listening to comments made by Senator Kerry at a political rally in Pasadena, Calif., Monday. "It is especially outrageous coming from a member of the U.S. Senate."

That is the Democratic Party and a presidential hopeful, representative of what the Party really believes.  A vote for anyone with a (D) behind their name is telling everyone that has ever served in the US Military exactly what you think of us.  Now we all know.

Hollyweird has been unusually quiet this election.  Maybe someone told them to shut their traps, or as Laura Ingraham says in the title of her book, "Shut up and sing."  There has been a noticeable flap between Michael J Fox and Rush Limbaugh which has interested me because I heard the entire remarks, context and content of what Mr. Limbaugh said at the time he said them and have noted that the so-called journalists, including the much vaunted info-babe, Katie Couric, have been completely misrepresenting the entire thing in their usual left-sided manner.  But, Rush can defend himself and either you are just going to go with the mainstream media's version without question or you are going to ask more questions and get both sides of the story.  If you are interested in what was really said you can go here.  Anyone who does not believe the media is biased and thinks that these people are behaving as journalists who will go to any lengths to find out the truth has their head in a bucket of mud.

I just get so aggravated with the extreme Left sometimes, the way they try to twist the media and stretch and change and ignore the facts.  While some of them do, in fact, jump into the arena of ideas, so many more just want power and will resort to name-calling and out-and-out lying to get what they want.  E.G., Joe Lieberman, stabbed in the back by his own party and the media.  How can Chris Matthews get away with saying in his August 8th election coverage, "...Lieberman of course is the schmaltzy ethnic guy, the Uncle Tonoose, you know, the guy that's very much kind of lachrymose in his almost postnasal drip voice of his, but he doesn't look happy."  It's okay for the mainstream media to make racial comments like that, but not okay for someone to criticize the politics of a Hollyweird star?

(I edited this after blogdrive came back online and have just read on Drudge that Mr. Fox has not even read the Missouri Constitutional Ammendment he is supporting.  He is just campaigning for whatever the Dimorats support.  Parenthetical remarks added 10/30/06 4:20 am)

The fact is that conservatives are not against stem cell research.  Here is the good that has been done so far:

Adult Stem Cells

Cancers:
   1. Brain Cancer
   2. Retinoblastoma
   3. Ovarian Cancer
   4. Skin Cancer: Merkel Cell Carcinoma
   5. Testicular Cancer
   6. Tumors abdominal organs Lymphoma
   7. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
   8. Hodgkin's Lymphoma
   9. Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
  10. Acute Myelogenous Leukemia
  11. Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia
  12. Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia
  13. Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia
  14. Cancer of the lymph nodes: Angioimmunoblastic Lymphadenopathy
  15. Multiple Myeloma
  16. Myelodysplasia
  17. Breast Cancer
  18. Neuroblastoma
  19. Renal Cell Carcinoma
  20. Various Solid Tumors
  21. Soft Tissue Sarcoma
  22. Ewing's Sarcoma
  23. Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia
  24. Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis
  25. POEMS syndrome
  26. Myelofibrosis

      Auto-Immune Diseases:
  27. Systemic Lupus
  28. Sjogren's Syndrome
  29. Myasthenia
  30. Autoimmune Cytopenia
  31. Scleromyxedema
  32. Scleroderma
  33. Crohn's Disease
  34. Behcet's Disease
  35. Rheumatoid Arthritis
  36. Juvenile Arthritis
  37. Multiple Sclerosis
  38. Polychondritis
  39. Systemic Vasculitis
  40. Alopecia Universalis
  41. Buerger's Disease

      Cardiovascular:
  42. Acute Heart Damage
  43. Chronic Coronary Artery Disease

      Ocular:
  44. Corneal regeneration

      Immunodeficiencies:
  45. Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Syndrome
  46. X-linked Lymphoproliferative Syndrome
  47. X-linked Hyper immunoglobulin M Syndrome

      Neural Degenerative Diseases and Injuries:
  48. Parkinson's Disease
  49. Spinal Cord Injury
  50. Stroke Damage

