Oil turns to Gold

On the annoucement of Record Oil Profits today, I thought we'd look at what countries our money is going to;

Top 10 (accounts for 88% of US consumption):

1. Canada (1.840 million barrels per day)


2. Saudi Arabia (1.579 million barrels per day)


3. Mexico (1.116 million barrels per day)


4. Venezuela (1.030 million barrels per day)


5. Nigeria (0.851 million barrels per day)


6. Iraq (0.583 million barrels per day)


7. Angola (0.464 million barrels per day)


8. Algeria (0.440 million barrels per day)


9. Brazil (0.318 million barrels per day)


10. Kuwait (0.263 million barrels per day)

I am sure you notice a few countries that jump out as known (past, present, or future) threats to the U.S.; so what do we do about it? We can continue to fund countries that hate us; or we can look internally on how to put money into our own economy. Ideas???

*Special thanks to my brother Paul for stimulus on this topic

High Five Still Alive

The greatest universal language for a celebration is the "high five". Most commonly associated with sports this gesture became popular nearly 30 years ago.

On Saturday, we watched the Brewers comeback against the Astros and close out to win 6-4. Partaking myself and witnessing others around me, it was a high five frenzy. No chest bumps or fist pumps here my friends...just high five's all around!!

Perfect Breakfast

Every morning begins with breakfast, but this morning as I poured the syrup onto my sons waffles I wondered if this breakfast was healthy at all. I mean why not choclate cake instead("Dad is great he's giving us choclate cake"-Bill Cosby)! What's the difference? They're both loaded with sugars and starches and I'd be willing to bet there are some cakes out there that are much healthier than the waffles we have in the morning. So this probes my questioning of how we decide what is and isn't "breakfast food"???

Well first off, let's look at what a breakfast should consist of, or rather how we ruin it:
1.Adding sugar
2.No protein
3.Eating the fats (yummmm...bacon)
4.No fiber (coffee is not a substitute)
5.No vitamins and minerals (fruits and veggies)

So although a fruit smoothine with added protein is best, I'll settle for a piece of peanut butter whole grain toast with an egg (and some bacon). I care, but not that much and given I only have one life to live I am going to induldge a little.

Da' Box

Since being done with school I have been more conscious about my time on the weekends and how great it has been. This weekend was no exception as I spent it visiting with friends, cruising on the lake, and dog sitting for Booker "T" (Paul and Allison's dog).

Ahh, "da box", as Uncle Thomas used to say. A few boxer dog names that have graced the presence of my extended family: Sootie, Gypsey, Otto, Newman, Tuffy, Elvis and Booker. Although most people assume these dogs were breed to be aggressive fighters that is not the case. Don't take them light heartedly either though as they are protective of their owners too. We saw this first hand with Booker as he protected our house from people walking by. Nothing like seeing a big dog in the window with a deep intimidating growl...fear, I love it. Who would have thought this 2 year old lover boy rescue boxer would adapt to us so quickly? He became my shadow for the next few days...and I loved it!

Pic: I got a few of these looks as if to say "dude, are your serious" or "when are these kids going to shut up". Funny stuff!

Half Full

Despite a second-quarter net loss of $2.5 billion from Citigroup Inc. , the loss was reported as "smaller-than-estimated loss". Talk about seeing the glass half full and convincing Wall Street of this as well. Good job Vikram Pandit, good job!

Terrorists=1 Million and breeding

What would a terrorist watch list consist of in your mind? Someone that is evil, perhaps more specifically evil communist dictators, or maybe more general like offensive or aggressive behaviors, etc. How about a 6 year old child? No, come on not even Michael Oliver in the movie "The Problem Child"?

Well this list encompasses now over one million people and one could be you! Not exactly you per say, but if your name was more common like Dave Nelson, chances are you've been stopped or even harassed while trying to fly. The problem with a list like this is that it is beyond out of control. It attempts to simplify finding a terrorist by specific criteria. The ACLU mentions the plethora of reasons why having a list so large is pointless, but I think you understand how ridiculous this system and list of names really is!

Hart seeing Stars

All Star that is!! After receiving nearly 8 million votes he was the final NL player voted onto the roster. Not only is he a Milwaukee Brewer, but he seems to represent one of the more down to earth professional athletes in today's arena.
Congrats!

Unavoidable War

In recent days we have seen Iran launch numerous test missiles that have the capability of striking any area within a 1250 miles radius. So because we are out of range we shouldn't worry, right? Wrong, we are allies of Israel and according to Condoleezza Rice "we are sending a message to Iran that we will defend American interests and the interests of our allies." Now we're involved, and as the world's largest military power to some degree we always will be involved. It's like a parent trying to stay out of your child's business if conflict happens, you want to remove yourself but you can't by virtue of your role.

Upon seeing the movie Lord of War with Nicholas Cage and my own personal beliefs on war, I'll attempt to answer the question that if war is unavoidable, what then have we learned from our mistakes to help make it more manageable? Some examples;

-In 1953, Operation Ajax, would bring trade between Iran and the US of oil for weapons, which ultimately led to our alliance with Iraq (see 1979)
-In 1979, we turned to Saddam Hussein of Iraq providing him with weapons galore amongst other American resources, which led to the Gulf and Iraq Wars
-1980's we supplied Afghan militants (notably Osama Bin Linden) with money and weapons to fight Soviet troop advances, which led to 9/11 and the battle in Afghanistan in 2001
-2007 a summit meeting announced a US deal to send major new weapons systems to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel and other governments in the Middle East to counterbalance Iran's growing threat

Given these few examples we (political/appointed leaders) haven't learned much, and you will see similar patterns if you look back 200 or 2000 years ago as well. War strategies seem to be merely temporary fixes, not permanent ones...

...and for the record I'll always support the courageous efforts of our troops!

Told Ya!

What can I say, but I told you so back in March's article about Favre Retiring .

Kalahari Oasis

On this weekend that represents the birth of the greatest country in the world, we took the family to The Kalahari Waterpark in the Wisconsin Dells. We owe special thanks for this trip to my brother Paul and sister-in-law Allison...they gave us a vacation that was truly enjoyable.

We arrived Thursday, July 3rd about midday and were able to check in right away. the kids and I meandered around the lobby while Stacie checked us in...and Graeme dug for gold in this Gorilla's nose.
After a quick stop in the room to change, we were off to the waterpark. Other than an evening visit to Pirates Cove golf and the Tommy Bartlett Show (ouch), the waterpark is where we would spend the next three days of fun filled excitement!

Fun pics:
This is me and Gabe rocking out to a few poolside tunes (ya dig the Indiana Jones hat...it's Gabe's)
...and even managed to catch some fireworks too while sitting in the back of our minivan.

Thanks Pablo and Allison, your generosity is too much for words!!!!

AMERICA

Happy Birthday America!!



So what prompted the Declaration of Independence? Well it was a number of events that eventually drove the wedge;

French-Indian War (1754-1763)
Sugar Act (1764)
Stamp Act (1765)
Quartering Act (1765)
Townshend Acts (1767)
Tea Act (1773)
Boston Port Act (1774)
Quebec Act (1774)

...Paul, did I miss any???

In short, this series of laws/acts listed above forced colonists to give (financial through taxes, physically their homes, land and food). It's like a bully taking your lunch money and embarrassing you in front of others, so naturally colonists became extremely frustrated (pissed off) with the British...hence the ultimate fix Declaration of Independence!

There is much more to our history so grab a book and check it out!