fritz

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/fri...6501a8c0Pat.jpg fritz

I voted in the early voting period, it's just so much easier than waiting in lines. And they kept the early voting place open from 7 to 7. For about 2 weeks. No reason not to vote early anymore. Don, the reason why there were not many folks ahead of you could be because they already voted. fritz

Rick Perry is worried a bit, it now seems. The one he is worried about is grandma Strayhorn. Today I got (the last I hope) a mailing from him that accused grandma of attempting to "steal" the governor's mansion from him. Why he waited this long to come out with a massive attack on his opponent only tells me he is worried. Worried that she is going to be the one who "steals" votes from him (votes that the claims should be his). You see, up till now he has taken the attitude that he is unbeatable, he is the future of Texas. And if you don't agree with him, you are not a Texan. Well, he may pull it off. Tomorrow will tell. But he will not be stamped with the word "choice" as Texas beef is. He will be just another piece of meat awaiting a shopper with poor taste. A shopper with the money to pay more for something that is not worth it. In other words, a sucker. He has done a pretty good job of sucking them in. Let the buyer beware is true here as never before! fritz

Tony, I agree with you. This country has sold its soul to the Mexican government. Hell, if they had not, don't you think the flow of illegals would be stopped by now? But they did sell out, and they come now by the thousands. The superhighway will be a real Godsend to Mexico----a really beeg highway for Juan to travel to hees job (arranged by a corrupt company here) and not have to worry about treking through the brush of the King Ranch or the desert of Arizona. On such a big superhighway, it will be impractical to set up roadblocks to check Juan's papers. He sails right on up to Houston, Dallas, or wherever the hell he pleases. In the interim, we the citizens of this country will still have to endure the scrutiny of the Mexican border officials? should we decide to go down there. It is no secret that tourism down to Mexico has dropped, and it ain't because there ain't a big highway going there. Mexico remains a stinkhole, and the hole is spreading inland into the interior. There is a story in the newspaper today about the loss of tourism to Acapulco. Would anyone in his right mind go to Oaxaca today? If I may steal a line from that baseball movie---"Build it and they will come!" But it's one way. fritz

Congressman Ron Paul is not in my district, but only one county away----- The NAFTA Superhighway by Ron Paul By now many Texans have heard about the proposed "NAFTA Superhighway," which is also referred to as the trans-Texas corridor. What you may not know is the extent to which plans for such a superhighway are moving forward without congressional oversight or media attention. This superhighway would connect Mexico, the United States, and Canada, cutting a wide swath through the middle of Texas and up through Kansas City. Offshoots would connect the main artery to the west coast, Florida, and northeast. Proponents envision a ten-lane colossus the width of several football fields, with freight and rail lines, fiber-optic cable lines, and oil and natural gas pipelines running alongside. This will require coordinated federal and state eminent domain actions on an unprecedented scale, as literally millions of people and businesses could be displaced. The loss of whole communities is almost certain, as planners cannot wind the highway around every quaint town, historic building, or senior citizen apartment for thousands of miles. Governor Perry is a supporter of the superhighway project, and Congress has provided small amounts of money to study the proposal. Since this money was just one item in an enormous transportation appropriations bill, however, most members of Congress were not aware of it. The proposed highway is part of a broader plan advanced by a quasi-government organization called the "Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America," or SPP. The SPP was first launched in 2005 by the heads of state of Canada, Mexico, and the United States at a summit in Waco. The SPP was not created by a treaty between the nations involved, nor was Congress involved in any way. Instead, the SPP is an unholy alliance of foreign consortiums and officials from several governments. One principal player is a Spanish construction company, which plans to build the highway and operate it as a toll road. But don't be fooled: the superhighway proposal is not the result of free market demand, but rather an extension of government-managed trade schemes like NAFTA that benefit politically-connected interests. The real issue is national sovereignty. Once again, decisions that affect millions of Americans are not being made by those Americans themselves, or even by their elected representatives in Congress. Instead, a handful of elites use their government connections to bypass national legislatures and ignore our Constitution - which expressly grants Congress the sole authority to regulate international trade. The ultimate goal is not simply a superhighway, but an integrated North American Union - complete with a currency, a cross-national bureaucracy, and virtually borderless travel within the Union. Like the European Union, a North American Union would represent another step toward the abolition of national sovereignty altogether. A new resolution, introduced by Representative Virgil Goode of Virginia, expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should not engage in the construction of a NAFTA superhighway, or enter into any agreement that advances the concept of a North American Union. I wholeheartedly support this legislation, and predict that the superhighway will become a sleeper issue in the 2008 election. Any movement toward a North American Union diminishes the ability of average Americans to influence the laws under which they must live. The SPP agreement, including the plan for a major transnational superhighway through Texas, is moving forward without congressional oversight - and that is an outrage. The administration needs a strong message from Congress that the American people will not tolerate backroom deals that threaten our sovereignty. October 31, 2006 Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican member of Congress from Texas. fritz

