Flyover Country

Every once in a while the left says what they really mean.  President Obama told Joe the Plumber that he wanted seize private wealth.  Maxine Waters said she would see to it that the federal government seized private companies.

The 1st amendment to the Constitution of the United States begins with “Congress shall make no law…”.  It should come as no surprise that the very first freedom listed before speech, press, assembly, bearing arms, trial by jury, and the others is the freedom from interference by the government into the free exercise of religion.  Listen carefully to this exchange on Hannity from last week.

Whenever you hear someone say “”I’m for smaller government … people have a right to religion, but…” be wary.

Jenny Erikson has an insightful piece about taking care of the second-most expensive purchase most of us will ever make – our cars.  At the end, she asked for other car care tips in the comments.  I realized mine were too long for a comment, so here are just a few basics in addition to what she suggests.

- If you notice that your blinker seems to be running double-time, chances are one of your turn signal lights is out.  The double-time blinking speed is supposed to tell you this.  Unfortunately, very few people know this.

- If you notice that one headlight is working great, but the other one is very dim, chances are you have a blown fuse for the circuit that feeds the dimmed headlight.

- Jack rabbit starts and hard stops (slamming the gas or the brake) wastes fuel and is very hard on your car.

- Next time you get into your car (or go to drive someone else’s), look near the fuel gauge for a small triangle pointing to the left or right.  Not all cars have it, but the for ones that do, the triangle will point to which side the fuel fill cap is on.

- When you fill up, reset your trip meter. Note what it says the next time you fill up. Do this every time. You’ll start to get an idea of how far you can go on a tank of gas. If you fuel gauge ever breaks, you’ll still know when you need to fill up. This is also a way to keep track of your gas mileage. # miles driven divided by # of gallons printed on your gas receipt.

- On cold days (below freezing), give your car a couple of minutes to warm up before leaving, especially if you’re getting right onto the freeway.  Oil, especially conventional oil, gets thick when it gets cold and can’t lubricate the engine as well.  More than a couple of minutes really won’t make that much difference, and will just waste fuel.

- Modern engines are much better designed than they used to be.  Changing your oil every 3,000 miles on the dot won’t hurt much except your wallet.  5,000 miles is perfectly fine for normal driving.  If you drive dirt roads or other harsh conditions (extreme heat especially), then it might be worth it for the life of your engine to stick to 3,000 miles.  Synthetic oil is more expensive, but it isn’t unheard of – if you’re using synthetic oil – to go 9,000 or 10,000 miles between oil changes with no ill effects.  Why change the oil in the first place?  The oil lubricates the moving bits of your engine.  This lubrication wears out and breaks down over time, becoming less effective.  The oil also absorbs dirt, debris, and other foreign matter from between the moving parts of your engine. Basically – it helps keep the inside of the engine clean and free from contaminants that could cause damage to the moving parts.  At some point the oil becomes saturated with dirt and can’t absorb anymore.  That is also the reason why you always change the filter when you change the oil.

- Fix-a-flat and other similar “emergency” tire-repair-in-a-can are just that – for emergencies.  Get to a place that can fix or replace your tire as quickly as possible.  First off, that stuff is not a permanent fix, and secondly it unbalances your wheel, which will affect handling slightly but will definitely cause your tire to wear poorly.  Make sure the shop knows you used the can of stuff so they can unmount the tire and clean the crud you just pumped in off the wheel.

- When using jumper cables, be very careful.  Always connect red to red, black to black.  On the car that you’re trying to jump start, connect the black to some metal away from the battery.  A charging car battery can release hydrogen and other gases.  A spark can ignite the hydrogen gas and lead to a fire or explosion.  Moving the black (negative) away from the battery helps reduce the chance of a spark near the battery.  What are the odds?  Probably not very high, especially with modern sealed batteries.  Why risk it?

- Don’t run your car out of gas.

1. Once or twice won’t hurt, but doing this repeatedly will burn up the fuel pump, which on most vehicles is inside the fuel tank. Gasoline acts as a coolant for the pump. When the level in the tank gets too low (ie the engine stops because you ran out of usable fuel), the pump doesn’t have proper cooling. This could be an expensive repair.
2. It is unsafe to run around with less than ~1/8 tank of gas or so.  If your car quits in the middle of the freeway you lose critical assist systems for brakes and steering.  You can still brake, you can still steer but both are much more difficult without the power of the engine to drive the assist systems.  You can also find yourself stranded.  Especially don’t do this to anyone driving with you.  As the driver, you’re responsible for your passengers.  Don’t strand them because you’re a lazy bonehead.

- When the “fuel low” light comes on, you have between 1 and 2 gallons of usable fuel remaining. If you know your average per-gallon fuel mileage, you know approximately how far you can go before the engine quits. We want to fill up before then, see previous bullet.