      Anemias and Other Blood Conditions:
  51. Sickle Cell Anemia
  52. Sideroblastic Anemia
  53. Aplastic Anemia
  54. Red Cell Aplasia
  55. Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia
  56. Thalassemia
  57. Primary Amyloidosis
  58. Diamond Blackfan Anemia
  59. Fanconi's Anemia
  60. Chronic Epstein-Barr Infection

      Wounds and Injuries:
  61. Limb Gangrene
  62. Surface Wound Healing
  63. Jawbone Replacement
  64. Skull Bone Repair

      Other Metabolic Disorders:
  65. Hurler's Syndrome
  66. Osteogenesis Imperfecta
  67. Krabbe Leukodystrophy
  68. Osteopetrosis
  69. Cerebral X-Linked Adrenoleukodystrophy

      Liver Disease:
  70. Chronic Liver Failure
  71. Liver Cirrhosis

      Bladder Disease:
  72. End-Stage Bladder Disease

Embryonic Stem Cells:

0

Here is just one piece from a biology professor, Jean Peduzzi-Nelson, who is associate professor in the department of anatomy and cell biology Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit.  There are many more such at http://www.stemcellresearch.org/index.html a website founded by eight professor/doctor types.  There is a 38 page scientific paper linked there as well, which may have meaning to the scientists (two I know of) who stop by here.  Of course none of these links will make it into the mainstream media because it will become clear that conservatives and Republicans are not evil, hatemongers who want people to die from dreaded diseases and return us back to the medieval period of medicine with leeches and blood-lettings, but rather are people with a genuine concern for people.

The fact that there are over 400,000 frozen embryos right now is an issue to me, (when might enough be enough, already?  Too deep to sidetrack here for.) as well, but each embryo has 46 chromosomes, 23 pairs, half from the sperm and half from the egg.  These Chromosomes contain DNA which contains the 20,000 genes that make you the unique individual you are, while at the same time giving you some inherited traits as well.  My problem is that just as I am a unique individual genetically, so are each one of these embryonic people.  When I look at the photos of the children that were these adopted embryos, referred to as The Snowflake Children, I cannot imagine which one I would have wanted to have hacked up for research purposes.

My purpose in this post is not to take up the whole stem cell debate but to point out, again, the importance of knowing who and what you are voting for.  In this day and age of "trial by media" and the 7 second sound bite, make yourself aware.  This issue is too deep for that.  It is very sensitive to many people and should not be taken lightly.  I think there are politicians on the extreme Left that do not want to admit that these are children because they will have to admit many other things about conception as well.  They are the ones that do not want to discuss facts like these and are the ones who have hijacked the Democratic Party and are the ones that run roughshod over anyone who opposes them, thus making the Democratic Party the party of the far left.

Please, PRAY before you vote, then vote your conscience, but Conservative or Liberal, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Prohibitionist, or Green, make sure you VOTE.

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."  Patrick Henry

And Remember, The Good Book says, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee..."

My theory in choosing a liberal as a running mate was that it would blow the collective mind of the lefty media.  They wouldn't know how to cover it.  But after Jerry's comments I gave it some more thought.  The media wouldn't freak out, they would just fall in love with the VP candidate (until they heard his fiscal policies) and convince him to run instead of me and then I would never win.  Besides, Gull is right, I do belong here in the blogosphere, although if elected I could be the first prez to be blogger. Instead of a weekly radio broadcast I could do a podcast of my current blog.  Okay, so I accept Jerry's timely resignation.  We have irreconcilable differences in some areas.  I still count him as one of my friends, though and I think that is about as close to keeping my New Year's resolution to "love a liberal" as I can come.

Speaking of loving liberals, the liberal radio network, Air America, is going belly-up.  This is because they didn't understand a couple of things.  First, they didn't have anyone on-air who had actual radio broadcasting experience.  The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (Leftists have conspiracy theories, too) was so deep and far-reaching that it took people with years and years of broadcast knowledge and experience, not only in broadcasting, but in listening to what people wanted to know, rather than cramming junk philosophy down their throats.  They already had gotten so much of that from the mainstream media and Hollyweird until they wanted to puke, that they just didn't want to listen to anymore.  Their main anchor, Al Franken, was never funny on SNL or in his books, so why would he be funny on the radio?  Then when he would get a big-name conservative to interview he would just call them names, thinking he was funny, but really he never even conducted an actual interview.  The second thing that the libs who poured bazillions of dollars into this forgot they were going to be competing with a well-established liberal radio network, NPR.

