Cavagnaro Blog (updates and occasional rants)

Sad :-(

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 16 May 2011 18:58:00 +0000

Avery's First Mini-Marathon

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 01:21:00 +0000

Second video from the parade - Lucas, Katie and Drew!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 00:39:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:26:00 +0000

Hopkinton Little League 2011 Parade:

Priorities

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 16:19:00 +0000

Waiting for the bus...

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 15:20:00 +0000

Our big turkey!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 21:45:00 +0000

Our little pilgrim!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 21:43:00 +0000

Sunday morning....

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 15:30:00 +0000

Sleepytime!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 14:30:00 +0000

Avery's favorite song...

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 18:12:00 +0000

Jen taught her all her best table dancing moves...

Kade's first den meeting...

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 01:13:00 +0000

This was a lot of fun for the boys...lots of games...and they got to learn the secret handshake :-)

Kade's first cub scout pack meeting.

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 01:10:00 +0000

They got their tiger cub neckerchiefs and then they got to build spaghetti towers. Fun...but hot and long for the parents...

Avery loving Glee...

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 00:49:00 +0000

Is it just me...or does that boy have a big melon?

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 18:08:00 +0000

It's toothpaste man!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:18:00 +0000

You have to see it to believe it...

Skinny is alive again!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 23:23:00 +0000

JT flying an Apache???

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:49:00 +0000

I can just picture him with his new sunglasses (oh wait…he didn’t have any money left after his visit to Tiffany’s) …screaming like a madman….firing finger lickin’ good chicken from a Apache…

State Dept. planning to field a small army in Iraq

By Warren P. Strobel | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Can diplomats field their own army? The State Department is laying plans to do precisely that in Iraq, in an unprecedented experiment that U.S. officials and some nervous lawmakers say could be risky.

In little more than a year, State Department contractors in Iraq could be driving armored vehicles, flying aircraft, operating surveillance systems, even retrieving casualties if there are violent incidents and disposing of unexploded ordnance.

Under the terms of a 2008 status of forces agreement, all U.S. troops must be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, but they'll leave behind a sizable American civilian presence, including the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, the largest in the world, and five consulate-like "Enduring Presence Posts" in the Iraqi hinterlands.

…. Already, however, the State Department's requests to the Pentagon for Black Hawk helicopters; 50 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles; fuel trucks; high-tech surveillance systems; and other military gear has encountered flak on Capitol Hill

2010 Fireworks (6 photos), by Jennifer Cavagnaro

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:23:00 +0000

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos

Ice visit (22 photos), by Jennifer Cavagnaro

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:13:00 +0000

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos

This should cause a bit of a ruckus...

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:50:00 +0000

From CNS News:

Obama Administration Approves First Direct Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Through New High-Risk Insurance Pools

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

By Susan Jones, Senior Editor

(CNSNews.com) - If you want proof that President Obama's Executive Order on taxpayer-funded abortion was a sham, look no further than Pennsylvania, says House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio).

Boehner and other Republicans point to reports that the Health and Human Services Department is giving Pennsylvania $160 million to set up a new high-risk insurance pool that will cover any abortion that is legal in the state.

…

President Obama pledged that under his health care plan “no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.”

…

The conservative Family Research Council says the $160 million in taxpayer funds for Pennsylvania is the first known instance of direct federal funding of abortions through the new high-risk insurance pools.

….

We shall see how this one plays out over the next few weeks as more in the MSM pick up on it…

I love this for what it is....

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:31:00 +0000

Good old fashioned scientific research…demonstrating its ability to transcend the horrific race baiting that continues to plague our society.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100712/sc_afp/sciencesportusphysics_20100712165904

The biggest irony…now we get to watch everyone avoid reporting this news due to fear of being labeled a racist…

Kade's Star Wars Birthday (197 photos), by Jennifer Cavagnaro

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:46:00 +0000

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos

Something that most folks probably missed...but I am sure that the mainstream media will get to this sometime...

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:04:00 +0000

I happened to see an excerpt from Capt. K.A.’s oval office address which bothered me a great deal…for a whole host of reasons. It is only 6 sentences long…but that was enough for me…. Here is the excerpt:

“{1} Instead, what has defined us as a nation since our founding is our capacity to shape our destiny – our determination to fight for the America we want for our children. {2} Even if we’re unsure exactly what that looks like. {3} Even if we don’t yet know precisely how to get there. {4} We know we’ll get there.

