I usually leave the posting of photos of my fantastic family to the ubertalented and beautiful Mrs. Jorgenson but after editing this weekends bounty I could not resist. I am very blessed to have such a wonderful life. Take a look at these kids, they're amazing!
I love the colors in this one as my little man reaches in for the pumpkin
Just strolling through the pumpkin patch
Hunting
The Family
That's a bountiful harvest if I've ever seen one
To my wife and kids - Thank you for being my inspiration.
I received a few phone calls and emails this week inquiring about my view of the proposed bailout that President Bush is proposing. I saw this video on the blog The Mess That Greenspan Made.
There is a reason there are still a lot of Ron Paul supporters.
My company works with people every day to teach them to live within their means. We need to do that as a Country, live below our means.
The following text is from an email from the Ron Paul campaign. It makes this post longer than most, but is well worth reading.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Dear Friends,
Whenever a Great Bipartisan Consensus is announced, and a compliant media assures everyone that the wondrous actions of our wise leaders are being taken for our own good, you can know with absolute certainty that disaster is about to strike.
The events of the past week are no exception.
The bailout package that is about to be rammed down Congress' throat is not just economically foolish. It is downright sinister. It makes a mockery of our Constitution, which our leaders should never again bother pretending is still in effect. It promises the American people a never-ending nightmare of ever-greater debt liabilities they will have to shoulder. Two weeks ago, financial analyst Jim Rogers said the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made America more communist than China! "This is welfare for the rich," he said. "This is socialism for the rich. It's bailing out the financiers, the banks, the Wall Streeters."
That describes the current bailout package to a T. And we're being told it's unavoidable.
The claim that the market caused all this is so staggeringly foolish that only politicians and the media could pretend to believe it. But that has become the conventional wisdom, with the desired result that those responsible for the credit bubble and its predictable consequences - predictable, that is, to those who understand sound, Austrian economics - are being let off the hook. The Federal Reserve System is actually positioning itself as the savior, rather than the culprit, in this mess!
• The Treasury Secretary is authorized to purchase up to $700 billion in mortgage-related assets at any one time. That means $700 billion is only the very beginning of what will hit us.
• Financial institutions are "designated as financial agents of the Government." This is the New Deal to end all New Deals.
• Then there's this: "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." Translation: the Secretary can buy up whatever junk debt he wants to, burden the American people with it, and be subject to no one in the process.
There goes your country.
Even some so-called free-market economists are calling all this "sadly necessary." Sad, yes. Necessary? Don't make me laugh.
Our one-party system is complicit in yet another crime against the American people. The two major party candidates for president themselves initially indicated their strong support for bailouts of this kind - another example of the big choice we're supposedly presented with this November: yes or yes. Now, with a backlash brewing, they're not quite sure what their views are. A sad display, really.
Although the present bailout package is almost certainly not the end of the political atrocities we'll witness in connection with the crisis, time is short. Congress may vote as soon as tomorrow. With a Rasmussen poll finding support for the bailout at an anemic seven percent, some members of Congress are afraid to vote for it. Call them! Let them hear from you! Tell them you will never vote for anyone who supports this atrocity.
The issue boils down to this: do we care about freedom? Do we care about responsibility and accountability? Do we care that our government and media have been bought and paid for? Do we care that average Americans are about to be looted in order to subsidize the fattest of cats on Wall Street and in government? Do we care?
When the chips are down, will we stand up and fight, even if it means standing up against every stripe of fashionable opinion in politics and the media?
Times like these have a way of telling us what kind of a people we are, and what kind of country we shall be.
In liberty,
Ron Paul
*This post wasn't meant to be a 'Pro Ron Paul' post. It just turns out that he has a clear view of how to return our Nation to financial security and avoid socialism.
One of the blogs on my RSS reader is Scott Adam's, the author of Dilbert. When I first stumbled upon his blog I was surprised at how intelligent the author of a comic strip could be. I guess I always pictured those guys as have a quirky sense of humor and a good hand, but being a bit dim.
Adam's recently commissioned 500 economists to do a relatively in depth survey on the Presidential Candidates and how each would affect the economy if they were elected. I would highly advice reading the results and Adam's thoughts on the results.
I was very impressed by the survey and yet extremely disappointed in the results. One of the goals of the survey was to provide an unbiased view. The make-up of the group was thus:
48% Democrats
17% Republicans
27% Independents
3% Libertarian
5% Other or not registered
86% of the economists surveyed are male, and 65% work in the field of academia or education. The rest are spread across various industries or not working.
