Stone for President in 2012!

An old friend of mine, Jairo, had a peculiar habit of separating his whole and broken potato chips at lunch.  I’m not sure why, but I’ve picked up this habit since I’ve been eating Subway almost every day for lunch.

Here’s what I got last time… 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Six whole rings and a bunch of bits!

It seems to me someone could make a lot of money if they’d come up with a better cushioned chip bag…

Congratulations Democratic voters in the state of Connecticut. You’ve given Joe Lieberman a thumb in the eye by voting for Ned Lamont in the primary.

Now, running as an independent, Joe will owe you no favors if elected (and early polling shows that he will win comfortably in the general election). Given the expected tightness of the Senate where dems are still hoping to take over, you’ve effectively given Joe more power if there’s a close split by letting him choose his allegiance.

While I think he will side with the Dems on that one, it won’t be without a lot of hand-wringing and a TON of public apologies from the likes of Hillary who took the rare step of not backing a standing non-indicted Senator from their own party.

Go Joe!

With the wife out of town, I did something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I attended a Village Board Meeting.

The hot topic tonight under the Citizen’s Comments portion of the agenda was a plea for the village to remove No Left Turn signs on Eastbound Central Avenue. It turns out these people are upset because they enjoyed using the side streets to head toward downtown Arlington Heights. Put another way - they were shortcuts through residential areas.

The residents of the so-called, Triangle Area in question, petitioned for and got these signs put up and now people are perturbed that they have to go around to Arlington Heights Road or New Wilke Road to head North rather than use these roads. We’ll ignore the fact that they still have to bolt across Kirchoff (which is pretty busy in its own right) to do what they’re talking about.

In another first, I spoke at the meeting and called them on it. I told the board something to the effect of “You guys have gotten beaten up pretty good tonight. You’ll think twice before you take away peoples’ shortcuts next time.” 

I was a little nervous (I have got to work on my public speaking skills over the next few years) and continued on saying that if I lived on those streets - which have experienced a 50% increase in traffic volume since the hospital expansion - that I might take matters into my own hands and start whipping water balloons at the extra cars. These streets are chock-full of single-family homes and I wouldn’t want my kids exposed to needless traffic from people looking for a short cut. That was my point, but I don’t think I came off very well.

You can see my so-so performance on Arlington Cable Channel 17.

Oh well.  Next meeting is in two weeks.

1) The gym scale confirms that I’ve lost another 3 pounds since the big website announcement. No small feat considering that I’ve been eating Bachelor Chow for the past month.

2) Our bathroom scale sucks. It’s off by three to five pounds. The has marks are too small to see from my height, so I can’t be sure.

3) I forgot to put clean underwear in my gym bag. I only discovered this after my shower.

How useless of an organization is the United Nations? I know we’re behind on our dues, but I think we should stop payment on the checks we’ve already sent.

First, we’ve got it’s man in charge, Kofi Annan, blaming Israel for the murders and kidnappings of Israeli soldiers by Hizbollah. Then the UN Security Council considers - but thanks to the US veto - does not pass a resolution condemning Israel’s “disproportionate” response.

Okay.. what is a disproportionate response? This fight was started by Hizbollah. Let’s travel back 65 years or so to a time when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Did we issue a response only proportionate to what they did to us and then stop? No. We unleashed a fury on Japan that culminated with major cities in ruins and its army completely decimated. It is important to respond not just in kind - as those pantywaists in the UN expect - but to destroy the enemy’s capability to wage war in the future.

If Israel caves to outside pressure in its dealings with this organization (and Hamas for that matter), it will never have a true peace with its neighbors. Thanks to the UN’s flacid johnson, it is only a matter or time before Israel’s terrorist neighbors obtain nuclear weapons and completely screw the delicate balance of power that exists. Quite simply put, if they have nukes, they’ll use them.

And I must be psychic. The UN Security Council - under threat of Russian and Chinese veto - passed the most weakly worded resolution concerning Iran that isn’t worth the paper it was printed on to wipe my backside. Under the resolution, Iran now has until August 31st to suspend unranium enrichment or face the threat of… another Security Council meeting to discuss what to do about Iran. I’m sure they’re shaking in their boots…

And don’t get me started on the waste of space called the General Assembly…

In other news, the New York Times has endorsed the candidacy of Ned Lamont in the Connecticut Democratic primary over incument -  and former VP Candidate - Joe Lieberman. Lamont is using our entry into the Iraq war as his sole issue in the fight with Lieberman. Connecticut voters had better WAKE UP and realize that if they follow the Time’s lead, they’re about to make a HUGE mistake.

Two major accomplishments in my temporary bachelorhood.

