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Quote of the Day:
"..the Bill of Rights does not come from the people and is not subject to change by majorities. It comes from the nature of things. It declares the inalienable rights of man not only against all government but also against the people collectively."
-- Walter Lippmann
Subject: Ron Paul's "American Freedom Agenda Act"
Please ask your Congressperson and your two Senators to co-sponsor Ron Paul's "American Freedom Agenda Act."
This bill would . . .

• Repeal the “Military Commissions Act of 2007” and thereby restore the ancient right of habeas corpus and end legally sanctioned torture by U.S. government agents
• Give Congress standing in court to challenge the President's use of "signing statements" as a means to avoid executing the nation's laws
• Make it illegal for government agents to kidnap people and send them abroad to be tortured by foreign governments
• Provide legal protection to journalists who expose wrong-doing by the Federal government
• Prohibit the use of secret evidence to label groups or individuals as terrorists for the purpose of criminal or civil sanctions

This one simple 3-page bill will . . .

• Restore basic Constitutional protections
• Empower Americans to support human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in the world at large free from the stink of hypocrisy
• Protect Americans and American soldiers from blowback by foreign powers in retaliation for our government's transgression of America's most hallowed principles

DC Downsizers have so far sent 22,158 messages to Congress in support of this bill, but we need to do more. You can send your message here.

Please also consider advancing the work of Downsize DC by starting a monthly pledge. You can do so here.
Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army.
Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

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One of the things I really used to look forward to during the summer was DragonCON. It's held in Atlanta and used to be held over the fourth of July weekend. While I have to work, it usually isn't that big of a deal for me to get off during that time. Now though they have moved it to Labor Day weekend, which is an extremely busy time and it's hard to get any time off.

I miss being able to go down. The shows are cool and I enjoy gaming but there is usually a pretty cool band or two playing on Saturday night and there is a costume contest with plenty of sexy costumes as well.

I am hoping to at least be able to go on one of the days this fall, I guess we will just have to see how it works out. One of my goals this year had been to retire by Labor Day but it just doesn't look like it's going to happen this year. Not that I am not making money, I am, it's just that my expenses seem to have increased this year more than I thought they would.

I posted the other day about some of the things around Branson, Missouri. It's pretty funny because right after I posted that a friend of mine called to see how things were going at work. I don't know if he was hinting around or what, but he used to work with me and then bought one of our larger franchises in the Missouri and Arkansas area. It's supposed to be pretty beautiful and now he wants me to come out and visit on one of my vacations this year. I haven't really decided yet whether I want to make that drive but I have priced some Branson hotels and they are very reasonable.

Maybe in during my ten day vacation at the beginning of June we can go.

I don't watch a lot of TV but I do have to confess that it's nice to just sit down occasionally and watch something completely inane. I like watching the food network shows and I also like watching the travel stuff as well. I particularly enjoy watching shows that have vacation destinations. They give me plenty of ideas for places I want to go see. I was watching one the other day and it was all about the mid-west. For me at least, Missouri just has never seemed like a place I would want to go but there are some really beautiful areas there. Some of the Branson real estate that they were showing the other night just made me want to go check it out.

Since the wife and I are leaving the country next month, although only for a couple of days, we are trying to work out getting the animals taken care of. My girls are staying with a friend of ours but we don't have anyone to take care of Riley the dog and Mr Stretchy Cat yet. I thought about boarding them but we are only going to be gone for about 72 hours. I've been looking online at several different pet supplies web sites and may end up getting a couple of automatic feeders for them.

The good thing is that both the cat and dog really only eat what they need. I've had dogs in the past that will eat every single thing you put in their bowl, whether they are hungry or not but luckily Riley doesn't do that.

I am more concerned with making sure they have enough water. Of course he is a dog, I could always just leave the toilet seat up :)

It doesn't really have a thing to do with software, reviews, or anything that would fit in here but I spent the other evening on the phone with a dude from TIAA-CREF. TIAA-CREF is an investment firm. For years they have dealt with annuities and mutual funds, IRAs and other retirement stuff for teachers and other public employees. One thing that a lot of people don't know is that you can also invest with them.

The wife has her retirement investment through another company and for fourteen years she has been putting $75 a month into it. That's a total investment of $12k+ she has put in. Not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but we like to keep everything spread out. One would think that even at marginal earnings she would have at least $20k in her account. She has $9500.

I contacted TIAA-CREF because I have some mutual funds with them. Not a lot, but for the last six years I have $25 a month going into their mutual funds. That's about $1800 in investing. I have around $2500 with them and that's not bad when you consider how turbulent the markets are. Of course we also have a Roth IRA, my stock at work, her teacher retirement plan and the house. I am seriously considering tripling what I am putting into TIAA-CREF. It still would be a small amount of money each month but the results would be tremendous. I also asked a guy I know for a life insurance quote. I am not interested in whole life because there are much better ways to invest but just Term because I want to make sure that the kids are taken care of.

I feel horrible today. I have smoked seven cigarettes this morning. That's quite a bit more than I had planned on. I think that maybe I will refrain from smoking again until maybe this evening. If you didn't know, I am trying to quit. I have been taking something called Chantix for the last couple of weeks and it has really been helping out quite a bit. I am down under a pack a day so far, from two-three packs a day and the last few that I have smoked just taste nasty.

We go out of town in two and a half weeks and I am planning on taking no smokes with me. By that time I should be down to a few each day and I want to make a complete break while I am busy on vacation.

The only down side to the whole thing is that I am going to have to start getting more exercise so that I don't start gaining weight. I may look into getting us a treadmill or something along those lines to start exercising with. The wife likes to take walks but right now as much as she does is just beyond me.

It won't be long. The wife and I are flying to the Bahamas for the weekend on February 15th. I had looked at cruises but the problem is that the wife is only able to take an extra day off for the weekend because she is a teacher. It's not often that our vacations overlap and this one is no exception.

We will end up both getting time off together in June though. I have a ten day vacation at that point and don't really know where we are going to go but I thought a week of sightseeing down the east coast would be nice. She's never been to New York City so that would be kind of cool.

Holy cow. Except for the Tarzan stuff it's been several days since I have managed a post here. Except for working and writing about some murders at another site I really haven't had much time to get online. That and the wife has been keeping me pretty busy. We are redesigning our bedroom in a few months and are still in the planning stages. One of the things she plans to do is to actually build a headboard for us that is sort of gradually reclining for TV watching. She has had me looking at sites like Robert Allen fabrics for different fabrics that we may end up using in the bedroom. I am far from being some kind of designer but I am certainly getting a crash course in it right now.

I wrote a bit about Mesothelioma recently here. It is a form of cancer that is usually caused by exposure to cancer.

It had completely slipped my mind but earlier this week I took my youngest child in for her five-year-old checkup and a couple of the questions on this thing I filled out asked if she lived or frequented any houses or buildings with asbestos or lead paint. Heck, I thought we had gotten rid of all the old asbestos in buildings. Apparently not.