This wasn't what was disappointing. The sad part was the following paragraph:
When asked which candidate for President would be best for the economy in the long run, not surprisingly, 88% of Democratic economists think Obama would be best, while 80% of Republican economists pick McCain. Independent economists, who in this sample are largely from the academic world, lean toward Obama by 46% compared to 39% for McCain. Overall, 59% of the economists say Obama would be best for the economy long term, with 31% picking McCain, and 8% saying there would be no difference.
Very few of the economists were able to cross party lines in their answer. Adam's provides some good examples of human nature and explores why there were few cross party choices on the answers.
I have a very strong opinion that one of the candidates would be extremely detrimental to our economy in the long run. The changes this candidate would make may at first seem to bolster the people of this great Nation but would in fact be eroding the very foundation on which we can build. What this survey does, however, is show me that the numbers are pretty close in terms of who economists think will best bolster the economy during their presidency so I should partly base my decision on election day on other non-economic issues.
With no 'clear cut' and unbiased winner from the survey a lot more questions are raised. I just hope that people take the time to ask.
This past weekend my parents (the good Padres) took my wife and me down to San Diego for a belated birthday present. We went to see the Padres game at Petco Park and we treated to a full tour of the stadium before the game. While we were waiting for the tour Mr. Padres himself walked by and shook a few hands. I didn't think he'd remember me from our meeting in 1995 so I didn't mention anything, but we go way back. The Padres (the baseball team... aka the 'bad' ones) didn't have too great of a game. The couldn't hit the pitches the 12 year old was throwing I guess. The pitcher for the Giants was a 23 year old kid with a rocket for an arm. He shut out the Padres but it was still a great night of baseball.
A little while ago I mentioned that my wife signed me up for a 5k at Disneyland. It's been about 9 years since I've ran for more than a mile, so I started training. And then we went on vacation, and then I had a week long of 6am meetings, and then I got sick. The longest I'd ran was for about 15 minutes and I didn't think I'd be done with the 3.2 miles in that amount of time.
Here is my hot wife and I right before the run. The run was fun. The course went through the Disneyland Park and California Adventure. There were characters along the entire way cheering on all of the runners. My wife took lots of pics to show the kids, I was too busy trying not to burst a lung.
We made it. I didn't die, but I think I need to keep running so it doesn't hurt so badly next time.
Edit: Here is the course map for the Disneyland 5k. I couldn't find it online so I had to scan it. It was a fun run to be a part of, especially since we had friends and family along with us. We'll see how we do training for the next 52 weeks.
The world tuned in to ABC a few weeks ago to watch my Network Television debut, only to find that I was nearly edited out completely from the episode of WIPEOUT in which I participated. It may not come as a shock to you that, although this was my TV debut, this sort of thing is not unusual for a massive star such as myself. Didn't you know I was already famous prior to WIPEOUT?
In 1997 I was in the movie CONTACT. Yep, Foster, McConaughey and Jorgenson all in one epic saga about a message from outer space, headphones and large satelite dishes.
Here's the video of my superstardom
Filming the movie with other celebrities was quite enjoyable and rewarding. I even got a free long sleeved white shirt with a Contact logo on it, along with $450!Ok, so I'm not famous... nor was I in 1997. My High School choir used the directors need for extras as a fundraising tool and so we got $150 a day and got out of school all to raise money to go to DisneyWorld. Sounds like we had our priorities right where they should be. And yes, that really is me in the black hat and brown shirt.
The family and I are staying at Marriott's Newport Coast Villas for a few days. This is an amazing part of the world, truly breathtaking views and spectacular beaches. We've stayed here before but somehow this time it's different. It's in my blood now... this is where we'll end up. It's just a matter of time, well and a lot of cash. Driving around here is like going to a fancy car convention. I hope they don't mind my cool guy minivan. The doors are automatic... is that cool enough to fit in?
The 8 million dollar homes and $450,000 cars are nothing compared to these assets.
I am at a Starbucks in Newport Coast waiting for a client. Since I'm not a coffee drinker I always take my time going into the store. While walking up to the door I noticed this peculiar sight... Maybe the person they are looking to hire would have to have the skills to hang signs properly. With unemployment approaching 6 percent and underemployment well into the teens it seems Starbucks could hire some pretty skillful baristas.
I love the colors in this one as my little man reaches in for the pumpkin
Just strolling through the pumpkin patch
Hunting
That's a bountiful harvest if I've ever seen one
