I'm Back

Spent the week opening up the lake cabins and sprucing up the grounds.

No internet.

Ate Pizza Cellar Pizza, sausage and mushroom, three nights. It is still one of the best pizza in the area. While it might not satisfy every palate, it suits me fine!.

Washed the boat and got it all tuned up for summer fun.

Climbed up on three roofs and used the gas blower to blow off the winter's accumulation of tree limbs and twigs. Cleaned out the gutters.

Pulled the boat trailer out and raked the parking area, also pulled weeds and vines out that were fast overtaking the area.

Raked all the leaves away from the cabins and hauled them down the hill. I may have gotten into some poison ivy but that doesn't bother me. My mother was extremely allergic to poison ivy.

Swept the decks and got on my hands and knees and removed all the acorns that were lodged between the deck planking. I will need to treat the decks again.

Had no broken pipes since I figured out the cause. The water meter did not seal when I would turn the water off at the meter. When I plumbed the cabin, I made certain that all the pipes ran downhill. To winterize, I just open the spigot I installed at the lowest pipe and all the water drains out of the pipes.

What with the water meter shut off valve not completely sealing, over the course of the winter, the pipes would fill back up with water and freeze. Last winter, I disconnected the water line coming into the cabin. No frozen pipes, just one weak glue joint that was easily repaired.

The PVT RN and I got a lot down this week, getting ready for the combination birthday, Mother's Day and Memorial Day bar b que and boat ride.

Why, we may even run up the lake to the Branson Landing and watch the fire show.

Republican Operative Says Cady No Plagiarist

A local blog picked up on my post about the similarities between letters sent to supporters by two local Republican candidates. The letters were sent six years apart.

The president of the Ozark Region Young Republicans who currently runs a communications and media consulting business made these comments:

If that constitutes plagiarism, then the vast majority of all fundraising letters, political or not, are plagiarized.

Scientific studies are done to try to find the perfect wording for fundraising letters. Good consultants know exactly what to do to get people to donate more money and if you’re trying to raise money you’d be silly not to follow those formulas. For example, the reason these letters are 3-4 pages is not because the candidates had a lot to get off their chests. It’s because it’s a proven fact that a 3-5 page letter will raise more money than a one page letter. If it were the other way around, you can be sure each candidate would have sent out a one page letter “to respect your busy schedule”.

This is really only plagiarism if Mr. Cady tried or tries to pretend these are his original thoughts. These letters weren’t designed to be original or put forth new ideas, but rather to trumpet ideas that will resonate with the audience. So if you think any candidate is trying to be original when sending out a fundraising letter, you don’t understand fundraising letters. People only want to give money to people who think the same way they do, and if you’re thinking the same way as all the people who are donating to you, those thoughts must not be very original.

The rest of the world works the same way. The AP runs a successful business off a model that is much more close to plagiarism than this case, in my opinion. Businessmen sign off on letters written by other people every day. If this were a paper for a History 121 class, sure, Mr. Cady would have some issues. But for a letter asking people to donate to a campaign, we’d be silly to expect any different. The sitting members of council all had to raise money for their campaigns for those seats, so I doubt this raises many or their eyebrows.

I may be silly but I kind of like the idea of elected and appointed officials who have original thoughts. I also expect those seeking elective or appointed office to be held to a higher standard than those writing a paper for a History 121 class.

Is There A Co-Relation Between Being UnInsured And How You Vote?

Is there a co-relation between being uninsured and how you voted in the 2004 presidential election?

How One Man Answers Critics

An Amish farmer walking through his field notices a man drinking from his pond, with his hand.

The farmer shouts: "Trinken Sie nicht das Wasser, die Kuhe und die Schweine haben in ihm geschissen!"

The man shouts back: "I am an American. I don't understand, nor do I care to understand your gibberish. Speak English like the constitution intended!"

The farmer shouts back in English: "Use both hands, you'll get more!"

How They Voted

Is One Of The City Council Candidates A Plagiarist?

Plagiarism is using others ideas and words without clearly acknowledging the source of that information. To avoid plagiarism, you must give credit whenever you use
another person’s idea, opinion, or theory; any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings—any pieces of information—that are not common knowledge; quotations of another person’s actual spoken or written words; or paraphrase of another person’s spoken or written words. (from the Indiana University Writing Tutorial Services.

In the summer of 2002, then state representative candidate Larry Morris sent an undated letter to supporters as he was preparing to run for the 138th district state representative. In November of that year, in one of the closest state house races in the state, Morris beat the Democrat (me) by 117 votes.

