I know, it has been a while, hasn’t it? To refresh your memories, I will be publishing and updating as I go along, so come back and check for when it’s finished. All of these bloggers are ones that I read daily at least weekly as often as I can; they are all worth your time to at least go visit and read the one item I have highlighted. Let’s get started, shall we?

Before I get started on the round up, however, I want to give a shout-out to the mayor of Hurst, Texas, one Richard Ward, who still has not answeredf the questions I asked of him way back here. And he thought I would forget about him…

December 31, 2009
To: Richard Ward

Subject: MAIG, again!

As I was going over this year’s posts, I ran across our correspondence. Made me think of all the good times we had discussing Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

I know, you “signed off” to me, but I am kinda curious – just what has MAIG done since you joined it, besides stating the obvious (that mayors are against illegal guns)? I mean, I would hope that mayors are against ALL things illegal. Have you joined Mayors Against Illegal Prostitutes? Mayors Against Illegal Drivers? Mayors Against Illegal Immigrants? Mayors Against Illegal Left Turns?

No, you haven’t – because none of those things matter to a two-bit mayor who’s only hope of elevating his profile is to hitch on to some gun-grabbing group trying to cloak itself in pompous activity.

I am still waiting to hear from you regarding the basic premise of MAIG. Why does it need to exist, other than as a cover for some lefty gun grabbing bunch?

Basic question, please answer it. Unless you already realize that you won’t be serving another term and have decided to write me off completely.

Happy New Year!

OK, om to the round up, this time I promise!

First up is a Navy veteran, new to my blogroll, and a first FOR my blogroll – a site that is not a blog so much as it is a store. Larry Van Schuyver runs Sitting Pretty USA. He sells t-shirts, and a “portion of each sale will be donated to the VA Hospital volunteers who assist and care for our veterans daily.” Check him out, and if you are so inclined, help him out.

Alaska Steve is back from his vacation in the Lower 48, and he is promising more photos. So far, his series covers his and Goldfish’s travels through up to Boston. Can’t wait to see the rest!

Christmas greetings from Amboy Times, the Black Canyon Railroad Musuem, Evolution Right and Larry the Scoundrel.

Bushwack is wondering how crime rates could have dropped over on American And Proud.

Ol’ Broad has a New Year’s Countdown going on.

The ARRA News Service has a good article up about Obama running for placement on Mt. Rushmore, through the ObamaCare debacle.

The Wednesday Hero is honored on Assoluta Tranquilita and Old Soldier.

Richard has a nice little piece up about Global Warming on At The Water.

Basti asks why the epic fail in national protection?

Bloviating Zeppelin wishes us all a financial New Year – but the Obama Administration is doing it’s best to keep that from happening for everyone except the Senate, the House, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the State of Hawaii which is still reaping the benefits from everyone going there for the Obama’s Vacation.

GuyK has come down with a case of cellulitis in his left arm, so he wishes us a Happy New Year with the thought that his blogging will be kinda light on Charming, Just Charming.

More New Years thoughts on Christianity, written by Harvest Christian Fellowship.

The Cyber Crew has information up on Lt. Behenna. If you don’t know who he is, follow the link. One of the biggest many miscarriages of justice the Obama Administration is carrying out against the United States Military.

A little off the beaten path, but well worth the time, is A Jacksonian’s in-depth look at paranormal investigations that are all the rage on science channels these days. Find the article at Dumb Looks Still Free.

The spectre of Ron Paul rears it’s ugly head on Gateway Pundit.

Gawfer weighs in on Global Warming in his piece over on his self-titled blog.

Gunslinger thinks a Whiskey Rebellion is better than a weak Tea Party…

Tailgunner adds two cents over on Hoosier Army Mom’s Weblog.

“You might be grunt if…” – curious? Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome

Jenn shows off her dog abuse skills, and runs down the top stories of 2009.

Joe Scoggins has a thought and a prayer for Rush Limbaugh on Jo-Joe Politico.

Maggie’s Notebook has a diatribe on Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) (in this case, D stands dor Drunkard) and his “speech” on the Senate Floor.

New Years Greetings from Mail Call! Supporting The Troops and The Bull.

Check out the latest book review on Mary’s World.

I was hoping I would run across someone blogging about the Blue Moon today – Findalis over on Monkey in the Middle and Cube on the BLOG give us a run down.

Johnny T. Helms writes for more than one blog, read him on Our Sovereign Joy and the blog of johnny t. helms: chuch and state.

Greybeard has a video up about a remarkable landing and take off during the VietNam war on Pitchpull.

Questions about a Global Identification System on Political Pistachio.

Avatar doesn’t strike any chords, except bad ones, with RattlerGator.

Ablur posts on the HealthCare issue again, as he is one very steady voice that is consistently pointing out the lack of clothing on the Emperor over on Some Things Just Need To Be Said.

Fred reports on the thirteen Attorneys General with enough balls to sue the Feds over the preferential treatment that Nebraska recieved in the HealthCare fiasco – and wonders where the outrage is over the Louisiana Purchase of 2009 on Texas Freds.

