J Kevin L's blog: "Texas"

A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company (Ford Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak_ performance before the race. On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile. The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to inves tigate and recommend appropriate action. Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 7 people steering and 2 people rowing. Feeling a deeper study was in order; American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion. They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing. Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 2 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager. They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 2 people rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rowers. There was discuss ion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses. The pension program was trimmed to 'equal the competition' and some of the resultant savings were channeled into morale boosting programs and teamwork posters. _ The next year the Japanese won by two miles. Humiliated, the American management laid-off one rower, halted development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses. The next year, try as he might, the lone designated rower was unable to even finish the race (having no paddles,) so he was laid off for unacceptable performance, all canoe equipment was sold and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India. Sadly, the End. Here's something else to th ink ab out: Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US, claiming they can't make money paying American wages. TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the US. The last quarter's results: TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses. Ford folks are still scratching their heads, and collecting bonuses.

I asked my friend's little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, If you were President what would be the first thing you would do? She replied, give food and houses to all the homeless people. Wow...what a worthy goal, I told her, You don't have to wait until you're President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I'll pay you $50. Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house. She thought that over for a few seconds while her Mom glared at me, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50. I said, Welcome to the Republican Party. Her folks still aren't talking to me.

ISSUE JOHN McCAIN BARACK OBAMA Favors new drilling offshore US Yes -McCain No-Obama Will appoint judges who interpret the law not make it Yes McCain No Obama Served in the US Armed Forces Yes McCain No Obama Amount of time served in the US Senate 22 YEARS McCain 173 days Obama Will institute a socialized national health care plan No McCain Yes Obama Supports abortion throughout the pregnancy No McCain Yes Obama Would pull troops out of Iraq immediately No McCain Yes Obama Supports gun ownership rights Yes McCain No Obama Supports homosexual marriage No McCain Yes Obama Proposed programs will mean a huge tax increase No McCain Yes Obama Voted against making English the official language No McCain Yes Obama Voted to give Social Security benefits to illegals No McCain Yes Obama CAPITAL GAINS TAX MCCAIN 0% on home sales up to $500,000 per home (couples). McCain does not propose any change in existing home sales income tax. OBAMA 28% on profit from ALL home sales. If you sell your home and make a profit, you will pay 28% of your gain in taxes. If you are heading toward retirement and would like to down-size your home or move into a retirement community, 28% of the money you make from your home will go to taxes. This proposal will adversely affect the elderly who are counting on the income from their homes as part of their retirement income. DIVIDEND TAX MCCAIN 15% (no change) OBAMA 39.6% - If you have any money invested in stock market, IRA, mutual funds, college funds, life insurance, retirement accounts, or anything that pays or reinvests dividends, you will now be paying nearly 40% of the money earned in taxes. The experts predict that 'Higher tax rates on dividends and capital gains would crash the stock market, yet do absolutely nothing to cut the deficit. ' INCOME TAX MCCAIN (no changes) Single making 30K - tax $4,500 Single making 50K - tax $12,500 Single making 75K - tax $18,750 Married making 60K- tax $9,000 Married making 75K - tax $18,750 Married making 125K - tax $31,250 OBAMA (reversion to pre-Bush tax cuts) Single making 30K - tax $8,400 Single making 50K - tax $14,000 Single making 75K - tax $23,250 Married making 60K - tax $16,800 Married making 75K - tax $21,000 Married making 125K - tax $38,750 Under Obama, your taxes could almost double! INHERITANCE TAX MCCAIN - 0% (No change, Bush repealed this tax) OBAMA Restore the inheritance tax -- Many families have lost businesses, farms, ranches, and homes that have been in their families for generations because they could not afford the inheritance tax. Those willing their assets to loved ones will only lose them to these taxes. NEW TAXES PROPOSED BY OBAMA New government taxes proposed on homes that are more than 2400 square feet. New gasoline taxes (as if gas weren't high enough already) New taxes on natural resources consumption (heating gas, water, electricity) New taxes on retirement accounts ... and last but not least... New taxes to pay for socialized medicine so we can receive the same level of medical care as other third-world countries! You can verify the above at the following web sites: http://money. cnn. com/news/specials/election/2008/index.. html http://www. cnn. com/ELECTION/2008/issues/issues. taxes. html http://elections. foxnews. com/?s=proposed+taxes http://bulletin. aarp. org/yourworld/politics/articles/mccain_obama_offer_different_visions_on_taxes. html http://blog. washingtonpost. com/fact-checker/candidates/barack_obama/ http://blog. washingtonpost. com/fact-checker/candidates/john_mccain/