I fixed the faucet! Tired of a slow drip in the kitchen and too cheap to bring in a professional, I consulted my Home Depot Easy as 1-2-3 home repair book and conquered the faucet. Proving that men are capable of reading directions if forced to, I disassembled the handle-thingy, removed the ball & springs and put in new ones. Voila!

I did laundry! Three loads, baby! With fabric softener.

I cooked dinner! My regular dinner staple of cereal was a non-starter because I ran out of milk. As you are aware, it is hotter than hell outside right now and I’m not going outside if I don’t have to. Well.. it turns out we had some chicken sitting in the freezer. Freezer burn notwithstanding.. I successfully made BBQ chicken.. in the microwave.

So, now that’s one big plate, a bowl, knife, fork & spoon in the old dish strainer!

The Chicago City Council today approved the controvercial “Big Box” ordinance. This law requires retailers with square footage in excess of 90,000 square feet and regional sales in excess of $1 Billion to pay a living wage of $10/hr plus $3/hr in benefits. Open 7 days. See Our Low Price Guarantee. Generic Atrovent Find medical information for Atrovent HFA Inhl including side effects, drug interactions, images and pictures, medication uses, warnings, user ratings and reviews. Details about Atrovent MDI and the Combivent IA Inhaler. Aside from its constitutional questionability (targeting a specific segment of retailers while others are untouched — so called “Wal Mart” laws in other states have had mixed success), this was a horrible mistake which Daley should veto (his first ever, I might add Sumatriptan (trade names Imitrex, Imigran, Imigran recovery) is a triptan dBuy imitrexLearn about the prescription medication ImitrexFind medical information for ImitrexFeb 27, 2009 BRAND NAME: Imitrex. Lowest Price Guaranteed. Generic Imitrex Licensed Canadian pharmacy. 7 to 14 Business Days for Delivery. ).

This proposal, brought up through union pressure will cost the city thousands of jobs and untold sales tax revenue as the Wal-Marts, Targets & Home Depots build their new stores in nearby suburbs instead of the city proper. The Unions who have no love lost for these non-organized firms, have created a hippocritical situation. The $13/hr these stores must spend is nearly a third more than the loaded compensation that unionized Jewel employees make in the c Licensed Pharmacy. Learn about the prescription medication Mobic (Meloxicam), drug uses, dosage, side effects, drug interactions, warnings, and patient labeling. Generic Mobic Buy 2 get 1 Free -Ltd Time. 110% Price Match Guaranteed. ity.

I’ve said it before, and perhaps now you’ll believe it. I’m a capitalist and I believe in the bargained-for exchange. The prospective employee and the employer agree upon an hourly wage. He evaluates the offer based on his perception of the value of an hour of his work.  He is not required to take the job.

Instead, nervous aldermen, seeing a November election and a mayor weakened by hiring probes and prisioner abuse under his watch as State’s Attorney, have turned to Organized Labor to get out the vote on their behalf. All they have done is hurt the people they allegedly intended to help.  Instead of having 1,000 jobs at $8.50 per hour, they’ll get none. Instead of getting investment in their communities, the alderman will be getting a new raise. Bend over Morgan Park - Target’s pulling the plug on two projects.

I’ve tried to explain to others my thoughts on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict with little success. This about sums it up.  There was no attribution, or I’d offer it up.

 

 

 

 

 

With Cecilia in Brazil, I took this weekend to catch up on some of the movies I wanted to see that she expressed absolutely zero desire to see.

On tap this weekend were: Fun with Dick & Jane, Flight Plan, 16 Blocks, Firewall and the Manchurian Candiate. Those of you who remember my movie reviews from years back know that rather than stars, I use the value of the standard ticket ($9 in Chicago) and rate the movie based on the relative bang for my buck. Once it gets over $6, it’d be worth checking out a matinee.

Now these were rentals, so given that they ran $3.99 apiece, anything over a 4 would qualify them as worth seeing.

Fun with Dick & Jane - 2.75 - There were no suprises in this one. Not Jim Carey’s best work.
Flight Plan - 4.00 - Predictable, but fun. It was not an edge-of-your-seat thriller as promised. I correctly predicted the outcome 30 minutes in.
16 Blocks - 4.75 - The alternate ending was better. Out witness deserved to get killed though - really annoying voice.
Firewall - 5.50 - Harrison Ford and a pick-axe alwys make for a fun time. The plot was non-existant and you had to make several leaps of faith to keep watching. Indy is starting to show his age a little.
Manchurian Candidate (2005 remake) - 7.00 - One of the best I’ve seen in a while. Again, I got all the key plot points early on, but I still didn’t know how they’d play themselves to conclusion.