The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy started out 20+ years ago with a guy who had already had almost 20 years of broadcasting experience.  Someone took a chance on his, at the time, crazy idea for a nationally syndicated radio talk show.  Besides saving AM radio, Rush Limbaugh went on to be, and still is, the number one listened to radio show in America.  He gets sponsors and sells ads and radio stations make money.  That's why he's still on-air.  He is not my personal favorite, but he is a true broadcasting pioneer.  My favorite used to be Sean Hannity, because, among other things, he has the other side talk.  He will frequently have both a Dimocrat and a Republican on talking about an issue and he lets them talk as long as they stay on topic.  I notice the Dims have a lot of trouble staying on-topic.  I have equally been enjoying Glenn Beck a lot, too.  I switch between Glenn and Laura Ingram in the mornings and between Sean and a local radio host, Chuck Baker, locally on AM 1580 K4 talk 1 - 3pm.  Chuck has been around for a very long time and has gotten in trouble for speaking his mind about Social Services.  At 4 - 6pm I listen to another local guy on AM 740 KVOR.  He is more moderate.

The reason The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy has worked is because these folks are saying what people want to hear.  They ask the questions that are on everyone's minds, sometimes even unarticulated.  Most people that claim they don't like conservative radio are also people who have never listened to it.  Listening to 1 hour 1 day of 1 week of any show that is 3 hours a day cannot give you a good grasp of what it's about or what the humor of the host is like.  You also do not hear the criticisms they level at both their own party and their own base, such as Rush's referring to the people who plan to withhold their vote this election as "Cut and Run Conservatives."  You gotta vote, folks.  Everyone.  Glenn Beck offers the best advice on choosing a candidate to vote for.  He says (what I said the other day) that you need to vote AMERICAN.  You need to vote for the candidate that represents you, e.g., what do they believe about national security and do they have a record on it.

It is time to go get ready for Sunday School so I must go.

Remember, the good book says, A vote for Herb is like a vote for nobody else.

I am going to give you a quick lesson on how to pick your candidates.  Probably the most important thing an American can do in our democracy, which is actually a representative republic, is often relegated to listening to 30 second attack ads and a biased propaganda machine.  If you live in another country (I have readers from around the world) that allows you to vote in free elections then this will also apply to you but it is election time here and so I will focus on here.

I think one of the scariest, most ridiculous things I have ever heard or read anyone say is, "I vote a straight party ticket.  I just go and click the lever that says my party's name and then I'm done."  That is really wrong and wrong-headed.  What you need to do is study the individual for yourself.  You need to know where each person stands on each issue.  But even before that there is a step you need to take.  You need to know what you believe in.  You should pick out a handful of issues that are important to you, that you know what you believe in and that, if you were the elected official, you would work to change then vote for the person who reflects your specific values.  This may or may not be along party lines.  The thing people need to realize and do is assess themselves, first, then assess the candidates and issues.  You need to vote for the person, not the organization.  What this country needs is yet another record-breaking voter turn-out by people who know what they believe in who will vote for people who will represent them.

You also need to think of the country.  Republicans are being threatened by conservatives saying they are going to withhold their votes and not vote at all this year.  I guess that is an option, but just think about this, conservatives.  The Speaker of the House is only 3rd in line from the presidency and it could be YOU that causes everyone to have to say, "President Pelosi."  The very idea of saying that gives me the screaming heebie-jeebies.  It even gives moderate Democrats the willies, but that is what you can look forward to.  Withhold your vote.

Any democracy where you have to elect someone to represent you would benefit from my simple advice although as I've often said before, if more people would only listen to me in the first place the world would be much better off.  Well, if I can't convince either Skunfeathers or Condi to run for president maybe I should run.  "Herb for President!"  How does that sound?