Here is what Jeff Foxworthy has to say about folks from Texas If someone in a Lowe's store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you may live in Texas ; If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you may live in Texas ; If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you may live in Texas ; If 'Vacation' means going anywhere south of Dallas for the weekend, you may live in Texas ; If you measure distance in hours, you may live in Texas ; If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you may live in Texas ; If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you may live in Texas ; If you carry jumper cables in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you may live in Texas ; If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph -- you're going 80 and everybody's passing you, you may live in Texas ; If you find 60 degrees 'a little chilly,' you may live in Texas ; If you actually understand these jokes, and share them with all your Texas friends, you definitely live in Texas . Need to be cheered up? Happy, Texas 79042 Pep, Texas 79353 Smiley, Texas 78159 Paradise, Texas 76073 Rainbow, Texas 76077 Sweet Home, Texas 77987 Comfort, Texas 78013 Friendship, Texas 76530 Love the Sun? Sun City , Texas 78628 Sunrise, Texas 76661 Sunset, Texas 76270 Sundown, Texas 79372 Sunray, Texas 79086 Sunny Side , Texas 77423 Want something to eat? Bacon , Texas 76301 Noodle, Texas 79536 Oatmeal, Texas 78605 Turkey, Texas 79261 Trout, Texas 75789 Sugar Land, Texas 77479 Salty, Texas 76567 Rice, Texas 75155 And top it off with: Sweetwater, Texas 79556 Why travel to other cities? Texas has them all! Detroit , Texas 75436 Colorado City, Texas 79512 Denver City, Texas 79323 Klondike, Texas 75448 Nevada, Texas 75173 Memphis, Texas 79245 Miami, Texas 79059 Boston, Texas 75570 Santa Fe, Texas 77517 Tennessee Colony , Texas 75861 Reno, Texas 75462 Feel like traveling outside the country? Don't bother buying a plane ticket! Athens , Texas 75751 Canadian, Texas 79014 China, Texas 77613 Egypt, Texas 77436 Ireland, Texas 76538 Turkey, Texas 79261 London, Texas 76854 New London, Texas 75682 Paris, Texas 75460 No need to travel to Washington D.C. Whitehouse , Texas 75791 We even have a city named after our planet! Earth , Texas 79031 And a city named after our State! Texas City , Texas 77590 Exhausted? Energy , Texas 76452 Cold? Blanket , Texas 76432 Winters, Texas Like to read about History? Santa Anna , Texas Goliad , Texas Alamo , Texas Gun Barrel City , Texas Robert lee, Texas Need Office Supplies? Staples, Texas 78670 Men are from Mars, women are from Venus , Texas 76084 You guessed it..it's on the state line.. Texline , Texas 79087 For the kids... Kermit , Texas 79745 Elmo, Texas 75118 Nemo, Texas 76070 Tarzan, Texas 79783 Winnie, Texas 77665 Sylvester, Texas 79560 Other city names in Texas , to make you smile..... Frognot , Texas 75424 Bigfoot, Texas 78005 Hogeye, Texas 75423 Cactus, Texas 79013 Notrees, Texas 79759 Best, Texas 76932 Veribest, Texas 76886 Kickapoo, Texas 75763 Dime Box , Texas 77853 Old Dime Box , Texas 77853 Telephone, Texas 75488 Telegraph, Texas 76883 Whiteface, Texas 79379 Twitty, Texas 79079 And last but not least, the Anti-Al Gore City Kilgore , Texas 75662 And our favorites... Cut n Shoot, Texas Gun Barrell City, Texas Hoop And Holler, Texas Ding Dong, Texas and, of course, Muleshoe , Texas Here are some little known, very interesting facts about Texas . 1. Beaumont to El Paso : 742 miles 2. Beaumont to Chicago : 770 miles 3. El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas 4. World's first rodeo was in Pecos , July 4, 1883. 5. The Flagship Hotel in Galveston is the only hotel in North America built over water 6. The Heisman Trophy was named after John William Heisman who was the first full-time coach at Rice University inHouston. 7. Brazoria County has more species of birds than any other area in North America . 8. Aransas Wildlife Refuge is the winter home of North America 's only remaining flock of whooping cranes. 9. Jalapeno jelly originated in Lake Jackson in 1978. 10. The worst natural disaster in U.S . history was in 1900, caused by a hurricane, in which over 8,000 lives were lost onGalveston Island . 11. The first word spoken from the moon, July 20, 1969, was ' Houston .' 12. King Ranch in South Texas is larger than Rhode Island . 13. Tropical Storm Claudette brought a U.S. rainfall record of 43' in 24 hours in and around Alvin in July of 1979. 14. Texas is the only state to enter the U.S. by TREATY, (known as the Constitution of 1845 by the Republic of Texas to ent! er the Union ) instead of by annexation. This allows the Texas Flag to fly at the same height as the U.S. Flag, and may divide into 5 states. 15. A Live Oak tree near Fulton is estimated to be 1500 years old. 16. Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in the state. 17. Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. There is no period in Dr Pepper. 18. Texas has had six capital cities: Washington -on- the Brazos, Harrisburg , Galveston , Velasco, West Columbia andAustin. 19. The Capitol Dome in Austin is the only dome in the U.S. which is taller than the Capitol Building in Washington DC (by 7 feet). 20. The name ' Texas ' comes from the Hasini Indian word 'tejas' meaning friends. Tejas is not Spanish for Texas . 21. The State Mascot is the Armadillo (an interesting bit of trivia about the armadillo is they always have four babies. They have one egg, which splits into four, and they either have four males or four females.). 22. The first domed stadium in the U.S. was the Astrodome in Houston . Cowboy's Ten Commandments posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Fairlie , Texas : (1) Just one God. (2) Honor yer Ma & Pa. (3) No telling tales or gossipin'. (4) Git yourself to Sunday meeting. (5) Put nothin' before God. (6) No foolin' around with another fellow's gal. (7) No killin'. (8) Watch yer mouth. (9) Don't take what ain't yers. (10) Don't be hankerin' for yer buddy's stuff

