So I bought the truck tonight. I won’t pick it up til Friday or Saturday, so pics will have to wait until then.

Stay tuned…..

Let’s all say a quick prayer that the Chief Justice is perfectly fine, and this doesn’t happen again.

Of course I just heard on ABC’s GMA the giddy questioning if this lead to him stepping down. Nope, no bias.

So much for the campaign slogan about being willing to pay…

Jennings went years without paying taxes on payrolls, FEC reports show

July 31, 2007
Democratic congressional candidate Christine Jennings went more than a year without paying taxes on both of her campaign committees’ payrolls, Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports show.

I’m switching brands. I am taking off my bow-tie, and donning a…. a….. well i don’t know what GMC’s thing is.

I am buying a new GMC Sierra 2500HD crew cab.

(photo from GMC’s website)

I am going with a new body style Sierra with a new clean diesel Duramax 6.6L engine and 6 speed Allison tranny. I weighed a lot of things in coming to this decision. Mostly was going diesel. I need a truck that tows and hauls a lot, and I am tired getting low double digits in MPG. I’ll be doubling my fuel consumption off the bat empty and it won’t tank when towing like a gas engine does.

My old truck, RF One is showing her age. I love her, and debated on keeping her and getting a new day to day car/ small SUV, but the costs to benefit to practicality (of having to always run home for the big truck) factors just didn’t make sense.

I am switching away from the Avalanche platform as they dropped the 3/4 ton version. I looked at both Chevy and GMC pickups, and well, the Chevy dealer was a jerk. I will save the name, but it you are looking, email me about what dealers, I will give you a yes or no.

I will admit that when the new GM truck body styles came out, I was less than impressed, but as time has gone by, they have grown on me. I also like the GMC version much more than the Chevy. The drivetrains are the same, as are a lot of the features. In the end, besides finding a great salesman at a GMC dealer, it was the appearance and feel of the GMC that made the decision easy.

I was also rather scared of the new emissions system on new diesel engines (New Federal emissions mandates), but the benefits of the new body style over the old was more important. I did shop and consider a new ‘classic’ Sierra, but it just didn’t sing to me the way the new ones do. I will have to see if it as big a pain, or as simple as the new driver end requirements to have a clean burning diesel. (stay tuned for that as time progresses. It is really complicated, and more proof that BIG Government sucks.)

Now, I am not and will never be (so help me gOD) a Ford or Dodge guy (and they too have to meet the new emissions’ standards). Good for y’all who are. I am just loyal and 100% happy with my GMs. As for those close to me who have been threatening to buy a Toyota for the last year plus, well, um, how’s that working for ya?

I am all approved for credit, and have the financing stuff on my end all lined up. We just need to wait until the morning to make sure the one we found out there that had everything I wanted is still there, and not gussied up with tons of crap. It was a bit after closing when we finally got to that point.

Now I am just going to sleep on it for one more night. You know, just in case…. I wake up in a different frame of mind.

Naaaahhhhh! I love her.

On the other hand, I may want to consider a new bleg here on RF. Now if I can just figure out how to set that Paypal crap up again.

Just had this story link sent to me.

Democrats dis DLC convention
It’s a Democratic prom without a king, a queen or really any of the popular kids, only the star quarterback of yesteryear. Three hundred and fifty politicians will be present, key governors to ambitious state legislators, from almost every state.

But none of the eight Democratic contenders for the White House are making time for the Democratic Leadership Council convention Sunday and Monday in Nashville, although DLC staffers sought for weeks to woo the candidates.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will be homebound and resting on Sunday, instead of seeking allies at the coalition that is behind the only two-term Democratic president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

John Edwards, struggling in third place, is campaigning over the weekend in New Hampshire.

The candidates’ brush-off is especially noticeable because five Democratic presidential hopefuls found time this week to speak at the national convention of College Democrats in Columbia, S.C.

Here’s my quick take at it.

The Democratic hopefuls are treating the DLC like like McCain treats CPAC. A place they don’t want to be associated with. But of course for far different reasons.

