Life

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone. We had a nice time in Massillon and came home Friday, driving through Amish country and picking up a few things. Henry enjoyed playing with his cousins and seeing Granddad.

Friday night we met the Shepherds out at BW3 in Dublin. Their kids play well with ours. Beforehand, I bought an Xbox 360 because it was $100 off. We are going to rip all of our cds to our home computer and then access them through the tv to run through our sound system. It will be nice, if it all works.

Saturday we didn't do a lot but the neighbors came over in the evening and we had a fire and watched the USC v. ND game. ND really is bad and terribly over-ranked.

Sunday, I took Henry up to Cleveland for the Browns v. Bengals game. I had 1/2 our suite and Henry loved it. We got stuck in traffic on the way back so took Route 3 home, adding an hour at least to the trip.

Now its Monday and its back to work. But first I had to wait for the plumber to come and look at our hot water heater. We haven't had hot water since Friday. It was really a design flaw with the unit but I still had to pay $65.

Labels: Ohio State 42 UM 39

Here we go. I don't expect this from Ohio Democrats but grab your wallets, Congress is here to help. From the Wall Street Journal:

Rubin's Tax Gambit
That was fast. A mere two days after Democrats capture Congress claiming they wouldn't raise taxes, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin tells them they should do so anyway.
"You cannot solve the nation's fiscal problems without increased revenues," declared Mr. Rubin, the Democratic Party's leading economic spokesman, in a speech last Thursday. He also took a crack at economic forecasting by noting that "I think if you were to increase taxes right now, you would have probably about zero negative effect on the economy." The economics and politics here are worth parsing.

Sarah and I just returned from the Smoky Mountains. We really enjoyed it, we stayed in a great cabin and got lucky with the weather Friday and Saturday. By the time the rain hit, it was Buckeye football time and I was in a bar and Sarah was shopping. Here are some photos from the trip:

Well, Tuesday is over. I believe the United States is a weaker country today than it was yesterday.

I won't get into specific races but I want to. The best thing I can say (or really the worse thing) is the following: The democrats have taken over the U.S. House. As a result, Alcee Hastings, a former federal judge who was impeached for bribery, will be the next Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

I'm not sure what to say after the above. A guy who was impeached as a federal judge will be the next Chairman of the Intelligence Committee.

Regardless, I'm excited that there is a new dynamic in Ohio and feel it could be a good thing. I'm sad that two people lost, Betty Montgomery and Mike DeWine because they are far better at what they do than their opponents.

Why do we have so many problems in this country with a simple thing like voting? Bring back the punch ballots, just because some old people in Florida were too stupid to read a ballot doesn't mean we have to spend millions on electronic voting machines everywhere.

In 2004, I waited two hours in New Albany to vote. I never hear about the voter suppression out in New Albany, about how they didn't have enough voting machines for all the rich Republicans to vote. All I hear about is how the GOP stole the election.

I don't even want to hear from the Republicans how the democrats are cheating and vandalizing everything. Let's just all go to the polls and vote.

I still think they ought to just dip everyone's thumb into the ink that won't wash away for two days. No more "I voted today" stickers, just show your thumb.

To clarify, I think the Republicans hold on to the Ohio House. The Senate, they will lose the Armbruster seat and probably retain the Goodman, Schuring and Coughlin seats.

My prediction of 52-47 is a lot closer than many lobbyists I know are predicting. I guess most of the shouting will be over tomorrow but what about those close races? I don't care because Sarah and I will be in the Smokies enjoying some quiet time.

Well, today is the day, election day. The rain is fitting, it won't be a good day for Ohioans. I know most people running and there are two that I really feel deserve to be elected over the other. First, Mike DeWine fits Ohio very well. Sherrod Brown, no matter how he trys to reconfigure himself, is a poor choice. Second, Mary Taylor is heads and above her opponent for Auditor. I could add Deborah Pryce in here too although that's mostly because her loss would be Ohio's loss.

Year's like this often sweep people into office who have no business being there. It generally works itself out but I never overestimate the intelligence of the American voter, something I learned long ago in politics.

I'm going with a prediction of 52-47 for the Ohio House after today.

Should this blog really be called "Henry's Blog"? Perhaps, but he is always having fun and I'm always there with a camera. Here are some photos of him at his first YMCA basketball practice. He loves basketball and is a pretty good dribbler. We bought him a hoop for his birthday and its almost time to move it up to the bonus room for the winter.
Note the Massillon shirt, doesn't really match the red and blue sweatpants but it certainly is better than the Michigan clothes some terrible parent put their kid in.