In the summer of 2008, Jeremy Cady sent an undated letter to supporters as he was preparing to run against against Michael Goodard in the Republican primary for 138th district state representative. Goodart received 1,372 votes (58.88%) in the August Primary to Cady's 958 votes (41.12%).

Cady is one of the three candidates for Springfield City Council.

Morris: “Are you satisfied with the direction that our state government has been taking in the past few years? Are you tired of living in a state where our tax dollars are wasted…”
Cady: “Are you satisfied with the direction our state government has been taking the last few years? Are you tired of living in a state where your tax dollars are needlessly wasted?”

Morris: “…I need your help.”
Cady: “I am writing to ask for your help.”

Morris: “With their support and encouragement I have begun to take the appropriate steps to make the race.”
Cady: “With their support and encouragement I started taking the steps to enter the race.”

Morris: We can no longer afford (to let sic) liberal leadership in Missouri to (sic) to raise our taxes, spend our money, and get less done. I am asking you to join with me in fighting for conservative principles in Jefferson City.”
Cady: “We can no longer let liberals like Lampe spend more money to get less done. We must join together and fight for our conservative principles.”

Morris: “I need your help to go to Jefferson City and join a conservative majority and fight to change Missouri government by:
Cutting taxes for all citizens…
Protecting the unborn…
Halting the explosive growth in state government…
Defending gun owners rights…”
Cady: “I need your help to go to Jefferson City and join a conservative majority and fight to change the state by:
Cutting taxes for all citizens…
Protecting the unborn…
Decreasing the size and scope of our state government…
Fighting to protect our second amendment rights.”

Morris: “I appreciate a government like the one Thomas Jefferson described in his first inaugural address when he said, “A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuit of industry and improvement, and shall not tade (sic) from the mouth of labor the bread it had earned. This is the sum of good government.”
Cady: “I want a government like the one Thomas Jefferson described in his first inaugural address when he said, “A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuit of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it had earned. This is the sum of good government.”

Morris: “He was right in 1801 and he is right today.”
Cady: “He was right in 1801 and he is right today.”

Morris: “These issues and this conservative philosophy are what you and I believe in. But to accomplish this task we must win. I am committed to spending the remaining days between now and this election fighting to win this race. I cannot do it alone. I need you to invest in the cause….”
Cady: “These issues and this conservative philosophy are what you and I believe in. But to accomplish this task we must win. I am committed to spending the next several months fighting to win this race. But I need you to invest in the cause.”

Morris: “Edmund Burke said, “All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.”
Cady: “Edmund Burke said, “All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.”

Morris: “This election will not only determine the policies and direction of Missouri but has national implications as well.”
Cady: “The election will not only determine the policies and direction of Missouri, but also the nation.”

Morris: “You know that campaigns are expensive. This race will expecially (sic) so because every far left liberal group in the state will be working overtime to hold onto the House of Representatives. After all, they know that if we win, they lose, BIG TIME.”
Cady: You know that campaigns are expensive. And this race will be doubly expensive because every left liberal group in the state will be working around the clock to hold this seat. After all, they know if you and I win, they lose, BIG TIME.”

Morris: “In order to win this race I need your gift today (sic) It is important to start ordering signs, stickers and necessary supplies now. I need to be able to begin planning radio and TV and newspaper ads so that when the campaign heats up this fall I will be able to spend time with the voters instead of planning strategy, ordering supplies and raising money.”
Cady: “In order to win this race I need your gift today. It is important to start ordering the necessary supplies now. I have begun planning newspaper and radio ads today so that this fall I will be able to spend time with the voters instead of planning strategy, ordering supplies and raising money.”

Morris: “Thank you for reading this long letter. If you believe that I, a committed conservative, can make a difference in Jefferson City, please take the time today to make a contribution for substantive change in state government.”
Cady: “Thank you for reading this long letter. If you believe I can make a difference in Jefferson City, please become one of the 750 individuals who will help win this race…”












I blogged about this in July, 2008.

Is This Plagarism?

Moved here

You Can't Handle The Truth....

Somethings Are Better Left Un-

Tweeted.

New Twist On Old Slogan

We first noticed it in Larry's final notice in the SN-L last Sunday---"Larry loved music and Budweiser."

Then in this morning's obits, in Bud's notice of passing, it shows up again: "Bud loved his family, Cardinal Baseball and Budweiser." Is this the beginning of a trend? God knows we've followed a lot of trends in our time, what with the whole bus-plunge / missing hiker thing.. For a while there, corrections piqued our interest. This is a particularly memorable correction -- ah yes, repeating the negative.

Now, we will be avidly perusing obits for mentions of beer, it doesn't have to be especially Budweiser, but there is a ring to the old Budweiser slogan: "Where's There's Life, There's Bud!"