Taco has the start of a series with LtCol George Goodson USMC (Ret) over on his blog, The Sandgram.

Third Wave dave weighs in on DHS lackey Janet NAPolitano. (personal note: as an Arizonan, I am very sorry that the rest of you had to experience her ineptitude.)

Yesterday, Tom’s Place was up and running. Today it whos an index page. Tom, if you see this, the changes aren’t quite working yet…

Over on Write on the Right Just John is trying to migrate to Windows & and is most of the way through the process. Naturally, with other issues, I can’t leave him an encouraging comment. For some reason, John, when I click on “Submit Comment” I get a blank page !?!

In the bad news section, there are some MIA blogs – Fire of Liberty, Fraud, Phishing and Financial Misdeeds, Gunny Goes Geocaching, Hidden Treasures, Samantha Speaks

When Your Only Tool Is A Hammer has gone dark. We’ll miss you, Hammer.

This concludes the last Round Up of 2009 – and possibly forever. This has taken me over four hours to do, and while trying to do this AND watch my now three year old MEG, I am reminded why I don’t do these anymore. Here’s to a Happy and Healthy New Year to all of my readers, and I hope to see you in the chat room or on the phone Friday night at 2200 hours (MST) for The “O” Word.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

So – have you taken advantage of the American Taxpayers – I mean, the Cash for Clunkers program yet?

No?

Then, before you do, let’s take a look at some of the provisions of this rammed-through legislation, shall we? First off, the vehicle you are trading in is probably not worth the $4500 you going to be “given” as an incentive, right? That’s probably what made you think about going this route. Do you have a job, that pays enough to allow you to make the payments on the new car for the next four to six years? Are you so sure about your job that you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you will still be employed for the next four to six years? Then why are you taking this bait, sucking up taxpayer money, to better yourself? If you are that sure of your income stream, and need to replace your vehicle, do it without taking taxpayers money.

OK, so you’ve decided that you can still sleep at night knowing that the $4500 dollars came out of the pockets of all the taxpayers in the country. All righty then. You know that not everyone feels they can take on a new car payment right now, right? So, they’ll be hanging on to what the government has declared to be a “clunker” but what the owners euphemistically call their “daily driver.” More often than not, the daily driver is a paid off, seven-to twelve year old vehicle, that gets between twelve and twenty miles per gallon. It’s also running towards the end of it’s “useful” life, that is, before the weekly repairs need to be done. The owner, a hard working American, knows a few things about turning wrenches, and knows how to remove and replace faulty parts. The owner knows that the best way to save money on parts is to troll the local salvage yard and pull the needed part off a wrecked version of “daily driver” or even buy the part from the counter where the salvage yard has done the pulling for you.

However, going down to the local salvage yard has a sobering effect on you – they have closed. Why? Well, there seems to be a lack of junked “clunkers” – since a lot of them went to the “cash For Clunkers” program.

You have another option, but one that has a larger fiscal impact on you. The corner auto parts store, while more expensive than the salvage yard, will have the part. It will be new or remanufactured, and come with a warranty, adn still be cheaper than buying another car. Your parts man tells you that the manufacturer doesn’t make that part anymore, because there aren’t enough of those cars on the road anymore.

Well, fine, you think to yourself – this old heap has been giving me problems anyway. Down to Larry’s Used Cars and Crullers you go for a new-to-you vehicle.

Oops – Larry’s closed down, too. Same reason – Cash For Clunkers took the decent used vehicles and, per government mandate, crushed them – so not even the salvageable parts, much less the entire car, could be resold. Part government program, part Green Whiners solution.

Let’s review, shall we?

TEH ONE decreed that, in accordance with the greening of America, those nasty old used cars should be forever removed from the road, and no part of them should live on allowing other old vehicles to continue running. Since the government owns two thirds of the auto industry, TEH ONE decreed that America should stimulate the pockets of the local dealers by convincing sheeple that being in debt for a new car would be a good thing. With the removal of the older vehicles, the demand for the parts (while still in existence) has dropped to a level that it doesn’t make economic sense to manufacture parts for “obsolete” models anymore.

Did you take notes? Can you take this scenario and apply it to another government program that is being pushed through to fruition rather quickly? Not mentioning anything specific, mind you – *coughobamacarecough* – just thought maybe you could use this to help you ask some pretty hard questions of your representatives the next time you should be attending one of their August Recess Town Hall Meetings.

Some other items that may be of interest to you, should you have need of more ammunition:

Too Much To Read (thank you, Joe)
Do You Trust Government Run Health Care? (with thanks to Joe for directing me over to Tom’s Place)
Trust Government? HAH! (also at Tom’s Place) (and, Joe? I blame you for pointing out Tom to me, now I have to add him to my blogroll, which I was TRYING to pare down, remember?)
Your Efficient Federal Government (h/t to BZ for writing about this)
Danger of National Health Care (another h/t to BZ for pointing this one out)
Going to a Town Hall? Check out this list of questions at Ol’ Broad’s place.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!