Hmmm...Time for a new poll, perhaps.

Remember, the good book says, "A vote for Herb is like a vote for...umm...Herb."

First I'd like to agree with Abby, yes the Amish are classy.  Very respectable people and good citizens, they are good examples of the Christian ideals of forgiveness and love (over half the people at the killer's funeral were local Amish people).  I also think a tip of the hat is in order for the PA State Patrol, which not only helped the funeral processions by having officers leading it on horseback, but also blocking off the roads and two and a half miles of airspace to make certain the media would respect the wishes of the bereaved.

My daughter's school suffered a horrible loss Friday.  The kids were playing their homecoming football game; it was 40 to 15 in the 3rd quarter, the panthers winning.  The center for the panthers, #63, Fermin Vialpando, called a huddle and started running toward the team and fell over.  He got up and fell over again.  In under a minute the Medical Doctor was at his side doing emergency first aid/CPR as well as all the way to the hospital in the ambulance, but to no avail.  The young man had died of a previously unknown heart condition.  No drugs were involved.  The whole school buzzed all over Myspace and had organized a vigil with official sanction from the school.  It was an amazing feat in my estimation. http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/4337382.html

So sad, but I have to say, I was truly impressed with the young people I saw there.  I have been impressed with the school and the staff but the solidarity of the students was something that would give a person hope in the future generations.  One of my daughter's friends said, "I even hugged people I hate."  And while Abigail didn't know the boy well she had seen him around school and she knew many of his friends and went to the vigil, not only to grieve the loss but to hug her friends.  She spent a long time comforting her friends and finding the solace that only a release of shared tears can bring.

The Good Book Says, "There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war..."

Abigail forgot her homework yesterday, so I wound up visiting her school.  I like the school and I like the staff.  There were a couple of differences that were glaring to me, but probably wouldn't be to the casual visitor, though.

They have some new security procedures in place since the shooting up in Bailey.  Bailey is a very small town, like Shawano, but the event has rocked us all.  The new procedures are fairly non-intrusive, but were noticeable to me.  The principle has the unsavory task of increasing safety and security while not turning the place into a prison.  There has always been a police cruiser parked out front, so this is nothing new, really, except that in the 70's it was unheard of, but now there is a small office on-campus that a regular officer works out of.  As I approached the school, I was greeted by a genial but tough-looking guy who is the head of security there.  He is a friendly chap, but one of those guys that gives you the impression that you just don't want to tangle with him or owe him money.  He stands outside among the students visiting and just pleasantly asks how you are doing and can he help you.

"I'm here to drop off my daughter's homework."

"Okay.  You can find the office?"

"Oh yes."

This has never happened before.  Then when I get through the main doors there is another guy standing there, (their uniforms are innocuous, a polo shirt with an embroidered badge, a shiny metal badge on their hip.) offering to help, but the office is right inside the door.  The office folks are nice and my daughter is at lunch.  I am handed a sticker with the Panther logo that has a space for my name and date & time of arrival and head to the lunchroom.  It is crazy, wacky-tacky dress-up day and the students have a lot of school spirit.  I only know a few of the students and as a teacher passes by she reads my badge.  I never got one before, but it is clear that someone is paying attention.  I can't find Abigail so I return to the office and one of the assistant principals greets meet while scanning my sticker.

Abigail says they had lock-down practice yesterday, too and unlike last year everyone was very serious and paid strict attention to the codes and procedures.  The mood was somber.  As she tells me this I recall what she said several times last week as the events were unfolding on the newscasts, "That could be my school.  That exact thing could be happening in my school."

On a slightly more upbeat and kind of darkly "humorous" note, it was the first day of school for one of the students in Bailey, who had been home-schooled all her life.  I don't know if she went back or not.

The Good Book says, "The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped..."

