What if the “Impeachers” are successful?

The people who are offering everything “free” if you just elect them, are the same people who are afraid to face our Great President at election time. They prefer impeachment. (Though few actually know anything about the process).
So if they’re successful in that effort, think about this: They’re also impeaching record minority jobs and opportunity;
They’re impeaching a burgeoning stock market and business activity (components of the markets are a reliable measure of a nation’s economic health);
They’re also impeaching the important interactions and agreements with world leaders which are essential if we’re going to walk the path toward world peace and prosperity. Not an easy job, but no one else has even made that effort!
They’re also impeaching efforts to create a system of education that recognizes the innate talents and abilities of potential students and will honestly guide them to the right path. A lot of very smart people are not being served under the current mindset.
They’re also impeaching the idea that a reasoned and measured approach to “climate change” and other phenomena will actually yield better and more permanent results, over time, as opposed to an hysterical “shut down the world, and do it today!” approach. Change doesn’t happen overnight, but when it does, the change is usually disasterous.All this plus the democrat socialists are also impeaching organized religion, a real education and unborn children.
We need a president who indeed, puts America and Americans first, and will put a stop to the inane practices that reward those who would do harm to us and our way of life. If we’re going to offer “foreign aid”, we need to know, with certainty, what we can expect in return. When these agreements go bad, then the flow of American taxpayer dollars needs to end! This may mean getting the hell out of the so-called United Nations. Many of those “nations” actually hate America and work in opposition to our goals.
OK, this could go on forever, but Trump has us on the right track. A stronger America will make for a stronger and more prosperous world coalition. I Think!W

Expanding Social Security

Once upon a time in a far away land, the idea was put forth that SS was designed and meant to be a SUPPLEMENT to your own money, savings, investments, pensions, etc. and NOT meant to be your sole source of income in your retirement. It seems that at every step, people are actually encouraged to eschew personal responsibility and become even more dependent on an unreliable government. To our peril!

US/China Trade Agreement

Now the word is that the Chinese may hold off on finalizing a trade agreement with US until the 2020 elections. They’re gambling that a squishy, malleable, “flexible” democrat socialist will get elected and that they will be better able to “negotiate” a much better deal with that mindless little person. But, they’re making a deadly mistake. By November 2020, their economy will be in complete shambles and there will be no need for “negotiations” at any level. And, as a side benefit, they won’t be doing nearly as much polluting!

Police Brutality…

Let me get this straight….You’re a felon in a stolen car with illegal drugs stuffed in every nook, you resist arrest, try to shoot the cop with his own gun, YOU wind up getting shot, and then you and the rest of the dismal left claim POLICE BRUTALITY??!!