{5} It is a faith in the future that sustains us as a people. {6} It is that same faith that sustains our neighbors in the Gulf right now.”

First sentence, no problemo. I believe that there are a few other major factors that define us as a nation (like democracy and capitalism)…but at face value there is nothing terribly offensive here.

Second and third sentences…uhhh…you are starting to lose me Cpt. KA. I am rather certain that the Founders knew EXACTLY what “our destiny” looked like. They may have disagreed on some of the smaller details and how to get there…but the big picture was pretty damned clear…and they articulated it pretty damn clearly in the founding documents. Take for example the first sentence of the Constitution:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Sounds like a pretty clear vision…and oh by the way…Mr. Constitutional Scholar…they proceed to define in specifics HOW to do this in the 7 articles that followed this sentence! So does his verbiage in sentence 2 imply: 1.) that “HE doesn’t currently have a vision of the future” or 2.) that “America doesn’t understand HIS vision”? You be the judge.

Fourth sentence…very re-assuring stuff…”We know we’ll get there”. Hope springs eternal from this font! FYI - I always start every road trip this way: “I’m not sure exactly where we are going kids…not sure exactly how to get there…but I know we’ll get there”. I wonder if even a child would say…”uhh…but where is there dad?”. I am pretty sure that the Mrs. wouldn’t let this one slide…but hey…he is THE ONE after all…

Ok, the fifth sentence is where I start to get pretty agitated. HIS assertion is that what sustains us as a people is our “faith in the future”. Hmmm…does that resonate with you? This is a very telling passage. If someone were to ask ME “what sustains me”…I might be more inclined to say something like…oh…let me think…maybe “my Faith in GOD”…or my faith in “Good will triumph over Evil”…or my faith in “Truth always prevails”??? I find it really ironic that Capt. KickAss believes in our “faith in the future”…this from the same man who is putting up regulations left and right to protect us from “the greedy oil/banks/corporations”…so which is it…are we by nature good or by nature evil?

Last sentence…”that same faith (the faith in the future) that sustains” people affected by the oil spill. I will let you be the judge of where this one lies on the Stupid scale. Maybe you can ask some of the folks in the LA tourism industry or in the (non BP) oil drilling business what their future looks like….

I know what everyone will say: Why bother deconstructing these things…he is just pontificating…trying to make a broader point….give “the small people” some HOPE…

Yes – I agree…we reap that which we sow…

Cpt. Kick Arse

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:59:00 +0000

Good old Captain Kick Ass made an interesting pitch this weekend in his radio address...one that I am willing to bet will not get a lot of national media attention:

"Since 2003, Congress has acted to prevent these pay cuts from going into effect. These votes were largely bipartisan, and they succeeded when Democrats ran Congress and when Republicans ran Congress - which was most of the time.

This year, a majority of Congress is willing to prevent a pay cut of 21% - a pay cut that would undoubtedly force some doctors to stop seeing Medicare patients altogether. But this time, some Senate Republicans may even block a vote on this issue. After years of voting to defer these cuts, the other party is now willing to walk away from the needs of our doctors and our seniors."

Can anyone tell me why this is so interesting? Have you been paying attention?

The interesting twist here is that Cpt. K.A. is trying to frame the argument that keeping the Medicare Dr. Fix is now needed. Huh? Isn't this the same Cpt. K.A. (and Doogie over at CBO) who promised that ObamaCare would pay for itself (and realize net-savings) as it was written? If you remember...ObamaCare was written INCLUDING the 21% cut. The phrase..."you break it, you buy it" comes to mind.

So, as a hypothetical...let's assume I go to buy a car. The salesperson promises me that the Cadillac will save me money over the long-run because it consumes less gas than the Pinto. Then I ask, but don't the "oil changes" cost more and thus eliminate all the savings? To which the answer is...oh no...the "oil changes" will cost less. So I buy it. Then I find out that the oil changes do in fact cost more and do in fact make the total cost of ownership greater than the lowly Pinto still sitting in the corner.

In this hypothetical...who is the sucker and more importantly...Who should Cpt. Kick ass be going after???