You see, the 8 Democrats who are running are all trying to out flank themselves to the fringe left liberal wing of the Democratic party. The DLC’s success in tandem with ‘Slick Willy’/ Clinton was to appear moderate, and not fringe leftist.

Well, the 8 Democrats running, and especially Hillary, know that if they even try to appear moderate or anything to the right of Michael Moore or Fidel Castro, they will be targeted for defeat. Remember what these same people did to Joe Lieberman?

So the DLC quite possibly could be the key to carrying the momentum of 2006 forward. Pelosi and Reid are squandering any good will Dems had with voters, and they too owe the fringe liberal base of the party far too much than to turn moderate as well.

So as teh DLC may be dead, the fringe liberalness is not. the good news is that hatred filled fire and brimstone nutroots types are replacing to calculating political minds that used to run the Democratic campaigns.

More over reality, enter the nutroots, stage left….. fringe left.

I just faxed this off to my US Representative Michele Bachmann’s DC office. (MN 6)

TO: Congresswoman Michele Bachmann MN 6
We Minnesotans don’t just drive to and from work, we live complex lives that require flexible vehicles.

I’m sitting here looking at my small business’s fleet of vehicles, and I am very worried. None of them would be capable of meeting the CAFE Mandates that HF1506 sets. Worse than that, is if they did meet the proposed Government efficiency requirements, they would not meet our work requirements.

CAFE standards are devastating to productivity. You can’t have a work truck is capable of towing and hauling equipment that gets the MPG proposed by HF1506. As a business owner, I implore you to oppose HF1506 and support HF 2927. Work vehicles need to be treated separate from passenger cars.

Now, as a Minnesotan, I am demanding that you oppose HF1506 and support HF2927 for even more important reasons, our uniquely Minnesotan way of life. The number one thing that sets Minnesota and the Upper Midwest apart from the rest of the nation is our environment and how we interact with it. We have cold blistering snowy winters, and long hot summers. As such, our lifestyles have adapted and we buy vehicles are engineered to take advantage the seasons.

We snowmobile and ski or snowboard in the winter, and a Prius just isn’t going to cut it. They can’t tow snowmobiles and downhill skis don’t fit inside them. We need our trucks and SUVs to both navigate our icy winter wonderland, and to recreate the way we Minnesotans do.

In the summer we enjoy our 10,000 plus lakes. Once again, we find ourselves towing toys (like boats, jetskis, and ATVs) with us to enjoy the unique nature God gave us. We need vehicles that can haul heavy loads, and tow big trailers. As a larger truck owner, I am also #1 on most people’s list when they need to move or pick up a new couch and such. This is something that is just not possible should HF1506 pass and force automakers to stop making the vehicles people like me buy.

Then there is the idea that we Minnesotans are also entrepreneurs in our home repairs. We are a do it yourself society. Home Depots, Menards, and Lowes flood the horizon here. Why? Because we take care of our own homes and yards ourselves. To do that we have trucks and SUVs capable of carrying sheetrock, a new lawnmower, landscaping supplies, or new home decors. Those of us who don’t hire people who do have one of the very vehicles being targeted for extinction by HF1506.

I’m unwilling to give up the uniquely Minnesotan way of life just because Washington says I have to. I like the way I live. I like owning a truck that can do whatever it is that I need to for work, for play, or for friends. We Minnesotans don’t just drive to and from work, we live complex lives that require flexible vehicles. Please don’t take away my chance to be uniquely Minnesotan.

Oppose HF1506, support HF2927 as a cosponsor.

Sincerely,
Andy Aplikowski - Blaine, MN - ###

The Senate Energy bill makes no distinction between trucks and passenger cars.

Seriously folks, how many plumbers driving Prius’ will it take to unclog your backed up sewer?

Environmental laws are going to destroy this great country of ours, if we let the mental environutters write the laws.

Call your legislator and demand that they oppose HF 1506.