I have used a small stainless steel wire brush from Brownell's. It's what they recomended, but I'm sure that steel wool will work too, but degrease it thoroughly. Nothing is worse than a bit of oil in the rust blue process. fritz

THREE COWBOYS ARE SITTING AROUND THE CAMPFIRE OUT ON THE LONESOME > PRAIRIE; EACH WITH THE BRAVADO FOR WHICH HE IS FAMOUS. A NIGHT OF TALL TALES. > > > > > THE GUY FROM MONTANA SAYS, "I MUST BE THE STRONGEST, MEANEST, TOUGHEST > COWBOY THERE IS. WHY, JUST THE OTHER DAY, A BULL GOT LOOSE IN THE CORRAL. > IT HAD GORED SIX MEN BEFORE I WRESTLED IT TO THE GROUND BY THE HORNS > WITH MY BARE HANDS AND CASTRATED THAT SUCKER WITH MY TEETH." > > > > > THE GUY FROM COLORADO COULDN'T STAND TO BE BESTED. THA T'S NOTHING, > "I WAS WALKING DOWN THE TRAIL YESTERDAY AND A FIFTEEN FOOT DIAMONDBACK > RATTLER SLID OUT FROM UNDER A ROCK AND MADE A MOVE FOR ME. I GRABBED > THAT WITH MY BARE HANDS, BIT IT'S HEAD OFF AND SUCKED THE > POISON DOWN IN ONE GULP AND I'M STILL HERE TODAY." > > > > > THE COWBOY FROM TEXAS REMAINED SILENT, SLOWLY STIRRING THE CAMPFIRE > COALS WITH HIS PECKER > > fritz

As I understand the argument, since a 700-mile fence would not solve the problem of illegal immigration, it should not be built. Applying this logic to another issue, we should all write the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and urge them to stop providing the flu vaccine, since despite the availability of the vaccine, there continue to be outbreaks of flu. My reaction to an article in the Advocate announcing the construction of a 700-mile fence on the border would be the same as my reaction to an article announcing the discovery of the bodies of 7,000 lawyers at the bottom of the Gulf. That would be, of course, a good start. fritz

With all respects to Jason and his Kinky candidate, I present the following--- Elect Strayhorn governor of Texas October 20, 2006 - Posted at 12:00 a.m. Rick Perry is one of the least effective governors in Texas history. Fortunately, the Texas Constitution does not give him much power, preventing him from doing as much damage as he otherwise might inflict on the state. Rather than tackle the critically important but difficult challenge of reforming how Texas funds its public schools earlier in his time in office, Perry preferred instead to push for off-cycle congressional redistricting, which was premature, and to ban same-sex marriages and civil unions, which solves no real problems. Only after the Texas Supreme Court upheld a lower court's ruling that the state's system of funding public education was unconstitutional did Perry finally, at long last, decide to do something. And while the new business tax former state Comptroller John Sharp designed for Perry is a good start on tax reform, it is far from the end. Unfortunately, we doubt that the governor will go further with much-needed changes in how Texans fund their state government. In lieu of reforming the state's tax system to fund new public highways, Perry pushed for a gargantuan network of toll roads across the state that is larger than needed and will take too much privately owned land off of the tax rolls. The primary beneficiary will not be the people of Texas, but rather the Spanish-controlled consortium that will build the Trans-Texas Corridor and collect the tolls. Perry's Texas Transportation Commission refused to make the state's contract with Cintra-Zachry public, even after Attorney General Greg Abbott ordered its release. Only when public pressure in this campaign season grew irresistible did Perry's commission back down and follow Abbott's order. The governor's closest allies are deep-pocket bag men such as James Leininger, who seeks to undermine public schools and divert much-needed money from their operation, and anti-tax zealots such as Grover Norquist, who wants to shrink government until it is small enough to fit in the bath tub, where he then would drown it. Never mind the millions of Texans who need properly funded public schools and state and local government services. Fortunately, Texas voters have two credible choices to replace Perry and give the state a more effective governor, despite the office's constitutional limitations. The first is Carole Keeton Strayhorn, the state comptroller who is running for governor as an independent after having been both a Democrat and a Republican. Strayhorn has an impressive record of public service. Before winning her current post in 1998, she was a member, then president of the Austin school board, the mayor of Austin, a member of the state insurance board and a member of the Texas Railroad Commission. The centerpiece of Strayhorn's campaign is public education, an issue with which she has been involved through most of her adult life. She wants real results from Texas public schools, rather than teaching the TAKS test and using it as a tool for punishing schools and teachers. She wants to recruit and retain qualified teachers by paying them adequately. And she wants a long-term, reliable source of state funding of public schools. Strayhorn wants to rescue state government from the deep-pocket special interests that dominate it today and return it to the control of the people of Texas. As an independent, she pledges to work with both parties in the Legislature to bridge the partisan divide that hinders effective governance. And she opposes the Trans-Texas Corridor. The second is Chris Bell, the Democratic nominee. The former U.S. representative and Houston City Council member also makes education the centerpiece of his campaign. Like Strayhorn, he wants to ensure that Texas public schools are properly financed for the long term. More than that, Bell wants to create a Bipartisan Commission on Public Education to examine in depth the mission of the state's public schools in the 21st century, with the heightened competitiveness of a global economy. How and what students are taught and learn are as important as how the schools are funded, Bell correctly emphasizes. The Democrat called the Trans-Texas Corridor "a case study in corruption and cronyism" and pledges that one of his "first acts as governor would be slamming the brakes on the whole plan." Both Bell and Strayhorn support embryonic stem cell research and using state money to make Texas a world-class leader in this research, with the hope of treatments and cures for an array of diseases and disabilities. In our view, the nod goes to Strayhorn because she has a proven record in state government and knows how it is supposed to work. Running as an independent gives her a rare opportunity to work fairly with both parties and make more effective use of the governor's bully pulpit to do what is good for Texas and all Texans, not just for one or the other party or deep-pocket special interests. fritz