TEXAS Have you ever looked at a map of the world? Look at Texas with me just for a second. That picture, with the Panhandle, the Gulf Coast, the Red River, and the Rio Grande, is as much a part of you as anything ever will be. As soon as anyone, anywhere the world over looks at it, they know what it is -TEXAS!! Pick any kid off the street in Japan, and draw him a picture of Texas in the dirt, and he'll know what it is. What happens if I show you a picture of any other state? You might get it, maybe after a second or two, but, even if you do, does it stir those feelings in you? In every man, woman, and child on this planet, there is a person who wishes just once he/she could be a real live Texan, and get up on a horse, or ride off in a pickup. There is a little bit of Texas in everyone. Did you ever hear anyone in a bar say, 'Wow...so you're from Iowa? Cool, tell me about it?' Texas is the Alamo - 183 men standing in a church, facing thousands of Mexican nationals, fighting for Texas' freedom! They had the chance to walk out and save themselves, but they stayed instead to fight and die for Texas' freedom. We send our kids to schools named after William B. Travis, James Bowie, and Davy Crockett, and do you know why? Because those men drew a line in the sand, and then stepped across it, to become Texas' beloved heroes. John Wayne, himself, paid to do the movie, 'The Alamo'. Now THAT is the Spirit of Texas! Texas is Sam Houston capturing Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto, huge forests of Piney Woods like the Davy Crockett National Forest, breathtaking mountains in the Big Bend, the unparalleled beauty of Bluebonnet fields in the Texas Hill Country every Spring. Texas is the world record Bass caught from places like Lake Fork. Texas is the beautiful, warm beaches of the Gulf Coast, the towering shiny skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas, Mexican food like nowhere else, not even Mexico. Texas is the Houston Astrodome, the Fort Worth Stockyards, Bass Hall, the Ballparks in Arlington and Houston. Texas is larger-than-life legends like Michael DeBakey, Denton Cooley, Gene Autry, Audie Murphy, Jimmy Dean, Buddy Holly, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Tommy Lee Jones, Janis Joplin, Kris Kristofferson, ZZ Top, Tom Landry, Darrell Royal, Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson, Nolan Ryan, Sam Rayburn, Howard Hughes, Lyndon B. Johnson, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and let's not forget GEORGE STRAIT!! PANTERA!!!!!!!!!!!! Texas is great companies like Texas Instruments, Compaq, Bell Helicopter, Blue Bell Creamery, Dell Computer, and LOCKHEED MARTIN AEROSPACE. Texas is the first home of the F-111, F-16, and JSF Fighter Jets. Texas is NASA. Texas is huge herds of cattle and miles of crops seen under amazing sunsets of gold, hundreds of deer running around neighborhoods and fields, skies blackened with doves. Texas is a place where towns and cities shut down Friday night to watch the local high school football game, Monday Night for Cowboy or Texan Football, and for the Night In Old San Antonio River Parade! Because Texas is the only state in the United States that was a Republic BEFORE it became a state, Texas is the only state in the U.S. that can: 1.) Fly its flag at the same height as the U.S. flag; 2.) Our capitol is the only one in the country that is taller than the U. S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.; 3.) We can divide our state into up to five smaller states at any time; and, 4.) We have the option to ceceed from the United States, and again become The Independent Republic of Texas. Texas has its own Navy, and Air Force, and even has its own power grid!! ... Did I mention that Texas is the live music capitol of the world? To drive across Texas, is to drive 1/4 way across the United States. Everything's bigger in Texas ! Texas is ocean beaches, deserts, lakes and rivers, mountains and prairies, agriculture, and modern cities. The Texas Economy is the 5th largest in the World. It is just done bigger and better in Texas. If it isn't in Texas, well, you probably don't need it.