Sublimation Printing…

The process of dye sublimation printing has been around for a long time, but  only in relatively recent times has it jumped to the forefront of techniques used to decorate sportswear like t-shirts and polos, as well as hard goods like trophies and awards, plus many other items offered by the promotional products industries. (That list is almost endless, with more items being introduced daily. See catalog offerings.) The versatility of the process is evidenced by the hundreds of products that have been, or can be decorated using dye sublimation printing. At Star Graphics, we regularly decorate t-shirts, white aluminum photo panels, patches, fiber reinforced plastic panels, custom license plates, etc. Sublimation will work only on man-made cloth materials like 100% polyester, polymer products and on polymer coated hard goods like signage, photo panels, awards, etc. The coating is done in a factory setting  where the substrates are coated with a liquid polymer coating then baked with strict control over environmental conditions like dust control, heating time and temperature, etc. In other words, it’s not a do-it-yourself project. From a decorator’s standpoint, it’s quite easy to get into sublimation printing. All you need is an inkjet printer that’s capable of printing with sublimation inks, the sublimation inks, sublimation transfer paper, a heat press and the sportswear or hard goods designed for sublimation printing and design software.  Let’s go over these items one by one: The Printer – Since this information is aimed mainly at the newcomer or small shop owner who will be using a desktop size printer (as opposed to a specialty shop using wide format printers). I would recommend almost any one of the Epson line of desktops. They are relatively inexpensive and are ready to print with sublimation ink right out of the box. Plus, they are inherently well suited for sublimation because of  their piezo printhead technology. Two main characteristics set Epson’s technology apart from other inkjet printing systems. The first is that Micro Piezo printing systems do not use heat to eject the ink droplets. The second is that they precisely control the volume of ink contained in each ink droplet. This is particularly important because sublimation ink is activated by heat and you want the heat to come from your heat press, not your printer. The end result of the sublimation process is a nearly permanent, high resolution, full color print. Because the dyes are infused into the substrate at the molecular level, rather than applied at a topical level (such as with screen printing and direct to garment printing), the prints will not crack, fade or peel from the substrate under normal conditions. Sawgrass inks is trying to manipulate the market to Ricoh printers, and many believe this in an effort to keep a strong hold on it’s sales of sublimation ink at very high margins. Their vendors are now saying things like “upgrade” your system to Ricoh printers or “better than Epson”. These claims are mainly based on the experiences of new users who have not followed even the minimum maintenance practices required for success. So, the bottom line here is that if you want to try your hand at sublimation printing, with the least initial expense, buy an Epson desktop inkjet printer, search the web for some inexpensive sublimation ink along with an inexpensive continuous ink supply system (CISS), some sublimation heat transfer paper ( it has to say “for sublimation”, and an inexpensive entry level heat press. The Ink. – As I said above, Ricoh, Sawgrass and their vendors will try to tell you that if you don’t spend and arm and one or more legs, on their products you are doomed to failure in the sublimation effort. NOT TRUE! There are many sources out there selling sublimation ink at reasonable prices. Since no matter what system or inks you use, there will always be a period of experimentation involved in the process. Along with that experimentation, a good deal of self-education is necessary. Fortunately, as sublimation grows in popularity, there is a wealth of good information available on the net. Forums can be useful but you need a very keen BS filter. There is a lot of conflicting information to be had there. For a desktop printer there are basically two ways to supply ink to the printhead: buy cartridges filled with sublimation ink to fit your printer; or, buy an empty continuous ink supply system (CISS) configured for your printer, buy the sublimation in in bulk containers and fill the system yourself. The picture here shows a typical CISS setup before installation. The set of cartridges snap into your printer, replacing the existing cartridges and the ink bottles are positioned outside the printer with the supply lines going to the cartridges inside the printer. Desktop printers come with 4, 5, or 6 cartridges depending on your model. You’ll use a plastic syringe to suck ink into each cartridge through the supply lines. Google searches and YouTube are excellent sources of supplies and information about these systems. The next consideration is the use of color profiles. Simplified, profiles tell your printer how to distribute the ink on your transfer paper depending on the substrate you will be printing on. Each class of substrate requires a matched setting to yield the best results. For instance if you’re printing on a hard surface product like ceramic mugs, the profile would be different than one for a polyester t-shirt or mouse pad. Cobra Ink (www.cobraink.com) is a good source for supplies and a free download with instructions of color profiles. Now, having said all that, here’s the deal: If you really don’t feel up to configuring your own system from scratch, so to speak, you  may want to consider a basic “turnkey” system from someone like Conde Systems (www.conde.com) so you can get started right away while learning how the whole thing works, at your own pace. Whatever you decide, these two sites can be very useful whether you buy from them or not. YouTube is another invaluable resource. The Transfer Paper – Paper for dye sublimation printing is offered in cut sheet sizes for desktop printers as well as in rolls for wide format printers. For this conversation, we’ll stick to the cut sizes for desktop printers. For all the years I’ve been engaged in sublimation printing, making ceramic plates, mugs, t-shirts, aluminum photo panels, etc., I’ve used many “brands” of paper for my Epson printers. My only rule of thumb has been if it said it was for Epson printers, was reasonably priced and offered in the size I needed, that’s what I bought. The paper itself is coated on one side (which is visually whiter than the back side). The coating is to control ink absorption into the paper and the release of the ink as it’s going through the heat transfer process. All these different brands bought from many suppliers worked very well on everything that I printed. So it’s my position that no matter what brand of sublimation transfer paper you choose, time and temperature are the most important variables in the process. So that means gathering all the time and temp recommendations out there for the various substrates you’ll be printing and use these as guidelines as you begin to experiment and keep records of the various results. The most noticeable differences in the time, temp and pressure equation will be between printing on soft goods like a polyester t-shirt and printing on hard goods like ceramics or aluminum photo panels. And, since these variables are not exact, you’ll need to experiment, within the guidelines, to find the right formula for your situation and equipment. (More to come)

 

Liberals make gains one “chip” at a time

The socialists know the art of “incremental change” very well. Chip, chip, chip, get a small compromise then chip, chip, chip. Before long they’ve had their way and we don’t even know how it happened! The conservatives have yet to learn this “art” so they keep doing the compromising. Maybe we should do some conservative “chipping” and turn the tables on these clever devils.
The libs know full well that they won’t get everything they want in one fell swoop, instead they accept the small gains. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and socialism won’t happen overnight. Chip, chip, chip

Nicotine addiction? I don’t think so!