- Oil is the life blood of your engine.  If the oil pressure light comes on, pull over with all due haste and turn off the engine. Obviously, do so only if it safe – don’t dart across traffic and cause a collision. If you completely lose oil pressure (which includes running your car out of oil), your engine has about 3-5 seconds before it starts tearing itself apart as metal bits start grinding on other metal bits.  Eventually that grinding will stop because the engine has seized.  That is, the moving bits inside the engine?  They don’t move anymore.  This is probably the most expensive damage you can do to your car.

- If your car overheats, you can turn on the cabin heater to help cool it off.  It won’t help much, but it may be the difference between getting it to a shop and ruining the engine.  Overheating an engine can and will have the same effect as losing oil pressure.  It will just take a little bit longer to destroy the engine.

- Don’t neglect your brakes.  They are the only device you have for bringing 2,000lb of steel to a stop.  Every time you stop, you’re grinding off just a little bit of brake pad material.  That is just how brakes work.  If your brakes are squealing, they’re probably telling you that they’re getting worn out.  No really, there is a thin piece of metal inside your brakes that is supposed to make noise when they’re worn down.

I mostly follow people who I have an off-twitter relationship (friends & family) with, or whose interests are similar to mine: conservative politics, aviation, tech.  #FF (Follow friday) is a good tool for suggesting to twitter friends who you think of the folks you’re following, that they should follow also.  But I’m often left asking myself one question when I see a #FF: “My timeline is already really busy, why should I follow this person?”  Inspired by @glenasbury‘s “10 Questions”, here is my #FF for this week with an answer to “why”.

Larry O’Connor @Stage_Right

Host of the Stage Right Show on Blog Talk Radio and UStream, Larry is also the editor of Breitbart.tv.  I first came across Larry last year right after @demonsheep exploded onto the scene.  He wanted to interview the red-eyed, soul-consuming, political sensation on his show.

Larry’s show is a no holds barred, take no prisoners examination of politics and current events from a guy who spent many years in the theatre industry – a domain dominated by liberals.  He is unashamedly conservative in a town where that kind of thing can get you in trouble – and out of work – fast.  One of the things that I like about Larry the most is that he always treats his guests, especially the ones with whom he disagrees politically, with a high degree of respect.  He isn’t trying to pick a fight with folks like Tommy Christopher or the spokesman for the New Black Panther party, but he truly wants to have a conversation and yet never backs down from a confrontation.  Larry does his homework and begins from the foundation that truth isn’t relative – his main weapon are the immutable facts of whatever topic he’s discussing.  A genuinely nice guy, he isn’t afraid to ask his female guests to describe to him on air what they’re wearing.  It is radio, after all.

Glen Asbury @glenasbury

Certainly, this post wouldn’t be complete without taking some time to mention one of the inspirations for what hopefully will become a valuable series.  Glen is one of those people I don’t know as well as I’d like.  Partly, I think because he is the kind of guy who asks you the questions about your life, and is genuinely interested in the answer – never really shining the light on himself.  Glen is not afraid to defend his conservative views, but does so in a thoughtful and soft-spoken way.  When on the road, Glen often tweets of how much he misses his kids and how he can’t wait to get home to see them.  I was fortunate to spend a small amount of time with Glen here and there at CPAC last week, and one night when a group of us were at dinner, he made a remark, kind of in passing, that has stuck with me.  He said that (because of his visit to DC) this was the first year he missed his wife’s birthday.  This simple statement, and the way he said it, speaks volumes to me about how much he loves and misses his family.

Would that more men treated their wives and kids in the regard that Glen does, our country and the Church would be stronger for it.  God willing, one day I’ll be a husband and a dad.  Glen is one of those guys I hope to, in part, model my marriage and family after.

I spent some time in Washington, DC over the last few days.  I was there for two reasons.  The first was to have some solo time for photographing memorials and monuments for Honor Flight videos that I produce.  The second was to attend the Restoring Honor event on 8/28.

I was able to spend some time at the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, and the Lincoln Monument.  All of them are amazing and unique.  The World War II memorial at night is beautiful.  I got up early Friday morning to head over to the Lincoln Memorial to take some sunrise photos.  The World War II memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Capitol building are all directly east of the Lincoln Memorial, and the sun coming up behind those historic markers is really quite stunning.

One place that seems kind of out of the way, and somewhat forgotten is the Jefferson Memorial.  Maybe because of that, and because he was so intimately involved with writing the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson has always kind of drawn me.

Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens . . . are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion . . . No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively.

As I stood under the rotunda reading Jefferson’s words, I was moved to tears at the eloquence and simplicity with which he expressed such fundamental principles — and how far from the founding principles of freedom and liberty we have come.

I Have Sworn Upon the Altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

The founding fathers risked everything for the cause of freedom.  To each other for the cause of liberty, they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their honor.  With the most powerful nation on the planet, and many of their own colonists against them, Jefferson and his fellow patriots refused to accept the remote rule of a distant, deaf King George.  We know that America is an idea, an experiment in limited government.  Reagan famously talked about America as the “last stand on earth”.  He said, “If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to.”

I hope we, I hope I, for the sake of preserving freedom for future generations, have what it takes to be more than just a sunshine patriot.