There was a time when I wouldn’t have said that under my breath in a howling wind storm, but now I am willing to volunteer it in print. Thank you, Annie, for the gift of your youngest daughter and for meeting me half-way.

Click here to read on, my friend.

Got this from Twitpix … it’s a photo from Chile.

The scene on the left is the TOP layer of an overpass. These people made out better than the ones below. The lesson here is not that God is randomly smacking people around, but that he told us this time was coming.

It’s here.

He also told us some other things about this time and they will show up, too.

Are you ready? Are you even getting ready?

The next photo is from Haiti. It’s a tent city wedged in among a mix of wrecked and still-standing buildings. Soon there will be pics from Japan … and then? Who knows? Maybe Portland, Oregon, Manhattan, New York or an Aleutian Island. The issue really isn’t ‘where’ these things happen, but the pattern of them.

There were over 280 quakes this week.

– Bill

In his new book, In Search of Self-Governance, Scott Rasmussen observes that the American people are “united in the belief that our political system is broken, most politicians are corrupt, and neither major political party has the answers.” He adds that there is a “growing disdain for the unholy alliance between the largest corporations and our government… Some of us are ready to give up; some of us are ready to scream a little louder. But all of us believe we can do better.”

Click here to read on, my friend.

Everyone else, listen up.

I hate GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and their insidious sidekick, chemical farming, with the same passion I reserve for pedophiles, politicians, abortionists and big bankers.

Click here to read on, my friend.

Just this month Forbes called Monsanto heroes.

(hack, cough, cough) Balderdash. I try not to use stronger words, but they would certainly apply.

I should probably post this link on my long-neglected organic gardening blog and, after I post it here, I might just do that.

But this blog gets somewhat more traffic and I think that this video, about the effects of chemical farming in India is instructive. I know that your time is valuable. I’m asking for 30 minutes of it with the promise that I will not waste that 30 minutes. Start by viewing the film for the first 26 minutes.

Click here to read on, my friend.

My goal of returning this Jaguar to showroom quality is complicated by the need to drive it, at least temporarily, modest funding for the project, general lack of cluefulness and cold weather with no place to work on it indoors.

It also wouldn’t hurt if I had a hoist and a machine shop in my garage and all that other junk out of it. Hmm … maybe if I kill my lawn I can get rid of the mower, string trimmer, lawn vacuum, rakes, shovels and so on. Oh … and that Geo Metro I keep promising myself to fix up.

Nah, I think you have to put the hoist in when the foundation goes down … and, besides which, I’ve only got about a 7’ ceiling in the garage.

I can foresee some awkward conversations with the insurance company if I raised the hoist high enough to work under — and with the chiropractor if I didn’t.

Click here to read on, my friend.

When I was a kid I sorely coveted a Jaguar. Most of my friends did, too, even if we realized in our heart of hearts that we would probably never own one. Even if we were still saving for a used rust-bucket deluxe so we could get a better job delivering pizzas instead of mowing lawns. Even if we more likely to die of pimples than raw horsepower.

Well, I finally got one. A Jag, that is. I already had, and lived through, pimples long ago.

Granted it’s not the same model I originally craved: this is the Vanden Plas sedan. It’s an old man’s car, but it is a Jaguar. Says so right there on the name plate.

Recently I also did the gas pedal test and yup: it’s got the heart of a Jaguar beneath that tamed exterior.

I had originally lusted after an XKE with a dozen cylinders, long hood and legendary chick-magnet powers. I first saw one up close on a side street near the New York Central Yard Office in Wyandotte, MI.  The interior was mostly rubbish and the paint had definitely seen better days. It looked like a failed ‘fixer-up’, but I wanted it. I wanted to carry the banner forward, complete the fixing-up and drive a racing green XKE with more power and speed than any young male not in the Air Force should ever have access to.

Click here to read on, my friend.

There is a conundrum when setting a goal: set it too big and failure looms large in the headlights but set it too low and interest wanes almost immediately.

Click here to read on, my friend.

Source unknown. If you can help me give proper credit, please do.

Is what the United States has done in the name of its citizens STILL justified? Was it EVER justified? The little solid evidence Americans have would lead them to believe that this is a trumped up war for the enrichment of the already rich at the expense of the already poor.

I just got back from my local IHOP and I am IHOPPING mad..

I considered letting the matter just ‘ride’ and being silent about it. But that’s what most other people would do and that’s what allows companies to leave matters messed up year after year … even if they might be inclined, with a little prodding showing that something is important to significant numbers of their customers, to fix them.

All too often we say “I’m only one person, what could I say that would possibly matter?” in a defeatist tone of voice and the little guy inside of us shrugs its shoulders, defeated again. But why is that? Because the voice inside sabotaged the meaning we could have brought to life, the person we could have been, our right to have and express a viewpoint.

Now try “I’m only one person, what could I say that would possibly matter?” again, with the focus merely on choosing your words well, for their effect. So that they WILL matter.

So here, without further ado, is a copy of the letter that IHOP is going to find in its fax machine in the morning.

IHOP Restaurant Support Center
450 N. Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91203
P: 818-240-6055
F: 818-637-3131

Dear Overworked Support Center Staffer,

You have my sympathies. Do I have your attention?

Tonight I went to the IHOP on Middlebelt Rd. in Livonia, MI and, in the process of ordering, asked about the availability of dietary information. After consulting with the manager, the waitress told me that I could find the information on your website. But when I got home and online, I found this instead:

http://www.ihop.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=5

» Is nutritional information available?
Currently we do not offer this information on our website.  IHOP offers a wide variety of food that should allow most people to choose a meal that suits their dietary needs. 

Oh, really? How? Psychic readings?

Without this information, THERE IS NO WAY to choose a meal that suits my dietary needs. I don’t know how much salt was in my dinner, how many calories, fiber, protein, carbohydrates … NOTHING! My nutrition books don’t list “little pieces of beef floating in some kind of brown liquid”. Do yours? Nor is there an entry for “some dry-looking mashed potatoes” or “a little corn”.

IHOP is not a small company … it has the resources to provide this information. And, for that reason alone, if for no other, there is no excuse for NOT making it available.

I have a couple blogs (readership ~30,000) that I will be posting this (and any response from you) on.

So, no, you probably don’t want to just crumple this letter up and pretend you never got it.

To paraphrase your website: “The Metropolitan Detroit area offers a wide variety of restaurants that should allow me to choose a meal that suits my dietary needs.”

Too bad that IHOP isn’t one of them.

You are the only restaurant I know of that seems to have too many customers.

Sincerely,

December 6, 2009

Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. If any of you want to write them a consoling letter or even mirror my sentiments, go right ahead … their contact information is at the top of the letter. I couldn’t find an email address on their web site, but I’m sure that at least some of the 30,000 readers who stop by here from time to time have fax machines.

– Bill