Here are the blogs I try to get to every day (and the blogroll is back).  I made an Excel spreadsheet of the blogs I visit and then sorted them by blog name.  This is not a totally inclusive list as there are people that stop by the tagboard that I click on and haven't really added them to my favorites or anything, yet.  If I missed yours, feel free to leave a link in the comments and try to forgive me.  Ummm...Let's see, Oh, The reason I can get to all of these pages is that, with a few exceptions, everyone doesn't update every day.  I may also have not commented on every listing because they are either self-explanatory or I haven't been following them long enough to make a synopsis.  The blogroll is supposed to update with the newest in 24 hours being on top.

I try to comment on most all of them, but sometimes it's too overwhelming, especially if I slack off for a few days and sleep in until 4:30.  Also, there are several sites that you must be a member to comment.  I join up everywhere, using an e-mail address created for that purpose and in my profile I leave a link to my "real" blog, here, so I have a Xanga and a Blogstream and a couple of others.  I didn't like the fact that nobody could comment except members which was one reason I chose Blogdrive.

Most All The Blogs and sites I Visit:

A Good Laugh Is Great Medicine Very funny, usually squeaky clean.

A L'il Ray of Sunshine This should be renamed "Dr. Dro and Nicole" these days.  Updates occasionally from both Nic and Dr. Dro.  Most recently tells the story of how he popped the question from both her side and his.

 AbbyNormal The writing is always witty and original and definitely should be published somewhere.  Absolutely a "Must-Read."  Her running journal is also good.

Accuweather 

Amyanoneness Ashley's friend; updates sporadically.  Usually about God or kids or both.

AnnCoulter.com 

Beeba

 BlueMoon Café Pops' blog is always interesting.  Either stories of days gone by or grandchildren, occasional commentary.  Another "Must-Read."

Bubblylittleworld My fiend, Ashley, updates when the urge strikes her then disappears.

Cap'n Bob and the Damsel Blog that provided the 9/11 banner.  Always interesting.

Cheese It Da Cops The Blog Mafia.  I started this one with Daveman and since he's not been around, it hasn't been much fun and there hasn't been much done with it.

Crazy Texas Chick Mandy's life and times.

 Davemania My friend, Daveman, whose last entry was 2/23/06 when he disappeared from the blogosphere completely.  I will always check this one until it's gone.  He was a definite "Must-Read" until he disembarked the Blogosphere.

Duble duble toil and mumble Jerry, a liberal but with interesting personal stories that make up for it.  A likeable guy.
 
Engrish.com Hilarious.  Regularly updated pics of misinterpreted English.

Follow That Star FTS, updates somewhat regularly, followed his dream of moving to Colorado.

Green Bay Press-Gazette a hometown newspaper.

Gullible Info True facts, thoroughly researched.  Great for trivia buffs.

Herb Thiel This lame-o has a lot of cool friends that stop by his tag-board or comment on his entries.  Visit the blogs on his blogroll!

Herb's Friends This has been kind of a bust although Gronk might join...  I had hoped for a lot of entries from all sorts of people.

Herb's Humor Nicole used to help me keep this up, but has since become "preoccupied" with other interests.  I try to update it with good, clean jokes you could tell your pastor.

Husbands anon A cool dad with interesting work stories.

Imagination Prompt Generator by Creativity Portal 

Jinny's Blog A scientist, Sam's friend.  I may have to get a better address for her, though.

Letters From Heaven Penny updates pretty often and interesting.

Life's Menagerie Oswuari.  Knows music, for sure and can wax poetic.

My Insight Greg, a good guy, also has a photo/poetry blog that is worth checking out.

Not To Scale Chrysalis - Globetrotting engineer with a veritable plethora of topics.

Perish the thought By Gull, a wide variety of subject matter from a view that is moderate but leans a little right.  Very interesting.

Precinct 13 The Blog Cops.  Daveman started this one and added me to it.  Since he's not been around, it hasn't been as much fun either.

Pueblo Chieftain I started following their Op-eds because their Editor-In-Chief is very critical of Colorado Springs and our irresponsible growth which has caused trouble and pollution in their water supply only for us to ask them for more water.  You can't buy the Pueblo Chieftain anywhere in Colorado Springs except the Wal-Mart in Fountain.

RamblingRose A stay at home Pentecostal mom.