I've never had any problems with fresh Polish-O-Ray. Fresh is the word. If the stuff is not kept in the fridge down here in the heat, it will turn harder than a banker"s heart. I just push the tube onto the turning wheel, and let the wheel slow down or stop. Then repeat until the cloth wheel is coated. I use 160 grit to remove old bluing and rust. Another wheel has a finer grit for finishing. If you want to get fancy, you can have more wheels, each loaded with a progressively finer grit. That's what the pros do. For most of my rifles I use a matte finish, and stop before the steel gets too polished. The main thing I want to do is get the old bluing off. A hot summer can ruin Polish-O-Ray, in fact Brownell's had a bunch of it go bad a few years back. It seems that it got hot in Iowa too. fritz

I'm neither for or against the operation right now. My land is not leased for uranium (it's an entirely different deal than oil and gas). I used to have a uranium lease back in the 80's when they found a trace of it here, but I took the money because I figured (and rightly so) that they would not mine it. That was back when energy companies were speculating on leases. They leased land on pure speculation. Not so anymore. The thing that hangs in my craw is what the newly formed water district is doing by denying the uranium company a permit for a water well on the site. I wonder, really wonder, if the water district will apply the same rules to the rest of us as they are doing to the company that is trying to produce uranium in our county. The whole process of getting permits, not just local but state and federal, before beginning mining operations takes about 5 years. A few (maybe many) uninformed individuals are going overboard and trying to circumvent (short circuit) the deal. It may be a bad deal, but the facts are not in yet. To shoot from the hip as the water district and county is doing now may be the right way. But I wonder, really wonder, if it will hold up in a court of law. And whether we taxpayers will someday be ascessed the attorney fees (win or lose). It will, as I said, end up in court. The energy company may back down from this "line in the sand". But Santa Anna didn't, and took the Alamo. He lost in the end, but a lot of lives were lost in the interim. A lot of money will be lost in the interim on this one. Maybe better to lose money than risk the health problems that may (or may not) occur from uranium mining. Like I said, I'm remaining neutral. But I don't like someone circumventing (short circuiting) the law. fritz

Parkerizing is said to be the most durable (if you wish to give up good looks). But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or so they say. I like hot salt bluing for the real custom rifles, the ones that really deserve it. For the rest (or those parts that cannot be blued) I can see parkerizing or bake-on finishes. Many military rifles look nice parkerized. Here is a pic of the gas tube of my M-1 that was pitted. I bead blasted it and parkerized it. Just the gas tube. I got a gallon of concentrate from Midway or Brownell's and it will do many more. fritz

Jerry, Uranium is an ore that runs in veins, in our area about 150' to 300' beneath the surface. The problem is that our drinking water also lies at that depth. It can be open-pit mined, but that is no longer done because of the destruction. So they use a leaching process, whereby they drill a bunch of wells to that depth, inject water down them, and then have other wells that bring the leached out ore to the surface where it is processed. The stuff leaves the uranium field (each field is about the size of a football field) as a solidified product called yellowcake. It is shipped out in sealed drums to be enriched at a place in Illinois. The stuff is of low radiation at the time it leaves here. Here is a photo of what they are doing right now, just test holes to determine the amount of ore down there. Each of those little piles is the core from one test hole, and the holes are about 20' apart. fritz

Karl, I thought that I had read that the GOP had indeed covered up for Foley, for a time anyway. A coverup, regardless of how long, is still wrong. Now, let's not forget Tom DeLay, and the delay. Hell, we all still believe Nixon was not a crook (as he so often stated). Some of us, anyway. fritz