You can find a list of all the member of the US House here.

They will have to pry the steering wheel of my truck from my cold dead hands!

It is just shameful that the Left in Minnesota would take advantage of the death of Sen. Coleman’s father to score cheap political points.

A few hundred protesters crowded together briefly Sunday afternoon on the sidewalk and in the street in front of U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman’s St. Paul home, shouting for an end to immigration policies and enforcement practices that the demonstrators say unfairly divide families.
The rally — during which participants first gathered at Summit Avenue and North Lexington Parkway and then marched about a mile to Coleman’s house on Osceola Avenue — came a day before today’s burial of Coleman’s father, Norman Coleman Sr., at Arlington National Cemetery. He died Thursday of bladder cancer at 82.

Protest organizers discussed whether to change their plans in reaction to the elder Coleman’s death, said Alondra Espejel, with the Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network.

Seeing parallels in the grief felt by Sen. Coleman and that of children who have had parents deported, organizers decided to go ahead.

This is disgusting behavior. Sen. Coleman and his family are grieving their loss, and these people feel that is a perfect fit for their agenda.

This whole protecting at people’s house thing is a sad turn in public discourse, but this example is shameful.

I wonder if the DFL candidates who (likely) share the views of this crowd have a statement on this shameful act.

So the feverswamp is going to try to organize a boycott of the FOX News organizers, and as usual, what seems like some juvenile online attack, may actually go all the way up to the Democratic leadership in DC.

Gary at Let Freedom Ring is all over it once again.

The Censorship Cabal

Yesterday, I wrote about MoveOn.org, the Daily Kos and the Campaign for America’s Future joining forces to silence the conservative voices on FNC. I’ve now uncovered more information who’s all involved in this unholy alliance. First, I went to CAF’s About Us page. Here’s what it said:

Go read the rest if you think this is some little grassroots campaign.

In it, he exposes how the left’s obsession with a group for every cause, always comes leads back to a very small group of power brokers in the Democratic party ….. and they call K Street home.

Don’t forget that Democratic Presidential hopefuls have threatened to boycott FOX News for interviews and debates. Who is leading who in the Democratic party?

So I worked 2 shifts for the GOP booth at the Anoka County Fair. I closed it down Friday night, and then worked an afternoon shift today. Most of it was pleasant, and I met a lot of great people who came to our booth.

As we were walking out today, we passed by the DFL booth. A couple of great seasoned GOPers who had left the GOP booth a minute before I did, were just walking away from the DFL booth. They had said earlier that they were urged not to vote for Rep. Michele Bachmann (R MN6) when they walked by the DFLers. Not to actually vote for a DFLer, just against the Republican.

Well, on the gentlemen’s second trip by the booth, I think they engaged in a bit of good natured political discourse, and walked away.

Well as we walked by the booth just after them, someone walked up to the DFLers in the booth and said :

“Don’t worry, he’s to old to remember to vote for her.”

Honest.

Now we had a few people who walked by the booth and spit out comments under their breathe, or from across the sidewalk. Most of the comments were stereotypical and not even worth discussing. But in general, people were very pleasant.

But I am disgusted at the behavior of the left in Minnesota. They actually seem to hate those of us on the right. These 2 very nice men were just ridiculed by a DFLer, and those in the booth said absolutely nothing and seemed to take pride in one of their own belittling a senior citizen.

Disgusting.

People want to know what is wrong with politics, well there is a great example. The DFL is not there to debate on behalf of their ideas, nope it is smear, slander, and hope that Republicans are too old to remember to vote.

I’m embarrassed to share the field in politics with people like this.

Just shameless!

Yep. Went and looked at GMCs today. Looked at both the new body style and ‘classic’ ones. Turns out thanks to stupid environmental regulations, the new version of all diesels will from time to time require you to do ridiculous tuff to clean some weird exhaust filter.

I will explain later, but it is much more financially suitable for the old body style for me.

I am getting dragged to a wedding as we speak.

Have a good weekend.