Saturday, August 8, 2009

Thar Be Dragons...

...in my basement. Well lizards whose heads resemble those of dragons anyhow. I have had a pair of crested Geckos together in a tank since early this year or late last year. While I was away in Tucson for 4 months, Brendan took good care of them. In fact he took such good care of them that they got into breeding condition and the female laid 6 eggs in my absence. I found the eggs when i got home. two of them had holes in them and were quite empty. I thought maybe they had hatched and the parents had eaten the babies but as it turns out the eggs were probably eaten into by either crickets or a species of darkling beetle (Zophobas morio). I do not know the common name, if any of the beetle but its larva is called the Superworm and is a common food insect for pet reptiles. Well that meant I still had 4 possibly good eggs. I took those 4 and put them into a plastic container with some damp cypress mulch. I kept them at room temps, about 72 - 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

Tonight, I was going to show Brendan that 2 of the eggs had really gotten larger, they do so as they absorb moisture and as the baby grows inside, and there was a head sticking out of one of the bigger ones when I looked in the container. It is a nice looking baby - nice color, looks healthy, yada-yada. Hopefully it will turnout to be a female, they are much more valuable than males; and of course my one male can be kept with a harem of a few females. Time will tell, but it will take several months or more. Now though is the time for me to set up a new tank for the little ones (yes I am hopeful the other eggs will hatch soon). I cannot keep them with the adults unless I want them to wind up being dinner for the larger ones.

All the best,
Glenn B

Tell Us If Your Neighbors Disagree...

...with Der Fuhrer the Obama Administration on the issue of the health care bill. The White House, according to published reports, is asking people to inform on other American citizens when they believe they have found "fishy" criticism of the health care bill online! See: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/07/white-house-collect-fishy-info-health-reform-illegal-critics-say/.

Folks what I am about to say is my own personal opinion. I express it herein using my right to free speech as an American Citizen. I do so with all due respect to the Obama Administration but also with strong opposition to their methods of governance and with strong opposition to their policies and wished for health care reform.

Some are comparing the Obama Administration's handling of dissent to health care reform to George Orwell's 1984 and Big brother. I think that comparison pales to reality. You see the truth of the matter is that such tactics were used all to recently in real life history by the National Socialist German Workers' Party - yes that would be the Nazi party. It was a common method of gaining information on those who opposed Hitler's regime; it was so insidious that children were informing on their own parents some of whom were then arrested, interrogated and then put to death as enemies of the state. Of course, it did not start out that bad. At first there were lots of propaganda speeches from Hitler about impending doom if action was not taken. Next people were asked to be a good little Nazi and to tow the party line. Then dissenters were made to look bad, they were discredited, they were said to be disloyal, they were called names and they were intimidated by the Brown Shirts (Hitler's early goon squad). Of course there was also the blaming the problems of Germany on a group other than those who had been in power; Hitler blamed everyone who was not German especially the Jews. Then came the informing and the round ups of the dissenters, of the mentally ill, of criminals, and of course of the ones to blame for all Germany's problems - the Jews. Then there were none to very few dissenters remaining and the people were under the grip of a totalitarian regime the likes of which we all thought we could never see again (at least until we saw Stalin, the Red Chinese, Pol Pot, and so on).

Hmm, let's see how this compares to the here and now regarding the health care bill issue: The current administration has tried to push through the health care bill with lots of rhetoric and without any delay, even without allowing enough time for congress-people to actually read the bill. When that does not work they start a propaganda blitz utilizing all means they can such as the political speeches ranting of doom if we do not have health care reform, the use of the media, and the use of town hall meetings. When strong opposition to the health care bill keeps mounting especially at the town hall meetings the government immediately moves to discredit the protesters and starts calling them names and telling you in essence how evil they are. In addition, someone in the administration just recently implied that the protesters were Nazis. I beg to differ I think the administration is acting much more like the Nazis because now that the others things have failed the Obama administration is seeking one neighbor to rat out another if he or she disagrees with the administration on health care reform. What is next, will the government send out goons in brown shirts to intimidate people who oppose the health care bill. Oh that is right, the Obama Administration has already said it would respond with twice "the force" should any politician come out voicing opposition to health care reform. Funny how they should use the word force, sounds potentially violent to me, and like an overreaction to such opposition. Why use such a word when talking about voiced opposition if not only to blow things out of proportion! And of course the administration also immediately blamed the Republicans for the dissent by saying they are somehow at fault for people exercising their rights to freedom of speech and assembly. Tell me please, how can an American citizen be at fault while taking the liberty to legally exercise his rights? I can not figure it, but somehow it seems apparent the Obama Administration can do so.

The community organizer is organizing one section of the community oppose another while his power grows, or at least as he attempts to grow in power. He is using many of the same methods as did the Nazis or predecessors of the Nazis in the early days of Hitler's climb to power. What are we to expect next? Many believe such a thing as a totalitarian takeover of the United States of America could never occur, just as the good people of the Weimar Republic once believed could not take place in Germany. Convincing the German people, first that there was a drastic need for change otherwise doom was upon them, then convincing the German people that others within their own community were the enemy, then having the German people turn on their own countrymen by informing on them, then ultimately annihilating them was Hitler's surefire method of overcoming any resistance from within Germany. It was, without a doubt, one of the most powerful weapons that Hitler and the Nazis had in their arsenal of destruction when it came to their rise to power and their ability to overcome any opposition from within their own country. From my viewpoint, what president Obama and his minion are doing now is all to reminiscent of what the Nazis did then. Please bear in mind I am not saying that Obama's ends are the same as were Hitler's; his ends may be noble indeed. I am saying I think the methods are all to similar. Of course, Hitler believed his goals noble, so did most of Germany at that time. So I am also saying, in that regard, we had best be more than vigilant, we had best be ready to defend and protect in the event that history is repeating itself once again because if it is, well then we are in store for one hell of a time. Remain vigilant, and in the event tyranny rears its ugly head be prepared to chop it off.

All the best,
Glenn B