I forgot about silver solder. But I never used it on stainless steel. Old age is getting to me. I'll try some and see how it works on stainless, thin sections should work fine. fritz

Jim, I'm like z1r, weld it. And TIG is the best way to weld thin metal. Damned, I used to be good at it. Stainless, monel, titanium, inconel, magnesium, whatever there was--we welded with TIG. I use an iron tank for parkerizing, but a stainless one would be better I hear. All my hot salt tanks are welded mild steel (bent by a fellow with a metal break). I think they are 12 guage steel. And that's thicker than the commercial tanks from Brownell's. But what the heck---the thicker the better. If I could get some stainless steel in the thicker guages, I could arc weld it. That's thick stuff, but it would hold the heat well. fritz

You know, I get to wondering (and that's a bad thing) sometimes about all the perverts and weirdoes coming out of the woodwork in the last few years. Is it that there were always perverts (in government) and we just never heard of them? Is our news reporting so much better now that we learn of these sick people? In Mayberry there was only a drunk and an occasional bully. In the old days, we said "please" and "thank you". We said grace (and it wasn't Ann). We were shown the difference between right and wrong (by parents that made damned sure of it). I guess a few of the not so desirable people got elected to public office, it happened. All that got elected were not saints (getting votes from the graveyard was popular once). But life was simple then. We fought wars and won (until Korea and Nam). Maybe that's when things began to change. It seems so much more complicated today. Our kids take guns to school today (sometimes to defend themselves). We played marbles and set you back. The only drug we used was an occasional sneaked cigarette or bottle of homebrew in the parking lot. And sometimes the principal caught us. That was the worst time in the life of a teenager, when we got taken to the principal's office. I have to admit that I was there several times. But I got over it. I went on to better things. Maybe having parents that I respected had something to do with it. Or a principal that I also respected. What does all this have to do with Mark Foley? What does it have to do with the GOP leadership that put him under their wing all this time? I wish I knew. Maybe someone here can enlighten me about why the USA has become just another Peyton Place! fritz

If you please, Give me a break! Do you think he would have resigned if he is truly a saint? If the only pages he googled were over 18? Give me a break, please. It's one thing to protect the party, and quite another to defend a pervert! As a poster said on another forum---Truth, Productivity, and Accountability. fritz

Hi CG, Tell me, what do you consider the main meal at your Thanksgiving Day observance. Or do you use the big meal deal like we do? We of course like to serve turkey. It's not beef, but better than chicken. The Mexicans here eat the turkey on Thanksgiving Day, but prefer tamales on Christmas Eve. Ham is always an alternative dish for those burned out on the big bird. Hope you had a good one, fritz

Budweiser---Bring back Louie the Lizard Coors Light---Your train thawed out in Texas Miller Lite---I am too confused about what your beer tastes like, or fills Capital One---You emptied my wallet Allstate---Your good hands picked my pocket Progressive---Tell us about your rental car policy CountryWide---I'm so deep in the hole that even your liberal terms won't save me Holiday Inn---I slept in your joint once, but I'm still dumb Singular---raising the bar (but it still ain't high enought to get under) and I'm limbo dancing ADT---you may be always there, but they stole my guns And a note for the politicians that want my vote----I like lizards, I am drinking warm beer, I have no taste, I have no money to donate, someone beat you to my pockets, I am forced to walk, I have a sore back from dancing, someone strole my guns, and I am too dumb to understand just how you can save this country. It has already gone down the tubes! fritz

Yes, the ones in Brownell's are probably shaped. But if you can wait until the election is over, I will wager that you can pick up a few signs (from the rich candidates) that are made of plastic. Poor candidates still use paper. fritz

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue A sailor on board the Pinta sighted land early in the morning of October 12, 1492, and a new era of European exploration and expansion began. The next day, the 90 crew members of Christopher Columbus's three-ship fleet ventured onto the Bahamian island of Guanahaní, ending a voyage begun nearly ten weeks earlier in Palos, Spain. So, why is tomorrow Columbus Day? Chris was still way offshore on October 9. The next thing we know is that the government is going to tell us three days ahead of time of their next coverup. And for you Canadians---Happy Thanksgiving Day. fritz

If you have some white plastic material (like used in signs) it works. For my part, I would just buy some spacer material from Brownell's. There is a bit of variation in that sign stock. But it is fun to scrounge to find just the right stuff. I had some a few years ago, but can't remember what it was. That's not the only thing I can't remember, old age and all that. fritz

Well, this in addition to the rest. I have lost my appetite! Found in a Banquet meat loaf meal (in the corn). I wonder where the rest of the finger is-- http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/fritz/TVdinner.jpg fritz

Is that a Harley, Karl? fritz