Rob N Pen Interesting variety of humor and commentary with a  beautiful photo gallery that is a "Must-See."

SamSam - Forever Musing Sam is a biologist in Singapore who encouraged me to keep blogging.

Saurly Yours Saur's views don't generally fit into any one box, but she is outspoken and straightforward and has a fun, "up" side to her blog on occasion as well.

Sbuzell Steph calls herself an outrageous old woman and she certainly seems to try to live life to the fullest.

Seige A Blogdrive mainstay who knows a LOT.

Sharkbait Friendly and fun.

Shawano Leader My hometown paper.

Skunkfeathers "Dear sir, you have won 1,000,000 Lbs Sterling in the English Lottery, please send $250 to me."  He answers them as Dr. U. R. Phulovit.  Absolutely hysterical.  Chases tornadoes as a hobby, has a pet corncob and a pet rock named Jane and Seymour.  A definite, absolute "Must-Read," I would rank him with Abby Normal, Pops and the defunct Daveman.  If you see anyone else doing replies to spam e-mails, they learned it from him.

The Accidental Thinker A mom and business traveler with a good variety of topics.

The Gazette Colorado Springs local news.

The Patriette, Kelly, A woman whose husband is in Iraq and she just had a baby also has a veritable plethora of interesting links.

The Space Between Well-written, thought-provoking.

The Zoom Room Jeanine is one of Sam's former teachers.  Very nice.

Thoughts of an Old Horse Soldier Emphasis on OLD.  One of my oldest friends.  A war vet who has been blown up by a bomb in Iraq and lived to tell about it.  He is being retired for medical reasons and plans to move to Da U.P. once, hey.

Tuff Toenails Moni - A Christian, stay-at-home mom.

Ugh - Gronk D Caveman.  An amiable caveman

As I said, I know that I have missed several whose links I jump to from the tagboard when they stop by or from links on other blogs.  If I missed you or you want a free plug, just put your link in the "comments" section where it asks for your website and your name will be clickable.

Remember, the good book says, "You have to forgive Herb, he is often forgetful."

I am really sorry I haven't been around for a while.  I have been "sleeping in" until 4 or even 4:30 and so have barely even gotten to my e-mail.  It is hard to write updates when the house is full of people.  The laptop is officially dead and while Bro. G. may be able to perform a miracle, it depends on if he can find a new mother board for my cheap, off-brand, so the only time I have to write when I can think at the same time is back to the mornings.  If I sleep in, well, that gets to be a problem.

I will try to get back into the old routine, however and come back to it.  I have many things to say and many stories to tell.  I will have to tell you about my adventures searching for a prism to teach the lesson of Noah and introduce you to my pet rock, Rocky, who was the rock that was in David's sling when he slew the giant.  I have a story about galoshes almost completed from my retail days and I am about to explode at not having time to expose the bald-faced hypocritical lies of the loony-liberal-far-left-extremists, including crybaby Clinton's bare-facing it and imploding in an interview.  I heard it and it was the most un-presidential behavior I have ever seen in my life.  Besides, doesn't he realize that you can look things up on the Internet that his former VP invented and find out the truth?  I don't think even Jimmy Carter has been as un-presidential.  I have just about given up on my resolution to "love a liberal."  I think I can like a few moderate ones socially, so perhaps I have kept the spirit of it, but so much of their claptrap is just ill-conceived, pessimistic incoherent blatherings.

I also have pictures to scan and pictures to add to the gallery.  Douglas is almost 6 months old and even though he hasn't quite gotten the "left-leg then right-leg/left-hand then right-hand" thing of crawling down completely but he can scootch anywhere he wants to.  Savannah and Boston are still partners-in-crime and have to really be watched when the other is eating.  Lol.  I don't think Boston's food is that tasty, myself.

I am still considering moving from Blogdrive, but if I do I will let you all know.  Thanks to everyone that comes to check up on me so faithfully.  www.statcounter.com has been wonderfully recording your visits to check up on me.  I will be back making rounds again, also, as soon as I start back getting up when I should.

I was going to start a local chapter of the procrastinator's club...

Remember, the Good Book says, "And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.