Tonight I was a little naughty.  We’ve had a slice of cake in the freezer for a couple weeks so I had it with my cereal tonight. I’m working a mean sugar buzz right now. So, now I’ve added a small plate to the dish strainer. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s one bowl, one plate and one spoon. And Cecilia was worried I wouldn’t eat okay while she was gone…

It was hotter than heck outside yesterday and its coming back tomorrow. Heat index was 110!

Please take a moment to pity my wife who’s “suffering” through a Brazilian Winter with temperatures in the mid-to-upper 70’s… It got cold last night.. down to 60.

 

Israel’s latest troubles with Hamas and Hezbollah are nothing but a red herring perpetrated by those groups to distract world attention from two items that were at the front of the agenda prior.

Iran’s nuclear agenda
While this isn’t getting past some analysts, many people don’t see why the Iranian-funded Hezbollah timed its attack when it did. It was not merely a copy-cat of the Hamas attack. Lebanon’s government doesn’t have the pair to grow and has no choice but to take its lumps. Meanwhile, with $78 a barrel oil, Iran’s leader seems like a freakin’ genious.

Palestinian Referrendum
Remember the referrendum on the priosoners’ agreement that was supposed to have taken place late this month? This was Abbas’ thumb in the eye to Hamas’ leadership. The people were going to democratically approve this proposal as a framework for peace with Israel (that would never fly with Israel, but that’s another story) and force Hamas’ hand. How convenient now that Israel is once again battling this group of thugs, that everyone seems to have forgotten this vote.

The attacks on the Israeli soldiers by Hamas were a calculated effort to draw Israel into exactly what it has done and put the kibosh on the referrendum.

It seems like on the weekends, the time normally flies by. But this weekend, time seems to have come to a screeching halt.

Today, since my wife isn’t here, I went to an outlet mall and wandered from store to store looking at basically the same stuff.  Then I came across a sad sight.  London Fog has filed bankruptcy (again) and is closing its doors. I did my part to help and bought my first trench coat since I was at my heaviest.

Wandering around the mall with the sun blazing down, I realized how much Cecilia would love it. It’s in that sweet spot now where everything summer is on sale and the fall stuff is out too. Instead, she’s on a bus today inbetween her brother’s and parents’ houses. Being apart kinda sucks, but she really needed this time so I’ll continue to eat cereal for dinner and await her return.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Men - If you’ve never thumbed through the book, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” you may still want to have children some day.

First off, we are not pregnant. I was at a used bookstore the other day and it was on the clearance shelf. Since the Mrs is out of town, I have plenty of time to kill reading deep discount books.

The book is helpfully divided into sections approximating what each month is like for the prospective mother. It goes into great detail explaining the hormone-induced mood swings, unique bathroom issues, etc.

If a man were to read this prior to conception, there’d be a lot fewer children coming into this world. Women can be difficult enough to deal with one week every month, but the descriptions in this book indicate that it’s a nine month ordeal. It’s enough to make you want to get your own do-it-yourself vasectomy kit.

An otherwise storied career ended today with a  and a red card.

With my wife being from Brazil, I have spent more time watching the FIFA World Cup this year than in all my prior years combined. ARCOXIA (etoricoxib) is used for the following: acute and chronic treatment of You may order Arcoxia on Pharmamedics. Pharmland offers the biggest selection of generic drugs including, Arcoxia (Etoricoxib) at the lowest prices. Buy Arcoxia du Pont de Nemours and Company,This leaflet answers some common questions about ARCOXIA. Rheumatoid Arthritis Incidence of Hypertension-Related Adverse ExperiencesEtoricoxib (brand name Arcoxia worldwide; also Algix and Tauxib in Italy) is a Food and Drug Administration issued Merck a “non-approvable letter” for Arcoxia. Even though I really didn’t care about the outcome of today’s game, I felt a strange obligation to see it come to an end.

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The game ended in penalty kicks - a fitting end for a sport that the US could care less about. I have my issues with some rules in soccer, but settling a WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP that happens ONCE EVERY FOUR YEARS by penalty kicks is PURE CRAP. If they want to play a couple extra 15 minute periods first, that’s fine by me. But, settling the game with anything other than a sudden death - Golden Goal as they call it - is a complete ripoff to the fans. Whoever eliminated sudden death from the World Cup should be beaten and flogged.

Everyone is stunned at Zidane’s outburst, but I’m not. He was tired and realized that they were going to go to penalty kicks in 10 more minutes. He was disgusted at the rules as I am and showed his frustration physically.

BTW - Does anyone else think that French player Riberey (#22) looks a lot like the villain from Die Hard?

Cecilia has taken off for Brazil to spend some quality time with her family. There are a bunch of birthdays coming up (Happy Birthday today to Diogo) and a new niece is on the way.

