Those of you that follow my blog know that over the past sevral years I have been collecting football helmets and renovating them as displays of National Football League teams for my office. I really hadn't done much with that hobby lately, but I do check out what is up for sale on eBay from time to time and i found this good example of what could be made into a Chicago Bears helmet, Walter Payton era. I got it at a really good price and went to a local printer to see if he could duplicate the Bears logo.
Of course, after contacting him and having him do the original llayout, I then stumbled on the logos you see on this blog at a very low price.Today I went and paid the local guy a fee for the layout work he did and then ordered the decals from the website as they are produced on 30 mil vinyl which is much heavier than what I could get locally.
I will post pictures of my Bears helmet when I get it together later this week. Now I will casually begin looking for a helmet in silver to start a Detroit Lions, Barry Sanders helmet.
By the time I am finished I will have helmets for all the former Central Division teams save one -- the Minnesota Vikings. I don't think I can bring myself to do that project!
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Did you see the grilling that congress gave the bankers yesterday? What I found really encouraging is that many times the senators actually referred to e mails they had received from their constituents ! To me, this is a very good sign that we THE PEOPLE are finally really responding to the dipshits in office and telling them we are fed up with the status quo.
Now, more than ever it is very important to e mail your congress representatives as often as you deem necessary about issues that bother you. Lately I have sent missives about pursuing the Bush administration as war criminals, clarifying Obama's first bill when people like Limbaugh knowingly misrepresented it on the air, and asking that there be no troop increase in Afghanistan.
You have to keep in mind that most of the dolts in office JUST DON'T GET IT! Why else would all Republicans save three vote along party lines? They, like their loud mouth piece Rush (Jabba the Hut Limbaugh) want President Obama to fail.
I don't know about you, but I think WE THE PEOPLE want some action!
Did you know the Dr. Evil (aka Dick Cheney) petitioned W to pardon his buddy Libby for a full and complete pardon right up to Inauguration Day? It wasn't enough that Bush had commuted his prison sentence. No -- He's still a felon and cannot practice law nor vote. And that's the most punishment he is under! The SOB should have faced a firing squad for treason.
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Railroads made Chicago, and now a Chicago-rich White House wants to return the favor.
Railroads made Chicago, and now a Chicago-rich White House wants to return the favor: remaking rail with a huge new federal investment in high-speed passenger trains.
The $787.2 billion economic recovery bill — to be signed by President Barack Obama on Tuesday — dedicates $8 billion to high-speed rail, most of which was added in the final closed-door bargaining at the instigation of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.
It’s a sum that far surpasses anything before attempted in the United States — and more is coming. Administration officials told Politico that when Obama outlines his 2010 budget next week, it will ask for $1 billion more for high-speed rail in each of the next five years.
Yet for all the high stakes, the pieces didn’t fall into place until the end of deliberations on the recovery bill. And the way in which they did is revealing of the often late-breaking decisions — and politics — that shaped the final package.
As a candidate for president, Obama spoke of high-speed rail as part of his vision of “rebuilding America.” Campaigning in Indiana, he talked of revitalizing the Midwest by connecting cities with faster rail service to relieve congestion and improve energy conservation.
“The time is right now for us to start thinking about high-speed rail as an alternative to air transportation connecting all these cities,” he said. “And think about what a great project that would be in terms of rebuilding America.”
But the administration never emphasized high-speed rail when the House Appropriations Committee was writing its bill in January, so no money was included. The first real request came only days before the Senate Appropriations panel marked up, and the committee had to scramble to find room for $2 billion — in part by cutting other Obama priorities.
“I put it in there for the president,” Emanuel said in an interview. “The president wanted to have a signature issue in the bill, his commitment for the future.”
Emanuel himself was excited by the idea, but the decision to wager so much on high-speed rail reflected the fact that other candidates for a signature Obama issue were fading.
Moderate Senate Republicans, whose votes were needed, were resisting the president’s school construction initiative. Modernizing the nation’s electric grid, another White House favorite, seemed to have lost some of its cachet.
High-speed rail sailed through with surprisingly little attention paid to the president’s role.
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The above article appeared in Politico. Can you tell that they are not very Pro-Obama? I think investing in high speed rail transportation is an idea which is long overdue! It will put thousands to work, ease our dependence on oil-based travel, and bring the United States into the 21st Centruy. Europe and Japan are far ahead of us in rail transportation. I, for one, would really be excited about taking the train across this beautiful country of ours, for all of the above reasons.
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