Now, more then ever,  long-time smokers are trying to quit this insidious tobacco habit.  Of course, health considerations are not the only motivation. The price of cigarettes is crazy. So, those who actually do quit  are headed down the road to a healthier life with more money in their pocket. Granted, quitting smoking is difficult, but I’m convinced that we’re approaching the problem from the wrong angle. When I say we, I’m referring to those who continue to blame nicotine for the smokers difficulty in shedding the habit. Nicotine may be somewhat addictive, however from personal experience, I know that most of the addiction is psychological. It’s a habit, for Christ’s sake! With almost all habits, the action is triggered by another event. Every smoker or ex-smoker will verify this. For instance: When having a cup of coffee; when having a beer (the worst); answering a telephone call; driving the car or getting up in the morning. You get the idea. Smokers can probably add hundreds of examples to the ones noted here. On the other hand, smokers can easily go without nicotine for the 8 or so hours that they spend sleeping every night without the tremendous pangs usually associated with wanting a smoke. Other telling evidence that backs up my claim is the proliferation of products that introduce nicotine into the body in ways other than smoking. They don’t work. Smokers almost always go back to the real thing; smoking. They miss the oral contact, the interaction with the smoke, and the obvious pleasure of inhaling and exhaling the smoke. I know! I was there for many years. And I, like everyone who tries to quit, tried all the little gimmicks and tricks to cut down gradually to lessen the pain. We all do it. Laying out just a few cigarettes, like five or so, as a limit to our daily smoking. Ha! That’s the biggest joke. We smoke them up in the first two hours, then feel stranded until the next morning, when we’re going to lay out five more smokes. Or we buy some sweet tasting cigars, usually a pack of  five, with the idea that they will fill the void, but we won’t like them enough to keep smoking them. And we’re right, we don’t like them so we promptly go back to cigarettes. The only way to effectively quit using cigarettes is to recognize that this is a habit, not an addiction, and to quit cold! All the crutches only serve to constantly remind us that we’re trying to do something that we can’t possibly do without the crutches. The same crutches that almost always lead us back to smoking full time, because they keep reminding us that we can’t quit.

Instead of wasting your time and money on phony cures and fixes like nicotine gum, patches and pseudo cigarettes (another devise that actually reinforces my claim that the appeal of cigarettes is the oral interaction) and just quit! If you need some counseling to get over the hump, get it! Over the rest of your life, you’ll be repaid the cost of that counseling many times over. I’m not going to get into the other negative aspects of cigarette use, like the burn marks all over your furniture, the stench in your home, your car, your office and your clothing.  If a guy smells like a stale old ashtray, it’s bad. If a great looking young woman smell that way, it’s a real put-off.

Newspapers becoming irrelevant?

It’s hard to believe that great American newspapers are becoming increasingly irrelevant. Particularly when the alternative is the electronic media. I love to read newspapers. Even the most liberal, (or conservative)slanted,  opinionated sheets out there. Why? Because I can read that crap (whichever you consider crap) without having to believe it. Besides, the larger dailies are becoming even better sources of “how to” information that nearly everyone needs and can use. Seasonal information like lawn and garden, home repairs and remodeling, holiday recipes, crafts, travel, and on and on. Sure you can get a lot of this information on the web, and this is certainly another very useful tool. But, anyone who spends much time on the Internet knows how tiring these searches can be with outright misleading links and dead-end information.

Besides being packed with news and information, newspapers can be read at the leisure of the reader. You can read awhile, go get another cup of coffee, come back and pick up right where you left off. You get news, sports, opinions (you really need to be careful here), society, TV guide and classifieds. And, when you have read all that you need for that day, you can always try the New York Times crossword puzzle!

All this for a very low price. I think you’ll agree…newspapers need another look.

Is Obama Really “Change”?

It is obvious by now that our new President has no idea what he’s doing. He’s relying heavily on advise from such astute statesmen as Polosi and Reed to guide him through the many “crisis” now facing the country. Obama didn’t create these problems, but believing that a “Chicago style politician” has the mindset or experience to fix them is dangerous and counterproductive.

Most of these problems, by the way, have been brought about by the policies of last three administrations, and continues into the current leadership. So now we are asked to believe  that the folks who manipulated us into these messes will have the will and the political skills to get us out. Not going to happen. The ultra liberal wing of the Democrat Party see Obama’s election and their advantage in congress as a chance to ram through legislation that they’ve only dreamed about before. And to reward their cronies with cash.

Make no mistake, if the so-called conservative Republicans were still in charge, the solutions would be no better. The GOP has reduced itself to a competition to out-democrat the democrats.

We have  the largest econ0my on the planet and our potential is virtually limitless. With good money managers in Washington, this nation could be awash in cash and we would be able to do anything we wanted, and do it without going into debt.

The only thing stopping this from happening is the cowardice, the greed and the willingness of these mindless louts to sacrifice this country for political and financial gain.

If we have the will, we can put an end to this corrupt culture in politics. Term limits should be the first step in eliminating the almost endless power that a seat in congress gives. Limiting the amount of money that can be spent on a campaign and a limit on the length of any campaign will result in a more focused presentation of the position of a given candidate. These new election policies will give the opportunity to get away from the endless recycling of Washington Insiders as candidates for every national office.

Average Americans who go to work everyday, who run businesses, who have the common sense to solve problems without endless hearings, committee meetings, stalling and quibbling could eliminate these problems quickly and efficiently. We need to find a different way. Currently “change” means status quo, only worse, and we really can’t endure the stupidity, arrogance, stubbornness and actual defiance of the career politicians.

Hello world!

Like many people, (not all, unfortunately) I have many, many opinions! This site gives me an outlet for my ideas and frustrations.  Whether you agree or not, I’d welcome comments.