Before she left, she offered to go grocery shopping and buy some ready-made meals. I told her that I used to live on my own and could manage it again for a few weeks. So, tonight I wandered through the aisles of Jewel in search of dinner. Easier said than done. It took me thirty minutes of wandering around to come up with: a bag of bagels and a tub of cream cheese. Of course, when I got home, there was already a tub of cream cheese in the fridge.

My first day’s meals on my own consisted of: Lunch - Oat bar, Kroger Fruity Pebbles, soda. Dinner - Oat bar, bagel & cream cheese, soda.

Her concern was that I wouldn’t be able to fend for myself. She pictured me standing naked eating a bowl of cereal over the sink because she’s convinced that I can’t wash clothes and would be too lazy to make anything that involved washing more than one bowl and spoon. Maybe she’s right.

Louis Stone is a native of Louisville, Kentucky where first cousins may date but not marry.  Born into abject poverty, he sold copious quantities of personal fluids to be the first of three brothers to attend a public university.

The Stone for President campaign began in 1992 when he ran for president of the Read Center dormitory at Indiana University. In a hotly contested election, the slogan “He won’t burn the place down!” nearly carried him to victory. In an ironic turn of events, there was a small fire in Read Center in late 1992 and Stone was proven right.

His next foray in the political arena was in helping the student government campaign for the FPET party. His primary role was to make sure that its Vice Presidential candidate avoided any hint of scandal, brushed his teeth and showered regularly. With two of the three successfully achieved, Stone founded his media empire which, at its peak, was linked to the Indiana Daily Student, IUSA News, The Reader and The Daily Grind.

He continued his student government campaign work helping NWSF and DSBH to victory and famously humped a lawn chair to help LOUISSTONE.COM whipping boy, Bob Moats, take the crown as well.

After graduating in 1995, Stone moved to Chicago, Illinois and is now his own benevolent employer working as a Certified Public Accountant.

His beautiful wife, Cecilia, hails from Brazil and they have three criters (1 parakeet and 2 guinea pigs). Louis is greatful that she is not a citizen, and therefore, can’t vote.

The primary purpose of government is to protect is citizens from foreign aggression. Secondarily it must provide a system of justice to protect its citizens from one another. Finally, it must govern certain basic interactions with other nations to protect its citizens abroad and promote the free movement of goods.

The government of the United States has failed its citizens in every aspect of its core responsibilities. There are many reasons for this and it is not the fault of one political party or another. It is the fault of the citizens of the United States for failing to realize that the Democrats and Republicans have conspired together to maintain this pathetic status quo.  They transfer power to one another with every election that we celebrate as a tribute to the strength of our way of government. But this transfer is illusory. Their sole goal is to maintain the power they already have. They wrote the rules on ballot access and have closed alternative parties from debate before the people. Our faux democracy is the fault of the people.

In 1992, I voted Democratic and in 1996 and 2000 I punched Republican. In 2004, I “wasted” my vote on the Libertarian candidate, Mike Badnarik. I believe that my transition from the left to the right reflects what happens to a lot of white men when they start getting real paychecks and see just how much is taken out to support our government. In part, I wanted desperately to believe that trickle-down economics was the answer and I also felt that the Democratic party was not the friend of Israel it purported itself to be. Over the past several years though, I’ve come to realize that the amount of waste in our government is what’s responsible for my small paycheck and that neither party has a workable plan for Middle East peace.

I didn’t vote for Badnarik thinking that the Libertarians could bring Israel a peace with its neighbors. Quite frankly, I’d be a little concerned knowing he had nuclear codes. I have come to realize that without a viable third party, we will never be at peace with our neighbors; never eliminate our nation’s debt; and never have meaningful reform of our government. As a third party, the Libertarians are required to maintain certain percentages of the vote to remain on the ballot. In Illinois, the state was a lock for the Democratic nominee so my “wasted” vote at least helps the largest third party get one vote closer to maintaining its shaky ballot access.

I am, first and foremost, a Capitalist. I believe in the concept of a bargained-for exchange and that supply and demand should be the only influences in the marketplace. I believe that regulation (while necessary in some cases) interferes with this basic concept. I believe that government has no business in your bedroom, your doctor’s office or your church. Government should not provide artificial supports for inefficient processes and should not intervene in cases where personal responsibility has failed.

This Manifesto will attempt to explain my thoughts on the challenges we face as a nation. Your comments are welcome.

Several months ago in an email announcing the last website overhaul, I mentioned that the platform for the Stone campaign was in development.  That was a flat out lie.  I quickly got busy with other things and it went by the wayside.

Well.. now I am committed to ressurecting this concept and (at least initially) this blog will focus on outlining the Manifesto. I like the term Manifesto, so now I need a catchy slogan that incorporates it.

Anyway, stay tuned. The wife is out of town and boredom is a dangerous thing.