I am amazed when I ask certain people why they think the way they do and they can’t answer me other than recite what they have heard on the news or TV talk show entertainment news program on the left or right. You know what I’m talking about so why name them?

Instead of digging to see if what is being spouted is true, many of us swallow hook, line and sinker to believe what are sometimes ball-faced lies designed for us to roll over and let the powers that be simply fillet us! And it is much deserved since we don’t ask questions and challenge much in our world anymore.

Well, you might like getting filleted but I don’t. I am a bit cantankerous and skeptical about just about everything. I wasn’t raised to be this way when it came to my country but from what I have observed over the past 20 years there’s not much I believe that comes out of anyone’s mouth that holds an elected office. I have been teased and hammered a few times by friends and family because of this and it’s okay because I can take it.

However, I feel somewhat vindicated at last after reading Mike Lofgren’s article Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult.

For all my Democrat friends and family members that think Mr. Lofgren’s information is all about the Republican party, I assure you it is not. This has enough rot to go around to all parties including the one with the label Tea.

Here’s how the article starts just to give you a taste.

Barbara Stanwyck: “We’re both rotten!”

Fred MacMurray: “Yeah – only you’re a little more rotten.” -”Double Indemnity” (1944)

Another favorite passage with regard to the so called “debt ceiling” is below.

“The debt ceiling extension is not the only example of this sort of political terrorism. Republicans were willing to lay off 4,000 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees, 70,000 private construction workers and let FAA safety inspectors work without pay, in fact, forcing them to pay for their own work-related travel – how prudent is that? – in order to strong arm some union-busting provisions into the FAA reauthorization.

Everyone knows that in a hostage situation, the reckless and amoral actor has the negotiating upper hand over the cautious and responsible actor because the latter is actually concerned about the life of the hostage, while the former does not care. This fact, which ought to be obvious, has nevertheless caused confusion among the professional pundit class, which is mostly still stuck in the Bob Dole era in terms of its orientation. For instance, Ezra Klein wrote of his puzzlement over the fact that while House Republicans essentially won the debt ceiling fight, enough of them were sufficiently dissatisfied that they might still scuttle the deal. Of course they might – the attitude of many freshman Republicans to national default was “bring it on!”

It should have been evident to clear-eyed observers that the Republican Party is becoming less and less like a traditional political party in a representative democracy and becoming more like an apocalyptic cult, or one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th century Europe. This trend has several implications, none of them pleasant.”

If you don’t like getting filleted you might want to read it. It’s long and worth every word.

One of my favorite things about the Tomato Fest this is the theme, which is; The Tomato – A Uniter, not a Divider – Bringing together Fruits and Vegetables.

If only Washington could be so brave as to bring all the “fruits” and “vegetables” together.  We could celebrate more than a community coming together for a day. Oh, but I regress… let’s get back to The Tomato Art Fest.

If you have been before then you already know how much fun and excitement there is to be had by all. Art and crafts for the grown-ups (note; I did not say adults), a kids area for the children in tow, music for just about everyone (just hang around long enough and you will hear something you like) and food for everyone. It’s just a great time to be had by all.

You will find all this fun going on across the river on the east side of downtown Nashville in a wonderful historical part of town called, East Nashville. Located at Five Point’s, which is located at the corner’s of 11^th & Woodland, the Tomato Art Fest is mainly outdoors so make sure you are prepared for hot weather; did I say HOT weather?!

Bring or be prepared to buy a lot of water and don’t worry so much about parking. Most of the locals will walk or ride in leaving those visiting the area pretty good access. If you’re luck enough to know someone who lives in the neighborhood, they may let you park at their house and walk in as well. However, once you are there, make a day out of it. You can’t miss with a completely free day of wonderful tomato art, tomato fun and tomato worship (don’t be offended, it’s just an endearment for those of us who grow the almighty fruit that is viewed and a vegetable).

The goal is to have fun. Come planning to make it a great day!

At the same time, I have built a very good mortgage business with this website being at the hub and didn’t want the site and all the information to go to waste. I have talked to several long time friends and mortgage loan officers who I trust and they have agreed to serve any leads from this website. These are all hand picked loan officers that will do a very good job helping anyone with a purchase or refinance.

Feel free to call me or fill out the application form and I will forward your information on to one of them.

Thanks again for a very good run.

For all of those I will miss seeing; Have a Wonderful Holiday Season and enjoy your Christmas and New Year! I wish you all a very prosperous 2010!

If there is anything that you would like to see on the website, please let me know by sending me an email via my contact form. This website will better help you navigate the world of mortgage loans and keep up with any of the changes that come down the pike in the future. In the mean time, if you have a question or concern and you want someone to talk too, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I am looking forward to slowly rolling out the changes so stay tuned!

With this said, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving full of family and friends, good food and fellowship!

I’m sure there are those die-hard golfers out there that hate golfers like me. Yeah, I like to score better but at the end of the day, I just want to have had a great time and when I play golf, that always happens and that’s why I love the game.

I can see this as a viable option if you are wondering if your skill set will translate to another industry or if you want to make sure you will enjoy working in another field before diving headlong into the process of finding a new job there. I do feel for the kids and adults that are in their last year of college and they need the internship to graduate and for the new graduates coming out of college looking to start their careers. Of course, you can always start your own company or go to work on straight commission. Both are hard roads to travel but can be very worth it down the road.

While I pay close to two hundred dollars a month for cable, phone and internet, he pays less than seventy dollars a month for all three. He and his wife take another thirty dollars a month and buy movies they know they will want to watch more than once on sale at different outlets both retail and online. They have more movies than anyone I know but always have a great selection when company is over, for kids of all ages or when it’s just the two of them. I’m tempted to do the same thing if I can only convince my wife to give up True Blood while it is new for the series on DVD and that will be hard to do!

May you have the best of Thanksgivings this year and God Bless!